Post-practice analysis

General overview-
Went to open mat this morning. Rolled with a few people, mostly white and blue belts.

Open guard was good- I was able to transition from half to butterfly to upside down to closed guard pretty fluidly. Managed to avoid getting tapped or passed by the blue belts I rolled with.

With the two white belts I rolled with, I got caught in three submissions I shouldn't have given up- a collar choke from side mount (didn't resist enough, shouldn't have let hands establish collar hold, could've probably bridged out of it), a straight arm lock (didn't commit enough to escape, could have been more aggressive/explosive when in danger), and a gator roll collar choke from the front of turtle (genuinely didn't see it coming). A big reason behind my missteps was a lack of energy after rolling with two much larger and more experienced blue belts, and probably the overall aggressiveness of the white belts in general. Nonetheless- one main thing has been exposed- I need to work on resisting subs and escaping them.

An insight- when an opponent is trying to pass my half guard, a common mistake that is made is to post their arm on my knee and try and push it down to pass. There is enough space for a kimura, which I was able to get into position more than a few times today (but couldn't finish). I need to learn how to finish kimuras from the bottom of half guard.

A second insight- I'm not commiting enough to my spinning armlocks from the guard. I need to be more aggressive with them once I throw the leg over the face- raising my hips, arching my back, and prying the arm straight.

An improvement- I was able to successfully defend the open guard by going 2 on 1 and kicking my leg straight. Seems to work very well, as I would instantly free a leg and begin attacking sweeps, so my opponent would have trouble passing due to having to defend.

An old move coming back- the toriani pass variant where you grab the same side ankle and sleeve and spin them to knee on stomach. VERY useful and often just sitting there. Gotta incorporate this more.

Something I noticed about my passing today- mostly tried fast and loose passes- 101 pass, toriani, etc. Once I passed, though, I would go into a tight and controlling side mount. This is where I was faltering before, as I would stay loose and get reversed. Perhaps a good route to go? Nevertheless, I still have to work on my tight passes.

The side control tip from Saulo's dvd- always keep your hip attached to theirs at one point- was working very well today. I was able to control and hold down someone who usually reverses me once I'm trying to hold side mount. Gotta incorporate this with the hip attacks and some of the arm entangling.

A very good practice session!