Refining a few things

The two night classes sort of blur into one for me.

We went over uchi-mata again, as well as double leg takedown.

Uchi-Mata details
-the hip to hip contact is very important. the entry angle makes all the difference.
-step, cross step into the throw
-the collar grip arm needs to remain pinned to the chest. arm bent in so you can stay close. gotta work on this; it was probably my biggest mechanical problem.
-bringing their elbow high and putting your head low is the finish touch to throw them off balance

Double leg details
-lead knee should be the inside knee
-drop to knee, drag foot, step forward with outside leg
-penetration with knee is key

other things we went over, just to log it and keep it in memory-
1. cross choke from mount (started from side control)
2. pendulum sweep variant
3. triangle from spider guard

guard drills
-the standing guard pass is my go-to pass to open guard now. i can hit this pass most of the time unless i happen to get my leg underhooked by an opponent, although it only usually happens against more experienced training partners.

-i'm becoming more aware of the possibility of being reversed when i think i've passed the guard. i think i may have gotten taken down again when i was transitioning from toriani to side control.

rolling
got my guard passed and choked out a few times by purple belts. they were just a step ahead of me, and ultimately my legs got smashed or controlled, and i got sidemounted or north/southed.

perhaps i'm better off playing top game vs. higher belts? when i did this, i was able to pass with quick passes and get into better position. still need to work on my hold downs and side control.

i wanted to use the tighter passes tonight, but it was difficult against more skilled people. i guess i have to practice vs. lower belts and work my way up.

the side control smashing is working to some degree. still getting used to it, but i'm able to effectively work it on opponents closer to my size.

didn't do as well as i would've liked, but i am switching my game up and trying new things, so i have to expect some growing pains in the learning phase.

one thing that was hard to do was focus on those specific submissions/techniques that i laid out earlier today. just didn't find myself there often enough, or at all.

i did hit a few sweeps, though. mainly tripod and a few butterfly sweeps. it's definitely a start.

the conditioning is getting better, definitely. gotta get to some next level fitness, and i feel like my guard won't get passed as much or i'll be able to escape in the transition.

sort of disappointed with how tonight went, but i gotta push through it.

still have a lot to learn and a lot of growing to do...