Being trusted is better than being loved, I heard. It certainly felt great when

Darren asked me to open the gym that day and later when I was asked to write a

yelp review. I felt a part of the community!

1. Sumi Gaeshi and Kesa Gatami

We trained sumi gaeshi, the sweep against the single-leg takedown. This was what

V did to me a few weeks back with my head in the wrong position! My neck felt it

when he flipped me which made it such a good lesson. I looked it up and found a

very helpful video on judo counter to the single-leg and an entry from normal

grabbing position.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTkhQgd4pzY&t=139s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kIoGWJxudg

Twice Darren got out of my kesa gatami with one arm trapped under my top leg.

With a hitch-hiker armbar escape, he turns counterclockwise and got both his

head and arm out. (Not even Henry showed this escape!) When I crucifixed him

from the top and went for his arm in a straight arm-lock, he wiggled his fingers

and turned his hand slowly to lessen the joint pressure. In either case, I

would've tapped long ago. He was amazing.

2. Two Weeks of Turtle

Machine showed quite a few attacks on the turtle, my favorite platform. With one

hook in, he showed the truck, the banana split, the calf slicer, and the

spine-twister, among others. I was most impressed, however, with the counter to

my trap-and-roll by stepping across to the trapped side to take the back. Now

that I am not afraid of my own goto move anymore, I could set up a trap for my

opponent: my lead arm under their armpit. It's only a question of time I perfect

it and take the back of my opponent reliably and maybe I'll even follow up with

the back triangle.

The third week was again about the turtle. I learned another option, besides the

turtleplata, to counter sprawling against my trap-and-roll. There was a similar

move in half-guard bottom: to trap the bottom lower leg and scoot underneath and

roll them over all the same. Keep the tension so that when their sprawling

weakens as they try to get out of the leg-trap, roll them. This trick solved my

puzzle at the half-guard move.

This month has seen a big change in my turtle game. I start to see more options

from the bottom, which I was already very good at getting into. I learned

recovering guard when they are at my side (or I move to expose them to the side)

and try to catch them in single-leg x when they transition from the front to the

side, and rolling to recover guard or attack when they are at the back.

Moreover, the videos from Sensei Vito and Darren opened my eyes to the sit-out

move and I was so ready for it. As a result of all these improvements, I was

unstuck at the bottom and moved much more in sparring.

3. The Peruvian Necktie

I was caught twice by Ricky in this move and was able to defend the third time, after

watching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlN9lpUiZpY&t=87s.

4. Had Fun and was Burnt out

At the open-mats, both 15 and 22, I had a blast. I think people like to sparr

with me because at 150 lbs and 5'6.5", I'm not intimidating. I like to roll with

whitebelts now. It was such fun to outdo bigger but less experienced folks. If

they happen to catch me, I'll tap, ego intact. After rolling on 22, Henry, a

30-ish 5'8" Asian dude and three-striped blue belt, told me in Chinese 宝刀不老,

which made me very happy.

Soon I discovered that I had to pay the price for having fun. Although I haven't

got injured, my body felt burning at night after intense rolling with four or

five guys. It was not a totally unpleasant sensation: the muscles sored and the

joints ached only slightly. The mind couldn't calm down, however. Two nights I

lost sleep completely.

At the noon class on Tuesday Sep 24, I rolled with big guys Ricky and Bryan and

did well. I was soaked in sweat at the end and the afternoon felt dazed and some

chills. Next, my right upper gum and the back of the mouth swelled. I rested

until Friday to feel normal again. I was burnt-out. I really should start paying

more attention to breathing, hydration, and intensity.

5. Body Scan

My bodyweight is around 153 lbs and everything felt good. Sometimes I still felt

the nip but overall my left hip pain did not return. I added a leg stretch

session in the evening and hiked Mission Peak on Saturday (Sep 28) with my nephew.