Training Log #4
November 14 2023
Quick timeskip to November.
Did a lot of things since last time.
Spectated a Kickboxing tournament. Observed the 'kick light continuous' ruleset,
where headkicks are light, punches should not snap the opponent's head back, as
being the rules. Brief notes of what I observed/learned:
-at lower levels, people tend to stand in the phone booth and trade shots
-2 minutes is a short time to get something done
-importance of footwork/spacing/ringmanship
Participated in a Judo tournament.
Brief notes:
Didn't do my homework, and made the same mistakes that I've noted such as:
1. too much tension without relaxation/recovery phases
2. after 3 attacks I'm gassed, have to conserve my energy better over 4 mins
3. if I'm going to lose, lose attacking not defending!
4. mentally giving up due to exhaustion. this seems to be a recurring issue,
which means I need to take myself to this exhausted state more often to
make more attempts at conquering it.
-I need to be consistent in reviewing my notes weekly. make it easy for myself
and continue to refine and condense the notes for ease of consumption
-my first match perhaps I could have prepared myself better. I felt nervous,
upset stomach, wet feet, and overall my mind felt disconnected from my body.
I let my body naturally react in the match, which turned me into a passive
counter fighter going for tani otoshi and ura nage (suplex). I ended up
ipponing myself going for a counter due to sitting down to execute the throw.
-I need to fix my preparation. listen to music, more warmup reps, something
to get my body and mind connected. probably work up a sweat.
-the first match woke me up, and in the second match I was aware and my
mind/body connection was synchronized. this time my goal was to attack, as I
was too passive the previous match. This mindset made my grips have more
tension that it should have, with little relaxation time. this was a mistake,
as it not only consumes my energy faster, but is not an effective way to play
judo. The explosion from 20% tension to 100% tension is more effective in a lot
of judo situations than going from 80% tension to 100% tension. After 3 attacks,
I gassed out and got hit with o soto gari.
TAKEAWAYS
The mental battle is real. reoccuring thoughts of:
-why didn't I do what I said I was going to do
-why didn't I do what I trained to do
-why am I doing things I didn't train
-need to be consistent in doing the homework, which consists of reviewing notes
to hammer in lessons learned.
-interestingly, in that brief moment while grounded before a person disengages
to reset the match standing, I went for leg grab takedown as my opponent
was standing up and did not get shido. perhaps I can use this to my advantage
in the future and execute leg grab takedowns in this reset transition if I'm
intent on getting the match to the ground.
-to elaborate on this, a frequent occurence is one person going to turtle
position with the other person on top, and the match resets as the person on top
stands up. as the person in turtle, before ref yells 'matte' to reset position,
we're essentially in newaza which opens up leg grab techniques (potentially).
execute the leg grab technique as the opponent tries to disengage before ref
calls matte. normally a leg grab results in shido
-need to ask myself why I naturally go for ura nage/suplex type counter throws.
maybe it's all the shrimping and bridging as uke in kesa gatame position haha.
this is not something I practice, but I need to acknowledge it's what my body
wants to do. In other words, my body won't hesitate to commit to this attack,
which I could use to my advantage and learn more of the backwards turning
sacrifice techniques such as:
-tani otoshi
-yoko otoshi
-uki waza
-sasae tsurikomi ashi harai
Having the matches recorded, I could analyze a lot of flaws in my technique:
ura nage
-I let both grips go, need to hold on to at least one grip
o uchi gari -> osoto otoshi
-attack faster after o uchi gari
-my technique was wrong when executing osoto otoshi. my leg positioning was
correct for osoto otoshi, but my hand positioning was morote hands (close to
shoulder) instead of tai otoshi hands (lapel hand pushing opponents face,
sleeve hand towards my own pocket)
sasae pull -> seoi otoshi
-I turned with the opponent after sasae pull, when I specifically train not to do this
-attack faster after sasae pull, and upon reflection, maybe there are other
attacks than seoi otoshi after sasae pull. explore this
-did not threaten sasae tsurikomi ashi harai. I should commit to at least one
before going for this combination
drop tai otoshi
-technique was too slow, not explosive enough. however it was my third attack,
just after failing my second attack combination, so I may have been tired
-opponent was able to move to my left side to escape the technique
clock choke
-I had it locked in, but perhaps my lapel hand wasn't deep enough.
-mental note to really dig in that lapel hand grip, as that is more important
than the actual position
-had the position locked in, my opponent could not move while threatened by
the choke, but could I have shifted my weight better to make the technique
more effective?
-I rarely do this submission, but it is very much there for anyone who turtles,
and can make them super uncomfortable even if they don't tap
-i can be confident in my grip fighting and movement (BEFORE I establish grips).
I feel solid defensively when preventing opponent's grips and establishing my
own
-needs to be repeated until the end of time, why am I gripping, if not
to attack? ATTACK the moment grips are established
-which means establishing any type of grip in the first place needs to
position me with attack options
-so while I feel like my grip fighting and footwork/movement/spacing was good,
the moment I establish grips this all goes out the window. I need to work
on the footwork/movement/spacing with grips, and intent to attack
-to reiterate, what's the point of making my opponent uncomfortable with
my grip fighting if I don't take advantage of them feeling uncomfortable? the
moment I put them in a position where they think "i don't like this" I should
be attacking while they are focused on the uncomfortable grips
-don't be fooled by their tension/resistance when I'm in a strong grips
position. attack them through this tension/resistance as they are
resisting in an uncomfortable/non-optimal position
Overall I'm proud of my performance. Despite going 0-2, upon assessment there
are things that I can work on to fix, both physical and mental, that will
help me achieve my goals. Going into the fire, coming out burnt, and jumping
back in next the time is truly a beautiful journey of growth under pressure.
Rough Training Notes