Is Not Being Able to Retain Techniques Taught at First Normal?

[Hot Lunch]

By the way BJJ does has an extraordinary amount of frustration and suck attached to it.

I think I may have experienced my first day of suck.

Last Friday was my first no-gi session, and I thought I did pretty well. I submitted a three-stripe white belt with an ankle lock that I had learned at the previous academy. I did get some live feedback on that, as I dropped back to the floor in a jerking motion while I had his ankle, instead of gradually sitting and laying back.

Later, I rolled with another guy (I don't know what belt he was, as I had never seen him in his gi - but he did tell me he'd been practicing for two years). I almost got him with the same ankle lock. Problem is, I left my leg where he could get it, and he put my leg in the same lock, so we had each other simultaneously. And... there was one little nuance that I forgot about that ankle lock. The previous guy, I just pulled really hard until he tapped. And that's what I tried to do the second guy. The nuance that I forgot was digging the bony part of the wrist into the achilles, which the other guy did to me. So although he got my ankle after I got his, he made me tap first.

All in all, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I submitted a white belt, and almost got a guy who may possibly be a blue belt or close to it.

Then there was last night, where I wasn't able to duplicate that. I came in expecting one-way rough-ups for the first year, like everyone says to. But, when you feel like you've made progress, you end up expecting to build on it at best or plateauing at worst - instead of moving backwards.

I tried that ankle lock on a blue belt a few times last night, but he knows to stand up when I do that - which means that I need to figure out what to do with my legs to keep down.

Right now, I feel more confident in no-gi than in gi (which is odd, considering that - at least in my perception - gi is the "meat and potatoes" of the art).

No worries. I still have many more techniques to learn before I'm not completely helpless.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I think I may have experienced my first day of suck.

Last Friday was my first no-gi session, and I thought I did pretty well. I submitted a three-stripe white belt with an ankle lock that I had learned at the previous academy. I did get some live feedback on that, as I dropped back to the floor in a jerking motion while I had his ankle, instead of gradually sitting and laying back.

Later, I rolled with another guy (I don't know what belt he was, as I had never seen him in his gi - but he did tell me he'd been practicing for two years). I almost got him with the same ankle lock. Problem is, I left my leg where he could get it, and he put my leg in the same lock, so we had each other simultaneously. And... there was one little nuance that I forgot about that ankle lock. The previous guy, I just pulled really hard until he tapped. And that's what I tried to do the second guy. The nuance that I forgot was digging the bony part of the wrist into the achilles, which the other guy did to me. So although he got my ankle after I got his, he made me tap first.

I was reading this whole story with a pit in my stomach, expecting a much different ending.

All in all, I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I submitted a white belt, and almost got a guy who may possibly be a blue belt or close to it.

Then there was last night, where I wasn't able to duplicate that. I came in expecting one-way rough-ups for the first year, like everyone says to. But, when you feel like you've made progress, you end up expecting to build on it at best or plateauing at worst - instead of moving backwards.

I tried that ankle lock on a blue belt a few times last night, but he knows to stand up when I do that - which means that I need to figure out what to do with my legs to keep down.

There's a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes you're getting exactly what you want, or close, and other times nothing seems to be working out - against the same person, even. It might just be a natural flow of your training, it might be the other guy working on something specific, or sometimes them purposefully letting you get something.

I wouldn't be surprised if the reason the (potential) blue belt didn't choose to escape your ankle lock was that he was confident he could get it first. And then you went against another blue belt, who didn't want to chance it, so he avoided it instead.

Now it's your job to figure out how to keep him from avoiding it, or (what'll be more effective) figure out what you can do when someone stands in the way he does, to get a different sub or position on them. So that if they don't fight you, you've got the lock, and the second you see them escaping you can use their own movements to set up your next attack.

Right now, I feel more confident in no-gi than in gi (which is odd, considering that - at least in my perception - gi is the "meat and potatoes" of the art).

I'm the opposite. I do much better with gi, but I think that's because of my judo and sambo experience.