Thursday Competition Class

Ok...I'm gonna give you guys a quick run down of a Gracie Barra Competition Class. The first big difference from regular class is the warm-up. Its a lot more intense and it varies week to week.

For example:
Run - 5 laps
Run sideways - 5 laps
Run backwards - 5 laps
Run highstepping(touching knees and heels) - 4 laps
Rolling forward - 3 laps
Rolling backwards - 3 laps
Falling sideways - 3 laps
Shrimping - 3 laps
Jumpingjacks - 50 reps
Push-ups - 20 reps
Sit-ups - 50 reps
Push-ups - 15 reps
Bicycle sit-ups - 50 reps
Push-ups - 10 reps
Leg lifts - 50 reps
Streching time

We then start class. Class is also a little different... in that there is alot more sparring. You learn some moves and then you spar with different people the rest of the class. That rotates week to week as well. Sometimes its straight sparring and other times it a round robin. This class definily tests your cardio.

The technique this week was .....Butterfly Guard !!! We learned about 3 sweeps from the butterfly position. I really enjoyed them and intergrated them into my game very quickly. As soon as we started sparring I was getting my butterfly hooks in and trying to sweep everybody!!I was successful on some occasions and other not :(

After class I got with some of my friends and we started sparring/training specifically on takedowns. I don't know how it is in other schools but I started to notice that when most people spar/roll they start from the sitting/down position. I am guilty of that as well and I found myself feeling weird/uncomfortable at tournaments because you start standing. I would just pull guard right away and not even try a takedown in tournaments. So yesterday I decided to spar/train from the standing position. It was awesome!!! I was sooooo tired after just 5 minutes of traing this way but I pushed on and really tested my cardio. I loved it!! I decided that I am going to give the stand-up/takedown training as much attention as the ground/submission training.

Alright....thats all I have for this week. Remember... train hard but have fun :)