Ramblings of an old man

Was teaching some countering back escapes this week and worked arm triangle for a while which started me off on the 'old man rambling about shit' memory lane trip which also goes to prove a point about how you can always learn something about competing even if you don't lose.

People always say you learn more from a loss but I think if you are analytical, you can learn from any outcome.

Was competing in a tourney a couple of years ago and the first match was going really well for me; got the takedown, passed to side, set up the arm triangle, slid over his body and squeezed. The smell of victory was already wafting into my nasal cavities when the guy DIDN'T tap. So I squeezed harder and still NOTHING! Tried again, nothing again!

I switched to the shoulder lock and got the tap.

I subbed the next 3 guys and won a big shiny gold trophy.

Was I happy? No I was not!!

I gave the trophy to someone and went to find my first opponent to ask about the arm triangle, he said it was tight but would never have tapped to it.

So began my study of the arm triangle. I collected every resource and competition footage I could find and drilled the hell out of it. Things were going great but still something was missing.

Then I got to train with Dirty Dozen member John Will at Factory BJJ and I finally got the last piece of the puzzle so now I have an arm triangle I am fairly happy with. Btw, if you never trained with JBW then you should.

I had subbed 4 guys and won a trophy but the best part of the whole experience was the fact that something hadn't worked and gave me a mission in my Jiu Jitsu life.

Where am I going with this? Maybe that even in winning there is always something to improve.

But then again I could just be an old man rambling...............

COMBAT BASE UK OPEN MAT

To help welcome Allegiance MMA back into the Combat Base family and being open to all members of Combat Base UK we are holding an open mat session at Allegiance MMA on Sunday 27th November 2011 starting at 1:00pm.

Hopefully have representatives from our latest addition to the family, Voodoo Gym, so they can see how we do things too.

Allegiance gym is located above Brooklands Bar, Alexandra Mills, Alexandra Road (off Bradford Road) Batley WF17 6JA

There will be a few workshops on the day, Adam, Carl and Neil have all offered their services. It is a great opportunity to learn something new, meet and train with new people, all in a friendly environment.

No ego, no attitude, just a good training environment.

As we are donating the proceeds to a children's charity to try to improve someone's quality of life this Christmas, the minimum entry fee will be £5.00, if you can give a little more please do so.

Any more info email combatbase@hotmail.com