Hot Pyjamas & Mad Rolls

Saturday open mat training was most excellent. Was a good group of dudes in. Slow rolled for a little bit then got in to it. Mostly no-gi but did a couple of rounds with the gi on and nearly died from over heating. My gi game is seriously lagging behind my no gi game. I find it a lot harder to play my game from the bottom, escapes are a bit more tricky. I think the gi really helps to tighten up your defences and be more efficient with leverage. It can also be very bloody frustrating. I get to certain spots that with out the gi on and I can keep flowing but with the gi on the game just slows right down and sometimes stalls out. Which to me is very boring.
I think the current gi i'm rocking isn't helping me out either. It's too big and very frickin' hot and heavy, especially after a couple of rounds in the middle of the day. I was cooking. So I'm going to grab a new gi when I can afford one. I'm thinking a vulkan ultra light or one of the new gamness airs. Only problem is that in the part of Australia that I live, it's almost impossible to get a decent gi, let alone try a few on to see how they fit and feel. So I have to get my stuff online. Which is a bit tricky working out sizes and going off reviews for how the gi performs.

Once I got the bloody wet doona off my back, I had some good rolls. The last roll I had with a fellow blue belt was the most fun I've had on the mat in ages. We flowed through stacks of transitions and kept moving all the time. I even pulled off a move I've called the Rex X Guard Pass to Darce. It involves passing the X guard by squaring off the hips then stepping over the head and switching the hips at the same time, then I dive straight in to the darce choke. Was so cool I had to try it again to make sure it was legit and it is.
Now I know that I haven't invented anything new here dudes, but I have never been shown or seen it done anywhere before, so in my mind I created it. I might even do a video of it if anyone wants to see what it looks like.
I also worked my takedowns a little bit. Worked on finishing the single leg and got some excellent tips from my coach on the stance for wrestling. I'm going to try and drill my takedowns at least once a week.
Did some work off the mat this week as well. Did two sessions under the house. Did 3sets of 12 reps of about 70kg(i think will have to check what is on the bar) with a close handed grip to mimic grappling. Then did about 10 mins of flowing around the ground bag. Working my knee rides, butterfly pass, sidecontrols and mount positions. Bit of a piss weak start but I'll expand on the routine this week.

C u on the mat,
Rex