Representing other schools in competition

[Joshua Jarboe]

[B]Okay, I'm playing Gi, and I get choked A LOT because of the collar, and I still have no idea how to deal with that. Any thoughts? Should I drop the Lockdown in the Gi?

I was having a lot of trouble with something similar when I had lockdown: dudes smashing my throat or attacking my arm. I recently saw an episode of MTS (47? 71?) which helped me deal with "smash mode.". The bottom line is that if you whip (down?) when they're in smash mode, they're probably going to have to base out to avoid getting swept. That's your opportunity to go from crappy double underhooks to perfect double underhooks. That's going to make you a lot safer from chokes.

Secondly, I don't think anybody here is going to think you're disrespectful for repping both at the same time. Ask your professor?

Lastly, I humbly suggest you find a way to not hate the gi. The gi isn't worth hating. Evil is worth hating. The Department of Motor Vehicles is worth hating. The gi is just some funky clothes and they're a bit more like what you wear every day than your MMA shorts and rashguard are right? And Marcelo trains in the gi about 50% of the time, right?

Anyway, it's hard to be good at something you hate. You fight it mentally. And when you fight it , you learn poorly, halfheartedly. Like the thing with the collar chokes: dudes are getting grips on your collar. Collar grips are kind of lame, but they are legit on the street right? So learn to defend it even if you don't focus your game on being amazing with collar chokes. If dudes have one grip on my collar, I have to tuck my chin at a minimum. Two grips? I might have to change my priorities for a bit. Whipping might not be enough: if I get the sweep and still get choked out...


...anyway, that's my white belt level advice. Hope it helps. Need to get my kids put in bed now.

Good luck!