So it's been 45 days since I've registered for the Ottawa BJJ open and it's been a crazy month and a bit.  From training in every spare moment to getting my diet in order, my life has literally done a 180.  I'm now at my fighting weight (I am in the LW division, 167.5 gi) and my game has grown by leaps and bounds.

I've been trying to make sure I roll with guys who are bigger then me in the past few weeks.  My thought was that if I can deal with a bigger, stronger guy then I should be able to hold my own against guys who are my size or smaller.  What I've found since doing that though, is that I have a giant, glaring hole in my game:  I cannot hold someone in my guard.  It's terrible.  If I don't get active in my guard, I will get passed.  It's inevitable.  The only thing I have done to try and stop that is work hard on my open guard game, which has improved by a lot.  I am comfortable with sweeps from there, but my instinct is to still work from my shitty closed guard.

My top game has gotten to be my strong point.  Remember when I said I couldn't pass the guard for the life of a me 6 weeks ago?  Well that's has changed completely.  Now I just always get stuck in half guard, but hey, it's an improvement!  My plan for Saturday is to let them pull guard on me, or for me to shoot my Chael Sonnenesque power double (and then when I finish it, whisper "You absolutely suck" into my opponent's ear) and work from the top.

I feel good about my chances in the division, but I'm keeping realistic goals.  Get through the first match with a W.  Do not get tapped.  Don't let your nerves gas you out. 

As a side note, I am going to have my matches videotapped, and will post them on BE for my own take on a Judo Chop.

Let's Mutherfuckers.