Teaching on Saturday

Saturday was a great day at the gym.  I taught class because Mike Nickels was still up in Canada (having sadly lost his fight the night before).  I wanted to go over an interlocking series that hopefully would benefit the wide range of skill levels in the beginning class.  I decided to go over the Eddie Bravo halfguard and lockdown sweeps.  I like these because half guard is easier to get than full guard, so the position comes in handy.  Many students feel that getting a full guard doesn't do them any good, so they prefer half guard.  I don't know if I'd go that far.  I definitely feel safer in full guard.  Nevertheless, half guard and lockdown offer a lot of possibilities.  What was funny is that I saved one kind of weird sweep for last.  It's called the Godfather.  After I had done the whole class, I demonstrated that as a possible option for when you are flattened out in halfguard.  I didn't think much of it, but everyone wanted to see the details and go over it more than all of the other moves.  I guess you just never know what is going to appeal to the class.  When I rolled afterwards, I was very fatigued early because I'm recovering from a cold.  What I noticed is that it made me reluctant to work from the bottom.  I guess this means I don't trust my guard as much, or I use too much energy while I'm down there.  That will be something for me to work on.  I also don't feel like I'm getting enough subs from the bottom.  Plenty of sweeps, but not subs.