12/29 - Downtown
Went to the normal Saturday class for 1.5hrs and then a 2hr seminar. I think I'm coming down with a cold, or my body is just tired from the past week. In any case, I'm glad there aren't any classes for the next couple of days b/c my body needs a break. I don't have cold symptoms, just tired. Hopefully a good night's rest will fix me up.
1st Session - Rolling
The regular noon class started off with pummeling and then we rolled the rest of the time. I'm not sure of the exact count, but I think I rolled with James twice, Antone twice or three times, Todd twice, Zack twice and one roll and one spider guard practice round with 'Nando. I had that feeling again that I'm not making any progress and in fact got so bent out of shape over it that I considered ditching the idea of competing altogether. The rolls went as they usually do, although I think what set me over the edge is that I felt like I was making dumb mistakes when rolling with Antone and 'Nando kept getting ezekiels that he'd put on fairly quickly. I hate feeling like a n00b. I told James after class that I felt like I wasn't progressing but he was kind and reassured me that I was doing fine. Not feeling very confident about competing just now.
'Nando showed me some tips on spider guard, how to get into it (with both sleeve grips, punch both hands up to make space for legs to come through; or straighten legs, turn to one side, keep tight pressure against their body with both of your legs as you pull one through, spread their arm out with your knee, hip to other side, bring other leg through). He also talked about control with the legs...i.e. focusing more on managing their distance by using your legs instead of your hands.
2nd Session - Seminar
By this time, I was desiring strongly for a nap. Very difficult to get the energy up to go to a 2hr seminar, even though I was excited about the topics. Inverted guard, spider guard and applying pressure.
Inverted guard turned out to be much more difficult for me to get into than I thought it would be. Once I was there I was fine, but it seemed like I had to put a great deal of pressure on my opponent to complete the rotation. In so doing, it felt like I was efforting far more than I should have been. I also tended to want to roll the wrong way. Only two options, and I often chose the wrong one. Meh.
Getting into the inverted guard: With sleeve control from guard, bring your R leg into their R arm-pit and pivot into inverted guard. This is the point where I was having trouble, and I'm not sure if it was due to distance, pressure, or incorrect place of the foot. End up with sleeve control and feet in the elbow crease of opponent.
Inverted guard to triangle: Bring one leg off of their elbow and shoot it to the other side. Roll toward the opponent's center mass. For example, if you have both of your legs on their R side, you want to roll to your R. This is also where I had some difficulty on choosing the correct side to roll.
Inverted guard to arm-bar: Same as above, but instead of shooting leg through, replace one foot with the other and rotate around into an arm-bar Also same as above, I had difficulty in picking the right direction to roll.
Z-guard: I remember the position but no idea what we did with it.
Spider guard to sweep (pushing into leg): From spider guard, drop both legs down to the ground, your L on the outside of the R leg and your R leg between their two legs. Legs should be bent, similar to coming up for a sit-up sweep. Grab their thigh with your R arm, tuck head tight to the outside of their leg and push into them. Your feet are blocking their feet (should not be pulling, but just stopping them from moving as you push back into them.
Spider guard to sweep (rolling into them): Similar set-up as above, but instead of pushing into their leg, you replace the grip on their R sleeve with your R hand, feed your L hand behind their knee and then feed their R arm sleeve to your L hand. Roll into them, gain side control.
Pendulum sweep: This was far and away my favorite. Because I understood it. From closed guard, take L hand and sleeve grip their L hand. Take R hand and put it above their elbow. Shove their arm across their body and try to lock out your triceps. Hip out a bit to the R (so you're facing L), let go of the tricep with your R hand and reach over their back and grab their R lat. Pull them down onto you. Use your L hand to grip the inside of their R knee, and pendulum your R leg around. You should pull them over your body to the R.
Side control pressure: Arm under the opponent, shoulder to the carotid.
James talked quite a bit about scooping up onto an opponent when getting into side control. Instead of getting side-control and coming over the top to flatten them, get you hips low and scoop them from low to high while moving across their body.
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
Spider Guard
12/28 - Downtown
Had a guest instructor go over spider guard. Some of it felt very boss, and some of it felt very awkward and I never quite felt like I got it. Got a couple of good tips during the rolls, including a triangle that 'Nando was telling me about earlier in the week. It's a good thing I take notes immediately after class, b/c even as I was sitting on the mat cooling down, I had a difficult time remembering the techniques. Mind like a steel trap.
He had us do yoga stretches as part of a cool down after the rolls which felt awesome. He's doing a 2hr seminar tomorrow with more spider guard work. This is in addition to the normal hour and a half Saturday class. I'm going to be wiped tomorrow night. Perfect way to start a four day weekend.
General spider guard tips:
2. Spider Guard Sweep w/ Lasso (Opponent is seated in your guard): From feet on hips and both sleeves controlled, slide R leg to the outside of their L forearm and then inside their bicep and under their armpit (lasso). Bring L knee across their hips (pointing to your L I think), grip the fabric of their pants on the outside of their R knee and get on your L shoulder like you're going to take them to your L. When they push back into you to get you back on your back (to your R), pull them onto you and over to your R side. You should land with a possible bicep cutter and/or KOB.
3. Spider Guard Sweep w/ Lasso (Opponent stands): Obtain lasso (#2). If opponent stands, break their grip on your L knee if they have it (tuck L forearm behind their wrist and kick forward w/ your L leg). Bring your R foot around the outside of their L leg and hook under their thigh. Grip the hem of their pants on R leg, L foot on their R hip and bring them into you and over to your R side. You should end up either in mount or side-control. My transition out of this one was a little weird each time. You should try to stay squared up to them as much as possible. This position becomes pretty uncomfortable for the opponent.
We did another technique that ended in an arm-bar that I didn't get at all. Way too many moving pieces for me to comprehend.
Positional Sparring: Two 5min rounds of spider guard pass/sweep. James M. gave me a good tip...if I am trying to do a standing pass and am pushing down on their knees/legs, I need to get my inside knee next to theirs to prevent them from re-guarding. For example, I'm standing and have a grips on their legs and am pushing them to floor and attempting to pass to the L. As I'm clearing their legs, I need to get my R knee next to their R knee and push in.
Rolled with 'Nando and Antone. Antone got me a couple of times. I really focused on facing my opponent as much as possible and scrambling. Felt better with my scrambles today, although in the earlier positional sparring I was getting a little tired.
Notes:
Had a guest instructor go over spider guard. Some of it felt very boss, and some of it felt very awkward and I never quite felt like I got it. Got a couple of good tips during the rolls, including a triangle that 'Nando was telling me about earlier in the week. It's a good thing I take notes immediately after class, b/c even as I was sitting on the mat cooling down, I had a difficult time remembering the techniques. Mind like a steel trap.
He had us do yoga stretches as part of a cool down after the rolls which felt awesome. He's doing a 2hr seminar tomorrow with more spider guard work. This is in addition to the normal hour and a half Saturday class. I'm going to be wiped tomorrow night. Perfect way to start a four day weekend.
General spider guard tips:
- Always keep tension by pushing with feet and pulling hands. Do not allow slack.
- When putting a foot on their bicep, don't put it on the meat of the muscle, but aim more for the crease of the elbow.
2. Spider Guard Sweep w/ Lasso (Opponent is seated in your guard): From feet on hips and both sleeves controlled, slide R leg to the outside of their L forearm and then inside their bicep and under their armpit (lasso). Bring L knee across their hips (pointing to your L I think), grip the fabric of their pants on the outside of their R knee and get on your L shoulder like you're going to take them to your L. When they push back into you to get you back on your back (to your R), pull them onto you and over to your R side. You should land with a possible bicep cutter and/or KOB.
3. Spider Guard Sweep w/ Lasso (Opponent stands): Obtain lasso (#2). If opponent stands, break their grip on your L knee if they have it (tuck L forearm behind their wrist and kick forward w/ your L leg). Bring your R foot around the outside of their L leg and hook under their thigh. Grip the hem of their pants on R leg, L foot on their R hip and bring them into you and over to your R side. You should end up either in mount or side-control. My transition out of this one was a little weird each time. You should try to stay squared up to them as much as possible. This position becomes pretty uncomfortable for the opponent.
We did another technique that ended in an arm-bar that I didn't get at all. Way too many moving pieces for me to comprehend.
Positional Sparring: Two 5min rounds of spider guard pass/sweep. James M. gave me a good tip...if I am trying to do a standing pass and am pushing down on their knees/legs, I need to get my inside knee next to theirs to prevent them from re-guarding. For example, I'm standing and have a grips on their legs and am pushing them to floor and attempting to pass to the L. As I'm clearing their legs, I need to get my R knee next to their R knee and push in.
Rolled with 'Nando and Antone. Antone got me a couple of times. I really focused on facing my opponent as much as possible and scrambling. Felt better with my scrambles today, although in the earlier positional sparring I was getting a little tired.
Notes:
- I'm leaving my neck exposed when mounted (i.e. head tipped back). Don't do that. Tuck the chin. So basic!
- If I have someone in my half guard but my back is well off the mat, look to take their back by controlling the sleeve that is closest to my body and scooting behind them.
- If trouble locking in a triangle, shoot a hand under your leg, grip their opposite side lapel as high as you can and straighten your legs and hip up a bit. More important to try to straighten legs than to hip up.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
S-Mount
12/26 - Downtown (Evening)
Second class of the day. Felt like I had decent energy. Worked out well, b/c it was a rather sedate class with lower ranking belts. It feels very weird when I'm the highest belted student. Especially when I don't dominate the lower belts like I think I should. I'm placing very high expectations on myself of late, and need to back off.
We worked on S-mount...achieving it from mount, arm-bars while maintaining S-mount and then how to break an opponent's grip if you move to the traditional arm-bar but they have their hands locked together.
1. Moving to s-mount: If opponent has forearms covering their face, push their tricep to the side and slide knee up past their head. Not level with their head. Past their head. Bring other leg across. If you can't push their arm across, try getting your hands under their biceps and walking your hands up toward their head and beyond, which will pull their arms up. Must keep contact with the mat the entire time with your hand.
2. Arm-bar from s-mount: If you have S-mount with your L knee on their R side and they are gripping their L bicep with their R hand to protect from arm-bar, slide your L arm under their R forearm and cup the outside of your thigh. Post toward their L hip with your R hand, bring your L shin across their face and ensure their face is angled to their L. Push down on your L shin and pull back with your L hand. This should pop their arm loose. Slide your L arm up, grip your R lapel and hip into their arm.
3. Same as above, but if you can't break their grip, use two hands to pull their R arm up, pinch their wrist to the R side of your neck and shoulder, use the base of your thumb to rotate their elbow to the L and arm-bar. If they pull away or you don't get it, you can get an americana by gripping their wrist with your L hand, grip your L wrist with your R and pull their elbow toward their body as you apply the lock.
4. Arm-bar from mount: Assuming you've fallen back for the arm-bar and they are defending with the hand on bicep. To keep them from rolling you up, keep the leg that is closest to their hips (in this case, the R) crossed over the L (if you decide to cross your legs). Slide your L arm through their R arm so that your R is free to post (if they try to dump you, it's going to be to your R). You can post the R and explosively twist your entire torso to the R to try to free the arm. If that doesn't work, relax a bit, and if/when they relax, punch their L elbow to their L, which should free the R. You can also work in an americana type grip that is impossible to explain, but very effective.
Rolled with Sara twice, did well the first time and only ok the next time. Rolled with Sonny, a white belt kid who explodes into transitions well. I didn't get top position much at all with him. Rolled with Olag (sp?), a new guy who was trying out a class. I think he had a fair amount of no gi experience. Not sure how much, but he really knew how to apply pressure but not so much with the submissions. Not pleased with my guard work AT ALL with these guys, with the exception of trying to keep my hips more square to my opponent. Meh.
Tomorrow is a new day...
Second class of the day. Felt like I had decent energy. Worked out well, b/c it was a rather sedate class with lower ranking belts. It feels very weird when I'm the highest belted student. Especially when I don't dominate the lower belts like I think I should. I'm placing very high expectations on myself of late, and need to back off.
We worked on S-mount...achieving it from mount, arm-bars while maintaining S-mount and then how to break an opponent's grip if you move to the traditional arm-bar but they have their hands locked together.
1. Moving to s-mount: If opponent has forearms covering their face, push their tricep to the side and slide knee up past their head. Not level with their head. Past their head. Bring other leg across. If you can't push their arm across, try getting your hands under their biceps and walking your hands up toward their head and beyond, which will pull their arms up. Must keep contact with the mat the entire time with your hand.
2. Arm-bar from s-mount: If you have S-mount with your L knee on their R side and they are gripping their L bicep with their R hand to protect from arm-bar, slide your L arm under their R forearm and cup the outside of your thigh. Post toward their L hip with your R hand, bring your L shin across their face and ensure their face is angled to their L. Push down on your L shin and pull back with your L hand. This should pop their arm loose. Slide your L arm up, grip your R lapel and hip into their arm.
3. Same as above, but if you can't break their grip, use two hands to pull their R arm up, pinch their wrist to the R side of your neck and shoulder, use the base of your thumb to rotate their elbow to the L and arm-bar. If they pull away or you don't get it, you can get an americana by gripping their wrist with your L hand, grip your L wrist with your R and pull their elbow toward their body as you apply the lock.
4. Arm-bar from mount: Assuming you've fallen back for the arm-bar and they are defending with the hand on bicep. To keep them from rolling you up, keep the leg that is closest to their hips (in this case, the R) crossed over the L (if you decide to cross your legs). Slide your L arm through their R arm so that your R is free to post (if they try to dump you, it's going to be to your R). You can post the R and explosively twist your entire torso to the R to try to free the arm. If that doesn't work, relax a bit, and if/when they relax, punch their L elbow to their L, which should free the R. You can also work in an americana type grip that is impossible to explain, but very effective.
Rolled with Sara twice, did well the first time and only ok the next time. Rolled with Sonny, a white belt kid who explodes into transitions well. I didn't get top position much at all with him. Rolled with Olag (sp?), a new guy who was trying out a class. I think he had a fair amount of no gi experience. Not sure how much, but he really knew how to apply pressure but not so much with the submissions. Not pleased with my guard work AT ALL with these guys, with the exception of trying to keep my hips more square to my opponent. Meh.
Tomorrow is a new day...
Double-Under Passes
12/26 - Downtown
BJJ felt much better today. I was back to my calm, zen-like self.
We worked double-under passes.
Set-up: You have a double-under grip on your opponent. Hands are gable-gripped together, elbows in tight (not flared out), down low on their hips and you've pulled them onto your lap.
1. Sprawl legs back as you push forward into them, feed their R lapel in your R hand, push down and out on their R leg with your fingers on the outside (making life very uncomfortable for them). Take two good sized steps to the R (rotate lower body mostly), take their L knee to their head and turn your head to let it pass.
2. Let go of your gable-grip and grip their lapels at mid-stomach, pull into you, then shrug them over your R shoulder. Maintain the grip on their lapels, although you may want to let some of it feed out as they roll over into a turtle position. Your arms will be somewhat crossed. Slide your R knee alongside their R leg and use your grip on the lapels to pull them back into you for back mount. Work hooks in.
3. Same as #2, but if they swing back across to re-guard, duck under and put your chin on their stomach to gain side-control. Maintain grip on lapels to control them from turning away or turning into you.
4. If they defend the double-under by getting an underhook on one of your arms, cup their thigh as they start to work your arm out and shove it under you as your bring your knee over theirs into half guard.
Rolled with Blaine and think I legitimately got to side-control. Manny passed my guard a billion times. Jayson was taking it easy on me for the first part of the roll at least. James M. was up from OR and his technique was awesome. He's doing a seminar on Saturday and I'm hoping he can help me with my top pressure. I almost had a reversal on James W. but couldn't quite pull it off. He commented again on how I'm just giving up positions (specifically today on being swept). Really need to work on that.
BJJ felt much better today. I was back to my calm, zen-like self.
We worked double-under passes.
Set-up: You have a double-under grip on your opponent. Hands are gable-gripped together, elbows in tight (not flared out), down low on their hips and you've pulled them onto your lap.
1. Sprawl legs back as you push forward into them, feed their R lapel in your R hand, push down and out on their R leg with your fingers on the outside (making life very uncomfortable for them). Take two good sized steps to the R (rotate lower body mostly), take their L knee to their head and turn your head to let it pass.
2. Let go of your gable-grip and grip their lapels at mid-stomach, pull into you, then shrug them over your R shoulder. Maintain the grip on their lapels, although you may want to let some of it feed out as they roll over into a turtle position. Your arms will be somewhat crossed. Slide your R knee alongside their R leg and use your grip on the lapels to pull them back into you for back mount. Work hooks in.
3. Same as #2, but if they swing back across to re-guard, duck under and put your chin on their stomach to gain side-control. Maintain grip on lapels to control them from turning away or turning into you.
4. If they defend the double-under by getting an underhook on one of your arms, cup their thigh as they start to work your arm out and shove it under you as your bring your knee over theirs into half guard.
Rolled with Blaine and think I legitimately got to side-control. Manny passed my guard a billion times. Jayson was taking it easy on me for the first part of the roll at least. James M. was up from OR and his technique was awesome. He's doing a seminar on Saturday and I'm hoping he can help me with my top pressure. I almost had a reversal on James W. but couldn't quite pull it off. He commented again on how I'm just giving up positions (specifically today on being swept). Really need to work on that.
Monday, December 24, 2012
Week in Review
So....this week started off well, but had an emotional slide towards the end. Not sure if there's anything specific to attribute it to, other than general malaise and excessive expectations. Physically I felt fine, so it's pretty clear that it was all in my head. Working toward big goals is beneficial for motivation but it can also lead to troublesome expectations.
Fortunately, I've been doing this long enough to know that I just need to get back on the mat. There are peaks and valleys, as with any extensive endeavor in which you've invested time and emotion. My expectations have probably be surging ahead of reality b/c of the Pan Ams and b/c I've doubled my training over the past month and a half. I expect that with twice the training time I'd be getting better twice as fast, but a month and a half isn't that long. Also, the guys I'm training with are also improving along that time-frame, so it's difficult to judge progress (a constant issue in BJJ among many long-time practitioners). The holidays came at a good time, as having three days off now is probably exactly what I need to get some perspective.
One of the most important tips I got of out of this week was to not expose my back to my opponent. It's a basic principle of jiu-jitsu, but sometimes you get so focused on the details and minutiae that the fundamentals suffer. On the rare occasions when I do have top position, I need to make a concerted effort to ensure I am eliminating space. When passing, I need to have my hips facing my opponent as much as possible. I noticed frequently when I'm in bottom side that I'm turning my back, which is a big no-no. The only reason I've been able to get away with this is that the guys haven't capitalized, but I cannot get into that habit. Ditto for bottom mount. I need to work escapes like knee-to-elbow while keeping my back close to the mat (instead of rolling up on my side).
Happy Holidays!
Fortunately, I've been doing this long enough to know that I just need to get back on the mat. There are peaks and valleys, as with any extensive endeavor in which you've invested time and emotion. My expectations have probably be surging ahead of reality b/c of the Pan Ams and b/c I've doubled my training over the past month and a half. I expect that with twice the training time I'd be getting better twice as fast, but a month and a half isn't that long. Also, the guys I'm training with are also improving along that time-frame, so it's difficult to judge progress (a constant issue in BJJ among many long-time practitioners). The holidays came at a good time, as having three days off now is probably exactly what I need to get some perspective.
One of the most important tips I got of out of this week was to not expose my back to my opponent. It's a basic principle of jiu-jitsu, but sometimes you get so focused on the details and minutiae that the fundamentals suffer. On the rare occasions when I do have top position, I need to make a concerted effort to ensure I am eliminating space. When passing, I need to have my hips facing my opponent as much as possible. I noticed frequently when I'm in bottom side that I'm turning my back, which is a big no-no. The only reason I've been able to get away with this is that the guys haven't capitalized, but I cannot get into that habit. Ditto for bottom mount. I need to work escapes like knee-to-elbow while keeping my back close to the mat (instead of rolling up on my side).
Happy Holidays!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Side Control Subs
12/22 - Downtown
More with the fairly complex techniques. This time, subs from side-control. Isolate and control opponent's near arm, loosen their gi jacket if it isn't already, pull the bottom under their arm, knee on chest. Can cross choke or head-and-arm choke. Also an arm-bar variation.
I did ok with the techniques, but it didn't feel like anything I would ever try unless I had repped it another 20-30 times. Just isolating the near arm required quite a few steps, all of which need to be done while staying tight to your opponent.
Rolled first with Russ, which went ok. Rolled with Antone, who got me with a gi choke using his gi. Totally took me by surprise. Roll with Manny and I didn't feel like I could put anything together and was just getting crushed. Roll with Wayne went terrible, he was much more active, scrambled very well and put a lot of pressure on from the top. Felt like a total n00b. Wanted to quit after that, but ended up with a last roll with Joe. Did ok with him, but he passed my guard too. Blah. Felt like utter crap for most of the rolls, unable to do anything. Had one of those moments where I was tired of being on the bottom and being crushed all of the time.
James had a nice talk with us after the rolls with a brief retrospective over the past three years. He's come a long ways, the team chemistry is good and we're in an awesome new space.
That was a much better note to end on than my terrible rolls. I'm glad to have at least three days off to get my head together. I think my expectations from training more may be outpacing my ability.
More with the fairly complex techniques. This time, subs from side-control. Isolate and control opponent's near arm, loosen their gi jacket if it isn't already, pull the bottom under their arm, knee on chest. Can cross choke or head-and-arm choke. Also an arm-bar variation.
I did ok with the techniques, but it didn't feel like anything I would ever try unless I had repped it another 20-30 times. Just isolating the near arm required quite a few steps, all of which need to be done while staying tight to your opponent.
Rolled first with Russ, which went ok. Rolled with Antone, who got me with a gi choke using his gi. Totally took me by surprise. Roll with Manny and I didn't feel like I could put anything together and was just getting crushed. Roll with Wayne went terrible, he was much more active, scrambled very well and put a lot of pressure on from the top. Felt like a total n00b. Wanted to quit after that, but ended up with a last roll with Joe. Did ok with him, but he passed my guard too. Blah. Felt like utter crap for most of the rolls, unable to do anything. Had one of those moments where I was tired of being on the bottom and being crushed all of the time.
James had a nice talk with us after the rolls with a brief retrospective over the past three years. He's come a long ways, the team chemistry is good and we're in an awesome new space.
That was a much better note to end on than my terrible rolls. I'm glad to have at least three days off to get my head together. I think my expectations from training more may be outpacing my ability.
Friday, December 21, 2012
Sweeps
12/21 - Downtown
We worked sweeps, but I honestly couldn't recall one of the techniques. They were fairly advanced in that they started from DLR or something similar. One of them I really struggled with and never got quite right. I was happy to take them in for today, but not something I'm going to try to incorporate in my game for awhile.
Rolled with Antone, Wayne, Jayson, James and Dennis. Felt like a n00b for the vast majority of the time. I literally gave Dennis my foot three times to get ankle-locked. All in a row. Seriously. I have no idea what was wrong with my brain today, but it was not functioning. I do feel like I'm improving in my rolls with Antone. I tried (briefly) to not end up in bottom side or mount of Jayson but that didn't last too long.
In my roll with James, he said that during my passes and when I'm on the bottom I have a habit of turning my back. Very much not ok. I find especially when I'm in the midst of a pass that I compensate my weight distribution by kicking out to one side instead of crowding my opponent. Along with doing that, I'm turning away from my opponent. Need to make an effort to stop doing that. Ditto for when I'm in bottom side or bottom mount. I need to get away from the idea that being on my side is better than facing my opponent. I can be working to get my knee and elbow together without giving up my back.
Worked with the team to move the gym to a new location. Very excited!
We worked sweeps, but I honestly couldn't recall one of the techniques. They were fairly advanced in that they started from DLR or something similar. One of them I really struggled with and never got quite right. I was happy to take them in for today, but not something I'm going to try to incorporate in my game for awhile.
Rolled with Antone, Wayne, Jayson, James and Dennis. Felt like a n00b for the vast majority of the time. I literally gave Dennis my foot three times to get ankle-locked. All in a row. Seriously. I have no idea what was wrong with my brain today, but it was not functioning. I do feel like I'm improving in my rolls with Antone. I tried (briefly) to not end up in bottom side or mount of Jayson but that didn't last too long.
In my roll with James, he said that during my passes and when I'm on the bottom I have a habit of turning my back. Very much not ok. I find especially when I'm in the midst of a pass that I compensate my weight distribution by kicking out to one side instead of crowding my opponent. Along with doing that, I'm turning away from my opponent. Need to make an effort to stop doing that. Ditto for when I'm in bottom side or bottom mount. I need to get away from the idea that being on my side is better than facing my opponent. I can be working to get my knee and elbow together without giving up my back.
Worked with the team to move the gym to a new location. Very excited!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Passing Butterfly Guard
12/19 - Downtown
After class, I headed back to work and realized that I felt quite peaceful. I wasn't particularly agitated before class. But afterwards, I felt a sense of great calm after absorbing something in addition to the hard rolls.
This is something that I enjoy about BJJ that I don't often consciously recognize...the trifecta of physical fatigue, mental stimulus and emotional release. Having a 200+lb dude drop his weight onto the side of your 150lb frame as he passes to side control puts the rest of your life into perspective. I don't think of much external to BJJ when I'm in class, and I absolutely don't think about anything other than the inches in front me during rolls. Especially rolls with bigger, more advanced players.
Technique
Set-up: You are in opponent's butterfly guard
1. Knees together - With L hand, grip outside of their R knee and push it into their L, collapsing them together. Bring R arm under their knees to your elbow and hold them tight. If/When opponent stops flailing about, grip the outside of their upper R arm with your L hand and step your R leg out to your side. Spin them toward you by pulling on the arm with your R and pulling their legs away from you with your L. Should end up in side-control.
2. Separate knees - In this case, you may be attempting #1 but opponent is keeping their knees apart, preventing the pass. Shift your L hand to the inside of their R knee, and slide your R hand under their L knee. Pin their R knee to the mat and lean your shoulder into the side of their upper L leg. You should be on your toes and all of your weight on their leg. They will probably be posted up on their R hand/elbow, so use your L hand to sleeve grip and pull their base away. Drive your head into their L shoulder, step over to your L and pass. I kept trying to control the bottom leg with my R hand, but James said the top leg would give you better bang for the buck since they would likely be trying to regain guard.
3. Double-under - Assuming you've gone for one of those and they've hipped out, come into them, push head into their torso to rock them back as you pick up both ankles. Goal is to get their momentum going backward and give you a chance to get under their legs. Shoot for the double-under, keeping arms very low on their hips and elbows in tight (not flared out). Assuming you're kneeling, bring their butt up on your knees to make the pass more effective. Drive into them, and feed their R lapel with your L hand into your R hand. Once you've got them good and stacked, use your L hand to separate their R leg and push it down and away. Must make sure that your fingers are on the outside of their leg to prevent triangles and other nasty things. You should be sprawled out...rotate two good-sized steps to the R and turn your face away from them to leg their L leg pass.
4. Double-under and they defend - Assuming you go for the double-under and they get an underhook with their L hand and are cross-facing you with their R in an attempt to pry your R arm out. Once you feel their L leg is near the floor, hop over it with your R knee and pinch your R & L knees together. Also make sure that your knee is in front of their knee, otherwise it will be easier for them to reguard. Their knee cannot be between you and them. If you then fall to your R side and then slide up toward their chest, you should be in side-control. I might be missing something here.
Rolls
Rolled with: Antone, Russ, Jayson, Joe, James
I managed to not get submitted by Antone (tho it was a close call). He damn near got my arm a couple of times but I was very cognizant to get it back. He had a choke once or twice that was close too.
Jayson crushed me almost the entire roll, and I considered tapping due to the crush. At one point I very audibly let out some air and a groan as he stacked me and moved into side-control.
Had a good roll with Russ, and even though he was on top most of the time, I did have one escape/pass that was awesome. I'm not even sure what I did, but I distinctly remember using his momentum and balance to reverse him. I very rarely get the feeling that I'm using someone's momentum to my advantage (other than submissions from guard), so that was gratifying.
Joe is very new, and instead of letting him work, I either worked subs from guard or swept him and worked subs from mount. Got the fog choke, which I haven't done in forever but was still pretty effective. Should let him work more...just don't want to get in bottom side b/c I'm always in bottom side. Or bottom mount. Meh.
Rolled with James, don't remember much about it except that I did try harder to scramble instead of giving up bad positions. I need to do this with all of my rolling partners, but it takes quite a bit of energy and I don't think I have the cardio to do that yet. Need to get it ingrained fast though.
Overall, great class. Unrelated, I'm quite happy that I was able to remember so much close to 12hrs later. I took a few hasty notes during class, but my at least my retention appears to be improved this week from last.
After class, I headed back to work and realized that I felt quite peaceful. I wasn't particularly agitated before class. But afterwards, I felt a sense of great calm after absorbing something in addition to the hard rolls.
This is something that I enjoy about BJJ that I don't often consciously recognize...the trifecta of physical fatigue, mental stimulus and emotional release. Having a 200+lb dude drop his weight onto the side of your 150lb frame as he passes to side control puts the rest of your life into perspective. I don't think of much external to BJJ when I'm in class, and I absolutely don't think about anything other than the inches in front me during rolls. Especially rolls with bigger, more advanced players.
Technique
Set-up: You are in opponent's butterfly guard
1. Knees together - With L hand, grip outside of their R knee and push it into their L, collapsing them together. Bring R arm under their knees to your elbow and hold them tight. If/When opponent stops flailing about, grip the outside of their upper R arm with your L hand and step your R leg out to your side. Spin them toward you by pulling on the arm with your R and pulling their legs away from you with your L. Should end up in side-control.
2. Separate knees - In this case, you may be attempting #1 but opponent is keeping their knees apart, preventing the pass. Shift your L hand to the inside of their R knee, and slide your R hand under their L knee. Pin their R knee to the mat and lean your shoulder into the side of their upper L leg. You should be on your toes and all of your weight on their leg. They will probably be posted up on their R hand/elbow, so use your L hand to sleeve grip and pull their base away. Drive your head into their L shoulder, step over to your L and pass. I kept trying to control the bottom leg with my R hand, but James said the top leg would give you better bang for the buck since they would likely be trying to regain guard.
3. Double-under - Assuming you've gone for one of those and they've hipped out, come into them, push head into their torso to rock them back as you pick up both ankles. Goal is to get their momentum going backward and give you a chance to get under their legs. Shoot for the double-under, keeping arms very low on their hips and elbows in tight (not flared out). Assuming you're kneeling, bring their butt up on your knees to make the pass more effective. Drive into them, and feed their R lapel with your L hand into your R hand. Once you've got them good and stacked, use your L hand to separate their R leg and push it down and away. Must make sure that your fingers are on the outside of their leg to prevent triangles and other nasty things. You should be sprawled out...rotate two good-sized steps to the R and turn your face away from them to leg their L leg pass.
4. Double-under and they defend - Assuming you go for the double-under and they get an underhook with their L hand and are cross-facing you with their R in an attempt to pry your R arm out. Once you feel their L leg is near the floor, hop over it with your R knee and pinch your R & L knees together. Also make sure that your knee is in front of their knee, otherwise it will be easier for them to reguard. Their knee cannot be between you and them. If you then fall to your R side and then slide up toward their chest, you should be in side-control. I might be missing something here.
Rolls
Rolled with: Antone, Russ, Jayson, Joe, James
I managed to not get submitted by Antone (tho it was a close call). He damn near got my arm a couple of times but I was very cognizant to get it back. He had a choke once or twice that was close too.
Jayson crushed me almost the entire roll, and I considered tapping due to the crush. At one point I very audibly let out some air and a groan as he stacked me and moved into side-control.
Had a good roll with Russ, and even though he was on top most of the time, I did have one escape/pass that was awesome. I'm not even sure what I did, but I distinctly remember using his momentum and balance to reverse him. I very rarely get the feeling that I'm using someone's momentum to my advantage (other than submissions from guard), so that was gratifying.
Joe is very new, and instead of letting him work, I either worked subs from guard or swept him and worked subs from mount. Got the fog choke, which I haven't done in forever but was still pretty effective. Should let him work more...just don't want to get in bottom side b/c I'm always in bottom side. Or bottom mount. Meh.
Rolled with James, don't remember much about it except that I did try harder to scramble instead of giving up bad positions. I need to do this with all of my rolling partners, but it takes quite a bit of energy and I don't think I have the cardio to do that yet. Need to get it ingrained fast though.
Overall, great class. Unrelated, I'm quite happy that I was able to remember so much close to 12hrs later. I took a few hasty notes during class, but my at least my retention appears to be improved this week from last.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Sweeps - Kneeling and Standing
12/18 - Valley
A full hour of sweeps, nothing I haven't seen a couple of times before. I'm not proficient at all of them by any stretch, but didn't see anything today of special note. Good to drill them repeatedly and hopefully develop muscle memory. Since guard is my preferred position, it would really help to be good at sweeps. Went over double-ankle, handstand, balloon (by far my least favorite...any time I'm taking my opponent over my head I am not thrilled), star (standing and seated). Push sweep, hook sweep (their knee is up) and arm-in sweep.
No rolling and not an especially strenuous class. Really focused on details.
A full hour of sweeps, nothing I haven't seen a couple of times before. I'm not proficient at all of them by any stretch, but didn't see anything today of special note. Good to drill them repeatedly and hopefully develop muscle memory. Since guard is my preferred position, it would really help to be good at sweeps. Went over double-ankle, handstand, balloon (by far my least favorite...any time I'm taking my opponent over my head I am not thrilled), star (standing and seated). Push sweep, hook sweep (their knee is up) and arm-in sweep.
No rolling and not an especially strenuous class. Really focused on details.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Week In Review
I don't remember anything especially significant or high level from last week. I feel like I keep making the same mistakes over and over with Antone when we roll. However, it also seems like I'm being submitted less, so there must be some progress made.
James gave me the school patch to put on my gi. I asked him at least twice if my gi would pass IBJJF muster. I feel good about the top, but the pants come a ways up on my ankles. The problem with longer pants is being able to keep them on my waist. I need A3 pants and an A2 (or even A1 waist). Terrible plight, being long and lean.
I think I made it to side-control on non-fresh white belts twice last week. Modest progress. A couple of guys said that I had strong hooks in back-mount, which is great if I ever get there on someone. :)
Attended five classes, which is right where I wanted to be. Body feels pretty good. Hard to get in 4 lifting sessions a week with five BJJ classes. Hmpf.
Kneeling and Standing Guard Passing
12/17 - Downtown
Guard passes today, good stuff (as always). James got a nice cut on his forehead while rolling with one of the guys, looked like he'd been in a car wreck.
We started off with a DLR warm-up (spinning on your back between partner's legs). This was the second or third time that I've done it, and I finally didn't look like a complete idiot while I was doing it. Antone was my partner and went first, and when I was watching him I was trying to look at the big picture of what he was accomplishing instead of (R hand here, R leg through, L leg through.....). That approach seemed to work much better for me.
1. Kneeling guard pass - Closed guard
Grip their L lapel with your R hand and drive it into their L armpit. This is preferred to driving into their chest, as it's more difficult to get wrist-locked if you are off to the side of their chest. Posture up, get your thighs almost vertical while maintaining a good base. L hand to the inside of their knee and push down as you drop down. Thighs need to be vertical so you aren't trying to push their leg down into your own thigh. Once you break their guard, pass L knee over their thigh and bring your R foot to hook on the outside of their L shin. This should prevent them from moving into a deep half guard. Either step over, or slide other knee through to side control.
2. Standing guard pass
Grip their L lapel with your R hand, drive into them. L hand can come briefly onto their torso or the mat as you pop up on both legs simultaneously. Immediately shoot your L hand behind you and hook it behind their R leg and sweep it forward and to the R of you. Head should be up, good posture, and hips should be crowding them forward. Crowd, crowd, crowd! Drive into them with your hips (not your chest!). Should be dropping down and moving forward. Keep crowding down on them and pass to the side. I think you should have a hook under their L leg as you make the pass. Might be able to pin their L arm to the mat if you bring your R leg around in time.
Note: You need to keep your grip on their lapel until you are passing their leg in front of you, otherwise they will probably sweep you. It gives you a few seconds to pass their leg.
3. Defense if they sweep you from standing guard
So if you're attempting the above pass and they dump you, do not leave your arm fully extended on their chest, otherwise you'll get arm-bar'd. Bend your arm and slide your hand down their lapel to their stomach. Keep your elbow to the inside of their thigh and sneak your L leg out from under their R leg. Try to get your R leg up and get your elbow inside of that too. Push into their stomach, but do not extend as you move back and try to get a neutral position.
4. Arm-bar from back-mount (Julio)
Julio schooled me on this at the end of our roll. Swing R leg to the L side of their body, trap their R arm and armbar. So easy. I'm sure there's more to the set-up than that, but that's the best I could gather through his mouth guard.
We started our rolls off with the lower ranking belt taking the back of the higher ranked belt.
Rolled with Antone...I was doing a fairly good job of keeping my arms in and then he snaggled one towards the end of the roll and got me with some sort of choke. I had decent transitions with him today, tried to stay out of the worst trouble.
Julio made me work hard, especially in the beginning. Scrambled a bit, he had top position the entire time.
Manny was a good roll, he baited me to get my arm trapped and I obliged him. Dang it.
Got into a funky position with Matt where I almost took his back, but my foot was an inch too long to get in as a hook. We were suspended in the position for a bit (I was pretty much on my head) while he tried to fight off the hook and I kept fighting to get it in. He won and I think he ended up in side control.
Rolled with another guy who's name I don't know...we're both 1 stripe blues, and we seemed pretty evenly matched, although I think he had superior position for at least the first half of the roll. Toward the end I gained side-control, which always seems like a major victory to me.
Guard passes today, good stuff (as always). James got a nice cut on his forehead while rolling with one of the guys, looked like he'd been in a car wreck.
We started off with a DLR warm-up (spinning on your back between partner's legs). This was the second or third time that I've done it, and I finally didn't look like a complete idiot while I was doing it. Antone was my partner and went first, and when I was watching him I was trying to look at the big picture of what he was accomplishing instead of (R hand here, R leg through, L leg through.....). That approach seemed to work much better for me.
1. Kneeling guard pass - Closed guard
Grip their L lapel with your R hand and drive it into their L armpit. This is preferred to driving into their chest, as it's more difficult to get wrist-locked if you are off to the side of their chest. Posture up, get your thighs almost vertical while maintaining a good base. L hand to the inside of their knee and push down as you drop down. Thighs need to be vertical so you aren't trying to push their leg down into your own thigh. Once you break their guard, pass L knee over their thigh and bring your R foot to hook on the outside of their L shin. This should prevent them from moving into a deep half guard. Either step over, or slide other knee through to side control.
2. Standing guard pass
Grip their L lapel with your R hand, drive into them. L hand can come briefly onto their torso or the mat as you pop up on both legs simultaneously. Immediately shoot your L hand behind you and hook it behind their R leg and sweep it forward and to the R of you. Head should be up, good posture, and hips should be crowding them forward. Crowd, crowd, crowd! Drive into them with your hips (not your chest!). Should be dropping down and moving forward. Keep crowding down on them and pass to the side. I think you should have a hook under their L leg as you make the pass. Might be able to pin their L arm to the mat if you bring your R leg around in time.
Note: You need to keep your grip on their lapel until you are passing their leg in front of you, otherwise they will probably sweep you. It gives you a few seconds to pass their leg.
3. Defense if they sweep you from standing guard
So if you're attempting the above pass and they dump you, do not leave your arm fully extended on their chest, otherwise you'll get arm-bar'd. Bend your arm and slide your hand down their lapel to their stomach. Keep your elbow to the inside of their thigh and sneak your L leg out from under their R leg. Try to get your R leg up and get your elbow inside of that too. Push into their stomach, but do not extend as you move back and try to get a neutral position.
4. Arm-bar from back-mount (Julio)
Julio schooled me on this at the end of our roll. Swing R leg to the L side of their body, trap their R arm and armbar. So easy. I'm sure there's more to the set-up than that, but that's the best I could gather through his mouth guard.
We started our rolls off with the lower ranking belt taking the back of the higher ranked belt.
Rolled with Antone...I was doing a fairly good job of keeping my arms in and then he snaggled one towards the end of the roll and got me with some sort of choke. I had decent transitions with him today, tried to stay out of the worst trouble.
Julio made me work hard, especially in the beginning. Scrambled a bit, he had top position the entire time.
Manny was a good roll, he baited me to get my arm trapped and I obliged him. Dang it.
Got into a funky position with Matt where I almost took his back, but my foot was an inch too long to get in as a hook. We were suspended in the position for a bit (I was pretty much on my head) while he tried to fight off the hook and I kept fighting to get it in. He won and I think he ended up in side control.
Rolled with another guy who's name I don't know...we're both 1 stripe blues, and we seemed pretty evenly matched, although I think he had superior position for at least the first half of the roll. Toward the end I gained side-control, which always seems like a major victory to me.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Turtle - Improving & Escaping
12/15 - Downtown
Fifth class of the week and felt pretty good. Good sized class today, around 8-10.
Turtle escapes:
Set-up:
You are turtled. Opponent is leaning against your right side, leg up. Their L arm is around your L side.
1. Pinch their L arm to you with your L arm. Kick your R leg out straight behind your opponent and sit back. Clothesline your opponent's chest with your L arm as you fall back. Face their hips and control them with your arms. Slide back toward their head with your L arm trapped behind you.
2. Pinch their L arm as above, reach your R arm across their back and grip their belt and roll to your L. You want to end up with your back on their back and their arm trapped. Gable grip hands together and lean back for the submission.
3. Assuming they are on their knees, reach over with your L hand, cup the outside of their R knee and drive to the R. Should end up in side-control. Don't remember what the R hand does, maybe behind their back?
Turtle improving position (same set-up as above, but you are on top to the L):
4. Take your L knee and push into their L leg, pull them back into you with your R hand on their hip.
5. If on #4 their weight is too well balanced and they can't be pulled, try to get your L hand into their R lapel, jump to the other side and pull them into you that way. If you can't your hand into their lapel, use your L hand on their hip instead.
6. If they are turtled and try to roll into you to move into guard, put your arm against the outside of their L leg as they roll, which should keep you out of their guard. May need to turn the corner a bit to move into side-control.
Did a two 2min rounds turtle escapes and improving. Worked with Antone on the techniques. He smoked me on the 4min of turtles Rolled with him first, and no surprise, he isolated an arm and tapped me with a crucifix or something like it. Rolled with a relatively new guy, got a couple of arm bars. Rolled with Colt and Derek. Decent rolls, all the guys were as tired as I was.
Manny's bday today, so five us rolled with him for a minute each. Good fun. :)
Fifth class of the week and felt pretty good. Good sized class today, around 8-10.
Turtle escapes:
Set-up:
You are turtled. Opponent is leaning against your right side, leg up. Their L arm is around your L side.
1. Pinch their L arm to you with your L arm. Kick your R leg out straight behind your opponent and sit back. Clothesline your opponent's chest with your L arm as you fall back. Face their hips and control them with your arms. Slide back toward their head with your L arm trapped behind you.
2. Pinch their L arm as above, reach your R arm across their back and grip their belt and roll to your L. You want to end up with your back on their back and their arm trapped. Gable grip hands together and lean back for the submission.
3. Assuming they are on their knees, reach over with your L hand, cup the outside of their R knee and drive to the R. Should end up in side-control. Don't remember what the R hand does, maybe behind their back?
Turtle improving position (same set-up as above, but you are on top to the L):
4. Take your L knee and push into their L leg, pull them back into you with your R hand on their hip.
5. If on #4 their weight is too well balanced and they can't be pulled, try to get your L hand into their R lapel, jump to the other side and pull them into you that way. If you can't your hand into their lapel, use your L hand on their hip instead.
6. If they are turtled and try to roll into you to move into guard, put your arm against the outside of their L leg as they roll, which should keep you out of their guard. May need to turn the corner a bit to move into side-control.
Did a two 2min rounds turtle escapes and improving. Worked with Antone on the techniques. He smoked me on the 4min of turtles Rolled with him first, and no surprise, he isolated an arm and tapped me with a crucifix or something like it. Rolled with a relatively new guy, got a couple of arm bars. Rolled with Colt and Derek. Decent rolls, all the guys were as tired as I was.
Manny's bday today, so five us rolled with him for a minute each. Good fun. :)
Friday, December 14, 2012
Deep Half
12/14 - Downtown
Finally, the secrets of deep half guard revealed!!!
Well, the basic concept anyway. Had never done deep half before.
From bottom mount:
1. Get opponent's weight off their knees/legs (upa). Use R foot to "pick up" their L foot, slide your L knee through and pinch down with your R. Rotate hips and legs over to the R, which will pick up their leg, and slide your R hand under their L thigh and cup the other side. Walk your feet to the L, which should eventually end with your head more or less in your opponent's lap. Rotate their thigh out (toward their R), which will dump them on their R side. If they keep their weight over you so that you can't dump them by rotating their thigh, you can shoot out the back.
From back mount:
2. Protect from chokes by pulling down on their choking arm, protecting your neck and keeping elbows close and tight to your body. Roll to appropriate side (to the L if they are underhooking your R), use your R foot to push down on their L foot and free your bottom leg (L) from the hook. Move hips out to the side, and keep their R leg by swinging around to gain side control by hooking it with your R foot. If they try to get top mount (likely), you should be close to deep half position. Slide R arm under their thigh. If they try to underhook your left arm (i.e. grabbing your tricep), grab their tricep with same hand, bring R hand back to the inner side of their R thigh, hook their R leg with your L leg. Push up with L leg and R hand to get them off, then rotate around in the total opposite direction you would expect to go.
Rolled with Julia once, Liz twice and drilled one round with Chris on the back-mount to deep half transition. No gi with the girls, which of course was awkward and weird b/c I'm so lost w/o lapel and sleeve grips. Had a couple of triangles that I couldn't finish (grr!) and got RNC'd once b/c I didn't respect how quick J could transition to the back.
Finally, the secrets of deep half guard revealed!!!
Well, the basic concept anyway. Had never done deep half before.
From bottom mount:
1. Get opponent's weight off their knees/legs (upa). Use R foot to "pick up" their L foot, slide your L knee through and pinch down with your R. Rotate hips and legs over to the R, which will pick up their leg, and slide your R hand under their L thigh and cup the other side. Walk your feet to the L, which should eventually end with your head more or less in your opponent's lap. Rotate their thigh out (toward their R), which will dump them on their R side. If they keep their weight over you so that you can't dump them by rotating their thigh, you can shoot out the back.
From back mount:
2. Protect from chokes by pulling down on their choking arm, protecting your neck and keeping elbows close and tight to your body. Roll to appropriate side (to the L if they are underhooking your R), use your R foot to push down on their L foot and free your bottom leg (L) from the hook. Move hips out to the side, and keep their R leg by swinging around to gain side control by hooking it with your R foot. If they try to get top mount (likely), you should be close to deep half position. Slide R arm under their thigh. If they try to underhook your left arm (i.e. grabbing your tricep), grab their tricep with same hand, bring R hand back to the inner side of their R thigh, hook their R leg with your L leg. Push up with L leg and R hand to get them off, then rotate around in the total opposite direction you would expect to go.
Rolled with Julia once, Liz twice and drilled one round with Chris on the back-mount to deep half transition. No gi with the girls, which of course was awkward and weird b/c I'm so lost w/o lapel and sleeve grips. Had a couple of triangles that I couldn't finish (grr!) and got RNC'd once b/c I didn't respect how quick J could transition to the back.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
KOB
12/13 - Valley
My ribs were just getting used to not having done KOB for awhile. Eh....
Went through the four KOB escapes (shrimp out to ankle pick; cup the ankle; knee through; from the back).
Went through the three KOB transitions (cross-face to punching down behind head and hip; cross-face to kesa gatame; as they attempt to escape mount).
Toward the end, went through a KOB escape, transition to side-control, then knee bar.
No rolling as it was just an hour long class.
I have a nagging feeling that I picked up on something during class that I desperately wanted to remember....and I forgot. :(
My ribs were just getting used to not having done KOB for awhile. Eh....
Went through the four KOB escapes (shrimp out to ankle pick; cup the ankle; knee through; from the back).
Went through the three KOB transitions (cross-face to punching down behind head and hip; cross-face to kesa gatame; as they attempt to escape mount).
Toward the end, went through a KOB escape, transition to side-control, then knee bar.
No rolling as it was just an hour long class.
I have a nagging feeling that I picked up on something during class that I desperately wanted to remember....and I forgot. :(
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
X Guard
12/12 - Downtown
Poor James. Every time he asks me if I'm familiar with a particular guard...X guard, DLR, spider, etc., my eyes roll back. Today I finally told him that if it isn't closed, then no have idea. Today we started from seated/shin guard. Not really sure what to call it. You're sitting on your butt and opponent is standing or crouching in front of you, trying to pass. What I discovered is that while I'm not comfortable with the transition into X guard, me likey once I get there.
James discussed relaxing (to an extent) while in guard and then exploding on a pass. If I have someone in guard and I'm always tense, my opponent is going to be tense, expecting me to move. It's more difficult to catch them with something if they are tensed and waiting for it. So set it up, get position, then explode in quick, efficient movements. Theme applies to BJJ as a whole, but it might be easier to implement in one position at a time, especially one that I'm most comfortable in.
Learned what constitutes leg reaping. You cannot bow their knee out, only in. Probably a poor description. If you have your left leg wrapped around their right leg, your foot cannot go past their hip (i.e. their stomach).
Technique
Set-up: On your butt, opponent is coming in.
1. Started with a pass defense. Get a grip relatively high on their right lapel with your right hand. If they come to your right, bring your hips and right leg off the floor, turn slightly to your right and bring your arm and bodyweight back down to the mat at the same time, driving them to the mat face first and likely into a turtle-like position. Immediately gain control of their near side leg and close the distance.
2. If opponent goes the other way (toward your left), keep your right arm locked, grip behind their right ankle with your left hand, and push into your right hand as you stand up, bringing their leg up with you. Should resemble a stand-in-base movement.
Set-up: You're on your butt, knees up. Opponent is crouched on their right knee in front of you.
3. Cup their right ankle with your left hand, dive feet under their leg, right hand grips under their left thigh and eventually through to the outside of their thigh. Knees should be pointed out (away from each other other). Keep control of their left leg, using your right arm to pin it to your head. If they sit off to the side, making it difficult to get them off the ground, go to single X by bringing your right leg around the outside of their right leg and then pinning foot to hip. Probably have foot-locks and the like set-up from here. Otherwise, go to X guard by kicking your right leg behind them to straighten it and then bringing it back underneath them, hooking the front of your foot above the front of their knee. Can also lift up their left leg to help you maneuver.
4. From shin guard as you are transitioning to X guard, if they attempt to run out of it (i.e. they face your feet and try to move in that direction), keep one of your feet on the back of their knee (probably their right knee if using the set-up from above) and continue to grip the bottom of their left pant leg or cup the ankle (better) and come up standing behind them. Can continue to drive down on the left leg to bring them down.
5. If you're in X guard and their weight is neutral or back, drop your left foot down the back of their leg to just above their heel, then kick it forward and you drive/push into their left leg with your right arm. Must make sure to defend the triangle as you come up.
6. If you're in X guard and their weight is forward, grip their right sleeve to keep them posting and roll to your left, you should sortof end up in side-control. If you can't get the sleeve, push up on their left leg with your right hand, turn to your right to get behind them. Bring your left leg through and you should be sitting up, facing their back. If they are close to you, yank down on their belt. If they are leaning forward, immediately get up and attempt to take their back.
We did two six minute rounds of positional sparring from shin/X guard. Worked with Sara, and did ok in both. This was my first time working with X guard, so I didn't have much of a feel for what was good and what was bad as far as where the other person's weight is distributed. I thought I was in a good spot a couple of times but turned out not so much.
Rolled with Sara, Antone and James. Antone snaggled my arms left and right, as usual. I did fairly well at scrambling and fighting to not get trapped in bad positions. James was calling out points while we rolled. It's hard for me to get into the points mindset, but it is really motivating when it comes to not giving up bad positions (i.e. another reason not to fall into them).
Poor James. Every time he asks me if I'm familiar with a particular guard...X guard, DLR, spider, etc., my eyes roll back. Today I finally told him that if it isn't closed, then no have idea. Today we started from seated/shin guard. Not really sure what to call it. You're sitting on your butt and opponent is standing or crouching in front of you, trying to pass. What I discovered is that while I'm not comfortable with the transition into X guard, me likey once I get there.
James discussed relaxing (to an extent) while in guard and then exploding on a pass. If I have someone in guard and I'm always tense, my opponent is going to be tense, expecting me to move. It's more difficult to catch them with something if they are tensed and waiting for it. So set it up, get position, then explode in quick, efficient movements. Theme applies to BJJ as a whole, but it might be easier to implement in one position at a time, especially one that I'm most comfortable in.
Learned what constitutes leg reaping. You cannot bow their knee out, only in. Probably a poor description. If you have your left leg wrapped around their right leg, your foot cannot go past their hip (i.e. their stomach).
Technique
Set-up: On your butt, opponent is coming in.
1. Started with a pass defense. Get a grip relatively high on their right lapel with your right hand. If they come to your right, bring your hips and right leg off the floor, turn slightly to your right and bring your arm and bodyweight back down to the mat at the same time, driving them to the mat face first and likely into a turtle-like position. Immediately gain control of their near side leg and close the distance.
2. If opponent goes the other way (toward your left), keep your right arm locked, grip behind their right ankle with your left hand, and push into your right hand as you stand up, bringing their leg up with you. Should resemble a stand-in-base movement.
Set-up: You're on your butt, knees up. Opponent is crouched on their right knee in front of you.
3. Cup their right ankle with your left hand, dive feet under their leg, right hand grips under their left thigh and eventually through to the outside of their thigh. Knees should be pointed out (away from each other other). Keep control of their left leg, using your right arm to pin it to your head. If they sit off to the side, making it difficult to get them off the ground, go to single X by bringing your right leg around the outside of their right leg and then pinning foot to hip. Probably have foot-locks and the like set-up from here. Otherwise, go to X guard by kicking your right leg behind them to straighten it and then bringing it back underneath them, hooking the front of your foot above the front of their knee. Can also lift up their left leg to help you maneuver.
4. From shin guard as you are transitioning to X guard, if they attempt to run out of it (i.e. they face your feet and try to move in that direction), keep one of your feet on the back of their knee (probably their right knee if using the set-up from above) and continue to grip the bottom of their left pant leg or cup the ankle (better) and come up standing behind them. Can continue to drive down on the left leg to bring them down.
5. If you're in X guard and their weight is neutral or back, drop your left foot down the back of their leg to just above their heel, then kick it forward and you drive/push into their left leg with your right arm. Must make sure to defend the triangle as you come up.
6. If you're in X guard and their weight is forward, grip their right sleeve to keep them posting and roll to your left, you should sortof end up in side-control. If you can't get the sleeve, push up on their left leg with your right hand, turn to your right to get behind them. Bring your left leg through and you should be sitting up, facing their back. If they are close to you, yank down on their belt. If they are leaning forward, immediately get up and attempt to take their back.
We did two six minute rounds of positional sparring from shin/X guard. Worked with Sara, and did ok in both. This was my first time working with X guard, so I didn't have much of a feel for what was good and what was bad as far as where the other person's weight is distributed. I thought I was in a good spot a couple of times but turned out not so much.
Rolled with Sara, Antone and James. Antone snaggled my arms left and right, as usual. I did fairly well at scrambling and fighting to not get trapped in bad positions. James was calling out points while we rolled. It's hard for me to get into the points mindset, but it is really motivating when it comes to not giving up bad positions (i.e. another reason not to fall into them).
Monday, December 10, 2012
Side Control Escapes
12/10 - Downtown
James asked what we wanted to work on, and one place where I'm abysmal is bottom side. No one else said anything, so escaping side control it was.
Technique
Set-up: Opponent has you in side-control on your right side.
1. Arm-in: Bring your R hand across to their R shoulder, forearm across their face/neck and elbow to the near shoulder to make a frame. Swing legs as described in #2. When you come out the other side, cup the back of their head and move into a d'arce choke. Dang it. We did this several times, and I felt fairly proficient at it but now I can't picture it. I don't think my description is right.
2. Both arms under: Grip their gi at their lat (if you can) and belt. Bring both knees in, pointed toward your opponent's hip, then straighten and swing to the left. Bring knees in, then swing out to the right. Keep doing that until you've cleared them. If they attempt to bring their R hand down and across your R hip, shoot your L arm up and turn into them.
3. North-south escape: Bring your right arm across their body and out the top of their right hip. Use that to leverage yourself into side-control. This is better than north-south, because now you have both of your arms to the left of their body. If they switch to a kesa gatame, push their far shoulder (L). If they've already established control, try taking your L hand, grip their near lapel (R) and punch it away from you as you hip out to the L.
Rolling
King of the mountain work with guard: Start from closed guard. If guard player sweeps, they win and stay. If opponent passes, they win and stay. No subs. I did fairly poor at this. Couldn't keep my weight back and was swept all over the place. Had one successful pass, and was immediately passed by the next guy. I notice that I freeze when I'm in guard and I want to sweep, because I'm trying to figure out the right one to use. When guys put their knee
Rolled with Julio and James. Was turtled most of the time with Julio, but managed to stave off most of the attacks to my neck. Worked primarily from James' guard. From my guard, I put him into spider guard and then...nothing. Had no idea what to do it. Predictably, he passed. Focused in both rolls on not letting my hips hit the floor during transitions. This will be an excellent thing to practice. In general, it seems like good practice to not have your hips on the floor...
James asked what we wanted to work on, and one place where I'm abysmal is bottom side. No one else said anything, so escaping side control it was.
Technique
Set-up: Opponent has you in side-control on your right side.
1. Arm-in: Bring your R hand across to their R shoulder, forearm across their face/neck and elbow to the near shoulder to make a frame. Swing legs as described in #2. When you come out the other side, cup the back of their head and move into a d'arce choke. Dang it. We did this several times, and I felt fairly proficient at it but now I can't picture it. I don't think my description is right.
2. Both arms under: Grip their gi at their lat (if you can) and belt. Bring both knees in, pointed toward your opponent's hip, then straighten and swing to the left. Bring knees in, then swing out to the right. Keep doing that until you've cleared them. If they attempt to bring their R hand down and across your R hip, shoot your L arm up and turn into them.
3. North-south escape: Bring your right arm across their body and out the top of their right hip. Use that to leverage yourself into side-control. This is better than north-south, because now you have both of your arms to the left of their body. If they switch to a kesa gatame, push their far shoulder (L). If they've already established control, try taking your L hand, grip their near lapel (R) and punch it away from you as you hip out to the L.
Rolling
King of the mountain work with guard: Start from closed guard. If guard player sweeps, they win and stay. If opponent passes, they win and stay. No subs. I did fairly poor at this. Couldn't keep my weight back and was swept all over the place. Had one successful pass, and was immediately passed by the next guy. I notice that I freeze when I'm in guard and I want to sweep, because I'm trying to figure out the right one to use. When guys put their knee
Rolled with Julio and James. Was turtled most of the time with Julio, but managed to stave off most of the attacks to my neck. Worked primarily from James' guard. From my guard, I put him into spider guard and then...nothing. Had no idea what to do it. Predictably, he passed. Focused in both rolls on not letting my hips hit the floor during transitions. This will be an excellent thing to practice. In general, it seems like good practice to not have your hips on the floor...
Week In Review
I'm noticing (not surprisingly), that increased mat time is giving me more of a chance to attempt techniques learned in class, even if it was from a previous day or two. The possible drawback is that I'm getting twice as much information in the space of a week, which is scrambling my brain. I was definitely feeling that in Saturday's class. The movements weren't that complex, but my brain appeared to be full. Could have been external to BJJ too, but I went in feeling good so don't think that's it.
Last week I did 4 classes and 4 lifting sessions. I wish I had done the Friday class, and really regretted not going by Friday night. Not sure that I'd be able to pull of 5 classes and 4 lifting sessions on a regular basis, but would be great if I could.
I received some positive feedback in the form of a roll with Scott from the Valley. I often feel like I'm waaay over my head at the downtown school, but I could tell an improved difference in my rolling with an old partner. Benchmarks are good, methinks.
A common theme from last week is that I left my arms out all over the place. Granted, my opponents are skilled enough to make arms come free, but I'm going to try to focus this week on keeping them tight. Seems like bone-headed mistakes.
Last week I did 4 classes and 4 lifting sessions. I wish I had done the Friday class, and really regretted not going by Friday night. Not sure that I'd be able to pull of 5 classes and 4 lifting sessions on a regular basis, but would be great if I could.
I received some positive feedback in the form of a roll with Scott from the Valley. I often feel like I'm waaay over my head at the downtown school, but I could tell an improved difference in my rolling with an old partner. Benchmarks are good, methinks.
A common theme from last week is that I left my arms out all over the place. Granted, my opponents are skilled enough to make arms come free, but I'm going to try to focus this week on keeping them tight. Seems like bone-headed mistakes.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Guard Passes
12/8 - Downtown
Small Saturday group, five plus James. Worked on seated guard passes. Pretty sure I've already forgotten some of the details.
1. Spider Guard Pass - Opponent has control of both biceps. Get a grip on both legs at the bottom of their pants. Step back, bring elbows together to bring their legs together, then step into them and aggressively hip forward into the backs of their legs. This should pop their feet off of you. I'm drawing a complete blank...not sure what we did after this. Yikes.
2. Butterfly Guard Pass - This might be more of a seated guard pass, but I think it works from butterfly guard too. Really sketchy on the details today. Not enough food I think. Get an underhook on the right side (opponent's left) and reach across opponent's back to their right lat. With left hand, grip their gi at the right knee and push down. Fall to your right, popping your right leg free. Keep cross-face control as you free your left leg.
I'm really sketch on the details today.
3. Seated Guard Pass - Right knee way up on their right thigh. Knee should be pointed toward their stomach. Push down on the right knee with your left hand (pushing down, not gripping the gi) and their left hip with your right hand. Sprawl back, keeping your hands in place, and pass to the left (opponent's right). If they are framing against you to defend the pass, move back toward their hips, stuff their leg behind you and take side-control lower down on their body.
I'm really frustrated because we did an Ezekiel type choke but I can't remember the initial part of the set-up. The part I remember is that your opponent is turning into you. Slide arm under their head with your right arm, grip left sleeve with right hand, bring left hand up and make a fist. With right arm, shrug it up, bringing their arm close to their head. It's kind of a cross between a d'arce and Ezekiel.
Ugh, I really don't remember much. I was afraid of that. I even took some notes after class but only one a couple of moves and not all the way through. It was hazy even then.
Rolled with everyone (James, Saul, Antone, Colt and Wayne). I kept leaving arms out for Antone, dumb. I think that I legitimately gained side-control on Wayne. Gratifying to get a top position. Escaped several arm-bars today, focused on not letting them get their leg over my head. Aside from side-control on Wayne, didn't have much in the way of dominant position or threatening submission.
Small Saturday group, five plus James. Worked on seated guard passes. Pretty sure I've already forgotten some of the details.
1. Spider Guard Pass - Opponent has control of both biceps. Get a grip on both legs at the bottom of their pants. Step back, bring elbows together to bring their legs together, then step into them and aggressively hip forward into the backs of their legs. This should pop their feet off of you. I'm drawing a complete blank...not sure what we did after this. Yikes.
2. Butterfly Guard Pass - This might be more of a seated guard pass, but I think it works from butterfly guard too. Really sketchy on the details today. Not enough food I think. Get an underhook on the right side (opponent's left) and reach across opponent's back to their right lat. With left hand, grip their gi at the right knee and push down. Fall to your right, popping your right leg free. Keep cross-face control as you free your left leg.
I'm really sketch on the details today.
3. Seated Guard Pass - Right knee way up on their right thigh. Knee should be pointed toward their stomach. Push down on the right knee with your left hand (pushing down, not gripping the gi) and their left hip with your right hand. Sprawl back, keeping your hands in place, and pass to the left (opponent's right). If they are framing against you to defend the pass, move back toward their hips, stuff their leg behind you and take side-control lower down on their body.
I'm really frustrated because we did an Ezekiel type choke but I can't remember the initial part of the set-up. The part I remember is that your opponent is turning into you. Slide arm under their head with your right arm, grip left sleeve with right hand, bring left hand up and make a fist. With right arm, shrug it up, bringing their arm close to their head. It's kind of a cross between a d'arce and Ezekiel.
Ugh, I really don't remember much. I was afraid of that. I even took some notes after class but only one a couple of moves and not all the way through. It was hazy even then.
Rolled with everyone (James, Saul, Antone, Colt and Wayne). I kept leaving arms out for Antone, dumb. I think that I legitimately gained side-control on Wayne. Gratifying to get a top position. Escaped several arm-bars today, focused on not letting them get their leg over my head. Aside from side-control on Wayne, didn't have much in the way of dominant position or threatening submission.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Just Roll, Baby (Redux)
12/6 - Valley
Just Scott and I. We started with as many subs from guard as we could both think of, then KOB work (oh boy, my favorite), then rolling. At one point I got into spider guard but had no idea what to do with it. Had pretty decent control though. Also had an inverted triangle but couldn't get my mind around what angle I needed to take. Scott said I was close, just needed to tweak it a bit. Both of us had a lot of good and interesting transitions between positions. Overall very happy, although there were some points where I just gave up the bad position, which I'm not supposed to do anymore. :p
Just Scott and I. We started with as many subs from guard as we could both think of, then KOB work (oh boy, my favorite), then rolling. At one point I got into spider guard but had no idea what to do with it. Had pretty decent control though. Also had an inverted triangle but couldn't get my mind around what angle I needed to take. Scott said I was close, just needed to tweak it a bit. Both of us had a lot of good and interesting transitions between positions. Overall very happy, although there were some points where I just gave up the bad position, which I'm not supposed to do anymore. :p
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Just Roll, Baby
12/5 - Downtown
No technique, just rolling.
Started off with positional drills. Two minutes of side-control transitions to mount, north-south, KOB or a submission, depending upon what James called out. My transition from north-south back to side-control was pretty awful. Meh.
After that, it was two minute rounds of trying to submit or improve your position from side-control, then mount, then back-mount. I was wish James for this portion, and I could not escape mount. Not even a little bit. After, I realized that I probably let him get too high up on my hips. Need to watch that next time. For the back-mount portion, he said I had good, tight hooks.
Then 4-5 rounds, 2min each of trying to push each other off the mat. Take-down training is something I need desperately, but I abhor it. I tried to convince myself that all of the barbell squats I've been doing would lead to improvement in this area. Interesting theory. :p I didn't get any of the guys off the mat, but once I figured out someone's game it wasn't as easy for them to get me off the mat.
After that, we went right into rolling. I started with Antone, and shocker, I was pretzelfied pretty quick. He got me in a couple of subs, probably b/c I left my arm hanging out somewhere I shouldn't. I cursed myself both times, because as soon as he snagged it I knew it was trouble.
Rolled with Dennis twice, and we had good back and forth rolling. I almost (!) got to side-control on him. I kept trying to set up collar chokes, triangles and arm-bars from guard but he wasn't having it. He showed me a nice sub if someone has double-underhooks on your legs as they try to pass your guard. Get a grip on both of their sleeves, walk your shoulders back to create space, slide one leg across their chest/hip and hook your toes against the other side. Keep ahold of the sleeve, and lengthen/straighten your leg (your hamstring should be pushing against their bicep). Sweet shoulder lock.
Had a roll with Manny, nothing too memorable.
Overall, I think I did a so-so job at not falling into bad positions. Antone is so damn good at eliminating space and maintaining that tight control from start to finish in a transition that it was almost impossible to find any openings. The few "openings" I did find usually ended up in a trapped arm and submission.
The guys seem to think that I'll have success at Pan Ams, which is very nice of them. It feels great to have that support and belief from other people.
No technique, just rolling.
Started off with positional drills. Two minutes of side-control transitions to mount, north-south, KOB or a submission, depending upon what James called out. My transition from north-south back to side-control was pretty awful. Meh.
After that, it was two minute rounds of trying to submit or improve your position from side-control, then mount, then back-mount. I was wish James for this portion, and I could not escape mount. Not even a little bit. After, I realized that I probably let him get too high up on my hips. Need to watch that next time. For the back-mount portion, he said I had good, tight hooks.
Then 4-5 rounds, 2min each of trying to push each other off the mat. Take-down training is something I need desperately, but I abhor it. I tried to convince myself that all of the barbell squats I've been doing would lead to improvement in this area. Interesting theory. :p I didn't get any of the guys off the mat, but once I figured out someone's game it wasn't as easy for them to get me off the mat.
After that, we went right into rolling. I started with Antone, and shocker, I was pretzelfied pretty quick. He got me in a couple of subs, probably b/c I left my arm hanging out somewhere I shouldn't. I cursed myself both times, because as soon as he snagged it I knew it was trouble.
Rolled with Dennis twice, and we had good back and forth rolling. I almost (!) got to side-control on him. I kept trying to set up collar chokes, triangles and arm-bars from guard but he wasn't having it. He showed me a nice sub if someone has double-underhooks on your legs as they try to pass your guard. Get a grip on both of their sleeves, walk your shoulders back to create space, slide one leg across their chest/hip and hook your toes against the other side. Keep ahold of the sleeve, and lengthen/straighten your leg (your hamstring should be pushing against their bicep). Sweet shoulder lock.
Had a roll with Manny, nothing too memorable.
Overall, I think I did a so-so job at not falling into bad positions. Antone is so damn good at eliminating space and maintaining that tight control from start to finish in a transition that it was almost impossible to find any openings. The few "openings" I did find usually ended up in a trapped arm and submission.
The guys seem to think that I'll have success at Pan Ams, which is very nice of them. It feels great to have that support and belief from other people.
Monday, December 3, 2012
Turtle Escapes
12/3 - Downtown
There were several new women that I hadn't met before, and one that was very new to BJJ. She had a background in other martial arts though (TKD?) and seemed to take to BJJ very well. This was my first Monday night class, and I expected a weeknight class to be packed but it was decently sized at about 8 people. Best part was that I had someone come watch me that is interested in what I do, so that was a definite added bonus. :)
We worked on turtle escapes, most of them fairly basic. Perfect for me, b/c I haven't worked on turtle escapes in a very, very long time.
Set-up:
You are turtled, opponent is to your right, with their left arm over your left arm.
1. Grab the back of their belt with your right hand, post with your left hand, put your right leg straight past their legs, bring left around and gain guard.
2. Protect your neck as you roll toward them on your right shoulder, bringing your right leg out in a bigger arc to clear them and make it difficult for them to block. Regain guard.
3. Pinch their left arm to your body with your left arm, kick right leg behind both of their legs (perpendicular to their torso), bring your right feet in and sit back. Your right arm should be pushing back on their chest, and you'll be in side-control, with your back on their chest. Turn toward their hips (not their head), scoot butt back to pin their arm to their head.
4. Same set-up as #3, but instead of bringing your leg behind them, scoot your hips to the left (away from them), twist and somehow flop on your back with your weight on them. Since their arm is pinned in your arm, you are set-up for a kimura. I really struggled with this one, as I kept wanting to turn the wrong way.
James also went over one of the same escapes that he called out after class on Saturday. Escape from side-control, rolling to turtle and immediately trying to face opponent instead of being stuck in turtle. Opponent has top side-control on right side, with their right hand blocking your right hip and preventing you from turning into them. Frame opponent's face/shoulder, (bumping in right hand if necessary), step left leg out to the left, then swinging right foot over and turning from your back to your stomach. Protect the left side of your neck with your right hand, and the left side of your torso with your left hand to keep them from sliding in to get a hook on the left side.
Rolled with Opal (2), Sara, Derrick, Russ. Helped Opal with a few basic movements, and tried to expose her to a variety of positions. For not knowing a lot of specific techniques, she moved really well. Sara and I had a pretty good roll, but I could tell that she was tired. Had a great roll with Derrick, and almost had a d'arce that transitioned into an arm-in guillotine but couldn't finish either of them. Russ was on top most of the time, but I defended fairly well and tried very hard to not just fall into bad positions per my last post.
There were several new women that I hadn't met before, and one that was very new to BJJ. She had a background in other martial arts though (TKD?) and seemed to take to BJJ very well. This was my first Monday night class, and I expected a weeknight class to be packed but it was decently sized at about 8 people. Best part was that I had someone come watch me that is interested in what I do, so that was a definite added bonus. :)
We worked on turtle escapes, most of them fairly basic. Perfect for me, b/c I haven't worked on turtle escapes in a very, very long time.
Set-up:
You are turtled, opponent is to your right, with their left arm over your left arm.
1. Grab the back of their belt with your right hand, post with your left hand, put your right leg straight past their legs, bring left around and gain guard.
2. Protect your neck as you roll toward them on your right shoulder, bringing your right leg out in a bigger arc to clear them and make it difficult for them to block. Regain guard.
3. Pinch their left arm to your body with your left arm, kick right leg behind both of their legs (perpendicular to their torso), bring your right feet in and sit back. Your right arm should be pushing back on their chest, and you'll be in side-control, with your back on their chest. Turn toward their hips (not their head), scoot butt back to pin their arm to their head.
4. Same set-up as #3, but instead of bringing your leg behind them, scoot your hips to the left (away from them), twist and somehow flop on your back with your weight on them. Since their arm is pinned in your arm, you are set-up for a kimura. I really struggled with this one, as I kept wanting to turn the wrong way.
James also went over one of the same escapes that he called out after class on Saturday. Escape from side-control, rolling to turtle and immediately trying to face opponent instead of being stuck in turtle. Opponent has top side-control on right side, with their right hand blocking your right hip and preventing you from turning into them. Frame opponent's face/shoulder, (bumping in right hand if necessary), step left leg out to the left, then swinging right foot over and turning from your back to your stomach. Protect the left side of your neck with your right hand, and the left side of your torso with your left hand to keep them from sliding in to get a hook on the left side.
Rolled with Opal (2), Sara, Derrick, Russ. Helped Opal with a few basic movements, and tried to expose her to a variety of positions. For not knowing a lot of specific techniques, she moved really well. Sara and I had a pretty good roll, but I could tell that she was tired. Had a great roll with Derrick, and almost had a d'arce that transitioned into an arm-in guillotine but couldn't finish either of them. Russ was on top most of the time, but I defended fairly well and tried very hard to not just fall into bad positions per my last post.
Week in Review
Hopefully I'll remember to take a holistic look at each week and suss out the bigger picture.
I attended 4 classes, which met my goal. However, I feel like I should do more. Even if both gyms happen to be focusing on the same technique during a given week, the approach is generally different and it's difficult to become proficient at something if you are learning it two different ways. It's good to have options, but I wonder if this is going to create a conflict when I'm set up for a position and wonder if I need to use style A or style B?
I don't think I've ever incorporated KOB during a roll, mostly b/c I'm never on top. I should make it a point to keep it in mind on the rare occasions when I have top position. I never think of using it, primarily b/c I feel like I have less control than mount. However, done correctly I think I'd be much better off with that than my sad side-control.
I made some dumb mistakes during rolling on Saturday, leaving arms waving out, begging to arm-bar'd. Overall though, I think I survived better this week when rolling against upper belts. I gritted out at least two subs, and I'm growing more used to some of the more common techniques used at the new gym. It seems like I get locked into a hellacious body triangle at least once a week.
James' advice on Saturday to not give up when put into inferior positions felt like a cartoon light-bulb moment. As obvious as the idea is, sometimes you need to be reminded of the obvious, especially those that are difficult to put into practice. There's a fine line there between spazzing and trying to defend being put into a bad positions. Makes me think that it would be really good for me to learn and focus on the basic defensive tactics to prevent being put into bad positions. Sad that I don't really know what those are, even with ~3yrs of training under my belt. Sigh. I know how to defend fairly well once I'm already in the position, but not so much with the transition. At the very least, I'll work on hip movement and see where that gets me.
I attended 4 classes, which met my goal. However, I feel like I should do more. Even if both gyms happen to be focusing on the same technique during a given week, the approach is generally different and it's difficult to become proficient at something if you are learning it two different ways. It's good to have options, but I wonder if this is going to create a conflict when I'm set up for a position and wonder if I need to use style A or style B?
I don't think I've ever incorporated KOB during a roll, mostly b/c I'm never on top. I should make it a point to keep it in mind on the rare occasions when I have top position. I never think of using it, primarily b/c I feel like I have less control than mount. However, done correctly I think I'd be much better off with that than my sad side-control.
I made some dumb mistakes during rolling on Saturday, leaving arms waving out, begging to arm-bar'd. Overall though, I think I survived better this week when rolling against upper belts. I gritted out at least two subs, and I'm growing more used to some of the more common techniques used at the new gym. It seems like I get locked into a hellacious body triangle at least once a week.
James' advice on Saturday to not give up when put into inferior positions felt like a cartoon light-bulb moment. As obvious as the idea is, sometimes you need to be reminded of the obvious, especially those that are difficult to put into practice. There's a fine line there between spazzing and trying to defend being put into a bad positions. Makes me think that it would be really good for me to learn and focus on the basic defensive tactics to prevent being put into bad positions. Sad that I don't really know what those are, even with ~3yrs of training under my belt. Sigh. I know how to defend fairly well once I'm already in the position, but not so much with the transition. At the very least, I'll work on hip movement and see where that gets me.
Saturday, December 1, 2012
More KOB, Why Not?
12/1 - Downtown
I was a little distraught when I learned we'd be doing KOB, but since I was working with someone my size it wasn't bad at all.
Set-up:
You have cross-face cross-body on opponent's right side.
Transitions
1. Transition to KOB by using your right hand to grip down on their left hip, and bring your elbow across to their right hip (upper thigh) and push it toward their feet. This is to keep them from using their knee to block your transition. Slide right knee up and kick left leg out. James didn't seem to be as concerned about where the hands ended up.
2. Transition from one side to another by leaning forward, putting hands on either side of opponent's head, windshield wiper right leg across their belly to their left side, replace right knee with left knee.
Submissions
1. Arm-bar. Must start from arm-out cross-body. Ensure that the arm remains trapped as you transition to KOB. Bring your right foot on the outside of their right arm-pit, toes pointed toward their head. Sit on their hips, and bring your right leg over their head.
2. Wrist-lock. If they try to push your knee off with their left hand (palm on knee), under-hook their left arm with your right and pull their elbow into your knee.
3. Arm-bar. Same set-up as the wrist lock. Use the under-hook to pull them toward you. Base your right hand behind their back, then replace your hand with your left foot. Pivot, and keep their arm. If you maintain the under-hook grip, you'll end up in the arm-bar with your right hand gripping the back of their bicep, which will allow you to finish the arm-bar even if your knees are not tight together. This is important, since you'll only have one leg over them.
4. Gi choke. While in cross-body, use your right hand to pull their left bottom of their jacket out and shake it taut. Transition to KOB. Slide the gi up under their left arm with your right. With your left hand, contour it palm up against the right side of their neck. Transition the corner of their gi from your right hand to your left. From there, you can either cross grip their left lapel or shoulder with your right and cross-choke, or bring their left elbow across their face and bear down on their arm.
Rolled with Antone, Wayne, Bobby, Fernando. Nice, controlled roll with Antone. Left my arm like a big dummy and he took advantage of it. Nando was fairly aggressive, wasn't expecting that from him. I've rolled with him once before, and I recall that he had a very good guard. He had top position the entire time. Very close on a choke, but I gritted it out. Wayne got me with an arm-bar...I was pissed because I made a dumb mistake leaving it out. I let Bobby work a bit, gave him a couple tips on both-arms-in-or-both-arms-out and hipping up instead of over when trying to escape mount. James tried to coach me a couple of times, but either I couldn't hear him or I couldn't execute. It's really nice that he does that. He gave us some tips after rolling that I really needed.
Don't Fall Into Bad Positions
There's probably a much better way of saying this, but basically, if someone is moving to a superior position, don't just give it up. I realize that I do that a bit, especially with the bigger guys. Sometimes their technique is so good that there's not much I can do, but there are many occasions in which I do just fall into the inferior position. Must fight it more. Make them work for it, even if they're going to get it. This is a big lesson for me, and being at both a technique and physical disadvantage, I need to focus on this. I need to consciously think of before each roll.
He also went over a basic escape from half-guard to guard...I really ought to know it by now, but I was struggling during the roll and couldn't execute it. Basically, move the leg that's in between theirs out, and the leg that was on the outside in.
When turtling and trying to transition to a head-on position with someone when you're on your knees, protect the space in your torso. I tried to capture the details but don't remember enough.
I was a little distraught when I learned we'd be doing KOB, but since I was working with someone my size it wasn't bad at all.
Set-up:
You have cross-face cross-body on opponent's right side.
Transitions
1. Transition to KOB by using your right hand to grip down on their left hip, and bring your elbow across to their right hip (upper thigh) and push it toward their feet. This is to keep them from using their knee to block your transition. Slide right knee up and kick left leg out. James didn't seem to be as concerned about where the hands ended up.
2. Transition from one side to another by leaning forward, putting hands on either side of opponent's head, windshield wiper right leg across their belly to their left side, replace right knee with left knee.
Submissions
1. Arm-bar. Must start from arm-out cross-body. Ensure that the arm remains trapped as you transition to KOB. Bring your right foot on the outside of their right arm-pit, toes pointed toward their head. Sit on their hips, and bring your right leg over their head.
2. Wrist-lock. If they try to push your knee off with their left hand (palm on knee), under-hook their left arm with your right and pull their elbow into your knee.
3. Arm-bar. Same set-up as the wrist lock. Use the under-hook to pull them toward you. Base your right hand behind their back, then replace your hand with your left foot. Pivot, and keep their arm. If you maintain the under-hook grip, you'll end up in the arm-bar with your right hand gripping the back of their bicep, which will allow you to finish the arm-bar even if your knees are not tight together. This is important, since you'll only have one leg over them.
4. Gi choke. While in cross-body, use your right hand to pull their left bottom of their jacket out and shake it taut. Transition to KOB. Slide the gi up under their left arm with your right. With your left hand, contour it palm up against the right side of their neck. Transition the corner of their gi from your right hand to your left. From there, you can either cross grip their left lapel or shoulder with your right and cross-choke, or bring their left elbow across their face and bear down on their arm.
Rolled with Antone, Wayne, Bobby, Fernando. Nice, controlled roll with Antone. Left my arm like a big dummy and he took advantage of it. Nando was fairly aggressive, wasn't expecting that from him. I've rolled with him once before, and I recall that he had a very good guard. He had top position the entire time. Very close on a choke, but I gritted it out. Wayne got me with an arm-bar...I was pissed because I made a dumb mistake leaving it out. I let Bobby work a bit, gave him a couple tips on both-arms-in-or-both-arms-out and hipping up instead of over when trying to escape mount. James tried to coach me a couple of times, but either I couldn't hear him or I couldn't execute. It's really nice that he does that. He gave us some tips after rolling that I really needed.
Don't Fall Into Bad Positions
There's probably a much better way of saying this, but basically, if someone is moving to a superior position, don't just give it up. I realize that I do that a bit, especially with the bigger guys. Sometimes their technique is so good that there's not much I can do, but there are many occasions in which I do just fall into the inferior position. Must fight it more. Make them work for it, even if they're going to get it. This is a big lesson for me, and being at both a technique and physical disadvantage, I need to focus on this. I need to consciously think of before each roll.
He also went over a basic escape from half-guard to guard...I really ought to know it by now, but I was struggling during the roll and couldn't execute it. Basically, move the leg that's in between theirs out, and the leg that was on the outside in.
When turtling and trying to transition to a head-on position with someone when you're on your knees, protect the space in your torso. I tried to capture the details but don't remember enough.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
KOB
11/29 - Valley
My body is not pleased. I had an hour and a half of BJJ yesterday plus a strenuous Crossfit workout that was about another hour, and then today I had a big dose of knee-on-belly and knee-on-chest with guys who out-weigh me by ~50lb. Dudes weren't going light on me either b/c the local head instructor (T) was there.
I had to peel myself off of the mat on several occasions, and at one point I was light-headed enough that I had to take a minute to clear the cobwebs. We worked on several different set-ups to get from cross-body to KOB. I'm going to record as best I can, but to be honest, everything is a little hazy. No rolling at the end, which came as a relief. My body felt like it had been pummeled with a meat tenderizer.
Setup:
You are in top cross-face side-control on opponent's right side.
1. Move right hand to their left hip, grip their pants at the waist, make a fist and drive it to the mat. Thumb-in grip with left hand in the lapel on the back of their neck, pop up and slide right knee through.
2. If they have their right knee up, grip their pants at the knee, drive it to the mat and do the same as #1.
3. Sprawl out, switch hips toward head (kesa gatame), base right hand out parallel with their head, slide right knee up. This one is tricky, b/c you need to have your hips far enough off the ground to get your knee up and over. A little awkward the first couple of times, but got it after awhile.
T gave us some pointers on the grips as you're coming up...i.e. sometimes it doesn't make sense to get the sleeve grip, and you might be better off using your right hand on their left lapel and setting up for a cross choke, depending on how you got there.
T showed us a slick wrist lock... you have KOB, and opponent pushes on your knee. Underhook their arm with your right hand, ensure their palm is against your knee and gable grip your right and left hand together. Bring their elbow up and into you.
I might need to get some chocolate or some other kind of treat today.
My body is not pleased. I had an hour and a half of BJJ yesterday plus a strenuous Crossfit workout that was about another hour, and then today I had a big dose of knee-on-belly and knee-on-chest with guys who out-weigh me by ~50lb. Dudes weren't going light on me either b/c the local head instructor (T) was there.
I had to peel myself off of the mat on several occasions, and at one point I was light-headed enough that I had to take a minute to clear the cobwebs. We worked on several different set-ups to get from cross-body to KOB. I'm going to record as best I can, but to be honest, everything is a little hazy. No rolling at the end, which came as a relief. My body felt like it had been pummeled with a meat tenderizer.
Setup:
You are in top cross-face side-control on opponent's right side.
1. Move right hand to their left hip, grip their pants at the waist, make a fist and drive it to the mat. Thumb-in grip with left hand in the lapel on the back of their neck, pop up and slide right knee through.
2. If they have their right knee up, grip their pants at the knee, drive it to the mat and do the same as #1.
3. Sprawl out, switch hips toward head (kesa gatame), base right hand out parallel with their head, slide right knee up. This one is tricky, b/c you need to have your hips far enough off the ground to get your knee up and over. A little awkward the first couple of times, but got it after awhile.
T gave us some pointers on the grips as you're coming up...i.e. sometimes it doesn't make sense to get the sleeve grip, and you might be better off using your right hand on their left lapel and setting up for a cross choke, depending on how you got there.
T showed us a slick wrist lock... you have KOB, and opponent pushes on your knee. Underhook their arm with your right hand, ensure their palm is against your knee and gable grip your right and left hand together. Bring their elbow up and into you.
I might need to get some chocolate or some other kind of treat today.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Regaining Back-Mount and Submissions from Back-Mount
11/28 - Downtown
I thought it was going to be a small class, but more and more folks strolled in and we ended up with about 8 or so. Our warm-up was two 5min rounds of flow-rolling. I had terrible flow to start with...would think of techniques that I wanted to execute but couldn't do them, or did them very poorly. Felt like a total n00b. The second one went a little better. I kept trying for the flower sweep, but wasn't having much success with it. Did the scissor sweep over and over again instead of pulling something else out. Meh.
Stretched, and then rolled for a solid half hour. Sara (twice?), James, Antone, Wayne(?), guy who's name I don't remember. Kept nailing Sara in the head, once pretty hard with my own head. I was apologizing pretty much the entire roll. Had good rolls with her, did a good job of staying in advantageous positions. Good roll with Wayne, tried very hard to stay out of bad positions and did a fairly good job of that. Guys bait me into the triangle so they can push my leg down and pass...I need to learn what I'm doing wrong there. Antone had me in knots, as per usual. Got me in a slick sub...don't remember what it was, but good. When I was rolling with James, he gave me a tip on passing the guard for points. I was passing his guard and ended up with my butt on the mat instead of pressure on him. You get points for passing the guard, so finish it. I think that's what he was trying to say...
Set-up:
You have opponent in back-mount, with right arm over, left arm under and left hand over the top of your right hand. Your head is tight to theirs, almost ear-to-ear.
1. Regaining Back-Mount
Opponent attempts to escape back-mount by turning to their left side, holding your left leg down and clearing their legs, ending up perpendicular to you. Maintain your grip with your arms, and rotate your lower body to the left and get flat on your stomach. You want to end up with your body in line with theirs, so that by pushing forward you roll them up. Chop your right leg all the way across their body, fall to your right side and get your left hook back in. The chop across the body isn't a violent motion, but rather a cue to get your right foot all the way to their left hip instead of just to the inside of their right thigh.
If, as they are escaping, they try to roll up on you (i.e. their back is on your stomach and they are putting weight on you as they move into the perpendicular position), you can hip out to get to the in-line, stomach down position. However, it would be even better if you kick off their right leg with your right leg as they are clearing their hips/legs. This always you to initiate the movement to line up with them before they get their weight on you.
2. Ezekiel from Back-Mount
Put the four fingers from your left hand into your right sleeve at the bottom of the wrist. Kick your feet out to the right (left foot should end up on their right hip, right foot on the floor?), push them down and bring your right hand around their head so that you are making a fist in the crook of the left side of their neck. This one is going to take a lot more practice to understand.
3. Head-and-Arm from Back-Mount
The set-up is that you are going for the ezekiel and they flatten out. Bring your left arm around the back of their head as deep as you can. Deep, deep deep. Flatten out to your stomach, get your head LOW and CLOSE to their head. Work that arm around, taking your time to get it deep. Once it's set, gable grip your left hand over your right hand and squeeze your arms. If needed, stay very flat and walk your legs to the right.
Some basics from this... to escape the ezekiel (in this case), flatten out. To escape the head-and-arm, move to your side. James showed us a slick modification if you have a head-and-arm and the opponent attempts to block by putting their elbow in the air and their hand on their ear (like they're talking into a phone). Keep your left hand on the mat, use your right hand to move their right arm across your head and then back for a kimura. Bomb. Probably didn't explain it well, but it looked evil.
I thought it was going to be a small class, but more and more folks strolled in and we ended up with about 8 or so. Our warm-up was two 5min rounds of flow-rolling. I had terrible flow to start with...would think of techniques that I wanted to execute but couldn't do them, or did them very poorly. Felt like a total n00b. The second one went a little better. I kept trying for the flower sweep, but wasn't having much success with it. Did the scissor sweep over and over again instead of pulling something else out. Meh.
Stretched, and then rolled for a solid half hour. Sara (twice?), James, Antone, Wayne(?), guy who's name I don't remember. Kept nailing Sara in the head, once pretty hard with my own head. I was apologizing pretty much the entire roll. Had good rolls with her, did a good job of staying in advantageous positions. Good roll with Wayne, tried very hard to stay out of bad positions and did a fairly good job of that. Guys bait me into the triangle so they can push my leg down and pass...I need to learn what I'm doing wrong there. Antone had me in knots, as per usual. Got me in a slick sub...don't remember what it was, but good. When I was rolling with James, he gave me a tip on passing the guard for points. I was passing his guard and ended up with my butt on the mat instead of pressure on him. You get points for passing the guard, so finish it. I think that's what he was trying to say...
Set-up:
You have opponent in back-mount, with right arm over, left arm under and left hand over the top of your right hand. Your head is tight to theirs, almost ear-to-ear.
1. Regaining Back-Mount
Opponent attempts to escape back-mount by turning to their left side, holding your left leg down and clearing their legs, ending up perpendicular to you. Maintain your grip with your arms, and rotate your lower body to the left and get flat on your stomach. You want to end up with your body in line with theirs, so that by pushing forward you roll them up. Chop your right leg all the way across their body, fall to your right side and get your left hook back in. The chop across the body isn't a violent motion, but rather a cue to get your right foot all the way to their left hip instead of just to the inside of their right thigh.
If, as they are escaping, they try to roll up on you (i.e. their back is on your stomach and they are putting weight on you as they move into the perpendicular position), you can hip out to get to the in-line, stomach down position. However, it would be even better if you kick off their right leg with your right leg as they are clearing their hips/legs. This always you to initiate the movement to line up with them before they get their weight on you.
2. Ezekiel from Back-Mount
Put the four fingers from your left hand into your right sleeve at the bottom of the wrist. Kick your feet out to the right (left foot should end up on their right hip, right foot on the floor?), push them down and bring your right hand around their head so that you are making a fist in the crook of the left side of their neck. This one is going to take a lot more practice to understand.
3. Head-and-Arm from Back-Mount
The set-up is that you are going for the ezekiel and they flatten out. Bring your left arm around the back of their head as deep as you can. Deep, deep deep. Flatten out to your stomach, get your head LOW and CLOSE to their head. Work that arm around, taking your time to get it deep. Once it's set, gable grip your left hand over your right hand and squeeze your arms. If needed, stay very flat and walk your legs to the right.
Some basics from this... to escape the ezekiel (in this case), flatten out. To escape the head-and-arm, move to your side. James showed us a slick modification if you have a head-and-arm and the opponent attempts to block by putting their elbow in the air and their hand on their ear (like they're talking into a phone). Keep your left hand on the mat, use your right hand to move their right arm across your head and then back for a kimura. Bomb. Probably didn't explain it well, but it looked evil.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Arm Over Side Control Pass & Subs
11/27
Valley
I think we did four of each but I can only remember three. Terrible memory. Didn't even roll, so can't use exhaustion as an excuse for forgetting.
Arm-Over Side Control Passes
Set-up:
You have side control on opponent's right side. They put up their right knee.
1. Use your right hand to grip their gi at the knee and drive it across their other knee to the mat. Grip should remain or release and place hand on the mat. Should be on the inside of their knee to keep them from straightening their leg and foiling the pass. Sprawl, switch your hips toward their legs, swing right leg over and replace your right hand with your right foot. Rotate your ankle out (to the right) a bit so that you can slide your knee down over their thigh and onto the mat. Once the knee hits the mat, you can pull your foot out. At this point, you should be able to trap their left arm as you slide up into mount.
2. Instead of driving their knee to the side, drive the knee down, sprawl, switch hips toward their legs, swing right foot over, hook under their left thigh and mount.
3. If their knee is really driving into you, use your right hand and slide it under their right calf, just above their ankle. Their knee should be trapped between your side and your upper arm. Hand should be on their left thigh. Base out with your left hand to the side of their head. Slide your left knee onto their belly, pull their right leg up and toward you a bit, bring your right leg to their left thigh. Fall back toward their head and then off to the right. Extend your right leg (will keep them from rolling up on you to defend against the knee bar) and grip the back of their heel with both hands for the knee bar.
Arm-Over Side Control Submissions
1. Raise up a bit, slide your right hand palm up along their right lapel as deep as you can get. Doesn't need to be as deep as normal cross collar chokes. Scrape your left arm across their face toward you, grip their shoulder, sprawl one of your legs back (left seems to provide more pressure) as you flare your elbows.
2. Slide toward north-south, move right hand under their back and grip the back of their lapel at the neck from behind (four fingers should be in). Slide back to side control, scrape left hand across their face and get a thumb in grip on their left lapel. Make a tent with your wrist, sprawl left leg back.
3. Opponent turns into you. Bring right arm up, wrap over their head (reverse guillotine?), left arm bases out, sprawl, switch hips toward their head.
Valley
I think we did four of each but I can only remember three. Terrible memory. Didn't even roll, so can't use exhaustion as an excuse for forgetting.
Arm-Over Side Control Passes
Set-up:
You have side control on opponent's right side. They put up their right knee.
1. Use your right hand to grip their gi at the knee and drive it across their other knee to the mat. Grip should remain or release and place hand on the mat. Should be on the inside of their knee to keep them from straightening their leg and foiling the pass. Sprawl, switch your hips toward their legs, swing right leg over and replace your right hand with your right foot. Rotate your ankle out (to the right) a bit so that you can slide your knee down over their thigh and onto the mat. Once the knee hits the mat, you can pull your foot out. At this point, you should be able to trap their left arm as you slide up into mount.
2. Instead of driving their knee to the side, drive the knee down, sprawl, switch hips toward their legs, swing right foot over, hook under their left thigh and mount.
3. If their knee is really driving into you, use your right hand and slide it under their right calf, just above their ankle. Their knee should be trapped between your side and your upper arm. Hand should be on their left thigh. Base out with your left hand to the side of their head. Slide your left knee onto their belly, pull their right leg up and toward you a bit, bring your right leg to their left thigh. Fall back toward their head and then off to the right. Extend your right leg (will keep them from rolling up on you to defend against the knee bar) and grip the back of their heel with both hands for the knee bar.
Arm-Over Side Control Submissions
1. Raise up a bit, slide your right hand palm up along their right lapel as deep as you can get. Doesn't need to be as deep as normal cross collar chokes. Scrape your left arm across their face toward you, grip their shoulder, sprawl one of your legs back (left seems to provide more pressure) as you flare your elbows.
2. Slide toward north-south, move right hand under their back and grip the back of their lapel at the neck from behind (four fingers should be in). Slide back to side control, scrape left hand across their face and get a thumb in grip on their left lapel. Make a tent with your wrist, sprawl left leg back.
3. Opponent turns into you. Bring right arm up, wrap over their head (reverse guillotine?), left arm bases out, sprawl, switch hips toward their head.
Monday, November 26, 2012
KOB Escapes
11/24
Valley
We drilled the KOB escapes again. Several times. Also an escape from the double-under guard pass. Similar to what I learned downtown earlier in the week but a bit different (this escape ends up in a triangle). Dive under their right armpit with your left hand, gable grip with your right hand, put your right elbow in their face, kick your left leg straight back to free it, then up and over for a triangle.
No rolling, just an hour of drilling.
I was thinking of doing the noon class downtown afterwards but my body decided that it had had enough for one week. Five classes this week...happy about that.
Valley
We drilled the KOB escapes again. Several times. Also an escape from the double-under guard pass. Similar to what I learned downtown earlier in the week but a bit different (this escape ends up in a triangle). Dive under their right armpit with your left hand, gable grip with your right hand, put your right elbow in their face, kick your left leg straight back to free it, then up and over for a triangle.
No rolling, just an hour of drilling.
I was thinking of doing the noon class downtown afterwards but my body decided that it had had enough for one week. Five classes this week...happy about that.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Half Guard Pass and KOB Escapes
11/21
Downtown
A truly forgettable day at class. I was emotionally ill-equipped to deal with grappling. Not a frequent occurrence, but when it does happen it's miserable. I couldn't wrap my head around the warm-ups, and from the very beginning I felt way out my depth. I'm not even sure what we worked on. I do remember getting worked in the rolls, and tapping at one point when I was in bottom side control. It was very heavy side control, but still. Gross.
Oh yeah, I do remember working on breaking grips that an opponent may have on your gi at the knees. Get sleeve control on them, bring your knee in to you, turn away from the leg you are trying to break on, and kick out and up. If they have a grip on your right knee, get a sleeve grip on their left arm with your right hand, bring your knee into you, turn toward your left and kick your right leg up and out.
11/23
Morning - Downtown
Today went MUCH better, as I figured it would. We worked on passing half guard. Coming in from a crouch or standing, your right hand on their left ribs, left hand on their right knee. Get up in their grill, and move your right hand so that it's more of a fist on their shoulder. Keep holding their right knee with your left hand, then move your left knee over their right knee and pass to the left (their right). Another variation if you can't get your knee through is to kick back over to the right (their left), switch hips and get side control from that way.
A slick way to take the back from mount is if they get one leg almost out, i.e. just their calf is pinched between your legs. Sit on them, turn away from their knee, bring your other leg behind and cross over their top of their ankles, and then forward roll over their butt (not their back). Keep rolling and you'll have them in back mount. If you roll more towards their back, you won't be able to roll them over you. Full scenario: Opponent is mounted, and tries to elbow-to-knee escape to the left and only gets their upper left leg out, leaving the rest of it trapped. Turn and lean toward the left, bring your left leg back and cross your left ankle over the top of their ankles. Forward roll over their butt and take the back.
Rolled with Antone, James, and a guy I knew from my first school once. Rolled with another guy that I knew from my first school twice. All of them decent rolls, got caught in stuff a couple of times that frustrated me b/c I should know better. After the rolls, the guy I rolled with twice commented that I was pretty solid, and should learn shin guard (?) b/c of my strengths. James said that I was doing well too and should focus on fighting to get my feet on the hips.
Evening - Valley
Worked on the four KOB escapes:
1. Grab their belt at their right hip with your left hand and the inside of their knee with your right hand, bump high up to get them off balance, shrimp to the left, slide your right leg under you, come up on your right elbow and use your right hand under their foot to dump them as you continue pushing into their hip with your left hand. Move to side control.
2. Bump up, make a C cup with your left hand and push their ankle backwards so that you can hook it over the top of your left ankle. Bring your right knee through to the top of their left thigh, grip their gi under the right knee with your right hand and the side of their upper left arm with your right hand. Pull them over you a bit to get their weight off and then pull down on your left hand while rotating your right hand with their knee over to your left side.
3. Bump up and slide your right knee through so that it essentially traps their right leg. Bring them forward a bit, grip their upper right arm with your left hand and under their left knee with your right hand. Roll them in the direction their knee is pointing.
4. Use left hand under their right knee to post, bump up and pull yourself underneath them. Grab their belt near their right hip with your right hand and their left leg sleeve with your left hand. Pull them toward your hips, then dump them to the right.
One thing to keep in mind is to keep your head on their shoulder for 2 & 3 so that you stay close to them and can end up in kesa gatame.
One roll each with Scott and Gary. I did fairly well against them, but kept ending up in leg lock territory.
Downtown
A truly forgettable day at class. I was emotionally ill-equipped to deal with grappling. Not a frequent occurrence, but when it does happen it's miserable. I couldn't wrap my head around the warm-ups, and from the very beginning I felt way out my depth. I'm not even sure what we worked on. I do remember getting worked in the rolls, and tapping at one point when I was in bottom side control. It was very heavy side control, but still. Gross.
Oh yeah, I do remember working on breaking grips that an opponent may have on your gi at the knees. Get sleeve control on them, bring your knee in to you, turn away from the leg you are trying to break on, and kick out and up. If they have a grip on your right knee, get a sleeve grip on their left arm with your right hand, bring your knee into you, turn toward your left and kick your right leg up and out.
11/23
Morning - Downtown
Today went MUCH better, as I figured it would. We worked on passing half guard. Coming in from a crouch or standing, your right hand on their left ribs, left hand on their right knee. Get up in their grill, and move your right hand so that it's more of a fist on their shoulder. Keep holding their right knee with your left hand, then move your left knee over their right knee and pass to the left (their right). Another variation if you can't get your knee through is to kick back over to the right (their left), switch hips and get side control from that way.
A slick way to take the back from mount is if they get one leg almost out, i.e. just their calf is pinched between your legs. Sit on them, turn away from their knee, bring your other leg behind and cross over their top of their ankles, and then forward roll over their butt (not their back). Keep rolling and you'll have them in back mount. If you roll more towards their back, you won't be able to roll them over you. Full scenario: Opponent is mounted, and tries to elbow-to-knee escape to the left and only gets their upper left leg out, leaving the rest of it trapped. Turn and lean toward the left, bring your left leg back and cross your left ankle over the top of their ankles. Forward roll over their butt and take the back.
Rolled with Antone, James, and a guy I knew from my first school once. Rolled with another guy that I knew from my first school twice. All of them decent rolls, got caught in stuff a couple of times that frustrated me b/c I should know better. After the rolls, the guy I rolled with twice commented that I was pretty solid, and should learn shin guard (?) b/c of my strengths. James said that I was doing well too and should focus on fighting to get my feet on the hips.
Evening - Valley
Worked on the four KOB escapes:
1. Grab their belt at their right hip with your left hand and the inside of their knee with your right hand, bump high up to get them off balance, shrimp to the left, slide your right leg under you, come up on your right elbow and use your right hand under their foot to dump them as you continue pushing into their hip with your left hand. Move to side control.
2. Bump up, make a C cup with your left hand and push their ankle backwards so that you can hook it over the top of your left ankle. Bring your right knee through to the top of their left thigh, grip their gi under the right knee with your right hand and the side of their upper left arm with your right hand. Pull them over you a bit to get their weight off and then pull down on your left hand while rotating your right hand with their knee over to your left side.
3. Bump up and slide your right knee through so that it essentially traps their right leg. Bring them forward a bit, grip their upper right arm with your left hand and under their left knee with your right hand. Roll them in the direction their knee is pointing.
4. Use left hand under their right knee to post, bump up and pull yourself underneath them. Grab their belt near their right hip with your right hand and their left leg sleeve with your left hand. Pull them toward your hips, then dump them to the right.
One thing to keep in mind is to keep your head on their shoulder for 2 & 3 so that you stay close to them and can end up in kesa gatame.
One roll each with Scott and Gary. I did fairly well against them, but kept ending up in leg lock territory.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Journey to Pan Ams 2013
I've joined a new BJJ school and after a couple of discussions with the instructor, have decided to throw my hat in the ring for the 2013 Pan Ams. I've been wanting to compete at a large tournament, and if this doesn't fit the bill, I don't know what would.
Currently I'm a one stripe blue, and don't foresee that changing anytime soon. Today I felt like a white belt in class. I'm way outside my comfort zone in this new school as far as technique is concerned. They do a lot of advanced guard work of which I have zero knowledge. My basic survival is ok, but that's all I do, is survive. I feel exactly like I did when I was a white belt years ago. At the end of class today I was sorely tempted to demote myself to white because I felt ridiculously out of my depth. I need to just chill though, and go to class again. And again. And again.
Currently I'm a one stripe blue, and don't foresee that changing anytime soon. Today I felt like a white belt in class. I'm way outside my comfort zone in this new school as far as technique is concerned. They do a lot of advanced guard work of which I have zero knowledge. My basic survival is ok, but that's all I do, is survive. I feel exactly like I did when I was a white belt years ago. At the end of class today I was sorely tempted to demote myself to white because I felt ridiculously out of my depth. I need to just chill though, and go to class again. And again. And again.
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