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.