Pulling Guard

2/25 - Downtown
I'm in the midst of writing up notes from the seminar, but truthfully, I didn't put myself in a good position to take many notes and I'm probably going to forget most of what we learned. Hopefully not.

Yesterday was belt testing. So proud of the guys that got promoted. They earned it, unequivocally.

Today we did a couple of guard pulls. One was into DLR and then following it with a tomo nagi. The second was a fake guard pull to single ankle pick.

1. Fake with non-dominant hand (L) for a low lapel grip. When they fend it off, shoot your R in for a grip on their L lapel (mid-chest height). Get a sleeve grip on their R side with your L hand and pull them down and/or into you. This will pull them off balance and instinctively they'll want to pull up/back. When they do, post your R foot on their L hip and fall to your L side. Then rotate to your R side and feed your R foot under their L thigh for the DLR hook. Maintaining your grips, pull them into you, and ensure that your R hand is on the inside of your R knee. When you pull your R knee in toward your chest, it will help draw them in instead of just using your arms. Bring their body weight over you, get them off the ground, then roll them over your L (??) shoulder.

I really struggled with this one. All aspects. I kept wanting to fall to the L instead of the R b/c I thought that would be a more efficient way to get my R hook in, but no. I also had a hard time balancing people b/c I could never quite get my R foot in a position where it was helping to bear their weight.

2. Same set up as above, but fake putting R foot on their hip and step into them instead. Drop R knee to the ground, straighten your L arm to keep them off balance as you ankle pick their R leg with your L hand.

Rolled with Lilly, Russ, James, Antone. Antone got me back for yesterday's choke pretty quickly. :) Russ and I had a pretty good go round. We went again after class, and during one of those rolls I tried a berimbolo for the first time and almost got it. I seemed to have the set-up right anyway. James had me start standing with him and gave me some good tips on not sitting down as soon as I get a lapel grip. That's a dead-giveaway that you're going to pull guard. I need to stay balanced and not give them that hint.