Spiderguard

6/8 - Downtown

We had a relatively inexperienced class, so it was some basic spiderguard work on a kneeling opponent. I was working with a newish white belt, and it was great experience for me trying to explain a couple nuances of the move while we were drilling it. It becomes clear in a hurry if you really understand a move when you're trying to explain it to someone else. I'd like to practice the basic sweep during rolls, b/c I've found myself in the position several times but not able to do anything with it.

Rolling cardio is close to 100%. Had four rolls, felt pretty relaxed through all of them. Was tired at the end, but probably could have done one more.

Technique

1. Spiderguard sweep (kneeling opponent): R foot in their L elbowpit and extend their elbow above their head. Sit up, as you probably won't get the tension that you want/need if you're flat on your back or even on one side. As you are extending your R foot, your L grip on their sleeve pulls their R arm between your legs. This will set you up for a number of transitions. For sweeps, this prevents them from posting. Extend your R leg and swing it a bit over to your L as you pull their R arm into and arch your back away from them. Once you've swept them, you can transition to KOB or slide your L knee under their R arm, hook the L side of their head with your foot and pull them toward you to finish the arm-bar.

• A variation of this is to let go of your R grip and fend off their L arm with your foot by curling your toes and keeping the arm at bay. Use your R hand to get a cross collar grip and pull them toward you as you extend your leg and arch your back. 

2. Spiderguard to Omoplata: Same set-up as #1, but punch their R arm into your hip pocket.

3. Omoplata Maintenance: If opponent rises back up as you are applying the omoplata, back roll. This will end with you sitting on their arm and them on their back. Keep their elbow off the mat and look to turn into side control or back step for a mount.

Rolls

Easy roll with Opal where I let her work. Her instincts are good in side-control...she is not afraid to apply shoulder pressure at all. Rolled with Jay...dude is very controlled and deliberate. I think he was going easy on me, but it was a little hard to tell. He does not spaz at ALL. A roll with Gage where we had a pretty good back and forth. Don't remember the details. Interesting roll with Sol where he got top control and moved to N/S. I was pretty stuck and could tell he was fishing out the gi for some offensive dirty gi choke. I finally had the presence of mind to create a frame against his hips and create some space. I still wasn't getting much lateral movement, so decided to try to backroll and get my hooks in. Shockingly enough, it worked! He was just as surprised as I was. Very cool feeling to get a reversal every now and again.