4/29 - Downtown
I've been rolling as much as usual, but have apparently found it difficult to keep up my blog. Haven't missed anything exceptional though, so no worries. Primarily side-control transitions to KOB, which I might write up later.
Today was half guard sweeps. We haven't worked these in awhile, so it was good to touch on it again.
Note to myself: The only technique that I feel is accurate in the details is #1. Everything else fuzzy, so take it with a grain of salt.
Technique
I've been noticing over the past month or so that techniques have slowed down a bit for me. For me, that means that when shown a technique, I feel like I can zero in on the details better. It doesn't mean that I execute the details, but I'm at least seeing more of the technique that is being shown, if that makes sense. I can process more of what is being presented. I'm very lucky in that I have instructors that know and can describe the details in a way that makes sense. I like to know the "why" behind details, b/c I'm pretty cerebral and I need the rationale to help make it stick in my brain. James does an especially good job of explaining why a particular small detail makes a difference in the movement.
Note: Outside leg refers to leg that is not in between opponent's legs.
1. Drive the Bus: Opponent is not based out with their outside leg, but crowding you and fairly parallel. Your outside arm shoots under their armpit and the inside arm traps their inside leg. You can also somewhat trap their inside arm with your head by tilting your head toward the side that you are trying to sweep them.
2. Twister (Not sure if the name is correct): This is a follow-up to drive the bus. You try to take them one direction and they base out enough somehow to prevent the sweep. Take them the other way, but bring your outside foot to the front of their inside knee and make sure that the shin/calf of your inside leg is in the bend of their inside leg. You end up trapping/pinching their inside leg between your outside foot and inside shin. Again, remember to trap their arm to your body to prevent them from basing out. I might be missing some details on this. Sad.
3. Regain Guard (Opponent has outside leg sprawled): Opponent is based on outside leg, probably as a defense to drive the bus. Slide R foot down their R calf and over the top of their ankle. Bring L leg over and trap their R leg. Push on their L leg with your R forearm and bring R leg through for guard or sweep.
4. Gi to Flip: Opponent has a tight cross-face and heavy pressure on your R side. Drive the bus and twister are not working. Pull out the bottom hem of their gi from their R side with your L hand. Pull it taunt to their inside arm-pit with your thumb down. Bump your R hand under them so that it is against their R hip. Hook your L foot on the inside of their R thigh. Kick up with your L leg and up with your arms. Somehow you get into an almost N/S and as you come up to your knees and drive forward, it flips them over. I swear this works, even though I'm not describing it well. I can't entirely remember which side you have your arms when you start fussing with the gi.
Rolls
Rolled with Sarah x 2, Jason (B), Antone and Julio. Had competitive rolls with Sarah. She is really good at preventing DLR sweeps, so at one point I just sat up and bull rushed her b/c her weight was pretty far back. I had some success with passing, although I had to be very patient about it.
I thought I'd do better against Jason, but he got me in something that ended up cranking my neck a bit b/c I was refusing to tap (like an idiot). Not his fault, as it wasn't really a neck crank, but I was being stubborn and that's what it kindof turned into.
Relatively early on in my roll with Antone he dumped me pretty hard to one side with a sweep. Wasn't intentional, but I was already kindof having a day, so it didn't help. He got me a couple of times with I'm not quite sure what, and then I could tell he started to take it easy on me, which almost made it worse.
Julio...same old, same old. Smash and pass, although at one point I had a high guard and while I was looking to maneuver for an arm-bar, I ended up with a pseudo triangle / cross-choke thing.
Overall not pleased with my rolls the past couple of days. I know it's just part of the ebb and flow though, so just taking it one class at a time.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
4/22 - Downtown
I honestly have no idea what we went over.
4/23 - Valley
I remember what we went over, but I also remember that it didn't seem like it would be very effective unless you were much more highly skilled than I am. The techniques were relayed to me from a seminar that the Valley guys attended over the weekend.
4/24 - Downtown
Our warm-up consisted of drills. Nullifying and passing spider guard from standing position. One was crowding and one was driving their feet into mat. Did the DLR spin throughs, etc.
The rest of the time we rolled. Haven't rolled for an hour straight in awhile, and it was a good surprise. Except that I was a little bit low energy and even sadder for me...I forgot to bring my normal drilling tshirt. That meant that I had to go back to work in the tshirt that I rolled in. Not ok.
I didn't feel like I did anything worthwhile in the rolls. It was one of those days. Rolled with Antone, Julio, Nate, Dennis, Jason (B), James, Kenny. Was in bottom side for the vast majority of the time and had little offer. Just trying to survive. At one point with Dennis I relaxed completely, which surprised him and he wasn't sure where to go from there. When he changed his position I was able to regain guard or at least not be in such a bad position. I realized early on that it wasn't going to be a stellar day, so I modified my expectations and rode it out. I'm not pleased by just trying to survive (instead of thrive), but there is the occasional day when that's really all you can do.
After my roll with James, he gave me some pointers on how to maintain guard. He noticed that I'm collapsing my legs together. Oftentimes when someone initiates a standing guard pass to one side or the other, I'm all the way over on my hip and my legs are together. I may be preventing them from passing toward my head, but there's nothing stopping them from backstepping and passing to backside side-control. I've noticed this happening a lot to me lately. He recommended being cognizant of where my legs are in relation to each other (not just to my opponent's body). He also gave me a pointer on if I'm on my side, to kick the bottom leg forward a bit so that my foot is past my hip line, put the ball of my foot on the ground and use it pivot as I rotate myself in the opposite direction to regain guard.
I'm looking forward to putting this into practice soon and to see if it helps.
I honestly have no idea what we went over.
4/23 - Valley
I remember what we went over, but I also remember that it didn't seem like it would be very effective unless you were much more highly skilled than I am. The techniques were relayed to me from a seminar that the Valley guys attended over the weekend.
4/24 - Downtown
Our warm-up consisted of drills. Nullifying and passing spider guard from standing position. One was crowding and one was driving their feet into mat. Did the DLR spin throughs, etc.
The rest of the time we rolled. Haven't rolled for an hour straight in awhile, and it was a good surprise. Except that I was a little bit low energy and even sadder for me...I forgot to bring my normal drilling tshirt. That meant that I had to go back to work in the tshirt that I rolled in. Not ok.
I didn't feel like I did anything worthwhile in the rolls. It was one of those days. Rolled with Antone, Julio, Nate, Dennis, Jason (B), James, Kenny. Was in bottom side for the vast majority of the time and had little offer. Just trying to survive. At one point with Dennis I relaxed completely, which surprised him and he wasn't sure where to go from there. When he changed his position I was able to regain guard or at least not be in such a bad position. I realized early on that it wasn't going to be a stellar day, so I modified my expectations and rode it out. I'm not pleased by just trying to survive (instead of thrive), but there is the occasional day when that's really all you can do.
After my roll with James, he gave me some pointers on how to maintain guard. He noticed that I'm collapsing my legs together. Oftentimes when someone initiates a standing guard pass to one side or the other, I'm all the way over on my hip and my legs are together. I may be preventing them from passing toward my head, but there's nothing stopping them from backstepping and passing to backside side-control. I've noticed this happening a lot to me lately. He recommended being cognizant of where my legs are in relation to each other (not just to my opponent's body). He also gave me a pointer on if I'm on my side, to kick the bottom leg forward a bit so that my foot is past my hip line, put the ball of my foot on the ground and use it pivot as I rotate myself in the opposite direction to regain guard.
I'm looking forward to putting this into practice soon and to see if it helps.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Spiderguard
4/20 - Downtown
Had to work on a Saturday, but bailed to roll for a couple of hours. Then back to work. Just like a week day. Sad.
Subs and sweeps from spiderguard.
1. Spiderguard to Omoplata: This is one we've done recently. Spiderguard to foot in bicep, let go of same-side sleeve, collar grip other side, get their other arm between your legs, jam that hand in your hip pocket, rotate toward them and straighten legs toward their face for omoplata.
2. Spiderguard Sweep (Opponent kneeling): Opponent has both knees down. Spiderguard with R foot in their L bicep and L foot on their R hip. Maintain sleeve grips and push their elbow up and behind them with your foot. You should be on your R side. It helps to have hipped backwards a fair amount when getting your foot in their bicep. You can either drop your L foot to the inside of their knee and push it away from you as you turn your entire upper body to look behind you. You maintain grips all the way throughout, and should end up with them flat on their back and you in a near arm-bar position. Instead of sitting up, slide your R knee under their L arm, and hook their head with your R foot to bring it (and their L arm) closer to you so that you can lock in the arm-bar.
3. Spiderguard to Tomoe Nage (Opponent kneeling): Feet not based on anything, shins squeezing toward each other in their armpits. With sleeve grips, use legs to rock them back and forth. Once you load them up on top of you, straighten your legs as they go over your body and pull their arms toward your hips. They should fly over your head.
I hate, hate, hate this types of sweeps. Doing them or having them done to me, I am petrified of breaking a neck. Clayton and I also worked it from closed guard.
Rolls
First was with Clayton, who slapped on a couple of subs throughout our roll. I almost passed his guard a couple of times and was in a pretty good position but couldn't finish. Kept getting stuck in his half guard. Second was with Kyle, who had top position almost the entire time. I did a decent job of defending attacks. Rolled with Hustle, who was diligently working butterfly sweeps. Was interesting to roll with someone who had such a single-minded focus. He got several sweeps on me, I did not much of anything except defend. Another roll with Clayton where I defended subs better.
Couldn't linger at get more rolls in after class b/c I had to dash back to work. Boo.
Had to work on a Saturday, but bailed to roll for a couple of hours. Then back to work. Just like a week day. Sad.
Subs and sweeps from spiderguard.
1. Spiderguard to Omoplata: This is one we've done recently. Spiderguard to foot in bicep, let go of same-side sleeve, collar grip other side, get their other arm between your legs, jam that hand in your hip pocket, rotate toward them and straighten legs toward their face for omoplata.
2. Spiderguard Sweep (Opponent kneeling): Opponent has both knees down. Spiderguard with R foot in their L bicep and L foot on their R hip. Maintain sleeve grips and push their elbow up and behind them with your foot. You should be on your R side. It helps to have hipped backwards a fair amount when getting your foot in their bicep. You can either drop your L foot to the inside of their knee and push it away from you as you turn your entire upper body to look behind you. You maintain grips all the way throughout, and should end up with them flat on their back and you in a near arm-bar position. Instead of sitting up, slide your R knee under their L arm, and hook their head with your R foot to bring it (and their L arm) closer to you so that you can lock in the arm-bar.
3. Spiderguard to Tomoe Nage (Opponent kneeling): Feet not based on anything, shins squeezing toward each other in their armpits. With sleeve grips, use legs to rock them back and forth. Once you load them up on top of you, straighten your legs as they go over your body and pull their arms toward your hips. They should fly over your head.
I hate, hate, hate this types of sweeps. Doing them or having them done to me, I am petrified of breaking a neck. Clayton and I also worked it from closed guard.
Rolls
First was with Clayton, who slapped on a couple of subs throughout our roll. I almost passed his guard a couple of times and was in a pretty good position but couldn't finish. Kept getting stuck in his half guard. Second was with Kyle, who had top position almost the entire time. I did a decent job of defending attacks. Rolled with Hustle, who was diligently working butterfly sweeps. Was interesting to roll with someone who had such a single-minded focus. He got several sweeps on me, I did not much of anything except defend. Another roll with Clayton where I defended subs better.
Couldn't linger at get more rolls in after class b/c I had to dash back to work. Boo.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Arm-bars
4/19 - Downtown
Job is kindof a cluster, so haven't been able to do as much BJJ as I'd like. Sad for me. This is a quick set of notes, as I don't have much time.
Today we worked arm-bars. Started with a setup from guard.
1. Wrap their bottom gi jacket around the outside of their R arm, grip with your R hand and pull it toward your mid-line. Grip their L shoulder or collar with L hand. L foot on their hip, R leg across their back, L foot across the back of their neck.
If they try to block by bending their arm and gripping their other bicep, use both of your hands to pull their wrist to your opposite shoulder (L) for an americana. If they pull their arm out, grip their other arm (L) on the tricep with your L, lower R foot to their hip, elevate hips up and turn L foot so that the top is cupping the back of their neck. Bring L leg over the front of their face.
2. Pendulum Sweep: If they stack you during the initial arm-bar, pendulum sweep by cupping the outside of their far ankle (R) with your R hand, dropping L leg toward your head and then sweeping low and away, circling towards them as your R leg kicks up into their L lat. Should end up in full mount.
3. Arm-bar from mount notes:
4. Breaking Defensive Grips: If they protect by putting the hand of their trapped arm on their other bicep and their free hand on the underside of the leg that's over their face, you can do one of several things (assume you have an arm-bar on their R side)
Rolled with Antone, who had a bow and arrow very tight with 30sec left but I was able to hold out just long enough. He had it though...another 5-10sec and I would've tapped.
Roll with Jason (B) who I briefly had in a head-arm type choke from turtle but that didn't last long. He got me several times, I don't remember with what.
Roll with Julio, who decided to take off his gi top at the start of our roll. I left mine on, so I was at a distinct disadvantage. Not to mention he's bigger and a brown belt. But, whatever. He was mainly interesting in smashing my guard and damn near smashed my wrist when he was going for something. He let me work top mount for a minute, which I couldn't take advantage of other than to try to maintain it for as long as possible.
Not my best class, but I did learn a number of very useful nuggets on the arm-bar.
Job is kindof a cluster, so haven't been able to do as much BJJ as I'd like. Sad for me. This is a quick set of notes, as I don't have much time.
Today we worked arm-bars. Started with a setup from guard.
1. Wrap their bottom gi jacket around the outside of their R arm, grip with your R hand and pull it toward your mid-line. Grip their L shoulder or collar with L hand. L foot on their hip, R leg across their back, L foot across the back of their neck.
If they try to block by bending their arm and gripping their other bicep, use both of your hands to pull their wrist to your opposite shoulder (L) for an americana. If they pull their arm out, grip their other arm (L) on the tricep with your L, lower R foot to their hip, elevate hips up and turn L foot so that the top is cupping the back of their neck. Bring L leg over the front of their face.
2. Pendulum Sweep: If they stack you during the initial arm-bar, pendulum sweep by cupping the outside of their far ankle (R) with your R hand, dropping L leg toward your head and then sweeping low and away, circling towards them as your R leg kicks up into their L lat. Should end up in full mount.
3. Arm-bar from mount notes:
- If you stack your feet, put the foot that's across their body over the foot that is across their face. If they try to push up, it will make life difficult for them.
- You should have the arm closest to their hips free so that you can base out if they do try to push up on your legs.
4. Breaking Defensive Grips: If they protect by putting the hand of their trapped arm on their other bicep and their free hand on the underside of the leg that's over their face, you can do one of several things (assume you have an arm-bar on their R side)
- Use the foot that's across their body to push the arm off.
- Relax, wait for them to relax, then use your free hand to push/pop their free forearm away from you
- Post on your R hand, lift your hips slightly and twist toward the direction of their hips while you flare your L elbow (you should have their R arm trapped with your L arm).
- Do the same thing, but on the opposite side. This more risky though, b/c now you don't have an arm to post toward their hips if they get in a position where they can lift the leg that is over their face.
- Pull their bent arm tight into you, gable grip your hands together and twist your upper body only toward the L.
- If the above doesn't work, feed your R arm on the inside of their elbow, pull your L arm out, then feed your L hand over the top of their arm and back to your L (basically inside out). Pull your R hand out, gable grip your hands together and twist to the L.
Rolled with Antone, who had a bow and arrow very tight with 30sec left but I was able to hold out just long enough. He had it though...another 5-10sec and I would've tapped.
Roll with Jason (B) who I briefly had in a head-arm type choke from turtle but that didn't last long. He got me several times, I don't remember with what.
Roll with Julio, who decided to take off his gi top at the start of our roll. I left mine on, so I was at a distinct disadvantage. Not to mention he's bigger and a brown belt. But, whatever. He was mainly interesting in smashing my guard and damn near smashed my wrist when he was going for something. He let me work top mount for a minute, which I couldn't take advantage of other than to try to maintain it for as long as possible.
Not my best class, but I did learn a number of very useful nuggets on the arm-bar.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Butterfly Guard
4/17 - Downtown
This was fun, as we very rarely cover butterfly guard. Did a couple of basic transitions into it, then sweeps and submissions. Had good rolls at the end. Did a couple of extra after class just b/c.
Technique
1. From flat on your back, sit up and angle to the L. When going to butterfly, it's advisable to always have at least some angle of sorts instead of facing dead-on to your opponent. This will make it more difficult for them to push your legs down and pass. R hand goes under their L arm and grips their back as deep as you can go. L hand can grip the outside of their R knee.
2. From flat on your back, sit up and get double-underhooks, with arms clasped behind their back. We sat back with this grip, pulled them over the top of us and kicked our legs up, raising their legs. Then we put them back down. This is a surprisingly good leg/ab exercise. Technique and ab work all at the same time. It's like a dream come true.
3. From #1 above, if they try to push down your L leg with their R hand, grip behind their tricep and pull their arm into you. Lay off to your L side as you kick your R leg up and post on your L foot. Difficult to describe, but the point isn't that you are violently kicking your R foot in the air to throw them high and wide. You'll lose control of them and they'll run around to side control. Better to let the L leg do more of the work, and follow with the R. If done correctly and they don't adjust, you should end up in full mount.
This can also be achieved with #2 above if you get the set-up and they try to fish for an underhook. Trap the arm and off you go.
Set-up: Opponent has your legs blocked in, has their head down on their stomach and they are very, very tight.
4. Grip their back just below their shoulders and use that and your legs to pull them on top of you. After they are loaded up over your body, kick your legs behind them and bring your bodyweight up. Done correctly and you should be up on your butt with some space between you and your opponent. Wrap your arms around the outside of their elbows and gable grip your hands together, trapping both of their arms.
5. From #4 above, fall to either side, kick your leg and sweep to mount.
6. From #4 above, if they pull one arm out but leave the other shallow, grip your hands together and kimura (Frank Mir) them.
7. From #4 above, if they pull L arm out but leave the other in deep (rendering #6 ineffective), feed their R collar to your R hand that still has their R arm trapped. Pull your L out in a stand-in-base movement. Continuing with the grip on their collar, pull them toward your head. R leg goes over their mid-back sit back down as L leg swings around for triangle placement.
Rolls
Rolled with Sarah, Clayton, Fernando (W), Manny, Antone and then Manny and Sarah again after class. I kept trying to work DLR sweeps on Sarah to absolutely no avail. Clayton had dominant positions for most of the roll, though I was able to defend subs and really bad positions with some success. Worked my sweep and top game with Fernando. First roll with Manny he had top position and really seemed to control the roll. Antone was trying all kinds of crazy things that I don't even understand. So many times I get something and think that I'm going to come out on the better end of the roll, but I'm always sadly mistaken. Second roll with Manny I scrambled better and gave him more of a back-and-forth. Second roll with Sarah was good, still couldn't get a DLR sweep.
Bummed that I won't be able to compete much this summer (if at all) due to finances. :( Hopefully I'll be in a better position come Sep/Oct for Master/Senior Worlds...
This was fun, as we very rarely cover butterfly guard. Did a couple of basic transitions into it, then sweeps and submissions. Had good rolls at the end. Did a couple of extra after class just b/c.
Technique
1. From flat on your back, sit up and angle to the L. When going to butterfly, it's advisable to always have at least some angle of sorts instead of facing dead-on to your opponent. This will make it more difficult for them to push your legs down and pass. R hand goes under their L arm and grips their back as deep as you can go. L hand can grip the outside of their R knee.
2. From flat on your back, sit up and get double-underhooks, with arms clasped behind their back. We sat back with this grip, pulled them over the top of us and kicked our legs up, raising their legs. Then we put them back down. This is a surprisingly good leg/ab exercise. Technique and ab work all at the same time. It's like a dream come true.
3. From #1 above, if they try to push down your L leg with their R hand, grip behind their tricep and pull their arm into you. Lay off to your L side as you kick your R leg up and post on your L foot. Difficult to describe, but the point isn't that you are violently kicking your R foot in the air to throw them high and wide. You'll lose control of them and they'll run around to side control. Better to let the L leg do more of the work, and follow with the R. If done correctly and they don't adjust, you should end up in full mount.
This can also be achieved with #2 above if you get the set-up and they try to fish for an underhook. Trap the arm and off you go.
Set-up: Opponent has your legs blocked in, has their head down on their stomach and they are very, very tight.
4. Grip their back just below their shoulders and use that and your legs to pull them on top of you. After they are loaded up over your body, kick your legs behind them and bring your bodyweight up. Done correctly and you should be up on your butt with some space between you and your opponent. Wrap your arms around the outside of their elbows and gable grip your hands together, trapping both of their arms.
5. From #4 above, fall to either side, kick your leg and sweep to mount.
6. From #4 above, if they pull one arm out but leave the other shallow, grip your hands together and kimura (Frank Mir) them.
7. From #4 above, if they pull L arm out but leave the other in deep (rendering #6 ineffective), feed their R collar to your R hand that still has their R arm trapped. Pull your L out in a stand-in-base movement. Continuing with the grip on their collar, pull them toward your head. R leg goes over their mid-back sit back down as L leg swings around for triangle placement.
Rolls
Rolled with Sarah, Clayton, Fernando (W), Manny, Antone and then Manny and Sarah again after class. I kept trying to work DLR sweeps on Sarah to absolutely no avail. Clayton had dominant positions for most of the roll, though I was able to defend subs and really bad positions with some success. Worked my sweep and top game with Fernando. First roll with Manny he had top position and really seemed to control the roll. Antone was trying all kinds of crazy things that I don't even understand. So many times I get something and think that I'm going to come out on the better end of the roll, but I'm always sadly mistaken. Second roll with Manny I scrambled better and gave him more of a back-and-forth. Second roll with Sarah was good, still couldn't get a DLR sweep.
Bummed that I won't be able to compete much this summer (if at all) due to finances. :( Hopefully I'll be in a better position come Sep/Oct for Master/Senior Worlds...
Monday, April 15, 2013
Terror
Was shocked to hear of the bombs in Boston today. Regardless of whether this was a domestic or foreign attack, it was unquestionably a terror attack. The word that comes to my mind is cowardly. I don't understand the mindset of people who think destruction is preferable to positive change. I guess it's easier to be a coward and to hide behind hate, intolerance and violence than to stand up and try to effect change for the better.
4/15 - Downtown
Worked on spider guard again today. The more we do it, the more I like it. Today we approached the scenario where your opponent is in your guard with both knees on the floor.
Technique
1. Spider Guard to Triangle/Omoplata: From spider guard with your feet on their hips and both sleeve grips, put R foot on the inside of their L elbow. Push their arm back with your foot and curl your toes around their bicep. This should give you a decent hook for you to control their arm for at least a little bit. Release your R hand grip and grip their R collar. Use your L hand to pull their R arm between your legs and onto your stomach. Pull their R sleeve toward you as you hip up. From here, you can move your R foot to behind their head for a triangle, or tuck their R arm into your L hip pocket for the omoplata.
2. Spider Guard to Arm-Drag: From spider guard with feet on their hips and both sleeve grips, put R foot on inside of the L elbow as above. As you do so, sit up into them by using the momentum of your foot pushing the arm back to bring you up. Release your R hand sleeve grip, grab their L tricep and pull their L arm into your arm-pit. Hop scoot your butt to the L and toward them, so that you hopefully clear their R knee and are in a good position to arm-drag. If you keep your foot on their elbow you may be able to control them, but it will also make it more difficult to complete the transition to the back.
The key with the arm-drag is to get your chest on the back of their arm and apply pressure as soon as possible. They'll want to pull their arm back to aid them in turning back into you. If you crowd the arm, you'll go a long way toward preventing that.
3. Preventing Stalling in your Closed Guard: Assume opponent is hunkered down in your closed guard. They have their arms close to their body and they're just riding out the roll. If they aren't moving at all, open your legs a bit, hip out to the L a tiny bit, reach in and start pulling the bottom R side of their gi top. Once you get the corner with your R hand, feed it to your L. Put your L foot just below your hand so that the bottom of your foot is flush with the fabric. Straighten your L foot. This will raise up their L arm (and in fact the whole L side of their upper body). Immediately stuff their L arm toward them by pushing their wrist (not their bicep, b/c they can get a grip or block it easier). Swing R leg over for triangle set-up.
4. Puppet-master: If opponent starts off in similar position as above, but is using their L arm to try to open your guard, use your R hand to push their L hand back, hip out to the L, and hook the top of your foot on the inside of their bicep. They're pretty much cooked at this point. You can throw your R leg over the back of their head and kimura their L arm, or reach over their back and pull their R arm toward you, or omoplata or triangle. Could also sweep, but you end up with your leg trapped underneath them, unless there's a more elegant way of doing it than what I was trying (which there probably is).
Rolls
Two rolls with Sarah, both very technical. We did a bit of 50/50 work, which was kinda fun. Most people bash Keenan and the Miyao's for having matches like that, but to me it's just as strategic and interesting as other positions. My lack of experience with leg locks makes this probably not a good choice for me though. A roll with Saul in which we had good back and forth. He let me work my guard game and regaining guard from side control. I couldn't stay in top side-control for very long, not surprisingly. A roll with Julio in which I tried not to leave any limbs out for longer than absolutely necessary. Did ok, but felt like I had nothing to offer in bottom side-control.
4/15 - Downtown
Worked on spider guard again today. The more we do it, the more I like it. Today we approached the scenario where your opponent is in your guard with both knees on the floor.
Technique
1. Spider Guard to Triangle/Omoplata: From spider guard with your feet on their hips and both sleeve grips, put R foot on the inside of their L elbow. Push their arm back with your foot and curl your toes around their bicep. This should give you a decent hook for you to control their arm for at least a little bit. Release your R hand grip and grip their R collar. Use your L hand to pull their R arm between your legs and onto your stomach. Pull their R sleeve toward you as you hip up. From here, you can move your R foot to behind their head for a triangle, or tuck their R arm into your L hip pocket for the omoplata.
2. Spider Guard to Arm-Drag: From spider guard with feet on their hips and both sleeve grips, put R foot on inside of the L elbow as above. As you do so, sit up into them by using the momentum of your foot pushing the arm back to bring you up. Release your R hand sleeve grip, grab their L tricep and pull their L arm into your arm-pit. Hop scoot your butt to the L and toward them, so that you hopefully clear their R knee and are in a good position to arm-drag. If you keep your foot on their elbow you may be able to control them, but it will also make it more difficult to complete the transition to the back.
The key with the arm-drag is to get your chest on the back of their arm and apply pressure as soon as possible. They'll want to pull their arm back to aid them in turning back into you. If you crowd the arm, you'll go a long way toward preventing that.
3. Preventing Stalling in your Closed Guard: Assume opponent is hunkered down in your closed guard. They have their arms close to their body and they're just riding out the roll. If they aren't moving at all, open your legs a bit, hip out to the L a tiny bit, reach in and start pulling the bottom R side of their gi top. Once you get the corner with your R hand, feed it to your L. Put your L foot just below your hand so that the bottom of your foot is flush with the fabric. Straighten your L foot. This will raise up their L arm (and in fact the whole L side of their upper body). Immediately stuff their L arm toward them by pushing their wrist (not their bicep, b/c they can get a grip or block it easier). Swing R leg over for triangle set-up.
4. Puppet-master: If opponent starts off in similar position as above, but is using their L arm to try to open your guard, use your R hand to push their L hand back, hip out to the L, and hook the top of your foot on the inside of their bicep. They're pretty much cooked at this point. You can throw your R leg over the back of their head and kimura their L arm, or reach over their back and pull their R arm toward you, or omoplata or triangle. Could also sweep, but you end up with your leg trapped underneath them, unless there's a more elegant way of doing it than what I was trying (which there probably is).
Rolls
Two rolls with Sarah, both very technical. We did a bit of 50/50 work, which was kinda fun. Most people bash Keenan and the Miyao's for having matches like that, but to me it's just as strategic and interesting as other positions. My lack of experience with leg locks makes this probably not a good choice for me though. A roll with Saul in which we had good back and forth. He let me work my guard game and regaining guard from side control. I couldn't stay in top side-control for very long, not surprisingly. A roll with Julio in which I tried not to leave any limbs out for longer than absolutely necessary. Did ok, but felt like I had nothing to offer in bottom side-control.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Get Mad
4/12 & 4/13
I don't remember the specifics of either class, as I didn't take notes. Plus I was in some sort of mental fog, so it's lost.
One thing that does stand out distinctly is my roll with Julio on 4/12. He had me turtled or in bottom side for the majority of the roll (as per usual). Near the end of the roll, something came over me and I got kinda pissed. Not at him, but at my own inability to mount any offense on him. In fact, at one point earlier in the roll I thought that I should just stop defending whatever he was threatening at the time because the tap was inevitable. I was mad at myself for being willing to just give up, and it lit a fire under my ass in the last minute or so. I started moving like a greased pig and managed to make some headway, escaping the inferior position and at least turning it into a scramble. For reference, Julio is a two stripe brown who has over 30lb on me.
It's not common, but on the few occasions where I feel like I've been kicked in the teeth (so to speak), I become much more aggressive and active. It doesn't always work out in my favor, but sometimes it does. It's rarely my mindset when rolling, but sometimes I wish I could access that aggressiveness more often. I have a very methodical and patient game which suits my personality. I tell myself to scramble more, but I rarely follow this advice. Typically I'll just defend and wait out bad positions. I think that scrambling more would help keep me out of bad positions in the first place. I really have to get to a breaking point of frustration though before I "unleash", as it were. You shouldn't have to get pissed to be active, but it's the only time I get in a space where I won't take 'no' (i.e. superior positioning) for an answer.
I've been thinking for awhile now about how to modify my game to be more active while staying within the bounds of my personality. I'm very laid-back and not confrontational, so I need to find a mindset where I can impose my game from somewhere other than guard without trying to be someone other than who I am. Aggressive playfulness, maybe? That sounds very interesting, especially outside the context of BJJ. :)
I don't remember the specifics of either class, as I didn't take notes. Plus I was in some sort of mental fog, so it's lost.
One thing that does stand out distinctly is my roll with Julio on 4/12. He had me turtled or in bottom side for the majority of the roll (as per usual). Near the end of the roll, something came over me and I got kinda pissed. Not at him, but at my own inability to mount any offense on him. In fact, at one point earlier in the roll I thought that I should just stop defending whatever he was threatening at the time because the tap was inevitable. I was mad at myself for being willing to just give up, and it lit a fire under my ass in the last minute or so. I started moving like a greased pig and managed to make some headway, escaping the inferior position and at least turning it into a scramble. For reference, Julio is a two stripe brown who has over 30lb on me.
It's not common, but on the few occasions where I feel like I've been kicked in the teeth (so to speak), I become much more aggressive and active. It doesn't always work out in my favor, but sometimes it does. It's rarely my mindset when rolling, but sometimes I wish I could access that aggressiveness more often. I have a very methodical and patient game which suits my personality. I tell myself to scramble more, but I rarely follow this advice. Typically I'll just defend and wait out bad positions. I think that scrambling more would help keep me out of bad positions in the first place. I really have to get to a breaking point of frustration though before I "unleash", as it were. You shouldn't have to get pissed to be active, but it's the only time I get in a space where I won't take 'no' (i.e. superior positioning) for an answer.
I've been thinking for awhile now about how to modify my game to be more active while staying within the bounds of my personality. I'm very laid-back and not confrontational, so I need to find a mindset where I can impose my game from somewhere other than guard without trying to be someone other than who I am. Aggressive playfulness, maybe? That sounds very interesting, especially outside the context of BJJ. :)
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Mount Chokes
4/11
Got some really good stuff on the finer details for both mount chokes and arm-bars from side control. One roll with Scott at the end.
1. Cross Choke: Remember to get out waaaay to the side when you getting your hand in the collar. Use your forearm across their jawline to push their face away. This was the key detail here. Once you get the forearm across the chin and elbow across the midline of their body, it's very, very difficult to defend and/or escape.
2. Paper Cutter: Grapevine their legs, forearm across the jawline to turn their face away.
3. Choke to Arm-bar: Same set-up as #1. If it's not working for some reason, slide R knee up, then put your knee up with your foot firmly against their hip and slide L knee toward the top of their head. If they start moving around, just ride it out. You should be in a well-balanced position. You should be close to an S-mount, and as such should be able to take their R arm for an arm-bar.
4. Side-Control Arm-bar: Assuming you are on opponent's R side, with both of your arms over. Put your L forearm to their jawline, pushing their face to their L (away from you). Windshield wiper your legs, so that your L leg sticks out straight at about a 45 degree angle from their R to L. Lower R leg should sweep to snug up against their R side with your knee pointing toward their hip. As you move your L leg, it should expose their R arm, which you can snag as you lean back and put your L leg over their head and free your R knee from beside/under their R side and over their chest.
We also worked on being transitioned out of mount while you are applying a choke. Assuming they do start to roll you, don't just flop on your back into guard. Once you get to your side, clamp your legs together on either side of their torso and continue to apply the choke. We get so used to just giving up the position that it's almost comical.
One roll with Scott. Haven't rolled with him in at least a month or so. He got top side, then almost mount. I was able to regain guard, and used the tripod sweep at least once if not twice. Got to side control, and then somehow worked my way into a bow and arrow. It was fairly tight, but I couldn't get my far leg quite where it needed to be so he was able to stick it out and eventually reverse. We had some good scrambles. I'd like to focus on enduring through scrambles and not giving up positions so much.
Got some really good stuff on the finer details for both mount chokes and arm-bars from side control. One roll with Scott at the end.
1. Cross Choke: Remember to get out waaaay to the side when you getting your hand in the collar. Use your forearm across their jawline to push their face away. This was the key detail here. Once you get the forearm across the chin and elbow across the midline of their body, it's very, very difficult to defend and/or escape.
2. Paper Cutter: Grapevine their legs, forearm across the jawline to turn their face away.
3. Choke to Arm-bar: Same set-up as #1. If it's not working for some reason, slide R knee up, then put your knee up with your foot firmly against their hip and slide L knee toward the top of their head. If they start moving around, just ride it out. You should be in a well-balanced position. You should be close to an S-mount, and as such should be able to take their R arm for an arm-bar.
4. Side-Control Arm-bar: Assuming you are on opponent's R side, with both of your arms over. Put your L forearm to their jawline, pushing their face to their L (away from you). Windshield wiper your legs, so that your L leg sticks out straight at about a 45 degree angle from their R to L. Lower R leg should sweep to snug up against their R side with your knee pointing toward their hip. As you move your L leg, it should expose their R arm, which you can snag as you lean back and put your L leg over their head and free your R knee from beside/under their R side and over their chest.
We also worked on being transitioned out of mount while you are applying a choke. Assuming they do start to roll you, don't just flop on your back into guard. Once you get to your side, clamp your legs together on either side of their torso and continue to apply the choke. We get so used to just giving up the position that it's almost comical.
One roll with Scott. Haven't rolled with him in at least a month or so. He got top side, then almost mount. I was able to regain guard, and used the tripod sweep at least once if not twice. Got to side control, and then somehow worked my way into a bow and arrow. It was fairly tight, but I couldn't get my far leg quite where it needed to be so he was able to stick it out and eventually reverse. We had some good scrambles. I'd like to focus on enduring through scrambles and not giving up positions so much.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Guard Passes
4/10 - Downtown
Did the evening class instead of the lunch class due to scheduling snafu.
Felt like I was really getting the guard passes. Worked on two from DLR and one from standing when you aren't yet engaged. Rolled first with white belts and was feeling good about myself, then higher blues and a young orange belt and got humbled again. Thanks BJJ.
Technique
1. Pass from shallow DLR (leg drag): Opponent has shallow DLR on your R leg. Grab their R knee with your R hand and their R ankle with your L hand. Backstep your L leg to free the R leg that is pressing on it, then quickly step back over to the R, continuing to hold their R leg (to keep them from taking your back when you backstep). Leg drag by pulling their R leg across your R hip, and then sinking to the floor with your R knee going between their legs and touching the ground. L knee is also on the ground and comes up to their back. If you get under their R arm and around the back of their head with your R arm, you can ezekiel.
2. Pass from deep DLR: Opponent has deep DLR and grip on your R sleeve. Break the grip, backstep and same as #1.
3. Pass from shallow DLR (knee to sternum): Same set up as #1, but instead of taking the leg across your R hip, you stuff their between yours, squat over their hips and put your R knee on their sternum. Get your weight over the top of their chest and head, and base out over the top of their head with your hands. Get used to moving around side to side as they try to turn. When you're ready to pass, turn your hips to the R, almost until your knee touching the floor, then immediately take a big backstep in the opposite direction across their back. Move to side-control.
4. Pass from standing (not engaged): Assuming opponent is sitting up and you are standing in front of them. Come in with elbows close to your body, pick up their feet and pull them up. They'll rock back and then rock forward again. As they rock forward, R hand goes on their L hip and L hand goes on the inside of their R knee, pushing their knee to the floor. Legs should be far back away from them as you walk toward their head. They'll probably try to block your hip and L arm and would be able to regain guard fairly easy if you left it at that. So walk back toward their hips, which will flatten out their back and make it easier to get into side-control.
Rolls
Started off with white belts Eddie and Fernando. Did well against them, stuck with my no-attempted-subs-from-guard. Tried to arm drag from guard with some success, was able to transition to superior positions pretty well. Then rolled with Russell and he had dominant top position the entire time. He ended up with a wrist lock from technical mount (I think). I defended as best I could, but felt like I was way out-matched. Rolled with Antone, who did his thing and also dominated the roll. Got me with I don't remember what. Then Zack, who did really well and caught me a couple of times. Then a roll after class with James who schooled me as per usual. I had one moment where I almost foiled a pass but couldn't keep the momentum.
Did the evening class instead of the lunch class due to scheduling snafu.
Felt like I was really getting the guard passes. Worked on two from DLR and one from standing when you aren't yet engaged. Rolled first with white belts and was feeling good about myself, then higher blues and a young orange belt and got humbled again. Thanks BJJ.
Technique
1. Pass from shallow DLR (leg drag): Opponent has shallow DLR on your R leg. Grab their R knee with your R hand and their R ankle with your L hand. Backstep your L leg to free the R leg that is pressing on it, then quickly step back over to the R, continuing to hold their R leg (to keep them from taking your back when you backstep). Leg drag by pulling their R leg across your R hip, and then sinking to the floor with your R knee going between their legs and touching the ground. L knee is also on the ground and comes up to their back. If you get under their R arm and around the back of their head with your R arm, you can ezekiel.
2. Pass from deep DLR: Opponent has deep DLR and grip on your R sleeve. Break the grip, backstep and same as #1.
3. Pass from shallow DLR (knee to sternum): Same set up as #1, but instead of taking the leg across your R hip, you stuff their between yours, squat over their hips and put your R knee on their sternum. Get your weight over the top of their chest and head, and base out over the top of their head with your hands. Get used to moving around side to side as they try to turn. When you're ready to pass, turn your hips to the R, almost until your knee touching the floor, then immediately take a big backstep in the opposite direction across their back. Move to side-control.
4. Pass from standing (not engaged): Assuming opponent is sitting up and you are standing in front of them. Come in with elbows close to your body, pick up their feet and pull them up. They'll rock back and then rock forward again. As they rock forward, R hand goes on their L hip and L hand goes on the inside of their R knee, pushing their knee to the floor. Legs should be far back away from them as you walk toward their head. They'll probably try to block your hip and L arm and would be able to regain guard fairly easy if you left it at that. So walk back toward their hips, which will flatten out their back and make it easier to get into side-control.
Rolls
Started off with white belts Eddie and Fernando. Did well against them, stuck with my no-attempted-subs-from-guard. Tried to arm drag from guard with some success, was able to transition to superior positions pretty well. Then rolled with Russell and he had dominant top position the entire time. He ended up with a wrist lock from technical mount (I think). I defended as best I could, but felt like I was way out-matched. Rolled with Antone, who did his thing and also dominated the roll. Got me with I don't remember what. Then Zack, who did really well and caught me a couple of times. Then a roll after class with James who schooled me as per usual. I had one moment where I almost foiled a pass but couldn't keep the momentum.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
North/South Escapes
4/9 - Valley
First class back at the Valley in quite some time. Worked some different N/S escapes, primarily the set-up. It should be intuitive to keep your arms in, but apparently I've made it several years into my jiu jitsu journey w/o working on what to do when you're being transitioned into bottom N/S. While it made a great deal of sense and seemed like something I should have already know, I hadn't seen it before. Anyway...
1. Transitions: When defending movement from side-control to N/S and vice versa, focus on keeping your arms in a prayer position when in bottom N/S. Upper arms should be against on your chest (i.e. instead of having your elbows pointing up). Keep them in tight so opponent can't snag an arm for an arm-bar. This will give you some cushion, almost like car springs and will help you create space for an escape. When opponent transitions to the side, arms follow them, with arm that is closest to the ground defending the cross-face.
2. Escape to Pass: From the position above, peel their R arm down toward your hip by hooking your forearm under their tricep and pushing away from you. Bring your R knee up at the same time and connect to your elbow. Slide their arm past the outside of your knee and then grip their wrist. Get some momentum by swinging your L leg up, and then back down. As it comes down, straighten your R leg, which will extend them out and onto their back. Move into side-control.
3. Escape to Triangle: Same set-up as above. Once their arm is secured over your knee, push their head away, bring your leg over and do an inverted triangle. I'd have to do this a bunch more to be able to visualize it. It was pretty cool though.
Set-up: You didn't get into a good defensive position and their elbows are in your arm-pits.
4. Work your hands into their hips. Make a fist with your R hand and grip your R wrist with your L hand. Put it firmly in their L hip and work to get your head for some air if you need it. If done correctly, you should be able to keep the distance regardless of whether they try to move to the R or L. You're blocking their L hip with your hands and their R hip with your elbow. Key is to not overextend. Just enough to give you the space you need to breathe and escape. Once you get your head out, get some momentum by swinging your legs toward your head (the L) and then around to the R. Goal is to at least get your R knee into their chest/hip. You should be able to bring your knee in b/c you are blocking their hip. You can then move into an arm-bar, collar choke, shoulder lock or any number of submissions.
Quick roll at the end with Gary. I tried to work an open guard game with him, with mixed success. Could never get the hooks for DLR, but set up spider guard several times and almost tried for the inverted Robson thingie but he shut it down. Felt like my defense was pretty good when he was moving to top positions. Was great to roll with him again, hope I get to roll with Scott again soon.
First class back at the Valley in quite some time. Worked some different N/S escapes, primarily the set-up. It should be intuitive to keep your arms in, but apparently I've made it several years into my jiu jitsu journey w/o working on what to do when you're being transitioned into bottom N/S. While it made a great deal of sense and seemed like something I should have already know, I hadn't seen it before. Anyway...
1. Transitions: When defending movement from side-control to N/S and vice versa, focus on keeping your arms in a prayer position when in bottom N/S. Upper arms should be against on your chest (i.e. instead of having your elbows pointing up). Keep them in tight so opponent can't snag an arm for an arm-bar. This will give you some cushion, almost like car springs and will help you create space for an escape. When opponent transitions to the side, arms follow them, with arm that is closest to the ground defending the cross-face.
2. Escape to Pass: From the position above, peel their R arm down toward your hip by hooking your forearm under their tricep and pushing away from you. Bring your R knee up at the same time and connect to your elbow. Slide their arm past the outside of your knee and then grip their wrist. Get some momentum by swinging your L leg up, and then back down. As it comes down, straighten your R leg, which will extend them out and onto their back. Move into side-control.
3. Escape to Triangle: Same set-up as above. Once their arm is secured over your knee, push their head away, bring your leg over and do an inverted triangle. I'd have to do this a bunch more to be able to visualize it. It was pretty cool though.
Set-up: You didn't get into a good defensive position and their elbows are in your arm-pits.
4. Work your hands into their hips. Make a fist with your R hand and grip your R wrist with your L hand. Put it firmly in their L hip and work to get your head for some air if you need it. If done correctly, you should be able to keep the distance regardless of whether they try to move to the R or L. You're blocking their L hip with your hands and their R hip with your elbow. Key is to not overextend. Just enough to give you the space you need to breathe and escape. Once you get your head out, get some momentum by swinging your legs toward your head (the L) and then around to the R. Goal is to at least get your R knee into their chest/hip. You should be able to bring your knee in b/c you are blocking their hip. You can then move into an arm-bar, collar choke, shoulder lock or any number of submissions.
Quick roll at the end with Gary. I tried to work an open guard game with him, with mixed success. Could never get the hooks for DLR, but set up spider guard several times and almost tried for the inverted Robson thingie but he shut it down. Felt like my defense was pretty good when he was moving to top positions. Was great to roll with him again, hope I get to roll with Scott again soon.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Spider Guard
4/8 - Downtown
Sooo...the night before, I had a couple of beers and stayed up later than I should. I was feeling it in class today, as I was not getting the technique. Not since the class on the X guard have I had such a sense of "duhhh". I finally started picking up what James was throwing down, but it took a lot of reps. He took pity on me at one point and drilled with me b/c I was so helpless.
Had good rolls today. Stuck with my "no subs from guard" plan...submissions only. Starting work DLR (to absolutely no avail) and some spider guard (a little more success).
Technique
Set-up: You have opponent in spider guard and their knees are flat on the floor
1. Turn your L side, then put your R foot in their L bicep. Straighten your leg to the L, as if you were going to dump them that way. Let your R knee fall to the floor (but keep your foot on their hip). Pull their R arm between your legs. Step up on their L bicep and hip, and either put their R arm in your L hip pocket for the omoplata or bring your R leg up and across the back of their neck for the triangle.
Set-up: Closed guard
2. Get a cross grip on their L sleeve with your L hand. R hand grips the inside of their L knee. Straighten your R leg behind them, and swing your L leg around, dumping them on their back with their arm trapped between your legs. You should be basically sitting on their chest. You can attempt arm-bar from there, or move into side-control.
NOTE: If they stop you midway through and you are unable to dump them on their back, leaving you turtled, immediately roll forward again for the omoplata. Do NOT hang out in that turtled space.
3. Reverse Scissor Sweep: Cross grip their L sleeve with your L hand, reach across their back with your R hand and grab their R lat, R knee across their chest. Pull them into you, grab one of their legs and dump them over to the R side.
Rolls
Rolled with Sarah (2), Kevin, Julio, Antone. Very technical rolls with Sarah. Tried to work DLR sweeps but she was having none of it. Managed to work top game in one of the rolls, other roll was more of a stalemate. Had a good roll with Kevin, worked hard to avoid submissions and did well against his heavier weight. Tried to work guard with Julio, but he was stuffing it pretty well. I forget about how fast he can move. He was on top most of the time, but did let me work guard now and again. Had a really good roll with Antone...I've really been looking forward to them (which is not really new). They are very technical, and he works positions that no one else does, so its fun to play with. I don't think he got a sub on me today, although I'm pretty sure he was trying new things instead of his usual bread and butter. Fun to roll with him b/c most of the time I don't have the foggiest idea what he's even doing... I'm just doing my best to defend.
Sooo...the night before, I had a couple of beers and stayed up later than I should. I was feeling it in class today, as I was not getting the technique. Not since the class on the X guard have I had such a sense of "duhhh". I finally started picking up what James was throwing down, but it took a lot of reps. He took pity on me at one point and drilled with me b/c I was so helpless.
Had good rolls today. Stuck with my "no subs from guard" plan...submissions only. Starting work DLR (to absolutely no avail) and some spider guard (a little more success).
Technique
Set-up: You have opponent in spider guard and their knees are flat on the floor
1. Turn your L side, then put your R foot in their L bicep. Straighten your leg to the L, as if you were going to dump them that way. Let your R knee fall to the floor (but keep your foot on their hip). Pull their R arm between your legs. Step up on their L bicep and hip, and either put their R arm in your L hip pocket for the omoplata or bring your R leg up and across the back of their neck for the triangle.
Set-up: Closed guard
2. Get a cross grip on their L sleeve with your L hand. R hand grips the inside of their L knee. Straighten your R leg behind them, and swing your L leg around, dumping them on their back with their arm trapped between your legs. You should be basically sitting on their chest. You can attempt arm-bar from there, or move into side-control.
NOTE: If they stop you midway through and you are unable to dump them on their back, leaving you turtled, immediately roll forward again for the omoplata. Do NOT hang out in that turtled space.
3. Reverse Scissor Sweep: Cross grip their L sleeve with your L hand, reach across their back with your R hand and grab their R lat, R knee across their chest. Pull them into you, grab one of their legs and dump them over to the R side.
Rolls
Rolled with Sarah (2), Kevin, Julio, Antone. Very technical rolls with Sarah. Tried to work DLR sweeps but she was having none of it. Managed to work top game in one of the rolls, other roll was more of a stalemate. Had a good roll with Kevin, worked hard to avoid submissions and did well against his heavier weight. Tried to work guard with Julio, but he was stuffing it pretty well. I forget about how fast he can move. He was on top most of the time, but did let me work guard now and again. Had a really good roll with Antone...I've really been looking forward to them (which is not really new). They are very technical, and he works positions that no one else does, so its fun to play with. I don't think he got a sub on me today, although I'm pretty sure he was trying new things instead of his usual bread and butter. Fun to roll with him b/c most of the time I don't have the foggiest idea what he's even doing... I'm just doing my best to defend.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Spider Guard
4/6 - Downtown
We worked spider guard all day, and then some techniques from Robson's inverted spider (?) guard. I really liked what we did, even if I'm not sure what to call it. :)
We're still doing 6min rolls, even though Pans is in the rear-view. I'm not sure if this is going to continue through the summer tournament season, but it's interesting how the addition of just one minute effects the flow of our rolls. Specifically, we're typically getting four different partners per day instead of five. I'm not sure that it's making that much of a difference in the big picture, but I do feel like something is lacking when only rolling with four people.
Technique
Spider Guard:
1. Closed Guard to Spider Guard: Sleeve grip both sides. Turn on your side, squeeze legs on either side of opponent's chest. Bring L leg through, knee on the inside of their elbow and foot on their hip. Flare knee out. Turn to R side and do the same thing. Don't need to keep a death grip on the sleeves at all times. If they aren't trying to pull their arms away, you can relax your grip. Tighten only when necessary.
2. Spider Guard to Triangle: You have R foot on inside of opponent's L elbow. Opponent posts R knee up in combat stance. Take your L foot off of their hip, turn to your L side and hook the inside of their R ankle with the top of your L foot. Kick out to get their weight off of the leg and straighten their leg perpendicular to you. Immediately move L foot back to their hip. Step up on both feet, elevating your hips. Consequently, if they try to posture up, they will take you up with them. Move R foot from their L arm to across the back of their neck. Maintain sleeve grips, keeping their L arm from moving inside your triangle and keeping their R arm in. Move L foot from their hip to hook over R foot.
3. Spider Guard to Omoplata: Same setup as #2. After you kick their leg out, put their R arm in your L pocket. Rotate around and straighten your legs before bending your lower legs to the R. Straightening your legs will help keep you heavy and prevent them from turning right back into you.
4. Spider Guard Sweep: Opponent is in combat stance, but in this case the same side knee is up as your bicep control. You have their R bicep with your L foot, and their R knee is up. Switch the sleeve control of their L hand from your R hand to your L hand. Bring your R foot to hook on the outside of their R thigh. Feed your R hand under your R thigh and to the outside of their L shin (similar to how you would use it to do the DLR drill). Goal is to rotate and get your head under their body. They will probably post, in which case you take their back. Get your L knee behind the back of their L thigh, then extend your legs away from you and bring your R knee behind the back of the R thigh as you roll flat on your back. This will prevent them from getting to their side and set you up for a back take.
5. Robson Inverted Spider: I don't know what to call this. Instead of foot in bicep, put R foot in their L armpit with your toes pointing behind them. Switch the grip on their L sleeve from R hand to L. Grip on the inside fabric of their pants on their L knee and invert. Control them with the push/pull from their armpit and sleeve.
6. Inverted Spider Triangle: Assuming they try to break the grip on their knee after you invert, grip their R sleeve with your R hand. L hand has grip on their L sleeve. Keep R foot in their pit as you bring L leg around the back of their head. Once you have it settled, take R foot off and finish triangle.
7. Inverted Spider Sweep: If they try to kill your L leg as you invert, bring your knee in toward you. Let go of grip on their L sleeve with your R hand and move it to the back of their R tricep. Pinch it in to you. Bring your L leg over their head and arm-bar.
Rolls
Rolled with Fernando (W), Antone, Manny & Colt. Told myself that I was going to work sweeps instead of submissions, but triangled Fernando at least once from guard and tried another. Swept several times to mount though, so felt better about that.
Tried very hard not to leave anything out for Antone to snag, but he was able to sink a choke. Otherwise I stayed fairly tight and was able to survive.
Had a good back and forth roll with Manny. He was on top almost the entire time. I worked to regain guard, and he often passed to side-control and I was barely hanging on to quarter guard for a good portion of the time. At one point I had a kimura from guard or half guard and it was close, but I kept changing the angle instead of just following through with what I had. I think I was getting impatient and wasn't sure that I had the right angle. Pity.
Colt was on top most of the time. Same deal, kept working to try to regain guard.
Nando was there but wasn't rolling much as he's still trying to heal his injury.
We worked spider guard all day, and then some techniques from Robson's inverted spider (?) guard. I really liked what we did, even if I'm not sure what to call it. :)
We're still doing 6min rolls, even though Pans is in the rear-view. I'm not sure if this is going to continue through the summer tournament season, but it's interesting how the addition of just one minute effects the flow of our rolls. Specifically, we're typically getting four different partners per day instead of five. I'm not sure that it's making that much of a difference in the big picture, but I do feel like something is lacking when only rolling with four people.
Technique
Spider Guard:
1. Closed Guard to Spider Guard: Sleeve grip both sides. Turn on your side, squeeze legs on either side of opponent's chest. Bring L leg through, knee on the inside of their elbow and foot on their hip. Flare knee out. Turn to R side and do the same thing. Don't need to keep a death grip on the sleeves at all times. If they aren't trying to pull their arms away, you can relax your grip. Tighten only when necessary.
2. Spider Guard to Triangle: You have R foot on inside of opponent's L elbow. Opponent posts R knee up in combat stance. Take your L foot off of their hip, turn to your L side and hook the inside of their R ankle with the top of your L foot. Kick out to get their weight off of the leg and straighten their leg perpendicular to you. Immediately move L foot back to their hip. Step up on both feet, elevating your hips. Consequently, if they try to posture up, they will take you up with them. Move R foot from their L arm to across the back of their neck. Maintain sleeve grips, keeping their L arm from moving inside your triangle and keeping their R arm in. Move L foot from their hip to hook over R foot.
3. Spider Guard to Omoplata: Same setup as #2. After you kick their leg out, put their R arm in your L pocket. Rotate around and straighten your legs before bending your lower legs to the R. Straightening your legs will help keep you heavy and prevent them from turning right back into you.
4. Spider Guard Sweep: Opponent is in combat stance, but in this case the same side knee is up as your bicep control. You have their R bicep with your L foot, and their R knee is up. Switch the sleeve control of their L hand from your R hand to your L hand. Bring your R foot to hook on the outside of their R thigh. Feed your R hand under your R thigh and to the outside of their L shin (similar to how you would use it to do the DLR drill). Goal is to rotate and get your head under their body. They will probably post, in which case you take their back. Get your L knee behind the back of their L thigh, then extend your legs away from you and bring your R knee behind the back of the R thigh as you roll flat on your back. This will prevent them from getting to their side and set you up for a back take.
5. Robson Inverted Spider: I don't know what to call this. Instead of foot in bicep, put R foot in their L armpit with your toes pointing behind them. Switch the grip on their L sleeve from R hand to L. Grip on the inside fabric of their pants on their L knee and invert. Control them with the push/pull from their armpit and sleeve.
6. Inverted Spider Triangle: Assuming they try to break the grip on their knee after you invert, grip their R sleeve with your R hand. L hand has grip on their L sleeve. Keep R foot in their pit as you bring L leg around the back of their head. Once you have it settled, take R foot off and finish triangle.
7. Inverted Spider Sweep: If they try to kill your L leg as you invert, bring your knee in toward you. Let go of grip on their L sleeve with your R hand and move it to the back of their R tricep. Pinch it in to you. Bring your L leg over their head and arm-bar.
Rolls
Rolled with Fernando (W), Antone, Manny & Colt. Told myself that I was going to work sweeps instead of submissions, but triangled Fernando at least once from guard and tried another. Swept several times to mount though, so felt better about that.
Tried very hard not to leave anything out for Antone to snag, but he was able to sink a choke. Otherwise I stayed fairly tight and was able to survive.
Had a good back and forth roll with Manny. He was on top almost the entire time. I worked to regain guard, and he often passed to side-control and I was barely hanging on to quarter guard for a good portion of the time. At one point I had a kimura from guard or half guard and it was close, but I kept changing the angle instead of just following through with what I had. I think I was getting impatient and wasn't sure that I had the right angle. Pity.
Colt was on top most of the time. Same deal, kept working to try to regain guard.
Nando was there but wasn't rolling much as he's still trying to heal his injury.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Transitions - Top Turtle
4/3 - Downtown
Today it clicked for me how important it is to transition out of superior positions if your opponent is executing an escape. Seems like a no brainer, but the occasional revelation is how BJJ goes for me.
Set-up: Opponent is turtled on your R side.
1. They try to roll to the left to regain guard. Keep your R arm in front of their L leg, beat their movement to the L and get into side control with chin on their stomach.
2. They try to sit to guard by putting their L hand on your back and moving their hips away from you. Run your legs around their head and get to side control on the other side.
3. You get your L hook in, and then turn into you to get half guard. Slide your R arm under their L armpit and behind their head. If they remain on their side (turned toward you), ezekiel. If they flatten out, grip hands together (not hand on bicep), free the leg that is in their half guard and head & arm choke.
Turtle flow:
Start in good position. Outside knee up, pushing your weight low into your opponent. Not pushing down, but pushing into the other side. Arm is across their back and holding their opposite side.
Rolled with Sarah twice. First roll I focused on positioning and no submissions at all. Did very well. Rolled with Antone, left an arm out for an americana. Other than that, I think I did pretty well. Rolled with Julio, who spent a lot of time in top turtle. I kept trying to escape to avail, finally switched directions and was immediately choked. Good learning point. Rolled with Sarah again and remained focused on position. We had a great back and forth roll, she did really well. Final roll was a sortof flow roll with Nando, which devolved into a full blown scramble at the end. :) He showed me some spider guard sweeps at the end, but I only remember one.
Assume spider guard on opponent who has R knee up. Feed your L foot over the top of their R arm and underhook their R leg. You want to be on your side and almost looking into their L ear. Kick your L leg up and pull their L sleeve in. You should be able to end up in mount. I might have forgotten a detail or two. :p
Today it clicked for me how important it is to transition out of superior positions if your opponent is executing an escape. Seems like a no brainer, but the occasional revelation is how BJJ goes for me.
Set-up: Opponent is turtled on your R side.
1. They try to roll to the left to regain guard. Keep your R arm in front of their L leg, beat their movement to the L and get into side control with chin on their stomach.
2. They try to sit to guard by putting their L hand on your back and moving their hips away from you. Run your legs around their head and get to side control on the other side.
3. You get your L hook in, and then turn into you to get half guard. Slide your R arm under their L armpit and behind their head. If they remain on their side (turned toward you), ezekiel. If they flatten out, grip hands together (not hand on bicep), free the leg that is in their half guard and head & arm choke.
Turtle flow:
Start in good position. Outside knee up, pushing your weight low into your opponent. Not pushing down, but pushing into the other side. Arm is across their back and holding their opposite side.
- Try to push them over from good starting position
- If they push back into you, drop your outside knee next to their nearside leg and try to roll them into back-mount.
- If they try to shoulder roll into guard, do #1 above. You can bait them into this by pushing their near side tricep toward their head, which will prevent them from doing #2 above.
- If they try to sit to guard, do #2 above
Rolled with Sarah twice. First roll I focused on positioning and no submissions at all. Did very well. Rolled with Antone, left an arm out for an americana. Other than that, I think I did pretty well. Rolled with Julio, who spent a lot of time in top turtle. I kept trying to escape to avail, finally switched directions and was immediately choked. Good learning point. Rolled with Sarah again and remained focused on position. We had a great back and forth roll, she did really well. Final roll was a sortof flow roll with Nando, which devolved into a full blown scramble at the end. :) He showed me some spider guard sweeps at the end, but I only remember one.
Assume spider guard on opponent who has R knee up. Feed your L foot over the top of their R arm and underhook their R leg. You want to be on your side and almost looking into their L ear. Kick your L leg up and pull their L sleeve in. You should be able to end up in mount. I might have forgotten a detail or two. :p
Monday, April 1, 2013
X Guard
4/1
I've missed posting about a couple of classes. Trying to think of a format that will better suit my purposes.
For the time being...
I am flummoxed by X guard. It does not come natural to me. We transitioned to it from when opponent is standing in your spider guard; when opponent has reverse kesa gatame and is attempting to mount, and from butterfly. We also worked on finishing it if opponent tries to run away, or base forward, or base midline.
Rolled with Joe, and consciously tried to work sweeps from guard instead of submissions. Almost had one, but not quite. I must have completely forgotten how to do the hook sweep, b/c I never ever get it even when they are perfectly positioned for it. Grrrr. Rolled with new guy Jason who's a 3 stripe blue. He had me in side control almost the entire time. I was able to regain guard several times. Was happy with that roll. Then Nate, who I almost got in a kimura while he was in top side control. I've never attempted to pull that off before, and it was damn close. Tried a wrist lock in conjunction with the kimura. Ran out of time, otherwise might have had it. Rolled briefly with James but a large cut on his head had been opened by a previous roll so he was a bloody mess and we stopped (after he caught me in three knee bars...arrrrgh). Another brief roll with Nate.
I've missed posting about a couple of classes. Trying to think of a format that will better suit my purposes.
For the time being...
I am flummoxed by X guard. It does not come natural to me. We transitioned to it from when opponent is standing in your spider guard; when opponent has reverse kesa gatame and is attempting to mount, and from butterfly. We also worked on finishing it if opponent tries to run away, or base forward, or base midline.
Rolled with Joe, and consciously tried to work sweeps from guard instead of submissions. Almost had one, but not quite. I must have completely forgotten how to do the hook sweep, b/c I never ever get it even when they are perfectly positioned for it. Grrrr. Rolled with new guy Jason who's a 3 stripe blue. He had me in side control almost the entire time. I was able to regain guard several times. Was happy with that roll. Then Nate, who I almost got in a kimura while he was in top side control. I've never attempted to pull that off before, and it was damn close. Tried a wrist lock in conjunction with the kimura. Ran out of time, otherwise might have had it. Rolled briefly with James but a large cut on his head had been opened by a previous roll so he was a bloody mess and we stopped (after he caught me in three knee bars...arrrrgh). Another brief roll with Nate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)