Class 11...

Today's class started with 30 minutes of yoga. I'd attended one of these classes before and found it very difficult but this week I felt a little more at home and not quite so awful. My body also felt very good in the class afterwards.

Onto the BJJ class proper and we spent time doing some basic scrambling drills designed to get top position. I need more of this type of stuff and am looking at upping my class attendance to twice a week to include the beginner's class in my routine. But even if I don't do this, one class a week is better than no classes.

In sparring the teacher made several points very well.

The first was he doesn't like being called 'Sir'. He took me to a picture of some saintly looking old man on the wall and said 'When you call me sir you make me feel as old as him.'

In sparring with a senior belt he then underlined the importance of bridging and shrimping. It sort of made sense as bad things generally happen when my back is flat on the floor and I'm not moving as it allows my opponent to secure a much stronger top position.

He also emphasised the importance of shrimping out and pushing the opponent away when he gets to knee on belly.

This, of course, is all very basic stuff. But like all basic stuff it needs to be drilled and drilled again in order for it to sink in.

LESSON FROM TODAY: bridge and bridge again; shrimp and shrimp again.

Commercial Break...

I bought a new rash guard from Sprawl several weeks ago and I had some problems with it.

I contacted the company, told them what my problem was and sent them pictures of what had happened. A couple of emails later and they're replacing the item.

I like Sprawl's stuff so I'm genuinely pleased to report such good customer service. Good work, grappling fellas.

Class 10...

Something new today... a 30-minute yoga class before getting to grips with some BJJ techniques and grappling.

The yoga was quite demanding but I think it's something I'll go back and do as anything that helps keep me more flexible is a good thing.

Onto the class itself and today we learnt a sequence that ends in an arm lock and rib compressions of sort but starts with a goodbye choke. The latter section was wasted on me but I did pick up the basics of the choke section and liked this.

Goodbye choke: kneel facing your opponent and place your right hand palm up and fingers in under the right lapel of his collar; pull his head under the right side of your rib cage so it's like a guillotine choke; then tighten it by threading your left arm underneath your right elbow with your palm facing out and squeeze everything together.

The second section of this move involved shooting underneath your opponent, which rolls him over and then tightening the choke. If this fails you sprawl on your opponent, then get an underhook with your right hand under the centre of his gi collar at the back, then drive your right shoulder into his chest.

I didn't fully get this so I'll come back to it at a later date.

In sparring I got tapped all over the place. I got a couple of choke attempts in but I was largely outgunned. I also fell for several triangle chokes in quick succession. On the plus side I now know I need to study defences against these.

Triangle defence: grab onto your opponent's belt and posture forward by driving your hips forward and elevate your head; then grab his legs and shake him loose before breaking his guard.

LESSON FROM TODAY: drill the goodbye choke; read up on armbar and triangle escapes.

Class 9...

Today we learnt three basic sweeps. These were:

Scissor sweep variation one from back with opponent in guard:
pistol grip opponent's right gi sleeve with left hand; grab the bottom of the opponent's gi trousers (left leg) with your right hand; open guard and drop your left leg to the floor and drive your right leg under his armpit; then scissor your legs and pull his arm to your left as your right leg kicks under his armpit and you lift his leg ending up in full mount.

Scissor sweep variation two from back with opponent in guard:
pistol grip the right gi sleeve of the opponent with your left hand; drive your right hand under the collar of his gi on the same side as you are grabbing with your left hand; open your guard and shrimp out so you flatten your left leg against his right leg and and your left knee is under his left armpit; then drag his arm to your left as your bottom leg scissors his right leg and the knee drives through and rolls him over ending up with you in full mount.

Scissor sweep variation three from back with opponent in guard:
pistol grip opponent's right gi sleeve with your left hand; grab the bottom of the opponent's gi trousers (left leg) with your right hand; the opponent breaks this grip so go under his body and between his legs and secure the right trouser leg of his gi; open guard and drop your left leg to the floor and drive your right leg under his armpit; then scissor your legs and pull his arm to your left as your right leg kicks under his armpit and you lift his leg ending up in full mount.

There is also a way of dragging the opponent forward on all three of these techniques but I couldn't quite figure it out but I'm pretty sure it happens before the scissor to get the opponent moving. I'll pay attention to this next time and make sure I get it down in more detail.

We also did another sweep when you are on the bottom and your opponent is in your guard but pinning your arms apart and keeping a low base to cage your hips. This involved opening you guard but keeping your knees pinched and shrimping your hips away from your opponent. Then attack one of his arms and drag it in front of his face and hold it in place. With your other hand you reach around his back and latch onto his gi at the armpit and pull yourself onto his back. If he posts out with his free hand then you simply roll him and you end up in full mount. That sounds a bit convoluted. I'll come back to this when we next do it in class and refine the description. It's essentially a back climb from open guard with the opponent on top.

In sparring today I held my own against a more experienced white belt and even managed a bridge and roll escape at one point but I got tapped a few times escaping a triangle and getting caught in an armbar by other white belts. I also got caught in a kimura twice and I had no idea how to defend it. I’m pretty sure it was because I reacted too late and he’d got it sunk in but I’ll review some notes on this. I'm still not too worried about getting tapped this at the moment, though, as I know this is going to be a long journey. I'm just getting used to the positions and trying to recognise what's happening and getting my body used to rolling.

In other sparring news I also got to roll with a purple belt today, who was a very slight woman, and the way she moved was wonderful. There was a point she stopped trying to move me and just started creating bits of space and moving herself. It was brilliant to watch... until I realised she was setting a choke up and she started applying it.

LESSON FROM TODAY: drill your basic sweeps; read up on armbar and triangle escapes; read up on chokes.

Class 8...

It was a much smaller class than normal today, with only me, a new white belt, a more experienced white belt, a blue belt and the instructor in attendance.

We kicked off proceedings with the usual warm-up of jogging and roll-falling and then did a neat exercise to simulate a double-leg takedown at one end of the mats followed by a sprawl at the other end of the mats.

We then worked a reversal from guard where the bottom person secures an arm, pushes up through the hips, then rolls the opponent into an armbar. The second position we worked involved a scissor sweep where the person on the bottom ends up in full mount collar choking the opponent.

After that we did some sparring. The new white belt turned out to be a former judoka with huge strength but I did OK with both him and the other white belt. The blue belt, however, was very good and I only once managed to contain him for any length of time. His movement was very slick and fluid while I felt a little slow and predictable.

On the plus side, though, my fitness is improving and my body is slowly getting used to the demands of ground fighting. I’m also slowly starting to understand that if I’m pinned by a bigger opponent then it becomes more about moving my body than moving his.

LESSON FROM TODAY: if I’m pinned by a bigger opponent it’s more about moving my body than moving his.