Classes 28-29...

In class 28, the chance to learn from a world champion BJJ expert. And it was the second world champion BJJ expert visiting the school in two weeks. That's pretty impressive and it's also one of the reasons I really like the school. It regularly attracts that calibre of visiting teacher.

The two techniques he demonstrated in the class I saw involved attacking the turtle position. And these went something like this:

Opponent in turtle:
To attack the turtle, close the space and hold the back, then reach under the opponent's left armpit with your left hand and grab the right-side collar of his gi jacket, then post out on your right arm and drag him over into a sort of side control with your knee up against his back; then shoot your left leg over his body and he should be open enough to get the left side hook in from that position; if you can't get the right side hook as well in the you can use this as a holding position by triangling your legs; if you can get the other hook in then you can go crossface and stretch him out and start attacking for the choke.

Using kimura control to attack the opponent in turtle:
It's the same start as before: to attack the turtle, close the space and hold the back, then reach under the opponent's left armpit with your left hand and grab the right-side collar of his gi jacket, then post out on your right arm and drag him over into a sort of side control with your knee up against his back.

It changes here, though:
To obtain the kimura you shoot your right arm over his right shoulder to grab his left arm; your left arm which is already under his armpit grabs your own wrist in a figure-four lock to secure the kimura; you then pull the kimura over his head and work the kimura; or let him try to roll out and go for the armbar as you have his arm already trapped.

Keys to both these techniques, however, are to keep in really tight so he has no room to manoeuvre.

Class 29 was a free mat session and this was great fun as I got paired with a very good white belt who was happy to let me go through some very basic armbar, kimura, hip buck sweep and triangle drills. In sparring he absolutely murdered me but there were a few times I managed to get in his guard and stay in his guard and not get swept. I even managed a few armbar escapes and one triangle escape. I also tried the guard escpae I learnt last week and nearly had some success with it, but I was aware I was second best for most of the session. On the plus side I am recognising the positions and the dangers but I'm not reacting quickly enough to defend them. Yet. But that will come...

LESSON FROM TODAY: Breaking turtle and using kimura control; I also need another strategy to escape mount if the bridge and roll escape isn't working.