Class 46...

Today we did some work from half-guard. Half-guard is something I've found quite perplexing so far and a while ago I sparred with a purple belt who was very good at this position and it – and him – totally threw me in both senses of the phrase. So to have some of the basics explained was very useful.

We started working on a sweep from the bottom in half-guard: The steps to doing this involved:
i) On the bottom sit up on your right hip in half-guard under opponent.
ii) Right foot hooks opponent's leg to prevent it moving out.
iii) Left knee comes across opponent's chest and connects to elbow of left arm with left hand in opponent's gi collar on your right-hand side to form a frame.
iv) Right hand monkey grips inside top of opponent's bicep on his left arm.
v) Kick up to create space using left leg and wrap your left arm around the opponent's back to get an underhook and drive you head into his chest/stomach to prevent him grabbing your neck.
vi) Then let go of his bicep and drive your right hand under his left thigh so you can grab the back of his gi pants.
vii) Then roll backwards towards your left shoulder and elevate the opponent using your right arm to sweep and end up in side control.

We then played with a few variations on this sweep. So if the opponent posts out to prevent the sweep you can drive off your right leg to force and muscle the sweep through.

If you can't, however, muscle the sweep through, then climb to the side where the underhook is using the space you've created then using your free right hand, cup his knee to prevent him extending his base and drive through him.

We then discussed the key points to remember if you are fighting against the sweep and these were:
i) Fight to control his head
ii) Fight to establish an underhook of your own
iii) Fight to drive your  hips down to flatten him out and limit his mobility.

We ended the class with a bit of sparring and I did OK and I even managed a sweep to reverse a bottom position. A very good class. 

LESSON FROM TODAY: Fight to establish head control, get an underhook and flatten the opponent's hips to fight against the half-guard sweep.

Classes 44 & 45...

Two beginners classes in one week and both were really good.

In both classes we continued drilling the Americana from side control before allowing the opponent to extend the arm out so we could employ an armbar. We also did a little bit of work on bridging and pushing the opponent off but that was about it. And brilliant for it because we essentially focused on just three things.

It was a good chance to drill and re-drill a few basic techniques and I'm enjoying these classes more and more because there's very limited sparring and they're essentially focused on technique. And a few of the things emphasised in these classes were:
i) Turning the thumb out to face away from you before applying the Americana.
ii) Ensuring you are using your weight to pin the shoulder and pinning the opponent's hand to the floor before applying the straight arm lock.
iii) Exploding when bridging out and driving your opponent away to create the space to recover guard or back away.

These are all key details and when coupled with some of the other key lessons I've learnt this year, like not allowing an arm to be isolated, or position before submission, or how to utilise your weight, or closing down the space to help secure the position, I feel like I'm getting a better understanding of things. It's by no means a complex understanding on any level but I'm starting to feel the foothills of learning this are no longer quite so scary or alien.

The peaks, however, still remain a very long way off.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill the basics. And keep drilling them.

Classes 42 & 43…

Class 43 was an open mat session and I spent quite a bit of time with another white belt drilling basics.

We worked on some armbars then moved into the armbar, triangle and omoplata flow drill. We also spent some time working on the kimura and the kimura sweep as well as a basic scissor sweep. We spent quite a bit of time also working on shrimping and hip escaping. This was really good for me because I need to spend much more time on these techniques if they’re ever to become things I’m truly familiar with.

We then did some rolling and this was competitive but friendly with neither of us going full pelt. I did pretty good here but I could also tell he was less experienced than I was so I didn’t really read too much into it. It was simply good to have some drilling time and a bit of rolling time.

At the end of the session I got to roll with a very helpful purple belt I last rolled with about six months ago. And I managed to fend him off for a full five-minute round by just working on my basics and not letting him separate and attack one of my arms and also pinning his hips when he tried to sweep me. He complimented me on my improved defensive skills, which was nice, then for the next ten minutes proceeded to lure me into trap after trap and tap after tap, which was impressive. But I know he’s still light years ahead of me. One great bit of advice he shared with me, though, was to keep the distance closed at all times because I was giving him wriggle room and this was something he was exploiting.

It was still an enjoyable class, though, as getting tapped is all part of the learning process.

I then had a break of about two weeks and returned to a beginner’s class.

In this we worked on the spinning armbar from kneeling side control:

Secure opponent’s left arm by grabbing your own gi collar with your right arm; go to right knee on belly; Superman out with left arm as you pull his trapped arm up and spin with right leg going 180 degrees into his hip; with your left leg going over his neck as you drop down and extend the arm to tap.

We then added an escape to this which involved moving the thumb to the right like you’re thumbing a lift to flatten your arm and relieve pressure on the hip extension; then roll at a 90-degree angle on your right shoulder to move into side control.

After this we worked on the Americana from side control:

Grab the opponent’s arm and frame your own arm against his rib cage using elbow; bring left arm through to secure grips; switch base by moving to face the opponent’s head and step right leg over his head; then pull him up onto his side using your hand grips and close the space using your legs to trap him; then push arm up and turn for submission.

More basics and more good stuff. I need to do these classes more often.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill the basics and close down the space.