Class 49...

Today was a beginners' class. The warm-up wasn't too bad so either the instructor was feeling generous or my strength and stamina are improving. We then worked on two techniques.

The first was an armlock from closed guard which went something like this:
i) The opponent sits in your closed guard and postures up. Break his posture using your guard or by collapsing his arms at the elbows.
ii) Using your right arm, get an underhook and rotate his arm and lock it in place so your arm can drop pressure on his fully extended elbow. Use your left hand to push the opponent's head away. Drop your head onto his hand/wrist to help lock his arm in place. Ensure everything is locked up.
iii) Hip escape onto your right hip and bring you left leg over so your knee is tucked to prevent his head coming forward and breaking your position. Then apply the armlock using both hands to get the tap.

The variation from this is moving into an omoplata. This goes something like this:
i-iii) These steps are the same.
v) Take his arm and use it to 'wipe your arse' or place it on your right buttock so it's bent in an Americana armlock position.
vi) Then bring out the right leg under the opponent and sit out and up so you figure four your legs together with his arm trapped inbetween. Hold his back with you left arm and lean forward to apply the lock.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Keep everything tight when trapping limbs; keep working on hip escaping.

Class 48...

A new year and a not-too-promising start thanks mainly to an ongoing hamstring injury. I still, however, braved a beginners class as I figured there was more control in this environment and therefore less chance of re-injuring myself.

We started with the usual warm-up but my new year campaign of doing press-ups in the morning is obviously helping my arm strength as this wasn’t too bad at all. We also did some movement drils to simulate passing the guard and avoiding the oponent re-establishing guard.

We then worked a guard break, which went something like this:

i) You are caught in your opponent’s closed guard so posture up and place your right hand on his chest and your left hand on his belt or trousers to frame. Note: keep elbow in tight to the inside of his thigh so he can’t collapse your frame by grabbing the back of your gi at the elbow.

ii) Then with your right hand, grab his right hand and pull it across his body and start to stand by placing your left foot on the floor.

iii) Fully stand up by standing on both feet and drawing your left leg back so it’s out of reach. Also change your grip by grabbing his trousers at the waist band. The opponent will grab your right leg as it’s now closest to him. Fully extend backwards using your arms against his thighs and his own waist line to break his guard as you step backwards.

iv) Use your right hand to break his final grip on your right leg then change your controlling grips on his waist to grabbing his gi at the knees and push back using his knees for leverage.

v) Then jump around his broken guard either side and drop down to establish side control.

We then worked on a variation of this technique where the man on the bottom rolls the would-be guard-breaker into an omoplata. This went something like this:

i-iv) Exactly the same.

v) Grab his other ankle and let him bring his hand down to break the grip. When he does the bottom man forgets about the leg and switches his grips to grabs the grabbing hand with both hand.

vi) The leg nearest his arm wraps around as the other foot goes his hip. The foot on the hip collapses the opponent’s posture while the other leg kicks over and drives the opponent’s head to the mat while locking his shoulder in an omoplata. It is key to move onto your hip to generate this momentum.

vii) To secure the position you grab his belt or drop your arm and your weight on his back so he cannot roll out. The bring the loose leg back and confirm the positon. The lean forward to over-rotate the rotator cup at the elbow for the tap.

Lesson from today: Basic drills on movement and hip movement are key. Keep working on them. 

Thoughts on BJJ Year One...

Several years ago I promised myself BJJ was something I was going to study at some point and in 2012 I made it happen.

I may have only made 47 classes and got in about 65 hours of total mat time, but I can see this is something I'll stay with and I've already worked out how I can attend double that amount of classes in 2013 without compromising the other martial art I study or jeopardising any other commitments.

Later this year I'd also like to compete so I'm including a regular schedule of press-ups, sit-ups and neck-strengthening exercises. It's not much but a little a few times every week will add up when coupled with the other training I'm doing.

I learnt lots of techniques and bits of techniques in class in 2012 but the main BJJ principles I learnt were:
i) Position before submission. It speaks for itself but there's no point applying a slick joint lock if your opponent is not pinned and can move before you apply it.
ii) Mobile hips. Lots of things happen through the hips in BJJ, from setting up armbars and triangles, to escaping mount and re-establishing guard, to sweeping. Good hip mobility creates leverage and is a key to success in BJJ. Also, in a related point, never be flat on your back. Ever. This is a bad position. Always get up onto a hip and create space and fight for space to apply leverage.
iii) Isolated arms. In sparring don't allow your arms to get isolated. An isolated arm can be trapped and can be used to choke you. When you are battling for position both arms must operate together and either be inside an opponent's guard or outside an opponent's guard. This simple rule makes you a less easy target for all manner of bad stuff.
iv) Posture. When in your opponent's guard, you want to be posturing up to help escape. If you have an opponent in your guard, you want his posture collapsed. And remember the elbow gi pull to collapse a locked elbow. This is a goodie.
v) Weight. Make sure the opponent is carrying your weight when you are on top in any position. This makes it harder for him to control and move you. Use your weight.
vi) Grip. Grip fighting and securing handles is very important. I need to learn more about this but grip-strengthening is something I can always work on by myself.
vii) Kuzushi. This is the judo theory of off-balancing and it's used a lot in the other martial art I study and it's invaluable in BJJ, too. If you understand how kuzushi works then it can help you a lot in the takedown, sweeping or wrestling part of BJJ.

All in all it's been a fab year. Roll on 2013...

Class 47...

Today a class with a new teacher who was guesting while our regular teacher was training in Brazil and visiting his family.

Today's class started with three escapes from North-South:
i) Step out with left leg and and shoulder bump the opponent under the armpit then take the back.
ii) Jump knees back and shoot backwards to create space and distance and escape.
iii) Drive forward between the opponent's legs and posture up then use both hands on one leg and throw opponent down.

We then did some work on an armdrag from seated butterfly guard with the opponent on his knees. The details of this remain sketchy but it went something like this:
i) Left hand secures the opponent's gi at the right wrist and the right hand secures the back of the opponent's right arm under the bicep.
ii) Then step out on the left leg and post with the left arm and use the leverage of you moving to push the opponent forward with your right hand into the space you have just created.
iii) Keep the right foot hook in and close down the space so you are applying pressure with your head on his shoulder to secure the position.

I was carrying a shoulder injury so I didn't get the chance to spar but the third North-South technique (nicknamed the Submarine) will stay with me.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Remember the Submarine if you are on the bottom in North-South.