Class 59...

Today was a beginners class and I was raring to go. Then five minutes into stretching out before the class started I got sudden chest pains and struggled to breathe.

It may have been an allergy attack and it may have been some over-stretched or strained muscles. But it hurt and was a tad worrying so class 59 was curtailed before it even started.

Rest and recovery time...

Class 58...

Today was an open mat class so it was very much an odds and ends sort of session.

I spent some time with two other white belts doing guard escape and retention exercises. I'm not very good at either of these yet but I am trying to do the basics, such as control the opponent's legs and secure good grips when trying to pass and securing grips then trying to trap the opponent's legs when attacking from the ground.

I then spent some time sparring and got smashed by one much better white belt but held my own with a much more experienced one. I defended myself from his attacks for some considerable time but his better technique and my fatigue eventually won through.

I then had a roll with two good blue belts and got ruined by one very explosive and fast-moving blue belt who emphasised fighting for grips and not surrendering position at the start. He was also very good at using his legs to strip any grips I'd managed to secure.

I then had a roll with another blue belt who kept getting his foot onto one of my hips to unbalance me when I was struggling to stabilise my base in full the open guard.

It was a very tough class with no victory of any description in sparring but at least I'm trying to do the right things, like recovering guard, or bridging when I'm mounted, or breaking guard when I'm trapped, and defending bad positions when I'm under attack.

I still have a long way to go before I'm competent at even the most basic level of BJJ, though. But there's no rush...

LESSON FROM TODAY: Fight for grips to pass the opponent's guard at the start; learn to use your legs like your hands.

Class 57...

My first class back after a week off and another guest black belt teacher from Brazil.

After the usual warm-up, we started out in closed guard and applied an armbar (right hand secures opponent's right arm and drags it across his body, left knee blocks opponent's right elbow and left arm reaches into collar and collapses opponent's posture, then left arm pushes opponent's head and left leg comes over the opponent's head to complete the armbar), which the person in guard defends by grabbing his bicep and stacking the opponent.

From here, the opponent on the bottom switches hands so the armbar is secured with the left hand hand and the right hand reaches underneath the opponent's legs and grabs opponent's right leg. The person in guard then stretches his opponent out and has the choice of either sweeping his opponent down and finishing the armbar in side control or sweeping him down and moving into mount.

There was also a variation on this technique where the armbar attempt was blocked when the second leg comes across from the opponent in guard. The technique here involved moving the closed guard further up the opponent's back and letting the opponent stand, then capturing his same-side leg and arm by wrapping his leg then grabbing the sleeve of his gi so both posts on one side are taken out of the equation. You then collapse the opponent into an omoplata or collapse him then stretch him out and roll him over you by dragging his light leg over you.

I remain hazy on the details of the latter techniques but the principles seem to be based on collapsing your opponent's posture, switching grips to secure the post leg while keeping his posture collapsed via his arm and your leg pressure, then switching the hips to create the momentum to move the opponent and reverse the positions to get the submission.

In sparring, we did an exercise where the man on the bottom had to either submit or sweep the man in closed guard, while the man in closed guard had to escape guard and pass into side control or full mount. I was paired with two newish white belts and did better than hold my own, even though one was physically much stronger than me.

When it was open sparring, I was paired with a very good white belt and, rather than surrendering closed guard, I fought for the opening position, shot a single leg and secured side control before eventually turning a holding position into a submission. Sadly I cranked this on harder than I anticpated and caused him some discomfort. He ws OK, although I need to remember to control my strength in dangerous positions.

But it was a minor victory with some lessons of sorts starting to be learnt about fighting for a dominant opening position.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Use the armbar attack as an opening gambit then have the sweep options to back it up when it is defended; continue to fight for a dominant opening position.