Class 142...

My first dinner-time session for a while and it was pretty tough going, with a round of 20 exercise repetitions with each person in a class of 20 shouting a new exercise until everyone has suggested something. So 20 people by 20 repetitions means 400 repetitions. Nice...

It was then into technique drills with the emphasis on shoulder pressure from side control to pin the bottom man, then following the position up with a cross choke, a baseball bat choke by stepping over and moving to north-south, a step-over arm bar attack and a very cool triangle by securing the opponent's arm at the side and puling the opponent over into a triangle guard. 

I was protecting my injury a bit but I still sucked at specific sparring and matters didn't improve much at normal sparring. But I've been off for five weeks. It will take a few sessions to get back up to speed. 

It's just good to be back. 

Things to remember: Shoulder pressure; triangle attack by isolating the opponent's arm on your hip.

Class 140 & 141...

A tentative return to BJJ with an open mat session after five weeks off through injury.

A bit of gentle sparring and some technique drills.

Following this, I did a beginners class with the focus on guard retention techniques. 

It was nothing too exciting. It was just good to be back doing some basics again. Very happy...

Things to remember: Back from injury. Take your time...

Injury: Part II...

I've taken a few tentative steps back into training with a few gym sessions, a hapkido class, a bit of cycling and a bit of bag work.

I can't fall properly and I can't turn properly into hooks and uppercuts or roundhouse kicks, but at least things feel like they're slowly meshing back together. 

I've also been doing some BJJ reading and video watching. And one of the things I can work on is grip strength, so I've bought some grip strengtheners and I'm playing with these at every opportunity.

There's always something you can train.

Injury: Part I...

I'm now into three weeks of not training due to an injury - or a 'ninja-ry' as a martial arts injury is referred to in our house.

This has been quite frustrating as I felt I was getting up to speed a bit at BJJ while I was preparing for the last competition, and now it's about rebuilding things again. 

I have been doing some exercise, though, and my weight has also not rocketed, but it's still frustrating. 

I have to remember growing at any martial art is a marathon and not a sprint and injuries and training lay-offs will happen. It happened throughout my hapkido studies, once very painfully when I was preparing for my black belt grading, and it will happen throughout my BJJ studies as well.

Patience and perseverance in all things is always rewarded...

Competition No.2: Part 2...

One of the key lessons I learnt from watching everyone else compete today was that I have nothing to fear at BJJ events.

I didn't see anything extraordinary that made me truly humbled and amazed. Some of the kids were brilliant and a few of the adults, both men and women, were very impressive. But there was nothing there I couldn't do. It's about levels of competency and the people who won their respective divisions had their technique honed and a clear understanding of tactics. Strength without technique wasn't enough to win in any match I saw.

I watched one of the very good blue belts that I train with coast to two wins in his division by simply getting his opponent in guard, threatening a submission, turning it into a sweep and maintaining position. Obviously, it wasn't just this simple because he also had answers to everything else his opponent tried to do, but he never looked in trouble. He also checked the scoreboard a few times to ensure he had points in the locker. I'll learn from this.

In terms of my own matches, I was pleased that I didn't panic when I found myself in some bad positions. I was calm, I was analytical and I devised answers and at least tried to implement them. The answers didn't always work, but I felt I was in the right area rather than scrambling in the dark. 

I also spent a bit of time in guard in my opening fight and I felt OK with this. I also ended up in half-guard in my second fight and also didn't feel too threatened. I also managed a few submission attempts and converted one of them into a sweep. 

My stamina and fitness was also pretty good, though I could have managed my weight loss more sensibly as I didn't eat the night before because I was worried about hitting weight. That tired me a little but it's one aspect of many that will be improved for the next time. 

I was taken down a bit to easily and, although I got barriers in place and secured some sort of defensive position, I need to work on my takedown prevention and defence. This is key, particularly as I'm generally quite comfortable in the stand-up exchanges.

But overall it was a pretty successful day. Victory at anything happens in stages. And today I narrowly won my first fight and that was better than losing it. I've also got another two fights under my belt and I also picked up a bronze medal and contributed a point to my team's overall victory.

A team-mate also gave me some brilliant advice in the changing rooms. He said that now, because there are so many different positions and strategies in BJJ, he just focuses on learning everything he can about one position. 

So the guard will be my focus for the next several months.

But I'm very happy. I do know future days at competition may not always be this successful, though.

Competition No.2: Part 1...

My second competition and this time it was a much bigger one, with six mats and lots of people from lots of different schools, who all fight under the Checkmat banner. 

I had three simple goals at this competition: one was to make weight after dropping more than a stone and a half since Christmas; the other was to not do anything reckless and survive for a full five-minute round; and the final one was to watch and learn everything I could.

First up, I made weight with something to spare. It may sound like a minor thing but it was a battle for me and this part of competition discipline is totally new to me. 

My first fight saw me taken down quite quickly, but I recovered and worked my way to turtle, then I took the opponent down and worked my way to guard  After this, we both fought for position and I spent most of the fight in guard and had a choke attempt and a kimura attempt. I turned the latter into a sweep and ended up in mount, before we had another positional scramble and he worked to a sort of side mount but couldn't pass to full mount. The bell went and I won the fight by a point but I could have easily lost it. With about 30 seconds to go, I heard my opponent's supporters telling him he had to get points to win so I desperately defended for all I was worth. My opponent was ridiculously strong and both his strength and his speed took me by surprise. He was also kind and gracious in defeat. 

My second fight similarly saw me taken down quite quickly by a very strong and fast opponent. But I recovered from an attempted head and arm choke, then felt my opponent tire as he'd put everything into this submission. I scrambled an escape and felt like I was about to pressure him into letting me go, then something popped in my ribs. I struggled on for another minute or so but the pain meant I couldn't move when I needed to and he eventually tapped me with an Americana. 

It took me a few minutes to get off the mat as my ribs were in agony. Fortunately, a quick trip to the paramedic, some painkillers, then a freezing gel from a team-mate pulled me through so I could watch the rest of the day.

The pain was almost certainly worth the experience, though.

Private Class No.2...

My second private class and a review of the guard breaks and the guard passing we did last time. Then it was onto moving from side control to north-south and back into side control on the other side; before getting mount. The latter featured a very cool trick  about moving backwards, then using the hand to slide the foot over the opponent.

The basics emphasised were to always secure the position, keep everything tight, and ensure your opponent is carrying your weight at all times. 

We also did some work on pulling guard from standing, which involved getting an elbow and sleeve grip, then planting the foot on the same side as the elbow grip and dragging the standing man down into guard. 

Another great class. I need to keep these up. 

Things to remember: Knee up, knee down; the drag into guard.

Classes 140-141...

Two early-morning classes in preparation for my first major tournament on Saturday. 

In both classes, we worked on guard passing fundamentals and we drilled the Toreador pass, the hand on hip and hand on knee pass, and taking the back. 

In sparring, I did OK and my very basic and new understanding of structure helped lots. One knee down and one knee up is a mantra I'm trying to incorporate. 

I've trained hard for this event and lost a shedload of weight. Win or lose, I'm winning one personal victory by just getting onto the mat, and my simple hope is that I don't do anything stupid and I can maybe last a full round without being submitted.

Victory happens in little increments. This is another step. 

Things to remember: Structure, pressure, barriers.

Private Class No.1...

Today, a private class ahead of my first proper competition and first up were some fundamental tips on guard passing. 

Guard passing fundamentals when defending:
Maintain secure posture, which is elbows inside knees and hands defending your core, and head not too far forward.
Strip opponent's grips and secure your own grips.
Retain base and balance at all times.
Hips follow position of opponent's hips.

Guard passing fundamentals when standing and attacking:

Maintain secure posture, which is elbows inside knees and hands defending your core, and head not too far forward.

Strip opponent's grips and secure your own grips on opponent's legs.

Retain base and balance at all times.
Hips must escape position of opponent's hips to bypass them.
Squat with head at same height as opponent's head.

We then worked on two escapes. 

The first was a standing guard break from being seated in the opponent's full guard: 

i) Secure opponent's arm with two hands and drag it diagonally across his body; foot stands up on the side of the secured arm; other foot stands up and you stand with feet parallel; nearest hand pushes opponent's undefended knee down; at the same time you open your hips on the side of trapped arm to force the knees open but stepping backwards; as the opponent's guard opens, you drop vertically down and slide your knee over the opponent's knee with your foot hooking his leg from the back; the opposite knee is vertical with your elbow connected to the inside of your knee; undertook the head to secure head control on the exposed side and close the space by driving in to to secure the position; place hand on opponent's up knee which is facing up, then press down as you kick your vertical leg back 90 degrees and drop your hips into your opponent; secure the position 

The second was a guard break from being seated in the opponent's full guard: 

i) One hand grabs lapels to pin chest; turn hand to lock in place. Push down; the other hand pushes the hip down to nail that in place; note that elbows should be inside opponent's knees; push into the opponent and edge hips back, then aggressively turn the hips to break the legs open; IMPORTANT: if this fails, don't close the hips and reset; instead, move hands lower down opponent's body, secure the grips, then apply pressure and move back further; posture up with one knee up and the other flat; slide the nearest knee over the opponent's knee and hook the foot at the back of the leg; other knee is vertical and connecting the knee to the elbow; then the same passing motion as before. 

Things to remember: Apply constant pressure to the man on the bottom; connect elbows and knees to form a barrier so the man on the bottom cannot regain his guard.

Judo: Class 3...

In Judo, we worked on a sacrifice throw (tomoe nage), which went like this: 
i) Both players are standing and both have a lapel grip and an elbow control; you then drop down and slide under the opponent with your left leg between his legs and your right foot on the hips; you drop to the floor on your back with your hips under your opponent's hips, then throw him over you.

We then worked on a couple of sweep variations from this position in case the opponent postures up or drops back in time to deny the throw. These were: 
i) extend the hip foot to take the opponent up; at the same time use an outside hook with your free leg and chop down with the hook and go up with the leg to sweep him to the side. Hands also replicate the push-pull motion. 
ii) Extend the hip foot to take the opponent up; at the same time place an inside hook with your free leg and circle round and up and chop down to sweep him to the side. Hands also replicate the push-pull motion.

We then worked on a few escapes from scarf hold (kesa getame):
i) Man on bottom can shrug and muscles backwards to take the back of the opponent. 
ii) Man on top can attack the exposed arm and do an arm bar between his knees. 
iii) Man on top can also attack the exposed arm and figure four the arm with his legs then apply the shoulder lock with his arms. 
iv) Man on bottom can also kick his outside leg up, then connect his hand behind his leg to the opponent's collar, and drop his leg to move the opponent back and end up on top.

Class 139...

Today was an intermediate BJJ class working on guard-passing fundamentals. We worked on three drills. These were: 

i) The opponent is on his back with his knees up defending his front; the standing man grabs the knees of the opponent's gi pants; he moves the knees to one side, then quickly throws them to the other side and steps through to the opposite side where the opponent's legs have been thrown. The standing man has gone from directly facing the opponent with his hips, to cross-stepping through so his nearest leg blocks the hips of the opponent and the outside leg is at the side. Hands grips on knees are maintained throughout.

ii) The opponent is on his back with his knees up defending his front; the standing man grabs the knee of the opponent's gi pants on one side and pushes the opponent's hip to the floor on the other side; the standing man has now stepped in between the opponent's legs so the hip hand and the standing man's knee on the same side must connect and protect; with the knee grip, the standing man flattens the knee to the floor and pins it there; slide the nearest knee over the flattened knee of the opponent with the knee connecting to the floor and the foot hooking the back of the leg; the hand flattening the knee is now redundant so cure head control on opponent; retain hand on hip and kick other leg out to pass; then drive opponent onto opposite side.

iii) This was a variation of the first pass but the opponent frames out as you attempt to pass, so you spin through to take his back. I lost mots of the details on this pass.

Things to remember: Connect elbow and knee to protect.

Judo: Class 2...

Today, we focused on one throw, O Goshi. 

This is a major hip throw but the key points emphasised were: 
i) You need to drop down through your knees as you secure the grips and drive the hips into place, then keep turning so your momentum is going forward as you throw the opponent. If you drop back, it makes it easy for an opponent to counter-act the throw. 

We also worked on a  footwork drill and a few other technique drills. It's good stuff. I'm enjoying these lessons.

Things to remember: Footwork, structure and turning forward on O Goshi.

Judo: Class 1...

Today, my first judo class at the BJJ school and this was hard work. My falling is of a good standard and I know some throws but I wasn’t sure what the rules were in randori (free sparring) so I played it safe by trying a few sacrifice throws then pulling guard.

The two throws we worked on were similar to throws I’ve done elsewhere but the addition of a resisting opponent made it much harder work. The throws were:

Foot sweep: Use the left hand to feed a collar grip to the right hand; grab the opponent’s right hand with your left and; ensure your right foot is forward and close to the opponent’s left foot; step through with the left foot so the opponent steps back and takes his weight off his front left foot; then use your right foot to sweep the opponent’s left foot from the back before it rebases on the floor; at the same time, pull down and forwards with your right hand and push forward and up with your left hand to collapse the opponent’s structure.

Inside trip: left hand grabs the opponent’s right sleeve at the elbow; right hand grabs the opponent’s collar near the chest rather than the neck; step back with the left foot so the opponent reacts and steps back with his right foot to pull you back in place; your left foot steps forward at a 90 degree angle with the toes pointing to the outside but close to the opponent; the elbow grip moves the opponent’s elbow in side towards his belt line while your right foot hooks inside the opponent’s left leg; your right hand moves his gi over his shoulder so his body twists; you then drive your momentum forward and drive him through a diagonal line via your right hand; look at the place you aim to collapse him.

Things to remember in judo: think moving the opponent’s limbs outside their normal range of movement and outside their strong positions to help secure grips. Footwork, footwork, footwork…

Class 138....

First up was an intermediate class in which we focused on three drills based around passing the guard of an opponent on the floor while you were standing. 

Each drill emphasises a different aspect of guard passing and they went something like this:
1) Stability drill: Standing man places right and on left hip of opponent and nails it down to the floor; he then places his left on the right knee of the opponent and pushes it to the floor so it's horizontal; he then steps out to his left and switches hand position so the left hand is on the inside of the knee and pushes it in the other direction so the knee ends up pushed down next to the opponent's other leg; drive in to squish the moving knee and release your leg and start to pass. 
2) Pressure drill: Standing man is in half guard with both his knees on the floor; he threads his right hand through the top leg to grab the opponent's gi pants near his bottom knee; his left hand secures lapel control on the opponent's left side; pull the opponent in using the lapel grip; then right foot stands and left foot stands; drive in to squish his knees while keeping the grip on the gi pants to pin the knee; as his knees compress, the trapped leg can escape; as this happens you drive in using holder pressure; once past the legs, drive the opponent onto the opposite side and secure tight side control.
3) Speed drill: Do the first drill but the opponent shoots for a single when you move to the side; as he does this, your left hand surrenders the grip and shoots round his back to set up the seatbelt as quickly move round to take back control. 

I missed a lot of the finer points of these drills and I struggled my way through specific sparring. But stability, pressure and speed are god principles to remember for guard passing. 

Things to remember: Stability, pressure, speed when passing the guard.

Class 137...

An intermediate class to kick things off and the focus was on guard passing, with the man on bottom on his back defending against a standing man trying to pass.

Pass one: standing man grabs opponent’s legs at ankles and, with his left hand, pulls opponent’s right leg into his own left hip. The standing man squats down, then his left hand secures a collar grip on the opponent’s right collar and the pressure between the hip and the collar grip secures the opponent’ left leg. He then steps his left leg to his opponent’s right with his left leg. The right hand pushes the opponent’s left knee flat and your left knee slides over his left leg. The right leg then comes over and you move into side control.

Pass two was similar to the above pass but it involved baiting the opponent into a triangle and crossing the hand gripping the pinned leg to secure the other leg attempting the triangle. There was also a detail about stretching the other leg past its comfort zone so it pings back and makes the pass easier.

We then did some work on passing the De La Riva guard from a standing position.

Pass one involved moving the grabbed hand to secure the trousers and using the inside of the arm as a frame to prevent the leg re-guarding, then stretching the leg on the unhooked side and sliding the hand inside the leg so one is controlling the opponent’s hooking leg and pinning it to the floor at the knee and the other hand is passing the other leg over the head to allow the pass.

The basic principles of all three passes were to secure the grips, move the limbs to unfavourable positions, then pressure and collapse the limbs and move to side control.

In sparring, I focused on slowing down and trying to work out my paths and I did OK. A senior bet also showed me a good escape from on top in half-guard, which involved pressuring the opponent’s neck to secure position and the opponent, then arching up to create space to help free the trapped leg.

Things to remember in BJJ: posture, pressure possibilities on guard passing and keep everything tight to restrict the opponent’s movement. The half guard escape.

Class 136...

An open mat session and a better class today. It was mainly sparring, but I defended well and I even threatened a few submissions against one OK white belt and one very good white belt. 

I also played with a few sweeps and even remembered my new mantra: 'Posture, pressure, possibilities…'

I'm still not particularly good but I no longer feel quite as shit as I did on Monday, which is good.

Things to remember: Remove the ego. It gets in the way of learning.

Class 135...

Today, an intermediate lesson about drilling and specific training with a visiting World Champion.

The opening four involved the standing attacker trying to pass the defending man on the bottom, while the last drill involved both men standing. The five drills we worked on were as follows:

Drill one: practicing the foot movement and knee pressure for the Toreador pass. A key point here was for the standing man to use the inside knee of his passed leg to ensure the man on the bottom cannot go to guard. Grips were on the gi trousers at the knee.

Drill two: this was a leg drag pass where the standing man drags the opponent’s leg on the side he is passing. A key point here was to trap the dragged leg between the attacker’s hip and the arm that is dragging it. Grips were on the gi trousers near the ankle.

Drill three: This involved pinning the passing side knee to the floor and pinning the defending man’s opposite hip with your hand, then pushing the knee to the opposite side and passing.

Drill four: This involved a foot movement drill if the attacker’s leg is trapped between the seated man’s legs on the floor. This involved kicking the trapped leg back then placing it at the side to be passed while maintaining control by grabbing the seated man’s collar ad pinning him.

Drill five: this was shooting for single or double leg takedowns. Key point here was to bury your head in the opponent’s hip so he cannot secure a guillotine.

We then did some specific positional drilling based on attacking from the mount and escaping from the mount, and doing the same from side control and full guard. We then went into full sparring.

This was a great class because it included lots of basic stuff I need to cement. But it was frustrating because I also realised how many gaping holes there are in even my basic knowledge.

I then realised I felt like this because I was comparing myself to everybody else in the class. Idiot! I can’t allow ego to get in the way of learning. I’ve been a bad white belt at a martial art before and I struggled for years to get a foothold on basic technique in that. This will take time. Just enjoy the journey…

Things to remember: Close the space and apply the pressure when attacking. Create space when escaping.

Class 134...

An intermediate class with another World Champion taking over the teaching reins to deliver tips on guard passing from standing. 

The key standing pass I remember from the class involved getting leg control of the seated defending opponent, then pulling the leg of the side you are attacking straight past your opposite hip and stepping your nearest leg to the side. You then trap the stretched leg between your arm and hip, get lapel control, then drop down into side control, while closing the distance. 

Some of the finer details and specifics of this pass – and the others – went straight over my head, but the key general points seemed to be to stay heavy when passing, be definite and close down the space. 

The other key point he emphasised was to control the shins or the knees and not grab the gi trousers as there's too much space.

Things to remember: Stay heavy when passing, be definite in your movements and close down the space. 

Classes 132 & 133...

First up was a beginners class in which we worked on an armbar attack from the guard, which left the opponent flattened out underneath the legs of the attacker. The flattened-out opponent then defends by grabbing his attacked arm with his free arm, then wraps it around the leg of the opponent to prevent the armbar. Then the flattened-out opponent brings his feet to his bum and turns into his opponent and drives in and sits up, with one leg to the side of the opponent and the other leg with the foot on the floor and the knee against the opponent.

We also did a quite nifty leg and hip movement drill. The key lessons taught here were to be close and heavy or dynamic and fast. 

The next class was an open mat session and the sparring was hard work. I feel my defence is now OK for the level that I'm at but I need to start working on attacks.

The key lesson from this class was posture. I'm letting my head drop far to much, which is giving my opponents head control and allows them to break down my posture far too easily. This has to stop and I need to make a committed effort to prevent myself doing this.

Things to remember: Posture, posture, posture. 

Class 131...

Today was an open mat session and I had the chance to roll with a very good brown belt. 

I've seen the brown belt in action before and not only is he incredibly good, he's also very helpful and an incredibly good teacher. I've seen him explain techniques before and he makes often complex theories sound significantly less frightening.

My defence was sort of OK against him but he was clearly going easy on me. I also picked his brains on my competition theory and he thought it was eminently workable. Plan beats no plan. 

I also did some work on standing guard passes and he explained two key ideas: the first was that if I was trying to pass while standing, I had to maintain my posture and not have my head down because this made it easy for an opponent to grab it; the second was if I was in guard and defending against a standing opponent, I needed to ensure my opponent was always directly in front of me. He likened it to driving and ensuring you had the steering wheel and dashboard in front of you at all times. 

I also rolled with man mountain of muscle blue belt. Again, I defended OK but he was just too strong for much of the time. 

Finally, I did some work on drilling throws and I also tried to understand the arm drag and played with that for a bit. 

Things to remember: Plan beats no plan; posture on standing guard passes; hand positions and grips on arm drag.

Classes 129 & 130...

Two beginners classes, one on top of the other, and both focusing on an armbar, omoplata and triangle drill. 

I've done this drill quite a lot before but I picked up some key details today about always securing the limb that's under attack and using other body parts to prevent the attacked limb being pulled out. 

So, for example, the grip on the attacked arm on the armbar has to be secured by the hand grabbing around the triceps and forcing the arm under your armpit to secure it further. The knee on the hip must also pinch tight to prevent the arm being lawnmowered out, and the hand cross-gripping the opponent's opposite shoulder must help maintain the collapsed frame, while the legs must be heavy to keep the opponent down. 

There were similar bits of advice on the omoplata and the leg triangle, particularly about using head control to secure the collapsed posture on the triangle.

It's really all about closing down space when attacking, a pint my blue belt friend underlined last week for me. 

We then did a variation where the opponent leans to one side to create space and you follow him to roll onto the arm and get the tap with it underneath your body. 

But two hours well spent. In my bid to improve, I need to start double-banking classes. And today was a start.

Things to remember: Close down the space and utilise other body parts help apply the pressure to collapse the opponent's posture.

Competition No.1: Part 2...

While on the subject of competing, I was reading about an article about Joshua Waitzkin last week.


Waitzkin was a chess prodigy, who then became a world champion at tai chi. Now he's a BJJ black belt under Marcello Garcia and he also designed his website by basing it on chess websites.

I've read Waitzkin's book, The Art of Learning, and thought it was very good, so I was intrigued to see what the website was like and how it was organised. And it's quite clear and very well done with a clear path through.

Thinking about Waitzkin and looking at the website, though, made me think about my own BJJ and how that needs to grow to be effective in competitions. And, at the moment, it looks something like this:

i) My stand-up grappling is OK. I have decent throws, sweeps, arm drags and trips so I need to utilise these to ensure the fight only goes to the ground on my terms.

ii) Once on the floor, I need to ensure I end up on top and use my weight to pressure the opponent.

iii) If I end up on the bottom, I need to not allow the opponent to settle into a position and fight to improve my position if I can't establish either guard or half-guard.

Things to remember: Develop a game plan that plays to your strengths. Ensure it has a strong through line.

Competition No.1: Part 1...

Today was my competitive BJJ debut. I went with few expectations but I was determined to enjoy the experience and ensure I used the day to do a bit of reconnaissance to see whether I fancied entering any more events. 

In terms of the competition itself, I was entered in the middleweight category (under 12.12 stone) but fought in the adult section as there were no other competitors in the olds. 

I bowed out in the first round after about two minutes when I fell into a leg triangle choke that I couldn't get out of. I was slightly annoyed by this as my triangle escapes are usually OK, but I couldn't get my body to respond in time. The other thing that annoyed me was that, early on in the fight, he got control of one of my sleeves and I didn't fight like crazy to get this off. And I should have done. 

So two rookie mistakes cost me. The not-stripping-grips helped him set up the triangle and I didn't do enough to prevent either. Idiot. 

On the plus side, I stayed and watched the other white belt matches and the blue belt ones, too. And there wasn't much I saw that made me think I was massively out of my depth.

Competing also made me do a brief technique stock take. So… 

My decent submissions are the standard armbar and the kimura from guard, the kimura, the americana and the arm triangle from side control. I also like the triangle from side control.

My decent sweeps are the scissor sweep and the kimura sweep from full guard, the butterfly sweep from half guard, and the upa from full guard.

My decent guard escapes are the standard hand on hip and hand on chest, knee in arse and drive back guard escape; the hands on hips and head on belly drive back guard escape; then the standing guard escape. 

The things I'm pretty bad at are guard passes from standing against an opponent in open guard and these will be the first thing I work on.

But I'm now hooked. If I'm going to do this I'm going to compete in at least one more event before the big inter-club tournament I've entered at the end of September. I probably need to do at least one event every month to build up my competition mat time.

Things to remember: Attack and work your strongest techniques from the standing start and don't wait to let the opponent determine the game. More work on standing guard passes. Work on stripping grips.

Class 128...

An open mat session and a chance to roll with a few different coloured belts. 

I rolled with a good white belt today and fell for a few leg locks, despite trying to defend them as best I could. I also rolled with a good brown belt who was complimentary about my defence, despite the fact he was clearly so much better than me and positionally he was all over me. He did show me a strategy for dealing with an overbooked arm when I was in his guard, though. This essentially involved turning the arm to grab the belt and then yanking it out at an angle to ensure the joint under attack wasn't vulnerable.

I then got the chance to roll with a couple of blue belts and defended myself OK, despite eventually tapping to both. 

Things to remember: The escape for the overbooked arm when in guard.

Class 127...

An intermediate class with more work on the De la Riva sweep. Today there were two variations. The first was into a foot lock.

This went something like this:

i) De la Riva position with man on bottom securing standing opponent by grabbing his right ankle with your left hand and your left foot hooking on the outside of his right leg at the knee/upper thigh area. Your right hand has sleeve control of his left hand and your right foot drives into his left hip to stretch him. The opponent turns the front leg and removes the hook so your left leg chambers up then repositions between the legs of the opponent; your hand holding the foot of the opponent snakes around his leg and secures a grip by grabbing own gi at lapel; scoot forward to close distance so your hips are under hips of opponent; left leg drives up and secures outside of opponent’s right leg at hip area; your right leg switches and moves onto inside of opponent’s right hip; you hip escape onto your left side to collapse the opponent; pinch knees together to secure the trapped leg and lean back and adjust to ensure his foot is securely trapped under your armpit; then turn away and look over your shoulder to apply the lock.

There was also an addition to this where you sweep your right leg through to come up to your knees and turn the opponent over. The second variation was a sweep. This went something like this:

i) De la Riva position with man on bottom securing standing opponent by grabbing his right ankle with your left hand and your left foot hooking on the outside of his right leg at the knee/upper thigh area. Your right hand has sleeve control of his left hand and your right foot drives into his left hip to stretch him. The opponent breaks hooks and hunches down with his right arm and knee forming a barrier; your left hand grabs the opponent’s right elbow while your right hand grabs the left lapel of the opponent; you then pull the opponent onto your right leg to collapse him so his weight is forward, then almost scissor him as you launch him up then spin him sideways by crossing your hands in a push-pull movement; follow his momentum so you end up on top.

Things to remember: the De la Riva sweep uses basic throwing principles of collapsing an opponent. Use these principles and apply them to other sweeps. 

Class 126...

Today was an open mat session, where a blue belt friend helped me out with a glut of really good guard-passing tips. These included a review of the Toreador pass. This went something like this:

i) Opponent is on his back with his guard up, and you are standing and grab control of the opponent at his knees with a firm grip.

ii) You then stack the opponent and use your chest to apply pressure to lock his knees in place before switching the grip, so the pint pot on the knees grip almost moves to a palm heel strike on the side of the knees.

iii) Fake moving the knees to one side, before you switch direction and throw them to the other side.

iv) Opposite leg then steps through to the opponent’s undefended hip area to prevent him bringing his leg back through and re-establishing guard, then drop down and use your weight to pressure through and establish side control.

v) Finally, the knee closes the opponent’s hip down on one side while the elbow locks the hip in place on the other side. The free hand secures the opponent’s head.

There was also plenty of good general advice, such as creating space if you’re defending a position and crushing space if you’re attacking. He also showed me a very nifty escape from full mount that involved getting your foot in the belt of your opponent and kicking him off, then following through to establish mount.

I also worked a few knee on belly escapes. The most basic one of these involved using both hands to push the knee away as you hip escape to the side. An alternative to this involved reaching under the ankle and grabbing the foot of the opponent to fix the knee in place, then hip escape and use the other hand to drive off/potentially sweep the opponent by pushing into his stomach.

Things to remember: Guard passing and applying pressure, mount escape using belt to kick opponent off, and knee on belly foot grab escape.

Class 124 & 125...

First up was an open mat session. I helped a senior belt work on a leg drag, which was good as I now have a vague idea what this is. I also did some work on passing a tight guard from standing, which proved near impossible as the blue belt I was working with was very good and very fast. 

I rolled for a bit and got murdered, although I did manage to fend off submissions for at least some of the time with hip escapes and knee-to-elbow barriers. 

I also picked up some advice about not over-committing to a grip when the position has gone. 

Then it was another intermediate class, plus something of a surprise. We began by working on standing passes from the De La Riva guard. These went something like this:

i) Man on back on bottom has the De La Riva hooks in with his left leg hooking the outside of the opponent’s right leg and his right leg on the opponent’s left hip. He grabs the opponent’s right ankle with his left hand and grabs the opponent’s sleeve with his right hand. The standing man turns and drives his right leg to get rid of the hook, then grabs the opponent’s collar with his right hand and pulls the opponent up to crunch him. The left leg then swims out and acts as a base post while you squat down and bring the right leg into the opponent’s collapsed leg hooking leg.

ii) Man on back on bottom has the De La Riva hooks in with his left leg hooking the outside of the opponent’s right leg and his right leg on the opponent’s’ left hip. He grabs the opponent’s right ankle with his left hand and grabs the opponent’s sleeve with his right hand. The standing man turns and drives his right leg to get rid of the hook, he then squats down and then grabs the opponent’s left sleeve with his right hand and the opponent’s gi pants and sleeve at the right knee with his left hand. He then postures up to break the grips, swims his left leg out and crosses his hand to collapse the opponent’s knee and bring his hand over so he turns to his side.

There was plenty of information and various subtleties that I missed in this little lot. But then the surprise… multiple world champion Braulio Estima was at the gym and was taking a class. And this was information overload but also really brilliant.

I can’t recall the techniques in too much detail but the first one involved a sort of one-legged triangle that used the hamstring of the horizontal leg to choke the opponent with the attacking player pulling the head onto it.

We then worked on set-ups for inverted triangles from the bottom in side control. These essentially involved stuffing the opponent’s hand between your legs by bridging and throwing your hands to the side to force him to Superman and leave an arm exposed. This arm was then fished and figure-foured by the legs. Options here were to attack the arm itself or to stuff the head for the inverted triangle. 

Another option was to use it as a control position to reach under the non-trapped arm and set up either a kimura or a wrist lock.

It was fabulous stuff. Most of it was way over my head but sometimes it’s inspiring to learn those sort of techniques. Although, the inverted triangle set-ups are definitely something I’ll use and work on.

It was also interesting to hear him talk about his approach and having the freedom to experiment. A fab class.

Things to remember: The set-ups for the inverted triangle and other attacks from the bottom in side control.