Class 183...

An early-morning class and some work on the omaplata from full guard. 

The detail emphasised here was to secure sleeve control on the opponent in your guard, then put a foot on the hip and knee to trap the arm, so the opponent can't base out when you attack with the omaplata. Keeping control of the opponent by grabbing the belt or the waist was also emphasised to stop the opponent from rolling out. The other details emphasised was to pull away from the opponent to flatten him out and further restrict his mobility.

There were a couple of variations added to this attack. The first to apply an armlock from the position by figure 4 crossing the legs and putting the furthest away leg through so it goes under the opponent's neck and out under his armpit. Then stretch the through leg out and drop the curled leg down.

The other variation was a counter to when the opponent rolls out. To counter this, base on you knee and spin out to secure mount. 

Sparring was pretty good and I did OK against a very tall blue belt with long legs, then I moved well and threatened much against two fellow white belts. A fab class. 

Things to remember: Use the omaplata as a base to launch other attacks.

Classes 181 & 182…

First up, an early-morning session and a class focusing on the Toreador Pass from standing. The key details taught in this class were the thumbs facing each other as the standing man grabs the gi pants at the knee of the opponent on the floor, then swapping hands on the changeover so the hand driving the top leg down is the moved hand and the other hand is driving for head control.

The choke that then follows involves securing side control with the head control arm under the neck. The other hand then feeds the tip of the gi jacket flap from one hand to the other, before moving to north-south and dropping both elbows to the mat and using the elbow pressure and the movement to choke the opponent out.

Sparring was fab and I did well against a few fellow white belts at about my level, and I survived against a decent blue belt, too.

Second up was an open mat session. This was pretty continuous sparring for about an hour and I did better against a white belt colleague who's a good wrestler, then I got to roll with a very light and very mobile blue belt, before finishing off with a very muscular and big purple belt. I got pretty comprehensively ruined against all three in the end, but my defense was OK and I did pick up a few key pointers. 
I also felt like my engine was up and running. This was my fifth martial arts class of the week.

Things to remember: Don't cross your arm over your middle line. I did this a lot today then had to fight like crazy to get it back. Keep your knee up when somebody is trying to close guard around you. It makes it very hard to close the legs. It also gives you escape options.

Classes 179 & 180...

First up was an open mat session. I got pretty comprehensively ruined by a couple of blue belts and a very good white belt.

I did, however, pick up one very good additional method of breaking an opponent's closed guard. This involved the usual hands on hips, stepping back and creating space to put your knee in their bum, but then bringing you knee up and sitting back to prise the legs open. From here, it was into passing stance of one knee up, one knee down and elbows connected to knees.

The second class was also an open-mat session. I sparred with a couple of good white belts, one small and agile and the other muscular and strong, and a good blue belt, who was strong and has excellent leg locks, and I got ruined.

On the plus side, my movement is feeling much better and I did escape a leg triangle at one point by posturing up then doing a judo escape, which involved putting my feet on the hips of my opponent and prising him off. I also had some success with spinning out of turtle and catching an opponent in my guard.

Things to remember: Keep working on movement; play with spinning and rolling into guard from turtle.

Private Class No.8...

My first private class after a lengthy lay-off following a few injuries. 

First up, we went through the three-attack combination: armbar, omaplata and triangle. This was OK, but the main advice was to tighten up the mechanics and maximise the pressure, particularly between the switch over from left to right when drilling.

We then did some work on chokes, which seemed to be OK. I also learnt two new chokes. 

The first of these relied on the same initial collar grab, but saw the thumb of the other hand go in at the back of the gi collar, then swoop over to the other side and tighten as normal to close the choke. It seems to rely on timing your opponent's escape to make it truly effective.

The second new choke involved grabbing the flap of the opponent's gi jacket from guard, then passing it over the shoulder of the opponent onto the other side and securing it as one side of a choke. The hand grips like an uppercut. Then the other hand goes in as normal and secures the choke and tightens it. 


We did some work on breaking and opening guard. The main adjustments here involved having the hooking leg tight and the escaping leg flat on the floor to block the hips. 

Finally, we did some work on pulling guard. The key advice here was to use the foot on the hip to apply tension between you and the opponent. 

Things to remember: Tighten the mechanics, the new choke options.