Class 204…

It’s been usual mayhem at work so class attendance has been spartan in the past fortnight, so the open mat today was a chance to blow away the corporate cobwebs and do some sparring. 

 

And, all in all, it was pretty successful. I sparred with a very nimble and fast brown belt, who could have tapped me about 20 times in a 15-minute round, but he took it slowly so I got to play with positional defence and attack while he used me for movement practice.  

I then got to spar with a bigger blue belt and a bigger white belt and pretty much held my own against both. I’m pretty sure they would have both eventually prevailed if we’d have had longer rounds, but the basics of retaining frame and constant attack seem to be paying dividends at the moment. Even if the attack isn’t particularly potent, it gives an opponent something to think about while I figure out what a better BJJ practitioner would be doing. 

 

I also caught a couple of people with Ezekiel chokes and the sort of reverse kimura I threaten with when I’m on the bottom and my opponent is rear mounting me. 

My coach also made the point that I should use my legs to secure guard and threaten triangles from, so I’ve been playing with that a lot more, too. 

 

A fun open mat and some little chinks of light in the darkness. Probably…

Things to remember: Retain frame, constant attack and use legs. They’re strong from years of doing other things and they’re long and agile and they need to be utilised.

Classes 202 & 203...

A Friday lunchtime class and one of the very good purple belts who regularly competes did an impromptu seminar on arm locks. He took us through various set-ups and entries, but the main takehome was to drive or climb the crotch into the joint to be attacked and to close the space when attacking. He also showed a very good set-up for a straight armlock from both guard and half-guard. This starts with a kimura attack, then turns into a hip escape, before tightening the grips on the arm as you fully extend it.

This was followed by an early-morning class, which featured some drills on grip fighting and securing a grip on the opponent's gi collar, wrists and pants.The takehome here was to fight for grips at all times or to fight to remove the opponent's grips. 

Sparing at both classes went pretty well and I more than held my own against my fellow white belts and successfully fended off a couple of blue belts for six-minute rounds, too. I even caught a few oponents in a couple of different types of leg triangles. 

Things to remember: climb the crotch on armbar attacks; fight for grips when attacking.

Class 201...

An early morning class and some work on a sweep from half guard. 

The set-up went something like this: 
i) Opponent is in your half guard with you on the bottom; you have sleeve and collar control on the opposite side of the leg you are trapping; knee is high in armpit of opponent so kick it out to create space for underhook; drive into opponent and secure underhook with collar control arm and face close to armpit of opponent; arm grabs belt; switch leg so you can pull inside leg out; let go of wrist control and drive into oppoent doing a knee tap; end up on top or in side control. 

We then worked on a variation of this where the opponent keeps the underhooked arm and bases out so you end up side by side. The variation here was drive his shoulder to the mat and free the arm; then open the collar and apply a choke by securing the collar grip and dropping you weight over the other side of the opponent's body. 

Sparring was good and I'm trying to do two things at the moment: the first is to secure guard and attack; the second is to retain a defensive frame if I'm in trouble. 

This is bearing some fruit at the moment and today I held off two much stronger and heavier blue belts and I even threatened an attack at one point; then I more than held my own against two much younger and stronger white belts. I'm also finally trying to use my long legs and I even hit a leg triangle today. For the life of, however, I cannot do a basic Granby roll. 

But there were some little victories today and some signs of improvement. 

Things to remember: Attack at all times; use basic frame when defending position. 

Private Class No.10...

Another private class and a chance to go through some basics again and tighten up some loose technique. 

We worked on the trio of armbar, triangle and omoplata and the improvements here need to be: 
i) Armbar: Tighten up everything so opponent has less escape room. Chopping-down-on-back leg needs to remain active to keep the opponent collapsed.
ii) Triangle: the angling off needs to be more dynamic and using the underhook on the untrapped arm to close the angle is vital.
iii) Omoplata: Be more dynamic when kicking the leg over. Sleeve and collar grip also need to be tighter to help collapse the opponent. Also be more aggressive when yanking the arm out. Another detail on this was to shift the hips back and use the corresponding shoulder pressure to collapse the opponent.

The chokes were fine and the guard break and pass was OK. The takehome on the latter was to leave no gap between the guard break and the pass. 

We also did some work on ankle locks. I'm still pretty poor at this but the key points here were: 
i) Outside foot on hip of opponent to control distance.
ii) Inside foot under backside of trapped leg to aid mobility.
iii) Pinch knees together to trap leg. 
iv) Foot under armpit and extend, then turn it. 
v) Rooster chest as you look over your shoulder to attack foot. 

Lots to brush up on but I do feel like I'm making some progress here.