Wednesday 16 January 2019

Classes 310 & 311...



Today saw a new start at a new gym after leaving work in London last year. It's also a chance to change a few things up, so I'm doing just that. I'm aware I don't hit enough armbars, omoplatas or triangles, I want to work on my speed and stamina, and I want to be less reliant on gi grips. So I've decided to try no-gi for a while.

I also want to get some competency at this as I'm terrible at it.

Class one was an open mat and a chance to roll with everyone and get a feel for the place. The gym I've joined has a lot of footlock specialists, so I got footlocked lots, particularly as I have no gi to grab hold of to keep in close proximity to my opponent and defend myself.

I also fell victim to a couple of d'arce chokes, too.

Attacking from guard was also tough as there is less friction with no gi, so it was tough to clamp down on people, control them and hold them before working for a position.

There is so much to learn for even basic competency at this.

Next up was a beginners class, which led into an advanced class, and the format was pretty much the same structure as a gi class, with running around, roll falls, shrimps, press-ups, etc.

We then did some drilling of armbars and the hip bump sweep, plus a a granby roll from turtle into guard or triangle. I've never really got the latter before so learning this was a win! We then did a spinning armbar drill from a weak kimura attack and some single x guard stuff, leading to a sweep.

The advanced class was all straight rounds rolling and I got murdered and tapped to more leg locks, chokes, back attacks and triangles. It's all very fast and dynamic, with constant movement and attack.

I am awful at this. But I always am when I start anything new. I'll do some research and get a handle on grips and handles, then work out frames and escapes. It will get worse before it gets better.

Things to remember: everything must be active; use granby roll to escape and attack from position and submissions. 

No comments:

Post a Comment