Grappling with Grappling: Part I...

 

Another BJJ competition at purple belt and another defeat. It's true that I was fighting somebody 10 years younger than myself, but I made a basic error early on and couldn't recover in time. It wasn't an age difference that was the issue here. 

The thing is that a couple of parts of my game, namely full guard and two variations of that, are pretty decent. But I need to be able to get to those positions to be effective. 

So there's a new game plan forming for starting matches and this is what I'll be focusing on for the next couple of months. I don't really need radical new techniques. I need to make the ones I am using badly work more efficiently. 

So here are notes on things I need to add in: 

• Use the guard pull from standing that Keenan Cornelius talks about. He sets it up like a sacrifice throw, but it adds additional torque to the off-balancing of the opponent. Also use this guard pull to go straight to Del la Riva and Deep Del.
• When on bottom in half guard and I'm getting passed, use the bicep overhook and the knee block to swing out and swing back into the Chronic position. 
• When passing on top in half guard, use the knee-on-belly and head grab pass. Then switch to palm up and fingers in collar grab on the passing side of the opponent and turn the forearm to apply pressure to the jaw of the opponent to keep his head turned away and limit his movement. Also threaten the cross collar choke to distract the pass.

I'm no longer going to take notes on individual classes or techniques as I have been doing. I now only add a technique in if I can see it adding to my game.

Competition Time...

 

Only one match today and I lost to a choke with about 30 seconds to go. No complaints. I made a daft mistake mistiming my guard pull and I spent four minutes trying to recover the situation, before succumbing to the choke. 

But back to the mats this week to improve with another competition to build towards at the end of July. I also got a cheeky bronze for at least turning up and fighting. 

I will win a match at purple belt at some point.

Competition Time...

 

After a miserable last BJJ competition, I decided to get back on that particular horse, hoping I wouldn't be thrown off in embarrassing fashion again. 

The idea of returning to a tournament made me nervous, but I also felt OK with it. In fact, I quite looked forward to it. It was my first tournament as a new purple belt, but I knew I'd trained consistently hard and I had a decent plan going in, despite having to face bigger fighters.

The start of the fight went my way, with a fast guard pull and my opponent locked in my full guard. He worked his way out of my full guard and I made my first mistake by not switching straight to a half guard sweep. I then attacked for an armbar and got stacked. From then on, he secured top position and attacked. I tried to escape and defended OK, but his positional dominance and route mapping on top was just better than my defence from below. I eventually tapped to a collar choke. 

But it was a good experience against a skilled competitor. And, after the smashing I took at the last event – albeit at the hands of a much younger and stronger opponent – it was good to come out of there and at least feel competent again. So that was a victory of sorts.

I now plan to work on a thing off the mats and start defining my routes to victory more clearly. Every day is a school day. If you're smart enough to listen.

Private Class Mavericks: No.1...

The first in a series of five gi classes as I try to refine my game and what it will be. Today we began the process of adding in half guard, butterfly guard and half-butterfly guard. 

Half Guard Recovery from Smashed Flat in Bottom Position:
* Close half guard around leg of opponent 
* Use outside hand to block hip of opponent to prevent him climbing 
* Use inside hand to swim in for collar grip under neck 
* Use hip block and collar grip to frame out and hip escape to half guard frame

Half Guard Fundamentals:
* Stay on side
* Do not rest on elbow
* Foot of vertical leg rests on foot of horizontal leg
* Knee of vertical leg drives into chest of opponent 
* Inside hand grips collar of opponent with thumb down
* Outside hand either controls arm of opponent or stays active to fend off grips

Half-Butterfly Guard 
To transition from half guard bottom to half-butterfly guard bottom: 
* Ensure horizontal leg goes deep and curls around leg of opponent
* Foot of vertical leg comes inside to rest on horizontal leg, with foot hooking inside thigh of opponent 
* Knee of Vertical leg moves outside of opponent's shoulder 

From here there are sweeping options if the opponent tries to move by holding the outside arm and elevating the butterfly hook. There is also a back take option if the opponent switches hips to attack the kimura by blocking the near-side hip, coming underneath him and kicking the butterfly hook up so you can attack the back. 

You can also transition from here to half guard, butterfly guard and full guard.

Classes 439-440

Gi class

Kimura throw against a standing opponent:

Opponent gets underhook, you get overhook, opponent swims arm out and you connect reverse kimura and grab your own go to lock it in place; step to side of opponent so you are shoulder to shoulder; swing inside leg out and in to sweep leg of opponent; then step to outside of opponent's other leg to prevent movement, and drive him down. Leg pick and go to side control

Ankle lock from standing: 

Key detail is to grab leg of opponent at knee as you drop back.

Then straight ankle lock rolling to side

Rolling over ankle lock

Passing lock to other side with rear naked choke grip

Technical stand up

Sparring was OK. Susceptible to ankle locks at moment. Need to drill defence. Also need to work on attacks from overhook full guard. 

Gi class

Guard pull from sitting: cross grip collar, same side knee across, kick leg through for guard, switch hips and kick other leg through. Close guard.

Armbar from guard: pick arm and secure grip, cross collar grip to drag opponent down, collect arm under attack and nudge inside, cross legs high on back of opponent with same side arm attacking leg on shoulder, use hand to push head, bring other leg over and attack to extend arm.

Hip bump sweep

Standing guard pass using knee in bum: extend base out to break guard, pin flattened leg to floor with arm, reach under other leg of opponent for collar grip, then stack and pass or stack opponent and pass to side control.

Sparring was smashed by pretty much everyone. But I can't let ego get in the way of progress. 

Classes 435-438

Gi Class for Olds & Injureds
Butterfly guard and grab belt to control distance and opponent.
Go shin-on-shin and grab other leg to off-balance and sweep.
From half guard, grab lapel or belt or flap of gi and thread it under leg of opponent, secure grip, then let him try to pass and use belt to come to his side and knee tap or take back.

Gi class
Full guard, secure sleeve control, open guard, feet on hips, lassoo left leg, use left hand to collect lassoed arm at elbow as you kick leg through, switch hips and come up to omoplata.
Same set up but with spider guard using right leg with knee on floor, unhook lassoo, and kick leg out and under as you stretch the spider out for the sweep.
Use lassoo and spider guard for triangle .
Use lassoo against standing opponent, bring other leg next to lassoo leg and underhook right leg of opponent, pull opponent in and sweep and come up while still gripping opponent's sleeves.
Sparring was fine. Avoiding big and strong folk to build up technique and muscle memory. 

Gi class 
Lasso and spider guard attacks for omoplata and leg triangle.
Defence against omoplata: grab own belt and sit back to drive opponent back, he comes forward, you roll and move to pass to side control.
Defence against omoplata: grab own belt and sit back to drive opponent back, go under legs of opponent and come to side.
Defence against leg triangle: hands on belt and posture up with a straight spine, stand and shake off leg of opponent, throw to none side and pass.
Sparring was good. Despite injury, I am starting to feel comfortable. 
Using a post on nearest edge of opponent, then retracting legs and reguarding is sort of working. 

Gi class
Spider web defence sequence against armbar from bottom in side control. 
Then spider web defence from armbar attack in guard: Stack and knee against back. Pull arm out. 
Defence from back take. Grab choking arm and move over head. Drop down and drag opponent to side. Hip hop and drive into side control. 
Defence from back take. Grab choking arm and drive up, then try to turn and face opponent. 
Mount escape by bridging and trapping arm and leg and rolling. 
Mount escape by bridging and framing, then using inside elbow to push knee of opponent down and collect leg in half guard. 
Sparring was fine. Feeling my way into it. Protecting injury but all OK. 

Classes 432-434

Gi class on lasso guard:

Escaping lasso guard from seated against a standing opponent: Shrimp to one side and swim leg out and back inside on left and punch foot through to establish hook. Come back to back. Use other leg to do spider guard and force opponent down. 

Triangle from lasso: Switch right grip to collar of opponent.

Left grip goes to back of trapped arm and pulls arm and collar into triangle.

Inversion sweep: Invert and use right arm to underhook leg of opponent. Then roll opponent over and come to side control. 

Gi classes on:

Methodical armbar

Fast armbar

Spider web attacks from top using hand push 

Spiderweb defence using rock up defence and lion kill defence

Push off leg of opponent and come to guard

Side control escape from bottom with opponent in broken scarf hold. Knees out to side and trap head of opponent for arm lock

Sparring OK. Starting to feel it