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.