Classes 254, 255 & 256...

An Xmas break, carnage at work, then a week in New York... so the first three classes back have been tough as my body gets re-acclimatised to groundfighting and its various demands. 

The first class focused on guard retention from the quarter guard. The takehome from this was to keep the opponent's foot pinched and not allow him to escape and take your back. I was awful at the specific training to drill this.

The second class was all about takedown defence from single leg takedowns. We worked on two, which went like this:. 

Single leg takedown defence 1: leg is trapped inside opponent's legs; the nearest hand grabs the opponent's belt at the back; the furthest hand secures the opponent's furthest hand; the trapped leg points forward; the free leg points forward to align hips; pull the opponent in and fall back and take the opponent with you; continue momentum and follow him over until you end up on top.

Single leg takedown defence 2: leg is trapped inside opponent's legs; move the trapped leg to far outside of the opponent's legs; the nearest hand falls back to base on floor; the furthest hand secures the collar of the opponent's gi; the untrapped leg kicks over head of opponent as hand on collar collapses him as triangle lock is secured.

The third class involved working on two single leg takedown variations. These were: 
First: head down and drive into the trapped leg between your legs, then drive down with hand gripping gi and drive into  inside of opponent's thigh  
Second: head down and move trapped leg between leg to outside then drive down and round to take opponent down.

Things to remember: The throw to defend the single leg is excellent.