Class 47...

Today a class with a new teacher who was guesting while our regular teacher was training in Brazil and visiting his family.

Today's class started with three escapes from North-South:
i) Step out with left leg and and shoulder bump the opponent under the armpit then take the back.
ii) Jump knees back and shoot backwards to create space and distance and escape.
iii) Drive forward between the opponent's legs and posture up then use both hands on one leg and throw opponent down.

We then did some work on an armdrag from seated butterfly guard with the opponent on his knees. The details of this remain sketchy but it went something like this:
i) Left hand secures the opponent's gi at the right wrist and the right hand secures the back of the opponent's right arm under the bicep.
ii) Then step out on the left leg and post with the left arm and use the leverage of you moving to push the opponent forward with your right hand into the space you have just created.
iii) Keep the right foot hook in and close down the space so you are applying pressure with your head on his shoulder to secure the position.

I was carrying a shoulder injury so I didn't get the chance to spar but the third North-South technique (nicknamed the Submarine) will stay with me.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Remember the Submarine if you are on the bottom in North-South.

Class 46...

Today we did some work from half-guard. Half-guard is something I've found quite perplexing so far and a while ago I sparred with a purple belt who was very good at this position and it – and him – totally threw me in both senses of the phrase. So to have some of the basics explained was very useful.

We started working on a sweep from the bottom in half-guard: The steps to doing this involved:
i) On the bottom sit up on your right hip in half-guard under opponent.
ii) Right foot hooks opponent's leg to prevent it moving out.
iii) Left knee comes across opponent's chest and connects to elbow of left arm with left hand in opponent's gi collar on your right-hand side to form a frame.
iv) Right hand monkey grips inside top of opponent's bicep on his left arm.
v) Kick up to create space using left leg and wrap your left arm around the opponent's back to get an underhook and drive you head into his chest/stomach to prevent him grabbing your neck.
vi) Then let go of his bicep and drive your right hand under his left thigh so you can grab the back of his gi pants.
vii) Then roll backwards towards your left shoulder and elevate the opponent using your right arm to sweep and end up in side control.

We then played with a few variations on this sweep. So if the opponent posts out to prevent the sweep you can drive off your right leg to force and muscle the sweep through.

If you can't, however, muscle the sweep through, then climb to the side where the underhook is using the space you've created then using your free right hand, cup his knee to prevent him extending his base and drive through him.

We then discussed the key points to remember if you are fighting against the sweep and these were:
i) Fight to control his head
ii) Fight to establish an underhook of your own
iii) Fight to drive your  hips down to flatten him out and limit his mobility.

We ended the class with a bit of sparring and I did OK and I even managed a sweep to reverse a bottom position. A very good class. 

LESSON FROM TODAY: Fight to establish head control, get an underhook and flatten the opponent's hips to fight against the half-guard sweep.

Classes 44 & 45...

Two beginners classes in one week and both were really good.

In both classes we continued drilling the Americana from side control before allowing the opponent to extend the arm out so we could employ an armbar. We also did a little bit of work on bridging and pushing the opponent off but that was about it. And brilliant for it because we essentially focused on just three things.

It was a good chance to drill and re-drill a few basic techniques and I'm enjoying these classes more and more because there's very limited sparring and they're essentially focused on technique. And a few of the things emphasised in these classes were:
i) Turning the thumb out to face away from you before applying the Americana.
ii) Ensuring you are using your weight to pin the shoulder and pinning the opponent's hand to the floor before applying the straight arm lock.
iii) Exploding when bridging out and driving your opponent away to create the space to recover guard or back away.

These are all key details and when coupled with some of the other key lessons I've learnt this year, like not allowing an arm to be isolated, or position before submission, or how to utilise your weight, or closing down the space to help secure the position, I feel like I'm getting a better understanding of things. It's by no means a complex understanding on any level but I'm starting to feel the foothills of learning this are no longer quite so scary or alien.

The peaks, however, still remain a very long way off.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill the basics. And keep drilling them.

Classes 42 & 43…

Class 43 was an open mat session and I spent quite a bit of time with another white belt drilling basics.

We worked on some armbars then moved into the armbar, triangle and omoplata flow drill. We also spent some time working on the kimura and the kimura sweep as well as a basic scissor sweep. We spent quite a bit of time also working on shrimping and hip escaping. This was really good for me because I need to spend much more time on these techniques if they’re ever to become things I’m truly familiar with.

We then did some rolling and this was competitive but friendly with neither of us going full pelt. I did pretty good here but I could also tell he was less experienced than I was so I didn’t really read too much into it. It was simply good to have some drilling time and a bit of rolling time.

At the end of the session I got to roll with a very helpful purple belt I last rolled with about six months ago. And I managed to fend him off for a full five-minute round by just working on my basics and not letting him separate and attack one of my arms and also pinning his hips when he tried to sweep me. He complimented me on my improved defensive skills, which was nice, then for the next ten minutes proceeded to lure me into trap after trap and tap after tap, which was impressive. But I know he’s still light years ahead of me. One great bit of advice he shared with me, though, was to keep the distance closed at all times because I was giving him wriggle room and this was something he was exploiting.

It was still an enjoyable class, though, as getting tapped is all part of the learning process.

I then had a break of about two weeks and returned to a beginner’s class.

In this we worked on the spinning armbar from kneeling side control:

Secure opponent’s left arm by grabbing your own gi collar with your right arm; go to right knee on belly; Superman out with left arm as you pull his trapped arm up and spin with right leg going 180 degrees into his hip; with your left leg going over his neck as you drop down and extend the arm to tap.

We then added an escape to this which involved moving the thumb to the right like you’re thumbing a lift to flatten your arm and relieve pressure on the hip extension; then roll at a 90-degree angle on your right shoulder to move into side control.

After this we worked on the Americana from side control:

Grab the opponent’s arm and frame your own arm against his rib cage using elbow; bring left arm through to secure grips; switch base by moving to face the opponent’s head and step right leg over his head; then pull him up onto his side using your hand grips and close the space using your legs to trap him; then push arm up and turn for submission.

More basics and more good stuff. I need to do these classes more often.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill the basics and close down the space.

Class 41...

Today we were spared the usual gruelling warm-up of neck exercises and press-ups to work on some takedown drills.

We started facing the opponent with one of his hands gripping your gi collar. Using two hands you break the grip, then push the opponent's hand towards his groin as you drop down a level with your head on his stomach. Both your hands grasp the backs of his knees and, keeping good posture, you drive forward as you pull his legs towards to send him flying on his back. You then switch over and practice on the other side. 

You then grab the opponent's left-side gi collar with your right hand and drop down onto the opposite side with your left arm grabbing his right leg around the knee. Keeping good posture you then drive to the right as you lift his leg to send him flying on his side. You then switch over and practice on the other side. 

This four-move drill helps practice the double-leg takedown and the single-leg takedown on each side and, although I wasn't particularly fluid at it, I can absolutely see its practical application. 

We then moved onto another drill where we drilled the set-up and the footwork for a judo throw called Ippon Seoi Nage, which is essentially a hip throw where you use the opponent's arm for leverage. This involved stepping in and out of 50 set-ups one after the other. It was tiring but it was also very good.

We then went on to work on re-establishing guard from full mount by hip escaping on one side then fishing for the opponent's foot and pushing down on his knee to establish half-guard before hip escaping the other side and achieving closed guard. This was quite a technical process involving several individual steps but again it's such a vital technique that I need to spend some real time on it.

As an aide memoir the steps from being fully mounted were:

1) Frame hands and push down on opponent's right knee.

2) Hip escape onto left hip and keep pushing knee down. 

3) Using right leg, fish the opponent's foot and drag it backwards.

4) Push down on knee until your left knee has passed it ad you can establish half-guard. 

5) Hip escape out onto right hip. 

6) Frame hands and push opponent's other knee down until his knee has passed your leg. 

7) Bring leg round and establish closed guard.

We also worked on bridging and rolling the opponent and I was OK at this. 

In sparring I got caught in a kimura by a blue belt but I managed to hold my own against him for the rest of the time. I was then paired with a smaller but very energetic white belt for a 10-minute round and we grappled to a draw. I then sparred with another much bigger white belt and managed to move from being fully mounted to turtle to throwing him and getting him to side mount.

I'm ever so slowly forming an idea of what to do in certain positions. I'm under no illusion, however, that I'm anywhere near really getting anywhere. A good class, though.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill the hip escape and takedowns.

Class 40...

After a break of four weeks owing to other commitments and a two-week holiday, it was back into a mixed class today.

The warm-up was tough and I struggled a little but I put that down to general fatigue and me needing to get my body back up to speed.

I started waking up in the technique section, however, as we started doing armbar, sweep and hip escape drills. I'm very aware that these are the type of beginner techniques I need to work on and it was a nice welcome back after a one-month lay-off.

The armbar drill was essentially about setting the armbar up using one hand under the opponent's leg to hip escape onto one then swapping over sides and repeating the movement on the other side. I wasn't too slick at this but it's fine as I was sort of feeling my way back.

The sweep drill was essentially a scissor sweep with the opponent's base arm (left in this case) trapped with your right and you confirming a collar grip on the same side collar you are sweeping towards with your left hand. You then move you left leg under the opponent's armpit and across his chest then chop away with you flat leg while toppling the opponent as you drag them towards you. You then end up in full mount. We went backwards and forwards with this for a while.

We then ran a hip escape drill from the mount position. This entailed the person on the bottom framing his hands to push the opponent's right leg back. Using this space you then hip escape onto your left hip while using your right leg to fish for the opponent's foot and catch it. You then pull back his leg using the foot hook and use your framed hand to push his right knee back so you get your left leg out and secure half guard. You then hip escape onto your right hip and push the opponent's left knee back so you can thread your right leg through and recover guard. Then sweep...

This is such bread and butter stuff but it's so vital I drill particularly the last technique over and over again.

In sparring I was paired with white belts and, apart from falling for a rookie guillotine choke early on, I held my own against one very technical player and one smaller but incredibly explosive player. I even escaped one big white belt when he had me in trouble on the bottom and I reversed the position into side mount thanks to adapting a nifty overhead throw before I ran out of time.

But it was a good class and great to be back.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill the hip escape and the sweep.

Classes 38-39...

Regular class attendance is something of a problem at the moment because of a change in personal circumstances. On the plus side I did make two classes in the last fortnight so at least I got some rolling in.

Class 38 was a mixed ability dinner-time class and after the usual gruelling warm-up we started doing drills about gaining control from half-guard and passing to side control. A lot of this was way over my head but the main points I did pick up were if I can control my opponent's head then I have a much better chance of dictating where the rest of him is going. Also if I can get an underhook with his head also controlled I have a much better chance of passing guard. 

This was a tough class as I wasn't quite sure what I was doing and when, but martial arts is sometimes like that. Lessons sometimes take a while to sink in. You sometimes have to learn things where you're ready to learn them.

We only sparred for one round at the end of the lesson and I got paired with a very good white belt. I managed to fend off a few of his attacks but his movement was superb and much slicker than mine. 

Class 39 was a free mat session and I got paired with a very helpful purple belt who showed me a new guard pass. 

This involves the man in full guard getting both his arms under the legs of his opponent, then getting one hand on the inside of the opponent's opposite lapel in a palm-down and thumb-facing-down grip. Imagine you are trying to choke him with the blade of your wrist across his throat. From here you stack the opponent and start to turn away from the side of the lapel grip until his legs have base and you can collapse him and go into side control. 

The other really good tip he showed me was about closing space down in side control. If you have side control on an opponent then always base out and bring your knee to his hip so there is no space for him to re-establish guard. If you're then intending to go to north-south you have to use your arm to replace the knee to prevent him from re-establishing guard. 

I also got to roll with a very good white belt and, although I got tapped quite a bit, I held my own for long periods and nearly pulled off an omo-plata and used the Americana control to nearly get a tap. 

Finally I got the chance to roll no-gi for 10 minutes. This was my first experience of doing this and it was hard work as I was having to work out where my grips were going. On the plus side I did recognise where the dangers were coming from and successfully fended off several wrist locks and a few leg locks but it was very hard work. But very enjoyable, too. 

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill the new guard break; close the space and keep it closed.