Class 63…

Into a beginners class and after the usual warm-up we worked on three escapes from side control.

A key point that was emphasised before we began, though, was to never clasp your hands behind the opponent’s back as this means the arms are isolated and ripe for attack. Instead one hand should be on the hip with the elbow glued to the floor (ensuring he cannot pass to North-South) and one hand should be grabbing the opponent’s belt on the other side with your right knee over your left (ensuring he cannot pass to mount).

The first was a simple unbalancing sweep that went something like this:

i) You are under your opponent in side control with his body sprawled over your left side; drop your right elbow to the floor with your hand pushing his hip and squeezing his arm in so it is trapped; swim your left hand under the neck of the opponent and grab the collar of the opponent.

ii) Bridge up onto your right hip to move the opponent; as his weight comes back to rebalance himself, bridge onto the other hip and drive him over so you end up in side control.

The second was a variation of this:

i) You are under your opponent in side control with his body sprawled over your left side; drop your right elbow to the floor with your hand pushing his hip and squeezing his arm in so it is trapped; swim your left hand under the neck of the opponent and grab the collar of the opponent.

ii) Your opponent switches his base so you bridge up to get nearer to the opponent then bridge up again while pushing against his neck; once you have sufficiently closed the distance, scissor kick your legs so your right leg comes under your left leg and you move onto your knees and drive the opponent backwards until you finish in side control.

The third was a variation of this:

i) You are under your opponent in side control with his body sprawled over your left side; drop your right elbow to the floor with your hand pushing his hip and squeezing his arm in so it is trapped; swim your left hand under the neck of the opponent and grab the collar of the opponent.

ii) Bridge up and keep bridging until your right leg is under the hips of your opponent; then pull your opponent onto you like he is sitting in a rocking chair and sweep him onto his other side.

LESSON FROM TODAY: The elbow to the floor and the squeeze of the biceps helps pin the opponent's arm and remove one of his posts; the hip escape is the tool that unbalances and moves the opponent.

Class 62...

A relatively gentle warm-up then straight into two techniques.

The first technique was a leg triangle choke from guard. This went something like this:
i) Opponent is in your closed guard and postured up; collapse his elbows with your hand grips and use your closed guard to collapse him so he comes forward.
ii) Swim your left arm under the opponent's right armpit to tightly secure the underhook and secure the underhook by gripping the left collar of the opponent's gi, then using your right arm to grab the opponent's belt.
iii) Get wrist control using your right hand to grab the opponent's left hand; then open your closed guard and hip escape onto your left hip with your left foot on the opponent's right hip; stuff the opponent's left hand so you can bring your right leg inside the opponent's arm then chop it down on the back of the opponent's neck.
iv) To secure the leg triangle, bring your left leg to lock the right leg in place; to close the space you need to angle out and tighten the choke around the opponent's neck so you need to hip escape onto your right hip; to close the leg triangle, pull the trapped arm across his neck and pull his head down.

The next technique was a sweep from an unsuccessful leg triangle choke from guard. This went something like this:
i) Opponent is in your closed guard and postured up; collapse his elbows with your hand grips and use your closed guard to collapse him so he comes forward.
ii) Swim your left arm under the opponent's right armpit to tightly secure the underhook and secure the underhook by gripping the left collar of the opponent's gi, then using your right arm to grab the opponent's belt.
iii) Get wrist control using your right hand to grab the opponent's left hand; then open your closed guard and hip escape onto your left hip with your left foot on the opponent's right hip; at this point, though, the opponent tries to escape but you get him into half-guard
iv) Ensure your right leg hook is tight then flatten your left leg against the floor with your left foot pushed tight against the opponent's knee.
v) From here, use your right knee to sweep the opponent over onto your left side so you end up in a sort of sitting up side control; with the opponent's right arm trapped and his left arm at your mercy there are options such as a straight armbar, an Americana or an omoplata.

In sparring I did OK and I was pretty relaxed. I struggled to control one white belt who today was just much faster, stronger and better, but after this I rolled with one of my blue belt friends and defended myself OK and did the same with one of the purple belts, too. I was still tapped all over the place but I felt I was at least doing the right things some of the time.

Highlight of the day, though, was doing a spot of no-gi rolling with an MMA fighter. He was just so calm and controlled and fluid and he also emphasised the importance of the underhook when we were both operating from half-guard.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill triangle chokes; remember the underhook as it's hugely important.

Class 61...

Today was an open mat session and, after a thorough warm-up and stretch, I found myself paired with the first of three blue belts.

I’ve rolled with the first blue belt a bit before and he’s ridiculously fluid and graceful on the ground. But we rolled for dominant position and defence rather than submission and I actually did OK. I’m obviously aware he’s trying new stuff out and pretty much taking it easy, but whenever he put me in trouble I escaped or rolled out or found a suitable defence. I escaped several armbar and triangle attempts and recovered guard a few times, too. These were minor victories. Against somebody who wasn't trying very hard.

The second blue belt has just qualified for the worlds but was injured and also taking it easy. We had a gentle roll but I was so far out of my class it was unreal. One thing he did very well was to disrupt my base and sweep me with very little effort. I take the lesson with humility. I need to spend more time stabilising my position before attempting any form of submission.

The third blue belt is somebody I roll with much more and he’s also very good but this time we were going at it a bit more and I ended up tapping quite a lot. I was trying to do all the right things (recover guard, not leave an arm isolated, hip escape, stabilise my base, grip fight for a good opening position to avoid his guard) but he was just too fast and too drilled.

On the plus side, I felt like I was understanding a few things and putting them into practise but I know I’m still a long way from any form of competency. More mat time needed. But I already knew that…

LESSON FROM TODAY: Spend more time stabilising position before attempting any form of submission.

Class 60...

A two and a half week lay-off thanks to injury so a tentative but welcome return to class today.

The warm-up was based on technique, drilling a single-leg takedown, then doing some cardio work, then drilling the technique again. The key points to remember from the single leg from a sort of loose wrestler's clinch were everything happens on one side: so the left arm lifts the opponent's right arm up to create space for your body to drop down into position; then the left arm wraps around the back of the opponent's right knee and your left ear attaches to the belly of the opponent as your right arm pulls his left arm down to disrupt his balance before driving in.

We then did some work from half-guard.

The first exercise saw the man on the bottom up on his left hip with his hands controlling the opponent's right arm; the bottom man's right knee was pointing towards the opponent's face with his foot under the opponent's left armpit; the right leg then kicks up to create space and the man on the bottom drives forward to secure a right underhook with his right ear to the opponent's chest; the left grip collapses the opponent's right post arm to set up a sweep.

The second exercise saw the man on the top defend this attack by driving forward and securing his own right underhook and driving forward to flatten the opponent, before escaping the half-guard.

The final exercise involved the man on the top stepping over backwards and taking the opponent's knees with him, then pushing the knees down to achieve mount before escaping the half-guard. This was more complex than the previous two escapes but I sort of got it.

In sparring I was paired with a good blue belt and got tapped all over the place, then I was paired with a newish white belt who'd obviously done something before. He was very good and escaped some bad positions before tapping me with an armbar that I wasn't fast enough to stack and escape. The second time round I had him in a good position but I just ran out of time.

It was fab to be back, though. I even remembered some basics today as well, such as two arms in or two arms out, and connecting the knee to the elbow to create a barrier, or using my weight to drive into an opponent to secure position. It's slow but it is progress...

LESSON FROM TODAY: When in half-guard fight for an underhook to sweep or secure the opponent.

Class 59...

Today was a beginners class and I was raring to go. Then five minutes into stretching out before the class started I got sudden chest pains and struggled to breathe.

It may have been an allergy attack and it may have been some over-stretched or strained muscles. But it hurt and was a tad worrying so class 59 was curtailed before it even started.

Rest and recovery time...

Class 58...

Today was an open mat class so it was very much an odds and ends sort of session.

I spent some time with two other white belts doing guard escape and retention exercises. I'm not very good at either of these yet but I am trying to do the basics, such as control the opponent's legs and secure good grips when trying to pass and securing grips then trying to trap the opponent's legs when attacking from the ground.

I then spent some time sparring and got smashed by one much better white belt but held my own with a much more experienced one. I defended myself from his attacks for some considerable time but his better technique and my fatigue eventually won through.

I then had a roll with two good blue belts and got ruined by one very explosive and fast-moving blue belt who emphasised fighting for grips and not surrendering position at the start. He was also very good at using his legs to strip any grips I'd managed to secure.

I then had a roll with another blue belt who kept getting his foot onto one of my hips to unbalance me when I was struggling to stabilise my base in full the open guard.

It was a very tough class with no victory of any description in sparring but at least I'm trying to do the right things, like recovering guard, or bridging when I'm mounted, or breaking guard when I'm trapped, and defending bad positions when I'm under attack.

I still have a long way to go before I'm competent at even the most basic level of BJJ, though. But there's no rush...

LESSON FROM TODAY: Fight for grips to pass the opponent's guard at the start; learn to use your legs like your hands.

Class 57...

My first class back after a week off and another guest black belt teacher from Brazil.

After the usual warm-up, we started out in closed guard and applied an armbar (right hand secures opponent's right arm and drags it across his body, left knee blocks opponent's right elbow and left arm reaches into collar and collapses opponent's posture, then left arm pushes opponent's head and left leg comes over the opponent's head to complete the armbar), which the person in guard defends by grabbing his bicep and stacking the opponent.

From here, the opponent on the bottom switches hands so the armbar is secured with the left hand hand and the right hand reaches underneath the opponent's legs and grabs opponent's right leg. The person in guard then stretches his opponent out and has the choice of either sweeping his opponent down and finishing the armbar in side control or sweeping him down and moving into mount.

There was also a variation on this technique where the armbar attempt was blocked when the second leg comes across from the opponent in guard. The technique here involved moving the closed guard further up the opponent's back and letting the opponent stand, then capturing his same-side leg and arm by wrapping his leg then grabbing the sleeve of his gi so both posts on one side are taken out of the equation. You then collapse the opponent into an omoplata or collapse him then stretch him out and roll him over you by dragging his light leg over you.

I remain hazy on the details of the latter techniques but the principles seem to be based on collapsing your opponent's posture, switching grips to secure the post leg while keeping his posture collapsed via his arm and your leg pressure, then switching the hips to create the momentum to move the opponent and reverse the positions to get the submission.

In sparring, we did an exercise where the man on the bottom had to either submit or sweep the man in closed guard, while the man in closed guard had to escape guard and pass into side control or full mount. I was paired with two newish white belts and did better than hold my own, even though one was physically much stronger than me.

When it was open sparring, I was paired with a very good white belt and, rather than surrendering closed guard, I fought for the opening position, shot a single leg and secured side control before eventually turning a holding position into a submission. Sadly I cranked this on harder than I anticpated and caused him some discomfort. He ws OK, although I need to remember to control my strength in dangerous positions.

But it was a minor victory with some lessons of sorts starting to be learnt about fighting for a dominant opening position.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Use the armbar attack as an opening gambit then have the sweep options to back it up when it is defended; continue to fight for a dominant opening position.