Class 72...

My first class back after two weeks away and a tough-ish warm-up of belt jumps and squats for ten minutes.

We then went into a drill where the person on the bottom has the man on top in full guard then attacks for an armbar; the opponent pulls his arm out of danger so the man on the bottom rolls to north-south and attacks the opponent's other arm with an omoplata; the opponent postures up with one arm still in and the man on the bottom attacks for a leg triangle; the man on top then puts both his arms in and the sequence begins again.

Key points from this involved keeping strong grips on the attacked arms and the opponent to prevent him from escaping or rolling out; and collapsing the opponent's posture to aid attacking and moving around him.

A good class and good to be back.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Practise basic movement drills and ensure you keep good grips.

Class 71...

My final class before a two-week holiday was a beginners class working on securing leg control and avoiding the opponent's legs.

It was also a chance to take stock: I'm enjoying these classes and slowly learning a few bits and pieces. My teachers and fellow students are also encouraging, but I need to start making serious progress so I'm thinking about grading. Even if it's only getting a stripe or two on my white belt, it will give me an impetus to train and a goal and I tend to better organised and driven if I'm goal-orientated.

There's a grading in October so I'm going to aim to train for and attend that. So here goes. Time to attend more classes and train harder...

LESSON FROM TODAY: Work out a training routine for the next few months and stick to it.

Classes 68, 69 & 70...

I've had very little spare time of late so BJJ classes have been few and far between. The three I've managed to fit in, however, were all beginners classes and good fun.

In the first class, we worked on a scissor sweep from open guard. This went like this:
i) Opponent is in your closed guard so secure a grip on his left lapel with your left hand, then open your guard and pull him towards you.
ii) Move up onto your right hip and collapse your right leg so it's horizontal on the floor.
iii) Hook your left foot under his right armpit and pull him to the right as your left leg kicks him in that direction and follow him over.
iv) The opponent is swept and you end up in guard, mount or side control, depending on what you do afterwards.

We then added a Kimura lock to this when the opponent uses his left hand to brace himself.

The second and third classes were all about collapsing the opponent and wrestling for top position. Both classes emphasised the importance of using your head to drive the opponent back and getting control of your opponent's head to make controlling him easier.

There was also emphasis on having 'mobile hips' and using a leg control where you grab the opponent's bottom leg near the knee to pin his leg to the ground to make passing easier. The importance of 'active toes' to drive through an opponent was also emphasised. And we did more work on establishing underhooks.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Underhook, mobile hips and active toes.

Class 67...

Today was an open-mat session and I was cannon fodder for most of it as I rolled with a high-level brown belt, two blue belts and a white belt.

The bad news was that I was way out of my class against every single opponent but the good news was I'm still starting to do the basic stuff, like defend myself and hip escape to recover guard, or turtle and go to my knees when I'm in trouble, or keep my arms together and not allow them to get isolated.

I even managed a few sweeps and reversals, but for most of the class I was just defending. Some days will be like this, though. It's part of the learning curve.

In other news, though, Jackson Souza, a visiting brown belt from Brazil who trains at our gym, won the World Championships last week in Brazil. I'm delighted for him. He's a tiger waiting to pounce on the competition mat, taking his time and stalking his prey until he gets the opening he wants, and his training work ethic is frightening, but he's also kind, patient and encouraging as a teacher. Oooos Jackson!

LESSON FROM TODAY: Hip escape, hip escape, hip escape.

Class 66...

A Wednesday afternoon session and a bit of a test-run for me to see how badly injured my injured knee is. I survive the usual warm-up of running, falling, ab exercises and press-ups then it's onto technique.

Today we're working from side control and escaping from side control. Before we go into specific drills, however, we have a bit of a reminder on what we should be doing:

If we're on the bottom in side control, we should be using the hand nearest the opponent's hips to block the hip to prevent the opponent from going to north-south. The other hand should be gripping the shoulder or, even better, securing an underhook. The knee nearest the opponent's hips should be elevated and resting on the other leg to form a barrier to ensure he can't go to full mount.

If we're on the top in side control, we should be closing the space and driving our knees into the opponent to shut down any wriggle room. The elbow nearest the hips should be tucked in to prevent wriggle room. The hand nearest the head should be trying to isolate the arm with the elbow making a frame by the head.

The opening technique was a hip escape from side control. This involved bridging and hip escaping to get the knee in, then using the elbow to move the the opponent's head to create the space to drive the leg further in and get half guard or even full guard.

The second technique was a hip escape and a drive forward to secure a single leg. This essentially involved the same hip escape and elbow movement but with an underhook. You then switch your legs so you come into turtle and drive forwards into the opponent.

We then did some technique sparring with the man on the bottom defending against the man on top attacking. My defence isn't great but I experimented a bit with spider guard and had some grasping and not particularly competent success so I may play with this a bit more.

In sparring, I did OK and my defence was decent and I even got a few submissions in with another white belt. A good class, even if my knee felt it afterwards.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Bridge and hip escape, bridge and hip escape, bridge and hip escape.

Class 65...

An open mat session and, with an inter-club tournament in September and a possible grading in October, I'm starting to think about upping my training. Sadly work demands are preventing such thoughts becoming a reality so I guess I'll just plod on when and where I can...

The open mat began with a lengthy roll with one of the blue belts I often roll with and, although my defence was OK at times, I was told in no uncertain terms to fight to control the legs to pass the guard. I kept trying to do this but it's very tough when you have a fast and slick opponent. Perseverance will pay off eventually, though. Probably...

Next up was a white belt who was just too strong for me and, although I defended, he was technically superior and very assured in what he was doing. I then had a roll with a strong purple belt who showed me a move to tighten my body position up when I'm on top in side mount. I ended the session by rolling with another purple belt who caught me in a few leg locks then showed me an escape for an Achilles lock. I then tried to get him in an Achilles lock and he escaped using the escape he'd just shown me. I saw the irony.

It was a bits and pieces day and I didn't feel I really achieved anything. But some days are like that. And I have to remain patient. If I want to get better then I just have to keep turning up.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Fight to control the legs and avoid the guard.

Class 64...

Today was an open mat session and, exhausted from three martial arts classes earlier in the week, I planned to take things slowly.

Fortunately one of the blue belts I regularly roll with was there and he was nursing a back injury so we drilled some sweeps and escapes from side control before rolling.

And we rolled for about half an hour at half speed and it was good fun. I managed to evade most of his attacks and positional rolling and fought hard to avoid and escape his guard. I escaped armbar and triangle attempts and even managed to get side control on him a few times but I couldn't quite trap his arm in a kimura, American or armbar.

I do realise he was a bit injured and we only going at half speed but it was good and I actually started to feel like I knew roughly what was happening and where I should and shouldn't be. He was obviously taking it easy but it was a bit of a confidence builder to realise I am, very gradually I hasten to add, starting to pick up some basic understanding of what to avoid and when and how.

On a less happy note, it was the last day in the UK of a very high-level visiting brown belt from Brazil, who'd been here teaching as well as winning various tournaments while he'd been over here. I watched some of his fights on YouTube and he's an absolute beast in competition and just looks like he's having fun as he toys with, traps then smothers opponents. But on the mats and teaching with us he was nothing but kind and considerate and encouraging.

It's been fun. Oss Jackson! Safe jourrney home.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill escapes and drill sweeps; in fact drill everything and keep drilling it.