My BJJ rolling has been on something of a roll as far as class attendance is concerned in recent weeks. The cancellation of my regular midweek hapikdo class has certainly helped and, with me struggling to make other hapkido classes, any additional BJJ classes have become my default option.
First up was a sparring class. It was also my 47th birthday and I thought this would be a good way to begin the year. It was, but an hour of six-minute rounds with minimal rest was also exhausting. I did OK, though, and tried to defend against the higher belts and attacked against my white belt peers. If nothing else, it was a good exercise in getting into an attack mentality.
The next couple of classes were early morning affairs and there was some drilling, based on the trinity of armbar, triangle and omaplata, and holding position with underhooks in butterfly guard and an overhook in closed guard, then it was sparring.
We worked on specific positional sparring from these positions before we went into straight sparring.
I did OK at sparring and I defended OK against the blue belts I was paired with and even threatened a few submissions. I did better against my white belt peers and successfully attacked with back climbs, omaplatas, triangles and kimuras. I feel like I'm getting nearer to blue belt status at the moment, but I'm still running into very good white belts who run over me. I'm doing OK, though, for a bloke who's giving somewhere between 10 and 20 years to a lot of opponents.
Things to remember: Attack is the best from of defence, so always look for attack options.
Wednesday, 20 April 2016
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Classes 208, 209 & 210…
With work
stupid busy, I’ve only made an open mat and two early morning classes in the
past three weeks.
The open mat session was brutal and consisted of me sparring for about 70 minutes with a couple of decent blue belts and a couple of white belts. I did OK for the opening 40 minutes and was tough to tap and even threatened a kimura and a footlock at one point, but then I gassed and I was essentially cannon fodder for the rest of the time.
It was a decent test of my cardio, though, which remains OK, despite me feeling like I had collapsed before crossing the line.
The two early morning classes both focused on the front guillotine choke and drilling the entry, then getting the tap from guard or using it as a sweep. The key points of the entry from standing are to push the head down and to swim the arm around so the blade of the wrist is under the throat of the opponent. The hands connect in a cup and saucer grip, then the top arm pulls the blade of the wrist up to secure the choke.
The sweep essentially relies on securing this technique, then falling back into guard. Keeping everything tight, you insert a foot hook on the opposite side of the choking arm, then drop back and roll the opponent to the side as your hook lifts him in the air. You then come on top to secure the choke or a better position.
There’s also a variation where you can use the guillotine to pretty much flip your opponent over 180 degrees, too.
In specific drilling, my attacking from a seated position against a standing opponent was OK, but my using the guillotine to attack for position from standing was less good.
In sparring, I had some success with the Ezekiel choke, which is rapidly becoming a go-to move for me. But I also got ruined by a couple of blue belts that I can sometimes cause a few problems.
But it’s good to be on the mats and there’s some slow signs of progress. I’m also booked in for a tournament in May and a tournament in July, so I have a few things to work towards.
The open mat session was brutal and consisted of me sparring for about 70 minutes with a couple of decent blue belts and a couple of white belts. I did OK for the opening 40 minutes and was tough to tap and even threatened a kimura and a footlock at one point, but then I gassed and I was essentially cannon fodder for the rest of the time.
It was a decent test of my cardio, though, which remains OK, despite me feeling like I had collapsed before crossing the line.
The two early morning classes both focused on the front guillotine choke and drilling the entry, then getting the tap from guard or using it as a sweep. The key points of the entry from standing are to push the head down and to swim the arm around so the blade of the wrist is under the throat of the opponent. The hands connect in a cup and saucer grip, then the top arm pulls the blade of the wrist up to secure the choke.
The sweep essentially relies on securing this technique, then falling back into guard. Keeping everything tight, you insert a foot hook on the opposite side of the choking arm, then drop back and roll the opponent to the side as your hook lifts him in the air. You then come on top to secure the choke or a better position.
There’s also a variation where you can use the guillotine to pretty much flip your opponent over 180 degrees, too.
In specific drilling, my attacking from a seated position against a standing opponent was OK, but my using the guillotine to attack for position from standing was less good.
In sparring, I had some success with the Ezekiel choke, which is rapidly becoming a go-to move for me. But I also got ruined by a couple of blue belts that I can sometimes cause a few problems.
But it’s good to be on the mats and there’s some slow signs of progress. I’m also booked in for a tournament in May and a tournament in July, so I have a few things to work towards.
Things to remember: Snap the head down when using the guillotine to attack from standing; continue to drill footlocks and the Ezekiel choke.
Wednesday, 23 March 2016
Classes 206 & 207...
An early-morning class focusing on guard passing drills and defending guard passing, then an open mat with pretty much constant sparring for about an hour.
My guard passing and defending still needs work but my sparring is still pretty solid for a white belt. I can fend off decent white and newer blue belts and I'm slowly learning to attack and use my legs as either a weapon or as a barrier.
It's slow and gruelling progress but I'm still loving it. The victory for me at BJJ is not in getting the tap but in making the class and picking up something new.
My guard passing and defending still needs work but my sparring is still pretty solid for a white belt. I can fend off decent white and newer blue belts and I'm slowly learning to attack and use my legs as either a weapon or as a barrier.
It's slow and gruelling progress but I'm still loving it. The victory for me at BJJ is not in getting the tap but in making the class and picking up something new.
Thursday, 3 March 2016
Class 205…
An early morning class and some work on
pulling guard and passing guard.
My guard pulling from standing is sort of OK at my level, and my foot on same hip as elbow grab and collar drag seems to work pretty well. I need to play with a few other set-ups, though, as I can’t just rely on that one.
Sparring was OK and I more than held my own against my fellow white belts and held out against a decent blue belt, too. I’m trying to remember the basics of frame and attack so I’m doing OK.
At one point, I did spar with a very good blue belt, though, and he was all over me. A little lesson in humility just in case I thought I was getting somewhere.
I’ve also entered the inter-club tournament in May and a bigger tournament in Guildford in July. I now just need to find an event in June and I reckon that will be me competing for the year sorted out and give me a three-month window to train to and maintain my fitness during.
Things to remember: Same lesson as the last one. Retain frame, constant attack and use legs to attack and defend.
My guard pulling from standing is sort of OK at my level, and my foot on same hip as elbow grab and collar drag seems to work pretty well. I need to play with a few other set-ups, though, as I can’t just rely on that one.
Sparring was OK and I more than held my own against my fellow white belts and held out against a decent blue belt, too. I’m trying to remember the basics of frame and attack so I’m doing OK.
At one point, I did spar with a very good blue belt, though, and he was all over me. A little lesson in humility just in case I thought I was getting somewhere.
I’ve also entered the inter-club tournament in May and a bigger tournament in Guildford in July. I now just need to find an event in June and I reckon that will be me competing for the year sorted out and give me a three-month window to train to and maintain my fitness during.
Things to remember: Same lesson as the last one. Retain frame, constant attack and use legs to attack and defend.
Friday, 26 February 2016
Class 204…
It’s been usual mayhem at work so class
attendance has been spartan in the past fortnight, so the open mat today was a
chance to blow away the corporate cobwebs and do some sparring.
And, all in all, it was pretty
successful. I sparred with a very nimble and fast brown belt, who could have
tapped me about 20 times in a 15-minute round, but he took it slowly so I got
to play with positional defence and attack while he used me for movement
practice.
I then got to spar with a bigger blue
belt and a bigger white belt and pretty much held my own against both. I’m
pretty sure they would have both eventually prevailed if we’d have had longer
rounds, but the basics of retaining frame and constant attack seem to be paying
dividends at the moment. Even if the attack isn’t particularly potent, it gives
an opponent something to think about while I figure out what a better BJJ
practitioner would be doing.
I also caught a couple of people with
Ezekiel chokes and the sort of reverse kimura I threaten with when I’m on the
bottom and my opponent is rear mounting me.
My coach also made the point that I
should use my legs to secure guard and threaten triangles from, so I’ve been
playing with that a lot more, too.
A fun open mat and some little chinks
of light in the darkness. Probably…
Things to remember: Retain frame, constant attack and use legs. They’re strong from years of doing other things and they’re long and agile and they need to be utilised.
Monday, 15 February 2016
Classes 202 & 203...
A Friday lunchtime class and one of the very good purple belts who regularly competes did an impromptu seminar on arm locks. He took us through various set-ups and entries, but the main takehome was to drive or climb the crotch into the joint to be attacked and to close the space when attacking. He also showed a very good set-up for a straight armlock from both guard and half-guard. This starts with a kimura attack, then turns into a hip escape, before tightening the grips on the arm as you fully extend it.
This was followed by an early-morning class, which featured some drills on grip fighting and securing a grip on the opponent's gi collar, wrists and pants.The takehome here was to fight for grips at all times or to fight to remove the opponent's grips.
Sparing at both classes went pretty well and I more than held my own against my fellow white belts and successfully fended off a couple of blue belts for six-minute rounds, too. I even caught a few oponents in a couple of different types of leg triangles.
Things to remember: climb the crotch on armbar attacks; fight for grips when attacking.
This was followed by an early-morning class, which featured some drills on grip fighting and securing a grip on the opponent's gi collar, wrists and pants.The takehome here was to fight for grips at all times or to fight to remove the opponent's grips.
Sparing at both classes went pretty well and I more than held my own against my fellow white belts and successfully fended off a couple of blue belts for six-minute rounds, too. I even caught a few oponents in a couple of different types of leg triangles.
Things to remember: climb the crotch on armbar attacks; fight for grips when attacking.
Monday, 1 February 2016
Class 201...
An early morning class and some work on a sweep from half guard.
The set-up went something like this:
i) Opponent is in your half guard with you on the bottom; you have sleeve and collar control on the opposite side of the leg you are trapping; knee is high in armpit of opponent so kick it out to create space for underhook; drive into opponent and secure underhook with collar control arm and face close to armpit of opponent; arm grabs belt; switch leg so you can pull inside leg out; let go of wrist control and drive into oppoent doing a knee tap; end up on top or in side control.
We then worked on a variation of this where the opponent keeps the underhooked arm and bases out so you end up side by side. The variation here was drive his shoulder to the mat and free the arm; then open the collar and apply a choke by securing the collar grip and dropping you weight over the other side of the opponent's body.
Sparring was good and I'm trying to do two things at the moment: the first is to secure guard and attack; the second is to retain a defensive frame if I'm in trouble.
This is bearing some fruit at the moment and today I held off two much stronger and heavier blue belts and I even threatened an attack at one point; then I more than held my own against two much younger and stronger white belts. I'm also finally trying to use my long legs and I even hit a leg triangle today. For the life of, however, I cannot do a basic Granby roll.
But there were some little victories today and some signs of improvement.
Things to remember: Attack at all times; use basic frame when defending position.
The set-up went something like this:
i) Opponent is in your half guard with you on the bottom; you have sleeve and collar control on the opposite side of the leg you are trapping; knee is high in armpit of opponent so kick it out to create space for underhook; drive into opponent and secure underhook with collar control arm and face close to armpit of opponent; arm grabs belt; switch leg so you can pull inside leg out; let go of wrist control and drive into oppoent doing a knee tap; end up on top or in side control.
We then worked on a variation of this where the opponent keeps the underhooked arm and bases out so you end up side by side. The variation here was drive his shoulder to the mat and free the arm; then open the collar and apply a choke by securing the collar grip and dropping you weight over the other side of the opponent's body.
Sparring was good and I'm trying to do two things at the moment: the first is to secure guard and attack; the second is to retain a defensive frame if I'm in trouble.
This is bearing some fruit at the moment and today I held off two much stronger and heavier blue belts and I even threatened an attack at one point; then I more than held my own against two much younger and stronger white belts. I'm also finally trying to use my long legs and I even hit a leg triangle today. For the life of, however, I cannot do a basic Granby roll.
But there were some little victories today and some signs of improvement.
Things to remember: Attack at all times; use basic frame when defending position.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)