Classes 30-31...

First up a beginners’ class with a warm-up of belt jumps interspersed with sprawled press-ups.

Doing belt jumps is awful. It’s essentially like sideways skipping where you lay your belt on the floor then have to leap two-footed over it and back again. You then change into belt jumps that have a press-up attached to them either time you land on either side of the line. It’s agony on the calves.

In class proper we reworked on attacking the turtle from the back and using kimura control to establish hooks and spin out for armbars. It was a sort of repeat of a class from a week earlier with a visiting black belt but at any level it’s always good to repeat technique as many times as possible.

In the open mat session the following day I trained with my new white belt friend and we drilled armbars and armbar escapes, triangles and triangle escapes, and kimuras and hip buck sweeps. We rolled for a while, too, and he got the better of me but I managed to escape a few times from tricky positions and am no longer such an easy target.

I then got the chance to work with a very helpful purple belt. He spent some time drilling the importance of defending the choke and showed me a very nifty defence on defending the choke from the back.

This essentially involved placing the nearest hand on the opponent’s elbow then placing the furthest hand on the gi sleeve and grabbing and driving the choking arm to the side to relieve pressure on the neck. When the opponent goes to place the arm back to where it was you simply throw the elbow forward and keep the sleeve in position and escape your head out so the opponent’s arm is sort of in a kimura position. It’s very nifty. I’m drilling this.

LESSON FROM TODAY: The kimura-style defence against the choke.

Classes 28-29...

In class 28, the chance to learn from a world champion BJJ expert. And it was the second world champion BJJ expert visiting the school in two weeks. That's pretty impressive and it's also one of the reasons I really like the school. It regularly attracts that calibre of visiting teacher.

The two techniques he demonstrated in the class I saw involved attacking the turtle position. And these went something like this:

Opponent in turtle:
To attack the turtle, close the space and hold the back, then reach under the opponent's left armpit with your left hand and grab the right-side collar of his gi jacket, then post out on your right arm and drag him over into a sort of side control with your knee up against his back; then shoot your left leg over his body and he should be open enough to get the left side hook in from that position; if you can't get the right side hook as well in the you can use this as a holding position by triangling your legs; if you can get the other hook in then you can go crossface and stretch him out and start attacking for the choke.

Using kimura control to attack the opponent in turtle:
It's the same start as before: to attack the turtle, close the space and hold the back, then reach under the opponent's left armpit with your left hand and grab the right-side collar of his gi jacket, then post out on your right arm and drag him over into a sort of side control with your knee up against his back.

It changes here, though:
To obtain the kimura you shoot your right arm over his right shoulder to grab his left arm; your left arm which is already under his armpit grabs your own wrist in a figure-four lock to secure the kimura; you then pull the kimura over his head and work the kimura; or let him try to roll out and go for the armbar as you have his arm already trapped.

Keys to both these techniques, however, are to keep in really tight so he has no room to manoeuvre.

Class 29 was a free mat session and this was great fun as I got paired with a very good white belt who was happy to let me go through some very basic armbar, kimura, hip buck sweep and triangle drills. In sparring he absolutely murdered me but there were a few times I managed to get in his guard and stay in his guard and not get swept. I even managed a few armbar escapes and one triangle escape. I also tried the guard escpae I learnt last week and nearly had some success with it, but I was aware I was second best for most of the session. On the plus side I am recognising the positions and the dangers but I'm not reacting quickly enough to defend them. Yet. But that will come...

LESSON FROM TODAY: Breaking turtle and using kimura control; I also need another strategy to escape mount if the bridge and roll escape isn't working.

Classes 26-27...

Two classes in one week and both were thoroughly enjoyable and, even more pleasing, my body coped with the demands.

In the opening class we did the usual gruelling warm-up then worked on a choke from rear mount then used the same choke from rear mount to move into an armbar.

Key details from the rear choke involved placing my right hand across my opponent's chest and under his chin and getting the right hand as deep as possible into the back of his gi on the left side towards the back of his neck before confirming the grip. The left hand goes under the left side of the opponent under his armpit. First it helps loosen the gi collar for the right hand to go in, then it it secures the gi on the right side. Once in position the right arm pulls back to tighten the forearm bone across the carotid artery and the throat and the left pulls the gi collar down to apply more pressure and the choke should come on.

We then set this choke up again and the opponent rolled out onto the right hand side to relieve the pressure from the choke. The left underhook, however, helps secure then grab the opponent's left arm and you secure the arm with both hands and drop back for an armbar with the knees squeezing tightly together.

The second class was an open mat session and this involved spending time rolling and drilling techniques with whoever was present. A very helpful white belt showed me a few sweeps he'd learnt but these seemed far beyond me at the moment: too many fine motor skills when what I need is the gross motor skills. When we rolled together, though, I did OK and held my own and even escaped a very dicy side control position using a bridge and move escape I borrowed from Stephan Kesting.

The highlight of the class, though, was the chance to roll with a much stronger and heavier purple belt and pick his brains for half an hour. Some of the key bits I learnt were to keep my head down in side control so I couldn't be pushed back and rolled, an idea for attacking turtle, and he also showed me his favourite guard escape, which I intend to drill and use.

This went as follows: you are in your opponent's closed guard so posture up and grab his pants at the belt line and, with your hands on his hips, push his hips to the floor; once here wedge your left knee under the opponent's bum and pull the other leg back to base out; then lean backwards and break the guard while keeping his hips pinned; then pin the leg nearest you and pass over it and end up in side control.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Drill the guard escape and keep drilling it.

Class 25...

Today I attended my first evening beginner's class at the BJJ school, as previously I'd only been attending mixed sessions, and it was very good.

First we worked on a kimura. Key details from this were hip escaping out so you can use your weight to bend the arm when you drop back down. Also keep the leg over the opponent to prevent him from moving or rolling out.

Hip bump sweep: kimura position but with one hand fully back and straight to hold weight and the hip high to drive through opponent and roll him over. Also ensure you are over your opponent's shoulder.

Hide and seek: you grab the same arm on the opponent and elevate it and dive your other arm and head underneath his armpit, before settling backwards down on his arm so it's a type of backward kimura that pins the opponent. Then hip escape out and secure the seatbeat and your hooks and get back.

LESSON FROM TODAY: I need to attend more beginners' classes so I can learn and drill more basics.

Class 24...

Today was a good day at training and even a demanding warm-up of press-ups and neck exercises didn't deter me from really getting stuck in.

First we worked a sweep from open guard. Details of this that I could remember were: the opponent has control of your legs with you flat on your back in open guard; you pistol grip one of the opponent's sleeves and break his grip on your leg by kicking it away, then place your foot on the thigh of the opponent. Repeat this on the other side. Then hip escape to the far side of the opponent's right leg and thread your leg behind his right thigh so it locks over the front of his left thigh. Then grab his right ankle with your left hand and pull him over with your right hand on his sleeve and go into side control.

Then we worked an ankle collapse from open guard: the opponent is in your open guard and goes to grab you collar; use both of your hands to break the grip of his hand and push him away; then place your feet behind his ankles to lock his feet in place and push his lower legs to make him topple backwards.

Finally we worked a simple off-balancing drag; the opponent is in your open guard and he cross grabs your collar; break the grab using the two hand push-off; then same-side grab the gi collar of your opponent and sweep your other arm back and pull him towards you as you hip escape and let him fall in the space you've vacated.

Sparring was also very enjoyable today. I still got tapped out a few time but I was successful with two triangle escapes against two good opponents. I also did OK rolling with a purple belt and I even employed some judo-style throws to take down an opponent who kept standing.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Simple off-balancing is also an option to catch an unwary opponent and gain positional advantage.

Class 23...

Today my focus was all over the place and I paid the price.

The warm-up seemed harder work than usual but that was probably because we did more press-ups than usual and I’m pretty rubbish at press-ups. This is obviously something I need to address and I have since downloaded a phone app to track and increase my press-up numbers in the next few months.

In class we worked an armbar and a defence/escape from an armbar, then an omoplata and a defence/escape from an omoplata, then a leg triangle and a defence/escape from a leg triangle.

The key information I retain from the armbar application was that my foot goes on the hip behind the elbow I am attacking to prevent the opponent pulling it out.

For the armbar defence I need stack my opponent and bring my free hand to the wrist of the arm under attack. The stack, the knee in the opponent’s bum and the free arm coming in help prevent the opponent stretching out to apply hip pressure and close out the armbar. It’s then a case of lawnmowering the arm out of there and moving into side control as you collapse the stacked opponent.

The omoplata defence relied on turning the arm the other way and grabbing the opponent’s leg to relieve pressure on the shoulder, then moving around 180 degrees to end up in side control as the once-trapped arm is freed.

The leg triangle defence also relied on stacking the opponent but I didn't retain the rest of the details on that technique.

Sparring was tough and I didn’t have much success, although I did manage to retain position in my opponent’s guard a few times thanks to the caging the hips technique. It's always good to train, though, even if you don't feel like it.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Armbar details concerning the foot on the hip and the armbar escape.

Class 22...

Today another set of sparring drills designed to aid grip fighting.

We were partnered up and one partner had to get an inside grip on the opponent’s gi collar but with his fingers on the inside and his thumb on the outside pointing down. This helped the arm naturally shape to act as a frame to defend against an incoming opponent and control his position. The opponent then had to use both his hands to grab the hand and break the gi grip and push the gripping hand away.

We then did a guard retention and passing drill where the opponent on the bottom had to retain closed guard and sweep his opponent while the person on top had to break guard and achieve side control. I did OK breaking out of guard but my guard retention technique sucked. My legs didn't feel strong enough and I struggled to keep my thighs tight enough against my opponent’s torso.

In sparring I got paired with a high brown belt and he just did nothing then exploded when I was where he wanted me to be. One thing I did notice, though, was that he was never flat on his back. He was always shrimping out and he always operated from one hip and didn't allow me to settle or cage his hips. Food for BJJ thought.

In sparring with other belts I fell for a few chokes but also succeeded with a kimura and an arm triangle from side mount. The highlight of my class was an escape from side mount I'd borrowed from the ever-excellent Stephan Kesting and this worked twice. I even used a judo escape from a triangle, which worked, too.

A positive class with some reasons to be cheerful.

LESSON FROM TODAY: Don't stay flat on your back... shrimp out and always operate off one hip when you're on the bottom.