Classes 95 & 96...

First up, a beginners class all about escaping the legs of the opponent. 

The key to this was to maintain close space and use your hands to grab the knees of the opponent and drive them down so you can leap over them and get to mount. 

Then it was a 90-minute dinner-time class and this was rough on my body after not going to one for quite a while.

We started with the usual exercises and physical workout, before moving onto a series of exercises about passing your opponent's control position and defending his attacks and establishing your own attacks after breaking his control position. It obviously depended whether you were on top or on bottom.

We did this exercise from a variety of positions: sitting up with one man taking your back using seatbelt control; from side control with one man underneath; or from turtle with one man in turtle and the other man attacking.

I did OK with most of my fellow white belts, but my pairing with two blue belts saw me pretty comprehensively outgunned. They just moved much more explosively and if I escaped one attack they always had another lined up.

On the plus side, I did defend myself OK at times but the blue belts were all over me. They were simply just that much better. I did, however, start to grasp that I need to escape bad positions in stages and remove a hook at a time and gradually secure a better position rather than go all-out and leave myself vulnerable. A good class.

Things to remember: Own the space and don't leave gaps; when stripping hooks, do it in stages

Classes 93 & 94...

Two classes in the same week!

The beginners class was all about avoiding guard and moving into side control and securing side control. For the man on the bottom, it was all about recovering guard.

The mixed class was all about guard passes and sweeping drills. 

I did OK in the sparring with my fellow white belts at the end of the class, but I fatigued quite badly in the last ten minutes.

More training and stamina needed methinks.

Things to remember: Off-balancing and hip escapes are basic tools. Drill them over and over again.

Class 92...

Today was an open-mat session. It was also my first class for about two weeks and my body felt it afterwards. 

We spent a while playing with a few no-gi hip throws, then I got to roll with one of my very good blue belt friends. I got nowhere near tapping him, but I did survive for lengthy periods until he finally got something locked in. I fell for a few triangle chokes that I didn't have enough time to escape from but I could have postured up in. 

I then got to roll with a relatively new white belt. This was quite a good experience because I was suddenly the senior belt and I knew what I was doing to escape his positions and launch my own attacks. I obviously didn't go crazy and spent some time showing him a few positional escapes. 

Then it was back to rolling with another very good blue belt, who was all over me. I did manage to defend myself for periods but he was just too slick and too strong. He did, however, show me how to increase the efficacy of a basic guard break by grabbing his belt line and rolling my knuckles into his stomach then driving the elbows into the pressure points inside his thighs.

Things to remember: React don't think; roll the knuckles into the opponents stomach to increase pressure on the pressure point in the opponent's thighs.

Classes 90 & 91...

This week it was an open-mat session followed by a beginners class. 

The open mat session was great fun as I spent some time doing some no-gi sparring, which I'm increasingly liking as there are no gi attacks to worry about and it's harder for an opponent to land handles on you. I'm also allowed to use wrist locks and leg locks so I get to play with more toys. 

I also used the session to pick the brains of a very helpful purple belt when it came to drilling guard breaks. I went through the three breaks that I use most commonly and he showed me another one that relies on just controlling one hip by applying huge downward pressure, then stepping back and cracking the legs open. The main lesson he emphasises, though was to always apply downward pressure on the opponent's hips. 

The beginners class was all about drilling guard passes and moving around a grounded opponent. The key move here was your right hand on the opponent's left knee and moving round to your right side, then pulling down the knee, moving the left hand to the stomach, moving the knee forward and dropping down into side control. 

Things to remember: Play with new guard break and remember to avoid opponent's legs when moving around the opponent's guard.

Class 89…

Tonight was an intermediate class and we worked on strategies for maintaining and breaking guard. 

Standing guard break from top in guard: grab opponent's hand, drag his hand to opposite side; stand up on side of grabbed hand; stand other leg up; switch hands and hold onto hand; then use free hand to push down on knee on safe side; pass knee over and secure side control with seatbelt control.

Sitting guard break from top in guard: grab belt, elbows in thighs of opponent on inside; knee in arse; other leg extended back to side and twist hips to open guard; then pass knee over and secure side control with seatbelt control.

Attacking opponent trying break guard bottom: secure sleeve control; one foot on hip with other leg wrapping round back of knee and going into sweep.

We then did some sparring and I was paired with somebody on the same belt level as me. He was stronger and faster than I was but I did OK. I was constantly defending but I escaped some pretty tricky positions and didn't get tapped. A minor victory. 

Things to remember: Utilise attacking options from both bottom and top; it pays to be proactive rather than reactive or 'Attack is the best form of defence'.

Class 88…

A beginners class and some work on off-balancing and closed guard positions.

The basic rule of defending your position on top in closed guard is maintaining good posture, with your weight balanced and one hand on the opponent’s gi and the other on his hip, with elbows tucked inside his legs, ready to break guard when the opportunity arises.

The man on the bottom who has guard has to collapse the man on the top’s posture to move or sweep him. This involves collapsing his arms at the elbows, confirming grips on his gi and using your legs to pull him forward.

One of the sweeps from this position involves grabbing one sleeve at the wrist and grabbing his opposite side trouser leg. The same side as the grabbed trouser leg sees your nearest leg chop into his side and your opposite leg plant on the floor to generate the leverage, then you use the wrist grip to collapse his other side and ensure he can’t post. The grip on the gi trousers helps move him over as you follow his trajectory and end up on top.

Another option is to open you guard and get your feet on his hips and, with sleeve control, off-balance the opponent and set up a sweep from there.

Things to remember: Off-balancing and attacking posture of opponent from guard; maintaining balance and posture from in guard.

Classes 86 & 87…

I double-banked two classes in one session today. I knew this would be hard on my body, but I figured if I’m going to do this and fulfill my ambition to compete next year, then a bit of altitude training in terms of body fatigue was no bad thing. And fatiguing it bloody well was…

The first was a beginners class in which we focused on securing a choke from the side with the opponent turtled and the aggressor in side control. This went something like this:

i) Reach over the shoulder of the opponent with your furthest hand and loosen his collar, then thread the nearest hand over his shoulder and underneath his neck, confirming the collar grip with your thumb deep into his collar at his carotid and four fingers outside.

ii) With your non-choking hand, grip his hand nearest you and stuff it between his legs.

iii) Kick your nearest-to-opponent leg out, then walk you other leg out and move your other leg out next. This tightens the choke until the opponent taps.

The defence from this sees the opponent bring his hands up to his neck to prevent the opponent confirming the choke grip.

The counter to this sees you turn 90 degrees from your opponent into a sort of side control and swim your hand near his head underneath to grab his furthest knee and your hand furthest away over to control his foot. With active toes you then drive into him, keeping control of the knee and the foot until you have secured your own knee closest to his hip to prevent him recovering guard. Then drive into him and pancake him out.

The second class was mainly sparring with good white belts or coloured belts.

We did start off with one warm-up drill for passing half-guard. In this, the trapped man:

i) Stood on the trapped leg.

ii) Stood on the non-trapped leg.

iii) Slid the trapped leg through onto the floor

iv) Turned the trapped leg 90 degrees so it is free.

v) Drive into the opponent.

It was then all sparring. I did OK against the other white belts and defended OK, then survived against a very tired blue belt. I also got to spar with a purple belt, who was astonishingly fluid. I lost count of the number of times he passed me or could have tapped me in a five-minute round.

But two classes, one after the other, is a sort of victory. And the plan is this is how I now train at BJJ at least once a week. It’s a plan, Stan.

Things to remember: Choke from side, defending the choke, the drill for escaping half-guard.