All Change...

I've just been promoted to purple belt. This was quite a surprise. About seven or eight months ago when the world was re-opened, I felt like I was getting back some quality and game plan. Then we went into another lockdown and I was mainly doing online MMA classes. 

I felt I was massively off the pace after such a long lay-off. On top of this, I was also feeling my age with a couple of constantly nagging injuries. 

Then the end of the class came and two very good white belts were promoted to blue. Then I was called out and told I was being promoted. 

The belts in BJJ are so deep that I expected to remain a blue belt for a while longer. There were things I wanted to add into my game to expand my repertoire and I wanted to be more solid in what I did. For example, I'm confident with my standing and throwing game, my guard pulling and anything once I'm in full guard, particularly if I have an overhook. Wristlocks are obviously a key thing for me, too.

I've been trying to add in a more solid half-guard game and some open guard and x guard stuff, plus some Williams Guard techniques. I'm pretty sure this a path I'll continue down. The battleplan going forward is to assess what my game actually is and develop it, iron out the obvious weaknesses elsewhere, and add related techniques in. 

The thing I already know is that I want simple and functional game that will work in gi and no gi and for self-defence. I also need to learn to wear the belt, focus better on what I am doing and not worry about the colour.

Classes 428-431...

First up, a Gi class.
The techniques we focused on were:
Guard passes against a seated opponent who is using legs on hips: Leg drag to right side by holding leg then passing it on, knee cut to drop down, apply shoulder pressure, then pass. Hand down to block hips to help secure position.

Next up, a No Gi class.
The techniques we focused on were:
Positional escapes
Side control escape: bridge, frame against chin of opponent, fight for underhook, come to knees, kneetap.
Side control escape: Bridge, frame against chin of opponent, hand under stomach of opponent, bridge and spin out.
Mount escape: Bridge and roll.

Next up, a Gi class.
The techniques we focused on were:
Positional escapes from half guard: Secure underhook, clasp hands together behind opponent's head and arm, flatten out opponent, apply shoulder pressure, move head to other side of opponent, tripod up, free trapped leg, slip to side control or mount, knee to head

Take homes: drop weight and apply shoulder pressure.
Tighter and higher side control, Americana, straight arm bar, kimura attack. Wrist locks off this, too.

Next up, a No Gi class.
The techniques we focused on were:
Arm drags: Arm drag from standing, butterfly, half guard and full guard.
Reverse kimura: Same side grab from guard, butterfly or half guard to pull opponent in, other arm over shoulder of opponent, connect with arms hugging, lean back and apply.

Classes 424-427...

First up, a No Gi class. The techniques we focused on were:

Choke combination from rear mount: 

Hooks in and seatbelt with choking hand hidden by non choking hand under armpit of opponent. Sequence follows:

Grab hand and use one armed choke

Let arm and gable grip own hands to choke

Slide hand in for rear naked choke.

Sparring was a bit of a non-event as I was operating with one working arm.

Next up, a Gi class. The techniques we focused on were:

Choke combination from rear mount: 

Rear mount with hooks and seatbelt and choking hand grabbing collar.

Rear mount collar grip two handed choke.

Rear mount single collar grip with own arm attaching to bicep choke.

Rear mount baby choke.

In sparring, I spent time escaping side control and trying to attack using single x.

Next up, a No Gi class. The techniques we focused on were:

Armbar basics:

Armbar from side.

Opponent uses spider web defence.

Push off.

Leg in gap and kick.

Choke distraction.

Spider web arm pushing leg and come to knees defence and stacking defence.Sparring was OK as I was focusing on closed guard.

Next up, another No Gi class. The techniques we focused on were:

Positional escapes:

Mount escape grab arm and bridge and roll.

Rear mount and hold choking hand, move it onto other side of own head the turn, remove hooks and come to side.

Bottom turtle and granby roll to guard or triangle.

Bottom turtle and grab inside hand, angle hips out and put other hand under leg of opponent, then roll over and come to side.

In sparring: there were lots of white belts, so I played with hip bump sweep from full guard and hook sweeps from half guard. I tried to be technical and half-succeeded at this.

Classes 421-423...

First up, a Gi class. The techniques we focused on were:

Closed guard entries to X guard:

With opponent in your closed guard, move your weight back.

Secure double sleeve control grips.

Open guard and shrimp out onto right hip with right foot on opponent's hip and left leg as knee shield.

Use spider guard on your left side to force opponent to stand.

Move to de la Riva guard, single x, double x and play with de la Riva ball and chain or back take, idiot sweep or single x sweep.

Triangle set up from guard:

Secure sleeve and collar on one side. Open guard and shrimp out with right leg on hip and left leg outside. Left leg kicks arm and triangle locks. Triangle sweep by underhooking leg and rolling opponent over.

  

Next up, a Gi class. The techniques we focused on were:

Breaking lasso guard on one side with spider guard on the other side against a standing opponent.

For standing opponent to break, drop knee onto lasso and circle hand inside then grab trousers for control of leg. 

Move other leg down, then in and out to break spider guard grip on other side. Knee slide through to attack.

Next up, a Gi class. The techniques we focused on were:

Leg pummel drills for a standing opponent to pass a seated one

Secure grips on inside of seated opponent's gi pants. Pummel one leg and one leg out. Use grips to drag opponent's legs to side. Opponent will close half guard to trap leg. Kick trapped leg out and come to side. Drop into knee on belly.

Also do cut through knee slide from this starting position of one leg in and one out. Main points are to position knee facing away from opponent, then face the knee in the direction of the knee slide. Also drop body weight on both of opponent's legs and squish them when dropping down.

Also do knee staple pass from this position.

Also do back step pass from this position. 

Classes 418-420...

A Gi class in which we did some did some work on positional escapes. These were as follows: 

Mount Escape Snag and Drag to Half Guard: You are mounted on the bottom; use one arm to frame against your opponent's hips and stop his hips sitting up, then use the other to defend against chokes; turn slightly to one side and turn your bottom knee to face away from you; then use your top leg to hook and snag the leg of the opponent and turn back into half guard.

Bottom Side Control Escape Mount Snag and Drag: Wasn't quite sure how this worked but I'll fins it online. 

We also did some work on North-South basics and attacking for a pull-up kimura from this position, then transitioning to an armbar and a scissor choke. 

Next up was a No Gi class in which we worked on positional transitions and a couple of sweeps. These were: 
Butterfly to Shin on Shin Guard

Shin on Shin Sweep to Single X

Single X to X Guard

X guard to X guard Ankle Grab Sweep

X guard to X guard Trip Sweep
I need to learn the Shin on Shin position as this is a transitional and attacking position from open guard and half guard. 

Next was a Gi class in which we worked on: 
Half Guard to Half Butterfly Sweep

Bullfighter Guard Pass

Elbow Flare Guard Pass

Stack pass with Trouser Hold
Power Knee Slide

The half butterfly position in particular is something I need to add to my game. It relies on moving from Half guard to inserting a hook into that sort of rests on your foot. position between half guard and half 

I aso had a play with some standing wrist locks. A fun few weeks.

Competition Time: Part II...

A day after competing and I am less angry with myself. But that would not be hard considering the foul fucking mood I left the venue in. I basically lost all discipline and hit the self-destruct button at the tournament. 

The truth is that I've been here before when I crashed and burnt at a big national pool event a few years ago. What I did after that was stew for a few days, then dissect, dismantle and rebuild my entire single-frame game. Result: I've regularly performed at every big tournament since under the pressure of not letting my team-mates down. 

So I clearly need to adopt a similar policy here. 

My best strategy at BJJ is always to pull guard, get my opponent in my closed guard, secure an overhook and attack from there with omoplatas, chokes and wrist locks. I have been trying to add half guard into this mix for a while, too, and it's sort of coming along. 

So I need to build in more strategies to get opponents into this place where I feel I operate best and I need to build in more failsafes to avoid making myself vulnerable when this doesn't happen. 

So my four priorities for the next few months need to be: 

i) drill mount and side control escape combinations so I can escape bad positions and either establish or re-establish half or full guard 

ii) drill pulling guard or throwing using the Greco throw I like to get on top of an opponent 

iii) drill butterfly, shin-on-shin or single x to defend bad positions when I am fighting a standing opponent from the floor 

iv) drill breaking and passing guard to establish a better position 

Any other fancy shit can wait. I think that's a decent plan.

Competition Time: Part I...

A return to competing at BJJ but an utter disaster of a day. I'd trained harder for this event than ever before and I was fucking awful. The only thing I did right was make weight.

Fight number one was No Gi and, because there was nobody else in my age category, I was thrown in with fighters 15 years younger. That's not normally a massive issue, but I ran up against someone who was also just better in every department and was much stronger as well. Result: I made a half-arsed attempt to pull guard but ended up getting passed and tapped to an Americana that badly wrenched my rotator cuff in about 30 seconds.

I had higher hopes in gi with four of us in the category, namely myself, another 50-year-old and two 40-year-olds. I tried to pull guard in my first fight, again made a mess of it and got trapped in side control for five minutes and lost. I then fought for bronze and tried to pull guard again, fucked it up and ended up in a weird butterfly position that took absolutely no passing. I nearly got a sweep but ended up tapping to a footlock.

The gi fights were both winnable but I didn't do the basics right in either and got entirely what I deserved. My coach told me that I should have mixed side control escapes up in my first and secured a guard in the second. I had options to go to single x and de la Riva but basically did nothing. And these are not things I don't know either.

There are no good philosophical take homes from this. I was utterly rubbish. I genuinely may as well not have bothered. I needed to be more focused and I needed to have a clearer plan. I also need to drill bread-and-butter positions and techniques I don't drill with much more regularity. 

PS: just when I thought the day could not get any worse, my train home was cancelled.