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Tuesday, 25 November 2008

As if my entries could be more infrequent . . . sigh . . .

If I waited any longer to write this I wouldn't have been able to recall the dates . . . anyway.

11/19 Wednesday

I just came off of a groin injury so I took Monday and Tuesday off. On Wednesday Rolles showed us how to break the guard by standing. First we scoot our hips so that you're to the side. I'm writing this under the assumption that the right arm is based out on the chest with the left hand on the guy's hip. Rock on to your right leg, and with the left leg, pivot the foot like windshield wiper and stand up so that he is sort of perpendicular. Then use your left hand to push his leg down.

Rolles followed this up with a guard pass that I've never learned before. With the leg open and free, push it down with your left arm and slide your knee over it so that your leg is trapping his leg. Then underhook his left arm and head and pin him down, and swing your right leg over and complete the pass. AWESOME pass. This has worked for me a few times already so it's already paying dividends.

11/20 Thursday

On Thursday Mark showed us some escapes from the turtle position. The first one is when the guy is sort of North South . . . bad description, but basically he's on top of you with his arms clasped around your waist. Take your right arm and trap the arm on the same side. Then raise your head and body and "look up" sorta, while lifting your right leg up and planting your foot down. Slide your left leg out and then when both legs are out, scissor your legs so that you can take his back.

We also learned another escape from turtle position. When the guy is on top of you, but facing the same way and his hands are not locked, use your hand that's closest to your opponent and reach between your legs. Doing this will lead to a natural rolling motion and you should be rolling so that your opponent ends up in your closed guard.

11/21 Friday

Nothing new here . . . Magno went over the armbar from guard with us. I love this move . . . but unfortunately I've never pulled it off in class . . .YET. One day!

11/24 Monday

Igor primarily focused on the half guard yesterday. The first one we learned was how to escape from someone's halfguard. The technique we did was when you have the underhooks. First make sure you're knees are nice and wide, close to him, and the top knee is very close to his head. Then put your head down on the opposite side and drive your shoulder into his neck/face. STand your legs up to form a tripod, and then using the free leg, step on his bottom leg to free your trapped leg.

The other half guard technique we learned was if your opponent who has half guard is not giving you the underhook and instead is underhooking you. Using the arm that's away from his head, lift up his arm that's underhooking you by cradling it up. Then use your arm that's near his head and "stab" yourself in the gut. By that I mean use that motion and to grab your own wrist, which should not be grabbing his wrist, and peel his arm off. Then proceed to tuck his arm behind his back and finish the Kimura.

Wednesday, 12 November 2008

Ah fuck . . . four training days to update. From now on I'm only going to update it with techniques I did in my bjj class, because everything else is a little tedious (boxing, lifting, running, etc.). As far as lifting and running, I'm tracking my progress in excel and will probably post that up when I begin to see good progress.

Friday 11/7

First technique we did was a choke from guard. First you start off by breaking your opponent's base. This is if he has one arm based out on your chest. Grab his right lapel with your right hand and grab behind his elbows, and using your legs, pull him down in one motion. As his head is down, grab his collar behind his back and to the right of your own hand with your left hand, and throw your left arm across and over his head so that you begin to choke him.

The other technique we learned was a variation on that. If your opponent is not giving you the choke but you have the grips in place, let go of your right hand keep your left hand on his lapel. Pull his right arm across with your right arm and swivel off your back by pushing your left foot into his hip. This is the armbar from guard.

Monday 11/10

My brothers' birthday! Yes . . . both of them. Anyway, on Monday we did techniques from the knee on belly position. The first technique we did . . . with the left hand gripping his collar behind his head, I slide my right hand (fingers in) into his right lapel. My hands should look like they are holding a baseball bat. With that in place, I swing my left arm around his head and complete the choke.

The other choke variation is when he does not give you the right lapel and is blocking it. If it is blocked, shoot your right hand into his left lapel, palm up, and bring your knee off his belly into the ground. Torque your arms and body clockwise and bring your head down to complete the choke (yea not a great description I know but whatever! There are just self refreshers for me!)

Tuesday 11/11

On Tuesday we worked techniques off of the mount. The first technique we learned was the americana. Prior to teaching us that, Magno told us that whenever we get mount, the first thing we should be doing is hooking their legs with our feet/legs and securing the position. As you attack the neck, he will naturally raise his arms up and when he does so, slide your knees up towards his armpit.

Anyway, the americana . . . well no point in me going over this since I think I have it memorized (not saying I can execute it perfectly!). The variation we did to this was when your opponent reaches over with his other arm to stop you from getting the Americana. With both arms on top of his arm, swing your body around in the direction of his head. With your left arm, loop it inside the crook of the arm that's trying to stop the americana, lean towards his legs and place the right arm on his knee. This is so that you have better balance. Then swing the leg over his head and complete the armbar.

Wednesday 11/12

Finally . . . you have no idea how much of a chore this is for me. Anyway, today we did a basic collar choke from mount, followed by another drill where the person rolls us over but we still maintain control of the choke by staying tight. This was also followed by a third drill where the opponent rolls me over but is not giving the choke because he is pushing off of my chest. If this happens. I let go of one hand and the side that is still gripping the lapel, that is the side that I'm going to scissor sweep my opponent to. This works because theoretically, the guy should have most of his weight on top of you (so he has no base) because you were attempting the collar choke but failed.

Ok . . .TERRIBLE summary but fuck it, I'm done! BYE!

Friday, 07 November 2008

Crap, my legs have been killing me these past few days. Damn squats. Anyway . . .

Wednesday 11/5

I liked the lesson on Wednesday. We worked on drills in side mount. The first drill: This is if I'm in side mount and have the guy pinned down with one underhook on his far arm and the other arm under his head, with both my hands clasped together. The goal of the drill was to get in to mount position. With both my hands clasped together and my shoulder and head pressing down on his head, keeping it pinned, I slide my hands up which force him to stretch out. As I'm doing that, I slide my knee across his belly and as I'm stretching him out further and further so that he "raises his arm," I complete the mount by touching my knee to the ground on the other side. I found that a key to completing this was to apply pressure to his head to keep him pinned. With his arm raised above him, I use my head and left hand to place it across his own face and I then go for the arm triangle.

The second drill is if the guy has his knee very tight and will not give you access to slide your knee across his belly. With the arm that is underneath his head, I bring it over to the other side and slide it underneath his far arm and grab a hold of his belt. With that secure, I switch my base so that I am sitting on my butt. I use my free arm to hold down his knee and then kick my leg over my own arm to attain the mount.

Thursday 11/6

On Thursday the two drills that were focused on were things that I've done in the past, but this time it was taught in a reverse order, so it was sort of a different situation. The first one was a sweep in guard. If the person in my guard does not have his arm based out on my chest, I can sit up and post one arm out. Using my other arm, I reach across and go over his shoulder and grab behind his elbow. I then look in the direction that I'm grabbing and swing my hips around to sweep him.

The other move is when he defends against the sweep by dropping his weight on the side that doesn't have the trapped arm. If he does that, I sit back down into guard, go for the kimura on the trapped arm, and then scoot my hips out on the side of the trapped arm and finish.

These exercises were done in reverse order of the way that I usually think they could be attempted in, but it was refreshing to do it in this order.

I also asked Mark Cerrone a question regarding finishing the armbar from mount. I was able to get the position but was unable to pry the hands apart from my partner. I asked Mark for some tips and he said that I should isolate the wrist by tucking his elbow and trapping it into my armpit that's closer to his head. Another pretty good tip was to use my feet to pry apart his hands by placing it in the crook of his elbow. I completely forgot that part!

Wednesday, 05 November 2008

Monday 11/03

We worked on a basic collar choke from the mount. After running this drill a few times, we did a variation where the guy underneath bridges us over. The key is to not let go of the choke and pull up and into the guy, making sure your ears are almost touching and thereby finishing the choke.

Tuesday 11/04

Obama wins! Anyway, we worked on an open guard sweep which I learned informally once from someone after class. When your opponent is standing up and trying to break out of your guard, place your feet on his hips. Make sure your right hand is gripping his right lapel and your left hand is gripping his right sleeve. You can also place your right foot into his bicep and control his arm. If he rotates his arm out of it, make sure your leg is relaxed and just place it back in again. When you are ready for the sweep, change grips by first grabbing his right sleeve with your right hand and grabbing his right ankle with your left hand. Make sure your left foot is still in his hip and with your right foot, place it behind the crook of his knee. When you are ready, push with your left leg and pull with your left hand, right hand, and right leg.

Another open guard drill we did was also from the previous open guard position. If your right leg is in his arm, bring your leg underneath his armpit so that it is rising high above his back. Pull your hips up and bring him back into guard. We finished this position off with a collar choke.

Sunday, 02 November 2008

Monday 10/27

Went to both boxing and bjj. In my bjj class, we went over a choke from guard. With my right hand holding gripping his right lapel in a loose fashion, I pull him down towards me. I reach over him with my left arm and tuck my hand under my bicep. Finally, I scoot my hips out towards my right and finish the choke.

Another variation of this is when he is not letting me choke him by tucking his chin down. I bridge and roll over my left shoulder to sweep him.

Tuesday 10/28

Went to both boxing and bjj. I don't quite remember what we went over in class that day, but I think it was passing the guard. After standing and breaking the guys guard, the guy would place his feet on my hips, where I would then grab his feet pull them out and then circle to his side and pass his guard. Don't remember much of anything else . . . =X

Wednesday 10/29

I also went to both bjj and boxing that day. We went over the kimura from guard. Important pointer to remember is to scoot my hips out. A variation we also did was if the guy would not give up the kimura, then I base out my right arm behind me, and with my left arm still entangled in his left arm, I thrust my hips up and around to sweep him.

Yea . . . super shitty and short update because damnit, it's really annoying to track my own progress!