MMA and me; day 292

We worked on a couple of really cool moves on Thursday. The samurai roll, and the berimbolo. The roll is an odd mix of simple and complex. From inside your opponents half guard (on their right leg for the purposes of explaining) cross your feet underneath their right leg, to help control the roll. Swim your right arm to the mat on their right side, rolling over your shoulders, and as you do, extend your hips and kick your legs to lengthen out their body. As you finish your shoulder roll, uncross your feet, and throw your left leg around their left side to take their back. It was the first time I drilled the move, so I am still working on it, but it is a very nifty way to pass the half guard, and end up in a very dominant position. It has to be executed quickly, and it also is something that can be tacked on to the end of an old school sweep from half guard bottom, which actually can help with the momentum and make the roll even quicker.

The berimbolo can be done from many positions, but we worked on it from a sitting position, with a seated partner. With your left leg under their right leg, and your left foot on their left hip, reach under your left leg, to grab their right heel, or a hunk of their pant leg near their right heel. Tucking your head as close in to their right hip as you can, roll across your shoulders, bringing your right shin across their belt line, and kicking them over as you finish the sweep. Shift your hips to line up with their back, and grab their belt, a hunk of their jacket, or whatever you need to bring your chest up to their back, and sink your left hook in to secure the position. Like I said, it can be done from SO many positions, X Guard, De La Riva, half guard. The key is quickness, and momentum. Both of these moves are pretty new to me, so I am going to be working them a lot, so here is to more new stuff!

MMA and me; day 291

Tuesday we were back at our usual warm up, and then went right into our inverted guard drills. For our warm ups, I specifically focused on shoulder rolls, as they  provide an excellent work up to the inverted guard. For the drills, we stayed simple, just starting from the behind, straddling the right leg of a standing partner, reaching under the inside (right) leg with the inside (right) hand, and sliding the back of the hand to the outside of the leg being straddled. From there, you roll to your inside (right) shoulder, using your inside leg to get a hook on their right leg knee pit, as you bring your left leg over, and secure a hook under their left leg knee pit. At this point, you are upside down, on your shoulders, with your feet (boots on) in the knee pits of your opponents legs, with your right foot in their right knee pit, and left foot in left knee pit. From here, disengage your right foot, sweep it out and around while using your left foot as leverage, bring your right shoulder off the mat to roll over your left shoulder, and swing around to a seated position similar to how you started, except straddling their left leg. Now you can repeat this process in reverse, and go back and forth in front of your partner, or you can go around the world and turn the corner when you get to one side and continue around behind them. You really just want to make sure you keep your opponent in your guard, which is in between your legs, upside down or right side up. A few things to remember; as you are upside down, make sure to get both hooks in firmly, before you disengage and roll back to your behind. Also, as you turn the corner, it is very helpful to sweep the leg straight out, that you just pulled out of the knee pit, to help your momentum as you swing around to the back (or front) side. The more fluidly you can do this, the better.

A great class, followed up by another killer fighters training with Coach Jayce. Can't wait for tonight, and more of the same!

MMA and me; day 289 and 290

Quick word on last weeks classes before I head off to teach bjj. We've been working a lot on the inverted guard, and the X guard. When I first got into this sport, I thought they were a bit gimmicky, and way too situational. Now, with a bit of experience under my belt, I can now see them for what they are; progress. Just like in any sport, or in fact, life in general, these aspects of bjj are signs of growth, and some peoples brilliant innovations into an already beautiful martial art.I love that there are outside the box thinkers that see where advantages are to be taken, and are not afraid to leap at the opportunity to take a chance. Tomorrow I will go into more detail on these concepts, but I just wanted to briefly talk about how thankful I am to be able to work with great coaches and students, I am having a ball!!

MMA and me; day 288

So I have made a few discoveries in my first few months as an instructor. One, I really like teaching class, and I feel very blessed to be able to do something like this. Two, only coming to the gym for those classes (instructing) is NOT a sufficient method of staying in shape, with no other supplemental exercise. Three, and this one is more of a decision I made after number two became apparent, I will be coming in an extra day during the week, likely Wednesdays or Mondays, depending on what I got going on that week, and earlier on Tuesdays, or maybe hitting up AMMA and getting in some mat time with different partners, because that can only help me get better.

Anyways, yesterday was a great day in the gym, and in gi class we worked on a couple of sweeps from bottom half guard, the old school sweep, and what I can best describe as the narrow base sweep.

For both, it is important to establish a solid base, and most urgently, a same side as your half guard under hook. From flat on your back, reach across their body to frame up their face with your arm on the same side as your half guard. Doing so while shrimping towards that side, creates the space you need to pummel in for the under hook, while also posting up on your other arm and creating a solid post.  Now, if your opponent has a wide base, like most wrestlers do, you are presented with the opportunity to dive your arm that you are posted up on, deep under their far leg, and rolling them over your body. It is very necessary that you get your head deep in against their hip, or you run the risk of getting choked. As you roll them over you, kick your leg free of theirs (or you will be in their half guard and have to work to pass) under hook their head, C block their legs, and you are in side control, ready to go to work.

Sometimes, as you follow your under hook (as we are all taught to do) your opponent is forced to follow you around by walking their knees towards you, or risk letting you take their back. As they do so, you can take advantage of their knees being close together and drop your under hook from across their back, to their far ankle, and reach for their far knee with your post arm, while switching your hips to drive your shoulder into their ribs, and pulling in their far leg to drive them over onto their back. Again, make sure to kick your legs free of their legs, and towards their head, as to avoid landing in their half guard.

Great class, but I am feeling fat and doughy. Time to get that fire back.

MMA and me; day 286/287

So I only had one class last week, since we as a gym were really focusing on getting two of our fighters ready for their fights on Saturday. They both won in dominating fashion, ad a big congratulations to both Batman and Jeremie! On Tuesday, we worked our technique drills as usual, and then went to work on a new choke, the bow and arrow. From back control, with the usual over under grip, using your over hook, grab the far lapel, and release your under hook to post up behind you. Using the post, start to shrimp your hips away from the over hook, until you are almost completely out to the side. From here, roll back slightly, and kick your leg that is behind them, around and over their head, until the bottom of your hamstring is pressing against the side of their face. From here, you want to get a push pull action with your grip on their lapel, and your leg. If you keep them slightly elevated, you can get full pressure with your leg, while pulling with your grip, until they tap. If they flatten out completely on their back, you will have a harder time finishing the submission, so try to keep them in a semi reclined position while you work the push/pull.

Thursday was a lot of straight rolling, helping the fighters, and working with a couple new guys, but no official class. Can't wait for tonight, and I hope to see some new faces!

MMA and me; day 285

So I have been so excited about teaching, and focused on that aspect of being at the gym, that I have COMPLETELY neglected my blogging duties. Shame on me. The funny thing is, we haven't actually covered anything new in the few (several) classes since then. We have gone to a very, basic approach, and been drilling like crazy. Making your fundamentals solid, and drilling technique as much as you can, is what really makes a solid bjj practitioner. Drilling them over and over, to the point of frustration, makes them second nature in a competition. It has been said that when you perform a task 10,000 times, you are beginning to scratch the surface of understanding what that task really means. The first time I heard that, I thought I knew what it meant, but I now know that I have a long ways to go to truly comprehend it, ad I couldn't be more excited for that journey. I hope to see you in the gym tonight!

MMA and me; day 284

Day 2 of teaching is now in the books, and once again I focused on gi chokes. We covered the clock choke, and baseball choke again. A couple things worth mentioning about the grips on these two. For the clock choke, when I set my initial grip, and then set up the second, when I drag the elbow across their head, I like to twist my hand inwards, so my palm is almost facing away from me, and get four fingers inside the collar, as opposed to the traditional method of hooking inside the collar with the thumb. I mostly do this because I recently jammed my thumb pretty bad, and though a bit more difficult to get the four finger grip, it wasn't as painful. Secondly, with the baseball choke, with the near side hand, I sometimes like to invert the grip, so when I turn it back in to close the hands together in the "baseball grip", it turns the edge of the collar into the side of the neck, making it more uncomfortable for your opponent. Again, like the variation in the clock choke, it can make the set up slightly more difficult, but can also make it more effective, should you choose to go that route.

We also worked on a new choke, the loop choke. From side control, switch to low judo, keeping tight against their ribcage. Start to pull open your jacket, clearing it from your belt. If you want, open up their jacket as well, as it can help confuse your opponent, and disguise what you are doing. With your inside hand, grab the corner of the same side of your open jacket, making sure to leave a good healthy amount of it sticking out of your hand. Sliding back into side control. bring your now head side hand (still gripping the corner of your jacket) up and as far under your opponents neck as you can. Keeping the grip on your jacket, orbit your elbow around their head (this is where having a lot of gi to work with comes in handy), as far in front of their chin as you can, and then slide it across their chest to the near side of their neck. From here, drop your elbow to the ground, motorcycle grip the gi, and wait for them to tap. Like most of the gi chokes, the better you establish your grip, the more likely you will be able to maintain the hold with minimal exertion, and wear out your opponent. Gi chokes are pretty sweet!!