MMA and me; day 185/186

Another two in one blog today. Last Thursday, we drilled arm bar after arm bar, after arm bar. First, the snap arm bar from side control, where you hook the near side arm, flick your leg side foot up under their head, swing your head side foot around, not over their head, bring that heel in tight to their neck, pinch your knees together as you lean back and with their arm trapped in your elbow pit, pull it toward you and arch your hips until they tap. Next was the arm bar from back mount. With a seat belt grip, heist the under hook up high and bring the over hook to the near side of their head and push it away. Using the heisted under hook as leverage, swing the opposite leg around their head, again, not over, pull the heel in tight with your boot on, pinch your knees together, and pull the arm tight as you extend your hips with their thumb pointed away from your body until they tap. Next was the arm bar from S mount. To get to S mount, push down on either arm from mount (preferably the one on top of the other arm), and as they try to push it back across, shove it further with your hand on that same side, and hold it in place by bringing your chest around and across, then on that same side, bring your knee up to just past the top of their head, and flare your other leg out straight until you're sitting on their chest with your hamstring. From here, under hook their head side arm, and lean across their body to swing your leg around their head, and go through the arm bar checklist for the tap. Lastly, we practiced the step over arm bar from back mount. With your opponent on all fours and you having their back, keep your hooks in tight to their hips, and maintain a seat belt (over/under) grip. Much like the arm bar from back control, you use the over hook to push their head away, and heist the under hook up, but you also step around their head, and roll forward (TUCK YOUR HEAD!) and then extend your hips to help flip them over. Make sure you already have your boot on, head side foot pulled into their neck, and are pinching your knees together. It makes flipping them over much easier, and will get them to tap much quicker. I really like arm bars, and definitely need to be using them more often. If you're in my gym and you read this, a fair heads up, I'll be throwing up A LOT more arm bars! :) Great day of classes!

Yesterday was a lot of getting up off of the bottom. We started out with pummeling drills, first from our knees, and then from our feet. Next, we worked a pummeling drill from the feet to a take down. From the pummel, take your under hook hand, and slide it down their arm to the wrist (keeping in contact the whole time) and pull their arm straight down so their is a gap between their arm and their body. With your other arm, reach through the gap and grab around the back of their tricep. Step around to the back of their legs with your outside leg and grab both hands together around their waist, trapping the near side arm. Keeping your hips perpendicular to theirs, lunge your leg that is behind them far behind you and sit your hips down until you pull them over your front leg, which is bent at the knee. As they fall down, adjust your grip from around their waist to a C block, and end in side control. We worked on pummeling from the guard next, and following under hooks. When pummeling, hip escape (shrimp) to the side of the under hook, and heist it over your head, continuing to ratchet your hips clear of theirs until you can pop your head out and take their back. Another variation on this, is as you hip escape, bring your bottom leg in between their legs, putting your foot on their near side knee, and then using that to help swing your other leg around behind them to sink in your hook and take their back. Lastly, we worked on arm drags and wrist control. With your opponent in your guard, establish inside wrist control, and pull either arm straight out to the side. Shrimp to the same side as that hip, and under hook it with your other arm. Once the arm gets to being completely perpendicular, under hook it with your other arm and heist it over your head to take their back. If you don't get completely squared up to their back with your chest, and don't get the far hook in, just keep dribbling and popping your hips into them until you can clear the leg free and sink the hook to square yourself up. Also, you can either grab a handful of gi, or an under hook to roll them across your body, which will get you to the proper alignment. We also worked an arm drag where you pull the arm across your body (or they reach across your body) and then with your opposite side arm, grab for an under hook and latch on to their tricep or shoulder. Using that pressure, pull them down and pull yourself up to work around to taking their back. Little pops with your hips help clear to a solid position where you can lock in both hooks and get solid back control. Another great day of jiu jitsu at the gym!!