MMA and me; day 264

Got the day started off right with an hour of kickboxing. We worked on low kicks first, and were getting very specific on the details. Coach compared it to kicking a football off the ground. You don't want to come at it head on, you want to get off to a 45 degree angle, and go by with your head down, and swing through the target. We drilled stepping across the body, and keeping the head down from beginning to end. For me, it's about driving through the target, and pushing off with the shin after contact. It leads to a much deeper, and devastating leg kick. After two rounds, we moved on to bump drills, and finished off the class with those.

For the next hour, we just grappled, so I was a pretty damn happy camper! I'm just focused on getting ready for Saturday, and being as prepared as I can to go after those subs. I also need to remember, to work for and maintain top position as much as possible, and to remain calm. Losing my cool plays right into whomever I am competing against, and takes me out of my game. Great day in the gym yesterday, feeling good!

MMA and me; day 263

Normally I don't get in to the gym on Mondays, but this week I had the time, so I made the best of it. For MMA class, we started out working on ground and pound. We gloved up, and worked on transitioning between all the positions; high judo, low judo, cross body side control, mount, north/south, knee ride, V knee ride, and all the while landing 3-5 punches, straight 1-2s or hammerfists. Next we moved on to working the kick shield with low kicks. For me this was good for working on getting to that outside angle and really driving through with the kick. Not kicking to the shield, but a spot 2-3 feet past it. We then switched up to Thai clinch knees to the body, making sure to work on the push pull technique that can really make them that much more impactful. Also, circling away from the direction you are steering them with your clinch is big, as it gives you a lot of space to wind up the knee and make it all the more devastating. We finished off with take down drills against the wall, and since it's been a minute since I have done this, I struggled at first. One person had their back on the wall, and everyone else lined up to take them down, one at a time. My cardio is not terrible right now, but if I plan on having success next month, I had better improve!

In no-gi jiu jitsu, we worked on our drills, station to station; keylock/straight arm lock/kimura, triangle drill, kimura drill, swinging arm bar, shoulder rolls, S mount arm bar, step over drill, headstand, shrimping in place, snap arm bar, S mount arm bar. I helped one of the new guys, and we mostly worked on the keylock flow drill, and the kimura drill. The key lock flow was a simplified version of one we have worked before, so I will just focus on the kimura which I have only done sparingly. With your opponent in your guard, if they posture up and put one of their hands on the mat, with your same side hand, grab the wrist of their and that is posted on the mat, pushing it away from you at the same time. Sit up, and with your other hand, bring it out, around, over their head, and over the arm you just grabbed, and grab your other wrist. From here, switch your hips so you are on the hip opposite the side you have the kimura locked up on, and get your top side leg as close to across the back of their shoulders, while using your other leg to post on the mat, creating a solid base. After this, all you do is crank the arm up and behind their back for the tap. Very fun class, and very important to keep the skills fresh.

So I realized on my way home, that it has now been two years exactly, since I first walked in the doors of Shoreline MMA. When I first started, I was out of shape, hadn't competed in anything like this since high school, and weighed 240 pounds. I have competed in four grappling tournaments, with a record of 7-2, a silver, and two golds, and weigh 185 pounds. I have met people that will be in my life for the rest of mine, and are like new family members. Thank you to everybody who has helped along the way, and encouraged, motivated, pushed, and challenged me. You have helped me find the self I barely knew I had inside, and for that I will be forever grateful. I love you all, and I am very excited to see what the next two years have to offer!

MMA and me; day 262

SO we went back to work on the same triangle entry we worked on last Thursday, but we expanded on it. The first addition we worked on, was adding a reverse triangle on to the end. So if you're just not getting the finish with the triangle, switch on to your left hip, and reverse your legs. From here, squeeze your knees together and pull down on the head for the finish. From the reverse triangle, you can also attack their arm that is stuck in with their head with cutting arm bars, kimuras, you can transition back to a regular triangle, you can go for an omoplata, there are a TON of options! I also played around a bit with attempting a kimura from the under hook of their arm when you pull it through. As their arm clears your leg, pull your left arm over and through the gap, while sliding your grip from palm to palm, to left hand on right wrist. As you pull it through, grab their left wrist, and X your legs across their back. From here, all you have to do is finish the kimura. Your legs prevent them from rolling to their back and defending, and your hands were together the whole time, so the grip is very difficult to disrupt.

Lastly, we incorporated a kind of muscle lock, into the beginning of the series. As you create the space, dive the under hook in, and trap their arm. Instead of trying to pull the arm through, lift your right leg up, put your boot on, and drop your heel down as far across their back as possible. By leg pressing with your right, and pulling into the arm pit/inside of their arm with your clasped hands, you can get a nasty muscle slicer, and can elicit a tap before even transitioning to the cutting arm bar or triangle, very nifty!

Very fun classes as always, and I'm excited to get back in to the gym tonight! Taking the rest of the week off after today, but I am going to be back in full time next week for the next month plus!

MMA and me; day 261

EUREKA!!! Okay, maybe this is only funny to me, but I feel like referencing Archimedes is an extremely funny way to dig in to the new triangle entry we worked on last Thursday. We started class with ten minutes of shadow grappling/working on our rolls, and then went right into the triangle.

When you have someone in your guard, they usually try to keep both arms in, or both arms out. With both arms out, they will often try to under hook your hips, stack you up on your shoulders, and then pass your guard. When they get the under hooks, shrimp back, and drop your hips towards the mat, to create space under their armpits. With your right arm, under hook their left arm, and get a palm to palm grip with your left hand. From here you have a very dominant position, and can go for several submissions. They have to get their arm out, because not only are they no longer in a position of dictating where the match will go, they are in danger of a straight arm lock (cutting arm bar) if you pull their arm past your right leg with your under hook, and trap it between your neck and your shoulder. Using your radial bone, dig into the arm, just below the elbow, making sure to keep their arm pinned between your head and shoulder on your right side, while still controlling their body with your legs, until they tap. Now, they will do their best to clear their arm across their chest, and escape the cutting arm bar. Well that is great, because all of the sudden, you are in prime triangle position! Your left leg is already over their right shoulder, and they are reaching across their chest with their left arm to defend against the cutting arm bar. Put your right foot on their hip, and push off to get your head all the way to the other side of their body, and cinch in the triangle. From here, work your check list until you get the tap (boots on, arm across, under hook the arm, leg, body, hips up)

A very fun entry, and although we didn't cover it, I saw the possibility for a kimura near the cutting arm bar, and really hope that's something we cover soon. My wrist is getting better, I just hope it's okay in time for Lockflow.

MMA and me; day 260

So I have now been back in the gym for a couple weeks since my extended hiatus, but not really. My wrist has been pretty dang sore for almost two weeks, and it is somewhat hampering my ability to train. So last night, and hopefully only tomorrow, I will stick with jiu jitsu drills, and light rolling. We worked a lot of dexterity drills, bridging, rolls, crawls, hip bumps, crab walks, bear crawls, and we finished with a couple of sweeps from bottom side control. The key to both of these sweeps/sit ups, is swiveling your hips out from under you, and behind you while keeping your top arm straight.

First, from bottom side control, turn into your opponent, pushing into their opposite side shoulder with your top side arm, and KEEPING IT STRAIGHT. Post up on your other elbow, making sure it is directly behind you as you do, and as you sit up on the side of your hip, swing your legs around behind you, pushing their shoulder down as you come up on top of them in side control. This is a very useful escape/sweep, and I had been using a rough version of this for a while apparently. Another option is to turn away from them, bridge to get up on your hip, and like before, push into their opposite shoulder with your top side arm, again keeping it straight, and posting on your other arm directly behind you. In one motion, swim your legs underneath yourself to behind you while pushing into the shoulder, arm straight, and finish in side control.

A lot of people think this is all about strength, but it's not. With proper positioning, and using your core strength, you can do this to just about anybody, which is one of the many things I LOVE about jiu jitsu! Really looking forward to getting back to 100%, but I'm just going to take it one step at a time.

MMA and me; day 259

Well, in the process of defending (successfully!!) our softball championship, I somehow managed to hurt my wrist. It's nothing serious, but it's keeping me from training as hard as I would like, and that is kinda driving me bonkers. Yesterday we mostly worked on hip stretches, and while I do not recall the link off the top of my head, I will definitely be adding a link detailing the stretching routine in my next blog. Hopefully by next week the soreness will have subsided, but until then, I can keep light rolling, and working my cardio, going to need it for the intermediate division!!!