MMA and me; day 283

Wow, it has been a while. I took a break from writing, because I was focusing on training for my first MMA fight, and now that I have gotten that behind me, it's time to dive back into  what I really love, jiu jitsu! I taught my first class on Tuesday, and while it was a little intimidating, and a big step for me to take personally, it was a lot of fun!

I decided to start in an area that I find very interesting, but also need a lot of work on, and that is lapel chokes. I started with the clock choke, one of the first gi chokes I learned, and one of the most basic chokes. From a full mount, pull their jacket open with your right hand, and slide your left hand up their left lapel (on your right, for the cross grip) as deep as you can get it. Leaning across their body, drop your right elbow to the mat and drag it towards their head, pushing their head and neck into the cross grip you have established. Keeping the pressure on their head, sneak your right hand thumb inside their lapel on the opposite side of your cross grip (again, very deep behind their head) and bring your elbow off of the mat, over their face to tuck it under their chin. From here, you want flare your elbows out wide and drive them towards the mat, while at the same time, rounding your back, and dropping your head to the mat, as far above their head as you can, for the submission. To help get a little more pressure, you can roll your hands inwards, what we like to call the "motorcycle grip" As with most gi chokes, you don't have to strain to hard, and once you have it locked into place, don't adjust or fidget with it. Friction is your friend, and for the opponent in the choke, it does not feel good.

Next we drilled the baseball choke, another simple, but effective submission. From a knee on belly side control position, reach across with your leg side hand to cross grip their lapel with your palm up, four fingers in, and your knuckles against their collar bone. *note* this is simply a guide for where you hand should be positioned. With your head side hand, grip the other lapel palm down either with four fingers in, or thumb in. When you bring your hands together, they should look like they do when you grip a baseball bat. Traditionally, your head side hand will use the four fingers in the lapel grip, but I occasionally like the thumb in grip because when you turn the hand in to get the "baseball grip" it turns the lapel in as well, digging the edge into the neck, and creating a bit more pressure. It's not as secure, so it's not something to do every time. Once the grips have been secured, slide your knee to the mat, and "box car" your knees side by side, and tiptoe the knees around their head to a north south position, keeping heavy pressure on the grips, and on their chest. As you circle around, slide your head side elbow across their neck, and under their chin. From here, walk your hips out behind you, just a little bit, and flare the elbows out to drive them to the mat, and roll your fists inward for the submission.

Last, we worked on a choke from guard, the belt choke, which works on a lot of similar fundamentals as the guillotine choke. With your opponent in your guard, when they start to posture up, grab their right lapel with your left hand, and climb up it to get a deep cross grip with your right hand. From there, open your guard and shrimp your hips out to get onto your right hip, and reach across their back to grab their belt in the middle of their back, keeping the inside of your left arm tight against their neck. Once you have secured the belt, close your guard back up to begin working for the submission. With your right hand, pull the lapel across their neck, while using your hips and legs to twist their neck into the lapel. Your arm grabbing the belt isn't moving, but is rather being used as an anchor for the rest of your body to maneuver around. It takes some figuring out how to position your body correctly, don't lay flat backed on the mat, don't use your arms as the main pressure, but more legs ad hips, and you will get it no problem!

Well, I was nervous, but I got through my first class. I am very excited to be teaching something I love so much, and I am so thankful for my team, my gym, and my amazing coaches!