Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Cardio

I think I'm going to try to get my cardio up a little bit. I ran yesterday for 1.3 miles. Not really that much but I could potentially go more. I haven't hit a treadmill in ages so I'm surprised at myself. I guess my cardio isn't that bad just from training. I also started lifting again, sorta. But that never lasts more than a week or two. Zero motivation for the mundane act of lifting metal.

Monday, November 21, 2011

One Sweep and One Sub Option Off Failed Classic Butterfly Sweep

While derping around on Facebook and Youtube I came across two very nice videos that deal with a failed single butterfly sweep from a seated position. Both involve your opponent posting out with their opposite leg and both involve you taking control of that leg. The sweep option is really cool; you pretty much take deep half, X guard their hooked leg and kick out to a single-leg takedown. You can probably pass most of the time, too. The other option is a basic ankle lock from a position I'm familiar with because I usually hit most leg locks from there. I do have a tendency to "reap the knee" without realizing, so I have to be conscious of that and stop the bad habit.

Ankle Lock Option:



X-Guard Sweep Option:

Friday, November 11, 2011

Training 11/9 and General Progress Assessment (Year and a Half of BJJ Anniversary)

Went in for some gi training and we reviewed some gi-based lapel and brabo chokes. A couple of options from half guard:

1. pull their lapel around to the back of their head, switch hands once it's on the other side of their head, then take a cross collar choke. If they tuck their chin, take the face crush. We played around with this and the facial crush could do some damage if you're in competition and they're being stubborn.

2. Same set up, but if they try to push into you and post out with their arm, take the arm and use your own chest pressure for the brabo choke -- driving their shoulder into their other artery.

3. Same as #2, but instead of pursuing the choke, pressure their elbow for the armlock.

Drilled with JC and Michael, choosing the majority of the drills to be on bottom of half guard. I was able to secure the underhook and shrimp for some very nice half guard sweeps. Rolling was also with JC and Michael. Somewhat uneventful. Had a few toeholds, TONS of sweeps and passes.

I've been evaluating my current game and trying to break it down in terms of stuff I'm really good at, stuff I know well and hit on occasion, and stuff I know well but rarely go for. Here's the list:

Guard:

Scissor sweep- VERY high percentage for me as of late. I've gotten very aggressive with it and can execute it even if I don't have their weight perfectly on me.

Flower sweep- When I play closed guard, this is also very high percentage. I notice a distinct lack of closed guard. I've gotten more comfortable with open guard and using hooks to throw people around.

Hip Bump sweep- Hit this on occasion. Again, don't play much closed guard, especially when I'm not gassed out.

Butterfly sweeps- These are becoming very high percentage. I'm becoming proficient with them and they combo well with my fake guillotine attempts which get people distracted for the sweep.

Push sweep, opposite-scissor-sweep-thingy, bicep crusher sweep- I can make these work, I know them well, but don't implement them enough. If I play spider guard I'll look for the bicep crusher sweep because I like the mounted triangle combo you can get off it.

Armbars- Super high percentage, these are my bread and butter submissions from guard.

Triangles, kimuras, omoplatas, etc- know these well, although I don't usually attempt them. I'm more than capable of using omoplatas to sweep if I remember to take the position.

To summarize my guard, I feel that it has gotten quite excellent in the past 4 months. I'm playing a ton of open guard, feeling really dynamic with butterfly hooks and just generally feeling relaxed as I throw people around. Josh is the only one who can easily pass my guard now, though Antony sometimes struggles or I do something stupid and he knows to capitalize on it immediately. So, I had the goal of improving my bottom game about 6 months back. Mission accomplished.

Guard passes:

I don't think I can say ANY passes I know are "high percentage" just yet. Passing is probably one of the hardest things you can master in BJJ, so I'm not too worried. In the meantime, I'm decent with the double and single underhook pass, knee-over, and a bunch of butterfly hook passes that land me in half guard.

Half Guard (top):

Half cross-face(grabbing under their head), shin into their abdomen pass- this is pretty high percentage for me. Sometimes I muff up the weight distribution and get dumped over, but I usually make the pass into side control.

knee-cut pass into scarf-hold, post-up-and-use-hook-to-free-leg pass are also decent but don't get used.

Step-over and toehold/kneebar are fun but not really super high percentage.

Half Guard (bottom):

Underhook sweep (fishing for their free foot, then rolling them either way)- Becoming high percentage. I can otherwise escape or recompose. I'm not getting stuck in half guard as much as before.

Side Control (top):

I know TONS of subs from here- armlocks, kimuras, chokes...but attempt none. I'm going to change that. Usually pass to north/south or mount.

Side Control (bottom):

Guard recomposition 99% of the time. Also, sometimes I'll hit the underhook escape. Rarely, I'll roll them.

Mount:

Aside from fucking around to make them uneasy (grapevining, dropping weight into their chest, etc), I always go for the keylock, which forces them to defend. From there I'll take technical mount and hit the armbar (almost always), bow and arrow choke (rarely), or take their back (sometimes, but obviously high percentage when I do).

North/South:

Kimura or armbar transition ALL DAY. Bread and butter submissions. Also aware of the head scissor choke, north/south choke (rare), and the paper cutter series, which is going to be heavily implemented into my game in the coming weeks.

Back Mount:

I usually fish for armbars here, too. I need to work on finishing the RNC and I'm pretty decent with bow and arrow chokes.


I left some other stuff out but this is a pretty solid summary of where I stand at the moment. This is after 1.5 YEARS OF BJJ WOOT. Time flies.

Major goal right now is to improve my top game. Once that happens, I will be really well-rounded and confident in my ability to handle most mid-range blue belts.