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:
Monday, November 21, 2011
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.
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.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
No-Gi Training 10/23/11
On friday there weren't many people there so I rolled with Casey and Yoshi, who's a Muay Thai instructor with tree trunk legs. His skill level and technique knowledge isn't near mine I think, but he had some great bread and butter stuff that destroyed me because I kept getting stuck on bottom. I played on top at one point and as he went for a kneebar he handed me his foot so I grabbed the toehold from it. Rolled with Casey and did pretty much nothing but try to survive, since all my offense was smashed with ease.
Today was similar, just me, Casey, Coe (who didn't even roll), Ian and Michael. Mike left after a bit because of Muay Thai-related exhaustion, so I rolled with the big guys. Mostly got smashed but had some great turtle escapes and guard re-compositions. Kept Ian thinking about the leg locks and just generally didn't do too poorly against a more skilled and larger opponent. Techniques were the same as Friday, just the Saulo Ribeiro pass where you lift their closed guard hips onto one of your thighs, post back with the other foot and push the knee down for the break. Cross knee over, pass into side control. Variations were the kneebar off the cross-knee and the toehold which is right there if the kneebar doesn't work.
I didn't even intend on going tonight due to homework problems, but I'm glad I got some good rolls in.
Today was similar, just me, Casey, Coe (who didn't even roll), Ian and Michael. Mike left after a bit because of Muay Thai-related exhaustion, so I rolled with the big guys. Mostly got smashed but had some great turtle escapes and guard re-compositions. Kept Ian thinking about the leg locks and just generally didn't do too poorly against a more skilled and larger opponent. Techniques were the same as Friday, just the Saulo Ribeiro pass where you lift their closed guard hips onto one of your thighs, post back with the other foot and push the knee down for the break. Cross knee over, pass into side control. Variations were the kneebar off the cross-knee and the toehold which is right there if the kneebar doesn't work.
I didn't even intend on going tonight due to homework problems, but I'm glad I got some good rolls in.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
10/20 Training
Well I was out for about a week with various personal problems, but I felt really great back on the mats. My knees still are an issue, though thankfully not the inner knee. I'm waiting on some funds to purchase some new kneepads because these old ones are a year old and the padding is starting to feel like plaster.
Techniques were open guard. First was a spider guard counter where you reach around and cup their calves, posture upward to relieve pressure off your bicep and push their legs up to their head. You control them, place your knee over their pinned arm, strip their grips and look to pass. Second was off a bicep crusher attempt. Pin their opposite leg, strip grips, lift their non-pinned leg onto your shoulders and look to pass with the single underhook or the knee-over backward step pass. The other one was similar but you hit it off "grasshopper" guard or something I've never heard of. Sorta like spider guard. I don't know. Anyway, you end up in a position where you have one of their butterfly hooks in and the other leg is kinda free. You can drop your weight onto their hook, flatten it to the ground and pop it out. They are forced to establish half guard or get passed. You can then use your favorite half guard pass to get side control.
Drilling was rather easy. There were a bunch of lightweights around: Kati, Sergio, new guy Jeff, Michael, Michael's friend Romick(?), JC and Josh. Ran trains on everyone except Josh. JC went into defense mode and forced me into a rather ugly sit-up-and-flop into mount, armbarred a bunch of people, hit some nice Scissor sweeps (which are feeling smoother for me). Michael tried to cheat and started in a double underhook position, flung me over into turtle and ended up getting recomposed on and swept.
Rolling was me, Josh and Romick. This new dude has a crazy cartwheel-type pass that he surprised everyone with because it's so martial-arty but he didn't hit it at all on me or Josh. Dunno about the others. He kept trying to stand and go for it but got armbarred into oblivion from my guard, swept a couple times, ankle locked and passed with a nice single underhook toward the end. He defaulted to leg locks and got me twice with some ankle and knee locks. I have to be careful avoiding those, especially in no-gi without my usual grips.
Josh got me with some collar stuff, a triangle and a kneebar off that De La Riva-esque sweep I *almost* hit twice now off a combat base counter. Casey saw it and was awestruck which is cool. Too bad I get kneebarred off it. I will check into that and see if I can avoid feeding too much of my leg in so the knee isn't on the thigh upon completion.
So yeah, I felt rather great and was able to handle the other lightweights. Some things to work on:
1. Stay cognizant of weight distribution and mitigate getting swept.
2. Moar butterfly hook action and more Scissor sweep attempts.
3. Watch for leg locks and look for top position.
4. Posturing from guard. Avoiding submissions and passing from CLOSED guard.
5. Submissions from side control. I got a bunch but use none.
6. Half guard sweeps.
7. Back control escapes.
I'm going to need to test for my blue belt again at some point very very soon. I feel great with everything except back control escapes. I will get some of those in either tomorrow or within the next week and hopefully test within the next month. Even Coe, who never gives much credit at all, is telling me to test again.
Need to buy kneepads and a new, better cup for the boys.
Techniques were open guard. First was a spider guard counter where you reach around and cup their calves, posture upward to relieve pressure off your bicep and push their legs up to their head. You control them, place your knee over their pinned arm, strip their grips and look to pass. Second was off a bicep crusher attempt. Pin their opposite leg, strip grips, lift their non-pinned leg onto your shoulders and look to pass with the single underhook or the knee-over backward step pass. The other one was similar but you hit it off "grasshopper" guard or something I've never heard of. Sorta like spider guard. I don't know. Anyway, you end up in a position where you have one of their butterfly hooks in and the other leg is kinda free. You can drop your weight onto their hook, flatten it to the ground and pop it out. They are forced to establish half guard or get passed. You can then use your favorite half guard pass to get side control.
Drilling was rather easy. There were a bunch of lightweights around: Kati, Sergio, new guy Jeff, Michael, Michael's friend Romick(?), JC and Josh. Ran trains on everyone except Josh. JC went into defense mode and forced me into a rather ugly sit-up-and-flop into mount, armbarred a bunch of people, hit some nice Scissor sweeps (which are feeling smoother for me). Michael tried to cheat and started in a double underhook position, flung me over into turtle and ended up getting recomposed on and swept.
Rolling was me, Josh and Romick. This new dude has a crazy cartwheel-type pass that he surprised everyone with because it's so martial-arty but he didn't hit it at all on me or Josh. Dunno about the others. He kept trying to stand and go for it but got armbarred into oblivion from my guard, swept a couple times, ankle locked and passed with a nice single underhook toward the end. He defaulted to leg locks and got me twice with some ankle and knee locks. I have to be careful avoiding those, especially in no-gi without my usual grips.
Josh got me with some collar stuff, a triangle and a kneebar off that De La Riva-esque sweep I *almost* hit twice now off a combat base counter. Casey saw it and was awestruck which is cool. Too bad I get kneebarred off it. I will check into that and see if I can avoid feeding too much of my leg in so the knee isn't on the thigh upon completion.
So yeah, I felt rather great and was able to handle the other lightweights. Some things to work on:
1. Stay cognizant of weight distribution and mitigate getting swept.
2. Moar butterfly hook action and more Scissor sweep attempts.
3. Watch for leg locks and look for top position.
4. Posturing from guard. Avoiding submissions and passing from CLOSED guard.
5. Submissions from side control. I got a bunch but use none.
6. Half guard sweeps.
7. Back control escapes.
I'm going to need to test for my blue belt again at some point very very soon. I feel great with everything except back control escapes. I will get some of those in either tomorrow or within the next week and hopefully test within the next month. Even Coe, who never gives much credit at all, is telling me to test again.
Need to buy kneepads and a new, better cup for the boys.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
10/7 Update
So on Wednesday I hyper-extended my right arm trying rather poorly to escape an armbar from guard. Probably the first time in a while that I've been caught in that and I was pretty nonchalant about the escape until I felt my arm bend past normal range of motion. I'm kind of an idiot I guess, but it really showed me what I was doing wrong with my technique and to NEVER allow your opponent to strike first before initiating your own offense. Regardless, I iced it up and wasn't out of commission at all, so that's good.
Friday's class was using your own leg to hook their arm and lace it through to their same-side leg. This is very similar to the bicep slicer/sweep variation I've been familiar with, but in going to their leg instead of hooking the tricep, you can hit a backwards roll sweep, omoplata (when you shoulder roll) and triangle off it. Very fancy stuff.
I rolled with Josh and Will at the fundamental class and got Tomoe Nage'd a bajillian times. I have to work on my weight distribution (from EVERY position). I've been cleaning up some half guard passes nicely and working on my turtle escapes and the "fat boy roll" which seems to work most of the time.
Friday's class was using your own leg to hook their arm and lace it through to their same-side leg. This is very similar to the bicep slicer/sweep variation I've been familiar with, but in going to their leg instead of hooking the tricep, you can hit a backwards roll sweep, omoplata (when you shoulder roll) and triangle off it. Very fancy stuff.
I rolled with Josh and Will at the fundamental class and got Tomoe Nage'd a bajillian times. I have to work on my weight distribution (from EVERY position). I've been cleaning up some half guard passes nicely and working on my turtle escapes and the "fat boy roll" which seems to work most of the time.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Progress -- 9/25
So I've been working on a few things, specifically the use of butterfly hooks. I think this is especially important in no-gi. I've noticed that there are a few things that are making me semi-suck in no-gi. One is my general lack of hook use, and the other is the fact that I don't change my game to compensate for lack of grips. Sure, in gi I have a collar to control in addition to arms, but in no-gi you have to do other shit. You need to establish body control with underhooks and overhooks, pay better attention to head control (since there's no collar) and use hooks effectively. You simply cannot use all the same grips. I'm looking to get better with no-gi now instead of chastising it like a bastard child. I'd like to make some of the UGA grappling classes and roll with a variety of people, and I think if I can get this going I will be really solid by year end.
On a similar note, I've been working the classic butterfly sweep a bit and I almost hit it today. I drove my leg to the sky but couldn't get my opponent's body to turn with it. I believe you have to drive it up and "over" your opponent's shoulder. My overhook was not bad.
This weekend was ADCC, the most prestigious no-gi tournament in existence. Unfortunately I didn't pay for it, but it seems that most matches were pretty badass. My boy Paul Harris fucked up some legs, pretty much heel hooking everything. The one guy he couldn't heel hook got kneebar'd like FUCK. Ol Treestump is definitely a retard of some nature. Here's some interesting shit he did this weekend:
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/rousimar-palhares-continues-bizarre-behavior-1828767/
Anyways I guess that's it mostly. I learned a nice arm triangle escape from Josh which will be immensely useful since I always get caught in those. Seriously, that's like 95 percent of the submissions I get stuck in.
On a similar note, I've been working the classic butterfly sweep a bit and I almost hit it today. I drove my leg to the sky but couldn't get my opponent's body to turn with it. I believe you have to drive it up and "over" your opponent's shoulder. My overhook was not bad.
This weekend was ADCC, the most prestigious no-gi tournament in existence. Unfortunately I didn't pay for it, but it seems that most matches were pretty badass. My boy Paul Harris fucked up some legs, pretty much heel hooking everything. The one guy he couldn't heel hook got kneebar'd like FUCK. Ol Treestump is definitely a retard of some nature. Here's some interesting shit he did this weekend:
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f2/rousimar-palhares-continues-bizarre-behavior-1828767/
Anyways I guess that's it mostly. I learned a nice arm triangle escape from Josh which will be immensely useful since I always get caught in those. Seriously, that's like 95 percent of the submissions I get stuck in.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Friday Gi & Sunday No-Gi: 9/18
So on friday we had a smallish class. Casey went over some back attacks from double underhook control. First is, when your opponent has one arm up blocking access to the neck, you can grab their other arm and pull it hard across their body, which then frees up your other arm (the one on the same side of the arm you're pulling) for the choke. Second technique was the armbar on their lowered arm (not the one up protecting their neck), after you reach across and secure a figure-four grip and push their head down/bring your leg up and over. Third was pushing your arm under their neck-blocking arm, rotate your body and grab your other bicep for a back-mounted head-arm choke.
I got to roll with Casey which was fun. It's an interesting feeling knowing that not a single thing you do will work and you're going to get subbed or swept any second. It also sucks that you can't even bullshit stuff to throw him off. He got me with whatever he wanted, including a wristlock. Pretty much everything he gave me was a trap.
I've been using the lapel a lot to throw people off and it seems to work to some extent. I made a rage comic illustrating my strategy:
Only stayed for the fundamental class. Worked some half guard knee-through passes and the bottom of half knee bump --> single leg reversal.
I got to roll with Casey which was fun. It's an interesting feeling knowing that not a single thing you do will work and you're going to get subbed or swept any second. It also sucks that you can't even bullshit stuff to throw him off. He got me with whatever he wanted, including a wristlock. Pretty much everything he gave me was a trap.
I've been using the lapel a lot to throw people off and it seems to work to some extent. I made a rage comic illustrating my strategy:
Only stayed for the fundamental class. Worked some half guard knee-through passes and the bottom of half knee bump --> single leg reversal.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Bad Manor FIghts and Wednesday Jits
So the fights were last friday and they were fucking excellent. This was my first live MMA experience and it was a good one. Thing is, I got there early and stood by the cage so the view was near perfect. I don't think I should hope to have such great "seats" all the time, so I guess the experience depends on that. We saw some great fights; 2 hard-fought decisions and 4 finishes, 3 of which were submissions. I hope Athens organizes fights again soon because I'd go as often as possible. And at 15 bucks, you can't go wrong.
Back on the mats yesterday, we worked a bunch of paper cutter attacks. I think I've blogged about most of these before. You start in side control, move to north/south and clear their near arm. Get an underhook, grip the back of their collar, then move back into side control and finish the choke. The variation was kesa to get the finishing grip, then basic side control.
We drilled from side control and I had little trouble pulling off escapes. I turtled against the new guy and hit a sweet "fat boy roll" -- over my own back into side control -- on the new guy, Michael. I rolled with him and pulled the same thing, then rolled with a new wrestler guy who pinned me down in side control with some sort of half nelson-ish maneuver. I turtled with him and hit the same escape, ultimately taking mount and hitting an armbar. From then on I worked full guard with him because those fucking wrestlers are great at passing guard. Hit a flower sweep into mount again. Rolled with Johnny and Coe who both raped my life, but that's obvious and fully expected. Johnny's top game is great and I have virtually zero opportunity to launch any offense against him.
Feeling really good on my escapes and my ability to reverse positions on people. I feel like I can compete with most newer blue belts now and there's no reason why I shouldn't be promoted. But still, no rush. As much as I hate being a white belt after almost a year and a half, I don't need the blue belt pressure just yet.
Gotta work on maintaining side control and launching subs from there. I have no problems changing positions but I want to work on that a bit.
Back on the mats yesterday, we worked a bunch of paper cutter attacks. I think I've blogged about most of these before. You start in side control, move to north/south and clear their near arm. Get an underhook, grip the back of their collar, then move back into side control and finish the choke. The variation was kesa to get the finishing grip, then basic side control.
We drilled from side control and I had little trouble pulling off escapes. I turtled against the new guy and hit a sweet "fat boy roll" -- over my own back into side control -- on the new guy, Michael. I rolled with him and pulled the same thing, then rolled with a new wrestler guy who pinned me down in side control with some sort of half nelson-ish maneuver. I turtled with him and hit the same escape, ultimately taking mount and hitting an armbar. From then on I worked full guard with him because those fucking wrestlers are great at passing guard. Hit a flower sweep into mount again. Rolled with Johnny and Coe who both raped my life, but that's obvious and fully expected. Johnny's top game is great and I have virtually zero opportunity to launch any offense against him.
Feeling really good on my escapes and my ability to reverse positions on people. I feel like I can compete with most newer blue belts now and there's no reason why I shouldn't be promoted. But still, no rush. As much as I hate being a white belt after almost a year and a half, I don't need the blue belt pressure just yet.
Gotta work on maintaining side control and launching subs from there. I have no problems changing positions but I want to work on that a bit.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Tornado Guard Success!
Well last night was a really fun session consisting of a bunch of great lightweights to roll with. We drilled 6 alternatives to the failed scissor sweep, including the sleeve-switch sweep, a collar choke, omoplata option, and some others that I don't remember too well. We drilled from closed guard and I worked a ton of guard passing and sweeps. I found myself in half guard with plenty of space and remembered the option for Tornado guard. Basically, it worked nicely and I hit the sweep off it. I think it's definitely NOT a good option against opponents larger than you, but equal in size it can work nicely. Tried to be really technical and had some great, dominant rolls with everyone except Antony and Josh who usually take a lot out of me because they're better. Called out Coe like usual and tried shooting in for a double underhook pass which worked, but he's so good about stiff-arming me away from side control that I had to attack his foot for the toehold, which also worked. At this point Coe probably goes like 60% with me, but it's whatever. I feel like I have extra motivation to maintain guard or avoid sweeps because of his ~80lb weight advantage and the fact that the match is over as soon as he lays on me or goes to knee-on-ribs.
Nothing else to talk about. Oh, also hit a nice armbar from backmount. I guess as far as standing sweeps go, I'm gonna continue playing with the De La Riva hook and see how it improves my game.
Nothing else to talk about. Oh, also hit a nice armbar from backmount. I guess as far as standing sweeps go, I'm gonna continue playing with the De La Riva hook and see how it improves my game.
Friday, September 2, 2011
9/1- Armbars Everywhere
So I took Wednesday off because of a cold I had on Monday/Tuesday. I felt pretty decent aside from a lingering sinus discomfort which usually takes several days to drain completely. Regardless, went in today at 7:30.
Very small class consisting of me, Kati, Casey, Sergio and a new guy named Jeff who's a senior at UGA and roughly my size. He has a background in JJJ, so that's pretty cool and different.
Techniques were from side control. One was an armlock from scarfhold. Another was a mounted triangle from when they defend a kimura or something by hiding their arm over their own stomach and allow you to step over it and roll onto your back. Last was a combination of those two, but instead of finishing the triangle by rolling, you step with the other leg over their head for a power armlock.
Drilling was from side control, and I worked the underhook escape and generally controlling their far arm on my leg to make space for guard recomposure. No inverted triangles this time, just me trying to improve position by sweeping or escaping. Rolling was a giant gauntlet and a huge armbar clinic for me. I swear, probably 90% of my game at this point is armbars. I hit them from guard, mount, north/south. It's pretty awesome. The other 10% of my subs are comprised of kimuras from north/south, various collar chokes and the occasional triangle.
I gassed HARD today which must be due to sinus-related equilibrium problems. Still managed to do whatever and work sweeps and various subs on the new guy, including a nice loop choke and bow and arrow.
Agenda for me, still, are more technically sound guard passes. My single and double underhook passes are fairly decent, so I need to really work the knee-over variants. I know how to execute them, but I usually get sloppy and end up not hooking their trapped leg long enough to avoid half guard.
Very small class consisting of me, Kati, Casey, Sergio and a new guy named Jeff who's a senior at UGA and roughly my size. He has a background in JJJ, so that's pretty cool and different.
Techniques were from side control. One was an armlock from scarfhold. Another was a mounted triangle from when they defend a kimura or something by hiding their arm over their own stomach and allow you to step over it and roll onto your back. Last was a combination of those two, but instead of finishing the triangle by rolling, you step with the other leg over their head for a power armlock.
Drilling was from side control, and I worked the underhook escape and generally controlling their far arm on my leg to make space for guard recomposure. No inverted triangles this time, just me trying to improve position by sweeping or escaping. Rolling was a giant gauntlet and a huge armbar clinic for me. I swear, probably 90% of my game at this point is armbars. I hit them from guard, mount, north/south. It's pretty awesome. The other 10% of my subs are comprised of kimuras from north/south, various collar chokes and the occasional triangle.
I gassed HARD today which must be due to sinus-related equilibrium problems. Still managed to do whatever and work sweeps and various subs on the new guy, including a nice loop choke and bow and arrow.
Agenda for me, still, are more technically sound guard passes. My single and double underhook passes are fairly decent, so I need to really work the knee-over variants. I know how to execute them, but I usually get sloppy and end up not hooking their trapped leg long enough to avoid half guard.
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