Doing More With Less Since 1972

Tag: chokes

Jiu Jitsu Time With Gerry

We had a chance to train for an hour or so with Gerry over the weekend. He’s a big purple belt, and it was so good to see some different views on things, get some different ideas, and some personal attention to questions and problems. Not going to lie…it will be fun to take some of this stuff back to the gym and try it out on some unsuspecting opponents. Of course, can’t wait to share what I learned as well.

I’m probably only remembering about half of what we went over, but here are some of the hightlights.

Cross choke angle scoot for better tightness

  • Deep grip to start (same)
  • Cock hips away from grip
  • Thumb in opposite collar
  • Move hips back
  • Pull down, elbows up

Arm bar trickery with collar grip for rotation

  • Pistol grip on gi at elbow
  • Cross collar grip with other hand to control posture
  • Pull and pull to rotate around and get leg up
  • Finish

Clock choke against opponent from turtle

  • Thumb in across collar
  • Elbow up
  • Slide through
  • Circle

Triangle defense (last resort)

  • Drop to knees
  • Ball up
  • Move leg over head

Mount escape

  • Grab gi at foot
  • Straighten leg
  • Pick up foot and put them into quarter guard
  • Push knee to half guard

Kimura defense (instead of hiding arm)

  • Hand on opponent’s elbow to push
  • Roll toward’s trapped arm and shrimp

Roll from half guard to create scramble, take back. Like this…

BJJ Training Open Mat 8.20.2016

Ana and I did a little bit of drilling. I’ve been landing in good spots for submissions but unable to finish them, so I want to try out the details of a couple of chokes. I did discover that the reason I’m having trouble finishing rear naked chokes is because of the width of my shoulders and lack of flexibility leave a lot of space on the grab arm. We figured out a variation I could use to get the pressure with the blade of my hand by a different method, and then Coach Frank showed me an even better option that would be harder to defend against.

We also worked on two armbar escapes. Ana’s needed a little more movement than mine (surprise), but they are both good depending on the situation.

Another cool thing I realized is that I can use a small foam roller or a large pool noodle to simulate someone’s neck and really feel where the pressure is being applied. Should help me improve the small angles and hand positions for chokes.

Then I tested out a fitness drill I’ve been thinking of–Circle of Death with jiu-jitsu drills for six rounds. For this one I used thrusts + figure 4s, sit-throughs  with rotations, hops from knees to feet, and one-armed get ups (still need some kettle bells to make this one legit).

Then I rolled with Frank. A bunch. Lost count of how many times he could have submitted me and how many times he gave me an opening to see what I would do. For instance, he mounted and grapevined me, but when I put my hands on his hips he released my legs and let me work the escape he taught us last week. I didn’t get my knees pulled to chest and butterfly, but I did get one in to turn and shrimp.

He dropped some knowledge in between rolls too

  • Slow and tight is better than fast and leaving space, so don’t worry about feeling like I’m plodding
  • Top positions are working great for me, so start off in guard and give up those positions with equal training partners–work to get there to improve the other side of the game
  • But don’t give up top position if I’m ever in a competition. Time  is limited, and I’m way stronger on top than on bottom at this point since I don’t really have any submissions I can reliably finish from my guard
  • Defense is improving, so being frustrating will hopefully cause opponents to open up opportunities

BJJ Training Log July 28, 2016

12 People at class tonight–three new people and a visitor from NY. Awesome!

Warmups are getting pretty easy for me now. They are actually just warming me up instead of wearing me out. I did 45 minutes on the bike at HR 120 right before class, so I was already pretty warm. Standard stuff with jump-ups, crawls, guard retention, and hip thrusts for triangle. Then we did partner drill (Ed) for KoB and stepping around the head to switch sides.

Technique–again working with Ed

We worked on triangle from guard and turning failed triangle to arm bars. The key for both of us was rotating for the little angles in the triangle, especially at the end. We both sort of preferred just going for the armbar from that position because, being bigger, it’s tougher for us to scoot into the rotations for the best position–definitely something to work on–and the feeling right now (I’m sure this is will be proved wrong) is that the armbar is way more natural for us.

Rolling

6:00 with New Dan (WB)–Taller than me, maybe a little stronger. A little heavier and a little more experience. He works stiff. He immediately got me into some sort of lock on my legs that I had to tap. We haven’t learned any of that stuff yet, so I don’t feel bad. Was pretty back and forth the rest of the time. I made him eat my weight from side control for a little bit. He got me again with a slice across the mouth that made me eat the gi right before time. #Survive

6:00 with Ben (PB, visiting)–This dude wore me out, but I was pretty happy with how I did. I probably had 40 pounds on him. I know he wasn’t going all out, but he tapped me twice–triangle and arm bar. Pulled two sweeps on me that I saw coming a mile away and could do nothing about, which was funny. He gave me a side control gift for a little while. #TryToSurvive.

6:00 with Louis (WB)–Louis is pretty banged up and asked to go more as a flow roll. So happy to do that because I was exhausted from Ben and he has helped me so much already. I know that I’m heavy, and that’s pretty much all I know, so I get it that people who are injured don’t want to just suffer my shoulder in their face. I immediately pulled guard and held that for 5:30. Very relaxed and he worked to pass. Showed the armbar and triangle when he opened them up, but didn’t attempt to take them. When he defended I released. He passed and I worked on defending side control for the last 30 seconds. #Defend.

6:00 with Norm (PB)–Norm is maybe my favorite person to roll with right now because he can flatten me at will. And he’ll do it too. I know I don’t offer him very much of a fight though, and I feel bad about that. We’re about the same size, so I’m hoping a benefit I can give him is that I’m strong enough that he has to think more about technique than size/strength. But I’m sure he’s way past that and already has really solid technique. I know he passes my guard very quickly and I haven’t made it out of his yet. The best I’ve gotten is maybe 3/4.  He completely wrecked me with an arm drag that included some jewel mining, but he was nice enough to show it to me. He also coached me through an escape from mount. Maybe the highlight for me was that he went for a bow and arrow, and I recognized it from class on Tuesday and was able to defend it until time ran out. #TryToSurvive

Yes…everyone still beats me, but I’m ok with that. Losing is learning and improving.

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