For technique we kept working the same direction–stuff we can do off of lasso guard. During warmups we did the spin under from reverse de la riva, which I’m getting a tiny bit better at, and this move showed up again in the technique of the night.
This technique was pretty tough for me. Once establishing the lasso guard, we had to create enough space to actually spin under, then we had to use the back of the hand on the knee to make the spin, but this time without the extra leverage of the foot that we have in the reverse de la riva. That gets you to the spot where you can sit up and extend the legs to finish the omoplata.
He gave us to option to work on that or to continue working with the sweep and bicep cutter we’ve been working on. I tried a couple of the spin unders, but I know where my bread is buttered. I think in this case it would be better for me to rep something that I am almost able to do reliably instead of using that time for something I’m pretty far away from.
Rolled with Matt, Dan the Man, Django, and Abraham. Of note: spent a bunch of time on my back with Matt, and I went for a bunch of different stuff–armbars, chokes, kimuras, etc. Felt bad about that, but he said he was having fun defending, and he did a dang good job of it too! Dan the Man roll was really fun–we were both trying to choke the other guy with his own gi.
One of my favorite things about training BJJ at Off The Grid is the visitors. Coach Frank is not only welcoming of visitors, he’s genuinely excited to have someone come in for a day or a week to train, whether they are on vacation or on a business trip. That’s the culture the whole gym buys into–someone new gives all of us a chance to train with and learn from people with different experiences, styles, and bags of tricks.
But then there are special visitors.
Coach Frank has a network of buddies who are legitimate bad asses, and not just at BJJ. He’s had his buddy Dave Carelli, a judo black belt, has come in and introduce us some basic throws on a couple of occasions. Last night, his buddy Tom Finch came in and did a special seminar on boxing and Greco Roman wrestling.
So. Much. Information.
I probably will not remember half of what we learned and worked on last night, but I want to try to write down as much as possible while it’s still fresh in my mind. This is probably going to be a stream of consciousness, but…
Boxing
First we worked on stance and moving. Move the foot already going in the direction you want to go first, then move the other the same amount. So if you’re going forward (traditional), move the left foot first, then the right follows. Small movements–a fist isn’t very big. We just need to move enough to get out of its way. Move to a spot out of their punch zone and into yours. Balls of feet are active with heels grazing the ground. Should be able to squat down comfortably at any time without adjusting your feet.
“Slow is smooth. Smooth is fast.”
OOOHHHH!!! Like swimming.
To practice the jab, we reached out and grabbed instead of punching. Arm extends and shoulder to the chin as you take a small step forward. Back leg and jab arm are stiff at contact–like your whole body is a stick you are poking with. Jab returns as the back foot follows in. To practice, stand a couple of inches from a wall and move down the wall throwing jabs–no part of your body should ever contact the wall.
For the cross, rotate the hips into the punch. Don’t extend body or reach. Hips stay over the feet (can squat). Should be able to see both your hands at all times. We worked on the 1-2 and 1-2-1-2. Then added the left hook, rotating the lead foot back around. Elbow stays low, and the hand actually only moves a couple of inches. Hip rotation throws the punch. To practice, work on feet and hips only without throwing hands. Then work up to slight hand movements and use them more and more.
Parrying the jab–we worked on just catching it, not pushing it away. Keeping our hands in sight at all times, catch and move. I was moving way too much–just a small movement and adjusting distance with that move. I was working with Ed, so for him it was move and close distance. For me it was more move and create distance.
Wrestling
First we worked on pummeling for underhooks with a partner and switching our feet as we go. Then we did a drill where we work our partner for underhooks and grip the waist once we get it (no throw). He stopped us in between rounds to give us tips on changing levels, using our heads to make space, and going leg to crotch to get under our opponent and stand them up.
From here we went to the arm spin. Holy crap–cool. I’ve posted a video below showing the basics, but Tom had us focusing on a couple of things that were important for BJJ as well. When we shot the arm under, we continued to reach high and roll over it, almost like we were reaching for the opposite wrist. And we need to try to stop the roll once we hit the ground so that we end up belly down in side control.
Next we worked on bailing out of this by stopping at the arm shoot, backstepping the closer foot and moving to a double leg. That was way more comfortable for me. We started moving into straight double legs from there, and I was a little tentative because of back problems. The back is feeling pretty good with no rugby, and I want to keep it that way so that I can continue to train regularly. I know my double leg is not perfect (or even that good), but I’m pretty confident in my tackling ability if I only have to do it once or twice. Repping it really hurts my back for a week or two.
We worked an arm drag before I left–hand on wrist, pulling to opposite hand on bicep and throwing the arm down to shoot under. I liked that Tom taught shots without bringing the front knee down. Not only is that pretty painful for me, it never made sense when learning it that you’d want to put your power down to the mat. It seems like to me the push from the foot up is so powerful, and there’s no flex in the knee to push off of, not to mention the shorter lever.
I know I’m not deep enough or low enough in this photo for a wrestling takedown, but this seems like a more natural method for me that I can hit reliably. And this was at 41 years old, so I should still be able to do it. I can’t see that I’d have any better power with that lead knee on the ground, although it probably would help in getting deeper.
We did a pretty typical warmup, then hit the reverse de la riva drill for use later in the class. I still can’t do that from one side, but the other side has actually gotten a little better. My partner said it was because I’m getting more up on my shoulders when I spin under from that side. Coach Frank gave us an option to just go halfway to help get the feel, and it also played into the technique of the night.
Review of lasso guard sweep:
Four fingers into the cuff of the sleeve on both sides
Shrimp to get shin to crook of the elbow
Shrimp to get the other crook of the elbow
Push butt up to tighten that hold
Turn to opposite hip to punch leg out and loop for lasso
Bait the pass, reach under other leg and load them up
Push/pull for the sweep
Coach Frank noticed in live rolls last week that lots of people were going for the lasso guard, but people were standing to defend. To remedy that, he showed us another sweep to use on a standing opponent:
Establish lasso guard like above
Move loose foot between opponent’s legs and hook the back of their hip
Hand to the back of trap foot to assist the…
Spin under a la reverse de la riva
Rotate hand to grip pants or ankle
Push up with lasso leg–opponent will roll, use that momentum to punch up the grip hand
Rolled with Norm first. I feel like these rolls are starting to follow some sort of script. They definitely all end the same. I can’t tell if I’m doing the same thing over and over and it’s not getting through to me, or if I’m becoming a little more aware of my base and am simply slowing down the inevitable sweep and submit. Still not passing, that’s for sure.
Rolled with Shawn and tried to keep scrambles going as much as possible. My cardio is better than his, so my strategy with him usually is to move, move, move and wear him down to a point where I can catch him. Didn’t work this time–he got a hold of me and applied pressure. Never really close to tapping, but I couldn’t make my way back to the top either. My half-guard options from the bottom right now only involve getting to the top.
Django was next. He’s gotten a lot better in two weeks. Fun to roll with him because I feel like I’m free to move around a lot and see what kind of weird positions we get into.
Dan the Man was next, and as always, the most fun. Lots of half guard reversing going on between us–me moving to top because I’m stronger and heavier, him moving to the top because he has better technique and is faster. The funny thing is that we both had the other’s lapel wrapped around a neck or an arm the entire time. It was like a race to see who could choke the other faster.
I have the best, most perfect girl in the world. At least for me. There was never a consideration about us doing anything for Valentine’s Day except going to training and grinding it out–just like every other Tuesday.
I was actually impressed that we had so many people at training, especially with lots of regulars missing. True, we had a couple of visitors to the gym, but nine people on a (fake) holiday isn’t bad at all! Four ladies training, and I was the smallest of the big guys by 25 pounds or so, so I got mentally prepared for what sparring was going to be like on this day.
Lasso Guard Sweep:
Four fingers into the cuff of the sleeve on both sides
Shrimp to get shin to crook of the elbow
Shrimp to get the other crook of the elbow
Push butt up to tighten that hold
Turn to opposite hip to punch leg out and loop for lasso
Bait the pass, reach under other leg and load them up
Push/pull for the sweep
If they push the knee through, follow their hand with yours and grip the lat, grab with the other hand and pull down while figure-4 locking the legs for a bicep crusher.
Roll with Abraham–submitted once with an arm bar and got a couple of scissor sweeps.
Roll with Matt — close on a triangle, but couldn’t finish. That wore me out, and he was on top for the rest of the time. He almost finished an Ezekiel
Roll with Shawn–tapped me with an arm bar and got close with some sort of weird choke from the top. Thought I had a guillotine, and I held on to it for a long time but he was able to escape.
Roll with Django, who is much improved over last week.
After warmups, we continued the same theme from Tuesday, working on using using the opponent’s lapel to assist with the arm bar and the flower sweep.
For the arm bar, set it up with the wrist and triceps from guard, then…
Use wrist hand to get bottom of lapel to triceps hand
Elbow in and hold tight
Finish arm bar
For the flower sweep…
Pull tight with legs for over/under
Hand lapel to over hand using under hand, trapping arm
Hand lapel to under hand behind head
Reach under the leg, rotate hips out and pull
Finish with arm bar or fist into artery
Rolled with Abraham, and did what I have been avoiding with him from the get-go…got smothered. That is a big strong dude. Still, tried to work as much as possible on my back. Rolled with Django after that, and moved through as many things as I could, only finishing the arm bar and the bow and arrow.
Fun roll with Ana–she’s crazy strong for her size, and I can’t keep up with her movement. Got some sort of electric chairish thing that would have submitted most guys for sure, but it wasn’t a problem for her.
Next up was Ed, and I decided I don’t want to be on bottom. Got really close with the bow and arrow, and forgot the last step (SHRIMP AWAY!) from finishing the swim-through-grab-gi stuff we learned last week to get the down bar.
Norm–destroyed me. I had nothing left in the tank at this point. Not that it would have mattered, but I got destroyed more quickly than usual.
It’s been a while since I’ve written up my class notes. I’m still training, and I do have a ton of notes, but I’ve been recording them immediately after class with a voice recorder app. The idea is that I could speak my notes while they are fresh in my mind, then go back later and type them up. Great in theory, and it actually works provided I have the time to go back and type. The good news is that stuff isn’t lost–I hope to go back and write them all up and publish.
So hopefully some back-dated notes are coming soon. They really help me to review–so much new information comes in with every class!
Small class last night with a new blue belt (Shawn). We did a pretty typical warmup with some solo drills involved, and then moved into working on the scissor sweep using the opponent’s lapel for some extra leverage. Beginning from full guard…
Break posture and hold down with an overhook and an underhook.
Use underhook hand to hand the bottom of opponent’s lapel to overhook hand
Push legs away for some space, and move underhook hand across face. Hand gi back to this hand
Use overhook hand to grip the sleeve at the wrist
Shrimp out extend sleeve grip side leg wide, other knee to the chest with foot on hip
Pull-Pull-Chop-Lift
Land in mount and keep that lapel. High mount, and come up to foot on non-lapel grip side
Thumb in opposite lapel and drop head for choke
A few rounds of rolling, starting with Ed. I’ve been starting on bottom a lot, but Ed’s kung-fu is surging, and I think it’s time I start challenging for the top again. He’s consistently baiting a triangle, and I’m consistently going for it, but he’s getting better about using that as a pass. I need to come up with an answer for that, because he’s getting really good at finishing arm bars with it.
Next was Abraham. This dude is heavy and strong. I made sure I started on top, but it was tough just to stay there. Took me a while, but I ended up getting the hand-up gi choke.
Then Dan, who I haven’t rolled with in a month. Man–he’s really gotten better in that time. He was a millimeter away from finishing a bow and arrow choke, but I held on and was able to at least defend until the bell.
Frank was a little distracted I think, plus a little tired too. I was able to execute the quarter guard escape, which he at least pretended to be surprised with. Had one nice pressure pass, but he’s still Frank and I’m still me at the end of the day. #Submitted
Went another round with Abraham and spent time on the bottom. Lots of pressure, and it wasn’t fun. I was a few seconds away from finishing a triangle using my new appreciation for the details when the bell went off.
For warmups, we did Circles, then KOTM. I could tell I was still a little rundown, but much better than yesterday. People were able to pass my guard a little easier than I felt like that should be able to–felt like I was still sort of moving in slow motion, maybe 70% speed.
Technique was mount escapes. One thing we really focused on was setting up the proper frame. I try to do this in every drill from mount, and this was a good reminder on the right way to do it.
Set up frame–side escaping to goes on bottom. I think I may be doing this one backwards.
Frame out and shrimp, grabbing their foot and holding tight to quarter guard
Switch hips to open the window
Forearm along side and underhook the leg. If they haven’t based out, just sweep.
Switching again and thrust overhead
Also worked on the classic arm trap, rotate head, foot outside, bridge and roll.
Was working with Justice during technique, and that dude is heavy. Took a lot of my energy out of me as he increased the resistance.
Rolled with Ed, and he got his fair share of time on top. No submission. Took the opportunity to work lockdown from half guard, and I want to learn some stuff I can set up off of that (sweeps and submissions).
Rolled with Jonathan, and tried to get the lockdown on him because his legs are shorter and he was able to get out of it pretty easily. Escaped an armbar, but had to tap when he latched onto the sore elbow. That thing just isn’t getting better, and it has me longing for some no gi days so that the sleeve won’t put pressure on it.
Rolled with Ed again and was able to work the mount escape from tonight’s class.
Felt like everyone maybe was a little low on energy.
Yesterday was the worst training session I’ve ever had. I’ve had a couple that weren’t great because I was on the verge of illness or tired from a really hard couple of days leading up to it, but this was just a bad day. It didn’t help that I was having trouble getting stretched out from last week (5 training sessions). I’d been having trouble getting around on Saturday and Sunday. My lower back felt like I’d played rugby for a complete week before. My attempts to stretch it out were pretty weak; I had trouble even getting to a position that would allow me to stretch.
I went on a really slow and easy run on Tuesday to try and get my blood moving and get loosened up a little, but the foam roller probably did more to help than anything. At least I was walking pretty normal by Wednesday morning.
The problem with the Wednesday class is that we don’t do any kind of structured warm up. It’s get there whenever you want and stretch on your own, then straight to technique. I can’t really get there too early because of work, and with the limited time I had I just couldn’t get loose. By the time technique started I wasn’t even mentally there yet. My back was so stiff I was having trouble getting my legs into the positions to even work the technique, which sucks, because we learned some good stuff.
Finishing a defended Kimura
Shrimp knee out and foot on hip
Shin under arm where kimura is being defended
Slide hand in and roll hips back.
Another option is to get a cuff grip to break the hold on the leg, then swim under with the other arm
Take the back or do the thumb in choke
It’s almost as if I didn’t learn the technique at all. Just felt like crap. Only rolled one round, which was a disaster for me, and drove home with a towel on my head. I started thinking about this in the perspective of a tough running week or a week of rugby after a tournament.
Sometimes you just need an easier lighter week to recover from a couple of hard weeks, and that’s probably where I am for this week.
I’m glad I’ve kept a blog for so long. I was able to go back and read some thoughts about times when I’ve bonked runs (and finished them) or just had an inexplicably bad day and then PR’d a distance I wasn’t even training for on the next day. I know it’s not apples to apples, and I know I’m so knew to BJJ that I’m probably too ignorant to understand whether or not it applies at all, but at least there was some piece of mind to be gained in knowing that I’ve gone through something similar before.
It puts my mind at ease a little to know that this happens sometimes in other sports too with no real explanation.
So I got the crap beat out of me. Nothing new there actually, just a different person doing it. Ed tapped me out twice in 5 minutes. Silver lining is that I defended the arm bar by lazily using the least amount of energy possible. “What’s the easiest way out of this?” I had to evaluate the situation and find the easy escape.
For the rest of the roll, I just survived as long as I could.
At lunch today I went to the gym to get some time in the whirlpool and stretching in the sauna to get my back as loose as I can.
Circles, up and downs, single drills with sit-through (all three steps) and neck rolls. We partnered up and did KoB rotations, then straight to technique.
Technique was passing a review of Wednesday’s lunch class from headquarters:
Same side grip on lapel/knee
Knee to sturnim
Slice
Swap lapel grip
Knee grip moves to wrist, pull up and slide through
and
Same side grip lapel/knee
Knee to sturnim
Swap grips grips
Hip bump to move leg and side control
Roll with Shawn–he swept me a bunch of times and got really close on a choke. Ended with him having my back, I went to attack arm bar, which is something Ed does with me a lot. It’s not really something you are likely to finish, but it does make the other guy forget about the choke and defend his arm.
Roll with Jonathan, worked on retaining guard. Went to mount almost back. No submission either way.
Roll with Dr. Dan–worked on retaining open guard, got him to full guard and attempted arm bars, kimuras, sweeps, but nothing happening. He is tough to move once he’s locked down a position.
Roll with Matt–new guy, and really fun to roll with. Got closer to a Bow and Arrow than I’ve been with anyone else.
Again with Shawn–hand up the gi choke and got an arm bar.
A Call for a New Strenuous Age – Take the time to read the whole thing. Then start training for a marathon. Or going to cross fit. Or training jiu jitsu. Or playing rugby. Or rock climbing.
Circle run, partner drills with Dan instead of Norm. We did 10 armbars, 10 kimuras, 10 kimura sweeps each. I really like taking the time to get reps on these techniques, and did 5 of each on each side. Doing them in volume makes me feel like I’m not wasting reps on my off side.
Technique of the day was two escapes from knee on belly. We’ve been working knee on belly offensively for a few weeks, and it’s cool to start looking at the flip side. 1) Don’t push off the knee!
Grab belt and anchor forearm against thigh, pant leg with other hand. Make sure elbows are tight on both arms
Rotate hips and use leg to stiff arm away with the belt arm
Scisoor legs down to belly–keeping the hand on belt the whole
Switch hand from pants to other ankle
Up to one knee, step around and push, pull ankle
Land in reverse KoB and rotate around. That’s still a little awkward for me, especially on my off side.
2) Reach over like kimura to grab arm
Hand on side of body to cup their leg and roll them.
This gives you some options once the sweep is complete. Scissor choke seemed to be there for me most of the time.
Rolls from bad positions
Jonathan had me in side control, then Dan, then Ana
Next up was a regular roll with Norm. I tried the second kneed on belly escape described above and didn’t get it, which gave him an opportunity to try for a head and arm choke. Later in the roll he tried to cartwheel over my guard and got hurt. Hope he’s ok.
Had a good roll with Rudy, and I think the only thing that saved me was that he thought the end of round bell was the 30 seconds remaining bell. 😛
Two rounds with Jonathan. Tried Norm’s head and arm trick, but he caught me in half guard. I need to work on the transition from mount to side control. I feel like I have more control and more weapons in side control anyway. I’d like to continue to work on finishing from mount and improve there, but in a pinch I’d also like to be able to get to my preferred spot.
Ended up with 132 hours of BJJ training in 2016, which is infinitely more than I trained the year before–hoping for at least 300 hours in 2017.
Pretty good turnout for open mat. I rolled several rounds with Ana, being super gentle. She wasn’t going to roll at all, just a week out from the broken nose, but decided she’d roll if we were extra careful. I’m getting better at going technique-only. I’m trying to be aware of when I’m using excessive strength to avoid submissions. For example, she went for a kimura, and my first thought was “Pshaw–you can’t get that on me!” But the next thought was, “What if I only weighed 115 pounds–would she get it then? What if she weighed 190?”
So, yeah–tap.
Ended up getting in a bunch of rounds with Norm, Joe, Ed, and Justice. At least two 5 minute rounds with each of them. All rounds went about as expected.
I think the most productive rounds were with Ana though. We really need to get some mats at home so we can do a ton of easy flow rounds at home whenever we like. These rounds are probably better for me than they are for her. I’m much more of a plodding and deliberate grinder, and she’s all over the place. “Slowing down” for her is a little faster than I’m used to, but taking the strength out of it allows me to look at where I am and try to figure out a technical play without having to worry about being muscled into a submission. Hopefully what I’ll get out of this is the ability to analyze a situation faster and jump to a technique.
Lots of visitors from Ireland, Texas, and Tampa tonight. Two black belts, one brown belt, two purple belts, and two blue belts.
A normal warmup, and we were then treated to three techniques by the three black belts!
Frank’s Technique — review of the knuckle pushup KoB, shoot hand through (PALM UP), step over head (PULLING IN NECK AND PUSHING OUT STERNUM) to the Down Bar (I DREAM OF GENIE), americana, kimura, roll to the scissor choke.
Andy’s Technique – Kimura and Armbar from guard
Over/Under on opponent’s shoulders with controlled posture
Trap the arm on the “under” side straight
Push knees out (keeping guard closed) to straighten the arm
Grip the triceps with opposite hand to lock in kimura
Roll bicep towards ceiling to go for americana
Key concepts–keep trapped arm elbow tight. Keep guard closed and high. For americana, push knees out the door. Helps to bring elbow inside the head.
Christine Technique – Side control arm bars
Instead of cross-face, get into a smother.
Inch knee under the arm you have
Post hands on mat next to shoulder and hip
Hope to a KoB, shooting the arm up and grabbing it
Throw leg over the head, ok to keep other leg inside ribs
For Spinning Arm Bar
Smother hard and wait for them to give the arm
Depending on which side of your head they shoot it, trap with your gi
Pull them up and step over head, using other arm as a brake
or if other direction post hand to hip, click into north south,
Position lower foot, then step over, again using the other arm as a brake.
Sixteen people in the gym, so no chance to roll every round. Still, got four 4-minute rounds in.
My first was against one of the visiting black belts. 260+ lbs of Irish squash. He’d gone two consecutive rounds before me and seemed content to smash the crap out of me from several different positions. I considered it a “win” when I could breath. He started on his back, just giving me side control. I regret that I didn’t try to lay into him harder with the shoulder now, but at the time I was completely confused. “Is this some sort of trick?” Nah…he just wanted to lie down. He tapped me with his legs without even moving.
Next up for me was two rounds with Jonathan. Much more scrambly than usual. I did get a chance to trap the arm using the technique Christine showed us. I wasn’t able to finish all the way to the spinning arm bar, but I took what she said during the demonstration to heart–“even if you can’t get the technique all the way to finish, you still have the arm, so don’t let go of it.” Ended up getting an americana, then played the remainder of that roll and the next round from guard.
Last roll was with visiting Irish blue belt. He was young and maybe 15-20 pounds lighter than me. Really fun. I fought off a triangle pretty early, and later a sitting triangle and an arm bar. So yeah–no attacking, but I feel like I may be getting better at defending. I went for his back once and got one hook in, but he ended up tapping me with a kimura.
Two visiting purple belts–Ohio John (about my size) and Tampa Rachel (Ana’s height, and built a little sturdier). We went through the warmup pretty quickly with some running, minimal up-and-down drills, some solo drills (sit throughs and knee-ups), followed by guard retention and KoB rotations with partners.
For technique, we built off of the KoB work we did a couple of weeks ago, adding a scissor choke to the end. To execute, we get to the point of setting up the legs for the omoplata. Instead of the omoplata, we grip for the kimura. If the opponent posts out his far arm, we reach out with our leg and hook it, then rotate and get other leg across his belt, applying pressure for the kimura again. Their natural defense will be to roll out of the kimura, allowing us to cross our feet and extend for the scissor choke.
Rolled with John, Norm, Dr. Dan, and Ed
Was pretty happy with my roll with John. He was on the attack for the entire roll, but I was able to defend through the whole thing. Not so lucky with Norm on the next roll, but I think I’m getting a little better. Or he was hurt. Started with Dr. Dan in my guard and got a scissor sweep to get on top. My knee was caught and I spent a lot of time fighting to get that to the mat for full mount. Got set up for an Ezekiel, but couldn’t finish–Ana explained to me later that I wasn’t lifting my elbows. He swept again–back to my guard and was looking for a cross choke and an arm bar as time ran out.
A round with Ed where I focused on half guard and half guard sweeps. Getting a little more comfortable with it. Tried it again on another roll with him, but had a tough time escaping. He ended up finishing me with an arm bar. Ouch.
