Mauricio is back in town = techniques techniques techniques

Tonight Mauricio showed us a thing or two - to be precise it was two takedowns an escape from half guard and a way to pass the legs if you've gotten out of half guard but they have managed to get their leg wedged between themselves and you.

First takedown:

1. you have your a firm grip of your opponents gi at the elbows with both hands

2. with your right hand pull her left arm toward you and up so it clears your left shoulder

3. turn your back into your opponent while lowering your center of gravity (squatting slightly in setup for the throw); pull her right arm down and across your body; pull her left arm up and over your back

4. uncoil the spring (straighten your legs from the semi-squat position) and pull your opponent forward to throw them over your back

Second takedown:

1. you have your opponents right lapel in your left hand and their left sleeve at the cuff in your right hand (grip with a fist - not with your fingers curved around the edge of the cuff).

2. while pulling her left arm forward; pull your own right hand in, bending at the elbow, toward your own right shoulder then circle your entire arm around her arm finishing the movement by lowering your center of gravity and ducking elbow first and then head under her left arm

3. you should end the above movement with your left knee on the floor between her feet; your right leg extended fully and based out to your right; the left side of your head firmly against her left latissimus dorsi and MOST IMPORTANTLY - her left arm securely locked between your fully bent right arm and your torso.

4. fold your left leg underneath your body and sit back forcing your opponent to summersault over you and onto her back in front of you - then quickly get side control

Escape from half guard:

1. your opponent has you in half guard; they also have underhooked your left arm and have curled tightly underneath you with their neck protected and their head against your left knee

2. circle your right arm around their left arm from the outside and secure it tightly against your body - grab their left lapel if it helps you keep the arm locked tightly in this position

3. as if you were to connect the inside of your elbow to their adam's apple - hook his head and then walk your fingers out effectively uncurling his head and body so he is stretched before you instead of under you as he was

4. pull your leg partially out from the half guard resting your right knee now on his thigh - put the majority of your weight on this knee - your other point of contact is your right shoulder and chest pinning his left shoulder and chest to the floor

5. let go of the left lapel and base your right hand on the floor in front of his right thigh - push your hips forward, pull your right leg free from the half guard and swim your right hand under his right thigh - basing it on the floor; switch your hips and finish in a sprawled side control position

If you've gotten free of the half guard but are prevented from passing to side control because your opponent has braced his bent leg between his body and yours:

1. get a good base and sit back a bit on your heels

2. grab his gi trousers at the knee firmly with both hands and push his bent leg to the floor and pin it there

3. get to your feet but stay low using your body weight (contact points being both your hands on his gi trousers at the knee and your shoulder/upper arm and body on his upper thigh) to keep him pinned on his side

4. bring your knees/base back in tight against your opponent in standard side control with one arm securing against his leg to prevent him from getting you back into guard or half guard and the other arm securing his upper body/neck/shoulders

5. if your opponent rolls to the side in an attempt to get to his knees you can easily just keep control of his legs with your grip on his gi trousers and then, using your body weight to pin him (your point of contact being your shoulder on his upper thighs or bum) down and take his back.

Any clarification or correction of these techniques is most welcome - it's a lot to try and remember.

Last Randori Class Before SENI 2008

Today (as the title suggests) was the last Randori class before SENI next weekend; it was also the last time we will see Roger for awhile as he is going to NY to train with Renzo in preparation for his MMA fight in Japan coming up in about a month. Mauricio is back for a time and I look forward to his presence in our classes. Today's class was huge. I wouldn't be surprised if there were 40 or 50 people on the mat and another 15 or so watching. It should have been good fun, most of my favourite people were there, however, of late I feel as if I am just going through the motions and feeling little enthusiasm about my evolution in the sport. It could be dread of the coming competition or just a symptom of general dissatisfaction. I am hoping that the competition shakes things up and makes Brazilian Jiu Jitsu exciting again. I need my mojo back.

I spent some class time and about half an hour after class taking pictures - mostly of people sparring. One of the most pleasurable experiences for me is to be able to give someone a great picture I have taken of them. Taking a good photograph is a real high - for me, I imagine, photography and Jiu Jitsu are similar in that so much of it feels like trial and error. And with both of them I am a somewhat impatient and lazy student - I do not like to study and practice exercises - I just want to wing it and hope for the best. It works often enough to encourage this approach but I imagine with time I will learn to invest some time and energy into a more structured approach. 

Final note - I weighed myself this evening and I was 67 kilos! That is where I need to be - but I am wary as I was 69 yesterday and 70 every day last week - it is absolutely erratic and so I am not going to change anything - I'm going to continue as I have been until next weekend, when I will modify somewhat - but not too much as I am really keen to get down to about 65 and stay there. At any rate, I am stoked - it looks probable that I will fight middleweight.

Defense

Advanced Class tonight with Gustavo and Ollie. Warm up was followed by king of the hill takedowns first and then guard passage - so it was a fairly inactive class for me until about 8:30 when we started sparring. 

It could be my mind playing tricks on me but I imagine that many of the guys are not as willing to roll with girls when it gets close to competition time - they want to roll with guys who are going to test them and toughen them for the big day...maybe, maybe not. At any rate I have to get those thoughts cleared from my head and work with the people I choose to work with instead of making excuses or waiting for someone, anyone, to ask me to spar. 

I worked with a partner I often work with and it is the same story over, and over, and over again: she dominates initially and gets side control, or more often side control in my half guard; then she gets loose while setting up a choke and I escape and get to my knees and then she gets my back and tries to choke me and I escape and turn into her guard or end up escaping and getting side control, only to get swept and then the cycle starts again. I haven't gotten tapped by her lately - that I can remember anyway - but it is still frustrating to get stuck in the same series of moves over and over. I dream of having an offensive game one day!

Randori w/Ollie

As Jude (and others) are in Paris for a no gi competition today he was not here to run the Randori class.

It was a good class, even though I was not feeling super energetic I rolled all but about 5 minutes of the sparring sessions. In trying to get down to Middle fighting weight for Seni I have been cutting carbs and it has made me somewhat weak and tired in training. I am not sure if this is the best way to approach a competition. But seeing as I have the inspiration to cut the weight and I don't really have too much at stake I figure why not go for it? Though I lost 1.5 kilos a couple days into it I have now plateaued there - it should start going down again.

I had in mind for class today to just concentrate on keeping tight and keeping my base - not necessarily in that order. It worked to some degree. I asked a friend to show me how to get out of a submission setup she often gets me in and it was hard to concentrate on what she was telling me - I guess that is why instructors show these things over and over again. Let's see what I can recollect...

1) she starts in side control and moves to north/south position

2) she then pins me down and sets me up for an arm bar - she is essentially pinning me down by sitting on my head and (I guess?) holding my arms and shoulders with her knees/thighs/arms

the first escape is to use my hands and arms to push her back off and away from my head and then to quickly get on my knees - but I have to do that before she gets one of my arms

3) she gets one of my arms and is readying to apply the arm bar

I take my arm from between her legs and brace it (actually brace both arms) against her leg/calf and make enough space to snake/roll to the side and get to my knees, remove my head and take side control - or - (and here I am pretty fuzzy on the logic) if her arm bar is loose, I can work my head from under her leg to the inside and push with it laterally to release the pressure on my arm while I get to my knees - but I need to think this through because it seems like a triangle would be imminent if I did this series of moves...?

I don't think that trying to learn new tricks now will pay off in competition in two weeks time but I would like to concentrate on remembering some sweeps - especially from open guard and to make choke attempts.

More de la Riva Guard

On Thursday night Jude taught us another sweep from de la Riva Guard:

1) you have your opponent in your open guard

2) get a cross grip on your opponents right sleeve with your right hand and a grip on their right ankle with your left hand

3) pull her right arm over your right shoulder causing her to step forward with her left leg

4) let go of your grip on her right sleeve to secure a hold of her left leg, from the inside, securely just above the knee and hold this grip tightly - you are essentially pulling her knee down onto your bicep to keep it away from your body

5) at the same time as you are executing #4 above you want to keep your left leg bent at the knee with your shin pushing against her right inner thigh

6) push and then release with your left leg in order to get your left insole on her right knee

7) push against her right knee with your left leg, effectively sweeping her to your right

You have to be careful with this as you can easily pop the knee of you opponent with this move - best to put your left insole slightly above the knee when pushing to obtain the sweep.

He taught us another technique as well but I cannot remember it! That's what happens when you wait to long to write this stuff down.

De La Riva Guard

I now know what de la Riva Guard is (from first hand experience): the de la Riva guard (named after Ricardo de la Riva Goded - pictured right) is an open guard characterized by one leg being wrapped around your opponents leg from the outside, his ankle held with one hand and the other hand gripping one of his sleeves.

As you will see with the technique we learned tonight that there are variations even on the general description offered above (plagiarized from wikipedia: Guard).

Tonight Gustavo taught us the following sweep using the de la Riva Guard:

1) you have your opponent in an open guard - get a cross grip on his lapel with your left hand

2) get a grip on his left sleeve with your right hand

3) first put your right foot and then your left on his hips 

4) with both feet/legs push him away from you

5) take your right foot off his hips and wrap it around his left leg - holding it with pressure from the top of your foot against his inside thigh

6) to reduce risk of attack your opponent will likely sit/kneel down in your guard on his right knee, and if he does:

7) with the grip you have on his left sleeve - sweep his own arm underneath him (and underneath your own leg wrapped around his leg de la Riva style); then pull him to the right with your right leg while simultaneously pushing with your left leg to sweep him to your right - if you let his momentum carry you - you may well end up in mounted position

8) an alternate if you find you are having trouble sweeping with your left foot on his hip you can move it to his bicep or shoulder for more leverage.

Randori

Randori class, as usual, today. It was a good class and I trained pretty hard. It is nice that I'm feeling more and more a part of the 'family' at the academy. I am flattered that I get asked by higher level belts to spar with them and I am getting better at holding my own with them (not giving up before I've started because I know they can kick my ass with one arm tied behind their backs). It is frustrating that opponents of similar skill level are more apt to attempt submissions; I tap to them less and less as my defense gets stronger but the frustration lies in that I find myself time and time again on defense. With the Gracie Invitational just around the corner, and my considering competing in it, I find myself thinking a little to much, and a little too self-critically, about my game. The thing is that I don't want to just not loose - I want to win.