Mizblog

Saranya went to 10am kids’ BJJ class. Rolling with Payton, she bent her left wrist back and sprained it. Ouch!

Adult class started with TJ’s standard warm up. I had to step out briefly to hand Saranya off to Sangeeta and recommend urgent care. Then I paired up with Shabbar to do the spider guard drills.

Shabbar does not like it when I try to coach him. Also, he has bad breath, he cheats during drills, and he’s big and strong and skilled and he wrecks me. Still, he’s a nice enough guy. I like him. He had real trouble with the spider guard break, but he could just smash me anyway. One time he told me “Really try to sweep me, so I get a real look at what’s going on here” so I swept him. He scrambled out and my stupid spider guard grips twisted my fingers as he violently pulled away.

Anyway, the techniques.

First we learned how to establish the spider guard, and how to use it to sweep. From the closed guard, get double sleeve grips. Open your guard while pinching at the knees still. Hip out to the side to get the opposite side foot on the hip, and tuck your same side knee under the arm to get that foot on the hip as well. From this position you have a decent open guard, but for real spider guard control you need to move your foot or feet from the hip to the crook of the elbow, then rotate on your side so you can put that leg high up. Pulling their opposite sleeve while elevating the top elbow, you pull them over you while tipping them over, coming on top. As you do so, keep that grip on the top hand, as an advantage toward submission and control.

The spider guard pass we learned first was to grip the pants at the knee so you have control of him too, tip the bottom guy onto his side, and step out so that he doesn’t have that vertical advantage anymore. At range, the spider guard isn’t very dangerous or effective. So you line up their top heel (which is inside your elbow at this point) with your knee (you step out farther than your knee for base and stability) and peel the foot off your arm enough to circle under and plant that leg on the ground, breaking their grip on your sleeve. You then staple that leg to the mat and commence your passing.

We also learned a counter to the lasso guard, which was to stay heavy on it, pull your hand back, then circle it under toward their butt, outside, then up toward their knee to break the grip. Then press the knees to the ground and pass.

That done, we had a spider guard drill. Four guys down, the rest along the wall, filling in as guys became available. I started on Greggo. Spider guard, pass or sweep. Well, Greg went easy on me, and I ended up passing! Then I was down, and I swept two guys with the move of the day, before Shabbar came up and smashed me. Back in line, I was paired up next with TJ. I passed his guard and then Andrew passed mine. Next was Matt. I passed his guard and then Shabbar passed mine again. Lesson learned – I suck at guard retention, but I’m better at guard passing.

Then we rolled. My first round was with Sean, who went very easy after rehabbing a 50% tear of his patella tendon. He tried his mounted triangle on me but I scooted out the back.

Next round was with Ray, who was able to pass my guard like butter, but I was able to keep him from properly mounting me by building the elbow-knee cage and hiding in it.

After that I rolled with Greggo, who slowly and methodically passed my guard, mounted me, and arm triangled me. He showed me that by separating my arm, while maintaining mount pressure and a wide base, he was able to advance to a high mount where I was unable to escape or defend.

Next I rolled with Corey, who had just gotten 2 white belt stripes. He started in my guard, and I managed to tip him to the side and take his back like Greggo showed me on Thursday! He recovered enough so I was just mounting him, but I was eventually able to secure a collar, threaten an arm, and then finish the collar choke for the tap. That was thrilling. My only tap of the day.

Then I rolled with Andrew. He passed my guard, mounted me, and got a high mount that I again couldn’t get out of. I tried the two-on-one arm trap, but I didn’t have the leverage or angle to tip him over. I should have snuck out the back, but on well.

Last roll was with Matt. He started in my guard, so we were both in shitty positions we need to work on. He was able to pass, but I got to my knees and blasted him back. He recovered guard.

I came away with just a little mat burn on my right foot.