Mizblog

Saranya made it to her first adult class today! Hooray!

We went about 25 minutes early, so we could warm up in the small room and Saranya could learn the moves for the big class. We went through running and shuffling, shrimping, reverse shrimping, somersaults, and fall breaks. Coach Greggo stepped in to break down the rolling fall break some more and give us some pointers. It was very helpful. Then he started showing me the butterfly guard sweeps he promised to show me last week. They both involve pinching the hooks and planting the head in the chest to put the guard player’s back to the mat. The first one involves reaching under with one hand to grab one of the butterfly hooking legs and pull it across. This opens that side for the pass. The second one involved unhooking one of your legs by kicking out, and then tucking it under the remaining butterfly hooking leg, allowing you to pull your other one around for the pass, or push the knee down and slide your hips over for the pass. Something like that. We were interrupted halfway through by the Krav Maga folks moving it to the small room, so we continued on the big mat until class started.

Warm up was usual, except that Saranya was in the bathroom. She joined class as we were running around. We did all the warm up exercises that I showed her (except reverse shrimping) and we also did backward rolls, which I forgot to show her. She spoke up and asked Greggo for help though, and he broke it down for her. :)

After doing fall breaks in the warm up, we did synchronized fall break practice. 10 back fall rolls and 10 side fall flops. Then we stood up and practiced snap downs moving backward across the mat. I paired with Greggo and my fingers hurt from the grip. I kept trying to do the Navy finish to the snatch single, but I couldn’t get it right. I kept forgetting to get my head to his chest!

Then we did randori in a chain method. Dave, Tom, Greggo and I went to the small room and did 3 minutes each with rotating partners. Dave went first and kept trying to stick his leg in for a trip. He was not too successful. Tom was next, and when I went with him he headbutted me in the face, right on the bridge of the nose. I saw stars and had to sit out. My turn was next, and I did alright. Got Dave down once countering his wild trip attempt. Greggo eventually got me down. Now my nose is bruised.

Then we circled up on the big mat to learn mount escapes. The key details I picked up was to frame with your hands, get your leg flat on the mat and use it to scoot their foot out on your frame side to disrupt their base, then push their leg to make a hole for your knee to come out, then recover guard or whatever. Again, paired with Greggo for the drill, he taught me some really awesome subtleties.

Then we rolled.

I first rolled with Taco. He started on top, I upa’d him over and stayed on top for the rest of the round. He had good arm and neck defense, but he couldn’t get me off the top of him very well.

Next I rolled with Aaron, who just finished his Krav Maga blue belt test. He’s always elusive. He scissor swept me hard onto my left shoulder and had me evaluating my wellness. Good enough. I survived.

Then I rolled with Colt, who I did okay against. Played a little half guard and he kept trying to coach me the whole time.

Next was coach Greggo, and he walked me through upa, then swept me, then walked me through mount escape from the lesson, then through a back take and choke.

Last roll was with Dave. I got a baseball bat choke locked in and had to dismount to finish it, so I jumped off and spiked my left big toe straight into the mat. Stupid! That was it for me. I sat out the rest of the round until we bowed out.

Saranya sat out all but one of the rounds. She spent that round in side control bottom and was unable to escape. Now she’s on a mission to beat Skyler!

Coach Mark taught this Saturday morning class. I got on the mat at the end of warm ups because of Krav Maga but we got right into a takedown for BJJ – the snatch single. Basically, you grab one leg and pull it to your chest, keeping your ear pasted to their chest and your spine straight and solid. They’ll just stand there on one foot, so you have to take them down. We learned the Navy finish (named because that’s how it’s named in wrestling) where you hook one leg around their raised leg at the same time your back arm seat belts their waist and your front arm reaches between their legs and folds their far knee for them and your head pushes them over.

Next we learned how you can use this in a BJJ situation – when a turtled opponent tries to tripod/quadpod and then stand up. Hook their near leg and seatbelt their waist, then when they go to fight your hands, reach through with your front hand and fold their knee into the Navy finish.

Next we went to the rear naked choke (RNC). Monkey grip their hand/thumb with your helper arm while you spider crawl the killing arm across their throat, cross body control with the top hook, put them on the rack and optionally finish by letting go their helper hand and pushing the back of their head to tighten the choke.

Finally, we learned how to take a guy from turtle to back control while already sinking in this choke. Go from Iowa ride (hooking his near leg with yours) and get a body hug, but with your far arm sinking between his legs and your near hand grabbing his near hand. Pull him toward you to open the far leg for hook insertion, then when you put in the hook you’re free to put that arm around his neck to become the kill arm. Roll him over that way (toward the hook) and you’re in the back control position we were practicing previously.

After that, we rolled. I started with my drilling partner: Colt. He babied me and coached me through the anaconda I locked up on him, so I just let it go. There was no point. He also gave me some wrestling pointers which I appreciated.

Next roll was with Sean, who choked me about 3 times and made me work hard. Can’t remember learning anything there except I hurt my ear again pulling out of a guillotine.

Next was Curtis, who got me first with a slick straight arm bar, then a quick kimura from guard, then a scrambly kimura from bottom half guard just at the end of the round.

Next round I couldn’t find a partner so I just watched.

Last round I went with TJ, who got me in an arm bar that I nearly slipped out of, but couldn’t sink in the move of the day. He’d get me on the rack and I’d turn my shoulders to the mat and ruin his choke.

At the end of class, we just walked around breathing and raising our arms over our heads.

Brandon’s Saturday class was tuned to the five new students on the mat. We did tombstone pad punching and kicking, then we did thai pad combos with kicks. Saranya hurt her back attempting a double leg takedown when Ella sprawled on top of her, but she was alright.

We had three black belts on the mat this Thursday morning – Mark, Christian, and Greggo. Greggo got us running, shrimping, and rolling to warm up. Mark intervened to have us do diving break falls on the crash pad, focusing on using our pinky to make the outer wheel even on the crash pad dive. I did kind of okay.

Then we got together, bowed in, and got a lecture about the 2-foot wide tatami walk vs. the 3-foot wide bridge over a 500ft drop. It’s all in your head.

The first technique of the day was when you turtle and your opponent locks his hands under you from north-south. Grab the hands and roll them over on their shoulder, then switch your hips back the other way and secure side control. I paired up with Brandon Sherman. He kept grabbing me pretty strongly, making it difficult to secure side control at the end.

The next technique was for when they don’t clasp their hands together but instead do the Lego grip. Then you can hip out while raising your outer elbow high (to clear their arm on the exit side), step through with your far leg while also sticking your head through, then rotate your hips back quickly to attack them from the side.

The third attack from turtle was for when they keep their knees too close in front of you. Grab their leg, hug it close to your chest, and push them down over that leg. Then plant your forehead on the mat, tripod up on your toes, and jump your body across theirs into side control. It’s best if you release your grip while your body is in the air, otherwise they can stick you with a strong grip (as Brandon demonstrated to me).

Coach Mark then told us that every warm up will end with us learning to balance on our heads. I tried and I fell to my feet several times, then once I almost fell forward but bent my neck to roll, only I didn’t roll! I collapsed onto my neck before rolling. Oops. Didn’t hurt that bad right away, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

And then we rolled. I started vs. Brandon Sherman. He did the arm drag on me and passed to side control, while whacking my sore ear, but I maneuvered and got a knee in, then shifted to turtle. He maneuvered to try to set something up, but I rotated around and eventually got an elbow to my left eye. Actually right under my eye. Brandon joked that it was right where he was aiming. I joked that it was good Krav Maga. After that we went back to it, I used turtle to take his back (using the second move of the day) and rode him to mount. I tried to pull off an arm bar but he slipped out and got on top before the round ended.

Next round I got called out by Desi and we rolled in the back room. She’s very small and soft, and I got her in side control after fiddling with her legs a bit. She kept getting the knee shield in but eventually I got past it. She was guarding her arms pretty well but I managed to sink in an anaconda choke and mount her for the tap. Next time I pulled guard and immediately swept her, got to side control and got the same choke as before, but I didn’t cinch it up. I let it go and basically let her recover guard. Then I just maintained good posture as she tried triangles and arm bars and hip bump sweeps. I rebuffed them all, and the round ended. She said I did a good job.

Then back on the main mat, I paired up with Dave, whose shoulder is up to 75%. I vowed to leave it alone. I can’t remember much of this roll. I did almost sink a D’arce into his turtle position but couldn’t quite do it. I also never quite took his back. Still, I had him worried a couple times.

Next I rolled with coach Greggo. He did his usual butterfly guard, but this time I tried a pass I learned from Youtube. It worked about 2/3 of the way, and then he gave me trouble. We had a couple scrambles but I always managed to escape, square up, and bottle up his butterfly guard again. He was frustrated by that, and chalked it up to he’s not good at nogi, so I told him I studied up for his style. Then he got excited and started telling me of all this other stuff I can do to attack the butterfly guard. I told him for sure I’d try that on him next time.

Was that all my rolls? Seemed like there were more than that, but we did end 15 minutes early. Coach said it was 30 minutes of rolling but it was just four 6-minute rolls. D’oh! I still had energy left.

Coach Greggo’s Tuesday morning class started with a brief warm up, and then we paired up and got to the six attack sequence from the guard:

1. Kimura on the right arm
2. Straight arm lock on the right arm
3. Arm bar on the right arm
4. Kimura on the left arm
5. Triangle on the left side
6. Arm bar on the left arm

I paired up with Phil, whose ankle is a little tight but it didn’t stop him from getting on the mat. We helped each other through the positions, and it went really well. We both improved greatly. Greggo broke it down to just focus on the first 3, then to just focus on #3 by itself. We worked on just that much for 45 minutes, then we got ready for battle.

My first roll was with Phil. I got on top side control pretty quickly, but he got a kimura grip on my lower arm that I had a lot of trouble escaping. I finally did by rotating around through north-south to the other side, but man that was tight. We had a pretty even, scrambly battle after that.

Next round I sat out. Filled my water bottle, fixed my hair by washing some of the gel out of it in the bathroom, and sucked on the Guu.

Coming back I tapped TJ, who recognized the fact that he’d just battled hard with Greggo and I’d sat out and rested for 5 minutes. I managed to escape all of his submission attempts except for one – an Americana from mount. Wish I’d worked harder from the bottom. I was fending him off a lot but finally gave up when he locked up the Americana. Tapping early is an energy saving mechanism too, I guess.

Next in line was coach Greggo. I spent a lot of time sitting in his open guard. I tried to be very patient and try stuff with him. Well, I ended up turtled and staving off the D’arce. I was able to shuck him off and get back to guard. Then I managed to survive the rest of the round.

Jen was next. I tried some half-hearted take downs and then turtled. Eventually we separated and restarted. I again turtled, then we scrambled and I got side control but with her holding my head. I tried the neck lever escape from that, but she started trying to sweep me that way, so I warned her to watch her neck because if she swept me, I’d be putting all my weight on her head and, since my arms were trapped there, I wouldn’t be able to stop it. So she let go and I let go and we reset. I hope I did the right thing there, rather than just sit in a head lock and wait for her to destroy me, or let her roll me and possibly break her neck.

Next was Pat, who’s a little monster of a black belt. We spent a long time not taking each other down, but every time I got him down he scrambled, got on top of me, passed my guard, mounted me, and submitted me. Beast! Turns out he’s friends with Jimmy Tang from UCLA!

After that was Dave. He had a bum shoulder so I stayed away from the shoulder locks. We had a typical scrambly roll. I ended up in mount, and I decided after a few seconds that I wasn’t going to work too hard to keep it. Dave started moving to get out of it and I caught his arm, then sat into the arm bar position, pried his hands apart and got the tap. It was very interesting because I got the submission immediately after my decision to not force my position on top.

Last was Brendan. We had fun with the knee takedown stuff. Especially entertaining was when I tried to grab his head and he ducked under and took me down, prompting me to say “Shit!”. Anyway, we had a good roll. Back and forth. With about 30 seconds left, I got him in a guillotine from closed guard. I was going for the kimura and the hip bump (I’ve gotten him with both of those before) but this time he was defending them pretty well so I grabbed his neck. I may have been cranking his neck a bit, so sorry Brendan. I’m not that good at the guillotine. With 20 seconds left in the round, I hurried to restart, but just turtled. Brendan was incredulous that I’d want to roll for 20 more seconds. I still had energy! I hadn’t been smashed hard under bigger guys the whole time, and when I was on bottom, I conserved energy pretty well, looking for an opportunity to explode and escape.

KM106 ended 5 minutes early, and I was already wearing my knee pads and shorts for nogi BJJ, so I was lined up in time for class start. The mat was filthy after Krav Maga class.

We did a quick warm up and then we learned how to attack the turtle. Keeping your weight on the head/neck in the north-south orientation, it’s important not to clasp your hands around the turtle. That would allow the turtle to roll you and end up on top. Instead, adopt “Lego” position, which involves turning the hands/fingers back toward you next to the head. Keeps you from being tipped.

So coach Mark taught us the anaconda, which involves shooting your forearm between the neck and arm, then out beneath the far armpit. Lock that up with a RNC grip, tip their head to the mat, and walk to fold their head into their bellies.

Then a guest purple belt taught us the D’arce choke, whereby you reach one hand into the turtle between neck and hand, and the other reaches through below the far arm pit. Clasp the hands and push them out next to the head, so the top arm can make a bar behind the neck. Use this bar to dump them over their shoulder while you stay on your knees. Reach your bottom hand through and grip the RNC grip, then step over to mount in order to finish the choke.

Then we learned about the C-dump. I don’t know what the wrestling term is for it, but you get a C-grip on the neck of the turtle, reach your other hand under the arm pit and grip your C-grip’d wrist, then push their head down to dump them over their shoulder. From there, you can sit back into kesa gatame.

Then we learned a shoulder lock from kesa. Get the elbow at a 90 degree angle, then reach under and S-grip your fingers. Pull for the tap. I never felt good about it.

Then we learned the head and arm choke from kesa. If you can get their seatbelt arm across their face, trap it with your head and get your headlock arm’s elbow snug to the neck. Grip your headlock arm with your other hand somehow and walk your hips away from them to tighten the choke.

We also learned how to take the back from side control. Get a kimura grip on the far arm and use it to turn the person on their side. Move toward their head, and take your bottom leg and windshield wiper it right under their side, then pull them up onto you with that arm as you slide the windshield wiper’d leg under and around them for the hook. We practiced it and it was pretty disastrous.

Then we rolled.

I started my roll with Corey, who’s been training Krav Maga for the last 8 years or so, and is a brown belt. We started pretty slow, and I was able to make him uncomfortable in my guard, and then sweep him. He’s new to BJJ. I let go of a guillotine that I wasn’t sure how to finish without cranking his neck.

Next I rolled with Matt. He’s getting really good. He was attempting the moves we learned in class. He was able to mount me but I immediately upa’d him. Good fight.

After that I rolled with Andrew, who is also getting really good. He immediately smashed me in half guard, eventually passing to side control. He put some good pressure on me in kesa, but I rolled him. He attempted to roll me again but got stuck holding my head and eventually let go out of mercy for my neck, similar to what I did with Corey. Team!

I sat the next round out until Cowboy couldn’t roll anymore due to exhaustion. Then I jumped in real quick against Sean, and managed to not get submitted for 2 minutes because I was slippery.

Last round I went with Matt again, and he again tried moves from class. The dude is getting good faster than I am, that’s for sure. He’s easily as good as I am now.

Curtis’ Saturday morning class saw him running on reduced sleep after a bounty hunt in Compton last night. He started us running and kept us running for 5 minutes. We did about 15 minutes of warm ups before we got to hammer fist drills. I was in a group with Susan and new guy Scott. I hit the pad so hard that my pinky finger knuckle injured my ring finger knuckle. Then we did a stress drill with hammer fists only.

Last we did gun defense from the side, front of the arm.

Started on the mat with just me and Rick as students, and Greggo teaching. Oh shit.

Stragglers started arriving as we did our warm up. Chris showed up, as did Eric and Ras. Also a couple of cops came in looking like pro MMA fighters. Oh shit.

Techniques demonstrated were half guard sweeps. Get the underhook and staple your shoulder/head to the top person’s chest. Then you can scoot to the side, switch feet and pull their trapped leg out to wreck their base, and then either get their back or tip them over and pass their guard. You may also be able to roll them over you.

Anyway, after that we rolled. I paired up with Ras first, and he calmly crossed his arms in front of his chest and sat down. Anything I tried to do, he weathered. Then when I got frustrated or bored, he’d come after me and make me move.

Next roll was with Rod, the bald MMA fighter looking guy. I actually did pretty well against him, though I’m sure he went easy on me because I’m old. I managed to recover my guard rather a lot.

I sat out the next round, then paired up with Rick. He sub’d me about 4 times before he just started giving me pointers.

Then I rolled with Brendan, who’s the new college student and who’s been doing BJJ for about 2 years on and off. Probably about the same amount of experience I have. I caught him in a kimura, which he didn’t recognize until I named it. I told him a few techniques you can hit when sitting up and reaching over a planted arm, and he was fascinated.

Then was Chris, who just started giving me pointers to enter his seated guard. Thanks, buddy. I’ll use that against you! He still got me in a good sweep though, and the landing hurt my left floating rib, which sticks out farther than my other ribs, and which I landed on. I’m okay though. I found myself continually turtling and getting D’arce choked. Guess that was last night’s class lesson. :P

I was about to roll with Eric, but Greggo had us line up and ended class 5 minutes early instead.

I came in a half hour early to warm up. TJ said I looked slim, but it was just the rash guard holding everything in.

I went in the room and warmed up slow. I also practiced some break-fall rolls in my rash guard, until TJ and his Krav Maga class took it into the back room. Cosmo and I swept the big mat with damp brooms, then lined up, bowed in with coach Greggo, and did our standard warm up.

Then we circled up and got into no-gi side control bottom escapes. The first was against the over-under position. Frame and push them toward your hips, then you can shrimp out and bring your knee in to recover guard. If they go under-over, you can again frame them and push them down toward your hips, then hook your leg over their head to push them down and get back to guard. From kesa gatame, you can push them down against your upraised knee, then when you remove it and hip out, their back support goes away and you can get up on kesa gatame!

Then we learned how to control the back with over-under control, tucking the head to the under side.

Then we rolled. I started with Daniel, who has a very crafty guard. Working without the gi is tricky. Next was Rick, who pressured me and submitted me eventually a couple times. Then Greggo, whose knee went out once before submitting me. Then TJ, who submitted me but said I get harder to roll with every time. Then Cosmo, who got on top of me and smashed me for the entire time. Then Daniel again, and we spent a good amount of time cuddling in guard. Then Greggo again, who just about broke me in half and then choked me out.

By the end, we had left lakes of sweat on the mat (usually the gi’s soak up a lot of it, I guess) and we were pretty tired. I know I was!

I got on the mat after KM105 just after the circle run. Finished the warm ups and coach Mark sent us to just roll. Ten 5-minute rounds. First round 50% I went with Shabbar (strategically – 50%!) and he dominated me pretty well. His knee on belly pressure is intense.

After that it was full combat. I rolled with Matt, and it was a good battle all the way through. His hip mobility has improved greatly.

I took a round off after that.

Next was Sean, who tapped me repeatedly. Effortlessly.

After that I rolled with Richard (big blue belt) who wrecked me in half guard. He gave me some pointers.

The next round we ended up together again, and he locked me down in half guard some more.

Last round I paired up with Desi. She’s a little orange belt. I went really slow, and she smartly played an open guard. She tried a scissor sweep on me, and I told her she needed to pull my weight over her more to break my posture before it would work. Later she tried the waiter sweep, and again I reminded her to pull me forward to get my weight over her to roll me over. Then in side control I tried the chewjitsu sweep I saw on youtube yesterday. It was rough, so I asked if I could try it again. I explained what I was doing, and the second one landed her slowly on her head before she flopped over. We continued rolling and she got me in kesa gatame, so I reached behind to grab her belt, shrimped my hips next to hers, and rolled her over again. I explained what I did to her, and she thanked me for the tips.