Mizblog

Class started with Rick doing the warm ups. It was unusual, with a bunch of leg swings (which I really need to practice because that was rough) and running and tumbling. Then we did closed guard stuff. I partnered with Ray, who was chosen as the dummy for the first technique.

Suppose someone is in your closed guard and posturing up with their hands on your belt. You can grip their elbows and pull them in to break their posture by twisting their elbows while pulling with your arms, simultaneously pressuring them with your legs to bring their head down. Then you can slip one of their elbows across your chest and off onto the mat on the side, hip out, and then hip bump them over, keeping heavy on that trapped arm to keep them from getting it free.

If they’re not letting you get their arm over, you can just do a regular hip bump the other way. Or a Kimura or a guillotine.

Once the lesson was done, Coach Mark got up and gave a speech about BJJ progression. Then he awarded Ric his brown belt! We all lined up and threw him on the crash pad. That’s not something you see every day.

The first 2 rounds of rolling, I drilled with Ray. He’s practicing passing from headquarters when the bottom person is wiggling their legs around and making it difficult to get grips. I was practicing guard breaking and getting the knee up to start stapling for the pass. I’m still awkward at that but at least I got some drilling in.

I rolled with Chase (last guy w/o a partner) and I let him work. He was setting up some attacks but I was too heavy and had too much base to really get caught. I told him that if he had my bodyweight he’d wreck me.

Last roll was with Jose, who I gently wrecked. Kimura from closed guard. Americana from side control. I advised him to 1) keep his hands off the mat, and 2) keep his elbows tucked close to his body by default. Lessons I’m still consciously trying to learn.

We did the same pendulum sweep as last time. Cosmo and I practiced it together.

After that we paired up and did back-to-back scrambles. I still can’t believe I was the biggest guy in the class, but I think that’s why I didn’t get destroyed on these. Then we switched to sit-up starts, where I also did okay.

Then we lined up against the wall by size did sumo, going up the line and then back down. I was the biggest so I only had to go once (against Cosmo) and lost easily. Leo won on the way back down. After that we did sumo with shoulder gi grips. I did better against Cosmo but I again lost. The last time we were back to regular sumo, and Greggo was going to see how far he could go against the class, but he didn’t get past Cowboy.

Then coach Mark announced that it was his youngest daughter’s birthday, so we sang “Happy Birthday” for her. After that, Mark gave Dave a stripe on his blue belt. Then Mark left and we rolled. 8 minute rolls!

My first roll was with Dave. He started in my full guard. I tried the pendulum sweep but didn’t quite land it. Needed better momentum to get him over. But I got on top of turtle and pushed him over into side control. He kept getting half guard but I pressured and kept transitioning between mount, side control, and occasionally 1/4 guard. Finally he tapped because he was out of breath and couldn’t get me off the top. He was very complimentary, and for that I’m grateful.

My next roll was with Taco (Jared). He rolled very soft, and I got side control on him, but I let off when we got near the cement. He then got on top of me and arm barred me. I complimented him on how good he is.

I stayed for the last roll and got paired up with Corey. I started in his guard, broke it open, and passed. He recovered half guard a few times and I spent most of the time getting past his half guard. Curtis came in and was coaching him a bit, but it didn’t help. I almost got a collar choke on him but he rolled me to guard, where I failed to finish the choke. Darn. Oh well, we finished with me breaking his posture and him resting.

I left with mat burn on my left foot. That messed up spot above and behind my big toe. Stingy!

Coach Greggo’s Tuesday night class was the first time I’ve done training on two consecutive days, but I felt good and enthusiastic after Monday night’s class so I was eager to get back on the mat. Warm up was typical. Then we got into the technique lesson.

First, Greggo went over the closed guard posture break, collar lift, grip, push the head through, secure the elbow grip and pull it tight. From there, you lift your hips (pushing your opponent away a little bit and pulling your head away from your elbow gripping arm) and, releasing your collar grip (which was apparently only there to control posture) you reach that hand under their legs as you pull them in toward you by squeezing your legs together.

I rolled with Leo, who got me in a wrist lock with me on top of half guard. I rolled with Ricardo, who I destroyed by sitting on his back with his belly flat on the mat. I rolled with Zack, who gave me a chance to work on some moves that I’m not doing well. Still need to work on ways to get out of the turtle quickly.

This was my first and only evening BJJ class at 805BJJ, and it was taught by coach Christian. We had a fun warmup that concluded with berembolo rolls, which was not as hard as I thought.

From there we went into spider guard, where you get sleeve grips and put your feet on the distal ends of the biceps and puppet the guy in your spider guard. You can use these holds as leverage to move your hips.

You can go from there to a triangle by shooting one leg under their arm and across their back. Boom – triangle!

You can also go to the lasso, where you circle your foot outside-in and that gives you great leverage on that arm. You can pull it down while lifting their other arm high, then rock your body to give them roll-over momentum to sweep them and get on top of them in mount. Even if your lasso gives out, you can still use the free leg to trip/lever them over with the puppet arm high.

After that we rolled. I started with Jose, who got to my half guard but I used a butterfly hook to sweep him and collar choke him. Next time I swept him with the move of the day (lasso sweep) and caught him with an arm bar.

Right after that, Curtis called me out. I started in his guard, and almost passed but he defended half guard really well, eventually pushing me to turtle. He guillotined me but got my face, and pressed my bottom lip into my mouth guard and crushing the lip to a pulp. I got my head free, and he adjusted his grip and finished the choke for the tap. After that, he noticed I was bleeding and I told him how he’d done it. I started on the bottom of open guard next, and he tried to push my legs aside and pass, but I GOT A FRAME AND PREVENTED THE PASS! I grabbed his collar and kept him at bay. He ended up just pushing into my frame, so I collapsed it as I rolled under him, letting his momentum carry him over me and I got on top of side control. I was staying heavy and moving well when the time ran out.

Big class on Saturday. All 3 coaches were present for the start of class. We’re still figuring out how to best do the 2 lines across the mat when we do hip escapes or whatever.

I paired up with Mike, the small blue belt who I’ve never seen before. Must have been a Greggo invite? Anyway, he was cool. We did a leg lift sweep, which is mostly like a flower sweep. Start from closed guard, get a cross collar grip and an elbow grip, let go of the cross collar grip and grab the pants leg, then put your feet on the ground while still squeezing with your knees, then lift the leg on the same side as the pants are grabbed. As you lift your leg, it pushes them off the leg you’re grabbing by the pants, letting you lift that up too and roll them over so you can mount them.

Next, Mark intervened and pointed out the detail of posture breaking and getting the collar grip. If you use both hands on the collar and pull down with your legs, you can get them to collapse past their hands which limits their ability to push back up. Lift their collar away from their neck and slip your hand in on the same side, then push their head under your gripping arm to make it a tight cross collar grip.

We then lined up and did a guard pass challenge drill. 5 guys went to spots on the mat, and then the rest of us formed a line to take turns replacing people. I was in the first 5 and I got paired up with Ray. The goal of the drill was to start in closed guard and either pass or get swept. Once that happened, the one who was passed or swept went back to the end of the line and the winner would stay on bottom for the next challenger. Well, Ray and I went for most of the time, and I was working hard for a wrestling double leg or single leg, but Ray defended and I ran out of energy and collapsed, despite Christian coaching me.

I got back in line and next got to go against Curtis. I kept him from sweeping me, then pressure passed him. He went back in line and I got Cosmo Jr. I was toying with him and maintaining guard when the drill ended.

Then we got into groups of 3 and did top bottom out. I was in the group with Matt and Casey. I’d go on top of Casey, and Matt would go on top of me. Well, I hip bump swept Matt once and mounted him, but didn’t try too hard from there because what the heck it’s a guard drill right? I never passed Casey’s guard and he never swept me. Matt did get me in an awkward spot where we got locked up, and I felt how crazy strong that guy is! Also, I got very tired.

When that drill ended, we had to immediately jog a few laps. Then I was toasted. I got off the mat and changed clothes. Coach Mark gave a speech about getting back in shape for the new year and to listen to your body, then he came over to me and complimented my Catmilton tshirt, and told me about a movie I should take my family to see, and that he was glad to see me in class. Thanks, coach.

Back at it on a rainy Tuesday morning. We got an epic warmup session where we had to go all the way down the new long mat. Unfortunately, it narrows at the end so you need to steer and be aware of your surroundings down there.

Coach Mark started us off by showing us how to use the wall for pressure and takedowns. Turn your opponent to put their back into the wall, then press them with your shoulder and head in their torso. Control the hand on the side you’re facing. Get comfortable switching directions, like shoulder pummeling. When it comes time for the takedown, grip your hands together right under their crotch, lift their pelvis while pressing them to the wall, then when you relieve the pressure they go down and you proceed to knee-on-belly. I always got my legs jumbled and had to do a little dance to get into ground position.

Greggo taught the scissor sweep next. Use your legs and whatever grips you can get to break posture. Lift their gi and get a cross grip on the label. Control their arm on the grip side. Squeeze your knees together as you hip out away from your grip/armhold, and slide your knee across their chest toward the grip. Use the grip-side leg to trip them as you pull them into your knee and tip them over.

If they have a wide base and you can’t scissor them over, cock your bottom foot back and use it to push their knee out. Use your top leg as a hook across their body to keep them from re-guarding and also to help you pull yourself on top of them for the mount.

Then I rolled. We started in guard. I got passed a lot. I tapped just about every roll. Learned a bunch though, I think. Didn’t get injured. Success!

First day of training in the new year! They’ve opened up the mat by removing the back room walls, so it’s continuous mat all the way back now, punctuated only by the heavy bag pillars. They keep one heavy bag by the posts, as sort of a pad and a visual cue. It was also very very dirty. I swept up the small back part of the mat, and warmed up before class.

Class started with a nice warmup. Then we did some half guard stuff. Basics are to block the cross face with your frame, and establish the knee shield. From there, slip that top hand to get the underhook as you give up the knee shield. Dive your head down to the belt as you reach your underhook over their back and pull them down, forcing them to put their hands on the mat. From there, our first technique was the OG sweep, where you reach your bottom hand through and grab their far side foot or shin from underneath. Switch your feet so you can lift their trapped foot with your outside foot, and that lets you get your bottom leg out. Get to your knees and push them over that far side foot that you’re still holding to prevent them from basing out.

The second technique started the same way, but in that scenario you’re unable to reach under and grab the foot. So instead you push the far side knee out, grip the pants, and when they try to recover their interrupted base, you hip into them and use the knee grip to lift it as you roll them over you.

Then we rolled. I started with Matt, and I taught him stuff. He showed off his collar grip frame with his fist in my neck, which made it very difficult for me to do anything at all.

Next I rolled with Colt, who’s recovering his back. Good roll. After that we didn’t have partners so we just talked for the final round.

Coach Mark AND Coach Greggo showed up for this one. Greggo warmed us up, and Mark taught us some stuff to do with a whizzer, like pushing the head down and figure-4 gripping while you pop their head down and roll them over onto their shoulder, then get on top. Another thing was to pull them over onto their side and then hip heist over into side control. The very basic move is just to sprawl heavy on the whizzer and use it to take them down and get on top.

Then we rolled for 40 minutes. I rolled with Trevor first. I let him do the move of the day and get on top, then recovered half guard, swept him, passed to side control, and laid on top of him for a minute fishing for his arms.

Second round I went with Priscilla, and I taught her how to get out from under side control. First by recovering guard (hip out, leg through, wrap up guard) and second by rolling them over. She really liked that one.

After that I rolled with Chris, and he submitted me twice with arm locks.

Next was Carlo, who I survived against.

Last was purple belt Joe, who was taking a around off due to exhaustion. I talked to him about stuff, and the next round he was still tired so I asked him to teach me something. He taught me a way to start in someone’s closed guard that makes it really hard for them to close the guard. Combat base, knee up in front, and elbows tight beside the vertical shin. He also showed me how to do a guard break by just pushing the hips while scooting back. He also briefly illustrated a couple open guard passes that are dead simple – grip inside the knee and the lapel; push the knee out while pulling the lapel and they rotate on their butt. If they resist that, you can turn them the other way by crossing your arms with the push and pull. Easy!

Greggo’s pre-competition Thursday morning class started early and informally with discussions and stretching. Then we did the normal running around before shrimping and scooting and rolling across the mats. Then we learned some stuff from the half guard with a hook instead of a knee shield. We used the kimura grip from half guard to sweep and I can’t remember the rest.

Greggo’s Tuesday morning. Last class before Thanksgiving. I felt mostly okay going into this one. The rib is holding up. I might be at 90%. We had a bunch of students who don’t normally train during the day, but school’s out for Thanksgiving for some folks so we even had some kids in the class. Warmup was extended, with the addition of butt scoots and drop steps. The drop steps wrecked my big toes. I think I’m done with those.

Greggo showed the lasso guard, but kind of assumed we knew it and were familiar with it. I was not familiar with it. The first trick he showed was that if you let them pass away from your lasso, you can then use it to roll them over onto their back.

The omoplata was for use when they tried to pass farther out, giving you space to spin under and push their upper arm down with your leg. I had real trouble spinning under. TJ and Andrew were quick to give me advice about momentum and crunching my midsection to reduce friction on the mat.

Then we rolled.

My first roll was with coach Greggo. The rules were: start in open guard, and no submissions the first round. I did a couple good moves but then got confused when he slowed down. He got mount repeatedly and had to prompt me to upa. That was embarrassing. Looks like I was getting ahead of myself there.

Next I rolled with Phil. My open guard sucked.

Then I rolled with Erin. He effortlessly passed my open guard. I tried to get an anaconda choke on him but I couldn’t lock it properly and ended up squeezing his head. I let go.

Next I rolled with Carlo. He showed me a the cradle and we got stuck there. I called for a reset.

After that I rolled with Matt, and did okay until I completely ran out of gas with 45 seconds left. I mean, I wanted to lie down on the mat and let him kill me.

The last round I sat with Cody, who was a new guy and was totally exhausted and didn’t know ANYTHING about BJJ. I went over proper closed guard technique and showed him side control.