805BJJ Class 139: guard passing, rolling

Greggo taught this Tuesday morning class. I came in a little early to find two pairs of students rolling around wrestling with each other, holding tennis balls in their hands. I got into the 2nd round vs. Chris, and immediately he dropped a ball. Then I dropped a ball. Damn. It made grips not very useful so we had to use other control mechanisms. Chris got my leg and twisted me over, but I don’t think I got injured. We’ll see…

The lesson was passing the guard. It started with collecting the lapels and gripping them, pulling the neck off the mat as you tuck your elbow down to their hip. The other side grips the pants at the hip (as I learned later, you have to grip close to the leg to put pressure on the hip). The pass involves you stepping back with your far-side foot and pushing the knee down to the mat. The added detail is that you back away to force their legs farther apart, and it makes the subsequent knee slice much more difficult to defend. The knee cuts across the opponent’s opposite hip and comes down to the mat right next to their hip and you secure side control.

The next lesson was standing to pass. Step up on the side you have the lapel grip, and stand to let them hang off of you until their guard opens. Then you immediately step your foot opposite your lapel grip back to avoid their gripping for a takedown, and you get your elbow connected to your forward knee inside their knee asap. Pass according to what they give you.

The next lesson was how to counter the takedown attempt where the guard player opens their guard, drops their hips, grabs your ankles, and tries to take you down backwards. The idea here is that you squat low and get a two-handed lapel grip on them, using that as reins to stabilize yourself as they try to push you back. It feels like you should be standing a little farther back. To pass from there, you get one hand tucked behind the leg and put it across to grip the collar above your opposite lapel grip, and cinch their knee pit up to your neck pit and force their knee into their face. Then reach your other hand around to hook their other leg as you drive forward to stack them. They’ll either tap or break or let you pass.

We also learned how to counter the unnamed takedown when the guard player drops and grabs your ankles and pushes you back on your ass. When you fall, squeeze your knees together and push your hips up. This keeps them from popping up and coming over the middle to mount, and also collects their legs right there in front of you. So you grab one of their ankles and straight arm it so it extends up in the air. This gives you space to do a technical stand up and come up on top.

To counter this counter and actually get the takedown as the guard player, you need to move and adjust your position and angle, trying to unbalance the top guy, and when they do go over, grip their lapel or neck to come up with them to get mount.

Then we did a guard passing gauntlet. I didn’t once use the techniques of the day, but I did pass Jared’s guard once. Mostly he swept me.

Then we rolled. Pretty competitive with Chris, who I wore out. Jared destroyed me. I did whatever I wanted to Derek. Then Jared destroyed me again. Fun times. I never did attempt any of the day’s techniques.

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