Weigh in in 4 hours

So late last week I decided to register for my first tournament. I was 7 lbs over my desired weight class, and a crazy work schedule that would make it tuff to drop the weight. I registered at my walking around weight (heavy weight) and waited patiently until the brackets were released. Then I made my 2nd dumb mistake (my first was waiting so later to decided to compete). I Googled the guy I was fighting. He is a cock strong, former olympic trials competitor with serious wrestling. So on Wednesday (2 days ago), I requested to drop weight classes. So in addition to cramming for my first ever tournament by stealing training hours wherever I can get them, I also had 2 days to drop a little over 5 lbs.

In my week of preparation, in addition to working 60 hours at my job, I squeezed in 9 hours of Jiu Jitsu and 5-6 hours of cardio, all while starving myself. I am now about 1.5 lbs away, which I should be able to sweat off in the sauna before weigh in, in a few hours.

I have not logged most of my training this week, because I have had very little downtime. In short, today we focused on proper positioning from the bottom spider guard. We covered how to pull the opponent back to you with the ankles to the thigh, push them away at the hips, grips on the sleeve, and positioning of the legs on their arms. We learned how to shift our legs as your opponent tries to pass as well as 2 sweeps, if your opponent leaves their foot in arms reach.

Yesterday we covered kimuras from bottom guard along with a bottom guard sweep. We also went over taking the back after a kimura attempt. After class, I worked on guillotines from the same position. I did almost 6 straight hours of some form of training, without only about a 20 minute break midway through.

Anyway, I am as ready as I will ever be.  update to come.

To make maters worse, today we worked almost exclusively from the spider guard, and being on the losing end of 30+ spider guard sweeps has my back very tight. I am extremely appreciative to everyone who has been working with me, giving me the extra attention, advice, and training hours I need to be ready tomorrow morning.

Takedown city

Considering I am participating in my first tournament this weekend, and I have only worked on takedowns once, I REALLY needed this class. 

We started with some amazing solo drills using body kick pads. We performed side control transitions, knee on belly drills, and more. Next we practiced a solo drill for a collar takedown. Start off with your arm extended at a right angle (this is your imaginary collar grip). With your opposite leg, take a step back to the same side and your extended arm. Next step your forward leg inside of your opponents imaginary leg and bring that knee to the mat and you reach for their other leg with your free arm.

Next we worked on real takedowns. The first was  the real version of the takedown above. Then we performed another takedown using a collar grip with one hand and  a sleeve grip at the elbow with the other. Rotate your collar gripped hand to the outside. The sleeve gripped arm should have your elbow out as if you are checking the time on a watch. Next in one motion, rotate your collar grip inside, tuck the elbow of the sleeve grip, and step your inside leg across both of your opponents legs. You should at least end up in side control.

The last takedown we worked on is intended to be used when opponents  are extending their arms and tucking their butt out, facing you square. Inexperienced opponents do this to keep you away from their legs. When this happens, grip their collar at the chest, step out to the same side of the grip. Hook your inside leg and reach form the opposite leg with your free arm. The will fall side ways, leaving you in side control. 

Both the North South armbar and kimura were so poorly executed by me that I do not believe it is fair for me to explain it. I will try to find videos.

Regarding the tournament this weekend. I made the mistake of googling my first opponent when they posted the brackets. I wasnt nervous till I saw I was going up against a former wrestling champion. Lesson learned. 

More gi chokes

From bottom guard, get a cross collar grip by sliding your hand along the collar as if it were a race track. Make sure you reach for their tag at the back of their gi. Slide your other arm under your cross gripped arm and grab the collar as high as you can get it. It is not necessary to get a deep grip. My goal is to grab the collar right where my knuckles will put pressure on their carotid  artery, however you can pull this off with a much lower grip. Rotate your fists, as if you are performing a wrist curl (this step is extremely critical in the success of your choke). Next lift your body as high as you can get while pulling your arms out in a scissor motion. Imagine you are cutting off your opponent's head. 

 The first choke in this vid is perfect

In the event your opponent tucks their chin when you get the deep cross collar grip, you will be unable to execute the standard variation. With their chin tucked, their head will be tilted downward, leaving enough room for you to reach over their shoulder with your free hand, and get a grip of their gi at the shoulder (it does not need to be the collar). Next, bring your arm over their head so that you have an arm on either side of their head. This will now resemble the standard variation except  that the deep grip is now on the bottom. Next, kick your hips out, positioning your body to the side of the shoulder grip. As weird as this might seem, imagine you are shaking out a dirty rug and shake your grips up and down. Eventually your opponent will allow you to sink the 2nd grip under their chin, at whihc time you lock in the submission. 

today was by far my best sparring day. After 5 5 minute rounds, and 60 minutes of technique training, I still had plenty of energy. I demonstrated good mastery of the techniques discussed in class, and was very effective in my submission defense. 

Another great foundations class

Today we worked on a simple, yet effective way to break the closed guard, followed by 2 ways to transition into side control once the guard is broken.

While in someone closed guard, glue your opponents hips to the ground with your arms by grabbing their gi pants. Do not go for their belt as that can move. Next, stick your knee under their butt and turn your other leg outward towards their foot. Make sure your posture is good, and you are looking up. As you extend your leg, jam your elbows into their thigh and the guard will break.

Now that the guard is broken, grab the gi pants at the knee of the leg in front of you. Force that leg to the ground, while sliding your arm under the opposite leg. Jame your shoulder into their belly and hop your outstretched legs over the controlled leg into side control. Once you get over, place your outside knee against their thigh to prevent them from rolling. This will also free up your grip from their pants, which can now be used to underhook their neck. You can either leave your knee as is, or for greater control, slide your arm under their legs and get a grip on the pants on the opposite leg.

The other guard pass variation involved the same setup, however instead of rotating over the leg, you stack their other underhooked leg against their chest and rotate to the side of the stack.

NEWSFLASH: I finally get it

After 15 minutes of rolling, something clicked. I realized a minute aspect of my game that changed everything. I noticed that when I am on my back, I always stayed flat. Never changed angles. The moment I made a conscious effort to not remain flat, I was suddenly no longer an easy roll. I was able to get my legs under my body for transitions, execute more effective sweeps, and essentially survive longer and be more aggressive.

Today's class focused on 2 open guard sweeps that result in knee on belly.
In the first variation, my feet are on my opponents hips, I am control of their gi at the wrist, and have positioned their arms near the ground, outside my legs, putting pressure on their bicep with my shin. I then swing one of my legs to the opposite side of their hip across their body. Your opponent will naturally want to rotate towards the opening generated by the leg shift. When they do so, underhook their knee, shift their weight on top of you, then sweep then, ended up with knee on belly.

In the second variation, you will perform the same steps, however before moving the leg across their body, you will straighten your other leg, bring it over their arm from the outside, and hook your ankle upder their arm pit. While executing the sweep, you may have to push their arm out from under you to avoid the bicep cutter.

Today was my most productive day rolling and was not and easy out for anyone.  Defensively, I made sure I kept my arms in and close to my body while on the bottom. At no time did I find my limbs in a compromising position, however my neck was another story. I got caught in a couple of gi chokes and one guillotine.

A bit of redemption in my Foundations class

I needed a great class today after feeling down about yesterday's class. It was only a Foundations class, so we focused on a smaller scope of technique. Today we focused on proper bridging and ways to utilize it with a trap and roll from bottom mount and transiting from bottom side control to half guard.

In both techniques the bridge needs to be over one shoulder and not straight up. In the trap and roll, you do not have to control the arm before bridging, but you need to time the trap so that it occurs right when you try to sweep, to prevent your opponent from posting. Your free arm should almost punch over your opponents back for momentum.

From side control, the bridge is primarily used to create space. Most likely your opponent will have an underhook of your inside arm. Your free arm should try to go under their necks and either graps the opposite shoulder or gi. This puts incredible pressure and create a little space. Next you bridge and either control their hip or knee with your underhooked arm. When the time is right, pull back off of the bridge and shrimp your knee in to half guard.

We rolled after class and I did a decent job despite taking a hour long kickboxing fitness class and 60 minutes of BJJ before starting the roll. I did a good job of conserving energy and utilized several of the techniques I learned that day. 

Rolling is Fun-damental

Another great Fundamentals class today. I took the 10am kickboxing class and immediately followed it up with BJJ. We worked on closed guard techniques. We started with simple posturing  from the top and hip control from the bottom. We then went on to taking advantage of their posturing by sweeping with their momentum.Next we worked on Kimura's from the closed guard, including ways to set up the Kimura, and finished the techniques portion of class with  a sweep from the Kimura.

After 60 minutes of training, we rolled for another 30. I was an observant the last 2 rounds of rolling. I guess my cardio limit was at 135 minutes of constant training. None the less, I see progress in many areas (sweeps, posturing, bottom closed guard) and not so much progress in other areas ( hip control, shrimping, giving up my back). I have a much better understanding of the importance of rolling as well as studying. I use to watch as much video as I could consume, and wasn't making nay progress. Now I simply use videos to reinforce techniques I learned training. My rolling has helped me learn timing, pacing myself, and energy conservation. Not to mention the fact that it makes me more and more comfortable to find myself in compromising positions. I am no longer an easy tap in an armbar, nor am I finding myself getting setup for subs as much. I wish I could say I was on the winning end of more subs.
That will come with time. This is only my 9th class.

 I think I will focus on strength and core exercises tomorrow and skip BJJ.

The only advice I am qualified to give

The general consensus on the blog-a-forumsphere is that after learning 1 technique, you are a full fledged internet adviser on all that is Jiu Jitsu. I have only been at this 2 short months, and have only scratched the surface of this massive, lifelong chess game that is Jiu Jitsu. I am in no position to tell someone what they need to do to be successful. As soon as I seem to think I am getting too big for my britches, an 18 year old day 1 student with a wrestling background, becomes 1 camera phone short of a Youtube sensation with the number of submissions he got me into in 4 short minutes of rolling(true story).  But there is 1 piece of advice I feel that I am qualified to give.

3 weeks ago, my gym added a Foundations course to their BJJ schedule. I didn't find  out about it until earlier this week, and today was my first class. During a typical "normal" class, we learn 2 or 3 techniques, that include a handful of variations. Those techniques will start in a certain position and will either be the result of a counter to an opponent's action, or a specific action I take that will eventually lead to a submission.  It's a dance. Step 1, 2, 3, 4, submission.  The foundations class, however, does not look at the the series of moves to complete the dance. Rather, it analyzes each move independently. It ensures that you know all of your options from a specific position. It helps you understand what your goals are. 

During today's class, for example, we focused on side control. We discussed ways to hold the position, transition, defend, and sweep.  Where in a previous normal class, we learned  an armlock from side control, we didn't discuss getting to that position, holding it, and how to be successful at it. We merely learned that if we happen to magically appear in side control, and your opponent happens to reach for your wrist that is controlling his neck, you can do very specific movements, and maybe achieve a submission. While that is great for someone who has a few hundred hours of training under their belt, and would like to add just 1 more move to their arsenal, the new guy's find themselves at a huge disadvantage. Sure as a noob, your loving the fact that you just learned that cool new kimura, but if you factor in the % of opportunities that will present themselves to use that one move, and the use-it-or-lose-it rule that decreases our chances of executing it effectively as we let our muscle memory fade over time, you realize that you could have gotten more bang for your buck if you spent that time learning that new fan-geld trick, learning some fundamentals instead. 

Every Fundamentals class will focus on a position, and not a technique.  You will find yourself in someone's guard all the time. Understanding what your primary 3 roles are as well as what your opponent's primary roles are, will go a lot further than wishing your opponent does the one thing that will maybe allow you to try to put them in an americana. As a defender, you learn how not to lose that guard. How to position yourself in a way that limits your opponent's opportunities, and puts you in a position to become an aggressor. Fundamentals are the key to success for any new Jiu Jitsu student. Sure I still plan on attending regular classes (there is currently only 1 Fundamentals class offered), but I have every intention of attending Fundamentals, until my fundamentals become second nature. And I would advise every single other noob to do the same. 

Great class today

In today's class, we continued to build on the arm drags from Saturday. We started with 3 varitions of an arm drag to leg take-down and 1 counter to the arm drag take-down attempt. The last technique we covered was a continuation to the closed guard arm drag sweep from last class. We worked on 3 finishing moves for that sweep.

For the first variation of the take-down, you attempt the arm drag of their rear arm, but your opponent pulls away. You then drop down and grasp their front leg and squeeze their knee between your legs as you drive your head into their chest and turn your opponent 45 degrees towards you. When the take-down is complete, you should land in side control.

Variation #2: Same as above but when you drop down, you grab both legs at the knees and turn 45 degrees. Should land in side control.

Variation #3: Same as variation #2 but when you grab both legs you squeeze them together, pin their arm against their body with your head, and they fall straight back mounted by you.

Counter: As your opponent goes for the arm drag and places their head in your chest, you quickly push off of their shoulders and move your body so that their head is outside your body. With your opposite hand, reach over their back and grab their belt and your free hand hooks their knee. Sit down and your momentum will cause you to roll your opponent and you land in mount.

For the closed guard arm drag sweep, we discussed 2 submissions that can be performed instead of sweeping. For the first one, once we have their arm locked  around their head, you make a weak attempt to trap their free arm. They react by pulling it back, giving you and opening to bring your leg over his shoulder for a triangle. Slide out your hips to gain leverage for a triangle.

See this technique here:

For the second submission, your opponent tries to pull back to avoid the triangle. As they do, they leave their trapped arm vunlerable for an arm bar. Simply grasp their wrist with both hands, bring your leg over his head so that both legs are sepearted by the trapped arm. Squeeze your legs together, and lift your hips for the sub.

While sparring today, I had my most productive experience yet. I did an excellent job of conserving energy and executed several trap and roll sweeps. I focused on keeping my hooks in and trying to control my opponent's posture.  While rolling with a new guy, I was able to assist him with his breathing and also demonstrated the trap and roll that I managed to execute against him at will.

I did run into issues when sparring with a purple. He appeared to seemlessly slide out of my guard (specifically the half guard) and then he would transition to a knee on the belly from side control. I couldnt seem to find a way to escape that knee and even tapped a couple of times because I could not breathe.

I am extremely excited by progress and hope to continue building on this experience. For now, I am going to focus on refining what I learned this week to make sure those techniques are engrained in my brain.

What a drag

In class today we worked primarily on  2 types of arm drag sweeps and 4 variations of am arm drag take-down. I personally worked on my breathing and energy conservation. I didn't get gassed until the end of my 4th sparring session. The 4 take-downs all started with grasping the same side wrist and locking the back of the elbow with the other hand. It took me 8 or 9 tries to realize that I was not supposed to pull the opponent to me. Instead, I was supposed to step in, in order to maintain balance.

Take-down 1: Grasp the wrist with the same side hand (grabbing the forward hand of the opponent). Grasp the back of their elbow with your opposite hand and step into the opponent. As you go for the take-down, put your head int their side, under the grasped arm, and drive forward (football tackle) as you release the wrist grab and go for their ankle. Main control of their arm with the other hand. You should end up in side control or half guard.

The take-down is similar to this but not exactly.

Take-down 2: Same as variation #1 except you hook their leg and sit down.

Take-down 3: Same as variation #1 except you drop straight down, maintaining their arm until you get to the floor. Now in one motion, transition from the wrist grab, to locking their leg and arm, then drive forward.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elQUepOQ4Gc

Take-down 4: Same as variation #3 but grasp both legs during the transition.

Butterfly arm drag sweep: Your ankles are locked inside your opponent's thighs.Your opponent is grasping your gi and you have a grasp of their wrist. Switch your grasp to your opposite hand and take the same side hand and place it under their arm, as close to your hand as possible. Perform a hip thrust while simultaneously pulling their arm free and pulling your outside leg outside their body.  Guide their free arm over your shoulder and lock your outside arm around their neck. Do not release their arm as it is extended over your shoulder. Next transition their arm to your hand over their shoulder and pull tight  to your shoulder. With your free inside hand, grab inside their thigh and swing both legs over to the opposite side like a helicopter. If you don't get the sweep, your probably did not pull their arm into your shoulder.You will end up mounted.

Closed guard arm drag sweep:  The opponent's posted on your chest or grasping your gi. Grasp their wrist with the opposite arm and with your same side arm, grasp the same side elbow and hip thrust to release their hold while pulling their arm across your body. Shrimp your hips out (you can push off their hips with your outside leg). Now reach over their back and lock your wrists for over under control. If your opponent goes flat you can get their back.

Kinda like this but you grasp the elbow:

While sparring, I wanted to work on my closed guard game, so I tried to pull guard most of the time.  I did well as long as my guard was closed. The minute I opened for a sweep or shrimp out, my opponent would pass. I managed to pull off a few good sweeps from my back (which I am proud of) but did not have the technique to seal the deal. Overall this was my favorite and most productive session.

Flying Armbar and Windmill Sweep

Today's class was an interesting one. We started with the Flying Armbar and then the Windmill Sweep in the event that the opponent has strong posture and prevents the armbar. We warmed up with 20 backwards falls, in which only 50% were applied correctly (thus my aching back). We drilled the Flying Armbar and Windmill for another 40, of which I was dropped twice (again with the back). I dTowards the end of the drilling, my partner suggested that I throw my hips back as I jumped, which allowed me to wrap my hips on and angle instead of perpendicular to my opponent. That seems to work better.

The last 20 minutes of class were spent sparing. There was no mercy for me today as my first sparing opponent was a blue, then a pro MMA purple, and then a female blue. I realized  that despite all the websites indicating that BJJ is the great equalizer for the weak, strength does play a huge factor. Against the purple, he pulled guard immediately  and figured I would tap on a quick triangle. I kept my head down and he wasn't able to get the lock. I then overpowered his wrist and held it flat on the mat. I locked in the Americana purely by strength but my inexperience caused me to roll the wrong was and he was able to take my back. My stamina is slowly improving, but I am still struggling with patience and energy conservation. 2 of my 3 sparring partners had to remind me to breath.

Being so new, I need to focus on defensive drills and sweeps rather than locks and subs. Since I busted my unhealed knee open for the 3rd consecutive class, I will take the holidays off from BJJ training to allow myself to heal and study more defensive moves. I did effectively utilize some wrist control and leg hooks that I picked up on the internet, so I would have to say that my self study dilemma may have worked itself out (i.e. Is it worth studying techniques on the internet?).

Flying Armbar
While standing, grab your opponent either at the elbow (preferred) or wrist. With your other hand, grab your opponents collar or the back of the neck. Jump up and lock your ankles above your opponents waist. It helps to thrown your hips out. Now toss the leg that is on the same side as the arm grip over your opponents head. This motion should take your opponent to the ground where the armbar can be locked in. In the event that your opponent has strong posture, apply an inside hook around your opponents leg using your other arm (the one that is not being used for the armbar). Now pull the knee toward you and your opponent will fall to the ground inside your guard. If you lose the armbar, proceed to the windmill sweep below.

Windmill Sweep
This sweep works well after a failed flying armbar attempt because you already have the required hook in place and possibly still have control of the opposite arm.
To perform the Windmill Sweep from the bottom full guard, control one of your opponents arms either via armdrag, elbow lock, or wrist control. Basically you just want to make sure that arm cannot be used to stop the sweep.  Swing your hips out towards that arm, creating space between your opponents leg and your other arm. Now apply an inside leg hook with your free arm. Now propel your opposite leg (the one that is on the same side as the arm control, towards your opponents leg to gain leverage, then quickly back down to the ground. As you are on the downward motion, pull the locked leg towards you. Your opponent will roll on his back and your momentum should allow you to follow for the mount.

"Posture up. Posture up. Posture the &$#* up!"

Tonight I will be having nightmares of being suffocated by an anaconda in the Amazon rain forest, because I refused to "look up at the ceiling" while in his guard, I mean grasp.

Today's class was  relatively simple. At least from a technique standpoint. Half the class we worked on escaping the closed guard by standing up. Sounds easy right? And by all means, it was pretty easy. All we had to do for the first variation was to grasp the lapel and wrist, bring 1 knee up at a right angle, then the other, and stand up. Next release the hand that was on the lapel and pressure the knee open, it is not already open. The key to it all is posturing up before starting. I must have been told 20 times to look at the ceiling. But my natural instincts kept telling me to look at what I was doing. It wasn't until the last few minutes of practicing that it finally sank in. Better late than never.

Variation #2 was the exact same way, but without grabbing the lapel. It involves less effort, but also a little more arm strength from the arm grasping your opponent.

Today was the first time I sparred with a blue (2 in fact) as well as my first time sparing with a pro mma (one of the blues). I managed to lock in the kimura on him once but the bell rang before the tap. He also got me to tap from 3 armbars (seems to be a recurring theme) and 1 triangle. I fared a lot better during my last sparing session with a 2 stripe white. I managed a full guard sweep to a guillotine.

I ended up sitting out the last 15 minutes of sparring because I busted open my knee again. This time it severely stained my brand new white gi pants. I think this is going to be a trend because it keeps splitting open in a scar from reconstructive knee surgery 7 years ago. Note to self, wrap my knees every class.

Overall this was my best class yet. I am loving every minute of it.

Butterfly guard passes

So today's class focused on passing the Spider Guard as well as defending against the pass. The 2 primary techniques we worked on focused on transitioning to side control.

Butterfly Guard pass variation #1:
Drive your head int your opponents sternum, turning to face one side. Use your hands to control your opponents hips and keep your body pressed hard against their feet. On the same side that you are facing, push your knee as far forward as it can go and join your elbow to your knee. Now cartwheel up and over to the side opposite your face.

Butterfly Guard pass variation #2:

Your opponent is in the seated butterfly guard and is bear hugging you. You want to use your head to force them to the mat and also get your arms inside theirs. You then want to prop yourself up on your toes and drive their knees to their chest. You then force open their guard with your hands on one knee. This should cause the hook to release. If not, get your legs straighter and higher. Now swing both legs over your opponents side that has the released hook. You should now be in side control. 

It is pretty obvious by my explanation of variation 2, that I still do not fully understand it. I have also not found a video that covers this technique. The video below is the closest I can find. 

I still need to work on my stamina. I did better than my first class but was still gassed after 5 minutes of sparring. I also received my first 2 injuries. I have a bruised right bicep that I have no idea how I obtained, and a skinned knee from landing incorrectly on the cartwheel pass.

Day 1

So for my first day of class, I was nervous as heck, but that all went away when I was put into my first Kimura from the closed guard. After about 10 min of warmups, and 2 wardrobe malfunctions (aparently the pants don't tie in the front), I was ready to get started.

We worked on Armbars from the mount, Kimura from the closed guard, and 3 kimura defense techniques. The last 20 min of class was dedicated to sparing, so I figured I would be sitting that out. Boy was I wrong. master Jim told me the best way to learn is to get my butt kicked, so I was tossed into the mix.

I started out using all my muscles on the top guard, trying to prevent a roll. Having little knowledge of leverage and weight distribution, I was gassed after 90 seconds.

I throughly enjoyed my first class and look forward to my next one on Thursday. I have decided to keep a training log and will also work on a freemind (thanks Tangled Triangle). Those links can be found on the right.

Armbar from the Mount
Kimura from closed guard