Self defense today was blocking the far hand of the attacker and moving in with the underhook to secure the safe clinch. From the safe clinch, we execute the hip throw.
I hate to say it. But when doing self-defense, there is a part of me that feels like I'm "really" doing jiu jitsu. Make no mistake - I couldn't stand to do self-defense for 90 minutes three times a week. But there is something very pure, very real about doing 15 minutes of self-defense each class that I'm grateful for.
Fundamental technique included a couple of different things. We worked on the arm-stuff triangle, with Rodrigo adding the detail of grabbing the shin with the off hand. I'm never going to be a big triangle guy, but it was good to work on the basics.
Rodrigo also had us work on a guard replacement against the underhook pass. Here you bridge away and heavy-leg the side that is being underhooked, while going two-on-one on the wrist-sleeve on the other side and stepping on the hip. The goal is to replace the closed guard, but if you work the technique over and over you can see how the triangle choke is there also.
Tatame was interesting, guard/pass guard specific. I worked with Bryan. One thing that was really evident with him is that standing to pass his closed guard is going to have to be a very technical endeavor. Critically, I need to make sure I create an angle by stepping back after standing up and establishing myself. I'm getting stuck in a defensive mode, able to ward off sweeps but unable to slowly and methodically process the actual open and pass.
160.8 on the scale post-train. We'll see where I am on Friday, but training three days a week and minimal off-mat conditioning, this might be what to expect.
