Rodrigo seemed a bit testy tonight. We were having a tricky time following along with some of the techniques he showed us, and he seemed to take exception to the fact that the multi-technique moves were coming slower than he thought they should. Each to each, but it isn't so surprising to me that a class that's 80% white belts might have a hard time following a multi-step jiu jitsu sweep to reversal to armbar. Who knows? We all have better and worse days ...
Jesse Singh asked about an arm triangle type of move that Rodrigo started showing us before class. That turned into the drill for the first half-hour, Wednesday drill session. It was hard to follow for me. I'm pretty familiar with the basic arm triangle, the
katagatame that Saulo Ribeiro shows in his video. But Rodrigo's move was atypically hard to copy.
In the "Mixed BJJ" class proper, Rodrigo had us work on two main techniques. The first was a sweep from the closed guard.
From the closed guard, reach across and grab the back of his right elbow with your right hand and hold his right wrist/cuff with your left hand.
Pull the arm so that the elbow is just to the other side of the middle of your chest. This part is similar to the way you set up the "quick" armbar attack, by the way.
Switch the elbow grip so that you are gripping the inside of the elbow. At the same time, reach around his back with your left arm and pull him close to you, trapping the arm further.
Bring your legs up as if to close the guard.
With your left arm wrapped around his back, and your legs and body trapping his right arm, reach under his left thigh with your right hand and hook it.
Now you are going to do the sweep. Rock back to bring his weight on top of you. The sweep is a "scissors" type sweep. To do this (I think), you first kick your left leg back toward your head. As you bring your left leg back down, swing your right leg over toward where your left leg was.
The momentum of the switching of legs should propel you relatively effortlessly over into the reversal.
In order to go into the armbar, make sure that when you roll over, your right leg is knee up. That way, all you have to do is grab the trapped arm (or both arms) and pass the left leg. Fall back with the trapped arm (or both arms) into the armbar.
I keep feeling as if there is a technique that he showed us before that one. But I can't for the life of me remember it, if so.
Anyway, the last technique he showed us also had combinations involved. It was basically how to lock up a guy in a butterfly guard when he's trying to underhook your legs and pass your guard (say, after opening a closed guard or even after getting in close on an open guard).
Start in with feet on hips and grips on both sleeves under your legs (remember, the scenario is that the guy is trying to underhook both legs and toss them over to pass into side control.
Push on the hips and pull on the cuffs to get space and stretch the guy out a bit. Then shoot forward and, while sliding your hooks in, reach under his arms and grab (a) your own shins, (b) under his armpits, (c) under his arms. I like (b).
Pull him tight against your body with your head to the side (by his shoulder) and your hips back.
This should immobilize him relatively well. He shouldn't be able to stack or pass without being reversed because of the double underhooks and double hooks under his thighs.
Now to turn this into a reversal move ...
Reach under and grab both cuffs. Step back on the hips to create space and stretch the guy out.
Take your right foot and slide it to hook under his right thigh (your left side).
Butt-hop over your left hand (which is gripping the right cuff) so that your arm is actually twisted behind you somewhat. That will bring the right side of his body lower.
Without releasing the left hand grip or removing the right foot hook, bring yourself around to his back. Don't release the left hand grip until you are almost in rear mount. Keep the right foot hook in place--it will make it easier to get the left foot hook on the other side.
I need to review all of these on Saturday morning first thing. I might even take a notepad to make sure the "sticking" points are covered specifically.
Sparring was fine. I rolled with Arnell and Bruce, as well as Robert the fall blue belt and Alex the new purple belt. Arnell is getting better and better fast; I need to step it up insofar as we both got two stripes at the same time. He trains a lot, I think, and is pretty dedicated. Bruce has missed some time, but his long legs make his guard very hard to deal with. I couldn't really pass it until time more or less ran out. I'm also trying not to use a whole lot of strength with Arnell and Bruce and to instead focus on technique.
Looks like Monday, Wednesday and Saturday are my training days. No more "every other Saturday." I like it--with some time off between training--though a part of me wishes there was an open mat type thing I could do for just half an hour or 45 minutes where I could practice what I learned. Maybe I'll be able to get some of that in on Saturday before class actually starts.
