It kills me that I can't do three gi nights a week. We've added a gi night, but it's on Tuesday. I'd like to start hinting about moving it to Thursday--especially if Sean Wilson is going to be doing a wrestling class on Friday nights. That way you could have no gi on Tuesday and Friday nights, gi on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
I set up my Monday, Wednesday, Thursday training schedule before they went to no gi on Tuesdays and Thursdays over the summer. As long as they were only offering two nights of gi anyway, my schedule worked out perfectly--plus the bonus of a third of my training being no gi.
But now I'm missing a night of gi training that I could really use--especially since I'm really not interested in competing no gi anytime soon (I've told myself I'd pump up the no gi training after I get my purple belt ...). There's not a lot I can do about it--Rebecca even set up her tutoring schedule to take advantage of my not training Tuesday nights. But I hate telling Mamazinho that I'm not going to be there Tuesdays for more gi training ...
This Tuesday is different because I'm flying to North Carolina for my grandmother's funeral. She was a great woman, and many of my fondest childhood memories involve summers at her house in East Spencer. But I particularly want to be there for my mom. I've been quite the prodigal son, brother, nephew, cousin, etc. in many ways--some deliberate, some not so much--since I moved out West in 1989. It will be a good thing to be back with the Family on an occasion like this--even if for not much more than 24 hours. It will be good to see people I haven't seen in more than 20 years.
Back to training Thursday night, though--Northwest Airlines willing. Tonight Mamazinho had us working on some standing guard pass drills, emphasizing that "strong legs" are important in guard passing. We worked a couple of drills that involved jumping into guard from standing, lowering the guy (an anti-slamming drill, I guess), then picking him up in that same classic Gracie Barra pass that Cesar Gracie starts out with in his instructional. We didn't even work on pushing down on the knee or other "guard opening"--just focusing on getting used to lifting body weight, which can be intimidating when you are tired in sparring or competition.
From the bottom, Mamazinho had us attacking with armbars when the guys stands you up in guard. Trap the extended arm. Step on the hip on the side of the arm you are attacking. Chuck under the opposite arm with the other leg, then throw the "step" leg over the head and extend the hips to lock the arm.
It's probably worth remembering that other options from here include Mamazinho's Feitosa Swing sweeps ...
I was working with Jason, a purple belt who surprised me by telling me that he weighted about 180. I'm a terrible judge of size--probably because I equate height with weight. Anyway, he was a good guy to work with because while it looked like he was learning some of what Mamazinho was telling us, his skill level was such that you could watch him figuring it out in the minute or so we drilled each technique.
We also learned another triangle choke counter and escape. Generally, you want to posture and control the hips by grabbing the belt or the pants and pulling downward toward the mat as you throw your chest out and your shoulders back. And there's that other triangle choke counter that I've been working with over the past several weeks ...
But Mamazinho's counter had you attack with a sort of thrusting choke while, controling the hips as above, you stand and walk in the direction of your trapped/thrusting choke arm, twisting your northside hip into the thigh as you grind the bottom guy down.
Details ... to set up the thrusting choke, use your free arm to feed the collar to your trapped arm. You'll use a palm down grip, and bring the collar across his neck as if you'd thrown a punch at his jaw.
Details ... controlling the hips is essential. Otherwise, the guy on the bottom can twist and twist, resisting the pressure. It also makes you vulnerable to armbars, omoplata sweeps and the original triangle you were trying to escape from. Reach under and grab the belt. Or the pants. Or the bottom of the jacket. but CONTROL THE HIPS.
Details ... as you walk around toward your thrusting choke, work to get your outside knee beyond his inside leg. That shouldn't be too hard. But from here, make sure you lower your weight, forcing the bottom guy's locking leg (as opposed to the choking leg, which is on the far side) to straighten out and unlock. When Mamazinho did it, the knee of his north side leg was almost on the bottom guy's face. It's a real "smash pass."
That might have been the technique of the night. I didn't do too bad in specifics or sparring--though I spent more time fighting off a winding choke from the 1/2 back from Lindsey than I would have liked. Much better at standing to pass the guard--at least in the beginning. Tommy made the point after class that he believed in standing to pass the guard in no gi, and wasn't too concerned with where your hands were ... biceps, shoulders, armpits ... His point was that the worst they could do is the double ankle underhook sweep, and even then the worst that could happen was probably a scramble. Something to keep in mind ...
