A lot of what Rodrigo has been showing us in the past few days has a common theme of attacking the near leg. We've learned attacks from both half guard and sitting/Cobra guard lately, and all of those attacks/sweeps focused on that near leg.
The half guard work, which was the most recent, focused on getting small from the bottom, head on the hip, and immediately going for the far ankle as you shoot in and putting the basic coil on the near leg.
Controlling that near leg is key to a lot of nice sweeps from the half guard. And what is key to controlling the near leg from an offensive standpoint is your outside leg.
In the tackle sweep that Rodrigo showed us the other day, you switched the trap on the near leg and then rolled your lower leg out behind you (much like Rodrigo's side scissors drill) going belly down.
And that day I finally hit the Bravo Twist Back sweep it was because I finally figured out that I had to trap/pin the near leg with my outside leg--again, switching the coil on the leg--and then pivoting off my inside leg.
Today in sparring, I must have hit the kimura sweep three times. Just fabulous. And that also involves attacking the near leg, this time hooking it with my outside leg in a half butterfly.
It was a really nice Friday class today. It was 50% drills and 50% sparring. The drill was alternating takedowns at about 25-50% for two minutes. Then alternating guard/pass guard for four minutes each. I can't remember how many circuits we did and even though both Steven and I mashed toes during some point in the standup (I'm still limping around the house), it was a great Friday-type class.
I'm really loving specific work. Knowing that I'm going to be working my guard, for example, for the next 5-8 minutes regardless of whether I get my guard passed or I get the sweep makes it easy to experiment without fear that you might not get another chance to work your guard over the remainder of the sparring session. And of course, the worse your guard is--i.e., if you mostly like to work from the top--the less you spend working on it in sparring. So specific work is really helping me open up and improve my guard game.
I was even doing that Saulo open guard, the reverse de la Riva at one point, and was amazed at how much control I had. I need to start to work the actual sweep into the guard. But it was nice to see and feel its effectiveness.
And before I forget, I also tried the Jeff Glover half guard brabo counter to the knee through pass. I didn't go for the brabo, at all. But that "Royler guard pass" has been such a killer, that I was grateful for the first part of the counter, the follow-the-arm-between roll under just as the guy is finishing the pass. It worked perfectly.
Having some very good times on the mat, which I attribute to a lot of home study, but mostly to regular training. I'm averaging 3.5 trainings a week for the past month, which is a really nice clip. I can feel myself "feeling" my jiu jitsu emerge bit by bit. I'm actually started to develop "a game."
The goal is to figure out what that game looks like at the black belt level, and keep working until I get it there.
