Monday nights are changing up a little bit. Rather than being a sort of organized open mat, Monday nights will now include a 30 minute drills session from 6-6:30 p.m., then sparring until 8 p.m.
Tonight we worked on pulling guard from standing. Rodrigo's emphasis was on having an attacking guard pull, that puts you a step or two ahead and allows you to stay there. He said this was preferable to a pulling guard attack that just ended up in closed guard.
To pull guard from standing, you get the collar and the sleeve (always the same side collar). You put your sleeve-side foot in the guy's up and sit down, turning your hips out as if you were exaggeratedly trying to insert a butterfly hook (which you will be).
You've pulled guard. Now to get into an attack position you want to take that extended leg and put in the butterfly hook on the near leg as you swivel back to square up. At the same time, you want to change grips. You want to grab the sleeve with a crossbody grip and use the sleeve side grip to cup the sleeve side ankle.
This was "one." Two was a conversion to a balloon sweep. You can go to the balloon sweep directly from the guard pull or after "one". Essentially with the balloon sweep, you bring the guy's weight on top of you, put a foot in each hip, bend your legs and then extend them. Be sure to maintain your grips as you backroll and be on the look out for an armlock as soon as you roll over into mount.
"Three" was a conversion from the guard pull or balloon sweep set-up to a de la Riva guard. I want to check on some details on the grips for the de la Riva guard - I can't remember if you have a two-on-one on the DLR side sleeve or if you are cupping the ankle on DLR side. The main point of emphasis, however, was in putting your feet in the hips and pushing off in order to move your hips up and over to the outside. You want to basically sit on his foot (which partially answers the gripping question above, I think).
Nice to do some drills, even though I was looking forward to just rolling. I can already feel that Rodrigo is getting us geared up for the various tournaments early next year. There will be Friendlies in January and February (third Saturdays of the month) leading up to the Revolution event in early March. So there will be more than enough prep time.
I had an okay evening. My shoulder is a problem, and is starting to feel like the leading candidate for my very own nagging 'n' never healing jiu jitsu injury. I'm rolling okay - mostly trying to avoid having to use my right arm in anything that is not technically required. The pain comes and goes, and was probably re-aggravated a few Mondays back when I got back on the mat after being out sick for a week. Then I think I tweaked it late last week when I was really working hard on some hammer curls.
Hopefully all that is true, which means that it isn't just lagging discomfort from the initial shoulder injury this spring. There are no good injuries. But I'll be glad when this one heals up, hopefully over the balance of the year.
