As I mentioned awhile back, Mondays have gone from "open mat" night to "drilling with open mat" night. This makes Tuesdays a little less special in some ways, though it is nice to get a jump on what the technical lesson for the week is likely to be.
Monday night we started off with some takedown drills, the one-armed shoulder throw or ippon seoi nage, after the opponent grabs your sleeve. Details here included making sure not to step too wide when turning into the throw and making sure that you squat down rather than bend over before loading the guy's weight.
We worked this for a little while. Then did some ground work in escaping from side control.
The old school approach, as Rodrigo called, involved swimming your far arm in between you and your opponent. But with more guys hooking the head and grabbing underneath the leg (or the pants), the far arm swim can be hard because it can be difficult to turn into the guy.
The new approach has you turn into the guy first, as you would in a regular escape. Then turn away from him so that you can get space to slide your inside hand up by your ear between him and you.
Once you have the one hand inside, bring the far hand over to meet it. You are going to use these hands, gripped together, to help create space between you and your opponent.
A key detail Rodrigo mentioned was to make sure that you drive up, along the side of your head, not out into the guy. This will create space and unlock the guy's control of your head, without trying to literally push the guy away.
Walk on your back, walking your legs away from him until you've got enough room to go to knees or attack with a single leg from the ground.
A very nice technique for guys who really rely on head control during side mount.
I rolled with Stephen and Garcia for about ten minutes each. I was pretty tired at the end and, while I should have probably squeezed in one more roll with somebody, I didn't mind quitting while I was ahead. If I can keep training consistently, day in and day out, then staying at the Academy all night for any one session isn't as necessary.
One tatame note: I tried my overhook guard trap tackle sweep on Garcia two or three times and he countered it every time. He's got very good balance. But props to me for making sure I'm trying out the new moves instead of relying on the ones that already work. Same thing with standing to pass the guard. Let's see if I can stay at it.
Weighed in a grotesque 168.4 after training! Wow! That's what Thanksgiving weekend will do for (and to) you!
