For some reason, it's almost always easier to write posts in a text editor and then copy and paste them into blogger compared to writing directly in blogger.
Wednesday's class was Basic BJJ, which is really intermediate level when you think about it. I'm liking the way classes are increasingly defined, with beginner classes focusing on the 20 fundamentals and basic/intermediate classes opening things up a bit with more multi-step moves. The new focus on specific work as opposed to sparring, is tremendous. I'm sure it will pay off over time if we stick with it.
And I love the idea of being able to go to a beginner class and know that I'm going to work on some bread and butter fundamentals (or rice and beans fundamentals - pace Gracie Diet! banana and watermelon fundamentals ...). Right now, a Monday/Wednesday/Thursday schedule with Friday and/or Saturday as the final fourth session of the week is starting to look like a keeper.
Tonight we worked on pulling guard and transitioning to the balloon sweep. The main thing here for me to remember (pace Talent Code! practice) is using the sleeve grip side leg as the first and most important foot in the hip. I've actually got a nice chair drill that I can do to help me get that down. The off leg in this case goes to the hip second. You draw your legs in tight enough to get your hips under his hips and, with both feet on his hips, extend your legs and pull forward on the collar and sleeve grips.
One thing that Rodrigo has been focusing on with a lot of these guard pulls is transitioning immediately to the sweep. I think that's a big deal and something to keep in mind when we start doing more stand-up training closer to the next tournament.
The Move of the Day was a very nice gi choke from S-mount. To get there, Rodrigo showed us a "Jack pass" style attack on the turtle guard to open the guy up and put him on his back. From a good combat base against the Turtle (hips low, elbows in tight and not "reaching over"), you want to reach in front of the guy's face and grab his opposite sleeve at the cuff. With your other hand grip the pants of his near leg at the cuff.
You can jump to your feet or just creep back and then pull. I didn't like jumping to my feet because it just creates space - even if for just a moment. Instead, working with Benny, I leaned in to him and then lunged back. That seemed to create the right action/reaction as well as the necessary space for him to fall.
Finish the pass of the turtle with a move to side control.
The choke went this way: grab the gi lapel as low as possible on his far side and thread it under his arm and around the back of his neck. Feed it to your headside/north most grip. From here, you want to let him turn into you a bit to make it easier to move from side control to mount and, eventually, to S-mount.
You are going to go under the arm. You can get a good angle by fading back as you allow the guy to roll into you, going into a real, laid back Watchdog type position. But you want that arm north of your head in any event.
Keep that gi grip. And make sure that your knee is tight against his back in order to have a good position. Tuck your choking elbow in tight as you tighten your S-mount. Grab the hand of the arm that is trapped in the whole choke ensemble and pull it down to tighten things even further.
If this doesn't get the tap - and it is a very tight choke - step over the head with the northside leg and turn it into a near armlock/Frankenstein choke. This variation can tighten things further. And if you still can't get the finish, there is the armlock opportunity as well.
A very nice set of attacks from side control. Sure, they are predicated on being able to take mount. And there's an argument that if you can get to mount, things are likely going your way anyway. But this is a very nice little sequence, with maybe the potential of a baseball choke attack if the guy stays flat and refuses to turn into you.
Tatame was good. I continue to work the scissor sweep to keep getting better at that attack from the guard. I started to work some Overwrap Guard, which I think is something I really want to include in my guard game after all. I think that it, like Rap Star, fits well with my basic half guard game very well and am going to make it a part of my training over the next two weeks to see if it can become a permanent part of what I do.
Got in a nice roll with Scott. I didn't attack from standing as I would have liked. But I was able to learn a few things about my Flat Pass and about slowing down at potentially critical moments that should be pretty helpful going forward.
