Back on the mat at the end of the week for a three-session salvage of Week Two. Very nice to be able to train on both Friday and Saturday. Because Rodrigo does a review of the week's techniques on both days, training Friday and Saturday gives you plenty of time to really get the moves ingrained into muscle memory. Add to that one from column A (Monday or Wednesday) and one from column B (Tuesday or Thursday) and you can potentially get not only three cracks at each of the moves of the week, but up to four competition/advanced classes, as well. And that's only training four days a week.
I don't see making Saturday's a permanent part of my training schedule. But it's been very nice to be able to add them in at least every other week. This week, for example, will mark the third Saturday training in a row. I can't remember ever reaching that mark before.
Three guard passes dominated Fundamentals training this past week, two versus the spider guard and one standing pass to double underhook pass. The two spider guard passes were the basic toreano, scooping the near leg as you lunge forward with the shoulder after bringing the feet down hard on the mat from inside control low on the legs. The second was the "double strike" approach. I described this one as uppercut punching a guy on your right side with your left hand, while chickenwing elbowing him in the chin with your left. That little mnemonic is helping me remember more precisely what the movements are. If you get stuck with the arm still in the bicep, then turn your chickenwing elbow into a uppercut to a guy in front of you, closing the elbow and getting rid of the spider guard foot.
The double underhook from standing was similar to the single underhook from standing. Here you step back to catch the off-leg (the leg you aren't underhooking initially with the guard-opening arm) to get the double underhook. Then drop low to your knees and draw the hips into your lap for control. Bear hug the legs and go for the collar. Remember to pin the hips down with the grip on the pants.
One thing about this pass I noticed is that I need to work it on both sides. When I stand, a lot of guys are hipscaping out so that the "spiderman elbow" doesn't work. I need to switch and underhook the other leg (typically the right leg in this instance) and pass to my left instead of my right.
