BJJ 28.11.2009

On Saturday we practiced judo throws and take downs as a warm up. BJJ is mostly focused on the ground game, but throws are not totally dismissed either. Here's one example of a hip throw:


Two nice sweeps from the open guard were reintroduced: "balloon sweep" which allows for a quick transition from the bottom guard to the mount. It's fairly easy to execute if the opponent pushes heavily forward while in open guard. Here demonstrated by Roberto Atalla:


The second sweep in open guard had you holding one ankle with one hand, same side arm with the other and pushing opponent's hip with your foot (while hooking the other side leg with the remaining limb). After the take down you should be able to secure the side mount position by getting your knee over one leg and swinging the second one over. Then we practiced these sweeps in a drill that ended in the double attack (collar choke or armbar). I always seem to forget how to align my hands and in which order while doing the submissions.

The practice ended with two rounds of free grappling. I felt much better this time than during the week. I did sleep very well the night before which definitely helped!

BJJ 26.11.2009

The bear hugger strikes again!

This time the hug came from the front, and the hip throw escape began a three move drill:

• Hip throw to side mount
• Shrimp escape to closed guard
• Kimura sweep to mount
  

The hip throw counter to the bear hug:


After the huggy drill, Juha showed us another sequence as an alternative ending to the first one. This time, the top guy in the guard defended the kimura sweep by posting his hand firmly on the floor, leading to a kimura arm lock. Once again, Juha gave the lecture about the importance of the monkey grip (with his signature mock Brazilian accent: "We have a saying in Brazil, always keep your brothers together") before letting us work on the six step drill:

• Starting from guard, the bottom guy goes for a kimura and releases it after getting the tap
• The top guy breaks the guard by standing up, holding the defender's collars and pants
• Bottom guy switches to open guard
• Guard pass by grabbing the pants at the knees and twisting one leg down
• Transition to mount by inching the knee across the belly (from a proper side mount)
• As the top guy starts a choke, the bottom guy does a basic sweep by holding the arm and bridging

Both of the drills were basically chainings of techniques we already knew, and Juha didn't introduce any new moves. I guess he wasn't lying when he first told that the second round of the basic course was about repeating and honing the essential skills. No complaints, though; I was happy to practice the kimura sweep/lock combo.

As a bonus clip, here's an interesting variation on getting the kimura:


At the end of the class, we had two 5 minute rounds of free rolling. Juho and I had a nice sustained dynamic roll with lots of sweeps and passes, and only one submission (Juho choked me beautifully from my hideously ugly guard pass attempt). There's definitely less chaotic thrashing and more technique in our rolls every time. Less spazz, more jazz!

BJJ 24.11.2009

We are currently going through second round in practicing the very basic techniques in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Today we had escapes from "bear hug" hold. Similar to this:

Bear Hug Escape Jiu Jitsu Technique -- powered by eHow.com

Then we recapped few chokes from guard and mount. Basic cross choke:

Cross Choke from the Guard Position in Jiu Jitsu -- powered by eHow.com

Juha showed more advanced choke with the opponent's gi, as well as more generally about using the gi to control.

We're having more and more wrestling now. In the beginning of todays practise we had few rounds of very technical low intensity rolling, later guard pass/defend and in the end two rounds more of ground wrestling. Over half an hour total! Still difficult, but I'm no longer totally lost at least in all the positions.