BJJ 22.12.2009

Tuesday's class was the second to last class before the holiday break. After skipping the previous two classes, I felt glad that I could attend this one.

Juha had spent the previous week at a training seminar, and it seemed like he had caught a cold there. He was still recovering from it yesterday, and couldn't physically participate in much of the action. It might explain the relatively light warm-up we did: some jumping jacks, stationary running, 30 push ups, and 30 squats.

Next, we had a round of light technical sparring followed by a guard pass queue. For some reason everything seemed unusually tiring from this point on. It might have been a fault in the air conditioning as all the windows were fogged and the air seemed warmer than usual. Excuses, excuses.

For the day's self-defense drill we did an escape/takedown from a front bear hug. The technique was to cross one arm between your and your opponent's body while dropping to a good posture. Next, put your other hand on the opponent's shoulder and push away. As you push and step back, you quite effectively rotate your body away from the attacker. Now you have room to underhook the hand from the shoulder to wrap around his back. Step to that side, underhook the other arm too, and connect your hands. From there, you can do the traditional takedown of pulling on the opponent's lower back while pushing his chest with your head. Maneuver your legs straight into mount while you are at it.

After we finished with the self-defense part, Juha showed us a detailed version of a choke we have done before. In the north/south position, the bottom guy should usually keep his hands and elbows safely tucked in. If, however, he wraps an arm around your body, you can go for an attack.

Here's a video demonstration:


It's not shown on the video, but Juha demonstrated a tight way of moving back to side mount after grabbing the collar in n/s. You can constantly keep a very tight pressure on the opponent's body by pressing your shoulder (of the same arm that grabs the collar first) down on his chest while walking with your legs. When Juho put the pressure on me, it was extremely hard to breathe (I blame it on the air conditioning!) and the discomfort was almost tap-worthy.

The rest of the class was spent on honing our guard passing skills. Here's a collection of assorted tips:

• If you are going for a double underhook guard pass, but your opponent walks his body backwards with his shoulders, you can simply pull him back to your lap. Pretty obvious, but effective (and fun).
• If you have trouble breaking the guard when using the "traditional" method (pressing on chest and hip and standing up), make sure your feet aren't too close to the opponent's head. Step back until you are pushing his hips straight down.
• In the same traditional guard pass, it might be difficult to lift the guy's leg to your shoulder after breaking the guard. Don't simply lift it with your arm. Instead, rotate your upper body to guide the leg into place.
• The opponent might try to stop your pass by pushing on your hips. If he's good at it, you might not be able to approach side mount. With the other leg on your shoulder, press his other knee to the ground (far from his hands!) and step your nearer knee over it. On the same side, press the hand to the ground too and move to side control.
• Begin as in the previous tip. After pressing the knee to the ground, you may accidentally move your knee too close to the opponent's groin. This way, you don't have room for your other leg to pass. But worry not, you can step the other leg over from the outside.

I wonder if I forgot something. Hopefully not. The class finished with these guard passing tips, and we didn't have time (or energy) to spar at the end.