So I’ve complained before that training in the outer small mat room is akin to running a 10k in a sauna. Well, if I thought that was hard, last night’s instructor had something worse in store for the white belt class.
Renzo Gracie Academy NYC opened its second & third floors around late February or early March. The second floor is mostly dominated by a large mat, a little harder than the ones we have downstairs, with a wall on one side and a cage fence on the other. The third floor has a smaller mat space, as well as a boxing ring and a cage.
Usually the Muay Thai classes use the mat on the second floor. Last night’s instructor, though, seems to like holding the white belt BJJ class up there. There are usually fewer people on the upper levels of the school unless class is in session, so the A/C up there is off for the most part. Couple this with the fact that heat rises, and the second and third floor are normally at least as hot as the small mat room downstairs I complain about. Add to this the body heat generated by about 15 students rolling in gis and it gets sweltering hot, fast. With no A/C on and no water breaks, I was struggling to stay upright by the time we got to takedowns.
On the bright side, I got to wear my new gi last night. I purchased the Tatami Estilo 2.0 (Navy) through the folks at BJJHQ.com last week for $105 + $5 shipping. It currently goes for 84£ (approximately $135 USD at the time this post was written) on Tatami’s site. It felt much lighter than my other gis, which was a blessing considering the heat we were training in. The color looks great, and aside from a little shrinking I need to do, it was very comfortable. I also love gi pants with rope ties, can’t stand those flat ones. Plus the gi came in a sweet carrying bag. Pics:
In class we trained the hip throw and double-leg for takedowns. After some guard-specific training we worked the hip sweep from guard followed by the Kimura shoulder lock. Some new tips for the hip sweep:
- Base out on your hand, not your elbow
- Instead of placing the other hand on your opponent’s elbow, let it hang free after putting it through over your opponent’s arm. Kind of like a whizzer, but from the wrong side.
- When you bump up for the sweep, do two things:
- Pull the blocked arm hard beneath you as you turn
- As you sweep, bring your leg on the same side that you’re sweeping toward down to the floor so it’s lined up on the ground along your opponent’s leg, as in the scissor sweep. This will prevent your partner from basing the leg out.
We finished class with side control and mount training. My partner pointed out to me that I should not be so gentle while pushing my opponent’s head away when going for an armbar. Duly noted.