Monday, 8/15:
There’s something to be said for taking a two-week break from the mats, as much as I hated doing it. You come back with lots of energy and a renewed drive to push yourself all the way. Such was the case tonight, when I took my first serious BJJ class in two weeks, coming off an arm injury. I’m still not entirely sure what caused it, but somehow I managed to sprain a muscle in the forearm of my right arm. It’s not completely healed as of yet, but I just could not stay away from the mat any longer. There’s jiu-jitsu to be learned! And I dare say I made my first class back in the gym count.
Our usual warm-ups were followed by osoto-gari and double-leg takedowns. I need to work on making my double-leg a little more fluid. Will have to ask for advice. Following this we slipped right into guard-specific training. Due to my right arm still not being completely healed, I was unable to perform the stand-up guard breaks that are my best techniques for escaping and passing guard. I relied more on keeping low, which (to me, at least) is much harder in gi than I remember it being in no-gi. This lead to a couple of opportunities which my partner used to either sweep me or go to quarters. Fortunately I was quick enough to take his back twice throughout training, one of those times landing a successful rear-naked choke. I also used a setup I recently learned to lock in a nice triangle.
The evening’s techniques were based on sweeping from guard. The first move was an actual sweep for when the opponent stands in your guard. Begin with grips on your both of opponent’s sleeve cuffs. Keeping your guard closed, with your hips high, switch control of the opponent’s right hand to your right hand. Turn on your upper back to bring your head close to your opponent’s right foot. Get a deep underhook on the foot, keeping your arm low, by the heel. If you can grab your own lapel, all the better. Now, bridge up, turning your head counterclockwise to look at your 1 o’clock. The torque created here will force your opponent to tip over backwards. Maintain your grip and your underhook as you come up and over into mount. As you sit up straight, release the leg and pull the arm across your opponent’s body to prepare follow-up attacks.
The next technique was a counter to the common guard sweep used when your partner is standing square in an open guard. The sweep involves using both hands to clasp your partner’s heels and dropping your hips so your knees are pressed together at your opponent’s hips, with your shins resting along your opponent’s sides. Next, push up with your hips, using the pressure from your knees to drop your opponent straight back.
The counter to this is based on the fact that the sweep creates a neutral situation for both players. They end up with their heads at 12 and 6 o’clock, legs parallel. The counter for the one who was swept is as follows:
As you fall, squeeze your legs tight together, especially near your opponent’s knees (which will be between yours). Next, bridge up hard onto your upper back to pop your partner’s feet right up into the air. With your left hand (for example), grab your partner’s right foot by the ankle. Use your right elbow to post up, then rise to your hand as you pull your right leg back through and behind you. Pass the leg to your right shoulder as you come forward to pass the guard.
I hope to make some good use of this counter — I have a training partner who often uses this sweep to great effect, seeing as he’s very strong.
More guard pass drilling followed, during which I managed to sink another triangle, a guillotine, and an armbar (or was the armbar before the techniques demonstrations?). To my opponent’s credit I felt he was far faster than me in the scramble, possibly in overall positioning. I just had a larger arsenal of submissions. Overall, a great class to welcome me back to training.