Brutal. That’s how I’d describe the chokes we learned in today’s no-gi class. I decided last week that I’d take today’s no-gi class, and fortunately I was able to follow through. Class was a great workout, and I had some time to hang out afterwards which allowed me to drill some stuff and do some gi training too.
Cardio is one area where I’m severely lacking. Give me a mouthpiece and I’m exhausted in a matter of minutes. So I was all for the cardio drills our instructor gave us. One drill required us to start in a deep squat, hands on the ground, then frog-leap forward to land in the same position, then sprawl. Repeat. Another required us to walk the mat, hands laced above our heads, eyes forward, butts as close as possible to the mat. Not easy.
For takedowns I had the opportunity to work with a former wrestler, always a great learning experience. He helped me with using the 2-on-1 grip (“Russian”) to set up a rolling takedown. Once you have the grip, force your opponent’s hands down and between his legs, then roll in front of him for the takedown. We also went over the arm drag, which he recommends to use when your partner grips your same-side wrist. Twist your hand toward his thumb to break the grip, then grab his wrist. Feed his arm toward your free arm and grip under the triceps. Pulling through, you can plant a foot in front of him and sit to bring him down to the mat.
In guard training I net myself an armbar. There may have been a sweep involved as well.
The techniques for the day were a couple of no-gi chokes from mount. One important thing to note is that you should have a wide base with your knees when performing these chokes, since you essentially trap your own arms, thereby nullifying your ability to post out for a larger base.
The first choke was a demonstration of how to use the Ezekiel choke without a gi. Since in this case we can’t use the gi sleeve for grip, we have to grip our forearms. First, get your left arm elbow-deep behind the opponent’s neck. Bring your right arm down and grip it with your middle three fingers. You can try to use your pinky as well but it will probably slip off. Making a fist with your right hand, place it against the left side of your opponent’s throat. Using your left shoulder to push his chin to your right, drive your fist across his throat toward the left for the choke.
For the next choke (I’ll call it the knuckle choke) you again feed your left hand under the back of your opponent’s neck, but not all the way this time. The distance depends on the length of your fingers, as you’ll see. Interlock your thumbs so that the back of your right hand is against your left palm. Then wrap the remaining four fingers of your left hand around your right palm, below the thumb. Form the fingers of your right hand into a sort of hook. Then, starting from above the collarbone, drive the hook up against the Adam’s apple. Simultaneously, push your hips down and use your left forearm to lift the back of the head up, choking your opponent.
After class I trained a little more with a friend who had has private lesson cancelled. He gave me some great pointers on passing the guard and escaping side control. I also got to practice an armbar technique for switching which arm you attack, which I learned earlier this week.
I mentioned in my last post that I’d go over a tight armbar I learned a few classes ago, so here goes: Starting from closed guard, break your partner’s posture down. With your right hand, reach over his back and clamp down on his right armpit, pinning him to you. Open your left leg a bit, and use your left hand to pull out his right lapel, revealing as much material as possible. Close your guard back up, giving him no space to move. From here you can pass the lapel to the right hand in a pistol grip. This can serve to confuse your opponent into thinking you’re going for a lapel choke. Bring your right elbow up and over your opponent’s head, pulling your hand across to the right and using your left hand to push his elbow as far across your body as possible. The grip on the gi will keep his arm from pulling away. Next step your left foot on his hip and twist to your right, bringing up the right left into his armpit as you would for a normal armbar. Your left left then comes up and clamps on his right shoulder. From here it’s a simple matter to throw the left leg over the head and finish the armbar.
At the point where you place the left leg on the right shoulder to clamp him down, as you start to bring your leg over the head your opponent may bring his head low to keep you from isolating the arm, defending the armbar. If this is the case, simply clamp down hard with your left leg on the right shoulder, off-balancing him to the side and tilting toward your right hip. With your left hand, wrap around his trapped hand, and pull and twist it towards your left for the shoulder lock.