BJJ Class 112

Dental surgeon appointment ended quickly today, so I was able to make BJJ class. There’s no urgency with my teeth, but either operating or not operating on my wisdom teeth both bring in a different bunch of complications and I need to do some research before I decide what to do.

Since I didn’t come from work, I managed to make it in time to BJJ today and wasn’t actually late. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the chance to warm-up on an empty mat… We did some light warm -ups and proceeded to three flow drills. One was an arm drag / butt scoot, then two variations of open guard (both hooks on knees against a standing opponent and) position switching. Not sure what they’re called, but it’s basically where you’re on your back underneath and in-between a standing opponent’s legs, with both legs controlling one leg/hip, and your upper body controlling the other leg/ankle. Anyway, I feel like these techniques are too advanced for me at the moment and I don’t think I’ll get the chance to even remotely get to use them in the near future. It was nice to learn and get a feel for the mechanics though.

Technique afterward was an armdrag from the kneeling position, taking the back, sinking both hooks in, and finishing with a rear naked choke. A tip I picked up, is that when attempting the RNC with the seatbelt grip (over-under or one underhook & one overhook), the arm that will be doing the choke – before the actual choke is set up – should be relaxed. The other arm should be putting the pressure on and should deflect any choke defenses. Once the neck is cleared and the choking arm is put into the right choking position, that’s when it should start putting the pressure on to get the tap.

There were two rounds of rolling after. Even though there were just two rounds, they both still melted into one long roll in my head.

What I did right:
Got to work on my guard a lot. Got several sweeps in. Still didn’t get that scissor sweep to hip bump, but I did try (made up) several combinations. Since I rolled with whitebelts with less experience, I noticed several of my sweep mistakes (such as not taking away a posting arm) and got to remedy them (pull that arm out) to complete the sweep.

What I did wrong and need to work on:
Hip position and general mechanics for triangle and armbar from guard are still not there. My coach saw me struggling with finishing an armbar from mount as my opponent defended by grabbing his other arm – he told me to grip my own gi, and I almost instantly got the sub when I switched my grips. My mount is pretty lame, but I’ll concentrate on that in the future. Lastly, I really need to learn what to do when someone is trying to break open my guard. Sitting up to pull them close (to break their posture) gets tiring after a while, lifting my hips up over their knees doesn’t work forever, and attempting a sweep or submission is less than 50/50. What else can I do when in guard? Going to open or spider guard is an option, but I’d like to keep working on closed guard.

I rolled and worked some techniques with another whitebelt for an extra 15 minutes after the class then called it a night.

It feels great to be back to training more than once a week!! Hopefully my shoulder holds up and that my game can finally start progressing!!

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