07/02/2007 - BJJ

Class #28


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK -07/02/2007

I was feeling a bit down on the way to the session, but as I’d hoped, perked up considerably after training. Was a little preoccupied during the early part of the lesson, but once we reached the techniques I got back into the flow of things.

Jude ran a fairly hefty warm-up, but to my relief didn’t intersperse rolling with drills. We started off with headlock throws, later adding in an armbar. As often happens, I tend to worry that I leave too much space as I lean back to secure the submission. Concentrating on pinching my knees together seemed to help, and is probably a good habit to get into anyway.

I didn’t quite get the next technique we were shown – IIRC, it was a defence against a headlock throw, in which you shoved your arm into their chin, stepped behind, based out and pushed with your hips, then picked them up by a leg and dumped them into side control.

To me, that looked like it would require a lot of strength, particularly if like me you’re really crap at throws and therefore mess up the technique. I was with Dominique, which meant that wasn’t really tested, but something I’m always aware of with throws. I haven’t had to use throws in a ‘live’ spar yet, because we’ve never gone from standing or even from knees: will probably only really be forced to attempt it if I compete. That’s where judo would come in useful, or wrestling, which I’d prefer.

The rest of the lesson was dedicated to side control, beginning with an escape relatively similar to the one Felipe had demonstrated back in December. Person B gets their arm into Person A’s neck. Moving their legs to the side and shifting their other arm down onto Person A’s hip, Person B pushes up then shrimps out. Bringing their left leg underneath their right, Person B then moves into position to raise their far leg. They then grab round the back of Person A’s legs (I think we were grabbing both at first, then changing the grip, but not sure), putting their own head on the far side. Driving forward with the legs and pushing towards the near side with their head, Person B moves into side control.

I found this fairly confusing, as last time, particularly the part where you raise up. I felt like I was leaving a lot of space, so that’s something I’d have to be careful of if I found myself with an opportunity during sparring to try this technique.

As you’d expect, the sparring was from side control. I started off with Dominique, and had reasonable success. She pulled guard on me, after which I tried to stay tighter when on top. As with the last time I did side control, I went for the Americana – however, I couldn’t get it on Dominique. When I asked what I did wrong, she mentioned that she’s fairly flexible, so my best option would be to pull the arm in tighter. I had been focusing on bringing the arm down rather than in, so will try to remember to do both next time.

On the both, I fared better, but I think a lot of this was to do with the weight difference. It isn’t huge, but I have a few kilos on Dominique, which proved sufficient to bodily lift her with my elbow wedged into her hip, twisting round into side control. Similarly, I was able to shift round to grab her leg then drive through into side control, but this time I’m not sure if being able to push off the wall slightly made the difference. At least I can rest easy that when I pulled guard it was down to technique rather than environment or size advantage.

Next I rolled with Nathan, who I found out is actually younger than I thought – one of the few teenagers (most people in the class are around mid-20s, by my reckoning. Then again, I’m a pretty crappy judge of age). He’s a little heavier than Dominique, which is probably why I found that my attempt to lift him with my elbow into his hip didn’t budge Nathan at all. Dominique did mention she was off-balance, so it may be a matter of timing: after all, I was able to flip Zahir (about my weight and height) late last year, though in that case I had my knee underneath him.

Nathan and I ended up in a stalemate when I was in the bottom, neither of us able to get anything. However, on top I found that going straight away for the Americana was once again an effective tactic, getting it on both sides (though the first time I tried I went the wrong way at first, so had to struggle back to get into position). The second time, Nathan was able to resist initially by turning to the side (a defence I’ll have to watch out for), but I eventually got the sub by lifting him up slightly and cranking. Both times I was able to put on the Americana gradually and felt in control, so thankfully didn’t have any worries about accidentally pushing it too far.

At present, a lot of people don’t expect the Americana (am I still mixing that up with the kimura?), which I’m sure will change as the months go by, so that’s going to become much more difficult to get. Nevertheless, it’s a technique I’d like to improve, particularly making that transition between switching base and putting the weight onto the arm quicker. I also need to work my escapes, as I wasn’t shrimping very well or making enough space. Felipe will probably run a similar lesson, but we’ll see tomorrow night.