22/03/2007 - BJJ

Class #43


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 22/03/2007

Maurição took the warm-up, which was the same as Saturday, but Felipe ran the rest of class. As with previous lessons this week, everything was based around the armbar from guard.

Felipe began with an armbar from standing guard, by which I mean an armbar applied after your opponent has stood up in your guard. Seeing Person A is leaning forward too much, Person B grips both arms tightly. Person B then walks their guard up high on Person A’s back and swivels to one side, underhooking a leg to better facilitate that turn. Switching their grip back to the arm they wish to isolate, Person B brings their leg around Person A’s head (the other staying by his shoulder) and secures the armbar.

Felipe shows the armbar from guard a little differently to Jude, as he doesn’t emphasise raising the hips, instead focusing on turning 90 degrees and pushing your opponent as off-balance as possible with your leg. I think I prefer raising the hips, as I find that makes getting the leg over easier, but tried doing it Felipe’s way: after a bit of experimentation, it seemed a combination of the two worked best. Of course, I’ve never got an armbar from guard in sparring, so hard to know for certain what the ‘best’ method is – I guess in the end, it’s the one that you get to function on a regular basis.

Finally, the armbar escape was also demonstrated a bit differently. Unlike Jude, Felipe didn’t make a point of getting the knee up to your opponent’s shoulder, instead leaving it further back. Again, I think I find it easier Jude’s way, though I don’t think I’ve put it into effect yet when trying to escape armbars in sparring.

Something else Jude mentioned that proved useful was his advice on getting an arm under the neck close to your body when someone is going for your legs. I didn’t apply it in that situation, but instead when I was attempting to pass the guard over a knee. As often happens, I found that both Chris and Anne locked me into their half-guard, but getting that arm into their neck on the side nearest my body gave me sufficient leverage to push through into side control. I’m still not entirely sure how I can most usefully employ my other arm – I tried grabbing the knee, and also pushing into the hip. Grabbing the knee seemed to help prevent my partner recovering guard, but I think it may have left me a little vulnerable given the awkward position, perhaps setting me up for a sweep.

I had a refreshing spar against a new guy, Paxton. The reason it was refreshing is because its been some time since I last sparred somebody with significantly less experience than me. That meant that I could take it a lot slower, and try to see if I could set him up for sweeps, perhaps attempt open guard, or even go for submissions. I tried to elevator sweep a few times but couldn’t quite hook his leg, and also couldn’t get enough space for a scissor sweep – Paxton was staying very close, which made it difficult for me to do a great deal. I could possibly have pushed harder for the collar choke, but preferred to take the opportunity to work sweeps.

Eventually I found myself presented with a triangle, but struggled to finish. I always have problems completing a triangle, which normally results in my opponent slipping their head out, stacking me and passing, which is what happened here. Paxton also went for the Americana a few times, although when I said afterwards that its unlikely he’s going to get that from within guard, he responded that he didn’t really know what he was going for, which is entirely possible.

I had little success on the bottom, yet again failing to get the sit-up sweep against Chris. He sat back, so was in position for it, but I couldn’t force it through. I did at least remember to try for the kimura as I fell back, but went for it too late: I barely had the arm, which Chris easily pulled out, proceeding to pass my guard.

So, I really need to work timing on my sweeps, and I also need to think more carefully about follow ups. For the scissor I must remember to make space first by shrimping, and I also should take greater care when attempting a triangle. As I’m planning to book a private with Jude in May after I get back from my holiday, I want to start considering now the kind of things I’d especially like to cover: at the moment, I think I’d be choosing from passing the guard, submissions from mount, sweeps and triangles.

On a transportation note, I realised after standing about waiting for the 23 bus to Westbourne Park for ages (missing my train to Amersham despite panting my way to Marylebone from Edgware Road) that it would be much more sensible to do as Chris suggested and go the other direction, to Ladbroke Grove. That’s because pretty much all the buses on the other side of the road go to the station, whereas on the side I was standing, its only the 23.

Next week, I’ll be staying at my sisters again, so this time I want to make sure I get some extra drilling in after the late session finishes. Looking forward to working some stuff with Chris on Tuesday and Thursday night.