19/06/2011 - RGA Aylesbury

Class #405
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, UK - 19/06/2011

It's been about a little over a month since I last popped up to my parent's new place in Aylesbury. Last time it was to help them with their move, whereas this time it's because I'm teaching a seminar at up Warwick Uni on Tuesday. I was looking forward to seeing my sister and nieces again, as well as catch up with my old training partners at RGA Bucks.

Like last time, my sister and entourage arrived around 11, but this time they were only staying until around 4 or 5pm. So, due to wanting to see them, that meant again I didn’t stay for the open mat. Thanks to my sister's mother-in-law, who had flown over from Canada the day before, I was able to test out my new ripstop gi (which I'll review when I've rolled in it a few more times), a birthday present from earlier in the eyar. She had very kindly both taken delivery of the gi in Vancouver, then brought it with her on the flight.

Class today focused on the triangle, beginning with a basic set up from guard. Grab both of their wrists. Push one of their hands into their chest, then putting your foot on their opposite hip (but keeping your leg tight to their torso), kick the other leg to their neck. You need to make sure you raise your hips to get it over their shoulder, as it is important to come on top of the hand you shoved into their chest.

You should still be controlling their other arm. Make sure that is pulled towards you, so they can't initiate their defence by tucking the elbow inside your leg. Grab your shin with your free hand, then lock in the triangle. Raise your hips to isolate their trapped arm, then push it across their body. You can now squeeze to finish for the triangle: it may help to swivel towards the knee of your neck leg to create a better angle.

If they tuck their chin to try and block the choke, it is worth continuing to try for the submission, as it is likely that they'll eventually shift to stop the discomfort. However, be careful they don't manage to wriggle backwards and slip out: this is a particular concern in nogi, where you don't have the friction of the gi to help hold them in place. Also don't forget you can always switch to an armbar or omoplata.

Another set-up for the triangle can come from when they have a strong grip on your collars. Bring your knee over their arm, so that your upper shin is in their bicep. Keeping hold of their other arm and possibly collar, put your free foot on their hip. From there, you can press with your knee and shin into their bicep to break their grip. Swivel that same leg over to go around their neck, then progress with the triangle as before.

To escape the triangle, bring the elbow of your trapped arm towards the leg it is pointing towards. Raise the knee of that leg, moving round so that you can connect your elbow and knee. Keep moving until you can start to drive that knee into their torso. Grab their knee, then posture up, using the knee you have pressing into their torso for additional leverage. That should eventually break open their triangle, after which you can either return to guard or begin to pass.

During specific sparring, I ended up in a three. Originally it was just with Callum, but a blue belt who didn't have a partner asked to join in. I had trouble controlling his speed, coupled with his very attacking style. I don't encounter that approach often, probably because I intentionally avoid that kind of competitive roll. Either way, my super-defensive approach often fails me when I'm sparring somebody willing to push the pace and just keep throwing attack after attack.

This blue belt did a good job of it, too: I only narrowly avoiding being choked on his fourth or fifth attempt during one roll, then later got caught in an armbar as I leaned forward too much when looking to pass. I need to be less complacent with my arms. I had thought I was safe, because I'd stepped over his head, then managed to get both legs locked around his head. However, he still had enough leverage to bend my elbow for the tap: kudos to him for his control, as I was being stubborn due to my leg grip. ;)

So, another obvious point is that I shouldn't stay down in guard all the time fending off attacks: eventually I'll get tapped. Instead, I should be looking to pass straight away. Getting swept is better than getting tapped, after all, as at least after a sweep you can keep working during free sparring.

Underneath, I kept going for a handstand sweep, but without much success. I then switched to a star sweep (when you spin around their leg and pull up, to knock them backwards), but couldn't quite get it. I had their foot, but wasn't able to knock them flat onto the floor. Partially that was because I was a bit worried about tweaking their knee or something, but he said it was fine.

I'll be up again in a bit under a month, as both my father and my second niece have their birthday in early July. I'd assume that will mean my sister will do a joint thing on the 9th or so, but we'll see. Would also be good to train again with Seymour of Meerkatsu fame, who is yet another birthday boy that week. ;)