27/08/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Basic Pendulum & Triangle)

Class #465
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 27/08/2012

Another big class this Monday, though a couple of people short of the biggest ever last week. Self defence was the technical stand-up, blocking their kicking leg (which is normally the one they have back) by putting your elbow to your knee, kicking into their other knee with your free leg. Last time we did this one I forgot which side to kick, which I may have done again this week: Geeza did mention that my partner was doing it wrong, but from what I could tell he seemed to be following the same drill as everyone else. Still, very possibly I could have missed something, as self defence training makes your eyes glaze over. ;p

Next up was the basic pendulum sweep. Grab both their sleeves, just behind the elbow: Geeza recommended gripping the seam to take out slack. They then try to stand up. As soon as they raise a knee, swivel towards that side and underhook that leg with your same side arm. Still on the same side, kick your leg up into their armpit to knock them over while lifting with your arm. As you come up, remember to curl the other leg back so you don't throw them onto it: otherwise, you'll get stuck while trying to shift into mount.

That was followed by the triangle from guard, which Geeza wants us to keep working for the next two weeks. That should prove interesting for me, as my triangles are rubbish: so, good opportunity for me to take another look at them, given it's something I hardly ever use. Given this was the first lesson of triangle fortnight, Geeza kept things very basic. They have one arm in and one arm out. Lock your feet and grab their head to break their posture (Geeza said that this is the only time he laces his fingers together, as he feels that's the strongest grip to use in this situation).

Swivel to their free arm side, adjusting your legs if you need to. To finish the choke, Geeza prefers the Ryan Hall method, where you're kicking into their neck using your quads, rather than squeezing your abductors together. Hall talks about this at length on his DVDs: his perspective is that you should be using the most powerful muscles in your legs, rather than comparatively weedy ones, which makes sense.

There wasn't any time for sparring, but then it is only an hour class, so that's not surprising as self defence etc takes up a good bit of time.