02/10/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Side Control Americana with Lapel)

Class #472
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 02/10/2012

Tonight's technique was an americana from side control, a favourite of mine. Rather than the typical set-up, Dónal showed a variation where you used the lapel. You are in side control, with their arm under your throat in the typical side control escape frame. Trap that arm in place with your head. On the same side as their neck-framing arm, grab their lapel and pull it firmly towards the space between their knees. You may need to yank on that lapel two or three times, in order to get as much lapel available as possible.

Next, quickly bring that lapel over their same side arm and feed it to the hand you have under their arm. This should end up looking like a sling: in other words, you're bringing a significant amount of their jacket over their arm, rather than just securing a grip with a slender strip of lapel. Get that grip really tight. Pull their elbow in, then move your body back slightly, and push on their trapped arm with your head, bringing the arm to the floor. Switch the lapel to your other hand, then swing your arm out from under their head.

If you're having trouble getting your arm out from under their head, start to raise their elbow, as that will probably make them crunch their body and automatically lift their head. To finish, you can simply lift the elbow while pushing on their wrist, or establish a standard figure-four. It's important that you get your weight into their hips and shoulders, as otherwise then can raise their hips and turn to try and relieve the pressure on their shoulder.

My thigh/groin is still giving me trouble, so I was taking it easy in sparring again. I've booked an appointment with the physio for next Wednesday, which will hopefully sort that out. I had a fairly relaxed roll with one of the white belts, where I wanted to practice stuff from LSG seminar. I forced closed guard a few times to try and do that, which was obviously bad technique on my part so I should avoid that temptation. Still, it didn't help me in the end as I didn't get to play with the position I wanted anyway. They leaned back, having noticed I obviously wanted to pull them in towards me, so I took the sit-up sweep instead. I also had a go at the Marcelotine, but didn't get my hand in deep enough.

Rolling with Dónal was again quite light as he took it easy with me. We managed to stay fairly flowing, although at one point I did knock him over with my leg basically just using strength, which was crappy given how light he was going. I often get stuck with my knees clamped to the floor against Dónal, which results in much sloppier escape attempts on my part.