Class #580
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK -17/07/2014
Dónal announced we were having flying lessons, which meant some flashy sweeps on the horizon. He started off with a drill to help work on our ability to balance somebody's weight on our legs. Feet on their hips, grabbing both sleeves, then lifting them up into the air, like you would with a small child.
That progressed to a de la Riva sweep. Starting from the de la Riva, you again lift them into the air, pulling on their sleeve. This time, you've only got one sleeve, as your other hand is grabbing the heel, in order to secure your de la Riva hook. They are probably going to pull back on the sleeve, whereupon you switch to grabbing high on their collar. Pull your arm right back, flaring the elbow, then lifting slightly with your legs, flip them over and roll into mount. Not a high percentage option, but fun if you can land it. :)
Today was, for the UK at least, hot. That was exacerbated by the gym itself: Impact gets really hot, as it's in an old warehouse with a glass roof. As a result, I was completely exhausted after training. Sparring wasn't especially intense and the warm-up wasn't too bad, it was just the heat and dehydration. I normally have a very passive style of rolling, but coupled with that exhaustion, I was about as active as a dead fish.
Rolling against someone who didn't have a gi, that took away my safety grips. I therefore spent the roll flopping around underneath without being able to get much control, until eventually I made a mistake when I somehow got on top and started to pass. I was going for a stack pass, but made the basic error of leaving an arm in without pulling the elbow back. That put me right in a triangle: as I tried to pop out, the armbar was right there. No gi is bad enough when I can move, but in the heat I was completely incapable of doing anything.
The other two rolls were against people with a gi, so I was able to clamp on to a collar and stall (I did get mount at one point, where again you can just lie on them without having to move all that much). I attempted to kick out their leg and sweep once or twice, either in an elevator or scissor style, but I'm forgetting to pull them up into me first. That was about the most attacking move I managed all day.
Despite guzzling a big bottle of water, I still felt destroyed at the end of class. Almost certainly the slowest cycle home I've ever done. If this is what I'm like after a mere British hot day, then clearly I shouldn't even consider training in Brazil! ;)
This site is about Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ). I've trained since 2006: I'm a black belt, teaching and training at Artemis BJJ in Bristol, UK. All content ©Can Sönmez
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