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Three Black Belts On The Mat

Three black belts on the mat at last class. How cool is that?

Started with warm up - basic arm bar rapidly from side to side. Just getting position. I worked with a blue belt. Hint of the day was to snake an arm underneath his arms and grab his bicep, using that to manoeuvre myself around. Ten per side, followed by the Kimura - ten per side. Noticed that when he was warming up, as he sits up and turns his body slightly, he bumps me with his hip. Going to try that next time since it seems to be good to take attention and off balance you a bit. Then from side control, lift the body and bring a knee up to the solar plexus.

Drills - we worked from half guard.
So if it's on my right leg, grab the lapel with my right hand and tuck the head towards his shoulder.
Keep the right elbow in and dig a little into his inner thigh.
Grab the cuff of his right hand with my left and pull into position flat on the floor.
Put the knee on the wrist on the inside. Place a small wrist lock to get them to flinch and hopefully release the half guard.
Pull the right lapel with your left hand, open it up to let your right hand dig in deep around their neck.
Reach over their head with your left hand to take a nice grip around their neck and slide the elbow down into position to effect a choke.

Rolling was a bit of a blur. I worked with three blues and one white. One blue belt was very tall. Very tough to get past his legs and his reach meant it was tough to get any sort of purchase on his lapel while he grabbed mine. Tricky.

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