Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tatami Nova BJJ Gi Review

After spending far too much time researching UK based BJJ Gi suppliers , as well as soliciting advice from several people, I plumped for a Tatami Nova as my first real Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi. The Nova is, by all accounts, one of the most dependable inexpensive gi on the market. I've only racked up about 15 hours of jiu jitsu mat time and given that I only train once a week, the Nova seemed to be a sensible choice. I wanted something friendly on the wallet as well as relatively plain. The Nova ticked the boxes, though it does come with patches on the shoulders and trousers (which I have subsequently removed). On paper, the Tatami Nova looks like the perfect beginner Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi; maybe even the perfect gi for the occasional student - you know, the one who isn't on the mat every day. How does it perform? I've got an old Shogun gi from about 10 years ago. I've long since forgotten what size it was (and the label has faded past the point of recognition). I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Buying a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi in the UK

It's inevitable that pretty much every new BJJ blogger writes a "Buying my first gi" post. So here's mine. Up until now, I've been training in an old gi that I got when I was training Aikido about 10 years ago. It's pretty solid - an "old school Shogun". It seems tough as nails, but it is heavy as hell with a skirt longer than most young ladies wear and sleeves wide enough to accommodate Napoleon's armies. From what I can see of BJJ that puts me at a disadvantage. There's more material to hold onto, more gi skirt to wrap around my neck and more grips than any of the guys at my gym need to thrash me on the mat. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that I have the gi- I made the mistake of going to my first class in tracksuit trousers which for some reason chaffed my knees and left them completely raw (my gi was drying from being washed after being in storage). Since then, though, I've been using the gi. First night wearing it and rol...
1 comment
Read more

My first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class

My first class in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was probably the hardest I've trained in five years. It went like this: Brief warm up - not too bad - my body still remembers roughly how to roll. I pick up shrimping - pretty sure I'm not elegant, but at least I can do the basic movement. Some hindu pushups (glad I've been doing these anyway) Drill a technique - an armbar of sorts. Basically, from guard with opponent grabbing lapel, you break his grip, get opposite hand under his/her lapel, put one foot on his/her hip to create some space, get the opposite foot high on opponents back then bring the hip pushing foot up over the neck their shoulder. Don't cross the feet, but rather squeeze the knees together. I'm pretty useless, slow, just trying to remember the technique. The guard feels alien. I've done some striking arts and it just isn't something I've ever worked with. We worked some basic takedowns that a couple of the guys wanted to cover for an upcoming tou...
Post a Comment
Read more