SJJA 27th Oct 2011

I see that a lot of guys use their blogs as a way of logging their classes and what techniques they have covered in a particular lesson. This seems to be a fairly good idea and as I've got an off week (work stuff) I can't see why I shouldn't start this off with last Thursdays lesson at Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare. I hope you like it and it doesn't sound like so much waffle to you guys.

Thursday 27^th Oct 2011

Venue: Sweat FA

Instructor: Ian Rossiter.  (SJJA)

Warm up: Laps of the mat with sprints. Upper body stretching. Leg Stretching. Push ups, squats, ab crunches. 20s x 2

Takedown Techniques:

Reworked the collar and elbow tie up to walk forward/push down from previous week. Then reworked the same but with the sweep. Finishing with the Armbar.

We then changed it to the collar and elbow tie up, pushing your elbows up and out to raise your opponent’s upper body. You then quickly simultaneously step forward and duck down and take the double leg (gable grip behind legs). I had problems with this initially due to not putting my foot forward at the correct time. Once the double is secured push out with your arms one way while pushing the guy over with your head the other. Keep hold of the legs until you pass any possible guard they might try to throw up at you. 

This is very similar to how the technique looked although we didn't leave the right arm around the neck, we ducked under, stepped in and grabbed straight away with both arms.

We then did an exercise to get this down to pat. 1 guy stands at the front with a line of people facing him. He does the technique on all of those people then the next guy in the line is at the front. Rinse and repeat. We did this drill twice (at my request, I didn’t feel like I was getting it very well the first time through) and by the end most of us seemed to be getting it.

Side Control Techniques:

Ian then moved us neatly on to side control first making sure we were securing a nice strong point scoring position. From that side control position he then pulled one side of his gi out of his belt (the side that was furthest from his opponents head) and passed it around the back of his opponents head (far side to near side) and clutched it in his hand underneath his opponents head. Then, putting his hand furthest from the opponent’s head flat on the floor near to the guys hips to use as a brace (so he can’t chase you around the mat to avoid the choke), rotate your body away from your opponents hips as if moving into north south, and press your head toward the ground where you knee just were. The choke will be put on by a combination of the gi being stretched taught due to your movement and the top of your forearm pushing his neck up into it for the tap.

This move is shown here by the amazing Renzo Gracie (I met him :o) ADCC 2011 ).

Ian then showed us a different variation of a gi choke from side.

This time he was in a dominant side control position and pulled one side of his gi up but it was the side nearest the opponents head. The gi was passed over the top of the guy near the neck and then gripped with a hand passed underneath the guys head so the grip occurs near the far side ear.  He then brought his free arm (the one farthest from opponents head) around to grip on the opposite sleeve and press the forearm onto the stretched taught gi and the opponents neck. Then you pull on the gi twisting the opponents head round and putting immense pressure on the neck for the choke.

Here’s a clip of this being demonstrated by the Jiu Jitsu Genius, Marcelo Garcia.

Closed Guard Technique:

Ian finished the series off with a quick gi choke from guard.

Opponent in the closed guard, pull one side of their gi out and pass it around their back, pulling them forward with your knees to catch the gi on the other side of them up at the neck. You then cross grip that lapel (ie. If the collar is over your opponents left shoulder, grab it with your left hand) and pull on it so the gi is pulling him into you and your wrist/forearm is running up the side of his neck. Then, shifting your body around away from the gripped lapel, use the other hand to grab his shoulder and then pull down with both lapel and shoulder closing on the choke.

This is a vid of the choke as shown by Jean Jacques Machado, although it differs at the setup as JJ’s version is shown with the guy resting on him where as Ian’s version was worked as if the guy was postured and you had to pull him forward with your knees.

Rolling:

We then rolled in a slightly different way. Two guys were on the floor rolling, then after 1 minute a third guy would come and attack the guy in the least advantageous position. They’d roll together for the minute then the guy who’d tagged out would come back in place of the guy who’d been in the longest, taking the most advantageous position he could from the way the last guy was positioned (ie. If he was on top attacking, you can jump on his back. If he was on his back defending, you can attack side control, knee on belly or mount). We repeated this for a few rounds then called it a night.

Hope you understood most of that and it didn't waffle to much. Personally I really enjoyed typing it out and it really helps to remember the techniques.

Til next time ;o)

\m/