It's good to have Chico back though as his level of training and instruction is just phenomenal, his attention to fine details is first class. In fact I think it would be safe to say that Chico's knowledge of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is close to encyclopaedic and to have access to that level of expertise is a real gift.
Instructor: Chico Mendes - Checkmat.
Warm up:
We started with laps of the mat with butt kicks and knee ups, facing in for a lap and facing out for a lap, then 3 steps facing in, 3 steps facing out for a lap, then mat touches for a few laps. We then did two lengths of the mat with hip escapes, one length of front rolls and one length of back rolls.
Techniques:
First thing we were started on was stand up techniques for grips and shooting. Chico ran us through a few tips for stand up including how best to grip the collar - using the elbow down into opponents chest technique so he can't duck under your arm and take your back - and to not let the opponent get the grips he wants.
We drilled the first few things in pairs before moving on. I was paired with Marcus.
Moving us on from there, Chico showed us his preferred Pulling guard technique. When you collar and elbow tie up together, your opponent has one arm extended, most likely gripping your collar. You are to be gripping that extended arm at the elbow. That is the side of your opponents body you should be concentrating on for your guard pull. You can use your foot on that side of you to push against his hip and then sit back and off side slightly. Your foot on his hip will stop him from passing on that side and basically helps to control his whole position in relation to you. Your other foot is off to the side and can be hung out wide to stop any pass attempts or be ready to use for a sweep attempt or sub attempt. The triangle is a particularly good attack from this position.
Next up was the Shoot for Takedown into Pull guard. While you're collar and elbow tied, fire the guys arm up so you can shoot in for the takedown as usual. Whilst in the shoot position the guys sprawls, you need to bring your outer leg back in to either go between the opponents leg and bring him down in your half guard or hook the leg and bring the other inside too, to get the butterfly.
The next couple of techniques work if you've gone for the shoot takedown and the guy sprawls well to put you in the Turtle (Guard) position. The first of the two move had you put you head out of the turtle near his lower ribs and then base your leg out on that same side - leg needs to be braced at a right angle so the knee is underneath you arm, so the opponent can't collapse you in your turtle. You can now sit out under with your other leg and come out at the side, the arm that was braced by your outside leg can now be used to push the guys to the side so you can take his back. Beautiful technique this one.
The second one involves you putting your head at one side the same as before, but this time the basing leg goes out at the other side. You can now use your other leg to sit in to half guard, with a strong underhook in place. Now if you use the your outside leg to trap his secured leg and pull it out and away, it makes it easy for you to use the underhook to shunt the guy up so you can duck under and take his back. Another nice move.
I loved both of these techniques and will definitely be trying to push them in to my standard game. Brilliant.
Situational Rolling:
Next up was a bit of situational rolling. In pairs for 6 minutes. We did 2 minutes of stand up, the object being to takedown of successfully pull guard. 2 minutes of one guy in closed guard, then another two with the other guy in closed, object there for the top guy to pass, bottom guy to sweep. It was so friggin' hot though that I was running on fumes so I really don't remember much for a blow by blow account.
I paired off with Marcus first. Don't remember much about it.
Second was with the returning and recently renamed Jason Brooksbank. Why he wanted to move the S in his name I have no idea, :o)) (I'm such a dillon).
Think Jase got a decent takedown on me. Jase is quite a short guy but he's freakishly strong for his size and I was already gassed to fuck by this time so I was not having a good time in the stand up. I managed to pass his guard effectively though which was a bonus though. I can't remember if I swept him or not, or if he passed my guard or not. Good roll though. Always is with Jase.
At that point I flaked a bit and sat out a round as I was seriously over heating. The airflow in that gym is tragic at best and I needed to pound back a massive amount of water and stand next to the fan to cool off for a bit. I wasn't alone though as Mario Saeed kept me company next to the fan and we bantered about the recent UFC event (Dos Santos v Mir) a bit to kill the six minutes.
So it was only fair that me and Mario paired off after that. Unfortunately for me (or fortunately for Mario), Chico decided to make it 2 minutes stand up, 2 minutes guard, then another 2 minutes stand up. Now Mario regularly trains MMA so his wrestling is pretty shit hot. I didn't give it enough credit to begin with as he dummied me then shot in for a takedown that was so fast I didn't even get close to sprawling. I was flat on my back before I knew it. The rest of the round involved me either pulling guard or, on one occasion, letting him attempt the trip takedown and then over balancing him to land on top. For the guard play we had a damn good round with me sweeping Mario early, then him going all out trying to pass my guard and getting to side control, but he was unable to hold it for more than a second as I was able to break out and return to guard. From there Mario was trying to lean in on me so In Tomoe nage'd (monkey flipped) him over my head and landed in mount. I was particularly chuffed with this as it's the first time I can ever remember hitting this move in full strength sparring.
To finish up the session we had a free roll. I rolled against Marcus. He pulled guard first and I managed to pass to half guard top. From there I was able to gift wrap his arm across his face and use it to pull him up and take back. From there I struggled for quite some time before I was able to hit a Bow and Arrow on him. Next off I pulled guard. We struggled for a while in that position but I was eventually able to hit the very same Tomoe Nage on Marcus, flipping over and immediately hitting the arm bar. I think I hit another arm bar on him from somewhere else too but I can't for the life of me remember where. I'm fairly certain I faired so well because Marcus didn't sit out a round and was looking absolutely roasted.
That was the end of the session and to be honest I was a bit gutted. I would've loved to roll againat that point but alas, it was not meant to be. Great session though. Shame that's it for me now for about 9 days due to the stupid smelly bank holiday and the fact that I'm on call. Ah well. Let's me rest up and heal a bit. Can't get enough of this amazing art/sport though. ¬m/
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