DV8 4/7/13

This last week has been brilliant for me. I've been back to sparring and managed to get three sessions training in. Great stuff. Can't argue with that. Tuesday was Lunchtime with Chris Cook, Thursday lunch was with Marc Aplin and Thursday evening was down at Ian's class. Got some good techniques from all of it but I'll be focusing on what I learnt at DV8 for this log.


Once again we picked up good numbers for Ian's class this week and there were quite a few off too so it leaves me wondering just how many attend on and off these days. If everyone was to attend one class together would we pack the mats out? It's bound to happen soon.

Venue: Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare, UK.
Instructor: Ian Rossiter (Black Belt - Checkmat)


We started off the lesson recapping the Side control forearm choke which we covered here so no need for me to rehashed.



We then went on to Side control to knee on belly to north south choke. From in side control you pop of to Knee on belly (well duh) and take a thumb in grip of the opponent's far collar with your offside hand and a fingers in grip of the nearside collar with your near hand. Then opening the elbow of the near arm you pass it over his face as you transition to North South so you now have a cross collar on him with one of your elbows past each of his shoulders. To finish you lean your body over to the side you have just come from so your head is at his side and bring your elbows in tight around yourself to apply the pressure (as you would for a standard cross collar).



From back to the knee on belly, your right knee on his belly, left leg out straight. This time the guy puts his offside hand on your knee to push it away. With your right hand you reach inside then under his left (defending) arm and cup/grip at above the elbow. You then pull him in tight to your body so he's up at an angle and step your left foot over his head. You can now corkscrew turn and come down on your butt bringing his left arm in with you. Clench your knees together and extend hips to finish the arm bar. This is a technique I've been loving for a while now.



Last move of the night was one that I really enjoyed. The opponent has you in a typical american wrestler style pin for side control with his right arm hooking your leg. This is blatantly a stalling tactic as there aren't really many good places to go with the arm under the leg and he hasn't got the points for a pass if the arm hasn't first come through. You grab the arm that is under your leg and pull it right down so the hand is somewhere near your ass. Try to secure that hand there by getting a bit of your body weight on it. You then (quickly or you'll lose the position) release your grip on the secure arm and quickly use your left forearm or hand to push the guy's face/head away so you can quickly kick your left leg up and over the top of his head, pressing that leg down across his back. You then close up the triangle with your right leg and pull the secured arm down across your back/butt for the triangle choke. Voila!! Triangle choke finish from THE BOTTOM of side control. NICE.
It's worth noting that I have now almost hit that move when the guy wasn't even trying to pin me. I just pushed his arm through of my own accord and nearly got the triangle. It's only (probably) because I'd just shown him the move about 10 minutes before that he blocked the finish but I still used it as a fine escape from side control.


Great lesson overall. It's worth mentioning that between the time of this lesson (and me starting this log) to now, 2 weeks have passed. I've been off celebrating my birthday and learning stuff with my other project etc. So I've slacked off. I've been getting in my Bjj though which is really the important thing. More to come real soon as the Summer Bjj bug has really bitten me.

¬m/

DV8 Bjj 27/6/13

So this week I was feeling a bit better in the rib department. Not fully healed up by a long shot but I definitely wanted to have a crack at rolling. Due to work commitments however, I did not have the chance to train and spar at all during the week so come Thursday I was gagging to hit the mats.

Venue: Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare, Uk.
Instructor: Ian Rossiter.



First technique Ian ran us through this week was a Standard guard break. The good old knee up backside guard break that has been covered many times before so I won't go over it again.


He followed it up with a standing guard break. In your opponent's guard on your knees you grab his right hand with your left and force it in towards his groin area straightening your arm to hold it in place. You then push your right knee in against his ass and step out to the side with your left leg (he can't punish you for this by grabbing your leg as you have his right arm secured) and use that leg to stand to your feet in a squat position. Now using your right arm you grip the opponent's gi pants high up (or low down as he's essentially upside down) near the groin on his left leg and drive your elbow into his lower quad to break the guard and push the guy's leg down your leg all the way to the floor, at which point you can pin that leg down just above the knee by passing your knee over top but keeping your foot back (this enbles you to pin his leg down with your leg). Keeping his other leg pushed away using your left arm you can now lean through and press your upper body against his midriff to pin him to the floor, resting all your weight on him, then high crescent kick your trailing (left) leg over and through to finish the pass into side control.


We then reviewed the standard Smash pass which I've covered here a few times too.



Next up was the good old standing opponent sweep from closed guard. You've got your guard closed on him and he's managed to get to his feet. Unfortunately for him in this position his legs are to far forward enabling you to grab him around the ankles with your hands, open your guard dropping your hips to the floor and then bend your knees in together and push outward with your legs tipping the opponent down to his ass. With a quick enough scramble you can't sit up and instantly pass to mount. Unfortunately, if your opponent is quick enough you can end up in his guard so you'd only swapped positions but it's still 2 points for a sweep.



To follow up on the above technique, you hit the sweep and the guy's gone to his ass. As you scramble forward to get to mount he extends one of his arms, placing a hand on your chest, to keep you away. To counter this and land yourself and awesome finish you just grab the wrist of the extended arm and keep it close to you while you drive your butt toward his body passing one of your legs over the top of the arm and around the head for the arm bar. A nifty finish.

Last up was the Ezekiel but I've covered that quite a few times here too.


To finish of the lesson I indulged in a bit of light sparring. I did quite well and left in relatively good shape with minimal side pain. A good lesson and getting back to health. What could be better?