Monday:
After my total planning failure last week in the technique department, relying on Marcus to do it all, this week I planned ahead fantastically. I decided to theme the session on Guard Passing as it's an area that can get quite rusty if not practised and drilled suitably (which is true of all aspects of the game really, I've just found passing to be the most rust gaining).
First off we started with basic methods to break closed guard. Getting the knee inside was first. On your knees with the opponent's closed guard tight around your waist. You get a double grip on his belt and push yourself back, sprawling your legs out behind to make the space in his closed guard for you to bring one leg forward and put the knee in. Now you can sit back down and the knee inside takes up to much space for the closed guard to be kept by all but the lankiest of guys.
Next guard break method was to stand. You're kneeling in his closed guard. Grab one of his arms at the sleeve cuff and force it down to his waist. The other hand grabs his belt or his gi at the waist. You can then push down on this hold to lift your hind quarters up enough to jump your legs back to a standing position.. From there it's just a simple matter of using one of your hands (either will do) to push down on one of his legs at the knee to break the closed guard. Usually very easy but if your opponent has Herculean leg strength you can push down with both hands on the same knee. This will work every time.
Another one using the standing position. On knees in closed guard. Put both your hands on the opponents hips and use the same motion as before to get to your feet (legs going back stops the guy from securing one of your legs). This time, reach back with a hand and force it between the opponents crossed feet and your back and push your arm deep in then forward (leaning your weight against his leg whilst doing this) to easily break open the guard and start into the smash pass.
The last guard break we hit was a new one on me. On knees in closed guard. Stand using one of the methods from before, and press both of your knees into the opponent's butt, then squat. The pressure of the knees in his rear whilst you squat to make space, should open his guard quite easily.
We drilled all those pretty quickly, both acknowledging that it's pretty rare to find yourself in closed guard these days.
The first pass we did was the Single Stack Pass. You're kneeling in his open guard. Reach behind one of his legs and up and across to his opposite side collar (as if for a smash pass). It can help to distract the opponent if you grab quite deep and press the forearm against his neck. Now push your weight forward against his raised leg and reach back with your other hand to grab his belt or gi pants near the small of his back and pull up so as to stack him up. Now you can push even further against his raised leg, turning his legs to the side (away from the passing side) and then duck your head around his leg and come over into side control.
We also did a pretty cool alternative to that one where the guy resists against the full stack or manages to keep moving away from your passing side (or you could even go for this cause it looks cooler). Same set up but when you reach down for the belt and pull him up, put a bit of welly into it and flip the guy over to turtle. In the scramble you can easily take his back or at least get a rear mounted half hook and seat belt control. I loved this move and will definitely be trying to add it to my Adrenalin Brain repertoire. A great way to skip a few steps in your guard passing game.
Next pass was a Double Stack. In open guard and you get both of your arms under his legs (so only your head is inside). You then stack the guy up using your body weight so his legs are crushed toward him and smash pass as usual. Remember to crush the forearm into the neck as a distraction whilst doing this.
From the same sort of set up comes the Over Under Pass from Double Underhooks. You've got the both arms under the opponent's legs. Bring one of your legs up and out and then press the shin of that leg against his same side shin to trap his leg in that position. Now bring your arm underhook on that side, out and overhook the leg. Now crescent kick your other leg up and over the top to land on your back, quickly scissor switching your legs then, to get to side control. This pass sounds more complex than it is and once you've go it, it's quite a handy little number to know.
Another little variant from the double underhook set up is the sit out pass. You've got the double underhook position and you push both the opponents legs in one direction (left or right) then, using your leg on the side you've pushed the legs toward, sit out in the other direction effectively ducking under the legs and shrug the legs away so you can pop up into side control. I absolutely loved the simplicity of this pass. Another for the insta-memory.
The next up was a nice flashy looking pass. In open guard, both your knees are inside forcing his legs apart. Have one hand grabbing his gi front at the waist, the other hand grabs his gi pants at the knee. Then, duck your head down toward his midriff and off to one side (the side with the gi front grip). Now roll onto your shoulder (right on his belly) firing your legs up in the air and over the top of the leg that you have held down with the gi pant grip, taking you over into side control. Ace pass. Looks cool. I will be hitting this a lot in the future.
The last few passes were for against ButterFly Guard. First up was a kick out pass. In the guys butterfly guard and you've managed to push his back to the ground. Holding his gi pants at both knees you kick one of your legs far back and then bring it in close to the other leg so it's passed around it's respective hook. You should now be in butterfly half guard with the hook clenched between your leg and your arm on the off side restrain the passed leg away. Now pushing away against the remaining hook while you kick out and over with the same leg as before you should be able to neatly pass into side control. Now I know exactly what I was talking about there but reading it back makes it sound quite complicated. Basically, you're doing a kick out to pass one leg, then the same again to pass the second. It's a reliable move and I was able to use it later in rolling against Marcus.
There was another Butterfly Guard pass after which was essentially the same flip pass as before, applied to the Butterfly. Hands gripping his knees. Lay in close and put your head against his lower ribs on one side, then roll your shoulder into his gut and kick your legs in the air and flip over his hook on the other side. Got to kick up really high though so he can't stick his legs in the air to follow you and maintain guard.
Last one was a real gem. The Cradle Pass of Butterfly Guard. The opponent is in a sit up butterfly guard position. You grab his head in a near guillotine style, cupping his chin. With your other arm you grab under his leg on the other side. Now you can roll him over in a cradle style, turning over onto on to your back in the process. A quick rotation of your hips and using your arm (the under leg cradle arm) to push his legs away you can come up neatly into North South. Lovely move.
After all that we found there wasn't a lot of time for rolling. we only managed to get about 10 - 15 minutes in but it was pretty intense and I found myself trying out a lot of the stuff I'd been drilling that day. A good packed session.
Tuesday:
Moving back to No-Gi for Tuesday, we decided to do some takedowns into leg locks. For this I'd basically watched a shit load of YouTube footage and copy and pasted some links to an email sent to my Iphone so I could re-watch them as we need them. Technology these days is friggin' amazing isn't it? If you told me 15 years ago when I was waiting about 5 minutes for one web page to load to my desktop PC (which incidently took up about a fifth of my bedroom space), that one day I'd be able to load video clips to a mobile hand held device in a matter of seconds, I'd probably think you were mad.
Anyway, I started this session straight into the marquee move as I'd been dying to try this one for ages. The Leg Scissor Takedown into Heel Hook is a move made famous by (not created by, but hit in such a dramatic fashion) MMA fighter Ryo Chonan against "The Spider" Anderson Silva, earlier in his career. The move is the leg lock equivalent of a flying arm bar and can turn the tide of a fight to victory in a heartbeat.
Now this was the ultimate aim of our training of this move, obviously without torquing the Heel Hook (never a good idea in training as it's a dangerous move), but the vid I used to help train this from was this next one demonstrated by AJ of Fade MMA. He shows the takedown and detail and then finishes with a different leg lock. We explored all the takedown moves to see which subs came naturally from them. In this vid, AJ shows that you grab the opponent around the back of the head with one hand and then twist around and back step behind your opponent before putting your other hand on the ground and using what was your front leg to scissor takedown the guy. Once he hits the ground it's easy to hit either a Heel Hook, Knee Bar or Toe Hold.
I feared after the sheer awesomeness of that move that I might have peaked to early but there was more to come. The next one we tackled was advertised as a "Palhares style takedown to Heel Hook". Now that title alone says enough for me as Rousimar "Paul Harris" Palhares is the king of the Heel Hook in MMA and one of my favourite fighters. After the way he decimated his opposition at the ADCC (only losing to eventual winner in his weight class, Andre Galvao on points) I have become a bit of a fan. This next vid is a demo by Ken Primola. From a standing back take, you throw one of your legs through his legs and swing it up and over his near side leg as you fall out to the side one your back. This action takes the opponent down into a fantastic position to hit a Heel Hook, but can also set up a nice Toe Hold.
The next video is so fast that you really need to watch in a few times to see what happens. The move is effective though. It works under the premise that you're on your back being attacked by a standing opponent. What you do is attack one leg by wrapping an outside leg around it quite low, then using the knee of your other leg to push against that secured leg to take him down. As he's going down though, the leg you used to push him has hooked behind his other leg and pulls it out so you can roll over coming up with the knee. As I said, it really needs a few watches to get it. Great move though.
The next load of leg locks all came from one vid and were all from one set up. This next vid from Erik Paulson starts from a failed arm bar attempt (from guard) against you. Follow the vid closely to try out each of these locks. I really can't be bothered to type all this out but needless to say, when trying these techniques it's amazing how easy they come on. Me and Marcus both were truly amazed by the simplicity and painfulness of these locks.
The last move we tried out did not feature a takedown but I included it anyway as it looks pretty cool. I saw this in vid of a No Gi grappling match between Vinny Magalhaes and Daniel Gracie. Vinny manages to get Gracie turtled on the floor with one hook in. He crosses his other leg over that hook so he's got a sort of Rear Mount Half Guard control on him. He then reaches across and secures the other leg and rolls over (rolling forward) see he ends on his back and pulls his legs in opposite directions for the "Banana Split". And yes, it's as painful as it sounds when hit tight. Great move though. The move is on the last minute of this following vid.
We followed all these techniques up with a healthier dose of rolling this time and I was quite pleased to see how naturally the leg locks come on. Great days training there, I look forward to the next No Gi sesh as it's really starting to expand my game.
Looking forward to Thursday now for the Ian's DV8 class in Weston. \m/
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