On that subject, FedEx are a bunch of rip off bastards!! Last time I got a gi through from the states I don't recall an additional charge on arrival. And it wasn't delivered by FedEx. This time however, AFTER I've been down to their depot and collected the gi, I get a bill for VAT and an additional admin charge from FedEx. Now I've been getting steadily ripped off by the government for years so I'm used to getting the stiff one from them. What I don't appreciate is the fact that FedEx stick this totally unreasonable 10 quid admin charge in on top! It wouldn't be so bad but the fuckin VAT charge was only a fiver so for FedEx to add twice that for themselves is the kind of bastardry usually associated with thieves and murderers. Lesson learned. Don't tick the FedEx box when getting things delivered from abroad in future.
As for this weeks lesson, we had some pretty good numbers this sesh with two new guys from one of the local MMA clubs attending also. It was great to have these new additions and I can only hope they keep on coming.
Venue: Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare, UK.
Instructor: Ian Rossiter, Checkmat Black Belt.
This week Ian went with a technique theme. The Guillotine.
First up we just did a standard guillotine from knee to knee. One guy gets the arm around his opponent's head and then pulls him down, cinching the move up beneath his chin. Standard guillotine. Nothing special.
We then did the block to a standing guillotine. The opponent has managed to manoeuvre his way into having a guillotine on you from standing. The first and quickest thing you need to do is to grab and pull down on his applying arm with your offside hand. This will relieve the pressure and give you time (not loads though so a bit of haste is necessary). The next thing you do is reach over his offside shoulder with your nearside arm as if you're trying to reach for his belt. If you can reach the belt then all the better but if not, just take a grab of his jacket. Now you are in a lot better position. If the guy tries to crank the sub on now just can just hang there relieved of most of the pressure while he gases himself out (normally). But you don't want to just hang there, you want to get on the offensive. To do this you need to position your offside elbow (whilst that hand is still relieving the pressure around your neck) into his upper thigh to hold him off. This allows you to step around to his offside, putting your foot behind him. You can now knock him off balance by tripping him to his back with you coming down in side control. Even though he still has a hold around your neck there is no pressure at all. A savvy bjj player would at this point just give up on the hold and try for a side control escape or guard recovery. Usually the guy's instincts will tell him to hold on though.
That leads up to the next two bits. A way to break the hold. The first one involves you keeping the arm that was reach down his back in place and driving your head up into his armpit. This should put a lot of pressure on him in the style of a head and arm choke and if done correctly, can earn you a neat little tap.
The second for if you can't get the first, pull your arm that was behind his back out and drive the forearm of that arm up and into his neck in a sort of scooping style to exert immense pressure on the neck, causing the guy to either release the hold or tap/pass out. If he does the sane and sensible option of releasing the hold you now have a strong side control position to work from.
For the last move of the night, Ian ran us through the arm in guillotine. A guy has shot in for a takedown the stupid way and come up with his head on the outside of you by your right hip with his right arm around your waist. You reach down around and under his head with your right arm and push your arm through so you can secure a standard style guillotine in. But unfortunately he's managed to get his right arm in there and this stops you from finishing it with the usual way. Instead, use your left arm to pull your right arm under and through as far as it will go so it now becomes your guillotine arm. Gripping your hands together and using your right forearm pressed down to keep his head in there, you can now lean back and pull up on the guillotine to finish the move.
Rolling:
I said I wasn't going to write anything up about my rolling unless anything special occurred. Well it did. And I need to remind myself of this. I rolled with one of the new guys to the class this week. A guy named Marc Aplin, who I later find out is an experienced MMA fighter. He'd come into the class, I'd never seen him there before and he wasn't wearing a gi so I made the stupid assumption that he was fairly new to it all. Stupid. Straight from the off Marc demonstrated a speed and skill level a lot higher than I was expecting and quickly arm dragged me to take my back. That was basically the position the round took from then on in with me blocking his RNC attempts and trying to escape from first his hooks, then his body triangle. It really was quite impressive cause I threw a lot at him to escape, feinting with straight arm bars while I tried to escape my hips but he was tenacious. Not having a gi on was also helping his cause somewhat as the usual pant leg grips and friction on his legs were not there. In the end I was left with a "must try harder" taste in my mouth. Marc went on to win a local No Gi grappling competition on the Saturday though so he clearly has a lot of grappling talent. I just hope he sticks on in our class so I can have another crack at him.
That's it for another week. Like I said, I'm trying to keep these things brief now. Catcha next week. ¬m/
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