16/05/2015 - Open Mat

Class #643
Artemis BJJ (PHNX Fitness), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 16/05/2015

Today I mostly just recapped techniques from the Super Seminar with two of the students who popped along, Laura and Kirsty. We ran through the closed guard back take and armbar Yas showed, then Gret's half guard material, before finishing off with Vanessa's spider guard sweep. I simplified that last one, as there were quite a few steps to it based on 'what if'. It began from closed guard, moving into spider guard from there, then using the lasso to pull the collar in range, then the main sweep itself, along with some details to counteract your opponent trying to go to knee on belly.

I just went through the sweep, starting off in open guard, without assuming they are trying for knee on belly. That seemed to make it clearer for people who haven't really used spider guard before. Handily, as they've also seen those extra details, those should hopefully be up their sleeve for when that does happen. Right now it's a bit advanced for the classes I tend to teach, but all of the material from the seminar is going to be especially useful as we move into three months of guard, starting in June with closed guard.

Other than that, I also had a quick refresher on the scarf hold escape, as Steve mentioned that the friendly judo guy who popped along on Thursday was escaping easily and he wasn't sure how. The basic method Dan Lewis went through a while ago at RGA Bucks worked well for Steve: I may give scarf hold a go next week, but I'm still considering what I should teach. Might make for a useful change, perhaps throwing in the americana with the legs too after showing how it can be used to maintain on top.