Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 17/01/2016
Kettlebells has been especially good this week, with loads of great stuff on the Turkish get up, my new favourite fitness exercise ever. David and the Move Strong team did a great workshop yesterday too, which focused heavily on the Turkish get up. My Turkish get up needs a lot of work, as I'm not packing my shoulder enough, puffing out my chest or going sufficiently far up on the high bridge. I also need to make sure the arm is straight, get my kettlebell knee in closer to my bum (good tip from Natalia) and be sure to look at the kettlebell, but it's a start. I feel it's my duty to get good at this, given my Turkish heritage. ;)
Today at open mat, Steve wanted to look at the Baseball bat choke from underneath. This is something Magid Hage has made famous, as he hits it on everybody. It's the same thing you do on top, except this has the added bonus of them being distracted because they think they're completing a pass. I was trying to think of a good way to flow into it, and I reckon pushing on their shoulder with your inside arm could be the way. It's not as effective a block as the outside arm, but it works. Main reason is that is transitions nicely into a same side grip on the collar, getting your thumb in.
The tricky part is getting the second hand into the collar on the other side, palm up. As with any baseball bat choke, you are trying to touch the bottom of your second hand to the thumb of your first hand (like you were holding a baseball bat, or my preferred analogy, an awesome great sword ;P). Grab, cut your second elbow across, pulling them in tight as you spin. You'll know the right way to go, because the wrong way will be blocked by their legs. Make sure you pull them down tight. If they have the space to get a knee into your stomach, then gain strong posture and can generally drive their way up and loosen the choke.
I finished up with some good sparring against one of the blue belts, who is always a lot of fun to roll with. As I often find with him, the kimura grip worked well for me. I think it's because his elbows have a tendency to come away from his body, something I noticed when he was competing too. We can fix that before the next comp. I wasn't able to get the waki gatame, or the extra strong Jacare variation on the kimura (off Ryan Hall's DVD), where you walk over to the other shoulder. Persevering with the grip paid off, managing to latch it on at the end. I need to watch my back though, he almost had that at one point IIRC, I don't always keep that in mind enough.
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