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This website is about Brazilian jiu jitsu (BJJ). I'm a black belt who started in 2006, teaching and training at Artemis BJJ in Bristol, UK. All content ©Can Sönmez

29 June 2017

29/06/2017 - Open Mat (Thursday)

Class #837
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/06/2017

There was a good turnout for the Thursday open mat today, meaning lots of drilling. I worked on an opposite side half guard counter Matt H was working on, where the key thing appears to be making sure your grip on the leg is tight enough that they can't underhook. It is exactly the same situation as when you're trying to complete the opposite side half guard pass, but they attempt to rotate their leg under yours and flick it up. If you can wrap their leg with your arm, you can stuff that sweep option. A strong cross-face may also be enough, as we tested in drilling.

I also had a play with what gets called the folding pass, I prefer leg sit pass. What must be in place here are grips on the collars. I have been avoiding that to save my fingers, but without that grip, you can't take away their space sufficiently to stop them wriggling their legs back into play. I did a Facebook Live video for a good chunk of the open mat, both for advertising and also to provide footage I can later analyse. The camera was set up to cover the middle of the mats, next time I'll move it further down so it is the end of the mats (that way, people walking after the video has started should be less likely to get captured on film when they don't want to be.



Unusually, my Thursday evening was free, so I could make it along to the second Thursday comp open mat. This is a slot we booked in from last week, as the kettlebell classes have moved elsewhere, opening up that slot. I nabbed the same 7-8pm chunk on Tuesdays as well. I'm not sure if I'll keep this as a comp open mat, because it wasn't all that well attended. I could instead switch Chris' class (currently set for Tuesdays) to the Thursday instead. That would give me scope to have a judo class on the Tuesday instead, meaning a full hour, but I'll see what Federico (the judo instructor) thinks.

Anyway, it was just Chris, Sam and I at the open mat. Chris isn't too keen on social media, hence why this first video doesn't have a whole lot of content:



When Chris and Sam had gone for a while, I stepped in for the next round. It's always good to get crushed by Sam for a while, as I find him very challenging to roll with. He is extremely mobile, great timing and lots of energy. I'm the opposite, slow and methodical. Somebody jumping around is my kryptonite, I'm bad at dealing with. I like to have some attachment, which I haven't yet managed to properly work out from open guard. I have continued playing with sitting guard as my main option, framing against their collar, head and shoulder. I am moving away from the collar, as that bashes up the fingers. The collar tie I like a lot, but it is limited by range. I need a good, non-gi reliant option for longer range. Something to keep playing with.



Passing Sam is hard too, as he's got a great knee shield. I have started to just go for kneebars when he does that. They are still super sloppy, seems like a viable counter though. I need to keep on working on that kneebar, get in finer details. I'm not sure I've ever been taught it properly, so might also be something I should get a private lesson on (Rich might teach it at the nogi too). Deep half guard should be used more by me took, kinda got the sweep with it against Sam, only kinda though, more of a scramble. :)

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