10/04/2011 - RGA Aylesbury Open Mat

Class #387
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Yasmine Wilson, Aylesbury, UK - 10/04/2011

The videos Yas produced with Black Eagle have now been joined by a series of counters, demonstrated by Kev. You can see all of their videos here, on the main Black Eagle site. As she won the Abu Dhabi Pro UK Trials a little while ago, Yas will also be jetting off to the Middle East to compete at the main event next week. So, very best of luck to her!

After the beginners class was over, it was time for the open mat, starting with a bit over an hour of 'skills and drills' led by Yas. This was essentially the great open guard routine that Kev has gone through a couple of times, with an addition. The open guard drill starts with you on your back. They're standing in front of you, to one side of your knees. Reach your far foot over to the inside of their leg, using that to square yourself up.

Next, they stand a bit further forward, by your hip. That's now too far to comfortable bring your far leg in to hook, so instead, put both hands on their leg and shrimp out. You should now be able to establish a hook with the far leg as before. I stopped at this point, as my knee was complaining again.

I also managed to aggravate the mat burn on my shoulders, which I somehow managed to do during shrimping at Mill Hill. It's been a while since I've done shrimping drills due to the knee injury, but still weird: can't remember that happening before. Probably didn't help that I kept on going, but it's only mat burn (or I guess gi burn in this case, as it was the inside of the gi causing the actual abrasion).

Moving on, the scenario becomes that they've passed your guard and established knee on belly. This is a little like the escape Saulo shows as part of the running escape series, except that you're not in the running escape posture. Push off their knee, stretching your outside leg directly away from you. Swivel and twist, so that your hips are up in the air, then roll back towards them, in order to re-establish guard.

There were then an additions to the last time I did this sequence, as they now walk around you, side-stepping in a circle. You're still in guard, but sitting up: following them round. At some point, either stop and let them come to your side, or wait until you aren't spinning enough to catch up with them. Once they are standing by your side, falling in the other direction, then roll to face them square on.

The skills and drills finished with the same specific sparring I'm used to from the last time. It is all open guard, beginning by using just your legs: your hands are tucked into your belt. I didn't trust my knee enough for that, so just stayed in the top position, slowly walking around in a circle to give Stuart some resistance.

Next you can use one of your hands. I thought that would be ok for the knee, so joined in fully this time. Passing was interesting, as I could collapse into top half guard and move around. As they don't have a second hand to block, it is probably easier for the top person in this drill. While I don't have the second hand either, weight and gravity makes up for it.

Underneath was ok too, as I could move into either Xande open guard, or just spider guard with one leg, swivelling around to follow. Again, I couldn't go for any sweeps with just one leg, though I did find myself moving into a triangle again out of habit (no twinges this time, though, which was either due to loosening up, or I just didn't feel it).

Finally, it was full sparring from open guard, so no restrictions on hands or feet. My passing, as usual, was terrible. Even without the excuse of a knee injury, I really, really suck at passing open guard. Stuart swept me over a few times with x-guard: I attempted to base out on my head and see if I could twist back into the top position, but that wasn't too successful. Probably would have been just as ineffective if I could use both legs properly, though it's kinda fun to try and breakdance your way out of a sweep. ;)

It was a rather small class today, probably due to the good weather. That's a rarity in England, so people tend to whip out their barbecues and/or head to the park. I don't get especially excited over sunshine, so it's not something I'd ever use as a reason to skip training (if I ever skip training, it is more normally things like my gf wanting to do something together, as she's always my top priority :D).

10/04/2011 - RGA Aylesbury

Class #386
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Yasmine Wilson, Aylesbury, UK - 10/04/2011

Kev was taking his son to a judo tournament today, so Yas took the class. Which was cool, as I haven't been taught by a woman before. Even better, she went through one of my favourite set of techniques, escaping side control. The first escape was the basic guard recovery. Bridge into them, insert your knee, then square up and slip your leg around them to re-establish guard.

I was also fortunate today in that I had a particularly helpful drilling partner, a recent blue belt called Stuart. He was just as keen as I was to work on the details: for the guard recovery, we were interested in the best posture to retain the guard as you square back up. The important point is to prevent them moving past your knee and re-establishing side control. I would normally put both hands on their shoulder (on the passing side) to prevent that.

However, as Yas showed, you can also grab their arm and pull them forward, so that their posture is broken. They also can't then push down on your knee to begin the pass. A third option that came up during drilling was to combine the two, grabbing their collar but making your hand into a fist, pushing your knuckles against their shoulder. With your other hand, you can grab their arm, again to stop them controlling your knee. That would also enable you to move into attacks from guard.

Speaking of attacks, Yas then showed how to go for an armbar from under side control. This was reminiscent of the Braulio technique, though leaning towards an escape rather than a full-on submission attempt. If they try to move into underhooking your far arm as you bridge and shrimp, you can try bringing your hips up and getting your leg over their head. That means you can then progress into an armbar attempt. Most likely they'll be able to get their arm free, but it is then a simple matter for you to adjust your leg position, transitioning to open guard.

Finally, Yas went through the escape to knees. This is something I still don't try often enough, and when I do, it isn't with enough conviction. Generally what happens is that I'll turn to my knees and grab their legs. However, they'll get one free, then I'll end up either turtled with them going for my back, or the usual running escape survival posture.

Yas suggested that if you lose your grip on one of their legs, you can simply switch your head to the side you're still controlling, then proceed to drive through that way instead. Stuart also mentioned that the wrestler's sit-out is another good option, especially if you already have something of a frame due to your head position.

Like on Friday, my knee seemed to last through the warm-up, although I decided against testing it for the breakfalls and shrimping. I hadn't rolled with Stuart before today, so I wasn't sure about his control, but decided to give it a go during the specific sparring from side control.

Turned out to be a good decision, as Stuart was careful not to jar my knee or yank on that leg. So, I was able to practice my control from the top, looking to switch my arms and move round to north-south, along with scarf hold. I had a brief go at the far arm, but as ever had trouble isolating it (though I'm remembering to use my head, which is something I want to improve: handy third limb once you have the technique down).

Underneath, I gave the head switch a try when turning to my knees. It worked, but Stuart was going pretty light, so I imagine he could have sprawled or otherwise scuppered the attempt if he wasn't watching out for the injured knee. I also got tempted to try for a triangle at one point: my knee soon let me know that wasn't a good idea, so I stopped after I felt a slight twinge (though given I'm very cautious by nature, hard to know if that was actually a twinge, or if I'm being a hypochondriac and imagining things).

I also did my usual running escape, and also tried another one I've been attempting intermittently for a while now, having seen a Braulio video on the topic. When they have both their arms over, the idea is to grab behind their elbow, lock out your arm, then sit up and roll them. I struggle to sit up, and also don't feel I ever have enough control over them.

However, trying it with Stuart, then asking afterwards, I think I've been missing something fundamental: they can just switch their other arm to block. So, I just need to grab that arm as well and pull it towards me, then go for the escape. Re-watching the video, I can see that Braulio doesn't grab Norbi's other arm, but seems to have it trapped underneath him, achieving the same result. He's also more into the armpit than the elbow, which I find more difficult to control.

Another side control escape I keep failing to get is one I first saw quite a while ago, the 'shin-in-elbow trick' from Strategic Guard (I've got a picture of it on the review). Looking at that scan, I think I was using the correct shin to start with, but thought I wasn't, so unnecessarily switched.