I went to BJJ tonight for my second class. The warmup was way more grueling tonight, but I can use the exercise.
We began with arm bar drills from guard and mount, then worked on four techniques from the same arm drag entry. One was the arm-drag-to-back-control we did last time. Next was a strange way to go under his arm and control the opponent's body with your head until you're controlling him from the back again. This led naturally into a fireman's carry throw, and the last technique: a way to take his back if the fireman's throw failed. Things for me to remember: 1) Make the guy take a step and time the arm drag with his footfall (duh, I should have seen that). 2) I need to step around the guy with my inside leg for the arm drag. 3) Lay your opponent's body over you early and get a really good grasp on his leg for the fireman's carry throw.
Next it was time for free sparring. My first round was with the teacher, a 2-stripe purple belt. He was really helpful, reminding me to keep my hands off the mat, and recognize when he was trying for a triangle. He also showed me how susceptible I was to getting swept when my CoB is too high while trying to take his back.
Round two was with a 2-strip blue belt, much bigger than me. I don't remember much besides getting arm barred a lot. really nice, helpful guy though. I find that all the guys have been willing to help, and give me a ton of instruction, but it really is like drinking from a fire hose - I am so befuddled by rolling, it's tough to keep their tips in mind on the off-chance we end up in the same position. I appreciate the 30 words of wisdom tonight, but I think it will take more time and practice before I get it! :-)
Round three was with a young guy, maybe 12-13. I didn't try to crush him, just let him work his positions. I could have smothered him but I know how unpleasant that is.
Round four was interesting. I rolled with a guy I rolled with last week again. He was much more..."enthusiastic" this time, but a good kid. I'm not sure if it's legal, but while in his guard, I got a very decent kotegaeshi on him. He didn't seem to know how to deal with it, and it basically denied him the use of his left arm for most of the round. When he would try things with his right hand, I would gently prompt him to return his attention to the wrist lock. It worked out well, and I maintained control of him the whole time. I eventually let him out, just to avoid being a punk. His determination not to let me grab his hand again resulted in me getting an elbow to the lip, but it was accidental. It happens.
My last round was with a no-stripe purple belt. He seemed to just looooove the spider guard, and I don't really know how to deal with it, so I felt like a marionette for most of the time. He did let me out of it occasionally. This past weekend, I was getting Pat to help me with some grappling issues I've been having. Namely, getting smothered and shut down, especially under someone's side control. Pat reminded me of a Judo escape from munegatame that involves creating space, then using top guy's attempt to close the space to chunk him over your head and get side control on him. Normally these things make sense and work well for me in drills or practice, but pulling them off against a resisting opponent is another story. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand this guy was in a whole different world than me in terms of skill, and he was toying with me for most of the time... but I'm telling you: there came a time I saw he was about to get me in side control, so I got a little on my side, and pushed back from him as he tried to solidify his position...and as if in slow motion, things started playing out exactly as Pat had demonstrated on Saturday! As he tried to get on top of me, I hugged him, bridged, and threw him over into my side control....Now who's asking the questions?!? Now, it may be that he just wasn't expecting it and I caught him by surprise, but he didn't let me do it. So whether he was caught sleeping or not, I'll take it as a small victory. There were a couple other times I was able to sweep him, but I believe he was just letting me into the game at those times, sort of allowing it.
Great fun, and great exercise tonight. Looking forward to next week!
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