Larptastic

Warmed up with 3x up/down the stairs and around the upper room, one lap around the big gym then back into our area to do jumping jacks, squats, hindu pushups, situps, etc.

Side Control Rotation
We drilled some positioning moves from side control, basically going Side Control -> Kesa Gatame -> Reverse Kesa Gatame -> North South -> Reverse Kesa Gatame on other side while trying to stay low and tight on our partner.

Side Control Escape 2
This can be used when the regular side control escape isn't working or if they have your inside arm trapped and you need to get it back inside on their hip.
* Take arm from under their head and place it against the back of their head
- should be back of head, you don't get enough leverage on crown or neck
- don't put the arm all the way through, you set yourself up for armbar
* Hard upa
* Push with arm and rotate hips out to create space
* Come back in to guard (half butterfly, half guard, full guard, whichever you can get)

You can do this as well to get your inside arm on their hip if they've got it pulled out, then do it again to work the escape.

Armbar from Kesa Gatame 1
* Start in Kesa Gatame
* Kick your foot over their head and put heel into their neck
* Lean back on arm for the sub!
--continue--
* Take grip on outside arm down from shoulder to tricep
* Release grip on inside arm and post across their body
* At the same time, pull outside arm through while coming up onto outside foot and inside knee
* Pivot around their head - outside foot should now be against their back with knee against the upwards shoulder
* Lean back for sub

Armbar from Kesa Gatame 2
* Start in Kesa Gatame
* Kick foot over head and tighten heel on neck
* Reach outside arm under their neck (inside the leg)
* Rotate to a north-south while grabbing elbow-pit with arm that is under neck
* Flatten out and adjust to tighten the sub

Started with a run/light rolling warmup, then we did some armbar/triangle from guard drills. Coach said my armbar looks a lot tighter. We then started learning the Brabo choke.

Brabo Choke
* Opponent is down on all fours and you are on top
* Push their head down with outside arm
* Snake your inside arm underneath their armpit and up around their neck
* Catch crook of elbow of outside arm with hand in rnc-type position and work hand up on their back
- Head should be on their back, elbow should be on the ground, weight should be on their shoulder
* With a angled push, roll them onto their side
* Squeeze
- If extra pressure is needed, switch hips and slide outside leg onto ground towards their feet, moving body close to theirs for a better angle

We also worked on some open guard drills, trying to keep a foot and holding on to an arm. Due to my grip issues, I tried to get a wrist and perhaps catch the back of their tricep and it seemed to work okay.

Did some rolling with a couple folks who are more experienced than me and was able to get several submissions. It seems my cardio is improving enough that I can start pushing a little harder without being totally wasted.

Started out reviewing a couple basic sweeps from guard. We then worked on 2 different versions of the half guard (standard and the lockdown) and worked a sweep and a transition to back.

Half Guard Sweep
* Place hand on their hip
* Bump hips while keeping their leg in place with arm
* Push bottom knee through, into half-butterfly
* Get head & arm control
* Pull them off balance and execute half-butterfly sweep

Half Guard to Back
* Bump hips and use space to get an underhook
* Shrimp to side and grab their opposite trap
* Get up to a knee and post on free arm
* ALWAYS keep head in contact with their body

We did some rolling, but I was feeling weak at the end so I took it light. I didn't feel like I had got enough cardio, so I jogged a mile on the treadmill after I got home.

Did a lot of warmup and drills tonight with a bit of new technique at the end. We drilled some armbar from guard (bottom) / failed armbar pass (top) and a lot of stand up pummeling/throw stuff.

Leg Grab
* If I am on the ground and opponent is standing
* If they are in and we're arm fighting, if they step back to escape
* Slide in (ass never leaves ground) and wrap inside leg around their leg while rotating around to the side of their leg
* Other leg should be down flat as well
* Arm should grasp leg just above knee

Worked on a few sweeps and a submission from guard. Was useful stuff since they're stuff I'm already relying on a lot in my guard-centric game and need some more work polishing them.

Basic Guard Sweep
* When they post an arm
* Come up and wrap their arm with my same arm (opposite side)
* Post with other arm (same side)
* Bump hips using both feet
* Roll onto mount

Failed Sweep Kimura
* If basic guard sweep fails
* Grab wrist with posted arm
* Grab that wrist with other hand, forming a figure 4
* Shrimp out to side, bringing knee high up on their back
* Finish up submission by rotating up and pushing towards shoulder
* The flatter you get them, the tighter the submission seems to get

Reversal Sweep
* If basic guard sweep fails
* Release their arm, and switch to other side - under-tricep grip
* Grab their head with other arm (the one that was posted)
* Switch hips, and bring leg in between so that shin is across their waist, hooking hip with top of foot
* Use both arms and hooked foot to pull them up towards your head to throw their balance
* Scissor legs and roll into mount

Worked some more takedowns in class, then had open rolling form standup. I'm still not very good at getting the upper hand on a takedown, especially vs someone with some judo experience, so I tend to cut my losses and just go in to guard on the way down.

In and Over
* Get control of their wrist and pull
* When they pull back, go into them - down on one knee
* As knee hits the group, pull their arm over so that they end up off balance, over your shoulders
* Dip head and roll them flat onto their back
* End with knee on stomach/chest

Had a long roll with one of the newer guys and after shooting a very sloppy armbar he got on top and had me defending on bottom for a long time. Never really got into trouble but I gassed pretty quick and was basically stuck without enough energy to work an escape. I need to up my cardio.

Did a relatively light warmup, then paired up and worked on some guard work and triangle/armbar escapes.

Armbar Escape
* Sprawl and push their legs forward
* Rotate towards inside of caught arm
* Push their legs forward above their head
* Drop hips to force them to release

Triangle Escape
* Grab around their thigh with trapped arm
* Rotate towards non-caught arm
* Use other arm to grab across their face
* Drop hip to force them to release

Worked on some fun chokes/takedowns from clinch.

The Intro
* Need to be going back or sideways for this to work, otherwise it is hard to move the arm out of the way
* With right hand on their head, left hand on their right tricep
* Bump their right elbow up
* Go under the arm while bringing my right around their neck

Leads to...

Stand-up Choke, left side
* Head presses against their right shoulder
* Bring my right knee in behind their right knee
* Slide in left arm and finish choke

...or...

Stand-up to rear hold
* Bring left arm around and grasp left wrist in right hand
* Pivot behind them while pulling arm through
* My grip should be up near their right armpit

which leads to...

Rear hold take down
* Bump their hips to get them off their center of balance
* Bring them down to the back or the side

which can finish with...

Armbar from Takedown
* Right shin up against their kidney - keep foot in if they move
* Right arm leaves grip and grabs back of my own head
* Left arm moves to front of their head (blade of fore-arm against cheek) to straighten them out
* Replace left arm with left leg - sit on their head
* Fall back into armbar

Back to the gym finally and there's a new expanded schedule with 3 days of jits and an additional MMA class, so I'm pretty excited. This class we covered 3 steps going from an escape to a sweep to a submission.

1 - Escape from Side Control
* Inside hand against their hip with elbow underneath them
* Outside hand is grasping the inside of their shoulder, with forearm going across their /neck/jaw
* Bump hips, with outside harm levering them up and towards opposite shoulder while inside hand holds them in place
* Swing around towards guard to get at least one leg in for butterfly guard.

2 - Butterfly Guard Sweep
* Once in guard, get one hand on head and other hand on arm (same side as outside leg)
* Pull them upwards with both arms and with inside leg
* When weight is light on their posted knee, scissor legs and roll on top
* Land on top with tight grasp on arm, one foot behind shoulder and other foot on inside of armpit

3 - Armbar
* Switch grasp of their arm so that inside arm has it while outside arm is posted over them
* Inside of elbow to inside of elbow for a night hold
* Bring outside leg around over head to get heel against their neck
* Fall back with leg over head pulled in tight and leg over chest layed down flat
- this keeps them from rolling out in either direction

Didn't have time to stay for the full class, but I had time to get a couple rolls in with guys significantly bigger, stronger and more experienced than me, which was fun.

I've really been giving some people fits with my guard game, but so far it's been mostly defensive and I haven't been able to get a lot of subs out of it. One of our coaches showed me a way out of this today:

Guard to Back
* When they're in my guard
* Reach arm behind them and grab opposite shoulder blade
* Use this leverage to keep them down, and start working my way out the side
* Transition to back

I'll definitely need to drill this some in order to get it to work, but being a small guy the back is where I'd like to be and I think this has a lot of potential.

Everyone just started rolling around at the start of class, so coach just had us do an open gym.

I rolled 5 or 6 times, most of the time with guys around my size which was nice. I had a lot of luck with my guard, keeping them locked down and slowly working them into subs, but I'm still finding sweeps hard to do unless we're just going light or they totally screw up.

I did roll once with a new guy, 200+ who has done some japanese jujitsu and wrestling (in hs I believe he said). I just spent some time working the guard with him and trying to keep his weight off me. I didn't ever feel in any danger, but I think I was way too cautious when I had the opportunity to work on sweeps and my top game.

Coach stopped us for a bit and pointed out that some of us are taking the "be the ball" approach a little too far, and that we should never let our opponents hips get above ours when in this position. If they start moving forward, we need to use arms & hips to create some space.

Did a light warmup of jogging, then paired up and did some short rounds of light rolling.

After that we started drilling transitions from side control to kesa gatame to north/south to a new transitional hold to side control.

Transitions
* Keep pressure on them throughout the movement
* Don't rush it, if your game is tight it should be tough for them to escape

Haven't updated for a while; just left old job and started a new one so I've only been making one class a week or so while I'm adjusting.

We just had open mat tonight. Rolled 3 or 4 times with bigger folks of various skill levels. I worked out a problem I've been having escaping from a half-mount.

Half Mount Escape
* Get underhook
* Bump their armpit with my arm, pushing towards my opposite shoulder
* At the same time, bump with leg to throw their balance

Just did some light rolling with a classmate. I got to his back and he told me to go ahead and try to sink the choke. Worked on that for several minutes before we stopped. As usual, I'm able to hold on to the back pretty tightly, but have a lot of trouble actually sinking the choke.

Coach said since summer is upon us, we're going to have lots of new folks coming in to train, so he's going to start pushing us harder to get in better shape and to work hard on our game.

After warm-up we drilled some cross body escapes. Next we broke up into 3 groups with one person holding a large pad, and we worked on take downs, specifically putting some power behind them. Next we broke back up into pairs and worked the armbar from cross-body.

Armbar from Cross-Body
* If their arm comes up behind their head
* Trap the arm with head-side arm
* Move other arm down to block their hips
* Sprawl and pivot over to a north-south
* Use a punching motion with trapping arm to roll them on side while going to a combat base on top of their head
* Go for Keylock or...
* Pivot over to side and drop into armbar, keeping leg under their back to really have it tight
* Leg over head should be pulling in to keep them in place
- if they try and roll out-
1 - block leg with free arm or...
2 - hook leg with free arm

At the end of class I drilled some more with a new guy, and then did some light rolling with him. While I felt like I was positionally dominant the entire time, I didn't feel like I had the amount of control I would like to have, probably because I was working a top-game which I don't get the oopportunity to do very often.

I think I need to do a lot more light rolling to get more comfortable with mobility.

First class was pretty small, so we just learned some new take downs. Finished up the class drilling the triangle and armbar from guard. I need to make sure to get good rotation on my triangle, I should be looking at their ear when I lock it in.

Trip and Roll
* Shoot
* Pivot
* Come up on their back
* Leg behind them goes out straight in tripping motion
* Foot on other leg goes against their foot
* "Sit down" on back leg, rolling over towards them when balance goes

Hook and Push
* Shoot
* Hook outside their outside leg with your outside leg
* Wrap arms around their waist
* Push forward with opposite shoulder, in a twisting motion with arms

Coach had us drill a half-guard to back escape that was pretty cool, and then we did some open guard stuff.

Apparently I missed the basics the past couple weeks, but he said we'll be covering it some more in class next week so I'll hopefully be able to catch up.

Half-Guard to Back
* If they don't have an underhook on the side you've got locked
* Bump their arm over your head
* Press head into their chest
* Shrimp out
* Grab across their back to get their trap.
* Work for back or

Roll to Mount
* With one hook in and grip on their trap.
* Roll away, bringing them with me
* As they land on their back, slide into mount

We learned how to do a basic armbar from mount, which strangely enough I've never learned before (though I was able to pull it off one time on a newbie).

Armbar from Mount
* Start by going for an Americana
* If they fight it by pulling in the elbow, go with the motion and wrap their arm across their neck
* Get arm behind their neck to grab their wrist and hold their arm in position
* Take other arm and loop it through the crook of their elbow
* Release arm under their neck and bring foot across their head, up against their ear/jaw
* Pivot and fall back
* Foot by head should be pushing out
* Foot by side should be pulling in

After drilling, we did some free rolling and I was feeling pretty good. I rolled with one of the more experienced students that usually dominates me and I was able to surprise her with a guard pass into side control, kept her in side and finally moved to her back right as the timer ran out. What seemed to make a big difference was closing my eyes. Because my eyes were closed, I was able to concentrate more on feeling her body and I was able to tell when she was going to try an escape. I also kept the pressure on her by making her repeatedly defend Americanas.

We reviewed many of the techniques we've learned so far, concentrating on escapes, sweeps and positioning.

Drilled some guard passing and shrimping, and had a classmate show me some work from the back.

Armbar from Back
* Need to be sitting up
* While fighting for choke, get underhook on arm
* Release hook on other side, pivot and pull into an armbar

Drilled guard sweeps:

1 - Kimura-fake hip bump
2 - Knee on chest
3 - Butterfly

Gym has been closed for several weeks, so we reviewed techniques.

Mount Escape
* Bump & shrimp, catch foot, shrimp out and back in to half-butterfly

Side Escapes
* Forearm on throat (hand on their shoulder), other forearm on hips, bump and make space at their hip with elbow, shrimp in to half butterfly
* Underhook their armpit, bump and come out the back

North-South Escapes
* Bump and spin
* Bump to side, hook inside of knee with bottom arm and outside with top arm, pull leg across body while driving with head into their hip

Guard Passing
* I need to work on my base, particularly as I'm breaking the legs apart
* I should be diagonal to them, not straight in
* Break legs by sliding torso sideways into ankles

Did some light rolling, then drilled guard passing. I'm still having a lot of trouble getting out of people's guards, and one thing I noticed today is that my base has been wrong and I haven't been holding down their hips correctly.

Breaking Guard
* Hands should be at the top of their hip bone, not down where it meets the legs

Combat Base
* One leg on knee and ball of foot
* Other leg - knee up on flat foot

Gym is closed for 2 weeks due to the holidays, but coach is letting us come in on Saturdays for open gym. I came in too late to do any stand-up, so I just rolled a couple times with a buddy of mine. My cardio seemed a little weak, and i had some trouble getting my heart rate down after rolling, so I took it easy and headed out after a couple rolls. I was able to get a triangle sub, which was cool because I've had a lot of trouble getting kimuras or guillotines on him.

No drilling today, just rolling. Did a light roll with a newer classmate around my size, then paired up with a guy about 30lbs heavier than me and we went for subs for a good 10-15 min. I stayed on bottom the entire time, but I was able to control the fight and he spent most of his time in my guard defending sub attempts. I was able to get a guillotine, kimura, and another guillotine (off a faked kimura/sweep). By the end we were both pretty worn out, though I was happy that I was able to conserve energy pretty well and didn't try to match him muscle for muscle.

After a couple minutes of recovery, coach rolled with me to see how I'm progressing. He said I'm doing very well, but that I need to pay more attention to where I feel my opponent. At one point he made a move for my back and I had made space but ended up facing the other way; rather than recomposing my guard, I turtled and waited to see what he was going to do. He said I should be aware of when/where pressure is being applied, and if it's lifted I should make a move to get back to a better position, using my knowledge of where he was last if I'm not sure.

Tonight we worked how to attack someone who is turtling.

Attacking Turtle
* Don't be directly behind them, or high up on their back
* Get one hand in, on the inside of their thigh
* Get hand in on other side, inside their arm to grab their wrist
* One leg should be up on foot, other on knee
* Use arms to make space to get a hook in
* Keep body at an angle, easy to pull them over and start working on other hook

Our normal teacher (a senior student) was out on vacation, so coach came in instead. He had us do a light roll for warmup, where I was able to pull off the sweep he helped me on Saturday. He then helped tighten up our game on the two subs we worked on last week.

Kimura
* Rather than grabbing their wrist first, get the arm locked around first
* Rather than bringing the leg across their lower back, bend the knee and bring it up between their shoulder blades, basically squeezing their torso between your thighs
* The elbow should be tight against their shoulder as you tighten the submission

Guillotine
* Lock it in first
* Twist to get the other hand gripped
* Then fall back

At the end of class, we just did some rolling and I was able to use my new guillotine to tap out someone that has been escaping from them for weeks.

Spent the first part of class light rolling with a classmate, concentrating primarily on take downs, pummeling and escapes. We went for a good 15-20 minutes before stopping, then took a break and I started rolling with someone else.

After a short while, we ended up with me in his half guard, so I rode it out for a while to see if he could escape and if I could hold position. Soon the coaches came over and started instructing him on how to escape, and me on how to pass.

Passing Half Guard
* Trap shoulders
* Get to side, work leg out

Escaping Half Mount
* Be a ball
* Keep one shoulder up, try to get elbow to touch knee
* One arm should be around them, in an underhook

Tonight we did a warm-up and then ended up rolling all night. I went with 4 or 5 different people and felt that I did pretty well, pulling off several kimuras and triangles. I'm still working on finishing the armbar.

I've noticed that my game seems to totally revolve around my guard, so I've started making an effort to avoid pulling people into my guard and instead try to pass them or get into their guard in order to work different parts of my game. My first attempt at this ended up getting me triangled after about 10 seconds, but I endeavor to persevere.

Drilled triangle and armbar from last week. Then did kimura and guillotine.

Kimura
* If the post a hand
* Grab wrist with same side hand
* Come up and over with other arm and grab own wrist
* Open guard and top leg goes high on their back
* Rotate body to finish it off

Guillotine
* Bony part of thumb-knuckle goes up under their chin
* Put in rotation, moving elbow towards own hip, closing the gap between arm and side

Drilled armbar, triangle & kimura from guard. When going for a kimura, I need to make sure to unlock my legs. Also, bending the top leg at the knee and bringing it up to their upper back can help keep them down while I apply the submisssion.

The guy I worked with wanted to drill some takedowns, so we practiced our shoot and body lock.

Shoot
* Change level
* Move in, with knee leading the way
* Knee should land between their legs
* Once I've got let, then pivot and drive

Body Lock Takedown
* Swimming with arms
* Get double underhooks
* Hands go up behind their back, raising their arms
* Pull them off balance, then drive

Worked on side control transitions & taking the back.

I seem to be catching a lot of people in the guillotine, particularly after faking them with a sweep or kimura, and for some reason it feels like I'm taking the easy way out.

Drilled the triangle and armbar from guard. Head and arm control are important.

We had a small class due to the coming holiday, so coach just had us get on mats and roll all evening. I rolled 4 or 5 times and did alright, not gassing as I have been the past few times, and I was even able to shoot some subs though I didn't quite catch them. A couple tips I got from the coaches :

Kimura
* Once their hand is on the ground, I've won
* Once I've got their arm gripped, I have to get the elbow bent
- With a rowing motion, use my hips and rotate my body in order to pull their elbow up towards their head
- Shrimp out to the side and get my leg up on their back to hold them down
* Finish the sub

If someone is fighting a triangle by putting their arms behind my back :

Triangle
* Pull on their head, this will keep them from going anywhere and force them to use an arm in order to free their head.
* Don't forget to shoot an armbar if the triangle doesn't make it

We reviewed our escapes and learned two new ones from north south.

Escape 1
* Make space with arms
* Spin body back into guard
* May need to rock hips one way, before bringing them back the other way

Escape 2
* If you can't get space
* Snake one arm up between their legs
* Shrimp to the side and bring other arm over to clasp hands
* Get onto knees and lift
* Move into side control

Tried to work some submissions from guard, ended up just playing guard with someone at about 50% trying to get a better feel for openings. I told coach how I was in a bit of a rut, having trouble imposing my game on those I roll with. He showed me a new way to break someone's posture, and talked about the difference between what he called regular chess vs speed chess, in that I needed to take my time and plan ahead rather than just try to throw things in when I see an opening.

He also brought up the importance of keeping pressure on someone in order to lead them into giving an opening, such as pulling on their arm when I actually want to push, because they'll end up resisting in the direction I actually want to go.

New posture break
* If they've got both hands locked in on my hips
* Get both my arms under their arms
* Make a prayer gesture, and lift up

Started out with clinch work and ended up with a sore neck.

Pummeling
* When swimming, be relaxed and learn to feel your partner
* If they resist too hard in one direction, pull their head the other way for the guillotine

Wrist Grabbing
* Don't just pull hand away, rotate body to pull away

Taking the Back
* If they grab wrist
* Go in, like for a double leg
* Once down, outside knee goes down and rotate around leg
* Stand back up to take back

Then we did some rolling to submission, starting out with a few minutes of clinchwork (on the ground). My partner disappeared the first round, so someone else volunteered to roll with me who was quite a lot bigger than me. He went easy, but was heavy as fuck. Next round my partner showed back up, and I was exhausted and just played defense the whole time.

Things I learned
* I need to roll with more heavy folks. I've been sticking to people around my size recently and it's made me lazy, muscling through things I have no business doing.
* I need to play more aggressively. I've been spending too much time getting into guard and then just holding on, allowing my opponent to set the pace. I need to impose my game on them.
* I need to stop making excuses. I really get hung up on weight because I'm so light. I need to forget that shit and try to submit everyone I roll with no matter what size they are.

We drilled all the escapes we've covered so far in the 'Grappling 101' class

Kesa Gatame escapes (3)
* Frame arm across their neck, hook head with leg and roll onto them
* Scoot up underneath them, bump and roll
* Get elbow to mat, make space (perpendicular to their body), walk up to knees and continue on to push them down with leverage

Mount Escapes (2)
* Overhook arm, hook leg on same side, upa and roll off shoulder
* Bump and shrimp, hook foot with ankle, shrimp to other side and bring knee in to butterfly guard

Cross Body Escapes (2)
* Bump, shrimp and leg in
* Underhook, bump and shoot out the back

Drilled the Kesa Gatame escapes that we learned on Monday. Started out just doing them one at a time, but then moved on to using whichever worked. It was really interesting to see how it worked out, since if my partner tried specifically to defend against one of the escapes he opened himself up for another.

Coach also discussed the importance of going slow on technique and giving your partner the opportunity to escape. By allowing them to fight their way out, you strengthen both your ability to lock it in on a resisting opponent and their knowledge of escaping. He also showed us the difference between sport jiu-jitsu and what he referred to as the old-school "hooking" , which was more street or mma oriented (leading right into strikes, head cranks, etc).

Devil's in the Details
* To tighten up a kesa gatame
* Take hand that goes under their head and latch it on to your own thigh, just below knee
* Keep tight pressure on them, restricting their head movement
* This controls their upper body and can really lock them down

We worked on pummeling, with several different swimming drills designed to get us used to the movement in clinch. Then we worked on guard passes, drilling several different techniques.

Started out by reviewing the guard passes from the previous week, then we moved into Kesa Gatame Escapes

Frame and Foot
* If their head is back
* Put Outside forearm against their jaw
* Grab wrist with other hand to make a frame
* Push their head back while bringing top leg up
* Get leg around their head
* Shrimp out and take side control

Under and Over
* Get both arms around their waist, under ribs - Gable Grip
* Get body up tight against them
* Bump hips while lifting upwards (towards head) with arms
* Slip bottom leg under them
* Roll and take side control

Out and Over
* Same grip as previous (gable around waist, under ribs)
* Get inside elbow down on the ground
* Shrimp body away till perpendicular
* Get body up onto knees
* Continue to rotate out to clear head and put them into side control

Things to Remember
* Gable grip - grab wrist, not hand
* Kesa Gatame
- Weight should be on their ribs
- Stay up on feet toes to keep weight on them and to allow fast movement
- Keep weight off butt

Drilled the guard with a newer guy around my size and we would alternate with one person in guard trying to submit and the other trying to pass. Towards the end he was going for a pass and my butt slipped and his knee rammed me right in the ass-bone. It hurt like hell, I saw red, and the next thing I knew I pulled him down, came out on the side, got his back and locked down on a RNC. Strangely enough, this is something I haven't been able to do before.

This made me realize was that I do have some strength that I don't normally use. Because most folks I roll with are stronger than me, I've gotten in the habit of always using leverage to get anywhere and never try to push them into something. If I can apply it correctly, maybe I can use this energy to improve my game.

I apologized but he took it all in stride, then jumped on my back and made me work my way out, lol.

In other news, coach showed me some cool ideas to work with the way I normally try to control someone in guard. When I've got an overhook on their arm and tight control on their head, shrimp out to the side of the controlled arm. This makes them carry the weight of my legs and body without being able to put their weight on me, and lets me get all sorts of cool shit like a kimura or an omoplata.

We were going to drill submissions, but coach came by to give some pointers and it evolved into working more on holding guard and guard passing. He showed us how you can find triangles in a lot of the correct positions, like your legs when you've got a good base, or your arms when you're down and mounted on someone.

He reiterated the importance of arm and head control, so that if you lose one you still have something and can use it to re-establish control. We then drilled at 80+% with one person trying to escape out of guard while the other tried to control them. I was the one trying to hold guard most of the time, and I think I did okay.

A few things I learned :
* If they get both arms wedged in and are about to break my guard, use both arms to pull an arm loose and get control of it, then work for head control by pulling legs forward
* When I'm going to be passed into side control, don't hold on to the head - I'm just helping them along

Did a variety of stuff tonight, starting out with some stand-up grappling, then take downs, and finally some ground techniques and rolling.

Swimming
* Keep the elbows in and tight against the chest
* Can use an elbow to block their arm as you're working one in

Body Lock
* Get both arms around them
* Lock hands behind back
* Get hips low up against them and lift

Stand-up Arm Control
* When they have one hand on the back of your head
* Grab their wrist with opposite arm
* Lift shoulder and pull their arm inward
* Rotate body out and pull them off balance

Head Grab to Guillotine
* Keep elbow centered on their chest
* Pull their head down and to the side
* Other arm goes up and over head

Double Leg
* change level - keep good posture, but go low
* shoot - knee that is in front goes to the ground between their legs, head goes to the outside pressed up against their body
* lift - grab waist and lift, keep that head tight up against them to prevent a guillotine
* rotate - rotate their body to throw them off balance and take them down

Reverse North-South Escape
* Knee up
* Head out on same side
* Elbow goes back and sit out
* Reverse hips and take back

Locking down a Kimura
* Open your damn guard!!

After warming up we worked on guard sweeps. I got to drill with someone around my size but a lot more experienced than me, and I learned by watching him that I've been neglecting the whole sweep part of taking their supporting leg out.

Knee on Waist
* Knee should be along the waist, not higher up on their chest
* Bottom leg should come up high, on top of their knee
* Use bottom leg to sweep as you flip them over

Butterfly
* Their weight has to be high up on you for this to work

Catch the Arm
* Often requires a set up in order to get their arm in position
* Can transition into a kimura or guillotine

Drilled the guard passes from Monday and learned learned a couple new sweeps from guard. I then did a "light roll" with another guy my size for 20+ minutes, just moving from position to position, going for a sub then letting it go.

Guard Passes
* Single Leg - keep head up very high to prevent a triangle, push them over as you pass
* Double leg - keep weight forward on them to prevent them from pushing out with their legs
* Combat mount - To get to side control rather than half mount, slide out on inside leg and get both legs outside
* Step over - leg goes out and around their foot, to plant up by their hip - end up in side mount

Guard Sweeps
* Knee Over
- get arm/head control, make space and get knee in between
- pull forward to disrupt balance
- push with outside leg, sweep with inside leg, push with outside arm (on head), pull with inside arm (on arm)
* Hook and Bump
- Isolate arm to side by grabbing wrist
- Other arm overhooks same arm, grabbing wrist if possible
- Bump hips and roll
- If it fails, go for kimura or guillotine
* Half-Butterfly
- Pull weight forward, roll
- Push with inside leg, sweep with bottom leg

Finished class by doing a 20 minute roll with someone around my size. We wouldn't lock in subs, just get it and then allow the other to escape. This allowed us to work our sweeps and escapes for a while.

We did some light rolling, then worked on some side control escapes. I need a lot of work on my escape from side control, I never seem to be able to clear enough room to get out. I think it may be a matter of I'm not shrimping enough.

This was our second beginner class, and we covered passing the guard in various ways.

Guard Pass Basics
* Have to have your base before doing anything
* Either be up and away from them, or down against their chest, not in the middle

Guard Pass 1 - Single Leg
* Get posture
* Get one knee into their butt
* If necessary, can put one arm back and lever their legs apart
* Put one leg up on shoulder
* KEEP POSTURE
* Push forward diagonally, using outside arm towards their opposite shoulder
* keep head up!
* Slide to their side into side control

Guard Pass 2 - Double Leg
* like number one, except get both legs on shoulders when you drive foward

Guard Pass 3 - Slide Across
* After guard is broken open get knee up into combat base
* Slide across their leg to outside, then switch hips into side control

Guard Pass 4 - Step Up
* After guard is broken open, use forearm to hold one of their thighs down
* On the same side, stretch leg straight back
* Bring leg back up, on the outside of their leg, up past your arm
* This typically gets you into a half-mount

Grouped up with a couple guys my size and we rotated working on mount escapes/submitting from mount. Having drilled the stuff on Monday, I was having a bit better luck though I still had to struggle sometimes to get out or to lock in the submission. I was really pleased to be able to apply what I had learned, it seemed to really click with me and worked well.

Unfortunately, I'd end up fighting to get out for a minute or two, then fighting to sub for a minute or two, then the other two would be paired up and take about 15 seconds and it'd be my turn again.

After 6 or 7 rounds of this I crashed pretty hard. I had only had a breakfast bar before I hit the gym and had already been working out for an hour and a half. Just ran out of energy, ended up cutting out around 2 to go get some lunch.

Note to self : In the future, eat some breakfast before spending 3 hours at the gym.

Also watched some advanced students drilling while I cooled down. They were going over how to recover when someone pushes your legs down for a pass.

Recovering bottom position from pass
* Don't try to lift legs back up, it's their body weight against your lateral leg strength
* Flip hips (switch to other side)
*Slide back into guard position

Did a lot of varied and interesting stuff in class, including some head control drills, takedowns, and a couple submissions from mount.

Head Control (receiving)
* If they have a one handed grab on my head
* Grab their wrist with opposite hand
* Rotate into them and raise shoulder while keeping a grip on their wrist
* Hook their upper arm with other arm

Head Control (giving)
* If I have one hand hooked on their head
* Pull down and out towards other arm
* Other arm goes up and around neck for Guillotine

Double Leg Takedown
* Whichever leg is forward, that knee goes to the ground
* Inside arm grabs waist
* Outside arm grabs leg
* Lift, drive and rotate

Armbar from Mount
* When in a high mount
* Cross their arms, whichever is on top is the target
* One foot goes up underneath the shoulder of the non-targeted arm
* Hook top arm with inside arm
* Rotate body and switch hooks to other arm
* Inside hand now goes down and hooks their leg
* Other foot goes over their head, with heel up against their neck/jaw
* Angle provides a better armbar than a directly horizontal one

Triangle from Mount
* Get one arm around their neck and use hand to latch onto their clavicle, armpit area
* Pull up (sorta-crank) on their neck to lift head and get knee under their shoulder
* Control arm on other side with free hand/leg in order to get leg up over arm and behind head
* Other leg now comes out to lock the triangle

Our first basics class that coach set up for those of us who need to brush up on beginner stuff (like me). We started out with an extended stretch and warm-up session. We also focused on some exercises we can do at home, like shrimping, upa, triangle/armbar, and a forward/backward spider rotation.

We then drilled basic escapes from mount and cross body.

Cross Body Escape 1
* Make sure forearms are at throat and waist
* Upa, then turn onto hip and spin into them
* Should end up in a half , or a full if lucky. I'm usually able to reach a full guard because of my hip flexibility

Cross Body Escape 2
* Get an underhook in their armpit
* Bump and shoot out the back
* Keep arm around their waist and take their back
* Hard to prevent once the underhook is in

Mount Escape 1 (sweep)
* The trick is the bump, get them off balance then roll off my shoulder
* If they stuff the sweep, can transition into a guillotine or kimura

Mount Escape 2
* Bump hips, get onto side
* Bottom leg should be straight and flat, top leg up on ball of foot
* Hook their outside leg ankle with foot, bottom elbow should be at their knee to prevent it from moving up
* Use elbow & foot to pull their leg back while slipping my other (flat) leg underneath
* Immediately switch hips to other side and swing back in for half, butterfly or full guard

Drilled a guard sweep with a guy around my size.

Guard Sweep
* If they lean forward or down on me, makes it easier
* If they have a good solid base, it's much harder
* The upa is very important, unbalance and then sweep

Worked on a couple guard sweeps with a buddy, then coach came over and gave us some tips for getting out of the turtle.

Guard Sweep
* Guard has to open for leverage
* Get a overhook on their posted arm to keep them in place
* Have to be posted on hand, not elbow
* POP the hips in order to flip them
- It's like judo, have to unbalance and sweep before they regain posture

Escaping Turtle
* Elbows inside knees
* Head down, hands on lower backside of head
* Active defense, move body in order to block incoming attacks
* Don't be afraid to move hand to other side of head

Coach also mentioned that we shouldn't be afraid of experimenting and getting submitted off it. We're in training and that's part of the learning experience.

We worked on guard passes and a pass to mount from x-body.

Cross-Body Pass
* Start from side control
* Go to reverse Kesa Gatami
- Arm goes from around head to outside, under shoulder/arm
- Other arm goes to block their knees
* Slide knee up on stomach, using elbow/arm to guide

Drilled some more armbar and triangle from guard. Got a few tips from a senior student on how to make it tighter.

* When holding their arm, hold arm along the centerline at your bellybutton
* When trying to push their head down to clear space for your leg to go over (for armbar), use the blade of the arm along their temple/ear/neck. This hurts like hell and will help to move their head out of the way.

After drilling I rolled a few times and was able to get an armbar from mount on one of the newer guys, which is a first for me. I know it was pretty sloppy, but I haven't really been taught any submissions from mount yet so I guess anything I can pull off is a bonus.

Buddy of mine gave me some tips on escaping the tight-ass triangle he threw on me as well. If I try to stack them, I need to rotate away from the arm that's trapped and locking on to their head with my free arm will help to hold them in place while I'm moving away.

Turned up early for the new beginners class which unfortunately got pushed back a month. After waiting around an hour I left and came back 30min later for the regular class. We drilled some passes from cross body and mixed in some mount and cross body escapes as well.

Cross Body to Mount 1
* One arm under the head
* Other forearm goes along their waist
* Slide knee across their belly, guiding it along inside of arm
* Keep everything as tight as possible

Cross Body to Mount 2
* Switch arm from head to around their shoulder and under arm (reverse Kesa Gatame)
* Lift leg up and over them

Coach showed us some basics of controlling from the guard and transitioning into a submission and had us drill it.

Basics of Control
* Control their head
- Hand on back of head, not neck
* Control an arm
- Have a wrist or elbow controlled, elbow is better

Armbar 1
* My outside arm holding their outside arm
* Opposite arm holding their head
* Leg on same side of held arm posts on their hip
* Rotate and throw free leg high across their upper back
* Hand holding head pushes it down
* Posted leg comes up and over head
* Legs do not cross, toe points down

Armbar 2
* My outside arm holding their opposite arm
* Other arm holding their head
* Leg on same side of held arm posts on their hip
* Rotate and throw free leg high across their upper back
* Hand holding head slides around to other side and pushes it down
* Posted leg comes up and over head
* Legs do not cross, toe points down

Due to the holiday and the way we've been drilling, it's been a few weeks since I've actually rolled with anyone. That changed tonight, and after rolling 4-5 people I was ready to puke. I'm amazed that I could lose conditioning that quick, even though I've been doing some cardio (30-45 min on bike) outside of class a couple times a week.

During warmup we did a new drill where one person goes to the ground in a turtle position, then the other person puts their (own) arms behind their back, puts their chest on their partners back and rotates around them. The point is to keep your weight on them all the time, if you don't you tend to slip off. A couple minutes of this is extremely tiring.

We then drilled escapes from cross-body.

Cross Body Escape I
* One forearm under their throat
* Other arm at their waist
* Upa, keep space open when body comes down
* Turn onto hip and spin into them
* Transition into half-butterfly, half-guard or full guard

Cross Body Escape II
* Underhook their armpit
* Other arm at waist
* Upa and use underhook to pull out behind them
* Transition to back

Had a pretty intense warmup today, going from our regular running (forwards, backwards, sideways, etc) to crab walk up and and down, shrimps, backward rolls then stationary conditioning like hindu-pushups, neck, triangle lifts, situps, upas and finishing up with about 10 rounds of sprints back and forth across the gym. From there we paired up and worked on mount escapes and transitioning from there into a guard pass.

Mount Escape
* When overhooking their arm, bring arm back up towards my neck for a tighter grip (not across the chest)
* Upa should be strong and up on a shoulder, pushing them diagonally off me, not sideways
* Make sure non-trapping foot stays inside so that they can't use it to keep me down
* Once flipped move immediately into a pass

Mount escape alternate (to half guard) (I still need work on this one)
* If they post when you upa, preventing you from rolling them
* Bring hook arm back in and place both hands on their hip to create space
* Turn to outside, flattening out the bottom leg
* Bring that leg through the space under their posted leg
* Turn back inside to the half guard

After drilling a while, coach had us start rolling at 65% from inside someone's guard. I had a pretty good roll with my partner, keeping her defending from inside my guard a lot, staying out of her submissions and even getting her back at one point. I'm still having trouble when I get flattened out in cross body so she showed me an escape she likes to use that doesn't require as much strength.

Escape from Cross Body
* Get underhook on outside
* Pull with legs and push with underhook to slip out
* Take the back!

Coach told us he didn't want us just rolling today, but to rather pick something and drill it. I was planning on working some sweeps but he said I needed to work on my submissions instead, so I paired up and did some subs from guard.

Triangle from Guard
* If one of their arms are inside
* Get foot on hip on the side of their inside arm
* Push with foot to rotate body and get other leg over their neck
* Once top leg is in place, lock it underneath knee of other leg
* If I'm in the proper position, I should be looking at their ear
* Squeeze thighs
* Lift hips/arch back
* Pull on head

I noticed the whole 'overhook the arm' setup that I've been using has a significant drawback in that it traps their arm on the wrong side, which means I've got to move it after getting my legs in place. I'll have to play with it some more in order to work that out.

Armbar from Guard
* If both their arms are inside
* Get a foot on their hip
* Push off on hip in order to rotate body
* Put other leg on their back to hold them down
* Bring pushing leg up on their head
* Should be on the back of their head, but far enough in so that it doesn't slip off
* Secure their arm
* Lift hips/arch back

Did a warm up tonight and then coach just told us to pair up and roll. I've decided to stay in my weight class for a few weeks in order to let my rib fully recover, so the skill level I had available was pretty high. I ended up rolling 5-6 times, all with folks a lot better than me so I was tiring out a lot. When I get in positions that I don't know what to do I tend to get lost and spaz out, so it's something I'm trying to correct. As the night wore on I got a better handle on it, so when I ended up in a bad spot and didn't know what to do I'd turtle up and try to slowly work my way out rather than hold on, muscle everything and gas.

I had trouble making triangle attempts because most everyone I rolled with never gave me the opportunity to get overhooks on them. As soon as I got them in guard they had their arms locked in and were already breaking it open.

Got a few tips while rolling

Holding the Mount
* Have to keep arms free so I can post either way in case they try and sweep
* Suggested when I get on top just try to surf and see how long I can hold it, don't worry about submissions right now

Coach mentioned that we may be participating in a grappling tournament in Birmingham sometime in October. I asked him if he thought I would be ready for something like that and he seemed to think I'd do well in the 1yr & under division, assuming they have one. He also said he wants me in the beginner class once it starts, so that I have more opportunity to work my game rather than playing defensive and trying to avoid being submitted like I have to do with a lot of the more experienced folks.

Had a bit of an epiphany today while rolling today. I've been sneaking in a triangle on a lot of folks recently but didn't realize how I was doing it. I finally realized that I had put together something on my own that set it up for me and stopped them from blocking it. I realize this is probably common knowledge to a lot of people, but it was the first time I've put together something like this on my own so I'm very pleased.

Triangle Setup
* When in guard, fight for an overhook
* Use the overhook to keep their posture broken down
* Keep that arm tight against my body, pinning hand with my side
* Use the space to push my leg up through and around their head
- With that arm locked up they have trouble blocking it

I paired up with a guy my size and did a couple long bouts with him. He's a lot more experienced than me so he gave me some tips on tightening up my triangle and a guard sweep I've been having trouble with. I also used the whip up and transitioned it into a sweep for the first time, was pretty sweet even though I ended up in his guard.

Finishing the Triangle
* Make sure their arm is crossed over their body
- this gets their shoulder up against their neck for one side of the choke
* Get a underhook on their knee and use it to get the correct angle

Sweep from Guard
* It's a surprise move, have to be fast so they can't block it
* If they stop the sweep, try for a guillotine
* If they stop a guillotine, go for the kimura

He was wearing a NAGA t-shirt from when he competed a year ago, I need to pick his brain about it some more since I'm wanting to hit the one in ATL next year.

Drilled the same stuff we did last week, which gave me a chance to tighten up my technique with someone my own size. While light rolling for warm-up I got to try out a half-guard technique I've been wanting to use and it worked surprisingly well (Thank you Eddie Bravo).

The Whip Up
* If I've got them in half guard and I have underhooks in
* Use the Lockdown to break their posture
* Put hands on their sides near armpits
* Push legs up in air while pushing them up with my arms
- This should pitch them forward and they'll try to come back
* Shrimp out to the side

I want to get some more work on this, then the next step will be to follow it up with some sweeps.

Cross Body Escape
* I'm trying to muscle too much
* Make space with the Upa, turn hips completely on side
* This should leave me plenty of space

Mount Escape 1 (Upa)
* I can also use my arm to keep space open on their other leg as I'm coming back in to get the half butterfly or full guard
* I've only really worked the left side, I need to drill the right side a lot because I start getting my feet confused

Mount Escape 2
* Can also work by holding down the outside arm and getting a gable grip on their back

After drilling everything multiple times, we did some open rolling. Had a triangle on someone, locked in tight with my hand on his head, but he was able to get out by getting his feet around my head and ended up doing some crazy ass head crank with his calves because I wouldn't let the triangle go. I asked him what I did wrong on the triangle and he gave me a few tips.

Triangle
* My hips were square, I need to have them at an angle
* I had his arm coming straight out, if it's crossed to my opposite hip the triangle gets a much better angle
* I realized afterwards I wasn't tightening my thighs like I should have

Coach mentioned he's going to be starting a new beginners class an hour before the regular Monday class in order to drill basic techniques. I'm not sure which one he's planning on putting me in, but I'm hoping I can do both. I definitely need work on my sweeps and passing the guard.

We worked some escapes tonight, from cross body and from mount. I knew I was in for trouble when I realized that everyone there was not only more experienced than me, but most were significantly heavier, the closest being probably +30lbs. Towards the end of class I ended up rolling with someone who's 195 and strong as a damn bull, and at the very end he passed my guard, got into side control and popped my damn rib again. It hurts to breath, luckily I still have a little bit of medication left.

Cross Body Escape
* Get forearm under their throat
* Get other forearm under their hip (not chest)
* Shrimp out
- Use arms to hold the space, don't have to muscle
* Recompose guard

Mount Escape 1 (Upa)
* Overhook arm on one side
- If they're holding tight, stretch up to get arm clear, then hook
* Hook their leg on same side with foot
* Bump and roll them off shoulder
- Power comes from hips, and it's rolling them at 45 degrees off the shoulder, not sideways

Mount Escape 2
* Get up on on hip
- Flatten bottom leg out
* Hook their outside foot with other leg and pull it back past the flat leg
* Use hand/elbow to hold their knee in place so they can't pull leg out
* Roll over to other hip and shrimp
* Recompose a half guard, butterfly guard, or full guard if lucky

Rolled a few times today, first with one of the newer guys and then with the buddy that got me doing BJJ in the first place.

I got to use the clinch work I had just been working on for standup, using it to take the new guy into mount right off the bat. So far I'm still able to stay ahead of the him, got a guillotine and shot a triangle out of nowhere. I think it surprised me more than it did him, my legs just ended up in the right spot somehow and I locked it down before I even realized I had it.

I'm still able to get mount pretty easily on him so I was trying to help him with the couple mount escapes that I know, he just needs to slow down and stop trying to muscle through things.

With my buddy we went kind of light (since he outweighs me by 50lbs) but I did try for another triangle. I wasn't able to get it, but I switched to an armbar and got him to tap for the first time.

He gave me a few tips as well for areas I've been having trouble with.

Taking the back from halfguard
* The trick is to get a hook on their far arm, which if they're good it could be hard to do

Sweeps from guard
* Try rocking other direction first in order to get some pushback, then reverse direction for sweep
* If I can't get the sweep, drop back down into kimura

First real class in two weeks and boy did I feel it. We did a quick warmup then rolled half on/half off the entire night. I guess I rolled 6 or 7 times, I had time for more but had to take a couple breaks because I'd lost some conditioning. Hopefully I'll be able to regain it quickly.

Few things I learned :
* Kimura from guard doesn't really work on someone stronger than you unless you really surprise them on it
* Folks expect the guillotine, so I should just use it to set something else up
* Body triangle from guard is a dick move
* When using triangle from guard PULL ON THEIR DAMN HEAD
* I need to work on my sweeps
* I can hold someone's back pretty well, but need to work on submissions from there

Took it easy trying to feel out the condition of my rib. Had a little pain but I think it's just about healed. However, it's amazing what 2 weeks out will do to a body, going to be sore as all hell for the next couple days.

I paired with a classmate who wanted to work on her back defense, so she turtled and I got on top of her and let her try to dislodge me. We didn't watch the clock but I think we rolled for a good 10 minutes before she decided to stop. I wasn't able to really get a good choke in, but she was never able to get me off her back either. She told me that she normally has no problem getting someone off her back but smaller guys are a lot harder to remove. Apparently we leave a lot less open space to move around in.

This being the case, I need to work on some transitions to back to see how it improves my game. When she was able to get one of my hooks out, I went to a body triangle which seemed to work pretty well. Several times she tried to dislodge it with her hand which gave me an opening on her neck.

At the end of class, coach gave us a little talk.

* He does not teach just jiu-jitsu, he teaches ground as an overall part of a fight game
* If your opponent wants something, deny him it - if he pulls, you push
- Once he responds to this, use it to your advantage to put him where you want him
* Take the path of least resistance
- Don't just sit and wait for him to come in again
- Don't be afraid to stand up

Open gym - rolled with a few classmates, and drilled a couple side control escapes with a classmate on our own. I had to call it a day when the side that I got slammed on last week started hurting in a more than soreness sort of pain.

Room for improvement
* I need an escape from N/S, so far all I've been able to do is wait them out and then try to get out when they make a move. A friend suggested I get an underhook in, then bump and try to swivel out. I'll have to try that next time.
* Move from half-guard. Once I have someone in half-guard I tend to get stuck. I need to try out a couple escapes from my Rubber Guard book to see if any of them work for me.
* Escaping xbody. Having a little better luck, but when wrestling with someone a lot heavier than me (as most folks are) it's quite a strain to get them off me.

Worked on the open guard tonight. My partner (new guy) had injured his leg, so he took off after the light rolling warm up, but not before he slammed the hell out of me. I got paired up with two other guys who are more experienced than me, which was a nice change to all the newer folks I've been rolling with recently.

Moving from closed to open :
* Wait for good opportunity to make space
* Push on shoulders with arms, hips with legs

Things to remember :
* If feet are flat, back is up
* If back is flat, feet are up
* Don't square hips with opponent, too easy to stack
* Stay on one hip
* If they make distance, pull in to grab on their leg for sweep
* Control their hips with your feet
* Control arm/arms with your arm

We rolled afterwards and I was able to get a submission on someone that I hadn't been able to before which was nice. He was fatigued, so it slowed him down enough for me to shoot a triangle on him. My other partner pulled me into a spot where I didn't know what to do, and it was quickly over after that. I need to do some work on re-establishing a base when I get put into a spot that I'm unfamiliar with. A classmate suggested a turtle, so that I'm not on my back and getting flattened out.

Didn't drill anything, just rolled with a few folks. I continue to submit the new guy quite a lot, but I still see huge holes in my game where I see an opening but I'm unable to capitalize on it due to lack of technique. I also rolled with a more experienced classmate and was able to hold him off for over 10 minutes, till we both decided to stop due to fatigue. We both played a very defensive game, so it made it hard to get any submissions going.

I really need to work on my base. I occasionally find myself off balance when I shouldn't be and I open myself up for sweeps way too often.

Base
* Sitting on feet
* Legs wide
* Correct posture
* Weight on ass

We worked on several moves from cross body. I was grouped up with two other people, which worked out well because we were able to roll every round instead of every other and got a bit of extra work in.

Kesa Gatami 1
* One arm under far shoulder
* Pull on arm to get leg underneath near shoulder

Kesa Gatami 2
* One arm under far shoulder
* Slide leg underneath near shoulder

Pass to Mount
* Turn towards their legs
* Slide ass into their armpit
* Put arm on far leg, with elbow on near leg to prevent knee to face
* Knee on stomach
* Pass to mount

Things to Remember
* Don't sit up, weight should be on them
* Legs should be splayed out in order to prevent a sweep, sort of like a h

On Passing a Closed Guard
* Have to control hips or they can push away to keep you from flattening them

Rolled with a newer classmate who's around my size. Tried to help him out a bit since he was still really stiff and wasted a lot of energy just holding on to me. Had another classmate help me out on preventing some guard passes that I've been having trouble with lately. He also gave me some tips on tightening up my triangle.

Preventing the one-leg pass 1
* Go for triangle!

Preventing one-leg pass 2
* If the triangle is a no-go
* Push with leg they attempt to go under
* Straighten hips
* Recompose guard

Preventing two-leg pass
* Have to stop it early
* Push with legs to prevent stacking
* If they get you stacked, it's too late

Closing the triangle
* If I can't get ankle into the crook of knee
* Grab calf with free hand
* Push them back with far leg while holding the hooked leg
* Once it's into crook of knee grab head and pull down, tighten legs, it's over

Busy night. Ended up starting class late because of an issue with the new locks and lack of keys, so coach said we wouldn't drill a technique but rather just do some light rolling and move straight into wrestling to submission. I ended up learning more than I'm able to keep up with, both from coach and classmates.

working guard + triangle
* use my legs to control their body
* don't let them stand up out of it easily
* bring legs up higher on their back to way them down

xbody escape
* if they're holding tight and not allowing space
* use both hands to push on their top shoulder
* this should give some space to get an arm in at their hip
* use elbow to work arm in at neck
* apply forearm to their throat when upa
* shrimp to side to get leg in

side control choke
* when their arm is crossed across their neck
* pull elbow towards me
* lock it in by getting arm around their arm and neck
* catch bicep on other side of their head
* cinch it by arching back
* movement is very similar to RNC

guard pass defense 1
* if they're attempting to flatten legs and come in behind
* get other leg over their shoulder
* go for triangle

guard pass defense 2
* if they're moving too fast for #1, or if you've lost triangle and they're still passing
* push off & away with top leg
* reorient body to them
* pull back into guard

Rolled a lot more with the new guy that I rolled with the week before. I still was able to submit him multiple times, twice with RNC, but he's already improving and started getting past my guard and into xbody. He didn't know what to do once he got on top of me, so he'd flatten out and just hold on. This sucked because he outweighs me by about 50%, and he was holding on so tight I had a lot of trouble escaping. I took some risks and got mounted once or twice, but was able to sweep him or hook my way out.

Got beat up pretty badly, I've got bruises on top of bruises on arms, legs & chest, and a sore neck, arm, foot and knee. Several people have told me that I'm doing very well and someone was surprised that I'd been doing this for less than 4 months. Of course, this hasn't stopped them from submitting me, but I guess I'm making them fight for it more, hence all the physical trauma. I rolled with one of the new guys (170ish) and dominated him, but he's only been there a few weeks so it's no real accomplishment. It does give me a chance to try a top game, which with the weight difference I was having a lot of trouble holding. When I got on top, he would lift me off him with his arms; I need to get better at putting my weight down on top of someone.

We drilled some guard passing defense and the open guard. In open rolling, I learned a few new submissions :

Bicep Compression (ow ow)
* If they've got hands clasped to prevent the armbar
* Hook their arm with elbow
* Grasp bicep with hand
* Squeeze so blade of forearm digs into their bicep

Choke From Side Control
* Get one of their arms across their neck
* Loop arm around their neck on other side
* Grab bicep of other arm and use for leverage
* Blood choked by their own arm + your arm

Weird night. After warm-up we went straight into light rolling, then on to wrestling to submission for 5 min rounds for the rest of the night. At the end of class, since nobody needed to leave, coach took the newer folks (most of us) aside and went over some basics, and I drilled them a bit before I left.

Passing Closed Guard
* POSTURE - straight up, sitting back on feet
* Post on lower torso, hands out, elbows in
* Knee in, other knee out to break it open
* Pass depends on what they give you
- be careful with inside leg crossing out, can open up for them to get kimura or take my back

Passing Open Guard
* Head must be free
* Get their leg low, so I can pass over it

Defending Closed Guard
* Control head or
* Control arm (underhook) or
* Control arm (overhook)

Attacking from XBody
* From Kesa Gatame
* Get foot over their head
* Fall back into armbar
- heel should be up against their neck
- other leg doesn't have to be over body, shove foot in right at armpit
- fall back, squeeze legs, arch back

I chatted a bit with the people I rolled with, and the consensus seems to be that I still too stiff and I need to relax. I also need to be more patient when on the bottom.

Wrestled with one of the newer (but enthusiastic) guys and had several nice rolls with him. He's learned the value of rolling at 50% so he can learn some technique, rather than going all out and trying to power through things.

While cooling down at the end of class I learned a couple things from watching.

* when escaping a cross body, focus more on the shrimp onto side than shoving the knee in. The space made by shrimping should provide plenty of space for knee
* when passing guard, try placing farthest knee across their thigh and turning hips to slide into side control
* position before submission

Had a short chat with coach, he said I've improved a lot and he thinks I'll be good once I get my subs down. I need to look at it from a glass half full perspective, seeing how far I've came rather than how far I still need to go.

Worked on guard sweeps with a new guy, then did some rolling with him. I felt in control the whole time, but still had trouble getting some submissions on him. I think I need to spend more time setting up my triangle, since I have a bad habit of shooting and totally missing it, leaving myself wide open. Also rolled with a friend at the end of class who's been doing this a few years and outweighs me by 50-60lbs. He helped me work some more on my guillotine & kimura from guard, as well as escape from xbody.

Guard Sweep
* Push hands off stomach (from wrists)
* Pop up with arm directly behind
* Reach over and get arm around their far arm to my hip
* Other leg should be outside theirs for leverage
* Pop and roll them into a mount

Variation (if they fight the sweep)
* Drop back down, keeping arm trapped
* Put other hand on their wrist pushing it back
* Lock in with original arm on wrist
* Push hips out, putting pressure on shoulder with elbow, and pushing their elbow back towards you

Escape from XBody
* Push Elbow into their head to get arm under neck
* Push on neck with forarm with UPA, to force them to go up
* Shrimp and put leg into space

Rolled with a couple people. While resting I watched a classmate showing a friend how to do a guillotine/kimura combo from guard, and was able to successfully use it later on when rolling. I was pretty pleased that I was able to pull it off, but I believe there was some luck involved.

Guillotine from Guard
* Pop up and get arm around the back of their neck
- blade of forearm should be on their throat
* Other hand should grab wrist
* Pull back, pulling neck down with pressure on back of head

Kimura from Guard (link)
* Works well if you nab it while they're fighting guillotine
* Grab their wrist with near arm and push it behind their back
* Once in position, lock it in with arm that was going for guillotine
* Push hips out, putting pressure on shoulder with elbow, and pushing their elbow back towards you

No class Sat/Mon but I did go out to ATL this weekend for the Bullshido Mega Throwdown.

Things I learned.
* Don't go out drinking the night before you plan to fight for 3 hours.
* Gatorade sucks if you have dry mouth/
* I have a long way to go in BJJ.
* I have even farther to go in MT.

I was very impressed by the technical proficiency of everyone I rolled with. Despite being bigger/stronger than me, they never seemed to use a lot of strength because their technique was so good. It was a lot different than my typical class since I'm used to folks muscling through, and I still try to muscle through lots of shit.

Rolled multiple times with a guy from the gym we were at who was a blue belt in BJJ. He mauled me severely but it was still a lot of fun. I wish I didn't gas so quick so that I would have been able to go longer.

I did a bit of stand-up with someone from the website who was much better than me, but thankfully he went pretty light. I did get kicked in the head and, while it wasn't full power, it shocked the shit out of me. All in all I had a lot of fun and it was very educational to get to watch and roll with others outside my class.

I'm hoping someone got some video, if so I'll post links.

Great thread on Bullshido with tips on rolling when you're a lot smaller than your opponents.

http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=53849

Had a new guy start the class, young, around my size. I got to roll with him in warm-up and it was really interesting to see what it's like from the other side, seeing how I went through the same experience a few months ago. He tried to muscle through everything and I let him just carry me around and waited for an opening, when I'd flip him and get mount.

After warm-up, we worked on some mount escapes.

Shimmy
* If they're high up into my armpits
* Put hands on their hips
* Use legs and shoulders to push myself up
* Arms brace rather than push

Flip
* Upa
* Get underhook
* Before they can settle back down, use arm to slip out the back
- go up on shoulder and use hook to pull yourself out
* Keep arm over opposite leg so they can't triangle
* Work up their back

After drilling a while, we did some rolling from mount. I think I did okay. Tried to get a triangle but he got out, and while fighting to hold on to it I felt a burning sensation down in the groin. At first I thought it was his elbow, I then realized that I was about to pull the damn thing again and tapped. That's what I get for not stretching before class (I was late).

In open rolling... I GOT A FUCKING TRIANGLE. Finally. Of course, she's about 30lbs lighter than me but I was finally able to lock the damn thing down. Almost got an armbar (transitioned from a triangle) on another classmate later on, he said it was a good transition and told a friend of mine that he'd have to pay more attention with me in the future. :)

Rolled with a guy I hadn't wrestled before. Started out as light, but got heavier as it went along. Not sure how long we went, but a classmate finally came over and said we had been going at it for a while. It seemed like 10 minutes, but time does seem to drag when you're getting crushed.

Afterwards he asked how much I weighed. When I told him 125, several folks remarked that they thought I was heavier, at least 140. The guy I was rolling with was 205. In cross body he felt like a fucking ton of bricks.

I really need to work on my escape from cross body. I do alright escaping the mount, but when I get flattened out on my side I'm finding it hard to do anything but wait for them to make a move and then try to escape, and I seem to waste a lot of energy doing that.

I later rolled with a new guy, probably around 160, and we stopped about halfway through and got some instruction on breaking a closed guard and triangle from guard.

Breaking Closed Guard
* Paws, not fists!
* Walk up their chest
* Once I'm far back enough, I can swat their hands off my head

Triangle From Guard
* Start with feet on their hips
* Push an arm up against their chest
* Get leg over shoulder and around neck
- Foot should be close to knee of other leg
- I should be looking into his ear
* Bring other leg up just enough to slip knee over my foot
* Get both hands on the back of their head, right beneath the slope
* Squeeze Legs, Arch Back, Pull Head

Worked on escapes from mount, this brings the total that I know up to 4 :

roll into guard
* use a leg to tie up one of their legs
* tie up their arm on the same side by grabbing my hip
* bridge and roll

roll into guard (variation)
* use a leg to tie up one of their legs
* trap arm by holding on to their bicep
* use other arm to hold on to their hip
* bridge and roll

hook and slip
* if they're high up on chest
* slip a arm hook under their leg
* shoot out underneath them

shrimp
* roll to side
* both arms pushing on their knee to escape

bridge & post
* upa
* leave arms braced after dropping hips to create space
* move 1 or 2 knees into open space

new term - upa : A bridging movement where you lie on your back and lift your hips off of the ground. Used in the basic bridge-and-roll mount escape.

Coach said I have that "big toe strength" and that once I know what I'm doing I could be dangerous. I wonder if it's just because they underestimate what my actual weight is? I almost caught a classmate in a triangle twice, but both times he was able to escape. Another classmate who was watching said I need to grab the head and pull down to keep him from getting out.

Rolled with a classmate who's around my size but a lot more experienced. I wouldn't say I held my own, but I was able to fend him off for probably 5 minutes before he finally locked a choke on me. I might have been able to get out of it, but by that time I was running on empty and didn't have the energy to move fast enough.

He said I that I did a good job moving.

Rather than our typical warm-up, coach had us go straight into light rolling - 3 minutes (I think) then rotate to a new parter. I ended up rolling with all folks bigger than me, one of them being coach himself. He said I've got good flexibility and that I'm doing well.

We then paired up with someone and worked on some defense from side control. Partner would try to push my shoulder down and I'd have to prevent him.
* Push out with top arm, naturally helps you to stay on side
* Keep one leg up and loaded, if foot goes flat or leg goes down, they've got you

This worked directly into the half guard.
* Keep their leg tied up
* Keep shoulder up
* Get and underhook as soon as possible
- arch and push arm straight out above my head
- curl head down and use that space to slip arm in
* This is a good defensible position

Now I need to learn where to go from there. :D

Towards the end of class I rolled with a new guy, 170 or so. Due to his build and the way he rolls, I think he has a bit of a wrestling background, but can't be too much since he didn't dominate me. He stayed really defensive, and I had trouble getting past his legs to even get him in guard. I felt a lot more comfortable when I had him in my guard and tried to shoot a triangle but didn't quite get it. At one point he got my back but I was able to defend and eventually work my way out. He also got the mount on me but I was able to flip him immediately and get into his guard.

I'm going to keep working on the triangle till I get it. Every time I try and miss I get more of an idea of what I'm doing wrong. I believe I need to set it up better, some things to remember for next time :
* Trap their arm with my opposite arm and with knee (to keep them from moving out of range)
* When I shoot the leg, bring it directly down on their back to make it harder for them to stand out of it
* Make sure to pivot body when I lock it in, I should be looking at their ear.

Worked with a buddy on some new mount escapes. My normal tactic of tying up an arm and leg on one side and flipping them over (putting me in their guard) doesn't work when my opponent ties my legs up and prevents me from getting any leverage.

If they're high up on my chest
* Get underhook
* Push myself out behind them

If they're lower
* Shrimp to a side
* Get hands on their knee
* Push out

Almost got a triangle on someone when rolling but I didn't get it high enough. I was able to move when I realized I had an opening, but I flubbed it when I didn't put my leg far enough on his shoulder to get it around his neck. When my other leg went up to lock it, I just ended up with my ankles locked behind his neck.

We did an interesting submission from side control.

* From side control
* Move to a North/South and keep rotating around them.
* Get arm beneath their head
* Bring other arm up under their shoulder, with their arm pushed down beneath you
* Choke them with their own arm

Did mostly light rolling, which I need more practice at. My flow is pretty shitty.

Escape from Guillotine
* From knees & elbows, lift up right leg onto ball of foot
* Kick left foot out through the opening created
* Bring head up under their armpit
* Come around onto their back

Armbar from Mount
* Hold their arms crossed in front of them
* Catch the lower arm with near arm using a reaching for hip motion
* Use other arm to post behind their legs/ass, keeping them from moving
* Bring leg over and finish

Triangle from Mount
* Get one leg under their neck by bring leg straight across them
* Pull foot and get other leg around it
* Rotate and complete the choke

Yeah, all this "From Mount" stuff would probably be more useful if I wasn't the one getting mounted all the time. Seems like all I've been doing is ground defense and wearing myself out trying escapes.

Worked on guard passing & submissions from guard as well as some submissions from side control. Also did some "king of the mountain" side control escape drills where we had to try to escape from someone for 30 seconds, then they rotated out to the next person, etc.

Guard Pass if their leg starts to go up above the hip
* Get arm underneath leg
* Push weight forward towards their head, free arm extends toward opposite shoulder
* "Smear like peanut-butter" onto them to allow no space to get out

Triangle from Guard
* Make sure to cut sideways to lock it in, should be looking at their ear
* Can easily transition to an armbar by taking the locking leg off your crossed leg and placing it across the back of their neck

Side Control Transition
* Get outside arm underneath their shoulder and lift
* Flip hips and move knee up underneath their shoulder
* Take inside arm from behind their head and place it across their neck/face

Submission
* Move forward leg to otherside of their head, where inside hand is
* Hold onto arm and lean back
* If they try to get their arm away, can be reversed into a chickenwing
* Sitting on their head is optional

Did some drills for holding on to side control. If the person you're on tries to burst and get a leg in, flatten out. Reach my arm around one of their legs in order to grab the foot of the leg they were trying to move under me. Hold on to their ankle while I reposition, basically by holding them down with my hips and sliding back off. Then ram knee back into their side to re-establish control.

Got arm-barred a lot while rolling. I'm trying to be a bit more aggressive, which is leaving me more open to attack. Got to take a risk in order to get anywhere though.

Guard surfing!

Did work on some guard-breaking stuff at the end of class, here's something to try out next time I'm rolling :

* Post head down on their torso
* Put paws on their armpits and straighten them out in order to get position
* Place one hand, then other on their hips
* Put one leg up for more leverage
* When guard breaks get knee between their legs
* Wait for them to make a move - rudder whichever way is appropriate

Note to self - start being more aggressive.

More guard surfing drills tonight. Was finally able to get past someone's guard once or twice, though not consistently. Few things I learned when rolling :

* if they have me in an open guard, I still need to focus on keeping a knee down. If their legs get up around my head I'm in danger.
* when breaking guard - STRAIGHT ARM
* I need more practice at recognizing openings and taking them. I almost had a triangle on someone but it took me too long to execute so he was able to turn and get out of danger before I could sink it.

Today was more of an open rolling session than a class. Got to roll with several different folks and got to watch coach and one of our guys who is training for a fight go at it for a while. I learned a lot just by watching.

* When someone is breaking my guard... sit up and slide out
* Need to work on my shrimping
* When they've got me in side control and turn on their side, the way to get out is to push back on their shoulder and hip with my arms

passing the guard to side control
* their hips must be flat on the ground
- use straight arm and weight to push down
- if they're not flat they can move with you
* put knee up their ass
* rotate hips and push back to break open guard
* push a knee down with straight-arm/weight
- keep hip down with other arm
* put knee over their leg
* move up the body to head while keeping them flat with weight

Did some stand up clinch work as well :
* Keep feet sprawled so they can't grab a leg or tip me over
* Use one arm to trap them in order to go to back
- sprawl out once back is gained so they can't regain position
* Push one arm down and grab their leg, lift up push and rotate

side control
* on knees, legs wide, one knee against hip, other by shoulder/head
* arm 1 around head and under shoulder
* arm 2 across them and up the side of their body, holding in
* weight on them
* if they move, move with them, keep knees up against them

escaping side control
* get arm 1 underneath and on their hip (elbow first to squeeze it in)
* get arm 2 under their neck (elbow first to squeeze it in)
* bridge body
- lift with legs, not arms
- leave arms up as body goes down
* slip in a knee

arm bar from guard
* when they're down with elbows on your torso
* grab opposite arm around elbow
* bring knee up behind arm and place foot on their thigh
* place other hand on their opposite shoulder
* bring leg over their shoulder (the one being held)
- rotate body as you do this , so that you're looking at their ear
* bring other leg around and over their neck
- DO NOT CROSS FEET
- Point foot down

mount escape 1 (if they're high up)
* use elbows to push them down and feet to shimmy out

mount escape 2 (if they're flat on you)
* trap one arm with arm
* trap leg on same side with leg
* bridge to roll them over

Went over to a friends house after work and he showed me a few submissions :

Triangle
* From guard, get one leg inside their arms
* Throw that leg up over their shoulder
* Use other leg to push on their hip, to move across into position
- If I'm looking at their ear, I'm in the right spot
* Bring other leg up over instep of foot
* Close that leg up to apply pressure
- Can pull down on the leg, or their head in order to help complete the choke

RNC
* One arm goes around neck, similiar to a headlock, with hand gripping the back of opposite shoulder
* Second arm should come in elbow first so that they can't grab arm
* Transition from hand on their shoulder to your own bicep
* Squeeze arm and pull shoulders back to complete the choke.

Had a great class tonight, was able to keep up with everyone and didn't gas out. Successfully fought off an armbar and actually got an Americana on someone, sorta. She may have tapped early because we were too close to the wall but goddamnit I had her and I wasn't gonna let go. Tried to do a triangle, but when i got one leg over the shoulder I realized that I didn't know what the fuck I was doing.

Worked on some MMA guard and defending a guard pass.

MMA Guard
* Hold a closed guard, bring legs up in order to push them down on top
* Trap their arms using underhooks
* If they get position, use knees to help deflect their strikes
- can put feet on their hips to push away

Defending Guard Pass (to side mount)
* Shrimp onto side
* Lock legs around their trailing legs
* Use hands to hold on to shoulder and arm

Picked up some Shorts and Knee Pads. Like it better than ye old gi pants.

Picked up a second class for the week. Was pretty small, just 5 students all who were all larger than me so I rotated out with the smallest guy. We worked on a guard pass based on the barrel and sink movements we learned previously :

* Push their feet to the floor
* Sink down, holding their feet between my legs
* Barrel their knees to one side using chest
* Work my way up to a side guard, using rear arm (straight) to keep their legs down.
- This is more of a pushing out motion than pushing down, preventing them from getting a leg up to push their legs out

Made it all the way through the warmup without stopping (hey, it's a victory for me) and was able to keep up with the class the entire night, including staying a little later to do some rolling.

Since we had a big class we broke into two groups and rotated. Started with some light rolling while rotating out partners, then went back to original partner and did some more drills like last week. One person standing, the other in guard, trying to pass guard and get some sort of side control. Soon as someone got control, we'd reset and try again.

Things I learned :

* When trying to pass, barrel works better if I push their leg in towards them, twisting it at the knee.
* Tripod worked okay except that I wasn't quite fast enough to get around his guard.
* Keep feet up in guard so that they can't lock my foot down
* Use feet to push them away, grab arms if I can to control their movement
* Don't be afraid to sit up and grab them

When open rolling I worked on getting out from a side control.
* Get left arm across their chest and hand on their opposite shoulder
* Right hand down on their hip
* Explode them up for a moment in order to get a leg underneath

Class #4 - Made it through the warm-up with only having to stop once for about 30 sec to catch my breath, then went right back in and stuck with it till we were done.

Tonight we did passing drills :

1 - barrel - push both legs down to the ground while passing behind
2 - tripod - keep one hand on their waist and sprawl out, moving around them (pivoting on the arm). Keep the feet wide and out.
3 - push/pull - give a good pull on the leg while moving in. Outside leg goes up against their hip while passing

If I'm feeling good on Wed I'll go try out the MT class. Trying my best to not overdo it and get an injury as I'm prone to do.

Tonight was better. The warmup was a little bit lighter so I wasn't totally spent. After a short rest I got to do some rolling with several classmates. The guy I rolled with my first night said I had improved a lot in my relaxing, that I wasn't all tense and wasting energy like before.

Still taking it a bit easy, trying to find out what my limits are.

I think I need a lot of work on my guard. I find it very hard to break out of someone elses, but they all seem to get out of mine at will.

I signed a 3mo contract and told coach I was interested in the Muay Thai class as well. He told me it'd be a good way to build up my base conditioning for the jits. The only thing that concerns me is that it's right before my Kendo class, and I can't be coming in to that already worn out.

Stopped wussing out and tried another class last night. Now I think I'm too paranoid about overdoing it and not pushing myself enough. I stopped at the end of the warmup (lot of running) to take a break and ended up watching most of the class. I did some light rolling at the end with a buddy and learned some basics.

passing the guard
- get position first
- keep hands on their hips
- bring one knee into their ass
- rotate opposite hip outward
- use straight arm to push down their knee and get my leg on top of it
- if they have longer legs, partially standing may help

going from there into a sidemount
- wrap arm around head and onto shoulder
- one leg crosses over other
- once on top keep weight on top of them
- bring knees into side

protection from sidemount pass
- curl into a ball
- use outside leg to help stay on side
- bring inside knee in, use it and elbow to create space

when someone is in my guard
- try to keep head control
- rubber band, don't use force just make them work against my weight

general stuff
- don't waste energy, i spent a lot of time holding on when it didn't get me anywhere
- use my weight, make them use their strength to get out

Told the coach I wanted to sign up for a month. I need to do some cardio outside of class.

Tried out a BJJ class at the locat SBG tonight. A couple friends of mine have been working out there for several years and have been bugging me recently to come check it out ever since I started doin krotty a few months ago.

Here's a quick rundown of the activities :

10 min - running
5 min - light rolling, no sub
5 min - light rolling with sub
10 min - sitting and watching everyone else
10 min - dry heaving in bathroom
10 min - lying down on couch
10 min - dry heaving in bathroom
15 min - watching everyone else

What I learned :

"light rolling, no sub" means don't go for a choke, you dumbass
"go at your own speed" means take a break before you've gone too far and you start puking
FUCKING RELAX

Going to check out their Muay Thai class on Wednesday.