Today we learned a simple pass after you get out of the guard or to use in general.

With one foot forward and one foot back you split your opponents legs. The hand opposite the foot that is forward is used to push the knee down to the ground, while the other arm hooks the leg by going under the knee and you grab the opponent’s belt, if not possible grab the gi and keep it tight. You put your head no higher then belt level while looking toward the side with the arm hooked and while keeping your shoulder heavy. Step your back leg over the leg that is down, if they try to hook your leg then sprawl back but keep your base and the shoulder heavy. Work your legs around to the side, and push them away so that you can get the knee closest to their feet under their knee to they can’t turn back into you. If they try to bump or move away, stay heavy and stay with them. Once you have the knee underneath theirs, get one arm under the neck then get your other arm under their arm and hold them so you can secure side control.

Only got in one roll today due to a slightly bruised knee. Rolled with Blue belt Ronald and didn’t due too well. Got swept a couple of times and wasn’t able to establish position. Need to increase my gas levels ’cause I was tired from doubling up. He was able to get around my guard, I wasn’t maintaining my grip and even when I was on top I didn’t work the grips properly. I need to work the Toreana pass better, I’m not pushing their knees to them and then doing the pass. I also need to maintain my grips to start working the spider guard to submission or to at least get to the De La Riva to either get to the single leg or for the sweep.

As a note, with the De La Riva in place, and when you can get up to get the leg, try to get then pass a sleeve to the arm around the leg, or grab part of the gi, or if you have to grab your own lapel to maintain the grip. If you decide to go for the sweep, make sure you hook the ankle with your foot using the the leg on the outside. Then grab the other leg and go for the sweep.

Today we learned how to use the opponent’s gi to choke them while you have them in full guard.

If they are in your full guard, you try to keep them down on you, never letting them posture up. Starting from the full guard, you grab their neck and keep them down. You maintain with your left while sliding your right underneath their shoulder and start to work the gi out of the belt. Once you have it free you grab a full hand of the gi, and pass it over the back to the left hand. You then get your right arm out and pass the end of the gi from the left to the right (right arm, palm facing you). You then push their head to the right and move your arm over it to get to the left side of the head.

You grab their left arm and try to draw it across your chest while trying to also get it under their throat. Then you grab their left shoulder with your left hand and submit.

If they do not give you the arm then take your left hand and move it to the right side of their head and grab a part of the gi while keeping the arm in the throat. Pull towards you and submit. John Cho also suggested to move your hips to the right so you can get a better angle for your left hand to get to the gi.

Today we learned how to work out of half guard to get to either a submission by kimura or at least get to mount.

Starting from inside your opponent’s half guard you maintain your base by keeping the free leg out a bit to make sure they can’t roll you over. You take the arm that was under the head and move it to the other side of their head, while keeping your wight down. You then slide your free knee next to their hip, under their leg. You start to work your knee free from the half guard. If they try to stop the knee by putting their hand on it, grab the wrist and slide the arm by the head further down the arm so that you can grab your own wrist for the arm lock.

For the submission, you put their hand next to their body and while maintaining your weight on them, you pull the arm up and behind their back.

If they bump and roll you over, keep the arm lock, get into full guard and move your hips to the side of the arm lock. Move the leg of the side you moved to up so they can’t roll in that direction and finish the lock.

If they are really strong and don’t let you bend the elbow to get the arm lock then keep working for the arm lock while sliding your knee out. Once your leg is almost free, the arm that is holding the wrist moves underneath their arm and forces it up while the other arm goes to the other side of the head. Put your shoulder into their face to maintain pressure, and free the leg to get to mount.

Ok, going to change up the mission and use of this blog and use it to help keep me focused on BJJ. I want to use this to keep track of what I’ve done and what I need to do concerning my BJJ path. I want to improve, be a better student, become a better practitioner of the art.