February 25th 2010
We had a relatively small class today with a couple of new attendees. This presented an ideal opportunity to a recap some techniques we have been practising whilst introducing some basic concepts to the new guys. The group has made great strides in little over a month but we haven't drilled the arm-bar in a few weeks so we set about practising the submission with the two new guys training together and the regular attendees pairing off together.
Unfortunately, quite a few people seemed to have issues with the basic arm-bar, the main problem being escaping the hips in the right direction. Though we have covered this numerous times, we had to stop the class and cover it in detail again.
The good news is that this is completely normal, sometimes it will feel that you have really progressed, whilst at other times it will feel like you have regressed. Most of the group are at the start of their training, with so many new things being thrown at you it's highly likely that you will pick some things up straight away and other things will take longer. To get over something like this we simply need to drill it more.
However, the bad news is that this won't be the last time you experience something like this, in fact as long you train it will happen. Why does this happen? There can be numerous reasons but the most common stem from:
A. A lack of repetition
Sometimes you simply need to practise something before you master it, see the post from 15th February for a reminder.
B. A lack of absorption
Have you ever tried to do something, only to leave it alone, come back to it and suddenly everything clicks? Allowing your conscious and unconscious mind to absorb what has been practised can often be the final step in the learning process. I remember being out of action for four months with an injured ankle, when I came back it felt that my Jiu Jitsu had really improved. There is therefore a huge difference in learning something and being able to repeat it in a class and absorbing to the extent where you can you execute it independently and under pressure.
C. The wrong approach
It may be that the technique is not working because your approach is wrong. So if its not working one way, try a different way, it may be that a small correction is necessary or perhaps a large adjustment, just don't bang your head against a brick wall - you'll get a headache. Instead adjust the technique or better yet, ask the instructor or a higher belt for some guidance.
No matter how many steps you've taken in any direction, just accept that it's an essential step in the journey.
Saturday, 27 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
February 22nd 2010
Technique
Passing the guard, 'knee through pass'
So, another Monday and the gym was still freezing cold, it actually felt colder inside the gym than outside, when you can see your breath frozen on the cold air you know it's a bad sign. Anyway, due to the sub-zero temperature the warm-up was slightly more vigorous than normal. Incorporated into the warm up were some standing guard pass drills and standing guard break drills. Nothing new to add here other than drilling these techniques over and over again will really ingrain them in your muscle memory allowing you to pull them off when sparring without having to think about it. This can be tiring, but it really is a fundamental way to learn.
The technique focus today was the same as last week, passing the guard, but today we gave a different option. Rather than going 'around' the legs as you would do with a standing guard pass the idea is to stay as tight as possible and pass 'through' the legs. After the guard is broken and you have established your posture, you exert pressure on your opponents leg by pinning it to the floor with the shin of your leg. This allows you to establish neck control by grapping the collar with the same hand as your through knee whilst the other hand establishes an underhook on the far shoulder. You can cross the ankles to prevent your opponent establishing half guard, but this should only be a transitional position. The pass is then executed by swinging the rear leg, i.e. not the knee through leg, behind you whilst your hip hits the floor. The pass is completed once you have taken side control.
There are a myriad of ways to pass the guard, the 'knee through' technique is just one and we shall be looking at some variations of this during the next few lessons.
We finished the session with five five minute rounds of sparring, despite the cold weather there was a good energy tonight, well done all.
Passing the guard, 'knee through pass'
So, another Monday and the gym was still freezing cold, it actually felt colder inside the gym than outside, when you can see your breath frozen on the cold air you know it's a bad sign. Anyway, due to the sub-zero temperature the warm-up was slightly more vigorous than normal. Incorporated into the warm up were some standing guard pass drills and standing guard break drills. Nothing new to add here other than drilling these techniques over and over again will really ingrain them in your muscle memory allowing you to pull them off when sparring without having to think about it. This can be tiring, but it really is a fundamental way to learn.
The technique focus today was the same as last week, passing the guard, but today we gave a different option. Rather than going 'around' the legs as you would do with a standing guard pass the idea is to stay as tight as possible and pass 'through' the legs. After the guard is broken and you have established your posture, you exert pressure on your opponents leg by pinning it to the floor with the shin of your leg. This allows you to establish neck control by grapping the collar with the same hand as your through knee whilst the other hand establishes an underhook on the far shoulder. You can cross the ankles to prevent your opponent establishing half guard, but this should only be a transitional position. The pass is then executed by swinging the rear leg, i.e. not the knee through leg, behind you whilst your hip hits the floor. The pass is completed once you have taken side control.
There are a myriad of ways to pass the guard, the 'knee through' technique is just one and we shall be looking at some variations of this during the next few lessons.
We finished the session with five five minute rounds of sparring, despite the cold weather there was a good energy tonight, well done all.
Friday, 19 February 2010
February 18th 2010
Technique
Standing guard passing
Introduction to open guard
Concept
Hip control
Today we had a good turnout with the group quickly becoming familiar with the concepts and techniques practised thus far, so we thought we'd 'up the ante' and introduce some new stuff to the guys. The first of these was during the warm up where we practised some headstands and flip overs. There are certain attributes which are incredibly beneficial to Jiu Jitsu and although technique should form the backbone of any good grappler your physical make-up will also have an impact. Everyone gave the headstands a good stab, any hesitation is purely psychological and with some more practice I'm sure we'll have a room full of acrobats. The flip over was a little more demanding but eventually some of the group did mange to flip, bridge and then roll back to the starting position, well done.
We also practised a flow drill with one partner passing guard and the other escaping side control and replacing guard. These drills are great for body mechanics and sensitivity, we'll be doing a lot more of this.
We then introduced the technique of passing the guard from a standing position, we worked this in two ways. The first method consisted of taking control of your opponent's legs by grabbing the Gi on the inside of the knees. The pass is achieved by dragging your opponents legs to the ground whilst you step to the side and then forward, ending with knee on belly. The second method is similar but this time you drive your shoulder into your opponent's hip, this allows you to sprawl and take side control.
The important thing to realise here is that executing the move properly allows you to neutralise the movement of your opponent's hips, whether you pass standing or from the knees it is this hip control which allows an effective guard pass.
We then drilled the techniques with everyone doing sets of 20. We also did some situational sparring for 20 minutes with one person attempting to pass utilising the techniques we had just drilled and their opponent having a go at stopping them by playing 'open guard'. We will be doing a lot of work on open guard during the months to come but it was useful to get everyone thinking about it now.
We intended to end the session with a couple of rounds of sparring, but this ended up going on for about 35 minutes...love life, love Jiu Jitsu.
Standing guard passing
Introduction to open guard
Concept
Hip control
Today we had a good turnout with the group quickly becoming familiar with the concepts and techniques practised thus far, so we thought we'd 'up the ante' and introduce some new stuff to the guys. The first of these was during the warm up where we practised some headstands and flip overs. There are certain attributes which are incredibly beneficial to Jiu Jitsu and although technique should form the backbone of any good grappler your physical make-up will also have an impact. Everyone gave the headstands a good stab, any hesitation is purely psychological and with some more practice I'm sure we'll have a room full of acrobats. The flip over was a little more demanding but eventually some of the group did mange to flip, bridge and then roll back to the starting position, well done.
We also practised a flow drill with one partner passing guard and the other escaping side control and replacing guard. These drills are great for body mechanics and sensitivity, we'll be doing a lot more of this.
We then introduced the technique of passing the guard from a standing position, we worked this in two ways. The first method consisted of taking control of your opponent's legs by grabbing the Gi on the inside of the knees. The pass is achieved by dragging your opponents legs to the ground whilst you step to the side and then forward, ending with knee on belly. The second method is similar but this time you drive your shoulder into your opponent's hip, this allows you to sprawl and take side control.
The important thing to realise here is that executing the move properly allows you to neutralise the movement of your opponent's hips, whether you pass standing or from the knees it is this hip control which allows an effective guard pass.
We then drilled the techniques with everyone doing sets of 20. We also did some situational sparring for 20 minutes with one person attempting to pass utilising the techniques we had just drilled and their opponent having a go at stopping them by playing 'open guard'. We will be doing a lot of work on open guard during the months to come but it was useful to get everyone thinking about it now.
We intended to end the session with a couple of rounds of sparring, but this ended up going on for about 35 minutes...love life, love Jiu Jitsu.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
February 15th 2010
Drilling
There are different views on how many repetitions it takes to commit something to muscle memory. I've been told anything from 100 to 10000 times. Whatever the real number, drilling is integral to the development, refinement and then mastery of a technique. I'd say we are still in the development stage, but and last night we spent a good while drilling the arm bar and the closed guard escape. It was clear that the group is getting to grips with both techniques but as always the concepts behind them - either breaking your opponent's posture or establishing your own posture.
We also had our first 'king of the hill'. This is where a couple of people stay on the mat and either sweep or submit their opponents. If they successfully sweep or submit they stay on the mat and the opponent leaves, they are then joined by a fresh opponent whom they must sweep or submit. If their guard is passed then the successful guard passer takes their place on the mat and the process continues. We did this for 15 minutes, not too bad for the first time, but I envisage this time increasing quite dramatically over the next few months. This was then followed with twenty minutes of sparring with everyone clearly attempting to use technique rather than strength or power. Great stuff, it's hard to believe it's only been two weeks for some of the group.
There are different views on how many repetitions it takes to commit something to muscle memory. I've been told anything from 100 to 10000 times. Whatever the real number, drilling is integral to the development, refinement and then mastery of a technique. I'd say we are still in the development stage, but and last night we spent a good while drilling the arm bar and the closed guard escape. It was clear that the group is getting to grips with both techniques but as always the concepts behind them - either breaking your opponent's posture or establishing your own posture.
We also had our first 'king of the hill'. This is where a couple of people stay on the mat and either sweep or submit their opponents. If they successfully sweep or submit they stay on the mat and the opponent leaves, they are then joined by a fresh opponent whom they must sweep or submit. If their guard is passed then the successful guard passer takes their place on the mat and the process continues. We did this for 15 minutes, not too bad for the first time, but I envisage this time increasing quite dramatically over the next few months. This was then followed with twenty minutes of sparring with everyone clearly attempting to use technique rather than strength or power. Great stuff, it's hard to believe it's only been two weeks for some of the group.
Friday, 12 February 2010
February 11th 2010
Technique
Breaking the closed guard
Introduction to passing the guard
Today we focussed on breaking the closed guard and had the help of a very experienced Purple Belt who has joined our group. Nine years experience speaks for itself and it was great to get a slightly different view on things. We did the usual warm up and went straight into the technique. The first was a kneeling guard break with the emphasis placed upon controlling your opponent's hips and maintaining your own posture. Ken Primola gives a good example:
We also practised breaking the closed guard from a standing position. Again Ken Primola gives a good example:
We then introduced passing the guard and worked two different variations of a guard pass utilising the raised knee from the guard break. The emphasis here was placed upon isolating your opponent's leg, controlling your opponent's hips and staying as tight as possible to execute the pass. Passing the guard can be difficult, so over the coming weeks we'll looking at this from both a technical and conceptual perspective.
We then did some positional sparring for 10 minutes with the person on the bottom utilising the closed guard and trying to sweep or submit, paying close attention to the arm bar which we have been working on. Whilst the person on top attempts to maintain their posture, breaks their opponents guard and tries to pass. We ended the session with 25 minutes of normal sparring. Another good class, well done to everyone who contributed to the great atmosphere.
Breaking the closed guard
Introduction to passing the guard
Today we focussed on breaking the closed guard and had the help of a very experienced Purple Belt who has joined our group. Nine years experience speaks for itself and it was great to get a slightly different view on things. We did the usual warm up and went straight into the technique. The first was a kneeling guard break with the emphasis placed upon controlling your opponent's hips and maintaining your own posture. Ken Primola gives a good example:
We also practised breaking the closed guard from a standing position. Again Ken Primola gives a good example:
We then introduced passing the guard and worked two different variations of a guard pass utilising the raised knee from the guard break. The emphasis here was placed upon isolating your opponent's leg, controlling your opponent's hips and staying as tight as possible to execute the pass. Passing the guard can be difficult, so over the coming weeks we'll looking at this from both a technical and conceptual perspective.
We then did some positional sparring for 10 minutes with the person on the bottom utilising the closed guard and trying to sweep or submit, paying close attention to the arm bar which we have been working on. Whilst the person on top attempts to maintain their posture, breaks their opponents guard and tries to pass. We ended the session with 25 minutes of normal sparring. Another good class, well done to everyone who contributed to the great atmosphere.
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
February 8th 2010
Consolidation
Last nights session was all about drilling the techniques and concepts we worked on last week. We did a standard warm up with a particular emphasis placed upon shoulder rolls. This can be a tricky roll to master at first, but don't worry, we'll be this doing every session until everyone is competent so there'll be plenty of time to practice!
From there we recapped on breaking the posture vs. maintaining the posture in closed guard. Sometimes it can be difficult to see the big picture in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so we made sure that everyone was aware that to pull off the majority attacks from closed guard be it a sweep, choke or joint submission your opponent must be in your 'danger zone', i.e. the position above your belt line. (We realise that there are some notable exceptions here, for example the hip bump sweep can be executed when your opponent is in the process of posturing). We also made everyone aware that posturing when in the guard can effectively deny your opponent these attacking opportunities. From there we did 15 minutes of positional sparring and also recapped on the arm bar. It was great to see everyone focusing on breaking the posture and things as tight as possible before attempting the submission. It was also great to see those in the closed guard maintaining their posture and denying the closed guard attacker the opportunity to apply a technique.
We then did 30 minutes of sparring, again paying a lot of attention to the concepts drilled in the over the last week. A good class, the progression is already clear to see.
Last nights session was all about drilling the techniques and concepts we worked on last week. We did a standard warm up with a particular emphasis placed upon shoulder rolls. This can be a tricky roll to master at first, but don't worry, we'll be this doing every session until everyone is competent so there'll be plenty of time to practice!
From there we recapped on breaking the posture vs. maintaining the posture in closed guard. Sometimes it can be difficult to see the big picture in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu so we made sure that everyone was aware that to pull off the majority attacks from closed guard be it a sweep, choke or joint submission your opponent must be in your 'danger zone', i.e. the position above your belt line. (We realise that there are some notable exceptions here, for example the hip bump sweep can be executed when your opponent is in the process of posturing). We also made everyone aware that posturing when in the guard can effectively deny your opponent these attacking opportunities. From there we did 15 minutes of positional sparring and also recapped on the arm bar. It was great to see everyone focusing on breaking the posture and things as tight as possible before attempting the submission. It was also great to see those in the closed guard maintaining their posture and denying the closed guard attacker the opportunity to apply a technique.
We then did 30 minutes of sparring, again paying a lot of attention to the concepts drilled in the over the last week. A good class, the progression is already clear to see.
Thursday, 4 February 2010
February 4th 2010
Review
Closed guard
Arm bar from closed guard
Concepts
Breaking posture vs. maintaining posture
Lazy guard vs. active guard
We had a fairly small group today which provided an opportunity to recap on the basic arm bar from closed guard. As the gym was cold we did a slightly longer warm up which included some really good hip movement drills and flow rolling. Flow rolling is essentially rolling very lightly at around 40% whilst allowing you to cover all areas of your game both offensively and defensively. It's a great way to 'see' things that you can easily miss during a more competitive roll.
When working the arm bar this time we paid a lot more attention to the breaking of your opponent's posture and bringing your him/her into the danger zone i.e. the area above your own belt. This allows you to control your opponent and establish a dominant position before attempting a submission. A high active guard proved to be essential in achieving this as did grip fighting to establish a dominant hand position. Likewise, we also ensured the person in the guard maintained their own posture, staying away from the danger zone and ensuring that they avoided submission attempts thus putting themselves in a position where they could break the guard and pass. Here the emphasis was placed on building a strong base and grip fighting to deny your opponent dominant hand position whilst establishing your own. To pressure test and really cement this we did 20 minutes of positional sparring. The session ended with some 20 minutes of regular sparring but we made sure we utilised the concepts we had just practised.
Closed guard
Arm bar from closed guard
Concepts
Breaking posture vs. maintaining posture
Lazy guard vs. active guard
We had a fairly small group today which provided an opportunity to recap on the basic arm bar from closed guard. As the gym was cold we did a slightly longer warm up which included some really good hip movement drills and flow rolling. Flow rolling is essentially rolling very lightly at around 40% whilst allowing you to cover all areas of your game both offensively and defensively. It's a great way to 'see' things that you can easily miss during a more competitive roll.
When working the arm bar this time we paid a lot more attention to the breaking of your opponent's posture and bringing your him/her into the danger zone i.e. the area above your own belt. This allows you to control your opponent and establish a dominant position before attempting a submission. A high active guard proved to be essential in achieving this as did grip fighting to establish a dominant hand position. Likewise, we also ensured the person in the guard maintained their own posture, staying away from the danger zone and ensuring that they avoided submission attempts thus putting themselves in a position where they could break the guard and pass. Here the emphasis was placed on building a strong base and grip fighting to deny your opponent dominant hand position whilst establishing your own. To pressure test and really cement this we did 20 minutes of positional sparring. The session ended with some 20 minutes of regular sparring but we made sure we utilised the concepts we had just practised.
February 1st 2010
Techniques
Closed guard
Arm bar from closed guard
Concepts
Breaking posture
Hip movement
Monday's session was the first at our new location in Muswell Hill, North London. We had a good turnout for what proved to be a great night of training in an amazing brand new gym. For many, this was their first session so we focussed on some basic movements such as break-falling, rolling and shrimping.
We then introduced the concept of the guard position and worked a basic arm bar technique from closed guard. The focus was of course on securing the submission, but the emphasis was placed upon breaking your opponent's posture and using hip movement to create the angle for attack.
We ended the session with 30 minutes of sparring, the newer guys observing and joining in with the experienced grapplers. Well done to those who didn't gas!
Closed guard
Arm bar from closed guard
Concepts
Breaking posture
Hip movement
Monday's session was the first at our new location in Muswell Hill, North London. We had a good turnout for what proved to be a great night of training in an amazing brand new gym. For many, this was their first session so we focussed on some basic movements such as break-falling, rolling and shrimping.
We then introduced the concept of the guard position and worked a basic arm bar technique from closed guard. The focus was of course on securing the submission, but the emphasis was placed upon breaking your opponent's posture and using hip movement to create the angle for attack.
We ended the session with 30 minutes of sparring, the newer guys observing and joining in with the experienced grapplers. Well done to those who didn't gas!
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