Posts Tagged ‘mixed martial arts’

BJJ

We had a solid warm up to start off. During the shrimping drills, Warren again made sure we all understood the fade movement and why it is so crucial to be doing it instinctively to avoid the front choke. Shrimping drills are fundamental movements to BJJ and it’s important to understand the intentions behind the drill. If you don’t know ask!

Warren walked us through head lock control tonight.

Initially we started from short base side control. Then we slid our top knee back slightly and moved our left arm through the gap and under-hooked the near arm. Sprawling out we switched base, putting our leg closest to their legs through under their arm and straight out in front of their head. We then shoot the arm closest to them under the far side of their head, around their neck and grip our own knee. Our other leg is pointing at the ceiling at 90 degrees posted out. It is important to put your weight down on your opponent by getting you butt of the floor, the front leg is only floating as control.

The second method for getting there was again from short base side control. First you under-hook the near arm again, then you move your far hand till it sits on their chest. Form there you are able to move all the way back across their body till your weight is pinning the arm you have under-hooked to the floor, sprawling out to keep it pinned hard. Your opponent will feel like there is a gap and generally go for your back. All this does is allow you to easily head lock them and then switch out to the control position.

We then moved into rolling. Warren split the class ( 42 on the mat, wow) into 1 stripe and below on one side and everyone else on the other. It worked out half’n’half roughly. 1 stripe and below were put on positional work only, everyone else was to do full grappling with submissions. Warren got us doing the system Kodz did last week where you’re in groups of three, 2 rolling and one walking. 3minute rounds with one person swapping out at the end of each round leaving the other person to continue to make a 6 minute round. We rolled that way for more than a full cycle, then after a short break we did it all again. It was a really great way to push yourself in your stamina, pacing yourself by being relaxed and efficient while being effective. I hope to get a lot better at it than I am now.

Cam D

BJJ

Kodz took the training tonight and after the warm up re-introduced us to the half nelson lapel choke from the blue belt syllabus and then took us through a couple of variations that were more advanced.

For a detailed break-down of the basic choke go here.

The first variation was for when you failed to get the under-hook of the arm. You still grab the top lapel and wing it up and feed it to the bottom hand. You then control their top leg holding the pants or under-hooking the knee joint. Then you bring your back leg up from the floor and slide your knee between your arm gripping the collar and their shoulder, placing your shin on the back of their neck. Sitting down (rather than rolling onto your back) you pull back, up and around with your collar grip and push with your shin on the back of their neck, bringing the choke on.

The third variation was a crazy Kodz variation that most of us found really difficult either for technical, body shape or flexibility reasons (or all of the above). You get the same collar position but you must under hook the leg. Shifting your weight subtly forward, you then move upright quickly, leaning to your right, putting your back leg around and over their head, sitting back and putting the choke on by pulling with your grip and squeezing down and back with your leg. If you are confused by this description you fit in with most people actually at the training. A lot of us were looking contorted, awkward and perplexed. Kodz pointed out that these were advanced techniques and more to get us thinking than anything else. The basic technique was the essential part for most of us.

We initially rolled as normal for about three rounds. Then Kodz got us to pair up with people of similar size. Two of the three rolled for three minutes while the other walked. When Kodz called time, one person swapped out and the other stayed in and kept going. This carried on for a couple of cycles giving everyone one 3 and one 6 minute round. There was no leaving the mat while the drill was happening. By the end of that we were pretty beat. For a warm down, Kodz got us to number off in threes. Whoever’s number got called out had to scramble and defend the other two from pinning them, this was really funny!

MMA

Mark got us all geared up and lead us through a full sparing class. Hands only for one round, hands and feet for two, then adding clinching and take downs for two more. Then full MMA rounds including light strikes on the ground.

Mark discussed with us the differences between ring fighting thinking and self defence thinking, how to use elbows and knees on the ground in side control for example.

Jack and Simo continued charging hard with Warren and assistants preparing for their Fights at ICNZ 10. We cheered them on as they pushed through the last hard rounds.

Cam D

BJJ

Warren started us off with a solid warm up, getting us to work on our shrimping drills thoroughly and then switching out movements.

Continuing the review of the blue belt syllabus, Warren ran us through figure four from front control and then sweeping from half guard to the same submission.

Starting from north south (front control) we practised basing in and out and keeping our weight down. Then the technique required us to slide our left hand up under the armpit of our opponent’s right arm until the smallest part of the wrist was there. Then we crushed all our weight down on the end of their elbow, pinning them and exposing their arm. Keeping our weight down, we lock in the figure 4, grabbing their right wrist with our right hand and grabbing our right wrist with our left hand. Then we slide our left knee up their back, lifting them onto their left shoulder, but keeping the crush down on them. Quickly, we move our right leg and snag and drag their left arm behind us and kneel down. We are then able to pull their figure 4 arm into our chest and sit up, going to one knee by bringing our left leg up, then torquing the shoulder by rotating the arm anti-clockwise. It’s important to keep the arm close to your body and bent at a 90 degree angle at the elbow.

The half guard sweep involved us getting wrist control from half guard in the same way as from full guard. You must be grabbing the wrist on opposite side from the leg you control. Then you sit up, go over the shoulder and lock in the figure four. You then wait for the right time and allow your opponent to pass out of your guard. As they move round to side control you orient so they are north south, press their arm into their hips and rotate them over, from there you can crush and do the submission out lined above.

We drilled these techniques thoroughly and then spent 30 minutes rolling until the end of class.

MMA

Mark got us straight into it. Combos were the order of the day, working in pairs with focus mitts

1. jab, cross, jab, cross, four punch combo
2. jab cross, double jab
3. cross, jab, double cross
4. jab cross, front leg kick, cross
5. cross, jab, rear leg kick, jab

followed by 3 sparring rounds. The first just boxing, the second and third were punches and kicks for a few minutes and then transitioning to submission wrestling (starting form the clinch) for the next few minutes.

That was us but Jack and Simo were working their butts off with Warren and co at the same time. If you want to road trip to Palmy to see them fight at ICNZ 10, get talking to other people and make it happen!

Cam D

BJJ

We did light rolling for the warm up, switching partners a few times, positional work only.

Warren ran us through Cross Lapel choke, which we then drilled the setups for. Then we did Front choke (also called Guillotine) followed by the Anaconda choke.

Little details for double lapel stood out to me. Pushing up with your hand that is in the collar already to create space to slide your other hand in. Another detail was using the forearm of your collar hand to wing their head up, creating space to get your other hand in under their jaw.

With front choke I found drilling it helped emphasise the steps in my head for the technique. The detail that stands out was that the better you clear their arm across and the tighter you make the space before you sit back, the better it comes on.

The Anaconda is all about control and timing but not speed. Cinching their arm in tight across their neck and then slowly and gently rolling them, placing your head in the gap by their knee that you create by moving them off centre and rolling them over as you walk your legs around to get your body underneath them.

We rolled for half and hour to finish the class.

MMA

Following on from Tuesday, Mark got the class drilling with thai pads again.

1. jab, cross, hook
2. jab, cross, front elbow
3. jab, cross, back elbow
4. jab, cross, front knee
5. jab cross, back knee
6. jab cross, flying knee
7. jab, cross, front leg kick
8. jab, cross, back leg kick

We then did all these moving around, getting a feel for applying them on the go. Then we drilled it with the pad holder showing us the target but trying to evade the strikes.

We saw our carefully honed foot work collapse as we got tired and missed the evasive pads, but it was great learning.

Jack Lambe and Simo Postings were put through their paces separately by Warren, training hard for their upcoming fight at ICNZ 10. We look forward to seeing all their hard work pay off in the ring!

BJJ

Codz ran us through a warm up with a few differences including wheel barrow races to get those arms going.

Warren continued our charge through the blue belt syllabus with figure 4 from guard, from mount and in side control.

We drilled 50 times each side the movement from guard. From the open guard, shifting onto our side gripping the wrist. Sitting up and reaching over the shoulder and back under the arm we are already gripping. Grasping our own wrist and forming the “figure 4” then sitting back, cutting with our leg on the same side over their back to prevent them rolling. We got the tap once and then focused on repping out the positional shifts.

After that we moved to mount and drilled the top figure 4 50 times on each arm alternately. Using straight and locked arms we pushed our opponent’s arm to the floor, slipped our arm on the side under theirs and gripped our own wrist in the figure 4. Then we pulled the lock down into position by our knee before applying the torque for the tap. Again we didn’t get the tap just the position after first one.

Then we moved to side control. We started as if we had already locked the top figure 4 and they straightened their arm out of it. Our goal was to control their transition and, at the right moment, apply an arm bar then as it moved through the full rotation to the down facing position we pulled our arm through and applied the bottom figure 4. We drilled this 50 times as well.
With the bottom figure 4, it is necessary to switch our knee over their head and pin them down in order to apply the tap.

We then rolled two quick rounds to finish the class

MMA

Unfortunately I couldn’t make this class but Mark had them getting out the Thai pads as I left so I am sure it was awesome. It always is if I don’t go…

Cam D

BJJ

Dane’s summary of training on face book which made me laugh:

Tonight’s training summary:
• Arm dips ’til your triceps fail
• Top Mount to Arm bar x 30
• Basic sweep x 100
• Knee Ride to Arm Bar x 100…
• There, saved you a novel Cam!

He glossed over the rest of a very tough warm up before the arm dips…

In thinking about last night’s training, technically the above sums it up, but, what was Warren trying to teach us?

I think

1. Strength and endurance matter
2. Correct technique is good, lots of reps of technique is AWESOME!

Warren talked about body memory, getting your body to learn the movements so they become automatic, happening without your brain controlling every little part of them. When you first start to drive you think about every movement of your hands and feet on the controls and watch the road consciously examining every thing. Once you have driven a lot you don’t think “foot off accelerator, foot on clutch all the way down, move the stick” etc. You just think “I want to go up this hill faster” and your body does whatever it needs to do to make that happen, adjusting gear changes and everything else to get you where you want to go. In BJJ, Warren is telling us that we can train our bodies to do the thinking for us while we start thinking big picture not individual movements.

MMA

We did 3 2min rounds to warm up. We were shadow boxing all our techniques with Warren calling “Shoot” (shoot as if for a take down), “Sprawl” (as if to prevent a take down), “Backs” (as if we have been knocked down or stumbled to the ground) intermittently.

After that we rolled no-gi for most of the class in 5 minute rounds, two rounds positional work only, then submissions.

Warren stopped us and showed us an escape from half guard which we then drilled in pairs to end the class.

The escape was, as you snag half guard you shoot your arm closest to their centre around the legs and hug it to your body tight, scrunching yourself as close as possible to your opponent. You have to stay tight to avoid the under hook counter. Then, as they scramble, wait for the right moment and grab the outside of their other foot down near the toes and pull it into their other leg. Then bridge and roll at the right time, bringing them over onto their back and scramble for side control.

Cam D

BJJ

Warren got us started with a tough warm up. There was a lot of jumping press-upping and crunching with some burpees thrown in for good luck. After simmering us nicely though this stage he finished us off with shrimping drills.

Tonight Warren started us on the fast review of the blue belt syllabus. We drilled for the whole class. With a large chunk of the class still learning these fundamental patterns, we covered Top Control drill, Basic Guard drill, Basic Circuit and Mount to Back Drill.

We worked on each of these individually, switching sides, then drilled through them all from the start again with our partner. It was a long, hot, tiring class but it felt great to work really hard on building a strong foundation. I refined a lot of what I was doing and even better pushed the reps and worked hard to keep the form and technique good. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of doing a technique well and with the minimum effort while really knackered.

To clarify the drills:

Top Control Drill
Starting from short-base side control (SB side control) knees to hip and shoulder, elbow to head and hip weight on our chest down on our opponent. From there, we move our right hand to the near hip to stop our opponent pulling guard and we base out to side control. Our legs are sprawled hips to the floor, we are up on our toes weight driven down through our chest onto our opponent. We then base in again and establish SB side control and then back to side control. Then we walk our legs around to north south position, keeping our weight down on our opponent at all times. Then we base in, arms over the top of their arms and weight still down hard. We then base out and move clockwise round to the other side and then base in to SB side control. Base out, and then switch base, bringing our leg closest to our opponent’s head through under the other one, shifting our weight onto our hip, placing our knee next to our opponent’s hip. Our outside leg is posted at 90 degrees and our knee is pointed at the ceiling ready to move to mount and bracing against our opponent’s hip. We then reach across and grab the pants at the far knee and pull the leg toward us. This allows us to shoot our leg across more easily, stomping our foot down to aim for a solid base. Then we transition to mount. From mount, we put our left elbow onto the right side of their head and then drop our left hip to the floor, then we move our leg rapidly to a switch base position. We finish by switching back to side control. That is one circuit.

Having written that one in lots of detail, for the sake of time and to try and create the possibility that you actually read this, these next ones are the short version.

Basic Guard Drill
Starting with one person in mount, the person on the bottom completes bridge trap and roll. From in guard then you pass guard using the basic pass, move to side control and regain mount. Moving through this twice allows the circular drill.

Basic Circuit
Starting from being in full guard, you pass guard using the basic guard pass to side control to short base side control. Then the person on the ground does escape from side control and pulls full guard again. This drill allows one person to practice guard passing and the other to practice escaping side control and regaining guard.

Mount to Back Drill
Starting from mount, the person on the bottom bridges to the left, the right and then forward. The person in mount posts correctly for each of these and then floats their right leg to create a little space, the person on the bottom rolls to their side and is put in side mount by their opponent. From there the bottom person rolls to their knees and their back is taken by their opponent, hooks in. Then they roll the person over to their master side and control them fully.

MMA

We did a full class of no-gi grappling in rounds. The first two rounds just position and the last two we wore gloves and added light strikes to integrate them with our submission game.

Cam D

BJJ

Mark took us through a basic warm up and then introduced the first technique for the class, The Lapel Half Nelson Choke. He explained that this is that last technique to finish our run through the blue belt syllabus that we have been doing over the last couple of months.

The choke is done from sidemount but we started from mount. This allowed us to get the feel for giving our opponent some space and letting them roll into a side position for us to take sidemount. As they rolled, our first priority is to under hook the near arm. This is a starting position that lets us control our opponent and presents us with several possibilities to exploit depending on our opponent’s response.

In the situation of the half nelson choke we have a good under hook but maybe not a perfect locked down control of the arm. Using the under hooking hand we grab the near (or top) lapel a fist distance or so down from their jaw and pull the jacket open. Sliding our left hand around and under the head, we feed the top lapel into it. Our top hand is still under our opponent’s arm and we slide it on top and behind our opponent’s head. Then we pull back and up with our bottom hand and press down on the back of the head with our top forearm in a scissoring motion bringing the choke on as the lapel wraps around the throat and neck.

We drilled this and then Mark got us to work from mount, to sidemount, to back control, making sure to get our seatbelt grip and applying the back choke as described in more detail here. We defended the attacking hand and used the resistance to tighten the choke before applying it.

He then got us to do a drill where the defender went 30% resting and getting the attacker to apply the technique appropriate to the opportunities presented. Those of us that knew the arm bar relevant to the situation could do that technique as well. This drill is all about practicing seeing the opening and grabbing the opportunity to apply a technique.

We then rolled for 30 minutes to finish the class. Next week Mark told us we we’ll be running through all the techniques in the blue belt syllabus and seeing what people know, so revise your techniques and be ready.

MMA

We started off doing grappling to warm up, light work with gloves on to get the feel for it.

Warren walked us through escape from mount and guard while being ground and pounded.

First he walked us through the elbow escape from mount. Those of us on the bottom then got to shell up while keeping our head off the floor, while our partners gave us reasonably firm ground and pound to make us feel the strength of the shell and add realism to the escape.

From that position we first did bridge trap and roll. In this MMA variation we made sure we shelled up and then bridged hard throwing our opponent forward. Reaching back and linking our fingers around an arm, we waited for them to move it back and then sucked it hard into our chest. We then waited for them to try and sit up or withdraw the arm and then bridged hard straight and then rolled over into the guard position.

The next variation was the person in guard then sat up and landed shots on the person holding them in guard while they shelled up protecting themselves. While shelling, they pulled their opponent forward and down with their legs and, when they fell forward, controlled them with double over hooks. Then we broke our guard, shuffling our butt back to create space. Using our legs still in open guard, we wrapped our feet under our opponent’s shins and used that control to stretch them out flat. We then unhooked our right leg pulled it back and under our opponent’s leg, inserting our hook under their knee. Pulling our knee towards our head and taking their weight off the floor, we then rolled to our right, sweeping them over and putting us in mount again.

We drilled this cyclically for a while.

Then Warren demonstrated elbow escape from mount. In MMA we are being punched by our opponent so you are a lot more cautious about protect yourself than a grappling tournament. So while shelling we bridged hard then used our elbows to shove our opponent into a low mount. From there, we insert our elbow between their knee and our body and then shrimp to our side, pushing with our body away from our elbow and at the same time bringing our same side knee up to meet our elbow. This pops our leg out on that side. In the first version of this we fully cleared our leg out and then switched to our other hip allowing us to pull our other leg out, switching our hips back to clear the leg completely and regain full guard.

Version two had us leave our hook under the back of their knee and then switch hips to get the other hook in. Getting double under hooks with our arms, we can then pull our opponent’s weight forward onto us using our hooks and arms and then sweep them over.

This was a really great class for some core technique which is essential knowledge for MMA, but also for the fundamentals of hip movement and creating space which are so core to a BJJ approach to MMA.

Cam D