After a weekend of eating and drinking a modest amount of junk food, I'm back at training. Tuesday is no-gi, and yesterday we worked on an arm triangle.
During warmups we drilled some techniques, the most difficult for me is the takedown drill. Rick held a heavy bag and we had to hit it with a single/double leg takedown. The motion is very foreign to me. I'll have to work on it.
The arm triangle is great. There are techniques that we learn and I think, "Well, that's a long term goal." The omoplata is one of those. I'll have to screw that one up a billion times before I get it down. But this arm triangle is in line with what I tend to set up and do well. We started in side control. So, if I'm starting with my hips on my opponent's right side, I've got good control of his near side arm, and either one or both of my knees are up tight. At the very least, I've got my right knee up tight and am blocking his potential hip escape. The setup for this technique comes from the tendency to overcommit when trying to create space from the bottom by pushing up on my neck or head. So, in this case, my opponent is pushing up into my neck with his left arm and I've got really good pressure, so he's stressing out a little and overcommits that arm. I'll raise my head and at the same time push that arm through from the elbow, trapping it with my head/neck... nice and tight. Then I grab my right bicep with my left hand (which is still under his head).
At this point I'm going to cross over his body. I want to slide up and over, not hop. Hopping over is an easy shortcut that I guess a lot of guys use, but it creates space and an opportunity (albeit brief) to counter. So, now I've got him locked up and I'm on his left side. I need to keep my knees down, pull my elbows in (thanks Jeff for that tip), and walk my knees away from him to tighten up the choke. Some finishing keys are to keep my hips facing down. If I turn one way or the other, it actually creates space, loosening up the choke and turning it into more of a neck crank.
Sparring was fun. This was my second no-gi class, so it was something new and different.
During warmups we drilled some techniques, the most difficult for me is the takedown drill. Rick held a heavy bag and we had to hit it with a single/double leg takedown. The motion is very foreign to me. I'll have to work on it.
The arm triangle is great. There are techniques that we learn and I think, "Well, that's a long term goal." The omoplata is one of those. I'll have to screw that one up a billion times before I get it down. But this arm triangle is in line with what I tend to set up and do well. We started in side control. So, if I'm starting with my hips on my opponent's right side, I've got good control of his near side arm, and either one or both of my knees are up tight. At the very least, I've got my right knee up tight and am blocking his potential hip escape. The setup for this technique comes from the tendency to overcommit when trying to create space from the bottom by pushing up on my neck or head. So, in this case, my opponent is pushing up into my neck with his left arm and I've got really good pressure, so he's stressing out a little and overcommits that arm. I'll raise my head and at the same time push that arm through from the elbow, trapping it with my head/neck... nice and tight. Then I grab my right bicep with my left hand (which is still under his head).
At this point I'm going to cross over his body. I want to slide up and over, not hop. Hopping over is an easy shortcut that I guess a lot of guys use, but it creates space and an opportunity (albeit brief) to counter. So, now I've got him locked up and I'm on his left side. I need to keep my knees down, pull my elbows in (thanks Jeff for that tip), and walk my knees away from him to tighten up the choke. Some finishing keys are to keep my hips facing down. If I turn one way or the other, it actually creates space, loosening up the choke and turning it into more of a neck crank.
Sparring was fun. This was my second no-gi class, so it was something new and different.