Well, I realized today that I never posted my thoughts on Friday's class. HOT! Oh man, I was a sweaty mess.
I got there a little early and one of the other guys and I worked on a basic sweep before class. I like this sweep because it starts a lot like the setup for an armbar from guard. Get one leg up high, trap the opposite side arm, then swing that side's leg out wide. At this point, bring it in sharply while at the same time pushing/pulling with your arms and hips to sweep right into mount.
Class was all about armbars again. We worked the same armbar counter detailed on Wednesday, as well as a new one. This newer technique will be difficult to describe without pictures, but I'll try. Starting with a basic armbar from guard. I trap his right arm with my right arm, and pull his left shoulder down with my left arm to keep him from posturing up. Then bring my right leg up high on his left shoulder, scoot my hips out to my left and swing my left leg around the head to secure the armbar. At this point, he will stack me up.
So, from here, he's got me all stacked up and unhappy. I can't extend my hips and his goal is to pull his right arm out of danger. As he frees his right arm, I am going to trap his left arm and then drop and turn my left leg so that my shin/ankle/foot is cupping his head/neck. Then I'm going to swing my right leg all the way around to the other side so that I'm trapping and working the armbar on his left arm. It's cool, and seemed to flow very well.
Sparring was exhausting, but fun. I started from guard for the first match against a guy I know is strong. It went okay. My problems against him are in breaking his posture. Many of the things I want to work on rely on breaking down my opponent's posture, so I need to do this. I picked up a few details that I think will help.
I worked after class with another one of the students, the one who likes his spider guard. We just basically worked until I passed guard and then reset. There were so many students on the mat, we didn't have a lot of room to roll. With him, I just concentrated on keeping either both arms in and driving his legs apart or both arms out and driving his legs together, then passing accordingly.
Looks like April 28th will be my first tournament. I'm at 192-193 right now, so I shouldn't have any problem making weight at ~185.
I got there a little early and one of the other guys and I worked on a basic sweep before class. I like this sweep because it starts a lot like the setup for an armbar from guard. Get one leg up high, trap the opposite side arm, then swing that side's leg out wide. At this point, bring it in sharply while at the same time pushing/pulling with your arms and hips to sweep right into mount.
Class was all about armbars again. We worked the same armbar counter detailed on Wednesday, as well as a new one. This newer technique will be difficult to describe without pictures, but I'll try. Starting with a basic armbar from guard. I trap his right arm with my right arm, and pull his left shoulder down with my left arm to keep him from posturing up. Then bring my right leg up high on his left shoulder, scoot my hips out to my left and swing my left leg around the head to secure the armbar. At this point, he will stack me up.
So, from here, he's got me all stacked up and unhappy. I can't extend my hips and his goal is to pull his right arm out of danger. As he frees his right arm, I am going to trap his left arm and then drop and turn my left leg so that my shin/ankle/foot is cupping his head/neck. Then I'm going to swing my right leg all the way around to the other side so that I'm trapping and working the armbar on his left arm. It's cool, and seemed to flow very well.
Sparring was exhausting, but fun. I started from guard for the first match against a guy I know is strong. It went okay. My problems against him are in breaking his posture. Many of the things I want to work on rely on breaking down my opponent's posture, so I need to do this. I picked up a few details that I think will help.
I worked after class with another one of the students, the one who likes his spider guard. We just basically worked until I passed guard and then reset. There were so many students on the mat, we didn't have a lot of room to roll. With him, I just concentrated on keeping either both arms in and driving his legs apart or both arms out and driving his legs together, then passing accordingly.
Looks like April 28th will be my first tournament. I'm at 192-193 right now, so I shouldn't have any problem making weight at ~185.