There Will Be Sweat

Tuesday 6am with Coach Panda. Standard warm-ups then got into a De La Riva sweep:

From seated guard, reach your right hand to get a grip on opp’s left lapel and get both feet behind opp's knees right away. Active feet, fully flexed.

Pull your opponent in as you get a behind the triceps grip with your left hand on opp's right sleeve.

Work in your left DLR hook and set your right foot on the hip or thigh.

Pull your elbows up as you bring your knees to your chest to load opp up and get them to base on the mat with their left hand.

Roll back to sweep them overhead and ride it to mount.

Friday morning no gi with Keith. First no gi in over a year (pandemic and surgery). We worked on the dummy sweep against a standing opponent:

With opponent standing in front of you in a square stance, stick your feet behind their ankles with active, flexed feet.

Immediately push against opp's thighs just above their knees to get the sweep.

First class back since the pandemic, since my second knee surgery, and since getting my purple belt! Dave taught this one and started things off HOT: active circle warm-ups, loud music, and some takedown work. Then we reviewed a basic butterfly sweep and got into a single leg x guard entry from an arm drag:

Against a kneeling opponent, get a pistol grip on their right sleeve with your right (across your body).

With your left, grab the seam of the gi behind their right triceps.

Pull across your body and down.

If opp steps up to stand, slide your left foot through the opening under their right leg and wrap it around (heel on hip) to lock in the single leg x.

From there, turn your hips to the left to complete the sweep.

Making my return to no gi after a while of avoiding it to let the knee heal up. We worked on a fancy little takedown from the russian two-on-one. 

Starting with a collar tie, lean into opp’s right arm with your left shoulder, then bump it and shuck it to get to the russian two-on-one.

Keep pressuring opponent down and leaning on them, which will force them to try to posture up. 

Reach your left arm around opp’s back and grab their lat as you step your left foot in between opp’s legs.

Reach your right hand behind opp’s right knee with the thumb pointing forward as you look down between opp’s legs. 

Step your right foot back slightly as you roll over your right shoulder, landing in a cross ashi garami.

There’s a heel hook right there, but we worked on using your feet to get hooks under opp’s left leg, pulling your knees into your chest as you roll back and grabbing that leg with your left.

From there you want to pull opp’s left leg down over your thigh, keeping their knee bent, and step your left foot to the mat behind their far hip.

Reach your right elbow over opp’s trapped right leg, look to the right, and hip in to finish the knee bar. 

Monday morning class with Keith. Belt promotions are coming up so we spent most of class reviewing and drilling from a few positions. We worked through some open guard concepts about controlling your opponent and looking for a sweep when they move to a half kneeling stance. The key point was to stretch them out and push out their knee that’s on the mat. 

While drilling I learned a great deep half guard sweep as well:

From a deep half guard, with your right arm all the way under opp’s left leg, reach your right arm around their waist and grab the left foot with it. Your right hand can pass it over and then clamp down on the left knee. 

Weave your left leg under opp’s right leg to straighten it out and take away their base. 

Start to pressure into them to force them over. Either they’ll go or push back. If they push back, just roll the other way to take them over. 

Wednesday morning with Keith. Warmed up with some uchi mata entry drills. We started with just one hand on the lapel and focused on repeating the footwork and entry a bunch. The whole hip hinge started to come together really nicely after we did it a bunch. Then we tightened up the full throw. For ground work, we worked on a sneaky entry into the legs from an opponent who’s trying to kneecut pass you. 

Opponent has their right knee up and their heel up as they think about the kneecut. 

You’ll need to get your left foot on their right, laces to laces, and pick it up high while you grab their pants with your left. 

Wrap your left arm around their shin as you fall back so their right leg is extended and trapped. 

Hip out and work your way into a single leg x guard on their right leg. 

Slide your right foot down their left leg and transition into a standard x guard. Their ankle should be wrapped up around your left shoulder now.

Extend your right foot to stretch them out and force their hands on the mat. A lapel grip with your right hand will help.

Extend even further with your right foot against the thigh as you bring your left leg down to the mat and come up on your right elbow. 

Technical standup as you left their right leg to get them on their back and set up the pass. 

Monday morning with Keith. As has become custom, we started by drilling some takedowns. Today it was uchi mata. Then we got into a butterfly guard sweep:

Seated in butterfly guard, get a cross catspaw grip with your right hand on opp’s right sleeve. Circle your hand down and pull your elbow tight so your palm is facing up and they’re cinched up tight. 

With your left, get an underhook on opp’s right arm.

Reach your right in an underhook under their left arm as you slide your butt in closer. 

Pull opponent’s head in and down as you roll back onto your back.

Kick your left foot up and your right foot OUT to spin them over for the sweep. 

Settle into mount.

Wednseday morning with Keith. We drilled a sumi gaeshi from standing against a lapel grab, then got into a variation from butterfly guard against a kneeling opponent. 

From standing:

Standing, opponent grabs your left lapel with their right hand.

Use your right hand to open up their left lapel, then reach over with your right hand and sink your elbow down outside of their arm. You want to pull them in so they take a step forward with their left foot.

Reach over opp’s back with your right hand and grip their jacket right on the center of their back. You can use your right elbow against the back of their neck as a lever to keep their head low.

Step in with your left foot, then your right so your feet are really close.

Fall back over your left shoulder and kick up with your right foot under opp’s leg to flip them over. 

Establish side control or mount depending on where they land.

The variation from butterfly guard:

Seated in front of kneeling opponent, use your left hand to get a lapel grip on opp’s left side. 

Drop your left knee to the mat and kick out opp’s right knee as you pull them down. They’ll catch themselves with their hands on the mat. 

Reach your right hand over their shoulder and grab their belt. 

When opponent tries to posture up, wrap up their right arm with your left. If possible, grab by their triceps and stuff it into their belly a bit. 

Opponent will try to lean back, but you’ve got em now! Use the belt to pull them towards you as you fall back on your left shoulder. Your left foot will stay on the mat and push off as you lift your right foot with the butterfly hook to complete the sweep. 

Establish side control or mount depending on where they land.

Thursday morning no go with Keith. We drilled a nice little armbar set-up from closed guard, a common defense against it, and a counter to the defense to pull of the arm bar from the ground.

From closed guard, pull opponent’ elbows towards your center. With your left hand, slide their right arm to the center of your belly so it’s parallel with your spine.

Immediately get your hips up and lock your legs over pop’s shoulders.

With your left hand, lock opp’s right wrist to your chest.

Slide your right hand under pop’s left thigh as you pinch your knees and pivot your body over to the right.

Opponent will defend by placing their left hand under their trapped wrist and figure-touring their arms, then they’ll stack you with their right knee to free the arm.

Before they can pull it out, snake your right arm even further back behind their right shin and pivot your body so it’s north-south.

Hip up and into your opponent to get them on their back and finish the armbar.

Wednesday morning with Keith. Back on it after a week of resting my surgically repaired knee. I’m on some anti-inflammatories and it’s feeling much better. Today we worked on some transition work between De La Riva, single leg x, and x guard.

From a seated position, wait for opponent to engage by trying to get a grip on you. Reach your right hand onto their opposite lapel to get a cross lapel grip, 4 fingers in.

Immediately get both of your feet behind pop’s knees and pull them in. You’ll need to keep your feet actively flexed for proper control.

With your left hand, get a grip on app’s right pant leg by their foot as you push their left hip back with your right foot and hook your left foot over the thigh for DLR.

Slide your right foot down so it’s just above opp’s left knee and push it back as you pull their lapel down to the mat with your right hand. You want them to base on the mat with both hands.

If opponent tries to turn towards you, simply weave your left leg around and lock up a single leg x guard on their right leg.

Hip up to get the sweep.

If opponent tries to run away from DLR, wrap your left arm around their right leg and move into x guard.

Wednesday morning with Keith. We worked on a deep half guard entry to a sweep today:

From half guard with left knee shield in place and left arm framing against opp’s neck, connect your left hand to your left knee and kick through to get deep and secure the underhook with your left. 

Swim your right arm under opp’s left thigh and spin your body to be perpendicular to theirs. 

Opp will most likely sit back on their heels to avoid a sweep, so you’ll need to base with your left foot and bridge up to your right to off balance them.

When their right leg is light, turn your knees over to the left to get their right foot on the mat. As you do this, reach your right hand to grab their left lapel.

Reach your left hand towards opp’s right foot. If you can reach it with the back of your knuckles, you’re in good shape. If you can’t, you’ll need to pinch your knees together and lift them to the ceiling to bring that foot in closer.

Wrap your left hand around opp’s right ankle and bring it up to your shoulder.

Kick your right foot down to get momentum and then out to the left to complete the sweep.

Friday morning with Carl covering for Kevin. After warm-ups we drilled a nice defense/pass against spider guard:

From your knees, in opponent’s spider guard, get a grip on the inside of both pant legs.

Get to your feet. Be mindful of your posture and weight distribution here. If you’re too far forward, you can get swept over opp’s head so keep your hips back and your head up. 

Wait for opponent to straighten one leg out to try to off-balance you. That’s the leg you’ll attack. For this example, they straighten their right leg.

Thursday morning no gi with Keith. We got right back into the leg lock game and reviewed the set-up from x guard from Tuesday’s class. Got a few rounds in afterwards and felt good.