BJJ - RGA VIE Farringdon 21/01/10

As usual class started with the regular warm up of jogging, forward rolls etc but wasn't as long as normal. Instead we drilled an arm drag. You start in Butterfly guard, grip the opposite arm at the wrist and elbow and drag across you, while at the same time freeing your leg. You then wrap an arm around the back and move to their back. The grip then changes to under/over - rinse & repeat.

Then it was time to drill a Butterfly sweep that I've been shown once before. From Butterfly guard it is vital to get double underhooks to be able to control your partner. You then fall onto one side - falling flat on your back is the big no no here and leaves you with no leverage what so ever. It seems obvious but I just love falling to my back as soon as the pressure's on. From your side it's important to grasp the base arm at the Bicep in order to pull it towards you and either destroy their base or increase the leverage of the sweep if they're already going over. You then need to move your leg that is on the floor back and past the leg that is currently hooking theirs. Finally, you move onto your shoulder and push against them to sweep them over.

Next up was the defence for this sweep. I found the overall movement a little tricky but what you could call the defence's survival posture was very handy to know. Basically, when the person goes to their side to sweep, you base out behind them with your hands and kick your legs out wide so that your hands and feet are on the mat. If need be, you then move round to their non-sweeping side slightly and switch your legs so that your leg is crossing your body. The important thing to remember here is that when your leg crosses your body, it needs to be under your partners legs so that when it finishes moving and your weight is down on them, your leg is is trapping theirs and their body is twisted, making it very difficult for them to move. To complete the movement, you then bring your other leg over into side control. It's a simple concept but I don't think I've explained it too well. The movement is the same as if you were to move from Side Control to Scarf Hold and back.

We then started specific sparring from this position. I had a lot more success passing than I did from the Butterfly guard. I never feel particularly secure in that guard and it feels like my legs can be passed at any moment. Keeping the underhooks seems a must and keeping my head as close to their body as possible helps stop them breaking my grip but I find that I too often end up flat on my back instead of a side. A couple of times I managed to get one of my legs free and went for the half Butterfly sweep where you scissor with the other leg. It didn't work but I feel a lot more comfortable with one leg out.

I can't remember all of the specific details about the free sparring but several things stood out:

• I was totally and utterly controlled by Lawrence. His ability to use his weight is superb and I felt totally pinned the whole time he was working to mount. Being the leader in our cult of Saulo, he was showing me the final details of the mount survial posture. Things like keeping the elbows tucked to the body and ensuring my arm wasn't out straight.

• I managed to Omoplata Andy from guard after finally remembering to get hold of my partner's body to stop them from jumping over me or rolling out of it.

• I attempted an Armless Triangle as a counter to being stacked but his chin was down. I remembered a video I had seen of the arm simply being put in between the legs and neck and tried that. My partner tapped but told me after that the choke was across his jaw rather than his neck.

• While sparring with Axel I got to some poor impression of what could have been De La Riva guard but had absolutely no idea what so ever what to do from there.

• Lukas is extremely strong and really goes for it so I end up just being in survival mode rather than attacking.

• Remembering something I'd read in Jiu Jitsu University, when Axel went for Knee on Belly, rather than push them Knee and shrimp away, I exploded and ran my body in the other direction to come to my knees.
  

All in all it was a good class, my biggest sticking point is still escaping from Side Control. I find myself not fighting when they go for mount because I feel like it'll be easier to escape from. I must really stop doing this and start drilling those escapes. I do now, at least remember to stop them from getting the cross face control which gives me more opportunity to turn into them to begin escaping.