BJJ - RGA VIE Farringdon 02/03/10

I've been pretty bad at updating this blog recently, due to a massive change in personal circumstances but this post marks a re-dedication to my training and blogging. I won't be going into so much detail though and simply marking important points that I've taken away from each class.

Something that a few of us have been discussing recently is the subject of conditioning in BJJ and how much is too much. The general consensus is that it is certainly important, but it should be more BJJ specific exercises rather than just doing star jumps and press ups til people drop. Max and Dmetri are known purveyors of savage warm ups that tend to lean more towards the standard circuits format but Eddie, who was taking the class tonight puts us through much more specific exercises. For example, our warm up tonight consisted of a brief, 5 minute Aerobic session with running and jumping etc before we moved on to open guard exercises with one person trying to pass the legs of the other and put their knee down on their partners stomach. Neither person was allowed to grip and as soon as it went to the floor, we had to restart to keep things moving.

We then drilled how to regain open guard using the opposite side leg and ended with specific sparring from open guard that restarted whenever someone passed. Specific sparring was ok, I know a few passes that I was trying and had success with:

• Pushing the person's legs towards them and sitting on their backside almost like riding them and passing to one side
• Pushing the legs to one side and sliding your leg alongside them so you basically sit down on your side and then turn into side control
• Leapfrogging the legs into mount

I also considered cartwheel and front flip passes but I've not drilled them enough to feel safe putting my neck in such a dangerous position.

Sparring went pretty well, I'm now attacking a lot more rather than waiting for my partner to make a move that I can counter. I've started using the Triangle to Omoplata setup quite a lot, though I'm finding it hard to finish the Omoplata. I'm also getting in the mounted triangle position a lot these days but when I roll over to put it on, my leg seems to be over the back rather than the neck and I can hardly ever finish it. I try to make an angle by cupping their leg but something's not quite right.

I've also found that I'm able to keep moving now instead of just laying in positions and waiting for an opening, Lawrence commented to me the other day that I'm not just laying still any more. I really do need to start going straight to open guard when I can though. This is a major sticking point in my game and probably the biggest hurdle for me to progress.

My last roll of the night was with George and was one of the funnest I've ever had. There was constant movement, sweeps, reversals and submission attempts. He impressed me with his movement but it wasn't quite tight enough for him to land things like rolling armbars that he was trying. He put me in a couple of bad positions with possible armbars but I always managed to keep my cool and get my arm out just enough to prevent the lock and then start passing.

All in all it was a good session and I plan to really get my head down and train as much as possible over the next few months. I'm feeling the urge to get on the competition mat again but I'd like to feel a little more confident in my abilities first.