Fundamentals class in Memphis showed me a very good additional reversal if you are in guard, and your opponent stands up.

I joined the fundamentals class in Chicago today. I learned a very good show that I had yet to practice.

If you are a amount, and the person you are destroyed rolls over, allow them to and take them back. You may have to get up on your feet so you are not caught when they roll over.

I had a good time training today, and felt like I continue to improve my wrestling. Specifically, the standup game.

The high crotch is a move that I’ve yet to learn. It is basically a double leg, but you are only able to pull into one leg. The history on calling it a high crotch is that before, the front arm would go up through the crotch. Now, it is important to hold her leg tight low so they cannot get out.

Once you like in a high crotch, it’s easy to switch to a single leg. Just post back up on your side exploit, and switch your arms.

I tried a number of times to use the wrist breaks that I learned the other day. However I had variable success on it. In training, I feel like I spend too much time working to break grips, and not enough time on flow. I know that this is going to bite me one night in determinants, as I should continue to try and not roll out of it.

Today I did a back to back training session with Muy Thai and then Brazilian. The Thai kicked my butt, and then I stayed for open roll. I was a mess when I was done, but felt pretty good.

Right now am winging my strikes using all arm, and not my body like I should be. I need to work at turning my hips both on the jab and the cross to get more power behind them.

We did a number of double leg takedowns, working on the movement in the setup to make the takedown happen. The step back to make the opponent post out is very similar to a judo trip set up. The big difference is clearing their arms to your able to get in and make the grab.

We did a mount escape, that I think will be pretty effective. Shrimp to one side while mounted. Using your far leg, kick it around and hook their foot so you are in half guard on the wrong side. From there, push their leg down and switch your hips to get into normal half guard. At the same time, get the under hook to be safe.

Overall, I had a very good roll. I was able to complete a number of submissions, and really felt like I had a dominant position most the time. I was able to complete a situp sweep four times, against two opponents. This is great, as this was a sweep that I was struggling with for the longest time. I now seem to understand the movement and set up of the sweep.

This was the first time that I did the advanced class. The guys are really good, but I think I held my own.

A good defense that my training partner showed me was to push their head down, then step down with the leg. This doesn’t allow them to pick up the leg, and let’s you get your balance back.

Once you have a single leg, instead of swinging them all around it’s much easier to just put your head on their leg and push out to complete the single-leg.

If you have a single-leg, basically treat the leg like an arm-drag. They called it a leg drag (no kidding). From there, look up behind their arm and take their back.

• As soon as I feel myself getting put into side control, I need to get on my side. I have a tendency to let my opponent get his arm on the back of my neck and flattening out. Then I’m stuck.
• Speaking of getting his arm round the back of my neck, I need to stop focusing on pushing their knees off me and start working at the defending that arm. That arm is what is causing me to not create the space I need to escape. This is where I get caught up the most; I work on pushing their knees away and leave my head completely is exposed. Sooner or later they are able to put enough pressure on my head to clear my knees and they will have me in side control.
• What I need to do is with my bottom arm push out at the arm that is trying to control my head. This will create additional space and give me room to hip escape. My top arm should be pushing their knee away, or the shoulder away.
• watching a video from the image that I pulled from the top, Kurt also makes a good point of using your arm to protect the top your head instead of just pushing away. This might be a good spot for my near side arm that is closer to the mat.
• Coach made a good point that when we are protecting against some of passing, we need at least three points of contact. If we have three points of strong contact, the pass will be more difficult to do. Four points would be the best, making a pass almost impossible. When you drop to two or one point, the past is probably going to happen. When I am getting passed on my back, I’m really only giving two points of contact which is why continue to get passed.
• Another good point that this protection will actually help with my guard game. This is because I should not be scared to attack from guard because I know even if someone is starting to pass me, I should be able to get my guard back. It’s really good advice

• I was caught a Kimora as I was passing someone’s guard. I left my entire arm on the mat as I was working the past the legs, and the person shrimped in and tied me up. He then just roll over and I rolled with him, where he was able to finish the submission. I still trying to figure out how that happened, as I don’t think that is a very viable move normally.
• I’m going to have a question around what I should do when I have an opponent heavier than me completely tied up in my full guard. I feel like even if I have their arms trapped, I cannot get enough momentum to get them rolled over. If there’s any type of base on their knees, it is too much for me to roll them. What I will try next time I’m rolling is if I have them tied up getting one leg down and kicking out one of their knees before rolling them over. I just seem to have a problem with that because my legs are so long, and they’re usually crowding me.
• I completed a pretty good triangle today from opponent where I baited them to attack me. I had one leg down and away from their arm, and when they attacked me I threw it up and lock it in. Boom.

Tonight, against all better judgment, I decided to do jujitsu then go right into judo. Overall it actually wasn’t bad and I’m glad that I did it. It was just three solid hours of training. I think I will only do that if I’m unable to get into the gym one of the other days. The BJJ was no gi anyway, when I really need to work on my gi work.

We did a pretty standard mount escape today, but there were several very important points that I’ve been doing wrong.

• When I’m in mount, I should keep my elbows down so they are not able to get into high mount. I should grab my own wrists to protect my arms. This will not allow them to get chokes or other moves.
• Use the box to push the knee. Don’t just try to push the knee with my hands. Using the box gives more power and will really clear the knee.
• Keep a straight leg and I’m passing to slip it under their leg. I lift my knee up, my leg gets caught on theirs and makes it more challenging for me to get across
• To get back in the guard, I need to shrimp three ways back and forth. Really, I should probably just continue to shrimp until I’m out of it.

(she should be boxing!)

Another pretty standard mount escape that we tried. I typically do a double bump and take out a post. What I really should be doing if I can rap an arm is this bridging and roll and not even allowing them to post. If they ever go for a cross collar choke, or if I’m able to get it over hook on one of their arms they are toast. Basically all I have to do is hold her arm and roll over my shoulder like a Granby roll.

A great way to escape the mount is to stop it before it happens! As they’re stepping over to get mount, don't worry about the leg that's stepping over. Just catch the other leg with your opposite foot. From there, reverse shrimp and pushed her leg down with your hand. You’re then basically in 1/2 guard on the on the correct side.

I need to work on when is my opponent is in side control getting on my side. I feel like I’m waiting them to try to mount me, and they keep going in the scarf hold instead. I then am locked in without many options. As my opponent is in side control, at that point I need to start protecting my near side arm and getting on my side. I need to make a note to do that more often.

I do need to start trying things other than that bridge and roll to get out of it once it’s locked in, as that's taking way too much energy. I am going to start trying to walk my legs out and roll out of if. If they try to follow me, I will catch their leg and take their back.

It was great that I was able to meet up with the Kansas City group while I was in town for forecast. I stayed a little bit later than I had wanted to, but I was still able to see my friends that I was staying with. I like their style of fighting, as a complements the other skills that I learned with my other groups.

We did a number of triangle drills, and there were some fine details that I need to make sure I included my game. The main one goes back to me not having as much hip movement when I lock in the triangle. I need to be explosive off my hips and lock it in. If I’m not able to finish the triangle, I need to start locking up the figure four grip on the alternate arm in working it into an arm bar.

We did the spinning choke when the opponent is on turtle. I need to work this into my game, as many times my opponent is internal and I do not go for this. I’m going to make a note to start using this as my number one move if I am able to get a lapel grip while my opponent is in turtle.

The variation on this move that I learned during this practice was if I am unable to get the single wing up by the head (if they are guarding strongly), and alternate is to just reach through and trap the arm. This still allows to kill their base and do the spin. However, you are then not in the best position for the choke, but at least you are on their back.

The leg lace is something I would like to continue practicing, and I will add it to my flow for when my opponent stands up. Grab the base of the leg you are attacking, drop your hips, and wrap your same side leg around errors. From there, all you need to do is push under opposite leg with your foot. They then drop and give you the opportunity for a heel-hook

My Seoi Nage was terrible. The fine points that I was missing were:

• Spin into them before trapping the arm. My arm should be against theirs before I trap
• Trap lower on the arm, because when you pull it in you will end up higher.
• As you are throwing, do not use your arms to throw but your body
• Continue to corkscrew throughout the throw, I should be facing the opposite wall when I’m done

This is a throw I just need to continue to work on during my weekly judo practice

Derek showed me this move if someone is completely turtle up and is basically in a ball. All you need to do is trap there had with your arm, and use your other arm to lift up on the butt. This will roll them over their head you into a better position.

This is something I continually have issues with, and was looking for additional guidance on. Basically watch out for wrist control. If someone is starting to pull my arm across their body, all I need to do is rotate my wrist out and push it back to the other side. This will break the grip or at least cause them to struggle more with getting my arm across. This is something I just need to continue to work on when I’m rolling.

I went to a good gym in Orlando to work out. There were only a few of us, so it was more of everyone sharing moves rather than an actual class. We did not even get much chance to roll even though we were there for over two hours.

This is an awesome move that I’ve shared with a number of folks, and works very well. If your opponent is in turtle, an easy way to get him to roll over is to simply push his away heel down to the mat. This will cause uncomfortable cause him to roll over without even thinking about it.

This one is illegal and competition, but the instructor showed how to make it happen. If the opponent is in strong turtle, reach and try to grab a choke hold so you look like you’re choking. From there, use your other hand to grabbed their near side toes. Move your knee over to their Achilles, pull up on their toes, and then saw with your knee. They may scream out, or at worse they will take their leg out, giving you an easy way to roll them over.

This was an interesting move on a situation that happens to me quite often. If I have my opponent with an arm in guillotine from turtle, instead of rolling into guard I can use this move. Basically, all I need to do is step by near leg over their head, and step my far leg over their body. From there all I need to do is roll on my back or side and squeeze to choke them.

Instead of just locking my arms when I’m in leg press, roll my legs up and grab them with the arm that is in trouble under my knee. This is a much stronger grip to have to break to get the submission. While they are focused on that arm, I now have another arm free that I’m able to post out on. This gives me options to shuck the leg off my head and roll out of the submission attempt.

I need to start standing up more often than getting comfortable on my feet and close guard. Lock down one arm by holding the gi, and use my weight stand to up on both my feet at the same time. Then use the arm that is holding the gi into my side, and into their knee. Shake to shuck the legs. From there, it is great to use the other arm and under hook that leg and come across to lock it down. From there, it was it is easy to stack and pass.

The drill that we worked on was continuing to stand when the opponent on the bottom tries to hook your leg and push you over. This seems like a skill that I just need practice until I am unable to be knocked over. It is true that most people if you go for the leg will go right back down to their knees. They were pretty specific or if you attempt to stand up, continue to stay standing until you complete the pass or you fall over.

This was an a very effective modification to the standard flower sweep that I have been working on. I hit it a number of times after the session successfully. All that needs to happen is instead of grabbing the knee, grab down near the foot. As you are going for the sweep, pull the foot out and towards you like a Russian leg drag. Then use that as your lever to roll the opponent over. Make sure that you still have their other arm lockdowns they do not post, as this will not overcome a post.

The instruction today was very timely, as I’ve been questioning my triangle technique over the last few weeks. I feel like it’s a move I used to be able to use fairly regularly, but recently its effectiveness has gone way down. I found out that I’m putting way too many movements into the submission, which allows my opponents to know that it is coming and to block it. Going back to how I used to do it, I was able to lock it in a number of times during open mat.

We started the day by doing a simple double leg takedown set up. This works well if your opponent has you in a Muay Thai clinch. Make your hands into a V, and push up on their elbows to clear their arms. From there, go in for the double leg. I also think this would work fine with the single leg.

Coach showed us a simple triangle from close guard. When we started practicing, it was apparent I had far too many motions. Also with the angle I was creating, I was not locked in tight with my leg on the carotid; it was more that I was doing the trake choke. I should push the arm in to clear it, then go straight up to lock in the triangle. From there, grab the leg and create the angle that I need to finish. Do not try to create the angle or an alternate angle during the setup. I will practice this on Sunday, and get my motion back to where it needs to be.

One thing we discussed that I also want to practice as if the opponent postures before the triangle is completely sunk in, you can switch to an arm bar. As soon as you feel them posturing, just swing a leg that is over their shoulder over there had to complete the arm bar. I need to be extremely careful with this, as the arm bar is tight right away because your opponent is posturing.

If they then try to stack you to stop the move, you can easily go back to the triangle. It’s probably a good drill to go back and forth between the triangle and the arm bar.

Even though I was extremely tired, I felt like I did well during live rolling. I hit a number of good submissions off my back, and did a number of sweeps. Moving forward, I need to work harder at following my mind map, or updating my mind map with new situations. I felt like I did better when I was following that and when I was improvising. I should also make a note to continue building those maps out for positions other than just close guard. I will start working on the map around attacking guard next.