Frustrating. That would be the best word to describe the session today. Things started off fine in the initial sparring, but then once we got to actual rolling I was sucking totally. I got easily swept a number of times and even got into a couple of submissions that I knew were to happen and still was not able to defend. I don’t know if I was thinking too much about what I was doing or I was just not being very good.

No arm guillotine from closed guard
Coach continues to press on that especially in no gi that we continue to attack the neck. That should be our primary point of focus, even if it is to get us into a different and better position. The first technique he showed was a no arm guillotine from closed guard. I should use my hip up and then down to break their posture. From there, swim my arm inside and get the neck. Finish with the guillotine hold with the other arm. There was a big point made here that we should not lean back until we are sure that the choke is tight. If it is not tight, continue to sink it in while sitting up and then lean back once you are ready.


Arm in guillotine from closed guard
This is the same set up as the norm guillotine, but is harder to finish. It is also more likely to happen than getting a no arm guillotine. I like that we were able to practice this, as I typically find myself in this situation and sometimes lose the position if I try to adjust and get the arm out of the choke. Before you sink back into the choke, put your opposite foot from where the head is on the ground and hip-hop to the opposite side. This will push their face farther into the mat and continue to break them down. From there close the guard and close then guard and finish the choke.



Sweep off stand up counter
A normal thing for someone to do when they are in a guillotine is to stand up and stack. This will relieve the pressure from her neck, and allow them to get in better position on you. When this happens, release the neck with the opposite arm, and put them into a neck crank with a half nelson behind the arm. Take a look at the funny picture I found about how this should look. then, butterfly hook your opposite leg into the others and roll them over with the basic butterfly sweep. While you are in transition, let go of the half Nelson and reestablish the guillotine. You should end with guillotine from Mount.




Live Roll
Today we did stations starting in close guard. This is extremely frustrating for me, but I’m glad that we continue to practice it. The best thing to do would just could not be get in someone’s close guard. First was big Steve. I tried to stand up to break his close guard but did not have a hold on his arm. All he did was hook my feels and pushed me back into the same sweep that I just learned this week. Thinking through this more, I didn’t need to stand up because I knew big Steve was going to open his legs anyway and offer me that opportunity to get into combat base.

I almost passed chums close guard, but he got a foot in it was able to reestablish Guard. When I’m passing the good opponent, I really need to suite my back leg forward quickly and get a new scarf fold or reverse carful. Though something I knew I needed to do but I just did not execute when I was there. This is the exact same thing that happened with Brian on the next roll. Brian does not like to play close guard and I really should be able to get past his open guard. When I did have folks broke open I was not controlling the legs enough and really crushing them down to their sides.

I then rolled the white belt I typically be, and he ended up getting me into an arm bar from guard. That should never happen to me at my level. I stood up to break his guard open, which actually worked because I had a good hold of his arm. However after I opened his guard I then just sat back down on my knees and allowed them to reestablish his close guard. After I break open the guard, I need to step a leg back and get into combat base or get into a and knee overpass position. I can’t just be happy with opening the guard and then go back to where I was. When he got me in the triangle, I thought he was just doing at Granby roll and by the time I found out that my arm was exposed it was too late. I need to make sure to keep my opponents legs down and away from my head and neck, as that gives armoire possibilities but also triangles and other things.

I then had a terrible role with Marco. Marco is really good at wrestling, but my jujitsu should be better than his. I continue to show myself that it is not however. He had his legs far of my back and I was not thinking and got myself right into a tight triangle. Then when I was in the top triangle, I turned the corner the wrong way and made tighter on myself.