Sunday 1/6/2007 and Tuesday 1/8/2007 BJJ

The last couple of classes have been really good. My elbows were tender after drilling the Kimura counters on Friday, but I made it throught the technique portion of Sunday's class. Tuesday, one of the purple belts, Thad worked with us on the basic technique for getting back to guard from under side control and I picked up a detail that really helps.

The technique was side control escape (to guard):

Good hand position, elbows in and protected.

1. Get into a strong defensive position, elbows in and making some space.
2. Bring feet up toward hips. Move them a few inches toward my opponent's head, in the direction to which my hips are going.
3. Pop out into a basic hip escape. This is an explosive move.
4. Bring knee in to create space and work to regain guard.

That's pretty much it. Very basic, but as Thad said, "You can't know it well enough."

So, in step 1, I want to avoid bringing the arm that's nearest my opponent's head behind his back. It really leaves that arm exposed and in a lot of danger. I want to keep my elbow inside, and the best position is forearm right in my opponent's throat with my hand cupping his shoulder (or if there's fabric there, that will help secure the grip, too). Widening this elbow out will make it very uncomfortable for him, and the more he drives into me, the more uncomfortable he makes it for himself.

My other arm should also be elbow in tight with my hand cupping my opponent's hip, to help create space. If I don't keep my elbow in, I'm in danger of my opponent sitting through to a Scarf Hold position really deep, as shown in the picture. With my elbow in, even if he does sit through, I can drive my elbow to the ground and maintain some distance and leverage.

Step 2 involves bring my feet up to my hips. Whenever I bridge, I'm going to get more leverage by bringing my feet closer to my butt. The detail I learned from Thad is that I can get even more pop on my bridge by bringing my feet a little toward the side to which I'm going to move my hips. It's a matter of a few inches, really, but it makes a huge difference.

Step 3: I'll lift my feet a few inches off the floor to give myself that much more oomph, and then bridge up and drive my hips as far away from my opponent as I can using a basic hip escape or shrimping technique, following with step 4, which is to immediately bring my knee inside the space created.

Sparring was pretty good both days. I got to roll with several people and I'm still working the reversal, going for it whenever I get the opportunity. I actually caught Bill, a purple belt, and he was really surprised. He was moving around from half guard into side control. I moved my hips out, controlled his wrist and belt and as he drove in, I used his momentum to roll him over. He was so surprised, he laughed and said in a really excited voice, "Dude! I was TOTALLY not expecting that from you!" Later on, he said to Josh just before we were going to spar, "Josh, don't take it easy with Steve. Little bastard just reversed me." Then Josh said, "Yeah. He's getting tough. Caught me in a tight armbar last week."

It made my day. I've said it before, but what I really like about BJJ in general and my school in particular is that there's as much pride in the success of our friends at the school as there is in our own success. I think Bill was as surprised and excited that I pulled that technique off as I was.

So, little steps here and there.