Friday Class 02/29/2008
Yesterday's class was really an indication of our ramping up for the Pan Ams. The guys who are training for the Pan Ams in a few weeks are getting put through the ringer. They were put out in the middle and rolled for about 40 minutes straight. Poor bastards! Good thing this is fun. Coach told us to roll hard with them and told them to work their game plans, so sparring was fun. I felt good and tried to push my partners as much as I could.
We also drilled a pendulum sweep to armbar combination starting from closed guard, which goes a little something like this (sweeping my opponent to my right/his left):
- Control opponent's left wrist.
- Shift hips a little to my right to make enough room to...
- Reach through my opponent's right leg.
- Open guard and pull my head close to my opponent's leg/hip, left leg driving down on my opponent's back/shoulders (keeps him from posturing)
- Swing my right leg WAY OUT wide and swing it back in, pointing my toes with my heel tight to my butt.
- At the same time, I'm driving down with my left leg, and
- Pulling/controlling my opponent's left arm.
- I should now be sitting on my opponent with my right leg knee down, tight up under my opponent's left shoulder. My left leg is posted on the mat and I should have good control over his left arm. He should be uncomfortable, possibly groaning from my weight on his chest... could be whimpering a little. Maybe even shedding a few tears because he knows he's totally without hope.
- Without falling back, I'll bring my right leg around opponent's head, keeping heels in tight, knees pinched tightly together and making sure I keep my hips deep under his shoulder, I'll fall back for the armbar (arm in tight, thumb up, raise hips to finish).
There are a few keys to making this technique work. Step 1 is pretty clear. I need to control his arm throughout the technique to a) keep him from posting out and b) keep the arm in a position to finish after the sweep.
Step 2 is very subtle. If my opponent has good base, it's going to be very difficult to snake my arm through. In order to make room, I'm just simply shifting my hips a few inches, without opening my guard.
Step 4 is important. I need to shift until my head is pretty much as close to his legs as possible. Think omoplata, because that's probably what he's thinking. Hell, if he's totally off balance, that's a viable alternative at this point. If I don't do this, I'm not going to get the right kind of leverage for the sweep.
Step 5 is also critical and prone to error. I don't want to keep my knee in tight. It feels really loose. If I don't swing the leg out wide, I'll end up blocking my roll over. I found it easier to think about the mechanics of the roll than of the sweep at this point. I want to swing out wide, and then drive my right foot into my butt, using the momentum and the power of my left leg to roll over. If I don't do all of these things correctly, instead of ending up sitting with good base and posture ON my opponent (making him cry), I'll be flopping around struggling to complete the roll, or simply ending up in the wrong spot.
The rest is pretty straightforward.
