Achievement: mount unlocked!

I didn’t blog about last Tuesday’s class because it was mostly a review of single- and double-leg takedowns, plus the scissors sweep series (covered here and here):

• Basic scissors
• Scissors when uke posts one leg up
• Failed scissors to push leg scissors, if uke has based (remember to push leg out and back, not just back)
• Failed scissors to pullover sweep

This Tuesday, we reviewed a few throws: uchi mata and a similar technique when uke posts his leg out (simply block the leg and complete the throw). I got the basic movements pretty easily, but had some problems remembering to raise my leg high enough on uchi mata. Next we worked on a choke and armbar series, then reviewed the omoplata.

I worked with Stephen, who’d studied at the school’s old location for a year and then had to take a year off due to injury. I’d actually met him a few years ago at the ministry we both worked at. Super nice guy, easy to work with.

Rolls

First roll was with Chris. I haven’t been doing well against him lately; he usually just crushes me. So I tried to be more active and use my speed, and had a significantly better roll tonight. Took his back almost immediately and fought for it for a few minutes, but he defended his neck and eventually rolled out somehow. I threw a flying armbar unsuccessfully at one point (plan to keep trying and refining); am fuzzy on when. He stood up at least twice during the roll. I didn’t get up—let him play with my legs, but resisted the pass for quite a while. Blake gave me a tip last week: uke can throw my one leg across all he likes, but if I can get the other leg across, he’s not going to be able to get the drop on me. Happy to find I could make it work on him for quite a while. Was trying to remember the de la Riva sweep I learned once, but he passed before I could remember. Fought it, tried to shrimp out.

And somewhere in all of that—I wish I could remember how I did it—I got to mount on him. Really, actually got to mount against active resistance, on a guy who outweighs me by at least 90 pounds. That made my night. My week, actually, even though it’s only Tuesday.

Rolled with Jonathan next. He had been talking to Stephen about relaxing and breathing just before he called me out, and then said, “Watch Jenn.” I was like, “Come on, what are you talking about? Watch Jonathan!” But I tried to remember to relax and breathe while still staying active. Jon said I was doing better at using my agility and not going straight in at people. Yeah, I’ve had about enough of landing right in someone’s guard, or rather their armbar or triangle attempt. Definitely worked on taking the back during that roll; did a lot of trying to get past his turtle, transitioning to north-south, and remembering to sprawl and pull my feet out when he hooked them.

Wes was my last roll. He was tired from working with Sheldon; I was tired as usual from attempting to use strength against big dudes (I still forget and try that sometimes). We landed in half-guard pretty early, then both just lay there and sucked air for a while. He let me try to work a triangle or armbar, but I had some trouble remembering. He and Chris walked me through the triangle. Afterward Wes told me that he hadn’t thought he could do triangles because of his short legs (Wes is built like a fire plug), but when I started coming to class, he realized it was possible: “She’s got shorter legs than I do and she’s doing them!” He started working on his flexibility and now he pulls off triangles and plays rubber guard. That was kind of cool to hear.

Tonight was one of those nights where I felt like I’m actually getting better at jiujitsu. Definitely a nice feeling.

Techniques below the cut.

I brought a girl!

I brought a girl to class on Tuesday! (Who is also named Jennifer, so that might be confusing to the guys.) She’d actually come to my previous school and loved it. As a dancer, she took to forms and stand-up Japanese jits pretty quickly, but that’s way different than getting down and getting rough on the ground. I already thought she was just about the coolest person on the planet aside from Wil Wheaton, but being willing to try BJJ just proves it.

This wasn’t the easiest class for a newbie, either. We did some passes and sweeps without going into all the positions. Jennifer worked with Tamra and me and did really well. No doubt she has a lot of questions; hope to answer those when I see her later this week.

Did positional sparring from half-guard, partnered with Chris. Managed to work the pass we’d done earlier. Escaping his side control was tougher. Then rolled with Tamra, starting out in side control. I’m focusing on those escapes for the foreseeable future. Hope also to eventually learn some counters so people can’t pass to side so easily on me.

Techniques below the cut.

Yay, a girl!

Today started off well with my new gi arriving just a few days after I’d ordered it. It’s a basic off-brand gi—black, so if I spill stuff or bleed on it, the stains won’t show. The jacket fits pretty well, but the pants (size 2) are ridiculously wide. So I’m wearing my old judo gi until I can shrink the pants.

Jonathan asked me to bring an extra gi to class tonight for a new girl, so I bundled up the Hunter gi and my old green belt (I was wearing the white belt that was included with the black gi) for her to wear. Once Susanna arrived, I helped her tie her belt before class.

She’d never done martial arts, so it’s impressive that she chose to try BJJ. I made an effort to come out of my introverted shell and was nice to her. (Sort of. More on that later.) We drilled together during class, and Susanna picked up techniques at a respectable rate. Kept asking if she was hurting me, though. I reassured her that if she were to hurt me, I’d definitely let her know about it.

We did a half-hour fundamentals class focusing on mount, mostly just playing around with pressure and posture. Did the mount escapes we’d gone over yesterday—the upa and a similar technique. Then we warmed up. Glad I joined as the school was reopening after a two-month hiatus; I’m not in the best of shape and neither is anyone else, so Jonathan’s been gradually increasing the intensity of the warm-ups. Nothing’s been too difficult so far.

During main class we drilled the scissors sweep and variation from yesterday. The first variation is described in yesterday’s post—where uke puts one leg up to stand up, you hook your foot under the knee and sweep. Then we drilled two variations: responses to when the scissors sweep fails.

Failed scissors from guard into sweep 1
Uke’s based out. Keep pressure on uke’s stomach with your right knee and use your left foot to push uke’s same side leg down. Sweep into mount.

Failed scissors from guard into sweep 2
Uke’s based out. Keep pressure on uke’s stomach with your right knee. Keep gripping his sleeve and draw it taut, like a bow and arrow. Sit up and wrap your other arm around that shoulder, gripping in the armpit. Lay back, pulling under uke’s arm and kicking out with your right leg to sweep into side control or mount.

I don’t think we drilled anything other than those four sweeps. Wednesday class is about half an hour shorter than Monday or Tuesdays, so between fundamentals and some rolling at the end, main class isn’t that long.

As we wrapped up the last drill, Susanna asked me about rolling. I explained to her as best I could about positions and submissions. We watched the guys roll for a few minutes and I pointed out a couple basic things, like “See, he’s trying to transition into side control” and “He’s trying to get a joint lock there.” She asked me if I’d rolled with guys. I said yeah, a couple of them. She wondered if I was comfortable with that. I could tell she was a little leery about having that sort of contact with men. Tried to reassure her that the guys here are all pretty nice and give beginners lots of tips.

Blake, one of the guys on the sidelines, urged us to get on the mats. I’d been hoping Jonathan would roll with Susanna first, both because they’re friends and because he’d be able to make sure her first roll was informative. But Susanna was game, so we got down on our knees and started.

I pulled guard whenever I had the chance since I figured she’d be more comfortable if she wasn’t under mount. If I’d been thinking more clearly I would’ve tried to get to mount or get in her guard, because all the escapes and sweeps we drilled today were from those positions and she could’ve tried them out. I think she did pretty well, though—she kept moving and trying things.

Early on I was under her mount and she was leaning down over me, so I just reached up to grip her collar and did a cross choke. Didn’t use much pressure, but she said, “What was that??” That should’ve given me a clue to be careful with submissions. Halfway through our first roll, she was sprawled over me, so I posted up on one arm and guillotined her. That’s one of the few chokes I could remember from my Japanese JJ background. I couldn’t have pulled it off on anyone else there, I’m sure. Luckily Jonathan was watching and told her to tap. Then I felt bad because no one had told her about tapping. Shouldn’t have done either of those chokes.

We rolled again with no other incidents. Well, there was that time she had her hands down at my sides and I put her in some sort of an armbar, but she could’ve pulled out of it easily. I got in her guard and unsuccessfully tried a figure-four choke (another JJJ technique I remembered), then realized I should’ve passed to mount first and gotten my hooks in to control her legs.

Susanna seemed tired but enthusiastic after we finished rolling. We chatted after class finished. She can only come on Wednesdays for the next few weeks, so I told her to hang onto the gi (and how to wash it). And told her how excited I was to have another girl in class.

Thus endeth my second week of BJJ. I’ve started to recognize more faces and names. Some of the guys teased me about switching from green to white belt, which made me feel at home immediately; at my previous schools we always made fun of each other. Plus, having another woman around is going to help immensely. We chatted between drills (though we did work hard) and I could feel myself loosening up and enjoying class more. Hope Susanna wasn’t scared off by my chokes and decides to stick around.

Natural(ly clumsy)

This weekend my friends invited me over to play Quelf. Things were going swimmingly during one of my turns as I pranced around on an imaginary ostrich and monologued. Then I tripped over a cushion on the floor and fell face-first into the couch. I swear, if I didn’t study martial arts, I’d be a hopeless klutz instead of a clumsy ninja.

Class tonight went well, as far as I remember. I know I’m blanking on some techniques but I’m going to go ahead and start writing in the hope that it’ll all come back to me.

During the half-hour fundamentals class, we went over three escapes from side control, one of which I’d actually learned during my first class but forgot to blog. We didn’t spend a lot of time on them so I don’t have that many details to write. I worked with Cody, a smaller guy (yay!). He didn’t have a gi, which caused a few delays or adjustments, so we didn’t get in as many reps as I’d have liked. (Maybe that’s why I’m having trouble remembering what happened today.)

Escape from side control 1
Control uke’s hip with one hand, getting your elbow under his ribs. Release your other hand’s grip from uke’s shoulder/back and slide it under his near arm. Bridge up briefly to create space; align arms parallel to each other and perpendicular to uke. Shrimp out, get your near leg into his stomach, and transition into guard.

Escape from side control 2
Same beginning, except this time you slide your arm under uke’s far arm and do…something. Shrimp out, get your near knee under uke’s leg and use your other foot to trap uke’s foot. I don’t remember if we swept uke from this point or what.

We didn’t get a chance to drill the third one which involved flipping over onto your belly or some such.

During main class, we learned several escapes and sweeps, some of which I can’t remember right now. Argh.

Upa
You’re in uke’s mount. He gives you an arm, sliding it under your head; you trap it with your elbow (grabbing your own neck) while simultaneously trapping uke’s same-side leg with yours. Use the other arm to press against uke’s bicep as you bridge and twist. I think we rolled over into their guard.

Scissor sweep from guard
Uke’s in your guard. Grab uke’s right sleeve (with your knuckles pointing at ceiling) with your left hand. Drop your feet; reach up and grab collar near back of uke’s neck. Shrimp out to your right, keeping your left leg up on uke’s leg to prevent them from stepping over. Bring your right knee across uke’s stomach and hook their hip with your foot. Your left leg goes flat on floor, with uke’s knee behind yours. Scissor your legs and pull uke’s collar.

Variation: if uke starts to stand up in the middle of the technique, keep your knee in uke’s stomach, pull your foot back and under their standing knee. Use more of an upward motion when scissoring.

Sit-up sweep from guard
Drop your feet; post up on one arm and use the other one to trap uke’s opposite shoulder (same side you’re posting up). Do…something with your legs and sweep.

We rolled for maybe ten minutes before no-gi. Worked with one guy whose name I don’t remember, Jonathan, and another guy (think his name’s Chris). All of them were patient with me, walking me through techniques and giving me lots of tips, of which I can only remember “turn into someone who’s running circles around you in north-south.”

After my roll with Jonathan, he repeated that “natural jujitsu” comment he’d said during my first class. Chris, who’d been watching, agreed. I wanted to ask what exactly he meant but didn’t want to look like I was fishing for compliments. I think I try to control my partner’s legs a lot—half-guard, I guess—so maybe that’s what he meant.

The last 15 or 20 minutes on Mondays and Tuesdays are no-gi. We did a clinch drill. Jonathan pointed out the opening for knee strikes for self-defense and MMA (and seemed to think that I would enjoy beating on anyone who attacked me, which is the sort of the thing my last two senseis always said for some reason… ). Then we did a few takedowns we’d gone over last week.

Gable grip takedown?
From the clinch, push on uke’s elbow. When he resists, duck that hand and your head under uke’s arm, staying tight to him, and grab him (gable grip). Pivot on your back leg and take down, staying tight to uke. Switch into scarf hold and choke (a judo choke, basically).

Double-leg takedown
Leading leg goes to the ground, other leg steps out in front, clasp hands around uke’s knees (above the knees?), and take down.

Man, I know we learned more than that today. Having a hard time remembering all the techniques we learned and what happened in each roll. At my previous two schools, we always had time to consult or write in our notebooks. Maybe after my “vocabulary” of techniques is built up I’ll remember more…?

Question for fellow bloggers
BJJ bloggers, do you ever blank out on what was taught in class when you sit down to write about it? If you’ve been studying/writing about BJJ for a while, do you find it easier to remember and analyze now?