BJJ Grrl

No creative titles today. Still stiff and sore from Thursday. Small class. Saturdays usually are. Tim’s son had football. We had a guy visiting from Team RAM in Lynchburg. He was hitting the heavy bags before class. Sharp standup. Throws hard and tight, no windmilling or flailing. Also a college wrestler; real slick wrestling.

Rolling to warmup. Guillaume first. Worked on playing spider guard some, though he can just stand up to pass it. Little bit of X-guard, too, when he kept dropping himself into my half guard. Tried the sweep where you take them over your head. … Yeah, not so much. He gave up his back a lot, so played a lot from there. He was defending the RNC; tried the armbar setup from there, but he was blocking everything I needed, so had to work to a gi choke. Trying triangles from guard and spider guard, but couldn’t quite get in there right. Also saw some mount. Can get the triangles from there.

Drilling next. The Renzo variation on a gi choke. (Maybe I should start learning what these things are called. I just have to make stuff up.) From side control, turn to reverse kesa gatame. Pull out your own lapel on the side further from their body. As you pull it out, palm the end of the lapel and curl your fingers around it. (That’s the Renzo part. Another sneaky Brazilian trick is to put the lapel in your mouth.) Turn back to side control. Slide the hand holding the gi across their chest to the far side of their neck; the lapel will be hidden by your arm and hand. When you reach your other hand, turn the hand holding the lapel palm up and grab the lapel with the free hand. Pull that elbow in to tighten the lapel, and make sure your top knee is deep behind their shoulder so that their arm is trapped. Use your now free hand to post on their near-side hip. Drive your top knee up along their arm, so their arm stays trapped, and base out on that foot as you move around toward north/south. Your head switches sides, coming down in their armpit.

Another note on this choke: it works best when you and your partner are wearing the same color gi.

I had missed the arm-trapping details and so was having trouble finishing it. Adam pointed out how to fix it, and then showed all of us what to do if that arm gets out — with your free arm, pin their closest arm to the ground, and then sprawl your hips back, like the Monson choke.

More rolling. Perry first. Going slow and watching out for wrist locks.

Then another guy. Thought maybe, with no one watching and it being a slower Saturday, that maybe he’d be chill. So tried the open guard pass that Scott and Buddy had shown me Tuesday — grab pants by the ankles; when they pull in, follow and pressure in their hips with yours; when they kick out, guide their legs to one side; come down in side control. It worked beautifully. And then he flipped his lid. Majorly. Picked me up, slammed me over, and drop-elbowed me in the face. Probably didn’t necessarily mean to, but did. Rest of the round was survival and trying not to panic. He tried the move from class but did it wrong; my arm came out and I had space to move (not to escape, just to move), and he didn’t move to the variation to finish that. The rest of the round was him trying to stuff me back down to finish that choke — and mostly cranking on my neck — and me staying just ahead of him, though by the slimmest of margins. Really wanted to tap and walk away. Eventually will learn that that’s a valid option.

The skin on my neck had been stinging during that round, but I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Looked in the mirror — his gi must have been sliding and sawing along my neck because that whole side was red and raw. Also, neck pain from the cranking. Did sit out the next round. (Also a valid option. Small bit of panicking that took a minute to control. Don’t like it when training partners are willing to hurt you to get a tap. Maybe I should mention that to Tim as an alternative to straight kicking me out: let me sit a round and pull myself together.)

Guillaume again. He noticed my neck and asked if I was okay to roll; he tried to stay away from that side. We rolled a second round after this, too. All mashed together. More spider guard playing. More trying triangles from my guard. A little more on his back (ah, figured it out — he’s turtling to get away, but isn’t tucking tight, so the hooks slide right in. Will try to remember to tell him that on Monday.). Went for several omoplatas in all 3 rolls with him, but couldn’t finish any; most came off failed triangles (wohoo for transitions!). Several sweeps where I actually recognized that his balance was off and took him the right way. Got an armbar that he defended well, but I stuck with it, fixed my positioning, and then got it on the second try. That ended the first round, and he said he thought he had defended that well; I said that he had, but pointed out that he hadn’t also escaped from the bad position. Not good enough just to defend the submission; you also have to get away from letting them do it again. The second round ended quickly when I dropped my bruised rib on his knee. Owie, am done.

My neck was still raw after class. Several of the guys saw it and asked what had happened. This is one of the guys who, just a month or so ago, was okay to roll with. He’s near his blue, and he knows it. Maybe he thinks he needs to smash a blue to get his blue and/or he’s a little ticked off that I got it before him. I don’t know, and maybe I’m imagining it, but it feels as if he’s been trying to rip me in half since then.

But seriously, guys, if I’m not tapping fast, check your technique. If it’s right, and I have no defense available, I’ll tap. If it’s wrong, and I have space, I’m gonna try to get out. If you’re pulling and ripping and I’m not tapping, the problem, 99.99% of the time, is your technique, not the amount of muscle you’re using.