BJJ Grrl

Seriously. If you — or your clothes — stink, wash before class.

The smelly guy was one of my drill partners (odd number, so I worked in with another pair). He reeked. And nowhere to move for fresh air.

Goals for tonight:

• standing guard pass, scissor sweep pass, knee-through pass, pinch pass
• north/south roll escape, bridge side control escape
• triangle/armbar/triangle, D’Arce, Peruvian necktie to armbar

Threw a few extra in there so I wouldn’t be so predictable, and so there were options in other positions. Making a list before class at least keeps them in my mind when I’m rolling.

Surprisingly large class. Everyone showed up in the last five minutes before. College students…

Warmup, eh, not so good. Couldn’t get my breath, and so by the end was only doing one run down the mats for everyone else’s two. Then we drilled, and then I really couldn’t get my breath!

Drill was break the guard, double-under pass to side control, shoulder pressure, pass to mount, base out. Then your partner hooked your arm and bridged you over, and then it was their turn. Just going back and forth. Since I was working in with two other guys — one of whom did not smell — I did get some air. (Still, the smelly guy… ugh.) At some point, we switched the drill a bit so that you could do any guard pass to side control, but the rest was the same.

Did that most of class. Did get in a few rolls, though.

I got Justin first. I was seeing things. (“Look, there’s a triangle. Oo, and a kimura. And a pass…”) It was so cool. And I was actually able to go for most of them. He got out almost immediately, but I saw it and I went for it; and often I’d see something in his escape and move for that. It was so much fun! Went up with him once when he stood up; tried to pass around to his back, but he wasn’t having it. Worked on staying tight and small, like Scotty has said.

Tried for the D’Arce when he turtled once (at which point he said, “You’ve been rolling with Nick too much!” hehe) but couldn’t get it, so switched to Peruvian necktie (which he refuses to let me have on principle — though he was the one who taught it to me) and looked for the armbar. He taught me the armbar from there, though, so he spun out another direction. Did later try the knee-through pass, though he blocked it & turned for scissor sweep, so I switched to the scissor sweep pass; actually got enough pressure down that he didn’t turn out. (He could totally smash me if he wanted to, but if I get my position and pressure good, he lets me work. If I’m off, he moves out of it.) Did get to mount and went for the armbar, though it wasn’t tight enough, and he rolled out. Caught my shin a few times in the right place for a triangle, but he was escaping again; didn’t have his arms at all, though. Finally got back to mount, and this time he pointed out where I’d lost him the first time: I hadn’t caught both his arms. Oh, right. So worked that armbar.

Next had a guy who’s trained with them before but was gone for a while. (Once again, can’t remember names…) Just playing for grips right off, he was grabbing and squeezing, so I knew I had a muscler. He dragged me forward, so I pulled guard. He broke and passed to side control; I got my one arm inside and goosenecked on his hip, that side foot up on the other knee and the knee driving in to his hip, and other arm across his throat. And there we stayed for a very, very long time. He wanted to pass his knee over to mount, and I wasn’t letting him. I tried bridging a few times, but he had my head, shoulder, and chest pinned, and he’d immediately try to throw his leg over when I dropped my knee. He never did try moving elsewhere (hint: pushing past my one little arm and going to N/S is fairly easy) or doing any other tricks to get his leg over. After a lot of pushing, he finally got his knee and shin across my stomach, but his foot was stuck on my hip; I pinched my knee in again to trap his foot some more, and then waited for him to let off some pressure so I could move my hips. He finally did, trying to free his foot, and I switched back to guard and stayed as tight as I could while he tried to break my guard again. And that’s how we finished the round. So not terribly exciting, but I got a lot of static hold work.

Then open mat, and lots of the guys had lots of questions for Justin on technique, so I followed him around and watched all of those. One was the pinch pass, and I found something to work on: not trying to shimmy so far. Since most of the guys are bigger than me, they taught me to get the pinch and then to work my legs and chest down the legs a bit so it’s easier to pass the knee. But when I try it, I’m losing the pass; it might be because I’m hanging on too long and going too far, trying to get all the way down past the knee. Tonight Justin was showing how to go a little ways and then get your chest and elbow in the action to flatten their knee and then pass. So I’ll give that a try with Justin’s or Adam’s butterfly guard later this week.