Choose Strong
For Tim.
1. Progress
I started to see options at most positions and spent less time deciding and
resisting and more time moving. My body sensed the setting and moved on its own,
as if having a dialogue with itself:
- Seatbelt from side? He's trying to take my back. Ready to slip out the moment
he sits back.
- Kimura grip? Turn my body to put weight on that arm.
- An arm cupping my side on turtle? Trap it and roll!
...
I gave more trouble to my opponents, even some higher belts. Strength and weight
mattered less. Under 160 lbs, I took on bigger (200 lbs+) guys all the time but
rarely they could do much to me.
Maybe it had to do with my protein diet, my good sleep, and the vitamin D3 I
began to take following the coaches.
Or more likely consistency does matter and mat time trumps talent. I've shown up
four or five times a week for about four months now. Rolling felt intoxicating
and I did have to hold myself back some days. After two hard days, I often take
one day off.
I got my third stripe earlier in Sep, a surprise but, unlike the first, I did
not feel the need to defend it. The day Gavin came back from vaction, I was
drained and I tapped three times without much of a fight and didn't feel a
thing.
2. Blue belt blues
The other day, Darren asked us to line up. I was the highest rank in that class
and headed line. "Move more to the edge," he smiled. "Don't be afraid." I smiled
back and understood exactly what he meant. By now I should've long worn off my
blue belt blues.
The other NOGI day, after some positional, Marcus asked about my belt level. He
was just promoted to blue belt having the blues, he told me. It reminded me of
what I once heard: "Enjoy your blue belt days because once you are purple, you
can never go back to blue."
3. Work ahead
Darren was nagging me in a kind way about my turtle entry which I did well. Each
time we rolled, he would say he'd stop me from turtling or he'd do it and see if
I could stop him. He exhorted me to recover guard more. He said turtling gained
no point in a competition (although I don't compete). He even chalked my lower
back pain to my hip heist.
Machine hadn't said anything. He called me the turtle master when he gave me the
stripes. He was open-minded and was usually not the one to judge.
Kevin's feedback after submitting me with a solid far-side armbar and failing to
bull-dog-choke me was that I needed to change strategies by now. I defended well
but people were into my game and I couldn't surprise them anymore. I need to
chain the moves and have at least two attacks/escapes in mind when I do them. I
totally agreed.
Here are a few combos:
a. cross-side top: threaten the paper-cutter to score the elbow pluck armbar.
(I've been doing this already.
b. turtle: trap-and-roll switch to turtleplata
c. cross-side bottom: start facing-away. catch the hand with my left and proceed
to Machine's arm attack or Dan Hart reversal or Erik Paulson turtleplata.
d. mount: switch between the arm and neck attacks
e. bottom escape: back-door to darce first and, if I fail, go to turtle.
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The last day of Aug was a Sunday. Many had gone to a big IBJJF event in Vegas
where 12,000 were competing and some might've gone out of town for Labor Day.
The open mat was the least crowded as I'd seen. I rolled with Richard, Drew,
Jeff, and Alex. Alex was 47 and a purple belt for many years. He submitted me
once from the back with the lapel after traping one arm (For some reason, I
straightened my arm out just to see what would happen and got caught). From him,
I learned a cross-side triangle setup and the cross-face from half-guard top to
twist the spine and free the leg.
So far, I've seen cross-facing used in three places:
- half-guard top a la Alex
- mount top to block elbow escape (Henry and Machine)
- mount top to free the foot from quarter guard (Henry)
In the half-guard case, I should be aware of Americana and Kimura attacks if I
dangle my lead arm in front of them for too long.
Sep 1. After a great sleep, I dithered a bit when 10:00am came and finally drove
to the open mat at Belmont. It was good to meet old friends and made
acquaintance with a couple of new ones. I rolled with one after another and
close to the end, Nicholas the Russian showed up. He had grown a beard and
looked older and more serious but his smile at recognizing me was just the same.
We used to roll a lot at the old gym and he had since much improved and was on
his way to purple. It was fun to spar with Cha, the black belt owner of her own
school and she almost caught me again in a crucifix. Michelle the professor
musician was there, too, and she told me the group was like a family. I rolled
with at least eight peeps and still felt fresh. I didn't even nap in the
afternoon. That night, I woke up at 1:00am and couldn't get back to sleep.
Sep 4. Darren called out "Move to this side more, please" as he shooed us toward
the edge of the mat often occupied by brown and purple belts. These days,
however, they didn't show up as often and I sometimes found myself at the head
of the line when we lined up according to ranks. I came from a strict
hierarchical culture and were taught to fear authorities early on. Two dozens of
years in the West taught me mixed lessons. It took me one year to feel
comfortable as a bluebelt and another to adapt to the new gym where I earned the
second stripe.
Sep 8. Machine showed the collar-drag transitioning to single-leg from standing.
Assume the right posture, with the arm in front of the front leg. The other hand
reaches to grab the same-side collar. This is for framing, to prevent opponent
from shooting in. Then the other hand reaches and grab the same collar and the
first hand tries to control the same-side arm. Big step to the side, fall on the
far hip, and extend the bottom leg to block to drag opponent down. If he gets
up, hook his leg and thrust hip forward and drive into him while getting up with
him to get to the single-leg position.
I drilled with the super-light-weight Francisco and had a few reps on the
half-guard bottom sweep by trapping the ankle. I needed to keep his knee in
front of my hip by hugging tight his waist and far-side leg. I also drilled
cross-facing to free my leg when mounting.
After the instructions, I and a few others got leveled up! I was surprised as I
just got my second stripe two months ago. I sent the pic to Tim. So happy.
Sep 9. I watched a Chris Burns (Sep 8) reel explaining connection and base per
Rickson. When someone was cross-side, his near-side hand was on the uke's hip!
When the uke tried to run around to his back, the hand was a monitor, an antenna
to signal the guy's move. And that hand also helped him to get up in turtle
facing the uke and take him down. I've missed the detail for such a long time!
Sep 10. I had a wierd dream last night. A lost friend (my fault) and his wife
re-styled their life to grappling after the kids flew the nest. I visited their
old ranch house in Fremont and saw the grand piano, the L-shaped sectional sofa,
the 80' plasma TV, and the eight-set dining table gone, the deck expanded to
cover the whole backyard, and rolls of movable mats ready to be deployed
everywhere.
It was an early Sunday morning and jiu-jideiros of all ages, sizes, and colors
trickled in for the open-mat (think of a dancing party where everyone is
invited. Only that you ask partners one at a time to spar for 6-min rounds) and
it suddenly occurred to me that the couple had gone beyond what was usually
expected from first-gen hard-working Chinese immigrants. Instead of living their
isolated upper-middle class American Dream or jet-setting around the globe, they
had acquired the confidence, not to mention the know-how, to embrace what they
had chosen.
And my friend, what a transformation! Years back he was an insulin-carrying
diabetic from over-eating the healthy free meals while working at Google. A
Sichuan cuisine maven, he was the most careful eater, always citing his ailment
of affluence and its affluent cause, when we gathered at a restaurant. His pale
round face had narrowed now, his dull sanpaku eyes turned aquiline, and the
baldness at the top of his head was replaced by long strands of raven hair. On
the mat, he fought with passion and although still a whitebelt, showed promise.
His girth had shrunk and his core was strong. We worked on a few moves and
before I left two hours later, met and drilled some more.
It was interesting while grappling, I was telling myself this must be a dream.
And it was.
Machine showed the John-Wayne sweep and a few related sweeps from half-guard
bottom. The key, besides trapping the near-side arm to prevent posting, was to
make sure the uke's trapped knee was on the ground. In the basic version, I can
also have my hand on his far hip to help pushing him to the other side when I
bridge.
When the top guy had the underhook, this sweep could unbalance him and force him
to base out with the underhook arm and I could recover our underhook and get out
the back door. Once I'm out, my bottom leg is in the very desirable position
hooking his near leg. Many attacks became available.
When the top guy's half-way through in a knee-cut pass, I should de la riva and
trap his ankle with both my feet. I then extend my feet to get his knee back on
the mat and he's back in the half guard. I can follow up with the John-Wayne
seep. Machine said putting him back in half-guard is more important.
If I gets the sleeve of his near arm, I can get up on other hand/elbow and elbow
in to trap that arm. I can then hip closer and sweep him. Or if I have the
underhook and he visors me when I try to get out, I can pinch and trap that arm,
hip closer, and sweep him.
I did well in positional and free sparring, gave Izzy, a 200 lbs+ recovering
brown belt, a hard time with my turtle takedowns, got on top of Jeff and had
good control although he was hard to submit, then went on with Jon the brown
belt, who submitted me with another triangle after controlling my left arm with
two-on-one grips.
I had a few questions. First, sprawling out with my free leg was a good strategy
but Darren used to sweep me by gripping my free leg pant and hooking my trapped
leg. If I shifted weight too far away to make it hard for him, he'd create space
and get out. Second, Izzy did that cross-side reversal on me again! I need to
find a way to kill it or maybe attack something.
Sep. 13. Small class. Machine showed a sequence of moves to pass half-guard.
It starts with the bottom guy framing on my leading (say left) arm. I'd pummel
to cross-face and at the same time raise my right (trapped) knee and extend my
left leg for base. The cross-face can be very distracting and meanwhile, I'd dig
on the far side for the underhook. Once I get the underhook, I'd lift my hips to
switch the trapped leg for a knee-cut pass on the near side.
I tried Henry's version and get to the mount position. Here, I missed quite a
few details, first Henry didn't cross-face but his left arm was on the other
side of the opponent's head and clamping to prevent guard-recovery. Next, he
tried to flatten his opponent out by walking his trapped leg up and by turning
the legs away with his knee once freed. Third, now he used his same left hand,
not the right one, as I did to Machine, to do the cross-face!
Sep. 17. I had a bad sleep last night and was groggy when rolling with Gavin. I
seldom saw him in recent weeks. The last time we rolled I did well against him.
But today, he submitted me three times. My mind felt numb and unresponsive, my
move sluggish, and I was lazy. It was horrible. I left early with a heavy heart.
Machine taught the top spin and back take from there. My counters to that
including getting to my knees and take down and putting my bottom arm up to
block the seat-belt, both a la Henry. With Reynaldo and Richard, I did get to
drill a few moves including the lasso invert to triangle that I saw on Facebook.
I also explained the difference between the leg behind the turtle up and down.
They have started to call me the turtle master.
Sep. 18. I made a comeback and learned quite a few things today. Darren showed
driving with both arms to pin the bottom guy's far-side arm and shove it to the
back of my head. Next, he showed the reverse paper cutter attack.
With Jeff, I drilled a wrestling move he did on me and again the turtle
inversion to saddle.
Darren trouble-shot my arm pluck straight armbar: drive my the head toward
his farside hip to get the space to step my foot over. He answered my question
about how to deal with the arm across my back gripping the belt or my lats
(Eversly did this to me so many times) for the reversal--I need to go
north-south as that arm was too deep to pin down.
Sep 19. Fri. Machine showed the darce from side control and I drilled with
Ayoup, one of the strongest dude. He specialized in the choke and by the end I
was choked a couple of times when my trapped arm went straight. I learned to
break out when he switched between the darce and the anaconda grips.
I had the toughest rolls that day and my gi-pants were soaked and a piece of
skin was scraped off from my left elbow. But I recovered well over the weekend.
Sep 22. We drilled the guard recovery and harpoon reversal from the cross-side
bottom. Machine stressed the positions of the fore arms: one under the chin and
one under the hip before guiding his torso toward my head instead of straight up.
I love the harpoon as Eversly did it to me all the time. Here's one I saw later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhakYou0GLI, and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmQJRo_2jHM
The second one showed controlling the opposite shoulder and hip during the
sweep. More important, Pedro Saur said about the importance to expect the
opponent to counter and the follow-up moves. Kevin told me the same thing that
day. I was doing some baiting moves already, e.g., the papercutter and armbar.
After positional-sparring with Peter and Kevin, I was about to leave as I didn't
want to break the scab on my elbow. Machine offered to drill with me the darce
reversal and the hip bump to the hip and roll, both Henry's. We talked about how
the latter was easier when his head was lower after switching his legs to face
me in countering my guard recovery.
It struck me again how special he was. A third-degree black belt with more than
a decade of teaching experience, he had never used his charisma to build
prestige, let alone marketing anything, and stayed the same humble person and
willing to serve others.
Sep 23&24 Darren showed entering the saddle from the x-guard and the reverse
de la riva and next, at my request, the turtle. I filmed the last one as I
always wanted to do it but rarely seized the chance.
The next day, I took a day off but on FB saw his wall-walk video explaining the
correct invertion. He inverted on his back instead of on his neck as I did. It
must take more flexiblity than I have to do that.
Sep 25. Darren showed me the "Superman" moves to strengthen the lower back. He
said my hip heist was one reason for my pain. He showed a couple of cross-side
escapes by framing including a palm-to-palm grip to push off the head to create
space. It's good but at night I wondered if it was possible for the guy at the
top to grab the elbow and go for an armbar.
Sep 27. Machine showed the transition to darce from backdoor escape. Assume the
standard holding position and my left arm on the far side of his head. I use my
right elbow and swing to get out but instead of going to turtle, I stop when my
head is at his side. I switch my left arm to the left of his head and lock in
the darce. I can bump him so that he faces away on his side to adjust the choke.
I drilled with Eversly and I had no problem wrapping my arms around although he
had a huge torso.
Machine showed a fancy (unorthodox was his word) move from side control bottom.
(Assuming standard holding from my right side) Face away from the top guy and
get the shoulder out. Lock his head and arm with my right arm grabbing the
inside of my right thigh. He shouldn't be able to get out. My left hand reaches
his right and guide it to trap it with my right lower leg for Americana. Eversly
couldn't do it as he was not flexible but he could simply push my wrist to make
me tap.
This move reminded me of the kesa gatame entry from that position which I always
wanted to do but never was able. I had worried about some arm attack when
reaching the top arm to his far-side lats. But all Machine could think of was
the Graice self-defense counter. But if the top guy bases out with his right
arm, before he could swing his leg over, I have a good chance of catching his
basing hand with my left hand and my top arm grabbing my leg gives me good
control over his torso and he can't throw his leg over. I don't have to switch
to his lats. The moment I release my top leg which switches forward for the roll,
I can grab his neck. It'll be so quick that it's hard for him to respond. If he
hid his right hand, he has no base and it would be easier for the throw. Only I
have to catch it during the roll.
I didn't drag him across. Guiding his head for the roll was so effortless.
We also tried the buggy choke. Machine did it beautifully. Louis and I, however,
couldn't get the arm deep enough. Louis said he was not flexible but I think it
was because we were shorter and the hole was just not big enough.
Sep 28. Open mat. I rolled with some higher-level guys, Ian, Geo, Mike, Eric,
Jeff, and a lightweight brownbelt. I was able to pull the saddle entry from
turtle on Jeff and drilled with him the arm-trap from cross-side bottom chained
with the kesa gatame entry. Big Mike (Mishal) showed up after months with four
stripes on his white belt. He was training in another gym now. A young athletic
guy, he asked if I was competing and I said I just loved the fun. He was as
intense and strong as before but I was able to roll out of his control each
time. I did the trap and roll on him once and another time, he sprawled to
defend and I did my first (maybe second) legit turtleplata!
I tried to bump-and-roll Jeff as he switched hips on cross-side top, but failed
as he based out with his hand. Henry's video showed I didn't need to trap his
hand, I just needed to use my legs do the shrimp and guide him toward my feet.
The arm-trap from the bottom didn't work as well because my opponents moved
around a bit and distracted me. I should keep on doing it.
I should also start to do the turtleplata from the cross-side bottom (per Eric
Paulson). It seemed to me a good way to counter the seatbelt grip. I might have
already been doing part of it.
Sep 29. Machine started the review week by showing bottom half-guard options.
Once pinned with my back to the mat in a conventional head-and-underhook hold
(assuming I trapped his right leg), I can reverse by blocking my opponent's left
knee, guiding his head with my upper left arm, and bridging to my right. The
requisite condition is that his knees are relatively close together. If he has a
wide base, I need to do something to narrow it. I do this most effectively by
using the John Wayne sweep: my right leg rises from a horizontal position to
nudge his right leg to my left side. Once his left knee comes back to the
center, I could do the same reversal.
The John Wayne sweep can also be used to force him to base out with his right
arm, leaving the space for my left-side underhook to come in. And a host of
possibilities opened up with that underhook. I liked to dive under and hook his
left knee with my right arm and trap, hug his hips with my left underhook arm,
and trap his foot and roll him to my left. Jeff liked the deep-half entrance
because he could get to single-leg.
Now if the opponent is trying to put weight on me, his left knee typically got
ahead of his right trapped knee. My option here is to insert my left foot under
his right thigh (I might need to hip out and up a bit, which felt like a Jean
Jac move). I could swing my legs to the left to make that hook even better. I
switch my right foot from the top to under his right leg, too, and my two legs
easily lift his right leg up the air at the hips. My right elbow would nudge his
left thigh up and my right knee can come through. Now I have both butterfly
hooks.
I rolled with Captain Mike and he was very good at using pressure and I didn't
have a good chance to move. I got into turtle and did a takedown but he followed
with that harpoon sweep and I was again under him. I fell for that sweep so
often! Then I went for Kevin. He tried but couldn't choke me and he switched to
arm attacks. Anytime I pushed him or from north-south, he'd get his armbar. His
control was phenomenal as he never really hurt me.
Kevin said he was 42 and would be happy if he were to be as strong as me and
Jeff (55) in his 50s. What I worried about, I told him, was that he had 10 more
years to hone his skills and he was going to be more deadly.
Sep 30. Takedowns warmup with Josh, practiced the fireman's carry, low-single,
single- and double-leg, and learned an inside-leg-trip version. Darren showed
floating butterfly guard passes: get the (assume right arm) underhook, float
basing on the left hand and the head and the right shoulder driving into my
oppoent's neck. Do three versions of leg pummels:
- weight on my left leg and my left hand pushes his knees to his left,
- move my right knee up to his left thigh and knee-cut to my left, and
- pummel (when his hooks are not sticky) to get my lower leg on top of both of
his lower legs.
Positional training over, I rolled with Lucas the strong MMA dude, Brian the
lanky purple belt, and Kev. Did an armbar on Lucas but didn't submit him.
Neither Brian and Kev submitted me. I trid the kesa entry from the cross-side
bottom by grabbing Kev's head but didn't pull through. They both praised my
defense and Kev encouraged me to be more aggressive. What a beautiful day!
