Choose Strong
For Tim.
Nov 3. Machine taught punch-block and the single-leg x guard including its entry
from standing and the sweeps from there. To enter, I grab the same side lapel
and the other sleeve at the elbow. I go forward and sit between my opponent's
legs. I cup my right foot under his butts and nudge him forward to base on his
hands. I enter the single-leg x on his right leg. As he tries to stand back up,
I grab his left ankle or pant leg, and twist my knees to make him sit back. The
second sweep is when he bases on his left knee and I cannot do the first sweep.
I'd put my right foot to block his left leg, my left hand goes under his foot to
lift it to my shoulder. My left foot comes down from his hip to base on the mat
and I get up on my right elbow and do a technical standup so that I can go
forward with a single-leg takedown.
In sparring, I transitioned from the single-leg x into reverse-x and had
half-a-dozen sweeps there. Kevin knew what I was doing and was able to get out
the reverse-x by hoisting his knee up.
I did a turtleplata on Haydon.
Nov 4. Kyssa taught three bear-hug defenses and the x-guard sweeps.
1. When they grab under my arms from behind, get a stiff-arm two-on-one and
lower my base, reach with one arm behind his same side elbow and grab my own
wrist for a kimura grip, break his grip, step on his foot, and turn his arm to
his back.
2. When they tried to lift me, my (right, e.g.,) foot hook the back of their
right leg, I throw my upper body down (my feet should be now on the ground,
too), grab his right heel, my hip sits backwards to make him fall on his back, I
sit on him and keep the leg, I wrap my left arm around the leg and fall on my
right side for a knee bar.
3. When they grab above my two arms around the upper arms, I duck, swing one leg
behind them to catch both their legs, drive to that side to make them fall, and
I end up with side-control.
From x-guard bottom, say overhooking his right ankle, I nudge his left knee with
my right foot to make him base out with his hands. My left arm reaches back for an
underhook on his right foot and lifts it over my left shoulder as I turn on my
right side. My left foot and right arm provide base and I do a technical standup
carrying his right leg. I'd go takedowns from there.
Another variation is to take the back. Instead of going for the underhook, I
lift his right leg above me, switch hands to direct it to my right, put in the
hooks and get to his back and make him sit in front of me.
Nov 6. Kyssa taught a single-leg-x pass. Suppose my opponent's attacking my
right leg. I need to first drop my right knee to his belly. My left hand
grabs/pushes down on his right ankle. My right hand peels off his left foot from
my hip and at the same time my left leg back-step toward his head. It was a fast
move.
The next morning, I saw an attack on the (left) foot on the hip as in the single
leg x: my left hand pushes his toes as my right hand scoops under his heel. My
hands turn and go to palm to palm with left palm up against his foot.
Nov 7. Machine taught a move to counter the typical single-leg-x guard passing.
As the top person drops his knee across my belly, I hold onto his say right
ankle and my left knee pushes to the right and drop his right knee to the
ground. Now we are facing away from each other. My left lower leg
curls up to staple at the back of his right knee, my right leg pin his left leg
to prevent a roll, I go belly down and stretch my torso to finish the ankle
lock.
Drilled with John. His defense for the single-leg-x was to squat down, put
weight on the trapped leg, cut to the opposite of the trapped leg, and crowd to
make it hard for the bottom guy to extend his legs.
Nov 11. Veteran's Day. Darren's back from vacation and taught single-leg-x
passes. Before any, however, it helped to lower the base and grab the head, he
said, but one couldn't count on it as the bottom guy could have long limbs.
Instead, one should lower the base and turn the trapped leg to knee on the
opponent's sternum and retract the trapped foot as much as possible. Now that it
is not easy for the bottom guy to sweep, we can proceed to pass.
1. Turn my hips to face away to peel off the foot on the hip and control it
before the back-step. Control the other leg, too, to prevent it from following.
2. Two hands on his inside knee to push it toward the center. Throw it down and
back between my legs and advance to mount. Lift the opponent's elbow that traps
my leg and finish the mount.
3. Assume my right leg is trapped. Two hands on his lower inside leg to push it
down. Dive my right arm behind his right knee for base and backstep my left leg
over him.
Justin caught me five times with the toe-hold while I'm turtling in front of
him. Darren said to get out of it, I should roll to the side my foot was bent.
I remembered at Top Brother China, the purple belt guy did the same to me.
Nov 13. The rain started in the wee hours. An atmospheric river was passing
through, the weatherman said. Went to the gym with half a tank of gas, in more
than one way.
A decent number of folks showed up. Darren taught x-guard passes.
1. control/pull up the top leg by the gi pant's bottom hem. My far side foot
kicks to the knee of his bottom leg and circle out.
2. Put weight on the near-side knee to push into his sternum. Base out with my
near-side arm and my far-side hand cup his bottom ankle/shin. I back-step to
get out and scoot down for side-control.
I rolled with Jeff, Kevin, Mike, and Gavin. I try to recover guard when people
pass to cross-side but it seemed hard. My bottom knee couldn't reach far up
enough. I think I should try two things: elbow-knee connection and go the
opposite direction to turtle.
Mike submitted me with a paper-cutter choke. Defense moves didn't even cross my
mind. I felt bad about that. But I countered his harpoon sweep and Gavin's
John-Wayne sweep and passed Gavin's half-guard to mount which made me happy.
Overall, today was a tough day but at the end I felt better.
Nov 14. Machine taught the classic back-stepping for single leg-x and defense
for standard foot lock. In the back-stepping drills, if after peeling the (say
left) foot on the hip, my partner doesn't control that foot, I could hook his
back-stepping leg and use his momentum to get up. I'm still worse off but have a
chance to pass his legs.
I rolled with Justin and he did one toe-hold on me. I also rolled with Darren
and Kevin. I found rolling less didn't help me recover. I felt better giving it
all everytime I stepped on the mat.
Nov 17. Back/Tutle week. Warm-up started with half-guard bottom underhook:
- used the underhook and the bottom leg to nudge the top guy forward/upward,
- ball up and use the underhook arm hug tight his back,
- get out the other arm from underneath and get on the elbow and later the hand
to elevate the hips above the guy's hips,
- take the back, flattening him out or block his near-side elbow and roll him
over.
The underhook-knee-nudge worked even when Omar, my much-stronger partner,
flattened me out.
Next Machine taught the bow-and-arrow attack. Assume seat-belt grip and we are
falling on my weak side. I should use my two arms against his top arm by pushing
it out of the way and trap it with my top leg. (There was a risk, however, as I
noticed, i.e., if I were the top guy, I could pummel my bottom arm through the
hole created by this move and roll toward the trapped arm and get out of the
back position.)
What I noticed more, however, was better position control: I should place one
foot on his hip, and the other lower leg cross his belly so that I could cross
ankles to better prevent him from shedding the bottom hook. Meanwhile, I can
push him down with the foot on the hip for my attacks.
Nov 18. Darren showed again the saddle entry from single-leg x:
- The top guy has his far-side knee down to counter the sweep.
- I push his near-side arm pit to make him post forward on his hands and switch
the foot on his hip to under my other foot under his buttocks. My lower legs
took a reverse-x position.
- I elevate him with my legs and my bottom foot shoot under in front of his
far-side hip. My top leg stretches to find my bottom leg to form the figure 4.
I suppose I could do this from reverse x directly by first pulling him forward
to make him base on his hands.
We had more fun with the bear-trap that Darren taught next. There are two ways
to enter.
1. From reverse-x bottom: the top leg stays behind his far-side knee and the
bottom foot drops to the front of his ankle. The top leg pushes to make his
far-side knee drop to the ground. Figure-4 my lower legs.
2. From de la riva top: bend to underhook his straightened leg and push the knee
of the curled leg. My untrapped leg goes round back to trap his curled leg. And
I sit down and flare my knee.
I had a good discussion with Jose about the turtle sit-out after he foiled my
move many times. The problem was that I tried to do it on the side where his
forarm was in FRONT of my shoulder instead of at my armpit. He could easily flip
his wrist to cup my shoulder from the front and put me on my back as I sat-out.
I also drilled with him the Erik Paulson's turtleplata. I couldn't do it as
slick because I didn't tuck my bottom shoulder at the start of the move. Need to
drill it again tomorrow.
I woke up Thu Nov 20 with a sore neck. Head-turning in any of the three planes
hurt and more annoying was my inability to place the cause. I didn't remember
any unusual torque on the mat. I trimmed my full-head 50-day-worth hair with the
narrowest guard the previous day after coming back from training but that
couldn't be the reason.
Anyway the next four days saw me reading on the couch full-time.
Nov 24. Machine showed escaping the back.
1. When his two arms are above my arms, I'd scoot down and wedge an (say the
right) elbow inside his right thigh. I kick my right leg off his hook and elbow
his leg aside. I quickly turn to the other (left side) and get on top of him (it
helps if at this stage, I grab his lapel).
2. When he has an underhook. I'll try to get my head and shoulders onto the mat
on the underhook side. Next, I'd clear the hooks. I'd wedge my near-side elbow
between his hips and my body. If he's on his elbow, he wants to mount. I should
respond by creating space, get my bottom knee in, and trap his top leg in a
single leg x. If he's on his side, I could simply get on top (likely end up in
his guard).
3. The 2nd scenario but after I shed the bottom hook, I use that leg to drive on
top of him. I don't need to get my head and shoulders on the mat. My right arm
clamps on his hip and I scoot back all the way to his armpit. Meanwhile, I stay
on top all the time.
After drilling with Machine, he showed me the short choke. With gi, I could grab
my own collar. No gi, I could grab my own shoulder or, get the other forearm
behind his back and form a gable grip with the choking hand. The choking motion
is similar to rnc but with a twisting motion.
Nov 25. Kyssa taught self-defense takedowns: block the haymaker and do an arm
drag. With the two-on-one, lean into the opponent and hook his lower front
(assuming right) leg and AT THE SAME TIME my inside arm reaches for the
underhook on his far-side arm. Most likely, I'd end up on top with a far-side
underhook. If his right leg steps back to avoid the trip, my right lower leg
switches to hook his left leg and lean toward his left back to take him down.
She taught a few turtle moves. The first was the wrestling sitout. I
specifically asked about the opponent's hand position and she confirmed that his
shoulder had to pass mine on the same side. I don't think it's necessary to trap
that arm although doing so gives me the shoulder lock after the sit-out.
Another point is that I need to raise my elbow on the escaping side to clear for
my head to go through. I had always thought my neck and head were to do that!
At least this seemed a valid option.
The second move again begins with chest-grab from the top guy. I reach a hand
across to grip the opposite wrist to take away his base, have the hand-side leg
up to drive him toward the side of his gripped wrist to take him down. To follow
up, have a kimura grip on his trapped arm.
I knew this move well from Henry, although cross-grabbing was new. And my
(Henry's) version is more subtle and effective as I don't drive as much with my
leg but windshield-wipe my bottom leg to take the top guy forward where he also
has no base.
The third was to recover half-guard from chest-grab. Same setup, hand grabs his
leg (what if he sprawls? maybe I don't need to get to the leg; even a shallow
underhook would be enough), same side leg up, bottom leg windshield-wipe to
recover half-guard. Now I have an underhook, I can go for quarter guard sweep or
get out of the backdoor and take his back. This is exactly what I need to deal
with people who stay on the front but are hard to take down.
I rolled with Ayoup and he finished me with a darse. Next time I shouldn't let
him grab my head but instead maybe have a two-on-one on one of his arms, like
Weiqi taught me.
In the evening when I looked up "wrestling sitout" I saw a couple of videos on
"sit out, turn in" which was amazing and used when the guy was directly behind
the turtle.
Justin's calf muscle acted up while drilling takedown with me. He had to sit and
watch and left with a crippled gait. I felt sorry for him but relieved that it
was not my fault.
Nov 26. Machine taught more back defense. Suppose the attacker had the
bow-and-arrow grips on the lapels, the general idea is first to have two-on-one
on the sleeve of his choking arm to relieve the pressure. I can drive with my
legs to the weak, or his underhook, side and either win the head battle and put
my head and shoulders to the mat, or shed the bottom hook and drive with the
free leg and scoot back on top of him.
But suppose he managed to shunt me to his strong side, two options are
available. If he started to finish the BAA, he has to extend his arms and
thereby creating space between the top of my head and his chin. I would duck my
head under. This would work well when I lift his choking arm up with my both
hands.
If he gets up on the elbow of the choking arm, I need to roll him over. I try to
tri-pod with him on my back. Driving toward the head makes this easier. Once I
roll, I'd kick-stand my leg so that I end up on his weak side. And I can start a
standard escape from there.
The Korean Tim came back from foot surgery. He got one leg smashed up during an
ID crash (I might have remembered the term wrong) years back.
I discussed moves with Ayoup after sparring. He had another darse on me although
I was successful in preventing the front attack. We discussed the sitout, the
sitout-turn-in, the turtle guard recovery, etc. At cross-side bottom, he
controls the arm across his body before the backdoor escape and this makes his
head-and-arm follow up easier. One position we both found difficult was the guy
goes behind and grab the hips.
On Thanksgiving day, I saw a kimura from hip grabbing and revisited Henry's
counter to the Anaconda.
Nov 28. Black Friday. I never saw so many people on the mat that the huge mat
felt cramped. Cha, Amy, and Sam from my PSD days. Amy recently got her blackbelt
after 8 years of training. I rolled with Sam and we discussed the controlling
from behind the turtle position and the kimura transition I saw yesterday. He
said he wouldn't put his arm across so that I could trap his elbow. Nobody did
anaconda on me so I didn't get to practice Henry's counter.
I rolled with Henry, Chris, John, Izzy, Sam, Cha, Matt, and Brandon.
My neck feels better and I will go again tomorrow if I don't wake up too sore.
