Victory is mine(BJJ training log)

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Height: 5'7"
Weight: 145 pounds
Age 22



I've always been interested in BJJ but time and transportation has always been an issue. But now i have found a spot not too far from my home. So i quickly signed up.

I plan to build from a solid base which i already have and my past experiences from grappling. I know i will excel if i put my all into it.


Victory is mine.


Mount:

Escapes -

1) Upa

- Swim under arm, trap it, look foot, Bridge

- Trap Arm, Lock Up Foot, Bridge

2) Elbow Escape

- Use your elbow and shrimp to create space (remember - one leg up, one leg turned to the side!!)



Attacks -

1) Paint Brush (aka Americana)

- Fake out opponent, Push Arm to Ground, Head on Ground, Candy Cane Grips, Pull Opponents Arm Down, Lift back elbow

2) S Mount Arm Bar

- Look at Watch, Slide Knee Past Head, Curl Leg into S Mount, Smash Head, Lean Weight, Leg Over, Sit Back, Squeeze Knees Together, Hips Up

3) Gi Choke

- Tighten Up Lapel, 4 Fingers Grab Deep into collar, Other hand reaches under and grabs the other lapel, Pull Elbows in and Back, Head on the Ground

4) Triangle (Yellow Belts)

- Attack with Paint Brush, Slide Knee over Arm, Finish with Triangle



Maintaining Mount -

1) Shoulder Pressure

2) Hips Low

3) High Mount (knees up in armpits of opponents

4) Leeching

5) Grapevine



Side Mount:

Escapes -

1) Elbow / Returning Guard

- Default Position (Elbow in Hip, Under Hook), Outside Leg Bent/Inside Leg Flat, Shrimp Out and Push with arms, Bring Leg Through and Pull Guard

2) Machine Gun

- Default Position, Pop Hips and Arms at the same time, Take Back

3) Pull

 

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First day of BJJ
Thursday, May 24, 2007

First day of BJJ was a great experience. I told the instructor of my jujitsu and wrestling experience. In the beginning of practice they ran laps, monkey jumps, pushups etc. Then they did king of the hill, which is a game where two fighters square off for a 1 minute, the loser gets off the mat and is replaced with a fresher opponent. This goes from the lightest until the heaviest in class fights. Two fighters grappled, one being an excellent grappler. The instructor remembering my wrestling experience asked me to participate and i obliged. Me and him went at it. No takedowns scored. It seemed like time flew. Afterwards, i wished i was able to try some other setups or go for other takedowns but that's life! People complimented me and it felt good. I really can't wait until i'm able to improve not only my groundfighting but standup as well.

We learned how to pass halfguard, achieve side mount and then lock in kimura.


Kimura from side mount

Your Starting Position: Side Control
Opponent's Starting Position: Lying on back
Setup: You are on top in North-South position. In this example, you are attacking his right arm.

Details:
1. With your left hand, trap his right wrist
2. With your right hand, go under his right triceps and grab your left wrist
3. Plant all of your weight with your chest on his right shoulder. This is the most important step!
4. Make sure you have correct hand position: Your left elbow should be against his ribs.
5. He should be immobilized. Raise your left elbow slightly to finish.
Your Ending Position: Executing Submission
Sport Either Gi or No-gi

 

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Saturday, May 26, 2007
Open Mat

Today was my first open mat experiece. I came into the gym ready to roll! I bought a strong blue gi and signed up for the Royler Gracie seminar this thursday! I put on the gi and the instructor paired me with a striped white belt(he passed his second stripe exam later that day, grats to him!) and he told me the basic collar choke from my guard and he taught me upa. We did that for a while until i was tired(he was way over 200lbs). I rested for a while, and the instructor paired me up with a bluebelt and we began to roll. He pretty much when 40-60, but i was going 60-80. I know alot of tips are to relax but i 1) did not want to be in his guard and 2) i wanted some experiece.


It's funny because even when i was able to get side mount, i was never able to do anything with it because i still didn't learn any submissions! But we rolled until i was tired, he gave me some tips about not reaching and complimented my wrestling.

We rolled for a while until i was exhausted. I was pretty much happy watching everyone else roll until the instructor again paired me up with another white belt. This white belt was pretty good and really helpful. He also gave me tips of what to do while in guard, how to pass it and the kimura from side control. We pretty much rolled the whole class.

Saturday, Sunday,Monday, I drilled bridges and the upa until my abs and hips were sore. I wil continue to drill until its second nature and its powerful. I have also been drilling shrimping on my own. One of the 3 positions i find myself in are

1) Guard
2) Side control(me on top)
3) Mount(opp on top)

My gameplan for next time is to practice transitioning from guard/mount to sidecontrol and working things from there or getting mount.

So right now im working more on transitioning to positions and maintaining them, more so than learning 50 moves



Upa

My opponent has me in the mounted position.

I begin by pulling my opponent down and wrapping his left arm. I then make sure my right foot is on the outside of his.

I then bridge up onto my shoulders, lifting my hips high as possible.

I then roll to my right, because I have my opponent's leg and arm blocked off he cannot base out to prevent the escape.

After the roll I end up in my opponent's guard.

I then sit up and secure good posture within the guard.

 

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I like this tip i found in a old thread about BJJ guys that seemingly don't improve.

http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?t=534762

I've seen that, but also the reverse can hold a guy back too.

Trying to learn SO much that they never really get good at anything. I fell into that trap early on and thankfully my coach recognized it and talked to me about it. I picked 6 basic techniques and regardless of what we learn in class on a given week, those 6 techniques are what I drill at home on my off days.

1) Cross choke (guard)
2) Scissor sweep
3) Maintaining side control (transitioning from reverse scarf to side control to scarf to north south to opposite side (os) scarf to os side control to os reverse scarf and back around)
4) Kimura (side control)
5) Riding / maintaining mount
6) Basic straight armbar from mount

We need fine to push ourselves and learn new things, but need to make sure that we don't get to where we can't see the forest for the trees. Not that I think that you meant that; just saying I've seen the opposite happen and it can hold a guy back too. He becomes a "jack of all trades, master of none".

I think i'm going to use the same strategy.Tonight during live rolling i will note the positions i usually find myself in and the next class i will work on def/off from those positions.

 

[ScottAM]

Great training log! Keep up the good work!

 

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Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

I came in with a gameplan that i set last journal entry.

That plan was to work on transitioning from dominant positions and maintaining them.


Today i never got tapped and i always got dominant positions, even got a RNC but couldnt get it in good enough for the tap!

What i learned from my first day of rolling is when you are in guard, your only goal is to escape it and obtain a better position. Keep your arms tucked in like your a T-rex.. Close to your sides and your hands should be right under his belt, pushing down and by doing so it pushes you up and corrects your posture. From there with guard posture and arms safe from triangles and other subs work to break the guard. Also keep close attention to your feet when you try to stand up! Too close to his hips/butt means he can grab it and sweep you. You want your foot far away from reach but good enuff for a base to stand on.

Keep close attention to your limbs!

Once you break the guard, knee on his thigh and hop(or scramble) to side control. You want to hip out and goto position 3 or scarf i think its called, then hop over to mount. You can try to hook in your feet under his legs and hip down so its hard for him to get out.


You have to think of everything as a chain. There are neutral positions, there are dominant and as well as inferior positions depending if your on top or bottom. Neutral is fine, but you always(well for now at least) want to transition to something better. I'm Never in a position for long unless i'm on mount or has his back.

Don't worry to much about subs just yet! Just work on building your base, which is defending subs by keeping your hands and arms and feet safe. Keeping good posture and weight on opponent and transitioning to better posits!

I did all of these things this class and frustrated the other older white belt i grappled with and even a blue belt.

I think a good tip i think i will give myself is to relax, even when they get a reversal or a dominant position. As long as i protect myself from subs and continue to get to a better position i will do fine.


Next class, i will continue to use this strategy of getting dominant positions and maintaining them, but also try to work on the kimura or gi choke from side control, if that doesn't work, i will mount and try to get a gi choke.(only subs i know)

Peace everyone!

 

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I have continued to improve and also put myself in bad situations to see how it feels like. I think a great thing is to get caught in a sub afew times so that you know what it feels like when it is coming!

Tonight i will work on side control and trying for kimura, keylock, americanna, arm bar and straigh armlocks. Also getting the back from n-s.

I am still poor with subs on mount, even though i have gotten mount in blue and purple belts, i could not do nothing with it!

So i am practicing subs from where i find myself at, which is side control.

 

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Tonight was a good session. I rolled with a blue belt, which seemed like an eternity before he finally tapped me. I forgot with what tho, i think an americanna with his legs? Who knows but after rolling with him i was exhausted. We went at it for a while. I could never really get side control completely, he was able to get on his side, i was never able to get him flat. I will have to work on that. But i was able to break his guard, using knee in the butt. Next time after i break the guard i will immediately look to put my knee on his thigh and get side control. Here i backed all the way out to get a breather before i reengaged.

Next session was with a white belt too who has been going for a while. I got side control working for the kimura and straight armlock. He would bend it, id go for kimura, hed straighten id go for armlock, until i finally got the tap with armlock. My first tap. Now i'm done counting. It felt good getting my first tap. And i think the straight armlock is in my repetoire. I just need to work on the kimura and key locks.

I really need to work on my collar choke from side control, because i attempted it and failed miserably. I know where i stunk at, i never had it sunk in deep. I'll practice the kimura, key lock, and choke from side mount as well as flattening the guy out in side control tommorow in practice.

Also, working on breathing and pacing myself.

 

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Royler Seminar

Insert here

 

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Sat, June 23,

Open Mat

Today was a good day, i missed all this week and alot of last week but in place i have been drilling on my own, reading, as well as running. I rolled alot with the higher belts(purple and brown) and did real good with the purple. The brown belts really took me to school. The thing i liked most about these brown belts was that they were really helpful after the session, telling me what i was doing wrong. Another brown belt in past i rolled with, just went to town on me and never told me my errors.

I'm happy because i hit the upa a few times today and feel that i am starting to get the feel of it. I think a couple of more successes with it(as well as failures) will let me understand the weight distribution and timing for the move.

I also went to go over some aspects of my guard which is pretty much nonexistant. A high striped white belt(who should be blue) helped me with the kimura, triangle and armbar. Hoepfully i will be able to practice these three moves tommorow in the beginners class

 

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Last Tuesday i had a great class. Learned two submission from back mount, one was a gi choke, the other was an armbar if that choke doesn't work.

After we learned we rolled. I rolled with 3 diff people and never got submitted. Second guy i rolled with couldve submitted me after i opened his guard, because i left my arm in there. Got to work on that. I need to make sure that i am either grabbing onto his gi pants with my left leg or just get it out of there completly. 3rd guy i got in side control established control and went for kimura, then armlock then tapped him with Americanna. We rolled again and i did the same thing,except saw the Americanna waiting for me.

First time i hit the Americanna and i've never even drilled it. Notice i hit alot of moves i really don't drill. Weird. But i wanna work on a lockflow and add arm triangle and armbar in there. So that my side control is dangerous. Also need to work on some chokes.

This saturday i will work on that and my guard.

Americana

 

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July(into August) Gameplan
Develop Open Guard / Spider Guard and Further Strengthen Side Control / Mount

Side Control:

Arm Bar (Knee on belly)
Gi Choke(Scissor Choke)
Brabo Choke
Arm Triangle

Mount:
Arm Triangle
Arm Bar
Gi Choke


Replacing the Closed Guard:
-1 leg underhook(stack) replacement
-stacking underhook replacements 1,2,3,4

Replacing Open Guard Techniques 1,2,3,4

Closed Guard Sweeps:
-Scissor Sweep
-Push Sweep
-Elavator Sweep

Open Guard
Sweeps:
-tripod push-pull sweep
-tripod sickle sweep

Attacks
-triangle
-armbar
-omoplata


Spider Guard
-Spider Guard sweep #1
-Spider Guard sweep #2


My idea is to drill/practice these moves and successfully apply them in rolling. If i find myself in side control / mount, i will try to apply the side /mount moves on my list. Otherwise the guard techniques.

If i find myself having to replace guard, i will use those techniques.If i find myself in closed guard, i will only do sweeps, no subs. Particularly scissors, push sweep and elavator.

The open guard attacks / sweeps will have to wait till open mat where i can have sufficient time to practice the movements and drill them. The same goes for the spider guard techs.

 

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Tuesday July 3

Tuesday was a good day we went over the omoplata again as well as escapes to the move. On Sunday's class i rolled maybe 3 times and never got tapped, nor did i tap anyone. On Tuesday i got a tap with an Americana/keylock and next round applies a kimura from side mount but couldn't get the tap until my instructor made me stop and correct my technique. He says to bring the hand towards the back, bring your leg over his head and then raise the shoulders. Memo to self.

Then i rolled with another guy who is just a monster, he shrugged me and arm dragged me and took my back a few times. One time from side mount i gave it to him something that i have to stop doing,the belly down escape is something i need to work on! Other than that he had some good guillitoines and rnc but never sunk it in and i was able to defend and eventually escape. Cool i guess for a real fight but if this was a competition i would've lost. I need to grapple with a him more often to develop a strat for players like him.

I also rolled with another guy who has a real tight guard. He loves the scissor sweep and i asked him to show it to me after class which we went over. He also catches me sometimes in the armbar the few times i rolled with him even tho i was generally able to escape.

I tried to go for the armbar from side mount but he put me back into half guard and then guard. Real smooth too i might add. I have to be real mindful of my far leg and keep it close to his knee bent. Hips down.