Welcome to Week 2 of White Collar Submission. I will take you through MMA training from the viewpoint of a young white collar husband and father of two. After a rough first week of Jiu-Jitsu training, I wasn’t sure how my body would react to another night of grappling. Considering that I spend most of my working days sitting at a desk in the air conditioning, my body was in shock after attempting so much physical labor.
Preparation: Once I completed the first class, I needed to continue working my arms. After being sore for nearly 3 days, I wanted to keep my triceps in shape for the next class. It’s a good thing I did too.
Arrival: I’m sure many people who try the initial free class at a martial arts facility are never seen again so I could understand why the instructors greeted us with some handshakes and high fives. Again I was accompanied by my friend who would be my training partner for most of the night. There were some familiar faces and quite a few new faces in the crowd. It seems that everyone has their own weekly schedule for the Jiu-Jitsu class. I know mine will be changing often as well.
Warm-ups: Our warm-up routine was slightly modified for Week 2. Although we started off with the same 50 jumping jacks and the same 55 push ups, our next exercise easily left our arms aching. We started off with forward and reverse wheelbarrows. This, if you remember your days of gym glass, was also an entertaining game of “who will fall and smash their face on the gym mat first?!” These were easy compared to what was next. Once the wheelbarrow exercise was completed, we then were held at the knees while we used our arms to propel ourselves up in the air as our partner continued to push us along. Remember those clapping push ups you had to do? Try those while you are moving. Even after the exercises, I felt better than last week and that made me feel like I was already making progress.
Drills: Although learning take-downs during the first week was a lot of fun, I wanted to jump right into joint-locks, chokes, and submissions. Week 2 offered just that. We began with the arm-bar from the guard position. While it looks simple in the ring, the arm-bar can be deceivingly difficult when you are in the defensive position on the mat. I was able to administer a few effective joint-locks, but it really is a maneuver that takes a little time to master.After learning how to apply an arm-bar, we learned how to get out. This is where I nearly injured my friend for the second time in two consecutive weeks. Getting out of his arm-bar required me to stand up, push down to release any pressure, and then pull up. While pulling up, he decided to hold on to whatever grip he had left and as my arm came free, his neck was the sole cushion of his fall back to the mat. Luckily I didn’t pull a Rampage Jackson and body slam him through the mat again. I probably would have broken both of our backs.
Breathing is Optional: The arm-bar is certainly an effective grappling maneuver, but the triangle choke; that’s when the fun begins. Similar to the arm-bar, the triangle choke drill began in a full-guard position. While in control of one arm in the bottom defensive position, you bring your body off to the side of the offensive attacker so that their arm is being pulled from the bottom of your stomach and up to the opposite side and diagonally across your chest. While bringing your legs up and lock around the neck with your knee draped over your ankle, you pull down on their head and choke them instantly. This is a great move to use when someone to trying to obtain side-mount position from a full guard. Their body moves easily into place and you can lock down and choke them in seconds.
(Triangle)
Next, we began to use our new abilities against each other at 30%. This meant that we could not stand up, but instead we were to begin from our knees to take each other down into a guard position. After taking each other down a few times, it was now time to put some of my new skills to the test against someone else. I matched up with another student who was approximately my height/weight to give myself a fair chance of applying some moves and basically told him to show off so I could learn from him. We started at 50% where we could keep one leg extended and one knee down. This helped me learn some movement as I watched my challenger try to take me down and out. As we went back and forth, I learned how to apply an arm-bar from a full mount position as I quickly became a willing victim. I was attempting to get his back while grappling to apply a rear-naked choke and I was once nearly successful. My challenger reacted with praise and I felt pretty good considering it was only my second day on the mat.
Group and One on One Instruction: Week 2 was similar to the first week with regards to instruction. We could watch each maneuver as a group and begin to apply them with one on one instruction. If we needed help applying something, we had no problem getting immediate help. This helped us become comfortable with asking questions and getting feedback from the instructors as we learned.
After the Class: I felt much better after the second week compared to Week 1. I was tired, sore, and my ankle was throbbing, but I had another good night. I look forward to going back for the second time this week.
Conclusion: Like any other environment, once you start showing up and seeing similar faces, you become more comfortable with everything around you. I’m looking forward to going back and learning more. I definitely feel that this class is something I would like to continue for a while. Stay tuned for another Week 2 Update of White Collar Submission.
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I do still love MMA and have...
