It has been almost a month of training and although I am far from being comfortable on the mat, I have certainly progressed to the point where I can stay out of trouble for a little while. This is next installment of White Collar Submission. I will walk you through what it is like to train Jiu-Jitsu as a typical white collar father of two.
Preparation: Similar to my previous two weeks of Jiu-Jitsu training, I worked out lightly and sporadically throughout the week to keep my muscles loose without getting too sore. I continued to eat well and stay active as much as possible as well.
Arrival: I arrived with my step-son and minus my training partner. I was a little wary about going to the class alone in fear of being matched up with someone who more talented especially if the class was small. Luckily, it was a moderately sized group that had other familiar faces from prior classes. I sent my step-son over to the Kids Jiu-Jitsu class and stretched as I waited for the class to begin.
Drills: We skipped over warmups and jumped directly into a basic leg wheel throw. I have been looking forward to attempting a legitimate throw since Week 1. After watching Karo Parisyan use his Judo throws in some of his recent UFC matches, I have been interested in learning how to effectively take someone to the ground from a standup position without the use of a leg takedown. I matched up with someone who was relatively the same height/weight. In the past I had matched up with a friend who I thought was within a very close weight range, but after weighing myself tonight, I realized that I was going up against someone who was 20 pounds heavier. It certainly didn’t make things easy during the first few weeks. So now, to implement this throw, I would start from the standup position and would take my left wrist and grab my opponents right wrist while sliding my right hand up under their left arm and turn in with my right foot. While pivoting towards my opponent, my right leg would shoot out and I would use my leverage to flip them over my leg while still maintaining control of their wrist. It seemed like a quick three short steps back to pivot and then kick the leg out and pull the body across the hip and onto the mat.
After practicing the throws, we moved onto a defensive takedown from the mat. While lying on my back on the mat, I would brace my closest foot against my opponents’ forward facing hip while using my hand on that same side to grab their ankle. My other foot would situation behind their farthest foot and in one motion; I would sweep them my pulling both of their ankles toward me while applying pressure with the foot I have braced against their hip. We learned how to still use this maneuver once the opponent moved their closest leg back. We practiced moving back and forth between the two moves to learn how to move on the mat.
We also learned how to escape from the guard and maneuver into a quick submission or into side control. This could easily lead into a choke or a Kimura, one of my new favorites. This guard escape from the closed guard had me use one hand to control directly below the ribs while the other arm was free to force the knee away from my body with my elbow. If my left elbow was used to force their right knee away, I would plant my right foot and keep my knee tight against the body while I used my other leg to lift myself, move my arm under their highest leg and come down around their body. If done correctly, I could plant my knee on their lowest leg and force them to tap by making them do an in-air split. It’s not a very good feeling unless you enjoy walking lightly for the next few days.
Rolling Solo: With my typical “rolling†partner MIA, I had a chance to work with four others at 30%. Starting from our knees, we could shoot and take each other out through chokes and submissions. I’ll be honest; I still wasn’t very effective at mounting many offensive maneuvers yet. I was getting close to closing on an armbar and had a Kimura almost locked up, but I couldn’t hold on to it. My stamina is something I am really looking to improve throughout the next few weeks. On the defensive side I was able to stay out of trouble for a while, but as I rolled, I lost my strength and I was an easy target. Later this week will be another class where I can continue to build up my strength and stamina. Towards the end of the class, I was shown the Achilles lock, my first foot/leg lock since the start of the class. This submission allows me to stay farther away from my opponent while forcing a tap. With their ankle straight out at me, I would wrap my arm around and keep my knuckle tight against the Achilles tendon. I would then lock my legs and my opponents other leg and lean back to secure the lock. This is another painful submission that is effective even when I was tired.
After the Class: I was physically banged up and feeling the wrath of the mat this week. After being thrown, knocked down, choked, and submitted, I was beat. It was still a good feeling and I can’t wait to go back later this week. Driving home was rough with my head pounding and my arms ready to drop off, but I made it home in one piece. After I got home I actually had the urge to go for a run. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t working in my favor so I had to save it for another day.
Conclusion: I’m still looking forward to learning a lot more and rolling with the more experienced grapplers again. I learned a lot and set my expectations with everyone that I will be learning as I roll. Everyone was extremely helpful in explaining what I did wrong and what I could do better. Stay tuned for the next installment which will be coming later this week.
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I do still love MMA and have...
July 9th, 2007 at 7:58 am
I run a mixed martial arts aacdemy in Gravesend, Kent Uk, Just about to start a white collar MMA Class, Keep Up the Good work, walking out into the cage is the best thing on the planet!!!