Under the Brown Fog of Autumn Dusk

Comrades!

Congratulations to Dan Greene for putting it on the line this past Saturday.  Dan competed under the SlatkinBjj banner in the White Belt Masters division.  Although he lost in the first round, Dan acquitted himself quite nicely.  Check out the SlatkinBjj page on Facebook to see the match.  

On to the moves! (I’ll take on all the gi moves in this posting.)

Takedowns

• Ogoshi (Hip Roll): Your opponent grips your right lapel. Raise your right elbow high and drop it down to break his grip.  Use the break, also, to close distance and to lower your level.   Bend both knees and lower your hips as you grip snugly around his waist with your right hand.  Your legs are between his, your right hip protruding slightly beyond his right side.  Pull the opponent in close to your hip and, as if lifting him from below, straighten your knees and throw him with a twist of your hip.
• Ko soto gake (Small Outside Hook): You attempt Ogoshi and your opponent thwarts it by blasting his hips forward.  Step your right leg behind his left leg, hook and drive him down with your forward momentum. 
• Obitori Gaeshi (belt-grab reversal): Start with a right-hand grip on your opponent’s lapel and a  left-hand grip on his sleeve.  Step back with the right leg while snapping him down with the right lapel grip.  Remove the right lapel grip and replace it with an over-the-back grip on his belt.  You can under-hook his right arm or scoop his right leg, outside in; your choice.  Keep your body weight on him to prevent his regaining posture and place your cheek along the right side of his ribcage.  Hop deep between his legs with your left,  place the instep of your right foot on his left inner thigh and throw him by pulling him into you and rolling backward.  Follow him over so that you land in mount.

Strangulations:

1. Kataha jime (Wing Strangle): Throw ko soto gake.  Scissor your legs and finish in across-side position.  Reach under his head with your right arm and grab his left lapel, thumb-in.  If you can’t get good depth, no worries, you can make adjustments once you’ve put him in rear mount.  The left hand scoops under his left armpit as if going for a quarter nelson.  Step up on your left foot and slide your right shin along his spine.  Make sure your chest is touching the back of his left shoulder.  If done correctly, you can pull him into your rear mount with minimal effort.  Pull the lapel across his neck and apply your left arm at the nape of his neck to execute the strangle hold.
2. Gyaku juji gatame (cross-collar strangle, both palms up): You are controlling your opponent in closed guard.  Open his right lapel with your left hand and quickly secure a deep grip with your right hand — four fingers inside his lapel, your thumb outside.  The deeper the grip, the better your odds of succeeding with the strangle.   Break his posture forward by tugging smartly on the lapel and drawing him in with your legs.  Slide your left hand under your right arm and secure the same palm-up grip on his left lapel.  Draw his face close to your chest, saw the blade of your thumb-side wrists into his carotid arteries and pull your elbows down (not out!) so that they trace the rib cage.
3. Kata juji gatame (cross-collar strangle, one palm up, one down): Begin as above.  This time your opponent blocks the path to his left lapel.  Position your torso to your right so you have a clear  sight line to his left lapel.  Stab your left hand, palm-down into his lapel.  Thumb is in deep, four fingers are out.  Draw him in as before, twist the blade-side of your hands into his neck as before, and finish the strangle by tracing the elbows across your ribcage.
4. Kata juji gatame (Version deux): Your opponent has good posture and is not allowing you to gain the cross-collar grip.  Twist your torso to the right and heist up on your right forearm in order to secure a palm-up grip on his left lapel.  Break his posture with a smart tug of the lapel and the action of drawing in your legs.  His head is close to your chest, affording a clear view of the back of his lapel.  Place your right thumb into his lapel, at the nape of his neck, and start tracing along the front.  Use the blade-side of your right forearm to drive his head away and better expose the right side of his neck.  Finish strangle exactly as above. 
5. Kata juji gatame from mount: Throw obitori gaeshi and land in mount.  Secure a deep cross-collar grip, palm-up, with your right hand.  Crush your forearm to his body to prevent his hand fighting.  Shift your upper body to your left side and base out wide with your left hand.  This is what stands between you and your opponent’s upa escape.  Keeping your weight balanced to your left, sweep your left arm over his head in a wide arching motion, until your left triceps are next to his jaw line.  Now for a wee bit of nastiness: Drive your triceps across the jaw line to turn his head to his right and better expose the left lapel.  Secure a palm-down grip, thumb in.  Put your head on the mat above his and strangle by sliding your elbows down and across your ribcage.

Cheers!

Blue becomes you

Comrades!

A hearty congratulations goes out to Michael Leverone and Robbie Renfrow for receiving their blue belts last night.  No doubt about it, a gi looks much smarter with a colored belt.  

On to the moves!  (I’ll catch the blog up on gi moves in the next day or two.)

11/3

Takedowns:

• knee block: You and your opponent are in an over-under clinch.  Lower your level and bring your over-hooking elbow tight to your  ribs.  The idea is to buckle his hips.  If you’re able to do so, the success rate for your takedown goes up considerably.  Stab your right hand just past his knee cap — creating an axis off of which his body can spin — simultaneously stepping back with your left leg so that he has a place to fall.  Maintain your over-hook.   Place your right hand on his left biceps to prevent his turning into you.  Slide your left shin under his right shoulder-blade and slide your right shin over the top of his shoulder to create a clamp.  Fix your left elbow to your side and drive your pelvis toward his head to finish the near-arm juji. 
• snatch single-leg: If the knee-block fails (because you didn’t buckle his hip, your over-hook was loose, or too much space developed between the two of you), the snatch single-leg is often a good follow-up option.  Your level is low and you’re staring at his juicy right leg.  Stack your hands behind his knee cap and hike his leg through yours for the takedown. Use the high-leg pass to knee-on-belly.  Your opponent posts on your left hip.  Pop your left hand under his elbow to release the post.  Now for version two of the near-arm juji.  Place your right hand on his left biceps to keep him from turning into you.  Slide your right shin into his armpit, inside portion up to fortify your base.  You must do now do three things to prevent him from sitting up and spoiling your submission attempt: 1)Clamp your legs together before falling back; 2)don’t fall away from your opponent — fall next to him; 3)secure a hold on the left side of his waist with your right arm.   Hold his triceps and tuck your elbow firmly to your side for a powerful near-arm juji gatame.

Ground work:

Top lock: You have your opponent in closed guard.  Take the middle position so that you can grab his head with both hands and break his posture.  Open your guard and re-lock high on his back, one leg under the armpit, the other directly on top of the shoulder-blade.  Another alternative is to open the guard and “walk” the legs up to top lock.  Either way, you are now a human fulcrum, and your opponent a human lever.  A couple of details: your head is on the side of your shoulder-locking leg.  Legs are slightly splayed; and the foot of your armpit-locking leg is crossed on top.  How many finishes do we have?  Let us count the ways.

1. Juji from the top lock
2. Conventional juji: If your opponent stays back, scoop under his left leg with your right arm and bring your left leg around his face to finish.
3. Americana: grab his right wrist with both hands and push into your left thigh for Americana.
4. Wrist lock/juji: If your opponent crosses his arms to avoid juji, plunge under his forearm with one hand and cup the top of his hand with the other.  You can finish the wrist lock or merely threaten it to elicit a reaction.  Often you’ll soften him up for juji.
5. Kimura: Grab his left wrist with both hands, pushing it down and along the outside of your thigh for a kimura lock.  You can even double up, executing kimura on his left while hitting juji on his right.
6. Pendulum sweep to juji: If your opponent stacks you to prevent arm bars, scoop under his left leg with your right arm.  Kick your right leg into his left armpit, driving him over at a diagonal.   Maintain the hold on his right arm and the scoop on his leg so that you come out of the sweep in excellent position to lie back for juji. 

Cheers!