December 6th 2013 - Gi

Theme & Techniques: Back Mount Escape, Rear Naked Choke

It was a bitter cold morning but Air Force Brian and Bearded Josh ventured out to attended 6 AM class.  Nothing really new, but reps are always useful.  We practiced the back mount escape in both directions (going towards or away from the choking arm).  Greg then went over the basics of the RNC. 

Rolling: Back Mount Position (2 min rnds)

We partnered up round robin style and each got a chance to attack each others back.  I probably should have insisted on the rear naked choke that we worked on in class.  Instead, I went for bow and arrows and succeeded a few times.  It probably wasn't fair to Josh because he hadn't seen the bow and arrow yet and according to many BJJ practitioner it's better to go for the techniques that we cover in class to solidify the instruction in the memory banks.  I was able to use the defenses that we worked on a few times although they are much more difficult when the other person is resisting.

WHOYA: December 6th 2012 - Gi

After reading through this, I'm surprised at how many techniques were covered in one class.  We did 3 De La Riva techniques and 3 omoplata defenses.  The structure of the classes has changed so much since the new school opened.  It used to be an hour of instruction, usually several techniques, followed by half an hour of free rolling where you pick your own partner.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this and was still learning a lot.

Now We work on 2 (sometimes 3) techniques in one night and rolling is always structured.  Greg picks the match-ups and we usually do some form of positional sparring whether it's king of the mat, up/down/out, or the 8 minute drill or free rolling.  It seems a lot more efficient and I've seen everyone improve immensely in this short amount of time.