[rediska]

Oh yeah! Well, here are my first impressions of my first freel BJJ lesson. The academy is very spacious, there's a lot of room. There are two hollow green chair-like things for visitors to sit on and a ton of MMA equipment (gloves, pads, etc) on display. I'm going to use those soon. The teacher wasn't what I expected. Not really a Japanese style sensei, he was more of an easy-going friendly comrade who doesn't think twice about swearing. There isn't a lot of ceremonial bows in the dojo either, just the bare minimum. He is a black belt in aikido, kendo and judo and he did kickboxing too. And, naturally, he has a black belt in jiujitsu and says he should probably have two dans by now. Overall - it's not much like the aikido dojo I went too.
There were six people, but only four actually rolled today: a purple belt, me, another white belt and the instructor himself. The place felt empty, lack of space really wasn't a problem, and it felt more like a one on one session. On the other hand, I think I like it that way.
I have to say, I'm now officially convinced that these techniques actually work. We've been doing sweeps from guard, triangle chokes, defense against bear hug from behind and another technique, I forget what's it called - while in mount, you put the guy's hand down on the mat and pull his elbow towards your hip and up, while keeping his wrist on the mat. For most of the lesson I was paired up with the purple belt, who was instructing me more than actually doing the techniques. I can't say I did that well, since I had forgoten what to do halfway through a couple of those. But no matter, I'll learn.
At the end we practiced guard passes on the purple belt, who was supposed to get us with something basic. He is 180 pounds while I'm only 140, but I managed to get sidemount, while the other 200 pound (approximately) white belt didn't. Other than that one little success, the guy was surpassing both of us white belts in everything. I was feeling really overpowered by him.
Still, I ended up being much more tired at the end of the one in a half hour lesson than I anticipated. There wouldn't have been any point staying another hour-and-a-half, cause I was way too tired. Exhausted, basically. That will change very soon though, I'm sure.
At the end of the day, I have scraped the skin on my fingers, knees and toes a little as proof I worked hard. I'm pretty sure I can now perform all of these techniques if I don't go too fast, which made the time spent well worth it.
The people are cool and friendly, and it turned out to be way cheaper than expected. I'm looking forward to it all.

[jackjitsu]

Sweet dude! Welcome to the sport

[Eother]

It's plain awesome. Wait until you start doing a lot of counters, those are very fun.

[voodoo.groove]

I had my sixth class last night. Initially, I got paired up with a complete newby but was still, after only a few classes, able to coach him in a few things.

The point is don't be put off by how technical BJJ undoubtedly is - before you know it, you've learnt heaps.

-VoodooGroove

[rediska]

By the way, could someone tell me how to blog my progress? I was under the impression tha there's a blogging capability associated witht this website...

Eother
What are counters?

voodoo.groove
Did you have to fix your Gi four-five times too during the lesson, or is it just me?

[Eother]

[voodoo.groove]

Yeah Rediska, I'm still getting used to training in a gi.

The experienced blokes in my club look like they were born in their gi so I'm guessing that it's just a matter of time...

-VoodooGroove

[Atomicfrog]

Glad to hear you are enjoying yourself! I just finished my second class last night and it was similar to yours. I'm thinking the routines are probably the same across many BJJ schools. I didn't get any scraped knuckles but my right cheek bone is a little sore from practicing a sweep, I think it was from an accidental headbutt, and my ribs on my left side are sore as well. I'm glad that I walked away with a little bit of pain, like you said, I know I was training hard.

As far as the Gi goes, I thinks it's normal for it to get loose and messed up. A couple of students and even my instructor actually threw their belts off to the side when they came loose while rolling and just kept going with their Gi hanging open. Also, some moves actually involve pulling your lapel around your opponent so it's quite normal for it to come loose.

[jackjitsu]

Click on "Config" in the BLOG menu on the left side of the page to get started.

Once you start a blog, a blog button will appear under each of your posts so people can check on it easily.

[rediska]

Thanks, Jack. I've posted my first blog entry.

[rowandraper]

So - I went to Birmingham for Gracie Barra classes.

Generally it went OK I'd say. We did a bit of a technique drill after an extensive warm up for taking the back from half-guard. Eventually we did a bit of sparring towards the end. We all got blue belts to pick teams. I was the last to get picked.



It's like gym class all over again. ;P

So 3 minute round, standing start and I think they were counting the points too - at times. So I didn't do too bad for 6 months of No Gi I think. Did the beginners class after, and that was pretty much the same except no real rolling ... just games with objectives.

Basically. I didn't want the takedown because I didn't want to look that bad or fail completely, lose the points and get submitted. So we grabbed a hold of the arms of the Gi and went to guard, and closed as he came down. I don't think that's points down to me, because it was consensual sort of thing.

Anyways. I worked grip on the gi, and looked for the switches of the hips to come in for an arm-bar or triangle. Those being my weak submissions, I wanted to work on them, and if they came off ... then I'd have been pleased, and if not - I'd have worked it anyways and lost nothing. Anyways. I tried for the arm-bar and missed it by a couple of inches. And it was left in a scramble and I ended up with the Omaplata. However I couldn't finish it, he pulled his arm out, and we got to the scramble and I ended up on the dominant end of the North South turtle.

I eventually got him in side control. I tried doing a little bit of a guard pass for the back, but it didn't work, so I went for the Kimura. Again, didn't work. I wasn't getting frustrated because I thought I just wasn't taking my time as well as I could. We scrambled again. I got the Kimura set up on the other side.

So I'd had dominant position for the most of the fight by this point and was just getting everything I pretty much wanted, apart from the submission. He resisted the Kimura a bit, and I thought, I ain't getting a win by points first night in front of a world champion black belt.

So I slammed on an arm-bar, after a bit of resistance, I tried the Renzo Gracie gi-opener for the arm-bar. Didn't work. Went for some good ol' No Gi work and slided his hand off and got the tap.

[jackjitsu]

Nice!

[rowandraper]

I'm trying to look at what the score would've been, if done by CBJJ rules.

None of the major points scoring activities were really covered because he didn't pass my guard. I did get his back for around three seconds, but that was a North South Turtle, when I scooted round to attempt the choke and/or the arm-bar.

I got side control a couple times from a scramble. Does that count for passing the guard, I didn't think so, but anyways ... points are academic when they are submitted. I was just interested that's all.

[jackjitsu]

If you get side control and CONTROL them, hold them for a few seconds, then you get 3 points for a guard pass.

If you get their back, you have to get both hooks in and you get 4 points.
Again, for points, you must show that you have established the position.

So for example, if you pass his guard and get side control, but he instantly bumps out of it and replaces, you get nothing.

For mount, you get 4 points. Again, must establish, not for a split second.

For takedowns and sweeps, you get 2 points, but you must complete the takedown or sweep.

If you take them down but they instantly pop back up on their feet, no points.
If you sweep them but you dont end up on top with control, no points.

Submission = 1 trillion points

[rediska]

I have a question. How do you stay in the mount? I mean, even if I get it, which is pretty hard and happens rarely, all the opponent has to do is bridge or the elbow escape. I can only keep it for like thirty-fifty seconds. Not that my fellow white belts are having much better luck holding me down, but still. Any tricks I should know about?

[rowandraper]

Staying in mount is just about riding the wave your opponent is going to throw at you. You need to get close and tight to their body and put all your weight on them, because for them to escape they need to explode out, so you need to make it difficult. That's going to make it just as hard as fighting over the ankle and arm for the roll escape.

The key for me is being ready to transition. Don't just sit there in mount and expect it to be game over. Look for opportunities with side-control or taking the back putting the hooks in if they roll over.`

[jackjitsu]

when you get mount, think of it as two different positions.
High mount, and lay flat mount.

If you are postured up high, pull the eblows up and get really high in the mount so they cant upa you and cant use their elbows to escape.

Otherwise, lay flat on them, pin their face to the ground, and grapevine their legs.

Its when you are in the middle ground that they have the best chance for escape.
If you are in the middle and they get the elbow/knee escape going well, MOVE. Hop to the other side into sidecontrol. Do something. You have to move to another position before they complete the escape, then go back to mount.

[bma_mat]

I can't use high mount on my brother. When I high mount my brother (and he has very flexible back and legs), he basically bends his back and legs towards me, and grabs my body with his legs, and uses them to push me off.

[bma_mat]

I always use the flat mount that you described. Works great for americana locks (very underused in competitions if you ask me, from what I've seen at least).

[jackjitsu]

Just lean forward when he does that. You can feel it coming.