Jiu Jitsu Diary - 5

Last night was great! I went down and trained at Suginami Aikikai in SOMA. Man, what a big beautiful open Aikido dojo.

Very nice place, well maintained. And I got basically a private lesson from 6th Degree BJJ Black Belt Master Clovis Silva and 3rd Degree BJJ Black Belt Lucio Muramatsu. There's like three 6th Degree Black Belts in the Bay Area (Clovis, Ralph, Cesar?), so it was pretty special and pretty awesome. I got to roll with two of their white belts, but their white belts are hardcore and serious, Jack and Tevin (sp?). We mostly went over how to get an Armbar from Back Control:

That video is a little more MMA than what we did, we did the first one, traditional with Gi. But that's basically the move. Often I find myself in in this situation and struggle for the Rear Naked Choke and wrist fight the whole time, so I'm pumped to find another attack from the back. And it was an honor to be instructed by Clovis and Lucio.

Jiu-Jitsu Diary - 4

Hey, wrote this last Thursday, but you know, with the holidays, everything is running behind. Anyhow, here's Diary Day 4:

Diego 2 taught today (last week). Another basics class, Armbar from Guard and Omoplata Submission from Guard. Seeing as how we did this twenty times each side, my legs were burning by the end of drills. Rolled against Christina, a new white belt, and Jorge Rendon, a purple belt. Christina just kept on working the whole time and despite being new, kept the pressure on and didn't give up. With that kind of work, she's going to be submitting people bigger than her in no time. And of course, Jorge totally worked me. I came in strong, rushed him, got the better of him, but, as usual, he stayed calm, worked the clock, ground out his position and ended the round with a close choke. Was a good day.

Jiu-Jitsu Diary - 3

Lucio taught today. We went over Side-Control reversal, meaning, switching the side you are controlling, via Mount or via North-South, or what the rest of the world calls 69ing, though people in BJJ can sometimes be a bit... well, not homophobic, but let's just say they're aware they're hugging dudes a lot and how socially awkward that is. And ladies, too. So, North-South it is. 

At any rate, there's some good tricky stuff in these reversals. The best is head pressure. Lucio taught us that just putting pressure on the face and jaw with your shoulder from Side-Control, that's just being mean. "It just make mad your opponent." There's a potential submission in there, if you do the head pressure right. Once in Side-Control move your shoulder from the chin/cheek to the chest and then put the pressure back by going under the jaw. Readjust by going back to the chest a few times if you have to. Didn't really get to test this out cause I went with Oscar who is HIGH ENERGY and was never still long enough for me to actually sink in Side-Control. I rolled with Not-Adrian, a guy whose name I keep forgetting and keep calling him Adrian (he's not tagged in any of the group photos on FB, so I can't even look him up), and managed to get him in a Snake-Choke via Sode-Gurama-Jime I got off Jorge's FB page. This one:

Sakuraba is a beast! And an asshole. I was much nicer and asked if Not-Adrian was okay before I crushed him.

Jiu-Jitsu Diary - Day 2

Today class was taught by Diego Bezerra (as best I can tell how you spell it; Diego 2), a brown belt from AKA. Good class (all classes are good). Drilled Standing Guard Break to Side-Control to a Kimura submission. Basics, but basics are ALWAYS good. Worked with Bob, he's strong and while doesn't have a lot of technique right now, it's only a matter of time before he's DANGEROUS. Jorge got me in a Papercutter Choke that I only survived cause I managed to run out the clock. 

Was a good day. 

Jiu-Jitsu Diary - Day 1

So, I decided to take Conrad Biu's advice and keep a jiu-jitsu diary to track what I learn. So, here we go. Note: I'm starting this as a third stripe white belt, still wet behind the ears!

Today was a good roll. Lucio Muramatsu (third degree black belt) taught the class. We went over the Double Under Pass with a gi grip variation and hips out to the side to side-control to mount to S-guard to arm-bar. The coolest thing, though, was we went over what to do when you get to mount and they block. We did a four fingers out collar grip to neck pressure from full mount to get the guy on the bottom open up his arm and then you use your chest to trap the elbow. Very cool, at least for me, because I always find myself in the mount position and I try for a Kimura or Ezekiel or a double collar choke and once my opponent sees it coming, it's hard to slip in a submission after that point.

Anyhow, this isn't the video cause I couldn't really find one with all the Lucio variations, but it's a good reminder. 

Chris Darrow - That's What It's Like to Be Alone