The Journey

Went over the circle: Side Knee on belly Mount Knee on belly Side Then, add north south. Provoke the arm bar from knee on belly.

Please read, study and memorize these key  components of BJJ Positional Hierarchy Back control      BEST Mount top Knee on Belly North South Side control top Closed Guard bottom (if trained) 4 limbs Open Guard bottom ½ Guard top ½ guard bottom Open  Guard top Closed Guard top Neutral Side control bottom Mount bottom Back taken       Worse However each position has its own strengths and weaknesses; 4 limbs rather than 2 or 3, mobility or lack of, power, speed, leverage, gravity & weight, what if there is more than 1 person and I need to sweep and get to my feet fast, etc..  Solid survival defense must come first, using elbows forearms, knees and shin to protect vital areas. Smooth Reversals, and escapes must not put you in worse positions. Solid  Transitions are crucial to any success. Positional changes and submissions will create an opening, proper timing and opport...

Wow, where to start. Triangle: S Mount, utilize the mouse trap. Drilled the arm bar: Guard, mount, knee on belly Use the elbow to shirk the arm and setup the punch. Pass the guard: Standing pass- posture up, turn the body to break the guard Control 1 arm and 1 shoulder, in a squat type position. Keep the arm but stand, good hips to break the guard open. Played the card monkey roll game: Don is a beast. When we faced each other, 45 seconds of sparring- his strong attacks and direct punches and kicks were downright scary. Need to relax, compose myself, and begin to defend. Utilize the arm to head triangle defense to close the distance. Use the kick to keep distance to the leg. This was effective.

Working on understanding the positional hierarchy. Always advance the position. Work toward better position. Need to set up the mouse trap to progress to the next position: Trap the arm Attack the neck Move up the body and trap/control as you go. Control before position before submisison

Wathched John Danaher with Joe Rogan this morning. Several things stood out: 1- Talked a lot about martial arts in general being the foundation, in particular with GSP. He had more than just wrestling and ground and pound. 2- Liked his mention of BJJ is 4 things: A- Take it to the ground B- Pass the Feet C- Control the Body D- Submit/Finish 3- Not position before submission, control before submission. This is really Pedro's approach. Control the opponent the whole way through! Very cool.

Worked various guard positions, spider, XGuard, etc. Worked the flying arm bar. Caught it in a roll! Also caught 3 arm bars in about a 3min period, exciting.

Love this class with Marshal. Worked defending the body punches. Stand up sparring Defending punches from the guard, get to mount, get out of the guard, sweep! Dont defend kicks with your hand! Ouch... Punches to the body hurt, even with the pads on! Everyone donned the body protectors and had 30seconds of everyone in the room punching them Work with the stick and the knife- defending the knife means controlling the knife. The 12 step stick/knife movement

I still need to relax. Sometimes frustrating that I dont get the submission faster, takes me a while to setup the submission. Need to get better at side body. Build a triangle, prayer posture, stop the opponent from coming in and keep space. Hit the arm bar at least twice, maybe even three times. Almost got the arm bar multiple times.

Take the back class. 1- Point the finger! Where the fingers go, the shoulders go. Both blue belts failed to remember this! LOL 2- The choke over the side of the neck works well with an under collar grip. Can be loose which is nice. 3- The arm bar from back is really easy. More of a sneak attack though... 4- Getting to north/south and getting back is way easier than it looks. 5- The back can be had from mount by bringing the leg up when the opponent shrimps out and putting in the leg hooks. 6- the back can be had from turtle with a roll 7- The back can be had from side similar to a turtle.