Gamers that fight - Martial Arts catch-all

Everyone's got their things. I bow before entering and leaving the mat, and bow to the instructor, but everyone I learned from before has had a judo background as well. Now at the new place they clap, which is weird to me. I don't mind calling teachers sir. I dunno.

Geoff is a judo black belt too though. I think he is just allergic to tradition.

Yeah, everyone's got their thing.

I really need to work my side control escapes.

Most important part of escaping side control is patience.

maverickz wrote:

Most important part of escaping side control is patience.

I am learning that.

I had a 240 pound, no stripe white belt smashing me last night (I started in side to see if I could get out of it) and was frustrated that I wasn't able to force an escape until I realized that I was framed out and he wasn't advancing his position. I could breathe, my arms were not in danger, and he was just holding on like a rodeo rider. Once I accepted that I wasn't going to force him, I relaxed and watched him overexert himself trying to force an Americana that just wasn't there. Every time he would try to wrench the far arm, I would just bridge and pop my elbow back under his chin.

After about five solid minutes of this, I noticed something odd. I was completely fresh and he exhaustion tapped. It's usually ME in that position from the bottom.

It's not how I would probably handle a "real fight" (whatever the hell that is), but it sure as hell seemed to do the trick for Jiu Jitsu rules.

Paleocon wrote:
maverickz wrote:

Most important part of escaping side control is patience.

I am learning that.

I had a 240 pound, no stripe white belt smashing me last night (I started in side to see if I could get out of it) and was frustrated that I wasn't able to force an escape until I realized that I was framed out and he wasn't advancing his position. I could breathe, my arms were not in danger, and he was just holding on like a rodeo rider. Once I accepted that I wasn't going to force him, I relaxed and watched him overexert himself trying to force an Americana that just wasn't there. Every time he would try to wrench the far arm, I would just bridge and pop my elbow back under his chin.

After about five solid minutes of this, I noticed something odd. I was completely fresh and he exhaustion tapped. It's usually ME in that position from the bottom.

It's not how I would probably handle a "real fight" (whatever the hell that is), but it sure as hell seemed to do the trick for Jiu Jitsu rules.

You basically just described like 50% of my entire game.

If someone is really really intent on holding you down, and side control is the best/easiest position for that, then they aren't going for a submission and therefore are 1) not creating the space necessary for you to start escaping so why waste energy and 2) not trying to actively submit you so you're not under threat.

The next step is learning a few submissions from side control bottom, which then makes the position not completely defensive but offensive as well, which can either net you a sub or force your opponent to create space. I've had people tap from side control top to a good loop choke that I sunk as they put me on my back.

My go to submission from the bottom starts with the bridge to hip escape. This gives me just enough space to get my near side knee under the arm and the far side leg over and around the head for the straight armbar.

If folks give me that space with the bridge up to hip out, I also just do the windshield wiper to underhook to escape out the back sometimes as well.

Most folks don't give that to me though and immediately drop to Gase once they feel me bump up. This forces me to either leg pendulum swing to get my near side elbow down, scissor my legs to go belly down, and drive the single to reverse if I can get the far side shoulder off the ground.

If they manage to flatten me out though (which happens with REALLY heavy people), I find my only resort is to walk my legs toward them and bridge to roll to a sweep.

Yeah. My game is super predictable. You'd probably shut it down with a yawn.

How flexible are you?

maverickz wrote:

How flexible are you?

Funny. There is a brown belt at our gym that LOVES that move. There is a kimura version of that as well that he gets folks with even more.

There's some neat and sneaky stuff you can do from that position, despite it being such a disadvantageous one. But it really does require you to be calm, collected, and thinking about what you want to achieve and how.

I got someone with a near side kimura once from side bottom, but that is really rare because it requires someone to be lose on the important arm. I also managed to scramble into a weird inverted triangle once when someone managed to bail out of my armbar. But yeah, mostly it is about surviving long enough to find your opening.

Pulled a muscle in my lower back trying to push someone's other arm off my armbar attempt with my leg. My hamstring was probably too tight. I managed to finish the sub, but had to sit out the rest of the roll. Thing is, I wasn't even going hard. It was just one of those weird circumstances like pulling out your back reaching for the shampoo in the shower.

A little bit of motivation for the day:

And my favorite grappler of all time, Dean Lister. Side note, Stuart Cooper makes good videos.

Just thought this was an interesting video.

I have mostly been practicing side control escapes for the last month or so.

My ribs hurt.

A thing happened today.

IMAGE(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/27971670_10212308967094361_2605558333453433569_n.jpg?oh=8ac3a3be0c6facc6eb1a16c0e75f3c23&oe=5B21110A)

Parabens! Blue belt today, tomorrow the world!

One of the brown belts playfully warned me "get ready for the shoulder of justice. the training wheels are off now".

I was thinking that exact thought! You don't get the white belt benefit anymore.

Awesome!

I'm thinking I should buy myself a couple gis for my birthday.

The IBJJF needs to get their heads out of their ass and come over to the light on leg locks.

https://www.bjjheroes.com/bjj-news/e...

Newcomer wins all his EBI matches via inside heel hook.

Funny you should mention that.

I've talked with a bunch of BJJ school owners who have said that the whole IBJJF membership thing is just a particularly egregious example of rent seeking behavior. For all the money they send them, all they get in return is a cheap sticker to put on their door and the opportunity to send fighters to one of a billion different set of grappling tournaments. I suspect that folks will increasingly opt out in the future much like gyms are doing for Crossfit(tm) certification.

I treated myself to a pair of Fuji Suparaito gis for my birthday and as a promotion thing. That and my white gis are getting the collar grunge and funk, so it is about time to get new ones anyway.

It all seems so overwhelming now. So much I suck at. So much I need to shore up before I can even decide what I want to be "good" at. When does it get to the point where you feel like you know what you're doing?

Paleocon wrote:

It all seems so overwhelming now. So much I suck at. So much I need to shore up before I can even decide what I want to be "good" at. When does it get to the point where you feel like you know what you're doing?

Pretty much never. Sorry.

Paleocon wrote:

I treated myself to a pair of Fuji Suparaito gis for my birthday and as a promotion thing. That and my white gis are getting the collar grunge and funk, so it is about time to get new ones anyway.

That's the one I want to get as well, when I manage to talk myself into spending money on gis.

Paleocon wrote:

Funny you should mention that.

I've talked with a bunch of BJJ school owners who have said that the whole IBJJF membership thing is just a particularly egregious example of rent seeking behavior. For all the money they send them, all they get in return is a cheap sticker to put on their door and the opportunity to send fighters to one of a billion different set of grappling tournaments. I suspect that folks will increasingly opt out in the future much like gyms are doing for Crossfit(tm) certification.

The IBJJF is a scam. They're a for-profit corporation with shady leadership posing as a not for profit sports organization. They have no interest in the well being of their athletes. That's why they now require membership for non black belts too. The whole thing is a scam. Unfortunately you still have to pay up if you want to compete in the big BJJ comps
Though more about more people are just not. There are plenty of NON-IBJJF comps for people not out to make BJJ their life's work.

Fuji has a 2 for $195 going for last year’s models. Looks like they have all sizes still available. That’s what I went for.

I get that you never stop learning, but surely there’s got to be a point at which you don’t feel like every aspect of your game is either sh*t or just barely holding together. At some point you have to be able to say “my guard is solid af” or “stand up. I f*cking dare you.” I mean I see folks like that in my very gym.

I mean, there's comes a point where you see things coming or what your opponent is planning. That is almost entirely a matter of being exposed to techniques and mat time. i.e. just gotta put in the time. And that time is counted in years, unfortunately. You probably won't even notice until the day it happens. Until you go up against someone better than you, at which point you're back to feeling like you're barely hanging on. It's all relative.

Folks warn me that just getting your blue is one of the toughest stages and that it is just something you have to gut through. This sort of explains why so many people quit at blue, I guess. Everything is about to get really hard they say and it will be tough to gauge progress.

I hope I don't get too discouraged.