Armbar Triangled in Front

I like this as it doesn't seem to require a great deal of hip escaping.  Bottom's right leg comes across top's trapped arms (which are in bottom's wrist control).  Bottom's left leg crosses over top's far shoulder.

Judo Tournament Observations

I noticed the following from my recent Judo tournament.

1.  Judo posture is no joke.  Regular Judo players have a rigidity that other grapplers don't often see.

2.  The roll-with-the-flow mindset didn't help me.  (This may be a winning game plan for some, but it wasn't for me this time.)  I noticed more strength being used by average players.  Sure, the higher-level guys made it look effortless, but a good many players looked like they were exerting a lot of strength.  When my matches went to the ground, a lot of muscle was used by my opponents.  This seems to be the natural because Judo allows pins.  Knowing that victories could be awarded via pin, made being on bottom particularly stressful.  In a recent BJJ class, H talked to me about being on bottom.  "Top guy is not threatening; there is in no real danger.  Ride out the storm, and stay patient," he said.  While I need to be more active on bottom, this can serve me well in BJJ--but not Judo, obviously (unless, of course, I have my opponent in guard).

3.  Judo throws can be tough on ya.  I planned to use ouchi gari in my matches, but I got scared of what could put my leg in bad positions, so I abandoned that plan.  I saw some wicked seoi nages:  one lady landed on her face; one dude landed on his head/neck, twice.  (He actually got counted out, and the doctor wouldn't let him compete in any of his other matches.)  There were also a couple of folks whose shoulders got jacked up by seoi nage.  Yikes!  Now, most matches were conducted with no injury, but the ones that went array were scary.  There's no real worry, here.  I'm sure the same is true with BJ tourneys.

4.  I really had a blast.  My performance stunk, but I didn't have high expectations.  I watched a lot of matches; I enjoyed seeing the kids compete, and I would like my daughter who does BJJ to enter a Judo tournament.

BJJ Guy in a Judo Tournament

Well, I'm not entirely a BJJ guy.  Before training in BJJ, I did Judo work for a while and earned the rank of Yonkyu.  Also, my BJJ instructor is a Shodan, and we drill a good many Judo throws as a staple in our work.

I was lumped into an open division with older players of all sizes and experience levels.  That, of course, didn't bode well for me, but I was there for the experience points.  (Judo actually gives points for entering competitions, and such is a factor for promotion.)  Plus, this tournament was nearby and cheap, so Mission Experience and Takedown Focus was a go.

My first match was against a dude that I thought I was stronger than.  He was like a rock and surprised me with his Judo core strength.    (I was nervous, again, and hadn't adequately warmed up; blah, blah, blah.  No excuses, though.)  After a bit of grip fighting, we ended up on the ground as a result of no particular throw.  My opponent took North-South.  (This move has no real point value in BJJ, although passing the guard to get to this position would earn the passer some points, but my opponent did not start in my guard.)  I lost via pin.  It stunk, and I felt pretty badly.  My go-with-the-flow approach didn't work in this case.

My next match also ended in loss but was better.  I felt myself being more calm (not to mentioned warmed up after the first match).  We grip fought a bit, and my opponent (whom I know was a higher rank than I) managed to trip me up and gained top control.  Osaekomi was called, so I had about 25 seconds to escape.  I did so pretty easily and locked up guard on my opponent.  He hunkered down, and the ref stood us up.  I was feeling pretty comfortable on the ground, so I pulled guard and managed a decent scissor sweep, but my opponent based out, and we were soon stood up.

At this point, I felt like I should make more of an effort on my feet, and I put together my best stretch of offense of the whole day.  I went into the day thinking that I would limit my offense to a few basic moves:  ashi harai, ouchi gari, and o soto gari.  I told myself that I would do other throws as they presented themselves, but these would constitute my attacks.  As I watched the day's Judo, I got a little freaked out  with where I saw player's legs ending up.  I abandoned the idea of attacking with ouchi gari.  I feared shooting my leg in between my opponent's and being stuffed and pushed backward putting my knee in an awkward position.  (I'm going to write a separate post about general observations for my Judo experience.)  So, with kouchi gari off of my list, I attacked with a number of ashi harais, and I pushed and pulled nicely.

I pulled guard, but my opponent remained standing; I quickly stood and attempted a couple more attacks before before time ended.  My opponent won with a fractional point from the first trip.  I felt much better about this match.

Slightly Better Bread

I rolled twice in class.

The first was with a beginner, and it was complete charity (as I think was fitting; folks surely have given me plenty).  I coached my beginner partner into getting me in a variety of bad spots including submissions (including the kimura set up we worked on in class).

The second roll was with the big guy I ducked earlier in the day.  I resolved to be calm in this roll, and I think my calmness transferred to him.  (That plus the fact that we had already trained once in the day, and he was sticking around for another class after the beginner's class.)  I didn't stay on my back the whole match, but when I was on bottom, the big guy caught me with a slick modified ezekiel choke.  (As it turns out, this is a favorite move of his, so I don't feel terrible.)  When I was on top (in his guard, but still on top), he forced a kata juji jime.  My head was out of my gi because of his wild set up, but he kept on going.  (Just as a note:  if I am in situations that clearly aren't working the way they're supposed to, I abort.  I would never pull a dude's gi over his head and act like I'm working a legit kata juji jime.)  Oh well, I put my head back through the top of my gi that he removed.  Of course, that put me right in his choke which my adjustment made tight.  I tapped, but I also pretty much choked myself all things considered.  I didn't feel terrible.

Also, the second dude was complementary of me.  Of course, I appreciated that, but I began to wonder if he really meant what he was saying or just trying to be nice.  He said things to me that I have said to others when I was trying to be nice.  I've also said those things when giving very legit complements, too.  I can tell that this fellow will be a good test for my confidence and progress.  I'm glad I get to train with him and others.

Beginner's Class

Tonight after my child's class, I stayed for the beginner's class.  We began with self defense.  Uke grabs from behind with your arms in.  Base out; shimmy to one side then the other stepping behind the attacker.  Grad his knees and dump him.

Another grab from behind under the arms can be defended by basing out and grabbing your attackers leg and throwing him back.  From this position and knee bar is there for the taking.

When your attacker grabs you from behind under your arms, you can also strip the hand and lock up and kimura.  By spinning out, your attacker can be taken down.

The downed opponent gave us the chance to talk about a more classic set up of the kimura.  We also drilled an armbar for when the kimura is defended.

111711#195

Bad Rolls

I'm feeling the pressure to improve when things go live, and I have a short list of things that I need to begin to accomplish in rolls.

Today wasn't good, and it was a bad day in a bad week, so my the knowledge from breaking down my rolls begins now.

#1 I worked with big p, so he was my first roll.  He's about my same height, but much stronger than I.  He uses his size well, and I found myself out of position most of this match.  I go to bottom too much, though I can often sweep.  In this no-gi class, however, the big guy didn't move.  At one point, I turned into him.  He had good base and took my back and rode for a while.  I defended the rear-naked pretty well and shoulder escaped once.  From there, he took mount which turned into back mount.  After some hand fighting, I tapped to a less-than-perfect rear naked choke.  I'm taking nothing away from him.  I tapped, and even if I would have fought off longer, he had position on my almost the entire match.  I hated it.

#2  This one was against warrior jav.  I'm a little taller and bigger than he is, but this dude is intense, and he's a competitor with a tournament upcoming.  We started from sitting, and I wasn't going to go to my back, but he grabbed my heels and pushed me to my back.  This single, starting move took a lot of fight out of me because I did not want to be on my back.  Oh well.  I stayed calm against the smaller guy who is very good.  I gained half guard; he made it to mount.  I defended most of his attacks.  He moved from position to position on top.  I should have sat up, but I wasn't being threatened with a whole lot.  In one of his transitions, he hooked an arm and went for the armbar.  I was defending by holding my hand together.  I felt strong here.  Of course, he had the better position.  He was working hard and doing a lot right.  I unlocked my hands and tapped to his armbar.  It was a good get.  Fighting it longer would only take away more productive roll time.  At this point in the class, I'm feeling totally defeated, but we have time for one more roll.

#3  My purple belt bud and I rolled.  We are very even in size, and we keep similar pace (i.e. a bit slower and more technical than many).  I was seated; he was on his knees, until he ran around my legs and landed in side control, of course.  I'm on bottom again and against a guy who rarely gives up top position.  His side control turned into mount.  I threatened his posture and gave him a few things to think about with elbow/knee escape attempts.  I gave him too few things to think about apparently, because he locked up a top side kinda triangle thingie.  It wasn't perfect; one whole side of my neck was open, but I tapped to it eventually.

With that I was done.  I felt like a fish out of water, and I simply have to improve.  Strangely, putting those rolls into works (as opposed to leaving them on the matt as I normally do) is already starting to help. This may be a good move for me.

Roll Goals

I want/need to get better in live situations; period.  I've decided to track my rolls.

Here's what I want to do.
1.  I want to be on top half of my roll time (not necessarily half the time in each match but half of my total roll time).
2.  I want to make a serious attack in each match.


The time of feeling victorious by just surviving is over.  Of course, in some cases surviving is the name of the game (i.e. against a better opponent, etc.).  Other than those cases, I need to push a plan.