This page will detail my new addiction: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Eventually, I will write some code to make it like the front page…and have it display blog entries based on a category.

Wednesday September 26, 2007
It’s been about a month and a half since I last went to Jits. I’m not really bored of it; I just haven’t had time. Not going, however, made me realize something: It doesn’t quite interest me as much as it did. When I was going on a regular basis, I was having a good time learning new things. With this break, I feel that I am even further behind than I would like to be. Sure, everyone there is cool, and would probably have no issues with me picking up where I left off, but I just don’t feel like putting myself through it right now. I have a ton of other shit I want to take care of. I want to house hunt, I want to job hunt, I want to do everything that I was not able to do for the last few months with school and BJJ taking up every weekday evening.

So for now…this is the last BJJ post for a while.

Tuesday June 25, 2007
Today was mount escape day, with the occasional forearm to the neck (that was fun, by the way…pfft).
Anyway, the first technique we did was preventing the choke while mounted (wow that sounds gay), and the proper positioning while in mount. Essentially, when your opponent has you in full mount and puts his one hand up your collar, the following things should happen:
If he puts HIS right arm across your chest and up into the collar…take YOUR left arm, and grab his hand with yours. An important thing to remember, however, is the positioning of your right arm…since you don’t want to give up the easy arm bar. You want your elbow inside his thigh, so that he doesn’t have an easy grab for the arm…and your hand should be running up his stomach and chest, trying to feel for any motion from him. If he starts to move his left arm across to complete the choke, your right hand should feel that motion before he gets a chance to get it off. At this point, you have two options. One option is to quickly switch hands; grab the arm coming across with the hand that is holding his other arm, and taking the right arm, and grabbing that hand…then bumping him UP. This is important…you don’t want to bump him to the side. If you bump him up, it is easier and more effective. The other option as he is bringing his left arm across for the choke is to cut it off with your right arm. Basically cup your hand and prevent him from moving it across your body. Then bump.

When your opponent has you in full mount, and you are in the proper position…he may just want to rip your right arm from the position it is in (up his chest, elbow in thigh). You can just keep your arm pulled down…and as he is struggling to rip it out…he will take some weight off, allowing for the easy bump up.

Finally…let’s say your opponent notices that he can’t get the choke…so what does he do? He will put all his weight on you, and try to go for an ezekiel choke. He will sprawl on you and put his arm under your head. What you want to do is the following: Before he sprawls on you…but as soon as you feel him move for it…take your entire arm across your body with the pinky side of your hand pointing up so your arm is perpendicular to your body. So when he lays on you…he is laying on your arm, and you have room to breath…he does not have proper positioning. If he tries to get his arm under your head…he will never be able to apply the choke..since your arm is across your body, you are effectively preventing him from getting the other arm in for the choke.

Thursday June 21, 2007
Today, we started out with a headlock escape when you are pinned against a wall. Basically, if a guy is pushing you into the wall, and you are on his right side, for example, the idea is to grab his right wrist with your right hand….put your left hand around his back and onto his hip, then step around him a bit, and lock his left knee with your left leg. At that point, drive the hips forward and plant that left leg….this will cause him to release his headlock grip. At this point also, your right hand is still holding his right wrist….so when you bring your hips forward and drive the leg down….this lets you control his wrist and perform a submission move on his shoulder.

Next, we did a couple variations of passing the guard, each stemming from the same basic guard pass. When you’re in someone’s guard, get on your knees, and drive your right knee to his hip so that you control your opponents hips. Step back with your left leg, which will usually leave some room between his left knee and your body. Slide your left arm under that knee and bring his leg up on your shoulder. At this point, your opponent could go for a triangle, so you have to really pay attention to how his legs are moving. If he does go for the triangle….get your right knee off the ground and stand on your right foot…this will prevent him from being able to bring you in or getting his other leg up. He could also try to bring your elbow in close…so at this point you should have your elbow close to your body, and preferably grabbing his belt. If he insists on bringing your elbow in still….just move your weight on top of him and stack him up…he will let go from all the weight….and you can get a side mount on him. The rest were variations of this.