After last week’s focus on the armlock from the guard, this week began with a counter and guard pass off the armlock attack.The CBDP for the move was:Hug / Step / Head / Pull / Clinch / SwitchHUG the head with the free arm. STEP up with the trapped si…

I’m in Philly tonight on business and trained at Maxercise.  After being gone for less then ten days, it was amusing to walk back in as a “visitor”.  I’m really tired tonight, though, so this will be a very short blog post. First the technique (a clock choke from the turtle position).

Step 1:  Start with opp turtled
Step 2:  To choke using your left hand, take his back as follows
               a.  Your right hip on his left hip
               b.  Your right shoulder on his right shoulder blade
               c.  Your head below his shoulder
Step 3:   Use your right hand to open his right collar
Step 4:   Slide your left hand across opp’s neck and into the collar; grip as high and tight as you can
Step 5:   Grip his left gi lapel with your right hand
Step 6:   Walk counter clockwise around opp’s head; put your head on the mat; keep walking until he taps.

If opp doesn’t open up enough to allow you to do Step 5 above, then you can:
Step 5:  Bring left foot beside opp’s head
Step 6:  Remove body weight from opp while quickly swinging your right leg/foot clockwise over opp’s body and placing it beside your left foot (to the left of your opp’s head)
Step 7:  Sit back on opp’s shoulders/upper back and continue the momentum until you’re sitting on the mat (while maintaining the choke grip)
Ste p 8:  Grip opp’s gi shoulder with your right hand and straighten your legs

Trained with three folks. The first is a blue belt who scratches and muscles a lot.  I decided as soon as we were paired up to just hold her off for five or six minutes.  Generally speaking, I just get scratched even more whenever I start to set up a submission with her.

Next was John D, our instructor.  Of course, I pretty much just got schooled for 5 or 6 minutes.  I did an okay of scrambling to come up on top when the opportunity arose, but I did a very poor job working the techniques I learned in my private with him earlier this month.  In fact, at one point I got his back and he was doing the escape he showed me in the private.  I knew he was setting this up so that I could work the counter to the escape, but I couldn’t remember it for the life of me.  Of course, as I sat down to write my blog post tonight, I immediately remembered the counter.  Doh!

Last was a purple belt who’s about my size but she’s got better technique (and cardio) than me.  Cardio-wise, though, I definitely felt like I was keeping up.  This is a nice change that I think may have been the result of some of last week’s crazy cardio at Unit 2.

Sure I’ve been teaching the ladies for almost a year, given some private lessons and taught a class at LIMAA Elkridge once and at a gym in Orlando, but surprisingly enough, I had yet to teach a co-ed class at 50/50.

Originally, I didn’t teach the regular classes because Ryan didn’t want a blue belt to teach BJJ at 50/50 – he made an exception for the women’s class because he thought a female instructor would be better for the new ladies. That said, Ryan had actually wanted to have me start teaching one basics class per week when we opened the new place (once I had my purple belt) but I begged off because of school this semester – I didn’t want the added responsibility.

But today happened. Ryan is out in Chicago helping Jeff Curran train for his MMA fight this coming weekend. And Seph had shoulder surgery two weeks ago and was trying to move out of his place today with one arm which of course took longer than expected, he got stuck late so he asked me if I could fill in.

Last minute notice, the first thing I thought was, “crap, what do I know well enough to teach to the group?” Funny that I don’t worry about that in the small group of women, but Mondays are usually our most crowded basics class so I was nervous. Most people would think that after almost 4 and a half years of BJJ that I would know TONS of stuff well enough to teach, but I always worry about forgetting something important, or not knowing how to explain moves well enough that they make sense or messing it up and accidentally teaching something “wrong”…the way I had learned to do it at one of my old gyms before Ryan stopped me from doing it that way.

So the second thing I did was call Ryan and ask him for advice about what to show. Probably shocking to everyone who read his lockflow article – the immediate non-hesitating response was “closed guard – they need to work on that”. So we decided that I would show the armbar and triangle (of my own accord I opted for the stomp/curl version of the triangle that Ryan showed in his WMA DVD, I think it’s easier for ppl like me – stumpy legged, lol).

I thought the class went well, the guys were all extremely respectful and asked lots of questions (one lady was in attendance too). They really seemed to be improving during the course of the class which was good to see. Despite that, I was still worried about how it went when Ryan Harmon (one of our longer term white belts) made me feel better after he posted on his facebook that though he was sad that he could only watch class because of an injury that he was happy to have learned more about proper hip movement – so I may not be up for BJJ instructor of the year but at least one person learned something new!

Arrived home today. Back from the wilds of New Zealand and looking forward to thr week ahead. I have my good friend Dave Meyer arriving this wednesday morning – and another good friend – Marc Herbert beating him in from South Africa by ten hours or so. So it’s airport runs and mat madness for the next week or two.
I cannot wait to get back to class tomorrow night – and once again step onto the Geelong mat. I miss teaching and working with my students – and my regular routines. Having Dave on the mat for the next few weeks will add some spice for all of us. It’s going to be a blast.

Although this may interest very few – here are a couple of pics from my back-country adventure. newly hatching Canadian Goose chicks – just fighting their way out of the eggs. These little guys have to fend for themselves from day one – the mother doesn’t help out at all … and we complain about life being tough!
The other is a shot of me standing waist deep in the snow-melt, after swimming down a river chasing this trout. Had to get underwater and unhook him from beneath the overhanging bank a couple of times – a huge battle – and below freezing. Wet but happy.

Anyways – I will be getting back to my usual blogging as of now … again, apologies for my absence … but when the wilds call ….

JBW

Ryan Hall is in Crystal Lake, IL this week to help MMA superstar Jeff “The Big Frog” Curran as he prepares to take on dangerous Japanese fighter, Tomohiko Hori, in XFO 34.

Coming off of a first round TKO of Dustin Neace at Strikeforce only 2 weeks ago, Jeff is looking to notch another victory and [...]

Yes! Officially I’m back writing in these electronic pages and posts people. Keep an eye out for updates, pictures, reports and stories galore!
I may not be able to train as much as I want to in the upcoming new year, but you can bet I’ll be challenging myself creatively and blogwise! Yeeha!
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Bloodline Feather weight fighter John Kelly was adding the final preparation for his upcoming fight this Saturday at the Ultimate Challenge London, Kelly who was due to fight Mark Adams for the tournament tittle is now fighting Simon gill as Adams pulled out due to personal reasons.

Eddie Kone and team travelled 3and a half hours on Saturday to visit and teach at one of our new affiliate academy’s which is located in Rotherham South Yorkshire.

Well done Cos,

Wow.Stop. Do not collect $200. Do not pass go. Go directly to this interview at the FightWorks Podcast immediately.