As a continuation of my public notebook: I started a new daily blogging challenge to begin solidifying the learning that I’m doing while training jiu jitsu. Every day I will be doing a recap of what was done in class, what I liked & didn’t like, how my rolling (freeform fighting) went afterwards, and additional overarching takeaways from that day.

What I did,

On Wednesday May 22nd

Wednesday we worked takedowns. Something that I don’t feel super confident in when beginning rolls. Due to my inexperience and size, my two main issues are:

1. They seem to be easily defended against in the moment.
2. Whoever overcommits first, ends up on the bottom. I don’t have the control to balance the assertiveness & commitment of takedowns with the skill required to do them reliably.

Walking through a recap of what I repped:

Spiral Takedown: after getting an underhook under one arm, connect your hands with a gable grip and hug your head tight on the same side your underhook is on. As you drive your forehead into their jaw/neck, begin to tilt your undertook upwards. Consequently driving them down in a spiral, not stopping until you’re in side control.

Knee Tap Takedown: beginning with a collar grip and a hold on their tricep or wrist, take a large backstep 90 degrees–bringing the leg that is the same side as your arm grip forward. Now at a 90 degree angle to them, drive forward firmly with your collar grip hand and step towards them as you tap their knee (or ankle). The most important step is to keep the power in your hips as you turn away.

Knee Tap Reversal: (Following the same setup as before, but when you reach down to tap their knee they anticipate what’s coming and move their leg back). You’re still holding the same two grips. Spinning again in the opposite direction, 180 degrees, you let go of the hand grip and simultaneously search for an underhook. Tilting up while driving them down to the floor.

Russian Tie Bucket Throw: (Grab wrist and tricep from the underside and move your body behind their arm, you’re now standing slightly behind them while controlling their arm with your chest. Pushing down with your shoulder into theirs to break their posture). From this setup position, now step your foot in-front of theirs, and throw their arm in the direction it’s naturally pointing as they trip over their own foot. Making sure to throw them hard to the side and not forward or at a mild angle where they can recover.

Russian Tie Bucket Throw Reversal: They feel the throw coming. They step in-front of the foot you just put in-front of theirs. Instead of moving more, you simply take their arm with the same grips and throw it into their waist. Throwing off their center of mass and consequently tipping them backwards instead of forwards.

Seiuchin Takedown: From the above mentioned Russian tie set-up, you step behind them in a deep squat and reach across their legs from the front. With both palms facing their knees, wrap around to grab the tendons at the knees and snatch upwards. Sending them backwards over your leg. When squatting down, make sure to not break your own upper body posture–making yourself susceptible to headlocks or allowing them to take your back.

Troy’s Whipping Takedown: Holding on to a double grip at the collar of their gi (it has to be high above their collarbone), hang heavy on them like a weight and drive them hard backwards. The second they push back, step heavy backwards and turn your hips in a full 180 degree motion. Sitting your weight down to your butt as you spin down in a rainbow shape. Never let go of the grips to keep control of them, this will take them down but they may end up on the ground in different ways.

Rolling

Today in class we did rotating rolls for the first time in beginner. I did three, three minute rounds. I’m not going to go over a breakdown of every round, but I did much better today when I was going against women my own size and skill level, naturally.

My last round was with a more experienced (younger) man who was about my size. I was not in super good positions, on my back with no way to get out for a good chunk at the end. He didn’t tap me, I outlasted, but it’s always an uncomfortable feeling to be stuck. I learned one major thing from this:

• Practice with patience. When stuck somewhere I don’t want to be, I need to wait for individuals to commit to attacks in order to exploit the weaknesses they open up for themselves instead of gassing out by trying to get out before they even choose anything.

Conclusion of May 22nd

I took away my main point of patience, more confidence with repping takedowns, and learned a lot from writing this! In class I had many questions to ask, which I felt slightly bad for at the time, but it signifies my learning progress.