Friday, April 17, 2009 - open mat

some decidedly sparse notes on some things I'm working on... very much preliminary at this point:

• straight armlocks/overhooking the arm as a point of control/contact... wrapping up opponent's arm above the elbow from guard (open or closed), from top side control, and from a failed triangle position

I've always been a fan of wrapping up an arm just because it's an easier grip for me, and because it's especially snug in gi work. Got the option of securing it using your own/their lapel. The opponent can armlock themselves rather easily if they're not paying attention/spazzing; but more importantly, it's a quick move for me.

I normally preferred using this when in guard, opening guard and then using my insteps to take the opponent's knees/base out from under them. I liked wrapping the arm when in top side control as well, but acknowledge that this gives up a little bit of control in terms of keeping them pinned. If going for the armlock from here, it has to be fast. I don't know that it's a high percentage move, since it opens the door for them to escape when you raise up/remove the pressure to move into the armlock by stepping over, or by sitting up with the shin planted in their armpit. Some things to work on, for sure.

• Very, very early butterfly guard work. Lots to do here. Butterfly hooks aren't my forte right now, but that could be simply because I haven't studied the concept much, nor practiced it. I'm chiefly pulling my information from Marcelo Garcia's X-Guard book from Victory Belt, and from Stephan Kesting's Dynamic Guard Sweeps: The Butterfly and X Guard dvd.

I won't pretend to have more lofty ambitions than to study butterfly guard in order to later move into studying x guard. I think x guard is something that I could get into, being of similar (short, stocky legs) build as Garcia, and admittedly preferring an open guard/leg strength/flexibility based approach. However, some folks in class have mentioned an interest in butterfly guard, seem to have a natural tendency to end up with one or two butterfly hooks in when trying to shrimp escape from mount, so maybe this is an option to look into for their sake.

or maybe they need to work harder on shrimp escapes towards the end goal of replacing full guard. who knows?

I can't say I'm going all deep end into this specific guard, but it is an inadequacy. May as well address it in my own pursuits and learn something about butterfly guard, even if what I learn is "wow, my butterfly guard isn't a bread and butter position for me right now"

Looked at probably twice or three times the volume of stuff I'd normally like to for a simple open mat session. Didn't drill enough, either. Really more of an academic effort than anything else, and that's fine. Incubating ideas is just as important as executing them, I suppose.

but for now, happy to just look at and apply the basics. I can see a host of bad habits to remove/not allow to solidify.