Another year of training is coming to an end, but I am very grateful for my friends and training partners and the things that they have shared with me so I thought I would put some of them down here.
Rafael Lovato Jr - Back Take from Turtle
I have been able to train a good amount with him this year and we always have great rounds. He will be in town again in a couple weeks. But the favorite thing that he has shown me this year is a back take similar to the Renzo Roll, but more based on wrist control rather than the seatbelt. This plays well with what we do off the bodylock from turtle and then thigh pry/spiral ride which we combine off crucifix attacks.. I will be showing this in advanced class soon.
Xande Ribeiro - High Kneeshield w/ Collar Tie
It is always fun to be able to pick your instructor’s brain about how to deal with a difficult situation. Lovato plays a high knee shield with a wrestler’s collar tie. I used to deal with it by combing the hand off the head like you do from the feet, but he started countering that by getting his top foot in my chest. So I asked Xande and he uses his forearm to attack the kneeshield before gaining inside tie vs the collar tie. This combined with trying to flatten kept the game moving more.
Dave Zabriskie - Single Leg from Guard
We played around and made some changes to the single leg from open gaurd, utilizing the leg pull single rather than the outside single leg to help wrestle up and changed some hand positions since you don’t get the proper post with your feet. This has killed the worry about someone sprawling while I wrestle up. Sometimes it used to be too hard on my shoulders to shoot in, but now I don’t have to worry about it. Fun to get ground ideas from a wrestler.
Yan Lucas - Standing Knee in Tailbone
This was becoming a favorite of mine, but Yan made some tweaks to my standing knee in tailbone pass. He used this successfully against Murilo Santana at Pans this year. He steps more out to the side than what I have seen before and really upped my confidence with it. I used to prefer doing the full “credit card” pass to combat base, but now I prefer staying standing and it works great both gi and no gi.
Nick Heflin - Improving the underhook
Nick showed how he shrugs the shoulder and whips his arm to take a decent underhook into an iranian style underhook. You always want to be attacking right away when you get your underhooks, but sometimes improving the underhook vs a decent whizzer or head position is a type of attack I wasn’t thinking about enough. It really makes getting the knee pick or body lock so much easier.
Victor Hugo - Shin Hook from Cross Knee
Leave it to the big guy to have the best footwork. But he sometimes uses a shin hook from a cross knee pass that I have really been liking. I use a lot of egg beaters to clear feet, but I sometimes get stuck using the leg they are trying to hook. By using the free leg it can really create havoc on some of your partners last defenses and get things moving again.
Closing Thoughts
I am always grateful to have so many great training partners. These are just a couple of the awesome things that I have picked up and doesn’t include the things I learn from my students. I have training BJJ for a long time and it doesn’t get old. You are always learning, refining and tweaking to make the moves more efficient and to counter things others are developing.