A few little details that I hadn't thought of before, namely putting your arm under your opponent's arm that is not locked inside the triangle.
Please, no comments about my brother being better looking than me. He and I have fought over who gets the hot chick many a time, with me winning every time. He can, however, practically tap me with his arms inside his belt.
(Conan, yes the trap is set for you. I'm watching this closely to see if you mess with what I have done).
5/8/09
Curtis Yergensen Triangle Goodies
5/7/09
“Conan! What is best in life?”
“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.”
I subscribe to Stephen Kesting’s, Beginning BJJ, and regularly receive his emails with grappling tips for beginners. Imagine my surprise when I read his last email with this quote, “…as Conan might say, use those refined attributes and ‘crush your enemies, see them driven before you...’” Oops, different Conan, but a classic quote nonetheless.
I especially enjoyed Mr. Kesting’s email this week about reading your opponent. This is something I do all the time, and I have one training partner in particular to thank for this. After getting tapped out by Zac on any number of occasions, he would comment about how he was listening to my breathing. While I would be gasping for air, he would wait until I exhaled and then sink in the finishing move. Another annoying thing Zac would do is to pay attention to the way I was preparing to bridge. He could feel me starting to load up, and then was able to shift his weight or counter me before I could effectively bridge. It was like he knew what I was going to do even before I knew what I was going to do.
At first, it wasn’t enough just to know what Zac was doing to defeat me. It was frustrating because I didn’t yet have the skill to not telegraph my movements. I didn’t have the skill to keep from being crushed on the bottom while I struggled to breath.
As my skill level increased, I learned how to do to others what Zac had been doing to me for years. I learned how to better read my opponents. Stephen puts it like this, “Much as a 'tell' in poker gives other experienced players at the table an advantage, picking up on subtle clues like this can help you dominate larger and stronger opponents on the mat.”
Often times I’ll tell my students after a match that they shouldn’t have hesitated with a particular movement or technique. That one moment of hesitation was all their opponent needed to pick up on what he or she was going for, and then defend or counter.
The great part about all of this is that as you learn how to be more stealthy with your movements, you naturally become more in-tune with your opponent’s movements.
5/4/09
Fedor
As most of us know by now, Fedor is set to compete in the ADCC 2009, along with many other big name grapplers and MMA superstars. Brent has been working overtime to uncover every Fedor video ever uploaded to YouTube. In addition, he has some special software program constantly running that detects any new uploaded Fedor video and then sends out an alert to notify him of the existing video. This is a win-win situation for us. We get to benefit from Brent's hardwork, but don't have to spend one minute searching out these little treasures.
One other little tid bit of information. Brent has legally changed his middle name to Фëдор (English translation: Fedor). He's also been seen in his backyard pounding tractor tires with a sledge hammer. Now I'm no psychologist, but I'm pretty sure this is a good indication that's he's gone off the deep end. So as not to disturb him any further, I suggest that the next time you see him it would be best to just smile and say, "hello, Fedor."
5/3/09
You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
A couple of weeks ago I was volunteered for a job that I was completely unqualified for. Instead of backing out, I decided to rise to the challenge, to say “I’ll try” instead of “I can’t”. The result has been that I’ve been able to learn more in two weeks than I had in the two years beforehand. This got me to thinking about how Shihan always advocates “life-long learning”. Not only in your chosen art at the dojo, but outside of it as well. He encourages taking non-martial arts related classes in addition to your training. The more you keep your brain engaged in learning, the more you learn. Take guitar lessons, learn to dance, try an art class. You don’t have to become great at anything, the process itself is what counts. Just like inside the dojo, you might be surprised at what you can do outside of it if you only try.
Gina Ethridge
Reverse Sankaku Jime
David Kluthe sent me a link to this video this morning. Although the reverse triangle choke is generally executed on the ground, this standing adaptation is pretty spectacular!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
.JPG)