Attacking above and below (training diary)

Main Lesson

We focused on groundwork today, but warmed up with some grip fighting following on from a functional fitness warm-up. The session commenced with the top game, looking at various pins around the body. We began with side control and drilled the Americana arm-lock. Then switched to an adjusted scarf-hold (underhook rather headlock position) and looked at an arm-bar. This was followed with a transitional exercise going through the main pins in sequence. We then had a look at different escapes, all of which begin with a bridge and are often followed with a snaking motion. We then did the transitional exercise with the person underneath prompting each transition with an attempted escape. This section was concluded with some specific sparring beginning with a pin.

We followed this section with the guard and looked at the triangle choke and the arm-bar from the closed guard.

We then moved onto striking from these different positions, using focus mitts. This was done by through the different pins. The lesson was concluded with some MMA sparring.

Private Lesson

The private lesson followed a similar format to the regular class, but covered more ranes. We began with grip fighting and guard passing. Then we put the gloves on to work ducking under the jab. This included a low jab and a low jab/high kick.This was put under pressure with some specific sparring – jab only versus boxing.Next we looked at ducking the jab into a single or double leg takedown.

On the ground we looked at the scissor guard, working the sweep, and a counter, covering the heel hook. The lesson was finished with another 150 medicine ball and bodyweight series of exercises.