26.02.20 Wednesday night’s junior Submission Grappling looked at guard passing and the senior MMA took a Western Boxing perspective. Junior Submission Grappling covered going through the closed guard after our usual specific callisthenic warm-up. The warm-up involved a sit-out exercise that promoted the coordination of stepping through and back with the legs, something that would be crucial in the guard passing technique. The pass was one first taught to me by Kevin Webb back when I was training at Gracie Barra in Birmingham under Braulio Estima. The technique involves posturing up, cat stretching the back to help pop open guard, going to combat base and controlling the legs before putting pressure on one leg and passing through the guard. It is important to remember at the passing point to pass through first with the leg that is not pressuring the opponent’s guarding leg. Here we apply more pressure to the opponent’s body as the pass is finally completed. The lesson finished with 2 x 5 minute rounds of guard-passing – attack and defence. The senior lesson went straight into using boxing footwork and setups with the jab as well as switching levels. We looked at moving away from attempt to clinching and breaking from the clinch into combinations. We also looked at different ways to counter kicks with boxing techniques. The main part of the lesson was 5 x 5 minute rounds of MMA sparring. Three of these rounds were heavily coached, providing me with opportunities to spot and help correct weaknesses as well as build on good attributes. We looked at moving out off the wall in a productive fashion, being wary of becoming predictable and managing ranges effectively.
Comments