Grappling Session No. 5

I was lucky Monday evening and got to train with two
blackbelts, D and T. I didn't sleep very well Sunday night
due to muscle soreness. Although I felt good in the morning
when my resting heart rate was 48/min, it went up to 60/min
before the class in the evening.

Because I asked a question about choking, D decided on the spot, today would be a cross-choke-focus class which meant, for
one thing, I got strangled a lot ;-). T looked over 70 and
frail with a full head of white hair but he showed great
strength and agility as we rolled while D was shouting
instructions at me. D must be over 190 lbs. He was flexible
and super-strong. He never stopped moving when sparring.
Getting squeezed under him was not comfortable.  Being
smaller than these guys, I had the advantage of
maneuverability but just didn't have the knowledge.

This was a rare class where I learnt the most and most
effectively through sparring. Here were the things they
taught me:

- D learnt how to do/feel the effective armbar when he was a
  purplebelt and cross-choke when a brownbelt. Moreover, 
  after he perfected his choke, his armbar skill rusted. It's
  amazing how simple these attacks look but hard to get right.

- There are two obvious attacks from mount: choke and
  armbar. The guy may defend one and forget the other. The
  attacker can work on one and keep an eye on the other
  opportunity.

- Stay at bottom and be calm: the choke can be defended in
  many ways, e.g., pushing the elbow, wedging the palm (not 
  the fingers!) in between. Let the guy attack and spend
  energy. You can defend well.
  
- Do not waste a lot of energy at the bottom; catch one leg,
  get up on your knees, and push the guy over. This advice
  reminded me of the Gracie Combatives where giving the
  enemy my back is a big no-no. But the scenario was
  different here. For one thing, I got to hold on to sth., e.g., the
  guy's leg, before giving him my back. Swerving drills should help!

  
- For the choke:
    - The concept of the anchor (as opposed to choking) arm
      to block the head is priceless.
    - Be sneaky to anchor. Get deep and tighten the slack.
    - Three ways to choke from mount:
        - choking hand under anchor arm and four-finger under lapel, 
        - choking hand above anchor arm and thumb under lapel, and
        - chest to chest, shave with choking elbow, and grab material.
    - Flip palms to further close the space. This is very effective. 
    - Getting umpa'ed was OK. Keep working on that choke.

- T's adivces
    - Lean to the anchor side when choking from mount to
      avoid getting umpa'ed.
    - When the guy uses force to bear down on the cheek,
      tap to avoid jaw-breaking.
    - Think of one submission only and try to get it
      everytime you spar. You will progress much faster.

- To defend the triangle from bottom, grab the opposite collar
  with the untrapped hand and posture up. For armbar, same grabing and make it hard for the attacker to bridge up.

- Armbar transition from one arm to the other. D said we
  would do drills on that later.

My upper chest and shoulder were all red with a couple of
bruises and my left index and middle fingers hurt the next morning.
My rhr went up to 60/min. I shouldn't train hard today.