grappling

/grappling179

For the grapplers of farcaster: the ones who are truly in the arena. An open place to chat about training, share videos, flex, whatevs. All styles from all countries welcome (BJJ, wrestling, judo, pehlwani, etc.)

when /grappling reaches 1000 members we’ll fight the /swords channel 🗡️🤼‍♀️
Used this yesterday to fight off a 20 year old man by sprawling on him whenever he shot until I could pull closed guard and spam submissions.

I would love to figure out how to successfully shoot on people bigger than me though. Pipe dream?
A bit gassed at open mat today following a Concept 2 erg workout of the day.

Getting good results with my chinstrap as a setup to guillotine or smash to side control.

Learned it’s a bad idea to eat spicy peanuts before rolling
Dr Peter Attia: it’s hard to be depressed if you work out twice a day

Me: it’s hard to be depressed if you beat someone up twice your size
Training log, gi: worked a few motions and attacks from sit-up guard into knee cuts, side control and mount.

Sparring was 8/9 five minute rounds. Spent most of the time attacking from open guard and side control but also tried for some smooth, controlled sweeps from butterfly and half guard (middling success rate).
Clinic with an Olympic gold medalist wrestler in a nutshell:

Use a comfy good stance and don’t lose that stance because it will block 2/3 of attacks.
Someone tried to start a fight with me tonight, but sometimes projecting the confidence of knowing how to fight is enough to get the other person to back off.

The art of self defense.
Got in 70 minutes of rolling

Ready to partake in the Thanksgiving festivities
Training log No-gi:

8 rolls then drilled a takedown using the guillotine from standing

Figured out an effective submission from mount where I drive my shoulder into someone’s throat / carotid

Very effective
Training log, no-gi: drilled some Uchi Mata throws into quarter guard, then incorporated a back step into the saddle position and some leg attacks from there (achilles lock, Aoki lock). We also looked at a rolling back take from a saddle position escape, as well as a rolling saddle entry from the Uchi Mata position.

Sparring was 10 x 5 minute rounds, as usual. A few fast-paced, scramble-filled rolls mixed with some more balanced, steady rounds, plus a round being on the receiving end of some real sneaky foot attacks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evmsOeYxxzc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-9-KpVAH1k
Went to open mat yesterday and tried to match the skill and intensity of each partner

Rolls were wholesome, but I ended up playing defense, mostly

Disappointing performance
Training log, gi: worked on a few passes from HQ / mission control—knee cuts, switch and staple etc.—and capped it off with a rolling entry to a loop choke.

Sparring: nine x five minute rounds. Took a few rounds to mentally lock in, at which point I managed to bruise my wrist. This meant a fun constraint for the remainder: no posting or framing with my left hand and minimal gripping.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCGLrC6q2yM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNASDxyjcAA
Finding the rhythm for training logs once more...

Training log, no-gi: technical session was focused on a bunch of passes, all starting from mission control / headquarters. Included a knee slide, a leg staple into a step over / glide, a post to the shoulders followed by a kickback and into mount, and a hybrid glide-leg split thing which I can't easily describe.

Sparring was, as usual, 10 x five minute rounds. 2/3 I worked from top position (mostly moving through side control, turtle and open guard via scrambles). The rest I played from bottom, mostly in the range of half / quarter guard and mount / side control.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quM3u9Jxthg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcjo1LI4LKw
Training log, gi: worked basic spider guard mechanics and progressed into a simple sweep, an armbar, an arm drag and back take, and a Tarikoplata.

Sparring was 10 x 5 minute rounds. Each round I played a lot from bottom—mostly trying to recover from / escape half guard, side control and mount. Not exactly lethargic but not bubbling with energy, either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoabs7H2ZN8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t21HVW7LLBk
Training log, gi, open mat: 12 x 5 minute rounds with people with a nice range of experience, skill and physicality—white to black, juvenile and female to smaller and bigger guys. Outcomes were equivalently spread.

A couple lighter, flow-y rolls to warm up (mostly playing open guard, messing around with leg entanglements and inversions). Other rolls I had control and spent time attacking from turtle and the back position. landing an omoplata and triangle. A few were more guided rolls with less intensity. Also ended up in some less fun positions—for example, getting 90% bow-and-arrowed which transitioned into a weird double arm bar.

Great session, overall.
Training log, gi: fundamentals session focused on the lockdown position. No sparring. I was partnered with someone who'd come for their first session. We worked through:

- Using the lockdown to recreate space and establish a frame from bottom
- Slipping out for an underhook and posting to the elbow
- De-basing the opposing leg and sweeping / passing to top position
- Establishing head-arm choke from the underhook and progressing through a sweep and into the submission finish

Vids below don't get at what we did in this session but show some of the basic mechanics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6PvbfAz2N0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SChy0zBWCl8
Training log, no-gi: worked on mitigating the half guard knee shield by getting to mission control and passing. Worked first on a leg pin and opposite side pass, second on a conventional knee cut, and third on a slide over pass. Finished up with a backstep into the saddle position and a leg attack.

Sparring was 9 x 5 minute rounds. A few light and fast juvenile rolls, some standup action during which I landed a couple messy throws, an almost-pass* of our instructor's guard, and a fair bit of scrambling across open guard, side control, turtle and back positions.

*That's what it felt like anyway, but I'll defer to Feynman: "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."
Gonna experiment with some of these leg control / isolationtechniques this week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUC-_W8raW0
I took the summer off from training because I wasn’t having fun anymore.

Trying again tonight.
Training log, no-gi: worked on a few moves originating from a knee slide pass in mission control. First, a pass into a pin and then an armbar. Second, a progression into quarter guard and then a backstep into either a pass or the saddle position. Third, a backstep followed by a rolling back take.

Sparring was chill. 9 x 5 min rounds. A couple light technical rolls focusing on guard entanglement, a round with a juvenile working on fast paced open guard pass/recovery, and some more regular rounds accepting bottom position and working on guard retention, recovery and sweeps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnnJGKrDKWU
Training log, gi: worked on a knee slide pass sequence beginning from mission control / HQ. Focused on details of control, response to initial defence/re-frame, switching quarter guard to technical mount, taking the back via a roll, and transitioning between the above to get the eventual pass based on the opponent's reactions.

Sparring was 9 x 5 minute rounds. Deliberately played guard from the bottom and focused on guard retention and recovery, and also included a few instances of more intensive wrestle ups/sweeps/attacking from top. Final round: FAFO'd using a belt as an implement to entangle, control, sweep, sub my partner—it was, uh, interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq4f2fK3XaM
Training log, no-gi: worked on a few things from half guard. First, a roll-under back take from the bottom. Second, an entry into deep half and a waiter sweep. Third, a back take in response to the opponent defending the latter stage of the waiter sweep.

Sparring was mostly calm and composed. Several sessions with juveniles and new-ish practitioners meant a mix of light/fast movement and guided rolls. Also included a couple tougher rolls with a nice balance of attacking, defending, and straight-up holding out till the timer ran down.
Favourite matches from CJI were the K.Ruotolo - A.Tackett match and the Davies - Dern superfight. Any other favourites?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkwFwGYtqfk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF4eJEPNAu8