Today Sean Flannery taught the gi class at HBJJ.  We started the class with conditioning.  Basically Sean’s conditioning is a circuit-type drill.  We lapped the mat a bunch of times and then did pushups, cross-chokes, squats, hip twists on the back, leg raises, hip twists on all fours about a minute each.  Sean does a relatively intense workout at the beginning of the class and then generally drills all the way to the end of class.  I kind of like to drill the entire class, because I need a lot of reps.

Anyway, today was all about passing butterfly guard and it was an incredibly valuable day for me, since I didn’t know a single one of these butterfly guard passes.  Although the setups are all different there are some common themes in all of these passes.

• Maintain heavy pressure on your opponent while passing
• Scoot your body as close to your opponent’s pelvis as possible so his legs are compacted by your body weight
• Go crazy with super-exaggerated hip-drive

Over-the-knee pass to Mount
This is a fairly athletic pass that should be done explosively.  The goal is to prevent your opponent from tracking you with his knees so you have to forcefully press his knees downward and explode over his knees using maximal hip drive.  This might not be the best move if your opponent is postured up.

1. Keep downward pressure on opponent’s knees using your hands
2. Kickstand onto the balls of your feet
3. Pop up while driving your hips out and over your opponent’s knees
4. Slide your butt down the tops of his thighs
5. Sprawl forward and plant your hands on the mat

Step-over pass to Side Control
This pass requires a lot of coordination and multiple points of control.  Positioning is very important because you can end up giving up back control if you don’t finish correctly.

1. With left hand keep downward pressure on opponent’s knee
2. With right hand secure a collar grip and push down so your opponent can’t posture up.
3. Drive forward so opponent’s hips are off the ground and he is partially stacked
4. Swing your right leg over your opponent’s head.  This will rotate his hips so they are perpendicular to the mat.
5. Release both hands and slide down the outside of opponents thigh while keeping your body heavy on his.
6. Pummel for a deep underhook with your right hand

Crucifix pass to Side Control
This pass is also fairly athletic requiring coordination and multiple points of control.  This one is good for when your opponent has postured up and you are trying to break him down.

1. Opponent will posture up and try to control your upper body
2. Reach under his legs with your right hand and grab his right pant leg
3. With your left hand get an overhand grip on your opponent’s collar.
4. Explosively step backwards with your right leg while
5. Extending opponents legs with your right hand
6. Smashing opponent’s torso onto the mat with your left hand.
7. Hip out and secure side control

Flip over pass to Side Control
Sean made the point that this is not a flash move.  You are maintaining extremely heavy pressure on your opponent the whole time which prevents a counter or sweep.

1. Reach under both opponent’s legs and secure pant cuffs
2. Drive forward and plant your right ear on opponent’s right hip ( you will have to get between his knees )
3. Spring forward into a back flip landing diagonally so that your feet land over your opponent’s left shoulder
4. Step your left foot over towards your opponent’s legs.

I noticed that when I did this move I ended up with my hands controlling my partner’s legs.  From this position I could have transitioned to the Mount Variation 4 – Counter Hip Escape + Transition to Arm Triangle  that we studied on 11/27.  In this case I would have hooked my left leg over his knees and carved my right elbow up his body and over his face to secure the arm triangle.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 8:26 am and is filed under Hollywood BJJ, gi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.