Well tonight was my last class at Hollywood Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for a few weeks. I’m flying back to Minneapolis tomorrow and I’m looking forward to getting reacquainted with Minnesota Martial Arts Academy. In case you’re wondering, I have contracts at two different schools simultaneously which is expensive, but what can I say, I heart BJJ.

Anyway, when I got to class I realized I lost my favorite mouth guard and I was totally dejected. That mouth guard was my immortal beloved. It was just a lump of black plastic that cost $1.99 but it was way better than the fancy Shock Doctor mouthpiece that I payed $12 for. Sigh.

Today we drilled the transition from side-control to knee-on-belly. Shawn made some observations about knee-on-belly that I would like to remember:

• Knee-on-belly isn’t the best choice with no gi because you have fewer grips. For instance, you can’t get a collar grip and work for a cross choke or baseball choke. Since there are fewer grips, it’s a little more unstable.
• If your opponent is playing very defensively you might want to get knee-on-belly to open up opportunities for an arm-bar. For instance if your opponent tries to push up on your chest then you can get an easy arm-bar.
• If your opponent blocks a mount with his knee then you can pull your forearm across his beltline to make room for your shin. But before you do this, you should clutch his armpit with the hand you have under his head.
• Your stabilizing foot should be pointed at your opponent’s head. This ensures that your torso is directly over your opponent weighing heavily on him. If your foot is turned out, your spine is off center and you will be light on your opponent.
• If your opponent tries to bridge you off you can swing your legs over and re-establish knee-on-belly on the other side. But you have make certain not to come down on your knee because then you’ll be too light. You have to stabilize with your foot so that you are exerting downward pressure on your opponent’s belly.

Shawn also had some pointers for the counter to knee-on-belly:

• Bridge and hoist your opponent’ shin off you with the V of your hand so you can hook the leg and get work for half guard. Then use your free hand to hook your opponent’s other thigh. This prevents him from mounting with that leg. But you have to keep your arm bent with your elbow close to your side so your arm doesn’t get attacked and isolated.
• Don’t use your hand to push your opponent’s thigh down into your half guard. Use your forearm to press down on his thigh while shrimping your body. If you extend your arm you’re vulnerable to an arm bar. If you need to sink in the figure four on your opponent’s leg, you can scorpion your legs to pull him down into the half-guard with your legs, rather than push him down with your hand.

BTW - I forgot to bring a hand towel to dry myself off and my partner and I were sliding around on a slick of sweat like greased pigs on a water slide.  No gi rules!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007 at 6:46 am and is filed under Hollywood BJJ, classwork, no-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.