Team McVicker Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Camp, Part II

Warm-up with Ginastica Natural

Again Jeff Serafin warmed-up the team with Ginastica Natural some of the motion elements used today were:

• Frog: Feet twice shoulder width, place your hands forward and jump you feet parallel to your hands. Proceed down mat.
  
• Chimpanzee: Shoulder width stance, place hands next to you, parallel with your legs and hop your feet past your hands. Rotate and repeat, move down the mat.
  
• Basic cricket: From push-up position alternatively hop your hands forward, moving down the mat
  
• Seal: Lying prone lift torso up and forward, dragging yourself down the mat
  
• Shoulder roll, extension: Controlled roll over one shoulder, stretch with same side leg and end up prone. Spin through to sitting position. Repeat to move down mat.

Brad Peplow shows the Mad Dog guard

1. Set-up (gi)
   

   Detach the lapel grip by gripping your partner's wrist with both hands, crunching inward, and then pulling away using your arms to hold their hand in place and your body to move away. Pass the gripped hand to the opposite side and maintain control with your same side grip. Feed the gripped limb under your opposite arm, and grab the shoulder on this side. Simultaneously, feed your knee over the trapped arm's shoulder and cross your ankles. The idea is to tightly control the shoulders.
   

2. Set-up (no-gi)
   

   Your partner is basing on your abdominal muscles, pivot sideways and push the hand on that side across the midline under your opposite arm. Finish the set-up by controlling the shoulders as described above.
   

3. Straight arm bar
   

   Use the elbow overhooking the opposite arm to pinch their elbow against your body. Reach your free arm across, placing your elbow on the seam between their face and shoulder. Slide your elbow and then forearm into place, creating just enough space to bring the same side leg over the head to finish the arm bar
   

4. Reverse straight arm bar
   

   Pivot slightly away from the trapped arm, letting your center point towards it. Slide your arm down their arm to a point just proximal to the elbow. Trap the hand next to your neck. Apply pressure by arcing your body (abdomen away, neck towards) while hugging the arm.
   

5. Reverse straight arm bar (head variation)
   

   If they block the reverse arm bar by placing their head in the void, use your free hand to push the head further down, then reestablish the reverse straight arm bar.
   

6. Extended Bump Sweep
   

   If all else fails, place your foot on the side trapping the arm, into the hip. Extend this foot as you bump with other thigh. Ideally by extending and rotating your partner they should be swept to a mounted position rolling over their trapped arm.
   

Kyle Watson shows the team how to wrap

1. Wrapping with the kimono set-up
   

   Attempt to wrap your opponents same side arm with the lapel of the same side kimono. As they withdraw, fade this laterally such that when they reengage you can pass the kimono over the arm and grip it with opposite side. Set-up a figure four, you may have to do a small hip bump correction to pass the same side arm under their trapped arm. Now pull the trapped arm across the body as you move to the trapped side.
   

2. Back threat sweep
   

   By threatening to attack the back, you will force your partner to react. They will try to move back toward your center to avoid the rear mount. Maintain control of the kimono grip over the trapped hand and use your free hand to reach the kimono under the opposite axilla. Use the free leg to pendulum away and then back toward your partner, and the bottom leg to bump as you pull "steer" them over with your grips. Sweep them to side mount.
   

3. Lapel-collar choke
   

   Reach behind the neck with your free hand from the setup above, pass the gripped kimono to this hand. Use your newly freed hand to apply pressure to the neck from side nearest you by either, gripping a fold in the kimono, sliding down your arm, or sliding under the arm.
   

4. Back threat sweep to lapel-collar choke
   

   Do the back threat sweep but once in mount reach behind the head with the free hand and pass the lapel to this grip. Again set-up the choke as above.
   

5. Wrapping with the arm
   

   Pistol grip your opponent's opposite sleeve, and bring your same side hand underneath to figure four. Pull your partners hand superiorly past your head and use your same side arm to wrap their gripped limb and reach through control the opposite collar, freeing the hand that was pistol gripping. Adjust the grip with your newly freed hand.
   

6. Cross collar choke to triangle set-up
   

   From the set-up above, use the free hand to attack with a cross collar choke. If they defend with the free hand, trap it and loop your knee over this side, setting up a triangle.
   

7. Stretched oma plata
   

   Spin toward the arm inside the triangle and grip the pant leg on this side. Extended this arm as you pull forward into the oma plata. Control their elbow with the opposite side. Move laterally away to flatten them and apply pressure to the shoulder.
   

It was very interesting this weekend to see the vast diversity in strategies and tactics presented by different students all coached by the same instructor. Jiu-jitsu has certain fundamental, biophysical concepts but their application and the approach varies widely between competitors. Their goals in grappling and their attributes are both limiting step and fuel to overcome the tactical problems they encounter on the mat. It was interesting to contrast three jiu-jitsu veterans' approaches to attacking from guard. All right, all different.

Pictures provided by Pedro can be found here.