After a pretty stressful week, I was really looking forward to getting to the academy. We started with a bit of self-defence which I always really enjoy and today it was a technique dealing with if you are bear hugged from the front. Here is a video of Pedro Sauer demonstrating:
I think the Judo came in handy here for me as my partner had quite a bit of extra weight but I still found it quite easy to get him on my hips.I've always found with hip throws getting your belt lower than their belt is the key.
After this, we moved on to some butterfly guard techniques with a cross collar grip firstly an ankle pick if the collar side knee comes up and a hook sweep if the other knee comes up. I couldn't find a video of the exact techniques but these are pretty close:
I found it quite difficult to hit the ankle pick convincingly during the drilling but I felt more comfortable with the hook sweep.
After spending about thirty minutes on these, we started some specific sparring from the butterfly guard so we could practice the moves. My first partner was a purple belt and it was a demolition job. While I was defending he would pass my guard like a hot knife through butter his techniques was fantastic. I had a little bit more success on the offensive when we switched roles but it was good fun and I picked up some valuable tips for next time.
After a few rounds, we switched partners and moved onto the closed guard. I had a bit more luck here and managed to catch an armbar when my partner stood up to break my legs open which I'd never managed before. It was quite odd as I didn't think about it my body seemed to go into auto pilot and it just seemed to happen while I was watching. Hopefully, that will happen again!
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