On the Mat Day 236: Over/Under Pass & Pencil Pass (with notes)

I bought Marcelo Garcia's latest book - Advanced Jiu Jitsu to add to the X-guard book I already own. Don't let the title discourage you because there are many concepts in this book that are valuable even to me as a blue belt. I've only read the beginning which details arm drags. I used to attempt the arm drag a lot when I was a white belt but stopped after having poor success. After reading this book I decided to start using it again. At class I used it successfully against Fuji-san from a seated position. He often kneels and so it is not so difficult to catch him with an armdrag but I usually have to break his grip first. I did take his back a few times and tried to get a feeling for the seatbelt hold with my arms rather than concentrating on establishing my hooks. While standing I was not so successful with the armdrag. I need to connect my shoulder to his, as Marcelo teaches. I am no good at judo throws but do like to tackle, the arm drag is a good place to start on building my takedowns. I plan to continue playing with it for the foreseeable future.

We studied the same techniques as on Tuesday. Over/Under pass with the under reaching for the lapel. The final pass was called a "Pencil Pass". I would prefer to call it Superman Pass because that's what you do to pass. It is almost like forcing the opponent to do a Banana Split. Interesting technique.

During sparring I attempted to use the pass of the week on K-sensei but did not secure his bottom leg and got triangled. Lesson learnt. Tsuzuki-san who I consider one of the hardest members to spar against came a little later. I sparred with him for 3 rounds. He gives you nothing. Which is cool because if you land a technique on him then you know it was well set up. He pretty much crushed me constantly. Steel sharpens steel, right. I used to hate sparring with him but now I see him as a necessary evil. He is the type of sparring partner you need to take you to the next level, to toughen you up. I caught both him and Fuji with a simple butterfly sweep. I don't know where it came from because I never really train it that much. I usually cock my left leg to move to x-guard but it seemed to move of its own accord now. I established left under-hook, shifted my backside to the left, grabbed his arm with my right and BOOM, sweep to top mount and side mount. That's a keeper. The simple motion of shifting my hips further to the left gave me the angle to sweep effortlessly. I tried it later on K-sensei but he has a very reactive game. He stuffed me by moving his hips low over my hooking leg so he became very heavy on that side.

Sparring time: 7 x 6 mins = 42 mins

Goals: Work armdrags as well as the millions of other things that make my mind spin.

Note to self: Get more sleep!


Over Under Passes -