On The Mat Day 157: Armbar from Side Control

Starting from side control with the opponents near side arm at one of the following positions, we worked on armbars.

1. Arm jutting out past elbow from my left hip
2. Arm jutting out past elbow from my right hip
3. Arm under and between both my legs

I did ok at the drills but not amazing. Although, I did like the setup for the armbars but only saw it once during sparring but never managed to pull it off.

Sparring as always was rough for me on Tuesday. 2 strong white belts and the rest higher than me or Akira who is blue also. I have to say that by trying to stand with the guys even the 2 white belts, I end up in a bad situation on the ground after being thrown or tripped. For the life of me I could not keep Hibino (strong kid who has just started) in my closed guard and from passing. He acually got a knee on belly at the end before the bell rang. F-sensei looked at me and said well done and I must have gave him the dirtiest look because I could not think why he would say that when I obviously did not hold my own during the round. Perhaps he thought I did well to stay out of trouble or maybe he knows that I thought about giving it all up at that moment due to frustration. I never will though. During the spar I did return to close guard once and nearly swept him but it is hard not to use strength and when I do I lose because a stronger younger guy will always win every time. Things I need to work on are:

a. KOB escapes
b. Takedowns and better balance
c. Getting the underhook on 1/2 guard and sweeping before the opp breaks out**
d. Constantly unbalancing the opponent in closed guard**
**Most important right now

After class finished I asked Akira to work on Takedowns with me for about 20 mins. This was a truly rewarding part of class for me and I will be sure to keep it up. I practiced Hikoki-nage and single leg while he did double leg tackles. A purple belt gave me a few pointers that made the hikoki nage much easier. It's been a while since I tried this throw so was feeling a bit rusty. I told Akira that I have lots of weak areas and want to iron them out. He said he would be at class on Friday to partner with me again.

In conclusion, even though I got my arse kicked by a white belt I know that it can only help me get better. I think about BJJ almost every day now and watch DVDs all the time in an effort to get better. I caught the fever again. It has made me hungry enough to work harder. My only concern is that I am doomed to never improve. I only hope that more mat time = better BJJ for me.

Sparring: 7 x 6 mins = 42 mins