tallgeese

Best of the Best.

Without seeing specifically what you're doing in those spots, or knowing precisely your grappling background, it's going to be tough to get real tight answers. However, MP starts off with some good general advice. Being too flat is a very common problem. Of the couple of other points that come up, one is said over and over again, but it deserves repeating again, is just don't get there. Specifically here to your mount problem. The easiest escape is to not be in a bad position to start with. Attention to fundamentals and position will provide an ounce of prevention kind of thing. It's hard, I mean really hard, to get a good player off of mount without exposing all kinds of attacks to him. If you are down there, space is your friend and will help you recompose guard. The ump is your friend for this, as is shrimping. Be excellent at both, your knees will come back in far better this way. As for the guard, make sure the tactic you're working is one that matches up with his posture. You'll use different movements against a high posture vs. a low posture vs. that in between phase. A common mistake is to force fit a tactic that isn't optimal for the posture. Your coach can help you sort this out. If you're having specific problems, a description of video of you might help us get better at feedback.

Okay, challenge accepted. I'm off to youtube to watch some He-Man. Really? Did I really just say that? Oh, well. Be back in a bit.

7/3 chest/tris/shoulder abs run of shrimping and hip drills to cool down

7/2 Drilled recovering guard from the bottom of side. Moved into a sweep from there followed by an arm bar from said sweep. Finished up with a choke/ kimura combination from same sweep if the arm bar gets cleared. 20 min free roll 20 min no gi w fighters.

First up, irishwhistle, welcome aboard KF! Next, you've gotten some great advice already from Justice and evergrey. I'm not sure I can add much to that. Some of the "requirements" seem unreasonable for the age and the fact that she's a beginner. I'd look around. I'd suggest the things that Justice suggested trying. Defiantly shop around. There's enough out there you'll find something that fits. Just find the vibe that you're looking for. If you get some school websites, post the links if you like and we'll take a look. Good luck and keep us posted.

6/30 Drilled a kimura series from bottom side mount. Kimura, to sweep over, to breaking a defense with re-guard, finished with spin out to kimura to back from posturing defense. 45 min free roll

As Justice points out, some more info would be helpful. addition to what you're doing now (in general terms) the big question for me is what do the weight classes look like and do you need to make a weight? This, and the time frame leading up to the event, can mean some radical changes, or none at all, it varies greatly. With 4 weeks out, what you can do is limited a tad. For instance, you won't effect any performance changes based on the change in all likelihood, although depending on your current fitness level you might. However, 4 weeks is plenty of time to drop off a weight class or two depending on how they are structured.

Your upcoming training will most likely be okay, or less than adequate, depending what they are doing these days in CAT downstate. Finding quality CT programs in LE is harder than one might think. There's some good stuff out there, but often times you're looking into it post-academy. Often, it's either too concerned with liability to deal with the realities of street level conflict, or it's too overboard to be acceptable in standard use of force situations. I was lucky enough to have a great CT instructor in academy and even then I've found some parts of that program to be suspect. However, it was a solid foundation. Specifically, when you talk about weapon retention there are a couple of points to be aware of. First up, it's important to make the distinction between an offender making an effort to disarm you vs. a simple fight for control with no disarm effort. The second will lead you immediately to a deadly force response. The other means conventional control efforts with you awareness considering the firearm on your hip. Here are some thoughts I videoed for bushidoman a year or so back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQyqt4DKhRo The first couple of minutes are the ones that deal specifically with what you're talking about. When we start dealing with attempts at weapon takeaways, a few things are important. First, is to find a good pattern that works for you. Hockman's retention pattern is the one I kind of default to because it's easy and works just as well on the ground as it does from standing. Danny Halligan also does good work on this and I tend to train his stuff for a range just prior to the bad guy getting his grip established. Hock's works well once the gad guy is trying to pull the gun free. Both are RADICALLY better than the ever popular PPCT weapon retention system. The other thing to consider is what kind of holster system you use. This greatly effects your choices in positioning and tactics. What you're going to be comfortable with or the grips you use on a snap holster are different from what I'll use with a triple retention Safariland that I very nearly need a retinal scan to get a weapon free. There's no right or wrong answer on holsters, there's just advantages and disadvantages of each. You need to train with them to understand them and make them work for you. Lastly, you need, like HAVE TO train on presentation of your weapon under the duress of hand to hand conflict during retention. There are time's you'll need to get that thing out, best to figure out how to make this happen before the event. This requires some fluid training partners that will work it out with you. Our CT instructor cadre do this each year during our refresher then on instructor development days thru the year. You'll find that if you look at these items, and then train with your equipment on, in a manner that you're accustomed to, you'll start to find the answers. If I can make some time this week, I'll cut some video for you and get it up on some of the drills and such that we use specific to weapons work in close quarters. Let us know how CAT works out for you in the coming weeks.

6/29 Drilled two sweeps from side mount bottom. One taking back variant escape. 35 min free roll

Tough spot. I can say that I've had some form of home workout facility since I've resided out of my parents home. No one I've ever trained with had a problem with it. My major worry would be the "it's for sissy's" attitude. Rolling slower is the best way to build individual moves into your game. It's also a great way to train to keep yourself in one piece. I rarely roll above 50 percent speed and power. Usually less. It doesn't mean that the gym isn't a good one. It just means that it wouldn't be the best fit for me. Potentially, it's not for you either. Just something to give thought to.

The guard now HAS to be active in a sd setting or mma setting. Hanging out and waiting is off the table due to everyone now cross training. LP is right on how it works against the untrained individual however, all things work better against those who aren't prepared for them. Active can take a lot of definitions based on what your setting is. But moving to a superior position or ending the fight is always preferable. Working the hips for angles or to break posture to prevent being struck is critical. One plus to the position is that you do have control, to a degree, over the hips of your opponent. This certainly gives you options. One question you have to ask is this: If I remove the guard from my sd arsenal, then what are my other options when bad guys tackles me and starts ending up on top? Ending up on the bottom of mount? Rolling to my stomach and letting him hit me in the back of the head? Ineffectually strike from a position of non-dominance? If the last few options sound bad, it's because we all know they are. The guard gives us an option to prevent all of those TO A DEGREE. No tactic is perfect. But it's infinitely better than most of the options.

6/27 Drilled hip bump sweep, to kimura, to choke. Finished with kimura sweep to step over kimura. 30 min free roll. 30 min no gi w fighters

Welcome to KF!

6/26 Drilled triangle using no arms. Moved to triangle. Finished with triangle to armbar transition. 25 min free roll. Focus on choking and taking back.

The book "Drill to Win" by Andre Galvao has some good partnerless drills as well. However, the bulk of the book is drills with partners. That said, if you can get your hands on a copy it does have a handful of things for you. That said, it's an excellent book.

6/25 Drilled taking back from guard. Move to side via collar choke. Break posture and move to back. Variants of breaking posture via elbow to same posture and using single side underhook. 20 min free roll 20 m in no gi with one of the fighters

Totally agree. Jiu Jitsu University is a great book for defining what one's focus should be at every level of training.

Yes, if the question were asked with sincere intentions then I'd think that it's entirely okay that way.

6/23 Drilled a review of several chokes of the week. Added a variant with gi trap to set up. Used same lapel trap in an armbar as well. 60 min free roll.

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to KF!

Welcome to KF!

6/22 Drilled arm throw. Moved to ground and did clock choke from side. Finished with baseball bat choke from knee in. 60 min free roll.

When we look at chaining attacks, and it's important aspect of the game, it is important to remember that we're not just training them for the purposes of putting some attacks together for the sake of it. We need to look at each attack as the one that finishes our opponent. If done right, an opponent HAS to respect it and account for it by defending. That defense opens another avenue that gives us to take advantage of. It's a fine distinction, but one that's import to our mindset and how we work and spend energy. As to the actual chins that I work here are a few example: cross collar choke- partner defends- arm bar-postures-omo from the omo- flatten and sub- partner postures- back roll sweep- partner goes forward to stop- triangle side- knee in- base ball bat choke- defend- far side arm bar- defends with grip- switch to triangle- partner establishes base defends- belly down arm bar. It's also important to note that all of this happens for a couple of reasons. First, your position IS the submission series. Without it, there's no reason for your partner to be threatened. Next, each sub MUST be solid technically. If not, your opponent doesn't need to respect it to give you the next one.