Open Mat

Today I went to open mat with Glenn and Justin. I don't usually go to Friday's open mat but wanted to put in some training time before I drown white water rafting over the weekend. :P

Anyway, I tapped out Glenn with a Bow & Arrow choke and an arm bar. Glenn's was sure working his cardio and has got mass heart. Justin tapped me twice with an Ezekiel choke and choke from the back. I wonder if I'm focusing so much on offensive that my defensive is slipping.

I was working with Glenn on some submissions. We were working on the triangle and Mark stopped us. I was teaching Glenn to grab the back of the neck, but Mark said it was unnecessary if you have the correct angle. He said to have no space where you clamp your knee and be at an angle where you can look into your opponent's ear. The triangle was a lot tighter, and this technique is a lot more applicable for a person with short legs like me.

I worked with Mark (purple belt) on some takedown techniques. I was never able to successfully take him down and was taken down several times. The two that still stick in my mind are:

•  Variant of Drop and Roll on shoulder
• start with grabbing your opponent's lapel
• stiff arm and lock their shoulder
• once you have this setup you can roll onto your other shoulder and basically roll your opponent
• i did not find this drop and roll as easy as the one David (purple belt) showed me, but this one is probably more effective if done right
• Arm grab to back to trip your opponent backwards 
•  when your opponent starts to go for your lapel, you swat their hand and do a bicep grab.
• at this point you have a very good opportunity to grab their back, however if you don't the arm that grab their becip now moves over to the opposite shoulder and you square up with them and trip their closet leg
• if done right you can end up in knee on belly when the opponent falls

Another valuable tip that Mark gave me was something to help me escape from an opponent's side control. He saw that I had problems replacing my knee when he had me in side control. The key is to move your legs to the side then hip out quickly and replace your knee. Moving your legs out creates the space needed to replace your knee. If done too slowing your opponent will close the space back again.