Yeah, personally I’d say that ratio of free rolling to positional sparring/live drilling is backwards at best. 20 minutes of positional sparring and 1x5 minute roll would provide far better results in terms of skill development and familiarity with the different positions; or even 25 minutes of positional sparring per class and 1x5 minute roll per week.
As far as your Open Mat classes, working for takedowns is great and a very important skill, but you’d see much better results if you were more focused. For instance, start in a Greco Clinch and work for Takedowns, or start in on a Double and work for the takedown, or start in a front Headlock and work from there, or start from a Rear Clinch and work from there, or start in a Russian Tie and work from there, etc…
Starting from separation is positional sparring as well and involves things like grip/handfighting but seldom in live combat are you going to hit a completely uncontested takedown that goes straight to the ground without some sort of intermediate position that you will need to know how to navigate effectively (if dealing with a skilled or athletic opponent) and while grip/handfighting from a distance is an important aspect of sport pure grappling contests, they are seldom present in actual combat where striking is present. So again, context and arena of application are important considerations.
Great advice Sento, as usual. Agree completely. I love my club, the culture is great and the calibre of instruction is high. I’m blessed to have access to a spot like this, especially in a community this small.
That said, coach and I do have some differing opinions about training focus. Of course, it’s not my place to say. I’m thinking I’ll try to make better yse of my open mat time.
Thanks! We usually have a class with time to drill the new technique and then open mat after.
As far as the questions:
Focus is fun. I am going to do some tournaments just to try to get better and try against someone who is not my friend. I probably would rely on my striking background in self defense for the time being… but I am not in many high risk situations. My son is also learning and loves it and I would love to be able to roll with him as he trains as a teen and help him out when I can.
This is probably personal growth, though I could see myself helping out when I retire some day.
Short, with medium build. I have always lifted for power lifting so I am stronger than I am big… but I am only a couple years out of winning quite a few running races so I am pretty quick as well. getting to the back is my bread and butter. I think that is why the “head and arm” types of chokes help me out too (Shorter limbs). I feel like my half guard is way more effective than my guard which I have heard is true for shorter dudes.
Yeah, shorter people tend to prefer Open Guards and Half Guard to Closed Guard (part of that is a lack of understanding about Closed Guard though). If you are capable of effectively closing your Guard around your opponent I would still strongly suggest working to develop it since it is not possible to pass a Closed Guard (it must be opened first) and it allows for more control over your opponent’s posture as well as a bunch of really good Submission and Sweep options. But there are certainly people who I would not be able to close my legs around (or doing so would waste way too much energy trying to do so) who I would use Open Guard variations against (Half Guard can be an effective position, but given the choice I’d prefer Butterfly, Knee Shield, or X Guard as Half Guard means your opponent is already half passed your Guard).
Regarding Head and Arm Chokes (assuming you mean the Classic Arm Triangle and not things like Anacondas), any Choke where the opponent’s are is trapped between you and them actually requires longer limbs than those where the arm is not trapped (such as Rear Naked, Bow and Arrow, or North South), so your arms can’t be all that short.
Rear Naked chokes are a fantastic technique with a wide range of applications and one of the Submissions that is effective in all arenas of application. Definitely continue to develop that skill and try to make it unstoppable; it’s not nicknamed “Lion Killer” for nothing.
I’d suggest asking some of the higher ranks (Purple and above) if they’d be interested in doing some positional sparring with you so you can work on trying to apply it against them while they Drill their defense and vice versa. That’s such a common and dangerous Submission that I can’t imagine you won’t get some takers. If they are really good you can even start at various stages in the technique (kind of giving you a “head start”) and let them try to defend it. You will probably catch them some, but it will also really sharpen their defense while at the same time helping you to develop understanding and strategies for different stages along hitting the technique. And again, you will start to gain some skills and strategies for defending it should you get caught in that position yourself.
I won my first two high school wrestling matches with the Shultz choke. Refs got wise to it after that and started calling me on it though, which sucked because it was basically the only thing I was good at.
Weird, huh? I went to a seminar and they instructor mentioned short guys not liking these but they work well for me. I am 5’5 1/2 but wear 30 inch length pants so maybe my limbs are not what is super short?
I really like the anaconda choke too though that you mentioned. I have caught it a number of times. Usually the gator roll works out well but I am working to improve my finish.
Yeah, height alone isn’t necessarily the deciding factor, limb length and even limb “thickness” plays a role as well.
With any “arm in” Choke (mainly Arm Triangle variations and Leg Triangle variations) the circumference that you must encircle and compress is larger than if you only had to encircle the neck, therefore they generally favor longer limbed (proportional but also in an absolute sense) individual’s. There are of course more and less efficient ways to do so and/or create the pressure needed to compress the arteries, which can somewhat lessen this need in some cases, but it is still present to some extent.
Try playing with the Shultz Choke if you like the Anaconda as it allows for less scrambling ability.
Also, on the Anaconda you can use your opponent’s body weight to choke themselves (compress one of the arteries while you hold the other one compressed with your squeez) without the need to roll underneath them/Gator Roll if you “lift up” and drive into them with your chest/hips.of done right this will choke someone out. From there, if you really want to put them on their back though and Anaconda them from Mount (super nasty Choke and also puts quite a bit of pressure on the neck, so might not want to if just friendly rolling) you can just “whip” them to their side/shoulder (on the side where you have their arm trapped) and then “high leg/step over” and continue to drive them over into Mount (though it’ll usually be more of a “low Mount” with your legs cross behind their butt/hamstrings, and again, be prepared for a really quick tap and to let go of their neck quickly).
