Lately, many of my classes have been about standing up, or making an attempt to stand. For me this opens up a vast world of possibilities. An attempt at standing from guard means top player must engage or allow me to stand. Often times this engagement leads to sweeps or submissions. From a turtle this same thing can happen. So our scenario for this block is simple, top player has beat our legs and is advancing towards a side control pin. We use turtle to avoid the points and start our rounds from here.

Game 1: today’s game is almost the exact same as last week. Bottom player starts in turtle and stays active for the duration of the drill (3 minutes). Their effort is to stand or recover guard. I would like to emphasize standing up as the number one priority. The goal here is for players to work to a standing position and only recover to their guard once top player forces them to stay grounded. I think in 90 percent of these exchanges I should expect to see guard recovery as the primary outcome but we shall see.

As always, groups of 4, 3 minutes of work top from bottom turtle position.

Discussion: We have to understand the primary differences between standing up in wrestling and standing up in Jiu jitsu. In wrestling we have no threat of chokes so its easier to build our base with our hands on the mat. This gives us a much easier pathway to a standing position. In Jiu jitsu we typically see a low turtle from our elbows and knees. This allows our hands to stay actively defending against chokes. This means I have to make more of an effort to move my hips away from my opponents hips. This forces us into a front headlock type position. From here I’m more able to swim my inside arm in to establish an under hook which is necessary for both a standing exchange and a guard recovery. The sooner we can get that inside arm to the correct side the stronger our position with be and our success rate should sky rocket.

Game 2: the same as game one only this time we introduce chokes. Top player ends the rep by pinning in side control, scoring via back with hooks, or gets the submission via choke. Bottom player has the same objective. Stand and disengage or recover guard. 3 minutes active driller per person. Bottom player stays in.

Conclusion: As expected, the top player had the advantage today. Top player used all the information from the previous weeks perfectly. The bottom players had a disconnect. Which is likely my fault. I think I overwhelmed them with options and details. Which is weird to think, because by traditional standards I didn’t show any technique at all. I encouraged the bottom player to win the under hook and stand up, but this often left them vulnerable to being not only grounded but also passed. So I need to find a better way of explaining my goal. I really want my students to understand that actively making an attempt to stand will result in two things and only two things. Either the top player will allow us to stand or the top player will ground us. Both of those are useful, but only if I’m ready to use what is given to me. I have to be prepared for what happens next. I’ll find better ways to explain that on day 2. Let’s hope it resonates and we see some better progess.