Went to Powerhouse BJJ in Kapaa on Monday. Interesting warmup which resembled the game Centipede... I guess it maximizes the total mat area. Started with just running around the perimeter of the mat, then bear crawls, lunges forward then backward, karaoke step, sprawl drills, wrestling sit-outs, shoulder crawls, and pushups down the mat (best way to say it.. basically just in pushup position and pushing yourself with shorts bursts). After that we formed a circle and each person would count from 1-10 while doing sit ups so I ended up doing more than 100+ situps, crunches, and other core exercises. After that we did 1 set of 10, 1 set of 20, and 1 set of 30 pushups.
The conditioning was tough partly due to my weekend of soda, pie, and other junk foods. The other reason was the humidity. I attribute my being able to get through the warmup to my own school's Monday conditioning sessions which is basically the feeling of being in hell compressed into 5 minutes. To my understanding this is basically the warmup they do before each class.. so their conditioning is no joke.
The instructor, Kalani (brown belt), went over 3 different techniques. The first was the proper way to go from north-south to side control. If I am in basic north-south (both my knees on bottoms shoulders with my hands on the belt)and I am trying to go back to side control on bottom's left side, I'd first make sure my left knee stays connected to bottoms left shoulder. I'd then slide my left knee down to the side of bottom's arm (bicep area) and maintain contact. Then I switch my hips so my right leg would turn over my hip to land in a modified kesa gatame position. From there I just slide my left knee from bottom's bicep area to the hip and gain side control. Keeping the knee connected to bottom's hip makes sure they aren't able to get any space and shrimp out to regain guard or half guard.
The 2nd technique was an escape from north-south. So if I'm bottom what I want to do is first make sure I have my elbows in and my hands on my cheeks (basic t-rex). From there bump up (don't extend arms or you put yourself in danger of getting armlocked) and then plow over and put my shins into top's biceps (inverted butterfly guard). If I'm trying to sweep to the left side I push my right knee out from top's bicep, push my right knee into the other bicep, and with my right hand push the arm. What should happen is a kind of pendulum motion.. This move requires surprise and isn't something you can just wait to happen. It has to be explosive and the timing has to be perfect. Otherwise it's not going to work.
The third technique isn't legal in competition but it's a counter move to the 2nd. Basically when the bottom person goes to plow over and stick their shins in top's biceps, top catches the ankle and goes for a toe hold. If I'm attacking the left ankle, I swim my left hand around the outside of bottoms left ankle, and grab my right wrist while my right hand is holding the toes on the foot. From there it's just basic leverage to get the move to go.
Rolling with the people down here was a great experience. Many don't get to compete much because they are basically stuck on the chain of islands so they brought a different style to the table and I'm sure they felt the same way. I got caught a few times with stupid mistakes like leaving one arm in and one arm out. Partly because I thought I was safe in certain positions and didn't expect attacks from those kind of angles. Otherwise I felt I rolled solid until the last couple rounds when I was gassed out. I'll be going back on Wednesday before I fly back home.