more chokes and how to enjoy rolling

Monday night's class was about chokes again: lapel half nelson, RNC and double lapel from the rear. We also went over the points that make up a good seat belt grip and how to effectively control someone from side mount using shoulder pressure.

To get the chokes from the rear, we looked at the transition from side mount to back control. I like the name for this transition: the boat ramp. I must admit I struggle with this, and I always end up with my partner stuck too much on one side. Something I'll need to perfect. However, as most people are heavier than I am, I'm not fond of pulling them on top of me, even to get to back control, and I'd probably be inclined to attack from side mount instead.

For a change, we had another female being on the mat for the night, and aside from a a few drills which were part of the warmup, I was partnered with her.

After the drills, we rolled from harness grip on in side mount start to submission. Well, we had fun. We didn't giggle, we laughed. She is a bit rusty with her stuff, so I could have pushed for submissions, but instead, I set stuff up and then let it go so she could work some as well. I was in stitches though, whenever she lost a position, she would say "Oh crap!" or "Oh No!" several times in a row and we would laugh. It was nice to not have to go balls out and just enjoy the roll. Ok, that happens when I roll with some of the senior guys, too, but with them it's not so cruisy for me, and I can't make mistakes, or they'll have me... So this was good fun as well a leaning for both of us. At the end, someone started to count down from thirty seconds to go. I'd just let her pass my guard and she had scarf hold. So we turned on the juice. And to the sounds of "oh no!", I got my elbow to the floor, took her back and went for an armbar :-). With 3 seconds to spare! The worst part was breathing while laughing.

And at the end, our instructor commented on everyone doing good work and how good it was that people were enjoying themselves, for BJJ should be fun. And fun it was :-))