Flow Drills: Passing or Avoiding the Guard, etc…

As this is a 365 day project, I need as much variety as possible. I am burning through drills and always looking for variations on the same theme. While looking for solo drills yesterday, I bumped into this video of two guys practicing flow drills. Although they are not solo drills I believe that a few of them can be adopted for solo use. If nothing else they show some pretty unique ways to pass or avoid the guard, which is something I need to work on as many Jiu-jitsu and grappling players quickly develop Gumby legs. As a consequence I often find myself trapped in a guard with only a few basic passes.

The video is entertaining, but these guys are serious.

TUF Finale: A Lesson in Sweeps

The match between Jared Rollins (J-Roc) and Jon Koppenhaver (War Machine) was a serious battle and test of wills. However, I had Jared winning the majority of the fight until the final 10 seconds. After dominating much of the fight he fell victim to two things; gassing out and an elementary Jiu-jitsu sweep. Any other time, the Carlson Gracie Brown Belt would have probably been able to fend off the sweep, but his fatigue betrayed him.

In my early stages of training, this sweep used to be my bread and butter. But as I continued to try it on more advanced players and as the level of sophistication of grapplers rises in general, it has become a harder move to pull off. However, in the right moment (as we witnessed on the TUF finale) it can work.

The video above gives a quick review of the sweep.