Day 18: Zzzzzzzz…what happened?!?

10. February 2010 by Don Ebuen.

When you see the guys on UFC or Strike Force and WEC put their opponents in arm bars it looks easy enough right? Hold the arm, slap the legs over, lift your hips. The set up however is a different story. No one is going to lay there and give you their arm. The set up is the art.

Today started off with a small session of some of Brian’s more experienced students including Gladstone. Now Gladstone isn’t what you’d typically expect of a martial artist. He is a big, burly man with a big smile and glasses. He looks like the nicest guy in the world. A big teddy bear if you will. BUT make no mistake. Gladstone is FOR REAL. He’s an experienced Purple Belt and he can get down. On a number of occasions I’ve observed Gladstone training on the side with other Purple Belts. Gladstone is SO good, he makes his own variations of moves and set ups and is always willing to share his ideas. So working with him today was going to be a great experience.

I asked Brian if we can go over submissions from the Mount and Side Mount positions and he was more than happy to go over it with the group. The first lesson was reviewing the Key Lock. Brian threw in a variation to the key lock that made a HUGE difference. The point of submission is much quicker. While in the key lock, your grip on your opponents wrist is not using your thumb wrapped around his wrist, its more of like a cupping hand. With his palm facing up, while performing the ‘paintbrush stroke’ begin twisting his wrist away from him. This little variation changes everything.

Next we went into a Shoulder Lock or Kimura from Side Mount. The Kimura grip is very similar to the Key Lock but basically upside down. We continue in the Arm Triangle choke.Take Down class with Coach Aguilar was about to start so Brian, Gladstone and I moved over to the side and continued with the lesson. This is when the REAL fun begins.

Brian showed me how to correctly perform an Arm Lock from the Mount. While in the Mount and your opponent is pushing off against you, you wrap your arm around the top of the arm you’re going to attack and place both hands on his chest (hands slightly twisted). In one motion, you use your hands to lift and pivot in a circle to the side of your opponent, drop the feet down (keep the weighted), fall back, squeeze the knees together, lay back and pull the arm to straighten it out. Remember, their thumb should be pointing up. Then lift the hips and submit. The pivot to Arm Lock is a really smooth transition if done right. It just flows.

The next set up was from the Mount and doing a “Two on One”. This is when your two hands are holding his one arm down. The set up to the Arm Lock is you make it seem you’re going for the Key Lock. Their natural instinct is to reach over and block the Key Lock with their free hand. They’ve basically just given you their arm to attack. Once the hand comes over you grab the arm, step around and place your foot over his face and as close to his head as possible. Plant your feet, lean back, squeeze your knees together, pull the arm to straighten it out, lift the hips and submit.Awesome lessons tonight at West Coast. I have a lot of confidence in what I learned tonight and am looking forward to using it next time I roll.

Thank you Gladstone for letting me practice on you. You’re the man.

Day 18 Lesson of the Day: So before the session with Brian, Coach Aguilar shows up and I’ve been meaning to ask him about the D’Arce he had taught us before. So forgetting how intense Coach Aguilar is with his demonstrations, I let him throw me in a D’Arce. He wraps me in the D’Arce and literally the next thing I know Tim (another student) is asking me “Hey man, you okay?!?” Apparently Aguilar put me OUT. Tim said I was out for about 2 seconds with my eyes open and my hands shaking. Yeah, I don’t remember that at all. What I do remember is Aguilar smiling at me. He knew he put me out. LOL. I have to say I instantly felt rejuvenated. Like I took a really good nap.So the Lesson of the Day is two parts: A) DO NOT ask Coach Aguilar to demonstrate on you (or at least be ready to tap IMMEDIATELY) and B) being put out is a REAL “Power Nap”.

Posted in From Don | 2 Comments »