Musings from the BJJ Gi #20, lesson 21; body fold takedown & shrimp escape from side mount

Second repeat of this lesson, and not a whole lot to document which stood out for this one. The main takeaway point I got from practicing the body fold takedown this time was the necessity of taking a big step forward while folding their body back, rather than sort of just tipping forward from the same standing point. When you take a big step forward as they are bending back and heading towards the ground, it sets you up in a good position to quickly attain full mount once they're down.

The takeaway point for me from the shrimp escape section was in regard to freeing my lower leg when it gets caught in that position across the front of their belly, i.e. shrimp hips out, slide bottom knee in across the front of their belly, and straighten your body out to start working to attain full guard. Because I was taller than my training partner, my lower leg/foot kind of got stuck across their belly, as it was too congested in their to just bring it all the way through via shrimping my hips out on the other side. The instructor told me to make sure I pointed my toes (ballerina feet), and then bridge my hips up, and then turn my opponent slightly towards the side of the free/bridging leg. Doing these two (or three if you include the ballerina feet) things together creates heaps more space to get that bottom leg all the way through to attain full guard.

That's all for this entry, a short and boring photo-less one I know, but I'll endeavour to make the next one more engaging!
Cheers,

• David