Chakra Status – Feelin’ Fine

Around seven months ago I started doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu at a studio in Baraboo, WI. My tennis team had just disbanded, so I decided now was the time to give it a shot. I’ve always had an interest in martial arts, having done karate as a kid, and boxing and kung-fu as an adult. It was time to give grappling a shot.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu was developed in the 1920s after Judo practitioner Mitsuyo Maeda brought the sport to Brazil. Slightly different from modern Olympic Judo which focuses on throws, Brazilian jiu-jitsu instead concentrates on the ground game of Judo. This includes sweeps, guards, pins, and, most interesting of all, submissions. This system was eventually made famous by Royce Gracie during the first “Ultimate Fighting Championship” tournament. Royce managed to use BJJ techniques to take down much larger and more aggressive opponents. As a result, BJJ is a staple of modern mix martial arts training.

During the first few months of BJJ, I mainly focused on stretching out my hip flexors and tried to avoid getting my head ripped off. This was a time of survival, it was difficult to focus on actual techniques (except for the San Paulo guard break, which rules). Now that I have a better understanding of the sport, I’m using this blog to write down the daily techniques so I can remember them better. This is mostly a personal activity, but if you get any kind of benefit or entertainment out of reading what I wrote, then that is an added plus.

Spider and Half Lasso Guard

Today we went over a spider guard and half lasso technique. Essentially you get your opponent in spider guard, but loop one foot around and rest your foot on your opponent’s bicep or elbow to achieve a half lasso.

From this you can use the half lasso foot as a “step” to bridge (much like a yoga bridge) up and hook your spider guard leg around your opponent’s head, setting up a nice triangle submission.

You can also hook your spider or lasso foot around for an easy omoplata submission.

Right now I mainly just stick in closed guard, try for a sweep to side control, then go for an easy kimura hold. My goal in the next few months is to utilize more lasso and spider guards to see what I can do with them.

That and keeping my body limber with regular yoga and jogging.

Wish me luck, thanks for reading!