Eventually, I have started to understand what BJJ fundamentals really are: maintaining balance and stability, a solid, grounded posture, connection and pressure, and the use of frames.
Last evening, during free rolling, I finally managed to apply some of those things.
The session began with the usual warm-up, which wasn’t too long. I did my forward and backward rolls a little better than before. Still not good — but definitely an improvement.
After that, we went back to techniques we had already practiced: passing the legs from open guard and moving into side control. The next exercise was to escape side control using an underhook and transition into a single- or double-leg takedown. The last drill focused on escaping half guard while on top.
At the end of the class, I had six rounds of free rolling with six different partners. The first five rounds were three minutes each, and the last one was five minutes long.
Since it was a fundamentals class, all my partners were white belts, although more experienced than I was, except one. They still controlled most of the exchanges, but this time I felt I did quite well.
One of the partners was a new guy, maybe around 20 years old. Against him, I was fully dominant. I managed to sweep him every time and move into mount position. Then we restarted from half guard, and I did the same again.
Next time, I have to think more about proper techniques during rolling.
But slowly, survival is turning into actual Jiu-Jitsu
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