Today, I rolled with a guy we all call Barf. Barf is a purple belt who routinely kicks my butt seven ways from Sunday. But, in that good I-just-learned-a-lot type of butt kicking way. Today, he reminded me about the importance of underhooks.
I know underhooks are important for a lot of moves from butterfly guard to passing and sweeping. But today, Barf made me realize I don't focus on those enough. He told me the two things I really need to worry about most are hips and underhooks. I need to move my hips and block theirs. I need to get the underhooks, thus blocking theirs.
A lot of times I will start a guard pass or half-guard pass to one side and forget to get the underhook on the opposite side. Even if I do the rest of the pass right, if I don't have that underhook, they are out and scrambling seconds after I pass. The underhook is about control.
Just like the hip is. If my hips are free, I can move. If I can block the other person's hips, then their options become more limited.
Barf suggested that I focus on those two things only today in class. It was great. I never noticed how much I was neglecting the underhooks. Fun exercise.
Things are really, really bad.
2 months ago
2 comments:
I think I'm JUST starting to think about things that involve controlling the other person after months of not being able to even see anything but myself.
BTW, I love purple belts. They're so smooth and clean. Brown and black are still magical in my eyes, people is amazing, but still human. Great post!
Thanks Allie for an awesome post. This one is all you!
And Megan...That's such a nice thing to say about purple belts :o)
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