Thursday, March 29, 2012

The Brazilian Legs Drill

Relearned it in class Monday night, and been putting it into use ever since... :) Donald suggested we watch the Zak v Kron match to see it in action-- but maybe I have the wrong Zak v. Kron or maybe I'm distracted with work, because I'm not seeing it here! Tell me if I'm wrong!



Shoutout to teammate Travis Orr, competing at his first Pan as a brownbelt this weekend. Are you watching it on BudoVideos? I am curious how it will work as I've heard they'll be streaming all the matches, all the time... that's a damn lot of work! And good luck to everyone else I know competing this year-- Mallory, Jennifer, Dolph, Gianni, the Evil Twins Christopher and Christian... Wish I could be there to cheer you on, maybe next year!

Also, a cool list from Inner BJJ of the 50 top BJJ blogs.

While I'm here-- this is what I'm making for dinner tonight.

Hoisin Pork with Napa Cabbage
serves 4; 290 calories per serving


1 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into 1/4-inch-thick strips (about 3 inches long)
1 tsp. kosher salt; more to taste
3 Tbs. hoisin sauce
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
3 Tbs. canola or peanut oil
2 tsp. minced garlic
6 cups napa cabbage, cut into 1-1/2-inch pieces (about 3/4 lb.)
1 red bell pepper, cored, thinly sliced, and cut into 2- to 3-inch lengths
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

In a large bowl, season the pork with 1/2 tsp. of the salt. In a small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and vinegar.

Heat 2 Tbs. of the oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet or large stir-fry pan over medium-high heat until shimmering hot. Add the pork and cook, stirring, until it browns and loses most of its raw appearance, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate.

Add the remaining 1 Tbs. oil to the skillet. Add the garlic, and once it begins to sizzle, add the cabbage and pepper. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 tsp. salt and cook, stirring, until the cabbage starts to wilt, about 2 minutes.

Add the hoisin mixture, the pork, and half of the green onion and cook, tossing, until heated through, about 1 minute. Let sit for 2 minutes off the heat (the cabbage will exude some liquid and form a rich broth), toss well again, and serve sprinkled with the remaining green onion.

15 comments:

Tree Frog said...

What specifically is the "Brazilian legs" you talk about? Seems like there's a bit missing in between the mention of it and then the Kron/Zak match.

Georgette said...

Sorry, I assumed it was a common term. It's tough to describe. Sadly, a youtube search turned up just one video, and I would NOT encourage you to do it Pendergrass's way, at least it wasn't the way my instructor teaches it (and since Kron, Rickson's son, does it "our" way-- Imma say that's the right way.)

Maybe I can make a video for you.

In short it's a drill for open guard retention and replacement against passes from the knees that seek to go around your legs, to the front or to the back.

My best attempt at description:
1. Opponent ducks one arm under your leg, putting your hamstring on his shoulder, to start a stack pass.
2. With your arm that's opposite the leg he's ducked under (i.e. if he's under your left leg, use your right hand) you'll block him by connecting with his shoulder or armpit. You are blocking the side of his body that's coming underneath your leg.
3. Your free leg bases out on the mat, and you want to hip out away from him, then tuck your bottom shoulder under your body. You're using your top arm to maintain distance away from him, while your bottom arm/shoulder tucks under. As a result, you are on your side, giving greater mobility.
4. Also as a result, your bottom hip (connected to the leg on his shoulder) tucks under and moves farther from him, so that leg turns, the knee drops towards the mat, your shin slides down his collarbone, and your instep is curled over his trap.
5. While your bottom shin and top arm are still framing on him and blocking his motion towards you, move your free leg so that the hamstring connects with his trap (where your instep is) and curl your calf over the back of his neck- let him carry your weight by activating that hamstring and your hip flexors.
6. Slide the bottom leg (the one that was on his shoulder) down his chest so you have shin across his waist, instep curled around his far hip bone. In this position, you can bear a great deal of his weight, and since you're still on your side, you can use your legs and foot around his hip to follow his motion around in either direction.
7. To reinitiate the drill on the other side, opponent pushes your foot (around his hip) down to the mat and kneewalks over it-- so it's basically the same position as # 1. Now you repeat, all to the opposite side.

Georgette said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Georgette said...

There's also a triangle you can hit but I'm not up to describing that at the moment!

I did go back and watch the video so I could post "watch at time such-and-such" but I must be retarded, or distracted by work, or it must be the wrong Kron v. Zak match, because I'm not seeing the Brazilian Legs happening!

Dolph said...

Hey Georgette,

Thanks for the shout-out. Sorry you won't be at the Pans this year but maybe next year!

BTW - While living in Philly, I trained with Zak at Maxercise, and he's a monster on the mat. Both his parents are black belts, and he definitely grew up in the sport.

Dolph

Tree Frog said...

Declaring something "the right way" can be a fool's errand.

Look at how many guillotine or armbar variations there are. I can name five guillotines right off the top of my head now and at least four or five armbars too.

This gets even trickier when talking about armbars - knees open Ronda Rousey-style or knees tight, as per usual BJJ technique?

Georgette said...

Well, you make a good point. However, I think tere would be right ways to do ll those variations, depending on the context & desired goal. And, given what my instructor said about the context & desired goal, I'm tempted (by my respect for his knowledge) to defer to his judgment about doing the BLD a certain way... but it is possible there are other right ways perhaps in other situations for other goals.

However, just because Miesha didn't get out of that armbar doesn't meant it's right (or "the best practice") to splay your knees apart and lock your ankles.

Tree Frog said...

Let me ask you this: what does keeping your knees tight and your ankles unlocked during an armbar accomplish?

Georgette said...

Oh jeez. Do we really need to have this argument?

OK, I'll bite. It isolates the humerus and makes it more difficult to pass the hamstring over the head.

Tree Frog said...

What if you don't need to isolate the arm (why use humerus - the shoulder to elbow bone here?) or prevent the hamstring from being passed over the head?

I point to Ronda's mother -

http://drannmaria.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-do-arm-bar-right-rant.html

and to the Gracie Brothers -

https://twitter.com/#!/GracieBrothers/status/177284370707656704

regarding the open knees/crossed ankles armbar.

There's usually more than one way to slay that dragon and what we grapplers have to do is find the ones that really work for us as individuals.

That's all I'm saying and I certainly am not trying to prove a giant, earth-shatteringly important point. Just saying that what we do in matches often looks a bit different from the pristine techniques we drill and after development of true expertise, we can make some decidedly unorthodox things work for ourselves.

Georgette said...

You're right, mea culpa, there's many right ways to do things (I think I may have already said this at least twice?)

I used the word humerus because it's shorter and more precise and more efficient than saying "The shoulder to elbow bone." If it means someone has to google it, eh, oh well- they learned something today.

You'll notice Ronda's mom's knees are not widely splayed apart. And while I can't see twitter from inside this firewall, I am pretty durn sure that Rener and Ryron don't teach knees-open-ankles-crossed as the ideal armbar.

I know that in the moment, what matters is what works in the moment. If you can make it work in the moment, it was right *at that time.* Hooray. But what about when you're drilling? Isn't drilling the time to strive for perfection-- to strive to instill muscle memory of the most efficient, tightest, closest-to-foolproof technique possible? And that way, what you instinctively reach for when you're live sparring will be the best technique, generally speaking, until you have to adjust for the context and the goal?

I can't believe you're arguing about this :)

Nick Reynolds said...

thanks for the shout out to Travis, i was going to go spectate on Saturday but now I'll try and watch his match Sunday morning.(hopefully i read the website right)


Funny we trained open guard grip breaks with legs only last night. Keeping people that grab your pants from passing your guard. My finger tips are trashed.

Pete said...

I'm all for using "humerus" Georgette...make 'em learn!

Tree Frog said...

An extremely unusual armbar set up from the 50/50 guard at this year's Pan Ams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JNN_rnCaRI

JayB said...

Interesting responses here:

http://www.reddit.com/r/bjj/comments/r4van/can_anyone_give_me_a_reason_not_to_cross_my/