Private: Back to Basics

First of twice-weekly hour-long privates with Michael Jr. today. My goal for the privates is to stick to the basics. Saulo's basics. I want to learn everything from the beginnig and pay attention to details until the techniques are ingrained in muscle memory and I can teach them without skipping a detail.

Started with a brief stretch and warm-up. Lots of non-conventional partner hip escapes plus a core lift arm bar drill from standing guard break attempt via muscle sweep set up. Techniques were built around the classic open guard. Learned proper grips and foot placement (control the hips). Reviewed the classic scissor sweep from the open guard set up. Followed with the Helio Gracie palm up / palm up choke from the same set up. Detail I'd been missing: Use your vertical leg to open up opponent's arm and create space for the second palm up grip then place the foot back on the hip and spread his/her out and into your choke for the finish. Then palm up / palm down, arm bar, and triangle options from the same set up. Next up a classic hip bump sweep with guillotine option if s/he throws weight into you to defend against hip bump. Finished with a kimura from closed guard. I plan to spend the first half of next class reviewing these techniques before getting into the next lesson.