19.04.2024
Hour nine of my client’s Submission Grappling course put the focus on attacking and defending the turtle position. We looked at tactics, strategies and transitions surrounding this area of a fight.
Following our usual dynamic stretching exercises we followed the below routine:
Solo Warm-Up
Snaking, forward/sideways/backward/shoulder rolls, and side rolls to combat base.
Partner Warm-Up
Backward roll to turtle/attack from under-guard stack
Side roll to guard from pressure on lower back, side roll to turtle from under guard stack
Back take drills from mid-range guard (butterfly and extended half-guard)
Specific Sparring (2 minute rounds)
- Hip surfing on turtle
- Ditto
- Attack the back from mid-range guard starting position
- Ditto
- Seatbelt one-hook-in back mount
- Ditto
The lesson finished with five minutes free-sparring.
Takeaways from this included defend against the hook and choke when in the turtle and to use the rolling training. Interestingly (although not surprisingly) the material that my client used most effectively in the free sparring was what we had trained live during the specific sparring.