Duurrrh

Today we worked sweeps from guard, landing in knee on belly.  We did a couple variations of the same sweep...  but the biggest thing I took away from class was pretty much, the most obvious thing I have ever missed.

The second I tried it, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I am such a moron, why have I never noticed this before?!"

The sweeps started from closed guard.  You started by grabbing a hold of both sleeves of the person you are sweeping, and just kind of push their sleeves up into their shoulders, open your guard, and pull your knees in under their arms.  Basically to butterfly guard without your hooks in.

Trying to get peoples arms out of the way while they are in my guard is one of my biggest problems when I want to transition to another position.

It is especially easy when someone is trying to pass your guard as they are leaning away from you anyhow.  You just push them the way they are trying to go, and get your legs in.

Hello.  Anyone home?  Is that not what Ben has pretty much been telling me from day one.  Duh!

It may not work as well, when someone is hunkering down in your guard, but that doesn't happen very often unless it's a roll toward the end of class and people are feeling gassed.

Anyway, that was probably the biggest "duh" moment I have experienced since I started Jiujitsu.