Contrary to appearances that we just make this s*** up as we go along, Ronda and I were actually planning out what we were going to do at the clinic tomorrow. We will definitely do more matwork than just armbars, and a little bit of standing technique as well because we are both big believers in matwork combinations and transition. It's not as if you bow in and then magically float into an armbar. You have to get into it some how.
Look, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's judo, it's mma -- it's an armbar !
(Okay, if you never watched Superman, you totally missed that reference. Forget it.)
The beginning of the clinic is going to be several judo moves to an armbar and demonstrating how each of those transfer to mixed martial arts.
1. I'm going to do a turnover where you over-hook the opponent's arm, use your legs to lift, roll on top into tate shiho gatame . (A pin that looks similar to a jiu-jitsu mount.) When the opponent tries to escape by pushing his/ her arm against my head, I switch into an armbar (juji gatame).
2. Ronda is going to demonstrate the almost identical move. When she throws someone and comes on top in the mount, unlike judo, she actually is allowed to punch them in the face. As the opponent puts her hands up to avoid being punched, Ronda catches the arm and switches into an armbar (the same juji gatame).
3. I do an armbar where I start standing, push against the opponent's leg above the knee and go into a position like tomoe nage (a sacrifice throw in judo). As his leg is pushed back, he ends up going forward with his arm straight. (Imagine yourself pushing against a door and the door suddenly opens. You find yourself falling forward. Now, if I had your arm, as you fell you would be in the position shown below. And let me just say here, Ronda stole my armbar.)
Well, you get the idea ... it will be fun.
The clinic is from 2-6 pm on Saturday, August 20 (Yes, that's tomorrow)
West Coast Judo Training Center
537 Vine
West Covina, CA
$10 USJA / USJF / USA Judo members
$20 everyone else
If you are from out of town , please note that this is nowhere near the Vine St made famous by Hollywood and Vine. That's in Hollywood. We're a long way from there.
Take the 10 freeway. Go south on Vincent. Yes, I think the road changes names but just ignore that, it's being difficult. Just keep going south until you hit Vine. The training center is in the strip mall on your left. Hongkong Plaza is on your right. Don't go right unless you prefer Chinese food to armbars.
Why is it only $10 / $20 ? I have received advice that Ronda is "cheapening her brand" by doing clinics for such a low price, not to mention teaching free from time to time at Gompers Middle School. Ronda disagreed. The people who come to the training center are her friends, people she's known since she was 13 or 14 years old, who took tons of falls for her when she was training for her first U.S. Open, first Rendezvous, who gave her money to help pay her expenses when she was traveling the world before her first Olympics. So, even though Ronda normally charges A LOT more these days, she's "taking one for the team".
I think that's nice.
And me, I just like to do armbars.
5 comments:
Hi, I just wanted to say, when I wrote an article on Women's 145 lbs. fighters for Gal's Guide to MMA under the pseudonym Chromium, I never meant to insinuate that armbars and your daughter were the _only_ thing you wrote about on your blog. I know you are a doctor and write about a wide variety of subjects both judo and non-judo related. As a grad student studying to be a math teacher, I can appreciate statistical analysis. I was pretty much joking about, since they do seem to be predominant subjects here, and my angle on selling Ronda as a prospect was her superhuman ability to armbar any woman, man, or beast. I thought she was potentially the most likely fighter in the division to dethrone Cyborg (and still think this) because she is an unstoppable armbarring machine who I imagine in medieval times probably would have a trophy room decorated with the severed arms of victims who dared to smite her name. That she was taught by a mother who was a world champion and a biomic armbarring machine in her own right just makes for an even richer and more armbarrish narrative. I was speaking figuratively when I said you taught her how to armbar people at the age of 5, as I had read that that was the age she started judo, although in retrospect I was probably wrong on both accounts. Still, I assume you taught her to armbar boys who make unwanted advances at an early age. Or possibly just to establish playground-dominance.
So, my apologies for the misunderstanding. I would have responded to your comment in the article itself except that I noticed it much too late and the article was already closed.
No apology necessary. I thought your article was amusing and I appreciate you taking the time to post here.
That is the problem with the Internet, you know. We need a sarcasm font, an irony font and a humor font.
Yes, there are some amusing stories about Ronda on the playground (her little sister, too) but I am forbidden from revealing them by the "Don't Embarrass Your Children Code" of 2010.
Wha...? Code of 2010?! Thank God I missed that email/Notice/News Story...or my glass would be much less than half full. I shall pretend I never read that....
how was the seminar?
how was the seminar?
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