Teaching #108 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/05/2013
Quick update from GrappleThon.org: it looks like there is going to be a Grapplethon in California on the 8th June. I'm waiting on further details so I can hopefully publicise the event, but for now I've added it to the events schedule on GrappleThon.org, here. The fundraising for the GrappleThon in Support of RapeCrisis is continuing, with a current total of £8,611. You can still donate here. Oh, and if you haven't already Liked the GrappleThon Facebook page, that's here. :)
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Last time I spent a good while on the running escape as a survival posture. Today I originally wanted to focus more on the actual escape techniques, but then caved in to the easy option and just repeated the structure from last time.
Kicking off with those tips on the running escape as a survival posture, I first pointed out the importance of blocking their arm from reaching through past your hip. Ideally you want to block that by jamming your forearm to your thigh, so that you elbow is by your hip. This will need to be mobile, as they will be trying to wriggle past.
Putting your arm under your knee can work too, depending on your flexibility, but be careful of reaching too far under your leg. It may leave you vulnerable to them collapsing your leg on top of your arm, trapping both limbs (unless you're flexible enough to get your heel right to your hip, which should be a strong enough structure to prevent that).
If they do manage to get their arm in, dig it back out using your elbow and knee. You can also drive your shin into the crook of their elbow and recover your position, or potentially try and recover guard by spinning off that leverage point (Beneville calls this the 'shin in elbow trick' in his book). I should note that it is possible to escape while their arm is through (Marcelo teaches it that way, IIRC), but personally I find it much tougher when they have that arm through.
The second survival tip is being very careful of their attempts to take your back. Especially if they have an arm through and can reach your opposite hip, they will try to lift you up and slide their leg underneath. That will then help them to put in their hooks and take the back. If they do start to take your back, block their second hook with your elbow and knee (in the same way you were blocking their arm), hopefully setting you up to either get back to the running escape, or perhaps starting a pass off the back escape. Blocking the first hook with your hand is another possibility, but that could potentially leave your neck vulnerable.
Which leads into the third point: protect your neck. You are relatively safe in the running escape, but if they can reach a hand past your neck and grab a collar, that's dangerous. If you feel their hand beginning to sneak past your shoulder, immediately dive your head into your lower armpit. It is a strange position, but that motion should close off their route to your neck. This isn't somewhere you want to stay very long: just enough to prevent that choke set-up.
Moving on to the actual escape, saulo's version in Jiu Jitsu University (p69), which begins by making a little space and turning to the survival posture, links directly to his knee on belly escape. I normally just teach that knee on belly escape as a drill for my open guard maintenance lesson (e.g., back in October), as the swinging motion is a useful skill to learn. However, in his book, Saulo uses that motion to recover his guard from under side control, rather than the swivel he uses in Jiu Jitsu Revolution 2 (he does a much quicker version in his first set, Jiu Jitsu Revolution 1).
The risky part is as you're swinging through with your legs in the air: if your partner is prepared and you aren't able to perform that motion smoothly and efficiently, they may be able to set up a double-underhook pass. It is therefore important to clamp your legs down as Saulo does in the last picture, rather than leaving them dangling and vulnerable. If they do get that double underhook, make your legs heavy, wriggle back on your shoulders, then hook your insteps inside their thighs.
Saulo has a little tweak to this guard recovery option, which I noticed on his new instructional site, BJJ Library (review forthcoming). It may be he did this previously, but it was highlighted on the running escape video I watched last week. In the past, I have used a wide base, securing my weight on my shoulder and two feet. The way Saulo did it in the video was with a much narrower base, pushing off with his feet straight from the running escape position rather than stepping out to wide the legs. He also makes more of a push with his hips into them, staying close, rather than a swing. If you can manage to push them with your hips, that leaves less space for them to move right into the double-underhooks pass.
Be careful to time your escape, staying sensitive to their weight distribution. If they are driving into you with lots of pressure, it will be hard. A good moment to attempt the escape is when they are looking to attack or transition to another position. Often, there will be a brief moment before they start when they take their weight off you. That is the time to spring the escape.
It is possible that the person you are training with won't often use near side grips from side control. Speaking personally, I tend to go for the orthodox grip under the head and the far arm. That doesn't mean you can't use the running escape, it simply means you have to put yourself into position, forcing them to use near grips. All you need to do is make enough space that you can turn away and curl into a ball.
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Teaching Notes: I at first wanted to try and include the 'new' version of the running escape I'd watched (or new to me at least), which Saulo calls the 'quarter escape' on BJJ Library. However, I decided I really didn't understand that technique well enough, particularly after practicing it right before class. But to mention it here, it combines the orthodox escape method with the first part of the running escape: you don't actually spend any time in the running escape posture, so I decided to teach this one first, as it is a sort of pre-emptive escape with less of a middle step. As soon as you are able to clear your shoulder, immediately shrimp out, turning towards them. This is not a typical shrimp, as you walk back on your shoulders to recover your guard.
Pushing with the hips helps, though lots of people were getting knocked over in drilling (which is unlikely to happen in sparring). I think it was a good idea to add in a more thorough discussion of the defence to the stack pass: though it doesn't quite fit into a side control escape lesson, I think it makes sense as that would be my main worry when trying the leg swing guard recovery. Of course, as Jeff Rockwell (or was it jnp? Maybe both of them) taught, the way they can stop the guard recovery more simply is by anticipating your swing and jamming their head by your outside hip.
I'm not sure I saw anybody use the second option at all, which I mentioned briefly (basically, you turn into guard) so I don't think I'll bother including that next time. Instead, I'll focus more heavily on the leg swing. Although I still want to keep trying the turn in sparring, so I can work out the kinks. On that score, I annoyingly found my stupid groin injury flared up again: it's just refusing to go away! Grr.
Next time, I think I'll include the turn at the start, coupled with the survival tips. I can then focus purely on the leg swing guard recovery in the second option, which should make for a more streamlined lesson.
Short Review: By far the largest database of any online BJJ instructional site currently available, MGinAction gives you full access to the jiu jitsu of an elite competitor. The comprehensive labelling system is impressive, with a range of learning options, such as 'drilling', 'discussion' and 'in action. There are numerous playback options, including 'mirror image', several speeds and full-screen. However, Garcia will not always be the one teaching, though his assistants are undoubtedly capable. This is also just footage from class, so there are rarely multiple angles and sometimes both demonstrators wear the same colour gi.
I also disliked the way that videos were almost always techniques in long combinations rather than individual moves. While that makes sense in terms of how the technique would be applied in practice, I found it distracting when I was looking for specific details on a specific technique. Still, there is the option of a free week-long trial (which is easy to cancel before you get charged), so it is worth taking a look, here (you'll need a promo-code, IIRC). It will set you back $25 a month at the moment, with annual options that come with various perks (e.g., a week's training at Garcia's academy, if you can make it to New York).
Full Review: Due to another instructional site asking me to review their content, I decided it was about time to collate my notes about MGinAction and put up a review, in order to prepare a comparison. In the case of MGinAction, I'm relying on what I saw over a week during Christmas 2012, when I signed up for the trial (being a BJJ geek, I did not do a whole lot else other than watch MGinAction for those few days). Before getting started, I should therefore note that six months down the line, there will be considerably more videos on the database and other things may potentially have changed as well.
Arguably, the success of MGinAction has prompted an explosion in online BJJ instructional websites, with numerous other elite instructors and competitors following suit (for example, Andre Galvao, the Mendes brothers, Draculino and the Ribeiro brothers, whose site I'll be reviewing next). MGinAction was not the first example of the genre: Jean Jacques Machado has had an online instructional site since around 2006 and the infamous Gene Simco was another early pioneer. Yet it was not until 2009 that the concept of teaching jiu jitsu online went mainstream, with the arrival of Gracie University. Rener and Ryron made a huge splash in the online BJJ community due to their high quality instruction coupled with the still extremely
controversial decision to award belts based purely on video submissions from distance-learning students.
MGinAction (which certainly does not award rank) was unique at the time it was launched, because unlike the earlier examples, it presented the complete game of an active elite level competitor. Marcelo Garcia is regularly described as the best pound for pound grappler in the world, his peers a very select group of people. Another unusual element to MGinAction is the close involvement of co-founder Josh Waitzkin, who combines several disparate achievements: he was a high level chess player, a BJJ black belt, a tai chi push hands champion and the author of The Art of Learning (which I haven't read, as I'm put off anything that smacks of self-help, but the title at least indicates somebody interested in pedagogy, a good trait if you're heading up an online instructional site).
The content of MGinAction consists of videos filmed of Garcia and his instructors teaching classes at his academy. This is as distinct from Gracie University, which records videos specifically for the online public, rather than class recordings. Although given that MGinAction has now been around for several years, the instructors presumably teach with their online audience in mind as well as the students they are teaching in person.
This also means that the videos are not optimised for viewing in the way a DVD would be, or indeed the videos on Gracie University. You do not get multiple angles, the people demonstrating are not always wearing different colour gis (which can make it hard to distinguish which limb becomes to which person) and there is not much in the way of close-ups, although to be fair to MGinAction, they do zoom in every now and then.
Marcelo Garcia fans should also keep in mind that it is not always Garcia himself teaching. Much of the instruction is done by his assistant instructors, who of course are also very capable, but they lack that star power. Sometimes there is an interesting guest instructor (Fabio Gurgel appeared in one of the videos I saw), but unfortunately there was not a specific label for the instructor. That would be useful, as often you may find you prefer a particular instructor's style.
The biggest single advantage of MGinAction is the sheer number of videos. The selection is enormous: during my trial week in December 2012, you could choose from a total of 14,356. There are numerous categories, which can be drilled down in increasing detail. The broadest distinction is between gi and nogi: if like me you are not especially interested in nogi, then it is worth keeping in mind that a large proportion of MGinAction is nogi (which reflects his approach to BJJ). You can also select the position, top or bottom, which subcategory (e.g., sweeps), then the specific technique.
As you can see if you click on the picture near the top of this review, there are yet more sub-divisions available. In the tabs along the main window on the left, there is 'Fundamentals', 'Advanced', 'In Action', 'Sparring', 'Drills' and 'Discussions'. Each time you click on a label for a particular technique or category, the MGinAction database will split the results into those categories (though quite often several of them will have a '0' in brackets, depending on the breadth of your chosen label).
The demarcation between 'fundamentals' and 'advanced' is somewhat unclear, but that's a problem with BJJ in general, not MGinAction specifically. If I take the cross choke from mount as an example, the version I watched under the 'advanced' label used a set-up where you bait them into half guard to finish. The 'fundamental' video to which I compared it started off the same, including the detail on pushing their defending hand underneath your chest, but did not have that bait finish. Presumably there is either somebody making the decision that one technique is advanced, or perhaps something much more straightforward: e.g., the advanced techniques might be the ones filmed in the advanced class as opposed to the fundamentals class.
'In Action', justifying the name of the website itself, is a short clip of the technique being performed by Garcia in sparring. The video will begin a few moments before Garcia actually applies the technique, then stops immediately after he has landed it (meaning each video is just a few seconds long). It is fascinating to watch the same technique being hit over and over again, on a range of belts and sizes. If you are trying to research a particular technique in depth, this is a potentially handy addition to your learning resources. It is also a very impressive exercise in categorisation on the database administrator's part.
'Sparring' is similar in that you get to see techniques in action, but these are longer, wider-ranging videos of several minutes. They also include a few celebrities, as nothing on the mats appears to escape the camera at the Marcelo Garcia Academy (which from a viewer perspective is really cool: I am assuming that visitors who find themselves filmed sign some kind of disclaimer to allow their footage to be used). As with everything else, you can pick out rolls that feature particular techniques by clicking on the one you want listed. Given the dynamic nature of sparring, that means each sparring video has many, many labels.
A 'Drill', as you would expect, is a drill for practicing a particular element of a technique: e.g., countering a double-ankle grab sweep by kicking your leg free and stepping it back. Again, these videos tend to be short, as a drill does not normally take very long. This section is ideal for instructors looking to build a well-structured lesson where everything flows together, moving from the warm-up straight into the techniques. It would also be useful for students with access to an open mat, who want to work on technique rather than just sparring the entire time.
'Discussions' presented perhaps the most intimate look at the academy of all the videos. In the examples I watched, whoever was holding the camera appeared to be wandering around in an open mat setting, where Garcia was sharing some tips with two purple belts. That evolved into a discussion, with several students sitting around Garcia questioning him about the intricacies of a particular technique. I am not sure how useful it is as a learning experience for the viewer, as although Garcia obviously has lots of useful advice, it is largely just him talking, rather than visual demonstrations of what he is saying. Either way, it is a great way to feel that you are right there with Garcia in his school.
There are several helpful playback features on MGinAction. My favourite was the 'mirror image' option, which flips the video, making it easy to work the technique on both sides. There are also more standard controls like adjusting the speed, looping and expanding to full screen. That's in addition to a toolbar which adds in further functionality, including the ability to queue videos into a personal playlist.
Unfortunately there is no option to download the videos, so you have to have an active internet connection: to date, the only instructional site I've seen that offers that option is the Grapplers Guide, much to Jason Scully's credit. As I have a limitation on my downloads and bandwidth (admittedly my fault for getting a very cheap internet package), I can't watch too many streaming videos before I hit my download cap. I also prefer studying a small number of techniques over months or even years, which is why the subscription model is not one that has tempted me so far: I still prefer DVDs. Although I did buy some videos from Gracie University, as they've combined the payment methods by also providing an option to buy individual lessons as well as a subscription model.
Very occasionally, there will be mislabelled videos on MGinAction: for example, 'Guillotine from Side Control, North South Choke from Side Control' popped up under gi but is a nogi video. That long title is typical of MGinAction, where almost all of the videos appear to be extended combinations rather than individual techniques. On the one hand, that is positive and reflects the importance of chaining techniques in your training. On the other, it can be annoying if you are looking for instruction on something specific, then have to dig that out from underneath five other techniques. It may also be irrelevant to what you're looking for: say you want some advice on taking the back from mount, but the video you find only shows you how to do it after you escape side control.
Having said that, if you did a search on 'taking the back' or just clicked the label in question, you will be rewarded with an extensive list where you are sure to (eventually) find what you need. I liked that the titles are thorough, encompassing all the techniques in the video. Although it can look rather clunky on the screen, it tells you exactly what you're going to get when you hit 'play'.
I should note that the actual instruction also tends to be good, with a few 'what if' details, grip variations and little tweaks, such as grabbing their hand and stuffing it under your chest if they try to block your collar choke. I was a bit disappointed that I found it difficult to find videos for maintaining positions, as there wasn't really a label for that. There was a label for grips, but not for simply how to hold a position. I would have found some in-depth discussion on maintaining position useful. If the videos do in fact exist, they were sufficiently buried that I could not find them.
Strangely, some standard techniques did not appear to be on MGinAction: I couldn't find the ezequiel choke from mount. However, I suspect that is an issue of terminology (and possibly spelling: I've seen it written as both ezequiel and ezekiel, among other variants), which when it comes to instructional sites becomes an irritating problem. The only other option is to try and search through every other choke from mount to try and discover whatever Garcia calls it. Other videos I certainly did find and they were also of immediate use to me, such as Garcia's take on the stiff-arm escape (which he calls the 'elbow push') from side control.
If you ever want to cancel your subscription, the process was simple. I did not have to jump through multiple hoops to get to the right screen, as MGinAction is refreshingly free of the obnoxious marketing nonsense that has unfortunately afflicted certain sections of the online BJJ world. All you have to do is select 'cancel subscription' from 'Update Account Information' on 'My Page', which is precisely where you would expect it to be.
For those who want to emulate Marcelo Garcia's game, there is no better resource. The database is huge, there is plenty of detail and you get an unprecedented ability to drill down further, thanks to the 'In Action', 'Sparring' and 'Discussion' clips. The amount of categorisation is amazing, although there is the odd mislabelled video. More angles and making sure the instructor wore a different colour gi to the person on which they're demonstrating would have been helpful, plus there is sometimes an issue with terminology, but that isn't MGinAction's fault.
The big question is whether or not you have the time, money and inclination to sign up to a monthly subscription site. You're going to need decent bandwidth, as there is no option to download the videos (though I'm sure there are programs that will do that for you). You also need to make sure you can dedicate some serious time to exploring the techniques: to make this worth your monthly subscription will necessitate a lot of study. Finally, you need to be a fan of Garcia's approach to BJJ: if you enjoy butterfly guard, x-guard, particular types of choke and nogi, then you'll be very happy.
If you are only interested in refining basic techniques, then you will still probably find much to like on MGinAction (particularly as due to the huge archive you are virtually guaranteed to bring up at least one video related to what you're looking to work on), but other sites could be a better fit. I don't want to have to extract the technique I want to study from a bundle of other techniques and I want to keep things as simple as possible. Hence why I personally was much more excited to get the chance to check out Saulo and Xande Ribeiro's website, BJJ Library (review forthcoming soon), but that is just preference.
The MGinAction trial is free and fairly generous (it may have changed since I did it, but I got a whole week), so if nothing else I can recommend trying it out to see if you find it useful. You'll be charged $25 a month, with annual subscription offers too that come with perks, the most exciting of which is the chance to train for a week in person at Garcia's academy (though that does of course require you to make it out to New York).
I should mention that I know of one person where I train who has massively benefitted from MGinAction: the positive impact it has had on Mike's game is obvious whenever you roll with him. I'm hoping he'll stick up his thoughts about MGinAction in a comment to this post, as I know he has been using that site for much longer and in far greater depth than I ever could in just a week.
Teaching #107 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 07/05/2013
The 2013 GrappleThon went really well, with over £8,500 raised so far: full write-up here, in case you missed it (my donation page will stay open for several months too, if you'd like to donate but haven't had a chance to do so yet ;D). I also decided to finally do something I've been considering for a while and set up GrappleThon.org.
The idea is to not only give me a place to put all my GrappleThon related material, but hopefully encourage other people to set up their own GrappleThons, perhaps even internationally (to which end I also wrote a quick guide to running a GrappleThon, based on how I've done it: obviously not the only way, but may be of some use to people who aren't sure how to start). It would be awesome if one day there were multiple GrappleThons a year in lots of different locations, all raising money for charity and bringing the BJJ community together. :D
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I've done quite a bit of work on the knee cut pass with Dónal, as he's taught me multiple private lessons on the topic. I therefore wanted to try and condense that into a class, as I continue to find it useful to teach techniques I'm working on myself. There was a good range of different body types tonight, which is always handy for establishing the important elements of a techniques.
To start off, I tried to teach a basic version of the knee cut pass. Rather than going through the numerous details I gleaned from Dónal and trying the pass out in sparring, I tried emphasise three key details: your initial grip, cutting your knee across and establishing control of the upper body.
The basic idea is to step between their legs in open guard, with one leg on the outside. Although I didn't go into depth on the grips, I did mention Dónal's tip about gripping halfway down their shin, then curling your knuckles down to take out the slack. That makes it easier to punch downwards and pin their leg to the mat. Cut your inside leg across their thigh, then get control of their upper body. I prefer an underhook, though there are various other options: again, I didn't go into detail. Pull up on their arm and shift into side control.
After some progressive resistance, I added in some of those nuances to the knee cut pass. Again, grab low on their same side trouser leg with your shin hand, knuckles forward. The elbow of you other arm stays inside your other knee: drive that into the back of their other leg. Keep squashing forward until it your other hand can safely (i.e., without getting triangled) reach high on their same side collar, pulling back towards you as much as possible. You want to curl their body, so their shoulders are off the ground. This makes it much harder for them to sweep you.
Drop into a relatively low crouch, legs apart for base. They will probably have a foot on your hip at this point, on the side where you're trying to get your shin behind their leg. Turn your leg inwards slightly, pressing into their foot, then swing the leg back and over. The grip is important here: you're going to roll your knuckles down so that they are pressing into the shin, straightening your arm. This provides a firm control. Another grip option is to shove straight down into their ankle with the space between your finger and thumb, trapping their leg under you.
Next, you're going to cut across their thigh (still on the leg you just stuffed with your grip), using your opposite knee. As you do, also be sure to yank them towards that side with your collar grip, again to prevent sweeps. Drop in low, trying to secure an underhook, also keeping your head in tight. To get the underhook, put your elbow on their side, then circle your arm around, rather than diving straight for the underhook. You can also just maintain your grip on their collar.
Either way, it is essential that you have your elbow inside. You don't want them to either be able to bring their arm inside for an underhook, or insert their knee in front of you. If they can manage the knee or the underhook, the pass isn't impossible, but it makes it a lot more difficult to finish.
When you've pinned their leg with your shin, you can switch your grip from their leg to their arm and pull up. From here you'll slide through as normal. To secure your position, walk your hips back before you settle (there is a good Mendes brothers video on this), getting your hips underneath them to shove their legs out of the way. That's when you can then solidify your side control.
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Teaching Notes: I like using a structure that has a simplified version at the start, then goes into depth later: if you've read this blog before, you'll know that's how I write my reviews. In the context of a class, that means a basic technique followed by more advanced details. I'm still considering how best to do that, so will keep working on it when I come to teach this lesson.
The feedback from students was that they seemed to like having a chance to practice a simple version first, though I think I could be more coherent in that first section. At present, it was an attempt to teach the technique by chopping out lots of the details, focusing instead on what I thought were key elements: initial grips, sliding that knee across and getting the underhook.
Mike reminded me of a handy little detail, putting your head next to theirs for control. I do something similar for half guard passes, as per Xande's method, but I hadn't thought about its applicability to the knee cut pass. Something I could include next time. He also mentioned I could perhaps emphasise the importance of angle (I think? I may have forgotten, as I'm writing this a good while later: hopefully he can remind me if he reads this ;p).
For a long time now, a major goal of mine has been to support women already in jiu jitsu and encourage others to give BJJ a try. I was therefore appalled earlier this year when I read that a woman had been raped by two of her team mates, which was followed by further disturbing revelations about what has been called a 'rape culture' at that team. I had not intended to run another GrappleThon until next year, but because I wanted to turn the strong feelings about that incident towards something positive, I decided to get something organised sooner. in aid of the important work undertaken by RapeCrisis to increase awareness about sexual violence, press for change and help survivors.
Last year was the first time I had run an event like this. It won't surprise anybody who knows me or reads this blog regularly that I took a lot of notes, with various spreadsheets proliferating during the planning process. That meant I had plenty of material to draw upon for the second GrappleThon this year, including a sort of 'action plan' based around the steps I took in 2012. First up was asking Geeza if he was happy for us to use his club again, to which he generously said yes. That was followed by checking Seymour was willing to do another design for the event, as he was absolutely key to the success of 2012. As Seymour is an awesome guy, he immediately said "no problem" and got to work. Tatami Fightwear were the third important element, who also quickly replied that they would be happy to print the t-shirts for 2013.
The big change this year was that I made an effort to reach out far more broadly than just Gracie Barra Bristol, the academy where I train and teach. There were two reasons for that. Firstly, since going to Texas a few months ago, I have increasingly realised just how amazing BJJ is as a community, rather than simply a sport, hobby or martial art. I'm keen to push that aspect of BJJ, giving back through charitable work as well as providing an opportunity to expand the camaraderie that I've found to be such a notable aspect of BJJ. The GrappleThon is intended to raise lots of money for good causes, but I'm also hoping that it can bring academies and people together.
In the weeks leading up to the GrappleThon, my girlfriend wrote a press release and sent it out to lots of newspapers and websites (naturally including RapeCrisis, who put it on their Facebook page). I'm not sure how many picked it up, but I do know that the BBC read it. That's because a few days before the event took place, I got an email from Sacha Bigwood at BBC Radio Bristol telling me to call her. That led to a live interview being arranged for Saturday 4th May at around 07:40. I was more nervous than I expected and thought I stumbled at the start, but it sounded much worse on the phone compared to the broadcast. That should be on the BBC iPlayer for a while, here (skip to 01:48:39), but when that disappears, you can also have a listen here.
An hour later, I was on my way to the GrappleThon, carrying a laptop, two gis, lots of cereal bars, some collection boxes and a banner. The latter two were again sorted out by my girlfriend, meaning that I could make sure RapeCrisis was featured prominently on the live stream. Perhaps most importantly for the fundraisers, I was also carrying a large box of t-shirts from Tatami Fightwear with Seymour's design. Carrying on the format from last year, these were for a special competition for fundraisers: I had a limited quantity in various sizes, which were given out in order of amount raised. That meant if there were only three shirts in your size but five people raising money who wanted one, you had to make sure you raised enough to rank in the top three. The cut-off point was 9am on Saturday: I double-checked everyone's total just before things got started.
That little element of competition brought out some impressive fundraising efforts. Jack McDonald was the champ, ending up with almost £1,000 on his page by the deadline (and passing it afterwards). I should note I wasn't counting the biggest single contributor, Seymour, who gave our total a huge boost when he added his t-shirt sales to his JustGiving page. Various others got well into three figures, some in a very short space of time: Paul only found out about the GrappleThon in training a few days before, but by the time Saturday rolled around, he had already managed over £200.
Another competition helped in a different way, as it did last year: the 'most time sparring' battle. Seymour brought down a print of his 'Heavenly Footlock' design, which I used as the prize, eventually earned by Christian with a ridiculous 95 rolls.
That's a total of at least five hundred and seventy minutes. I say 'at least' because the tracking was inherently vague, as I was relying on the timer beeping after each round: there is a gap of anything between 30 seconds to a minute and thirty seconds once it beeps. So, Christian was most likely sparring for over six hundred minutes! He was looking to break the 100 roll barrier, which he very almost managed, but ran out of time towards the end. I'm sure he'll be back to try and make that target next year. Considering his admin skills, I may also try and rope him into helping me run GrappleThon 2014 too... ;p
Christian was closely followed by two fantastic gentlemen from Dartford BJJ, Danny and Shane. Not only did they raise plenty of money, they were the first people rolling and the last to leave: Danny finished with 93 rolls while Shane had 91. They were ahead of Christian for most of the event, then after he passed them they made a powerful effort to try and reclaim the top spot, only missing out by two rolls.
If you want to learn how to pace yourself in jiu jitsu, then clearly you need to head to Dartford BJJ. Or indeed just learn from Marc Walder: another grappler from that same affiliation, Mike, managed a very respectable 63 rolls. The same affiliation also boasts an elite level blogger whose insightful writing has influenced me ever since she started up her site: Meg Smitley. It's a shame she couldn't be at the GrappleThon this year, but hopefully I'll finally get the chance to meet her at some point down the line.
I was looking forward to seeing some old friends, some of whom I had not seen since I was a white belt. The one who I hadn't seen for the longest time - though she is so active on social media that I still felt I was in touch - was Pippa, who arrived around 10am. She was literally the first person I ever met in BJJ, as she was behind the desk at RGA when I turned up for my intro lesson with Oli (the second person I ever met in BJJ) on the 26th October 2006. It was great to catch up with her and also with Howard, who was my regular training partner at RGA Bucks. He now calls Brighton home, based at Elements BJJ: two other members of the Elements team came with him to support the event. By the 6th May, the Brighton boys had raised over £1,000 for RapeCrisis.
Geeza appeared forty minutes or so later, in order to run a class he wanted to teach. At that point we split the mat in half, angling the live stream camera towards the near side while the class continued for roughly two hours. Conor, another old friend (this time from the Belfast Throwdown) arrived shortly after that class started. I was expecting a lot of people at 12:00, as most people had told me they would be there between 12:00 and 18:00: the mats were stuffed.
It was cool to see so many brown and purple belts on the mats, including Rob T and some of his students from Swansea, as well as Dónal's brother Paddy (I first met both of the Carmodys up at Gracie Barra Birmingham in 2010). The private lessons I've been taking from Dónal served me well today, as I was able to get in some practice on a number of the technical details we discussed. That also means I have lots of material to work on for my next set of private lessons with him. :D
Alison and birthday girl Paula from Gracie Barra Bath got there at about 12:30, bringing some delicious sweets. That was far from the only confectionery to grace the event: the front desk ended up looking like the dessert counter at a fancy cafe (a tradition I feel should be a part of every academy ;D). With so many people it started to get quite difficult to keep track of everybody on the spreadsheet, particularly once Geeza's whole class joined in with the sparring. I therefore apologise if I missed any of you, or just called you 'Big Guy 1' and 'Small Guy 2'. ;)
The mighty Meerkatsu himself walked through the doors around that time too, packing a brown belt, a camera and some nifty mat skills. At about 13:30, yet another blast from the past hit the mats: Chris Williams, who was among my favourite training partners in the early days of my training. We first rolled in February 2007, where I was intimidated by the enormous guns Chris had at the time. It turned out there was a lot of brain to go with that brawn, as every time I rolled with Chris I learned something new. He has the excellent habit of analysing rolls afterwards and offering constructive tips. Since 2007, he has lost about 20kg of brawn, but none of the brain. Fantastic training partner: as I'll discuss lower down, we had a good roll in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Looking at the timings spreadsheet (not everybody picked a particular time, but most of the fundraisers are on there), it was clear that to get a photo of as many fundraisers as possible, I would need to do it in the early afternoon. I decided on 14:00, unravelling the various tangled bodies in order to rearrange them for a photograph. Or rather, Seymour did, as unlike me he's a professional. He then took what proved to be my favourite picture from the day. Most of the photos on this page come courtesy of Seymour (the rest are from Facebook).
A few hours later, Raphael dos Santos, a black belt who runs Gracie Barra Cornwall, was on his way to London for a seminar. He then saw the GrappleThon mentioned on Facebook. That prompted him to make a quick detour to Bristol and jump on the mats, as well as helping us with a donation on JustGiving. Exactly the kind of thing that makes me love social media!
As we got into Saturday night, the twenty-four hour crew was getting tired. Danny and Shane went to sleep around 20:00, which is when Christian was able to close the gap and overtake them in the sparring competition. Other members of that same group also managed to rack up plenty of sparring. Conor finished on 40 rolls (but managed to impress with his eating skills), while Carlos racked up 38 despite an injury to his arm. Kyle didn't quite match his previous competition-winning 63.5 rolls, with 40 this year, but two of the younger participants from last year returned to match their 2012 totals. It was good to see children on the mat, adding to the family atmosphere of the event.
In 2012, it got increasingly difficult to keep the rolling going after 22:00. This year, there was no such problem, in large part thanks to people like Danny, Shane and Christian who were unstoppable, but also because of the stalwarts from Gracie Barra Bristol. I was expecting the locals to be essential for the late shift, which proved to be true: it would have been much harder without the efforts of Luke (34 rolls), Mike F (36 rolls) and Ben K (32 rolls). Maeve was also a big help, bringing cake, coffee, cups and plenty of rolling too (you'd expect nothing less from a woman who did 60 rolls almost non-stop last year).
At 2am on Sunday morning, the last two fundraisers materialised in a flash of blindingly colourful gi threads. David's fabulous dye job is a sight to behold, while Tanya was as always resplendent head to foot with the latest in gi fashion from Meerkatsu. I sadly didn't get a chance to roll with them, but I'll have to rectify that next time. They stayed until a bit after 5am, not long after which submission only champ Nando from GB Bath arrived. Like Raphael, he saw the event on Facebook and decided he wanted to come and help.
After we wrapped up at 9am, Christian and I went back to my house to get some rest. A few hours of snoozing later, we headed off to Cafe Grounded for a filling brunch. While he was sleeping, I was able to count up the collection boxes, which coupled with Rich L's £60 came to over £200. The present grand total for the GrappleThon (at the time of writing) is a superb £8,406.97. My own page was pushed past the £1,000 during the event, which was a great feeling. Of course, you're more than welcome to make those totals even higher: given the present team total and the herculean efforts of all the fundraising team, there's a chance we could hit £10,000, which would be amazing.
Seymour got his write-up wrapped up quickly, putting it out a couple of hours after the GrappleThon finished, here. Pippa has also written one for her blog, here. The first highlight video popped up on the 6th May, which like last year was a sped-up version of the full event, edited together by Steve:
Next time, I'd like to delegate a lot more, perhaps even go home for a sleep every now and then (although as Luke C pointed out, that's exactly what I said last time. Ahem). To that end, I've set up a specific social media presence for the GrappleThon (e.g., Facebook page, Twitter account and separate website, GrappleThon.Org), which should mean that from 2014 onwards, it doesn't have to be me in front of the laptop the entire 24 hours. I do enjoy spreadsheets, of course, but I'd like to get more involved in socialising. I didn't get to speak to people anywhere near as much as I would have liked, so in 2014 I'm hoping to change that.
Thanks again to our awesome sponsors, Meerkatsu for designing the t-shirts and Tatami Fightwear for printing them. Massive thanks to Geeza for letting us use his spectacular venue, Gracie Barra Bristol, and of course thanks to all the fundraisers. Let's do it all again in 2014! :D
Class #500 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Bristol, UK - 04/05/2013
It's fitting that my 500th class (which isn't a lot of classes, seeing as I started back in late 2006!) is a GrappleThon. I rolled less than last time, partly because the attendance and activity online was much higher than 2012. Still, I got in twenty rolls, which as ever gave me plenty to think about. I wanted to focus on using the techniques I've been working on with Dónal in our private lessons, though I also spent a fair bit of time in my typical slow, stalling positions. As a general point I should be more proactive, but at least some of that time was stalling on top, which is an improvement from stalling on the bottom. ;)
My first bit of rolling was with Alison and then Pippa (I think in that order? I'll have to check the videos when I get hold of them). Last time I rolled with Pippa, I can remember my neck feeling rather vulnerable. That was several years ago, but Pippa's ability to get to the back remains high (although hindered by an injury to her arm). Stupidly I forgot about her injured arm at one point and went to set up an armbar from the back way too quickly. Fortunately she tapped early, enabling me to realise my mistake and let go.
Seymour was taking some snaps while we were rolling (like the one above), meaning I could get in a spar with him before he had to catch his train. We spent the whole roll (I think) working on grips, in my case trying to get to Dónal's knee cut pass position, in Seymour's case using his feet and hands to close that down. I was getting stretched out whenever I tried to get in tight, but couldn't capitalise on being pushed back with a bullfighter pass because Seymour also had good control of my arms. It was an enjoyably technical roll and gives me some ideas of what to ask Dónal next time we cover that pass.
Rolling with Howard is always cool, at about 16:30, where again I found myself frequently in my favoured running escape posture. For some reason all the higher belts I rolled with (which IIRC was Howard, Pippa, Paula and Seymour. Oh, and Geeza, but he was going very light as he waited for me to work, because he wanted to see if I'd gotten less complacent since last time we rolled) were trying to set up footlocks on me, but that was a good reminder to keep my feet out of trouble (I don't generally leave my feet dangling anyway, but it's useful to remind yourself why you shouldn't). Howard also showed me a nifty trick where you trap their arm, put your elbow on the floor then rest your head on your hand. From there, Howard does something where if they do pretty much anything you can catch them in a figure-four. Pre-order the DVD now. ;p
[Update: After watching the video which features my roll with Howard (a bit hard to see as we're way off in the corner, but it starts around 44 minutes in), there must be something up with my posture when trying to pass his guard. He swept me EVERY TIME, so I need to work out what I'm doing wrong (or indeed what Howard is doing right). It's a shame I can't make it out more clearly, as it would be interesting to check out the grips and whatever sweep Howard keeps getting on me. Also amusing that it looks like Geeza is watching the roll and presumably shaking his head at how I repeatedly got knocked onto my back ;p]
After that, I stiffened up even though I really didn't roll very long by comparison to everyone else. It could be I'm just not used to rolling more than a few minutes, or just that my body is pants at the moment - as Chris said, I should really sort out my diet. More of a concern was that the groin injury which has been plaguing me since last year began to act up: I originally noticed it after the GrappleThon 2012. I'll make sure to take it (even) easier before my upcoming trip to California.
At around 04:30 on Sunday [Update: video of it here, starting from about 12 minutes in towards the far corner], Chris and I got back on the mat for the first time since 2007. He was pretty tired by this point, so I was able to get on top a few times and work my mount as well as side control. My mount continues to be rather lacking in submission finishes (even when I do get them, they tend to be sloppy and my combinations are poor), but I can at least generally maintain. The same is true for side control. I'm also almost always getting my pass by forcing half guard. Which works, but much better to circumvent it altogether.
I need to be far more careful of my neck in guard: I got caught in a guillotine and then a head and arm choke. Better neck defence when in guard would be sensible. I'm too complacent about my neck from there, as I forget it is still at risk if they're able to get a good hold. Earlier in the day, Paula almost caught me a few times too: if she was the same size as me, I'm sure I would have been tapping. I should get those hands in place and react before they get it sunk in.
On the plus side, I was able to get the windscreen wiper sweep a few times. Interestingly, the John Will version I taught earlier this week proved effective, combining it with what Dónal taught me. I also hit the sit-up sweep just like Dónal showed, but wasn't able to combine it with the windscreen wiper very well.
There is full video of the entire event (Steve has been uploading the whole thing onto YouTube plus highlights, but I'm waiting for the high quality originals), so once I get my hands on that, I'll update this post (with the links, if nothing else). That should give me some further understanding of what lessons I can learn from the sparring, especially as I haven't seen decent quality video footage of my sparring in a very long time. I'll also update if I see any further links, videos, write-ups and the like about GrappleThon 2013.
Teaching #106 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 30/04/2013
After three months of planning, the GrappleThon in support of RapeCrisis is this Saturday! I've been very pleased with how the fundraising has gone so far: we've already doubled the amount we raised for Meningitis UK last year, which I'm assuming is because the issue of rape has (rightly) been very high profile in BJJ since the start of this year. It's not too late to donate: please go here and spare as much as you can for a fantastic cause. :D
Like last year, the event will be streamed live. This time round, we're going with uStream rather than Justin.tv: the link is here. It would also be worth following my Twitter here, in case anything goes wrong with the stream. I'll be tweeting regular updates throughout the 24 hours, again just like last time. If you haven't already, you can also join the event page over on Facebook, which has a few more details regarding address and the like. I look forward to speaking with you on the live stream. ;)
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The windscreen wiper sweep is something I was first shown by Ciaran at the Belfast Throwdown. That's also the terminology he used: as I think it's the most descriptive I've heard, I have continued to follow Ciaran's lead on that ever since. I next saw it demonstrated on Andre Anderson's closed guard DVD, where he called it the 'Rey Diogo sweep', after his instructor. John Will does something similar he dubs the 'bearhug ankle lift', except that his grips are different. Nic Greogiades included it in his 'big class' at GB Bristol a while back, when he called it the 'Xande sweep', due to Xande having also used it regularly in competition.
I kicked off with a 'basic' version, with a couple of grip variations. Start off by grabbing the same side wrist (alternatively, you could grab the elbow, or use John Will's method where he grips over the back, making sure to trap the arm and prevent them posting). You also need to grab either the outside of their knee or the lower part of their trousers. Be careful, as if your opponent knows this sweep, they may post their other leg out to stop you.
Before they can do that, put your same side foot by that other leg, keeping it tight so there is no room for them to wriggle. Anderson prefers foot on the hip, but personally I find that difficult to pull off: still, be sure to try both versions to see which works best for you. Next, kick your foot on the trouser-grip side up into their armpit, aiming to curve their body away as you do. Swing your head around (so that you're looking at your knee: same principle as with Ryan Hall's version of the triangle). To finish, kick forward with that leg, lifting the trouser, then roll through into mount.
I then moved on to Dónal's version, as per the private lesson from a few weeks ago. Grab the cloth then turn your hand inwards, pressing your knuckles into the side of their forearm. Just like when they sit on their heels and make the trousers too tight to hold, by turning your hand in their sleeve becomes tight and restricts their movement. They can no longer easily circle their hand around to break your hold.
On the sleeve grip side, put your foot on the mat by their leg, keeping it tight so there is no room for them to wriggle. You could go straight for the windscreen wiper from here, but Dónal uses a combination instead: he starts off with a sit-up sweep. Angle your hips slightly towards your sleeve grip, then shove their arm into their other hip. Do the sit up sweep as normal, coming up diagonally towards the knee grip side and bumping into their hip. Their natural reaction will be to press forwards to prevent your sweep, which sets you up perfectly for the windscreen wiper (if they don't push back, simply continue the sit up sweep). On the knee-grip side, kick your leg into their armpit, curling it around their back as you do. It's important that this leg stays tight to them, right from the moment you do a sit-up: imagine that leg is an arm, which you're using to hug them tightly.
You'll drop back slightly too. In order to do the hip bump, you'll have probably come up on your elbow. Don't drop straight back down. Instead, angle off in the direction of your knee grip, moving the shoulder of your posting elbow across. Your leg should end up across their upper back, the foot near their opposite shoulder. Kick the leg forwards to knock them over, thrusting up with your knee grip arm, then roll them into mount.
Keep hold of their leg and sleeve, also extending the sleeve forwards. Holding the leg makes it hard for them to bridge, while holding the sleeve and straightening the arm could lead directly into a submission, such as an americana. To further help with that, slide your knee up on the sleeve grip side, so they can't bring their elbow back to their side.
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Teaching Notes: Based upon some feedback Mike sent me, I shifted the end of the lesson around, so that stretching is at the end rather than the technique review. What Mike said makes sense, as doing more techniques after stretching does somewhat go against the point of stretching out and relaxing at the end of the lesson. Again, please send me feedback if you're reading this: I may not always implement it, but if I don't, I can guarantee I'll at least tell you why. ;D
A few people found this sweep a little complex, which is to be expected: I've been struggling to land it myself. However, I think it is worth sticking with, as once you've got it down it's a high percentage, low risk sweep. I also find it much easier than the flower and pendulum sweeps: although they are generally seen as 'basic' techniques, I've never managed to get them to work well for me.
I didn't get any sparring in, unfortunately, as I decided closed guard sparring fromt he top probably wasn't a good idea for my injury. That still hasn't gone away, though it is much reduced. Annoying, as I wanted to be fully fit for both the GrappleThon and my US trip in June: we'll see how it goes.
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