23/01/2011 - RGA Aylesbury (Open Mat)

Class #375
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, UK - 23/01/2011

There are a bunch of cool people training at RGA Aylesbury, and tonight I finally had a chance to meet and chat to one in particular I'd been interested in talking to: Pete Griffiths. If you've read the FAQ, you may recognise the name, as he is the awesome guy who wrote this on EFN and this for Meg's blog (I'd forgotten he'd written that until he mentioned it: excellent piece, so that reminds me to update the FAQ entry).

The next session opened with shrimping around the mat, going backwards, side to side and forwards. Again, my leg wasn't up to that, so as during the warm-up of the first class, I stayed in a corner doing sit-ups and press-ups (I can rest my dodgy leg over the back of the one that works, which seems to avoid any strain on the injury).

An hour of drilling followed. Unfortunately, I couldn't take part in most of that too, as it involved throws, and then work from De La Riva and mount. The one from De La Riva was really cool, so despite not being able to practice it yet, I tried to take a few notes (though that's always more difficult to remember if you aren't actually drilling the technique yourself). It starts with a sort of back-step when attempting to pass De La Riva, putting you in top half guard, facing their legs.

Your leg is still stuck, which means you can lock it up, almost as if you were doing a lockdown from an unorthodox position. The next part is where drilling it myself would have made things clearer: move your torso to their far side and roll over your shoulder, dragging them with you, ending up on their back. That's probably difficult to visualise, but it is a bit like the cool transition Sean Roberts does here.

As it didn't use the legs so much, I was able to drill another of the techniques, an arm drag from guard. Specifically, this was from butterfly guard, which is important, as that helps when taking the back. The technique starts from their attempt to grip your grip, push your shoulder, grab your head etc. If they extend an arm, grab the sleeve with your same side hand and pull it towards you, followed by grabbing their tricep with your other hand and continuing the pulling motion.

This should knock them forward. You can now remove your hooking foot on the same side as their dragged arm, placing it away from their body instead. That means that you can then swing around to their back, using that hold on their triceps to help your spin. The hooking foot you leave behind now becomes your first hook for back mount.

Once we got to the open mat section itself, I was able to ask Kev for some pointers on the overhook guard choke I'd been drilling earlier. This is where that second option I mentioned earlier comes in, which is similar to the cross choke variation I described in that same post. Establish the overhook as before, but this time, make sure your initial grip on the collar is good and deep. This is difficult, as you are already overhooking their arm, which shortens your reach, and it is also where I've been having problems in sparring.

Still, if you can get that grip, move onto your side. Either grab behind their gi, their shoulder or get your thumb inside their collar. You can then bring that arm around as before, getting the elbow in tight to their chest. From here, you can complete the choke: it has the advantage over the looser variation that it isn't so easy for them to simply push on your elbow to block the submission. Kev also noted that a thick collar can make this harder to get too.

I drilled that with Sahid while everyone else was sparring, which proved useful. Even better, Sahid had another attack to add onto the position, which was similar to the americana from overhook guard Roy Dean demonstrates on Purple Belt Requirements. Dean describes it as an option for when your partner tries to free their arm the wrong way (if they remove it the right way, you're set up for an arm drag, as Dean shows).

Sahid has been trying this out recently, and he baits them to remove their arm that way. You loosen up slightly on the overhook, opening your guard and using your shin to create the necessary distance (and block them coming forward). They will probably take the opportunity to try and free their arm, which will give you just enough room to lock your arms and twist to the side. Sahid also noted that you need to be careful with this, as it comes on quick and some people are too stubborn to tap. So, be sure to use control. Apparently Frank Mir tried this is in a fight some time, so there is probably a video out there somewhere.

Taking a leaf out of Julia's excellent blog, I thought I'd finish with a question: what would you drill at an open mat?

23/01/2011 - RGA Aylesbury (Beginner)

Class #374
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, UK - 23/01/2011

After worrying that my knee might have exploded last week, it appears to be recovering fairly quickly. There was a party in London the next day (hence fancy dress pics of me on Facebook, which is very typical for parties at that house: my gf has awesome friends), which involved a lot of limping around the capital and hobbling up and down stairs. Fortunately, my leg started to work again over the course of the week, although I'm still holding off on sparring or anything involving torsion on the leg.

Also, I only just realised my old training buddy Will has moved his excellent post on Portuguese terminology for BJJ to its own site, BJJ Phrases.com. Amy has that linked on her blog, which is where I saw it recently. Which amuses me, because I'm in regular email contact with Will: I somehow managed to miss it from the first hand source. Finally, speaking of blogs, Hannah put up a list of her top fifty here, which includes a bunch of familiar names.

Last time I showed up at an Aylesbury Sunday class, the whole three hours was open mat. However, things have changed since 2009, as now it is split into two sessions, and thirty minutes longer. The first is a normal beginner class, for an hour and a half. After that, there is another hour of drilling, before moving into the actual open mat.

I had been intending to do several hours of drilling on the overhook guard choke (or at least that's what I call it: arm wrap choke is another common name), because I never seem to be able to threaten with the submission even if I can secure the position. Fortunately for me, Kev was teaching chokes for the beginner lesson, so similar principles applied although the position was slightly different.

Kev began with the classic cross choke from guard. After getting a deep initial grip, a useful point to keep in mind is to swing your torso to the opposite direction in order to help establish the second grip. You can then square back up before sinking the submission.

That was followed by a standard variation, where after the first grip, your second hand grabs around the back of their gi. Maintaining your grip, you then swing that second arm to the side your first hand is grasping. Bring the elbow of the second arm tight to their chest, then complete the choke as normal.

Kev completed the technical section with a guard pass, knee sliding through to side control. However, that involved plenty of twisting and turning with the legs, so I decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to put that strain on my damaged knee. I could at least let Callum do the drill on me, although I couldn't offer up much resistance with my legs for him to work against.

As specific sparring was from guard, I decided against that too. Callum kindly stayed to drill with me, meaning that I got my chance to do some drilling on that overhook guard choke. There are a couple of options, one of which is easier to apply but less effective. That's the one I started with: I drilled the second during the open mat. Either way, first you have to get into the arm wrap/overhook.

They will probably be grabbing your gi somewhere between your chest and stomach. Grab their sleeve with one hand, then reach your other hand underneath to hold your own wrist, making a figure-four. Wrench up with your figure-four to break their grip (you could also try raising your hips then dropping them as you wrench to increase the leverage). Pull the sleeve behind your head, while simultaneously swimming through with the other arm, so that you end up overhooking their arm.

With the overhooking hand, reach through and grasp their opposite collar. Keep the elbow of your overhooking arm locked to your body, so they can't free their arm. This is a good controlling position, where you have a number of attacks: omoplata, armbar, triangle and the one I wanted to practice, a choke.

The application is similar to the variation of the cross choke we did earlier. Again, either grab the back of their gi, around their shoulder, or get your thumb into their collar. Then bring that arm to the other side of their head. Depending on your grip on their collar, you can bring your forearm into their throat. Pull on the gi with your overhook arm to cut off one artery, then press your forearm into the other side of their neck to block the other. As you have access to the throat, you can also try pressing into that, but it makes for a less efficient submission.

Matt Thornton demonstrates something similar in his 'A.P.E Guard' disc from Functional JKD 3 (which incidentally is a great set, so I should get round to reviewing it at some point). Even if that submission doesn't work, it should at least force them to defend. This is where you can go for a triangle, especially if as likely they use their other arm to block. That motion could give you the chance you need to bring your leg over and begin your triangle set up.

14/01/2011 - RGA Aylesbury (Beginner)

Class #373
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, UK - 14/01/2011

My parents have now moved to temporary accommodation near Tring while the new place in Aylesbury is being built. I certainly can't complain about the view from my laptop: should be a pleasant way to finish off my time here, before heading off to the city (unless my girlfriend buys somewhere in Bristol before then, but I can't imagine we'll have anything sorted by March).

That also means that training has shifted yet again, although I can still stick with RGA Bucks. The difference is that rather than the High Wycombe location, I'll now be going to the one in Aylesbury, which is closer (and will obviously be even more convenient once we move to Aylesbury itself). Just like the previous time I went to the Aylesbury branch, I got lost and had to phone Kev. Hopefully that won't happen again, especially now that I've got smartphone GPS map power. :)

Tonight's lesson was essentially a repeat of this one from a few months ago (a good thing, as that was an excellent class). The open guard drill I liked so much last time had a handy addition, during the third stage where you're bringing your legs past your head then pushing off your toes to roll back into guard. You can instead continue your roll and end up on your knees, ready to initiate a takedown. This is especially helpful if your opponent is larger and has already started to drive their weight into you. Attempting to roll to guard at this point may leave you stuck halfway. If you roll the other way, to your knees, that lack of space is less of an issue.

Kev added in a useful tip about the tripod sweep, in regards to establishing that grip on the ankle. If you first hook behind their leg with your same side foot, that means they can't avoid your grip by stepping back. You can then adjust your feet into the necessary positions. As before, that then shifts into a sickle sweep if they go side on, on a De La Riva back-take if they turn too far (see my earlier write-up for details).

Specific sparring with Callum from open guard was rather one-sided, particularly when I was trying to pass. I wasn't getting anywhere, though I was at least trying to use pressure and driving my hips forward. I was mainly attempting to trap one of his legs by sitting on it, then working to pass from there. However, even when I did isolate the leg, Callum was able to use a combination of his other leg and good hip movement to recover guard, or indeed sweep me. I flew past his head, got rolled from deep half and was taken down by the very same rolling to knees move we'd just learned.

Still, it is all useful in the sense that it helps me become more familiar with the pressure I need, where to control and how to balance. The only way to improve is to fail repeatedly first, making sure I think carefully about exactly where and why I'm failing. I guess BJJ wouldn't be as much fun if it was easy. ;)

Underneath I fared slightly better, as I could use my legs to hold him off. I tried the foot in bicep tactics that I'd been playing with in Bristol, which worked for a while, but I eventually got bunched up and passed. The spider guard with a deep lasso on his arm worked better, as that gives really good control, but I wasn't able to do much with it. As Kev advised before, I still need to attempt more attacks.

Closest I got to that was looking for the De La Riva sweeps I'd been taught at GB Brum, but as ever I struggled to maintain any tension with the leg pressing into the knee. Callum had no trouble at all disengaging that pressure, controlling the leg and moving round for a pass. I also need to consider linking the sweep with that other one where you switch your legs and drive forward (which doesn't need the same pressure into the far knee).

Like Thursday classes at RGA Wycombe, the Friday class at RGA Aylesbury then moves into an extra hour of sparring. I started off with a blue belt, where the foot in bicep guard worked better. I was able to move into a triangle, and then somehow ended up in mount. My legs were unlocked, but it was clearly a dominant position. However, I then mostly just started at him, fiddling uselessly with his arm to see if it might magically trigger some memory of a submission.

Eventually I clumsily moved into a vaguely locked triangle, but the choke wasn't on. He tapped a bit later, but only because I was squishing his head, rather than any kind of actual submission. So, mounted triangles are clearly yet another technique I need to greatly improve: I did try rolling into a more conventional triangle from guard, but I think ended up back in mount, somehow.

My next partner was a white belt, who I think was a little bigger than me. Either way, after a bit of footsie against his arms from open guard, I found myself in some random positions. He was looking to choke me with his legs, but didn't have my arm. So, it was uncomfortable, particularly when he tried using his own arm to get the choke (which I have seen done), but I was able to squirm out to his side control. That led to the inevitable running escape posture, which is where I stayed until time ran out.

I was with a blue for the next roll, and the gods of jiu jitsu decided to punish me for stalling. I had my leg up defensively as my partner was looking to pass. He started to apply pressure, while I countered with my leg at a slightly awkward angle. I pushed to try and recover guard, which resulted in a loud ripping sound.

Having seen the numerous knee injury war stories passed around on forums, visions of months in hospital immediately sprung to mind. However, after that moment of panic, I realised that I wasn't screaming in agony clutching my knee, so it can't have been that bad. At this point I was hoping the noise originated from my trousers somewhere, although I couldn't see a rip.

After I gingerly squeezed my knee a few times and carefully tested if the leg could hold my weight, Kev advised that I should be ok to go light, but to stop if anything twinged. The rest of the roll was therefore gentle, so although I ended up in side control, I think that had a lot more to do with my partner's concern he might have just messed up my knee rather than any skill on my part. I don't think the injury was anything to do with him, as the main pressure came from my attempt to recover guard.

Either way, I'm not one to take risks (almost certainly a large part of the reason my game, if I can call it that, is so passive), so I sat out the rest of the sparring. Now that it is a few hours later and I've walked around, I can be more specific. The pain is in the right tendon on the back of my left knee, whatever that's called. It feels sore, but as I can still stand up and put weight on the leg, I'm hoping it will heal up ok in the next few days. I'll have to be careful not to crouch though: that definitely hurt when I just tried it.

Article - US Grappling and the Beginnings of Submission Only

Article #22, by guest writer Chrissy Linzy

A few years ago, US Grappling decided to run a true Submission Only Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament. We talked about everything that might go wrong. We talked about how to handle the people who would tell us it couldn’t be done. We talked about a hundred reasons not to do it, and at the end of the day, we all decided that we wanted to bring pure jiu jitsu tournaments back. So, we set out to solve the problems on paper before holding our first event.

First, how were we going to ensure that the event didn’t last forever? Should we have some time limit on matches? Should we have a mercy rule, with points to fall back on? Once we determined we didn’t want a time limit or any points at all, we had to discuss stalling. Finally, we weren’t going to have any stalling penalties, since there was really no advantage to stalling for either competitor. We handled this by limiting the number of competitors at the event. We wanted to be sure that our referees and our staff could handle the demand of focusing on one match that could potentially last for an hour, or more.

Second, how were we going to schedule the divisions? Without knowing how long matches would last, it’s really hard to have an accurate schedule for the day; something we have always tried to do for our competitors. We started with a liberal use of ‘tentative’ and did a lot of analysis of the preregistered competitors.

Next, we knew that in order to combat the naysayers, we’d need a lot of data after the event so that we’d know how long matches really lasted, on average. We modified the brackets so that there would be a spot for the length and submission for each match, and trained the referees and table workers on how to complete these extra fields.

Finally, we were ready to go. We made our brackets, took a deep breath, and kicked off the day. One of the very first matches of the day lasted nearly ninety minutes. We realized the two grapplers in this match were both in several other divisions. We started to worry about holding things up. Then, other divisions started to finish. Fast. Matches were ending in two minutes. Entire divisions were finishing in fifteen minutes of total match time. This was working!

At the end of the day (which wrapped up before 5 PM), we had collected data on nearly 200 matches, and our average match length was just over six minutes. We were well within the normal tournament timelines, even with that first match lasting so long. It turns out that for every outlier like that one, there are a few dozen matches that end in less than two minutes, and it all averages out quite nicely. Oh, and the two grapplers that competed for ninety minutes both went on to compete in some (but not all) of the other divisions that they entered.

The thing that we hear over and over again from competitors that try the submission only format is how the event just feels different. There’s no pressure to score points in the next 30 seconds. No one is yelling at the referees for points or advantages. Everyone is there to see whose jiu jitsu will prevail.

US Grappling plans to run around 10 Submission Only events in 2011. You can see where they'll be at www.submissiononly.com.

Chrissy Linzy has been training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for 5 years, and is one of the owners of US Grappling, a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and submission grappling tournament circuit that travels across most of the United States for events. She (rarely) blogs at www.clinzy.com.

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Berlin, 7th-9th January 2011

Deciding where to travel with a friend of mine, I found a cheap city break on lastminute.com, which includes a flight through easyjet. As bargain basement as that sounds, we did get to stay in a four star designer hotel, which was the main reason I was tempted: the Tryp Hotel Mitte. That handily has a train station right by it, although less handily it has changed its name recently to Naturkundemuseum (due to the Natural History Museum which is also close by), having previously been known as Zinnowitzer Straße. That's also what it was still called in my otherwise very useful little Berlin guide from Lonely Planet, which confused me until I realized what had happened.

In order to get into central Berlin from Schönefeld Airport, you can take a train from the nearby station (about five minutes walk via a covered walkway). Either jump on an S-bahn, or an Airport Express. Note that it won't actually say Airport Express on the departure information board, just on a bit of paper attached to the side of the train itself.

You'll also obviously need a ticket from one of the machines, for zones ABC: zones A and B are central Berlin, so you only really need C for the airport. A single cost €3, and got us to Friedrichstraße: make sure you validate it in one of the machines on the platform, which will stamp the time at the top. The transport system in Berlin is excellent, once you've worked out the various lines. There are both underground (U) and overground (S) services, which you will sometimes needs to switch between. You can get a map from the BVG site. To get around the whole thing, it is worth investing in a tageskarte (about €6.10), which lasts until 3am the next day. So, rather like a travelcard on the London Underground, but unlike London Transport, it isn't a massive rip-off. ;)

The next day, passing by the closed Reichstag and through the Brandenburg Gate, we headed to the Tiergarten. This is a huge green space in the middle of the city. Or at least normally it's green: as we were there at the start of January, it was more like a grey space from all the ice and slush. So, not quite as attractive as I'd hoped, though there are plenty of monuments to check out as you pass through. For example, the one pictured on the right, commemorating a trio of great composers.

For eating, I can recommend heading over to the beautifully situated Café am Neuen See, which has a great view of a small lake inside the park grounds. I had Rühreier (scrambled egg), which cost around €4.50, along with a hot chocolate for another €3.80 or so. Unusually, the hot chocolate comes as a semi-solid lump, over which you pour a steaming jug of milk. Either way, tasted good, especially with the chilly temperature outside.

After food, I headed off to the main highlight of the trip for me, the Gemäldegalerie. I really like the art of the Northern Renaissance and the Dutch Golden Age, which are both extremely well covered at the Gemäldegalerie. Along with a large collection of Rembrandts, a good number from Franz Hals and a couple by Vermeer, there are earlier painters like Van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Lucas Cranach and Pieter Bruegel, among numerous others. I was especially excited to see one of my favourite paintings, 'Portrait of a Lady' by Petrus Christus.

I only had a couple of hours, but there is more than enough to see. I could very happily have spent all day inside, or indeed longer. Due to the time limit, I concentrated on paintings from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, but England, Italy and France are all also well represented, which includes major artists like Caravaggio. I'm keen to go back at some point to explore the gallery properly: my friend isn't the biggest fan of spending all day staring at paintings, so that's something I'll probably have to do on my own.

The gallery is situated within the Kulturforum, and will cost you a mere €8 to get in: that includes an excellent audioguide. Navigation is easy, as the building is purpose-built, with all the rooms set around an enormous central hall (with plenty of seating, so unlike many other galleries, there isn't a problem giving your tired feet a rest). You can get a combined €12 ticket to go into multiple museums in the same area.

There is a similar ticket for the Museuminsel over in Mitte: Berlin is overflowing with museums and galleries, from a broad variety of historical periods. Besides all the other terrible atrocities committed by the Nazis, the manner in which the incredibly rich history of Germany often gets forgotten due to that dark 20th century stain is one of the more depressing.

Berlin is famous for its open-minded tolerance, with a large gay and lesbian population, not to mention sex clubs. I wasn't quite brave enough for that aspect of Berlin nightlife, but did enjoy the somewhat tamer option of drinking at a couple of places around the city. I particularly liked the friendly and relaxed atmosphere at the Ankerklause on Kottbusser Tor. It is right by the water, so I'm guessing has great views of the canal in the summer (they had sheets up when we were there, presumably to keep out the cold). There was also a great bar with free WiFi on Tucholskystrasse 32, although I can't remember the name. That might be because the barman doesn't seem to care about measures, so my Martini and bitter lemon was mostly all Martini.

The main sight for our last day was Schloss Charlottenburg, over near Richard Wagner Platz train station. There are several buildings spread around the park, but we decided to just go to the Neue Flügel (New Wing), which is €6. Again, that includes a very good audioguide, directing you around the suite of rooms over about 1.5 hours. This is excellent value for money, as there is plenty to see: to my surprise, that also included some major paintings. One of the five versions of 'Napoleon Crossing the Alps' by Jacques-Louis David dominates a downstairs wall, preceded by an equally arresting equestrian portrait of von Blücher in the previous room.

Unfortunately, much of Charlottenburg was gutted by fire during World War II, meaning that you aren't generally looking at the original architecture, but a faithful copy. However, it remains grandly attractive, with a couple of rooms retaining their earlier features. Unlike the building, the furniture and paintings tend to be original, as they were removed from the palace before the war. The picture below is of another building next door, the Altes Schloss. We didn't go in (its an extra €10, or as part of the day pass), but thought the statues outside looked pretty cool.

For a bite to eat, check out the Piazza del Castello on Luisenplatz 2, in view of the Schloss. They do a good offer on coffee and cake for €4.50. Afterwards, we went to the rather more touristy Oranium on Oranienburger Strasse 33, where the service was much slower and far less welcoming. However, the food was tasty (I went for the Würst Triologie, which is basically a bunch of skewered sausages in sauce), with a wide selection, and the décor is lovely.

The previous night, we ate at Zur Letzten Instanz, where your choice is a lot more limited. Nevertheless, the food is decent with large portions, and as appears to be typical for Berlin, affordable. I was also pleased that they were willing to accept a reservation via email. Although I repeatedly tried out my German, people normally switched to English as soon as they heard me speak to my friend: I get the impression that if you don't speak German, it won't have a particularly negative impact on your ability to get around and be understood.

Next time, I'll definitely want to spend longer than two nights, and hopefully I'll have a chance to go get in some grappling with jkdberlin (who runs the Kampfkunst forum, and also posts regularly on Grapplers Guide). My friend was quite fond of the shopping around the Absinth Depot, so with more time I'll be sure to pack my gi.

05/01/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol

Class #372
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 05/01/2011

Some classic Roy Harris instructionals are getting re-released, thanks to Roy Dean (who is of course a Roy Harris black belt). On the RDA blog, he mentioned that there will be three titles bundled in the new offering, perhaps most notably BJJ Over 40. Considering how good Roy Dean's DVDs are, and the excellent Roy Harris segment on open guard from Dean's Seminars: Year One DVD, this looks set to be awesome.

My old instructor from RGA, Nic Gregoriades, has recently set up Roger Gracie Sydney over in Australia. He has also decided to release the material from what was to be a DVD on the net, for free: check out Jiu Jitsu Brotherhood for the videos (the rest of the site is great too, as Nic is not only a good teacher, but an accomplished writer as well).

The customary text message from Geeza said that tonight's class would cover a hopping takedown and more work on the turtle. The takedown looked like it could fit nicely with the previous option Geeza showed us, as it appears to use the same grip. Of course, I have absolutely no confidence with takedowns whatsoever, so could be talking out of my arse on that one.

It starts with the usual collar and elbow, except that you are really pushing on that collar, as if you were trying to punch their face while holding the gi. That means that your forearm acts as a brace, which makes it difficult for them to initiate a double-leg. Cross-step and swivel, then swing your leg back into theirs, lifting it up. Keeping your arms in tight and turning your head to the other side, hop into their sole standing leg until they fall. Note that this isn't about yanking them with your arms, which is what I was initially doing (though that does seem to work, it's not the same technique).

The first option from the turtle was a choke: Geeza mentioned that this is normally just known as the spinning choke, but also has the swisher title of 'Hurdado choke' (Hurtado? Named after some guy that uses it a lot, either way). You are facing their head, and they have just gone for a double leg. Stuff their takedown by bracing your arm against their shoulder, so that their shoulder is pressing into the crook of your elbow.

With that hand, get a palm up grip on their collar. Thread your other arm between their same side arm and head, so that the back of your hand slides past the back of their head. This should open up a space on that same side, where you will now put your head. Roll in the direction of that side, aiming to straighten your arm as you do so.

They will be rolled to their back, so that you are now lying in a straight line, head to head. You could finish the choke here, but it would be mainly force. To use leverage instead, walk your legs towards them so that you swivel perpendicular to their body. Their head should be on your lap. Once you've gone as far as you can, raise your hips for the tap.

We then went through the clock choke, which for some reason I couldn't get at all, even in the co-operative environment of drilling. I know I've got that choke to function before, so I'll have to review my notes from last time. This time you're at the side of their turtle. Insert a knee so they can't recover guard (if they try, you can just drive through for side control thanks to that knee), then reach through to grip their collar.

Your other arm is going to go for their same side wrist around the far side, but you need to be careful. As soon as you put your arm through, there is a chance they could grab it and roll you right over. This is a classic judo tactic, when they can also then submit you with waki-gatame. To avoid that, after you've reached through and grabbed their wrist, immediately use your weight and forward pressure to knock their shoulder on that side to the floor. This will make it much harder for them to roll.

The clock choke is now all set up. Walk your legs around towards (and if necessary, past) their head as if they were the arms of a clock. I think what I was doing wrong here was my weight distribution: either way, I’ll have to review my notes from previous lessons on the clock choke.

Sparring started early, with a round of guard passage right after the warm-up and before the techniques. I was with a white belt, so was looking to keep practicing my overhook attacks from guard. I'm still not getting the details on the basic choke right, which is something I really want to work: that needs to become a solid attack for me, so hopefully I'll get a chance to work it at RGA Aylesbury open mats. I'm also continuing to fail at the triangle, again because I'm not getting that leg by the neck into the right position or adjusting my angle, meaning that I struggle to close my triangle lock. Something else for the open mat.

Passing, I was looking to jam their hand into their hip and stand, but wasn't getting enough control to stop them simply freeing their hand. I did manage to take the back at one point, which was nice, but less good was the sloppy attempt at a pass that preceded it. Still, I'm at least trying to stand, which makes a change from my usual "bore them into opening their guard" strategy.

Free sparring was very relaxed, like yesterday. Also like yesterday, I wanted to work my open guard, using my legs to maintain the position and also see if I could set up offence from spider guard, De La Riva and whatever that one where you have a foot in the bicep is called. I was also pleased to land both of the half guard sweeps Nick Brooks taught at Mill Hill back in December, although I failed to follow up with the americana.

I did manage to get into mount, where much to my surprise I got an ezequiel to function properly. However, my partner was taking it pretty easy, and I also had the unfair advantage of a baggy judogi jacket (the Blitz Kokuba I reviewed recently: I finally sewed up the trousers, so wore them too for the first time since ripping them back in 2009). I may have also sat up too much when finishing the choke, which might have given them an opportunity to escape if they were going at a harder pace.

My last roll was with Geeza, who stayed even more relaxed than my previous partner. He was looking to work submission escapes: I'm definitely not the best person to practice that with, as if I get to dominant position I hardly ever actually move into a submission, let alone get one. That is particularly true of mount and technical mount, where we spent much of the roll: if I can't go for the ezequiel, I tend to gaze at their arms thinking how nice it would be to somehow remove them from a tight defensive position by their neck. Doesn't usually get past that stage, even though Geeza was actively leaving his arm open in several other positions to see if I would take it.

On a much, much more serious note, right after class I received the awful news that one of my good friends from university has been diagnosed with cancer. She's only my age (29), so that was a real shock. However, she was impressively upbeat about the whole thing in her email: hopefully the doctors will do a good job and she'll make a full recovery.

I've been studying cancer for the past couple of years for my writing (in the context of poetry), but this is the first time anybody I care about has had it. I wish all the very best to her family, as I can only imagine how tough this must be both for her and her loved ones, especially as she has a young daughter. Unlike me, she is religious, and therefore places value on prayers: hence why I thought I’d mention it on here, as I know there are a few religious people who read this blog.

I’m going to be unable to post again until the 10th, when I’ll finally be able to put up Chrissy’s new guest article.

02/01/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol

Class #371
Gracie Barra Bristol, Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol

I had a good christmas, which will be the last in my parent's current house. They are moving to Tring, and then on to their new house in Aylesbury (which is in the process of being built). Among my usual haul of CDs, I was surprised to get a snazzy new Windows Phone, which means I can now fiddle on the internet pretty much anywhere.

Unfortunately, it isn't capable of copy and paste, and you cannot put Word docs directly on it. You currently have to email yourself, which I can't do because the internet at my gf's place has exploded. That also means I can't put up the awesome article Chrissy sent through yet: it will have to wait until I get back home on the 10th, unless I get to a library.

Having last trained just before christmas, it was good to get back on the mats, this time in Bristol. It was a sparring class, as ever with everyone lining up against the wall. If you are on your knees, that means you want to spar, otherwise you're indicating you want to sit out.

Things started off with guard passage, where I was mainly trying to go for sweeps more than usual. I was also pleased to transition from a triangle to an armbar, though it felt like I was a bit high on the arm. I wasn't really getting anywhere with standing sweeps though: I am still tending to just establish grips and not do anything with them.

On top, I wanted to trap their hand by the hip and then stand. After some grip fighting, eventually got what I wanted then stepped through to half guard. However, I wasn't doing a good job of freeing my foot. The americana was there, but a blue or higher probably would not have let me take the arm.

After that it was free sparring. My partner was taking it fairly easy, while I again looked for that Braulio spider guard set-up. I later found myself in the running escape position again. Like last time, I felt relatively safe, although he was beginning to cinch in a collar choke. As he was starting to roll me to take my back, I tried to flip to side control. It sort of worked, but he still had that choke grip. Time ran out, but I can't be sure if it was on as time ran out.

My next roll was with another blue belt, Luke, who is someone I really like training with. He always stays calm and controlled, which makes for an enjoyably technical roll.

Finally, I went with a white belt: after five rounds (despite taking a break) my very limited cardio was running low. So, I worked almost entirely on retaining my open guard, using my feet and knees to push off his hips, chest and biceps. I was also trying to spin on my back, keeping my knees in close to my chest. I think I even ended up in upside down guard at one point, which I never normally use.

Should be training again on Wednesday next week, though I may wait to type that one up. Takes much longer than normal doing it on my phone (although the touchscreen keyboard is pretty good) and it also means I can't put in any links.