31/07/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol Sparring

Class #411
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 31/07/2011

The wedding was great fun: looking forward to the pictures. Should be a few where I'm randomly walking around with a purse under both arms, as I was designated bag carrier for both the bride and the chief bridesmaid (the latter being my girlfriend).

Apologies to anyone who has had trouble accessing the site earlier this week, especially the BJJ Beginner FAQ. When I tried to make an update to the FAQ, it went haywire (looking like this, when it should look like this), so it sat there for about a day with a "back soon" message.

I was finally able to get the FAQ HTML to publish properly late on Tuesday, after repeated attempts. At first I thought it might be an issue with GoDaddy and my custom domain, but their support claims not. Meh. Still working on sorting that out, as I can't be sure the problem has gone away: HTML hasn't always rendered (if that's the right term?) the last few times I edited a post. We'll see if blogger support brings up anything, but the help system is a bit clunky so I doubt it.

Anyway, on to the sparring class today. I'm going to be teaching open guard passing next week, so I was keen to work on that as much as possible. This builds on what Geeza taught a while ago, which was the very handy but simple tip to grab their foot. Do that right after you bump knuckles, then you can start practicing your pass.

Working off that tip on grabbing the leg, I managed to get a pass. There is an x-guard sweep (pretty much the only one I ever remember) where you kick into their far leg and do a technical stand up to pass. I wasn't in x-guard, but I did have a grip on the bottom of their trousers, while they were leaning back with the leg outstretched. Doing a technical stand up in that situation, then thrusting their leg up high, seemed to work. I also made sure to bring my hips in close.

Before class, I looked through my guard passing bible, the Beneville book, in order to pick a few techniques I wanted to try. They all involved grabbing the knees. As frequently happens, I didn't get very far into the technique: the 'grabbing the knees' part proved hard enough that I could just work on that from the top.

Normally what happens is that when I try to pass open guard, I will either get swept, or I'll get to half guard. I'm happy with either, as both are useful for my lesson planning in future. If I get to half guard, I can practice passing from there: given the choice, that's my preferred place to pass. If I get put in guard, then I can concentrate on what they do to try and pass me.

When I got to half guard today, I was again reminded of the importance of a solid grip on their upper body. I like to get under their head, then grip the gi material by their shoulder or their collar. That makes for a solid control, although you need to watch their hips. Oli has a good trick of explosively wiggling to shift out from there, so you have to make sure you have something on the hips to keep them in place. I tried using my elbows to help with that, blocking a hip and/or an arm (to prevent them sliding up around my back or something like that).

Underneath during guard passing, I went with my earlier plan in order to try and work out the common reactions in open guard. I immediately opened my legs, then tried to get my sparring partner to attempt a pass. Judging by that (which I also did during free sparring later on), they will tend to grab a foot and try to shove it to the ground. They'll also often sit and insert their knee. Finally, they will grab inside the knees if they can.

I've been trying to go straight to grab the knees, which wasn't working out too well for me. So, grabbing a foot first and working from there may be beneficial. I'm also trying to keep in mind what Geeza said about keeping my distance, rather than attempting to drive in close. Sparring with him, I got to practice that some more.

While looking to get my grips, I noticed I was having trouble freeing my arm from his grips. His advice afterwards, which IIRC he has suggested before, is to use that to your advantage. If they have a strong grip on one side, then that's the side you should start to pass. Most likely they will then switch their grips, meaning you pass to that side instead.

28/07/2011 - Teaching (Attacking Open Guard)

Teaching #013
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/07/2011

Geeza took the lesson last week, so tonight I picked up where I left off with open guard. I decided the next step after maintaining open guard is adding in two basic, high percentage sweeps. They are each known by a whole variety of different names: I'll use the terms I'm familiar with. They also both start from the same position, which is apparently known as 'cross-guard'. As with the previous lesson, this owes a lot to Kev Capel, who taught several excellent classes at RGA Bucks on the topic I'm about to cover.

I added in a drill to help people get used to thrusting their hips forward, as that's useful for the sweep. You start sat on the floor, one leg curled in front, the other foot out forwards. Raise yourself up with the curled foot, then thrust your hips forward. As you sink back down, switch your legs and repeat the motion for the opposite side.

The reason it is called cross guard, I assume, is due to the cross-grip you have on their sleeve: a cross-grip just means you're grabbing their opposite sleeve with your hand. On that cross-gripped side, you'll also have your foot pushing into their hip, while agC you can again push on the hip and pull back with your hook.

In order to get the angle, you'll have to turn towards them. Note that when you follow them up this time, your other knee will be raised. That means you'll need to make sure to shove their leg down and step over, enabling you to complete your knee slide. Remember, there is also the other option of trying the technical stand up instead.

There is a third option too, if they step round really far, which is to take the back. I didn't show this in the main technique, as I try to limit things to two techniques at most. However, I did expect at least a few people to discover that if they step round further, both the tripod and the sickle are less effective. So, for those people (I think there were only one or two), I quickly demonstrated the back take while they were practicing.

Change to a de la Riva hook on your pushing foot, then bring your other leg around behind. Use that to start moving to their back. Switch your hand from their sleeve to theihe position for the sweep.

Second, if you initially hook behind their leg with your same side foot, that means they can't avoid your grip on their heel by stepping back. You can then adjust your feet into the necessary positions. Third, once you've got a hold of their heel, pull that foot onto your hip, clamping it there.

Remember to keep your other hook behind their knee tense, as you don't want them to free that leg and step around, because that will enable them to regain their balance. You can also put it lower on the leg, but be careful, as that can increase the risk that they'll step out of the grip. Either way, once you knock them down, because you have that grip on their sleeve, you can pull yourself up as they go back, moving through into side control.

It also stops them basing with that hand, as you're sweeping in that direction (which is why you use a cross grip, rather than same side). Should you lose your sleeve grip, the sweep is still there, but it will be harder to sit up and move through to side control.

If you're having trouble knocking them down, angle the direction of your push a little, in the direction you want them to fall. It is important that you thrust your hips forward and come up quickly. Otherwise, they'll simply get up first, returning to your guard. That would mean you were back where you started.

Instead, come up and slide your inside knee over their leg, leaning your body towards them. Your other foot will step over their other leg. From there, you can switch their sleeve to your other hand, underhook their far armpit, them slide through into modified scarf hold. If for some reason you get your knee stuck in their gi, which has happened to me in the past, change your grip to their elbow, drop your bodyweight and move into side control.

Alternatively, you can do a sort of technical stand-up. Put your hooking foot on the floor, bring your other leg behind you. From there, stand up, still holding on to both their sleeve and their foot. That will make it difficult for them to recover, as you move around to side control. Standing up when someone has your foot in the air is hard.

Saulo shows that sweep a little differently in his excellent book, Jiu Jitsu University. On page 163, you can see that he starts from the foot in bicep open guard I showed a couple of weeks ago. I notice that in the picture, there is also a variation in gripping that ankle: Xande is holding the front of the bottom trouser leg, rather than the back.

The tripod sweep combines well with the similar sickle sweep: again, that almost certainly has other names, but I'm using the term from Theory & Technique (page 226). A good time to try this is if when you attempt the tripod sweep, they turn to the side to avoid your hook, stepping their leg back. You could attempt to readjust to recover your position, but it is probably easier to change your feet position and go for the sickle.

You're basically going to switch your feet so that they're performing the opposite role they did before. Remove the foot your had pushing into their hip, replacing it with the foot previously hooking behind their leg. That foot which was on their hip now goes behind their other foot (not the knee, so it isn't an exact mirror of the tripod. You could try the knee, but it isn't as effective). From there, you can again push on the hip and pull back with your hook.

In order to get the angle, you'll have to turn towards them. Note that when you follow them up this time, your other knee will be raised. That means you'll need to make sure to shove their leg down and step over, enabling you to complete your knee slide. Remember, there is also the other option of trying the technical stand up instead.

There is a third option too, if they step round really far, which is to take the back. I didn't show this in the main technique, as I try to limit things to two techniques at most. However, I did expect at least a few people to discover that if they step round further, both the tripod and the sickle are less effective. So, for those people (I think there were only one or two), I quickly demonstrated the back take while they were practicing.

Change to a de la Riva hook on your pushing foot, then bring your other leg around behind. Use that to start moving to their back. Switch your hand from their sleeve to their belt as you shift your position, then put both your insteps behind both their knees. From there, kick out with your feet and pull on the belt, dropping them right into back mount. Michael Russell executes it perfectly during his classic match with Andy Roberts. Geeza has the video on his YouTube channel, here.

Gi Review - Datsusara Hemp Gi (HCG-02)

Short Review: According to Datsusara, their new gi benefits from the properties of hemp, which is allegedly anti-microbial, super strong, breathable and wears in with each wash rather than wears out. Of those, I can definitely confirm the last, as this is the most comfortable gi fabric I've ever worn. Another point in its favour, from my perspective, is the lack of bling.

However, the unbleached colour and very baggy jacket may not appeal to everyone, though it does also come in black. There were also a lot of loose threads, which is a serious problem: Datsusara stated they are looking to rectify the issue. Presumably due to the difficulties of manufacturing hemp, the gi isn't cheap, at $140. Available to buy here.

Full Review: Thanks to Seymour at Meerkatsu, a Datsusara hemp gi arrived at my house a couple of weeks ago. Meerkatsu is the place to go for gi reviews, but results in Seymour being incredibly busy: hence why he passed this one along to me. I also get to benefit from his photography skills, which is awesome. That means that rather than solely relying on my camera phone, I can put up some professional snaps (as always, click on the picture for the full size image).

As I've written numerous times in the past, I like my gis to be as plain as possible. On that score, Datsusara delivers: there is an embroidered logo on the back and the arm, along with a small patch on the trousers, but that is it. In my opinion, the logo - representing hemp - is also quite appealing, in an unobtrusive Japanese mon style, with no written text (something I find off-putting about many other gis). The back logo could possibly be placed higher, for those of you who want to add a team patch, but as I never add patches it wasn't a concern in my case.

In addition, this is without any doubt the most comfortable gi material I've ever worn. When I first tried on the jacket, it felt like a high quality dressing gown. The cut feels comparable to my judogi, in that it is loose and baggy with wide sleeves. Seymour told me that it used to be even larger, but there was a lot of shrinkage after he washed it twice (at 60 and 40 degrees Celsius respectively). I would advise that if you like a tighter fit, it would be sensible to go for the size below your normal gi. I haven't yet tried throwing it in the tumble drier for further shrinkage, but may give that a go during my next visit to my parents.

When I first wore the gi, that bagginess was noticeable during shrimping, as the collar bunched up uncomfortably behind my neck. However, that problem seems to have disappeared by the time I wore it for a sparring class. Either I've gotten used it, or it has shrunk a little after I washed it (on the quick thirty minute setting). In the accompanying letter Datsusara sent Seymour with the gi, it says that it will shrink up to 5% in the wash (something of an understatement, judging by Seymour's stats, which I've included towards the bottom of the review). It also recommended washing it at least twice: at the time of writing, it's been washed three times.

A more serious issue is the stitching. I was surprised by how many loose threads there were, to the extent that the trousers look as if they've been ripped in several places after years of training, when in fact they're brand new. It isn't difficult to remedy, as I sewed up the four most noticeable areas, but this definitely needs to be sorted out for the next batch. Although I should note that in that letter, they do acknowledge the problem. To quote: "If you find loose threads please simply cut or cut and burn the ends, we apologize for the sloppy stitching but we are working on it."

The natural unbleached colour takes a bit of getting used to, but it is relatively unassuming. The only reaction I got was that one training partner asked if it was an old gi which had faded from heavy use. My girlfriend, on the other hand, said it looked like the gi had been drenched in tea. I've heard that unbleached used to be quite common back in the day, the most famous probably being the HCK unbleached single. It has fallen out of favour more recently, but perhaps Datsusara will be part of a general return to that classic look. I prefer white, but then the lack of bleaching does make for a stronger fabric. Given that considerable advantage, I'm sure I could get used to it.

Feedback elsewhere on the internet has been largely positive, such as on The Underground and Georgette's thorough review (she mentions she wore the gi to sixty classes at the time of writing). Over on Sherdog, company head Chris Odell actively engages with customers. He also directly adresses their concerns, such as this response on the widespread stitching deficiencies:

"Sorry again for the loose threads on some gis. I talked to my manufacturer and they said they had rushed many of the units to make our deadline, hence were sloppy on a few. I am taking steps to make sure that doesn't happen again: if anyone has threads that cause the gi to lose structural integrity we'll fix it for you, just email us."

In terms of the lint problem noted by wearers of the black edition, Odell responded that "from what I have gathered, that stops after two cold water washes and low heat drying," which is supported by the experiences others relate in the same thread. It doesn't appear to be a problem with the unbleached version.

The unique selling point of the gi is that it is made entirely out of hemp, rather than the usual cotton. Datsusara are the first company to successfully market and sell a hundred percent hemp gi. Other companies have tried, but have either got stuck in the marketing phase waiting to get production off the ground (like The Green Gi), or sold a product but then folded (like EnviroGi). Datsusara have been selling various equipment made of hemp for some time now: perhaps unsurprisingly, the website makes a lot of claims regarding the benefits of hemp. Some of them I can easily confirm, such as that the material is light and comfortable. Others require a bit more research: I'm not a scientist, but I can at least have a look at what sources are available on the internet.

In the 'why hemp' section of the official website, it says hemp is four times stronger than cotton, anti-microbial (bacteria, mold and fungus supposedly can't live in it), green (readily renewable, uses limited water during the cultivation process) and porous (meaning it breathes well and dries more quickly: mine took around a day to dry fully). The website also states that the fabric will wear in rather than out, increasing in comfort while retaining strength with each wash.

The first thing you'll most likely hear when you mention you're wearing a hemp gi is a tongue-in-cheek "can you smoke it?" I've never looked into the issue much until now, but according to Dr David P. West (admittedly a biased source, as his article was produced for the North American Industrial Hemp Council), hemp and marijuana are quite different. Marijuana is high in the psychoactive ingredient delta 9-tetrahydro-cannabinol (THC), while industrial hemp is not: it is theoretically possible to distill THC from hemp, but it would be a very expensive and time-consuming process. He also runs through the various advantages of hemp, which ties in with Datsusara's claims.

The position laid out by West is corroborated by this 2001 piece in The Guardian, by Dr Claire Cockcroft from the Institute of Biotechnology in Cambridge. Here is another piece, although again from over a decade ago, which looks fairly objective.

To finish with some gi statistics, The jacket is a one piece construction, made from a 17oz (580gsm) long fiber weave. According to the shrinkage numbers Seymour emailed, the width across the sleeves ('A' in Seymour's handy gi diagram) shrunk from 165cm to 153cm, after a wash at sixty and then forty degrees Celsius. The length from the shoulder to the bottom of the jacket ('B' on the diagram) began at 80cm, then dropped down to 74cm after the washes. The width across the bottom of the jacket ('C') was 63cm out of the box, going down to 56cm after washing. Seymour noted that during his tests, the jacket weighed 1.36kg.

Similarly, the trousers are made from 11oz (370gsm) long fiber weave. There is the option of either the default flat drawstring, or a thicker rope version, included separately with gi. Shrinkage on the length of the leg ('E' on Seymour's diagram) was from 104cm to 93cm, while the width of the trousers legs ('F) went from 55cm to 52cm. The bottom of the leg width started at 25cm and went down to 24cm, then finally measurement 'H' shrunk from 43cm to 39cm. Seymour stated that when he weighed the trousers, they came out at 0.66kg.

The $140 price tag on the site is more than I would normally pay for a gi. It is also set to rise in the next batch, from what I've read. Then again, should hemp live up to the strength and durability touted on the website, that may well prove to be a good investment. If Datsusara can solve the stitching problem, this could become a serious competitor on the gi market. It will be interesting to see what happens with the next batch. Available to buy here.

Update Dec 2012: My review of the HCG-03 is now up, here.

18/07/2011 - Gracie Barra Fundamentals

Class #410
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 18/07/2011

Like I mentioned earlier, GB Bristol is currently being visited by Roberto Traven black belt, Paul Thatcher. He also works for Fight! magazine as a photographer, so today I had the pleasure of attending a photo shoot at the club. I would suspect that the presence of a camera probably had something to do with the enormous turn-out tonight. ;)

After squeezing all those people into a series of photos, Geeza mentioned another member of the club had recently won his MMA fight. At that same event, Geeza noticed that a lot of the bouts featured people getting stuck in basic schoolyard headlocks. Therefore, tonight was all about headlock escapes, covering three variations.

If they just have their arms wrapped around your head, but have left some space, make a frame against their neck. Your arm by their stomach should have the elbow on the floor. The hand of that arm can therefore be used as a solid brace against your other wrist, driving into their neck.

Walk your feet away from them, keeping your belly button pointed towards the ceiling. Whenever you can reach, swing your leg over their head, then roll them to the mat. At the very least, that sets up your escape, but it can also lead to an armbar or even a choke with your legs (that tends to be low percentage, but it can work, as demonstrated by Sheila Bird).

If they're in the same position but this time don't leave any space, bring your hips close to theirs. You want to get your foot over, creating a hook around their leg. That should help you turn to your knees. From there, you can pull up on their wrist for a submission, or simply use it to escape.

Finally, if they have your arm in something approaching scarf hold (but still holding your head rather than under the far armpit), link your arms around their back. Bump into them forcefully to get their leg to move forward. Immediately insert your knee into that space, looking to get your hips underneath theirs. If you can achieve that, it should be a simple matter of leverage to roll them over your body, putting you in the top position.

My drilling partner Liam mentioned that Kirsty, who has a high level background in judo, gave him some handy tips for holding scarf hold. Normally, people have one leg kicked out by the head, the other knee raised. However, Kirsty suggested that Liam keep both legs curled, with the knees on the mat pointing towards their head. This has the advantage that it becomes difficult to either hook the leg or slide a knee underneath, and it also seems to enhance the pressure.

That will be my last class for this week, as I'm off to a wedding on Thursday. I'll be back to Bristol on Tuesday, ready to get back to teaching open guard later in the week. :)

17/07/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol Sparring

Class #409
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 17/07/2011

My gf and I were out on the town last night, meaning we stayed over at the new house. That meant I could head down to the sparring class on Sunday, while my gf got in a bit more rest (the cider seems to have unsettled both our stomachs: I'm definitely out of practice when it comes to drinking, as I don't do it all that often these days). The house is almost habitable now, as the lounge and dining room floor is finished, the carpets are nearly all back in place and we have some furniture. Once we hook up the washing machine and buy a fridge freezer, we'll be able to move in properly, which means more training! :D

I'm teaching sweeps from open guard for my next class (which will be the Thursday after next, as I'm heading to a wedding this Thursday), so I wanted to try and use them as much as possible in sparring. I managed to get the tripod sweep a couple of times, but I wasn't coming forward enough and thrusting my hips afterwards. It is essential to thrust forward and come up after the sweep, or they will simply recover and you'll be fighting from guard again. Something I'll emphasise during my lesson: I'll include some of those hip thrust drills from the knees too.

Sparring started with guard passage. I went with Dan, a visiting purple from Gracie Barra Cardiff, who repeatedly squashed me with the Tozi pass (which is known by lots of different names: Sao Paulo pass, Chim pass, Wilson Reis pass, etc). I kept thinking I could maybe crawl around to the back, but as my leg was trapped, that didn't get very far. I can remember reading some good threads about this pass after Justin 'Chim Chim' Garcia put up a decent video teaching it, which he is now revamping into a full DVD set. There's a similar variation here.

Another thing I've been attempting to work is standing up to pass. I was doing that a lot when I was on top, as usual without getting anywhere. However, my main aim was to work out the balance and posture, so I could start to isolate where I'm going wrong. I need to watch my foot position, avoiding getting hooked, along with keeping my hip pressure constant. A straighter back might help too, as I think I was leaning too far forward.

At one point, I got into a sort of horse stance, which felt like it should be a strong position, but soon got broken down. I was also trying to get into combat base, but each time ended up getting swept anyway. Clearly I'm doing something wrong with my positioning there, but at least getting into the habit of shoving that knee up when there's space should be useful.

When I rolled again with Dan at the end of class, he was getting to my back (probably because I kept trying the running escape again). I was looking to block his hand and arms, pull my collar tight and also see if I could grab a knee to pop my hips over. That last part is where I tend to have trouble, as I'm never sure what is the right moment to move an arm from defending the neck to removing a hook.

I managed to spin to under mount a few times, then work to half guard from there, before eventually getting caught in a triangle. I forgot the defence I wanted to do, where you bring your knee to your elbow to start: I think I did it on the wrong side, but not sure. I can remember Kev teaching it a while back, so I'll have to go look back at my notes.

Tomorrow I intend to train again in the fundamentals class, though while I'm still not at the house permanently, I'll have to leave at 8pm to cycle back to Downend. On Thursday I leave for the wedding in Louth, getting back after a major meeting on Monday 25th. Scary stuff, as I don't feel as prepared as I'd like (I've mostly just been re-reading my notes), but we'll see how it goes.

14/07/2011 - Teaching (Maintaining Open Guard)

Teaching #012
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/07/2011

Last week, they managed to open your guard, so now we're going to work on stopping them getting any further. One approach is to develop a strong open guard, so that you can confidently choose the moment to move out of closed guard, rather than being forced to by their passing attempt.

Using your legs is key in closed guard, and perhaps even more so with open guard. To help develop that ability to use the legs, I wanted to start with a great drilling sequence I learned from Kev Capel up at RGA Bucks. The idea is to improve your guard recovery. It begins on your back, while they pass your legs, but only to the level of your knees. Bring your outside foot over and hook inside their nearest leg.

Use that to pull yourself back into position, bringing your other leg through to re-establish a square-on open guard. For the next stage of the drill, they pass to your hip rather than your knee. That requires you to frame your hands against their leg and shrimp out, before recovering guard as before.

Finally, they pass through to knee on belly. Here, you're going to use a running escape motion, which is something I'll be teaching a few months down the line in the context of escaping side control. The motion takes a bit of getting used to. Put your near hand (not far, as there's an armbar risk) on their knee, then turn your hips away, so that your bum is in the air. You then swing your legs over back to guard, as per the screen cap from Jiu Jitsu Revolution 2.

Next up, I wanted to explore grips, just as with closed guard. I began with the legs against standing, or more specifically, the feet. Your feet can be used both for creating distance and for maintaining control. In terms of pushing, the main areas are on the knees, the hips and in the biceps (as you would with spider guard). You can also hook behind the knee with your feet, which is part of many open guard sweeps. Make sure that you always have both your feet on them, rather than the floor.

Gripping with the hands has some similarities to closed guard, as again you're looking to grab their sleeves and collar. If they're standing, then grabbing behind their foot also comes into play. I've heard conflicting reports from black belts on whether it is better to grip the bottom of the trouser leg or the heel, so I'd suggest experimenting with both. Generally speaking, you always want to be grabbing something with at least one of your hands: as with your feet, keep them engaged on your opponent, rather than on the floor.

Obviously you're going to be combining your arms with your legs. A good basic open guard is to grab a sleeve, then use your feet to hook a knee and push into a hip. This will set up a sweep. Another option is to grip their sleeve and same side collar, while pushing into a bicep and hip. That has the advantage of breaking their posture, making it more difficult for them to pass.

Frequently with open guard your opponent will stand up, because it isn't as easy to keep them locked to the floor as in closed guard. However, if they are on their knees, then your own knees come more into play. You can use those for control in a similar way to your feet, again putting them into their biceps and hips, along with areas like their chest and shoulder, depending on their positioning.

Your arms are of particular importance if they are trying to pass. Use them to create a barrier, straight-arming into their bicep, shoulder and/or hip, on the side they want to pass. That pits your skeletal structure against them rather than just your muscle. Drive your knee across for further support, also pushing on their hip to create space to recover guard. You can also push on their head.

I finished with sparring, again based on what I've learned from Kev. As before, the idea is to build up leg movement. To do that, the first round is sparring open guard, but only using your legs: both of your hands are tucked into your belt, whether you're on top or on the bottom (make sure to pull them back out if you're being swept!). That's followed by sparring with legs and one hand, then finally normal open guard sparring, with the proviso that you aren't allowed to close your guard.

If there are any GB Bristol students reading this, I'm off to a wedding up north next Thursday, so I'll be continuing with open guard the Thursday after that. We'll be looking at open guard attacks.

13/07/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol

Class #408
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 13/07/2011

I came down with some kind of cold or flu a couple of weeks ago, which I'm only just starting to shake off now. Annoyingly, that meant I was out of training properly for a while (although I did still teach, so not completely away from BJJ). I'm still a little sniffly, but finally made it back to class.

As I've mentioned before, Geeza handily sends out a text message to all club members before each class, saying what is going to be taught that night. I was intrigued by the message today, which described it as 'Terra guard'. I guessed that was something from Caio Terra, but had no idea what.

It turned out to be an open guard, which was essentially a variation on de la Riva. The first sweep started in de la Riva, where they are either standing, or have one knee up. Your leg goes behind their knee, then the foot of that leg wraps around their opposite hip (to put it another way, under then over, from the outside). You're also grabbing a sleeve on the hip side, while your other hand grabs their same side heel.

To switch to what Geeza called Terra guard (googling that, I see it isn't just him), take your hand off their sleeve and instead reach underneath your hooking leg. Thread your arm through, so that it not only goes under your leg, but also over their shin, until your can grab the bottom of your gi trousers. Their heel should now be in the crook of your elbow.

Kick your other leg out away from them, so they can't attack it for a footlock. With your free hand, reach over to grab their other leg. You're then going to roll over your shoulder, moving sideways (this is a motion Geeza refers to as the 'grandma roll', which we drilled during the warm-up). The aim is to bring the knee of your non-wrapped leg between their legs.

This should enable you to establish x-guard. As you do, bring your ankle-wrapping arm up towards your shoulder, so that you will also knock their leg onto your shoulder. From there, you can execute the classic x-guard sweep, where you push them away with one foot, then do a technical stand up to put them on their back.

The next open guard sweep was from a similar position. This time, you're in de la Riva the opposite way. Now your foot is going behind their leg, but from the inside, then hooking around the same side hip or thigh. From here, you again establish Terra guard by reaching under your leg, over their shin, then grabbing the bottom of your gi pants.

Grab their opposite sleeve or gi lapel with your same side hand. You can use that to help you swivel, again in a grandma roll type motion over your shoulders. With the leg you have hooked around theirs, kick them forward. Use their motion to scoot behind them, then readjust to grab their belt and move your feet to hook behind both knees. From here, you can kick into both knees and pull on their belt, then take the back.

After a bit of progressive resistance to play with the position, it was time for free sparring. I was mainly looking to work open guard, as that is what I'll be teaching for the next few weeks, but I did manage to fit in a few attempts at Terra guard. I found that I wasn't necessarily getting the right position, but it nevertheless encouraged me to use that swivelling motion more often, which is beneficial.

Most of the time, we were ending up in half guard: either I was trying to pass, or I was moving into the position from the bottom. Refreshingly I wasn't getting stuck underneath in a long stalemate. Instead, I was twice able to move from half guard to the back, as there was an exposed neck for me to attack. Normally I struggle to get past their chin on the rear naked choke, as that blocks the submission.

That wasn't the issue on this occasion, as I was able to fully lock in the first arm. Unfortunately, I couldn't maintain the second arm, as they were able to reach back and dislodge it. Same thing was happening the second time just as the bell went for the end of the round and the end of class.

Next time, I'll be looking to use my head and chest more to take away their space to escape, and also be more careful of them reaching back to remove my arms. Alternatively, I could move into something else: I was vaguely looking at the Ezequiel from the back and armbar, but couldn't switch into either of them effectively.

The visiting black belt turned up again at the end of class, ready for nogi. I never stay for that class (and at the moment can't anyway, as I still have to cycle back to Downend), but hopefully I'll get a chance to train with him again either later in the week or next week, if he's still there. Out of interest I popped 'Paul' 'black belt' and 'Traven' into google, which brought up a picture of him working his day job at Fight! magazine, in case you're wondering who he is. :)

07/07/2011 - Teaching (Passing Closed Guard)

Teaching #011
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 07/07/2011

Before I get into the class details, congrats to all the new blues at Gracie Barra Bristol, three of whom showed up tonight (Clayton, Mike and Tom). I was particularly happy to hear Kirsty got her blue. That's because (as I've read in several places recently) the most important step to building up the number of women in class is to have a senior female student. I'm hoping that now there is a female blue belt regularly training at GB Bristol, that will encourage prospective female students. :)

In terms of preparation and teaching, tonight was my toughest class so far, not helped by the fact I still haven't shaken off that cold (which is why I haven't been training much recently). Guard passing has always been the worst part of my game, ever since I started. It often feels like it hasn't improved at all in almost five years, but hard to tell from the perspective of the student.

So, I tried to look at the positive side of not being great at something you're about to teach. I guess the main plus it means you probably know some of the typical problems, as you run into them yourself so often, and have therefore spent some time considering what you're doing wrong. Before I can even get into position to pass the guard, I tend to struggle to stand and then open. Therefore I decided I'd kick off my first guard passing class by talking about posture and grips: essentially, how to prepare the pass.

There are three main ways to get their legs uncrossed. The first option, and probably the hardest, is to go from the knees. This has the advantage that you are less likely to be swept, but you're in much more danger of being submitted. As is so often the case in jiu jitsu, posture is very important: if you reverse engineer the lesson on maintaining closed guard, that means you don't want them to grip your collar or get a hold of your head.

Stay upright, back straight, head up. Also don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is very important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively. Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.

For a strong base, widen your knees, sitting on your feet. Alternatively, you could try squeezing your knees to their hips to stop them moving, but that will result in a less sturdy base. Make sure you do not put your elbows on the outside of their legs: keep them inside, or they can start kicking up into your armpit for triangles, armbars, flower sweeps etc.

In order to attack, they are going to want to disrupt your base. The first way they'll probably do that, as we've covered in the last two weeks, is to establish a strong grip, on your sleeve and collar. You don't want that, so try to strip any grips before standing.

If they grab your collar, use both of your hands to grab either side of that sleeve. Push it forcefully away from your, while simultaneously leaning back slightly. If you remember the grip break from the break from the maintaining closed guard lesson, this is a similar principle, but from the opposite position. Another option is to put both your hands on their gripping arm, trapping it to their torso. Posture up forcefully to break the grip.

Alternatively, you could use that to pass regardless of the grip, like Saulo in Jiu Jitsu University (pp193-194). Turn your body to face in the opposite direction, pressing your gripped side arm into their stomach, just above the belt. Your other hand moves to their gripping side knee. Push down on that knee as you also drop your weight and shift your hips and back into that leg.

The other way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base

If they grab a sleeve, then grab their sleeve with your free hand, after which you yank your trapped hand back as your free hand drives forward (TrumpetDan has a good video on this, here. I don't generally recommend YouTube, but he is one of the better teachers on there: I often find his stuff helpful). A simpler option is to circle your hand to one side of their arm, then chop to break the grip: some good explanation of that in Beneville's Passing the Guard, which I've been re-reading in the run-up to this class.

Should they get a hold by your knee, you can use a similar grip break. Grab their gripping wrist with your same side arm and press it to the mat, then kick your trapped leg back. Ideally, as with the previous grip break, this will now give you control of their arm, which you can immediately use to initiate your pass.

If you can actually get to the right position (a tough battle in itself), a basic method for getting the legs open from here is to put a knee in the middle, then step the other leg back. It is essential that you keep an arm driven into their hip, as otherwise their hips remain mobile. You need to get them static in order to generate enough force to pop the ankles open. Move your hip back, turning the point of your hip into their ankles to break it open. Saulo recommends bringing your body slightly downwards to achieve that break.

Best of all is if you can get a grip which takes one of their arms out of the equation, such as pressing their sleeve into their hip. It can also be a big help with the second option for opening the guard, which is also probably the safest: standing up. This means you now have gravity on your side, though there is more of a risk that they can sweep you. If you can grab their sleeve, then you'll be able to step your foot up on that side with impunity, as they can't use their arm to attack it.

Just as when on your knees, posture is key. You want to be upright, hips driving forwards, still making certain your elbows stay inside their legs. You should also have one leg stepped back and to the side to make it harder to sweep you. Angle the knee you have by their bum towards them, like in Cane Prevost's video (see his awesome post about standing in guard here): he suggests that this helps stability. From there, his next step is to arch his back to pop open the ankles.

There is another basic option you can try if they attempt to hook your foot. Kick your foot forward and out to break their grip, then put it back down out of their reach. This is particularly effective if they are only grabbing behind your heel, slightly less so if they have a firm grip of the gi material.

I was a lot less comfortable demonstrating passing posture from standing up than I was when on my knees. I continue to feel awkward when standing inside somebody's guard, and I don't feel like I generate enough pressure or have sufficient balance and base. Next time, I'll spend some more time looking into the fine details of standing posture, so I can pass that on. In free sparring, I've been trying to move straight to the pass rather than my usual immediate flopping to my back, so that should help when I come to teach passing again (presuming I finally shake off this damn cold and get back to proper training).

I had an interesting unexpected addition to the class, when the doorbell rang after I'd just finished teaching the first part of class. A gentleman in his late thirties/early forties was standing there, with a towel, shorts and a t-shirt. He asked simply, "I was hoping I could get in a roll?"

People have occasionally turned up before unannounced, but normally they are looking to become a member. They'll say how they spoke to Geeza earlier and wanted to start BJJ, at which point I'll beckon them inside. This chap was visiting from the US, and given he wanted to roll, presumably wasn't a total beginner. He said he didn't have a gi, so I thought at first he might be an MMA guy. I was a bit uncertain about whether to let him in, as class had already been going for some time.

However, he then mentioned he used to train at Alliance with Jacare, then later with Roberto Traven. It's unlikely somebody outside of BJJ would have any idea who they were, so I decided it would be fine to let him join in. As I showed him where the changing rooms were, I innocently asked if he had gotten any rank while at Traven's.

"Yeah, black belt."

So, that was kinda cool. Thanks for training with us, Paul! :D