31/08/2011 - Gary Baker Academy (Weymouth Holiday)

Class #416
Gary Baker Academy, (BJJ), Gary Baker, Bournemouth, UK - 31/08/2011

As usual when I write about drop-ins, I'm going to talk about my holiday a bit first. If you want to skip straight to the training, click here

My gf and I headed down to Dorset for the bank holiday weekend, to go visit a friend we first met in Canada way back in 2002. She's now married to an English guy, so it's been cool to have her within easy reach in the UK, rather than the considerably less easy reach of Nova Scotia. That also meant we could enjoy her breakfast special, Eggs Benedict, which I don't think I've had before. Calorific! :D

Her recommendation was to check out Brownsea Island, which we duly did the next day. That sits in Poole Harbour, which apparently is the second largest natural harbour in the world (after Sydney, Australia). There are red squirrels painted all over the boats that take you out there, because Brownsea hasn't yet been overrun by their grey cousins. Unfortunately we didn't see any, but Brownsea does make for a pleasant walk regardless. Expensive though, as the ferry is £9, then you pay a further £5.80 to be allowed onto the island, which is owned by the ever-pricey National Trust.

Outside of the National Trust is pricey too, as we found at Wilton House the day before: £14 entry. I didn't know much about it, except that Wilton House is the place where they filmed the end credits for Blackadder II, along with the brilliant 'Bob' episode (which I often forget is actually called 'Bells'). It turns out that Wilton House has an incredible art collection, stuffed with lots of Van Dyck, who is joined by a host of significant painters. Among others, you'll be treated to Rembrandt, Mabuse, a pair of younger Brueghels and even 'Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and John' by my personal favourite, Mannerist painter Parmigianino (if you didn't already know, you can thank him for my blog background).

We spent most of the following week in Weymouth, which rather excellently had a fireworks display for no obvious reason (my gf loves fireworks). I finished off Tuesday by heading to see the new Conan the Barbarian film: my expectations were pretty low. As the Arnie version of Conan is my favourite live action film of all time (I'm a big fan of animation, hence why the original Conan doesn't top my personal fave film list), this remake was never going to live up to it. I'm also a big fan of the Conan comics, and to a lesser extent the original Robert E. Howard stories.

To summarise the new version of Conan the Barbarian, imagine an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but without Kevin Sorbo or any of the humour. I loved Hercules, so that means I did enjoy 2011 Conan, if only in a brainless sword-swinging kind of way. The plot is standard fantasy fare, but more importantly, Conan chops his way through hordes of grunts, meaning there are plenty of massive guys smacking each other around (somewhat randomly including Pride FC muscle men Bob Sapp and Nathan Jones, although the latter is buried under a lot of make-up). ;p



If I was being picky, I'd say Jason Momoa should have been buffer to play Conan, but then he did otherwise look the part. He's a much better actor than Arnie (ok, so that isn't hard...), but in the original Conan there was a distinct lack of dialogue, instead relying more on an epic orchestral score. Arnie didn't need great acting chops, just huge biceps, some screen presence and a passable ability to fling a lump of steel around, which is part of what made 1982 Conan so awesome. 2011 Conan is worth a look, but only if you're already heavily into that sort of thing.
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There is also plenty of BJJ in the Dorset area. Fellow fans of Roy Dean can check out the excellent Poole BJJ Academy, where I had the pleasure of attending several seminars with Dean over the last couple of years. At the last one in 2010, I met Scramble head honcho Matt Benyon for the first time, but unfortunately didn't get to actually train with him much. I wanted to rectify that on this trip, so jumped on the 17:04 train from Weymouth to Bournemouth. Handily, the Gary Baker Academy is a relatively short walk from the station, although it is due to move to a new location in the near future.

Tonight's class was run by Gary Baker himself, although Matt did head over later on. Gary has an impressive amount of martial arts experience, with years of thai boxing and JKD. After recovering from a serious back injury, he decided to strap on a white belt and try out BJJ, which is where Matt comes in. Gary is now a blue belt with a bunch of stripes, but more importantly, he has decades of teaching to draw upon.

The warm-up was taken by another blue belt, Luke, which was fairly similar to what I've seen in most academies (i.e., run around the room, knees up, heels up, face in, face out, then shrimp up and down the mats). Wednesdays don't normally feature much technical instruction: we went straight into drilling triangles. That's a positive thing, as a lot of clubs don't provide enough room to get in lots of repetitions. Drilling is essential to integrating a technique into your game, so I'd like to see more clubs set aside some time to simply get in the reps on a triangle set-up, side control escape, mount choke etc.

After drilling for a good while, Gary moved the class into progressive resistance, setting the timer for three minutes (just like I do during my Thursday sessions at Gracie Barra Bristol). This was a good opportunity to practice those triangle escapes I had learned last week from Geeza, but I didn't really take as much advantage of it as I should have done. Instead, I was mostly just practicing posture.

I did eventually remember to try at least one of the escapes, where you posture up and step over their head. However, I think I left it too late to initiate the escape. I was able to step over, drop back and cross my legs, but the triangle was already sunk sufficiently deep that it didn't really do anything. On top of that, it would have been fairly simple for my training partner to just armbar me at the point. I should have gone for Geeza's late escape instead.

Sparring took up most of the class. I started off with Matt, who naturally was resplendent in his Ichiban Scramble gi. Fairly non-bling by normal-person standards, though as a plain gi obsessive, I'd probably want to lose a few chunks of embroidery ;). We had a relaxed roll, which I spent mostly fiddling about in open guard. I'm still not much good at establishing a decent de la Riva hook: people frequently have little trouble smashing straight through my legs. I was looking to get into the orthodox foot on hips guard a few times, but again I need to improve my grips and the tension I'm creating both with my hooking foot and the one on the hip.

That was followed by a couple of white belts. Especially if I'm visiting a club, I'll normally wait for them to make a move (unless they're much bigger, as that can put you in decidedly uncomfortable positions), which in this case meant I spent a lot of it playing from closed guard. I was hoping to break down their posture and go for an attack, but I'm still failing to isolate an arm or the neck. I think part of the problem there is that I'm still not combining attacks properly, flowing from one to another. At the same time, I'm also not committing enough when I do go for an attack.

As I'm planning to teach back mount in my own lessons for the next three weeks, I was looking to play with the position as much as possible. Giving up my back was the easiest way to get there. Once again, I was reminded that the main difficulty I have with back escapes is knowing when to risk moving an arm from defending to neck to pinning one of their legs. If you can pin that leg, then your route out is clear by hopping your hips over, but I often find I'm too worried about the neck.

I also had a chance to practice my ezequiel choke from mount, which I really want to develop into a high percentage attack in my game. I'm still raising up rather than staying low. Worse still, I think I'm tending to press into the windpipe rather than properly cutting off both sides of the neck. That can sometimes get the tap, but it's a very sloppy and inefficient submission, not to mention needlessly unpleasant for your training partner.

A larger white belt was next, so this time I needed to be careful not to get stuck on the bottom. I was impressed by his control: often a big white belt will look to smash you, especially if you're small but a higher belt. This guy stayed calm, just looking to gradually progress, never simply using his strength and size advantage to crush his way to a position.

That meant it was a useful roll for me, where I initially tried to keep him away with my legs. When he managed to pass, I tried diving in for deep half guard, but ended up on the wrong leg. Not something I'm used to doing, but I'd like to develop the deep half, especially as a way of getting back on top when I end up against someone big.

I finished up with the only other person there I've met before, as he came with Matt to the Roy Dean seminar last year. He's a blue belt, so again I spent a lot of time underneath, this time looking to either work from half guard or escape side control. As before, it was a relatively relaxed roll. Given that nobody seemed to be going nuts, despite it mostly being white belts, it is clear the instructors have built up a good atmosphere at the Gary Baker Academy.

It was cool chatting with both Gary and then Matt, who mentioned some of the exciting stuff in the pipeline for Scramble. I was especially interested in one of the products he mentioned, so I look forward to seeing how that is received by the Scramble fanbase.

Speaking of which, there is a considerable Scramble presence at the club, as you'd expect. Gary even shouted 'Scramble!' for the last minute of each round of sparring: I'm guessing that was just to urge people on, but the prospect of subliminal brand reinforcement mid-roll made me smile. It even helped me find the Academy, as I could just follow the increasing incidence of people wearing Scramble gear. I also found it interesting that unusually, my plain white gi was far from the norm: ninja black was definitely the gi colour of choice.

26/08/2011 - Gracie Barra Fundamentals (Closed Guard)

Class #415
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 26/08/2011

Randomly, a Sherdog thread threw up this pretty cool link. It's a manga about a guy training at a shooto club, but with lots of technical BJJ on display. I presume the person behind it, Hiroki Endo, trains in something. He's also done good previous work, which I'm reading my way through at the moment: Eden: It's An Endless World.

Tonight Geeza went through a couple of triangle escapes, starting with a late escape. They are about to lock in the triangle. Your counter is to bring the elbow of your trapped arm to the mat. Make sure your arm is tucked behind, as they are able to grab it and pull towards their head, you'll get stuck in a bent armlock. Geeza stopped there, but to break free you could try driving with legs.

Next, they don't have the triangle quite there, so this is a slightly earlier escape. Before they can fully lock their legs, posture up. With the leg on the same side as the arm you have inside, step over their head. To finish, drop back, then cross your legs to provide the leverage to slip free.

Interestingly, for the triangle set-up on all of these, Geeza grabbed the hand by the hips and shoved it low, popping over to get the triangle. That's different to what I've seen before, which is to take the hand on the collar, shove it to their chest, then lift your hips up over the top for the triangle.

The final technique was a guard recovery for when they are passing you with a single underhook. Grab their collar, then with your free leg, push off their same side hip. That should help you produce some space for your underhooked foot to push off their shoulder. Once you've managed that, swivel the foot around to hook their armpit, then pull them back into closed guard.

For specific sparring, it was guard passage, but they already have one of your legs up on their shoulder. On top, I was therefore looking for the basic single underhooked, reaching to grab their collar and drive forward. I also found that at one point the tip from the triangle escape, where you step over their head, helped provide some additional control for me to pass.

However, you also need to be careful of getting swept: Oli got a nice technique on me, where I think he basically pushed into my arm to bring me over. He also managed to shrimp out and get to his knees at one point, which I need to watch out for: other times I was able to get a solid grip around his head and shoulders, then push forward to put him on his back. That can work, but it's a bit sloppy, and will be rather less effective if they're at all bigger than you.

Underneath, I think I was mostly with either children or fairly new white belts, so I was trying to let them practice the technique. My main goal was to see if I could recover from bad positions: there is no point just spinning quickly back to full guard simply because you can, as you're not going to learn anything that way with less experienced (or much smaller, as is the case with children) training partners.

Just so I don't forget, I'm going to note down that I need to start marking cards now on Thursdays (which wasn't previously the case). The pen is in the box lid, so I can do that at the start during the warm-up when they're running round the mats. It normally isn't more than ten people anyway, so that won't take long.

25/08/2011 - Teaching (Attacking Half Guard)

Teaching #017
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 25/08/2011

Two good options from half guard are taking the back and sweeps. From the positions I showed earlier, during the maintaining half guard lesson, the main way to get to the back relies on the underhook. The basic principle is to bump them forwards with your knee as you also straighten your arm, so that you're bashing their armpit with your bicep. As they are knocked forwards, turn and base on your elbow, then bring your knee into play for further support, swivelling to their back.

Building on the way Indrek Reiland teaches the half guard (again from that awesome free video I mentioned before), you start as before by blocking the cross face with the 'paw', before working to take the back off your underhook. There are of course other options. One of the positions Caio Terra demonstrates doesn't block the cross face with a hand, instead getting deep on the underhook (so your shoulder is right underneath), bring back the elbow of your other arm for base.

This needs to be far enough that they can't just grab it and knock you down. That means that your shoulder is pointing towards the mat, your elbow behind: your arm is not at a right angle. Terra also suggests feeding their gi lapel to your underhook hand, though he notes that you need to be careful: if at any point you drop towards the mat, they will flatten you out.

There is also a straightforward sweep, which has various names: Reiland calls it the 'toe grab sweep', which is similar to what's known as the 'old school' (although there are a number of differences). The hand you were using to block the cross-face dives under, to grab their same side toes. You could also grab their ankle, if you prefer, though that may give them a better chance to escape. Either way, you'll need to be careful not to get caught by a cross face in the process, of course. Bring your underhooking arm past their bum, then switch the foot you're holding to that underhook hand.

Next, unlock your half guard, then pull their leg back with your outside foot. From there, come up on your elbow like you're going to the back, then drive through to sweep them over. Keep hold of the foot, pressing down with your shoulders, so that you can move around to side control. As Reiland notes, you can still go for that even if they establish a whizzer while in half guard.

I mentioned before that you don't want to get squashed on your back in half guard. However, thanks to the never-ending intricacy of BJJ, there are still a whole series of attacks even from an inferior position like that (for example, Vince Quitugua, the guy who founded Shoyoroll, has a DVD on half guard sweeps when flattened out called Lost Techniques of the Half Guard). Still, I wouldn't recommended staying on your back out of choice: first, try using the lockdown sequence from the earlier lesson to get back onto your side.

An alternative is a great sweep Nick Brooks taught me, when I visited Mill Hill BJJ a while back. Start by opening up their lapel with your free hand, on the opposite side to the leg you've trapped. Bring that gi material over their back and feed it to your other hand: this grip needs to be tight, so you want to work your hand as close to the armpit as you can.

Shrimp out towards the trapped side (you'll have to release your locking leg to do this, so keep the inside leg heavy on their calf to stop them passing). You may need to do this a couple of times, until you can insert your outside foot under their inner thigh. This means you are now in what's called half-butterfly guard.

With your free hand, pin the arm they have under your head to your skull, like you would in a mount escape when someone is cross-facing you. Note that you want to avoid them bringing their knee up into your armpit, as that gives them better control. You can now lift with your butterfly hook. From here, you could try to go straight to mount, but they may well snatch half guard. A safer option is to move through to side control or scarf hold instead.

A number of people were having some trouble generating enough leverage with the butterfly hook. Fortunately, I had an answer for that, as the same thing can happen with the standard sweep from full butterfly guard. This is where your supporting leg comes into play. As you lift with the butterfly hook, push off with your other leg. If that still isn't enough leverage, hop on your supporting leg, so that you are bouncing towards them sideways. That should help to bring them over, even if they have managed to base out with a leg.

For sparring, I decided that given who and how many had come to class, the best option was to stick with pairs. Over the twenty minutes, I split it into four rounds of five minutes, meaning each person had a go on top and bottom, then I switched people around, in order for everybody to experience different body types. For the first two rounds, the person on the bottom was starting from a good position, with their underhook already in place, their other arm blocking the cross-face.

In the last two rounds, I changed it so that the bottom person was in a terrible position, having been squashed to the mat with a cross-face as well as losing their underhook. That was both because I wanted to try them out Nick Brooks' half butterfly sweep, but also so that they could get used to being in bad positions. I'm not sure how helpful it was, but I kept saying during sparring that they should relax, stay calm and be patient, working out how the person on top was moving. May or may not have been useful. ;)

22/08/2011 - Gracie Barra Fundamentals (Closed Guard)

Class #414
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 22/08/2011

I haven't made it to a normal class for a while, so it was good to get back to being the student rather than the instructor. Tonight, Geeza began with lots of breakfalling: he got everybody to stand in a circle, then called out either 'straight', 'left' or 'right', at which point you breakfalled backwards or to either side. That was followed by a technical stand-up, which again was split. It was either the standard one, where you step back a leg and come up, or going forwards, where you thrust your hips to come up on your knee, swivel the leg behind then come up. I'm guessing that was from the self defence bit of Gracie Barra Fundamentals, or Geeza just fancied doing something more self defence oriented to start off the beginner session (like Kev often does at RGA Bucks).

Getting on to the more enjoyable side of things, Geeza went through a couple of options from the pendulum sweep position, when they raise one knee. At first, I thought he was doing the usual flower sweep set-up: grab their elbow, swivel, kick up into their armpit on the raised knee side, then chop their other leg to come up in mount. However, this technique was slightly different.

The first part was much the same, as you swivel and get up high into their armpit with your leg. Where it differs is that you're almost entirely relying on the momentum you generate with that kick. Instead of using your other leg to chop low into their knee, you just curl your heel back to touch your own leg and sit up.

That was followed by a simple armbar option, where instead of curling the leg and sitting up, bring it over their head and go for the submission. As ever, make sure their thumb is pointing up, don't cross your legs and keep pressing down with your feet to lock them.

Two final points worth noting are firstly a general principle, which is to always sweep away from their raised knee. Otherwise they have too much base, so will be able to easily resist. The second point is that if you hook underneath their raised knee with your arm, be careful: they can put their knee down, trapping your arm and making it vulnerable to an armbar of their own. Therefore make sure you do something with that hooking arm, moving right into a sweep or submission attempt.

Specific sparring was from that same position: they have raised a knee in your closed guard, so you are hooking under their leg and also gripping their elbow on the other side with your other arm. I was as usual terrible on top. initially getting swept pretty quickly by one of the blue belts, who used a nice hip switch and grip change. The second time round I concentrated on keeping my elbows in and maintaining good posture, which helped, but as I've said to myself a bazillion times in the past, that's just delaying the inevitable. Stand up!

Underneath, I wanted to move into half guard, as I'm teaching that again this week. I think I've said this before, but teaching has been very useful for upping my commitment to coming into sparring with a plan. It is something I've always done, but now I've got the added motivation of wanting to better understand techniques I'm intending to teach.

The difficulty working from half guard, or at least the basic version I want to teach, is getting up on your side. If they can block your underhook and get a solid cross-face, it is tough to recover. I tried playing around with the lockdown to move Clayton's base, which meant a few times I was able to get my knee in and create some space. However, I didn't establish a sufficiently strong underhook.

What I should have done is taken note of what Caio Terra shows in his DVD, getting your shoulder right into their armpit. He doesn't block the cross-face, interestingly, instead having his free elbow right back and his underhooking shoulder driving towards the mat. Still, I was pleased that Clayton basically used exactly what I taught last week about passing the guard to shut me down. :)

Against another blue, I ended up in closed guard, and worked on moving my legs up. I have fallen out of the habit of doing that a bit, because I would get punished for doing it when rolling with Howard at RGA Bucks. Every time I tried it on him, he'd just take the opportunity to put a knee in the middle and open my guard. Still, I do find it helpful to bring their upper body down. From there, I need to work some kind of submission series, preferably chokes. Something I want to work on the next time I teach closed guard, a few months down the line.

As I have a teaching plan laid out that covers the major positions (or at least the ones I think are major), this should hopefully mean that I'll be able to not only build up a series of lessons I can keep refining, but also build up my own game into something more complete. Fun stuff.

18/08/2011 - Teaching (Passing Half Guard)

Teaching #016
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 18/08/2011

I keep mentioning how much I dislike passing the guard. Tonight, I can be slightly less whiny: if I have to pass the guard, I prefer to pass the half guard. If you have a particular preference for passing the guard, then it is worth trying to get to that position in order to pass. Of course, that's easier said than done.

As I discussed last week, on top you are looking to get head control and an underhook, similar to top side control. If you can't get the underhook, keep your elbow close to their hip, so they can't underhook you. Sprawl back on one leg, so you are dropping your hips and putting maximum weight onto them. You also don't want to be too high, as that may give them space to shrimp and recover full guard.

If you are able to get the cross-face and an underhook, there is now the option of generating lots of shoulder pressure. This is my favourite way to pass the half guard. Drive your shoulder into their head, which should cause them to turn their head. Your head goes on the other side, locking their head into place. It should now become hard for them to move, because their head is stuck.

From here, come up on your feet so that all your weight is driving through your shoulder. Even if you're small, this should maximise your weight. I'm only 64kgs, but if I can get all of that weight against somebody's head, it becomes more significant. From there, bounce your trapped knee to wriggle it free. As soon as it is clear, twist and put that knee on the mat. You can then kick their leg off your foot: some people prefer to kick the top leg, but I would generally go for the bottom leg.

If that doesn't work, you have several options. You could try circling your free foot backwards, to hook over their inner thigh: in Xande's version of the pass from the picture, he starts off with that hook in place. This should help to press down on their thigh to make some space, in order to pull your trapped leg loose. Alternatively, you could try to distract your opponent, by attacking their upper body: for example, go for a bent armlock. If you can get them to start worrying about the submission rather than keeping their legs locked, you may be able to work the pass more easily.

Sometimes they might have got up onto their side, going for their own underhook. If you aren't able to establish your underhook, use a whizzer instead. From there, drive into their chest with your own, in order to flatten them out. You can then crossface, and work to get your underhook.

If they keep blocking your cross-face, as I taught last week, then you can just use your head instead. Bring your would-be cross facing arm towards their leg, putting your head on the same side. Trap their skull with your own, pressing towards them. Like earlier, you again then come up on your toes, slide the knee through, put it on the mat, then secure their leg to get free.

If you find that you keep getting stuck in the lockdown, don't worry: there is a simple method for working back to a standard half guard. First off, you can avoid the situation by making sure your lower leg is curled back. That will put it out of reach for the purposes of a lockdown. You can also just bring your foot close to their bum. If it is too late for that, grab their hips and shift downwards. Keep shifting backwards until you can circle your leg out of their lockdown, then move back up. Again, make sure your leg is curled out of reach, or they'll be able to put you right back in the lockdown.

Alternatively, Ed Beneville includes this option in Passing the Guard. Move down and put your head on their hip, trapped leg side. Move you free leg back, driving your hips down. Reach under their upper legs, then lock your arms together. When you've taken out all the slack in their lockdown, put your head on the other side. Shift your chest down, then kick back with your trapped leg (or simply straighten it, depending on how much purchase they still have on your leg). Pass from there by moving around, making sure to keep their hips locked to the mat, driving your shoulder into them..

This can also work from a standard half guard. Shifting down to their hips and wrapping under the legs is safer, but slightly less effective. The more risky, but also more powerful option is to bring one arm inside. The danger there is that if you're sloppy, they might be able to work for a triangle.

With specific sparring, I instituted a roll for the first round that you weren't allowed to bring your knee across, as that is a slightly different half guard, requiring a slightly different pass. As it turned it, that was a great lesson for me personally. As Geeza was there, I sparred with him, but discovered that I rely quite heavily on the knee shield. I kept having to stop myself sliding the knee across.

Geeza suggested that a good alternative was to hook with your outside leg, but use your instep to further wrap around their leg. If you can get comfortable just using that for control, it frees up your other leg. I made sure to try that with the next person I sparred: something I'll also be looking to keep working on in the future.

Gi Review - 'Hitman' Ripstop (Gorilla Fight Gear)

Short Review: A jiu jitsu gi tends to be a bulky item. It's normally thick cotton, which makes for a volume-munching lump in your backpack. However, gis made out of ripstop roll up nice and tight, dry quickly and weigh hardly anything (the Hitman is a tiny 900g). In terms of speed-drying and packability, it lived up to my expectations. The extremely thin fabric also means it would be great for hot weather. Available here.

Update June 2015: It appears that Gorilla unfortunately no longer sell the Hitman. Closest thing made by Gorilla is the Journey, a little heavier at 280gsm.

The main disadvantage of that material is that it is much easier for your opponent to grab. I don't particularly mind that personally, as it just means I have to get better at breaking grips. So overall, I've been happy with this gi from Gorilla Fight Gear so far, as it does exactly what I wanted it to do, fulfilling the 'travel gi' role admirably. In terms of cost, the Gorilla ripstop is very afforable at only $89 USD (although shipping outside of Canada will of course bump that up considerably).

Full Review: I've been interested in picking up a ripstop gi for a while now. Although they've somewhat fallen out of favour recently, seen as a passing trend, my reasons for wanting one haven't changed: I need a travelling gi (hence why I have a section for reviews of travel gis, here). That means something very light, quick-drying and compact. The ripstop perfectly fits the bill.

If you've never heard of ripstop, its history apparently dates back to World War II, when it was used to make parachutes. Ripstop is commonly used for things like sails, hot air balloons and tents. From what I gather it is not so much about the material, but the stitching method using nylon threads. That results in a trademark pattern of small squares, which are supposed to prevent rips spreading (hence the name). The ripstop gi uses cotton, but you can also get ripstop nylon, ripstop polyester, ripstop silk, etc.

As much as I don't like to quote Wikipedia, I didn't see a whole lot else on the internet (pretty much just this, this and this). At least the following part of the wiki claims to be taken from what sounds like a legitimate source, judging by the footnote referencing Fairchild's Dictionary of Textiles, 7th edition, p474:

Ripstop fabrics are woven fabrics often made out of nylon, whilst using a special reinforcing technique that makes them resistant to tearing and ripping. During weaving (thick) reinforcement threads are interwoven at regular intervals in a crosshatch pattern. The intervals are typically 5 to 8 millimeters (0.2 to 0.3 in). Thin and lightweight ripstop fabrics have a 3-dimensional structure due to the thicker threads being interwoven in thinner cloth. Older lightweight ripstop-fabrics display the thicker interlocking thread patterns in the material quite prominently, but more modern weaving techniques make the ripstop threads less obvious. A similar effect can be achieved by weaving two or three fine yarns together at intervals.

The best known ripstop gi brand is easily Kauai Kimonos. However, they're fairly expensive, and they're also a bit busy for my liking, with multi-coloured trim, patches and huge text along the shoulders. Gorilla Fight Gear's ripstop gi, despite the bling potential of the 'Hitman' name, is almost entirely plain (the picture on the right also gives you a close-up of the weave). There is just one patch on the arm, which isn't even easy to see, as it is light grey against a white gi. Aside from that, it also has two small Gorilla Fight Gear logo labels, on the trousers and the lapel.

The Gorilla ripstop gi has some areas of contrast, such as in the stitching, a grey rope drawstring and side vents, but it's relatively subtle. In what appears to be another possible cue from fashionable brands, there is an inside pocket (on the site, it says this is 'chest level': presumably that's a mistake, as it is clearly above the hip). I don't compete, so I doubt it is something I'll ever have much use for, but a potentially useful addition for holding your gumshield or phone (as long as it doesn't catch fingers and toes). It also comes with a white belt, which hasn't been the case for most of the gis I've bought.

I've read that on many ripstop gis, the collar can be thin and flimsy. That is definitely not the case with Gorilla Fight Gear's offering, which is decidedly beefy. The collar is made out of rubber, so I wouldn't recommend putting this gi in the dryer. Reinforcements are in all the usual places, by the trouser gusset, armpits, knees and on the side vents. The trouser and sleeve cuffs also look heavily fortified with stitching.

The trousers are secured with a bungee cord rather than the typical flat drawstring I'm used to. There are also five loops, meaning the rope is unlikely to move once you've tied it in place. I've read some reviews which say how ripstop trousers can become unpleasantly slimy and stick to the skin, but I haven't found that with the Gorilla ripstop. They certainly feel different to typical heavy cotton trousers when they get drenched in sweat, but I didn't notice any of the waxy stiffness some people have reported regarding other brands.

As with any ripstop weave, the material is much thinner than a standard gi: according to the website, it's 250gsm ripstop fabric. That has the advantage of reduced weight and less sweat, but it does mean rather less padding for throws and the like (which I definitely noticed when I wore it at RGA Bucks, as the mats are much thinner and harder than those at where I'm training in Bristol). In terms of weighing scales, that comes out at a ridiculously light 900g for both the jacket and trousers (not including a belt). The jacket is made out of a single piece of cloth, so there aren't any large seams on the back. There were a few loose threads, such as on the armpit reinforcement, but nothing major.

Rolling in the gi was comfortable, particularly during hot weather (which conveniently happened the first month I wore it, providing a good test). However, as with most ripstop gis, it is easier to grip. I also felt the collar digging into the back of my neck more than usual during one lesson, although that was probably more due to that particular training partner: I haven't noticed it during other rolls. At one point a sparring partner went for about five cross-chokes in a row, so I think I can safely say it isn't easier to get choked in this ripstop, or I would have been tapping. ;)

I washed it at 40 degrees Celsius with a spin setting of 900, then hung the jacket and trousers on door hooks. Four hours later, it was mostly dry, getting completely dry two hours after that. This was in an unheated bathroom in the UK, which isn't exactly known for its blazing temperatures. Either way, that means the gi would definitely dry overnight, so even if this was your only gi, you could easily wash and dry after training and still have a clean gi for the next day. I didn't notice enormous shrinkage, as you can see from the pictures.

To work out how small this gi packs up, I pulled out a rucksack from the cupboard and laid out a bunch of shirts, a hoody, a book and a couple of DVD boxsets for bulk. I'm not quite sure what kind of awesome training trip would include watching the entirety of Mysterious Cities of Gold plus a season of Hercules, but hey: the Gorilla Ripstop left enough room for everything except the large book. By comparison, the Padilla & Sons single weave, which is a fairly typical size for a standard gi, couldn't manage my belt or the DVDs. I rolled up each of the gis in the same way: the ripstop gi jacket effectively packs like a belt, as the fabric is thin enough to wrap tightly around it.

The 'Hitman' ripstop is relatively inexpensive, at $89 USD, especially as my sister's mother-in-law kindly took delivery of the gi at her home in Vancouver, then brought it with her during a recent visit to the UK. You can also get them in black, for $10 USD extra. I thought it was in Canadian dollars when I looked a few months ago, but either they've changed it or I just misremembered.

I should note that when I just checked, most of the smaller sizes were sold out (I bought my A2 back in April, when only A1 was unavailable: clearly they've been selling well), so unless you're a bigger grappler, you may need to wait for new stock. Mike provides good customer service, judging by the email he sent me, so worth checking with him if you're uncertain about sizing.

11/08/2011 - Teaching (Maintaining Half Guard)

Teaching #015
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 11/08/2011

Often in attempting to prevent a pass, you may find you can snatch half guard. The reason it's called half guard is because instead of having your legs wrapped around their hips, you've only managed to trap one leg. Generally, you'll have your inside leg over their back of their knee, locking that in place by bringing the back of your outside knee over your inside shin. If you can get your outside knee to their hip while still having your feet locked, even better, but that can be difficult if you have short legs like me.

There are plenty of options from half guard (some top competitors base their entire game around it, like Oli Geddes), though personally I try to avoid going there intentionally. The reason for that is because in half guard, you're pretty much even with your opponent. You can go for submissions and sweeps, but they can go for submissions too, as well as pass.

However, if you do end up there, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.

Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.

After you've got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Five years ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw, swim the underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second.

If you do that, make sure you don't leave space under your elbow, or as Reiland demonstrates, they can they go for an attack. Similarly, if they manage to beat your underhook, you're going to bring that arm over for what Reiland calls the 'double paw.' From there, you can work for the underhook again.

Saulo does something similar in Jiu Jitsu Revolution 1, as he also uses the 'paw'. However, the posture of his other arm is different, and very simple. He just puts it by his side, with the hand reaching over to his opposite hip. He then uses the shoulder and elbow to wriggle towards the underhook, where he notes to grip by the belt rather than high on the back.

An alternative option is to put your hand on your head, then curl in tight to their leg. Again, that stops them getting the underhook. If you can get to their leg, it becomes difficult for them to dig your head free. Should the opportunity present itself from any of those positions, you can momentarily move your paw to their knee. Push on their knee and slide your knee through. From there, you can work to recover full guard.

I'd forgotten until I rewatched it, but Reiland's video is also handy for me as instructor, because he includes some drills. The first one is simply working from that starting position, just trying to block their arm and maintain the underhook. The top person is looking to flatten them out, the bottom person is looking to keep them away.

Another approach to half guard is the one touted in Eddie Bravo's Mastering the Rubber Guard. I tend to warn beginners off Bravo's 10th Planet system, because it is all too common for newbies to think that the rubber guard is some kind of magic bullet for BJJ. It isn't. Bravo is a black belt under Jean Jacques Machado, so like Bravo, you need to get a solid grasp of the fundamentals before you can start playing around with more esoteric variations.

Having said that, it is worth taking a look at the half guard techniques Bravo includes at the start of Mastering the Rubber Guard. This is based around what Bravo calls the 'lockdown', which as far as I'm aware is an old judo position (then again, old judoka would likely tell you that's true of everything in BJJ ;p). The two major problems with the lockdown are that it is often used to stall and it immobilises your hips.

However, it can be useful for disrupting an opponent's base. It also works as a last ditch effort to stop them crushing you when they've got you flat on your back. It is a little different to the standard half guard leg position. Instead, step your outside leg over theirs. Next, bring your inside leg over your other foot (which will then hook around that inside leg), hooking underneath their shin. From there, you can stretch out their leg.

Bravo lays out a careful roadmap of where to go from the lockdown, detailing another method for getting up onto your side. He calls the first part the 'Jaws of Life', which is basically getting both your hands in front of their face, bracing them against the side of their head, near the temple. The idea is to create enough space to slide your arms past theirs, then establish a double underhook around their back.

You can then do what Bravo calls a 'whip up'. Release your double underhook and switch to pressing your hands into their ribs. In one motion, bring your knees towards your chest and push with your hands. In the space that creates, immediately shift to your side and come up on your elbow.

Once you've got onto your side and reached for an underhook, remember to block their arm from cross-facing, or you'll be back where you started (Bravo's alternative is to re-establish the linked grip around the back, then go for a sweep). As in Reiland's method, simply hook your hand over the wrist. From here, you can recover full guard.

For all the methods I've described, you can then use this option Kev taught me for recovering full guard. Unlock your feet, using your outside leg as a base for your shrimp. Your inside leg will slip around the back of their knee, in order to maintain control (otherwise they can just move their leg over and pass). Shrimp until you’re able to get that outside foot onto their same side hip. Push, then slide your other leg through to move back into full guard, or possibly butterfly guard.

05/08/2011 - Gracie Barra Advanced

Class #413
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 05/08/2011

I added the 500th blog to my blog index today (TwinJitsu, which is pretty cool, but unfortunately hasn't been updated for a while). As is so often the case, I found it by clicking through a comment TwinJitsu's author made on another blog: sometimes it feels that BJJ goes hand in hand with blogging these days. When I started blogging regularly in 2006, a few months before starting BJJ and first meeting Dom (I had been writing up classes since 2004 in other martial arts, but not systematically), there wasn't much out there. In the UK, it may have even just been me and Seymour. Needless to say, that has definitely changed over the last five years, which is awesome.

Class continued with attacks against the turtle, this time more specifically clock chokes. Geeza began with the basic set-up, where you reach through for their collar and get a deep grip (to expose their neck, he grabbed their far ankle and leaned on their lower back). Your other arm goes over their body, as you then slide down their back. Start walking your legs around as if they the hands of a clock while pulling on the collar, until you can secure the submission.

Darren then taught a variation on the clock choke, which I seem to remember Felipe teaching us. The set-up is the same as the previous choke, except this time, you bring the elbow of your free arm to the opposite side of their head. Slide down their body and step through. You can then pull with your choking hand, also benefitting from the increased leverage provided by your elbow.

Finally, there was a particularly flashy clock choke from Geeza, which he aptly described as "one for the highlight reel." Same set-up, but once you've got that grip into the collar, step your foot up on the same side as your gripping hand. Your other leg is going to swing right over their body and their head, so that it is behind your choking arm. Dive over their body (so, towards the non-choking side). As you roll, secure their arm with your own free arm, then complete the choke from there.

Class finished with a few rounds of free sparring, where I had the pleasure of sparring Dom once again after all these years. I know Dom is fond of chokes (just like she was at that first class!), so I was being especially careful of my neck, particularly as the Datsusara is so baggy. Most of the time, I was in the running escape, trying to recover guard. However, I wasn't able to hook a leg, or prevent Dom from continuing to move around towards my head. As usual, my attempts to spin back to guard just resulted in being back under side control: I definitely need to take another look at how Saulo does it, as I never seem to do that right.

Donal gave me a good smashing, which tends to happen every time we spar. My back defence got a particularly good work out, though again I'm making a recurring error there, which I've mentioned before. When I'm trying to escape and have their back on the mat, I'll often look to secure their arm to try and turn to top half guard. That rarely gets me anywhere, as normally just the arm isn't secure enough, given that their hips are still free to move. Last time I grabbed their head and managed to get where I wanted, but it was sloppy and low percentage.

I don't think I quite understood properly (as we didn't have time to chat about it properly), but Donal mentioned that he likes to block the leg as he turns to escape. I'll have to remember to pick his brain on that next time, as I need to work on that switch to half guard. I'll be looking to get more practice in the position over the next few weeks anyway, as I'll be teaching half guard for the rest of the month.

05/08/2011 - Gracie Barra Fundamentals

Class #412
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 05/08/2011

Tonight was a bit special, as we had some visitors from RGA HQ. It was particularly special for me, because those two visitors are old friends of mine, Dominique and Darren (who for some reason I always knew as Gary ;p). Dom is the first person I ever sparred with in BJJ, back in November 2006. She's an awesome training partner, so I was looking forward to rolling with her again.

It was also great to catch up on what's been happening at RGA since I left. From what Darren said, most of my regular training partners are still there, proudly wearing purple belts: Dom and Darren of course, along with Paxton, Owen, Zaf, Joanna and others. Given the high rate of attrition, it was cool to hear they've all managed to stick with the sport. Apparently other RGA HQers may be visiting in future, like my first instructor, Oli: looking forward to that! :)

In terms of technique, tonight the focus was on the turtle position. First, Geeza went through several options for attacking the turtle. I'm not sure I remember all of them, as I didn't get a chance to scribble down notes between the two classes, but IIIRC they all began by leaning into them, hip to hip. Your arm is over their far side, torso a bit above their hips. The aim is to maximise the pressure into their body, keeping them squashed in turtle so they can't spin to guard.

Your knee presses into their knee, while your outside leg posts for supports. If they've left any space by their elbows, wedge your arm in, reaching through with your hand. You're going to bring your other hand in by their shoulder, linking your hands under their neck. Be careful that you don't get rolled when you reach that arm in by their elbow: if they try, you could attempt to use your knee to prevent their roll.

Another option, if you can't get a hand in past their elbow, is to instead try and grab their lapels. Once you have the head and arm grip (or their lapels) and haven't been rolled, bring your outside knee next to them. You'll use that as a point over which to roll them, pulling them into back mount, then establishing your hooks. Not sure I've quite remembered that right, though.

There were at least two other options. I think one involved switching your knees, so that the posting knee becomes the one pressing into their knee. Your remaining leg then straightens out, after which you drop back and roll them from them, bringing your straightened leg over. Finally, there was something about scissoring your legs, but I didn't quite catch that one (as I was the uke).

Finally there was a bonus option for attacking the turtle, which was to simply crouch over them, grab their belt and lift them up. You then immediately insert your hooks into the space you've created. This one is particularly useful when you have somebody turtling really tightly, so there is nothing open to establish a grip.

That was followed by some specific sparring, first with your partner, then king of the hill. We spent a minute each in turtle, where the aim was to either retain the position or recover guard. I found that I could generally swivel to half guard from under turtle, as that is often a tough position to open up. As soon as the person on top creates some space, the person on the bottom will immediately try to turn.

On top, I was looking to stay as tight as I could, pressing my weight down. I was also moving around, going from side to side. A few times I wanted to attempt that old judo turnover I learned before I started BJJ, but for that you need to reach under and grab a leg and an arm. There wasn't enough space for my hands to wriggle through and get a grip.

Instead, I found that quite often, people would leave enough space that I could simply wedge my heel in by their knee, then gradually kick through to establish my first hook. From there it was much less difficult than before to create more space and get in the second hook. However, getting in that first hook is normally the hard part, so I was surprised I was able to get it in place. Could be that people weren't as familiar with the position, so didn't go to attack my leg or something like that (though having said that, lots of people spun to half guard too as I looked to make space).

04/08/2011 - Teaching (Passing Open Guard)

Teaching #014
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 04/08/2011

When I taught passing the closed guard a month ago, I mentioned that along with escaping side control, it is one of the things in jiu jitsu that never seems to get any easier. Arguably, passing open guard is even harder: getting past that endless array of grips, blocks and counters can be incredibly frustrating.

As much trouble as I have with passing closed guard, I think passing open guard is probably what I find most difficult in jiu jitsu. So, I was hoping this lesson would be good for me too. In the run-up to the class, I tried to spar from open guard as much as possible, either getting to the top and trying to pass, or playing open guard and watching closely how people passed me.

I kicked off with a drill for the bullfighter pass, as that is what I'd be covering in the technique section. I followed the method I was taught by Kev a while ago. Start by holding their knees. Step to one side, swinging your inside leg back. That grip on their knees means you can, at the same time, bring their near leg backwards and to the mat. This should enable your inside leg to swing through, moving to knee on belly. They escape and recover position using the open guard drill I taught a few weeks ago (again from Kev), after which you repeat, going to the other side. I'm particularly fond of drills that allow both people to work something, so hopefully it was helpful to the students.

For the technical portion of the class, I was focusing on a very basic open guard, where they've just got their feet on your hips. As with passing closed guard, you want to maintain good posture. To recap (as this goes for open guard in the same way it goes for standing in the closed guard), don't lean forwards too much. That could give them the opportunity to flip you right over their head, pushing on your hips. It also puts you closer to their submission zone.

Instead, you want to start upright, hips thrusting forwards. As when passing closed guard from standing, be careful of your foot position. They will be looking to establish some kind of control over your legs in order to go for a sweep or submission. Therefore you want to break any grips they establish. A simple option if they grip your heel is to kick your foot forward and circle it back. That works best against a heel grab, as if they get a good grip on your trousers, their hold will be tougher to dislodge.

To pass the open guard, it is advisable to grip on the inside of both their knees for control (though not everyone would agree on that: others suggest gripping lower on the trousers by their shin, knuckles facing forward, or even at the bottom of the trousers). The main danger is that they will try to loop their leg over your arm, which you can mitigate by gripping a little lower than the knee. If their legs are raised, twist your elbows in, so that your forearms are next to the inside of their lower legs.

That means you can then start to move their legs in several directions. Side to side will set you up for perhaps the most simple version of what is known as the toreador or 'bullfighter' pass (also called the toreana, toreada, toreando and matador, among other names. Google tells me the Portuguese for bullfighter is in fact 'toureiro'). The reason it has that name is because in this context, your opponent is the bull: your aim is to turn their legs into the red flag.

Like a matador (the reality of bullfighting is extremely unpleasant, but it works well as a metaphor), you're going to fake them out by going to one side, then the other. Thrust their knees sideways towards the mat, while simultaneously moving around to the opposite side. You want them to think you're trying to pass that way, then reverse direction and go the other way: switch as many times as you need, in order to trick them. As you move round for real, pin their knees to the mat. Some instructors advocate a slightly different grip, where you put one hand on the hip, still gripping the leg on the side you want to pass.

I thought that was enough for the students to work on for the initial technique, so as usual had them drill that in pairs, four minutes each. I decided to just up the resistance during the four minutes of drilling, as I didn't think it was necessary to have a further three minutes for just that technique.

So, continuing the technical instruction, you can also fake them out by driving forwards, having bent your legs slightly (rather than just leaning forwards). The reaction you want is that they push back. Go with that motion, bringing them backwards, then use your weight to bring their feet to the mat. Straighten your arms to really focus your weight, staying on your toes. That should put as much pressure as possible into their legs, keeping them squashed down as you move around for the pass.

Similarly, you could try stepping backwards, then simultaneously sprawl and punch your hands into the ground. You want to get their knees into the mat, so they're turned to the side. To finish, pass around behind their knees, then shift to side control.

Alternatively, if they don't react, you can still pass after having driven their knees towards their chest. Thrust one leg forward, then step back, pulling the other leg with you. Drive that leg into the mat with a straight arm and your body weight, then pass around on that side.

Finishing the pass off can be difficult, if they manage to get arms in the way, hook your leg or something along those lines. If you're able to really glue their knees to the mat, it may be possible to walk all the way around. You could also get just slightly past their legs, then drop your shoulder into their hip, falling forward. This will be the shoulder you have forwards: as you do that, be careful you don't bring your elbow outside their knee. Instead, maintain a solid grip throughout on their legs.

If all goes well, that should enable you to use your weight to help immobilise them, bring your knee into their hip and settle into side control. That led into the three minutes each of progressive resistance.

There was still plenty of time left after that, which was ideal. Whenever I teach a technique that I'm less confident about, I like to do a lot of drilling and sparring. That way, the students at least have a chance to get a lot of specific training on the position, hopefully helping to isolate any problems they're having. The first round was open guard sparring (no closed guard or half guard), but the bottom person is only recovering or maintaining their guard. After each person had a go, same again, but this time they could sweep and submit as well.

For the last fifteen minutes, we did king of the hill. I thought after all that sparring, they might want a chance to get their own back, so I made sure to join in. ;)