25/11/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Side Control Escape)

Class #433
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 25/11/2011

My neck is still sore, but as my gf was off on a work do, I thought I'd take the opportunity to get in another class tonight. After some self defence (following the Gracie Barra Fundamentals as usual), Geeza ran through the basic side control escape to the knees. One arm is under their forearm, the other hand by their hip. Bridge up, in order to make space to circle the neck arm around to reach for their back. Swivel, tucking your elbow so that you can move into the turtle position.

Adjust your grip to their leg, with your head on the other side (be wary of guillotines, as your head is on the outside). Step up your foot on the same side as your head, then pulling their other leg towards you, while driving with your foot and head, push through to side control. I rarely use this escape, and at the moment it is completely out of the question for me. Anything that involves turtling is off-limits, as I've busted and re-busted my neck whenever I've spent any length of time in turtle over the last two months. Almost certainly something flawed with how I using the turtle, but for now, I've banned myself from going there.

Specific sparring was from side control, which is good for me as it meant I could stay on top. I normally go for the orthodox side control, arm under the head with the other arm under their far armpit. However, tonight I wanted to try to avoid starting from there, as that's my comfort zone: it also has more likelihood of involving my head (e.g., for base if they try to roll me). Instead, I began from the position we used for drilling, where you have the arm nearest their head over to the far side, under their shoulder, with your other hand blocks their near hip.

It was interesting playing with the grip by the near hip, trying blocking with the hand, grabbing the gi material by their butt, or hooking the leg. That isn't a control I use all that often (as my hands are usually much higher up their body), but I found it helped the transition to north-south, which I was also doing a lot during sparring. I was looking to isolate an arm for the kimura at one point, but didn't clamp it to my chest quickly enough, so they were able to defend well by grabbing under their leg.

I also had a go at the gi choke Matt Burn showed me, where you feed your lapel under their neck to your other hand, then walk round in order to bring your head to their opposite hip. I got the lapel under their head and secured the grip, but I'm not sure I quite had it right. I also didn't do a good job of controlling their hips, as they could pretty much follow me round as I moved my head to the opposite hip. Something to play with nonetheless, as I'd like to expand my range of side control submissions beyond 'Americana' and 'north south kimura'.

24/11/2011 - Teaching (Passing Closed Guard)

Teaching #030
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 24/11/2011

The first guard pass most people learn is the single underhook, sometimes known as a smash pass (although confusingly, there is also a completely different pass you might see called the 'smash pass'. The joys of BJJ's non-standardised terminology). After you've opened their guard (this can also work off a failed armbar or triangle attempt on their part), you need to get one of your arms under their leg. Your other elbow – and this is absolutely key – must not slip in front of their other knee. If it does, then you're at risk of being triangled: they simply need to pull the arm forwards to move into a triangle set up, as your first arm is already out of the picture.

You don't want to leave that first arm under their leg, as unless you're much bigger, their leg is always going to be able to outpower your arm. Therefore you need to get their leg up onto your shoulder, either bumping it with your arm, or dropping down to put your shoulder in place. At that point, drive forward so that you're shoving their knee into their face. When you've got them stacked, reach your stacking side arm around their leg and grab their collar. I tend to go four fingers in, but a thumb in grip sets you up for a simple (if somewhat crappy, so it's mainly for distraction) forearm choke. You can also try grabbing their opposite shoulder.

Keep on driving forward, until they become so uncomfortable that they basically want you to pass. Don't lift your head to get past their legs. You are going to squash your body into them until you can slide by their legs, using constant forward pressure. At most, you might need to nudge their legs with your shoulder. To further enhance your stack, you can grab the back of their trousers, or alternatively put your knee there as a wedge.

A similar option is the stack pass, also known as a double underhooks pass (and probably a bunch of other things). The main difference is that you're putting your arms under both their legs instead of just one. Slip your arms underneath both legs and get a secure gable grip (palm to palm). If you prefer, you can instead grip their trousers and lock your elbows, or indeed their belt: the problem with those grips is that the loose fabric may provide them with enough space that they can make room to escape.

Whichever grip you prefer, you now want to stack your opponent, driving forward off your toes. To get them in position for stacking, the two basic methods are to either pull them up onto your hips using your thighs as a ramp, or move forwards so you're close behind them and they are rolled up onto their shoulders. If you don't get them stacked and therefore leave space between their hips and yours, then they can still use their legs to stop you, such as by hooking under your thighs with their insteps. Once you've got them stacked, the aim is again to push their knee right into their face.

At that point, the process becomes much the same as the smash pass, as like before, you'll grab their opposite collar with one of your hands, sliding your fingers inside. That is just one grip, as you could also reach behind their head. An even tighter option is to reach behind their head and grab the shoulder. Be careful you don't start neck cranking with a can opener, however, as that's illegal in most competitions for a reason: speaking as somebody with a currently messed up neck, please don't mash up your training partner's vertebrae. ;)

Move round gradually on your toes and/or press one hip into theirs to shift them to the side, and with the other hand hold the back of their trousers and lift their hips (Ed Beneville has a bunch of other options for keeping them stacked, such as holding their gi lapel, their wrist, or bracing them against the inside of your leg) Remember, it is important to keep maintaining heavy downwards pressure throughout this pass. Keep pushing until eventually you drive past their leg and transition to side control: don't raise your head, just keep pushing until you slide past. Alternatively, you can do what Abmar Barbosa does and drive off your feet to shove their legs out of the way.

23/11/2011 - Teaching (Attacking Half Guard)

Teaching #029
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 23/11/2011

I don't normally show up to Wednesdays, but as my evenings have been busy recently, I decided it would be a good chance to get in some extra training. As it turned out, it was fortunate I chose today to try it out, as Donal unfortunately had a puncture in his bike tyre on the way over. That meant he had to wheel his bike all the way home, so wasn't able to make it to class. Instead, I found myself with a surprise extra teaching session.

It is the first time I've taught a class without having anything prepared, but that wasn't a problem, as Donal's Wednesday classes are a repeat of the Tuesday class. Given that I had been there on Tuesday, I could therefore just teach the same half guard back take Donal showed, which would be a good test of how much I'd managed to remember.

So, to copy what I wrote down for yesterday, start by swimming the arm you have by their head under their neck, circling your hand around. Don't reach over their head with their arm, just swivel your hand: otherwise, you arm becomes vulnerable to submission. Once the hand is through, you can then brace your forearm into their throat, to prevent them driving their weight through their shoulder into your neck.

You now want to get on your side. Kick your leg forwards to swing your body up. You can either have your knee by your elbow, to try and maintain that space, or you can stick your knee on their hip. As you pop up onto your side, slide in and sink right down, so that your ear is by their belly button. Switch your arm to grip around their back. Also turn your knee outwards to give yourself base.

The next step, which Donal added on Tuesday, is to take the back. Grab their opposite lapel and pull it across their waist, clamping your elbow around their hip. You need to be careful when doing that, as if you reach in too far with your arm, they can reach back, hook your elbow and roll you. You also need to make sure you are curling your arm around their hip, rather than keeping it too high. The idea is to secure both their hips: one with your elbow, the other with the tension created by pulling their gi lapel tightly across.

Your other hand is going to grab the gi material behind their same side elbow. Straighten your arm, so that you are driving their arm into the mat using your skeletal structure rather than muscle power. You don't want them to be able to post with that hand, or they will be able to prevent your back take. Finally, move off to the side slightly, pulling on that trapped lapel. This should yank them along in your wake, enabling you to swivel them right into back mount.

Also like yesterday, I went through Donal's two main tips for making space under half guard. The first was very simple: wait. Normally, they will eventually make a move, which is when you can react by exploiting any space they leave as a result, getting the arm into their neck.

Alternatively, you can use the Demian Maia approach to escaping side control. Reach up with the arm you have by their head so that your bicep whacks into the side of their head. You want to use that to bump their head to the side, in order to create some space. Make sure that you're pressing towards the top of their head: if you're too low, then there won't be enough leverage (so, the same principle as with a muay thai clinch: you grab higher up behind their head, or you won't be able to pull their head down effectively).

I also emphasised that you need to be careful they don't knock your arm across and move into an arm triangle, which is the problem I have with that type of escape. Like I said earlier, any time you extend your arm away from your body, you are putting yourself at risk. However, it is useful in certain situations, not to mention then Demian Maia is really damn good at jiu jitsu, so I'm sure he knows what he's doing. ;)

22/11/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Half Guard Back Take)

Class #432
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Donal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 22/11/2011

Building on what he taught a little while ago, tonight Donal was showing us a route to the back. So, to copy what I wrote previously, start by swimming the arm you have by their head under their neck, circling your hand around. You can then brace your forearm into their throat, to prevent them driving their weight through their shoulder into your neck.

Be aware that they may try to knock your arm sideways across your throat, so they can go for an arm triangle. Also, any time you extend your arm they may try and grab it for a keylock, so whenever possible aim to keep your elbows tight to your side, never leaving a limb flopping and vulnerable.

You now want to get on your side. Kick your leg forwards to swing your body up. You can either have your knee by your elbow, to try and maintain that space, or you can stick your knee on their hip. As you pop up onto your side, slide in and sink right down, so that your ear is by their belly button. Switch your arm to grip around their back. Also turn your knee outwards to give yourself base.

The next step, which Donal added tonight, is to take the back. Grab their opposite lapel and pull it across their waist, clamping your elbow around their hip. You need to be careful when doing that, as if you reach in too far with your arm, they can reach back, hook your elbow and roll you. You also need to make sure you are curling your arm around their hip, rather than keeping it too high. The idea is to secure both their hips: one with your elbow, the other with the tension created by pulling their gi lapel tightly across.

Your other hand is going to grab the gi material behind their same side elbow. Straighten your arm, so that you are driving their arm into the mat using your skeletal structure rather than muscle power. You don't want them to be able to post with that hand, or they will be able to prevent your back take. Finally, move off to the side slightly, pulling on that trapped lapel. This should yank them along in your wake, enabling you to swivel them right into back mount.

Berry raised a good point during drilling, which is what to do if you're really struggling to make space to get your hand through. Donal had two main tips for making space under half guard. The first was very simple: wait. Normally, they will eventually make a move, which is when you can react by exploiting any space they leave as a result, getting the arm into their neck.

Alternatively, you can use the Demian Maia approach to escaping side control. Reach up with the arm you have by their head so that your bicep whacks into the side of their head. You want to use that to bump their head to the side, in order to create some space. Make sure that you're pressing towards the top of their head: if you're too low, then there won't be enough leverage (so, the same principle as with a muay thai clinch: you grab higher up behind their head, or you won't be able to pull their head down effectively).

During specific sparring, I'm still avoiding using my head due to that neck injury, so again stayed on top. Instead of my head, I therefore relied on controlling the far arm from top half guard instead, getting a deep underhook to scoop the arm right up. To help that control, I kept a firm grip on their far armpit or the back of their gi with my other hand. When the opportunity presented itself, I moved that other arm around their head, so that my elbow was braced against their skull. That seemed to result in a relatively firm hold, and also helped stop them slipping down to deep half.

However, it doesn't give me many options for passing, and I'm sure there is also some sweep or other they can do when I attempt that hold. Still, it is useful having something to work on despite my neck not working properly. I also want to practice the 'inverted half guard' pass (or at least that's what Beneville calls it), which I was first taught by Roger Gracie. I didn't get a chance tonight, but will see if I can give that a go tomorrow during half guard sparring.

Gi Review - Padilla & Sons Ultra Light

Short Review: This gi is plain, well-built and affordable, further justifying Padilla & Sons long-standing reputation for quality. As you'd expect from the name, the Ultra Light also has the advantage of weighing less, due to the lightweight jacket and ripstop trousers. It's large out of the box, especially the trousers, so you'll need to shrink it. You might also want to chop down the drawstring, which dangled past my knee. Like the other Padilla & Sons I've owned, the fit is fairly baggy and some may not like the longer skirt, though that's something I'm used to from regularly wearing judogi to class. Available to buy direct from the Padilla & Sons website, here, for $100.

Full Review: In my ongoing hunt for plain, white and functional gis, Padilla & Sons was the opening entry. I bought my gold weave back in 2007, meaning it was the first specifically BJJ gi I had ever bought. I was convinced by reading a few reviews, particularly this one (still probably the best gi review ever written, given how many people bought a Padilla & Sons gi on the strength of that post) which spoke highly of the durability, price and excellent customer service. I found all three of those to be true after getting my gold weave, so ended up buying a single weave a little further down the line. It is now 2011, but both gis show no sign of wear and tear, except for some slight discolouration on the inside of the jacket.

Company founder Joe Padilla is a black belt under Rigan Machado. He has an extensive history in martial arts, as IIRC, Padilla has also done judo, boxing, arnis and kempo. Back in October 1998, he produced a double weave, sold locally in California. The following year, Padilla & Sons expanded into the rest of the USA and Europe, but still on a very small scale. The company took a hiatus for a few years in 2001, starting back up in 2003.

When Padilla & Sons were building a reputation for solid, affordable gis at the turn of the millenium, BJJers wanted a suit of cotton armour that could go the distance. That meant heavy double-weaves, built to last rather than for weight limits or hot weather training. Trends have changed considerably over the years: more recently, there has been a boom in lightweight weaves, the lightest of which is the ripstop.

Padilla & Sons have entered that market with their suitably named 'Ultra Light'. The jacket is one piece, constructed from 400 gram cotton, so there is no seam on the back. The collar is cotton under ply, of a comparable thickness and stiffness to my Padilla single weave, covered in ripstop material. The trousers are also ripstop, as are various areas of reinforcement, such as on the trouser and sleeve cuffs. As I would expect from Padilla, those reinforcements all look very solid, with plenty of stitching.

Joe Padilla is famous for his customer service and rightly so (although as I was sent this for review, it was a slightly different scenario to the previous two times). He provided a tracking ID for the parcel, so I could watch it travel from Los Angeles right through to Bristol, meaning I knew exactly when it was going to be arriving and whether or not I'd have to pay any customs charges. I did get hit slightly with VAT, but not as badly as I was expecting at just under £30 (around a third of which was a dubious 'handling fee' from Parcel Force). However, that potential cost is worth keeping in mind if you're buying from outside of the USA.

There is a broad range in the size chart, from A0 (4'5"-5' and 75-110 lbs) through to A6 (6'5"-6'9 and 290- 325lbs). I went for an A2, as my gold and single weaves are also A2, but I think in future I may go for an A1 instead. Either way, it would be wise to check with Joe Padilla before you put in your order: I can pretty much guarantee that he'll respond quickly with the advice you need. When I bought my first gi, he even offered to call me to discuss the right size, despite the fact I was living in the UK and he's in California.

This gi is not pre-shrunk, so it feels big out of the box. The trousers in particular are enormous, at 100cm in length. The jacket is pretty long too, at 82cm, while from cuff to cuff is 165cm: however, it didn't shrink as much as I expected. The length of the jacket didn't really shift at all. After the first 40 degree Celsius wash, the gi dropped down to 98cm long trousers and 160cm cuff to cuff. The second time, the trousers reduced to 96cm, while the jacket remained about the same. I would expect further shrinkage in future washes, going by my other two Padilla & Sons, or I may try throwing it in the tumble drier: I'll update the review if so.

A major attraction for me is that Padilla & Sons don't slather their gis with advertising. There are only two bits of embroidery, featuring the Padilla shark. On the trousers, there is a mercifully small patch (also on the jacket lapel), rather than the huge billboards common to many other gis. The design is slightly different to the single and gold weaves I own, as rather than a shark on the arm and then another encircled by text at the bottom of the jacket, the embroidery is on both arms.

The 'Padilla & Sons' logo has changed since the gold weave, with a new design which I think was first brought in for the lightweight weave. I prefer the earlier version, but it's easy enough to remove if I ever decide to do so. Another difference is a large inner label that sits just behind your neck, which I found slightly itchy. I would expect that to lessen over time, but if not, as with the embroidery I can just pull out the stitches. The information on the label is at least useful, as it gives washing instructions, which I haven't often seen on gis.

Ripstop trousers tend to become a stiff when wet, which you'll notice after you take them out of the wash. Nevertheless, I didn't experience any discomfort during training, which has also been the case with the other two sets of ripstop trousers I own (on the Predator and Gorilla ripstop, both of which feel a little softer than the Padilla & Sons trousers). I guess it depends how much you sweat. The drawstring is enormous, so you may find you need to cut that to a more convenient length. I often worry about ripstop tearing, as I'm still not that used to wearing it, but the Padilla & Sons trousers have held up fine so far. That includes two classes on passing the guard, meaning the material by the knees was getting scrunched up and yanked for about three hours.

If you're looking for a plain, well-made gi for a fair price, then Padilla & Sons are tough to beat. This gi is ideal for people who cross-train in judo, or who don't mind a looser fit, but you might be less keen if you're used to your gis clinging tightly to your body. Available to buy direct from the Padilla & Sons website, here, for $100.

17/11/2011 - Teaching (Maintaining Closed Guard)

Teaching #028
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/11/2011

Last time, I think I tried to cram in way too much, so when I come to do the first and second cycle of my lesson plan again (in case you didn't realise, I'm on the second cycle at the moment), I'll split that out. So, tonight's lesson will probably end up being part of a third or even fourth cycle.

Before I got into the meat, I wanted to quickly emphasise a simple tip that is worth keeping in mind. When you're in closed guard, you don't have to put your hips on the floor. Try raising them up instead and scooting in closer to your opponent. Previously, the space was in front of them, and therefore potentially could help them open up your legs and pass. Now, it's behind them, which potentially helps your ability to create angles and lessens the pressure on your legs. There's good coverage of that on Andreh Anderson's excellent closed guard DVD.

The main topic I wanted to cover was again breaking posture and grips, but this time how that can effectively become a guard in itself. What I call either the armwrap or overhook guard has a whole bunch of submissions and sweeps, but I just wanted to show how to get there for the moment.

They will probably be grabbing your gi somewhere between your chest and stomach. Grab their sleeve with one hand, then reach your other hand underneath to hold your own wrist, making a figure-four. Wrench up with your figure-four to break their grip (you could also try raising your hips then dropping them as you wrench to increase the leverage, depending where they're holding you). Bring your knees to your chest and pull their sleeve behind your head.

At the same time, swim around their arm with your other hand, so that you end up overhooking that arm. With the overhooking hand, reach through and grasp their opposite collar (if you can't reach it, grab what you can, but for setting up submissions, much better to have the far collar). Keep the elbow of your overhooking arm locked to your body, so they can't free their arm. This is a good controlling position, where you have a number of attacks: omoplata, armbar, triangle, chokes etc.

There are also sweeps and at least one back take from here, which I'll probably show in a couple of weeks time. There are also various ways of manipulating their arm depending on how you break the grip. The overhook is what I would call the 'inside' grip break, because the hand grabbing the sleeve is 'inside'. You can also use what you might call an 'outside' figure 4 grip, because this time your sleeve grabbing hand is on the outside of their arm.

So, for that outside figure four, grab their sleeve on the outside. Wrap your other hand underneath from the inside, sliding their hand under to grab your sleeve grab wrist, which secures a figure four. This time, after you thrust upwards to break the grip, you aren't going to pull their arm behind your head. Instead, switch your bottom hand to their sleeve and yank it across your body. Your other hand can go to their elbow, or if you prefer you could move into some other technique. For example, you might bring your knees in and wrap over their back to trap the arm, then go for a flower sweep. Play around with it.

I thought those were fairly simple, so instead of the usual four minutes each followed by three minutes of progressive resistance, I had everyone drill each option for two minutes each, then two minutes of progressive resistance. Once we had covered both, I did a step up from progressive resistance, where the rules were the person on the bottom was only looking for that grip break and to break posture, while the person on top only wanted to stand up. My intention was that it would both help test the techniques against more resistance, and also give the person on top a chance to work their posture in guard without having to worry about sweeps and submissions. I'm not sure how well it worked, so as ever, feel free to leave me feedback. :)

Another way of using the arms is to overwrap your partner with both of them, which Saulo simply calls the closed guard overwrap in Jiu Jitsu University (p103, if you're interested). It is relatively simple: you just circle one hand under theirs, then sit up. At the same time, shoot that arm through, while also bringing your other arm around their head. Link your arms and drop back down. Saulo uses this to initiate a back take, which we'll cover later. For now, just step one foot the mat and shrimp to that side (being careful to still keep your knee tight to their body and the other foot controlling their hip: if either of those are too loose, your partner may simply push your leg down and pass).

You can use your legs in a similar way. Instead of wrapping around their upper back with your arms, walk your feet up their back, then re-cross your ankles. This puts you in what is called high guard, which again has various attacks associated with it. Again, there are dangers with that. A training partner of mine at RGA Bucks, Howard, used to immediately stand up and drive his knee into my tailbone whenever I went to high guard. So, watch out for that guard break, as the high guard can make you vulnerable.

Again, I split those into two minutes without resistance and two minutes with, before moving on to a few rounds of specific sparring from guard. I'm not sure how helpful the last three grips were, so may look to mix and match when I cycle round to this part of the curriculum next time. Still experimenting, so I may well split out the first cycle into the second in future.

15/11/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Half Guard Back Take)

Class #431
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Donal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 15/11/2011

I finally got round to listening to Aesopian's excellent interview on new BJJ podcast, The Flow recently. If for some reason you don't know who Aesopian is, he is basically the Godfather of BJJ Blogging. I'm not sure if he was actually the first person to start typing systematically about BJJ training, but he was the first to do it really, really well. Without any doubt, Aesopian's blog was a big factor in inspiring my own.

Tonight, Donal shared an option for taking the back from half guard. They've flattened you out on your back, so you're exactly where you don't want to be. Start by swimming the arm you have by their head under their neck, circling your hand around. You can then brace your forearm into their throat, to prevent them driving their weight through their shoulder into your neck. Be aware that they may try to knock your arm sideways across your throat, so they can go for an arm triangle

You now want to get on your side. Kick your leg forwards to swing your body up. You can either have your knee by your elbow, to try and maintain that space, or you can stick your knee on their hip. As you pop up onto your side, slide in and sink right down, so that your ear is by their belly button. Switch your arm to grip around their back. Also turn your knee outwards to give yourself base. From there, go to their back.

If they overhook, clamp their arm in place, then yank it forwards (I think this is off Caio Terra's half guard DVD). Switch the sleeve of their arm to your other hand and push it to the mat. That means not only have you trapped their arm, you've also got additional base and you've created lots of space to being your ascent to the back.

In sparring, Donal as usual started off with specific sparring, splitting the class into groups of 1-2-3. I stayed on top, as my neck is still playing up: it becomes a problem if I get squished on the bottom, but I can avoid using it when I'm on top of mount, half guard, side control etc. However, it does limit me in half-guard, as I rely quite a lot on my head to maintain control. I like to shove it next to their head, then use that combined with shoulder pressure to pass. It is also handy for base, if they start trying to roll you over.

As I couldn't use my head, I instead had to rely on pressure from my hips and good grips with my arms. When grabbing under their head, I brought my hand all the way through and also gripped tightly onto their shoulder (or their armpit, if I could reach it). I also tried turning towards their legs, clamping my elbow to the far side and attempting to maximise hip pressure. Still, I definitely didn't feel anywhere near as secure as I normally do, so was getting rolled, particularly by the bigger guys.

In free sparring, I stuck with either smaller or controlled people, as I didn't want to mess up my neck again (with has happened twice in the last month or two, both times because I kept turtling against white belts who were staying active on top). This time, I stayed either in open guard, or I worked to get on top of either half guard, mount or side control. If I could get to a dominant position, I tried let them into the game a bit, as it isn't very helpful to just lie there.

Underneath was interesting, as on numerous occasions I had to stop myself rolling into the running escape or turtling. That means I was instead forced to stay on my back and use my knees and arms, trying to create a frame to then recover guard. If you can get your skeletal structure into the right alignment (e.g., framing your forearms or knees into their hips), that can be a useful start to guard recovery. Of course, much easier when people aren't going nuts, or if they're much less experienced than you.

A few people were going for footlocks too, which is unusual. Good practice for my defence on that front, which at the moment just consists of grabbing their gi and pulling them close to me, then driving forwards and stepping through. There is a free internal Gracie Barra Bristol submission only comp coming up on 3rd December (open to any Gracie Barra students, I think), so perhaps people are looking to improve their straight footlocks in preparation for that.

10/11/2011 - Teaching (Escaping Mount)

Teaching #027
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/11/2011

This is right back into my comfort zone, as tonight, I'll be showing my favourite escape from mount, the foot drag. It is also quite simple, which is another reason I like it. You're in mount, your elbows in a good place for defence, down by their knees. For this escape to work, you need to have one of your legs out flat. You also need to get on your side (but watch out for technical mount): a slight bridging motion will help.

Next, wedge an elbow underneath their knee. You can either make a frame against their hips, or if you're concerned about your neck, adjust so that you can still pry your elbow under their knee while protecting your collar with your hands. Use a combination of your elbow and shrimping to shove their knee backwards, on your flat leg side.

Bring your other foot over both your flat leg and the leg they have next to it. That means you can use the heel of that foot to drag their leg over your flat leg. As soon as you get it over, lock half guard and shrimp towards their trapped leg. In half guard, you want to get onto your side as quickly as possible: if you stay flat on your back, you've already done their work for them, as they will want to flatten you out in order to pass half guard. If you're comfortable in half guard, you could stay there and work your attacks.

Alternatively, keep shrimping in the other direction, in order to free your other leg, just like you would with an elbow escape. It's also worth noting that some people, like Roy Dean, recommend just pinching your knees rather than fully triangling your legs around theirs, so that's worth trying too. To help recover full guard, you can also bring your arm across to their opposite shoulder, impeding their movement while aiding yours. Emily Kwok has a handy tip too: if their foot is tucked making it hard to drag, shove it out with your knee.

A very similar escape, which I don't use much, is the foot lift. Dean shows these two escapes in sequence on his awesome Blue Belt Requirements. The foot lift is for when they have some space underneath their in-step. People won't often do that, in my experience, but if they do, this time just step over your flat leg. Use your foot to hook underneath their instep and lift it over, then as before lock up half guard (your legs are already in position), or shrimp to recover full guard.

Make sure that you pay particular attention to shoving on their knee with this variation, as it is easier for them to slip free (though if that happens, you can always switch to the foot drag). With both escapes, it is important to get the knee of their trapped leg back behind your legs. If they still have their knee past your legs, it makes it much easier for them to move straight into a half guard pass, by driving their knee to the mat and sliding through.

09/11/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Guillotine Defence)

Class #430
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 09/11/2011

I'm not a fan of flashy gis: as I've said repeatedly over the years (summarised here), I like a gi that is plain, white and functional. However, I AM a fan of Scramble (awesome hoodies, for a start), so for those of you who do like a bit more bling in your gi, check out Seymour's review of Scramble's first entry into the gi market, here. It is unfortunately pre-order and limited release, but I think that is just until the gi side of Scramble becomes financially viable. The pre-order opens at 11:11 on the 11th November, either through the Scramble website for the UK, or Budovideos in the US, here (ignore what it says about being out of stock, the pre-order hasn't started yet).

I was a little bit wary of the lesson tonight, as Geeza was teaching guillotine defence. I haven't trained much over the last few weeks since injuring my neck and wrist, so this would be a test of how much I've recovered. I was hoping that three weeks was long enough.

Geeza began with a simple early defence. He described it as imagining there was a yellow rectangle drawn on your torso, with the corners made up of your hips and nipples. If you imagine the same thing on your partner, with a red line drawn down the middle of each, you want to keep those lines in the same place. In other words, don't let them get an angle to sit up and loop an arm over. So, cage their hips with your knees and elbows, keep moving to stay square on if they try to hip out, block their attempts to sit up with your hands, etc.

A 'middle' defence is to raise your head up if they do get an arm over, but haven't yet locked their hands. That should give you the space to work your head free. If you're a bit later and they lock their hands, they will also most likely have opened their guard. That means you can push down on their knee and hop over to side control, so that your head is now on their far side.

Reach underneath their head and drive your shoulder into their neck. Turn your body towards their legs, then keep increasing the shoulder pressure. This should either make them tap or let go, as the pressure immediately drops if they release their grip on your head.

There is a similar principle at work for the late defence, which is the one I'm familiar with. This time, the guillotine is fully locked on and they've also managed to close their guard. You're in trouble. With your same side hand, grab their wrist and free up some breathing room. Your other arm will loop under their head, so you can again drive your shoulder into their neck.

Come right up on your legs to increase that pressure, so your bum is now in the air. Continue driving forward, until the pressure either makes them tap or release their grip. You should then be able to pop your head free.

Sparring started off with a white belt I haven't rolled with before. He was mainly looking to get advice, so we had a pretty relaxed roll, where I went from positions he wanted to work on. I always relish the chance to get in more practice at teaching, so that was cool.

The next white belt was more active: normally I can just flop back straight into spider guard, but he immediately started running around to side control before I had the chance. As normally happens with more intense rolls, I go hyper-defensive, as I try not to try and match their pace when that happens (mainly because my fitness sucks and I'm lazy). That meant a lot of running escape posture, combined with going to turtle.

I'm still failing to use the running escape properly, as I'm not good at moving from the survival position back into guard. Normally I'll just end up back under side control. I was able to hook the leg once or twice for half guard, but almost always it was a crappy quarter guard, so they got their leg free again. I did finally catch it later on and recover full guard, then looked to work on breaking posture and get the overhook from there.

Going to turtle is quite fun, though I don't know a lot of things to do from there. My go-to is either recover guard by sitting through, or try and hook an arm and roll them. I'd be tempted to check out some of the more esoteric stuff, like Telles stuff, but that's probably a bit beyond me right now. Also, going to turtle isn't something I want to get too comfortable with, as I'd rather get better at quickly getting back to guard from there.

Unfortunately for my neck, lots of turtling under a more aggressive white belt is exactly how I injured it a few weeks ago. This time, I didn't make the mistake of driving their whole weight through my neck while trying that arm-grab reversal, but it still felt sore after sparring. It felt the same way last time, so I'm a bit worried it will stiffen right back up tomorrow morning. We'll see: if it does, lesson learned, and I'll leave it even longer before trying full sparring again. It would also probably indicate I should be less eager to turtle up. ;)

08/11/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Passing Open Guard)

Class #429
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Donal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 08/11/2011

If there is anybody reading this who wants to join Fitocracy (basically, a way to track your fitness in a sort of RPG style), I set up a BJJ blogger group on there a while ago. Click here for your invite. My intention was to limit that to other BJJ bloggers, but obviously you can always start a blog if you haven't already. ;)

My wrist and neck are still annoying me, which is why I'm still just turning up to Tuesdays and teaching my class on Thursdays. Next week I might try upping it to three times a week again, but we'll see how the injuries feel by then. As usual when I have bits that don't work, I'm trying to view it as an opportunity to focus on other parts of my game, like how I use my legs.

I got to test that out shortly after arriving, as Ben asked for a roll before class. Like last time, I was ok with that as long as we just used our legs. That meant more practice for me on wriggling to legs to block their attempts to pass, staying hooked behind the knee and/or pressing into the hip, occasionally seeing if I could knock Ben over by hooking behind and pushing on the knee. I also looked to get into the Donal sweep position a few times, but that's difficult without having a hand free to grab something.

The focus of class tonight was again passing the open guard. Donal had some more general principles to work through, emphasising some of the details he mentioned previously. To start off, he went through a basic pass, beginning with those grips inside the knees, keeping your forearms in contact with their lower leg. You also have one leg forward. That leg is the one you're going to swing backwards, while simultaneously shoving their legs to the side and back. From there, swing the leg back through diagonally to the other side, going to knee on belly.

I was having some trouble with that, as like I've mentioned before, open guard passing is without any doubt the crappest part of my game. Donal quickly diagnosed the problem, which is that I'm keeping my non-swinging leg too close. Instead, I should be stepping that other leg out wider, to provide me with base as I swing the first leg through. If I don't create that base, then it is difficult to balance.

Donal then delved more into the principle of keeping your forearms and elbows by their lower leg. You need to use that to keep their feet off your hips, prying them free with the elbows. Also, crouch low, as if you were a gorilla with your fists between your legs. If they try to swivel their leg over your arm for the spider guard grip, that's a good moment to bring your elbow up and move your body around, shoving their knees to the floor and enacting your pass.

Sparring for me was the same as at the start of class, just using my legs (though Donal also brought that in as a drill later). It was interesting working through the spider grips, as I found at first I could generally push off a hip, shoulder, chest etc to get the angle for reinserting the grip. That immediately got tougher after Donal gave my training partner a few tips: basically, if they could control my hips, then I could no longer get the angle for my spider guard recovery. By controlling the knees and using their elbows, eventually trapping one or both of my knees to the mat, they in turn had control of the hips. Great stuff.

Donal also had lots of awesome tips when we did some light sparring, which I look forward to putting into use when my wrist recovers. I prefer a tight pressure game, despite being small, which is exactly what Donal helped me improve. Now I just need to remember to do it once my wrist is working, rather than playing from the bottom all the time. ;)

Gi Review - Black Eagle 'Basico'

Short Review: Just like the Predator, this gi is both light and comfortable (though not quite as light as the Predator, as the trousers are cotton rather than ripstop). It is also similarly treated to prevent shrinkage, which again means the white is especially bright. The main point of difference is the almost total lack of embroidery, apart from the two eagle logos on both shoulders. There are unfortunately still patches on the leg, which are a bit awkward to remove, though they are at least partially obscured when wearing the jacket. Available to buy here in the UK, for a reasonable £64.99. For US customers, it will presumably appear in the Black Eagle section of BudoVideos.

Full Review: One of Black Eagle's best features is that they listen to their customers. In the course of producing their BJJ gis, Black Eagle frequently has extended consultations with various figures in BJJ. For example, Meg Smitley provided plenty of input on their female cut gis. Black Eagle are also sponsoring fellow blogger, Liam Wandi, for his writing rather than competing (AFAIK). There is even a blogger-designed Black Eagle gi, in the form of the swish Raptor by gi reviewing champion, Meerkatsu.

Flashy gis have been popular for several years now. With the advent of brands like Shoyoroll, the gi has become a fashion item. I'm sure this was true in the years before I started BJJ as well, but the clever marketing strategy of Shoyoroll (tense pre-sales, limited edition runs, 'rebel' sloganeering, etc) has accelerated that perception. On BJJ forums, gi threads often run into multiple pages: everybody has their favourite.

Yet there are also those who don't want a fashion item. They simply desire a piece of reliable, practical equipment, without any bells or whistles (as I discussed in my article on the topic). For that market, Black Eagle have produced the 'Basico' plain gi. I've mentioned numerous times that my ideal gi design is basically the same as on the Black Eagle judogi: two small logos, nothing else.


I was hoping for something similar after I heard about the Basico. For many years, my favourite gi has been the Padilla & Sons gold weave. That was partly due to the price and the quality, but also the relative lack of embroidery and patches. I've been wanting to get something even plainer, but until now the only option was either a judogi or to go overseas, where American companies like Killer Bee offer a completely blank gi. Therefore I had high hopes for this new, plain option from Black Eagle.

As far as I'm aware, Black Eagle is the longest running UK BJJ brand (although like Tatami, you can now also buy Black Eagle in the US). The company was founded on the 1st June 2005 in Hampshire, starting as a general martial arts supplier before it made a major move into the BJJ market. Black Eagle dipped its toes into BJJ as a reseller for Atama and Kwon back in early 2006 (possibly earlier, as I'm just going off the Internet Archive) Eventually, the company would produce its own Black Eagle branded gi. A year or two after I started BJJ in November 2006, the Black Eagle standard issue gi became ubiquitous at the Roger Gracie Academy.

I was never fond of that design, which IIRC was launched in September 2007. The eagle logo was coloured by the Brazilian flag, which I thought made it look like a bird of prey wearing a t-shirt. I've also never liked large text written on a gi, which on that first offering was along the shoulders (a common practice, so once again, it's an entirely subjective matter of taste). The next incarnation, on the Mundial, shifted to a more stylish logo, but still plenty of text. That was followed by the popular Predator (which I reviewed last week), where for some reason the logo tilted, joined a few months ago by the blingy Raptor.

The Basico is a very similar gi to the Predator, being cut from the same pattern, except that it thankfully lacks the large wedges of text along the shoulders, next to the collar and across the jacket skirt. The eagle on each shoulder remains: I prefer the logo placement from the Black Eagle judogi, where they are on the arm and leg instead, but this works too. In a slightly unusual design choice (which looking again I now see is the same on the Predator), these eagles aren't arranged to face each other when you have your arms at your sides, as you might expect. Instead, they look in the same direction, which I found a little odd. However, that's not a flaw, just something I wasn't expecting. ;)

There are a few minor design shifts in the jacket, restricted as far as I can tell to the choice of patches on the lapel and inside the collar. Rather than the monochrome eagle logo used by the equivalent patches on the Predator, the Basico is a bit more colourful, taking the Brazilian flag as a template. The main distinction is that the jacket weave is also different: the Predator was a pearl weave, while the Basico uses a gold weave. The length from cuff to cuff was the same, at 153.5cm, staying there after a wash at 30 degrees Celsius. There was some slight shrinkage elsewhere though, as the jacket feels a bit tighter across the chest after washing.

If you're wondering how exactly all these gi weaves differ, in simple terms, there are three: single, double and gold, with ripstop being a recent fourth addition (for more on that, see my review of the Gorilla Fight Gear all-ripstop gi, here). Single is the thinnest and lightest, while double is much thicker, meaning that it is stronger but retains heat. Gold is a combination of the two. All other names are essentially used by companies to differentiate their gi, but there often isn't all that much specifically different. For some more discussion on that, check out Seymour's brilliant post on buying a gi, then scroll down to 'weave'. In Black Eagle's case, their use of 'pearl weave' refers to their usage of a softer, tougher yarn, getting the 'pearl' name from that shiny white resulting from the anti-shrinking techniques applied to the material.

Black Eagle has the uncommon feature that their gis not only come pre-shrunk, but they guarantee it won't shrink more than 1% or 2% further, as I discussed at length in my Predator review. Normally I would get an A2, but due to that lack of shrinkage, I decided that the Black Eagle size chart indicated an A1 would be more sensible. Prior to these two Black Eagle gis, I've never owned an A1, so I was interested to see if that would fit me better (as I'm a pretty small guy, at 5'7" and about 65kg). Thankfully, it did: the cut is apparently competition legal, but it is definitely tighter than I'm used to, which I like.

The trousers for the Basico are almost exactly the same as the Predator, with two exceptions. First, that they are regular cotton rather than ripstop. Secondly, at 95cm my A1 Basico trousers are 4.5cm longer than the A1 Predator, without any noticeable change after washing at 30 degrees. I would have preferred that there was a third exception, but that similarity extends to the two large patches on the upper legs (except that they say 'Black Eagle' rather than 'Predator'). As with the embroidery on the Predator, it is possible to remove them if you're willing to put in the time.

I used a pair of cuticle scissors to gradually chop my way through the threads. The scissors broke almost immediately, but I only needed a blade to slide underneath the stitching. You then have to pull out the loose stitches, along with the adhesive fluff on the back of the patch. If you aren't careful when removing, the sticky residue from the back of the patch will stick to the trousers, rather than coming off attached to the patch.

If that adhesive remains on the trousers, when you roll with somebody wearing a blue gi, it will pick it up (though the adhesive seems to go after a wash or two). The needle holes left behind aren't too noticeable on the Basico cotton trousers, but they can be clearly seen if you remove the patches on the much thinner Predator ripstop. I'll update the Predator review if those holes cause a rip (though that wouldn't be Black Eagle's fault: after all, they aren't expecting you to remove the patches ;p).

Available to buy here in the UK, for a reasonable £64.99 (presumably it will eventually appear on the Black Eagle section of BudoVideos, for US customers). The Predator is £79.99, for which you get lots more embroidery, ripstop trousers and a pearl weave rather than gold weave jacket. Either way, the Basico would be my choice, though hopefully in future they'll get rid of the trouser patches, perhaps also shorten them slightly.

03/11/2011 - Teaching (Attacking Mount)

Teaching #026
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/11/2011

Last week, I talked about maintaining mount using the s-mount and the technical mount. Tonight I wanted to show a few basic attacks from those two positions, starting with s-mount. The common option there is to go for an armbar, which is what I most associate with s-mount.

To remind you how to get to s-mount, shift up into high mount, knees into their armpits. If they're using a standard defence, with their arms crossed to protect their neck, your knees should have shoved their arms up. That leaves you space to slide a knee up to their head, turning to face their other arm, then curl the other leg around their armpit, so your foot is pointing to their head. Once you're in s-mount, the arm is often right there for the taking, as you've squashed their arms up onto their chest in the process of getting there. Slide your arm past their bicep, then secure that in place by gripping your own gi.

Lean forward to increase the pressure on their chest, which also makes it easier to bring your leg over their head. Alternatively, you can post your free hand by the far side of their head, using that for base to swing your leg round instead. Either way, at this point, there are two schools of thought. The first is that you should bring your heels in close to either side of their shoulder, squeezing your knees. The second suggests crossing your feet instead. Some people argue that crossing your feet makes it easier for the person underneath to fling your legs off, as well as reducing your downwards pressure. Others feel that crossing your feet helps to lock the shoulder in place. Experiment with both. When you drop back for the armbar, make sure you've slid down their arm close to their shoulder and their thumb is pointing up.

Before you can drop back for the armbar, they will probably lock their arms together to stop you. For the purposes of this technique, we'll assume they're grabbing the bicep of their free arm. There is a handy drill to work the grip break for this, which involves switching from side to side. Start by grabbing the outside of their far arm. Post your other arm behind you for base, or if you prefer, keep it hooked between their arms (which is perhaps better for control). Use that to switch to a crouch above them, then turn and adjust into s-mount on the other side.

If for some reason you can't land the armbar, or you want to try a different attack, then Aesopian (still haven't filled in his gi survey? Go here!) has a nifty method (he has more cool stuff from s-mount on there, if you're interested in playing more with the position) of switching to a triangle instead. You want the armbar, but once again they're using that bicep grab to block you. This time, you've going to shove the wrist of their free arm down, until you can bring your leg over the top. Push it through so that your calf goes to their neck. Lean forward and post your free arm on the far side of the mat, also using your near side leg for base. From there, you should now be able to triangle your legs, then bring your torso back to the centre for the mounted triangle (or roll to guard to finish it, if your prefer).

Another simple grip break I tend to use is to lean back towards their head, while you're still holding their locked arms. Draw a semi-circle with your body from there, swinging towards their legs. Depending on how they're gripping, that may pull the arm free: this one is probably best for when they're just clasping their hands together. However, keep in mind that there are many different grips they can use (clasping hands, grabbing their bicep, gripping their sleeve, holding under your knee etc), which an equally large number of grip breaks. So, don't rush when you're in that armbar position: maintain control, take your time and work out how best to dislodge their arm.

In technical mount, I like to go for a choke: there are several choke options from mount. For most of them, you need to get a hand under their top arm to grasp their nearest collar, then open it up. Your other hand curls around their neck, whereupon you can feed the collar for a tight grip.

For this particular choke, your first hand is now going to push through past the crook of their elbow, catching their arm in the process. Bring your hand behind their head, then pull your collar gripping hand back towards you, snaking around their neck. This should result in a tight choke: your first hand is mainly blocking their arm, rather than playing a major role in the choke.

Also note that it is tempting to try and use that grip on their arm to drop back for an armbar. It's a possibility, but be careful, as it is all too easy to leave sufficient space that they follow you round, ending up in your guard instead of at the receiving end of a submission. If you do want the armbar, make sure you post an arm by their head to stop them turning. Gradually bring your leg over their head, then slide down their arm and fall back towards their legs.

01/11/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Open Guard Pass)

Class #428
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Donal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 01/11/2011

The ADCC was only held recently, but on the 5th November, there is another big nogi event on the way: the No Gi Worlds. It doesn't tend to get as high level competitors as you find in the ADCC, but then again, it hasn't been around as long, so perhaps more of the elite will show up this time. If you want to check out some grappling action along with the fireworks outside your window, then there is a live stream from BudoVideos again, costing $10. You can buy access here.

I left my parents house at around 12:00, lugging my backpack along with me, walking the mile and a half to the station. Another hour into London, where again I had to run to make sure I didn't miss my megabus to Bristol. That was followed by a few more miles walking from the centre of town. As I pass Gracie Barra Bristol on my way home anyway and I was in time for class with a gi in my bag, I thought I might as well train.

Good thing too, as Donal was covering open guard passes, which is definitely my weakest area. Specifically, he was looking at passing spider guard, when they have a lasso on your arm. Donal's approach was to get them into a typical open guard first, then pass that: in other words, he gave us a general principle which can be applied to a number of different open guards, so handy stuff. For spider guard, you first want to grab the hand they're using to hold your sleeve (on the lassoed side), then pull it towards you. You should now be able to circle your trapped hand behind their leg to free it.

That puts you back into a more typical open guard. To attack, they normally need an angle, so put them flat on their back. Get a good grip on their gi trousers: either grab inside theiAIn free sparring, I was ok to go with controlled, smaller people, finishing off by having a fun roll with Mike. As he was keeping things light, I was able to play around with half guard control using just the one arm, gripping under the head and tightly grasping the material by the opposite shoulder. From there, I lifted my legs up to then cut the trapped leg through. At some point I end up on his back (I think I was losing the half guard, then tried to snatch that unusual 'half-back' type thing Dean Lister did at the ADCC), which unusually for me ended up with a body triangle.

I don't normally like to use that, as first of all my legs are short. Secondly, it makes me feel vulnerable, especially as there is a nasty footlock they can do to you if you're not careful. Thirdly, though less importantly for me personally, IIRC it doesn't net you any points in competition, as you need to have both hooks in. Still, worth trying out, especially as I'll probably end up teaching it during the back maintenance lesson in a month or two.