Website Review - RioJiuJitsuGuide.com

Short Review: If you're planning to travel to Rio de Janeiro and need help choosing where to train, then the subscriber-only Guidebook section on RioJiuJitsuGuide.com is packed with information intended to aid your decision. There are also free sites out there offering a comparable service, although none are yet as extensive. The question is whether the difference between those free sites and RioJiuJitsuGuide's paid alternative can justify $58.

Full Review: Though there are numerous arguments about the history of Brazilian jiu jitsu, most people would agree that the majority of its early development took place in Rio de Janeiro. This is where Carlos Gracie and his younger brothers founded the Academia Gracie. It is where Carlson and Rolls famously taught in the same building. Gracie Barra began its global journey from here, as did Gracie Humaita. Nova Uniao, combining lineages from both Carlson and Oswaldo Fadda, also began in Rio. For many years, the Mundials were held there too, at the Tijuca Tennis Club.

You could perhaps argue that the centre of BJJ has shifted to the United States, more specifically California: that is where the major championships are now held and where many of the top schools hold court. However, most people you ask would probably still say that Rio is the beating heart of jiu jitsu, with a high concentration of top level schools, an incredible number of advanced black belts all training on the same mats and a rich BJJ history.

So, a trip to Rio is a dream for the many practitioners of BJJ who live thousands of miles away. Over the last few years, with the rapid growth of BJJ, this has become an increasingly well-resourced possibility. Connection Rio is a familiar name within BJJ circles: I myself know quite a few people who have stayed with Dennis Asche and speak highly of the service, such as my regular training partner Dónal here in Bristol. There are now loads of threads, blogs, articles, podcasts and videos discussing training in Rio.

Going to Brazil wasn't something I'd considered in much detail up until now, as I've always been a lot more interested in training in North America rather than South (hence my trip to Texas next month, which will hopefully be the first of many training holidays to the US). As I've more recently begun to pay more attention to the possibility of training in Brazil, it was timely that Aaron Sundquist contacted me about reviewing his site, RioJiuJitsuGuide.com.

RioJiuJitsuGuide.com is intended to help the prospective jiu jitsu traveller to Rio choose the right academy to visit, arming them with directions, prices and even pictures of the entrance. In an interview about the RioJiuJitsuGuide.com, Sundquist proudly told the Fightworks Podcast that his site "was created to fill a massive information gap." That isn't quite true anymore, as a little while before that interview was published, Hywel Teague launched TrainBJJinRio.com, which has much the same goals (interesting, Teague also made the same claim about being the first and only Rio academy guide, here). I will therefore be making several comparisons in the course of this review.

Nevertheless, it is true that before the emergence of these two sites, detailed and accurate information about the available academies in Rio was not easy to find. Both sites offer that information in two forms: free or paid. TrainBJJinRio is currently promising to release The Rio Jiu Jitsu Guide, a hard-copy book. Sundquist's separate site of the same name has an online guidebook, which costs $58 for six months of access. The free material on TrainBJJinRio replicates the paid material on RioJiuJitsuGuide to a certain extent, though at present the number of academies discussed on RioJiuJItsuGuide is much higher.

If you haven't subscribed, you'll know you've hit upon a paid section of RioJiuJitsuGuide.com when it tells you "sorry brother" (which incidentally would be more effective as something gender neutral, like "sorry friend". Women want to learn about training in Rio too, after all). Outside that barrier there are plenty of free resources. RioJiuJitsuGuide.com has many helpful articles on various aspects of training in Rio: the piece on transport looks particularly handy. There are also articles that draw upon the considerable store of data gathered by RioJiuJitsuGuide, such as a discussion of the average cost of training.

RioJiuJitsuGuide currently covers twenty-three academies in Rio. The selling point of the paid Guidebook section is the amount of data Sundquist has collected for each of those twenty-three academies. In the most significant free resource on the site, the 'Rio Jiu Jitsu Ranking' (an 18 page pdf you'll receive if you sign up to the email list), Sundquist makes the following statement:

The Ranking doesn’t try to measure subjective perceptions. It doesn’t care if the instructor is friendly or if the view from the academy is nice. The ranking also doesn’t measure personal preferences. It can’t explain your friend’s allegiance to one academy over another.

But for the first time, there is an objective answer to a very simple question: What are the best Jiu-Jitsu academies in Rio de Janeiro?

For people who want to train in Rio de Janeiro, the Ranking is the best starting point for deciding where to train. For the academies in Rio, it’s a report card on where they stand in relation to the competition. And for others in the Jiu-Jitsu community, the Ranking is a snapshot of the status of Jiu-Jitsu in Rio de Janeiro in 2012.

The entries in the Guidebook also follow that data-driven perspective. I am not entirely convinced that decisions about where to train are based upon criteria quite that objective. Speaking personally, if I was making a decision about where to train, I would be far more interested in less quantifiable elements like atmosphere, personality (so in my case, I do care if the instructor is friendly) and teaching ability. However, it is reasonable to suggest that a good starting point is to provide an analysis of aspects which CAN be easily measured, like cost, mat space and location.

RioJiuJitsuGuide.com divides up that data into four groups: price, convenience, facilities and competitive performance. This is preceded by a general information section, which includes details on the neighbourhood, address, affiliate reach and whether or not the academy has a website. Usefully, it also tells you the focus of the gym (e.g., MMA and/or jiu jitsu), if it is primarily gi or nogi and perhaps most important, if it accepts foreign students. There are several colour photographs displaying the inside of the academy as well, followed by the names and ranks of the instructors.

Getting into the main data groups, price is a fairly straightforward criteria. For this to be useful, it has to be accurate. Prices change, so Sundquist will need to regularly check the prices of all the academies included on his site. This is one area in which a website can be superior to a hard-copy guidebook, because a website can immediately be updated to reflect the current situation. A hard-copy inevitably becomes dated, which is why there are so many editions of Rough Guide and Lonely Planet.

It is of slight concern that the two websites disagree about how much it costs to train at a couple of the gyms. For example, when I was researching this review a couple of days ago, TrainBJJinRio stated it was R$265 per month to train at Gordo Jiu Jitsu, while JiuJitsuGuide had the price at a considerably more hefty R$330. A smaller gap crops up when RioJiuJitsuGuide stated that de la Riva's academy was R$165 per month, whereas TrainBJJinRio claimed it was R$180. These discrepancies are exceptions rather than the rule, but nevertheless it indicates something has gone awry somewhere in one or both of the sites.

Helpfully the price section on RioJiuJitsuGuide also details whether there is an enrolment fee, if prices for locals and foreigners are different, then finally if it is possible to pay by credit card. Unfortunately, sometimes the answer is simply 'unknown', which is something that needs to be rectified. I would expect to get clarification if I was paying for the information, though I should also note that those unknowns are rare. It would also be useful to have a day and week rate as well, for travellers who are in Rio for a shorter period.

Convenience is an interesting choice for a guide based on hard data. The location of an academy may not be the best indicator of convenience as it depends entirely on where you happen to be staying. It is more useful to know that the academy has good transport connections and numerous sessions each day, and indeed this information is included in RioJiuJitsuGuide's set of criteria. There are entries for the distance from the nearest main northbound and southbound bus stops, along with the nearest metro stop and BikeRio station. In addition, each profile features a map and a streetview of the academy, with the entrance helpfully highlighted.

It looks like the map and academy entrance pictures comes directly from Google Streetview and is then uploaded directly to RioJiuJitsuGuide. So if you click on it, that simply opens up a larger picture. This is helpful to a degree, but a dynamic embedded map would be more useful, as you could then zoom in and out as well as plan directions from wherever it is you're staying. In fairness, there is an embedded map on the main ranking page, just not on the individual profiles.

The best part of the facilities section is that it clearly states how much space there is for rolling, measured by the number of sparring partners that can train at the same time. You're also told essential information such as if there are toilets and showers, as well as if the academy has bothered to provide facilities for female students. If you're interested, there are five that do not, with a further two who think women deserve less space than the men. Unusually, there is also one academy that apparently has no changing facilities at all.

I was not too sure about the competitive performance section, as it is based on an annual average of the last three years of affiliate placements. A school like Gracie Barra scores highly, but clubs which lack numerous affiliates do not. It would seem to make much more sense to list what medals students from that specific school had achieved, and ideally whether or not they were still training there. If a school has twenty medals but they're all from students who have since left or train at other affiliates, that does not tell me much about the current level (though it does tell me that there has been decent instruction at that school at some point).

Of course, it is not easy to get the information about how well each individual school does in competition, because many schools simply enter under the generic team name at big tournaments. It is still of some use to have information about how successful the team is in general, but when considering a specific school, it might be even more helpful to have more local competition results, where it becomes more likely that a school enters under its own name rather than that of the organisation. This is acknowledged in the rankings, so hopefully there will be a method of obtaining more specific and therefore more useful information in the future.

I would have thought that some of the keys to making the Guidebook worth the money is making sure the information stays up to date, expanding the number of academies and also extending the profiles themselves. At present, each profile is mostly just a list of facts and figures. Cold data is something I like: I use spreadsheets for almost everything. However, when reading about a jiu jitsu academy, I don't just want to know objective facts. I also want subjective opinions about the training. I want historical details on the instructor and their team. I want personal anecdotes of training there.

In that light, the most significant difference that struck me between the academy profiles on TrainBJJinRio and RioJiuJitsuGuide.com – aside from that fact that RioJiuJitsuGuide has a lot more of them - is that the former also includes some of those intangible details. For example, when describing the Escola de Jiu Jitsu (which doesn't appear to be in the RioJiuJitsuGuide list), TrainBJJinRio states that the rolling is technical, a reflection of Ze Beleza's status as a 'teacher's teacher' who would benefit any aspiring BJJ instructor. After reading that, I would probably look to head to Ze Beleza's school before any of the others, because TrainBJJinRio's description immediately appeals to me, even if I didn't know anything else about the school.

BJJ has become an international sport. Even though it is still very much a niche activity – most people will still look at you blankly if you say "Brazilian jiu jitsu" or start making 'karate chop' motions – the number of interested people has grown exponentially. That also means there is money to be made even in the incidental elements of training.

RioJiuJitsuGuide is one of the first sites to try and capitalise on jiu jitsu tourism in Brazil: if you are going to Rio and want to train at lots of different academies, then at present RioJiuJitsuGuide.com is the most extensive resource available for finding where they are and whether or not they meet your needs. However, there are free resources catering to that same market, so RioJiuJitsuGuide.com will need to keep expanding and updating in order to secure its position.

25/10/2012 - Teaching (Bullfighter Pass)

Teaching #077
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 25/10/2012

This abductor strain is still causing issues: my inability to train properly is getting a bit aggravating, but it does at least give me more time to write. While I was away in Portugal, there was some big news in BJJ: the inaugural Metamoris Pro. Unfortunately I was on a plane during the live feed, but I was able to catch the replay upon returning a couple of days ago. It made for entertaining viewing, though there were three major problems: no female matches, the 20 minute time limit and the constant marketing from Ryron and Rener. I'm hoping there will be women in the next event, especially as there are plenty of match-ups that would draw interest, like Kyra Gracie vs Ronda Rousey and Gabi Garcia vs Cris Cyborg.

The 20 minute time limit was annoying: without it, I am certain the Ryron vs Galvao match in particular would have ended very differently. If you think no time limits can't work, then you possibly aren't aware of US Grappling, who have been proving since 2008 that no time limits sub only is absolutely viable. Two of the co-founders have presented their views on the topic: Andrew Smith spoke recently about the possibilities of no times limits for a Metamoris-type event, while Chrissy Linzy made a more general comment on the history of US Grappling's sub only tournaments.

Ryron and Rener's marketing ruffled a lot of feathers, particularly as Ryron made an ill-advised statement that IBJJF medals were worthless. As he made that comment not long after getting a draw with somebody who has lots of IBJJF medals, it made it look like Ryron saw lying underneath Galvao for twenty minutes as somehow indicative of a devastating victory for Gracie Academy philosophy over the rest of the BJJ world. Unsurprisingly this was taken as an insult and did not go down well: there have been numerous responses to the behaviour of the Gracie Academy representatives at Metamoris, such as here, here and here.

In the course of their Metamoris coverage, the Fightworks Podcast recently featured Chris Kavanagh, a doctoral student at Oxford University who is running a study on grading rituals in BJJ. I've known him as CKava for a while now, meaning I was already aware of the survey due to a few emails he sent me a few months before. So, very cool to see it up and running: to fill in the survey, go to the aptly named BJJSurveys.com.

Finally, if you're in the US, check out the Women's Grappling Camp taking place from the 7th-9th December in San Francisco. You'll be training with one of the best female competitors of all time, Leticia Ribeiro: the main details are all here, on the Facebook page. I got an email from one of the organisers asking if I'd be willing to mention it on my site: as it's directed towards promoting women grapplers, I am of course happy to stick up the link. :)
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Getting back to the class tonight, 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've taught a before (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. Still, I think next time I'll leave it out, because given the fact I have to include the Gracie Barra warm-up as well, that drill probably takes up time which could be better spent sparring.

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.

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.

Portugal: 14th - 21st October 2012

Last year's trip to Malta, with its broad range of historical attractions, was a holiday geared towards my interests. This year, we decided on something more to my friend's holiday priorities: plenty of sunshine and a good beach. Her choice was Olhos de Agua in Portugal, on the resort-rammed Algarve. October is a little out of season, so fortunately it was less crowded, if still busy.

The Hotel Agua Marinha is about a fifteen minute walk from the sandy pleasures of Olhos de Agua, but that also means it is considerably cheaper than staying right by the beach: our package deal worked out at about £12 a night. It is only a two star hotel, but the staff are friendly, the rooms are clean and the service is good.

If you're a beach fiend like my friend, then I can recommend Olhos de Agua. The sand is excellent, there are plenty of facilities nearby and you can also opt for shade if you'd like, due to the many rock formations scattered around the shore. There are cliffs surrounding the beach too, along with extensive clumps of stone that appear before noon when the tide is still out. Fans of rockpools should be well pleased, but be careful as you could get stuck once the tide comes back in.

In terms of food, near our hotel (which is technically in Torre de Medronheira rather than Olhos de Agua itself) I would suggest eating at Adega do Zé round the corner. Their four course set menus (starter, main, dessert and coffee, though the portions are not huge) are very affordable at €7.50. By the beach, my favourite was Restaurante Tamarillo: you can get a reasonably sized margherita pizza for €5.50, perfect to share between two.

At the other end of the scale, avoid the chewy steaks at Restaurante Arraiolos, which again is close to the Agua Marinha. You'll also need to be aware that the bread and olives some eateries provide at the start of a meal are not free, so unless you make a point of declining them they will appear on your bill.

Most of the week was spent on the beach either reading or building sand castles. Still, there were two exceptions, when we jumped on the bus to two of the nearby cities. The main bus company appears to be Eva, with trips costing about €5 each way: there is apparently some kind of tourist pass, if you're planning on a lot of journeys. We started off with Albufeira, which doesn't have a huge amount going on besides more beaches, hotels and food (though there were some cool sand sculptures, both in town and on the beach). Note that the last bus back to Olhos de Agua is at 19:30, plus the main bus station is several kilometres out of town.

The second trip later in the week was rather more interesting, checking out the Algarve's capital, Faro. This is where you'll probably fly in, but as the guidebook said, it is worth stopping for a look around if you have the time. The bus from Olhos de Agua takes over an hour due to stopping at various random golf clubs, so best to bring a book. If you rent a car or take a taxi, it will take less than half the time. Once you arrive, there are three main attractions to check out.

Faro's cathedral costs €3 to enter and encompasses a number of baroque altarpieces, along with a small museum (mostly vestments and a few grizzled reliquaries) and a bell tower. The view from the latter reveals that Faro is surrounded by wetlands, which looked particularly marshy due to the drab weather on the day we visited, but I would assume normally looks suitably idyllic.

The Carmelite Church is arguably just as good inside, but a little cheaper at a mere €1. Entry is through a side door which looks distinctly non-churchy, so you may miss it at first. Unusually, the chapel at the back draws upon its surrounding cemetery for building material. The remains of 1243 monks have been arranged into walls and ceiling, so that lots of carefully spaced skulls surrounded by assorted bones stare down at you from all sides. Being a geek, I was strongly reminded of something similar I saw in a computer game, but I can't remember which one. Possibly The Bard's Tale II?

Finally, the Archaeological Museum (now known as the Municipal Museum) is surprisingly extensive given that it only costs €2 to get in. The centrepiece is a mosaic of the sea-god Oceanus, which is quite well-preserved apart from a missing strip just under his chin. There is more Roman material in another room, mainly pillars arranged to show how they would look in situ, along with a few funerary inscriptions.

Upstairs I was excited to see that there was a hefty selection of art, starting with a series of paintings from 1962 by Faro native Carlos Felipe Porfirio (1895-1970). I'm not generally a fan of art past about 1700, with a few exceptions: Porfirio's work is not among them. Still, it was interesting to see something with a local connection. Each painting was based on folktales borne from the Algarve's Moorish past, which seemed to follow a pattern of 'Moorish woman is scorned in some way, supernatural stuff happens as a result'.


The next room boasted sixty religious paintings from rather earlier, mostly dating from around the 16th and 17th centuries. There was a heavy Italian influence, with a focus on the depiction of various Catholic saints. Unfortunately, from a visitor perspective the gallery is far too dark, though no doubt that is important for the preservation of the paintings.

Just as with Malta, I had originally made plans to do some BJJ training, but also like Malta, an injury picked up back in the UK meant I had to scrap that idea. I also totally failed to give my limited Portuguese a try beyond 'obrigado', 'bom dia' and 'fala inglês'. Next time I'm in Portugal, or when I make it to Brazil, I'll hopefully be both braver and more linguistically capable. ;)

11/10/2012 - Teaching (Maintaining Open Guard)

Teaching #076
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 11/10/2012

I had my first encounter with a physio yesterday, which was interesting. That groin problem I've mentioned over the last few weeks now has a name: apparently, it's an abductor strain grade 1, prominent at the musculotendinous junction. That meant some rather painful massage by a friendly Welsh man and lots of ice afterwards. I'm supposed to keep icing and also rest it for 14 days, along with another painful massage on Friday. So, I needed to be careful during this class that I wasn't putting strain in that area.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I finished with more sparring than usual, as I think the method I learned from Kev is really useful for maintaining open guard. As before, the idea is to build up leg movement. To do that, the first round is sparring open guard, but only using your legs: both of your hands are tucked into your belt, whether you're on top or on the bottom (make sure to pull them back out if you're about to fall on your face!). That's followed by sparring with legs and one hand, then finally normal open guard sparring, with the proviso that you aren't allowed to close your guard.

If there are any GB Bristol students reading, just like last time I taught this lesson over a year ago, I'm off next week (but this time to Portugal rather than a wedding ;D).

04/10/2012 - Teaching (Side Control to Mount)

Teaching #075
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 04/10/2012

To transition from side control to mount, start by killing the near arm. the first thing is to reverse engineer the escape. When you're underneath, one of the worst things that can happen is they control your near arm. Now that you're on top, that is therefore exactly what you want. Start by digging your knee in to get it into the armpit: Saulo suggests faking a choke to get them to raise their arm. You want to slip your knee right under their arm, bringing your knees in close to their head.

Another thing to try is switching your hips to get that elbow up, then switch back to trap it. However you trap it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular method of transitioning to mount. You've now got several methods for getting to the mount.

A very simple side control to mount option comes from what Xande calls the 'super-hold', where you have one arm under their head, the other arm under their far armpit. Drive your knee across their hip (this part often isn't easy, as they'll be blocking), then raise that far elbow up, to twist their body and open up more space. Once your knee gets to the mat, use it to slide their legs backwards, then 'fishtail' your own leg, slapping it to the mat.

The reason for that is to stop that snatching half guard. If you simply swung your leg over, that can work, but it's risky. First, you may find either their near or far leg gets in the way. Second, should you get past the near leg, they still might be able to snatch half guard. Finally, even if you are able to clear their legs completely, there is a simple escape they can do mid-swing. As you bring the leg over, they can turn towards you and bridge, coming up into full guard. Therefore I wouldn't recommend this option: sliding the knee through and fishtailing is much safer.

A slightly more complex option is using reverse scarf hold to go to mount. From tight side control, having killed the near arm, switch one arm to their far arm, putting the other hand to their near hip, then shift your hips right back towards their head as far as you can. Your elbow is either in their far armpit or wrapped underneath for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring the leg across. Ideally, you'll crush this to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switch through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount.

Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

However, as before the safest option is to slide your knee across the belt line, then fishtail when that knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.

02/10/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Side Control Americana with Lapel)

Class #472
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 02/10/2012

Tonight's technique was an americana from side control, a favourite of mine. Rather than the typical set-up, Dónal showed a variation where you used the lapel. You are in side control, with their arm under your throat in the typical side control escape frame. Trap that arm in place with your head. On the same side as their neck-framing arm, grab their lapel and pull it firmly towards the space between their knees. You may need to yank on that lapel two or three times, in order to get as much lapel available as possible.

Next, quickly bring that lapel over their same side arm and feed it to the hand you have under their arm. This should end up looking like a sling: in other words, you're bringing a significant amount of their jacket over their arm, rather than just securing a grip with a slender strip of lapel. Get that grip really tight. Pull their elbow in, then move your body back slightly, and push on their trapped arm with your head, bringing the arm to the floor. Switch the lapel to your other hand, then swing your arm out from under their head.

If you're having trouble getting your arm out from under their head, start to raise their elbow, as that will probably make them crunch their body and automatically lift their head. To finish, you can simply lift the elbow while pushing on their wrist, or establish a standard figure-four. It's important that you get your weight into their hips and shoulders, as otherwise then can raise their hips and turn to try and relieve the pressure on their shoulder.

My thigh/groin is still giving me trouble, so I was taking it easy in sparring again. I've booked an appointment with the physio for next Wednesday, which will hopefully sort that out. I had a fairly relaxed roll with one of the white belts, where I wanted to practice stuff from LSG seminar. I forced closed guard a few times to try and do that, which was obviously bad technique on my part so I should avoid that temptation. Still, it didn't help me in the end as I didn't get to play with the position I wanted anyway. They leaned back, having noticed I obviously wanted to pull them in towards me, so I took the sit-up sweep instead. I also had a go at the Marcelotine, but didn't get my hand in deep enough.

Rolling with Dónal was again quite light as he took it easy with me. We managed to stay fairly flowing, although at one point I did knock him over with my leg basically just using strength, which was crappy given how light he was going. I often get stuck with my knees clamped to the floor against Dónal, which results in much sloppier escape attempts on my part.