31/07/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Guard | Leg Lock

Class #584
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 31/07/2014

Like I say every time I'm shown a leg lock, it's an area of jiu jitsu I almost completely ignore at the moment. I'm interested in the defence, out of safety considerations, but it is not something I ever go for on other people. I'm far too worried about either injuring them through applying it wrong myself, or that they could injure themselves by trying to explosively spin free. As ever, that comes down to familiarity, seeing as I don't have that worry with other submissions, but meh. It's a flaw I can live with for now. ;)

Anyway, the basic leg lock entry Dónal taught started from standing. Wrap your leg around the outside of theirs, putting your heel into their hip. Drop to your side, bringing your other leg in behind the leg you've trapped. Squeeze your knees together to help secure the position.

For the actual submission itself (a straight ankle lock, I think?), you wrap up the foot, bend it sideways towards you slightly. With an arm wrapped underneath, turn so your head is looking over your shoulder, arch your back and thrust your hips. Dónal also mentions that he likes to have the leg 'pre-bent' as he is dropping back, to make it harder for them to use the 'iron boot' defence where they straighten their leg and pull their toes back. I could well have missed a whole bunch of details there though.

Big class today, so I was mostly wandering around to try and help people out, along with simple space management during sparring, stopping people crashing into each other. I did get in a brief bit of drilling myself at the start, along with some specific sparring from open guard. I played with the bullfighter some more, grabbing the knees and dropping my shoulder. It did work, but involved some scrambling. I need to remember to reach for the far hip once I've dropped my shoulder, to control their ability to shrimp away. If I don't do that, I inevitably end up chasing them a little.

Underneath, I went for the tripod off the cross-grip, continuing to try and focus in on that version of open guard some more. It's what Kev recommended to me back in that private, so it's good I'm finally starting to feel more comfortable there (then again, it's been mostly white and blue belt: when I last tried that against brown belts at Jude's club, I was passed in seconds).

I also managed some kind of weird version of the rollover sweep from half guard: it felt sloppy, because I'm sure I didn't have the right grips, but it also didn't seem to take a huge amount of effort, so I must have lucked onto the correct leverage point. Something to play with, as ever. This will be my last chance to be a student for a while, as Dónal is away for the next couple of weeks.

That means I'm teaching six classes next week, but I do at least get the open mat for drilling time (assuming I can grab someone for drilling). Should be fun to test out some more lesson plans either way, plus it also means I can further refine what I taught at Bristol Sports Centre last month by trying it at Impact too.

30/07/2014 - Teaching | Cross Grip Guard | Collar Drag

Teaching #172
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 30/07/2014

After the women's class (which went really well: 10 women! :D), it was time build on the cross grip guard we did on Monday. It's a straightforward technique commonly known as a collar drag. Again, get to that cross-grip guard position, basing behind with your arm. Make sure that arm is behind you: if you've got it to the side, they can grab it and drive forward to pass.

However, there are exceptions to that rule, such as when you want to collar drag. You're going to use that basing arm to help you shift off to the side, away from your collar gripping arm and towards the open side. Posting on your free arm, shift your hips away. You are then going to pull your partner into the space you've just vacated, using their collar.

From here, you can immediately move to take their back. You will normally already have a leg close enough to hook inside their leg. That means that after you've dragged them, it is easier to reach around to grasp their lat, then swing your leg over to being establishing back control. Make sure you get a seat belt grip (one arm over the shoulder, the other under the armpit), or they may be able to simply shrug your off.
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Teaching Notes: I'm continuing to start off by opening up the collar with the same side hand, then inserting the cross-grip. It makes sense, but it also confuses people because you're switching hands. It may be simpler next time to have the grip already in place, to avoid that confusion. I can always mention it during drilling if necessary.

This is the first time I've taught this particular class, so I am sure I'll be developing the lesson structure as I come to teach it again. Fortunately I won't have to wait all that long, as I will probably use it next month at Impact Gym. ;)

30/07/2014 - Teaching | First Artemis BJJ Women's Class | Mount Escape

Teaching #171
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 30/07/2014



Encouraging more women into BJJ has been a major goal of mine for many years, so I'm really pleased to get the chance to do something about it. We're going to be running women's classes at Artemis BJJ every Wednesday from 18:30-19:30 at Bristol Sports Centre, completely free until at least the end of this year. Of course, the class isn't truly women-only yet because I'm the one teaching it. I'd like to rectify that in future, once there is a woman at the club who is interested in teaching, but I'm happy to head up the classes until that happens. :)

I thought carefully about what to teach, eventually deciding that a basic mount escape would be the way to go. That's what I've taught at women's classes before and it's also the first lesson in the Gracie Combatives syllabus (a course which has its flaws, mainly the online grading, but as a curriculum it is well structured). Not coincidentally, it's the first lesson BJJ pioneer Rorion Gracie would teach back in the beginnings of international BJJ. I went for that same technique when I taught what is essentially my first women's class, over at Aro Ling almost exactly two years ago. Handily, that means I can copy and paste chunks from my previous entry on the topic. ;)

So like last time, I'll start this post by discussing Rorion Gracie's seminal intro lesson in a little more detail. Rorion is largely responsible for expanding Brazilian jiu jitsu outside of his native Brazil. In the late '70s, he travelled to the US for a second time, with the intention of establishing BJJ in North America.

Initially he found work as an extra in Hollywood, while teaching BJJ out of his garage. Thanks to those connections, over the years Rorion was able to encourage actors, directors and writers to come train with him. Around 1990, Ed O'Neill had a part in a popular sitcom, Married With Children: his acting friends had been pestering him to give the Gracie Academy a go. To shut them up, O’Neill reluctantly agreed to try it out. Rorion, who has always had a knack for marketing, offered O'Neill a simple challenge. If Rorion sat on top of him, could O'Neill throw the much smaller Brazilian off?

O'Neill decided to accept: as a big guy, he reasonably thought it should be easy. However, try as he might, O'Neill couldn't budge Rorion from his position. Smiling, Rorion then suggested that perhaps O'Neill might find it easier to hold Rorion down. After the demonstration O'Neill had just felt, he felt that surely he would be able to use his size advantage to stay in place for at least a few seconds. However, again Rorion surprised him, with a quick reversal. O'Neill was hooked, and over a decade later, he earned his black belt. He tells the story himself in this video.

For what's called the upa escape from the mount ('trap and roll' is another common term), a typical starting point would be when they try to establish their first grip on your collar (or your neck, if you aren't wearing a gi) for a choke. That provides you with a chance to trap their arm. The usual grip would be to grab their wrist with your opposite hand, then just above their elbow with your other hand. This is the preferred grip on Gracie Combatives. The reasoning is that this grip prevents your opponent from drawing back their arm for a punch.

There are various other possibilities, such as the option I first learned, which was gripping their wrist with your same side hand, then grabbing the crook of their elbow with your opposite hand. That has the advantage of helping you wedge your elbow and arm into their chest, which provides additional leverage when rolling them over. Having said that, you can still use your elbow with the Gracie Combatives grip, it's just slightly less effective as your arm starts further away from their torso.

Whatever grip you choose, you then need to trap their leg on that same side. Otherwise, they will be able to use their leg for base as you attempt to roll them. In order to prevent that, step your same side foot over their lower leg, hooking it in tightly to your bum. This means they are now like a chair with two of its legs missing. If you feel your control is too loose, slide your foot further across towards the other side of your bum, which should eat up some more space.

Even if they can't post with their leg, they might be able to use their knee, so you want to have their leg as tightly locked to your body as possible. Also, be careful that you don't end up hooking both their feet, or leave your other leg in range of their hook. It is possible for the person on top to defend the escape by securing a hook with their free leg by your non-trapping leg. Therefore, try to keep the leg they might be able to control out of range.

A common problem is that you're having trouble trapping their foot, because it is too high up. If that happens, try using your elbow (or even your hand, if you need more reach, but that could leave your neck vulnerable) to shove their knee backwards, until their lower leg is in range. This is an advantage of the Gracie Combatives grip, as putting a hand behind their triceps puts your elbow in a good position for shoving back their knee.

Yet another option, if their arm is not in range, is to bridge enough to bump them forward, jamming your knee into them if you want more leverage. That should mean they are forced to post out their hands for balance, a difficult instinct to ignore. That puts their arm within reach. You can then wrap both of your arms around one of theirs, gable gripping your hands (palm to palm). Suck that arm into your chest, clamping it at the elbow.

To finish, you're going to bridge towards that trapped side. As with basic side control escapes, get your heels close to your bum first for maximum leverage. Bridge up and over your shoulder, turning to your knees: this puts you inside their guard. Make sure that you're bridging over your shoulder and not simply rolling over to your side. If you don't raise your hips properly, you may merely give up your back.

If you find you need more leverage, most commonly if they are posting with their free hand to stop your roll, you could attempt to dislodge that by pushing their arm off the ground. Alternatively, the legendary Rickson Gracie has a great detail, which he demonstrated in a video recently. Simply angle your head away from the shoulder you're rolling over: this increases your range of motion.



When you've successfully rolled them over, that puts you in the guard position. Remember to posture up when you reach that position: if you are leaning forwards, they can pull you down move right into a submission.

Next up, the 19:30 mixed class, where I was trying out teaching the collar drag for the first time.
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Teaching Notes: I was really happy about the turnout, which is the best I've ever had for a women's class. In total, ten women headed over to Bristol Sports Centre to give BJJ a try, as you can see in the picture at the top: the tenth woman, my girlfriend, was being photographer. That meant I had a picture for the Artemis BJJ Facebook page, as well as for my blog, the main Artemis BJJ website, etc. :)

Having my girlfriend there was extremely useful. I've mentioned in the past that I always look for feedback, but it can be tough to get. Part of that is because people are nice, so they can find it hard to be critical. However, when you've been in a relationship with somebody for almost fourteen years, honest criticism tends not to be a problem. My girlfriend had loads of good advice and was helpful both before, during and after the lesson.

The first thing I would change next time is the timings. Normally I would have people spend four minutes each drilling the techniques. However, I think for this class, shortening that time would make sense, maybe to two or three minutes. So, I think next time I could comfortably fit in a bit more technique within the hour.

For example, you can still trap and and roll if they bring an arm under your head: simply reach back as if you were combing your hair to trap their arm, then progress as before. Generally when I do this, I like to be able to drive my elbow into their hip and stomach, as I find that helps with leverage. Rener prefers to put his hand right into their hip, at least when he teaches this technique on Gracie Combatives.

The Rickson detail was handy, as that meant I had a good pointer up my sleeve for progressive resistance. Watching the drilling, I think I need to put more emphasis on turning to the knees. I did mention it during the demonstration, but it would have been better if I also added in a drill at the start. As I already talked too much, turning explanation into drilling makes a lot more sense. That's a good general principle I should apply more going forward.

The drills I did include at the start were bridging, then bridging side to side. Next time, I add to that side to side bridge with a turn to the knees, basing on your shoulder and foot. A few people arrived a little late (understandable, as this is a fairly early class at 18:30, so with traffic etc I can imagine getting there from work isn't always easy. I'd much, much rather people come in late than not come at all!), so I recapped what I'd shown. I probably won't do that next time, instead showing it to people when we get to drilling. That would probably help the class flow better.

I wasn't sure if I was going to include sparring or not, but as there were two experienced women there, that gave me the opportunity to ask if they wanted to spar. If it's a similar situation next time, I will make sure I ask people before I do this, because it ended up with two women sparring and everyone else watching. Although they both said it was fine afterwards, I know I'd feel a bit under pressure in their place. So, I'll be sure to check in advance next time, but it did work. After watching the experienced women spar, as I'd hoped that encouraged the beginners to give it a try.

Most important of all, everybody looked like they were having a good time. If I can get people smiling and laughing, that is the best result I could hope for from a class. Lots of people will tell you BJJ is about self defence, about competing, about whatever: above all of that, it should be fun! :D

Finally, I put together a short questionnaire for people to fill in, so that even if people decide one class was enough, I can at least get some information from them both on what I can do to improve and what kind of reasons they had for trying out the class.

Gi Review - Flow Hemp (Flow Kimonos)

Short Review: Stylish Boston-based brand Flow Kimonos have joined the growing number of companies offering a hemp gi. The appropriately named 'Flow Hemp' has a relatively beefy 550gsm jacket and 11oz (376gsm) trousers, both 100% hemp. Flow do not overdo their designs, stripping it back even further here: there are no big patches, just a few splashes of subtle embroidery in a pleasing green, black and white colour scheme.

As with their Pro Series 2.0, Flow Kimonos cater to a broader range of body types than some gi companies, with L (Long) and H (Heavy) on offer in addition to the standard A sizes. The main negative is the price, an unavoidable problem with hemp, though in comparison to the rest of the hemp market the Flow Hemp is among the most affordable. Available to buy here for $199.

Full Review: When I last reviewed a gi from Flow Kimonos (the Pro Series 2.0), I was excited by the news of another prospective hemp gi on the market. That gi has since arrived, the simply named Flow Hemp. The hemp gi market into which it has entered is growing gradually, with multiple choices now available in what was once a very narrow field. The first ever hemp gi was probably from Ground Force around 2005, judging by old threads like this, with a 2006 review of the gi here.

That 2006 review thread included a certain Chris Odell looking to buy a Ground Force gi in March 2007: he would go on to found Datsusara that same year. Odell's company is now arguably the market leader in hemp equipment for BJJ and MMA, justifiably able to take the credit for popularising hemp within BJJ, or at least proving the viability of creating BJJ equipment with hemp. After beginning in 2007, Datsusara released their first gi in 2008, the HCG-01. I reviewed the HCG-02 here, then most recently their third release, the HCG-03. Odell is currently up to the HCG-05.

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Apr 18, 2014 at 9:13am PDT

The Green Gi (referring to their ethical stance, not the colour of their gi) have been around almost as long as Datsusra, when founder Adrienne Adams hand made her own prototype gi and promptly won a blue belt middleweight gold at the Mundials in it: I'm wearing that same gi in the picture. After a long build up, Adams recently released her first gi from The Green Gi, dubbed the Blue Dream (sold out at present). I have a factory reject Blue Dream jacket, picked up when I visited Adams a few months ago. Although it isn't the finished article - and I therefore won't be reviewing it, as that wouldn't be fair - it does provide a useful point of comparison. I'll talk a lot more about The Green Gi when I review their hemp belt: I've been testing that for around a year now.

Along with The Green Gi and Datsusara, the hemp gi market includes Lucky Gi, then finally there is the gi I'm reviewing today from Flow Kimonos. Surprisingly, both Flow and Lucky worked closely with Odell, despite the fact they are all technically competitors. That kind of community amongst business rivals is rare, though I don't know the exact details of the relationship between them. One issue where all these companies appear to agree is that they must not let fake hemp in the gi market go unchallenged. Chris Odell eventually released this video, as according to lab tests he had paid for, Submission FC were selling a 'hemp blend' that the reports seemed to show did not in fact contain any hemp whatsoever.

Each company is positioning itself slightly differently, though they all tend to comment on environmental issues (The Green Gi is probably the front-runner in that category). Lucky Gi, an old stalwart of the industry led by veteran grappler Scotty Nelson, have decided to follow the clunky 'squeeze page' online marketing of the '90s to sell its 'Hempire' model. That's a strategy popularised in BJJ circles by the distasteful antics of Lloyd Irvin, in stark contrast to the subtler approach adopted by other hemp gi companies. Lucky is also charging a massive $420 for its hemp offering, almost twice as much as any of its competitors. Then again, I haven't tried the Hempire, so perhaps it manages to live up to that hefty whack of cash. The Green Gi comes in at $239 (although I think that includes shipping: the $200 pre-order price did) and Datsusara at $230. The Flow Kimonos 'Flow Hemp' comes in next at $199, with shipping at around $13 to the US and $55 to the UK.

Like Datsusara, Flow have attempted to present a scientific basis for the benefits of hemp (for much more on the alleged benefits of hemp, see my review of the Datsusara HCG-02). However, they want to harvest your email before you get access (here). I'm intrigued that the bait on this occasion is a scientific report: normally it would be "for your chance to win a free gi!" or something along those lines. While it would be cool if people got equally excited about the chance to educate themselves, I imagine free stuff still ranks higher for most people. ;)

Anyway, the report itself isn't the usual pdf sent to your inbox. Instead, verifying your subscription to a mailing list gets you access to a page on the Flow Kimonos website (where there's an embedded pdf, so you can download that for later reading if you want). I can't be certain of the scientific veracity, as that's outside my old academic area (knowledge of post-war poetry doesn't come up much in BJJ reviewing), but it made for interesting reading. For those who do have the relevant academic background, on the fifth and final page there are eight references to look up (I'm guessing a few are biased, such as the one from something called 'Hemptech'). If true, then it further establishes the positive impact greater use of hemp could have. For example:

After cultivation [of hemp], the soil is left in optimum conditions (tilth) due to the complete weed suppression following from the high shading capacity of hemp. A study by Bócsa and Karus 1998 reports 10–20 percent higher wheat yields after the cultivation of hemp. [...]

Due to its vigorous growth, shading capacity and disease resistance, hemp can be grown without the use of herbicides, pesticides or fungicides. Hemp therefore easily complies with requirements of organic farming and is suitable for cultivation near surface water. The crop leaves the soil virtually weed-free

That fits with Flow Kimonos' old mission statement of sustainability, slightly updated on the current version, as there is now no mention of organic cotton (understandable, as the commitment to hemp demonstrates it better). A perhaps more significant change in the wording between the two versions is in the 'community service' section. At the time I reviewed the Pro Series, it read "We pride ourselves on contributing to as many projects as possible. We’re an American company based in Boston, MA and we love that the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community is so strong. If you’re out there doing good for others, we want to help you FLOW. Seriously, if you know of a great cause hit us up and we’ll see what we can do to help."

As I said in the review, I liked the emphasis on building the BJJ community through projects, with the implication that charitable efforts and doing good would be an important goal for Flow. The current version of the statement reads quite differently. It appears to indicate a shift to athlete sponsorship rather than the charitable work that the old mission seemed to point towards: "We pride ourselves on supporting athletes and contributing to the BJJ community. We love that the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community is so strong and want to do our part in growing the community."

Asking Flow's founder Jonathan Leung about this, he clarified that change of wording:

There's been no change of heart: I'm always looking to contribute to the community :)

When an individual or organization is trying to make a difference in their community I try to pitch in however I can. The business is still in startup stages, which necessitates that I run a tight ship, so I'm pretty selective about who I help out and to what extent.

Getting on to the actual gi, at this point, I've had the opportunity to train in four hemp gis. That includes two from Datsusara (the HCG-02 and the HCG-03), the 'Flow Hemp' from Flow Kimonos and a factory reject jacket from The Green Gi's 'Blue Dream'. Given the level of collaboration between Datsusara and Flow, you would expect some similarities between their gis. They both use a basket weave, whereas The Green Gi has gone for more of a pearl weave (if you don't know what I'm talking about, there is a primer on a few different weaves over on the Fenom Kimonos blog).

The Flow Hemp has not had any of the lint-shedding issues I've had with both of the Datsusara gis, possibly something solved in more recent editions of the Datsusara. I've been using the Flow Hemp regularly for a month, washing it five times over that period (three times at 40 degrees celsius, twice at 30) and drying it in the sun. Pre-washing, the trousers were 93cm long, shrinking to 89cm after their trips to the washing machine. The jacket started off with a wingspan of 158cm and 75cm shoulder to hem: that's dropped to 153cm on the wingspan, but stayed the same shoulder to hem.

In terms of weight, my A1 Flow Hemp jacket comes in at 800g, the same as my A1 The Green Gi jacket. When you add in the trousers, the Flow Hemp weight goes up to 1.6kg. Compare that to my HCG-03 (also A1), which is 1.1kg with just the jacket, increasing to 1.8kg with the trousers. The Flow Hemp jacket is 550gsm, while the trousers are 11oz (376gsm) hemp twill. Comparing the collars of my hemp gis, The Green Gi and Flow look similar, though the covering material has some differences in texture. On the Flow, you can see those diagonal lines I'm used to from cotton twill trousers, whereas the Datsusara has an entirely different bobbled pattern.

The cut of the Flow Hemp jacket is much tighter than the HCG-03, though there is still some give in the chest. In terms of hemp gis, the best fitting jacket I've got is from The Green Gi. Having said that, I do have narrow shoulders for a guy: as you can see from the comparative picture, the A2 Fenom jacket - which is cut for a woman - fits me quite well (for reference, I'm 5'7 and around 145lbs). As with any hemp, the white is a 'natural white', as bleach would damage it: if like me you dry the gi in the sun, that will lighten it somewhat, but not much. Having said that, I can't personally see a huge difference between the white of the Flow Hemp and the white of the cotton Fenom Lotus. The HCG-03 picture was taken indoors last year, but the Fenom and Flow Hemp pictures were taken in my garden, minutes after each other.

Hemp is significantly more comfortable than cotton, the one alleged benefit of hemp I can easily confirm. It also gets softer with each wash. There is lots of reinforcement on the Flow Hemp, with plenty of stitching at the bottom of the trousers (six rows). The sleeve cuffs are well reinforced too, with four rows. As is the case with several more recent gis I've looked at, there is no reinforcement inside the armpits (perhaps to cut down on weight), though the standard bulking up with extra material can be seen by the side vents. Leung had this to say about the gi:

The hemp gi is designed to be heavier and take the abuse of daily training while remaining super soft and comfortable. My intention was not produce a light competition hemp gi although the gi is tournament legal. Since it costs a good chunk of change, I want customers to feel the quality the second they lay hands on it.

The additional panel of fabric on the Datsusara trousers goes from just above the knee right down to the bottom of the trousers, whereas the Flow finishes midway down the shin. That's just enough to cover the knee when you're sitting on your heels (e.g., when you're on top in closed guard). It would therefore benefit from a little more length, but it does the job. On the plus side, that makes the trousers slightly lighter: this is another area where the Datsusara has some extra weight. The Flow is bulkier when it comes to belt loops though, boasting six of them grouped in pairs. The HCG-03 only has two, right at the front.

The drawstring is unusual: I can't remember seeing anything similar on another gi. It is bright red and branded with 'Flow Kimonos' in white text, made from some kind of elastic. Thankfully this drawstring is a good bit shorter than the bungee cord I'm used to from other brands, so does not dangle down to your knees. Note that the ends aren't sealed in place, it's just a knot: it can therefore come undone. A few minor dents have developed from tying it tightly, something which I haven't noticed with bungee cords, but as it doesn't affect drawstring functionality it doesn't matter. :)

The Flow Hemp gi design is similar to the Pro Series 2.0, with embroidered text in the same places. I am not a fan of text on a gi, but it is less obtrusive this time round. 'Flow Hemp', embroidered in black, green and white on the bottom of the jacket and the right trouser leg, is only eight letters (further minimised by varying the size of the two words: 'hemp' is in a much smaller font underneath 'flow'). The Pro Series 2.0 embroidery had an excessive twenty characters, due to spelling out 'Flow Kimonos Pro Series' in full. There's another small logo in green on the back of the left trouser leg, along with the upper back of the jacket.

Either way, the Flow Hemp is certainly flashier than the Datsusara. In addition to that green, black and white, plus red on the drawstring and some yellow on the patches, there is dark grey too (or is it black? I'm not always great a distinguishing finer differences between shades) contrast stitching. The same colour is used for taping on the side vents, sleeve and trouser cuffs. Much to my pleasure, the patches on the leg from the Pro Series 2.0 have not been carried over: in fact, the Flow Hemp ornamentation is almost all embroidery. The only patches are those typical to most gis, at the bottom of the collar and the top of the trousers.

On balance, the Flow Kimonos 'Flow Hemp' is the best hemp gi I have tried to date (although I should note that I haven't had a chance to try a finished gi product from The Green Gi yet, just that factory reject jacket, plus I haven't experienced the Lucky Gi Hempire). It's comfortable, stylish and durable. The drawstring has the advantages of not getting tangled as can sometimes happen with flat versions, as well as avoiding the irritating length of so many bungee cords. The Flow Hemp isn't excessively blingy, but it's got enough touches of colour to appeal to those with more flamboyant gi tastes. It is also currently the best value hemp gi on the market, available to buy here for $199.99. In general terms, that's still an expensive gi, but put against its competitors (especially the ridiculous $420 price tag for the Hempire), it's affordable, particularly if claims about hemp's durability are well-founded.

29/07/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Guard | Passing Combinations vs Knee Shield

Class #583
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 29/07/2014

Dónal started off with a simplified knee cut, stepping between their legs, then driving your shin across diagonally, keeping your elbow in tight and hips close to theirs. The most common problem with that is you leave too much space, whereupon they manage to slip a knee in front of you. Knee shield can be a real pain to pass.

From a failed knee cut, the leg squash comes in handy. Grab the knee of the leg you're trying to slide across (Dónal prefers to cup under the knee, but you can also grab the trouser material: the problem is that may move and give them room to adjust enough to establish spider guard or something like that). Lift and move it across to the opposite side. To do that effectively, you'll need to turn your non-knee sliding foot so that the toes are pointing in the direction you want to move. Bend the knee and shift in that direction. Also, don't use your arm at the end, or you'll end up lying on it. Instead, as you move them across, rely more on your chest to move them over, meaning your arm is free to hook around the hip and block their shrimp.

As you slide across, you're going to break what is normally a cardinal rule of BJJ: putting your hands on the mat. This is for base, with one by their same side armpit, while your remaining hand posts on the other side. The intention is to end up sprawled on top of their legs. More specifically, your groin is by the back of their knees, ideally with the point of your hip pressing into the middle of their thigh. Although it feels counter-intuitive, don't go up on your toes. Sink your weight through your hips into their legs, with your own legs draped on either side.

Almost certainly they are going to move, especially if you're being mean and digging the point of your hip into the 'dead leg' point of their thigh. Once they do, backstep and pass around the other side. This feeds smoothly into mount, pulling their knees towards you and wrapping your leg behind their knees. If you like, you can also lock your legs as you wrap them, making the transition to mount particularly secure.

If you can't get that, there is the hip slide pass against knee shield (no idea if it has a name, as I just made that up). You have a grip on their collar. Put your elbow by their hip, using it as a means of driving your weight through them, as opposed to being a white belt and trying to dig into them with the elbow. Lean through and slide over their knee with your hip until you can slip through. To finish , shove their legs back with your hips, secure side control.

In specific sparring from open guard, I worked more on the knee cut rather than the bullfighter from last week, seeing as we'd just been practicing the knee cut. Fellow RGA Bucks purple belt Gareth was visiting, which was very cool. That also meant I had a higher calibre of training partner than normal, immediately demonstrated when unlike everybody else, he went to deep half. I tried holding that off by underhooking his arm to stop him from turning and rolling me over, then attempted to get into a position where I could exert some pressure, controlling the arm (again, to stop his turn). I need to review my deep half passes, as I only remember that first part about underhooking the arm: this is why it's useful to have purple belts there, they can put in stuff like that. ;)

I think I sort of passed at one point but then got reversed. I may be mixing together a few rolls though. With the next guy, I clamped his shin to his leg by wrapping it up, then simply swinging to other leg back to pass, but that wouldn't normally work. I'm sure once he's seen that a few times, that passing route will be gone. Underneath, I wanted to go into the cross-grip guard to practice the techniques I'm teaching this week, along as the ankle pick I taught yesterday. I couldn't get into position, or they put up the other knee. Thinking back, that should really be a good set-up for a scissor sweep: I tried it once, but sloppily and I don't think I pulled them into me enough with the collar grip to control their weight. I'll have another look at the version Kid Peligro shows in his book, supposedly a variation he learned from Rickson.

I hit the tripod at one point, but generally I'm not making a smooth enough transition to the sickle when that doesn't work. It's too telegraphed and too clunky, so more drilling required on that. While generally this week I felt that I've been better at conserving my energy in closed guard, I did have a roll where I fell into that enervating pattern of clamping down in closed guard. I eventually got the sit-up sweep, but that method of closed guard (grabbing them and pretty much trying to hold them down with an arm or two) is terrible for me. I don't have the strength, and even if I did, I'd burn out quickly. So, deep collar grip more often, timing, better sensitivity to their body movement.

Class finished up with a purple belt spar. I was looking to block the pass, where normally I could get back to half guard at worst. I sort of got the toe grab sweep, but I made a silly error of grabbing the toes after reaching under his legs, rather than over the butt and around the legs. Although I was able to come up and drive through, due to my poor grip, I got reversed straight away.

Loads of teaching for the next few months, as it will be just me teaching every class until 16th August (apart from this Thursday). Most exciting is that the women's class begins tomorrow! Yay! :D

28/07/2014 - Teaching | Cross Grip Guard | Ankle Pick Sweep

Teaching #170
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/07/2014

Moving back to sweeps, I wanted to cover what Xande calls the get-up sweep, which I first learned from Kev as the ankle pick sweep. Though I prefer ankle pick sweep as a name, the good thing about Xande's term is that it emphasises how standing up is a central part of this sweep, rather than simply driving forwards and muscling them over.

You're going to be in a position sometimes referred to as 'cross grip guard'. That essentially just means you have a grip of their opposite collar, then your other hand is normally either based behind you or hooking an ankle (e.g., for the tripod and sickle sweep combination, high percentage from this guard). If your hand is behind, keep it where you can't see it. The only time it should be in view, according to Xande. To enter into the guard, grab their same side collar while putting your opposite foot on their opposite hip. Open up the collar and switch to your other hand. If you're greedy and start off with the cross-grip, that may leave you vulnerable to getting passed, according to Xande.

If they are on their knees and then start to stand up (you can also do this if they're already standing, in combination with the tripod and sickle), the ankle pick sweep becomes available. Follow them up into a sort of combat base position, grab their leg, then use your collar grip to direct them to the mat as you pull back on their leg. You can grab the heel/ankle for an ankle pick type takedown (hence the sweep name, which Xande also calls the 'get up' sweep), or the material somewhere on their trouser leg (e.g., by their knee).

Xande emphasises that the leverage doesn't come from trying to muscle them to the ground. It comes from your action of standing up. So, concentrate on getting the grips and then getting up, rather than getting the grips and driving forward before you've stood up. Xande also notes that you want to be careful of your momentum, as it's easy to fall forwards if you aren't careful of posture. Lean back slightly instead as you knock them down, getting into a secure guard passing posture, then do a knee cut. Your knee should already be forward and in place, making this straightforward.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: I tried to match up the drills as much as I could with the technique, mainly the hip thrust drill where you have one knee out and the other forward, then rise into a knee-forward crouch without using your hands. I considered having the technical stand-up in there, but decided to stick with the hip thrust. I also put in a knee cut drill, as I find that's the natural pass to follow up this technique.

With the technique itself, the main thing I want to note for next time is that if they've stood up, you might end up holding a leg as they hop to keep their balance. From there, you can of course go for any of a number of single leg takedowns. I would probably go for the one I learned from Kev a while ago, where you move to the outside of their leg, lift them slightly and drop them. So, putting in some kind of super-simple single leg drill into the warm-up would be a good idea.

I asked if people had questions a few times, which I try to do if there's a bit of time. It's really good that questions are coming back more frequently now: hopefully everyone can get into that inquisitive, technical mindset. I may have done it a few too many times though (I think three?), as some of that time could have been given over to a bit more sparring. Hard to know the best balance: maybe just asking once, twice if the first time doesn't take long? Something for me to think about.

In sparring, I was trying to practice a technique from something I'll be reviewing shortly, Aesopian's Mastering the Crucifix. I won't be able to properly test it until we get onto another month where we look at the back, but I could at least practice spinning to the turtle side ride from side control. I wasn't very successful at it, because I couldn't get behind them. Even that brief attempt did at least give me a different perspective on side control, seeing it as a position to go for attacks like the crucifix. So that was fun. :)

26/07/2014 - FREE Women's Class Starts Next Week! | Open Mat | Cross Grip Guard | Ankle Pick & Collar Drag

Class #582
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 26/07/2014

The FREE women's class starts next week on Wednesday! So, I'll put up the poster on this post. If anybody wants to share that around (hey, you never know), feel free: after all it's a free class. I've stuck up a few of these posters around town, so will be looking for other places to put them. As the class has funding until the end of the year, that gives me lots of time to build it up. Hooray! All women welcome! Lots more info on this exciting new Bristol BJJ class here. :D
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As usual, I had a specific goal in mind for the open mat today, drilling the technique I wanted to teach next week in order to work out any kinks. The only downside of open mat at the moment is that because it directly follows the nogi class, the majority of class tends not to have a gi on (especially in the current hot weather). Fortunately for me, there were two others with a gi, so I had someone to drill with after they finished rolling.

I was looking at two techniques from cross grip guard (I don't know how popular that term is: I'm going off BJJ Library and Jiu Jitsu University. In other words, open guard where you have grabbed the opposite collar). I frequently get into this position in open guard, both because I always go for the tripod/sickle sweep combination and due to Kev's recommendation from that private lesson. Building on what I learned from Kev, I've also been looking at a couple of videos Xande did on BJJ Library, where he goes into considerable detail on the cross grip guard and attacks from it.

First off, keep your basing hand behind you where you can't see it. The only time it should be in view, according to Xande, is when you are shifting off to the side for a collar drag, pulling them by the collar into the space you just vacated. You can then take their back. From the same grip, you can go for the tripod and sickle combination. To enter into the guard, grab their same side collar while putting your opposite foot on their opposite hip. Open up the collar and switch to your other hand. If you're greedy and start off with the cross-grip, that may leave you vulnerable to getting passed, according to Xande.

You can also go for the ankle pick sweep I learned from Kev last year, where again Xande has a bunch of tips. If they begin to stand up when you have the cross grip guard, follow them up into a sort of combat base position, grab their leg, then use your collar grip to direct them to the mat as you pull back on their leg. You can grab the heel/ankle for an ankle pick type takedown (hence the sweep name, which Xande also calls the 'get up' sweep), or the material somewhere on their trouser leg (e.g., by their knee).

Xande emphasises that the leverage doesn't come from trying to muscle them to the ground. It comes from your action of standing up. So, concentrate on getting the grips and then getting up, rather than getting the grips and driving forward before you've stood up. Xande also notes that you want to be careful of your momentum, as it's easy to fall forwards if you aren't careful of posture. Lean back slightly instead as you knock them down, getting into a secure guard passing posture, then do a knee cut. Your knee should already be forward and in place, making this straightforward.

It was very useful drilling that with the two blue belts in gis, as that helped me practice my teaching and indeed modified my intended structure. I had thought to start off with some technical stand up drills, but actually the hip thrust may be more useful. By telling them it was like a technical stand up, that just confused one of them, whereas he found the hip thrust made much more sense. That may well vary by person, but it's extremely useful to know that the technical stand up might confuse some people in the context of this technique. I may still put it in the warm-up, but I'll now be considering how to contextualise it more carefully.

24/07/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Guard | Maintaining

Class #581
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 24/07/2014

Useful drilling tonight, which gave me something I could add to my maintaining open guard drilling sequences. I normally have them pass, you bring your outside leg over to hook and recover, then with a shrimp, then with either a spin or a running escape. Dónal has another step I can now add, bringing that outside foot all the way over to the opposite hip to push against it. Flare the knee up to make it harder for them to push it down and backstep pass the other way, also hooking the outside of their nearest leg with your other foot to further prevent that backstep.

That was the technique for tonight, with the rest of class dedicated to sparring. As I mentioned last week, it has been super hot (for the UK) this summer, just like last year. I therefore prepared carefully this time, bringing my lightest, most breathable gi (the Gimono) and not wearing my usual spats (I missed the compression, but it was worth it for less heat). I also made a point of conserving my energy in sparring, so no techniques that required lots of running around or straining.

In specific sparring, I was surprised at how effective that bullfighter pass I've been teaching this week proved to be. Essentially just the principle of dropping your shoulder into their hips as soon as you are past their knees meant I was able to pass almost every time, very unusual for me even when it's white and blue belts. It was also low energy: with my usual knee cut, that can take a bit more shoving and pushing. With the bullfighter, I just dropped and flopped, using my hips to shove their knee further out of the way if they were trying to block.

Having said that, against more experienced opponents this would of course be less effective. Everybody was defending the bullfighter by trying to stiff arm me as I passed, but they weren't engaging their legs and hips. That meant I could take my time, control their far hip with my arm (I wasn't bringing my knee into the near hip every time though, so need to remember that), moving comfortably into side control. If they had managed to shrimp away before I could do that, it would have been much tougher. The one time I varied it up with a knee cut, I also got swept right away because I was being lazy and not pressuring down enough, or getting an underhook.

In free sparring I was similarly lazy: I just went to closed guard and locked it up. Rather than looping their head with my arm, I relied on a deep collar grip. As a result, I didn't have any soreness in my bicep and I wasn't all that tired afterwards. I also wasn't doing a whole lot though, so it wasn't proactive enough. I tried the windscreen wiper sweep a few times, but I didn't have the angle. If I'd been less cautious I would have swivelled and opened up a bit, but decided with the heat I was going to be la: opening up means more chance of landing the sweep, but also more chance of getting into a scramble.

My laziness and heat-avoidance also meant I wasn't trying the techniques I'd meant to attempt beforehand, as they also require opening up and energy. But I'll have a play with them at the open mat on Saturday, as long as there is at least one person with a gi willing to drill. :)

23/07/2014 - Teaching | Open Guard | Bullfighter Pass (Variation)

Teaching #169
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 23/07/2014

I went with what I think is the most simple version of the bullfighter on Monday, but there are lots of variations. Monday's version was about moving backwards and pinning their legs to the mat. Tonight, the focus was driving forwards into them, after you've established your grips inside their knees. That should generate a reaction, as they will kick back. Direct that kick to your side as you step around. Saulo likes to open out their far leg while pulling their near leg across his body. That motion should swivel them in place for an easy pass. Even simpler, as you drive in and they react, fire their legs out to the side as you step around.

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.

To finish the pass there are two main options. Either you can drop your shoulder into their hip, falling forward like in Monday's version. If the position you're in doesn't lend itself to that, then simply moving into knee on belly may make more sense. Experiment with both: it will depend on the configuration of your body once you pass their legs.

Also, to keep mentioning this, the Artemis BJJ FREE women's class starts next week on Wednesday, 18:30-19:30 at Bristol Sports Centre! Hooray! Full details here.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: I wasn't certain which variation would be best to show tonight, so I had four or five in my head to play with. As it turned out, I ended up showing three. My intention was to go with the Saulo method of opening up the far leg then pushing the near leg across, then I found myself throwing in the other option where you fire their legs off to the side. During progressive resistance, some people were getting very low and having some problems finishing off the pass. I therefore added in yet another pass, as it seemed to fit well with that position.

It's one from the excellent Passing the Guard book by Beneville and Cartmell, in the standing passes section. If you've got that grip on the inside of the knees and you've dipped low, you may be able to hook your elbow under their leg. Lean into that leg, shoving the other leg to the mat. You can now move around their legs in a similar motion to underhook passes you might be familiar with when passing closed guard.

Another one I could have shown would be another Saulo option, where you start by grabbing the belt and putting your weight through that arm. Use our elbow to block their leg coming over for a lasso style spider guard. Your other hand is gripping their other leg. Lean on your belt arm, moving around, then when you feel the opportunity, shove their leg across with your trouser grip as you drop your shoulder into them to pass.

So, next time I'll try to stick with just one pass and see how that goes. It's difficult to overcome the compulsion to throw in more details, especially when it's an area I'm less confident about, like passing. Then again, it depends on the student: some people want more details. Saving them up for during drilling and the like is probably better though, instead of complicating the main demonstration.

I was able to fit in some sparring, which was cool. I kept things relatively light to give people a chance to practice the passes (although my open guard isn't great anyway), seeing if they would be able to block my legs as I attempted to circle them round. I managed to do a butterfly sweep from a random position, where I had my shins against theirs. I haven't really looked into the guard associated with that, but it worked well that time (although that was mainly just down to luck in terms of being in the right place).

There was some very nice passing movements going on, like Rafal's nifty backstep mid-pass to spin to the other side. I wasn't doing anything as swish as that on top, playing around with different movements, like that low percentage "shove their legs down and pop straight over to mount" move. Rather than smoothly moving into mount, I stepped right into a double-ankle grab sweep, which serves me right for being cheeky. ;)

21/07/2014 - Teaching | Open Guard | Bullfighter Pass

Teaching #168
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/07/2014

Quick announcement before I start: the FREE women's class starts next week on Wednesday, 18:30-19:30 at Bristol Sports Centre! Hooray! Full details here. :D
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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 parallel to their lower legs. Be sure to keep your elbows inside their knees: if they do manage to loop an arm, you may need to release and then regrip back inside their knee.

That means you can then start to move their legs in several directions. There are many variations of the bullfighter pass (also called the toreador, toreana, toreada, toreando and matador, among other names. Google tells me the Portuguese for bullfighter is in fact 'toureiro'), but I think the simplest is to step back when you have that grip, so that the soles of their feet press into the floor. Straighten your arms and lean through them, so that all your weight is punching downwards towards the mat.

The aim is to prevent them being able to move their legs, so that you can now walk around before they are able to recover. As soon as you get past their knees, drop your leading shoulder into their hip, falling forward. Maintain at least one grip on their leg, as otherwise they may be able to start to recover by getting a leg in the way. Your next priority is to block their hips, so release one grip in order to bring an elbow around their far hip. Drive your near knee into their near hip, then move up into side control.

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Teaching Notes: I think this is probably the simplest version to teach, but there are a lot of variations to choose from. I was aiming to pick something that was easy to pick up, which people could then hopefully build on, based on their own game. The more difficult choice will be what variation to add on Wednesday: I have one in mind, but I'll be checking through my notes again to see if that follows on best. I need something that shows a different way of using the bullfighter pass, so people can see different principles.

It was good to see that people were getting the idea and successfully using the pass in sparring. Also great that people were managing to switch between the bullfighter and the knee cut we did last week. :)

I found when drilling this in progressive resistance (as it was odd numbers) that the option of driving one leg to the floor and moving around worked a few times, as did shifting directions. Combining it with the knee cut can work too, though I wasn't doing that all that well myself. I think I'm probably going to go with the option of pushing forwards into them to get them to kick back, then redirecting their legs to pass. Even that has a bunch of variations, so again I'll need to think what the best option is. I'm looking forward to exploring it some more on Wednesday. :)

17/07/2014 - Artemis BJJ | de la Riva Guard | Sweep

Class #580
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK -17/07/2014

Dónal announced we were having flying lessons, which meant some flashy sweeps on the horizon. He started off with a drill to help work on our ability to balance somebody's weight on our legs. Feet on their hips, grabbing both sleeves, then lifting them up into the air, like you would with a small child.

That progressed to a de la Riva sweep. Starting from the de la Riva, you again lift them into the air, pulling on their sleeve. This time, you've only got one sleeve, as your other hand is grabbing the heel, in order to secure your de la Riva hook. They are probably going to pull back on the sleeve, whereupon you switch to grabbing high on their collar. Pull your arm right back, flaring the elbow, then lifting slightly with your legs, flip them over and roll into mount. Not a high percentage option, but fun if you can land it. :)

Today was, for the UK at least, hot. That was exacerbated by the gym itself: Impact gets really hot, as it's in an old warehouse with a glass roof. As a result, I was completely exhausted after training. Sparring wasn't especially intense and the warm-up wasn't too bad, it was just the heat and dehydration. I normally have a very passive style of rolling, but coupled with that exhaustion, I was about as active as a dead fish.

Rolling against someone who didn't have a gi, that took away my safety grips. I therefore spent the roll flopping around underneath without being able to get much control, until eventually I made a mistake when I somehow got on top and started to pass. I was going for a stack pass, but made the basic error of leaving an arm in without pulling the elbow back. That put me right in a triangle: as I tried to pop out, the armbar was right there. No gi is bad enough when I can move, but in the heat I was completely incapable of doing anything.

The other two rolls were against people with a gi, so I was able to clamp on to a collar and stall (I did get mount at one point, where again you can just lie on them without having to move all that much). I attempted to kick out their leg and sweep once or twice, either in an elevator or scissor style, but I'm forgetting to pull them up into me first. That was about the most attacking move I managed all day.

Despite guzzling a big bottle of water, I still felt destroyed at the end of class. Almost certainly the slowest cycle home I've ever done. If this is what I'm like after a mere British hot day, then clearly I shouldn't even consider training in Brazil! ;)

16/07/2014 - Teaching | Open Guard | Knee Cut

Teaching #167
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/07/2014

With the knee cut pass, the basic idea is to step between their legs in open guard, with one leg on the outside. Of course, most people aren't going to just let you cut across their leg, so you'll need to get into a solid position to do it. A while back, Dónal showed me a good option for this, which he in turn learned from his instructor.

First off, you want to get a good grip on their legs, to limit their mobility: grabbing the material by their knees tends to be a good option. Next, you want a grip on their collar. If you simply reach for it, you're asking to get triangled. So, being careful to keep your elbows inside their legs, drive your leg forwards into theirs. Keep driving forward until you can safely grip high on their same side collar, pulling them back towards you as much as possible. You want to curl their body, so their shoulders are off the ground. This makes it much harder for them to sweep you.

Drop into a relatively low crouch, legs apart for base. They will probably have a foot on your hip at this point: if they do, your grip with be on the trouser material by their shin. Turn your leg inwards slightly, pressing into their foot. With the grip you have on their trousers, shove their leg down, swinging your own leg backwards, then stepping over their leg. The grip you have on their trousers is important here: you're going to roll your knuckles down so that they are pressing into the shin, straightening your arm. This provides a firm control.

Next, you're going to cut across their thigh (still on the leg you just stuffed with your grip), using your opposite knee. As you do, also be sure to yank them towards that side with your collar grip, again to prevent sweeps. Drop in low, trying to secure an underhook, also keeping your head in tight. To get the underhook, put your elbow on their side, then circle your arm around, rather than diving straight for the underhook. You can also just maintain your grip on their collar.

Either way, it is essential that you have your elbow inside. You don't want them to either be able to bring their arm inside for an underhook, or insert their knee in front of you. If they can manage the knee or the underhook, the pass isn't impossible, but it makes it a lot more difficult to finish.

When you've pinned their leg with your shin, you can switch your grip from their leg to their arm (or even better, just below their elbow) and pull up. To further establish control, you could try shoving your head next to theirs, like in the picture on the right. To finish, you'll slide through over their thigh. To secure your position, walk your hips back before you settle (there is a good Mendes brothers video on this), getting your hips underneath them to shove their legs out of the way. That's when you can then solidify your side control.
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Teaching Notes: I've taught the knee cut before, when I split it into a basic and then a more detailed version. I wanted to try and condense that into one class this time, refining it to the most important details. There are three key details to emphasise: your initial grip, cutting your knee across and establishing control of the upper body.

I'm not sure I condensed it all that well: it still felt like there were a lot of details, rather than concise summary of key points I was aiming for. Then again, I don't think I was going over the top with details like I sometimes have in the past: either way, I'd like to refine the structure next time. It was especially cool to see a lot of people using the knee cut later in sparring, which hopefully indicates those details were useful. :)

14/07/2014 - Teaching | Open Guard | Back Take from de la Riva

Teaching #166
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/07/2014

The tripod and sickle sweeps I taught last week work well together. There is a third option too, if your partner steps back to avoid those sweeps, putting themself into a sideways-on stance. Although that means they can probably avoid your earlier sweeps, they are now vulnerable to a back take. You can of course also do this technique to start with, if they give you the position, but I normally find it becomes available as a follow up.

Starts off from a de la Riva hook, where you are threading your leg from the outside of theirs to the inside, so that you can wrap your instep by their inner thigh. If they're standing sideways, then after securing your de la Riva hook, it should be possible to bring your other leg around behind the same leg you're hooking (kicking your de a Riva hook through to their far hip can help too). Use your second leg to pull yourself around to their back: this is a good application of the warm-up drill where you use your legs to circle around your partner, pushing and pulling yourself around their legs.

If you're holding their sleeve, switch your hand to their belt as you shift your position. This will give you control and it will also provide something you can pull to finish the technique. You could try grabbing their gi, especially if the belt is loose, but the belt is probably the strongest grip as long as they still have it tied. Put both your insteps or shins behind both their knees. From there, kick out your legs and pull on their belt. This should drop them directly into back mount, whereupon you immediately secure your preferred grip with the arms (I'd recommend the seat-belt, which I last taught here).
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: Building up to the technique via several related drills, like the circling round with your legs and the guard recovering as they pass, seemed to fit together fairly well. I could perhaps emphasise kicking the de la Riva hook deeper, along with the importance of hip movement, but that facility with the legs tends to be something that develops over time.

It was odd numbers, so I jumped in to the sparring at the end. I'm still not combining attacks well enough and I'm also not shoulder walking as quickly as I should, though it's improving. I am throwing in that windscreen wiper sweep, which is good, but it isn't yet instinctive (I keep forgetting about their arm, for a start) and I'm again not flowing on to anything else very well from it. Switching into butterfly is something I should be thinking about more, as well as breaking grips more readily.

09/07/2014 - Teaching | Open Guard | Sickle Sweep

Teaching #165
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/07/2014

The tripod sweep I taught on Monday combines well with the similar sickle sweep: as always in BJJ, that almost certainly has other names (the most common alternative is 'hook sweep'), but I'm using the term from Theory & Technique (page 226). A good time to try this is if when you attempt the tripod sweep, they kick their leg free from your hooking hand. You could attempt to readjust to recover your position, but it is probably easier to pull yourself towards their other leg with your hooking foot, grabbing the heel on that side and changing your feet position to go for the sickle.

Of course, the sickle works on its own too. Indeed, Rener teaches this before the tripod on Gracie University. The entry he shows is to hook their leg, pulling yourself in to grab their ankle, then switching into the sickle position: foot on the ankle-grabbed side hip, then chopping low on their other leg with your other leg, using your calf or possibly your heel.

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

In order to get the angle, you'll have to turn towards them (or like Rener shows, hook their leg to pull yourself in. If you're going from the tripod, you'll already have their leg hooked). Note that when you follow them up this time, your other knee will be raised. That means you'll need to make sure to shove their leg down and step over, enabling you to complete your knee slide. Remember, there is also the other option of trying the technical stand up instead.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: Like with the tripod, I think people had a little bit of trouble popping up after the sweep. The knee cut feels like the most intuitive option with the sickle, as you end up with your foot behind their leg, perfect to drive straight into the knee cut. Or rather, I end up with my foot behind their leg. A few people when drilling had the foot in front of the leg, which was interesting: different people, different body types, different ways of executing the sweep and different finishing positions. Something I need to keep in mind and adjust for. Also, I forgot to do that knee thrust drill again - next time, must remember!

I fit in a quick roll with Dónal at the end, always useful because I know that he can not only smash me, he's also going to have good advice. I was mostly on the defensive as usual, trying to wriggle out of a choke. I often find myself in a situation where I'm staying slightly ahead, but rapidly losing ground: somebody more experienced will tend to catch up and finish the submission.

It's interesting to see if I can free myself. This time, I was trying to both spin in a direction that would relieve choking pressure, also reaching back for the elbow to pull the arm off. I held off that choke for a little while, but eventually Dónal blocked my escape route by shifting his grip and finishing off the submission. When we restarted I had a brief attempt at some kind of sweep, wrapping the gi over his back and lifting his leg, but didn't get the angle or the leverage (and Dónal's base is obviously very good).

08/07/2014 - Artemis BJJ | de la Riva Guard | Removing the Hook & Passing

Class #579
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 08/07/2014

More de la Riva tonight, this time looking at passing. The first thing you want to do is get rid of that hook. Drive your leg into the back of theirs so that you can bring your heel back slightly, then flare your leg out to pop their hook off. Grab their other leg, pushing their knee towards their chest. That should make it easier to shove their leg across your body, going into a squat and pushing their leg over so you're right into a leg drag position.

The second passing option was essentially the one that Dónal showed me in a private last year. Again free your leg of their de la Riva hook, then shove their other foot down by pushing with your hand (specifically, with the v of your finger and thumb) into the part where their leg joins their instep. If they are pushing into your leg, turn it inwards to reduce the pressure. When you've pushed their leg down, swing your own leg up, pushing their leg across underneath your other leg, so you can sit on it.

In specific sparring, I was being too lazy with sparring, as I wasn't popping their hook off. Instead, I was shoving their other leg down and moving straight into the knee cut. That worked a few times, but the problem is that if it doesn't entirely work and they still have that hook, you might find yourself getting swept mid-pass. I need to make popping off that hook instinctive and natural, which at the moment it isn't. Getting into free sparring, I fit in a few sweeps, going off what Josh said in his comment recently (I think? Can't quite remember how I knocked them over). Useful principle to keep in mind.

After class finished, Dónal was showing Paul a nifty looking choke from top half guard. Reach your top hand to their opposite collar, getting a deep grip. Your top hand grips around their shoulder on the other side, dropping your elbow down and bringing your weight to bear for the choke. I think. Something to play with. :)

07/07/2014 - Teaching | Open Guard | Tripod Sweep

Teaching #164
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 07/07/2014

We've covered maintaining open guard, so next I wanted to add in two basic, high percentage sweeps. They are each known by a whole variety of different names: I'll use the terms I'm familiar with. They also both start from the same position, which is apparently known as 'cross-guard'. As with the previous lesson, this owes a lot to Kev Capel, who taught several excellent classes at RGA Bucks on the topic I'm about to cover.

For the tripod sweep, you can set it up in lots of ways. I went for the simple option of hooking their leg, using that to pull yourself in towards them and grab their other leg with your other hand. When you grab for the ankle, you can control it in two main ways. Simply grabbing their heel is the quickest, but that means there is a chance the can kick their foot forwards and dislodge your grip. If you grab the trouser cuff instead, that escape becomes much harder for them.

With the heel grab, a good tip from Kev is to pull that ankle onto your hip, clamping it there. This should also help with off-balancing them. You can also simply sit on it. Either way, remember to keep your other hook behind their knee tense, as you don't want them to free that leg and step around, because that will enable them to regain their balance. You can also put it lower on the leg, or even right behind their foot, but be careful, as just like the heel grip, that can increase the risk that they'll step out and avoid your control.

Once you knock them down, because you have that grip on their sleeve, you can pull yourself up as they go back, moving through into side control. It also stops them basing with that hand, as you're sweeping in that direction (which is why you use a cross grip, rather than same side). Should you lose your sleeve grip, the sweep is still there, but it will be harder to sit up and move through to side control.

If you're having trouble knocking them down, angle the direction of your push a little, in the direction you want them to fall. It is important that you react decisively after you've knocked them down. Otherwise, they'll simply get up first, returning to your guard. That would mean you were back where you started.

As ever, there are a couple of options. My preference is to come up and slide your inside knee over their leg, leaning your body towards them: you may find it useful to keep hold of their foot (which means you are both basing on your hand and maintaining control of their leg) to stop them moving, but you can still pass without doing so. Your other foot will step over their other leg, like a typical knee slide pass. From there, you can grab their sleeve, underhook their far armpit, them slide through into modified scarf hold. If for some reason you get your knee stuck in their gi, which has happened to me in the past, change your grip to their elbow, drop your bodyweight and move into side control. Here's my instructor at RGA Bucks, Kev Capel, demonstrating the full sweep:



You'll notice the finish is different in that video: instead of the tight knee slide, you can do a sort of technical stand-up which ends up with a looser pass. This is the option I went with tonight, as I thought that might be easier, but both options are equally good. For the stand-up, after you've knocked them down, put your hooking foot on the floor, bringing your other leg behind you.

From there, stand up, still holding on to their trouser leg (you could also keep hold of the sleeve, which will enable you to pull on both limbs for the pass, but it makes it harder to stand up), pulling up. That will make it difficult for them to recover, as you move around to a dominant position like side control or knee on belly. Standing up when someone has your foot in the air is hard.
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Teaching Notes: I went with the technical stand-up option tonight, but I think next time, I'll go with the knee cut option. It seems that people had an easier time understanding that one than the technical stand up. I should also explain it more carefully, along with the drill. So, the hand that was grabbing the heel now pushes into their leg, pinning it to the floor and becoming your basing hand. Your other leg becomes your second base point, then you stand up from there. You remaining hand may or may not be gripping their sleeve, but this works either way.

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

I also put in that drill from the weekend, where you spin around to guard. It's possibly a bit complex, but a fun one to try. Bring your outside leg over, putting your shin on their near side thigh. That leg is going to stay in place for the rest of the drill.

With your nearest hand, reach to their far leg: you can either hook behind or grab the trouser leg. Raise your hips and swivel, using your shin on their thigh as the pivot point. Keep spinning until you return to a guard position in front of them. You'll probably need to pull yourself across a little with that gripping/hooking hand.

There were a bunch of extra things I could have put in here from the last time I taught it. I might add them in next time, so I'll leave them in this bit for the moment -

Saulo shows the tripod sweep a little differently in his excellent book, Jiu Jitsu University. On page 163, you can see that he starts from the foot in bicep open guard I'm fond of myself. I notice that in the picture, there is also a variation in gripping that ankle: Xande is holding the front of the bottom trouser leg, rather than the back. On Xande's DVD, he also uses a different grip for the tripod, grabbing high on their collar rather than controlling the arm. If you can get it, this has the advantage of breaking their posture even more than the sleeve grip.

[...] the easiest way to start off is probably grabbing their sleeve with both hands, pulling it in tight, locking your elbows to your sides. Put your feet on your hips to control the distance. You are looking to now block off one side, so put your foot on their hip and grab their same side ankle. This should leave you gripping their sleeve with your opposite hand. On that opposite side, hook behind their knee. From here, you're going to push with your hip foot, pull with your knee foot and block with your foot hand. That should knock them over, meaning you can come on top.