Class #564
Fabio Novaes BJJ, Stephanie McClish, Lakeland, FL, USA - 29/04/2014
My next stop after West Palm Beach was Lakeland, a few hours further north into Florida, where away from the beach it becomes rural. The reason I headed that way, as usual, was more cool bloggers, this time the McClish sisters. Allie picked me up from the train station in order to get me checked in at the AirBnB, then Stephanie drove me to Fabio Novaes Jiu Jitsu about an hour later.
I've followed both of their blogs for many years now, as well as reading both of them write about running a women's class. Allie started it off, a responsibility that has since passed to Stephanie. I already knew from seeing her at the Boca that she's a dedicated coach, so it was cool to experience one of her classes. Although it's a women's class, men have been invited along a number of times: I was one of two men there tonight.
Stephanie kicks off with a 'circuit training' style warm-up, with four stations in each corner of the mat. You start off with jumping jacks, then kimura sit ups (in other words, diagonal rather than square on with your knees), mountain climbers and finally using a Swiss ball to swivel onto your front then back again. I think it was two minutes every time, with two or three people at each station.
The topic for this month is half guard, as Stephanie noticed that some of her students were having issues with half guard at the Boca Open. To start off we did some specific sparring from half guard, keeping things fairly light. I was with the other guy in class, Patrick. Underneath, I did my terrified squirrl impression and clung on tightly to his leg, spending most of it in quarter-guard (so, clinging to the lower part of the leg). He basically had back control at the end, wriggling that second hook into place.
On top, I got swept a lot. I wasn't able to dig out any space for the underhook, reverting to that position where you are turned towards their legs. I could perhaps have used my head next to theirs for more control, clamping my elbow. Either way, Patrick was able to get underneath me every time and roll me over, so my base wasn't solid enough and my grips were poor. Good reminder that I should think more carefully about half guard passing! :)
Technique for tonight was a straight-forward half guard sweep. Assuming you don't have the underhook next, get up on your side and bring your top arm in front of their face, swivelling it to reach past their armpit. Use that to slide down towards their legs, reaching through their legs with your bottom arm. Link your hands together.
Stretch out their leg on that side with your own. Making sure you keep your inside leg over their calf (otherwise they can just step into mount), push off with your outside foot and roll them away from you, moving to the top position. Be careful of staying too close to their legs: if you leave your head and arm inside their legs, they can go for a triangle. Once you're on top, you should be able to move into side control, sliding past their leg.
The other option is almost exactly the same, except that you roll them the other way, over your body. This feels more natural, though like Patrick said, that could just be because of our jiu jitsu instincts. For somone who hasn't trained before, perhaps the other way would feel more intuitive. ;)
Class finished off with several rounds of sparring. I had a light roll with Stephanie, who is recovering from a knee injury. That prevents her from standing up to pass, which meant I wasn't going to the gi grips I've been playing with recently. At some point I got on top and tried for the spinning gi lapel choke, but I went for it too early, without having secured enough gi by her neck.
I had a few rolls with several of the other women in the class, who had good hip movement and plenty of energy. Maria pretty much had a rear naked choke locked on from a smooth transition, but I think her elbow wasn't quite by my chin, so I had enough space to squirm out.
Sparring with Patrick involved me getting choked. I was falling into the trap of going to the running escape then having my back taken. The first one was a rear naked choke (I think?), followed by a bow and arrow grip finished with his fre arm sliding behind my head. I remembered to pull on the elbow to escape one bow and arrow type attempt, but couldn't manage it the second time.
I also kept getting my arm trapped between his legs, I think because I was looking to go to deep half from mount. I need to keep in mind the primary rule for escaping the back: protect your neck! I'm getting complacent on that, which leads to being choked. ;)
I really liked the atmosphere at the women's class: everyone was very friendly and the rolls were at a good pace. As Artemis BJJ will soon be starting a womens class, I'm keen to glean any tips, especially given Stephanie's approach has been so successful. The number of women at the club has grown from 1 to over 20 since Allie and Stephanie started: if we can manage that at Artemis it would be awesome! :D
29 April 2014
28 April 2014
28/04/2014 - American Top Team West Palm Beach (Open Mat)
Class #563
American Top Team (BJJ), Open Mat, West Palm Beach, FL, USA - 28/04/2014
One of my favourite bloggers for many years now has been the erudite Megan, who runs Tangled Triangle and Groundwork. She managed to arrange for us to head into the spacious ATT West Palm Beach gym and hit the mats for around 1.5hrs of rolling and drilling. We started off with some light rolling, where again I was playing with the gi lapel from guard, as it is so much easier on my fingers than spider guard. I was mostly just trying to maintain my guard, wriggling around to square back up: I think I am relying too much on flexibility sometimes with that, as my legs occasionally get into odd positions that probably aren't entirely safe.
I can't remember how exactly, but I later ended up on top, passing from half guard with the knee cut to then shift to side control and mount, my favourite progression from the top. In mount I was attempting to walk up into the armpits and trap the arms like always.
This time I did something different, deciding to feed my lapel to the arm I have under the head, then step off into side control to finish off the spinning gi lapel choke (I need to think of a name for that: I know there was a name for it on MGinAction that I mentioned last time I tauht this, so I'll look that up next time I'm on a laptop rather than my phone).
That's a transition I don't think about often, but it's worth considering. I'm not sure I'm comfortable giving up mount for side control, as it's lower down the positional hierarchy, but then again if I have a submission cinched in, it is perhaps a sensible exception. I went for the bow and arrow as well at some point, which I'm continuing to try and improve (for the possibly dubious reason that I kind of think I should due to calling my club 'Artemis BJJ'. ;D).
We then got into a load of drilling. Megan had mentioned she wanted to work on her mount control, so I shared what I do, especially thrusting the hips through and clamping the soles of your feet to their sides, as well as tucking your feet under their bum. I also mentioned the 'think of mount as guard except you're sat on them' idea, as I've found that a helpful concept to keep in mind.
A bit of specific sparring enabled me to add in some other possibilities, such as the way I tend to escape mount by digging under their knee with my elbow. If they turn to technical mount, I push their raised leg over and around my knee to get some leverage to squeeze through and escape.
It seemed that if Megan put her bum further back, sitting towards rather than her weight coming forwards, I had much less space. I'm not certain if that reduces control, but it felt tougher for me to escape. Switching swiftly to the back worked for Megan too, as then I didn't have time to start shoving my knee through.
I also shared the low mount escape Michel Verhoeven showed me at his seminar, where he does a series of short bumps to get his arm under, putting the hand by the opposite hip. He stiff arms into that hip and shoves, with the intention of opening up enough space to initiate an escape.
We also had a play with stuff from guard. I gave one of Mikal's sweeps a go, where he pushes their arm back then hooks it with the leg he has around their back, locking his instep by the crook of their elbow. He uses that to then roll them over. Megan suggested that it could be a nifty way to set up a triangle too, which felt very smooth when she did it.
American Top Team (BJJ), Open Mat, West Palm Beach, FL, USA - 28/04/2014
One of my favourite bloggers for many years now has been the erudite Megan, who runs Tangled Triangle and Groundwork. She managed to arrange for us to head into the spacious ATT West Palm Beach gym and hit the mats for around 1.5hrs of rolling and drilling. We started off with some light rolling, where again I was playing with the gi lapel from guard, as it is so much easier on my fingers than spider guard. I was mostly just trying to maintain my guard, wriggling around to square back up: I think I am relying too much on flexibility sometimes with that, as my legs occasionally get into odd positions that probably aren't entirely safe.
I can't remember how exactly, but I later ended up on top, passing from half guard with the knee cut to then shift to side control and mount, my favourite progression from the top. In mount I was attempting to walk up into the armpits and trap the arms like always.
This time I did something different, deciding to feed my lapel to the arm I have under the head, then step off into side control to finish off the spinning gi lapel choke (I need to think of a name for that: I know there was a name for it on MGinAction that I mentioned last time I tauht this, so I'll look that up next time I'm on a laptop rather than my phone).
That's a transition I don't think about often, but it's worth considering. I'm not sure I'm comfortable giving up mount for side control, as it's lower down the positional hierarchy, but then again if I have a submission cinched in, it is perhaps a sensible exception. I went for the bow and arrow as well at some point, which I'm continuing to try and improve (for the possibly dubious reason that I kind of think I should due to calling my club 'Artemis BJJ'. ;D).
We then got into a load of drilling. Megan had mentioned she wanted to work on her mount control, so I shared what I do, especially thrusting the hips through and clamping the soles of your feet to their sides, as well as tucking your feet under their bum. I also mentioned the 'think of mount as guard except you're sat on them' idea, as I've found that a helpful concept to keep in mind.
A bit of specific sparring enabled me to add in some other possibilities, such as the way I tend to escape mount by digging under their knee with my elbow. If they turn to technical mount, I push their raised leg over and around my knee to get some leverage to squeeze through and escape.
It seemed that if Megan put her bum further back, sitting towards rather than her weight coming forwards, I had much less space. I'm not certain if that reduces control, but it felt tougher for me to escape. Switching swiftly to the back worked for Megan too, as then I didn't have time to start shoving my knee through.
I also shared the low mount escape Michel Verhoeven showed me at his seminar, where he does a series of short bumps to get his arm under, putting the hand by the opposite hip. He stiff arms into that hip and shoves, with the intention of opening up enough space to initiate an escape.
We also had a play with stuff from guard. I gave one of Mikal's sweeps a go, where he pushes their arm back then hooks it with the leg he has around their back, locking his instep by the crook of their elbow. He uses that to then roll them over. Megan suggested that it could be a nifty way to set up a triangle too, which felt very smooth when she did it.
25 April 2014
USA, Texas - 21st-25th April 2014
After arriving from Virginia, I was originally planning to be in Austin for four full days, but due to how the flights worked out it ended up being three. Nevertheless, it was cool to be going back, as I had such a great time in 2012. The flight from Norfolk, VA was simple enough, though I did get worried when the pilot started saying something about the weather affecting flights. Fortunately for me, it didn't cause any problems getting to Dallas: I arrived on schedule and easily made my connection.
I saw Austin as my 'home base', because I already knew from experience that Georgette was an incredible host. After she picked me up from Austin's airport, there was a Fenom gi waiting for me and my exciting new trousers from Clothing Arts. Yes, I get excited at the prospect of new trousers, especially when they have so many pockets! :D
I was great to catch up with Georgette over the next few days, as well as revelling in the the wonderful smell of her house. I don't know if it is the washing powder, the Yankee Candles or some kind of magic Ausin scent, but my clothes have a fantastic aroma for weeks after I've stayed at the Georgette residence. ;)
Mitch was also very hospitable, just like last time, driving me to various spots in Austin. The first one was Mikal's new jiu jitsu venture, Aces Jiu Jitsu Club. He has an excellent facility and a cool group of students. Mikal showed Mitch and I around, then we hung out for a while before class, Mikal filling me in on how he'd gone about setting up the new school.
After class, I headed to a local park with the students, where they put down a mat and got in some rolling right there. The weather was hot (at least by my UK standards), perfect for taking a dip in the nearby river. With lots of Austinites in their swimming gear, the massive abundance of tattoos was made clear. I've long wanted to get a second bit of body art and being in Austin encourage me further. There is a cool 'alternative' vibe in Austin, which come to think of it is there back home in Bristol too. I later trained with Georgette at the spacious Gracie Humaita Austin school, a place I almost felt like I already knew after reading so much about it on Georgette's blog.
On the Wednesday I walked over from Georgette's office to the University of Austin campus. Last time I visited was in November out of term-time: in April with all the students there the atmosphere is a lot more vibrant, as you would expect. Jesse, who I first met in 2012, showed me around the area, wandering up the clock tower and enjoying the various bits of art dotted around campus. There is a large statue in a fountain, which I think is some kind of commemoration of the United States entry into the First World War, judging by the 1917 date and the military helmets on the statues. Either way it was fun to speculate.
I also got to add to that expanding category, 'bloggers I have met in the real world'. This time it was John from the ILoveLegLocks blog, who has moved back to Austin from Korea. He is studying for a Masters at the university, so it was rather fitting that we then had a look around the Ransom, a museum based on campus. Entry is free, with a cloakroom type thing behind the desk. It's just a load of large shelves with dividers (enough space for an average size backpack), but John assured me that he often left his stuff there: appears to be fairly safe.
They have a number of interesting exhibits, including a Gutenberg bible and what is apparently the first ever photograph. If I remember the display correctly, it was taken in France during 1826. The picture is difficult to make out, as not only is it blurry, it's housed in an area without much light, to avoid damage. However, you can tell from the captions and the reproductions outside the dark area that it's a view from a window, showing a house.
A more extensive exhibition was dedicated to the posters and propaganda of the First Word War. I studied the two World Wars for GCSE history and recognised a number of them, especially the 'mad brute' by Harry Ryle Hopps, demonising Germany. Interestingly enough, that image was sufficiently infamous that Goebbels reprinted it in 1939, titled 'the old hatred, the old goal'! He meant it as an indictment of American slander (the alleged Belgian atrocities referenced by the original poster were not well founded in fact, from what I remember of my GCSE), but given the horrors Goebbels initiated, the line could be interpreted rather differently. The material in the exhibition was from various countries, mainly the USA and UK, with a few from Germany too, IIRC. Either way, well worth checking out if you have any interest in World War I.
On the last day I met up with jnp from Bullshido, who gave me a load of great advice about BJJ in 2012. Unfortunately he has picked up an injury so we weren't able to train this time, but that didn't matter as John is a brilliant conversationalist. I always enjoy hanging out with him, and also enjoyed being a brief part of the tight-knit community where he lives. :)
Georgette was also injured, so we weren't able to roll that day as we'd originally planned: my own fault for not taking the chance to join the sparring class the day before. Then again, it just means I've got another great reason to visit for a third time in he future. I did at least get to train for a third time in Austin, on the University of Texas campus with John T.
On Friday, Mitch drove me back to the airport, where I was once again flying to Dallas, before getting my connection to West Palm Beach in Florida.
I saw Austin as my 'home base', because I already knew from experience that Georgette was an incredible host. After she picked me up from Austin's airport, there was a Fenom gi waiting for me and my exciting new trousers from Clothing Arts. Yes, I get excited at the prospect of new trousers, especially when they have so many pockets! :D
I was great to catch up with Georgette over the next few days, as well as revelling in the the wonderful smell of her house. I don't know if it is the washing powder, the Yankee Candles or some kind of magic Ausin scent, but my clothes have a fantastic aroma for weeks after I've stayed at the Georgette residence. ;)
Mitch was also very hospitable, just like last time, driving me to various spots in Austin. The first one was Mikal's new jiu jitsu venture, Aces Jiu Jitsu Club. He has an excellent facility and a cool group of students. Mikal showed Mitch and I around, then we hung out for a while before class, Mikal filling me in on how he'd gone about setting up the new school.
After class, I headed to a local park with the students, where they put down a mat and got in some rolling right there. The weather was hot (at least by my UK standards), perfect for taking a dip in the nearby river. With lots of Austinites in their swimming gear, the massive abundance of tattoos was made clear. I've long wanted to get a second bit of body art and being in Austin encourage me further. There is a cool 'alternative' vibe in Austin, which come to think of it is there back home in Bristol too. I later trained with Georgette at the spacious Gracie Humaita Austin school, a place I almost felt like I already knew after reading so much about it on Georgette's blog.
On the Wednesday I walked over from Georgette's office to the University of Austin campus. Last time I visited was in November out of term-time: in April with all the students there the atmosphere is a lot more vibrant, as you would expect. Jesse, who I first met in 2012, showed me around the area, wandering up the clock tower and enjoying the various bits of art dotted around campus. There is a large statue in a fountain, which I think is some kind of commemoration of the United States entry into the First World War, judging by the 1917 date and the military helmets on the statues. Either way it was fun to speculate.I also got to add to that expanding category, 'bloggers I have met in the real world'. This time it was John from the ILoveLegLocks blog, who has moved back to Austin from Korea. He is studying for a Masters at the university, so it was rather fitting that we then had a look around the Ransom, a museum based on campus. Entry is free, with a cloakroom type thing behind the desk. It's just a load of large shelves with dividers (enough space for an average size backpack), but John assured me that he often left his stuff there: appears to be fairly safe.
They have a number of interesting exhibits, including a Gutenberg bible and what is apparently the first ever photograph. If I remember the display correctly, it was taken in France during 1826. The picture is difficult to make out, as not only is it blurry, it's housed in an area without much light, to avoid damage. However, you can tell from the captions and the reproductions outside the dark area that it's a view from a window, showing a house.
A more extensive exhibition was dedicated to the posters and propaganda of the First Word War. I studied the two World Wars for GCSE history and recognised a number of them, especially the 'mad brute' by Harry Ryle Hopps, demonising Germany. Interestingly enough, that image was sufficiently infamous that Goebbels reprinted it in 1939, titled 'the old hatred, the old goal'! He meant it as an indictment of American slander (the alleged Belgian atrocities referenced by the original poster were not well founded in fact, from what I remember of my GCSE), but given the horrors Goebbels initiated, the line could be interpreted rather differently. The material in the exhibition was from various countries, mainly the USA and UK, with a few from Germany too, IIRC. Either way, well worth checking out if you have any interest in World War I. On the last day I met up with jnp from Bullshido, who gave me a load of great advice about BJJ in 2012. Unfortunately he has picked up an injury so we weren't able to train this time, but that didn't matter as John is a brilliant conversationalist. I always enjoy hanging out with him, and also enjoyed being a brief part of the tight-knit community where he lives. :)
Georgette was also injured, so we weren't able to roll that day as we'd originally planned: my own fault for not taking the chance to join the sparring class the day before. Then again, it just means I've got another great reason to visit for a third time in he future. I did at least get to train for a third time in Austin, on the University of Texas campus with John T.
On Friday, Mitch drove me back to the airport, where I was once again flying to Dallas, before getting my connection to West Palm Beach in Florida.
23 April 2014
23/04/2014 - University of Texas at Austin (Open Mat)
Class #562
University of Texas at Austin, (BJJ), Austin, TX, USA - 23/04/2014
Today I got to meet another cool blogger who I have 'known' online for a few years, who has moved back to Austin from Korea. John runs the I Love Leg Locks blog and he lives up to that name, so I spent a lot of our roll being very careful of my feet. I decided to flail at a leg lock at least once, as it seemed I really should given the name of John's blog: unsurprisingly, he tapped me not long after. ;)
John is a brown belt who now trains at the University of Texas at Austin (where he is also studying for a masters degree). That fortunately means he has access to one of the matted rooms there, so we could get in a bit of sparring and drilling. After a quick warm-up, we got in a good roll, at a fairly light pace.
As ever I failed to do a whole lot from guard. Mainly I played around with grabbing the gi tail and sticking my foot in it, but I don't really know what to do with that position. I should probably have a look at some of the random stuff people do with 'lapel guard', though I suspect it is probably too complex for me. Could be fun to try though.
One thing I should have done is Kev's 'nappy grip' sweep as they go to knee cut. Iremembered to shove the gi tail under their leg, but didn't remember to then switch grips again. Also, as John metioned later, you will have trouble rolling them if they get their hip to the mat. At least I think that's what he said, meaning I need to get underneath them to complete the sweep.
Another tip John mentioned was on passing, especially useful because it built on something I already do. I try to stay low and tight with pretty much everything I do on top. When passing, John suggested I progress from that tight position to also using my head to finish the pass. Wriggle it down next to their head and use it as a sort of third arm. Sounds like a good plan, so I'm looking forwrd to giving that a go next time I'm struggling to pass (which is most of the time when I'm trying to pass).
My back escape remains too sloppy. I keep forgetting to implement what I learned from Dónal, so I think I'd benefit from lots of drilling on back esapes. When I get back to the UK, Artemis BJJ will have started its expanded schedule, including open mat time: I see copious back escape drills in my future.
Jesse was going to join us, but something important came up, meaning he didn't make it over until I was about to leave. Still, he did at least get to roll with John (who is a lot more beneficial to roll with than me: it would be interesting to take a class with him, as he's clearly a decent teacher).
University of Texas at Austin, (BJJ), Austin, TX, USA - 23/04/2014
Today I got to meet another cool blogger who I have 'known' online for a few years, who has moved back to Austin from Korea. John runs the I Love Leg Locks blog and he lives up to that name, so I spent a lot of our roll being very careful of my feet. I decided to flail at a leg lock at least once, as it seemed I really should given the name of John's blog: unsurprisingly, he tapped me not long after. ;)John is a brown belt who now trains at the University of Texas at Austin (where he is also studying for a masters degree). That fortunately means he has access to one of the matted rooms there, so we could get in a bit of sparring and drilling. After a quick warm-up, we got in a good roll, at a fairly light pace.
As ever I failed to do a whole lot from guard. Mainly I played around with grabbing the gi tail and sticking my foot in it, but I don't really know what to do with that position. I should probably have a look at some of the random stuff people do with 'lapel guard', though I suspect it is probably too complex for me. Could be fun to try though.
One thing I should have done is Kev's 'nappy grip' sweep as they go to knee cut. Iremembered to shove the gi tail under their leg, but didn't remember to then switch grips again. Also, as John metioned later, you will have trouble rolling them if they get their hip to the mat. At least I think that's what he said, meaning I need to get underneath them to complete the sweep.
Another tip John mentioned was on passing, especially useful because it built on something I already do. I try to stay low and tight with pretty much everything I do on top. When passing, John suggested I progress from that tight position to also using my head to finish the pass. Wriggle it down next to their head and use it as a sort of third arm. Sounds like a good plan, so I'm looking forwrd to giving that a go next time I'm struggling to pass (which is most of the time when I'm trying to pass).
My back escape remains too sloppy. I keep forgetting to implement what I learned from Dónal, so I think I'd benefit from lots of drilling on back esapes. When I get back to the UK, Artemis BJJ will have started its expanded schedule, including open mat time: I see copious back escape drills in my future.
Jesse was going to join us, but something important came up, meaning he didn't make it over until I was about to leave. Still, he did at least get to roll with John (who is a lot more beneficial to roll with than me: it would be interesting to take a class with him, as he's clearly a decent teacher).
22 April 2014
22/04/2014 - Gracie Humaitá (Beginners Class)
Class #561
Gracie Humaitá, (BJJ), Paulo ‘Coelho’ Brandão, Austin, TX, USA - 22/04/2014
The first butterfly pass begins by sinking your base as low as possible. If they have both butterfly hooks rather than one ready to lift, you can box them in with your knees. Insert a knee behind their heel (if they have one leg raised, you want to put your knee by the other leg), then step out your other foot. Make sure you are stepping out rather than forward, to avoid giving them a chance to get underneath you and lift.
Using an underhook and driving with your head, spin their upper body to the ground. You aren't driving straight forward, you're steering them in a semi-circle. Basing on your head and the shoulder you have pressed into them (due to your underhook), pop your hips up. You can then knee cut across the leg where you put your knee earlier. If you need to, shove their leg to the mat with your hand.
I don't think I quite got the second variation. It starts the same, but this time they manage to initiate an underhook before you can complete your knee cut. With the arm they're trying to underhook, grasp their same side knee and clamp your elbow to your side. This is where I got a bit confused: move around (I think?), then as they try to shrimp away, cross face and complete the knee cut pass.
The main super-cool thing about tonight was finally training with Georgette. You can tell she'd be a good teacher as she's very focused on getting the technique right, regularly calling over the instructor to double-check the finer points. She also gave me a ton of useful advice as we were doing the technique, polishing specific movements, questioning grips and highlighting details. I'm keen to get in some rolling with her later this week.
I was less keen on getting in loads of rolling generally. So, I continued to be wimpy and sit out of the following hour of sparring, both because I'm lazy and I also don't want to injure myself this early in the trip. Not that I don't trust the control of the students there: I don't trust my own control, as I regularly hurt myself if I do any extensive sparring . ;)
Gracie Humaitá, (BJJ), Paulo ‘Coelho’ Brandão, Austin, TX, USA - 22/04/2014
After being dropped off by my new friends from the Aces Jiu Jitsu Club session, I headed up to Georgette's office. The next destination was Gracie Humaita Austin, another beautiful facilitiy. I've read and seen so much of that academy through Georgette's blog that a lot of it felt familiar, especially the faces I saw later on during the sparring class. The focus tonight was on butterfly passing, which Paulo said was a signature move of his.
The first butterfly pass begins by sinking your base as low as possible. If they have both butterfly hooks rather than one ready to lift, you can box them in with your knees. Insert a knee behind their heel (if they have one leg raised, you want to put your knee by the other leg), then step out your other foot. Make sure you are stepping out rather than forward, to avoid giving them a chance to get underneath you and lift.
Using an underhook and driving with your head, spin their upper body to the ground. You aren't driving straight forward, you're steering them in a semi-circle. Basing on your head and the shoulder you have pressed into them (due to your underhook), pop your hips up. You can then knee cut across the leg where you put your knee earlier. If you need to, shove their leg to the mat with your hand.
I don't think I quite got the second variation. It starts the same, but this time they manage to initiate an underhook before you can complete your knee cut. With the arm they're trying to underhook, grasp their same side knee and clamp your elbow to your side. This is where I got a bit confused: move around (I think?), then as they try to shrimp away, cross face and complete the knee cut pass.
The main super-cool thing about tonight was finally training with Georgette. You can tell she'd be a good teacher as she's very focused on getting the technique right, regularly calling over the instructor to double-check the finer points. She also gave me a ton of useful advice as we were doing the technique, polishing specific movements, questioning grips and highlighting details. I'm keen to get in some rolling with her later this week.
I was less keen on getting in loads of rolling generally. So, I continued to be wimpy and sit out of the following hour of sparring, both because I'm lazy and I also don't want to injure myself this early in the trip. Not that I don't trust the control of the students there: I don't trust my own control, as I regularly hurt myself if I do any extensive sparring . ;)
22/04/2014 - Aces Jiu Jitsu Club
Class #560
Aces Jiu Jitsu Club, (BJJ), Austin, TX, USA - 22/04/2014
I trained with Mikal last time I was in Austin, back in 2012. At that time he was a purple belt at another club, occasionally teaching class and also regularly teaching kids. I had the chance to watch him teach kids during the previous trip and was impressed by his mixture of discipline (he has a military background) and humour. It was also obvious how much he cared about helping students progress.
Almost two years later and Mikal is a brown belt with his own club, launched in September of last year. Impressively, he already has a massive space with a hundred members, a wifi lounge and even a fully matted creche (there's a handy window for both baby and parents to see each other while training).
Like we do at Artemis BJJ, Mikal also has a theme for the month. For April that was leglocks, something I have avoided for most of my time in jiu jitsu. I have a vague idea of what a straight ankle lock is and I know to grab people and pull them in towards me as a defence if they grab my foot, but that's about it. Even more outside of my experience was he specific theme for this week: 50/50 guard.
Dónal would no doubt have been amused, as right before I left to fly out this year we were talking about my aversion to what might be called 'modern' jiu jitsu, for want of a better word. But meh, it's good to at least know how to avoid the position and escape it, even if I have no intention of getting into it myself.
First off was leglocks, with a drill switching between the straight ankle lock and the cross ankle lock. Presuming I understood it, the straght ankle lock involves putting their leg by your same side hip, bringing one arm under the achilles tendon, with the cutting part of your forearm (so, just below the wrist). Reach that hand to your chest, putting the other hand palm-down on top.
Mikal had a useful visual metaphor here, a hallmark of his teaching, likening it to a romantic gesture of holding your heart. That perfectly described the position. You'll also have your outside foot on their hip, the other under their other leg, squeezing your knee together. To finish, look up then thrust your hips slightly: Mikal calls this 'Megan Fox-ing', as she's known for looking over her shoulder and pouting.
The cross ankle lock is very similar, except that you pick up their ankle and pull it across your body, to your opposite hip. The rest of the technique is the same, wrapping up under the ankle, looking up and Megan Fox-ing.
Main technique for tonight was a 50/50 armbar, which was also a footlock escape. They have a straight ankle lock secured but not locked. Grab the elbow of the arm they have under your achilles. Pull that towards you and scoot forward, while also popping your hips around as if you were trying to take the back. Kick your trapped leg through, then triangle it with your other leg.
Next you want to pry their arm free. This has a bunch of options, but to keep it simple (the class was all white belts), reach inside and wriggle the arm out. With your opposite arm, grab on the side of the elbow (another image from Mikal here, saying it's where the joint would be if they were wearing plate armour), while your other hand reaches across to grab their opposite collar.
Pull them over and down towards your non-trapped leg, also yanking their arm in the other direction. Bring your non-trapped leg over their head, sliding your arm to their wrist. From here you can thrust up for the armbar, either using your hip as a leverage point or potentially your knee.
Before we got into technique Mikal and I had a flow roll, which largely consisted of me trying to avoid my feet getting entangled. He was going very light: otherwise he could have submitted me a number of times, such as the calf slicer he had at one point. We also filmed a quick technique video for his YouTube channel: I don't mind being on camera, but I declined the offer to also film myself teaching. That would need a lot more preparation on my part. ;)
Update Aug 2014: The video is now up, so you get to see some great techniques from Mikal, with lots of blinking and awkwardness from me. Hooray! ;)
Mikal also has an interesting variation on shrimping. Rather than pushing off a foot and pushing your hip out, Mikal steps his foot across, almost in a running escape type fashion. He then pushes off from that position for the shrimp. His reasoning is that this makes it harder for them to shove down on your knee to pass, because you're protecting one leg with the other.
After class we headed off to the park. Mikal's partner Marlana (who was responsible for the tasty meal we had back in 2012 and has since had a baby) recently came up with the cool idea of throwing some mats down on the grass to have a roll. It's a nifty advert, so I guess in future they'll have banners and the like to emphasise exactly why there are a bunch of people cuddling each other on some puzzle mats. ;)
That also meant I got to hang out and chat with some of the students, which was very cool. 'Mean' Marlene talked about her background in Mexico and aspirations as a fighter (she not only trains BJJ, but boxing and muay thai as well), while Lacey discused tattoos with me and her fantastic hair. Marlene and Dustin also very kindly drove me both to the park and to Georgette's office, in time for me to get a lift with her to the Gracie Humaita beginner's class.
Aces Jiu Jitsu Club, (BJJ), Austin, TX, USA - 22/04/2014
I trained with Mikal last time I was in Austin, back in 2012. At that time he was a purple belt at another club, occasionally teaching class and also regularly teaching kids. I had the chance to watch him teach kids during the previous trip and was impressed by his mixture of discipline (he has a military background) and humour. It was also obvious how much he cared about helping students progress.
Almost two years later and Mikal is a brown belt with his own club, launched in September of last year. Impressively, he already has a massive space with a hundred members, a wifi lounge and even a fully matted creche (there's a handy window for both baby and parents to see each other while training).Like we do at Artemis BJJ, Mikal also has a theme for the month. For April that was leglocks, something I have avoided for most of my time in jiu jitsu. I have a vague idea of what a straight ankle lock is and I know to grab people and pull them in towards me as a defence if they grab my foot, but that's about it. Even more outside of my experience was he specific theme for this week: 50/50 guard.
Dónal would no doubt have been amused, as right before I left to fly out this year we were talking about my aversion to what might be called 'modern' jiu jitsu, for want of a better word. But meh, it's good to at least know how to avoid the position and escape it, even if I have no intention of getting into it myself.
First off was leglocks, with a drill switching between the straight ankle lock and the cross ankle lock. Presuming I understood it, the straght ankle lock involves putting their leg by your same side hip, bringing one arm under the achilles tendon, with the cutting part of your forearm (so, just below the wrist). Reach that hand to your chest, putting the other hand palm-down on top.
Mikal had a useful visual metaphor here, a hallmark of his teaching, likening it to a romantic gesture of holding your heart. That perfectly described the position. You'll also have your outside foot on their hip, the other under their other leg, squeezing your knee together. To finish, look up then thrust your hips slightly: Mikal calls this 'Megan Fox-ing', as she's known for looking over her shoulder and pouting.
The cross ankle lock is very similar, except that you pick up their ankle and pull it across your body, to your opposite hip. The rest of the technique is the same, wrapping up under the ankle, looking up and Megan Fox-ing.
Main technique for tonight was a 50/50 armbar, which was also a footlock escape. They have a straight ankle lock secured but not locked. Grab the elbow of the arm they have under your achilles. Pull that towards you and scoot forward, while also popping your hips around as if you were trying to take the back. Kick your trapped leg through, then triangle it with your other leg.
Next you want to pry their arm free. This has a bunch of options, but to keep it simple (the class was all white belts), reach inside and wriggle the arm out. With your opposite arm, grab on the side of the elbow (another image from Mikal here, saying it's where the joint would be if they were wearing plate armour), while your other hand reaches across to grab their opposite collar.
Pull them over and down towards your non-trapped leg, also yanking their arm in the other direction. Bring your non-trapped leg over their head, sliding your arm to their wrist. From here you can thrust up for the armbar, either using your hip as a leverage point or potentially your knee.
Before we got into technique Mikal and I had a flow roll, which largely consisted of me trying to avoid my feet getting entangled. He was going very light: otherwise he could have submitted me a number of times, such as the calf slicer he had at one point. We also filmed a quick technique video for his YouTube channel: I don't mind being on camera, but I declined the offer to also film myself teaching. That would need a lot more preparation on my part. ;)
Update Aug 2014: The video is now up, so you get to see some great techniques from Mikal, with lots of blinking and awkwardness from me. Hooray! ;)
Mikal also has an interesting variation on shrimping. Rather than pushing off a foot and pushing your hip out, Mikal steps his foot across, almost in a running escape type fashion. He then pushes off from that position for the shrimp. His reasoning is that this makes it harder for them to shove down on your knee to pass, because you're protecting one leg with the other.
After class we headed off to the park. Mikal's partner Marlana (who was responsible for the tasty meal we had back in 2012 and has since had a baby) recently came up with the cool idea of throwing some mats down on the grass to have a roll. It's a nifty advert, so I guess in future they'll have banners and the like to emphasise exactly why there are a bunch of people cuddling each other on some puzzle mats. ;)
That also meant I got to hang out and chat with some of the students, which was very cool. 'Mean' Marlene talked about her background in Mexico and aspirations as a fighter (she not only trains BJJ, but boxing and muay thai as well), while Lacey discused tattoos with me and her fantastic hair. Marlene and Dustin also very kindly drove me both to the park and to Georgette's office, in time for me to get a lift with her to the Gracie Humaita beginner's class.
21 April 2014
USA, Virginia - 17th-21st April 2014
Not long after I returned from California, I decided to book yet another trip to the States. Originally I had planned to focus all my time in Florida, but flying out of different airports in California made me realise that it wasn't that difficult to make multiple stops. I therefore added in Virginia and a return trip to Texas. In case you're wondering, this is going to be an extremely BJJ-focused entry. ;)
I was happy with the service I've experienced from Delta Airlines, so wanted to go with them again, but they only provided 1.5 hrs for my connection in New York. That's risky, given border queues can be long, so I was forced to go with American Airlines instead (though the international part of the flights was operated by British Airways, immediately making me feel more comfortable. Adding even further to that comfort, I thought I'd wear my spats on the flight too: the fabulous way to beat DVT! ;D). I could have plumped for US Airlines or United, but the level of vitriol directed online at those two, especially the former, put me off.
Flights for 2014 were somewhere in between the endless connections of 2012 and the direct flights I did in 2013. I only had the one change on the way there, at New York. Personally I quite enjoy long haul flights, because it means I get to watch lots of films. I even relish airline food, but as anyone who knows me can attest, my tastebuds aren't exactly refined.
It was a good thing I had made sure to leave at least two hours to connect. JFK did indeed have a wait at the border queue, though it didn't delay things as much as the horror stories I've read indicate. All in all it took 1 hour and 15 mins to get to my gate for the Virginia part of the journey. Once I was through border control, I needed to cross the street and grab the AirTrain to terminal 8 for my connection. It is relatively obvious where to go, but I wouldn't have known that I needed to head over there if somebody hadn't told me (but then my directional sense is seriously lacking).
The plane to Norfolk, VA is quite possibly the tiniest plane I've ever been on, but then it was a short flight of less than an hour. Norfolk Airport isn't all that big, though the baggage claim section all looks much the same if you are planning to meet someone after a flight. Fortunately I already knew what Chrissy looked like, as I've known her online through blogs, forums and Facebook for years. I made sure to wear a suitably bright t-shirt anyway. :)
Virginia Beach
When I originally decided to add Virginia as a stop, it was because US Grappling co-founder Chrissy Linzy and prominent blogger BJJ Grrl (her real name is Leslie) lived there. Prior to my arrival, Chrissy introduced me to Adrienne, where I would be staying: she has a big house with a couple of guest bedrooms. I was excited at the prospect of meeting her, as Adrienne runs a gi company, The Green Gi: a chance to look behind the scenes of the gi manufacturing, branding and selling process was appealing.
The trip got even better when it turned out that not only would I get to meet Chrissy, Leslie and Adrienne, but several other BJJ visitors were coming along too. Well known black belt, BreakingMuscle.com author and Groundswell Grappling co-founder Val Worthington was on the list, along with the mightily bearded Mike Byrd (that's one word, in case you ever meet him) and of course Chrissy's husband and fellow US Grappling brain, Brian.
We all headed out to a place called Ynot for dinner, where the portions are American sized. I was feeling pretty hungry after my flights, so decided to confront a large plate of gnocchi with extra meatballs. The gnocchi won, though I managed to get through a fair bit of it before tapping out. Less meatballs next time! ;)
The next day I had a fascinating chat with Adrienne and Leslie about the Green Gi. Having reviewed many a gi at this point, I'm interested in the whole process of bringing a gi to the market, something Adienne knows a great deal about. She showed Leslie and I different fabric samples, discussed stitching, weaves, suppliers, working with local businesses, how to correctly dye material and how minor changes can cause a significant shift in tone.
We had numerous other chats on those kind of topics over the course of my stay, several of which I recorded. I'll be putting one of them up somewhere as an interview (either online or in a magazine if I can find an interested party), while the rest were all background research for the reviews I want to do of The Green Gi hemp belts and hemp gi.
Update November 2014: It's taking me a while, but I've been gradually putting up those interviews here. I've also got a few into magazines, such as Val Worthington in Jiu Jitsu Style. Should hopefully be a few more mags interested in some of the others. Also, Leslie got promoted to purple belt a few days ago! Awesome! :D
Adrienne's house is amazing. She not only has plenty of bedrooms, she has a large garden where she grows a range of vegetables, but best of all, it backs directly onto a river with access to a lake. There are a couple of ducks and Adrienne also has a lovely whippet called Hummer. I can't remember hearing him bark once: he's friendly, well behaved (as far as I could see) and has a great temperament.
The whole gang got together a few times to eat, as well as play something called Cards Against Humanity. I haven't played it before, but my friend was familiar with it when I mentioned the game on Google Hangout, so it must have reached the UK too. It turned out that Adrienne's partner Antwain (who owns his own gym and was part of the TUF 8 cast) and Chrissy's husband Brian had both nailed this game, though Chrissy was right behind them.
We gathered at Chrissy's house to watch the UFC, though I was feeling dozy and eventually fell asleep for part of it, so can't remember much of what happened. Even more exciting was the opportunity to interview Val before she left, which I followed up by interviewing almost everybody else in the group too. Leslie was the first of my 'blogger interviews': I'll be putting those up on slideyfoot.com in the 'BlogChat' series, as it seems the most appropriate place.
Even more so than 2012, this was very much a jiu jitsu trip. I didn't do anything that wasn't directly jiu jitsu related, including some training at Antwain's beautiful gym (I rolled with almost everyone, before I tweaked my neck slightly by being stubborn in a triangle) and then a seminar with NHBGear legend Dave Jacobs.
I also learned how to properly sew on gi patches, handily. In my previous attempts, I have tried to sew a corner in place, hoping that by sewing around the full edge, it would stretch out the patch enough to stop it becoming all crumpled. Watching Adrienne in action, I realised that a much better method is to put pins all around the patch's perimeter to stretch them out. A simple difference, but should mean my Meerkatsu patch fits properly when I sew it onto my hoody.
The next stop in 2014 was a return to Austin, TX and the fabulous Georgette on the 25th April, before heading on to Florida and yet more cool bloggers on the 29th April. There was a little more non-BJJ activity, but it was still overwhelmingly about rolling on the floor with sweaty people. ;)
I was happy with the service I've experienced from Delta Airlines, so wanted to go with them again, but they only provided 1.5 hrs for my connection in New York. That's risky, given border queues can be long, so I was forced to go with American Airlines instead (though the international part of the flights was operated by British Airways, immediately making me feel more comfortable. Adding even further to that comfort, I thought I'd wear my spats on the flight too: the fabulous way to beat DVT! ;D). I could have plumped for US Airlines or United, but the level of vitriol directed online at those two, especially the former, put me off.
Flights for 2014 were somewhere in between the endless connections of 2012 and the direct flights I did in 2013. I only had the one change on the way there, at New York. Personally I quite enjoy long haul flights, because it means I get to watch lots of films. I even relish airline food, but as anyone who knows me can attest, my tastebuds aren't exactly refined.
It was a good thing I had made sure to leave at least two hours to connect. JFK did indeed have a wait at the border queue, though it didn't delay things as much as the horror stories I've read indicate. All in all it took 1 hour and 15 mins to get to my gate for the Virginia part of the journey. Once I was through border control, I needed to cross the street and grab the AirTrain to terminal 8 for my connection. It is relatively obvious where to go, but I wouldn't have known that I needed to head over there if somebody hadn't told me (but then my directional sense is seriously lacking).
The plane to Norfolk, VA is quite possibly the tiniest plane I've ever been on, but then it was a short flight of less than an hour. Norfolk Airport isn't all that big, though the baggage claim section all looks much the same if you are planning to meet someone after a flight. Fortunately I already knew what Chrissy looked like, as I've known her online through blogs, forums and Facebook for years. I made sure to wear a suitably bright t-shirt anyway. :)
Virginia Beach
When I originally decided to add Virginia as a stop, it was because US Grappling co-founder Chrissy Linzy and prominent blogger BJJ Grrl (her real name is Leslie) lived there. Prior to my arrival, Chrissy introduced me to Adrienne, where I would be staying: she has a big house with a couple of guest bedrooms. I was excited at the prospect of meeting her, as Adrienne runs a gi company, The Green Gi: a chance to look behind the scenes of the gi manufacturing, branding and selling process was appealing.The trip got even better when it turned out that not only would I get to meet Chrissy, Leslie and Adrienne, but several other BJJ visitors were coming along too. Well known black belt, BreakingMuscle.com author and Groundswell Grappling co-founder Val Worthington was on the list, along with the mightily bearded Mike Byrd (that's one word, in case you ever meet him) and of course Chrissy's husband and fellow US Grappling brain, Brian.
We all headed out to a place called Ynot for dinner, where the portions are American sized. I was feeling pretty hungry after my flights, so decided to confront a large plate of gnocchi with extra meatballs. The gnocchi won, though I managed to get through a fair bit of it before tapping out. Less meatballs next time! ;)
The next day I had a fascinating chat with Adrienne and Leslie about the Green Gi. Having reviewed many a gi at this point, I'm interested in the whole process of bringing a gi to the market, something Adienne knows a great deal about. She showed Leslie and I different fabric samples, discussed stitching, weaves, suppliers, working with local businesses, how to correctly dye material and how minor changes can cause a significant shift in tone.
We had numerous other chats on those kind of topics over the course of my stay, several of which I recorded. I'll be putting one of them up somewhere as an interview (either online or in a magazine if I can find an interested party), while the rest were all background research for the reviews I want to do of The Green Gi hemp belts and hemp gi.
Update November 2014: It's taking me a while, but I've been gradually putting up those interviews here. I've also got a few into magazines, such as Val Worthington in Jiu Jitsu Style. Should hopefully be a few more mags interested in some of the others. Also, Leslie got promoted to purple belt a few days ago! Awesome! :D
Adrienne's house is amazing. She not only has plenty of bedrooms, she has a large garden where she grows a range of vegetables, but best of all, it backs directly onto a river with access to a lake. There are a couple of ducks and Adrienne also has a lovely whippet called Hummer. I can't remember hearing him bark once: he's friendly, well behaved (as far as I could see) and has a great temperament.
The whole gang got together a few times to eat, as well as play something called Cards Against Humanity. I haven't played it before, but my friend was familiar with it when I mentioned the game on Google Hangout, so it must have reached the UK too. It turned out that Adrienne's partner Antwain (who owns his own gym and was part of the TUF 8 cast) and Chrissy's husband Brian had both nailed this game, though Chrissy was right behind them.
We gathered at Chrissy's house to watch the UFC, though I was feeling dozy and eventually fell asleep for part of it, so can't remember much of what happened. Even more exciting was the opportunity to interview Val before she left, which I followed up by interviewing almost everybody else in the group too. Leslie was the first of my 'blogger interviews': I'll be putting those up on slideyfoot.com in the 'BlogChat' series, as it seems the most appropriate place.
I also learned how to properly sew on gi patches, handily. In my previous attempts, I have tried to sew a corner in place, hoping that by sewing around the full edge, it would stretch out the patch enough to stop it becoming all crumpled. Watching Adrienne in action, I realised that a much better method is to put pins all around the patch's perimeter to stretch them out. A simple difference, but should mean my Meerkatsu patch fits properly when I sew it onto my hoody.
The next stop in 2014 was a return to Austin, TX and the fabulous Georgette on the 25th April, before heading on to Florida and yet more cool bloggers on the 29th April. There was a little more non-BJJ activity, but it was still overwhelmingly about rolling on the floor with sweaty people. ;)
19 April 2014
19/04/2014 - Dave Jacobs Seminar in Virginia
Seminar #015
Tidewater BJJ, David 'Rock' Jacobs, Chesapeake, VA, USA - 19/04/2014
If you've been around on BJJ forums for any length of time, especially NHBGear (now defunct, it would appear), then you know who Dave Jacobs is. I've also come across him due to Seymour's posts about seminars Jacobs' has done at Mill Hill, plus there was an interview with him in JJS a while ago, IIRC. My host here in Virginia, Adrienne, is an old student of Jacobs. She therefore was keen to support his seminar at Tidewater BJJ: that fit well with my plans, as not only did it mean I would get to train with a top black belt and internet personality, I'd also be able to rest my neck (rather than getting in lots of sparring, the other option today).
After a cool opening speech about his ethos for BJJ (all of which I agreed with, so his school sounds like a great place to train), Jacobs ran us through a couple of warm-up drills. The first was similar to the open guard drills I learned from Kev, specifically the third one where you do a hip swing to recover guard. Jacobs call it a 'reverse shrimp' and does the same motion of popping up onto your toes with your bum in the air, but from the same starting position as a shrimp. We then did that with a partner, when it became almost exactly like I'm used to, except that your partner stays up rather than shifting into knee on belly. The final drill was doing the motion of a butterfly sweep (i.e., rolling to your side and kicking a leg up high, basing on your shoulder, head and hand), then swivelling through into scarf hold (the same leg you lifted into the air now goes underneath, so you end up facing the opposite way to when you started).
Getting into the techniques, Jacobs started off with a concept he called the supine twist, or rather that's what it is called in yoga. As he put it, great position in yoga, but terrible if somebody puts you there in jiu jitsu. Essentially, you're shoving their legs one way, knees pinned to the mat, while aiming to shove their head the other way. To illustrate that concept, Jacobs taught a variation on the transition from side control to mount.
That begins in the normal way, driving your knee across the belt line. The finish is where it's a little different. Keep driving your leg across until the knee pokes out a little past their leg. You're then going to slide it backwards into that leg, scraping it into their outer thigh. Your aim is to push their legs together, then slip your leg to the ground. They should find it difficult to step over and pull your leg into half guard, because you've pushed it backwards. Jacobs also briefly showed how the 'supine twist' could apply to passing quarter guard, bringing your knee across their body, shoving their legs one way and shoving your head next to theirs, pressing into their skull to turn it in the opposite direction.
After a short break, we moved on to a more extensive session. Jacobs is a big fan of butterfly guard, especially the armbar from there. He mentioned that he has a lot of trouble landing the standard armbar against anybody with experience. His preference is to instead use a pressing armbar from butterfly. Personally I've always found those difficult, but then I rarely use armbars of any type, because it requires more space than I would like (at least when you compare it to my favourite attacks, which are chokes and bent armlocks).
I last saw this taught by Nathan Leverton at one of his Leverage Submission Grappling seminars. Jacobs has a comparable set up, though this is from butterfly rather than closed guard. With both your butterfly hooks in, grab both their collars and drop back. It's important to stay as 'one unit', by which Jacobs means there isn't any separation between your bodies. They will normally post out their hands if you knock them forward like that.
Get an over-under grip, wrapping one arm around their head, the other under their arm. Trap the wrist of their outstretched arm between your head and shoulder. You then want to get your head arm over towards their shoulder. To do that, use your shins to push them backwards, hopefully providing the necessary space to bring your arm over the head and establish a lock by the shoulder.
Next your want to get your feet onto their hips so they can't stack you, turning your body to also clamp your knees on either side of their shoulder: Leslie calls this the 'shoulder sandwich', a helpful way of remembering the positioning. Put your hands in a gable grip and slide them down their arm until you are just above the elbow (finding that spot is one of the parts of this technique I struggle with). Once there, press down with your hands for the submission.
If they manage to circle their trapped arm off your head, you can still attack. Slide the top hand of your gable grip up, ready to catch their wrist before they circle their arm over. Establish a figure-four grip on their arm, then twist that arm away from you. This might get the submission, but more likely is that you steer them over, reversing the position to mount. As you transition, put your elbow by their head and move right into an americana from mount.
You can also finish the pressing armbar from mount too, by sweeping them as you have the grip. Just put in your hook and lift the leg up and over as you normally would with a butterfly sweep. The same principle then applies, sliding your arms up their arm until you get to that point above the elbow, exerting pressure for the tap. Alternatively you can switch to whatever submission you like.
.jpg)
Going to an armbar from s-mount works too. Kick your far leg under their armpit, bringing up their other arm and staying tight the whole way. Turn your torso towards their legs. Your near knee goes into their ear, or if you're like Leslie and are working on being mean, put the knee over their head. It is possible to do this in a controlled way, but as I still have major hang-ups about aggression and the whole idea of being mean, it probably isn't something I'm likely to use. ;)
Leslie has been working on her aggression for some time, though that is a complicated term for both of us: she has had similar hang-ups in the past. Leslie gets into a very interesting discussion of the topic over on her blog (extending into the comments here). As we were doing that technique, she said she'd be updating it to reflect her current perspective. I'm looking forward to reading the additions: Leslie's writing is always thought-provoking.
Next up was a more unorthodox position, the crucifix, although it is becoming more common. There have been a few instructionals on the topic, including an upcoming release by the Godfather of BJJ Blogging, Aesopian. If you're not familiar with the term, it is basically a back position where instead of putting your legs around their waist, you swivel and put them around their arm instead, while controlling the other arm with at least one of yours.
Jacobs entered the position by attacking the turtle. Reach inside their arm and grab a sleeve. Jacobs prefers this to the wrist, because it gives you enough slack to escape should they reach back and grab your elbow. They're intending to roll you over and take side control, but they can't easily lock that elbow if you are able to pull your elbow back due to the looser sleeve grip.
Shove your knee by the elbow of that sleeve grip. If there isn't space, walk around to the other side (maintaining pressure as you do), grab the sleeve there and attempt to insert the knee. You can even grab both sleeves and keep switching side to side until you work your knee in. Once you do, try to hook their arm with your other leg and drag it back. This puts you in a downwards facing crucifix. You can get an armbar from there, using your legs (you can do a sort of lockdown too to hold it in place), though as ever I found it hard to get the right leverage point for the elbow.
Alternatively, you can attack for a shoulder lock from turtle. Put the knee nearest their head slightly forward, making sure it is still controlling their arm. Turn to face their legs, grabbing their ankle to anchor yourself. Twist and swing the leg furthest from their head backwards, still hooking the arm. Do this movement gradually, as that shoulder lock can come on quickly, depending on their flexibility.
Most of the time, people will somersault from the turtle crucifix to get into a position where they are now facing upwards. To maintain the crucifix, shrimp out a little so they can't drive their weight on top of you. Be careful not to shrimp too far, or they may be able to scoot down. If they can do that, their next step is to roll backwards, putting them straight into side control. Make sure to have an arm around the head grabbing their opposite collar (like a bow and arrow choke) to stop that escape route.
If they manage to sit up, then adjust your legs into a sort of reverse omoplata position to get upright yourself, then walk backwards (still crucifixing their arm with the legs) to recover that upwards facing crucifix. Even if they stick out a knee for base, if you keep shimmying back, you'll eventually get them onto a weak angle where you can roll them back over. Alternatively, when they first sit up, that makes them vulnerable to that shoulder lock from earlier.
Assuming they don't sit up and you manage to hold that upwards facing position, you have numerous chokes available to you. Snake an arm around the neck and grab the opposite collar for a bow and arrow type attack. You can also grab the other collar for a sliding choke, then there is always the rear naked choke. If your arms are long enough, driving an arm past their armpit and behind their head while you also have that bow and arrow type grip works too.
Again, Jacobs prefers to armbar. He does the main one with his legs on their crucifixed arm. Keep adjusting your feet and slipping them up to the wrist, wriggling their arm in position. Don't ever step both feet off the arm, only one at a time to maintain control.
Swing your leg back past the knee line of the other each time. Eventually you find it gets tighter and tighter, until you can press on their wrist with your feet for the submission. Switching to a standard armbar is possible too, though there is a risk of losing position (as always with mounted armbars, it seems).
The final part of the seminar was dedicated to wristlocks. This isn't something I have used much myself, but I'd like to add it in, given it's a great equaliser for smaller guys like me. The principle is very simple: any time you can isolate their arm so that their hand is pressing into you and their elbow is blocked, the wristlock is available. Their elbow might be blocked by the mat, or it might be you knee, or you might grab behind it with both hands.
I was especially intrigued by a side control option, as I have had that exact grip numerous times but not known what to do with it. To get this side control wristlock, the situation is that they have tried to get an underhook, but you whizzered their arm. Trap their wrist in your armpit and grab their elbow with an arm to block its movement. Adjust with your armpit until you can use it to bend their hand back towards their wrist, then apply pressure for the sub.
The other one that caught my interest was a wristlock from guard. Hold their sleeve and elbow, pulling the arm across like an arm drag: Jacobs calls this the 'short arm drag'. Wedge your knee next to their elbow, the other leg up into their armpit. That should immobilise the arm. Bring your sleeve grip elbow around the back of their hand, pressing in for the submission.
You can also wristlock them if they try passing your half guard and grip a collar: same thing as before, isolate the arm and pull behind the elbow. Hence why Jacobs recommends grabbing the bicep when passing half guard like that, as that is far less vulnerable to wristlocks.
Tidewater BJJ, David 'Rock' Jacobs, Chesapeake, VA, USA - 19/04/2014
After a cool opening speech about his ethos for BJJ (all of which I agreed with, so his school sounds like a great place to train), Jacobs ran us through a couple of warm-up drills. The first was similar to the open guard drills I learned from Kev, specifically the third one where you do a hip swing to recover guard. Jacobs call it a 'reverse shrimp' and does the same motion of popping up onto your toes with your bum in the air, but from the same starting position as a shrimp. We then did that with a partner, when it became almost exactly like I'm used to, except that your partner stays up rather than shifting into knee on belly. The final drill was doing the motion of a butterfly sweep (i.e., rolling to your side and kicking a leg up high, basing on your shoulder, head and hand), then swivelling through into scarf hold (the same leg you lifted into the air now goes underneath, so you end up facing the opposite way to when you started).
Getting into the techniques, Jacobs started off with a concept he called the supine twist, or rather that's what it is called in yoga. As he put it, great position in yoga, but terrible if somebody puts you there in jiu jitsu. Essentially, you're shoving their legs one way, knees pinned to the mat, while aiming to shove their head the other way. To illustrate that concept, Jacobs taught a variation on the transition from side control to mount.
That begins in the normal way, driving your knee across the belt line. The finish is where it's a little different. Keep driving your leg across until the knee pokes out a little past their leg. You're then going to slide it backwards into that leg, scraping it into their outer thigh. Your aim is to push their legs together, then slip your leg to the ground. They should find it difficult to step over and pull your leg into half guard, because you've pushed it backwards. Jacobs also briefly showed how the 'supine twist' could apply to passing quarter guard, bringing your knee across their body, shoving their legs one way and shoving your head next to theirs, pressing into their skull to turn it in the opposite direction.
After a short break, we moved on to a more extensive session. Jacobs is a big fan of butterfly guard, especially the armbar from there. He mentioned that he has a lot of trouble landing the standard armbar against anybody with experience. His preference is to instead use a pressing armbar from butterfly. Personally I've always found those difficult, but then I rarely use armbars of any type, because it requires more space than I would like (at least when you compare it to my favourite attacks, which are chokes and bent armlocks).
I last saw this taught by Nathan Leverton at one of his Leverage Submission Grappling seminars. Jacobs has a comparable set up, though this is from butterfly rather than closed guard. With both your butterfly hooks in, grab both their collars and drop back. It's important to stay as 'one unit', by which Jacobs means there isn't any separation between your bodies. They will normally post out their hands if you knock them forward like that.
Get an over-under grip, wrapping one arm around their head, the other under their arm. Trap the wrist of their outstretched arm between your head and shoulder. You then want to get your head arm over towards their shoulder. To do that, use your shins to push them backwards, hopefully providing the necessary space to bring your arm over the head and establish a lock by the shoulder.
Next your want to get your feet onto their hips so they can't stack you, turning your body to also clamp your knees on either side of their shoulder: Leslie calls this the 'shoulder sandwich', a helpful way of remembering the positioning. Put your hands in a gable grip and slide them down their arm until you are just above the elbow (finding that spot is one of the parts of this technique I struggle with). Once there, press down with your hands for the submission.
If they manage to circle their trapped arm off your head, you can still attack. Slide the top hand of your gable grip up, ready to catch their wrist before they circle their arm over. Establish a figure-four grip on their arm, then twist that arm away from you. This might get the submission, but more likely is that you steer them over, reversing the position to mount. As you transition, put your elbow by their head and move right into an americana from mount.
You can also finish the pressing armbar from mount too, by sweeping them as you have the grip. Just put in your hook and lift the leg up and over as you normally would with a butterfly sweep. The same principle then applies, sliding your arms up their arm until you get to that point above the elbow, exerting pressure for the tap. Alternatively you can switch to whatever submission you like.
.jpg)
Leslie has been working on her aggression for some time, though that is a complicated term for both of us: she has had similar hang-ups in the past. Leslie gets into a very interesting discussion of the topic over on her blog (extending into the comments here). As we were doing that technique, she said she'd be updating it to reflect her current perspective. I'm looking forward to reading the additions: Leslie's writing is always thought-provoking.
Next up was a more unorthodox position, the crucifix, although it is becoming more common. There have been a few instructionals on the topic, including an upcoming release by the Godfather of BJJ Blogging, Aesopian. If you're not familiar with the term, it is basically a back position where instead of putting your legs around their waist, you swivel and put them around their arm instead, while controlling the other arm with at least one of yours.
Jacobs entered the position by attacking the turtle. Reach inside their arm and grab a sleeve. Jacobs prefers this to the wrist, because it gives you enough slack to escape should they reach back and grab your elbow. They're intending to roll you over and take side control, but they can't easily lock that elbow if you are able to pull your elbow back due to the looser sleeve grip.
Shove your knee by the elbow of that sleeve grip. If there isn't space, walk around to the other side (maintaining pressure as you do), grab the sleeve there and attempt to insert the knee. You can even grab both sleeves and keep switching side to side until you work your knee in. Once you do, try to hook their arm with your other leg and drag it back. This puts you in a downwards facing crucifix. You can get an armbar from there, using your legs (you can do a sort of lockdown too to hold it in place), though as ever I found it hard to get the right leverage point for the elbow.
Most of the time, people will somersault from the turtle crucifix to get into a position where they are now facing upwards. To maintain the crucifix, shrimp out a little so they can't drive their weight on top of you. Be careful not to shrimp too far, or they may be able to scoot down. If they can do that, their next step is to roll backwards, putting them straight into side control. Make sure to have an arm around the head grabbing their opposite collar (like a bow and arrow choke) to stop that escape route.
If they manage to sit up, then adjust your legs into a sort of reverse omoplata position to get upright yourself, then walk backwards (still crucifixing their arm with the legs) to recover that upwards facing crucifix. Even if they stick out a knee for base, if you keep shimmying back, you'll eventually get them onto a weak angle where you can roll them back over. Alternatively, when they first sit up, that makes them vulnerable to that shoulder lock from earlier.
Assuming they don't sit up and you manage to hold that upwards facing position, you have numerous chokes available to you. Snake an arm around the neck and grab the opposite collar for a bow and arrow type attack. You can also grab the other collar for a sliding choke, then there is always the rear naked choke. If your arms are long enough, driving an arm past their armpit and behind their head while you also have that bow and arrow type grip works too.
Again, Jacobs prefers to armbar. He does the main one with his legs on their crucifixed arm. Keep adjusting your feet and slipping them up to the wrist, wriggling their arm in position. Don't ever step both feet off the arm, only one at a time to maintain control.
The final part of the seminar was dedicated to wristlocks. This isn't something I have used much myself, but I'd like to add it in, given it's a great equaliser for smaller guys like me. The principle is very simple: any time you can isolate their arm so that their hand is pressing into you and their elbow is blocked, the wristlock is available. Their elbow might be blocked by the mat, or it might be you knee, or you might grab behind it with both hands.
I was especially intrigued by a side control option, as I have had that exact grip numerous times but not known what to do with it. To get this side control wristlock, the situation is that they have tried to get an underhook, but you whizzered their arm. Trap their wrist in your armpit and grab their elbow with an arm to block its movement. Adjust with your armpit until you can use it to bend their hand back towards their wrist, then apply pressure for the sub.
The other one that caught my interest was a wristlock from guard. Hold their sleeve and elbow, pulling the arm across like an arm drag: Jacobs calls this the 'short arm drag'. Wedge your knee next to their elbow, the other leg up into their armpit. That should immobilise the arm. Bring your sleeve grip elbow around the back of their hand, pressing in for the submission.
You can also wristlock them if they try passing your half guard and grip a collar: same thing as before, isolate the arm and pull behind the elbow. Hence why Jacobs recommends grabbing the bicep when passing half guard like that, as that is far less vulnerable to wristlocks.
18 April 2014
18/04/2014 - Open Mat in Virginia Beach
Class #559
Olympus Fitness & Martial Arts, (BJJ), Virginia Beach, VA, USA - 18/04/2014
I have had a brilliant time in Virginia so far, thanks to both the awesome hospitality of my host Adrienne from The Green Gi and the fantastic group of people who have all come together this weekend. I knew two of them online before - Chrissy Linzy from US Grappling and Leslie from BJJ Grrl - but the others I hadn't interacted with much before. That changed as soon as I headed into Norfolk Airport, where they met me down by baggage claim, then we went out for a meal as a group. This would be the pattern over the next few days, along with fun bits of socialising like a game of Cards Against Humanity on Friday night.
I'd certainly heard of at least one of them before: Val Worthington. She's a black belt who has been active in BJJ for many years, both online and offline. I first encountered her through the BJJ Vision Quest blog she used to write, which I think she is now using as source material for a book (might be on something else entirely: either way, I'll definitely be buying it!). More recently she's known for her insightful articles on the Breaking Muscle website.
Val has also succeeded at the highest levels of competition, so I was very much looking forward to rolling with her. It entirely lived up to my expectations, as Val is a superb training partner. Although she could easily have spent the roll tapping me over and over again, she instead stayed light (but tight: any space I made instantly disappeared), waiting to see what I would do. There are very few people capable of perfectly adjusting to their training partner's level like that: the only ones that immediately spring to mind that I've rolled with are my instructor Kev Capel, Jeff Rockwell, my fellow Artemis BJJ co-founder Dónal and John 'jnp' Palmer. A rare and valuable skill.
In terms of rolling in general (over the hour, I was able to spar with most of the group), I'm still playing more spider guard than I would like, relying on those arthritis-tastic grips. I need to attempt simple feet on hips more, along with that Xande open guard I used to do. Then again, it's not a bad thing to occasionally play with it. I couldn't get the sweep Kev showed me when they're on their knees, though I did manage that simple one Dónal gave me some pointers about recently, where you're just steering them over to the side.
With the addition of turning my head to look over my shoulder and tucking my elbow, that gets a lot more leverage. I wasn't following up all that smoothly though: when I've knocked someone over with that, I need to close the distance more efficiently. I ended up yanking on the arm and using that to crawl to mount or side control.
My passing is also too repetitive: I always push through to half guard then try and knee cut. I need to vary that up more, adding in Dónal's leg squash pass, as well as moving from side to side. It does work, but then if I am against anybody good at blocking me from half guard and/or scuppering the knee cut, I'm stuck.
Under side contol, I'm tending to either over rely on the running escape or move into weird stuff, rather than solidifying the basic guard recovery and turn to knees. For example, I frequently go for the triangle under side control, which really shouldn't be a go to technique. Having said that, if I can get my legs in position, it does often lead to an escape. The problem is most people with experience won't let you push their head and get your legs in place.
The shin in elbow trick (from Beneville's Strategic Guard) is less low percentage: it's something I am getting more regularly now that I've been working on stiff arming their sleeve away from me in the running escape, like Kev showed me. I got an interesting taste of my own medicine on that front, because Adrienne made very effective use of the same principle when we rolled.
Just like her gi company, Adrienne's game is innovative. She uses a lot of gi grips, combined with good flexibility and agility. I managed to pass her guard and was looking to set up the gi tail choke, when Adrienne got a grip on my gi and stuck a leg inside. I didn't think too much of it, as I assumed I could eventually wriggle my hand around and use gradual leverage to free the sleeve.
Instead, I somehow found myself in a tight triangle: very cool attack on Adrienne's part, as I didn't see it coming and was pretty much caught. I was getting close to tapping, then Adrienne eased off slightly, as I think she thought it wasn't on. I walked over towards he head, then popped free after a slow wriggle.
Immediately after the roll, I realised my neck was sore. It's hard to know if I'm getting the balance between testing out my defence to see if there is a way out, or just being stubborn to the point of hurting myself. Seeing as my neck was sore, I would strongly suspect I was closer to the 'stubborn and stupid' end of the spectrum this time round. ;)
After one last roll with Leslie, I decided to stop at that point, in case I aggravated my neck. It wasn't too bad, but seeing as I've got lots more training to do on this trip, resting it made sense. I rolled with almost everybody, including Brian, who is much, much bigger than me. Despite that size difference, like Val he is good at adjusting his pace. I never felt like he was using strength or size: with some big guys, I don't feel safe and avoid engaging. With Brian, I felt totally comfortable: we rolled again right after the first time.
Tomorrow there is a Dave 'Rock' Jacobs seminar. That's perfect, as it means not only do I get to train with a top black belt, I can also continue to rest my neck as seminars are normally all technique with optional rolling at the end. I'm also looking forward to trying out a suggestion Leslie made: she uses the gi tail grip from guard for a choke, grabbing next to the initial hand with her other hand, then bringing her arm around their head to set up the choke. Sounds cool! :)
Olympus Fitness & Martial Arts, (BJJ), Virginia Beach, VA, USA - 18/04/2014
I have had a brilliant time in Virginia so far, thanks to both the awesome hospitality of my host Adrienne from The Green Gi and the fantastic group of people who have all come together this weekend. I knew two of them online before - Chrissy Linzy from US Grappling and Leslie from BJJ Grrl - but the others I hadn't interacted with much before. That changed as soon as I headed into Norfolk Airport, where they met me down by baggage claim, then we went out for a meal as a group. This would be the pattern over the next few days, along with fun bits of socialising like a game of Cards Against Humanity on Friday night.
I'd certainly heard of at least one of them before: Val Worthington. She's a black belt who has been active in BJJ for many years, both online and offline. I first encountered her through the BJJ Vision Quest blog she used to write, which I think she is now using as source material for a book (might be on something else entirely: either way, I'll definitely be buying it!). More recently she's known for her insightful articles on the Breaking Muscle website.
Val has also succeeded at the highest levels of competition, so I was very much looking forward to rolling with her. It entirely lived up to my expectations, as Val is a superb training partner. Although she could easily have spent the roll tapping me over and over again, she instead stayed light (but tight: any space I made instantly disappeared), waiting to see what I would do. There are very few people capable of perfectly adjusting to their training partner's level like that: the only ones that immediately spring to mind that I've rolled with are my instructor Kev Capel, Jeff Rockwell, my fellow Artemis BJJ co-founder Dónal and John 'jnp' Palmer. A rare and valuable skill.
In terms of rolling in general (over the hour, I was able to spar with most of the group), I'm still playing more spider guard than I would like, relying on those arthritis-tastic grips. I need to attempt simple feet on hips more, along with that Xande open guard I used to do. Then again, it's not a bad thing to occasionally play with it. I couldn't get the sweep Kev showed me when they're on their knees, though I did manage that simple one Dónal gave me some pointers about recently, where you're just steering them over to the side.
With the addition of turning my head to look over my shoulder and tucking my elbow, that gets a lot more leverage. I wasn't following up all that smoothly though: when I've knocked someone over with that, I need to close the distance more efficiently. I ended up yanking on the arm and using that to crawl to mount or side control.
My passing is also too repetitive: I always push through to half guard then try and knee cut. I need to vary that up more, adding in Dónal's leg squash pass, as well as moving from side to side. It does work, but then if I am against anybody good at blocking me from half guard and/or scuppering the knee cut, I'm stuck.
Under side contol, I'm tending to either over rely on the running escape or move into weird stuff, rather than solidifying the basic guard recovery and turn to knees. For example, I frequently go for the triangle under side control, which really shouldn't be a go to technique. Having said that, if I can get my legs in position, it does often lead to an escape. The problem is most people with experience won't let you push their head and get your legs in place.
The shin in elbow trick (from Beneville's Strategic Guard) is less low percentage: it's something I am getting more regularly now that I've been working on stiff arming their sleeve away from me in the running escape, like Kev showed me. I got an interesting taste of my own medicine on that front, because Adrienne made very effective use of the same principle when we rolled.Just like her gi company, Adrienne's game is innovative. She uses a lot of gi grips, combined with good flexibility and agility. I managed to pass her guard and was looking to set up the gi tail choke, when Adrienne got a grip on my gi and stuck a leg inside. I didn't think too much of it, as I assumed I could eventually wriggle my hand around and use gradual leverage to free the sleeve.
Instead, I somehow found myself in a tight triangle: very cool attack on Adrienne's part, as I didn't see it coming and was pretty much caught. I was getting close to tapping, then Adrienne eased off slightly, as I think she thought it wasn't on. I walked over towards he head, then popped free after a slow wriggle.
Immediately after the roll, I realised my neck was sore. It's hard to know if I'm getting the balance between testing out my defence to see if there is a way out, or just being stubborn to the point of hurting myself. Seeing as my neck was sore, I would strongly suspect I was closer to the 'stubborn and stupid' end of the spectrum this time round. ;)
After one last roll with Leslie, I decided to stop at that point, in case I aggravated my neck. It wasn't too bad, but seeing as I've got lots more training to do on this trip, resting it made sense. I rolled with almost everybody, including Brian, who is much, much bigger than me. Despite that size difference, like Val he is good at adjusting his pace. I never felt like he was using strength or size: with some big guys, I don't feel safe and avoid engaging. With Brian, I felt totally comfortable: we rolled again right after the first time.
Tomorrow there is a Dave 'Rock' Jacobs seminar. That's perfect, as it means not only do I get to train with a top black belt, I can also continue to rest my neck as seminars are normally all technique with optional rolling at the end. I'm also looking forward to trying out a suggestion Leslie made: she uses the gi tail grip from guard for a choke, grabbing next to the initial hand with her other hand, then bringing her arm around their head to set up the choke. Sounds cool! :)
16 April 2014
16/04/2014 - Flying to USA Tomorrow | Teaching (Retake the Back)
Teaching #149
Bristol Sports Centre (Artemis BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/04/2014
I'm catching a plane tomorrow morning to the USA, starting with Virginia. After that I'll be heading to Texas and Florida. As always, the main point of the trip is to meet up with some cool BJJ blogger friends. Yay! I get back to the UK in May: Dónal will be covering the two Wednesdays until I get back, showing Artemis BJJ students the mysteries of the back position.
Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on my sleep at some point soon, as with the GrappleThon last weekend, it's been a busy last few days! The event went really well, with over £5,000 raised so far! My write-up can be found here. ;)
_____________________
I briefly covered technical mount a couple of weeks ago, as part of maintaining high mount, so I thought that moving on to a back take that starts from technical mount would make sense. At the same time, this is also a method of retaking the back if you lose one hook, so it has some versatility.
In the context of retaking the back, the time to use this is before they get their shoulders to the mat. They've managed to clear one of your hooks and started bringing their hips over. Before they can get their shoulders to the mat, press your chest into their shoulder and roll them onto their side, in the direction they were escaping. You'll probably need to balance on your shoulder and head to get into the right position.
As they have cleared one of your legs, you should be able to then slide that knee behind their head (you might need to post on an arm, but see if you can do it without releasing your seatbelt grip). Sit back and roll them over your knee, then re-establish your second hook (note that in sparring, this will almost certainly be blocked, but that's for another class). You can keep doing that from side to side as a drill.
To go from technical mount to the back, the motion is the same, but you are in a more stable starting position. Simply drop back from technical mount, rolling them over the knee you have near your head. The foot you had by their hip becomes your first hook, so you just need to bring the second hook over. That can be easier said than done, which is why we'll be discussing some methods on getting that second hook into play as part of a future lesson.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: I feel relatively happy with this lesson, though I'm not sure it's essential to add in the "and here's how it fits with technical mount" part. Then again, it didn't seem to detract from the main thrust of the lesson: hopefully having that extra bit acts as a useful context, showing that the technique is applicable in multiple situations.
The main thing people were having trouble with is basing on their shoulder and head as they wiggle their knee up. Walking round and demonstrating it as they were drilling seemed to do the trick, but perhaps I should be modifying it somehow to make it more clear when I'm initially demonstrating.
I also added the 'turn to technical mount' side to side into the warm-up again, especially as it's very applicable to today's lesson. That warm-up structure remains fluid. At the moment, my thinking is something like this:
1. Shrimps
2. Shrimp to knees
3. Bridge & Shrimp
4. Continuous side control escape
5. Technical mount side to side
I'd also like to add in stand up in guard sit-ups and Bullfighter pass drilling, then perhaps builds up to a few sequences (e.g., elbow escape > sit up sweep > elbow escape > repeat; Stand up in guard > break guard > bullfighter pass > reverse half guard to mount > upa > repeat; Back > bridging escape > reverse half guard to mount > technical mount > back > repeat), but that might be both too complex and take too long. I'll see how it goes over the next few months. Might get some ideas when I'm in the US too. :)
Bristol Sports Centre (Artemis BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/04/2014
I'm catching a plane tomorrow morning to the USA, starting with Virginia. After that I'll be heading to Texas and Florida. As always, the main point of the trip is to meet up with some cool BJJ blogger friends. Yay! I get back to the UK in May: Dónal will be covering the two Wednesdays until I get back, showing Artemis BJJ students the mysteries of the back position.
Hopefully I'll be able to catch up on my sleep at some point soon, as with the GrappleThon last weekend, it's been a busy last few days! The event went really well, with over £5,000 raised so far! My write-up can be found here. ;)
_____________________
I briefly covered technical mount a couple of weeks ago, as part of maintaining high mount, so I thought that moving on to a back take that starts from technical mount would make sense. At the same time, this is also a method of retaking the back if you lose one hook, so it has some versatility.In the context of retaking the back, the time to use this is before they get their shoulders to the mat. They've managed to clear one of your hooks and started bringing their hips over. Before they can get their shoulders to the mat, press your chest into their shoulder and roll them onto their side, in the direction they were escaping. You'll probably need to balance on your shoulder and head to get into the right position.
As they have cleared one of your legs, you should be able to then slide that knee behind their head (you might need to post on an arm, but see if you can do it without releasing your seatbelt grip). Sit back and roll them over your knee, then re-establish your second hook (note that in sparring, this will almost certainly be blocked, but that's for another class). You can keep doing that from side to side as a drill.
To go from technical mount to the back, the motion is the same, but you are in a more stable starting position. Simply drop back from technical mount, rolling them over the knee you have near your head. The foot you had by their hip becomes your first hook, so you just need to bring the second hook over. That can be easier said than done, which is why we'll be discussing some methods on getting that second hook into play as part of a future lesson.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: I feel relatively happy with this lesson, though I'm not sure it's essential to add in the "and here's how it fits with technical mount" part. Then again, it didn't seem to detract from the main thrust of the lesson: hopefully having that extra bit acts as a useful context, showing that the technique is applicable in multiple situations.
The main thing people were having trouble with is basing on their shoulder and head as they wiggle their knee up. Walking round and demonstrating it as they were drilling seemed to do the trick, but perhaps I should be modifying it somehow to make it more clear when I'm initially demonstrating.
I also added the 'turn to technical mount' side to side into the warm-up again, especially as it's very applicable to today's lesson. That warm-up structure remains fluid. At the moment, my thinking is something like this:
1. Shrimps
2. Shrimp to knees
3. Bridge & Shrimp
4. Continuous side control escape
5. Technical mount side to side
I'd also like to add in stand up in guard sit-ups and Bullfighter pass drilling, then perhaps builds up to a few sequences (e.g., elbow escape > sit up sweep > elbow escape > repeat; Stand up in guard > break guard > bullfighter pass > reverse half guard to mount > upa > repeat; Back > bridging escape > reverse half guard to mount > technical mount > back > repeat), but that might be both too complex and take too long. I'll see how it goes over the next few months. Might get some ideas when I'm in the US too. :)
14 April 2014
14/04/2014 - Grip Break When They Block Your Back Choke
Class #558
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 14/04/2014
I was still pretty sore from the GrappleThon yesterday, particularly my left arm. My own fault entirely, as I rely way too much on cross-facing, along with overwrapping from the guard and just generally grabbing the gi and yanking it a lot. It indicates I'm probably using too much force with that arm, which is ironic given how focused I am on technique. ;)
Well worth the pain, because we've managed to raise over £5,000 for the wonderful local charity Kinergy! Naturally you're more than welcome to keep pushing that total even higher, if you want to help an extremely deserving cause. It meant I didn't do any sparring today, though I was still able to join in with the drilling, as well as set the timer for sparring etc.
Dónal started off with a de la Riva pass drill. Squat, grab their collar and pull them in towards you (to get their shoulders off the ground, which makes it harder for them to sweep you). Shove the foot that is on your hip straight down, pushing near the ankle, then swing your leg up. Step on their leg, shoving it underneath the leg you raised to stick them in place. You'd keep going from there, naturally, but that's where we stopped for the drill.
The main technique was Dónal's grip break to attack the back: he has showed it to me before, in a private lesson a while ago. Remember to put it on slowly, being careful of wrist lock pressure. The situation is that they have grabbing your choking arm with both of their arms. Slide your non-choking hand out, then put it on top of their wrist, palm up (like you're holding a tray).
Use your choking hand to grasp your non-choking arm (you'll probably only manage a couple of fingers, but that is enough). Bend your non-choking hand backwards, at the same time twisting your choking hand in the same direction, still holding on. This should be uncomfortable on their wrist: pushing downwards will help too.
To finish extricating your arm, wriggle your non-choking wrist sideways into their arm, which should pop their hand out of the way. As soon as you knock it free, unclasp your hands and grab the meat part of their hand with your non-choking hand. From there you could push it down and step your leg over to trap it, or simply hold it in place with your hand. You may also be able to twist your choking arm straight into their neck, as they will often get distracted by what you're doing to their wrist.
Right at the end, Dónal quickly showed an entry into deep half from standard half: Roli wanted to know, as I guess he's working his deep half. Dive your inside arm to their opposite bum cheek and swivel underneath the leg. From there, you can go for the Homer sweep or maybe the Waiter, but the Homer sweep seems the simplest option for deep half. Simple is good! ;)
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 14/04/2014
I was still pretty sore from the GrappleThon yesterday, particularly my left arm. My own fault entirely, as I rely way too much on cross-facing, along with overwrapping from the guard and just generally grabbing the gi and yanking it a lot. It indicates I'm probably using too much force with that arm, which is ironic given how focused I am on technique. ;)Well worth the pain, because we've managed to raise over £5,000 for the wonderful local charity Kinergy! Naturally you're more than welcome to keep pushing that total even higher, if you want to help an extremely deserving cause. It meant I didn't do any sparring today, though I was still able to join in with the drilling, as well as set the timer for sparring etc.
Dónal started off with a de la Riva pass drill. Squat, grab their collar and pull them in towards you (to get their shoulders off the ground, which makes it harder for them to sweep you). Shove the foot that is on your hip straight down, pushing near the ankle, then swing your leg up. Step on their leg, shoving it underneath the leg you raised to stick them in place. You'd keep going from there, naturally, but that's where we stopped for the drill.
The main technique was Dónal's grip break to attack the back: he has showed it to me before, in a private lesson a while ago. Remember to put it on slowly, being careful of wrist lock pressure. The situation is that they have grabbing your choking arm with both of their arms. Slide your non-choking hand out, then put it on top of their wrist, palm up (like you're holding a tray). Use your choking hand to grasp your non-choking arm (you'll probably only manage a couple of fingers, but that is enough). Bend your non-choking hand backwards, at the same time twisting your choking hand in the same direction, still holding on. This should be uncomfortable on their wrist: pushing downwards will help too.
To finish extricating your arm, wriggle your non-choking wrist sideways into their arm, which should pop their hand out of the way. As soon as you knock it free, unclasp your hands and grab the meat part of their hand with your non-choking hand. From there you could push it down and step your leg over to trap it, or simply hold it in place with your hand. You may also be able to twist your choking arm straight into their neck, as they will often get distracted by what you're doing to their wrist.
Right at the end, Dónal quickly showed an entry into deep half from standard half: Roli wanted to know, as I guess he's working his deep half. Dive your inside arm to their opposite bum cheek and swivel underneath the leg. From there, you can go for the Homer sweep or maybe the Waiter, but the Homer sweep seems the simplest option for deep half. Simple is good! ;)
13 April 2014
12/04/2014 - Kinergy Charity BJJ GrappleThon
The time has come for another GrappleThon, this year at a new venue. Dónal and I co-founded Artemis BJJ back in January: since then, we've been running classes at the central Bristol Sports Centre venue on Mondays and Wednesdays. Before and after we set up our club, we'd also been teaching at an unusual gym in Bitton (involving locked gates, llamas and Noel Edmonds. No, really), the old venue for local fitness gym Hit Fit. The owner, Mark, mentioned that he would be moving to a swish new location once the change of use was confirmed in late February.I decided to take a risk and arrange the GrappleThon to coincide with the opening of the new venue, so it could act as a sort of launch event. In February I started to get things in motion, setting the date as 12th April, because I was completely booked up the rest of March and April. That gamble didn't quite pay off, because once it got to April, it turned out that the venue was not going to be ready to officially open until May. Mark was kind enough to let us go in there early to stick with the advertised time, despite the fact that he and his team were super busy with preparations to get the gym ready.
[Incidentally, there will indeed be a Hit Fit launch event involving charity, on the 3rd May from 10:00-17:00, so be sure to check that out if you're able to pop along. I will still be in the US so unfortunately can't make it, but to find out more, here is the Facebook event page. They're raising money for the Lullaby Trust: there's a JustGiving page that was linked on that Facebook page, here.]
The inaugural Artemis BJJ GrappleThon is in support of local charity Kinergy. They provide professional counselling to survivors of sexual abuse and rape, helping them move on with their lives. The reason we went with them, aside from it being a worthy cause, is that Dónal is a Kinergy counsellor. Here is what he had to say back in February about how Kinergy make the world a better place:
It’s an amazing charity with 22 volunteer counsellors that see up to three clients every week. Kinergy offers a year’s free counselling and is open to everyone, regardless of location, age or gender. It’s hard to put into words how amazing it is at Kinergy.
The waiting list is a year long: due to the lack of funding, Kinergy was forced to not take on any more referrals. It is hoping for more funding to support the service and create more referral opportunities.
Some clients come to Kinergy trying to deal with the indescribable levels of abuse they have faced, attempting to express themselves and gain some sense of what happened. Kinergy can give clients the tools to support themselves in the future.
The counselling can potentially be a huge step for a client. I have met many clients that feel they can’t speak out to get the support they need. Some abuse is hidden and spreading this message of support, even if it only reaches one survivor, could be life changing for that person.
Just like every year, the support of Seymour 'Meerkatsu' Yang and Tatami Fightwear was absolutely invaluable. Seymour came up with another brilliant t-shirt and poster design, while Tatami generously printed the t-shirts for the third year running. Seymour then went a step further and sold 10 prints of his beautiful 'Heavenly Wristlock' rashguard design, with the profits going to Kinergy. The aim was to raise £500: there was a slight shortfall of £40. Most people would have just shrugged and sent in the £460 (as after all that remains a considerable donation). Not Seymour. He filled the gap from his own pocket.
Numerous people contacted me beforehand about bringing down teams from around the country. My response is always "the more the merrier": I love the way that GrappleThons can bring people in the BJJ community together, so we can all both make new friends and renew ties with old ones. There were BJJers who headed down from Northern towns Congleton and Chesterfield, a Welsh contingent from over in Aberystwyth, plus a few teams from around London (like Horizon BJJ).
There were others who decided to drop in on their way to the Welsh Open, like two grapplers from Impact Martial Arts Truro, then later a father and son duo who train with Seymour at Mill Hill. MMA commentator, purple belt and 'Top Control' podcast host Josh Palmer headed along too. Representatives from most of the local Bristol gyms were there too, something I always enjoy seeing: I've never been a fan of the tribalism that can sometimes blight BJJ, so it's brilliant to see people just coming together to train and help raise money for a good cause. :)
A lot of grapplers were crazy enough to commit to the full 24 hours. Anne Birkett and her Westcoast BJJ crew were the largest group, with some impressive fundraising meaning that they all earned t-shirts, seeing off some stiff competition. Anne could be seen bouncing around the venue for the majority of the event (I especially enjoyed her 5am dance-off grapple with Paula) while Kris kept us all going in the quiet hours of the morning between around 2am and 7am. I don't think he stopped grappling over those five hours!
Shane (2.0, bigger, beefier and beardier) was back too. Having rolled for most of the last GrappleThon, he repeated that same level of involvement. Not only was he constantly rolling, as an experienced purple belt he was giving out lots of advice to the less knowledgeable grapplers. All he needed was to occasionally collapse face down on the floor and sleep for a few minutes, then he was ready to jump back in. ;)
Paula and Tanya were two other returning veterans, going for the full 24 this time: my old training partner Pippa embarked on her second coach mission from London. They were among a huge number of women who came along to support the GrappleThon, like Jodie Bear, who has had an inspiring journey in BJJ. Her wrath at Subway could only be temporarily contained during a brief hibernation. Judging by Facebook, as soon as she drove back up the country, the first thing she did was go wreck a Subway. Well, that or go roll: either way, far too much energy! ;P
There were lots of other female grapplers heading along for the first time. Rachel, the champion fundraiser for this event, not only drove all the way down from Chesterfield, this was her first time ever sparring outside of her club. She was only planning to spend a couple of hours originally, but impressively managed to at least double (triple?) that initial slot. Well done Rachel, on both fronts.
As happens with any event you plan in advance, a few people unfortunately picked up injuries before the big day, but a number still turned up anyway to support. I certainly don't expect anyone with an injury to make it all the way down to Bristol, as it's totally fair enough if they stay at home to rest up and recover. That's what I would probably do myself (I'm a confirmed wimp). Hiren ignored his busted wrist to get in some grappling, Anne herself had messed up her neck, Geraldine was there with her bad back. David popped a rib so couldn't train (he still tried!), but came along to help out anyway.
For me, it was my first look at the new Hit Fit venue, in the process of being readied for its official opening next month. There is a decent mat space and - as of this weekend - two cool murals on the walls, painted while we watched by a skilled Slovakian artist. Rather less artistically, I went on an Instagram spree this year, something I hadn't started using by the date of the last GrappleThon. I set up a GrappleThon specific Instagram, so that's full of pictures from the day. I was using it to update on the hour, as well as try and make up for my rather limited pre-event directions...not that I wouldn't know where the venue was, that would be silly. Ahem.
Thanks to everybody who came down to take part, especially all the fundraisers who did such a great job of getting in donations for a fantastic cause (at the time of writing, we're close to £5,000: donations still welcome on our JustGiving page :D), and thanks again to our sponsors Meerkatsu, Tatami Fightwear and of course Hit Fit, for letting us use their gym even though that meant we were rolling around right as they were trying to finish off their DIY. Thanks also to Sarah from Kinergy for bringing us that lovely box of chocolates, plus the delectable lemon and ginger cakes brought by another supporter (who also put in a load of very generous donations on JustGiving). :)
Class #557
Hit Fit, (Artemis BJJ), Bristol, UK - 12/04/2014
As usual, I'll also put down my sparring notes: I definitely rolled more this time than in the previous two years, though that still probably doesn't amount to more than four hours total over the whole 24hrs, maybe five. The usual themes from the last year or so keep cropping up. I'm still relying on the running escape way too much, rather than trying the basic guard recovery and turn to knees first. I'm also not yet managing to effectively combine with the stiff arm escape: I think I managed that once, but there was a reasonable weight discrepancy.
Like Kev suggested with the running escape, I continue to look to control that far arm, but with higher level grapplers like Shane, their arms almost immediately snake past the elbow I'm trying to block by my hip. That messes up the escape, so it then becomes a battle of digging their arm back out. Marcelo does the hip swing escape to guard with the arm still in, like Jeff Rockwell showed me in Texas a couple of years ago (sort of, as part of another technique), but I have yet to do it successfully without clearing their arm.
In guard, especially open guard, I'm getting passed too easily by anyone experienced, who tend to either leg-drag me or otherwise control my legs and slip around. I would have thought that is partially because I'm not threatening enough with sweeps, plus I'm also not doing a good job of combining attacks. I went for the windscreen wiper repeatedly without much luck (even if they were smaller than), possibly because my angle is poor and I'm telegraphing it too much. I tried Kev's grip break to back take or sit-up sweep (if they pull their arm back), but again not much luck there.
The back remains a weak position for me (both attacking and escaping), though that lockdown from the back thing Kev showed me recently is fun (but it does depend a lot on leg proportions and flexibility). A few times, I was able to wriggle back into half guard when escaping and I had a few attacks going from the back, but I don't think I actually landed any. And again, I was mostly sparring smaller people, so it's not because they were using any Hulk strength to resist. :)
I'm looking forward to organising the 2015 GrappleThon at Artemis BJJ: I already have a date, venue and charity in mind, so will get planning that in a while. Probably early in the year again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)