Teaching #365 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 31/07/2015
For the last bit of sitting guard, I went for something slightly more complicated. From sitting guard, scoot in towards them, this time getting your same side shin in front of their leg, wrapping your same side arm behind, keeping your head tight. Ideally you also want to grab their sleeve with your other hand, then pass that to your first hand behind their leg. If that isn't available, you can grab their gi lapel or belt instead. It's possible to do the sweep without any grip, but it's more difficult.
Shoot your free leg through, reaching underneath their upper leg with your free arm as you swivel to your back. Lift up with your shin-on-shin leg, continuing to rotate. You're aiming to come up on top in their guard. If they are able to post (i.e., you haven't got control of their sleeve), you might find it easier to go for the back instead.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: At first I thought you needed to shoot your head all the way through too, but looking at it more carefully, it's actually more into the thigh. I'll emphasise that lift with the shin-on-shin leg more next time, as well as going high with your free arm. I'm not sure that's essential, because some people were still getting the sweep when their arm went low, but worth mentioning.
In sparring, I've noticed that people are backing away a lot and also bending forwards. That's a consequence of doing lots of sitting guard, at least with the less experienced students. It meant that with a strong collar grip, I could flip them over with a leg, but also reminded me to be careful of necks. I did it quite slowly, even so I could see how the neck could get nastily squashed if both people don't take care. Using two feet on the hips would be more effective - I was only getting away with one leg because my sparring partners were less experienced and around my size. First time I can remember that the old overhead sweep came up for me in a live roll.
Later at open mat, I spent a long while trying to finish off the crucifix. This time it was with somebody a good bit bigger than me, with a little more experience than some of the others. I couldn't roll them, but I had the arm trapped in my legs. I should have gone for that leaning shoulder lock, but totally forgot about. Something similar happened with the breadcutter back at RGA, when I didn't think of the near side armbar.
That's possibly a consequence of mainly doing specific sparring, so I need to remind myself to grab people for free sparring during open mat, as well as drilling to get those moves embedded in my memory. After all, being the instructor must have some privileges. ;)
Teaching #364 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/07/2015
No doubt there are other names for this position, but koala guard is suitably evocative. If you're starting from sitting guard, this can be a useful option if they have broken your grip on their collar. Immediately scoot in, hooking the leg you have on the ground around the back of their leg. Your collar-gripping arm goes around the back of their leg. Jam your head in tight against their leg, on the inside (or you're at risk of guillotines).
From here, you can do a mini technical stand-up, basing off your free hand and other foot. Lift your bum slightly off the ground, then scoop their leg with the leg you have behind theirs. Maintain a tight grip, then move into side control. For even more control, it's useful to grip their sleeve with the arm you have behind their leg. Failing that, you can also grab their belt or their gi lapel. If none of that is available, you can just grab your own gi.
Be aware of their knee positioning. You want to try and stay on the side of that knee. If they are able to drive their knee into your chest, that gives them a chance to set up a pass, crushing your back down onto the mat.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: Staying really tight is key, along with keeping your head inside. It's natural for the head to start creeping to the outside, but that's guillotine territory. I haven't taught guillotines yet (it's not a technique I use much myself), but it might be worth putting that in to highlight the risk. Also, I could throw in some breakfalling drills at the start. It's a fairly controlled takedown position, but some breakfalling practice would still make sense. Maybe even single leg drills?
I've been trying this technique in sparring over the last few weeks, which has been comparatively effective, though I tend to end up being a bit scrambly with it. Also, due to all the sitting guard we've been doing, people have become wary of grips on their collar. So I've been testing out either chasing them by scooting along the floor, or simply waiting for them to engage. I could also try a longer range open guard, reaching with my legs? Koala guard has proved useful as an alternative when I don't have a grip, but I could do with something that applies when they start running away from you too. I'll play with leg stuff next time in sparring.
Teaching #363 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/07/2015
For this fundamental attack from the guard, you first need to isolate their arm. Easiest way to do that is to grab their wrist with your same side hand, then also grab their elbow. Pull their arm across and pin it to your chest. You're then going to put your same side foot on their hip, clamping the knee of that leg to their shoulder (essentially you're trying to take away their space, as well as blocking them from easily pulling their arm backwards).
If they're wearing a gi, grab their opposite collar with your wrist-hand (keeping hold of their arm with your elbow-hand) and pull them down. If it's nogi, grab their head. Next, kick your other leg into their armpit, aiming to further break their posture and get your leg across their back. You're also going to use that to swivel your own body and get a better angle. From here, you can then push their head out of the way with your head/collar grip and bring your hip-pushing leg over their head. Squeeze your knees, lift your hips and pull down gradually on the wrist for the tap.
A common problem is that your partner will 'stack' you up onto your shoulders, making it difficult (though not impossible) to finish the technique. This is a common problem with the triangle too. To prevent that situation, push with your legs, as well as really knocking your partner's posture when you kick across with the armpit leg. You can also 'walk' back on your shoulders to recover a more extended position if they are squashing you. Finally, angling the leg you have by their head can help (like on Adam Adshead's old DVD), as that makes it tougher for them to push into you.
If they do stack you, it's still possible to get the armbar. Swivel out as far as you can, then push on their leg. You'll end up spinning around their arm, putting you in a face down position. That enables you to bring your whole body to bear on their arm, resulting in a powerful armbar.
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Teaching Notes: I used Sahid's armbar drilling sequence, sort of, as I started off with a drill where you use your legs. However, I also had a collar grip in there. I'll try it with just the legs next time, then I can build into the rest of the sequence. I should also come up with something better for controlling their other sleeve, rather than simply grabbing it. Starting with a collar and sleeve grip makes sense, although then you have to switch grips, because otherwise it is awkward to push on the head. Grabbing the elbow would make sense too, like in the Sahid drills. I threw in the omoplata too, as it fit with a question that was asked after progressive resistance, in terms of what to do if you lose the arm. Triangle fits in there too, though in this situation the elbow had just slipped back rather than the whole arm being out.
Here are those notes (again) on Sahid's armbar drills, as at some point I'll probably use all of them:
To help with teaching this, my training partner Sahid has a useful sequence. It starts with drilling the leg positioning. In closed guard, your partner is going to put their elbow on the opposite side of your belt knot/belly button. Bring your leg on the same side as that arm up, so you can pin your knee against their shoulder. Your other leg kicks up into their armpit. Use that to turn your own body, also bringing their body down with the armpit leg. You can now bring your first leg over their head, keeping your heels pointing down (don't cross your legs).
Next, you're going to add in one of your arms. They aren't generally going to give you their arm, so you'll have to drag it across yourself. Reach across with your opposite side arm and grab slightly above their elbow. Still keeping your ankles crossed, lift your hips, then as you drop them, pull the arm across your body. You want to end up with their arm between your forearm and bicep, enabling you to clamp your elbow to your side while also pinning their arm. Your hand goes to your chest.
Step your knee up on their trapped-arm side, again pressing it into their shoulder. Make sure you don't raise that knee before you've pinned the arm, as opening your guard at that point may give them enough space to start escaping. Then finish as before, kicking your other leg up into their armpit, swivelling, bringing your first leg over their head and completing the submissions.
The third and final stage adds in a collar grip with your free hand (if they have a collar: if not, grab their head). Reach for their collar/head after you've pinned their arm, then pull them down. You can also use the elbow of that collar gripping arm to block the elbow of their trapped arm. That prevents them from trying to bring the elbow of their trapped arm to your other side hip, as that would scupper your armbar attempt.
Teaching #362 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 27/07/2015
Tonight I covered a technique I've been working on for a while, called the 'unstoppable sweep'. I first heard about it over on Seymour's blog, where he described his visit to a Mike Fowler seminar (the guy known for this technique). Get on your side in open guard, bringing your lower leg in front of the bottom of their shin. Your other leg goes slightly above their knee, when you also lock your feet together. Grab their same side sleeve with your lower arm and their same side collar with your upper arm.
You can then tweak their leg outwards by pulling with your lower leg on their shin, pushing with your other leg behind their knee. Maintain your grips and knee position, as this should hopefully put you directly into a knee cut with a deep collar grip, meaning you could also switch right into a choke. Make sure you pull them forwards onto you, as if their weight is based back, it will be tough to land the technique. I've found this sweep works particularly well if you're in sitting guard and your opponent steps in really close to try and pass. From there, it isn't too much of an adjustment to move into a sort of reverse de la Riva, then hit the sweep: you already have the collar grip, so you just need to secure the same side sleeve. That collar grip also gives you another point of control where you can push, combined with your legs.
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Teaching Notes: I think most people got this ok. Main things to emphasise are getting on your side, pulling them into you and making sure one leg is low on the shin, the other just above their knee. While in my experience it works a bit better if you lock your feet, that's not essential. A number of people were also attempting to jump straight into side control rather than knee cutting first. I guess that depends how comfortable you are with the knee cut. I find this sweep means you can pivot around your knee, with a firm control throughout. If people find it easier to go straight to side control, that's cool, but I suspect with resistance, they are liable to get stuck in their partner's guard. But I could be wrong: it will be interested to see how that technique fits into sparring for them. :)
Class #655 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 26/07/2015
I'm still taking it easy to give my finger joint a chance to recover from whatever I did to it earlier this week. That meant I was mostly answering questions and helping people drill. However, I did get in some light sparring at the end with Rafal, along with drilling some of the material from Jeff Rockwell's recent sit up escape instructional. It builds on the Defensive Guard stuff I've been incorporating into my game for a year or two now, particularly the collar tie position.
Koala guard remains an interesting option from open guard, though I haven't yet been able to combine the distance together well. I'll keep testing out the entry point, as I think I'm jumping into it too early. That guillotine remains a risk, though I'm being more careful to keep my head in tight. My back escapes still need lots of work, as I'm continuing to chase as they try to bring in their second hook. Triangles are a risk from the underhook too: I normally feel ok with those and make certain to keep the elbow well back, but I was lazy today and got stuck inside. If he'd switched legs, I reckon he could have finished it (as I demonstrated afterwards).
Teaching #361 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 24/07/2015
From sitting guard, pull down with your collar grip. Break their posture by pulling that collar towards you, while also pushing their head down and to the side with your other hand. You're tucking their head towards your armpit. Raise your collar gripping elbow, creating a window to insert your other hand. Slide your other hand across the back of their head and under your collar gripping elbow. You're looking to hook your elbow with the back of your pushing hand, pointing your fingers up in order to lock it in place. To finish, lift the elbow of the collar gripping hand while dropping the elbow of the other hand.
It also helps if you can get your collar-gripping side leg into the bicep of their same side arm, or even better over the top, putting you into a sort of half-closed guard around their back. Here's my first ever instructor Oli Geddes showing the technique from half guard:
Oli mentioned when he taught it in a class a few years back that this choke is sufficiently versatile to function from various positions. For example, butterfly guard, half guard and also when they're trying to establish double underhooks on your legs in order to pass. Even if you don't get the choke, you're likely to still manage a sweep, as in order to avoid getting submitted they'll probably have to roll out. You can simply follow them and end up in mount.
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Teaching Notes: For emphasis next time, first point to note is getting your grip in the right place, so you're not thrusting into their windpipe. Also, exactly where to tuck their head: some people were pushing too far, others not far enough. Also, I should add that it's ok if you end up sweeping them instead. Obviously it's nice to get the choke, but if you get a sweep, that's cool too.
Limited sparring for me as I jacked something in my finger on Wednesday. It meant I could try and practice grips with other hand a bit, then stuck to answering questions in open mat afterwards. Most people stayed for the open mat upstairs, meaning it was busy this Friday. :)
Teaching #360 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/07/2015
Tonight we went with a straightforward technique commonly known as a collar drag. Again, you can do this from several open guard positions (butterfly, for example), but this month we're looking at sitting guard. Start in your sitting guard, where you are basing behind with your arm. Generally, you want to make sure that arm is behind you, as if you've got it to the side, they can grab it and drive forward to pass.
However, there are exceptions to that rule, such as when you want to collar drag. In sitting guard, a good time to do this is when they try to pass around the outside of your raised knee. Use your basing arm to help you shift off to the side, away from your collar gripping arm and towards the open side into which they're moving. Posting on your free arm, shift your hips away. You are then going to pull your partner into the space you've just vacated, using their collar. Bring the elbow of your pulling arm to the mat.
Be careful of dragging them too hard and too far, or they can simply scamper round, putting you back to square one. After a successful collar drag, you will normally already have a leg close enough to hook inside their leg and start taking their back. That means it is easier to reach around to grasp their lat, then swing your leg over to begin establishing back control. Make sure you get a seat belt grip (one arm over the shoulder, the other under the armpit), or they may be able to simply shrug you off. It may turn into a sweep instead, depending how they land from the collar drag: keep control of their leg and drive, staying tight.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: I mentioned doing this when they move to the side, but I think that's confusing people. Next time, I'll show how to do it when they don't move to the side, then I can mention that if they do move to the side, they are putting themselves in the position to be dragged already so you can move less. A few people weren't sure about putting that hook in: it would be good to put a back drill in the warm-up to make it clear.
The warm-up has changed a little, as I've continued combining the drills into a progression. So, started with knee cut, then side control to mount, then mount to tech mount. When I teach this again, need to make sure the tech mount to back drill is in there, so especially newer people can feel what back mount is like.
In sparring, I was looking for the ankle pick and tripod, along with the unstoppable sweep. Koala guard if it popped up, but I'm not having too much luck entering into that. Jammed my finger during one of the spars, so took it easy at the end with a beginner, giving them a chance to work. If the finger is still messed up by Friday, that will mean I have a chance to practice different grips, working the underhook with my right hand. It will be interesting to see how applicable that is to open guard.
I ended up in a weird position with Matt, wrapped around his leg upside down. Eventually I rolled him over, but there was no technique involved, just random scrambling. At least I got in close. Hopefully that will lend itself to something more productive, like improving my entries into koala guard. Inverted koala guard, not so useful. :P
Teaching #359 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/07/2015
Tonight I went with the scoop. As with any escape, you need to stay tight. Keep your elbows in, using your hands to cover your neck. There are numerous schools of thought on just how to do that: clamping your hands to both sides of your neck (which I learned as the 'Shirley Temple' defence), crossing your hands over your neck, grabbing both your collars, and Saulo's method of just grabbing one collar, keeping the other hand free to block.
My preference is that last option, though you need to be careful that you don't reach too far with that free hand. If you do, then you may give them space to establish a firm grip or launch their attack. Keep the 'defensive zone' of the free arm small, with your elbow staying tight. Should they manage to get past your arms and being setting up a choke, you'll probably have to bail on that and simply grab their arm. The first priority when somebody takes your back is protecting your neck.
What Saulo calls the 'scoop' back escape starts with that hand positioning, one thumb in the opposite collar and the other hand defending. For this escape to work, you need to have prevented (or cleared) any grips they have below your arms. That then enables you 'scoop' your upper body down and your hips forwards, as low as you can. Next, kick out one of your legs to clear their hook (you may also need to nudge it with your elbow), then drop your other elbow down past their other leg and turn.
That's a little counter-intuitive: keep in mind you are not turning towards the hook you kicked free. You also need to be careful here that they can't re-establish their second hook: block it with your elbow and knee if they try. Once you've turned, stay heavy on their leg and move up into side control.
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Teaching Notes: I mentioned that I don't like the scoop escape, but I think the class got something out of it. Mainly it connects to deep half, I think. I ran through the more orthodox escape too. I said this before, but I'd like to go with the 'pull the arm' over escape, as that's higher percentage than the scoop (because you are pretty much never in a position where somebody has taken your back but not secured a grip with their arms).
On the standard back escape, people were having some trouble stiff arming into the leg, which happens a lot. I therefore suggesting turning to top half instead if they are having difficulty, like Donal did back when he showed me this (I prefer going to side control, as that feels much more secure, but top half is a good second option if you can't get the cross-face).
Class #654 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 22/07/2015
Handily, Chris wanted to work on his guard passing while I was looking to practice guard retention. Perfect combination. We started off playing with some videos Andrew Smith put up on one of his Revolution BJJ articles (you may have seen those pop up if you're on Facebook and frequent BJJ groups, he shares them frequently). The videos included were simple and easy to understand.
Chris and I both particularly liked the option of trapping their wrists in the crook of your elbows if they grabbed your trousers, breaking the grip by moving your legs, then sweeping them. When you wrap up the wrists like that and put your hands together, it's a surprisingly strong grip. Almost felt like a wristlock.
I had Chris run through his passing a few times without much resistance, aiming to help him combine his passes. The first point is to add changes of direction, then try and see which passes fit together well. I find that the single underhook often becomes viable once you've driven in close, something I often finish with. Once you have that grip and manage to add lots of pressure, it's tough to stop.
With the knee cut, that reminded me of several techniques I've watched recently about turning the position into a sweep, from videos by Mackenzie Dern over on BJJ Library, Ryan Hall's Defensive Guard and Jason Scully over at Grapplers Guide. The part I remembered was lifting the trouser leg, then putting your shin against the shin of their cutting leg. You can then lift and go for a sweep, or at least make enough space to stuff the pass. Hall recommends bringing your foot back in order to press into their hip, re-establishing the 'defensive wall' he discusses at length in his DVD series. Works pretty well, though I do worry about potentially messing up my leg if it gets squished at an awkward angle. I'm comparatively flexible, but I don't want to ever rely on that, especially as I've had that recurring groin injury.
Chris took a long video on his laptop: I look forward to watching that, as it should jog my memory about a number of the other techniques we played with. It's really helpful to film training, the hard bit tends to be doing something with the video afterwards. ;)
Teaching #358 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/07/2015
Sitting guard is my main open guard position at the moment (as ever, lots of other names, like seated guard, sit-up guard, cross-grip guard, stiff-arm guard etc). To enter into the guard, grab their same side collar while putting your opposite foot on their opposite hip. Open up the collar and switch to your other hand. If you're greedy and start off with the cross-grip, that may leave you vulnerable to getting passed, according to Xande.
You will be sitting on the floor, one knee up, the other down. Keep your head facing slightly up, puff your chest out and make sure your head is in front of your hips. There should be a bend at your waist (but don't curve your upper body, keep it straight). Grab their opposite collar and make a fist, pressing into their clavicle. Keep that arm straight and stay mobile, aiming to keep your knee up and keep them inside that knee. If they get outside and manage to collapse it, that's problematic, but there are things you can do if they step around the knee (which I'll be covering later).
The basic offence from sitting guard is what Xande calls the get-up sweep, which I first learned from Kev as the ankle pick sweep. Though I prefer ankle pick sweep as a name, the good thing about Xande's term is that it emphasises how standing up is a central part of this sweep, rather than simply driving forwards and muscling them over.
This sweep works from several positions. It can be done from butterfly guard, so links up with the butterfly sweep. Whatever the position, you have a grip of their opposite collar, then your other hand is based behind you. Keep that hand where you can't see it. The only time it should be in view, according to Xande, is when you're going for a collar drag and moving around the outside.
From sitting guard, the ankle pick sweep works best when they are moving backwards: that can often happen if they are wary of your grips. It will work if they're on their knees too, when you can follow them up into a sort of combat base position. Either way, get hold of their heel/ankle ((hence the sweep name, which Xande also calls the 'get up' sweep), or potentially the material of their trouser leg (that works better from butterfly guard). Stand up, using your collar grip to direct them to the mat as you pull back on their leg.
Xande emphasises that the leverage doesn't come from trying to muscle them to the ground. It comes from the action of standing up. So, concentrate on getting the grips and then standing, rather than getting the grips and driving forward before you've stood up. Xande also notes that you want to be careful of your momentum, as it's easy to fall forwards if you aren't careful of posture (his analogy is that if you were running and suddenly came across a cliff, you'd lean back to avoid tumbling over the edge). Lean back slightly instead as you knock them down, getting into a secure guard passing crouch, then do a knee cut. Your knee should already be forward and in place, making this straightforward. Not that you have to do a knee cut, any other pass is fine too, but knee cut is probably the easiest.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: I want to emphasise keeping your head forwards and chest out, along with the Xande 'cliff edge' analogy. I mentioned all of those while walking around during drilling, but could have emphasised it more in the main demonstration bit. To help get people used to the position, I added the butterfly scoot drill to hopefully help establish the move. Also split drilling, with a quick bit of playing with the position first, then into the ankle pick. Seemed to work well.
There were the usual problems with people relying more on a shove rather than gravity after they've stood. I did emphasise the stand a lot, so will just keep doing that. Something else to point out during my initial demonstration is Xande's 'cliff edge' analogy. Handy, as it's a good way of reminding people to cut their forward momentum so they don't fall forwards after the sweep.
Sparring, my koala guard efforts are continuing, but not quite smooth enough. I possibly need to be less willing to jump into it straight away, because currently I've been going to that if I can't get a grip on the collar. Tripod and sickle might be a better one before I try that, as long as I can combine those all together. On a similar note, I was trying butterfly with Ross when he squished down into my guard. Nice passing efforts on his part with the shin trap I taught him ages ago: he just overbalanced a bit on kicking the leg back, so I was able to hit a butterfly sweep. Used shoulder clamp to help, useful for taking away that basing arm.
Class #653 RGA Bucks (BJJ), Dan Lewis, Aylesbury, UK - 18/07/2015
At RGA Bucks, the class goes through more techniques and with less drilling time: although I wouldn't teach that way myself, as a student and given I only get up to RGA Bucks every two months, it's perfect for me. It means there is lots of technique when I visit, plus I get plenty of sparring time to make sure I can roll with everybody I want to (priority is old training partners, along with people around my size).
Dan taught three options for when they stand in your closed guard, which fits in nicely with the month of closed guard at Artemis BJJ in June. Each one was predicated off a slightly different reaction by your partner. In the first scenario, after they've stood, they are trying to get their knees under your bum for a guard break (apparently a lot of people at RGA Bucks have been doing what Dan called the 'table top' position, because JT Torres taught it at a seminar recently).
First you want a cross grip on their sleeve. You might get that before they stand, but normally they will break the grip before beginning to rise up. Once you have that, you also want a collar grip. This is to stop them being able to sit back into that 'table top': if you're pulling down on their collar, you should be able to use their broken posture to keep them where you want.
Open your guard and slide down to their knees, reclosing around their legs. For the table top attempt their feet have to step in close together, setting you up for a sweep. Extend your legs, then lift slightly, turning them over to the side of the cross-gripped sleeve. Stay tight. Depending on where you land, you can either drive your knee forwards to secure mount, or squash them as you pass to side control.
Second option was the usual handstand sweep (like I taught last month), starting with the version where you grab their sleeve. As Dan noted, the sleeve grabbing one can be hard, as they can turn out their foot and resist. That's when you add the extra leverage from pushing off your hand into the handstand sweep.
The final technique was an omoplata. You've attempted the handstand sweep, but it isn't working. Instead, feed the cross grip over to the other hand, under the leg. Take time to establish that grip, pushing it in tight with both hands. Then grab their collar and pull down. Walk you leg up over their back, into the armpit. Don't try to immediately leap into the omoplata leg position, as they can potentially shrug that off and posture up.
To make it more gradual with greater control, bring your free leg over their head and push down at an angle, like you would to control their posture during an armbar. Bringing them down to the mat, maintaining your sleeve grip. Switch your grips, then the hand that was grabbing the leg grabs their belt. Push their arm around your leg, then you can disengage the sleeve grip, get up onto your elbow and switch the belt grip to their far hip. You can sweep from there too if you don't get the positioning, locking your legs and rolling through, making sure you lift your arm out of the way.
Sparring started off with Chris, my white belt drilling partner. It was cool to hear that he has been reading my blog for a while: always great to meet somebody who reads this blog! :D It was specifics from closed guard, meaning I was looking for underhooks to get into the collar clamp position I've been playing with since last month. I got the angle, pressing on his head, where we stayed for a while (he did a good job of staying patient, looking for an escape).
I went for the omoplata once I got my leg past his shoulder, but my body was a bit squished up preventing me from extending properly. I managed to turn it into a triangle by swinging around, a combination I don't normally get but should work on more. As I've gotten into this underhook thing, that should mean the omoplata becomes a much bigger part of my game.
On top, I was being a bit lazy, sticking with kneeling passes and seeing if I could get Jason Scully's sideways variation on the tailbone break, along with his 'eat the belt'. Couldn't get either, as Chris had decent control of my arm. I eventually got through with the normal kneeling break.
Then in free sparring, I went with Gareth, a purple from New Zealand who has been down to visit us at Artemis BJJ. He's a bit bigger than me, so I immediately looked to get on top and stay heavy. I wanted the breadcutter, moving to north south. I had the arm under, but getting the right positioning by the neck was causing me trouble. I should have remembered to push on the far arm and move into an armbar. Eventually I got rolled over, into the typical "getting squashed during pass attempt" position, same as what happens with Chris J back at Artemis BJJ. I need to work on 'walls' in open guard, maybe sit up more? Koala guard is another option, also breaking grips more actively.
There was a lot more motion with Stu (another purple, who runs RGA Milton Keynes with his partner Hayley, who is also cool: she wasn't feeling well and sat out of sparring, where I had a good chat with her to catch up), probably because he's smaller. He was going for my neck and back. I just about wriggled free, looking for knee cuts. I mostly tried for the kimura, but not securing it from good positions: e.g., I had it during his pass, under side control, when he was moving to my back, etc.
As he kept turning to turtle, I got into the crucifix, but forgot about getting the collar with an arm around the neck. We ended up in reverse mount, most unusual, then he was able to gradually catch me with a bow and arrow right at the end. I popped out of the first attempt, but then he got it tighter and I couldn't manage to get his elbow. Nicely done! :)
Teaching #357 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/07/2015
You can do this pass against various positions, but for this lesson I went with de la Riva. They have inserted a de la Riva hook (bring their leg around the outside of yours, wrapping your inner thigh with their instep) and are also grabbing your same side heel, while their foot on the other side is pressed into your hip. Immediately turn the toes of your trapped leg outwards and pressure your knee forwards. Ideally this will pop off their hook completely, but regardless it should at least weaken their ability to control your leg.
Grab the heel of their hip pushing foot with your same side hand, then with your remaining hand, grip low on that same trouser leg, knuckles facing down. Step back your free leg (so, the one their foot is on) and push with your heel drag across your body. That step back is important: otherwise, you'd be trying to pull their leg against the resistance of your own body.
After the step, you're also going to pull with your trouser grip, stretching their leg around your thigh/hip. Be sure to step back in, so they don't have any space. Maintaining the pressure with that trouser leg grip, bring your free hand under their head and pressure into them. To finish, swing your other leg back and move into side control. If they are retaining a tight grip on that leg, just grab their gripping hand/arm before you kick. It shouldn't be too difficult to generate enough leverage to free your leg, as you're so far around their guard already.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: I'm pleased with how well this went, as it's the first time I've taught a leg drag (and it's not a technique I use much myself. Jason Scully's video was really useful for reference). For next time, I'll emphasise pulling the leg across thigh and stepping back, though I did already emphasise that quite a lot: I'll have to think how to make it really clear. Maybe some drills in the warm-up related to those actions?
Speaking of which, I did add in some new drills, starting with side control to mount, then technical mount to the back. My plan is to add in more techs to the warm-up, also making it flow through several positions logically. E.g., start with guard pass to side control, switch to mount, then to the back. From there, I could perhaps put in an escape, or even an escape into deep half? It could be tricky to come up with something that is simple enough for a warm up, but I'll keep thinking.
Also, I included the push/pull bullfighter pass, as I want people to get used to the knee on belly leg positioning (a number of beginners end up instinctively posting in weird positions that look unbalanced). Having a back drill also means I can highlight not crossing the feet too. From my perspective, it's to stop the foot lock that can be done against that. I don't care so much about it as an IBJJF rule, as I am keen to avoid gearing the stuff I teach purely for winning medals under IBJJF rules rather than simply developing good jiu jitsu. However, for the competitors it is well worth getting used to not crossing their feet anyway.
In sparring, same stuff as usual, I took it fairly easy. I need to remember to switch the legs when I'm going for a single off koala guard, making that a natural motion. I still got it, but had to consciously think "oh yeah, leg goes here, switch, now drive," rather than smoothly flowing into the technique.
Teaching #356 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/07/2015
Tonight, the focus was driving forwards into them with the bullfighter pass, after you've established your grips inside their knees. That should generate a reaction, as they will kick back. Direct that kick to your side as you step around. Saulo likes to open out their far leg while pulling their near leg across his body. That motion should swivel them in place for an easy pass. Even simpler, as you drive in and they react, fire their legs out to the side as you step around.
Alternatively, if they don't react, you can still pass after having driven their knees towards their chest. Thrust one leg forward, then step back, pulling the other leg with you. Drive that leg into the mat with a straight arm and your body weight, then pass around on that side.
To finish the pass there are two main options. Either you can drop your shoulder into their hip, falling forward like in the 'pin the legs' version. If the position you're in doesn't lend itself to that, then simply moving into knee on belly may make more sense. Experiment with both: it will depend on the configuration of your body once you pass their legs.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: Very cool to see a whole bunch of new people, though as they didn't have a gi yet, this pass a little harder for them. So, with them in mind, I went through pin the legs variation in the warm up, then in drilling showed the shove legs in and step to side option. People were getting confused by Saulo's approach that I normally teach, where you push out the far leg and pull their near leg across your body. I might just show the push in, then push legs to then side when they push back option next time, if lots of beginners? Nice and easy to add to the warm up as well.
In sparring, I was going for koala guard rather than shin on shin. It's a bit easier to get to. If they're backing off, ankle pick is a great combo. But a few times, they drove in so I had to adjust: I need to transition more smoothly between sitting, koala guard and butterfly. Used butterfly with Ross, looking for arm crush and shoulder clamp again, but not enough angle. It's harder to get that angle when your feet are underneath them, so you can't swivel like in closed. I'll have to think about butterfly more. I did get the standard butterfly sweep, but had to keep hopping: sweep to underhook side.
I got a single leg from koala guard with Rafal, making sure I was protecting my head better this time by jamming it close to the leg: he's been going for guillotines, so that blocked it. With Chris in free sparring, I let him control the distance too much, he had good base. Legs too far back for me to wrap, his arms were controlling me well too. Chris suggested I could have stayed further back, as I was having success with that: until he mentioned it, I had forgotten I landed the ankle pick earlier.
My main concern though I that I use a lot more energy sparring with Chris, need to watch that. He's stronger and fitter, but still, I shouldn't use that much energy when sparring. Ross is fit and strong too, though then again he doesn't have the experience (yet!) to put me under as much pressure as Chris. Good spar. :)
Teaching #355 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/07/2015
This month, the women's class is a year old. Thanks to everybody who has been down to try it out over the last 12 months! If you're a woman interested in giving BJJ a try, then we'd love to see you on the mats. First week is completely free (so, that includes two classes, Wednesday through to Wednesday). For some further encouragement, take a look at Kirsty's testimonial here, which she kindly wrote after winning a bronze medal earlier this month. Pretty cool progress, considering she's only been training since late March. Here's the vid of her medal winning match:
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The RNC is a fundamental technique to BJJ. Everybody with more than a few lessons under their belt knows that you're going to be looking for it, so they will immediately be trying to create barriers with their arms and hands. However, as this particular class has plenty of absolute beginners, I focused on the basic application before getting into the set-up.
So, to apply a rear naked choke (the reason for that name is that you aren't using the gi to complete the choke, hence 'naked'). Position the elbow of your choking arm under their chin. You don't want to leave any space, as the idea is to press into both sides of their neck. This will close off their carotid arteries and prevent the flow of blood to the brain. That is an efficient and safe way of subduing an opponent.
Reaching past their shoulder, you are then going to grip the bicep of your free arm. This is to lock the choke in place. It will normally be difficult to grab your bicep straight off, as your opponent knows that's dangerous. You can instead secure your initial arm by gripping the back of their shoulder. Stephan Kesting has a useful video on RNC details, where he talks about holding the ridge of bone at the bottom of the shoulder blade, using what he calls a 'tiger palm'. From there, switch to gripping palm to palm over their shoulder, dropping the elbow of your back-arm down along their shoulder blade. That will further help to lock it in position: as Demian Maia demonstrates, you can even finish the choke from there. If not, you can then do what Kesting calls the 'creep', wriggling that elbow across their back to cinch up the choke.
When you have managed to grip your bicep, make sure both your elbows are in front of their shoulders. In other words, your armpits are resting on their shoulders. The elbow drops straight down. As Nathan 'Levo' Leverton emphasises, this now means that both your wrists are hidden, making it difficult for them to strip your grip. It also makes the choke tighter, as both of your arms are directly by their neck.
Bring the hand of that bicep arm to the back of their head: a commonly used version is to press the palm into their skull, but there are various options, coming down to personal preference. Using the back of your hand against their neck is arguably better, as that may slip in more securely than palm down. Also, palm down is easier for them to grab, if they try to peel your fingers off their skull. Either way, when you're locking in the choke, don't reach your hand forward over their shoulder. If you do, then they can armbar you using their shoulder as a fulcrum. Instead, slide it behind the head.
Bring your head next to theirs on the bicep gripping side, to further cut off any space. If for some reason after grabbing your bicep you can't get your other hand behind their head, grab your own skull, using that grip to finish from there. Staying close to their back, expand your chest and squeeze your elbows together.
A common problem is that people will also tend to tuck their chin. Some people advocate unpleasant methods to force your way through to the neck in that situation. For example, Stephan Kesting has a list here: the results of that kind of approach (though Kesting does make a point of saying he is not fond of pain-based options either) can be seen in this video of a brutal Baret Yoshida match. That is not how I want my jiu jitsu to look.
My goal is smooth, technical, leverage-based jiu jitsu, causing as little pain to the other person as possible. As Saulo says in my favourite BJJ quote:
"You have to think that your partner, the guy that you're training [with], has to be your best friend. So, you don't want to hurt him, you don't want to try to open his guard with your elbow, make him feel really pain, because jiu jitsu is not about pain. You have to find the right spot to save your energy"
I strongly feel it is best to avoid hurting your training partners, for four additional reasons:
You're in class to learn, not to 'win' at all costs. Save the 'win' mentality for competition.
If you're always hurting the people you spar, eventually nobody will want to train with you, making it rather hard to improve.
Presuming you're in BJJ for the long-term, you're going to be spending a lot of time with your training partners. Therefore it would make sense to build a good relationship.
Even if you don't care about your classmates, everybody has a different pain threshold. So, the efficacy of pain-reliant techniques will vary from person to person. The efficacy of leverage does not: that's based on physics, not how tough somebody is.
There is a less nasty option you could try for opening up their chin, from Andre Galvao. If they really shove their chin down, this may not work, but it is worth a go. Twist your hand so that your thumb is pointing down, then as you slide the arm to their neck, twist the thumb back up to lift their chin.
If I find I have no option except something brutish (e.g., crushing their chin until they tap from pain or lift their head), my preference is to instead transition to a different attack, like an ezequiel, a bow and arrow choke or an armbar (which I'll be covering in later lessons). In my opinion, if I get to the point where force and pain are the main routes to finishing a submission, then my set up was poorly executed.
You can also try tricking them into giving you access to the hold you want, a handy tip I saw on a John Will DVD. For example, when you try to get an arm around their neck, a common reaction on their part is to grab your arm and pull it down. If you respond by pulling up, they will normally pull down even harder. This means that if you time it right, you can suddenly switch direction and swing the arm they are pulling down across your body. This should sweep their arms out of the way for a moment (try to catch both of their arms when you do this). Make sure your other hand is ready and waiting near their shoulder, as you can then immediately bring that other arm across their suddenly undefended neck.
Even better, you can take their arm right out of commission. With one of your hands, grab their wrist. Shove it down towards their legs, then step over that arm with your same side leg. When you then re-establish your hook (or pin your heel to their ribs, or put your leg behind their back), they are left with only one arm to defend against both of yours. If they've grabbed your wrist, twist your palm outwards, shove it down and out, then again step over their arm with your leg. Make sure you maintain pressure, so they can't simply swim their arm free.
There is also the method I learned from Dónal. Grab their wrist with your armpit hand. Drop to the choking arm side, twisting your hips to increase the range of motion for your leg. Shove their arm down, then swing your leg over your armpit arm. Grip your own shin with the armpit hand, then using both your leg and arm, get your foot to their spine to trap their limb.
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Teaching Notes: I went briefly through the absolute basics of holding back control too, noting as new people were there that to drill this technique, kneeing behind to practice is fine too. After watching people go through the RNC in progressive resistance, I was keeping an eye out for when they ran into trouble. Mainly it was people tucking their chin, the instinctive (but flawed) defence. To counter it, I ran through the usual chin lift from Galvao, along with how to trap one arm by shoving it straight down, then finally the more complex Donal option. I could have done John Will's arm sweep, so I might do that next time for variety.
Teaching #354 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 13/07/2015
With the knee cut pass, the basic idea is to step between their legs in open guard, with one leg on the outside. Of course, most people aren't going to just let you cut across their leg, so you'll need to get into a solid position to do it. A while back, Dónal showed me a good option for this, which he in turn learned from his instructor.
First off, you want to get a good grip on their legs, to limit their mobility: grabbing the material by their knees tends to be a good option. Next, you want a grip on their collar. If you simply reach for it, you're asking to get triangled. So, being careful to keep your elbows inside their legs, drive your leg forwards into theirs. Keep driving forward until you can safely grip high on their same side collar (keep your elbow by your knee), pulling them back towards you as much as possible. You want to curl their body, so their shoulders are off the ground. This makes it much harder for them to sweep you.
Drop into a relatively low crouch, legs apart for base. They will probably have a foot on your hip at this point: if they do, your grip will be on the trouser material by their shin. Turn your leg inwards slightly, pressing into their foot. With the grip you have on their trousers, shove their leg down, swinging your own leg backwards, then stepping over their leg. The grip you have on their trousers is important here: you're going to roll your knuckles down so that they are pressing into the shin, straightening your arm. This provides a firm control.
Next, you're going to cut across their thigh (still on the leg you just stuffed with your grip), using your opposite knee. As you do, also be sure to yank them towards that side with your collar grip, again to prevent sweeps. Drop in low, trying to secure an underhook, also keeping your head in tight. To get the underhook, put your elbow on their side, then circle your arm around, rather than diving straight for the underhook. You can also just maintain your grip on their collar, keeping your elbow low.
Either way, it is essential that you have your elbow inside. You don't want them to either be able to bring their arm inside for an underhook, or insert their knee in front of you. If they can manage the knee or the underhook, the pass isn't impossible, but it makes it a lot more difficult to finish. Imagine you have a short steel bar attaching your wrist to your driving knee, which you'll only detach as you switch into the underhook or collar grip.
When you've pinned their leg with your shin, you can switch your grip from their leg to their arm (or even better, just below their elbow) and pull up. To further establish control, you could try shoving your head next to theirs, like in the picture I've included of Xande demonstrating a similar technique. To finish, you'll slide through over their thigh. To secure your position, walk your hips back before you settle (there is a good Mendes brothers video on this), getting your hips underneath them to shove their legs out of the way. That's when you can then solidify your side control.
If you are having trouble cutting across their knee, you can turn that slide into a more horizontal motion, sliding your knee right out. Make sure you have some upper body control when you do that: otherwise you could be presenting them with an easy route to your back. Ideally you'll have an underhook, but if not a firm grip on their same side collar is good too, keeping your elbow right down towards their hip. You don't want them to be able to establish their own underhook and start spinning to your back.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: I'm continuing to go with the push into their ankle for this pass, using the 'v' of your finger and thumb, rather than the knuckle-down grip. I think this is a great pass and use it all the time myself, but I may need to simplify next time. There are quite a lot of details, which beginners aren't going to be able to retain all at once.
Therefore next time, I may leave out the pointers on driving the leg forward and grabbing the collar, as that was confusing people. Instead, I could just go with the crouch, cutting across, blocking their underhook/knee shield and underhooking for control. I can always bring in the other details during drilling if people are having trouble. It could also be part of a more 'advanced' lesson on the knee cut, once I get to the point where I need to have a 'higher level' class. That's going to be a long while though, as it's almost 100% white belts right now (in terms of higher belts, there are currently three blues, then me).
In sparring, I was trying to work on the shin-on-shin sweep where you swivel underneath. Doing that with Rafal, I was leaving myself at risk of guillotines, so need to jam my head close to the leg, on the inside. I want to have an option for when I can't get the collar. What Mackenzie Dern calls 'koala guard' is something I'll be playing with too, having watched a few videos from her mini seminar on BJJ Library. That fits with what I'm doing already, especially the single leg variation. I've got the rest of July to focus on it, should be interesting. :)
Class #652 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 12/07/2015
Most of today I spent working some open guard stuff with Rafal. The first question was how to pass the sitting guard. In my case, I tend to go with a knee cut, as the bullfighter is not so effective when they are sat up. Or, pin a leg and try and dip low to get the single underhook. Rafal built off that second option, grabbing the back of my gi and then pinning the leg, again in order to walk around behind.
In specific sparring from open guard to work on those concepts, I was finding that when trying to pass Rafal, it often ended up in his half guard. That still means I can move into a pass, as I'm much more comfortable passing half guard than I am an 'unconnected' open guard, but ideally I'd come up with a way to prevent him being able to close his legs. That could be with an arm (but there are submission risks there if I mess it up), or configuring my legs and hips so his leg is pressure away from being able to lock with his other leg.
Underneath, I'm not being assertive enough with sitting guard, waiting too long so they start their pass. Also, thinking about what to do when they manage to either break your grip on their collar or prevent you establishing it in the first place. I wasn't reacting constructively to that, as I tend to just get flopped onto my back, a much harder position to stop their pass. It can also mean I end up chasing their legs while they are already half way through their pass.
On the plus side, all that work on the shoulder clamp last month has helped, because now I am looking to shoot my arm through for a tight underhook and start controlling their shoulder. Strangely (though maybe not that strange, as it happens quite often), I'm now finding that closed guard is more appealing than open guard, whereas it was the other way round as recently as two months ago. Hopefully by the end of this month, I'll have shored up my open guard some more.
Watching yet another Jason Scully video, he mentions simple but potentially handy tip. If I can't grab the collar right away, I can just grip lower on the collar with my other hand, using that to feed in the collar grip ot my first hand. Another potential solution for when I can't get that collar grip could be shin on shin, along with wrapping the leg with my arm (making sure I scoot around slightly so they can't just drive their knee down).
Again from watching Scully videos, that looks like it would fit not only into sweeps (he shows some nifty options where you're rolling underneath them, along with a technical stand-up), but also a useful counter to the knee cut. Kev showed me shin-on-shin during that private lesson a while back too, something i could add in here as well.
Teaching #353 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/07/2015
The tripod and sickle sweeps I taught earlier work well together. There is a third option too, if your partner steps back to avoid those sweeps, putting themself into a sideways-on stance. Although that means they can probably avoid your earlier sweeps, they are now vulnerable to a back take. You can of course also do this technique to start with, if they give you the position, but I normally find it becomes available as a follow up.
This starts off from a de la Riva hook, where you are threading your leg from the outside of theirs to the inside, so that you can wrap your instep by their inner thigh. Be sure to also grab their foot, on the leg you've wrapped. If they're standing sideways, then after securing your de la Riva hook, it should be possible to bring your other leg around behind the same leg you're hooking (kicking your de a Riva hook through to their far hip can help too). Use your second leg to pull yourself around to their back: this is a good application of the warm-up drill where you use your legs to circle around your partner, pushing and pulling yourself around their legs.
If you're holding their sleeve, switch your hand to their belt as you shift your position. This will give you control and it will also provide something you can pull to finish the technique. You could try grabbing their gi, especially if the belt is loose, but the belt is probably the strongest grip as long as they still have it tied. Put both your insteps or shins behind both their knees. From there, kick out your legs and pull on their belt. This should drop them directly into back mount, whereupon you immediately secure your preferred grip with the arms (I'd recommend the seat-belt, which I last taught here).
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Teaching Notes: I should note that grabbing the foot is important with the de la Riva hook, as otherwise they can kick their foot free. I doubt this will ever be a lesson I teach all that regularly, but it's good to throw in occasionally, especially as I think it's a handy way to address the problem of them going sideways to avoid the tripod and sickle. Perhaps a good entry lesson to talk about the de la Riva too. That isn't a guard I like as I'm wary of the strain it can put on your knee, but it's an effective guard (and reverse de la Riva seems to be all the rage at the moment).
Teaching #352 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 08/07/2015
The tripod sweep I always teach in a previous lesson combines well with the similar sickle sweep: as usual in BJJ, that almost certainly has other names (the most common alternative is 'hook sweep'), but I'm using the term from Theory & Technique (page 226). A good time to try this is if when you attempt the tripod sweep, they kick their leg free from your hooking hand. You could attempt to readjust to recover your position, but it is probably easier to pull yourself towards their other leg with your hooking foot, grabbing the heel on that side. Turn your body toward that newly grabbed leg, swinging your pushing foot over to that hip. With what used to be your hooking foot, chop back low on their other leg to knock them over.
Of course, the sickle works on its own too. Indeed, Rener teaches this before the tripod on Gracie University. The entry he shows is to hook their leg, pulling yourself in to grab their ankle, then switching into the sickle position: opposite foot on the ankle-grabbed side hip, then chopping low on their other leg with your remaining leg, using your calf or possibly your heel.
In order to get the angle, you'll have to turn towards them, or hook their leg to pull yourself in. If you're going from the tripod, you'll already have their leg hooked. Note that when you follow them up after knocking them to their back, compared to the tripod sweep, your other knee will be raised. That means you'll need to make sure to shove their leg down and step over, enabling you to complete your knee slide.
While grabbing the heel is a perfectly viable grip, it is probably better suited to the tripod, as then you can use Kev's trick of jamming the heel against your hip. With the sickle your body is turned, so that's not easy to do. I'd therefore recommend grabbing the trouser leg for the sickle. That's because it means that once you've knocked them over, you can pin their leg to the mat while also pushing it away. That stops them from closing their guard. This is important, because the sickle sweep will generally put you in a position with one leg in between theirs. Wait as long as possible to let go of the trouser grip: ideally, you want to wait until you've slid your leg out.
For finishing the sweep, I think with the sickle sweep, technical stand up works especially well. Base on the hand that's grabbing their trouser leg, also basing with your opposite foot. Use that to then bring your same side leg back and stand up. As you stand, thrust their leg into the air with your hand (you can bolster that by grabbing with your other hand too) and move around. It's really hard for them to do much if their leg is way up in the air like that, so passing should be fairly easy.
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Teaching Notes: I didn't feel quite as solid teaching this as last time, though the structure still functioned ok. I tried going with a different version, without a sleeve grip, along with finsihing by lifting the leg. I think that's worth showing, but I need to make a clear link to the tripod that I taught earlier where I did use a sleeve grip. With the sleeve, getting up is very easy, as the momentum pulls you through into the knee cut.
Without the sleeve grip, you have to come up yourself. There's the option of hip thrusting through and knee cutting, or the one I showed today, where you do a sort of technical stand-up and lift the leg. I should have made a point of putting the second knee onto the belly, rather than putting down the first while I was demonstrating. That can work, but puts you in reverse knee on belly, a bit more awkward position than the standard KOB.
On an entirely different note, I'd forgotten I'd taken out the drawstring of my trousers, so ended up teaching SAMBO style in shorts and gi jacket. Sadly no sudden knowledge of Russian or facility with leglocks followed. ;p
Teaching #351 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 08/07/2015
We went through some more details on mount at tonight's women's class. Sometimes, the person underneath your mount will turn to their front, although normally this will only happen when they're still inexperienced. With a few more classes under their belt, they will only turn as far as their side, prying out your knee with an elbow: as a result, it's called the elbow escape. Either way, the same technique applies to both: shifting to what's known as technical mount. Put your hands on either side of their head, using them as your base points. Putting your weight onto your hands, twist your body, sliding the knee nearest their back up towards their head. Your other heel clamps in tight to their hip. Sit back on the heel behind them, bringing your upper body close to their head.
If they continue turning to their front (if they've only recently started BJJ, for example, or some judoka have this habit too due to judo competition rules), use the foot your have by their hip to act as your first 'hook' for another position, back mount. Insert that hook, digging your heel into their inner thigh, or if possible, wrap your instep under their inner thigh for control. Your other foot will do the same (somebody more experienced will block that, but as we'll cover in another class, there are ways around their block). Next, establish a seat belt grip, where you have one arm over their shoulder, the other underneath their arm pit. Link your hands or grab your wrist: with the combination of your seat belt and your hooks, you can now 'ride' them whichever way they turn.
If they manage to knock off one of your hooks, you can make a simple adjustment to retake the mount. It will be tough to regain your back mount from here, especially if they've moved over your leg. As soon as you feel their hip move past your knee, bring your remaining hook over their body and clamp the heel to their far hip. Make sure it is providing you with enough control that they can't simply shrug you off. Pull out your elbow for base (as it will probably still be under their head, making it hard to complete this movement), then turn and slide through into mount, using your heel for leverage.
More experienced opponents will look to pry your knee away with an elbow, moving into the aforementioned elbow escape. If that happens, twist to one side and raise your knee. Pull their arm up with whatever you can grab (e.g., sleeve, wrist etc), then reinsert your knee. I've seen Rob S teach grabbing their sleeve with your opposite hand, while Mauricio likes to grab the elbow with their opposite hand and Felipe essentially shifts to technical mount for a moment.
Technical mount also enables you to take the back, with Galvao's method. Simply drop back from technical mount, rolling them over the knee you have near their head. Again, the foot you had by their hip becomes your first hook, so you just need to bring the second hook over. Cut your knee underneath them to help facilitate that back position.
The same kind of motion works as 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. You can keep doing that from side to side as a drill.
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Teaching Notes: People are ending up rather high when rolling over into the back, so perhaps I need to look at knee positioning. Some of it can be down to height differences, but it shouldn't be too much of a gap. Also, people are tending to be turned rather than firmly on the back. For that, pressing in firmly on the shoulder helps. I reckon doing more of the posting on head and shoulder could help here too, as I've taught before when this is firmly a back class rather than mount class. Definitely a few changes for next time to tighten things up, though the mount side of things was fine. :)
Teaching #350 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 06/07/2015
You can set up the tripod sweep in lots of ways. I went for the simple option of hooking their leg, using that to pull yourself in towards them and grab their other leg with your other hand. When you grab for the ankle, you can control it in two main ways. Simply grabbing their heel is the quickest, but that means there is a chance they can kick their foot forwards and dislodge your grip. If you grab the trouser cuff instead, that escape becomes much harder for them.
With the heel grab, a good tip from my instructor Kev Capel is to pull that ankle onto your hip, clamping it there. This should also help with off-balancing them. You can also simply sit on it. Either way, remember to keep your other hook behind their knee tense, as you don't want them to free that leg and step around, because that will enable them to regain their balance. You can also put it lower on the leg, or even right behind their foot, but be careful, as just like the heel grip, that can increase the risk that they'll step out and avoid your control.
Once you knock them down, because you have that grip on their sleeve, you can pull yourself up as they go back, moving through into side control. It also stops them basing with that hand, as you're sweeping in that direction (which is why you use a cross grip, rather than same side). Should you lose your sleeve grip, the sweep is still there, but it will be harder to sit up and move through to side control.
If you're having trouble knocking them down, angle the direction of your push a little, in the direction you want them to fall. It is important that you react decisively after you've knocked them down. Otherwise, they'll simply get up first, returning to your guard. That would mean you were back where you started.
As ever, there are a couple of options. My preference is to come up and slide your inside knee over their leg, leaning your body towards them: you may find it useful to keep hold of their foot (which means you are both basing on your hand and maintaining control of their leg) to stop them moving, but you can still pass without doing so. Your other foot will step over their other leg, like a typical knee slide pass. From there, you can grab their sleeve, underhook their far armpit, them slide through into modified scarf hold. If for some reason you get your knee stuck in their gi, which has happened to me in the past, change your grip to their elbow, drop your bodyweight and move into side control. Here's Kev demonstrating the full sweep:
You'll notice the finish is different in that video: instead of the tight knee slide, you can do a sort of technical stand-up which ends up with a looser pass. For the stand-up, after you've knocked them down, put your hooking foot on the floor, bringing your other leg behind you. So, the hand that was grabbing the heel now pushes into their leg, pinning it to the floor and becoming your basing hand. Your other leg becomes your second base point, then you stand up from there. You remaining hand may or may not be gripping their sleeve, but this works either way.
From there, stand up, still holding on to their trouser leg (you could also keep hold of the sleeve, which will enable you to pull on both limbs for the pass, but it makes it harder to stand up), pulling up. That will make it difficult for them to recover, as you move around to a dominant position like side control or knee on belly. Standing up when someone has your foot in the air is hard.
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Teaching Notes: I didn't talk about posting on their foot to prevent them bringing it back, but that's because I did focus a lot on keeping that grip on the sleeve. It makes a massive difference as you can pop straight up when you have the sleeve grip. That probably makes sense from a teaching perspective, as it's easy to understand. Posting on the foot is a bit more complex, along with the method of standing up.
But I can have my cake and eat it, because I'll go into more detail about that posting on the foot in the sickle sweep lesson. Hopefully a lot of people will be going to both lessons, as they connect so well. I remembered to add in the knee cut drill to the warm up, which I think helped people finish off the technique.
Coaching #001 Horizon Academy, Roll Models (Competition), David 'Morcegao' , Stoke-on-Trent, UK - 05/07/2015
Competition has never been a major part of my BJJ journey, but it's got lots of useful advantages, especially from my more recent perspective as somebody running a club. Perhaps the biggest is that it enables me to see if the jiu jitsu I'm teaching is applicable outside of my club, when Artemis BJJ students face unfamiliar opponents who are trying their best to stop them applying their technique. There is also the social side, both internally for the group heading to compete, as well as externally, meeting people from other teams and reconnecting with old friends. Then there's the experience that students bring back to the club, meaning the lessons learned from competing can help all of those back home.
I was therefore excited to see what would happen at our first competition: I've only been to two BJJ competitions before, firstly the Bristol Open in 2007 (still the one and only time I've ventured onto a tournament mat myself), then the Boca Raton International Open in Florida last year. The three students bravely stepping up to enter Roll Models were Kirsty, Steve and Ross. None of them had trained BJJ for more than a few months: Steve began last October, Ross started in January and Kirsty has been with us for three months.
Kirsty is the person responsible for motivating everybody else (she even drove us all there and back, despite competition nerves). As soon as she decided to enter Roll Models, she immediately set about encouraging the other students. The best thing about Roll Models is that they clearly care about having a good gender balance, just like I do at Artemis BJJ. To that end, women could enter their inaugural competition in Stoke at the Horizon Academy for free. Very cool decision by the organiser, David 'Morcegao', a well known figure on the BJJ forums.
The venue was a swish school sports centre, with tiered seating, a good bit of mat space, clear acoustics, changing rooms and showers. Upon entry, you were given a form to fill in along with a wristband indicating whether you were a competitor or spectator. A high level of organisation was evident throughout the day. Morcegao was running around with a microphone, announcing divisions, making sure the walkways stayed clear and highlighting the event sponsors, Valor Fightwear (who had a stall at the back of the hall).
For the spectators, there were three superfights towards the end of the day, with a particularly entertaining clash of the titans between Wayne Samways (aptly nicknamed 'Silverback') and Stuart Austin. You also got to watch a massive projection of a recent BJJ comp on the wall. Handily, that projection was also used to let people know the wifi password, as well as display information about divisions (pretty much all ran on time). Morcegao's humour throughout helped establish the laid-back, friendly atmosphere of the competition, perfect for the white and blue belt market it was targeted towards.
I was impressed by the attitude of the refs, judging by the two guys I saw at close hand while coaching my students. The mat 1 ref gave out helpful advice to competitors after every single fight I saw him officiate, a cool bonus for the fighters. The chap on mat 3 was also welcoming and cheerful, exactly the kind of person you want to be in charge of nervous first-time competitors.
My first student to get stuck in was Ross, in the featherweight white belt division. Over the last month and a bit we've been doing comp prep on most Sundays, which for me was mainly a chance to practice my coaching. The main lesson I learned from that was to keep it simple, as in the heat of competition not much is going to get through. That's even more the case when you come to the real thing. I therefore was shouting single words like 'Posture!', or short sentences like "Stay on your toes!" Repetition seems to help too, as if they don't hear the first time, they will normally catch it after the third or fourth time and jog their memory.
I was really pleased to see that all of the Artemis BJJ team looked calm (whether they actually felt calm is another matter, but I thought they looked it ;D) and were able to put into practice plenty of what they had been taught. Ross hit a lovely double ankle sweep, most importantly coming up and driving forward straight away. He was able to win his first fight on points, doing well in the second, but eventually getting caught in an arm triangle. Laura kindly took a load of video (as well as being official Master of Bags when people were heading off to compete), so I'm looking forward to analysing that later to see if I can offer any pointers.
Next was Steve, who looked really dominant in his fight. He also looked calm, doing well through the stand-up phase despite an injured knee, then almost successfully landing a clock choke I showed him a few weeks back. He would have won if he had established his hooks in back mount. Naturally it's cool to win, but I don't care as long as they manage to test what they've learned. Steve certainly did and to my eyes he passed with flying colours. I'm sure he'll do even better in his second comp. :)
Finally it was Kirsty's turn. We've been developing a specific gameplan for her, which she executed with aplomb on both her opponents. After a narrow defeat in her first fight (against a tough competitor from GrappleThon stalwart Chris Paines' school), she won a hard-fought bronze in her next mach. I know how much she has worked to prepare for this comp, so it was a great moment to see her get that medal put around her neck. Well done Kirsty, great job by Steve and Ross too! :D
Update July 2015: Here's some video, showing Kirsty's medal-winning match.
We're planning to be back at the next Roll Models, then before that Hereford. I've got a list of upcoming competitions within reach of Bristol on the Artemis BJJ website: if I've missed any, drop me a line or leave a comment. I'll be updating this post once we've got some video, depending what the students are happy for me to publish. ;)
Teaching #349 Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/07/2015
To pass the open guard, it is advisable to grip on the inside of both their knees for control (though not everyone would agree on that: others suggest gripping lower on the trousers by their shin, knuckles facing forward, or even at the bottom of the trousers). The main danger is that they will try to loop their leg over your arm, which you can mitigate by gripping a little lower than the knee. If their legs are raised, twist your elbows in, so that your forearms are parallel to their lower legs. Be sure to keep your elbows inside their knees: if they do manage to loop an arm, you may need to release and then re-grip back inside their knee.
That means you can then start to move their legs in several directions. There are many variations of the bullfighter pass (also called the toreador, toreana, toreada, toreando and matador, among other names. Google tells me the Portuguese for bullfighter is in fact 'toureiro'), but I think the simplest is to step back when you have that grip, so that the soles of their feet press into the floor. Straighten your arms and lean through them, so that all your weight is punching downwards towards the mat.
The aim is to prevent them being able to move their legs, so that you can now walk around before they are able to recover. As soon as you get past their knees, turn slightly and drop your leading shoulder into their hip. Keep your legs based out wide and stay on your toes all the way through: if you go to your knees, that immediately reduces the pressure on your opponent.
After you make contact with your shoulder, maintain at least one grip on their leg, as otherwise they may be able to start to recover by getting a leg in the way. Bring the knee nearest to their legs into their hip, then release one grip in order to bring an elbow around their far hip. It's important that you restrict their ability to move their hips, as otherwise they will start trying to shrimp away from you. From there, you can establish side control, or potentially move through into mount.
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Teaching Notes: I'm fairly happy with how the class went tonight. Two changes I'll make next time are emphasising the turn of the shoulder as you get past the knees, along with keeping your base wide. It was useful drilling with Tracey, as that made me aware of some of those bits I should be highlighting to help make the technique easier to understand. It takes a bit of getting used to, as you are essentially balancing on the grips you have by their trousers, something widening your base and turning your shoulder helps make less awkward.
