31/01/2016 - Seminar with Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner

Seminar #018
Artemis BJJ, Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner, Bristol, UK - 31/01/2016

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 31, 2016 at 10:13am PST

Today we were lucky enough to learn from Chelsea once again, only a few months after her last visit and fresh from competing at the Europeans. She kicked off with takedowns. Grab their collar, hand inside on top of the bicep. Lever up bicep arm with your elbow, then drop and grab behind leg (keep your grip on the collar). Drive your forehead into their floating rib, then move on to 'run the pipe' by spiralling them down to the mat. Keep you ear into their thigh.

Up next was a de la Riva sweep. Having established a de la Riva hook, get a firm grip on that trouser leg. Push on their far leg, also pulling on the collar. Lift them up a little with your trouser grip. If they are holding your collar, you can switch the trouser grip foot to their hip. Push off, swing your other leg around and lock in triangle. To finish off the triangle if they are hiding their arm, twist their head (chin towards neck leg). Squeeze while hugging their head and pull down for the tap.

If they don't grip your collar, you can swivel your de la Riva leg underneath, hooking behind their calf with your shin. Lift, then also swivelling your arm under their leg, do a technical standup (make sure you keep your other foot pressing into their other leg until you're in position). The leg should be on your shoulder. Move back, then kick out their leg to come on top.

Chelsea also ran through the bullfighter pass, continuing to emphasise that you should never just fall into their guard, or even let them set up guard. Grab the bottom of their trouser legs, knuckles down. You can now do the usual bullfighter pass. Push their legs in, then move around, dropping your shoulder.

She looked into passing the knee shield after that. If they get a knee shield in, grip their collar and crush through into their chin, like the spider guard pass we learned last time. Another passing option is to switch into reverse half guard, facing towards their legs.

Chelsea likes to make sure she traps their arm, scooting up towards their head to do so. You can lock that in place by grabbing the gi by their armpit. Walk your trapped foot to their bum, then push their knee off your leg. Drive your knee to the ground, then scrape their leg off with your free leg. Move through into mount Alternatively, hook under their arm and rotate through into a knee slide.

For the classic cross choke from mount, get a good grip, staying heavy on that side. As they try to turn, bring your knee up towards your hand. That traps their arm. Chelsea likes to stick with the traditional palm up palm up choke. She brings her elbow up, sliding her other hand under for the orthodox finish.

To finish with something entirely unorthodox, Chelsea went through a 'Monoplata', which I've only vaguely heard of before. It was cool to finally see what it actually is! This operates off that same deep grip for the cross choke. The knee is up high, they have their arm reaching up around your back. Bring your leg over their head, fall to the same side as their arm. To finish, pull your knee towards you. It is sort of like an omoplata, hence the name. I found this tough to do with my short legs, but it was certainly nice and tight once you lock it in.

Once again, Chelsea and Tom ended the technique portion with an awesome question and answer session. This time, I had some questions about koala guard, which I've been trying a lot, but often get squashed. Tom and Chelsea suggested that you should have in mind either a single or double leg. If you're looking for the single, really drive your shoulder into the back of their knee. If you're looking for the double, stay tight with your head, your ear on their thigh. Also be sure to get a shin-on-shin, so even if they do drive, you can lift and adjust.

I wasn't sparring this time, due to some lingering injuries, but that was no hindrance to what is quickly becoming an Artemis BJJ tradition: Pieminister pie! I look forward to Chelsea's next visit. We're also going to be blessed by another top notch female black belt later this year, when Ana Yagues heads down to teach on the 24th July. More details here: as ever, everybody welcome and it's only £20. :)

Website Review - JiuJitsu.net ('Trumpet' Dan Lukehart)

Short Review: Carefully structured and professionally presented, JiuJitsu.net offers an innovative approach to structuring an online instructional site. The curriculum is also carefully considered, a guided route which could be especially useful for less experienced grapplers. At $25 a month, pricing is the same as juggernauts like MGinAction: it will be interesting to see if JiuJitsu.net can survive in an increasingly crowded marketplace dominated by big name instructors.

Full Review: I first came across 'Trumpet' Dan Lukehart (he's a music teacher, hence the nickname) back in 2009, when he set up a Gracie Garage. I think I saw it on the list of garages when curiously browsing through the newly launched Gracie University site, but it may also have been from this Sherdog thread

Things have changed a great deal since then. Lukehart has earned his black belt from Ralph Gracie stand-out Beneil Dariush and runs Brea Jiu Jitsu. He's considerably less keen on Gracie University too, a shift in perspective I can understand (I go into lots of depth on the program in my extensive review). Originally Gracie University was supposed to be for people with no access to BJJ, but it has swiftly morphed into a successful means of expanding the Gracie Academy brand, often stepping on the toes of established academies.

Lukehart also has a reputation for creating clear and concise instructional videos. That ties in with my second main memory of Lukehart, which was seeing his excellent series of YouTube videos breaking down and sharing Roger Gracie's game (seeing as that's my own lineage, I was especially interested). He took on Caleb's role as the articulate voice of the BudoVideos commentary team, while continuing to build his school. More recently, Lukehart has stepped into the increasingly crowded online instructional market.

To do so, Lukehart bought the JiuJitsu.net domain, a sensible move for SEO, but presumably not cheap. Previously it featured the services of 'Jiu Joe Jitsu', who looks to have sold self defence DVDs, before selling the URL some time in 2014/2015. At first I had thought it was Gene Simco's infamous old site, Jiu-Jitsu.net, but that has a hyphen (although that url might be available too, as it appears to be down at the moment).

JiuJitsu.net's biggest challenge is probably the competition from numerous big names already on the market. MGinAction is the biggest, with an enormous library and the immense clout of Marcelo Garcia (a legendary competitor, who now appears to be building up his own team of impressively capable students). Among the many other examples, the Mendes Brothers are another huge name, then there's also my personal favourite BJJ Library, headed up by the Ribeiro brothers. Coming from a different angle, you could also turn to the aformentioned Gracie University, successful despite the controversy over online grading and instructor certification.

Most of these sites offer subscription for $25 a month, a price structure Lukehart has followed. He has a few different options, with 6 month and yearly options that bring down that monthly fee. An annual subscription works out at $16.58 a month. To convince potential customers they should plump for JiuJitsu.net, Lukehart needs to offer something different. There are only a handful of people who can compete with the likes of the Ribeiro and Mendes Brothers in terms of accomplishments, so Lukehart has taken another approach. As his website proudly proclaims:

Online Jiu Jitsu Redefined

Break Away From Traditional

JiuJitsu.net leverages the maximum potential of the online medium to provide structure, classification, perspective and problem solving tools never before seen.

Legitimate online jiu jitsu instruction (as opposed to the online equivalent of comic book ads promising to stop those bullies kicking sand in your eye) has been available for about a decade now, pioneered by people like Jean Jacques Machado and Jason Scully. It reached a new level of sophistication with MGinAction, but personally I found that site overwhelming when I tried it on a trial a couple of years ago. JiuJitsu.net takes some of the good ideas from MGinAction, like the ability to flip videos, without adopting the confusing long sequences of technique.

It also looks like the videos Lukehart made available during the period I had access to the site (November 2015) were filmed specifically for the website, rather than class footage. That means that Lukehart always wore a blue gi, while his partner was in a white gi. With class footage, the instructor is grabbing somebody from the class to demonstrate, who may be wearing the same colour gi. With a simple technique that isn't a major problem, but it can become a significant hindrance in something like a complex open guard, where limbs and gi grips twist all over the place.

The layout is interesting, using a method I've not seen on any other instructional sites. In terms of accessing videos, you click through a 'pie' of positions, with each slice expanding into ever increasing levels of specificity. While that's cool, I would have also liked the option to browse through an orthodox list of all available videos (there is a list on the right, but limited to the section you're viewing). That also means I can't judge how many videos the site actually has, though it does at least appear to have a few videos for each of the basic positions (i.e., mount, side control, back, closed guard, half guard, open guard).

You can also switch around the sections on a central dashboard, a simple but nifty touch. The pie chart is accompanied by a 'mind map', where you can go into more detail. It would appear there are various nodes on the mind map that do not lead to a video yet, but presumably will in future. I was testing the site during back month at my school: unfortunately I couldn't find a video on turtle defence, which either indicates it isn't available yet, or it's suitably buried that I can't find it.

Searching 'Turtle' brings up 'Turtle Concepts', which handily sets the mind map to the right point when you click it. From there, you can keep clicking 'back' to get where you want. The 'Progress' in that list on the right had eight videos when Turtle Concepts was selected, while 'Specialize' had another eight, all under a similar title based around a position or area. Each time you select a video in 'Progess', you get different options in 'Specialize', but right now the list doesn't vary all that much due to the small number of videos.

It was very cool how you could link through to examples of the technique done by other people, such as competition footage from Roger Gracie at Metamoris. However, I did wonder if that was going to run into copyright issues, unless JiuJitsu.net has some kind of long-term arrangement with whoever owns that footage. Sites like BJJ Library and MGinAction have lots of material as the featured instructors have vast competitive records and lots of personal footage. If JiuJitsu.net is going to rely on third party material, that might become problematic, unless that is fair use. I don't fully understand the legal side of it.

Back defence starts with a general video on five different sub-types. I was intrigued that Lukehart advocates having his back to the mat as the ideal position. I always look to either get them to one side, or sit up: it's useful to get a different perspective. Lukehart gradually takes you through what he defines as the multiple subpositions of back control, expanding further into related techniques. That also connects through to other positions, such as half guard, enabling you to see the bigger picture.

It's a shame you don't appear to be able to add videos to a playlist, as they tend to be very short. Most of the ones I watched were around 2 minutes. I felt that there were a number of videos that could easily have been combined, but on the other hand, I much prefer too much splitting out than too much combination (as mentioned earlier, a flaw I feel mars MGinAction).

Like most other sites of its kind, JiuJitsu.net offers a free trial. However, unlike most other sites I've seen, there is a clear structured curriculum. While you could probably construct something coherent out of the numerous techniques available on BJJ Library and MGinAction, I'm only aware of Gracie University that has a similar focus on progressing subscribers through a curriculum

JiuJitsu.net isn't offering online rank, fortunately, just structured learning. Interestingly, that structure is adaptable. It is difficult to judge how successful that is at this early stage, but it is a promising concept. I especially liked the 'Try Another Way' feature, appearing in green on the selected video. I'm not sure how well it works across the whole of the site, but testing it with the knee slice, when you click Try Another Way, you get three different options from the same starting position (knee slice to thumb in grip, knee slice to smash pass, knee slice to x pass).

Having long and short formats for each video is another great idea, something I've often wanted with instructionals: a long version to get the details, then short for a refresher. However, quite often nothing comes up on the short version, or when it does, it isn't all that different (e.g., on Knee Slice Concepts, you've got the choice of either around 3 minutes or 2 minutes). I'd prefer something like a 30 second short version, but again, it is early days. You can also flip sides, like with MGinAction.

I also very much liked the marketing: there isn't any attempt to use those horrible '90s templates, sneaky efforts to get your credit card information or pushy advertising copy. I'm not certain yet if JiuJitsu.net will be able to compete with the big beasts presently roaming the online instructional landscapes, but hopefully there is room for innovators like Lukehart to stake out a place for their approach.

29/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Handstand Sweep

Teaching #458
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/01/2016


A good follow up to the double ankle grab sweep is another option that works off wrapping an ankle. This one is normally known as the 'handstand sweep', though invariably there are lots of other names for it. As your partner stands in your closed guard, keep your guard closed, wrapping an arm around their same side ankle. You're looking to get the crook of your elbow behind their ankle: for further control, you could try reaching through to grab your own collar. For power, range and balance, put your free hand on the floor, as if you were doing a handstand (hence the name).

To complete the sweep, you need to bring their knee out sideways. Their foot has to be immobilised for that, or they'll be able to adjust and maintain their balance. To turn their knee out, bring your hips sideways, pushing into the inside of their knee (don't go above the knee, you need to stay either next to it or underneath). Once you've pushed it far enough so their leg swivels, that should knock them to the floor. Your guard stays closed throughout, opening at the last moment to adjust into mount.

However, that still leaves them a hand with which they can post out and recover. To prevent that, you can cross-grip their sleeve. This is what Xande calls the 'muscle sweep', because their ankle is by your 'muscle' (i.e., bicep). The set up is the same as before, but this time, you don't use your free hand to push off the floor. Instead, you grab their opposite sleeve, thereby both preventing them from posting out, and also providing you with an easy way of pulling yourself up into mount.

The difficulty is the decreased leverage at your disposal. Now that you can't use that hand to push up, you instead have to really push into their knee. Make sure your grip around their leg is tight, pulling their foot right up to your shoulder. You will also use your grip on their sleeve, pulling their arm to help you. This is tougher to pull off than the handstand, but it makes the transition to the top much easier.

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Teaching Notes: I always show both the option of pushing off the floor and grabbing the sleeve, though the second one is much tougher to get. That was borne out again today, with people having trouble completing the sweep without the hand to push off. I also think that next time I'll make a point of keeping that grip low on the leg, to really bend their leg around your hip as you push. It seems that if the grip is too high above their foot, they can resist the sweep more easily, judging by the progressive resistance I watched today.

27/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Double Ankle Grab Sweep

Teaching #457
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 27/01/2016

The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).

After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
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Teaching Notes: I tried adding in a drill to help pushing through to mount, emphasising how you drive your hips forward at an angle. I have tended to tell people to keep a hand on the foot to help stop them sitting up before you can drive forward. However, I wonder if it is more helpful to instead put the hand out further forwards, to help that drive. I will try switching to that to see if it helps: once I've got some kind of drill sorted for this, could perhaps help with coming up from the tripod, sickle and handstand too, although then again those end up in slightly different leg and arm positions.

Something else I should note is the importance of including some breakfall drills when teaching something like this, as you're getting knocked over. To the extent I should probably put it in the main chunk of the write-up, as a reminder to me too.

27/01/2016 - Teaching | Women's Class | Kneeling Break & Single Underhook Pass

Teaching #456
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 27/01/2016

There are three main ways of opening the guard. The most reliable is standing up, bringing gravity to bear on them, though this has the disadvantage of leaving you more vulnerable to sweeps. The most risky is baiting a submission to get them to open, as that obviously puts you in danger of getting caught if you're not careful. Finally, you can open the guard from the knees, which has the advantage of using less energy and leaving you with good base, but it does keep you in the 'submission zone'.

That last one is what I wanted to cover today. The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 27, 2016 at 4:02am PST

From there, you want to get your knees into a right angle. Up until now I've always put the knee under the bum cheek first, then slid the other knee out to the side. However, Jason Scully recommends sliding the knee out first, also turning to face that knee (he finds that gives him improved balance. That has the additional advantage of driving your hip into their feet, which is a little easier to use as a 'prod' compared to your lower back. Try both versions.

Either way, you're now making a right angle with your two knees. With the orthodox version, still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass. Note that putting the knee underneath the bum first is also common: Jason Scully recommends sliding the knee out first, then knee under the bum, due to superior balance.

Saulo's version is different again, as per that earlier picture. Rather than keeping his sliding knee on the floor, he bases on that leg and stretches it out. He can then use a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back, more in keeping with Scully's version. As ever in jiu jitsu, there are numerous variations: you can reach your destination following a multitude of paths.

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

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

Establish a wide base with your feet, pushing off your toes. As is generally the case with jiu jitsu, stay off your knees. Otherwise, you're transferring the pressure into the floor rather than into your partner. Keep on driving forward, turning the shoulder you have behind the leg downwards. Combined with your forwards pressure, that should slide their leg out of the way.

Although it's tempting, try to avoid lifting your head to get past their legs, as that could provide them with space. Instead, you want to rely on your weight and pressure, finishing with that slight shift of your shoulder. To further enhance your stack, you can grab the back of their trousers, or alternatively put your other knee there as a wedge.
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Teaching Notes: It was nice that the mixed class synced up with the women's class cycle, as I therefore got to teach this twice. People were having similar problems as usual with getting the hips high, base wide and driving with the shoulder. There must be some kind of drill I can develop to help teach that. Maybe go straight to the end bit, to really practice that drive? Having said that, perhaps I'm focusing too much on getting the pass in that particular way. Moving the head around does work, even if I might find it a little less efficient.

26/01/2016 - Open Mat

Class #693
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 26/01/2016

Today we thought a bit about chokes off passes. Gripping on the lower collar is risky, as that can leave the back open and also make it easy for them to sweep you. I think it can still work, but I've been dissuaded since that private lesson with Kev a while ago, where he pointed out the vulnerabilities in going for that gi tail choke from top half guard. I guess if you could make yourself really heavy on the side you're gripping? But meh, simpler to just go for a more stable choke, instead of trying to shore up one that puts you in an unstable position. I therefore suggested that a breadcutter off of an underhook pass might work better. With that, you already have the grip as you pass, without compromising base.

We went through knee cut counters again too, though seemed to have mostly forgotten the Saulo one in the ensuing few days. I still find the stiff arm option from Jeff Rockwell easier, but I should give that reverse de la Riva thing more of a go. Not really my game, but it's been popular for a while so worth knowing. :)

25/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Kneeling Break & Single Underhook Pass

Teaching #455
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 25/01/2016

There are three main ways of opening the guard. The most reliable is standing up, bringing gravity to bear on them, though this has the disadvantage of leaving you more vulnerable to sweeps. The most risky is baiting a submission to get them to open, as that obviously puts you in danger of getting caught if you're not careful. Finally, you can open the guard from the knees, which has the advantage of using less energy and leaving you with good base, but it does keep you in the 'submission zone'.

That last one is what I wanted to cover today. The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 27, 2016 at 4:02am PST

From there, you want to get your knees into a right angle. Up until now I've always put the knee under the bum cheek first, then slid the other knee out to the side. However, Jason Scully recommends sliding the knee out first, also turning to face that knee (he finds that gives him improved balance. That has the additional advantage of driving your hip into their feet, which is a little easier to use as a 'prod' compared to your lower back. Try both versions.

Either way, you're now making a right angle with your two knees. With the orthodox version, still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass. Note that putting the knee underneath the bum first is also common: Jason Scully recommends sliding the knee out first, then knee under the bum, due to superior balance.

Saulo's version is different again, as per that earlier picture. Rather than keeping his sliding knee on the floor, he bases on that leg and stretches it out. He can then use a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back, more in keeping with Scully's version. As ever in jiu jitsu, there are numerous variations: you can reach your destination following a multitude of paths.

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

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

Establish a wide base with your feet, pushing off your toes. As is generally the case with jiu jitsu, stay off your knees. Otherwise, you're transferring the pressure into the floor rather than into your partner. Keep on driving forward, turning the shoulder you have behind the leg downwards. Combined with your forwards pressure, that should slide their leg out of the way.

Although it's tempting, try to avoid lifting your head to get past their legs, as that could provide them with space. Instead, you want to rely on your weight and pressure, finishing with that slight shift of your shoulder. To further enhance your stack, you can grab the back of their trousers, or alternatively put your other knee there as a wedge.
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Teaching Notes: This is the main basic guard break I know from kneeling. However, it is tough to get with resistance, so I have been considering if there are higher percentage alternatives. The one I've been trying is what Scully calls 'eat the belt', though I always end up grabbing the top of the trousers instead as the belt moves too much. If I stick with the classic one, I should also try the hip variation too next time, see if that helps. It would also be worth emphasising that you can shifting your arms further down as you move back, so you don't end up stretched out. I haven't spoken about baiting a submission to open the closed guard for a while. It's worth a mention, though a risky strategy so not one I generally recommend.

The pass is straightforward, though people do sometimes have trouble getting their legs out wide and really driving through that shoulder. Bum in the air and legs wide seems to help: I'll keep on emphasising that. Also, as a note to myself, I must remember to check my notes and videos from Oli's class in Leuven about this pass before I next teach it. ;)

Verona, 24th January 2016: Tamara de Lempicka at Palazzo Forti

As I couldn't find Tamara de Lempicka in Paris last month, I followed her to Verona. There aren't many artists I'd jump on a plane for, but de Lempicka is one, Vigée Le Brun is another. The third would be Artemisia Gentileschi, but I haven't see an exhibition advertised for her this year (though she does have one painting at a self portrait exhibition the Queens Gallery is due to hold in 2016, so I'll check that out). Possibly Judith Leyster too: that's someone I should research in more depth.

Transport

My easyjet flight from Gatwick to Verona lasted about 1 hour and 40 minutes (plus the National Express from Bristol coach station, another three hours or so). Once in Verona Airport (which is actually in Villafranca di Verona rather than Verona itself), there are regular shuttles every 20 minutes, but not in the early hours of the morning. You can buy your ticket online, but despite what the website says, the driver will want it printed out. There's also an automatic ticket machine inside the terminal, near the exit: either way, a single will cost €6 (I didn't see a return option, but I may have missed it). That's a fair whack for such a short trip: it was only around 10 to 15 minutes, maybe less.

Helpfully, the shuttle ends at the main train station, Porto Nuova. According to my Sygic, that is meant to be a 34 minute walk from the Palazzo Forti, though it took me longer. Fortunately there are several landmarks en route, such as the Verona Arena (a Roman amphitheatre). You're mostly walking on the same road, meaning that those who (unlike me) aren't completely lacking their sense of direction should be ok. You'll see a few signs en route for Palazzo Forti, plus lots of posters if there is an exhibition taking place.

Palazzo Forti

I'd recommend buying your ticket in advance (I went via Musement for €14) , as then you get to skip the queue. You have to enter within a specified 30 minute window, but that puts you in a queue of maybe 2 or 3 people. For those buying on the day, the queue snaked around the building. My ticket included an audio guide, which was OK if not especially comprehensive. It covers 21 of the items on display: keep in mind that this exhibition is not just paintings, but also photos, films, dresses, shoes and indeed hats.

Most of de Lempicka's work appears to be in private collections, part of the reason I was willing to fly to Italy to see it. There are some famous pieces, including what is probably de Lempicka's masterpiece, 'La Belle Rafaella'. Like Goya's 'Nude Maja' (incidentally, googling 'Goya maja' just now to remember the name of the painting, I came across this: sadly, she doesn't have a bad ass afro when you click through [it's a hat, I think], but looks like it from the preview), there are both clothed and naked versions, with the nude ramping up into decidedly pornographic territory. De Lempicka painted plenty of nudes, but her models normally look impassively at the viewer. In the nude Rafaella, her expression is in no way impassive!

There are less overtly erotic pieces too, including the 'Lady with Gloves' and 'Kizette on the Balcony' I'd hoped to see in Paris, but ended up following to Verona. There's also a well known 'Portrait of Ira P' (who serves as the exhibition poster) and de Lempicka's own favourite, 'Mother Superior'. Contemporary critics did not agree with her choice, decrying what they saw as its unconvincing 'glycerine tears'. It's certainly a volte face from the confident, stylish and powerful female figures of de Lempicka's earlier work. She is much better at decadent pleasure than she is at emotional pain.

Something else I would recommend is reading up on de Lempicka before you go see any of her work. In many ways, she mirrors Vigée Le Brun, who similarly benefits from extra biographical reading. Both women were essentially courtiers in their respective time periods, both spent time in St Petersburg and Paris, both were celebrities, both were best known for their portraiture. I suspect that if you had a time machine and made the two women swap places, Vigée Le Brun would be as comfortable in the glamorous Paris of the 1920s and '30s as de Lempicka would be in the court of Marie Antoinette.

Vigée Le Brun's memoirs are tame by comparison to de Lempicka's often raunchy life, but that might just be due to the different social mores. Both were strong, independent women who knew what they had and made the most of it, socially, romantically and professionally. I would suggest the Laura Claridge biography of de Lempicka: there's a glossy book by de Lempicka's daughter, but it isn't especially well researched and rather short.

The Palazzo Forti was cramped in places, especially where the paintings were on the audioguide and therefore acquired a huddle of be-headphoned people around it. Having said that, the room that housed 'La Belle Rafaella' was an exception, with plenty of space. That's the only spot where you could sit down and have a comfortable stare at the paintings: I took the opportunity to try and sketch the clothed Rafaella, known as 'The Pink Tunic'. I'm rubbish at drawing, but it nevertheless adds to the enjoyment of an exhibition, making you look closer. It has the added benefit of making people get out of your eyeline too, which is handy. ;p

Great to finally see some #TamaraDeLempicka paintings in the flesh. It definitely makes you look closer if you try #drawing them, even if you're rubbish at it like me (looks more like the scary octopus woman from The Little Mermaid). #Verona is beautiful: only thing missing is my gf. #art #crapdrawing

A photo posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jan 24, 2016 at 9:11am PST

I would have liked to see a lot more paintings, rather than the photographs and fashion items that bulk out the exhibition. However, that wasn't a surprise, as it was mentioned in the blurb when I was booking my tickets. I'll be keeping an eye out for future de Lempicka exhibitions. Hopefully if there is another one in Verona, it will be in the summer so my girlfriend would be up for coming along. It was weird walking around the squares without her there, as our big Italy and Greece trip from over a decade ago was one of our first major holidays together (I still haven't written it up, so I'll do that retrospectively at some point). Next time. :)

The next flight back to the UK was the following day, so I CouchSurfed. Pretty cool way to finish the trip, especially as my excellent host treated me to her home made pizza. Eating pizza with an Italian family in Verona after an art exhibition talking about languages? Only way that could be better would be throwing some BJJ in there somehow. :D

22/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Standing & Leg Pin Pass

Teaching #454
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/01/2016


For the standing guard break, start by shoving their sleeve/wrist into their belt knot/belly button. With your other hand, push into their sternum (as always, be aware this is just one option, there are many other ways of standing in the closed guard). Either way, be careful you aren't tempted to lean forward, or they can grab you and break your posture, preventing your stand. Keep your posture upright and head up.

Swing to your non-sleeve grabbing side, then raise your knee on the sleeve grabbing side, stepping forward with that foot. Once it is up, turn your leg into them, pressing into their hip. That should hopefully provide you with some base, meaning that as you step up the other leg, you can keep it further back, so you have a staggered stance. Standing up with your feet in line makes you very vulnerable to sweeps. You also want a slight bend in your leg, in what Jason Scully calls an 'athletic stance'. That helps your base and also aids mobility.

Chris looking strong #PassingTheGuard. Or indeed, looking #MoveStrong, @MoveBristol? ;) #BJJ #BrazilianJiuJitsu #ArtemisBJJ #ClosedGuard

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 23, 2016 at 5:13am PST

As you stand, pull up on their sleeve/wrist (if you've lost it, grab their collar, if they are wearing a gi). Make sure you keep your elbow inside their knee: that both makes it harder for them to pull their arm back, as well as protecting you from omoplata attacks and the like. You then want to push their knee off your hip on the other side, stepping back with your leg on the non-sleeve/wrist gripping side to help.

If you're having trouble getting that knee off, try bouncing your hips to open their ankles, like you were struggling to take off a tight pair of jeans. At the same time, splay your hand by the knee you want to shove (Roger Gracie calls this 'making his hand big') in order to help push down. Immediately as their leg hits the mat, you can move into the leg pin pass by trapping their lower leg with your same side shin by sliding it over, driving your knee into their same side hip. Hook your instep around their leg near the crook of their knee. Also shift the foot of your non-sliding leg closer to your bum, so they can't hook it.

The hand which was pushing on the knee now goes to wrap under their head, looking to get your shoulder next to their jaw. I'd suggest switching the other hand (which was gripping on their sleeve/collar/wrist) to behind their leg to stop them bridging and rolling you during the pass attempt. You could also try blocking their near hip with that hand, though that isn't an option I normally use. This also puts you in a powerful guard position, should you need to switch mid-pass if they resist your initial passing attempt.

To finish, swing your non-sliding leg all the way over, so your back is pointing at their head, in a sort of reverse scarf hold: you're sat next to them, facing their legs, sole of your non-sliding leg foot on the floor. You should still have their leg trapped at this point with your hooking foot. Finally, switch your hips, sliding that hooking leg under the back stepping leg, settling into side control.
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Teaching Notes: Small turnout today, which isn't all that unusual for Friday. Given it's a Friday, turnout varies probably the most. It was packed last week, for example. Hence why I tend to try and save the more complex stuff for Fridays, but that doesn't always work out when I've got a lot to fit in. Next time, I'll try to make sure that I'm showing standing passes on a Monday or Wednesday, to make sure as many people as possible are there. I don't stand all that often myself, because I'm lazy, but it's an important one to know. I've added it to the core drills, along with side control escapes and breaking posture in guard.

Speaking of drills, I've been considering taking out the 'run round the room' stuff. It has the advantage of being immediately understandable to newbies, but I'd rather fill that with more specific jiu jitsu drills, like the rest of the warm up. I think the current side control and guard drills need to be there, possibly something from mount and the back too. Perhaps the technical mount to back control would be good, as that combines them. Could even throw in a back escape, but that would probably be overcomplicating things for a warm-up drill.

In terms of technique tonight, the people there were all experienced, so this wasn't too problematic. Emphasising that you need to step the leg back is important, keeping your elbow inside their knee when you pull up on the sleeve, etc. I'm still not sure about the importance of the leg pin, as ever. The solution would be to do it loads in sparring and see how it works. I've kept it this long because it's one of the first passes I was taught, but if nobody ever uses it, I should probably switch it for something higher percentage. Choice, choices. :)

20/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Preparing the Pass

Teaching #453
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/01/2016

First thing I wanted to cover was posture. Stay upright, with your head up. Curving your back slightly, arching it like a cat (so, convex rather than concave), can help too. Don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is very important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively. Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.

Be aware that you don't want to extend that arm too far or they can break your posture: it's also likely that they will primarily be looking to dislodge your arm and gain control of it, so be ready to disengage and then quickly re-engage the grip. Having said that, there are numerous other ways of posturing up, so it's good to experiment.

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 21, 2016 at 1:01pm PST

For a strong base, widen your knees, sitting on your heels. Alternatively, you could try squeezing your knees to their hips to stop them moving, but that will result in a less sturdy base. Make sure you do not put your elbows on the outside of their legs: keep them inside, or they can start kicking up into your armpit for triangles, armbars, flower sweeps etc.

A key detail is to come up on your toes. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but it provides you with much better base than having your insteps flat on the floor. With your toes up, you can resist their attempts to pull you around. It also enables you to drive forward and improves your mobility.

Another way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base.

In order to attack, they are going to want to disrupt your base and break your posture down. The first way they'll probably do that is to establish a strong grip, on your sleeve and collar. You don't want that, so try to strip any grips before beginning your pass. Not to say that it's impossible to pass if they've got grips, but you'll find it easier if they don't.

If they grab your collar, use both of your hands to grab either side of that sleeve or wrist. Push it forcefully away from you, while simultaneously leaning back slightly. If you remember the grip break from the maintaining closed guard lesson I taught a while back, this is a similar principle, but from the opposite position. Another option is to put both your hands on their gripping arm, trapping it to their torso. Posture up forcefully to break the grip. Alternatively, you could try simply re-establishing your grips on their collar and hip over the top of their arms, meaning you can press your arms into theirs. That way, it's possible to use arm pressure to loosen their grips to the point they become less effective.

If they get a grip on your sleeve, then grab their sleeve with your free hand. To break the grip, yank your trapped hand back as your gripping hand drives forward. TrumpetDan has a good video on this, here. I don't generally recommend YouTube, but he is one of the better teachers on there. A simpler option is to circle your hand either inside or outside of their arm, then chop downwards to break the grip: there is a good explanation of that in Beneville's excellent Passing the Guard.

There is also a one-handed grip break you can try, which Xande shows on BJJ Library: he calls it the 'y grip break'. This has some similarities to circling your hand, but this time you circle it underneath their hand, shoving the 'v' between your thumb and index finger into the heel of their hand. Thrust your arm forward forcefully to free your sleeve. You might also be able to use your hand position to grab their wrist, putting you in control and negating their own grip.

Should they get a hold of the material by your knee, grab their gripping wrist with your same side arm and press it to the mat, then kick your trapped leg back. Ideally, as with the previous grip break, this will now give you control of their arm, which you can immediately use to initiate your pass.

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Teaching Notes: Previously I split this into two sections, which I may do again. It is possible to get through all the posture stuff and the grip breaks, but I feel like I might be straining attention spans a bit. So next time, quick demonstration, some drilling, another demonstration, more drilling, then progressive resistance. I also added in both standing and kneeling breaks as warm-ups, which hopefully helps people see the context. Sticking in a passing drill would be good too, like the knee cut that we do a fair bit already in the warm-ups.

20/01/2016 - Teaching | Women's Class | Side Control Escape to Guard

Teaching #452
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/01/2016

First thing to note is that they will want to kill your near arm. This is bad for you, because it means you can't stop them shifting up towards your head. From there, they can make as much space as they want and pass to mount.

So, you need to get your arm inside, the forearm pressing against their hip: this is a bit more reliable than using your hand, as they can potentially still bring their body onto your hand and collapse it, especially if you're grabbing the gi (given the loose material). The forearm into the hip will help block their movement, and initiate your attempts to create some space. It should also help you block them moving to north south, as if you clamp your arm by their side, your body will move with them if they try to switch position.

Be aware that having your forearm by their hip like that does leave you more open to the cross-face. So, you could potentially block inside their cross-facing arm instead, which will prevent their shoulder pressure. This is the Saulo method from his book, which has advantages, but personally I prefer to block the hip.

With your other hand, grab the gi material by their shoulder, close to their neck, then pull down. Twist that arm up into their neck, keeping the elbow in: you need to be tight here, as otherwise they will go for a figure four on that arm. Once you've got the forearm into their neck, they can't press down into you, as they'll essentially be choking themselves. Note that this is a block: you don't want to start pushing and reaching, as that may leave you vulnerable. Reach too far and they can shove your arm to one side and set up an arm triangle.

Next I moved on to the legs. Your legs have two main purposes here: first, blocking your opponent getting to mount. Raise your near knee and drive it into their side. The idea is to wedge them between your knee and the arm you have by their hip. Personally, I like to keep my knee floating, glued to their side.

That makes it easier to slip my knee under as soon as they give me any space, which is something I learned from Roger. Many people prefer to cross their foot over their knee, which is something I used to do in the past as well. However, as this long Sherdog thread discusses, that can leave you open to a footlock, and also limit your mobility. Then again, you can see it used at the highest levels, like here at the Mundials.

The second use for your legs is bridging. Marcelo Garcia has a handy tip for this (although the escape he is doing there is slightly different), related to increasing the power of your bridge. To do that, bring your heels right to your bum, then push up on your toes. That increases your range of motion, so you can really drive into them.

Make sure you turn into them as you bridge, rather than just straight up. This will help the next part, which is to shrimp out as you come back down. That's why you've created space in the first place: if you simply plopped back down, then you've wasted the opportunity. As soon as you shrimp out, slip the knee pressing into their side underneath. Note you aren't trying to lift them with your arms. Instead, you want to push off them, moving your body away rather than pushing theirs higher up.

Once your knee is through, you need to be careful they don't immediately pass by pushing down and moving around that knee, ruining all your hard work. To prevent that, keep your hand by their shoulder. Straighten it, then add further support by bracing your other hand into their bicep (same side as the blocked shoulder). Your new frame should create a barrier to their pass, giving you enough time to recover your guard, or even move into a submission.

Alternatively, you can control their arm with your hip-bracing arm as you escape, like Roy Dean demonstrates in Blue Belt Requirements. That will also stop them pushing down on your knee, as their arm is trapped. It is worth trying both and seeing which you prefer, or which one the situation demands.

To get your knee out from under them, you'll be looking to shrimp in the direction you want your leg to go. If you can get a foot on the mat, that will provide you with the base to shrimp. Sometimes there isn't space, in which case you can push off the shin you have pressed into their stomach/hip. Keep shrimping under you can get your legs free and back to closed guard (or open guard, like butterfly, if you prefer).
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Teaching Notes: Like last time, I still don't feel I have the final part as well structured as it could be. I need to decide on a single, easiest way for students to try, rather than the selection I end up doing. That's the only bit I think I'd change: I'll have a good think about it before I teach this one again during side control month. It's the lesson I've taught the most, so it's cool I'm still finding things I can improve. :)

Shrimping is probably the easiest. Also, you've got the option of either keeping a leg on the ground to help with shrimping, or getting that over their back to break their posture. Something that could be achieved by wrapping the head instead? I'll have a think about that before next time too.

19/01/2016 - Salsa Souls at Riproar in Bristol | Cross Body Lead

Class #009
Salsa Souls (Salsa), Riproar Club, Jo Kryulko, Bristol, UK - 19/01/2016

Tuesday is shaping up be the most fitness intensive day of my week. Starts off with an hour of kettlebells, then an hour of BJJ open mat, until finally two hours of salsa dancing. My knee was a bit sore after open mat, so I'll have to keep an eye on that. My neck too, so I'll try toning down the sparring for the rest of this week. I'll be in Verona for the Tamara de Lempicka show on Sunday anyway. Speaking of which, you should donate to the charity GrappleThon in support of One25! Tamara would. ;P

#donate @One25Charity #BJJ #charity #GrappleThon #TamaraDeLempicka #BrazilianJiuJitsu #One25Live

A photo posted by @grapplethon on Jan 20, 2016 at 12:22am PST

Also, now I know the teacher's name, my OCD need to record everything is satisfied. Yay! Anyway, tonight was mainly about the cross body lead. Jo had a good way teaching this: step on the train, step on the platform, turn. At least, I got that first bit, but couldn't see her feet on the second part. That's one of the downsides of a big, popular class: too many bodies in the way of the teachers' feet. ;)

Fortunately for me, my girlfriend is a lot more willing to ask than I am, so she brought Jo over during the free dancing bit at the end. That massively helped, as Jo went through the technique in detail, as well as a bunch of other refinements to what I'd been doing. First off - and this is pretty important, so I was lucky I got this corrected early - is how to lead your partner. When you've got that closer hold on them (which I'm sure has a name, but I don't know it yet: I have my hand on her shoulder blade under her arm, while she grips my other hand, curling her fingers over the back of my hand), make sure your shoulder-blade hand is in the middle of their shoulder blades. I'd been putting it too low, on the ribs.

With it between the shoulder blades, you can lead more effectively. It enables you to not only indicate side to side, but also back and forward. With your fingers in between their shoulder blades, the heel of your palm will be on their side. Use that to push back on them - gently! - to indicate when you want them to go backwards. Also, I was getting confused about leading on the basic back step, though when you realise it's pretty obvious. If they are going backwards, you need to push them backwards, not pull them towards you. I had been pulling towards me because when I step back, that's the direction I'm going. D'oh. :)

Previously with the cross-body lead, I had gone the wrong way. Every. Single. Time. Particularly when Jo picked me to demonstrate on, when I kept on going the wrong way even though she was correcting me. Clearly takes a lot to get that through my thick skull. So, assuming I am now remembering this properly, it goes like this (from that close grip):

• Rock forward on your left
• Step with your right, turning the foot perpendicular to your left
• Bring your left back in line with the right
• As you do that, steer your partner around to line up with you
• Rock sideways on your right
• Step your left back, at right angles
• Bring your partner back in line

I think? I am still not entirely sure, need to film myself doing this, like I did back in 2008 with the steps (e.g, this, from my first salsa class). The teachers are very keen for everybody to try and dance with somebody from the other class (the beginners join up with the intermediate/advanced for the free dancey bit at the end), but I'm not keen at the moment. I'm especially not keen if it's that close hold: if I get forced to dance with anyone other than my gf, I'll make sure if that's beach ball holding frame, so I can keep them safely at arms length. I've mentioned this before, but very weirdly given I've been doing Brazilian jiu jitsu for a decade, I hate being touched. Then again, if I've been able to get used to it in BJJ, should hopefully be able to do the same with salsa. :D

19/01/2016 - Open Mat | Knee Cut Counters & Sitting Guard

Class #692
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 19/01/2016

I had a question about knee cut counters today, something I've been trying to work out myself. The first thing I try is from Ryan Hall's DVDs and I think something Mackenzei Dern mentions on BJJ Library: getting your foot into their hip to create some distance. You could also try reaching under the knee they're driving to drive to the mat and move it back across. This will be tough if they've already got their knee down and weight behind it, meaning it's more of an 'early' escape.

Matt mentioned another nifty option, which would be something you also try early on. Get a good reverse de la Riva hook, bringing the foot of the leg their trying to trap to curl around the outside of their leg. Mirror their grips, grabbing their opposite collar with your far hand, their sleeve with your near hand (I think? Need to play with it more at open mat, though it's also on Saulo's DVD as well as YouTube, from what Matt said). You can then lift them and sweep through to the top.

The counter I've been working on is from Jeff Rockwell's sit up escape system. This is a late escape and relies on timing. Your arm braces into their same side arm, on the near side (i.e., you'd be pushing into the arm further away from you). Immediately as they slide past your leg, walk your own legs away from them as you sit up, keeping your pushing arm straight. Timed right, you can sit up directly into side control.

Sparring with Matt was good, playing with open guard. He's been watching the Ryan Hall DVDs I like so much, as he's had the same problem with open guard as me. In terms of passing, I was grabbing his collar and getting an underhook as soon as I could: he was repeatedly trying to go for sweeps on that side, which is why I needed that underhook to keep control. At one point I managed a random sweep (or was this yesterday? Either way, it was with Matt) where I reached around his neck and grabbed the collar, using that to sweep. Not quite sure how I did it, but fun.

A video posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jan 19, 2016 at 9:14am PST

More kettlebells with the Turkish get up again today too, especially as I essentially got a private lesson on the Turkish get up from David because the other regular didn't come along. Loads of great points, like angling your leg out more when you sit through on the way back down. That puts your body in a much stronger alignment. I've been sticking with the 12kg up until, but gave the 16kg a go. I can pump out a Turkish get up, not with some wobble though. The goal is to build up to 32kg over a long, long time. I don't know if I'll ever go that high: nevertheless, useful to have some kind of benchmark. :)

18/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Armbar

Teaching #451
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 18/01/2016

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 19, 2016 at 1:59am PST

For this fundamental attack from the guard, you first need to get control of their arm. There are numerous ways to do this, but in the interests of keeping things simple for drilling, a straightforward option is to grab their opposite tricep with your hand, then pull that across your body. 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 free hand (keeping a firm hold of their arm with your other hand) and pull them down. If it's nogi, grab their head. Next, kick your free 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 away from their trapped arm and get a better angle. From here, you can then push their head out of the way with your head/collar grip.

That should make it easier to bring your hip-pushing leg over their head. Slide the arm you're using to control their arm up towards their wrist. At this point, you can switch to grasping their wrist with your hand if necessary. Squeeze your knees together, lift your hips and pull down gradually on their 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. Be warned that you need to be careful of getting bunched up underneath with this. If you misjudge it, you may end up carrying a lot of weight on your neck. Speaking from experience, that hurts, potentially messing up your neck for several weeks or even months.
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Teaching Notes: I went through the full Sahid drills, starting with them putting their elbow over your belt line, then you swivelling your legs into place. That progresses to grabbing the tricep and pulling the arm over. Once I got to teaching, I was hoping that meant they'd have the basic movements, meaning we could refine it, adding the collar grip and leg twist. A few people still weren't getting the swivel: I'll emphasise that even more next time I teach this. I'm also not sure if it is better to do the collar grip first or arm grab. With the collar grip they have posture and it's tough to break down without a grip. But if the collar grip is in and they're pulled down, the arm is hard to pull across. Meh.

I guess treating this as an initial way to get the basics of armbars down could be the way to go, as there are a bazillion different ways to set it up and finish. As the US Grappling stats (for points competitions at least) revealed, armbars are the highest percentage attack for their competitors. I should therefore invest a decent bit of time teaching and training it. Sparring, I'm not progressing efficiently enough with the omoplata, though I did at least break their posture down better this time.

17/01/2016 - Open Mat | Baseball Bat Choke Under Side Control & Turkish Get Up (Kettlebells)

Class #691
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 17/01/2016

Kettlebells has been especially good this week, with loads of great stuff on the Turkish get up, my new favourite fitness exercise ever. David and the Move Strong team did a great workshop yesterday too, which focused heavily on the Turkish get up. My Turkish get up needs a lot of work, as I'm not packing my shoulder enough, puffing out my chest or going sufficiently far up on the high bridge. I also need to make sure the arm is straight, get my kettlebell knee in closer to my bum (good tip from Natalia) and be sure to look at the kettlebell, but it's a start. I feel it's my duty to get good at this, given my Turkish heritage. ;)

Testing @VidStitch #app. #Kettlebells, #TurkishGetUp & #BJJ @artemisbjj. #SupportWomensBJJ #BrazilianJiuJitsu #fitness #LearningKettlebells #MoveStrong #VidStitchPro

A video posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jan 18, 2016 at 2:18am PST

Today at open mat, Steve wanted to look at the Baseball bat choke from underneath. This is something Magid Hage has made famous, as he hits it on everybody. It's the same thing you do on top, except this has the added bonus of them being distracted because they think they're completing a pass. I was trying to think of a good way to flow into it, and I reckon pushing on their shoulder with your inside arm could be the way. It's not as effective a block as the outside arm, but it works. Main reason is that is transitions nicely into a same side grip on the collar, getting your thumb in.

The tricky part is getting the second hand into the collar on the other side, palm up. As with any baseball bat choke, you are trying to touch the bottom of your second hand to the thumb of your first hand (like you were holding a baseball bat, or my preferred analogy, an awesome great sword ;P). Grab, cut your second elbow across, pulling them in tight as you spin. You'll know the right way to go, because the wrong way will be blocked by their legs. Make sure you pull them down tight. If they have the space to get a knee into your stomach, then gain strong posture and can generally drive their way up and loosen the choke.

I finished up with some good sparring against one of the blue belts, who is always a lot of fun to roll with. As I often find with him, the kimura grip worked well for me. I think it's because his elbows have a tendency to come away from his body, something I noticed when he was competing too. We can fix that before the next comp. I wasn't able to get the waki gatame, or the extra strong Jacare variation on the kimura (off Ryan Hall's DVD), where you walk over to the other shoulder. Persevering with the grip paid off, managing to latch it on at the end. I need to watch my back though, he almost had that at one point IIRC, I don't always keep that in mind enough.

15/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Scissor & Push Sweep

Teaching #450
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/01/2016

Celebrating @kirstymarieeebjj's birthday after a bit of #ScissorSweep action. Also very cool to see Big H on the #ArtemisBJJ mats: looked impressive for his first ever #BJJ spar! #BrazilianJiuJitsu #MYGYM #SupportWomensBJJ

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 15, 2016 at 1:59pm PST

Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow or sleeve. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand/elbow on the mat and prevent the sweep?

The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option (which I prefer) is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach. There's yet another version from Xande, as he shows how you can hook under their armpit for the same effect.

A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with a secure collar grip in order to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well. Kid Peligro suggests squaring your torso up, really arching your back and looking over the shoulder nearest the ground: Xande similarly arches away for extra leverage. You want to be on your side as you do this.

Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance. Should you have trouble chopping into their leg, you can also switch to a push sweep. This works in exactly the same way as the scissor sweep, except that rather than chopping, you put your foot into the side of their knee. Push it out and back (describing a semi-circle), which will knock out their base in the same way as chopping. You can then progress the sweep as usual.

Whichever sweep variation you use, maintain that grip on their collar. This will serve you well as you sweep them to mount, because you can then go straight into a submission. The choke is there, the armbar is a possibility too. At the same time, be wary of their escape: if you need to remove your grip to base, better to hold the mount.
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Teaching Notes: My plan was to link this to the palm up palm up choke, as often when you do that, you'll find it hard to get the second grip. Instead, you can go for a scissor sweep, a palm up palm down choke, an armbar etc. The armbar connects better with the palm up palm down choke, as for that one you're angling off with your legs. I like being able to combine techniques in that progression, especially as all of them also work in isolation.

Now that I have a whole month and five classes a week to play with, compared to one a week and only a fortnight (which is how I started off teaching before Artemis BJJ), there's lots more scope for this kind of fun. Hopefully I'll have even more classes to play with in the future: in an ideal world, I'd spend all day teaching, sparring and drilling (though I think I'd always want two evenings off a week and my Saturday free, as it's importance to have balance, like my latest tattoo says ;D). I'll get there one day.

After class we headed off to a nearby bar to celebrate Kirsty's birthday (I don't drink, so none of those beers were mine: my diet is bad enough without adding alcohol to it ;D). Cool to spend some time chatting about BJJ and some of the upcoming coolness, like the trip to Belgium. I'm looking forward to the Globetrotter camp, where we'll get loads of time to socialise as a team. Before that, we have the awesomeness of Pieminister after Chelsea's seminar at the end of January. :)