31/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Stiff Arm Escape (Collar Tie)

Teaching #668
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 31/05/2017

Jeff Rockwell, who I trained with in Texas, has produced an excellent instructional, The Sit Up Escape System, published online through Artechoke Media. It fits in perfectly with the stiff arm material I've been practicing from open guard since 2013. Tonight we looked at the initial scenario for this escape, where they are just in the process of passing your legs. Set up your frames before they get fully around, arms up at right angles with your elbows in tight to your sides. One arm blocks the side of their neck, the other presses into the crook of their elbow. Make sure you are blocking with your forearm near the wrist, rather than your hand. A hand will bend, a forearm won't (unless you're sparring the Hulk, in which case you have bigger problems!). Fold your elbow-crook hand over the back of their arm, gripping their shoulder blade with your neck-hand.

Lever up their chin with your neck-arm to create some space. Sit-up into that space, quickly sliding your crook-arm to their collar bone, bringing your other elbow behind you for base. As soon as possible, sit up high, moving from your elbow to your hand. Your crook-arm should still be in the same configuration, almost at a right angle pressing into their collar bone. It's the same concept as with Ryan Hall's Defensive Guard, using your skeletal structure as a defensive barrier. Hook their leg with your foot, then pushing off your feet and basing hand, square back up to them and establish open guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 2, 2017 at 4:18am PDT

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Teaching Notes: The toughest part is switching those hands across. It's worth pointing out that it is the arm on the side they would be passing, along with the configuration of the arm. A few people ended up grabbing the head in progressive resistance, moving to the side and the like. It might be worth teaching the basic option of pushing the back of the elbow, which combines with this one. Teaching them in a series could help to drive it home? Either way, it's one I want to get better at myself, so I should try teaching the full sequence next time side control month comes along.

This particular one should fit well with teaching sitting guard next month, if I get the chance to do much of that. I'll try teaching a session on that on Friday, to connect it up (assuming some of the same people show up on Friday? We'll see). So, emphasise you're using the arm to press, not grip.

30/05/2017 - Open Mat (Tuesday)

Class #826
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 30/05/2017

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 30, 2017 at 6:40am PDT

We had some visitors today, which is always cool. I remember Ellie from the BJJ Globetrotters camp in Bournemouth, as we partnered up for one of the techniques. Jay popped down as well (he was at Bournemouth too, but I didn't get the chance to chat). I spent most of today drilling with Rich, taking a look at some of the techniques he missed, along with a few he wanted to work on some more. Going through the armbar from the back, the problem there as ever is getting that arm over their head. I experimented with another option, where you maintain one arm hooked around theirs, releasing the other to grab their leg to help your spin. I'm not sure how viable that is (due to giving up the secure control of a figure four grip), but something to play with.

I also fit in a roll with Jay and then Ellie at the end. Jay was doing a good job of trying to block one side with an arm, which helped break down my ability to control with my knee. He eventually rolled me over with an old school headlock, which was fun. ;)

26/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Escape to Knees

Teaching #667
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/05/2017

For the escape to the knees, Roy Dean is a useful reference point, so I'll be drawing on his method from Blue Belt Requirements as usual. It begins in much the same way as the shrimp back to guard. 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 that grabbing the gi material, as they can potentially still bring their body onto your hand and collapse it due to 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.

One thing to note is 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.

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.

After you bridge and shrimp, rotate the arm you have by their neck under their armpit, then reach for their legs or around their back. Roy Dean then shifts out to the side, ending up crouched next to them (as in the picture): I find that's the most intuitive method. At the same time, bring your bottom leg under your top leg, reaching further around their back as you fully turn to your knees. It's the same motion as the shrimp to knees drill I do during the warm-up.



From there, reach for the far knee and drive forward, moving to the top position. Another typical method leaves you square on, but I personally am not keen on that position as I find it is more awkward to crawl up into a strong base from there. However, again, it is a totally valid variation: experiment to see what works best for you.
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Teaching Notes: I haven't taught this one in a while, but it's the second of what I see as the basic two side control escapes (the other being recovering guard, which I used way more). First up, the drilling at the start needs to include turning to the knees. I talked about the bridge and shrimp again, but that isn't so relevant to this one. Turning one leg under the other is the motion people need to practice, so next time, remember to do that in the warm up.

When Marcelo Garcia does this, he makes a point of not reaching higher than their hip. It doesn't feel like a natural motion to me, but I should practice it to provide some diversity. I tend to reach higher by the back. Emphasise gripping lower, head on the inside and don't forget that turning to the knees drill.

23/05/2017 - Calling Australian Readers | Open Mat (Tuesday)

Class #825
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 23/05/2017

I have been missing my training trips to see bloggers/online friends, so this year I'd originally intended to head back to the US to catch up with people like Suay and Josh. However, then you guys went and elected an orange misogynist who is still squatting in the White House (hopefully not for much longer ;D). That put me right off, especially given the idiocy about travel bans and the like: my name isn't exactly 'John Smith', meaning hassle in that kind of atmosphere is definitely possible. However, there is another country where I have lots of cool bloggers/online friends to visit: Australia.

I was considering a trip to Singapore anyway, meaning that Melbourne is only a direct flight away. Checking Skyscanner, it looked like a long weekend in Melbourne was totally viable (which will be my second very short trip to Australia). So, if you read this blog and want to meet up for training in Melbourne, let me know. I'll be going to Absolute and Academy (to see those aforementioned blogger and online friends, plus actual met-in-person friends too, such as my ex-student Erin) if you'd like to join me. Feel free to pop an email over to slideyfoot@gmail.com if you want to say hi when I'm in Oz. :D
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Getting back to UK training, today I did lots of drilling with Tracey, which is always informative. It's an old truism, but you really can learn a lot from teaching, as it forces you to think through the technique in detail, what really makes it work. That started with discussing the americana, using the set-up I learned from Roger Gracie where you pinch their arm with your chin, should they try and push to escape. If you keep everything tight and don't lift up when you bring your other arm over, it feels nice and secure. You also want to already have your other arm under.

On the back control escape where you grab their arm, it's dangerous because they can reach under your arm and go for an armbar. If you can grab their head, that gives you an anchor and helps kill their rotational movement. I should play with that more, but combining the slow motion seoi-nage type principles seemed to iron out the flaws with that one. Fun times. :)

22/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Escape to Guard

Teaching #666
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/05/2017

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.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 24, 2017 at 12:25am PDT

So, you need to get your arm inside, the forearm pressing against their hip: this is 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. You're aiming to use the lower part of your forearm. Twist that arm up into their neck, keeping your 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. When your shin is over their stomach, you can use that to square your body up, pushing through your leg to move your head in line with theirs.

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. Control their arm with your hip-bracing arm as you escape, like Roy Dean demonstrates in Blue Belt Requirements. Bring your arm just above their elbow, reaching across to your opposite shoulder. That will stop them pushing down on your knee, as their arm is trapped. With your free arm, grab their head to control their posture

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Sep 9, 2016 at 12:35am PDT

To get your knee out from under them, you'll be looking to shrimp in the direction you want your leg to go. Bring your leg over their back, on the side where you aren't controlling their arm. Get your other foot to mat, using the base you gain from that post to shrimp out. That should normally be enough to free the leg and get into closed guard.

If not, you'll need to keep shrimping (and you may need to keep both feet on the floor until you have shrimped far enough that you can comfortably get your legs out). Sometimes there isn't space, in which case you can push off the shin/knee you have pressed into their stomach/hip. Keep in mind that you also have the option of going to butterfly or some other open guard, if you are really struggling to get your legs out for closed guard.
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Teaching Notes: This is the class I'm most confident teaching, but I'm still trying to make changes. I added in more drills tonight, running through the straight up and down bridge, then at an angle, and finally bridge and mid-air shrimp. That's worth emphasising, lots of people don't bridge with purpose, meaning they can't make the space to escape. Get right on your head and shoulder, whacking your hips out as far as you can. I also included a brief drill where the person on top can use their arms, the person on bottom can't. I don't expect them to be able to escape easily, but the idea is to get them to really focus on the leg and hip movement.

Something to keep in mind is that getting that initial bridge and shrimp is still really hard, countering that top pressure. I'd like to come up with some kind of reliable trigger beyond just "bridge hard". Getting out of that heavy pressure is what makes the escape so difficult, and tough to initiate. I will keep thinking. :)

21/05/2017 - Open Mat (Sunday)

Class #824
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/05/2017

There was quite a bit of takedown action still in the nogi class, so I stuck with filming that rather than taking part. This tailbone injury has been annoying, much more of a hindrance than when I last had it. Still, it's been cool getting lots of video, building up a library of footage. It's also giving me practice in terms of editing and presenting instructional video, which will be useful when I finally come to do it for my own classes (I'm not planning to do that until black belt, maybe brown).

Tad and Kirsty were both down, which was cool. Tad was making the point that for shorter legs, x-guard works well, transitioning from butterfly and the like. I've never played with x-guard a whole lot, so that's something I should try out more. I'll have to pick Kirsty H's brain about it, she's been using x-guard more these days. I know Jude was a big fan of it back in the day when I was learning from him at RGA HQ, I could check my notes from those days as well. Unfortunately I had to cut my open mat time short, as I had something come up at home, but next time. :)

19/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Transitions and the Kimura as a position

Teaching #665
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/05/2017

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 22, 2017 at 1:44am PDT

You have the kimura, but can't finish it, normally because they've grabbed their gi and you can't break that grip. Fortunately, there are plenty of follow-ups, such as the armbar. Another option is to enter into the crucifix position. To do that, you'll need to trap their other arm with your legs. Wriggle out towards their head, adjusting your kimura grip so that you have one arm threading through theirs, securing it by your own head. Your other arm wraps around their neck, grasping the other collar. From here, you're in the crucifix, which provides a wealth of attacks, along with the option to reset back to side control with that kimura grip still in place.

This lesson was more conceptual than specific techniques. Once you have a kimura locked in, it becomes an anchor point that you can flow around. A kimura from side control could open up the back, it might lead to technical mount, or perhaps through to a crucifix and back to side control. The idea today was to play with that idea. Two aspects of control I wanted to highlight were the ways in which you could stop your partner from escaping your grip. The easiest to keep in mind is jamming their elbow into your chest. Another option, possibly trickier to get the hang of, is to extend your arms. Both are meant to prevent your partner's ability to turn in towards you, as if they can do that, they will try to dip their elbow and escape your hold.
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Teaching Notes: This was a lot of fun. Unusually for me, the lesson was partially improvised on my cycle over. I had an epiphany that the technical mount is a nexus point for all the top positions, which gave me the link I needed to build a lesson around the kimura as a position. That's also a nexus point, specifically their elbow pressing tightliy into your chest.

As you'd expect, the main mistake people made was not keeping that elbow jammed into their chest. I could also talk about some basic stuff like gripping with or without the thumb (I prefer without, but could emphasise the reasons behind that). I didn't talk much about the extending your arms option, as I didn't want to confuse people, but I did mention it while wandering around during drilling. It's also handy if you are trying to jam the elbow, they make some space, so you extend your arms.

I had originally planned to teach the crucifix off the kimura, but I like this better. I don't have many conceptual lessons, as they can feel too flabby and amorphous for my liking, but it felt ok today. One to add to my store of lessons. Could do with some drills for it, maybe technical mount moving through positions, along with something on the kimura? I shall have a think before next time. ;)

17/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Failed kimura into armbar, then into a pressing choke

Teaching #664
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/05/2017

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 19, 2017 at 12:56am PDT

You've gone for the kimura, they block it. You switch to the armbar instead, but they block that too. Maintain control of their arm, wrapping it to your chest. The thumb of your other hand points down, as you move to grip the collar on the far side of their neck. This is your anchor point for a breadcutter style choke (I use 'pressing choke' instead, I think that's more logical and descriptive).

Drop your elbow by the near side of their neck, making sure your forearm is pressing into the near side of their neck. Avoid crushing the windpipe, a common mistake on this kind of choke (not to say it wouldn't submit somebody, but it's inefficient, plus your training partners prefer being able to talk the next day ;D). If you need more leverage, you can grab their near side collar with your other hand and pull it towards their legs to take out the slack. Finally, you can also push your choking elbow into their head, driving their head towards their opposite shoulder.
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Teaching Notes: This is something Matt H showed me, I presume off this video. Gerbil shows it from technical mount, but I think it is viable off an armbar from side control too. However, I'll need to test this more. Either way, it is not going to work from a kimura, as you're sat on their head and can't reach the neck properly: has to be the armbar, so you have access to the neck. I should try teaching this during mount month some time too, as part of technical mount attacks.

The usual first thing to keep in mind with these kind of chokes is making sure it is a blood choke rather than on the windpipe, which I always emphasise. I try to inject some humour when I can, e.g., "your partner will appreciate being able to talk tomorrow, make sure this is a blood choke," that kind of thing. Yeah I know, not exactly Victoria Wood level, but meh, it doesn't come naturally. :P Even if it is being done correctly, that can still sometimes be a little painful if somebody puts loads of force through into the neck. I think that's ok, as it isn't something that is doing lasting damage like pressure into the windpipe, but at the same time I don't like to encourage anything that's mean. Hard to know exactly where that line is sometimes, but I think "no lasting damage" is probably a fairly good place to draw it.

Also, we had a record turnout of 24 grapplers tonight. Brilliant! Lisa's women class was packed too, with ten people. I'm really pleased at how the club has grown this year! That also means that I had a good indication of how many people the mats can handle. In free sparring, everybody was rolling and there was still some space. I think that the mats can hold at least 30, even more once that bit of building work is done and we recover that top corner edge.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 17, 2017 at 1:18pm PDT

16/05/2017 - Open Mat (Tuesday)

Class #823
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/05/2017

Great #OpenMat today with @tacerob and Rich. Good tips on the #OverUnderPass from Tracey: it's always cool when I learn stuff from my students. :D #BJJ #BrazilianJiuJitsu #ArtemisBJJ #SupportWomensBJJ

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 16, 2017 at 9:11am PDT

Excellent open mat today, very technique focused. Tracey is one of my absolute favourite students for many reasons, one of which is whenever I ask the question "is there anything you'd like to work on?", she has a carefully prepared list. Yes! More students like Tracey, please. :D

Working our way through that list was useful for me, as I could highlight some issues with each technique that helps me teach better, plus it was clearly handy for another student who was there. Tracey is among the most experienced students at Artemis BJJ, so had lots of useful advice for him, and indeed for me. I rarely use the over-under pass, but some of the details Tracey mentioned look very handy. For example, a slight shift towards them before you hop over the leg. I found when drilling that and watching both of them drill it, that small adjustment made it significantly harder for the person being passed to get their leg under and through for guard recovery.

The main thing I'm not keen on with the over-under pass is that it requires a firm grip on the gi. That's tough on the fingers. However, perhaps there is a way I can apply that 'open grip' I've been working on since hearing about it yesterday. I had a brief play with that at the end of the class, but I haven't yet applied it fully in sparring. Something I'm building up to, especially as I shared the same video with my personal trainers. They have therefore been getting me to do a bunch of exercises to work on that grip (e.g., pull ups on FatGripz, open grip deadlifts, etc).

After a #RedditBJJ thread discussing a video about #grips that don't mess up your #fingers yesterday, I was keen to try it. The idea was that a #climbing style '#OpenGrip' was the way to save yourself #JointPain. I shared the #reddit thread with my #personaltrainer, @strengthlabuk / @kettlebellnation, who suggested some #FatGripz #pullup variations. Much tougher than normal #pullups! We also tried the open #grip for #kettlebell deadlift and #swings, which incidentally also highlighted I need to avoid #scooping with my knees on the swing. After that, it was time to find myself an #office for doing my @ArtemisBJJ #admin. I decided #TheWardrobeTheatre was the place, which worked out well. Also, they're doing a #StarTrek / #FlashGordon #comedy show. Amazing! :D #kettlebells #gym #fitness #strength #griptraining #sorefingers #jiujitsuhands #Meerkatsu @bjjstyle #JiuJitsuStyleMagazine

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on May 15, 2017 at 8:02am PDT

15/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Failed North South Kimura to Armbar

Teaching #663
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/05/2017

You've gone for the kimura from north south, but they've latched a death grip on their gi and you can't break it. Rather than blowing all your energy fruitlessly straining against their arms, switch to an armbar instead. Keeping their trapped arm immobilised, adjust your feet so you're able to spin. Swivel to put your heel tight to their neck, while the knee you have by their armpit pops up and stays really tight to their arm. Tuck the foot of that armpit-leg underneath their ribs. Squeeze your knees and drop back for the armbar, keeping in mind that if the opportunity presents itself and you can do it without giving too much space, bring your armpit-leg over to secure a standard armbar leg position.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 16, 2017 at 5:09pm PDT

Alternatively, if you want to just go directly for the armbar from side control, first control their far arm. You want to trap it against your body, wrapping an arm around their triceps. With that grip in place, walk your legs around to their head. Lean forwards into them, in order to help control their mobility. Hop up into a crouch, bringing your feet far enough forward that you can easily cut your knee around the outside of their trapped arm.

Swivel around their trapped arm, cutting your knee tightly next to the arm. Drop back, squeezing your knees, ready to secure the armbar. If you need to, you can adjust into a more orthodox armbar position, such as bringing both legs over for additional leverage.

To do that hop, crouch and swivel takes some confidence. You need to be careful you aren't giving them space, in that gap between the crouch and the swivel. You could try maintaining some control by pressing your head into their stomach, using your weight to slow down their ability to capitalise on any gap you might leave.
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Teaching Notes: This builds off the hopping far side armbar drill, although on reflection, I think next time I will simply teach that far side armbar. I think it works well off the kimura, but as there were a number of beginners in class who weren't familiar with the kimura, it would be less confusing to focus on just the far side armbar. Main thing as usual is not leaving too much space, so I'll emphasise getting your bum on their shoulder and squeezing the knees. Also, I don't think everybody realised you can get the 'Japanese armbar' (still not sure why it's called that) by tucking your foot under their ribs. It isn't as tight as a conventional armbar as they have more rotational opportunity to escape, but it makes up for that with speed.

14/05/2017 - Open Mat (Sunday)

Class #822
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/05/2017

Great open mat today, well attended, with a surprise visit from an old friend, Mark. I first met him at the 2007 Belfast Throwdown he organised via Bullshido and have kept in touch ever since (along with a second Belfast Throwdown, plus another throwdown in 2009 at Andy Roberts club in Farnborough). He is now a brown belt, we haven't rolled since he was a blue. The first thing I do when high level people pop in is chuck my most experienced students at them, mainly because my students don't get the chance to roll with high level people as a matter of course.

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on May 14, 2017 at 5:49am PDT

Mark is an excellent guy to roll with, because he is able to adjust his pace. That's a skill many (probably most) blue and even purple belts lack, especially if they come from a super competition focused school. It meant rolling with Mark was a real pleasure. He is perfectly capable of crushing the life out of people, but didn't up his intensity too much unless his partner starting pushing harder. We had a lovely technical roll, where I worked on my defence underneath Mark's dominant top control. I focused on keeping my elbows in and my neck covered, blocking the cross-face whenever I could.

It is a situation I frequently find myself in with higher level grapplers (unless they're going all out, then they naturally squish me mercilessly). I'll defence, escape, but fail to recover a good position. I need to add in that step somehow, going from a tightly curled position underneath into some kind of guard. I think half or deep half might be the way to go, as that seems to fit the best with a semi-squished foetal position. When I'm facing away from them, I try the granby roll occasionally, but I worry about my neck with that. Instead, I prefer to either get some kind of Jeff Rockwell style frame, or attempt Chiu's shin-in-elbow sequence. The downside with the Chiu option is I feel I extend my arm too much, making it more vulnerable to attack than if I have it curled in with my elbows jammed into my side. Still, I like the concept, so have been working it regularly under side control (with success against less experienced grapplers, not so much guys like Mark ;D).

I think I still have that iconic video of Mark sparring at a Throwdown somewhere, will have to dig through some old hard drives. ;)

14/05/2017 - NoGi | Transitions from mount escape counter to the back

Class #821
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Lisa Chappell, Bristol, UK - 14/05/2017

Really good class structure from Lisa, top notch techniques too. Hopefully she'll be up for teaching more often, as it would be especially awesome to have a woman leading more of the classes. She went through a transition today, introducing elements during the warm up as a drill, then breaking it down. The sequence begins from mount. They try to escape your mount with the bump to butterfly. Base on your feet and drop your hip, in order to dislodge their straightened arm. Slide into side control leading with your hip. They will often turn towards you at this point, attempting to recover guard. Putting your weight into their shoulder, swivel around behind. Bring your arm that's nearest their hips over, pressing the elbow in tight a little below their hip.

That helps keep some control as you spin. Once you're behind them, get your arm under theirs, while your other arm goes over their shoulder. You can progress into back control from here, sitting them up with your seat belt grip, then establishing your hooks. If they are tight and don't let you get your arm under, push their elbow instead. This sets up a gift wrap, pushing their wrist into your waiting hand behind their head. You can then again go to the back.

I got in some good sparring with Adrienne and Paul, which was cool as I haven't sparred with Adrienne before. She's got a background at a different club, so there was more intensity, always an interesting test for my guard retention (especially as she's a purple belt). I was also impressed by Sara, who hasn't trained before, but already looked to have good movement. Hopefully she keeps it up, as she clearly has some natural aptitude for it.

With Paul, I was looking for the kimura, my go-to in lots of positions but especially nogi, if I can't get a good butterfly position for a sweep. I was also trying to switch into the crucifix when he went to control my leg, but I haven't got that movement smooth yet. I have managed to make the transition a few times in sparring over the last few months, sloppily though. It would be good to see a decent video on it to see what details I could add. :)

12/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | North South Kimura

Teaching #662
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/05/2017

For the north south kimura, start in side control, controlling their far arm. This is made easier if they aren't careful and let you bump their arm up onto your shoulder. Often they'll put it there themselves, attempting to reach your head, enabling you to trap their arm by your shoulder. Another possibility is that they turn and try to get an underhook.

Whether they put it there or you do, the next step is to wrap your arm over theirs, aiming to get just under their elbow to kill mobility in the limb. Ideally, also pull them up by that arm, so they're rolled onto their side. To lock it in place, grab your own collar, or just somewhere on your gi if you can't reach far enough. You'll also want to use you head, clamping your skull against their forearm. Braulio advises following their arm with your head: e.g., if they try to fling it down to the mat or something like that. Don't let them work their arm past your head.

You're also going to move round to north-south, so again you need to block their legs from running after you by putting a hand on the mat, near their bum (although it should be a bit harder for them to turn if you've locked up that arm). As you move around, you want to jam your knee into the armpit of their free arm, swivelling your lower leg under that arm as you move around. That makes it harder for them to escape. If you can't manage that, slide your knee over their free arm once you've got to north south. It is useful to maintain some kind of control on that free arm, as otherwise they can use it to try and create some space to escape.

You essentially end up sitting on their head, so in drilling, be aware that you don't want to squish your partner. You can take a bit of the weight off by transferring it to your knees: obviously in competition, that's less of a concern. As you sit up, make sure their elbow is glued to your chest.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 15, 2017 at 1:33am PDT

The next important step is to establish a figure four on their trapped arm, which can be easier said than done. One simple method Kev showed me is to put your free hand in place, ready to grab their wrist. Next, turn your head away from their arm: this will push your shoulder forwards, which will then also knock their arm forwards, putting the wrist right into your waiting hand. It's then simple to complete the figure four grip.

To finish the kimura, simply turn back in the other direction, pushing their wrist towards the side their elbow is pointing . Alternatively, you can also bring the elbow of your non-clamping arm to their trapped arm side. Turn your body so you're facing their head, then apply the kimura from that lower position.

If you make a mistake while looking to apply the kimura from that upright position, or they simply defend well, you might find that they are able to grab their own belt or gi. This will make it tough to complete the submission. You can try pulling in the direction their knuckles are pointing, or Roy Dean's option of using rhythm to break that grip. Push their arm towards them twice, as if you are really trying to break their grip, then yank hard in the other direction (aiming for the direction in which their fingers are weakest). Lovato Jr suggests adjusting your grip so that you're holding the meat of their hand rather than their wrist. He then does two quick jerks to yank their hand free.

Should none of that work, you can instead switch to an armbar. Bring your knee up on their trapped arm side. This will enable you to put your whole body into it when you turn towards their other side, which should break their grip. Make sure you keep that figure four grip, as it is about to prove useful. If possible, you also want to try and slip your foot into the armpit of their free arm, which should help prevent their escape attempt.

Pinch your knees together to control their arm, in what is sometimes called a 'Japanese armbar' position (I'm not sure why: something from Japan, I guess? Or maybe Pancrase? Leave a comment if you know). You don't have both your legs over their body, which means that the hitchhiker escape is a possibility. It's called that because they lead with their thumb pointing the way out, turning their body and walking around.

However, because you have that figure-four grip, they can't use it anymore. If they try to turn away, you can just apply the kimura. In order to relieve the pressure, they'll have to turn back. You can then drop to the mat, switching your grip to finish the armbar as normal. Another option is to grab their leg, wrapping underneath it ideally. That will prevent them turning, because they need to swivel that leg down: they can't if your arm is in the way.
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Teaching Notes: The most important part of this technique for me is staying tight, jamming their elbow into your chest and keeping it there. Like I've said before, I also like to avoid leaning forward, as too far of a lean and they can grab their belt/gi. I therefore recommend staying upright, unless they are really flexible: then you can bend down a bit and push the arm up towards their shoulder blade, but still being careful to avoid giving them a route to grab their gi or leg.

A few people were trying to do this while their partner was still flat on their back. For the way I like to do it, you control the far arm by the tricep, jamming it into you, then sit up to pull them onto their side. I didn't show a grip break, though I guess I could. Also, it's worth mentioning the grip that Chris likes, where you kind of 'rev the motorbike', draping your hands over with high wrists.

I wanted to add in the armbar from knee on belly and the north south hopping armbar as drills again, but decided it would have been too confusing, plus there wasn't much time as H's fitness class was running over. I'll add in the hopping armbar next time, as that should help with the armbar in general. I could add in the side to side armbar drill from mount, perhaps, get people used to it?

10/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Baseball Bat Choke (Gi Tail)

Teaching #661
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/05/2017

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Sep 23, 2016 at 12:00am PDT

Tonight I went through the the gi tail baseball bat choke, something I first encountered on Roy Dean’s excellent Purple Belt Requirements. Start in standard side control, one hand under their head, heavy cross-face. With your other hand, pull out their far lapel, feeding that under their head to your cross facing hand. Secure the grip with your cross-facing hand, palm down. Straighten that arm firmly, so that your forearm is pressing into their neck.

The tricky part is bringing in your second hand. You need to get your hand on top of the other, holding the gi tail like a baseball bat (hence the name of the choke). To do so, your second arm has to thread inside your opponent's arm, as you have to get your second arm pressed against the other side of their neck for the choke. Angle the elbow of your second arm inwards, towards your first arm.

Put your knee on their belly to stop them escaping, then apply the choke by twisting inwards. This should make your arms press firmly into both sides of their neck: your first arm stays fairly static, it's the weight dropping through the second elbow that applies most of the choke. Be careful you are pressing into the sides of the neck, not the windpipe. If you need more leverage, try rotating around to a north south type position, putting your head on their chest.
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Teaching Notes: I tried teaching this as a follow-up to the gi tail choke I taught earlier in the week, which does work. However, using your own lapel makes it tricky due to having to reach inside your gi, without a lot of wriggle room. Next time, I'll stick to teaching it based on pulling out their far gi lapel rather than your own. That way you don't have to fight past your own gi.

Two other things to keep in mind are that some people find that kind of grip can be hard on the wrist: I suggested switching to a standard baseball bat choke (where you grab their collars), but I'm not sure that makes it especially easier on the wrist. Finally, it's worth emphasising the rotation as an important part of the choke. Some people were staying quite static and relying on the arm squeeze, whereas this choke really needs that spin to achieve decent leverage. Not that it's impossible to get with just the arms if you cut in enough, but rotating is more efficient.

09/05/2017 - Open Mat (Tuesday)

Class #820
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/05/2017

Today the main thing I did was north-south specific sparring with Chris. I can remember doing this about a year ago and being very comfortable: north-south is one of my favourite positions, as normally I can maintain it fairly easily. I say normally, because a year later, Chris was much harder to keep under control. While that's annoying for my ego, it's good for my jiu jitsu, as now I've got a strong incentive to get a good handle on that escape. From what Chris was saying, he was focusing on getting his elbow into their armpit, further strengthening that frame by driving through his same side hip. He also talked about getting your weight over onto the other arm and the angle of the bridge. So, lots of drilling north-south with Chris in my future, I sense. ;)

I prefer the idea of building a frame into the armpit, as that fits more with one of the escapes I've been trying from under north south, off Jeff Rockwell's sit-up escape system. As it also happens to be side control month at the moment and I'm looking to teach lots of escapes in the latter half of the month, that fits well. I still have those irritating injuries to deal with (nothing major, but irksome stuff like fingers and tailbone), but hopefully those will clear up soon. I'm relying on tape and cushioning (I did finally go see a doctor, which helped clarify the tailbone thing is probably due to all the cycling, so I replaced my gel cover thing for that too).

08/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Gi Tail Choke

Teaching #660
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 08/05/2017

I first learned this choke at RGA Bucks from Matt Burn, back in 2010. It's become one of my main offensive options from side control since then. The gi tail choke starts from the classic side control position, with an arm under the head.

Open up your gi with your far hand. In sparring, you'll sometimes find that your gi is already open, or you may need to be sneaky about it (e.g., from reverse scarf hold, so they can't see what you're doing with your gi). Punch that gi tail inside their arm, then feed the gi lapel to your other hand (that should still be under their head). Once you have the gi tail in place, get a firm grip: you may want to keep on feeding it further to make your grip even more secure.

Cinch it tight to their neck (keep in mind that it is the gi material that will choke them, so keep your fist out of the way), straightening the arm you have under their head. Put your free hand on the floor by their same side hip, to stop them following you (always a good idea if you are transitioning to north-south). Keeping your upper body low, walk your legs around towards their head, as if you were going to north south. At the same time, move your head towards their near hip: they will probably tap before you get there, but if not, keep going until you can put your head next to their hip.

If the submission still isn't happening, make sure you're keeping your arm straight and pressed into their neck, so that your gi lapel digs into the other side of their neck. There's also the option of raising your hips and jamming your knee next to their head to increase leverage. I tend to avoid that, as I don't like to give them any space, but it's an option.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 10, 2017 at 5:45am PDT

Should you have difficult straightening out your arm, try moving your head further down their body, past their leg. That should enable you to stretch out your body further, giving you the room to straighten your arm out fully. It may also help if you turn your shoulder in and straighten out your arm before you turn: adjusting mid-turn can be tricky. Finally, keep in mind that your grip should mean that you can return to a tight, safe side control at any point, then either attempt the same submission or go for something else.

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Teaching Notes: Again, I think an important aspect to highlight is getting your arm straight and pressing into their neck before you start rotating. If not, then it can get into more of a neck crank, which you want to avoid. So, when I next teach it, worth spending a bit of time repeating that all chokes come from that squeeze into both sides of the neck, along with the set-up for this choke.

07/05/2017 - 1st Anniversary at Borehamwood BJJ

Class #819
Borehamwood BJJ (Maxwell Community Centre), Seymour Yang, London, UK - 07/05/2017

It was great to see @slideyfoot visit my club yesterday. As you can observe we're both rather keen on bright colourful rashguards! @slideyfoot runs the @artemisbjj academy in Bristol. If you are ever in the region I recommend popping in for a friendly roll.

A post shared by Seymour Yang (@meerkatsu) on May 8, 2017 at 1:36am PDT

Seymour Yang has been immensely important to the success of the GrappleThons, as well as an inspirational figure for me online, providing plenty of support and advice. I therefore like to support stuff he does if I can. One simple way to try and do that is travel down to his school in Borehamwood to show support in person. I last popped down to Seymour's club a year ago, for the first session at Borehamwood BJJ. He has changed venue since 2016, but it's relatively nearby to the previous location. I wanted to pop down for the 1st anniversary of the club, but I hadn't reckoned with the joys of Sunday transport in London. Blithely thinking there would be no problem (as I couldn't remember running into trouble last time), I just assumed trains from Great Missenden would be fine.

According to the website planner, there weren't any trains from Great Missenden, but you could apparently head down to Harrow-on-the-Hill via the Chiltern Line from Amersham, then bounce from the Metropolitan line to the Jubilee and finally Thameslink. The 08:39 morphed into a much slower train, throwing everything else out of whack. However, I can confirm that if you run, getting into Elstree & Borehamwood on the 10:15 from West Hampstead Thameslink is just enough time to make the start of the 10:45 class. I can also confirm that if you're 36 and crap at running, it's much better to make it in time for the 09:42 from that Thameslink and stroll in comfortably. ;)

Seymour footlocked me all over the place when we last sparred at this year's GrappleThon (and last year's, it's becoming a trend ;D), so he suggested running through some leglock material if I could make it down for the 7th May. That meant today was all about the straight ankle lock. First up, Seymour recommends that when wrapping your arm around their Achilles tendon, stick to the one arm. If you look to bolster that grip by making a figure four or grabbing with your other hand, it's likely that you'll slacken the pressure into their Achille. Instead, use the one arm to maintain the sharp 'blade' of your forearm, reaching up as if you want to grab your shoulder.

With your same side leg, put your heel on their same side hip. Your other leg tucks behind their knee, also squeezing your knees together. You're always looking to tilt in the direction of their knee (presuming you want to stick with IBJJF rules, which tends to be the most common, but certainly not the only ruleset). From there, tuck your elbow back on the gripping side, arching back as well and thrusting your hips if you need extra leverage.

You can also switch the foot across your body to your other arm, applying the same grip and trying the footlock from there. My training partner and I got a little confused at this point, as we kept turning in the other direction. You're staying with the same tilt: remember, the foot you're pushing into their hip is the side you stick with, even if you switch your footlock grip to the other side.

In terms of escaping, Seymour emphasised that your goal is to split the legs. Start by 'putting the boot on', driving your heel and pulling your toes back to give you time, then push their anchoring heel off you hip. Bring your bum over, then move forwards into mount. Alternatively, you could try pushing their top knee (so, not on the hip pushing side) with your free leg. That again splits the legs, enabling you to move forwards and into mount.

Naturally there is a counter to the counter. If they attempt to escape by pushing through with their leg, you can try to quickly switch sides, locking your arm around that pushing leg and scooting into a footlock on that side instead. This lends itself to a drill where you're repeatedly trying footlocks while your partner escapes over and over. Seymour's teaching style makes for a really nice atmosphere. He's a charismatic guy, so comes across as both confident and relaxed, cracking jokes while he runs through the techniques.

I have a whole bunch of injuries at the moment (mainly knee, fingers, tailbone and a tweaked neck), meaning I'm especially averse to sparring at the moment. Even so, when a black belt asks you, it's generally a good idea to say yes, in this case Steve (Seymour's class has a few higher belts who head down, which is cool, including Sandeep, a fellow student of Kev Capel). He took it very slow and easy as we did some specific sparring around those footlocks, working through the techniques. He spun to a belly down footlock at one point, which foxed me, but suggested the way to escape that was to try and move around behind.

Thanks very much to Seymour for letting me train again at his club today. Also, I'm impressed by how much the club has grown in just a year, very cool. Borehamwood BJJ currently has sessions twice a week, but with those ever increasing numbers, I'm sure he'll be expanding the schedule in future (though Seymour is of course a very busy man. Those rashguards don't just Meerkatsu themselves! ;D)

My club is One Year Old today, happy birthday Borehamwood BJJ!!!

A post shared by Seymour Yang (@meerkatsu) on May 7, 2017 at 4:56am PDT

05/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Maintenance (Hip to Hip)

Teaching #659
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 05/05/2017

Today, I wanted to emphasise mobility in side control as well as focused pressure, again drawing on John Palmer's excellent 'control point theory'. Although it can be tempting to just seize up in side control, you have to keep moving. Otherwise, you aren't reacting to your opponent and they're eventually going to escape. The old "it's better to bend than to break" cliche comes to mind.

That transitional, mobile element to side control can be seen in Saulo's hip-to-hip side control, which he shows on Jiu Jitsu Revolution. He keeps his hip stuck right by theirs throughout. The only time he lets off the pressure is if he gets something better, like strong control on the far arm. As they move, turn and put your other hip to theirs, following them around with your legs sprawled back. Your elbow is across, blocking their other hip: however, be careful of pinching that in too forcefully, as that may help them initiate an escape where they roll you over the top. Also, don't rest your elbow on the mat. Putting the elbow on the mat takes your weight off them, pinch it into their far hip instead.

Your weight should constantly be on them, because of that sprawl: don't touch the floor with your legs or knees. You can also reverse, which Saulo's brother Xande discusses in detail on his DVD set. Turn your hips in the other direction, so that you're now facing their legs. Control their far arm, also making sure to block their near hip to prevent their movement in that direction. As you turn, it's worth blocking their legs with your arms, as well as clamping your head to their hip.

My favourite way to practice this is using the 'no hands' maintenance drill, explained in the video:


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Teaching Notes: Head placement is something I didn't talk about much, something for next time. You don't want it too high, I guess, but something to think about it. Also, I made a point of telling people to watch out for their necks, as I tweaked mine a little last time I did this drill when defending. The important thing for me is that people were looking smiley and happy during the no arms drilling, a goal for me in every class. :)

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 8, 2017 at 4:02am PDT

03/05/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Maintenance (Orthodox)

Teaching #658
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/05/2017

As ever, I kicked off with the conceptual framework John described to me in Texas: the primary control points are the hips and the triangle of shoulders and head, secondary control is inside the knees and elbows, then finally tertiary control relates to the wrists and ankles. John goes into more detail over on this thread. I think it's helpful to have that framework at the start, as then the students can hopefully see how that principle filters through everything we'll be training today.

A particularly effective method of control is applying a cross face. If you're not familiar with the term, that means bringing your near side arm under their head: I like to reach right to their far armpit and anchor my arm there, either by cupping, or by getting a hold of the gi material. From that position, you can then drive your shoulder and/or arm into the side of their head or neck, aiming to get their head to turn away from you and/or generate some choking pressure to distract them.

If they can't turn their head back towards you due to the shoulder pressure, it will make it much harder for them to create space and escape. "The body follows the head" or "where the head goes, the body follows" is an old adage and a true one. This is what SBG call the 'shoulder of justice.' If you shift your shoulder from their face to their neck, that choking pressure can also open up opportunities to switch to mount or consider initiating a submission attempt. However, it does mean they can probably turn their head again, which improves their escape opportunities.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on May 5, 2017 at 6:15am PDT

Next, it is a good idea to deal with their far arm. Reach under that far elbow with your arm, coming under the armpit. You have a couple of options here. Option one is linking your hands together with a gable grip and sucking them in towards you, providing a very tight side control. This is how Tran showed it to me several years ago. Option two is gripping around their shoulder, to bring their shoulder off the mat: this is something Dónal likes to do, which isn't surprising as I think I first saw that on a Braulio video. You can also use the elbow of your far arm to squeeze into their far hip. This latter option makes more sense if you're already grabbing by their armpit with your near arm. You want to keep control over their far arm for two reasons: first, they can use it to defend, by getting it into your neck. Second, there are a number of attacks you can do from here.

I also wanted to emphasise chest position. Picture an imaginary line between the middle of their chest and also between yours. You want to bisect those lines: don't be too far over them, or they can easily roll you (if they DO try and roll you and it's working, put your far arm or your forehead out for base). Too far back, and it's easier for them to slip out and escape. Stay low, dropping your hips: don't leave them any space.

Moving on to the legs, there are a bunch of different things you can do. I used to prefer to bring both knees in tight, but I later started sprawling the leg nearer the head backwards, which enables me to bring my hips much lower. This is key: you must keep your hips low in side control. If your knees are in tight, widen them if your hips are still high.

The lower the hips, the more weight on top of them, which therefore gives you better control. However, if you have both legs sprawled back, there is a chance they might be able to bring their knee inside: you need to block it somehow, which would commonly be with the hip nearest their legs, your hand or your knee. Play around and see which position you like, and also be ready to switch depending on your partner's movement. Finally, if you're sprawling your legs back, keep your knees off the ground and stay on your toes. This helps with mobility and driving forward.
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Teaching Notes: As ever, it's hard to come up with things to add to this lesson, as it's one of my most established. The usual things are still important to emphasise, such as keeping the hips low and blocking with the knee. The structure felt a little sloppy when I was teaching, so that's one thing I can do before next time, get it clear in my hand so it feels nice and smooth. That's a problem with some of the lessons where I've taught them a lot, I take it for granted that I know it well. Always worth running through the structure a few times beforehand, simple things like where to group details, what follows what, etc.