31/07/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Triangle (with Joey Carta details)

Teaching #691
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 31/07/2017

There are lots of ways to set up the triangle, which is one of the fundamental submissions in BJJ. The name comes from the 'triangle' shape you form with your legs, capturing their neck and one arm inside that structure. The basic process is:

1. Get their head and one of their arms inside your legs
2. Put your ankle behind your knee to 'lock' the triangle
3. Squeeze your legs into their carotid arteries on either side of their neck.

Of course, there is much more detail to a successful triangle than that, which I'll break down in the rest of this post.

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 25, 2017 at 4:06am PST

For the first stage (entry), the simplest option is probably to grab both their wrists (or you could try their forearms) with your same side hands. Push their arm into their stomach, while clamping the other to your chest. You can then bring your hips up in order to fling your leg (on the same side as the arm you've pushed back) over their shoulder, locking your feet by the top of their back. Your thigh presses into their neck. The important thing is to clear that hand and arm you've shoved into their stomach, so that you're ready to move into the triangle.

If you can drive your knee into the inside of the arm you want to clear, that can work too: in Gracie Combatives, Rener pushes into their bicep/crook of their elbow with his knee, grabs the wrist, then kicks over to get into position. Alternatively, he also shows how you can circle your leg around the arm to get your leg past. There are many other entries and not just from guard: the triangle is possible from pretty much every other position in BJJ too, whether that's the back, mount or side control.

Once you've got their head and arm trapped between your legs, it's also helpful to move their arm across your body, though not essential. You can still choke them without that arm across, it just tends to be more difficult. Triangle expert Ryan Hall repeatedly states that it isn't necessary, because you're choking them by pressing their shoulder into their neck, not the lower part of their arm (remember, to choke you are pressing into both carotid arteries on either side of the neck. With the triangle, on one side their shoulder blocks the artery, the other is blocked by your leg).

He demonstrates how you can still choke them even if their arm is on the other side. Still, it isn't 'wrong' to bring the arm across, particularly if you are going for a choke where you're square-on, as per the traditional triangle method. The point Hall makes is that you should never prioritise pulling the arm across rather than controlling the head.

That's because controlling the head is absolutely key. Ideally, you want to pull their head into your belly button rather than your chest, to really break down their posture. If they are able to lift their head up, they can regain an upright posture. So, be sure you have some kind of control over their posture before you attempt the triangle. If they are sat fully upright with strong posture, you're going to struggle to get a triangle from there: a different technique would be advisable.

Once you have their posture broken down and their head and arm between your legs, you want to lock that in place. When locking your legs in this second stage (locking), you can sometimes move straight into a locked triangle. If not, especially if you have shorter legs like me, stick with a secure 'diamond' leg formation rather than a sloppy half-locked triangle. From there, pull on your shin to bring your ankle behind your knee, swivelling off at an angle if necessary. Be sure you don't lock over your toes: it must be your ankle. If your leg is locked on your toes, they have a chance to knock your leg off them. More importantly, if you press down while locked over you toes, you're in danger of injuring your ankle.

You might well find you need to adjust to get your legs locked. Opening your guard to do that is easier, which will enable you to push off their hip with your locking leg foot. However, be careful that you don't give them space to escape when you open. You can maintain control by grabbing the leg you have over the back of their head, meaning that you are replacing the control your leg provided with equivalent control from your arm. Ryan Hall doesn't like to unlock his legs at all, but then he has long legs.

You also need to have your neck leg right across the back of their neck, rather than angling down their back. If it is part way down their back, you are no longer pressing into their neck: their body will get in the way of your choke. Similarly, your locking leg does not want to be obstructed by their shoulder. You therefore don't want to see their shoulder once the triangle is locked in: try and get your leg past it, or simply push their trapped shoulder back a little, in order to get your legs more tightly on their carotid arteries. If they have a lot of shoulder inside your legs, that's a chance for them to drive forward and dig out some room to breathe.

Having locked the triangle, you now have two main options for the third stage (finishing). The traditional way to complete the choke is to squeeze your abductors (i.e., the muscles of your inner thighs) into their neck. At this point, you might also want to raise your hips and/or pull down on their head for some extra pressure. Other little details that can help are pulling your toes back to tense your calves, meaning more pressure on their carotid arteries. Angling your locking leg outwards can also help increase that pressure, a nifty tip from Mike Fowler.

The other main option, which again comes from Ryan Hall, is to instead use what he calls the 'stomp and curl' method. The reason for his preference is that he says this uses larger muscle groups than the abductors, which tend to be comparatively weak. First, he attains a perpendicular angle, meaning he is looking at his opponent's ear rather than their face. From there, he can now kick forwards with his neck leg (the stomp) while pulling down with his locking leg (the curl).

Perpendicular angles are good for smaller people too, as it makes it harder for the opponent to stack you (I'll talk more about stacking in a moment) because you aren't straight on. The easiest way to get a perpendicular angle is hooking under their free arm, then grabbing around your own knee. This also has the advantage of clamping you in place: should they try to square back up, you'll stay where you are as they move. There's a second benefit too in that they can no longer use that arm to create a frame by linking their hands, which they could otherwise use to press into your hips and make space.

You can also grab right under their body and link your hands, though it is unlikely you'll be able to get to that extreme position. Hooking under their leg is another option, but normally you won't have the space to do that. However, it is important to remember the leg grabbing option. That is the best way to stop yourself from being slammed when triangling, so should you want to use a triangle in a situation where slamming might take place, it would be very advisable to hook a leg.

You may find you keep getting stacked, particularly if you are square on. However, as Renzo Gracie teaches, even with that style of triangle you can submit a larger opponent. The key is preventing them from driving into you and curling your body. Renzo's method is to brace his arms against his knee and shin, something I was first shown by my old training partner, Howard. Should they continue to drive forward, all they are doing is extending themselves, which makes it easier for you to choke them.

BJ Penn teaches something similar, which he refers to as the 'triangle sprawl out'. This time, instead of straight-arming into your own leg, you're going to wriggle back, then come up on your elbows and finally your hands. From here, keep moving backwards until they are almost lying down in front of you, making sure your triangle lock around their head is still tight. To apply the submission, drive your legs down as your lean your upper body forwards.

Generating that habit of moving backwards to stop yourself being crunched up is a good habit in general for the triangle, whether or not you're going for the Renzo or BJ Penn finishes above. It is less of an issue if you have attained a perpendicular angle, but sometimes you might find you need to shoulder-walk back in order to get the space to create that angle.

Finally, keep in mind that the triangle combines very well with the armbar. You will often find that when somebody is defending an armbar, they focus so much on freeing their arm that they when they yank it free, they forget their other arm is still inside your legs. That's the perfect time to swing your leg to the other side of their head and lock up a triangle. Even better, you can still attack the elbow joint from within the triangle, applying choking pressure while also going for the armlock.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Aug 1, 2017 at 10:26pm PDT

For this lesson, I taught things slightly differently than my usual approach above. That's because I was drawing on Joey Carta's excellent lesson from the BJJ Globetrotter's Camp in Leuven. He relies on his leg over the back of their head for postural control. He then reach across to grab the trapped arm tricep with his other hand. If they try to rise up, he pushes with his foot on their hip. If they rise up with the other leg, he releases the tricep and instead hooks by their ankle, 'waving' to then roll them over. Handy variation I'd like to keep in mind for the future, so I must make sure I don't forget it next time around. :)
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Teaching Notes: I still went with my standard set up of pushing the wrists in, if I teach this during open guard I could use Joey's spider guard set up instead. The main tricky part of this one was the sweep on the leg I wouldn't normally hook, that didn't feel as smooth. I also need to think of when you let go on that: I guess it's when you've already lost the head and they are standing. I added in a pressing armbar too, as I like the rolling the elbow detail, though I wouldn't include so much in one lesson normally.

A few people were finding they didn't have space to complete the armbar, which I think is normally rectified by turning onto your side. However, there isn't as much scope for that turn when you do it off a triangle. Sitting up might help with that? But something to ask about if I get the chance, or just review the video from Globetrotter Camp again. :)

29/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Open Mat

Class #867
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Open Mat, Leuven, Belgium, 29/07/2017

I writing this up a month later, having been to the Heidelberg Camp as well in the last week of August. Main thing I can remember from the Leuven open mat was how well that tip on the pressing armbar from Joey Carta seemed to work. You grab their elbow with your opposite arm and roll it towards you. This immediately tightens their arm right up, meaning the tap is much easier to get. I've been hitting that from guard, from on top, mount, knee on belly, everywhere. As long as they reach their arm up and you can trap it against your head, the pressing armbar is a possibility. Of course, I was mainly rolling with white belts and a couple of blues, plus one purple where it was a pretty slow roll. But still, fun to try. :D

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jul 29, 2017 at 9:12am PDT

The open mat was after (and kinda during) my private lesson with Aaron Milam, which I also haven't written up yet but it was PACKED with detail. So far, I've barely worked my way through the first technique, which I drilled a load in Heidelberg. Many, many posts in the works, it will take me a while to catch back up. :)

28/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Open Mat

Class #864
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Open Mat, Leuven, Belgium, 28/07/2017

More sparring today. I think I've rolled with all the other people on my list now, so first a cool white belt who tangled me up in worm guard. I couldn't do a lot, so I mostly just waited as I didn't immediately feel under threat, slipping out of a few choke attacks etc. I should have thought more about the Christian thing about head up, butt down. I was lucky in that an arm presented itself when I was able to move forward to sit on him, to go for a kimura. In the next roll with a white belt, I was trying for the shoulder clamp lots to build up some thoughts for the private lesson tomorrow. I'd also be interested in some entries, but depends if you would actually enter into that from open guard.

Final roll was with a blue belt, where as before I looked for the kimura repeatedly, as well as posting on the head. Nice to get a crucifix entry as well, using the trick from Aesopian of walking your leg in front once you already have one leg by their arm. They'll often reach for your second leg, meaning you can hook it with the other leg to lock in the position.

28/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Turtle (Priit Mihkelson)

Class #863
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Priit Mihkelson, Leuven, Belgium, 28/07/2017

By the third lesson with Priit, I already knew that I wasn't going to take much in, or get a lot out of writing notes. The only way is to study the videos carefully and drill them lots in class. I'm writing this up almost a month after the class and I still don't think I've understood it properly, even now that I've been through all the vids and edited them to the essentials.

I'll therefore be relying on drilling it with my senior students, once we get to back month again. As far as I could gather, the basics are something like forehead on the ground, elbows jammed by hips, bum on heels, stay on your toes. Everything seems to build from there. Hopefully it will make sense at some point. :)

27/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Defend Everything (Christian Graugart)

Class #862
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Christian Graugart, Leuven, Belgium, 27/07/2017

This was another classic Graugart conceputal lesson. He may well have taught it at one of the previous camps I've attended, but either way, loads of good stuff, made simple. Graugart called this 'defending everything', boiling that down to a few memorable phrases.

The first was 'head over butt', by which he means always keeping your head higher than your bum. Sounds simple, but a lot of people start sticking their bum in the air when passing. Indeed, some passes rely on it (like the half guard pressure pass). There aren't many 100% rules, but based on the examples he went through, it's a fairly good rule to keep in mind, particularly when passing.

If you get into a scramble, throw everything else out of the window and just get your hips higher than theirs. Graugart said this is what he goes for with younger, athletic opponents. Getting the hips higher might mean you can get ahead of their attributes, though timing and technique.

When you've almost been swept and are about to get passed, mounted or whatever. It's too late to get your hips higher than theirs. They need both your feet on the same side of your hip. So, you want to get at least one knee or foot behind your hip. If you have a free foot, get it behind you.

27/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Gi Chokes, Americana & Kimura (Alan Shebaro)

Class #861
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Alan Shebaro, Leuven, Belgium, 27/07/2017

The title of this class was the most intriguing of the whole camp, looked over details. It lived up to my expectations too, taught in a simple, clear manner without lots of unnecessary talking around the important demonstrating part. Even better, Shebaro managed to connect almost everything to an easily memorable concept: "roll one, roll two."

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jul 27, 2017 at 10:15am PDT

The rolling began with americana details. Rather than worrying too much about arm position etc, you just focus on rolling up one wrist, then the other. If you require a better angle, pull their elbow in closer to their body. He then showed it with a toe hold, which again was simple (or at least, it would be for people who know how to do toeholds. I barely understand them). Another detail, which will make more sense to people who (unlike me) understand and enjoy footlocks, was to go 'over the rainbow' with their lower leg when you complete the toe hold motion.

Next, Shebaro shared a detail I've seen before, but he applied it more broadly and had some additional tips. If people block gi chokes with their chin, it can be annoying to get to their neck. However, if you fold their collar over, that wedge cuts straight under. Shebaro suggests putting in your thumb to fold it.

For example, on the sliding collar choke from the back, open up the collar with your armpit hand, folding it over and passing to the other. Do that little roll, enhance the choke. That also works with the bow and arrow choke, which is where I've seen that collar-fold happen before.

Finally, if you are going for a rear naked choke, they will frequently grab your arm and pull firmly down. An option to counter that which I haven't seen before is 'butterfly hands'. Make a butterfly with your hands and extend your arms across. You can then move into the choke. I'm not sure I quite got the motion right as it felt like I was using strength, but checking the video will solve that.

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jul 31, 2017 at 9:05pm PDT

27/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Leglocks (Aaron Milam)

Class #860
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Aaron Milam, Leuven, Belgium, 27/07/2017

Last year we had a visitor from the US, Paul den Hartog, who trained with us for over a month, IIRc. When he saw I was going to the Leuven Camp again this year, he recommended I seek out Aaron Milam, who presumably he knows from Portland. I therefore made a point of heading to his lesson leglocks, even though I didn't have any real intention of actually drilling them.

Leglocks terrify me and I doubt I will ever use them with any kind of regularlity, but it is useful being aware of the set ups to help escapes. The main reason was to see what Milam's teaching style was like: he was detailed and technical, an excellent advert for the class he's doing that I am interested in, all about grips.

To summarise, the lesson was titled 'theory of circular leglocks'. Aaron started with a straight anklelock, then showed how you could rotate, going into a toe hold, then further and change it into a kneebar. If you spin even more, there's an inverted heel hook there.

I'm sure it was good info, so I'll have to check it out properly if I ever want to do more with leglocks than defend them. I took note of the defensives parts (i.e., when Aaron said "make sure they can't do this"), so things like splitting the legs and clearing their pushing foot. Also, getting your own foot to the floor, so you can stand. Getting your hip up, getting their foot off.

27/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Half Mount (Priit Mihkelson)

Class #859
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Priit Mikhelson, Leuven, Belgium, 27/07/2017

Like yesterday, precious gems surrounded by long lectures. I had trouble drilling anything, like yesterday, because I struggled to remember the gem due to all the lecture dampening my recall. Mikhelson is a great example of why it is so useful to get video of instruction: I would have found it impossible to remember anything from the lesson without them.

This lesson progressed from the high half position Priit spoke about previously, into half mount. The Greco-Roman shoulders returned, along with discussion on posture in closed guard and scarf hold too. Priit also talked about reverse half guard.

As before, you have an arm posted behind their head, but you've managed to get your trapped leg knee to the ground. Turn so your weight is loaded up on the knee of the trapped leg. Your other foot is based out on the other side, keeping your body low.

You're also still using those Greco-Roman shoulders, turning towards the mat so your shoulders are parallel with the mat. Avoid any tilting. From here, it is possible to turns towards their legs while leaning over towards their back. Your free leg swings to their front, as you dive and grab their bottom leg. You roll through from there to get the back, transition through the truck.

Priit also has an interesting grip where he grabs their arm and posts on it, saying that there is not the risk of kimuras that you would expect. If you can step to reverse half guard, Priit emphasised that you must have the knee past their legs. In terms of mount it was unusual too, as Priit likes to twist, he never sits square. In his opinion, the legs are dead in that position, you need to do a twist.

It's a teaching style I find tricky to unpick. There were loads of details in there which I'm sure would be useful, but I'm not sure how to access and arrange them in my head. I'll keep reviewing the videos and it will hopefully become clear. ;)

26/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Scissor Sweep (Chris Haueter)

Class #858
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Chris Haueter, Leuven, Belgium, 26/07/2017

Unlike last year, there wasn't as much of a clear distinction in structure between the two classes. This one felt like again a fair chunk of lecture, followed by technique (though again, it was within time). Haueter talked about proper shrimping, before getting into some details on the scissor sweep.

When you uncross, keep your legs tight so they can't feel the difference. Close guard, not necessarily closed guard, as somebody at the camp dubbed it (possibly Priit?). Establish your grip, stiff arming with your shin leg side arm. Load their weight onto their knee, chop and come up.

An interesting detail was when they adjust and block. To knock them off that adjustment, sit right up into them, then quickly drop back and do it again. That disrupts their newly aligned base, meaning you can complete the sweep.

26/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | High Half Guard (Priit Mihkelson)

Class #857
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Priit Mihkelson, Leuven, Belgium, 26/07/2017

I had been intrigued when I saw Mikhelsen on the list, as he's from SBG Estonia. I love the Functional Half Guard video that two Estonians (presumably who trained with him?) put out for free years ago, meaning I was keen to train with a black belt SBG Estonia product. The fact his nickname is the JitsVulcan added further to that appeal, as I'm a big Star Trek fan.

His teaching style is closer to Chris Haueter than I expected, in that he talks (a lot) before he gets to the technical demonstration. Then he goes on a few lecture tangents during the demonstration, with even more after the demo. It feels like you're digging through a giant mound of lecturing to get to the treasure buried within. Which is well worth it, as it is precious gold.

It took me a while to get through all the video footage and try to edit out the bits I found helpful. As soon as I got back to the UK, I was trying the position Priit calls high half guard. I will need much more practice, but from what I currently understand, you need to be on your toes, turned in towards them. Your leg that is nearest their head turns in, the knee pressing into their hip.

Your other knee needs to clear their legs, so you can press that into their far hip. The arm you have nearest their head is on the ground, so that your arm is tight to the back of their neck/skull. You're also driving your hip into their shoulder, as if your hip bone is attempting to press into your own basing arm. You other arm remains free, ready to push their legs down to keep your knee in play.

It's also important to keep your shoulders in line, parallel to the ground. In other words, don't tilt, as that makes it easier for them to bridge you off. This also applies in side control and scarf hold. Priit called this 'Greco-Roman shoulders'. You're also pulling back the heel of your trapped leg, keeping the heel up. This is ready to flick out and complete a pass.

You can potentially twist here to go into half mount, which is what Priit covered in his lesson the following day. Follow the hip in high half. If they underhook, you can pass, backstep and the like, go to mount. The d'arce is also a possibility if they underhook. Your knees maintain their position, leaving your arms free to attack.

There is a lot to unpack here, so it's gong to take me a while to work everything out. Lots of video to review, hopefully made easier now I've edited it into chunks. :)

26/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Passing Half Guard, Chokes & Back Takes (Fran Vanderstukken)

Class #856
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Fran Vanderstukken, Leuven, Belgium, 26/07/2017

Another excellent class, taught by a female brown belt. Fran focused on top half guard, with some connections to side control and a back take. You are stuck in a standard half guard. Sit on your heels initially, hands into their hips, strong posture. Grab a strong cross-face, keeping that pressure up all the way through. Pull out their far gi lapel, feeding it under their far armpit, passing that to your hand.

Lock that in, having turned your hips towards them. Bring your foot close to their bum, to avoid getting caught in the lockdown. Maintaining your cross face pressure, rise up enough to drive your bottom knee (not shin, just the knee) into their hip, then settle your weight back down. Pull their knee over, getting that supine twist (their knees go one way, their head goes the other). Grip the gi material by the knee, pull towards you, then push your leg free.

Keeping that lapel grip under their head as you move to side control, trap their arm by your hip. Move around their head, making sure the lapel grip has enough slack that you can move around. Once you get to the other side, grip your other hand under their head, then squeeze and drop your hips for the choke.

Next up, Fran upped the complexity. For whatever reason, the pass isn't happening. Reach your other hand on the inside, above their shoulder, switching the gi lapel grip. Bring your knee that is nearest the head into their side, in order to clear the way to pull them up in front of you. Also, swim your other arm underneath their armpit, establishing a gi grip with that too (that transition can be tough, I need to drill that lots to get it smooth). Yanking them up and across should be straightforward at this point, transitioning to the back.

Fran noted that she found it helpful to view top half guard as partway to the back, as you already have a hook inserted. All you need to do is pull their arm across, then with a gift wrap you can pull them straight into the back position. It's comparable to how technical mount is an easy transition to the back, just that your hook is lower.

The lesson finished up with two option from the opposite side pass. When you flipped over to the other side, you have the option of passing that side. You can also perform a rolling back take. Sit up from your position, bringing the knee of your trapped knee to the ground. Make sure you hook your foot over the back of their leg, this is very important. From here, you want to do a shoulder roll towards their legs.

As you roll, use your hook to bring their legs past you, progressing to the back. If you like, you could stop in the truck here instead. Be careful of your hook, as if you're lazy with it, they can reverse the momentum and take your back instead. Your hook needs to get down behind their knee ideally. The higher it is, the more likely they can adjust to dominate your leg instead.

26/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Gi Chokes & Coathanger Guard (Alexander Neufang)

Class #855
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Alexander Neufang, Leuven, Belgium, 26/07/2017

The title for this session was 'murdering people with the gi', which proved to be an apt description. It was packed with nasty gi chokes, wrapping them around the neck and punching the arm through. I had trouble getting any of them, I think due to my pressure perhaps being a little off, or not thrusting enough. Probably not the kind of techniques I'm likely to use, but certainly effective. These are all chokes that Neufang has been using successfully in competition.

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jul 27, 2017 at 12:20am PDT

Fortunately for me, the final technique was better suited to my style. I have seen something similar before, but not had it taught to me previously. I couldn't see how he set it up, but the idea is you have closed guard, then you get your foot across and hook it under their far arm. This ends up in what I've seen called the 'coathanger'. From here, you can get a sweep by pulling on that arm with your foot.

There is also an unusual choke, if you get a deep grip with your arm on the coathanger leg side, gripping the opposite collar (the one that will be on the coathangered arm side). Bring your free leg over their head and push. You can switch into a triangle too, bringing your leg over and switching. Then finally there's the option of pulling their arm across and taking their back.

26/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Triangle Details (Joey Carta)

Class #854
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Joey Carter, Leuven, Belgium, 26/07/2017

This was my favourite class of the camp so far. I hadn't learned from Joey before, but he taught in exactly the way I like, highlighting small details on basic techniques. Today's lesson was called 'triangle safety', in reference to a video that showed someone almost getting badly injured due to throwing on a triangle without being able to prevent their opponent standing up.

Joey began with the simple details of the triangle, with a slightly different approach to postural control. The set-up was from spider guard. Pull on the sleeve as you push firmly with your leg, other foot on the hip. That leg kicks up into the neck, swivelling straight into the usual perpendicular position. You're still pulling on the other sleeve too. Once you've kicked your leg through and got it by their neck, you can release one of your grips to grab the shin, which will further help getting your leg in the right spot.

Having said that, when initially demonstrating, Joey sometimes maintained both grips on the sleeves when demonstrating, I'm not sure if that's how he would do it in sparring. Depends on the reaction he gets, presumably. I would guess it isn't something you'd tend to hold onto, as usually you would release the grips on the sleeves in order to grab the shin. I would then grab the head with my other arm, Joey grabbed the sleeve of the trapped arm (at least in the second bit of technical demonstration).

A simple thing you can try to stop them rising up and taking you into the air is walk your shoulders backwards. You can even complete the submission by putting your head on the mat and lifting your hips, like you're doing a wrestler's bridge. I was a bit nervous of my neck doing that, but certainly viable if your neck and posture are strong.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Aug 1, 2017 at 10:26pm PDT

Another option to keep solid control is grabbing their shin with both of your hands (on the trapped arm side). My preference is to grab their head with one of those hands, there is also the option of grabbing their arm. Joey grabs around the tricep, pulling it across, like you're setting up an armbar. That can then move into a cool detail Joey added in terms of postural control.

The detail here is putting the foot on the hip and using that to keep them off balance. Once you have your leg over their neck and you've grabbed their shin, as long as you've also gripped their elbow and pull that across too, you can then just keep pushing into their hip every time they try to regain their posture. Should they start to stand, swivel to get your arm to the back of their calf (on the non-trapped arm side), low on the leg. Use that to knock them over. Then you've got the armbar, or possibly finish the triangle by swivelling towards their trapped arm.

If you have your triangle locked on but can't finish for whatever reason, the pressing armbar is right there as well. Hook under their free arm, just above the elbow, pulling that across. Make sure it is the elbow, as higher than that and they have an easier time defence. Pinch your shoulder and your head to capture that arm, like you're trying to hold a phone there. Grab their elbow with your opposite hand and keep rolling it across, as far as it will go. At that point, press down into the elbow for the submission.

There was a nastier option at the end, where you crush your hand into the neck with a v-grip and lock it up, but that looked a bit brutal for my tastes. Also, it is possible in a competition that a ref would disqualify you for that, depending how much you care about adapting your BJJ to fit with particular comp rules (some rules are more sensible than others, especially when it comes to tournament sellers like the IBJJF).

25/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Butterfly Sweeps (Chris Haueter)

Class #853
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Chris Haueter, Leuven, Belgium, 25/07/2017

In 2016, this session wasn't so much a class as an extended lecture. I was anticipating it would be similar in 2017, ready to leave before the end like last year (especially as I had the excitement of D&D waiting at 7pm). I expected it to run over, but Haueter managed to keep on time this year.

After the lecture part finished, he spoke a bit about butterfly sweeps, using the classic belt grip set up. He then showed a less common variation, using the gi tail. From butterfly guard, pull out the gi on one side and feed it around the back to their other hand. Firmly grasp their trciep with your non gi gripping hand, high. You go for the sweep, but they base out to prevent going over.

Cross your feet over that basing leg, on the gi gripping side. Haueter called this 'micro-guard'. Pummel your head inside their arm on the non-=gi gripping side. You can then pop out under his armpit, switching the gi grip to your other handm, then drag them to take the back. Alternatively, you might complete the sweep as they attempt to pass.

25/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Knee Shield Half Guard (Kenny Polmans)

Class #852
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Kenny Polmans, Leuven, Belgium, 25/07/2017

Kenny's class was a highlight from last year, his teaching approach proving a good match for my learning style. This initial class was about the knee shield from the bottom of half guard. Kenny noted that he puts his knee right by their hip bone, no further across. If it's further across, that becomes easier for them to crush your legs and pass. Cross your ankles, pull your heels back. Frame with your hands, then you're ready to go.

Bring your knee high, with your elbow inside. Kick, then reach your arm around their hip. Don't reach too high, or you might leave enough space for them to lock in a d'arce choke. Step your leg over theirs to hook it, come up on your hand, then use that base to bring your knee out. Next, shucking their arm off your head. Lock in a seatbelt, then move back and drag them to secure your back position.

If they manage to overhook your arm and prevent you shucking it off, reach for their knee with your other hand. Do a superman punch with the trapped arm, aiming to flatten them. Grab their top knee, then hook that leg with your shin. Step your leg forwards, then move around to side control.

For the last one, their base is too wide for you to grab their knee. Instead, you're going to shoot your arm between their legs, rolling underneath. Make sure you keep the leg hooked, as that will help with leverage. Also, without that leg hook, you're at risk of just giving them side control. Again, Kenny used that big step forward with a shin behind their leg, which makes it much tougher for them to recover their position.

25/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Self Defence (Michel Verhoeven)

Class #851
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Michel Verhoeven, Leuven, Belgium, 25/07/2017

This class was titled 'self defence', which would normally put me off. However, Michel Verhoeven taught one of the most useful seminars I've been to back in 2013, particularly his details on cross-collar chokes. I was therefore hoping that despite the title, there would be more of those helpful tips waiting for me today.

As it turned out, it was indeed heavy on the self defence side of things, fitting the title. Michel began by talking about your posture and frame if somebody is charging towards you looking for an attack. Keep your hands up naturally (not in a fighting stance, but like you're talking with gestures, that kind of thing), feet shoulder width apart, engaging your hips. Before they enter your space, extend your arms into their chest. Don't push your hips too far forwards or you're easy to trip, or rely too much on pushing with your arms or you'll fall over forwards should they move.

He progressed to talking about blocking punches by raising your elbows, then picking the moment to come in close and clinch. Block knees and kicks with your legs, taking them down if there's an opportunity. If somebody manages to grab your neck in a collar tie, keep that strong posture with hips engaged, then you can shuck their arm off by turning your shoulder in.

Once you've knocked their arm off, grab it with your arms underneath, like you were carrying a stack of wood, their arm in the crooks of your elbows. Drive your shoulder into theirs, keep their arm close, stepping your outside leg back. That should enable you to drive them to the floor, ending up in the same kind of pose as in the classic Greek statue of wrestlers.

If they grab you in a bearhug, drop your hips down to make yourself heavy, stepping your leg back on the side their head is pressing into your shoulder. Make a frame against their face with your arms, using that to break their grip.

The main part of the lesson that could be applicable to 'normal' BJJ training was the points Michel made about knee on belly. Trap their wrist under your armpit, reaching hand underneath. Your other hand grips their shoulder, then your waiting first hand grips that wrist. From that position, you can twist your hands to press into their elbow. If you need more leverage, thrust your hips in too.

Last part was a brief discussion of posture inside guard. Michel emphasised the point about controlling hips, cupping them with your hands.

24/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Framing (Wim Deputter)

Class #850
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Wim Deputter, Leuven, Belgium, 24/07/2017

This was another lesson built around a single idea, like Graugart's opening lesson. Rather than talking about bellybuttons, Wim's concept was framing, primarily as an escape from under side control or scarf hold. Both your arms are at right angles, elbows in tight to your sides. The 'top' arm is over their clavicle, while the 'botom' arm is either against their bicep or their hip, depending on their arm position. Turn your nose down towards the ground, bringing your head back. Engage your hips, like you're doing a small bridge.

If they've got your under side control or scarf hold, walk your legs slightly back, then bring one leg under the other to turn and come on top. Your frame needs to stay solid throughout, to prevent them putting you flat on your back. Alternatively, you can try moving them up, extending the top arm, until you make a little space to bring your knee through.

Wim spent a long time on this concept: he was still going by the time I needed to head off back to the flat. His teaching style is to talk his uke through the move, correcting as he goes. I can see the benefits of that, highlighting common errors, appealing to different learning styles. Personally, I prefer the standard option where the instructor does the technique and talks you through the details, particularly as that's quicker, but diversity is good.

That may partially be why I had some trouble drilling this, as I wasn't always sure exactly what we were supposed to drilling. Once he'd explained the basic idea, that made sense, it was the additional tweaks that didn't sink into my head. The central concept was useful though, I plan to drill that some more. It fits with some of the side control stuff using a stiff arm, from Jeff Rockwell.

I did sort of go to David Morcegao's class before that (in that I filmed bits of it, he was showing the back take from closed guard where you drag the arm across), but didn't manage to nab a training partner in time. Next time I should just hold my hand up and get somebody, rather than being all anti-social and only ever sticking with people I already know. Good to get out of my shell. ;)

24/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | BJJ Fundamentals (Christian Graugart)

Class #849
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Christian Graugart, Leuven, Belgium, 24/07/2017

This is a session Christian often teaches, providing a general introduction to both the camp and a helpful concept for jiu jitsu in general. That concept is the importance of controlling the space between your chest and knees. On top, you're trying to insert something into that space in order to get the pass or maintain control, while on the bottom, you're trying to either prevent them getting into that space (as when defending your guard), or reclaim that space (like when you are attempting to escape side control etc).

Christian had a new name for it this time, 'bellybutton touching competition', to emphasise the area you're both trying to control. Other than that, it was a repeat of last time, where after introducing the idea, Christian then had us do a bunch of light resistance drills to emphasise the idea. There was one part I didn't remember from 2016, which is having us commentate the roll, to get you thinking about what you're doing. I like the thought behind that, getting into that technical mindset when rolling. The difference is that normally you'd have that commentary running inside your head, rather than speaking it out loud. ;)

21/07/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Single Underhook Pass

Teaching #690
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/07/2017

One of the first guard passes 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.

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 20, 2017 at 5:38am PST

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: The same thing as usual came up, which is people moving their whole head around the leg when they just need to turn with the shoulder. It would be worth focusing in on that movement in isolation a bit, really highlight the slow, gradual turn to get around the legs.

I could also talk more about what to do if they block against your hip, like bringing the knee on either the inside or outside of the arm to collapse it. Then there's the option Matt H has talked about that Faria does, where he tries to avoid relying on moving around, instead just gradually pushing the leg across and driving forwards.

20/07/2017 - Open Mat (Thursday)

Class #848
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/07/2017

I'm still resting those injuries, but was able to do some drilling with Tracey. We ran through some bits and pieces on chokes, like the overhook choke and for thatarm positioning. Matt did a bunch of stuff with Heidi on the Tozi pass, focusing on a strong underhook, lateral movement, then stiff arm to pop legs open. Quick look back to see which foot is locked on top, changes pass slightly, may need to go to other side if hooked in a certain way. It's been a very quiet week open mat wise for me, but I'm about to get a whole week of training in Leuven, so meh. Should be interesting to see what stuff I get to add to my repertoire this year. ;)

19/07/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Standing Guard Break

Teaching #689
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/07/2017

I began with standing in guard. Start by shoving their sleeve/wrist into their belt knot/belly button. With your other hand, push into their sternum, but be careful you aren't tempted to lean forward as a result. Keep your posture upright. If you can't get the sleeve, then simply grab their collar with your chest bracing hand (you have the option of grabbing a sleeve with that hand too, it doesn't have to be the hip hand: just make sure it's always the same side).

Raise your knee on the same side as your sleeve/wrist gripping arm, stepping forward with that foot. Basing off your hands (again, don't lean forwards), stand up into a crouch, then stand right up, thrusting your hips forward. Pull up on their sleeve/wrist (again, if you've lost it, grab their collar, if they are wearing a gi). 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.

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Teaching Notes: Main things, keep your head up, the same thing people always seem to forget. Suggesting that you pull up on the same side collar if you can't get the sleeve seemed to work well. In terms of leg positioning and getting to that crouch, it's worth mentioning the sway away from the leg you want to step up can help.

Next time, I should remember to put in something about the danger of the sweep, countered by things like kicking your leg forward, grabbing their collars, thrusting your hips forward, or indeed the technique from Gret. She grabs the belts, stands up and dangles them from it. I had considered doing that, but thought that with all those beginners, it was quite possible that there would be lots of people who didn't have a gi. But meh, I think Rich said he was planning to teach it when he covers the class on Monday anyway.

18/07/2017 - Open Mat (Tuesday)

Class #847
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 18/07/2017

Didn't do much today, as I'm trying to conserve myself before Leuven. Also, I seem to have experienced the return of a few old injuries. Firstly, my neck, or rather the area of upper back just around the neck), which often seems to get sore if I've played a lot of closed guard. I think that comes from maintaining posture inside closed guard in an overly strained way, taking the pressure on that area of my back. Thrusting the hips will hopefully help, relying less on arms too.

The second injury returning is more irritating, as it's my left hip flexor again. Last time that took aaaaages to heal, so I'm keen to avoid a repeat of that. Hence why I stopped sparring and haven't done any squats this week either, which is a shame, but I really don't want to be stuck with that injury for several months.

17/07/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Kneeling Guard Break

Teaching #688
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/07/2017

First thing I wanted to cover was posture. Stay upright, with your head up. Thrusting your pelvis forward can help prevent them pull you down, as can curving your back, arching it like a cat. Don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively (though there are other methods, like Christian Graugart's 'samurai sword' grip, where both arms are near the chest). 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 post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 21, 2017 at 2:08am PDT

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, which you can compensate by thrusting your pelvis forwards. 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, you can 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. 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.

The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your own 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.

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. 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.
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Teaching Notes: There were lots of beginners, so I kept it extra basic. Nest time, I want to talk more about reclaiming and maintaining the position. So, things like putting your hands over top and regripping if they try to get a grip, as well as breaking the grips, which I didn't discuss in much depth. Presenting it more as a lesson about maintaining your guard rather than focusing on the guard break would be better next time I think. Different emphasis: include the guard break, but that shouldn't be focus. More about not being controlled in closed guard, not getting broken down.

16/07/2017 - Open Mat (Sunday)

Class #846
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/07/2017

Hooray for visitors! Diego from Spain is training with us at the moment, which is cool. He's going to be here for a month. Lots of experience, plus he's a judo black belt who teaches. Many skills to share! :D

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 16, 2017 at 6:08am PDT

I got in a good roll with Paul today, after praciticing posture inside guard. I've been testing out the approach where you thrust your pelvis forward for base, rather than relying so much on your arms. I think I'm still relying quite a bit on my arms, as my neck ends up feeling a bit sore afterwards (presumably from the tension of hunching up, when I should stay relaxed). Also, turns out that wristlocks are a good option when they are rolling out of an armbar and you're about to lose the belly down option. ;)

Roll call for today: Diego, Lisa, Paul, Kirsty W, Heidi, Paulina. Rich.

14/07/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Overhook Choke (from two-on-one grip break)

Teaching #687
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/07/2017

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 17, 2017 at 12:46am PDT

The main topic I wanted to cover was breaking posture and grips, but this time how that can effectively become a guard in itself. What I call the overhook guard has a whole bunch of submissions and sweeps, but I just wanted to show how to get there for the moment.

They will probably be grabbing your gi somewhere between your chest and stomach. Grab their sleeve with one hand, then reach your other hand underneath to hold your own wrist, making a figure-four. Wrench up with your figure-four to break their grip (you could also try raising your hips then dropping them as you wrench to increase the leverage, depending where they're holding you). Bring your knees to your chest and pull their sleeve behind your head.

At the same time, swim inside and then around their arm with your other hand, so that you end up overhooking their arm. With the overhooking hand, reach through and grasp their opposite collar (if you can't reach it, grab what you can, but for setting up submissions, much better to have the far collar). Keep the elbow of your overhooking arm locked to your body, so they can't free their arm. This is a good controlling position, where you have a number of attacks: omoplata, armbar, triangle, chokes etc.

The simplest attack from here is to go for a choke. Bring your other hand over the top, grabbing around their shoulder or back. The exact position will depend on your forearm relative to their neck. You need to get that pressed in tightly to the side of their neck for the choke. Once that forearm is pressed against their neck, finish the choke by pushing into that neck, pulling on the collar with your overhooking hand.
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Teaching Notes: Next time, I'll keep emphasising that you don't want your elbow to drift across, as that will end up pressing your arm into their windpipe. Similarly, keep the angle of your arm shallow. One or two people found that tricky to do while also anchoring a hand on the back of the gi: the grip is useful for controlling posture, but it is possible to choke without anchoring the hand like that. However, you'd have to be very wary of them recovering their posture. Finally, don't let go of the sleeve you've pulled behind your head until you've locked in your overhook by grabbing their collar. Otherwise, it's like trying to swing to a new rope without still having a grip on the old one. ;)

13/07/2017 - Open Mat (Thursday)

Class #845
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 13/07/2017

The turnout for these daytime open mats is getting reliable, which is cool, just need to boost the morning open mat. I didn't do a whole lot today, particularly as I cleverly forgot to bring any tape. However, I did come away with some pointers about that armbar drill I've been doing, which is useful. You swing with your outside leg, pushing off with your other leg into their side, also swinging your head around. That gives you plenty of momentum to spin to the other side. I didn't take much video this time, just a brief one mostly to remind me who was there, so I can update my lovely spreadsheet. ;)

12/07/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Cross Choke (Palm Up, Palm Down)

Teaching #686
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/07/2017

The classic cross choke from guard starts with a grip on their opposite collar, up high past their neck, getting your elbow to their chest. This can lead to all sorts of attacks and sweeps, but the cross choke is probably the most traditional. However, it can also be tough to finish, not least because everybody is expecting the attack. Make sure you've broken down their posture when you go for this, as it will be really hard to submit with a cross choke if they are still upright and have their arms in place.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 12, 2017 at 10:15pm PDT

It is the second grip that generally proves to be challenging. The 'palm up, palm down' variation goes some way to solving this problem, as your second hand grabs their opposite shoulder rather than having to fight through for a collar grip. Drive your forearm into the neck from there, making sure that with both arms, you are cutting into the neck with the sharp part of your arm next to your wrist. It shouldn't be the back of your arm, as that's squishy and flat. By contrast, the side of the arm is sharp and narrow.

Another Jason Scully tip from The Grapplers Guide at this point is to bring the elbow of your second arm up high by your head, preventing them from blocking it as easily or pinning that arm to your chest. If they do try to block with their same side hand, you can dig your elbow straight past their hand and into the neck. He again recommends angling off, this time towards the shoulder you're trying to grab. To help that spin, punch your initial collar grip away from you, towards their far shoulder. That will expose their neck and help you swivel into position, plus it connects well with an armbar.

In order to save my fingers, my preference is to use the gi tail for this choke. The application is the same, except that rather than establishing a tight collar grip, you pull out their gi and pull it back across. Feed that to your other hand, grasping the gi tail and locking your forearm tight to their neck. Your other hand comes over the top, grabbing the gi you've pulled over. Pressing both forearms into the neck, twist your arms and squeeze for the finish. The arm placement is the same, again getting that acute angle with the wrist bone to press into their arteries. Be careful you are only twisting your arms, not their neck. Twisting their neck will end up in a crank (which can do lasting damage), not a choke (which won't).

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 14, 2017 at 2:01am PDT

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Teaching Notes: Another class that I felt went well. Next time, I want to emphasise jamming your elbow into their chest. I talked quite a lot about using the blade of the arm and the angle into the neck, but that's still worth emphasising. If your elbow is too far across, you're probably going to end up pressing into the windpipe rather than the carotid arteries. You therefore need to adjust your angle (shallow angle, I think, if I'm getting my terminology right? Or acute, I think that works too). Related to that, telling people to avoid twisting the neck, it shouldn't be a neck crank. This is mainly an issue with chokes where you wrap the gi around.

12/07/2017 - Open Mat (Wednesday)

Class #844
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/07/2017

PLaying some more with Andrew 'Goatfury' Smith's half butterfly sweep. I was previously getting confused on how to lock the figure four, but rewatching the video, I can see that you grab with your same side arm, then grip that wrist with your overhook. I also reviewed the lapel chokes Chris Haueter showed back in Leuven at the BJJ Globetrotter camp there in 2016. I still haven't gotten the hang of those, but it was good to play with them again.



It also emphasised how it's easy for that kind of choke to turn into a crank if you don't have your arm placement right. I sometimes forget just how incredibly useful it is to drill what I'm planning to teach before the class, even if it's a technique I know really well. New details and pointers invariably occur to me after doing so, hence why it is awesome there is now so much open mat in the Artemis BJJ schedule. :D

11/07/2017 - Open Mat (Tuesday)

Class #843
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 11/07/2017

I was looking to work on the half butterfly sweep that Andrew Smith showed on his awesome site, which I shall continue to play with in the run up to half guard month in August. I'd like to have some half butterfly material, as then I can at last use the half butterfly passes Paul Schreiner shows in his Precise Pressure Passing app on Digitsu. Meaning I can (finally!) finish that review having tested everything in it properly. Hooray!

10/07/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Cross Choke (Palm Up, Palm Up & Deep Grip)

Teaching #685
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/07/2017

The classic cross choke from guard starts with a grip on their opposite collar, up high past their neck, getting your elbow to their chest. This can lead to all sorts of attacks and sweeps, but the cross choke is probably the most traditional. However, it can also be tough to finish, not least because everybody is expecting the attack. Make sure you've broken down their posture when you go for this, as it will be really hard to submit with a cross choke if they are still upright and have their arms in place.

It is the second grip that generally proves to be challenging. Jason Scully has a good tip here, recommending that you angle off to help shoot your second arm underneath the first. You're aiming to get both hands together behind their neck: in practice, you are unlikely to get them to touch, but get as close as you can. Suck your elbows in, pulling their head down in the process. Do not flare out your elbows: they can easily defend that by simply wrapping over your elbows and bringing them back together. To finish, twist your hands inwards to press the sharp bony part of your arm (i.e., the side your thumb is on) into their carotid arteries.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 11, 2017 at 12:30am PDT

There is a handy Roy Dean trick you can try if your grip has slipped down too low to apply the choke. Shoot your arms up straight, aiming to get your thumbs touching behind their neck at the back of their collar (ideally, gripping right by the tag), then pull them back down. Your grips can then progress as normal: don't try to choke with your arms extended. Also, remember to turn your thumbs inwards rather than out (or to put it another way, turn them away from your face rather than towards it. Imagine they've been tied together with a string, so you can't open up any space between them). Turning them outwards will work too, but inwards should be tighter.

A handy variation is to get a really deep grasp of the collar. I learned this from Roy Dean's demonstration on his Brown Belt Requirements DVD, where he calls it the 'Relson' choke: I've been using it regularly ever since. To get the deep grip choke, first establish that grip. You may find it helps to sit up to get it in really deep. As Dean discusses on his DVD, an especially deep grip can help your choke as well as give you authoritative control.

Often people will let you get a grip on their collar from guard, unlike the same situation from under mount, despite the threat being similar. If possible, it's a good idea to open up the collar with your same side hand to help get your other hand in as deep as possible. Like John Will says, this will also take the slack out of their gi.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 11, 2017 at 9:40pm PDT

Once you have it, this deep grip provides three main advantages. Firstly, you get great control, as you can pull them down towards you. Secondly, it could be the beginning of a choke. Lift their chin with your forearm to make some space, then insert your other grip. Due to the depth of your first grip, the second hand doesn't need to go as far. Turn your thumbs inwards (away from you, towards them) for the choke, pulling in with your elbows (don't flare them out).

Jason Scully has a number of great tips over on The Grapplers Guide, with a couple of videos about collar chokes from closed guard. He suggests angling off to help get that second grip in, rather than staying square on. He also advises grabbing their collar with both hands to pull them down and insert your first grip, should you have trouble breaking their posture. As Scully points out, you can also push with your initial grip, towards their neck, to help open up the space.

Secondly, even if you don't land the choke, just having the grip will make them start to worry about that choke rather than thinking about passing. Thirdly, it means you can establish a collar and elbow grip. There are various attacks you can do from there, the most common of which are probably armbars, scissor and push sweeps. Should that grip slip, then you still have a more orthodox collar choke available, or the numerous options from a collar and elbow/sleeve grip, if you established that hold.
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Teaching Notes: This lesson format works well, I think. The main thing to emphasise next time is making sure you are chopping in with the blade of your arm, not the back. Specifically, it's the blade by your wrist, on the thumb side. That needs to jam right into their neck, a few people were going a little high, getting too close to the jaw. Also, I could talk more about rotating your hands inwards: I mentioned it, but didn't use the analogy I've gone with before, which is imagining there is an elastic band around both your thumbs.

Open mat was fun too, where I had an initial play with Andrew 'Goatfury' Smith's tips on a a half butterfly sweep. Hopefully I'll have that sufficiently down by August to try teaching it, along with some Paul Schreiner half butterfly passing. The video from the live stream is up on the Artemis BJJ Facebook page, and should also be embedded below (though I think it doesn't show properly in RSS):

09/07/2017 - Open Mat (Sunday)

Class #842
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/07/2017

Fun open mat today, with plenty of useful drilling. I tried out some postural tips inside closed guard, courtesy of Seymour, mainly squeezing your knees and thrusting your pelvis forward. I also tested out that knee shield pass from JJS. It kinda works, but I need to work out how to maintain position for turning my leg in. So, I'll have another look at that Tom DeBlass section again. Also, adding the kneebar, I have no real idea how to do that, so I'm sloppily leaping at it currently.

Sam is a big fan of the Barataplata, so we drilled that too. I like the look of it, due to two things: first, I already like the kimura and omoplata, second, it doesn't require any finger mashing gi grips.



I got in some good rolls with Kirsty and Matt too. With Matt, I was trying my frame thing as usual, attempting to stay active with my supporting arm, using a collar tie on the head to help direct them away. With Kirsty, I was looking for x-guard. I haven't played it much before, but it is apparently great for short legged people like us (Kirsty does it a lot, I've been asking her for tips). As ever, the full video is up on the Artemis BJJ Facebook page, at least of the drilling (I didn't get the sparring on video this time).