12/11/2012 - Roger Gracie Seminar at Gracie Barra Bristol

Seminar #10
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Roger Gracie, Bristol, UK - 12/11/2012

I was a little uncertain about tonight, as that groin injury still hasn't quite gone away: hence why I haven't trained properly in well over a month. However, when I booked a place on this seminar a while back, I decided that at worst I'd have to skip the warm-up and sparring. Even if the injury hadn't gone, I could at least take part in the important bit, which is technique.

The class was large, given that it was Roger, but not as big as it could have been, due to a 40 person limit on attendance. I don't head along to that many seminars normally (although this is my fourth this year, so clearly I attend more than I used to), but as it was the man who gave me my purple belt last year, I didn't think it was one to miss. I hear he's quite good at BJJ too. ;p

Geeza has been trying to make this seminar happen for a long time now, because not only is Roger the greatest competitor of all time (Marcelo and Xande might disagree, but meh, I'm biased), GB Bristol is also affiliated to his academy (which is unusual: most Gracie Barra clubs in the UK are under Braulio, Victor or Lagarto).

Roger started off with a method for pulling guard. I didn't join in with either the basic or more advanced method, as unfortunately jumping up and wrapping my legs around somebody would make my injured groin very unhappy. Still, it was useful to learn the technique: Roger showed how after jumping up and getting guard, you could break their posture by pushing on their leg while pulling on the collar. If that isn't working, then pushing inside their knee should help collapse their base, as well as smoothly transition into an armbar.

That was followed by a back take, still in guard. This is similar to the one I taught a while ago. Begin with the standard two-on-one grip break, where Roger noted it is important to get the hand underneath right into their wrist, so there is no space. Punch upwards then shove their arm across, bringing them in with your legs. If you can, reach round and grab their arm, so they end up in a gift wrap, but most likely they won't let you have that arm. So, you'll probably end up hooking your hand around their side or into their armpit. Hip out, then come up on your elbow. From here, you can use the leg you have over their back to swivel around and insert your hooks, but my groin wasn't up to that motion.

Continuing with that grip break, you can also move into the armwrap or overhook guard. Roger added that when you break the grip and then have control of their sleeve, bring the elbow of your controlling arm towards your head as you shoot the other arm up inside (as a random point of interest, Roger wasn't inserting his thumb to create a pocket grip in the sleeves. Instead, he grabbed straight off with his four fingers: the thumb didn't appear to come into play at all). Keep dragging their sleeve so that it goes behind your head, meaning that you can now use your head to help trap it in place. From there you have the option of a choke, but most people are going to defend it by getting their free hand in the way.


In the likely event your choke is blocked, you can switch to a pressing armbar. This is reminiscent of the attack Levo showed at his seminar, except the grips are different due to the gi. Similar to Levo's technique, shrimp out and bring one leg up their back, your other knee clamping by their chest. You still have your arm wrapped around due to your earlier grip. Move your hips out slightly (as with Levo's option, pressing into their neck

with your arm can aid you with your body positioning), to straighten their arm: their wrist should roughly be on your ribs. To finish, press down on their elbow with your arm and knee. Be careful, as this can come on fast and they also might find it hard to tap as both their arms are in awkward positions. If they twist their arm out to escape, you're set up for an omoplata.

Alternatively, there is the triangle from the overhook. If they block your choke, cover their blocking hand with your own to keep it in place. Bring your leg out from underneath that arm then jam it into their neck. Lock your feet and control their posture, by putting one or both arms around their head. At this point, Roger noted that a lot of people try to finish the triangle square on by yanking the head down and raising the hips, but that tends to be a crank rather than a choke.

Instead, it is better to create an angle, which in turn will help you get your leg across their neck rather than pointing diagonally across their upper back, then finish the triangle as normal. Interestingly, Roger also agrees with Ryan Hall that getting the arm across is not essential for a triangle. In fact, Roger feels that pulling the trapped arm all the way over their body can be detrimental, because it makes it easier for them to grab your leg and drive it to the floor, the starting point for a common triangle escape. Roger prefers to keep their elbow near your hip or stomach.

Thankfully for my injured groin, we then progressed to a side control to mount transition. Once again there were some intriguing points on a fundamental technique, which for me is infinitely better than some flashy sequence I've not seen before but will never use due to complexity. Roger commented on the numerous different leg positions, noting how sprawling your legs back will lower your weight and increase the pressure on them.

He compared that to bringing your knees in close, which takes the weight off. I was expecting him to recommend legs back, but he actually prefers keeping the knees in tight (which I'm a fan of myself, as it means there is much less space for them to manoeuvre). The reason is that he feels that having the knees in tight rather than sprawled back provides you with greater mobility, even if it is at the expense of less weight on top of them.

The key to attacking is separating their elbows from their body. If they can keep them tightly jammed to their sides with their arms crossed, it will be very difficult to initiate any kind of submission. In order to pry the elbows away from their body, you can try digging into their near armpit with your knee, but that is often hard to accomplish. More reliable is switching your base into a sort-of scarf hold, then thrusting your hips forward into their elbow until you can push it up in the air. At that point, you can switch your base back, meaning their elbow should now be stuck past your hip.

You're controlling their other arm by scooping under the elbow, looking to create an opening. If they try to push their forearm into your neck, that makes things easier. Position your chin by their wrist, then pinch that into your chest. This should help collapse their arm, meaning you can now brace your forehead against the floor.

That position breaks the general principle of not leaning too far forward in side control, but on the other hand you are fairly stable due to your knees on the near side and forehead on the far side. From there, bring your knee across their belt line. If necessary, remove your hand from under their head to help you twist their body as you slide into mount.

Finally, Roger went through his signature technique: the choke from mount. Or at least, a variation of that: technically it wasn't the choke from mount, but what Xande and Saulo call the 'double-attack'. Begin by sliding your knees further up, grabbing on their head to help pull yourself into position. However, Roger noted you should't go too far, or you will find it hard to get the space to attack their arms. Judging from his position (I was trying to put into practice John Will's precept of looking at what they're doing, not just listening to what they're saying), ideally you want your knees at their shoulder level.

Like the earlier offence from side control, this separates their elbows from their body and thereby weakens their defence. It is still a pain to get past the barrier of their arms, so Roger has a handy tip. Insert your hand, keeping the arm straight, then put your body weight behind it. You're lining up your torso behind your shoulder then leaning forward. When you get your elbow to your hip, you can switch to driving with your hip to get your hand deep into their collar.

Naturally once you have a hand committed to gripping their collar, they are going to try and bridge. To maintain your base, put your free hand on the opposite side. If they bridge in that direction, your hand will stop you going over. If they bridge in the other direction, simply move your hand. Most importantly, when they bridge, they are almost certainly going to create some room by their elbow. You can take advantage by swivelling your body, ready to go for the armbar.

Often when a major name comes down for a seminar, there are promotions. Given that there names don't come any more major than Roger Gracie, that meant a lot of promotions. There were various stripes given out, including me, along with lots of new blue belts. Diego is sadly leaving us for his native Brazil, but he goes back with a blue from Roger, which is a pretty cool leaving present. Most significant was that Liam finally got promoted to purple. To say it's been a long time coming would be an understatement. His blue belt is so faded it is almost white: that blue first went around Liam's waist before I started training! So, great to see him get a well-deserved purple from Roger himself.

Roger Gracie Seminar

Seminar #6
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Roger Gracie, Aylesbury, UK - 06/03/2011

Before I talk about this seminar, I wanted to talk about another one: be sure to check out the charity women-only BJJ seminar being held by black belt Helen Currie on 3rd April from 13:00-15:00, here. No experience necessary, and the proceeds go towards fighting breast cancer and ovarian cancer. The fee is a tiny £5, and it will be held in Oldham at Stealth BJJ. Worthy cause, and you get to learn some awesome technique: what more could you want? :)

Continuing with the charity theme, shout out to all the grapplers from Martial Arts Planet in Kingston, Ontario (the names I managed to catch are Laura, Lex, the Hull family, Morgan and especially fellow blogger Ashley, which is where I heard about it in the first place). I spent most of yesterday watching their live stream of a twenty-four hour grapple-a-thon event they had, in support of The Ontario Lung Association. The recording of the live stream is still up, in several parts, here. If you'd like to fight lung disease by donating to the Ontario Lung Association, click here.
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The seminar today (which incidentally was also in support of a charity, the Action for Brazil's Children Trust over in Brazil) is without any doubt the busiest class I've seen at the McLeod Academy, the home of RGA Bucks. The club has several locations: I used to be at the one in High Wycombe.

The name 'Roger Gracie' unsurprisingly gets people excited, so there were around sixty people from the club there, possibly more. I'm guessing sixty, as everyone gave a £10 donation to the Trust, and we ended up raising £607 in total. Either way, it was great to see several women among that sixty: with a high level female purple belt at the club (Yas, who recently recorded the below excellent video with Kev), I'm hopeful that the number of women will continue to grow.



I'm still taking it easy on my knee, so spent the warm-up doing sit-ups and press-ups rather than the usual jumping jacks and squats. However, it seemed to be relatively ok for the takedowns Roger taught (though we weren't actually bringing anyone to the mat, as there wasn't space). This begins from the grip break: you grip their sleeve on the top of their hand, and also underneath, making sure that there isn't any loose material. Step back and pull up at the same time.

Keeping one hand on the sleeve, transfer the other to their collar and pull them down to break their posture. Step outside their leg as you drop to take their leg, being sure to keep your head on the inside. Securing their leg with your arms, stand back up, then also trap the leg between your arms. From there, you can do for various takedowns, like the single leg, or indeed switch to a double leg.

The main technical instruction centred on the half guard. Roger taught a simple but very effective posture, which can help you either recover your full guard, take the back, or sweep. You need to get up on your side, with a same side underhook. It is also essential that you don't let them cross-face you, or they'll be able to drive forward and put you flat on your back.

So, keep tight and curled in, with your hand blocking their same side arm. For extra support, you can brace that hand with your head. Alternatively, you can simply put your hand on your head, with your forearm directly in front of your face. Curl in further towards them, ideally getting right by their leg. This will make it very difficult for them to fish your head free. Most likely, they will end up trying to drive their weight forward.

As soon as you feel that weight transfer, bring your underhooking arm up, in order to knock them off-balance, past your head. You can then come up on your elbow (same arm that is on your head). Don't bring your head out from underneath them yet, as you don't want to give them a chance to control it. From there, you may find you have space to slip your knee through to get back to full guard, or swing round to take the back.

A more experienced opponent will be wise to what you're doing, and as soon as you underhook, they will look to overhook that arm, establishing what's called a 'whizzer'. That now blocks you from taking the back, but it does present other opportunities. The technique is much the same as above, but this time you can't go to the back.

If they don't drive their weight forward, you can try to move out to all fours, from which you can try to attack (e.g., if you go for their far leg and perhaps get to side control). If they do drive their weight forward, swivel underneath, reaching your basing arm behind their leg. Continue the roll, and their momentum should enable you to bring them over your body, so that you move into top half guard.

That was it for technique, moving straight into specific sparring. Again, I sat this one out, though I did get to watch some good rounds of sparring: for example, Callum's nifty open guard, which has caused me problems many times. There were about four rounds of that, split by weight, followed by free sparring.

After Roger called time, everybody lined up, a tight squeeze with that many people. Kev announced that Roger was going to do some gradings (the main reason he'd popped down today), drawing out a clutch of crisp new blue belts from a box behind him. I didn't catch the name of everybody who was called up, but well done to all. Next, Kev started pulling out purple belts. Sahid was up first, a very well deserved promotion: he's been dominating the competition scene for a while now. He was followed by Callum, Howard and Matty Burn, along with Tom and Adill. Awesome to see that many new purple belts at RGA Bucks, so massive congratulations to those guys.

Roger hadn't finished yet, as Kev handed him another purple: it turns out that I was going to get one too. I have to admit it makes me a little nervous, as I still feel I have so many holes in my game. However, I trust my instructor's judgement, particularly as Kev has rolled with me many times. It is also obviously a privilege to have the belt tied around my waist by Roger Gracie, the most dominant champion in BJJ's history.

I look forward to finally getting back to sparring, which will now become an especially good test of how well I can control my ego! ;)



< Previous Seminar :::

29/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #207



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 29/12/2008 - Advanced

Over Christmas, I enjoyed myself geeking out over the online archive of Black Belt Magazine, hosted on Google Books. Specifically, I made a spreadsheet, trying to list all the BJJ-related articles from their first appearance in a 1988 issue of the magazine, up until Rickson Gracie discontinued his ‘No Holds Barred’ column in 1999. The archive itself is fairly comprehensive, but there are a few issues not included, some months are mixed up, and occasionally an issue will have a chunk missing. Still, makes for a fascinating look at the early history of BJJ in the US: I’m hoping my Black Belt spreadsheet can act as an index for fellow history fans.

Today the Academy was open for a sparring session from 13:00-14:30, so I decided to take the opportunity to get in one last bit of training before the end of the year. Roger kicked off with specific sparring, starting with guard passage. I couldn’t get past Liam’s guard, spending pretty much the whole time pondering how to free my sleeve from his grip. That tight hold meant he could keep my arm pulled across my body, so in order to get into position to free myself, I put up my same side leg. I also kept shifting my knees in close so that Liam couldn’t make space to go for a sweep, or perhaps a submission.

So, I managed to present a defence, but nothing more than that. I find it hard to extricate myself from grips, particularly when I know the other person is stronger than me (almost always the case), so need to develop some technical methods of removing their hold, as well as improve my ability to prevent them getting a good grip in the first place.

Side control was up next, this time my partner being Rico, a stocky white belt (about my height, but 15kg heavier). He had no trouble flinging me off when I was on top, though he was trying to avoid just using power moves. The main reason was that I kept putting too much weight forward, rather than staying on his chest. Always useful to try side control against a big guy for that reason: you become very aware of your mistakes.

Underneath, it was the same pattern as normal, as I stayed relaxed and looked to go to half guard or slip my knee under. Didn’t get very far, so if I recall correctly, just moved around in a circle. Again, I need to be more proactive, particularly in terms of getting to my knees, and I also have to watch my forearm under their neck. I was trying to make sure I tucked the elbow into his armpit to stop my arm being so vulnerable to submission, but not sure it worked. Could be he just held off going for the Americana due to the size difference.

Finally, I did specific mount sparring with Nick Brooks. Naturally he could have escaped any time he wanted on the bottom, or submitted on top, but instead offered lots of helpful advice, waiting to see how I reacted to what he was doing. Main important thing to keep in mind is to squeeze my knees and feet: Nick mentioned I was leaving too much space, so he could get his elbow in. Also, I should be aiming to move forward, getting up under their armpits.

For free sparring, I just waited to see who wanted to roll. First person to ask was a powerful purple belt, who I think is called Darren (but had something else written on his gi, though he might have been borrowing it). He went really easy on me, noting when I could go for a submission, and letting me try for armbars. Even when he let me isolate his arm and get into position, still a simple matter for him to escape. I continue to be a fish out of water when I’m staring at a submission opportunity, even when my training partner is literally telling me what to do in order to secure it.

Next was a tall purple belt I’ve rolled with before, called Lex. He’s still carrying an injury, which I assume is why he approached me: because I’m small, people with busted up shoulders/backs/legs etc are often keen to go with someone unlikely to aggravate injuries. After getting me into position to choke, he mentioned I should be turning in the other direction. I had in the mind the “face the same way as their fist” principle, but clearly that can’t be applied to every situation. He had my collar pressing into my neck, so as he advised, in that case it is better to turn the other way, raise their elbow to make space, then turn back and try to escape.

The general principle of using elbows and knees is something I tried to implement today, which was of some help with my next spar, against Lubo. I managed to land on my fingers at one point, making an unpleasant cracking noise, but seems ok: the little finger is still sore, but as its only slightly painful, should be fine in a few days. Lubo danced around on my back, then worked for a choke for the rest of the spar. I attempted to triangle my legs around one of his limbs and then turn into him, using my elbow to block his efforts at getting in a second hook. Didn’t quite work, but did appear to hold off the choke. I squirmed around until the end of the spar, and as ever, I’m not sure if I was defending well, or Lubo simply didn’t slam on the choke because he’s bigger.

Finally, I rolled with another larger training partner, a blue belt called Johannes. He was definitely taking it easy, letting me work underneath with my half guard and open guard. I’m continuing to try and get a two on one grip on their sleeve then push on the hips, which is working out better than my previous habit of attempting to wrap up their legs. I still need to bend them in half properly, and it might also be good to switch to spider guard occasionally to further try and off-balance them.

In half guard, I wanted to get a high overhook on the arm, so I could try and go to their back. I got the high overhook, but couldn’t switch to the back properly. My balance is lacking, as is my weight distribution. I did manage to get back to full guard a few times, although not always closed: Johannes kept trapping my leg. It wasn’t in too bad a position across his stomach, but as he was squishing it tightly between his torso and legs, I couldn’t pull it free to go back to closed guard.

Not sure when I’ll next be training, but I’d guess January 6th or the day after. That’s when I’ll be meeting my solicitor to go over the redundancy package (legal requirement to get a third party to run you through it before it can all be signed off), and can then presumably train in the evening.

17/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #202



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 17/12/2008 - Advanced

The redundancy has been pretty much confirmed, so barring something very unexpected, I'll be without a job as of Friday. That also means I'll have to leave RGA, but I do have a plan that should mean I can at least keep training there through January. After that, even if I'm still in London, I won't be able to afford it anymore: the eventual plan is to find a permanent position either near Warwick Uni, in Coventry or in Birmingham.

I feel a lot happier about it than I did last week, thanks to my girlfriend (who, as ever, has been wonderfully supportive) and the relaxing trip we took to Amsterdam. Worries over jobs and the future kept me awake and probably contributed to a cold, so I didn't do any training since the 4th, but renewed and refreshed I was looking forward to tonight.

Guard passage was interesting, as I was with Ted, who I haven't rolled with before. I think he's around my size, if stronger (I'm almost always weaker than my partner). I had a go at the loop choke, but didn't have sufficient control of his head, and also looked for omoplatas, but again failed to get position. Its unusual that I get the chance to work submissions, so something I'd like to work more often, though I'm still very keen to improve my defence.

I managed a sweep from half guard into mount too, which was fun, but rather random, as I lifted Ted the other direction to my usual attempt at sweeping from half guard (which is grabbing the arm opposite to the trapped leg and pulling it over). Not entirely sure how it happened, which therefore isn't going to help my technique a great deal.

On top, I again attempted the Saulo Ribeiro guard break, which didn't have too much success. I really need to watch it when defending the armbar, as several times now I've pulled out the wrong arm and given my partner a triangle. Ted didn't punish me for the mistake as much as I thought he would, given that I eventually worked free and passed, but it’s a dangerous habit to get into. I also need to crush my weight down when going for the stack pass, which I'm still not doing properly.

Roger gave us an insight into breaking posture in guard, with the kind of useful advice on fundamentals you'd expect from the king of effective basics. First, he emphasised the importance of breaking their grips: don't let them secure a hold, particularly with a straight arm pressing into you. If they can get that solidly locked into you, it sets them up well to stand and try to pass. So, pull your collars apart, figure four their wrist and yank it away, working all the time to prevent their grips.

Second, having moved their arm out of the way and knocked them off balance, try and get an arm around their head. This will make it difficult for them to posture up and stabilise their base. You can grip your other hand, or on their collar, but make sure its tight: if they manage to push up on your chest and break the grip, swim your other arm through and pull their head down with that instead.

Third, you want to start working for an armbar from guard. You've broken their posture and got them in close, so now try and get a grip on their arm. You could try this when they attempt to push up on your chest, as to do so they'll have to bring their arm into range of your own limbs. If you can't get the arm, then you can always try and get a deep grip inside their collar instead, to work for a choke.

Either way, climb your legs up their back, furthering tightening your control over their upper body. For the armbar, you'll need to swivel by pushing off their hip, then get your leg over their head. They might try to stand up from here, but if you still have that hold on their head, standing up isn't going to help them much. You'll be in perfect position to swivel, hook the leg with your arm and bring your leg over for the armbar.

Another essential detail Roger pointed out was keeping your knees together. Squeeze them between their legs, allowing no room to get their arm free. This will be of immeasurable benefit in launching your offence, opening them up to armbars and chokes. If you've got a really solid grip around their head, you may even be able to take their back by popping up onto your elbow.

Specific sparring from that position followed (one person could only go for the armbars, the other had to break open the guard), having done some drilling with light resistance. I struggled to keep Ted's head down: he kept managing to free it from my grip and lean back, and I in turn couldn't bring him back down easily. When I did, it felt like the reason was mainly force rather than technique, which is no use to me. I simply not strong enough to fall back on muscle, so I have to keep everything technical.

Nick gave me a tip at this point, as I was finding that Ted kept standing up in my guard with good posture, putting me in a position where I was at a loss how to get the armbar (normally I'd bail to open guard and try to sweep, but that wasn't an option in this particular specific spar). Nick advised that I should try to drag the head down, as that will make it far tougher for them to remain standing. Easier said than done, but gave me something to work towards.

Free sparring followed, where again I went with Ted. This time I was using open guard and half-guard, which has become a trend for me. I concentrated on pushing on the hips and pulling on their sleeves, then moving into full guard or spider guard if they went back to their knees or crouched. I was still seeing if the omoplata was an option, couldn't get it, but did somehow end up going for the belly-down armbar.

I was in a good position, with a grip on the arm and my legs in place, but couldn't seem to get Ted's arm free, or control his body. I stuck with it as he tried to escape, finding myself in another good position, still attacking the arm as he went to his back. Again, I couldn't finish, but at least managed to move into mount. I think the problem is that I'm not using my legs enough, squeezing my knees or putting my weight down.

I also failed to use the myriad of techniques Roger and others have shown us in the past for getting their arm free (e.g., making a semi-circle towards their head, or Nick's version when your shin presses into their face). Still, like earlier, it was nice to get a chance to practice my offence, given that I'm normally always defending.

Finally, I had a shorter roll with Bruno, who in his typically laid back way broke through all my defences and could have submitted me several times over. I found it hard to make room under his side control, and also couldn't shift away from his knee-on-belly. Handy reminder to never face away on my side too, as that was just asking to be armbarred.

Roger closed up the lesson with some big news about the academy. He has bought the building next door, so the mat space is going to double again, providing room for a load more classes. As of next year, there will be beginner, intermediate and advanced, with white belts in the first, blue belts in the second, and purples upwards in the third. Real shame that I'll be leaving next month, amidst all the excitement, but with my job gone, there is no good reason to stay in London (particularly when the alternative is the long-dreamed of prospect of finally living with my girlfriend the whole week up in the Midlands, rather than bouncing up and down the country in an endless cycle of train journeys).

04/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #201



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie & Nick Gregoriades, London, UK – 04/12/2008 - Advanced

Just in time for Christmas, there's a stock clearance of old Black Eagle BJJ gis: £25 rather than £60, which is a hefty discount. As it’s a stock clearance, that means it is only the less common sizes, which at present (I'm guessing these are liable to disappear, but hopefully not before I've put this post up) means 150cm (£20: all the rest are £25), 160cm, 190cm and 200cm. So, if you're below or above average height – about 174cm for the UK, I think - you're in luck.

Speaking of money, looks like I may well have to tighten my belt after this month, as its possible the credit crunch is going to mean I'm made redundant. Had a meeting about it today, where they said how I was on the 'at risk' list, but I'm guessing its just a way of trying to soften the blow. Best case scenario is that I either keep my job or get redeployed somewhere else in the company, but it makes sense to prepare for the worst. I have a small amount of savings, which would help a little, but as BJJ is one of my big expenses, that will mean I have to quit training at RGA. Obviously I don't want to, but it would be stupid to pay £100 a month if I'm unemployed.

Anyway, I'll at least be training the rest of this month, as I've already paid. If all else fails, I'll have judo at Warwick Uni to fall back on, but there are also possibilities in Birmingham and Cov once I find a new job. Shall have to see how things go: hopefully I'll either keep my job, or be able to find a new one quickly. I'd imagine I won't stay in London if I do get laid off, which will be a wrench as I really like training at RGA, and will miss all the great training partners I've had over the past two years.

So, training was especially welcome tonight to take my mind off things. Nick took the first part of class, running us through the warm-up, then some specific sparring. First it was guard passage, where I began with Joanna, who I haven't trained with in several months. Underneath, I was trying to work my open guard, pushing her hips away with my feet while simultaneously pulling her sleeve in with arms. I felt I managed to get that importance bend at the waist better than usual, though I wasn't able to shift into the hook sweep.

I also didn't get the handstand sweep the first time round, but was able to land it the second time. The deciding factor appeared to be that it came after a series of other sweep attempts, and I'd also vaguely looked for the armbar, but wasn't anywhere near getting her into position. Varying my attacks makes sense, so I should try it more often.

On top, I wasn't really getting anywhere. I kept on trying to get the guard break from that same Saulo Ribeiro clip I mentioned yesterday, but couldn't manage to open up anybody's legs with it. I can get my knee in and leg up, but then don't seem to be able to circle round and use my back to prise their legs apart: something to work on, as the only way to get better is keep on trying it.

Roger took over to teach a guard pass, which was handy given my earlier problems. You first need to get one of their legs in between yours: as Nick mentioned during drilling (he was extremely helpful when he saw I was having problems with the technique), for guard passing you don't want either both of their legs inside or outside of yours.

In attempting to prevent a guard pass, they will probably put their knee up: otherwise you can move over that leg. This pass assumes they do so, upon which you reach around with your same side arm and grab their belt, pulling in tightly and crushing your weight down. Your other arm presses down the knee between your legs, straightening your arm and using your weight to trap it to the floor and step your knee over.

Now that you have both knees by the one leg, pressing your weight down, the main obstacle to your pass is their foot. Keeping maximum pressure with your shoulders on their knee, raise up your hips and quickly move over their foot. It is essential to keep the shoulder pressure, or they'll be able to swivel and perhaps recover their guard or escape. To finish, move round, maintaining your weight down onto them all the way, until you can slip through into side control.

Sparred from that position with Roberto, where I wasn't too successful on top, though I think I managed to squeeze past once or twice (rather sloppily, just driving forward: I tried the guard pass we'd just been shown, but I need more practice with it). Underneath I felt more comfortable, getting a few sweeps, but that was mainly because Roberto was keeping his weight relatively high and occasionally leaning to one side, so I was able to take advantage with my legs.

In free sparring I was with Roberto again, and spent lots of time in half-guard, trying to get around to the other side of his body. I got the arm-sweep once, but after working fruitlessly for the kimura from top half guard, I found myself right back underneath, unable to finish the submission. Later on I crawled round to his back after he left an opening, but there wasn't enough time to finish a choke (though I doubt I would have got it anyway, as I don't think it was tight enough).

Finished up with Joanna, after watching her spar with Maurição. He gave out a useful tip on guard passing, in relation to the ankle grab sweep. When you stand, keep your knees close their body. This is because if they then drop their hips to try for the ankle grab sweep, you'll be ready, and can squeeze their knees together with your own. That then means you can twist to the side and move around their legs, getting your guard pass underway.

As before I was trying open guard sweeps, as well as half-guard. I managed to get on top from a reversal, but as in guard passage, I couldn't get any further, unable to prise Joanna's grip apart. She eventually got to my back and started working for a choke, but I had my legs triangled around hers, which proved enough of a barrier to build my defence. Time ran out before we reached a conclusion, so I'm not sure whether she would have eventually choke me anyway, or if I was in position to spin back to top.

I'll be training again on Tuesday before my trip to Amsterdam, which is a bit less pleasant now that I can't spend as freely as I might due to the job worries. The meeting with my boss tomorrow should clarify things, so I'll know whether there's a realistic chance of keeping my job, as well as the relative size of the redundancy package if there isn't. Have to hope it will be enough to cover job hunting, which is going to be tough as I'll be looking for well-paid part-time work due to writing commitments.

28/11/2008 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #198



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 28/11/2008 - No-Gi

I haven't been along to a nogi class in a while, and it proved to be an education. In terms of technique, as is often the case in nogi, it was all takedowns. The high crotch starts by grabbing their same side arm, then drop your leading knee between their legs, hooking your opposite arm around their knee. Your head should be on the outside and raise up, while you drive forward with your read leg.

You then step around to the outside with your rear leg, grabbing their leg with both your hands, then stand up, raising their leg between yours as you do so. From there, you can drive for the takedown, but we just did the set-up. Alternatively, you can shift to the double-leg once you've dropped and got an arm round their leg. Simply switch that hand to their other leg, bringing your free same side hand around the knee you just released, then drive forward with your legs and sideways with your head to bring them down.

The rest of the class was all sparring, and this is where I found myself in some interesting situations. That's because it wasn't the usual specific sparring from a particular position, but instead specific sparring with a particular submission. Things started with only guillotines and leglocks allowed, which sounded painful: as I've mentioned before, leglocks scare me, but for that reason I'd like to get as familiar as possible with the defence. Liam proceeded to guillotine and leglock me repeatedly, though I managed to prevent the leglocks later on by triangling my legs.

Roger was about to limit us to just guillotines next, but fortunately broadened it out a little to chokes with the arms. Not that I was much better off, as I could only think of two chokes I might have any chance of applying in nogi, which were the aforementioned guillotine and an arm triangle. My attempts at the guillotine were terrible, but I did manage to work my way into a vague arm triangle position on Roberto.

Unfortunately I don't think I was on the right side of his arm (assuming that matters? I'm not sure, but I'm guessing its better to be by their shoulder than by their hand), and I couldn't get his arm pressed into his neck anyway. I tried locking the choke, realised it clearly wasn't tight enough, then attempted to nudge his arm properly onto his neck with my shoulder, which didn't get anywhere.

Next spar sounded nightmarish, as it was specific leglock sparring. I have never attempted a leglock ever, and barely know the defences, but fortunately I was with Nick Brooks, who teaches at RGA Mill Hill. As he is an experienced brown belt, I knew I could rely on his control. Of course, that also meant I was getting footlocked and leglocked over and over again. My tendency to fall back into guard or go to half-guard was a real liability, and triangling my legs to stop kneebars didn't help: he simply footlocked me instead.

It definitely makes you approach sparring differently when you know leglocks are very much in the picture, although in my case that basically means even more cautious than usual (not that caution proved of any benefit, except perhaps that I could tap quicker ;p). I'm also turtling up too readily (in general, not just nogi), which is handy for practicing choke defence, but a bad habit I need to get rid of. As I'm small and people often go easy on me, I also get a false sense of security, so that means I need to be even more careful of giving up my back too quickly.

It turned out there was only time for one round of free sparring, which naturally I sat out, having assumed there would be the usual five or six. However, the Friday nogi is only an hour, so that cuts down on sparring time. Saturday is the same, though that will provide me with the comfort of a gi: if we do choke specific sparring again, then I should be able to remember more than two options (I guess there is the anaconda too, but no way I'd remember all the steps).

27/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #197



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 27/11/2008 - Advanced

Everything tonight started from the half-guard, but in a position where you have your knee into their hip or torso. The hand on the same side as that knee reaches across and gets a deep grip on their opposite collar, your other hand also attacking that side, grabbing their wrist. The knee-in half-guard is something Aesopian has done a series of videos about, but last time I tried to do it back in May, I had real trouble getting my knee into place. Roger's demonstration was quite technique-heavy, showing us about four different options to start with in the space of a few minutes, so I'm not sure I caught them all.

The first was a sweep from half-guard. Having secured the above position, if you notice they are off balance, you can shove them to the side with the knee you have pressed into them, kicking out with the leg, then pull on their wrist and push on their collar. Possibly easier said than done, as I found it difficult to get the momentum and leverage right.

Another option is to collar choke from half-guard. Bring them in, grab their other shoulder, then squeeze for the choke as usual, pressing your wrists up into their neck. You can also do a slightly more complex loop choke from half-guard, where this time, you raise the elbow of the arm with a deep grip on their collar. Slide your other hand over the back of their head, locking it into the crook of your other elbow (Roger noted at this point you don't want to go too far in, or they'll be able to pop their head free). To complete the choke, bring your elbow even higher while the other arm drops, then try and push their head down into your wrists for the submission.

Finally, you can go for a kimura from the half-guard, again in the usual fashion. Sit-up, bring your collar arm over the top, figure-four gripping on their wrist, drop back and twist for the submission. It is quite likely at this point that they'll defend by holding the fabric of their trouser leg, whereupon you can move into a sweep. Put the foot of your knee leg onto the mat, then push up and into their side. Buck them forward and also lift with the leg you have between their's.

The difficult bit is to then bring both your legs up, then past your head, rolling over the shoulder furthest from your kimura grip. Done right, this will put you on top of them, whereupon you can either try to move into mount by freeing your leg, or bring them up on their side, step over their head and complete the kimura. Again, I found it difficult to get the leverage and momentum to complete this move.

We then did a bit of sparring from that knee-in half-guard position, where I didn't get anywhere as I was with a big purple belt called Duncan (IIRC: I met him back when he was a blue, but don't think I've spoken to him since). He was taking it fairly easy, but I still couldn't do anything to pass his half-guard, or to prevent him passing mine. I should be using the knee more to push them away, and also initiate some kind of attack.

Free sparring kicked off with Helen, who noted that she was tending to go a little cautiously when I was trying to wrap her up in half-guard, as she's had knee problems in the past so didn't want to mess them up again. I tend to frequently end up in half-guard with her, so I should instead take the opportunity to try for the top position, or perhaps concentrate on working free of side control. My bridge and shrimp still isn't what it should be, so I can always do with more work on that technique.

I was determined to at least make two spars tonight, so had to look around for a new training partner. The guy who Helen rolled with looked relaxed and controlled, and also not too huge: he turned out to be a good choice. I'm not sure if Adam is normally that laid back, as he said he was just returning from an illness, but I liked the measured pace of the spar. I spent most of it either in side control or half guard, trying to bring my torso to the same side as the leg I'd trapped.

This is frequently a problem for me: I should probably be doing more with my hands to make space to get to the other side, or to recover full guard. I eventually managed the latter, and had a vague attempt at a loop choke, but Adam easily slipped his head away from my grasp. So instead, I switched to the cross choke where you have one grip, then grab behind their gi with your other hand, then bring it over their head and around their neck. Time ran out soon after, but I don't think I had it deep enough anyway. Could have been an opportunity to try that trick Owen did to me a while back, where he simply opened his guard and pushed my legs back (hooking the inside of my own legs), thereby killing my choke defence.

My first no-gi class for a while tomorrow, which will mark only the third time I've made it to a Friday no-gi this year. My foot got slightly bashed again in stand-up earlier in the class, so hopefully that isn't going to be sore tomorrow. I want to make both Friday and Saturday, as that will make up for making just one class last week, as well as the week of no training earlier in October. I think it's time I looked over Indrek's 'Functional Half Guard' instructional again too, as I'm still so often finding myself in half-guard trying to get back to full.

12/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #193



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 12/11/2008 - Advanced

Tonight's class was again focused on escaping from when somebody is trying to take your back, but is still in front of you, pressing their chest down on your back. We covered two situations for escaping, first when they have their arms around your chest, the second when they're in a more cautious position with one over your shoulder, the other inside.

When you turtle up and your opponent wants to move to your back, the first thing they have to be careful of is that you don't wrap up on of their legs and drive through to side control. That means they'll sprawl back, to stop you getting a hold. Roger noted that if they go overboard with this and bring their legs too far away, you'll have space to simply return to guard. If they stay tighter, then they'll also normally try and secure some kind of grip on your torso.

If they circle your chest with both arms, that is a mistake on their part, according to Roger. To escape, first grab one of their arms with your opposite arm. You can now turn to that side, and they will not be able to post out because you've got their limb trapped. So, swivel over your shoulder moving your head up as you do so (I think), which should force them onto their back.

This means you now have your back on their chest. Walk your feet round towards their legs, then bring your free hand to the other side of their body, turning towards their hips and moving into side control. Don't turn towards their head, as this will potentially give them an opportunity to get to their knees.

The next escape is something I've seen called the wrestler's sit-out, presumably because it’s a common move in wrestling. This time, they don't circle your chest with both arms, being aware of the previous escape. Instead, they grip over your shoulder and then inside (I think: looked like the usual grip, though). To sit-out, first make some space by bringing your elbow up, aiming to clear their arm out of the way. Then bring your far leg through (so cross it in front of the other), 'sitting out' as far as you can. To help that motion, you should also raise your head, moving it backwards.

Continuing your momentum, immediately then swing your leg round and take their back. This is the part both I and Anne found more difficult: I kept finding that I was either going to my knees rather than doing it all in one, or not managing it all (when I tried to sit-out on my weak side). I think I've got the fundamental motion down ok one side to escape, so I just need to work on making that transition to the back properly.

We then sparred from that same position. Underneath, I sort of managed a sloppy wrestler's sit out, and also tried swivelling to my back at one point. Judo came in handy too, with that escape where you wrap their elbow and roll (which I realise was one of several techniques I'd forgotten to add to my last judo post, as we covered so much on Sunday). Only unfortunate part was that I had to cut it short, as due to limited space, almost crashed into somebody else nearby.

On top, I couldn't do much, except for a judo turnover at one point (grabbing an elbow with both hands and driving forward), but Anne mentioned she didn't think we were supposed to be doing that, so might have been a mistake on my part. I also had a vague go at the clock choke, but that just ended up being a loose grip on her collar without going anywhere, after which she escaped anyway.

My first free spar was also with Anne, where I spent much of it in guard, although partly that was because we had to keep on moving. Class was really busy tonight, so there were lots of flailing bodies to avoid. Later on, when we'd finally managed to find a bit of space, I was able to pass to half guard, then switched to mount. I wasn't able to hold it very well, but did manage to keep Anne on her side when she turned to escape.

I'd been thinking about that choke Nick showed us a while ago, so had been maintaining a grip on Anne's collar, but had earlier been stuck in half-guard. As she shifted to her side and I got my leg free, I saw my chance and moved into position. I got a knee by her head and up by her back, but didn't think I had a tight enough hold on Anne's collar: I also hadn't secured the fabric by her hip. I did get the tap, but it felt sloppy on my part, so I need to make sure I have all the grips in place next time.

That was followed by the usual roll with Tran, where I spent my time under half-guard and side control. I was able to ward off Tran's attempts to bring his leg over and go for a choke (he does that fairly often, so I was watching for it), but had more trouble when he almost got me in some kind of neck cranky thing. I wasn't sure how to get out, but as I could feel that I had enough room to get my legs up, I wrapped those around his head and pushed him away, which was enough to release his hold. Again, sloppy: it worked, but I'm sure there must be a better way of escaping.

Finished off by briefly sparring a purple belt named Lex, who's carrying a shoulder injury. This time, I spent the whole roll under half-guard considering how to avoid the choke that it looked like Lex might be trying, as he had a grip behind my head and on the collar. He was going easy, as he's a fair bit bigger, but I still wasn't sure what exactly to do in order to avoid getting stuck. Didn't really have time to find out, as firstly we kept bumping into the radiator, and secondly we'd started part-way through the round, so the beeper went off before anything developed.

My toe was ok tonight, though its still sore when I walk. Will have to keep being careful, as I could see it getting messed up if anyone yanked on it (e.g., I've noticed people sometimes grab and pull on the foot when I'm in half-guard, if they can reach it). Should be fine though, judging by tonight.

05/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #191



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 05/11/2008 - Advanced

Like millions of other people, I was pleased to wake up to the news that the US has finally emerged from the Bush years. Its also great that there is now a black man in charge of the country, although I have to admit I would much rather that it had been Hillary ushering in the first ever female presidency. Still, as that was no longer a possibility after the nomination battle, can't really complain.

Didn't make it to judo this week, but I have been along to two grappling meet-ups since my last session of BJJ, both through the Warwick Uni BJJ group. First one was last Sunday, which got a great turn-out thanks to Adam publicising the session to the judo club here on campus. We split into two groups, with Adam going through some chokes and armlocks, while I continued my usual focus on drilling basic escapes. I also added in sweeps (as I think drilling side control escapes to scissor sweep then back to side control escape to start over is really handy), which reminded me of the importance of using the power of your legs as well as arms to get your opponent off balance.

Also drilled some more open guard sweeps with Rosie, working the star sweep off of a failed handstand sweep (basically, maintaining your grip on their leg from the handstand, swing both your legs over to that side, come up facing away from your partner, then pull their ankle forward to knock them over). I'm not certain how effective it might be in sparring, but it does provide a helpful follow-up from the handstand. Injuries are something to be aware of, though, as Rosie noticed there was some potential of twisting your partner's knee if you weren't careful as you yank their ankle up.

Finished off by reminding myself of Nick's choke from the back, which was good to review, then a quick spar with Rosie. Having that two hours can be very productive, so it’s a shame that I wasn't able to book it for two hours again next Sunday: hopefully should still be able to use the judo slot from 17:00-18:00, as they don't actually do anything in that hour, normally (its supposed to be for a women's only class, which would be great, but apparently there isn't enough interest, last time I asked).

I also had another chance to do some drilling earlier today, as there's a gentleman named Lee who has been getting together some people for a bit of groundwork. From what I could tell, none of them had done BJJ before, with their experience being largely limited to traditional jiu jitsu. However, there was another guy who came along, Jack, who is quite the opposite, in that he actually has more experience than I do, having trained MMA for a few years and spent the last year teaching a class (with the qualifications to back it up, from what he said, along with at least one pro-MMA victory).

That meant that I went through my favoured basic side control bridge-and-shrimp escape followed by a scissor sweep (though I didn't demonstrate the grip on the collar too well: reviewing Roy Dean's Blue Belt Requirements DVD, I realise I should have emphasised that its up high on the collar, which sets you up for chokes), while Jack demonstrated some basic takedowns (the high crotch, if I'm using the right terminology on that one). Josh has got together the thirty names he needs to put forward a proposal to the Sports Fed to set up a BJJ club, so I'm hopeful that's going to produce something. The main concern is cost, so we'll see if there is anyone from Braulio's willing to teach at student prices. If not, some kind of submission grappling/MMA club with Jack at the helm might be a good alternative: we could use training fees to set up University of Warwick BJJ seminars with people like the aforementioned Braulio.

Getting back to tonight's class, there was a pleasing focus on basics. Roger showed us some fine details on chokes from mount, focusing on how to work your way past a tightly defensive opponent keeping their arms close. If they are grabbing their collar and you're finding it difficult to get a hand to their collar, you can use your hips to shove your arm past their defences.

First, grab the collar, then brace the elbow of that same arm against your hip. Shuffle your knees forward, using your hip to drive your arm and hand deeper into their collar. Remember to form your hand into a wedge, so that it can 'cut' through their blocking hands and arms.

Once you've got that deep grip, your partner is almost certainly going to try and bridge and roll to end up in your guard. To prevent that, you can use your free hand to base slightly above their head, and also use your forehead to post on the floor in lieu of your arm.

This means that when they bridge, this may result in them swivelling underneath you rather than rolling into your guard. Therefore you have the option of either trying to take their back, or alternately, swivelling yourself to go for an armbar. I got a little confused at this point as to direction, but the idea is to turn, then step over their head and trap their arm, letting go of the choke and securing their limb instead.

The second tip on getting the choke from mount related to a slightly different defence, where instead of grasping their collar, your partner has their hands close to their face, elbows in tight. This time, you can simply pull up on their hand, then use the space to slip one of your hands through to grab a collar. Again, use your free hand and forehead to post on the floor if they try to bridge.

To finish, drive your other hand (as before, forming a wedge with your fingers) between their head and other hand, reaching to get four fingers into their collar. From there you can now complete the choke, but keeping in mind that it is your wrists, rather than your arms, that enact the submission. Roger pointed to the significance of turning your wrists so your palms were facing away from your partner, then bending your wrists up to increase the pressure.

[Update May 2011: This video is from a few years later, but illustrates a similar variation on the technique. Make sure to press 'CC' at the bottom so that it turns red, as this enables subtitles. I've been taught another variation here, at the RGA Bucks affiliate in 2011]



Sparring started with Tran, who as ever stayed very tight. I tried to bridge and shrimp to make space, which was a good thing to practice, though it didn't lead to an escape. I need to work on combining the basic bridge and shrimp with other escapes: I tend to be a bit too singular and focus on just one rather than the other options it might flow into. I also need to watch that my partner doesn't get a knee into my back when defending the choke, which is how Tran submitted me today. I was being too complacent as he only had one hand in, but then that's all you need if you can use your knee for leverage.

Next up was Anne, where I spent most of my time in a triangle attempt by her, but I had both hands inside, so could make a frame and resist. I was trying to shuffle my shoulders forward to get back into a more secure position, but couldn't manage to make the space. I did eventually get both my arms free to go for a stack pass, but didn't raise Anne up onto my knees, so she had little trouble resisting.

Finally I rolled with Melissa again, this time finding myself mainly on the bottom rather than the previous scarf hold. My main aim was to push back her leg and get my knee through to recover guard, which I managed a couple of times, but need to set up better. I'm not too keen on doing sweeps from here, except the very simple arm sweep (as per Indrek's 'Functional Half Guard' instructional), though I should review some of the ones I've been shown (I generally find them too complex, so prefer to stick with solid, simple basics like recovering full guard).

I think its time I started thinking about chokes more, so want to take a good look at that section in The Guard. Of course, for that to be useful, I need to be better at getting back to full guard, which fits in with my long-standing half-guard goals.

15/10/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #185



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 15/10/2008 - Advanced

I've stepped up my physical activity now that term has got underway, which should eventually result in judo and BJJ twice a week each along with a session of salsa dancing (I had my first ever salsa lesson yesterday). So far I've only made judo on Mondays (this week and the one before), but as my gf is away this weekend, I should definitely make it to the Sunday judo lesson too.

On the same day, there should also be another Warwick Uni BJJ meeting: the activities room is booked from 16:00-17:00 for this Sunday, if you're interested in popping along. Might also get to go from 17:00-18:00, but that depends on if judo is running the women's only class this year (I hope they are, as that would be useful for getting my gf more involved). Josh, a first year at Warwick who trains his BJJ with Nick Brooks in Mill Hill, has been inquiring about getting Braulio Estima over to teach, and apparently Braulio is interested in doing so. That would be awesome, so head over to the Facebook group and let Josh know if you would attend that class (to get an idea of numbers). I'm not sure how feasible a proper Warwick University BJJ sports club is, but it would be cool if it happens. The more support, the more likely, so if you'd like to see it, tell Josh! ;)

Getting back to RGA tonight, Roger went through lots and lots of stand-up. I've said before that he's keen on incorporating judo, and that was especially clear today. We went up and down the room multiple times throwing, then did takedown sparring, with one person attacking while the other defends. Even in free sparring, we unusually started from standing at several points (though in my case that just meant either I or my partner pulled guard).

The technique was about how to finish a guard pass once you have your knee up and onto them. Roger particularly stressed the central principle of putting your weight on your partner rather than on the floor. So, rather than having your foot on the mat, lift it up so that you're driving your weight through your knee and into their stomach. The same thing applies as you're passing: don't just bring your knee straight to the floor, but slide it back along their leg, pressing your hip into them all the way through.

To go through the technique itself: you have your knee on their stomach, between their legs. Grip their collar with your same side hand, grabbing their other sleeve with your other hand. Your free foot is based out to the side, knee up – again, the idea is to get as much of your weight pressed into them as possible.

Pull up on their sleeve, push down on their collar and slide your knee along their leg, leaning back slightly to avoid being swept (but not too much, or you'll overbalance). Also make sure to use the elbow of your arm holding the collar to block their knee: they will try to bring their knee on top of yours if you leave any space, which will mess up your pass. Keep sliding your knee back along their leg and pressing your hip down, until eventually you can slip through and into side control.

We did some specific sparring from that position with your knee through, followed up by sparring from mount. I didn't really get anywhere either time, although I was with a recently promoted purple belt, Ludmil, so that's unsurprising. I did manage to grab the leg for a sweep from the knee through position, but I'm pretty sure he let me have it.

On top of mount, I was getting absolutely nowhere. Each time I tried to shift my knees up, and each time Ludmil just watched me inch up, then slipped out the back: I couldn't seem to do anything about it. Still much happier in side control or scarf hold than mount, although my top game in general remains poor.

My first free spar was with Tran, where I tried to put Roger's advice on keeping your weight on your opponent to use. However, there was another tip I needed to put into practice, which was provided by Tran: get your base, then if you can't pass, analyse why. The reason I was stuck was because while I had a grip on both Tran's collars, he also had a grip on both my sleeves, as well as getting his legs into position. Either way I was liable to get swept, so afterwards Tran suggested that I should have stripped one of his grips, then worked from there: with both sides locked up, I couldn't do anything.

Next I got a chance to go with Anne, which was cool, as I thought she was still in Brighton. I haven't seen her since SENI, so its great to have her back at RGA…but she is about to move even further away, to Tokyo. Getting to be a very well-travelled Frenchwoman! ;)

We started from standing, but Anne soon pulled guard. I managed to get through to half-guard top then tried to take her back, but made the mistake of leaving my foot dangling. I wasn't intending to go for a body triangle, instead aiming for the 'stamp and clamp' armbar from the back Nick G showed us a while ago. However, I ended up in a sloppy body triangle with aforementioned vulnerable foot, so Anne simply trapped it and subbed me by squeezing: yet another reminder to be extra careful of that trailing foot.

I later managed to pass half-guard again, this time moving into mount. The same situation I had with Ludmil happened, where I was just crawling up higher in mount without getting anything, but this time I thought I saw an opening for a mounted triangle. I got one leg under Anne's head, and was working towards locking it over my other leg when she tapped. I hadn't got anywhere near a mounted triangle, but Anne's wrist had been in an awkward position, so an entirely unintentional end to that part of that spar.

My next spar was with Indra, where as ever with Indra, I couldn't fully pass her guard. Each time I thought I was passed, she got to her side and escape: I find it almost impossible to flatten her out. I tried a few open guard sweeps, but was reminded of an important lesson: keep both yourself and your partner safe when sparring. I was going for some silly sweep or other without being entirely sure of what I was doing, and didn't notice Indra's neck was in a vulnerable position.

Fortunately she stopped me before I did any harm, but it was worryingly close. Being a good training partner is a high priority for me, so I really, really hate even almost hurting my rolling partners: must be more careful next time. Indra seemed fine, but I (and more importantly, my training partner) may not be so fortunate next time. I need to be more aware of their position as well as my own when executing any kind of technique, especially if I'm not totally clear of where they're going to end up.

Should be training again tomorrow, then I've got judo and Warwick Uni BJJ drilling to look forward to this Sunday, which should be cool. My new landlord is also supposed to be coming round at some point on the weekend, so hopefully that will be on Saturday: as long as they ring me first, should be fine, as its walking distance from the university.

08/10/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #183



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 08/10/2008 - Advanced

Its nice to finally escape packing, lifting, unpacking and cleaning, getting back to training instead. Judo was a good start, but unless something drastic changes, groundwork will always be where I'm most happy. So, great to be back in a BJJ class after the dull monotony of house moving.

Tonight's session was huge, the most people I've seen on the mat in a long time. It’s a testament to just how big those mats are that everybody had just about enough room to work, though we were definitely knocking into each other more often than normal. Was also cool to have Roger taking class again, chatting amiably before the lesson to his students.

As Roger has been focusing a lot on judo for a while now, with the help of Ray Stevens, he often incorporates a greater degree of throws than some of the other instructors. That was fitting, given that I've got back to judo myself this week: Roger even covered the same throws I'd gone through on Monday. He also showed some nifty looking trips, which are all about timing.

For the first one, you catch their leg mid-step, before they can put the foot down, dragging it out. That wrecks their balance, meaning you can then use your grips on their sleeve and collar to take them down. The other trip was similar, except this time, you grabbed their same side leg before they put their foot down, lifting it up and pushing on their shoulder, again aiming to knock them down.

Christina's arm is still a bit dodgy, as she had that nasty injury a little while back, so she was taking it fairly easy. Gave me a chance to have a go at the push sweep, though I didn't get it, and also continue attempting Nick G's two-on-one grip to go for sweeps. On top, I was trying to stand up and drive my hips forward, which I think is progressing, as I stood up most of the time rather than just sitting in my usual defensive posture during guard passage.

Techniques were all related to half-guard, with Roger demonstrated two half guard passes. The starting position was that you're standing, while they have sat up and wrapped around one leg: however, same principle applies if you're on top of them in half guard. Grip their knee and also the back of their gi, pushing down on both. Next, swing your free leg over and drop down beside them, shifting your grip from the back of their gi to their shoulder, driving your own shoulder firmly underneath their chin and into their neck.

This will stop them moving their head: without that head control, they could simply bridge into you and roll into top half guard. Once you've established that position, you can shuffle your hips back, then kick out their bottom leg, freeing your own limb in order to move into side control.

The next technique confused me a bit, but then as its only legal for brown belts and up anyway, not too much of a concern for me at this point. If they manage to get their head through so you can't secure the above controlling method, you can instead push yourself up on your hand and sit on their chest, facing their knees. If they have their legs loosely locked, you can hook the top leg and drop back for a knee bar. If their legs are tightly triangled, you can still drop back, but this time go for a figure four footlock. Something I'll have to review once I get to brown, which is a very long way off! ;)

I kicked off free sparring with Christina, where again I tried to use Nick G's open guard sweeps, but ended up in side control attempting to escape. I'm still not being pro-active enough under side control, so must concentrate on bridging forcefully, shrimping immediately afterwards, as well as trying to go to my knees. I have a tendency to just sit there and wait, which isn't going to help me improve technique.

Followed that up with Helen, where I was generally swivelling into half-guard as much as possible. I used Indrek Reiland's 'paw' concept to try and control her arms, but couldn't manoeuvre into the arm sweep I was looking for. I think I need to redouble my efforts to use half guard as a method of recovering full guard: that's discussed in Strategic Guard, which should be easier to look over now I finally have access to a scanner.

Session finished off with another free spar with Christina, after which there were some big promotions. First, Tran finally got his purple belt, to much cheering and whooping, followed by Bruno getting his brown, to an equally raucous reception. RGA is absolutely stuffed with senior belts now, so the future looks bright. There are already a bunch of affiliates, so I would expect many more as those purples and browns either start opening up their satellite academies straightaway, or wait until the black belt.

My back has been sore this week, which I assume is due to all the lifting during the move along with cleaning, and possibly that new bag I bought. Its a decent backpack, but the waist strap appears to be meant for fatter people, so I'll have to sew it up to make it cinch properly. Could also be that the judo didn't help, but either way, I'll be trying to avoid any further strain. Hoping to get in two sessions of judo on top of the two BJJ classes next week (along with a bit of salsa dancing, which should be fun), so may take my body a little while to settle into the new schedule.

28/05/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #149



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK - 28/05/2008 - Advanced

I popped to the doctor this morning to check out some spots on my leg, just in case I'd managed to pick up some kind of skin infection. Fortunately, it was just some kind of follicle thing: the young Asian GP's advice was to exfoliate and moisturise. Clearly I'm not metrosexual enough. ;)

Turns out that she's up for training some martial arts. I'd mentioned that I was concerned about skin infections due to grappling with sweaty people on a regular basis every week at BJJ. So, could be that she'll head off to the mats at Gracie Barra Birmingham (she wrote the name down), which would be cool. I always try and convince people to join up at their nearest Brazilian jiu jitsu school if it comes up in conversation.

Hefty warm-up from Jude, with lots of tuck jumps and squat stars, along with some guard passage. Unusually, we were broken into blue belts and below, then everyone else, rather than the more common weight categories. That meant I was up against some big sparring partners, who had little trouble breaking my posture and slapping on the armbar (though I keep making the very silly error of not using my trapped arm to grab the free one in order to make the escape: must stop doing that!).

I had a go at getting my knee under their buttcheek and going for the single stack pass, as in this Grappler's Guide video, but had trouble getting into position. I also found that they tended to grab the pant leg: the video is nogi, so that particular problem isn't covered. Still, useful tips on position, which helped in terms of getting my elbows in place so I could better capitalise when they opened their guard.

Technique tonight was taught by Roger, and featured more open guard sweeps, against standing. You wrap your leg behind their same side leg, also gripping their gi trousers on that side. With your other hand, your grip their opposite sleeve, while your free leg pushes on their hip. If they grab that leg and try to push it down in order to pass (their other side is blocked by your grips, so they have no choice), you have several options depending on where they put their leg.

Should they bring their leg forward, having tried to step round your knee, you can then wrap it up with your arm, bringing their ankle close to your head. Put both your shins against their knee, pushing it sideways. That should knock them to the floor: maintain your hold on their leg, which will put you in a good position to pass.

If they are more cautious and keep their leg further back, merely stepping to the side in order to start pushing their other knee through, your can instead bring both your feet to hook around their bottom. Pulling their sleeve across your body and pass your head to put them off-balance, you can then shove with your feet to send them rolling over. As soon as they start to go, switch your grip on their sleeve to their remaining gi trouser leg: that will leave you with control of both their legs, again putting you in a good position to pass as you come up into their guard.

A point to note was that Roger emphasised that you should always grab the pant leg rather than just the foot. This is because it is easier to break a hold on the foot, as you simply have to kick that foot forward to escape (or twist and kick out to the side). I still found that difficult when sparring from the position with Christina, as she kept my foot very close to her body, but that's just my general crappiness.

Sparring was a bit slow and steady tonight, as all three of my partners wanted to work from the bottom, leaving me to wallow in my extremely poor top game. I sat in top half guard with Christina for a while, not getting anywhere, until eventually she moved through to side control. Unfortunately time ran out, so I didn't get a chance to work escapes.

Tran is normally a excellent guy to work escapes with, but he also wanted to work his bottom game. We spent the early part with me scrabbling around his turtle position trying to find a way to get my hooks in, until I found myself in my accustomed place under his mount. However, Tran then immediately rolled over, as he wanted to work guard. I again tried to get into the single stack pass position, but Tran had little trouble getting my pant leg and sweeping me to mount, whereupon he went back to guard.

Finally, I had a roll with Zaf, who also wanted to work from the bottom (particularly as he's not feeling well: hopefully he'll get that cough seen to soon). That gave me a chance to yet again work that guard pass, but I had difficulty getting my knee under his buttcheek. I attempted to rock forward and back to make some space, but couldn't quite wedge myself in. Zaf let me pass a while later, though he still had a firm grip on my hand (not sure if he was going for a wrist lock or something like that, but it took a while to get my hand free: he presumably eased off too). Bit of practice on top side control and then half-guard, after which the spar ended.

At the end of class, Sasha and a big bearded guy I've not spoken to before got their blues, followed up by another purple promotion. This time, it was Gavin, who's been a high level blue for quite some time now (with a heavily frayed belt to show for it). Gradings are coming thick and fast, so will be interesting to see who gets moved up next: possibly Tran? Will have to see.

Roger is off to the Mundials tomorrow, along with a few other people from the Academy (Aika, Oli, Junior, one of the purple belts and Nick G, I think). Will be cool to see some RGAers in the medals, though of course our instructor tends to do pretty well at competition. ;)

12/03/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #126



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK - 12/03/2008 – Advanced

My mats arrived on Monday, so only took six days: got to put them to use that evening, working mount and side control with my gf. I was once again reminded of how often the person who learns most from teaching is the teacher, as I'm still forgetting little details that come to light when I realise I'm showing something wrong. On Monday, that was related to getting to elbow up when trying to move from side control to mount, a problem I've been having in sparring too. I realise now what I've been missing is switching my base so I can use my knee to help scoop up and trap the elbow, after which you switch back to secure it and then make space to slide your knee over.

I've only got two mats at present, so that’s just 1x2m, which is pretty small. Works ok when focusing on guard, but have to be a bit more careful with mount and side control. Then again, its going to be a while before my gf feels comfortable sparring (right now we're just doing a bit of isolated resistance on things like mount escape, chokes etc), so its not too much of an issue yet. When she gets to a level where she's getting used to moving around on the bottom and sweeping me, may have to invest in a another two mats to create a 2x2m area, but that’s a while off yet.

Tonight's lesson started off with lots of stand-up, which is relatively common when Roger is teaching. We also did some sparring from stand-up, which tends to leave me very confused: I ended up just trying to keep my balance and drag my partner off their's. I'd prefer we didn't do much in the way of throws, but its unavoidable given the importance stand-up has in competition.

The sole technique we learned was the arm drag, which is useful. Roger showed how it could be used whether or not the other person was standing, but the main method he demonstrated was from butterfly guard (your feet hooking their inner thighs). Grab their sleeve with one hand, gripping under their armpit with the other. Step out your same side foot and simultaneously drag them across your body, shifting to their back as you do so. You should already have one hook in, due to your other foot remaining between their legs, and ideally can bring your free foot over, securing the second hook.

Roger also noted that you need to stay low on their back, not bringing your head past their shoulders (I think: might have been slightly further forward than that). Otherwise, you can get dumped over your opponent's shoulder.

Specific sparring, unsurprisingly, was from butterfly guard. I found that a strange experience, as if I ever find myself in butterfly, its normally because I'm attempting to transition to closed guard, or just flailing about in open guard. So, unusual to have it as a static starting point. I attempted the arm drag a few times, but Christina was amply prepared, not having too much trouble passing my guard. I need to not only try and control the hips from open guard, but also get better purchase on their arm, such as with a foot in their bicep. Something to experiment with, as I'm continuing to get bunched up on one side.

On top, I tried passing and got through to half guard eventually. As I've been trying for the past few weeks, I had a go at dragging up the arm to set-up the kimura, but couldn't isolate the limb. Still, I did manage to just about maintain my position, and it felt a little more proactive than before, but then again the point was to pass, not hold half-guard top. I also managed to drive through to side control at one point, but it was sloppy, more a matter of just pushing rather than any kind of refined technique. That doesn't help me, as while it might occasionally succeed in class, its never going to result in improved technique on my part, which is my central goal when sparring.

We then went to side control, and as before, when I managed to lock in a solid position on top, it became a stale mate. Thinking of my drilling earlier in the week with my gf, I tried to bring my knee into play and dig out Christina's elbow, but without success. Still, does at least give me something to go for, though I need more options to make my specific sparring more productive. Its good to have a technique to work on, but better to have at least two I can switch between.

Free sparring kicked off with Liam, who I haven't sparred with for ages. He was pretty dominant, though I managed to snatch half guard at first. We struggled there for a while, until he passed to mount. Liam stayed active on top, going for chokes and armbars, his knuckles trying to work their way to my neck. I reacted by blocking that with my own hand, and bucking Liam before he could secure a good position. Eventually, I got the bump and roll, coming up in his guard, but was too far forward. This is becoming a recurring problem for me when I manage to escape mount: I go from getting squashed to a triangle. Normally, I at least have two arms in, but often its only just in. However, I think I get a little complacent when I'm in that position, because I know I won't be choked, just uncomfortable.

My other arm instinctively slipped out, meaning I was both vulnerable to the triangle and to the armbar, which is the option Liam took. I must remember to watch my posture when rolling up from under mount into their guard, as I keep leaning forward and opening myself to triangles and armbars.

After my usual break, I then went with Pippa, who I also haven't sparred in a while. I pulled guard, although I didn't have it locked: one leg was over her back, the other hooking her thigh. I tried to use my knee to prise her elbow up in order to go for the kimura, but while that did enable the figure four, I wasn't able to twist her arm due to her grip. I also had a try at the choke where you get one lapel and then grab behind their gi, bringing your arm over to get in position. That didn't go anywhere though, because Pippa had her chin tucked so I couldn't get to her neck.

Eventually I got a sweep, moving through to half guard. I again tried to bring my knee to her armpit and pull her arm up for a kimura, like I'd attempted with Christina, but still couldn't free the arm. However, I did at least push through to mount, with her arm loosely across her neck. I thought briefly about trying some kind of arm triangle, but before I could go for anything I could feel her escaping. So, as the arm was there, I had a go at the armbar, but left way too much space, meaning Pippa moved to her knees.

She wasn't in my guard and I still had a firm grip on her arm, but I could see she was about to either pass or end in my closed guard. Instead of just pulling her into guard and giving up the arm, I tried swinging my leg over: I wasn't really going for anything in particular, as I can never remember how to do an omoplata, so it was just a vague attempt to not end up in guard. Pretty much by fluke, she tapped as I'd put on some kind of shoulder lock – I was worried I might have accidentally cranked it, given that I wasn't even aware I was in position for a sub. Sounded as if her shoulder was ok when I asked her, but can be hard to tell. Hopefully she's ok: I'll have to keep in mind the submission potential next time, so I don't end up hurting anybody by being a clueless noob flinging my leg around.

Finally, I went with Tran, which is always an excellent test of my escapes. I tried to pass from knees, but could see I was about to go over. Before he could secure mount, I grabbed at half guard. We stayed in that position for a while, as Tran stayed typically tight, until eventually he squeezed through to mount. I've been trying to shift from half guard to getting a hook in, which would then ideally give me the option of butterfly and closed guard, but not quite sorted the technique yet. Hasn't worked so far in sparring, but gives me another option from underneath (as opposed to my current "terrified squirrel" technique).

At one point, I managed to roll into Tran's guard, but just like with Liam, I was trapped in the triangle/armbar combination. Later on, Tran managed to get a very bizarre looking sub. I had been trying to slip out of mount, when he got his knee over my arm, leaving me fairly helpless. My other arm was pressed against my own throat, with his other leg over my head. He then used the leg trapped my first arm to press my neck into my own forearm, resulting in a choke. Or something along those lines, if I understood his explanation correctly: effective, either way!

Should be training again tomorrow – that thumb hasn't healed yet, but I haven't noticed any major problems because of it so far. I also got a good scraping from the gi, but fortunately it didn't quite go in my eye. Skin may be a little raw tomorrow, though.