26/01/2009 - BJJ (Intermediate) - Last Class at RGA!

Class #210



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Gustavo Dos Santos Pires, London, UK - 26/01/2009 - Intermediate

As you can probably gather from the lack of posts, I decided to concentrate on interview preparation since my last class on the 12th. As I’ll be busy Wednesday, that means tonight is going to be my last class at RGA, at least for the moment (might well return to London to work some time in the future).

Bullshido has had an interesting new addition, in the form of Mark Tripp. While he registered back in 2005, Tripp only just starting posting this month, and has already shared a bunch of great stories from his many years of experience:

Mark Tripp’s Background
Tokyo Police Aikido
The ‘KI’ Master
Choked Out by Gene LeBell
Gene LeBell’s Advice On Respecting the Tap
The Seagal Incident
Chuck Norris ‘Kills’ Gene LeBell
The Silat Challenge
Practical Joke

Well worth checking out the threads those posts came from, particularly if you’re keen on grappling.

Getting back to tonight’s final class at RGA, which was also the first time I’ve been taught by Gustavo for a while. As usual, he showed us some open guard sweeps, from a sort of spider guard position. One foot is pressed into their same side bicep, while that side hand is gripping their opposite collar. Your other hand is holding their same side sleeve, while the foot on that side goes against their hip.

Starting with them standing up in this position, Gustavo demonstrated how you can pull them into two basic submissions. First, you can drag them into a triangle, by yanking on the sleeve, raising your hips and flinging your legs into the triangle. Alternately, if they twist, you can shift the foot on the bicep to slide under their armpit, pull on their sleeve and bring your other leg over their head for the armbar.

Gustavo then showed us two sweeps, for when they have their knee raised up to block armbars and triangles. For the first sweep, take the foot you have on their hip and instead weave it under their thigh and hook with your instep (so, sort of De La Riva position). Pull on their sleeve, this time bringing their arm out, then back under their own leg (Paxton described it as a ‘looping punch’ motion). You can now use that momentum to shove them over, ending up in side control.

Finally, you could instead switch your grips, so that instead of holding their lapel, grab their sleeve with both hands. Then straighten out the leg by their raised knee, so that its lying alongside them. Switch the hand nearest that leg from their sleeve to their same side heel.

Now swing your other leg all the way over past their head, so that you are facing away from them on all fours, but still maintaining a grip on both their sleeve and their heel. Again straighten out the leg nearest theirs, then pulling on their heel, continue your roll, knocking them over your own leg and shifting around to side control (you could also try and go straight through into mount, but their knee may be in the way. If that’s the case, follow your momentum to go through to side control).

I had trouble stripping Paxton’s grips in specific sparring from the closed guard, as his hands were glued to my hips. I only managed to do anything much when he made a mistake, and the same was true on top. At one point he tried to switch from a triangle to an armbar and I squeezed past, and on another occasion I think he was going for some sort of sweep, but there was enough force that I could bounce right over into side control.

In free sparring, I began with Melissa, who was stopping over in London on her way to the European Championships in Portugal at the weekend. She wanted to start from standing, presumably to prepare for that competition. After a bit of wibbling round, I eventually pulled guard, then spent most of my time squirming to get into half guard. Melissa loves going for chokes, so I also found myself constantly defending against that too. I’m still being too complacent, shoving an arm in between when she went for the cross choke. That did give me enough leverage to shift my hips over and get into a position where I could push back against the choke with my legs and get breathing room, but its a bad tactic. I should instead be trying to prevent the choke altogether, rather than just delay it: anyone stronger than me is liable to still get the choke despite my weedy arm-wedge.

For my last ever spar at RGA, I didn’t want to pick just anybody, and therefore waited for Paxton. He’s been a great training partner ever since he started at RGA, a few months after me, so it was satisfying way to finish my time at the academy.

I managed to roll him over from side control to come out on top, but with the important caveat that whereas I’d just sat out two rounds, Paxton had been rolling. Had we both been equally knackered, I doubt I could have reversed him like that. Similarly, I escaped from several choke attempts from mount, knee-on-chest and the back through repeated bridging, but that is much easier when you’re fresh.

I had a go at the ‘running man’ escape from side control Saulo demonstrates, but did it wrong so basically just gave up my back. I’d earlier also tried Damian Maia’s side control escape, where instead of pressing a forearm into the neck, he wraps his arm over their head. I’d be wary of getting submitted that way, but had some success with Melissa using Maia’s technique.

Not entirely sure where I’ll be training next week, but should hopefully be able to sort something out. I’d like to return to RGA some day, if I ever find myself working in London again, but we shall see. Would be very cool to head back and see all my old training partners flying up the belts. :D

12/01/2009 - BJJ (Intermediate)

Class #209



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK - 12/01/2009 - Intermediate

Tonight was concentrated on guard passing, which continues to be my worst area. Maurição stuck with the basics, beginning with a straightforward standing guard pass. Post your hands on their chest, spring up to your feet, also grabbing one of their sleeves. Push their knee on the other side off your hip, bouncing to help dislodge their hold.

Once that limb is loose, immediately clamp their knee to the floor, bringing your own knee over the top to pin their leg. Swing your other leg behind you, then put your nearest hand by their hip, in order to block them. Shift your first leg under the other, staying sprawled out: don’t bring your knees up to their side yet, as that gives them a window of opportunity to get their knee through and escape.

If they put up resistance when you try the leg pin pass - e.g., block your knee, shrimp onto their side etc – then you can switch to a different guard pass. Get your same side arm under their leg, grabbing their opposite collar (palm down, so your fingers are on top). From this position, you can either move around past that trapped leg, shifting your hips and keeping the pressure on to slip through, or try moving round the other side.

Specific sparring with Justin was rather one-sided, as he had no problems at all either passing my guard or sweeping me. I attempted the hook sweep as usual, though need to be careful I’m not too exuberant when disengaging closed guard: I ended up flinging myself right off and Justin simply used gravity to go straight to side control.

I tried my favoured (but almost always ineffectual) kneeling guard break, but wasn’t able to open up Justin’s guard. Nick G stepped in at this point, noting that its difficult to keep control of their hips with that technique, especially if they have a size advantage. He suggested I should instead be trying to stand more often, and also briefly demonstrated another kneeling option. Your posture stays low, grabbing the gi material on their sides, after which you gradually work your knee through: Nick noted that you have to be very wary of chokes when doing that.

Next up was side control, this time with Liam. Again, on top I was being flung off or reversed with ease: I kept overbalancing, and I’m still not mobile enough in transitioning. I had a go at the knee-on-chest Maurição showed us last week, but not getting that knee in right yet. I’ll keep practicing, as I’m keen to establish an option that doesn’t require you to get their elbow clear first, along with the typical pass which does.

Underneath I was more comfortable, shifting around and following Liam to prevent the pass, but nothing more than that. I was simply holding him off rather than getting near to escaping. That continued into free sparring, which unfortunately today was a continuous line-up rather than picking our own partners. I spent almost the whole of that thirty minutes in half-guard, which was ok if my partner wasn’t too big, but I got smashed when trying that against the beefy Polish guys.

In the midst of that smashing, the second of the Poles was looking for a guillotining, but ended up face cranking me instead. I didn’t want to tap to that, as its not going to help him against anyone his size or bigger so bad habit to get into, but on the other hand, I probably should have just saved myself some pain and restarted. Eventually slipped out, but my face and neck were a little sore at the end of class.

Most useful tip was when I went with Nick. He disdainfully looked at my “flop on the floor” approach to sparring from the knees, advising me that I have to ensure I establish some grips, even if I’m planning to pull guard. I also need to prevent my partner from getting grips: I’m way too complacent when going from knees, as I pretty much assume I’m going to be defending for the majority of the spar, so don’t pay much attention to their opening grips. Something to rectify.

Finally, Nick also had some advice for the mounted triangle. He let me get to mount in order to see what I’d do, but noted that once I’d got a leg under their head, I was raising up my other leg in order to lock on the triangle. That’s a mistake, as it gives your partner the chance to escape: you should keep your hips down and weight low all the way through the technique. So instead of lifting your leg to try and get it around your foot, pull your ankle back enough that you can slot it into place behind your other knee.

Should be training again on Wednesday, but I have some preparation to do for a job interview next week, so may stay at home in order to work some more on that. Depends how far I get tomorrow night.

07/01/2009 - BJJ (Intermediate)

Class #208



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Gregoriades, London, UK - 07/01/2009 - Intermediate

The classes have now been split into Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. White belts start with the Beginner class, then on getting their third stripe they can progress to Intermediate. Once they get their blue belt, they can only train in the Intermediate, until they get their third stripe on that new belt. Then they can move into Advanced, to which they're restricted once they get to purple.

That means that several of my favourite training partners are now, understandably, training in Advanced rather than the new Intermediate session, like Christina, Helen and Tran (the latter two who, as purple belts, couldn't train in Intermediate anyway). Still, plenty of good people left, like Paxton, Tanvir, Anne and Indra, all of whom were there today.

Paxton gave me several good tips on throws, which I think he heard from Bruno. On the seoi-nage, grip a lapel with your same side hand. Use your grip to pull across to put your partner off balance, then twist into them, bringing your free arm underneath theirs, then lifting them in the usual way (remembering to use your bicep to hold them and not your shoulder, or they may be able to choke you).

Also, on the tai-otoshi, make sure you really pull and push with your arms: I keep making the mistake of forgetting to use my arms sufficiently, which goes for various other techniques too. It will be good to get in some more judo, as that will help lots with the 'kuzushi' part of things, learning how to properly unbalance an opponent and enter into throws. Shall have to see how my schedule works out, once I find a new job.

Specific sparring from side control raised the familiar problem of being unable to clear their elbow. I was trying to get my other knee underneath to scoop their arm out of the way, but couldn't quite manage it. I switched to north-south instead, as its better than a stalemate, aiming for the reverse scarf hold transition Iain showed us in judo a while back. I was able to get my elbow into one of their armpits, but failed to remember how the rest of the technique went. Underneath, I was mostly just stuck under knee-on-belly for a while.

The focus on knee-on-chest tonight was therefore rather useful: I've never used it, as I've always felt way too unstable and easily moved. I feel much more comfortable in side control or in scarf control. Best of all, not only was Nick there to teach the correct positioning, we were also lucky to have a man present who is famous for his knee-on-chest, Maurição.

To transition from side control to knee-on-chest, you first need to clear their elbow. Use your knee to do this (the leg furthest from their head), then switch your hips back to trap their arm. Grab the collar behind their head with one hand, with the other should be pressed into their far hip, both hands attempting to push firmly towards the floor.

From there, push off with your arms and pop your knee onto their chest (Nick mentioned that while the position is often called knee-on-belly, knee-on-chest is more accurate, as pressure on the chest is a lot more effective than pressure on the belly). The knee should be pointing towards their far shoulder, keeping your toes off the floor to maximise the amount of weight on your partner. Your other leg should be stretched out, making sure that it isn't easy for them to grab it.

Keep your hips as low as possible, meaning you end up sitting on them, but with your bum off to the side of their body. To further add to their discomfort, the arm that is gripping their collar can be used to press into their face, making it difficult for them to turn their head.

At this point, Maurição stepped in with a great tip. Even if you can't clear their elbow, you can still transition to knee-on-chest. Bring the knee nearest their face right up to their head. Grip their collar and hip as before, and again push up and bring your knee to their chest. Though they have an elbow in the way, you will simply shove past it, bringing your knee outwards in a small arc as you do so. I'm always having trouble getting past that elbow, so this should be very useful for me.

To finish, Nick then showed us an armbar from knee-on-chest. Having got your knee in place, the natural reaction of your partner is often to push on that knee with their hand. It's painful, so shoving with the hand is the immediate response to get rid of all that pressure. However, this also frequently means that there will now be a gap by their elbow.

You can take advantage of this by feeding your hand through (on the inside). Wrap your hand around the back of their bicep and pull in tight with your arm. That should now mean you can squash their arm against your shoulder (I also wondered if a gooseneck wristlock might be an option at that point, given the angle of the wrist: Roy Dean shows a bunch on his DVD, though I don't remember them being from this position). Push down on their face and step your leg over their head.

Having trapped their arm, you can now spin all the way to the other side to go for an armbar. Nick noted that at this point, many people make the mistake of not spinning far enough, so lose the armbar. To prevent that, grab their trouser leg to help pull yourself round: you want to be facing the opposite wall, making a complete spin. Finally, drop back and go for the armbar, squeezing your knees together.

Technique was so in-depth today (always a good thing, in my opinion: the more detail on technique the better), sparring was cut a little shorter. As I normally only do two or three, that wasn't much of a concern for me, just meant less resting time. I started off with Tanvir, who has recently come back from a knee injury. I was looking to go for the hook sweep again, but still not properly bending my partners at the waist properly.

When I could see I was losing control of Tanvir's leg, I secured a De La Riva hook instead. That did indeed give me better control, but I then didn't know what to do with it: should take another look at sweeps from there. I made sure not to do the same thing on the other leg, as especially because I'm not as familiar with De La Riva as half-guard, I didn't want to do something random and exacerbate the knee problem.

With Indra, I was again looking for the hook sweep. Got a bit closer this time, but as against Tanvir, I wasn't getting the necessary bend. Indra was able to push with her knees and break my control, getting back to a sitting position. I tried going for an armbar instead, but as usual with my submission attempts, left way too much space so she spun out. I at least ended up with a sloppy side control rather than losing control altogether, but had time run out I imagine Indra could have escaped from that too.

In half-guard I was finding the lockdown useful again, in terms of preventing Indra from getting into a good position to pass. I aimed to push her leg back to disrupt her base, then try to shrimp to the other side, press on her other knee with my arm and hopefully make enough space to get a knee through for closed guard. Worked twice, I think, but I should be using my arms more and being careful not to end up flat on my back.

At the end of class, lots of gradings, which is in keeping with the various new belts I saw earlier that night. Jason is now a purple belt, and I saw a new brown belt too, so most likely others I missed. It was mainly stripes in the Intermediate class, with one new blue belt. Indra, Anne and I all got another stripe, which puts me on two. Always pleasant to get a promotion of any sort, but as its time based, I'm not sure what it will mean when I train somewhere else, as I will have to leave RGA at the end of January. Hopefully I can shift to one of the affiliates (such as Jude's new place in Kilburn), but that all depends on cost and how long I'm in London.

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.

22/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced), Evening

Class #206



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Gregoriades, London, UK – 22/12/2008 - Advanced

I’d forgotten just how much Dutch painting the National Gallery displays, so that made for an enjoyable continuation of the Amsterdam trip. As ever picked up the audio guide, both touring round the various Vermeers, Rembrandts and Avercamps, along with revisiting old favourites of mine, like Hobbema’s ‘The Avenue at Middleharnis’. Rooms 16-17a, 21-29 and 31, in case anyone else wants to do the same (though I didn’t have quite enough time to really indulge in Room 29, which is dedicated to Peter Paul Rubens, or Anthony Van Dyck in Room 31. Belgium etc tends to be grouped together with the Netherlands, as at the time it was all the Low Countries, IIRC, before splitting over religious differences).

Back to BJJ for the evening class, where this time Nick G went over some fine details on the triangle from guard. He emphasised curling your toes back as well as your feet to tense up your calves (and thereby tighten your choke), pulling the head down, squeezing your knees together, and bringing your shoulders to your knees rather than raising your hips. That confused me a bit, as I thought raising the hips was an integral part of the triangle, but I think Nick’s point was that pushes them away and gives them a chance to posture up. Not entirely certain, however: maybe he’ll go through it on his blog in the future?

The other detail Nick added was countering the common defence to a triangle, where they grab your knee with both hands, drive it to the mat, then try to force open your legs using their bodyweight. If they attempt to grab your knee, grab it yourself with your other hand, then lay your same side hand on the mat. This is going to provide you with some traction, as you now need to switch your hips. By doing so, your training partner has lost that opportunity to escape, and is in a far worse position.

Guard passing with Adam was in my usual defensive mode, and got a bit circular. He kept going for either an armbar or cross-choke, and I kept shifting my knees to prevent him making sufficient space for the former, or bringing my arms over and pushing his away for the latter. What I should have done was try to stand up and pass. I was looking for a chance to try the Saulo guard break, but couldn’t settle into position: standing up would have been more productive.

Free sparring started with Roberto. I was keen to give Jude’s half-guard sweeps a try, so immediately pulled half-guard, but unfortunately forgot about getting onto my side. Roberto had me squashed underneath him, so I couldn’t grab his sleeve cuff. Also, that is a follow-up to when the first sweep doesn’t work, so I should have tried that one first. Instead, I lay there trying to work out what hand went where, then eventually worked back to full guard, not being able to establish position for the sweep, or indeed remember the technique properly.

Last spar was with Zaf, but as often happens (to my benefit), it was more Zaf offering me tips. First he commented that if I want to try the Saulo guard break, I need to twist my hips, so they’re facing diagonally rather than square on. That should make me it harder to sweep me. Secondly, if I’m in the mount and attempting to use my head as a third hand, I need to put my free hand and forehead on the same side. Previously, I’d been putting my head on the other side, which doesn’t sufficiently help with balance, meaning I still get reversed.

That wraps up this year of BJJ, unless I’m both near London later in the month and the Academy is actually open. Nice to see Adam get his blue belt at the end of the session: hadn’t realised that like me, he also has a Turkish background (or to be more specific, Turkish Cypriot in his case), which is always cool. Now I can sit back, eat lots of mince pies and generally be enormously unhealthy. Merry Christmas! :D

22/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #205



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK – 22/12/2008 - Advanced

Slightly strange start to the class, in that a bunch of us wandered outside in our gis to go move some mats. Mix up on where they were supposed to be by the workmen, possibly, but not entirely sure. I’ve not made it down to a Monday class before, but I’m guessing that isn’t normally the case. ;)

Main thing today was half guard sweeps. For both, you need to get up on your side: if they manage to put you flat on your back, you won’t be able to execute the sweep. Start by disengaging your half guard, pushing on their leg and then bringing your outside knee into their chest. To stop them pressing you out flat, you can also use your other leg, bringing the inside knee up to block their weight coming forward.

Get a high underhook, right up under their armpit, knocking them forward. With your other hand, open their gi, then feed the trailing fabric round to the underhooking hand. You can now force their head to the floor, which establishes the position for your sweep.

Swivel round toward their leg: this time, you do want to go flat on your back. Your inside leg comes up, rocking them forward. Using this momentum, you’re aiming to bring them over with your foot.

I found the technique rather complex and got confused, so I’m doubtful I remembered it correctly, particularly as this was the first of two classes. The second half guard sweep felt simpler. It starts off the same, but this time, they avoid your underhook, bringing their arm over yours. Take advantage and grab the sleeve cuff of that arm, pulling it down to the floor.

With your other arm, reach over their back and grab their belt, or a handful of gi material (if the belt has come loose). Shuffle back, then bring your outside foot in, establishing a hook (so, sort of half-butterfly guard). Your other leg stays between their legs: kick this through in order to generate the momentum to sweep them to your side, coming up into side control.

During guard passage, I started on my back, but was faced with one of the biggest people in the academy, Mike. Still, I found that I was able to briefly hold him off by using my knees after he stood up. Even though he eventually crushed through, it did make me think I should use my knees more often to block.

I was planning on doing the evening class later on, and also wanted to leave plenty of time for going round the National Gallery, so had intended to go shower before sparring. In the end, I decided to do one round, with Liam. That proved to be a good idea, as I managed to apply several sweeps. The Tran side control escape worked once again: that one is all about timing, though if your partner is especially quick moving from side control to mount, its going to be difficult to effect.

I think I also got some kind of random half-guard sweep, using hooks, and then later on, I grabbed onto a foot without having anything specific in mind. I can remember being shown a sweep a while back, along with what Eddie Bravo calls the ‘old school’, but the only part I remembered was holding the foot. Either way, it worked, but that’s not too helpful if I’m not sure why. Will have to check through the blog, and also have another look at the basic half-guard section of Mastering the Rubber Guard (which is the only section I’ve paid much attention to up until now).

On top, I was working to trap the knee when passing, after Liam opened his guard. I got through to half-guard once or twice, but found it tough to get around Liam’s legs. I need to put my weight down better, and also control their hips, as otherwise it’s a simple matter for my training partners to shift away as I try to pass.

20/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #204



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Gregoriades, London, UK – 20/12/2008 - Advanced

Not having a job means more time for training! So, sparring class tonight, which I'll hopefully follow with doubling up on Monday. That will also give me the chance to either go take another look round the National Gallery, or perhaps check out the exhibition at the Royal Academy. I'm intending to do the afternoon class followed by the evening session, which leaves me a good chunk of time to indulge in some great art.

My first roll tonight was with Christina, where I was trying to remember to watch my trailing arm. Arm placement under side control came up again, with Christina advising to avoid putting the forearm under the neck (having just applied an Americana after I did so). Wedging the forearm underneath is my standard defensive position under side control, but clearly I'm not doing it right if I'm leaving that arm open. From what I remember of Kevin's advice from a while back, I think my problem is that I'm not tucking my elbow under their armpit, meaning it is more vulnerable to submission.

Tran offered similar advice when I asked him where he puts his arm under side control, also saying that you should it to make space then quickly slip the arm through, so you can turn to your knees. I hardly ever turn to my knees, as I'm far too used to staying on my back. That probably is part of the reason why I so frequently find myself struggling under knee-on-belly, against both Christina and Tran. I'm continuing to attempt to use my elbow to shrimp out, but need to come up more on my side.

Dominique was at the academy too tonight, so I was keen to get in a roll with her. I managed to sweep from under half guard, though as ever I’m not sure if weight difference had something to do with that. Whether or not it did, I still had trouble passing half-guard, again attempting the one where you swing your free leg over, but I don’t think I’m trapping their head sufficiently, or putting them flat enough on their back. I did eventually squeeze past, but mainly because Dom was already knackered from a tough spar with Christina.

The fourth spar was with Lubo, who I also haven’t seen for a fair while. He normally trains at Mill Hill, but several of the people from there were in attendance tonight. He repeatedly choked me out on top of half-guard, and also kept catching me with the exact same entry and sweep when we started from the knees. I’m crappy at guard passing closed guard, but even worse against open guard.

That was driven home in my final spar with Jude. I was pretty clueless in trying to get past his legs, especially when he also secured a grip on my sleeve. I spent the rest of the spar flung around by his legs, and then repeatedly put in various collar chokes. He was taking it easy, so gave me a chance to escape, but even when I laboriously worked my way free, I immediately got caught in another. Also, as with all my sparring today, I’m being too flat on my back when on the bottom.

Maurição announced that Jude would be leaving the main academy to head up the instruction at RGA’s new Kilburn location. Jude has taught me most often out of the many black belts at RGA, so it will be sad to see him go. Of course, I’ll be going myself next month: my hope is that I’ll have found a new job in the Midlands by February, but if not, I might look into training with an RGA affiliate.

Chatting to Dominique, Mill Hill might be a good option, as there is the possibility of paying per lesson rather than a monthly fee, which would be handy now that I have considerably less disposable income. Shall have to look into it if I’m still near London in two months.

After class, a bunch of us headed off to a meal organised by Christina at Bodean's, not too far from the academy. Good food and reasonable prices (along with awesome company, of course!), plus the service was really good. The manager kept coming up to check we were ok, and seemed both friendly and personable. Was also cool to see Oli D again, who now trains with Ben at the Farringdon class: he's one of the first people I met back when he used to train at RGA.

18/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #203



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK – 18/12/2008 - Advanced

Some technical details on the osoto gari tonight, with a useful follow-up. Pull them in and up, step your foot across - not in the middle of their legs – then step your other foot behind, dipping slightly in preparation for the throw. If they anticipate and step their leg around to prevent the trip, you can now simply switch to step behind their other leg, moving your head to the other side of their's, then trip them that way. I had problems getting my left foot close enough that I could step over effectively, so that's something I need to think about next time.

Groundwork consisted of two butterfly guard passes. The first was relatively straight forward. Grab their gi and straighten your arm, making space: you don't want to be close, as that makes you vulnerable to a sweep at this point. With your other hand, grab their opposite gi pant leg and pull downwards. You're steadily attempting to isolate one side of their body, completing the act by raising your same side knee.

Press that knee into their side of their upper thigh, twisting into them and keeping your weight down. Your grip on the back of their gi should also help keep them squashed into the floor. Finally, bring your rear leg over, switching your base, and slide up into side control.

The next pass was rather more complex. This time, grab their sleeve with your same side hand, moving your elbow in close to their body. Your other hand with thread under their leg, grabbing their opposite knee, pushing it to the floor. On the same side, bring your head next to theirs and press into their face with your skull. That should make it difficult for them to initiate an escape.

Get your knee in between their legs, bringing it up tight. Your other knee is going to replace the elbow of the same side arm which is gripping their sleeve: pull up on the sleeve and slide the knee into place. This should enable you to then bring your other leg through, moving straight into mount.

I found it difficult to maintain a firm grasp on the knee, and I also need to press my weight down more, as ever. Christina also noted that arching your back can help to add pressure, as demonstrated by a nearby purple belt.

Guard passage was split by belt, perhaps indicative of things to come with the new system of three class levels rather than just two. I started with a fellow blue belt, and to my surprise, my defensive approach actually paid off for once. I simply waited, readjusting my base and blocking his choke attempts, also shifting my knees to prevent him from sweeping or getting into an armbar position. This went on for quite some time, and eventually he left me enough space to slip through into half-guard, until I could squirm my leg free for mount.

However, I think he must have been quite tired by this point, as he'd been sparring for a while, whereas this was my first roll. It is also possible he was used to taking advantage of more aggressive training partners, so rather than my technique being better today, he just wasn't capitalising as most people swiftly do when I try to stay defensive.

Similarly Gary looked kinda tired, and as he is a big guy, went easy on me. I was looking for the omoplata again, seeing as I was squashed in guard anyway, but to no avail. I also tried to keep in mind the advice yesterday about controlling the head, but Gary has more than enough power to make that a difficult proposition. He eventually gave up from fatigue, as far as I can tell, as I definitely didn't have any kind of submission going.

I kicked off free sparring with Christina, and as ever soon found myself under side control, then knee-on-belly, then she caught an arm as I flailed around trying to curl up defensively. This happens all the time: I really, really need to watch that trailing arm, and develop better defence against knee on belly.

Next was Adam, one of the white belts, which was fairly even. I went to half-guard, concentrating on recovering full guard as usual. I need to work harder to get up on my side, as I keep ending on flat on my back, which is a bad place to be. I did eventually get to closed guard, and then later to mount due to Adam overbalancing (I think that was after we'd gone back to half-guard, but can't quite remember).

My ability to hold mount is poor, so after looking for an armbar and then trying to step up for the triangle, I was rolled back into guard. Mount remains a weak position for me, though I'm trying to implement Roger's handy tip about using your head as a third hand, which almost helped me get the back, but not quite.

Finally, I finished up rolling with Christina again, where much the same thing as before happened. Must keep those elbows in tight, and work on getting to my knees rather than always looking for half-guard. I very pointlessly locked on half-guard while Christina was attacking my arm: the half-guard did absolutely nothing to stop her locking in the armbar, so I should have been aiming to turn to my knees instead.

Chatting to Bruno afterwards, he mentioned that there is apparently going to be a class in Oxford, along with the numerous other RGA locations opening up around London. As I won't have a job to go to after tomorrow, and its christmas so my girlfriend is away, I can make Saturday training. I'm also hoping to double up on Monday, which will mean I make my goal of at least eight classes a month.

Tonight also marks the last time I'll be writing up a class on this particular laptop. It’s a KPMG laptop, so will be returning to the office for good tomorrow. I should be able to borrow a relative's computer afterwards, but I'm looking to buy a new laptop as soon as possible (talking to Christina made me think about Macs, which I've never used before. The reliability and lack of viruses is very tempting, but I'd be worried about compatibility. I have lots of random programs I like to use, like Amiga emulators, DOSBox, Mediaplayer Classic and CDisplay: not sure if any of those work on a Mac, but will have to look into it). It will feel very strange not to have a laptop of my own after heavily relying on them for the past four years.

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.

03/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #200



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

I'm probably not going to get all that much BJJ in over December, as I'm off to Amsterdam next week (I had wanted to go a bit later, to coincide with a trip Christina said she was planning with a bunch of other people, but unfortunately next week is the only time both my gf and I can make), and my usual training days of Wednesday and Thursday are also where Christmas falls this year. Depends when the Academy is open too, but I'm guessing I'll make seven classes at most this month. We'll see: hopefully I'll make more, but that's already a best case scenario. Then again, December is always a lean month, like February, so can't be helped.

Class tonight kicked off with some side control sparring. I was able to stay on top of Indra, but found it difficult to deal with her arms pushing me away. My solution was to try and shift through to north-south, but I'm not sure how securely I was holding her. I also wasn't doing anything except maintaining my position, rather than moving through for a submission, or transitioning to mount. Being able to stay in control isn't a bad thing, but I need to be more pro-active, as it isn't enough: if I'm not able to submit or move to a more dominant position, then I'm simply delaying their escape and forcing a stalemate, rather than doing anything useful.

Underneath, I worked my way to half-guard, then eventually managed to recover full guard. Indra had my arm trapped, which meant I couldn't shift through to the other side properly, but once I got that arm free I was able to wriggle my legs into position. I'm still staying too flat under side control: I want to improve my bridge, such as with a tip I heard earlier about pushing at an angle rather than just straight up.

Nick's technique was based around your opponent trying to escape to their knees from under side control. He first showed two basic ways to recounter a side control escape: either get their shoulders flat to the mat, or cup the elbow on which they're posting and pull back with both hands. If they do manage to get to your knee, immediately sprawl the other leg back to make sure they can't grab it.

You are now in position to make a submission attempt, the clock choke. Sprawling with your legs, put your hips directly onto the back of their neck, and sink your weight down as much as possible, making it difficult for them to raise their head. Next, bring your arm over their back and grip their collar, opening it up. Be careful when you bring your arm through that you don't go too far underneath them: there is a risk that they could trap your elbow and try to roll you.

Once you've opened up the collar, you can feed it to your other hand, which you bring around their neck. Your grip shouldn't be too deep on the collar, as you want to bring that collar across their neck, using it as a blade to dig into their neck. Your other hand grabs their wrist, threading it around their arm.

Here is where the clock analogy comes in: your legs will form the hands, while their turtled body is the clock face. Step over with your top leg, slip your other leg underneath, then step over again, repeating the process until you get the tap. The choke is created by the weight of your body pressing their neck into that stretch of fabric you've brought across their throat. While you need to keep that taut, as with so many situations in BJJ, it is your body weight which effects the submission, not the strength of your arm pulling up on their collar.

An alternative is to transition, using a kimura grip on their arm. You're in the same sprawled position as before, but this time thread your arm around their to grab their wrist, then bring your other arm over their face and grab your own wrist. Pull up and trap their shoulder against your chest as tightly as possible, then fall back, rolling them towards you at the same time.

To complete the transition, shrimp away, switch your hips by sliding one leg under the other, then move your knee onto their stomach. From here, you have numerous options, such as going for an armbar, stepping over their head to go for a kimura, or possibly move through to mount, depending on their defence. I personally found the switch to getting a knee onto the stomach difficult: it felt as if I had to struggle to get onto my knee, leaving way too much space in the process. Clearly I have work to do on improving my balance, shrimping and shifting my hips.

Nick demonstrated once again that he is a forward thinking instructor, stopping the class to show a different grip one of the purple belts tried immediately after drilling that technique. Instead of going over their face, you can also go under their neck and grab your own wrist.

For free sparring my first partner was an experienced purple belt called Paul, though he clearly was going easy. At one point he was in my guard and not really resisting, so I had a vague attempt at a loop choke, but it felt a bit stupid to aggressively try and shove it on: after all, he was letting me have it. Next time I'm in that situation, I need to remember to try and do the submission as technically as I can, then see how they manage to block it, rather than just flail about in confusion, as I seem to do at the moment.

My second and last roll was with Tran, who squished me under his knee-on-belly. He had me that choke where you move around and submit them by twist the collars in the process (so sort of like the clock choke, though I'm assuming its got a different name). I was being too complacent in my defence, because I had an arm in between his, but I should have been thinking more about tucking my chin.

I also made a sloppy attempt at emulating something I'd seen on a clip of Saulo Ribeiro's highly regarded Jiu Jitsu Revolution, where you trap one leg from a kneeling position, but clearly need to watch it again. I merely ended up giving Tran a sweep repeatedly: I have to keep my weight on him and apply pressure. Still, clip looked useful (when its done right, which I very obviously wasn't), as I really struggle with my guard passing, so am keen to develop basics from that situation.

There were a lot of world-class black belts in the room, with one corner of the mats occupied by Braulio, Lagarto and Roger sparring each other. On top of that, Maurição is back in the country: I think he's only just arrived, as there were a load of suitcases in the entrance hall. Hopefully I'll get the chance to be taught by him again before he heads back to Brazil, as his classes are always interesting, due to his vast experience.

29/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #199



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Gregoriades, London, UK – 29/11/2008 - Advanced

I'd resigned myself to missing class today, as I didn't get the train I wanted from Amersham and had therefore assumed I wouldn't make it. However, the next train was earlier than I thought, so I managed to get down to the Academy with twenty minutes to spare (my habit of leaving lots of time for getting anywhere comes in really handy sometimes).

The Saturday class was fairly busy, with a bunch of my favourite sparring partners in attendance, so that was cool. Several people I haven't seen in a little while too, like Paxton and Bruno, who are both good to train with. There was no technique today, as on Saturdays it is all rolling after the warm-up. I started with Paxton, where I soon found myself in half-guard looking to either go for the sweep where you grab their opposite arm and roll them over their trapped leg, or full guard.

My problem was that I tended to be on the wrong side for that to work effectively, so spent most of my time trying to manoeuvre my upper body to the other side of their torso. I'm also still being too flat under side control: need to work harder on raising up a shoulder to prevent them crushing me down too easily. It might also be beneficial to put more pressure on their neck with my forearm, but I'm not overly fond of that kind of thing: seems 'dirty'.

Next up was Zahir, one of the white belts, though he's been here for a while now (I can remember rolling with him almost two years ago). As ever I was looking to escape from side control, got to half-guard, whereupon Zahir looked for a kimura. I didn't have much trouble keeping my arm straight and eventually reversing to get on top, but I definitely need to be careful of leaving my arm vulnerable: plenty of other people who could have capitalised on that quickly. I didn't have much time to do anything in top half guard, though I had a brief search for my own kimura. No luck there, as his arm was in a secure defensive position.

With Bruno, I'm always guaranteed a very relaxed sparring partner, though as a brown belt he doesn't need to expend much energy when rolling with a low blue belt like me. Again I was working in half-guard a lot, also trying to wriggle free from both side control and knee-on-belly. I kept in mind that I shouldn't turtle if at all possible, so successfully avoided giving up my back too easily.

Finally (the class on Saturday is only an hour long, like the class yesterday), I had a roll with Helen, with my own internal rule that I wasn't allowed to go for half-guard from open-guard, which is what happens frequently when we spar. That meant I instead found I was using my knees a lot more to push her away, aiming to wedge them into her hips, as well as spinning about trying to push on her hips. The rule didn't last once we got out of open guard, as I inevitably found myself in half-guard yet again. Next time, need to be better about my rule, or at least work harder for full guard. ;)

Of course, that's not to say that it is easy to get half-guard on Helen, as she's a purple belt, but she is a good ten kilograms lighter than me. I am normally under side control, knee-on-belly or half guard with her, interspersed by brief periods of open guard followed by half guard. This time, I was a lot more varied with my open guard, so avoiding the half-guard appeared to be a useful exercise.

Straight up to Leamington after that: I had wanted to go and have a drink with the ZSK guys, as there's a grading in St John's Wood, but the trains are messed up. Looking at the route, it would involve lots of buses, so that would mean I'd spent a while wandering around lost trying to work out where the hell I should be going. Didn't really have the time before my train to Leam, so had to pass. Will have to see if I can make it to the ZSK social tomorrow, but my girlfriend wants to go to a ceilidh at the same time.

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.

26/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #196



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Gregoriades, London, UK – 26/11/2008 - Advanced

No judo this week, as I wanted to save myself for the extra BJJ training I was planning to get in, with four sessions rather than my normal two. I also didn't get to salsa, which wasn't intentional: something more important came up. Still, should be able to make it to the final class next week, where I might check if there is anywhere friendly I can go continue learning salsa in the university holidays.

The Fightworks Podcast is running its third BJJ Blog of the Year contest, with some pretty decent prizes. I can vouch for the Padilla & Sons gi, as I've been very happy with mine, and The Gracie Way is also an enjoyable read, if heavily biased: my review up here. I've heard lots of good things about the Renzo documentary too: should be able to review that in the not-too-distant future, as I pre-ordered it, so waiting for it to drop through my letterbox.

I would expect Aesopian to win again this year, though Val Worthington's blog looked competitive for much of the poll. I'm not sure where I'll vote this year: I went for Christina's blog last time, so may well vote for her again, though The Jiu-Jitsu Brotherhood is also deserving. Both of those are not only interesting to read, but they give helpful advice too, as well as being well-written.

I've also enjoyed Georgette's blog, BJJ Grrl and Chasing the Blue, with the recently launched Blogoplata like a great one for the future. Lots of other deserving blogs too, like Steve, Jadon, BJJ-Asia…I could go on. Voting hasn't started yet, though for some reason lots of readers from one particular blog stuffing the Fightworks page full of comments. Laudable enthusiasm, but a bit pointless as its only nominating at the moment: only need to post the link up once. ;)

Class tonight was based around mount, in particular the armbar from mount. Generally they're going to have their arms and hands tight, elbows down, so you first task is to make some space. There are various ways of doing that – Nick quickly ran through three – but the one that looked most useful to me was to wrap around their head and elbow, then twist, immediately shoving your knee into the gap that created. You then need to get up as high as you can: squeeze your feet and knees tight into their sides, then post on your hands and slide up (as Oli noted, I was tending to waddle my way up instead, which is not only lacking in grace, but leaves way too much space and time for your partner).

Once you've secured that high position, you need to get a good angle. Bring your knee close to their head (which knee depends on which arm they have on top: you want your knee on the same side), turning your body to face across their body. To be certain of a solid base, you then want to get your other foot to their head, although the important detail there is not the foot, but getting your thigh underneath their shoulder: that position is called 's-mount', I think. This should further 'tighten the screw', to use Nick's preferred metaphor.

Now you need to get their arm free. Hook underneath their wrist (not the crook of their elbow, as that simply makes things harder for you) then yank it free. Straight away, bring the arm really tight to your body. The next part is a variation on the usual technique, which Nick told us he's found has greatly aided him in finishing the submission: rather than bringing your foot over their head, slide your knee across their face instead. This has the major advantage of not raising your hips off them, which therefore keeps gravity on your side and gives them no space.

To finish, you don't even need to drop back, but can raise the arm from your seated position to get the armbar. You can fall back if you want in the orthodox manner, but Nick's version means that if you mess up, you're in a far less vulnerable position. If you fall back and don't get the arm, they're likely to spin through to your guard. If you don't fall back and stay upright, as per Nick's suggestion, you should be able to go back to mount and try something else.

Specific sparring from mount with Helen went predictably badly on top, where I couldn't keep my position very well, and even if I could, I wasn't able to do anything but maintain. Roger's advice about using your head as an extra hand is useful, so I've been trying to develop that: not quite there yet, but it is definitely helping. Nevertheless, I kept finding that Helen was able to get her knees through and push me back into her guard. To stop that, she advised that I should just step over her leg and twist to the side, aiming for an s-mount position.

Nick then lined us up against the wall and matched us up. Fortunately for my wimpy nature, I had a chance to rest, as I was in a three and it was winner stays on, sparring from mount again. When I did get into the fray, I wasn't able to stay on top for very long, though I did at least move into a vague triangle position from mount. However, it was way too loose, so my partner Roberto had little trouble spinning to guard. I doubt I would have been able to triangle from there, or switch to something else, but I it's still better than being swept to guard with nothing (though finishing from mount would obviously be preferable).

Underneath, I was far more comfortable, working for half-guard. My partner this time, whose name I didn't catch, was doggedly blocking my attempting to shrimp around the leg I'd triangled, but I eventually managed to push them off mount with my other knee. Sloppy on my part and rather spur-of-the-moment, so it wouldn't normally succeed, but perhaps something to keep in mind. Either way, a good lesson that I should be using all my limbs if possible.

I was even lazier than usual when it came to free sparring, only sparring once, with Tran. As always I soon found myself defending chokes from mount. I'm happy enough in that position, but need to work on protecting my neck properly if they are then able to take my back. I tried to roll Tran, and then get my back flat to the floor when he was trying to choke, but messed up, as he then switched to get a knee into my back and choke from there. Admittedly wearing a judo gi doesn't help when getting collar choked, as there is rather more cloth to get strangled with, but on the other hand, that's probably helpful in improving my defence: less room for error on my part.

As I was saying to Owen after class, I need to establish a new group of sparring partners. I've always been paranoid about injury, so tend to limit my rolling to people I feel I can trust. However, many of my favourite partners are no longer regular – Christina, Joanna, Indra, Tanvir and Herman all haven't been on the mats much in recent months (or at least not at the same time as me), which means I have to be less picky, until I can re-establish some trusted partners. My bare minimum of rolls should be two, and even that is rather low: three would be better.

I should be training four times this week, so that also meant I wasn't too bothered about the amount of sparring, but shall have to make certain of at least that meagre two tomorrow, preferably three.

20/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #195



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Gregoriades, London, UK – 20/11/2008 - Advanced

There's a new site by Stephan Kesting, specifically for beginners, with the straightforward name Beginning BJJ. I saw this mentioned by Aesopian, and it looks good so far: along with a newsletter, sent out every three days, you get a thirty-four page e-book, A Roadmap for BJJ, after signing up. At the moment, its all free, which I assume will remain the case.

You're also in luck if you're into comics, as a professional cartoonist from Seattle has put her skills to work in creating some stylish BJJ art: check out Ellen Forney's free wallpaper here. There's a whole load of other cool stuff available on her website, with various books by Ellen for sale, as well as free samples. Reminds me to take a look in the library for graphic novels again: last time, I delved into MAUS, which is right up there with The Sandman, Watchmen, Preacher and other classics (unsurprising, given its also rather rare amongst graphic novels in having won the author a Pulitzer Prize). That high status means its one of the very few comics available at my university library, but there might be more by now.

Couldn't train yesterday as my gf stayed round in Bucks for a conference in London today, meaning I popped down with her to High Wycombe in the evening rather than my usual afternoon train to Marylebone. However, that means I'll get extra training in next week to make up for it: if your partner doesn't share your hobby, then its good to set up compromises like that :D. At the same time, BJJ is probably number three on my list of priorities (my relationship and family being one and two), so I don't mind missing the occasional session if I have to.

As I was getting changed, I could hear the instantly recognisable voice of one of the best training partners at RGA, Christina. Great to see her again, as it's been almost two months since she has been down to the same class as me.

She immediately reminded me of just how good a training partner she is by offering some tips on the tai otoshi, a throw I'm keen to improve given all the handy follow-ups Chris demonstrated at judo earlier this month. Main points are that I need to keep my upper body straight and get my hips closer to my partner: Christina used to do a fair bit of judo at the Budokwai, so is a handy person to ask.

We moved straight into specific sparring after the warm-up, where I went with Melissa. I found that on top, I was able to control her with scarf hold, but I couldn't really do a whole lot else with the position. I always attempt to trap their arm so I can do that step over triangle, then if that fails I try to wedge my knee in to push their arm past their head, switch back to side control and go for mount.

That's only two options, however, which is too limited if I'm struggling with both of them. I need to develop another submission from scarf, and also work harder on the transition to mount. Holding somebody is a useful first step (although I think I have a size advantage on Melissa), but I need to move past that and initiate some kind of offence.

Underneath, Nick urged me to bridge more and with greater force, also suggesting bridging twice in quick succession, which I haven't tried before. I'm used to biding my time and conserving energy, but that can easily lead to being totally passive and waiting, giving my partner all the time they want to work offence. Again, I need to be more proactive, and combine various escape attempts.

I also need to be careful of my neck, such as when I go to my knees to escape side control. I'm being too complacent about people going for chokes, relying on my defence to get me out. Melissa came close several times today, mainly trying guillotines and cross chokes, but I was either able to get an arm or leg in the way and make some space. Definitely not comfortable though, so requires greater vigilance on my part.

There was just the one technique today, but it was relatively complex, transitioning from side control to mount. Nick called it 'around the world', where starting in side control, you first scoop up their near elbow and then switch your base, driving your knee through to push that elbow out of the way and break their defence.

Next, bring your rear leg over their head, using your hip to force the arm you just knocked out of place onto their face and neck. This will put you in north-south. From here, put your hand on the side of their head (in the direction you're about to move), then bring what is now your rear leg all the way over again (meaning you've switched your base once more).

As you do so, use your arm to keep their arm trapped against their neck. This is important, as that means you can then dig your hand under their head, which sets you up for an arm triangle. You can finish the submission by grabbing your other bicep, then with the hand of the arm you just gripped, take hold of your own head and squeeze.

Alternately, keep going and transition to mount. You've got their arm uncomfortably shoved into their face (or neck, or perhaps chin, but either way its not pleasant), so now you have to make enough space to go to mount. Similarly to how you started, you're going to switch your base yet again, moving the knee of the leg closest to their hips underneath your other leg, which should knock their free hand out of place. The mount is now yours for the taking, putting you in a very controlling position with both their arms out of play.

Nick got us to spar from side control again, and this time my partner was Christina. I tried to concentrate on keeping my weight down, and then switching to north-south while maintaining the pressure. While doing that, I tried closing my eyes to see if that helped, also aiming to squirm my elbows into her armpits.

However, I didn't use my weight properly. Afterwards, Christina mentioned that I was just using my arms, with my hips too high and therefore not helping with weight distribution. Not being used to north-south, I'm still a little apprehensive about shoving my weight into somebody's face, which partly accounts for that, but I can always drop it more onto their shoulder. Either way, weight distribution remains key, and the hips the most important part of the solution.

Underneath, same story as usual, with Christina popping up to knee-on-belly. I was being cautious with my hands, trying again to implement Dominik's advice about using your elbows instead of your hands to push on the knee. This seemed to work better, and Christina noted that it was definitely an improved defensive strategy on my part (though naturally she still didn't have too much trouble passing).

My first partner in free sparring was again Melissa, and again I'm not being careful enough with chokes. Towards the end she was in open guard really pushing for a cross-choke, which I only held off by pressing my knees into her torso. Similarly I'd earlier resisted a guillotine by having an arm in to make a bit of breathing space. Not very reliable defence on my part: much better to develop better awareness and watch out for choke attempts before they're locked in.

Before that, I'd been spending a lot of time in side control and half guard, eventually reversing Melissa and getting into her guard. Once again, she was working for a choke, as I tried to posture up and go for a pass. Due to my horrendously bad guard passing, that just meant I ended up in open guard, leading to yet another choke attempt by Melissa.

Closing spar with Christina was very relaxed, turning into instruction, which was really handy. She gave me a whole load of good tips on open guard. First was to keep my knees off the floor and on either her upper legs or higher. I've been tending to hook knees, but if I do that, I shouldn't just sit there, but go for the sweep immediately.

Christina also advised that I should keep my legs pushing constantly, but not completely straight: there should still be some tension, or she can simply push them down and pass. Finally, once your partner is going low, use spider guard to push them away on their bicep, and/or getting a knee into their shoulder if they're really low and close.

Turns out that another of my old training partners has got involved with Kukla Pictures, though unfortunately he isn't able to train yet. Chris has been carrying injuries for a long time, but its cool to hear that he's been able to use his considerable artistic skills to help out with the film production. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the stuff Kukla comes up with, so will have to try and clear some time in my diary to make the events.