18/10/2007 - BJJ (Beginners)

Class #97



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 18/10/2007 – Beginners

Having had my usual three spars and finishing with a rest, I felt ok for the beginners. I noticed there was a new girl in class: any reduction in the machismo level is always excellent news (though having said that, RGA has a very good atmosphere, perhaps because its got a fairly high number of women training). Turns out she was Chet’s cousin and Tamvin’s sister, which is kinda cool: nice to see more of the family getting into the BJJ.

It was only Navreet’s third lesson, so that gave me a chance to try and act as teacher. Attempting to demonstrate a technique to someone else is a good way of thinking more carefully about it yourself, and considering October is teaching month for me anyway with all those seminars, I can do with the practice.

Things kicked off with passing the guard. Felipe started with the one where you grab both collars with one hand, the other low, with elbow in. Put your knee into their tailbone then push backwards to open up the guard (stepping back with the other leg), slip a hand under, stack them then move round for the pass. That was followed up by the other option, which is to put your knee up – this will either give you the required space to move your arm in, or sufficient leverage to push their leg down and break the guard.

Important points to note are keeping your elbows in tight: with elbows out, you become much easier to sweep and/or pull down. Usual points about using your weight effectively and solidly securing the collar also worth going over again.

Next were a few basic submissions, starting with the collar choke. Get a deep grip on their opposite collar, palm up with thumb gripping outside and fingers in, then get the same grip with your other arm, slipping it under the first. Pull them in, twisting your hands so the thumbs come towards you, while at the same time sitting up to increase the pressure.

A variation if you couldn’t quite get that second grip was to come over and grab the shoulder instead. Not sure I understood it properly, though: as far as I could tell, it was just grab shoulder and use that to press the forearm into their neck, but I think I may well have misinterpreted. Will have to ask about that one.

Finally, if they push your bicep down to prevent you getting your second grip, swivel the trapped arm inside theirs, free it and grab their wrist, pinning their hand to the floor. Release the grip on the shoulder, then go for the kimura from guard.

I kicked off sparring with Navreet, and as this was only her third class and she’d seen a guard pass for the first time that day, I wasn’t going too hard (especially as she’s quite a bit smaller than me). Its really pointless imposing yourself on new people, and probably very off-putting for them – I’d much rather go easier at first, which would then hopefully result in a better training partner down the line. Not that I completely stopped resisting, and I did go for a sweep a couple of times when on the bottom.

I was surprised to get some passes against Chet, as I’ve really been struggling on top in guard recently in both the beginners and advanced. Then again, it was mainly when he was going for something that meant he gave me enough space to get double underhooks. That tailbone pass remains the only one I’m having any success with, on the rare occasion I’m able to pass: absolutely must put more work into the standing pass. I did try it a few times today, but to little effect.

Underneath, I found Chet a lot tougher. I managed to get a decent scissor sweep at one point, but again I think that was because Chet was moving his weight forward. I repeatedly tried to do that sweep Grant showed me, but I’m clearly still missing some important details, as Chet didn’t budge.

Generally, I think underneath I need to pull people in tight, using my legs, rather than just sitting there with a collar and sleeve grip. I also want to concentrate harder on my sit-up sweep. There was a private lesson before the no-gi Roger was taking, in which he went through the sit-up: that reminded me I’m not raising my hips anywhere near enough. I tend to just shove with my leg, which unsurprisingly doesn’t get me too far.

I finished up sparring with Yuvi, where it largely ended up in stalemate (IIRC). On top I had great trouble loosening his guard, although I did get double underhooks once. Underneath, I tried a bunch of sweeps, but again didn’t pull him in close like I should. That meant my attempt at an elevator went nowhere, though I had a firm hook, and my sit-up sweep was especially poor. I ended up pitting my weedy calf against all of Yuvi’s weight and muscle. My calf lost: almost immediately after the shoddy sweep effort, my muscle completely cramped up, so that it felt like a small rodent was stuck inside my leg. I had to stop sparring at that point, and spent the rest of the day limping, entirely due to my own crappy technique. Hence why a lift from Chet was especially appreciated! :D

06/06/2007 - BJJ

Class #58



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK - 06/06/2007

Really felt good to put the gi on today, which marks the first time I’ve worn it since the 26th April. Just like that day, I had a roll with Owen before class started, which reminded me how much I prefer the gi (though that’s not exactly surprising considering how little no-gi I’ve done). Unlike the throwdown rolling, I was able to pause and think due to gi grips. I also had a chance to put the side control tips from Colin into action, although I’m still not putting my hips down enough. However, I think Owen was going easy on me, as I didn’t feel much resistance transitioning to knee on belly then mount. The roll was cut short due to a private lesson, but that was fine by me – one roll was quite enough to start with!

Lesson this time round was taken by Roger Gracie, which is always nice. I get the impression he goes through techniques a little quicker than Felipe or Jude, but not sure: either way, always awesome to have a world champion teaching. There were a lot of new faces, or at least ones I hadn’t spoken to before, like Grant the prison guard, or yet another Brazilian, Italo (seem to be loads of them).

Roger went through fundamentals, starting with a double-leg takedown – mine still need a lot of work, as I think I was making noobie errors on head and leg positioning. I was partnered up with Italo, who was very new to the class (this was his second week, I think), which also meant he directed plenty of questions to Roger. Unfortunately, those questions were made and answered in Brazilian, though that’s to be expected as I don’t think Italo’s English is that great yet.

After the double-leg, Roger kept it basic, moving through scissor sweep and push sweep. In a variation on that, Roger also demonstrated how to perform a kimura from guard off a failed push sweep. Having got to the point where you trying to scissor your opponent over, you find that they have managed to base out with a hand, due to your grip on their arm being insufficient. If that happens, then maintaining a hold of their wrist, raise up and bring your arm over their elbow, looping round to grab your own wrist and make a figure-four. At the same time (I think), you shrimp out in the direction of the arm, bringing your leg up onto their back and pushing down. Finally, pull down on their upper arm, then push to get the submission.

Next up was guard passage, which as I was with a beginner proved a comparatively gentle re-entry in the Roger Gracie Academy. Italo, like most people in their first few weeks, was trying to use all his strength, clinging on with his arms and pushing down, also attempting collar chokes from within my guard. I tend to find it difficult to do much against new people who are intent on squashing me, so relaxed and waited for an opportunity. I can’t remember if I had too much success sweeping, though I did have a go at an armbar when he stood up. I hooked the leg, but didn’t bring him in close enough or raise my hips sufficiently: still, good to try something I don’t often attempt.

On top I was able to get a few passes, though as in the reverse situation, Italo was pushing hard with his arms. The double-underhooks pass worked nicely, moving through to side control. At another point, I was basically in side control, but with Italo pushing fiercely against my arms, so hadn’t managed to get the underhook on his head and arms. I don’t think that’s likely to happen too often, but probably worth me thinking of some kind of solution – I basically tried to switch base, which made me feel more secure, but still didn’t give me control of his head.

Roger then went back to drilling, taking it right back to the basics with the escape from mount. He also told us to follow up with an armbar or collar choke, which was good to try out again. The technique was immediately followed up by more sparring, this time from mount. We switched partners, so I went with Nathan, which was cool as he is one of the few faces I recognised. Also saw Herman, who is now back from his long tour, though apparently his band is off again this week (if only to the Download festival, so at least in the country).

I found it fairly straightforward underneath Nathan, at least at first, getting several sweeps using the usual principle of trap and roll. I could probably have isolated the arm better at points, but it did seem to function ok – however, as always when I spar with people my own size or less, I’m not sure if I was relying too much on force, as later I found I was straining slightly. Nevertheless, I’m pleased I was able to prevent Nathan getting high mount, though I still need to watch where I put my elbows. On the knees is no good (if I’m remembering Colin’s advice correctly), so I was trying to aim for the inner thigh instead.

On top, I was able to maintain my position, but continue to have real trouble with submission from mount. I anticipated Nathan trying to isolate one side, simply switching the arm under his head in order to base, but that didn’t help make space for subs. I did try moving my knees up, hoping to pop one of his arms up, but wasn’t able to expose the limb. So, still need to work on making space, and also use my legs and hips more to hold position so that I can raise up and use my upper body for Americana attempts and the like.

Training again tomorrow – my muscles are already complaining at being put to work after a month off, but should hopefully be ok for Thursday night.

27/03/2007 - BJJ

Class #44


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 27/03/2007

Among the many reasons I’ve heard not to train in BJJ, age comes up fairly often. Some people continue to believe that you can’t train in something like BJJ beyond your twenties, presuming that instead they’ll be forced to give their old bones a rest and take up tai chi instead.

Which is why Tony Penny is awesome. This gentleman is well into his eighties, but has recently received his blue belt from Roger Gracie. I just noticed the news on the RGA site – congrats to Tony, not only for his great personal achievement, but also the inspiration that a man of his years provides the rest of us. If you’re thinking “I’m too old for this,” or “man, my back is acting up today,” then take heart from Tony’s example – it’s never too late to start training.

Moving on to tonight’s class, Felipe went through the sit-up sweep and kimura from guard combination, which we last went through with Luciano on the 15th. Maurição was also present, and as usual was an attentive teacher, moving round the class correcting mistakes. On the sit-up sweep, it was important to note that the guard opens up before you rise to isolate the arm, and also that you make some space by scooting slightly backwards with your hips. It’s always lovely and smooth in drilling, but in sparring I tend to get stuck at the point where I’m raised up against them, due to my inability to push through my opponents resistance.

That’s where the kimura from guard comes in handy as a Plan B. Felipe went through the technique rather quicker than Jude, who seems to be a little more meticulous. I guess just a difference in teaching styles: I tend to find that I get something different out of each instructor, the multiplicity of perspectives being useful for producing a broader picture. Maurição added another detail, which was to turn you hips to make more space for the submission. Drilling with Chris, who as always was good at pointing out errors in my technique, reminded me that I need to lock down against the shoulder with my elbow. When he demonstrated what he meant on me, there was a huge difference in how much resistance I could put up if he left that shoulder free.

Sparring wasn’t king of the hill today, so I worked with Chris for the first spar. I’m still finding that the pass over the knee functions best for me, although I continue to leave my opponent too much space. That resulted in Chris twisting into various positions, at one point getting into a turtle: I went for his back, but after a bit of straining we stopped. Earlier in the spar, the positions had been reversed, but unfortunately as I was resisting, Chris hurt his knee while trying to flatten me out. Seemed ok the rest of the spar, so hopefully that won’t flare up.

Very unusually, as I went to spar with Anne, Oli G pulled me over. I assumed at first he meant I should spar somebody else in the class, but he actually meant spar him. Turned out to be useful, because as Oli is obviously far superior in technique, I could go slow, observe, and then ask what he did. That resulted in a simple but very important part of passing I realise I’ve been missing (this goes both for standing and what I call the tailbone pass): controlling the hip with one hand. I realise now that I’ve been tending to try and jump immediately into base, then struggled to open guard and often ended up getting pulled straight back down. Holding down the hip solves both those problems, as it makes my base much more secure, and also helps with opening the guard. Further proof that fundamentals are always important, even when you think you’re already sticking to the basics.

I ended up in position for an omoplata at one point, which was a useful thing to recap, but I think I’ll have to drill that again and review the Abhaya videos. As much as I try, I still can’t quite visualise the technique, so hopefully we’ll cover it in class again at some point.

Rather than having to rush off to Amersham, I’m staying with my sister this week, who lives in London. That meant that I could hang around after class for some drilling. Oli was helpful in going through triangle defence, which I worked with Chris. First, stick your hand on your head to make space. Then go for the knee near your head and grab it with both arms. Sprawl and push through, opening the legs and escaping the triangle. On top of that, Oli also helped me out with the triangle itself, with pointers like locking up the arm by pulling them in close and using my hips.

Chris noted I wasn’t pulling the arm in tight enough with armbars from guard, so I need to remember to drag that arm right up to my chest. I think I was getting a little lazy with the technique because I’m fairly happy with the drill: dangerous to ever get complacent, so that’s something I’ll have to watch.

Class finished with Anne finally getting her stripes – Maurição gave her a whole new belt, with I think three or four stripes on it. About time, as she had that year of experience in Belfast: definitely deserved, as judging by the times I’ve rolled with her, you can tell she’s at a higher level than most of the beginners.

On an entirely different note, Bullshido appears to be acting up and won't let me log in. Strange. Will just have to update my log on there tomorrow.

15/03/2007 - BJJ

Class #39


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Luciano Cristovam, London, UK - 15/03/2007

No Felipe today, as he left after the advanced class, meaning I had my third ever lesson under a purple belt. Luciano ran a more fitness intensive class than Felipe, adding in a bunch of star jumps, sit-ups, press-ups, squats etc to the usual running round warm-up.

Technique-wise, however, things continued where Jude and Felipe had left off, focusing on the guard. After going through the double-leg again, Luciano showed us the sit-up sweep, which is always good to drill. Points I need to keep in mind are getting my arm-pit right up to their shoulder and pushing up with the hips. I almost never go for the sit-up in sparring, as I keep being too worried that I can’t raise up far enough and quick enough before I get passed.

Keeping the kimura (which Luciano demonstrated next) in mind may help me overcome that niggling fear of raising up. I must remember to push the arm out and away from easy handholds – Chris helped to drum that into my skull by grabbing onto my gi if I didn’t get his arm out far enough. I also found that I had trouble bending his arm: I kept putting the figure four on too loosely, and sometimes even forgetting because I was concentrating on getting the arm out to the side. Another tip is how to break Person A’s grip if they are holding you down in guard by both lapels: simply reach underneath with both hands and push upwards against the inside of their wrists.

Finally, Luciano went through the armbar from guard, which I’ll write down here again to remind myself. Person B isolates an arm, grabbing the wrist with their same side arm, then coming underneath Person A’s other arm to grip the elbow. Importantly, Person B then drags that arm right over to the opposite side. Next, Person B puts their foot on the same hip as the isolated arm, pushing off that so they can make room for their other leg. This pushes down on Person A, aiming to break their posture, so it becomes easier to bring the leg which was on a hip round Person A’s head, then secure the armbar, remembering not to cross the legs.

Luciano didn’t mention raising the hips by pushing off Person A’s hip, but that may be because he prefers a slightly different set-up (or perhaps he thought it was obvious).

Sparring was with just the one person, which I prefer. I started off with a guy called Jude (not the instructor, obviously!), who has a bit of a size advantage. This showed when he was in my guard, as I had real trouble pulling him down, meaning I couldn’t get off the scissor and flower sweeps I wanted to try. What I should have done was do that grip break Luciano showed us (coming up underneath and in-between the hands), then gone for a sit-up sweep and/or kimura. Alternately, I could have tried an armbar, but wasn’t brave enough: I absolutely must get more comfortable with opening my guard, as its acting as a hindrance to certain techniques.

I didn’t manage anything from the bottom, merely resisting for a while before getting passed, but I did have some success on top. Jude was really working for the ankle grab sweep when I stood up, but I didn’t have too much trouble maintaining base – it could just be us beginners haven’t sufficiently familiarised ourselves with standing sweeps, but so far I haven’t found it overly difficult to resist. I was eventually able to get round into side control, as Jude gave me sufficient space to move round his legs.

It seems I’m still waiting for mistakes when passing, however, when I should be forcing the issue. I need to work on my guard breaks, although I am at least standing up more readily now, so that’s progress from my previous hesitancy. Something else I need to be careful of is, conversely, letting my opponent too close I’m in their guard. At one point, Jude was able to put on a fairly uncomfortable crush against my face – though I managed to escape after some struggling, I can see that being a potential submission if I’m not careful and don’t remain calm.

I wanted to go against someone my own weight and build next, so made a beeline for Nathan. We had switched from guard-passing to side control sparring, where I had some success. As in the past, I was getting the Americana repeatedly, though I need to remember to shrimp away from the head, then grab the wrist with my hand nearest their head (I think: occasionally mix those up). At one point I thought Nathan was going to get out of it, but I kept cranking and got the sub. Not sure if that would have worked against somebody stronger, and I also think I need to think more carefully about how to get the Americana from a tighter twist, such as when my opponent has managed to turn to their side and brought their arm in close.

I wanted to try something else after getting the Americana, as otherwise I wasn’t learning anything. Unfortunately, my mind went completely blank when trying to remember any other submissions, though that meant I could go for the mount instead. As with the guard, I found I was waiting for mistakes, although I was able to maintain my position when Nathan went for sweeps.

Underneath side control, I attempted the push up and shrimp out escape. However, Nathan was good at stopping that by moving round quickly and going for scarf hold. He also attempted some kind of twisting collar choke that involved stepping round into North/South – this is something Jeff also went for some time ago. I was able to stop him (only just, though) by keeping a firm grip on his gi and moving round in the same direction, so the choke could never quite go on. Probably due to fatigue, Nathan left space each time, meaning that I was able to come to my knees the first time and push down into side control. On the second occasion I was much more sloppy: when I found some space, I basically rushed forward and ended up in Nathan’s guard. Not exactly sure how that happened, but it definitely wouldn’t work against anybody either stronger than me or good at keeping their weight down in side control. I also need to get better at stopping the guy on top moving round – I don’t think I was getting my knee in the way as much as I should, although grabbing onto a hip seemed to have some effect.

Plan to train again on Saturday, which means I’ll get in four lessons this week. More than makes up for the crappy trains last Wednesday, so I’m glad my gf’s travel arrangements mean I have the opportunity!

28/02/2007 - BJJ

Class #33

Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 28/02/2007

I was going to go to a Ted Hughes seminar today, but as I had to miss ZSK yet again this week, decided against it so I could get some extra training in. Now that my shoulder seems healed up, I’ve been able to do padwork with my gf again, which I’m very pleased about. Also finally bought myself some flip-flops for wearing at BJJ – could have gone with my gf’s ones, but the pink floral design is too camp even for me! So, good ol Primark had some for a quid.

Today Jude moved back to guard work, having spent most of the recent lessons focusing on mount. For the first time at RGA, I got to see the scissor sweep demonstrated as well as the sit-up sweep, both of which I’ve been checking out on the internet for some time now. Unfortunately, I was in a three, which meant I didn’t get to drill as much as I’d like. On the other hand, Jude came over and talked us through the techniques, which was brilliant – always very handy to have the instructor watch while you drill.

Jude began with another sweep I’m keen to drill, the sit-up sweep. Person B bumps Person A forward to get them to put their hands on the floor, then rises up and brings an arm behind the opposite arm of Person A, coming high on the shoulder. Person B tucks that arm close in to their stomach, pushing on Person A’s elbow. Person B then twists up and to the side, using their other arm for balance (Jude emphasised that to get the necessary space, you had to come up on your hand as opposed to your elbow). Finally, Person B brings the opposite leg to the arm they’re gripping all the way across, ending up in mount. Here’s the vid of Rowan Cunningham demonstrating, which I’ve been trying to work in class for the past few months.

This was followed by the kimura from guard, which was especially useful as it functions as a Plan B if the sit-up sweep fails. Getting to the same sit-up sweep position as before, Person B finds that Person A has too good a base. So instead of struggling to knock Person A over, Person B grabs the wrist of the arm they’re isolating, gripping their own wrist with their other arm (which is already in position due to the attempted sweep). Person B drops back (having raised up for the sweep) then moves the arm away from their body (so Person A can’t cling on to a gi or a leg), clamping their leg across Person A’s back. Making sure they first bring the arm over their knee, Person B then pushes on Person A’s wrist, using Person A’s elbow as a pivot, resulting in the submission.

Jude then demonstrated the scissor sweep. Having looked at this sweep in detail on the net, I’ve seen a couple of different approaches, but one thing has been consistent – in their tutorials, Aesopian, Rowan Cunningham and Don Daly all wait for Person A to go up on one knee. It would appear that this isn’t absolutely necessary, as Jude went straight for the sweep. Person B grabs the opposite collar and sleeve of Person A, then rises up on their elbow to shrimp out to the other side. This provides the space to pull Person A towards them and get a shin into Person A’s stomach, hooking the foot round; Person B’s other leg drops down. Finally, Person B simultaneously pushes on the collar and pulls on the sleeve, while also pushing against Person A’s stomach and chopping with their other leg. This ‘scissors’ Person A’s base and spins them to the ground, where Person B moves into mount.

Again, Jude showed us what to do if that failed, which interestingly turned out to be what Aesopian refers to as the ‘stupid simple sweep’ (see his tutorial in the second part of this). Not sure what the most common name is, but I've seen it called a push sweep fairly often, so I'll use that. If Person A has too good a base, then Person B moves the chopping leg back, instead pushing on Person A’s knee, otherwise following through with the technique as before. Hopefully at some point we’ll also be shown the armbar Rowan Cunningham suggests as a Plan B in this video.

Although there weren’t many people in class, we once again did ‘king of the hill’ sparring, which was a shame. I’d have preferred to spar in a pair rather than from a line-up, so I could continuously work on technique, but I suppose that king of the hill does mean I’m forced to spar with people I wouldn’t normally pair up with. I didn’t have much success from the bottom, where I think I’m still leaving too much space. Hamid also mentioned that he thought I was attacking too soon – I can see what he’s saying, as I need to get better position first (e.g., control the arm, pull them closer to me etc). I went for a somewhat strange sweep I saw recently on Dominique when she stood up, but merely ending up getting passed – something that might be fun to try when we go back to the normal sparring set-up.

Passing was more successful. Mainly, I seem to be getting passes either when I’m escaping an armbar or when I manage to work my arms back sufficiently to go for double underhooks. This is exactly what I did with Paul (IIRC his name correctly), though I ended up using the shin to trap his leg instead. At first I stopped because I’d inadvertently stuck my elbow into his groin (not much use to me if I’m only passing due to pain rather than technique), but got the same pass when we restarted from our previous position. I could still do with switching my base quicker and keeping in tighter.

Against a big guy called Marvin (although not sure I caught that name right), I did the same pass, but I think he was fairly new. Jude was telling me to clamp down the leg, as Marvin kept going to open guard (either intentionally or through inexperience) – making sure my partner isn’t able to close their guard after opening it is something I need to work on. Through strength Marvin was able to effectively throw me over as I was passing, but I managed to scramble and ended up facing him with both of us on our knees. So, passed, but a little sloppy.

As my gf is in Bath this weekend, I’ll be able to train three times this week. That means I can make up for that class I had to miss due to the snow, which is cool.