15/04/2011 - RGA Aylesbury

Class #388
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, UK - 15/04/2011

I'm slowly getting back to normal training, as I again did most of the warm-up, except for the breakfalls and shrimping: I'm still not sure my knee is up to that. Tonight we were still working side control, which seems to be something I can mostly do as normal, especially on top (though my favoured step-over triangle is out for the moment, as that could definitely put strain on the knee).

Yas was off competing in the Abu Dhabi Pro today, having won the UK trials: from what I heard at class (though Kev still needs to confirm it), Yas managed to submit a black belt in her first match, then lost to another black belt in her second match. Pretty damn good going, considering that second black belt was already a purple belt Mundials medallist back when Yas had just started training. Hopefully there will be some videos later.

Technique from side control was the counterpoint to Yas' class on Sunday, as this time it was all attacks. Kev began with a kimura from side control, or at least that starts in side control: you generally finish it in north-south. Start in the orthodox side control, with an arm under their head, the other scooping up their far arm.

Remove the arm that was under their head, instead threading it through their far arm. It is important that you go under their wrist: if you somehow manage to get their hand stuck in your armpit or something like that, you're going to struggle to get this technique to function. To secure your grip, feed your gi collar to the threaded hand, cinching it in tight so their arm is stuck.

Next, move around to north-south, sitting on their head. Their trapped arm should be clamped to your shoulder, so that you can pull them up onto their side. Also be sure to slide your knee over their free arm, to stop them being able to create any kind of space. Put your own free hand in place by their wrist, ready to grab it.

However, don't let go yet, or they may wriggle out. Instead, turn your head: this will push your shoulder forward, and therefore also pry their arm forward too. Your hand is already there waiting, so now you can grab their wrist and establish the figure four. Making sure that you keep that arm stuck to your body throughout, apply the kimura by pushing on their wrist and turning.

Alternatively, you can also bring the elbow of your non-clamping arm to their trapped arm side. Turn your body towards their head, then apply the kimura from that lower position. I like to stay upright while sitting on their head, but the second option is equally viable. As Kev said, it comes down to preference.

If you make a mistake while looking to apply the kimura from that upright position, or they simply defend well, you might find that they are able to grab their own belt or gi. This will make it tough to complete the submission. So instead, you can switch to an armbar.

Bring your knee up on their trapped arm side. This will enable you to put your whole body into it when you turn towards their other side, which should break their grip. Make sure you keep that figure four grip, as it is about to prove useful. If possible, you also want to try and slip your foot into the armpit of their free arm, which again is to make it more difficult to stop their escape attempt.

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

However, because you have that figure-four grip, they can't do that anymore. If they try to turn away, you can just apply the kimura. In order to relieve the pressure, they'll have to turn back. You can then drop back, switching your grip to finish the armbar as normal.

Specific sparring was with one of my fellow purple belts and long-time RGA Bucks training partner, Howard. Feels like a good while since I last sparred him, so it was good to experience his steady pressure game again (which is also the game I attempt to use as well). That means that he is an ideal person to spar when you're injured, because his style is always controlled.

On top, I was looking to stay tight, keeping my movements gradual and small. I was paying close attention to grips, where to shift my hand, and also see if I could isolate the far arm. At the same time, I was hoping to distract him by pressuring my weight on his arm and head, so that I could try and sneak a knee through into mount while he was thinking about that. However, Howard wasn't about to fall for that, so it ended up being a slow, tactical roll. Just the kind of thing I enjoy. :)

Underneath, I was missing the full use of my other leg, so bridging wasn't quite so easy, and I also found my usual efforts to hook and leg into half-guard was a little hampered too. Still, it wouldn't have made all that much difference, as most of the time I slipped into the running escape posture yet again. I need to be more careful of their arm getting through: Saulo does show a way of sitting up and swivelling out of that, but I couldn't remember the exact details.

Instead, I was working on wedging my elbow to remove the arm. That sort of worked, as Howard shifted to knee on belly, where again I wanted to keep driving with the elbow to make space. I should have walked forward more, to knock his knee off my side. I also needed to pop up my hips and swing through, as in the open guard drill we did last week, but I was nervous about my leg.

Another thing I must watch more carefully is when they pull out my gi or theirs in order to set up a choke. I could sense Howard was trying something, but my defence was a bit awkward, as I was mostly just shoving my arms in the way and trying to wriggle free.

Free sparring was similar, as I went with Howard for a further two rounds. Again, I kept getting into that running escape position. I also attempted to go for Braulio's escape a few times, where they have both arms over the far side. I still can't get that arm locked out and their balance disrupted. Chatting to Howard about it afterwards, I think I need to break their posture down more, so that they are not only being driven towards my legs, but also towards the floor. That Braulio video is another one I want to re-watch.

Howard was looking to take my back a few times when I was in the running escape or side control, especially when he managed to get some kind of twisting arm control (I think: can be hard to tell when you're on the receiving end). I made sure to hop over his second hook before he could establish it, though I feel like I'm missing something there. My hop was mostly just delaying things, rather than getting me fully out of danger.

My last roll was a relaxed spar with Stuart, my training partner from last week. That gave me a chance to play around with guard a bit, some practice holding mount and the inevitable chunk of time escaping side control. It is reassuring to know that there are plenty of people at RGA Bucks that can be trusted not to make things worse when you're coming back from an injury.

On a random note, the purple from either my belt or Howard's was running, so got a bit smeared across the bottom of my trousers due to sweat. I threw my gi straight in the washing machine after training (normally I hang it up and let the sweat dry out a bit, putting it in the wash the next day), so hopefully that will be enough to get rid of any smudges. After all, I only wear white gis, definitely not semi-purple ones! ;)

In media news, the second issue of Jiu Jitsu Style magazine is due to be released on the 21st of April. You can either order a print issue through the site, or the digital version on iTunes. That means wherever you are in the world, you can get your copy of JJS. As ever, lots of great stuff in there (I've read an advance copy), with Seymour, Meg and I all contributing pieces again. Cover features are interviews with Kyra Gracie and the mighty Jude Samuel, who happens to be the guy who promoted me to blue belt a few years back. :D

16/11/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #360
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Matt Burn, High Wycombe, UK - 16/11/2010

Those who read this blog at the main site rather than through Google Reader or Facebook may have noticed I've chopped up my header a bit. Hopefully (it looks ok in the browsers I checked, though personally I always use Firefox, so that's the best way to view the site), there is now a swish horizontal navigation menubar under the header, with menus that appear when you hover over the words. I followed the handy tutorial here, and will be playing around with it some more in the future, to see what happens. Let me know if the site now runs incredibly slow for you, or anything like that.

Matty kicked off the advanced class with a nifty choke from side control, using your gi lapel. You're in the classic side control position with an arm under the head. Open up your gi with your far hand: if possible, be sneaky and then hold the end of it your hand, so it is less obvious to your opponent. You can then have your hand by their far arm, where you're going to wait.

They will probably have their far arm into your throat. What you're waiting for is an opening to punch your hand inside that arm, then feed the gi lapel you were holding to your other hand, which is behind their hand. Get a firm grip: you may want to keep on feeding it further to make it even more secure. Cinch it tight to their neck, straightening the arm you have under their head.

Keeping your upper body low, walk your legs around towards their head, as if you were going to north south. At the same time, move your head towards their near hip: they will probably tap before you get there, but if not, keep going until you can put your head next to their hip. If the submission still isn't happening, make sure you're keeping your arm straight and pressed into their neck, so that your gi lapel digs into the other side of their neck.

Next, Matty went through a variation on the bow and arrow choke, off a grip break when attempting the kimura from north-south. As happens so often with the kimura from there, they've got a death grip on their belt, so you can't shift their arm despite having locked up the figure four. Changing tack, release the grip on your wrist and put your hand palm up.

With your other hand, grab the bottom of their gi and feed it to your first hand. Pull that in tight, bringing your hand back towards you arm and trapping their arm in the process. Get a grip on their collar with your free hand, then swivel to one side, bringing a leg over their shoulder and the other across their torso. From there, you can pull on the collar and push down with your legs to get the choke. Alternatively, you could try having your knee pressed into their head, but I find the leverage is better when you've got your legs over.

I was drilling in a three, so didn't actually get a chance to spar, because there was only time for two rounds (it was specific from side control again, so five minutes on top, five minutes on bottom). Not that I particularly minded, as it gave me a chance to scribble some notes down on my pad. Should be training against on Thursday, before heading up to Birmingham for the Christmas Market (my gf likes it, and it's always nice to get back in touch with one of my favourites things about being part-German: Aachener Printen. :D).

01/04/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #299
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi, High Wycombe, UK - 01/04/2010

Kev was away being a fireman, so one of his more experienced blue belts (who recently took gold at the British Open, IIRC), Sahid, took the class. Still, theme was the same as Tuesday, working on side control. I was looking forward to practicing my top game from side, as I'd been watching a Braulio Estima video recently (I'll review it at some point in the future) which talked about proper control from that position.

It seems that Braulio focuses heavily on controlling the elbows, which I realise is something I haven't been doing due to my preferred gable grip. While that feels tight, it doesn't give you any real purchase on their far arm. Much better to actively grab that arm, coming underneath the elbow. Sahid demonstrated exactly that grip while quickly going over the basic concepts of top side control.

He then moved on to two submissions, beginning with the kimura from north south, which starts from side control. Controlling that far arm, you want to pull it up, in order to get them on their side. Ideally, you'll have already cleared their near arm, but if not, take the opportunity to dig the knee closest to their hips into their armpit instead. The leg nearest their head will step over, so that you end up shifting into north south.

However, in this case you stay upright, as you're maintaining control of that far arm. Pin it to your chest, then establish a figure four grip. They may well try and grasp their belt or some gi material at this point, because they'll normally realise their arm is vulnerable and try to defend it. If they do, yank the arm in the direction their knuckles are facing: in the other direction, they're probably too strong. You can then complete the kimura as normal, twisting your body to rotate their arm and lock out the shoulder.

Alternatively, you may be able to step right through for an armbar. If you are able to get their arm trapped straight up against your body, rather than bent, then instead of stopping at north south, you can continue to the other side of them. From there, keeping tight on the arm, slide down so you don't leave any space, then drop back. Maintain control of the wrist, being careful that they can't turn their hand and try the hitchhiker escape (so called because you turn in the direction your thumb is pointing, then continue around to the side, due to the fact they only have one leg over your head, rather than the normal two).

Sparring from side control with Callum, I started on the bottom. I was still looking to spin and kick my legs up, looking to use them to hook an arm or head then push off and escape. This did work once, but I always wonder when I escape like that if I'm being complacent due to the set end goal of specific sparring, meaning that if that finish line wasn't there, I would actually end up in a bad position.

I also continued to play around with armbars from the bottom. Today was another handy reminder that even if you can secure the arm, you have to keep in mind that you're in an inferior position. So, holding onto that arm if they get their head free, as happened that roll, probably isn't a good idea. Instead, I should have used it as a controlling position to help my escape, not a potential submission. Also, must pinch my knees together to stop them slipping their head out, and make certain I can in fact use both legs: I'm not sure I had the second leg in the right position when I brought the first one over his head.

Escaping north-south proved more successful. I've been attempted to follow Gustavo Machado's escape off his DVD for some time now, but this is the first time I've got it to work when sparring a fellow blue. The process is to first grab their belt or low on their gi, protecting your arms, then wiggling your hips from side to side to make space. Once enough of your body is clear, you can swing up over their shoulder and take the back.

At least that's the theory. The first time, I flailed a bit around his shoulder, then fell off. The second time was better, as I did get my legs over, but I was way too far forward. So, if this hadn't been specific sparring, Callum could have just pushed me off and taken my back. Still, nice to get it sort of working, but I need to make more space to do it properly.

On top, I wanted to try out Braulio's transition from a tight underhook with your other arm controlling their far arm. If they push up on your neck, you move your underhook from under their head to under their far arm, establishing control on that arm before taking your other arm to their near hip. I wasn't reacting quickly enough for that to work, so could do with drilling it.

Again, north south proved more successful, this time from on top. I was concentrating on keeping my weight low and grabbing over his shoulders to reach for the armpits, to maintain control. I was also basically dropping my weight on his head, sprawling my legs back, hips low: I'm not sure that is a legitimate thing to do. Callum has about eight or ten kilos on me, so I was just happy to keep him under some kind of control, but it doesn't really fit with my goal of always staying technical. I did later shift to be more diagonal, on his shoulder, which is less mean. I'll be aiming to stick to that next time.

I'll be missing training yet again due to a visit down to Bristol, but should make it back in time for the Thursday session next week.