31/08/2018 - Friday Charles Harriott Seminar, leglocks

Seminar #032
Artemis BJJ, Charles Harriott, Bristol, UK - 31/08/2018

It was awesome to get Charles down to Bristol, not long after he taught a superb class at the Heidelberg Camp on leglocks. I was really impressed by how he introduced the concepts, paying far more attention to safety than pretty much any other instructor I've ever trained with. Really impressive, which is why I was so keen to bring him to Artemis BJJ.

Everything he taught, and more, is on his new Leglocks 101 DVD, which you can check out at BJJ Fanatics for $47. I'd also highly recommend booking him for a seminar. Charles travels a lot, so it's entirely possible he will be within reach of you at some point, wherever you are in the world. :D

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Thanks again to @charlesharriott for an incredible #leglocks #seminar a couple of weeks ago! 😃 I have always been terrified of #footlocks, but training with Charles at the seminar and at the @BJJGlobetrotters Camp in Heidelberg last month has helped a lot. Definitely book him for a seminar if you ever get the chance, brilliant teaching. 👍😎 __________________________________________ Looking forward to even more Charles at Winter Camp in January! For which there are still tickets, if any of my students are reading this... 😉 https://www.bjjglobetrotters.com/wintercamp2019 #ArtemisBJJ #BJJ #BrazilianJiuJitsu #ArtemisBJJseminar #Bristol #UK #BJJglobetrotters #CharlesHarriott #ashigarami #heelhook #heelhooks #SupportWomensBJJ

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18/06/2017 - Artemis BJJ | NoGi | Heel Hooks

Class #830
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Rich Lindsay, Bristol, UK - 18/06/2017

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 30, 2017 at 11:11pm PDT

I have always been terrified of leglocks, especially heel hooks. However, as long as you're training with somebody who knows what they're doing it's good to have a play. I didn't drill them all that much, due to aforementioned fear (also, Rich teaches a LOT of technique in each of his classes ;D). Still the main points I took away were a two arm finish, the importance of getting under the heel and that you should avoid lying on your arms. If you lie on your arm, that will restrict the amount you can turn.

Once Rich got to defence, I was keener to practice. The big thing this time was grabbing their arm with both of yours and pulling it towards you. That's the first thing to try. Then there is the usual defensive stuff for footlocks, like 'putting the boot on'. Rich also mentioned crossing your feet as a general principle, which he said applies to lots of foot and leglocks. I look forward to his kneebar material, as that seems like a good attack against Sam's knee shield.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 8, 2017 at 1:00am PDT

I used my tripod with a new phone clamp, much better. Sparring with Adrienne, focused on when they have heel hook and you escape. She was doing a good job of switching to single leg x, so that was fun. Need to work my passes against there, which is where Paul Schreiner (yet again) comes in, from Precise Pressure Passing.

31/07/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Guard | Leg Lock

Class #584
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 31/07/2014

Like I say every time I'm shown a leg lock, it's an area of jiu jitsu I almost completely ignore at the moment. I'm interested in the defence, out of safety considerations, but it is not something I ever go for on other people. I'm far too worried about either injuring them through applying it wrong myself, or that they could injure themselves by trying to explosively spin free. As ever, that comes down to familiarity, seeing as I don't have that worry with other submissions, but meh. It's a flaw I can live with for now. ;)

Anyway, the basic leg lock entry Dónal taught started from standing. Wrap your leg around the outside of theirs, putting your heel into their hip. Drop to your side, bringing your other leg in behind the leg you've trapped. Squeeze your knees together to help secure the position.

For the actual submission itself (a straight ankle lock, I think?), you wrap up the foot, bend it sideways towards you slightly. With an arm wrapped underneath, turn so your head is looking over your shoulder, arch your back and thrust your hips. Dónal also mentions that he likes to have the leg 'pre-bent' as he is dropping back, to make it harder for them to use the 'iron boot' defence where they straighten their leg and pull their toes back. I could well have missed a whole bunch of details there though.

Big class today, so I was mostly wandering around to try and help people out, along with simple space management during sparring, stopping people crashing into each other. I did get in a brief bit of drilling myself at the start, along with some specific sparring from open guard. I played with the bullfighter some more, grabbing the knees and dropping my shoulder. It did work, but involved some scrambling. I need to remember to reach for the far hip once I've dropped my shoulder, to control their ability to shrimp away. If I don't do that, I inevitably end up chasing them a little.

Underneath, I went for the tripod off the cross-grip, continuing to try and focus in on that version of open guard some more. It's what Kev recommended to me back in that private, so it's good I'm finally starting to feel more comfortable there (then again, it's been mostly white and blue belt: when I last tried that against brown belts at Jude's club, I was passed in seconds).

I also managed some kind of weird version of the rollover sweep from half guard: it felt sloppy, because I'm sure I didn't have the right grips, but it also didn't seem to take a huge amount of effort, so I must have lucked onto the correct leverage point. Something to play with, as ever. This will be my last chance to be a student for a while, as Dónal is away for the next couple of weeks.

That means I'm teaching six classes next week, but I do at least get the open mat for drilling time (assuming I can grab someone for drilling). Should be fun to test out some more lesson plans either way, plus it also means I can further refine what I taught at Bristol Sports Centre last month by trying it at Impact too.

22/04/2014 - Aces Jiu Jitsu Club

Class #560
Aces Jiu Jitsu Club, (BJJ), Austin, TX, USA - 22/04/2014

I trained with Mikal last time I was in Austin, back in 2012. At that time he was a purple belt at another club, occasionally teaching class and also regularly teaching kids. I had the chance to watch him teach kids during the previous trip and was impressed by his mixture of discipline (he has a military background) and humour. It was also obvious how much he cared about helping students progress.

Almost two years later and Mikal is a brown belt with his own club, launched in September of last year. Impressively, he already has a massive space with a hundred members, a wifi lounge and even a fully matted creche (there's a handy window for both baby and parents to see each other while training).

Like we do at Artemis BJJ, Mikal also has a theme for the month. For April that was leglocks, something I have avoided for most of my time in jiu jitsu. I have a vague idea of what a straight ankle lock is and I know to grab people and pull them in towards me as a defence if they grab my foot, but that's about it. Even more outside of my experience was he specific theme for this week: 50/50 guard.

Dónal would no doubt have been amused, as right before I left to fly out this year we were talking about my aversion to what might be called 'modern' jiu jitsu, for want of a better word. But meh, it's good to at least know how to avoid the position and escape it, even if I have no intention of getting into it myself.

First off was leglocks, with a drill switching between the straight ankle lock and the cross ankle lock. Presuming I understood it, the straght ankle lock involves putting their leg by your same side hip, bringing one arm under the achilles tendon, with the cutting part of your forearm (so, just below the wrist). Reach that hand to your chest, putting the other hand palm-down on top.

Mikal had a useful visual metaphor here, a hallmark of his teaching, likening it to a romantic gesture of holding your heart. That perfectly described the position. You'll also have your outside foot on their hip, the other under their other leg, squeezing your knee together. To finish, look up then thrust your hips slightly: Mikal calls this 'Megan Fox-ing', as she's known for looking over her shoulder and pouting.

The cross ankle lock is very similar, except that you pick up their ankle and pull it across your body, to your opposite hip. The rest of the technique is the same, wrapping up under the ankle, looking up and Megan Fox-ing.

Main technique for tonight was a 50/50 armbar, which was also a footlock escape. They have a straight ankle lock secured but not locked. Grab the elbow of the arm they have under your achilles. Pull that towards you and scoot forward, while also popping your hips around as if you were trying to take the back. Kick your trapped leg through, then triangle it with your other leg.

Next you want to pry their arm free. This has a bunch of options, but to keep it simple (the class was all white belts), reach inside and wriggle the arm out. With your opposite arm, grab on the side of the elbow (another image from Mikal here, saying it's where the joint would be if they were wearing plate armour), while your other hand reaches across to grab their opposite collar.

Pull them over and down towards your non-trapped leg, also yanking their arm in the other direction. Bring your non-trapped leg over their head, sliding your arm to their wrist. From here you can thrust up for the armbar, either using your hip as a leverage point or potentially your knee.

Before we got into technique Mikal and I had a flow roll, which largely consisted of me trying to avoid my feet getting entangled. He was going very light: otherwise he could have submitted me a number of times, such as the calf slicer he had at one point. We also filmed a quick technique video for his YouTube channel: I don't mind being on camera, but I declined the offer to also film myself teaching. That would need a lot more preparation on my part. ;)

Update Aug 2014: The video is now up, so you get to see some great techniques from Mikal, with lots of blinking and awkwardness from me. Hooray! ;)



Mikal also has an interesting variation on shrimping. Rather than pushing off a foot and pushing your hip out, Mikal steps his foot across, almost in a running escape type fashion. He then pushes off from that position for the shrimp. His reasoning is that this makes it harder for them to shove down on your knee to pass, because you're protecting one leg with the other.

After class we headed off to the park. Mikal's partner Marlana (who was responsible for the tasty meal we had back in 2012 and has since had a baby) recently came up with the cool idea of throwing some mats down on the grass to have a roll. It's a nifty advert, so I guess in future they'll have banners and the like to emphasise exactly why there are a bunch of people cuddling each other on some puzzle mats. ;)

That also meant I got to hang out and chat with some of the students, which was very cool. 'Mean' Marlene talked about her background in Mexico and aspirations as a fighter (she not only trains BJJ, but boxing and muay thai as well), while Lacey discused tattoos with me and her fantastic hair. Marlene and Dustin also very kindly drove me both to the park and to Georgette's office, in time for me to get a lift with her to the Gracie Humaita beginner's class.

29/11/2007 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #106



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 29/11/2007 – No-Gi

Quick note on links: Jude’s EFN site is now using a new url, so everything that used to be under www.bjj.eu is now going to be replaced with www.efnsports.com. That goes for the main site, the forum, the video blog etc (as per links on the left).

Lost my damn gum shield yet again yesterday (definitely put it in my bag, so must have fallen out somewhere at home): tried to pick a new one up before class, but the one shop near my office that might have sold them is about to become a smoothie bar. Grr. So I’ll have to buy a new one in Brum (unless my gf has two?), whether I find the old gum shield or not: this keeps happening, so it would be useful to have a spare.

I was a bit uncertain about training tonight, as the tricep on my left arm has been acting up since training yesterday, along with my right leg (not quite sure how that happened). Decided to go along in the end, and was glad I did due to the decent number of smaller people training today (like Sehyun, who moved up to the advanced recently).

After going through the throws, Jude showed us a butterfly guard sweep, which despite being introduced as a basic technique was not something I’d seen demonstrated before. In butterfly guard (where you have your shins inside their legs), you get a firm overhook on one of their arms. Sit up into them, grabbing their other hand, then shrimp slightly out to one side. Your knee should be pressed up against their side, your foot braced firmly against the inside of their leg. Leaning right back, raise them towards you with that foot, then push your knee into their side, at the same time (and with the same leg) pressing against their inside leg with your shin. Roll to the other side, ending up in mount.

Next up was a mount escape, leading to a leg lock. Heel hooks have been banned since 2002, apparently, so it was important that this was a straight leg lock (if I understood correctly). But that’s getting ahead of myself: first thing you need to do is bump them towards you with one knee. Brace their weight with your arms against your hips, then use the space to bring your leg through (as soon as the leg you bumped them with hits the floor, shrimp).

The knee you’ve brought through goes to the left, while you swivel round to the right (for the sake of this example). Once you’re in position, your knee comes up tight against their left leg, while you bring your right leg around the other side, pushing on their hip with their foot to stretch them out. Your forearm then loops right round the back of their ankle, moving into a figure-four grip. Finally, sit up slightly and arch your back to apply the sub.

As tends to happen with these leg locks, I had trouble getting the sub on. I think the main problem was that I hadn’t got my arm through far enough, which Jude corrected as he went round the class.

Finally, Jude added a slight variation if they try to roll out of the lock. Keep your hold on their ankle, then effectively sit on their leg (so you’re facing away from them), bringing one of your own legs across the back of their knee, again figure-fouring the ankle.

Guard passage with Christina was a little more active than normal, as I tried to be offensive. She maintained solid pressure on my hips, so I spent most of the time swimming underneath her arms trying to knock them off my hips (by coming under with my arm and pushing out). I had a go at the sit-up sweep a few times, but her base was too solid: I need to work harder at breaking down their posture before I attempt to sweep.

In her guard, things were much the same as usual, as I stayed defensive, trying to ward off her attempts at submission. She was working towards a triangle, but we had to pause due to coming precariously close to the edge of the mat. The second time, I was just about able to defend by keeping my elbows in tight and pushing. I also had a go at getting the double underhooks and going for a stack pass, but time run out (though I’m pretty sure Christina would have been able to recover guard).

My first free spar was with Joanna, who was definitely going easy on me today. I especially noticed that when in guard, as she pretty much let me attempt things. Not that I was able to do much – as that tends to be the position I spend most of my sparring working towards, I often draw a blank when I actually find myself there.

I played with open guard again, trying to keep her from passing. I was generally able to recover my guard, though that’s mitigated by her holding back. At another point, she stood up in my guard, so I climbed up after her, then tried dropping to a single leg, which knocked her down, but I wasn’t able to move round to side control. She eventually secured a solid side control on me, which gave me the opportunity to try and bridge more forcefully than I have been in the past. However, I’m still not managing to shrimp immediately after making space from bridging, which is the main thing I want to improve at the moment.

I sat out the next one, and what turned out to be my final spar was with Sehyun. Having chatted to him just before, I think his main experience is with hapkido and TKD, though he’s also got a year of judo and a brief bit of BJJ back in Korea. Whatever he did, it seems to have helped: he’s quick, flexible and aggressive, and I found him just as much of a challenge as he’d been in the beginners class. He quickly got me in a guillotine, which reminds me yet again to take care with my head position when driving forwards. I started to attempt the escape, but he had it cinched in way too tight.

After that, the spar was a little more even. I swivelled around trying to maintain my guard, then once he passed found myself in various strange positions under side control. First I ended up in that random triangle position, so thought I might as well go for it: however, I don’t think I had my legs in quite the right place, so after squeezing for a bit, tried switching to an armbar, which didn’t work either. Still, good to try, and also great to have somebody else in the advanced class who’s slightly smaller than me, but higher skill level (normally I’d rely on Aika for that, but she’s been off for a while, I think with an injury).

The RGA christmas thing is currently set for the 15th December, which I can hopefully make. I’ve got a different party to go to at the mo, but might be able to skip it in favour of RGA. Will have to see: always good to socialise with people from the club, as it makes training infinitely more enjoyable.