20/07/2022 - Teaching | NoGi | Pasing open guard, knee slide

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK -20/07/2022

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If you are passing nogi, you don't have the joy of gi grips to help you secure position. Instead, put your hands on the middle of their shins, driving them into their body. Move off at an angle, then step your leg in deep, shin against the back of their knee, trying to get their leg towards the floor. Turn your inside knee inwards. You've got your body over the top of their other leg, attempting to put your weight into the side of that leg.

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By driving their leg across towards their other leg, they will tend to push back: it's common for people to give you the opposite reaction to whatever you're doing (i.e., you pull, they push). If they push back, use that momentum to move into a knee slide. You follow where they are pushing, bringing your shin over their thigh, your knee on the ground. Your other leg steps out for base.

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It is important to try and avoid their knee coming in, as you don't want to deal with the knee shield if you don't have to. In order to prevent it, circle your hand that is gripping to instead go to the hip, making sure your arm maintains a block on their leg attempting to sneak inside. You can then go to the underhook. Your knee that is on the ground pushes straight back, hip to the mat, then turn to side control.

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If they don't push back, you can collapse your weight over the top of both of their legs, walking your way up into mount.

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Teaching Notes: The Grapplers Guide videos from JT Torres on nogi passing are really handy, well taught too. Next time, I want to be more precise about how you put your weight to the side of their knee, also if it is possible that pushing with the arm can work ok too. It fits well with what I already know for knee cut, providing a different entry. The squash pass over the thigh fits in here nicely, but probably best saved for a separate class.

Also, the first vid in JT Torres' series is specifically against people self-framing into their legs, so most of that doesn't apply if they simply have their legs in the air. With that, you can drive their knees towards them, which makes everything a lot easier as they have less opportunity to get some kind of guard going.

20/02/2019 - Teaching | Open Guard | Knee cut/slide pass

Teaching #838
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/02/2019

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With the knee slide pass, the basic idea is to step between their legs in open guard, with one leg on the outside. Of course, most people aren't going to just let you cut across their leg, so you'll need to get into a solid position to do it. A while back, Dónal showed me a good option for this, which he in turn learned from his instructor.

First off, you want to get a good grip on their legs, to limit their mobility: grabbing the material by their knees tends to be a good option. Next, you want a grip on their collar. If you simply reach for it, you're asking to get triangled. So, being careful to keep your elbows inside their legs, drive your leg forwards into theirs. Keep driving forward until you can safely grip high on their same side collar (keep your elbow by your knee), pulling them back towards you as much as possible. You want to curl their body, so their shoulders are off the ground. This makes it much harder for them to sweep you.

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Drop into a relatively low crouch, legs apart for base. They will probably have a foot on your hip at this point: if they do, your grip will be on the trouser material by their shin. Turn your leg inwards slightly, pressing into their foot. With the grip you have on their trousers, shove their leg down, swinging your own leg backwards, then stepping over their leg. The grip you have on their trousers is important here: you're going to roll your knuckles down so that they are pressing into the shin, straightening your arm. This provides a firm control.

Next, you're going to cut across their thigh (still on the leg you just stuffed with your grip), using your opposite knee. As you do, also be sure to yank them towards that side with your collar grip, again to prevent sweeps. Drop in low, trying to secure an underhook, also keeping your head in tight. To get the underhook, put your elbow on their side, then circle your arm around, rather than diving straight for the underhook. You can also just maintain your grip on their collar, keeping your elbow low.

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Either way, it is essential that you have your elbow inside. You don't want them to either be able to bring their arm inside for an underhook, or insert their knee in front of you. If they can manage the knee or the underhook, the pass isn't impossible, but it makes it a lot more difficult to finish. Imagine you have a short steel bar attaching your wrist to your driving knee, which you'll only detach as you switch into the underhook or collar grip.

When you've pinned their leg with your shin, you can switch your grip from their leg to their arm (or even better, just below their elbow) and pull up. To further establish control, you could try shoving your head next to theirs, like in the picture I've included of Xande demonstrating a similar technique. To finish, you'll slide through over their thigh. To secure your position, walk your hips back before you settle (there is a good Mendes brothers video on this), getting your hips underneath them to shove their legs out of the way. That's when you can then solidify your side control.

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If you are having trouble cutting across their knee, you can turn that slide into a more horizontal motion, sliding your knee right out. Make sure you have some upper body control when you do that: otherwise you could be presenting them with an easy route to your back. Ideally you'll have an underhook, but if not a firm grip on their same side collar is good too, keeping your elbow right down towards their hip. You don't want them to be able to establish their own underhook and start spinning to your back.
________________

Teaching Notes: Rewatching those Donal private lesson videos was very useful for this, fairly happy with the structure and the details. One thing I do want to remember for next time is on the knee cut, keep that basing leg out and bent. A few people were keeping their basing leg in too close, or with the knee on the ground, so not as secure for balance.

20/12/2017 - Teaching | Open Guard | Knee Slide (AJ Sousa variation)

Teaching #740
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/12/2017

Short Version:

• Grab their trouser leg, by the knee
• Grab low on their gi with the other hand, bracing their leg with your elbow
• Move across, cutting your opposite leg over the leg you initially gripped
• Switch your grip to their arm and pull up, also establishing an underhook with the other arm
• Push their leg back with your knee, knee through

Full Version: With the knee slide pass, the basic idea is to step between their legs in open guard, with one leg on the outside. Of course, most people aren't going to just let you cut across their leg, so you'll need to get into a solid position to do it. A while back, Dónal showed me a good option for this, which he in turn learned from his instructor.

First off, you want to get a good grip on their legs, to limit their mobility: grabbing the material by their knees tends to be a good option. Next, you want a grip on their collar. If you simply reach for it, you're asking to get triangled. So, being careful to keep your elbows inside their legs, drive your leg forwards into theirs. Keep driving forward until you can safely grip high on their same side collar (keep your elbow by your knee), pulling them back towards you as much as possible. You want to curl their body, so their shoulders are off the ground. This makes it much harder for them to sweep you.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 30, 2017 at 12:29am PDT

Drop into a relatively low crouch, legs apart for base. They will probably have a foot on your hip at this point: if they do, your grip will be on the trouser material by their shin. Turn your leg inwards slightly, pressing into their foot. With the grip you have on their trousers, shove their leg down, swinging your own leg backwards, then stepping over their leg. The grip you have on their trousers is important here: you're going to roll your knuckles down so that they are pressing into the shin, straightening your arm. This provides a firm control.

Next, you're going to cut across their thigh (still on the leg you just stuffed with your grip), using your opposite knee. As you do, also be sure to yank them towards that side with your collar grip, again to prevent sweeps. Drop in low, trying to secure an underhook, also keeping your head in tight. To get the underhook, put your elbow on their side, then circle your arm around, rather than diving straight for the underhook. You can also just maintain your grip on their collar, keeping your elbow low.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Feb 20, 2017 at 4:04am PST

Either way, it is essential that you have your elbow inside. You don't want them to either be able to bring their arm inside for an underhook, or insert their knee in front of you. If they can manage the knee or the underhook, the pass isn't impossible, but it makes it a lot more difficult to finish. Imagine you have a short steel bar attaching your wrist to your driving knee, which you'll only detach as you switch into the underhook or collar grip.

When you've pinned their leg with your shin, you can switch your grip from their leg to their arm (or even better, just below their elbow) and pull up. To further establish control, you could try shoving your head next to theirs, like in the picture I've included of Xande demonstrating a similar technique. To finish, you'll slide through over their thigh. To secure your position, walk your hips back before you settle (there is a good Mendes brothers video on this), getting your hips underneath them to shove their legs out of the way. That's when you can then solidify your side control.

If you are having trouble cutting across their knee, you can turn that slide into a more horizontal motion, sliding your knee right out. Make sure you have some upper body control when you do that: otherwise you could be presenting them with an easy route to your back. Ideally you'll have an underhook, but if not a firm grip on their same side collar is good too, keeping your elbow right down towards their hip. You don't want them to be able to establish their own underhook and start spinning to your back.

A slightly simpler version from AJ Sousa, begins by grabbing the leg you're looking to slide across, with your same side hand. Your other hand grips low on their gi, acting as an anchor point to brace their leg with your elbow. Move across to the side, then complete the pass as usual.

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________________

Teaching Notes: I'd still like to teach a pass with no grips at all, like Chelsea taught a while ago, though what she taught isn't quite a knee cut, more of a bullfighter variation, or maybe x pass? Either way, it was the first seminar she taught. On this AJ Sousa knee cut, I think it is probably a better one to teach beginners than what I normally show, as there are less moving parts to it.

28/06/2017 - Teaching | Open Guard | Knee Slide Pass

Teaching #680
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/06/2017

With the knee slide pass, the basic idea is to step between their legs in open guard, with one leg on the outside. Of course, most people aren't going to just let you cut across their leg, so you'll need to get into a solid position to do it. A while back, Dónal showed me a good option for this, which he in turn learned from his instructor.

First off, you want to get a good grip on their legs, to limit their mobility: grabbing the material by their knees tends to be a good option. Next, you want a grip on their collar. If you simply reach for it, you're asking to get triangled. So, being careful to keep your elbows inside their legs, drive your leg forwards into theirs. Keep driving forward until you can safely grip high on their same side collar (keep your elbow by your knee), pulling them back towards you as much as possible. You want to curl their body, so their shoulders are off the ground. This makes it much harder for them to sweep you.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 30, 2017 at 12:29am PDT

Drop into a relatively low crouch, legs apart for base. They will probably have a foot on your hip at this point: if they do, your grip will be on the trouser material by their shin. Turn your leg inwards slightly, pressing into their foot. With the grip you have on their trousers, shove their leg down, swinging your own leg backwards, then stepping over their leg. The grip you have on their trousers is important here: you're going to roll your knuckles down so that they are pressing into the shin, straightening your arm. This provides a firm control.

Next, you're going to cut across their thigh (still on the leg you just stuffed with your grip), using your opposite knee. As you do, also be sure to yank them towards that side with your collar grip, again to prevent sweeps. Drop in low, trying to secure an underhook, also keeping your head in tight. To get the underhook, put your elbow on their side, then circle your arm around, rather than diving straight for the underhook. You can also just maintain your grip on their collar, keeping your elbow low.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Feb 20, 2017 at 4:04am PST

Either way, it is essential that you have your elbow inside. You don't want them to either be able to bring their arm inside for an underhook, or insert their knee in front of you. If they can manage the knee or the underhook, the pass isn't impossible, but it makes it a lot more difficult to finish. Imagine you have a short steel bar attaching your wrist to your driving knee, which you'll only detach as you switch into the underhook or collar grip.

When you've pinned their leg with your shin, you can switch your grip from their leg to their arm (or even better, just below their elbow) and pull up. To further establish control, you could try shoving your head next to theirs, like in the picture I've included of Xande demonstrating a similar technique. To finish, you'll slide through over their thigh. To secure your position, walk your hips back before you settle (there is a good Mendes brothers video on this), getting your hips underneath them to shove their legs out of the way. That's when you can then solidify your side control.

If you are having trouble cutting across their knee, you can turn that slide into a more horizontal motion, sliding your knee right out. Make sure you have some upper body control when you do that: otherwise you could be presenting them with an easy route to your back. Ideally you'll have an underhook, but if not a firm grip on their same side collar is good too, keeping your elbow right down towards their hip. You don't want them to be able to establish their own underhook and start spinning to your back.
________________

Teaching Notes: The grips appear to be confusing people, especially that initial entry, same as last time. I should try the Chelsea version, as IIRC that was much simpler. Just a hand to the hip and knee, then move in from there. Although I like Donal's version and think it's effective, there are quite a few moving parts in it. There is the Nathan Adamson one too, which I've taught before: that's good if I have a particular focus on mount.

So next time, try a different way of teaching it, simplified, less grips. Nothing wrong with this lesson, but as the knee slide (I need to remember to call it that, better for emphasising the important motion) is one I've dubbed 'core' and teach every time, simpler the better.

17/02/2017 - Teaching | Open Guard | Knee Slide Pass

Teaching #633
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/02/2017

With the knee slide pass, the basic idea is to step between their legs in open guard, with one leg on the outside. Of course, most people aren't going to just let you cut across their leg, so you'll need to get into a solid position to do it. A while back, Dónal showed me a good option for this, which he in turn learned from his instructor.

First off, you want to get a good grip on their legs, to limit their mobility: grabbing the material by their knees tends to be a good option. Next, you want a grip on their collar. If you simply reach for it, you're asking to get triangled. So, being careful to keep your elbows inside their legs, drive your leg forwards into theirs. Keep driving forward until you can safely grip high on their same side collar (keep your elbow by your knee), pulling them back towards you as much as possible. You want to curl their body, so their shoulders are off the ground. This makes it much harder for them to sweep you.

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Dec 16, 2015 at 3:59am PST

Drop into a relatively low crouch, legs apart for base. They will probably have a foot on your hip at this point: if they do, your grip will be on the trouser material by their shin. Turn your leg inwards slightly, pressing into their foot. With the grip you have on their trousers, shove their leg down, swinging your own leg backwards, then stepping over their leg. The grip you have on their trousers is important here: you're going to roll your knuckles down so that they are pressing into the shin, straightening your arm. This provides a firm control.

Next, you're going to cut across their thigh (still on the leg you just stuffed with your grip), using your opposite knee. As you do, also be sure to yank them towards that side with your collar grip, again to prevent sweeps. Drop in low, trying to secure an underhook, also keeping your head in tight. To get the underhook, put your elbow on their side, then circle your arm around, rather than diving straight for the underhook. You can also just maintain your grip on their collar, keeping your elbow low.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Feb 20, 2017 at 4:04am PST

Either way, it is essential that you have your elbow inside. You don't want them to either be able to bring their arm inside for an underhook, or insert their knee in front of you. If they can manage the knee or the underhook, the pass isn't impossible, but it makes it a lot more difficult to finish. Imagine you have a short steel bar attaching your wrist to your driving knee, which you'll only detach as you switch into the underhook or collar grip.

When you've pinned their leg with your shin, you can switch your grip from their leg to their arm (or even better, just below their elbow) and pull up. To further establish control, you could try shoving your head next to theirs, like in the picture I've included of Xande demonstrating a similar technique. To finish, you'll slide through over their thigh. To secure your position, walk your hips back before you settle (there is a good Mendes brothers video on this), getting your hips underneath them to shove their legs out of the way. That's when you can then solidify your side control.

If you are having trouble cutting across their knee, you can turn that slide into a more horizontal motion, sliding your knee right out. Make sure you have some upper body control when you do that: otherwise you could be presenting them with an easy route to your back. Ideally you'll have an underhook, but if not a firm grip on their same side collar is good too, keeping your elbow right down towards their hip. You don't want them to be able to establish their own underhook and start spinning to your back.
________________

Teaching & Sparring Notes: I'm wondering if it is too complicated to put in all the stuff about driving the knee in and grabbing the collar, a lot of people were either forgetting that entirely or getting confused. It might therefore be better to focus on the later part, emphasising blocking their knee coming in and the slide back. Also, I highlighted the little push back with the knee to complete the pass.

Sparring was good too, where I'm continuing to try and combine tripod and sickle, moving into that Mike Fowler sweep if I can, or butterfly sweep. When I went for the tripod and sickle, people were tending to shift their weight, giving me a chance to go for a kimura or a butterfly sweep. The ankle pick sweep is there too, though it remains more of an opportunistic one. I was also finding myself putting on a crucifix a lot in free sparring, but I think that was mainly down to them reaching under my leg too much.