30/06/2012 - Nic Gregoriades 'Big Class' at GB Bristol (Overhook & Windscreen Wiper Sweep)

Class #461
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nic Gregoriades, Bristol, UK - 30/06/2012

Geeza regularly has events he calls a 'Big Class'. It is sort of like of seminar, in that Geeza brings someone in to teach, but within the normal parameters of a class, rather than the several hours you tend to get at a seminar. Either way, it's cool to get a different perspective. I don't make it out to many of them, as I'm normally busy at the weekend, but fortunately this Saturday I had time free.

Nic is somebody I met on my first day of jiu jitsu, back in 2006 when he was a brown belt. The last time I trained with him was during my last month at the Roger Gracie Academy HQ, in January 2009. Nic is an excellent teacher, so I was excited at the chance to be taught by him again. One of my main memories from when I was learning from him regularly is that he liked to throw in unusual warm-ups and cool-downs, like meditation. That hasn't changed in the three years since, as he had a whole bunch of drills I hadn't seen before.

The idea behind all of them was to open up the hips. I'm not sure I remembered it all properly, but the ones that stuck in my head were based around the 'shin box' position (handy term: it's what Nic calls the position where you have one leg bent in front of you, so that the sole of that foot touches the knee of your other leg, which is bent behind you). From there, move your knees up, so that you switch to being sat on the floor with both knees raised in front. Continue the motion, putting your knees on the mat in the other direction, returning to the shin box position but the opposite configuration. You can then bring your legs back to the starting position and repeat.

A slightly more difficult one (if you're inflexible: I'm lucky in that I seem to have always been relatively flexible, ever since I got into martial arts seriously in 1999) starts with one leg in front, as with the shin box, but the other leg goes straight backwards, on your toes. From there, swing the back leg around in a big circle, staying low throughout and not bending your leg. Keep the swing going until that leg is in front, pointing diagonally away from you. Curl that leg so it goes into a shin box, while the other leg goes straight backwards. You can then repeat, moving forward up the mat each time.

Techniques today were all based around the closed guard. Geeza mentioned that in his email about this class, which was another reason I was keen to attend. I'm a big believer in the basics, so the kind of instruction I most value includes variations and details on fundamental techniques I already know. That's exactly what I got from Nic's class, which was therefore awesome.

First, Nic had a little detail on breaking their posture. Generally, people will stagger their hands when in your guard, gripping your collars near your chest with a straight arm, while the other hangs back pressing into your hip. To collapse that straight arm can be a pain, but Nic taught us a reliable method.

Reach over with your same side arm, grabbing their opposite collar. Brace your elbow by the side of their elbow. Bring them forwards with your legs and collar grip as usual, but use your elbow to push into their elbow. As Nic described it, their elbow is the major hinge in that situation, so this should make it easy to bring them down into what Geeza calls the 'submission zone', wrapping up their head to keep them there.

That was followed by two techniques I've been failing to get in sparring for quite some time, which is why I was so pleased to see Nic teaching them. To begin, Nic demonstrated the two-on-one gripbreak, which I taught a while ago. The basic idea is to grab their opposite sleeve, then bring your other arm underneath theirs, in order to hold the wrist of your sleeve-gripping hand. You then shove upwards to break the grip. Nic added in a variation at that point: instead of going straight up, punch diagonally across with your sleeve-grip hand, in the direction your knuckles are pointing.

Another useful detail was getting to the armwrap, for an overhook guard sweep. After you've broken the grip and are pulling your sleeve grip behind your head, Nic suggested bringing the elbow of your wrist-grabbing arm up inside their arm. That helps avoid the confusion people often get into with this technique, as it makes a clear distinction. Yet another key detail Nic added was to reach up as far as you can with your overhooking arm, before reaching under their arm. You want their shoulder pressing into your Teres major first, which will give you maximum arm length for reaching under.

After you've reached under their arm to establish the overhook, grab their opposite collar (you could feed it with your other hand, if you can do so without losing control over their posture). Make sure you also pin the elbow of your gripping arm to your ribs, to clamp their arm in place. With your non-gripping hand, grasp the gi material by their shoulder, on the trapped-arm side. Wedge your wrist and forearm under their jaw. This is important, as you'll need it for the technique to work.

Having well and truly immobilised their upper body, you can now open your guard and turn your hip out towards the non-trapped arm side. Circle your leg on the non-trapped side around their knee in order to insert a butterfly hook. If you can't, then shrimp out until you can. Raise your jaw elbow up, to lift their head, then also elevate your butterfly hook. With your other leg, chop into their knee (like you would with a scissor sweep), rolling through into mount. Here's another old training partner of mine, Yas Wilson, showing a variation where you go the opposite way:



The next technique is something I was first shown by Ciaran at the Belfast Throwdown. He called it the 'windscreen wiper' sweep. I next saw it on Andre Anderson's closed guard DVD, where he called it the 'Rey Diogo sweep', after his instructor who used it extensively. John Will does something similar he dubs the 'bearhug ankle lift'. Nic's name for it was the 'Xande sweep', due to Xande having also used it regularly in competition.

Whatever the name (I think I'll stick with Ciaran's 'windscreen wiper sweep', as it's the most descriptive), it's a great sweep. I've been giving it a go since watching the Anderson DVD, but without much success. After having been shown the same technique by Nic, I think I've been having trouble because I've followed Anderson's preference on a particular detail, whereas the other option – which Nic showed in his demonstration - works better for me. Of course, Anderson shows both and says you should try both, but I've been wrongly fixated on just the one.

Start off by grabbing the same side wrist (Anderson prefers to grab the elbow and push in, while Will has yet another variation. The breadth of jiu jitsu, even within a single element of a single technique, is a beautiful thing). Angle your torso over to the opposite side, then grab either the outside of their knee or the lower part of their trousers. Nic noted that when you do this, an experienced opponent is going to know something is up. If they know this sweep, they'll post their other leg out to stop you.

Before they can do that, put your same side foot by that other leg, keeping it tight so there is no room for them to wriggle. This is the detail I wasn't doing, because Anderson prefers to put his foot on the hip, but having tried both with Nic, I think foot on the floor works better for me than foot on the hip. Next, kick your foot on the trouser-grip side up into their armpit, aiming to curve their body away as you do (Nic used the image of a sickle, Ciaran prefers a windscreen wiper). To finish, kick forward with that leg, lifting the trouser, then roll through into mount.

We finished up with two rounds of sparring, from the closed guard. I was able to get a few passes from the top, though they felt a bit sloppy. Still, I'm pleased I managed to switch from one side to the other a couple of times, as that is a habit I've been trying to develop. Underneath, I was looking to take the back, combining that with a flower sweep if it didn't work. I wasn't wholly successful. Still got the sweep, but again it was sloppy, based more on reaction than anything I could easily replicate.

I also attempted to move into a scissor sweep, but as so often when I try that, I basically just gave them an opportunity to start a pass. I was able to recover with a kimura from under half guard, but again that was opportunistic and sloppy. I should soon have lots more time to work on guard stuff, as I think the theme is passing for the next fortnight.

28/06/2012 - Teaching (Basic Sweeps When They Stand In Your Guard)

Teaching #061
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/06/2012

In my first formal lesson of BJJ, back on the 8th November 2006, I learned something called the ankle grab sweep. It's a very basic technique, so most people are going to be expecting it and ready to counter, but it's nonetheless important to have it in your repertoire. If nothing else, by reviewing the ankle grab sweep, you can take another look at both the counters, re-counters and potential follow-ups. The technique itself is very simple. They are in your guard, in the process of standing up. Before they begin setting up their pass, open your guard on your terms: you don't want them dictating the pace, as they will then also dictate the grips. Slide down their legs slightly, then bring your knees together. Your lower legs will be splayed out, over their hips. Grab behind their ankles (around the outside: that's safer than inside), then drive your knees up and through their chest. That should put them on their back. It's very important that you don't stop at that point celebrating how awesome it is you've knocked them over. Immediately move through to the mount. Don't try and push straight forward, as that is going to be awkward, slow and liable to leave gaps for them to exploit. Instead, drive diagonally across them. You can either put a hand behind you for base (it will be the hand on the same side as the direction you're moving), or alternatively, grab their same side trouser leg with that hand. That's probably preferable, as then you have both base and some control over their lower body. As you drive through, stay tight with your hips, bending your knees to slide straight into mount. If they are taller or you're getting stacked, then there is also the option of switching from driving with your knees to putting your feet on their hips and pushing. That gives you a greater range. It might also mean they fall back away from you, in which case you could do a technical stand up instead, then pass the guard. Almost everyone will just grab your gi jacket to counterbalance the ankle grab sweep. The next option is a little harder for them to defend. I know it as the 'handstand sweep', though invariably there are probably lots of names for it. As they stand, keep your guard closed, wrapping an arm around their same side ankle. You're looking to get the crook of your elbow behind the ankle: for further control, you could try reaching through to grab your own collar. For power, range and balance, put your free hand on the floor, as if you were doing a handstand (hence the name). To complete the sweep, you need to bring their knee out sideways. Their foot has to be immobilised for that, or they'll be able to adjust and maintain their balance. To turn their knee out, bring your hips sideways, pushing into the inside of their knee. Once you've pushed it far enough so their leg swivels, that should knock them to the floor. Your guard stays closed throughout, opening at the last moment to adjust into mount. However, that still leaves them a hand with which they can post out and recover. To prevent that, you can cross-grip their sleeve. This is what Xande calls the 'muscle sweep', because their ankle is by your 'muscle' (i.e., bicep). The set up is the same as before, but this time, you don't use your free hand to push off the floor. Instead, you grab their opposite sleeve, thereby both preventing them from posting out, and also providing you with an easy way of pulling yourself up into mount.

The difficulty is due to the decreased leverage at your disposal. Now that you can't use that hand to push up, you instead have to really push into their knee. Make sure your grip around their leg is tight, pulling their foot right to your head. You will also use your grip on their sleeve, pulling their arm way across towards their trapped leg. This is tougher to pull off, but it makes the transition to the top easier.

For both variations, make sure you are driving your hips across into their knee, rather than rising up as you would with the ankle grab. If you rise up, then you'll be going above their knee, which will lessen your leverage. Your hips should be next the knee to generate maximum torque.

26/06/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Closed Guard Triangle)

Class #460
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 26/06/2012

Tonight's class continued with guard, this time a submission. As usual, Dónal ran through loads of drills to start, before progressing into the main technique, setting up the triangle. Grab their same side collar and pull them in towards you to break down their posture. Your other hand should be positioned on their same side forearm, slightly below their elbow. Push their arm backwards, then immediately bring your thigh to their neck. The reason you don't instead push on their wrist is so that they find it more difficult to block your leg with their elbow. Once you have that leg in position, clamp down, keeping your other leg tightly pressed into their side throughout. Don't try and jump both legs up at once, or they may be able to time it so that they have both arms outside and can move straight into a double underhooks pass. Instead, establish the first leg, then bring your other leg over to lock your ankles together. Squeeze your knees, and you're ready to move on to the triangle itself. However, that wasn't going to be covered in this class, as it's only an hour long. Instead, we went into sparring, where again I went with Tony. Like last week, we focused on specifics, even more so than usual. I was playing with side control last week, where I'm fairly comfortable. Today I decided to play with mount. Generally I'm quite comfortable there too, but my main mount is low with grapevines. Due to Tony's knee injury, I instead stuck with high mount. Now, I've been having more success from high mount than before, but I was reminded tonight how much less stable I am there compared to low mount. Tony was able to wriggle his knees in each time, getting to a position where he could brace both his shins inside one of my legs, then use that to make space and escape. It was an interesting test of balance, as well as a good opportunity to experience the kind of way I tend to try and escape mount, as like Tony I'm also a small guy who is used to digging my way free with knees and elbows. ;) After that, Dónal moved into another cool drill, this time for sparring. You may be familiar with flow rolling. There is a step before that, where you take the BJJ chess metaphor to a literal level, sparring move by move. This apparently is something Hélio enjoyed doing, particularly in his later years when his mobility had declined. The idea is to take it in turns to do a technique, then freezing in place while your partner responds. It makes for an interesting experience, providing the opportunity to think carefully about your next move (not often afforded in the midst of sparring) and try out things you might not otherwise attempt. In an ideal world, the warm-up for every class would feature flow rolling. I think it is an invaluable tool, particularly for beginners, as it teaches so many virtues of BJJ: for example, the ability to relax, to flow and to experiment. Christian Graugart did a great video on flow rolling here, which is well worth checking out.

21/06/2012 - Teaching (Closed Guard Sweep)

Teaching #060
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/06/2012

Last time I went through what is probably the most basic sweep from closed guard, the scissor sweep. This week, I wanted to add in some variations. The first time I saw the reverse scissor sweep was a clip from one of Levo's old grappling tapes, but I was first taught it in a class setting much more recently, by Scott McVeigh.

When you try to hit the scissor sweep, you may find that they shift their weight to block it, or try to grab your knee. Either way, that means you can then change to a reverse scissor sweep instead. Your shin is across their stomach for the scissor sweep, with a grip on the collar as well as their same side sleeve. Rather than pulling them onto you and chopping out their leg, switch your collar hand to their sleeve and yank it across their body, passing the grip to your other hand. The elbow of your gripping arm can be used for base.

Next, reach your free arm (which should be the arm nearest the foot you have curled near their hip) around to their opposite armpit, bringing them in tight. As when you're trying to take the back, you need to press your chest into the back of the arm you pulled across their body, so they can't pull it back out. On the same side as the arm you've trapped, put your shoulder back on the mat, which should enable you to fling them over in that direction with your braced leg and move into side control.

John Will uses a slight variation, on his Mastering Sweeps DVD (which I bought from him at his excellent seminar last month). Rather than gripping the collar and sleeve, he advises gripping and then pushing your palms inwards, rather than leaving any slack. This makes it a bit easier to switch their arm to your other hand, as you already have a grip, rather than having to use your collar grabbing arm. Will comes up on one arm, then as he falls back to lift them, he switches the posting hand to instead reach through their arm. This is so he can end up reaching past their armpit into the collar, like the grip Geeza showed recently.

In his lesson, Scott then showed how if they sprawl, you can take their back. Though their sprawl will make it hard to get the above sweep, you can now just bring your free foot between their legs and swivel around to their back. Scott advised that I should be pressing with my heels rather than trying to curl my instep and toes for grip, as the latter could get hurt should they try and roll out. This is similar to drills Dónal and Geeza have used in the past, where you switch from half guard to the back then return to half guard on the other side. So, I included that drill too, to help people familiarise themselves with the movement. Geeza also recommends that you bring your knee out as you start to swivel to their back, to prevent them simply driving into you or pulling your knee to disrupt your base.

19/06/2012 - Please Donate to the Meningitis UK GrappleThon

Class #459
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 19/06/2012

On the 22nd September 2012, I've organised a twenty-four hour grappling session at Gracie Barra Bristol. It's an idea I got from some Canadian friends of mine, who ran what they called a 'grapple-a-thon' the day before I got my purple belt. The concept is that between 9am on Saturday until 9am on Sunday, there will be at least one pair sparring. I'll be streaming it live, so if you ever wanted to see me getting extremely tired at a silly time on Sunday morning, now's your chance. ;) The GrappleThon, generously sponsored by Seymour 'Meerkatsu' Yang and Tatami Fightwear, will be in support of a charity, Meningitis UK. The purpose of that charity is to develop vaccinations for all the various strains of meningitis. If you're able to donate anything to help them in their work funding vaccine research, my fundraising page is here. Even if it's only a pound (or a dollar: you can donate via PayPal, so it's international), it all helps. If you're wondering why I want to raise money for Meningitis UK, I can't think of words more powerful than these, where one of the parents I met a few months ago describes how she lost her child.  _______________  Dónal's class tonight was as ever replete with some nifty drills, in particular two partner drills for the guard. Start with them in your open guard. Grab underneath your leg to grab the material on the outside of their same side knee. Rolling onto your shoulder, still on that side, kick your other leg diagonally across. Kicking that leg provides the momentum you need to end up kneeling next to them. You then return to your previous position by dropping your inside shoulder and rolling back in front of them, after which you repeat the motion on the other side.  The next drill added in another detail. It starts the same as before, except that this time your free hand grabs their sleeve (yet again, that's the sleeve on the same side as the knee you're gripping, meaning you're reaching diagonally across). Kick your leg across as you did last time to end up next to them. Due to the sleeve grip, you'll find yourself with an arm between your legs. That means that when you now drop your shoulder to roll back, you can kick your inside leg into the crook of their elbow to bend their arm back, setting you up for either an omoplata or an omoplata sweep (which from what Dónal said is the one Roleta was famous for using). In terms of technique, Dónal ran through a simple but important principle about maintaining guard. If you've seen the awesome closed guard DVD by Andre Anderson, then you'll be familiar with this: like Anderson, Dónal described how lying flat on your back leaves a space between your groin and their hips. With that space, they can immediately start to press back into your crossed ankles, because your ankles are jammed tight against their back.  If you instead wriggle your hips forward, so that there is no gap between your groin and their stomach, the space moves behind them. They now have to work much harder to open the guard, as they'll have to somehow close the distance between their back and your crossed ankles. At this point, Dónal mentioned how you want to adjust the way in which your ankles are crossed depending on their grip. If they have their right arm forward, they will probably press their left arm into your same side leg, so you'll want to shift your ankles to make it harder for them to break them open.  There was enough time left for two rounds of sparring. I went with Tony, who is coming off a serious knee injury. He therefore didn't want to work from guard, asking if I could start on top in side control instead. I'm a big fan of specific sparring, so I was happy to get in some focused practice. I worked on staying tight, attempting to fill any gaps, also maximising my weight through my chest and head by coming up on my toes. I was also looking to sneak an arm underneath his armpit, to attack for the kimura. While I could get a gift wrap grip (reaching around his head to grab his opposite wrist, pulling his arm around his head as a result), I wasn't able to capitalise. Most of that round was spent trying to both maintain the pressure on top and see if I could wriggle my arm past his armpit. My intention was to shift from a kimura into an arm triangle, as per John Will's seminar last month.

The second round was similar, except that I started in knee-on-belly. That's one of my weaker positions. I went for the Braulio version, where you stay low, putting an arm by their far hip to stop them shrimping. As I felt myself losing the position, I circled around to a sort of crouching north-south, grabbing an arm in a figure-four on the way. However, I couldn't separate that arm from the body sufficiently to generate any leverage. Instead, I did a back-step to avoid losing control, thereby ending in the same position as the last round.

This time I moved more quickly to try for the arm triangle, but with much the same results. I couldn't wriggle into the armpit, as Tony was doing an effective job of both keeping his arm really tight along with blocking and wriggling his other arm to maintain a mobile barrier. I think perhaps I should have driven my hand past the armpit and grabbed round the head, in order to move into Will's arm triangle tightening sequence. Then again, I may not have had the space. Either way, something to work on for next time: it's always really cool to get a chance to really hone in on a specific technique. :D

14/06/2012 - Teaching (Running Escape from Side Control)

Teaching #059
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/06/2012

Last time I taught escaping side control, I covered the basic options. I added another reminder in the warm-up, by again including that continuous side control escape drill. The technique for tonight takes the same principle of bridging and turning, but in the other direction.

This is what I would refer to as the running escape, as I first saw it on Saulo's DVD. He touches on it briefly in that first series, then in much more detail on his follow up set. As always with BJJ terminology, there are plenty of other names for the same thing. For example, when I mentioned the running escape to Kev at RGA Bucks, he knew it as the 'coffee grinder' (Jean Jacques Machado's name for the running escape).

Rather than gripping under your head and far arm as in orthodox side control, for tonight's scenario your opponent is using near side grips (i.e., an arm under your head and by the same side hip). That means that it is very difficult to bridge towards them and shrimp, because they've trapped that side. However, you can still bridge away from them, as that side is completely open.

A simplified version of the running escape starts in much the same way as an orthodox escape: bridge to make some initial space. Your aim is to create a gap so that you can turn on your side, getting your hand past their near shoulder. Use that hand as a block, then step out with your bottom leg. Be careful you don't elbow your partner in the face as you do that, especially if you're pushing off their shoulder with your hand.

You can either try and quickly turn from there, or walk your legs around towards their head. When you've walked far enough, turn to your knees by bringing your top leg over. That means you are now facing them. Braulio prefers to stay close, immediately bringing his arm up into their armpit. His reasoning is that they will often try to take your back as you turn. If as Braulio suggests you stick your arm up, you can then take their back instead. You could alternatively stay facing them on your knees, working from that position, or turn and drop into an open guard.

After the class had drilled that version, I went into a bit more detail on the running escape. The defensive position you're looking to reach is turned away from them, with one leg over the other, foot based out. Your top elbow is clamped to that stepping leg (your forearm should be glued to your upper leg), while your other hand goes behind your head for defence. This can be a handy place to catch your breath, although it can also be tempting to stall.

I've been prone to doing that a lot in the past, but you need to move on to the actual escape. Push off the floor with your back foot, using that to move your body forward, your hips raised. Base on your head and shoulder, then turn your top knee inwards. Continue the rotation until you can recover open or half guard.

You need to keep five things in mind while in your defensive posture. First, don't let them sneak an arm around your waist. If they get an arm in, you aren't going to be able to turn away and free yourself. Should they get an arm inside, you'll have to either wriggle your elbow and knee back underneath, or shift to a different escape. It's possible you may be able to roll them, as when somebody reaches too deeply in turtle, but most likely they will start making space to insert their leg.

That leads into the second point: be careful they don't take your back. This is the most common attack people have done to me when I've tried it. If they can lift you up enough to slide their bottom leg through (if they have an arm around your waist, this becomes much more likely), you're in trouble. If it does happen, stay tight and don't let them get that second hook in. Your elbow is already by your hip and knee to block the first hook, which means you can use the hand of that same arm to help protect your other hip from their second hook. You might also be able to move into turtle and roll them, but that needs good timing and control of their arm.

Third, watch for chokes. Saulo confidently states that they are never going to be able to choke you if you duck your head, bringing it next to your arm to block their entry. However, you can't just lie there and assume you're immune to being choked: you still need to take care they aren't able to set anything up. Should they get hold of a collar, you can try yanking that same collar outwards to remove their grip, but it may be too late if they've already got a solid grasp and started cinching the collar tight against your neck.

Fourth, time your escape, staying sensitive to their weight distribution. If they are driving into you with lots of pressure, it will be hard to make space and turn. A good moment to attempt the escape is when they are looking to attack or transition to another position. Often, there will be a brief moment before they start when they take their weight off you. That is the time to spring the escape.

Finally, as you turn towards them, you need to make sure you secure the position. If you aren't careful, they can just keep moving round and put you back in side control. That's where I tend to get caught. If you're having trouble, you could instead try going to turtle, or perhaps use the principles of guard recovery: block their shoulder and bicep, get your legs in the way, hook their leg into half guard, etc.

It is possible that the person you are training with won't often use near side grips from side control. Speaking personally, I tend to go for the orthodox grip under the head and the far arm. That doesn't mean you can't use the running escape, it simply means you have to put yourself into position, forcing them to use near grips. All you need to do is make enough space that you can turn away and curl into a ball.

10/06/2012 - Capoeira Now Available At GB Bristol

Class #2
Gracie Barra Bristol, (Capoeira), Rad Budzicki, Bristol, UK - 10/06/2012

In my second year as an undergraduate at Warwick, I checked out a capoeira class for the first time. I can't remember much except doing handstands against a wall. Over ten years later, the opportunity popped up to take another look at the other main Brazilian martial art. That's because the smaller mat space at Gracie Barra Bristol (where we trained while the main academy was being built) is going to be the venue for capoeira lessons, run by Rad Budzicki. I probably won't be able to make that normally, as I tend to be busy at weekends. However, as I'm free this weekend, I wanted to support the new class.

Geeza made the announcement on Friday that these lessons would be happening, but it's probably unsurprising I was the only person from the BJJ side of things to turn up, as there is also a BJJ class that runs on Sundays. Still, I'm sure it will grow in future. At the moment, the class is mostly made up of Rad's students from elsewhere. I presume he has been training his guys for a while, as they were flipping and jumping all over the place. One of them also had a t-shirt saying something about jiu jitsu (Rad mentioned to me that his original teacher in Poland was both a master of capoeira as well as a BJJ black belt) with the date '2009', which indicates at least a few years of training.

The warm-up had some similarities to jiu jitsu, with running round the room, heels up, sidestepping etc, but then shifted to more specific capoeira motions. For example, a sort of crouch-walk down the mat, both forwards and backwards. That was followed by specific drills, where you face a partner in the capoeira stance (Rad called it something in Portuguese, but I didn't catch the word), doing a half-cartwheel then spinning around to face each other again. I can see this being very applicable to BJJ, as it is great for developing your base, balance and agility. Seemed to work pretty well for Cobrinha, too. ;)

I was the only beginner there, so Rad was careful to help me through some of the steps. His students were helpful too, so I didn't feel rushed or that I was holding anyone up (though I'm sure I was, particularly when we were doing the drills down the mat). Rad's English is good and he creates a welcoming, friendly vibe. There is also capoeira music running in the background the whole time, which further contributes to the atmosphere.

After going through the basic ginga steps (which I vaguely remembered from my first - and up until now only - lesson back in 2001/2002), Rad added in some kicks. It's fun being new to something again, as it means even the co-ordination is difficult for me at this point. I recognised the kick, as it's the same as the inner crescent I was taught back at ZSK, but the timing was totally different, as you're doing it off the ginga and preferably to the beat of the music (I assume). It made for an interesting combination of what I remember from ZSK combined with the way I felt during my brief stint in salsa. There too I often felt clumsy, but it was always cool when a salsa routine started coming together after a few lessons.

Rad moved on to showing how to duck under the kick, dipping your body so the kick passes over your head. Chatting to him later, he said that the style of capoeira he teaches does involve contact, but other styles are all about moving around your partner, so you don't actually touch each other (if I understood him correctly).

We then stretched out, which I assumed meant it was the end of class. I was wrong: when they stopped after that and moved off the mat, it was just to get some water. Class continued with some more complex techniques, interestingly including a takedown that has some applicability to jiu jitsu. This time when they kick and you duck, you sway your body under and around the leg. When you come back up, backstep (I think? I kept going off the wrong foot) and spin around behind them. You can then curl your hand around the front of their knee and pull straight back, in the direction of their heel, knocking them to the floor.

It was then time for two much more challenging acrobatic techniques. The first one was a spinning handstand. I can just about do a sloppy handstand, but not spinning. The initial difficulty is trusting yourself to support your body weight on one hand. I've done one handed cartwheels as a ZSK warm-up in the past, but trying to hold it was a bit different.

The way to do it seems to be put one hand down, kicking up one leg as you do. Use that momentum to get the other leg up straight. It gets much harder after that, as then you're supposed to transfer your weight to your other hand. That other hand is facing the other direction, so the heel of each hand faces the other as you switch. I didn't get any further than that, as I was having enough trouble to ignore my natural instinct to put both hands down to support myself.

Next was a head stand, except that you're jump into the head stand and then lift yourself up with your arms. That was also somewhat beyond me, but I could practice doing a simple headstand from kneeling, making a triangle with my two hands and head, then gradually bringing my knees in before extending the legs up. Getting from there to lifting up with your arms is where it got especially tough: Rad says it's easier to do that in motion, though of course that means you have to be a bit braver at flinging yourself headfirst into the mat. ;)

Then everyone gathered round and did some capoeira sparring. It was cool to watch: the reason I first got into stand-up martial arts back in 1999 was due to the awesome acrobatics of old Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Jackie Chan etc kung fu flicks. So, the beautiful display by the rest of the class was very entertaining. When Rad asked if I wanted to do a light spar, it was entertaining in a different way, as Geeza can attest – he was sitting on the side watching me flail and stumble about.

Still, fun to do, especially as I haven't thrown a crescent kick at anybody in at least five years. I was considering throwing in some of the jumping spinning stuff I used to do back in ZSK, but it's been so long I would most likely either fall on my arse or accidentally kick someone in the face, neither of which would be good. ;)

Rad is going to be holding capoeira classes from 11:00-12:30 on Saturdays and Sundays at GB Bristol (address details on the website). So, if you interested in learning how to flip, spin and generally look cool while getting a great work-out, be sure to check it out! :D

08/06/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Knee-On-Belly Transitions)

Class #458
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 08/06/2012

I've been even more intermittent with training (in terms of being a student, rather than teaching) recently, so it was good to get in at least one session of being taught rather than being the teacher. I love teaching, but it inevitably reduces your drilling and sparring time, so it's important to also get in some time learning from somebody better than you.

Tonight Geeza continued the theme of side control transitions from yesterday, focusing on knee-on-belly. That started off with a nifty drill for knee on belly, which also proved to be a tough workout for the legs. You start off in knee on belly. They turn towards you, whereupon you lift your knee slightly, keeping the instep of that knee curled in close to their body. They then bridge straight up: again, you ride it out. Finally, they turn away forcefully. This is the hardest bit. With the leg you have up, move that right around their head. Keep on going under that leg is by their stomach. Put the knee on belly on that side, so that you other leg is now up instead. Repeat.

Next up was a transition from knee on belly to mount. Begin in side control, then move your hand nearest their legs to their far hip and grip. You other hand is going to grip their far collar, so that your forearm is across their neck. Hop up to knee on belly. Once you've secured the position, switch your hip hand to the outside of their far knee, gripping the gi material of their trousers tightly.

They again try to forcefully turn towards you and bridge you off. Go with the motion, sitting back on your raised leg. Use your trouser grip to shove their knees to the mat, on the side nearest to you. Kick your other leg (so, the one which was on their belly) straight forward, a bit like you were doing a muay thai teep kick over their body. Use your kick to grip their far hip with your heel, then drive through into mount.

Geeza finished off the technical section with a third technique: there was a bit more time tonight, as he merged the beginner and advanced classes, so it ended up being a bit under two hours total. This time, he demonstrated a near side armbar from side control. The grip you start off with is unusual for side control, as you want to reach under their near side armpit with the arm furthest away from that armpit. It is important that their arm then ends up underneath your armpit, so you can clamp it to your body. Keep reaching with your hand, to grab the back of their collar.

It is a weird grip, which takes a bit of set-up because their arm isn't normally in that position. If they are wise to this technique, then it will be even harder to get the grip. However, as Geeza said, you can trick them into giving it to you. Reach under their armpit, then start moving to north-south. That should make them extend their arm, so that you can then clamp it and move back to your original perpendicular alignment.

Either way, once you have that grip, reach over with your free arm to grab their far sleeve. Pull it towards you to roll them up on their side, passing it across your body, bringing your leg over their head. Make sure your armpit and collar hold stays tight on the first arm. Bring your other leg over their body as well, sliding your grip up from their collar towards their elbow. Their arm should still be firmly clamped, enabling you to lean back and put pressure on their elbow for the tap.

I haven't done an extended session of sparring in a while: it was good to get back to it tonight. We did a good forty minutes. I started off with two relatively light rolls, with a white belt and an orange belt respectively. Given I'm pretty weeny, the orange belt is actually bigger than me, but still young, so I had a strength and experience advantage. That meant I could practice my transitions, trying to use what Geeza had just shown us about knee on belly and that grip set up. The white belt has a lot of experience in judo, so it was interesting trying to attack her back. The natural judo reaction is to turn flat to the floor on your stomach, which is quite different to the typical BJJ scenario.

That was followed by a completely different kind of roll, as next up I went with Geeza, who is both much bigger and much better than me. I therefore took it as an opportunity to work my defence, trying to dig my way out of his side and back control using my elbows and knees, spinning and squirming whenever I could find some space. I'm ending up with my back taken far too often, possibly because of my instinctive reliance on the running escape. Rolling with Miles was similar, as he is also bigger and better than me, so I did pretty much exactly the same thing.

By this point I was knackered, so my final roll with a smaller blue belt was very lazy. I fought to get on top of half guard, then settled into my usual control: elbow pressed in the back of the head grabbing the back of their gi, while the other arm reaches under their armpit and clamps tight. We stayed there for a long time with me trying to catch my breath from the previous rolls. Eventually he was able to put me in guard, where I switched to first using my legs to try and keep him away, then going to a very defensive closed guard for the last few moments of the spar.

Capoeira classes being launched at the academy, which could be interesting. I haven't been to a class of that since my second year as an undergraduate back in 2001/2002, so I may well pop down on Sunday to check it out.

07/06/2012 - Teaching (Side Control Transitions: North-South & Knee-on-Belly)

Teaching #058
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 07/06/2012

I was thinking about running through my basic maintaining side control lesson, but I did that fairly recently, back in April. So instead, I went to the second stage of my current maintaining side control series, which is north-south and knee on belly. North-south is my personal favourite transition, whereas I'm not a big fan of knee-on-belly. Still, as well as being a good transition, knee on belly is supposed to be ideal for small people like me, so this was another handy chance to practice.

When moving around to north-south from standard side control, start by shifting your grip. You'll need to place one arm by their near hip. A useful tip from Braulio is to anchor your hand flat on the mat by their legs, elbow near their bum. If you instead grab their gi or their trousers, they will be able to follow you with their legs as you turn. If you put your hand in the way, that acts as a barrier, meaning you can scoot around but they can't scamper after you. Your other hand will normally wrap under their far shoulder.

As always with top positions, you must make sure you are maximising the weight you're driving into them. Stay on your toes as you walk around, also establishing solid grips with your hands. Press your chest down to turn their head to one side: that is a good general rule of thumb from top position, as if you can turn their head to one side, it is tough for them to turn their body in the other direction.

As ever, there are numerous ways you can grip in this position. A common option is to basically flop your upper body onto their head, bringing your knees in. My personal preference is to move off to one side of the head, driving my weight onto their shoulder, my head low and pressing down, sprawling back with my legs.

You can also experiment with various grips. The most basic is probably grabbing under their shoulders and reaching for their belt, then pulling them in towards you. You could also try putting your elbows into their armpits, or maybe wrap up an arm, perhaps sliding your arm under the head. Another common approach is to have one arm over their arm, while the elbow of your other arm digs into their armpit.

Generally you want to keep your hips low, like in side control, but there are variations where you raise your hips, driving your weight through your shoulders. As Jason Scully over on Grapplers Guide mentioned, if they try that escape where they wriggle out and fling their legs over to take your back, raising your hips can be useful. You can then drive your forehead into their chest to stop them completing the escape.

The best place to learn about maintaining the north-south probably isn't BJJ: its parent art judo is much better at pins. In judo, the orthodox north-south is called 'kami shiho gatame', with lots of variations. For example, the above picture shows three options mentioned in an old instructional book from 1952, Higher Judo: Groundwork, by Dr Moshé Feldenkrais (not only a good judoka, but an engineer, physicist and founder of the eponymous 'Feldenkrais Method').

Along with scarf hold and north-south, the other major subposition of side control is knee on belly. To pop up there from a standard side control, as before you want to clear their elbow out of the way. That also helps you make lots of space to put the knee through. Establish a grip behind their head. Drive the knuckles of that hand into the mat, keeping hold of the back of their collar. You other hand presses on their hip, until you can hop your knee onto their stomach. An alternative is to grab their belt near the far hip, then bring your elbow back, which blocks the leg.

Once you've got up to knee on belly, move your hip hand to pull up on their knee, while your first hand stays behind their collar. Straighten that out, to make it more difficult for them to turn: your arm will be pressing into their head. You can then pull up with that collar grip too, bending them around your knee. Keep your instep close to them, hooking around their body, so it is harder for them to try and pull it into half guard. Braulio also likes to stay low in knee-on-belly, putting an arm by their far hip to stop them shrimping away.

Make sure that your posting leg isn't near enough for them to grab, but not so far you're unbalanced: you want it roughly equidistant from their head and your hip, so a forty-five degree angle. That leg needs to stay mobile, as you'll use it to follow them if they try to spin away. Finally, take the toes of your pressing knee leg off the floor. That will put all your weight through your knee into them, rather than easing off the pressure by putting a foot on the floor.

Although this position is commonly known as knee-on-belly, or sometimes knee-on-stomach, there are different schools of thought as to where exactly you should place the knee. For example, Roger's father Maurição is well known for his crushing knee-on-chest. He recommends angling the knee up into their sternum, which is a lot less pleasant.