27/05/2020 - Solo drills continuing through coronavirus lockdown

Class #1235
Artemis BJJ (my living room), Bristol, UK - 27/05/2020



The solo drills sessions over Zoom (twice a week, plus private lessons) have been ranging between about 25 minutes to 30 minutes, followed by a technique of anywhere between 4 minutes to 10 minutes. I get certain regulars each time, which is handy as then I don't need to explain the drills as much. There are normally nine drills each session, which I could increase if I wasn't spending time explaining. Then again, the reason I'm explaining is that I often add in tweaks to existing drills, or new ones.

To that end, I've been both reviewing the Priit grilled chicken/shell guard material I've already got (thanks to that long weekend seminar a while ago), as well as buying his instructional on the topic. I hate buying from BJJ Fanatics because their marketing is so shady, but with one of their ever-present discounts it was at least a slightly less insane price than usual. The platform it's sold on aside, the instructional is good. Priit's penchant for talking too much is controlled a little, plus you can just skip ahead when he gets into lecture mode.

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As I've been drilling so much #PriitGuard in my @ArtemisBJJ solo drills sessions over Zoom, I thought it was time I finally bought @jitsvulcan 's instructional on the topic (BJJ Fanatics has horrifically bad marketing, but some great content, like Priit and Danaher). ☺ Having done several 12hr Priit seminar weekends and numerous @bjjglobetrotters camps, I was curious to see how his teaching style translated to DVD/video instruction (especially as my friend @meerkatsu recommended it). Turns out, pretty well, judging by the first part of the #GrilledChicken set. 😀 As usual, BJJ Fanatics unnecessarily divides them into four short chunks instead of one or two larger ones, but this is good stuff. For those who aren't keen on the "sit down and lecture" approach (as opposed to "talk while physically demonstrating", which I greatly prefer), the video medium very handily means you can skip ahead. Therefore both pro and anti lecture approaches can coexist. 😉 Very good summary on this first of four chunks (32 mins), which should help me refine the drills I've been doing. Also some excellent practical tips, like holding your partner's feet and guiding them into an invert (something my student Paulina has done in the past too, when helping people with invert spins). 👍 Unlike many people, Priit makes a point of citing his primary sources at length, of which I very much approve. Specifically for #GrilledChickenGuard, that's a 2013 match between Braulio and Galvao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gui5wWJA4gI&t=3m11s This is what originally inspired Priit to develop what he calls the grilled chicken guard (I prefer the term shell guard, but grilled chicken is admittedly memorable and at this point a well known moniker). In that match, Braulio (one of my old instructors, #namedrop 😜) almost entirely neutralises Galvao with his guardwork. ___________________________________ I look forward to the rest of the set, it's promising so far. 😎 #SlideyReview #ZoomBJJ #ArtemisBJJOnline #SlideyStarTrek #StarTrekBJJ #SlideySpats #GrilledChickenBJJ

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on May 25, 2020 at 10:23am PDT

I've so far found two drills in particular that have been useful thanks to the DVD. Firstly, what I've been referring to as the wrist frame and circle. That is similar to framing off them a la Defensive Guard when you are looking to retain guard from sitting guard etc, with the addition of coming up to Priit's 'active turtle' and circle to create enough distance to get your guard back. Secondly, one I haven't yet tried builds on that, with an invert. Priit doesn't spend much time on that, but what he shows is enough for me to turn it into a drill.

Along with grilled chicken/shell guard, I've been looking further into my favourite position, the running escape. Priit had a video up about that too, from 2019, where he tweaks it a little. I normally have my knee up, everything curled in tight. Priit's 2019 change is that the knees are together, which he suggests can make it tougher for you to get pulled backwards, or put into the cradle position. That's useful, as getting pulled backwards is the most common way people attempt to break my running escape, especially if they are stronger than me. I'm therefore looking forward to testing this out in sparring.

I do feel more vulnerable due to that knee barrier being removed, as it's easier for them to step over. However, that could potentially be countered in a similar way to when they step over against panda. I could underhook their leg and move directly into the turn and pass, rather than going to panda first (as my Beltchecker.com friend Vince Choo suggested, he's a black belt teaching in Malaysia). Again, something I want to test in sparring. Interestingly, Priit has been thinking about renaming the position half turtle rather than running escape, which isn't a bad idea.



I've managed to keep up my home workouts routine three times a week, with 3 sets of 10 press-ups, 10 twisting crunches and 10 single leg squats, followed by 10 military kettlebell presses (bottoms up, as I've only got a 6kg kettlebell at the moment, waiting for my 20kg to arrive), bottoms up front squat and then v-ups. I should also take this opportunity to clear up some of my blog post backlog, there are a bunch. We'll see if I actually do it, or just say I'll do it. :P