24/08/2013 - Michel Verhoeven (Rickson Black Belt) Seminar

Seminar #013
The Dojo Sidcup, (BJJ), Michel Verhoeven, Sidcup, UK - 24/03/2013

For many years, Rickson has possessed a mystical aura in BJJ, a remote demi-god whose knowledge was shared with a select few. More recently, Rickson has been increasing his seminar schedule, holding his first ever European seminars last year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it in 2012 to train with the man himself, but I can make it to London to learn from one of his disciples.

When Al (who writes an excellent blog I've enjoyed for several years: like Rickson, he dispenses his wisdom infrequently ;D) mentioned that a Rickson black belt would be teaching in Sidcup, I therefore decided it was about time I experienced the legendary Rickson style. I was also intrigued by the prospect of learning from a Dutch black belt, due to the potential of getting an interview as well (which Al kindly set up for me). Up until now, I've only interviewed people from Brazil, the USA and the UK.

Update July 2016: You can listen to that interview now, as it's the first episode of the Artemis BJJ Podcast

Michel 'Babytank' Verhoeven started training jiu jitsu at the age of 13 in 1999, under Harold Harder (who had himself first met Rickson in 1996). Verhoeven is now a black belt under Rickson and head of Rickson Gracie Jiu Jitsu Holland, a growing organisation that is bringing Rickson over for a second time in October (which again I can't make, as it's my mum's 60th). Verhoeven's presence in the UK was organised by Paul Finn, who runs the Sidcup Dojo where the seminar was held.

Update Nov 2013: I did finally make it to a Rickson seminar, in November. No offence to Rickson, but for me, Michel's seminar was both better and cheaper. ;D

Verhoeven demonstrated his commitment to the basics immediately. During the warm-up, he took the time to not only correct how somebody was shrimping, but also showed the proper application. You might think that to correct a shrimp, you would tell the person to push off their foot more, perhaps raise their hips. Verhoeven told them to go into the defensive posture they would use under side control, then showed how they need to adjust to prevent him from easily pushing them flat on their back by pressing on the shoulder. This then fed back into the proper way to shrimp, keeping in mind the positions in which you might use that shrimp. It set the tone for the day: fundamentals with key details, which is exactly what I was hoping to learn.

Next up was takedowns. After 'self defence' drills, this is my least favourite part of jiu jitsu. It is therefore a testament to Verhoeven's teaching that it was both useful and engaging. That's because he did not begin with a load of throws. Instead, keeping the basics theme, he talked about takedown posture, which I find far more helpful. This followed on from another running theme in the seminar, dubbed 'game planning' by Verhoeven. What he means by that is essentially sparring followed by commentary. He had two of the white belts (who made up the majority of attendees: apart from them, it was just me, Al and a Carlson blue belt, Mike) briefly spar from standing. That became his example for some pointers on grips and posture.

The idea is that you stay solid while your opponent is bouncing around trying to yank you off balance. You react when their leg is in range or there is some other opening for a takedown. I'm not sure I quite got all the details, as I had slightly different advice from Mike and Al, but Mike's perspective was to jam your fist into the pec upon which the collar was resting. Keep that relatively firm, but as Verhoeven said a number of times, don't completely extend your arm, leaving a very small bend. As they push into you, use your fist into their chest to prevent their forward motion. As they pull back, follow them with your fist. This reminded me of what Sean Cooper said last November when I was in Texas, regarding the Rickson seminar he had attended and the importance of 'connection', something that would be mentioned numerous times today.

Al spoke about expanding and contracting, again in reaction to them pulling and pushing. This was also combined with putting your weight onto your front leg (for when they were pushing, I think), then the back leg if they pull. From what Al said, although that's counter-intuitive, the reason you load up your weight on the front leg if they push is that if you rely on the back leg, you have nothing behind it should they push you further. I think you expand your arms, flaring your elbows a bit, when they pushed, keeping an arm almost straight into them (I think like Mike described, but not quite the same?). Then you do the reverse when they pull, dropping your elbows a bit closer together and sinking your weight onto your back leg. Verhoeven mentioned this was something that takes a fair bit of practice, as it also needs good timing.

Verhoeven then demonstrated three throws. The first and last I think are standard judo techniques, seoi-nage and osoto-gari (though he doesn't kick through on the osoto-gari, instead saying that just placing your leg behind theirs as a brace is sufficient). The middle ones were more akin to what you can find in the rear takedown from Lesson Twenty Nine of Gracie Combatives. Start by opening up their elbow and collar by lifting your arms (something we had done as a separate drill earlier), then duck underneath, driving your near knee to the ground while stepping the other up. Keep your head raised to avoid guillotines, then spin to their back.

Put you head in between their shoulder blades so they can't connect with your skull by flinging elbows backwards. If they are upright, drive your hips into them to lift, then drop them back into the space you created. I was a bit nervous of trying that one, as I was concerned I might hurt my back if I messed it up. The second option was less nerve-wracking, as that was the same drop to the mat and pull them over your leg technique Rener shows on his DVD. Verhoeven noted you want to get your arm out of the way to stop them landing on it. I wasn't able to pull this off smoothly (unlike Al, who does it beautifully), mainly because I'm (as usual) over-cautious about committing to the move.

We continued into more comfortable territory with the groundwork, as Verhoeven began with a brief drill on maintaining mount. This was reminiscent of Dónal's method for taking the back in his ezequiel series, as the drill involves staying on your toes as they roll to their belly. You simply follow them sideways: the goal is to get used to having them roll through without letting yourself get stuck to them, as then you'd fall over and they'd end up on top.

That was as far as maintaining mount went (though submissions returned later), progressing instead to escaping the mount. Verhoeven first had us drill bridging in isolation, so he could work out if people were doing it right. Apparently only two people were. Bridge as high as you can, while also turning to one side: this is a significant turn, meaning that you body ends up twisted, your head looking in that direction. Verhoeven could then lead us through the upa escape from mount. The main detail he added which I'm not too familiar with is his grip. I'm used to grabbing the wrist and elbow, either behind the elbow (Rener style) or the crook of the elbow. Verhoeven's method depends on what they did. If they have their elbow out, push it towards their other hip, then grab the gi material of their upper arm and use that for your grip, pulling them down tightly.

The elbow escape instruction was helpful too. Verhoeven began by reaching across to the opposite hip with his hand. As with the tips on stand-up posture, keep your arm slightly bent. Push into that hip, then shrimp, using your free elbow to prise open their same side knee. Pop the knee through, pushing off that to make more space, then prise their other knee open. Once you get the leg out, wrap their leg with your outside leg, which becomes a base point to help slide your other leg out between their legs.

If they are a bit higher, use both of your hands to make a frame. This looks a bit like the recent video Stephan Kesting put out on framing, though he prefers to make a fist, as he feels that makes the frame stronger. The third option, for when they're pressing their hips down (as I like to do in low mount) is to go for the heel drag, still pushing into their opposite hip to help scoop up their leg. If you are having trouble reaching for the opposite hip because they haven't left any space, do a series of small bumps with your hips to create the room for your arm to slide under. This is what Verhoeven did when he used me as an uke for mount escapes, because I like to hold that low mount where I try to prevent them having much space (which is of course rather tougher to do on a black belt ;D).

The last section of the seminar was on submissions from the mount. I was extremely pleased at the selection, because almost all of them are techniques I've been looking to improve in my own game. The cross choke details were especially useful, as I realised I've been doing something fundamentally wrong for years: twisting my wrists the wrong way. I've been twisting them outwards when I should have been twisting them inwards. My training partner Martyn related a good tip for remembering this, which he'd heard from Allan Manganello (another Rickson black belt). If you cross your hands in front of you with the palms facing you, adjust your hands so the thumbs are touching. Now twist them so that the thumbs stay pressed against each other: if you twist the other way, you're opening up space. Genius.

Verhoeven's process is to insert your first hand, then bring your second hand underneath. Establish a relatively tight grip, already beginning to twist your hands inwards (remember the butterfly thumbs!) and raising your partner towards you slightly. Put your head on the mat above the shoulder your top hand is pointing towards, then twist and draw your elbows backwards to finish the choke. Don't flare your elbows, as then they can defend the choke by pushing those elbows back together.

If you can't get past their defending hands, there is the nasty option of digging your thumb along the jawline. I'm not a big fan of that as I find it too brutal, so prefer Verhoeven's other suggestion of flowing into another technique, such as wedging under their elbow and moving into a gift wrap. There was also a variation to the choke when you can only get one hand in, bringing your second arm around to the other side of their head, then 'shaving' back across their face to position that arm by their neck. Grab a handful of gi by their shoulder, then drop your elbow so your forearm is over their throat. This second arm doesn't move after that point: the choke comes from twisting the first hand and drawing that first elbow back.

Finally, there was a relatively straightforward application of the ezequiel choke, though Verhoeven does this differently to Dónal. He doesn't like to use less fingers for greater range, instead preferring to switch to the fist variation if you can't land the cleaner option. Driving your fist is certainly effective, but like digging across the jaw line, I would normally transfer to something else in that situation. In this case, that would be the next stage of Dónal's ezequiel series, the tight americana against the leg.

The more standard americana from mount followed, where once again, Verhoeven had a simple but significant tip. Instead of focusing your efforts on pushing their wrist to the floor, grab their wrist then concentrate on getting your elbow to the mat, by their head. For some reason, this seems to be a lot more effective at getting both your limbs and theirs in the right position to complete the americana. Martyn mentioned 'revving the motorcyle' here, another useful detail I often forget: in other words, curl your wrists up. If you lose the americana because they straighten their arm, you can flow into the straight armbar, much like the Roy Dean lockflow I like from side control.

Verhoeven finished off with an armbar from mount. I don't generally go for armbars from mount because I hate losing position, but it is something I should keep in mind as it's such a core submission from there, for teaching if nothing else. Verhoeven's application starts by grabbing their opposite tricep with one of your hands, using that to pull them up onto their side, so you can slide into technical mount. Post your free hand by their face, in order to swing your leg past their head. Don't drop back yet: first, wrap their arm with both of yours, grabbing your own collars, then raise your elbows and thrust your hips forwards.

That has two advantages. Firstly, it straightens their arm out. Secondly, it puts your hips closer to the shoulder. Together, that means when you do drop back, you're in a better, tighter position. That also means that the armbar comes on quicker, so be careful you don't crank this suddenly, or you're at risk of hyper-extending their elbow before they've had time to tap.

After some more game planning, it was time for free sparring. I decided against taking part this time because I wanted to make sure I was ready to head off and catch my train, so got changed instead (which also meant I could display the fabulous Pony Club Grappling Gear spats I'd been wearing under my gi, plus take a few quick photos for this post). However, I didn't escape getting smashed by a black belt today, as Verhoeven had grabbed me for a quick light roll before the seminar. In my attempts to escape technical mount, Verhoeven noted that I could have gone for a double shin sweep and come on top, something I need to remember.

I also went to my favoured running escape, but Verhoeven did the same thing Sahid does, trapping my trailing leg with his knee and effectively stymieing the escape as a result. As normally happens with higher belts, he eventually secured a collar for the choke. However, unlike some higher belts, when I used the poor defence of popping my collar up over my chin, Verhoeven didn't choke my face. He instead calmly waited for an opportunity to bring his other limbs to bear so that he could get the submission more smoothly. Always appreciated, and another reminder to be more careful of my neck when I'm flailing around with the running escape. :)

Thanks again to Paul, Al and of course Michel: I look forward to future seminars! It was five hours of technique, but because everything was fundamental I could concentrate – and more importantly, retain – some of those key details that make all the difference. This is exactly what I'm interested in, depth rather than breadth. I would much rather refine a collar choke or an elbow escape, as opposed to something flashy (or just outside of the game I'm trying to build for myself and my teaching) that I'll most likely never use. Next time I'll make sure I bring extra cash to buy a Babytank tank top: I was thinking recently, after all the hot weather, that I'd quite like a jiu jitsu tank top. Clearly having a black belt from Rickson gives Michel psychic powers as well as jiu jitsu skills. ;)

17/07/2013 - Dónal Private: Ezequiel from Mount Series

Class #509 - Private #011
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 17/07/2013

The reason I started taking privates from Dónal was to cover off lots of the techniques I already know, adding in tweaks and refinements from Dónal. With another five or so more lessons, I'll have covered off the bulk of what I had originally planned, especially now that we have a drilling class on Sundays.

Today I wanted to look into attacking from mount. I feel relatively comfortable maintaining the position, particularly in low mount, but I struggle to get any kind of submissions from there. The main two I attempt are the ezequiel choke (which I've taught once before) and the americana, so that's what I wanted to focus on today. The main thing I like about the ezequiel choke is that you can do it from what I think is the strongest controlling mount, where you're low with your feet tucked under their bum and an arm under their head. The difficulty I tend to have is getting my choking hand through, as they can normally see what is happening and block it, or are simply staying too tight and defensive in the first place.

Dónal's solution was going for that ezequiel choke (sometimes also spelled ezekiel) as soon as you land in mount (a quick point on that: bring your head further out towards your basing arm to increase your top pressure). When your arm goes under their head, block their view with your own head, keeping three fingers extended on the reaching under hand. Those are going to shoot inside your other sleeve: because you're only using three fingers rather than four, you've increased your reach. Bring your sleeve arm through across their neck, then pull your three-finger hand elbow across as well (a tip from Caio Terra, apparently). From there, complete the choke as usual, doing a motion like you're attempting to decapitate them.

If as often happens they block your hand coming across, you can flow into the americana. In order to block, they will tend to cover by their jaw with their opposite hand. To do that, they will invariably raise their elbow. That's you chance to shove your knee into that space. Usually I slide up, to stay tight. Dónal does it differently: rather than sliding, go slightly on your toes, then drive your knee and hip straight in. This is faster and more powerful. Keep driving your knee inwards to really squash their arm into their face.

Your other leg also shoots up, putting their other arm in a similar position. This is very uncomfortable and doesn't leave them with many options. A common last-ditch escape they might try is bringing their legs right up into your armpits. If they try that, drop your shoulder, which should help unless they're incredibly flexible.

Due to the way their arms are tangled up, you may be able to get a wristlock (especially if their hand is bent into the mat at an awkward angle: just apply gradual pressure to their elbow), or an americana. Dónal normally does the typical paintbrush from here, but because of the position, I bent it against my leg instead, more like a kimura: Dónal decided that actually worked better, so we stuck with that.

Should that not work either, Dónal had a third option, taking the back. Their elbow will probably be up high, so you can push it with your arm, then bring your body around to press your ribs against their arm. Coming up on your toes and giving them a little room to rotate, roll them in the direction of the other arm, reaching under their neck to grab their opposite wrist.

This is the same as the gift-wrap, but you don't want to be too tight. That's because your other arm is going to go under their elbow, with the intention of grabbing next to your other hand. If you need to, raise up your elbow to create the space and angle. If it isn't already, bring your knee up by their head, then push forward with both hands, then use the momentum to roll backwards over your knee. Secure the back, then immediately go for what's called the short choke.

I've seen of version of this taught before. I first saw it on Demian Maia's DVD, then later got some additional tips at the second Leverage Submission Grappling seminar I attended a few months ago. Move your initial grip to their shoulder, digging under their chin to get your forearm tight into their neck: make sure your other grip keeps control of their arm. You might also want to try and control their other arm with your same side leg, if you're finding they are able get that arm in the way of your choke entry.

To finish, the method I use is anchoring my hand on the shoulder, then driving my own shoulder into the back of their head as I expand my chest, as if I was trying to touch their other shoulder. Dónal's method is slightly different, as he brings the elbow of his choking arm back, so it is towards their same side shoulder, then squeeze his arm for the choke. They both work. :)

06/02/2011 - RGA Aylesbury Beginner Class

Class #376
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, UK - 06/02/2011

First off, some readers might remember I had the pleasure of watching Future Champions in action back in December 2009. If you haven't heard of them, they're an excellent charity that uses BJJ to help kids. I just noticed that they have a Facebook page: so, go like it! :D

I was down in Bristol last week, but didn't get any time to drop into GB Bristol. May have been more difficult to just drill, as they don't have an open mat. Then again, there is a sparring class on Sundays, so if my leg still isn't healed when I next have the opportunity, I'll check that with Geeza. It did at least mean I could rest my injury for a bit longer.

Still not 100%, although I'm not limping much now. Stairs remains a bit slow: going up it is just a bit sore, if I try to take the steps in the normal way (i.e., one foot on the next step, then swing through with the other foot to the one above that). That means I'm just putting my healthy leg on the next step, then bringing my injured leg to the same place, before continuing up the stairs.

Going down the stairs is more painful: if I put my injured leg down first, no pain. However, if I try to put my healthy leg down, then the way I have to bend and take the weight on my injured leg does seem to hurt. A less lazy and more sensible person would get off their arse and register with the doctor at the point. Given my usual time scale with things that involve calling people on the phone, that probably means I won't actually get it checked out until I get back from Malta at the end of the month. ;)

I had been planning to get in some training while in Malta, as there is a BJJ club there, but that would probably be unwise given the injury. Still, enough whining about that: I intended to treat today's session just like last time. That meant pure groundwork drilling, and only when it didn't involve putting strain on my right leg.

As ever, things started with takedowns, which I didn't drill due to the leg. However, interesting snippet on terminology from Kev, in relation to the single leg. When you have that leg trapped between yours, then step round and drive to knock them to the ground, there are two separate wrestling terms for it. Kev said that in the oil-drilling states, it gets called 'running the pipe' (which is the one I've heard before), as for oil drilling, you pass a pipe between your legs. However, in American Football states, they call it 'hiking the football', presumably for when they chuck the ball behind them through their legs.

Groundwork technique was all from the mount, which works well for my injury (except for escapes, but we didn't work on those today). That started with the Americana, with a handy tip on grips. I had thought that you put your hands on the wrist and elbow, stiff arm, then press forward with your weight. However, Kev suggested that it was more effective to have both hands by their wrist, gripping with the thumbs underneath.

Kev mentioned that was tough to land, but that he often used it to transition to something else. For example, an armbar from the mount. When you try the Americana, they will usually defend by turning towards their arm, or grabbing it with their other arm. Either way, you can then switch to technical mount, bringing your hand to their other wrist. Secure a figure four on that arm, and you can then finish as normal.

Another option if they try that defence is to take the back. This time, when they turn bring your arm under their head and grab their wrist: this puts you in what Rener calls 'twisting arm control' in Gracie Combatives (lesson thirty-five). Unlike that picture, you then grab your own wrist to create a figure four. You also want to keep your chest to their back, with your shoulder by their head (remember that with technical mount, your knee will be up high near their head too). With that solid grip, lift them up slightly, then you do a sort of sitting roll, pulling them onto you. It is then straightforward to establish your hooks to take the back.

Be careful that you don't end up too high, as that will help them escape. You also need to make you lift them up, or you'll end up trying to push them through your best. At best that will make it more awkward to get your hook as you'll have to free your leg first. At worst, it will set them up for another escape.

To finish, grab their opposite collar and feed it tight with the hand that should now be slid past their armpit. You can then bring your armpit hand behind their head, scooping up their arm in the process. Drive your hand as far past the head as you can, then also apply pressure by pulling on the collar. This should eventually get the tap.

I sat out of sparring, but that did at least give me the chance to both take notes, and also watch some of my classmates in action. I was particularly interested to see how Draz and Trev matched up, as they're both flexible and athletic. Whenever I spar them myself, legs seem to come out of nowhere to wrap up my arms, and it is tough to hold them down. So, good spar to watch.

09/02/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #284
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 09/02/2010

I'm not quite sure how, but I busted my left wrist at some point last week. The only possible cause I can think of is that shoulder lock with the lapel, though I don't remember my wrist hurting at the time. Either way, for most of last week, my left hand hasn't done a whole lot, in the hope that resting it would mean it would be ok for tonight.

It was definitely improved, but still sufficiently sore that I didn't want to risk aggravating the injury by putting any weight on my wrist. So I decided to try and train around my wrist instead, which fortunately was possible tonight because there were enough sensible blue belts training. I often pair up with Howard, who I knew I could trust to avoid that wrist.

Technique started with the usual GB fundamentals stuff, this time a takedown from a bear hug. The interesting part was that it moved into some knee on belly submissions, starting with the usual far armbar if they push on your knee with their hand, followed by a choke.

You start by opening up their collar and getting a deep grip with your hand. The second hand slides on top over to the other collar, but only your thumb goes inside rather than the four fingers. Drop the elbow of that second arm across their neck, so that the wrist and forearm presses into their throat. Finally, put your head to the floor on the top arm side, squeezing to secure the submission.

Groundwork was mount again this week. Kev started with the basic spinning armbar, where they have their arms pushing straight up. That means you can put your hands around one arm on their chest, hop up and spin directly into an armbar, making sure to slide down their arm to leave as little space as possible.

As that is highly unlikely to happen with anyone a little more experienced, Kev then progressed to the more common armbar from mount. Shift up into high mount, knees into their armpits. If they're using a standard defence, with their arms crossed to protect their neck, this should shove their arms up. Slide your same side knee up past the top arm, turning to face their other arm.

Your other leg will curl around their other arm: all the way through, your legs need to stay tight, as otherwise they'll have a chance to escape. Slide your same side hand past the crook of their elbow, then bring your same side leg over their head. Kev likes to cross his feet (as he finds that results in better control), then drop back for the armbar.

Finally, we went through the typical Americana from mount. As I couldn't press on the arm properly due to my wrist, I took a leaf out of Cindy Omatsu's book and drove it to the floor with my head instead. Looking at the DVD again, I see that she grips differently than I was before bringing her head into the picture, grabbing the wrist with one hand. That's definitely something I'd like to try in sparring, as I can never get the arm loose for an Americana: keeping my base would be more problematic, but worth a go.

As I couldn't spar properly, I was going to just go light with Howard, but Kev asked me to help out a beginner instead. This made sense, as he had a messed up rib, so couldn't spar full on either. It was only his second class, so I went through the two basic mount escapes with him, also showing him how to secure a low grapevined mount. His rib was too tender for me to do anything on top, so we stuck with me escaping his mount, then drilling technique. I tried to keep things simple and not overwhelm him with information: I'm enjoying the opportunity to practice that element of BJJ, though it is a little more difficult when you're both carrying injuries.

Unusually, Kev then got everyone to free spar, starting in mount. That's the first time I've seen him let people do that in the beginners class. In the case of my training partner, it led to more teaching of the basics, where I tried to show him a simple standing guard break and pass. Again that wasn't easy, due to his rib, but hopefully getting a first look will be of some use to him further down the line.

When I decided to train around my injury, I'd forgotten one important detail: I take lots of notes, and I'm left handed. With my wrist out of commission, I couldn't write with my left. Fortunately, I've practiced enough with my right that I could just about scribble something using that hand instead. For some reason, I used to randomly try and write with my other hand back at school: paid off tonight. ;)

02/02/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #283
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 02/02/2010

Kev went over some points about maintaining the mount to begin the lesson, commenting that shifting to technical mount is a good option if they being to escape. He also noted that if they manage to get their knee through and under your leg, you've pretty much lost mount. At that point, it would be sensible to shift into a pass, rather than struggling to get back to mount and probably getting reversed.

The technique he showed was a choke from technical mount, much the same as one he has shown before. As they elbow escape, shift into technical mount. Reach under their top arm and open up the collar, feeding it to your other hand, which will be around their head. Bring your top arm behind their head, then knife hand downwards while straightening your arm. That should put on the choke, presuming you've got a decent grip on their collar with your other hand.

Next was something rather more unorthodox, a shoulder lock from mount. This is a bit low percentage, but Kev mentioned he has managed to land it on people who are being especially defensive, clamming up with their arms crossed. Start by pulling out one side of their gi on the same side as the arm they have on top. Bring that gi lapel over their arm, towards the elbow. Feed it through to your same side hand, then bring your opposite hand over and underneath, switching your grip.

You are now simply going to gradually tighten that lapel, pulling the material with the lower hand, locking it in place with the upper hand, then pulling it again. As you do so, their arm will be twisted in an increasingly painful fashion, until eventually they're put in a shoulder lock.

After submitting me later in class, Kev also showed me a straightforward escape from a bow and arrow choke. All you do if reach under your leg and grab the same side lapel their holding for the choke. Push with your leg to straighten it out, which will mean they are no longer able to pull the collar into your neck. That should give you some time to work your way free: it's effectively a stalling tactic for breathing room.

During free sparring, I found myself under side control a lot. I'm happy under orthodox side control, but I run into trouble when they shift their base. I think it's modified scarf hold, because they don't have control of my arm, so must have reached under the far arm. Either way, I find that a lot more problematic to escape, so definitely need to review my scarf hold escapes. I was shifting my legs towards their head, to try and bring a leg round, but I think I'm still missing a few elements.

I'm also still playing around with the triangle position under side control. Not everyone puts themselves in position for me to try it, but there are a few who keep their head low, meaning that I can trap it with my leg. It doesn't normally go anywhere as an attack, but I found tonight it definitely helped me escape, as it distracted them from maintaining their position.

With Callum, I've been ending up in the exact same position for months. We start from our knees, I move to pass, he goes up on his side. I'm sort of in his half guard, but I can't secure an underhook, his knee is in the way of my torso, and I can't get much of a grip with my other arm.

I want to try and flatten him out, but that knee stops me coming forward. The other option I've been trying to push his knees together, control the hips, then move round. So far, that hasn't been working for me, but then I think I'm still doing it wrong: as I end up there so often with Callum, should have plenty of opportunity to practice.

I'm also still not threatening properly in open guard. I have some idea of what to do when I have my legs hooked, such as going for a tripod sweep, but I'm far less active in spider guard. I can get the grips, but then I normally find myself just maintaining the position, circling my legs, pushing them back as they try to pass.

I need to threaten a sweep, so that the initiative isn't completely with my partner. Again, something I'll have to review, as I'm sure I've been shown various spider guard sweeps over the years: Gustavo was also teaching open guard sweeps at RGA, so I'll check back in my notes.

I won't be training on Thursday again, as I'm visiting my gf down in Bristol: it's becoming a relatively regular pattern of every two weeks or so (though that will change once one or both of us settle into a proper job).

13/06/2007 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #60


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 13/06/2007 – Beginner

Today’s session was all about side control. Jude began with Americana from mount, then move on to Americana from side control. The technique was slightly different than I’ve seen before, starting with the usual grip underneath the head and arm. Person A stays very tight, driving their shoulder into Person B’s face, leaning forward to increase the pressure. This also helps to isolate Person B’s grip on Person A’s neck. Person A brings their elbow around Person B’s head and drives it into their cheek. Having isolated the grip on the neck, Person A then strips that away by grabbing the wrist and pushing down. Once they’ve got the arm to the floor, they keep their grip until they can switch hands, then go for the figure four position, finishing with an Americana.

I had some trouble getting the grip off, so need to work that part of the technique. I think I wasn’t isolating the arm sufficiently, and may also have been failing to properly press my weight down. Whichever, going through that particular technique was great as it means I have another option to go for if the previous method I’ve been shown, where you switch base, doesn’t work. Liam also showed me that if they get their arm straight, move right to the joint and bring their arm down, which should help bending it and then getting the submission.

Jude then demonstrated what to do if your partner gets their arm underneath you rather than by your neck. Instead of going for an Americana, you go from side control to mount. As before, you press down with all your weight, driving forward and getting your shoulder into their face, then driving your elbow into the other side of their head. Keep that grip tight, switch base, then bring your leg over to transition to mount: Jude had a finish with an Americana from there.

Sparring was of course from side control. After Liam, against whom I couldn’t go a whole lot from on top and little more than maintain my position on the bottom, I rolled with two new guys, Tamvin and Chet. With both, I found that they were leaving sufficient space for me to recover guard. On top, I was able to get their blocking out the way with my hip, providing me with enough space to transition to mount. Explaining, in my noobish way, what they were doing wrong helped me in turn focus on what to do right. After seeing their mistakes on not pressing their weight down enough, I found it easier to improve my own position on top, and the same on the bottom: I focused on getting into their neck and hip, pushing up and recovering guard.

At the end of class, I had the always pleasant experience of getting a new stripe. Jude called me up (and got my name right, which is cool!), meaning that I was now able to move up to the advanced. Good thing I brought a notepad, or I most likely would have forgotten what I’d just learned in the beginners – something I’ll have with me from now on. If you’ve already done one class, then you generally sit out the warm-up of the next, giving me time to write up some notes.

21/02/2007 - BJJ

Class #31



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK -21/02/2007

Today’s lesson was all about the mount. We started with Americana from mount. Person A takes hold of Person B’s wrist with one hand and their elbow with the other. Keeping both arms straight, Person A leans their weight onto the arm, driving it to the ground, slipping an arm underneath, then pushing Person B’s knuckles back like a paintbrush for the sub. The purple belt wandering round class (Steve, I think: same guy as in January) offered a handy tip, which was to avoid the ‘monkey grip’ using the thumb.

This was followed by the basic armbar from the mount, from a choke attempt set-up. Person A gets one hand in (grab whichever collar is diagonally across from the arm you’re using), then drops their elbow down to press a forearm into Person B’s throat. That should make them automatically reach for the arm with a hand, which enables Person A to trap their shoulder by moving up a knee to Person B’s head, while at the same time pushing their body weight down on the arm. Person A brings their opposite foot up to Person B’s armpit, reaching their arm underneath Person B’s near arm. Person A then finishes off by bring their leg round, releasing the gi and securing the arm (making sure the thumb points upwards), squeezing their knees together (video of armbar).

Next up was the collar choke from mount itself. Person A feeds their first hand in through the collar (all the way through, so their knuckles press against the floor), then puts the other hand underneath that one (again, all the way through). The hold begins with the fingers inside and thumb on the collar, which then twists to tighten the grip. Simultaneously, Person A leans forward, putting their head on the same side as whichever arm they have on top. Person A then squeezes for the choke (video of collar choke).

Finally, Jude demonstrated an escape from mount. When Person A gets one arm through Person B uses their same side hand to grab a wrist. With their other hand, Person B comes underneath Person A’s arm and grabs Person A’s elbow, pulling to secure that arm. With their foot, Person B then traps Person A’s same side leg as the isolated arm, bucks Person A’s weight forward, then drags them to the side, coming up in Person A’s guard.

Sparring was ‘winner stays on’ with everyone lined up, unfortunately unavoidable due to the large class. Because there were so many people, I wasn’t able to spar all that often (not being good enough to actually sub anybody and therefore stay on), which meant it was difficult to get into a rhythm and build on my mistakes. Only rolling twice, I went for the Americana from mount both times, but that meant my arms were committed so the other person had little trouble reversing me. I was pleased I at least managed to partially get the arm down to the ground I didn’t fair much better when we moved on to guard passing.

First I thought I’d attempt the tailbone pass again, but try to slip through by twisting to the side (as I’d seen on Lockflow). I did it wrong, as simply ended up getting armbarred. Usually, when somebody goes for the armbar I can happily adjust and get both arms in, then go for the escape. This time, however, the guy I was sparring locked it quickly and soon had my arm straightened out.

The same thing happened in my final spar, against somebody with a significant height and strength advantage. That extra muscle was soon noticeable as I tried to maintain posture in guard (having been reminded by Jude after he observed my previous efforts), but got immediately yanked straight down, totally unable to resist. Again, I was put into an armbar and straightened out, although this time I didn’t have much of my other arm in.

Jude (who keeps calling me ‘Can’ like ‘tin can’ rather than the ‘jun’ in junction – understandable as my name is spelt ‘Can’. Still haven’t picked my moment to correct him: can be hard to do it without sounding rude) had also recommended that I keep my elbow in tight to my body, also making sure it was on the side of my opponents leg so they couldn’t get that leg across for the armbar (I think: might have misunderstood him). I’ve not had a session before this where I got trapped in an armbar so easily, so either I’m doing something wrong I wasn’t before, or my sparring partners are getting better. Whichever, I’ll have to be more careful from now on, making sure I can get both arms in and keeping that elbow tight. Along with reviewing previous logs, sounds like its time to give this thread on escaping the armbar a thorough read!

24/01/2007 - BJJ

Class #24


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK – 24/01/2007

I’m getting to be in the pleasant position of knowing a reasonable number of people, mainly because I keep making an effort to chat to new guys. So, before the class today, I had a talk with Hamid, Basil and a guy I hadn’t seen before, Nathan. He’s got a stripe, but if I understood him correctly, hasn’t been able to make class regularly for a while.

Jude continued the mean version of class, although not quite to Saturday-mean levels. In other words, he was interspersing guard passing during class, but not chucking a load of knackering hip-throw drills in the middle. However, we still went straight to guard passage after the hip-throw drill, meaning I was with Nathan. He managed to pass me a couple of times, though I was pleased to get the scissor on him (after a few failed attempts) – I waited for him to put a leg up, then went for it. I think we were fairly even overall.

Techniques today were from the mount, which interestingly Jude said was the hardest position to get submissions from. He also said that at the same time, it was the easiest position to transition from – e.g, into side control. He also gave us a useful tip about maintaining mount, which was to concentrate on getting your feet in tight to the bottom person’s body, rather than focusing on the knees. Foot position was more important.

First, Jude ran through the same armbar from mount technique Felipe showed us on the 18th, though I still had a bit of trouble remembering it. The second technique was Americana from mount. Having transitioned to side control, securing one of Person B’s arm underneath them as they did so (though this was easy enough in drilling, I wasn’t sure if I could push the arm underneath me if my partner put up more resistance), Person A moves their knees up, aiming to push Person B’s elbows and therefore their arms up past their head. Taking hold of the arm they’d previously trapped at the wrist and elbow, Person A leans forward, using their weight rather than arm strength to drive Person B’s arm to the ground. Pushing their elbow into Person B’s head, Person A grabs the wrist with that same arm. Their other arm slips under Person B’s, Person A reaching through to grab their own wrist. Pulling back and twisting up, Person A goes for the submission.

Finally, it was time for a last spar. This time, I was a lot more dominant. I managed to pass a few times, at one point getting my shin across a knee and pushing through (though I also failed on it as well, Nathan regaining guard – I need to switch my base quicker to get into side control), and at another point getting double-underhooks, twisting Nathan’s legs to the side and passing that way, after he’d gone for an armbar.

Sweeping was also more successful, but mainly from a counter-attacking point of view. That meant that rather than being offensive and winning through with technique, I was capitalising on Nathan’s mistakes. It also meant that I was waiting for him to make a move before I reacted. While that’s still a positive, I don’t want to be purely relying on my partner giving me the space: I need to learn how to force that space. Nonetheless, if I’m remembering correctly, I was mainly getting a reversal as Nathan was about to pass, moving with him and ending up on top. I tried the sit-up sweep a few times, and almost got it once, but that still isn’t working too well for me. I must improve my timing, although it seems it is at least improving. Like last session, I tried putting my leg between his when he’d broken my guard and moved back, which seemed to give me a basis to get the sweep. However, I really need to learn the proper technique for that whole elevator thing, as I’m going to get squashed against anyone who does know the proper technique and more importantly, the counter. I’ve been fortunate so far that the two occasions I’ve tried it seem to have ended with me sweeping – if nothing else, it has at least meant I was remaining active with some kind of purpose rather than merely straining aimlessly as they tried to pass my guard.

Should be training again tomorrow – felt pretty good about today, as I managed to get both passes and sweeps, even if I’m not entirely happy about the method (particularly as I can’t clearly remember what I did to sweep and pass, which further implies I was both being reactive and fairly lucky on several occasions).