18/07/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Bournemouth 2016 | Posture Inside Closed Guard (Christian Graugart)

Class #757
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Phoenix MMA), Christian Graugart, Bournemouth, UK, 18/07/2016

For my last class of the inaugural UK BJJ Globetrotters camp, it was Christian heading things up, this time covering posture inside closed guard. In his introduction, he talked about how this was one of the fundamental classes he would teach to kids. He also make the important point that frequently in a competition (especially early on), you will get stuck in closed guard as your equally nervous opponent clamps down and barely moves.

They generally want to do one of three things: sit up to get close to your chest, pull you down to achieve the same, or climb their legs up your back to again dominate your posture. You are fighting for that space. Christian's grip is different to the chest and hip control I'm used to.

Instead, he concentrates on the chest, grabbing the collars as normal (rolling them over if you can), but then putting his other hand directly underneath (like you're holding a sword, or a baseball bat to use the typical US simile).

Keep your arms straight: a good comparison is a press-up, where you can hold yourself a long time with straight arms, not very long with bent arms. Have your chest out, head up (don't look at them), sitting low on your heels. Your head stays over your bum: I often say keep your head behind your knees, but this is more specific.

They will eventually break your strips. Simply regrip, aiming to get back to your previous posture whenever they are able to bring you out of it. An effective way to prevent them pulling you down is to shove your arm into their throat, though that's rather unpleasant. I preferred Christian's second option, which was to thrust your hips forward, like you're in a rodeo.

Should they climb their legs up your back, swim your shoulders through. You don't want them to have that control of your chest. You may also need to push your chest forward too and come forward. At some point, you will get broken down. If you can catch yourself before you're all the way down, one hand slides slightly forward, your other hand is on the wrist to support it, elbows tight. You want to get back to your previous posture.

Alternatively, gable grip, elbows into their knees and your head down. It is very static, but fairly safe as they have to open you up in order to attack. Again, you are always looking to get back to your original posture. If they get an overhook, block their other arm. Turn, reaching back and twisting your arm so your hand is palm up, then fire your arm out elbow first.

If they've wrapped up your head and pulled you down, use 'squirrel hands' to retreat out of that position to regain your posture. You're hooking your fingers over their armpits, knees into their bum. Pull your head back, being careful not to extend your arms, as that leaves them vulnerable to attack.

Sadly that was to be my last class of the UK Camp 2016, but I'm hoping to be back for longer next year. I'll have to see how my holiday allowance works out at work, but hopefully I can manage two or three days. If not, then a Monday full of classes is still gives me loads of technique to take back to the Artemis BJJ mats. :)

18/07/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Bournemouth 2016 | Deep de la Riva X Guard Sweep (Ana Yagües)

Class #756
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Phoenix MMA), Ana Yagües, Bournemouth, UK, 18/07/2016

This is the class I was most looking forward to, because Ana is somebody I've 'known' online for a number of years now. She's been writing a blog for a good while, with some especially interesting posts about pregnancy and BJJ (comparable to the material Meg wrote on her blog some time later).

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 22, 2016 at 12:02am PDT

In terms of the technique Ana covered today, it's similar to something Dónal taught five years ago, back when we were both still at GB Bristol. He did it a little differently, with variations in grip, as well as a slight tweak on the entry. I can't remember exactly how, though the notes are of some use. Of much more use is the video I took during Ana's class: one of the many awesome things about BJJ Globetrotter camps is that all (so far, at least) the instructors are happy for you to take video (as long as you don't try and sell it or put it up publically, of course). That means I can analyse it much better than re-reading my old notes. ;)

To begin, you want to get a super deep de la Riva hook. Starting from a double sleeve grip with both feet on the hips, shift towards the leg you want to de la Riva hook. Swing your same side leg around that for an initial de la Riva hook, releasing your same side sleeve grip in order to grab their heel. Pulling the heel towards you, so they can't easily move their foot. Watch out for them kicking it across your buttcheeks, like David showed in his passing class. You want to keep that heel jammed against your body.

Shift a bit more to the side and raise your hips, in order to extend that de la Riva hook all the way to the other thigh. This is what Dónal used to call the 'surfboard', due to the way you do a sort of plank with your lower body. When you've got your instep in place, solidly hooked around their thigh, bring your other foot lower on their leg, hooking the other side. Your feet should now be forming an x, hence the 'x guard' part of this technique. Squeeze your knees and pull them in.

At this point, you can switch from grabbing the heel back to the sleeve. Using your knees and those sleeve grips, steer them in the direction your lower foot is pointing, in order to knock them to the ground. Maintaining your sleeve grips, come up on your elbow, then step out what was your lower foot. You can then do a knee cut with what was the de la Riva hook to finish. That's the main part where I keep rewatching the videos, to try and work out which leg does what.

If they resist that, simply sweep them the other way. A knee cut is tricky from here, so instead, push their leg up with your intep (this will end up being on their leg when you hit the ground). Use that space and control to come up into a combat base, ready to pass their guard. Ana smoothly progressed into a version of the sweep when they're kneeling, as that applies against combat base. Push them back with your leg, in order to make space under the knee they have raised. You can then lock in your deep de la Riva x guard, progressing into that same sweep, finishing by you push their leg up with your instep.

Unlike the other classes, Ana then finished with some specific open guard sparring, where you aren't allowed to close your legs. I went with about three people I think, managing the sweep once on a white belt, but not having much luck with the two blues (they were bigger than me, but still). On top, I had a play with balance, to see if I could resist the sweep. I managed to recover my base with an elbow the first time, but it was precarious, meaning I got swept the second time. I don't often have to pass de la Riva, as it's almost all white belts at my gym. Getting that broad range of styles and experience is yet another massive advantage of going to BJJ Globetrotter camps. ;)

18/07/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Bournemouth 2016 | Passing de la Riva (David 'Morcegao')

Class #755
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Phoenix MMA), David 'Morcegao' George, Bournemouth, UK, 18/07/2016

David is a de la Riva black belt, so for his first class at the UK BJJ Globetrotter camp, he decided to talk about passing his instructor's famous eponymous guard. To start with some basics, when they insert their de la Riva hook, lower your base to stop them elevating you. You then want to get rid of any grips they've got, whether that's on the foot (grab the hand and pull up), the sleeve (roll your wrist over the top) or wherever. To pop their original hook off, turn your foot out and point your knee.

If they have a grip on the trouser leg, you can still turn your foot, so it isn't as much of a problem. A grip on the heel stops that, as they can pull the heel in towards them. There is a weak direction, however, if you can kick forwards. When they are tight to you, kicking forwards is blocked by their body. It is still possible to kick past their bum, freeing your foot that way. Bring it to you a little first, then scrape the leg past their bum. A pass around their leg then presents itself.

Even if they have de la Riva, with a leg drag, you may be able to crush straight through their hook. You might also be able to pop their hook off by simply straightening your leg explosively, if turning your knee outwards isn't viable. Yet another option is to give up on the pass and attack their leg instead, with a calf crush.

IBJJF rules don't let you do anything fun with the leg until brown belt, but that's only one ruleset, so you don't have to restrict yourself to that (as long as your partners are ok with leglocks). Personally leg locks terrify me so I never use them, but they're very effective and important to know, as people will do them to you (especially if you're brown belt or above, of course).

They have a deep de la Riva hook. Push their hooking knee down, roll through, your shoulder diving underneath their other leg, then extend for the submission. I wasn't entirely successful getting this, but it's useful to know that's a danger with the deep de la Riva: perhaps keep hold of their sleeves to stop them getting their leg lock position?

18/07/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Bournemouth 2016 | Foetal Side Control Escapes (Chiu Kwong Man)

Class #754
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Phoenix MMA), Chiu Kwong Man, Bournemouth, UK, 18/07/2016

I used to really enjoy Chiu's classes back when I trained at GB Brum in 2010, so it was cool to get to train under him again. Especially as today, he picked side control escapes from a position similar to the running escape: perfect. :)

Chiu called his class 'foetal side control escapes', which makes sense after you see the position he's talking about. First, he talked about getting two-on-one control on their far arm. From a no-gi perspective, you can grab their far arm with both your hands, without worrying too much about their arm near your head (in gi, it's a lot more dangerous, but he got onto that later).

After having us drill that with some light resistance, Chiu added in the legs. You've created space with your two on one grip, meaning you can bring in your knees (like the 'shin-in-elbow' trick Ed Beneville wrote about it his book, Strategic Guard). If they raise up, that gives you the space to spin back to guard: for drilling this particular technique, your partner needs to be helpful and stay low, stopping you turning in towards them. If you can't get the arm (e.g., they are trying to moving to north south), you can push on the head to stop them going where they want.

If you can get your knee in, lift that leg to make some space (pushing into their arm with your shin), until you can insert the other leg. If you can get your feet into the crook of their elbow, even better. At that point, it is difficult for them to prevent you making enough room to recover some kind of guard.

In a detail reminiscent of the running escape, you may want to make more space by shrimping your hips into them. You also want to make sure you are monitoring their leg with your inside arm (like your arm is stuck inside their knee), as otherwise they will probably try and get to knee on belly to then rip their arm free. Turning yourself towards them at that point is another good option, spinning into guard once they've given you that space.

A granby roll can work from there too, in the same way as it does from the running escape. However, also like the running escape, sometimes it is tough to get that rolling motion, which can also put pressure on your neck. Digging your feet into the floor and then shrimping towards them is therefore preferable in that situation.

The foetal defence feels like a guard from under side control. It has attacks too, such as switching into a reverse triangle. I was finding it felt natural to push on the back of their arm and spin out. For others, the triangle might feel like a smooth transition. You have the two on one grip, a foot into the crook of their elbow. Kick up with the foot in the elbow, the other leg going behind their arm. Your kicking foot shoots around the side of their neck, locking it with the other leg over your shin. Pull on their elbow and squeeze to finish.

Finally, there is the important question of how to avoid getting choked when trying this in the gi. If you're lazy, they can potentially sneak a hand under your head and secure a bow and arrow grip, or potentially loop their arm over for a breadcutter style choke. To prevent that, keep pressuring their arm by pulling your head back, following that arm if they try to bring it over the top of your head.

If possible, hide your collar under your armpit, which prevents them gripping it for a choke. Do not curl when you're in the gi, that gives them enough room for the choke. In terms of gripping, Chiu recommends grabbing the wrist, lifting the leg to get their elbow up. If you grip the gi and don't lift your leg, they may be able to rotate your arm down to put pressure on your grip.

18/07/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Bournemouth 2016 | No Gi Barataplata (Lorenzo Fraquelli)

Class #753
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Phoenix MMA), Lorenzo Fraquelli, Bournemouth, UK, 18/07/2016

After arriving back from Madrid around midnight, I got in a few hours of sleep before jumping on a train down from Bristol to Bournemouth. That was for the inaugural UK BJJ Globetrotters Camp, held at the Phoenix MMA gym. It's a short and straightforward cycle from the train station, though as it's also on a high street, I imagine there are plenty of buses running through there.

In terms of accessibility, Phoenix MMA is fairly convenient for those of us in the South West. The train is about three hours from Bristol, or you can drive there in around two and a half. Due to it's prominent location, the gym is easy to find. It's a decent size for a BJJ school, with two rooms (one was a lot cooler than the other in the unseasonable heat today), though naturally much smaller than the Sportoase in Leuven. The Sportoase is HUGE.

The main downside of the UK venue is there's only one shower and one toilet (for the men at least, the women's changing room might be more spacious). I was only able to make it to camp for the Monday this year, but if I can stay longer in 2017, I'll try to get accommodation somewhere near enough to the gym that I can pop out for a shower. ;)

It's been a long time since I last saw today's first instructor, Lorenzo. He was there when I first started at the Roger Gracie Academy in 2006, but I don't think I've seen him since I moved away from London in 2009. In the intervening years, he's earned a black belt and set up his own school, Wave BJJ, as well as becoming a regular instructor on the BJJ Globetrotter camp circuit.

To kick off the camp, Lorenzo taught something more advanced, the barataplata (also called the baratoplata: the guy who invented it seems to use barataplata, so I'll go with that). Fortunately for me, I wasn't completely unfamiliar with the technique, as my instructor Kev Capel had shown a set-up earlier this month. For the first variation, Lorenzo started from north south, moving into a kimura. He then locks the second arm (which was grabbing his own wrist) to his chest, meaning he has his first arm free. If you were wearing a gi you could grab that, but as this was nogi, the hand was just on the chest, clamping tight.

You can then pull their legs across to prevent them blocking. I'm not sure that's always essential, as I'd rather maintain the kimura grip, but depends what they do with their legs. Also, the assumption here is that they have their hands locking together. If they let go, you could switch into an armbar.

If you still have their arm and it's bent, swing your leg over, so it is across their kimuraed arm. Bring your arm through so it is grabbing your own thigh. Base your other arm out on the mat, then slowly turn your hips towards their head, keeping your other leg braced against the back of their head.

Should they turn to their knees putting your back on the mat, you can still finish this. Push on their near knee, then untriangle your legs. Come up on your elbow, then bring the leg which was nearest their head over and towards their legs. Get that foot to the mat. Keep turning, until you've knocked your partner to their back. You can then turn your hips again to finish, as you end up in the same place as before.

The last technique was the same one Kev showed, from that double underhooks defence position. See my earlier post for that one.