27/09/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #346
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 27/09/2010

Before I get onto the advanced class, I just wanted to offer my congratulations to Steve Greenaway, who recently received his purple belt from Roy Dean. Steve heads up Roy’s first affiliate, which happens to be here in the UK, down in Poole. I had the privilege of attending the inaugural Roy Dean seminar in the UK last year (Steve kindly invited me), and again this year. I look forward to hearing about how Steve’s club, the Poole Martial Arts Academy, keeps growing in the future. See the vid below for what a purple belt under Roy Dean looks like: beautiful as always:



Another Roy Dean UK student who I trained with at that seminar a couple of years ago, Kirsty, also got promoted during the trip over to the US. That makes her the first female blue belt under Roy Dean in the UK: check out the video here. So, congrats to her too! :)
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Norby had some new butterfly passes to show us tonight. The first one assumes that they have managed to sit up and are about to go for the sweep. Reach over their arm and back, hugging them in tight, then drive forward to put them on the mat. That hand will stay ready to loop their arm, meaning that you can potentially set up an armbar if they turn in the wrong direction. Your leg positioning is important: one leg is going to be out for base, while the one they’ve hooked will have a knee close to their bum.

The essential detail that stops them lifting you for the sweep is your hip. On the knee side, turn the hip in towards them, dropping your weight and bending their toes down, which makes it really hard for them to generate any leverage. They will probably try to go for half guard, so to prevent that, first you want to try and trap what would become their outside foot with your hip.

Their inside foot will be looking to wrap around the back of your leg. Prevent that by reaching back with your free arm, gripping their trouser leg and pinning it to the mat. Finally, make sure that the heel of the leg they want to trap is raised up so that it is touching your leg. This stops them slipping their leg around the crook of your knee.

From here, it is a relatively simple matter to lift that same knee over their pinned leg, moving through to side control. If they try to lift your leg, they basically do the job for you, so it becomes even simpler to hop over their leg and switch to side control.

If they do manage to lock their legs, then you can use a half guard pass, based around your head, specifically the top of it. You’re going to drive that directly under their chin, then raise your butt into the air. That means you’re putting your whole body weight through the top of your head into their skull. Not comfortable.

To facilitate the pass, grind it past and towards their face, so that you turn their head to one side. They should now be sufficiently distracted that the last thing they’re thinking about is their half guard lock. Free your leg and pass.

During specific sparring, I was still struggling on top, and not doing a whole lot better underneath. I was managing to connect to their legs with my hooks a little better, but nevertheless getting passed pretty quickly. I also wanted to try and work that half guard sprawl pass Norby showed us (which I think is in Stephan Keasting’s DVD too), but couldn’t seem to get them into the right position. Possibly need to get them more on their back and sort out my leg positioning.

There wasn’t too much time left for free sparring, so I just went the one round with my drilling partner, Ram. I had a few attempts at attacking the back, but failed to break through her defences: she was successfully blocking my efforts to get at her neck by crossing her arms. Instead I tried to switch to an armbar (initially I kept getting stuck in half guard during the transition, so I need to watch my lower leg), gripping the one arm with both of mine before moving into position, but again wasn’t doing too well in terms of dislodging her grip.

I was trying to move round in a semi-circle, but wasn't doing it very well: I've been shown a bunch of different ways to break the grip, but it's been so long since I found myself in a position to actually use them my memory failed me. The arm did eventually come loose, but I think that was down to force and exhaustion rather than technique.

This session is my last at Gracie Barra Birmingham, unless my girlfriend and I happen to move back to Brum at some point in the future (which is certainly possible, as we liked it when we lived in Kings Norton a couple of years ago). Norby made a point earlier of checking when I was leaving GB Brum, and then went out of his way to do a little speech at the end of class to say goodbye.

It has been really good training at the club, and gestures like Norby’s farewell speech are typical of the welcoming atmosphere. I can’t think of any other academy that better embodies the ‘family’ part of the Gracie Barra motto, particularly as Braulio’s infant son was running around the mat again. Great place to learn BJJ, which I highly recommend to anyone in the area: well-structured syllabus, awesome range of skilful training partners and attentive, generous instructors.

27/09/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #345
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Dave Iverson, Birmingham, UK – 27/09/2010

Now that I’ve got lots more time to play on the internet again, I had a chance to update my blog list, thanks to the always excellent BJJ Grrl, who keeps lists here and here. Bunch of blogs I hadn’t seen before by female BJJers, like Shakia, Amy and Val.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to fellow BJJ blogger Dev Kostal, who recently received his purple over in Peru. Very cool: I imagine he is going to do a longer write-up in the future, but some pics on Dev’s blog, here.

Due to the trains acting up, I almost didn’t make it to the beginner class. Instead of stopping at Acocks Green, the train from Dorridge decided to go right through to Birmingham. Fortunately, I was able to grab one back the other way not long after, then sprinted to the gym. It goes to show how short a walk it is to the train station that I was able to run there, get changed, grab my card and get on the mat in under four minutes. Made the warm-up tougher, but at least I arrived in time.

Dave ran through the same two passes Norby showed last week, where the idea is to treat your partner as a steering wheel. Dave emphasised staying tight with the grips, so always clamp your elbow down when gripping over their back. He also pointed out that when you’ve spun them onto their back, try to switch your knee, so that the one nearest their legs is tight against their hip. That will prevent them from shrimping in that direction, giving you time to put your hand there.

On the second pass (which Norby demonstrated during last Monday’s advanced class), where you pivot on your foot and drive your raised knee into their leg, shoving their knees together with your hand and step around, Dave noted you need to have a grip by their back too. That will help control their upper body, and means you can slip your arm around to a strong side control position as you step around behind them.

There was no sparring again, as we spent a good long time drilling. That works well when I want to double up, as it means I can concentrate on technique. It is especially good when Norby runs the double, as he tends to teach the same techniques in both classes. This is ideal, because you first get a basic version, with the broad outline, followed by the more detailed explanation in the advanced class. Perfect for when you don’t have time to scribble notes down on a pad. ;)

At some point, I managed to inadvertently demote myself to two stripes, as it must have fallen off during class: it’s been gradually ripping in half over the past few months, so not a big surprise. Useful reminder that stripes are often pretty meaningless. ;p

20/09/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #344
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 20/09/2010

If anyone happens to have any interest in the Poetry and Medicine symposium I mentioned a while back, this is a video of me giving my paper. The main page for the symposium itself is here (scroll down a bit): there is going to be another one next year, which I’ll probably look to speak at again, as it was a great experience back in April.

Norby went through the same butterfly pass we just did in the basics, then added on a second butterfly pass. He said this one was his favourite, and I can see why as it looks like an effective technique. Again, they’ve sat up, ready to sweep with one knee raised and the other on the floor. They’ve grabbed your arm and are about to send you over.

With the hand of the arm they’re gripping, shove down onto their knee. Your other arm goes over their back. Put your knee against the knee they have raised up, then twist your knee inwards. This should collapse their knees together, and also drive your knee into the middle of their upper leg, which can be quite painful if you put any force into it.

Your grip will switch from their knee to the trousers of their top leg, shoving the fabric down to the floor to stop them moving their legs and hips. You’ll also be holding their upper body down with that grip on their back: with your knee into their leg, you’ve got a good base to keep your weight into them, driving it through your arms. Maintaining the pressure with your arms, walk your legs up behind them, moving to side control.

Specific sparring went just as badly as in the basics class, but this time, I was attempting to focus on sitting up when underneath. That meant I was able to vaguely flail at getting hooks, but perhaps wasn’t thinking enough about grips with my hands and arms. People weren’t having too much trouble moving past my legs, or sweeping me over when I was on top. Being small doesn’t help, but it definitely wasn’t just a size issue.

I could only think of two passes, neither of which I managed to progress. The starting position for specific sparring was again on top with my head down and elbows in. I tried pulling out their lapel and tucking it round, but couldn’t seem to get the lapel loose before they already were well into their sweep. Alternatively, I was looking to bring my leg back and trap a shin against my knee. Must have been missing a bunch of steps, as against blues and up, their hook was generally stopping me, while with whites I could at least get the leg trapped, but then failed to progress round to the side properly.

Another option, once you've brought your knee across, is to drop back. Bring the knee behind their arm and your leg over their back, swinging your other leg by their neck. From there, you can tighten up into a triangle choke. You can also jump rather than drop back, depending on how comfortable you feel with the technique. It reminded me a little of Demian Maia's triangle attacks, although he doesn't show one specifically from here.

Free sparring fell into familiar underneath side control territory with the two blue belts I rolled with, staying tight and looking to keep my knees in tight to avoid submissions. I was able to stay safe, but on the other hand, but my opponents were bigger and taking it pretty easy. One of them had a choke on, but they must have eased off or something, as I don’t think my defence was doing all that much to prevent them finishing.

I also had a roll with a green belt, so that gave me a chance to work lightly on top, and let him try stuff, while also attempting to distribute my weight and see if I could maintain the position. Made a nice change from getting smashed. ;)

Next week will be my last class at GB Brum (I plan to do another double on the Monday), so I must remember to cancel my direct debit: need to give Norby a ring tomorrow morning.

20/09/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #343
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 20/09/2010

It was my last day at work today, and I got my favourite kind of present, a gift voucher. Ideal, because it means I know I can then get something I want, so I picked up two more 33 1/3 books from WH Smiths (the ones on Abba Gold and Led Zeppelin IV). If they’re as good as the two on Low and Pet Sounds, should be awesome. I’m also very intrigued by the last one I bought but have been saving up, which strangely is on Celine Dion. Don’t let that put you off though, as apparently it's a very interesting exploration of taste (the subtitle is ‘A Journey to the End of Taste’). The guy who wrote it unsurprisingly went in hating the album, so came up with a great angle.

I won’t actually be leaving my flat until next week, after which I’ll be looking to train at RGA Wycombe again, which should be cool. Before that, I’ve got some more time to work on my butterfly guard at GB Brum. Judging by my performance tonight, I need a lot of improvement, as my sparring was absolutely terrible.

The butterfly pass starts when they have their knees raised and are sitting up. This can work if they have both knees up, but normally there will just be one, with the other on the floor. Push that knee down with your same side hand, then reach your other arm underneath their knee, reaching for the cuff of their opposite trouser leg (so, the one you’re already holding down with your other hand).

Your can then remove your hand from their knee and reach over their back, grabbing a handful of gi, keeping them tight towards you. The idea of the sweep is to treat them like a steering wheel, pulling their leg back under their raised knee, while yanking your hold on their back in the opposite direction. To do that, you’ll need to move your leg back, as otherwise you’ll just be whacking their foot into your own knee.

Make sure you really pull their leg out, so they can’t try to bring a knee in. It should be a simple matter to move into side control from there. If they give you any trouble by posting behind themselves with an arm, simply switch your grip on their back to that elbow instead, yanking it forward and removing their base. In that situation, you’ll also need to drive forward a bit with either your head or your shoulder.

Specific sparring didn’t go too well for me, as passing I was getting swept, and underneath I was getting passed, by pretty much everyone. So, clearly I’m missing a load of details from the position where the person on top has their elbows tucked in and head down into your stomach. That would continue into the advanced class, as we did the same specific sparring, but at least I could try to work on some small details, like trying to sit up.

13/09/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #342
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 13/09/2010

Norby covered off the same two techniques for the advanced class, after running a tough warm-up exercise. In the basics, I found myself running the early part of the warm-up, as I was the highest grade there aside from Norby (but only because of those stripes, which are fairly meaningless). I just did the basic running round, knees up, heels up etc, before going through two guard passing drills. First standing up in someone’s guard, then the toreador drill Chiu did last week. May have taken a bit long on stretching though, so if I do it again, might cut that down a little.

Norby added in a guard jumping exercise, which turned out to be quite painful. You are in groups of three, standing in a line across the room. The person in the middle runs to either end, jumping into guard on their respective partners. After two and a half minutes, they switch. That definitely works your cardio, particularly when you’re in the middle, but also when you have to support your partner’s weight. It wasn’t too bad in the basics, as I was with two people around my weight, but Norby then repeated the exercise for the advanced, where I had rather larger people to work with. Knackering!

Specific sparring was from that same butterfly position, where the person on top has their head down and elbows tucked against the hips. We were split into ones two and threes again, and each round one person stayed on top against the people coming in from the line.

I was as usual far happier on the bottom. I managed to land a kimura, which was nice, but only because my partner made the mistake of leaving their arm out too long when loosening my gi lapel. Generally I couldn’t get a whole lot to work, though I was trying to get to that side on position Chiu showed us. I also looked to get the arms up for Chiu’s sweep, but that was tough from their already strong position. Still, I at least had a couple of things to go for, as previously in that position I’ve felt a bit lost.

On top, I wasn’t able to get the gi lapel, and also wasn’t much good at working out the balance and weight to pass. I tried bringing my leg back to trap theirs, without much luck: they could generally keep their hooks in place. The few times I did pass, it tended to be a sloppy squashing slide past, without any real technique. So, I need to work harder on that pass, and also consider a few back up options (I imagine we’ll see a few more before the month is up).

Just one round of free sparring, where I didn’t get very far either. I started off by almost heel hooking someone unintentionally: I had my legs in a weird position and wanted to sweep, but let go after Norby noted I was in an illegal footlock type set-up. Not somewhere I ever want to be – way too dangerous, and I’ve got no idea what I’m doing with footlocks anyway, legal or not. I’ll be sticking with working the defence to them rather than playing footsie. ;p

Most of the spar I was under side control, looking to spin out or try that Braulio escape where you shift back and straight arm into their armpit. Still not quite getting that, but I am finding myself in the position more often. So, something to keep on working: I think the first thing I need to improve is getting my hips back so I’m in a more stable position for the reversal, then work on getting the arm straight for the necessary pressure.

At the end of class, Norby had a long chat about the new gym Gracie Barra Birmingham is moving to on the 4th October, near Five Ways in central Birmingham. The payment programs are going to be slightly different, if I understood correctly, but still pretty cheap: £75 all inclusive, I think, along with options of MMA, using the gym etc. Sounds pretty cool, though unfortunately I’ll have left by then. My rental lease technically goes until the 16th October, so I’m tempted to pop up to check out the new gym, but should probably save my cash – no idea how long I’ll be unemployed this time, after all. ;)

Still, tempted...

13/09/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #341
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 13/09/2010

I thought I’d try something different tonight with my belt. Normally, I do the usual under the belt loopy thing, which tends to fall off under any kind of strain, so you’re doing it back up every ten minutes. The video I saw on the Grapplers Guide a while back (I’m sure its been posted elsewhere, but that’s where I first saw it) has several other options, I think from a judoka. The one I liked the look of was simply called ‘unbreakable’.

Easiest to watch the video (at 00:46), but to describe it: wrap your belt around your waist as normal, pulling one of the belt ends up underneath. Loop the other belt end over the top and behind, so it is dangling down. It will also leave a little loop around the main belt: feed the first belt end through. As you feed it, make sure you leave yet another loop, which is what you’ll pull the second belt end through. Took a little while to work out the right lengths so it wouldn’t look weird, but it was indeed unbreakable: didn’t even loosen during the two and a half hours of training.



Technique tonight shifted from sweeps to passing the butterfly guard. Again this is similar to what I saw Kev show at Wycombe, with a couple of differences. Start by staying low on them, your head in their stomach and elbows clamped to their hips. With the same side hand, pull out their lapel (easiest to go for the one on top). Yank it right out to the side, then quickly bring your elbow back in, so they can’t kimura you.

Feed the end of that lapel under their legs towards their bum, where your other hand is waiting. This may be more difficult if their gi is a bit short, in which case you might need to lean to the opposite side slightly to get the space. Be careful if you do that, as leaning too far will set them up for an easy sweep.

Once you’ve got that lapel, grab their gi with your free hand, on their side (which again will be the same side as the lapel you yanked loose). Still on the same side, kick your leg back, then bring your knee past their foot, so you end up with their leg trapped against your stomach.

You can now rotate your hips over their knee, then move into either side control or knee on belly. Make sure you maintain your grips on the gi and lapel, as these will make it really hard for them to move anywhere. They can’t shrimp, as you have a gi wrapped around their hips, and if they turn the other way, you’ve got a grip on the other side too. They can’t turtle either, as with those grips, you’ll have little trouble taking their back.

The second pass is for if they manage to snatch half guard as you try to trap that leg against your stomach. You have the same grips as before. Instead of grabbing the gi jacket with your free hand, grab the top of their gi trousers and push up, to stop them moving. Then sprawl your leg backwards to break their hold, after which your can move round to side control: either step the leg over, or rotate your hips like before.

No sparring in the basics tonight, but I was feeling ok for the advanced, where I expected to get some rolling time.

10/09/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #340
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Chiu Kwong Man, Birmingham, UK – 10/09/2010

Moving onto the gi class, Chiu added some more details to the toreador pass he’d been drilling as a warm-up for no-gi. With the addition of trousers to grip, Chiu advised to grip midway on the inside of the lower leg. Keeping a low stance, lean into that grip to squish their knees up by their chest.

Step diagonally across with your leg: this is the knee you’ll be putting into their stomach. The other foot goes out wide for base, and also so that they can’t hook your leg. You’ll also be pushing into their far leg with your grip, while pulling the near leg behind you. That will make it tough for them to try and bring their knees in to block your pass.

Should they try to hook your leg before you pass, shove that leg away from you, while swinging your other leg back. By pushing their leg, you’ve created a space: bring the leg you swung back to fill it, moving straight into knee on belly. Depending on the size of your partner, you’ll either knock them slightly out of the way, or potentially swivel them perpendicular.

The main technique was again butterfly guard, going through similar sweeps to no-gi. However, as with that pass, the gi provides helpful grips. Now rather than just hooking their lat, you can grab a handful of gi. Ideally, you want to shove their lapel with your free hand, feeding it around their back to your other hand. This makes for a really tight grip.

As before, drive your shoulder into their near armpit as you also pull your arm in, chest close to the mat, putting them in an awkward position. Should they try for a whizzer, you simply raise your elbow. For the sweep this time, Chiu went through a technique similar to what I saw Kev demonstrate at RGA Wycombe a while back. Twisting as you drop back, lift them with your hook: your leg will be in a position that can only be describing as a dog urinating.

From there, you can bring your other leg through, then push off that foot. This will give you extra power to drive them to their back. If you want to go to mount, keep driving and follow through with your knee. If you prefer to go to side control, you do more of a flick with your hooking leg, then slide into scarf or side.

Worth noting here that you can do various things with your legs and feet. For example, you could push on their knee to collapse it to help your bring them over. That may be of a particular use if they’re using it to base and resist your sweep. IIRC, you can also try bringing the knee high, if you’re finding that you’re getting stuck on their legs as you move to the top (though I might be remembering that wrong: I didn’t have my notebook at the side, so may have missed some details over the course of the two lessons).

No sparring again, though it looked as if Chiu had a sort of specific spar to finish off, but it was already past eight, and I had a train connection to make later. So I rushed off for the train, got there with a minute to spare...but of course that just meant when I arrived, the train was cancelled anyway. Sod’s law. I guess that running at least helps a bit with fitness, but always annoying when you miss out on something for no good reason. Bleh.

Anyway, should be back for another double on Monday next week, then probably my last lesson at GB Brum the week after. I’m intending to move out at the end of the month, so training at GB Brum will most likely be the last thing I do before heading off.

10/09/2010 - BJJ (No Gi)

Class #339
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Chiu Kwong Man, Birmingham, UK – 10/09/2010

Dolph has put up an interview with a Muslim teammate of his, about his thoughts on training while fasting for Ramadan. Check it out here: I’m guessing that’s probably a first – I certainly can’t remember seeing anyone else ever cover that topic, and it makes for an interesting read.

The DIY course was useful, although I was a bit tired by the time I got there. Some friends kindly let my gf and I stay round, although they happened to be out at a party on Friday, so we only got back to the house around 2am (as I knew I’d have to get across London for 8am the next day, I wasn’t drinking, so randomly spent a good chunk of the night reading a great history of the Impressionists. Not exactly party animal behaviour, but hey).

Those same friends happen to be awesome cooks. If you’re into your food, then be sure to check out their blog, The Keston Kitchen. Loads of unusual recipes beautifully executed, and I can personally vouch for the results! Meal time is always a highlight when staying with the women of Keston. ;)

There were some interesting warm-up drills tonight, one of which took a bit of getting used to. The idea is that you’re on your back, keeping your legs off the floor. Twist your knees in the direction you want to move, then rock forwards and twist your upper body the other way. Keep repeating that to gradually bounce your hips down the mat. I just about got the motion, but it took me ages to get all the way down the mat.

I can’t remember where I first read it, or perhaps someone told me, but allegedly butterfly guard is good for small guys with short legs, like me. I’ve wanted to improve it for some time, which is also why I’ve been trying to pull butterfly guard whenever possible (not to mention it’s way better than my previous ‘flop back and wait’ tactic).

So, I was pleased that tonight focused on improving butterfly, with numerous top tips for maintaining butterfly guard and keeping your partner off-balance. Establish hooks under their legs, sitting up. You don’t want to be straight on, but instead move around slightly to the side. Hook your near arm around their back, reaching around to grip: this was a nogi class, so you can either go for their far lat, or under their far armpit. Keep your head on your gripping arm side, pressing into their head.

The essential detail Chiu emphasised here is to drive your shoulder into their near armpit, while also pulling inwards with your arm. It should now be very difficult for them to flatten you out on your back. To make it even harder, bring your chest close to the floor with your other elbow as base, in a sort of ‘spiderman’ pose. That means there is a line going from one arm across your back to the other.

You also need to maintain tension with your hooking feet, as otherwise they can try to just bring their legs around and pass. Even if it feels like they’re moving you to your back, you may well be able to shift your hips and switch your other arm around their back: don’t give up because it feels like you’re about to be flattened out.

If they do manage to flatten you out, you can still go for a sweep. As soon as you start being moved flat, bring both arms around their back, clasping your hands, and bring them up high. You’re aiming to trap their arms: don’t allow them to bring their elbows back down by your hips.

Once you’ve got their arms up high and out of commission, you can work on their legs. Stretch them out, kicking one leg flat, then use your other hook to lift. You’re also going to use your grip on their upper body, twisting your arms to help drive them to the side. You don’t necessarily need both of their arms: you could also lock both of your arms around one of theirs, with an elbow into their throat, a handy leverage point for the sweep.

There wasn’t any sparring, but we did do some progressive resistance on maintaining butterfly guard. The person on top tried to flatten out their partner, while the person underneath just looked to hold their position, adjusting their hips, keeping their hooks in and securing that grip over the back.

01/09/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #338
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 01/09/2010

As at RGA Wycombe, I tried to scribble some notes down, as otherwise I’d probably struggle to remember the techniques from both sessions. At Wycombe, I felt particularly comfortable, so I’d happily just sit out some sparring to take notes. I’m not quite at that stage with GB Brum, so instead I did what I used to do at RGA HQ, which is write up notes during the warm-up for the second class (seeing as I’d already be pretty warm from doing the whole beginners class).

Speaking of the Roger Gracie Academy, a new affiliate is opening up soon, and they’re holding a seminar this Saturday at 12:00 to celebrate. Better yet, it’s going to be completely free and open to anyone. Unfortunately, although I will be in London, I’m at a training course (for home maintenance, randomly), so can’t attend. Still, sounds like it should be a good event: further details here.

As this is the last week of De La Riva, Norby went through some more complicated techniques, with legs in all sorts of complicated tangles. He began with something relatively simple, in order to introduce the first technique. You’re in De La Riva, but they point out the knee of the leg you’ve hooked, popping your foot free. So instead, you swing your leg around, then bring it back sharply, bumping their leg. Your foot comes around the front, to push on their hip: make sure you don’t bring it further across, or you’re in danger of getting disqualified (due to the potential danger to their knee.)

This sets you up for an x-guard sweep. From the previous position, either grip their foot on the hooked side, or wrap your hand behind their foot. Your other foot, which was pushing on the inside of their other leg, now hooks behind their knee. The first foot is going to go behind their leg, so that the foot is on the other leg. However, the knee remains behind the first leg: this is important, as otherwise they can just push it out of the way. Finally, your free hand is going to grab the bottom of their same side gi trousers.

After all of that intricate leg work, the sweep is nice and simple. You just extend their legs to knock them to the floor. From their, you can either stand up and initiate a pass, or go for a footlock. If understood correctly (I’m not big on footlocks, so I may well have missed details), the key there is to keep your forehead on the mat, with the blade of your forearm pressing into their Achilles. Keep shifting your upper body towards their other leg, arching your back in order to get the submission.

Another sweep without the spaghetti legs starts similarly, with a leg looped behind theirs, the foot on their hip. This time, you have your other foot on their other hip, still with a grip on the foot of the leg you’ve trapped. Simply raise your hips, pinch your knees on their trapped leg, and drive them to the mat with your knees and the pushing of your feet. Again, you can either stand for the pass or try for a footlock.

Specific sparring was De La Riva, so I was looking to pass in the same way as before, grabbing a leg and moving around. I also tried to concentrate on getting my hips to theirs, sprawling my legs and staying tight. That sometimes worked, but sometimes I also ended up leaving too much space, so it became more of a scramble to get their back, or with them on their side. Also, I need to remember to break their grips, instead of just trying to work with them still in place.

Underneath, I had a mixture of either getting passed easily, or some random sweeps where I didn’t really know what I was doing. That was quite fun, as I managed to knock a few people over, including somebody much bigger. However, as I wasn’t working off any technique, it felt more like a succession of random flukes than anything I could build upon. Still, sometimes I was at least trying to apply some of the principles of the techniques I’d been learning, so that’s a vague plus.

Free sparring was only one round, where I spent the first half trying to avoid getting my back taken, clinging on tightly to their arm while also keeping my elbow and knee tight, to stop them securing both hooks. Holding that arm eventually paid off, as I managed to drive through, flip them over and get to side control. That wouldn’t have worked on anybody much bigger, but fortunately they’re around the same size as me. I then moved on to my favourite attack position, the step over triangle.

After the restart, it was mostly squirming around under side control, looking to attack the arm, before finally getting a leg free and moving back into guard. I’m still too complacent under side control, and I ended up some unfamiliar positions, like really low right down by their legs. Not sure if that’s better or worse for me defensively.

Oh, and in case anyone missed it, I did an interview with multiple world champ Romulo Barral over the Bank Holiday weekend: part one is up now, and I’ll be putting up part two tomorrow. There will be five parts in total, spread out over the next month or so. This weekend, I won’t be on the internet at all, as I’m at that home maintenance course, randomly (which I’ll probably write up, but not on this blog: I’ve got a spare one I hardly ever use).

01/09/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #337
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Dave Iverson, Birmingham, UK – 01/09/2010

I had an appointment that ran over last night, so couldn’t make it to my usual Tuesday basics class. So instead, as I have a half-day today, I’ll be doubling up the Wednesday class. Most likely I’ll be doing that for the next few weeks too, doubling up on Monday classes. I’ll be leaving Leamington around the end of the month, after which I’ll be at home for a while (which means I can go back to training with Kev at RGA Wycombe, which should be cool). The eventual goal is to head to Bristol, where it seems the main choice for training is Pedro Bessa. No idea how long that will take though: might be as late as next year, but we’ll see. Bristol also has the advantage that Donal from GB Brum is there already, and apparently has mats at his place for rolling, which sounds awesome.

Anyway, class tonight was more on De La Riva, going back to the initial couple of sweeps we did back at the beginning of this round of classes. For the first technique (where you pull them over your leg with their lapel) Dave added in two useful details on the foot grip, where he said it depended on if they were gunning for passing with the knee out, or driving it in and across. If they go to turn it out, grab the heel. If they try to drive it across, grab their pant leg.

Dave then moved on to the second sweep, where you spin underneath them and loop their other leg, then roll to come out on top. It was that passing element once you’re on top that was especially good this time round, as Dave added in plenty of details. He was also very helpful when I called him over to check I was doing it properly, walking me through the technique a couple of times, as well as demonstrating it again himself.

As you come on top, make sure you’re sprawled on their leg, so they can’t move into a triangle. You have your same side arm wrapped under that squashed leg, while your free arm is hooked around their other leg. Your head position is also important: this is by that other leg, facing the floor rather than looking side ways, clamped tight.

To pass, punch the arm you have under their trapped leg towards them, twisting so you drive your shoulder into them, and also bring your back leg over in a big circle. There is no need to rush this, as you can use slow, steady pressure to pass. Ideally, you’ll be driving all your weight into your shoulder, which will focus the force into their stomach.

Unfortunately there wasn’t a chance to write up much in the way of notes, as there wasn’t any pause between the classes, as I’d hoped, or a chance to sit out the warm-up of the second one. Instead, I was scribbling a couple of things down while going to get my gumshield in the next class, or when we headed over to drink water. I’ll see what its like on Monday, but might have to continue splitting the two classes across the week if I’m not able to take any decent notes.

Then again, because we did so much drilling today in the basics, that really helped keep the details in my mind. In fact, that drilling was so extensive that it took up the rest of the lesson: there wasn’t any sparring in the basics today. So, if Monday is like that, shouldn’t be a problem.

27/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #336
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Chiu Kwong Man, Birmingham, UK – 27/08/2010

Christian Graugart, the Danish brown belt who writes ShogunHQ, is planning an awesome training trip for Spring 2011: check out the preparations at BJJ Globetrotter. Should make for some excellent reading once he gets underway. For a travel-heavy blog that is both excellent and well underway, check out top BJJer Hillary Williams’ site. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but this is easily one of my favourite blogs: well-written, lots of relevant pics and an interesting angle (female world champ teaching seminars in Brazil, with plenty of anecdotes about the culture).

I plumped for the Friday class rather than Saturday, as I wanted to try and get a good chunk of work done tomorrow morning, hopefully on the way down to Bucks (nobody is home, so I’ll be catching buses and the like, so that will take around three hours total or so). Rather than sweeps, tonight it was working from the top.

Chiu showed a lot of technique tonight, so I’m not sure how much I’ve managed to remember (especially as I was the uke). Keeping that in mind, the first drill focused on getting good posture from the top. Basically, you don’t want them to move off to the side, where they could go for a sweep, try and take your back etc.

So, first thing you do when they establish their hook and put their other foot on your leg, ready to push, is pull up on the pushing foot’s heel (or gi trouser). Turn that same side hip towards them, stepping around, and turn out your other leg. Your base will be fairly wide, hips forward. At worst, this will put you square on, and at best, it could knock their hook free.

If you don’t manage that, as they’ve already sat up, wrapped an arm behind your knee, pushing on your other leg ready to sweep, you can use the next technique, a De La Riva pass. On the side they’ve hooked, grab the back of their gi collar. They’re probably going to be holding your other sleeve, so grab their sleeve in return.

Now do a big step back and around with your free leg, so you move around to their hooking side. You want to collapse your weight on them, keeping one leg back for base. Don’t go too far forward or they’ll roll you. Your free hand will thread through their legs and grab their bottom knee: it doesn’t matter if they maintain a grip on your sleeve. This will stop them turning towards you.

After that, things got more complicated, as Chiu moved into at least four different passes, based around their likely reaction, which is to lock their legs tight into half guard. IIRC, the basic pass was to get your far elbow up into their armpit, moving your hips back as far as you can. This means you’ll be putting a lot of weight on their head and upper body, blocking their view and also limiting their mobility.

That means you can concentrate on freeing your leg. Having squashed them with your upper body, you grab their knee with your free arm. Yank it towards you while pushing on their leg with your free foot. That should create some space to get your leg out, then move into side control. Exactly where you push will vary depending on how they’ve locked: possibly their top leg, their bottom leg, their knee etc. Chiu suggested experimenting.

There were several other options, like ‘skiing’ them to one side by pushing their arms to the floor, from where you could try and take the back. Alternatively, if they present the opportunity, you can step through and around to the other side. Chiu also grabbed at feet, and demonstrated how even if you aren’t allowed to kneebar, the same position can help you to pass. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite catch all the details, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to see some of those again in the coming weeks.

In specific sparring, I tried to put that into practice, with a modicum of success, though not especially smooth. I was pleased with a backstepping pass I got early on, but that was more of a lucky reflex action than a flowing technique. I found myself trying to push the leg down and circle around a few times which rarely works. Definitely need to keep on working what Chiu just showed us, though of course my sparring partner was prepared for what we’d been learning earlier.

It was good to practice half guard passing, as I’ve been slacking on that recently, probably because I’ve had quite a few smaller sparring partners. Chiu’s technique was useful, particularly his focus on getting your balance, through things like threading a hand through their legs, or putting an arm under their head and walking your hand through.

Underneath, I was looking to work the various sweeps we’ve been shown, but didn’t get too far. Generally, my arms were quickly grabbed and pushed away, making it difficult to get the grips I wanted. I played around with spinning underneath, which sort of worked at one point, as I kicked up and tried to go the other way. I say ‘sort of’, because I ended up in their guard. So, on top, but not quite the idea.

My sweeps largely failed due to my inability to get good grips with my hands. I need to work on breaking their grip, then quickly establishing my own and getting the sweeping motion going, rather than giving them a chance to settle their base. Connecting techniques would help with that, and I at least now have about four or five I can try. Judging by the last few weeks, I should also get plenty of time to drill them: hopefully we’ll do some drilling through various combinations.

24/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #335
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 24/08/2010

For those who haven’t heard, Seymour from Meerkatsu.com and Liam from Part Time Grappler are jointly running a ‘design your own gi’ contest: full details here and here, on their respective blogs, along with a specific contest site. There have been lots of entries already: the prize is pretty nifty, as the winning design will become an actual gi, sent to the creator. Given that my own dream gi would basically just be plain white, light and fit properly, I’ve not yet found my artistic inspiration. ;)

My annual trip to Aberystwyth was great fun as usual, catching up with friends and barbecues in the rain. I also got a chance to test my Scramble hoody (I think 'slidey' still gets you 10% off: purple is sold out, but there are some green ones left) against the Welsh climate, which gives me an excuse to finally put up a different picture.

Class tonight was again De La Riva sweeps, revisiting the techniques we ran through last week. Nathan had some useful fine details to add this time round, particularly on the very first sweep he taught us a while back, where you grab their collar and pull them over.

First, Nathan talked about keeping up the pressure on their far leg. If you have your leg completely straight, then particularly with tall opponents, it is easier for them to step back and release the pressure, as you’re at the extent of your reach. However, this can still work if you are able to keep their posture broken using your grips.

Nathan suggested pulling their far arm towards you: that way, your leg is secure, because they no longer have a strong base, which in turn makes them much easier to sweep. You could also just yank them forward with your collar grip, which has the advantage of making it more difficult for them to raise their torso up and establish some kind of resistance.

Secondly, once you are about to try and take them over, you can use your foot by their near leg to help you. Instead of just having it flopping there on the floor, push off with your toes as you pull down on their collar and try to roll them. That will give you additional power, making it much harder for them to stay upright.

Specific sparring went badly for me last time, as I found it difficult to do anything much from the sitting up position against an opponent fully expecting my two attacks: I was either going to pull on their collar, or try to swing towards their far leg. This time, I had a few more sweeps to play with, most usefully the one from last week where you curl your legs around theirs, then drive forward, head inside, effectively taking them down with a single leg. I managed to land it, but very sloppy considering I forgot an essential detail, which is to grab their gi skirt or belt and pull it by their leg.

Nathan had done a drill at the start of the lesson where we put our legs in that position, wrapped around one of theirs, switching so that your front foot first pointed away from them, then behind them. That proved helpful, as I found the motion a little more fluid during sparring (though my attempt was still kinda sloppy). Having had my initial sweep blocked, I could switch to that driving single leg instead.

I ran into some problems when people started grabbing my leg, my arm and my collar, as that made it rather more difficult to complete the technique. I could still get it against a few people, but especially if they were bigger, those grips were tough to shift. Fortunately the teaching on De La Riva is likely to go on for some time, so hopefully some of those problems will be addressed in future lessons.

Against another sparring partner, I managed to move into the spinning under sweep, though my opponent was a fair bit smaller than me. Still, it was nice to link the sweeps together, even if my transition needs a lot of work.

My passing was, as ever, poor. At the moment, I’m mainly just stepping my leg back and then trying to collapse onto them, which often results in a scrappy scramble. I imagine at some point there is going to be some coverage of passing De La Riva, which should help with that.

If my parents are back from their holiday by the end of the week, I’ll be looking to head home for the Bank Holiday weekend (as my gf is away in Belfast). That means that I will aim to train in the Friday basics class, so I can either head down late on the Friday, or early on Saturday.

18/08/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #334
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 18/08/2010

Yep, more De La Riva sweeps tonight. We began by reviewing the options from last week. All of them begin by holding both sleeves, then establishing the De La Riva hook (wrapping your same leg behind their knee, hooking their inner thigh with your instep). Grab their heel, then push on their far leg and simultaneously sit up. Move your same side hand from their heel to wrap behind their knee, then transfer the other sleeve to that hand behind the knee.

From here, the first sweep is to grab their far collar with your free hand, still pushing with your leg on their leg, then pull them down and out, rolling on top. From here, maintaining your grips, pass the guard. Note that even should they try and block your hips with their hands, your can roll over the top, twisting your body.

The second sweep starts the same, but this time, when you switch their sleeve to your knee hand, they push down with their free hand to release the grip. You switch your grip to that hand instead, then swivelling through, reach for their far leg with your arm (wrapping around the outside), then roll them in the direction they’re facing to coming up on top.

The third sweep was one we hadn’t covered before. This time, they manage to free both of their hands. As this is gi, you still have the option of grabbing their belt and pulling it tight with the hand your have behind their knee (or if their gi has a long skirt, like the judogi I wear, you can grab that instead).

You are now going to switch the position of your legs, so that the one closest to their leg wraps around, your foot pointing backwards. This will be on the side they’re facing, Your other leg also curls back, so that your knee is touching your other foot. In other words, it is the same position as a common stretch for your legs. Finally, grab the gi material by their far knee with your other hand.

Maintaining both grips, drive forward into their leg, making sure your head is on the inside of their hip (so, like a single leg takedown). Due to your grip on their far knee, they can’t just step back. Once they fall, lock out your arm to stop them moving that leg. From here, you should be able to easily pass, as one leg is immobilised by their belt, the other by your hand.

The next sweep follows on from that. Should you find your leg position, you can try it with your legs wrapped around the other way (so, your foot with be touching your knee, but behind them). You probably won’t have enough leverage, but this does put you in position for a similar sweep to before, where you swivel to your back, then roll them over in the direction their facing, using your grip on their knee to help.

They have both their hands free, so may well try to base out. That isn’t a problem: all you do is kick your legs up to disrupt their balance, then roll in the other direction (i.e, the direction opposite to the way they’re facing), pulling that far knee away from you as you do so, in the direction it is pointing. From here, you should be able to pass as before.

I felt my wrist was sufficiently rested to try specific sparring today, although that didn’t go too well. I either got passed very quickly, or ended up fighting from half-guard. I managed to sweep a couple of white belts, but in a fairly sloppy fashion. Passing didn’t work too well, as while I was circling my leg back and around then trying to pass, I’m missing some details, as I was often still struggling to pass their knee. I also got caught by a lovely sweep from one of those same white belts, who got a grip on the back of my gi and rolled me right over.

There was a large French contingent visiting today, which made for an interesting change: most of the people I sparred were from that group (several brown and purple belts, plus a couple of whites). However, during free sparring, I ended up with two regular GB Brum members. First was a big blue belt I’ve rolled with before, who tends to take things fairly easy, so I thought that would be a good idea given my wrist.

The second was a white belt I haven’t sparred before, where the pace was also relatively relaxed. He must be fairly new, as I kept getting into position for a triangle. Having said that, I failed to finish any of them, as often happens. While I could lock my legs, I was normally either too stacked, or couldn’t slide my legs into a proper triangle: presumably I wasn’t scooting back enough, or creating a sufficiently decent angle.

I had a go at switching to an armbar a few times, but he immediately got a secure grip by clasping his hands. I’ve got some idea of how to break that from mount, but was at a bit of a loss from guard. Something to work on, though I’m not normally going to get the time to sit there and ponder like today, as the pace wasn’t too quick.

I’m off to Wales tomorrow, but should be training again on Tuesday, as normal.

17/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #333
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 17/08/2010

Class began with some unusual drills tonight, starting with a sort of ‘musical belts’: when Nathan said ‘go’, everyone had to rush to grab one of the belts in the middle of the room, of which there weren’t enough for everyone. Whoever was too slow was left doing burpees in the middle. I’ve never had the quickest reactions for that kind of thing, so naturally I found myself sweating rather than with a belt in hand.

The next drill still used the belts, but this time, we shoved them in the back of our own belts, to form a ‘tail’. The idea this time was to face your partner, and pull their tail free. First, you weren’t allowed to use any grips, which then came back in during the second round. Again, I was pretty terrible at this: my stand-up is crap, so I frequently found myself without a tail.

My left wrist was twinging a bit, but seemed to be holding up ok. That would be tested later, as the technique was again a De La Riva sweep (which I presume will be the case for long while, given the couple of months that were spent on side control and mount. The set-up was the same as before, starting with a grip on each of their sleeves and your feet in their hips. Swing one leg out, then swivelling your body, wrap it around their same side leg, hooking their inner thigh with your instep.

Once you’ve got that secure, let go of their same side sleeve and grab their heel, or alternatively low on their trouser leg (but not inside the cuff, as you’ll bust your fingers. It’s also illegal in competition, IIRC). With your free leg, push just above the knee of their other leg, while simultaneously rising to a sitting position, wrapping the arm that was on their heel around the back of their knee, feeding the sleeve you were holding with the other hand to the one now by their knee. You want to hug that knee in tight while also push straight out with the other leg: this will disrupt their posture.

Nathan stressed the importance of keeping that pressure on their leg, as if you leave any slack, they can step back and pass. It is also key to hug that knee while pushing the other leg, to immobilise them. Your other leg is on the floor, but ready to come up and pinch in towards them if they somehow get free of your arm.

Having broken their posture, you’re ready to sweep. Your pushing leg goes to the floor, while you drop your back towards the mat, spinning towards their far leg, reaching with your free arm. You are aiming to grip around the outside of their far leg: continue to maintain a tight hold on both their knee and their sleeve with the other arm.

Continue the momentum of your spin, trying to knock them over, yanking with the arm on the trapped knee. It will help if you keep their trapped knee tight to your chest: if that knee ends up on your stomach or armpit, they’ll be able to base, meaning you’ve basically just set them up for knee-on-belly.

Should they still base out even if you’ve done everything right (possible if they’re bigger than you), use the legs you have around their knee to disrupt their base and complete your roll. Either way, once you come up on top, you should be in a great position to pass the guard.

As ever, this works much better in drilling than against resistance. Specific sparring started with you already sat up, with an arm around the knee and your foot in place, pushing on their far leg. From here, you were supposed to try one of the sweeps we’d been learning over the past couple of weeks.

I failed miserably. Every time, my partner had no trouble at all either sitting down and passing, or getting my leg out of the way sitting on me. I was struggling to keep up decent pressure on their far leg, and also couldn’t seem to hold a secure grip on their knee. Of course, it is more difficult when your partner knows exactly what you’re about to do, but nevertheless, I clearly have a long way to go with De La Riva. On top, it was less difficult, as again, knowing what was coming generally meant you could recover your base and slide to the side for a pass (although I did still get swept once).

My first partner for free sparring was George, who is a couple of kilos lighter, but very strong for his size. However, he did leave a few gaps in side control, meaning I could slip in a knee, and I was normally able to snatch at half guard. I was also looking to wedge a knee or foot in the way whenever possible (though I need to be careful, as sometimes those extended grabs at half guard depend at least partially on flexible, which has resulted in a sore inner thigh a few times in the past).

The last spar was a chance to practice my half guard passing, as this time my partner was the one snatching at half guard, but I didn’t take the opportunity as much as I should have. I kept just putting my knee on the floor to try and slide into mount, or flop and look to see if I could slowly wriggle my leg free. I need to go review the half guard passes I’ve learned in the past, as I wasn’t being very technical.

Should be training again tomorrow, as I’ve got some more time in lieu to use from work. Then on Thursday I’m off to my annual Aberystwyth trip, which is something I always look forward to: it tends to be wet and rainy, but I love the landscape. Wales is definitely somewhere I’d like to live in the future, if the chance ever pops up (though my dream homes are still New Zealand or Canada: really enjoyed the time I’ve spent in both those countries. Spain would be cool too, if I ever get a handle on the language).

11/08/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #332
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 11/08/2010

There was more De La Riva action tonight, beginning with the same sweep Nathan taught yesterday. I felt it more on my wrist today, so had to make sure I was sweeping the other side to avoid too much strain. A key point I hadn’t been doing enough last time was keeping the leg straight all the way through, rather than straightening as you pull them other. That means their posture remains broken, making it easier to roll them to the mat. Also, I found myself ending up in a better position for some reason, as I didn’t have to clear the leg in the same way.

The second De La Riva sweep was a little different. This time, once you get to the point where you’re sitting up and switching their sleeve to your arm under their leg, they use their other hand to push down, then yank their trapped arm free. In response, you grab the sleeve of that other hand instead, which sets up you for a different sweep.

Having secured that grip, swivel towards their other leg and reach through with your free arm, so that you’re gripping around their inner thigh. Your legs will now be on either side of the first leg you attacked, meaning you can now lock them together, clamping your knees tight. Continue the spin to knock them over, so that you end up on top.

There isn’t much they can do to block you except swing one leg over. You can pass under the leg, shoving through with your shoulder, as if you were executing a single underhook pass. Alternatively, go in the other direction, twisting so that you legs touch the floor and you’re facing the ceiling. This clears their leg by spinning over the top of it.

One thing to note is that you maintain that grip on their sleeve throughout. That means that if you use the usual grip, where you make a pocket of their sleeve with your thumb and hook it round your fingers, it can be painful as you spin and roll with the sweep. A pistol grip is much kinder on your fingers, but less secure.

That also meant I was feeling the strain in my wrist even more with the second sweep. Either side involved some tension on both wrists, so I had to be careful. It also showed me that it hadn’t sufficiently recovered to risk in sparring. So, I sat out of specific De La Riva rolling, instead watching how people swept and passed. Bradley was particularly instructive, as his passing functioned by swinging his leg backwards, looking to step through, with smooth technique. I tend to try and stay close and crush forward, but watching other people try that, Bradley’s approach appeared to be far more successful.

When it came to free sparring, I could guard my wrist more carefully, so did a few rolls with people I felt I could trust not to slam into my injury. That automatically meant they were going light, but it was still a useful exercise, as like yesterday I had to rely on my legs to try and control my partner. I was also even more conscious of keeping my knees close to my chest to stop them passing, and attempted to keep in mind the option of rolling backwards over my shoulder to recover guard (though that didn’t work too well).

In open guard, that was ok, and I also found I could still work to try and escape from side control with just the one arm too, as long as I pre-emptively made enough space with my knee. However, when I ended up on top in half guard, it was much tougher without the use of both arms, as normally I’d lock them around the head and armpit and use shoulder pressure to try and pass. Still, that did mean I was more relaxed, jumping over to see if I could dislodge my leg by moving to the other side (though again, that wasn’t particularly successful).

I also had a good long chat with Christian, who had some interesting info about the new central location for Gracie Barra Birmingham. Apparently, it’s huge, on two floors, with the top floor featuring a mat triple the size of the one at Stevie B’s (which isn’t exactly small). There’s also going to be a cage, and various martial arts on offer, like muay thai, wrestling and MMA besides the core of BJJ. It will also be right by Five Ways station, which is very handy.

Hopefully my wrist has now been sufficiently rested, although given that I have to do a lot of typing both for my job and writing commitments after work, I’m never going to be able to avoid using it completely. So, we’ll see if it’s any better by next Tuesday.

10/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #331
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 10/08/2010

I’ve been chatting to Andrew (an old friend of mine who now lives in Birmingham) about BJJ for a while, and tonight he decided to pop along and give it a try. I haven’t seen him in a while, so it was nice to both introduce a friend to the sport, as well as just having a chat.

His first class would prove to be a little challenging for a beginner, as it was based around the De La Riva guard. Nathan built up to the main technique gradually, beginning with some movement drills to get people more familiar with using their legs to control an opponent. Shrimping forwards down the mat was followed by grabbing both of your partner’s sleeves, putting both feet on their hips, then pulling them forward. The idea was to gauge their weight, then balance them on your feet, using leverage rather than strength.

Another good exercise was kneeling next to your partner, then dipping your shoulder and rolling over their leg, swinging your own legs. Using your legs to push against their sides, you roll to the other side and come back to your knees, without using your hands.

Finally, Nathan had a handy drill where you lie on the mat, while your partner stands in front of your feet. You then hook your feet behind their legs, keeping your feet tense. They will step backwards slowly, while you will use those hooks to pull yourself along with them.

This fed right into the technique, which was a De La Riva sweep. Before the technique itself, Nathan went through a method for moving into De La Riva. You are holding both of their sleeves, with your feet on their hips. Being by swinging one leg out and around the back of their knee, hooking your foot around their inner thigh. You should swivel towards their leg while doing so, meaning that your hips are no longer square to theirs.

You can now release the grip on their same side sleeve, dropping that hand to the ankle of their trapped leg (or the pant leg, depending on your preference). Your other foot will slide down their leg, just above the knee, and push. This should force them to step back, and disrupt their balance.

Sit up, then drop your hooking foot to the floor, transferring the control to your same side arm, which will wrap around their leg. Feed their other sleeve to the hand you now have behind their leg. That leaves the other hand free to grab their same side collar.

That sets up the sweep. Still pushing on their knee with your foot, pull downwards and up past your head on their gi, rolling towards the collar-grip side. This isn’t a strength move, but about leverage and momentum. Keep rolling until you’re on top of them, maintain steady pressure. Maintain your collar grip, which will now slip further behind their head. Move around towards their head, past their leg, settling into side control.

Watch out for their arm: if you’re not careful and their limb is free, they can use that to push off your side and spin away. So, you want to both block their hip with your hand, and also keep your weight down, driving a shoulder into their face to keep the pressure on them.

As my left wrist is still quite sore from getting whacked last Tuesday, I was glad that sparring was almost entirely with small people. That meant I could rest my left hand, which also meant open guard became more of a challenge, as I couldn’t secure a proper grip on their left sleeve.

I was mainly trying to practice open guard, using my legs, and also still working on jnp’s ball technique. With the one bigger partner, I ended up in closed guard most of the time instead, where I definitely missed having the use of my left hand for grips, but fortunately I think he was taking it a little easier than normal, as I mentioned my left wrist was knackered.

Sparring tomorrow may be a tougher proposition, as I won’t be able to keep the pace light and steady in the same way. So I may have to either skip sparring, or hope that there are a few people there I can trust to take it easy, so I don’t make my wrist any worse (not that it’s terrible, but

Strangely enough, I saw another face I knew in the changing rooms after class, Brad, who I met back when I spent a month at Combat Athletics in Canley. He’s been training regularly for a while now at GB Brum, though I think he mostly sticks to the no-gi sessions, which is why I haven’t seen him around before now.

Should be training again tomorrow, as I’m able to get off work thirty minutes earlier, which gives me time to make the right bus to get my train connection. Hopefully Andrew will enjoy the Foundation class on Saturday (should be a bit less steep a learning curve than De La Riva!)

06/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #330
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 06/08/2010

Didn’t make it back in time for the cinema, but I did get out Hiroshima, Mon Amour from the library (which strangely enough relates to my interest in AIDS and cancer in poetry) before training. So, should make for interesting viewing: I don’t know much about it, but that’s how I prefer to watch films. I’d be much happier in a world where trailers were just the title of the film, that didn’t tell you anything about it at all (though I guess that might make it a bit tough to work out whether you might like it or not. But hey).

Also, I see from Matt’s blog that my first ever BJJ instructor, Oli Geddes, has a few instructional clips up, such as this one on his infamous loop choke:



I’m looking forward to seeing what he pops up with next.

It was another basics class tonight, this time with Norby. His focus was on passing the guard, easily the weakest part of my game. We began by drilling the orthodox standing guard break, from the standard grip where you hold both their collars in one hand (straightening your arm to keep their back on the mat), then grab their sleeve with the other (make sure you aren’t too obvious, so don’t just stare at their arm before trying to grab it). Finally, the elbow of your sleeve-grabbing arm must be braced inside your knee: if it is outside, then you're vulnerable to an omoplata.

You can either step up your leg on the trapped sleeve side, or slide your double collar grip up towards their head, using that as a post to jump up to your feet. As you raise up, let go of the collars, thrust forwards with your hips, while simultaneously yanking up their sleeve. To finish, push their same side knee off your hips with your free hand (which is often easier said than done, but at least this puts you in a good position to do it).

Next, Norby went through a variation on the leg pin pass. Instead of just dropping your knee other and keeping your shin on their leg, drop your knee as close as you can to their ribs. Keep your foot hooked under their leg, so it raises it up slightly. You’re also going to bring your same side arm under their head, driving your shoulder into their neck.

From here, you can exert a great deal of pressure on their legs, stretching them out until they’re liable to give up the pass just to relieve the strain on their inner thighs. Even if they’re flexible enough to resist that, you’re in an excellent position to complete the leg pin pass as usual, swinging your free leg right over to the floor past their legs, then switching the other leg underneath to establish side control.

Sparring was guard passage, with the class split up into ones, twos and three. The chosen group stayed on the mat, trying to pass the guard of everyone else. I was in the first group, and stayed very defensive. I had the excuse of my busted up wrist, but still, I should have been much more proactive. It’s very easy to slip into a defensive posture, just maintaining my base or tucking my elbows to my knees, which isn’t really the idea.

Underneath, in my comfort zone, I was a little more active, although as my first partner was pretty big, I was still fairly defensive, waiting for them to make a move. I thought I was going to get passed in short order as a result, because in flinging my legs up for a triangle, I went too high and immediately got stacked. However, for some reason he didn’t continue to push through and pass as I’d expected, so that eventually gave me the chance to move to half guard, reverse him and pass through to side control.

I asked later, and it seems that they were concerned about that triangle attempt. I doubt very much he was in much danger had he pushed through to go for a pass, but it’s interesting that proved a sufficient distraction to stop them completing the motion. Of course, this is the basics class: no way would I get away with that against blues or higher.

With somebody smaller, I was trying to be helpful, as they kept leaning forward when going to stand up, meaning it was a simple matter for me to pull in my legs and break their posture. I’m not sure if it is patronising to let them keep on making the same mistake and seeing if they correct it, or if perhaps I should have said something during the spar rather than after. It gave me a chance to practice the flower sweep, which I normally never get, but again, they were a good bit smaller than me, so it doesn’t really count.

I was reminded of reality again during an unsurprisingly brief specific spar with Norby. He easily opened my guard, then moved round to side control: I briefly tried to switch into butterfly guard, keeping my knees in tight, but too slow and without sufficient control.

A lot of people were trying to elbow dig to open the guard, which I really hate (also one of the reasons I like Saulo’s instructionals so much, as he targets plenty of scorn at that particular technique) . One of these days I’m going to have to spend a few hours drilling the triangle counter for that, as I still don’t have the timing down.

03/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #329
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 03/08/2010

Tonight’s session was pretty much a repeat of the class Nathan ran a couple of weeks ago. Not that I’m complaining: it’s always good to review techniques, particularly when you feel you didn’t quite get to grips with them the first time round. That was true for the scarf hold attacks we ran through tonight, which had also been covered (with some modifications and variations) by Chiu recently.

The class began by revisiting the three side control transitions Nathan went through last week, starting with scarf hold, then reverse scarf hold and finally knee on belly. I tried to pay close attention to driving into their ribs rather than just dipping my head, and also staying tight when sprawling back and switching my hips. There were also some further details on moving into knee on belly from side control, in terms of the grips. As you lean slightly forward to pop up, slide one hand to their collar and straight arm into their face, while the other hand can either grip their knee or slide under their hip.

The scarf hold attacks were exactly the same as before, though Beton had a few useful adjustments to note on the second attack, where you pull up under their elbow. First, he suggested bringing the arm through further, so you aren’t just using your wrist, but cutting in with the upper part of your forearm. Second was the position of your head. Instead of posting on your forehead, Beton advised going higher on your head. The advantage is that this means your back is automatically more curved, meaning that you provide yourself with more space to pull into.

My training partner was a big white belt called Chris, who like many of the big white belts I’ve been training with recently was concerned about using too much of his weight. That’s three in a row now, so it’s good to see that at Gracie Barra Birmingham the stereotypical inconsiderate meathead white belt is not common. That meant that not only was he being cautious during drilling, but he also tried not to unduly use force during sparring.

We stuck with the same partner throughout, beginning with specific sparring, from side control. It wasn’t easy to stay on top with the size difference, so I attempted to focus on keeping control of the near elbow, jamming my other leg through to scarf if he got it free. I need to watch that I don’t lean too far forward when looking to stay tight in scarf, as especially with a big opponent, that just means I get rolled. Instead, I should be thinking of what Nathan said about driving into their ribs, which doesn’t leave you vulnerable in the same way.

Underneath, I was looking to curl up and spin, as Chris left a bit of space with his arm giving me a chance to push off them with my feet and shins. I also managed to get in a sweep when I hooked under one of his legs, but again, he wasn’t using his weight as much as he could have. If so inclined, he could easily have just crushed down and I would have been stuck.

With then moved into free sparring, where again I was looking to stay mobile and keep my legs curled in. I flung my legs up into a triangle, but Chris shrugged that off. I also tried getting my leg across, thinking of the omoplata, but failed to properly control around his back, scoot out or get the other leg into the right position. Going for the overhook also didn’t get me too far, as I didn’t have a sufficiently tight grip on his opposite collar.

I also need to be careful of some of the habits I’ve ingrained over the years, one of which is to be ready to block with my hands when they’re about to pass. Unfortunately for me, my hand was getting ready to block his hip just as he thrust his knee forward, meaning that his body weight slammed painfully through my arm, as my elbow braced against the floor, leaving my woefully unprepared wrist to bear the brunt.

Hopefully it will be ok tomorrow: I always get worried when I whack something hard during sparring, as I fear it’s going to swell up or bruise badly the next day. I’ve been stretching it since sparring finished (and as I was still able to grab and pull on the gi and grip the head, I’m taking that as a good sign), but we’ll see how my wrist feels after a night’s sleep.

My girlfriend is visiting again at the weekend, but as she is heading up on Saturday, I should be able to get in another gi basics class on Friday. Technically I could go for the no-gi, as I finish work early enough, but no-gi tends to be a last resort. Not something I enjoy anywhere near as much as gi: too much strength and speed involved, I find, and I always feel lost without those equalising grips. Then again, I haven’t seen Inception yet, so I might have to look into film times at the Apollo and check if I could squeeze it into Friday. ;)