21/11/2012 - Bullshido Throwdown Austin (including Control Point Theory lesson)

Monolith Training Centre, (Throwdown), Austin, TX, USA - 21/11/2012

The Bullshido website has been very important to my BJJ. It was members of that site who originally encouraged me into the sport, giving me the push I needed to get started. It was also a thread on that site which set the tone for my future training. I would strongly recommend everybody who wants to train BJJ read it, here. The training logs section has been another touchstone, one of the best of which is written by the awesome John Palmer, posting as jnp.

I have been reading jnp's log for years, as well as his numerous other mature and helpful posts all over the Bullshido website. So when I decided to go to Texas (full write-up here), 'meet jnp' was high on my list of priorities. Without meaning to be too gushing, it was even better than I could have hoped. I already expected him to have great BJJ, but he is awesome company off the mats too. Genuine, generous and intelligent, John has led a fascinating life which he is very good at sharing in a series of engaging anecdotes. It was a pleasure to spend a day talking and training with him, as well as meeting his lovely family.

In terms of BJJ, I essentially got a several hour long private lesson with a high level brown belt (although as anyone who has rolled with John over the last few years can tell you, a black belt would suit him rather well ;D). John likes to do an introductory talk that he gives to students. It is something he has mentioned in various threads, but it was extremely cool to hear him explain it in person. He discussed alignment, relating to skeletal structure and where the strength of the joint resides, along with the importance of creating angles (using the analogy of striking). Virtually every attack from guard is more effective once you create an angle, so any time you're in guard you should always be trying to cut the angle.

Control Point Theory

Once we arrived and started rolling, John went into much more detail, as well as demonstrating both compliantly and then during the course of sparring. His theory of control points was interesting, which he splits into primary (head, shoulders and hips), secondary (inside of elbows and knees) and tertiary (wrists and ankles). He also emphasised the 'flow with the go' mindset popularised by Rickson, so if you're meeting resistance in one direction, such as when you're passing, go with that force and move around to the other side.

Update Dec 2012: John put up this link over on Facebook, where he goes into those conceptual ideas in depth.

Update Oct 2020: It turns out that this lesson from John was incredibly important to my BJJ development. Control point theory has since become central to my game, especially to the way I teach. For a quick summary, I teach my interpretation here

Along with principles, John showed me some specific techniques too. I have struggled with the Braulio escape from side control for some time. John uses a modification to that technique which I'm looking forward to trying out. When Braulio does it, he pushes into the armpit and sits up. In John's variation, he stays on the floor. He waits for them to bring their arm past his head while in side control, then immediately grabs that arm by the wrist and elbow. Next John shoves that arm right to his feet, curling his body.

Still staying on the floor, turn to your belly, so that your legs end up stretched out behind you, continuing to firmly grasp their arm. That should cause them to flip to their back, meaning you can come on top and establish your own side control. Drilling that, I need to remember to push the arm far enough: I kept stopping short, which makes it much harder to put them on their back.

After catching me with a leglock, John had some further helpful tips on defending the kneebar. Your initial reaction should be to grab their head, wrapping it with both arms and dragging it into your body. If you can't get their head, grab their near leg and pull that towards you, to prevent them closing their legs. Similarly you can try using your free leg to hook under their leg and lift, again to stop them clamping the submission in place. Triangling your legs can help too.

I'm continuing to play with the running escape, which resulted in some more good advice from John. He noted that whenever somebody tries to swing their legs through as in the Saulo finish I taught recently, he blocks their hip with his head, which immediately sets up the pass. Aim to get your elbow under your knee if possible and keep moving so they can't toe hold. Definitely don't try grabbing your own leg as a defence, as that will mean you arm is straight: they can then collapse your knee into your arm, trapping both limbs.

Sparring

I have rolled with a number of higher belts, but there are very few who are able to measure their pace as well as John. Many times when I've sparred a black belt, I find myself either staring at them as they wait for me to move, or just getting smashed. John found the perfect balance between the two, letting me move, anticipating my actions, but applying just the right amount of pressure to keep me moving. If he ever opens a club or regularly teaches somewhere, I would very highly recommend anybody able to get to Austin trains with him. Excellent teacher.

Hence why sparring was a great deal more useful than normal. I had the luxury of a talented instructor to roll with who was also willing to give me detailed and specific advice after we finished rolling. Although I am being wriggly with my legs when escaping, John recommended that I engage my hands as well, such as pushing into the head. Still on the topic of escapes, it is important to work out several techniques that flow together, particularly as I depend way too much on the running escape. So. I need to find another side control escape that follows on from the running escape. The failure of one technique should feed into the potential success of the next.

John noted that I was tending to pause briefly when I was put in a bad position. Instead, I should be working towards my escape right in that moment of reversal, rather than allowing that moment of delay. Partly that comes down to mat time, but it gives me something concrete to think about, especially when rolling with people better than me who keep putting me in those bad positions.

Due to the injury, I haven't been sparring much on this trip, but I did get in a roll with another member of the Bullshido website too, which was cool (he posts on there as daddykata), as well as chatting to various others, like blackmonk and Naszir (who took the pictures). I haven't been to a throwdown (the name Bullshido uses for these training meet-ups) in a couple of years. Today reminded me why I went in the past, as they're a lot of fun. :)

24/04/2010 - Southend Throwdown

Evolution Gym, (Throwdown), Bullshido, Southend, UK - 24/04/2010

A London throwdown is still yet to happen, but venues are getting steadily closer. Last year there was a meet-up at Andy Roberts' gym in Farnborough. For 2010, a guy posting on Bullshido as Mr P set up an event at the Evolution Gym in Southend, a short walk from Chalkwell train station.

The venue itself is easily the best I've seen out of all the throwdowns I've been to. Not only is it spacious and clean, with a cheap attendance fee (£5 per person), but it has a cage and even a running camera. You can buy the film, very handily transferred to a USB drive, for a mere £3.50.

Transport was a bit of a pain, as trains keep being shit on weekends. I had a replacement bus in the morning getting into London, then another one part of the way to Chalkwell (the train from Fenchurch St got me as far as Pitsea). Still, despite those replacements, it is only around an hour to get to the Evolution Gym from London.

As ever with throwdowns, there were lots of people who were due to attend, but eventually either didn't show up or had to pull out at short notice. Still, there were nevertheless five of us: Ben (who posts as Asriel), me (slideyfoot), Aaron (Mr P, who organised it), Colin (Liffguard) and Dan, Aaron's friend. I arrived early, then had a chat with Dan after he turned up, until eventually Ben walked through the door, meaning we could have a flow roll to warm up.

I rolled with Colin after that, which went much the same as last time back in 2007. I think my defences have improved a bit, but it was still largely me stuck under knee on belly attempting to squirm free. I made sure to be active, and was looking to try Kev's escape, but instead found myself bridging and shrimping a lot, without managing to fully escape.

The technique Colin eventually tapped me with was interesting, and hopefully that will be covered on the video. He showed it to me afterwards, a kind of choke from knee-on-belly. He had a grip on my collar, then brought the other arm over my head, sliding his elbow back to my skull. From there he moved off knee on belly and sprawled back, using body weight to effect the choke.

We then did a load of drilling, all guard passing. I started with my preferred twisting guard break, getting a helpful tip on a guard pass from Colin. If they grab your collar, immediately grab that arm with your same side arm, then stand up (making sure to step up on the same side leg: otherwise, you're helping them to set up a submission).

That means you can now move into the usual pass where you have a grip on one sleeve pulled up high, pop their leg off your hip and slide your knee through. At this point you could switch your grip from their sleeve to under their leg, or alternatively, grab the gi material around their knee. This has the advantage of stopping them turning into you or bridging, and could also help shifting to mount later. To finish, swing your other leg over and sit next to them, settle into side control.

I also had a quick run through the Gracie Gift variations from Roy Dean's No Gi Essentials, before a brief spar with Dan. Upon getting to mount, it turned out he hadn't done much in the way of mount escapes before, so I paused to show him the basic trap and roll and then the elbow escape.

Due to that lack of experience with mount escapes, I assumed he must be quite new, so I could take it easy. However, he immediately pushed forward hard in the guard, grabbing hold of my head and moving into a sort of rear naked choke on the face. That isn't comfortable, but it isn't generally going to lead to a submission. I eventually popped out and tried moving to the back, also looking for mount.

Somehow I ended up under side control, where I was looking to recover guard by jamming my other leg through. Unfortunately, I must have done it too explosively, as my left leg completely cramped up, meaning I had to tap and stop. Same thing happened with Kev a little while ago: something I need to watch (or eat/drink better, to avoid cramp).

While this was going on, Ben was involved in a mammoth spar with Aaron, who is a big guy. After twenty-five minutes, Ben was unsurprisingly pretty tired, but as he isn't small himself (90kg or so), he could still manage a roll with me and take it fairly easy. I played some open guard, but again I'm not really sure what I'm aiming for most of the time (though at least here, I had a De La Riva sweep to try that Colin had shown earlier, where you scoot around behind and take their legs out, putting them in your back mount).

I was also putting the blocking the arm and shoulder principle into action, which is something Demian Maia talks about a lot in his DVD, in terms of preventing their pass. Roy Harris also delves into the topic on Roy Dean's first DVD, when he is talking about points of control from open guard. It definitely helped, though my grip slipped on a later attempt, meaning Ben could collapse my arms and move past.

We all went down the pub after that, with the usual long chat about forums, BJJ and MMA. I always enjoy that chance to socialise after throwdowns, and it is one of the big reasons I go. I'm not sure when the next UK TD will be, but this venue in Southend is definitely a good option for the future. Just a shame it is so difficult to get people to actually show up! ;)

There should be a lot of video footage on the way, so once that is all sorted, I'll be able to do a major update with all the sparring, and hopefully clips of the techniques Colin showed me too. My video editing skills are very limited, but playing around with MovieMaker should be sufficient.

03/05/2009 - Farnborough Throwdown

Farnborough Throwdown, Bullshido, Andy Roberts Academy, 03/05/2009


The first UK throwdown of the year is the closest I've seen so far to a London venue, which would probably result in the biggest turnout as there are so many people training there. Or at least that's the theory: increasingly attendance has been small, and its also increasingly been almost all BJJers. This time round, Mark and I both made the trip, as did Alan (the only non-BJJer, who was also at Oxford last year). That was it in terms of people willing to actually travel, as like Belfast, the rest of the numbers were made up by locals who train at the venue anyway.

Not that I mind, as I'm there to grapple. It would be nice to see more faces from Bullshido, though we did lose a few to a BJJ competition on the same day. I was looking forward to rolling with Mark and Jadon again, as its always interesting getting feedback from people you only spar once or twice a year. The throwdown also gave me a chance to take a look at the Andy Roberts Academy for the first time: great venue with plenty of mats, once I found it after calling Jadon (its up an alleyway, so I totally didn't notice it initially). The only negative is the current lack of showers (which I assume will be rectified at some point in the future).

Before the sparring started, there was a drill I wanted to try out, having seen it on one of Matt Thornton's Straight Blast Gym clips. The idea is to spin back into guard as somebody tries to pass, first gradually building up the movements you need to master. That begins by swinging one foot right over to the other side, then doing the opposite. Next, you try and swing that foot further, coming up on your shoulders, using your upper back to spin. Finally, you swing the foot right over, spin around on your back and shoulders, then return to the previous position.

On the clip, this was done with partners, but as that's going to be rare, I wanted to work on the alternative, which is doing it against a wall. After swinging my legs over and back a few times, I decided to first ask Mark if he'd seen the drill before, as he's been training at SBG Dublin. Watching him do it made me realise the importance of the shoulder, so I eventually managed to get a full spin in going in one direction, but not the other. Something to practice at home.

My first roll was with Alan, after showing him the basics of shrimping and bridging, then how to combine the two for a fundamental side control escape. As he isn't a grappler, he also unsurprisingly hadn't brought a gi with him. That meant I didn't have my usual grips to play with: its been a good while since I've done any nogi, and I'd forgotten how limited I feel once I take off the gi.

Next up was Mark, where we maintained a relaxed pace. Largely that was because Mark was looking to work his defence, but unfortunately I'm one of the worst sparring partners for that, because I'm so passive. So, lots of staring at him without doing much when in his guard, though I did try to stand once or twice. Mark was wearing a gi and shorts, meaning I didn't have any trousers to grab, but my guard passage is sufficiently terrible that I don't think it made a whole lot of difference.

In my guard, I'm continuing to try and look for triangle set-ups, but its very early days. The clips I've seen of Ryan Hall have been useful, so I'm looking forward to getting hold of his updated triangle instructional, whenever he releases that. Anything that uses the legs is good, as are chokes, because that should hopefully involve less need for strength.

I also played a bit with reverse De La Riva again, which worked better this time, but I still couldn't initiate the sweep. I was looking for the far leg to hook, but I think I need to break their posture better first, forcing them to step forward. Again, I'm not using my legs enough to put my partner under pressure, and I'm also being a bit too relaxed under side control. On the plus side, Tran's side control escape (where you simply bridge into them as they bring their leg over to mount) continues to work well for me.

The last part of the roll was all choke defence, as Mark took my back. I used the 'Shirley Temple' defence Ais showed me last year, where you clamp your hands to either side of your jaw and neck. I was also trying to get into Saulo's 'survival position', where you scoot down low, but couldn't clear Mark's hooks. After he shifted to a body triangle, I was looking to footlock him (as Christina did that to me every time I went for a body triangle), without really remembering how to do it.

Afterwards when I asked Mark for feedback, the exact same response as when I first sparred him in 2007: movement and defence is ok, but need more aggression. Sitting up in guard was a more specific point, as I'm tending to lie back when I should be up and attacking. I always used to go for sit-up sweeps, so that could be a useful technique to revisit, especially with the various options that branch off from there, like the kimura and guillotine (or indeed a triangle, as Ryan Hall demonstrates).

On top, I have to put them under pressure, so rather than just vaguely holding the legs and hanging back, I should drive my hips forward. Also, on the body triangle, it turns out that what I was doing was actually akin to going for a heel hook, so will have to avoid doing that in future. I seem to remember when Christina did it to me, the pressure was different and far less dangerous, so will have to look into the proper defence.

Finally, I went with Jadon. Remembering last time and also going by his blog, I expected him to push the pace a bit, so wanted to save that for last. It started off with repeated collar choke attempts by Jadon after he moved through to mount, which I only narrowly escaped. My defence was technically pretty poor: on one of his attacks in particular, it was purely grabbing the arm and pulling, so that would never work against anyone bigger, not to mention in competition you'd soon get knackered.

After that, it was my turn to try some offence, but strangely from under side control. For some reason, it was relatively straightforward to bring my legs up for a reverse triangle (I think? Triangle in a weird position, anyway), but I wasn't able to finish, despite locking it on several times in a row. I also tried attack the arm (as it was twisted so the back of the elbow was facing up) by pressing on the elbow, but again couldn't find the right spot.

Then finally there was also the kimura to go for from there, but I wasn't able to stop Jadon grabbing his belt. Rolling on top in that position didn't help much, though I guess in a competition environment it would at least get some points (though I give up position so easily, I'd think I'd always be way behind on points in a competition environment).

From chatting afterwards, it turns out that what I should have done is grabbed Jadon's far sleeve and pull it towards me. That would have then put his shoulder in place to squash against his neck, meaning I could finish the triangle. So will have to keep that in mind for next time, though I'm assuming its normally rare to get into silly position like a reverse triangle anyway. Still, fun to play with the submission.

Alan and Mark did some striking training, though I didn't see much of it, and James, one of Andy Roberts' blue belts, popped along later. Mark and Jadon sparred with just about everybody, though as ever I was lazy and just went with a paltry three. Sid completed the group, yet another BJJer from Andy Roberts, who also started posting on Bullshido recently: the only non Bullshido person there was James.

Mark didn't have his memory card with him, unfortunately, so no video, but I did take a few pictures on my phone, which I've spread throughout this post. Next throwdown should be in Belfast at Queens again, so hopefully I can make that: as ever, all depends on finances.

21/06/2008 - Belfast Throwdown II

Belfast Throwdown II, Bullshido, Queens University Belfast, UK – 20-22/06/2008

Once again, I flew out from Birmingham International to Belfast International with bmibaby: about £70 total, though that's with no extras ('extras' for these super cheap flights meaning stuff that used to be included, like luggage – I only took hand luggage). They do an online check-in thing which is pretty handy: you tick a few boxes, choose your seat, then print out your boarding card. That means you can then basically walk straight onto the plane after going through security. No delays with the flight this year, then headed into the city with the frequent 300 Airport Express (out the airport, over the zebra crossing, then the stop is to your left: £9 return, which you can buy from the bus driver). Takes about 40 minutes to get to the Europa Buscentre, which as you'd expect is right in the middle of Belfast.

Mark and Aisling were in Dublin getting Mark's new house sorted, so wouldn't be back until the evening. As I arrived fairly early, that meant I had plenty of time to check out the Northern Irish capital. My girlfriend, who is part-Northern Irish herself, recommended doing a tour round the City Hall, but unfortunately that was closed for refurbishment. So was the Ulster Museum, which would have been my next choice, but that still left me with plenty of art galleries to choose from.

I'm not normally a fan of modern art, as I tend to go for the kind of painting you can see in my blog background, but the Ormeau Baths Gallery turned out to be pretty cool. It’s a short walk from the Europa Bus Centre: I went via the City Hall, where Linenhall Street goes straight to it.

The Ormeau Baths Gallery is free, and had two exhibitions on when I went. First, there was a display by the Chapman Brothers, called 'My Giant Colouring Book'. That's based on the innovative idea of taking a children's colouring book, then basically painting lots of bizarre imagery over the top, often rather macabre. For example, there's a teddy bear with shorn-off limbs, an open rib cage with the intestines hanging out, along with fangs and a partially melted face. An interesting - if slightly disturbing - contrast with the original, innocent join-the-dots picture. That's a touring exhibition, so may be coming to a gallery near you if you fancy checking it out.

Sue Williams fills up the rest of the space, with her 'Small Talk, High Heels', also a touring exhibition. According to the leaflet by the door, that is "concerned with perceptions of women, with gender roles and sexual power relations", which immediately appealed to my feminist impulses. Most of the work seems to be a woman (perhaps the artist) in various sexually provocative poses, but the large installation upstairs struck me as a bit more polemical. I'm not entirely certain what she was trying to say, but there was definitely a feeling of strong narrative across a bunch of scrawled pictures with bits of text scribbled across them.

Most of the galleries in Belfast were closed by 17:00, so I needed to think of something else to do. Eventually, I ended up taking the somewhat less culturally edifying option of going to see The Incredible Hulk at the Movie House. For anyone frustrated by Ang Lee's lumbering attempt at injecting some arthouse into the comic book genre, this film will come as a considerable relief: Ed Norton goes green and starts smashing things during the opening credits. ;)

So, to get to what I assume anyone reading this is actually interested in: rolling around with sweaty men and women. The turn-out for the throwdown, held the next day, was pretty small. Last year we managed a whole four people from Bullshido (including Mark and I), which in 2008 dropped to three (again including Mark and I, plus his girlfriend, so not much in the way of internetty people).

However, also like last year, that didn't matter, because the numbers were made up by Mark's training partners: Olga, Peter and Waqi all showed up from the QUB BJJ club. I again got to roll with Mark and Waqi, and also had the chance to roll with Ais: pretty cool, as she's both a pro MMA fighter and a BJJ purple belt. I approached sparring as I normally do in class, trying to work my open guard, but ending up underneath in side control most of the time. As we were going to a gi seminar later on, this was all nogi.

I got in a bit of drilling before the sparring kicked off, running through some mount escapes and guard passes with John, Mark's housemate. He is a ninjitsu guy rather than BJJ, so I wanted to see if I could get him interested in something with a bit more aliveness. In keeping with that ideology, I ran through the drill with progressive resistance, ending up with Mark trying to escape as I adjusted my mount on top. He's got a fair bit of size on me, so hopefully the fact I was able to maintain my position as he struggled to throw me off might lead to him popping down to a BJJ class. Of course, to each their own, but I can't help doing a bit of BJJ preaching when I get the opportunity. ;)

With Mark, I again found the main thing I need to do is raise up more in open guard. I keep staying too flat on my back, which makes me much easier to pass. Mark mentioned that Caiomhe, one of his training partners (who unfortunately couldn't make it today: shame, as she's a high-level purple belt), will sometimes sit up and grab the leg. That's something I haven't tried from open guard, so worth a go. Mark later choked me out from the back: he frequently uses a body triangle, so I was even more at a loss than usual in terms of my escape options.

I also found myself getting arm-triangled a few times from under side control and half guard, so need to watch I don't let my arm get stuck on the wrong side of their head. That normally happens when I'm trying to push myself into a better bracing position, but either misjudge things or get squeezed into a bad position. I have to stay aware of that, keeping a close eye when my partner starts to try and knock my arm with their head.

Something similar happened with Waqi. I was getting repeatedly guillotined because of how Waqi was able to control my arm and bump me into position. Reminding me once again how I'd definitely train at QUB if I lived in Belfast, Waqi then immediately demonstrated exactly what he did, describing it as a 'Gorillatine', if I heard him correctly.

Basically, that’s a guillotine from butterfly guard. First you overhook one arm, underhooking the arm. Move round to one side, releasing your far hook to put your hand behind you (in order to facilitate your motion to the side). You can now grab their far arm, pull it towards you to prevent them posting out, then lift them with your near butterfly hook for the sweep.

If they realise what you're trying to do, your partner will normally try to block you at this point by posturing up. That sets them up for a guillotine. Instead of grabbing their far arm, you can now wrap it over and around their neck. Its important to stay up on your side, maintaining your far butterfly hook. Secure your guillotine grip and switch to half-guard (hooking their near leg), staying up on your side. To get the submission, arch back (not into the floor: remember, you need to be up on your side, so go straight backwards from that position).

Your partner may be wise to your attempt, or perhaps have a strong neck. If they resist and you can't finish the guillotine, then instead of going to half-guard to finish, you're going to use that butterfly hook you have on the far leg. Flick them over, where you can finish the guillotine from on top: that is going to be very tough for them to resist, or as Waqi put it, "we've lost cabin pressure". :p

I managed to do something to my hand when drilling the butterfly guard stuff with Waqi, presumably from posting out at an awkward angle at the wrong time. I think I've done that before, so will have to be extra careful next time I'm in a similar position: pretty silly to injure myself in drilling! That meant I waited a bit before my final spar with Ais, but didn't seem to be much of a problem when rolling.

I found it difficult to raise up in guard, as Ais was able to keep me at bay with her arms: one on my hip, the other pressing into my throat. I eventually ended up in half-guard, and I also got the Tran side control escape at one point (bridging into them when they try to bring the leg over to mount). I grabbing the leg from open guard too, thinking of what Mark had said earlier, but Ais seized the opportunity to take my back and choke me out.

Like Waqi, Ais then also gave me some technical tips, this time defence against the rear naked choke. She demonstrated what she called the 'Shirley Temple' defence: you bring your hands to either side of your face, cupping your jaw line, elbows in tight. From there, work your way down from between their arms, move around their leg, then drive through to end up on top.

Like last year, it was almost entirely a BJJ open mat, especially as we were actually just using the QUB BJJ open mat session. Ais and Mark did a bit of MMA sparring, but they were the only ones doing anything non-BJJ (well, apart from John going through some ninjitsu kata, randomly). After a shower and popping down to the shop to get a bite to eat, we jumped in a taxi to Gracie Barra Northern Ireland, where Vitor Estima was holding a gi seminar.

23/02/2008 - Oxford Throwdown II

Oxford Throwdown II, Bullshido, Oxford, UK – 23/02/2008

I wasn't around for the first Oxford TD, which I think was some time back in 2005, but have been a regular throwdown attendee since 2006. Cullion organised this one at the Oxford Brookes Centre for Sports, where there's a room available for £45.

It wasn't an especially long journey for me, as I'm only coming down from Birmingham, slightly over an hour away on the train. Bran Lydster, on the other hand, was heading from Doncaster, which is considerably further: nevertheless, bumped into him as the train taking me from Brum also happened to be his final connection. Then again, unsurprising, given that three of us from Bullshido had been planning to arrive about the same time. I had initially seen a person on the platform weighed down with a complicated array of pads, gis and belts hanging off him, which turned out to be Bran. In my case, the Eddie Bravo book I was flicking through coupled with oversized sideburns gave me away. ;)

That third person who had arranged to meet at 14:14, Jadon, got there slightly earlier than us. Catching a lift with another person from Bullshido, solfish, we made it to the venue a little late (thanks to Oxford traffic lights, which seem to be spaced out every few metres), followed by the problem of finding the place, buried in the depths of campus.

We didn't miss much, as everyone was still introducing themselves by the time we got there. I only recognised WCJudoGuy and his brother: everyone else was new to me (except for my friend Sasha, who arrived a while after), but I unfortunately didn't get the chance to go round and introduce myself properly. In the changing rooms, solfish told me the bad news that the new BJJ club in Oxford (held at the Aviators Health Club on Langford Lane in Kidlington) has already closed, which is a shame. However, somebody else (either Sasha or Cullion) said a different BJJ guy was thinking about starting something at Oxford Brookes, so hopefully that works out.

After a quick warm-up, Sasha and I went to do some drilling (in the first part of Bran's video below, thats all I'm doing, moving on to side control escapes: Sasha is in the black trousers), joined later by Madgrenade, who hadn't grappled before. WCJudoGuy popped over to offer his advice, and then Bran stepped in. I already knew he was experienced from his profile on Bullshido, but I didn't realise just how much he knew about the ground: he's got a blue, but that's buttressed by years of groundwork in styles like judo, wrestling and Japanese JJ (from the conversations we had, its very clear that isn't your typical JJJ).



WCJudoGuy had been eyeing up my blue belt, which made me feel distinctly conspicuous, but I diverted him to the far greater challenge of Bran. Instead, I had a roll with Sasha. Previously when we've sparred, he's been fairly dominant: this time, we were even. I kept trying to isolate one of his arms so I could go for the kimura, but he was able to stop that from leaving my hip. In his guard, I found myself defending in a relatively relaxed fashion, returning my hands to his hips if he tried to pull me off balance, and defending my neck. Eventually passing to his half-guard, I tried to get my knee into his armpit and then pull up on his elbow to set-up a kimura (as per instruction last class), but think that just put me back into guard. I'd set my phone for about five minutes, and it went off not long after that. You can just about see us rolling in the far back (Sasha has black trousers with gi, whereas I'm all in white) in the two vids below. Lots of other people sparring too, as you'll see:





My next roll was with Jadon, who looked about my size (asking later, turns out he's got about 15lbs on me). He has four years of judo from his youth, and more recently a few months of BJJ under RGA brown belt Andy Roberts. Jadon stayed aggressive throughout the roll, mostly going for chokes. I was able to hold him in my guard for a while, or return him to half-guard when he managed to pass (which happened several times, going through a cycle of guard, side control, back to half-guard). I also got to his back about three times, but wasn't able to sink the choke: instead, I just had the one hand looped round gripping his collar. I was in perfect position, even getting him completely straightened out, so need to work on applying the RNC.

I got my favoured sit-up sweep, but kept failing with multiple armbar attempts. Eventually, I sunk one in – Jadon was keen to try and escape, so held off tapping a little too long. I heard a definite crack, so stopped (or he tapped and I stopped), but his arm seemed to be ok. I'd managed to bust my thumb earlier on, bashing it top-first into his leg while straightened out, so as usual decided to lay off the sparring for the rest of the TD. Again, you can just about see us in the far back: this time, we're both in all-white. You'll hear Jadon yelling, I think (didn't remember him doing that, but would make sense: immediate way to get a quick release!), about 7 minutes in:



I finished off by drilling the sit-up and scissor sweep with Sasha, and finally asking Brian a few questions. He'd shown me a guard pass earlier on, which he went through in greater detail. First you have to open their guard, also maintaining firm control of their hips (pressing on them directly with your hands). As soon as they open their guard, sprawl backwards, keeping as low as possible. Walk round on your toes, still staying low, until you move into side control. Brian also mentioned something he called 'rock climbing', which involved gradually pulling yourself into the position.

There was another technique he showed me from the knees, which this time was basically a single-leg, but from kneeling. IIRC, seeing the knee up you loop your arm under and grip, then drive for the single. I'll have to check on the video later (Brian should be sending it through once he's got it onto his computer), which hopefully captured that bit of teaching. Brian brought a camera and tripod with him, which was set up to record in a corner for the duration: should have got most of the sparring in, though the grappling was on the other side of the mat. There was also plenty of stand-up sparring, but I personally stuck to the ground. Again, will have to look at the video for that – Jadon was particularly proud of a nice throw he got, which is definitely on the vid.

Turnout was pretty good, meaning that we ended up paying a mere £4 each. Unfortunately, most people weren't able to hang around for drinking, though solfish and Madgrenade had a couple of pints in the onsite bar before heading off. That left Brian, me, Jadon and Sasha to hit the pubs in Oxford: I did take a picture, but annoyingly seems to have been eaten by my phone. Suffice to say, had a good night drinking and chatting, as usual sticking with the red wine. I would have gone for sherry, but thought I'd keep things simple given the size of the queue at the bar ;).

Bran's camera captured pretty much the entire thing, so for around two hours of throwdown goodness, check out the video page on Bullshido.

18/08/2007 - Belfast Throwdown

Belfast Throwdown, Bullshido, Birmingham, UK – 17-19/08/2007

I flew in from Birmingham International to Belfast International on the Friday evening – should have arrived at 18:00, but various delays meant I eventually arrived more like 20:00. At first I wasn’t sure how to get the ticket for the bus, as the desk saying ‘buy tickets here’ helpfully wasn’t staffed, but I noticed a poster saying you could get them from the driver. The stop is just outside the airport, over the road and to the left. Return to Belfast is £9, taking between 30 to 40 minutes: Europa Buscentre is normally the stop you want.

Das Moose (Mark), Megalef (Johannes) and adouglasmhor (Dougie) were waiting for me at the bus station, though I somehow managed to walk past them…twice. Ahem. Anyway, once we managed to notice eachother, went back to Mark’s place and watched the awesomeness that is Flash Gordon. Forgot how kick-ass that fabulous exercise in camp really is (in fact, I think I can safely say its pretty much the epitome of camp) – been far too long since I last saw it.

I’d not quite shaken off my flu (or whatever it was) at this point, so had been taking it easy with the drinking. Still didn’t feel 100% on Saturday, but turned out I was sufficiently well to make it through the throwdown. Having got to the sports centre at Queen’s University, things kicked off with a warm-up and some very light rolling while everyone was still arriving. I played open guard with Johannes: he refrained from thoroughly squashing me, as we were only going very light. So, mainly ended up with me bouncing around on the floor by his legs, trying to pull him into guard.

Once everybody arrived (about 10 or 12, I think: will have to check the photos when they pop up), Mark organised some MMA sparring, of which there is plenty of video here on the thread. Mark fought pretty much everyone, Johannes also getting in on the action. There is one especially excellent video involving a slam that we’re waiting to augment with some suitable music: provided much entertainment watching it later, so hopefully I can whip up something half-decent.

There were only the four of us from Bullshido, so attendance was mostly made up by Gracie Barra Northern Ireland, along with a few other guys Mark knows. Ciaran and I partnered up for a no-gi spar, in which Ciaran went fairly easy on me. He’s got about 20kg and plenty more experience than me, but proved to be a really good training partner. Got armbarred early on (as per video), then fell into the usual pattern of wriggling about under side control or mount, trying to get to half guard and then full guard. At one point I seem to remember reversing and passing, but can’t quite remember how, so I think that was down to a combination of Ciaran not squashing me and luck. Felt like a fairly long spar, although its often hard to judge – a couple of minutes can feel like 10. The video is of the first part.

I couldn’t get anywhere with the stack pass, as I had trouble doing the actual stacking part, which meant I couldn’t get close enough to get a grip on their head. I also noticed how much easier it is to escape in no-gi due to sweat and the lack of grips. In Ciaran’s guard, I found it simpler than usual to pull out from triangle and armbar attempts because of sweat, though again as he was going light, might be that he was leaving more space than normal. Afterwards Ciaran complimented me on my movement, which was nice of him, though I didn’t feel I did anything more than damage limitation.

Had a good chat with Ciaran following our spar, in the course of which he showed me a handy looking technique he called the windscreen wiper sweep. When they’ve postured up, you grab their arm and opposite knee, shifting slightly in the direction of that arm. If they have the opposite elbow flared out, move your same side leg up their body, hooked round, keeping it fairly relaxed but still firm. That leg goes all the way up and then over, like a windscreen wiper, eventually rolling them to the side so you come up in mount. Not sure I’ve quite remembered that correctly, so will see if I get a chance to ask someone at RGA.

Thoroughly knackered after what at least felt like a long spar, I got scribbling down my notes as usual. Turned out there wasn’t all that much time left by this point, so I got in two spars before time ran out. First was with a very experienced blue belt (more than six years of training, if I heard him right), Waqi. Again, went fairly easy on me, and again proved a good teacher. As before I was mainly underneath and trying to go for half guard. Going for their far leg got some results, as did something I saw Johannes do earlier, which was to cross your right leg over both your left leg and their leg, then use your two legs to scoop their one into half guard. Of course, my attempt was very sloppy, as I was trying to imitate something I didn’t quite understand. Waqi advised me to be careful under side control, as I put myself in a very vulnerable position. In an attempt to go for his legs, I was bunched up on my side, which meant it was a simple matter for Waqi to mount. That position is something I should only use briefly, as part of shrimping out in both directions to recover guard. As you can see in the videos, Waqi was also letting me go to side control a few times while turned on his side, but I wasn't able to do much with it: tried feeding my arms through (we've been shown a choke from this position, but totally forgot how to do it), but didn't get anywhere. He also showed me a technique where you tie up the far arm, then move round maintaining that hold and switch to a kimura: didn't quite understand it though, and unfortunately not in the vid. Finally, I rolled with Mark, and again tried to pull guard. I ended up starting in open guard trying to hook a leg, then getting squashed in side control. I managed to escape…then fell straight into a triangle. That was to be a recurring theme, as the same thing happened when I escaped with a single leg, as well as trying to get out of an armbar. Suffice to say, Mark really likes triangles! In the video, you can see him do that technique with a set up from when I post out to avoid being swept - similar to the position where you can go for a kimura after a failed sit-up sweep. That also meant he had lots of good tips for the technique. To triangle from guard, Mark advised starting by grabbing your shin, in what I think is rubber guard (there’s video of both my spar with Mark and the many triangles he either attempted or got on other people, so can check those to be sure). Pull their arm across, then step off their hip, keeping your knees tight at all times. Get your other leg over, then if I’ve got the order right, underhook their leg to pull yourself round (further tightening the triangle, as well as giving the option of an armbar). Squeeze your knees and hips, pulling down on their head if you’re still having trouble. I couldn’t get the sub when drilling with Conor (yet another friendly example of Mark’s training partners), though I did get it to work on Mark. He also mentioned that if they get their elbow out to the wrong side, cup it with both hands and yank it right over. Checking further on triangle details with Ciaran, there is apparently some controversy over whether its best to post on the hip or on the floor – would seem both function ok. Generally I think I need to work on moving from half guard to full guard, rather than just kind of sitting there not entirely sure what to do (see second vid with Mark). I’ve been shown several sweeps, but under pressure only remember part of them – hence why in some of the videos you can see me going for someone’s foot but do nothing once I’ve got it, or bridge a few times without getting anywhere. Would also be good to give triangle from guard a go, though I still don’t really want to get into submission attempts too much before I feel confident in my escapes. The plan is get competent in fundamental defence and position, as then I’ll be able to attack in the knowledge that if I fuck up, I can recover quickly.

I cunningly left before the group pic, after which we popped back to Mark’s for a shower and to watch the vids. For the rest of the day, it seemed we were being chased around town by hen nights in pink stretch limos, pink stretch hummers, and even pink fire engines. We decided it must have been Johannes’ Swedish good looks drawing them in, so eventually hid in the pub (where Johannes was less successful with the bouncers, though they were soon placated by Dougie). The Bullshido contingent left the next day. No delays on the way back, though forgot there are normally replacement buses on Sundays. Belfast is clearly an awesome place to have a throwdown – as Mark is going to be at uni for ages, look forward to many more!

[I returned to Belfast for another throwdown in 2008]

26/05/2007 - Birmingham Throwdown 2 (Bullshido)

Birmingham Throwdown 2 (Bullshido), Birmingham, UK – 26/05/2007

The Caribbean was pretty cool, except for my gf having her bag snatched just as we were leaving Barbados, which was distinctly not cool. Most annoying thing about that is we no longer have a camera, which is a real pain as I love taking photos. But hey, Dominica was still great: lots of “ooo, that was in Pirates of the Caribbean! So was that! And that!” action.

Getting on to the point: sweaty men sitting on me. Like last year, the throwdown was held at Stevie B’s Gym in Birmingham, which unless they change the prices, is probably where we’ll keep holding it. Good enough for Gracie Barra Birmingham is definitely good enough for us. As I got stuck in Brum earlier this week, rather than going down to Bucks as usual, I didn't have my gi or rash guard with me. So, grappling in thin ZSK gi trousers and a t-shirt, which wasn't ideal, but better than nothing - probably good for me to get accustomed to no-gi anyway. The turn-out this time was pretty small, with only six people making it to Birmingham (me, Sasha, Colin, Joe, Teebs and Nate). Next time, I think I’ll ask for everyone to confirm and PayPal beforehand, to make sure we get a reasonable attendance – of course, that may not work either.

As usual, there were several techniques I particularly wanted to work, along with a general recap of what I’ve learned over the past few months. Side control and mount are probably the two positions I’m currently having most trouble with, so I hoped to go through side control to mount, as well as submissions like Americana from mount and armbar from mount. As it turned out, I mainly got tips on armbar from guard, along with some useful pointers on side control and general positioning.

I started off with drilling, and tried to recap as much as possible from my five months or so of BJJ. Armbar from guard is the first thing that sprung to mind, so I went through how I’ve been taught it with Nate and Teebs. The Gracie Barra Birmingham class had just finished before we went in, and one of the purple belts was hanging around. That proved rather useful, as he couldn’t resist offering some technical advice. With the armbar, he suggested that rather than gripping by the wrist and elbow, instead just hold with one hand, using the other to pull down on their shoulder. This makes getting the leg over their head much easier.

Once Colin arrived, he showed something similar – I’m not sure if this is just part of the difference between gi and no-gi, but either way, good to have some variations. Colin goes straight for the one arm, gripping above the elbow round the bicep, pulling that arm across his own body. Then he’ll grab the shoulder with the other hand, and another difference was that he pushes on the face to further help swinging the leg over. Finally on that technique, Colin also showed how you could quickly switch the arm you were attacking. Simply change your leg to the opposite side, driving the shin into their neck, then swivel round to go for their other arm.

Next I asked about side control to mount – what Colin showed me was basically the same as I’ve seen in class. On keeping your weight down, the main points he brought up were driving a knee into their side near their legs, with the other leg based out behind you. Your hips should be down as far as possible (something I haven’t been doing: previously I’ve been going up on my toes and raising them too much), as well as your chest.

Doing some light sparring from side control, Colin also commented that it was important to keep changing position if you’re losing control. In particular, he advised going to knee on belly, by pushing off their hips and shoulder to make space. I was tending to cling on from side control, and I haven’t yet developed the mobility to make those quick transitions. So, something I need to work on – a lack of familiarity with no-gi no doubt made me even slower. Colin also showed how knee on belly could open up opportunities for armbars when the person underneath tries to escape, something you can see in action in this video:



I only did sparring on the ground today, and got to roll with everyone except Nate. Teebs and Joe were around my level (neither having done much groundwork before), so that felt very much like rolling in the beginners class. I did guard passage with both, and noted that I’m tending to leave a trailing leg for them to catch in half-guard, as well as my usual problem of not keeping my weight down. Also kinda cool was that Teebs managed a scissor sweep on me, which he’d first seen earlier that day.

Colin, on the other hand, smashed through any meagre defences I had (as you can see in the previous vid!), so was a quite different experience. He’s a good training partner, however, as he’s always careful to point out mistakes. One especially useful tip was to turn on my side when he’s moving around on top, rather than waiting on my back and making it easy for him. Previously, I’ve almost always sparred from specific positions with a predetermined ending, so going from knees until someone got a submission was an eye-opener, particularly without the comfort of a gi to grab onto.



Once we finished up at around 18:30, Nate, Teebs, Sasha and I went out for drinks, as unfortunately Colin and Joe had to leave for home. Teebs couldn’t stay out too long due to his train, but numbers were made up by a guy Sasha and I know from another forum, along with his girlfriend (who seemed pretty cool: I haven’t met her before). As always, much red wine was consumed. Well, by me. :p

Joe got a bunch of videos of people sparring, so hopefully he'll be able to put those up soon. The next throwdown will probably be either in Grimsby, or possibly Bradford - Nate mentioned a place at his uni where you can pay per person by the hour, which would be ideal if we had a low turn-out again. Teebs also mentioned there might be a place at his uni in Oxford, which IIRC was where the Oxford Throwdown was held a while back.

09/12/06 - Brighton Throwdown

UK Brighton Throwdown (BJJ), Marcio Gomes, Brighton, UK – 09/12/2006

Not quite as many turned up as in Birmingham, but we still ended up with seven. In terms of Bullshido regulars, there was me (slideyfoot), Mungkorn Dam, RunningDog, Liffguard and Tcell. A friend of mine I first met about 3 years ago on the now defunct Tung-Fu also came along. He has posted on Bullshido as Jinksy, but only briefly. One of the blues from RunningDog’s club, Sam, also came along, though he left early.

Found out as I arrived that the place had been double-booked with some aikido people, which meant we only had it until 17:00 rather than 18:00, which was a shame. Still, I managed to cover just about everything I wanted in those three hours. While Marcio bumped up the cost by a tenner each, he was extremely handy to have there to ask questions. Otherwise, I would probably have ended up drilling the technique wrong, or at least not as effectively as possible. Website for his class can be found here.

After we all did a quick warm-up, I worked passes and sweeps from closed guard with Tcell. He gave me a bunch of useful tips, such as supporting myself with a bent leg rather than sprawling to resist sweep attempts and being careful not to lean too much forward or too much back. Both Tcell and the next guy I worked with, Sam, said that I was basically doing the right thing. So, now I just need the experience to see openings and perform the passes and sweeps quicker.

After taking a bunch of photos (annoyingly, the camera I had with me ran out of battery ridiculously quickly), I got down to my main drilling with Jinksy. As he didn’t have a gi, I took off my jacket and belt so I just had my t-shirt and gi trousers, meaning that I’d need a pass and sweep that worked without the gi. Only one I know is the tailbone pass (no idea what the proper name is), which Felipe had showed Mungkorn and me in class a while back. Marcio went over it again in greater detail.

Person A starts by putting their hands on Person B’s pelvis, working back up the legs. Shoving their right knee into Person B’s tailbone and pushing down with the hands to keep Person B there, Person A then attempts to push back with their arms and left knee (which I think you put to the side rather than backwards like I was doing previously), digging their elbows into Person B’s leg muscles at the same time. As soon as there is space, Person A underhooks both legs with his arms, pushes forward and sprawls round for the pass. Ideally, Person A will also get their knee up in between Person B’s legs for additional security, or break their guard open to pass that way. Main problem I had was simply lacking the strength to easily break Jinksy's guard. So, Marcio’s advice that you just needed to make space rather than necessarily break the guard proved very helpful.

Drilling that for a while with increasing resistance, I then moved on to the flower sweep, which Marcio also helped with. The way he taught it was for Person B to break Person A’s posture by pulling forward with the guard and also dragging down on Person A’s right arm, throwing it over to the right. As quickly as possible, Person B then wraps their left arm round Person A’s head, making sure to trap Person A’s right arm at the same time. If Person A manages to get their left arm into Person B’s neck, Person B needs to push on the elbow and trap that arm as well. Person B then wraps their right arm around the back of Person A’s left knee (aiming to pull it up towards Person B’s right shoulder). Person B put's their right foot up on Person A's hip, pushing off to swivel their own hips round to the left. Taking the right leg off and shoving it into Person A's side, Person B puts their left leg down by Person A's other leg. Finally, Person B pulls on the left knee and pushes with their right leg to get the sweep. If Person A manages to get their right arm free, Person B underhooks it and pulls it close to their own head to stop Person A using it to stop the sweep.

Jinksy and I drilled that to death, although only on one side – must remember to do the other side as well next time I have the chance. Jinksy got Marcio to help him with something different, as he wanted to work the kimura (if I’m using the right term for the arm lock where you figure-four the arm from guard, sitting up and twisting it past Person A’s back), along with the sweep you can do if Person A pulls back. While he was working with Marcio, RunningDog grabbed me for a roll, where I had the dubious pleasure of being shoved forcefully face-first into his crotch before he got me with some kind of shoulder-lock. Well, we were in Brighton, so I guess that’s to be expected...

I then went back to drilling with Jinksy, where I found out that escaping the mount when someone isn’t constantly going for an armbar is considerably more difficult. I wasn’t able to sweep him, though Jinksy advised trying to shrimp my way out, which did eventually work but I seemed to use a lot of energy in the process. Probably just doing it wrong, or my stamina had gone by that point. Also rolled with him at some point, which I think might have been what precipitated the mount escape drills, as I ended up stuck underneath his.

After the session finished and the aikidoka appeared (with stereotypical “skinny guy with ponytail” typifying the class), we headed off to the St. James’ Tavern for drinks. Well, at least Mungkorn and his gf did – Jinksy and I wandered aimlessly for while trying to find his sister’s house so I could dump my stuff. Once we finally got there, showered and then found the pub, Johnny had also arrived – Liffguard unfortunately had to leave earlier, Tcell having gone around 16:00. So that left five of us – shame I couldn’t get any pics.

I reckon I can legitimately put today down as 1.5hrs of BJJ in my geektastic Excel sheet: proved useful, and Marcio was well worth the fee, not to mention it’s always good to see people off the forum. Even better to get drunk with them!

12/08/2006 - UK Midlands Throwdown (Bullshido)

UK Midlands Throwdown (Various), Bullshido, Birmingham, UK – 12/08/2006

I first started planning this back in December 2005, since which numerous people have said ‘yeah, definitely’, others have got injured, responsibility has been passed around, but it finally all came together this Saturday on the 12^th August. Out of all those who said they’d show, it ended up as just the eleven of us: me, Paddy, Jawdy, Nate, Vikki (faith_departed), Riggs, Joe (PsychoMongoose), WCJudoGuy (plus guest), Jawdy’s girlfriend Helen (she didn’t get involved in the sparring, but looking forward to her videos!) and Paul (P A Smith).

As seems to be the way with internet meet-ups for sparring, there was a lot of chatting. This was absolutely fine by me, as one of the main reasons I enjoy going to these things is to meet the people behind the words on a screen; hence why going drinking afterwards is always essential!

However, there was also plenty of sparring. Joe and Jawdy were particularly intense (Jawdy later going with Nate for a full 20 minutes), but I was happy to sit back and focus on taking pictures. I rolled four times (twice with Paul, once with Riggs and once with Nate) and did stand-up twice (light contact with Vikki, heavier contact with Paul, though he was going easy on me – I would have taken a serious pasting otherwise!), which was quite enough for me. I was pleased that my shoulder held up ok, though it had twinged slightly when I tried to warm up with a few press-ups earlier.

My grappling remains poor, but I was happy to get a reversal, even if the other guy soon managed to get back on top. At some point I’ll hopefully move beyond just clinging on in guard until I get passed/mounted/submitted, but I doubt it will happen any time soon – once I do get down to Gracie Barra (at least I know where it is now), it will most likely only be once a week. Still, better than nothing.

I'm the one with sideburns in the below video. After armbarring me, Paul went through some tips, most useful of which was a simple way to escape knee on belly (as you can see when we roll, I've got no idea how to get out of the position). He said I should place both hands on the knee, push, and move out to the side: you see him getting ready to demonstrate at the end of the vid. The other guy getting armbarred is PsychoMongoose - he's rolling with WCJudoGuy, who at the time was a judo brown belt and amateur MMA fighter.

A few of us went out for drinks afterwards at All Bar One in Birmingham, which was cool, but unfortunately I didn’t get to stay that long. Of course, might have helped if I had some idea of where the hell I was going; despite having lived in Birmingham for about 2 years now, I managed to be no help whatsoever in finding where we were supposed to go or directing the taxi. Of course, I’m also capable of getting lost in an almost straight corridor, so that’s not entirely surprising…

Looking forward to the next throwdown, which hopefully won’t take quite so long to organise; should be London, or Birmingham again.