20/08/2009 - BJJ

Class #238



Combat Athletics, (BJJ), Rich Green, Coventry, UK - 20/08/2009

Pippa, one of the women I used to train with at RGA, is in the process of setting up a special seminar specifically for women who have never trained in BJJ. If you're female and have any interest in grappling, check out Pippa's thread on the EFN. If you're a guy, then this is the perfect opportunity to try and introduce your girlfriend, wife, mother, sister or female friends to the sport. Venue should be London, but all details to be confirmed in the aforementioned thread.

I made another trip down Combat Athletics today, but unfortunately Rich had to leave before class started, due to unforeseen circumstances beyond his control. However, he very kindly said that the people who had shown up were free to use the mats for the rest of the day, telling one of them how to lock up.

That is another of the advantages of training here in Canley: Rich is a generous teacher, as you can tell from the low price and days like this. He pointed out that there was some experience on the mat, so people should feel free to share tips and ask for advice.

That led him to amusingly refer to me as "half-way to purple belt," which has to be one of the biggest exaggerations I've heard in a long time. Still, it was true that I'd probably been doing this a few more years than most of the people there, as its still a newish club. Always happy to help, either way.

My gi was in my bag as usual, so I wanted to make up for not getting a chance to roll with Steve on Tuesday. After finishing my warm-up (just stretching, really: walking briskly to the club was enough to get my blood flowing), we went straight into sparring. I stayed with Steve the whole time, doing three rolls over the course of about thirty to forty minutes.

As often happens when there is no instructor, its easy to end up sitting on the mats chatting: that happens at throwdowns all the time. I wanted to make sure I got in a good chunk of sparring. That's because after next week I'm on holiday, and when I get back, I'm not entirely sure where (or even if) I'm going to be able to train.

In keeping with my rolling plans of the previous few weeks, I wanted to continue looking for triangles. Both Steve and I were wearing a gi, which made things easier, as that provides a lot more grips. I was hoping to put into practice what I'd seen from Ryan Hall, and perhaps also give the 'stage 1.5' set-up from Gracie Combatives a try.

I also wanted to combine techniques better, as per Purple Belt Requirements, but failing to get that smooth transition from triangle to armbar. I missed an opportunity from the guard, and then a chance to switch back to a triangle passed me by as well. Quicker reactions would help there, or better still, recognising the opening just before it happens rather than midway through.

I finally had the opportunity to lock on the triangle, concentrating on head control, keeping my hips back and getting an underhook on the untrapped arm. As Ryan Hall demonstrates, that helps to spin in order to get a better angle, which seemed to do the trick (though Steve may have been easing off at that point, seeing as we were quite close to another pair sparring).

Steve had been repeatedly leaving one of his arms in close when trying to pass, which is what gave me the opening to fling my leg up into a triangle. He asked for advice on passing the guard, so I ran through the basic method of standing up while maintaining hip pressure, stepping a leg back and opening the guard. I'm always careful to emphasise that my own guard passing is terrible when people ask me about how to pass, but hopefully it was of some use to him.

He definitely became harder to triangle as a result, and stood up much more than in the first roll. I was playing around with the usual sweeps (reverse de la Riva as per Saulo, along with the standard ankle grab, hook sweep and handstand sweep), but not very successfully. However, my poor open guard was useful in this instance, as it gave Steve a chance to work his guard passing posture.

Choking from the guard remains a weakness in my already woefully limited submission repertoire. I attempted it from the overhook position, and also seeing if I could loop an arm around the back. No luck. I can establish a deep grip with the first hand, but finishing with the second hand is the hard part. Much more work required on my part.

My attempts to pass the guard were pretty crappy. I again wanted to work on the guard break Roy Dean showed me after we rolled at his seminar, but still struggling. I think the problem is that when I bring my knee in, I'm inserting it too low, past the tailbone. I'm also not getting the acute angle he mentions on Purple Belt Requirements (its at the start of the leglock section, where the guard break is meant to set up a heel hook: naturally I'm just interested in the break).

I had little success sweeping from guard: the few times I did get to the top position it was fairly sloppy. Under half guard, I had a play with wrapping the gi around his back, seeing if I could use that grip in lieu of the arm when going for Indrek's arm sweep. Not much luck, so either that doesn't work as a substitute, or I just wasn't able to apply it properly. Perhaps I could try and use it to wrap up the arm?

I also failed to take the back, despite a few opportunities. I can never manage to get into position where I feel its possible to get up on my elbow and spin over. Alternately, I could just be trying to go for the back way too early, rather than establishing a solid base first. The Gracie Combatives method looked interesting, so will check that out again.

Occasionally I found mysef squashed under half guard, but was able to use the lockdown to break Steve's posture, moving him back and giving myself some breathing room. That is pretty much the only time I use anything from 10th Planet, but I do find it useful for moving them around when they're putting pressure on top.

When I found myself on top, I had my usual problem of what submission to try. I felt I could get into a relatively stable mount, grapevining the legs, hooking the head and driving my hips down. From there, I need to progress into some kind of attack: a choke would be ideal, but I need to establish the grips first. I might try to use Roger's method he taught at RGA, where you wedge your choking hand in place on their collar by shoving your hip into the elbow.

Not able to get anything from the standard mount, I instead began looking for armbars from modified mount. I managed it once, as Steve was rolling away, locking it on belly-down, but something I just snatched at rather than controlled properly. I was happier with the armbar I used at the end of our third roll, as that time I think I kept my knees together better, leaving less space. Even so, not as tight as I'd have liked, as Steve still had some room to try and escape.

I should be training again next Monday, then my last lesson on Tuesday. Slight possibility I'll be able to get in some extra time with Rich too, which would be cool.

18/08/2009 - BJJ (No-gi)

Class #237



Combat Athletics, (BJJ), Rich Green, Coventry, UK - 18/08/2009

Wales was good fun, with yet another set of people in the house: changes every year, as different groups of friends manage to make it down (normally Aberystwyth Uni people, but this time it was old schoolfriends of the guy who owns the place). I may even have managed to spark an interest in BJJ for one of them, so hopefully she'll go check out the clubs I mentioned in Sunderland. Always keen to get a chance to evangelise about grappling!

On an entirely non-BJJ note, I also finally googled "Hasidic jews" as a result of the trip. That's because like me, they also seem to be in Aber every summer, with large groups congregating on the beach. I'm still not quite sure why Hasidic jews apparently love Aberystwyth so much, but at least I know a little more about their customs thanks to good old Wikipedia.

Getting back to class at Combat Athletics, I decided to wear a gi tonight, as I'd responded to a guys email that I wouldn't mind doing some gi sparring. Handily, both he and another chap brought a gi: I ended up being partnered with the other guy. Technically this is still a nogi class, as Rich teaches without a gi, but then he has been saying repeatedly over the last couple of weeks that people should feel free to bring a gi along.

Rich started off by having everyone do some pummelling exercises. Interestingly, that wasn't just from standing, as is normal. Rich also had us do the same thing from our knees, from combat base, side control, guard and half guard. The purpose was to emphasise the importance of establishing underhooks, as well as other useful principles, like tucking your head in half guard.

That is where we stayed, for a half guard sweep. First, get your underhook and curl in close to their body. Reach with your free arm to grab the foot of the leg you haven't trapped in your half-guard. Your other arm will shift from over their back to grab that same foot, meaning that you'll also be reaching around their other leg.

From here, you can pull their foot in towards you and bridge to get the sweep. Rich demonstrated how you could bridge in either direction, so it depends on how your partner resists. Whichever side they choose to base out, go the opposite way with your bridge.

The next sweep from half guard was for when you've failed to get the underhook. Instead, they've flattened you out, establishing their own underhook to lock up your head and arm. Start by partially unwrapping your triangled legs, but still maintaining control by having a leg over the back of their knee. The other foot will push down on their lower leg, straightening it out, then clamp down to make sure its stuck.

On the side opposite to the one on which you've trapped their leg, put your same side hand on their hip. You can now use that to make a little space, digging your outside foot under their knee to get into half-butterfly. Lift them up enough to extricate your other leg (easier said than done, so not sure if I was doing it right), moving into full butterfly, then sweep them over, pushing off with your hand and leg.

Rich mentioned here that you don't necessarily want to then move straight into mount. That's because you lose control of their arms: instead, Rich advised bringing your knee through into their side, pulling up on the arms. This made more sense once he showed the next technique, when your positions are reversed.

For this half guard pass, they have their head tucked in. As a result you can't cross-face them, so instead drive your shoulder into their shoulder, flattening them out. Shift your weight so that you can look back towards their knees, then bring the foot of your trapped leg up close to their bum.

This provides you with an opportunity to push their locked legs off your knee. Again, that may be easier said than done: Rich's method was to shove in bursts, gradually knocking their legs free. Either way, as soon as your knee is clear (you don't need to get the whole leg out), you can drop it to the mat.

At this point, you could attempt to move to mount, but in keeping with the previous technique, you're instead going to bring your knee across their body so you can get it into their side. Your other leg bases out, while you control their arms. One of their arms is under yours, so you pull up on the elbow. The other is on top: this time, you'll grab around the shoulder, yank in to secure it, while also moving your elbow across to dig into their chest.

From here, you can go for a kimura. That knee you have into their side with move up towards their head. This is especially useful if they get the arm on that side slightly free, bringing their elbow down, as you can now use your knee to block it. Step over their head, then using the control you already have on the other arm, clamp it to your chest and figure-four, ready for the kimura.

It was then time for some specific sparring, from half-guard as you'd expect. I wasn't too good at moving past on top, and underneath I also didn't quite accomplish my aims. I was looking to recover full guard, but my partner was able to keep on just managing to readjust before I could fully adjust.

At one point I also found myself close to taking the back, but he still had an arm around my head. I got overly focused on the back, so continued attempting to establish hooks: eventually, he moved through to side control. What I should have done, as Rich (who was observing) noted, was go to my knees. That would have been a far better position to then drive and move to the back or side: I really need to think about going to the knees, as from every position its something I forget.

Incidentally, this is also exactly the kind of situation where the Gracie Combatives material on escaping headlocks becomes applicable. So although scarf hold may be much more common (because its a far better controlling position), headlocks do happen, even in a BJJ class.

Finally, we switched partners for free sparring: as the person I was rolling with didn't have a gi, I changed my jacket for a t-shirt. As has been the case recently, I was looking for triangles, attempting to set up some kind of control on the head and arms so I could then shift into position. Again, Gracie Combatives could come in handy here. Rener and Ryron have a useful nogi method of moving into the triangle, beginning from stage one of their punch block series. I'll have to take another look at that and try to use it next time.

Eventually my partner passed into my half-guard, also managing to trap one of my arms against me, looking like he was about to go for an arm triangle. However, I still had plenty of space to breathe, so instead he ended up just squashing my neck. That's where we stayed until time ran out.

I've said it before, but I think this is an instance where I'm breaking my own cardinal rule and allowing pride to dictate my actions. It isn't comfortable having your neck squished like that, but its bearable, meaning that you can think to yourself "yeah, if I wiggle just a bit more, I'll be out. No way I'm tapping to this, its not even a proper submission."

While its more than possible to simply lie there and wait, it would be much more sensible to tap and start again. Nobody is learning anything in that position, and my neck is definitely too precious to sacrifice on the altar of ego. Given how often I happily say this to other people, I really must follow my own advice.

So what I probably should do when that happens again is ask "are you going for a choke or a neck crank?" If they say the latter, I should immediately tap so we can restart and do something more productive. Of course, that is still giving way to pride a little, in that I can then tell myself that neck cranks are generally illegal in competition (though of course that doesn't necessarily apply to nogi), but it at least lets them know that if they are going for a choke, they need to adjust rather than simply keep on squeezing.

I should be training again on Thursday, presuming my neck isn't too stiff. As I type this on Wednesday morning, it feels ok, so we'll see. I'm having another instance of deciding to get up and type rather than lie awake in the early morning, so made an update to my BJJ Beginner FAQ too (specifically, adding in something about 10th Planet, as I keep seeing beginners asking about it on forums). Same thing happened when I originally composed that article: early mornings are clearly a good time for me to babble on my blog. ;)

11/08/2009 - BJJ (No-gi)

Class #236



Combat Athletics, (BJJ), Rich Green, Coventry, UK - 11/08/2009

The hour of drilling and rolling with Rosie at Warwick a couple of weeks ago was handy, with two things of particular use. First, she gave me a handy pointer on the guard break Roy Dean showed me, which was to do with grip placement. I had thought you grabbed their biceps and shoved their arms back.

Rosie drove her hands into the armpits instead, thumb on top, which seemed to provide a lot more tension. That made it easier to then push to make space, bringing the knee past their tailbone and through their legs, opening the guard.

Working on setting up the triangle was also useful, especially combining it with the armbar. I was hooking the leg more during sparring, which was useful, as it gave me greater stability for the armbar. However, I was relying a lot on getting hold of the sleeve, which obviously doesn't work in nogi. I could grip the wrist, but sweat makes it easy enough to slip free.

Unfortunately, at some point that day I seemed to mess up my left foot, meaning that I wasn't able to make it to Combat Athletics in Canley the next week. I don't think it was from training, but whatever it was, healed up by the 11th, so I was back down to the Canley Sports and Social Club for more nogi.

Like last time, Rich again let everyone warm up on their own, then called for light rolling. I assume it was just positional, but either way, makes for a nice exercise (though if it was positional, I probably should have flowed out of closed guard more often).

Also in keeping with the previous class I attended, Rich built up a set of mobility drills rather than a specific series of techniques. The central focus was the wrestler's sit-out. First off we did what Rich called the 'baseball slide', where from the all fours position, you post out one leg and reach back with the same side elbow. Slide your other leg through, then switch your first leg back over to return to all fours, repeating the motion on the other side.

The application soon became clear, from turtle. They are facing you, gripping around your chest, under both your arms. On the side you'll be using to escape, post out your foot, then reach back with the same side elbow to make space (this is intended to clear their arm).

Your head pops out to aid the motion, then you bring your other leg through, sliding as before. As soon as you break free, move round to take their back. The leg with which you escaped now steps over to initiate that attack.

The same is true if they grip you with an over-under, so one arm going past your shoulder, the other underneath your arm. The only difference is that you need to do it towards the side on which they've gripped underneath your arm, rather than either direction.

For the arm that is around your head, there's a different option. Grab that elbow and lock it to your head, then do the wrestler's sit out in that direction. Continuing to drive with the head and body, you're aiming to put them flat on the floor, with you on top still holding their arm.

You now need to break their grip, either with a figure four and push, or by attacking the wrist. Once the arm is free, you can get a figure four, using their elbow as a fulcrum, and armbar them from there. I think this is the same thing we did in judo, where it's called waki-gatami.

Rich moved on to cover the drill from last time, where as they pass your guard, you shrimp and reach for their ankle, come to your knees then go for a double leg takedown. The wrestler's sit-out can be added in to the sequence, if the person on top manages to move round, facing your turtle again, where you can then repeat the earlier techniques.

I had a chance to spar Rich today, which was interesting. He has a size advantage, so took it easy on me, but still had little trouble getting into strong pins. While I'm relatively happy under side control, I can see I'm a lot less comfortable underneath variations of scarf hold: something I need to work on.

I wasn't being sufficiently mobile underneath, and I also need to watch how I spin: at one point, he could have got that same waki-gatami from earlier, but didn't crank the submission, letting it go instead.

In guard I was still looking for triangles, which Rich let me move into, but then easily defended. While I had the triangle in place, Rich's elbows were in tight, which stumped me. On another occasion I didn't get proper head control, so he was able to just posture up.

I found myself in mount at one point, but struggled to properly grapevine Rich's legs: definitely harder in nogi, due to less friction, and obviously more difficult with a more experienced opponent. He let me shift to a mounted triangle, after which I rolled into guard, but still couldn't finish.

Should be back again next week, hopefully twice. Off to Wales before that, to the annual trip with our friends to Aberystwyth. Weather doesn't look like its going to be too pleasant, but hey, its Wales, so that's to be expected. ;)

31/07/2009 - BJJ (Nogi)

Class #235



Combat Athletics, (BJJ), Rich Green, Coventry, UK - 30/07/2009

I had thought I'd get one more session in at Nova Força, but turns out my sister needed me for slightly less time than she'd originally thought. That means I'll be up in Coventry now until the end of August, except for a final weekend to pop down and look after my niece (which also means I'll have the dubious pleasure of watching her overnight: sleepless nights, where you're woken repeatedly by baby-powered alarm clocks, have been something I've been able to avoid up until now).

Therefore I needed somewhere to train in Coventry, or more specifically, Canley, which is about twenty to thirty minutes walk from Warwick Uni campus. Fortunately for me, there is a club close by, called Combat Athletics. It is run by Rich Green, who received his blue belt from John Will last April, which looks to be a regular seminar slot. Rich also has a wealth of other martial arts experience (JKD, kali, boxing etc), and mentioned the club has links to SBG. So, sounds like an interesting set of affiliations.

Best of all, the price is very reasonable at £5 a session. Definitely something I want to mention to the students over at Warwick, as while Braulio is the number one option in the area, it tends be outside the budget of hard-up students. As I'm still job-hunting, its also outside of my own resources at the moment, particularly with the transport costs (to Rich's gym at the Canley Sports and Social Club, its a couple of minutes walk, so rather easier).

As I walked through the double doors round the back, it looked like a typical MMA gym: punchbags, guys in rashguards, and part of a cage wall (presumably for fighters to practice against). However, from 20:00-21:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, its a BJJ class, though judging by today at least, people prefer nogi. Rich did mention at several points everyone should feel free to put on a gi, so we'll see if anyone does next time I'm along (I brought my gi in case, so will do that again).

After an informal warm-up, where the stretching was left down to us, Rich moved on to shrimping. This proved to be the start of a nicely constructed theme for the lesson. After shrimping, then shrimping and stepping over, we went into pairs. One person stepped round the others open guard, while the person on the floor shrimped away and reached around for their ankle.

The purpose soon became clear, as it grew into a drill on guard retention. As they step around your open guard, shrimp away, reach around their outside leg and grab the ankle. Come to your knees as they try to move into north-south, then block their other knee with your same side hand and take them down. You can then circle around to their back, making sure to control their elbow so they can't simply spin out.

Resistance gradually increased, before moving on to a comparable drill, but this time with your partner passing directly through your guard. They are in combat base, then drive over one of your legs with their shin. As they do so, you again turn into them, grabbing the ankle, and aim to repeat the previous process.

That became a little more difficult as other guard passes were added into the mix, like the double-underhooks, but the principle remained the same. I was with a guy named Yanek (not sure on the spelling), who I think is an MMA fighter, going by what he said. Either way, he seemed to know what he was doing, so through his actions gently reminded me a few times I was being sloppy: I need to react quicker, keep my head in and be sure to drive through.

Specific sparring from guard followed, where this time I was partnered up with Brad, a guy roughly my own size. Underneath I was happy enough, although the lack of a gi meant that my ability to hold onto triangles was even worse than usual. I got into position a few times, but Brad was able to simply shrug it off. Not having a gi is probably a good way for me to see my mistakes more clearly, as I'm not getting sufficiently firm control: underhooking an arm as per Ryan Hall might also help.

That lack of a gi was also noticeable when I went for a standing sweep (I think it was here, and not later). I could knock Brad down, but there was no handy sleeve to pull myself up, something I normally rely on. Definitely an error in this situation, as that leaves me on my back scrambling to drive forward, too slow to secure the position.

On top, my woeful guard passing was exposed as completely useless in nogi. I made a brief unsuccessful attempt at controlling the biceps and digging my knee into the tailbone, as Roy showed me at the weekend, then settled into the usual pattern of effectively waiting. Brad offered some advice, and Rich also popped over to demonstrate one possibility.

It was the tailbone break I've seen before, but looking at how Rich did it, I think hunching over and shrugging might be a better strategy for me: I haven't been doing that properly in the past. My concentration has always been on trying to extend my body to put pressure on their ankles, which I've yet to master. Hunching up and using the knee to split the guard open, as per Roy's technique and the similar tactic Rich showed, could be a preferable solution.

Class finished with a round of free sparring, where I again went with Brad. I squirmed around underneath as ever, looking for guard, and again seeing if I could get into position for triangles. Eventually managed to sweep and get on top, using Roy Dean's advice on maintaining the mount, and also slipping into side control and scarf hold a couple of times.

I had a chance to try the step-over triangle from side control (or scarf, one of the two), but wasn't able to properly trap the arm. Ended up swivelling to north-south without much success. Losing the friction of the gi definitely makes a difference, which helps to fully reveal the flaws in my mediocre offensive ability. Training nogi (or mostly nogi, depending on if others start bringing their jackets with them) for the next month should prove educational.

I also need to watch out for leg locks, something which I'm not used to. It happened a bit more often at Nova Força, but in nogi its quite common. Brad tried it while I was looking to play guard, but fortunately didn't have a foot crossed over, so I could roll over and eventually work my leg free. However, I need to be a lot more careful where I put my feet, and also watch I don't let myself get caught and then tap too late.

I've got the activities room at the Warwick Uni sports centre booked tomorrow, from 17:00 to 19:00, so hopefully get in some more drilling and sparring there before I head down to my sisters. Would be good to work some of the things from the seminar, along with a few sequences I liked from Purple Belt Requirements (especially the two additional options Roy showed from the overhook in guard).