27/01/2018 - Marcos Nardini BJJ Glasgow | Open Mat

Class #946
Marcos Nardini BJJ, Glasgow, Scotland - 27/01/2017

Another one writting up well after the event. This was during a visit to lovely Glasgow for a UKBJJA First Aid course, where I was once again hosted by the awesome Cristiana and Giles. We popped down to where they were training at the time afterwards, where I got in a few rolls with various people both at the club and from the course. That's where I first got to train properly with Callum and Paula, which is cool as they then popped down to the GrappleThon later in the year too.

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jan 28, 2018 at 10:04am PST

It's been a while since I last went to Glasgow, but I was making the trip up again this weekend for the UKBJJA First Aid Course at the Griphouse.

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jan 27, 2018 at 11:39pm PST

Glasgow may not be close to Bristol, but it is very cheap to get there on the Megabus. I paid about a tenner to go there and back. The major downside is the long journey time, but I'm inured to that at this point. I normally get at least some sleep on the bus and I think (hopefully) I'm getting better at sleeping on them. But yeah, you may not want to spend that long sat on a bus (the fact I'm short helps too, don't need much leg room to be comfortable ;D).

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jan 28, 2018 at 1:50pm PST

01/07/2017 - Turnham Green Grass'N'Grapple

Class #839
Grass'N'Grapple (Acton Green Common), London, UK - 01/07/2017

Ellie and Jai have been down to visit Artemis BJJ before, along with meeting me at the Bournemouth BJJ Globetrotter Camp last year. Since then, Ellie has been sending me regular invites to a cool open mat she started organising back in June, where she brings a load of jigsaw mats to a park in a van. She and friends then lay them out and get rolling, right there in the park. It's a cool idea (like the one I went to a few years back in Austin, Texas), but until now I haven't been able to go. However, this Saturday I was in London for the opening of Mike Cowling's school, meaning I had time to pop down to the Grass N Grapple too.

If you head to Turnham Green tube station, the park in question is right by the station. Turnham Green is one stop down from Hammersmith: normally you can get there all the way, but at the moment you have to change at Hammersmith because a line connection is down. Still, easy to reach from central London. I got there a bit early, so sat on a bench until I noticed Ellie and friends laying out the mats, which I when I wandered over to help out them set up.



I am lazy, therefore I spent a lot of it chatting. Socialising is a big part of BJJ for me, a vibe I have tried to build at my club, Artemis BJJ. It's the same vibe I enjoy at both the GrappleThons and the BJJ Globetrotter Camps. Excellently, the Grass N Grapple has almost managed to foster that atmosphere, making for some lovely chats in the sunshine. My Facebook friends list always balloons after a Globetrotter camp or a GrappleThon, the same was true after the Grass N Grapple. ;)



Still, I did eventually get onto the mat for some rolling. First that was with Ket, who is around my size, probably slightly smaller. I therefore made a point of not muscling anything (not that I have much muscle to add, but when someone is smaller, that's pointless as you won't learn anything). He has a tight game, putting me in plenty of positions I need to work on (like escaping the back). I need to get better at preventing them getting their arms in position for a choke, rather than defending after they've secured it. The 'grab their arms and pull' will kinda work when it's white belts, but you'll get choked against bigger people and higher belts.



Later I went with Antony, who is bigger, so I didn't need to worry about putting in more force. I spent most of this one on top, playing around with my usual love of side control and kimura grips. I am pretty sure he could have caught me in a few leglocks if he wasn't being nice. Next time, he now knows he doesn't need to hold back on those, as I need to work my leglock defence anyway. :D



I will definitely make it along again. Not only was it a great atmosphere with some cool people, the gi fashion was magnificent too. Jai is building up a beautiful line of tie dye gis, I very much approve. ;P

01/07/2017 - First Class at Origin BJJ Noak Hill with Mike Cowling

Class #838
Origin BJJ Noak Hill (Noak Hill Sports Complex), Mike Cowling, London, UK - 01/07/2017



Mike has been coming to the Bristol GrappleThons regularly for years, as well as organising his own in connection with one I did. When he invited me to pop down to the opening of his new school Origin BJJ Noak Hill, I was therefore keen to return the favour and support him. It involved getting up a 3am for a Megabus at 4am (which was then delayed an hour, but bleh, that's why they are so cheap), but I don't sleep anyway. ;)

It is worth noting that the Noak Hill Sports Complex is not on Google Maps yet. What you will find is Noak Hill Sports Ground, which is NOT the same place. Fortunately I was on my bike, so it was a six minute detour, rather than however long a walk that would have been. I therefore still made it in time to the sports centre. The room is through the double doors, past the cafe. Mike has some beautifully soft roll-out mats, they feel great quality. Nice and thick, so I'm fairly certain you could use them for judo too. There was space around the mats, meaning there is scope for the school to expand (as I'm sure it will, Mike is an excellent teacher).

As an Origin BJJ student, Mike likes old school jiu jitsu, with practicality being the most important element. He shared the first lesson he ever learned with us, focusing on mount escapes. Interestingly, Mike told me that he still regularly uses the trap and roll, which remains a high percentage escape for him even against other higher belts. I have almost entirely relied on the heel drag for years: it's rare I'll hit the trap and roll.

It may be a fundamental technique most people will learn early on in their jiu jitsu, but Mike's version had some details I hadn't seen before. From mount, bridge up and knock them with your knee. That will make them post on their arms. Unlike most methods I've seen, Mike then brings his elbow back, bringing it over their arm, then clamping in to control that arm, hand on the triceps. Push the bottom of your foot into their same side leg, angling out your knee (again, different from what I've seen before), then punch up with your other arm and roll through.

A post shared by Origin Bjj Noak Hill (@originbjjnoakhill) on Jul 2, 2017 at 9:46am PDT

My fingers were still a bit sore from all the gripping on Thursday when I sparred Sam. That swelling meant it hurt to do the trap and roll on that hand, but not a problem, I just stuck to the other side with my training partner (another Mike, who is another cool guy from Origin BJJ. With excellent beardage, must be those Turkish genes ;D).

The follow up was if they post out with a foot, so you do an elbow escape to recover your guard. Then there's the counter to the cross face. On this one, again Mike had an interesting variation. Rather than doing the 'comb your hair' type method to trap their arm, he grabs their shoulder and pulls (like Gustavo in his escapes instructional I'm reviewing at the moment, from MMA Leech). Mike then also recommends moving your body towards their head, to get underneath them. That makes the trap and roll much easier, a good tip I need to remember.

Mike then moved into talking about the choke. If you've been rolled over, control the head, then insert your first choke grip as they raise their head, go for the cross collar. If your hand gets blocked you can shift to an armbar. I got a little confused as to which hand, because as it turned out, it's your first choking grip your release. That didn't occur to me, as I normally use that to control their posture, but you can still control posture with your other hand and leg. Either way, that hand then pulls their arm across, moving into the armbar.

Good to see a decent turnout, I look forward to Mike's club growing over the next few years. Congrats on a great first class!

07/05/2017 - 1st Anniversary at Borehamwood BJJ

Class #819
Borehamwood BJJ (Maxwell Community Centre), Seymour Yang, London, UK - 07/05/2017

It was great to see @slideyfoot visit my club yesterday. As you can observe we're both rather keen on bright colourful rashguards! @slideyfoot runs the @artemisbjj academy in Bristol. If you are ever in the region I recommend popping in for a friendly roll.

A post shared by Seymour Yang (@meerkatsu) on May 8, 2017 at 1:36am PDT

Seymour Yang has been immensely important to the success of the GrappleThons, as well as an inspirational figure for me online, providing plenty of support and advice. I therefore like to support stuff he does if I can. One simple way to try and do that is travel down to his school in Borehamwood to show support in person. I last popped down to Seymour's club a year ago, for the first session at Borehamwood BJJ. He has changed venue since 2016, but it's relatively nearby to the previous location. I wanted to pop down for the 1st anniversary of the club, but I hadn't reckoned with the joys of Sunday transport in London. Blithely thinking there would be no problem (as I couldn't remember running into trouble last time), I just assumed trains from Great Missenden would be fine.

According to the website planner, there weren't any trains from Great Missenden, but you could apparently head down to Harrow-on-the-Hill via the Chiltern Line from Amersham, then bounce from the Metropolitan line to the Jubilee and finally Thameslink. The 08:39 morphed into a much slower train, throwing everything else out of whack. However, I can confirm that if you run, getting into Elstree & Borehamwood on the 10:15 from West Hampstead Thameslink is just enough time to make the start of the 10:45 class. I can also confirm that if you're 36 and crap at running, it's much better to make it in time for the 09:42 from that Thameslink and stroll in comfortably. ;)

Seymour footlocked me all over the place when we last sparred at this year's GrappleThon (and last year's, it's becoming a trend ;D), so he suggested running through some leglock material if I could make it down for the 7th May. That meant today was all about the straight ankle lock. First up, Seymour recommends that when wrapping your arm around their Achilles tendon, stick to the one arm. If you look to bolster that grip by making a figure four or grabbing with your other hand, it's likely that you'll slacken the pressure into their Achille. Instead, use the one arm to maintain the sharp 'blade' of your forearm, reaching up as if you want to grab your shoulder.

With your same side leg, put your heel on their same side hip. Your other leg tucks behind their knee, also squeezing your knees together. You're always looking to tilt in the direction of their knee (presuming you want to stick with IBJJF rules, which tends to be the most common, but certainly not the only ruleset). From there, tuck your elbow back on the gripping side, arching back as well and thrusting your hips if you need extra leverage.

You can also switch the foot across your body to your other arm, applying the same grip and trying the footlock from there. My training partner and I got a little confused at this point, as we kept turning in the other direction. You're staying with the same tilt: remember, the foot you're pushing into their hip is the side you stick with, even if you switch your footlock grip to the other side.

In terms of escaping, Seymour emphasised that your goal is to split the legs. Start by 'putting the boot on', driving your heel and pulling your toes back to give you time, then push their anchoring heel off you hip. Bring your bum over, then move forwards into mount. Alternatively, you could try pushing their top knee (so, not on the hip pushing side) with your free leg. That again splits the legs, enabling you to move forwards and into mount.

Naturally there is a counter to the counter. If they attempt to escape by pushing through with their leg, you can try to quickly switch sides, locking your arm around that pushing leg and scooting into a footlock on that side instead. This lends itself to a drill where you're repeatedly trying footlocks while your partner escapes over and over. Seymour's teaching style makes for a really nice atmosphere. He's a charismatic guy, so comes across as both confident and relaxed, cracking jokes while he runs through the techniques.

I have a whole bunch of injuries at the moment (mainly knee, fingers, tailbone and a tweaked neck), meaning I'm especially averse to sparring at the moment. Even so, when a black belt asks you, it's generally a good idea to say yes, in this case Steve (Seymour's class has a few higher belts who head down, which is cool, including Sandeep, a fellow student of Kev Capel). He took it very slow and easy as we did some specific sparring around those footlocks, working through the techniques. He spun to a belly down footlock at one point, which foxed me, but suggested the way to escape that was to try and move around behind.

Thanks very much to Seymour for letting me train again at his club today. Also, I'm impressed by how much the club has grown in just a year, very cool. Borehamwood BJJ currently has sessions twice a week, but with those ever increasing numbers, I'm sure he'll be expanding the schedule in future (though Seymour is of course a very busy man. Those rashguards don't just Meerkatsu themselves! ;D)

My club is One Year Old today, happy birthday Borehamwood BJJ!!!

A post shared by Seymour Yang (@meerkatsu) on May 7, 2017 at 4:56am PDT

07/05/2016 - First Class at Meerkatsu's Borehamwood BJJ

Class #719
Borehamwood BJJ (The Venue), Seymour Yang, London, UK - 01/05/2016

The mighty Meerkatsu has launched his own Brazilian jiu jitsu school, the straightforwardly named Borehamwood BJJ, in the eponymous part of London. Check out the website here.

Seymour has been a huge help with all the GrappleThons I've run, so I was keen to support his new venture. A few hours on the Megabus later, I was en route to Kentish Town up the Northern Line. From there, grab a Thameslink train to Elstree: your Oyster card is valid all the way.

A photo posted by @meerkatsu on May 3, 2016 at 12:16pm PDT

Head out the station, off to the right and onto the main high street. Keep walking until you get to Borehamwood BJJ's somewhat confusingly named base, The Venue (about 15 minutes on foot). It's a large, well appointed leisure centre, with excellent changing facilities, showers and everything else you would expect at a good sports centre.

Borehamwood BJJ is upstairs in Studio 1, past the treatment rooms. This is normally used for dance: it turns into a Brazilian jiu jitsu school by spreading jigsaw mats across the centre of the room. That provides a decent sized space for grappling. You could probably have up to ten people rolling, eight comfortably. There is plenty of room for more mats, should the classes grow larger.

I arrived just as Seymour was finishing off his kids class. The plan is to have a kids session (6 to 11 year olds) from 12:30 to 13:30, then adults straight after through until 15:00. For this free opening class, Seymour had a 30 minute split between them, which was handy as I could take the opportunity to have a chat.

Adults began at 14:00, focusing on the absolute basics. Seymour kicked off with some stretching and calisthenics, before the first of the fundamentals: technical stand up. That was followed by shrimping and bridging. You would think that after almost a decade of BJJ, I would have nothing left to learn about such basic moves. You would be wrong: even on the simplest techniques, you can always learn something, as everybody has different tweaks and ways of teaching.

A video posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on May 7, 2016 at 8:49am PDT

With the shrimp, I normally start on my back, pushing off both feet, a slight turn, then driving the hips back. I prefer Seymour's method of demonstrating, which I'm going to adopt as I think it is a better way to reach beginners. Start on your back, with one knee raised. Push off with that leg, dragging the other leg as you thrust out your hips, curving your body.

While it is possible to shrimp off both feet, Seymour's version is exactly the way you would do it to escape from under mount. I'll therefore be sticking that into the warm-up drills when I next teach shrimping mount escapes.

The second basic technique was bridging, where again Seymour used a variation I hadn't seen before. I split bridging drills into three: straight bridge (directly up and down), angled bridge (going up at an angle with your hips tilted) and turning bridge, where you rotate over your shoulder. Seymour did a modified straight bridge. After he drove up, he did a sharp twist with his shoulders, looking over his shoulder. The idea is to knock them off balance, almost like a punch.

Everybody had a chance to drill, followed by some specific sparring from mount. Class finished up by introducing the idea of guard, as Seymour and another black belt sparred for a minute. Seymour narrated at various points, an excellent idea to help the beginners understand what was going on.

First ever class at Borehamwood BJJ. Many thanks to everyone who attended, for some it was their very first dip into the jiujitsu waters. I was alao honoured to see some of my jiujitsu buddies travelling far to show their support. Osss!

A photo posted by @meerkatsu on May 7, 2016 at 8:23am PDT

As I expected given Seymour's popularity, there were plenty of higher belts in attendance, particularly friends from Seymor's own instructor's club, Mill Hill BJJ (head coach Nick Brooks himself was on hand to take pics, as he has a knee injury at the moment).

I look forward to seeing Borehamwood BJJ grow over the next few years. With Seymour's experienced and friendly guidance, I'm sure it will soon be a thriving hub for BJJ. :D

15/03/2014 - Legacy BJJ at Urban Kings

Class #550
Urban Kings, (Legacy BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 15/03/2014

I haven't had a whole Saturday morning and afternoon in London to myself for a good while, so I determined to make the most of it. I started off with an exhibition at the National Gallery that caught my eye (to ignore my babble about art and skip straight to training, click here), as it focused on the Northern Renaissance, specifically Germany. It wasn't as large as I had hoped - I had wrongly thought it would be some extensive examination, when it was in fact a tightly curated narrative - but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I especially liked the engraving of St Christopher by Albrecht Altdorfer, which I think is normally in the British Museum. I thought it looked surprisingly modern, almost like a piece of comic book art, rather than something from 16th century Germany.

The strength of Strange Beauty was the excellent audio guide and clearly defined structure. There was nothing haphazard about the arrangement of works around the rooms: they were all there to tell the story of how German art first entered the National Gallery collection. That meant not only did you get to see some of those early additions, you also got the full context, with comparative paintings put alongside. For example, when discussing the low reputation of German painting back in early 19th century Britain, there is the useful counterpoint of the kind of painting that was admired, exemplified by Raphael.

Much of the exhibition is made up of paintings from the National Gallery's own collection, but I still felt I got my money's worth due to the insights from the audio guide. I pretty much never go round an art gallery these days without one. Some audio guides fall down on a lack of coverage, picking out the odd painting but leaving most untouched, but this one was relatively broad. It also often went beyond the pieces with the specific audio guide marker on them, giving you orders like "now turn to the painting on the left".

The big names at Strange Beauty are Holbein, Cranach and Dürer, along with a few others you may have heard of too, like Altdorfer. It's not all paintings. they are bolstered by miniatures, medals and even original documents discussing the purchases of some of the works. A ticket will set you back £7, while that audio guide is another £3 (I think, as I paid a tenner, but that might be the £1 Gift Aid). Looking around at reviews of the show, a number of them complained about paying to see works that would normally be available for free. Personally, I don't begrudge the fee: that lack of entrance fee to the main collection is a wonderful privilege.

It took me around an hour and a half to explore the exhibition fully, though I go quite slowly. Head right down the bottom of the Sainsbury Wing: Strange Beauty is in the basement all the way down the stairs, down from the cloakroom and main ticket desk a few floors up. Remember to buy your ticket from that desk before you descend into the depths of the gallery.

_______________________

Ever since Jude set up his new club, I have been meaning to pop down and check out the class. It has taken me so long to finally make the time that the club isn't really 'new': Legacy BJJ has moved location several times, with at least one person there who wasn't training when I last saw Jude but is now a purple belt. I guess five years is a pretty long time. ;)

The current home of Legacy BJJ is near Kings Cross Station at the swish Urban Kings gym. It's a classy venue, from the front desk through to the card-operated turnstiles, the extensive weight training facilities, boxing ring and a matted area. Even the bench by the lockers in the changing rooms is upholstered with plush padding all along its length. It therefore also isn't cheap, with a day rate of £20 (I've heard RGA is the same, but that's from quite a few years ago now). Bring a padlock with you for the locker: the showers have soap and shower gel in them, but you'll need your own towel.

I was mainly there because I wanted to catch up with Jude. He was one of my first instructors, along with Felipe, and he's also the guy who awarded me my blue belt back in 2008. Naturally I was hoping to get in some training as well, which on Saturday at Legacy BJJ is open mat. After the warm-up, Jude moved into a few drills, starting with the basic bullfighter pass, then a slightly more complex option. Interestingly, Jude split his demonstration between a technique for the advanced students then another for the beginners. For example, x-pass for the advanced student, for the beginner, just stand up in guard and push the leg down. This is something Ricardo da Silva also did when I was at Nova Forca: it's a sensible approach to mixed ability classes.

There was then some specific sparring from guard, with the person on top looking to pass and the person on the bottom trying to sweep or submit. My guard passing remains terrible, consisting mostly of stalling. I stayed on my toes, trying to keep my balance and looking for an opportunity. That means that it becomes a matter of waiting to be swept or submitted rather than initiating any kind of technique. It's a bad habit I still haven't shaken off, especially when I'm visiting another school.

Moving into the free sparring, I had the useful experience of getting beaten up by three higher level partners. First up was a brown belt, who proceeded to easily dismantle my guard, immediately passing. I'm not sure if it was a leg drag or a basic bullfighter pass, but either way my guard was completely useless. I'm being too passive as ever, so I should work more proactively to get some kind of grip with both my hands and feet. It happened three times, IIRC: on the third occasion I tried to get into what I hoped was the stronger position of Kev's sitting guard, but got passed exactly the same way.

The vast majority of my sparring time was spent in the running escape position. Both the brown belt and the purple belt I went with next treated it the same way Kev had warned in our last private: halfway to a leg-drag pass. I did manage to grab a sleeve and stiff arm, but couldn't convert that into some kind of escape. Their knee pressed firmly into my leg made making space difficult. I also attempted to hook the leg into the empty half Kev had demonstrated, but couldn't get any purchase. I was perhaps still too flat and not pushing off them to make some space, in the way Dónal advised back in his private on the same topic a while ago.

I swung my legs through a few times, though I can't remember who that was against, but not sufficiently to make any headway with guard recovery. I'd just bounce off their arm or side and end right back under side control in the running escape position. More commitment to the leg swing might help, along with making more space initially for the swing.

I ended up squashed under mount with the brown belt too, who gradually got tighter walking up into my armpits (I couldn't get my leg flat on the ground to attempt the heel drag: Saulo's escape where he bridges into their leg then pushes it to half guard could have been worth trying too), then switched to s-mount. I had expected him to drop back for the armbar, when I thought I might have a small chance to try and escape during the transition, but he simply pushed my arm outwards for an americana. It also makes me think I should be trying s-mount more myself, as I often have trouble finishing from mount.

Jude unsurprisingly made me feel like a white belt. He was taking it easy, waiting for me to do something, but I was unable to do a whole lot. Jude watched as I moved into a lasso spider guard, then totally failed to disrupt his base at all. I was trying to push into his non-lassoed arm to get him to stand-up, like Kev showed, but he didn't budge. Switching to the running escape at some later point, I was flopping around ineffectually as usual against higher belts. Jude gradually moved to take the back and then choked me, I think. So, our most recent roll probably wasn't much different to our last one back in 2009. ;)

Rolling finished with a purple belt who is also an MMA fighter. He stuck with a very relaxed pace and like Jude was waiting to see if I did anything. Again, much of the roll was spent with me in the running escape looking for an opening. It is always good to spar with people better than you, along with people at the same level and people who aren't as experienced. Given my current situation, most of my sparring partners are new, meaning it's especially useful visiting mature clubs like Jude's and Kev's.

I need to keep improving my woeful guard, creating better angles and being careful of grips (both in terms of breaking theirs and establishing my own). My passing still needs loads of work, where again angles might help: I tried sitting on the leg as per the Dónal private from a while back but my positioning was off. Pinning the legs with good grips would help too. Under mount, I'd like to incorporate that Saulo escape in there, as it looks like a good option when you've messed up and they've gotten high up into your armpits. Finally, back escapes and over-reliance on a stalling running escape. On the positive side of things, I was grabbing the sleeve, so taking my own advice of breaking down techniques into components, that's something I can hopefully build on. :)

02/02/2013 - Chris Rees Academy (Swansea)

Class #485
Chris Rees Academy, (BJJ), Omied Jalalian-Khakshour, Swansea, UK - 02/02/2013

I'm a big fan of Wales, so when Rob Taylor emailed me to ask about his club being featured in JJS on the Road (it should be appearing in Issue #14, I think: keep an eye on the website), I jumped at the chance. Not that I was going to get much of a chance to look around the area, but it at least means I can enjoy the gorgeous Welsh landscape from a train window. I should really cross the border more often, as I'm only over in Bristol. It's also cool to finally meet a very familiar name from the internet (Rob isn't the type to use an anonymous nickname, so just posts as 'Rob T'), who I mainly saw on the now largely inactive EFN. Later I met another when getting a lift back, Steve, which was also cool. :)

Today was a flying visit, getting on a 06:46 train from Bristol Temple Meads, into Swansea at 08:44, interview Rob, get on the mats, then back to Bristol at 12:28. Rob kindly picked me up from the station, driving down to the spacious premises of the Chris Rees Academy in Swansea (which has even more affiliates than I realised: thirteen, according to Rob!). Chris himself wasn't able to make it as unfortunately he was ill, so I'll probably be emailing him later to get his perspective on a few of the questions.

By the time we had finished talking, the class was already underway. It's a relaxed environment on the one hand, with a few higher belts chatting at the side, plus a number of people without a gi but joining in the gi class. On the other hand, there is a certain intensity, particularly in the sparring, which comes from the heavy focus on competition at the academy. Still, they manage a good balance, as while the sparring is hard, everybody is friendly and there is close supervision. The fact this club is in Wales helps too, as I've always thought the Welsh have a naturally friendly accent. ;)

A purple belt called Omi was running the main class, while Rob taught the beginners over to the side (the mat space is huge, so can easily accommodate two classes at once). I joined in Omi's class during a guard passing drill, where I went with Matt, another purple belt. You weren't supposed to grip the gi, which I erroneously took to mean you couldn't use your hands at all (getting up for a 06:46 train probably addled my brain even further...), but that's still a good drill in terms of working footwork, pressure and positioning when passing.

After that, we moved into the main technique of the day (although as class had been going for a while, perhaps I missed an earlier technique). This was all centred around maintaining the knee shield, so fit nicely with the all the knee shield passing I've been doing recently. The position looked similar to how Caio Terra demonstrates it, with the knee you have across staying high (just under the shoulder), but braced by your elbow inside the knee rather than by their neck.

Your other elbow slips inside their knee. This is to provide enough space for a detail I haven't seen before: raising the knee of your hooking leg, to block them from stepping through. It is a bit like having a knee shield on both sides, as again you're blocking their hip. Omi noted it is important to have the foot of your hooking leg on the floor, to provide support for angling your knee into their hip. That's distinct from the picture I've stuck in here, where you'll notice that Terra's foot is raised (possible he puts it down later, as I haven't watched that DVD in a good while).

The only problem was that my groin injury means I can't do that with any resistance at the moment, as either leg position aggravates my abductor. I struggled from the bottom as a result, although I suspect I would have had trouble anyway against the impressive teenage female student I was training with: she's got excellent hip movement and a fast, aggressive game.

On top I was more comfortable, where I was mostly working with an older purple belt (her father, I'm guessing?). The pass I taught a a few weeks ago worked well, and trying to wriggle my head into their armpit gave me a clear goal to work towards. It was tough to get my knee across into their hip like in Dónal's pass, but that probably depends on the type of game the bottom person is playing.

The competitive outlook of the academy was emphasised again during the sparring. Omi divided the room by weight into several groups. Each group gathered in a rough square, then two people sparred in the middle, starting from their feet. Omi set the timer, then it was basically like a tournament match.

My leg wasn't up to going from standing, so I started on my knees. With Matt, I took the opportunity to try out the pass from Dónal's private, but I wasn't careful enough when reaching for the collar to pull them in towards me. Matt immediately locked in a triangle. I was able to resist for a while, going for the "drive their knee to the floor" escape, but didn't move around behind towards the head like I should have done. While I was considering my options, Matt snuck in a nice wristlock on my trapped arm: I often forget about those, so that's a useful reminder. :)

The next 'match' went better, but then I was with a blue belt who was also most likely taking it a bit easier on me due to the injury. This time I was fortunate in that he left me an opening to pass and then slide into mount. Once I had that, I wasn't letting it go. However, this also highlighted the importance of coaching. I would have happily sat there all day, ineffectually going for ezequiels. Instead, due to Omi's prompt to walk the knees up into their armpits, I was able to secure an americana. Tiring them out for a while possibly helped, but I probably would have never remembered to move my knees if Omi hadn't made that simple comment.

Coaching is an important skill, and using this sparring format is a great way of getting everybody to practice. It does take a bit of confidence - it was only really the purple belts saying anything - but this is only the first time the lesson has been run in this way. Definitely a good idea if you want to try and improve your academy's competition performance. It would be interesting to know how to deal with bad coaching, or a fear of saying the wrong thing (which I assume is what stopped most people from speaking up). Just practice (both in terms of more practice coaching and more practice in BJJ, so you'd have a firmer grasp of the 'right' answer, so to speak), or would that have to be taught separately?

21/03/2012 - Gracie Barra Glasgow

Class #450
Gracie Barra Glasgow, (BJJ), Ricky Gillon, Glasgow, UK - 21/03/2012

[To get right to the training, click here]

Before the second day of the ADCC last year, Caleb from the FightWorks Podcast organised one of his regular 'meet the family' breakfasts. Not many people showed up to chat with him and Shawn Williams, but among that group was John McGuigan, a student at Gracie Barra Glasgow. As I'm one of the writers for Jiu Jitsu Style magazine, John asked me about getting a 'JJS on the Road' visit to GB Glasgow, kindly extending an invitation to stay with him in order to do so. I gladly accepted, as I thought it would be a great opportunity to not only visit some Scottish BJJ clubs, but also explore some of the beautiful Scottish landscape.

I'm a big fan of Bristol's rugged neighbour, Wales, particularly the craggy coastline at Aberystwyth. I was therefore looking forward to something comparable up in Scotland, which is also known for its dramatic scenery. Taking in the many castles would have been interesting too, but most of them are closed in March, so that will have to wait for another time (though there were a couple open, one of which we went to see on our last day).

It's not all about landscape, of course. Glasgow in particular also boasts some excellent art, most famously the Glasgow School. I had seen a documentary about a part of that group, the Glasgow Boys (there is a female counterpart known as the Glasgow Girls), which meant the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum immediately jumped to the top of my list in terms of must-see sights in Glasgow. I headed straight there from Glasgow Central after getting off the train from Dumfries: it's roughly half an hour walk up St Vincent Street.

Wandering through the Kelvingrove can feel disjointed at times, as a number of rooms are arranged around vague themes like "looking at art", meaning a seventeenth century Dutch piece will be right next to something from 1990. The accompanying captions enhance the sense that it's directed at children, such as "do you think the unusual shape of the picture helps communicate how he felt about the event?" I would have much preferred something more informative about the history of the painting, but fortunately for snobs like me, orthodox organisation was in evidence as well, like the main attraction, the Glasgow Boys exhibit.

In their defence, some of those attempts at encouraging people to engage with art worked quite well, like the interactive console in front of Rembrandt's 'Man in Armour'. The subject of the painting has long been a matter of debate, so the Kelvingrove has provided a little talking head to guide you through five possible candidates, with accompanying evidence and theories.

The Glasgow Boys room features a good overview of their entire career, including two of the most famous paintings, 'The Druids' and 'A Funeral Service in the Highlands'. A short thirty minute documentary about the Boys' work runs on a loop, including details on art restoration at the end. That's something that pops up again for another highlight of the museum, Dali's 'Christ'. It's heavier on the restoration angle this time, as that painting once had a brick thrown at it, resulting in some large tears.

Although I was mainly there for the art associated with the Glasgow School, it is a museum as well, so you can look at exhibits on wildlife, archaeology and polar exploration, among others. After gazing at all the painting, I had time to explore the educational discussion of representations of Scottish identity in art, Glasgow life and a cool weaponry display (this time, the Kelvingrove's habit of throwing in lots of disparate material worked well, with African and Asian swords compared to Scottish and European examples).

That evening, John took me back to Helen's incredible house to stay the night and benefit from their amazing hospitality. I'd been looking forward to talking to Helen about Strawberry Switchblade (in case she's reading this, the Strawberry Switchblade site I was talking about is here, though as it comes up first in the Google results anyway, not exactly hard to find ;D) and Scottish pop, so that was really cool too. On the Wednesday, I headed down with John to the afternoon class at Gracie Barra Glasgow.

It's a relatively new gym, but already has a huge number of students, with a massive mat space to match. After John gave me a quick tour, I interviewed the head instructor, Ricky Gillon. Before his purple belt in BJJ, Gillon was already an experienced fitness and MMA coach: the story of his journey from karate, body-building, MMA then BJJ should be appearing in the next issue of Jiu Jitsu Style. He certainly isn't shy about talking, so I've got a ton of material to use for the 'JJS on the Road' column! :)

The fundamentals class tonight featured lots of combination drills, rather than pausing on specific techniques. It is the kind of system I'd love to use for a warm-up, which you could build up over a period of several months until all the students were familiar with the routine. I have considered doing something like that at Bristol, but I tend to get different people showing up to each class: I'd need a core group of regulars for a combination drill warm-up to work well.

Ricky's first combination was to pull guard, then as they try to stand, switch to the double ankle grab sweep and knock them to the floor. As you come up, make sure you maintain control of their same side foot, reaching for their collar with your other hand. Move through to mount, then spin to take the arm and complete the submission. Later, there was a variation, where this time when you go for that armbar, they are able to tuck their elbow and turn to your guard. As they look to pass by reaching under your leg, switch to a triangle, before restarting the drill.

Another drill started from standing where they have a collar and elbow grip, circle your arm to break a grip, then step in to clinch from the side. Step through to set up a hip throw, take them down then move to knee on belly. Grab their collar and slide into mount. They then trap your collar grabbing arm and a leg, bridging and rolling to come up in your guard. Again, they try to pass by bringing an arm under your leg, setting you up to finish with a triangle. The last drill was the same, but this time you use a spider guard set-up for the triangle.

Like yesterday, I stayed very defensive in sparring, with my usual running escape survival posture. There was only one exception I can remember, where I immediately drove through to top half guard with one of the white belts. I managed to flatten them out and began looking for the usual pass, but messed up and got swept. I also had a play with a spider guard sweep from Abmar Barbosa but couldn't quite get the angle, before practicing butterfly (getting passed pretty quickly as usual, but hey, good to keep on trying it).

Last roll was with Ricky, who as you'd expect dominated me quite easily. He was going light, as he's a fair bit bigger and stronger, so again it was another opportunity to work on my defence. He would have choked me from the back if time hadn't run out, as he was in the process of sinking his arms around my neck. That's definitely the major risk with the running escape if you're too complacent about their arm sneaking past your hip.

Very handily, Gracie Barra Glasgow is right around the corner from Glasgow Central Station (about a two minute walk, if that), so I was able to get back on the train to Dumfries for a decent hour. The next day, my gf and I went to Glentrool, or at least we tried to: annoyingly, the trail around the Loch was closed until April, but there's still a gorgeous view from Bruce's Stone up on one of the hills.

If you're looking for a decent meal in Kirkcudbright, then I'd highly recommend the place we tried that evening, Kirkpatrick's Restaurant. That was itself recommended to me by Mr Mulligan, whose flat we rented (which was awesome too, especially as we got a discount due to it being out of season: you can book it here). He suggested we go on Thursday for the 'Scottish tapas'. As a result, I finally got to try some haggis: wrapped in bacon swimming in red jus, it was delicious. The Irn Bru sausages were great too, and so was the tasty brownie and ice cream dessert.

Thanks again to John and Helen for their hospitality, and of course for inspiring my trip to Scotland in the first place! :D

20/03/2012 - Royce Gracie Scotland

Class #449
Royce Gracie Scotland, (BJJ), Scott McVeigh, Glasgow, UK - 20/03/2012

[To ignore my rambling and skip to the training, click here]

The art we practice is called Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Its royal dynasty is unquestionably the Gracie family: though other names are also important, like Omori, Franca, Fadda and of course Maeda, not to mention the Machados (cousins to the Gracies), it is the progeny of Gastao Gracie Sr who have had the most visible impact on the sport. However, Gastao's father was not a Brazilian. He was a Scot, George Gracie, who lived about 20 miles north of Dumfries.

In 1826, George left the parish of Morton in Nithsdale (I'm still not sure if the specific village was Carronhill or Carronbridge) for Rio, returning in 1859 to the land of his birth in order to erect a memorial to his late father, James. This week I'm on holiday in the same area of Scotland: given my keen interest in jiu jitsu history, I knew I had to go see that tombstone. It's located in a small graveyard by a ruined church, Greenhead Cemetery. It was a bit of pain to find the exact location, so if you're planning to take a look too, save yourself some research by clicking here.

If you don't have a car (I was very fortunate that my friend was willing to drive), then from Dumfries, you can take the 436 bus to Thornhill, then walk for about thirty minutes up Manse Road until you reach the graveyard. The site is on Google Streetview, where you can see the large gravestone George established. There are also several pictures from Reyson Gracie's 2009 visit (written up here), which is what initially inspired my own mini-pilgrimage to the site [Update 2021: Looks like the site is down, sadly]. Finally, you can take a look here and here.

Looking at photos online is all well and good, but I wanted to be there in person, as well as get in some close-up pictures. I knew from what I'd read on the net that there was an inscription from George, though it was hard to make out. According to that Reyson article, it says "Erected by their son, George Gracie of Rio de Janeiro, 1859", which looks about right. At the top, it appears four of George's siblings died very young (I'm guessing that wouldn't have been unusual in the early 19th century, presumably from disease), but his father lived to 85, so that long lifespan may run in the family. Hopefully one day somebody will raise up the cash to restore the gravestone before the words are completely obscured.

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Our base for this week in Scotland was Kirkcudbright. It's known as an artist's town, mainly because of its connection with the Glasgow Boys: I'll be talking more about them in tomorrow's post. Despite the spelling, the town's name is said "kir-COO-bree" (I didn't realise the emphasis was on the second syllable rather than the first until later), but then as I have a weird name myself – it's written 'Can' but pronounced 'Jun' – I can't really complain. ;)

Kirkcudbright is a good location for heading off on walks around the Galloway area, along with a few more unusual attractions, like the excellent Cream O'Galloway visitor centre (quite cheap too, at £6.50 for entry and a tour). That used to be just a farm, but since they diversified into making ice cream back in the '90s, it's grown into a farm tour, an ice cream making experience, an adventure playground and several acres of walks. They haven't stopped innovating, as the farm is about to embark on an interesting experiment with their dairy cows: the calves are going to be kept with their mothers for nine months, rather than separated.

Aside from a pleasant holiday, I'm mainly in Scotland for Jiu Jitsu Style magazine, to get material for the 'JJS on the Road' column. Scott McVeigh is one of the few black belts in Scotland, under the man many people still credit for their entrance into BJJ: Royce Gracie. I had the pleasure of interviewing Scott about the origins of Scottish BJJ, his time with the Gracie family and plans for the future (as ever, our chat should be appearing in JJS later this year), before putting on my gi to join in with training.

Like you'd expect from a Royce Gracie school, there was some self defence to begin with, throwing them after you're grabbed from behind. The main groundwork techniques were built around the scissor sweep, or rather, what happens if they block your scissor sweep. For example, there may be an arm in the way, meaning you can't bring your leg across their stomach properly.

Instead, that knee is going to go over their blocking arm: you can then push with your leg to break their hold on your gi, simultaneously pulling with your own grips on their sleeve and collar. As soon as you bypass their arm, circle the same leg up around their neck, then move into the triangle.

Another alternative is for when you're trying the sweep, but decide to switch to a sort of reverse scissor sweep. Your shin is across their stomach for the scissor sweep, with a grip on the collar as well as their same side sleeve. Rather than pulling them onto you and chopping out their leg, switch your sleeve grip to their opposite arm (so, that will be the arm next to the foot of the leg you have across their stomach) and yank it across their body.

Next, release their collar and instead reach around to their opposite armpit, bringing them in tight. As when you're trying to take the back, you need to press your chest into the back of the arm you pulled across their body, so they can't pull it back out. On the same side as the arm you've trapped, put your shoulder back on the mat, which should enable you to fling them over with your braced leg and move into side control.

If they sprawl, you can take their back. Though their sprawl will make it hard to get the above sweep, you can now just bring your free foot between their legs and swivel around to their back. Scott advised that I should be pressing with my heels rather than trying to curl my instep and toes for grip, as the latter could get hurt should they try and roll out.

During sparring, I stayed defensive as usual. I'm already passive when training, so when visiting other clubs, my passivity gets almost catatonic (unless my training partner is inexperienced or much smaller, in which case I try and flow through a few positions). Interestingly, one of my rolling partners went for a footlock, which doesn't happen all that often. I did the usual defence of sitting up and grabbing a collar, trying to sit through to mount. It's good to have that reminder, given that even under IBJJF rules, white belts can throw a straight ankle lock.

I really liked the atmosphere at Royce Gracie Scotland, which felt informal and friendly. That's a reflection of Scott's character, who in many ways reminds me of one of my own instructors, Kev at RGA Bucks. Both of them give a strong impression that their main concern is how to improve their students' BJJ, as opposed to how much money they can make.

Thanks again to Scott for welcoming me into his class: I wish him the best of luck with his plans for the future, and hopefully either I or another JJS contributor will be up to report on the upcoming Royce seminar in April. :)

31/08/2011 - Gary Baker Academy (Weymouth Holiday)

Class #416
Gary Baker Academy, (BJJ), Gary Baker, Bournemouth, UK - 31/08/2011

As usual when I write about drop-ins, I'm going to talk about my holiday a bit first. If you want to skip straight to the training, click here

My gf and I headed down to Dorset for the bank holiday weekend, to go visit a friend we first met in Canada way back in 2002. She's now married to an English guy, so it's been cool to have her within easy reach in the UK, rather than the considerably less easy reach of Nova Scotia. That also meant we could enjoy her breakfast special, Eggs Benedict, which I don't think I've had before. Calorific! :D

Her recommendation was to check out Brownsea Island, which we duly did the next day. That sits in Poole Harbour, which apparently is the second largest natural harbour in the world (after Sydney, Australia). There are red squirrels painted all over the boats that take you out there, because Brownsea hasn't yet been overrun by their grey cousins. Unfortunately we didn't see any, but Brownsea does make for a pleasant walk regardless. Expensive though, as the ferry is £9, then you pay a further £5.80 to be allowed onto the island, which is owned by the ever-pricey National Trust.

Outside of the National Trust is pricey too, as we found at Wilton House the day before: £14 entry. I didn't know much about it, except that Wilton House is the place where they filmed the end credits for Blackadder II, along with the brilliant 'Bob' episode (which I often forget is actually called 'Bells'). It turns out that Wilton House has an incredible art collection, stuffed with lots of Van Dyck, who is joined by a host of significant painters. Among others, you'll be treated to Rembrandt, Mabuse, a pair of younger Brueghels and even 'Madonna and Child with Saints Catherine and John' by my personal favourite, Mannerist painter Parmigianino (if you didn't already know, you can thank him for my blog background).

We spent most of the following week in Weymouth, which rather excellently had a fireworks display for no obvious reason (my gf loves fireworks). I finished off Tuesday by heading to see the new Conan the Barbarian film: my expectations were pretty low. As the Arnie version of Conan is my favourite live action film of all time (I'm a big fan of animation, hence why the original Conan doesn't top my personal fave film list), this remake was never going to live up to it. I'm also a big fan of the Conan comics, and to a lesser extent the original Robert E. Howard stories.

To summarise the new version of Conan the Barbarian, imagine an episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, but without Kevin Sorbo or any of the humour. I loved Hercules, so that means I did enjoy 2011 Conan, if only in a brainless sword-swinging kind of way. The plot is standard fantasy fare, but more importantly, Conan chops his way through hordes of grunts, meaning there are plenty of massive guys smacking each other around (somewhat randomly including Pride FC muscle men Bob Sapp and Nathan Jones, although the latter is buried under a lot of make-up). ;p



If I was being picky, I'd say Jason Momoa should have been buffer to play Conan, but then he did otherwise look the part. He's a much better actor than Arnie (ok, so that isn't hard...), but in the original Conan there was a distinct lack of dialogue, instead relying more on an epic orchestral score. Arnie didn't need great acting chops, just huge biceps, some screen presence and a passable ability to fling a lump of steel around, which is part of what made 1982 Conan so awesome. 2011 Conan is worth a look, but only if you're already heavily into that sort of thing.
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There is also plenty of BJJ in the Dorset area. Fellow fans of Roy Dean can check out the excellent Poole BJJ Academy, where I had the pleasure of attending several seminars with Dean over the last couple of years. At the last one in 2010, I met Scramble head honcho Matt Benyon for the first time, but unfortunately didn't get to actually train with him much. I wanted to rectify that on this trip, so jumped on the 17:04 train from Weymouth to Bournemouth. Handily, the Gary Baker Academy is a relatively short walk from the station, although it is due to move to a new location in the near future.

Tonight's class was run by Gary Baker himself, although Matt did head over later on. Gary has an impressive amount of martial arts experience, with years of thai boxing and JKD. After recovering from a serious back injury, he decided to strap on a white belt and try out BJJ, which is where Matt comes in. Gary is now a blue belt with a bunch of stripes, but more importantly, he has decades of teaching to draw upon.

The warm-up was taken by another blue belt, Luke, which was fairly similar to what I've seen in most academies (i.e., run around the room, knees up, heels up, face in, face out, then shrimp up and down the mats). Wednesdays don't normally feature much technical instruction: we went straight into drilling triangles. That's a positive thing, as a lot of clubs don't provide enough room to get in lots of repetitions. Drilling is essential to integrating a technique into your game, so I'd like to see more clubs set aside some time to simply get in the reps on a triangle set-up, side control escape, mount choke etc.

After drilling for a good while, Gary moved the class into progressive resistance, setting the timer for three minutes (just like I do during my Thursday sessions at Gracie Barra Bristol). This was a good opportunity to practice those triangle escapes I had learned last week from Geeza, but I didn't really take as much advantage of it as I should have done. Instead, I was mostly just practicing posture.

I did eventually remember to try at least one of the escapes, where you posture up and step over their head. However, I think I left it too late to initiate the escape. I was able to step over, drop back and cross my legs, but the triangle was already sunk sufficiently deep that it didn't really do anything. On top of that, it would have been fairly simple for my training partner to just armbar me at the point. I should have gone for Geeza's late escape instead.

Sparring took up most of the class. I started off with Matt, who naturally was resplendent in his Ichiban Scramble gi. Fairly non-bling by normal-person standards, though as a plain gi obsessive, I'd probably want to lose a few chunks of embroidery ;). We had a relaxed roll, which I spent mostly fiddling about in open guard. I'm still not much good at establishing a decent de la Riva hook: people frequently have little trouble smashing straight through my legs. I was looking to get into the orthodox foot on hips guard a few times, but again I need to improve my grips and the tension I'm creating both with my hooking foot and the one on the hip.

That was followed by a couple of white belts. Especially if I'm visiting a club, I'll normally wait for them to make a move (unless they're much bigger, as that can put you in decidedly uncomfortable positions), which in this case meant I spent a lot of it playing from closed guard. I was hoping to break down their posture and go for an attack, but I'm still failing to isolate an arm or the neck. I think part of the problem there is that I'm still not combining attacks properly, flowing from one to another. At the same time, I'm also not committing enough when I do go for an attack.

As I'm planning to teach back mount in my own lessons for the next three weeks, I was looking to play with the position as much as possible. Giving up my back was the easiest way to get there. Once again, I was reminded that the main difficulty I have with back escapes is knowing when to risk moving an arm from defending to neck to pinning one of their legs. If you can pin that leg, then your route out is clear by hopping your hips over, but I often find I'm too worried about the neck.

I also had a chance to practice my ezequiel choke from mount, which I really want to develop into a high percentage attack in my game. I'm still raising up rather than staying low. Worse still, I think I'm tending to press into the windpipe rather than properly cutting off both sides of the neck. That can sometimes get the tap, but it's a very sloppy and inefficient submission, not to mention needlessly unpleasant for your training partner.

A larger white belt was next, so this time I needed to be careful not to get stuck on the bottom. I was impressed by his control: often a big white belt will look to smash you, especially if you're small but a higher belt. This guy stayed calm, just looking to gradually progress, never simply using his strength and size advantage to crush his way to a position.

That meant it was a useful roll for me, where I initially tried to keep him away with my legs. When he managed to pass, I tried diving in for deep half guard, but ended up on the wrong leg. Not something I'm used to doing, but I'd like to develop the deep half, especially as a way of getting back on top when I end up against someone big.

I finished up with the only other person there I've met before, as he came with Matt to the Roy Dean seminar last year. He's a blue belt, so again I spent a lot of time underneath, this time looking to either work from half guard or escape side control. As before, it was a relatively relaxed roll. Given that nobody seemed to be going nuts, despite it mostly being white belts, it is clear the instructors have built up a good atmosphere at the Gary Baker Academy.

It was cool chatting with both Gary and then Matt, who mentioned some of the exciting stuff in the pipeline for Scramble. I was especially interested in one of the products he mentioned, so I look forward to seeing how that is received by the Scramble fanbase.

Speaking of which, there is a considerable Scramble presence at the club, as you'd expect. Gary even shouted 'Scramble!' for the last minute of each round of sparring: I'm guessing that was just to urge people on, but the prospect of subliminal brand reinforcement mid-roll made me smile. It even helped me find the Academy, as I could just follow the increasing incidence of people wearing Scramble gear. I also found it interesting that unusually, my plain white gi was far from the norm: ninja black was definitely the gi colour of choice.

27/04/2011 - The BJJ Labs, Manchester

Class #391
BJJ Labs, (BJJ), Liam Wandi, Manchester, UK - 27/04/2011


Wednesday was mostly devoted to a few hours walking from Hayfield across the moors, starting from the car park of an out-of-use train station. You next head up something called the Snake Path, through moorlands, before going on the Sett Valley Trail to get back (it's Walk 17 in the Jarrold book, although we cheated and cut it short by following a stream back instead.)

Having trained at Factory BJJ earlier in the week, my next class was to be in Manchester. Annoyingly, there were some kind of road works on the way to Stockport to visit my friend's aunt, which meant I missed the train I wanted to catch to Manchester Piccadilly. I nabbed the 17:08 from Davenport instead, and just about made it to training on time. It takes about twenty minutes walking at a brisk "shit-I'm-going-to-be-late" pace.

This was the first time I've not only visited a fellow blogger, but been taught by one too. Liam runs the beginner classes at The BJJ Labs. That's where most of the SBG Manchester crew emigrated after Karl Tanswell went on an extended trip abroad. It's part of the Fighting Fit gym under BJJ brown belt Martyn Cahill, who also teaches a number of other styles under the same roof: there are a bunch of heavy bags hanging from the ceiling and a chain link fence, which gives away the multi-disciplinary nature of the gym.

Liam, in case you don't know, writes The Part-Time Grappler blog, which is stuffed with plenty of thoughtful theory (and now a whole gallery of me, which I found amusing). That carries over into his teaching style during the beginners class, where he put all the techniques into a solid conceptual framework. As with all the best BJJ classes, the warm-up was directly related to BJJ, so instead of lots of press-ups and sit-ups, there were numerous movements from Ginastica Natural, along with the kind of drills you might recognise from Jason Scully's video.

The lesson proper started with takedowns, which I often don't bother noting down, but I will this time because Liam taught a useful flowing sequence with, again, helpful concepts. For example, he spoke about forming a triangle with your feet, presuming you already have the usual collar and sleeve grip. Your partner is square on – the first two points of the triangle – while your leading foot is in the middle of theirs, slightly back – the third point of the triangle.

Once you have that triangular arrangement, you can step in and either hook your leading foot around the back of their same side leg, then drive through to bring them to the floor. Alternatively, you can put that leading foot behind their opposite heel, drive them backwards to take the weight off their foot, then scoop up the leg ready for a takedown.

Finally, you can also move around to their side (always the side on which you're not holding their collar), then drop down to both knees. You need to be close to their leg, simultaneously yanking downwards on their collar. Wrap that leg with your arm, then release your collar grip and reach for their far ankle. You can then drive forward and take them down, moving round to side control.

We then did what I dread most in BJJ, stand-up sparring. However, as it was white belts, I could mostly just stiff arm and step away. Not a good habit, especially as I'm overly passive anyway, but meh. I did try to move to the side and drop to my knees a few times (they have nice soft mats at Fighting Fit, which is a big help!), but I was admittedly glad when it was over.

Sensibly, the ground technique continued from there, discussing how to maintain side control. You start with an orthodox grip, one arm under their head and grabbing the far shoulder, while your other arm reaches over to their far side, underneath their far arm. Use your elbow to maintain some control of their far hip. Your knees are in tight, and you've also cleared their elbow (move slightly further towards their head to make sure they can't pull it back out).

If they try to shrimp out and insert their knee to recover guard, switch to scarf hold by kicking one leg straight by their head, the other knee raised for base. If they then bridge, you go back to side control. Alternatively, from scarf hold you can then reach around their trapped arm, then use your body weight to press that arm against their face.

Using that point as a fulcrum, sprawl your legs back and walk to their other side. Also keep a hold of their far arm, so they can't try any sort of escape. Once you've moved all the way round to the other side of their body, reinsert an arm under their head. This puts them in what Liam called a 'barbed wire' position, with their arms criss-crossed over their upper body and/or face. I've also seen it called the 'bow-tie', I think. There are various subs you can do from here, like turning to face the other way and applying a waki-gatame armbar.

Chatting to Liam afterwards, he spoke about how the beginners syllabus was built up. I had assumed it would have some kind of link back to the SBG teaching methodology (which is certainly there, especially the integral progressive resistance approach), but apparently The BJJ Labs has used the basic framework provided by Gracie Barra Fundamentals. Modifications occured for various reasons, such as the manner in which a takedown in the DVDs might end in side control, but then the next set of techniques would continue in mount. That doesn't make much sense, so instead Liam and the gang made the more logical progression of - for example - a takedown into side control, followed by attacks from side control.

Class finished up with a bit of light sparring. I was with my training partner, JP, a friendly tall Canadian (all the Canadians I've ever met seem to be tall). He had been asking lots of sensible questions throughout drilling, something I very much approve of, given that's exactly what I've been trying to do ever since I started. He took onboard everything that had been chatted about earlier, making sure to try and kill the near arm, switching back and forth from scarf hold and being certain to keep his weight pressed into me.

Sparring was fairly brief, so I don't think I had a round on top: the advanced class was waiting to go, although I wasn't able to join in, as I needed to head back to Davenport to join my gf. On my way back to the station I could take in slightly more of Manchester than the hurried previous journey, but still not a lot. Before today, I've only been to Manchester Airport, back when I used to live in Yarm. It would be good to check out the city properly some time: after all, one of my all-time favourite bands hails from here, The Smiths. :)

Our last walk, my favourite, was on Thursday (again from the Jarrold book: Walk 2). This time we were in the Castleton area, which again has amazing views, but it also has the bizarrely interesting ruins of the old A625. Apparently, back in the day this was a main route between Manchester and Sheffield, but because of the unstable ground, bits kept falling off. A particularly major landslide in 1977 caused serious damage: the road was finally closed to through traffic in 1979.


It felt a lot like walking through one of those apocalyptic landscapes from a dystopian sci fi film, like Planet of the Apes or Mad Max. The road was smashed up, yet the signs of civilisation could still be seen: a drain cover, a cat's eye, the lines up the middle. For some reason, I was fascinated. Not far from there was a historic site (dating to the 13th century, allegedly) with the awesome name of Odin Mine, though I wasn't able to walk too far inside before I started sinking into clay. Reminds me I'm looking forward to watching Thor. ;D