09/12/2009 - Future Champions Training

Class #270

BJJ School, (BJJ), Felipe Souza, Battersea, UK - 09/12/2009

When Felipe taught at RGA, I was vaguely aware that he did some charitable work with children, teaching them BJJ. I also remember a guy coming to RGA with a group of kids through that charity: it seemed a worthwhile cause, and a cool way to use BJJ to give back to the community. It is something Felipe's instructor, Leão Teixeira, has been running in Brazil with great success for many years now. Hopefully it's a concept that can spread not just here to the UK, but to the US and beyond as well.

A couple of months ago, Seymour from Meerkatsu reminded me that there was now a UK branch of Teixeira's charity, as Seymour had done an interview with Felipe. It's called Future Champions UK, and following Seymour's link, I realised that this was not only a cause I could get behind, but I've currently got lots of spare time I could use to help them.

After various emails and phone calls with the person responsible for the administrative side of things, Farah, she decided that it would be helpful if I came down to meet her and the other people involved with Future Champions. She was also keen that I took a look at the work they do. Unfortunately Farah has been feeling a bit ill recently, but Felipe was available for a meeting, along with the main guy involved in teaching the kids, Jamie (that same guy I had seen back at RGA a few years ago).

That also meant I got the chance to train in the Wednesday mixed class at Felipe's club, the simply named Brazilian Jiu Jitsu School. I've never trained there before, so that made for an interesting experience, as well as being a great way to meet up with an old BJJ friend (Felipe was my first BJJ instructor).

Felipe's judo background is very clear, as after a typical warm-up of running round the room and shrimping, everybody did a hundred throws. I'm more used to doing about ten or twenty at most, so this was a heftier workout than normal.

In terms of technique, Felipe was brief and to the point. He began with a simple guard break, similar to the cross-grip and stand method, but with the same side arm. Secure a grip on both collars as usual, then grab their same side sleeve and pull that arm across.

Step your foot to the hip on that side, maintaining good upright posture, then stand. Let go of the collar grip as you do so, instead pulling up on the arm. Push their other leg off your hip with your other hand, ready to pass.

The next drilling section set the tone for the class. Felipe said that once you've opened the guard, you can use whatever passing method you want to move through into side control. Essentially, it was an opportunity to practice what you already know, refining technique rather than being taught something specific to practice.

A similar pattern followed when Felipe drilled spider guard. If you are the person on the bottom for the previous technique, you could grab their sleeve as they grab yours, then sit up to grab the other. Felipe then showed how from there you can adjust into spider guard, swimming your feet around to press on their bicep. You can also shift one or both feet to their hips, as well as hooking inside their leg (this is especially useful if they try to move to the side, as you're then attached to them and will automatically swivel to face them.

We practiced that for a while with our partner offering resistance (Felipe stated it should be around fifty percent), without actually completing a pass. The idea was to let the person on the bottom work. This became more complex when Felipe said you could add in sweeps and submissions (but still no passes). It also reminded me how pretty much the only thing I know from spider guard is to hip up into a triangle, so that's what I did. When it came to my training partner's turn, he soon showed just how many things I could be trying, and should (at least one basic sweep, if nothing else).

My specific sparring from guard with training partner Antony didn't get very far. I was looking for the twisting guard break again, and this time didn't make the mistake of just shoving my arm out there for the double collar grip. Instead, I made certain to pin the hip first with my same side hand, pressing into the belt.

However, I wasn't able to get the stand and twist too well, partially because I think I need to review the technique. I tried both hips, but wasn't get the motion properly, and I also think my posture could be much better. I had more luck than normal with Kev's suggested follow up, which involves sitting on their arm as they try to hook your leg. While I almost managed to reach under their back a couple of times to grab that sleeve, I wasn't quite quick enough.

I also had a brief attempt at Roy Dean's guard break, where you press into their biceps, head into their stomach, then pop up, doing a second jump to get your knee into their tailbone. As ever, I struggle to make enough distance, because I'm already too far forward with my arms to get my knee in place. Again, posture issues, as well as where to grip.

Free sparring was with Eamonn, one of several brown belts present (there was also another black belt and a few purples). In keeping with most senior belts, he took on a coaching role for the spar, rather than just the opportunity to smash me. He had lots of handy tips both during and after the roll, three of which especially stuck in my head.

First, when they're trying to pass from half guard, you want to block their upper body somehow. I've been tending to put my arm over their head in an effort to keep them tight, but that merely leaves me wide open for shoulder pressure. Eamonn advised instead to get an arm into the throat, preventing them crushing down with their shoulder. Alternatively, an underhook on the side opposite the shoulder they want to drive through.

Second, I was getting my butterfly hook in on the leg in butterfly guard, but not doing anything with it. Eamonn talked me through a sweep, telling me to secure the other arm and then go for the technique. I'm tending to just sit there rather than do anything with the position, a part of my long-standing problem with being too passive overall.

Third, again a very old problem, is the way I tend to just flop under side control, mount, knee-on-belly etc, rather than being proactive in escaping as soon as there is space. I'm too comfortable with lying there and waiting, which isn't a good habit. Partially it is also my worry over expending energy, which is something I need to come to terms with: jiu jitsu unfortunately isn't magic, so it does require a bit of effort as well as leverage and technique.

Only downside was that I aggravated the slight leg injury I picked up yesterday, so probably won't make it to training at RGA High Wycombe tomorrow. Still, I may have missed that anyway, as my girlfriend is coming up for a visit.

____________________________

After the session, I headed down with Jamie and Antony to the kids class they teach as part of Future Champions. Jamie is an inspiring teacher: from chatting to him, I could see how much he loved his work, and the enthusiasm was infectious. The results have also been impressive. Kids with behavioural problems were apparently present, but I can't say that was reflected in the disciplined set of children I watched train a couple of hours ago. They responded quickly to instruction, and I was especially surprised at the control and care evident in their sparring: I can think of many adult white belts who are nowhere near as considerate to their training partners. It is amazing what participating in a disciplined, physical activity like BJJ can accomplish.

The training went beyond the physical, as there were question and answer sessions at several points in the class. As there had recently been a grading, much of this was related to the purpose of the belt system. As adults, it is all too easy to forget that they can be much more than a mere piece of cloth. At Future Champions, the belt represents success at school, good behaviour both on and off the mats, respect for your parents, teachers and fellow pupils, along with a symbol of just how hard you've trained. It was great to see the children come up with these answers unprompted, exemplifying the Respect, Discipline and Responsibility ethos of Future Champions.

I'm very much looking forward to getting more involved with Future Champions, and I hope that some of the people reading this are interested in helping too. At the moment, a temporary Future Champions UK site can be found here, but there will shortly be a revamped version hitting the internet. Still, you should be able to get a good idea of what the charity does from the current version, and there is also a contact page (which is how I initially got in touch with Farah).

So, if you think you could lend a hand, please drop them a line! :D

25/10/2007 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #98



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 25/10/2007 – No-Gi

I’ve been rather light on training this week, with just one session. Probably a good thing too, as I’ve got two niggling injuries at the moment: first that elbow (which I think is probably RSI), and secondly the mole removal scar. I thought the burn mark had healed up by now, but this session proved it was still fairly raw.

Still no Chris, or indeed any of the people I normally chat to before the session: maybe the cold is tempting people to stay at home? So instead, I paired up with one of the guys from the beginners class, Tomasz (if I’m spelling that right), who recently got his third stripe. After going through the takedowns from last week, we moved on to passing the half guard.

Underhook the opposite arm to your trapped leg, securing their head with your other arm so they can’t turn, also driving your shoulder into their face. Move your free leg to the side, also shifting your weight, until you drive their knee to the floor. Once you can reach, use foot of your free leg to grip inside the calf (or was it knee?) of the leg they’re trapping you with. Push off, raising your hips slightly, until you can pull your leg out of the half guard. As soon as your knee is free, aim to drive it to the ground and get mount.

While you will have to raise your hips to get that leg out, you don’t want to stay in that position long as there is the danger of being swept. So, get your hips back down quickly. If they try to block your knee as you bring it through, switch to side control instead of mount.

Most of the session was taken up by sparring, beginning with specific work from half guard. As seems to often happen in the advanced class, unsurprisingly given my limited technique and even more limited strength, I’m almost immediately swept every time. Therefore I’ve been trying to focus closely on what they’re doing, but still need to pay more attention as I don’t always understand why I’m suddenly on my back. I did try the half guard pass we just learned, but couldn’t manage to move my leg to the side so that their knee gets driven to the floor. Felipe advised that I should be locking up their leg more when on top: I need to improve my mobility when doing that, as at present when locking my legs around theirs on top, I end up getting stuck in position.

Free sparring tends to provide plenty of handy tips, which was especially true today as we did a fair bit of it. I spent most of my time underneath either mount, side control or knee on belly, beginning with Christina. She gave me the useful advice that when trying to escape knee on belly, I should be both bridging and attempting to push the knee off the side: I was tending to do either one or the other.

Nick (the guy I drilled with last week) literally flung me backwards at one point when I was flailing about from knees. That dominance continued into the spar, where I was often struggling to breath under knee on belly with a forearm thrust across my neck. Repeated bridging helped up to a point, but eventually Nick was in such a high mount with solid control of my arms that I ran out of options.

Romulo, who I’m guessing is Brazilian, went a little easier on me. He also gave some good advice on being careful of my arms: at one point I reached over with my far arm, which was foolish as that is pretty much asking to be choked.

Alex, one of the brown belts, also took it easy on me, meaning that I could pop out the back a couple of times. Not sure if that’s something to be investigating, given that people are going to increasingly go harder on me (though as a white belt, an occasional advantage is that people will be nice to you. Well, some people ;p). Continuing to bridge every time they looked like they were about to work a position helped my escapes, but not really my position.

My final spar provided some advice on that problem. Connor reminded me that when bridging, you should take the opportunity to shrimp while your opponent is off balance. I’ve been focusing too much on just bridging repeatedly to try and stop them getting a firm hold, rather than counter-attacking: I’m not an aggressive person and I’m also small, meaning I naturally fall into a defensive mode. While I’m perfectly happy to remain defensive, I still need to try and react when defending rather than just trying to stay in a neutral position.

I noticed shortly before sparring Connor that the scab on my back was coming off, so decided that going on to the beginners probably wouldn’t be a good move. I’d been chatting to a guy on Sherdog about trying out RGA, but not sure whether or not he made it: either way, didn’t much fancy bleeding all over my gi again. ;)

My sister mentioned some kind of silicon plaster called Compede I’ll have to check out: not only was my back already sore from the burn mark getting rubbed raw, but it also didn’t much like water. The few drops that got onto it in the shower noticeably stung, so a decent heavy-duty water-proof plaster is going to be essential if I want to keep training while my back heals.

18/10/2007 - BJJ (Beginners)

Class #97



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 18/10/2007 – Beginners

Having had my usual three spars and finishing with a rest, I felt ok for the beginners. I noticed there was a new girl in class: any reduction in the machismo level is always excellent news (though having said that, RGA has a very good atmosphere, perhaps because its got a fairly high number of women training). Turns out she was Chet’s cousin and Tamvin’s sister, which is kinda cool: nice to see more of the family getting into the BJJ.

It was only Navreet’s third lesson, so that gave me a chance to try and act as teacher. Attempting to demonstrate a technique to someone else is a good way of thinking more carefully about it yourself, and considering October is teaching month for me anyway with all those seminars, I can do with the practice.

Things kicked off with passing the guard. Felipe started with the one where you grab both collars with one hand, the other low, with elbow in. Put your knee into their tailbone then push backwards to open up the guard (stepping back with the other leg), slip a hand under, stack them then move round for the pass. That was followed up by the other option, which is to put your knee up – this will either give you the required space to move your arm in, or sufficient leverage to push their leg down and break the guard.

Important points to note are keeping your elbows in tight: with elbows out, you become much easier to sweep and/or pull down. Usual points about using your weight effectively and solidly securing the collar also worth going over again.

Next were a few basic submissions, starting with the collar choke. Get a deep grip on their opposite collar, palm up with thumb gripping outside and fingers in, then get the same grip with your other arm, slipping it under the first. Pull them in, twisting your hands so the thumbs come towards you, while at the same time sitting up to increase the pressure.

A variation if you couldn’t quite get that second grip was to come over and grab the shoulder instead. Not sure I understood it properly, though: as far as I could tell, it was just grab shoulder and use that to press the forearm into their neck, but I think I may well have misinterpreted. Will have to ask about that one.

Finally, if they push your bicep down to prevent you getting your second grip, swivel the trapped arm inside theirs, free it and grab their wrist, pinning their hand to the floor. Release the grip on the shoulder, then go for the kimura from guard.

I kicked off sparring with Navreet, and as this was only her third class and she’d seen a guard pass for the first time that day, I wasn’t going too hard (especially as she’s quite a bit smaller than me). Its really pointless imposing yourself on new people, and probably very off-putting for them – I’d much rather go easier at first, which would then hopefully result in a better training partner down the line. Not that I completely stopped resisting, and I did go for a sweep a couple of times when on the bottom.

I was surprised to get some passes against Chet, as I’ve really been struggling on top in guard recently in both the beginners and advanced. Then again, it was mainly when he was going for something that meant he gave me enough space to get double underhooks. That tailbone pass remains the only one I’m having any success with, on the rare occasion I’m able to pass: absolutely must put more work into the standing pass. I did try it a few times today, but to little effect.

Underneath, I found Chet a lot tougher. I managed to get a decent scissor sweep at one point, but again I think that was because Chet was moving his weight forward. I repeatedly tried to do that sweep Grant showed me, but I’m clearly still missing some important details, as Chet didn’t budge.

Generally, I think underneath I need to pull people in tight, using my legs, rather than just sitting there with a collar and sleeve grip. I also want to concentrate harder on my sit-up sweep. There was a private lesson before the no-gi Roger was taking, in which he went through the sit-up: that reminded me I’m not raising my hips anywhere near enough. I tend to just shove with my leg, which unsurprisingly doesn’t get me too far.

I finished up sparring with Yuvi, where it largely ended up in stalemate (IIRC). On top I had great trouble loosening his guard, although I did get double underhooks once. Underneath, I tried a bunch of sweeps, but again didn’t pull him in close like I should. That meant my attempt at an elevator went nowhere, though I had a firm hook, and my sit-up sweep was especially poor. I ended up pitting my weedy calf against all of Yuvi’s weight and muscle. My calf lost: almost immediately after the shoddy sweep effort, my muscle completely cramped up, so that it felt like a small rodent was stuck inside my leg. I had to stop sparring at that point, and spent the rest of the day limping, entirely due to my own crappy technique. Hence why a lift from Chet was especially appreciated! :D

18/10/2007 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #96



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 18/10/2007 – No-Gi

To start with medical matters, finally had that mole (or rather, ‘tag’: think I’ve been using ‘mole’ incorrectly) removed yesterday. Straightforward process, beginning with an anaesthetic injection, which did sting a bit but nothing too unbearable. The doctor then used a hot wire to literally burn the tag off my back: I could hear the sizzle as it sliced through, but fortunately the anaesthetic did its job. The wound seems to have healed up ok – doctor said my painkiller would wear off in three hours, so should take some paracetemol, as I’ve basically got a burn mark on my back. Despite its many problems, still good to know that the NHS is capable of providing really simple procedures like mole/tag removal for free and without a long wait. Giving that wound time to heal was why I didn't train yesterday.

My left elbow has also been giving me trouble for a while, but I think that’s probably due to my seating position when typing. KPMG has occupational people that should be able to give me some advice on that kind of thing, so I’ll give them a try when I’m next in the office.

Oh, and in case anyone is wondering, work presentation last week went fine. The food at the conference centre was also much better than last year, which provided something tasty to look forward to. That same conference has been held in the UK for the past three years, so hopefully next time we’ll get the chance to go to the US. Getting in some BJJ, or maybe even a US throwdown, would be awesome.

Onto training: my regular training partner Chris wasn’t there, which was a shame, so I ended up with a guy I’ve never trained with before. I didn’t catch his name, but he was a fairly muscular looking bloke. Proved to have some useful tips later on.

We started with a single leg takedown from the clinch. Step back with your left, then when they’re put their leg out as they’re pulled towards you, wrap your right leg around that leg, also grabbing their other leg with your same side hand. Drive forward, throwing your free leg out to land in half guard.

If that didn’t work, another single leg option was to step sideways inside their legs, then drop your leading knee to the ground, also wrapping that over their leg (which is behind instead of in front as with the previous example). Again grabbing their other leg, lift it and drive forward, but this time you end up in their closed guard.

Felipe followed that with demonstrating three techniques off an omoplata from the guard. You start with a tight guard, one arm wrapped firmly around their’s, your other arm securing their head. Move the arm round their head to their free arm, then push off their same side hip with your leg, aiming to push the knee past the arm you just grabbed. Keep tight: I repeatedly made the mistake of scooting out, which merely gives your opponent the space to pass.

Having got your knee past, keep pushing off the hip (maintaining your grip on their other arm), until you can bring your other leg over their shoulder and past their near side cheek. That then means your can triangle your legs to secure the grip, then getting a good hold around their back to keep the lock on, shift to the side away from them to flatten your opponent out. To finish, having moved your legs round, move your hips forward until they tap.

If they roll before you can get the omoplata, one option is to grab a leg as they come over, jam your knee past, then wrap up their foot (high by the ankle, or your leverage will be weak) with the back of your arm. Making sure their knee is higher than yours, press for the kneebar.

Finally, you can grab their foot instead as they come over, get a figure four grip and twist for the sub. If they kick your grip away with their other foot, you can still move through into scarf hold or side control.

Class then moved straight into free sparring. I looked around for someone lighter, but ended up with my partner from drilling. As expected, I got good and smashed, mostly sitting under side control or mount. I learned once again that I need to be careful when leaning in or I’m asking to get guillotined. I’m also having a bit of trouble escaping the knee on belly. Everyone who’s done it to me so far has followed up with the same technique, an armbar attempt (just like Colin did back at Birmingham 2). Normally I can defend by just moving round quickly to stop them stepping over, but didn’t work this time.

My next spar was one of my more usual opponents, Christina. She’s stronger and a little bigger than me, but always helpful to roll with because she maintains control, so doesn’t crank anything. Again, I pulled half guard (meant to go for full, but keep ending up with half), struggled for a bit, then found myself under side. I escaped a few times back to half guard, which Christina passed back to side control. That pretty much covers the whole roll: half guard, side control, half guard, side control, along with repeated attempts by Christina to get my arm.

She gave me a useful tip about being under side control, which was that it’s a good idea to touch your elbow and knee together, forming a barrier and making space for your escape. Though I didn’t quite get this against my third and final sparring partner, Joanna, it was a useful to have that to go for. As with Christina, I again ended up shifting from half guard to side control, also spending some time under mount. I began the spar in open guard, so that’s something I need to work: in particular, automatically framing my arms against their armpit and side to prepare for recovering guard.

04/10/2007 - BJJ (Beginners)

Class #94



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 04/10/2007 – Beginners

I had been expecting another spar in the no-gi, so was feeling entirely fresh for the beginners, especially as there is that period while you wait for them to warm-up. I joined in for the throws, introducing myself to a newish guy going by the distinctive moniker of Abs. However, as he’s a fair bit heavier than me (85kg), I was happy enough to later switch to Rohit, who’s 73kg.

First technique Felipe showed us was taking the back from guard. If they have an arm gripping your lapel, break that hold, maintaining your own grasp on their arm. Pull that arm right across your body, then reach all the way over their back to the far armpit. Having secured that hold, open your guard and base out on your other arm. Use that to swivel up towards their back, bringing your leg out and in to hook their leg. Make sure that as you do this you maintain the pressure with your shoulder into their arm, so they can’t spin back to guard. Having got one hook in and your other leg across, establish both hooks, and as you’ve already got an arm by their armpit, you can transition to an over-under grip (at least I think that’s what its called: under the armpit, then with the other arm come under the neck). Stretch them out by pushing your hips into the centre of their back, then go for the rear naked choke.

A variation on that is if when you try to pull their arm across and go for the back, they manage to get their other arm onto your neck. That stops you taking their back, but you can instead go for an armbar. Pushing off the same hip as the arm you’ve gripped, swivel in the direction of their hand (so opposite to how you’d normally swivel with armbar from guard). Push on their head, then bring your other leg over to get into position for the sub. That should then leave you set to put on the armbar.

Sparring was guard passage, split into groups of over 82kg and under. That meant there were a fair few bigger guys in my group, who had up 17 or so kilograms on me. There are a couple of people who are strong and aggressive, so I normally just relax and see what they do: I’ve no wish to get injured by enthusiastic beginners. Seon is always good to spar with, as while he’s very aggressive, he’s not that big, so there’s not so much chance of injury. He’s also pretty good – I’ve yet to pass his guard (although I am crap at passing, so that’s not saying all that much :p). I occasionally come close, but can never secure it – in effect, the specific sparring was similar to yesterday’s session.

However, the important difference today was that I felt I was focusing better on working technique rather than just reacting. Admittedly this was more the case in the no-gi class, as I took a very relaxed approach to sparring in the beginners, but I still learned several useful things. In particular, I asked Oli about making that final transition from almost-past to side control, and he suggested that in order to pass the guard (when I’m nearly through), I could shove a knee tight across their bottom, then putting an arm on the other side. That way, I can trap both their hips and prevent shrimping, meaning that its then easier to switch base into scarf hold and pass.

Grant also showed me something handy after class, which he wanted to demonstrate because he’d been getting a sweep regularly on me and others. This looked like a variation on the flower sweep, for use when your opponent is attempting the tailbone break. Grab the arm they got on your chest, putting your foot by the knee they’re trying to press into you, and finally grab their other leg. You should then be able to move your leg up into their armpit as usual with the flower, pulling on the leg and arm to roll them other and get mount. Looks like its something worth practicing, and also something I should learn to defend (I guess by keeping my elbows tight and as far back as possible).

A couple of stripes were awarded at the end: they’ve been coming thick and fast with all the new people joining up. As normal when I’m about to leave, I was trying to loosen the drawstring on my gi trousers so I could get into the shower quicker, when I noticed that the last person Felipe had announced wasn’t moving forward to pick up their stripe. Following his gaze, I realised that person was me, so the fourth stripe must be down to time, as with the other three (I'll have been here a year next month). Still nice to get it of course, but I’m a long way off blue belt – my top game sucks (both mount and side control), I don’t have any submissions (except occasionally if I have a significant weight advantage, and even then only a handful sloppily executed), I struggle to pass and I have absolutely no stand-up. Not that my bottom game is much better, but I do feel a little more comfortable there, which seems to often be the case with smaller people – we spend most of our time there!

Due to the Wednesday social, I'll just train the beginners next week. On Thursday and Friday I'll be at that work conference, so can't make the normal no-gi and beginners double. Still, one class is better than none, though it does mean yet again I'm not making the advanced gi session.

04/10/2007 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #93



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 04/10/2007 – No-Gi

There’s a social next Wednesday I thought I wouldn’t be able to make, but as it turns out I should be able to make the conference to give my presentation on time. That does mean I won’t be able to stay too late, so I’m not sure many people will be there during the time I spend at the club: it starts at 20:00 and training is still on, so will most likely just be a few beginners. Nevertheless, I’ve been hoping for a social ever since I started, so will make the effort to attend this.

Tonight was also the first time I’ve seen Chris since his tournament performance: from what he said, definitely sounds like he had the same weight-cutting problem I did and felt awful. However, he managed to win, and only lost the next one narrowly on points, so that goes to show how good his BJJ has got in the last few months.

He was keen to work on a butterfly sweep, which we worked a little before class got going, and also went through at the end of class too. Get to butterfly guard, which means you feet are hooked round the inside of their legs, your knees splayed (a defence against butterfly guard is to push those knees together), head further forward than your hips, overhooking one arm by the tricep and underhooking the other, gripping round the back. Switch your left leg under your right, pull them in, then with your other leg flick their leg right up in the air, also twisting over with your body. That should end with you in mount, though you have to be careful to avoid getting trapped in their half guard.

Technique today was rather nasty looking, as it was a triangle from side control, leading to all sorts of painful submission options. Grab the elbow of their near arm, push it up, then simultaneously switch your base and slide your knee underneath. Having got scarf hold, pull their arm down and step your leg right over their head. As you do so, slip the stepping leg underneath their head, triangling that with your other leg, leaving their arm trapped against their neck. From there you can squeeze to get the triangle, pulling their arm over if its not quite on.

Even if you don’t get them to tap from that, their other arm is now in an extremely vulnerable position, exacerbated by the considerable discomfort they should be feeling from your triangle attempt. You have a range of options to attack their arm – a straight armbar can be applied by getting a figure-four pressing against their elbow, pulling down on the wrist with the palm facing up. Alternately, there are the usual kimura and Americana subs, depending on which way their arm is pointing, or even a wrist lock, where you figure-four pressing on their wrist with their fingers pointing down.

Sparring went much better than yesterday, I think because its continuous, so when I made a mistake, I still had a chance to work technique. The main problem with my sparring yesterday was that I wasn’t focusing on specific things I wanted to do, which I rectified today. Rolling for me was going to be all about getting the knee through from half guard in order to get to full-guard, and that clear aim definitely helped me get more out of sparring.

Before the free rolling, we did specific from side control. Underneath, I managed to switch to half guard a few times, aiming for full guard (not always quite making it, but at least getting a leg in position a few times). On top, I was completely useless, getting swept in rapid succession.

Moving on to continuous sparring with Chris, I immediately pulled full guard. I tried the technique from yesterday, where you bump them forward, grab behind the head, then try to armbar as they move up, but couldn’t quite get it: I think I need to control that arm more and gain a better position with my hips before I attempt to swing the legs and go for the sub. As always I was often in half guard, but worked to get the knee through. I pushed it through a couple of times (though going to rubber guard wasn’t working so well for me), though Chris was generally able to pass into either mount or side control. I was also getting back to half guard when under side control, though I found it a little easier to do that from under mount (because under side control, I have to bring my far leg way over to trap the leg, whereas with mount the stepover is much closer).

Chris had a solid grip on my arm at a couple of points. The first time, after a bit of a struggled, I was able to lock my arms, and then use that strong position to sweep him from half guard. The second time was tougher, as Chris was close to getting me in position for a kimura or Americana, but I managed to lock my arms again. Eventually his grip loosened and I escaped (though he might have given it up to break the stalemate – I asked afterward, and he reckoned he couldn’t have got it as my defensive grip was too tightly cinched in).

I made a bee-line for Aika after sitting the next round out, as she’s always good to spar with due to her much higher skill, but lower weight. I started off underneath, again working the half guard, along with the sit-up sweep from full guard. She tends to pass standing up, so I tried a lot of armbars from standing guard, but couldn’t get the arm straightened out. I walked my legs up her back and hooked her leg, but probably should have pulled her down more, and also used my hips to help.

I also got a chance to see how my open guard defence functioned: at one point I was trying the classic defensive stance of arms and one knee up, which proved a fairly useful base to block her legs with mine. She did eventually get me into side control, but I flipped her over (that weight difference factoring into it more than skill, I’m sure). That left me in the same position I often end up with her in side control, trying to go for scarf hold. Struggling for a while, I decided I really didn’t want to waste the spar that way, so had a go at moving into north south. Aika shrimped out, I tried to move round to get into position for a kimura, which didn’t work but did leave me set up to pull guard rather than get mounted or something.

That meant I could again try for the sit-up sweep. This time, I did remember to keep the kimura from guard, partly because Aika had been careful to get her arm to safety when I tried the sit-up earlier. However, I was looking for the arm and managed to grab it, opening my guard and sliding my leg over her back to get into position for the kimura. She was tapping quicker than I expected, so hopefully that wasn’t an injured arm or something! Also, as with my escape from her side control, I think the weight discrepancy made a big difference: if it had been Chris, he might well have been able to muscle his arm away from me before I could go for the kimura.

I then sat on again, doing some drilling with Chris on the butterfly sweep. Looks useful, so I should give that a try some time. That proved to be the end of class, so just two free spars today rather than the usual three.

20/09/2007 - BJJ (Beginners)

Class #90



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 20/09/2007 – Beginners

I felt ok after the no-gi, particularly as I’d made sure I got enough sleep last night, so moved on to the beginners. Like in the advanced, Felipe went through the side control escape drill, which I’ve always liked because both people are involved. Just to remind myself: push up, shrimp out, swivel to your front and grab the back of their knees. Felipe paused to emphasise good posture: pull yourself forward and up so your head is higher than your hips, then bring your knees into position. Put a leg up on the same side as your head, then drive through to side control using your head and leg.

Felipe then followed up with the usual side control escape, where you shrimp back to guard. In sparring this worked a few times for me, especially getting half-guard first by throwing you far leg over their near leg to trap it. As I’d been hearing from Owen, the current crop of beginners are a tad aggressive, so many of my partners were stiff-arming, using lots of energy and panting away with the effort. That doesn’t make sparring too much fun, but as long as I stay relaxed, I’ve found it causes few problems: if they want to power through me, they can. Meeting force with force is how injuries happen.

On top, I wasn’t able to do much, though I managed to pass a couple of times by trying to transition to mount which had failed so miserably against Aika. I also had a go at an armbar with Chet, but threw my leg over without putting my hips round first: Felipe pointed out the mistake afterwards, so will have to remember to get the hips there before the leg.

The enthusiasm of the beginners did almost result in a nasty injury: one of the guys I sparred was especially excitable, and was shoving his arms straight up into me. I thought that would be a great opportunity to go for an armbar, so leant back…and he suddenly threw his legs in front of my head and rolled me under his mount. Now, I’ve seen that escape before, but must have got complacent because of the way he was straightening his arms into my chest: that meant my leg was still trapped, so I felt a sharp tug on my knee. I decided to sit out to make sure I didn’t exacerbate anything. I tend to automatically refuse offers of help (an annoying habit I’ve had since childhood), but swallowed my “no thanks, I’m ok” when Oli offered ice. Hopefully that should stop any lasting damage: I don’t think it was too serious, but very definitely want to be overly cautious when it comes to potential injury.

That happened during my last roll: before that, I was having a fair bit of success under mount. I did the same thing to about four or five people in a row: the step-over to get half-guard, then worked the other knee through for full guard. I also went for the basic trap, bridge and roll, which I must make sure to try: in fact, I probably should have stopped doing the half-guard thing once I got it a couple of times, in order to work something else. However, the beginners most likely haven’t seen half-guard much and therefore have little idea how to pass it, so it would be highly misleading to think this showed any great improvement on my part. Of course, still nice when a technique functions as you planned, even given those extenuating circumstances.

While checking the Roger Gracie Academy site, I noticed that both Owen and Liam had finally got their blue belts last night, which is cool. Both of them are quite clearly well above white belt level, so they were well deserved. I’m also glad that it would appear RGA isn’t quick to give out blues, so you know you’ve really earned it when you get promoted. Andy Roberts and Nick Brooks were given their brown belts, which is also pretty cool: loads of senior grades at RGA now. Melissa and Lubo, who I don’t know so well, also received their blues, so congrats to them too.

I’m hoping to get down to the Tuesday sparring class after my meeting next week. which should partially make up for all the advanced gi sessions I’ve missed. However, that does depend on me actually making a Tuesday sparring class, which I’ve so far managed…once.

20/09/2007 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #89



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 20/09/2007 – No-Gi

Hooray, finally made two classes tonight! I was a little confused by the technique, which I think was a Brabo choke, but will have to check that with someone more knowledgeable (by which I normally mean Oli). As they go for your leg, sprawl back until you break your grip, putting one arm into their neck, the other under an armpit. Move round their body, then switch the arm by the neck from the far to the near side. Grab their far elbow with your other arm, then also grab that same elbow with the neck arm. Pull it towards you and drive forward to put them on their side.

This is where I got a bit lost. If I recall Chris’ directions rightly, you switch your arms, so that the left arm is now slipping underneath their arm and their neck. That reaches right through (trying to get your elbow to their neck and shoulder deep inside) for your right bicep. Grip, then bring the hand of your right arm to their side. Bring the elbow of your right arm in towards you, crushing their neck and arm with the ensuing hold as well as with your shoulder. To complete the choke (which is effectively an arm triangle), move round their near side. Point to note here: can be a little awkward to tap from this position, so I’d suggest tapping on the person’s arm.

The other variation, which Chris tells me is an anaconda choke, a favourite of his, begins from when you’ve sprawled back. This time, push their near arm with your left arm, then bring your right arm all the way through. Grab your left bicep, and again touch their ribs. Now bring your head to the floor on your left side, then roll them over you, ending up in an arm triangle with them pointing behind you. As before, move round to their side to complete the choke.

I’m not too certain on that, though, so again will need to double check. Hopefully I’ve got those names right, as that at least means I can look for videos along with asking people like Oli: edits likely!

Sparring was productive, again managing to go with three people of varying builds and skill level. Things kicked off with Aika, who is about 10kg smaller but far more skilled. We ended up with me in side control, occasionally going to half guard, though I eventually freed myself both times. My problem in side control was that I couldn’t think of more than one way to pass: my mind blanked and I concentrated on getting my hip into her elbow to make space. She knew exactly what I was doing, so that ended up as a stalemate.

After yet another failed attempt on my part to mount, I found myself in Aika’s guard, where I tried to maintain posture, time running out not long after.

With Chris, I felt a lot more mobile than normal – the scary thing is Chris is now almost my weight, having previously outweighed me by close to 20kg! I’m sure he’ll be a monster in competition, as he still has plenty of muscle. I did go to half-guard a few times, but finally managed to sweep (although I think that was largely because Chris was focusing on trapping my leg). While I did end up on the side I wanted in half-guard, still couldn’t get to his back, and also had the usual trouble sweeping until he went for my leg.

In guard, I was surprised by a guillotine, so must remember to be watchful of that and not lean too far forward and ESPECIALLY not to the left or right. I did have Chris in a similar sort of triangle thing like Nathan last week, and he mentioned afterwards that I apparently had his arm in too. However, after squeezing for a bit, I let go: I’m not looking to get some random tap from a ridiculous position I end up in by chance, as that isn’t going to improve my technique. Nevertheless, as I’ve found myself with that hold a few times now, I’ll pay a bit more attention to the mechanics. I haven’t yet got anywhere near to the level I want with escapes, but it doesn’t hurt to occasionally think about submissions.

I finished up class with Christina, who again is stronger than me and around the same weight. I had a go at spinning round her legs to side control as I’ve seen others do, but quickly discovered an important aspect of that move: look where you’re going! On my second attempt, I left my back completely open to Christina, which she immediately took – after a brief struggle where I tried the RNC defence Oli showed me a while back, she sunk the choke. I was able to resist some of the sub attempts from guard, but mainly because, once again, sweat enabled me to slip free.

30/08/2007 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #84



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 30/08/2007 – No-Gi

Basic point Felipe reminded me of today, which was to always grip under the head and arm when sprawling, as otherwise they can shift round to your back due to the space you’re leaving.

That was followed by more work on the clinch, with some interesting defence against double underhooks. First position Felipe showed us was when they try to get double underhooks, before they can come in close and break your posture, you push back on their hips. Keep doing that until you make sufficient space to slip in an arm and recover your underhook.

The second option was when they’ve got double underhooks and have moved round to the side. Put your left hand on their head, then with your right arm come underneath their armpit and grab your own wrist. Sprawling backwards, push their head down right to the floor. Once their, you have several options, two of which I drilled with Chris. Having got a secure grip, move round to their back (with one arm under their neck, the other coming underneath their armpit), then roll over and pull them into back mount. Alternately, maintaining that earlier grip on the head, push their head down towards their knee, rolling them into side control with a firm grip on their arm – I felt very vulnerable to submission when Chris demonstrated the technique. If you’re having trouble moving them over, use your head to drive under their side.

As always, Chris was great at pointing out errors I was making during drilling and had lots of pointers. I really must remember to roll with him more often, even though his considerable muscle can be a little intimidating. He continued providing advice during the next three drills, which were variations on triangle from guard. This started off from a guard pass defence we’ve done before in gi, but I’d not seen in no-gi. As they try to pass, you put a hand on their head and armpit to push off their body and make space, shrimp away from them, then come back in with one leg over their head, the other shin pressing into their stomach. Felipe showed how to drill this, with one person repeatedly going for the pass on each side with their partner went through the guard pass defence.

The first triangle was the usual method. From the position where you have one leg over their head and one into their stomach, isolate their arm with a firm grip. Then bring the stomach leg out and over your ankle, then secure the triangle by squeezing your legs and raising your hips.

The second variation was if you got them into a triangle position, but they managed to get their arm wrapped back around your leg (but still between your legs). Maintaining good head control with your legs, bring your arms around your legs and grip behind. Raise your legs straight up, squeezing your knees together and also using your arms to further tighten that grip. Leaning back also seemed to help: in combination, that should result in a submission.

I think its supposed to be a choke, but when Chris did it to me I’m not sure exactly where the pain came from. Nevertheless, definitely enough to make me tap. I had some problems making sure I was both raising my legs and leaning back, but after some pointers from Chris seemed to perform the technique better.

Finally, from the guard pass defence position where you’ve got one leg over their head and the other by their stomach, grab an outside arm. Shift your hips, then bring the leg by their stomach past their armpit and wrap it over your other leg, in a triangle grip. Roll them towards the floor controlling their arm and squeeze for the submission.

We then moved on to guard passage. I had a tough time passing Chris’ guard, so instead of straining uselessly I tried to be patient, maintain posture and wait for an opportunity. That sort of worked a couple of times, as due to it being no-gi I was able to slip my arms out and go for a stack pass. However, while I managed to throw his legs over once or twice, as always seems to happen with Chris, I couldn’t get my weight down so he simply got to his knees and stood up.

I also had trouble stopping Chris passing my guard, generally ending up, yet again, in half guard. I had a go at the half-guard sweep I’ve seen willyboy do, which as far as I can tell is to grab underneath the far arm and use that to roll them over, but didn’t manage to pull it off. I also tried to drive my knee through to recover guard, which sort of worked, but Chris managed to catch me midway a couple of times and either return to half guard or get through to side control.

He also tried a lot of brabo chokes (although I’m going by his description there, as I can never remember exactly what they look like), though I just about managed to resist. Chris said the I was leaving myself open to that submission because I wasn’t securing the underhook on him with my arm: that’s something to keep in mind, as it would make sweeping more productive. It would also provide the opportunity to take his back, which I keep forgetting about.

Sparring at the end of class was a little slack for me, as I wasn’t grabbing people to spar with like I should have been – I missed the opportunity to go with Aika and then with Chris, meaning that I ended up only sparring once. Still, that was at least a good roll with Nathan, where for once I wasn’t constantly sitting in half guard. Instead, I was either trying to work open guard, in his guard, or going for his back. I slipped round to rear mount several times, and it was very much slipped: the amount of sweat both on us and the floor made grips a lot harder to maintain, and therefore more difficult for Nathan to defend.

He almost swivelled round to guard from my back mount several times, but due to the lack of a gi and copious sweat, I was able to regain the position. I eventually managed to sink a rear naked choke, which was gratifying, but fairly meaningless as I think the main reason was all that sweat – that made it much easier to slide my arms through. Just before I had been trying to choke from mount, and again found it far simpler than usual to slip my arms across the throat (though I wasn’t able to secure it). I also had a go for armbars again, but couldn’t secure a proper grip.

So, still need work on half-guard: moving to rear mount from getting the underhook is something else for me to consider. I forgot to try the sweep I mentioned yesterday that Maurição showed us, so that’s another technique I want to attempt. Also, must roll more – I think you basically need to book people by eye contact, so I’ll have to remember to jump up and grab sparring partners next time.

I decided to wimp out of the beginners tonight, partly because I’m a wuss (especially seeing how I’d only sparred twice, so was comparatively fresh), but also because I really need to get more sleep. I keep getting home too late then going to bed around midnight, which wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t then have to get up again at 06:50. Ideally I’d get eight hours, but if I could at least get to bed around 23:00, that would be a big improvement.

I’m hoping to get my gf to try out BJJ soon, though we’ll need to go to Gracie Barra Birmingham for that, as unlike me she’s in Brum all week (I only go up there half the week). The beginners classes at Brum are inconvenient for me, but should work out ok for her: I’ll have to pop down with her the first time, but my hope is that she’ll have a good experience and then be happy to start going on her own from then on. Having a training partner at home would be great, and getting my gf into my main hobby would be beyond awesome. If I can make the time to get her down there and she actually enjoys training, which is an enormous if.

No training next week as my gf and I are off to the Lake District, which should be cool: last time we went we didn’t have National Trust membership or a car, so looking forward to checking out more of the cultural heritage this time round.

10/07/2007 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #69


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 10/07/2007 – Advanced

I took last week off due to flu, but felt sufficiently recovered to try out the new Tuesday one hour advanced gi class. I wasn’t 100%, but thought that as it was only an hour, that should be a good way to get back into training. Unfortunately for me, this wasn’t an ordinary session. Pretty much the whole of that one hour was spent sparring.

Things kicked off with specific sparring from side control. I was with Owen, who normally gives me a good beating with his open guard. Tonight, I was either squashed underneath his side control, or flung about on top. At least this thorough arse kicking gave me a chance to work escapes from underneath, which is exactly what I’d been hoping to focus on. I was remembering to get my forearm into position pressing against my opponent’s neck, with another forearm digging into their ribs. However, I had trouble pushing up to make any space, generally remaining trapped between Owen’s upper body and his knee.

So, I need to work my hips more, as well as bridge more often and with greater force. I also should try some different escapes, such as the one where you go for an underhook and try to get to your knees. The idea there is to feed your hand through their armpit, then reach round for the gi: I saw a video of Marcelo Garcia recently where he demonstrates this, although he’s going for the back rather than just getting to his knees.

Class then moved on to the ‘king of the hill’ set-up, by which point I was totally knackered, so took the opportunity for a slight respite. I rolled with a few people I haven’t had a chance to talk to before, including Dave (a tall guy), Machik (or however that’s spelt – Macik, perhaps? He’s an even taller guy) and someone closer to my height, Vitor. Things went much as before, though I think when I then went up against Owen again, I did at least manage to get half guard, if only briefly. From under side control, I brought my far leg over to trap one of Owen’s, then worked my way to half-guard from there. Owen soon regained control, but at least it made a change from repeated smashing while waiting to get mounted.

The last fifteen minutes was spent free sparring, where again I went with Owen. I’d expected to get entangled in open guard, but ended up in his closed guard instead. Main thing of interest for me was a triangle attempt on his part, which I just about managed to resist by grabbing hold of his knee and driving it to the floor. I think he then switched to an armbar, but probably due to his increasing fatigue, I was able to scramble free. I’d been reading JohnnyS’ tutorial on triangle escapes earlier, but was only able to remember the last one of the three.

Felipe gestured to us half-way through, indicated that he wanted Owen and I to switch partners, meaning that I rolled with Vitor instead. This proved to be a quite different spar, as while Vitor was equally capable of smashing me, he took the educational approach, offering a whole bunch of useful tips. First of all, he reminded me to keep my head up when going for the clinch, otherwise its easy for my opponent to simply drag me down. On a related note, if they grab my gi, I should respond in kind, again to avoid them simply sweeping me.

Vitor generally took it fairly easy, allowing me to try an escape from an omoplata (or it might have been an armbar?), which I vaguely remembered was to roll over. Seemed to work ok, though as I haven’t been taught that one in class yet, will need to check with an instructor at some point to make sure I’m at least working towards the right technique.

I also had the chance to try escaping a few armbars, and attempting to pass guard. In the advanced class, I find that I tend to get pulled to one side when trying to pass, normally meaning they then go for an arm or some other kind of sweep. I was able to push Vitor back down a few times (either because he’s a bit smaller than the other guys or more likely, he was taking it easy), but it didn’t take long for me to again find myself under side control and mount. As with Owen, I got stuck with my forearms in place, so I’m going to have to go over the technique carefully.

On top, it might be of use to try and see if I can simply maintain the position, as even that is proving difficult at present. I went too far forward on a number of occasions, meaning I could simply be swept, and I think I was also a little hasty in transitioning from a grip under the head and around the arm to the position where you’ve got a hand against the hip. I need to take greater care before switching, as each time I went for the hip, rather than helping my defence it seemed to provide my partner with sufficient space to shrimp out.

I’m also failing to move into a secure scarf hold, which should be a strong controlling position. Here too I’m leaving too much space, and tend to find my opponent is able to recover guard. The usual mantra of weight distribution continues to apply, so as I’ve frequently moaned in this log, I need to use position to make myself heavier in side control.

At one point I had a good grip on Vitor’s leg from underneath, so started trying to go for a single-leg takedown, but stayed far too flat, meaning he could take my back and then got some kind of armbar (I think). I should have brought a leg up and driven with my head: still, at least I remembered to go for that hold behind the knee, which is something I don’t think I’ve ever really attempted in sparring.

I had initially intended to do the beginners class straight after, but was far too knackered. If nothing else, then attending the sparring class on Tuesday should be great for my fitness. That should in turn help immensely in working technique, as then I can make more classes and last longer in sparring.

28/06/2007 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #68



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 28/06/2007 – Beginners

I thought that I’d caught my breath back after the long chat with Grant, but as the class went on, I soon felt pretty knackered. That could just be crap fitness on my part, of course, but nevertheless, was definitely feeling it when it came to sparring.

Techniques today focused on escaping side control, starting with coming up to your knees. You lift up your partner, using your forearms against their neck and ribs, using that space to shrimp out. Your arm comes under theirs, reaching back for their gi, enabling you to come to your knees and go for their legs. Your head and leg go up the same side as the knee you’re grabbing, then you drag their knee back and drive through with your head and knee, ending in side control.

Felipe followed that with the counter, which was simply to sprawl, grab around their neck and under one arm, drive them to the ground by walking back (which should also free any grip they might have on your legs), finally moving round to take their back. Jason’s reminder about keeping your hips as far down as possible while staying low on their back applied here too.

Sparring was from side control, in groups of three. I was with Tamvin and Jon, who are both roughly my size. That means I had no excuses about size discrepancies: Jon’s technique worked against me every time, IIRC. Mainly he was good at making space with his arms and recovering guard – I had a lot of trouble simply staying down, even though he’s not a big guy. Oli as ever had some good tips: firstly, transition between side control positions. If the person underneath is pushing with their arms and trying to recover guard, shift your arm back to their hip to block the attempt. That also means you can drive with your shoulder in the same area to try and counteract their arms.

Alternately, you can hook round the arm of the opposite side and used that to swivel round. However, I don’t think I quite understood how that one worked, so will need to double-check. Jon had a suggestion of his own for resisting the transition to north-south, which was to ball up in order to facilitate spinning. Sounds worth a go: I’ll no doubt find myself squished under side control on Wednesday, as has happened every advanced class so far. ;)

Oli also mentioned that from underneath, you should work for the underhook (I think when the other person is shifting round or otherwise leaving space: not sure exactly what the best moment is). That then helps with getting to your knees, as per the technique we worked earlier.

I had a few goes at submissions when sparring Tamvin, but that again is something I need to revise, in particular the Americana and armbar, which are the only ones I’m likely to ever get. Giving the side choke a go would be fun too, but as I’ve only ever seen that when Colin showed me at the throwdown in May, think I’ll leave that until it crops up in class. Due to lack of subs, I ended up aiming to get mount instead, generally by making space then pushing the knee through. However, my technique was rather sloppy and I wasn’t distributing my weight well, so I need to refine considerably.

All in all, today’s classes reminded me just how far I’ve got to go, although I don’t think I’m in any danger of overrating my extremely limited skills. Nevertheless, always good to be reminded that ego is an entirely useless commodity in BJJ, especially for us beginners!

28/06/2007 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #67



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 28/06/2007 – No-Gi

My eye turned out to be ok this morning – either it wasn’t as serious as I thought in the first place, or the ice after class and before bed helped reduce the swelling. I looked a little like I’d had an accident with some dark red mascara, along with some random marks on my nose and lip, but not especially sore in the face (though I could feel it a little in my teeth).

Class today focused on takedowns from open guard. Starting from your closed guard, your partner stands up. As they open it up, shift your leg down and push into their knee, at the same time wrapping your other leg around their’s, then finally rising up to wrap an arm around that leg too. Jason emphasised I should try and keep that brace against their knee as long as possible, pushing out in order to break their base. As they move round to try and pass, you should swivel in place posting your hand on the floor. Picking your moment carefully, stand up, step behind and grab the leg you had wrapped up. Lift that up, then dump them over your remaining leg, moving into side control.

Felipe then demonstrated a variation if they managed to step further round. Instead of standing up, you keep the leg wrapped up but come to your knees. Grab their other ankle, drive forward and take them down. If they manage to base out on their heads, you can still take their back. Jason mentioned at this point it was important to get your hips pressing right down and stay low on their back, to prevent them rolling you over.

King of the hill specific sparring was from closed guard, which feels strange in no-gi. The idea was to try and pass standing, so I mainly focused on trying to maintain a good base and see if I could resist their sweeps. I’ve been approaching the advanced classes very defensively so far, as I’m hoping to pick something up by seeing just how I get smashed each time – will have to see if the approach bears fruit. I had varying degrees of holding my balance, but unsurprisingly got swept each time.

The specific sparring had a quick turn around because the class was fairly small today, so got me good and knackered. There’s a fine line between conserving energy, fatigue and simply being lazy – I’m not sure which of the three applied in my case. Probably all of them. Same was true in free sparring, where I once again rolled with Anthony. Pretty much the same thing happened as before, as I got stuck under either side control or mount. I had a go at recovering guard, but I’m clearly still missing some important points: for one thing, I think I could press more with the hands when trying to shrimp out to make space. I briefly got half-guard, which is about as close to control as I’ve got against Anthony so far, but that was swiftly passed. If class keeps going like this, as I fully expect it will, I’m hoping to greatly improve my escapes. Need more revision on my part, though.

Next I rolled with Christina, with whom I ended up in guard more often, which made for a nice change. Not that I wasn’t repeatedly swept, but I did get to have a go at grappling for grips when I backed away, and at one point managed a reversal from under her mount (though I think I then got caught in an armbar or something). This also reminded me why I much prefer rolling with women: they tend to be far more careful when putting on subs, and are also considerate training partners. Same thing with Indra when I last rolled with her – let me work position, while presumably working specific aspects of her game.

I attempted to resist submissions by keeping my elbows in tight, which worked to a certain extent against triangles and armbars against both Anthony and Christina. However, I wasn’t sufficiently pro-active, and also didn’t manage to drive through the knee and escape, as with Grant yesterday. After each spar when asking for tips, the main point they made was that I need to be more aggressive: again, I’m not sure if I’m relaxing in sparring and trying to observe or just being lazy. Definitely need to at least occasionally push for something, rather than always sitting back and waiting to see what they do.

Christina also mentioned that I was coming in with my head low, opening myself up for guillotines (I escaped, but I think she was going easy on me with it). Also, when clinching I was grasping around the neck instead of behind the head, which provides better leverage and control.

After those two spars, I was exhausted. I sat down and had a chat with a guy I’ve seen in the beginners class, but haven’t ever got into conversation. Turns out he’s also called Grant, but is an Australian. We spoke for a fairly long time: I was thinking about going for another spar, but my laziness kicked in and I ended up just talking until time run out. Must be careful not to do that too often – probably should aim for at least three or four spars.

14/06/2007 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #62


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 14/06/2007 – Beginner

I didn’t get much sleep last night, which could have been from the unfamiliar bed, lack of food or maybe just excitement at getting the third stripe (yeah, I remain a small child at heart ;P). Whichever, I was feeling pretty knackered today, so glad I decided to leave the no-gi until next week. Also would be good to try and make the beginners class on Thursday, as there are people I wouldn’t see otherwise, like Chris, who’s been an excellent training partner so far.

Felipe focused on guard passage, starting with a basic trip. It has been a little while since I last did it, which apparently was long enough for my mind to go completely blank when drilling. So, best write it down: grab deep in their collar with your opposite hand, gripping above the elbow with the other. Push them off-balance, and at the same time step forward between their legs. Remove your grip from the elbow and hoist their same-side leg up to your hip. Swing your other leg through and chop away behind their remaining leg, also pushing on the collar – this will drop them to the floor.

The next step is passing underneath the leg – step back, hook a leg, stack your opponent, then drive through into side control. This also reminded me of the ‘control position’, which I read about last month in Mastering Jujitsu. In short, that means you’ve got a good base, crouching low, one arm underneath their leg, the other trapping their shin. Felipe also demonstrated the usual leg pin pass, which again reminded me how important it was to stay tight and keep your weight pressed down. I never use the pass underneath the leg, so that’s something I should give a try: normally I’m too wary of triangles, and aim for double-underhooks instead.

Sparring was guard passage, split into weight groups, and like last time in the beginners class, I found that there were a good number of people new to the class. That enabled me to finally go for those techniques I’ve been moaning about for months. I tried the flower sweep a number of times, and did eventually get it, which I think is a first. I need to remember to post on the head, and perhaps also try using an armwrap – something I’m not quite comfortable with yet. Pulling them in closer would help too.

I also landed another of my perpetual worries, the sit-up sweep, and on another occasion managed to switch to a kimura, as my partner had his arm leaning in towards me. Although all of them were kinda sloppy, and against people who had probably never seen the technique before, I’m still glad I finally followed through on an attempt, rather than hesitating and thereby losing the opportunity. Andrew, another beginner, was clinging on very firmly to a collar choke attempt, which always seem to be fairly simple to resist in the beginners class. Having said that, I remember Diccon (noted that was the name on the register, so must be the right spelling) getting me in a very tight choke – think he managed that by raising up and getting really deep in the collar with a good bit of fabric, but not sure.

Herman and Ramis are a bit more experienced, meaning I had a tougher roll against those two. I had a chance to work my defence against both, recovering guard, although with Herman I was lucky as I think he rotated too far: I reckon he could have dropped into side control before spinning. Would be good to give spider guard a go, although I need to be careful I don’t get ahead of myself – after all, I’ve only seen it once, and that was how to pass it rather than hold the position. Oli’s words of wisdom on the scissor and push sweep being less effective as you progress rang true, as while I had the scissor locked in, I couldn’t budge Ramis. I tried switching to push and elevator, but with the same result – I did at least manage to recover guard. I think one of my problems here is that I’m not pulling my partner in and up, meaning they can keep their centre of gravity low and base strong. Along with my technique being pants, of course.

I had intended to do some drilling with Oli at the end of class, as I’m staying at my sisters this week, but cunningly forgot. Being knackered from the sparring probably didn’t help my memory: judging by my current crappy fitness, three in two days looks like my maximum, but we’ll see how it goes.

07/06/2007 - BJJ

Class #59


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 07/06/2007

Today’s session was huge – must have been at least thirty people, meaning that there was barely room to move. It did however mean that there were plenty of training partners my size, which made for a pleasant change. Also got to see a few guys I’ve not seen in a while, like Chris, who has actually managed to make Saturdays now. ;)

The warm-up was fairly intensive this time round, with lots of press-ups and the like, after which we got into drilling. Felipe started off with a collar choke from guard, following it up with a scissor sweep in case the choke attempt was blocked. You start by feeding one hand deep into their collar, aiming to get right behind their head, four fingers in and the thumb on top. Your other arm goes underneath, with the same grip. To finish, twist your hands so they are facing palm towards you, while at the same time pulling your opponent towards you. Yuvi, the guy I was working with, noted that I needed to bring my elbows closer together, which was a useful pointer – this is why I’ve no wish to abandon the beginners class any time soon, as I can always do with work on the fundamentals.

If they manage to block your second arm before you can bring it in to choke, you can move to a scissor sweep. Maintaining your grip in their collar, grab their elbow with your other hand, then perform the scissor sweep as normal. I wasn’t entirely certain whether its better to grip the wrist and pull it in tight to your chest, or go for the elbow. Normally I’d grab the wrist, but I think Felipe showed it with the elbow. Something I need to check.

Finally, Felipe also demonstrated an entirely different option from a failed scissor sweep, taking the back from guard. If they resist your scissor sweep, push them back with your shin and arm to make space. One knee should now be raised, with a hand on the floor: the position is exactly the same as the standard way to get up (knee up, leg out, arm above knee. Put hand on floor, step back and up). So, as with that basic move, your straight leg comes back and you raise up. At the same time, you grab their gi and swing their head to the floor, immediately rushing round to their back, getting both arms underneath and around their waist. I think I was initially grabbing too high – Oli demonstrated how you should stay further back, bringing your hips down to their feet.

As it was an enormous class, we unsurprisingly did ‘king of the hill’ sparring. Unusually, the class was split into three groups, one of them being under 65kg. As it happens, I’m about 64/65kg, so that’s perfect for me. This showed in that I found it much easier to maintain position than normal, though that was definitely helped by the fact there were a number of newish people in the group (except for Anne and Jon, but both of them were coming back after some time away).

For I think pretty much the first time ever, I stayed on for five rounds, which was very unusual for me, although guard is easily my most comfortable position. Rolling with new people meant I could work on relaxing, so I lay back and waited. As with yesterdays noobie roll, the new guys were clinging on and pushing with all their strength, also trying to get collar chokes from within my guard. However, while I felt quite dominant, I was making mistakes, mainly going for the scissor sweep. Ironically, I was missing out the same step I noticed Yuvi forgetting earlier, which was pulling your opponent in close to you to raise them off the ground. That meant that I kept going for a scissor, but finding myself stuck because their centre of gravity was low to the ground with a strong base.

I eventually got the scissor on the two recent joiners, after which it became a lot tougher. First up was Jonathan, against whom I ended up in half-guard. I tried to go for a sweep, having secured double-underhooks, but kept leaving his arm free, and I also don’t think I was shrimping out to the side far enough or raising up. That’s definitely another technique I need to revise. As I was struggling away with the sweep, Jon moved up to my chest, pressing his weight down. He almost got his foot free a few times, but I managed to hold on, readjusting my legs. I also had some coaching from Oli at this point, who urged me to push his knee in order to stabilise my half guard.

However, Jon successfully trapped my arm in a figure-four grip, which at first didn’t worry me until I remember I was in half rather than full guard. I thought he’d be able to finish the submission off, but either he didn’t has as good a hold as I’d thought, or I was blocking it with my head. Either way, I freed my arm and then finally got the half-guard sweep I’d been looking for, albeit rather sloppily.

Finally I rolled with Anne, and as she was able to stand up in my guard, I decided I’d try to play open guard (after failing to get the flower sweep, which continues to elude me: yet another technique that requires serious revision on my part). My aim was to get my feet into her hips and lift her over, or failing that try for an elevator, or perhaps an armbar. What happened instead was that I got a leg stuck by her head, which she had little trouble passing into side mount.

I’d already rolled with Anne earlier in the session, as we were one of the initial two pairs to spar. Like many people in the advanced class, or at least going by Owen, she had a decent open guard, and at one point I thought she was going to scissor sweep me using my arms as leverage. I managed to retain my balance, and after some struggling got double underhooks on her legs, pulling her in tight, grabbing a shoulder and passing through to side control. This pass seems to have been working fairly well for me from open guard, but it does seem to need a bit of luck at the moment. I still don’t feel entirely confident in that position, but at least I now have some options, unlike the first time I encountered open guard against Owen.

Good session on the scissor sweep, which for once I then used extensively in sparring. Can’t really claim that’s me being a sensible student and applying what we drilled to rolling though, as I tend to go for the scissor anyway. My normal next step of moving to a push sweep wasn’t too successful today, and I also had no luck with the kimura, even though the opportunity did seem to present itself a few times. I’d like to have gone for the sit-up sweep, but as usual couldn’t overcome that hesitation – an arm pressing down on me compounded that problem. Finally, I need to work on removing grips: that would make going for sweeps much easier, as I’d be able to break through blocking arms, or at least have the option.

Should be training again next week, same two classes as usual. Possibly get in a class of ZSK, but not sure yet. Until then, got a stag party to go to, having managed to get my girlfriend invited, which was extremely satisfying. Striking a blow against sexism, one stag party at a time!

26/04/2007 - BJJ - Last class for a month

Class #57


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 26/04/2007

My last class for a month focused on escapes from scarf hold, which I’d been hoping we’d go over, as I often find myself in that position when under side control. For the first variation, Person B twists away from Person A, aiming to free an elbow, also tucking their chin close to the chest. Having made space, Person B then hooks their outside leg around one of Person A’s (hooking with the leg nearest to Person A is no use, as that puts Person B in an even more awkward position). Next, Person B grips the back of Person A’s gi and pushes their head to the floor, trying to come up on their front as they do so. Basing out with their hands, Person B then drives forward to break Person A’s headlock, wraps an arm around Person A’s head, then rolls over in the other direction. Finally, Person B gets both their hooks in and applies the rear naked choke.

For the second variation, Person B tries to bring their trapped arm into Person A’s neck, using their other arm as a support (placing the wrist of the trapped arm into the grip of the other arm). This makes it much more difficult for Person A to apply pressure. Person B then moves round with their legs towards Person A’s head. Once they’ve got far enough around, Person B raises the outside leg right up to Person A’s neck, then pulls down, ending up with Person A on their side and Person B behind. Person B moves the knee closest to Person A’s head up to meet it, then with the other makes a big step right over Person A’s body, immediately bringing their foot in tight to Person A’s stomach. To break the headlock, Person B puts a forearm into Person A’s neck, then pushes their wrist with the other arm (so the same motion as the initial part of the escape), also lifting their head and driving forward. Once the grip is broken, Person B maintains control of the arm, steps over Person A’s head and finally drops back for the armbar.

Sparring was from side control, and as ever I was making the same mistake: leaving too much space. Part of the reason I’ve been finding this so difficult is that I’m both small and weak, so can’t bring size or strength to bear. However, that’s no excuse for poor technique. I was attempting to switch base and go for mount, but kept raising up too much, and switching in the wrong direction. I also need to watch my position once I’ve switched base, so that there’s room to bring my leg over. I had the opportunity to take the back a few times, but was unable to get my hooks in, meaning that I was unceremoniously dumped on the ground.

Oli suggested that I should think about controlling the opposite hip with my elbow, and also grip behind the gi for a firm hold. I also need to remember how to position myself in order to maximise my meagre weight, pressing my chest into my opponent’s chest and ribs.

As I’m going to be off until June (except for Birmingham Throwdown on the 26th May, but that’s not a lesson), now seems a good time to reflect on the past few months. I’m most comfortable in guard, as from that position I have the most options. I’ve recently been using the elevator and push sweep, and also keeping tight with my knees if my partner starts to pass my guard. However, I’m not attempting the scissor sweep enough, which might help set up the push sweep, and I’m also continuing to avoid the sit-up and flower sweep. Both of those are useful for preparing submissions if they fail (kimura and armbar respectively), so I have to get used to at least trying those techniques.

I’m also feeling more confident when in someone else’s guard. My long-running problem of limited passing options seems to have lessened, as the tailbone pass from BJ Penn’s site has proved comparatively successful. However, I shouldn’t neglect the standing pass, and most importantly, I have to work on keeping my weight down when passing. Even if I develop a guard game, that still means that at best I’ll end up in either side control or mount, both of which require good use of weight in order to be effective.

This could be slightly rectified by developing submissions from the guard, something I very rarely go for, but that would merely avoid the problem. Every time I’m on top in mount and side control, I need to be thinking hard about how to distribute my weight. I also need to revise techniques from side control, particularly how to transition from side control to mount.

Of course, that would still leave me with a poor mount – I have had some small success with the Americana and kimura from side control, but mainly against people either my size or smaller. I’ve also been finding those submissions less effective as time has gone on, presumably due to everyone else improving their defences.

As to escapes from side control, mount, half-guard and so on, those are all aspects of BJJ I need to work on. However, I’ve mainly found myself on top, because we’ve tended to do ‘king of the hill’ sparring. Due to my inability to maintain mount and side control, that means that I’ve rapidly been going from partner to partner, especially evident today. I did at least hold position for a little longer with some people, but its that same problem of leaving too much space every time.

Therefore, my plan for the next month is to have a thorough read of Mastering Jujitsu, as well as going through my notes and trying to break down my rather sprawling technical descriptions. That task should be made easier by refreshing my memory with videos, in particularly Rowan Cunningham’s Abhaya tutorials from Google Video.

My direct debit is paused for the next month, as I’m off to Barbados on 4th May, returning to the UK on 18th May. Various social events, like my gf’s birthday, will take up the following week, so my next training is likely to be either ZSK or the Birmingham throwdown. I’ll see if I can fit in some MMA, or perhaps even wrestling, but it may well be that the next proper grappling class I get to will be RGA on 6th June.

I seem to have picked up bruises, aches, rashes and cuts on my ribs, hands, fingers, feet, legs and even face, so if nothing else, the time off might give my body a chance to recover!

17/04/2007 - BJJ

Class #53



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 17/04/2007

Managed to get up to my 10,000 word count on the chapter (in fact, going slightly over by 500 words), writing the conclusion on the train down, so was able to make it to BJJ tonight. Class focused on side control, kicking off with armbar from side control. Person A traps Person B’s arm by pulling the arm into their head, then gripping their own collar. Person A’s other arm is on the opposite side, blocking Person B from pulling guard. Next, Person A moves round until Person B’s head is between their knees, pushing Person B’s free arm to the ground as they do so. Using the grip on their arm, Person A then moves Person B onto their side, still holding the other arm, placing one shin into Person B’s back – the other leg will already be around their head. Person A then leans backwards for the armbar, removing their grip from the other arm once they have the armbar in position (in case Person A needs to adjust their hold on Person B’s wrist for the sub).

Sparring was unsurprisingly from side control, and I found that I’m having trouble keeping my weight down. I’m remembering to go up on my toes, but I’m still leaving too much space – Radek in particular kept spinning around and getting guard. I also forgot to switch base, which meant I had little force when I attempted to push their arm away in order to try for mount. When I then remembered to switch base against Radek, he was able to knock me off-balance – so, that’s something else I’ll have to keep in mind. Radek seemed very quick, though I don’t want to get distracted into trying to do techniques faster rather than more accurately.

I did at least manage to get mount on Tas, having been unable to extricate myself from his half-guard the first time round. On my second opportunity, I quickly whipped out my leg and went into mount, though I think Tas was kinda knackered from sparring a bunch of people in a row, which no doubt made things easier for me.

With Ramis, who I haven’t sparred for a long time, I got a chance to try out the rear naked choke defence Oli showed me on the 29th March. I turned my head in the correct direction and raised my hips up, but mixed up my priorities – I should have been concentrating on securing the arm going behind my head before anything else. Eventually, Ramis got the choke, but I’m pleased that I did at least manage to work a defence. Oli was watching, so was able to point out where I went wrong.

Ben mentioned a useful method of keeping your weight down in side control his sparring partner showed him. If I understood correctly, you put your chest on their chest and ribs (so one pectoral on one of theirs while the other presses below), pushing down with your hips and sprawled out on your toes. I’ve been doing the sprawling part, but not positioning my chest correctly. If we do side control again, I’ll try to improve my weight distribution. In addition I want to concentrate on specific techniques, so that I have something to aim for – I think going for mount is probably my best bet at the moment. Trying for Americana’s might be worth a go too, although due to the way specific sparring works, I have been getting the feeling it’s a “ready, set, go” kinda situation with that sub. Nevertheless, something to keep in mind if the opportunity presents itself.

I was hoping to try to work scarf hold escapes, almost finding myself in that position against Ramis, but he was moving round too quickly, meaning that I was simply swivelling around after him with a grip on his leg. This is what eventually led to the rear naked choke position, so ideally I could avoid that. Definitely need a better plan than “cling desperately onto the leg and spin”!

My May holiday isn’t far off now: I should be able to get in another four (unless I get the third stripe before then, but not sure if that’s likely to happen before May), after which I’m paused for a month. Next session after that will be 6th June, but I’m hoping to get in some other training in the meantime. I’m away from the 4th until the 18th, so will probably try for MMA during the rest of May. Chris mentioned that London Shootfighters is apparently a mere £3 a class, which would be awesome if correct (though I think he may have been referring to the members price for weights: a normal non-member class is more like £9, as far as I'm aware). On the other hand, I’ve heard it’s a pretty hardcore class, and I’m far from a hardcore person – still, we’ll see. Worth trying at least once, even if I leave the lesson bruised, limp and bathed in sweat.

12/04/2007 - BJJ

Class #52


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 12/04/2007

As on Tuesday, Felipe went through a guard defence, then instead of moving on to the triangle, we were to simply try out a technique. Unfortunately, time run out before I got a chance to drill properly, but I did pick up some interesting tips from Chris. Going for the triangle, he pushed my head tight into the back of his knee, pushing off my hip with the other leg. Already I could feel the pressure on my throat, so that seems like a good set up – shame I didn’t get the chance to try it myself, but will see if I can give that a go at some point.

Chris was also his usual helpful self when we were working throws. When going for a double-leg lift, he pointed out that I wasn’t putting my hips in tight, leaving my bum way out behind me instead. This meant I was putting too much pressure on my back. He suggested that to get in position, I should try stepping round more as I went for the double-leg, which improved my technique. I’m still not pushing my hips forward enough as I lift, but at least it seems to be getting better.

Sparring was varied today, at least in terms of partner. I started off with Chris, who is short and powerful, with about 10kg on me. I’m finding that pass from BJ Penn’s site has been working well as a starting point, even if I’m not always getting it quite the same way he demonstrates. Having that principle of using the hip bone to dig into their ankles is definitely aiding my top game. I got the pass once on Chris, but on several other occasions, I was getting into position, grabbing him by the head and going past his legs, but he was able to come to his knees. My mistake is not keeping my weight on my partner as I pass – I keep allowing too much space, coming up and around the legs rather than driving down and slipping through.

On the bottom, I can’t remember getting any sweeps on Chris – instead, we ended up in half-guard and got stuck. I was trying to remember the half guard sweep Jude showed us yesterday, but either did it wrong or couldn’t get the position. Will have to look that over, as I’m finding myself in half-guard more and more.

The same position cropped up against Paxton. I also got the first stage of the guard defence, with a leg up and my hands on his shoulder and armpit, but I struggled to shrimp out. Eventually, I moved my leg off his head to make space, whereupon he simply dropped into side control. Paxton also had a good guard break, able to really drive his elbow into my thigh and make it difficult for me to maintain the grip with my ankles. I tried for an armbar a couple of times, but seeing it wasn’t going anywhere, simply readjusted to closed guard. I think I might have done the same thing against Chris, but can’t quite remember.

As with Chris, I had more success on top. However, on this occasion Paxton gave me the opportunity, as I ended up in a rather weird position with my arms pretty much out but he still had some kind of grip with his legs. I managed to move round by switching my base and going to scarf hold. That time, I didn’t have so much trouble keeping my weight on him, probably because I was being forced downwards by Paxton’s legs anyway.

Finally, I got the chance to spar Ben. It’s been a long time since we last rolled, as that was way back in November at my second class. So, this proved to be a useful marker of progress, as I was no longer simply getting swept in every direction. Ben was completely knackered, which obviously has an impact, but I was still glad to get the pass. Or rather, almost get the pass – I made the exact same mistake as with Chris, not keeping my weight down meaning Ben could turn and come to his knees. The BJ Penn pass helped me out again, and from what Ben said, it wasn’t just me – apparently, everybody he sparred today was trying the same technique. Wouldn’t surprise me if that was entirely due to those vids giving people the same idea.

On the bottom, I struggled to keep Ben on his knees. He eventually stood up, so I took the opportunity to try for an armbar. I couldn’t quite remember the technique, but I did get both legs round his head and hold of his arm. Unfortunately, so did he, and his grip on his arm was considerably more secure than mine. Time ran out as I was trying to go for butterfly guard to stop him passing (think he might have passed me earlier, but can’t remember).

Chris and Ben both tried to get the armbar from guard on me, which I resisted both times, then moving to try for a pass. However, I think if Ben had been less tired, he would have got the armbar – while I had a grip on his gi trousers, it was fairly loose. I also still can’t get the flower sweep, even though I was in position repeatedly today (in terms of getting a hold on the head and the triceps). Its that last step of making space and swivelling that is causing me trouble: I think my lack of speed in executing the sweep attempt is part of the problem too.

My left elbow and upper arm was sore today from the kimura yesterday, but felt ok once I got into the swing of class. I was breakfalling a bit gingerly, but apart from that didn’t really affect my ability to partake in drilling and sparring. I’ve got a few days for it to fully recover before my next session (which will either be Tuesday or Wednesday, depending how my Lowell chapter goes: I’ve got about 7,500 words and want 10,000 to submit on the 21st), so should be fully sorted by then.