24/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

03/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

27/07/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #327
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 27/07/2010

Two new, well-written blogs popped up this week, from my two favourite BJJ demographics: women and black belts. Angelo Popofski, a black belt under Caique, has started up The Mental Dojo, where he’s already put up some thought-provoking articles taking a more philosophical angle on BJJ, rather than technical. Julia Johansen, who has just started out in BJJ at John Frankl’s school in South Korea, brings the perspective of a woman training abroad (like Rachel over in the Middle East). Check them out.

Also, I was pleased to see Kev Webb back on the mats before class today, which I presume means he is on the road to recovery. Hopefully he’ll be teaching class again in the not-too-distant future, as I rate his instruction very highly.

Nathan was picking out some fine details today, which is one of the main advantages of focusing on one area over a long period. We’re still working on side control, but because we’ve been through so many drills now where you’re either escaping from underneath or maintaining control on top, the basic movements have been thoroughly covered. That meant that Nathan could go through three especially useful concepts tonight.

The first was when moving from side control to scarf hold. As ever, you start in a tight side control, having already cleared their near elbow. Pulling them in tight towards you with a gable grip under their head and armpit, dig your shoulder into their face and drive into them to turn them slightly. Slip your hand back to control their near arm as you switch your base.

The detail here is not to simply keep your head low, as I thought. That can help with control, but it also means that with a strong opponent, they can rock you back and forth and make space. It is better to instead thrust your hip into them, driving your ribs into theirs. You can feel the difference if you have someone on top of you in scarf hold, and they drop their head low, then drive their ribs. The pressure into your torso is much greater with the latter option, whereas dropping your head automatically curves your body, so you can’t apply that same pressure to their ribcage.

The next was moving from side control to reverse scarf hold. Again, you’re in that same tight side control with the near elbow cleared. This time bring your arm over their head, then slide your elbow back to their skull. You want to keep sliding, until you’ve pushed their head right up onto your knee. This will have the added bonus of putting their near arm up high and vulnerable. Your other arm will switch under their armpit, to control their far arm.

Put your free hand either by their near hip, palm down and sliding towards them, or grab their pant leg. Either way, you want to block their hip movement. The important detail this time is to roll your hips onto their arm as you switch your base for reverse scarf, keeping a leg back for base. That’s as opposed to what I’m used to, which is simply dropping your hips alongside them. If you roll your hips onto their arm, this does a much better job of killing that near arm. If you merely plop your bum on the ground and slide back, they can still grab your belt and try for an escape.

Finally, Nathan gave us a third option, going from side control to knee on belly. As I’ve said before, I have never used knee-on-belly in sparring, so this was a useful lesson for me. Still from the tight side control with a cleared elbow, lean forward into your gable grip, shoulder pressure into them, raising up on your legs. Move straight into knee-on-belly, sliding your shin into their stomach, slipping one hand by their near collar (you can then straighten your arm to act as a bar if they try to turn towards your). Your free hand will either be grabbing their far leg, or attacking their far arm.

Make sure that the foot of the leg you have on their belly is curled by their hip: don’t leave any space for them to try and hook under with their arm. Your other leg is based back, at roughly forty-five degrees. It shouldn’t be so close that they can hook it with their other arm, but also not so far that it doesn’t give you a solid base.

The important detail I wanted to remember for knee-on-belly was to thrust your hips, rather than driving with your knee. You stay relatively upright, the hip thrust creating pressure on their belly (or sternum, if you’re Maurição Motta Gomes). I still don’t feel at all secure in this position, but with more lessons like this, that should slowly change.

Sparring started with Gary, the other blue belt who regularly attends the basics class on Tuesday. Not long into the spar, he managed to snake his arm around my neck to initiate a choke. I didn’t lean my head back in time to block the grip, and I felt too squished to get a decent purchase on his arm with my knee (trying for Nathan’s shin escape from last week).

I did at least have a solid grip on his leg from half guard, which gave me a bit of breathing room, as well as pulling down on my own gi to loosen up the choking pressure. That gave me time to think where I wanted to be, which was obviously with my head on the other side, so that I wasn’t being choke. Once I eventually got free, I was still thinking about the shin escape, but perhaps the variation from Strategic Guard would have worked better here.

My next two spars were with the two women present tonight, Alexandra (I think?) and Sofya. I was again attempting to keep in mind Roy Dean’s advice to “let people into your game,” rather than just using my weight (they’re both quite small). Sofya was doing a good job of bridging from under mount, but wasn’t shrimping into the space she created. I left an opening, to see if that would help, then mentioned it to her afterwards. Hopefully that was useful, rather than patronising: it can be hard to tell, especially as I’m only a blue belt (and a crappy one at that).

I plan to train at the weekend, before then popping over on Sunday to see my gf after she’s finished teaching her course. IIRC there is some kind of open mat thingy on Sundays now, but I’m guessing that’s only available to those on the next payment level up (I’m on the £60 programme that gets you two lessons a week), not to mention I’ll have already done two lessons by then anyway.

20/07/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #325
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 20/07/2010

Unfortunately, buses meant that yet again I didn’t make it in time for Wednesday last week. Especially annoying was that I did risk trying the 17:57 train, but as is almost always the case, it got delayed so I missed my connection to Acocks Green. It is frustrating to spend £5.90 on a ticket, only to head straight back to Leamington without having down any training. Gah. Still, this weekend my gf is off at a hen night, so I should be able to train on Saturday.

After the warm-up for the basics class today, another brown belt appeared alongside Nathan, to help out with instruction. He was wearing a patch for Victor’s academy (the green one that looks similar to GB Brum), so I’m not sure if he’s just visiting, or will be a permanent fixture from now on. At first I thought he was French, as Nathan called him ‘Beton’, but it turns own he’s actually a Brazilian called Roberto. As is so common over there, he’s known by a nickname instead, in a typically ironic sense: ‘Beton’ is the diminutive form of ‘Beto’, I think, but he’s a pretty big guy.

It wasn’t escaping this week, but attacks. He started by running through the drill to get into scarf hold from side control. You’ve already cleared their near elbow, and you’rve got one arm behind their head, the other under their far arm. Lean into them, driving your shoulder into their face, then sprawl your legs back slightly and switch your hips. Make sure you keep pressure on their ribs the whole time.

As you switch to face their head, scoop up their near arm. You can grip on the tricep, or nearer the shoulder: it’s a matter of preference, as long as that limb is trapped. Your other arm maintains control over their far arm, gripping underneath. This will set you up for two linked attacks, beginning with an armbar from scarf hold (similar to what Craig Kukuk shows on the Renzo DVD, and it also features as the first part of an extended attack sequence on Cindy Omatsu’s hard-to-find set).

Having got that control over their near arm, keep pinching it between your elbow and knee. That should leave you free to use your hand to turn their face towards your leg. This will make it difficult for them to bridge, and also make it easier for you to step your foot over their head, sliding it back to their skull. It will help if you’ve made sure to leave no space with your scarf hold, as otherwise you’ll have to step a long way with that foot.

With the same leg, twist your knee to the floor, basing with your forehead (keeping the next technique in mind, try to keep your head against their arm so they can’t bring it loose). Bring the elbow by their near arm backwards and thrust your hips forward. For this to get the tap, you need to have their elbow pinned against your hip.

If that doesn’t work, or they manage to get their near arm free, you can still get an armbar on their far arm. However, you need to have maintained control with your other arm, and you also must further control their arm with your head. Get in the same position as before, with a knee to the ground and head on the floor, but this time, bring the wrist you have underneath their far arm to just above their elbow.

Reach over with your other arm and lock your hands together. To finish, pull up with your joined hands (palm to palm, though it can work with other grips), while again thrusting with your hips. That again will bend their arm the wrong way, getting the tap. If they manage to twist their wrist, you simply need to follow their elbow with your joined hands, and pull in whatever direction their elbow doesn’t want to go.

Sparring wasn’t specific tonight, instead split into three rounds of free sparring. I started off with my training partner Sofya, who is a fair bit smaller than me, so I could practice things like guard passing and the like. I find I often end up on top with her, whereas I should instead be trying to put myself in her guard to practice more guard passing. Still, the little bit I did meant I could practice some of the details from Kev Capel’s private lesson a while back, such as shoving their leg down and behind you, while doing a big step with your own leg.

The next two spars were rather different, as first Nathan then Beton pulled me over for a roll. Naturally I got crushed by both, though I did at least get another chance to try out jnp’s ‘ball’ defence (access to his excellent training log is one very good reason to get yourself a Supporting Membership on Bullshido). I’ve been attempting it intermittently since first reading that post a few years ago. Basically, the idea is to always keep your knees close to your chest and round your back to swivel more easily, so that even when your opponent thinks they’ve past, you can try to spin back into guard. Not that I’ve got the hang of it yet, but I’ve found it a useful concept to keep in mind.

Similarly, I was also trying to keep shins and feet into arms, to help push away and recover guard. Again, that seemed to help a little, but hard to tell as higher belts tend to let you try stuff out a little (especially if you’re small like me). I still need to watch out for footlocks, as I’m not careful enough with my feet, and think about the escapes when I’m about to get caught. Not many people try them, which is good in the sense that they’re dangerous, but it does mean I’m not used to defending them. Of course, I barely compete, so things like that aren’t such a concern in my case.

I was also attempting to use Nathan’s side control escape from last lesson, but I found it difficult to get my knee into the crook of the elbow. It’s going to take some more practice to work out how to manoeuvre their arm into position around your knee when you’re all curled up on your side under side control. Leaning my head back (again, as Nathan taught last lesson) may have helped prevent getting choked, but either way, good habit to get into from that position.

As we lined up at the end, Nathan pointed at my face and said “I hope I didn’t do that.” At first I thought I might have got a cut or something, but apparently there’s a swelling under my left eye. If that blooms into a black eye, should make for an interesting impression when I help out with the degree congregation at Warwick again tomorrow! ;p

13/07/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #324
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 13/07/2010

July hasn’t been a good month for BJJ so far, due to the buses. For the second week in a row, I only managed to make it to Tuesday because that is the only class that starts late enough and finishes sufficiently early. This class may make it three weeks in a row, unless I can find a way to get to the station in time tomorrow (even more unlikely now that there are a second set of roadworks on the bus route).

However, putting that into perspective, Kevin Webb came down with a serious medical condition in the last couple of weeks. I hope he makes a full and swift recovery: not only is he an excellent instructor, but a really nice guy, with great jiu jitsu too. It will be good to see him back on the mats.

Class tonight was, again, side control escapes. This time, it was even more useful than usual, because Nathan was looking at just the sort of position I frequently get stuck in. To start with, Nathan drilled a side control escape from when they have both their hands on the near side. Turn so that you’re on your side, then try to keep turning to your knees. It is essential that you keep your lower elbow tucked, ready to block any attempt by them to establish a hook, and similarly defend with your upper elbow. You also need to keep it close, so it isn’t vulnerable to attacks.

Having drilled that a few times, Nathan progressed to slightly different position, which is the one I often end up in. You are underneath side control, on your side. They have one arm under your neck, trying to reach for your collar. The other is looking to move past your hip, and possible isolate your arm for a submission.

To stop them getting your collar, arch your head back. You also need to make sure that your upper elbow stays by your hip, blocking any attempt by them to wriggle them arm through. Also bring your top knee up to your hip, which should both limit their movement and help prevent them sliding a knee through.

The next step is to grab the arm they have by your hip with both your hands, pushing it down, straightening your arms. Shrimp your hips into them to make space, then bring your top knee under their arm, so that your shin is pressing firmly into the crook of their elbow. You can now just hold with your bottom arm, pulling their sleeve towards you, so you’re creating enough tension on their arm that they can’t circle it free.

Keep shrimping back into them and pressing with your shin, until you can bring your other foot to the crook of their elbow. Once you’ve got that secured, you can push them even further, shoving on their head too if you need to make further space. This should enable you to slip your top knee past their hip. From there, you can establish guard, or possibly even go for a triangle.

This reminded me a bit of the ‘shin-in-elbow trick’ from Beneville’s Strategic Guard, which I brought up from home when I visited my parents last weekend. I’ll have to look that over again, and see if it helps ingrain the technique into my memory.

During specific sparring, I was still getting stuck underneath in a similar position. I was trying to be proactive, bridging and shrimping, but my timing is off, and I don’t think I’m adjusting as well as I should to their movements on top. I’m not getting that scarf hold escape at all: I think I might be failing to combine the shrimp with the straight-arming into their collar, and I also think I’m continuing to push to the side too much rather than straight up.

On top, I’m not getting that near elbow back when they free it. I had a go at collapsing my weight onto it, but I think I ended up just shifting off to the side instead, which wasn’t a whole lot of use. Also, I got straight-armed when I tried to shift to scarf hold, and eventually rolled. That happens quite often too.

So, I took the opportunity to ask Nathan what he tended to do in that situation. His response turned out to be relatively simple: grab their far elbow with the hand closest to their head, gripping around the elbow joint, so that your knuckles are facing away, fingers clasping around to the crook of their elbow. Twist and pull that towards you, while stepping over their head. From here, you can continue to attack the arm, or move round to establish side control on the other side.

When I saw Nathan demonstrate this on somebody else later on, he walked right round, scooping up their other arm to go for an arm triangle. Looks like a nifty response, so something I’d like to drill if I get the chance.

Hopefully I’ll be training tomorrow, but if not, I guess it will be next Tuesday again. There is a different bus that leaves ten minutes earlier, so I’ll give that a go. Annoyingly I’ll have to pay extra, as it isn’t covered by my bus pass (different bus company), but worth it if it means I can regularly make the Wednesday or Monday again. £60 for four lessons a month isn’t great, and only an hour a week is certainly far from ideal. So, fingers crossed I can get it back up to two a week and a least two and a half hours.

06/07/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #323
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK - 06/07/2010

Good article by Krista Scott-Dixon up on Grapplearts, here. She tackles the essential topic of attracting women to your BJJ school, and perhaps just as important, retaining them as members.

Speaking of women, a new one joined my family today, as my sister gave birth to her second daughter (so far, no nephews, which pleases me). As I don’t intend to have any kids myself, I’ve enjoyed being an uncle. I spent eight months looking after my first niece back when I was unemployed, so it will be interesting to see how she reacts to having a sister.

Getting back to training, as ever I couldn’t make the Monday, this time because I was visiting my girlfriend in Bristol. The buses have also changed now that it’s out of term time, so Wednesdays are going to be much tougher to make: it could be that I’ll be limited to just Tuesdays, but hopefully not.

Nathan continued his coverage of side control today. Having gone through the usual drill where we go from side control to mount to side control, he then showed us another method for moving from side control to mount. You start with a tight mount, having already cleared the elbow. First, bring your elbow over their head and slide it back, so that their skull is squished between your elbow and knee. You also want to make sure you’re controlling their far arm, so they can’t get their elbow to the mat and turn.

Instead, you’re going to turn, switching your base so you’re facing their legs. Grab their leg to limit their mobility, while also pushing back into their armpit with your hips, until you’re effectively sitting on their face. Having made all that space, you can bring your foot over to their far hip, without putting it on the floor. Instead, you’re going to use that hook on their hip to twist into mount.

Nathan then progressed to the bottom perspective, with an escape from side control, in that same position. If you’re on the bottom and they bring their arm over, you want to do two things. First, you’re going to grip around the back of their gi so that you’re grabbing the material behind their neck. Pull it tight, so that they can’t possibly attack your arm: if you leave the elbow expose, they’ll either move round to eventually go for a kimura, or potentially just raise up and attack the straightened arm.

If instead you’re pulling them down, with your elbow up high by their shoulder, there isn’t much they can do. This is made safer by ‘chicken dancing’ your other elbow against their knee, to wriggle your back up the mat. That elbow by their knee means they can’t move to north-south, and they also can’t re-establish a tight side control by moving back up under your armpit. You are also going to grab that knee, for reasons which will become clear in a moment.

The main thing they’ll probably do from here is switch their hips, looking to get into some kind of scarf hold to restore their previous control. You’ll be waiting for the moment they switch their hips: if you time it right, you can bridge up into them, switching your hips over as you do, so that you end up rolling them onto their back. Due to your high elbow position, you can slide that around their head, while keeping your own head low.

This should result in a solid arm triangle position. You can increase the pressure by coming up on your toes slightly and driving your shoulder into them, solidifying your position further as you do. Either go for the submission from there, or alternatively use it as a firm controlling point to move into mount. You could also reach around to grab wrist control, then shift to take their back.

If they should happen to get half guard in the midst of that, it doesn’t really matter. You can still work the submission, or just keep up the pressure with your shoulder, slide your knee through and establish mount. They’ll find it difficult to get a secure half guard if you’ve got that control around their head and arm.

Specific sparring went as it often does from side control, where I found I could normally escape from side control eventually, either by recovering half guard or slowly working my knee through for full guard. However, I’m still not getting that scarf hold escape properly, where you brace their lapel against their neck: one thing I think I’m doing wrong is not pushing up enough. I tried to get into place to push on the back of the elbow when they put both arms over too, but that’s also something where I need a lot more work to get used to the principle and iron out the details.

On top, I struggled to keep the position: my training partner had clearly paid attention to Nathan’s repeated advice to get that elbow to the mat, as it was tough to stop him doing it. I tried moving to scarf and north-south, but that elbow kept slipping free. I could possibly try collapsing my weight on that arm more, or be more pro-active about attacking the far arm to distract them, or perhaps even the neck with some kind of choke.

Moving to mount by quickly sliding my knee over did work at one point, but probably because he was expecting another extended battle of the knees and elbows. I also almost made it to the back at one point, but he was wise to it, getting half guard and spinning to face me before I could establish both my hooks.

Getting into free sparring, there was a bit more of that side control, though I also found myself in his guard at one point. It seems like ages since I’ve been in a position to practice passing, and as ever I was too passive and slow to react. Some specific work on guard would definitely be handy, as much as I’ve enjoyed the intense focus on side control over the last couple of months.

29/06/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #322
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK - 29/06/2010

I’ve been waiting for a bright, colourful BJJ hoody for a while now, and it’s finally arrived, in the shape of Scramble’s re-release of the ‘Newaza’ design...but this time in purple or green. You can pick them up here: the SLIDEY discount code will get you 10% off. I’m hoping it’s as bright a purple as Matt’s Lock’n’Roll shirt. :)

Once again, couldn’t make it on Monday, so back to the basics class. Still, that was no bad thing, as Nathan has been continuing his detailed dissection of side control fundamentals. First off was a straightforward side control to mount. You’re in a tight side control, and they try to push up into your neck to escape. Lean forward into their arm (but not so far they can roll you), then switch your hips.

You can either grab their near arm with your hand as you do this, or maintain a gable grip around their head and armpit, using your hip to scoop up and trap that near elbow. Immediately switch your hips back, simultaneously moving further up towards their head. This puts you in an even tighter side control than before, with improved control over their near elbow.

From here, you can walk your far hand under their far arm towards their head, slide your knee and shin over their stomach, then switch into mount, scooping up their other arm for good measure.

Nathan also covered another two side control escapes, beginning from the same position, but this time you’re on the bottom. As you push up into their neck, they switch to scarf hold. Keep pushing with your arm, driving their head towards your hip. With your other hand, being careful not to get trapped, reach under their arm and grab their elbow, then pull it towards you.

Shrimp your hips into them, still pushing them towards your hip, then switch one leg over the other. This should make it easier for you to come to your knees, which will simultaneously roll them over, putting them under your side control. During drilling, the person getting rolled should turn their head towards your hips, to avoid cricking their neck.

The second side control escape uses the same principle, but for a slightly different situation. This time, their side control is really tight, and you’re having no joy getting a forearm into their neck and pressing. So instead, you’re going to bait the Americana. Your arm under their neck will dangle loose.

As soon as they loosen their grip from under your head to go for it, get ready to bring your other hand to the back of that elbow. At the point their arm cross your face, you want to straight-arm into the back of their elbow, shoving it towards your hip. Again, shrimp into them, always maintaining a hold on their arm, then come up onto your free elbow for base.

The motion is now the same as before. Switch one leg over the other, then come to your knees. Try to imagine that there isn’t anyone on top of you, and you’re just shrimping out and going straight to your knees. You should end up lifting them with your hips, and then dropping them off the side and underneath you, without a great deal of force. If you find you’re having to muscle it, then you’re not quite getting the leverage right.

There was no specific sparring tonight (Nathan had earlier given us the option of either specific sparring or more technique: fortunately, we went with more technique), but there was time left for one free spar. I went with my training partner Amit, a white belt who is possible a bit bigger than me, but not by the usual huge margin.

So, that gave me a chance to practice attacks. I tried to get my preferred overhook, but the choke was probably too telegraphed. I looked to switch to a triangle, and got my legs locked and started to wiggle backwards, but I could see I was losing it. That meant it was time to switch to an omoplata, but my transition was sloppy. I didn’t flatten him out enough, retain enough control over the arm, or get a decent grip over his back.

I did manage to land an Americana or two from top half guard, but I think that was mainly down to his inexperience rather than any skill on my part. The arm was left out there as he was trying to escape, so that meant I could lock on the figure-four. Still, there again I was sloppier than I would have liked, without especially solid top control or a particularly good angle.

Should be training again tomorrow. I also was able to give my Zero G gi its first outing since Wycombe, as I finally had a chance to visit home last weekend and pick it up again. Once I’ve put that through a few more weeks, I’ll try to get a review together (though all the review you could ever want of the Tatami Fightwear gi is already up on Meerkatsu’s site).

22/06/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #320
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK - 22/06/2010

For the second week in a row I couldn’t make the bus on time to get to Monday, and annoying, the same thing happened on Wednesday. Same story this Monday, so as usual I went to my back up of Tuesday. Hopefully this week, I will be able to do Wednesday, though as I have a free weekend, there’s the option of Friday too (I’m planning on visiting home, but Friday class probably finishes early enough that I could still make it at a reasonable hour).

As with the other lessons by Nathan I’ve been to so far, tonight was about control from the top. There was a clear progression, beginning by drilling a side control escape. Wedge your forearm into their neck, gripping over their shoulder blade. Lever up your wrist, bridge to get your other elbow in, then shrimp into that space. Move your knee in to guard, making sure you control their arms: otherwise, they can just pass back to side control.

From the top, as soon as somebody presses up into your neck, you want to go to scarf hold. Lean slightly forward (be careful, as if you overbalance, they could roll you straight over), then switch your hips, aiming to scoop up their elbow as you bring your leg close to their side, foot past the head. Your other leg will be up, to create a solid base.

Keep your head low, and most importantly, keep a firm control of their near arm. Ideally you want to hold behind their tricep, but grabbing somewhere on their upper sleeve will do. If they start to get their elbow down, yank it back up, pressing forwards with your hips if you need some extra power.

From here, you can move from side control to mount. Switch your hips back, moving higher towards their head. You should now have their arm right out of the way, while one of your own arms will be controlling their far elbow, with the other arm is underneath their head. To being your transition, the head arm is going to move to the far side, then you’ll slide your elbow right back into their skull. This will trap their head between your elbow and your knee, severely limiting their movement.

You’re now going to switch your hips again, so that you’re facing their legs, in reverse scarf hold. The arm by their head will stay where it is, while the arm you were using to control their far elbow will instead grab the top of their near pant leg. This means you can both control their hips and a point from which to push, to help your hips scoot backwards towards their head.

You want to shove your hips as far back as you can, so that you’re effectively lying on their face. This is very uncomfortable, and also restricts their view. You can now bring your foot over to their far hip: don’t just swing your leg over, but instead curl it inwards. If you’re not flexible enough, just grab your foot and pull it over. You can then twist to mount, scooping up their arm in the process.

We did some light specific sparring from that tight side control, which was particularly light due to one of my partner’s being smaller than me, while the other had a back injury he was watching carefully. That meant I could try and really concentrate on the technique, so from the bottom, that meant I was paying particular attention to getting my elbow free, then making space to wedge my knee in.

I was also attempting to put Norby’s scarf hold escape into action, though I found it difficult to get my arms straight. Sneaking an arm under sort of worked, though my timing needs work, as I almost managed to just get it trapped rather than in place for an escape.

On top, I tried to keep my hips down, and time my hip switch to match the moment they pushed up with their arms. That continued into the next bit of specific sparring from side control, again with the near arm already cleared. As the only other blue belt was injured, I took the opportunity to go with the biggest guy there, as that should mean that if I made any mistakes, his power would be enough to throw me off.

He was fairly inexperienced, but still, it made for an interesting test of holding down a larger opponent, again trying to time that hip switch while also keeping control of the arm. Underneath I was trying to get my elbow free, then make space and shrimp. I’m also making sure to remember to grip around the shoulder blade and lever up with my wrist, to make it more difficult for them to press their head down.

Free sparring at the end was with a small white belt, so as before I was trying to think about technique. I had a play with that same spider guard series from Braulio’s video, but I’m still not quite securing that grip properly. I also tried to get into the same scarf hold position as earlier, so my training partner had a chance to practice.

Should be in again tomorrow for the advanced gi class, which will be a very different sparring experience, but we’ll see how work and buses sync up.

15/06/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #319
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK - 15/06/2010

I couldn’t make the advanced gi on Monday, so did my usual backup of the basics Tuesday class. That also has the advantage of starting later, so even though I stayed on at work for thirty minutes, I didn’t having any trouble getting to Leamington train station to get to Acocks Green in time.


As I walked in GB Brum, Kevin was showing a useful looking escape from side control to the advanced no-gi class. I didn’t see it from the start, so probably missed some details, but it looked as though they have a normal side control. You keep your elbows in, grasping their underhooking arm with both hands, on either side of the shoulder. That means you can also use the lower part of your arm against their neck if required: Kevin noted that you should never rely on just your wrist or hand, as they can simply collapse that with their weight.

You’re then going to make a powerful bridge, by bringing your heels right to your bum. That gives you some extra force, as you aim to either bridge them right off, or at least make enough space to get your knee in. Due to your elbows both moving beneath their torso, that makes it more difficult for them to collapse their weight back down. Shame I didn’t see it from the start, as it looked interesting.

Nathan’s class began with several drills, which are always useful. For example, where you stand up in their guard, with a grip of both collars, the other hand driving their same side sleeve into their opposite hip. This controls that arm and also helps to immobilise their hips. As you stand up, you let go of the collars, pulling the arm up, but also keeping your elbow inside their knee.

Make sure you drive your hips forward too, to keep the pressure on: something I often forget to do. My passing remains terrible: it would be good to get some guard passing classes at some point again, as it feels like it’s been a while. That also reminds me to review my notes from Kev Capel’s private a while back, which presented a good set of tools for passing.

The main part of Nathan’s basics session was focused on side control. He began with a transition to mount, similar to what he’s shown before. You have a tight side control, and have already cleared their near elbow. First, shift your hips up towards their head, getting as tight as possible. Walk the hand that is under their far arm towards their head, until you can reach the top of their skull.

You can then slide your knee onto their stomach, but don’t go all the way to the floor yet. Keep twisting towards the area you just vacated, to bend their body and make it more difficult for them to bridge. You can also move up towards their head, staying tight. Once you’re secure, go to full mount, and there is the possibility of either digging their arm into position for an arm triangle, or setting up an armbar by getting a good high mount.

Nathan then demonstrated how to move into a triangle from side control. This isn’t the option I like to try where you step over their head from scarf hold, but instead a transition straight into a mounted submission. As before, you have a solid side control, and have cleared their near elbow. Also as before, you want to shift your hips towards their head, then walk your hand underneath their far arm.

This time, you’re going to manoeuvre that arm to the ground, pressing their wrist to the mat with your hand. You can then feed it to the hand you have under their head. Next, drive your hips forward and straighten your arm. That will prevent them turning their head, and it also puts them on their side. Be certain to keep that near arm of theirs trapped, so they aren’t able to pull their elbow free.

Now put your free hand on their torso, using that as a post to swing your leg over and sit on them. You then want to slide it over the arm you’re gripping, at which point you can let go to pull their head up and towards you. That should provide enough room to wrap your leg under their head, meaning that their recently freed arm is of no real use to them. Grab your ankle to maintain the grip.

Lean forward and post with your free hand, in order to get the space to then lock up the triangle with your other leg. From here, you can either go for the triangle, attack their arm, or indeed go for a wristlock. Your weight is on their neck, and their bridges aren’t going to be very effective, as their hips are so far away.

Finally, Nathan switched perspective for an escape from side control. This time, it’s your elbow that’s been cleared out the way, so the first thing you need to do is get it back. Start by digging the hand near their head into their jaw line, knuckles first, until you can slide the forearm under their neck. You can then grip around their shoulder blade and pry their head up, by lifting your wrist and thereby driving your forearm into their neck.

This is unpleasant (meaning that I try not to be too gung ho with this in drilling: fortunately, my training partner tonight was of a similar mindset), so you’ll suddenly find you have some space to free your trapped elbow. You can then shrimp out, bring your knee in and recover guard. That forearm against their neck will make it difficult for them to bring their weight down, while the elbow by their hip prevents their motion forwards.

Specific sparring was unusual, in that for once most of my training partners were either my size or smaller. There also weren’t any other blue belts there this time round: Gary normally attends the Tuesday basics, but I guess he must have been teaching at his kickboxing club or something. So, that meant I had a chance to practice both on top and on the bottom.

On top, I tried moving into reverse scarf hold to mount, which worked nicely the first time, but then that was against somebody a fair bit smaller (I did try to focus on technique, but it is always hard to know if you’ve managed to avoid using a size advantage, especially if you’re not used to having one). The second time, I don’t think I controlled their torso well enough, as they were able to get onto their side. I should probably have made better use of the arm by their head, and perhaps grabbed a knee or something before they managed to turn.

Underneath, I looked to put Norby’s advice from Saturday into practice, especially as I was starting from the worst position possible, with both of my arms clear. Again, that worked a few times, but I think I wasn’t always concentrating enough on bending their head towards their shoulder coupled with a firm bridge. It is definitely good to have that option for when they’ve managed to isolate your far arm, so something I’ll be looking to try more often (though it is of course much more difficult against bigger people, especially if they’re more experienced).

18/05/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #312
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK - 18/05/2010

I cleverly managed to leave my house keys at my gf's place in Bristol on Sunday, which meant I couldn't actually get into my flat until Tuesday. That also meant I couldn't get to my gi on Monday, so I shifted my schedule to the Tuesday beginner class instead. I'm very fortunate in that my gf is not only lovely, but rather more efficient than I am, so she quickly got those keys sent up to my office. Otherwise I probably would have had to write most of the training this week off.

Nathan began with some interesting drills, where the idea was to lie next to your partner in various configurations, such as head to toe or back to back on your side, then try to get to a dominant position on top as soon as Nathan shouted 'go!' Presumably the idea is to develop the ability to scramble, as well as not easily give up the mount/side control etc.

In terms of technique, tonight's session was a continuation of what Nathan taught last week. Having secured the mount, you could now go for a choke. They will most likely have their elbows in, hands crossed over, looking to defend their neck. Attack their top arm, pushing it down as if you're going for an Americana. If they don't defend then keep going, but most likely they will turn towards the arm you're attacking.

That helps defend against the Americana, but it also presents their collar to you. Reach in deep with your opposite hand, palm up. If you want to get deeper, wriggle your knuckles to work your way to their label. You can also pull up on their gi collar lower down with your other hand. Once you've established that grip, bring your free elbow around to the other side of their head, and grab behind their shoulder.

Next, scrape your forearm over their face. This can be very unpleasant, which should enable you to press your forearm into their neck. I get the impression Nathan doesn't subscribe to Saulo Ribeiro's "treat your training partner like your best friend" school of thought. Still, it is undeniably effective: my drilling partner, Sofia (or maybe Sophia, not sure on the spelling) made good use of her forearms and gi to really dig in, so that it was almost a relief when she started to apply the choke. There are going to be a lot of gi burned necks tomorrow!

I frequently have trouble getting the right position for cross chokes, so I was looking closely to identify the right position. Judging by that, you want to get the top of your wrists (so just under the bottom of your palm, on your thumb side) close to their earlobes. You then bring your elbows back (don't flare them), then twisting your hands so your palms face in the opposite direction, drag your collar hand back.

Another option is to go for the ezekiel choke, something I've wanted to get right for a good while now. One arm goes under their neck, then that hand grabs your free arm's sleeve. Pull that fabric tight into their neck. Your head is close to theirs, helping you to sneak your free hand through across their neck. You can now pull with your sleeve grip and chop with your other hand, as if you were attempting to decapitate your opponent.

If they try to bridge you off, then remember to use your head as a third arm, posting on your forehead. You can also attempt to ‘ride’ their bridge by lifting your hips, taking away their power. This is something Saulo talks about in his DVD, though possibly a little different, as he was raised up, rather than bending forward in the process of attacking with a choke.

Alternatively, you can make your free hand into a fist. Wriggle your knuckles into place, then again, press down with that hand while pulling your sleeve under their neck. In both cases, this choke is generally quite swift, whereas the earlier submission can be slow, and may require you hold it for a bit before it takes effect.

As I'm always getting my hand blocked when I try this, I asked Nathan for his advice. He suggested that if their focusing on blocking that hand, you might find you have an opportunity to scoop up under their elbow with your same side arm, launching a new submission attempt. In turn, that may act as enough of a distraction to get your hand through for the ezekiel. This is possibly what Kintanon has been advising I try, when he says you can switch from an ezekiel to an armbar.

Specific sparring was from mount, with four of us staying on the bottom for a round. I was in the first group, and found that I could generally get an elbow into their knee, and then shift to half guard. Sometimes it also enabled me to just make some space, whereupon I could bring a knee through and work into open guard. Still, it was all white belts, as the other two blues in the class were in the same group as me.

On top, I went with two white belts, beginning with my drilling partner. As I have a size advantage, I tried to stay as technical as possible, but I'm still dubious that the manner in which I shifted to an armbar would have worked against anybody bigger. Most likely I left a little bit of space when shifting my legs up, which was covered by that size difference.

It is rare that I'm bigger, but makes for a nice change. My next partner reversed that situation, as he definitely had a bit of size on me. However, I'm pleased that I was able to keep him on his back, maintaining a low grapevined mount. Reaching around to grab material on the opposite shoulder, as demonstrated by Rob a few lessons back, definitely helped. Of course, I didn't manage to launch any attacks, which is the important next step: position then submission.

There wasn't any free sparring this time, so that will wait until tomorrow's advanced lesson. Hopefully my neck won't be too sore: I'm definitely not looking forward to shaving in the morning!

11/05/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #311
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK - 11/05/2010

Due to that seminar tomorrow, I went to yet another class tonight, this time the basic gi session. It's an hour shorter than the advanced, like at Roger's (speaking of which, a guy who used to train there but is now at GB Brum recognised me and said hello, which was nice), but unlike Roger's, all levels are allowed to train. That means that you'll see purple and brown belts training alongside the fresh faced white belts. When I was in London, as soon as you got your blue, you had to train in the advanced class.

On the one hand that's good, as it forces lazy people like me to go train with the higher level people. On the other hand, it means you can't keep on working your fundamentals, not to mention that a few higher level people can still be found in the basic class.

The advanced no-gi class begins half an hour earlier, then continues on concurrently with the basics. That means that I arrived in time to watch Kev demonstrate the same deep half guard pass he showed yesterday, but for nogi. So, that could be an advantage to training Monday and Tuesday, as if Kev always follows that pattern, you get a chance to either refine your technique directly if you go for the nogi, or at least watch it a second time from the sidelines if you don't.

My training partner tonight was a fellow blue called Gary, who mentioned that he also runs his own kickboxing club, where he incorporates his grappling into something he called 'combat jiu jitsu'. It isn't quite MMA, as no punching to the head, but sounds like it could be a useful stepping stone.

Nathan, who has taken the warm-up for the advanced a few times, was in charge of the lesson. After the standard running around the room, his class was all drills, which gradually progressed into more complex sequences. This finished up with demonstrating how to transition from side control to mount. The first option was to get into a standard tight side control with a gable grip and heavy shoulder pressure, having already cleared their near elbow. Staying tight, slide your arm to the other side of their head (try to avoid raising it up). Bring that arm under their far arm, meaning you can bring your other hand to their near hip.

You can now switch to face their legs (so reverse scarf hold, I think), shifting your hips back into their near arm to make space. Keep on shifting back into their head until they are starting to bridge to try and relieve the pressure. Grab your foot and pull it across to their far hip: you want to avoid leaving it vulnerable to their attempts at grabbing half guard. You can then settle into a tight mount.

Nathan made the point here that you shouldn't be in a rush: hold the position. He cited an example from when he once competed as a blue, and managed to quickly move from side to mount to the back, then back to mount. However, because he did it so fast, pre-empting his opponent, he only got a few advantages. If he'd held each position a little longer, he would have been way ahead on points (he did still win, of course ;p).

The next transition from side control to the mount was a little different. This time, you press your weight forward (being careful not to overbalance), then use that space to bring the knee nearest their head even closer and higher. The hand under their head reaches further, to grab under their far armpit. Your other hand (underneath their far arm) walks up past their head, meaning that both their arms are now uncomfortably squished.

Bring your knee over their stomach, sliding it to the floor. Turn your upper body towards their near side, moving into mount, squeezing your knees. Push your feet into their sides, enabling you to move forward, again putting them in a very uncomfortable position. From here, you could then shift your head around their arm, wriggle down and go for an arm triangle. However, again the point of the drill was to make sure you establish a good position.

Specific sparring was naturally from side control, with that near elbow already trapped. To continue to focus on position, you weren't allowed to use any submissions. That made escaping much easier, because I didn't have to worry about the usually frequent danger of either an Americana, armbar or choke. So, I was able to gradually squirm free a few times.

On top, I had a harder time, as I wasn't able to move into mount. However, there is a small chance I might have got there eventually, as I was concentrating on being very slow and steady, keeping my partner in tight with my grip, and also trying to shift my knee up closer to the head, as in the drill. I got into a sort of reverse scarf hold, and was in the process of shifting back and then getting my knee across when time ran out. Of course, I may have got swept or something in the next couple of moments.

In free sparring, submissions were back on, and made all the difference. I soon found myself under side control, as Mike was having none of my flailing at spider or butterfly guard, easily controlling my legs and passing. He immediately looked to attack the arm, and eventually got in place for an armbar. I was able to block with my other arm and grab his leg, in an awkward position where he was belly down and I was facing away from him.

I spent what seemed like ages sat there in basically a stalling position, trying to think exactly where my arm now was in relation to his body, and how I should look to escape. I thought about rolling, shifting round the leg, or perhaps pressing into him. What I should have done is tried to get to a point where I was stacking him, but eventually his superior position paid off and he got the arm.

That's training done for the week, so it will be nice to have a rest after several days on the trot. One thing to note is that there is an unfortunate problem with the showers, in that you can only use a single shower at a time, otherwise nobody gets any hot water. Personally I would be happy enough with cold water in the interests of speed, but that isn't very fair to everyone else. So, just means I have to be quick once I get in there.