17/01/2013 - Teaching (Passing Knee Shield Half Guard/Z-Guard)

Teaching #087
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/01/2013

Geeza has shifted the teaching schedule around for this year, so that it is not in two week chunks anymore. Instead, we have one week sections, but each fortnight will still be related: i.e., top side control followed by bottom side control. This week works out as still being passing guard, so I could continue my half guard passing series. Next week will return me to my favourite teaching topic, escaping side control: I'll also be teaching more than usual as I'm covering some classes, so that should be interesting.

Tonight I'm continuing with half guard. As mentioned earlier this week in Dónal's class, one of the most frustrating obstacles when passing the half guard is encountering a knee shield, also known as z-guard or shin guard. I didn't want to simply re-teach Dónal's class (I'd completely forgotten this, but it turns out I've learned that technique before, at Roy Dean's first UK seminar), so instead I started with an attempt to look at passing the knee shield conceptually.

I wanted to emphasise the control points (worth noting here that John's excellent theoretical framework for control in BJJ applies here too) and movements that are key to the two passes I wanted to share, as well as the technique we learned on Tuesday. First off, if their knee shield is high on your chest, it will be more difficult to push down. You can try shoving it down with your hands, but that not only exposes you to potential attack, it gives them a chance to move away and you might lose your passing opportunity. Try to use your bodyweight if possible.

You then need to make sure they can't move their hips. Dónal did that by driving his trapped knee through, into their hip. You can also accomplish it by pinning either their lower or upper leg some other way, which we'll be covering. You also want to block their upper body: Dónal flattened them onto their back, but there are alternatives, such as pinning them in place. Finally, you need to get used to sliding over and past their upper leg while still maintaining maximum downwards pressure.

As ever with Operation Tattered Belt, my first technique comes from Saulo's book. On p219, Saulo has an option for what he calls 'open half guard', which in this instance is the same as knee shield. To pass the knee shield, Saulo (or rather his brother Xande) demonstrates the importance of switching your hips. Staying close, sprawl back, also grabbing their lower knee with your same side hand, while the other wraps around their back. This performs a similar function to driving the knee through like on Tuesday, as it blocks them from easily moving their legs and by extension their hips.

Base your free leg out and stretching your trapped leg back. Switch your hips, so that you're driving your hips downwards into their blocking knee. When you've made good progress on driving that knee to the mat, slide your previously trapped leg over theirs, then move around to side control, continuing to keep the pressure on. As soon as you get past their knee, you might find it helpful to then shift your hips backwards into their knee to clear the way for side control.

Jason Scully demonstrates some other options in what he calls the staple pass. Rather than controlling their upper body by flattening them like Donal or simply staying close like Saulo's book, Scully puts his head down onto the mat by their armpit. His far arm has the elbow close to the mat, which is similar to Saulo's version, although Scully notes you can reach for an underhook. Also like Saulo, he takes hold of the lower knee with his hand to stop them moving: this accomplishes a similar result to Dónal driving his knee across into their hip.

The 'staple' part is a little different. Similar to how you can circle back with your leg to add a brace for the half guard smash pass from a few weeks ago, to beat the knee shield you can circle your leg back to brace against the lower part of their bottom leg, in order to hold it in place. Cut your other knee across, basing the bracing leg out and stepping it forward. From here, it is possible to continue through and pass like Saulo.

However, Scully's version involves a change of direction. Shift your grip to their top knee, clamping that to the mat. Use that, your other arm and your head for base, then hop your legs over to the other side, establishing side control. It is much the same motion as in Kev's xmas guard passing drills last month.

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Teaching Notes: I have had the pleasure of learning BJJ from two excellent instructors called Kev. Normally I'm referring to Kev Capel at RGA Bucks, but today I'll be referring to Kevin Webb, who taught me a few times when I was briefly at Gracie Barra Birmingham. Back in April 2010, Kev Webb demonstrated some half guard passing when they have a knee shield in place. I was thinking about it teaching it, but from my notes I'm not totally sure I can remember enough to do a good job, and it also looks as though it may involve too much jerking of the leg to be safe for my groin injury. Still, I remember it being a great class, so it's something I'd like to play around with once my injury is sorted.

I considered a few other variations too, like a simple one where you simply shifted your hips around and turned towards their legs, but plumped for the two that seemed to fit together. If it wasn't for Operation Tattered Belt, I'm not sure I would teach the version from Saulo's book, as I find people often get caught on that trailing leg. Stapling it seems more effective, or at least easier to understand.

Having said that, I did notice that at various points students had trouble reaching back with their leg. The key seems to be sprawling back onto the bottom person's leg, shifting across to make sure that your leg is folding theirs over. If they have enough room to stick their leg straight up, it may be difficult to snag it with your own leg, as they can stick their leg quite high and close to your butt. That makes it very hard to catch with your leg, but should also make it vulnerable to sprawling backwards on top of it.

Next time, I'll definitely emphasise the sprawl more when teaching. I kept mentioning staying on your toes, which is another point, but should also emphasise jamming that bottom leg into the mat with your grip. That makes a big difference. Pushing with your trapped knee, as in Dónal's pass, is something else I could mention during the teaching. Still, I need to maintain a balance between useful information and overloading people.

With the review at the end, I'm currently facing away and moving through the move on my own, shouting out the instructions. It would be better if I could get to a stage where I don't need to run through it myself, and can instead just run everybody else through the instructions. I'll have to reverse right and left in my head, but apart from that it shouldn't be too hard to institute.

10/01/2013 - Teaching (Opposite Side Half Guard Pass)

Teaching #086
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/01/2013

Today I wanted to take a look at a pass Ed Beneville and Tim Cartmell refer to as 'inverted half guard' in their excellent book, which I first learned from Roger Gracie a few years ago. In Jiu Jitsu University, Saulo uses the term 'opposite side pass', which is more clunky but also easier to understand. 'Inverted' is mainly associated with being upside down in BJJ, so I'll stick with Saulo's nomenclature.

The orthodox method to pass the half guard is to get a similar 'super-hold' (as Xande calls it) as you would in side control, then use shoulder pressure to hold them in place as you bounce your leg free and slide through. That's what I taught last week. With the opposite side pass, you're also trying to control their upper body. In Saulo's version of the pass, on p307 of his book, they already have an underhook. He therefore grips over the top of that underhooking arm, securing it by gripping the gi material by the small of their back. Posting on his free hand, he then swings his free leg over, ending up sat next to them. He suggests grabbing their knee initially, then shifting to grabbing the far hip.

I would prefer to grab the knee and maintain that grip, to prevent a counter they can try where they open their half guard then hook under your knee, lifting and driving through to the top position. Either way, once you're over, you need to keep control of their upper body, or they will be able to simply turn towards you and take the top position.

To prevent that, control them with your grip on the back, as well as maintaining pressure with your head and chest on their upper body. You then want to work your leg free, which may be easier said than done. The simplest approach is to push on their bottom leg with your free foot, extricating yourself from half guard and taking top side control. You can also try pulling their leg towards you in order to help create the space to free yourself.

After drilling that and then doing some progressive resistance, I added in some more details, mainly regarding grips. Option one is to reach under their head with the arm on the same side as your trapped leg: that may feel counter-intuitive, as normally that is the arm you would use to underhook, but this is because you're swinging over to the other side.

Option two, still with that trapped-side arm, is to grab their opposite shoulder. This is a nastier option, as that means when you swing over to the trapped-leg side, your forearm will drive into their throat (and is why I wouldn't recommend it, as it is relying more on pain compliance than leverage). If they have a gi, you can also try grabbing their opposite collar, but that may firstly limit the amount of arm across their throat and secondly be overly loose, unless you make sure to take the slack out of their collar first.

Option three comes from the Beneville book: if you can get this one, it's probably the tightest option. Before you swing over, open up their lapel on the free leg side. Pass the end of their gi to the hand you have under their head and feed it through. Push their head slightly towards the trapped leg side, then shove your head in the space you’ve created. You can use your head for base, along with your free hand if required.

After you've swung over, watch out for a counter they may try, which is to lift up your leg with their far foot, flipping you over. To re-counter that, immediately switch from holding the knee to hooking behind their knee with your arm. That should stop them lifting for the sweep. Alternatively, you can also do a big step over to the other side as they try to flip you to your back.
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Teaching Notes: I was trying to think of a 'simple' version to start off, deciding to teach Saulo's version first. I'm not sure if that was in fact the most straightforward, but the students seemed to understand it ok: hopefully I'll be able to get some feedback to hear their thoughts on it. I'm not really that keen on the grip over the underhook, but it's a viable option, particularly if you've already been put in a bad position due to their underhook. You have the option of a whizzer to control them too, or maybe even a brabo choke.

Like last week I wanted to continue switching people after each round, rather than waiting two rounds. Also like last week, that meant I had to be careful that everybody had a chance to work both top and bottom. I decided to put people in four corners then have them shift around to the right. However, that swiftly got confusing: it just about meant everybody had a chance to work with everybody else, but there must be a better system. Next time, I'll try counting off in pairs, then have the number 2s stay where they are while the number 1s move around after each round. Hopefully that will work better.

Again, I did a review at the end. I split it into two, running through the technique once with Saulo's version, then the three grip variations. I thought it was better to go through the technique once and then show the grip variations in isolation. I could have shown the four grip variations then complete the technique, but I decided that would be more confusing. I could be wrong: as ever, let me know your feedback, especially if you were in the class. :D

03/01/2013 - Teaching (Basic Half Guard Pass)

Teaching #085
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/01/2013

Continuing with half guard (mainly because I'm hoping that aggravates my injury less), I'm moving on to half guard passes. In terms of your basic positioning on top, you are primarily looking to get head control and an underhook, similar to top side control. If you can't get the underhook, keep your elbow close to their hip, so they can't underhook you. Sprawl back on one leg, so you are dropping your hips and putting maximum weight onto them. You also don't want to be too high, as that may give them space to shrimp and recover full guard.

Your opening goal is to get them flat on the mat: there are passes you can do while they are on their side, but generally speaking it is much easier if their back is pinned to the floor. Returning to Operation Tattered Belt, Saulo's discussion of passing half guard begins on p289 of his book, with a simple method of flattening the opponent out. Drive your free knee into their hip, then step your trapped leg up and away from you. Having generated some space, drive the trapped knee forwards as your return it to the mat, which should also help you drive your opponent to the mat as well. We did a quick resistance drill on that, to kick things off. I'm trying to think how to break a technique down into basic drill, basic technique, then troubleshooting. Tonight is the first time I'm testing that methodology, as this is a technique with which I'm fairly familiar.

If you are able to get the cross-face and an underhook, there is now the option of generating lots of shoulder pressure. This is my favourite way to pass the half guard: both Saulo and his brother refer to this as the 'esgrima pass'. Drive your shoulder into their head, which should cause them to turn their head. Your head goes on the other side, locking their head into place. It should now become hard for them to move, because their head is stuck.

From here, come up on your feet so that all your weight is driving through your shoulder. Even if you're small, this should maximise your weight. I'm only 66kgs, but if I can get all of that weight against somebody's head, it becomes more significant. From there, bounce your trapped knee to wriggle it free. As soon as it is clear, twist and put that knee on the mat. You can then kick their leg off your foot: some people prefer to kick the top leg, but I would generally go for the bottom leg.

I started with that 'best case scenario' option, keeping it straightforward to introduce students to the concept and mechanics. For the next technical section, we had a look at what to do if that doesn't work (what Carlos Machado referred to as troubleshooting when I interviewed him in Texas). If you find they are blocking your cross-face, use your head instead, putting that on the cross-facing side. Slide it in tight to their skull. The arm that would have been cross-facing them grabs their same side knee, to keep it in place. Once your trapped knee clears their legs, bring it to the mat and switch your grip from their knee to their elbow. Slide through to scarf hold.

You may also find that they have got up onto their side, going for their own underhook. If you aren't able to establish your underhook, use a whizzer instead (overwrap their underhooking arm with your own). From there, drive into their chest with your own, in order to flatten them out. You can then crossface, and work to get your underhook.

If you're really struggling to finish the pass because they have a death grip on your foot, try circling your free foot backwards, to hook over their inner thigh. In Xande's version of the pass from the earlier picture, he starts off with that hook in place. This should help to press down on their thigh to make some space, in order to pull your trapped leg loose.

Whatever else you're doing, you can always try to distract your opponent by attacking their upper body: for example, go for a bent armlock. If you can get them to start worrying about the submission rather than keeping their legs locked, you may be able to work the pass more easily. Best of all, you may even finish that submission, which ends the match right there (but remember, if you're drilling passing in class, you want to focus on passing, as that puts you in a much better position to submit).
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Teaching Notes: I have a tendency to throw all the information at people at once. Continuing my approach from last week, I wanted to try and break it down a little. I began with a simple drill to flatten them out. That was followed by a basic version of the esgrima pass, without going into much depth on 'what ifs' and the like. After they had drilled and done progressive resistance on that, I went through the same technique, but with more details. So, what to do if you can't get the cross-face, hooking back if you can't dislodge the leg, whizzer if you can't get the underhook etc.

I think the structure was ok, although I'm not certain I'll keep the drill at the start. I also think that four separate things to keep in mind on the last bit of drilling is too much: I heard a few people who were having trouble remembering all of them. Naturally I was there to remind them, but I took it as an indication I should streamline that section. So, perhaps just the cross-facing with the head and point about submissions, moving the whizzer and underhook details to the opening drill.

Mike also had some useful feedback at the end, noting that he had found during sparring that people were tending to focus heavily on the underhook but forget about the cross-face. The underhook is important as that stops them taking your back, but the cross-face is equally if not more important in terms of establishing a strong control. So, that's something to emphasise more next time.

During sparring, I was able to finally implement a suggestion Julia made ages ago, about switching partners in the midst of drills in order to give people a range of body types to test technique. Dharni has mentioned this too, saying that you can start to get used to your partner's reactions if you're with the same person for the while session. Normally if I switch, I do it after two rounds: tonight I did it after one.

That meant I had to be a bit more careful, because I always do specific sparring: one person is on top, the other on the bottom. If you switch after one round, then you have to make sure everybody who was on top now goes on the bottom, which isn't something I normally have to keep in mind. Still, all seemed to work. If I had a larger class, I'd probably have to say something like "everybody who was on top, move round to the person on your right".

I had a look to see if anybody was playing with the lockdown, but as nobody was (except for a brief bit of footsie from one of the blue belts), I decided to leave teaching that pass for another lesson. Previously I combined the basic half guard pass with beating the lockdown, but although they are both from half guard they aren't immediately related. Therefore the two techniques probably work better in different sessions, rather than trying to combine.

I'm still finishing off each lesson with a review of the techniques that day, using the John Will method of having everybody face the same way. I went through the technique solo at the front, which worked well because it meant nobody was without a partner to run through the techniques. Being able to say "left arm here, right arm here" makes things so much easier. I would like to try that method for teaching a technique at some point too, but not just yet. Maybe if a particularly large number of students turn up.

13/12/2012 - Teaching (Bridging Back & Body Triangle Escapes)

Teaching #082
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 13/12/2012

Last Sunday was the 4th Gracie Barra Bristol No Time Limit Submission Only Competition. I was mainly reffing for the third iteration, but this time Geeza had a new job for me: admin. I suspect that was due to the GrappleThon, to which the organisation of the sub only felt quite similar (especially chivvying people along), but with lots of paper in front of me rather than beautiful clean laptops. Next time, I may seriously consider bringing my laptop and having the brackets laid out in spreadsheets: that would be a lot easier to track. But meh, we'll see. Either way, great day, lots of good fights and reconnecting with friends from around the country (like Paula, Christian, Alison, Alex and others), along with making new friends, like Tanya. The full results are up on Facebook, here.

Operation Tattered Belt has been continuing over on Megan's and Jiu Jiu's blogs, where they've moved to knee on belly. That also reminds me, Julia put up an article by me about how I currently teach, here, which is apropos to this post, given I'm also writing about teaching. :)

I'm still teaching escaping the back at the moment. I exhausted the majority of back escapes from Saulo's book last week, so today I'm shifting to another basic technique, the bridging back escape. Saulo isn't a fan, listing the bridge escape under 'common misconceptions' in the back survival section of Jiu Jitsu University, but it is nevertheless standard at most schools I've visited. The motion is roughly similar to the bridge and shrimp under side control or mount to recover guard, but the body arrangement is quite different. Rather than trying to bridge and shrimp to crawl away from a weight on top that has pinned you to the mat, you're bridging to pin them and then crawl over the top of a weight behind you.

The method I'm familiar with was taught to me by Kev Capel (which incidentally is the same way Feitosa teaches it on Gracie Barra Fundamentals). Cross your hands under your jaw, pressing the back of each hand against your face, elbows in tight. This should both block attempts to press a forearm into your neck, while still enabling you to use your hands to intercept theirs. Interestingly, Brandon Mullins grabs their choking arm with both of his, reaching back to grab behind their elbow with one hand and their wrist with the other. He then pulls it across to create some space. Personally, I'd be worried about my neck with that method, but it's an option to try.

Bridge up, trying to get your head to the mat, with the intention of getting your shoulders to the mat. Keep moving to the side until you've created a bit of pressure on their hook. Brandon Mullins talks about a continuous motion of incremental shifts to the side and twists of the hips, until you can pop their hook off. Feitosa pushes it off with his same side hand, whereas Mullins prefers to use hip pressure, just like Xande and Saulo in the escape I taught last week.

Whichever method you use, do a big step over their leg (Mullins does a 'high step, bringing his knee up high towards his head, then putting the foot over) as soon as you pop it off, then move your hips over onto the floor. Grab their leg (the difficult part here is knowing when to move your hand to the leg, as you don't want to give them access to your neck), then drive with your legs to get your weight onto their chest.

You need to make sure that you keep your weight on their chest the whole time, gluing their upper body to the ground. Aim to get your head to their opposite shoulder. This part is much the same as last week's escape. Again like Xande, Mullins notes that they will mostly likely try to come on top. You still have their leg, so you can always just recover guard (though if you can get on top yourself, that's preferable).



To get on top, gradually walk around with your feet, maintaining that pressure on their chest. With your other hand (this will be the same hand that released their hooking foot earlier), reach over and grab their opposite leg. This is to stop them turning into you. It should now be a simple matter to twist into side control. You can also try hooking around their head: the picture above is from a slightly different scenario, as Xande is escaping the turtle, but similar principles apply.

I finished off with a simple escape from the body triangle, which I first learned from Nick Brooks. Once they lock the body triangle on you, your goal is to roll to the side of the dangling leg. Normally they will also be hooking their foot behind your knee (as this helps their control, because they can then lift and turn you).

If you can trap that leg on the floor, an easy footlock is now possible. Bring your nearest leg over the top of their dangling foot. Triangle your legs to prevent them moving their legs, then bridge, so that your hip shoves into the point at which their foot is locked behind their knee. That should cause sufficient pressure on their ankle and foot to make them tap. You can also try Brooks' version, where you instead use the heel of your foot to block their dangling leg in place, then bridge.

Two less effective options which may still yield results are to hook around their leg as they turn you to the other side. From here, you can again try and bridge into their locked foot and knee, but they have a much greater range of motion, so it will be tough to generate enough pressure. Similar, if their foot is dangling between your legs, you can try crossing your legs over that and bridging.

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Teaching Notes: I've been tending to say get your head to the mat, then try and get your shoulders to the mat. However, if you're trying to maximise your weight into their chest, I'm not sure if it is in fact better to keep your shoulders on them, rather than shifting them off then driving them back on. I guess it depends on what escape you're using, or if you're trying to combine escapes.

I reviewed the technique at the end again, but I would like to start reviewing the previous lessons technique in the warm-up at the start too. There weren't enough people there from last week to make that viable, but hopefully I'll be able to institute it at some point.

06/12/2012 - Teaching (Operation Tattered Belt: Basic Back Escapes)

Teaching #081
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 06/12/2012

I'm now back from Texas, but unfortunately my groin injury is still causing me problems, especially in closed guard and on the back. This fortnight is all about the back at Gracie Barra Bristol, so to give my leg a rest (holding back control with both hooks is painful for me at the moment) I decided to go with escapes. Operation Tattered Belt over on Julia and Megan's blogs is currently focused on knee on belly, so I'll have to leave that until later. In regards to back escapes, Operation Tattered Belt is drawing largely on Saulo's book. The ones I teach are already very similar to how he teaches them in Jiu Jitsu University, so I don't really need to change anything.

In the back position, your opponent is frequently going to begin by trying to attack your neck. Protecting your neck is therefore a priority. In order to choke you, they need to block off both sides of your neck. That will normally use either your gi (e.g., sliding choke), their gi (e.g., ezequiel choke), your arms (e.g., arm triangle) or their arms (e.g., rear naked choke). Therefore you have to be aware of all four of them: note their grips, if they're trying to pull their gi across, if they're attempting to thread an arm through yours, and most obviously, if they are attempting to drive their arm under your chin.

As with any escape, you need to stay tight. Keep your elbows in, using your hands to cover your neck. There are numerous schools of thought on just how to do that: clamping your hands to both sides of your neck (which I learned as the 'Shirley Temple' defence), crossing your hands over your neck, grabbing both your collars, and Saulo's method of just grabbing one collar, keeping the other hand free to block. As his book is the main source for Operation Tattered Belt, that's the method I highlighted.

Saulo's back escape starts by putting a thumb inside your opposite collar, using your other hand to block their hands. You then do what Saulo calls a 'big scoop', shifting your upper body down and your hips forwards. Next, kick out one of your legs to clear their hook (you may also need to nudge it with your elbow), then drop your other elbow down past their other leg and turn. You need to be careful here that they can't re-establish their second hook: block it with your elbow and knee if they try.

If you're a bit late and they've already got an arm across your neck, fall towards the open side, as if you were reclining on a couch (if you fall the other way, you're helping them get the choke. You also want to turn your head towards their elbow to relieve pressure. Both Saulo and his brother Xande suggest that when you fall to the side, you want to be lying on their knee (Saulo suggests just below the knee), as that will stop them shifting to mount or re-establishing their back control. From there, Xande adds the detail of turning your hips to clear their hook.

Step your leg over, using that as a base to shrimp out. Grab their other trouser leg, to prevent them from moving through to mount as you try to escape. Ryan Hall suggests reaching back and wrapping up their head, which is a different kind of anchor point. Whichever one you choose, it is important to immobilise their torso by getting your weight onto it as soon as possible, so they can't either re-establish back control or try to swing over to mount.

I probably should have mentioned the option Xande demonstrates in the picture on the left, which is recovering guard, but forgot about that and emphasised getting to side control. Either way, Keep shrimping in order to clear their leg, aiming to either re-establish guard, or continue to shift your hips back into their armpit until you can switch to side control. Make sure that you are still being careful of your neck, as that is always a danger from back mount. Saulo mentions that you could use your free arm to stop them sneaking their other arm around, though generally when escaping the back, he emphasises that it is your hands that do the defensive work rather than your arms.

Saulo strangely doesn't deal with the most common grip from the back, the seatbelt. Instead, he focuses on escaping when they either haven't got a grip yet or if they have double underhooks (or at least he doesn't in his book: in his first DVD set, he assumes the other guy has grabbed a collar, but the escape is otherwise much the same as on the page). I assume that is because he is imagining that with his survival position, you aren't going to give them the chance to establish the seatbelt, but it would still have been useful to see his perspective on that position included in the book.

That meant that my focus for the first progressive resistance part of the lesson was seeing if students were able to use that 'survival' position to prevent their partner establishing the seatbelt grip. Generally people manage to at least get the arm past the armpit, which Saulo doesn't talk about. Again, I would assume he is treating the survival position as capable of pre-emptively stopping that grip, presumably by keeping the elbow tightly clamped to your side.

I've also been asking for feedback via Facebook for the last two sessions (commenting on here is fine too, if any of the people I've taught are reading this). The main suggestions so far have been correcting mistakes more often, which is simply a matter of how much time I've got available with each person, and switching partners around to experience different body types and reactions. I'm restricted slightly on the latter point by what size people are in each class as well as their rolling style, so at the moment it is difficult to do unless class is fairly large. Still, something I want to try and institute, as a student suggested it. :)

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Teaching Notes: On the spur of the moment I decided to include something Carlos Machado had spoken about during our interview at RCJ Machado Dallas, which was reviewing the techniques at the end of class. I also took a leaf out of John Will's book and had everybody face the same way, then ran through the techniques step by step. I think that's something I'd like to institute for every class from now on. Ideally I'd be able to somehow put it into the warm-up too, but I'm not sure how well that would work.

A number of people were having some trouble stopping their partner recovering mount. I think the way to stop that would be getting your weight onto the torso, but that can be difficult if your partner is bigger than, better than you or both. I'm trying to come up with a simple way of explaining the motion: maybe getting your head to their opposite shoulder, as the body follows the head? I'll need to experiment with it when sparring myself, though at the moment I'm hindered by this annoying groin injury.

I was very pleased that in class today, the women slightly outnumbered the men. For that reason alone, my favourite class I've taught so far! I would love to one day teach and train at a BJJ club with that kind of gender balance: that would pretty much be my ideal. :D

15/11/2012 - Teaching (Operation Tattered Belt: The Running Escape) Last Class Before Texas

Teaching #080
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/11/2012

I'm off to Texas in the early hours of Saturday morning, so this will be my last post for a couple of weeks. Continuing on with Operation Tattered Belt (which I joined last week), it was more side control escapes today. The technique for tonight takes the same principle of bridging and turning, but in the other direction. This is what I would refer to as the running escape, as I first saw it on Saulo's DVD.

He touches on it briefly in that first series, then in much more detail on his follow up set. As always with BJJ terminology, there are plenty of other names for the same thing. For example, when I mentioned the running escape to Kev at RGA Bucks, he knew it as the 'coffee grinder' (Jean Jacques Machado's name for the running escape). Pertinently for Operation Tattered Belt, it also appears in an abbreviated form in Jiu Jitsu University, which follows Saulo's second DVD series more closely than his first.

Rather than gripping under your head and far arm as in orthodox side control, for tonight's scenario your opponent is using near side grips (i.e., an arm under your head and by the same side hip). That means that it is very difficult to bridge towards them and shrimp, because they've trapped that side. However, you can still bridge away from them, as that side is completely open.

A simplified version of the running escape starts in much the same way as an orthodox escape: bridge to make some initial space. Your aim is to create a gap so that you can turn on your side, getting your hand past their near shoulder. Use that hand as a block, then step out with your bottom leg. Be careful you don't elbow your partner in the face as you do that, especially if you're pushing off their shoulder with your hand.

You can either try and quickly turn from there, or walk your legs around towards their head. When you've walked far enough, turn to your knees by bringing your top leg over. That means you are now facing them. Braulio prefers to stay close, immediately bringing his arm up into their armpit. His reasoning is that they will often try to take your back as you turn. If as Braulio suggests you stick your arm up, you can then take their back instead. You could alternatively stay facing them on your knees, working from that position, or turn and drop into an open guard.

Saulo's version in Jiu Jitsu University (p69) starts that way, but then links directly to his knee on belly escape. I normally just teach that knee on belly escape as a drill for my open guard maintenance lesson (e.g., back in October), as the swinging motion is a useful skill to learn. However, in his book, Saulo uses that motion to recover his guard from under side control, rather than the swivel he uses in his DVD.

The risky part is as you're swinging through with your legs in the air: if your partner is prepared and you aren't able to perform that motion smoothly and efficiently, they may be able to set up a double-underhook pass. It is therefore important to clamp your legs down as Saulo does in the last picture, rather than leaving them dangling and vulnerable. Jiu Jitsu University is more recent than Saulo's DVD set, so I'm not certain if this version of the escape is a progression that has been stripped of superfluous elements, or a simplified version which is intended as an introductory option to the full technique presented in the second DVD set.

After the class had drilled that version, I went into a bit more detail on the running escape. The defensive position you're looking to reach is turned away from them, with one leg over the other, foot based out. Your top elbow is clamped to that stepping leg (your forearm should be glued to your upper leg), while your other hand goes behind your head for defence. This can be a handy place to catch your breath, although it can also be tempting to stall.

I've been prone to doing that a lot in the past, but you need to move on to the actual escape. Push off the floor with your back foot, using that to move your body forward, your hips raised. Base on your head and shoulder, then turn your top knee inwards. Continue the rotation until you can recover open or half guard.



You need to keep five things in mind while in your defensive posture. First, don't let them sneak an arm around your waist. If they get an arm in, you aren't going to be able to turn away and free yourself. Should they get an arm inside, you'll have to either wriggle your elbow and knee back underneath, or shift to a different escape. It's possible you may be able to roll them, as when somebody reaches too deeply in turtle, but most likely they will start making space to insert their leg.

That leads into the second point: be careful they don't take your back. This is the most common attack people have done to me when I've tried it. If they can lift you up enough to slide their bottom leg through (if they have an arm around your waist, this becomes much more likely), you're in trouble. If it does happen, stay tight and don't let them get that second hook in. Your elbow is already by your hip and knee to block the first hook, which means you can use the hand of that same arm to help protect your other hip from their second hook. You might also be able to move into turtle and roll them, but that needs good timing and control of their arm.

Third, watch for chokes. Saulo confidently states that they are never going to be able to choke you if you duck your head, bringing it next to your arm to block their entry. However, you can't just lie there and assume you're immune to being choked: you still need to take care they aren't able to set anything up. Should they get hold of a collar, you can try yanking that same collar outwards to remove their grip, but it may be too late if they've already got a solid grasp and started cinching the collar tight against your neck.

Fourth, time your escape, staying sensitive to their weight distribution. If they are driving into you with lots of pressure, it will be hard to make space and turn. A good moment to attempt the escape is when they are looking to attack or transition to another position. Often, there will be a brief moment before they start when they take their weight off you. That is the time to spring the escape.

Finally, as you turn towards them, you need to make sure you secure the position. If you aren't careful, they can just keep moving round and put you back in side control. That's where I tend to get caught. If you're having trouble, you could instead try going to turtle, or perhaps use the principles of guard recovery: block their shoulder and bicep, get your legs in the way, hook their leg into half guard, etc.

It is possible that the person you are training with won't often use near side grips from side control. Speaking personally, I tend to go for the orthodox grip under the head and the far arm. That doesn't mean you can't use the running escape, it simply means you have to put yourself into position, forcing them to use near grips. All you need to do is make enough space that you can turn away and curl into a ball.

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Teaching Notes: I think this might have been a little complex for the class, which was mostly white belts. So, it was definitely a mistake to start with the continuous side control escape to knees drill, as quite of few of them hadn't actually seen the escape to knees before. So, I won't do that next time unless at least half the class has done the drill before.

I also think they could have done with more time on the running escape survival posture. I had less time than I wanted for sparring, so had to do shorter rounds. When I next teach this, I won't spend so long on the 'quick' version at the start. Instead, I'll begin with the details on the survival posture first, have them drill that, then try using the second technical section for showing some of the possible escape finishes.

There are three I can show: the Braulio turn to knees, Saulo leg swing to guard and the Saulo turn to guard. The leg swing is possibly too difficult, but I think that's something I'd need feedback to establish. Some people were starting to get it later on, so perhaps it wasn't as complicated for them as I'm assuming. The other problem, of course, is that I often struggle with finishing off that escape myself: most of the time, I use it as a survival position. So, I could do with some intensive resistance drilling of finishing the escape myself. Hopefully next time I won't be injured, so I can join in. :)

Finally, a number of people were simply stepping over the survival posture to being their attack. That's something I'd like to play with myself, as I don't find it happening to me. I assume that's because I'm able to block it with my knee and elbow, but I could do with some drilling to work out exactly what I'm doing differently. It would also be good to do some training with Sahid when I'm next up at RGA Bucks, because he's the only guy I've trained with so far who can easily smash the running escape by controlling one of the legs.

Therefore it would be really helpful to ask him just how he does it then get in lots of drilling on that. Perhaps an Aylesbury open mat? I'll be up at xmas, but I think Kev normally closes it down over xmas.

08/11/2012 - Teaching (Operation Tattered Belt: Side Control Escapes)

Teaching #079
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 08/11/2012

Two of my favourite bloggers, Julia and Megan, have set up a project they're calling 'Operation Tattered Belt'. The idea is to focus in on several areas of their jiu jitsu in order to improve, based on Saulo's Jiu Jitsu University and Roy Dean's Blue Belt Requirements. I'm excited because Julia and Megan are excellent writers and the source material they've chosen is right at the top of my list for instructionals. So, should be really cool!

I'm going to be joining in from a teaching perspective. I won't be able to sync up directly with what Julia and Megan are doing, because Gracie Barra Bristol has set themes for each fortnight, based on the Gracie Barra curriculum. However, I do have the scope to focus on particular techniques within those themes, which is where I can join in with Operation Tattered Belt. This week, it just so happens that the two DO sync up, as the GB Bristol theme is currently side control. Going off the plan on Julia's blog, that means I'll be focusing on chapters 4 and 8 of Saulo's book, along with the section on side control escapes from Blue Belt Requirements.

That focus is fortunate for me, as this is probably the area of BJJ I'm most comfortable teaching. It was the first lesson of BJJ I taught back in May 2011. Since then, I've been trying to refine the techniques I teach, so the chance to closely analyse my lesson has come at a good time. I have settled into a pattern, which I think bears closer consideration, as I might want to change elements of it in future: hopefully this project can help me with that.

My warm-up is normally 10-15 minutes. This is the one part of the lesson the head coach sets, as he wanted me to always use the official Gracie Barra warm-up: you start by running round the room, then knees up, heels up, stepping sideways facing in, then out, then two in and two out. Next are breakfalls down the mat, then shrimping, then shrimping to your knees. Finally, you do two sets of 10 star-jumps, squats and press-ups, before finishing with 20 'choke sit-ups' (i.e., doing a collar choke against the air, switching which hands and feet you're crossing on top after 10) and then sit-ups where you bring your elbow to your opposite knee.

If I was free to do what I wanted with the warm-up, I would probably do something quite different, putting in lots of jiu jitsu specific drills. However, I don't begrudge that one imposition, as I really appreciate the ability to choose how to organise the rest of the lesson, which after all is the fun part. ;)

This marks the fourth time I've taught these particular techniques, so they've had a good bit of trimming and focusing. I feel that these two techniques are the two most important escapes to learn from side control while also remaining accessible to beginners. The other side control escape I personally use a lot is the running escape, most often just as a survival position, but that's also more advanced. In the previous thematic set-up at GB Bristol, I was free to teach whatever position I wanted, so used a cycle of three weeks on each position, covering maintaining, escaping and attacking.

That meant I would leave a gap of several months between teaching the basic escapes and the running escape. Now that the cycle has changed to a two week theme chosen by the head coach, I'm tending to bunch them together instead. I'm not sure if the running escape is therefore a little confusing to the beginners who normally attend my lessons, so I hope to find that out next week by making a push for feedback.

Tonight, I began with the basic side control escape where you shrimp to guard. Along with the running escape, this is what I personally use the most. I started by focusing on your hand and arm positioning. First thing to note is that they will want to kill your near arm. This is bad for you, because it means you can't stop them shifting up towards your head. From there, they can make as much space as they want and pass to mount.

So, you need to get your arm inside, the forearm pressing against their hip: this is a bit more reliable that grabbing the gi material, as they can potentially still bring their body onto your hand and collapse it due to the loose material. The forearm into the hip will help block their movement, and initiate your attempts to create some space. It should also help you block them moving to north south, as if you clamp your arm by their side, your body will move with them if they try to switch position.

One thing to note is that having your forearm by their hip like that does leave you more open to the cross-face. So, you could potentially block inside their cross-facing arm instead, which will prevent their shoulder pressure. This is the Saulo method from his book, which I'll get into later.

With your other hand, grab the gi material by their shoulder, close to their neck, then pull down. Twist that arm up into their neck, keeping the elbow in: you need to be tight here, as otherwise they will go for a figure four on that arm. Once you've got the forearm into their neck, they can't press down into you, as they'll essentially be choking themselves. Note that this is a block: you don't want to start pushing and reaching, as that may leave you vulnerable. Reach too far and they can shove your arm to one side and set up an arm triangle.

Next I moved on to the legs. Your legs have two main purposes here: first, blocking your opponent getting to mount. Raise your near knee and drive it into their side. The idea is to wedge them between your knee and the arm you have by their hip. Personally, I like to keep my knee floating, glued to their side.

That makes it easier to slip my knee under as soon as they give me any space, which is something I learned from Roger. Many people prefer to cross their foot over their knee, which is something I used to do in the past as well. However, as this long Sherdog thread discusses, that can leave you open to a footlock, and also limit your mobility. Then again, you can see it used at the highest levels, like here at the Mundials.

The second use for your legs is bridging. Marcelo Garcia has a handy tip for this (although the escape he is doing there is slightly different), related to increasing the power of your bridge. To do that, bring your foot right to your bum, up on your toes. That increases your range of motion, so you can really drive into them.

Make sure you turn into them as you bridge, rather than just straight up. This will help the next part, which is to shrimp out as you come back down. That's why you've created space in the first place: if you simply plopped back down, then you've wasted the opportunity. As soon as you shrimp out, slip the knee pressing into their side underneath. Note you aren't trying to lift them with your arms. Instead, you want to push off them, moving your body away rather than pushing theirs higher up.

Once your knee is through, you need to be careful they don't immediately pass by pushing down and moving around that knee, ruining all your hard work. To prevent that, keep your hand by their shoulder. Straighten it, then add further support by bracing your other hand into their bicep (same side as the blocked shoulder). Your new frame should create a barrier to their pass, giving you enough time to recover your guard, or even move into a submission.

Alternatively, you can control their arm with your hip-bracing arm as you escape, like Roy Dean demonstrates in Blue Belt Requirements. That will also stop them pushing down on your knee, as their arm is trapped. It is worth trying both and seeing which you prefer, or which one the situation demands.

I normally mention defending the cross-face in passing, but I made more of a point of it this time, as it's something Saulo emphasises in chapter 2 (p35 if you're following along at home). I don't tend to use that side control position, as I prefer to get my arms into their neck and hip. However, in keeping with Operation Tattered Belt, I wanted to make sure I presented the Saulo perspective too.

He blocks the cross-face with the hip arm, while the neck arm simply lies across his stomach. That arm across the stomach is supposed to act as a brace, to stop them sinking their weight into you. If they release the cross face and bring their arm past his head, Saulo switches the cross-face blocking arm to block their hip instead. Either way, from there, he bridges strongly into them, then shrimps out. To recover guard, he brings his knee past their cross-facing arm, then recovers open guard (that sequence starts from p66 in the book).

Following my usual methodology, I then had everybody drill the technique for four minutes each, followed by three minutes each of progressive resistance. I'm a big fan of that concept from SBGi: in short, progressive resistance means you start off light, then ramp up the resistance gradually, with the aim of ironing out your partner's mistakes. I could possibly split out the Saulo option from the standard guard recovery, but I see them as variations rather than completely separate techniques. Nevertheless it might be too much in one go: hopefully student feedback will tell me whether to continue bunching them together or separate next time.

As mentioned, Roy Dean already features in my sources for teaching side control, especially for the second side control escape I like to demonstrate, where you go to your knees. It begins in much the same way as the shrimp back to guard, again establishing that frame with your arms, knee into the side and bridging (or alternatively, the Saulo method I described above). As an instructor, that meant I could review what we'd just done once again, which is useful: whenever possible, I also want to closely link whatever techniques I'm teaching.

After you bridge and shrimp this time, you're going to do something different with the arm you have into their neck. Rotate it under their armpit, then reach for their legs. Roy Dean shifts out to the side, ending up crouched next to them (as in the picture). From there, he reaches for the far knee and drives forward, moving to the top position.

In Saulo's book, he brings his legs straight back, so that he ends up in front. He stops the technique there, saying it is a good position for a takedown, which it is. The one I was taught starts by putting your leg and head up on one side. Be aware that there is a risk of getting guillotined here if you're not careful, so keep your head up. Grip the gi material by their legs, then drive with your raised leg and head, pulling their legs in the other direction. That should enable you to move through into side control, dropping your shoulder into their stomach before settling into the top position.

I always finish class off with specific sparring, which today was from side control. I prefer specific sparring to free sparring as a teaching tool, particularly when I can be extra-specific: e.g., particular grips, leg positioning and permissible techniques (e.g., closed guard sparring with an overwrap and only sweeps and passes allowed). If I ever ran my own school, I'd probably make time for free sparring after class and in separate open mat sessions. Or I guess I could just have longer lessons, but speaking personally I like 1.5 hr classes: 1 hr feels a bit short and 2 hrs feels a bit too long.

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Teaching Notes: I noticed that people were going from side control to mount by swinging the leg over, which is something I generally discourage. That's because it is easy to snatch half guard, or alternatively bridge mid-swing and reverse the position to top guard. Then again, if somebody is successful at using the leg-swing to mount, I don't want to discourage them just because it isn't a technique I think is very long-term. Best thing to do might be adding in the bridge mid-swing technique, though on the other hand I don't want to take up too much time.

I do sometimes worry that my tendency to put in a variation on the technique can make it overly complex. Adding in the Saulo option doesn't seem to have too much impact, as people didn't seem too keen on it. Then again, that could just be because it is more difficult, IMO.

The same goes for the second option on getting to the knees: most people prefer the Roy Dean variation when you go to the side, as that avoids the problem of people sprawling on top of you. I find that sprawl is hard to avoid is you go to your knees head-on. Then again, it isn't a technique I'm particularly good at (I much prefer escaping to guard), so might just be I'm missing some key detail or other.

My warm-up also seems to have shrunk in size, as it only took a bit over 5 minutes when it should last 10. Although that could be because I haven't been doing as many additional drills as normal, due to this lingering groin injury. It does mean more sparring time though, which is good, with enough for 5 minutes of flow rolling. In fact, perhaps I could just stick on 5 minutes of flow-rolling at the start, as part of the warm-up?