Good general rule, don't bend your hand up, bad for the wrist.
The choke is all about the chest. Put your arms in place, elbows close together. Doing the macarena, hand on your shoulder (instead of behind their head). Bring your elbow forwards, trying to get your elbows to meet. Get your other hand to your other shoulder. Back is straight, don't lean back: often you might need to shuffle your hips back, so there is space by your crotch. Crotch should not be pressed against their back.
You don't want to be doing any movement. Expand chest, don't breathe normally. Circular breathing, so chest doesn't rise and fall. Keep your head at the same height as their head. If they are taller, slide back to get your head at the same height.
If you only have one arm around, not yet in place, use your chin on their shoulder to keep control. Imagine you have vampire teeth under your chin, bite them in the front of the shoulder. Use your free hand to keep pushing their hand along your arm, until you can lock it by the ledge: be careful they can't grab your hand at this point. Also remember, you can always switch to a bow and arrow.
If you have that arm around, but they've managed to pull it down, use your free hand to push their shoulder forward. If it's really low, push their elbow, so that you can grab their far tricep with your choking arm. Once you've worked that to the ledge, pushing their hand out of the way if you need to, you can choke with one arm. They will probably try to pull that arm off the ledge, so protect it with your chin, over the top.
When they push up and drive you to your back, put your feet behind their knees, extend and sit them back up. Alternatively, you can turn them towards your choking arm. Bottom hook is on the choking side, your other foot is behind their leg, extending and preventing their turn.
Bottom hook the more important, also use a shoulder wedge to control them. Your shoulder behind their head as you grip.
Class #861 BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Alan Shebaro, Leuven, Belgium, 27/07/2017
The title of this class was the most intriguing of the whole camp, looked over details. It lived up to my expectations too, taught in a simple, clear manner without lots of unnecessary talking around the important demonstrating part. Even better, Shebaro managed to connect almost everything to an easily memorable concept: "roll one, roll two."
The rolling began with americana details. Rather than worrying too much about arm position etc, you just focus on rolling up one wrist, then the other. If you require a better angle, pull their elbow in closer to their body. He then showed it with a toe hold, which again was simple (or at least, it would be for people who know how to do toeholds. I barely understand them). Another detail, which will make more sense to people who (unlike me) understand and enjoy footlocks, was to go 'over the rainbow' with their lower leg when you complete the toe hold motion.
Next, Shebaro shared a detail I've seen before, but he applied it more broadly and had some additional tips. If people block gi chokes with their chin, it can be annoying to get to their neck. However, if you fold their collar over, that wedge cuts straight under. Shebaro suggests putting in your thumb to fold it.
For example, on the sliding collar choke from the back, open up the collar with your armpit hand, folding it over and passing to the other. Do that little roll, enhance the choke. That also works with the bow and arrow choke, which is where I've seen that collar-fold happen before.
Finally, if you are going for a rear naked choke, they will frequently grab your arm and pull firmly down. An option to counter that which I haven't seen before is 'butterfly hands'. Make a butterfly with your hands and extend your arms across. You can then move into the choke. I'm not sure I quite got the motion right as it felt like I was using strength, but checking the video will solve that.
Seminar #014 Glasgow Club Bellahouston (BJJ), Rickson Gracie, Glasgow, UK - 03/11/2013
This November marks numerous anniversaries, with varying levels of significance. Perhaps the best known is that this month is the twentieth anniversary of the Ultimate Fighting Championship: UFC 1 was held on the 12th November 1993. A lesser known anniversary is that in the same month Royce stepped into the Octagon, BJJ was first taught in Europe, thanks to BJJ and MMA pioneer Remco Pardoel. He brought Romero 'Jacare' Cavalcanti to the Netherlands in November 1993, shortly before that first UFC and well before the vast majority of people in Europe had even heard of BJJ (which is why Remco remains high on my list of people I'd love to interview). Remco went on to fight Royce in UFC 2, followed by a spot at the first Mundials in 1996.
On a personal note, as of yesterday it is seven years since I took my first official class of Brazilian jiu jitsu, taught by Felipe Souza at the Roger Gracie Academy. November 2012 was the first time I flew to the United States. Today, I've got a new November anniversary to add to that list: November will now also mark when I trained with Rickson Gracie (shame about the picture quality: the guy who took it must have hit the wrong button on my phone).
When I previously went to Scotland, it was as part of a short holiday in Galloway: that involved an extended car journey spread across two days. A much quicker option is to fly, so I booked a £78 flight from Bristol. It meant for a long day, getting up at 05:30 and returning home at 23:40, but I thought it was worth it for the experience. I certainly wasn't the only one, as when I arrived at the sports centre, there were over a hundred people in attendance. That included several black belts, such as the UK trailblazer, Rick Young (who would also be a fascinating interviewee).
Thanks to Scott McVeigh, the organiser of the seminar who had very kindly given me a heads up before he released the date to the public, I was able to speak briefly with Rickson before the seminar started (that interview can be found in issue #18 of Jiu Jitsu Style Magazine, available here). I met Scott last year and he has stayed in touch, inviting me to multiple seminars since then. I was pleased I could finally take him up on the suggestion today. At £95 it is the most expensive seminar I've attended to date, but you have to expect that with a name as big as Rickson.
The man himself warmed up on a Swiss ball in the centre of the mats, exhaling forcefully in what I assume was a specific breathing exercise. At various points he stopped, stood up, then walked over to shake hands with a section of the group, making a point of greeting everybody on the mats. His three hour seminar began with the technique he'd been practicing in full view up until he officially kicked things off: how to breathe.
Probably the most famous scene in the seminal documentary Choke is when Rickson demonstrates his impressive diaphragm and breathing control. We were treated to a live performance, as Rickson pulled off his shirt so he could emphasise the correct way to breathe. His main point was that you should use the whole of the lungs, rather than just the narrow opening at the top. Most of us do the latter, breathing with our chest. Rickson advises using the diaphragm instead.
To practice, lie down on your back, with a hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. When you breathe, your chest should not move, just your diaphragm. Also key is exhaling when you're tired, rather than desperately gasping for breath. Rickson said that you need to expel what he called "bad breath", in order to leave room for "good breath," as if you were a bottle of dirty water that needs to be emptied before it can be refilled with clean liquid.
Just like Michel Verhoeven's seminar a little while ago, Rickson then covered how to create a 'connection' with your opponent from the standing position. It isn't enough to have base: you also need to generate that connection. This was definitely the most 'invisible' part of the invisible jiu jitsu shown today, a number of people struggling to apply it as a result. The idea is that when the other person pulls or pushes, you stay put due to this connection. It's based around your hip and leg posture, as far as I could tell, sinking your hips and sticking your bum out slightly, keeping your legs apart on the top right and bottom left corner of a square. However, I say that as somebody who struggled with this one too.
Adding to that was the same connection from a different position, where your arms are wrapped around their waist. This again was difficult to understand, but the 'connection' this time seemed to involve driving the point of your shoulder into their side, rather than relying on your arms. Finally, there was yet another stand-up connection, when you're trying to move in for a takedown. Rickson went through an exercise where you're grabbing their collar, pushing into their chest, then mirroring them with your feet as they move.
It was much easier to understand the two side control escapes Rickson taught us next. Both are mechanically quite simple, functional against the orthodox side control position where they have one arm under your head, the other by your far arm (as per that picture of Xande). Instead of the usual frame against their neck, your arm clamps on top of theirs, reaching for your legs. This is your point of connection.
Swing your legs up and then across, towards their hips. That should generate the momentum to turn so you're facing them, freeing your shoulder and pulling yourself onto your side. Use your outside foot for base as you shrimp back, where you can then either turn to your knees or look to recover guard. Maintain that connection of your outside foot to the floor, dragging your other leg out as you slide backwards.
The second option is for countering the cross-face. If they are driving hard into your face with their shoulder, the first escape variation will be difficult. So instead, you're going to move the arm that would be normally be against their hip (in an orthodox side control defensive frame). Reach underneath them, towards your same side hip. Using the shoulder of that arm, bump them with some quick bridging motions.
You're looking to knock them over your head, giving you the space to then swivel free past their arm, potentially even getting some control of their arm in the process. As ever in jiu jitsu techniques work best in combination: when they relax their cross-face to deal with this second escape attempt, it's the perfect time to switch back to the first variation.
Rickson followed up with some drilling of the side control top position, emphasising that you should aim to cross the line of their sternum with your own. He had us drill that without using our arms (I saw something comparable in Andre Galvao's book, which I turned into a drill I often teach in my own classes).
The topic moved on to the armbar from guard. Once you have control of their arm, rather than climbing for the armbar gradually, stepping off the hip, Rickson advocates jumping your legs up onto their shoulders right away. He feels that the slower approach, where you push off their hip to get your legs up there, gives your opponent time to stack and escape. I wasn't sure where you were basing for Rickson's shortcut, but when drilling it felt like I was pushing off my own shoulders as I flung my legs to wrap up high on their body.
The advantage of this method is that once you have the arm and spring to that position, they don't have much of a chance to resist: it's like you've skipped a step of the armbar set-up. You aren't scrunched up at any point, because you've gone straight to that stretched out position. Once you've got your legs by their shoulders, keeping your knees tightly clamped and calves gripping their back, you just have to bring your leg over their head to lock it in. Similarly, Rickson advised that if they stand, you need to become adept at walking your legs up their back, 'biting' in as you move, until you reach the shoulders and can again lock in that armbar.
Update August 2016: I've since had a chance to teach this myself, having learned a slightly different variation from another BJJ legend, Chris Haueter.
Sticking with offence from the guard, Rickson transitioned into taking the back, where the scenario is that you've already knocked them to the side and the route to their back is available. As with his perspective on the armbar, Rickson feels that the typical crawling around the back involves too much effort. He instead prefers to wrap one arm around the back, securing you in place pressed against their shoulder.
The difference comes with the legs. He locks those low on their back, then stretches his limbs out. You can use the lower leg (which will be across their stomach) to chop into their far knee, a bit like a scissor sweep. That should hopefully put them on their belly, making it easier for you to shimmy round and establish the back position.
Rickson then took a leaf out of Marcelo Garcia's Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, in that he also highlighted the importance of the seat belt grip when taking the back. Just like Marcelo, Rickson showed how if you have that seatbelt, you can maintain the back even without having your hooks in place. If your opponent is in the turtle, apply the seat belt. Be sure to lock it into their chest, not their head: with the latter, they can pop their head free.
From there, you can leap over and roll them into place, ready to insert your hooks. You can also do what Marcelo demonstrates, crawling behind them to force a seated position, where again you have a good opportunity to insert your hooks. You can then follow up with Rickson's suggested submission, the rear naked choke.
Rickson's concept here reminded me a bit of Saulo's defence. Saulo likes the have one thumb in the opposite collar, while his other hand stays mobile, blocking any attacks. Rickson does something similar with his offence. He works his choking hand in, digging past the jawline, then uses his other hand in an almost defensive way, stripping their grips and preventing them from blocking his choking arm. Once it is in place, he can finish the choke. As Demian Maia shows, you can complete the choke without getting your second arm behind their head, or even with just the one arm.
There weren't any breaks, meaning I don't think I quite caught the final two techniques. I concentrated on getting the earlier material in my head, as that interested me more. Nevertheless, from what I remember there was a discussion of vale tudo guard, something which Rickson feels has been increasingly lacking in modern MMA. This revolves around getting your shin across their stomach to control the distance, whacking into their side with your other heel.
The three hours finished up with a guillotine Rickson apparently learned from Kron. It's cool that his jiu jitsu is still evolving after all this time, though I have to admit I did not get good notes on this one. From what I can recall, it was applied with the palm down rather than up, but I may well be misremembering.
Rickson's teaching style doesn't spend too long going through the details. He'll run through the techniques a couple of times, then have everyone drill it for a few minutes before moving on. Although it did not feel like he was spending much time on explaining, his words were efficient, as aside from the vale tudo guard and guillotine, I didn't have any trouble recollecting the key points Rickson had made.
He also encouraged everybody to ask questions, both in drilling and immediately after he finished demonstrating. Generally he would answer questions by inviting the person who asked to drill it with him in front of everyone else, making sure they understood. Rickson did not stick with one uke either, rotating regularly by randomly picking people standing nearby. The pattern tended to be having them try their typical approach, he would show his variation, then he would get them to attempt it again, correcting as necessary.
Rickson is obviously well practiced at being a celebrity. He signed books and then posed for pictures with anyone who asked, resulting in a large huddle around him with people waving their phones (myself included). There was plenty of Rickson merchandise for sale, mainly t-shirts, gi patches, tank tops and baseball caps, emblazoned with the old Rickson Gracie Association logo. I think there were a few gis on offer too (though I'm not sure if they were the classic Mizuno gis I've heard used to be a staple at Rickson's schools).
In the weeks leading up to November, I had arranged to speak at greater length with Rickson after the seminar, for the JJS interview. Unfortunately that didn't work out: I guess Rickson was busy or simply tired (he had sounded under the weather), as he went straight back to the hotel instead. I think he will be over again next year, though I'm not sure when. Heading over to the Netherlands and training with Michel Verhoeven would be a great option as well: comparing the two seminars, I feel confident that you would not be disappointed if you went to Verhoeven's class hoping to learn Rickson's jiu jitsu.
The full picture is massive, given how many people there were, so to explain who is in this small section I chopped out: Rickson is obviously the guy wearing the red and black belt, on the front row. To the right of him is Scott McVeigh, the Royce Gracie black belt who organised the seminar. To the left of Rickson is Rick Young, the first British man (I think) to ever train in BJJ. Going up from Rick to the top of the pic, there's me with my unruly hair and carefully exposed RGA Bucks logo. ;)
Class #509 - Private #011 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 17/07/2013
The reason I started taking privates from Dónal was to cover off lots of the techniques I already know, adding in tweaks and refinements from Dónal. With another five or so more lessons, I'll have covered off the bulk of what I had originally planned, especially now that we have a drilling class on Sundays.
Today I wanted to look into attacking from mount. I feel relatively comfortable maintaining the position, particularly in low mount, but I struggle to get any kind of submissions from there. The main two I attempt are the ezequiel choke (which I've taught once before) and the americana, so that's what I wanted to focus on today. The main thing I like about the ezequiel choke is that you can do it from what I think is the strongest controlling mount, where you're low with your feet tucked under their bum and an arm under their head. The difficulty I tend to have is getting my choking hand through, as they can normally see what is happening and block it, or are simply staying too tight and defensive in the first place.
Dónal's solution was going for that ezequiel choke (sometimes also spelled ezekiel) as soon as you land in mount (a quick point on that: bring your head further out towards your basing arm to increase your top pressure). When your arm goes under their head, block their view with your own head, keeping three fingers extended on the reaching under hand. Those are going to shoot inside your other sleeve: because you're only using three fingers rather than four, you've increased your reach. Bring your sleeve arm through across their neck, then pull your three-finger hand elbow across as well (a tip from Caio Terra, apparently). From there, complete the choke as usual, doing a motion like you're attempting to decapitate them.
If as often happens they block your hand coming across, you can flow into the americana. In order to block, they will tend to cover by their jaw with their opposite hand. To do that, they will invariably raise their elbow. That's you chance to shove your knee into that space. Usually I slide up, to stay tight. Dónal does it differently: rather than sliding, go slightly on your toes, then drive your knee and hip straight in. This is faster and more powerful. Keep driving your knee inwards to really squash their arm into their face.
Your other leg also shoots up, putting their other arm in a similar position. This is very uncomfortable and doesn't leave them with many options. A common last-ditch escape they might try is bringing their legs right up into your armpits. If they try that, drop your shoulder, which should help unless they're incredibly flexible.
Due to the way their arms are tangled up, you may be able to get a wristlock (especially if their hand is bent into the mat at an awkward angle: just apply gradual pressure to their elbow), or an americana. Dónal normally does the typical paintbrush from here, but because of the position, I bent it against my leg instead, more like a kimura: Dónal decided that actually worked better, so we stuck with that.
Should that not work either, Dónal had a third option, taking the back. Their elbow will probably be up high, so you can push it with your arm, then bring your body around to press your ribs against their arm. Coming up on your toes and giving them a little room to rotate, roll them in the direction of the other arm, reaching under their neck to grab their opposite wrist.
This is the same as the gift-wrap, but you don't want to be too tight. That's because your other arm is going to go under their elbow, with the intention of grabbing next to your other hand. If you need to, raise up your elbow to create the space and angle. If it isn't already, bring your knee up by their head, then push forward with both hands, then use the momentum to roll backwards over your knee. Secure the back, then immediately go for what's called the short choke.
I've seen of version of this taught before. I first saw it on Demian Maia's DVD, then later got some additional tips at the second Leverage Submission Grappling seminar I attended a few months ago. Move your initial grip to their shoulder, digging under their chin to get your forearm tight into their neck: make sure your other grip keeps control of their arm. You might also want to try and control their other arm with your same side leg, if you're finding they are able get that arm in the way of your choke entry.
To finish, the method I use is anchoring my hand on the shoulder, then driving my own shoulder into the back of their head as I expand my chest, as if I was trying to touch their other shoulder. Dónal's method is slightly different, as he brings the elbow of his choking arm back, so it is towards their same side shoulder, then squeeze his arm for the choke. They both work. :)
My initial entry into Leverage Submission Grappling, a nogi system being codified by veteran UK instructor Nathan Leverton, was last year, with my team mate Steve. Steve kindly gave me a lift in 2012, but this time he wasn't able to go. I decided to take the opportunity to do some more CouchSurfing by coming up on the train the day before, as I had such a good experience in Dallas.
[I'm going to ramble a bit about CouchSurfing now, so if you don't care, scroll past the next three paragraphs ;D]
If you're not familiar with CouchSurfing, it is a social media website which people use to meet up and stay with each other. While that sounds rather bizarre to a lot of people, particularly those who do not spend much time on the internet, it's a process that works very well in practice. There are checks in place, such as a system of references and vouching to warn others if anybody turns out to be dodgy. Leicester was my second time staying with somebody, which I'm also hoping to do when I head over to the US later in the year.
My host this time was Dani, who very handily is only about a mile away from Leicester Shootfighters. After cycling over (the Google Navigation thing on my phone is fortunately quite thorough, so my total lack of a sense of direction didn't matter), it didn't take me long to work out the right house: flags from around the world were peeping out from behind the window. Dani has travelled to a LOT of countries! ;) She and her housemate Justyna greeted me with a big bottle of Becks and a tasty spaghetti meal.
Another CouchSurfer, Sara, was also there: just like in Dallas, there is a vibrant CouchSurfing community in Leicester. We headed out to a local shisha bar, followed by some excellent cheesy music at Hakamou (it was a bit full for dancing, unfortunately, though I could still have a good wiggle). While there we met two cool Canadian students (randomly, it turns out that Pete was well aware of BJJ, as he did some MMA and JKD back in Alberta), who Sara invited back to her flat where we all had a good chat until 4am. Slightly later than I was intending to get to bed, but Dani and Justyna are so hilariously entertaining that I was laughing too much to care. It's impossible to not have a good time with those two, so I'm looking forward to seeing them again before the next LSG seminar. Thanks for the great night out, CouchSurfers of Leicester! ;D
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There has been heavy snow this weekend, which prevented a few attendees from coming along to the seminar. Then again, that does have the positive outcome of more personal attention from Leverton, which is a good thing from a student perspective. As with LSG 04, LSG 03 kicked off with an introduction. Leverton handed out a sheet detailing the techniques to be taught today, again aiming to cover it all off within five hours.
The seminar proper began with around two hours on turtle top position. I rarely go anywhere near turtle, so although many of the techniques looked familiar, I can't think of the last time I used any of them in sparring. My main interest for this seminar was the back mount portion, but I knew that some focus on the turtle would be good for me, given I don't seem to use it much these days. Particularly in regards to turtle, there was a key difference between LSG 03 and LSG 04: wrestling. As LSG 04 was on the guard, the predominant influence was jiu jitsu, but for the turtle, wrestling provides an excellent base.
Leverton's first technique was defending against the person in turtle trying to grab your legs, as they will often be looking for a takedown. The simplest method of blocking that attack is to sprawl. Whether they have grabbed one or both of your legs, start by grabbing behind their armpit, the other hand going on their head (not their neck: aim for the end of the lever where they're weaker). Push their head towards the mat and then sprawl back. It's important you then square up.
When sprawling, you want to make sure you aren't jumping backwards, as that gives them the opportunity to complete their takedown. Instead, thrust your hips into them then slide down. The aim is to create a wedge with your body that means their forward momentum is dissipated. You can then establish a front headlock, shifting your head-hand to wrap around and grip their chin. Drive the point of your same side shoulder into the base of their neck, right where it meets their back. Similarly to the sprawl, this blocks them moving forwards.
Your other hand clamps onto their triceps, then slides down towards their elbow. Come up on your toes, getting your ear into their armpit on the triceps-gripping side. Lower your chin-grip side knee slightly, then pull back on their arm. From there you can go behind, with two main options. The meaner version seemed to be 'snapping' them (a term I've heard in regards to takedowns, but don't really understand in technical detail because I never work takedowns. Ever), driving with your shoulder first then dragging their arm back. The goal is to get them extended, so that it is difficult for them to react as you move around behind.
The nicer option is moving the arm on their chin to the other side of their head. The back of your hand is on their shoulder, while your arm is still pressed against their head. From there, move around. Leverton suggested this as a good option for when the person turtling is mainly trying to stay tight, rather than making any aggressive actions like a wrestler would. It therefore sounds like it could be a good option in the context of BJJ.
The standard way of maintaining control on top of turtle, or at least the option I'm familiar with, is sprawling out the legs connecting your hips. This is a bit like what Leverton called the 'side ride', which he noted was good for strikes (he should know, given he has a long history of training successful MMA fighters). Leverton prefers a different position, where he uses his forearms to create initial hooks before replacing them with his legs. Crouched directly behind them, brace your forearms into their hips (but not your elbows, or they can try to control them) and squeeze your knees into them.
This is just a transitional position, so don't stay there long. You aren't sprawled back from here because that is space they can move into. From here, twist around to one side. On one side, your forearm stays in as a hook on their hip. Leave a leg behind on that side too, still tight to their body. Your remaining arm reaches for their arm on the other side, joined by your other knee.
If there is space, you can just replace your forearm with your leg to insert your hooks. Note that for the second hook, you will have to turn your body before you can insert it, or you'll find the motion awkward. Most likely they won't let you do that and will stay tight. In that situation, Leverton suggested trying a tilt to back mount, with two options. At this point there was a degree of jiu jitsu influence again, as Leverton described these techniques as the 'Maia' and 'Marcelo' back takes respectively.
For the Maia, you're shifting diagonally into their bottom corner. Move your body backwards slightly, diagonally behind you and away from them on the arm-gripping side. Leave a small space, then pull them into that space. That will roll them over the knee you had on the arm-gripping side, ideally straight into back mount. You'll also want to establish a harness/seat-belt grip, with an arm over the shoulder and the other under the armpit.
By contrast, the Marcelo shifts forwards into their top corner. This is more difficult, as it feels like there are more parts to the motion. Start by jamming the knee on their arm-gripping side into the gap between their thigh and their arm (if they are tight there won't be much space, but digging your knee in should open it up). Sliding over their shoulder, drop onto your own shoulder, pushing off your leg to roll them onto you. A common mistake is to just leap over and hope your body weight will be enough to roll them, which almost certainly won't be the case: you need to be pushing off the mat with your leg. During that roll, pinch your knees around their leg to stop them walking through and escaping.
Next, swing the leg you have underneath around their leg to get your hook. You then want to bring your second hook in, which they may block. If they do, you still have one hook, which allows you to use Marcelo Garcia's 'hip extension'. Lock your feet together, then pull them towards you with your seat-belt grip and thrust your hips into their back. That should stretch them out, giving you the space to secure your second hook.
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After a short break, Leverton moved on to bottom turtle, which again was roughly two hours. I was initially nervous when I saw this was due to feature takedowns, as that was liable to exacerbate my groin injury, but fortunately the takedowns were from turtle and staying low, rather than a big lift and drop. The overarching theme for this section was making your turtle dangerous, rather than a purely defensive position.
The other major point was scooting backwards while in turtle. Bring one arm back at a time, to reduce your vulnerability. By moving backwards, this helps to extend your opponent and open up opportunities for attacking and escaping. That does mean you may mash your knees up drilling, as you're sliding them back and forth on the mats (especially if you are just wearing shorts so the skin is exposed), but meh. Hopefully my awesome Pony Club Grappling Gear spats will arrive at some point: the Yang seems to have gotten stuck in transit from Australia a couple of months ago (possibly customs? Or just Royal Mail being rubbish, as they are frequently crap with getting stuff to the office).
Keep your knees wide for base, elbows inside, then defending your neck with your hands (either Aisling's 'Shirley Temple' defence, or crossing your hands). You need to keep the person in front of you so that moving back becomes particularly effective. Leverton ran us through a quick drill, where the person on top just put their hands on your upper back while you were in turtle, the person on the bottom adjusting to stay facing them.
From here you can attack with a single leg, wrapping their leg and keeping your head on the inside, elbows tight, trying to bring their knee into your chest. This can be set up by backing away: even if they're sprawled, they are going to have to come forward to stay on top. To finish the takedown, keep your inside hand locked behind their knee, grabbing their ankle with the other. Pull that out, then move around, put the leg between your knees and bump them with your shoulder.
This combines well with the double leg. Should you get the opportunity, grab both legs, bring your head outside, drive with your outside leg and move on top. In many ways this was similar to how I've been taught to complete the side control escape to your knees. A detail I wasn't doing (or at least haven't emphasised) is sliding your other knee in. Like Roy Dean's takedown, Leverton pivots to the side rather than staying straight on, but wrapping both legs rather than using a knee block.
I'm familiar with the peek out, which I know as a wrestler's sit-out. Although when I say 'familiar', it isn't something I use a lot because I'm lazy and don't like to move very much. The situation is that they have made the mistake of wrapping arms by your hips. Base on an elbow and the opposite foot, then knock back their same side arm with your non-basing elbow.
Bring your non-basing foot through right across to the opposite corner, getting your head up, then spin behind them. Your inside hand stays by the leg in case they try to run behind. Also make sure you are putting your weight onto them when you bring your head through. If your weight is sat on the floor, the person on top can simply put their head on the floor, bring their leg over and mount.
I prefer the arm roll, which I think I first learned during my very brief stint of judo way back, as a set up for waki-gatame. Of course, a good grappler isn't going to give you their arm like that, but it is still worth knowing. Same position, but this time you reach back and lock their arm. Look in the direction of the wrapped arm, then drop your same side shoulder to the mat and roll them onto their back. Turn towards their legs to come on top (if you turn towards their head, they can take your back).
The sit back to guard is another basic option I'm used to, but it turns out that I have been doing this wrong. This is not the same as trying to pull guard off a takedown attempt. As Leverton noted, jiu jitsu guys can get away with that as their opponents don't normally know how to hold the top turtle position properly or perform a decent double or single leg, at least by comparison to a wrestler. Instead of pulling guard, you are sliding over your leg. Do not kick out your leg: just rock back into guard. Leverton came over several times to correct my positioning, so clearly I have some bad jiu jitsu habits to iron out.
Once I do, this could be very useful for escapes I use all the time, especially the running escape. Which is cool, as I've been struggling to finish that escape properly (as opposed to just stalling with the running escape) for ages. I'm looking forward to seeing if I can incorporate Leverton's details, along with the scoot back Geraldine did the last time I taught the running escape. Although as you can see from the picture, the scenario is somewhat different, so perhaps it isn't entirely relevant.
To perform a front headlock escape, there were two versions, early and late. If you can control that arm before they secure it around your neck (this therefore also applies to guillotines and the like when you're in turtle). Grab their wrist and push it down to the floor, then run your head up the outside of their arm until your reach their shoulder.
If you're late and they've managed to get a bit deeper, the focus will still be on that arm. Reach for the elbow of the arm they have by the neck and try to pull it down into your chest. Use the kind of motion as if you were climbing a rope, hand over hand. After you've secure it towards your chest, switch your knees and step around, reaching an arm around their back. This ends up looking a bit like an arm drag.
Leverton took the opportunity here to make some comments about what he called 'sport jiu jitsu'. I know what he means, but it's a term I dislike: I associate it with the marketing campaign to separate 'self defence' and 'sport' BJJ into two distinct styles, which I think is a false dichotomy: that came up again recently here and I also babble about it extensively here.
He basically said that currently in elite BJJ competition, you will see double-guard pulls where top jiu jitsu competitors fight to grab each other's feet. That looks ridiculous even to an educated viewer. Leverton far prefers to get on top, smash with wrestling and look to submit. Given I'm assuming I was one of the few jiu jitsu people in the room, I kinda feel I have to respond. ;p
Not that I disagree with any of that: I don't like the manner in which some competitors currently aim to play footsie either. I also have absolutely no interest in 50/50 and similarly over-complicated guards, aside from countering them with as simple a pass as possible. The main point I want to make - and I'm sure Leverton is fully aware of this - is that there are lots of people within jiu jitsu saying the same thing. For example, Xande Ribeiro, amongst the greatest competitors of all time and still active in major tournaments today. Speaking to Inside BJJ, Xande stated in #58:
Double guard pull? This is insane. You watch a match, and seven minutes is in the same position. [...] You see fights, black belt fights, seven minutes in a position that is not an end, you know? There's a beginning, there's a middle, but no finish.
I even hear people say, "Well, what if you mount the guy for three minutes..." Yeah buddy, I'm mounted on you. That's totally different. I am in a dominant position. But when you are in a position where the only thing that you can do is a toe hold, get an advantage, or maybe an armbar that some people do from there, that's it. What else is in there? I didn't go to a tournament to have someone fight for their life to wrap their legs around my leg and stay there for eight minutes.
I tell people, grab my fricking arm and pull my arm for ten minutes! Pull my neck for ten minutes! Do not pull my leg and wrap around it tight. That's not the jiu jitsu I teach for my students. Double guard pull? What is this double guard pull? All of a sudden jiu jitsu is two guys fighting for the bottom? I don't really appreciate it, it's ugly, it's bad.
People should be a little more proud and think "I'm a bad ass passer. I'm going to pass your legs, go around to your side, hold on to you and you're going to suffer." I think that should be more the mentality, not just a sweeping art. "Ok, I sweep you, then I stall and I get two advantages, then I sit my butt on the floor again."
I wasn't raised like that. I'm from a time when you could slam in jiu jitsu, you could reap the knee. People fought for the finish, points were just consequences of your work.
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Back mount lasted around an hour, brought over from another seminar in the series that was overly long. Starting with the top, lower body control discussed hooking your feet inside. Bring your knees up higher to shorten the length of your legs, as this will provide less space for their escape. Tense the hamstring if they roll, following them over remaining stuck to their back.
Upper body control looked at the seat-belt grip, also known as the harness, which is the basic over the shoulder and under the armpit grip. Leverton prefers to cover his choking hand with his armpit hand: as I've discussed in the past, there are various opinions on the best option. Some instructors teach that covering with the armpit hand means you can go straight to the choke if they try to knock it off. Others prefer having the choking hand on top, so that you already have that immediate route to the neck.
The body triangle depends a lot on both your body type and that of your partner. In my case, I'm quite flexible, but there was no way I was locking my short legs around my partner, who was a fair bit bigger than me (even with Leverton's handy tip about opening your hips by turning your toes downwards).
Next up was a few tips I recognised from Marcelo Garcia, as these are both techniques I've taught in the past and had success with in rolling, based off Marcelo Garcia's material. Marshal Carper, who was among the co-authors for Garcia's book, produced a handy video detailing the techniques in combination. First there is moving them from side to side with your legs, particularly if you have them on the choking side and they try to roll away, then secondly there is the 'hip extension' method for opening up space to insert your second hook (covered more briefly earlier in the seminar).
Leverton also examined the standard transition to full mount if you're losing the back, which looked familiar to how I've seen it taught elsewhere (lock your heel to their far hip and swivel around), althrough I don't normally grab the arm. That's a useful detail to keep in mind.
Leverton then moved into two submissions (incidentally, it was cool that Leverton focused on controlling position rather than loads of submissions, in contrast to numerous other seminars). I have taught the rear naked choke a number of times, but was looking forward to Leverton's version, hoping to learn some useful tweaks. Leverton did not disappoint, providing simple details that could make a huge difference. The most important distinction is the way he places his locking arm, so that it becomes more involved in the choke.
It is entirely possible most other instructors do this, but it is not something that I can remember being emphasised. Set-up the choke in the usual way, bringing your choking arm around their neck with your elbow under their chin and your body tight. The second arm locks up with the elbow in front of their shoulder, not behind. Both of your armpits are therefore resting on their shoulders.
That minor shift in position makes it a lot tighter, along with the considerable advantage of hiding both your wrists (which they now can't grab). Leverton noted that while there are lots of ways of finishing off the choke, such as expanding your chest (which I like to do), you have your arms around their neck so squeeze those before anything else.
Leverton's variation reminded me of the palm to palm lock Kesting does to walk his arm into position. It is also something I've seen on Demian Maia's DVD, where you are essentially choking them with one arm. This is useful if for some reason you can't get that second arm into place, though it is naturally not as strong a choke as when you can get both arms locked in for a true RNC.
If they tuck their chin, you can bring your arm over the head for a nasty Neil Adams style armbar from the back, which involves a vicious grip that is almost a bicep slicer. If for some reason you haven't heard of Neil Adams, he has two Olympic silver medals in judo and is very, very good at armbarring people. When Adams tells you how to do an armbar, you should listen extremely closely. ;)
Grab their wrist, then reach your other arm over. Grab their wrist with that other hand, whereupon you can switch your first grip to your own wrist, securing a figure four grip. Drop to your shoulder, swinging around: as you do, bring your leg across their hips, swinging the other leg out. This spin should be the same kind of motion as when you spin for an armbar from guard (I've always sucked at armbars from guard, so wasn't very fluid at this).
Hook the swinging leg over their head, so the back of your calf is pressing into their face/temple rather than their neck (for the same reason as a Thai clinch, because holding higher on the head is harder for them to resist than gripping by their neck.) Move your arm deeper, so that instead of grabbing your wrist, you're now grabbing nearer your elbow. Curl your wrists up and you can also turn the hand nearer you elbow upwards.
Straighten your leg into their head as you apply pressure with your arms. Speaking from experience, this feels horrible. I would be tapping long before the actual armbar. If your opponent is tougher than me (which is highly likely), use that hold to unlock their hands (which they will normally clamp together to defend the armbar), then drop back for the submission.
You can briefly see Neil Adams himself use the grip in this video, which is from another seminar at Leicester Shootfighters:
Leverton's demonstration of back mount escapes was quick by comparison to the rest of the seminar, beginning with some basic survival details, such as hand placement on the neck. Again, you can use the 'Shirley Temple/Home Alone' or the hands crossed over the neck. Elbow inside, knees up, keeping your abs tight. You can then move into the escape, which was a fairly standard drop to the side and shrimp.
It was essentially the same version Xande demonstrates on his DVD set. Leverton calls it the 'scrape escape'. Drop to your side, bringing your knee in, then lift and pop their knee off with your hip, just like Xande. Shrimp out pushing on their leg, ready to move into guard should they try to move on top, as people normally will attempt. If they've got a choke in the early stages, it is especially important to get your head and shoulders to the mat to reduce their efficacy.
You can also turn to your knees, using the same motion as if you're escaping from under side control to your knees. This is useful for when they've locked their legs in a sort of 'side-on back mount', making it hard to complete the usual escape. If you can drop your elbow, then there is a chance you can thread one leg under the other, turning on the spot to come up in their guard. Leverton also mentioned escaping the body triangle using a similar motion to the scrap escape (personally I just step over their foot and bridge into their locked feet, as he demonstrated, but it as he said it's good to keep practicing that scrape escape motion).
I realised at the end that I had been drilling with Jake from Fighting at Forty blog, which is a good site I've been reading recently. I love meeting fellow bloggers whose work I enjoy, which was therefore a cool way to end the seminar. I'm looking forward to making more of them, which will also mean I can get in some more CouchSurfing fun. All in all, great weekend, particularly as when I got home, I saw that the GrappleThon has now raised over £4000 for Rape Crisis! :D
Class #417 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 05/09/2011
As some of you may know, I write the team history articles for Jiu Jitsu Style magazine. So far, I've been running through the major teams in a vaguely chronological fashion. However, I'm soon going to get to a point where I'm not completely certain of the dates: it doesn't matter all that much which order I do them in, but it did make me wonder what the exact dates were. That's why I thought I'd start compiling a BJJ Team Index. That should help me work out which team to do next. Ideally, I'd also be able to indicate all the connections somehow (e.g., Alliance > Brasa > Atos), but I haven't worked out the best way to lay it out yet on a spreadsheet. If you can help with clarifying any of the info, or adding more teams, let me know. :)
I also managed to add that Facebook 'like' button at the bottom of each post in my blog, which I've been wondering how to do. There is a relatively simple tutorial here, which worked for me (though note that the initial version of the code will mean it only appears in individual posts: if you want it on the home page of your blog, like I've set it up, scroll further down into that guy's post, where he tells you how).
I managed to get myself sun-burned all across my back and shoulders during the Weymouth trip last week, mainly due to building sand castles and digging big holes in the beach (yes, I am five ;p). That meant I wasn't planning to go to BJJ tonight, as abrasive gi + sun burn tends to = lots of pain. However, in the text message Geeza sends out before every lesson, he said that tonight it was Q & A. I remember the last time he ran one of those, and it was awesome. Hence sun-burn or not, I wanted to be there.
Geeza kicked off by answering Guy's question about wristlocks. Geeza started by discussing wristlock defence. His central point was that in essence, it is quite easy. You just make a tight fist with your hand, which is almost impossible to wrist lock. You're still at risk if you're gripping a gi with your fist, as you will often have a few fingers extended in the course of making a grip. Hence why in terms of avoiding wristlocks, it is safer to grip really, really tight.
Geeza also showed some basic wristlock attacks, starting with side control. If they are swimming for underhook to begin their escape, that's a perfect moment to go for a wristlock. Immobilise their arm by grabbing the elbow and slipping your other hand over their bicep. You need to time it so that you can press your weight down on the back of their hand, before they can wriggle it into a safer position. From there, simply shift your weight so that you're driving into their knuckles and bending their hand towards their forearm.
You can also do several things from within a triangle, because the arm is isolated. That makes it vulnerable to a bent armlock (pull on the wrist to bring it to either side of your body), an armbar, or a wristlock. Geeza's wristlock involved pressing on the back of their hand with both thumbs and twisting it slightly. If anyone is interested in wristlocks for BJJ, I'd recommend checking out Roy Dean's Art of the Wristlock.
The second question for the opening hour of the question and answer session was how to get out of what I think Geeza called a side choke, which I'd refer to as an arm triangle. Begin by trapping their arm next to their head, using your own head to lock it in place. It is key that their arm is pressing into their neck: you're going to be using that to block off one side.
Bring your arm on the other side underneath their head: this is what will block off the other side. Link your hands together, moving to side control, pressing a knee into their back. Your other leg is out for base. From here, gradually sink down with your hips, squeezing your elbows together. That should eventually result in a choke.
To escape the arm triangle, roll towards the open side. Your aim is to make a little bit of space, so that you're no longer in immediate danger of being choke. From there, bridge and bring your trapped arm out and around their head, so that it is no longer pressing into your neck. Be careful though, as if you put an arm on the far side of their head, they can trap it and start moving for a north-south kimura.
Finally for the beginner class, Geeza answered a question from Arnaud about finishing off armbars from mount when they have their hands locked together. Geeza responded with a strategic method, which wears them out before breaking the grip. You are about the sink the armbar, but they have managed to lock their hands. Reach through to grab their belt, palm up.
With your other hand (nearest their legs), grab their trouser leg. Lean towards that leg, which will make them sit up. Let them come up slightly, then push down on neck with your leg. Keep doing it to soften them up, then eventually move your hand from their leg to under their wrist, and break their grip.
I had texted a question earlier, which Geeza told me he'd cover at the start of the advanced class. I needed to leave after that, so for the sparring that always opens the advanced classes, I did a bit of guard passage with one of the children (I was being wimpy due to my sunburn.) Given that I was rolling with a small child, I had a chance to practice my teaching, as I tried to coach him through a guard pass. I'm not sure if I've worked out the right balance between encouraging children and providing enough resistance for them to have a meaningful spar, but good to get a chance to build my experience doing that.
Onto my question. For the next three weeks, I'm going to be teaching back mount, in my usual maintaining, escaping and attacking pattern. As the attacking lesson is the one I'm most keen to get right (as I've arranged for my girlfriend and one of her female friends to attend that night), I wanted to ask a question about entries into the rear naked choke
I was specifically interested in a way of getting to the neck without being nasty. Geeza's 'nice' option was to use the gi instead. Rather than a typical rear naked choke, work the gi collar across their neck (easier than arm, as it is much thinner), then you can do a variation on the RNC where you pull on their gi with one hand, threading the other between their arm and head.
A less pleasant option is to make a fist with your index finger slightly raised, then rub that along where their jaw line starts, working it under their neck. This is particularly effective if you do it on both sides at the same time. I'm uncomfortable with the nastiness, as I'm a big believer in Saulo's mantra of "treating your training partner like your best friend", but if you're happy to use the jaw dig, it does work.
Roger Gracie Academy Kilburn (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 30/03/2009 - Beginner
I had an interesting chat with Bryan Hogeveen this weekend, a name Fightworks Podcast listeners might recognise from his interview a while back. If you missed that episode, Bryan is an academic currently conducting a BJJ study, for which he's asking people to fill in a survey (one for women and one for men).
Bryan is also looking to interview those who are willing to give a bit more time. I love talking about BJJ, so I was happy to get the chance to babble at length (like I mentioned during the conversation, this is ideal for bloggers, who are always looking to share their thoughts about BJJ anyway). It doesn't matter if you're nowhere near Canada, where Bryan is based, as he'll phone you from his university. It sounds like a great project, so definitely deserving of your support: for further details, check out Bryan's blog.
On a different topic, it looks as if Eddie Bravo is gearing up to follow in the Gracie Academy's footsteps, with his own version of online training, complete with the ability to gain rank through video. It should make for a revealing comparison with the Gracie University: I'm particularly intrigued as to whether or not Bravo manages to avoid the criticism Gracie University has received (which I listed back here). I've long thought that the Gracie Academy and Bravo have a lot in common, given that they both rely on sometimes controversial marketing to maintain their reputation, rather than major current competitive success (as opposed to, say, Gracie Barra with Roger Gracie, Alliance with Cobrinha or Gracie Humaitá with Xande Ribeiro, to cite just a few examples from those powerhouse teams).
Also, just noticed as I was writing this that Oli G, the undisputed king of competing at every competition ever, has set up a swish looking new site to showcase his competition videos. Check it out here.
Jude focused on chokes for tonight's session. First the basic rear naked choke. Put your arm around their neck, pressing the bony part of your forearm into their throat. Grab the bicep of your other arm, making sure not to bring the bicep arm out straight (otherwise they could potentially grip your wrist and submit you, using their shoulder to bend your arm the wrong way). Finally, the hand of the bicep arm goes to the back of their head, then you squeeze their neck between your two arms.
The RNC was followed by a lapel choke. From rear mount, reach over their shoulder and grab deep in their collar. Your other hand comes under their armpit and grabs the other collar. To finish, straighten out your arms, pushing forward and thereby squeezing your partner's neck between their lapels.
Finally, Jude went through the clock choke. This is similar to the lapel choke, except that it is applied when your partner is turtled up, and the execution is with your bodyweight rather than pulling on the collars. Once you have the grip on their lapels, drop your weight onto their neck, staying tight. In order to secure your base, put your forehead to the floor on the other side, then slowly walk round, one leg at a time, starting with the bottom leg. Your legs are acting as the hands of a clock, hence the name.
In guard passage, I kept trying the Saulo guard break without much success: still not controlling the hips well enough, which I think continues to be my main problem in somebody else's guard. I also tried standing guard breaks, getting to my feet while holding their sleeve, but need more work on establishing base and being careful with my legs, avoiding sweeps.
Underneath, I again attempted the combination of handstand sweep with star sweep. Swinging both legs to the same side works ok, but I'm not staying close enough to the leg. I need to knock them off balance by getting in tight to their thigh. At the moment, I'm leaving too much space, which is why last week I basically ended up under side control, while this week Rich caught me in a randomly positioned armbar.
Another thing I wanted to work today was replacing full guard from half guard. My aim was to grab their shoulder and leg, then get my same side leg under their knee, while the other foot trapped their calf. I'd then lift them up and drop them back into full guard. However, the problem was firstly getting that foot under their knee: can be awkward depending on how I've locked the half-guard. I'm also not getting a good grip on the arm, and when trying to grab onto the knee, my arm is too loose.
When sparring with one of the white belts, that meant I was sitting there working my way of an Americana from much of the spar. Fortunately for me, they didn't know how to finish it, but that's the only thing that meant I was able to avoid the submission. So much like last lesson, I was underneath a white belt in half-guard, though at least this time, I was working towards something specific.
It was good to see John there, who is a purple belt that weighs the same as me. I've sparred with him once before, back at RGA HQ: hopefully he'll be at Jude's regularly. He had lots of advice, such as trying Saulo's running escape under side control. I had thought that was only useful for when they had both arms on the near side of your body, but John mentioned that you could often direct their arm to where you wanted. Gave it a try in sparring and it worked ok, though obviously John was letting me have it (he took on an instructor role for everyone he sparred with: IIRC, though he's still a purple, he's been training for a looooong time).
Finished off class by buying myself one of the snazzy new RGA branded t-shirts. I've generally avoided buying stuff, given continuing lack of job, but as its almost my birthday, I thought I'd treat myself. :)
Class #45 Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 28/03/2007
I had a good idea of what Jude was going to run through due to Asriel's blog (for which you need to be a Supporting Member) of what happened on Monday, but still had to double-check when it came to getting mount from side control. Or rather, my partner checked, who today was a fairly new guy called Roberto. From side control (arm under the head, gripping hands under your partner’s arm), you first bring your hand from under your partner’s head and instead drive your elbow on the opposite side. Switch base – pushing one knee firmly into their side – then taking hold of their far leg, swing round into mount. Rowan Cunningham shows it like this.
Jude then showed us the correct procedure for taking the back. With your partner in the turtle position (curled up tight on all fours, bottom down on their heels), your grab them by the neck of the gi and their belt. Pushing their head firmly to the floor, post the foot nearest their head by their side. Next, feed that foot underneath them, aiming to hook around their leg from the inside, putting your knee on the floor (Jude emphasised that you should be in a position where there is a straight line from your hip to your knee, which means you need to be raised up rather than sitting). That facilitates bringing your other leg over and in on their other side, meaning you now have hooks on both of their legs. I wasn’t sure whether it was at this point that you reached under an arm and grabbed their wrist, or did that before you brought the other leg over – my partner reckoned grabbing the wrist came first.
Either way, once you’ve done that, then look up, push forward with your hips and back with your legs, aiming to straighten your partner flat onto the floor. This meant they were in position for a rear naked choke, for which you simply raise their head, bring one forearm across their throat, use the hand of that arm to grab your other arm’s bicep, bring your free arm behind their head, then squeeze, bringing your head to bear for extra force.
Jude had previously demonstrated this from kneeling – to repeat the basic process, forearm into neck, grab other bicep, bring that arm round behind to grip the back of the head, then squeeze, also pushing with your head. Jude described it as trying to bring your elbows together: this choke appeared to be even more effective when applied against the ground, as then you could bring more of your weight into play.
Finally, Jude went through the sliding choke (which I keep mixing up with the clock choke: not quite the same thing, as discussed in the members-only Bullshido training logs section). As with the RNC, Jude first showed this from a kneeling position to get the technique right, then in context, which for the clock choke was when an opponent has rolled to one side with their back towards you. The basic process is to come under one arm and grip the nearest gi collar, opening it up. The other arm then comes round the neck (similar to the RNC), whereupon your first hand feeds the collar to the other hand. Switching your first hand to grip the other collar, you then pull down for the submission.
From the position where your opponent has their back to you (Jude set this up from side control, from which you imagine your partner has just managed to turn), the same process applies, but you need to get your elbow into their hip to stop them turning further in that direction, as well as a knee firmly into their back to prevent that escape route. If you forget to block off those exits, then your opponent can go for half guard or indeed sweep you from there.
I did all my sparring with Dominique, as unusually there was nobody else in our weight category: normally there are at least a few people of similar size, like Nathan, but everyone seemed bigger today. There is still a bit of a disparity between Dominique and I, but much less than with anyone else.
I found that putting into practice Oli’s basic tip from yesterday – control the hip with your hand when passing – worked very well. I was able to get the pass across the knee a few times, though I think I still need to be quicker switching my base and also keeping control on the neck and knee as I pass. I also think I’m forgetting to leave a hook round the knee as I bring the other leg round, meaning that my partner can recover guard – happened at least once against Dominique.
Still not managing to get the tailbone pass to function, though I think it was at least a bit improve. I ended up transitioning to the standing version instead – definitely want to get more options for passing, because at the moment I’m only having success with the pass across the knee. While that’s good, because at least it’s working, that also means I’m screwed against anyone adept at defending that particular pass. Dominique pointed out that I need to watch my posture, as I was leaning forward too much, so that something else I want to keep an eye on.
From the guard, I was trying to get into position for a flower sweep, but had trouble making enough space. Instead, I found myself trying open guard, and managed to get the elevator sweep a few times. However, I think it was a little sloppy, so I look forward to being shown the technique in class – apparently, Roger went through it on Saturday, so hopefully I’ll get the chance to see either him or one of the other instructor demonstrate soon.
Should be training again tomorrow, although I’m concerned about my gf up in Brum, as she’s been having severe tooth pain over the past few days. I don’t want her to be alone in the flat any longer than necessary, as I know how horrible tooh pain can be – had to have emergency dentistry myself a while back. Bad enough to be in agony without having to do all the usual household tasks on top of it, like cooking lunch etc. The dentist is seeing her tomorrow, but if he doesn’t sort it I’ll try to take time off work and go up to Brum early.
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