13/09/2014 - RGA Bucks | Closed Guard | Roger Gracie Armbar Setups

Class #592
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi & Dan Lewis, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 13/09/2014

Kev wasn't there tonight, but RGA Bucks has plenty of other excellent instructors: there were two examples providing fantastic technique tonight, Sahid and Dan. Both of them recently returned from a BJJ camp were Roger Gracie in Spain recently, meaning their jiu jitsu power supplies were primed and ready.

It was all armbars from closed guard today, a submission I've never really gotten to grips with, both literally and figuratively. I tend to go for chokes rather than armbars, because I always feel that I leave too much space when I try to armbar and therefore risk losing position. RGA Bucks to the rescue, as the armbars Sahid and Dan showed were super-tight.

Sahid was up first, dividing his armbar sequence into three sections. First up, the legs. You're in closed guard. For the purposes of this drill (this could work nicely as a warm-up too), they are going to help you by putting their elbow on the opposite side of your belt knot. Bring your leg on the same side as that arm up, so you can pin your knee against their shoulder. Your other leg kicks up into their armpit. Use that to turn your own body, also bringing their body down with the armpit leg. You can now bring your first leg over their head, keeping your heels pointing down (don't cross your legs).

Next, you're going to add in one of your arms. They aren't generally going to give you their arm, so you'll have to drag it across yourself. Reach across with your opposite side arm and grab slightly above their elbow. Still keeping your ankles crossed, lift your hips, then as you drop them, pull the arm across your body. You want to end up with their arm between your forearm and bicep, enabling you to clamp your elbow to your side while also pinning their arm. Your hand goes to your chest.

Step your knee up on their trapped-arm side, again pressing it into their shoulder. Make sure you don't raise that knee before you've pinned the arm, as opening your guard at that point may give them enough space to start escaping. Then finish as before, kicking your other leg up into their armpit, swivelling, bringing your first leg over their head and completing the submissions.

The third and final stage adds in a collar grip with your free hand. Reach for their collar after you've pinned their arm, then pull them down. You can also use the elbow of that collar gripping arm to block the elbow of their trapped arm. That prevents them from trying to bring the elbow of their trapped arm to your other side hip, as that would scupper your armbar attempt.

Dan took over for the second armbar variation, which has some similarities but does not build off reaching across the body and pulling their elbow across. Instead, it starts with a grip break, as they've grasped your collar in the standard guard passing position. This is the classic two-on-one grip break where you grab their sleeve on top with one hand, then reach underneath their arm and grab your own wrist. You need to make sure that your grabbing the sleeve with the opposite side arm.

A handy tip Dan added for the grip break is to roll your wrists as high up their arm as you can before punching upwards to break the grip. Maintain your hold on the sleeve, then pull your elbow back. Rather than bringing it to your side, get your elbow high by your head, as far back as you can. This strangely makes the hold harder to break: you can test that out by getting your partner to try pulling their arm back when you have your elbow by your side and when it is up high past your head. That makes me wonder if that would work in other situations, like when holding a lasso spider guard.

Grab their collar with your free hand, doing a small shrimp in the direction of their trapped arm side to get a better angle. then use the high elbow as base to come up and get an even deeper grip. When you move back down, you can use that motion to get gravity on your side to help break their posture. My training partner had a detail on this, as he likes to drive his knuckles into their neck when you have that grip: I probably wouldn't use that personally, but it is definitely effective. I could feel a choke starting to come on during drilling!

Relock your guard up over their shoulder on the trapped arm side, almost as if you're doing a triangle. Push their head away with your gripping hand, then bring your leg over their head. Angle that leg away slightly (so it is a line across the back of their head), to make it harder for them to drive into you, like on Adam Adshead's DVD from a couple of years ago.

Sparring started off with me getting stuck under side control. I was trying to stay tight, move around a make space, but didn't pay enough attention to his arm reaching underneath. Too late, I realised he was setting up a baseball bat choke. I attempted to defend by spinning and underhooking his leg, but he already had that in tight for the submission. Good reminder to watch their arms!

In my next roll I had a go at getting some of the armbar set-ups but couldn't isolate the arm properly. I also tried practicing a principle from Beyond Technique, which I'm reviewing at the moment. It's the most useful one I've seen so far on the DVD, related to sweeps, but I didn't have too much luck. The idea is to have post, posture and leverage: I think I keep missing leverage.

Final roll was with one of my favourite training partners at RGA Bucks, which was cool. We had a flow roll to end, always a great way to cool down from training. I had loads of good chats as well, catching up with Stuart, Sahid and others. I look forward to my next RGA Bucks visit, either in late October or early November. :)
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In keeping with previous visits to my parents, they took me down to London right after I got back and showered from training. I started off by heading with my father to the Tate Britain, to take a look at the exhibition on Turner's late works. As I've mentioned before on here, my tastes in art are fairly narrow: there isn't a lot I enjoy outside of 1400-1700. I'm therefore not a fan of Turner's work, especially as he is best known for his landscape painting and veering towards impressionism and even abstraction in some of his later stuff. If it isn't figurative, then I'm unlikely to be a fan, though I'm nevertheless interested in learning more about it. I think it's important to understand why you don't like something, rather than just dismissing it out of hand, and of course keeping an open mind can turn apathy into appreciation.

So, I was still looking forward to checking it out. I'll watch documentaries on anything (from shipping containers to heavy metal to German Romanticism), whether I'm a big fan or not. Tickets are £16.50, while the audio guide is about £3.50. That's well worth it, as the guide is well presented and packed with enlightening information. Considering that I'm not keen on Turner, I especially enjoyed the context provided by the commentary , both about Turner's life, his environment and his style. Best of all, it got into the nitty-gritty of exactly how he worked. There are six rooms of Turner's paintings (including other bits and pieces, like his glasses and sketch books), of which the audio guide covers 22, IIRC.

I whizzed round the exhibition, only really looking at the paintings covered by the guide, so it took about an hour and a half. Normally, I would have spent at least twice that looking intently at every painting, but that's when it's something I particularly relish (e.g., the 16th century German art at 'Strange Beauty' back in March). You could probably spend a good two or three hours if you wanted to, though I'd avoid Saturdays if you can as that's going to be more crowded.

At the end of the day, my parents treated me to a posh meal at the Ham Yard Hotel. I'm not sure what the rooms are like (they start at £400!), but the food in the restaurant is excellent and the service is fantastic. Perhaps unsurprising: the waiter told us that she was one of 5,000 people interviewed, of which only 38 were successful. If that's true, then it would explain why every single member of staff was so attentive, friendly and capable. But then it's not cheap, so you'd expect decent service. Another big plus is that they serve Pedro Ximénez, my favourite tipple: I don't drink often (this is probably the third alcoholic drink I've had in six months), but when I do, I look for syrupy sweet sherry. ;)

01/05/2011 - RGA Aylesbury Open Mat

Class #393
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi, Aylesbury, UK - 01/05/2011

After the class on the Roger Gracie choke, Sahid continued into the 'skills and drills' part of the open mat. I may be teaching at some point in the future, so I'm paying particularly close attention to drills I might want to use for warm-ups and the like. I'm keen to avoid the "run around the room, do some sit-ups and press-ups," in favour of jiu jitsu specific movements and drills.

The skills and drills normally starts with four corner shrimping. Presuming the mat space is a square (or at least has corners), then you start in the bottom left corner, shrimping up the length of the mat as usual. When you get to the top left, you shrimp across. That's definitely the most difficult motion, so I'll give a quick explanation.

You're on your back with your legs bent and raised, knees fairly close together. Swing your knees in one direction, while twisting your torso in the other. That should bounce you sideways, so you can do that all the way along the mat. Using that to reach the top right corner, you shrimp forwards down the mat, then at the bottom right, shrimp sideways to the bottom left to start again.

Sahid then moved into mount based drills. The first is a drill for the armbar from mount. They lie on the floor, with both arms pointed straight up. You sit in mount, then post your hands on their chest, around one of their arms. On the isolated arm side, shift your knee to their head. Your other knee bumps behind their far arm, then curls around into a dog leg position, putting you in s-mount.

You can then swivel to bring your legs over, drop back while squeezing your knees and controlling the arm, then apply the submission (lightly, as this is only a drill). Disengage, shrimp your hips out so that you're facing them, then go back into mount and repeat on the other side.

The next drill was the same, except that this time, they've grabbed the outside of their other arm to stop you taking the submission. You still have your arm wrapped around one of theirs, as you were intending to drop back for an armbar. However, now hand of their free arm is grabbing the tricep of their trapped arm.

So, instead of dropping back, switch the arm you have hooked through. You can then slide your free hand in between the top of their arms, grabbing the tricep of their far arm. Shift from a dog leg position into a crouch, then twist to the other side, so that you now have a dog leg on the opposite side to where you started. From here, drop back for the armbar.

Finally, Sahid demonstrated a drill for escaping the mount, with different mechanics to the common elbow escape and upa. Bridge them forward, placing your hands on their hips and keeping your arms straight. The idea is to have them briefly suspended on your hands, so you can bring both knees between their legs. From there, you could go into butterfly guard.

However, you could also do what Sahid did next, which is shift into a footlock. Kick one of your legs straight, then bring your lower leg around the outside of theirs, pushing your foot into their same side hip. Knock them backwards, while wrapping around their ankle with your arms. The bony part of your forearm needs to be pressing into their Achilles tendon.

You want to end up turned on your side, your outside foot by their hip, squeezing your knees together. Your outside foot must not go past their hip, or you're liable to get disqualified (due to the potential dangerous pressure on their knee, depending on which way either of you turns to either apply a submission or try to escape). If you've got your arms in position on their tendon – easier said than done – lean back and squeeze for the submission.

After the skills and drills, it was open mat, meaning I could practice spider guard with one of the white belts. I began with the same techniques I worked at Factory BJJ earlier this week. We mainly concentrated on Adam's sweep, testing just how far they could move to side control and still get swept. Ideally you don't want to leave it too late, and you also have to be careful that they don't bring their free arm across your body and post it on the other side. That makes it hard to complete the sweep.

We played around with ways you might stop them doing that, which was fun but probably not very effective. Still, it seemed that if you could triangle their lassoed arm and keep them from getting it loose, you then had both your arms free. Grabbing their posting arm and under their leg enabled me to complete the sweep, though rather sloppily. I doubt that would work too often: as always, better to not get into that situation by applying the technique properly in the first place.

My training partner also had a suggestion for a spider guard sweep they wanted to work. This was handy for me, as the situation is that you've got your deep lasso grip and a foot into the other bicep, but they've raised their knee by your lasso, inside of their arm. Hook under that knee with your non-lassoing leg, also using your free arm to grab their same side sleeve.

Push that sleeve under their knee too, then knock them over in the direction of the non-lassoed side. I'm not sure if you're supposed to come up in mount or side control here, but I found it easiest to roll into top half guard, a bit like on Nick Brooks sweep from last year. Also like Nick's sweep, you can maintain your sleeve grip, pushing it straight to then attack their arm.

A final sweep from the same position involves bringing your lassoing foot to the opposite armpit, so that leg is across their chest. Your other foot is pressing into their same side bicep, which you've further trapped by holding that sleeve. Push your other foot high and towards the lassoed arm side, also lifting with the foot in the armpit.

From there, you can sort of roll into mount, although you're in a weird position as you end up sat on your leg, which is across their neck. Apparently that's from a Robson Moura DVD, though I'm not sure which one. Possibly cross-guard? Reminds me I need to watch the Moura stuff again, which I previously abandoned a few years ago as it looked too advanced for me.

We sparred from spider guard for a little while, to see if we could apply any of those techniques on each other before the grips were broken or somebody passed. We couldn't: so, more drilling required! ;)

My parents have continued the house moving process since Sunday, hence why it took me a while to get this post up: brief lull in all the packing and moving at the moment. I'll hopefully have a review polished off by either Friday or Saturday, although I've then got another house to get stuck into, in Bristol (not moving yet, as first the floors, roof and various other bits have to be sorted. My DIY is pants, so this should be interesting...)

01/05/2011 - The Roger Choke

Class #392
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi, Aylesbury, UK - 01/05/2011

I got back from the Peak District yesterday, then returned to Bucks on Sunday. While I was away, my parents' new house was mostly finished, so the main job is now moving stuff over. I was there in time for some of the heavy lifting, which should continue over the next few days as everything comes out of storage. Although the temporary place near Tring has a great view, it will be nice to have something more permanent (though I will of course be moving to Bristol not long afterwards, so not all that permanent ;p).

Best thing about this new house is that it is quite close to RGA Bucks, around 2.6 miles away or so. That meant I could easily cycle over in about twenty minutes, which also means I don't have to depend on a lift or buses. Not to mention I get a good warm-up. I miss cycling everywhere, as that's an excellent way to stay fit and thin without having to make special time for exercise. Bristol (the other new house, belonging to my gf rather than my parents) is supposed to be especially cycle friendly, which bodes well.

Kev was at work putting out fires today, which meant that Sahid was taking class this time. His focus was mount, and as a Roger Gracie club, we fittingly looked in depth at Roger's version of the cross choke from mount. I've been this taught a few times over the years, including Roger himself, but it's always useful to go over the details again. As has been said many times before, it may be the first submission you learn, but it's one of the toughest to master.

I'll put up a bunch of pictures showing Roger choking out Lovato Jr in 2009, though I'm going to cheat and put them out of order: he also didn't set it up exactly the way I'm about to describe, but hopefully the photos will still help. You could also take a look at Trumpet Dan's videos, as he's spent a lot of time trying to work out Roger's technical mastery, including some private lessons. Finally, here's another video of Roger teaching the cross choke (make sure to turn on the subtitles by clicking 'CC' at the bottom right), but again not quite the same set-up.

The version Sahid taught was slightly different to the way I remember Roger teaching, but made a lot of sense (also, I think Sahid was basing it on a seminar Roger taught a while back, or possibly Roger's father). You begin in a strong mount, feet and knees squeezed in. Stay low, your arm based out, putting your head on the same side to concentrate your weight. Your other arm goes under their head, cross-facing, also using your shoulder to turn their head towards your basing side. It will now be tough to bridge you off. It is also important that you are really tight with your chest, so that there is no space for them to slip an arm inside to defend their neck.

Grab their same side collar with your basing arm, or just the material by their shoulder. This isn't going to be involved in the choke, as at this stage, you are simply looking to yank the gi material to your basing side. That should take out any slack. The grip comes next, as you pull your arm out from behind their head, instead reaching through (raising up as little as possible) for that collar you've carefully prepared. Grasp with your four fingers, palm facing up. Your free hand can continue to cinch up their collar if it still isn't tight enough.

The elbow of your gripping arm should drop to the other side of their neck, so that your forearm is uncomfortably across their throat. That's made even worse by the pressure of all your weight going forward: this should help distract them. With your grip, lift them up towards you slightly, twisting your hand so that you clear a small gap between their neck and collar. Into that gap, insert the thumb of your free hand, to establish your second grip.

Slide that thumb behind their head to the other side of their neck. As you do, also move your head to the other side of their head. Next, bring the arm of your thumb grip to the other side of their head, 'shaving' close to their face. This is to set up the choke, putting your wrists on both sides of their neck.

Once you've got the thumb arm into position, so that both carotid arteries are blocked off, move your forehead to the floor directly above their head. Twist your wrists and drop your weight into them to finish the choke.

Having covered an attack, next up was an escape from mount. This was the basic trap and roll, with a few extra details and grip variations. They are in high mount, so first you need to get them back on your hips. Put one arm across their belt line, bracing the wrist with your other hand. Push in order to scoot your shoulders back: the aim is to move yourself, not move them.

Once you're back in 'normal' mount, bump them forward with your knee. That should cause them to post out on their hands. As soon that happens, wrap around the outside of one of their arms, gable gripping your other hand and sucking their elbow in. At the same time, hook over their same side foot. To finish, bridge and roll: note that this will need to be a fairly swift motion, as otherwise they are likely to either get their foot free, wrench their arm loose, or even establish an underhook and go for a submission.

Sparring was specific from mount, so on top, I was as ever looking for a low grapevined mount and an ezequiel. Also as ever, I had trouble not telegraphing the technique: I'm trying to use my head by their face to hide what I'm doing, but it remains too obvious, so they can easily defend by preventing me getting enough space by their neck.

For once, I also had another attack to consider, which was the Roger choke we'd just been shown. Of course, that is exactly what everybody was looking to defend, so it proved tough to get the first grip established. I did at least manage to take the back at one point as they defended, but time ran out before I could work my arm under their chin for the rear naked choke or ezequiel.

Underneath, the white belt I was sparring with turned out to have pretty good control from mount. Either that, or I'm being overly reliant on the elbow escape and foot drag, with is by far my preferred route out of the mount. I was looking to bridge and roll as well, but I tend to run into trouble if somebody is able to scupper my elbow escape.

Then again, I did manage a more unorthodox escape, which I hadn't thought to try before. I first saw it on Saulo's DVD, where he shows what looks to be a sit-up sweep, but from under mount. You have to be careful about exposing your back, but it worked tonight, which was cool.

23/11/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #363
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi, High Wycombe, UK - 23/11/2010

Sahid continued with guard, this time from the top, beginning with a guard break. After you've got the initial double grip on the collar, use your other hand to block their attempts to grab your collar. If they reach for it, hold their sleeve and shove that into their hip. You can then lean over slightly in the other direction, then step up your sleeve-grip side knee. You've trapped their arm, so they can't slip their hand under to set up sweeps.

Lean back in the other direction and step up your other leg in order to stand. Immediately move that leg back, as their other hand is free to try and underhook it. Grab their trouser leg on that side, then step backwards with your leg, pivoting around the sleeve-grip side foot. As you move round in a circle, wiggle your hips. This is surprisingly effective at dislodging their locked feet, as that rattling motion is very uncomfortable on the ankles and instep.

Next, you can move into a guard pass from combat base. Sahid emphasised that you don't want to just sit there in combat base, but immediately drive your raised knee over their same side leg, pinning it. Put their other leg up on your shoulder reaching through for their opposite collar, crush their knee towards their face, then slip around to side control (so, the leg pin pass).

Interestingly, Sahid sat in combat base with both his knees pointing forward, rather than one forward the other to the side, with the back foot tucked behind. As he mentioned, that is probably part of the reason he developed a quick transition from combat base straight into a pass, rather than pausing in their guard (though either way, it's a good idea to begin passing as soon as possible).

Sparring wasn't as much about being squashed under side control as usual, so no more work on the running escape today. I still ended up there, naturally, where I need to be careful of my neck, especially quick people who are good at moving towards the back: there were a couple of times where I had to dislodge a grip I should have blocked earlier. At another point, I was able to lock in the triangle from under side control, and tried to focus on attacking their free arm: not much luck, however.

My next sparring partner had an injury to their leg, so we were going a bit lighter. I spent most of it on top in side control, looking to be slow and steady. He almost recovered half guard a couple of times, so I pushed the bottom leg with my foot to free myself before it was locked in (being careful to check his leg was ok in the process). I eventually moved through to the step-over triangle, but again couldn't isolate that arm like I wanted, this time from the opposite position.

Finally I rolled with Callum, where I had a chance to work spider guard. I had the grip I wanted on one arm, but then spent the rest of the spar trying to get a hold of the other arm. My intention was to go for Braulio's attack, where you push both feet into one arm, then open up and pull them into a triangle or armbar, but you need to get that second arm first. Still, I could at least keep the control, so that was something (although I continue to worry that spider guard may not be something I want to do long-term, given that at least one black belt has told me they don't use it anymore because it's knackered their fingers).

23/11/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #362
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi, High Wycombe, UK - 23/11/2010

Sahid was taking class again tonight, and after starting off with a takedown, he moved on to the flower sweep. His set up was a little different to what I'm used to, and started off in closed guard. They have the typical grip, with one hand on your collars, the other back by your hip. Swim your arms through and back towards you to knock their arms off (easier said than done, depending on their grip), bringing them forwards with your knees. Reach around their back and clasp your hands together in a gable grip, locking them to your body.

Next, release the top hand (using the other to keep control of their head), then bring it out and under their arm, so that you can put it by their head. Reclasp your hands in a gable grip: Sahid recommended having the higher hand thumb down, for a stronger hold). Straighten your legs and move your hips out to the side (in the direction of your upper arm).

Relock your legs, then lean back slightly, nudging their arm with your shoulder. Your aim is to push their arm under their head or body. If they don't react, you can move to take their back. More likely, they will try to square back up, which is what you want. You've now got them locked against your torso, with their arm trapped underneath them. As before, release your gable grip, switching the upper arm to grab around their far armpit instead.

Your other arm either threads under their same side leg, or grabs the same side trouser leg, by the knee. Open your guard and kick through, so that the leg on the trouser grip side whacks into their armpit, while the other chops through. You can also lift with the arm gripping their trouser leg/under their leg, rolling through to mount.

If that all seems a bit complicated, you could also try the simpler version Callum mentioned. Grab their sleeve, then grab their knee on the other side. From here, kick through as before to get the flower sweep: you'll be using that grip on the sleeve to stop them posting out. However, it is of course more difficult to break their posture from here than in the previous variation, where you've already got them bent forwards and locked close to your torso.

Alternatively, you can use Sahid's set-up to go for an armbar. You being as above, until you get to the point where you're gripping their far armpit. Instead of going for the sweep, walk your legs up high, until you can bring a leg over their shoulder, on their trapped arm side. That means you're now in a position that looks a little like Eddie Bravo's pleasantly named 'crack head control', except that you aren't grabbing your own leg (p150 of Mastering the Rubber Guard). From here, you just push the head to get your leg from their shoulder to over their head, and go for the armbar. The flower sweep is still an option from here too.

In specific sparring, I as ever need to be more proactive in guard, particularly with chokes. I'm still using them as more of a threat, rather than following through. That's probably because I don't have any confidence in actually landing them, so something to work on: that should also make them a more effective distraction, so I can then look at attacking arms, securing overhooks or even trying Shawn Williams guard again (I had a go, but didn't isolate Callum's arm properly, so it wasn't doing a whole lot).

I also need to watch my arm when they stand up. I wanted to go for my favoured handstand sweep to star sweep combination, but that doesn't function properly if they've managed to grab your other arm. Callum doesn't grab the arm initially, instead standing up with a hand on the hip: he grips it as he stands, so something I need to pay more attention to next time.

When I was on top, I was trying to drive my hips forward when he went to open guard, and see if I could grab a leg and pull up. I'm still not standing when I should, but Callum tends to go to open guard anyway, so that forced me to get off my knees. I also got into the dreaded z-guard type thing, with that frustrating knee. I tried switching to pushing on the knee...but left an arm behind for Callum to kimura.

We also chatted some more about Callum's magazine and his plans: if you haven't already 'liked' the Facebook page for Jiu Jitsu Style, check it out here for the latest news. There's also an interview I did with him on the topic, for the FightWorks Podcast (text rather than audio).

07/10/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #349
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi, High Wycombe, UK - 07/10/2010

Another promotion I wanted to note, as top BJJ blogger Meg Smitley recently got her purple belt from Marc Walder. Congratulations Meg! Very cool.

Also, you may have heard of Hillary Williams' charity gi drive. If you aren't in a position to send her a gi, there is now an option to donate directly through PayPal: Seymour from Meerkatsu linked this on Facebook a little while ago, so check it out to help a worthy cause.

Tonight is the second time I’ve had a chance to attend a class by Sahid, who normally covers when Kev isn’t able to make it due to work. Technique started with the guard pass from Tuesday, where Sahid made the point that you should use your skeletal structure rather than muscle, stiff-arming into their solar plexus. He also mentioned something I’ve heard other people say, which is to avoid looking down: keep your eyes straight ahead. Technique from the bottom was a standard flower sweep.

I was determined to concentrate during sparring, as I feel like I’ve been slipping over the last couple of months, in terms of focusing intently on technical detail. As I was going to be hanging around for another hour tonight, this was a good opportunity to get back on track.

I want to think again about what positions I’m ending up in, what tends to happen when I get there, and what techniques might be worth attempting. As per Kev’s private lesson, I want to get back into practicing the twisting guard break when I’m on top in guard, and also keep in mind the principles he mentioned for when they open their guard (especially moving back then doing a big step over one leg).

Underneath in guard, I’d like to be considering simple sweeps (like the windscreen wiper Ciaran showed me, flower and scissor/push), and also keep butterfly guard in mind. The underhook I was working in previous months would be good to continue playing with too.

As ever I’m normally in side control a lot of the time, so I plan to keep trying to go to my knees, as well as attempting side control escapes I saw during my time at Gracie Barra Birmingham (e.g., pushing on the back of their armpit, punching through to make space, basic stuff on pressing a forearm into their neck etc), which also combines with scarf hold escapes.

When it actually came to specific sparring, I had a chance to put some of that into action, particularly as I did hang around for the additional hour (which stayed with specific, rather than going to free sparring). It was from the guard, so on top I was trying to work the twisting guard pass. When I got to standing, I’m still tending to end up bent forward, so I need to drive my hips rather than pushing on the double collar grip. As I was with white belts, I was able to drive the leg to floor and step through, then slide for the pass, but that wouldn’t have worked against anybody more experienced. However, it was useful for helping me to ingrain the habit from Kev’s private lesson.

I also had a chance to follow Colin’s suggestion from the throwdown earlier this year, grabbing their sleeve if they grab your collar. You then immediately stand up to begin the pass, having already got control of their arm. I was able to shake my partner’s guard open and pass, but again, this was a white belt who I think had only been training a couple of weeks by that point.

Underneath, I was using too much arm strength to hold their head down, or reaching over the back. It does keep them in tight, but with anyone bigger, that’s never going to work. Even with somebody who isn’t too much larger than me, it drains a fair bit of energy. I’m still looking for triangle, but generally telegraphing my intention of getting around their arm too much. I almost got into position at one point, but left too much space, so he was able to drive his arm back through.

I also did manage to try out the windscreen wiper sweep, but without too much success. I think I forgot to shift over towards their arm, which I must remember to do if I find myself in position again. There were a number of times when I thought I might have been able to move round to take the back, but I didn’t get onto my side quick enough, or get sufficiently tight control on their arm (as Kev taught us a while back, based on what he saw at an earlier seminar with Roger Gracie).

Specific from side control was with Trev, so that was a lot more difficult. Trev is now a blue, and also presents an interesting challenge due to his long, flexible legs. On top of side control, I was trying to stay tight and gradually kill the near elbow, but eventually got tangled in those legs. The first time he managed to hook my arm from seemingly nowhere, while the second time I’m not even sure how I got reversed.

Underneath was a bit more familiar, although I had trouble making much space under Trev’s solid control. I could try that punch through Norby showed, although I’d have to be very careful I didn’t end up losing the space of my elbow. I got to my knees at one point, although I’m not sure how secure the position was because we stopped before Trev might have been able to secure the back.

Class finished up with some specific from mount, where I again was with a white belt. Underneath I was generally able to shrimp to half guard then full, and had another opportunity to use Rob Stevens nifty escape (although re-reading my earlier post, I’d forgotten you’re supposed to end up in deep half guard: I just went to normal half guard and worked to full from there).

On top meant a bit more practice for my grapevined low mount, though I was surprised I could resist his bridges mainly by posting with my head: most likely he just didn’t have that much experience getting a full upa and going over the shoulder or something. Also nice to finally land an americana from mount, but again, that is probably due to the experience gap.

I need to try and make sure I keep doing the full 2 hours on Thursdays, so I can keep on working those specific goals (although I’ll be off for an extended visit to my gf in about a week).

01/04/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #299
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi, High Wycombe, UK - 01/04/2010

Kev was away being a fireman, so one of his more experienced blue belts (who recently took gold at the British Open, IIRC), Sahid, took the class. Still, theme was the same as Tuesday, working on side control. I was looking forward to practicing my top game from side, as I'd been watching a Braulio Estima video recently (I'll review it at some point in the future) which talked about proper control from that position.

It seems that Braulio focuses heavily on controlling the elbows, which I realise is something I haven't been doing due to my preferred gable grip. While that feels tight, it doesn't give you any real purchase on their far arm. Much better to actively grab that arm, coming underneath the elbow. Sahid demonstrated exactly that grip while quickly going over the basic concepts of top side control.

He then moved on to two submissions, beginning with the kimura from north south, which starts from side control. Controlling that far arm, you want to pull it up, in order to get them on their side. Ideally, you'll have already cleared their near arm, but if not, take the opportunity to dig the knee closest to their hips into their armpit instead. The leg nearest their head will step over, so that you end up shifting into north south.

However, in this case you stay upright, as you're maintaining control of that far arm. Pin it to your chest, then establish a figure four grip. They may well try and grasp their belt or some gi material at this point, because they'll normally realise their arm is vulnerable and try to defend it. If they do, yank the arm in the direction their knuckles are facing: in the other direction, they're probably too strong. You can then complete the kimura as normal, twisting your body to rotate their arm and lock out the shoulder.

Alternatively, you may be able to step right through for an armbar. If you are able to get their arm trapped straight up against your body, rather than bent, then instead of stopping at north south, you can continue to the other side of them. From there, keeping tight on the arm, slide down so you don't leave any space, then drop back. Maintain control of the wrist, being careful that they can't turn their hand and try the hitchhiker escape (so called because you turn in the direction your thumb is pointing, then continue around to the side, due to the fact they only have one leg over your head, rather than the normal two).

Sparring from side control with Callum, I started on the bottom. I was still looking to spin and kick my legs up, looking to use them to hook an arm or head then push off and escape. This did work once, but I always wonder when I escape like that if I'm being complacent due to the set end goal of specific sparring, meaning that if that finish line wasn't there, I would actually end up in a bad position.

I also continued to play around with armbars from the bottom. Today was another handy reminder that even if you can secure the arm, you have to keep in mind that you're in an inferior position. So, holding onto that arm if they get their head free, as happened that roll, probably isn't a good idea. Instead, I should have used it as a controlling position to help my escape, not a potential submission. Also, must pinch my knees together to stop them slipping their head out, and make certain I can in fact use both legs: I'm not sure I had the second leg in the right position when I brought the first one over his head.

Escaping north-south proved more successful. I've been attempted to follow Gustavo Machado's escape off his DVD for some time now, but this is the first time I've got it to work when sparring a fellow blue. The process is to first grab their belt or low on their gi, protecting your arms, then wiggling your hips from side to side to make space. Once enough of your body is clear, you can swing up over their shoulder and take the back.

At least that's the theory. The first time, I flailed a bit around his shoulder, then fell off. The second time was better, as I did get my legs over, but I was way too far forward. So, if this hadn't been specific sparring, Callum could have just pushed me off and taken my back. Still, nice to get it sort of working, but I need to make more space to do it properly.

On top, I wanted to try out Braulio's transition from a tight underhook with your other arm controlling their far arm. If they push up on your neck, you move your underhook from under their head to under their far arm, establishing control on that arm before taking your other arm to their near hip. I wasn't reacting quickly enough for that to work, so could do with drilling it.

Again, north south proved more successful, this time from on top. I was concentrating on keeping my weight low and grabbing over his shoulders to reach for the armpits, to maintain control. I was also basically dropping my weight on his head, sprawling my legs back, hips low: I'm not sure that is a legitimate thing to do. Callum has about eight or ten kilos on me, so I was just happy to keep him under some kind of control, but it doesn't really fit with my goal of always staying technical. I did later shift to be more diagonal, on his shoulder, which is less mean. I'll be aiming to stick to that next time.

I'll be missing training yet again due to a visit down to Bristol, but should make it back in time for the Thursday session next week.