01/02/2022 - Daytime, more on the knee slide pass with Adam Wardzinski details

Class #12##
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Bristol, UK - 01/02/2022

I continued on with details for the knee slide/cut pass, looking forward to teaching this over the course of February. So many lovely details from that seminar I went to at RGA Bucks last weekend. :D



My videos are still going up regularly on my many Instagram channels, if you want to see something more frequently updated. The Artemis BJJ one is here, which has links to my other accounts.

28/01/2022 - Daytime, knee slide pass with Adam Wardzinski details

Class #12##
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Bristol, UK - 28/01/2022

I still haven't got on top of the massive backlog of posts, but meh, I'll get to it eventually. I am still taking notes, as usual.



My videos are still going up regularly on my many Instagram channels, if you want to see something more frequently updated. The Artemis BJJ one is here, which has links to my other accounts.

27/01/2022 - Daytime, knee slide pass with Adam Wardzinski details

Class #12##
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Bristol, UK - 27/01/2022

I had just been to a superb Adam Wardzinski seminar all about the knee cut/slide pass and thorough troubleshooting, so I'm keen to update how I teach that pass with some extra details. I'll be talking about this lots more!



My videos are still going up regularly on my many Instagram channels, if you want to see something more frequently updated. The Artemis BJJ one is here, which has links to my other accounts.

03/12/2021 - Friday daytime

Class #12##
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Bristol, UK - 03/12/2021

I haven't posted in a while, but I've got loads of drafts ready to go. I've been super busy with club stuff (setting up a new location in Caldicot, GrappleThon, camps), plus some cool personal life stuff. However, I have been able to get a few videos of daytime classes, so I can at least put those up to show I'm alive. Here's the most recent one, from last week:



Also, my videos are going up regularly on my many Instagram channels, if you want to see something more regularly updated. The Artemis BJJ one is here, which has links to my other accounts.

28/10/2021 - Thursday daytime | Deep half guard, summary of recent lessons

Class #12##
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Bristol, UK - 28/10/2021

26/10/2021 - Tuesday daytime | Testing out the north-south choke

Class #12##
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Bristol, UK - 26/10/2021

23/07/2021 - Clifton Friday | Basics with Jimi

Class #1240
Artemis BJJ (213 Whiteladies Rd), Bristol, UK - 23/07/2021

The Clifton classes are small in normal times, so they are particularly quiet while we build things back up from the pandemic. So while tonight would normally be a more formal class, as it was just Jimi it was effectively another daytime type format. Meaning I can just put up the video again. ;)

23/07/2021 - Friday daytime | Passing theory & pressing armbar

Class #1239
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Bristol, UK - 23/07/2021

Right back into the old swing of things with lots of daytime, live streamed over Facebook. It's started off slow, with just one person, but that meant I could go into detail on some passing theory. I also talked about the pressing armbar, as I want to teach that next week.

22/07/2021 - First daytime class since the pandemic started

Class #1238
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Bristol, UK - 22/07/2021

Wow, it's been a long time! It felt really good to be back teaching properly again though, and actually being able to wander around and correct people. Also, answering technical questions, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy being able to chat about technique and help people improve.

I practiced something new (for me) today, which is going for the armbar off the 2-on-1 grip break set up. It was a good practice for next Monday, fitting in well with the techniques I've taught this week. I'm going to keep playing, but getting an arm under the leg is one big help for this. Also, considering how to maintain control of their posture while getting perpendicular and then a leg over the head. That's something I'm also going to keep playing with, checking videos, etc. I've got lots of prep time, so I should have a solid lesson plan by the time I get to next Monday.

It was also really good to finally spar again on Monday and Wednesday, with Weronika M. She's smaller than me, but not quite as small as thought (in the 60kg+ range, so only a 10kg difference max, rather than the 20kg or more I thought). Particularly as the other awesome Polish blue belt student I used to train with has unfortunately moved to bath. ;)

17/02/2021 - Covid training update

Class #1237
Artemis BJJ (my living room), Bristol, UK - 14/08/2020


I definitely wasn't expecting to still be teaching over Zoom from my living room a year after the pandemic started, but such is life. There was that brief period of being able to train in person, over September and October 2020, but other than that it's been all Zoom since March 2020. Still, I can't complain as I'm in a much better position than many other people who run BJJ clubs as their livelihood. My awesome students have continued to stay engaged, with enough of them paying fees that I can keep the club going and my own head above water.

The format of classes is something I continue to tweak. At the moment, I do 5 solo drills, two and half minutes each. There are two solo drills I include every time (sliding shrimps and the grilled chicken self-directed sequence, meaning students can combine the grilled chicken elements and variations they know however they want), with three other solo drills I pick from my big spreadsheet (which is up to 100+ drills now).

After that, I move on to 3 grappling dummy drills, again picked from the spreadsheet, three and a half minutes to drill each time. To finish up, I'll go into another technique in more depth, then stretch to end the class. That works out at an hour, sometimes slightly under, sometimes slightly more if I get plenty of questions.

The addition of a daytime class on Tuesdays, which I started doing last month, has helped a lot too (especially as the main people who attend are a couple drilling together, which keeps it grounded because I get to see how the drill I just taught on a dummy works on a human). Just as with the daytime classes I teach in the mysterious otherworld of pre-covid, I use daytime classes to prepare for the evening class the following day. It always ends up being educational for me, enabling drills to be refined or dropped. It has also meant that I can keep trying out videos I've seen that interest me, whether that's a random cool variation or an entire instructional.

My main project continues to be Priit's grilled chicken open guard. I also picked up his running escape and baby bridge instructional, which I'm going to dig into properly over the next side control month (which is March). I think I could develop a self-directed running escape drills sequence, like I have with grilled chicken.

I'm still finding good stuff on the internet for the basic techniques too. I'm particularly pleased that thanks to inspiration from Ritchie Yip's list on GrappleArts, I've got a few passing drills to play with now too. Yesterday I went through a knee cut drill self directed sequence, which I built out of Yip's drills plus my own modification. That went pretty well, I'm going to keep trying to bring in passes this month. As my grappling dummy doesn't have any legs, I didn't think it would be possible to teach passes, but it turns out it is (you can even use an arm to substitute as a leg, like with the knee cut/slide pass).

The solo drills sessions over Zoom (twice a week, plus private lessons) have been ranging between about 25 minutes to 30 minutes, followed by a technique of anywhere between 4 minutes to 10 minutes. I get certain regulars each time, which is handy as then I don't need to explain the drills as much. There are normally nine drills each session, which I could increase if I wasn't spending time explaining. Then again, the reason I'm explaining is that I often add in tweaks to existing drills, or new ones.

To that end, I've been both reviewing the Priit grilled chicken/shell guard material I've already got (thanks to that long weekend seminar a while ago), as well as buying his instructional on the topic. I hate buying from BJJ Fanatics because their marketing is so shady, but with one of their ever-present discounts it was at least a slightly less insane price than usual. The platform it's sold on aside, the instructional is good. Priit's penchant for talking too much is controlled a little, plus you can just skip ahead when he gets into lecture mode.

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As I've been drilling so much #PriitGuard in my @ArtemisBJJ solo drills sessions over Zoom, I thought it was time I finally bought @jitsvulcan 's instructional on the topic (BJJ Fanatics has horrifically bad marketing, but some great content, like Priit and Danaher). ☺ Having done several 12hr Priit seminar weekends and numerous @bjjglobetrotters camps, I was curious to see how his teaching style translated to DVD/video instruction (especially as my friend @meerkatsu recommended it). Turns out, pretty well, judging by the first part of the #GrilledChicken set. 😀 As usual, BJJ Fanatics unnecessarily divides them into four short chunks instead of one or two larger ones, but this is good stuff. For those who aren't keen on the "sit down and lecture" approach (as opposed to "talk while physically demonstrating", which I greatly prefer), the video medium very handily means you can skip ahead. Therefore both pro and anti lecture approaches can coexist. 😉 Very good summary on this first of four chunks (32 mins), which should help me refine the drills I've been doing. Also some excellent practical tips, like holding your partner's feet and guiding them into an invert (something my student Paulina has done in the past too, when helping people with invert spins). 👍 Unlike many people, Priit makes a point of citing his primary sources at length, of which I very much approve. Specifically for #GrilledChickenGuard, that's a 2013 match between Braulio and Galvao: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gui5wWJA4gI&t=3m11s This is what originally inspired Priit to develop what he calls the grilled chicken guard (I prefer the term shell guard, but grilled chicken is admittedly memorable and at this point a well known moniker). In that match, Braulio (one of my old instructors, #namedrop 😜) almost entirely neutralises Galvao with his guardwork. ___________________________________ I look forward to the rest of the set, it's promising so far. 😎 #SlideyReview #ZoomBJJ #ArtemisBJJOnline #SlideyStarTrek #StarTrekBJJ #SlideySpats #GrilledChickenBJJ

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on May 25, 2020 at 10:23am PDT

I've so far found two drills in particular that have been useful thanks to the DVD. Firstly, what I've been referring to as the wrist frame and circle. That is similar to framing off them a la Defensive Guard when you are looking to retain guard from sitting guard etc, with the addition of coming up to Priit's 'active turtle' and circle to create enough distance to get your guard back. Secondly, one I haven't yet tried builds on that, with an invert. Priit doesn't spend much time on that, but what he shows is enough for me to turn it into a drill.

Along with grilled chicken/shell guard, I've been looking further into my favourite position, the running escape. Priit had a video up about that too, from 2019, where he tweaks it a little. I normally have my knee up, everything curled in tight. Priit's 2019 change is that the knees are together, which he suggests can make it tougher for you to get pulled backwards, or put into the cradle position. That's useful, as getting pulled backwards is the most common way people attempt to break my running escape, especially if they are stronger than me. I'm therefore looking forward to testing this out in sparring.

I do feel more vulnerable due to that knee barrier being removed, as it's easier for them to step over. However, that could potentially be countered in a similar way to when they step over against panda. I could underhook their leg and move directly into the turn and pass, rather than going to panda first (as my Beltchecker.com friend Vince Choo suggested, he's a black belt teaching in Malaysia). Again, something I want to test in sparring. Interestingly, Priit has been thinking about renaming the position half turtle rather than running escape, which isn't a bad idea.



I've managed to keep up my home workouts routine three times a week, with 3 sets of 10 press-ups, 10 twisting crunches and 10 single leg squats, followed by 10 military kettlebell presses (bottoms up, as I've only got a 6kg kettlebell at the moment, waiting for my 20kg to arrive), bottoms up front squat and then v-ups. I should also take this opportunity to clear up some of my blog post backlog, there are a bunch. We'll see if I actually do it, or just say I'll do it. :P

26/04/2020 - Zoom classes update, plus thoughts on the future of online BJJ

Article #25, by Can Sönmez
Class #1234
Artemis BJJ (my living room), Bristol, UK - 26/04/2020



Insomnia as usual, so I'll take the opportunity to chat about how the shift to online teaching only has been going for me here in Bristol. I've been doing it for a month now, as I have a housemate willing to be my uke. I've been using Zoom to teach group and private lessons since the lockdown got serious in the UK a month ago. Internet connection while streaming has stayed steady, which surprised me considering my wifi is pretty rubbish.

The recording function on Zoom is terrible: it's supposed to upload to Zoom's cloud storage, but so far has just resulted in unwatchable vids (though the quality while I'm initially streaming seems to be fine). I therefore record it on my phone instead, then upload that to unlisted YouTube links I can send to my students (as lots of them don't watch live, they prefer to check it out later, judging by the view numbers on the YouTube vids). The full vids are between 20 to 30 minutes long, though as my uke doesn't like to be on public footage, those are just for members. 😉

The main problem is naturally the lack of physical feedback. I have got a few sufficiently motivated students that have been doing Zoom private lessons and give good verbal feedback, plus I can see what they're doing and correct (thanks to the gallery view in Zoom), but most of them don't have a drilling partner, which unsurprisingly makes that a lot less useful. Interestingly, one of the most committed private lesson students is somebody who I hadn't often seen in my classes pre-lockdown: she usually goes to the nogi and women's class. I'll be curious to see if she will pop up in my classes when normal training resumes (I hope so, she's a good student, a promising blue belt).



I have modified how I teach a little as a result of the move to online-only. I demonstrate the technique for longer, also taking time to show it solo. In a normal class, I'd just teach one technique with one variation, then do a lot of drilling. With Zoom, I'll show multiple variations and some related techniques, plus anything else people ask about.

After that, I do solo drills (like shrimping, bridging, grilled chicken, turn to knees, back step etc), bunch of repetitions so people can follow along. The handy thing with that is I get a little work-out too: I have considered doing that section for longer (at the mo, isn't usually more than a few mins). So yeah, I need to ask if people want that solo drill section to be longer or not. I then finish up with stretching, which again is useful for me. That's something else I could potentially do for longer, as there isn't the same time constraint as in a 'normal' class.



I think that is one positive outcome of the lockdown. All sensible BJJ schools have now engaged with some kind of online training as a result, which is making everybody more familiar with the options available. That also means we are all getting a lot of hands-on experience with what works best online: the long-term repercussions for our sport could be significant, with a whole generation of BJJ teachers becoming very familiar with both the technology and pedagogy of teaching online.

Before lockdown, online training was something a few big names were able to use as an income stream, putting up technique videos relatively similar to what you get on a DVD. Now, I think that is going to open up, as so many of us are running full classes on Zoom, or recording full classes and uploading them. That experience and knowledge is still going to be there when the lockdown is lifted. In an ideal world, it will provide us all with a whole new potential income stream, or at least a way to increase the value of what we can offer to our students.



I was surprised when an ex-student of mine (who now lives in Australia) suggested she'd be interested in paying to just have private lessons, as I'd mentioned I was doing them for my current students. I'm not at a level yet where doing that separately would make sense, BUT it wouldn't be difficult to simply live stream my in-person classes (once those start up again). I could set up some low payment option for people like her, who have an interest in doing distance learning.

Though yeah, I'd need a wifi connection at the gym for that, probably. I could try the data on my phone, but I'm not sure my data package is beefy enough to handle repeated live streaming. It's something I've considered in the past, but the experience of Zoom classes has done a lot of clarify the idea for me. Watch this space! 😁

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01/04/2020 Zoom classes online from my living room

Class #1233
Artemis BJJ (my living room), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 01/04/2020



A couple of weeks ago the govt changed their strategy and the UKBJJA advice therefore also changed. i therefore temporarily shut both of the Artemis BJJ locations in order to follow that guidance: I won't open them back up again until the UKBJJA advice tells me to.

Instead, I've been teaching classes online from my living room, as fortunately I have both mats and I live with somebody willing to let me demonstrate on them. Zoom has been pretty good so far as a method for teaching, both group classes and private classes. However, as my demo partner doesn't like to be seen in public vids, I have only been uploading the full vids to the private Artemis BJJ member groups.

Still, I was able to get some clips, along with some solo drilling footage. I'm not sure I'll put up many posts while we're in lockdown, we'll see. For today at least, I'll embed that footage that I can, which are clips from a private lesson, plus some drills. :D

13/03/2020 - Friday daytime, coronavirus update & americana for Monday

Class #1232
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 13/03/2020

Like other local gyms, we're currently following the official UKBJJA guidance on the coronavirus (naturally we'll continue to review as the situation develops). I've also stuck a bunch of notices on the walls and changing rooms to further emphasise it. Full details on the website.

If you're my student, please make sure you read it, and WASH YOUR HANDS before and after entering the gym. Very important, people! This should go without saying, but washing your hands is 100% mandatory before stepping on the mats, you also need to wash them as you leave.



In terms of technique, prepping the americana. That little tip from Seymour about using it as a set-up for getting the arm on the leg-side of your head is very handy, so I'm planning to add that in too. Especially as I've just shown several armbar set ups off that, plus it fits with my favoured kimura from north south set up. :D

12/03/2020 - Thursday daytime, pressing armbar from step over triangle

Class #1231
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/03/2020

Playing with a pressing armbar from the step over triangle today, which I wanted to try after seeing a guy on reddit post up a video. It's a position I have used for many years now, recently adding in several techniques to the sequence. Putting in a pressing armbar gives me another option, so that's cool: there's at least six submissions from there (triangle, americana, kimura, figure 4 against the leg, wristlock and straight armbar).



Video link, if the above isn't working properly.

10/03/2020 - Tuesday daytime

Class #1230
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/03/2020

After another awesome GrappleThon at the weekend (you can still donate here), back into training with some more side control attacks. I've been in another of my usual slumps for last week or two (back up into a good mood now :D), hence the last of daytime posts. Back to it now, hooray!

Refugee Women of Bristol GrappleThon, 7th-8th March 2020

Class #1229
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 07-08/03/2020



I'm writing this up the following week, when the coronavirus pandemic has really begun to hit Europe hard. I was uncertain about how it would affect the GrappleThon last week, but seven days ago (the 8th March feels like a different world now!), the situation did not seem as serious. There were definitely less people than usual, but enough to keep us going through the night.



In terms of rolling, I had a great spar with Piotr, who is always great to train with. He's much bigger and stronger, but has that rare skill of being able to adjust his intensity level to whoever he is sparring with. I also got to roll with one of my best friends, Weronika. It was so good to see her again, it's been too long! Last time was Summer 2019, I've missed her.

My favourite part of the GrappleThon, as usual, was playing DnD. My student Dan is a fantastic DM, he runs most of the games at GrappleThons (I still need to finish the write-up from last year's event). Due to the smaller numbers, there weren't enough people to keep the grappling going without us. As I REALLY wanted to play DnD, I went with the 'why not both' approach: a surprisingly tiring combination. ;)



Another major highlight for me was something I've been waiting to do for a number of years. Weronika has moved around quite a bit since I first met her in 2016 (when she was training in Wales). She's been through multiple countries, currently in France. That means she has been under multiple instructors. I have rolled with her many times over the years, plus watched her roll with people of all sizes, from white to black belt. So I felt totally confident to promote her to blue belt. Supremely proud, and quite emotional. ❤️



Naturally the most important part of the event is raising money for a good cause. Given all the nasty xenophobic behaviour that's been unleashed by Brexit and the right wing government that have been pushing the country to shoot itself in the foot, I wanted to pick a charity that represented the better nature of the UK. So, I went with Refugee Women of Bristol, a great local charity near to the gym. So far, we've raised almost £3,000, with more due to come in over the next month. If you'd like to help out, you can donate here.

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A post shared by GrappleThon (@grapplethon) on Mar 7, 2020 at 9:20am PST

21/02/2020 - Friday daytime

Class #1228
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/02/2020

20/02/2020 - Thursday daytime

Class #1227
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/02/2020