Class #1123
Fighting Fit Stone, Priit Mihkelson, Stafford, UK - 16-17/03/2018
ARMBAR ESCAPES
On applying armbars, you only need one shoulder. You can triangle the arm and hook your leg under them. You can even go under their head.
For armbar escape, thumb down, elbow away from their stomach. Other elbow blocking their other foot, free shoulder. Come up on elbow, turn away. Or, bring legs towards them, don't be perpendicular. Can do a bridge, jump over with omoplata. Always keep that thumb down.
With kimura grip, seeing which direction the hand can move. Sometimes it is hitchhiker, but mostly going towards elbow, put weight on elbow. Don't be perpendicular, moving your alignment so you end up in a line.
As ever, don't be flat, turn slightly. Same as when they try to grab your leg, turn, keep your leg down so they can't do cradle or spider web or whatever.
GRİLLED CHİCKEN
Arms on outside, keep that connection. Can use them to base, also always ready to push on the shin. İf the shins step back to stop your push, they will probably lean in, so you can push on the arm instead.
İf they get your hips up, shuffle back on your shoulders. İf there is distance (or they are trying to bring your feet to the mat), sit up. Avoid crossing your leg right over, keep that tense and ready to push, weaving back in not just flopping right across.
Priit did an interesting block of knee cut. Hooks over the top, elbow is on their knee, reaching down. Though I think that was a later defence, not sure. This was after class, she. he was working through some questions with Karla.
Also, reverse DLR type, push on hip. Knee shield, grab their head. Can kind of berimbolo them from there. Also, wrapping arm behind your leg to go for it.
İf they leg drag, your dragged leg knee points down (you need to be careful of leglocks here), blocking their shin with your hand, or their arm. Your other foot pushes into their same side hip.
With over under, grab their wrist rather than blocking the hip. Keep grilled chicken so you can spin. He also talked about sitting up, head in front of hips. just like grilled chicken is knees to chest, sitting guard is chest to knees.
İn the vids, Priit managed to sweep them right over by rolling through, or pulling arm into knee and tilting. The roll through was opposite shoulder, continuing that motion.
Q & A
For stack pass, never has head directly in the middle. He keeps it off to the side.
Showing posts with label armbar escape. Show all posts
Showing posts with label armbar escape. Show all posts
17 March 2019
28 September 2011
28/09/2011 - Gracie Barra Technique (Armbar Escapes)
Class #420
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 28/09/2011
After the excitement of getting my gf along to a lesson followed by the ADCC, it was back to normal tonight. Geeza has been running through armbars this week, specifically armbar escapes. Before he got on to tonight's escape, he first had us drill two basic armbar set-ups. Kicking off with the armbar from mount, you're imagining your opponent shoves their arms into your chest (unlikely in sparring, but useful for the purposes of drilling). Put one arm on the outside of theirs, with your hand on their sternum. Put your other arm inside, so that the second hand goes on top of the first.
Slide your far leg up into their armpit, sole of the foot pointing towards their head. The near leg shifts to their shoulder. Lean forwards, then slide your shoulder leg over their. Your arm should already be over theirs: lock it over the back of their elbow. Geeza noted that drilling, that was safer than grabbing the wrist. In sparring, you would use your other arm to secure the wrist. Drop back, then repeat on the other side.
That was followed by a similarly basic armbar from knee on belly drill. They have put their outside hand on your knee, leaving a gap. Reach through the gap and pull them onto their side. Move around to step over their head, then drop back for the armbar.
The main techniques of the lesson were armbar escapes. Geeza called the first one a 'clear and bridge' escape. They are about to armbar you from mount, but you've managed to link your hands together to get a brief moment before you're forced to tap. Fling your arms over your head to knock their leg off your head. Bridge, then wriggle your head and shoulders over their leg. Make a tight turn to come up in their guard, making sure your elbows are safe: if you're not careful, they could go straight for an armbar or triangle.
Geeza followed up with another armbar escape, this time referred to as the 'ninja star' escape. They are again looking to secure an armbar, now from guard. To give yourself some time, drop your weight down in what Geeza dubbed the 'floppy dog' position, sunk towards your knees. You're then going to flick your hand to one side, so that your thumb is pointing at their shoulder (as if you're an '80s ninja throwing the aforementioned shuriken).
That should give you the space to quickly tug your arm free. Apparently, Matt Serra used the same escape in his classic upset with GSP, but from a mounted armbar. It is a little like the hitchhiker escape, except that you're not following the arm around. Instead, you're just trying to create the space to pull the arm out.
There was enough time for a round of free sparring, where I went with Oli. Tends to always be quite fun, as Oli often tries out random stuff and keeps things light and friendly. I was reminded again that I need to adjust my passing depending on their grips, as I wasn't properly dealing with the leg pressing into my bicep. Need to remember to move back to clear that off my arm.
I also had a chance to move into the running escape, which I wanted to practice as I'm teaching it tomorrow. The usual problems were raised again, which is to be very careful of their arm coming through by your hip. Interestingly, Oli was bringing the arm by the head through sometimes, which doesn't normally happen. I guess you can block that with your hands, but it is a bit different to them driving through the hip arm.
Finally, I tried putting into practice a handy suggestion from Donal on spider guard, which he mentioned at the start of the lesson. In short, when you're using the leg lasso, kick a bit further and hook the foot around their back. I haven't done that in the past because I worry about foot locks, but Donal said that's never happened to him. As Donal mentioned it was a tip from Michael Langhi, I'm happy to take his word for it: something to play around with, and it does provide more control. Donal is going to be teaching on Tuesdays starting next week, so I'm looking forward to checking out his lesson. :)
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 28/09/2011
After the excitement of getting my gf along to a lesson followed by the ADCC, it was back to normal tonight. Geeza has been running through armbars this week, specifically armbar escapes. Before he got on to tonight's escape, he first had us drill two basic armbar set-ups. Kicking off with the armbar from mount, you're imagining your opponent shoves their arms into your chest (unlikely in sparring, but useful for the purposes of drilling). Put one arm on the outside of theirs, with your hand on their sternum. Put your other arm inside, so that the second hand goes on top of the first.
Slide your far leg up into their armpit, sole of the foot pointing towards their head. The near leg shifts to their shoulder. Lean forwards, then slide your shoulder leg over their. Your arm should already be over theirs: lock it over the back of their elbow. Geeza noted that drilling, that was safer than grabbing the wrist. In sparring, you would use your other arm to secure the wrist. Drop back, then repeat on the other side.
That was followed by a similarly basic armbar from knee on belly drill. They have put their outside hand on your knee, leaving a gap. Reach through the gap and pull them onto their side. Move around to step over their head, then drop back for the armbar.
The main techniques of the lesson were armbar escapes. Geeza called the first one a 'clear and bridge' escape. They are about to armbar you from mount, but you've managed to link your hands together to get a brief moment before you're forced to tap. Fling your arms over your head to knock their leg off your head. Bridge, then wriggle your head and shoulders over their leg. Make a tight turn to come up in their guard, making sure your elbows are safe: if you're not careful, they could go straight for an armbar or triangle.
Geeza followed up with another armbar escape, this time referred to as the 'ninja star' escape. They are again looking to secure an armbar, now from guard. To give yourself some time, drop your weight down in what Geeza dubbed the 'floppy dog' position, sunk towards your knees. You're then going to flick your hand to one side, so that your thumb is pointing at their shoulder (as if you're an '80s ninja throwing the aforementioned shuriken).
That should give you the space to quickly tug your arm free. Apparently, Matt Serra used the same escape in his classic upset with GSP, but from a mounted armbar. It is a little like the hitchhiker escape, except that you're not following the arm around. Instead, you're just trying to create the space to pull the arm out.
There was enough time for a round of free sparring, where I went with Oli. Tends to always be quite fun, as Oli often tries out random stuff and keeps things light and friendly. I was reminded again that I need to adjust my passing depending on their grips, as I wasn't properly dealing with the leg pressing into my bicep. Need to remember to move back to clear that off my arm.
I also had a chance to move into the running escape, which I wanted to practice as I'm teaching it tomorrow. The usual problems were raised again, which is to be very careful of their arm coming through by your hip. Interestingly, Oli was bringing the arm by the head through sometimes, which doesn't normally happen. I guess you can block that with your hands, but it is a bit different to them driving through the hip arm. Finally, I tried putting into practice a handy suggestion from Donal on spider guard, which he mentioned at the start of the lesson. In short, when you're using the leg lasso, kick a bit further and hook the foot around their back. I haven't done that in the past because I worry about foot locks, but Donal said that's never happened to him. As Donal mentioned it was a tip from Michael Langhi, I'm happy to take his word for it: something to play around with, and it does provide more control. Donal is going to be teaching on Tuesdays starting next week, so I'm looking forward to checking out his lesson. :)
06 October 2009
06/10/2009 - BJJ (Advanced)
Class #247
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 06/10/2009
Advanced class began with throws as usual, this time moving from an outside trip to an inside trip (ko-uchi gari into o-uchi gari, I think, or possibly the other way round). Kev then added on a version where you wrap your leg around their's on the inside trip, then underhook an arm and drive forwards at a forty-five degree angle, locking them to the floor with your shoulder pressure into their sternum.
Ground technique (the fun stuff: throws remain something I feel I have to get through rather than enjoy) continued to focus on mount. As this was the advanced class, it was a combination attack, going from collar choke to armbar, which fits in nicely with Roy Dean's philosophy of using attacks as a 'probe' on Purple Belt Requirements.
The collar choke isn't what you're looking for, but you still need to go for it properly, or you won't get the resistance you're looking for. Start with a deep grip, then slide your other hand around to grab their shoulder (as much as possible, avoid letting your head pass the centre line of their head as you do this). Apply the choke at this point, but don't drop your head to the floor in the normal: keep your torso slightly raised.
That should get a reaction, as they try to defend the choke. You can now slide into s-mount, then release the grip on their shoulder to wrap their arm instead, completing the armbar as normal. You have the added bonus of potentially getting a choke too, if it turns out that you don't merely cause a reaction, but a tap.
Next Kev showed us an armbar escape Nick G had taught a while ago. You're in a bad position, with the arm about to be trapped, but not quite locked in yet. You'll need enough freedom to point both your arms towards your legs. Bring the foot closest to their head out and up towards it, then bridge firmly in that direction.
Keep going until you're sitting on them, facing their legs. It should be relatively easy to extract your arm now, if they're still holding it: you'll know if you were too late at this point, as they'll likely switch to a belly down armbar. Finally, you want to switch into normal mount (unless you're happy with reverse mount, which is a viable position. I can remember Stephan Kesting talking about it in one of his newsletters a while ago).
To do that, bring one leg under the other, spinning into mount: alternately, you might end up in side control. It looks pretty cool when done right (Kev does this to me all the time whenever I spar him, looking like he isn't expending any effort as he floats from position to position), but also appears a bit complex. I'm doubtful I have the coordination yet to get this outside of drilling, but then that's the first step: introduce, isolate, integrate.
Specific sparring from mount followed as before, and also was with Howard again. I did much the same thing, with the Saulo frame and a few overly strength-based escapes from underneath, then grapevining as much as I could on top. Positional control is getting better, but my mount offence is non-existent. I need to work out how to move into chokes when grapevining, or alternately transition more smoothly into s-mount than I'm currently managing.
Full sparring was next, but starting with somebody in mount. I was with Rob, who I knew was liable to choke me repeatedly. I tried to stay tight and defensive, ending up in a another position from Jiu Jitsu University, the running escape. However, I stayed there way too long, unsure of what to do next, as Rob progressively tightened his choke, eventually bringing all his limbs to bear on my neck. My neck lost.
At another point, I found myself in Rob's guard, slipping out of a triangle. I tried to immediately switch to a double underhooks pass, reaching for the opposite collar, but as usual couldn't maintain the pressure, ending up back in guard. I think I need to drive my hips more, as I always leave way too much space. This keeps happening when I go for the double underhooks, so clearly there is a fundamental flaw with my technique.
I also had another play with the reverse triangle, seeing as Rob's head was low. Last time I made the mistake of focusing too much on the choke, forgetting about the position. So this time, I tried to look for the arm and kimura opportunities, but wasn't able to isolate it properly. I also could probably have tightened the triangle, which would have helped as a distraction.
On top, things went a lot better. I again used the grapevine, managing to maintain that mount position, but not able to launch any attacks. I'm also trying to switch grapevines like Rener does on Gracie Combatives, though its a habit I'm not quite used to yet (still helped). The low swim also proved useful again, preventing my arms from getting trapped too easily. Of course, I'd just sat out the previous round, so was coming in fairly fresh, which makes a difference.
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 06/10/2009
Advanced class began with throws as usual, this time moving from an outside trip to an inside trip (ko-uchi gari into o-uchi gari, I think, or possibly the other way round). Kev then added on a version where you wrap your leg around their's on the inside trip, then underhook an arm and drive forwards at a forty-five degree angle, locking them to the floor with your shoulder pressure into their sternum.
Ground technique (the fun stuff: throws remain something I feel I have to get through rather than enjoy) continued to focus on mount. As this was the advanced class, it was a combination attack, going from collar choke to armbar, which fits in nicely with Roy Dean's philosophy of using attacks as a 'probe' on Purple Belt Requirements.
The collar choke isn't what you're looking for, but you still need to go for it properly, or you won't get the resistance you're looking for. Start with a deep grip, then slide your other hand around to grab their shoulder (as much as possible, avoid letting your head pass the centre line of their head as you do this). Apply the choke at this point, but don't drop your head to the floor in the normal: keep your torso slightly raised.
That should get a reaction, as they try to defend the choke. You can now slide into s-mount, then release the grip on their shoulder to wrap their arm instead, completing the armbar as normal. You have the added bonus of potentially getting a choke too, if it turns out that you don't merely cause a reaction, but a tap.
Next Kev showed us an armbar escape Nick G had taught a while ago. You're in a bad position, with the arm about to be trapped, but not quite locked in yet. You'll need enough freedom to point both your arms towards your legs. Bring the foot closest to their head out and up towards it, then bridge firmly in that direction.
Keep going until you're sitting on them, facing their legs. It should be relatively easy to extract your arm now, if they're still holding it: you'll know if you were too late at this point, as they'll likely switch to a belly down armbar. Finally, you want to switch into normal mount (unless you're happy with reverse mount, which is a viable position. I can remember Stephan Kesting talking about it in one of his newsletters a while ago).
To do that, bring one leg under the other, spinning into mount: alternately, you might end up in side control. It looks pretty cool when done right (Kev does this to me all the time whenever I spar him, looking like he isn't expending any effort as he floats from position to position), but also appears a bit complex. I'm doubtful I have the coordination yet to get this outside of drilling, but then that's the first step: introduce, isolate, integrate.
Specific sparring from mount followed as before, and also was with Howard again. I did much the same thing, with the Saulo frame and a few overly strength-based escapes from underneath, then grapevining as much as I could on top. Positional control is getting better, but my mount offence is non-existent. I need to work out how to move into chokes when grapevining, or alternately transition more smoothly into s-mount than I'm currently managing.
Full sparring was next, but starting with somebody in mount. I was with Rob, who I knew was liable to choke me repeatedly. I tried to stay tight and defensive, ending up in a another position from Jiu Jitsu University, the running escape. However, I stayed there way too long, unsure of what to do next, as Rob progressively tightened his choke, eventually bringing all his limbs to bear on my neck. My neck lost.
At another point, I found myself in Rob's guard, slipping out of a triangle. I tried to immediately switch to a double underhooks pass, reaching for the opposite collar, but as usual couldn't maintain the pressure, ending up back in guard. I think I need to drive my hips more, as I always leave way too much space. This keeps happening when I go for the double underhooks, so clearly there is a fundamental flaw with my technique.
I also had another play with the reverse triangle, seeing as Rob's head was low. Last time I made the mistake of focusing too much on the choke, forgetting about the position. So this time, I tried to look for the arm and kimura opportunities, but wasn't able to isolate it properly. I also could probably have tightened the triangle, which would have helped as a distraction.
On top, things went a lot better. I again used the grapevine, managing to maintain that mount position, but not able to launch any attacks. I'm also trying to switch grapevines like Rener does on Gracie Combatives, though its a habit I'm not quite used to yet (still helped). The low swim also proved useful again, preventing my arms from getting trapped too easily. Of course, I'd just sat out the previous round, so was coming in fairly fresh, which makes a difference.
24 July 2009
24/07/2009 - Roy Dean Class
Class #234
Uplands School, (BJJ), Roy Dean, Poole, UK - 24/07/2009
I was pleasantly surprised a while ago by an email asking if I'd be interested in attending a Roy Dean seminar, so of course jumped at the chance. £30 for two days with an instructor I very much admire was a great opportunity. I've been looking forward to this weekend of training for several months now.
Kirsty, Steve and Paul very generously allowed me to stay at their home, and proved to be excellent hosts, laying on food, and even washing and drying one of the two gis I'd brought. There was also a rather nice present waiting for me, which was an early release copy of Roy Dean's new DVD, Purple Belt Requirements. I will of course have a review up shortly. ;)
As I was there the day before the seminar, I was able to head down to a class Roy held at Uplands School. He didn't waste much time on the warm-up, using the armbar from guard as a way of getting the blood flowing. After that, it was straight into technique. A lot of technique.
Roy's theme tonight was countering submissions, ending up with a submission of your own. That kicked off with a counter to the armbar from guard. As you feel them moving into the armbar, get your forearm behind their leg. Press that hand down to the floor on the far side, then swing your arms through, thrusting your chest out to get past the legs into side control.
Roy followed that with an additional option. Having blocked the leg with your forearm, you can push them to the side, grabbing their trousers or belt to help. The idea is to roll them into the turtle position.
Once there, you can attack with a sliding choke. Start by getting one arm under their same side armpit, grabbing the same side collar. Open it up, bringing your other arm over their same side shoulder. You can now feed that open collar to your second hand, securing a deep grip.
The other grips lower down, on the opposite lapel. To secure the choke, pull down on that lapel, while twisting the other hand and pulling back. Alternately, you can also executed a clock choke, from the same position. Instead of tightening with your hands, walk your legs gradually around past their head, dropping your head towards their neck. This will tighten the choke for you, until you get the tap.
Yet another option is to move into a crucifix, again starting from the turtle. As before, you've reached under their armpit, opened the same side collar and fed it to the other hand, which comes over the shoulder. Your free hand goes under their armpit again, but this time grabs the wrist, pulling it inwards.
This will break their posture. Making sure you have their other arm trapped between you legs, you can now roll over your shoulder in the direction of your grips. That puts your partner in a crucifix. From here, release the hold on the wrist, instead moving your arm out along their arm up to the crook of their elbow. Controlling their arm, bring your hand behind their head. You can now go for the submission, in conjunction with that grip on their collar you still have from earlier.
Roy then demonstrated an armbar from knee-on-belly, followed by a defence. Once you've secured knee on belly, often your opponent will push on the knee with their hand to relieve the pressure. That opens up an opportunity for a submission. Reach through the frame formed by their arm, gripping underneath, then post your other hand for base near their head.
You can then spin, bringing your leg over their head, continuing until your knee is pointing up beside their arm, on the side nearest their knees. You should also have you other leg over their throat, after which you can drop down and back for the armbar, keeping your knees pinched.
The counter to a knee-on-belly armbar is comparatively simple. First, you need to turn your hand so that your thumb is no longer pointing to the ceiling. This will give you a moment to escape, as they will either have to get your thumb back up, or shift into a position where they can still hyperextend your arm in a different direction.
Look towards their feet, also gripping their nearest leg. From here, kick your legs up and back, rolling over your shoulder. Now you can move into your own knee-on-belly, ready to launch an attack.
Finally, Roy progressed to footlocks, which fits with the pattern he sets in Blue Belt Requirements. First off was a straight footlock (I think an Achilles lock, but not sure on the correct terminology).
From standing, you step your foot across to the opposite bum cheek. Wrap an arm around their Achilles, pressing into the tendon with your wrist. Hold their knee with your other hand to keep their leg tight, then sit down. You other leg comes over the top, then in a sort of guillotine hold on the Achilles, drop back, squeeze and thrust your hips up for the tap. Alternately you can also roll to your side to get more leverage.
The footlock counter begins by getting their foot off your hip, also bringing your toes back on the trapped foot to tense the tendon, buying you a brief bit of time to escape. Having dislodged their foot from the hip, reach for their opposite knee, your free hand going back for balance. From there, you can move through to mount.
If they roll to the side for the footlock, you can use a similar strategy. Clearing their foot is still the essential detail, but this time that means bringing your body over the top, so you just bring your hips to the other side of the foot. Once again, you now move through to mount. Must have been a grip of some sort involved in there, but its been submerged in my mountain of notes (possibly that's where you move into knee on belly and armbar, so I may have got the order of class mixed up).
Sparring was done in long rounds, which I didn't realise at first. I started off with a big white belt called Gareth, where I basically stayed squashed underneath, looking to go to half guard. I made some vague attempts at a triangle, but I'm not getting sufficient head control, and also get immediately stacked, preventing me achieving the right position.
Next up was Kirsty, one of the small UK group who has travelled out to Bend in order to train at Roy's academy there. She was able to hold a solid side control, so again I found myself stuck underneath. I probably should have bumped more to make space for an escape, or at least get onto my side. However, as I knew I had to keep going for rather longer than I'm used to, I gave in the laziness and just waited.
I did eventually find myself with the opportunity to go for a triangle a couple of times, but on each occasion, Kirsty shrugged it off and moved right back into side control. Later I managed to move into her guard, where again I took the strategy of waiting for an opportunity.
That led to getting top half guard, though I think that was quite possibly a matter of boring my training partner into opening some space, which is a crappy tactic. As ever, I need to be more proactive.
Looking forward to the main seminar tomorrow, which is going to be intense: four hours of training, followed by another four the next day. My notebook is going to be rammed with technique: I was surprised by just how much Roy packed into the lesson. Pretty much every other lesson I've been to at other BJJ schools teaches no more than three or four techniques at most.
However, chatting to Roy afterwards, I can see why he takes this route instead. This is his first visit to the UK, brought out by Steve and the other UK residents who fly out to Bend in order to train. Therefore Roy wanted to get as much technique in as possible, making the most out of the brief time he has here with his British students.
After the class, we headed back to the flat for an extremely tasty barbecue (again, supplied by our generous hosts), while watching the entirety of UFC Ultimate 100: Greatest Fights. Of course, that title is a misnomer, given that there are several glaring omissions like Frank Shamrock, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
I also got to chat at length to Roy, his students, and the UK crew, which was really cool. Great food, great company, and a great seminar to forward to the next day.
Uplands School, (BJJ), Roy Dean, Poole, UK - 24/07/2009
I was pleasantly surprised a while ago by an email asking if I'd be interested in attending a Roy Dean seminar, so of course jumped at the chance. £30 for two days with an instructor I very much admire was a great opportunity. I've been looking forward to this weekend of training for several months now.
Kirsty, Steve and Paul very generously allowed me to stay at their home, and proved to be excellent hosts, laying on food, and even washing and drying one of the two gis I'd brought. There was also a rather nice present waiting for me, which was an early release copy of Roy Dean's new DVD, Purple Belt Requirements. I will of course have a review up shortly. ;)
As I was there the day before the seminar, I was able to head down to a class Roy held at Uplands School. He didn't waste much time on the warm-up, using the armbar from guard as a way of getting the blood flowing. After that, it was straight into technique. A lot of technique.
Roy's theme tonight was countering submissions, ending up with a submission of your own. That kicked off with a counter to the armbar from guard. As you feel them moving into the armbar, get your forearm behind their leg. Press that hand down to the floor on the far side, then swing your arms through, thrusting your chest out to get past the legs into side control.
Roy followed that with an additional option. Having blocked the leg with your forearm, you can push them to the side, grabbing their trousers or belt to help. The idea is to roll them into the turtle position.
Once there, you can attack with a sliding choke. Start by getting one arm under their same side armpit, grabbing the same side collar. Open it up, bringing your other arm over their same side shoulder. You can now feed that open collar to your second hand, securing a deep grip.
The other grips lower down, on the opposite lapel. To secure the choke, pull down on that lapel, while twisting the other hand and pulling back. Alternately, you can also executed a clock choke, from the same position. Instead of tightening with your hands, walk your legs gradually around past their head, dropping your head towards their neck. This will tighten the choke for you, until you get the tap.
Yet another option is to move into a crucifix, again starting from the turtle. As before, you've reached under their armpit, opened the same side collar and fed it to the other hand, which comes over the shoulder. Your free hand goes under their armpit again, but this time grabs the wrist, pulling it inwards.
This will break their posture. Making sure you have their other arm trapped between you legs, you can now roll over your shoulder in the direction of your grips. That puts your partner in a crucifix. From here, release the hold on the wrist, instead moving your arm out along their arm up to the crook of their elbow. Controlling their arm, bring your hand behind their head. You can now go for the submission, in conjunction with that grip on their collar you still have from earlier.
Roy then demonstrated an armbar from knee-on-belly, followed by a defence. Once you've secured knee on belly, often your opponent will push on the knee with their hand to relieve the pressure. That opens up an opportunity for a submission. Reach through the frame formed by their arm, gripping underneath, then post your other hand for base near their head.
You can then spin, bringing your leg over their head, continuing until your knee is pointing up beside their arm, on the side nearest their knees. You should also have you other leg over their throat, after which you can drop down and back for the armbar, keeping your knees pinched.
The counter to a knee-on-belly armbar is comparatively simple. First, you need to turn your hand so that your thumb is no longer pointing to the ceiling. This will give you a moment to escape, as they will either have to get your thumb back up, or shift into a position where they can still hyperextend your arm in a different direction.
Look towards their feet, also gripping their nearest leg. From here, kick your legs up and back, rolling over your shoulder. Now you can move into your own knee-on-belly, ready to launch an attack.
Finally, Roy progressed to footlocks, which fits with the pattern he sets in Blue Belt Requirements. First off was a straight footlock (I think an Achilles lock, but not sure on the correct terminology).
From standing, you step your foot across to the opposite bum cheek. Wrap an arm around their Achilles, pressing into the tendon with your wrist. Hold their knee with your other hand to keep their leg tight, then sit down. You other leg comes over the top, then in a sort of guillotine hold on the Achilles, drop back, squeeze and thrust your hips up for the tap. Alternately you can also roll to your side to get more leverage.
The footlock counter begins by getting their foot off your hip, also bringing your toes back on the trapped foot to tense the tendon, buying you a brief bit of time to escape. Having dislodged their foot from the hip, reach for their opposite knee, your free hand going back for balance. From there, you can move through to mount.
If they roll to the side for the footlock, you can use a similar strategy. Clearing their foot is still the essential detail, but this time that means bringing your body over the top, so you just bring your hips to the other side of the foot. Once again, you now move through to mount. Must have been a grip of some sort involved in there, but its been submerged in my mountain of notes (possibly that's where you move into knee on belly and armbar, so I may have got the order of class mixed up).
Sparring was done in long rounds, which I didn't realise at first. I started off with a big white belt called Gareth, where I basically stayed squashed underneath, looking to go to half guard. I made some vague attempts at a triangle, but I'm not getting sufficient head control, and also get immediately stacked, preventing me achieving the right position.
Next up was Kirsty, one of the small UK group who has travelled out to Bend in order to train at Roy's academy there. She was able to hold a solid side control, so again I found myself stuck underneath. I probably should have bumped more to make space for an escape, or at least get onto my side. However, as I knew I had to keep going for rather longer than I'm used to, I gave in the laziness and just waited.
I did eventually find myself with the opportunity to go for a triangle a couple of times, but on each occasion, Kirsty shrugged it off and moved right back into side control. Later I managed to move into her guard, where again I took the strategy of waiting for an opportunity.
That led to getting top half guard, though I think that was quite possibly a matter of boring my training partner into opening some space, which is a crappy tactic. As ever, I need to be more proactive.
Looking forward to the main seminar tomorrow, which is going to be intense: four hours of training, followed by another four the next day. My notebook is going to be rammed with technique: I was surprised by just how much Roy packed into the lesson. Pretty much every other lesson I've been to at other BJJ schools teaches no more than three or four techniques at most.
However, chatting to Roy afterwards, I can see why he takes this route instead. This is his first visit to the UK, brought out by Steve and the other UK residents who fly out to Bend in order to train. Therefore Roy wanted to get as much technique in as possible, making the most out of the brief time he has here with his British students.
After the class, we headed back to the flat for an extremely tasty barbecue (again, supplied by our generous hosts), while watching the entirety of UFC Ultimate 100: Greatest Fights. Of course, that title is a misnomer, given that there are several glaring omissions like Frank Shamrock, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
I also got to chat at length to Roy, his students, and the UK crew, which was really cool. Great food, great company, and a great seminar to forward to the next day.
19 December 2007
19/12/2007 - BJJ (Advanced)
Class #111
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 19/12/2007 – Advanced
Tonight’s class followed the same pattern as the advanced class I’d watched yesterday (having attended the beginners later on). That meant submission escapes, specifically the armbar and triangle.
I was pleased to see two people there I haven’t often had a chance to train with recently, Dominique and Herman. Pairing up with Dominique for the drilling, we started off with the armbar escape. This was the same basic technique as I’d seen some time ago in the beginners, but as usual Jude had some further tips. Firstly, he emphasised the importance of getting your rear foot (which will be on the same side as the trapped arm) right in close to their bum, your other knee by their head. Having grabbed your free arm’s biceps (I normally always put that as bicep, but apparently the correct term is biceps, rather than that being a plural) with your trapped arm’s hand, dig the elbow of your free arm into their chest. Dominique noted that made a noticeable difference, as it put some pressure on the attacker. To finish, jerk your arm out, then push through the legs and go to side control.
Next up was the triangle escape, which I haven’t been shown before in class (although Oli has mentioned the ‘push the knee down’ principle to me before). Grab their knee and drive it to the floor. Come up on your feet (in a sort of high sprawl position), holding the knee in place, then drive with your shoulder to make space. Once your can get you hand through, slip that in, then immediately bring your arms round both legs, ready for a stack pass.
I had some trouble breaking the grip of the legs in the way Jude showed, tending instead to just be able to make enough space to get a hand through rather than knocking the legs apart. However, totally pointless to do the technique wrong in drilling, so will have to work harder on that one to get it right: I asked Jude over to help with the technique, and he clarified that it was holding the knee in place and driving with the one shoulder forward.
In an instance of keeping to the Matt Thornton three I’s, we move on from Introduce to Isolate, starting in an armbar from which the other person then had to escape. This was a higher resistance drill than normal, as both partners were struggling to either escape, submit or sweep. With the armbar, neither Dominique or I had too many problems, but the triangle escape caused a few more difficulties. I found that it was initially possible to roll into a mounted triangle, but later on Dominique seemed to do something a little different and was able to break my hold more forcefully. As in drilling, my sticking point was breaking the hold in the way Jude demonstrated, so need to focus on driving through. However, having said that neither of us was in danger of tapping, so we both have it down enough to at least get into a stalemate.
Sparring was good today. I began with Dominique, with both of us trying to pull guard initially, with me eventually ending up in side control then mount. I had Dominique’s arm vaguely between my legs, so was trying to think if there was any kind of sub I could go for (like an armbar, or that step over thing) I learned from Johannes - its in the vid with Waki, about a minute in), but nothing came to mind. I went for mount instead, which I clung to for a while, then found myself slowly slipping round into guard.
Time ran out, but as we chatted for a moment after sparring exchanging thoughts on the spar, everyone else had already grabbed new partners. I wasn’t feeling too knackered by this point, so we decided to go again. The spar went in a similar fashion, but this time I managed to stay on top. I didn’t get to mount, instead finding myself in half-guard. Remembering what Connor had said last time I rolled with him, I attempted to use my leg to prise my leg free, but couldn’t quite get it. However, I noticed that Dominique had her arm loose, so took the opportunity to go for the Americana. I don’t think Dom was resisting all that much once she saw I’d got the figure four, and its not common that the arm is free like that, but still nice to get.
Very unusually for me, I then went straight into a third spar without a break, this time against Herman. I swivelled to my familiar position of guard, having been swept from butterfly (Herman mentioned he’d been wanting to go for that and was pleased to have got it). I also found I was able to switch from half to closed guard a few times, keeping my legs in tight around Herman. In addition, like with Dominique, I tried to be more offensive than usual, going for armbars, chokes and in particular, the kimura. I dangled in the armbar position a few times, but wasn’t able to isolate the arm, and the same thing happened with the kimura (almost had the grip I wanted on a couple of occasions, but couldn’t get into position to bring my leg over his back and tug the arm free).
After a round sitting out, I went with Oli (I had been aiming for Leo, but gave way to another blue belt who was looking to spar him). Oli is always good to spar with, as he takes an instructional approach: I’m fairly certain he was going relatively easy on me. That meant I was able to work my defence, as normally happens against the higher belts, generally ending up underneath either side control or mount, working towards half guard. Normally I step over my leg and their leg to go for the heel drag (literally using my heel to lift up their foot, then locking in my half guard), but this time had a go and lifting the foot up without stepping over, then attempting half guard. That seemed to work a couple of times, though again I’m guessing Oli wasn’t going all out: either way, he didn’t have too much trouble pushing back into mount, whereupon I’d start bridging repeated and trying to get my knee through.
Eventually, I think from half guard, I managed to roll into his guard, where I soon found myself getting sucked into a triangle (or some other choke: one hand was creeping up behind me). I tried to keep my elbows in and base solid, though that was made more difficult when Oli dragged my arm underneath his (I ended up gripping his back with that hand as a result, which I’m not sure is the best thing to do in that situation). After much wriggling and attempts to posture up, I eventually got my arm free and back up to a more neutral position, but again I’m assuming Oli wasn’t slamming on the triangle as forcefully as he could have.
Good learning experience as always, and reminded me that from side control, I need to remember not just to lie there with a leg crossed over, but to actively shove that knee into their knee, raising up, and getting in position to slip it straight underneath to try and recover guard (rather than leaving it static on my other leg). Generally being more offensive helped to make for greater proactivity on my part overall, though my subs are still very sloppy (especially the armbar, where every time I end up hanging there, normally giving up and returning to guard before they pass. Maybe I should try harder for it?).
Probably won't be training tomorrow, as I'm assuming I'll be too drunk, but we'll see.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 19/12/2007 – Advanced
Tonight’s class followed the same pattern as the advanced class I’d watched yesterday (having attended the beginners later on). That meant submission escapes, specifically the armbar and triangle.
I was pleased to see two people there I haven’t often had a chance to train with recently, Dominique and Herman. Pairing up with Dominique for the drilling, we started off with the armbar escape. This was the same basic technique as I’d seen some time ago in the beginners, but as usual Jude had some further tips. Firstly, he emphasised the importance of getting your rear foot (which will be on the same side as the trapped arm) right in close to their bum, your other knee by their head. Having grabbed your free arm’s biceps (I normally always put that as bicep, but apparently the correct term is biceps, rather than that being a plural) with your trapped arm’s hand, dig the elbow of your free arm into their chest. Dominique noted that made a noticeable difference, as it put some pressure on the attacker. To finish, jerk your arm out, then push through the legs and go to side control.
Next up was the triangle escape, which I haven’t been shown before in class (although Oli has mentioned the ‘push the knee down’ principle to me before). Grab their knee and drive it to the floor. Come up on your feet (in a sort of high sprawl position), holding the knee in place, then drive with your shoulder to make space. Once your can get you hand through, slip that in, then immediately bring your arms round both legs, ready for a stack pass.
I had some trouble breaking the grip of the legs in the way Jude showed, tending instead to just be able to make enough space to get a hand through rather than knocking the legs apart. However, totally pointless to do the technique wrong in drilling, so will have to work harder on that one to get it right: I asked Jude over to help with the technique, and he clarified that it was holding the knee in place and driving with the one shoulder forward.
In an instance of keeping to the Matt Thornton three I’s, we move on from Introduce to Isolate, starting in an armbar from which the other person then had to escape. This was a higher resistance drill than normal, as both partners were struggling to either escape, submit or sweep. With the armbar, neither Dominique or I had too many problems, but the triangle escape caused a few more difficulties. I found that it was initially possible to roll into a mounted triangle, but later on Dominique seemed to do something a little different and was able to break my hold more forcefully. As in drilling, my sticking point was breaking the hold in the way Jude demonstrated, so need to focus on driving through. However, having said that neither of us was in danger of tapping, so we both have it down enough to at least get into a stalemate.
Sparring was good today. I began with Dominique, with both of us trying to pull guard initially, with me eventually ending up in side control then mount. I had Dominique’s arm vaguely between my legs, so was trying to think if there was any kind of sub I could go for (like an armbar, or that step over thing) I learned from Johannes - its in the vid with Waki, about a minute in), but nothing came to mind. I went for mount instead, which I clung to for a while, then found myself slowly slipping round into guard.
Time ran out, but as we chatted for a moment after sparring exchanging thoughts on the spar, everyone else had already grabbed new partners. I wasn’t feeling too knackered by this point, so we decided to go again. The spar went in a similar fashion, but this time I managed to stay on top. I didn’t get to mount, instead finding myself in half-guard. Remembering what Connor had said last time I rolled with him, I attempted to use my leg to prise my leg free, but couldn’t quite get it. However, I noticed that Dominique had her arm loose, so took the opportunity to go for the Americana. I don’t think Dom was resisting all that much once she saw I’d got the figure four, and its not common that the arm is free like that, but still nice to get.
Very unusually for me, I then went straight into a third spar without a break, this time against Herman. I swivelled to my familiar position of guard, having been swept from butterfly (Herman mentioned he’d been wanting to go for that and was pleased to have got it). I also found I was able to switch from half to closed guard a few times, keeping my legs in tight around Herman. In addition, like with Dominique, I tried to be more offensive than usual, going for armbars, chokes and in particular, the kimura. I dangled in the armbar position a few times, but wasn’t able to isolate the arm, and the same thing happened with the kimura (almost had the grip I wanted on a couple of occasions, but couldn’t get into position to bring my leg over his back and tug the arm free).
After a round sitting out, I went with Oli (I had been aiming for Leo, but gave way to another blue belt who was looking to spar him). Oli is always good to spar with, as he takes an instructional approach: I’m fairly certain he was going relatively easy on me. That meant I was able to work my defence, as normally happens against the higher belts, generally ending up underneath either side control or mount, working towards half guard. Normally I step over my leg and their leg to go for the heel drag (literally using my heel to lift up their foot, then locking in my half guard), but this time had a go and lifting the foot up without stepping over, then attempting half guard. That seemed to work a couple of times, though again I’m guessing Oli wasn’t going all out: either way, he didn’t have too much trouble pushing back into mount, whereupon I’d start bridging repeated and trying to get my knee through.
Eventually, I think from half guard, I managed to roll into his guard, where I soon found myself getting sucked into a triangle (or some other choke: one hand was creeping up behind me). I tried to keep my elbows in and base solid, though that was made more difficult when Oli dragged my arm underneath his (I ended up gripping his back with that hand as a result, which I’m not sure is the best thing to do in that situation). After much wriggling and attempts to posture up, I eventually got my arm free and back up to a more neutral position, but again I’m assuming Oli wasn’t slamming on the triangle as forcefully as he could have.
Good learning experience as always, and reminded me that from side control, I need to remember not just to lie there with a leg crossed over, but to actively shove that knee into their knee, raising up, and getting in position to slip it straight underneath to try and recover guard (rather than leaving it static on my other leg). Generally being more offensive helped to make for greater proactivity on my part overall, though my subs are still very sloppy (especially the armbar, where every time I end up hanging there, normally giving up and returning to guard before they pass. Maybe I should try harder for it?).
Probably won't be training tomorrow, as I'm assuming I'll be too drunk, but we'll see.
29 August 2007
29/08/2007 - BJJ (Beginners)
Class #82
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK - 29/08/2007 – Beginner
August has been a strange month. Since dropping weight for the Bristol Open, I’ve been fluctuating from slightly woozy to bedridden, not really feeling 100% at any point in the past four weeks. I took last week off entirely to try and finally shake the sick feeling clogging up my head, which has at least partially paid off in that I felt well enough to train tonight. I had been considering training on Tuesday, but from what Owen said about the class, I’m glad I didn’t: apparently lots of over-enthusiastic aggressive noobs resulted in various injuries.
I was expecting to see some kind of celebratory sign to commemorate Roger’s momentous double gold at the Mundials – as there had been after he beat Waterman in his MMA debut - but there was only a congratulatory note on the whiteboard. Also hadn’t expected Roger himself to be back so soon (though he didn’t take the class, I saw him in the office): then again, it is his club, so not entirely surprising he’d want to return as soon as possible.
Maurição was taking class again, which as always meant an atypical syllabus. He began with a cool set-up for the flower sweep, which made a lot of sense. Previously, I’ve found it difficult to get in position, but Maurição showed how a flower sweep could be done off an armbar attempt. If they have their elbow too far back to get the armbar, you can instead hook round their leg and go for the flower as normal, pulling them towards you over your shoulder then rolling into mount, using one leg against their side, the other sweeping out and then back (to avoid throwing them onto your own leg).
This was followed by an armbar escape from mount which I’ve never seen before. If they are pulling back for the armbar but haven’t yet secured your wrist, immediately twist your trapped hand so its palm down and curl your arm towards their knee. At the same time, move round with your legs and turn your body over, grabbing their leg as you scramble in order to better transition to side control. Finally, put your knee into their side then swing your leg over into mount – if they try to stop you with an arm, underhook and push it out of the way.
Maurição then ran through the Americana from mount, emphasising that you should be using your weight rather than arm strength, as well as advising against the ‘monkey grip’ (holding with the thumb wrapped round). I continue to struggle with submissions from mount, generally ending up trying to maintain the position and move up to high mount, flapping uselessly at my partner’s limbs. Nevertheless, always good to have a reminder.
Sparring was from side control, where I didn’t achieve too much from top or bottom except holding position. I think I swept Dominique once or twice, and occasionally got through to mount from on top, but that was only after she very nearly caught me in full guard several times. I feel like my mobility is improving, but I continue to lack sufficient downward pressure and I’m still leaving too much space. In addition, while I’m moving a little better, I need to move more.
I’m also finding myself frequently in half-guard, which I can just about hold, but not very proactively. I’m trying to work on recovering full guard, or possibly go for some half-guard sweeps, but I’d prefer to keep things basic. That sweep Maurição showed a while back where you lift your opponent into full guard looks worth a go. I’d also like to get better with the fundamental mount and side control escapes, which continue to be weak points: I don’t make enough space under mount or side control. I did try the typical push up and shrimp out escape, but I tend to end up squashed and incapable of creating room to move.
I attempted a few submissions, mainly armbars, but was mostly going from weird places (at least to me: for example, from a poorly executed back mount missing a hook I ended up in at one point). It would probably be a better use of my time to continue ignoring submissions for the most part to concentrate on position, so that I can hopefully get to a point where I can confidently hold guard/mount/side control etc, therefore providing a good platform to launch a sub attempt.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK - 29/08/2007 – Beginner
August has been a strange month. Since dropping weight for the Bristol Open, I’ve been fluctuating from slightly woozy to bedridden, not really feeling 100% at any point in the past four weeks. I took last week off entirely to try and finally shake the sick feeling clogging up my head, which has at least partially paid off in that I felt well enough to train tonight. I had been considering training on Tuesday, but from what Owen said about the class, I’m glad I didn’t: apparently lots of over-enthusiastic aggressive noobs resulted in various injuries.
I was expecting to see some kind of celebratory sign to commemorate Roger’s momentous double gold at the Mundials – as there had been after he beat Waterman in his MMA debut - but there was only a congratulatory note on the whiteboard. Also hadn’t expected Roger himself to be back so soon (though he didn’t take the class, I saw him in the office): then again, it is his club, so not entirely surprising he’d want to return as soon as possible.
Maurição was taking class again, which as always meant an atypical syllabus. He began with a cool set-up for the flower sweep, which made a lot of sense. Previously, I’ve found it difficult to get in position, but Maurição showed how a flower sweep could be done off an armbar attempt. If they have their elbow too far back to get the armbar, you can instead hook round their leg and go for the flower as normal, pulling them towards you over your shoulder then rolling into mount, using one leg against their side, the other sweeping out and then back (to avoid throwing them onto your own leg).
This was followed by an armbar escape from mount which I’ve never seen before. If they are pulling back for the armbar but haven’t yet secured your wrist, immediately twist your trapped hand so its palm down and curl your arm towards their knee. At the same time, move round with your legs and turn your body over, grabbing their leg as you scramble in order to better transition to side control. Finally, put your knee into their side then swing your leg over into mount – if they try to stop you with an arm, underhook and push it out of the way.
Maurição then ran through the Americana from mount, emphasising that you should be using your weight rather than arm strength, as well as advising against the ‘monkey grip’ (holding with the thumb wrapped round). I continue to struggle with submissions from mount, generally ending up trying to maintain the position and move up to high mount, flapping uselessly at my partner’s limbs. Nevertheless, always good to have a reminder.
Sparring was from side control, where I didn’t achieve too much from top or bottom except holding position. I think I swept Dominique once or twice, and occasionally got through to mount from on top, but that was only after she very nearly caught me in full guard several times. I feel like my mobility is improving, but I continue to lack sufficient downward pressure and I’m still leaving too much space. In addition, while I’m moving a little better, I need to move more.
I’m also finding myself frequently in half-guard, which I can just about hold, but not very proactively. I’m trying to work on recovering full guard, or possibly go for some half-guard sweeps, but I’d prefer to keep things basic. That sweep Maurição showed a while back where you lift your opponent into full guard looks worth a go. I’d also like to get better with the fundamental mount and side control escapes, which continue to be weak points: I don’t make enough space under mount or side control. I did try the typical push up and shrimp out escape, but I tend to end up squashed and incapable of creating room to move.
I attempted a few submissions, mainly armbars, but was mostly going from weird places (at least to me: for example, from a poorly executed back mount missing a hook I ended up in at one point). It would probably be a better use of my time to continue ignoring submissions for the most part to concentrate on position, so that I can hopefully get to a point where I can confidently hold guard/mount/side control etc, therefore providing a good platform to launch a sub attempt.
22 March 2007
22/03/2007 - BJJ
Class #43
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 22/03/2007
Maurição took the warm-up, which was the same as Saturday, but Felipe ran the rest of class. As with previous lessons this week, everything was based around the armbar from guard.
Felipe began with an armbar from standing guard, by which I mean an armbar applied after your opponent has stood up in your guard. Seeing Person A is leaning forward too much, Person B grips both arms tightly. Person B then walks their guard up high on Person A’s back and swivels to one side, underhooking a leg to better facilitate that turn. Switching their grip back to the arm they wish to isolate, Person B brings their leg around Person A’s head (the other staying by his shoulder) and secures the armbar.
Felipe shows the armbar from guard a little differently to Jude, as he doesn’t emphasise raising the hips, instead focusing on turning 90 degrees and pushing your opponent as off-balance as possible with your leg. I think I prefer raising the hips, as I find that makes getting the leg over easier, but tried doing it Felipe’s way: after a bit of experimentation, it seemed a combination of the two worked best. Of course, I’ve never got an armbar from guard in sparring, so hard to know for certain what the ‘best’ method is – I guess in the end, it’s the one that you get to function on a regular basis.
Finally, the armbar escape was also demonstrated a bit differently. Unlike Jude, Felipe didn’t make a point of getting the knee up to your opponent’s shoulder, instead leaving it further back. Again, I think I find it easier Jude’s way, though I don’t think I’ve put it into effect yet when trying to escape armbars in sparring.
Something else Jude mentioned that proved useful was his advice on getting an arm under the neck close to your body when someone is going for your legs. I didn’t apply it in that situation, but instead when I was attempting to pass the guard over a knee. As often happens, I found that both Chris and Anne locked me into their half-guard, but getting that arm into their neck on the side nearest my body gave me sufficient leverage to push through into side control. I’m still not entirely sure how I can most usefully employ my other arm – I tried grabbing the knee, and also pushing into the hip. Grabbing the knee seemed to help prevent my partner recovering guard, but I think it may have left me a little vulnerable given the awkward position, perhaps setting me up for a sweep.
I had a refreshing spar against a new guy, Paxton. The reason it was refreshing is because its been some time since I last sparred somebody with significantly less experience than me. That meant that I could take it a lot slower, and try to see if I could set him up for sweeps, perhaps attempt open guard, or even go for submissions. I tried to elevator sweep a few times but couldn’t quite hook his leg, and also couldn’t get enough space for a scissor sweep – Paxton was staying very close, which made it difficult for me to do a great deal. I could possibly have pushed harder for the collar choke, but preferred to take the opportunity to work sweeps.
Eventually I found myself presented with a triangle, but struggled to finish. I always have problems completing a triangle, which normally results in my opponent slipping their head out, stacking me and passing, which is what happened here. Paxton also went for the Americana a few times, although when I said afterwards that its unlikely he’s going to get that from within guard, he responded that he didn’t really know what he was going for, which is entirely possible.
I had little success on the bottom, yet again failing to get the sit-up sweep against Chris. He sat back, so was in position for it, but I couldn’t force it through. I did at least remember to try for the kimura as I fell back, but went for it too late: I barely had the arm, which Chris easily pulled out, proceeding to pass my guard.
So, I really need to work timing on my sweeps, and I also need to think more carefully about follow ups. For the scissor I must remember to make space first by shrimping, and I also should take greater care when attempting a triangle. As I’m planning to book a private with Jude in May after I get back from my holiday, I want to start considering now the kind of things I’d especially like to cover: at the moment, I think I’d be choosing from passing the guard, submissions from mount, sweeps and triangles.
On a transportation note, I realised after standing about waiting for the 23 bus to Westbourne Park for ages (missing my train to Amersham despite panting my way to Marylebone from Edgware Road) that it would be much more sensible to do as Chris suggested and go the other direction, to Ladbroke Grove. That’s because pretty much all the buses on the other side of the road go to the station, whereas on the side I was standing, its only the 23.
Next week, I’ll be staying at my sisters again, so this time I want to make sure I get some extra drilling in after the late session finishes. Looking forward to working some stuff with Chris on Tuesday and Thursday night.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 22/03/2007
Maurição took the warm-up, which was the same as Saturday, but Felipe ran the rest of class. As with previous lessons this week, everything was based around the armbar from guard.
Felipe began with an armbar from standing guard, by which I mean an armbar applied after your opponent has stood up in your guard. Seeing Person A is leaning forward too much, Person B grips both arms tightly. Person B then walks their guard up high on Person A’s back and swivels to one side, underhooking a leg to better facilitate that turn. Switching their grip back to the arm they wish to isolate, Person B brings their leg around Person A’s head (the other staying by his shoulder) and secures the armbar.
Felipe shows the armbar from guard a little differently to Jude, as he doesn’t emphasise raising the hips, instead focusing on turning 90 degrees and pushing your opponent as off-balance as possible with your leg. I think I prefer raising the hips, as I find that makes getting the leg over easier, but tried doing it Felipe’s way: after a bit of experimentation, it seemed a combination of the two worked best. Of course, I’ve never got an armbar from guard in sparring, so hard to know for certain what the ‘best’ method is – I guess in the end, it’s the one that you get to function on a regular basis.
Finally, the armbar escape was also demonstrated a bit differently. Unlike Jude, Felipe didn’t make a point of getting the knee up to your opponent’s shoulder, instead leaving it further back. Again, I think I find it easier Jude’s way, though I don’t think I’ve put it into effect yet when trying to escape armbars in sparring.
Something else Jude mentioned that proved useful was his advice on getting an arm under the neck close to your body when someone is going for your legs. I didn’t apply it in that situation, but instead when I was attempting to pass the guard over a knee. As often happens, I found that both Chris and Anne locked me into their half-guard, but getting that arm into their neck on the side nearest my body gave me sufficient leverage to push through into side control. I’m still not entirely sure how I can most usefully employ my other arm – I tried grabbing the knee, and also pushing into the hip. Grabbing the knee seemed to help prevent my partner recovering guard, but I think it may have left me a little vulnerable given the awkward position, perhaps setting me up for a sweep.
I had a refreshing spar against a new guy, Paxton. The reason it was refreshing is because its been some time since I last sparred somebody with significantly less experience than me. That meant that I could take it a lot slower, and try to see if I could set him up for sweeps, perhaps attempt open guard, or even go for submissions. I tried to elevator sweep a few times but couldn’t quite hook his leg, and also couldn’t get enough space for a scissor sweep – Paxton was staying very close, which made it difficult for me to do a great deal. I could possibly have pushed harder for the collar choke, but preferred to take the opportunity to work sweeps.
Eventually I found myself presented with a triangle, but struggled to finish. I always have problems completing a triangle, which normally results in my opponent slipping their head out, stacking me and passing, which is what happened here. Paxton also went for the Americana a few times, although when I said afterwards that its unlikely he’s going to get that from within guard, he responded that he didn’t really know what he was going for, which is entirely possible.
I had little success on the bottom, yet again failing to get the sit-up sweep against Chris. He sat back, so was in position for it, but I couldn’t force it through. I did at least remember to try for the kimura as I fell back, but went for it too late: I barely had the arm, which Chris easily pulled out, proceeding to pass my guard.
So, I really need to work timing on my sweeps, and I also need to think more carefully about follow ups. For the scissor I must remember to make space first by shrimping, and I also should take greater care when attempting a triangle. As I’m planning to book a private with Jude in May after I get back from my holiday, I want to start considering now the kind of things I’d especially like to cover: at the moment, I think I’d be choosing from passing the guard, submissions from mount, sweeps and triangles.
On a transportation note, I realised after standing about waiting for the 23 bus to Westbourne Park for ages (missing my train to Amersham despite panting my way to Marylebone from Edgware Road) that it would be much more sensible to do as Chris suggested and go the other direction, to Ladbroke Grove. That’s because pretty much all the buses on the other side of the road go to the station, whereas on the side I was standing, its only the 23.
Next week, I’ll be staying at my sisters again, so this time I want to make sure I get some extra drilling in after the late session finishes. Looking forward to working some stuff with Chris on Tuesday and Thursday night.
21 March 2007
21/03/2007 - BJJ
Class #42
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 21/03/2007
Like Felipe yesterday, Jude went through the armbar from guard and the armbar escape. However, as tends to happen when both instructors show the same thing, Jude taught it slightly differently, which meant there were some useful hints to be had. For instance, Jude noted that as you bring up your knee in order to free your arm and also stop them rolling you over, you should also bring the knee of your other leg up to their head. That provides you with enhanced control and thereby facilitates the pass. Jude also emphasised pushing up with your hips when going for the armbar from guard.
I already liked the drill where one person goes for the armbar and the other does the escape, as it means both training partners are working rather than just one of them drilling a technique. Jude then made it even better by adding a third level, as Person A does the armbar escape. As soon as Person A pushes Person B’s legs to the floor, Person B immediately shrimps out, posting off Person A’s hip. Person B then shrimps the other way to recover guard, or potentially go for a triangle if Person A ends up with a single arm in and the other out.
However, unlike yesterday sparring wasn’t from the mount, and neither was it ‘king of the hill’, which is great because it meant I got more time to work technique. In fact, I got the best of both worlds, because I was in a group of three, meaning I had a rest between rolls, but not an overly long wait.
My partners were Olly and Owen, both from the advanced class and with a significant strength advantage, especially Olly. I had an interesting time of it guard passing today, because with both Owen and Olly I found myself in a position to pass but couldn’t finish. Mainly, I was having trouble pushing the knee out and sinking down into side control – each of my partners was able to get their knee back through and thereby return to guard.
In addition, Owen was unusual in the beginners class in that he appears to good at using the open guard. He repeatedly trapped my arms by pushing on my biceps, hooking my forearms, even pushing into my neck. I remembered the last time someone did that to me, and tried to employ the advice I got then (which was to keep my elbows tight inside his legs and attempt to bring his knees together), but couldn’t quite manage it.
Fortunately for me, Jude was observing the spar, and gave me lots of tips. Of particular importance was moving my hips: I wasn’t driving forward with them (brought home by the way that Owen was able to get that basic standing sweep where you grab the ankles, something I don’t think I’ve fallen prey to before), instead getting tied up and straining with my arms, which is stupid as clearly Owen’s legs are a lot more powerful than my weedy biceps (ok, so his arms are much stronger too, but you get the point :p). I also needed to think more carefully about my grip when my opponent had a firm hold on my leg. I was holding Owen (or Olly, can’t remember when this came up) round their neck with my right arm in a far grip, but what I should have been doing was holding with my left closer to my body. As Jude demonstrated, this makes for a far more secure defensive position.
Jude went so far as to get one of the guys from class to walk through what he was trying to show me. If I understood him right, then along with that grip on the neck and using my hips, I should also be thinking about pushing on the knees when I got to the knee on belly position, shifting round into side control. With both Olly and Owen, I was concentrating too much on pulling round with my arms to drag myself into side control, rather than opening up space by pushing on their knees and using my hips to move into position.
So all in all, a very educational spar today, not to mention a particularly challenging session due to the efficacy of Owen’s open guard. Its something I should consider trying when I’m next on my back, as that might help me move away from clinging like a limpet in closed guard. On the other hand, holding someone at bay with the open guard takes skill, but then the only way to learn is to give it a go.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 21/03/2007
Like Felipe yesterday, Jude went through the armbar from guard and the armbar escape. However, as tends to happen when both instructors show the same thing, Jude taught it slightly differently, which meant there were some useful hints to be had. For instance, Jude noted that as you bring up your knee in order to free your arm and also stop them rolling you over, you should also bring the knee of your other leg up to their head. That provides you with enhanced control and thereby facilitates the pass. Jude also emphasised pushing up with your hips when going for the armbar from guard.
I already liked the drill where one person goes for the armbar and the other does the escape, as it means both training partners are working rather than just one of them drilling a technique. Jude then made it even better by adding a third level, as Person A does the armbar escape. As soon as Person A pushes Person B’s legs to the floor, Person B immediately shrimps out, posting off Person A’s hip. Person B then shrimps the other way to recover guard, or potentially go for a triangle if Person A ends up with a single arm in and the other out.
However, unlike yesterday sparring wasn’t from the mount, and neither was it ‘king of the hill’, which is great because it meant I got more time to work technique. In fact, I got the best of both worlds, because I was in a group of three, meaning I had a rest between rolls, but not an overly long wait.
My partners were Olly and Owen, both from the advanced class and with a significant strength advantage, especially Olly. I had an interesting time of it guard passing today, because with both Owen and Olly I found myself in a position to pass but couldn’t finish. Mainly, I was having trouble pushing the knee out and sinking down into side control – each of my partners was able to get their knee back through and thereby return to guard.
In addition, Owen was unusual in the beginners class in that he appears to good at using the open guard. He repeatedly trapped my arms by pushing on my biceps, hooking my forearms, even pushing into my neck. I remembered the last time someone did that to me, and tried to employ the advice I got then (which was to keep my elbows tight inside his legs and attempt to bring his knees together), but couldn’t quite manage it.
Fortunately for me, Jude was observing the spar, and gave me lots of tips. Of particular importance was moving my hips: I wasn’t driving forward with them (brought home by the way that Owen was able to get that basic standing sweep where you grab the ankles, something I don’t think I’ve fallen prey to before), instead getting tied up and straining with my arms, which is stupid as clearly Owen’s legs are a lot more powerful than my weedy biceps (ok, so his arms are much stronger too, but you get the point :p). I also needed to think more carefully about my grip when my opponent had a firm hold on my leg. I was holding Owen (or Olly, can’t remember when this came up) round their neck with my right arm in a far grip, but what I should have been doing was holding with my left closer to my body. As Jude demonstrated, this makes for a far more secure defensive position.
Jude went so far as to get one of the guys from class to walk through what he was trying to show me. If I understood him right, then along with that grip on the neck and using my hips, I should also be thinking about pushing on the knees when I got to the knee on belly position, shifting round into side control. With both Olly and Owen, I was concentrating too much on pulling round with my arms to drag myself into side control, rather than opening up space by pushing on their knees and using my hips to move into position.
So all in all, a very educational spar today, not to mention a particularly challenging session due to the efficacy of Owen’s open guard. Its something I should consider trying when I’m next on my back, as that might help me move away from clinging like a limpet in closed guard. On the other hand, holding someone at bay with the open guard takes skill, but then the only way to learn is to give it a go.
20 March 2007
20/03/2007 - BJJ
Class #41
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 20/03/2007
Lots of new people today (I only got to speak to one of them, Kenny, an ex-boxer), so much so that Felipe decided to split the class when drilling. On the board it said ‘pulling guard’, but I didn’t expect that to be ‘pulling guard into armbar’, which is something I don’t think I’ve done before. Person B grabs an arm and the opposite lapel as usual, then puts the same side foot as that lapel into Person A’s hip. Person B then drops down, swivelling in the direction of the lapel, bringing their other leg over Person A’s head as they do so. The leg which was on the hip moves on top, then Person B secures the armbar.
Next, we went over armbar from guard. Person B grabs a wrist with the same side arm, then brings their other arm underneath Person A’s and grabs the elbow, thereby isolating one arm. Person B then yanks that arm to the middle of their chest, then posts a foot up on the same side hip. Raising up, Person B uses the space to swivel and bring their other leg onto Person A’s back, breaking their posture so that the first leg can go over the head, then finally secures the armbar.
Finally, I got a refresher on the escape from armbar, which is always useful. As soon as Person B attempts to isolate the arm, Person A uses the hand of that arm to grab the bicep of their other arm (the hand of which grips Person B’s leg, or if possible, behind their knee). Person A then posts up a leg on the same side as the isolate arm (so Person B can’t simply roll Person A over), then jerks their arm free in a few small movements. Having freed the arm, Person A keeps control of the leg, then grips Person B’s near shoulder with the same arm that was previously isolated, using that to move round into side control. My training partner was Tas, a guy I don’t think I’ve worked with before – Asian guy with stubble and a fair head of hair (need to remind myself of names!).
Strangely, none of that was tested in sparring, as it was from the mounted position. Still, got some useful tips today. First up I was against Tam, going on top. However, because I ended up shifting slightly to the side, he was able to come up and take my back. This is something that was again emphasised against Will (American guy who I discovered on Saturday was a Creative Writing graduate, which is kinda cool: a significant proportion of my friends from uni are from that degree, so always nice to meet another writer), who advised me to make sure I kept my weight forward rather than to either side. He also mentioned that as I’d walked my knees up high, I might as well go for an armbar. I attempted the Americana a few times, which he easily resisted, but should have forced myself to try an armbar. While I’m glad I managed to stay upright rather than my usual habit of hunkering down, I have to make sure I’m not too scared of the upa to feed my hands in for a submission.
Against both Sam and Edward (American guy with blonde hair), I was on the bottom, and remembered to keep my elbows into their hips. With Sam, I eventually found myself trying to slip out from behind, but trailed an arm, meaning Sam could secure the armbar: must keep my arms together next time. Time ran out during my spar with Edward, but that provided a further demonstration that while constantly bucking hampers the person on top in going for submissions, it is rather knackering. I need to try and be more patient and measure their position better, so I’m not wasting energy. Ed also had an intriguing method of trying to prevent me keeping my elbows in by simply grabbing my head, which also helped him pull himself up into a higher mount.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK - 20/03/2007
Lots of new people today (I only got to speak to one of them, Kenny, an ex-boxer), so much so that Felipe decided to split the class when drilling. On the board it said ‘pulling guard’, but I didn’t expect that to be ‘pulling guard into armbar’, which is something I don’t think I’ve done before. Person B grabs an arm and the opposite lapel as usual, then puts the same side foot as that lapel into Person A’s hip. Person B then drops down, swivelling in the direction of the lapel, bringing their other leg over Person A’s head as they do so. The leg which was on the hip moves on top, then Person B secures the armbar.
Next, we went over armbar from guard. Person B grabs a wrist with the same side arm, then brings their other arm underneath Person A’s and grabs the elbow, thereby isolating one arm. Person B then yanks that arm to the middle of their chest, then posts a foot up on the same side hip. Raising up, Person B uses the space to swivel and bring their other leg onto Person A’s back, breaking their posture so that the first leg can go over the head, then finally secures the armbar.
Finally, I got a refresher on the escape from armbar, which is always useful. As soon as Person B attempts to isolate the arm, Person A uses the hand of that arm to grab the bicep of their other arm (the hand of which grips Person B’s leg, or if possible, behind their knee). Person A then posts up a leg on the same side as the isolate arm (so Person B can’t simply roll Person A over), then jerks their arm free in a few small movements. Having freed the arm, Person A keeps control of the leg, then grips Person B’s near shoulder with the same arm that was previously isolated, using that to move round into side control. My training partner was Tas, a guy I don’t think I’ve worked with before – Asian guy with stubble and a fair head of hair (need to remind myself of names!).
Strangely, none of that was tested in sparring, as it was from the mounted position. Still, got some useful tips today. First up I was against Tam, going on top. However, because I ended up shifting slightly to the side, he was able to come up and take my back. This is something that was again emphasised against Will (American guy who I discovered on Saturday was a Creative Writing graduate, which is kinda cool: a significant proportion of my friends from uni are from that degree, so always nice to meet another writer), who advised me to make sure I kept my weight forward rather than to either side. He also mentioned that as I’d walked my knees up high, I might as well go for an armbar. I attempted the Americana a few times, which he easily resisted, but should have forced myself to try an armbar. While I’m glad I managed to stay upright rather than my usual habit of hunkering down, I have to make sure I’m not too scared of the upa to feed my hands in for a submission.
Against both Sam and Edward (American guy with blonde hair), I was on the bottom, and remembered to keep my elbows into their hips. With Sam, I eventually found myself trying to slip out from behind, but trailed an arm, meaning Sam could secure the armbar: must keep my arms together next time. Time ran out during my spar with Edward, but that provided a further demonstration that while constantly bucking hampers the person on top in going for submissions, it is rather knackering. I need to try and be more patient and measure their position better, so I’m not wasting energy. Ed also had an intriguing method of trying to prevent me keeping my elbows in by simply grabbing my head, which also helped him pull himself up into a higher mount.
21 December 2006
21/12/2006 - BJJ (day)
Class #15
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 21/12/2006
My first ever day class, and my first ever session taught by the man himself, Roger Gracie. Roger runs a more technique focused class than either Felipe or Jude (although this is going by merely one experience), quickly moving on to drills after the warm-up. Nobody was there when I arrived at around 12:20, Pippa coming in slightly later. That gave me the opportunity to have a long chat with her, which was good because I’ve not had the chance to talk to her properly before now.
Once everyone arrived, there was an odd number of people at the session, which worked out very well for me, as it meant I was drilling with Luciano, a purple belt who appears to often act as assistant instructor. That meant I had someone with much more experience and skill than normal. In addition, he’s Brazilian, meaning he has a laid-back manner which I find conducive to my learning. Best of all, because he’s a purple belt in a beginner class, there was no need to swap over, so I got extra drilling time.
Roger started off demonstrating the double leg, though we stopped short of actually throwing. The way he taught it was for Person A to first push Person B’s out of the way, stepping in between Person B’s legs with their far leg, dropping down with their head on the near side, grabbing behind both knees with linked hands. Person A, keeping their back straight, knees pointing forward and base solid, steps the other leg in line, then removes their near leg from between Person B and steps round. The finish would be for Person A to push with the head and lift with the arms, bracing Person B against a leg, then pulling up on Person B’s legs to drop them. Luciano was very helpful, as you’d expect, correcting my posture and answering noob questions like “should I drop to behind the knees or higher up?”
Next was the basic armbar from guard, which I last did a couple of weeks ago on 23rd November. First Person B isolates an arm, gripping the wrist with their near hand, then on top of the elbow with their other hand (coming underneath Person A’s non-isolated arm to do so). The foot Person B has on the same side of the isolate arm goes up on the Person A’s same side hip. This enables Person B to raise their hips, then shrimp, again to the same side. At the same time, Person B brings their far leg up under Person A’s armpit, pushing Person A to the near side in an attempt to push them off-balance and set up the armbar. Person B then swings their near side leg up onto Person A’s neck to secure the armbar, raising the hips for the sub.
As before, this was followed by a demonstration of the armbar escape. As soon as Person B puts their near leg up for the armbar, Person A needs to release their grip on Person B’s gi (presuming they’re holding it), then immediately bring the other arm under their near side hand, gripping Person B’s nearest leg. Trapping that leg between their head and arm, Person A puts up their far leg, pushes forwards into Person B, then jerks their arm out. Continue to press with the head and locking up the leg with both arms, Person A then moves round for the pass. (Dave Camarillo vid)
Before the next technique, it was time to spar from the usual guard pass position. I wasn’t so successful with the scissor sweep this time – I’m not sure I managed to sweep my partner, Zahir, though I might have. I did however pass his guard several times, although one of us seems to have misunderstood the object of the exercise. At one point, I used the double underhook from Marcio to pass Zahir and go to full mount, where he confusingly said “you’ve gone back to it now, that’s not sidemount”. I might have missed Roger saying the aim was to get to sidemount, and its also possible that Zahir might have resisted less if he was under the impression the object was to get to sidemount.
So, I then passed his guard and went for sidemount instead. I’m not quite sure what position I was in, as while I was perpendicular to him with my arms around his neck and arm, he was up on his side. I thought that was close enough, but Zahir kept going, so perhaps not – I probably should have tried to take his back and choke him to be certain. Either during that roll or the next one, I was in a position with Zahir’s knee into my stomach, which meant I had a chance to try something I’d seen in the Abhaya videos from that position. The idea is to reach behind the knee and grab the opposite leg by the gi, then grab their collar, also pushing your head into their ribs, enabling you to walk round for the pass as the other person should find it hard to move with you. I clearly didn’t do it right, however, as I ended back in Zahir’s guard, I think.
Final technique of class was a sidemount escape, which looked a lot like something I’d looked at in the Abhaya videos after my helpless performance last time we rolled from sidemount. Person B presses their near knee into Person A’s side, also pressing a forearm into Person A’s neck to make space. Person B then shrimps round to get directly underneath Person A rather than at right angles, pressing their shin into Person A’s stomach. Finally, Person B shrimps in the other direction to get back into guard.
Class ended on specific sparring from sidemount. This time, it went much better, I think because of the principles I’d started to learn from my focus on sweeps. I was sparring with Zahir again, and at first it was fairly even, both of us escaping However, I then started to get repeated success on the bottom, managing to twice flip Zahir straight into sidemount (especially satisfying as Luciano was right there watching). I think it was because I got my knee underneath him and arms behind his shoulders, which gave me sufficient leverage to throw him over, but not sure. I also managed to get back to guard – I’m not sure if I was able to mount him: can’t remember, as I’m typing this up in Waterstones a few hours later, having gone to the Velázquez exhibition at the National Gallery (well worth it, if you happen to be in London).
I was dawdling a little in the changing rooms because I knew I had a good six hours or so to kill before the session at 20:00, which gave me the chance to have a chat with Roger. Kinda cool to be talking to a world champion and pro fighter about christmas, family, relationships, training etc – apparently, he’d like to stay in England more consistently, but needs to get some training partners of sufficient calibre to prepare for his next fight. I imagine Renzo Gracie is a bit of a tough act to follow, but hopefully someone will surface. Would be good to have other classes under Roger, as I like his style of teaching (though Felipe and Jude are both excellent teachers too).
Time to go get my train from Charing Cross back to Westbourne Park, for my last session of the year.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 21/12/2006
My first ever day class, and my first ever session taught by the man himself, Roger Gracie. Roger runs a more technique focused class than either Felipe or Jude (although this is going by merely one experience), quickly moving on to drills after the warm-up. Nobody was there when I arrived at around 12:20, Pippa coming in slightly later. That gave me the opportunity to have a long chat with her, which was good because I’ve not had the chance to talk to her properly before now.
Once everyone arrived, there was an odd number of people at the session, which worked out very well for me, as it meant I was drilling with Luciano, a purple belt who appears to often act as assistant instructor. That meant I had someone with much more experience and skill than normal. In addition, he’s Brazilian, meaning he has a laid-back manner which I find conducive to my learning. Best of all, because he’s a purple belt in a beginner class, there was no need to swap over, so I got extra drilling time.
Roger started off demonstrating the double leg, though we stopped short of actually throwing. The way he taught it was for Person A to first push Person B’s out of the way, stepping in between Person B’s legs with their far leg, dropping down with their head on the near side, grabbing behind both knees with linked hands. Person A, keeping their back straight, knees pointing forward and base solid, steps the other leg in line, then removes their near leg from between Person B and steps round. The finish would be for Person A to push with the head and lift with the arms, bracing Person B against a leg, then pulling up on Person B’s legs to drop them. Luciano was very helpful, as you’d expect, correcting my posture and answering noob questions like “should I drop to behind the knees or higher up?”
Next was the basic armbar from guard, which I last did a couple of weeks ago on 23rd November. First Person B isolates an arm, gripping the wrist with their near hand, then on top of the elbow with their other hand (coming underneath Person A’s non-isolated arm to do so). The foot Person B has on the same side of the isolate arm goes up on the Person A’s same side hip. This enables Person B to raise their hips, then shrimp, again to the same side. At the same time, Person B brings their far leg up under Person A’s armpit, pushing Person A to the near side in an attempt to push them off-balance and set up the armbar. Person B then swings their near side leg up onto Person A’s neck to secure the armbar, raising the hips for the sub.
As before, this was followed by a demonstration of the armbar escape. As soon as Person B puts their near leg up for the armbar, Person A needs to release their grip on Person B’s gi (presuming they’re holding it), then immediately bring the other arm under their near side hand, gripping Person B’s nearest leg. Trapping that leg between their head and arm, Person A puts up their far leg, pushes forwards into Person B, then jerks their arm out. Continue to press with the head and locking up the leg with both arms, Person A then moves round for the pass. (Dave Camarillo vid)
Before the next technique, it was time to spar from the usual guard pass position. I wasn’t so successful with the scissor sweep this time – I’m not sure I managed to sweep my partner, Zahir, though I might have. I did however pass his guard several times, although one of us seems to have misunderstood the object of the exercise. At one point, I used the double underhook from Marcio to pass Zahir and go to full mount, where he confusingly said “you’ve gone back to it now, that’s not sidemount”. I might have missed Roger saying the aim was to get to sidemount, and its also possible that Zahir might have resisted less if he was under the impression the object was to get to sidemount.
So, I then passed his guard and went for sidemount instead. I’m not quite sure what position I was in, as while I was perpendicular to him with my arms around his neck and arm, he was up on his side. I thought that was close enough, but Zahir kept going, so perhaps not – I probably should have tried to take his back and choke him to be certain. Either during that roll or the next one, I was in a position with Zahir’s knee into my stomach, which meant I had a chance to try something I’d seen in the Abhaya videos from that position. The idea is to reach behind the knee and grab the opposite leg by the gi, then grab their collar, also pushing your head into their ribs, enabling you to walk round for the pass as the other person should find it hard to move with you. I clearly didn’t do it right, however, as I ended back in Zahir’s guard, I think.
Final technique of class was a sidemount escape, which looked a lot like something I’d looked at in the Abhaya videos after my helpless performance last time we rolled from sidemount. Person B presses their near knee into Person A’s side, also pressing a forearm into Person A’s neck to make space. Person B then shrimps round to get directly underneath Person A rather than at right angles, pressing their shin into Person A’s stomach. Finally, Person B shrimps in the other direction to get back into guard.
Class ended on specific sparring from sidemount. This time, it went much better, I think because of the principles I’d started to learn from my focus on sweeps. I was sparring with Zahir again, and at first it was fairly even, both of us escaping However, I then started to get repeated success on the bottom, managing to twice flip Zahir straight into sidemount (especially satisfying as Luciano was right there watching). I think it was because I got my knee underneath him and arms behind his shoulders, which gave me sufficient leverage to throw him over, but not sure. I also managed to get back to guard – I’m not sure if I was able to mount him: can’t remember, as I’m typing this up in Waterstones a few hours later, having gone to the Velázquez exhibition at the National Gallery (well worth it, if you happen to be in London).
I was dawdling a little in the changing rooms because I knew I had a good six hours or so to kill before the session at 20:00, which gave me the chance to have a chat with Roger. Kinda cool to be talking to a world champion and pro fighter about christmas, family, relationships, training etc – apparently, he’d like to stay in England more consistently, but needs to get some training partners of sufficient calibre to prepare for his next fight. I imagine Renzo Gracie is a bit of a tough act to follow, but hopefully someone will surface. Would be good to have other classes under Roger, as I like his style of teaching (though Felipe and Jude are both excellent teachers too).
Time to go get my train from Charing Cross back to Westbourne Park, for my last session of the year.
24 November 2006
23/11/06 - BJJ
Class #6
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK – 23/11/2006
Chatted to Kay and then Jan before the lesson started, having got there with a good 45 mins to spare. After the warm-up, it was time to partner up and practice falling back and coming up guarding. There was an odd number of people, so I got left on my own, but Felipe said that was ok as it wasn’t really necessary to have two for the exercise. I also managed to do it wrong, getting up going forwards rather than backwards, but Olly (the blue belt guy who has posted on Bullshido before) was fortunately there to correct.
Next we worked on a double leg takedown into side mount. I had trouble with this, as it was basically a throw: Person A, gripping Person B’s right collar and left arm, lifts up their own arms then pulls Person B in close. At the same time, Person A dips down under Person B’s right arm, dropping to grab the back of the knees. Shifting position with their legs. Person A crouches in front of Person B, back straight. Lifting up with the legs, Person A picks up Person B, then driving with the head, turns them to the right and drops into side control.
I’m small and weedy, so I always have trouble when it comes to picking people up: pretty much everyone is going to be heavier than I am, my partner on this occasion being Olly (not the blue belt I mentioned earlier), who had about 20kg on me. First I took too much strain on my back, as my posture was bad. Once Felipe corrected me, I still had trouble picking up and dropping – instead, I picked up and collapsed forward. Not too graceful, but at least a small improvement on my first attempts.
Then it was time for armbar from guard. Person B isolates…let’s say the left arm, grabbing the forearm with their left arm and around the elbow with their right arm, pushing Person A’s arm towards Person B’s left. Then Person B put’s their right leg up on Person A’s left knee, keeping it tight to Person A’s left shoulder. Person B pushes off with their right leg, swivelling their hips towards the right. Then Person B uses their left leg to push Person A off balance, aiming to get their left leg on Person A’s back. At the same time, Person B move’s their right leg up by Person A’s head, then secures the armbar.
I had some difficulty pushing sufficiently to get Olly off-balance – he, on the other, easily knocked me to the floor. Still, I got the position, even if he was vaguely upright. Olly proved another helpful partner, coaching me through the double-leg and also giving me advice on the armbar: as soon as people see you’re new, they’re happy to help, which is another point in the Roger Gracie Academy’s favour.
After that, Felipe handily showed us the armbar escape. As Person B attempted to shift their legs round to get the armbar on Person A’s right arm, Person A grabs their own right bicep with their left arm, then grips Person B’s left knee with their right arm. Even better if Person A can manage to get the right arm behind Person B’s left knee, but that takes quicker reactions. Once Person A has that grip, they stand up and stack Person B, gradually jerking their right arm out of Person B’s grip. Once free, Person A can press down and sprawl round, eventually passing Person B’s guard and getting side mount. Dave Camarillo shows it like this.
As usual, we then went on to specific sparring, Person A in Person B’s guard. Olly dominated me from both positions: if I was going to take something positive from the spar, it would be that I got somewhere near to reversing him a couple of times. The first one wasn’t especially near, as I tried to loop my legs round his head from behind, while attempting to slip out from his legs. Didn’t work, but it at least delayed his pass. Also tried to upa a few times, but need to practice that technique more – I managed to unbalance him, but not enough to push through and go into his guard. Finally, I got out of a few submission attempts, but it was the usual wriggling kind of thing rather than anything especially technical, so not much I can take to build on.
Felipe then lined everyone against one wall. Taking five people from the start, he told them to go out on the mat, after which another five would go into their guard. If someone was passed, swept or submitted, they went to the back of the line, whoever successfully applied their technique staying where they were. I first sparred with a tall guy called Sam (who I don’t think anyone managed to pass), who got me in a triangle. I tried the one standing guard pass that has worked for me in the past, but no luck – I get to my legs, but then normally get pulled down via my collar. Sam also grabbed me legs to stop me moving round. Finally I rolled with Olly again, where it went pretty much the same way as before.
So, clearly I need to work that standing pass, as at the moment it tends to result in me getting pulled down and collar choked. I’m probably being too slow, and no doubt my technique is bad too. The pushing their knee off my leg thing I tried last session hasn’t been too successful either, as again I’m a bit slow, so they have plenty of time to knock me off balance or grab my leg.
As with last week, next training will be on Saturday (although my gf just texted me and wants me to come up today as she's ill: hopefully she'll get better fast, but if not, then will have to try and get extra training in some other time). The skin on my knuckle still hasn’t grown back from ZSK (my own stupid fault for not wearing gloves because I was rushing), and I think I also managed to cut my lip (various splotches of blood on my gi from where I touched my mouth). Sam gave me a solid whack on the left side of my head as he ground the triangle in, so my ear is still a bit sore, as is the rear left part of my skull. Fortunately not had any major injuries so far, which I’m hoping to avoid: the judo one was really irritating!
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK – 23/11/2006
Chatted to Kay and then Jan before the lesson started, having got there with a good 45 mins to spare. After the warm-up, it was time to partner up and practice falling back and coming up guarding. There was an odd number of people, so I got left on my own, but Felipe said that was ok as it wasn’t really necessary to have two for the exercise. I also managed to do it wrong, getting up going forwards rather than backwards, but Olly (the blue belt guy who has posted on Bullshido before) was fortunately there to correct.
Next we worked on a double leg takedown into side mount. I had trouble with this, as it was basically a throw: Person A, gripping Person B’s right collar and left arm, lifts up their own arms then pulls Person B in close. At the same time, Person A dips down under Person B’s right arm, dropping to grab the back of the knees. Shifting position with their legs. Person A crouches in front of Person B, back straight. Lifting up with the legs, Person A picks up Person B, then driving with the head, turns them to the right and drops into side control.
I’m small and weedy, so I always have trouble when it comes to picking people up: pretty much everyone is going to be heavier than I am, my partner on this occasion being Olly (not the blue belt I mentioned earlier), who had about 20kg on me. First I took too much strain on my back, as my posture was bad. Once Felipe corrected me, I still had trouble picking up and dropping – instead, I picked up and collapsed forward. Not too graceful, but at least a small improvement on my first attempts.
Then it was time for armbar from guard. Person B isolates…let’s say the left arm, grabbing the forearm with their left arm and around the elbow with their right arm, pushing Person A’s arm towards Person B’s left. Then Person B put’s their right leg up on Person A’s left knee, keeping it tight to Person A’s left shoulder. Person B pushes off with their right leg, swivelling their hips towards the right. Then Person B uses their left leg to push Person A off balance, aiming to get their left leg on Person A’s back. At the same time, Person B move’s their right leg up by Person A’s head, then secures the armbar.
I had some difficulty pushing sufficiently to get Olly off-balance – he, on the other, easily knocked me to the floor. Still, I got the position, even if he was vaguely upright. Olly proved another helpful partner, coaching me through the double-leg and also giving me advice on the armbar: as soon as people see you’re new, they’re happy to help, which is another point in the Roger Gracie Academy’s favour.
After that, Felipe handily showed us the armbar escape. As Person B attempted to shift their legs round to get the armbar on Person A’s right arm, Person A grabs their own right bicep with their left arm, then grips Person B’s left knee with their right arm. Even better if Person A can manage to get the right arm behind Person B’s left knee, but that takes quicker reactions. Once Person A has that grip, they stand up and stack Person B, gradually jerking their right arm out of Person B’s grip. Once free, Person A can press down and sprawl round, eventually passing Person B’s guard and getting side mount. Dave Camarillo shows it like this.
As usual, we then went on to specific sparring, Person A in Person B’s guard. Olly dominated me from both positions: if I was going to take something positive from the spar, it would be that I got somewhere near to reversing him a couple of times. The first one wasn’t especially near, as I tried to loop my legs round his head from behind, while attempting to slip out from his legs. Didn’t work, but it at least delayed his pass. Also tried to upa a few times, but need to practice that technique more – I managed to unbalance him, but not enough to push through and go into his guard. Finally, I got out of a few submission attempts, but it was the usual wriggling kind of thing rather than anything especially technical, so not much I can take to build on.
Felipe then lined everyone against one wall. Taking five people from the start, he told them to go out on the mat, after which another five would go into their guard. If someone was passed, swept or submitted, they went to the back of the line, whoever successfully applied their technique staying where they were. I first sparred with a tall guy called Sam (who I don’t think anyone managed to pass), who got me in a triangle. I tried the one standing guard pass that has worked for me in the past, but no luck – I get to my legs, but then normally get pulled down via my collar. Sam also grabbed me legs to stop me moving round. Finally I rolled with Olly again, where it went pretty much the same way as before.
So, clearly I need to work that standing pass, as at the moment it tends to result in me getting pulled down and collar choked. I’m probably being too slow, and no doubt my technique is bad too. The pushing their knee off my leg thing I tried last session hasn’t been too successful either, as again I’m a bit slow, so they have plenty of time to knock me off balance or grab my leg.
As with last week, next training will be on Saturday (although my gf just texted me and wants me to come up today as she's ill: hopefully she'll get better fast, but if not, then will have to try and get extra training in some other time). The skin on my knuckle still hasn’t grown back from ZSK (my own stupid fault for not wearing gloves because I was rushing), and I think I also managed to cut my lip (various splotches of blood on my gi from where I touched my mouth). Sam gave me a solid whack on the left side of my head as he ground the triangle in, so my ear is still a bit sore, as is the rear left part of my skull. Fortunately not had any major injuries so far, which I’m hoping to avoid: the judo one was really irritating!
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