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. :)

15/04/2010 - BJJ (Beginner) - Last Lesson at RGA Wycombe

Class #304
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 15/04/2010

To just briefly mention something entirely non-BJJ, that sexual health poetry seminar I mentioned last year is available for download, here. So, if you want to hear me babble about poems on AIDS, check it out. Apparently it's been there since January, but I only just got sent the link: the handouts can be found here. Also, I gave a paper at the International Symposium on Poetry & Medicine last weekend, so hopefully that will be available for download at some point too.
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I'm going to really miss training at RGA High Wycombe, as Kev is a brilliant instructor, quite possibly the best I've trained with (hence why I took a private before I left). His lessons are always carefully structured, he never fails to answer questions (I ask a lot of them!), and best of all, he is very approachable. I've realised more and more just how important a trait that is for an instructor: your students shouldn't be wary of calling you over for help.

Of course, it will also be awesome to go train with Braulio and the other teachers at Gracie Barra Birmingham, as from everything I've seen and heard, Braulio is a superb instructor himself. I've been impressed by the instructionals he has up on CageFilm (I'll do a review at some point in the future), so if that is any indication of his average class, I'm going to be very happy at Gracie Barra Birmingham.

My final class at RGA High Wycombe continued the knee-on-belly theme from Tuesday, starting by popping up to the position from side control, then taking the far armbar if they make the mistake of pushing on the top of your knee. Reach through the gap and under their elbow, then use that hold to pull them up on their side. Step over their head and swivel, then with a grip on their trouser leg (to stop them using the hitchhiker escape), slide down their arm and then drop back for an armbar.

Next was an escape, a little different from the one we did on Tuesday. This time, you put your far arm on the knot of their belt (or around their belly button if they aren't wearing one), while your near arm goes to their knee. This is to stop them following you when you proceed to the next step, shrimping away from them.

You may need to shrimp a few times, as you're looking to make enough space to bring your feet to their hips. You can spin straight to guard, but most likely you'll need to get a foot on their hip first and push, in order to get the leverage. To finish, grab their arms and pull them towards you, re-establishing closed guard, or simply stay in open guard.

It may have been my last lesson here, but it was the very first BJJ lesson for my training partner. That meant I could take a relaxed approach to specific sparring, trying to help show him what to do from under side control and on top (Kev asked me to go with the beginner, and also told me to take it easy). He seemed to pick things up quickly, as I've gone with new people before, and they've struggled to understand the concept of bridging and shrimping: he was definitely starting to get it.

He did even better on top. At first, like any beginner, he was leaving lots of space, so I could easily shrimp and replace my guard. However, after some advice on maintaining side control (I called Kev over to make sure I the new guy saw how to do it properly), it became a lot tougher. He was dropping his weight well by sprawling back, and also blocking my hip with his knee.

I'm not sure exactly when I'll be starting at GB Brum, as I only move into my new flat in Leamington on Saturday. Looking at the schedule, Monday will probably be my first time, after work.

08/12/2009 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #269



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 08/12/2009

I came across another great blog thanks to Georgette earlier this week, here (especially the excellent articles). As ever, Jo's blog has been added to the blog index, which now has an extra 'Added' column. That should hopefully make it easier to see new additions (presuming there are other people out there who are constantly searching for yet more blogs to stick in their Google Reader). Unfortunately, it seems that it is no longer possible to upload Excel sheets from your desktop onto Google Docs and retain links: hence why I've shoved in the whole URL instead (e.g., on the Black Belt magazine BJJ index).

The knee on belly attacks continued with an armbar from knee on belly, this time on the near rather than far arm. You begin in a low knee on belly (as in, your weight is low, torso down towards theirs), then attack with a kimura on the far arm. Your opponent can't ignore this, so may well bring their other arm over to try and prevent you getting the necessary leverage.

As soon as they do this, step your foot up towards their head, still threatening the kimura. Once you've pulled their arm up towards you and have your leg in position, switch your arm positioning to instead go for an armbar. It is possible to either have your foot over their head or your shin on their neck, hooking your foot for further control. In that situation, you might need to switch to a belly down armbar, depending on how much they try to turn away from you.

Alternately, you can go for a choke from knee on belly. Kev refers to this as a baseball bat choke, but he wasn't sure if that was technically correct. Either way, you start by gripping the near side collar (palm towards their gi), meaning you can use your arm to cross-face, preventing them from turning towards you. Your other hand grips next to the first, but this time palm up, thumb inside.

They will probably begin to turn towards you as you cross-face: once your arms are in position, you can relax that long enough to loop your first arm over their head. Bring your forearm into their throat, and the elbow of that arm down towards the elbow of your other arm. From here, apply the submission as usual, blocking both sides of their neck.

Kev followed that up with two escapes from knee on belly. The first was much the same as the escape we'd just done in the beginners class, except that instead of recovering guard, you switch one leg under the other and go to your knees. Grab their foot and leg, then pull it out from under them, yanking upwards so you can then move round to knee on belly. In the process, you can either stand for greater leverage (the recommended option), or drive your weight into them, leading with your shoulder.

The second escape from knee on belly is to use your arm opposite their pressuring knee to hook under the ankle of that leg. Bridge up and lift with your hand at the same time, aiming to lever their leg in between your own. That puts you in what is sometimes referred to as 'quarter guard': this is still a precarious position, as their knee is free to try for a pass.

If the knee is still on your belly, push with both hands, then establish half guard, getting up onto your side. If they start to pass with a knee slide before you can try that, bump them forward with your knee. This should enable you to slip free and get to your knees, escaping knee on belly. Alternatively, you could try and move into deep half guard.

In sparring, I found myself under what I think was a modified scarf hold (as they didn't have my arm). I always find this tougher to escape than side control, as there seems to be less space. Still, I did attempt to shift out for an armbar once or twice, which was entertaining, if not very effective. Definitely need to take another look at scarf hold escapes.

I also had the chance to spar a blue belt who hasn't been in class before, Sahid. I think he's taking the class on Thursday, as Kev has a family appointment he can't miss, so it was nice to meet Sahid beforehand. I think Kev mentioned he's a fairly experienced blue, and that showed in his measured style of rolling, always being careful to stay controlled. He also immediately reminded me to be careful where I put my arms if they go to turtle: I reached in too deep and was immediately rolled and armbarred, with a waki-gatame.

That roll also gave me a chance to put the defensive strategy of connecting your knee to your elbow into effect, to prevent them going to knee on belly. However, while that was slightly helpful in blocking the knee, it would have been better if I'd made a proper barrier with those limbs, putting my forearm to my thigh instead.

Tomorrow should be interesting, as I'm hopefully going to get the chance to train with an old friend. Looking forward to it!

08/12/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #268



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 08/12/2009

This week it looks like Kev will be focusing on knee on belly, a position I don't think I've ever tried in sparring. I've never felt secure there, as it seems to rely a lot on mobility and speed. I much prefer positions that allow a more slow and methodical approach, rather than fast and dynamic, as I feel more in control that way. So, it was very useful to have a lesson dedicated to a position I don't know at all well, with both offence and defence.

Kev started off by drilling the position itself, popping up from side control. Your shin goes on their stomach, along the belt line, while your other foot is behind you, at a roughly forty-five degree angle. If it's too close to their head they can hook it, while if it's too far towards their feet, you won't be able to adjust when they shrimp. You also want to hold their collar to prevent them turning towards you, and on the inside of their knee. This also means you can pull up and fold them around your knee, which is extremely uncomfortable for the person on the bottom.

There is also the option Maurição teaches, a man famous for this position, as he has apparently cracked bones with his knee on belly. Or more specifically, knee on chest: this is the essential difference Maurição likes to emphasise. I can remember he and Nick G discussed it during a lesson back when I was at RGA HQ. However, seeing as this is a position almost entirely alien to me, I should keep my options open in terms of which type I want to try out.

To escape from knee on belly, put your hand nearest their pressuring knee on the knot of their belt. Be careful about your elbow, as you don't want to leave them space to attack your arm: you'll be keeping that limb close to their leg. Your other hand grabs their trouser leg by their knee.

Move your feet slightly out away from them, then shrimp your hips away. Lock your arms out to prevent them simply driving back into you, then move back into guard. You'll need make a powerful shrimping motion in order to create enough space, and may also need to shrimp again to readjust.

For the person on top, Kev demonstrated an armbar from knee on belly. This was the classic set up, where they are pushing on your knee in order to relieve the pressure. By doing so, they leave a triangle of space. Insert the arm your have nearest to theirs into that space, grabbing around their arm. Pull that arm up towards you, then step your other leg round to the top of their back, keeping it as tight as possible. You may need to push on their head to get your leg past.

Your other leg, which was pressing into their stomach, barely moves. Simply put that foot on the floor, rather than stepping anywhere. You can now swivel around their arm, keeping your knees pinched, then drop back for the armbar.

I found specific sparring tough, as I'd expected. I rarely lasted more than a couple of seconds on top before Callum or Howard replaced their guard, as I couldn't beat that initial shrimp. More weight through the knee might help, as would developing greater mobility with knee on belly.

Kev had some good advice on what to do if they shrimp away and you feel yourself losing the position. Bring your knee down to the floor, driving it into their side, while also putting your free hand (the other will be gripping their collar) over to their far hip. Establishing those two controls should stop them from moving their hips. You can now use the arm you have by their head to cross-face them, putting them flat on their back, then re-establish knee on belly.

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.

07/01/2009 - BJJ (Intermediate)

Class #208



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Nick Gregoriades, London, UK - 07/01/2009 - Intermediate

The classes have now been split into Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. White belts start with the Beginner class, then on getting their third stripe they can progress to Intermediate. Once they get their blue belt, they can only train in the Intermediate, until they get their third stripe on that new belt. Then they can move into Advanced, to which they're restricted once they get to purple.

That means that several of my favourite training partners are now, understandably, training in Advanced rather than the new Intermediate session, like Christina, Helen and Tran (the latter two who, as purple belts, couldn't train in Intermediate anyway). Still, plenty of good people left, like Paxton, Tanvir, Anne and Indra, all of whom were there today.

Paxton gave me several good tips on throws, which I think he heard from Bruno. On the seoi-nage, grip a lapel with your same side hand. Use your grip to pull across to put your partner off balance, then twist into them, bringing your free arm underneath theirs, then lifting them in the usual way (remembering to use your bicep to hold them and not your shoulder, or they may be able to choke you).

Also, on the tai-otoshi, make sure you really pull and push with your arms: I keep making the mistake of forgetting to use my arms sufficiently, which goes for various other techniques too. It will be good to get in some more judo, as that will help lots with the 'kuzushi' part of things, learning how to properly unbalance an opponent and enter into throws. Shall have to see how my schedule works out, once I find a new job.

Specific sparring from side control raised the familiar problem of being unable to clear their elbow. I was trying to get my other knee underneath to scoop their arm out of the way, but couldn't quite manage it. I switched to north-south instead, as its better than a stalemate, aiming for the reverse scarf hold transition Iain showed us in judo a while back. I was able to get my elbow into one of their armpits, but failed to remember how the rest of the technique went. Underneath, I was mostly just stuck under knee-on-belly for a while.

The focus on knee-on-chest tonight was therefore rather useful: I've never used it, as I've always felt way too unstable and easily moved. I feel much more comfortable in side control or in scarf control. Best of all, not only was Nick there to teach the correct positioning, we were also lucky to have a man present who is famous for his knee-on-chest, Maurição.

To transition from side control to knee-on-chest, you first need to clear their elbow. Use your knee to do this (the leg furthest from their head), then switch your hips back to trap their arm. Grab the collar behind their head with one hand, with the other should be pressed into their far hip, both hands attempting to push firmly towards the floor.

From there, push off with your arms and pop your knee onto their chest (Nick mentioned that while the position is often called knee-on-belly, knee-on-chest is more accurate, as pressure on the chest is a lot more effective than pressure on the belly). The knee should be pointing towards their far shoulder, keeping your toes off the floor to maximise the amount of weight on your partner. Your other leg should be stretched out, making sure that it isn't easy for them to grab it.

Keep your hips as low as possible, meaning you end up sitting on them, but with your bum off to the side of their body. To further add to their discomfort, the arm that is gripping their collar can be used to press into their face, making it difficult for them to turn their head.

At this point, Maurição stepped in with a great tip. Even if you can't clear their elbow, you can still transition to knee-on-chest. Bring the knee nearest their face right up to their head. Grip their collar and hip as before, and again push up and bring your knee to their chest. Though they have an elbow in the way, you will simply shove past it, bringing your knee outwards in a small arc as you do so. I'm always having trouble getting past that elbow, so this should be very useful for me.

To finish, Nick then showed us an armbar from knee-on-chest. Having got your knee in place, the natural reaction of your partner is often to push on that knee with their hand. It's painful, so shoving with the hand is the immediate response to get rid of all that pressure. However, this also frequently means that there will now be a gap by their elbow.

You can take advantage of this by feeding your hand through (on the inside). Wrap your hand around the back of their bicep and pull in tight with your arm. That should now mean you can squash their arm against your shoulder (I also wondered if a gooseneck wristlock might be an option at that point, given the angle of the wrist: Roy Dean shows a bunch on his DVD, though I don't remember them being from this position). Push down on their face and step your leg over their head.

Having trapped their arm, you can now spin all the way to the other side to go for an armbar. Nick noted that at this point, many people make the mistake of not spinning far enough, so lose the armbar. To prevent that, grab their trouser leg to help pull yourself round: you want to be facing the opposite wall, making a complete spin. Finally, drop back and go for the armbar, squeezing your knees together.

Technique was so in-depth today (always a good thing, in my opinion: the more detail on technique the better), sparring was cut a little shorter. As I normally only do two or three, that wasn't much of a concern for me, just meant less resting time. I started off with Tanvir, who has recently come back from a knee injury. I was looking to go for the hook sweep again, but still not properly bending my partners at the waist properly.

When I could see I was losing control of Tanvir's leg, I secured a De La Riva hook instead. That did indeed give me better control, but I then didn't know what to do with it: should take another look at sweeps from there. I made sure not to do the same thing on the other leg, as especially because I'm not as familiar with De La Riva as half-guard, I didn't want to do something random and exacerbate the knee problem.

With Indra, I was again looking for the hook sweep. Got a bit closer this time, but as against Tanvir, I wasn't getting the necessary bend. Indra was able to push with her knees and break my control, getting back to a sitting position. I tried going for an armbar instead, but as usual with my submission attempts, left way too much space so she spun out. I at least ended up with a sloppy side control rather than losing control altogether, but had time run out I imagine Indra could have escaped from that too.

In half-guard I was finding the lockdown useful again, in terms of preventing Indra from getting into a good position to pass. I aimed to push her leg back to disrupt her base, then try to shrimp to the other side, press on her other knee with my arm and hopefully make enough space to get a knee through for closed guard. Worked twice, I think, but I should be using my arms more and being careful not to end up flat on my back.

At the end of class, lots of gradings, which is in keeping with the various new belts I saw earlier that night. Jason is now a purple belt, and I saw a new brown belt too, so most likely others I missed. It was mainly stripes in the Intermediate class, with one new blue belt. Indra, Anne and I all got another stripe, which puts me on two. Always pleasant to get a promotion of any sort, but as its time based, I'm not sure what it will mean when I train somewhere else, as I will have to leave RGA at the end of January. Hopefully I can shift to one of the affiliates (such as Jude's new place in Kilburn), but that all depends on cost and how long I'm in London.

09/08/2007 - BJJ (Beginners)

Class #80



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK - 09/08/2007 – Beginners

I was considering skipping the beginners, but decided that I didn’t feel too terrible after sparring so could handle another 45 minutes of training. After going through the arm throw (of which I only caught the tail end, having picked the wrong moment to pop to the toilet), we moved onto techniques from knee on belly.

First, Maurição showed the armbar from knee on belly, although I’m not quite sure I understood it correctly. As far as I can tell, popping up to knee on belly, you drag their arm up, then bring your leg over and fall back. Making sure you pull that arm right up is important, as otherwise they can slip their elbow down and escape.

That was followed by a sliding choke from knee on belly (at least I think that’s the right term). I was a little confused initially, as I thought it would be the same set up as for the usual cross choke, but hand positioning is a little different. Assuming I haven’t mixed up the hands, your bottom arm goes in first, gripping palm out instead of the usual palm in. You then feed in your other hand palm in, pressing the forearm firmly into their neck, driving your elbow floorwards to increase the pressure. Finally, sprawl back from knee on belly, drop your upper body right down, then pull with your bottom hand and lean on your forearm. That should swiftly result in a choke: suffice to say, drilling wasn’t a whole lot of fun when you’re on the receiving end!

While we were doing this, Oli also demonstrated how to do a similar choke from side control (as I’d asked if this only works from knee on belly). The grip is similar, but as you don’t have the same space, you bring your near arm right up under their near side and grab high on their gi. Then your forearm crushes into their neck as before, using the other hand to anchor the choke.

To finish off before sparring, Maurição went through the Americana from knee on belly. Once you’ve got the wrist to the floor and fed your other hand past their elbow and into position, bring your far leg up over their head, raise them up and pivot on their elbow for the kimura. Not sure if you move back into side control for this: will have to check next time.

Sparring was from side control, for which I went with a guy called Frank, who I haven’t seen before. He’s apparently been going for two months, and as happened last time, I was being rolled over from the top due to putting my weight too far forward. Shifting, I managed to maintain side control, but not really do anything with it.

Underneath I had a little more success, swivelling back to guard or half-guard a few times, but still not as smooth as I’d like. Frank was expending a lot of energy, which enabled him to get into position a few times, but generally he was powering upwards or trying to shove his knee through without making space first. Although I’m pretty crap from side control, I think I was able to give a few tips that were hopefully of use (like bridging, getting the elbow out of the way for the knee, pushing the legs to one side etc).

At the end of sparring turned out there was still time for another technique, and a very useful one at that. This was a basic half guard to closed guard transition. Having trapped them in your half guard, grab the back of their gi with your left hand and pull them down. With your right hand, grab their same side knee and drag it towards you. Adjust you half guard so that you can get a leg underneath their other knee, use that to lift them right up, then drop them down into your full guard.

After class finished, we were treated to yet another handy bit of instruction, this time in regards to the standing tailbone break. I haven’t had much of a chance to use this, but Maurição answered Diccon’s question about the technique by showing how you raise your bottom up high, turn your foot in to get in position, then drop back and drive a knee into their tailbone, opening their guard. That slight turn of the foot seemed to be of considerable help in targeting the right spot, which is the problem I’ve had when drilling this.

I’m off the Wales next week, so won’t be about on the Thursday. Therefore I need to try and make the Tuesday, which I’ve been avoiding because it’s the extremely knackering sparring class. No excuses now, as I’ll surely be well enough by next week: even if not, can at least make the Tuesday beginners class.