18/07/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Bournemouth 2016 | No Gi Barataplata (Lorenzo Fraquelli)

Class #753
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Phoenix MMA), Lorenzo Fraquelli, Bournemouth, UK, 18/07/2016

After arriving back from Madrid around midnight, I got in a few hours of sleep before jumping on a train down from Bristol to Bournemouth. That was for the inaugural UK BJJ Globetrotters Camp, held at the Phoenix MMA gym. It's a short and straightforward cycle from the train station, though as it's also on a high street, I imagine there are plenty of buses running through there.

In terms of accessibility, Phoenix MMA is fairly convenient for those of us in the South West. The train is about three hours from Bristol, or you can drive there in around two and a half. Due to it's prominent location, the gym is easy to find. It's a decent size for a BJJ school, with two rooms (one was a lot cooler than the other in the unseasonable heat today), though naturally much smaller than the Sportoase in Leuven. The Sportoase is HUGE.

The main downside of the UK venue is there's only one shower and one toilet (for the men at least, the women's changing room might be more spacious). I was only able to make it to camp for the Monday this year, but if I can stay longer in 2017, I'll try to get accommodation somewhere near enough to the gym that I can pop out for a shower. ;)

It's been a long time since I last saw today's first instructor, Lorenzo. He was there when I first started at the Roger Gracie Academy in 2006, but I don't think I've seen him since I moved away from London in 2009. In the intervening years, he's earned a black belt and set up his own school, Wave BJJ, as well as becoming a regular instructor on the BJJ Globetrotter camp circuit.

To kick off the camp, Lorenzo taught something more advanced, the barataplata (also called the baratoplata: the guy who invented it seems to use barataplata, so I'll go with that). Fortunately for me, I wasn't completely unfamiliar with the technique, as my instructor Kev Capel had shown a set-up earlier this month. For the first variation, Lorenzo started from north south, moving into a kimura. He then locks the second arm (which was grabbing his own wrist) to his chest, meaning he has his first arm free. If you were wearing a gi you could grab that, but as this was nogi, the hand was just on the chest, clamping tight.

You can then pull their legs across to prevent them blocking. I'm not sure that's always essential, as I'd rather maintain the kimura grip, but depends what they do with their legs. Also, the assumption here is that they have their hands locking together. If they let go, you could switch into an armbar.

If you still have their arm and it's bent, swing your leg over, so it is across their kimuraed arm. Bring your arm through so it is grabbing your own thigh. Base your other arm out on the mat, then slowly turn your hips towards their head, keeping your other leg braced against the back of their head.

Should they turn to their knees putting your back on the mat, you can still finish this. Push on their near knee, then untriangle your legs. Come up on your elbow, then bring the leg which was nearest their head over and towards their legs. Get that foot to the mat. Keep turning, until you've knocked your partner to their back. You can then turn your hips again to finish, as you end up in the same place as before.

The last technique was the same one Kev showed, from that double underhooks defence position. See my earlier post for that one.

02/07/2016 - RGA Bucks | Open Guard | Countering the Double Underhooks Pass

Class #749
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 02/07/2016

It was a flying visit today, as multiple family birthdays on both my partner and my own side meant I was rushing up and down the country. I was determined to get in a class at RGA Bucks either way, to make sure I'm touching base with Kev at least every couple of months on average. After July, I don't get back up to Bucks until at least September, so it would have been a long wait if I didn't make it for July (and it's my middle niece's birthday, as well as my father's). ;)

A photo posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jul 2, 2016 at 5:26am PDT

The theme today was countering the double underhooks pass. As they come in for the double under pass, have your arms ready by your legs. Once their arm is in range and before they can lock their hands together (this is important, it will be a great deal harder to prevent the pass if they lock their hands), bringing your same side arm underneath theirs, locking your own hands together in a gable grip. That position should block the pass attempt, plus you can now move into submission attempts.

Keep pulling on their arm until you can bring it away from their body. Your top arm comes over the top of their arm and shoulder, to grab their wrist. With your other hand moving underneath, grab your own wrist. You can then do a reverse kimura. If they manage to straighten their arm when you do that, bring it to your head and clamp to your ear. A pressing armbar is waiting for you at this point. Kev likes to get the wrist flat on his neck, which he finds puts their elbow in the right spot. If their arm slips out of that too, grip their tricep and pull the arm across, moving into a triangle.

A more complex option arises if you can't get their arm away from their body in the first place. Bring your leg over the top of their bent arm, then triangle your legs to lock that in place. Switch your arms, grabbing your own leg. This puts on a bit of bicep slicer pressure, so be careful (especially if you're in a competition that doesn't allow bicep slicers for lower belt ranks). Turn, rolling them all the way over, unlocking your legs in order to avoid throwing their entire weight on top of your foot. Keep on turning, which will then apply a shoulder lock. This is a little like the rolling omoplata.

I had lots of good rolls as always, especially with Kev. I played with the stiff arm from open guard again, along with escapes. I couldn't get into position for knee cut counters, though speaking of those, Kev had a nice detail. When he grips around the back, he turns his palm outwards, which straightens the arm into the back and makes it tougher to collapse. I also tried what David Morecegao showed me about pushing the head away from open guard, though I think I still might not be doing that enough. I kept my other arm tucked back, like Dan Lewis showed at RGA Bucks some time ago (based on a David Onuma seminar). It felt like I wasn't as sore as normal after sparring, which is good if that means I'm using less force and being more flowy.