24/08/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Heidelberg 2017 | Rich Sab

Class #888
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Olympiastützpunkt Rhein-Neckar) Rich Sab, Heidelberg, Germany, 24/08/2017

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Aug 24, 2017 at 11:13am PDT

This was one of the best taught classes at the camp, from my perspective, all on passing butterfly and sitting guard. Push them down to the mat, where Ferdinand mentioned about keeping your head in the middle, don't turn or they can frame to stop you passing. Reach under for their opposite foot, squash the leg and pass. If you can't get hold of their foot, push one knee a little forwards, which will put their foot closer to your hand for the pass. I like to squish the leg and walk around, Ferdinand prefers to drive a knee through. Both work, as long as you can maintain your pressure. :)

09/08/2014 - Open Mat | Butterfly Guard | Butterfly Pass

Class #586
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 09/08/2014

I will be focusing on passing butterfly at Bristol Sports Centre next week (I'm repeating the bullfighter pass classes at Impact, but as I taught those quite recently I didn't feel a pressing need to drill that again), so that was going to be my main goal for open mat today. I had to wait a little while until a drilling partner was free, but that's to be expected when it's right after nogi class, as people like to spar some more.

Once I got drilling, it proved very useful. I started off with the butterfly pass I'm most familiar with: I'm not sure of the name, but in the interests of being descriptive, I'll refer to it as the shin trap pass. I first learned this from Kev, a good few years ago now. Start by flattening them out: I'm sure there is a more refined way, but I just pummel for an underhook then drive my head into their chest. You aren't out of danger, as they can use their butterfly hooks to move you back and sit up again, but it gives you some time to work.

After you've driven them flat, wrap around the outside of their leg with your arm, so that their shin is in the crook of your elbow (I think the lower on their shin the better, in my experience). Secure that by gripping the top of their thigh, or their belt/gi if you can reach it. This should prevent them being able to lift your leg with their hook and it also means they can't try and re-hook under your leg as you move around for the pass.

On the side you've just blocked, kick your leg back to remove their hook. Re-insert the knee by their other foot, meaning that you have both of your legs on their other shin. From here, there are quite a few different options: the two most basic I'm aware of are either sprawling back then walking around on your toes, or using your free hand to shove their knee down as you move to side control.

Fortunately for me, there was another purple belt at open mat today, who was very handy to drill with. He does the pass differently, preferring to trap the leg on the side he's passing. I find that makes it trickier to stop them hooking as you kick back to free the hook, but it has the advantage that you totally block the other side. He also likes to use a backstep motion to complete the pass, showing their knee out of the way with his hip. This is also a good option if they've managed to elevate you at all, enabling you to slip over the top.

Another pass he does which I haven't used myself is posting his head on one side, then flinging his legs all the way over the top, with a head stand type action. I'm not sure if that could potentially cause problem for someone with neck or back issues, but I found it easy enough to do. I'll add that in as a drill on Monday.

Finally, I wanted to drill the 'knee forward pass', as Saulo refers to it. I haven't had a lot of success with this personally, as I find that I get stuck on their hooks when I do this. Still, I'd like to teach it, because it gives you a pass when you haven't managed to flatten them out yet. I've learned it from Dónal before, so will check my notes.

22/04/2014 - Gracie Humaitá (Beginners Class)

Class #561
Gracie Humaitá, (BJJ), Paulo ‘Coelho’ Brandão, Austin, TX, USA - 22/04/2014

A photo posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Apr 24, 2014 at 5:45pm PDT

After being dropped off by my new friends from the Aces Jiu Jitsu Club session, I headed up to Georgette's office. The next destination was Gracie Humaita Austin, another beautiful facilitiy. I've read and seen so much of that academy through Georgette's blog that a lot of it felt familiar, especially the faces I saw later on during the sparring class. The focus tonight was on butterfly passing, which Paulo said was a signature move of his.

The first butterfly pass begins by sinking your base as low as possible. If they have both butterfly hooks rather than one ready to lift, you can box them in with your knees. Insert a knee behind their heel (if they have one leg raised, you want to put your knee by the other leg), then step out your other foot. Make sure you are stepping out rather than forward, to avoid giving them a chance to get underneath you and lift.

Using an underhook and driving with your head, spin their upper body to the ground. You aren't driving straight forward, you're steering them in a semi-circle. Basing on your head and the shoulder you have pressed into them (due to your underhook), pop your hips up. You can then knee cut across the leg where you put your knee earlier. If you need to, shove their leg to the mat with your hand.

I don't think I quite got the second variation. It starts the same, but this time they manage to initiate an underhook before you can complete your knee cut. With the arm they're trying to underhook, grasp their same side knee and clamp your elbow to your side. This is where I got a bit confused: move around (I think?), then as they try to shrimp away, cross face and complete the knee cut pass.

The main super-cool thing about tonight was finally training with Georgette. You can tell she'd be a good teacher as she's very focused on getting the technique right, regularly calling over the instructor to double-check the finer points. She also gave me a ton of useful advice as we were doing the technique, polishing specific movements, questioning grips and highlighting details. I'm keen to get in some rolling with her later this week.

I was less keen on getting in loads of rolling generally. So, I continued to be wimpy and sit out of the following hour of sparring, both because I'm lazy and I also don't want to injure myself this early in the trip. Not that I don't trust the control of the students there: I don't trust my own control, as I regularly hurt myself if I do any extensive sparring . ;)

23/01/2014 - Hit Fit (Open Guard Passing)

Class #540
Hit Fit, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 23/01/2014

I'm excited to announce that next week will be the first class at Artemis BJJ, the new club Dónal and I have set up! We haven't done a big launch yet, but the website is up and running, along with the usual social media stuff (so far, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram). I'm still digging through the various bits of bureaucracy involved in setting it up, but I'm looking forward to finally getting back into a regular pattern of training. First week will be free regardless, but we'll probably have a longer free period to kick things off. So, would be cool to see you on the mats at the Bristol Sports Centre on Monday at 19:30. :D
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Dónal started with a simple knee cut drill, where they are on their back in open guard. Step between their legs with one of your own, then cut across to the opposite side, over their thigh. Slide your hip through, keeping your hip tight for pressure, ideally also underhooking their far arm. That was followed by a connected drill, where you're in the same scenario but this time they push into the leg you're trying to cut across. Swing your leg back, then step it through to their side, moving into knee on belly.

Dónal rounded off that section with the butterfly pass he likes to teach. You're facing them, both of you kneeling with one knee raised. Reach over their back and secure a grip under their opposite shoulder. Using your raised knee, push their knees in the opposite direction. The idea here is to clamp their knees to the mat, pressuring through the side of their top knee. Replace that pressure with your hand, keeping the arm straight to use your skeletal structure rather than muscles. You can then pass to side control or possibly take their back, depending on their reaction.

Finally, there was a very basic butterfly sweep from the same position. As soon as they go to grab the knee you have on the floor, control their elbow or sleeve and push their arm across your body. Hooking under their raised leg with your same side instep, then lift as your drop your shoulder on the other side to the mat. This should flip them over, whereupon you can establish side control.

Specific sparring was from on your knees, with the goal of either passing, sweeping or submitting. I was impressed with how quickly my training partner, Estee, picked up the fundamentals of grappling. She was already doing a good job of keeping me away with her feet (just like I'd taught her last week, with good hip movement. Seems to be a natural, so it will be cool to see how she progresses, especially as this is only her second class!

I also had a roll with Mark, where I was pleased to manage a tripod sweep, but weirdly while he was still on his knees. I didn't expect it to work too well from that position, so I'll keep trying it. It's been really helpful having that focus from my previous private lesson with Kev, though I still keep forgetting to try the arm drag attempt to sit up sweep. I've also found considerable utility in the basic open guard position Kev suggested, where I'm sat up, one hand behind for base and the other gripping deep in their collar.

In the open mat hour after class, I was able to fit in a long roll with Gary. I'm not having any luck with the mawashi grip. I did a bit of drilling, but couldn't seem to get any benefit, so that's something to keep experimenting with. I was mainly keeping him at bay by pushing on his hips with my feet, but with very limited success on sweeps. I did eventually get to mount, where I could hold the position, but wasn't able to progress to any kind of submission. I need to keep working on walking my knees up high, as well as threatening the ezequiel when I'm lower down.

03/09/2013 - BJJ at Hit Fit with Dónal (Butterfly Guard Drills)

Class #521
Hit Fit, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 03/09/2013

For the past two years, the person who I have seen as 'my' instructor is Dónal, so I was sad when changes to class schedules meant I couldn't train with him as often as before. That's also partly why I started doing privates with Dónal, to continue benefitting from his excellent teaching. Normally I would be teaching myself on Tuesday, but this week that has switched to Wednesday. I therefore immediately leapt on the opportunity to get to Dónal's Tuesday class, over at Hit Fit.

Hit Fit is run by Mark Skidmore, a personal trainer with several years of MMA experience (he currently has a pro record of 2-0, according to Sherdog). Mark also does lots of work with children: you can take a look at that over on KidsClubBristol.co.uk. Among his various qualifications and credentials (you can read more about those here), he's spent time training with my first MMA instructor, Kevin O'Hagan. Though in my case, that ended up being a handful of lessons, rather than the years Mark has spent refining his MMA skills. ;)

The class tonight was over in Bitton, from 20:00-21:00 (contact Mark for more info). The fully matted venue has enough space for about four or five pairs rolling and there looks to be plenty of parking outside. It was particularly good to see that there was an excellent gender balance, particularly by comparison to most other clubs: around 60% the people in attendance were female. Dónal kicked things off with his usual warm-up, feeding directly into the drills that made up the technical portion of class.

Tonight the focus was butterfly guard. Dónal introduced the concept with a drill where you hold your partner in butterfly, both hooks in, also underhooking their upper body. Rock back and lift them with your legs, then kick them forward as you return them to the floor, in order to sit back up in a good position.

That was followed by two drills for the person on top, which Dónal split into three parts. The simple version was to back step as they elevated you, in order to slip off to one side. That fit with one of the warm-up drills, where from a press-up type position, you kick your left leg over your right so that the sole of your left foot contacts the floor, still keeping your chest towards the floor as well. The same motion when suspended in butterfly guard can work as a pass.

Further refining that motion, Dónal then had us bring our hip slightly forward and knock their knees to the side as you do the backstep out of their butterfly guard. Knocking their knees away increases the efficacy of the pass, as they will have a harder time getting their leg in the way of your pass (with the first option, their knee will often remain pressed across your stomach).

Finally, Dónal then applied the same concept to a step earlier in the process, before they've started to elevate you. Reach over their back and secure a grip under their opposite shoulder. Step up your leg on the same side as the reaching arm, then use that knee to push their knees in the opposite direction. The idea here is to clamp their knees to the mat, pressuring through the side of their top knee. Replace that pressure with your hand, keeping the arm straight to use your skeletal structure rather than muscles (Dónal also turned his elbow, but I can't remember if it was outwards or inwards. I think outwards? He can correct me). You can then pass to side control or possibly take their back, depending on their reaction.

It was then time for sparring. I began with Mark, which was an interesting proposition given his years of MMA experience. You could feel that knowledge when he was on top, as he was clearly familiar with shifting his weight and blocking with hips and hands to move around the legs and prevent guard recovery. I attempted to move into a butterfly sweep a few times, but Mark's base was solid and his arms were ready to block. I also shifted between closed, half and spider guard a couple of times, mainly for guard recovery.

That was a good reminder that my butterfly guard is still pretty poor (as is my guard in general: I'll be looking for some more broad concepts and principles in my next private with Dónal). I can maintain, but my ability to follow through on some sweeps against any kind of resistance is woeful. I also completely forgot about the handy variation on a butterfly sweep from Saulo (essentially blocking their knee and driving forwards), which I taught last year. Butterfly is meant to be good for people with short, stocky legs, so I've been meaning to get better at it for ages.

I had more luck on top, presumably because Mark hasn't been training gi that long and I tend to pass using lots of gi grips. My go-to is still the knee cut, trying to combine that with the bullfighter if they push back into you with their legs. Mark also had that relaxed, technical approach that marks out a valuable training partner, despite his obvious strength advantage. That seemed to be a general vibe in the class, which no doubt is down to Dónal's trademark friendly approach interlaced with humour. I reckon the Irish accent helps too. ;)

I finished up with one of the women in class, who has only been training for a month: I therefore tried to work through some basic concepts on guard recovery (keeping your legs in front of them as a barrier, bracing your arm onto their hips and legs to enable shrimping, hooking with your feet, etc). Hopefully I didn't babble too much, as I sometimes worry I overload people with information in that situation. There is such a ridiculous amount to learn in BJJ that it's easy to splurge. That's one of the key things I'm trying to refine when I teach, with the intention of striking a balance between useful information, but not so much that students can't retain it.

I really enjoyed the class at Hit Fit: hopefully I'll have a chance to support it more in the future. If you're in the area, be sure to check it out, as Dónal is a brilliant teacher! :)

28/11/2012 - Rilion Gracie Houston

Class #478
Rilion Gracie Houston, (BJJ), Rilion Gracie, Houston, TX, USA - 28/11/2012

The next stop on my Texas training trip was Rilion Gracie Houston, taught by Rilion himself. I had a chance to rest on the Tuesday, using it to get some typing done, then on Wednesday Conor drove me down to train at Rilion's academy (Conor also took some pics, so I'll be adding those in once he puts them up). If you haven't heard Rilion's name before, he is probably best known for two things: Rickson once said he had the best guard in the Gracie family, and Roger trained with Rilion at a pivotal time in his BJJ career. He is known to be very technical, which always gets me excited as I love learning more about the fine details.

The warm-up was fairly standard, running round the room followed by some star jumps, press-ups and sit-ups. Rilion runs a relaxed class, although there were quite a few people in official Rilion Gracie gis with their name written on the collar. I had thought that was a Gracie Barra thing, but perhaps it's just an old school Brazilian thing (Roger does it too, and I think Renzo as well, but then they both have ties to GB).

Rilion's teaching was every bit as thorough as I had hoped. His process was to run through the whole technique once, with plenty of emphasis on details, then run through it again in even more detail. He also regularly paused to note that if you didn't grip a certain way, you were liable to get swept or lose your control. He described it as 'invisible jiu jitsu', something most commonly associated with Rickson but I've also heard Braulio use the term (he had a video series with the same name).

The technique was actually several techniques in sequence, beginning with a takedown. From standing, you grab their same side collar and go into a low stance, elbow tucked in. Pull on the collar and step, so that they will naturally step as well. You are waiting for the opportunity to drop to their collar-side leg for the takedown, depending on their footwork. Generally they will leave that leg trailing. When the moment is right, drop down into a sort of kung fu stance, with your same side leg bent, the other stretched out horizontally.

Wrap up their leg with your arms, hooking around the back of their knee with the outside arm, then behind the ankle with the inside arm. Jam your head by the inside of their knee. Pull their leg back as you drive forwards to put them on their back. Immediately move forwards to sit on the leg, so they can't simply pull it free by turning away from you and wrenching. You still have your arm wrapped behind their knee.

At this point, the technique moves on to passing butterfly guard, as most likely they will now insert a hook and try to sweep you. To prevent that happening, wrap around the outside of their other leg with your arm, below the knee. That enables you to provide enough counter-pressure that they can't lift you up with their hook. To being the pass, reach through to the bottom of their trouser leg with your other arm and grab the material, taking out any slack.

Drive your head into their chest to put them flat on their back: if you go off to either side, they may be able to establish some kind of control, so keep your head in the centre. At this point, there were a couple of variations to complete the pass, so I may be missing bits, but I think you next grab the collar, then move forward to crunch their knees towards their chest.

Move around to the collar grip side while shoving their knees with your hip. You also need to make sure you are still grabbing the bottom of their trouser leg and stretching it out. This should prevent them from shrimping out. Keep moving until you can establish side control. IIRC, Rilion also showed the option of popping your hips up and pressing down into the trouser legs in a bullfighter pass type motion.

Sparring was light, due to my injured leg and Conor also has a dodgy knee. He did a few takedown entries, then we played around with some positions on the ground, mostly side control and guard. I had an opportunity to work more top side control, focusing on trying out the Relson style some more, along with using my head to control the hips and getting my elbows into armpits for control. I was also grabbing the back of the trousers quite a lot, which was another useful grip to test out.

I wasn't able to do much in terms of passing, though I had a go at the technique we'd just learned. There was also lots of maintaining open guard, which has been a theme this trip (and tends to be something I do a lot when visiting a new academy, as I don't feel as comfortable trying to immediately drive forward and pass to side, not that I'm any good at passing anyway ;D).

Conor reminded me that when I'm in the running escape I have to be very careful they can't drive a knee across the bottom leg as then you're stuck. This is what Sahid does to me, so I need to work out a defence to that, or simply be aware of that control and keep the leg out of range. I attempted to block that control with my other leg a few times, but that potentially leaves me vulnerable to something else.

He also mentioned a simple arm drag type motion that can be done off an initial collar grip where you have your arm posted behind you. This is a position I find myself in quite often, but I haven't been using it to arm drag (or 'collar drag', which is more the case here). You simply move to the side and pull them down into the space you just left. Something I should be trying more often.

21/09/2011 - Gracie Barra Technique (Butterfly Guard)

Class #419
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 21/09/2011

Due to the fact I've trained all over the country, I bump into old training partners on a semi-regular basis. Tonight it was Alex, who is the first guy I met from Gracie Barra Birmingham back when I first started training there. He has now moved to Bristol, though mentioned that the club he started up North - Lakes BJJ – is still going.

Geeza kicked off with the basic butterfly sweep (though Geeza refers to the position as seated guard). From closed guard, shrimp out, foot on their hip to make space, bringing the other knee through across their chest. This stops them from stacking you, meaning you have a chance to insert both butterfly hooks. You're also gripping their same side sleeve by the elbow, while your other hand shoots through for a deep underhook.

From there, lift with your foot on the underhook side, pulling the sleeve grip. Your other leg threads underneath the underhook side leg, as you continue to drive their weight through their knee. Bring them to the mat, then transition to scarf hold or side control.

Next, Geeza showed a counter, which moves into a butterfly pass. If they establish butterfly guard and are about to sweep, raise the knee on the non-underhooked side. Drive forward to put their back on the mat, putting your head next to theirs. On the elbow-gripped side, push your hand through for an underhook.

In combination with your head and shoulder pressure, that should give you good control of their upper body. Shove their underhook side knee to the mat, then slide your non-underhook side knee over towards the mat. When you have your knee over the top of their leg, switch your hand from their knee to their same side arm and pull up. Pass to scarf hold.

Continuing the flow, Geeza then demonstrated a counter to that pass, which becomes a deep half guard sweep. As soon as they try for the knee cut pass, grab their knee and shove it to one side. At the same time, swing your legs and dive underneath them. The aim is to get into deep half, with your inside arm holding their leg, your outside arm reaching past to grab behind them. Secure that with a grip on their belt.

Having got to deep half, move your hand from their leg to their ankle and bend it towards you. Kick up with your inside leg to initiate the sweep. During your roll to the top, maintain the grip on their belt. That will mean you've immobilised their other leg, so they can't close their guard. Therefore it should be easy to extricate your leg and establish side control.

Specific sparring from there emphasised something I already knew: my butterfly guard is rubbish. In terms of passing, I was making fundamental errors like raising both knees, which was asking to be swept. I need to make sure I always keep my hips heavy, and definitely don't raise the knee on the underhooked side. I also wasn't going for the technique we'd just learned, which is another basic mistake.

Underneath, I was looking to use Chiu's tips on positioning, but without much success. I'll have to go review my notes, as I think I forgot all the important parts. Also, Geeza reminded me that I need to keep my knee outside of his hips, or he can just squash my leg and move round to pass. As it seems to be such a weak position for me right now, I should start pulling butterfly guard (as I used to in the past, thanks to Kintanon's advice). I'm short with little legs, which I'm told is ideal for butterfly guard. Hopefully that will help me to eventually get the hang of it.

Tomorrow, my girlfriend is keeping her promise from my birthday to check out my class. Exciting stuff, although it does mean I've been even more extensive in my pre-lesson preparation. Probably a bit too much, but meh. ;)

27/09/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #346
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 27/09/2010

Before I get onto the advanced class, I just wanted to offer my congratulations to Steve Greenaway, who recently received his purple belt from Roy Dean. Steve heads up Roy’s first affiliate, which happens to be here in the UK, down in Poole. I had the privilege of attending the inaugural Roy Dean seminar in the UK last year (Steve kindly invited me), and again this year. I look forward to hearing about how Steve’s club, the Poole Martial Arts Academy, keeps growing in the future. See the vid below for what a purple belt under Roy Dean looks like: beautiful as always:



Another Roy Dean UK student who I trained with at that seminar a couple of years ago, Kirsty, also got promoted during the trip over to the US. That makes her the first female blue belt under Roy Dean in the UK: check out the video here. So, congrats to her too! :)
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Norby had some new butterfly passes to show us tonight. The first one assumes that they have managed to sit up and are about to go for the sweep. Reach over their arm and back, hugging them in tight, then drive forward to put them on the mat. That hand will stay ready to loop their arm, meaning that you can potentially set up an armbar if they turn in the wrong direction. Your leg positioning is important: one leg is going to be out for base, while the one they’ve hooked will have a knee close to their bum.

The essential detail that stops them lifting you for the sweep is your hip. On the knee side, turn the hip in towards them, dropping your weight and bending their toes down, which makes it really hard for them to generate any leverage. They will probably try to go for half guard, so to prevent that, first you want to try and trap what would become their outside foot with your hip.

Their inside foot will be looking to wrap around the back of your leg. Prevent that by reaching back with your free arm, gripping their trouser leg and pinning it to the mat. Finally, make sure that the heel of the leg they want to trap is raised up so that it is touching your leg. This stops them slipping their leg around the crook of your knee.

From here, it is a relatively simple matter to lift that same knee over their pinned leg, moving through to side control. If they try to lift your leg, they basically do the job for you, so it becomes even simpler to hop over their leg and switch to side control.

If they do manage to lock their legs, then you can use a half guard pass, based around your head, specifically the top of it. You’re going to drive that directly under their chin, then raise your butt into the air. That means you’re putting your whole body weight through the top of your head into their skull. Not comfortable.

To facilitate the pass, grind it past and towards their face, so that you turn their head to one side. They should now be sufficiently distracted that the last thing they’re thinking about is their half guard lock. Free your leg and pass.

During specific sparring, I was still struggling on top, and not doing a whole lot better underneath. I was managing to connect to their legs with my hooks a little better, but nevertheless getting passed pretty quickly. I also wanted to try and work that half guard sprawl pass Norby showed us (which I think is in Stephan Keasting’s DVD too), but couldn’t seem to get them into the right position. Possibly need to get them more on their back and sort out my leg positioning.

There wasn’t too much time left for free sparring, so I just went the one round with my drilling partner, Ram. I had a few attempts at attacking the back, but failed to break through her defences: she was successfully blocking my efforts to get at her neck by crossing her arms. Instead I tried to switch to an armbar (initially I kept getting stuck in half guard during the transition, so I need to watch my lower leg), gripping the one arm with both of mine before moving into position, but again wasn’t doing too well in terms of dislodging her grip.

I was trying to move round in a semi-circle, but wasn't doing it very well: I've been shown a bunch of different ways to break the grip, but it's been so long since I found myself in a position to actually use them my memory failed me. The arm did eventually come loose, but I think that was down to force and exhaustion rather than technique.

This session is my last at Gracie Barra Birmingham, unless my girlfriend and I happen to move back to Brum at some point in the future (which is certainly possible, as we liked it when we lived in Kings Norton a couple of years ago). Norby made a point earlier of checking when I was leaving GB Brum, and then went out of his way to do a little speech at the end of class to say goodbye.

It has been really good training at the club, and gestures like Norby’s farewell speech are typical of the welcoming atmosphere. I can’t think of any other academy that better embodies the ‘family’ part of the Gracie Barra motto, particularly as Braulio’s infant son was running around the mat again. Great place to learn BJJ, which I highly recommend to anyone in the area: well-structured syllabus, awesome range of skilful training partners and attentive, generous instructors.

27/09/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #345
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Dave Iverson, Birmingham, UK – 27/09/2010

Now that I’ve got lots more time to play on the internet again, I had a chance to update my blog list, thanks to the always excellent BJJ Grrl, who keeps lists here and here. Bunch of blogs I hadn’t seen before by female BJJers, like Shakia, Amy and Val.

I’d also like to give a shout-out to fellow BJJ blogger Dev Kostal, who recently received his purple over in Peru. Very cool: I imagine he is going to do a longer write-up in the future, but some pics on Dev’s blog, here.

Due to the trains acting up, I almost didn’t make it to the beginner class. Instead of stopping at Acocks Green, the train from Dorridge decided to go right through to Birmingham. Fortunately, I was able to grab one back the other way not long after, then sprinted to the gym. It goes to show how short a walk it is to the train station that I was able to run there, get changed, grab my card and get on the mat in under four minutes. Made the warm-up tougher, but at least I arrived in time.

Dave ran through the same two passes Norby showed last week, where the idea is to treat your partner as a steering wheel. Dave emphasised staying tight with the grips, so always clamp your elbow down when gripping over their back. He also pointed out that when you’ve spun them onto their back, try to switch your knee, so that the one nearest their legs is tight against their hip. That will prevent them from shrimping in that direction, giving you time to put your hand there.

On the second pass (which Norby demonstrated during last Monday’s advanced class), where you pivot on your foot and drive your raised knee into their leg, shoving their knees together with your hand and step around, Dave noted you need to have a grip by their back too. That will help control their upper body, and means you can slip your arm around to a strong side control position as you step around behind them.

There was no sparring again, as we spent a good long time drilling. That works well when I want to double up, as it means I can concentrate on technique. It is especially good when Norby runs the double, as he tends to teach the same techniques in both classes. This is ideal, because you first get a basic version, with the broad outline, followed by the more detailed explanation in the advanced class. Perfect for when you don’t have time to scribble notes down on a pad. ;)

At some point, I managed to inadvertently demote myself to two stripes, as it must have fallen off during class: it’s been gradually ripping in half over the past few months, so not a big surprise. Useful reminder that stripes are often pretty meaningless. ;p

20/09/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #344
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 20/09/2010

If anyone happens to have any interest in the Poetry and Medicine symposium I mentioned a while back, this is a video of me giving my paper. The main page for the symposium itself is here (scroll down a bit): there is going to be another one next year, which I’ll probably look to speak at again, as it was a great experience back in April.

Norby went through the same butterfly pass we just did in the basics, then added on a second butterfly pass. He said this one was his favourite, and I can see why as it looks like an effective technique. Again, they’ve sat up, ready to sweep with one knee raised and the other on the floor. They’ve grabbed your arm and are about to send you over.

With the hand of the arm they’re gripping, shove down onto their knee. Your other arm goes over their back. Put your knee against the knee they have raised up, then twist your knee inwards. This should collapse their knees together, and also drive your knee into the middle of their upper leg, which can be quite painful if you put any force into it.

Your grip will switch from their knee to the trousers of their top leg, shoving the fabric down to the floor to stop them moving their legs and hips. You’ll also be holding their upper body down with that grip on their back: with your knee into their leg, you’ve got a good base to keep your weight into them, driving it through your arms. Maintaining the pressure with your arms, walk your legs up behind them, moving to side control.

Specific sparring went just as badly as in the basics class, but this time, I was attempting to focus on sitting up when underneath. That meant I was able to vaguely flail at getting hooks, but perhaps wasn’t thinking enough about grips with my hands and arms. People weren’t having too much trouble moving past my legs, or sweeping me over when I was on top. Being small doesn’t help, but it definitely wasn’t just a size issue.

I could only think of two passes, neither of which I managed to progress. The starting position for specific sparring was again on top with my head down and elbows in. I tried pulling out their lapel and tucking it round, but couldn’t seem to get the lapel loose before they already were well into their sweep. Alternatively, I was looking to bring my leg back and trap a shin against my knee. Must have been missing a bunch of steps, as against blues and up, their hook was generally stopping me, while with whites I could at least get the leg trapped, but then failed to progress round to the side properly.

Another option, once you've brought your knee across, is to drop back. Bring the knee behind their arm and your leg over their back, swinging your other leg by their neck. From there, you can tighten up into a triangle choke. You can also jump rather than drop back, depending on how comfortable you feel with the technique. It reminded me a little of Demian Maia's triangle attacks, although he doesn't show one specifically from here.

Free sparring fell into familiar underneath side control territory with the two blue belts I rolled with, staying tight and looking to keep my knees in tight to avoid submissions. I was able to stay safe, but on the other hand, but my opponents were bigger and taking it pretty easy. One of them had a choke on, but they must have eased off or something, as I don’t think my defence was doing all that much to prevent them finishing.

I also had a roll with a green belt, so that gave me a chance to work lightly on top, and let him try stuff, while also attempting to distribute my weight and see if I could maintain the position. Made a nice change from getting smashed. ;)

Next week will be my last class at GB Brum (I plan to do another double on the Monday), so I must remember to cancel my direct debit: need to give Norby a ring tomorrow morning.

20/09/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #343
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 20/09/2010

It was my last day at work today, and I got my favourite kind of present, a gift voucher. Ideal, because it means I know I can then get something I want, so I picked up two more 33 1/3 books from WH Smiths (the ones on Abba Gold and Led Zeppelin IV). If they’re as good as the two on Low and Pet Sounds, should be awesome. I’m also very intrigued by the last one I bought but have been saving up, which strangely is on Celine Dion. Don’t let that put you off though, as apparently it's a very interesting exploration of taste (the subtitle is ‘A Journey to the End of Taste’). The guy who wrote it unsurprisingly went in hating the album, so came up with a great angle.

I won’t actually be leaving my flat until next week, after which I’ll be looking to train at RGA Wycombe again, which should be cool. Before that, I’ve got some more time to work on my butterfly guard at GB Brum. Judging by my performance tonight, I need a lot of improvement, as my sparring was absolutely terrible.

The butterfly pass starts when they have their knees raised and are sitting up. This can work if they have both knees up, but normally there will just be one, with the other on the floor. Push that knee down with your same side hand, then reach your other arm underneath their knee, reaching for the cuff of their opposite trouser leg (so, the one you’re already holding down with your other hand).

Your can then remove your hand from their knee and reach over their back, grabbing a handful of gi, keeping them tight towards you. The idea of the sweep is to treat them like a steering wheel, pulling their leg back under their raised knee, while yanking your hold on their back in the opposite direction. To do that, you’ll need to move your leg back, as otherwise you’ll just be whacking their foot into your own knee.

Make sure you really pull their leg out, so they can’t try to bring a knee in. It should be a simple matter to move into side control from there. If they give you any trouble by posting behind themselves with an arm, simply switch your grip on their back to that elbow instead, yanking it forward and removing their base. In that situation, you’ll also need to drive forward a bit with either your head or your shoulder.

Specific sparring didn’t go too well for me, as passing I was getting swept, and underneath I was getting passed, by pretty much everyone. So, clearly I’m missing a load of details from the position where the person on top has their elbows tucked in and head down into your stomach. That would continue into the advanced class, as we did the same specific sparring, but at least I could try to work on some small details, like trying to sit up.

13/09/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #341
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 13/09/2010

I thought I’d try something different tonight with my belt. Normally, I do the usual under the belt loopy thing, which tends to fall off under any kind of strain, so you’re doing it back up every ten minutes. The video I saw on the Grapplers Guide a while back (I’m sure its been posted elsewhere, but that’s where I first saw it) has several other options, I think from a judoka. The one I liked the look of was simply called ‘unbreakable’.

Easiest to watch the video (at 00:46), but to describe it: wrap your belt around your waist as normal, pulling one of the belt ends up underneath. Loop the other belt end over the top and behind, so it is dangling down. It will also leave a little loop around the main belt: feed the first belt end through. As you feed it, make sure you leave yet another loop, which is what you’ll pull the second belt end through. Took a little while to work out the right lengths so it wouldn’t look weird, but it was indeed unbreakable: didn’t even loosen during the two and a half hours of training.



Technique tonight shifted from sweeps to passing the butterfly guard. Again this is similar to what I saw Kev show at Wycombe, with a couple of differences. Start by staying low on them, your head in their stomach and elbows clamped to their hips. With the same side hand, pull out their lapel (easiest to go for the one on top). Yank it right out to the side, then quickly bring your elbow back in, so they can’t kimura you.

Feed the end of that lapel under their legs towards their bum, where your other hand is waiting. This may be more difficult if their gi is a bit short, in which case you might need to lean to the opposite side slightly to get the space. Be careful if you do that, as leaning too far will set them up for an easy sweep.

Once you’ve got that lapel, grab their gi with your free hand, on their side (which again will be the same side as the lapel you yanked loose). Still on the same side, kick your leg back, then bring your knee past their foot, so you end up with their leg trapped against your stomach.

You can now rotate your hips over their knee, then move into either side control or knee on belly. Make sure you maintain your grips on the gi and lapel, as these will make it really hard for them to move anywhere. They can’t shrimp, as you have a gi wrapped around their hips, and if they turn the other way, you’ve got a grip on the other side too. They can’t turtle either, as with those grips, you’ll have little trouble taking their back.

The second pass is for if they manage to snatch half guard as you try to trap that leg against your stomach. You have the same grips as before. Instead of grabbing the gi jacket with your free hand, grab the top of their gi trousers and push up, to stop them moving. Then sprawl your leg backwards to break their hold, after which your can move round to side control: either step the leg over, or rotate your hips like before.

No sparring in the basics tonight, but I was feeling ok for the advanced, where I expected to get some rolling time.

14/01/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #276



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 14/01/2010

The weather has finally decided to let up a bit, with rain rather than snow today. That meant no problems getting to class, which tonight focused on the butterfly guard. This is something I've been told is good for short legs, so I'm keen to work it more, especially as I'm always trying to hook inside people's legs anyway.

Kev started with a method of moving into butterfly from closed guard, which is pretty much just shrimp out to a scissor sweep position, then get your feet inside their legs. From here, you have two main options in terms of grip. In the gi, you can hold their collar and grab their same side sleeve, then push it under their leg (the idea is to sweep them in the other direction, so they can't post.) Without the gi (although it still works with the gi too: it's the one I prefer, though that isn't saying much given my butterfly guard is very underdeveloped), you secure an underhook, then pull the other arm in towards you.

Having got into position, Kev could now show us a basic sweep from butterfly guard. Securing your preferred grip, drop back, shifting towards one side. Lift their opposite leg with your hook at the same time: it is important you use the momentum, rather than dropping back, then attempting to lift while flat on the floor. If you need extra power, push off with your other foot, ending up in either mount or side control.

Passing butterfly was slightly more complicated, though it's a technique I've seen Kev show before. Flatten them out, drive your head into their chest, putting your hands into their biceps and keeping your elbows tight. Next, you need to trap a leg against your stomach, accomplished by stepping back one leg, bringing it past their foot, then reinserting your knee under their shin. To further isolate that leg, reach under their outside knee and grab hold of their foot.

From here, shift your head slightly to the side, pinning their upper body by raising your hips and driving your weight through your shoulder. Push the leg you've isolated to the floor with your same side arm, then walk your toes around to side control, maintaining pressure with your shoulder and head all the way.

I was fortunate during specific sparring from butterfly, as I got paired up with people close to my own weight, which doesn't happen often. The first guy is slightly heavier, but quite new, so I was able to work some submissions. I was able to lock my legs in position for the triangle, but struggled to bring the shin back. I think that was because I made the error of not scooting back, so was too bunched up. I also failed to switch to the armbar properly, which is something I'd like to work on: very rare that I even make it to a vague set-up, so combinations are still a way off.

My passing was pretty sloppy, but I didn't get punished for it in the same way as normal because my partners weren't big, and they were also white belts. I kept flailing with my arms, and wasn't using my weight properly to trap their legs. I also had trouble flattening them out, as their arms tended to get in the way.

The second guy was even smaller than me, surprisingly, so I got a chance to see what it's like from the other side. I think I was occasionally using strength too much, getting past his butterfly guard by crushing his legs down, but in a manner that likely would have completely failed against somebody bigger. Still, I was pleased that I managed to get a nice back-step to pass in the other direction at one point, and even better it felt quite natural and instinctive.

Oh, and if the guy who offered me a lift (as his route takes him near my house) is reading this, yes, you've reached the right page. Click on the 'contact me' bit at the top. ;)

24/09/2009 - RGA Wycombe

Class #243



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 24/09/2009

Continuing the lessons from Tuesday, Kev added in some more work on the butterfly guard. He also repeated the drill where you lift up your partner then put them back, but with a twist. This time the point was for the person on top to sink their weight and prevent being lifted. I was pretty crap at that, which is partially because I'm small and light, but also because I'm still poor at dropping my hips down.

That was followed by a butterfly pass. You begin by threading your arm through their legs. Push their knees to one side, crushing down with your body weight to help your arm. If their arm is in range, grab it and feed the sleeve to the hand you now have between their legs.

With your other hand, reach for the back of collar: you could also secure a grip over their shoulder. Drive your head into their stomach, using that for base, then raise your hips and walk around.

Once again, Kev then showed the counter, with a butterfly sweep. As soon as they try to thread their arm through, stiffen your legs. That should give you enough time to grasp the sleeve of that threading arm with your opposite hand. Reach over their back with your other hand and grasp some gi fabric.

Next, turn and bring your hooking foot from the threading arm side to their other leg. Your free foot can be used for additional power, as you now lean back and lift, simultaneously pulling with the grip you have on their back. Done right, that should flip them into your side control (make sure you keep your head close, so they don't land too far away). There are submission opportunities here too, but as a beginner class, we stuck with the basics.

Specific sparring from butterfly guard again didn't yield much success, as my training partner Sam had little difficulty passing. Hopefully it still helped me to familiarise myself with the position, but clearly I need lots of work for both the bottom and the top of butterfly guard.

After that, it was straight into the hour of sparring, though I ended up only going three rounds. I tried to be more aggressive, especially with collar chokes, particularly the one where you get a deep grip, then sneak your other hand around the back and wait to try and loop it round. I wasn't get close to choking anyone, but it did seem to work to a degree as a distraction.

I later managed to get something I've been trying for a while, where you first underhook an arm in guard and grab their collar, then use your other arm against their neck for the choke. However, I think that was mainly because my sparring partner had just got choked the previous round, so was being especially careful. I need to be tighter, set it up better and secure a tighter grip.

Guard passing was improved from yesterday, as I wasn't so bent over once I stood up, but I nevertheless kept sitting back down. I tried to achieve a straighter posture, and successfully got the cross-grip I've been looking for to help me pass. However, didn't manage to capitalise, as he still hooked my other leg. I need to stagger my legs more carefully, and also improve my balance and posture.

Another thing I'm still attempting is the triangle. I was especially looking for the spider guard set up, but too obvious. On one of the white belts he could see it a mile off, whereas on another guy I had a leg over his neck, but couldn't fully close the lock. I tried hooking the arm and swivelling to make more of an angle, but was too stacked by that point. Seeing he was standing at this point, I then looked to switch to an armbar, but too late, as I no longer had enough control.

Remembering what Dolph mentioned in a comment last time, I focused on getting an underhook from under half guard, also thinking about what Brad suggested (on Facebook, so can't link to that, unfortunately) in regards to Eddie Bravo's approach (the half guard is one of the few sufficiently basic parts of Mastering the Rubber Guard I'm therefore willing to try). Again, attacking the neck seemed to help as a distraction.

22/09/2009 - Beginner

Class #241



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 22/09/2009

Today would involve a little more training than Thursday, as while both nights are split into beginner and intermediate/advanced classes, on Thursday its just extra sparring. On Tuesday, the split is sufficiently clear that I'll stick it into two entries rather than last time, when I combined the hour of sparring into the beginners class write-up.

Kev's focus for the beginner class was butterfly guard, providing us with two options for sweeping and passing respectively. More than that, however, he wanted to get across the principles involved in butterfly guard: balance and leverage. Towards that end, we started with a drill where we started in butterfly guard, locked both hands behind our partner then leaned back and lifted at the same time.

That led on to the first butterfly sweep. Its a fairly basic one, which starts by gripping their same side sleeve and collar. You scoot slightly away, maintaining a hook with your foot underneath their other leg. For the sweep, lean back, simultaneously pushing their sleeve down between their legs while you lift with your hook. Done right, you should end up in mount.

The point here is to use the momentum and leverage you've created by leaning back, rather than trying to lift them up purely with your hooking foot. Unless you're very strong, or your partner is very small, that isn't going to work. If on the other hand you get the leverage right, but they are still too big, you can drive off the toes of your other foot to add some power.

The next butterfly sweep is similar, but works both gi and nogi. Instead of grabbing their collar, you're going to underhook them on the same side as your hooking foot, reaching your hand around their back. With your other hand, you'll grab their elbow instead of their sleeve. Otherwise, it is the same motion as before, pulling their arm in as you lean back and lift, rolling on top into mount.

Like last time, Kev then provided the other side of the equation, with two passes. His opening butterfly pass involved flattening them out before they can lean back and lift you up. You aren't out of danger, as they can use their butterfly hooks to move you back and sit up again, but it gives you some time to work.

Now that they're flat, wrap around the outside of their leg with your arm, which stops them lifting your leg with their hook. Press your other side shoulder into their torso, then raise your hips and walk around into side control. You can also use a hand to push their other leg, if you're having trouble clearing that space.

The pressure from your shoulder is essential here: that will pin them down as you walk around. Raising your hips takes your weight off them, so you need to use your shoulder to make sure you keep gravity on your side.

The next butterfly pass is much the same, with one difference. Instead of pinning their leg and walking around, you're going to bring one of your legs back to release their hook. You can now reinsert the knee by the instep of their other foot, so that you now have both legs against their single limb.

That also means you can bring all your weight to bear on that one side, trapping that leg, while their other foot has nothing to hook. As before, walk your legs around to side control, maintaining pressure, pushing their leg out of the way if you need to.

In specific sparring, I spent most of my time readjusting underneath, as ever ending up in one of those boring half guard cycles where they bring their knee through, then you re-establish your lock, over and over. I'm trying to get more on my side and look to see if I can get to the back, but I'm still ending up with my torso on the wrong side most of the time. I need more hip movement, more bumping and perhaps more threatening for some kind of attack (not that I expect to even get close to submitting somebody, but it might help give me space).

During guard passing, I'm pleased I managed to get myself to stand up, but I ended up in a very vulnerable bent over posture, so plopped straight back down most of the time. Later I tried to straighten up, but left my arm out in the process, which my partner happily took for an easy submission. Still, its a start, so I just have to keep on standing until I get better posture and balance.

18/12/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #203



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK – 18/12/2008 - Advanced

Some technical details on the osoto gari tonight, with a useful follow-up. Pull them in and up, step your foot across - not in the middle of their legs – then step your other foot behind, dipping slightly in preparation for the throw. If they anticipate and step their leg around to prevent the trip, you can now simply switch to step behind their other leg, moving your head to the other side of their's, then trip them that way. I had problems getting my left foot close enough that I could step over effectively, so that's something I need to think about next time.

Groundwork consisted of two butterfly guard passes. The first was relatively straight forward. Grab their gi and straighten your arm, making space: you don't want to be close, as that makes you vulnerable to a sweep at this point. With your other hand, grab their opposite gi pant leg and pull downwards. You're steadily attempting to isolate one side of their body, completing the act by raising your same side knee.

Press that knee into their side of their upper thigh, twisting into them and keeping your weight down. Your grip on the back of their gi should also help keep them squashed into the floor. Finally, bring your rear leg over, switching your base, and slide up into side control.

The next pass was rather more complex. This time, grab their sleeve with your same side hand, moving your elbow in close to their body. Your other hand with thread under their leg, grabbing their opposite knee, pushing it to the floor. On the same side, bring your head next to theirs and press into their face with your skull. That should make it difficult for them to initiate an escape.

Get your knee in between their legs, bringing it up tight. Your other knee is going to replace the elbow of the same side arm which is gripping their sleeve: pull up on the sleeve and slide the knee into place. This should enable you to then bring your other leg through, moving straight into mount.

I found it difficult to maintain a firm grasp on the knee, and I also need to press my weight down more, as ever. Christina also noted that arching your back can help to add pressure, as demonstrated by a nearby purple belt.

Guard passage was split by belt, perhaps indicative of things to come with the new system of three class levels rather than just two. I started with a fellow blue belt, and to my surprise, my defensive approach actually paid off for once. I simply waited, readjusting my base and blocking his choke attempts, also shifting my knees to prevent him from sweeping or getting into an armbar position. This went on for quite some time, and eventually he left me enough space to slip through into half-guard, until I could squirm my leg free for mount.

However, I think he must have been quite tired by this point, as he'd been sparring for a while, whereas this was my first roll. It is also possible he was used to taking advantage of more aggressive training partners, so rather than my technique being better today, he just wasn't capitalising as most people swiftly do when I try to stay defensive.

Similarly Gary looked kinda tired, and as he is a big guy, went easy on me. I was looking for the omoplata again, seeing as I was squashed in guard anyway, but to no avail. I also tried to keep in mind the advice yesterday about controlling the head, but Gary has more than enough power to make that a difficult proposition. He eventually gave up from fatigue, as far as I can tell, as I definitely didn't have any kind of submission going.

I kicked off free sparring with Christina, and as ever soon found myself under side control, then knee-on-belly, then she caught an arm as I flailed around trying to curl up defensively. This happens all the time: I really, really need to watch that trailing arm, and develop better defence against knee on belly.

Next was Adam, one of the white belts, which was fairly even. I went to half-guard, concentrating on recovering full guard as usual. I need to work harder to get up on my side, as I keep ending on flat on my back, which is a bad place to be. I did eventually get to closed guard, and then later to mount due to Adam overbalancing (I think that was after we'd gone back to half-guard, but can't quite remember).

My ability to hold mount is poor, so after looking for an armbar and then trying to step up for the triangle, I was rolled back into guard. Mount remains a weak position for me, though I'm trying to implement Roger's handy tip about using your head as a third hand, which almost helped me get the back, but not quite.

Finally, I finished up rolling with Christina again, where much the same thing as before happened. Must keep those elbows in tight, and work on getting to my knees rather than always looking for half-guard. I very pointlessly locked on half-guard while Christina was attacking my arm: the half-guard did absolutely nothing to stop her locking in the armbar, so I should have been aiming to turn to my knees instead.

Chatting to Bruno afterwards, he mentioned that there is apparently going to be a class in Oxford, along with the numerous other RGA locations opening up around London. As I won't have a job to go to after tomorrow, and its christmas so my girlfriend is away, I can make Saturday training. I'm also hoping to double up on Monday, which will mean I make my goal of at least eight classes a month.

Tonight also marks the last time I'll be writing up a class on this particular laptop. It’s a KPMG laptop, so will be returning to the office for good tomorrow. I should be able to borrow a relative's computer afterwards, but I'm looking to buy a new laptop as soon as possible (talking to Christina made me think about Macs, which I've never used before. The reliability and lack of viruses is very tempting, but I'd be worried about compatibility. I have lots of random programs I like to use, like Amiga emulators, DOSBox, Mediaplayer Classic and CDisplay: not sure if any of those work on a Mac, but will have to look into it). It will feel very strange not to have a laptop of my own after heavily relying on them for the past four years.

15/05/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #146



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Marcio Gomes, London, UK - 15/05/2008 - Advanced

My finger was still missing skin, so I stuck a plaster on top, then got some zinc oxide tape to hold that in place. As the abrasion is right on the joint, that makes taping it a bit awkward, but I was hoping that I could avoid bending the finger too much in training: e.g., sticking to pistol grips and relying on the lower part of the finger.

Marcio from GB Brighton took class today, which makes this the third time I've trained under him. He started off with drilling the double leg, then showed how you could switch to the single leg if that failed. The position was that they had moved back the leg nearest your head, having also secured a grip on your neck. Simply move round the side of their other leg, squat down then lift with your legs, dropping them into side control.

Marcio followed that up with some work from side control. First he showed how to maintain side control if they tried to turn into you and turtle up. To do so, they'll generally reach around your back with an arm. Before they can secure a grip, the elbow of your nearest arm goes by their armpit. You then move around their head, keeping your weight down and pushing against their arm with your elbow, until you end up round the other side with good control of their arm.

That can then lead to an armbar, though not the orthodox finish. As you moved round using your elbow, shift your grip so that you're cupping their elbow, trapping the arm under your armpit. Having reached the other side, staying close, bring your knee up onto them, while the leg near their head goes over their neck, diagonally. You can then drop back for the submission, which is a sort of figure-four on the arm (so like the straight armbar), though presumably you could also readjust and go for the more normal armbar from here.

The last technique of the day was a butterfly guard pass, used when they try to sweep you (with what looked to be the same method Jude showed us a few lessons back). As they try to lift you up with their hooked leg, you drive your knee through, twisting your torso in the same direction you're pushing your knee towards (this will mean their leg is in a sufficiently awkward position that its difficult for them to counter). Pull up their arm, gripping the back of their gi with your other hand, then pop over their leg to end up in mount.

Guard passage gave me another opportunity to try and stand up more, and I also attempted to grab a sleeve as I did so (something Ben had mentioned during an email exchange earlier). Hard to tell what effect that had, though, as I was rolling with people much better than me, meaning they could quite happily watch me stand up and try to secure a position, then just as happily sweep me.

I was a bit concerned that my shoddily taped finger was going to be exposed if I sparred a lot tonight, so wanted to limit myself to two. Therefore I sat out the first one, then sparred with Christy, who had also been my drilling partner. We had a good roll, where I ended up in either half-guard or butterfly guard, also trying to keep distance with my open guard. At one point I had the opportunity to wrap up a leg with my arms, so attempted to use that to escape out the back, but I think just ended up in a triangle.

However, I managed to get out of the triangle too, just about, also remembering to keep my trailing arm in tight, so I didn't leave myself open for an easy armbar. I had trouble getting past Christy's open guard, as while I had underhooked her legs, I couldn't seem to push them to one side and pass round. Nevertheless, felt like a relatively even spar (though no doubt Christy was taking it relatively easy, as I know she's got considerably more experience than me), so reminded me that I should roll with her more often.

The tape held up during that roll, but I'd misjudged, as that turned out to be the final round of sparring. Next time, I'll follow Jason's method (he always tapes up his fingers), and bend my fingers first, then wrap the tape round. Zinc oxide seems to do a good job of staying put, though I'm not sure if its an especially cost effective option: I paid about £3.70 for an 8m roll. No idea if that’s expensive or not, but either way I've read that duct tape is a functional alternative.

01/04/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #133



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 01/04/2008 – Advanced

I've been bitching about my sore thumb for over a month now, so it’s a shame I didn't read this useful post about rehabilitating damaged fingers and toes. I don't remember icing it, as I didn't think it was all that serious, but should remember to do that next time I take a similar knock. The old RICE (rest, ice, compress, elevate) advice is an acronym I see fairly often, and has helped me in the past. Christina mentioned tonight that Rosi had interviewed her recently for Fighters Only, which is pretty cool: check out her blog post.

My home session this week reminded of something I probably should have paid more attention to earlier: its kinda difficult to demonstrate when there are only two of you. The limited space also made itself felt more strongly, as I was trying to show that side control escape where you come to your knees, but kept going off the mats. So from now I think I'll mainly stick to showing my gf things from the guard, and drilling those.

Jude started with a butterfly guard pass (their instep is tucked inside each of your thighs). First, grab behind their gi, using that to push them backwards. Your knee on the other side then come up, keeping your foot tight to their body, with your other hand gripping their sleeve. Step back with your other leg, then come round on the foot you've got tight against them, aiming to push your body against their leg, which combined with yanking on the sleeve should give you the space to come round and into side control. I think: still not sure on the grips.

Secondly, we did a hook guard pass ('hook guard', apparently, is when you've got your leg wrapped over and under an arm). The person underneath has their leg wrapped round your arm, with their other foot on your hip, gripping your same side sleeve. First you circle your hand round to grip their sleeve, which means you are now in control of that arm instead of them. Next, you need to keep the elbow of the arm their leg is around tight to your side: this prevents them kicking the leg through and potentially going for a triangle.

With the arm hooked by their leg, reach over with your hand to grab the bottom of their other trouser leg. Raise your posture up, then spread your arms right out (Christina, keeping the children's TV theme going for technique description, called this the "It's me!" motion). That should spin them round close to your legs, meaning you can easily move your knee onto their stomach, or drop through to side control.

Specific sparring began with guard passage, where I had the usual experience in Christina's guard of defending against choke attempts. Jude was keeping these comparatively short, so she didn't quite get the chance to finish her attack: we went into the wall as she was trying to manoeuvre my gi into position, and time ran out before we could move away from the wall, then return to the same position.

Underneath, I tried to raise up, to prevent her from standing. That worked for a little while, as I attempted to grab onto something to keep me upright, but inevitably got shoved back down. Eventually, Christina was able to stand, so I switched to open guard to try and prevent her passing. I think I'm beginning to make some small headway with establishing better grips, but still haven't got the principle down yet. I need to make sure I'm controlling a sleeve and a hip, so that I don't keep getting passed so readily. I also want to try this hooking round the arm thing more often, as well as the De La Riva (where you do the same, but wrapping around and inside their leg instead of an arm).

We then went from open guard, which I found even tougher. It was similar to when I sparred with Alex the brown belt, just at a slightly less rapid rate. I had some idea of how Christina was sweeping me, but will have to continue to work at the position before I establish my balance. I also need to better control the knees, as I was finding that difficult, and utilise the sweeps we'd just be shown in class.

Christina did exactly that to me a few times when I was on the bottom, and I had difficulty maintaining any sort of control. I played with butterfly and spider guard, but didn't have much success with each. However, it was useful to further attempt to ingrain that principle of controlling a hip and a sleeve, trying to switch around to make sure I could push away and make space, helping to prevent the pass.

Finally for specific sparring, we went from side control. I actually felt happier here, which is a big change from before. On top, if I get into Tran's patented gable grip under the head and arm, pulling my opponent into my knees, I feel relatively secure. However, I'm still unable to then do anything off that position: Christina said she found it difficult to move, so was waiting for me to do something. As it would have been pointless for me to just lie there, I did attempt to shift around, which is when Christina sprang into action and escaped, generally by turning to her knees. So, I'm getting better at maintaining a position, now I need to work out the next step.

Underneath, I was able to snatch the half-guard, but Christina soon grew wise to that, and prevented me from going to my usual escapes by controlling my leg. Grant does this to me as well, and I haven't yet worked out a decent counter. I tend to get bunched up by trying to bring my other leg into play, shrimping to make space. Jude tried coaching me through the escape, urging me to come to my knees, but I wasn't able to make the space. Getting to my knees is still an unnatural motion for me, and that needs to change: it’s a fundamental escape I currently lack in my toolbox.

For free sparring, I started off with Herman. As we're both relatively passive, this ended up in guard, with Herman staying mostly defensive, while I yet again aimed to pry the elbow. I tried bringing my knee into play, but that made me vulnerable to a pass. I had trouble dragging the arm to my chest, which is what I need to do in order to follow the technique demonstrated in the Beneville book. I'd also like to be able to switch to a sweep, so need to work on my positioning: I'm too readily getting flattened out, rather than having my hips and knees in place to launch some kind of offence.

At several points, I ended up dangling around Herman's side a few times, trying to get into an armbar, but as ever couldn't complete the technique. I think I'm failing to put my hips into it, and not keeping my legs tight enough when making the attempt. Half-guard was a common position for me, and felt a little more offensive than usual as Herman doesn't have a weight advantage like most of my sparring partners. However, I still couldn't isolate an arm, or quite initiate a sweep (though I was able to switch back to closed guard).

Paxton appears to have worked out my defensive guard game, as he inevitably ends up either in mount with a good grip on my arm, or takes my back. I need to watch it when someone grabs my arm and pulls it across my body: I wasn't being careful enough with Paxton, as he managed to roll me into mount with that dominant hold. That made my escape difficult, even when I got my legs ready for half-guard. I did eventually manage to roll out of mount, but because he had that good control of my arm, it was simple for Paxton to apply the armbar. I must remember to free my limbs before doing something like that, or being very quick on coming up to defend the armbar (however, as ever prevention is better than the cure, to somewhat misuse a cliché).

Temperature outside was much hotter today than usual, which is presumably why I felt very hot training today. I was completely drained after sparring, drenched in sweat, so couldn't make more than two spars. Normally I feel as if I might be able to squeeze in a third light roll, but this time I had nothing left.

Hopefully train again tomorrow, as I'd really like to make three classes this week. There is probably going to be a tube strike from the 6th-9th April, which will severely mess up my training. If I can get three in, then I'll have had six sessions in the past fortnight: that will mean that if I only make one next week, it won't be quite so annoying.