Class #775 - Private #026
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 23/10/2016
To mark my approaching ten year anniversary in BJJ, I thought I'd book another private with Kev. Open guard has continued to be the weakest area for me, so we focused on that. Kev started off by sharing a few guard retention drills he's found useful (both to practice and to teach). They're related to the series he taught a long while back, but I think this version encourages more hip rotation, which is useful.
You've established a basic open guard, feet on their hips. They grab your ankle and pull it across, the beginning of a leg drag. Turn your hips in order to bring your other leg across, then push off that to recover square on. Then they go a bit further, so you push into the knot of their belt, again recovering to guard. The reason you go for the knot is that too far in either direction could lead to footlocks, them dislodging your foot and passing, or the Estima footlock (there's still a risk of that, but it's less). As you swivel, you yank your other leg free by pulling your knee to your chest.
If they manage to get to the knee cut pass, there is a counter you can try (a little like the ones from Leuven). Ideally you want to get your knee shield in, that's the most powerful defence. If you've missed that, first grab their gi collar, your fist into their neck. It's important your palm is facing down, that makes it harder for them to knock that hand out of the way. Your other elbow goes behind, to give you enough base to scoot away and get your knee shield in, then recover guard.
Playing open guard generally, Kev recommends getting a grip on their same side trouser leg first, as that tends to be the hard one to get. Shin-on-shin is the quickest guard to establish, making sure you keep your shin engaged. If you aren't actively pushing that into their shin, they can simply whip their leg around. Similarly, you need to keep your other leg pressed into their knee, constantly pressurising them.
Kev prefers sitting guard. Again, after you've wrapped your leg and arm around, keeping the pressure on their other leg with your free leg. If you don't, they'll squish you with their knee. From here, you can kick up to knock them past your head, or sweep your leg back to go into a single leg. There's de la Riva and x-guard entries from here too, but as neither of those are main guards for me, I can save those for a later date.
If they get strong sleeve grips, Kev suggested moving into spider guard to help reduce the power of those grips. He doesn't tend to sweep much with that (apart from the push on the floor one to knock them towards his head and then sweep), instead using it to set up closed guard.
From closed guard, there was another handy tip. The first thing Kev does is grab the meat of their hands by the thumb side, twisting both of their hands so they face upwards. That makes it really hard for them to get any kind of grips. Their reaction will indicate the next move. Kev likes to move an arm across and pull them in with the knees, to get that strong position where they are collapsed over their own arm.
That leads into what Nic Gregoriades randomly (but memorably) calls the 'chimp, chump, champ' series. The words don't entirely fit, but the idea here is that a 'chimp' won't react, so they just sit there in that position. Grabbing their lat, you can move into a back take. A 'chump' will make the mistake of putting up their leg on the non-trapped arm side. You can then hook that with your same side leg and sweep them. A 'champ' puts up their leg on the other side: that gives you the opportunity to move into an armbar.
My preference is the shoulder clamp grip, which Kev noted would be something to move into if they try to move their arms out to recover their hands. You can capitalise on their focus on their hands to pull them in and thread into a shoulder clamp.
Finally, in terms of passing open guard, there is another hand grip that's handy: you're also grabbing the meat of the hand, but the other side (i.e., under the little finger), forcing their palms down. As with the closed guard option, that makes it hard for them to establish grips. You can then step your same side leg behind their knee, moving around to a perpendicular angle.
Once you've got that angle and can drive your knee in behind theirs (into a sort of knee-led leg drag), you 'land the airplane', coming in low to lock up the pass. I think that was the last technique, hopefully I didn't forget anything on my way to the train. Before I left, Kev popped a fourth stripe on my purple belt, which is always nice.
Showing posts with label closed guard sweep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label closed guard sweep. Show all posts
23 October 2016
22 June 2016
22/06/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2016 | Closed Guard Two-On-1 Grip Break (Kenny Polmans)
Class #733
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Kenny Polmans, Leuven, Belgium, 22/06/2016
Another Belgian black belt and more lovely closed guard, this time focusing on the two-on-one grip break. Kenny likes to stick a thumb in the sleeve to open up that sleeve first, in order to establish your grip. He also turns his body, shifting his torso towards the gripping sleeve side. That slight shift adds more power to the grip break.
From there, you have lots of options. The main ones I like are a back take or a sweep, both of which Kenny covered. He went with the windscreen wiper sweep, like Andre Anderson does on his top notch DVD about closed guard. He controls the arm by gripping around the back, pinning down his elbow to clamp their arm against him. He can then grab their knee, then kick his leg up to roll through into mount. Punching up with that knee grip finishes the motion.
He showed the back take as an option when that sweep was blocked. Similar idea, with a strong grip, shrimping away to get the space to get your hooks in. I think it's also a sequence Yas went through at that comp fundraising seminar a while back: either way, solid stuff from closed guard.
More surprisingly, Kenny showed how you could move into a bow and arrow from here, from that same position. Instead of keeping the hand grabbed around their back gripping the lat, you reach to grab their collar. You are gripping all the way around their head, gripping the collar underneath their head. That means you can roll them over like in the windscreen wiper, right into a bow and arrow.
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Kenny Polmans, Leuven, Belgium, 22/06/2016
Another Belgian black belt and more lovely closed guard, this time focusing on the two-on-one grip break. Kenny likes to stick a thumb in the sleeve to open up that sleeve first, in order to establish your grip. He also turns his body, shifting his torso towards the gripping sleeve side. That slight shift adds more power to the grip break. From there, you have lots of options. The main ones I like are a back take or a sweep, both of which Kenny covered. He went with the windscreen wiper sweep, like Andre Anderson does on his top notch DVD about closed guard. He controls the arm by gripping around the back, pinning down his elbow to clamp their arm against him. He can then grab their knee, then kick his leg up to roll through into mount. Punching up with that knee grip finishes the motion.
He showed the back take as an option when that sweep was blocked. Similar idea, with a strong grip, shrimping away to get the space to get your hooks in. I think it's also a sequence Yas went through at that comp fundraising seminar a while back: either way, solid stuff from closed guard.
More surprisingly, Kenny showed how you could move into a bow and arrow from here, from that same position. Instead of keeping the hand grabbed around their back gripping the lat, you reach to grab their collar. You are gripping all the way around their head, gripping the collar underneath their head. That means you can roll them over like in the windscreen wiper, right into a bow and arrow.
20 June 2016
20/06/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2016 | Closed Guard (Wim Deputter)
Class #725
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Wim Deputter, Leuven, Belgium, 20/06/2016
Deputter began his lesson with an exercise to get the right hip movement in closed guard. First, bring your hips up, driving them into your partner. Then shoot them back down, pulling your partner in with your knees, wrapping your arms around them to keep everything tight. Adding to that, he then showed how when you feel their weight going one way, bring your head and torso to the other side. That means when you pull them down, you’re in position to take their back or set up a sweep.
A sweep therefore followed next. In order to get the momentum, he pulled them in, then extended his hips up as he lifted his knees. It was a tricky motion to work out in sparring: watching the video as I type this up during the nogi class makes it a little clearer, but I’ll need to drill that a lot more at open mat. Anyway, for the sweep, establish a pistol grip on their sleeve, your other hand gripping their knee. Thrust your hips up, then pull your knees in to lift them up (the tricky motion). Angle off to look in their ear, so you gripping hand is far away from you. Then kick your leg into the armpit, lift the knee and sweep.
If you can’t get that sweep in for whatever reason, keep the sleeve grip and turn away, so your non-gripping elbow is on the floor. Extend your hip and punch your gripping arm away from you, stiff arming so you can then pass it off to the other hand, locking in the gift wrap, their arm getting pulled around their own neck as a result.
Often they will stand up in the closed guard. A useful standing sweep to try is the handstand sweep, which Deputter does differently to how I’ve seen it before. He begins the same, wrapping an arm around their leg. With your non-hooking arm, grip their arm on the trapped leg side: in the scenario he demonstrated, they had a sleeve grip on your non-hooking arm, but you could still adjust to grab their other sleeve. The main difference is his reliance on the legs to off balance, rather than driving hips into their knee. Once he had his sleeve grips, he opening his legs, curling the hooking side leg by their hip. That continues to curl in, while the other leg chops up and across into their armpit. I think he kept cycling his legs to knock them over, but even with a video, it was hard to be certain.
The final technique was an omoplata sweep. You are trying to get into position for your handstand sweep, but they turn in their knee and solidify their base. Reach the arm you have under their leg through, to grab their sleeve. At the same time, you are gripping their collar. Swivel through, pulling on their elbow to move into the omoplata position. You aren’t going to use the swing of your legs to finish. Instead, put your free foot on the back of their head, pushing it down. You should then be able to extend and roll through for the sweep. Deputter then somehow managed to swivel through into an armbar, staying really tight, but I didn’t quite catch the details.
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Wim Deputter, Leuven, Belgium, 20/06/2016
Deputter began his lesson with an exercise to get the right hip movement in closed guard. First, bring your hips up, driving them into your partner. Then shoot them back down, pulling your partner in with your knees, wrapping your arms around them to keep everything tight. Adding to that, he then showed how when you feel their weight going one way, bring your head and torso to the other side. That means when you pull them down, you’re in position to take their back or set up a sweep.
A sweep therefore followed next. In order to get the momentum, he pulled them in, then extended his hips up as he lifted his knees. It was a tricky motion to work out in sparring: watching the video as I type this up during the nogi class makes it a little clearer, but I’ll need to drill that a lot more at open mat. Anyway, for the sweep, establish a pistol grip on their sleeve, your other hand gripping their knee. Thrust your hips up, then pull your knees in to lift them up (the tricky motion). Angle off to look in their ear, so you gripping hand is far away from you. Then kick your leg into the armpit, lift the knee and sweep.
If you can’t get that sweep in for whatever reason, keep the sleeve grip and turn away, so your non-gripping elbow is on the floor. Extend your hip and punch your gripping arm away from you, stiff arming so you can then pass it off to the other hand, locking in the gift wrap, their arm getting pulled around their own neck as a result.
Often they will stand up in the closed guard. A useful standing sweep to try is the handstand sweep, which Deputter does differently to how I’ve seen it before. He begins the same, wrapping an arm around their leg. With your non-hooking arm, grip their arm on the trapped leg side: in the scenario he demonstrated, they had a sleeve grip on your non-hooking arm, but you could still adjust to grab their other sleeve. The main difference is his reliance on the legs to off balance, rather than driving hips into their knee. Once he had his sleeve grips, he opening his legs, curling the hooking side leg by their hip. That continues to curl in, while the other leg chops up and across into their armpit. I think he kept cycling his legs to knock them over, but even with a video, it was hard to be certain.
The final technique was an omoplata sweep. You are trying to get into position for your handstand sweep, but they turn in their knee and solidify their base. Reach the arm you have under their leg through, to grab their sleeve. At the same time, you are gripping their collar. Swivel through, pulling on their elbow to move into the omoplata position. You aren’t going to use the swing of your legs to finish. Instead, put your free foot on the back of their head, pushing it down. You should then be able to extend and roll through for the sweep. Deputter then somehow managed to swivel through into an armbar, staying really tight, but I didn’t quite catch the details.
16 April 2016
16/04/2016 - Jamie Hughes Seminar
Seminar #019
Pedro Bessa BJJ, Jamie Hughes, Bristol, UK - 16/04/2016
At today's seminar, brown belt Jamie Hughes went through a few closed guard sequences he's found useful in competition. The first starts a with strong cross collar grip. Pull them in with your legs, then angle out. When they start to rise, establish a palm down grip on their collar, Get your elbow under chin and complete the choke.
If they block your second grip on that choke, whip your legs up and lock around them: you're looking for a 'diamond' clamp, setting up a triangle. It doesn't matter if they still have their hand in, that will simply fill up any space for choking. Slide your leg into position for the triangle, then to finish, bring your arm around your knee, gable gripping. Squeeze for the tap.
If they block the arm but have their arm further through, you can switch to an armbar. Push them away with your collar grip hand, then bring your legs up into the armbar position. Pull back toes to tense and add pressure. Alternatively, reach under their leg, rolling them into a mounted armbar.
Next sequence begins from the scissor sweep. You have that collar grip again. This time, drive your collar grip side knee up into their chest, pressing in tight. Your other leg drops by their same side leg, chopping them over into mount. You can finish the choke from there, or switch to another attack. Keep your sleeve grip and choke grip, pulling the sleeve across as you swivel into s mount for the armbar. That sleeve pull will raise their shoulder, making the s mount switch easier. It also gives you the option of technical mount.
If you can't knock them over with the scissor sweep, change to a push sweep. If you can't get that either, bring your pressing knee out and over the top of their arm, shove the arm back with the knee, then circle round their head to move into a triangle.
Switching it up, you can make as if you're going for the scissor sweep, but instead kick your cross grip side leg out and clamp around their back. Punch across with your collar grip, pull their arm across with the sleeve grip. Squeeze your knees for a weird choke. If this doesn't choke them, it will probably give you the arm for an armbar (with this one, Hughes said it was ok to cross your feet). If they pull their arm free, you're in the perfect position to move into an omoplata instead.
Third sequence goes from the two-on-one grip break. Hughes recommends a different version to what I'm used to. Rather than bringing an arm underneath, he puts both hands on top, gripping firmly: this is more powerful, in his opinion. Yank it up and pull across, switching your outside arm to a pistol grip. You're slightly off to the side behind them, almost at their back. Stay tight. Grip their belt, lock your elbow in. Switch your grip from the sleeve to their trouser leg.
Kick your leg up towards their opposite shoulder, aiming to knock their shoulder into your chest. Upa and punch up with your trouser grip to roll through into mount. Loads of options now, from armbars to back takes, chokes, kimura grip, all sorts. Tricky to get the right weight distribution initially. Alternatively, grip break and punch across as before, then shrimp a bit to go to the back. Bring your arm across their neck, lock your other hand on their back for the 'short choke'. For more leverage, thrust with your hips.
If you can't knock them over, crawl up and around their back, swivelling the leg as you post out your arm, moving onto the back. From here, you can hook the far arm with yours, by the crook of their elbow. Bring your leg past the head, swivelling your body through. You can then lock in a 'reverse armbar', or grab their trouser leg and lift it through, to move into a standard armbar from mount instead.
Pedro Bessa BJJ, Jamie Hughes, Bristol, UK - 16/04/2016
At today's seminar, brown belt Jamie Hughes went through a few closed guard sequences he's found useful in competition. The first starts a with strong cross collar grip. Pull them in with your legs, then angle out. When they start to rise, establish a palm down grip on their collar, Get your elbow under chin and complete the choke.
If they block your second grip on that choke, whip your legs up and lock around them: you're looking for a 'diamond' clamp, setting up a triangle. It doesn't matter if they still have their hand in, that will simply fill up any space for choking. Slide your leg into position for the triangle, then to finish, bring your arm around your knee, gable gripping. Squeeze for the tap.
If they block the arm but have their arm further through, you can switch to an armbar. Push them away with your collar grip hand, then bring your legs up into the armbar position. Pull back toes to tense and add pressure. Alternatively, reach under their leg, rolling them into a mounted armbar.
Next sequence begins from the scissor sweep. You have that collar grip again. This time, drive your collar grip side knee up into their chest, pressing in tight. Your other leg drops by their same side leg, chopping them over into mount. You can finish the choke from there, or switch to another attack. Keep your sleeve grip and choke grip, pulling the sleeve across as you swivel into s mount for the armbar. That sleeve pull will raise their shoulder, making the s mount switch easier. It also gives you the option of technical mount.
If you can't knock them over with the scissor sweep, change to a push sweep. If you can't get that either, bring your pressing knee out and over the top of their arm, shove the arm back with the knee, then circle round their head to move into a triangle.
Switching it up, you can make as if you're going for the scissor sweep, but instead kick your cross grip side leg out and clamp around their back. Punch across with your collar grip, pull their arm across with the sleeve grip. Squeeze your knees for a weird choke. If this doesn't choke them, it will probably give you the arm for an armbar (with this one, Hughes said it was ok to cross your feet). If they pull their arm free, you're in the perfect position to move into an omoplata instead.
Third sequence goes from the two-on-one grip break. Hughes recommends a different version to what I'm used to. Rather than bringing an arm underneath, he puts both hands on top, gripping firmly: this is more powerful, in his opinion. Yank it up and pull across, switching your outside arm to a pistol grip. You're slightly off to the side behind them, almost at their back. Stay tight. Grip their belt, lock your elbow in. Switch your grip from the sleeve to their trouser leg.
Kick your leg up towards their opposite shoulder, aiming to knock their shoulder into your chest. Upa and punch up with your trouser grip to roll through into mount. Loads of options now, from armbars to back takes, chokes, kimura grip, all sorts. Tricky to get the right weight distribution initially. Alternatively, grip break and punch across as before, then shrimp a bit to go to the back. Bring your arm across their neck, lock your other hand on their back for the 'short choke'. For more leverage, thrust with your hips.
If you can't knock them over, crawl up and around their back, swivelling the leg as you post out your arm, moving onto the back. From here, you can hook the far arm with yours, by the crook of their elbow. Bring your leg past the head, swivelling your body through. You can then lock in a 'reverse armbar', or grab their trouser leg and lift it through, to move into a standard armbar from mount instead.
18 July 2015
18/07/2015 - RGA Bucks | Closed Guard | Sweeps When They Stand
Class #653
RGA Bucks (BJJ), Dan Lewis, Aylesbury, UK - 18/07/2015
At RGA Bucks, the class goes through more techniques and with less drilling time: although I wouldn't teach that way myself, as a student and given I only get up to RGA Bucks every two months, it's perfect for me. It means there is lots of technique when I visit, plus I get plenty of sparring time to make sure I can roll with everybody I want to (priority is old training partners, along with people around my size).
Dan taught three options for when they stand in your closed guard, which fits in nicely with the month of closed guard at Artemis BJJ in June. Each one was predicated off a slightly different reaction by your partner. In the first scenario, after they've stood, they are trying to get their knees under your bum for a guard break (apparently a lot of people at RGA Bucks have been doing what Dan called the 'table top' position, because JT Torres taught it at a seminar recently).
First you want a cross grip on their sleeve. You might get that before they stand, but normally they will break the grip before beginning to rise up. Once you have that, you also want a collar grip. This is to stop them being able to sit back into that 'table top': if you're pulling down on their collar, you should be able to use their broken posture to keep them where you want.
Open your guard and slide down to their knees, reclosing around their legs. For the table top attempt their feet have to step in close together, setting you up for a sweep. Extend your legs, then lift slightly, turning them over to the side of the cross-gripped sleeve. Stay tight. Depending on where you land, you can either drive your knee forwards to secure mount, or squash them as you pass to side control.
Second option was the usual handstand sweep (like I taught last month), starting with the version where you grab their sleeve. As Dan noted, the sleeve grabbing one can be hard, as they can turn out their foot and resist. That's when you add the extra leverage from pushing off your hand into the handstand sweep.
The final technique was an omoplata. You've attempted the handstand sweep, but it isn't working. Instead, feed the cross grip over to the other hand, under the leg. Take time to establish that grip, pushing it in tight with both hands. Then grab their collar and pull down. Walk you leg up over their back, into the armpit. Don't try to immediately leap into the omoplata leg position, as they can potentially shrug that off and posture up.
To make it more gradual with greater control, bring your free leg over their head and push down at an angle, like you would to control their posture during an armbar. Bringing them down to the mat, maintaining your sleeve grip. Switch your grips, then the hand that was grabbing the leg grabs their belt. Push their arm around your leg, then you can disengage the sleeve grip, get up onto your elbow and switch the belt grip to their far hip. You can sweep from there too if you don't get the positioning, locking your legs and rolling through, making sure you lift your arm out of the way.
Sparring started off with Chris, my white belt drilling partner. It was cool to hear that he has been reading my blog for a while: always great to meet somebody who reads this blog! :D It was specifics from closed guard, meaning I was looking for underhooks to get into the collar clamp position I've been playing with since last month. I got the angle, pressing on his head, where we stayed for a while (he did a good job of staying patient, looking for an escape).
I went for the omoplata once I got my leg past his shoulder, but my body was a bit squished up preventing me from extending properly. I managed to turn it into a triangle by swinging around, a combination I don't normally get but should work on more. As I've gotten into this underhook thing, that should mean the omoplata becomes a much bigger part of my game.
On top, I was being a bit lazy, sticking with kneeling passes and seeing if I could get Jason Scully's sideways variation on the tailbone break, along with his 'eat the belt'. Couldn't get either, as Chris had decent control of my arm. I eventually got through with the normal kneeling break.
Then in free sparring, I went with Gareth, a purple from New Zealand who has been down to visit us at Artemis BJJ. He's a bit bigger than me, so I immediately looked to get on top and stay heavy. I wanted the breadcutter, moving to north south. I had the arm under, but getting the right positioning by the neck was causing me trouble. I should have remembered to push on the far arm and move into an armbar. Eventually I got rolled over, into the typical "getting squashed during pass attempt" position, same as what happens with Chris J back at Artemis BJJ. I need to work on 'walls' in open guard, maybe sit up more? Koala guard is another option, also breaking grips more actively.
There was a lot more motion with Stu (another purple, who runs RGA Milton Keynes with his partner Hayley, who is also cool: she wasn't feeling well and sat out of sparring, where I had a good chat with her to catch up), probably because he's smaller. He was going for my neck and back. I just about wriggled free, looking for knee cuts. I mostly tried for the kimura, but not securing it from good positions: e.g., I had it during his pass, under side control, when he was moving to my back, etc.
As he kept turning to turtle, I got into the crucifix, but forgot about getting the collar with an arm around the neck. We ended up in reverse mount, most unusual, then he was able to gradually catch me with a bow and arrow right at the end. I popped out of the first attempt, but then he got it tighter and I couldn't manage to get his elbow. Nicely done! :)
RGA Bucks (BJJ), Dan Lewis, Aylesbury, UK - 18/07/2015
At RGA Bucks, the class goes through more techniques and with less drilling time: although I wouldn't teach that way myself, as a student and given I only get up to RGA Bucks every two months, it's perfect for me. It means there is lots of technique when I visit, plus I get plenty of sparring time to make sure I can roll with everybody I want to (priority is old training partners, along with people around my size).
Dan taught three options for when they stand in your closed guard, which fits in nicely with the month of closed guard at Artemis BJJ in June. Each one was predicated off a slightly different reaction by your partner. In the first scenario, after they've stood, they are trying to get their knees under your bum for a guard break (apparently a lot of people at RGA Bucks have been doing what Dan called the 'table top' position, because JT Torres taught it at a seminar recently).
First you want a cross grip on their sleeve. You might get that before they stand, but normally they will break the grip before beginning to rise up. Once you have that, you also want a collar grip. This is to stop them being able to sit back into that 'table top': if you're pulling down on their collar, you should be able to use their broken posture to keep them where you want.
Open your guard and slide down to their knees, reclosing around their legs. For the table top attempt their feet have to step in close together, setting you up for a sweep. Extend your legs, then lift slightly, turning them over to the side of the cross-gripped sleeve. Stay tight. Depending on where you land, you can either drive your knee forwards to secure mount, or squash them as you pass to side control.
Second option was the usual handstand sweep (like I taught last month), starting with the version where you grab their sleeve. As Dan noted, the sleeve grabbing one can be hard, as they can turn out their foot and resist. That's when you add the extra leverage from pushing off your hand into the handstand sweep.
The final technique was an omoplata. You've attempted the handstand sweep, but it isn't working. Instead, feed the cross grip over to the other hand, under the leg. Take time to establish that grip, pushing it in tight with both hands. Then grab their collar and pull down. Walk you leg up over their back, into the armpit. Don't try to immediately leap into the omoplata leg position, as they can potentially shrug that off and posture up.
To make it more gradual with greater control, bring your free leg over their head and push down at an angle, like you would to control their posture during an armbar. Bringing them down to the mat, maintaining your sleeve grip. Switch your grips, then the hand that was grabbing the leg grabs their belt. Push their arm around your leg, then you can disengage the sleeve grip, get up onto your elbow and switch the belt grip to their far hip. You can sweep from there too if you don't get the positioning, locking your legs and rolling through, making sure you lift your arm out of the way.
Sparring started off with Chris, my white belt drilling partner. It was cool to hear that he has been reading my blog for a while: always great to meet somebody who reads this blog! :D It was specifics from closed guard, meaning I was looking for underhooks to get into the collar clamp position I've been playing with since last month. I got the angle, pressing on his head, where we stayed for a while (he did a good job of staying patient, looking for an escape).
I went for the omoplata once I got my leg past his shoulder, but my body was a bit squished up preventing me from extending properly. I managed to turn it into a triangle by swinging around, a combination I don't normally get but should work on more. As I've gotten into this underhook thing, that should mean the omoplata becomes a much bigger part of my game.
On top, I was being a bit lazy, sticking with kneeling passes and seeing if I could get Jason Scully's sideways variation on the tailbone break, along with his 'eat the belt'. Couldn't get either, as Chris had decent control of my arm. I eventually got through with the normal kneeling break.
Then in free sparring, I went with Gareth, a purple from New Zealand who has been down to visit us at Artemis BJJ. He's a bit bigger than me, so I immediately looked to get on top and stay heavy. I wanted the breadcutter, moving to north south. I had the arm under, but getting the right positioning by the neck was causing me trouble. I should have remembered to push on the far arm and move into an armbar. Eventually I got rolled over, into the typical "getting squashed during pass attempt" position, same as what happens with Chris J back at Artemis BJJ. I need to work on 'walls' in open guard, maybe sit up more? Koala guard is another option, also breaking grips more actively.
There was a lot more motion with Stu (another purple, who runs RGA Milton Keynes with his partner Hayley, who is also cool: she wasn't feeling well and sat out of sparring, where I had a good chat with her to catch up), probably because he's smaller. He was going for my neck and back. I just about wriggled free, looking for knee cuts. I mostly tried for the kimura, but not securing it from good positions: e.g., I had it during his pass, under side control, when he was moving to my back, etc. As he kept turning to turtle, I got into the crucifix, but forgot about getting the collar with an arm around the neck. We ended up in reverse mount, most unusual, then he was able to gradually catch me with a bow and arrow right at the end. I popped out of the first attempt, but then he got it tighter and I couldn't manage to get his elbow. Nicely done! :)
24 November 2014
24/11/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Closed & Open Guard Troubleshooting
Class #605
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 24/11/2014
Bristol Sports Centre has now fully rebranded to MyGym, with big banners outside. I thought the other name was good (must be handy for SEO), but I can see how making it sound really personal and friendly is a sensible marketing plan too. Great venue either way, so I hope it brings them lots more members. :)
Chris mentioned he was heading off to London later this week and busy at work, so wasn't going to be able to head to class. As his work is flexible and I haven't started my new job yet, we decided we could just meet up and train for an hour earlier in the day. I started by running through what I was going to teach in class tonight (the cross-choke from mount: as I'm writing this up several days later, I can link to it), then we did lots of troubleshooting on open guard and closed guard.
Like I was saying in my write-up of the class at RGA Bucks on the weekend, my guard has been getting stagnant, especially my closed guard. It's my biggest problem at the moment, so I was relishing the chance to really dig into it with Chris. Again, as I'm writing this up a few days later and I've done a few sessions with Chris (Tuesday and Wednesday too). It has really, really helped. My closed and open guard feels way more pro-active now, so hopefully I can translate that into general training.
Anyway, on Monday I started off playing the collar grip, in order to both maintain guard but also go attack for the choke. I wanted to practice what Dónal taught about punching the arm across to get the second arm in. He also had some cool tips about bringing their far arm across, though I keep struggling to get that in sparring. You can do back takes too, armbars and triangles. Might be I need to grip lower, use my hips more or something.
Key thing is getting under the chin, as Chris was doing a great job of tucking his chin down, blocking the second grip. He suggested pulling him in with my legs and generally messing around with his balance, then working the grip under the chin. If you pull them in and they sit back, then you can go for a sweep, namely the sit-up sweep. Shoving my fist into the collar bone works, but I need to also control an arm. Or bail to a normal sit-up sweep, but I'm loathe to abandon that deep grip if I don't have to.
We ramped up the resistance a bit, doing the usual SBG 'aliveness' thing I like so much. More back takes would be good, kicking the knee out in order to move around. I also played with the mawashi grip, where initially nothing was happening, until I realised I again wasn't sitting up. I had more success once I did, though I still found he kept blocking with his arm, so I need to control that somehow.
If I keep the lapel in my first hand (the same side one to their leg) rather than switching to the opposite hand, that seemed to make it a bit easier. Hooking behind their leg with my same side leg was useful too, especially if I could then drive off my free leg. Getting the right angle is again central, stopping them getting into a strong square-on position. More on guard tomorrow and Wednesday! Tuesday was especially useful for my closed guard, revolutionary even, but we'll see if I manage to apply that in regular sparring. It's one thing doing it in drilling, even resistance drilling/specific sparring, quite another to regularly hit it against full resistance. :D
This may be the first time I've trained and taught on the same day, but I'm not sure. It will be on this blog somewhere, but meh: the class later today is written up here, cross-choke from mount (Verhoeven variation with Roger Gracie tips).
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 24/11/2014
Bristol Sports Centre has now fully rebranded to MyGym, with big banners outside. I thought the other name was good (must be handy for SEO), but I can see how making it sound really personal and friendly is a sensible marketing plan too. Great venue either way, so I hope it brings them lots more members. :)Chris mentioned he was heading off to London later this week and busy at work, so wasn't going to be able to head to class. As his work is flexible and I haven't started my new job yet, we decided we could just meet up and train for an hour earlier in the day. I started by running through what I was going to teach in class tonight (the cross-choke from mount: as I'm writing this up several days later, I can link to it), then we did lots of troubleshooting on open guard and closed guard.
Like I was saying in my write-up of the class at RGA Bucks on the weekend, my guard has been getting stagnant, especially my closed guard. It's my biggest problem at the moment, so I was relishing the chance to really dig into it with Chris. Again, as I'm writing this up a few days later and I've done a few sessions with Chris (Tuesday and Wednesday too). It has really, really helped. My closed and open guard feels way more pro-active now, so hopefully I can translate that into general training.
Anyway, on Monday I started off playing the collar grip, in order to both maintain guard but also go attack for the choke. I wanted to practice what Dónal taught about punching the arm across to get the second arm in. He also had some cool tips about bringing their far arm across, though I keep struggling to get that in sparring. You can do back takes too, armbars and triangles. Might be I need to grip lower, use my hips more or something.
Key thing is getting under the chin, as Chris was doing a great job of tucking his chin down, blocking the second grip. He suggested pulling him in with my legs and generally messing around with his balance, then working the grip under the chin. If you pull them in and they sit back, then you can go for a sweep, namely the sit-up sweep. Shoving my fist into the collar bone works, but I need to also control an arm. Or bail to a normal sit-up sweep, but I'm loathe to abandon that deep grip if I don't have to.
We ramped up the resistance a bit, doing the usual SBG 'aliveness' thing I like so much. More back takes would be good, kicking the knee out in order to move around. I also played with the mawashi grip, where initially nothing was happening, until I realised I again wasn't sitting up. I had more success once I did, though I still found he kept blocking with his arm, so I need to control that somehow.
If I keep the lapel in my first hand (the same side one to their leg) rather than switching to the opposite hand, that seemed to make it a bit easier. Hooking behind their leg with my same side leg was useful too, especially if I could then drive off my free leg. Getting the right angle is again central, stopping them getting into a strong square-on position. More on guard tomorrow and Wednesday! Tuesday was especially useful for my closed guard, revolutionary even, but we'll see if I manage to apply that in regular sparring. It's one thing doing it in drilling, even resistance drilling/specific sparring, quite another to regularly hit it against full resistance. :D
This may be the first time I've trained and taught on the same day, but I'm not sure. It will be on this blog somewhere, but meh: the class later today is written up here, cross-choke from mount (Verhoeven variation with Roger Gracie tips).
19 May 2014
19/05/2014 - Artemis BJJ (Omoplata Sweep)
Class #570
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 19/05/2014
Today, Dónal focused on some options off an omoplata entry. To get us used to the motion, he started with a drill where you spin on your back, kicking up into their arm. It's important to keep as little of your back in contact with the floor as possible: Dónal described it as 'breakdancing turtles', balancing on the bottom of the shell rather than the side.
The techniques started with a standard omoplata. Grab their trouser leg with your same side hand, also securing their sleeve on that side with your opposite hand. Kick up into the gripped arm, pushing their arm around your leg to bend it. To fully knock them over, 'superman' their trouser leg, punching your grip backwards to flatten them out. From here, you can sit up, triangling your legs around their gripped sleeve, aiming to tweak their shoulder for the submission. If you miss the submission or simply prefer top position, you can also turn that into a sweep, rolling them over your body.
For a more advanced option, there is the lapeloplata, where you basically do the same thing, but with the lapel in play. Pull out their gi lapel, which may cause them to fling it back to get it out of your reach. That puts it where you want it, by their leg: if they don't, then you'll need to push it there yourself. Reach under their leg and grab the gi lapel, so that the gi lapel is now also over your own leg. You're going to treat that gi lapel like it was their arm, doing the same motion as before to sweep them. You can even go for the omoplata, releasing the grip to slide forward into position.
Sparring, I wasn't able to lock in the crucifix from turtle, as I don't think I had enough weight on their back. I shouldn't focus so much on the arms. Still, having that concept in mind meant I had a different perspective on controlling their arms. That meant I was in position to wrap up their arm and switch into the armbar, normally a technique I never go for. Although they were sitting up and escaping, due to the way I'd wrapped up the arm, I was able to roll them back over in position for the submission. Interesting side effect of trying to add the crucifix into my game.
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 19/05/2014
Today, Dónal focused on some options off an omoplata entry. To get us used to the motion, he started with a drill where you spin on your back, kicking up into their arm. It's important to keep as little of your back in contact with the floor as possible: Dónal described it as 'breakdancing turtles', balancing on the bottom of the shell rather than the side.
The techniques started with a standard omoplata. Grab their trouser leg with your same side hand, also securing their sleeve on that side with your opposite hand. Kick up into the gripped arm, pushing their arm around your leg to bend it. To fully knock them over, 'superman' their trouser leg, punching your grip backwards to flatten them out. From here, you can sit up, triangling your legs around their gripped sleeve, aiming to tweak their shoulder for the submission. If you miss the submission or simply prefer top position, you can also turn that into a sweep, rolling them over your body.
For a more advanced option, there is the lapeloplata, where you basically do the same thing, but with the lapel in play. Pull out their gi lapel, which may cause them to fling it back to get it out of your reach. That puts it where you want it, by their leg: if they don't, then you'll need to push it there yourself. Reach under their leg and grab the gi lapel, so that the gi lapel is now also over your own leg. You're going to treat that gi lapel like it was their arm, doing the same motion as before to sweep them. You can even go for the omoplata, releasing the grip to slide forward into position.
Sparring, I wasn't able to lock in the crucifix from turtle, as I don't think I had enough weight on their back. I shouldn't focus so much on the arms. Still, having that concept in mind meant I had a different perspective on controlling their arms. That meant I was in position to wrap up their arm and switch into the armbar, normally a technique I never go for. Although they were sitting up and escaping, due to the way I'd wrapped up the arm, I was able to roll them back over in position for the submission. Interesting side effect of trying to add the crucifix into my game.
07 August 2013
07/08/2013 - Dónal Private (Windscreen Wiper & Omoplata Sweep Variations)
Class #516 - Private #013
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 07/08/2013
I went on one of my irregular blog hunts recently, meaning I added a bunch of sites to my blog index. It again reminds me that the best way to connect with other blogs is to comment: I discovered four blogs I hadn't read before just by clicking through comments on Cynthia's adeptly written CAMAMYD blog.
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My closed guard has been languishing for some time. I haven't really managed to make it much of an attacking force, although Dónal's private on the windscreen wiper sweep has helped. I'd like to have two or three effective sweeps from closed guard that can put me where I want to be (so, mount or side control) without risking much loss of control. The windscreen wiper is good for that, as is Henry Akins' hip shift. I want to add a couple more: before this lesson, I had in mind either the scissor and push sweep combination, or the series from the sit-up sweep.
The scissor and push sweep are solid fundamentals, but that does involve opening your guard and creating some space. I could also consider the flower sweep, which seems a bit less open. Considering what grips I tend to get is important too, along with grips that aren't going to burn out my hands or be especially awkward to achieve. I like to get a hand deep in the collar, which can fit with the scissor and push, as well as lending itself to collar chokes (which I'd also like to get better at).
The sit-up sweep doesn't require too much opening, as you remain close to them throughout. It's also the sweep I probably have the most success with in sparring, although that's generally with white belts or early blues. I've also been wondering, from a teaching perspective, if I might fit with Akins' sweep, as the mechanics seemed to have a few similarities.
As it turned out, Dónal went with something a bit flashier than I would normally pick, but those all-important mechanics remained simple. He began with a tweak on the windscreen wiper, where instead of grabbing the gi trousers, he underhooked the leg with his arm. From there, he moved into an interesting sequence that involved securing the bottom of the gi by their leg.
This could fit in with things I've been playing with already. Quite often, I will start pulling out my partner's gi and wrapping it around their arm and/or head. This is generally random, but because I have a purple belt, people often assume I've got some cunning technique in mind (I almost never do: I'm a mediocre purple belt ;D), which results in them extending an arm or shifting their weight. That then hopefully gives me something else.
Dónal's technique means that I can be rather less random with my gi wrapping. Start off by grabbing their gi, low, then pulling it towards you. A typical reaction is for them to pull that gi out of your hand, brushing it behind them because they think that will scupper whatever technique you have in mind. In fact, it puts the gi right where you want it, dangling near their leg. Alternatively, you can try pulling the gi over their arm with your opposite hand, feeding it to your other hand.
That's because either way, that other hand will be underhooking their leg. Use it to grab their trailing gi (whether they put it there or you did), creeping up the lapel to get it as tight by their leg as possible. Note that you want to keep your thumb pointing up, as otherwise you might find your arm getting uncomfortably squashed. For them, this can turn into comparable pressure to a calf slicer. That will make them lean forward. They'll also quite probably try and hug in tight and stay low. Again, this helps your sweep. If you've been able to actually wrap the gi over their arm as well as then underhooking the leg and grabbing, you can go for the windscreen wiper sweep again.
If they've pulled their arm free, you have the option of an omoplata sweep. The key motion for this private lesson is contained within that technique. Start by bridging up onto your shoulders, then swinging out your far leg. Keep the heel of your near leg stuck into their side (basic physics: you want the end of the lever, not the middle). As you spin, you also want to make sure your spine stays on the ground. Swivel perpendicular, then kick forward.
A full omoplata sweep involves rolling through so they pass over your body, whereupon you come up in a sort of side control, but you're sitting on their arm. I prefer the other position we ended up with, where you do a similar motion to knock them over, but come up into a sort of technical mount instead rather than rolling them over you.
Rather than kicking into their arm for the omoplata sweep, this option is based around blocking their knee, for which Dónal had two options, both starting from closed guard. They raise one knee to begin their pass. Pop your hips up onto the leg that is still kneeling and grab their same side sleeve. With your other hand, reach underneath your own back and grip the inside of their gi trousers, to maintain control of the knee on the floor.
As before, do the same omoplata sweep motion where you swing out your legs, keeping your spine on the mat rather than raising up on one side. That should knock them over. The other variation is for when they still have both knees on the ground. Pop your hips up onto their knee like the first variation, but rather than grabbing their knee, you're going to reach further, putting the back of your hand on the outside of the knee (you'll find it easier if you turn your body, facing the opposite side). Finish with the same swinging motion as before.
In both variations, the motion to knock them over leaves your hips pointing towards their arm, which potentially works well for dropping directly into an armbar. Personally, I'm not comfortable with that, as it feels more scrambly: I would rather sweep into a solid, controlling mount, then work from there. To do that you need to be turning your hips and curling a leg underneath as you come up. I also think I feel more comfortable with the first variation, as that twist makes me a little wary, but I'll test it out at study hall.
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 07/08/2013
I went on one of my irregular blog hunts recently, meaning I added a bunch of sites to my blog index. It again reminds me that the best way to connect with other blogs is to comment: I discovered four blogs I hadn't read before just by clicking through comments on Cynthia's adeptly written CAMAMYD blog.
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My closed guard has been languishing for some time. I haven't really managed to make it much of an attacking force, although Dónal's private on the windscreen wiper sweep has helped. I'd like to have two or three effective sweeps from closed guard that can put me where I want to be (so, mount or side control) without risking much loss of control. The windscreen wiper is good for that, as is Henry Akins' hip shift. I want to add a couple more: before this lesson, I had in mind either the scissor and push sweep combination, or the series from the sit-up sweep.
The scissor and push sweep are solid fundamentals, but that does involve opening your guard and creating some space. I could also consider the flower sweep, which seems a bit less open. Considering what grips I tend to get is important too, along with grips that aren't going to burn out my hands or be especially awkward to achieve. I like to get a hand deep in the collar, which can fit with the scissor and push, as well as lending itself to collar chokes (which I'd also like to get better at).
The sit-up sweep doesn't require too much opening, as you remain close to them throughout. It's also the sweep I probably have the most success with in sparring, although that's generally with white belts or early blues. I've also been wondering, from a teaching perspective, if I might fit with Akins' sweep, as the mechanics seemed to have a few similarities.
As it turned out, Dónal went with something a bit flashier than I would normally pick, but those all-important mechanics remained simple. He began with a tweak on the windscreen wiper, where instead of grabbing the gi trousers, he underhooked the leg with his arm. From there, he moved into an interesting sequence that involved securing the bottom of the gi by their leg. This could fit in with things I've been playing with already. Quite often, I will start pulling out my partner's gi and wrapping it around their arm and/or head. This is generally random, but because I have a purple belt, people often assume I've got some cunning technique in mind (I almost never do: I'm a mediocre purple belt ;D), which results in them extending an arm or shifting their weight. That then hopefully gives me something else.
Dónal's technique means that I can be rather less random with my gi wrapping. Start off by grabbing their gi, low, then pulling it towards you. A typical reaction is for them to pull that gi out of your hand, brushing it behind them because they think that will scupper whatever technique you have in mind. In fact, it puts the gi right where you want it, dangling near their leg. Alternatively, you can try pulling the gi over their arm with your opposite hand, feeding it to your other hand.
That's because either way, that other hand will be underhooking their leg. Use it to grab their trailing gi (whether they put it there or you did), creeping up the lapel to get it as tight by their leg as possible. Note that you want to keep your thumb pointing up, as otherwise you might find your arm getting uncomfortably squashed. For them, this can turn into comparable pressure to a calf slicer. That will make them lean forward. They'll also quite probably try and hug in tight and stay low. Again, this helps your sweep. If you've been able to actually wrap the gi over their arm as well as then underhooking the leg and grabbing, you can go for the windscreen wiper sweep again.
If they've pulled their arm free, you have the option of an omoplata sweep. The key motion for this private lesson is contained within that technique. Start by bridging up onto your shoulders, then swinging out your far leg. Keep the heel of your near leg stuck into their side (basic physics: you want the end of the lever, not the middle). As you spin, you also want to make sure your spine stays on the ground. Swivel perpendicular, then kick forward.
A full omoplata sweep involves rolling through so they pass over your body, whereupon you come up in a sort of side control, but you're sitting on their arm. I prefer the other position we ended up with, where you do a similar motion to knock them over, but come up into a sort of technical mount instead rather than rolling them over you.
Rather than kicking into their arm for the omoplata sweep, this option is based around blocking their knee, for which Dónal had two options, both starting from closed guard. They raise one knee to begin their pass. Pop your hips up onto the leg that is still kneeling and grab their same side sleeve. With your other hand, reach underneath your own back and grip the inside of their gi trousers, to maintain control of the knee on the floor.
As before, do the same omoplata sweep motion where you swing out your legs, keeping your spine on the mat rather than raising up on one side. That should knock them over. The other variation is for when they still have both knees on the ground. Pop your hips up onto their knee like the first variation, but rather than grabbing their knee, you're going to reach further, putting the back of your hand on the outside of the knee (you'll find it easier if you turn your body, facing the opposite side). Finish with the same swinging motion as before.
In both variations, the motion to knock them over leaves your hips pointing towards their arm, which potentially works well for dropping directly into an armbar. Personally, I'm not comfortable with that, as it feels more scrambly: I would rather sweep into a solid, controlling mount, then work from there. To do that you need to be turning your hips and curling a leg underneath as you come up. I also think I feel more comfortable with the first variation, as that twist makes me a little wary, but I'll test it out at study hall.
27 June 2013
27/06/2013 - No Gi (Omoplata Sweep to Armbar)
Class #506
Gracie Barra Bristol, (No-Gi), Miles Pearson, Bristol, UK - 27/06/2013
Back to the nogi tonight with Miles, working from closed guard. It's been very muggy today, which made for an extremely sweaty session, but that's great for working control. The topic was closed guard, more specifically the omoplata sweep. Grab their opposite wrist, with your thumb towards them, clamping their hand to their own torso. Swivel and kick into their trapped arm with your legs (try to get the back of your knee right into their armpit), at the same time shooting your free hand underneath their same side leg. Bring that in as close to your body as possible.
Stretch them out with your legs, then get your hip slightly underneath them. This should enable you to roll them directly over you. Maintaining control of their arm, turn towards their legs. As you establish control with your bodyweight and by putting your free elbow into their far hip, you can let go of their arm and either continue into side control, or shift your hips back for reverse scarf, then mount.
There is also the option of transitioning to an armbar. As you turn and come up, instead of looking to get side control, focus on grabbing just below the elbow of their trapped arm and pulling up and in towards your body. Sit on their chest, then wait for their reaction. If they try and roll you over, there is the option of still going for the omoplata.
If they raise their head, stick the leg you have nearest to that head underneath it, so their head is on top of your calf. You then want to adjust and turn until your instep is under their head. Quickly swing the other leg over the top (if you are too slow with this, they can grab it and stop your submission). Wrap their arm tightly with one of yours, while the other arm grasps their leg to stop them scampering away. Finish the armbar from there.
Sparring started from closed guard, with the proviso that you had to stay on your knees when passing, with no submissions from the bottom, just sweeps. On the bottom, I went for sit-up sweeps, though I was generally with less experienced people. On top, again I was with someone less experienced. I wasn't able to open the guard with the classic knee in the tailbone break, unable to get sufficient leverage (which I can never manage in the gi either: I struggle to get the necessary extension).
Waiting for my moment, I snuck my arm underneath, clamped their hip in close and looked for the single underhook pass. To stop them spinning away, I reached around the outside with my free arm, grabbing the far side of their neck, using that to complete the pass. However, I suspect a higher belt wouldn't have let me do that.
With free sparring, I started off with Liam, a fellow purple who is also bigger. He was going fairly light, otherwise I would have been choked out several times. As it was, he didn't cinch it in tightly, meaning I could sneak my arms in and make some space. That's a false sense of security though, because he wasn't going full pelt. I kept failing to overwrap his arm when slipping out too, ending up right back in choking range.
On top, where I briefly manage to stay at the start, I used my favoured half guard control people often give me when we go from the knees. That translates relatively well to nogi, as I put one elbow into the back of the head, the other arm wrapping up one of theirs. However, I don't really do anything with it. I need to work out how to turn that into a submission or setting up a pass. At the moment, what I mainly try to do is work to flatten them out, which doesn't always work that well.
However, sometimes it does, like when I was sparring somebody less experienced, getting me to mount. I again used what I'm familiar with from the gi, which is Kev's mount control where you cross your feet. I was attempting to walk up with my feet and work under the arm for an americana, but the lack of friction in nogi made that rather more difficult.
He escaped, which gave me another chance to work on controls from closed guard. Before the lesson I rewatched the nogi-applicable segment from Carlos Machado's excellent butterfly sweep dissection, Unstoppable. I didn't expect to get anywhere near a sweep, so followed my own advice and looked for a specific component of the sweep: the initial control gripping the shoulder with a gable grip. That turned out to be hard enough, as with almost everybody I struggled to secure the initial underhook I needed.
It was easier to wrap the head, though I think I'm doing something drastically wrong there. I keep having a sore right arm, a clear indication I'm using too much force. Using my legs more would make sense, or even better if I could bring my skeletal structure into play somehow.
Another control I was working was reaching further to grab their far armpit, which seemed relatively stable. Not that I was able to do much with it, but for nogi, getting any kind of control is my current goal, as I can't do anything until I've got a handle on that.
I eventually got a sit-up sweep again to put them back in mount, where it repeated the earlier slow lack of submission. He was able to get out this time by being energetic, where again the lack of friction was noticeable. Having no gi material to grab makes it harder to stop them wriggling free, which is good practice for my mount control: it has to be tighter to function in nogi.
I also had a roll with Oli, one of the better blue belts. He has a relaxed approach to sparring and often likes to try out random stuff. He's therefore fun to roll with, as he doesn't take it too seriously. I played around with triangles from under side control: I had one locked in and wanted to isolate the non trapped arm, but Oli was wise to it and immediately hid his elbow.
He managed to escape and started going for my back, using the Marcelo Garcia tactic of locking in the seatbelt grip, then manoeuvring around behind me. By the time he got to a good position, the timer rang, though I suspect I would have ended up in a similar situation to Liam earlier, defending and failing to escape.
Gracie Barra Bristol, (No-Gi), Miles Pearson, Bristol, UK - 27/06/2013
Stretch them out with your legs, then get your hip slightly underneath them. This should enable you to roll them directly over you. Maintaining control of their arm, turn towards their legs. As you establish control with your bodyweight and by putting your free elbow into their far hip, you can let go of their arm and either continue into side control, or shift your hips back for reverse scarf, then mount.
There is also the option of transitioning to an armbar. As you turn and come up, instead of looking to get side control, focus on grabbing just below the elbow of their trapped arm and pulling up and in towards your body. Sit on their chest, then wait for their reaction. If they try and roll you over, there is the option of still going for the omoplata.
If they raise their head, stick the leg you have nearest to that head underneath it, so their head is on top of your calf. You then want to adjust and turn until your instep is under their head. Quickly swing the other leg over the top (if you are too slow with this, they can grab it and stop your submission). Wrap their arm tightly with one of yours, while the other arm grasps their leg to stop them scampering away. Finish the armbar from there.
Sparring started from closed guard, with the proviso that you had to stay on your knees when passing, with no submissions from the bottom, just sweeps. On the bottom, I went for sit-up sweeps, though I was generally with less experienced people. On top, again I was with someone less experienced. I wasn't able to open the guard with the classic knee in the tailbone break, unable to get sufficient leverage (which I can never manage in the gi either: I struggle to get the necessary extension).
Waiting for my moment, I snuck my arm underneath, clamped their hip in close and looked for the single underhook pass. To stop them spinning away, I reached around the outside with my free arm, grabbing the far side of their neck, using that to complete the pass. However, I suspect a higher belt wouldn't have let me do that.
With free sparring, I started off with Liam, a fellow purple who is also bigger. He was going fairly light, otherwise I would have been choked out several times. As it was, he didn't cinch it in tightly, meaning I could sneak my arms in and make some space. That's a false sense of security though, because he wasn't going full pelt. I kept failing to overwrap his arm when slipping out too, ending up right back in choking range.
On top, where I briefly manage to stay at the start, I used my favoured half guard control people often give me when we go from the knees. That translates relatively well to nogi, as I put one elbow into the back of the head, the other arm wrapping up one of theirs. However, I don't really do anything with it. I need to work out how to turn that into a submission or setting up a pass. At the moment, what I mainly try to do is work to flatten them out, which doesn't always work that well.
However, sometimes it does, like when I was sparring somebody less experienced, getting me to mount. I again used what I'm familiar with from the gi, which is Kev's mount control where you cross your feet. I was attempting to walk up with my feet and work under the arm for an americana, but the lack of friction in nogi made that rather more difficult.
He escaped, which gave me another chance to work on controls from closed guard. Before the lesson I rewatched the nogi-applicable segment from Carlos Machado's excellent butterfly sweep dissection, Unstoppable. I didn't expect to get anywhere near a sweep, so followed my own advice and looked for a specific component of the sweep: the initial control gripping the shoulder with a gable grip. That turned out to be hard enough, as with almost everybody I struggled to secure the initial underhook I needed.
It was easier to wrap the head, though I think I'm doing something drastically wrong there. I keep having a sore right arm, a clear indication I'm using too much force. Using my legs more would make sense, or even better if I could bring my skeletal structure into play somehow.
Another control I was working was reaching further to grab their far armpit, which seemed relatively stable. Not that I was able to do much with it, but for nogi, getting any kind of control is my current goal, as I can't do anything until I've got a handle on that.
I eventually got a sit-up sweep again to put them back in mount, where it repeated the earlier slow lack of submission. He was able to get out this time by being energetic, where again the lack of friction was noticeable. Having no gi material to grab makes it harder to stop them wriggling free, which is good practice for my mount control: it has to be tighter to function in nogi.
I also had a roll with Oli, one of the better blue belts. He has a relaxed approach to sparring and often likes to try out random stuff. He's therefore fun to roll with, as he doesn't take it too seriously. I played around with triangles from under side control: I had one locked in and wanted to isolate the non trapped arm, but Oli was wise to it and immediately hid his elbow.
He managed to escape and started going for my back, using the Marcelo Garcia tactic of locking in the seatbelt grip, then manoeuvring around behind me. By the time he got to a good position, the timer rang, though I suspect I would have ended up in a similar situation to Liam earlier, defending and failing to escape.
10 April 2013
10/04/2013 - Dónal Private: Windscreen Wiper & Sit-Up Sweep
Class #498 - Private #009
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 10/04/2013
As ever with jiu jitsu, the sweep I worked on today has several names: Andre Anderson calls it the 'Rey Diogo sweep' after his instructor. I first learned the windscreen wiper sweep from Ciaran Toal in Belfast, so I sometimes refer to it as the 'Ciaran sweep'. However, 'windscreen wiper' seems like the most descriptive term, which I therefore use most often.
Dónal was pleased when I mentioned I'd like to study this technique in more depth, as it is one of his favourites. He had various modifications to the versions I've learned before, beginning with his grips. Anderson grabs the elbow and pushes in. Dónal grabs the sleeve with his same side hand, grabbing just below their knee with the other hand. If you can't get any material, pull your legs inwards to knock them towards you and take their weight off their legs. That should enable you to get a good handful of cloth by their knee.
You don't just grip their sleeve with a typical pocket grip. Instead, Dónal used a principle similar to the grip on the shin when doing the knee cut pass. Grab the cloth then turn your hand inwards, pressing your knuckles into the side of their forearm. Just like when they sit on their heels and make the trousers too tight to hold, by turning your hand in their sleeve becomes tight and restricts their movement. They can longer easily circle their hand around to break your hold.
Remember the advice from Anderson's DVD about bringing your hips off the mat and closer to your partner. That way, they don't have as much space for a guard pass: you've taken it away, so to even begin a guard pass they have to first create that space. On the sleeve grip side, put your foot on the mat by their leg, keeping it tight so there is no room for them to wriggle. Anderson prefers to put his foot on the hip, but as I found during the Nic Gregoriades 'big class' on this topic, I think foot on the floor works better for me than foot on the hip. You could go straight for the windscreen wiper from here, but Dónal uses a combination instead: he starts off with a sit-up sweep.
For this initial technique, the sit-up is a bait. Angle your hips slightly towards your sleeve grip, then shove their arm into their other hip. Do the sit up sweep as normal, coming up diagonally towards the knee grip side and bumping into their hip. Their natural reaction will be to press forwards to prevent your sweep, which sets you up perfectly for the windscreen wiper. On the knee-grip side, kick your leg into their armpit, curling it around their back as you do. It's important that this leg stays tight to them, right from the moment you do a sit-up: imagine that leg is an arm, which you're using to hug them tightly.
You'll drop back slightly too. In order to do the hip bump, you'll have probably come up on your elbow. Don't drop straight back down. Instead, angle off in the direction of your knee grip, moving the shoulder of your posting elbow across. Your leg should end up across their upper back, the foot near their opposite shoulder. Kick the leg forwards to knock them over, thrusting up with your knee grip arm, then roll them into mount.
Keep hold of their leg and sleeve, also extending the sleeve forwards. Holding the leg makes it hard for them to bridge, while holding the sleeve and straightening the arm could lead directly into a submission, such as an americana. To further help with that, slide your knee up on the sleeve grip side, so they can't bring their elbow back to their side.
Keep in mind this is a combination: the option of completing the sit up sweep is also available, switching back and forth depending on where and how they resist. Sit-up diagonally, bumping with your hip, again shoving their arm into their other hip as you do. You also want to lock their arm in place with your sleeve grip side hip, pressing that into them.
If they don't lean forwards to resist (if they did, you'd go to the windscreen wiper), they will most likely post their arm on the knee grip side behind them. Let go of their sleeve and instead reach slightly below the elbow of that posting arm. Push it forwards and hook it, then continue the sit-up sweep/hip bump motion.
Bring your knee up to trap their arm again, for submission opportunities. Also don't let their other arm free: because you shoved it into their hip and clamped it in place at the other end with your hip, once you roll into mount it should be totally stuck underneath you. That means they can't use it to defend, putting you in a great position to attack.
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 10/04/2013
Dónal was pleased when I mentioned I'd like to study this technique in more depth, as it is one of his favourites. He had various modifications to the versions I've learned before, beginning with his grips. Anderson grabs the elbow and pushes in. Dónal grabs the sleeve with his same side hand, grabbing just below their knee with the other hand. If you can't get any material, pull your legs inwards to knock them towards you and take their weight off their legs. That should enable you to get a good handful of cloth by their knee.
You don't just grip their sleeve with a typical pocket grip. Instead, Dónal used a principle similar to the grip on the shin when doing the knee cut pass. Grab the cloth then turn your hand inwards, pressing your knuckles into the side of their forearm. Just like when they sit on their heels and make the trousers too tight to hold, by turning your hand in their sleeve becomes tight and restricts their movement. They can longer easily circle their hand around to break your hold.
Remember the advice from Anderson's DVD about bringing your hips off the mat and closer to your partner. That way, they don't have as much space for a guard pass: you've taken it away, so to even begin a guard pass they have to first create that space. On the sleeve grip side, put your foot on the mat by their leg, keeping it tight so there is no room for them to wriggle. Anderson prefers to put his foot on the hip, but as I found during the Nic Gregoriades 'big class' on this topic, I think foot on the floor works better for me than foot on the hip. You could go straight for the windscreen wiper from here, but Dónal uses a combination instead: he starts off with a sit-up sweep.
For this initial technique, the sit-up is a bait. Angle your hips slightly towards your sleeve grip, then shove their arm into their other hip. Do the sit up sweep as normal, coming up diagonally towards the knee grip side and bumping into their hip. Their natural reaction will be to press forwards to prevent your sweep, which sets you up perfectly for the windscreen wiper. On the knee-grip side, kick your leg into their armpit, curling it around their back as you do. It's important that this leg stays tight to them, right from the moment you do a sit-up: imagine that leg is an arm, which you're using to hug them tightly.
You'll drop back slightly too. In order to do the hip bump, you'll have probably come up on your elbow. Don't drop straight back down. Instead, angle off in the direction of your knee grip, moving the shoulder of your posting elbow across. Your leg should end up across their upper back, the foot near their opposite shoulder. Kick the leg forwards to knock them over, thrusting up with your knee grip arm, then roll them into mount.
Keep hold of their leg and sleeve, also extending the sleeve forwards. Holding the leg makes it hard for them to bridge, while holding the sleeve and straightening the arm could lead directly into a submission, such as an americana. To further help with that, slide your knee up on the sleeve grip side, so they can't bring their elbow back to their side.
Keep in mind this is a combination: the option of completing the sit up sweep is also available, switching back and forth depending on where and how they resist. Sit-up diagonally, bumping with your hip, again shoving their arm into their other hip as you do. You also want to lock their arm in place with your sleeve grip side hip, pressing that into them.
If they don't lean forwards to resist (if they did, you'd go to the windscreen wiper), they will most likely post their arm on the knee grip side behind them. Let go of their sleeve and instead reach slightly below the elbow of that posting arm. Push it forwards and hook it, then continue the sit-up sweep/hip bump motion.
Bring your knee up to trap their arm again, for submission opportunities. Also don't let their other arm free: because you shoved it into their hip and clamped it in place at the other end with your hip, once you roll into mount it should be totally stuck underneath you. That means they can't use it to defend, putting you in a great position to attack.
16 March 2010
16/03/10 - BJJ (Advanced)
Class #295
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 16/03/2010
The monthly price is rising by £10 as of 1st April, from £40 to £50. That is still cheap, though I'll miss the super-cheapness of the previous fee. However, Kev has managed to get a rather nifty perk through becoming a Gracie Magazine Associate Club (or something like that: can't remember the official term). That means that everyone who pays by standing order will get a monthly copy of Gracie Mag as well, which is nice, especially as they cost around a fiver anyway. RGA Bucks will also occasionally get a mention in the mag, such as competition results, though it will be small and at the back. Still cool though.
Kev began tonight with what he called the Roger sweep, as apparently Roger has done this a lot in competition. It works best for people like him with long legs, so probably not something I'll be trying often. It begins from when they go to combat base. Close guard around their raised knee, high enough that they can't just push their knee through, but not so high that they can sit back into the space. Get a cross grip on their same side arm, then pull that across their away from their knee, removing their ability to post.
With your legs still closed, twist your knees down towards the floor on their trapped knee side. If that isn't sufficiently breaking their balance, you can also try bringing your knees to your chest. This should pull their foot off the floor, making it harder for them to resist. Once they start to fall, put your hand back for base and come up on top.
You still have to deal with that knee, which will now either be underneath your stomach or to the side. If it is to the side, you can press down to lock it in place, then do a big backstep to swing over into side control. If it more under your stomach, you can push it directly behind you, popping through into mount.
Next up was the Flower sweep, which contrary to what I thought is slightly different from the pendulum sweep. I've seen those terms used interchangeably, but apparently the difference is with a pendulum sweep, your partner puts their knee up. With a flower sweep, you initiate yourself, by grabbing the lower part of their gi pants. Also secure a grip on their other elbow with your other arm. Put the same side foot on that side on their hip.
The most important part is kicking up with the leg on the side you've grabbed their trouser. That needs to be up high into their armpit, pushing right through. This is what you use to break their posture. To further knock them off balance, lift with your pant grip, then finally chop your other leg low (firstly, you don't want them to land on it, and secondly, it adds to the momentum). You should end up in mount.
You can also move into a triangle, if you intentionally grip the 'wrong' elbow, on the same side as the trouser grip. When you go for the sweep, they'll post out with their other arm (which is why you normally keep hold of it). However, while that blocks the sweep, it means you can now bring your leg over and lock on a triangle.
Free sparring began in guard, so again I was trying to pass Howard's guard. As before I was looking to strip grips, but this time I had an opportunity to go for the double underhooks pass. I didn't clamp around the legs properly, so Howard was able to scoot back. I focused too much on bringing my arm over and grabbing a collar, before having properly secured position. I briefly tried to readjust, grab the top of Howard's trousers and flip him, but it was too late. I also doubt I have enough strength to manage that, though I've seen people do it on videos.
Against a white belt, things were easier, because he is smallest guy in class. Even I probably outweigh him by at least eight kg or so. That meant I wanted to make certain I wasn't just using forced. I had a play with various submission attempts, starting with the Shawn Williams Guard and overhook from guard. As before, I wasn't able to swivel into the omoplata like I wanted. I also couldn't get a sufficiently tight grip for the choke from an overhook.
Eventually that resulted in a very sloppy sweep into mount, which I suspect was only possibly due to the weight difference. Dropping into my preferred low mount with grapevines, I had a go at the Ezequiel. He could see it coming, and prevented me from properly blocking off his carotoid with my gi sleeve. I switched back, then worked to technical mount, looking for more chokes. Again, he defended well, so I couldn't work the grips I wanted. I could possibly have gone for an armbar, but I was hesitant as in that position, I thought he'd have too much room to escape. In retrospect, I probably should have gone for it anyway, after attempting those chokes for a while.
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 16/03/2010
The monthly price is rising by £10 as of 1st April, from £40 to £50. That is still cheap, though I'll miss the super-cheapness of the previous fee. However, Kev has managed to get a rather nifty perk through becoming a Gracie Magazine Associate Club (or something like that: can't remember the official term). That means that everyone who pays by standing order will get a monthly copy of Gracie Mag as well, which is nice, especially as they cost around a fiver anyway. RGA Bucks will also occasionally get a mention in the mag, such as competition results, though it will be small and at the back. Still cool though.
Kev began tonight with what he called the Roger sweep, as apparently Roger has done this a lot in competition. It works best for people like him with long legs, so probably not something I'll be trying often. It begins from when they go to combat base. Close guard around their raised knee, high enough that they can't just push their knee through, but not so high that they can sit back into the space. Get a cross grip on their same side arm, then pull that across their away from their knee, removing their ability to post.
With your legs still closed, twist your knees down towards the floor on their trapped knee side. If that isn't sufficiently breaking their balance, you can also try bringing your knees to your chest. This should pull their foot off the floor, making it harder for them to resist. Once they start to fall, put your hand back for base and come up on top.
You still have to deal with that knee, which will now either be underneath your stomach or to the side. If it is to the side, you can press down to lock it in place, then do a big backstep to swing over into side control. If it more under your stomach, you can push it directly behind you, popping through into mount.
Next up was the Flower sweep, which contrary to what I thought is slightly different from the pendulum sweep. I've seen those terms used interchangeably, but apparently the difference is with a pendulum sweep, your partner puts their knee up. With a flower sweep, you initiate yourself, by grabbing the lower part of their gi pants. Also secure a grip on their other elbow with your other arm. Put the same side foot on that side on their hip. The most important part is kicking up with the leg on the side you've grabbed their trouser. That needs to be up high into their armpit, pushing right through. This is what you use to break their posture. To further knock them off balance, lift with your pant grip, then finally chop your other leg low (firstly, you don't want them to land on it, and secondly, it adds to the momentum). You should end up in mount.
You can also move into a triangle, if you intentionally grip the 'wrong' elbow, on the same side as the trouser grip. When you go for the sweep, they'll post out with their other arm (which is why you normally keep hold of it). However, while that blocks the sweep, it means you can now bring your leg over and lock on a triangle.
Free sparring began in guard, so again I was trying to pass Howard's guard. As before I was looking to strip grips, but this time I had an opportunity to go for the double underhooks pass. I didn't clamp around the legs properly, so Howard was able to scoot back. I focused too much on bringing my arm over and grabbing a collar, before having properly secured position. I briefly tried to readjust, grab the top of Howard's trousers and flip him, but it was too late. I also doubt I have enough strength to manage that, though I've seen people do it on videos.
Against a white belt, things were easier, because he is smallest guy in class. Even I probably outweigh him by at least eight kg or so. That meant I wanted to make certain I wasn't just using forced. I had a play with various submission attempts, starting with the Shawn Williams Guard and overhook from guard. As before, I wasn't able to swivel into the omoplata like I wanted. I also couldn't get a sufficiently tight grip for the choke from an overhook.
Eventually that resulted in a very sloppy sweep into mount, which I suspect was only possibly due to the weight difference. Dropping into my preferred low mount with grapevines, I had a go at the Ezequiel. He could see it coming, and prevented me from properly blocking off his carotoid with my gi sleeve. I switched back, then worked to technical mount, looking for more chokes. Again, he defended well, so I couldn't work the grips I wanted. I could possibly have gone for an armbar, but I was hesitant as in that position, I thought he'd have too much room to escape. In retrospect, I probably should have gone for it anyway, after attempting those chokes for a while.
26 May 2009
26/05/2009 - Nova Força
Class #225
Nova Força Epsom (BJJ), Ricardo Da Silva, Epsom, UK - 26/05/2009
Ricardo ran a tough warm-up today, or at least it was for me: reminiscent of the lessons Jude used to run back at RGA. Class also started earlier, as the mats were already down by the time I cycled in at 08:20, but finished the same time as usual.
First technique was an armbar from the back. You have one hook in, with your other leg based out behind you. The hand on the same side as the hook reaches through their armpit to their collar, while your other hand grips their other elbow. Note that you're not directly on their back, as they could easily roll you off, but instead slightly to the side (useful tip from brown belt Tim, who was really helpful throughout the technical part of class).
On the side where you're hooking, bring out your arm to base. The aim is to get them to try and grab that arm (which is why you're holding the other elbow: if they reach with the opposite arm, it messes up the technique). You can now push down their head, then swing your rear leg up, putting the shin on the back of their head.
Next, swivel under their outstretched arm, simultaneously scooping with your free arm, trapping it in the crook of your elbow (make sure their arm is twisted as you do so, until their thumb points directly away from your body). Also keep turning the rest of your body, so that the leg which was on their head goes right under their arm, knee up. You should now have their arm squished between both your knees, at the same time controlling it with both of your arms. That puts you in perfect position to secure the armbar.
In the likely event that they try to roll forward to escape the technique, stay where you are. You can still finish from the same position, using your shin across their neck to keep them from sitting up.
Ricardo followed that with a sweep, which I think I've seen on an old Fabio Gurgel video. Begin by breaking their grip: Tim demonstrated how to do this properly. Both your hands are on top, bunching up the gi material, then you yank their arm up and towards your head.
You can now pull the arm past their body and immediately bring your own arm over their back, then spin on top. You'll still have one foot by their hip, which you turn towards the floor as you move to their back.
Your free leg steps out, also basing with your arm for balance, while your other arm grips their same side elbow. To finish the sweep, push off with your free leg and pull their elbow in, rolling them into a variation of mount.
After some takedown sparring, where I fumbled as usual effectively waiting to be thrown, my first free spar was with Lindsey. Like last week, I was looking for triangles, but couldn't quite secure the right control. I'm able to get my legs up and crossed, pulling their body in, but then they normally slip their arm free and posture up.
There were no rests today, so straight into the next spar, with a brown belt (Jared, I think?) This time I spent the whole spar trying to escape, mainly from knee-on-belly. I was able to squirm free on a few occasions, but I need to shrimp more, and also bring my knee to my elbow to stop them simply replacing the position. Eventually got caught in an armbar at the end, but presumably he was going easy, so could have secured something else earlier on.
Third spar was with a big, aggressive white belt, exactly the kind of person I tended to avoid at RGA. Its good to experience that kind of roll once in a while, though its not something I enjoy. After repeatedly posting on my face (legitimate technique, but again, not something I'm used to), he was able to lock on an Americana from side control. I worked my way free by turning towards the arm, but later he was able to lock it on again.
This time I was able to get on top in his guard, so I thought that would give me leverage to escape. I was wrong: he cranked it from his guard. I assume that you should be able to prevent that when you're on top, but I didn't want to risk my shoulder. In fact, probably should have tapped earlier, so we could restart and I could work some other position.
I also had the dubious pleasure of being stuffed into his armpit, where he was trying to smother my face. Getting my head squeezed wasn't pleasant, but I still had enough room to breathe. Not exactly sure what he was going for, but probably needed to adjust something to secure the submission (maybe get his arm under my chin).
Finally, I rolled with Mark, who like last week was looking for chokes: another useful reminder to be more careful about protecting my neck! For my part, I was still looking for triangles, but as with Lindsey, couldn't stop them slipping out. It was a little more varied than just from guard this time, as I was also playing with the reverse triangle from under side control, as well as sort of jumping into a sloppy triangle from open guard.
I think the problem was that I failed to control the head, so their posture wasn't properly broken. I should have been pressing down on the back of the head, then adjusting my legs from there to get into position. I also need to review my defences to the Americana, as I don't think I'm doing that right either.
Nova Força Epsom (BJJ), Ricardo Da Silva, Epsom, UK - 26/05/2009
Ricardo ran a tough warm-up today, or at least it was for me: reminiscent of the lessons Jude used to run back at RGA. Class also started earlier, as the mats were already down by the time I cycled in at 08:20, but finished the same time as usual.
First technique was an armbar from the back. You have one hook in, with your other leg based out behind you. The hand on the same side as the hook reaches through their armpit to their collar, while your other hand grips their other elbow. Note that you're not directly on their back, as they could easily roll you off, but instead slightly to the side (useful tip from brown belt Tim, who was really helpful throughout the technical part of class).
On the side where you're hooking, bring out your arm to base. The aim is to get them to try and grab that arm (which is why you're holding the other elbow: if they reach with the opposite arm, it messes up the technique). You can now push down their head, then swing your rear leg up, putting the shin on the back of their head.
Next, swivel under their outstretched arm, simultaneously scooping with your free arm, trapping it in the crook of your elbow (make sure their arm is twisted as you do so, until their thumb points directly away from your body). Also keep turning the rest of your body, so that the leg which was on their head goes right under their arm, knee up. You should now have their arm squished between both your knees, at the same time controlling it with both of your arms. That puts you in perfect position to secure the armbar.
In the likely event that they try to roll forward to escape the technique, stay where you are. You can still finish from the same position, using your shin across their neck to keep them from sitting up.
Ricardo followed that with a sweep, which I think I've seen on an old Fabio Gurgel video. Begin by breaking their grip: Tim demonstrated how to do this properly. Both your hands are on top, bunching up the gi material, then you yank their arm up and towards your head.
You can now pull the arm past their body and immediately bring your own arm over their back, then spin on top. You'll still have one foot by their hip, which you turn towards the floor as you move to their back.
Your free leg steps out, also basing with your arm for balance, while your other arm grips their same side elbow. To finish the sweep, push off with your free leg and pull their elbow in, rolling them into a variation of mount.
After some takedown sparring, where I fumbled as usual effectively waiting to be thrown, my first free spar was with Lindsey. Like last week, I was looking for triangles, but couldn't quite secure the right control. I'm able to get my legs up and crossed, pulling their body in, but then they normally slip their arm free and posture up.
There were no rests today, so straight into the next spar, with a brown belt (Jared, I think?) This time I spent the whole spar trying to escape, mainly from knee-on-belly. I was able to squirm free on a few occasions, but I need to shrimp more, and also bring my knee to my elbow to stop them simply replacing the position. Eventually got caught in an armbar at the end, but presumably he was going easy, so could have secured something else earlier on.
Third spar was with a big, aggressive white belt, exactly the kind of person I tended to avoid at RGA. Its good to experience that kind of roll once in a while, though its not something I enjoy. After repeatedly posting on my face (legitimate technique, but again, not something I'm used to), he was able to lock on an Americana from side control. I worked my way free by turning towards the arm, but later he was able to lock it on again.
This time I was able to get on top in his guard, so I thought that would give me leverage to escape. I was wrong: he cranked it from his guard. I assume that you should be able to prevent that when you're on top, but I didn't want to risk my shoulder. In fact, probably should have tapped earlier, so we could restart and I could work some other position.
I also had the dubious pleasure of being stuffed into his armpit, where he was trying to smother my face. Getting my head squeezed wasn't pleasant, but I still had enough room to breathe. Not exactly sure what he was going for, but probably needed to adjust something to secure the submission (maybe get his arm under my chin).
Finally, I rolled with Mark, who like last week was looking for chokes: another useful reminder to be more careful about protecting my neck! For my part, I was still looking for triangles, but as with Lindsey, couldn't stop them slipping out. It was a little more varied than just from guard this time, as I was also playing with the reverse triangle from under side control, as well as sort of jumping into a sloppy triangle from open guard.
I think the problem was that I failed to control the head, so their posture wasn't properly broken. I should have been pressing down on the back of the head, then adjusting my legs from there to get into position. I also need to review my defences to the Americana, as I don't think I'm doing that right either.
25 March 2008
25/03/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)
Class #130
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 25/03/2008 – Advanced
The Cranach exhibition was of a high standard, as you'd expect from the Royal Academy (though I think this is merely my second or third visit: I've been to the Turkish one they had a while back, and possibly one other, but can't remember). I read an article somewhere that had somebody in a controlling position at the National Gallery stating that the role of exhibitions shouldn't be to simply run 'greatest hits' of famous artists, but rather to introduce people to new work. I'm not sure I agree: the vast majority of visitors don't have the luxury of travelling to the numerous different galleries spread around the world that such exhibitions draw upon, so I'm perfectly happy with the 'greatest hits' model. Perhaps I'm wrong on the demographic. Either way: Cranach is worth your time, and the audio guide was excellent, just like last time.
That was followed up by a meal at The Big Easy with a bunch of people from RGA. I wouldn't normally be able to make that, as its on a Friday, but this particular Easter Weekend I've staying at my sister's, who is on holiday. So, great to have the opportunity to talk at greater length. I do a lot of chatting at the academy, but its rare that I get to attend a proper social event. Of course, I still managed to get lost beforehand, even after Christina gave me directions, but I was only thirty minutes late. ;)
Training with my gf continues to be a good way to drill the basics. That's even more true since the past couple of weeks, as she has been wanting to go over the same thing, which is great for really working the fundamentals. So since , that means we've only covered recovering guard from side control, transition to mount from side, cross choke from mount and guard, defence against cross choke and the trap and roll escape from mount. This Monday I also showed her the basic armbar from guard (along with the escape) so we could start using that as a drill to warm-up.
Back to training tonight, this was the first Tuesday I'd made in some time, and only the second advanced Tuesday. Since my first, the class is now back to 1.5hrs: I think the Friday nogi might be only an hour, but not sure. Jude arrived back from Spain recently, so good to have him teaching again: though his tough warm-ups are often a bit painful for a wimp like me, I find his detailed teaching style very helpful. Both the techniques, finally, started from closed guard, which makes a nice change from the constant open guard work we've been doing with Gustavo (though conversely, its also important to see stuff from my weaker positions).
First, Jude showed us a sweep: no idea what the name is, so if anyone recognises it from the description, let me know! Grab their sleeve with both hands, one high and one low, then pull them down towards you, slipping your grip to their lower sleeve once they're in close (can hold them there with your legs). Swivel to the side and with your other arm, grab their same side gi trousers, as low down as you can.
Pull their leg up to your head, also putting your opposite leg down, keeping it tight. Using the grip you have on their trousers, bring their leg up and roll them over into your mount. Note that you'll need to maintain a good hold on their sleeve, as otherwise they can get their elbow to the floor and prevent the sweep.
The next technique was a triangle set-up starting from closed guard. You start with a cross-grip (grabbing their opposite sleeve), then with your other hand grab the fabric on their same side knee. Still on that same side, open your guard and bring your foot to their hip. Use that to shrimp out, bringing your other knee up under their arm on the inside (if you bring it up by the outside, they can wrap it with their arm and start to pass).
With the foot on their hip, push them backwards: this should stretch them out sufficiently that you can get your other foot into their bicep. Pull the sleeve you're holding across their body as well as towards you, which then means you can slip the leg pressing into their bicep over the back of their neck. Finally, hook that ankle with your other leg and squeeze for the triangle.
Guard passage began with Tanvir, who has recently moved up to the advanced class. That's good news for me, as he is around my size, perhaps even a little smaller. On top, I stayed in my usual defensive posture for much of the roll, though I did eventually force myself to stand up a few times. I shoved my hips forward like Christina often does against me (very successful: she frequently passes from there), but I couldn't quite get the position.
At one point I did manage the sprawl pass when Tanvir opened his guard to go for an attack, but yet again it was fairly sloppy on my part. I need to think more about slipping down their legs and wrapping them up, as otherwise I'm leaving myself vulnerable for sweeps etc. When we restarted, I cunningly put myself in a triangle: I was in the armbar escape position, but I think had my arms mixed up, meaning that when I jerked out an armbar, I still had one left in. Not clever, but fortunately for me, Tanvir didn't capitalise and I managed to escape. Still, good to be reminded of the very basics – always have either two arms in or two arms out!
Underneath I kept going for the kimura, but as before I could only get to the figure four grip, no further. I need to both work on getting that grip free, or alternately use it to set up a sweep. I think the problem I have with turning it into a sweep is that I don't have my hips under my partner properly. Might also be worth switching to some other attack: even if the kimura isn't available, I'm sure I should be able to do something with a solid figure four grip, just need to work out what.
Having had so much trouble with my open guard recently, I tried another tactic: don't let them stand up. However, I think I was mainly using strength, as I grabbed onto a collar and pulled Tanvir down towards me, then attacked the arm to try for a kimura. I should use my legs more to do that, as I get the impression it was only having any effect because Tanvir is around my size. That means it’s a silly tactic, because it won't work against anybody bigger than me. I also tried cinching on a guillotine, but while I could get one arm under, I couldn't then get a good enough grip to pull it tight with the other arm.
My spar with Herman went almost exactly the same way, from what I remember, both on top and underneath. Again, Herman is around my size, so I was also able to pull him down towards me, attacking the arm for a kimura. At one point he stood straight up and I dangled off him. I didn't want to let go and switch to open guard, so had a play around to see if I could bring him down from there. However, I probably should have taken it as an opportunity to work open guard some more, as I've still got the same unresolved problems from before. Time ran out before anything happened, but must remember next time somebody stands up completely to practice my open guard.
In free sparring, I began with Paxton, who showed me a triangle escape before we started. He had been rolling with Leo, who said that gripping around behind his back with the trapped arm wasn't such a bad idea, to at least hold them off for a bit. However, the main escape was to grab the top of their knee with both hand, pull that to the floor, then drive through to escape.
We decided to go from guard, which he passed without too much trouble. I couldn't quite get half-guard, having merely got a weak grip around his ankle instead of knee. I also attempted to get in the 'paw' (bent hand around the upper arm, bringing the wrist into it too), but I think my half-guard was too weak for it to be a viable position. It simply meant that Paxton made several attempts to throw an Americana on the arm, so I switched to a more defensive posture.
Once he eventually pushed through to mount, Paxton stayed tight. I had a foot trapped, so tried bumping and rolling a few times, but his arm was out of reach. Then I realised he was staying very tight on the other side, so quickly switched to that: having been used to defending the one side, I think that took him slightly by surprise, as I rolled back into his guard. Time ran out before we could go any further.
I finished up with Grant, who as ever squashed me without too much effort. I was having real trouble sliding my knee under, as well as chasing around his trailing leg to try and lock in half-guard. He was keeping his legs well away, and eventually went to full mount. I bucked away to stop him getting a good hold, but again couldn't get my legs into position for half-guard. He got some kind of grip on my collar and wrapped up a limb with my gi, and I thought I was about to be choked. However, either he eased off, content he had the position and didn't need to go for the choke, or it was looser than I thought: either way, I managed to slip out.
At the end of class, Grant finally got his blue, which has been long overdue. He's been totally dominating me every time we rolled ever since I first sparred him, and observing his sparring with other people, he's given a good account of himself against better opposition too. Despite being a fairly strong guy, he's also quite technical, so it was good to see him get the promotion.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 25/03/2008 – Advanced
The Cranach exhibition was of a high standard, as you'd expect from the Royal Academy (though I think this is merely my second or third visit: I've been to the Turkish one they had a while back, and possibly one other, but can't remember). I read an article somewhere that had somebody in a controlling position at the National Gallery stating that the role of exhibitions shouldn't be to simply run 'greatest hits' of famous artists, but rather to introduce people to new work. I'm not sure I agree: the vast majority of visitors don't have the luxury of travelling to the numerous different galleries spread around the world that such exhibitions draw upon, so I'm perfectly happy with the 'greatest hits' model. Perhaps I'm wrong on the demographic. Either way: Cranach is worth your time, and the audio guide was excellent, just like last time.
That was followed up by a meal at The Big Easy with a bunch of people from RGA. I wouldn't normally be able to make that, as its on a Friday, but this particular Easter Weekend I've staying at my sister's, who is on holiday. So, great to have the opportunity to talk at greater length. I do a lot of chatting at the academy, but its rare that I get to attend a proper social event. Of course, I still managed to get lost beforehand, even after Christina gave me directions, but I was only thirty minutes late. ;)
Training with my gf continues to be a good way to drill the basics. That's even more true since the past couple of weeks, as she has been wanting to go over the same thing, which is great for really working the fundamentals. So since , that means we've only covered recovering guard from side control, transition to mount from side, cross choke from mount and guard, defence against cross choke and the trap and roll escape from mount. This Monday I also showed her the basic armbar from guard (along with the escape) so we could start using that as a drill to warm-up.
Back to training tonight, this was the first Tuesday I'd made in some time, and only the second advanced Tuesday. Since my first, the class is now back to 1.5hrs: I think the Friday nogi might be only an hour, but not sure. Jude arrived back from Spain recently, so good to have him teaching again: though his tough warm-ups are often a bit painful for a wimp like me, I find his detailed teaching style very helpful. Both the techniques, finally, started from closed guard, which makes a nice change from the constant open guard work we've been doing with Gustavo (though conversely, its also important to see stuff from my weaker positions).
First, Jude showed us a sweep: no idea what the name is, so if anyone recognises it from the description, let me know! Grab their sleeve with both hands, one high and one low, then pull them down towards you, slipping your grip to their lower sleeve once they're in close (can hold them there with your legs). Swivel to the side and with your other arm, grab their same side gi trousers, as low down as you can.
Pull their leg up to your head, also putting your opposite leg down, keeping it tight. Using the grip you have on their trousers, bring their leg up and roll them over into your mount. Note that you'll need to maintain a good hold on their sleeve, as otherwise they can get their elbow to the floor and prevent the sweep.
The next technique was a triangle set-up starting from closed guard. You start with a cross-grip (grabbing their opposite sleeve), then with your other hand grab the fabric on their same side knee. Still on that same side, open your guard and bring your foot to their hip. Use that to shrimp out, bringing your other knee up under their arm on the inside (if you bring it up by the outside, they can wrap it with their arm and start to pass).
With the foot on their hip, push them backwards: this should stretch them out sufficiently that you can get your other foot into their bicep. Pull the sleeve you're holding across their body as well as towards you, which then means you can slip the leg pressing into their bicep over the back of their neck. Finally, hook that ankle with your other leg and squeeze for the triangle.
Guard passage began with Tanvir, who has recently moved up to the advanced class. That's good news for me, as he is around my size, perhaps even a little smaller. On top, I stayed in my usual defensive posture for much of the roll, though I did eventually force myself to stand up a few times. I shoved my hips forward like Christina often does against me (very successful: she frequently passes from there), but I couldn't quite get the position.
At one point I did manage the sprawl pass when Tanvir opened his guard to go for an attack, but yet again it was fairly sloppy on my part. I need to think more about slipping down their legs and wrapping them up, as otherwise I'm leaving myself vulnerable for sweeps etc. When we restarted, I cunningly put myself in a triangle: I was in the armbar escape position, but I think had my arms mixed up, meaning that when I jerked out an armbar, I still had one left in. Not clever, but fortunately for me, Tanvir didn't capitalise and I managed to escape. Still, good to be reminded of the very basics – always have either two arms in or two arms out!
Underneath I kept going for the kimura, but as before I could only get to the figure four grip, no further. I need to both work on getting that grip free, or alternately use it to set up a sweep. I think the problem I have with turning it into a sweep is that I don't have my hips under my partner properly. Might also be worth switching to some other attack: even if the kimura isn't available, I'm sure I should be able to do something with a solid figure four grip, just need to work out what.
Having had so much trouble with my open guard recently, I tried another tactic: don't let them stand up. However, I think I was mainly using strength, as I grabbed onto a collar and pulled Tanvir down towards me, then attacked the arm to try for a kimura. I should use my legs more to do that, as I get the impression it was only having any effect because Tanvir is around my size. That means it’s a silly tactic, because it won't work against anybody bigger than me. I also tried cinching on a guillotine, but while I could get one arm under, I couldn't then get a good enough grip to pull it tight with the other arm.
My spar with Herman went almost exactly the same way, from what I remember, both on top and underneath. Again, Herman is around my size, so I was also able to pull him down towards me, attacking the arm for a kimura. At one point he stood straight up and I dangled off him. I didn't want to let go and switch to open guard, so had a play around to see if I could bring him down from there. However, I probably should have taken it as an opportunity to work open guard some more, as I've still got the same unresolved problems from before. Time ran out before anything happened, but must remember next time somebody stands up completely to practice my open guard.
In free sparring, I began with Paxton, who showed me a triangle escape before we started. He had been rolling with Leo, who said that gripping around behind his back with the trapped arm wasn't such a bad idea, to at least hold them off for a bit. However, the main escape was to grab the top of their knee with both hand, pull that to the floor, then drive through to escape.
We decided to go from guard, which he passed without too much trouble. I couldn't quite get half-guard, having merely got a weak grip around his ankle instead of knee. I also attempted to get in the 'paw' (bent hand around the upper arm, bringing the wrist into it too), but I think my half-guard was too weak for it to be a viable position. It simply meant that Paxton made several attempts to throw an Americana on the arm, so I switched to a more defensive posture.
Once he eventually pushed through to mount, Paxton stayed tight. I had a foot trapped, so tried bumping and rolling a few times, but his arm was out of reach. Then I realised he was staying very tight on the other side, so quickly switched to that: having been used to defending the one side, I think that took him slightly by surprise, as I rolled back into his guard. Time ran out before we could go any further.
I finished up with Grant, who as ever squashed me without too much effort. I was having real trouble sliding my knee under, as well as chasing around his trailing leg to try and lock in half-guard. He was keeping his legs well away, and eventually went to full mount. I bucked away to stop him getting a good hold, but again couldn't get my legs into position for half-guard. He got some kind of grip on my collar and wrapped up a limb with my gi, and I thought I was about to be choked. However, either he eased off, content he had the position and didn't need to go for the choke, or it was looser than I thought: either way, I managed to slip out.
At the end of class, Grant finally got his blue, which has been long overdue. He's been totally dominating me every time we rolled ever since I first sparred him, and observing his sparring with other people, he's given a good account of himself against better opposition too. Despite being a fairly strong guy, he's also quite technical, so it was good to see him get the promotion.
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