08/11/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Roger Choke from Mount

Class #602
Artemis BJJ (PHNX Fitness), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 08/11/2014

Eight years ago today, I attended my first official class of BJJ (I did my intro class with Oli Geddes a few days before, so I alternate between thinking that's a good start and this). While updating my training spreadsheet just now, I also realised that I've been training in martial arts for twenty years. Well, I wasn't doing anything from '95 until I went to uni in '99, unless horse-riding counts as a martial art, so it's only technically twenty years. Anyone, I'm going to celebrate by trying to finally get into country music, for some reason. Like this: if you've got any pre-1993 country music recommendations in that vein, let me know. :)

In much more exciting "oh look, I've been training for quite a long time now" news, two brilliant bloggers have hit milestones. Firstly, the blogger I've long seen as essentially my American female counterpart in blog terms has finally gotten her purple belt. Congratulations Leslie from BJJ Grrl (who I at last met in person a few months ago), very well deserved! You can check out her thoughts on getting that promotion here and here, along with the two-part interview I did with her back in April, here. Secondly, MegJitsu is celebrating a decade of BJJ, starting here. :D

As Paul mentioned he wanted to work on the collar choke, I decided to go with that for drilling today. I started off with Roger's choke, based on the great lesson Sahid did a few years ago. I've seen this choke taught a few times over the years, including by Roger himself, but it isn't one I've had much success with myself. I'll land the ezequiel occasionally, that's about it.

Starting from high mount, keep low, your arm based out, putting your head on the same side to concentrate your weight. Remember to keep your feet tucked under their bum for control. Your other arm goes under their head, cross-facing, using your shoulder to turn their head towards your basing side. It should now be tough to bridge you off. It is also important that you are really tight with your chest, so that there is no space for them to slip an arm inside to defend their neck.

Grab their same side collar with your basing arm, or just the material by their shoulder. This isn't going to be involved in the choke, as at this stage, you are simply looking to yank the gi material to your basing side. That should take out any slack. The grip comes next, as you pull your arm out from behind their head, instead reaching through (raising up as little as possible) for that collar you've carefully prepared. Grasp with your four fingers, palm facing up. Your free hand can continue to cinch up their collar if it still isn't tight enough.

That's the part that felt a little weird. It commits my basic arm to pulling on something rather than basing, meaning I feel vulnerable to getting reverse as my other arm is still under their head. For me the more natural option is to drive my first grip in, while I still have the support of my basic arm. It is handy to open up that space with the basing arm, but I find I don't need to open up the space if I start low on their lapel and shove through from there.

So, to do that shove, if they are blocking with their arms, pull open their collar low on their lapel (or at least lower than their elbows. You don't want to get stuck trying to yank out the collar from directly underneath their tightly crossed arms). You can then slide your arm through. I had some great advice from Roger himself on this, in regards to getting extra leverage. Brace your own elbow against your hip. You can then wriggle forwards, driving your arm in front of you. Also form your hand into a wedge, as this will help cut past their blocking arms.

Either way, once you have the grip, lift them up towards you slightly, twisting your hand so that you create a small gap between their neck and collar. Into that gap, insert the thumb of your free hand, to establish your second grip. You can also drop your elbow to the other side, so that you're pressuring into their neck.

Slide that thumb behind their head to the other side of their neck. As you do, also move your head to the other side of their head. Next, bring the arm of your thumb grip to the other side of their head, 'shaving' close to their face. This is to set up the choke, putting your wrists on both sides of their neck.

Once you've got the thumb arm into position, so that both carotid arteries are blocked off, move your forehead to the floor directly above their head. Twist your wrists and drop your weight into them to finish the choke. Roy Dean provides a handy pointer here, which is to shift your hips forward slightly, still basing on your head. That will give you a little extra leverage, should you need it.

I also had a play with the cross choke variation from Michel Verhoeven. Insert your first hand. Establish a relatively tight grip, already beginning to twist your hand inwards (remember the butterfly thumbs!) and raising your partner towards you slightly. If you can't get past their defending hands, there is the nasty option of digging your thumb along the jawline. I'm not a big fan of that as I find it too brutal, so prefer Verhoeven's other suggestion. Bring your second arm around to the other side of their head, then 'shave' back across their face to position that arm by their neck. Grab a handful of gi by their shoulder, then drop your elbow so your forearm is over their throat. This second arm doesn't move after that point: the choke comes from twisting the first hand and drawing that first elbow back.

Paul was an excellent drilling partner as usual, enabling me to gradually build up the resistance from practicing the choke up into specific sparring. The two big difficulties for the cross choke are firstly getting your grips (the initial one isn't too hard, but that second one is tough) and secondly getting rolled. I can resist to an extent with my forehead and knee, but if they do that little Rickson head tilt, it makes things harder (so I made sure to show that to Paul, forcing me to be a lot more careful with my base). Getting enough of a grip to pull them up isn't always easy either. Worth working for though, as lifting up their head makes it far less difficult to insert a thumb and swing the arm around to the other side. The Verhoeven variation doesn't require that swing, but you still have to overcome their block on the other side.

I'm also trying to finally overcome my aversion to the armbar (because I worry about losing position). The advice from a cool visiting purple belt has been massively useful: when you get a figure-four, never let go. I've been putting that into practice to get the armbar from mount. If I can lock on a figure-four as well, I feel a lot more secure. It enables me to slide my knee through if I'm in a failed kimura position, slipping into the armbar. I couldn't remember Rafal's nifty grip break, but the simple 'kick their grip' option worked.

Underneath, I'm continuing to rely on the heel drag way too much, but unlike my over-reliance on the running escape under side control, the heel drag regularly gets me back in guard. It doesn't become a stalling position. Still, I am trying to use the upa more often, along with the bump to butterfly. Eventually I will run into somebody who can completely stuff the heel drag, so I need to other options.

Sparring with a purple belt, the same problems are cropping up for me. The biggest is that my open guard is way too easy to pass. I continually end up on one side of their body while they knee cut through the other side. I need to re-read my notes from that private lesson with Kev, as that's exactly what we covered. I'm not diving in for my preferred tripod/sickle sweep combo like I should be, so that would be a good start.

24/08/2013 - Michel Verhoeven (Rickson Black Belt) Seminar

Seminar #013
The Dojo Sidcup, (BJJ), Michel Verhoeven, Sidcup, UK - 24/03/2013

For many years, Rickson has possessed a mystical aura in BJJ, a remote demi-god whose knowledge was shared with a select few. More recently, Rickson has been increasing his seminar schedule, holding his first ever European seminars last year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it in 2012 to train with the man himself, but I can make it to London to learn from one of his disciples.

When Al (who writes an excellent blog I've enjoyed for several years: like Rickson, he dispenses his wisdom infrequently ;D) mentioned that a Rickson black belt would be teaching in Sidcup, I therefore decided it was about time I experienced the legendary Rickson style. I was also intrigued by the prospect of learning from a Dutch black belt, due to the potential of getting an interview as well (which Al kindly set up for me). Up until now, I've only interviewed people from Brazil, the USA and the UK.

Update July 2016: You can listen to that interview now, as it's the first episode of the Artemis BJJ Podcast

Michel 'Babytank' Verhoeven started training jiu jitsu at the age of 13 in 1999, under Harold Harder (who had himself first met Rickson in 1996). Verhoeven is now a black belt under Rickson and head of Rickson Gracie Jiu Jitsu Holland, a growing organisation that is bringing Rickson over for a second time in October (which again I can't make, as it's my mum's 60th). Verhoeven's presence in the UK was organised by Paul Finn, who runs the Sidcup Dojo where the seminar was held.

Update Nov 2013: I did finally make it to a Rickson seminar, in November. No offence to Rickson, but for me, Michel's seminar was both better and cheaper. ;D

Verhoeven demonstrated his commitment to the basics immediately. During the warm-up, he took the time to not only correct how somebody was shrimping, but also showed the proper application. You might think that to correct a shrimp, you would tell the person to push off their foot more, perhaps raise their hips. Verhoeven told them to go into the defensive posture they would use under side control, then showed how they need to adjust to prevent him from easily pushing them flat on their back by pressing on the shoulder. This then fed back into the proper way to shrimp, keeping in mind the positions in which you might use that shrimp. It set the tone for the day: fundamentals with key details, which is exactly what I was hoping to learn.

Next up was takedowns. After 'self defence' drills, this is my least favourite part of jiu jitsu. It is therefore a testament to Verhoeven's teaching that it was both useful and engaging. That's because he did not begin with a load of throws. Instead, keeping the basics theme, he talked about takedown posture, which I find far more helpful. This followed on from another running theme in the seminar, dubbed 'game planning' by Verhoeven. What he means by that is essentially sparring followed by commentary. He had two of the white belts (who made up the majority of attendees: apart from them, it was just me, Al and a Carlson blue belt, Mike) briefly spar from standing. That became his example for some pointers on grips and posture.

The idea is that you stay solid while your opponent is bouncing around trying to yank you off balance. You react when their leg is in range or there is some other opening for a takedown. I'm not sure I quite got all the details, as I had slightly different advice from Mike and Al, but Mike's perspective was to jam your fist into the pec upon which the collar was resting. Keep that relatively firm, but as Verhoeven said a number of times, don't completely extend your arm, leaving a very small bend. As they push into you, use your fist into their chest to prevent their forward motion. As they pull back, follow them with your fist. This reminded me of what Sean Cooper said last November when I was in Texas, regarding the Rickson seminar he had attended and the importance of 'connection', something that would be mentioned numerous times today.

Al spoke about expanding and contracting, again in reaction to them pulling and pushing. This was also combined with putting your weight onto your front leg (for when they were pushing, I think), then the back leg if they pull. From what Al said, although that's counter-intuitive, the reason you load up your weight on the front leg if they push is that if you rely on the back leg, you have nothing behind it should they push you further. I think you expand your arms, flaring your elbows a bit, when they pushed, keeping an arm almost straight into them (I think like Mike described, but not quite the same?). Then you do the reverse when they pull, dropping your elbows a bit closer together and sinking your weight onto your back leg. Verhoeven mentioned this was something that takes a fair bit of practice, as it also needs good timing.

Verhoeven then demonstrated three throws. The first and last I think are standard judo techniques, seoi-nage and osoto-gari (though he doesn't kick through on the osoto-gari, instead saying that just placing your leg behind theirs as a brace is sufficient). The middle ones were more akin to what you can find in the rear takedown from Lesson Twenty Nine of Gracie Combatives. Start by opening up their elbow and collar by lifting your arms (something we had done as a separate drill earlier), then duck underneath, driving your near knee to the ground while stepping the other up. Keep your head raised to avoid guillotines, then spin to their back.

Put you head in between their shoulder blades so they can't connect with your skull by flinging elbows backwards. If they are upright, drive your hips into them to lift, then drop them back into the space you created. I was a bit nervous of trying that one, as I was concerned I might hurt my back if I messed it up. The second option was less nerve-wracking, as that was the same drop to the mat and pull them over your leg technique Rener shows on his DVD. Verhoeven noted you want to get your arm out of the way to stop them landing on it. I wasn't able to pull this off smoothly (unlike Al, who does it beautifully), mainly because I'm (as usual) over-cautious about committing to the move.

We continued into more comfortable territory with the groundwork, as Verhoeven began with a brief drill on maintaining mount. This was reminiscent of Dónal's method for taking the back in his ezequiel series, as the drill involves staying on your toes as they roll to their belly. You simply follow them sideways: the goal is to get used to having them roll through without letting yourself get stuck to them, as then you'd fall over and they'd end up on top.

That was as far as maintaining mount went (though submissions returned later), progressing instead to escaping the mount. Verhoeven first had us drill bridging in isolation, so he could work out if people were doing it right. Apparently only two people were. Bridge as high as you can, while also turning to one side: this is a significant turn, meaning that you body ends up twisted, your head looking in that direction. Verhoeven could then lead us through the upa escape from mount. The main detail he added which I'm not too familiar with is his grip. I'm used to grabbing the wrist and elbow, either behind the elbow (Rener style) or the crook of the elbow. Verhoeven's method depends on what they did. If they have their elbow out, push it towards their other hip, then grab the gi material of their upper arm and use that for your grip, pulling them down tightly.

The elbow escape instruction was helpful too. Verhoeven began by reaching across to the opposite hip with his hand. As with the tips on stand-up posture, keep your arm slightly bent. Push into that hip, then shrimp, using your free elbow to prise open their same side knee. Pop the knee through, pushing off that to make more space, then prise their other knee open. Once you get the leg out, wrap their leg with your outside leg, which becomes a base point to help slide your other leg out between their legs.

If they are a bit higher, use both of your hands to make a frame. This looks a bit like the recent video Stephan Kesting put out on framing, though he prefers to make a fist, as he feels that makes the frame stronger. The third option, for when they're pressing their hips down (as I like to do in low mount) is to go for the heel drag, still pushing into their opposite hip to help scoop up their leg. If you are having trouble reaching for the opposite hip because they haven't left any space, do a series of small bumps with your hips to create the room for your arm to slide under. This is what Verhoeven did when he used me as an uke for mount escapes, because I like to hold that low mount where I try to prevent them having much space (which is of course rather tougher to do on a black belt ;D).

The last section of the seminar was on submissions from the mount. I was extremely pleased at the selection, because almost all of them are techniques I've been looking to improve in my own game. The cross choke details were especially useful, as I realised I've been doing something fundamentally wrong for years: twisting my wrists the wrong way. I've been twisting them outwards when I should have been twisting them inwards. My training partner Martyn related a good tip for remembering this, which he'd heard from Allan Manganello (another Rickson black belt). If you cross your hands in front of you with the palms facing you, adjust your hands so the thumbs are touching. Now twist them so that the thumbs stay pressed against each other: if you twist the other way, you're opening up space. Genius.

Verhoeven's process is to insert your first hand, then bring your second hand underneath. Establish a relatively tight grip, already beginning to twist your hands inwards (remember the butterfly thumbs!) and raising your partner towards you slightly. Put your head on the mat above the shoulder your top hand is pointing towards, then twist and draw your elbows backwards to finish the choke. Don't flare your elbows, as then they can defend the choke by pushing those elbows back together.

If you can't get past their defending hands, there is the nasty option of digging your thumb along the jawline. I'm not a big fan of that as I find it too brutal, so prefer Verhoeven's other suggestion of flowing into another technique, such as wedging under their elbow and moving into a gift wrap. There was also a variation to the choke when you can only get one hand in, bringing your second arm around to the other side of their head, then 'shaving' back across their face to position that arm by their neck. Grab a handful of gi by their shoulder, then drop your elbow so your forearm is over their throat. This second arm doesn't move after that point: the choke comes from twisting the first hand and drawing that first elbow back.

Finally, there was a relatively straightforward application of the ezequiel choke, though Verhoeven does this differently to Dónal. He doesn't like to use less fingers for greater range, instead preferring to switch to the fist variation if you can't land the cleaner option. Driving your fist is certainly effective, but like digging across the jaw line, I would normally transfer to something else in that situation. In this case, that would be the next stage of Dónal's ezequiel series, the tight americana against the leg.

The more standard americana from mount followed, where once again, Verhoeven had a simple but significant tip. Instead of focusing your efforts on pushing their wrist to the floor, grab their wrist then concentrate on getting your elbow to the mat, by their head. For some reason, this seems to be a lot more effective at getting both your limbs and theirs in the right position to complete the americana. Martyn mentioned 'revving the motorcyle' here, another useful detail I often forget: in other words, curl your wrists up. If you lose the americana because they straighten their arm, you can flow into the straight armbar, much like the Roy Dean lockflow I like from side control.

Verhoeven finished off with an armbar from mount. I don't generally go for armbars from mount because I hate losing position, but it is something I should keep in mind as it's such a core submission from there, for teaching if nothing else. Verhoeven's application starts by grabbing their opposite tricep with one of your hands, using that to pull them up onto their side, so you can slide into technical mount. Post your free hand by their face, in order to swing your leg past their head. Don't drop back yet: first, wrap their arm with both of yours, grabbing your own collars, then raise your elbows and thrust your hips forwards.

That has two advantages. Firstly, it straightens their arm out. Secondly, it puts your hips closer to the shoulder. Together, that means when you do drop back, you're in a better, tighter position. That also means that the armbar comes on quicker, so be careful you don't crank this suddenly, or you're at risk of hyper-extending their elbow before they've had time to tap.

After some more game planning, it was time for free sparring. I decided against taking part this time because I wanted to make sure I was ready to head off and catch my train, so got changed instead (which also meant I could display the fabulous Pony Club Grappling Gear spats I'd been wearing under my gi, plus take a few quick photos for this post). However, I didn't escape getting smashed by a black belt today, as Verhoeven had grabbed me for a quick light roll before the seminar. In my attempts to escape technical mount, Verhoeven noted that I could have gone for a double shin sweep and come on top, something I need to remember.

I also went to my favoured running escape, but Verhoeven did the same thing Sahid does, trapping my trailing leg with his knee and effectively stymieing the escape as a result. As normally happens with higher belts, he eventually secured a collar for the choke. However, unlike some higher belts, when I used the poor defence of popping my collar up over my chin, Verhoeven didn't choke my face. He instead calmly waited for an opportunity to bring his other limbs to bear so that he could get the submission more smoothly. Always appreciated, and another reminder to be more careful of my neck when I'm flailing around with the running escape. :)

Thanks again to Paul, Al and of course Michel: I look forward to future seminars! It was five hours of technique, but because everything was fundamental I could concentrate – and more importantly, retain – some of those key details that make all the difference. This is exactly what I'm interested in, depth rather than breadth. I would much rather refine a collar choke or an elbow escape, as opposed to something flashy (or just outside of the game I'm trying to build for myself and my teaching) that I'll most likely never use. Next time I'll make sure I bring extra cash to buy a Babytank tank top: I was thinking recently, after all the hot weather, that I'd quite like a jiu jitsu tank top. Clearly having a black belt from Rickson gives Michel psychic powers as well as jiu jitsu skills. ;)

12/11/2012 - Roger Gracie Seminar at Gracie Barra Bristol

Seminar #10
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Roger Gracie, Bristol, UK - 12/11/2012

I was a little uncertain about tonight, as that groin injury still hasn't quite gone away: hence why I haven't trained properly in well over a month. However, when I booked a place on this seminar a while back, I decided that at worst I'd have to skip the warm-up and sparring. Even if the injury hadn't gone, I could at least take part in the important bit, which is technique.

The class was large, given that it was Roger, but not as big as it could have been, due to a 40 person limit on attendance. I don't head along to that many seminars normally (although this is my fourth this year, so clearly I attend more than I used to), but as it was the man who gave me my purple belt last year, I didn't think it was one to miss. I hear he's quite good at BJJ too. ;p

Geeza has been trying to make this seminar happen for a long time now, because not only is Roger the greatest competitor of all time (Marcelo and Xande might disagree, but meh, I'm biased), GB Bristol is also affiliated to his academy (which is unusual: most Gracie Barra clubs in the UK are under Braulio, Victor or Lagarto).

Roger started off with a method for pulling guard. I didn't join in with either the basic or more advanced method, as unfortunately jumping up and wrapping my legs around somebody would make my injured groin very unhappy. Still, it was useful to learn the technique: Roger showed how after jumping up and getting guard, you could break their posture by pushing on their leg while pulling on the collar. If that isn't working, then pushing inside their knee should help collapse their base, as well as smoothly transition into an armbar.

That was followed by a back take, still in guard. This is similar to the one I taught a while ago. Begin with the standard two-on-one grip break, where Roger noted it is important to get the hand underneath right into their wrist, so there is no space. Punch upwards then shove their arm across, bringing them in with your legs. If you can, reach round and grab their arm, so they end up in a gift wrap, but most likely they won't let you have that arm. So, you'll probably end up hooking your hand around their side or into their armpit. Hip out, then come up on your elbow. From here, you can use the leg you have over their back to swivel around and insert your hooks, but my groin wasn't up to that motion.

Continuing with that grip break, you can also move into the armwrap or overhook guard. Roger added that when you break the grip and then have control of their sleeve, bring the elbow of your controlling arm towards your head as you shoot the other arm up inside (as a random point of interest, Roger wasn't inserting his thumb to create a pocket grip in the sleeves. Instead, he grabbed straight off with his four fingers: the thumb didn't appear to come into play at all). Keep dragging their sleeve so that it goes behind your head, meaning that you can now use your head to help trap it in place. From there you have the option of a choke, but most people are going to defend it by getting their free hand in the way.


In the likely event your choke is blocked, you can switch to a pressing armbar. This is reminiscent of the attack Levo showed at his seminar, except the grips are different due to the gi. Similar to Levo's technique, shrimp out and bring one leg up their back, your other knee clamping by their chest. You still have your arm wrapped around due to your earlier grip. Move your hips out slightly (as with Levo's option, pressing into their neck

with your arm can aid you with your body positioning), to straighten their arm: their wrist should roughly be on your ribs. To finish, press down on their elbow with your arm and knee. Be careful, as this can come on fast and they also might find it hard to tap as both their arms are in awkward positions. If they twist their arm out to escape, you're set up for an omoplata.

Alternatively, there is the triangle from the overhook. If they block your choke, cover their blocking hand with your own to keep it in place. Bring your leg out from underneath that arm then jam it into their neck. Lock your feet and control their posture, by putting one or both arms around their head. At this point, Roger noted that a lot of people try to finish the triangle square on by yanking the head down and raising the hips, but that tends to be a crank rather than a choke.

Instead, it is better to create an angle, which in turn will help you get your leg across their neck rather than pointing diagonally across their upper back, then finish the triangle as normal. Interestingly, Roger also agrees with Ryan Hall that getting the arm across is not essential for a triangle. In fact, Roger feels that pulling the trapped arm all the way over their body can be detrimental, because it makes it easier for them to grab your leg and drive it to the floor, the starting point for a common triangle escape. Roger prefers to keep their elbow near your hip or stomach.

Thankfully for my injured groin, we then progressed to a side control to mount transition. Once again there were some intriguing points on a fundamental technique, which for me is infinitely better than some flashy sequence I've not seen before but will never use due to complexity. Roger commented on the numerous different leg positions, noting how sprawling your legs back will lower your weight and increase the pressure on them.

He compared that to bringing your knees in close, which takes the weight off. I was expecting him to recommend legs back, but he actually prefers keeping the knees in tight (which I'm a fan of myself, as it means there is much less space for them to manoeuvre). The reason is that he feels that having the knees in tight rather than sprawled back provides you with greater mobility, even if it is at the expense of less weight on top of them.

The key to attacking is separating their elbows from their body. If they can keep them tightly jammed to their sides with their arms crossed, it will be very difficult to initiate any kind of submission. In order to pry the elbows away from their body, you can try digging into their near armpit with your knee, but that is often hard to accomplish. More reliable is switching your base into a sort-of scarf hold, then thrusting your hips forward into their elbow until you can push it up in the air. At that point, you can switch your base back, meaning their elbow should now be stuck past your hip.

You're controlling their other arm by scooping under the elbow, looking to create an opening. If they try to push their forearm into your neck, that makes things easier. Position your chin by their wrist, then pinch that into your chest. This should help collapse their arm, meaning you can now brace your forehead against the floor.

That position breaks the general principle of not leaning too far forward in side control, but on the other hand you are fairly stable due to your knees on the near side and forehead on the far side. From there, bring your knee across their belt line. If necessary, remove your hand from under their head to help you twist their body as you slide into mount.

Finally, Roger went through his signature technique: the choke from mount. Or at least, a variation of that: technically it wasn't the choke from mount, but what Xande and Saulo call the 'double-attack'. Begin by sliding your knees further up, grabbing on their head to help pull yourself into position. However, Roger noted you should't go too far, or you will find it hard to get the space to attack their arms. Judging from his position (I was trying to put into practice John Will's precept of looking at what they're doing, not just listening to what they're saying), ideally you want your knees at their shoulder level.

Like the earlier offence from side control, this separates their elbows from their body and thereby weakens their defence. It is still a pain to get past the barrier of their arms, so Roger has a handy tip. Insert your hand, keeping the arm straight, then put your body weight behind it. You're lining up your torso behind your shoulder then leaning forward. When you get your elbow to your hip, you can switch to driving with your hip to get your hand deep into their collar.

Naturally once you have a hand committed to gripping their collar, they are going to try and bridge. To maintain your base, put your free hand on the opposite side. If they bridge in that direction, your hand will stop you going over. If they bridge in the other direction, simply move your hand. Most importantly, when they bridge, they are almost certainly going to create some room by their elbow. You can take advantage by swivelling your body, ready to go for the armbar.

Often when a major name comes down for a seminar, there are promotions. Given that there names don't come any more major than Roger Gracie, that meant a lot of promotions. There were various stripes given out, including me, along with lots of new blue belts. Diego is sadly leaving us for his native Brazil, but he goes back with a blue from Roger, which is a pretty cool leaving present. Most significant was that Liam finally got promoted to purple. To say it's been a long time coming would be an understatement. His blue belt is so faded it is almost white: that blue first went around Liam's waist before I started training! So, great to see him get a well-deserved purple from Roger himself.

01/05/2011 - The Roger Choke

Class #392
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Sahid Khamlichi, Aylesbury, UK - 01/05/2011

I got back from the Peak District yesterday, then returned to Bucks on Sunday. While I was away, my parents' new house was mostly finished, so the main job is now moving stuff over. I was there in time for some of the heavy lifting, which should continue over the next few days as everything comes out of storage. Although the temporary place near Tring has a great view, it will be nice to have something more permanent (though I will of course be moving to Bristol not long afterwards, so not all that permanent ;p).

Best thing about this new house is that it is quite close to RGA Bucks, around 2.6 miles away or so. That meant I could easily cycle over in about twenty minutes, which also means I don't have to depend on a lift or buses. Not to mention I get a good warm-up. I miss cycling everywhere, as that's an excellent way to stay fit and thin without having to make special time for exercise. Bristol (the other new house, belonging to my gf rather than my parents) is supposed to be especially cycle friendly, which bodes well.

Kev was at work putting out fires today, which meant that Sahid was taking class this time. His focus was mount, and as a Roger Gracie club, we fittingly looked in depth at Roger's version of the cross choke from mount. I've been this taught a few times over the years, including Roger himself, but it's always useful to go over the details again. As has been said many times before, it may be the first submission you learn, but it's one of the toughest to master.

I'll put up a bunch of pictures showing Roger choking out Lovato Jr in 2009, though I'm going to cheat and put them out of order: he also didn't set it up exactly the way I'm about to describe, but hopefully the photos will still help. You could also take a look at Trumpet Dan's videos, as he's spent a lot of time trying to work out Roger's technical mastery, including some private lessons. Finally, here's another video of Roger teaching the cross choke (make sure to turn on the subtitles by clicking 'CC' at the bottom right), but again not quite the same set-up.

The version Sahid taught was slightly different to the way I remember Roger teaching, but made a lot of sense (also, I think Sahid was basing it on a seminar Roger taught a while back, or possibly Roger's father). You begin in a strong mount, feet and knees squeezed in. Stay low, your arm based out, putting your head on the same side to concentrate your weight. Your other arm goes under their head, cross-facing, also using your shoulder to turn their head towards your basing side. It will now be tough to bridge you off. It is also important that you are really tight with your chest, so that there is no space for them to slip an arm inside to defend their neck.

Grab their same side collar with your basing arm, or just the material by their shoulder. This isn't going to be involved in the choke, as at this stage, you are simply looking to yank the gi material to your basing side. That should take out any slack. The grip comes next, as you pull your arm out from behind their head, instead reaching through (raising up as little as possible) for that collar you've carefully prepared. Grasp with your four fingers, palm facing up. Your free hand can continue to cinch up their collar if it still isn't tight enough.

The elbow of your gripping arm should drop to the other side of their neck, so that your forearm is uncomfortably across their throat. That's made even worse by the pressure of all your weight going forward: this should help distract them. With your grip, lift them up towards you slightly, twisting your hand so that you clear a small gap between their neck and collar. Into that gap, insert the thumb of your free hand, to establish your second grip.

Slide that thumb behind their head to the other side of their neck. As you do, also move your head to the other side of their head. Next, bring the arm of your thumb grip to the other side of their head, 'shaving' close to their face. This is to set up the choke, putting your wrists on both sides of their neck.

Once you've got the thumb arm into position, so that both carotid arteries are blocked off, move your forehead to the floor directly above their head. Twist your wrists and drop your weight into them to finish the choke.

Having covered an attack, next up was an escape from mount. This was the basic trap and roll, with a few extra details and grip variations. They are in high mount, so first you need to get them back on your hips. Put one arm across their belt line, bracing the wrist with your other hand. Push in order to scoot your shoulders back: the aim is to move yourself, not move them.

Once you're back in 'normal' mount, bump them forward with your knee. That should cause them to post out on their hands. As soon that happens, wrap around the outside of one of their arms, gable gripping your other hand and sucking their elbow in. At the same time, hook over their same side foot. To finish, bridge and roll: note that this will need to be a fairly swift motion, as otherwise they are likely to either get their foot free, wrench their arm loose, or even establish an underhook and go for a submission.

Sparring was specific from mount, so on top, I was as ever looking for a low grapevined mount and an ezequiel. Also as ever, I had trouble not telegraphing the technique: I'm trying to use my head by their face to hide what I'm doing, but it remains too obvious, so they can easily defend by preventing me getting enough space by their neck.

For once, I also had another attack to consider, which was the Roger choke we'd just been shown. Of course, that is exactly what everybody was looking to defend, so it proved tough to get the first grip established. I did at least manage to take the back at one point as they defended, but time ran out before I could work my arm under their chin for the rear naked choke or ezequiel.

Underneath, the white belt I was sparring with turned out to have pretty good control from mount. Either that, or I'm being overly reliant on the elbow escape and foot drag, with is by far my preferred route out of the mount. I was looking to bridge and roll as well, but I tend to run into trouble if somebody is able to scupper my elbow escape.

Then again, I did manage a more unorthodox escape, which I hadn't thought to try before. I first saw it on Saulo's DVD, where he shows what looks to be a sit-up sweep, but from under mount. You have to be careful about exposing your back, but it worked tonight, which was cool.

14/12/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #368
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 14/12/2010

For those of you who watched the Mark Bocek versus Dustin Hazelett fight at UFC 124 (if you haven't, skip this bit as there will be spoilers), it has inspired an interesting series of interconnected videos by an entirely disparate group of BJJ black belts, which is cool to see. That starts off with a Gracie Breakdown by Rener and Ryron, where they look at the fight from Bocek's perspective, here.

There was a fair bit of criticism on the web for the rubber guard (e.g., here, particularly as it seemed Bocek passed it pretty easily. So, 10th Planet head honcho Eddie Bravo put up this video in a thread on The Underground. Yet another black belt, Dave Jacobs, regularly posts on that forum, and seeing the video, decided that he'd put up this response. Exactly the kind of exchange that demonstrate how awesome the internet can be. :)

Class tonight started off with the clinch takedown as defence to a haymaker, from the Gracie Barra Fundamentals syllabus, which led into mount techniques. The first was a basic cross choke from mount, although instead of feeding the second hand under the first, you put your thumb in their opposite collar. Slide that arm around the head and under their jaw, after which you can complete the choke by bringing your elbows back and your head down.

Alternatively, you can move into a double-attack from mount. Set up the choke as before, but this time, they manage to block your second arm somehow. On your first arm side, bring your knee to their head. Your other knee slides up to their elbow on the far side to make space, after which you swing your lower leg towards their head, in a 'dog-leg' position. From there you can switch grips and go for the armbar, and depending on how they react, drop back and grab their near leg, or switch back to the choke (hence why it's known as a double attack).

Grabbing that near leg is important, as if you don't, they can thread their leg through and escape to their knees as you drop for the armbar. They may also have the option of the hitchhiker escape. If you grab the near leg, it is very difficult for them to turn, because in order to do so, they have to bring that leg underneath them first.

Kev finished off with a basic trap and roll escape from underneath, before moving on to specific sparring from mount. This served as a handy reminder that it makes a big difference if you don't stop at half guard: I can often snatch that leg, but progressing from there can be tough. I was looking to use the knee I had behind them to bump them forward, making space to recover full guard or escape. That did work, but I need to make sure I've got onto my side, rather than getting squished underneath them.

I also had a go at the escape Rob Stevens showed back at Gracie Barra Birmingham, where you put an arm across the stomach, using the other arm to simply lift their leg and trap it in half guard, aiming to move into deep half. However, I wasn't defending my neck properly in the process, so very nearly go stuck in an Ezequiel as a result. Asking Kev afterwards, he suggested turning on your side, wedging one arm into their stomach. Your other hand grips your own collar and pulls it tight: combined with shrugging your shoulders, this defends against chokes. The elbow of that same arm can be used to shove against their leg, in order to move into half guard.

On top, I was ending up in my preferred low mount with grapevines, but also trying to experiment with feet on hips too. As ever I was going for Ezequiels without much success, and also grabbed at the americana a few times: I was able to grab the hand with one hand under their head, but couldn't isolate that arm, ready to slide my arm over their head to go for the sub. I also failed to hold technical mount, though I did at least get there, which is a small improvement.

Crossing the feet underneath mount was handy too, and felt almost as if I was playing guard from on top of somebody, with the same principles of controlling with the legs. The problem there is that it's easy to get your foot squashed underneath them, so I tend to worry about my ankles if they happen to suddenly roll just right to mess it up. My partner also almost escaped by simply bringing their feet right through, which is one of the more frustrating escapes (as it feels like they shouldn't be able to do it, but somehow they get there anyway). I managed to avoid it by grabbing behind his collar, then patiently waiting to work backwards to flatten him back out, but it was close.

18/05/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #312
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK - 18/05/2010

I cleverly managed to leave my house keys at my gf's place in Bristol on Sunday, which meant I couldn't actually get into my flat until Tuesday. That also meant I couldn't get to my gi on Monday, so I shifted my schedule to the Tuesday beginner class instead. I'm very fortunate in that my gf is not only lovely, but rather more efficient than I am, so she quickly got those keys sent up to my office. Otherwise I probably would have had to write most of the training this week off.

Nathan began with some interesting drills, where the idea was to lie next to your partner in various configurations, such as head to toe or back to back on your side, then try to get to a dominant position on top as soon as Nathan shouted 'go!' Presumably the idea is to develop the ability to scramble, as well as not easily give up the mount/side control etc.

In terms of technique, tonight's session was a continuation of what Nathan taught last week. Having secured the mount, you could now go for a choke. They will most likely have their elbows in, hands crossed over, looking to defend their neck. Attack their top arm, pushing it down as if you're going for an Americana. If they don't defend then keep going, but most likely they will turn towards the arm you're attacking.

That helps defend against the Americana, but it also presents their collar to you. Reach in deep with your opposite hand, palm up. If you want to get deeper, wriggle your knuckles to work your way to their label. You can also pull up on their gi collar lower down with your other hand. Once you've established that grip, bring your free elbow around to the other side of their head, and grab behind their shoulder.

Next, scrape your forearm over their face. This can be very unpleasant, which should enable you to press your forearm into their neck. I get the impression Nathan doesn't subscribe to Saulo Ribeiro's "treat your training partner like your best friend" school of thought. Still, it is undeniably effective: my drilling partner, Sofia (or maybe Sophia, not sure on the spelling) made good use of her forearms and gi to really dig in, so that it was almost a relief when she started to apply the choke. There are going to be a lot of gi burned necks tomorrow!

I frequently have trouble getting the right position for cross chokes, so I was looking closely to identify the right position. Judging by that, you want to get the top of your wrists (so just under the bottom of your palm, on your thumb side) close to their earlobes. You then bring your elbows back (don't flare them), then twisting your hands so your palms face in the opposite direction, drag your collar hand back.

Another option is to go for the ezekiel choke, something I've wanted to get right for a good while now. One arm goes under their neck, then that hand grabs your free arm's sleeve. Pull that fabric tight into their neck. Your head is close to theirs, helping you to sneak your free hand through across their neck. You can now pull with your sleeve grip and chop with your other hand, as if you were attempting to decapitate your opponent.

If they try to bridge you off, then remember to use your head as a third arm, posting on your forehead. You can also attempt to ‘ride’ their bridge by lifting your hips, taking away their power. This is something Saulo talks about in his DVD, though possibly a little different, as he was raised up, rather than bending forward in the process of attacking with a choke.

Alternatively, you can make your free hand into a fist. Wriggle your knuckles into place, then again, press down with that hand while pulling your sleeve under their neck. In both cases, this choke is generally quite swift, whereas the earlier submission can be slow, and may require you hold it for a bit before it takes effect.

As I'm always getting my hand blocked when I try this, I asked Nathan for his advice. He suggested that if their focusing on blocking that hand, you might find you have an opportunity to scoop up under their elbow with your same side arm, launching a new submission attempt. In turn, that may act as enough of a distraction to get your hand through for the ezekiel. This is possibly what Kintanon has been advising I try, when he says you can switch from an ezekiel to an armbar.

Specific sparring was from mount, with four of us staying on the bottom for a round. I was in the first group, and found that I could generally get an elbow into their knee, and then shift to half guard. Sometimes it also enabled me to just make some space, whereupon I could bring a knee through and work into open guard. Still, it was all white belts, as the other two blues in the class were in the same group as me.

On top, I went with two white belts, beginning with my drilling partner. As I have a size advantage, I tried to stay as technical as possible, but I'm still dubious that the manner in which I shifted to an armbar would have worked against anybody bigger. Most likely I left a little bit of space when shifting my legs up, which was covered by that size difference.

It is rare that I'm bigger, but makes for a nice change. My next partner reversed that situation, as he definitely had a bit of size on me. However, I'm pleased that I was able to keep him on his back, maintaining a low grapevined mount. Reaching around to grab material on the opposite shoulder, as demonstrated by Rob a few lessons back, definitely helped. Of course, I didn't manage to launch any attacks, which is the important next step: position then submission.

There wasn't any free sparring this time, so that will wait until tomorrow's advanced lesson. Hopefully my neck won't be too sore: I'm definitely not looking forward to shaving in the morning!

07/04/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #217



Roger Gracie Academy Kilburn (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 07/04/2009 - Beginner

I was still feeling a bit sore from yesterday, after all that half-guarding, but fortunately Tuesdays are only an hour. Technique started the same as yesterday, with a half guard pass. Jude mentioned a useful additional tip when I asked, which was to push your body forward if you're having trouble getting the shoulder under their chin. That will result in pressure on their face, which will have a similar distracting result.

Also slightly different from yesterday was the option of passing to side control rather than mount. Before passing, bring your legs towards the side you want to reach. Once you've freed your leg by prying it loose, your knee should point off to the side: you then slip through into side control.

The cross choke from mount was the same as usual, with points like bringing your head down to the same side as your top arm. Jude also demonstrated two different grips for the second hand: either palm down with the thumb in their collar, then dropping the elbow across, or alternately knife-handing your way down their face to reach the collar. There was also a third, where you lift up their head, grip behind then loop your arm over into place, but Jude noted that required a fair bit of strength.

While sparring from mount I concentrated on maintaining my position, using my feet and knees to squeeze my way up their body. Normally I wrap my arm under their head and then cling on there, so I wanted to try a more upright posture this time, working my knees under their armpits.

I still couldn't get anything, as I wasn't able to dig my way past Rich's clamped arms. There was the option of shoving my gi in his face, which Rich suggested, but that is purely about causing your partner pain, with the coarse gi material acting as sandpaper. Not very pleasant, and not something I'm willing to do to a training partner. I'd much rather develop a 'clean' method of getting past the arms, rather than relying on their pain tolerance being low.

To that end, I tried Roger's technique, where you put your hand in front of the arms, then drive it through with your hip on the elbow. That sort of worked, though I generally either got swept, couldn't get a deep enough hold, or wasn't able to secure the second grip. Spent both rounds on top, as Rich has hurt his thigh.

Next was guard passage, with one of the white belts. I was looking for collar chokes, but I'm bad at setting them. Simply grabbing a collar and hoping is not too productive, so I'll need to think carefully about how I can work the submission. Same goes for triangle chokes, though I at least have some vague idea of how I want to enter into those (e.g., spider guard, like Renzo shows).

I'm also not getting my sweeps when they stand in my guard: relying too heavily on the handstand, which they're generally avoiding by basing forward. That should mean I can then pull their torso down for chokes and armbars, but again that would require some actual submission skills on my part. ;)

On their knees, I need to be more explosive with my sit-up sweep. Back as a white belt, that used to be my highest percentage attack, but only very rarely land it these days. I could try going for the elbow rather than the shoulder, like Saulo shows it (IIRC), or just greater commitment when driving for the reversal.

My first free spar was with a white belt named Fabio, who for once is closer to my size. That meant I had a lot more options, so tried a bunch of different attacks. Still mainly looking at cross-chokes and triangles, with a brief attempt at a guillotine. As ever I spent some of it in half-guard, almost taking his back but then somehow ending up underneath him with my head by his legs. My back control remains terrible: almost always find myself on the bottom in some ridiculous position, or just guard.

Finally, there was a much bigger white belt, Rodrigo. However, he didn't use his size advantage, instead trying to stay technical, which was good to see. Though he was going very light, I still wasn't able to do all that much. I had a go at a triangle and armbar from mount, but on both occasions left way too much space, so it was a simple matter for Rodrigo to escape.

I had intended to train on Wednesday, but writing this up Wednesday morning, I feel like crap. So, won't be training again until I get back from Cornwall, next Wednesday. Shame to not make my intended three a week, but if I tried tonight, I would feel much, much worse, even assuming I made it through the session pumped up on medication.

05/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #191



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 05/11/2008 - Advanced

Like millions of other people, I was pleased to wake up to the news that the US has finally emerged from the Bush years. Its also great that there is now a black man in charge of the country, although I have to admit I would much rather that it had been Hillary ushering in the first ever female presidency. Still, as that was no longer a possibility after the nomination battle, can't really complain.

Didn't make it to judo this week, but I have been along to two grappling meet-ups since my last session of BJJ, both through the Warwick Uni BJJ group. First one was last Sunday, which got a great turn-out thanks to Adam publicising the session to the judo club here on campus. We split into two groups, with Adam going through some chokes and armlocks, while I continued my usual focus on drilling basic escapes. I also added in sweeps (as I think drilling side control escapes to scissor sweep then back to side control escape to start over is really handy), which reminded me of the importance of using the power of your legs as well as arms to get your opponent off balance.

Also drilled some more open guard sweeps with Rosie, working the star sweep off of a failed handstand sweep (basically, maintaining your grip on their leg from the handstand, swing both your legs over to that side, come up facing away from your partner, then pull their ankle forward to knock them over). I'm not certain how effective it might be in sparring, but it does provide a helpful follow-up from the handstand. Injuries are something to be aware of, though, as Rosie noticed there was some potential of twisting your partner's knee if you weren't careful as you yank their ankle up.

Finished off by reminding myself of Nick's choke from the back, which was good to review, then a quick spar with Rosie. Having that two hours can be very productive, so it’s a shame that I wasn't able to book it for two hours again next Sunday: hopefully should still be able to use the judo slot from 17:00-18:00, as they don't actually do anything in that hour, normally (its supposed to be for a women's only class, which would be great, but apparently there isn't enough interest, last time I asked).

I also had another chance to do some drilling earlier today, as there's a gentleman named Lee who has been getting together some people for a bit of groundwork. From what I could tell, none of them had done BJJ before, with their experience being largely limited to traditional jiu jitsu. However, there was another guy who came along, Jack, who is quite the opposite, in that he actually has more experience than I do, having trained MMA for a few years and spent the last year teaching a class (with the qualifications to back it up, from what he said, along with at least one pro-MMA victory).

That meant that I went through my favoured basic side control bridge-and-shrimp escape followed by a scissor sweep (though I didn't demonstrate the grip on the collar too well: reviewing Roy Dean's Blue Belt Requirements DVD, I realise I should have emphasised that its up high on the collar, which sets you up for chokes), while Jack demonstrated some basic takedowns (the high crotch, if I'm using the right terminology on that one). Josh has got together the thirty names he needs to put forward a proposal to the Sports Fed to set up a BJJ club, so I'm hopeful that's going to produce something. The main concern is cost, so we'll see if there is anyone from Braulio's willing to teach at student prices. If not, some kind of submission grappling/MMA club with Jack at the helm might be a good alternative: we could use training fees to set up University of Warwick BJJ seminars with people like the aforementioned Braulio.

Getting back to tonight's class, there was a pleasing focus on basics. Roger showed us some fine details on chokes from mount, focusing on how to work your way past a tightly defensive opponent keeping their arms close. If they are grabbing their collar and you're finding it difficult to get a hand to their collar, you can use your hips to shove your arm past their defences.

First, grab the collar, then brace the elbow of that same arm against your hip. Shuffle your knees forward, using your hip to drive your arm and hand deeper into their collar. Remember to form your hand into a wedge, so that it can 'cut' through their blocking hands and arms.

Once you've got that deep grip, your partner is almost certainly going to try and bridge and roll to end up in your guard. To prevent that, you can use your free hand to base slightly above their head, and also use your forehead to post on the floor in lieu of your arm.

This means that when they bridge, this may result in them swivelling underneath you rather than rolling into your guard. Therefore you have the option of either trying to take their back, or alternately, swivelling yourself to go for an armbar. I got a little confused at this point as to direction, but the idea is to turn, then step over their head and trap their arm, letting go of the choke and securing their limb instead.

The second tip on getting the choke from mount related to a slightly different defence, where instead of grasping their collar, your partner has their hands close to their face, elbows in tight. This time, you can simply pull up on their hand, then use the space to slip one of your hands through to grab a collar. Again, use your free hand and forehead to post on the floor if they try to bridge.

To finish, drive your other hand (as before, forming a wedge with your fingers) between their head and other hand, reaching to get four fingers into their collar. From there you can now complete the choke, but keeping in mind that it is your wrists, rather than your arms, that enact the submission. Roger pointed to the significance of turning your wrists so your palms were facing away from your partner, then bending your wrists up to increase the pressure.

[Update May 2011: This video is from a few years later, but illustrates a similar variation on the technique. Make sure to press 'CC' at the bottom so that it turns red, as this enables subtitles. I've been taught another variation here, at the RGA Bucks affiliate in 2011]



Sparring started with Tran, who as ever stayed very tight. I tried to bridge and shrimp to make space, which was a good thing to practice, though it didn't lead to an escape. I need to work on combining the basic bridge and shrimp with other escapes: I tend to be a bit too singular and focus on just one rather than the other options it might flow into. I also need to watch that my partner doesn't get a knee into my back when defending the choke, which is how Tran submitted me today. I was being too complacent as he only had one hand in, but then that's all you need if you can use your knee for leverage.

Next up was Anne, where I spent most of my time in a triangle attempt by her, but I had both hands inside, so could make a frame and resist. I was trying to shuffle my shoulders forward to get back into a more secure position, but couldn't manage to make the space. I did eventually get both my arms free to go for a stack pass, but didn't raise Anne up onto my knees, so she had little trouble resisting.

Finally I rolled with Melissa again, this time finding myself mainly on the bottom rather than the previous scarf hold. My main aim was to push back her leg and get my knee through to recover guard, which I managed a couple of times, but need to set up better. I'm not too keen on doing sweeps from here, except the very simple arm sweep (as per Indrek's 'Functional Half Guard' instructional), though I should review some of the ones I've been shown (I generally find them too complex, so prefer to stick with solid, simple basics like recovering full guard).

I think its time I started thinking about chokes more, so want to take a good look at that section in The Guard. Of course, for that to be useful, I need to be better at getting back to full guard, which fits in with my long-standing half-guard goals.

21/02/2007 - BJJ

Class #31



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK -21/02/2007

Today’s lesson was all about the mount. We started with Americana from mount. Person A takes hold of Person B’s wrist with one hand and their elbow with the other. Keeping both arms straight, Person A leans their weight onto the arm, driving it to the ground, slipping an arm underneath, then pushing Person B’s knuckles back like a paintbrush for the sub. The purple belt wandering round class (Steve, I think: same guy as in January) offered a handy tip, which was to avoid the ‘monkey grip’ using the thumb.

This was followed by the basic armbar from the mount, from a choke attempt set-up. Person A gets one hand in (grab whichever collar is diagonally across from the arm you’re using), then drops their elbow down to press a forearm into Person B’s throat. That should make them automatically reach for the arm with a hand, which enables Person A to trap their shoulder by moving up a knee to Person B’s head, while at the same time pushing their body weight down on the arm. Person A brings their opposite foot up to Person B’s armpit, reaching their arm underneath Person B’s near arm. Person A then finishes off by bring their leg round, releasing the gi and securing the arm (making sure the thumb points upwards), squeezing their knees together (video of armbar).

Next up was the collar choke from mount itself. Person A feeds their first hand in through the collar (all the way through, so their knuckles press against the floor), then puts the other hand underneath that one (again, all the way through). The hold begins with the fingers inside and thumb on the collar, which then twists to tighten the grip. Simultaneously, Person A leans forward, putting their head on the same side as whichever arm they have on top. Person A then squeezes for the choke (video of collar choke).

Finally, Jude demonstrated an escape from mount. When Person A gets one arm through Person B uses their same side hand to grab a wrist. With their other hand, Person B comes underneath Person A’s arm and grabs Person A’s elbow, pulling to secure that arm. With their foot, Person B then traps Person A’s same side leg as the isolated arm, bucks Person A’s weight forward, then drags them to the side, coming up in Person A’s guard.

Sparring was ‘winner stays on’ with everyone lined up, unfortunately unavoidable due to the large class. Because there were so many people, I wasn’t able to spar all that often (not being good enough to actually sub anybody and therefore stay on), which meant it was difficult to get into a rhythm and build on my mistakes. Only rolling twice, I went for the Americana from mount both times, but that meant my arms were committed so the other person had little trouble reversing me. I was pleased I at least managed to partially get the arm down to the ground I didn’t fair much better when we moved on to guard passing.

First I thought I’d attempt the tailbone pass again, but try to slip through by twisting to the side (as I’d seen on Lockflow). I did it wrong, as simply ended up getting armbarred. Usually, when somebody goes for the armbar I can happily adjust and get both arms in, then go for the escape. This time, however, the guy I was sparring locked it quickly and soon had my arm straightened out.

The same thing happened in my final spar, against somebody with a significant height and strength advantage. That extra muscle was soon noticeable as I tried to maintain posture in guard (having been reminded by Jude after he observed my previous efforts), but got immediately yanked straight down, totally unable to resist. Again, I was put into an armbar and straightened out, although this time I didn’t have much of my other arm in.

Jude (who keeps calling me ‘Can’ like ‘tin can’ rather than the ‘jun’ in junction – understandable as my name is spelt ‘Can’. Still haven’t picked my moment to correct him: can be hard to do it without sounding rude) had also recommended that I keep my elbow in tight to my body, also making sure it was on the side of my opponents leg so they couldn’t get that leg across for the armbar (I think: might have misunderstood him). I’ve not had a session before this where I got trapped in an armbar so easily, so either I’m doing something wrong I wasn’t before, or my sparring partners are getting better. Whichever, I’ll have to be more careful from now on, making sure I can get both arms in and keeping that elbow tight. Along with reviewing previous logs, sounds like its time to give this thread on escaping the armbar a thorough read!

18/01/2007 - BJJ

Class #22



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK – 18/01/2007

Trains were fucked today due to gale force winds across the country, so I decided to leave an hour earlier than usual. I normally get to class ridiculously early anyway, so though that even if the trains were completely nuts, there was no way I’d be late if I gave myself almost three hours to get there. Turns out I was right, getting to class about 75mins before class (normally I’d be there between 30-50mins early).

Felipe took the class, which means it’s the first one by him I’ve attended this year. Tonight we covered three variations on the collar choke from mount. Each time the technique began with Person B tightly gripping their own shoulders with their arms. Person A opened up one of Person B’s lapels, then fed their hand through for a deep grip on Person B’s collar by their neck. The first variation was for Person A to then feed their other hand underneath the arm they’d already put through, securing a grip on the opposite collar. Twisting their grip, making sure their elbows were as close to the ground as possible, Person A moved their head towards the ground and squeezed for the choke. Here's a video of Aaron Fruitstone demonstrating.

The second variation was to go for an armbar instead. Having got one arm through, Person A then pushes Person B’s opposite arm across, pressing it against Person B with a shoulder. Keeping the pressure on and retaining their grip on the collar, Person A then circles round with their leg until they’re in position to bring the leg over. Felipe paused to point out the central importance of always bringing the leg over before you drop back for the armbar. So, first the leg goes over, after which Person A shifts their grip from Person B’s collar to their own, securing the arm and dropping back for the armbar. Here's Rowan Cunningham demonstrating the same technique.

Here's another video of the armbar, this time demonstrated by black belt John Will. He also covers the collar choke in the process: lots of useful pointers in the course of his demonstration.

I was working this technique with Anne, a French girl who already had a year of experience in Belfast before she started at RGA. We found that it was difficult to get the space if Person B was holding their shoulders really tight, for which Oli G advised Person A bringing their knees up for a high mount to loosen up the arms. Alternately, Person A could drop their weight and trap the arms between their own arms and legs, pushing until they have brought Person B’s arms over Person B’s head.

Finally, from the position of getting one arm through, Person A brings the other arm to the side of Person B’s head and presses back with the elbow. The aim is to raise Person B’s head, so that there is enough space to get a grip on the collar. As before, Person A then twists their grip, gets their elbows down and leans forward (head to floor) to get the choke.

Class finished with specific sparring I haven’t done before: from mount, where the top person had to submit the bottom, while the bottom had to escape into Person A’s guard. This proved very interesting, as everyone, from the senior whites to total noobies, had a much much weaker mount in comparison to when they were underneath the mount. I wasn’t able to submit anyone from on top, but I think I had a 100% success rate from underneath (unless I’m forgetting something, but either way, it was definitely in the majority). This wasn’t unusual, from what I could see – as we were doing ‘winner stays on’ sparring, the disparity was even more noticeable. Whereas normally (such as in sidemount specific sparring) the more experienced people constantly stayed on, in mount sparring it was fairly even across the class.

It was rare for anyone to take more than 30 seconds or so to reverse the person on top. That meant if you were successful, it was often preferable to ask to go on top instead. I got into a pattern of reversing three times, then going on top, except when I knew the person was much better than me. For example, I already knew that Anne was good, so elected to stay on the bottom. As I’d expected, she put up much more of a fight than the others, going for the armbar several times, though I did eventually manage to get the sweep. The same was true of an Indian guy called Ramis (I think), who also held me down for a fair while before getting swept.

I think the reason is that most of the beginner classes end with specific sparring based around a guard pass. That meant that we were all familiar with the principle of sweeping – isolate the legs of the chair – but almost entirely unfamiliar with being in mount, because as soon as we passed, that’s where the spar normally stopped.

I only managed to maintain mount for a long time against Hamid, who was only on his second session so hadn’t yet learned to isolate a leg and an arm on one side in order to sweep. It was fairly easy to get in tight hooks and ride him, so I thought I’d try for something I’d never get against someone with experience, an americana. I couldn’t get it against Hamid either, but I did at least have a chance to work it.

So a good class today. Still really need to work the guard pass, but I’m sure I’ll get plenty of opportunity to do so in later classes, possibly on Saturday. I also need to get some idea of what the fuck to do when in mount – I was attempting armbars and americanas, neither of which worked. I should really have gone for the chokes we were shown earlier, but as everyone was expecting that, arms were being held very tightly.

Next session should be Saturday, so getting in four sessions this week. Hopefully will be able to make it up to Birmingham without waiting until late evening, as the Just 15 ticket timings have changed – not sure on Saturdays, though.