26/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Gi Chokes & Coathanger Guard (Alexander Neufang)

Class #855
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Alexander Neufang, Leuven, Belgium, 26/07/2017

The title for this session was 'murdering people with the gi', which proved to be an apt description. It was packed with nasty gi chokes, wrapping them around the neck and punching the arm through. I had trouble getting any of them, I think due to my pressure perhaps being a little off, or not thrusting enough. Probably not the kind of techniques I'm likely to use, but certainly effective. These are all chokes that Neufang has been using successfully in competition.

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jul 27, 2017 at 12:20am PDT

Fortunately for me, the final technique was better suited to my style. I have seen something similar before, but not had it taught to me previously. I couldn't see how he set it up, but the idea is you have closed guard, then you get your foot across and hook it under their far arm. This ends up in what I've seen called the 'coathanger'. From here, you can get a sweep by pulling on that arm with your foot.

There is also an unusual choke, if you get a deep grip with your arm on the coathanger leg side, gripping the opposite collar (the one that will be on the coathangered arm side). Bring your free leg over their head and push. You can switch into a triangle too, bringing your leg over and switching. Then finally there's the option of pulling their arm across and taking their back.

21/06/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2016 | Introductory Speech, Lapel Guard & Knee Cut Counter (Chris Haueter)

Class #730
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Chris Haueter, Leuven, Belgium, 21/06/2016

Chris Haueter is a name to conjure with, a member of the Dirty Dozen and legend of American BJJ. He has also become known for delivering long, entertaining speeches, thanks to a class that turned into a lecture at last year's Leuven BJJ Globetrotters Camp. I was therefore expecting he might give a repeat performance in his first class tonight, which indeed he did. The 2016 edition of the Chris Haueter Lecture Series has been uploaded to YouTube, virtually in full:



It was an engaging talk, though personally I'm more interested in specific technique. Clearly many others were ready to sit down and get a long talk, as even when he asked for questions, many of them were about street fights. There was some technique in there too, focusing around the guard.

Haueter's first point was the importance of hips, head and hands, the old school approach to grappling. If somebody is trying to punch you, it makes sense to control their hands, head and hips, as then they will have trouble whacking you. Controlling the head means they can't headbutt you, a tactic that used to win a lot of MMA/NHB fights back in the day (Mark Kerr and Mark Coleman were especially successful with it).

There were lots of other interesting tidbits that came up. He mentioned that while he used to be a strong believer that everything he did should work in both nogi and gi, he has changed his mind. When standing, he recommends staying on your toes (similar to how you should be on your toes when inside closed guard too).

He talked about four 'pressures' in the guard: chokes, joint lock, sweeps and standing up. The idea here was that the person on top has to hold you in guard, as otherwise you will move around that guard (e.g., stand up, move to the side etc). Haueter also likes to get their gi out of the belt as soon as he can, from standing.

That's where he got into his first 'proper' bit of technical demonstration, on a palm up, palm down choke in the closed guard. Grab their same side lapel and same side sleeve, aiming to lock that forearm against your stomach. 'Cast' the lapel slightly open, like you're casting a line when fishing. Insert your arm gripping hand into that collar you've opened up, as deep as you possibly can.

Your arm is extended, which Haueter uses to block any punches on that side. He then swings them to the other side, swinging his body underneath in the opposite direction, elbow into their sternum. Your free hand grabs the material by their opposite shoulder, then drop that elbow into their sternum too. Square back up and choke.

He also discussed lapel guard, much to my surprise. It was cool to see how somebody with a solidly old school mindset approaches a new school technique. Pull out both of their lapels, gripping inside their arms, while they are in your closed guard. Pull out as much as you can on one side, gripping that with both of your fists. Move that off onto their arm, which can lead into all sorts of chokes. You can try reaching an arm around their head, passing the gi tail to that hand and locking it off. Your other hand stays inside, under their chin. Drive that chin-hand up while pulling with your gi grip for the first choke.

Another option, bring their gi around their head instead of your arm, gripping the end with your same side fist. This time, you close off the choke by grabbing your gi-gripping wrist with your other hand to bar across their neck. Pull the gi and apply pressure with your arm to finish. It's even possible to simply wrap the gi all the way around the neck, getting the pressure from ratcheting your arm with a single hand gripping. You can also attack the arm, wrapping the gi tail over their upper arm, then pushing their wrist: the gi becomes the fulcrum for the joint lock. You can use that same gi grip to stop their arm posting, moving into a scissor sweep.

I got in a technical question myself, about the knee cut counter, my main focus for this camp. When you ask Chris Haueter a question, like some other old school instructors I've seen (e.g., Rickson), he will get you to show what you mean before answering. That meant I needed to put my phone down to head over and demonstrate. Fortunately for me, the very awesome Oscar picked up my phone and immediately started filming, so I have it all on my phone after all. Thanks again, Oscar! :)

First off, keep them constantly off balance. If they are leaning in towards you, attempt to lift them up, possibly even over your head (Haueter used a de la Riva hook to help with that). If they are leaning back, he keeps the pressure, holding the heel of the knee you want to cut, also with a firm grip on the other lapel. Should they manage to start that knee cut, make sure they can't push your opposite should flat, as that really stuffs your counters. If they pull up on your arm, even worse.

If they try to push you flat, drive your shoulder in hard. If they pull up on your arm, reach behind their knee cutting leg, lock in a strong quarter guard. As they pass, come up, scramble, wrestling to get back to a good position. You might end up back in guard, but that's still better than being passed. This would be far from the last time I asked about knee cut counters: by the end of the camp, I had done three private lessons on the same topic. ;)

11/07/2007 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #70



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 11/07/2007 – Advanced

I was thinking about going along to the beginners class, but the department meeting made the decision for me: it ran until six something, meaning I was only able to make the advanced session as usual.

All the techniques tonight followed on from the same set-up. From closed guard, you start by opening up their gi, then pulling them down towards you. Simultaneously, grab the fabric of their lapel edge down the bottom of the gi with your same side hand (let’s say the right). Pull that up and around their neck, switching your grip to the left hand and dragging down tightly. Having got them in close, you then feed the lapel back to your right hand, getting a deep grip on their collar. Your left hand grabs the material behind their head firmly. Maintaining that hold, you bring your left forearm over, then press it into the other side of their neck, tightening for a cross choke using the lapel (if I'm using the right term there?).

If they manage to defend that choke by grabbing their own gi and bringing their elbows in tight, you shrimp out to one side, still maintaining your grip on the collar. Take a firm hold of their gi behind the head, then pull them down forcefully into your other forearm. This will either choke them or crank the neck – either way, painful!

Alternately, if they instead grab onto your arm, one elbow into your chest to prevent the omoplata, you first push that elbow down to the floor. Move to the side away from that elbow, still staying tight. Reach over their back to their elbow and pull it up. Your right leg moves up their body as you continue to pull on their elbow, pushing off with your other leg to roll over into mount. As you should still have a tight grip on their collar under their arm, lean forward to keep the arm trapped, step over their head, then fall back for the armbar. Remember to maintain your grip on the collar until you can secure the submission with your free arm.

Finally, you can do exactly the same thing up until your reach over to grab their elbow and pull up. This time, instead of bringing your right leg up their body, you drop it down to their same side knee. Pulling on the elbow will now make them swivel onto your stomach (its painful on their shoulder if they try to resist), meaning your can put the hooks in a take their back.

Class finished up with free sparring – there was no specific work from guard passage or something along those lines. I started off with the purple belt I’d been drilling with, a guy roughly my height called Kevin. He was a good training partner, opting for the educational role that senior belts sometimes take. He took it fairly easy on me in sparring: seemed particularly fond of going to knee on belly. I tried balling up when under side control as he was switching to north-south, but not sure if it had any effect: he went to knee on belly, which he may well have done either way.

Main tips I got from Kevin was not to simply let the other person pull me into guard. When they’re leaning back and baiting you into coming forward, grab the material inside of their knees, stand up keeping good posture, then push their legs to one side and go round to side control.

After Kevin, I had a chance to spar Dominique for the first time in ages. She’s certainly gotten a whole lot better since I last rolled with her: I wasn’t able to sweep her at all, which previously I’d been getting. I was able to get to guard, which is a position I’ve only rarely fond myself in advanced classes up to now. and that gave me a chance to go on the offensive. I tried out the armbar technique Colin showed me at the throwdown a couple of months ago, where once you’ve got a leg up by their head to go for an armbar and can’t get it, you simply switch your shin across and try to submit them on the other side. Seemed to work reasonably well, although I’m not sure how tight I had it – initially eased off prematurely because I thought Dominique had tapped (though definitely better to be in the habit of letting go too early than letting go too late, especially in a class setting. Not a great idea to injure regular training partners!).

At one point in guard I brought my leg over the arm thinking about an omoplata, but then completely forgot the rest of the technique, so ended up moving back to guard. I put Dominique in position for a scissor sweep, push sweep, flower sweep and elevator sweep, but only got anywhere close to finishing the last one. I think I need to work the position better before attempting to sweep, as all too often I’d go for a sweep and Dominique would start to pass. I also got stuck in her half-guard at one point, and couldn’t escape: I managed to get an Americana instead, but I think that was mainly because she’d left an arm outside, rather than any kind of set-up on my part.

After sitting out one or two spars, I finished up by rolling with Oli. As an assistant instructor, he’s always great to spar because he’s keen to give out advice. He allowed me to get to guard, where I couldn’t do a great deal, but did have a chance to try some more escapes from the triangle. Oli assured me I had the right idea by posturing up or pushing knee, but should have taken advantage when he readjusted his leg position. At that point I could have pulled my arm out, but was thinking too much about posturing up and pulling back instead.

I also tried to drop down to a single-leg takedown after he stood up in my guard. This worked ok against Dominique, but I wasn’t doing it right. Instead of hooking the leg first and then using my bodyweight to slip down and drive through, I was hooking it after coming down, meaning they could take my back. So, as with sweeps, must remember to get in position first.

Jude is on holiday until September, so I’m guessing Felipe or one of those visiting Brazilian black belts will take over for that period. Somewhat of a shame, in the sense that it means Jude won’t be at the Bristol Open to coach us and drink afterwards. Assuming that I do compete, of course – I’m currently hoping to enter the -64kg category. Should be a cool experience, both in terms of sparring someone outside of RGA and the socialising involved.