18/10/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Takedowns & Spider Guard Shoulder Variation

Class #599
Artemis BJJ (PHNX Fitness), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 18/10/2014

I have never been overly fond of takedowns, but as a few students have asked about bringing the fight to the ground from standing, I decided it's time I tried adding some to the warm-up. I want something that is broadly effective, easy to learn and relatively low impact (as the mats where I teach aren't especially thick, though there are some crash mats we can use for dedicated throwing practice).

Thinking back through the throws I've learned (quite a few over the years, and I guess I did technically train judo before I started BJJ, if only briefly), I thought that single and double legs would be best, especially as they also don't require a gi. I ran through the seoi-nage just to refresh my memory, but I think that's too high impact for the beginners I teach, especially as they haven't done much breakfalling yet.

The entry for both the takedowns I wanted to use is the same. Grab their collar and elbow, pulling that up and you drop down into a crouch and shoot forward. Wrap up both legs and drive through for the double leg, or alternatively, Roy Dean's version where you slot a leg through first and then drive. That means you end up passing smoothly at best and half guard at worst, but it's a bit more fiddly than simply blasting forwards.

The single leg starts the same, except you just wrap up the one leg. Pick it up and trap it between your legs. You can either 'run the pipe' by jamming your head into their same side hip and turning, or adjust to bring your hand under their leg while the other grabs around their other hip. From there you can bump them up and drop them. For beginners, I think running the pipe is better, as they don't need to worry about lifting wrong and hurting their back or something.

Another entry is to do an arm-drag, then dropping for the leg. That could be a better option, as firstly it means they don't need a gi and secondly the arm drag is useful generally rather than just as an entry. I'll try that on Monday and see how it goes. Randomly, I also had a play with flying triangles, as I'd been reading Dave Camarillo's old Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu to refresh my memory on takedowns. I'd forgotten he doesn't have any double or single legs in there, but I did get tempted by the flying triangle. Especially with my lovely new spats, which feature an awesome samurai triangle. ;)

A very helpful purple belt at the open mat suggested the arm drag to me, along with a great drill I want to try. This is for throws like the seoi-nage where you spin in to take people down. Step in and swivel as normal, then drop to throw. Instead of throwing, roll onto the floor. That means you are working pretty much the same motion as the throw, but without the difficulties of breakfalling, keeping your back safe, placing your partner as you throw, etc

That same purple belt also shared what he was currently working on, a spider guard variation that looks fairly similar to what Xande does on his DVD. The difference is that this one has you put a foot on the shoulder rather than the crook of the elbow, also pushing into the same side hip with your other foot. The hand grips are the same as Xande, pulling on the same side sleeve (that purple uses a pistol grip, which saves the fingers, but a typical pocket grip works too) as the hip-foot side, then cross gripping the collar.

Drilling that with Paul, I found that on the bottom it enables me to be much more proactive than my usual lasso spider guard: I'm definitely going to keep this in mind next time I teach my usual lesson on maintaining spider guard. Flowing into the push sweep felt more natural, plus the sweep just shoving with your legs from spider guard felt more powerful too. Triangles are also easier and it feels simpler to recover your shoulder push if they knock off your foot.

On top, I was finding that there are some disadvantages to be aware of, due to putting the foot on the shoulder. That leaves the arm on that side free, so I was able to repeatedly use that hand to push Paul's leg off my hip, having popped my hips back. To get the foot off my shoulder was slightly trickier (I brought my hand to my head in order to use the elbow to knock the foot away), but again once I had it clear the pass was right there. So, that's something I'll need to be aware of when using this guard: perhaps just a matter of switching between the shoulder and arm? I'll find out as I play with it more.

27/12/2007 - BJJ (No-Gi)

Class #112



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 27/12/2007 – No-Gi

[I’m going to babble for a while here about xmas etc: scroll down to the bolded bit for the technical details on double legs] I asked for a few BJJ/MMA books for christmas, two instructional and two biographical. The latter were The Gracie Way and Inside the Lion’s Den: I love history, especially contemporary history, so was hoping those two would give me an insight into BJJ’s formation and the early days of the UFC respectively.

The two instructional books are Ed Beneville’s The Guard and Eddie Bravo’s Mastering the Rubber Guard. The second I’m going to be leaving until later to read in depth: I stopped a short way into the half-guard chapter, flicking through the rest (though the chapters on half-guard fundamentals looks useful, and possibly some of the more basic escapes).

The introduction was amusing, as Bravo and Joe Rogan try to tell the reader how wonderful they’ve found smoking pot (I’m not convinced, but to each their own), along with various life philosophies I can’t say I agree with either (neither is keen on monogamy, from what I gather, something I value highly). Its unusual that a book meant to help you with BJJ would spend a significant chunk of its pages talking about marijuana, but then I was expecting that from the various mixed reviews on the net. Its also clear that if you take the intro at face value, Bravo believes strongly that pot has been of great help to him personally, so not surprising he wants to talk about it: its his book (for which he got free rein from his publisher), so I don’t mind a bit of distraction before getting to the technical meat.

While those internet reviews tend to be understandably dubious about the pothead intro, the majority seem to agree that the BJJ material is fairly good, if too advanced for white belts. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, but someone posted on an internet forum mentioning the half-guard section could be useful earlier on, so I decided to give that section a try. I often find myself in half guard, but have trouble getting a sweep/escaping from there (occasionally I’ll manage to roll into their guard if they’re going for a submission and don’t quite get it, but that’s about the only time). I might give Bravo’s basic half guard stuff a try, but my main focus is still going to be recovering full guard.

Which brings me to the other book, The Guard. I had wanted to get the even more highly acclaimed Passing the Guard, but that was hard to find: I only found The Guard through a second-hand bookshop site as it was. However, apparently there is going to be an updated version of Passing the Guard next year, so I can wait for that.

As I expected, I much prefer the look of The Guard. The techniques in here are ones I can recognise, starting with a detailed look at shrimping. Beneville and Moreira also demonstrate what to do when a technique doesn’t quite work as planned, which is very helpful. Still, there’s plenty to cover in this book too, so as has been the case with my guard pretty much since I started, I’ll continue to focus on sweeps. I also want to examine the kimura in some detail, as that’s currently about the only submission I’ll go for regularly (as it’s a natural follow-up to a failed sit-up sweep).

Finally, there are a bunch of drills in The Guard which look like they could be handy for solo exercise when I’m not at class. I’ve been looking for some direction for that, so I’m pleased to have some clear examples in front of me to use.

Getting back to training, I wasn’t expecting to make any BJJ in this week, so glad the academy opened up again so soon after xmas (although its only afternoon classes tomorrows, not that I’d normally train Fridays anyway). I arrived rather too early, at 17:30, so the academy was all locked up. Having wandered around a bit to waste some time, as well as dipping into my Ted Hughes biography (I’m teaching that seminar on Plath and Lowell soon, so refreshing my knowledge of both), I almost gave up when I saw it was still locked at 17:56. However, just as I was wandering to the bus stop to go back home, Oli appeared to open up RGA.

Tonight also gave me a chance to finally try out my Bullshido shorts – I normally always roll in gi trousers. I’d be a bit uncertain about the size, as they felt kinda loose, but the drawstring did its job. Even so, I’ll probably stick with gi pants for the future, as that fabric on the knees makes more difference than I’d realised. I could buy knee pads, I suppose, which would be another option: will if any cheap ones tempt me.

Jude, who fought his way through a cold to get there, focused on double leg takedowns, going from a clinch (the one where you have a grip on the inside of their biceps, the other hand behind their neck. Over-under?).

The first one starts with you stepping to your right, then stepping back with your left. This should cause your partner to bring their weight forward, whereupon you can shoot downwards for the legs. Your right knee goes in between their legs, giving you a base from which to grab their opposite leg. Bring that up as far as you can from the kneeling position, then stand up to complete the takedown, unbalancing them so they fall to the floor.

It was a very small class today, with just me, Oli, Lubo and Luciano, so lots of useful tips. Oli advised that I need to get a grip on their elbow (with the arm that was on their biceps), then use the momentum of dropping down for the legs to push that arm up and out of the way.

Jude then demonstrated a variation which we’ve done before, but thanks to the private-lesson level of people in attendance, this time he went into more detail. This time you should come in at an angle, diagonally across their body. Your knee drives in to the ground as before, but this time you put the same side hand down for balance. Slide the other leg through, again using your arm to help, aiming to end up behind their leg. At the same time, bring your hands into position, one on top, the other as far down the leg as possible (preferably grasping the heel), then raise that leg as you stand up. That will leave you standing behind them and them on one leg, so you’re set up for a takedown.

Next, Jude showed what to do if while you’re trying to get their leg, they turn and try to escape by running off. Making sure you’ve got behind them (if you don’t, they’ll have a much easier time getting their foot free), grab their other foot as they try to get away. Drive forward, aiming to knock them to their knees, then continue driving, pulling their knees towards your as well. Ideally this will leave them on their front, in position for you to scramble up and take their back.

We followed that up with some guard passage. I went for my usual tailbone break, trying to make space to get a knee through. Oli was taking it fairly easy, with lots of handy hints. For example, I need to pay attention if my opponent manages to grab my wrist: I kept moving forward and leaving my arm exposed for Oli to grip.

Underneath I was more comfortable, even managing a sweep at one point, but that was purely because Oli was not only going light, but tried experimenting with a guard pass he hasn’t had a chance to perfect yet (the one Roger showed a while back, where you drop both arms in and push forwards). I rocked backwards and rolled into Oli’s guard, but it wasn’t an especially calculated move on my part. Oli also suggested that I need to maintain a solid overhook on his arm, getting it right into my armpit. That then means I can use my other arm to try and manipulate his free arm: previously, I’ve been tending to grab the head, but then have no idea what to do with it. This position meant I could at least go for a kimura, even though Oli saw that coming from a mile off so didn’t really lead to anything (I’d like to start trying to work sweeps from their, or perhaps transition to a guillotine, rather than just going for the kimura, failing, and falling backwards).

Half guard yielded a bunch more good advice, as I’d hoped given Oli’s fondness for that position. First thing is when bridging, you don’t keep your legs locked together: probably a very obvious point, but up til tonight I hadn’t been sure if I should be releasing my grip before bridging. You still need to keep the legs close together, but unlocked its obviously a lot easier to bridge.

That bridging has a lot to with getting underhooks. The person on top will be trying to get their arm underneath your armpit and behind your head, so they can lock their arms together and grind their shoulder into your face. Therefore from the bottom, you’ll need to bridge up to make some space by their armpit, then feed your arm through. After that, the aim is to get up on your side, which for me will be a prelude to attempting to recover guard (half-guard sweeps and taking the back can come later, when I’ve got the guard recovery sorted).

Having read the Bravo book, I noticed Oli going for that ‘Lockdown’ position when he was on the bottom, which from my cursory glance at the text, seems to basically be normal half guard, but bringing your foot round to further lock their leg and then stretch them out. I’m not sure what the best escape is for that, so I was generally just trying to work my foot free to prevent Oli having that control on the bottom.

Side control came next, which followed the typical pattern of me spinning around underneath trying to stop them going to north-south and then getting some kind of choke thingy (which is where I often end up under a senior belt’s side control). That pattern continued with ‘interval training’, in which one person rolls with the other three for two minutes each, without a break. The last person then switches, so they get the pleasure of being squashed by everyone else. Apart from a brief stint in Luciano’s guard trying to avoid getting armbarred, and then rolling around to fend off Lubo’s footlock (which I only escaped due to restarting, after we got too close to a wall. Jude and Luciano were shouting out advice, which if I understood correctly was largely to do with using your other foot to push on them, attempting to free your trapped leg), it was side control all the way.

Its harder to get some kind of grip with no-gi, in order to spin with them to avoid north-south. With a gi, I can normally grab a pant leg or some of the jacket, so will have to come up with something more secure without the gi. In my last spar, with Lubo, I unfortunately got trapped underneath with my hand at an awkward angle, meaning (intentionally or not) I was tapping from a wrist lock. I should have yelled or something, as my tapping was rather limp due to being both knackered and fairly immobilised. Still, the wrist doesn’t feel too bad right now, so hopefully that will be sorted by next week. My ankle is a little sore too: have to hope I didn’t injure that while caught in the foot locks without noticing.

This lesson marks my last one of 2007, so looking forward to more training in 2008. I don’t have any big holidays planned so far, just some time in Spain – should only miss a week due to the way it falls, though. Would also be good to compete again, but I’m not all that bothered: SENI will likely be the next one, as that’s the easiest for me to reach.

14/03/2007 - BJJ

Class #38


Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 14/03/2007

Trains were delayed yet again today, but I made it on time by taking the 23 bus (although I cunningly managed to miss the relevant stop, as I hadn’t realised the middle doors opened rather than the front…). Definitely worth doing if you have a travel card.

Jude focused on the double-leg takedown, working through the technique step-by-step until eventually we got to drilling the side-control escape using the same principle. Jude emphasised that the double-leg worked best at close range, so we should get used to shooting when in arm’s reach of our opponent. Person A drops down, driving forward with their right knee on the floor in between Person B’s leg’s, grabbing behind the knees. At the same time, Person A posts their left leg while pushing their head up by Person B’s right hip. Person A then stands (putting their right leg on the outside of Person’s B’s foot as they do so), shifting their right arm up to Person B’s belt while raising Person B’s right leg with their left arm. Person A then tips Person B over their right knee, twisting their own head and torso fully to the left, moving into side control as Person B hits the floor.

I realised that my breakfalling still needs work, as I was bashing up my elbow rather than dispersing the force with my hand. My throws and takedowns in general are crappy, so I need to put in some more effort on those if I want to compete later in the year.

I was being extra careful on throws and takedowns, as Dominique messed up her left arm last week. She’d been in two minds about taking part in class, but seemed to manage ok despite the injury, which we worked round. That meant drilling was fairly light, but I didn’t have a problem with that as I could then focus in on technical points (though its always essential to get in progressive resistance, barring injury).

After Jude moved on to show the side control escape he’s done previously, it was time for guard passing. Or at least it was for the rest of class: I decided that it would be pretty boring for Dominique to have to sit out and watch, so took the opportunity to do some drilling with her, as she couldn't spar due to the arm. This proved to be a good decision on my part, as Jude sat near us offering pointers.

I started by drilling the scissor sweep, getting handy tips from Jude like putting my hand deep into the collar (I realise that I’ve been gripping too loosely in previous attempts), and also how there are numerous transitions from a failed scissor. In particular, a push sweep (or as Aesopian calls it, stupid simple sweep), elevator and armbar (or was it a triangle?).

Dominique was planning to just let me drill, but I thought that wouldn’t be too fair, so suggested she try something like the pass where you pin the leg, as that didn’t involve her left arm. Having said that, she made the point that she normally pushes with both arms – I guess it works either way, but as far as I’m aware the normal process is to push down on just the one leg. Jude offered another useful hint here, telling us that as you pass, you should grip right under the neck until your hand could hold the gi on the other side. This is something I haven’t been doing when passing, so perhaps that’s part of the reason I’ve been having some trouble completing the push into side control.

Jude also showed us something he called an omoplata sweep, after having been asked by Dominique about a sweep she couldn’t quite recall from the Carlinhos seminar. Unfortunately, this was a little complex, especially as I only saw it from the perspective of the person being swept, so I can remember exactly what he did. Involved grabbing the leg and the arm after your opponent has stood up in guard, but I missed what Jude did after knocking me down.

Jude also asked me how to pronounce my name, which was nice – not sure if he’ll remember, as it’s a pretty weird pronunciation given the spelling (if you’re not Turkish), but good that I had a chance to tell him. Training again tomorrow, then hopefully a fourth time on Saturday. Lots of BJJ this week!

21/12/2006 - BJJ (day)

Class #15



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 21/12/2006

My first ever day class, and my first ever session taught by the man himself, Roger Gracie. Roger runs a more technique focused class than either Felipe or Jude (although this is going by merely one experience), quickly moving on to drills after the warm-up. Nobody was there when I arrived at around 12:20, Pippa coming in slightly later. That gave me the opportunity to have a long chat with her, which was good because I’ve not had the chance to talk to her properly before now.

Once everyone arrived, there was an odd number of people at the session, which worked out very well for me, as it meant I was drilling with Luciano, a purple belt who appears to often act as assistant instructor. That meant I had someone with much more experience and skill than normal. In addition, he’s Brazilian, meaning he has a laid-back manner which I find conducive to my learning. Best of all, because he’s a purple belt in a beginner class, there was no need to swap over, so I got extra drilling time.

Roger started off demonstrating the double leg, though we stopped short of actually throwing. The way he taught it was for Person A to first push Person B’s out of the way, stepping in between Person B’s legs with their far leg, dropping down with their head on the near side, grabbing behind both knees with linked hands. Person A, keeping their back straight, knees pointing forward and base solid, steps the other leg in line, then removes their near leg from between Person B and steps round. The finish would be for Person A to push with the head and lift with the arms, bracing Person B against a leg, then pulling up on Person B’s legs to drop them. Luciano was very helpful, as you’d expect, correcting my posture and answering noob questions like “should I drop to behind the knees or higher up?”

Next was the basic armbar from guard, which I last did a couple of weeks ago on 23rd November. First Person B isolates an arm, gripping the wrist with their near hand, then on top of the elbow with their other hand (coming underneath Person A’s non-isolated arm to do so). The foot Person B has on the same side of the isolate arm goes up on the Person A’s same side hip. This enables Person B to raise their hips, then shrimp, again to the same side. At the same time, Person B brings their far leg up under Person A’s armpit, pushing Person A to the near side in an attempt to push them off-balance and set up the armbar. Person B then swings their near side leg up onto Person A’s neck to secure the armbar, raising the hips for the sub.

As before, this was followed by a demonstration of the armbar escape. As soon as Person B puts their near leg up for the armbar, Person A needs to release their grip on Person B’s gi (presuming they’re holding it), then immediately bring the other arm under their near side hand, gripping Person B’s nearest leg. Trapping that leg between their head and arm, Person A puts up their far leg, pushes forwards into Person B, then jerks their arm out. Continue to press with the head and locking up the leg with both arms, Person A then moves round for the pass. (Dave Camarillo vid)

Before the next technique, it was time to spar from the usual guard pass position. I wasn’t so successful with the scissor sweep this time – I’m not sure I managed to sweep my partner, Zahir, though I might have. I did however pass his guard several times, although one of us seems to have misunderstood the object of the exercise. At one point, I used the double underhook from Marcio to pass Zahir and go to full mount, where he confusingly said “you’ve gone back to it now, that’s not sidemount”. I might have missed Roger saying the aim was to get to sidemount, and its also possible that Zahir might have resisted less if he was under the impression the object was to get to sidemount.

So, I then passed his guard and went for sidemount instead. I’m not quite sure what position I was in, as while I was perpendicular to him with my arms around his neck and arm, he was up on his side. I thought that was close enough, but Zahir kept going, so perhaps not – I probably should have tried to take his back and choke him to be certain. Either during that roll or the next one, I was in a position with Zahir’s knee into my stomach, which meant I had a chance to try something I’d seen in the Abhaya videos from that position. The idea is to reach behind the knee and grab the opposite leg by the gi, then grab their collar, also pushing your head into their ribs, enabling you to walk round for the pass as the other person should find it hard to move with you. I clearly didn’t do it right, however, as I ended back in Zahir’s guard, I think.

Final technique of class was a sidemount escape, which looked a lot like something I’d looked at in the Abhaya videos after my helpless performance last time we rolled from sidemount. Person B presses their near knee into Person A’s side, also pressing a forearm into Person A’s neck to make space. Person B then shrimps round to get directly underneath Person A rather than at right angles, pressing their shin into Person A’s stomach. Finally, Person B shrimps in the other direction to get back into guard.

Class ended on specific sparring from sidemount. This time, it went much better, I think because of the principles I’d started to learn from my focus on sweeps. I was sparring with Zahir again, and at first it was fairly even, both of us escaping However, I then started to get repeated success on the bottom, managing to twice flip Zahir straight into sidemount (especially satisfying as Luciano was right there watching). I think it was because I got my knee underneath him and arms behind his shoulders, which gave me sufficient leverage to throw him over, but not sure. I also managed to get back to guard – I’m not sure if I was able to mount him: can’t remember, as I’m typing this up in Waterstones a few hours later, having gone to the Velázquez exhibition at the National Gallery (well worth it, if you happen to be in London).

I was dawdling a little in the changing rooms because I knew I had a good six hours or so to kill before the session at 20:00, which gave me the chance to have a chat with Roger. Kinda cool to be talking to a world champion and pro fighter about christmas, family, relationships, training etc – apparently, he’d like to stay in England more consistently, but needs to get some training partners of sufficient calibre to prepare for his next fight. I imagine Renzo Gracie is a bit of a tough act to follow, but hopefully someone will surface. Would be good to have other classes under Roger, as I like his style of teaching (though Felipe and Jude are both excellent teachers too).

Time to go get my train from Charing Cross back to Westbourne Park, for my last session of the year.

25/11/06 - BJJ

Class #7



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK – 25/11/2006

Felipe was there to teach the kids class, but Jude took over for the beginners – I assume Felipe was doing a private or something like that. Judging by this class, seems Jude likes to run a more fitness intensive session, with plenty of sprinting during the warm-up and lots of rolling later on.

Jude began by going through the double-leg takedown I’d seen on Thursday. I was paired up with Daniel this time, who I think is also fairly new, and helpfully was closer to my weight than the last guy I worked with. I continue to suck arse at throws, and I think I’m still using my back too much rather than my legs, which is a really bad habit to get into: trying to concentrate on avoiding that. Jude then demonstrated a slightly different method – Person A shoots in for Person B’s leg, moves under Person B’s right arm, dropping their own right knee to the floor. Grabbing behind both of Person B’s legs, Person A then pushes up with their legs (maintaining good posture) and lifts Person B’s right leg. Using that to unbalance Person B, Person A grabs Person B’s left leg, using their own leg for leverage (IIRC), tilting Person B to the floor.

As far as I can tell, this way of doing it requires less strength, not to mention less chance of buggering your back if you do it wrong (as I often do). At present, I prefer the single leg Cesar showed us last Saturday, which involved driving through rather than lifting up, but then its good to work on the stuff I’m crap at (though as a beginner, that’s a fairly long list…).

Somewhat sooner than I’d expected, it was time for specific sparring, with Person A trying to pass and Person B wanting to sweep. I took the role of Person A most of the time, which meant I could work more on the standing guard pass. Rolling with Daniel was a bit of a stalemate, as I alternately stood and sat in his guard, resisting his attempts at subs and sweeps. The very basic tip Yrkoon9 (Elric's cousin?) mentioned in the BJJ Grandmaster thread - never have one arm in and one arm out when it comes to closed guard - proved helpful; I managed to avoid getting triangled due to keeping two arms in, at least against my fellow beginners. I also wasn’t getting caught in collar chokes, which I’m hoping was due to better posture on my part. My passing was often scuppered by an inability to break their guard – something I’ll have to work on.

Del was up next, and again I started in his guard. We struggled for a while, as I continued to attempt the standing guard pass, but had no luck. However, gripping his gi jacket low with both hands meant I at least maintained my position, and also stopped his triangle attempt. He strained away for a while, then tapped to signal he wanted to stop – we were both fairly exhausted, neither having got a dominant position. This is when I found out that Jude likes to intersperse rolling with yet more drills, as he told all the pairs to go through the double-leg ten times each. I’d somehow managed to forget how to do it properly in the meantime, and ended up dragging Del’s leg and sloppily knocking him to the ground rather than throwing: Del was considerably smoother when it came to his turn.

My third rolling partner was from the kids class, a yellow belt with a few stripes called Jerome. I assume his presence in the adult class means he’s especially good for his age, or possibly just more mature. Either way, he was certainly better than me. Jerome reversed me (swept me?) twice, starting from his guard – first time I almost got into side mount, then ended up not quite able to get past his left leg. Second time I almost got back mount, but Jerome managed to slide me round into guard. I was able to throw Jerome fairly easily when Jude directed us to go through the double-leg again, but I that was due to the weight difference rather than my technique.

Finally, I was paired up with Matt, a third stripe white. As you’d expect, he had no problems submitting, reversing or passing me, so I took the opportunity to try out triangles and armbars when on the bottom. They didn’t work, but still good to practice them. I also learned how to try and get a concussion, which is a feat I don’t plan to repeat anytime soon. I think I was trying to escape a triangle, whereupon I decided that throwing myself forward was a great idea, ending up slamming the top of my head into the ground. Can’t have been too serious though, as I was able to continue rolling a short while later, if a little groggy.

Jude wrapped up class by summarising everything that had been shown in class that week. Apparently, this is all written on a board, which I hadn’t realised until now. I was still feeling slightly woozy, not to mention totally knackered from all the rolling and drilling, so found it a bit difficult to concentrate. I remember Jude went through the armbar escape, but not much else – he was going pretty fast, and I hadn’t been present at some of the classes he was referring to.

Next session will probably be Thursday again: I’ve got an important meeting on Wednesday (hope that goes ok, though I do have one more chance if I mess up), but that will probably finish too late to make it down to London for training.

23/11/06 - BJJ

Class #6



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Felipe Souza, London, UK – 23/11/2006

Chatted to Kay and then Jan before the lesson started, having got there with a good 45 mins to spare. After the warm-up, it was time to partner up and practice falling back and coming up guarding. There was an odd number of people, so I got left on my own, but Felipe said that was ok as it wasn’t really necessary to have two for the exercise. I also managed to do it wrong, getting up going forwards rather than backwards, but Olly (the blue belt guy who has posted on Bullshido before) was fortunately there to correct.

Next we worked on a double leg takedown into side mount. I had trouble with this, as it was basically a throw: Person A, gripping Person B’s right collar and left arm, lifts up their own arms then pulls Person B in close. At the same time, Person A dips down under Person B’s right arm, dropping to grab the back of the knees. Shifting position with their legs. Person A crouches in front of Person B, back straight. Lifting up with the legs, Person A picks up Person B, then driving with the head, turns them to the right and drops into side control.

I’m small and weedy, so I always have trouble when it comes to picking people up: pretty much everyone is going to be heavier than I am, my partner on this occasion being Olly (not the blue belt I mentioned earlier), who had about 20kg on me. First I took too much strain on my back, as my posture was bad. Once Felipe corrected me, I still had trouble picking up and dropping – instead, I picked up and collapsed forward. Not too graceful, but at least a small improvement on my first attempts.

Then it was time for armbar from guard. Person B isolates…let’s say the left arm, grabbing the forearm with their left arm and around the elbow with their right arm, pushing Person A’s arm towards Person B’s left. Then Person B put’s their right leg up on Person A’s left knee, keeping it tight to Person A’s left shoulder. Person B pushes off with their right leg, swivelling their hips towards the right. Then Person B uses their left leg to push Person A off balance, aiming to get their left leg on Person A’s back. At the same time, Person B move’s their right leg up by Person A’s head, then secures the armbar.

I had some difficulty pushing sufficiently to get Olly off-balance – he, on the other, easily knocked me to the floor. Still, I got the position, even if he was vaguely upright. Olly proved another helpful partner, coaching me through the double-leg and also giving me advice on the armbar: as soon as people see you’re new, they’re happy to help, which is another point in the Roger Gracie Academy’s favour.

After that, Felipe handily showed us the armbar escape. As Person B attempted to shift their legs round to get the armbar on Person A’s right arm, Person A grabs their own right bicep with their left arm, then grips Person B’s left knee with their right arm. Even better if Person A can manage to get the right arm behind Person B’s left knee, but that takes quicker reactions. Once Person A has that grip, they stand up and stack Person B, gradually jerking their right arm out of Person B’s grip. Once free, Person A can press down and sprawl round, eventually passing Person B’s guard and getting side mount. Dave Camarillo shows it like this.



As usual, we then went on to specific sparring, Person A in Person B’s guard. Olly dominated me from both positions: if I was going to take something positive from the spar, it would be that I got somewhere near to reversing him a couple of times. The first one wasn’t especially near, as I tried to loop my legs round his head from behind, while attempting to slip out from his legs. Didn’t work, but it at least delayed his pass. Also tried to upa a few times, but need to practice that technique more – I managed to unbalance him, but not enough to push through and go into his guard. Finally, I got out of a few submission attempts, but it was the usual wriggling kind of thing rather than anything especially technical, so not much I can take to build on.

Felipe then lined everyone against one wall. Taking five people from the start, he told them to go out on the mat, after which another five would go into their guard. If someone was passed, swept or submitted, they went to the back of the line, whoever successfully applied their technique staying where they were. I first sparred with a tall guy called Sam (who I don’t think anyone managed to pass), who got me in a triangle. I tried the one standing guard pass that has worked for me in the past, but no luck – I get to my legs, but then normally get pulled down via my collar. Sam also grabbed me legs to stop me moving round. Finally I rolled with Olly again, where it went pretty much the same way as before.

So, clearly I need to work that standing pass, as at the moment it tends to result in me getting pulled down and collar choked. I’m probably being too slow, and no doubt my technique is bad too. The pushing their knee off my leg thing I tried last session hasn’t been too successful either, as again I’m a bit slow, so they have plenty of time to knock me off balance or grab my leg.

As with last week, next training will be on Saturday (although my gf just texted me and wants me to come up today as she's ill: hopefully she'll get better fast, but if not, then will have to try and get extra training in some other time). The skin on my knuckle still hasn’t grown back from ZSK (my own stupid fault for not wearing gloves because I was rushing), and I think I also managed to cut my lip (various splotches of blood on my gi from where I touched my mouth). Sam gave me a solid whack on the left side of my head as he ground the triangle in, so my ear is still a bit sore, as is the rear left part of my skull. Fortunately not had any major injuries so far, which I’m hoping to avoid: the judo one was really irritating!