15/04/2010 - BJJ (Beginner) - Last Lesson at RGA Wycombe

Class #304
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 15/04/2010

To just briefly mention something entirely non-BJJ, that sexual health poetry seminar I mentioned last year is available for download, here. So, if you want to hear me babble about poems on AIDS, check it out. Apparently it's been there since January, but I only just got sent the link: the handouts can be found here. Also, I gave a paper at the International Symposium on Poetry & Medicine last weekend, so hopefully that will be available for download at some point too.
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I'm going to really miss training at RGA High Wycombe, as Kev is a brilliant instructor, quite possibly the best I've trained with (hence why I took a private before I left). His lessons are always carefully structured, he never fails to answer questions (I ask a lot of them!), and best of all, he is very approachable. I've realised more and more just how important a trait that is for an instructor: your students shouldn't be wary of calling you over for help.

Of course, it will also be awesome to go train with Braulio and the other teachers at Gracie Barra Birmingham, as from everything I've seen and heard, Braulio is a superb instructor himself. I've been impressed by the instructionals he has up on CageFilm (I'll do a review at some point in the future), so if that is any indication of his average class, I'm going to be very happy at Gracie Barra Birmingham.

My final class at RGA High Wycombe continued the knee-on-belly theme from Tuesday, starting by popping up to the position from side control, then taking the far armbar if they make the mistake of pushing on the top of your knee. Reach through the gap and under their elbow, then use that hold to pull them up on their side. Step over their head and swivel, then with a grip on their trouser leg (to stop them using the hitchhiker escape), slide down their arm and then drop back for an armbar.

Next was an escape, a little different from the one we did on Tuesday. This time, you put your far arm on the knot of their belt (or around their belly button if they aren't wearing one), while your near arm goes to their knee. This is to stop them following you when you proceed to the next step, shrimping away from them.

You may need to shrimp a few times, as you're looking to make enough space to bring your feet to their hips. You can spin straight to guard, but most likely you'll need to get a foot on their hip first and push, in order to get the leverage. To finish, grab their arms and pull them towards you, re-establishing closed guard, or simply stay in open guard.

It may have been my last lesson here, but it was the very first BJJ lesson for my training partner. That meant I could take a relaxed approach to specific sparring, trying to help show him what to do from under side control and on top (Kev asked me to go with the beginner, and also told me to take it easy). He seemed to pick things up quickly, as I've gone with new people before, and they've struggled to understand the concept of bridging and shrimping: he was definitely starting to get it.

He did even better on top. At first, like any beginner, he was leaving lots of space, so I could easily shrimp and replace my guard. However, after some advice on maintaining side control (I called Kev over to make sure I the new guy saw how to do it properly), it became a lot tougher. He was dropping his weight well by sprawling back, and also blocking my hip with his knee.

I'm not sure exactly when I'll be starting at GB Brum, as I only move into my new flat in Leamington on Saturday. Looking at the schedule, Monday will probably be my first time, after work.

Meerkatsu Sighting: 13/04/10 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #301
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 13/04/2010

Seymour of Meerkatsu fame was down tonight, so it was cool to finally meet and train with him (I'll talk more about that in the advanced class post). I may not be able to go meet all the great bloggers in the US yet, but I can certainly meet some of the great bloggers we've got on this side of the Atlantic. :)

The self defence section left you in knee on belly, so Kev added an armbar from there. As this results in a 'Japanese armbar' (one foot over their head and the other tucked under their side, rather than the more secure both feet on the other side), Kev noted that you need to be careful of your angle. If you fall back towards their head, that helps them effect the hitchhiker escape and turn their way to freedom. If you instead fall towards their legs, that's much more difficult.

Kev began the lesson proper with a baseball bat choke from knee on belly. He started from a side control where you have both your arms over to the far side, controlling their arm. Switch into reverse scarf hold, so that your hip is backing into their nearside arm, while your other arm is over their face, making it hard for them to see what you're doing.

Make space by shifting your hips further towards their head, then slide your knee over, as if you're going to mount. Instead of mount, you want knee on belly, grabbing their leg and a thumb inside grip on the far collar (rather than under their head, as you want to set up this choke). Be certain your base leg has the knee raised, so you can both resist their attempts to bridge and follow their movements. You also need to watch that the leg isn't close enough for them to easily hook, which would restrict your ability to move with them.

You can now grip their near collar with your other hand, close to their head. Drop your other arm onto their neck. This sets you up for the choke. To finish, bring your elbows together and squeeze, driving your weight through your top arm (I think: I always get confused with the baseball choke). You might find it useful to slide your knee off them once you've begun the choke, so you can drop more of your weight onto them. You could even drop your hip, moving into a sprawled side control for maximum pressure.

In an example of Kev's excellent class structure, the escape from knee on belly followed. Pressing on their knee with your hand is a cardinal error, as that will tend to leave a gap for them to thread behind your elbow, pull you onto your side and move into a submission. However, it is possible to do something similar with your hand, as long as your elbow remains tight to your side, leaving no gap for them to hook.

Start by pressing your nearest hand into their hip and inner thigh, so your arm remains on the inside of their leg. Bridge, and use that bit of space to immediately slip the other hand underneath their knee. This creates a frame, and also relieves some of the pressure on your stomach. Again, it is essential you tuck your elbow in tight to their side when doing this.

You can now bump them with your knee, then immediately shrimp out. As in the shrimp-to-knees drill (also relevant last week), bring one leg underneath the other and go to your knees, maintaining that pressure on their hip until you can secure a hold of their lower leg. You can now drive your shoulder under their knee and pull their lower leg towards you, taking them down and coming up in open guard.

Sparring from side control with Howard, I concentrated on cross-face pressure with my shoulder on top. I was also still looking to steadily transition to north-south, keeping my hips low, sprawling back once I got to the shoulder. I was reminded to use that shoulder pressure by a a great article Leslie linked, mentioning top pressure for small people, among a whole bunch of other tips. I'd recommend people check it out if they haven't already (especially women: it's written by Krista Scott-Dixon from stumptuous.com, and directed at her fellow female grapplers). That reminded me of the importance of the shoulder, and also driving your weight diagonally through them, rather than just straight down.

With Seymour, a few times when I should have switched to knee on belly (like Kintanon explains here), I instead just ended up losing side control. I really, really need to get more comfortable with knee-on-belly, especially as a small guy. Again, I was looking to be slow and steady, moving to north south.

Seymour attempted an escape where he bridges and turns to face the floor: I think the size difference came into play a little here, as if he'd been bigger, that would have worked every time. However, even though I'm only a little bigger, that probably helped me drive him back down once or twice (though he still completed that escape at least once). I also really wanted the step-over triangle, but Seymour could see it coming and blocked it easily every time.

Underneath Howard, I was trying to keep in mind that bridging should be at an angle, not straight up. I also attempted that Gustavo Machado escape from north south a number of times, and did a better job of first getting one hook, but still not good enough: I slipped off and fell straight back under side control. Still, better than what has happened with Callum, where my back is wide open to being taken after attempting that escape.

Defending against Seymour's side control, I found that if he managed to pop my elbow away from his hip, hooking the foot helped hold him in place while I dug my elbow back into place. However, that feels like a bad habit, so I get the impression hooking that far foot isn't generally a good idea. Still, it did seem to help in that specific situation.

Seymour was doing a good job of killing my movement with a grip on my collar. His arm was pressed against my face, so it was difficult to shift in that direction. That meant I started considering some less orthodox escapes, which I also tried against Howard, especially what Ed Beneville calls the 'x-hands' in Strategic Guard. Didn't work, as I only half-remembered it, so I need to re-read that book (re-reading all the Beneville books
would probably be a good idea, as there is a ton of stuff in there I never think to try).

At the end of the lesson, I got a third stripe on my blue belt: always nice to get the applause and handshake. I presume Kev follows the same time-based pattern for stripes as at RGA HQ, which I think is at six month intervals for blue belts (which would be about right, as I started at RGA Wycombe in late September). It would be interesting to know how many places connect stripes directly to ability: it definitely varies.

08/12/2009 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #269



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 08/12/2009

I came across another great blog thanks to Georgette earlier this week, here (especially the excellent articles). As ever, Jo's blog has been added to the blog index, which now has an extra 'Added' column. That should hopefully make it easier to see new additions (presuming there are other people out there who are constantly searching for yet more blogs to stick in their Google Reader). Unfortunately, it seems that it is no longer possible to upload Excel sheets from your desktop onto Google Docs and retain links: hence why I've shoved in the whole URL instead (e.g., on the Black Belt magazine BJJ index).

The knee on belly attacks continued with an armbar from knee on belly, this time on the near rather than far arm. You begin in a low knee on belly (as in, your weight is low, torso down towards theirs), then attack with a kimura on the far arm. Your opponent can't ignore this, so may well bring their other arm over to try and prevent you getting the necessary leverage.

As soon as they do this, step your foot up towards their head, still threatening the kimura. Once you've pulled their arm up towards you and have your leg in position, switch your arm positioning to instead go for an armbar. It is possible to either have your foot over their head or your shin on their neck, hooking your foot for further control. In that situation, you might need to switch to a belly down armbar, depending on how much they try to turn away from you.

Alternately, you can go for a choke from knee on belly. Kev refers to this as a baseball bat choke, but he wasn't sure if that was technically correct. Either way, you start by gripping the near side collar (palm towards their gi), meaning you can use your arm to cross-face, preventing them from turning towards you. Your other hand grips next to the first, but this time palm up, thumb inside.

They will probably begin to turn towards you as you cross-face: once your arms are in position, you can relax that long enough to loop your first arm over their head. Bring your forearm into their throat, and the elbow of that arm down towards the elbow of your other arm. From here, apply the submission as usual, blocking both sides of their neck.

Kev followed that up with two escapes from knee on belly. The first was much the same as the escape we'd just done in the beginners class, except that instead of recovering guard, you switch one leg under the other and go to your knees. Grab their foot and leg, then pull it out from under them, yanking upwards so you can then move round to knee on belly. In the process, you can either stand for greater leverage (the recommended option), or drive your weight into them, leading with your shoulder.

The second escape from knee on belly is to use your arm opposite their pressuring knee to hook under the ankle of that leg. Bridge up and lift with your hand at the same time, aiming to lever their leg in between your own. That puts you in what is sometimes referred to as 'quarter guard': this is still a precarious position, as their knee is free to try for a pass.

If the knee is still on your belly, push with both hands, then establish half guard, getting up onto your side. If they start to pass with a knee slide before you can try that, bump them forward with your knee. This should enable you to slip free and get to your knees, escaping knee on belly. Alternatively, you could try and move into deep half guard.

In sparring, I found myself under what I think was a modified scarf hold (as they didn't have my arm). I always find this tougher to escape than side control, as there seems to be less space. Still, I did attempt to shift out for an armbar once or twice, which was entertaining, if not very effective. Definitely need to take another look at scarf hold escapes.

I also had the chance to spar a blue belt who hasn't been in class before, Sahid. I think he's taking the class on Thursday, as Kev has a family appointment he can't miss, so it was nice to meet Sahid beforehand. I think Kev mentioned he's a fairly experienced blue, and that showed in his measured style of rolling, always being careful to stay controlled. He also immediately reminded me to be careful where I put my arms if they go to turtle: I reached in too deep and was immediately rolled and armbarred, with a waki-gatame.

That roll also gave me a chance to put the defensive strategy of connecting your knee to your elbow into effect, to prevent them going to knee on belly. However, while that was slightly helpful in blocking the knee, it would have been better if I'd made a proper barrier with those limbs, putting my forearm to my thigh instead.

Tomorrow should be interesting, as I'm hopefully going to get the chance to train with an old friend. Looking forward to it!

08/12/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #268



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 08/12/2009

This week it looks like Kev will be focusing on knee on belly, a position I don't think I've ever tried in sparring. I've never felt secure there, as it seems to rely a lot on mobility and speed. I much prefer positions that allow a more slow and methodical approach, rather than fast and dynamic, as I feel more in control that way. So, it was very useful to have a lesson dedicated to a position I don't know at all well, with both offence and defence.

Kev started off by drilling the position itself, popping up from side control. Your shin goes on their stomach, along the belt line, while your other foot is behind you, at a roughly forty-five degree angle. If it's too close to their head they can hook it, while if it's too far towards their feet, you won't be able to adjust when they shrimp. You also want to hold their collar to prevent them turning towards you, and on the inside of their knee. This also means you can pull up and fold them around your knee, which is extremely uncomfortable for the person on the bottom.

There is also the option Maurição teaches, a man famous for this position, as he has apparently cracked bones with his knee on belly. Or more specifically, knee on chest: this is the essential difference Maurição likes to emphasise. I can remember he and Nick G discussed it during a lesson back when I was at RGA HQ. However, seeing as this is a position almost entirely alien to me, I should keep my options open in terms of which type I want to try out.

To escape from knee on belly, put your hand nearest their pressuring knee on the knot of their belt. Be careful about your elbow, as you don't want to leave them space to attack your arm: you'll be keeping that limb close to their leg. Your other hand grabs their trouser leg by their knee.

Move your feet slightly out away from them, then shrimp your hips away. Lock your arms out to prevent them simply driving back into you, then move back into guard. You'll need make a powerful shrimping motion in order to create enough space, and may also need to shrimp again to readjust.

For the person on top, Kev demonstrated an armbar from knee on belly. This was the classic set up, where they are pushing on your knee in order to relieve the pressure. By doing so, they leave a triangle of space. Insert the arm your have nearest to theirs into that space, grabbing around their arm. Pull that arm up towards you, then step your other leg round to the top of their back, keeping it as tight as possible. You may need to push on their head to get your leg past.

Your other leg, which was pressing into their stomach, barely moves. Simply put that foot on the floor, rather than stepping anywhere. You can now swivel around their arm, keeping your knees pinched, then drop back for the armbar.

I found specific sparring tough, as I'd expected. I rarely lasted more than a couple of seconds on top before Callum or Howard replaced their guard, as I couldn't beat that initial shrimp. More weight through the knee might help, as would developing greater mobility with knee on belly.

Kev had some good advice on what to do if they shrimp away and you feel yourself losing the position. Bring your knee down to the floor, driving it into their side, while also putting your free hand (the other will be gripping their collar) over to their far hip. Establishing those two controls should stop them from moving their hips. You can now use the arm you have by their head to cross-face them, putting them flat on their back, then re-establish knee on belly.

23/10/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #188



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK – 23/10/2008 - Advanced

To quickly mention The Grapplers Guide again: those pricey lifetime memberships are currently 50% off, so that's $67 rather than $130 or so. Apparently the offer is only good until the 26th October, so if you've been thinking about signing up but were put off by the cost, looks like now would be a good time to snap up a membership.

I was part of a group giving a presentation at work which seemed to go down well (there were four teams set up in a friendly competition, which our group won by a hefty margin), so that put me in a good mood. Also looking forward to the salsa social tomorrow (Latin Night, which I've never been to: I don't think its been around at uni all that long, but then nights seem to constantly shift. The only one still around that I can remember from 1999 is Top Banana), though it’s a real shame my girlfriend can't make it.

Also finally had a chance to peek into the Carlos Gracie book written by Roger's mum, through Caleb's translation of an excerpt over on the Fightworks Podcast. I'm eagerly awaiting an English translation, which should serve to beef up my BJJ history post (the more reputable sources the better, as with any piece of research).

No technique today, kicking off the sparring with stand-up, where I tend to paw aimlessly at my training partner. I do at least have a few vague ideas of what to try out, like certain throws and a few takedowns Jude has shown us in the past, but its still extremely ineffectual on my part. A small improvement on doing basically nothing when it came to stand-up, though.

After switching partners to a white belt named Adrian (who I still couldn't do anything with when it came to stand-up), Jude moved us on to guard passage. I had more success than normal here, perhaps because its been a while since I rolled with someone of comparable size but less experience. I managed to get to half guard a couple of times, and used the pass Roger showed us earlier this month, where you basically swing your free leg over and sit next to them. I'll need to review what I wrote there, as I was pretty sloppy, missing details on head control and the like. It worked, but I think I was leaving myself open to getting reversed.

In back mount, I had an idea of what to do due to the numerous lessons we've had on the position recently, but couldn't get my hands in place to get a choke set up. Went for the judo turnover again, which just about worked, but I need to really think about hand placement for chokes, and also keeping my weight down properly.

Underneath I felt a lot more comfortable, generally trapping a leg then trying to twist into top half guard. I was also looking to wrap up an arm and roll them over to move into side control or scarf hold, but didn't quite manage the leverage. I sort of got there once, but that was more about scrambling and luck than any kind of conscious technical progression.

Free sparring was fairly relaxed again, as both my partners were injured. Alex, a very good brown belt, messed up his shoulder and upper arm a while ago, so had one hand tucked into his belt. I was careful to avoid putting any pressure on his shoulder, though he still was able to dance around my open guard. I think I surprised him when I used the Tran side control escape (wait for them to try to mount, then bridge into them and roll into their guard), but again, he had one hand tucked into his belt and was going light. Even so, nice to continue landing that escape.

Helen's nose was sore from yesterday, so again I was trying not to do anything that would jar her face, most of the spar staying in open guard. I was aiming to get De La Riva, and possibly go for one of the four open guard sweeps I've been looking at recently (hook, sickle, star and handstand), but still need to work on my positioning in order to set them up.

While watching me squirm under her knee-on-belly, Helen had some very useful advice about escaping knee on belly. Rather than straining to you’re your partner off you, remember the principle of moving yourself rather you’re your opponent. In this instance, place your hand on their knee to block it, ideally getting their foot onto the floor, then shrimp away.

Another thing Helen mentioned was something her instructor had been told by his instructor, apparently, which was to be like a tube of toothpaste. I.e., squeeze out of the sides, which makes for a helpful analogy.

Hopefully will be popping down to judo on Sunday, but may go for a meal with my gf instead. My evenings have become rather full since term started: I would normally then train judo on Monday, but I have a poetry reading to attend (Mark Doty, whose work is potentially relevant to my writing).

17/01/2008 - BJJ (Beginners)

Class #114



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Gustavo Dos Santos Pires & Luciano Cristovam, London, UK - 17/01/2008 – Beginner

I decided I wasn’t feeling well enough for the no-gi, as my head got increasingly woozy throughout Thursday 3rd: still felt crappy the following week. Its very frustrating when you almost feel well enough to train, but not quite: having weeks with no classes is not how I planned to start off the year, but then probably my fault for having a terrible diet.

I’m fed up of missing training through illness, but fortunately I seem to have almost shaken off this cold, meaning I decided I should be ok for the beginners class tonight. I’ll keep it to just the one session this week, as there’s no need to push my luck, and hopefully I’ll be fully fit next week. As I’m popping off to Bristol at the weekend rather than going up to Brum, that will give me four days in which to train. If I’m feeling sufficiently healthy, four classes would make up for missing last week and most of the week before.

In other news, Zaf mentioned on Facebook that one of the RGA guys, Goran Reljic, has signed with the UFC, which is pretty cool.

I think Will may have changed the URL of his blog, unless its been changed for ages and I just missed it. Anyway, check out his excellent blog here.

Finally, looks like Padilla & Son have got in some new stock, which is cool: hopefully that will still be the case when I next need a gi. Been very happy with my white gold weave so far.

At first I thought Luciano was going to be taking the session, but it turned out that he was in fact acting as a sort of hands on translator for Gustavo, a visiting black belt. Gustavo didn’t speak any English, so needed Luciano to both demonstrate and translate simultaneously: goes to show just how good Luciano’s English is that he could translate off the cuff.

Class began, as normal, with a throw. I hadn’t seen it before – some kind of trip (no idea what the judo name would be, but maybe someone can recognise it from this description?). Starting from the usual grip on the arm and collar, step to the left, pulling them towards you. That should leave your right foot between their legs: bring your left foot next to it, then hook their leg with your right foot (toes on the ground). Finally, push on their shoulder and pull back with your other arm to drop them to the floor.

Next Gustavo, through Luciano, demonstrated a self defence technique – that’s something we haven’t done for some time, which is fine by me (I’m in this for sport, not self defence). However, makes for a nice change, and as I wanted to take it easy this lesson, ideal timing. Your attacker has put you in a standing guillotine. Grab their hand, and with your other arm, reach over their far shoulder. Step round to that side, knock their leg forward by bashing your knee into the back of their knee, finally bringing them to the ground.

Last bit of technique for today was especially useful: escape from knee on belly. With the same side arm as the knee on your belly, grab their belt and push forward into their stomach. Shrimp out and come up on your elbow, then bring your same side leg through. Raising up – maintaining your grip on their belt – grab the back of their ankle. Push on their belt and pull back on the ankle to take them down.

After another drill for knee-on-belly (one escapes, goes to knee on belly, then the other escapes, knee-on-belly, and so on), we reached the specific sparring section of class. On top in side control, I held Tanvir in scarf hold, trying to think of how I could step over and go for a submission (I had in mind that triangle position from a while back, but couldn’t remember it properly). Eventually I overbalanced, and Tanvir was able to roll me over. I also found that, as seems to often happen, I wasn’t too effective at stopping my opponent from simply locking their arm out and pushing up when I had them under side control. I tried swimming my arm in, but ended up generally just pressing my weight down and moving my legs towards their head (moving into scarf hold). Kinda sloppy. Although not as sloppy as effectively putting myself in side control when going for an armbar: still not quite sure how I ended up there.

Underneath, I got a solid grip on Tanvir’s collar in order to keep up the pressure, but didn’t really do anything with it. I should have pushed up and tried to shrimp, but instead I concentrated too much on getting my knee under, failing to get space first. I did manage to recover guard at one point, but most of the time I was fairly inactive (largely because I was trying to take it easy, due that lingering headache rather than pure laziness. For a change. :p). Tanvir did a good job of keeping his leg away from my half guard attempt, which is normally my preferred side control escape. Must remember to use escapes in combination.

I sat in the tailbone break (my knee pressed into their tailbone, the other behind, trying to push my hip into their crossed ankles) position on top in guard passage, which didn’t set anything much up, but did mean I wasn’t expending too much effort. Tanvir went for an armbar, but as I had my free hand already behind his knee in place to defend, I was able to slip round to side control. Then again, the way in which I threw him over to pass from there meant there was loads of space, so if he’d been less knackered, Tanvir could probably have got to his knees (as Chris always does when I try and pass his guard). I also tried standing, which I think is where I got a leg pin pass after Tanvir relaxed his guard.

In my guard, I immediately jumped up and landed the sit-up sweep, then having got that, started playing with submissions (if I get a technique I’m going for, I like to try something else after sparring restarts). Going for the sit-up sweep again, I tried falling back for the kimura, but couldn’t bend the arm. When I did manage to get the figure four grip, Tanvir was able to grab his gi: even when I got that released, Tanvir was able to straighten his arm again. So, definitely something major I’m doing wrong there.

I did later get an armbar, but I think that was probably more due to Tanvir getting tired by that point. Also, possible he was going lighter, as I’d mentioned I was still ill while talking before the lesson.

Shortly after typing that up, I had the dubious pleasure of my inaugural baby-vomit down my shoulder and arm. Not that I was too bothered, as I’ve been sick down myself plenty of times back in my undergraduate days, but does remind me: always put the muslin down before bouncing babies on your shoulder!

Presuming I’m fit next week, hopefully get in four classes, but as ever, we shall see.