01/07/2017 - First Class at Origin BJJ Noak Hill with Mike Cowling

Class #838
Origin BJJ Noak Hill (Noak Hill Sports Complex), Mike Cowling, London, UK - 01/07/2017



Mike has been coming to the Bristol GrappleThons regularly for years, as well as organising his own in connection with one I did. When he invited me to pop down to the opening of his new school Origin BJJ Noak Hill, I was therefore keen to return the favour and support him. It involved getting up a 3am for a Megabus at 4am (which was then delayed an hour, but bleh, that's why they are so cheap), but I don't sleep anyway. ;)

It is worth noting that the Noak Hill Sports Complex is not on Google Maps yet. What you will find is Noak Hill Sports Ground, which is NOT the same place. Fortunately I was on my bike, so it was a six minute detour, rather than however long a walk that would have been. I therefore still made it in time to the sports centre. The room is through the double doors, past the cafe. Mike has some beautifully soft roll-out mats, they feel great quality. Nice and thick, so I'm fairly certain you could use them for judo too. There was space around the mats, meaning there is scope for the school to expand (as I'm sure it will, Mike is an excellent teacher).

As an Origin BJJ student, Mike likes old school jiu jitsu, with practicality being the most important element. He shared the first lesson he ever learned with us, focusing on mount escapes. Interestingly, Mike told me that he still regularly uses the trap and roll, which remains a high percentage escape for him even against other higher belts. I have almost entirely relied on the heel drag for years: it's rare I'll hit the trap and roll.

It may be a fundamental technique most people will learn early on in their jiu jitsu, but Mike's version had some details I hadn't seen before. From mount, bridge up and knock them with your knee. That will make them post on their arms. Unlike most methods I've seen, Mike then brings his elbow back, bringing it over their arm, then clamping in to control that arm, hand on the triceps. Push the bottom of your foot into their same side leg, angling out your knee (again, different from what I've seen before), then punch up with your other arm and roll through.

A post shared by Origin Bjj Noak Hill (@originbjjnoakhill) on Jul 2, 2017 at 9:46am PDT

My fingers were still a bit sore from all the gripping on Thursday when I sparred Sam. That swelling meant it hurt to do the trap and roll on that hand, but not a problem, I just stuck to the other side with my training partner (another Mike, who is another cool guy from Origin BJJ. With excellent beardage, must be those Turkish genes ;D).

The follow up was if they post out with a foot, so you do an elbow escape to recover your guard. Then there's the counter to the cross face. On this one, again Mike had an interesting variation. Rather than doing the 'comb your hair' type method to trap their arm, he grabs their shoulder and pulls (like Gustavo in his escapes instructional I'm reviewing at the moment, from MMA Leech). Mike then also recommends moving your body towards their head, to get underneath them. That makes the trap and roll much easier, a good tip I need to remember.

Mike then moved into talking about the choke. If you've been rolled over, control the head, then insert your first choke grip as they raise their head, go for the cross collar. If your hand gets blocked you can shift to an armbar. I got a little confused as to which hand, because as it turned out, it's your first choking grip your release. That didn't occur to me, as I normally use that to control their posture, but you can still control posture with your other hand and leg. Either way, that hand then pulls their arm across, moving into the armbar.

Good to see a decent turnout, I look forward to Mike's club growing over the next few years. Congrats on a great first class!

22/04/2015 - Open Mat | Mount Escapes & Armbars

Class #639
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 22/04/2015

It's been a while since Chris and I have managed to get together for drilling and sparring on a Monday or Wednesday. I always get a lot out of it when we both have time and today was no exception. Things were bolstered by taking some video, as I'm keen to try and isolate where I'm having issues with both escaping and attacking mount. We did specific sparring, taking it in turns to defend and then attack from mount.

My camera placement wasn't great as it often went out of shot, but there were enough sustained bits of footage that I could see I was bridging far too much. Especially the first round under mount, I was bouncing a lot and moving down the mat. Repeatedly I was knocking Chris forward so he needed to base with his hand, but not really manipulating his weight distribution. I need to think more strategically about those bumps, capitalising on the shift in weight.

A useful point on that which Chris mentioned was that I was mostly bridging straight up, rather than an angled bridge. The straight up bridge is best suited for dislodging submission attempts, so I wasn't really using it efficiently. When I did angle my bridge, I was doing it to the side where Chris either already had his weight (so was tough to budge) or was able to put out a hand (thereby blocking any roll).

When I did escape, it was often due to Chris giving me some space by his leg, as he tried to transition into an attacking position. I could then get a leg under and start to lift. I want to be thinking more about angling my bridge, getting a sense of his weight distribution and doing a better job of controlling an arm when I do manage to get the timing of the bridge right.

My stamina is poor, so too much bridging is going to tire me out fast. I could have a go at thinking about my breathing, something I rarely bother taking into account. It's something Rickson and others talk about all the time and has in the past felt a bit gimmicky and New Agey to me, but perhaps I should give it a chance. Couldn't hurt, and if it does help balance my crap stamina, that would be cool. I know I'm never going to bother hitting the gym to do cardio or whatever, that's far too boring). ;)

On top I was a lot better at conserving my energy, but then it's much easier to do that on top. I did leave my lower leg in range to be grabbed a number of times (Chris was tending to clamp it between his feet in a sort of quarter guard), so I should do a better job of tucking that out of the way and quickly moving up into a higher mount. I was generally able to get to high mount: the first time Chris popped out the back, timing it nicely. I was caught by surprise, over-focusing on getting really really high in mount.

The next few times, I was able to get into a decent attacking position. I went for the choke, but couldn't get the second hand in place. I also tried that gi lapel variation on the ezequiel, but couldn't quite get the leverage. Still, the gi tail grip was fun, and eventually helped me move into an armbar. On finishing that, I landed it once, helped by controlling the head by twisting out my leg. However, the next time I got into position, Chris was able to escape because my second leg wasn't tight enough. I was focusing so much on keeping the head leg tight that I forgot about the importance of the second leg being tight too, up into the armpit.

Lots to play with. I'll keep on taking footage of these mini-open mats, but I'll need to work out the best place to put my camera next time. :)

11/04/2015 - RGA Bucks | Mount | Escapes

Class #637
RGA Bucks (BJJ), Dan Lewis, Aylesbury, UK - 11/04/2015

I was in London on Friday, in order to (finally) sort out some bureaucracy at the Turkish Consulate in the morning. As they proved efficient, that left me most of the day to go and check out some culture. Given it's not far from the Consulate, I decided to wander through the Victoria & Albert Museum. It isn't my usual kind of thing, as I prefer paintings (though the V&A has a number of them), but it was interesting nonetheless. Still, I found the organisation too haphazard for my taste: for example, the route I took jumped from church relics to a cabinet of armour and then a bunch of doors. All interesting individually, but I like to have a sense of narrative when I go to a museum or gallery.

Thankfully that's exactly what I got at my old favourite, The National Gallery. There is currently an exhibition on Impressionism down in the Sainsbury Wing, which wouldn't normally tempt me as I don't like the Impressionists. For a start, as I find you need to step back from the paintings to appreciate them fully, it's difficult to do that in the confines of a typical gallery space. However, just like the Turner exhibition last year (another artist of whom I wouldn't count myself a fan), the carefully coherent structure made it enjoyable even for non-fans.

At 'Inventing Impressionism', it wasn't really about the Impressionists, but rather about the art dealer that can be credited with a large part of their success, Paul Durand-Ruel. The paintings exhibited were chosen to illustrate his grand plan and innovative business strategies, such as his habit of buying paintings in bulk, offering a money-back guarantee (he frequently bought paintings back after selling them) and the first ever solo shows for artists.

So if like me you're not enamoured of the Impressionists, it's a great way to look at them from a different perspective. It runs until the end of May.

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After the Consulate I headed back with my father to Aylesbury, ready to train the next day at RGA Bucks. Unfortunately Kev wasn't there today, so I couldn't touch base with him, but there are of course loads of excellent training partners at RGA Bucks (and there was still a black belt on the mat, the redoubtable Sahid).

Dan took the session today, starting off with a useful recap of a fundamental scarf hold escape. The situation is that they've managed to control your arm, so you're going to lock your arms around their back. I've been shown this one a few times before, where the instructor has talked about finding a magic spot on the floating rib. I've always found that a bit tricky.

I therefore much preferred Dan's straightforward take on it. Rather than talking about floating ribs, he concentrated on the bridging motion. The key is to bridge up into them, then without putting your hips back down, swivel to the other side and roll your partner over.

Next was my favourite mount escape, the heel drag. The details I took away were firstly that when defending under mount, if you cross your hands over your neck, then that tends to mean your elbows rise up, making it easier for your opponent to move up into a higher mount. It's therefore better to go for the 'Home Alone'/Shirley Temple defence, with your hands on either side of your neck.

Finally, there was a more complex variation on the escape to butterfly. Having made the space to get a leg free, drive that up the middle, bringing your outside foot around and pushing into their hip. From there, you can go for the simplest single-x guard sweep, hooking under their leg to trap it to your shoulder and doing a technical stand-up.

Alternatively, bring their foot over to the other side, where you could go for a foot lock (unless you're me, as I steer well clear of lower body submissions, because I'm anxious about blowing out somebody's knee). The final option is a sweep into a leg drag.

Lock their leg in place by grabbing around the outside, holding just above their knee to stop them standing up. Maintain distance by pushing on their other knee, as well as their same side hip. You then want to twist towards their trapped leg side, aiming to knock them onto their bum. Basing off your free hand, you can then sit up, press their trapped knee to the mat and move into a leg drag position for the pass.

Specific sparring from the mount was mainly me trying to go for low mount, then getting gradually dislodged by larger purple and brown belts (my one stint on the bottom started with a quick heel drag on a blue belt, then a taller blue belt going into some kind of rolling back take when I tried to heel drag them).

It was still useful though, as I asked one of the brown belts - who stayed in the whole king of the hill round on the bottom - what they were doing to beat the low mount. I'm normally fairly confident about my low mount, but he blew threw it without too much difficulty.

The secret is using a leg swing motion, much like the one you do to escape north south. He uses that to make some space for his elbow, which he can then use to scoot under into half guard or deep half guard, moving into the sweep. You have to be careful you don't get your back taken (I almost managed that once, but wasn't tight enough), but looks to be a handy tactic.

I had to rush off to a family photo shoot my sister had organised, but I still had time for a roll with my training partner, another brown belt (who incidentally is among my original set of training partners at RGA HQ). He's busted his MCL, but could still spar from the back. So, we did a round from back control. The first time I managed to escape using my usual approach, but the second attempt wasn't as successful: he blocked my head and also kept me from getting to that side, then secured a good grip on my collar. I tried to reach back to pull his elbow and make space, but he managed to reaffirm the grip then get me belly down, finishing a strong choke.

Good stuff: I look forward to catching up with Kev next time. I'm keen to get in some quality training time with him, as it's been a few months since we've sparred. :)

31/03/2014 - Bravo vs Royler Thoughts | Artemis BJJ (Escape from Mount to Deep Half)

Class #553
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 31/03/2014

Metamoris III has been the talk of the town, with a lot of praise for Bravo. It's had a significant impact on his reputation, which has spilled over to a renewed appreciation for his school and system. However, it doesn't change my views on 10th Planet, as I still haven't seen anyone successfully use the system at a high level and win major titles. That will be the test. Unfortunately, some have already spun the result as "see, 10th Planet does work!", whereas it's more accurate to say "see, Bravo can make his game work!"

Nevertheless, even though this proves little about the efficacy of 10th Planet for the average student, it at least proves Bravo himself can use 10th Planet at a high level. You could quibble about age, but his performance was impressive. Bravo proved it already, as seen on his old The Twister DVD that compiles lots of his comp footage, but Metamoris III was a great reminder. There was a good breakdown by Alaina Hardie over on the Underground, where she argued that if there had been points, Bravo would have won 9-4. Of course, Royler would have approached a points match differently, so it's a moot point, but still interesting to consider.

Hopefully all of this attention and discussion will mean we get to see a high level 10th Planet rep against a current high level competitor from somewhere else at the next Metamoris. Bravo/Royler was a good start, which should help set it up. I guess it would be either Denny Prokopos or Adam Sachnoff, as they appear to be the most successful of the current 10th Planet competitors.
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Unusually, tonight it was all blue belts, apart from Dónal and I. Dónal therefore decided to teach something a little bit more advanced, though still based off the mount. He began with some drills, for when they are almost preventing your pass. Raise up your leg, like you're a dog going for a wee, then bring that over their leg and push it into the side of their knee. Backstep with the other leg, moving around to side control on the other side. There was also a more acrobatic one, where the motion is similar, but you jump over and twist in mid-air.

The main technique was based around my favourite mount escape, the heel drag. Get on your side, knock them in the bum with your knee to make them lighter, then hook their foot with your heel and drag them into quarter-guard. If you find that at this point, the person on top has great base and you can't get up on your side to secure the half guard, you can instead switch into deep half and sweep.

The specific deep half sweep is I think what's commonly known as the waiter sweep. Although you can't finish your heel drag, you should still be able to twist their leg enough that there is a gap behind their knee, suspended above your hip. Reach into that gap, bumping them forward with the back of you hand and again knocking their bum with your knee. Scoot underneath to move into deep half.

Again using the back of your hand, reach behind their ankle and bend their leg around your own leg. Reach your free hand behind them and grip their belt, or their gi if you either can't reach the belt or it's too loose. Kick the leg you have pressing into theirs forwards, to roll them over and onto their back. Switch your free hand to underhook their other leg, maintaining the pressure as you move your body perpendicular (I think? I got a bit confused at this point). Bring your leg back to stop them securing half guard, getting them almost into a sort of 'banana split' type position, until the tension is such that you can pop your leg over and transition to side control. Here's how Tim Peterson from Robot BJJ shows it:



Of course, if like me you find yourself getting perplexed in the midst of this sweep, the simpler Homer Simpson option is there instead, where you just pull their knee outwards with your hand and spin on top. We followed that up with a bit of specific sparring, which I can't remember, then getting into the free sparring, I started by stalling looking for a pass again. I was looking for the half guard pass for a good while, then at some point ended up on my back.

It got even worse, as I was later fending off a back take. What happens quite often is that I vaguely get out and I'm looking to grab their arm and get my weight onto them, but it just turns into a stalemate for a while until I mess up my grip and they retake the back. That's definitely something I want to look into for my private lesson with Kev this weekend.

Next spar, I was able to pass to side control and was surprised to get that lapel choke I like, but only because my partner hadn't seen it before. I showed them what I did afterwards, so that should mean next time they won't let me get that grip as easily. Playing guard I was trying to go for the spider guard sweep Kev showed me and got into position, but I was missing a few details so failed to affect their base. I also tried the lasso sweep when they pass around to side control, but didn't have leverage: I think I hadn't lifted his leg and was relying too much on simply using the pressure on his arm.

10/03/2014 - Artemis BJJ (Maintaining Mount)

Class #549
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 10/03/2014

I was mostly teaching today, as due to numbers I was wandering round helping people out during drilling rather than taking part myself. We were doing more work on maintaining mount, with some similarities to what Dónal has been demonstrating earlier this month (all mount this March). He started off with escapes, drilling the elbow escape. Frame your arms against one of their hips, bracing one arm by pressing into your wrist, then shrimp powerfully in the direction of the other leg and bring your knee through.

The main technique of the lesson dealt with maintaining mount, specifically when they are trying to dig their elbows in for an elbow escape. Reach across with your opposite hand and grab their sleeve. Scoop your same side hand under their digging elbow, then pull and push that arm right across their body. Immediately replace the space that opens up by their side with your knee. They will almost certainly turn and try to elbow escape the other side, whereupon you repeat the process, ending up in a tight, high mount: squeeze your knees together to suck away any remaining space.

Finally there was a drill similar to the lower-leg flick Dónal showed last week. However, this time you are flicking further down their body, ending up in the leg squash pass position, moving to mount from there.

Specific sparring was from mount, as you'd expect. On top, I was trying to shove my knees up high again, but still not quite getting as high as I wanted. I considered going for a collar grip to see if that would open things up, but I was too high to get a decent angle. For the moment, I'll just keep on working on getting higher, scooping up those elbows and looking for openings. I feel fairly confident maintaining the position still, especially tonight as there were more blues (and bigger blues) than usual, which is good for practicing. I got rolled once or twice, but generally I could hold the mount once I got there.

Underneath, I was looking for the heel drag: due to the higher level of training partners tonight, some of them were able to pre-empt that with a turn to technical mount and lock in their heel by my hip. I've been a bit complacent about technical mount escapes, as I think people have been leaving enough space for me to dig my elbow in and pry free, but tonight that wasn't so easy, which is good.

I could try Saulo's escape where he essentially pushes on the knee and sits up, but that makes me feel vulnerable. Still, I should drill it some time, perhaps when we start up our open mats at the new place. Blocking their hip with my elbow to stop them turning to technical mount could be helpful too. I was still escaping, but often off their armbar attempt, which is a risky habit to develop on my part because it depends on their mistake.

In free sparring, I'm continuing to try and practice the spider guard sweep tips I learned from Kev. I'm continuing to find myself unable to get the position I want, yet on the other hand I did hit that "bait them to pass" sweep I haven't used much in the past. I need to try that option where you make them stand up then knock them down.

I got into a strange backwards kimura type position on somebody else, which I failed to finish, but to my surprise I did manage to switch it into an armbar from mount. I hardly ever armbar people - I don't like the risk of losing position - so that was fun. I got to that position again later, but fell off that time. I then landed a weird sweep where it was mostly just them overbalancing and me shoving my knee at the right point, putting me in mount. Positive, but then if I don't know exactly how I did something, not as useful (though I guess it's good that I had some kind of instinctive thing going on there).

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. ;)

24/07/2013 - Dónal Private (Bit of Mount, Maintaining & Chokes from the Back)

Class #512 - Private #012
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 24/07/2013

I started off by asking about mount escapes, in case Dónal had any tweaks to add. I'm relatively clear on what I need to do when escaping mount, but I'm always looking to add more details or just different perspectives. Dónal had two suggestions: firstly, bump them with your knee to lighten their legs for the heel drag (a useful tip in general, which I think I initially heard in the context of half guard). There was a quick point from on top, where Dónal mentioned that to stop them getting on their side for the heel drag, Norby likes to put his body next to their head.

Secondly, if you're making a frame against their hips, turn your hand so it is palm towards the mat rather than pointing back towards you. Kesting recently had a video on that as well, where he suggests making a fist rather than open hand, in order to make it harder for them to knock your hand off and break the frame.

That didn't take very long, so for the rest of the hour we focused on the back. To being Dónal offered some suggestions for maintaining the back. They will be looking to escape by turning away from your choking arm, getting onto their side. To prevent them slipping free, tighten your hamstring by their choking arm side leg. You don't have to sit there tensing, as you're just looking to block them whenever you feel that leg try to move. If they are unable to bring that leg into action, then they'll struggle to both slide across and also use their foot to push off your heel.

If you can't get your seatbelt grip, dig your hand under their elbow on the non-choking side and pry it up, until you can slip that hand through. From here, you will often find they try to grab your choking hand. An effective way to break that hold is to put your non-choking hand on top of their same side forearm, palm up. Reach your choking hand to grasp your non-choking arm (you'll probably only manage a couple of fingers, but that is enough).

Bend your non-choking hand backwards, at the same time twisting your choking hand in the same direction, still holding on. This should be uncomfortable on their wrist. To finish extricating your arm, wriggle your non-choking wrist sideways into their arm, which should pop their hand out of the way. As soon as you knock it free, unclasp your hands and grab the meat part of their hand with your non-choking hand. From there you could push it down and step your leg over to trap it, or simply hold it in place with your hand.

You can now move into some attacks. Your first option is the short choke from last week, which you can do either grabbing onto their shoulder or holding the gi, then driving your shoulder into their head. Alternatively, there is Dónal's option, where the elbow is on their shoulder and you squeeze your arm together for the choke. A stronger option is the classic bow and arrow from the back. If you're still on your side, you need to get them upright: push on their choking side leg with your same side foot, shoving it forwards to bring them up off their side.

Don't make your initial grip on their collar too tight, or you'll lack the range to finish the choke. If they're got a GB gi on, you're gripping at roughly the 'G' from the ugly Gracie Barra patch along the jacket. Next you want to get hold of their non-choking side leg. With your same side heel, dig that by their knee and curl your leg back. That should bring their trouser leg in range for you to grab with your free hand, establishing a good anchor point.

Switch your non-choking side foot to hook around their far hip. That acts as a useful leverage point to swing your other leg out (you want to end up upright, rather than falling to one side). Your aim is to drop them into a space between your legs, rather than having them resting on your lap. Bring your choking elbow back to hide it near your hip. If you don't, they have a chance to reach back and pull on your elbow to try and escape. At this point, you will also probably need to release a few fingers, leaving you with two or three fingers. It ends up looking quite different to the version Roy Dean shows in the picture on the right, as Dónal doesn't extend his body like that or use the same grips.

That increases your range, but note that they will most likely attempt to grasp that hand and yank on it to remove your control. Two fingers gives more range, but feels weak on that situation: drilling, I felt more comfortable with three, especially if you imagine you're with a muscle-headed white belt looking to rip your hand off.

21/07/2013 - Study Hall (Mount Escapes)

Class #511
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Study Hall, Bristol, UK - 21/07/2013

Today I wanted to drill mount, mainly escapes but a bit of top as well (from the private earlier this week, though I didn't do much of that). That's because I'm teaching mount escapes next week, so wanted to have a play with the techniques to see if I could refine any details. I started off with the bump and frame to butterfly, a relatively basic technique. This isn't an option I often go for, but I do regularly use some of the principles, as per the drilling for some variations later on.

First of all you need to get their hips in range. It was difficult to land this escape if they're still upright, although in that case you would probably go for something else. Knock them forward with a bump and biffing them with your knee. As soon as they're horizontal, frame your arms into their hips and do a powerful bridge (heels as close to your bum as possible, pushing high, on your toes). Stiff arm into both their hips to keep them in the air long enough to bring both your knees through.

You can then kick forward with both legs, using the momentum to also sit up. This should put you directly into butterfly guard, where you can immediately sweep them. If they are still upright, you can sort of still do it sloppily by jamming as much of your knees as you can into the space you create. It ends up being one or one and a half knees, knocking them off to the side at best. Still, that can work too, and will almost certainly be better than staying stuck under mount.

Working on that same principle, I then wanted to do some drilling for technical mount escapes too. I think this particular technique is something I ended up doing naturally a while back, but I've also been taught it by Kev several years ago. The basic idea is wedging something under the leg that they've stepped over. I started off by grabbing it with both arms, shoving the leg forwards as I brought my knee into the space, then using that as a butterfly hook to knock them off.

You need to be careful that first they don't strip your grips (it is much harder to do with just one hand, but not impossible): keeping your elbows tight can help with that, but you also have to be aware of chokes. Secondly, be careful of them immediately passing as you try and knock them off with the butterfly hook. Thirdly, they may be able to scupper your escape completely if they grab lower on the leg you're trying to use to insert your knee before you get started.

Even if you only manage to get a bit of your knee under their leg, you might be able to switch into a sort of x-guard type thing by swinging the other leg around the outside to push on their hip. It looks like just the kind of position Mike would like, so quite possible he's studied something on the topic over at MGinAction: I'll have to ask him next time I see him.

If you get stuck, you could combine it with Saulo's technical mount escape. This isn't something I've tried much, as it feels risky, but I'm going to start drilling it more often as an alternative. Saulo stiff arms with one arm, the other staying back to help defend the neck. Having bent their leg outwards, he then simply sits up at an angle. I find that I end up in a vulnerable position inside their guard if I'm not careful of my pushing arm, as that can put you on your side asking to get your back taken. The principle works though, so just needs more drilling on my part to get used to it.

05/02/2013 - RapeCrisis GrappleThon Request for Donations

Class #486
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 05/02/2013

For a long time now, a major goal of mine has been to support women already in jiu jitsu and encourage others to give BJJ a try. I was therefore appalled when I read that a woman had been raped by two of her team mates. I would like to turn the strong feelings about that incident towards something positive. Hence why I've decided to run another GrappleThon (you can read about last year's event here) in aid of the important work undertaken by the charity Rape Crisis.

My fundraising page is here. Please donate whatever you can spare to make a positive change (JustGiving functions outside the UK too). You can also donate via text message, by texting GRAP54 £1 to 70070.

The GrappleThon will take place on the 4th May 2013. Just like last time, we're planning to stream it live over the internet: Steve has some gadgetry up his sleeve. :)

______________________

No Dónal tonight, as his partner was in the process of having a baby. That meant that instead Geeza was taking class, which means a very different atmosphere and class structure. It has been quite a while since I last made it down to one of Geeza's classes (I think I may not have been since the last GrappleThon, so that's about four or five months), so I had forgotten how Geeza often has small variations to the standard technique. Although it's also possible this was just material of the Gracie Barra curriculum, but I'm not sure.

Either way, it was basic mount escapes tonight, with a twist. I was expecting the typical elbow escape to start with, but Geeza combined it with the heel drag and releasing the hooks from low mount. They have grapevines, so first circle your leg around to free your leg, just like in Gracie Combatives. Put that leg flat, then circle the other trapped leg free and immediately bring it right across, moving into the heel drag. Shrimp out to half guard, then switch so your outside foot is hooking inside, rather than your inside foot hooking out. Geeza prefers this, even naming them 'good half guard' and 'bad half guard'. The reason he likes it is because having the outside foot hooking gives you greater mobility when recovering full guard, which is the next step..

That was followed by another basic escape, the bridge and roll. Interestingly, Geeza didn't emphasise the bridge with his version, instead focusing on trapping the arm. If they grab your collar to look for an attack, grab their wrist with your opposite hand and their triceps with your same side hand. Again, this follows the method in Gracie Combatives, although the reasoning is different. Rener does this because he says it makes it harder for them to pull their arm back and punch you.

Geeza's explanation was that grabbing the triceps means you can use your elbow to block their knee, while still being able to drive your elbow into their ribs with the wrist hand. That makes sense, although you can also do that if you grab their wrist with your same side hand and the inside of their elbow with your opposite hand. The difference is that the former is better for blocking the knee, the latter is better for bracing your elbow and arm into them when bridging.

The other option was for when they wrap under your head, where again Geeza advised grabbing the triceps. That's as opposed to the 'comb your hair' grip which I'm more used to, but both will work. Geeza then drives his other arm into their same side armpit to roll them over. Once again, that closely follows the methodology of Gracie Combatives. The main alternative is to instead push on their hip, as per Roy Dean and others.

As ever I couldn't join in properly on the sparring, so instead tried various drills to work around my injury. With one of the blue belts I worked on the pass Dónal taught me last week, where my main concern is avoiding that triangle. Obviously he won't be available for the private tomorrow, but possibly next week. I'm expecting that his schedule may be a little erratic over the next few months, which would be totally understandable for a new parent. :)

After that I did some specific sparring under side control with Geeza's eldest son, who is a good technical rolling partner. We kept it fairly light, with Oli trying out various submission attempts. Not being able to use my left leg properly is an annoying hindrance, but I can still work on staying tight and observing the kind of attacks people try in certain positions.

Finally I did some open guard with Berry, which is one of my default positions when I can't use one of my legs properly. I aim to go to the Xande spider guard variation where you're pressing into their bicep and pulling on the same side collar. It doesn't always work, but as long as the other person is much bigger or a lot more experienced than me, I can at least use it to hold them off for a while.

13/04/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Escaping Technical Mount)

Class #453
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 13/04/2012

Tonight was also my first chance to test out the Gracie Barra Premium gi I got for my birthday (my parents paid £90 from GB Shop Europe, with about £7 shipping). I'm not a fan of being restricted to an official uniform, but if I have to wear a GB gi, it might as well be comfortable. Judging by tonight's first outing, the Premium is an improvement over the basic model, but that may be more down to getting an A1 rather than my previous A2 (which is still a little large on me for my liking). My main concern is the shrinkage: I don't mind too much if I end up with a tiny gi, but hopefully it won't shrink too much (especially as I always wash gis at 30 degrees Celsius and hang dry).

The advanced class follows straight after the fundamentals, and kicks off with a bit of specific sparring from closed guard. That was a good reminder of how completely rubbish my guard is, both on top and bottom. Underneath, I spent most of the spar with head control, badly attempting three things: trying to either push their arm across to get my chest to their shoulder and take the back; push their arm over my leg to set up the kimura; look to get their hand to mat and overhook. Didn't get anywhere. My elbow problems didn't help, but still, I really need to come up with a better selection of options to work towards. It might be time I tried to get back to the flower sweep, which is something I never really worked out despite spending ages on it at white belt.

On top, I did at first try to stand up to keep working on my base, but as soon as my partner looked to go for sleeve control to disrupt my position, there was a shooting pain up my arm so I sat straight back down. Nothing much happened from there, except some attempts to get to combat base. I also tried to stay in a low crouch and get hold of the collar, but it was pretty much a stalemate. I eventually managed to get to top half guard, but that was off a scramble, so not at all technical.

The technique for the advanced class was, usefully, escaping technical mount. The key is getting either your arm or your elbow inserted into any space between the back of their knee and your torso. Your other hand (so, this will be the arm you have closest to the floor) needs to be grabbing your opposite collar tightly, as otherwise they'll have a clear route to choke you. Once you can get through arm into the gap behind their knee, reach through and grab your gi trousers, by your knee.

Start moving your legs towards your head, until there is an opportunity to shove their leg between yours and switch to deep half guard. From here, you can continue to run towards your head, then quickly turn the other way: this is what Jeff Glover calls the 'Homer sweep'. If your partner is wise to that and adjusts their weight accordingly, you may still be able to pop out the back.

I was a bit wary of sparring due to the complaints my elbow was making, but one of the advantages of training at GB Bristol is that Geeza is more than happy to accommodate injuries like that. So, I was able to train with two of the women present: as I've said many times, women tend to be more mature, considerate and helpful training partners, meaning they're perfect for rolling when injured. I had a relaxed roll with somebody who I think started that night (but she's also a 2nd dan in judo, so no stranger to judo), then Vikki.

As I'd failed miserably to do anything in guard earlier that class, I wanted to be a bit more varied this time, so attempted to move into butterfly guard (not very successfully, but I'll get there in the end if I keep trying it). I'm still keen to get better at that guard, as like I've said in the past, I don't think spider guard is going to be good for me long-term, given what Chiu told me about it completely mashing his fingers. Improving my closed guard is important too, along with my basic foot-on-hips guard, where I can keep working my tripod/sickle sweep combination.

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 (Advanced)

Class #369
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 14/12/2010

Fellow members of Bullshido have most likely been reading MrBadGuy's thread for a few years now, but I only just got round to checking it out. Entertaining stuff, and I imagine particularly amusing if you're from the Houston area. He writes about the various schools he's checked out, which would seem to be just about every school in the city, until eventually he was able to earn his purple belt in BJJ. Currently in two parts: part one runs through his time with Kuk Sool Won, a dodgy BJJ school (they do exist, though thankfully fairly rare) and a whole bunch of other random martial arts. Part two brings us up to the present: I'm guessing there will be a part three once that thread gets too huge. Particularly in that second thread, there is a lot of random stuff by other people to scroll through (mostly requests for updates), but you can always do Ctrl + F on "MrBadGuy" to skip past it.

In what has become something of a pattern, I wasn't able to make Thursday because I was in the wrong part of the country. That reminds me yet again that it is really cool Kev has a number of different payment options: per class, per month, or per block of classes. I'm on the third option, which works out perfectly for my geographically uncertain schedule. Kev normally closes down RGA Bucks for a couple of weeks around Christmas, so I should hopefully be able to get in a few sessions at Gracie Barra Bristol over the New Year, when I go visit my gf. She's still looking at a place to buy, so fingers crossed that works out and I can finally move down permanently in a couple of months.

Kev continued with the mount, but went in a completely different direction by combining an escape with a nifty sweep. To escape mount, turn to your side, using your lower elbow to push their leg back, the upper arm for defence. You're going to do a similar motion to the foot drag into half guard, but rather than trapping the leg completely, you just want to balance their foot on your lower leg. Use your other leg to lever that foot down, opening up a space by their knee.

Reach through that space with your upper arm, wrapping their leg, immediately swivelling as well as knocking them forwards with your legs. This will mean you can then go for a deep half guard sweep, which is the 'Homer Simpson' Kev showed a couple of months ago, from Jeff Glover's deep half DVD. Run your legs towards your head, then once you feel they're off-balance, roll back the other way to come on top. As I often get stuck there if anyone adds any resistance, Howard recommend I try to drive my head towards their chest, which facilitates the shift to half guard.

While walking round, Kev also showed Howard and I a deep half guard pass you can use if somebody puts you in that position. Grab their leg and walk around their head, swinging that leg over to the other side. At the same time, you need to work your trapped knee to the ground, meaning that you are then in a much stronger position, ready to attempt a knee slide pass.

For sparring, I was paired up with John, who is still carrying that knee injury: I'm small and tend to go light anyway, so I'm always more than happy to help people train around their injuries. Unusually, it wasn't free sparring tonight, but several rounds of specific, starting with mount again. Underneath was much the same as before, going a bit lighter than normal in order to avoid aggravating his knee injury.

On top, as earlier, I was looking to try feet in hips as well as the grapevine. Although I'm sure the injury had something to do with it, as that must have reduced his ability to bridge and general mobility, worked fairly well. I was able to climb high, and then pressure with my hips to try and open up an arm. That worked rather less well: although I can sometimes maintain the mount for a while, I still fail utterly to complete any attacks from there. MUCH prefer side control.

While I'm at least occasionally comfortable maintaining mount, I still struggle with back mount, which was the next position for specific sparring. Escaping was complicated by the injury, as I was worried I'd tweak his knee, but I could still practice fundamentals, like protecting my neck and Saulo's 'scoop' defence from Jiu Jitsu University. I very almost got caught with some kind of choke, which I wasn't paying enough attention to as I thought he only had the one collar. Dangerously complacent.

On his back, I continued to flail about ineffectually. However, again I was able to play around with some stuff I haven't tried in a while, like trapping his arm under my leg. That theoretically makes it easier to get the choke, as you then only have one arm to worry about, but I still couldn't get where I want. Interestingly, he kept on trying wristlocks as I attacked. That definitely make me more hesitant, so seems to be a good tactic.

The final round was from turtle, where again I was being cautious due to the knee. On top, most of the time I could at least get enough of a hook to move into top half guard, but I think that was directly because of the knee injury. He also tried a wristlock yet again, but this time from under side control, which surprised me. The dominant position meant I had enough leverage to wriggle free, but as before, it makes you a little more hesitant, so useful distraction. Possibly time to take another look at The Art of the Wristlock.

21/04/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #306
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Rob Stevens, Birmingham, UK - 21/04/2010

I should probably try and sync up my bus from campus better with the train to Acocks Green, as there are mainly two options from Leamington Train Station: either the 17:28 or the 17:58. I finish work at 16:30, but only managed to get to Leamington for 17:30. There must be an earlier bus than that, even given the rush hour. Still, early days, as I'm still working out the best route.

Once I got the train, it was relatively easy. Even though the 17:58 was slightly delayed, I still got to Solihull at 18:27, in time to catch the 18:30 on to Acocks Green. Of course, it is worth noting that any delays to the Leamington train should probably carry over to the connecting service at Solihull, because it is on the same line. At least that's what I'm hoping!

Either way, I got to Acocks Green at 18:39, where it was a less than five minute walk to Gracie Barra Birmingham (even though I initially went the wrong way: if you see a sign for 'The Avenue', turn around and go in the other direction. In other words, out the station and turn right). Keep going until you see Station Road (shouldn't take long), then walk down that until you see a gym peeping out from between two shops. You can see it directly on Google Maps street view, so shouldn't be any problems finding it.

Once I'd paid my £60 to the desk (though it is direct debit, you pay the first month in cash, but it doesn't have to be immediate), the lesson started in a similar way to Monday. Again, it was running round the room with variations (knees up, heel up, sprints, sideways etc), interspersed with press-ups and star jumps. That was followed by shrimping, and a few other exercises I haven't done much before, like shrimping forwards, or another one where you grab the bottom of your partner's trousers, they walk forward and stop, then you drag yourself along the floor to get level again.

However, it was mercifully shorter than Monday, and also finished with some stretching. Rob then got into the technique, starting with a single leg takedown. You feint to get them to rock back on their heel, then drop forwards onto your front knee (you're in a mirror stance to your opponent). Grab low on their leg, your head inside, shoulder on the outside, underneath their knee. Drive forward and put them on the mat.

There are clearly plenty of EFN users at GB Brum, as not only does instructor Rob post there, but I had one person ask me if I was slideyfoot, while another mentioned they posted as Tom H. Perhaps unsurprising, as it is a huge club, with an impressive number of higher belts rolling on the mat: I think there were about three brown belts tonight, which apparently isn't even that impressive by GB Brum standards. Christian was saying that some nights, there are considerably more, alongside a fair few black belts too.

The groundwork selection was right up my street, beginning with a mount escape. That went straight into deep half guard, which isn't something I've seen much before (I know Jeff Glover has a popular DVD series on the topic, but I'd generally viewed deep half guard as a bit too advanced for me up until now). I really liked Rob's clear, detailed style of instruction, going over the technique several times, emphasising major points and never rushing through his descriptions.

You are stuck under mount. If they aren't already leaning forward, bridge to make them base out forwards. Brace your forearm across their torso, so that your hand is holding their opposite hip. Your same side hand grabs their pant leg, or ankle if you can't reach it. Drop your same side leg to the floor, knee pointing towards that trouser you've grabbed. The other knee is up, pressing into their back.

Bump them forward with that knee, then immediately shove that trapped leg over the knee you have on the floor, snatching half guard and pinching your knees together. You don't want to stop there, as now you bring both hands to that hip you were holding. Push up and come underneath their leg, slipping slightly down it as well.

You want to end up in deep half guard. This means that your shoulder is underneath their leg, while your head is by their hip and belt, clamped to the leg. You have one arm wrapped under and over, holding by the knee, while the other hand stays in tight to your body, or you could possibly hide it under their leg. Either way, you want to make sure they can't attack it for an underhook, an americana or something like that.

From here, you can now go for a deep half guard sweep. Walk your feet towards them (so moving in the direction of your head). When the moment is right, pendulum your legs back the other way, aiming to roll on top of that leg. Make sure that you hold the leg very tight, with arms that should now be wrapped under the knee.

If you don't, you'll be leaving yourself open for a triangle: an experienced grappler will be looking to pry your arm free in order to attack. Be patient, then using good timing (such as when they've strained away trying to break your grip in vain), move into a pass. Keep in mind the principle of either both arms in or both arms out, and also make sure that leg is controlled before your release the grip with your arms.

Sparring started with specific sparring from the mount, which was nice. I generally like to have a mixture between free and specific, as otherwise it can be difficult to work certain positions. The method wasn't quite king of the hill, but instead, everybody lined up and was counted off in groups of three. All the number ones would go on their backs, then after a while, all the number twos would do the same, finished with the threes.

I was a number one, so started on the bottom. To my surprise, I stayed there the whole time, which was a pleasant improvement on the kicking I got on Monday. I was generally just using the same leg drag to half guard, then shrimping to either get into closed guard or open guard. I didn't get a chance to use Rob's technique, but then that is going to take a while to add into my repertoire, not having used deep half guard before.

Of course, it tends to be easier to escape when specific sparring from mount rather than attack: things went much less well for me on top. I tried for my preferred low grapevine, but struggled to keep it: people were able to free their legs, dropping them flat, then quickly making space to escape. I did briefly manage to stop one guy bringing his long legs up and pulling me off mount, by staying low and scooting back to put him flat, but he managed it on the second attempt.

Free sparring followed, where I again had a roll with Christian. Unusually, this first one started from sparring, but both Christian and I were looking to pull guard: I dropped into half guard, then moved into open. Again, I wasn't able to initiate anything. If I had another private lesson, being proactive from open guard would probably be a good option, refining a few sweeps. We then moved through side control, knee on belly and at one point some kind of random reverse mount thing, during which time ran out. Entertaining stuff.

At one point, I was in Christian's guard, so was naturally keen to try out what I learned in Kev's private lesson on the twisting guard break. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite get into the position I wanted, as his guard was slightly open, and he had some control of my arms. I should have just gone for it and tried something, or perhaps attempted to step back immediately like Kev showed. Hopefully there will be some specific sparring from the guard at some point, which should provide some opportunity to practice.

Sparring got back to normal after that, starting from the knees. I took Kintanon's advice about being less lazy pulling guard, sliding forward straight into butterfly rather than just flopping backwards like on Monday. I was with a white belt, who stayed very tight, stopping me from getting the butterfly grips I wanted. I managed to catch an armbar as he stood up, but mainly due to surprise: he was waiting for it, but thought I'd take the other arm. I was pleased when I later moved into a triangle, saw I wasn't going to get it, and instead took the armbar from that position. That's a transition I need to do much more often.

Finally, I had a roll with Rob, who obviously had no issues controlling me. However, he was taking an instructor role, looking to see what I did in various positions. Very helpfully, he told me afterwards that I was making some mistakes with my elbows under side control, and then when class finished, gave me some excellent advice on exactly what he meant.

When somebody is on top of side control and they scoop up your far arm, you need to bump straight away and dig that elbow free. You can also use your leg and knee to help you, looking to brush their arm away, as if you're trying to connect your elbow to your hip. Like most people, I try to make sure I always keep the other arm by their hip, digging that elbow if they start to work it free, but I've never thought about digging the far arm too. Definitely something I want to keep in mind next time, which should be a big help to my defence.

Importantly, Rob finished with a warm-down, which I don't remember happening on Monday (perhaps the assumption there was that you'd do a stretch yourself). This time I took a shower at the gym, and they're pretty good: IIRC, you have a choice of about four, along a wall sharing a partition (rather than separate cubicles). It would be handy if there were some hooks to hang towels, but I may just have not noticed them.

I should be training again on Monday, but as my gf is up on the Tuesday, that may be it for next week. I'll see if I can make it for the 18:00 basics class too, but probably unlikely given the bus and train I need to catch first (unless I manage to get a lift with Alex again). Before that, there's a throwdown in Essex, this Saturday. Feel free to pop down, as the more the merrier! :D