09/04/2017 - Gret Zoeller Seminar

Seminar #025
Artemis BJJ, Gret Zoeller, Bristol, UK - 09/04/2017

When I went to the Super Seminar a couple of years ago, an awesome female black belt with cool hair immediately started chatting to me as if we'd known each other for years. That was Gret: charisma is an important quality in a seminar instructor and Gret has buckets of it. To teach a good seminar, you naturally also need plenty of teaching skill, which fortunately Gret has lots of too (it helps that she's been a school teacher for years ;D).

I really liked how Gret approached teaching a seminar. She made a point of spending lots of time with everybody there, always with a big smile on her face. She didn't even take any money for the seminar, deciding to donate the money to charity instead. It was also extremely cool that we had two visitors all the way from Scotland, Cristiana and Giles (who came armed with a whole bag full of tasty Scottish treats!).

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Apr 9, 2017 at 7:51am PDT

The entire seminar was based around a single technique, the double ankle grab sweep. Fantastic! I love seminars that go deep rather than broad, exactly the kind of thing I want from a seminar. Gret began by running through the double ankle grab sweep basic set up, with plenty of detail. She emphasised that she liked to hit this sweep by opening the legs and then pressing down with her calves into the top of their thighs. Pull your toes back to engage those calves, dropping your partner for the sweep.

A potential issue is a potent defence to that sweep. Rather than the typical option of grabbing the collars to maintain your balance, Gret showed how she grasps the belt and lifts them with it, essentially deadlifting them off the ground. You can start with two hands, then switch to one (which enables you to reach back and open up the legs for a pass). That one hand can be palm up inside the belt.

She has come up with several methods for beating that defence. The first one involved gripping their sleeve with your opposite hand, while your same side hand wraps behind their leg. You can then pass the sleeve you've grabbed to the one behind their leg. Rotate towards that leg, until you are able to bring your same side leg under their other leg. Again, push with your calf into their leg, then pass after you've knocked them down, into that supine twist.

If you go for that sweep, you can also move into knee on belly and grab a toe hold, as the foot is right there. You could kneebar too. If they step their leg back, you can instead grab their opposite collar. Drop your hips, rotate your hips around, then spin on your back. Your knee goes high on the leg you originally hooked, rolling through for a kneebar (or indeed toeholds again).

You try for the first two, can't get them. They've stepped back and they're blocking the collar grip. Foot into armpit, then you can do a variation on the first one. Only difference is you're now pushing into their armpit with your foot, rather than pressing down with your calf on their thigh. They might block that foot pulling behind their knee. If they do, you can just swing that leg way out, then chop it back in for the sweep. There's an omoplata option here too.

Gret teaches a brilliant seminar with bags of charisma, which makes a huge difference. If you'd like the pleasure of learning from Gret, she will be teaching a seminar up in Edinburgh on the 6th August. Hopefully I'll see you there! :)

21/06/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2016 | Passing NoGi (David Morcegao)

Class #728
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), David 'Morcegao' George, Leuven, Belgium, 21/06/2016

I very rarely train nogi, as I don’t like the absence of gi grips. I also find it becomes a lot more based on physical attributes when you take away the gi, exactly the opposite of what I want from my jiu jitsu game. However, I was intrigued by the prospect of learning from David George. I first encountered him on the sadly defunct European Fight Network forum that my old instructor Jude Samuel used to run. When I started BJJ, the EFN was the place the UK BJJ community congregated. That’s where you would hear about competitions, gossip and of course trolling. The notorious david5 was a master of the latter.

Since then, he’s become better known as the UK’s only (I think?) black belt earned directly under the legendary Ricardo de la Riva, as well as the organiser of Roll Models. That was the first competition Artemis BJJ went to as a club and it was a great experience. Well organised, very affordable and supportive of female competitors (they initially could enter for free, then later editions had heavily discounted prices for women). He has also started his own school, Morcegao Jiu Jitsu, as that is now his moniker (including a memorable custom design by Seymour).

A video posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jun 21, 2016 at 3:46pm PDT

David focused on passing, with a strong wrestling slant. To begin, you need to get your distancing right. You can’t be too far away, but you also don’t want to be too close, or they may be able to grab your legs and go for a sweep. Crouch low, a little like you’re going to shoot for a takedown. Pick your moment, then grab their feet and drive forward. You want to get their feet right over their head. To do that, you’ll also want to switch your grip, so that you are driving the web of your hand (between your thumb and finger) into their ankles (or sometimes the back of their knees). As their legs go over their head, follow in, driving your hips into the bottom of their back, right below (from your perspective) their bum. Stay upright, stopping them from bringing their legs back down or scooting away from you.

If they are being squirmy, you may want to lock your hands around their hips. If you mess up the motion and can’t get their legs over their head, you can try to pass by swiping one leg in front and towards their hip, sliding to the side. That squashes their legs down, enabling you to slip through into side control. To secure that side control. David’s catchphrase was ‘punch them in the head!’ In other words, whack into the side of their head, relatively high, with your bicep. That makes it very tough for them to turn back towards you.

When you have them in that compromised position, tight to their back with their legs in the air, you can of course pass. David suggested sliding your arm across their neck/jaw to turn their head (depending on how much of a neck they have). Turn, so that you still have one knee up to jam against their back and keep them stacked, sliding the rest of your body around behind your neck/jaw pushing arm. You might be able to choke by leaning into their neck, or complete the pass by crushing through, like you would on a single or double underhook pass.

04/10/2015 - Seminar with Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner

Seminar #017
Artemis BJJ, Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner, Bristol, UK - 04/10/2015

I have 'known' Chelsea for a number of years now online, having first encountered her on reddit when she was a brown belt living in Hong Kong. That led me to her awesome blog, when she was still posting as purplekettle. Most awesome of all is this post, entitled “Wow, you’re a lot shorter than I thought you were.” If you haven't read it before, go read it: I have read many, many BJJ blog posts over the last decade, and that remains right up there among my favourites.

Since then, Chelsea has gone on to become a top competitor out of initially ATOS HQ, before moving to the affiliated Art of Jiu Jitsu Academy, run by ATOS stand-outs Rafa and Gui Mendes. She has won a world title at brown belt (after which Andre Galvao promoted her to black belt on the podium, along with his wife Angelica), the Dream submission only tournament and so far this year, medalled at the Worlds and Pan Ams. What I didn't realise was how good she is at teaching, perhaps helped by her considerable academic background (among her many skills she speaks fluent Chinese, for example!).

I therefore jumped at the chance to book her for a seminar when she got in touch to say she would be in the UK. There was a good turnout from Artemis BJJ itself, along with some other local clubs from Bristol and Swindon popping down: thanks for the support! We should have some more seminars in January, hopefully as well as a women's BJJ workshop with Leoni. :)
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Chelsea's teaching was well structured and focused, exactly what I want out of a seminar. She began with a number of drills related to passing the guard, the theme of the seminar. That progressed into some bullfighter passing drills. First, the one I'm used to, where you grab the bottom of the trousers, move round and drop the shoulder. Then we did the variation where you push the legs out of the way, establishing knee on belly. Chelsea and Tom (Barlow, of Polaris fame: it was very cool to have him there too) helped me out during drilling, noting that I should be pushing the shins so they 'spring' back, making it easier to then shove them out of the way.

The central technique of the seminar, which began as a drill, was something I think I've seen Saulo do in the past on BJJ Library. Chelsea pointed out that in open guard, it seems people are overly keen to get stuck inside a guard, whereas they should be passing pre-entanglement.

For this open guard pass, put one hand on their hip, the other on their knee. As you move around, bum in the air and legs wide, shove their knee down. Continue to pass around, then slide your grip so you can push their knee back. Follow it back with your body, moving into a leg drag position, driving off your toes as you descend. If you get greedy and try to go directly into side control, you may find they can get their legs in the way.

Often, they will try to turn away into turtle, preventing the pass (especially in a competition where points are at stake). To stop that, drive into them as they turn, locking on a seat belt grip. Previously I have tended to gable grip my hands, but as Tom explained during drilling, grabbing the meat of your hand with your grip on top is stronger, bringing your elbows into your sides. Having secured your seatbelt, curl your leg in tight to their back, pulling them up onto your knee (effectively putting them in your lap).

You can then roll back over your knee, bringing your other leg over the top, securing back control. I'm a big fan of that back take, though I've tended to do it from either technical mount or as a back re-take: getting some more tweaks was brilliant. It also made me think I should emphasise getting on your elbow next time I teach that move, as that really helps your balance.

To emphasise the importance of a strong seat belt grip, Chelsea then did some drilling on the back take portion of the technique, same as the drill I sometimes throw into our warm-ups at Artemis BJJ (although I've been combining it with mount, so switching to technical mount as they try to turn, then going for this back take). Chelsea and Tom both put that seat belt in really firmly, to the point where the arm is already almost choking you. That was made very clear, as she then had all of us take it in turns to experience what it feels like when she and Tom do it. Educational! ;)

You may find that rather than turn away, they will try and turn towards you. If that happens, sprawl back with your seatbelt grip in place, backstopping their elbow so they can't continue the turn. Walk around on your toes behind them, then pop up so you're crouched by their back. Either put your foot on their thigh or step it through, then take the back from there. Marcelo Garcia shows something similar in his book, on p100.

If Chelsea wants a partner for demonstrating a choke, hide

Chelsea showed a classic choke next. Open up their collar with your hand that's under their armpit, feeding it to your other hand. Having got a firm grip with that other hand, cinch it in, then push your armpit-hand behind their head. There are various ways you can add leverage to the position, ranging from crossing your legs to stepping on their arm. As you can see from Tom's expression in the picture, it isn't a whole lot of fun for your partner. ;)

When you initially attempt the pass, your partner might swing their leg over and wrap your arm with it, moving into a lasso spider guard (I liked how Chelsea had everybody drill that spider guard recovery at this point, to make sure everyone knew it). To pass spider guard from there, reach through and grab their other trouser leg with your lassoed arm, being sure to grip below their knee. With your other hand, grasp their collar.

Next is Chelsea's trademark control, driving her head right underneath their chin. Keep pushing with your head, something which they will definitely not enjoy, then walk back towards their legs. This is the same principle as with that pass from earlier, to make sure their legs are cleared out of the way. Which makes sense, as I can remember Chelsea's instructors, the Mendes brothers, highlighting the importance of walking back like that post-pass in a video a couple of years ago.

My drilling partner for this one, Nathan (the third black belt on the mats today), handily pointed out that I need to make sure I'm driving my shoulder into their leg to squish their knees towards the mat. I was being lax on that, which would make it easy for them to square back up and stop my pass. For a video of this pass, check out the interview Chelsea did on This Week In BJJ, here (she also shows the same pass from reverse de la Riva, as well as countering their invert).

If they flare out their knee on the lasso so it is difficult to drive all the way to under their chin, Chelsea showed how you can instead drive your head into their chest, proceeding pretty much as before apart from that. Except that this time, you move into knee on belly rather than passing all the way to side control. From knee on belly, if they push on your knee, you can reach through by the crook of their elbow, pull them up, then step around to drop into an armbar. Note that you need them to turn in towards you: this won't work if they are flat on their back, as you can't step over properly in that situation.

After all that excellent technique, Chelsea then fit in thirty minutes of sparring, quick three minute rounds. I am pretty sure this marks the only time I've ever sparred three black belts in a row (and the only time I've seen more black belts on the mat was my visit to Fabio Santos' school). Sparring with Chelsea, Tom and Nathan, I was mainly trying to use the stiff arm from guard. When that didn't work, I tried my follow-up of going into koala guard, but messed up each time. I did vaguely attempt a roll under sweep with Chelsea, but she had already passed regardless.

After getting passed, with all three of the black belts I was (not very successfully, as you'd expect) attempting to then block with Rockwell's sit-up escape frame. There was a lot of being crushed under mount, which seems to happen to me a lot with black belts (fair payback, as I was in mount on a white belt earlier in sparring. So, taste of my own medicine ;D). I very narrowly escaped Tom's bow and arrow type choke by pulling on his sleeve then elbow, also slipping free of the follow-up armbar by a whisker. No doubt he was going a lot lighter than normal as I'm a lower belt, but I was still pleased I managed to defend it. ;)

To finish, Chelsea did a question and answer session, a magnificent way of finishing a seminar. I asked about my main bugbear, back escapes. Chelsea recommended blocking their second hook coming in, then getting to the non-choking side and putting your back on the mat. She leapt right over when she did it, IIRC. Tom added in a nifty option when it came to turtle. If you can cross your ankles around their leg, then you've basically escaped turtle. However they move, you're either going to be able to spin free, invert, or recover your guard more conventionally. Therefore on top of turtle, be wary of them hooking your foot like that.

Of the seventeen seminars I've been to, I would put this and Dave Jacobs from last year at the top. If you get the chance to book Chelsea for a seminar, I highly recommend you do it. She said she should be back in the UK in January, so hopefully we'll be able to arrange another seminar then. I'm also hoping she'll be on the next Polaris event: there is such an incredible talent pool of black belt women that Polaris could easily fit in two female fights, if not more. :)

12/05/2014 - Artemis BJJ (Opening & Passing the Closed Guard)

Class #569
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 12/05/2014

Excellent turn-out tonight, with a number of new faces. Dónal kicked off with some nifty passing drills. First, they have their feet on your hips. Cup under with your hands and lift, thrusting your hips forwards. That was followed by a bullfighter pass drill, where you grab inside their knees, keeping your elbows inside: glue your forearms to the inside of their lower legs. Follow those legs with your elbows, generally keeping one leg high and the other low. Picking your moment carefully, simultaneously lean in the direction of the lower leg while also shoving the lower leg away from you. Due to your lean, you can swing your other leg away, enabling you to push their lower leg further.

Main technique for tonight was a standing guard break. Grab their two collars and twist them up, keeping your hand around the level of their chest. With your other hand, grasp their same side sleeve and stuff it under your other arm, locking your other arm's elbow on top. Stand up on the sleeve-grip side, as they can't use that arm to block or hook your leg. Posture up, pulling the sleeve. Be sure to stand straight up, rather than trying to push off your collar grip. Dónal diagnosed this problem perfectly: if you lean forwards into that collar grip for base (as I often have in the past), you're going to find it both hard to stand and be more vulnerable to getting your posture broken back down.

Braulio and Norbi pull up on the gi instead, wrapping it by the leg, but they're black belts, so can deal with the person on the bottom trying to hook the leg. Once you've stood, shake their legs open like you were taking off a pair of trousers. When you've opened the guard, turn your body to knock their leg out of the way. You may also need to wriggle your elbow underneath that leg, to help slip it off. Drop down to pass, still holding the sleeve. As that will mean your arm is in an odd position, once you're down switch the sleeve grip to the other hand, then solidify your position.

01/09/2013 - Study Hall (Breaking & Passing Closed Guard, Side Control)

Class #520
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Study Hall, Bristol, UK - 01/09/2013

I was intending to train on Thursday, but as my gf had a bad day at work, I stayed at home so we could go out for a meal (as I've said many times before, BJJ is great fun, but I think your loved ones should always be the priority :D). Today I was looking to get in more work on passing the guard, continuing with the kneeling break. I'll also normally use study hall to practice the techniques I teach, which next week is side control escapes. Fortunately for me, those two things are exactly what my training partner Geraldine wanted to work as well.

I started off with the same guard break, encountering the old problems: keeping that lead hand in place, then getting enough distance to pop the ankles open. It also brought up a common issue that crops up after you've opened the legs, as they will frequently get their knee in their way. This happened to Geraldine in a competition a while ago, IIRC, so I showed her my preferred options for passing the knee shield.

I continued kneeling guard breaks with Berry, whose approach to countering them provided useful pressure-testing. He likes to bounce his hips out the way, as well as trying to break your grip on the hip, rather than the forward arm by their chest. That makes it tough to create the necessary tension to open their ankles, because their hips are free. On the plus side, I can still maintain my posture, because I have the arm on the chest: that gives me the opportunity to reset.

Therefore a key aspect I want to improve is maximising the weight I can drive through their hips. I'll need to experiment with arms positions, grips and also where I'm putting my head. It's possible I'm leaning too far forward or back, so I will keep a closer eye on that next time, to see if it is reducing the efficacy of my hip control when attempting to open the guard.

Through some light resistance, we worked out that switching my arms to the other side can be effective, although that gets a bit tiring. Having said that, the person on the bottom has to work harder, so they will probably get tired before you do. Either way, I don't like getting into battles of attrition, because that comes down to stamina rather than technique. I'll keep trying it, along with working out the right point to switch from kneeling to standing.

Sparring with Geeza helped that further, as he was mainly looking to see if I would flop to my back. I was keen to work on my passing, attempting to return to either combat base or some kind of open guard passing posture whenever I got knocked off balance. Geeza noted that I was using lateral motion, but need to combine that with more forward motion. I was getting stuck on his leg a few times, trying to do a big step over the top, but not pushing forward enough.

Arm control is something important to keep in mind as well. I played around with trying to get them to give me an arm from the kneeling break, which I could then try and pin to their hip. Geeza stopped me at that point to share a handy controlling position. He says cross-grip the arm you want to pin to the hip, then put your other arm across the top, clamping the knuckles of your pinning hand against the wrist that's over the top.

When I was underneath with Berry, I attempted to create angles to slip around the strong pressure of their arms. I also played around with different grips to prevent them posturing back up, which helped slow that process, but didn't open much in the way of submission opportunities, taking the back or sweeping. Or rather, I didn't combine my guard offence well enough.

Finally, I also worked on side control with Geraldine, keeping in mind what I wanted to teach next week. On top, I was focusing on connection with hips and control of their far elbow if they turn away (at one point I failed to control that far elbow, enabling her to spin to turtle). When she turned towards me, I switched to a cross-face, both my normal method and the version Donal suggested, where you just bring the arm in place and turn the elbow upwards.

Underneath I looked to reverse engineer what I'd done on top. I want to break the hip connection, starting with a bridge to make space, then wedge a frame in place (in my case, that's generally getting an elbow to their hip). I managed to partially turn away a few times, but Geraldine did a good job of keeping me under control. The stiff arm escape worked once (Braulio's version, shoving into the armpit and rolling them over), which was cool as I normally mess that up. So, I'll emphasise bridging and frames next week when I'm teaching side control escapes again, as well as the importance of staying tight and remaining calm.

25/08/2013 - Study Hall (Breaking & Passing Closed Guard)

Class #519
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Study Hall, Bristol, UK - 25/08/2013

Fairly small turn-out today, but still enough for me to get in plenty of drilling on passing the closed guard with a couple of different training partners. The first thing I did was that grip break I saw on BJJ Library, which I think Dave has also put onto YouTube so everyone can see it. When they grab your sleeve, circle your hand underneath theirs. Spread your thumb and index finger, then jam the 'v' shape that creates by the bottom of their hand (just by the start of their palm). Being with your arm bent, then thrust it forward firmly to knock off their grip.

That seemed to work quite well, though sometimes I didn't thrust my hand forward firmly enough, meaning they still had their grip. I'm also not entirely sure I'm putting the 'v' of my hand in the optimum place to generate leverage. I'll keep playing with it, but I think I'm now confident enough that it's functional to add it to the 'preparing the pass' class I'll teach next week. I've taught it before, but will reduce the content a bit, so it becomes just pointers on posture and staying safe in somebody's closed guard, along with some grip breaks.

I then ran through the sequence from the closed guard break and pass private with Dónal earlier this week. It was useful to not just drill it with light resistance, but then also have them try to resist, until finally they did it on me. Especially with Jamie, that brought up several details for me to consider. Drilling with both Luke and Jamie, I felt relatively secure once I had opened the guard and got the cross-face (I just need to make sure I control the far elbow as I pass, so they can't turn away). The danger is mainly earlier on.

To initially get that tight grip on both collars makes it difficult to break their grips, because my hands are already engaged. However, if I have that arm in place near their chest, then their grips aren't as important, because it becomes much harder for them to break my posture. Wriggling back to get the guard open can be difficult, but when I've got it open, I need to kick my foot forward immediately and also watch out for their knee coming across (you can still pass if it does, but it means you need a different pass).

Controlling the hips is an area I've found hard whenever I've tried this pass in the past. The idea is that the hand you have pressing down into their hip helps on that front. Perhaps I just need to focus more on maximising my downwards pressure? That would still seem to leave the other hip open, which I could block with my knee, but I need my need for driving into the tailbone. Again, something to keep practicing in drilling.

With Jamie, he tends to open his guard when he senses you've got into a good guard breaking position. That's a good idea, as you always want to open your guard on your terms. It means I need to react before he does, but also be ready to switch to an open guard pass rather than closed. Jamie's preferred method is probably what I'd do: he aims to break open the closed guard, then immediately pop back and grab the knees, moving into a bullfighter style of pass.

Something else he mentioned, when showing me how he likes to do the break, is that rather than the collars he grabs the belt. The reason I don't normally go for the belt is that if it comes untied you're stuck, but it remains a handy grip when it is tied. That way I don't spend any time fiddling with collars: I'll be giving the belt grip a try too, rather than dismissing it out of hand like I was previously.

21/08/2013 - Private (Closed Guard Break & Leg Pin Pass)

Class #518 - Private #014
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 21/08/2013

I originally was considering doing some more work on closed guard sweeps for today's private lesson, but yesterday's sparring reminded me that my ability to open the closed guard remains really pants. I therefore went for that instead, getting in some basic closed guard breaks. I could have quite happily spent the entire lesson on just that, but as this was a dual private lesson, Liam naturally had some input too. Fortunately, he wanted to work on something closely related, which was passing after you had opened the guard.

The closed guard break from the knees is among the first techniques I ever learned, back in 2006, but I've been struggling with it ever since. Indeed, it was the topic of my first private lesson in 2010, so I've come full circle. The basic method starts by setting up your grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Put your knee under the tailbone, then wriggle back until you can pop their ankles apart. Saulo's version, as per that picture, has the knee off to the side with the leg stretched out, using a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back.

Dónal added in some small but important details (which he's taught before, but clearly I did not fully understand them). I think the main thing I've been missing is twisting up their collars so that there is no slack when you grip, along with jamming your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Normally what happens is that I find my arm gets stretched out and lose my posture: by securing it more firmly, that should be avoided. With your hand on the hip, measure it by bringing your elbow back to their knee, then grabbing the material that puts next to your hand.

From there, get your knee underneath their tailbone, meaning they are raised up onto your leg. Curve your back, then slowly wriggling backwards, with your other knee out to the side. In drilling, this was effective, but I suspect I'm going to run into problems when adding in more resistance. Still, both Dónal and Liam were commenting how this is their go-to guard break: I'm hopeful that after today I can finally get it working for me regularly. ;)

The main part of the lesson focused on then passing the closed guard, directly from that guard break: I refer to this one as the leg pin pass. This particular version is one I think I've also seen before, back in 2010 when I was at GB Birmingham, but I didn't understand all the details at the time.

Once you've split the ankles apart, use your elbow or hand to push their knee to the mat. Immediately kick your foot forward into the crook of their knee, then drive your knee to the mat next to their hip. That initial kick, combined with keeping your foot engaged, should twist their leg away from you in such a way that they will find it hard to adjust into a defensive posture.

Your other knee raises up, then pushes forward, so their other leg ends up on your hip. Push your hips in that direction, so that they can't lock their legs back together. Get a cross-face on the grounded leg side, while swimming your arm under their raised leg. From there, do a back-step so you're sat next to them, then drive forward into side control, pushing your knees under their legs so they can't sneak a knee through. You also may need to secure their far elbow, so they can't turn.

Quite often when you are in the middle of that pass, they will try to block your hip with their hand: I certainly do. However, that also means that their elbow is away from their side, which provides you with the opportunity to bring your same side arm (i.e., the one you would have used to cross-face) underneath their arm. Twist your arm so the palm is facing up, scooping under their arm to push it over their face.

Back-step as before, this time bringing your body around so that you're pressuring by their shoulder. Again be sure to also secure their far elbow to stop them turning. From this position, you may well be able to move straight into a gift-wrap and take the back. Alternatively, you may be able to feed their collar to your arm under their head and apply a variety of chokes.

13/03/2013 - Private: Passing Details

Class #494 - Private #006
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 13/03/2013

Today's lesson was a little different from the others, as it was less clearly focused. This time round, we mostly just did some very light specific sparring on passing to work out some potentially useful additional details. That makes sense, as we've done a fair bit of work on passing already, so a kind of review is useful at this point.

When I was trying to pass in previous lessons, I was having some trouble getting to the starting position, crouched low, grips on the leg and collar, pressuring forward. Lots of people were shoving back forcefully, though that did set me up nicely for the bullfighter pass instead (as Dónal mentioned, higher belts are unlikely to fall into that trap). I should also remember to twist my leg inwards to make it harder for them to push it back. Another key point I'm still forgetting is to grab their collar and pull their shoulders off the floor. This is absolutely essential, as it makes it much tougher for them to sweep you.

The first of many useful tips related to when they pull your arm forwards. If you simply pull back, it will probably be hard because they've got a strong grip. Instead, turn your hand so your little finger and elbow are pointing down. That gives you a far stronger structure, so it should now become a lot easier to pull your arm back.

If you can't get your arm as far back as you would like (e.g., if you want to get your hand back to push on their ankle), use your forearm instead. You can also trick them by manipulating the direction of their force, like you would when trying to clear the arm for a RNC. In the context of passing, you push forward to lift their foot up off your hip, they start pushing it down to counteract, whereupon you immediately switch and continue that push down.

You can then move into the strong passing position, shoving their leg under your thigh to put it out of commission. Similarly, when pushing their knee across your body you can use your forearm. This time it is a matter of efficiency. Pushing it with your hand is less powerful then using your whole forearm and twisting your body. That provides better leverage.

When you're doing the leg squash pass, grip their gi collar with your free hand, don't base it on the floor. Swing your leg up to keep the pressure on their thigh. That collar grip should be relatively low down on their lapel, because that means you can stop them turning away. Lock your elbow by their other hip: they are going to find it tough to turn from there. With the lapel grip, you can just reel them back in.

Yet another good tip relates to when they try for an underhook. They start to get their hand through for the underhook. Trap your elbow against their hip, pressing into their other hip with your own. This should lock the arm in place. Make sure you're manoeuvring them flat onto their back, bringing your chest forward, to stop them shrimping away.

Dónal had a little point on cross facing too. You can just bring your arm into the side of their face, lifting up your elbow. This will work even if you aren't putting your hand on the ground. I'm teaching a class on top side control in a couple of weeks, so will see if I can add that detail in.

Something else to keep in mind: don't focus too much on what you're used to if there is an easier option. The example that came up today was when they have that grip on your arm and sit up. I tried to force half guard as usual to pass from there. However, it uses less energy to just go for the knee cut as usual: when I did it after Dónal pointed this out, it felt like a very 'Dónal ' movement, fluid and natural. Cool!

06/03/2013 - Private: From Knee Cut to Leg Squash Pass

Class #491 - Private #005
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 06/03/2013

Back to the knee cut, starting off with a review of what we learned last time as usual. Due to the switch to a v-grip on the ankle, I kept forgetting to drive into the leg and grab the collar, as I was thinking too much about the ankle positioning. Remember that if you do go for pushing the ankle, Dónal advised that you don't want to push it too far across, as then it becomes geared towards one pass rather than leaving your options open. He therefore suggesting pushing it under the middle of the thigh.

The main point of today's lesson was to add in another pass I can switch to if the knee cut is blocked. I'm sure it has a name, but I'm going to call it the leg squash pass, for reasons which will become clear. You've gone for the knee cut and started to slide over their leg, but they've prevented you moving forwards, perhaps by framing with their arms.

Grab the knee of the leg you're trying to slide across (Dónal prefers to cup under the knee, but you can also grab the trouser material: the problem is that may move and give them room to adjust enough to establish spider guard or something like that). Lift and move it across to the opposite side. To do that effectively, you'll need to turn your non-knee sliding foot so that the toes are pointing in the direction you want to move. Bend the knee and shift in that direction.

As you slide across, you're going to break what is normally a cardinal rule of BJJ: putting your hands on the mat. This is for base, with one by their same side armpit, while your remaining hand posts on the other side. The intention is to end up sprawled on top of their legs. More specifically, your groin is by the back of their knees, ideally with the point of your hip pressing into the middle of their thigh. Although it feels counter-intuitive, don't go up on your toes. Sink your weight through your hips into their legs, with your own legs draped on either side.

Almost certainly they are going to move, especially if you're being mean and digging the point of your hip into the 'dead leg' point of their thigh. Once they do, backstep and pass around the other side. This feeds smoothly into mount, pulling their knees towards you and wrapping your leg behind their knees. If you like, you can also lock your legs as you wrap them, making the transition to mount particularly secure.

If they don't move, then you could bring your lower leg back to hold their legs in place as you backstep. That has the disadvantage of slightly easing off the pressure, so Dónal suggests simply swinging that backstepping leg up, which keeps the weight through the point of your hip.

You don't have to do that off a knee cut, of course, you can start with the leg squash. With the same grips as the knee cut, Dónal had a little detail in regards to the elbow of the arm you're using to grab their collar and pull their shoulders off the mat. Bring that elbow over their knee, so you're on the outside. This help you control it, meaning that you can slide across straight from there into the leg squash. As you're not going for the knee cut, you're doing this instead of lifting their knee up off the floor and pulling it across.

From there, I headed straight to Geeza's class.

27/02/2013 - Private: More Knee Cut Pass

Class #489 - Private #004
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 27/02/2013

This time round, Liam joined in on the private. Dónal was finishing off another private when we arrived, which meant we had some time to drill the technique in advance. It was useful to get a chance to work it with a bit more resistance, especially with somebody more experienced like Liam. For the actual private, I wanted to continue with the knee cut pass, working on dealing with people who have longer legs (prompted by Miles the day before ;D).

We ran through the details from before: immediately squat down, like you're a weightlifter preparing to get that bar up (a little like what Lovato Jr calls the 'headquarters' position). Grip on the trousers by the shin, step in with the other leg and grab the collar, bringing their shoulders off the mat. Dónal emphasised again the importance of having that collar elbow inside your knee, to avoid them attacking with omoplatas and the like. The difference this time was when you come to shove that leg between yours after lifting your leg. They manage to keep their foot 'sticky', either because they're just good at keeping that grip or they have long legs.

To deal with that (you can use the same technique if they've already managed to stretch you out), switch from the trouser grip to their ankle, using the 'v' of your fingers and thumb. Shove the leg down, then straight away return to your crouch and sit on their foot. Dónal called this the 'gorilla' pose. Ideally your want to sit on their toes, to reduce their lifting power. To reduce it even further, push their ankle to the side, so it is under your leg rather than your tail bone. If you can push their knee across in the same direction using your chest, so much the better.

At this point you can get back to the pass. You're going to have to raise up slightly, but be careful you don't raise too much. You don't want them getting a leg back in: keep bracing their non-trapped leg with your elbow, blocking any efforts to bring the leg in. Move your foot to their tail bone, then drag them over to the side to continue the pass like before.

Dónal had some more details to emphasise here. If you like to go for the underhook and grip the back, as I do, use your elbow to initially open up the space. You already have a grip on their collar, so while maintaining that, you can put your elbow on their ribs. That should enable you to then pivot on your elbow as you circle your arm around for the underhook. If you try to just go for the underhook, you're at risk of their arm reaching under first, which is a battle you don't want to get into.

Don't forget to pressure your head into their shoulder, as if you can flatten their shoulders to the mat you'll again have a much easier time passing. If you want to underhook their other arm too, reach under it palm up. If you try going palm down, your anatomy won't let you bring your elbow in as close, which results in a gap for them to exploit. Palm up, you can bring your elbow tight to their side leaving no space. Finish off with the same push back with your hips and adjustment into side control.

13/02/2013 - Dónal Private Lesson (Knee Cut Pass, Dealing with de la Riva)

Class #487 - Private #003
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 13/02/2013

This time round, Steve was there to share the private. That's useful, as it means I can watch Dónal demonstrate the details on somebody else, and it is also handy for taking a video afterwards (last time it was static, balanced on a drum, this time I could move around and zoom in as necessary). The slight drawback is that you have less time on what you specifically want to work, as naturally the time needs to be divided equally, but that's fine because you also pay less as a result. :)

We continued with the guard pass from last time, the knee cut pass. The first thing I wanted to cover was avoiding the triangle, as Matt slapped a fast submission on me when I visited the Chris Rees Academy and tried this pass recently. As I thought, I think the problem was reaching for the collar without having established a grip on the other leg. I also should be driving my leg into the back of their knee, and make sure my reaching arm stays inside my own knee.

Some other tips to remember on the basic knee cut (if you want to re-read the full details, see the write-up from last time) are first of all to immediately sink down into a crouch. You then also want to stop them stretching you out by pushing on your non-driving leg: to do that, simply twist it inwards, so they have less purchase for pushing. Once you've slipped through and are looking to flatten them out, drive your forehead into their shoulder to help get them flat on the mat.

The rest of the lesson was firstly bringing Steve up to speed on the details of the pass, then dealing with the de la Riva hook (that picture of Norby reminds me that they might sit up too, which we didn't cover). My usual tactic is to simply flare my knee out to pop the hook off, but Dónal shared a more thorough strategy. If they just put in the hook without also grabbing your trouser cuff, start by getting your grips on their legs. Use the knuckle down grip as usual on the non-hooked leg, then control the inside of the knee on the hooking leg. Step the foot of your hooked leg forward, probably past their belt line (but it depends on the length of your legs and their legs). Make sure you aren't bringing your other leg in, as that will thin your base and result in less stability.

Next, drive your knee forward. This will press your weight down into their foot and significantly reduce the efficacy of their de la Riva hook. From there, switch your hand from the inside of their knee to their collar, again getting that deep grip and pulling their shoulders off the mat. You can then progress with the pass as normal: they may well remove their hook on their own, due to the discomfort.

More likely they will also be grabbing your trouser cuff, which is more of a hindrance. However, you are still going to proceed with the pass as normal: the execution will end up being slightly different. When you've used the above method to nullify their hook, drag them across forcefully to the side with their collar, as you normally would. It is more important than usual if they have that grip, as yanking them may be enough to knock their hand off your trouser cuff.

If it isn't, you'll then collapse your weight into their top leg, driving your hip down. That additional weight and leverage is likely to break their grip. If they're stubborn they may be able to hold it, but it is not going to be pleasant for them as you're basically sitting on their hand. Once that grip is off, you can continue to slide through as before.

Next week, I think I might ask for some tips on spider guard. It's unfortunate I can't spar properly at the moment, as that would be the best way to work out what people tend to do when I try this pass, but hopefully I'll be back into normal sparring soon. There has been some improvement with my groin injury, but it isn't up to full on sparring from guard just yet.

30/01/2013 - Private Lesson with Dónal (Knee Cut Pass & Knee Shield Troubleshooting)

Class #484 - Private #002
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 30/01/2013

The last time I did a private lesson was with Kev Capel, a few years back. I hadn't been all that interested in doing more, as I wasn't sure I was at a level to really benefit from them properly. I'm still not sure I'm at that level, but I thought getting some private lessons from Dónal would be a good idea at the moment, given my injury is keeping me from training normally. It's also cool to get in more classes with Dónal generally, as I like his teaching style.

Privates at GB Bristol come in blocks of three, which you can split with other people, meaning it works out as fairly inexpensive. Dónal also likes to have more than one person there, as that makes it easier to demonstrate, drill and observe, but Steve wasn't able to make it today. Still, that has the advantage of a 100% focus on me, which is handy for a private lesson. ;)

When I first inquired about getting a private, Dónal made a point of asking me what I wanted to work. We then discussed it again at the start of the session. What I would really like to develop is my closed guard, but annoying me that's also exactly what I can't work with this groin injury. Instead, just like my previous private lesson with Kev three years ago, I went with another of my many weak areas: guard passing.

As I couldn't do closed guard with my injury, we went with open guard. I emphasised that I wanted something with as few moving parts as possible, so I could hone in on the minor details, rather than get confused by a huge mass of grips, spins and gymnastic moves. I also showed what Kev had taught me last time (or at least, what I remembered of it).

Dónal decided that the knee cut pass would fit well with my goals. This is the same pass I learned from Kev, but Dónal teaches it a little differently. When you initially step into their open guard, your shin should be behind their leg, not their tailbone. Grab low on their same side trouser leg with your shin hand, knuckles forward. Your other hand reaches high on their same side collar, pulling back towards you as much as possible. You want to curl their body, so their shoulders are off the ground. This makes it much harder for them to sweep you.

Drop into a relatively low crouch, legs apart for base. They will probably have a foot on your hip at this point, on the side where you're trying to get your shin behind their leg. Turn your leg inwards slightly, pressing into their foot, then swing the leg back and over, while simultaneously driving their leg diagonally backwards between your legs (just like Kev's version). The grip is important here: you're going to roll your knuckles down so that they are pressing into the shin, straightening your arm. This provides a firm control.

Next, you're going to cut across their thigh (still on the leg you just stuffed with your knuckle grip), using your opposite knee. As you do, also be sure to yank them towards that side with your collar grip, again to prevent sweeps. Drop in low, trying to secure an underhook, also keeping your head in tight. When you've pinned their leg with your shin, you can switch your grip from their leg to their arm and pull up.

From here you'll slide through as normal. To secure your position, walk your hips back before you settle (there is a good Mendes brother video on this), getting your hips underneath them to shove their legs out of the way. That's when you can then solidify your side control. Dónal recommends also jamming your elbow into their far hip to stop them turning away to turtle, then using pressure with your lower abdomen to stop them turning back towards you. That should mean they are now stuck.

After that we did some trouble shooting, which was cool as it fit in directly with the half guard knee shield passing we're been working a lot over the last few weeks. For example, the Jason Scully knee cut option I taught, which is the one I like the most so far. Dónal went with an even simpler option than the various techniques we've been drilling so far. If they manage to get a knee shield in the way, basically all you do is slide your trapped knee backwards, collapse on top of their knees, then walk up so you drive you hips into them. Put a knee on either side of their legs, then trap them in place with your weight by sinking your hips towards the mat. When they move, back step and take side control.

It sounds simple, but requires some sensitivity. I was having trouble getting it until Dónal showed me a great drill for developing that awareness of the right pressure, where you surf their knees from side to side, moving them with the insides of your own knees. Another point where I initially struggle was if when you collapse their knees your end up lying on your own arm. You need to pull that out, but avoid lifting up and giving your opponent space. Turn your hand, then pull directly back towards your elbow. There should be barely any lifting of your upper body.

I'm still not sure I've quite got that, as I kept finding myself trying to base off the other hand, my knees, my foot, my head and so on. You shouldn't need to base off anything else for this, just quickly and firmly pull your arm free then circle it round to control them. All in all, great stuff, which may become even greater when we have other people there next time for demonstrating and the like.

15/01/2013 - More USA Trip Plans & GB Bristol (Passing Z-Guard/Knee Shield)

Class #481
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 15/01/2013

Going to Texas last November was awesome, so I'm keen to get to the USA again. Hence why I've booked a trip to California in June. There won't be anywhere near as much BJJ as before (or as much as Julia's amazing trip a while back), because I'll have less time, but I'm still hoping to get in three or four sessions on the mat and hopefully a few interviews for Jiu Jitsu Style Magazine.

My plans aren't concrete, but I'm intending to pass through San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. In terms of training, I am definitely planning on Fabio Santos in San Diego, as both Dagney and Caleb train there. There are a couple of other bloggers there too, including one of my favourite writers, Chelsea, but I'm not hardcore enough to train at a mega-competitive gym like Atos. I'm a very mediocre, passive purple belt hobbyist. That's also why I'm a bit uncertain about checking out Kurt Osiander in San Francisco, but I really like his focus on the basics, so I may go for it anyway (although from all the stories about that gym, I'm slightly concerned they may literally kill me ;D).

It would be cool to meet up with Dave from the Jiu Jitsu Forums, if he is about: Julia had a chance to train with him during her tour. I would also love to train with Xande and Saulo in LA and San Diego respectively, but I'm not sure I'll get the time. Interviewing Saulo would be brilliant too, as he is one of my BJJ heroes (as is Xande: I have gotten a huge amount from the excellent instructional material the Ribeiro brothers have put out over the years), but I imagine he is a busy man. Still, worth a try.

Another possibility is the Gracie Academy in Torrance. I hadn't expected to be able to get there, as it isn't easy to reach without a car, but it may be possible to get a lift from a Facebook friend of mine, which would be very cool. Although I've certainly got criticisms of the Gracie Academy (particularly the online ranking system and the philosophical distinction they make between what they call 'sport' jiu jitsu and 'self defence' jiu jitsu), it is of immense historical importance to BJJ and the teaching standard is excellent.
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I haven't made it to one of Dónal's classes since October, partly due to being in the USA over November but mainly because of the groin injury. That still hasn't gone away, but I feel comfortable enough in Dónal's class that I'm able to train around it. I don't yet feel that way about Geeza's advanced classes (mainly because I've almost never been to an advanced class at GB Bristol, so I don't know what they're like), which is why I haven't been to them, but I should be ok in the fundamentals classes (which Geeza has recently re-opened to non-white belts).

My trust in Dónal was more than rewarded by an excellent lesson tonight. He was careful to check I was ok repeatedly during the warm-up, making sure I didn't take part in anything that might aggravate my injury any further. I had to sit out a lot of it, as Dónal has a fondness for various drills that use pushing, kicking and twisting motions (which normally is a very good thing, but unfortunately I can't do them safely at the moment). I was able to take part in grip fighting, which was useful.

The technique tonight was passing the knee shield, also known as z-guard. It is a right pain to pass, so any techniques that help are welcome. Dónal's method covered a scenario where they have secured the knee shield, also grabbing your collar on the same side as the knee shield. Generally you'll want to break that grip, grasping with both hands underneath and thrusting up as you simultaneously jerk back to pop off the grip.

However, it isn't essential: you can still pass while they are gripping. Grab their shoulder, still on the knee shield side, while your other hand pins their other wrist to the mat. Pull that wrist out away from their body, so their arm is straight. At the same time, try and push on their shoulder on the knee shield side. You're trying to flatten them onto the mat.

The key to the technique is your trapped knee. You need to slide that over their leg, pushing your knee down by their hip. This will prevent their leg from following you, which also immobilises their hips. Once you have that knee in position and you've flattened them out, slide your knee backwards, pushing against their lower leg back as you do so. That should help free your knee.

Next, collapse your hips right onto their knee shield, staying on your toes, sprawling out your legs to maximise your weight. Pull up on their wrist, walking around to pass over their knee. You may find you want to walk your hips back into their knee once you clear it, if they are trying to follow you with that knee. From there you can shift into side control.

Be aware that you don't want them to take your back, so be careful of them trying to sneak their arm around. Driving your elbow by their hip should help block that. Pulling up on the arm should also make it difficult, as that will hinder their ability to turn their shoulders.

I got in a lot of drilling time on that technique, thanks to Dónal. While everyone else was sparring, he put me off in a corner with a selection of different people, saying I could drill whatever technique I wanted, but it had to be just one technique. That is totally fine by me: a lesson of focused drilling is pretty much my ideal lesson, and what I try to teach in my own lessons on Thursdays. Unsurprisingly, I continued drilling the same knee shield pass I had just been shown.

Dónal stayed around the area, offering up more and more tips (which I've incorporated into the description above: there wasn't that level of detail in the initial demonstration, but Dónal added it in while offering advice during my focused drilling bit later). It also made me think that this is probably a good time for me to get some private lessons from Dónal, given that I'm injured and I like his teaching style. I just need to find a time that fits into both our schedules, which may be difficult as he's in demand! ;D

One final thing Dónal mentioned is that I could try and move straight into a choke after the pass, setting it during the pass itself. As I start to move around while pulling up on the arm, Dónal suggested switching the hand that was gripping the shoulder to the opposite collar. Pushing that across, I can then feed it to my arm-pulling hand, securing a grip that could be used to go into a sliding choke, bow and arrow choke or various other options.

I rarely even consider the submission, as I am heavily focused on escaping and maintaining. It is good to keep them in mind, though submissions are still a low priority for me, as I think my passing needs a great deal of work, as do my back escapes and closed guard. It's frustrating I can't practice closed guard properly with my groin injury, but back escapes and passing should be viable if I take care.

26/12/2012 - Boxing Day Drilling at RGA Bucks

Class #480
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 26/12/2012

My legs were still burning from the xmas eve drilling session, but as I have got in so little training this year, I wasn't going to miss out. I was a little worried when Kev said it was going to be drills from standing, but we weren't doing too much actual throwing, so my leg didn't seem too unhappy.

After a warm-up based on something Martin Rooney does (with things like "dog urinating" posture with the leg), we moved into the drilling. It was the same format as xmas eve, with five rounds of a minute each, so ten minutes total. We began with uchikomi, working whatever entry into a throw we wanted. I went with the basic trip (can't remember the judo term), where you grab collar and elbow, step through and kick out their leg, following through with your arms.

I'm not sure if it is better to punch the gi you've grabbed over their shoulder or pressing directly into their chest, in terms of leverage. But meh, I have no intention of doing any sparring from stand-up if I can avoid it, so as a non-competitor, not a big issue. :)

It also meant I could practice the takedown Rolles JR showed at his seminar in Houston, where you grab over the back, drop down then lifting their leg, drag them into side control. I'm sure I'm missing lots of details, but mainly I wanted to play with that over the back grip, where you then drop your elbow in front of the shoulder.

Next we did the throws, with some very light resistance. I decided to go for it and complete the technique, which may or may not prove to have been a good idea. I was only doing it on one side, to avoid pressure on my left abductor, but did feel a tiny twinge a few times. I also did a few seoi-nages, but that didn't generate the same kind of twinge.

Third drill was guard pulling, which worried me even more, but fortunately it wasn't jumping guard. Again there was some very light resistance, to keep the drill alive, so your partner blocks your attempts to get grips if you aren't going for it properly. We then just dropped while pushing a foot into the hip. That didn't aggravate my abductor, except for once where I think I must have swung the leg out too forcefully.

I got nervous yet again where we were lined up against the wall, but it wasn't randori. With one person in the middle, everybody else did some grip fighting with them one after another, for ten seconds each. It proved to be a quite nice way of doing stand-up training but without the worries about injury. I again tried for the Rolles grip, but failed to use it to keep them at a distance. People were just gripping with their arm on the same side, which pretty much negated my control.

I asked Kev about it afterwards, to check if I was doing the grip right. I wasn't. Kev demonstrated how you can either grab high on the collar and drop your elbow, which looked like what Rolles did: the difference is that Rolles is huge, so can grab over the back and still have enough length in his arms to drop the elbow.

Kev's second variation on the takedown was interesting, where he grabs the collar, then braces the heel of his hand against their jawbone. That accomplishes a similar distancing effect to Rolles elbow drop, and having experienced Kev demonstrating it on him, definitely feels like it would be good control. Kev suggested combining that with a grip on the leg.

The reason for the trouser grip is that in a BJJ competition you would then automatically get takedown points if they tried to pull guard. You can also bring your leg across to hook their far leg, then drive through for the takedown (IIRC: my memory for takedowns is rather poor). One thing you need to watch out for when grabbing the leg is that they don't drop back and put you in a triangle. As he explained, Kev once won a fight at a competition that way.

Class finished with some specific sparring from closed guard. I wasn't able to do a whole lot, generally getting my back taken when I was on top and passed when on the bottom. Not being able to stand up properly was a hindrance on top, though I suspect things would not have gone all that differently even if I wasn't injured. My guard, both on top and on the bottom, continues to be atrocious. Weirdly, I seem to have become a top player over the last year or two (though my top game isn't all that much better).

I was trying the knee shield type thing on the bottom, but wasn't doing a good job of blocking the pass. It is harder when you can't easily bring one of your legs into play, but I still should have had better hip movement. It's frustrating that I'm not going to be able to work on my guard much due to the injury, despite it being a major problem area at the moment. Meh. At least I can train around a groin strain, which is much, much better than being forced off the mats completely.

24/12/2012 - Xmas Eve Drilling at RGA Bucks

Class #479
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 24/12/2012

Unusually, my family celebrated xmas on the 23rd December this year. Normally, we do it on the xmas eve (with the handy excuse that half of us are German), but this year my sister is disappearing to Canada, so we had to do thing a bit earlier. After some excellent presents, including some wool-assisted beardery, that meant I had the whole of xmas eve and xmas day for BJJ. I finally signed up for a free trial at MGinAction (review here), then at 2pm headed down to RGA Bucks for a drilling class. It is always great to drop into Kev's club and catch up. It is also nice to be able to wear my preferred gi again, rather than the Gracie Barra uniform. I forget how comfortable the Black Eagle Predator jacket and Kingz trousers are! ;D

I am still injured, which is likely to be the case for at least a few months, from what people have told me regarding groin strains. I therefore couldn't take part in a lot of the warm-up, but fortunately I found that the main drilling didn't seem to aggravate my abductor. All of the drills were related to passing the guard. We did them in sets of five, going for a minute each time.

The guard passing drills kicked off with a relatively basic option, with a minor variation from Kev. It is basically the same as the typical bullfighter pass drill, where you push their knees to one side and pass the other way through to knee on belly, step back and repeat in the other direction. The difference is that Kev likes to reach past their knees and grab the belt, then grip the leg and pass on that side. You can either switch your belt grip each time, or maintain the belt grip and use the same hand for passing on both sides.

Drill number two was almost the same, exact that rather than pulling on the belt, you put your hand on the mat between their legs. This lends itself to a slightly different motion, dropping your shoulder as you pass, rather than naturally shifting to knee on belly. As this was drilling, nobody was slamming their shoulder full force, further softened by the person on their back using their arms to brace the passer's weight.

Kev's third drill was for passing spider guard. I was a bit concerned at first, given the leg contortion required for a leg lasso, but fortunately it was possible to just do it on one side. As your partner starts to bring their leg over your arm to lock in the lasso, drop your shoulder and knock their lower leg outwards with your arm. Grasp their toes with your other hand and push it down, simultaneously moving around to the side. For the purposes of the drill, we just went side to side. To complete the pass, you would take out the slack in their grip, then with a 'start the lawnmower' motion, yank your arm free while still pushing on their foot.

Our final drill moved into the acrobatic guard passing realm, though at the lesser end of the spectrum. This time, put your head by their hip, reaching around their far hip with your arm. You other hand will post on the mat. This will enable you to do a headstand, then kick your legs up into the air, swinging your body over to land on the other side. It's a useful motion to ingrain, particularly if you need to suddenly switch mid-pass or overcome a stubborn frame.

I'm intending to head down on boxing day too, presuming I can still move at the point (whether the greater danger will be muscle fatigue or eating too much food remains to be seen...)

30/09/2012 - Leverage Submission Grappling Fundamentals 04 (Closed Guard)

Seminar #009
Leicester Shootfighters, (Submission Grappling), Nathan 'Levo' Leverton, Leicester, UK - 30/09/2012

I first began actively participating in online martial arts forums back in 2002, during my MA when I was still doing Zhuan Shu Kuan kung fu. I started off as part of the Tung-Fu message board, which had some cross-over with the much more influential SFUK: I think shortly before I joined, there had been some kind of troll influx from SFUK. After a few months, those trolls morphed into contributors, causing Tung-Fu to go from being a staunchly traditional martial arts forum to one relatively supportive of the then recent phenomenon of MMA (indeed, when we had a meet-up a year later, grappling taught by an MMA instructor was a major component of the day). I think it was around then I first encountered someone posting as 'Levo' online, a regular on SFUK.

That name popped up frequently over the years on various forums I frequented, either in person or as a reference, in places like Cyberkwoon, Bullshido and Martial Arts Planet. Almost always, Levo would be making some measured and intelligent argument about something in martial arts. I often found myself quoting him, like here, particularly in the days before I was seriously grappling myself. I often thought it would be cool to go train with this Levo guy, but never took the opportunity to head over to Leicester and check out his school.

It's taken a decade, but I finally got round to it today. Levo is the internet handle of Nathan Leverton, a pioneer in UK grappling. Having spent well over a decade training numerous successful fighters in MMA, this year he's decided to codify his experience into a system, 'Leverage Submission Grappling'. I heard about it earlier this year, so have been keeping an eye out on developments.

The reason it intrigued me back in January was mainly down to Leverton's reputation. I expected that if he was creating a system, it would be technical, cerebral and for want of a better word, 'grown-up'. That's as opposed to something like 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu: though much of Eddie Bravo's nogi system is viable if you are an experienced grappler with the requisite flexibility, I'm put off by the marketing approach and constant drug advocacy. Leverage Submission Grappling also has the advantage that it was advertised as fundamentals, which always perks my interest.

Today's seminar is number four in a series of six proposed Leverage Submission Grappling seminars on fundamentals. The next one is on the 14th October (more information and booking details here), discussing side control, but I'll be in Portugal. Seminar number five on open guard is the following Sunday, which I can't make either, so I'm hoping I can make the one after that (which I should be able to, unless it is in November when I'm away in Texas).

Leverton's instruction totally lived up to my expectations: intelligent, detailed and thorough. The breadth of his experience was immediately evident from his theoretical introduction, where he discussed how Leverage Submission Grappling draws on numerous grappling styles, from catch wrestling to judo to Brazilian jiu jitsu amongst others. It would be fascinating to chat with him at length about his background in martial arts, so hopefully I'll get the chance to interview him some time, either for Jiu Jitsu Style or just for this website.

He started off with theory, running through a positional hierarchy in keeping with Brazilian jiu jitsu (i.e., the back, mount and side control are where you want to be, guard is neutral, whereas underneath side control, mount and the back are progressively worse). Of all the positions, guard was going to be the most influenced by jiu jitsu, given that BJJ is arguably the style which has developed that position the most.

First of all you need to know how to hold the guard properly. This might seem like a simple point, but as Leverton said, many people don't use their legs as effectively as they could. Rather than letting your legs flop down so you're resting on their thighs, you'll achieve better control by gripping higher on their waist, pinching your knees.

Next you want to break their posture. As soon as they adjust a knee and start to rise, pull your knees into your chest to knock them off-balance. You also want to bounce your hips over if they start shifting their knee into the middle: I'm used to having a trouser leg to pull on to help with that, but the principle is the same in no-gi. Once you've broken their posture, clamp your heels down to help keep them there.

Most likely they will try and position their arms to maintain posture: in gi, that normally means one hand grabbing both collars and the other by your hip. In no-gi, there isn't anything to grab, but they'll still probably be pressing into your stomach or possibly your hips. Either way, you want to get those arms out of the way. Leverton went through the three basic options, which are swimming inside the arms and pushing them to the mat, then the opposite motion from outside, and finally the same elbow grab and pull I'm used to from the gi.

When you've brought them down, wrap up the head immediately with your arm. There are two main routes for securing that: first, you could underhook with your same side arm then link your hands, or secondly you can overhook. If you overhook, make sure you put your knee by your elbow to keep things tight. This concept of tightness was probably the overriding theme of the day, as you'll see the further I get into this write-up.

Having established that grip around the head, Leverton moved into his first submission, a pressing armbar. For a fundamentals seminar it seemed fairly complex, but as Leverton explained, this technique also teaches several important principles that relate to various other techniques. Starting from your underhook, shift your arm from the head so that you're instead gripping around their shoulder with both hands. Pull that in tight.

Open your guard and shift your hips out towards the trapped shoulder side. You'll end up with one leg on top, the knee by their shoulder, while the rest of your leg curls down the middle of their back. Your other knee should clamp underneath the shoulder, pinning it in place. Next, you want to secure the end of their arm towards their wrist ('stick theory': to snap a stick across your knee, you hold it at both ends, not just one). To shift up the arm, you may need to push against their head with one hand to help your control.

Adjust your grip so you're a little underneath their elbow, grabbing your own far shoulder. You want to be a bit past the point of where you'd apply the submission. If they pull their arm out slightly, you won't lose the submission opportunity completely. Your other arm then moves up to join the first, so that both arms are crossed under their elbow and pulling into your chest.

Push your knees into them if you need to adjust that position on the elbow. Walk your shoulders back to stretch out the arm and lift your head up slightly, to create some space around their elbow. Finally, pull their elbow in towards that space you created by squeezing your arms and expanding your chest.

Leverton then progressed to the spinning armbar, which he noted was his preferred variation. According to Leverton, this is the judo approach and is more effective for nogi. The set up is to cup the inside of their elbow with your same side arm, elbow up. This is intentionally a loose grip, as you don't want to tip them off that you're about to go for the submission. Crunch your body so that less of your back is in contact with the floor, making it easier to spin.

Wedge the back of your hand under their same side leg, then open your guard. Kick both your legs up at the same time and spin, using your hand against their leg to help your rotation. Clamp your legs down, angling the leg by their head slightly outwards for control (so, a little like Adam Adshead's tip on armbar control). Again, tightness is key, getting those knees squeezed on either side of the shoulder.

From here you can then sweep them into mount, which Leverton recommends: they can't stack you from mount. Move your knees to the side to raise their bum in the air, then knock them forwards to go to a mounted armbar. Pinch your knees to raise their arm up, providing better leverage. Another handy tip is to pull their arm slightly off-centre, towards their legs. That makes it very hard for them to escape, even if you're doing the Japanese armbar with the near leg tucked by their side rather than over their head.

The climbing armbar is more common to jiu jitsu and gi grappling, but as with the pressing armbar, it teaches you useful concepts, like climbing the legs. Control one arm at the wrist and elbow, putting your same side foot on the hip. Kick the other leg up into their armpit to bend them at the waist, swivelling to look at their ear. Bring your first leg over their head, then complete the armbar as before. That series of three techniques also revealed that my shoulder is worryingly tight: I was already close to tapping just from the set-up!

After a quick break (very useful for scribbling down some notes, or in my case speaking the main points I wanted to remember into my phone), Leverton moved on to the triangle choke. Ryan Hall's name came up several times, which made sense as his instruction on the triangle is probably the best around at the moment (no doubt helped by the fact he has hundreds of competition wins via that submission).

Leverton discussed two set-ups, starting with the basic option Hall calls the 'tap through triangle'. Grab their wrist and push that into their stomach (not the chest, as that's a bit high, though there is a different set up where you push the arm right to their jaw). Open your guard and lift your legs over the top, then lock them in a 'diamond'. A key detail is to then pull their head down, but into your belly button rather than your chest. It's a simple point, but it made me realise that's a big mistake I've been making up until now, and is probably why I get stacked so often.

If you can get straight to the triangle go for it, but if not, stick with a secure diamond rather than a sloppy half-locked triangle. From there, pull on your shin to lock up the triangle as normal, swivelling off to an angle if necessary. The second set-up was starting from an overhook, shifting your hips and bringing your knee through for a kick-through set-up, then finishing as before. Leverton includes the usual important advice about not pulling on your toes or locking over the toes, as that's a good way to get injured.

Another useful point he mentioned on the triangle was to do with people tucking their chin into the 'hole' at the bottom of a loose triangle, meaning you can't choke them. If that happens, simply twist their head so their chin is directed at your leg rather than that hole, meaning you can press your leg into their throat. This 'hole' may develop if you haven't got their arm across: like Ryan Hall, Leverton also emphasises that you do not have to have the arm across the get the choke. If they bury their arm underneath your body, you can swim inside to pull the arm up into a pressing armbar position and either submit them with that or complete the choke.

After another break, it was time for the kimura, or as it is called in catch wrestling, the double wristlock. Leverton has trained with catch wrestling legend Billy Robinson, who has a somewhat negative view of jiu jitsu, especially the guard (you can get a flavour of that here). As a result, Robinson hates it when people call this lock the kimura.

The set-up was familiar, as you reach over the arm whenever they make the mistake of putting a hand on the mat. You can then lock up your figure four grip. There was a brief pause at this point to talk about grips. When going for the americana or kimura from the top position, you would use a thumbless grip, because if you use your thumb, that bends your wrist upwards. Without the thumb, you can keep your wrist and arm in alignment. However, from guard the grip with a thumb is fine, as there isn't the same issue of your wrist being forced out of alignment.

Once you have that grip, shift your hips out as before, bringing them down to start attacking the arm. Push their arm a bit further than ninety degrees: as with the pressing armbar from earlier, you want to have some leeway in case they start to escape. A BJJ kimura is a little different from a catch double-wristlock, because the catch version brings their elbow higher, also using their own elbow to get counter-pressure. Leverton cited to famous example of Sakuraba versus Renzo in Pride 10, where Sakuraba was able to get an immense amount of control from the kimura due to that elbow positioning and counter-pressure.

The last submission was the guillotine. Leverton began with the standard variation, adding a little tip that as you bring your hand through, 'hollow' your chest to make it easy to cinch up. Once the hand and arm are in place, your chest returns to its normal position, which instantly tightens your hold and makes it tough for them to wriggle free.

A more effective variation is what Leverton referred to as the 'Marcelotine', named after Marcelo Garcia. I've vaguely heard of it before, but as I never use guillotines I hadn't paid much attention. However, having now been shown it by a good instructor and drilled it, I'll have to revisit that attack: definitely a powerful choke.

The difference with the Marcelotine is that firstly you grip is shallower. Insert your wrist by their jawline rather than deep into the throat. Grab your first hand with your second, gripping around the non-thumb side of your first hand. The elbow of your second hand is raised, bracing against their shoulder. To complete the choke, press on their shoulder with that elbow while you simultaneously twist your first hand back with your second, ideally right into the fleshy part just behind their chin.

Leverton then moved on to sweeps, starting with the high-percentage sit-up sweep, also known as the hip bump. This makes for a classic offensive combination with the kimura and guillotine. Rise up as you would for the kimura, except this time you push up off your other arm and reach right over their arm. Secure their tricep and whack them with your hip. This should cause them to fall off balance. Once you get your knee onto the mat, twist your upper body so that you're effectively doing a take down.

The scissor sweep was going to follow, but Leverton decided that it just wasn't effective enough in nogi, so skipped ahead to the basic double ankle grab sweep. As they stand up, maintain your grip on their head to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles, open your guard and bring your knees together under their chest, then drive those knees into them. If they're tall, you may need to push into their hips with your feet instead.

That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. Before they can react, come up on your hand, then bring your hips forward on that same side. It's important you don't try to move straight forward: your direction must be diagonal. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing their head. From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to.

The last section was on closed guard from the top: in other words, passing. However, before you can pass, you need to be able to stay safe in the closed guard. First off, like Caio Terra says, you should be on your toes in order to drive forward. Leverton then showed the basic safety position, which I think I've seen in Saulo's book. The idea is not only does this keep you safe, but it may frustrate them into opening without wasting much energy yourself or leaving opportunities for them to attack. Good tactic, a little similar to something Roy Harris does, except he stays a little higher.

In short, your head is buried into their chest, your elbows are clamped to their hips, which in turn are shielded by your knees. If they manage to overhook, rotate your arm out, if they underhook, turn your thumb up and pull straight back. Should they pop their hips over, block it with your elbow on that side then replace your knee. When they try to sit up, use your head to keep them down.

Similarly, if they sit up to the side, pummel your head back in to return them to their back. If they put a foot on your hip, kick that leg back, drop your hip to knock their leg off, then return to the safety position. Should they get frustrated at any point and open their legs, scoot straight backwards before they can re-close their guard and move into combat base, with a knee up in the middle.

If they don't open their guard, then you can use a guard break from the knees. It's reminiscent of Saulo's DVD. Leverton mentioned he'd had trouble getting this to work for years: I've struggled with it too, so it was cool to get more details. Geeza taught a similar lesson on this position a while back. Geeza used the metaphor of cats and dogs as a guide for your back positioning. In that lesson, Geeza had us start on our hands and knees, starting in the 'dog' position: head raised, back curved down, chest up. From there shift into the 'cat', where you arch your back and dip your head slightly.

The application is posturing in somebody's guard. Your back should be in the 'cat' position: Leverton called this 'hunching your back', which gets across the same idea. For nogi, brace both your hands against the bottom of their ribcage, with the hands turned outwards to avoid getting wristlocked. This uses skeletal structure (your straight arms, their ribcage) to prevent them from breaking your posture.

In order to open the guard, move one knee out to the side, then insert your other knee into their tailbone. Leverton emphasised that you must move your knee out first: if you just insert your knee, you don't have any base. Your hand on that side will shift to their hip, making sure your shoulder is over the top to focus your weight into that hip. Once your knee is against their tailbone, move the other knee out even further, shifting your body towards that side to create an angle. Finally, hunch your back to pop their ankles open.

Alternatively, you can use a standing guard break. Trap an arm with both of your hands, pressing down firmly into their stomach, then raise your knee on that side. Bring your other knee in tight to their hip, so they can't easily underhook that leg. Next put both your knees behind their bum and drag them towards you. If they try to raise up, sit backwards: this is uncomfortable and should stop their motion.

When you've secured that position, reach back with one arm and put your hand on your hip. Don't dig your hand too deep, or they may be able to trap your arm against your side with their leg. Turn your body, using that twist to open their legs. You can also just push on their knee, depending how tight they're gripping. Step backwards on the same side leg and open the guard, then immediately move into your guard passing posture.

Sadly I'm not going to be able to make the next two seminars on the 14th and 21st October, because that's when I leave and return from Portugal. Hopefully the seminar on back mount will be a date I can make, as I'm really keen to get to that one (so, not the next weekend of October as that's my mum's birthday, or between 17th-30th November when I'm in Texas ;D). My back control is rubbish, so if I can learn how to keep it tight in nogi, that should help me tighten it up in gi too.