Class #856
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Fran Vanderstukken, Leuven, Belgium, 26/07/2017
Another excellent class, taught by a female brown belt. Fran focused on top half guard, with some connections to side control and a back take. You are stuck in a standard half guard. Sit on your heels initially, hands into their hips, strong posture. Grab a strong cross-face, keeping that pressure up all the way through. Pull out their far gi lapel, feeding it under their far armpit, passing that to your hand.
Lock that in, having turned your hips towards them. Bring your foot close to their bum, to avoid getting caught in the lockdown. Maintaining your cross face pressure, rise up enough to drive your bottom knee (not shin, just the knee) into their hip, then settle your weight back down. Pull their knee over, getting that supine twist (their knees go one way, their head goes the other). Grip the gi material by the knee, pull towards you, then push your leg free.
Keeping that lapel grip under their head as you move to side control, trap their arm by your hip. Move around their head, making sure the lapel grip has enough slack that you can move around. Once you get to the other side, grip your other hand under their head, then squeeze and drop your hips for the choke.
Next up, Fran upped the complexity. For whatever reason, the pass isn't happening. Reach your other hand on the inside, above their shoulder, switching the gi lapel grip. Bring your knee that is nearest the head into their side, in order to clear the way to pull them up in front of you. Also, swim your other arm underneath their armpit, establishing a gi grip with that too (that transition can be tough, I need to drill that lots to get it smooth). Yanking them up and across should be straightforward at this point, transitioning to the back.
Fran noted that she found it helpful to view top half guard as partway to the back, as you already have a hook inserted. All you need to do is pull their arm across, then with a gift wrap you can pull them straight into the back position. It's comparable to how technical mount is an easy transition to the back, just that your hook is lower.
The lesson finished up with two option from the opposite side pass. When you flipped over to the other side, you have the option of passing that side. You can also perform a rolling back take. Sit up from your position, bringing the knee of your trapped knee to the ground. Make sure you hook your foot over the back of their leg, this is very important. From here, you want to do a shoulder roll towards their legs.
As you roll, use your hook to bring their legs past you, progressing to the back. If you like, you could stop in the truck here instead. Be careful of your hook, as if you're lazy with it, they can reverse the momentum and take your back instead. Your hook needs to get down behind their knee ideally. The higher it is, the more likely they can adjust to dominate your leg instead.
Showing posts with label half guard choke. Show all posts
Showing posts with label half guard choke. Show all posts
26 July 2017
24 December 2016
24/12/2016 - RGA Bucks | Half Guard
Class #791
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 24/12/2016
I am not normally in Aylesbury in time to do the xmas eve training at RGA Bucks, but this year I managed it. Very useful, as I had annoyingly missed the session I wanted to go to in November because Megabus messed up. I like to check in with Kev at least six times a year, this final 2016 session marking the sixth (I think?).
Half guard tonight, starting by grabbing their wrist and pushing it between their legs. They've underhooked your other arm, meaning you need to wriggle your legs into play (this part I found tricky: I wasn't sure if you should let go of their wrist, or try to swim your leg inside your arm). That sets you up for a triangle.
You can also attempt a 'tee pee' triangle, where from that position you reach underneath both your legs and extend them. Switching to the reverse triangle is another option, meaning your legs are locked the other way.
In rolling, I got crushed under Sandeep's side control, which is what always happens with him. The only difference is how long I hold him off. Tonight I was still trying to save my fingers and avoid gripping too much, which appeared to make Sandeep's pass even quicker. He's very good at grabbing a sleeve and a leg, then bringing that inside to drop his shoulder and pass. I guess more grip breaking might help, though I don't want to get into a grip breaking battle with a strong wrestler like him. ;)
Sandeep also landed a nice footlock on me later (pressing the other foot into the hip, compared to what I'm used to). I recognised it, as I know from following Instagram posts that he learned it from a certain Mr Yang down in Borehamwood. ;)
I then got squished by a big white belt, where I stayed defensive. When I attempted to move into deep half, he got a lovely spin through, I think to my back? Either way, it looked smooth from where I was. Finally, the important roll, with my instructor Kev. I'm continuing to work on framing, grabbing the collar and scooting back Ryan Hall style.
He said it is improving: the trouble I have is once he gets that grip around my back and holding the opposite collar, it is extremely tough to maintain my guard. That's something I shall play with more. Of course, Kev is an experienced black belt, so it's not like he has to try very hard to pass my guard. ;p
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 24/12/2016
I am not normally in Aylesbury in time to do the xmas eve training at RGA Bucks, but this year I managed it. Very useful, as I had annoyingly missed the session I wanted to go to in November because Megabus messed up. I like to check in with Kev at least six times a year, this final 2016 session marking the sixth (I think?).
Half guard tonight, starting by grabbing their wrist and pushing it between their legs. They've underhooked your other arm, meaning you need to wriggle your legs into play (this part I found tricky: I wasn't sure if you should let go of their wrist, or try to swim your leg inside your arm). That sets you up for a triangle.
You can also attempt a 'tee pee' triangle, where from that position you reach underneath both your legs and extend them. Switching to the reverse triangle is another option, meaning your legs are locked the other way.
In rolling, I got crushed under Sandeep's side control, which is what always happens with him. The only difference is how long I hold him off. Tonight I was still trying to save my fingers and avoid gripping too much, which appeared to make Sandeep's pass even quicker. He's very good at grabbing a sleeve and a leg, then bringing that inside to drop his shoulder and pass. I guess more grip breaking might help, though I don't want to get into a grip breaking battle with a strong wrestler like him. ;)
Sandeep also landed a nice footlock on me later (pressing the other foot into the hip, compared to what I'm used to). I recognised it, as I know from following Instagram posts that he learned it from a certain Mr Yang down in Borehamwood. ;)
I then got squished by a big white belt, where I stayed defensive. When I attempted to move into deep half, he got a lovely spin through, I think to my back? Either way, it looked smooth from where I was. Finally, the important roll, with my instructor Kev. I'm continuing to work on framing, grabbing the collar and scooting back Ryan Hall style.
He said it is improving: the trouble I have is once he gets that grip around my back and holding the opposite collar, it is extremely tough to maintain my guard. That's something I shall play with more. Of course, Kev is an experienced black belt, so it's not like he has to try very hard to pass my guard. ;p
24 June 2016
24/06/2016 - Private with Kenny Polmans | Half Guard & Side Control | Gi Chokes & Gi Tail Attacks
Class #740 - Private #024
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Kenny Polmans, Leuven, Belgium, 24/06/2016
My private lesson with David ‘Morcegao’ put me into a mindset of asking other black belts their prices. I liked the selection of techniques Polmans showed in his class, his teaching style suited me, plus he’s also close to my size and age. As if that wasn’t enough, his fees were incredibly reasonable too. :)
We got started immediately after his class on side control finished. I began by asking about the position we’d just done in the class, as I didn’t quite get it right. I have been playing with the breadcutter choke for a few years now, without a great deal of success. The problem I tend to have is that while I can get the grip behind the collar, I will generally then struggle to move into a submission.
Instead, I’ll get the initial grip, fail to get the second grip, then vacillate over switching to something else because I don’t want to lose position. I know three or four follow ups (i.e., these), but rarely go for them because they don’t feel tight enough.
Kenny had plenty of good advice. To begin, getting that initial grip can sometimes be tricky, as your arm gets stuck and you can’t reach far enough under their arm. Therefore you want to make enough space. With your cross facing arm, grip their far shoulder/gi material. Use that as an anchor point to lever them up with your arm. It’s then easy to reach through under their near arm, securing that near grip on the back of their collar.
Once you have that in, it’s important to wedge the knee nearest their hips underneath them slightly. That will prevent them putting their back flat, which would take away the space you need for the collar grip. Normally this point is where I have trouble getting my second grip in. In Kenny’s version, you already have it in place: rather than trying to insert your arm over their neck, you loop your arm around that far shoulder grip you secured earlier.
At this point, it’s similar to the Xande version I like, a blood choke, rather than the air choke David showed me in his private (because unlike me, David is of the Chris Paines nasty catch wrestling mindset ;D). That elbow of the shoulder arm drops down to the near side. When demonstrating, Kenny tapped his demonstration partner much earlier than that, so I’m not sure if that had some windpipe in it, or if it’s just that efficient. ;)
If they are blocking your shoulder grip by grabbing that arm, grab them back, gripping their tricep or elbow. Pull that across, so you can trap it underneath your chest. Once you’ve trapped it under your chest, bring your arm (the same one you just used to pull their arm across) under their head, like you were cross facing. You still have your original grip on the back of the collar. Grip on their shoulder, driving through them for the choke. If that doesn’t work, stretch out your leg nearest their head and drop your same side hip.
Shifting to the lapel, Kenny then went through his take on the gi tail baseball bat choke, something I first encountered on Roy Dean’s excellent Purple Belt Requirements. Pull out their far lapel, feeding that under their head to your cross facing hand. Secure the grip, then cut in your original hand, gripping on top of your other first, elbow angled in (aim to put it in the crook of your other elbow).
Put your knee on their belly to stop them escaping, then apply the choke. Your original arm stays fairly static, that’s mainly there as a wedge for pressure. If you need more leverage, you can try rotating around to a north south type position, putting your head on their chest.
You also have the armbar as an option from there. Move your original grip from under their head to pull up on their near arm. Step over their head, drop back and finish. If you have trouble with their turning into you, grip under their leg, securing their thigh.
Wrapping that far lapel over their arm works well too, especially as they’ll often try to block you feeding it by their neck. As a side note, keep your head turned towards their legs on top in side control when they are framing into your neck. That way, they can’t generate as much pressure into your throat with their forearm. Anyway, this is where the Americana comes in, same way I teach it (except that as before, Kenny likes to go to a low knee on belly for control).
I find that I try many of my favourite attacks in half guard in side control as well, so half guard gi tail attacks is what I asked about next. First thing Kenny pointed out was that you need to get the knee of your trapped leg out, in order to have the necessary mobility. He started with the gi tail ezequiel I like from there, along with the choke where you wrap the tail around, then cut in the elbow.
If they try to block your shoulder grip, as with the breadcutter, pull their arm across, cross-face and go for the pressure choke. This time, Kenny pulled on the sleeve and folded himself over the arm. Other than that, it was the same motion as before, just with your leg trapped in half guard. As ever with top half guard, you should also always keep in mind that the pass is an option too (he ran through his take on the hip switch pass as a result).
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Kenny Polmans, Leuven, Belgium, 24/06/2016
My private lesson with David ‘Morcegao’ put me into a mindset of asking other black belts their prices. I liked the selection of techniques Polmans showed in his class, his teaching style suited me, plus he’s also close to my size and age. As if that wasn’t enough, his fees were incredibly reasonable too. :)
We got started immediately after his class on side control finished. I began by asking about the position we’d just done in the class, as I didn’t quite get it right. I have been playing with the breadcutter choke for a few years now, without a great deal of success. The problem I tend to have is that while I can get the grip behind the collar, I will generally then struggle to move into a submission.
Instead, I’ll get the initial grip, fail to get the second grip, then vacillate over switching to something else because I don’t want to lose position. I know three or four follow ups (i.e., these), but rarely go for them because they don’t feel tight enough.
Kenny had plenty of good advice. To begin, getting that initial grip can sometimes be tricky, as your arm gets stuck and you can’t reach far enough under their arm. Therefore you want to make enough space. With your cross facing arm, grip their far shoulder/gi material. Use that as an anchor point to lever them up with your arm. It’s then easy to reach through under their near arm, securing that near grip on the back of their collar.
If they are blocking your shoulder grip by grabbing that arm, grab them back, gripping their tricep or elbow. Pull that across, so you can trap it underneath your chest. Once you’ve trapped it under your chest, bring your arm (the same one you just used to pull their arm across) under their head, like you were cross facing. You still have your original grip on the back of the collar. Grip on their shoulder, driving through them for the choke. If that doesn’t work, stretch out your leg nearest their head and drop your same side hip.
Shifting to the lapel, Kenny then went through his take on the gi tail baseball bat choke, something I first encountered on Roy Dean’s excellent Purple Belt Requirements. Pull out their far lapel, feeding that under their head to your cross facing hand. Secure the grip, then cut in your original hand, gripping on top of your other first, elbow angled in (aim to put it in the crook of your other elbow).
Put your knee on their belly to stop them escaping, then apply the choke. Your original arm stays fairly static, that’s mainly there as a wedge for pressure. If you need more leverage, you can try rotating around to a north south type position, putting your head on their chest.
You also have the armbar as an option from there. Move your original grip from under their head to pull up on their near arm. Step over their head, drop back and finish. If you have trouble with their turning into you, grip under their leg, securing their thigh.
I find that I try many of my favourite attacks in half guard in side control as well, so half guard gi tail attacks is what I asked about next. First thing Kenny pointed out was that you need to get the knee of your trapped leg out, in order to have the necessary mobility. He started with the gi tail ezequiel I like from there, along with the choke where you wrap the tail around, then cut in the elbow.
If they try to block your shoulder grip, as with the breadcutter, pull their arm across, cross-face and go for the pressure choke. This time, Kenny pulled on the sleeve and folded himself over the arm. Other than that, it was the same motion as before, just with your leg trapped in half guard. As ever with top half guard, you should also always keep in mind that the pass is an option too (he ran through his take on the hip switch pass as a result).
03 October 2011
03/10/2011 - Gracie Barra Bristol 1 Year Anniversary (Half Guard)
Class #421
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Oli Geddes, Bristol, UK - 03/10/2011
Tonight was special, as it marks the one year anniversary of Gracie Barra Bristol. Back then, we were in the small building up the stairs, crammed into a small but comfortable room at the top. I first headed down at the end of October 2010, eager to try out the Roger Gracie team outpost in Bristol. Fortunately for me, plans for moving down here came to fruition, after my girlfriend bought a house just round the corner from Geeza's new academy.
As it was a special night, Geeza had two higher belts in attendance. Michael 'Big Mick' Wilson, a top black belt from Australia, was visiting after taking part in the ADCC. I think he used to train with Donal back Down Under, so is staying with him for a few days. Big Mick is also going to be teaching a class on Wednesday, though unfortunately I won't be able to make that as I have writing commitments. Still, will be cool to have him in class over the next few days.
The other higher belt was my first ever instructor of BJJ, half guard master Oli Geddes. I don't think there is anyone else in the UK who competes as much as Oli: if you want to enjoy his half guard goodness, he has videos of most of his fights on his blog and YouTube channel. I haven't been taught by Oli much since that intro class in October 2006 (again October, clearly a good month for BJJ beginnings), except for this class in 2008. Having experienced Oli's teaching when he was a blue and then a purple, tonight I got the chance to see brown belt Oli in action.
Like 2008, he again stuck with the strongest part of his game, half guard. That started off with maintaining half guard, which reminded me a bit of Indrek's version (which I taught a while ago). Like Indrek, Oli emphasised that you should be worrying more about the cross-face than the underhook. Therefore, block that cross-facing arm with both of your hands.
In terms of your legs, Oli feels that the inside leg is the most important: bring that over towards the outside, so that it is clamping down diagonally across their lower leg. You don't want to be too shallow. If they try to circle their leg out, hook your foot around their shin, but otherwise just keep pressuring down.
You outside leg doesn't necessarily need to be triangled over the inside leg. The main purpose of the outside leg is getting the knee either into their hip or higher up, towards their chest. Make sure you don't put it across their stomach, as then they can shove down on the knee and collapse your leg. That's the basic pass they're going to be looking for, so keep your knee firmly against the hip or chest.
From half guard, it is essential to secure an underhook. However, if you try to reach under their arm from far out, they can easily swim underneath and establish their own underhook. Therefore, you want to minimise the space. Come up on one elbow, still blocking their cross-face with the other hand. Sit up, bumping your free forearm into their chest. From there, you can then circle your arm around for the underhook. That's much less distance for your arm to travel. Finish by jamming your head close to their chest: if you leave any room, they can start to push on your skull, or even work for a cross-face.
You've got half guard, so it's time for a half guard sweep. Begin by switching your legs. Either do that in one motion, transferring your outside leg to the inside, or stamp the outside leg into their calf, sliding it into position. Your outside heel is then going to slip to their instep, hooking it backwards. Push your leg through, so that their instep is in the back of your knee, then lock their heel to the back of their hamstring. The idea is to force them to angle their knee inwards, which disrupts their base.
That whole motion is awkward, so it takes some getting used to, but there is a video of Oli teaching it. Next you want to stop them basing out with their free leg. Using your same side hand, grab the gi material by their knee. Slide your inside leg (the one which isn't clamping their heel to their hamstring) underneath their trapped leg, then come to your knees.
Reach further around their back to grip their side, then drive into them sideways. Pull with your knee grip, which should help knock them down. Keep hold of that as you move around, so they can't readjust to escape. Once they're on the floor, it should be a simple matter to backstep and transition into side control.
Handily, Oli's follow-up sweep combines nicely, as you can keep switching between these two sweeps depending on their reaction. The second sweep starts from the point where you've got to your knees and are trying to drive forward. However, they've somehow managed to drop their weight into you, preventing the sweep. That means there is lots of momentum driving into you, which also means you can use physics against them.
Drop back to the mat, roll underneath and thrust your knee-gripping arm upwards. As you've still got their heel clamped to their hamstring, you should be able to keep turning, until they are put onto their back. Come up on top, then continuing to push your knee-grip into the floor to trap their leg, move around into side control, or possible even mount.
I had more trouble with the final technique, Oli's infamous loop choke. Thankfully there is video of him teaching that too, although his shows it slightly differently. The way he taught it tonight was to start by gripping their collar, putting your knuckles into their clavicle. Pull them forwards, slipping that collar around their neck as you do, then also pushing on their head with your other hand.
Raise up the elbow of your collar-gripping hand, so that there is a window to insert your other hand. Pointing the fingers of that other hand up, to lock it in place. To finish, lift the elbow of the collar gripping hand while dropping the elbow of the other hand. It also helps if you can get your leg into the bicep of their same side arm, or even better over the top.
Oli mentioned that this choke is sufficiently versatile to function from various positions, such as butterfly guard, and also when they're trying to establish double underhooks on your legs to pass. I struggled to get my hands in the right place, so kept missing the correct choking point. I could occasionally get a sloppy choke into the windpipe, but not the proper blood choke. Good thing there is video. ;)
Normally, Monday is two classes, split into an hour each. Tonight, they merged into one, so after technique it was time for sparring. I started off with Kirsty, looking to play around with spider guard again. I made the mistake of giving up my back, for which I was very nearly punished: Kirsty was close to choking me out at several points. I defended using the crappy option of shifting my gi collar up onto my chin, which is not advisable as people can just dig that painfully into your face. Probably the only reason I didn't get choked was because Kirsty was being nice: she thought she'd kicked me in the head, so paused to check before restarting.
After that, I had a good technical roll with Tony, who like Kirsty is close to my size. I was messing about with wrapping the gi around various limbs without any real clue of what to do with them. Still, I did manage to get a sweep as a result, though I'm not sure how: something to do with wrapping it by his leg and grabbing a foot. I also got stuck under Tony's mount, which gave me an opportunity to try deep half.
That happened with Kirsty too, but both times I wasn't getting the right grips. I can get underneath and grab their leg with my legs, but I think my head position and hands are in the wrong place. It doesn't feel like I'm disrupting their base at all, so perhaps I need to kick my legs up to move their weight higher. My head should be lower. I haven't paid much attention to deep half, but as I'm finding myself there more regularly, it's time I gave it more thought.
Finished up with Chris, who is a tough blue belt, but I was able to keep him at bay with the usual spider guard lasso (mainly because he isn't sure how to pass it). I was using my other foot and knee to press against his shoulder, chest and hip. That meant I could keep slipping out of his attempts to press down to establish a passing position. However, I again was failing to do anything offensive with my spider guard, just holding him in place.
At the end of class, Geeza held another photoshoot to mark the occasion. Due to the large numbers of Gracie Barra Bristol members in attendance, the organisation for colour coordinating the pictures was almost as hard as the preceding two hours of training! ;)
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Oli Geddes, Bristol, UK - 03/10/2011
Tonight was special, as it marks the one year anniversary of Gracie Barra Bristol. Back then, we were in the small building up the stairs, crammed into a small but comfortable room at the top. I first headed down at the end of October 2010, eager to try out the Roger Gracie team outpost in Bristol. Fortunately for me, plans for moving down here came to fruition, after my girlfriend bought a house just round the corner from Geeza's new academy.
As it was a special night, Geeza had two higher belts in attendance. Michael 'Big Mick' Wilson, a top black belt from Australia, was visiting after taking part in the ADCC. I think he used to train with Donal back Down Under, so is staying with him for a few days. Big Mick is also going to be teaching a class on Wednesday, though unfortunately I won't be able to make that as I have writing commitments. Still, will be cool to have him in class over the next few days.
The other higher belt was my first ever instructor of BJJ, half guard master Oli Geddes. I don't think there is anyone else in the UK who competes as much as Oli: if you want to enjoy his half guard goodness, he has videos of most of his fights on his blog and YouTube channel. I haven't been taught by Oli much since that intro class in October 2006 (again October, clearly a good month for BJJ beginnings), except for this class in 2008. Having experienced Oli's teaching when he was a blue and then a purple, tonight I got the chance to see brown belt Oli in action.
Like 2008, he again stuck with the strongest part of his game, half guard. That started off with maintaining half guard, which reminded me a bit of Indrek's version (which I taught a while ago). Like Indrek, Oli emphasised that you should be worrying more about the cross-face than the underhook. Therefore, block that cross-facing arm with both of your hands.
In terms of your legs, Oli feels that the inside leg is the most important: bring that over towards the outside, so that it is clamping down diagonally across their lower leg. You don't want to be too shallow. If they try to circle their leg out, hook your foot around their shin, but otherwise just keep pressuring down.
You outside leg doesn't necessarily need to be triangled over the inside leg. The main purpose of the outside leg is getting the knee either into their hip or higher up, towards their chest. Make sure you don't put it across their stomach, as then they can shove down on the knee and collapse your leg. That's the basic pass they're going to be looking for, so keep your knee firmly against the hip or chest.
From half guard, it is essential to secure an underhook. However, if you try to reach under their arm from far out, they can easily swim underneath and establish their own underhook. Therefore, you want to minimise the space. Come up on one elbow, still blocking their cross-face with the other hand. Sit up, bumping your free forearm into their chest. From there, you can then circle your arm around for the underhook. That's much less distance for your arm to travel. Finish by jamming your head close to their chest: if you leave any room, they can start to push on your skull, or even work for a cross-face.
You've got half guard, so it's time for a half guard sweep. Begin by switching your legs. Either do that in one motion, transferring your outside leg to the inside, or stamp the outside leg into their calf, sliding it into position. Your outside heel is then going to slip to their instep, hooking it backwards. Push your leg through, so that their instep is in the back of your knee, then lock their heel to the back of their hamstring. The idea is to force them to angle their knee inwards, which disrupts their base.
That whole motion is awkward, so it takes some getting used to, but there is a video of Oli teaching it. Next you want to stop them basing out with their free leg. Using your same side hand, grab the gi material by their knee. Slide your inside leg (the one which isn't clamping their heel to their hamstring) underneath their trapped leg, then come to your knees.
Reach further around their back to grip their side, then drive into them sideways. Pull with your knee grip, which should help knock them down. Keep hold of that as you move around, so they can't readjust to escape. Once they're on the floor, it should be a simple matter to backstep and transition into side control.
Handily, Oli's follow-up sweep combines nicely, as you can keep switching between these two sweeps depending on their reaction. The second sweep starts from the point where you've got to your knees and are trying to drive forward. However, they've somehow managed to drop their weight into you, preventing the sweep. That means there is lots of momentum driving into you, which also means you can use physics against them.
Drop back to the mat, roll underneath and thrust your knee-gripping arm upwards. As you've still got their heel clamped to their hamstring, you should be able to keep turning, until they are put onto their back. Come up on top, then continuing to push your knee-grip into the floor to trap their leg, move around into side control, or possible even mount.
I had more trouble with the final technique, Oli's infamous loop choke. Thankfully there is video of him teaching that too, although his shows it slightly differently. The way he taught it tonight was to start by gripping their collar, putting your knuckles into their clavicle. Pull them forwards, slipping that collar around their neck as you do, then also pushing on their head with your other hand.
Raise up the elbow of your collar-gripping hand, so that there is a window to insert your other hand. Pointing the fingers of that other hand up, to lock it in place. To finish, lift the elbow of the collar gripping hand while dropping the elbow of the other hand. It also helps if you can get your leg into the bicep of their same side arm, or even better over the top.
Oli mentioned that this choke is sufficiently versatile to function from various positions, such as butterfly guard, and also when they're trying to establish double underhooks on your legs to pass. I struggled to get my hands in the right place, so kept missing the correct choking point. I could occasionally get a sloppy choke into the windpipe, but not the proper blood choke. Good thing there is video. ;)
Normally, Monday is two classes, split into an hour each. Tonight, they merged into one, so after technique it was time for sparring. I started off with Kirsty, looking to play around with spider guard again. I made the mistake of giving up my back, for which I was very nearly punished: Kirsty was close to choking me out at several points. I defended using the crappy option of shifting my gi collar up onto my chin, which is not advisable as people can just dig that painfully into your face. Probably the only reason I didn't get choked was because Kirsty was being nice: she thought she'd kicked me in the head, so paused to check before restarting.
After that, I had a good technical roll with Tony, who like Kirsty is close to my size. I was messing about with wrapping the gi around various limbs without any real clue of what to do with them. Still, I did manage to get a sweep as a result, though I'm not sure how: something to do with wrapping it by his leg and grabbing a foot. I also got stuck under Tony's mount, which gave me an opportunity to try deep half.
That happened with Kirsty too, but both times I wasn't getting the right grips. I can get underneath and grab their leg with my legs, but I think my head position and hands are in the wrong place. It doesn't feel like I'm disrupting their base at all, so perhaps I need to kick my legs up to move their weight higher. My head should be lower. I haven't paid much attention to deep half, but as I'm finding myself there more regularly, it's time I gave it more thought.
Finished up with Chris, who is a tough blue belt, but I was able to keep him at bay with the usual spider guard lasso (mainly because he isn't sure how to pass it). I was using my other foot and knee to press against his shoulder, chest and hip. That meant I could keep slipping out of his attempts to press down to establish a passing position. However, I again was failing to do anything offensive with my spider guard, just holding him in place.
At the end of class, Geeza held another photoshoot to mark the occasion. Due to the large numbers of Gracie Barra Bristol members in attendance, the organisation for colour coordinating the pictures was almost as hard as the preceding two hours of training! ;)
27 November 2008
27/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)
Class #197
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 27/11/2008 - Advanced
Everything tonight started from the half-guard, but in a position where you have your knee into their hip or torso. The hand on the same side as that knee reaches across and gets a deep grip on their opposite collar, your other hand also attacking that side, grabbing their wrist. The knee-in half-guard is something Aesopian has done a series of videos about, but last time I tried to do it back in May, I had real trouble getting my knee into place. Roger's demonstration was quite technique-heavy, showing us about four different options to start with in the space of a few minutes, so I'm not sure I caught them all.
The first was a sweep from half-guard. Having secured the above position, if you notice they are off balance, you can shove them to the side with the knee you have pressed into them, kicking out with the leg, then pull on their wrist and push on their collar. Possibly easier said than done, as I found it difficult to get the momentum and leverage right.
Another option is to collar choke from half-guard. Bring them in, grab their other shoulder, then squeeze for the choke as usual, pressing your wrists up into their neck. You can also do a slightly more complex loop choke from half-guard, where this time, you raise the elbow of the arm with a deep grip on their collar. Slide your other hand over the back of their head, locking it into the crook of your other elbow (Roger noted at this point you don't want to go too far in, or they'll be able to pop their head free). To complete the choke, bring your elbow even higher while the other arm drops, then try and push their head down into your wrists for the submission.
Finally, you can go for a kimura from the half-guard, again in the usual fashion. Sit-up, bring your collar arm over the top, figure-four gripping on their wrist, drop back and twist for the submission. It is quite likely at this point that they'll defend by holding the fabric of their trouser leg, whereupon you can move into a sweep. Put the foot of your knee leg onto the mat, then push up and into their side. Buck them forward and also lift with the leg you have between their's.
The difficult bit is to then bring both your legs up, then past your head, rolling over the shoulder furthest from your kimura grip. Done right, this will put you on top of them, whereupon you can either try to move into mount by freeing your leg, or bring them up on their side, step over their head and complete the kimura. Again, I found it difficult to get the leverage and momentum to complete this move.
We then did a bit of sparring from that knee-in half-guard position, where I didn't get anywhere as I was with a big purple belt called Duncan (IIRC: I met him back when he was a blue, but don't think I've spoken to him since). He was taking it fairly easy, but I still couldn't do anything to pass his half-guard, or to prevent him passing mine. I should be using the knee more to push them away, and also initiate some kind of attack.
Free sparring kicked off with Helen, who noted that she was tending to go a little cautiously when I was trying to wrap her up in half-guard, as she's had knee problems in the past so didn't want to mess them up again. I tend to frequently end up in half-guard with her, so I should instead take the opportunity to try for the top position, or perhaps concentrate on working free of side control. My bridge and shrimp still isn't what it should be, so I can always do with more work on that technique.
I was determined to at least make two spars tonight, so had to look around for a new training partner. The guy who Helen rolled with looked relaxed and controlled, and also not too huge: he turned out to be a good choice. I'm not sure if Adam is normally that laid back, as he said he was just returning from an illness, but I liked the measured pace of the spar. I spent most of it either in side control or half guard, trying to bring my torso to the same side as the leg I'd trapped.
This is frequently a problem for me: I should probably be doing more with my hands to make space to get to the other side, or to recover full guard. I eventually managed the latter, and had a vague attempt at a loop choke, but Adam easily slipped his head away from my grasp. So instead, I switched to the cross choke where you have one grip, then grab behind their gi with your other hand, then bring it over their head and around their neck. Time ran out soon after, but I don't think I had it deep enough anyway. Could have been an opportunity to try that trick Owen did to me a while back, where he simply opened his guard and pushed my legs back (hooking the inside of my own legs), thereby killing my choke defence.
My first no-gi class for a while tomorrow, which will mark only the third time I've made it to a Friday no-gi this year. My foot got slightly bashed again in stand-up earlier in the class, so hopefully that isn't going to be sore tomorrow. I want to make both Friday and Saturday, as that will make up for making just one class last week, as well as the week of no training earlier in October. I think it's time I looked over Indrek's 'Functional Half Guard' instructional again too, as I'm still so often finding myself in half-guard trying to get back to full.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 27/11/2008 - Advanced
Everything tonight started from the half-guard, but in a position where you have your knee into their hip or torso. The hand on the same side as that knee reaches across and gets a deep grip on their opposite collar, your other hand also attacking that side, grabbing their wrist. The knee-in half-guard is something Aesopian has done a series of videos about, but last time I tried to do it back in May, I had real trouble getting my knee into place. Roger's demonstration was quite technique-heavy, showing us about four different options to start with in the space of a few minutes, so I'm not sure I caught them all.
The first was a sweep from half-guard. Having secured the above position, if you notice they are off balance, you can shove them to the side with the knee you have pressed into them, kicking out with the leg, then pull on their wrist and push on their collar. Possibly easier said than done, as I found it difficult to get the momentum and leverage right.
Another option is to collar choke from half-guard. Bring them in, grab their other shoulder, then squeeze for the choke as usual, pressing your wrists up into their neck. You can also do a slightly more complex loop choke from half-guard, where this time, you raise the elbow of the arm with a deep grip on their collar. Slide your other hand over the back of their head, locking it into the crook of your other elbow (Roger noted at this point you don't want to go too far in, or they'll be able to pop their head free). To complete the choke, bring your elbow even higher while the other arm drops, then try and push their head down into your wrists for the submission.
Finally, you can go for a kimura from the half-guard, again in the usual fashion. Sit-up, bring your collar arm over the top, figure-four gripping on their wrist, drop back and twist for the submission. It is quite likely at this point that they'll defend by holding the fabric of their trouser leg, whereupon you can move into a sweep. Put the foot of your knee leg onto the mat, then push up and into their side. Buck them forward and also lift with the leg you have between their's.
The difficult bit is to then bring both your legs up, then past your head, rolling over the shoulder furthest from your kimura grip. Done right, this will put you on top of them, whereupon you can either try to move into mount by freeing your leg, or bring them up on their side, step over their head and complete the kimura. Again, I found it difficult to get the leverage and momentum to complete this move.
We then did a bit of sparring from that knee-in half-guard position, where I didn't get anywhere as I was with a big purple belt called Duncan (IIRC: I met him back when he was a blue, but don't think I've spoken to him since). He was taking it fairly easy, but I still couldn't do anything to pass his half-guard, or to prevent him passing mine. I should be using the knee more to push them away, and also initiate some kind of attack.
Free sparring kicked off with Helen, who noted that she was tending to go a little cautiously when I was trying to wrap her up in half-guard, as she's had knee problems in the past so didn't want to mess them up again. I tend to frequently end up in half-guard with her, so I should instead take the opportunity to try for the top position, or perhaps concentrate on working free of side control. My bridge and shrimp still isn't what it should be, so I can always do with more work on that technique.
I was determined to at least make two spars tonight, so had to look around for a new training partner. The guy who Helen rolled with looked relaxed and controlled, and also not too huge: he turned out to be a good choice. I'm not sure if Adam is normally that laid back, as he said he was just returning from an illness, but I liked the measured pace of the spar. I spent most of it either in side control or half guard, trying to bring my torso to the same side as the leg I'd trapped.
This is frequently a problem for me: I should probably be doing more with my hands to make space to get to the other side, or to recover full guard. I eventually managed the latter, and had a vague attempt at a loop choke, but Adam easily slipped his head away from my grasp. So instead, I switched to the cross choke where you have one grip, then grab behind their gi with your other hand, then bring it over their head and around their neck. Time ran out soon after, but I don't think I had it deep enough anyway. Could have been an opportunity to try that trick Owen did to me a while back, where he simply opened his guard and pushed my legs back (hooking the inside of my own legs), thereby killing my choke defence.
My first no-gi class for a while tomorrow, which will mark only the third time I've made it to a Friday no-gi this year. My foot got slightly bashed again in stand-up earlier in the class, so hopefully that isn't going to be sore tomorrow. I want to make both Friday and Saturday, as that will make up for making just one class last week, as well as the week of no training earlier in October. I think it's time I looked over Indrek's 'Functional Half Guard' instructional again too, as I'm still so often finding myself in half-guard trying to get back to full.
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