21/08/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Heidelberg 2017 | Half Guard Kimura Pass (David George)

Class #877
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Olympiastützpunkt Rhein-Neckar) David George, Heidelberg, Germany, 21/08/2017

The first session in Heidelberg was on passing half guard using a kimura. David began with several tips on maintaining top half guard, such as the importance of sitting on their leg, so they can't lockdown. Swim in for an underhook, grab their other shoulder and pull it in. You can then walk your feet over to put them flat. Cross face and gather up their far arm, switching your cross face arm over.

Transfer grip, still controlling with first arm. Move into kimura, switch hips. Maintaining pressure, raise up enough to get your shin into their leg, acting as a wedge so their leg doesn't follow when you pull it towards you. This enables you to then free your leg. If you can't get a kimura because their wrist is too high (as then when you reach, it would tilt you backwards), whip your leg behind for base. You may need to do what David calls a 'poop flick' to free it. In other words, pull their leg back to full extension, then flick to whip your leg out.

27/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Half Mount (Priit Mihkelson)

Class #859
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Priit Mikhelson, Leuven, Belgium, 27/07/2017

Like yesterday, precious gems surrounded by long lectures. I had trouble drilling anything, like yesterday, because I struggled to remember the gem due to all the lecture dampening my recall. Mikhelson is a great example of why it is so useful to get video of instruction: I would have found it impossible to remember anything from the lesson without them.

This lesson progressed from the high half position Priit spoke about previously, into half mount. The Greco-Roman shoulders returned, along with discussion on posture in closed guard and scarf hold too. Priit also talked about reverse half guard.

As before, you have an arm posted behind their head, but you've managed to get your trapped leg knee to the ground. Turn so your weight is loaded up on the knee of the trapped leg. Your other foot is based out on the other side, keeping your body low.

You're also still using those Greco-Roman shoulders, turning towards the mat so your shoulders are parallel with the mat. Avoid any tilting. From here, it is possible to turns towards their legs while leaning over towards their back. Your free leg swings to their front, as you dive and grab their bottom leg. You roll through from there to get the back, transition through the truck.

Priit also has an interesting grip where he grabs their arm and posts on it, saying that there is not the risk of kimuras that you would expect. If you can step to reverse half guard, Priit emphasised that you must have the knee past their legs. In terms of mount it was unusual too, as Priit likes to twist, he never sits square. In his opinion, the legs are dead in that position, you need to do a twist.

It's a teaching style I find tricky to unpick. There were loads of details in there which I'm sure would be useful, but I'm not sure how to access and arrange them in my head. I'll keep reviewing the videos and it will hopefully become clear. ;)

26/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | High Half Guard (Priit Mihkelson)

Class #857
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Priit Mihkelson, Leuven, Belgium, 26/07/2017

I had been intrigued when I saw Mikhelsen on the list, as he's from SBG Estonia. I love the Functional Half Guard video that two Estonians (presumably who trained with him?) put out for free years ago, meaning I was keen to train with a black belt SBG Estonia product. The fact his nickname is the JitsVulcan added further to that appeal, as I'm a big Star Trek fan.

His teaching style is closer to Chris Haueter than I expected, in that he talks (a lot) before he gets to the technical demonstration. Then he goes on a few lecture tangents during the demonstration, with even more after the demo. It feels like you're digging through a giant mound of lecturing to get to the treasure buried within. Which is well worth it, as it is precious gold.

It took me a while to get through all the video footage and try to edit out the bits I found helpful. As soon as I got back to the UK, I was trying the position Priit calls high half guard. I will need much more practice, but from what I currently understand, you need to be on your toes, turned in towards them. Your leg that is nearest their head turns in, the knee pressing into their hip.

Your other knee needs to clear their legs, so you can press that into their far hip. The arm you have nearest their head is on the ground, so that your arm is tight to the back of their neck/skull. You're also driving your hip into their shoulder, as if your hip bone is attempting to press into your own basing arm. You other arm remains free, ready to push their legs down to keep your knee in play.

It's also important to keep your shoulders in line, parallel to the ground. In other words, don't tilt, as that makes it easier for them to bridge you off. This also applies in side control and scarf hold. Priit called this 'Greco-Roman shoulders'. You're also pulling back the heel of your trapped leg, keeping the heel up. This is ready to flick out and complete a pass.

You can potentially twist here to go into half mount, which is what Priit covered in his lesson the following day. Follow the hip in high half. If they underhook, you can pass, backstep and the like, go to mount. The d'arce is also a possibility if they underhook. Your knees maintain their position, leaving your arms free to attack.

There is a lot to unpack here, so it's gong to take me a while to work everything out. Lots of video to review, hopefully made easier now I've edited it into chunks. :)

26/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Passing Half Guard, Chokes & Back Takes (Fran Vanderstukken)

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.

26/09/2015 - Private with Kev | Half Guard | Passing

Class #666 - Private #021
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 26/09/2015

It has been a while since I last saw Kev, as he has been recovering from a knee injury. I made sure to get some time with him for my visit in September, booking in another private lesson. Previously, I have come in with a clear idea of what I wanted to work on. As any reader of this blog will know, I like to be prepared.

This time, I took a different tack. I've already been through my major problem areas with Kev (back escapes and open guard), and I didn't think I had progressed sufficiently far with what he showed me before to warrant another specific lesson on those topics. So instead, I asked to just spar for a bit, then Kev could point out any tweaks that might help.

The first thing he suggested was something he did to me, with a back attack. I tried to move to the non-choking side and get my head under his, but he locked in a sliding collar choke. When I moved to the choking side to relieve the pressure, Kev said that actually makes it harder to finish the sliding choke. However, it sets him up perfectly to switch into a RNC, which he did. To block that choke, he uses his chin, but not the classic white belt chin tuck. Instead, his chin is on the other side of your attacking arm, so the chin is underneath that side of the arm.

The majority of the tips focused around half guard on top. I have for several years been using Dónal's tip on grips, when you can't get the underhook. Instead, gripping their lower collar, drop your elbow and use that to maintain control. It has worked for me in the past, but with Kev, he easily rolled me over every time. He suggested the safer option of wrapping around their back, locking your elbow in to achieve your control.

On the cross face, Kev simply puts his hand on the mat by their head and drives his arm into the side of their face. That makes for a strong barrier, it is easy to adjust and reapply, and best of all it won't mash up your fingers. JT Torres taught another variation at RGA Bucks a while ago, which Kev wanted with me. Torres calls it 'presenting the dish'. With your palm up, press that into the middle of their shoulder blades. Your elbow goes high and pressed into the side of their face. It doesn't feel like you're doing a lot, but it is a surprisingly powerful grip.

I have also been playing with several lapel attacks from half guard. They all involve pulling out your opponents gi lapel, then either pushing that over or under their arm. Underneath presents a brabo choke option, over the top is an americana and choke. However, Kev notes that with somebody who has a good half guard, they are going to be hard to get. It is better to focus on getting your knee free, then progressing into either a knee cut or a switch to mount, depending on their reaction.

For the mount, you drive into quarter mount, getting an underhook on the non crossfacing side. Keep walking that up high, until it is right against their head. You can then use your crossfacing arm to grab the triceps and lock it to their head, like on that side control to mount transition. Your other arm goes on top of their head, then crush through to mount. That can a little mean on their face, especially the nose, so be careful when you do that in class.

Pulling out the gi does have some uses, such as helping you flatten them out. Drag that gi way across, so it acts as a pin on their shoulder. On the brabo, it can work, but if you try and do it from half guard, when you switch your hand across to grab by their neck, your arm is in a similar position to that low elbow control. Therefore there is that same risk of getting rolled. Better to go from a more secure position like knee on belly, or mount.

When I pass the half guard with a knee cut, I have assumed that basing out is a good idea, to give you stability. On the contrary, Kev recommended bringing that free knee in tight to their hip (but don't lock your legs, or they can move you as one unit and take your back). Also, if they are hooking underneath your leg with theirs, on the leg that is raised, cut your knee underneath their leg. You almost put yourself right into a leg drag, moving straight into mount.

The last couple of things were locking in grips on the top of their belt in side control, to realling immobilise their hips. Finally, sparring with the sitting guard, Kev did that thing I can remember from Ryan Hall's DVD where he grips arounds the waist and uses that to prevent the guard. I can remember Hall had a defence to it on Defensive Guard, so I'll give that another watch. Awesome! More great stuff to bring back to Artemis BJJ. :D

05/07/2014 - RGA Aylesbury (Knee Cut & Knee Shield Pass)

Class #578
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 05/07/2014

It's another family birthday, which means I'm returning not just to my family home, but to my jiu jitsu home as well, up in Aylesbury at RGA Bucks. Kev began with a very familiar drilling sequence: it's the same one I've been teaching for several years now, after Kev taught it to me earlier. That begins with them stepping to the level of your hip, then you recover your guard by shrimping and bringing your outside leg over to hook, pulling yourself square on to them.

The next step is to do a running escape type hip swing, although I normally do this from knee on belly; Kev did it from the same position as the previous technique. Useful variation to know, as then I don't have to explain what knee on belly is. Although if somebody doesn't know what knee on belly is, that could indicate they are too new to easily perform this drill. I'm still not sure if it counts as an advanced move or if it is suitable for beginners.

That same question sprang to mind with the new drill (or at least, new to me, as I can't remember having seen it before, though it's entirely possible I've seen it in an earlier Kev class). Again they have passed to the level of your hip. Bring your outside leg over, putting your shin on their near side thigh. That leg is going to stay in place for the rest of the drill.

With your nearest hand, reach to their far leg: you can either hook behind or grab the trouser leg. Raise your hips and swivel, using your shin on their thigh as the pivot point. Keep spinning until you return to a guard position in front of them. You'll probably need to pull yourself across a little with that gripping/hooking hand.

As is common to Kev's classes (and completely alien to mine), he added in a couple of takedowns. Like I've said before, Kev is not only a champion BJJ black belt, he's got a judo black belt as well. The takedown option he showed was directly in response to some typically dubious rule changes by the IBJJF (fortunately there are many other competition companies you can go to, though the IBJJF is influential). I haven't competed since 2007, so sometimes forget the impact that IBJJF rule changes can have.

The one pertinent to this technique is that now when you are being single legged and they have their head on the outsie, you apparently can no longer do the obvious counter, dropping back and rolling them over your head with your trapped leg (in judo, this is a 'sumi-gaeshi', I think). That means that when somebody tries to single leg you, they can feel a lot less in danger if they put their head on the outside than before.

Due to that rule, it means the takedown becomes easier. You start with a Russian grip (I think that's what it is called), where you are grabbing one of their arms with both of yours, a bit like you would in an armdrag. Your first hand is holding their wrist, the other is grabbing higher up and underneath their arm. When you get that grip, they will often pull their arm out.

Immediately drop and grab their leg instead, made vulnerable due to their sudden pulling back of their arm and accompanying shift in balance. Once you've grabbed it with both your arms, reach underneath their leg and grab some marterial, either their gi or their belt. Pull down on that like it was an old-style toilet chain and drop your hips, knocking them to the floor and putting you in a good guard passing position.

Alternatively, if they don't pull their arm away, dig your shoulder in behind theirs (getting the sweet spot isn't easy: it's roughly on the bottom of their shoulder blade on the side nearest to you, I think). Drop your hips and angle your body to knock them down, kicking their supporting leg away to make sure. I had some trouble getting the right angle: I think you're going a little forwards, but I'm not sure.

Moving on to the fun part with groundwork, Kev picked a couple of passes that relate to both half guard and open guard. The first was when they are in a sort of open half guard, with details on the knee cut that would also apply to a standard open guard. Grab their collar and follow it in with your body. You want to make sure you are not giving them any space to insert their knee under your arm as you do this. Also grip their knee and shove it to the mat, driving your own knee over their trapped shin.

On the other side, try to get an underhook: you may have to raise up slightly. The aim is to get your shoulder under theirs, so they can't pummel to get their own underhook. If the underhook isn't there, a good plan b is to drop the elbow of the collar-gripping arm and put your weight behind that. Use your head to push theirs out the way and with your free arm, pull up on their same-side elbow. This is better than pulling up on the sleeve, because if you grab the sleeve, their elbow is still potentially a risk (e.g., they can try to pop your knee off with their elbow, use it as a base point for shrimping, make space, etc). Slide through to finish the knee cut.

If they do get their knee in, you can try Kev's knee shield pass. Grab their collar and pull them in towards you, bringing your other arm around their lower back to block their hips. Step your leg up and sprawl back to pop your leg free (or do you step your leg up after? Can't quire remember). The lower part of the leg that was trapped now swings back (Kev refers to this as a windscreen wiper), pinning their leg to the mat.

From that position, Kev offered two ways to pass. My preference was the first, where you grab their trouser leg and shove it down to staple their legs in place. Shove down with your collar grip too, using those two grips as your base points to then walk around into north-south or side control, depending on how they react.

The other option is to reach through their legs diagonally, gripping the bottom leg to stop them recovering guard. Pull their legs out of your way and pass, without moving your hips too much in order to maintain the pressure.

My sparring today was all with larger blue belts, or at least blue belts bigger than me. I'm not sure how experienced they were, but their levels of intensity varied from fairly relaxed (I think because he was conscious of the size difference) to carefully measured bursts of speed (e.g., one of them tried shooting up their arm to grab mine when I was in mount and my arm came in range).

I was looking for the tripod/sickle sweep combo, as that's what I'm teaching next week. I sometimes have problems applying it because my arm or leg gets grabbed: I either need to consider how best to break those grips without giving them a pass (e.g., if I should do the hook behind and kick one or something else), or adjust to sweep them despite their grips, or indeed something else entirely.

I did eventually manage the tripod, but I need to get better at transitioning to the sickle. It isn't smooth enough on my part, as I'm pausing to think what foot goes where. I should try keeping in mind that whatever leg I've grabbed the heel/trouser, that's for pushing, the other is for pulling. I also need to be changing my body position for the sickle, swivelling my body.

My deep collar grip also keeps getting stuffed, normally because I can't get it in deep enough and/or they swivel their head around. I had the same problem last time I was sparring at RGA Bucks, so that's something to ask Kev and Donal about to see what solutions they try. I'm also continuing to play with the lapel guard type thing, although in my case it is more "grab the lapel and see what they do" rather than any kind of guard. Everything I've seen from lapel guard so far looks way too complicated, so I'll keep playing to see if I can find anything more mechanically simple and with fewer steps.

One thing along those lines is the mawashi grip, but I wasn't able to shove the lapel under their legs before they got deep in their pass. They did have a fairly tight gi, but still, I want to get better at using that grip, as Kev totally killed me with it a while ago. Very effective, judging by being on the receiving end.

I'm repeatedly going for the crucifix when they turtle, since that Dave Jacobs seminar. I started walking back to knock them over, but their base was too good, so they ended up almost just sitting up with me on their back. Squirming around a bit, I got a more orthodox back control instead, but wasn't able to finish, despite having an arm around the neck. Earlier on he was able to pull my arm over his head in one of the classic escape. I'm not sure exactly what grip I had, but pulling up on their gi and anchoring with my elbow seemed to at least hold me in place, which is better than losing the back (advancing to some kind of submission would be better, of course).

I continue to rely far, far too much on wrapping up with my left arm in closed guard. I can tell when I'm doing that, as my arm gets sore and I use way more energy. I need to come up with a better approach to closed guard when I've got someone big and powerful, as holding them down that way is not effective in the long term. Pulling their gi over their back could be one option, or simply be more proactive on sweeps rather than waiting for the perfect position. I managed to do that in a later roll, where again I had someone bigger wrapped up, but transitioned into the windscreen wiper sweep. I think I keep not swivelling my body enough on that, but must have been in the right spot this time as it felt like a smooth roll into mount.

However, once in mount I wasn't finishing. I was able to walk up into their armpits and hold them there, but not much else. I remembered to look for the switch into technical mount attacking for the bow and arrow choke, but couldn't get the handful of gi I needed to launch into that. So, more work required on what to do when I'm struggling to get their arms past horizontal in mount. I guess I could have looked more for the back by walking them over, or that tip Dónal had on moving your whole body around to the other side of their arm then squaring back up to trap it.

Sparring with Kev, I got stuck under his favoured kimura attack from north-south and side control. I went for the wriggling escape under north-south where you then try and swing your legs back over, which almost worked, but I couldn't quite establish the hook. Kev had two points to make on that: first, it's worth going for, though I could also be looking for half guard rather than all the way to the back. Second, although it does take more energy, you should consider whether you want to try for three escapes at 20% effort, or one attempt at a more effective escape at 60% effort. Seemed like a reasonable argument to keep in mind. :)

12/03/2013 - Half Guard Passing with Liam

Class #493
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Liam Knapp, Bristol, UK - 12/03/2013

Even though my injury is gradually becoming less of a hindrance, as I can at least spar lightly with controlled smaller people, it continues to stop me joining in with the warm-up. That was particularly frustrating today, as Liam was doing some cool guard drills, such as sit-ups when they've stood up in your guard, followed by 'monkey climbs' around their back. Hopefully I'll be able to get back into it properly in a few months (especially as I'll be in California in June), but I'll have to wait and see.

The first technique was a z guard pass, reliant on speed and timing. This combines well with the option Dónal showed a while ago. As tends to be the case with z-guard/knee shield, you need to get that knee down. If it stays high they can control the distance and block your pass.

Having got their knee down, bring your trapped knee up and point it backwards, sliding to try and break their leg grip. Presuming that's successful, post your nearest hand by their hips (they will probably be up on their side, so you can place your fist by their hip to block their motion that way). You're also going to be pressing your weight down into their legs, sprawling your own legs back to maximise pressure. They will most likely try to frame with their arms. That's your cue to spin around your posted fist, with the aim of harvesting one of their arms for a north-south kimura as you do.

The second half guard pass, for a more basic half guard, is more about pressure and grips than speed and timing. You're in the usual top position, when you notice they are going for an underhook. Bring your opposite arm underneath their attempted underhooking arm, bringing your elbow back into their armpit. Grab a handful of gi material to lock your arm in place, adjusting your weight to stop them moving.

With your other hand, push their knee off yours, then pull it into your shin as you maintain pressure with your leg. The idea is to stop them re-securing a half guard lock higher up. Shrimp back until you have room to wedge your other knee next to your trapped knee. Keeping hold of their trouser leg, continue to shift back until you can free your leg, then transition to side control, being careful to block their hip so they can't recover guard.

During my limited bit of sparring, I was looking for the Jason Scully style pass against z-guard/knee shield. I missed out some key details initially so that become a bit scrambly, but managed to get it more smoothly later on. I kept forgetting to bring the trapped knee through into their hip, which when done right enables you to settle your weight down onto their legs to put them out of commission. I was focusing too much on getting my head into their armpit and grabbing their leg.

It is really cool to have a breadth of instructors, as that means different perspectives, different technical preferences and indeed different sizes, which necessarily impacts both your game and the details you pick up from sparring. So, hopefully Liam will be able to teach more classes in the future. Geeza is away for a couple of weeks, which will mean several other people will also have the chance to teach. I'm away for a while myself, but should be able to make it to a few of those classes.

07/02/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Defending the Back)

Class #445
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 07/02/2012

Lots of great drills from Dónal as usual, all related to guard passing. Start by standing up, holding their knees. They shrimp, you drive your weight through your hands and therefore also jam their knees to match, then hop over to the side behind their knees. They shrimp again and you repeat the motion to the other side.

Another nice guard passing drill, which we've done before, again starts with your standing up. This time, you're square on to their open guard, although for the drill they aren't getting any grips on you, they're just lying on the mat, feet on the floor. Bring one your legs between theirs, then drive your knee across to the opposite side. As you do, with your opposite arm, underhook their same side armpit.

An interesting variation pops up if they manage to get an underhook. Immediately overhook/whizzer that arm, reaching your overhook hand right through to their hip. As you continue the pass, slide your hand back, keeping your arm straight. Eventually that should mean you're hooking their near side leg, helping you to move into side control.

The text message for tonight indicated that the topic was be preventing your opponent taking your back, which sounded interesting (although Geeza does sometimes put his own spin on the text message either I or Dónal send him about our respective classes). That proved to be an extremely simple (which in BJJ tends to be a very positive adjective) concept from turtle. After they've got their first hook, all you do is turn towards their leg (so, towards the outside), recovering half guard. That's it. :)

During sparring, Dónal had another cool tip (as he very often does: if you've got the chance to do a private with him, go do it) for passing half guard. This depends on how they've locked their feet to trap your leg. If the big toe of the foot is nearest to you, then you simply bring your trapped leg back and shove that foot off by hooking under their heel, breaking their grip. Is the big toe is pointing away, that means their heel is on the wrong side, so you can't just bring your leg back and knock the foot away.

26/10/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #353
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 26/10/2010

I didn’t make training last week, because I was off up north with my gf. Her best friend is getting married, which meant she had the dubious pleasure of spending many, many hours in Louth being fitted for a bridesmaid dress (apparently, here in the UK the correct term for best woman is indeed ‘chief bridesmaid’ rather than ‘Maid of Honour’, which I’m told is an American thing). On the way, we stopped off at Matlock in the Peak District, which not only had a lovely bed and breakfast at The Old Sunday School, but owners who could recommend the even more awesome pie night at The Thorn Tree pub (they have one every Wednesday). Very, very tasty, but also huge: next time, we’ll share a pie instead of tackling one each!

While there finally got to use our book of Peak District walks we bought years ago, heading off on the relatively short stroll from Birchover to Robin Hood’s Stride. On the way back, there was this brilliant place called Rowtor Rocks (there’s a turning near The Druid Inn), where the book tells me that some vicar in the 17th century decided to carve out passages, rooms and even armchairs from the rock. Lots of people trying to climb them, too: bouldering, I think it’s called?

The Ultimate Fighter also just stepped up a gear with a fantastic sixth episode. As ever, the careful editing is geared towards making you hate one team and love the other, but it nevertheless works. That has never been more true than in this episode, where it massively pays off. If you haven’t seen it already, try to avoid hearing the result and go check it out (decent grappling, GSP offering up lots of class, and even some words of wisdom from Camarillo). Should be available on either the TUF website or Sky Sports (which makes the annoying mistake of dubbing ‘UFC’ a sport rather than MMA), depending on where you live.

Class tonight began with a section from Gracie Barra Fundamentals, escaping scarf hold. This was specifically orthodox scarf hold rather than broken, meaning they are gripping under your head, rather than under your far armpit (which is tougher to escape). First you need to get the elbow of your trapped arm to the floor, after which your can bring your other hand over their head to create a frame, in combination with your now freed hand.

Shrimp out until you can bring your leg over their head: this may require several shrimping motions. Once your leg is in position, use that to roll them back. From here, you can either come up to side control, or look to attack their arm. The armbar Kev showed works by controlling their arm just above the crook of their elbow, giving you time to wrap your other arm over the top. Press down on their arm while raising your hips for the submission.

Getting into the class proper, this week is all going to be about half guard. Kev kicked off by running through the lockdown (like he did almost exactly a year ago today), but unlike last October, he didn’t then run through the full Eddie Bravo sequence, stopping after the ‘Jaws of Life’ and ‘whip up’. If you have Mastering the Rubber Guard, you can see the techniques from pages 54-59.

Instead, Kev finished with how to recover full guard from there, which I much prefer. You’re on your side with an underhook, so the first thing you want to do is block their arm from cross-facing: simply hook your hand over the wrist. Release your lockdown, using your outside leg as a base for your shrimp. Your inside leg will slip around the back of their knee, in order to maintain control (otherwise they can just move their leg over and pass).

Shrimp until you’re able to get that outside foot onto their same side hip. Push, then slide your other leg through to move back into full guard, or possibly butterfly guard. As you have that grip on their wrist, you could also try pushing that arm towards them, bringing your leg right through for a triangle.

If you’re on top, once you’ve released the lockdown (again, as Kev taught last year), you can move on to what Kev called the ‘switch pass’ from half guard. Reach over to bring your near arm to their far side and turn your body, so that you’re facing their legs. With your other hand, grab a firm hold of their knee: this is key to the technique. That grip will stop them bridging, and it will also enable you to quickly free your leg if they make a mistake.

Having got your arm over and secured the knee, wedge your free leg in front of their legs. Pull up on their knee with your grip until you can free your leg, then move into side control. Make sure you don’t let them get both arms around your knees, as otherwise they can reverse you. To avoid that, drive your hip back into their bottom arm, which will stop them linking their hands together.

Specific sparring was from half guard, and on top, I again struggled to get past Howard’s knee shield/z-guard. I could maintain control from the top, keeping my hips low and legs sprawled, but at best I’d manage a stalemate due to that knee. I tried grabbing his trouser leg, but didn’t have much luck squashing the knees together. As ever, something to work on.

Underneath, I was able to recover to butterfly a couple of times, but only for a moment: I swiftly got passed. I should go look over my notes on butterfly from GB Brum: one thing I definitely didn’t do and should have done is immediately try to secure an arm over the back and cinch the grip in tight. As I’ve got short, squat legs, butterfly remains something I’m keen to improve.

There were a few other times when I had a leg across his neck while the other was still by his legs, but again got easily passed. That’s another position I need to use more effectively: I need better head control, breaking of posture and using all my limbs rather than relying on the legs. I did manage some kind of sweep where I grabbed the arm, but as I’m not sure exactly how, that isn’t overly helpful. ;)

At the end of class, Kev called me up to receive a fourth stripe (also replacing the one that fell off) on my blue belt, which I wasn’t expecting: as ever, always nice to have the handshake and round of applause. I was just getting used to accidentally demoting myself to two stripes when one fell off at GB Brum, and hadn’t thought I'd get another stripe for several months. I guess the time at Birmingham counted, if RGA is still doing the ‘six months per stripe’ thing for blue belts?

Goes to show that there can be a massive gaping hole between four stripe blue and purple, as I don’t feel anywhere near that level yet (I can’t pass guard, can’t submit people, struggle to sweep, frequently hang out passively in side control...etc etc).

26/04/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #307
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Kevin Webb, Birmingham, UK - 26/04/2010

Judging by my first fortnight, GB Brum is blessed with plenty of top notch instructors, and that's not even including the black belts. Brown belt Kevin Webb taught a brilliant class tonight, all focused on passing the half guard when they have a knee across your torso. I'm not sure it was quite z-guard, but then I'm still not entirely sure what the definition of z-guard is, so it might have been.

Anyway, for this bit of half guard passing, the situation was that they have their knee across. With the hand on that side, they're gripping your opposite collar, looking for a submission (e.g., a loop choke, something Oli G is fond of). Their other hand is gripping your same side sleeve.

The first thing you need to do is strip that grip off your collar. Keep your chest raised and forward, in good posture, or this will be hard. Your free hand takes a firm pistol grip on that sleeve, while the other one moves up to their gripping hand itself, grabbing onto the hand. This may well be a battle, as your opponent is not going to make it easy for you to get your hand up there: crawl up their arm, gradually moving your hand into position for the grip.

Once you have that double hold on their gripping hand, forcefully strip the grip by pushing away from your body while grasping their hand. Shove that hand to their chest, both hands on top, pinning it in place. This also means you can keep their back flat on the mat, and use that base to get to your feet. This should cause their knee to shift from your chest to either side of your knee.

Again, you want good posture, making certain you are driving forwards with the knee you have between their legs. Your other leg is stepped back for support, and your stance is relatively low (or at least, mine was, and Kev seemed to approve). The problem now is their remaining grip on your sleeve. The trick here is to take the slack out, by pulling your trapped wrist back towards your chest. Your other hand pistol grips their sleeve, and you then yank your trapped wrist back while simultaneously shoving your pistol grip across.

Now that your hands are free, you're going to press both hands on their knee (the one inside your legs, rather than on the outside) and drive it to the floor, moving backwards. Make some space for your trapped leg by wiggling it back and forth. As soon as you have space, in one motion, angle your knee diagonally backwards and slam it through, aiming to land on your butt cheek, rather than on your knee. If they manage to cling onto your foot, it shouldn't be too difficult to use your other foot to push your way free.

You should also find yourself basing out with a hand, over their body by their back. Make sure you don't end up putting that over their shoulder by their head, or they can take your back. Instead, you want it between their hip and their elbow. That way, you can move it up under their elbow and then use your upper body to push them to the mat, switching to a tight side control.

I really liked Kev's detailed, technical approach. Better yet, he frequently stopped the class to go over another point: every single time, he pre-empted the questions I wanted to ask. Like the other Kev I've trained under, Kevin Webb also made a point of asking the class beforehand what they wanted to work on, responding to a specific problem a purple belt was having, which turned into an excellent class. Perhaps there is something about instructors called Kevin that makes them particularly good at picking out details? ;p

Sparring was good too. I started with my drilling partner, Chris, where we maintained an enjoyably steady pace. I was looking to play around with half guard, and also see if I could establish spider guard grips (I've been looking to wrap my leg over and pull the sleeve around, for an especially tight hold). Of course, the best grip in the world doesn't help if you haven't got anywhere to go from there. Still, I am at least regularly moving into butterfly to start: good advice by Kintanon from last week.

Next was another blue belt called Peter, where again I tried to move straight to butterfly, but this time couldn't quite get it because he quickly stood up. Instead, I attempted to switch between spider guard and De La Riva. Neither was especially successful, although I did find that doggedly holding onto that spider guard on at least one sleeve helped me recover guard after he almost passed a few times.

With a white belt called Danny, I was in butterfly longer, but wasn't able to stay sitting up long enough. I need to drive forward with my forehead into their chest quicker. So instead, I took the opportunity to establish an overhook and grab his opposite collar. I was still in butterfly guard, so wanted to move to closed guard in order to work the choke from there. I got into the position I wanted, bringing the other arm over his head to try for the choke, but to no avail: something must have been off with my technique and/or positioning.

I attempted to switch to a triangle instead, shoulder walking backwards once I locked my ankles, but I didn't have sufficient head control. He stacked me, and before I could switch to some variation of an armbar, I somehow ended up in half guard. As I was already fairly crunched up underneath, deep half guard seemed like a sensible option, and I sort of got on top.

However, while I was clinging tightly as per Rob's lesson last week, that's as far as I got. Danny was pulling up on my head for a triangle, which didn't feel like too much of a risk, but I also couldn't seem to work out how to move around from there to side control. I had the same trouble during Rob's lesson, so that's definitely a technique I'd like to revisit. Still, I did at least feel relatively secure with my arms wrapped around that leg.

My last roll was with Nathan, a brown belt. I spent the majority of the roll fending off attack from either side control or knee on belly, which had also popped up in previous spars. Once again, I found myself falling into Saulo's 'running escape' survival position, with one leg over the other, knee up. Eventually, Nathan got me into mount, and with twisting arm control worked the submission.

He also had a good tip (which I think someone else mentioned recently too) about my bridging: I'm bumping up with my hips, but I'm not then using that space well enough. I need to really move those hips into the space, doing a better job of combining the bridge and the shrimp.

My girlfriend is down for the rest of this week into the bank holiday, so I'll only be training on Monday this week. Next week, given Monday will be taken for girlfriend time, that probably means I'll do the basic class on Tuesday followed by advanced on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to seeing what instructor pops up next, though I have to admit, I'd be perfectly content if Kev and Rob took all the lessons, judging by the high standard they've set so far.

29/10/2009 - BJJ

Class #256



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 29/10/2009

Shereen, a female BJJer who I became aware of due to this thread, has just set up a training blog here. She isn't your average woman, at over 200lbs of muscle with many years of bodybuilding and powerlifting behind her. So, I'm very much looking forward to following her training, as for a female BJJer, she has a fairly unique combination of attributes.

Tonight Kev continued with the half guard, but this time it was orthodox rather than lockdown. First up was a drill for demonstrating how to recover full guard from half guard. Step out your leg and shrimp out to the side of half guard, making space to wedge your knee into their chest. Use that pressure to straighten up your torso, free your other leg, then put your feet on their hips. You can now either go to full guard, or stick with open guard.

That was followed by passing the half guard, where as on Tuesday shoulder pressure was paramount. Begin by securing a grip under their head and arm, gable gripping your hands and driving your shoulder into the side of their face. The aim is to turn their head away from you.

Now that you've jammed their upper body to the mat, you can push off your toes and straighten your legs. This feels vulnerable because your hips are raised, but if you've got your shoulder in the right place, they won't be able to capitalise with a sweep. To finish, get your knee free and slide it to the mat for mount. If you can't quite pull out your foot, use your other foot to push their away.

If they manage to shove your head to the other side, it makes little difference. You'll simply trap their head there instead, by putting your head onto the mat, right next to their skull. Straighten your legs and raise your hips as before, but this time you'll slide your knee the other way, moving through into scarf hold instead of mount.

Being squished flat on your back is tough, but there is a solution. Kev showed us two related sweeps from half guard, dealing with exactly the situation he'd just demonstrated on top. You first need to overhook their arm on the same side as the leg you've trapped, reaching through to grab their collar (this can act as a handy grip, pulling it up to their armpit). You're also going to hook over the other arm with your own, reaching back towards your head. This may telegraph the sweep, so if you wish you can leave it for later.

Release your top leg from half guard, maintaining a good grasp with the remaining leg behind their knee. Switch the top leg to a butterfly hook and lift, also basing off the toes of your other foot. Bridge and drive diagonally to the side, lifting with your hook. Done right, this should put you straight into mount.

It is possible for the person being swept to widen their base, preventing your sweep with their knee. If that happens, simply step closer with your basing leg and push again. Eventually, they will go over, as you have much more leverage than they do.

Alternately, they might get their arm free from your hook and base out that way. If that happens, you can switch to butterfly guard, then bridge the other way. As you have their other arm locked up, you should be able to sweep to mount that way. Even if you can't, you're still in butterfly rather than half, and can normally recover full guard from here.

Specific sparring with Callum went similarly to previous times I've been in his half guard. He wasn't wearing a gi, which didn't help, but the central problem on top was that I still can't beat their underhook. I can get that whizzer, but fail to do anything much with it. This time, I tried harder to use that grip to try and wrestle them back down to the mat, but without much success.

Underneath, I also didn't get very far, and the same thing happened with Joel. I realised later that the very obvious problem was that I wasn't doing what Kev had just shown us. Instead, I was thinking too much about my foot position, although I did get a chance to play with the lockdown and work harder for the underhook. Still, even though I had double underhooks on Joel, I couldn't move his weight. He's a fair bit bigger, but my technique was of course the main problem.

On top with Joel, I did remember to use Kev's technique, trying to get that shoulder pressure. I could just about get the grip, but wasn't able to straighten up and get my legs free. What kept happening was that I'd raise my hips, but then Joel would get a lockdown and pull me back down again. Then again, that gave me the opportunity to practice releasing the lockdown, which went as per drilling: shift down to put pressure on the grip until you can circle your foot free, then hide your leg.

27/10/2009 - BJJ

Class #254



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 27/10/2009

It was an interesting class tonight, as Kev was teaching techniques I recognised from 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, specifically the first few pages of the half guard section in Mastering the Rubber Guard.

This was something of a coincidence, as I noticed earlier today that the people from the new 10th Planet JJ site were so impressed by my BJJ glossary they've decided to copy it for their own site. Hopefully they'll do me the courtesy of a link back to my original version.

There is a copyright notice on mine, but given that this is about the fourth or fifth time someone's copied my Brazilian jiu jitsu glossary without asking or acknowledgement, it clearly doesn't do much good. I did what I always do, which is send a polite email asking if, seeing as they've taken my BJJ glossary, could they please link back to the original.

Not sure if I had Eddie Bravo's email right, or that of his web guy, but we'll see if that sorts the problem. Bravo seems like a decent guy, so I wouldn't have thought he'd knowingly plagiarise somebody else (even though he gets accused of stealing from Nino Schembri and renaming it 10th Planet JJ and 'rubber guard', Bravo does always acknowledge his sources).

Update Oct 2010: The 10th Planet site has had another revamp, and the glossary is no longer on it, as far as I can tell.

Anyway, on to the beginner class tonight: Kev kicked off by showing the proper application of the lockdown (pp54-55 in Mastering the Rubber Guard). Hook their leg as normal with your outside foot, then step your other leg over. However, instead of just locking your legs together, you're going to hook the foot of your second leg under their shin. From there, stretch your legs out to immobilise their limb.

The next step in 10th Planet JJ would be the 'Jaws of Life', which is basically shoving against their face to make space to get double underhooks. Kev instead incorporated this into the third step, the whip up (pp58-59 in Mastering the Rubber Guard). Once you've managed to make some space, get your hands to their hips. Maintaining your lockdown, bring your knees towards you while simultaneously pushing on their hips with your hands.

That should mean you have enough room and leverage to 'whip up' onto your side, securing an underhook. This is a much better position than flat on your back in half-guard, as now you have the option to go on the offensive. Still in keeping with Mastering the Rubber Guard, you can now move to what Eddie Bravo calls the 'old school' sweep (pp60-62).

However, Kev's version deviates from 10th Planet JJ at this point, and I have to say I prefer his variation. Rather than actually sweeping your opponent, you simply secure a dominant position and move round either to side control or their back, depending on how they react.

You being by reaching through with your free hand to grab their far ankle. This grip is key: don't let go until you've passed. Having got hold of their ankle. you now need to get out from half guard. Pull their leg back with your top foot, which should give you enough control to slide the other leg under, coming up to their back.

From here, you simply move around to side control. This is facilitated by the typical response of your opponent, which is to try and turn into you. As long as you keep hold of that foot, you should be able to keep walking your legs round and secure sidemount. If they choose not to turn into you, that means their back is right there for the taking: you just need to insert your hooks (you may also need to move their arm out of the way, but due to your underhook, you can just shrug it off with your shoulder).

Bravo's method is to instead grab the toes, pull, and drive through to initiate a pass. While there is nothing wrong with doing that, Kev's method uses a lot less energy, something that immediately makes a technique appeal to me.

As ever, Kev also showed the flipside, which is one of the things I love about his classes. In order to pass the lockdown, you first need to free your foot. You could use something like the infamous 'Indian death lock', as described in Passing in the Guard (p219), but that can seriously damage the knees of both you and your partner.

Fortunately, there are alternatives, two of which appear in the new second edition of Passing the Guard. Kev didn't go that route, instead using a simpler method to free the foot. First, you need to shift your weight back: you aim is to create enough pressure that you can circle your top foot free, then slide it underneath their leg to free yourself. It doesn't matter if you can't entirely get the foot under their leg, as long as your able to shove your knee up to their bum. You need to hide your leg so they can't re-establish their lockdown.

Now that your leg is no longer stretched out behind you, drive your shoulder into their chin, creating as much force as possible with your weight. It is essentially you maintain heavy pressure with your shoulder, as that will mean you can raise your lower body in order to bring your free leg through. You want to get the shin of that leg on top of their leg, so it can act as a wedge.

You need to be careful here, as you're vulnerable to an easy sweep if they just bridge into you. Therefore it is absolutely imperative that you make sure you grab their knee. That will make their bridge ineffective: if they try it, you can use your grip on the leg to make space and simply pull your leg free, switching to side control.

If they're sensible enough not to bridge once you're holding their knee, then you still need to free your leg. There are two options: firstly, you can use your shoulder pressure and blocking shin to make enough room to free the leg. Secondly, you can your grip on the knee to pull their legs towards you, again making space to yank your leg out.

In specific sparring, I found that the lockdown was almost totally ineffective against my training partner, Howard. He was able to simply shift down to my hips and immobilise me each time I tried it. I've read in the past that some people don't like the lockdown because it limits their hip mobility: I can now see exactly what they mean.

I had better luck with orthodox half guard, where I managed to recover full guard a couple of times. Passing was much less successful, as I had trouble getting Howard flat. He also kept grabbing my foot, which scuppered my passing. I asked Kev for his advice, and he said that you must get them flattened out: that's the best option on top of half guard. However, if they manage to get your foot, then try changing your angle to a different pass. He also suggested that I try the brabo off the whizzer (overhooking their arm), as I'll often get that position in sparring.

18/08/2009 - BJJ (No-gi)

Class #237



Combat Athletics, (BJJ), Rich Green, Coventry, UK - 18/08/2009

Wales was good fun, with yet another set of people in the house: changes every year, as different groups of friends manage to make it down (normally Aberystwyth Uni people, but this time it was old schoolfriends of the guy who owns the place). I may even have managed to spark an interest in BJJ for one of them, so hopefully she'll go check out the clubs I mentioned in Sunderland. Always keen to get a chance to evangelise about grappling!

On an entirely non-BJJ note, I also finally googled "Hasidic jews" as a result of the trip. That's because like me, they also seem to be in Aber every summer, with large groups congregating on the beach. I'm still not quite sure why Hasidic jews apparently love Aberystwyth so much, but at least I know a little more about their customs thanks to good old Wikipedia.

Getting back to class at Combat Athletics, I decided to wear a gi tonight, as I'd responded to a guys email that I wouldn't mind doing some gi sparring. Handily, both he and another chap brought a gi: I ended up being partnered with the other guy. Technically this is still a nogi class, as Rich teaches without a gi, but then he has been saying repeatedly over the last couple of weeks that people should feel free to bring a gi along.

Rich started off by having everyone do some pummelling exercises. Interestingly, that wasn't just from standing, as is normal. Rich also had us do the same thing from our knees, from combat base, side control, guard and half guard. The purpose was to emphasise the importance of establishing underhooks, as well as other useful principles, like tucking your head in half guard.

That is where we stayed, for a half guard sweep. First, get your underhook and curl in close to their body. Reach with your free arm to grab the foot of the leg you haven't trapped in your half-guard. Your other arm will shift from over their back to grab that same foot, meaning that you'll also be reaching around their other leg.

From here, you can pull their foot in towards you and bridge to get the sweep. Rich demonstrated how you could bridge in either direction, so it depends on how your partner resists. Whichever side they choose to base out, go the opposite way with your bridge.

The next sweep from half guard was for when you've failed to get the underhook. Instead, they've flattened you out, establishing their own underhook to lock up your head and arm. Start by partially unwrapping your triangled legs, but still maintaining control by having a leg over the back of their knee. The other foot will push down on their lower leg, straightening it out, then clamp down to make sure its stuck.

On the side opposite to the one on which you've trapped their leg, put your same side hand on their hip. You can now use that to make a little space, digging your outside foot under their knee to get into half-butterfly. Lift them up enough to extricate your other leg (easier said than done, so not sure if I was doing it right), moving into full butterfly, then sweep them over, pushing off with your hand and leg.

Rich mentioned here that you don't necessarily want to then move straight into mount. That's because you lose control of their arms: instead, Rich advised bringing your knee through into their side, pulling up on the arms. This made more sense once he showed the next technique, when your positions are reversed.

For this half guard pass, they have their head tucked in. As a result you can't cross-face them, so instead drive your shoulder into their shoulder, flattening them out. Shift your weight so that you can look back towards their knees, then bring the foot of your trapped leg up close to their bum.

This provides you with an opportunity to push their locked legs off your knee. Again, that may be easier said than done: Rich's method was to shove in bursts, gradually knocking their legs free. Either way, as soon as your knee is clear (you don't need to get the whole leg out), you can drop it to the mat.

At this point, you could attempt to move to mount, but in keeping with the previous technique, you're instead going to bring your knee across their body so you can get it into their side. Your other leg bases out, while you control their arms. One of their arms is under yours, so you pull up on the elbow. The other is on top: this time, you'll grab around the shoulder, yank in to secure it, while also moving your elbow across to dig into their chest.

From here, you can go for a kimura. That knee you have into their side with move up towards their head. This is especially useful if they get the arm on that side slightly free, bringing their elbow down, as you can now use your knee to block it. Step over their head, then using the control you already have on the other arm, clamp it to your chest and figure-four, ready for the kimura.

It was then time for some specific sparring, from half-guard as you'd expect. I wasn't too good at moving past on top, and underneath I also didn't quite accomplish my aims. I was looking to recover full guard, but my partner was able to keep on just managing to readjust before I could fully adjust.

At one point I also found myself close to taking the back, but he still had an arm around my head. I got overly focused on the back, so continued attempting to establish hooks: eventually, he moved through to side control. What I should have done, as Rich (who was observing) noted, was go to my knees. That would have been a far better position to then drive and move to the back or side: I really need to think about going to the knees, as from every position its something I forget.

Incidentally, this is also exactly the kind of situation where the Gracie Combatives material on escaping headlocks becomes applicable. So although scarf hold may be much more common (because its a far better controlling position), headlocks do happen, even in a BJJ class.

Finally, we switched partners for free sparring: as the person I was rolling with didn't have a gi, I changed my jacket for a t-shirt. As has been the case recently, I was looking for triangles, attempting to set up some kind of control on the head and arms so I could then shift into position. Again, Gracie Combatives could come in handy here. Rener and Ryron have a useful nogi method of moving into the triangle, beginning from stage one of their punch block series. I'll have to take another look at that and try to use it next time.

Eventually my partner passed into my half-guard, also managing to trap one of my arms against me, looking like he was about to go for an arm triangle. However, I still had plenty of space to breathe, so instead he ended up just squashing my neck. That's where we stayed until time ran out.

I've said it before, but I think this is an instance where I'm breaking my own cardinal rule and allowing pride to dictate my actions. It isn't comfortable having your neck squished like that, but its bearable, meaning that you can think to yourself "yeah, if I wiggle just a bit more, I'll be out. No way I'm tapping to this, its not even a proper submission."

While its more than possible to simply lie there and wait, it would be much more sensible to tap and start again. Nobody is learning anything in that position, and my neck is definitely too precious to sacrifice on the altar of ego. Given how often I happily say this to other people, I really must follow my own advice.

So what I probably should do when that happens again is ask "are you going for a choke or a neck crank?" If they say the latter, I should immediately tap so we can restart and do something more productive. Of course, that is still giving way to pride a little, in that I can then tell myself that neck cranks are generally illegal in competition (though of course that doesn't necessarily apply to nogi), but it at least lets them know that if they are going for a choke, they need to adjust rather than simply keep on squeezing.

I should be training again on Thursday, presuming my neck isn't too stiff. As I type this on Wednesday morning, it feels ok, so we'll see. I'm having another instance of deciding to get up and type rather than lie awake in the early morning, so made an update to my BJJ Beginner FAQ too (specifically, adding in something about 10th Planet, as I keep seeing beginners asking about it on forums). Same thing happened when I originally composed that article: early mornings are clearly a good time for me to babble on my blog. ;)

07/04/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #217



Roger Gracie Academy Kilburn (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 07/04/2009 - Beginner

I was still feeling a bit sore from yesterday, after all that half-guarding, but fortunately Tuesdays are only an hour. Technique started the same as yesterday, with a half guard pass. Jude mentioned a useful additional tip when I asked, which was to push your body forward if you're having trouble getting the shoulder under their chin. That will result in pressure on their face, which will have a similar distracting result.

Also slightly different from yesterday was the option of passing to side control rather than mount. Before passing, bring your legs towards the side you want to reach. Once you've freed your leg by prying it loose, your knee should point off to the side: you then slip through into side control.

The cross choke from mount was the same as usual, with points like bringing your head down to the same side as your top arm. Jude also demonstrated two different grips for the second hand: either palm down with the thumb in their collar, then dropping the elbow across, or alternately knife-handing your way down their face to reach the collar. There was also a third, where you lift up their head, grip behind then loop your arm over into place, but Jude noted that required a fair bit of strength.

While sparring from mount I concentrated on maintaining my position, using my feet and knees to squeeze my way up their body. Normally I wrap my arm under their head and then cling on there, so I wanted to try a more upright posture this time, working my knees under their armpits.

I still couldn't get anything, as I wasn't able to dig my way past Rich's clamped arms. There was the option of shoving my gi in his face, which Rich suggested, but that is purely about causing your partner pain, with the coarse gi material acting as sandpaper. Not very pleasant, and not something I'm willing to do to a training partner. I'd much rather develop a 'clean' method of getting past the arms, rather than relying on their pain tolerance being low.

To that end, I tried Roger's technique, where you put your hand in front of the arms, then drive it through with your hip on the elbow. That sort of worked, though I generally either got swept, couldn't get a deep enough hold, or wasn't able to secure the second grip. Spent both rounds on top, as Rich has hurt his thigh.

Next was guard passage, with one of the white belts. I was looking for collar chokes, but I'm bad at setting them. Simply grabbing a collar and hoping is not too productive, so I'll need to think carefully about how I can work the submission. Same goes for triangle chokes, though I at least have some vague idea of how I want to enter into those (e.g., spider guard, like Renzo shows).

I'm also not getting my sweeps when they stand in my guard: relying too heavily on the handstand, which they're generally avoiding by basing forward. That should mean I can then pull their torso down for chokes and armbars, but again that would require some actual submission skills on my part. ;)

On their knees, I need to be more explosive with my sit-up sweep. Back as a white belt, that used to be my highest percentage attack, but only very rarely land it these days. I could try going for the elbow rather than the shoulder, like Saulo shows it (IIRC), or just greater commitment when driving for the reversal.

My first free spar was with a white belt named Fabio, who for once is closer to my size. That meant I had a lot more options, so tried a bunch of different attacks. Still mainly looking at cross-chokes and triangles, with a brief attempt at a guillotine. As ever I spent some of it in half-guard, almost taking his back but then somehow ending up underneath him with my head by his legs. My back control remains terrible: almost always find myself on the bottom in some ridiculous position, or just guard.

Finally, there was a much bigger white belt, Rodrigo. However, he didn't use his size advantage, instead trying to stay technical, which was good to see. Though he was going very light, I still wasn't able to do all that much. I had a go at a triangle and armbar from mount, but on both occasions left way too much space, so it was a simple matter for Rodrigo to escape.

I had intended to train on Wednesday, but writing this up Wednesday morning, I feel like crap. So, won't be training again until I get back from Cornwall, next Wednesday. Shame to not make my intended three a week, but if I tried tonight, I would feel much, much worse, even assuming I made it through the session pumped up on medication.

06/04/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #216



Roger Gracie Academy Kilburn (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 06/04/2009 - Beginner

Tonight's class was perfect for me, as Jude went through several basic half guard techniques. I wasn't expecting to see that for a while, as Kilburn is mostly beginners, but nevertheless very useful stuff from my perspective.

Jude began with the fundamental half guard pass where you squeeze your knee through by trapping their leg. Start by getting one arm under their head and the other past their armpit, gable gripping your hands. Having secured that grip, drive your shoulder under their chin: this is essential, as the pass will be difficult without that heavy pressure.

Slide your free knee towards their other armpit, while coming up on the toes of your trapped foot. Once your free foot has enough space, bring it over their leg and push into their calf. At the same time, try to squeeze your trapped leg out of their half-guard, shoving your shoving under their chin the whole time.

I've always had trouble with this escape, but the way Jude showed this as really shoving that leg off of yours was helpful. Previously I thought the foot on the calf was more of a block, but I see now its a push. The combination of that push with the pull of your trapped leg is one of the important details I'd been missing.

Next, Jude demonstrated recovering guard from half-guard. That is something I've been trying to do for a while, so was especially pleased to see it broken down. You're underneath half guard, with your head on the opposite side to the leg you've trapped, with your forearm pressing into their throat.

Clamp down on their calf with your inside leg. Bring your other foot out slightly to bridge, then block their hip with your hand. Using space you've just created, bring your inside knee through and replace guard. In other words, this is exactly like recovering guard from mount, in terms of mechanics, in that the shrimp is all-important. As ever, its in the hips.

That then moved on to taking the back from half guard, using what I've seen referred to as 'deep half-guard'. You'll be shrimping again, same as before, but this time, you aren't aiming to recover guard. Instead, once you've made space with your bridge, swim the arm you have against their throat under their armpit instead, securing the underhook.

You can now knock them forward with that arm, aiming to slip down towards their leg, coming onto your side. Make sure your head is also free, on the same side as their trapped leg. To finish, link both arms behind their trapped knee and knock them forward again. That should kill their balance, leaving you to move to your knees, then take their back.

Sparring from half-guard I didn't have much success applying the technique, but then that's to be expected when everybody knows what you're going for. I'm still tending to stall in half-guard, but at least I now have some further options, which don't require me to get my head on the same side as their trapped leg. I'm getting too flattened out, and being too cautious about controlling them with just one leg (which would give me the option of bridging off the other).

On top, I'm leaving too much space and not getting my hips down enough. I'm also having trouble dealing with the arm in my throat: that is currently preventing me putting enough pressure with my shoulder into their throat. I repeatedly found that Rich opened up space with his forearm, then got to his side. From there it was a simple matter for him to either reach his knees or reverse me.

Guard passage also followed a typical pattern, though again, I do now have clearer goals thanks to Jude's help last week. Getting the knee up and hips forward is the first aim, then I need to establish better base when I stand. I also need to do a much better job of stripping their grips, or preventing them altogether. My posture must improve for that, as currently I'm being broken down too easily.

Underneath guard, I was trying cross-chokes and triangles, but without being sufficiently tight. With the triangle, I couldn't lock my legs properly, swiftly getting stacked and losing the position. I also had a quick go at a guillotine from half-guard top, in the hope that might help the pass, but again that didn't go anywhere. Not to mention my sparring partner, a relatively stocky white belt, was taking it easy anyway, as he was concerned about the size difference.

Full sparring with Rich led to yet more stalling in half-guard, and I'm also giving up mount way too easily. I need to get into a better defensive posture quicker, rather than looking to snatch half-guard, ending up flat and without many options if I miss it.

Finally, I was with another big white belt looking to try and avoid using his considerable weight advantage. This time I was quite happy to at least have half guard to keep some kind of control, and after a cycle of him making a few steps towards passing before I readjusted to regain a more solid half-guard, I managed to get on top. After passing to side control, I was looking to switch to half-guard and step over for an armbar, but time ran out. Doubtful I would have got anything anyway, but always fun to try.

I'm looking to get in three again this week, especially as I'll only have one evening free next week. We'll see how my body holds up, and if my sister has to work late on Tuesday or Wednesday.

08/10/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #183



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 08/10/2008 - Advanced

Its nice to finally escape packing, lifting, unpacking and cleaning, getting back to training instead. Judo was a good start, but unless something drastic changes, groundwork will always be where I'm most happy. So, great to be back in a BJJ class after the dull monotony of house moving.

Tonight's session was huge, the most people I've seen on the mat in a long time. It’s a testament to just how big those mats are that everybody had just about enough room to work, though we were definitely knocking into each other more often than normal. Was also cool to have Roger taking class again, chatting amiably before the lesson to his students.

As Roger has been focusing a lot on judo for a while now, with the help of Ray Stevens, he often incorporates a greater degree of throws than some of the other instructors. That was fitting, given that I've got back to judo myself this week: Roger even covered the same throws I'd gone through on Monday. He also showed some nifty looking trips, which are all about timing.

For the first one, you catch their leg mid-step, before they can put the foot down, dragging it out. That wrecks their balance, meaning you can then use your grips on their sleeve and collar to take them down. The other trip was similar, except this time, you grabbed their same side leg before they put their foot down, lifting it up and pushing on their shoulder, again aiming to knock them down.

Christina's arm is still a bit dodgy, as she had that nasty injury a little while back, so she was taking it fairly easy. Gave me a chance to have a go at the push sweep, though I didn't get it, and also continue attempting Nick G's two-on-one grip to go for sweeps. On top, I was trying to stand up and drive my hips forward, which I think is progressing, as I stood up most of the time rather than just sitting in my usual defensive posture during guard passage.

Techniques were all related to half-guard, with Roger demonstrated two half guard passes. The starting position was that you're standing, while they have sat up and wrapped around one leg: however, same principle applies if you're on top of them in half guard. Grip their knee and also the back of their gi, pushing down on both. Next, swing your free leg over and drop down beside them, shifting your grip from the back of their gi to their shoulder, driving your own shoulder firmly underneath their chin and into their neck.

This will stop them moving their head: without that head control, they could simply bridge into you and roll into top half guard. Once you've established that position, you can shuffle your hips back, then kick out their bottom leg, freeing your own limb in order to move into side control.

The next technique confused me a bit, but then as its only legal for brown belts and up anyway, not too much of a concern for me at this point. If they manage to get their head through so you can't secure the above controlling method, you can instead push yourself up on your hand and sit on their chest, facing their knees. If they have their legs loosely locked, you can hook the top leg and drop back for a knee bar. If their legs are tightly triangled, you can still drop back, but this time go for a figure four footlock. Something I'll have to review once I get to brown, which is a very long way off! ;)

I kicked off free sparring with Christina, where again I tried to use Nick G's open guard sweeps, but ended up in side control attempting to escape. I'm still not being pro-active enough under side control, so must concentrate on bridging forcefully, shrimping immediately afterwards, as well as trying to go to my knees. I have a tendency to just sit there and wait, which isn't going to help me improve technique.

Followed that up with Helen, where I was generally swivelling into half-guard as much as possible. I used Indrek Reiland's 'paw' concept to try and control her arms, but couldn't manoeuvre into the arm sweep I was looking for. I think I need to redouble my efforts to use half guard as a method of recovering full guard: that's discussed in Strategic Guard, which should be easier to look over now I finally have access to a scanner.

Session finished off with another free spar with Christina, after which there were some big promotions. First, Tran finally got his purple belt, to much cheering and whooping, followed by Bruno getting his brown, to an equally raucous reception. RGA is absolutely stuffed with senior belts now, so the future looks bright. There are already a bunch of affiliates, so I would expect many more as those purples and browns either start opening up their satellite academies straightaway, or wait until the black belt.

My back has been sore this week, which I assume is due to all the lifting during the move along with cleaning, and possibly that new bag I bought. Its a decent backpack, but the waist strap appears to be meant for fatter people, so I'll have to sew it up to make it cinch properly. Could also be that the judo didn't help, but either way, I'll be trying to avoid any further strain. Hoping to get in two sessions of judo on top of the two BJJ classes next week (along with a bit of salsa dancing, which should be fun), so may take my body a little while to settle into the new schedule.

21/08/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #173



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 21/08/2008 - Advanced

I had a light roll with Oli M (I think his surname starts with an M: anyway, the Oli who isn't the recently promoted purple belt with a penchant for Eddie Bravo stuff), which was a good way to pass some time before the lesson started. As ever I got there early, so when Oli suggested a bit of rolling, seemed like another good opportunity to work on relaxing. Flowed around through various positions, until I bowed out. Ten minutes, maybe? I can never go very long, even when its not full-on. Also had a chance to try the foot-in-armpit escape from a mounted triangle, though as we were going light, doesn't really count.

Tonight was all about the half-guard. Jude started with a choke from half-guard (top). You begin with one arm around their head, the other by their back, linking your hands in a gable grip (palm-to-palm), while they have an underhook. First, bring your top arm back, grab their lapel and pull out as much gi as you can. Drag that over to their head, feeding the fabric to the hand you have by their neck. You'll need to stay tight throughout: using your chin by their shoulder is one way of adding some extra control.

Next, slide your top arm underneath their underhook, then get that hand right past their head: Jude advised that you'll be far enough when you can see your own fingers. If you're having trouble pushing your hand through, then you can use your other arm to pull their head back, and/or move your knee further out towards their head. Once you're there, switch the gi you're holding to the hand you've worked through.

Maintaining a firm grip with the gi hand (their gi should be up by their armpit due to having been wrapped round, to which they'll also have the discomfort of their arm trapped tightly against your body), hold the back of their gi with your other hand. To finish, bring the forearm by that hand around and into their neck, then squeeze for the choke.

From the same position, you can also execute a half guard pass. Though you've established your grips, they manage to defend. So instead of the choke, your going to transfer your lower hand to their same side sleeve and pull up, while the elbow of your other arm will press into their chest. Use that pressure to get your knee free of their legs, slide it forwards, then switch your hips to move into side control.

Last technique was a brabo choke. This one is a little simpler, as it doesn't involve any gi wrapping, and is therefore also applicable to nogi. As before, they have an underhook. Reach through with your top arm as before, but this time you're just trying to get your hand as far through as possible, rather than straining the grab a lapel.

Instead, you're going to grasp around the crook of your other arm, the hand of which will then grip them by the shoulder. Squeeze, trying to bring your lower arm upwards, simultaneously pressing forward with your chest to complete the submission. If you're having trouble finishing, use the pressure to get your knee through, then step over them, moving into a sort of mount position. That should enable you to apply greater leverage.

Specific sparring was, naturally, from half guard. My partner was Paxton, who is good at getting his knee through when underneath, so I had a hard time stopping him escaping. I tried using additional pressure, getting a tight grip and then wrapping his legs with my own, but that seemed merely to delay the inevitable: the only thing I accomplished through that approach was using up more energy.

Underneath, I found I couldn't get my knee through. Paxton was blocking it effectively with his knee: not sure if I could have somehow made more space in the other direction, but I think that was blocked off by his shoulder. I also tried using my legs more offensively, trying to stay tight but releasing the half guard and pushing, which was unsurprisingly a little risky. Sort of worked at one point, as I was able to recover guard, but not reliable just yet.

Free sparring kicked off with a purple belt, Javid. He took it easy on me, taking the opportunity to give out some useful advice rather than simply crushing me. As with yesterday, good reminder on keeping the arms tight under side control, particularly when they're trying to choke you from the top: Javid said that as soon as someone grabs your collar, get your elbows in position to block the choke attempt. I can't think of many people who try to choke me from side control, so was handy to be put in that situation. He also mention going to your knees from underneath, which is still something I don't do anything like as often as I should. Too reliant on either recovering guard or snatching half-guard.

Finally, rolled with Paxton, where we ended up back in half-guard. I did eventually manage to get a sweep, lifting him over my head, but I think that might have happened because we were getting near another pair sparring, so Paxton may well have eased off in readiness to move out of the way.

Something else sparring brought up was that I really need to make better use of all of my limbs, rather than just arms or legs in isolation. I've mentioned that before, so was trying to keep the principle in mind tonight. In particular I should be making more use of my legs, pushing against my partner to make space for escapes, as well as in open guard.

Forgot my towel, which was annoying, as I don't like to delay my shower: hygiene is super-important when there are risks like staph, after all. Can shower when I get back to my sisters, but not pleasant feeling skanky on the train. Bleh.

17/07/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #163



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 17/07/2008 - Advanced

I got back from my trip to Barmouth in Wales yesterday, which surprisingly did manage to squeeze out a few sunny days at the beach. Harlech Castle was cool, as that hit two of my biggest pleasures, fantasy and history, as to a lesser extent Powis Castle did later on. King Arthur's Labyrinth was rather cheesy, as it consisted of about five wax set pieces with a narrator booming out of some nearby speakers, but was at least in an atmospheric underground setting, built up out of an old slate mine.

That extended stay over on the Welsh coast meant that it was just one session this week. The main focus of tonight's lesson was passing half guard, emphasising the importance of getting the underhook and then gable gripping under your partner's head.

Jude's first half guard pass started by underhooking the arm opposite to their trapped leg, bringing your other arm underneath their head. Clasp your hands palm to palm, securing what is known as the gable grip. Once you've got that, crush your weight down, getting chest to chest, shoving your trapped leg side shoulder forcefully into their chin. This should make them very uncomfortable, and therefore enable you to use your free foot to push on their same side leg. Press straight down, and don't lean forward: if you need extra leverage, put extra pressure on their chin instead. Free your leg, then bring the knee through to either mount or side control.

The second half guard pass develops off the first. You've got into position and are crushing with your shoulder, pushing on their leg to try and free your trapped limb. To relieve the pressure, they bring their underhooked forearm in front of your face and push up. This could provide them with space to start working an escape, so to keep the pressure on, switch your head to the other side. Now press your skull into their skull, which both isolates their head movement and is also rather unpleasant. As with the shoulder pressure previously, you can use this pressure on their head to distract them sufficiently to free your leg. If you're having trouble getting your leg free, you can also kick out their bottom leg and slip through to side control.

Specific sparring from half guard was tough on top. I was with Paxton, who I always find a challenging sparring partner. I had real difficulty securing that underhook, meaning that Paxton would frequently be able to slide his knee through to full guard. Even when I did get the underhook, I still couldn't maintain enough pressure to stop Paxton recovering guard. As ever, need to work on keeping my weight down on my partner.

Underneath, things were easier, as this time I was able to recover full guard (although with Paxton's level of success when our role's were reversed). Securing my own underhook and trying to duck under his arm were both useful in avoiding the passes we'd just been shown, although Paxton did at one point manage to use his head in a similarly effective fashion to what Jude had demonstrated. Good to be aware of that, as now I know to make sure to stop my partner getting their head into position.

On top in guard, I found myself in my seemingly inevitable defensive mode. I'm steadily trying to move towards standing up and driving my hips forward, but today I was finding it difficult to work into a solid base from which I could go to my feet. Frequently Paxton was dragging my arm to one side and then attempting chokes, so I had to defend that before I could think about standing up. Raising up my same side leg, as Tran had advised, worked well, but it was all defensive: I wasn't able to launch any kind of offence of my own.

Underneath, things went worse. I have said in the past that closed guard is my strongest position, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. I'm finding that my partner will often stiff arm both my hips, meaning that I can't raise up, then gradually stand and walk through my open guard. I did at least manage to use my legs more, rather than straining away with my arms, and I also found myself shifting to a sort of butterfly guard at several points, with Waqi's gorillatine vaguely in mind. However, I wasn't able to secure it properly, so eventually got passed each time I tried it.

I also attempted to use my legs to bring Paxton down towards me, so I could think about the scissor sweep I've been wanting to work, but that didn't quite go according to plan. I did get Paxton's torso forward, but couldn't lock up his arm, so while I tried to switch to an elevator sweep, he stood up, then went through my open guard.

I think working the armdrag may pay dividends for me: a fellow small guy asked Kid Peligro about the guard on the Fightworks Podcast #125, where Peligro's advice was to armdrag and take the back. I'm terrible at back control, but using the armdrag to at least get my partner onto their side could be a useful tactic to try. I'll have to look into armdragging, and also review the Grapplers Guide videos on grips and back control.

Free sparring started with Christina (glad to see her back, as haven't trained with her in a few weeks), where we took it fairly easy, with Christina taking on an instructor role. She coached me through some guard passes, giving me advice on driving my hips forward and standing up as soon as possible in guard. From that spar, I think my posture needs improvement in guard too: I can defend against chokes ok, but that has meant I've been getting too comfortable with leaning forward in guard. Good posture involves a straight back and looking up, so I need to concentrate on achieving that positioning.

Finally, I had a roll with Bruno, a high level purple whose relaxed rolling style makes him a good sparring partner. He was taking it pretty light, which given the large skill discrepancy makes sense. I tried to put into practice what I'd learned from Christina (which also fits with an earlier discussion with Paxton from a while back), driving my hips forward, but not yet getting it quite right. Something I need to keep doggedly attempting until I start to make some improvements.

I was more comfortable defending underneath, as usual, particularly after I almost got flung straight into one of those flashy armbars where you get flipped up by your opponent's leg and dropped straight into position. I could see what was coming, so scampered round to escape, but goes to show the difference between a low level blue like me and a high level purple like Bruno: he can throw in playful stuff like that with impunity.

I'll be training again next week, but not sure whether or not I'll do the Tuesday. As I'd expected, there's some hefty writing commitments coming up, so it would be good to devote my Tuesday to that instead. Depends if Johannes makes it on both Tuesday and Thursday as he'd planned, or opts for just Thursday (RGA is a pricey place to drop in, after all, at £18 for a single session. If you've come from Renzo's, or somewhere with a similarly close connection to the Roger Gracie Academy, its normally cheaper, but Johannes is a Brasa guy).

Hopefully he does make it to at least one, as it would be cool to train with him again. Always nice to meet up with fellow Bullshido people. :)