25/06/2016 - Private with Nathan Adamson | Open Guard & Mount | Knee Cut, Knee Shield Pass, Knee Cut Counters & Mount

Class #746 - Private #025
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Nathan Adamson, Leuven, Belgium, 25/06/2016

In the same way that I booked a private with Kenny Polmans because I liked his side control attacks, I also booked one for the next day with Nathan Adamson due to his excellent lesson on passing. I have been doing a lot of knee cut counters in my private lessons so far: this time, I wanted to work on the other side of that equation, refining my knee cut and dealing with issues that can arise, most significantly the knee shield. The fact that Adamson sounds and (very slightly) looks like Greg Proops was a bonus. I used to love Whose Line Is It Anyway? :D

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 4, 2016 at 4:02am PDT

Again as before, I quickly showed Nathan what I normally do with my knee cut, in order to get some tips about how to improve it. First Nathan talked about getting in tight, pressing your shin into the back of their leg. Grab their same side collar (or alternatively, anchor your hand by their hip), putting your elbow on the outside of your knee. Come through the centre and drop your hip. With your passing side hand, push their wrist to the mat. With your other hand, either swim for the underhook, or grab their opposite collar.

Swing your elbow up and drive, flattening them out and controlling (to a degree) with that instead of an underhook. To finish, slide your shin back into their bottom leg to push that out of the way. Keep your bum by your heels to prevent them catching half guard. Slide through and finish. Nathan likes to hop up to knee on belly in order to swivel his legs into mount, I generally prefer moving to side control.

If they manage to get that annoying knee shield in the way, you’re going to grab low on their trousers, palm facing up. Straighten your arm, shoving the leg away in an interestingly angled stiff arm. If you get that in place correctly, any attempts by them to get their knee back in place results in pushing you into the mount. Nathan goes to knee on belly off that, grabbing their passing side collar with his opposite arm, pushing his wrist to the mat with the same side arm. If their knee shield is more firmly in, pushing your back. Lock in that stiff arm in the same way as before, then slide your bottom knee over. Jam their knee to the mat and hop around behind. You might not be able to get your arm as straight, because they’re already connected to you.

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 26, 2016 at 1:06am PDT

When the knee shield is up higher, into your chest, your same side hand taps the top of their knee. Yank it back, twisting your hips in as you pull that knee behind you. This results in you facing their legs. The knee you now have on the bottom pops up to their thigh, as with the hip switch pass. Bring your far elbow inside their armpit, meaning their arm is stuck behind your elbow. To make it really tight, feed their lapel to that far hand, pinching it tight. This therefore applies to knee cutting through half guard too, as you can clear their lock ankle with this. You can also try and simply turn your hips around the knee that’s blocking you, ending up in the same position.

Another option, again for a lower knee shield, is to rely on that hip twist. Grab the collar and the hip, making sure your head is diagonally opposite to his. Drive in to press their knee-shield into their chest, also trying to flatten them out. If you can, get the cross face and gable grip. From there, switch your hips, turning your knee inwards, underneath their knee shield.

You can then climb up into mount. If they have a half guard on your leg, you can still climb up, crushing through it. If they are framing firmly into your arm, grab their collar and use that to break them down. If you are pushed too far out, you can grab their knee and hop over, as before. There are other options too, like doing a headstand to hop over to the other side.

Nathan loves going to mount, so I wanted to ask about that too. Off the pass, you have their arm underhooked thanks to your gable grip superhold, enabling you to pry that arm up high, pressuring into their face and/or neck with your cross-facing shoulder. Once in mount, he looks to get the cross collar grip. He can then swivel to progress into chokes and armbars, particularly from the powerful submission platform that is s mount. Never sit back until you're all in position, stay really heavy, leaning forwards.

In keeping with my focus this camp, I made sure to get Nathan's opinion on countering the knee cut pass. His approach combined the two options David showed. First he gets a grip on their opposite collar, grabbing their same side sleeve with his other hand, shoving that in towards them. He then bumps with his knee, using his grips to help win the scramble as he turns to the top. Come up on your elbow. That grip on the sleeve means your can immediately stuff the arm as he comes up, moving into a strong pass. Your other grip enables you to pressure into their neck, similar to the pass Nathan went through earlier in the lesson.

Nathan suggested a shrimping drill for this knee cut counter, where each time you shrimp, you are bringing your top shoulder across, pulling the bottom shoulder back. He also spoke a bit about sitting guard, where there is a grip detail. You bend your wrist, like you're casting a fishing line: this makes your grip stronger, although it does put greater strain on your wrist. That can lead into a choke too, gripping with your other hand, looking away as you apply the pressure.

That was a great end to the camp. I was able to hang around long enough for the belt ceremony and a bit of open mat, but then had to rush off to catch my train. Next time, I'll stay for the Saturday night, so I can go to the camp party. I don't drink, but I do like a good dance. Next year! ;)

A video posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jun 25, 2016 at 9:46am PDT

29/07/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Guard | Passing Combinations vs Knee Shield

Class #583
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 29/07/2014

Dónal started off with a simplified knee cut, stepping between their legs, then driving your shin across diagonally, keeping your elbow in tight and hips close to theirs. The most common problem with that is you leave too much space, whereupon they manage to slip a knee in front of you. Knee shield can be a real pain to pass.

From a failed knee cut, the leg squash comes in handy. Grab the knee of the leg you're trying to slide across (Dónal prefers to cup under the knee, but you can also grab the trouser material: the problem is that may move and give them room to adjust enough to establish spider guard or something like that). Lift and move it across to the opposite side. To do that effectively, you'll need to turn your non-knee sliding foot so that the toes are pointing in the direction you want to move. Bend the knee and shift in that direction. Also, don't use your arm at the end, or you'll end up lying on it. Instead, as you move them across, rely more on your chest to move them over, meaning your arm is free to hook around the hip and block their shrimp.

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

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

If you can't get that, there is the hip slide pass against knee shield (no idea if it has a name, as I just made that up). You have a grip on their collar. Put your elbow by their hip, using it as a means of driving your weight through them, as opposed to being a white belt and trying to dig into them with the elbow. Lean through and slide over their knee with your hip until you can slip through. To finish , shove their legs back with your hips, secure side control.

In specific sparring from open guard, I worked more on the knee cut rather than the bullfighter from last week, seeing as we'd just been practicing the knee cut. Fellow RGA Bucks purple belt Gareth was visiting, which was very cool. That also meant I had a higher calibre of training partner than normal, immediately demonstrated when unlike everybody else, he went to deep half. I tried holding that off by underhooking his arm to stop him from turning and rolling me over, then attempted to get into a position where I could exert some pressure, controlling the arm (again, to stop his turn). I need to review my deep half passes, as I only remember that first part about underhooking the arm: this is why it's useful to have purple belts there, they can put in stuff like that. ;)

I think I sort of passed at one point but then got reversed. I may be mixing together a few rolls though. With the next guy, I clamped his shin to his leg by wrapping it up, then simply swinging to other leg back to pass, but that wouldn't normally work. I'm sure once he's seen that a few times, that passing route will be gone. Underneath, I wanted to go into the cross-grip guard to practice the techniques I'm teaching this week, along as the ankle pick I taught yesterday. I couldn't get into position, or they put up the other knee. Thinking back, that should really be a good set-up for a scissor sweep: I tried it once, but sloppily and I don't think I pulled them into me enough with the collar grip to control their weight. I'll have another look at the version Kid Peligro shows in his book, supposedly a variation he learned from Rickson.

I hit the tripod at one point, but generally I'm not making a smooth enough transition to the sickle when that doesn't work. It's too telegraphed and too clunky, so more drilling required on that. While generally this week I felt that I've been better at conserving my energy in closed guard, I did have a roll where I fell into that enervating pattern of clamping down in closed guard. I eventually got the sit-up sweep, but that method of closed guard (grabbing them and pretty much trying to hold them down with an arm or two) is terrible for me. I don't have the strength, and even if I did, I'd burn out quickly. So, deep collar grip more often, timing, better sensitivity to their body movement.

Class finished up with a purple belt spar. I was looking to block the pass, where normally I could get back to half guard at worst. I sort of got the toe grab sweep, but I made a silly error of grabbing the toes after reaching under his legs, rather than over the butt and around the legs. Although I was able to come up and drive through, due to my poor grip, I got reversed straight away.

Loads of teaching for the next few months, as it will be just me teaching every class until 16th August (apart from this Thursday). Most exciting is that the women's class begins tomorrow! Yay! :D

03/10/2013 - BJJ at Hit Fit with Dónal

Class #526
Hit Fit, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 03/10/2013

It was much busier tonight, with a blue belt on the mat as well as the two purple belts (Dónal and I). Still, the vast majority were beginners, to the extent that most of them didn't have a gi yet (though I'm guess some of them may well have been training MMA and the like in the past).

Dónal began with a basic knee cut drill, where you put your leg in the middle of theirs, then cut it across their thigh. That was followed up by lifting under their knee if they blocked, turn to the other side, then push that leg across and flop down on top of it. In other words, this was another simplified version of a private Dónal has taught me before: it's very interesting to see how he strips it down, as that's a useful skill for teaching.

Next up was a basic butterfly sweep. Scoot in, hook one foot under their thigh, while your other foot is a bit off to the side. Bring your arm around their back and under their arm on the hooking side. With your free hand, grab their same side arm and pull it inwards (they will normally be gripping your trouser leg), then drop your shoulder sideways and kick up with your hook.

Sparring was from butterfly, where I'm particularly weak: I should really follow my own advice from a while back, when I last taught butterfly, but I invariably go for either spider or closed guard. I sucked on the bottom today, unable to do a whole lot even against beginners (many of whom weren't wearing a gi, which didn't help, but I wasn't getting far with those who were either). On the plus side, I'm continuing to experiment with the simple concept of pulling them towards you to get them to sit back, so you can sit-up sweep. I need to rebuild a functional guard game, so that will be one part of it (the sit-up sweep has always been my most successful sweep from guard).

I also got a reminder of the old elbow grind guard break, which hasn't happened to me in a long time. On the one hand it's crude, pure pain compliance and therefore low percentage. On the other hand, a beginner doesn't know any better than to grind their elbows into your thighs, so it's up to me to defend and neutralise it. Generally, you can just pull on their elbows, or I guess open the guard and go to something else, like spider. Although there's a little voice in the back of your head if you do that, shouting "No! Don't let them think elbow grinding works!" ;)

Passing went better, which is a complete turnaround from a few years back, when I saw myself as a bottom player (although again, there was a big experience gap). I went for the knee cut every time, then a single underhook stack pass if that wasn't working. Though I wasn't dealing with the blocking hand into the hip properly: should have brought my hips over to bend the wrist, or insert my knee by the elbow to bring their arm out of the way.

13/03/2013 - Private: Passing Details

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14/02/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Knee-Slice & Armbar from the Back)

Class #446
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 14/02/2012

As often on Tuesdays, I got in some extra drilling before class started. Today, Mike asked to work on refining his knee slice pass, as he's been finding lots of people block it part of the way through by getting their knee in the way. We played around with that for a while, which is always fun (and useful for me too, because I get to work the flipside), then got some very handy tips from Dónal when he later arrived.

Normally when you knee-slice pass, you grab their trousers a bit below the knee, shove one leg to the ground and step over, while your other arm stays inside their knee to block them bringing it across. From there, you try to slide the knee through and pass. However, often you might find there is enough of a gap for them to get their knee in, or perhaps they grab half guard, or otherwise get their feet in the way.

Dónal suggested starting off from those same grips, but in a deep crouch. Then with the knee-blocking arm, he grips deeper, grabbing the same side collar. That means that there is much less of a gap for their knee, because your arm is now creating a barrier. You also want to hook their leg with your foot (I can't remember which one, so will have to ask Dónal), in order to stop them going for half guard. Your leg on the side to which you're passing stays slightly bent, so you can push off and use that extra power to drive into them, which also increase the pressure.

The class itself featured an armbar from the back. I had assumed that would be the one I'm familiar with, where you get a figure four grip on the arm, bring your elbow over their head then move into the armbar. However, Dónal's entry was quite different. They have their arms crossed to protect their neck: one of those arms will be on top. That arm will also have a small space beind the crook of their elbow.

With your same side hand, reach into that crook, twisting your hand so you little finger is pointing towards the ceiling, your palm facing away from them. Punch that arm right through, in the direction of their opposite leg. Once your elbow is far enough, drag it back to your hip, scraping tight to their body as you do. Your same side knee can come into play here, bringing that next to your elbow to facilitate the scraping motion, until your elbow is on your own thigh and their arm is well and truly trapped. Note, you may need to scrape several times to attain that control.

Grab their trapped-arm side collar with your far hand, like you were setting up a bow and arrow choke. Step your choking-arm side foot to their same side hip, in order to help you swivel. Again like a bow and arrow choke, bring both your feet to that other side. Stay tight with your legs, so you don't give them any space to turn towards you as you swivel, moving perpendicular to them. When you have sufficient control, you can let go of the collar and push on their head, bring your leg over then secure the armbar. If you need to, you can also curl the heel of the leg over their head into their neck, which should further assist your control.

The bow and arrow collar grip will make it hard for them to turn for an armbar escape. Another trick Dónal showed is to pull out their lapel on the trapped arm side (most commonly you'll do that before you trap the arm), then feed it across their body and under your own leg to your other side. Cinch it in firmly, creating a restraint across their waist. When you then go through the previous armbar technique, it should be even harder for them to make any room to escape.

In sparring, it was cool to have that new option for attacking the back. I'm not fond of going for the armbar as it isn't so easy to recover position as with choke attacks, but having another way to mount an offence meant I could be more pro-active. That means you have more opportunities for getting a reaction, which in my case will probably be used to bait for the bow and arrow. Kev uses that choke to great success, so I'm keen to follow his example (as he's a comparable size to me).