25/07/2017 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2017 | Knee Shield Half Guard (Kenny Polmans)

Class #852
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Kenny Polmans, Leuven, Belgium, 25/07/2017

Kenny's class was a highlight from last year, his teaching approach proving a good match for my learning style. This initial class was about the knee shield from the bottom of half guard. Kenny noted that he puts his knee right by their hip bone, no further across. If it's further across, that becomes easier for them to crush your legs and pass. Cross your ankles, pull your heels back. Frame with your hands, then you're ready to go.

Bring your knee high, with your elbow inside. Kick, then reach your arm around their hip. Don't reach too high, or you might leave enough space for them to lock in a d'arce choke. Step your leg over theirs to hook it, come up on your hand, then use that base to bring your knee out. Next, shucking their arm off your head. Lock in a seatbelt, then move back and drag them to secure your back position.

If they manage to overhook your arm and prevent you shucking it off, reach for their knee with your other hand. Do a superman punch with the trapped arm, aiming to flatten them. Grab their top knee, then hook that leg with your shin. Step your leg forwards, then move around to side control.

For the last one, their base is too wide for you to grab their knee. Instead, you're going to shoot your arm between their legs, rolling underneath. Make sure you keep the leg hooked, as that will help with leverage. Also, without that leg hook, you're at risk of just giving them side control. Again, Kenny used that big step forward with a shin behind their leg, which makes it much tougher for them to recover their position.

29/11/2016 - Open Mat | Knee Shield | Hug Guard

Class #785
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/11/2016

I'm going to generally write up material I learn from the Friday workshop here, as it fits better. So, from last Friday, we went through Sam's knee shield, something I've wanted to do ever since we started the Q&A workshops (though that wasn't very long ago ;)D). The main tweak I took away from what Sam said was blocking in front of their knee that's cutting through, using the back of your bottom leg. Sam also highlighted the importance of keeping the knees relatively near eachother, keeping that equidistant. He also hooks under their thigh with his bottom foot (not to the extent of a full DLR though), along with the usual points about a strong cross-grip and getting on your side.

At the Monday open mat (which I'll also include on these Tuesday write-ups), I was trying the Saulo option for when they are almost past. He calls it 'hug guard', which appears to work as a method for preventing them finishing their pass. You get on your side, 'top' hand reaching down to grab your opposite hip, 'bottom' arm folded back to defend, elbows staying tight. It felt a bit like the facepalm in half guard, though I need to play with it more to get it down.

21/02/2015 - Head Shave Challenge For GrappleThon | Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Knee Shield

Class #629
Artemis BJJ (PHNX Fitness), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 21/02/2015

With two weeks to go until the GrappleThon, the team total is at a healthy £1,150. I've decided that in an effort to boost my fundraising and spice things up, I'm going to add in a little personal challenge.

If I reach my £500 target by 16:00 on the 2nd March, I will shave my head and my beloved sideburns that same day. I've never been without them all my adult life, but some things are more important than discotastic facial hair. Equality Now is one of those things: so, if you want to see me bald and sans mutton chops, then head over to my fundraising page to push up my total, here. ;)

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It was all about the knee shield for me today, a position also known as z-guard. Using your knee, you can make it more difficult for your partner to move forwards against your half guard. It's also handy for creating distance, as well as nullifying the whizzer. If you use the leverage from your knee to square up your upper body by leaning back, that should help avoid the control they can generate with a whizzer.

For knee positioning, one option is to put it right on their hip, which means you can keep your feet locked. However, that also means you knee is quite low, so there is the disadvantage that they may be able to shove your knee to the mat and pass, particularly if you have the knee right across to the opposite hip (on the same side hip, there should be less danger). To stop that, you could put your knee up high into their chest, like Caio Terra. As ever, there are pros and cons, as putting your knee up high may open up a gap between your feet.

If you leave a gap between your feet, it is possible your partner may then be able to simply circle their lower leg around and free themselves. So, if you can't cross your feet, then clamp them together, to create a barrier to that leg-circling. Alternatively, clamp them onto your partner's leg, again to make sure there isn't a gap.

Drlling with Simon, I played with both versions. Xande has some nice tweaks from BJJ Library on the standard knee-in-hip version, as he also comes up on his elbow (reminiscent of Ryan Hall's sitting guard approach, stiff arming into their collar bone too). For the back take from there, I think I prefer Caio's version where he kicks the knee out then uses the momentum to duck under the armpit. However, Xande's bodylock method (where after he gets the underhook, he scoots in and locks both his hands around their back) is also interesting, especially as it seems to naturally lead into some sweeps if you can off balance them. Then again, it's meant for nogi. Also, I think I need to look some more at the entry.

After that, I went with a combination I first learned from Nick Brooks, then later saw taught on the Caio Terra DVD. Terra refers to it as the 'half guard scissor'. Nicks version is from the knee shield with your feet locked, which I personally find more difficult to use (as I always get my knee shoved to the ground), but may work well for those with longer legs, or who are simply better at this position. It could also just be a matter of angle.

Like I said, the reason you lock your feet is so they can't raise their trapped leg and pivot, bringing their lower leg through the gap between your feet. If you're using the Terra version, you'll still need to drop your knee so that it is across their stomach, as with a scissor sweep from guard. In either position, stay aware of the cross face. You can frame under your knee to help maintain distance, making it hard for them to bring their body down to go for the cross-face. With Xande's sitting guard style version, the stiff arm helps block them closing the distance.

For Nick's sweep, grip the sleeve of the arm with which they want to cross-face you with your opposite arm (i.e., the arm that would be on top if you were blocking with both hands). Your other hand reaches under their same side leg, grabbing the bottom of their trousers (not inside the cuff though, as that is illegal). Alternatively, Terra grabs the outside of the knee. In both cases, it is to block them posting out with that leg.

Pull their sleeve across your body so they can't post out on their hand. If you're having trouble getting that arm, push them backwards a little first to lighten their arm, then pull it across to the other side. To finish, you want to do a scissor sweep motion, except that instead of chopping their knee with your leg, you're pulling it in with your arm. It also means you have both legs to lift and drive, rather than just one. Make sure you maintain the grips you have with your hands: this is key.

I've been having trouble with that knee shield scissor sweep over the last couple of weeks. Bizarrely, it seemed to work better when I switched the grips to what feels counter-intuitive: grabbing their sleeve with my bottom hand and their knee with the top hand. However, looking again at the Terra vid, he does definitely grip the way you would expect. I'll have a play at the Monday mini open mat to iron out the kinks.

Either way, don't get over-excited and try and jump right into side control. Instead, a great tip from Nick was to just roll your hips over, staying low and pressed into them the whole time, hip to hip. As you are still holding their leg, they can't re-lock their half guard. You can simply move your trapped leg backwards to stretch out their leg, then circle it free, moving into side control.

You also still have that grip on the sleeve, which sets you up immediately for an americana. You have a number of options to secure the figure four, depending on how you're holding that sleeve. One way is to control their arm with the other hand to then re-establish a better grip on the wrist with your first hand. Another is to roll your hand forward or backwards to change from the sleeve to the wrist. Or you could try pressing your head into their arm, and use that to hold it in place while you get the proper grips.

There is a handy follow-up if they shift their base to prevent the sweep, which Terra calls the back roll (I can't remember if Nick had a name for it, but 'back roll' is a rational choice). For example, you've gone for the scissor motion, but they have pushed forwards to stop you, making it hard to complete the sweep. However, in changing their weight distribution, they have opened up an alternative.

Open up their arm with the sleeve grip, so that they move perpendicular to your body, using your leg grip to help (you may find the knee grip easier for this one, but experiment). This also means you can shift your knee shield so that they are balanced on the shin.

If you get it right, they should feel fairly weightless. Pulling the sleeve grip out and pass their head should help. All you need to do now is roll backwards over your shoulder, still holding on to that sleeve grip. As before, you'll end up in side control with the americana ready to be applied.

Be careful of your head. Lift it a little off the ground and look in the direction their head is pointing. You obviously don't want to roll straight back over your head, or you're liable to hurt yourself. So, make sure it is out of the way and you instead roll over your shoulder, like when you do a basic backwards breakfall during drilling.

I also went through some passing, with my favourite, Jason Scully's staple pass: I'll be teaching that one next Thursday. Pinning the bottom leg is good, but pinning the top leg over it is even better. Sprawling is important to make this work, leaving no space. I learned a good bit doing progressive resistance with Paul, who wanted to work on his knee shield pass. Analysing how I was able to escape. Any space, I found even a tiny space was enough to wriggle something in the way. I'm wondering if there is a way to get what Dave Jacobs calls a supine twist going in there, as that would help.

Finally, I continued playing with half guard. I'm still not comfortable with the waiter sweep, but the Homer sweep still works well. I would like to teach this stuff at some point, but I'll see how things go during the next half guard month.

03/06/2014 - Artemis BJJ Starts at Impact Gym | Maintaining Half Guard with Knee Shield

Class #572
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 03/06/2014

In an exciting move for Artemis BJJ, we're now teaching at the massive Impact Gym over in the Kingswood/Staple Hill area of Bristol. It's a professional venue, with a huge space, front desk, pro shop, showers, changing rooms, lots of matted areas and a whole ton of different classes. There's some space for bikes when you come in, under the stairs. You then head right up to the top of the stairs, where you'll come out into the main space. We're in the matted room off to the side, through the double doors just down from the reception desk. Full details on our Locations page:



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All this month, we're working on the half guard. Dónal decided to go through a version known as the knee shield or z-guard tonight. Essentially it was the same kind of thing I taught yesterday about maintaining half guard, except that you bring your knee across into their hip. That enables you to create distance as well as stopping them from bringing their weight down and/or forward, messing up their ability to pass.

Dónal likes to lock his feet, which makes it harder for them to pull their leg free. However, a lot of people struggle with that, especially if they have short legs like me: the alternative is to shove your knee up into their chest, with your feet open. But be aware you don't let their leg free, meaning you need to keep hold of it with your hooking leg. If they are pushing down on your knee, flare your knee out into their arm. That should open up a gap: reach through it with your free arm to get an underhook around their back. As you do, pop up on your knee, sliding it out so you're on your kneecap. That should make it harder for them to drive into you and push you down.

For specific sparring, I was mainly with beginners, but that was still useful for playing with technique, especially as my half guard is pretty bad. I messed around with the old school sweep, starting off with Jason Scully's leg tweak detail to get in position. I'm not sure if I'm grabbing with the right hand, as I didn't feel like I had much leverage to drive forward. I'm probably also missing a switch of grip somewhere, so I'll need to go review my notes from the last time I learned this. Something to keep playing with. :)

02/02/2013 - Chris Rees Academy (Swansea)

Class #485
Chris Rees Academy, (BJJ), Omied Jalalian-Khakshour, Swansea, UK - 02/02/2013

I'm a big fan of Wales, so when Rob Taylor emailed me to ask about his club being featured in JJS on the Road (it should be appearing in Issue #14, I think: keep an eye on the website), I jumped at the chance. Not that I was going to get much of a chance to look around the area, but it at least means I can enjoy the gorgeous Welsh landscape from a train window. I should really cross the border more often, as I'm only over in Bristol. It's also cool to finally meet a very familiar name from the internet (Rob isn't the type to use an anonymous nickname, so just posts as 'Rob T'), who I mainly saw on the now largely inactive EFN. Later I met another when getting a lift back, Steve, which was also cool. :)

Today was a flying visit, getting on a 06:46 train from Bristol Temple Meads, into Swansea at 08:44, interview Rob, get on the mats, then back to Bristol at 12:28. Rob kindly picked me up from the station, driving down to the spacious premises of the Chris Rees Academy in Swansea (which has even more affiliates than I realised: thirteen, according to Rob!). Chris himself wasn't able to make it as unfortunately he was ill, so I'll probably be emailing him later to get his perspective on a few of the questions.

By the time we had finished talking, the class was already underway. It's a relaxed environment on the one hand, with a few higher belts chatting at the side, plus a number of people without a gi but joining in the gi class. On the other hand, there is a certain intensity, particularly in the sparring, which comes from the heavy focus on competition at the academy. Still, they manage a good balance, as while the sparring is hard, everybody is friendly and there is close supervision. The fact this club is in Wales helps too, as I've always thought the Welsh have a naturally friendly accent. ;)

A purple belt called Omi was running the main class, while Rob taught the beginners over to the side (the mat space is huge, so can easily accommodate two classes at once). I joined in Omi's class during a guard passing drill, where I went with Matt, another purple belt. You weren't supposed to grip the gi, which I erroneously took to mean you couldn't use your hands at all (getting up for a 06:46 train probably addled my brain even further...), but that's still a good drill in terms of working footwork, pressure and positioning when passing.

After that, we moved into the main technique of the day (although as class had been going for a while, perhaps I missed an earlier technique). This was all centred around maintaining the knee shield, so fit nicely with the all the knee shield passing I've been doing recently. The position looked similar to how Caio Terra demonstrates it, with the knee you have across staying high (just under the shoulder), but braced by your elbow inside the knee rather than by their neck.

Your other elbow slips inside their knee. This is to provide enough space for a detail I haven't seen before: raising the knee of your hooking leg, to block them from stepping through. It is a bit like having a knee shield on both sides, as again you're blocking their hip. Omi noted it is important to have the foot of your hooking leg on the floor, to provide support for angling your knee into their hip. That's distinct from the picture I've stuck in here, where you'll notice that Terra's foot is raised (possible he puts it down later, as I haven't watched that DVD in a good while).

The only problem was that my groin injury means I can't do that with any resistance at the moment, as either leg position aggravates my abductor. I struggled from the bottom as a result, although I suspect I would have had trouble anyway against the impressive teenage female student I was training with: she's got excellent hip movement and a fast, aggressive game.

On top I was more comfortable, where I was mostly working with an older purple belt (her father, I'm guessing?). The pass I taught a a few weeks ago worked well, and trying to wriggle my head into their armpit gave me a clear goal to work towards. It was tough to get my knee across into their hip like in Dónal's pass, but that probably depends on the type of game the bottom person is playing.

The competitive outlook of the academy was emphasised again during the sparring. Omi divided the room by weight into several groups. Each group gathered in a rough square, then two people sparred in the middle, starting from their feet. Omi set the timer, then it was basically like a tournament match.

My leg wasn't up to going from standing, so I started on my knees. With Matt, I took the opportunity to try out the pass from Dónal's private, but I wasn't careful enough when reaching for the collar to pull them in towards me. Matt immediately locked in a triangle. I was able to resist for a while, going for the "drive their knee to the floor" escape, but didn't move around behind towards the head like I should have done. While I was considering my options, Matt snuck in a nice wristlock on my trapped arm: I often forget about those, so that's a useful reminder. :)

The next 'match' went better, but then I was with a blue belt who was also most likely taking it a bit easier on me due to the injury. This time I was fortunate in that he left me an opening to pass and then slide into mount. Once I had that, I wasn't letting it go. However, this also highlighted the importance of coaching. I would have happily sat there all day, ineffectually going for ezequiels. Instead, due to Omi's prompt to walk the knees up into their armpits, I was able to secure an americana. Tiring them out for a while possibly helped, but I probably would have never remembered to move my knees if Omi hadn't made that simple comment.

Coaching is an important skill, and using this sparring format is a great way of getting everybody to practice. It does take a bit of confidence - it was only really the purple belts saying anything - but this is only the first time the lesson has been run in this way. Definitely a good idea if you want to try and improve your academy's competition performance. It would be interesting to know how to deal with bad coaching, or a fear of saying the wrong thing (which I assume is what stopped most people from speaking up). Just practice (both in terms of more practice coaching and more practice in BJJ, so you'd have a firmer grasp of the 'right' answer, so to speak), or would that have to be taught separately?