16/01/2020 - Thursday daytime, Grilled chicken/shell guard

Class #1219
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/01/2020

I've started to just post these daytime classes when I think they have something interesting in the vid. So, might be more intermittent from now on, though I'm still doing them three times a week. Saying that, I have (hopefully!) at long last secured a regular drilling partner. That would mean I can finally get my plan of weekly drilling underway, maybe even upping it to three times a week. But we'll see. ;)

Anyway, today it was all about what Priit calls 'grilled chicken'. The other name a few others use, like Tom Barlow, is shell guard (or might be egg guard that Tom uses? Can't remember). Either way, shell guard feels more descriptive, though it's worth me mentioning grilled chicken too as Priit has (I assume due to BJJ Globetrotters reach and that DVD he did) done a good job of popularising that term too.

I want to build this into a coherent but concise class, this was my first major play with the material. Too much for one evening class in here, but possibly enough material for one or two evening sessions? I'll see. I could extend into next month a bit, as open guard is more important than closed guard anyway (in purely percentage terms, as you'll spend a lot more time in open guard than you will in closed).

29/07/2019 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Heidelberg 2019 | Chris Paines (Grilled Chicken open guard)

Class #1170
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Olympiastützpunkt Rhein-Neckar) Chris Paines, Heidelberg, Germany, 29/07/2019

Overview of grilled chicken. Soles up, legs up, but not so high that they can stack. İf stack, head down, shoulder walk (chest out too? Seemed to help me). İf too low, they will push down, so be ready to sit up. Hips off the ground, or they have an easy leg drag, keep adjusting yourself, watching leg position. E.g., maybe one leg is too low, your feet aren't pointing up enough, etc.

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FİNALLY got a proper internet connection, though still WiFi. Data has been ignoring me the last few days, I'll see if I can somehow get through to Tesco Mobile help from Germany. 😉 First class of my third Heidelcamp just now, with @chrisvilaobjj including some old school British #fisticuffs. 😜 Looking forward to the rest of camp, and hopefully sorting my mobile data. Severe social media withdrawal thus far! 😲 #BrazilianJiuJitsu #BJJ #bjjGlobetrotter #bjjGlobetrottersHeidelberg #bjjGlobetrottersCamp #bjjGlobetrotters @bjjglobetrotters #ArtemisBJJatGlobetrotterCamp #BJJGlobetrotterCampHeidelberg2019 #Heidelcamp

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Priit Mihkelson UK Mini Camp 5, March 2019

Class #1123
Fighting Fit Stone, Priit Mihkelson, Stafford, UK - 16-17/03/2018

ARMBAR ESCAPES

On applying armbars, you only need one shoulder. You can triangle the arm and hook your leg under them. You can even go under their head.

For armbar escape, thumb down, elbow away from their stomach. Other elbow blocking their other foot, free shoulder. Come up on elbow, turn away. Or, bring legs towards them, don't be perpendicular. Can do a bridge, jump over with omoplata. Always keep that thumb down.

With kimura grip, seeing which direction the hand can move. Sometimes it is hitchhiker, but mostly going towards elbow, put weight on elbow. Don't be perpendicular, moving your alignment so you end up in a line.

As ever, don't be flat, turn slightly. Same as when they try to grab your leg, turn, keep your leg down so they can't do cradle or spider web or whatever.

GRİLLED CHİCKEN

Arms on outside, keep that connection. Can use them to base, also always ready to push on the shin. İf the shins step back to stop your push, they will probably lean in, so you can push on the arm instead.

İf they get your hips up, shuffle back on your shoulders. İf there is distance (or they are trying to bring your feet to the mat), sit up. Avoid crossing your leg right over, keep that tense and ready to push, weaving back in not just flopping right across.

Priit did an interesting block of knee cut. Hooks over the top, elbow is on their knee, reaching down. Though I think that was a later defence, not sure. This was after class, she. he was working through some questions with Karla.

Also, reverse DLR type, push on hip. Knee shield, grab their head. Can kind of berimbolo them from there. Also, wrapping arm behind your leg to go for it.

İf they leg drag, your dragged leg knee points down (you need to be careful of leglocks here), blocking their shin with your hand, or their arm. Your other foot pushes into their same side hip.

With over under, grab their wrist rather than blocking the hip. Keep grilled chicken so you can spin. He also talked about sitting up, head in front of hips. just like grilled chicken is knees to chest, sitting guard is chest to knees.

İn the vids, Priit managed to sweep them right over by rolling through, or pulling arm into knee and tilting. The roll through was opposite shoulder, continuing that motion.

Q & A

For stack pass, never has head directly in the middle. He keeps it off to the side.

26/02/2019 - Tuesday daytime, leg drag

Class #1118
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/02/2019

I don't often use the leg drag and I haven't taught it for a while now. However, it is a popular pass, so I thought it was about time I taught it again. Like last time, the excellent videos Jason Scully has on The Grappler's Guide proved useful, along with the (also excellent) BJJ Library, where Saulo shows a slightly different version.

22/02/2019 - Friday blue belt + class, knee cut pass and follow ups

Class #1117
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/02/2019

Today I went through those follow ups Donal taught me, which I have been calling the 'leg squish pass'. You wriggle your hips around their knee if they get it in the way, then sprawl on their legs like a frog. Focus your weight through your hips, pressing into the middle of their thigh. You can then move behind them, either waiting for them to move you, or replacing your hip pressure with your hand and moving behind.



I also got in some training myself, continuing my regular drilling (this time with Kirsty, as either she or Josh have been popping in to drill with me at least once a week). Most useful take away this time was on bringing the legs back in Priit's open guard if they get behind you. Your legs reach back, but your butt stays on the ground. That means they can't stack you on your neck, as you take the weight on your legs, not your neck/shoulders. Very important distinction, I will keep drilling that.

21/02/2019 - Thursday daytime

Class #1116
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/02/2019



Just Rob today, so I did a private lesson on passing. I also had a chance to practice teaching what I wanted to show in the blue belt plus class, which is some knee cut/knee shield troubleshooting. That's all based on the awesome series of private lesson that Artemis BJJ co-founder taught me years ago, back before we set up the club.

19/02/2019 - Tuesday daytime

Class #1115
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/02/2019

17/02/2019 - Sunday open mat

Class #1114
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/02/2019

I fit in a roll with Erick, which was fun, starting with him on my back. I tried to lean forward Priit style, but ended up on my side. Eventually worked my way free, using the slow motion seoi-nage, but ended up inside guard instead of side control. From there I went to safety position, as Erick was doing a good job of controlling my posture, before working back to the standard posture. I attempted to grab his arm when he got my collar to stand and pass, which after a couple of false starts worked. Slow and steady to pass.

In the process he kinda got a half butterfly position, which I blocked due to an underhook and holding his leg. However, he did manage to work to the sweep, though I freed my leg. Before we could play too much in open guard, time ran out. Fun times! :D

Then, lots of drilling with Kirsty and Josh, which was cool. I'm trying to institute the regular drilling recommended by Mario, though it's taken a while to arrange a time we can all make. Went great today, really useful. I ran through some Priit and Mario drills with Kirsty to start, then we delved into the butterfly pass a bit (as Kenny mentioned I was leaving myself wide open to hooks). I later drilled that with Josh too, and I think the most effective grip seemed to be grabbing the opposite foot on both side, meaning both my arms are occupied. I can still balance on my head and shoulder to hop past.

Also, while the flip is flashier so I like it for drilling, doing a bland hop is more effective. You can then shuck past any attempts by them to bring their knee in through a combination of brushing it past with your hip, your shoulder, your knee and pulling on the foot grips you have.

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I also drilled Priit's running escape > turtle > panda sequence with Kirsty, which was also really useful. We started off with light resistance, then started up it a little (though still well off sparring pace). I am slightly concerned about leaning forward too much with somebody bigger, though it seems I'm flexible enough to go relatively far. I'll keep testing. This is shaping up nicely, so it's a pattern I can repeat, with some tweaks.

I want to drill Priit's open guard properly, I still haven't gotten comfortable with anything past the basic first stage. As I'm going to a seminar with him on open guard, that should be very helpful. More drills for the running escape/turtle/panda would also be useful, so I'll have a think.

16/02/2019 - Clifton open mat

Class #1112
Artemis BJJ (The Exercise Club, Clifton), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/02/2019

Good rolls with Matt H, it's been a while. I'm continuing to work on framing. Matt is trying to not rely so much on his (extremely good) over under pass, so while we did end up there, he wasn't driving as much as he could have. That's why my frame was enough to prevent him completing the movement. He could have grabbed my posted arm and completed his drive forward, I think.

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So, I'd like to drill that position a bunch, testing out how to keep my frames in place under pressure. For example, there is the variation that was showed at RGA Bucks when I visited a while back (one of Dan's classes, IIRC). Rather than posting on your straight arm or with a right angle elbow, you lean into the elbow with an acute angle. That makes it harder to them to pull out your posting arm.

I also tried to use my legs for framing too, having rewatched some of Defensive Guard recently. I felt like I lost connection, so will keep playing with that.

2nd Seminar with Neil Owen

Seminar #024
Artemis BJJ, Neil Owen, Bristol, UK - 19/03/2017

Neil began with some simple drills for entering spider guard, starting with feet on the hips. Grab the sleeves, then put your feet into the biceps. The feet should always be doing a different job, one pulling while the other pushes. He also included moving to the knees, back to the hips, then lift them up. A nice, fluid drill to work on getting comfortable with open guard. Neil emphasised curling your foot around their bicep, like you're trying to grab it with a foot-hand. The same is true for the hip: curl your foot around the hip bone.

From there, get used to rotating. This was like the tips Chelsea gave in her seminar (I still need to write up her fourth one, from January), rotating to face the arm, with your outside foot extending straight as the inside leg curls in. To create pressure into the arm, push through with your heel, like you're putting a boot on (similar motion to the footlock defence). There is flexion in the foot too, for controlling the biceps.

Neil progressed to the concept of protecting your week side. By that he means the side where they can move around and pass. If you have a leg on the weak side that you can extend straight, that bolsters your defence. You want to spin so that your weak side is on the outside, your strong side is by them. They can pass around the inside, but they will get swept if you have your legs in place.

If they open your guard, they are passing. If you open your guard, then you're playing open guard. This is an important distinction. Neil demonstrated this idea by going into more detail about what he calls classic guard, getting there from as they try to open your closed guard. He prefers to grip under with his fingers on the collar grip, so thumb on top. Opposite leg on the floor and shrimp, then put your other foot on their hip. He has four points of contact: knee (into their chest), foot (on their hip), hand (on their collar) and other hand (on their same side sleeve).

If they stand, hide your outside foot. Should they grip it, you have their arm in range, which is what you wanted. Your weak side here is the outside, so the foot on that side swivels into the bicep and extends, while pulling down with the collar grip. For classic guard, he doesn't like to keep the foot in their bicep, it is too easy to weave the hand in. He prefers to keep his foot on the shoulder blade, that is much harder for them to weave their hand around.

When you have extended your legs into them all the way, it is hard for them to step around, but they might be able to go back to come off your feet. When they do that and break the connection, you could be in trouble. Therefore keep a little bit of a bend in your leg, as opposed to completely straightening them. The slight bend makes it easier for you to keep that connection between the soles of your feet and their hips/shoulder etc (your collar grip you're using to pull them in will help a lot here, leading into things later).

In terms of passing, should they have four points of contact, you need to remove some in order to pass. For example, controlling their legs, then moving your hips back in order to remove the feet. For the guard player, when you feel yourself losing those points of contact, sit up and press your collar grip into them. Move to the outside with your hips. If they move inside, your arm is strong, but if they move behind, you don't have much resistance. You therefore need to keep moving away to make sure they stay within that area you are strong. Any time there is a pause, strip the grip they have on your knee, meaning you can return to your previous position.

For stripping a grip, think about pushing the wrist over, rather than grabbing their sleeve and yanking. It's the same idea as when you're trying to remove a hook from a loop. Also keep in mind that when you are moving your hips away, they will occasionally try and drive forward. You therefore don't want to simply spin in a circle. If they manage to beat your legs and start dropping in, you can use your sleeve grip to keep pushing their arm away, same as the last time Neil taught us open guard.

When drilling, remember that with more resistance, there will be less space for you. That means the person on top needs to move in close, not giving unrealistic amounts of space. If you lose your grip, frame against their arm, moving your hips back until you can recover a guard. This should be pre-emptive, before they get in close to your hips. Your trigger to shrimp should not be when they have passed the knees and are dropping their weight into your hip/stomach. You need to do it earlier, just as they are starting to pass your knees.

Moving on to a different position, Neil talked about the turtle. He began with a drill where you are in turtle, then you post your outside arm and leg. Roll under yourself into that space, as if you're doing a really tight breakfall on the spot. You want to make a wide circle with your leg. You're reaching for your own butt cheek.

This can be applied to the previous material too. They have passed and are starting to press in. Roll away, swinging your legs through to recover guard. Your body shape is key, to avoid getting put flat. If you do that and they end up in a front headlock, you can do the wrestler's sit-out. Neil's version was a little different, hooking the leg with an arm and then firing out under the armpit.

Yet another option you could try is underhooking when the pressure comes in off the pass. However, that's a risky one, as it is when that pressure is there. Ideally you want to use one of the other options, before the pressure is applied.

The last part of the seminar was from what Neil calls classic guard. Again, you have a collar and sleeve grip, along with a foot into their shoulder (not their biceps). Your other foot is into their hip. Push with the hip foot, dragging their sleeve into your hip. Rotate your hip knee around, to move into an omoplata as you bend their arm around your leg. A typical follow-up is to square up, sit up, then get their shoulder on the ground. That isn't easy, especially if they are bigger than you.

Neil prefers to turn his knees away instead, pressing it to the ground. That makes it tough for them to bring their shoulder off the ground, as well as scuppering their ability to roll through. From there, wiggle your hips out and go to apply the omoplata. Be careful with the omoplata, it's a lot of control on the shoulder. Disentangle yourself with care, their arm and shoulder are very vulnerable. It is not like a choke, where you can just relieve the pressure and you are finished. You have to actively remove yourself from the submission.

Another option is a collar drag, switching your hips and dragging them into the space you've just cleared. Neil prefers to go to side control from there, rather than trying to jump onto the back. Be careful with this one, as it is difficult to hit this technique in sparring without smacking their face into the floor. With drilling, it's best for the person passing to let go of the legs, in order to land safely,.

18/12/2016 - Neil Owen Seminar

Seminar #022
Artemis BJJ, Neil Owen, Bristol, UK - 18/12/2016

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Dec 18, 2016 at 9:17am PST

I signed Artemis BJJ up to the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Globetrotters affiliation some time ago, as I like the independence that grants me. Our club is not under anybody other than me, although I'm personally under Kev Capel from RGA Bucks (and have been since 2009). Being part of BJJ Globetrotters has a number of advantages, but perhaps the biggest is networking.

This seminar marks the fruition of that networking, something which is set to continue through into 2017 and beyond. We have already hosted one fellow BJJ Globetrotters instructor, Ana Yagues, but I've known her online for several years due to blogging. Neil Owen is somebody I've never met before, though I was aware of the name due to Brian Lister (a friend from Bullshido, who I met at the Oxford Throwdown a few years back now). In an interesting twist of fate, Neil happens to be the business partner of one of the teachers at the Leuven Globetrotter Camp, Chad Wright, who like me is very active on social media.

Chad sent me a message on Facebook asking if I'd be interested in hosting Neil (they run Infinity BJJ together, mainly based in Australia, but they have expanded to various other countries) for a seminar. Naturally I jumped at the chance: Neil has been training since the mid '90s, among the original pioneers of BJJ in the UK. He has an easy-going personality that meant he was a pleasure to deal with, something that also carries over to his teaching style.

Neil had asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted to work on. If you've been following this blog, you'll know that open guard has been my focus for a couple of years now. I sent Neil the recent sparring videos I've been putting up on Instragram, resulting in one of the most useful seminars I've ever been to. I'm very pleased Neil is going to be coming back (on the 19th March), where we can hopefully do the same thing. :)

The seminar began with a quick demonstration of various passes you might do off a standard kneeling guard break. Grab both their collars with one arm, then raise up very slightly to bring your knee into their bum. Push into their other knee with your arm to open, then move directly into an underhook pass (which Neil calls the 'bully pass').

Your arm goes underneath the leg you didn't push down for a single underhook pass, or swim both arms under for a double underhook pass. Alternatively, you might go for a knee slide, bringing your other knee into their thigh and stepping out with the other leg, then cutting through. If you put the same side shin over their thigh, that leads into the various leg pin pass options.

Should you prefer to stand up after opening their guard, a whole other set of options become available. Grab inside their knees and bullfighter by kicking your leg back and stepping through. Neil's favourite is the over-under pass, which effectively combines the single underhook with a bullfighter variation (as you underhook one one leg, while shoving the other back between your own legs).

We drilled all of those, to get familiar with the passes. That laid the groundwork to then learn how to defend against all those passes. In terms of moving from closed to open guard, put your foot on their hip (not near their hip, their actual hip bone) as soon as they get close to opening your guard. You're cupping their hip bone with the arch of your foot. That provides you with some distance control, along with enough time to shrimp out a little with your other foot. You also want to lean back slightly, to help bring your same side elbow back for base.

Once you've come up on your elbow, insert your free hand deep into their opposite collar. Go from your elbow to your hand, make it easier to shrimp a little more, squaring up to them. You're now ready to establish butterfly guard and go from there, making sure you are wriggling back on your bum to stop them shoving you down.

As Neil then demonstrated, you can use that to block all the passes he showed at the start of the seminar. It was a brilliantly taught sequence with a bunch of great little details. Even better, because it was so well targeted towards my game (given Neil had kindly watched those vids I sent him), this is going to perfectly set me up for both practicing and teaching in February (as that's open guard month). :)

If they bring their hands back to your knees after the guard has been opened and you've set up your open guard, it's likely they are going to stand up. Your basing hand switches to grabbing their same side sleeve. As they stand, swing out your other leg. This means all your grips are down one side of their body: you're grabbing their collar, their sleeve and also pushing into their hip. Neil called this 'classic open guard'.

That position can lead into triangles and omoplatas. You also want to be on your side, maximising the control you have with your grips. If they attempt to pass in that direction, it will be next to impossible for them to pass. If they go the other way, they are chasing your swung-away leg, also leaving their trailing arm vulnerable to the aforementioned omoplata. At any point, you can square back up by bringing that free foot to their hip, arm, chest.

Neil then ran through his theory of pass 'zones'. The bullfighter is out at Zone 3, while the knee slide comes in a little closer at Zone 2. Finally, an underhook pass is Zone 1. The smaller the number, the harder it is to prevent the pass. To succeed in their pass, they need to maintain their grips all the way round. Do not accept side control: if you lose the grip with your foot, you still have the sleeve from earlier. That's enough to recover your guard.

Stiff arm that away from you, returning to a sitting guard position. They cannot pass until they free that arm. Of course, you aren't going to wait there. You'll look to square back up and recover your guard long before they wriggle their arm out of your grip. If they insist on the pass, you might even be able to roll them right over the top. The only downside to this for me is the grip asks a lot of your fingers. I could try it with a pistol grip I guess, that's much easier on the fingers, but also easier to break. Maybe even gripping the wrist, just enough to recover my guard?

From a passing perspective, Neil discussed how you want to separate the elbow and knee. Therefore from the bottom, you're looking to keep those in tight. Hence why some people will work on getting the flexibility to put their knee into their armpits. Progessing to spider guard, if they break off one of your feet grips, swing it straight in to a de la Riva hook. Your same side hand will grab their foot, or the trouser leg. Keep your toes up, pulling your knee in. It's important to pull them in, because as Neil pointed out, the DLR hook only works on a bent leg.

In an effort to pass DLR, they may grab your knee, pushing it down and straightening their arm in the process. Keeping the arm straight, push your bum back to knock off that DLR hook. This puts the passer in Zone 2, ready to go for the knee slide. Do not buckle your knee sideways: step the other leg across, sink down to put your heel right on your butt.

On the bottom looking to recover guard, bring your ex-DLR knee across their hip to block. Neil noted that the important part here is not the knee, it's adjusting your upper body to line up against your knee. In practice, that means bringing your shoulder and head back, putting you almost perpendicular to the passer. Bring your bottom knee out, then square back up to guard.

The next scenario was countering the double underhook pass. They want to control your hips and either take them out of action (getting underneath them) or connect their hands to put those legs on their shoulders. Your defence is the same for both. Immediately grip both their sleeves and flare your legs. Push into their biceps, using that to try and create space by shrimiping. You'll also need to walk backwards on your shoulders.

If they really try to fling your leg, you can switch to the stiff arm into their sleeve, like Neil showed earlier. Should they manage to lock their hands, instead of grabbing their sleeve, stiff arm into the back of their elbow. You can then proceed to recover guard in much the same way as the stiff arm into their sleeve from earlier.

To finish, Neil demonstrated an over under pass, his personal favourite. Essentially, it's a combination of the bullfighter and the underhook pass. He explained how he does not buy into the idea that you can only pass on your feet, a trend which he feels is in part based upon the speed, balance and athleticism of elite competitors rather than the average grappler. He (like me) prefers to be in Zone 1, with a close connection.

Crouch, set, engage, like you're going into a rugby scrum. One arm goes under, the other over, so be careful of the triangle. You must control their bottom leg between your legs, to make certain they can't set up that triangle. Your head goes to their far hip, driving your shoulder across their stomach. You now have the option of either moving into mount or to side control.

As Neil believes this is the best pass, it stands to reason that to counter the over under is difficult. The option he suggested was to grab their armpit on the side their head wants to go. Do that before they get their head in position, keeping your arm tight, which will also block them getting their head to your hip. Twisting your knee inwards and kicking your leg, wriggle your hips out until you can pull your opponent away to your other hip, using your armpit grip. If you have long legs, that becomes much easier, as you can put your foot on the ground. With short legs (like me), you end up manically wriggling your knee and hips, an awkward motion to master. But then as Neil said, it is a tough pass to defend. Focus on defending the underhook element of the pass.

Rolling with both Neil and his black belt James (from Infinity Martial Arts Chesterfield) was good fun. They both took it fairly easy, letting me work through positions. I was trying the slow motion seoi-nage to avoid James taking my back, lots of gripping and elbow wedging from me to try and avoid his hooks. With Neil, he is not only much better but a lot bigger than me, so he was taking it especially light. Tried to put some of what he had taught into action, such as the knee shield where it's about leaning back with head rather than relying too much on the bracing arm. Another interesting thing he said during drilling, he doesn't rely on that so much from sitting guard, posture should be doing that job. So more like what I've seen from Graugart and I think Scully too?

Tasty pie afterwards, had a great long chat with Neil about UK BJJ history, particularly up North, along with how he and Chad have developed Infinity Martial Arts. Look out for the relevant episode of the Artemis BJJ Podcast, I'll have that up in the next month or two. :)

23/10/2016 - Private with Kev | Open/Closed Guard Maintenance

Class #775 - Private #026
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 23/10/2016

To mark my approaching ten year anniversary in BJJ, I thought I'd book another private with Kev. Open guard has continued to be the weakest area for me, so we focused on that. Kev started off by sharing a few guard retention drills he's found useful (both to practice and to teach). They're related to the series he taught a long while back, but I think this version encourages more hip rotation, which is useful.

You've established a basic open guard, feet on their hips. They grab your ankle and pull it across, the beginning of a leg drag. Turn your hips in order to bring your other leg across, then push off that to recover square on. Then they go a bit further, so you push into the knot of their belt, again recovering to guard. The reason you go for the knot is that too far in either direction could lead to footlocks, them dislodging your foot and passing, or the Estima footlock (there's still a risk of that, but it's less). As you swivel, you yank your other leg free by pulling your knee to your chest.

If they manage to get to the knee cut pass, there is a counter you can try (a little like the ones from Leuven). Ideally you want to get your knee shield in, that's the most powerful defence. If you've missed that, first grab their gi collar, your fist into their neck. It's important your palm is facing down, that makes it harder for them to knock that hand out of the way. Your other elbow goes behind, to give you enough base to scoot away and get your knee shield in, then recover guard.

Playing open guard generally, Kev recommends getting a grip on their same side trouser leg first, as that tends to be the hard one to get. Shin-on-shin is the quickest guard to establish, making sure you keep your shin engaged. If you aren't actively pushing that into their shin, they can simply whip their leg around. Similarly, you need to keep your other leg pressed into their knee, constantly pressurising them.

Kev prefers sitting guard. Again, after you've wrapped your leg and arm around, keeping the pressure on their other leg with your free leg. If you don't, they'll squish you with their knee. From here, you can kick up to knock them past your head, or sweep your leg back to go into a single leg. There's de la Riva and x-guard entries from here too, but as neither of those are main guards for me, I can save those for a later date.

If they get strong sleeve grips, Kev suggested moving into spider guard to help reduce the power of those grips. He doesn't tend to sweep much with that (apart from the push on the floor one to knock them towards his head and then sweep), instead using it to set up closed guard.

From closed guard, there was another handy tip. The first thing Kev does is grab the meat of their hands by the thumb side, twisting both of their hands so they face upwards. That makes it really hard for them to get any kind of grips. Their reaction will indicate the next move. Kev likes to move an arm across and pull them in with the knees, to get that strong position where they are collapsed over their own arm.

That leads into what Nic Gregoriades randomly (but memorably) calls the 'chimp, chump, champ' series. The words don't entirely fit, but the idea here is that a 'chimp' won't react, so they just sit there in that position. Grabbing their lat, you can move into a back take. A 'chump' will make the mistake of putting up their leg on the non-trapped arm side. You can then hook that with your same side leg and sweep them. A 'champ' puts up their leg on the other side: that gives you the opportunity to move into an armbar.

My preference is the shoulder clamp grip, which Kev noted would be something to move into if they try to move their arms out to recover their hands. You can capitalise on their focus on their hands to pull them in and thread into a shoulder clamp.

Finally, in terms of passing open guard, there is another hand grip that's handy: you're also grabbing the meat of the hand, but the other side (i.e., under the little finger), forcing their palms down. As with the closed guard option, that makes it hard for them to establish grips. You can then step your same side leg behind their knee, moving around to a perpendicular angle.

Once you've got that angle and can drive your knee in behind theirs (into a sort of knee-led leg drag), you 'land the airplane', coming in low to lock up the pass. I think that was the last technique, hopefully I didn't forget anything on my way to the train. Before I left, Kev popped a fourth stripe on my purple belt, which is always nice.

23/06/2016 - Private with David Morcegao | Open Guard & Side Control | Stiff Arm Frame, Knee Cut Counters & Gi Tail Choke

Class #737 - Private #023
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), David 'Morcegao' George, Leuven, Belgium, 23/06/2016

I hadn't intended to do any privates when I was booking the camp, but David mentioned he was only charging €40 for two people, a price too good to pass up. That set me off on a private lesson spree, booking another for Friday and a third for Saturday, each with a different instructor. For anybody going to a BJJ Globetrotter camp, I would therefore recommend bringing along a 'private lesson piggybank', to take advantage of affordable one-on-one attention. You can also grab black belts at open mat to ask them stuff (e.g., Christian said to do that, as he wasn't looking to do privates at this camp), but I feel better able to babble after having paid for an hour. Especially as I ask LOTS of questions. ;)

A photo posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Jun 23, 2016 at 11:02am PDT

First on my list was knee cut counters. David began by suggesting you grab the foot from a reverse de la Riva position. If you mess up and they have gotten a knee through, you're in trouble. They want their balance centered, you want to disrupt that. Bump them with your knee, with the intention of swivelling up behind them. It could be either knee, depending on the position.

Pulling on the collar can help you with that too. You will end up in a scramble, like Haueter said, meaning that a wrestling approach will pay dividends. You're spinning through behind the leg, looking for the back or possibly moving into a single leg off that position.

If you can get some kind of purchase on their leg, you can turn, rolling them over. Securing a collar and grabbing their knee will help with this too, stiff arming to stop them recovering their position. If they don't fall over (e.g., you end up with their leg, but they still have some base), hook the leg as you turn, then stand to complete the single leg. If they are on their knee, you can tap that knee and drive through.

A late option is to try and spin through, your arm going underneath their body. Your other arm loops over their head, ending up in a brabo choke type thing (anaconda? I get confused as to which is which). To complete the choke, you're curling your body around their head.

Along with knee cut counters, I more generally want to improve my open guard, particularly the sitting guard frames I've been playing with from Ryan Hall. Rather than curling your arm in when you have it behind their head, make sure you're redirecting that head. That's a great point, as like David said, just curling the arm ends up using triceps. In a related point (which applies to side control frames too), you can reach for their shoulder, getting the lower part of your forearm into the throat.

I'm keen on improving my chokes from side control too, as I go for those a lot. David had a nifty little tweak on my favoured gi tail choke. If you can't get the basic gi tail to work, bring your other hand through to grip on top of your first grip, similar to a baseball bat grip, but on the side. Lever their head up for the choke (David described it as a steering wheel), being careful not to put your forearm through too deeply.

21/06/2016 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Leuven 2016 | Retaining Open Guard (Christian Graugart)

Class #729
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Christian Graugart, Leuven, Belgium, 21/06/2016

Christian continued with his concepts-led approach to teaching, with most of the class spent doing drills. The details built upon his opening session. This time, he fleshed it out more, in the context of maintaining your open guard. I have been focusing on maintaining open guard for several years, so this was ideal for me. Any more details I can glean on basic open guard are very welcome: I’m not interested in flipping around or weird leg grips, just simple ways to stop my guard getting passed. This class was directly related, giving a broad overview of how to retain that guard.

The class followed a pattern of Christian elucidating the concept a little further, then going off to specific spar on that point (essentially, increasing levels of resistance in specific open guard sparring, but with no sweeps or submissions). First up, he re-emphasised that importance of controlling the space between your knees and chest. Whenever they are passing your guard, it is because they have managed to get your knees away from your chest.

Therefore, your goal is to return to that tight position, whether you're in sitting guard or on your back, with wide knees close to your chest. If your knees are close together, it narrows your guard, making it easier for them to move your legs around and pass. If they pull your leg, you pull it back: Graugart calls this the 'rubber band' principle. It should be difficult for them to break your posture. Some people will even grab their own knees for that reason.

There are exceptions: if you have control, you can straighten the leg, such as in spider guard. As soon as they manage to break that, you need to return to the knees-to-chest guard. Don't reach with your legs, as that opens up your posture without that requisite control. When there is distance, just wait for them to come to you. If you're determined to chase them, make sure you sit up, as then you can stay tight as you move forward.

Christian has a simple approach to grip-fighting: if they grip you, grip them back (grabbing whatever they're gripping you with). For example, if they grip your leg, grab their sleeve. Another big point is to use all four limbs. Make sure that your hands and feet are always engaged, there shouldn't be fresh air under your feet or hands.

Finally, if they are starting to pass, create a frame and get back to your posture. That's the same idea as the stiff arm escape. For example, if they get a double underhook, push up into their arm to try and scoot away. Build a frame, break their posture. The drill this time was to let them pass part of the way, then escape.

All that drilling meant this was the first bit of 'sparring' I got at the camp, though I was holding off on 'proper' sparring until later in the week. My thinking was that if I got banged up from sparring later on, it didn't matter so much, as I already had plenty of classes under my belt. The fact that most of the classes I was looking forward to were earlier in the week anyway helped on that too.

09/04/2016 - Private with Kev | Open Guard | Leg Lock Defence, Calf Crush & Open Guard

Class #708 - Private #022
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 09/04/2016

I know very little about leglocks. I don't really care about being able to attack with them, but I am keen to nail down the defence. Rolling with Seymour at the GrappleThon, I kept ending up in 50/50 without much idea of how to get out, while he went for my feet. The last proper look I had at leglock defence was when John Palmer went through a few options with me, way back during my awesome 2012 Texas trip. Leglocks aren't something that feature in the vast majority of my training, so rolling with Seymour was an eye-opener. I had been planning to work on leglock defence in this private anyway, but that confirmed why it was important. ;)

Fortunately, it wasn't as complex as you might think. There are three basic principles that run through most defences, which I knew already, so that's good. First, 'put on the boot': pull your toes back and straighten out the leg that's being attacked, as if you were struggling to get on a boot. Second, you need to pull them towards you (e.g., grab their gi or head), as they need to drop back to apply most footlocks. Finally, stand up, because they're going to have a really tough time getting anything once you get the sole of your foot on the ground and can bring gravity to bear.

That applies to both orthodox footlock set-ups and stuff like 50/50. Kev added in some more specifics for 50/50 defence, which starts off with the usual putting on the boot, grabbing the gi and standing up. After you've done that, 'hula hoop' to put their locking leg in front of you, then grasp their knee and the bottom of their trouser leg. You can then shove that leg down and begin your pass. If the 50/50 is too tight, Kev suggested grabbing the locking knee, stiff-arming then shifting your hips away. I think I must have missed some details though, so I'll double check that with him next time.

You can also get in some early defence, such as getting a spider guard push into the arm they want to use to underhook your leg. Grab their same side arm, push into the crook of the elbow and use that to free your elbow. Sometimes you might need to hook under their leg as you're escaping, such as when you push their foot down and pop your hips over (I don't remember all the details on that, so will need to drill it some more).

As much as I don't intend to attack with footlocks, it is useful to know a few. Kev shared a nasty calf crush with me, interestingly entirely legal for white belts under IBJJF rules (as ever, that is just one rule set, but it's relatively widespread these days). From your usual straight ankle lock position, drag the arm you have underneath across the middle of their calf, aiming to pull as much calf up on the side as you can. Maintaining the tension, bring your other arm under, pushing the calf even higher. Lock that hand (thumb up) against the calf, then bring your other arm around the first, like you were trying to rear naked choke their calf. Squeeze, while also turning your shoulders away from the leg (i.e., towards their other leg). This comes on quick, so do it with control.

We also ran through some open guard maintenance again, as that's still my weak point. Kev did some light sparring, after which he said my approach is ok, but added that I should be pulling them into closed guard (because I said that's where I want to end up, progressing from the shoulder clamp etc). To do that is simple, you just need to yank them towards you when you feel their weight coming forwards. You can also do it like a guard pull, with a foot on the hip, grip on the collar, then pulling and swivelling from the floor. I'm also not setting up my ankle pick sweeps as effectively as I could. Kev suggested coming in closer and hooking the leg, IIRC.

There was a funky worm guard sweep too. In closed guard (or open, but closed was how we started), pull out their lapel. Get that underneath your same side leg, for which you'll need to open your guard, but keep your foot on their hip. Feed the lapel to your other hand. They will probably stand up at this point. Continuing pulling the lapel, yanking it behind their leg and again feeding to your other hand.

You're now going to do a final hand switch, so that you're grabbing the lapel with your same side hand, palm down. Bring your free leg on the outside of their wrapped shin. To finish, do a technical stand-up. That should knock them over, whereupon you can move through to pass or possibly even mount (you'll need to let go of the lapel for that).

Finally, Kev also got back to me on something I mentioned a few years ago (I was impressed he remembered!) about the 'cat' and 'dog' position with the back when inside somebody's closed guard. When you pop out your back ('dog'), that enhances your posture. It also makes it tough for them to climb their legs higher up your back. When he demonstrated, it put me in mind of Jason Scully's 'eat the belt' guard break: I should use that posture more. Good reminder. :)

27/02/2016 - RGA Bucks | Side Control | Escape to Guard

Class #696
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Dan Lewis, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 27/02/2016

A photo posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Feb 27, 2016 at 6:11am PST

This weekend marks my first 2016 trip to my instructor's academy, RGA Bucks. Kev was away judging BAMMA, but as usual Dan was covering. His class was fantastic. I've mentioned a few times that I need to work on open guard, based around the Ryan Hall 'Defensive Guard' DVD. That is pretty much exactly what Dan covered, based on a recent David Onuma seminar. Judging by this, I really need to get myself down to an Onuma seminar: detailed tweaks on the basics, my absolute favourite stuff to learn in BJJ! :D

Dan kicked off with one of those tweaks, related to maintaining open guard as they look to pass with a knee cut. Block with your near arm, bent at right angles to make a frame. To generate base, pop up on your other elbow. I thought that you would need to come up to your hand, but that actually doesn't help you in this situation. I do this all the time, which can work against less experienced people, but higher belts will eventually grab that basing arm and pull it.

Instead of coming up on your hand, stay on your elbow. Make sure that your shoulder is in front of your elbow. This alignment makes it much harder for them to accomplish their inevitable attempt at yanking your basing arm. Use that frame to get your near foot onto their hip, push to create distance, then re-establish guard.

At this point, there was another very handy tip, which I will be implementing immediately into my classes. Once you have the closed guard and want to break their posture, you don't have to bring your knees to your chest to do it. That's a powerful option, but it does take some energy. A considerably more efficient method is to drive your heels into their lower back instead. That achieves the same goal of knocking them forwards, while also saving your gas tank.

When it comes to escaping side control, they want to dominate your near arm. It puts you in a rubbish position if they manage to isolate it. To get your arm back, bring your heels close to your bum, then turn to replace your elbow block inside their hip. Rotate the hand of your other arm (never bring the arm past their head, that's asking to be americanaed), grabbing their shoulder.

From here, don't drive it up. Bring your elbow out, twisting your forearm into their neck and jaw. Walk your feet towards their head, then bring your knees in to recover guard. If they manage to get such a tight underhook that you can't free your neck-pressure arm, grab your far hip instead.You can then turn to apply a weak shoulder lock.

It won't be enough to make them tap, but it will make them think. Don't bring your knees in to guard yet, get that turn first. Then you can bring your knees in, continuing to apply the pressure on their shoulder. This puts you in a great attacking position. You've got the option of the overhook guard, as well as pressing armbars and shoulder clamps.

Great sparring today: the mat was a sea of purple, along with two white belts, a brown belt and a black belt. Needless to say, there were no easy rolls available! I started off with Stuart, probably my favourite guy to roll with in the whole club (apart from Kev himself, of course). Stuart is about my size and he never goes super hard. That makes for a fun spar, with plenty of movement. I was going for the kimura grip, along with trying tips from Ryan Hall. The additional tweaks from today's lesson are going to be a big help, I think.

I then had a short roll with Dan, where I was looking to attempt that knee cut counter AJ Sousa showed on BJJ Library, but didn't get into the right position. My old training partner Liam was up next. We started training at roughly the same time, but he's improved rather quicker than me, meaning while I'm still purple, he's a black belt. I imagine he wasn't going very hard, nevertheless I had a bit of a confidence boost in that I felt I held my own (he did catch me with a pressing armbar from the top of half guard, so I need to be careful of that arm in that position).

He also had some tips for holding the top position in half guard. At one point I was able to get on top and move through into a cross-face. I was trying to get the Ribeiro super-hold (cross face and underhook), so I could then bring my shin over his leg and start to pass the half guard. I think he reversed me at some point, but regardless, the tip he gave was to bring both arms under the head. That might initially feel vulnerable, but as he demonstrated, when you then drive your chest into their head, it's tight!

I finished up with two bigger purples, where I took the opportunity to work on my defence. In the first roll, I spent a lot of it with my knee driving into their and pulling on the sleeve, to stop them progressing from side control to any kind of attack. I guess it did work, but I should have probably attempted to move into some kind of escape instead of holding that so long. I was getting pretty tired by the final roll: next time, I definitely want to stick around for the yoga. I'll be back in April, when there won't be a niece's birthday to rush off to. So, yoga time! :D

The next day, I did my usual art trip. The exhibition picked for this visit was Delacroix at the National Gallery. I already knew there was a lot of it I wouldn't like (as I'm not fond of most Impressionists, especially Cézanne and Gauguin). Due to that antipathy it only took 45 mins, but assuming you don't have an allergy to Impressionism, I'd say leave about 1.5hrs to do it properly.

A photo posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Feb 28, 2016 at 6:09am PST

However, I do like Degas. It was cool to see some more Moreau too, as I enjoy the Symbolists. I also enjoyed Frederic Bazille, who I wasn't familiar with before. Plenty of bigwigs today, like Van Gogh (not a fan of his work either, except the early stuff). It was still worth it I thought (on my father's membership at least, I wouldn't have paid full price), although the exhibition felt a little flabby. In my opinion, it lacked a sufficiently coherent narrative. It bounces between landscape, religious painting, portraits and others. Then again, the intention is to show Delacroix's influence on modern art, so I guess it needs to be broad for that. Note you aren't allowed any photography, even without flash: the pics I'm using are from a book.

24/07/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Guard | Maintaining

Class #581
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 24/07/2014

Useful drilling tonight, which gave me something I could add to my maintaining open guard drilling sequences. I normally have them pass, you bring your outside leg over to hook and recover, then with a shrimp, then with either a spin or a running escape. Dónal has another step I can now add, bringing that outside foot all the way over to the opposite hip to push against it. Flare the knee up to make it harder for them to push it down and backstep pass the other way, also hooking the outside of their nearest leg with your other foot to further prevent that backstep.

That was the technique for tonight, with the rest of class dedicated to sparring. As I mentioned last week, it has been super hot (for the UK) this summer, just like last year. I therefore prepared carefully this time, bringing my lightest, most breathable gi (the Gimono) and not wearing my usual spats (I missed the compression, but it was worth it for less heat). I also made a point of conserving my energy in sparring, so no techniques that required lots of running around or straining.

In specific sparring, I was surprised at how effective that bullfighter pass I've been teaching this week proved to be. Essentially just the principle of dropping your shoulder into their hips as soon as you are past their knees meant I was able to pass almost every time, very unusual for me even when it's white and blue belts. It was also low energy: with my usual knee cut, that can take a bit more shoving and pushing. With the bullfighter, I just dropped and flopped, using my hips to shove their knee further out of the way if they were trying to block.

Having said that, against more experienced opponents this would of course be less effective. Everybody was defending the bullfighter by trying to stiff arm me as I passed, but they weren't engaging their legs and hips. That meant I could take my time, control their far hip with my arm (I wasn't bringing my knee into the near hip every time though, so need to remember that), moving comfortably into side control. If they had managed to shrimp away before I could do that, it would have been much tougher. The one time I varied it up with a knee cut, I also got swept right away because I was being lazy and not pressuring down enough, or getting an underhook.

In free sparring I was similarly lazy: I just went to closed guard and locked it up. Rather than looping their head with my arm, I relied on a deep collar grip. As a result, I didn't have any soreness in my bicep and I wasn't all that tired afterwards. I also wasn't doing a whole lot though, so it wasn't proactive enough. I tried the windscreen wiper sweep a few times, but I didn't have the angle. If I'd been less cautious I would have swivelled and opened up a bit, but decided with the heat I was going to be la: opening up means more chance of landing the sweep, but also more chance of getting into a scramble.

My laziness and heat-avoidance also meant I wasn't trying the techniques I'd meant to attempt beforehand, as they also require opening up and energy. But I'll have a play with them at the open mat on Saturday, as long as there is at least one person with a gi willing to drill. :)