Class #878
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Olympiastützpunkt Rhein-Neckar) Steven Antoniou, Heidelberg, Germany, 21/08/2017
Heidelcamp marks the first time I've learned from Steve Antoniou from Poseidon BJJ: it was an absolute pleasure. Steve has a ton of charisma, meaning his classes were all a lot of fun. He began with a session on the basics of maintaining side control. You should ideally stay up on your toes, drive your shoulder into their cheek, grabbing their head. Kill the near arm.
Steve also drapes his free arm by their legs, in order to stop them recovering guard. From there, they will often frame into your face. Thread your free arm through, gripping their triceps, ideally pressing your forearm into theirs. You're attempting to drive your weight through your elbow into their ribs, compressing their breathing.
You can then step your other leg over their head, which means there is a possible armpit armbar on near arm, potential pressing armbar on far arm, or americana, plus wristlock, and even a scarf hold type armbar on near arm. If none of that works, with the gi you have a choke if they're wearing a gi.
Showing posts with label maintaining side control. Show all posts
Showing posts with label maintaining side control. Show all posts
21 August 2017
03 February 2014
03/02/2014 - Artemis BJJ (Maintaining Side Control)
Class #543
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 27/01/2014
Great turnout tonight, with about fourteen people on the mats. Unlike the previous couple of lessons, apart from Dónal and I that was almost entirely complete beginners, aside from a blue and a visiting purple. Many of them were from the taekwondo class that takes place in the hall downstairs: always cool to see people willing to cross-train. It makes me wonder what it would be like to give striking a go again, as my previous martial art had a lot of influence from taekwondo. I'm curious if I can still get my kicks up high, or if all these years later my tendons would complain too much.
We're continuing with the theme of side control all this month. Dónal decided to teach another class on maintaining side control, drawing on some of his previous lessons. If they turn away while you still have a standard grip (i.e., arm under the head and the other other by their far arm, like I'm doing in the pic at the top of this post), you can slide right into a seat belt grip. This was a simplified version of what Dónal showed last week, as he didn't then continue into the back take, sticking with just jamming your grip tightly into their chest.
Similarly, the option for when they turn towards you was stripped down as well. Dónal went through the first part, when they're trying to get their knee through to start recovering guard. Grab around their back, then backstep so your hips are pointing towards their legs. This also neatly moves you around their knee, blocking them from recovering their position. The focus tonight was on helping people get used to that turn.
I was mainly drilling with the two children who were there today, resulting in a useful exercise in breaking down the technique to its simplest version. So, I talked about stamping your foot on the ground, then using that to lift and turn your other leg. It would be cool to launch a kids class in future, though that will depend on how it goes in terms of numbers.
My sparring was all beginners, unsurprisingly. As tends to be the case with beginners, most of them were eager to swing their leg over the top, leaving lots of space. However, there were a couple who were more patient and tried to take away any space, which was good to see. Best of all was the enthusiasm from everybody, so hopefully we'll keep seeing them on the Artemis BJJ mats. The real test will be once we bring in fees next week (it has been free up until now). ;)
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 27/01/2014
Great turnout tonight, with about fourteen people on the mats. Unlike the previous couple of lessons, apart from Dónal and I that was almost entirely complete beginners, aside from a blue and a visiting purple. Many of them were from the taekwondo class that takes place in the hall downstairs: always cool to see people willing to cross-train. It makes me wonder what it would be like to give striking a go again, as my previous martial art had a lot of influence from taekwondo. I'm curious if I can still get my kicks up high, or if all these years later my tendons would complain too much. We're continuing with the theme of side control all this month. Dónal decided to teach another class on maintaining side control, drawing on some of his previous lessons. If they turn away while you still have a standard grip (i.e., arm under the head and the other other by their far arm, like I'm doing in the pic at the top of this post), you can slide right into a seat belt grip. This was a simplified version of what Dónal showed last week, as he didn't then continue into the back take, sticking with just jamming your grip tightly into their chest.
Similarly, the option for when they turn towards you was stripped down as well. Dónal went through the first part, when they're trying to get their knee through to start recovering guard. Grab around their back, then backstep so your hips are pointing towards their legs. This also neatly moves you around their knee, blocking them from recovering their position. The focus tonight was on helping people get used to that turn.
I was mainly drilling with the two children who were there today, resulting in a useful exercise in breaking down the technique to its simplest version. So, I talked about stamping your foot on the ground, then using that to lift and turn your other leg. It would be cool to launch a kids class in future, though that will depend on how it goes in terms of numbers.
My sparring was all beginners, unsurprisingly. As tends to be the case with beginners, most of them were eager to swing their leg over the top, leaving lots of space. However, there were a couple who were more patient and tried to take away any space, which was good to see. Best of all was the enthusiasm from everybody, so hopefully we'll keep seeing them on the Artemis BJJ mats. The real test will be once we bring in fees next week (it has been free up until now). ;)
30 January 2014
30/01/2014 - Hit Fit (Maintaining Side Control)
Class #542
Hit Fit, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 30/01/2014
We're instituting a 'position of the month' at Artemis BJJ, as in my opinion it's really helpful to have that focus. Gracie Barra Birmingham used to do it when I was there, which I loved. Dónal has decided that we'll also do that at Hit Fit. Currently, the BJJ at Hit Fit is technically separate from Artemis BJJ, but it will be merged together once we move to the new venue. That will mean students who pay their Artemis membership at the Longwell Green location can also train with us at Bristol Sports Centre. :)
Dónal began with a drill to transition from side to side in side control. As they turn towards you and reach for the underhook, thread your arm through theirs and reach for their head. Use that to spin through to the other side. This is something we could add into the warm-up once people get used to it, along with stuff like that continuous escaping to your knees drill I like. I'll start doing that after my lesson next week, seeing as I'll be teaching the escape to your knees.
If they turn away while you still have a standard grip (i.e., arm under the head and the other other by their far arm, like I'm doing in the pic at the top of this post), you can slide right into a seat belt grip. Should they keep turning to try and get to their knees, you can slide your knee underneath them. Roll them backwards over the top of that leg and establish your hooks for back control. A few times I forgot and was bringing my other leg over the top and hooking, then using that to roll them over, but it's less efficient as you've got to swing your leg further.
In sparring, I was doing the usual escapes from the bottom, while on top I as ever hung out and maintained, looking for mount when the opportunity arose. Gem was doing a good job of using her arms as barriers to my knees, so I shifted round to north south back and forth instead, aiming to sneak my knee in that way. I also tried that smooth switch to mount where you're swinging your legs through, but it wasn't very smooth on my part. Fun though.
My lovely girlfriend very kindly agreed to do a little photoshoot before, during and after class for the Artemis BJJ website. She took loads of snaps, so that should both help pretty up the website and give me plenty of fodder for blog posts both on slideyfoot.com and ArtemisBJJ.com. It's quite novel to be able to use pictures of myself to illustrate a technique rather than relying on screencaps from instructional DVDs. ;)
Hit Fit, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 30/01/2014
We're instituting a 'position of the month' at Artemis BJJ, as in my opinion it's really helpful to have that focus. Gracie Barra Birmingham used to do it when I was there, which I loved. Dónal has decided that we'll also do that at Hit Fit. Currently, the BJJ at Hit Fit is technically separate from Artemis BJJ, but it will be merged together once we move to the new venue. That will mean students who pay their Artemis membership at the Longwell Green location can also train with us at Bristol Sports Centre. :)Dónal began with a drill to transition from side to side in side control. As they turn towards you and reach for the underhook, thread your arm through theirs and reach for their head. Use that to spin through to the other side. This is something we could add into the warm-up once people get used to it, along with stuff like that continuous escaping to your knees drill I like. I'll start doing that after my lesson next week, seeing as I'll be teaching the escape to your knees.
If they turn away while you still have a standard grip (i.e., arm under the head and the other other by their far arm, like I'm doing in the pic at the top of this post), you can slide right into a seat belt grip. Should they keep turning to try and get to their knees, you can slide your knee underneath them. Roll them backwards over the top of that leg and establish your hooks for back control. A few times I forgot and was bringing my other leg over the top and hooking, then using that to roll them over, but it's less efficient as you've got to swing your leg further.
In sparring, I was doing the usual escapes from the bottom, while on top I as ever hung out and maintained, looking for mount when the opportunity arose. Gem was doing a good job of using her arms as barriers to my knees, so I shifted round to north south back and forth instead, aiming to sneak my knee in that way. I also tried that smooth switch to mount where you're swinging your legs through, but it wasn't very smooth on my part. Fun though.
My lovely girlfriend very kindly agreed to do a little photoshoot before, during and after class for the Artemis BJJ website. She took loads of snaps, so that should both help pretty up the website and give me plenty of fodder for blog posts both on slideyfoot.com and ArtemisBJJ.com. It's quite novel to be able to use pictures of myself to illustrate a technique rather than relying on screencaps from instructional DVDs. ;)
27 January 2014
27/01/2014 - First Class at Artemis BJJ!
Class #541
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 27/01/2014
Hooray! After several months of planning, Artemis BJJ has officially opened (I've got all the social media up and running now, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), with our first location at Bristol Sports Centre in central Bristol (for details on how to find us, check the Locations page on the Artemis BJJ website). Very exciting! There was a pretty good turnout, including purple, blue and white belts. I was particularly pleased that there were three women training as well, so I very much hope that's something we can build on: my goal is a 50/50 gender split. Ambitious, but something to aim for. I'll be starting my regular teaching slot on Wednesday at the same time (19:30-20:30), so I hope to see some of you there! :D
_______________________
Dónal and I have decided that we're going to stick with one position for a month, as that's something we both really loved about Gracie Barra Birmingham (which incidentally is where I first met Dónal). For this opening month, that's going to be side control. Today's lesson focused on maintaining side control, following Dónal's regular format of several connected drills.
Before you can get to side control, you'll normally need to pass the guard. Therefore the first drill was the classic bullfighter pass motion. Push their knees to the side as you swing your leg back, then step that same leg through to their side, moving into knee on belly.
Progressing to side control, in the next drill they turn towards you after you've passed. Put the hand you have nearest their legs by their near side hip, with your fingers pointing towards them. That's going to be one basing point. With your other hand, push their head towards you, simultaneously stepping your other leg over their head, keeping your weight on them. Squeeze your stepping knee in towards them for further control. As you spin to the other side, bring the elbow of your head-pushing arm inside what was their near hip and is now the far hip. You can also wedge your knee by their upper back, to help hold them in place. Move back into normal side control, then the process starts again.
But what if they manage to make some space and get their knee inside, sliding their shin across your stomach? The next drill had the answer. Grab around their back, then backstep so your hips are pointing towards their legs. This also neatly moves you around their knee, blocking them from recovering their position. Grip their ankle with your hand, then shove outwards: another classic Dónal simile cropped up here, as he described the motion being like 'giving someone a bunch of flowers'. You can then re-establish side control.
Moving into sparring, we did a quick bit of specific sparring where your goal is to get to mount if you're on top or escape if you're on the bottom. I was training with somebody new to the sport, but he had already realised that he could effectively pin my legs in place by grabbing the bottom of my trouser leg and shoving that to the mat. Due to being at the end of the lever, it's a good control: I was able to flip him backwards by hooking his leg, but still, cool that he was catching on to concepts at this early stage. Hopefully he'll become a regular. :)
The class finished off with free sparring. My first roll was with a blue belt, where I finally managed to remember Kev's suggestion of breaking their grip to go for an armdrag from closed guard, then pull that same arm back to my armpit if they resisted and switch to a sit-up sweep/hip bump. From mount, I initially found myself in my usual predicament of being able to hold the position but not progress. Then I realised that shifting into technical mount opened up the possibility of a bow and arrow choke.
That's something I don't try often enough. I'm keen to get better at that choke, firstly because it fits perfectly with the Artemis theme and secondly because my instructor Kev is really good at it (indeed, it helped him win gold at the Europeans this last weekend). I book regular private lessons with Kev, so the bow and arrow will certainly be featuring in one of them. ;)
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Finished up with another blue belt, where I was looking for the tripod but that wasn't working too well given he was kneeling and doing a good job of breaking my grips. I need to think more carefully about dealing with that kind of position in open guard, with sweeps that work well against combat base and its variations.
I'll be teaching our next class, at the same time and place on Wednesday (check our Locations page to see exactly where we are). Hopefully I'll see some of you there! ;)
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 27/01/2014
_______________________
Dónal and I have decided that we're going to stick with one position for a month, as that's something we both really loved about Gracie Barra Birmingham (which incidentally is where I first met Dónal). For this opening month, that's going to be side control. Today's lesson focused on maintaining side control, following Dónal's regular format of several connected drills.
Before you can get to side control, you'll normally need to pass the guard. Therefore the first drill was the classic bullfighter pass motion. Push their knees to the side as you swing your leg back, then step that same leg through to their side, moving into knee on belly.
Progressing to side control, in the next drill they turn towards you after you've passed. Put the hand you have nearest their legs by their near side hip, with your fingers pointing towards them. That's going to be one basing point. With your other hand, push their head towards you, simultaneously stepping your other leg over their head, keeping your weight on them. Squeeze your stepping knee in towards them for further control. As you spin to the other side, bring the elbow of your head-pushing arm inside what was their near hip and is now the far hip. You can also wedge your knee by their upper back, to help hold them in place. Move back into normal side control, then the process starts again.
But what if they manage to make some space and get their knee inside, sliding their shin across your stomach? The next drill had the answer. Grab around their back, then backstep so your hips are pointing towards their legs. This also neatly moves you around their knee, blocking them from recovering their position. Grip their ankle with your hand, then shove outwards: another classic Dónal simile cropped up here, as he described the motion being like 'giving someone a bunch of flowers'. You can then re-establish side control.
Moving into sparring, we did a quick bit of specific sparring where your goal is to get to mount if you're on top or escape if you're on the bottom. I was training with somebody new to the sport, but he had already realised that he could effectively pin my legs in place by grabbing the bottom of my trouser leg and shoving that to the mat. Due to being at the end of the lever, it's a good control: I was able to flip him backwards by hooking his leg, but still, cool that he was catching on to concepts at this early stage. Hopefully he'll become a regular. :)
The class finished off with free sparring. My first roll was with a blue belt, where I finally managed to remember Kev's suggestion of breaking their grip to go for an armdrag from closed guard, then pull that same arm back to my armpit if they resisted and switch to a sit-up sweep/hip bump. From mount, I initially found myself in my usual predicament of being able to hold the position but not progress. Then I realised that shifting into technical mount opened up the possibility of a bow and arrow choke.
That's something I don't try often enough. I'm keen to get better at that choke, firstly because it fits perfectly with the Artemis theme and secondly because my instructor Kev is really good at it (indeed, it helped him win gold at the Europeans this last weekend). I book regular private lessons with Kev, so the bow and arrow will certainly be featuring in one of them. ;)
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I'll be teaching our next class, at the same time and place on Wednesday (check our Locations page to see exactly where we are). Hopefully I'll see some of you there! ;)
01 September 2013
01/09/2013 - Study Hall (Breaking & Passing Closed Guard, Side Control)
Class #520
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Study Hall, Bristol, UK - 01/09/2013
I was intending to train on Thursday, but as my gf had a bad day at work, I stayed at home so we could go out for a meal (as I've said many times before, BJJ is great fun, but I think your loved ones should always be the priority :D). Today I was looking to get in more work on passing the guard, continuing with the kneeling break. I'll also normally use study hall to practice the techniques I teach, which next week is side control escapes. Fortunately for me, those two things are exactly what my training partner Geraldine wanted to work as well.
I started off with the same guard break, encountering the old problems: keeping that lead hand in place, then getting enough distance to pop the ankles open. It also brought up a common issue that crops up after you've opened the legs, as they will frequently get their knee in their way. This happened to Geraldine in a competition a while ago, IIRC, so I showed her my preferred options for passing the knee shield.
I continued kneeling guard breaks with Berry, whose approach to countering them provided useful pressure-testing. He likes to bounce his hips out the way, as well as trying to break your grip on the hip, rather than the forward arm by their chest. That makes it tough to create the necessary tension to open their ankles, because their hips are free. On the plus side, I can still maintain my posture, because I have the arm on the chest: that gives me the opportunity to reset.
Therefore a key aspect I want to improve is maximising the weight I can drive through their hips. I'll need to experiment with arms positions, grips and also where I'm putting my head. It's possible I'm leaning too far forward or back, so I will keep a closer eye on that next time, to see if it is reducing the efficacy of my hip control when attempting to open the guard.
Through some light resistance, we worked out that switching my arms to the other side can be effective, although that gets a bit tiring. Having said that, the person on the bottom has to work harder, so they will probably get tired before you do. Either way, I don't like getting into battles of attrition, because that comes down to stamina rather than technique. I'll keep trying it, along with working out the right point to switch from kneeling to standing.
Sparring with Geeza helped that further, as he was mainly looking to see if I would flop to my back. I was keen to work on my passing, attempting to return to either combat base or some kind of open guard passing posture whenever I got knocked off balance. Geeza noted that I was using lateral motion, but need to combine that with more forward motion. I was getting stuck on his leg a few times, trying to do a big step over the top, but not pushing forward enough.
Arm control is something important to keep in mind as well. I played around with trying to get them to give me an arm from the kneeling break, which I could then try and pin to their hip. Geeza stopped me at that point to share a handy controlling position. He says cross-grip the arm you want to pin to the hip, then put your other arm across the top, clamping the knuckles of your pinning hand against the wrist that's over the top.
When I was underneath with Berry, I attempted to create angles to slip around the strong pressure of their arms. I also played around with different grips to prevent them posturing back up, which helped slow that process, but didn't open much in the way of submission opportunities, taking the back or sweeping. Or rather, I didn't combine my guard offence well enough.
Finally, I also worked on side control with Geraldine, keeping in mind what I wanted to teach next week. On top, I was focusing on connection with hips and control of their far elbow if they turn away (at one point I failed to control that far elbow, enabling her to spin to turtle). When she turned towards me, I switched to a cross-face, both my normal method and the version Donal suggested, where you just bring the arm in place and turn the elbow upwards.
Underneath I looked to reverse engineer what I'd done on top. I want to break the hip connection, starting with a bridge to make space, then wedge a frame in place (in my case, that's generally getting an elbow to their hip). I managed to partially turn away a few times, but Geraldine did a good job of keeping me under control. The stiff arm escape worked once (Braulio's version, shoving into the armpit and rolling them over), which was cool as I normally mess that up. So, I'll emphasise bridging and frames next week when I'm teaching side control escapes again, as well as the importance of staying tight and remaining calm.
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Study Hall, Bristol, UK - 01/09/2013
I was intending to train on Thursday, but as my gf had a bad day at work, I stayed at home so we could go out for a meal (as I've said many times before, BJJ is great fun, but I think your loved ones should always be the priority :D). Today I was looking to get in more work on passing the guard, continuing with the kneeling break. I'll also normally use study hall to practice the techniques I teach, which next week is side control escapes. Fortunately for me, those two things are exactly what my training partner Geraldine wanted to work as well.
I started off with the same guard break, encountering the old problems: keeping that lead hand in place, then getting enough distance to pop the ankles open. It also brought up a common issue that crops up after you've opened the legs, as they will frequently get their knee in their way. This happened to Geraldine in a competition a while ago, IIRC, so I showed her my preferred options for passing the knee shield.I continued kneeling guard breaks with Berry, whose approach to countering them provided useful pressure-testing. He likes to bounce his hips out the way, as well as trying to break your grip on the hip, rather than the forward arm by their chest. That makes it tough to create the necessary tension to open their ankles, because their hips are free. On the plus side, I can still maintain my posture, because I have the arm on the chest: that gives me the opportunity to reset.
Therefore a key aspect I want to improve is maximising the weight I can drive through their hips. I'll need to experiment with arms positions, grips and also where I'm putting my head. It's possible I'm leaning too far forward or back, so I will keep a closer eye on that next time, to see if it is reducing the efficacy of my hip control when attempting to open the guard.
Through some light resistance, we worked out that switching my arms to the other side can be effective, although that gets a bit tiring. Having said that, the person on the bottom has to work harder, so they will probably get tired before you do. Either way, I don't like getting into battles of attrition, because that comes down to stamina rather than technique. I'll keep trying it, along with working out the right point to switch from kneeling to standing.
Sparring with Geeza helped that further, as he was mainly looking to see if I would flop to my back. I was keen to work on my passing, attempting to return to either combat base or some kind of open guard passing posture whenever I got knocked off balance. Geeza noted that I was using lateral motion, but need to combine that with more forward motion. I was getting stuck on his leg a few times, trying to do a big step over the top, but not pushing forward enough.
Arm control is something important to keep in mind as well. I played around with trying to get them to give me an arm from the kneeling break, which I could then try and pin to their hip. Geeza stopped me at that point to share a handy controlling position. He says cross-grip the arm you want to pin to the hip, then put your other arm across the top, clamping the knuckles of your pinning hand against the wrist that's over the top.
When I was underneath with Berry, I attempted to create angles to slip around the strong pressure of their arms. I also played around with different grips to prevent them posturing back up, which helped slow that process, but didn't open much in the way of submission opportunities, taking the back or sweeping. Or rather, I didn't combine my guard offence well enough.
Finally, I also worked on side control with Geraldine, keeping in mind what I wanted to teach next week. On top, I was focusing on connection with hips and control of their far elbow if they turn away (at one point I failed to control that far elbow, enabling her to spin to turtle). When she turned towards me, I switched to a cross-face, both my normal method and the version Donal suggested, where you just bring the arm in place and turn the elbow upwards. Underneath I looked to reverse engineer what I'd done on top. I want to break the hip connection, starting with a bridge to make space, then wedge a frame in place (in my case, that's generally getting an elbow to their hip). I managed to partially turn away a few times, but Geraldine did a good job of keeping me under control. The stiff arm escape worked once (Braulio's version, shoving into the armpit and rolling them over), which was cool as I normally mess that up. So, I'll emphasise bridging and frames next week when I'm teaching side control escapes again, as well as the importance of staying tight and remaining calm.
09 June 2013
09/06/2013 - Tatami Multi Arts (San Francisco, USA)
Class #502
Tatami Multi Arts (BJJ), Dave Shin, El Cerrito, CA, USA - 09/06/2013
I first 'met' Dave on the JiuJitsuForums website a couple of years ago. We've been chatting on the forum, in PMs and on Facebook for a few years now. When he read I was heading to his neck of the woods on my California trip, he immediately suggested meeting up (I'm not the first blogger to have met up with Dave, as Julia also got to train with him during her amazing trip a couple of years ago. Coincidentally, she also recently put up an article based on some of Dave's JJF posts). We had a few drinks at Thirsty Bear in San Francisco, where he mentioned that his friend Adam at Tatami Multi Arts had an open mat the next day, after watching Metamoris II.
It wasn't too difficult to get over to the club from where I was staying in San Francisco. I walked down to the Powell St BART station (if like me you stay at the HI Hostel Downtown, that's the closest one), then bought a $3.95 ticket. The machines randomly go out of order, which was confusing, but buying the ticket is easy enough. The main strange part is that you have to know the value of the ticket beforehand, rather than the usual method of typing in your destination.
I took the train for Pittsburgh/Bay St, then changed at 19th St Station in order to travel towards Richmond (as Dave said in his handy directions, the trains are synchronised, which makes it simple). Getting off at El Cerrito Plaza, I was ready to walk to the club with the GPS on my phone, but Dave was already there waiting for me in his car. He also very kindly lent me a gi (I had my Gimono with me, but it's handy not having to wash it). First time I had worn a Fuji, which always gets good reviews: seemed comfy and I like how plain it is. It was just Dave, Adam and me, resulting in a relaxed open mat where we exchanged a few techniques.
Dave was the most experienced, with 15 years under his brown belt. He wanted to show Adam and I a few 'small guy' techniques (Adam is roughly the same size as me), initially from side control. We started with what I was most interested in, a method for maintaining side control Dave had mentioned at the Thirsty Bear last night, learned from a 130lbs training partner of his.
You're holding side control in the usual way with a cross-face. Bring your chest low to the ground, then aim to slide the upper part of your chest just under the exposed side of their pectoral muscle. Keep sliding forwards, maintaining a crushing pressure. Done right, this makes it hard for them to breathe. The difficulty is finding the right spot. If you think of tectonic plates sliding over each other, it's a bit like that.
Next up was a way of transitioning to knee on belly. From side control, move your arm on top of their throat, gripping the far collar, then shift your hips to point towards their head. This is reminiscent of reverse scarf hold. Your other arm is over by their far hip.
Use that far hand to post slightly, clamping in tight to the hip. Shove your hips into theirs, then pushing off your outside leg, slide your near leg right into knee on belly. Your back, hips and bum are blocking their knee from getting in the way.
Finally, Dave went through a straight ankle lock set-up, moving away from side control. In a guard passing position, you notice they don't have any grips and have a foot on the outside of your hip. Immediately fall back, trapping that foot on the way. Don't telegraph what you're about to do by wrapping up their foot first, or they'll move to prepare their escape.
Once you've fallen back, put your foot on the attacking side on their hip, to prevent them sitting up and coming forward. Your other shin presses into the back of their same side knee, again to stop them sitting up. When you can, shift from using your shin to pushing with your foot.
To attack the ankle, bring your outside arm around it, using your other hand to feed your same side collar to that first hand. Grip as high as you can. You can then twist the blade of your arm into their achilles tendon and lean back for the submission. Dave prefers to just use that collar grip rather than moving into a figure four grip, as he finds having just the one hand their better facilitates cutting into their tendon with the blade of our arm.
Then it was my turn to show some stuff. I picked the guard pass and sweep I've been working on with Dónal: it was handy to try and teach it again (I've taught both at GB Bristol, here and here, in simplified versions) to help me work out the important details. The full write ups are in my private lesson notes, which is split into multiple parts for the pass (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and just a single entry for the sweep (here).
Sparring was fairly brief, as I needed to get back to my hostel, going a round with Dave and then Adam. Both times the spar went in a fairly similar pattern, which tends to be how a lot of my rolls at drop-ins go. I flopped to my back and worked spider guard, trying to retain my position and also looking for an opportunity to tripod and/or sickle sweep. I almost hit it a couple of times, but made the common error of not coming up fast enough to secure the position.
I briefly went to the running escape when Dave passed, then recovered my guard, but I think that was only because Dave was giong quite light. With Adam, I had a brief pass attempt, but failed to get chest to chest contact. That meant that although I had some control of his arm and was moving round to north south, he had enough space to spin and escape.
It was cool to finally hit the mats in California: thanks again to Adam and Dave for their hospitality! If you want to get in some good training in the El Cerrito area, be sure to check out Tatami Multi Arts. :D
Tatami Multi Arts (BJJ), Dave Shin, El Cerrito, CA, USA - 09/06/2013
I first 'met' Dave on the JiuJitsuForums website a couple of years ago. We've been chatting on the forum, in PMs and on Facebook for a few years now. When he read I was heading to his neck of the woods on my California trip, he immediately suggested meeting up (I'm not the first blogger to have met up with Dave, as Julia also got to train with him during her amazing trip a couple of years ago. Coincidentally, she also recently put up an article based on some of Dave's JJF posts). We had a few drinks at Thirsty Bear in San Francisco, where he mentioned that his friend Adam at Tatami Multi Arts had an open mat the next day, after watching Metamoris II.
It wasn't too difficult to get over to the club from where I was staying in San Francisco. I walked down to the Powell St BART station (if like me you stay at the HI Hostel Downtown, that's the closest one), then bought a $3.95 ticket. The machines randomly go out of order, which was confusing, but buying the ticket is easy enough. The main strange part is that you have to know the value of the ticket beforehand, rather than the usual method of typing in your destination.
I took the train for Pittsburgh/Bay St, then changed at 19th St Station in order to travel towards Richmond (as Dave said in his handy directions, the trains are synchronised, which makes it simple). Getting off at El Cerrito Plaza, I was ready to walk to the club with the GPS on my phone, but Dave was already there waiting for me in his car. He also very kindly lent me a gi (I had my Gimono with me, but it's handy not having to wash it). First time I had worn a Fuji, which always gets good reviews: seemed comfy and I like how plain it is. It was just Dave, Adam and me, resulting in a relaxed open mat where we exchanged a few techniques.
Dave was the most experienced, with 15 years under his brown belt. He wanted to show Adam and I a few 'small guy' techniques (Adam is roughly the same size as me), initially from side control. We started with what I was most interested in, a method for maintaining side control Dave had mentioned at the Thirsty Bear last night, learned from a 130lbs training partner of his.
You're holding side control in the usual way with a cross-face. Bring your chest low to the ground, then aim to slide the upper part of your chest just under the exposed side of their pectoral muscle. Keep sliding forwards, maintaining a crushing pressure. Done right, this makes it hard for them to breathe. The difficulty is finding the right spot. If you think of tectonic plates sliding over each other, it's a bit like that.
Next up was a way of transitioning to knee on belly. From side control, move your arm on top of their throat, gripping the far collar, then shift your hips to point towards their head. This is reminiscent of reverse scarf hold. Your other arm is over by their far hip.
Use that far hand to post slightly, clamping in tight to the hip. Shove your hips into theirs, then pushing off your outside leg, slide your near leg right into knee on belly. Your back, hips and bum are blocking their knee from getting in the way.
Finally, Dave went through a straight ankle lock set-up, moving away from side control. In a guard passing position, you notice they don't have any grips and have a foot on the outside of your hip. Immediately fall back, trapping that foot on the way. Don't telegraph what you're about to do by wrapping up their foot first, or they'll move to prepare their escape.
Once you've fallen back, put your foot on the attacking side on their hip, to prevent them sitting up and coming forward. Your other shin presses into the back of their same side knee, again to stop them sitting up. When you can, shift from using your shin to pushing with your foot.
To attack the ankle, bring your outside arm around it, using your other hand to feed your same side collar to that first hand. Grip as high as you can. You can then twist the blade of your arm into their achilles tendon and lean back for the submission. Dave prefers to just use that collar grip rather than moving into a figure four grip, as he finds having just the one hand their better facilitates cutting into their tendon with the blade of our arm.
Then it was my turn to show some stuff. I picked the guard pass and sweep I've been working on with Dónal: it was handy to try and teach it again (I've taught both at GB Bristol, here and here, in simplified versions) to help me work out the important details. The full write ups are in my private lesson notes, which is split into multiple parts for the pass (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) and just a single entry for the sweep (here).
Sparring was fairly brief, as I needed to get back to my hostel, going a round with Dave and then Adam. Both times the spar went in a fairly similar pattern, which tends to be how a lot of my rolls at drop-ins go. I flopped to my back and worked spider guard, trying to retain my position and also looking for an opportunity to tripod and/or sickle sweep. I almost hit it a couple of times, but made the common error of not coming up fast enough to secure the position.
I briefly went to the running escape when Dave passed, then recovered my guard, but I think that was only because Dave was giong quite light. With Adam, I had a brief pass attempt, but failed to get chest to chest contact. That meant that although I had some control of his arm and was moving round to north south, he had enough space to spin and escape.
It was cool to finally hit the mats in California: thanks again to Adam and Dave for their hospitality! If you want to get in some good training in the El Cerrito area, be sure to check out Tatami Multi Arts. :D
29 January 2013
29/01/2013 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Top Side Control)
Class #483
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 29/01/2013
As always with Dónal's lessons, there were some interesting drills. Particularly useful today, as I was trying to think of more top side control drills when I taught last Saturday, so these should come in handy. For the first one, you're in a standard side control, then they turn towards you and try to secure an underhook. Put the arm you have nearest their legs by their near side hip, with your fingers pointing towards them. That's going to be one basing point.
With your other hand, push their head towards you, simultaneously stepping your other leg over their head, keeping your weight on them. As you spin to the other side, bring the elbow of your head-pushing arm inside what was their near hip and is now the far hip. Move back into normal side control, then the process starts again.
The same motion fits well with an armbar drill. This time, you have side control, one arm under head, the other hand reaching under their far arm and cupping their shoulder. Move back slightly for space, then yank their shoulder towards you, putting them on their side. Secure what was the far arm and is now the 'top' arm, then push head and step over as before. Grab their same side knee with your free hand, falling back for armbar.
Note that this is for when you have their arm next to your head, leaving it vulnerable. If they have arm in the typical position under side control, pressing into your neck, you'll need to base forward and wriggle that arm in place, or adjust as you swivel to isolate the arm.
Finally for top side control, Dónal had a knee on belly drill which moved into an unusual arm control side position. Pop up into knee on belly, one hand gripping their near side collar, the other hand with a firm grasp by their far side hip. Slide your knee into their arm, towards the near side shoulder, dropping your hip so it is your body weight and leg against their one arm.
When you have driven that arm to the floor, step on their wrist with your free foot, trapping it in place. Then shift and twist, so the knee on belly knee points towards their legs, your instep hooking the arm you just stepped on. From there, you're in a good position to attack their far arm, as you've already secured near arm.
Along with side control drills, there was always a good passing drill. You do the knee cut across their leg, your hand on their far hip, using your elbow to block their underhook. Put your knee to the floor. If they manage to get the underhook, put one hand on the floor for base, then swing over, ending up further away rather than super tight: this is to improve your base, according to Dónal.
That's where the drill stopped, but you could do an opposite side half guard pass from here, like I taught a little while ago. When swinging over I liked to stay tight with my head into their chest, grabbing around their back and securing an armpit, which sets me up for that opposite side half guard pass.
Like previous lessons, while everyone else sparred I did some drilling. My choice for today was the windscreen wiper sweep. Main thing I took from that was that I need to really control the arm and pull it across, to stop them basing on it. The drill seemed to work ok with my hurt groin, so a good one to drill.
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 29/01/2013
With your other hand, push their head towards you, simultaneously stepping your other leg over their head, keeping your weight on them. As you spin to the other side, bring the elbow of your head-pushing arm inside what was their near hip and is now the far hip. Move back into normal side control, then the process starts again.
The same motion fits well with an armbar drill. This time, you have side control, one arm under head, the other hand reaching under their far arm and cupping their shoulder. Move back slightly for space, then yank their shoulder towards you, putting them on their side. Secure what was the far arm and is now the 'top' arm, then push head and step over as before. Grab their same side knee with your free hand, falling back for armbar.
Note that this is for when you have their arm next to your head, leaving it vulnerable. If they have arm in the typical position under side control, pressing into your neck, you'll need to base forward and wriggle that arm in place, or adjust as you swivel to isolate the arm.
Finally for top side control, Dónal had a knee on belly drill which moved into an unusual arm control side position. Pop up into knee on belly, one hand gripping their near side collar, the other hand with a firm grasp by their far side hip. Slide your knee into their arm, towards the near side shoulder, dropping your hip so it is your body weight and leg against their one arm.
Along with side control drills, there was always a good passing drill. You do the knee cut across their leg, your hand on their far hip, using your elbow to block their underhook. Put your knee to the floor. If they manage to get the underhook, put one hand on the floor for base, then swing over, ending up further away rather than super tight: this is to improve your base, according to Dónal.
That's where the drill stopped, but you could do an opposite side half guard pass from here, like I taught a little while ago. When swinging over I liked to stay tight with my head into their chest, grabbing around their back and securing an armpit, which sets me up for that opposite side half guard pass.
Like previous lessons, while everyone else sparred I did some drilling. My choice for today was the windscreen wiper sweep. Main thing I took from that was that I need to really control the arm and pull it across, to stop them basing on it. The drill seemed to work ok with my hurt groin, so a good one to drill.
27 April 2011
27/04/2011 - The BJJ Labs, Manchester
Class #391
BJJ Labs, (BJJ), Liam Wandi, Manchester, UK - 27/04/2011
Wednesday was mostly devoted to a few hours walking from Hayfield across the moors, starting from the car park of an out-of-use train station. You next head up something called the Snake Path, through moorlands, before going on the Sett Valley Trail to get back (it's Walk 17 in the Jarrold book, although we cheated and cut it short by following a stream back instead.)
Having trained at Factory BJJ earlier in the week, my next class was to be in Manchester. Annoyingly, there were some kind of road works on the way to Stockport to visit my friend's aunt, which meant I missed the train I wanted to catch to Manchester Piccadilly. I nabbed the 17:08 from Davenport instead, and just about made it to training on time. It takes about twenty minutes walking at a brisk "shit-I'm-going-to-be-late" pace.
This was the first time I've not only visited a fellow blogger, but been taught by one too. Liam runs the beginner classes at The BJJ Labs. That's where most of the SBG Manchester crew emigrated after Karl Tanswell went on an extended trip abroad. It's part of the Fighting Fit gym under BJJ brown belt Martyn Cahill, who also teaches a number of other styles under the same roof: there are a bunch of heavy bags hanging from the ceiling and a chain link fence, which gives away the multi-disciplinary nature of the gym.
Liam, in case you don't know, writes The Part-Time Grappler blog, which is stuffed with plenty of thoughtful theory (and now a whole gallery of me, which I found amusing). That carries over into his teaching style during the beginners class, where he put all the techniques into a solid conceptual framework. As with all the best BJJ classes, the warm-up was directly related to BJJ, so instead of lots of press-ups and sit-ups, there were numerous movements from Ginastica Natural, along with the kind of drills you might recognise from Jason Scully's video.
The lesson proper started with takedowns, which I often don't bother noting down, but I will this time because Liam taught a useful flowing sequence with, again, helpful concepts. For example, he spoke about forming a triangle with your feet, presuming you already have the usual collar and sleeve grip. Your partner is square on – the first two points of the triangle – while your leading foot is in the middle of theirs, slightly back – the third point of the triangle.
Once you have that triangular arrangement, you can step in and either hook your leading foot around the back of their same side leg, then drive through to bring them to the floor. Alternatively, you can put that leading foot behind their opposite heel, drive them backwards to take the weight off their foot, then scoop up the leg ready for a takedown.
Finally, you can also move around to their side (always the side on which you're not holding their collar), then drop down to both knees. You need to be close to their leg, simultaneously yanking downwards on their collar. Wrap that leg with your arm, then release your collar grip and reach for their far ankle. You can then drive forward and take them down, moving round to side control.
We then did what I dread most in BJJ, stand-up sparring. However, as it was white belts, I could mostly just stiff arm and step away. Not a good habit, especially as I'm overly passive anyway, but meh. I did try to move to the side and drop to my knees a few times (they have nice soft mats at Fighting Fit, which is a big help!), but I was admittedly glad when it was over.
Sensibly, the ground technique continued from there, discussing how to maintain side control. You start with an orthodox grip, one arm under their head and grabbing the far shoulder, while your other arm reaches over to their far side, underneath their far arm. Use your elbow to maintain some control of their far hip. Your knees are in tight, and you've also cleared their elbow (move slightly further towards their head to make sure they can't pull it back out).
If they try to shrimp out and insert their knee to recover guard, switch to scarf hold by kicking one leg straight by their head, the other knee raised for base. If they then bridge, you go back to side control. Alternatively, from scarf hold you can then reach around their trapped arm, then use your body weight to press that arm against their face.
Using that point as a fulcrum, sprawl your legs back and walk to their other side. Also keep a hold of their far arm, so they can't try any sort of escape. Once you've moved all the way round to the other side of their body, reinsert an arm under their head. This puts them in what Liam called a 'barbed wire' position, with their arms criss-crossed over their upper body and/or face. I've also seen it called the 'bow-tie', I think. There are various subs you can do from here, like turning to face the other way and applying a waki-gatame armbar.
Chatting to Liam afterwards, he spoke about how the beginners syllabus was built up. I had assumed it would have some kind of link back to the SBG teaching methodology (which is certainly there, especially the integral progressive resistance approach), but apparently The BJJ Labs has used the basic framework provided by Gracie Barra Fundamentals. Modifications occured for various reasons, such as the manner in which a takedown in the DVDs might end in side control, but then the next set of techniques would continue in mount. That doesn't make much sense, so instead Liam and the gang made the more logical progression of - for example - a takedown into side control, followed by attacks from side control.
Class finished up with a bit of light sparring. I was with my training partner, JP, a friendly tall Canadian (all the Canadians I've ever met seem to be tall). He had been asking lots of sensible questions throughout drilling, something I very much approve of, given that's exactly what I've been trying to do ever since I started. He took onboard everything that had been chatted about earlier, making sure to try and kill the near arm, switching back and forth from scarf hold and being certain to keep his weight pressed into me.
Sparring was fairly brief, so I don't think I had a round on top: the advanced class was waiting to go, although I wasn't able to join in, as I needed to head back to Davenport to join my gf. On my way back to the station I could take in slightly more of Manchester than the hurried previous journey, but still not a lot. Before today, I've only been to Manchester Airport, back when I used to live in Yarm. It would be good to check out the city properly some time: after all, one of my all-time favourite bands hails from here, The Smiths. :)
Our last walk, my favourite, was on Thursday (again from the Jarrold book: Walk 2). This time we were in the Castleton area, which again has amazing views, but it also has the bizarrely interesting ruins of the old A625. Apparently, back in the day this was a main route between Manchester and Sheffield, but because of the unstable ground, bits kept falling off. A particularly major landslide in 1977 caused serious damage: the road was finally closed to through traffic in 1979.
It felt a lot like walking through one of those apocalyptic landscapes from a dystopian sci fi film, like Planet of the Apes or Mad Max. The road was smashed up, yet the signs of civilisation could still be seen: a drain cover, a cat's eye, the lines up the middle. For some reason, I was fascinated. Not far from there was a historic site (dating to the 13th century, allegedly) with the awesome name of Odin Mine, though I wasn't able to walk too far inside before I started sinking into clay. Reminds me I'm looking forward to watching Thor. ;D
BJJ Labs, (BJJ), Liam Wandi, Manchester, UK - 27/04/2011
Wednesday was mostly devoted to a few hours walking from Hayfield across the moors, starting from the car park of an out-of-use train station. You next head up something called the Snake Path, through moorlands, before going on the Sett Valley Trail to get back (it's Walk 17 in the Jarrold book, although we cheated and cut it short by following a stream back instead.)
Having trained at Factory BJJ earlier in the week, my next class was to be in Manchester. Annoyingly, there were some kind of road works on the way to Stockport to visit my friend's aunt, which meant I missed the train I wanted to catch to Manchester Piccadilly. I nabbed the 17:08 from Davenport instead, and just about made it to training on time. It takes about twenty minutes walking at a brisk "shit-I'm-going-to-be-late" pace.
This was the first time I've not only visited a fellow blogger, but been taught by one too. Liam runs the beginner classes at The BJJ Labs. That's where most of the SBG Manchester crew emigrated after Karl Tanswell went on an extended trip abroad. It's part of the Fighting Fit gym under BJJ brown belt Martyn Cahill, who also teaches a number of other styles under the same roof: there are a bunch of heavy bags hanging from the ceiling and a chain link fence, which gives away the multi-disciplinary nature of the gym.Liam, in case you don't know, writes The Part-Time Grappler blog, which is stuffed with plenty of thoughtful theory (and now a whole gallery of me, which I found amusing). That carries over into his teaching style during the beginners class, where he put all the techniques into a solid conceptual framework. As with all the best BJJ classes, the warm-up was directly related to BJJ, so instead of lots of press-ups and sit-ups, there were numerous movements from Ginastica Natural, along with the kind of drills you might recognise from Jason Scully's video.
The lesson proper started with takedowns, which I often don't bother noting down, but I will this time because Liam taught a useful flowing sequence with, again, helpful concepts. For example, he spoke about forming a triangle with your feet, presuming you already have the usual collar and sleeve grip. Your partner is square on – the first two points of the triangle – while your leading foot is in the middle of theirs, slightly back – the third point of the triangle.Once you have that triangular arrangement, you can step in and either hook your leading foot around the back of their same side leg, then drive through to bring them to the floor. Alternatively, you can put that leading foot behind their opposite heel, drive them backwards to take the weight off their foot, then scoop up the leg ready for a takedown.
Finally, you can also move around to their side (always the side on which you're not holding their collar), then drop down to both knees. You need to be close to their leg, simultaneously yanking downwards on their collar. Wrap that leg with your arm, then release your collar grip and reach for their far ankle. You can then drive forward and take them down, moving round to side control.
We then did what I dread most in BJJ, stand-up sparring. However, as it was white belts, I could mostly just stiff arm and step away. Not a good habit, especially as I'm overly passive anyway, but meh. I did try to move to the side and drop to my knees a few times (they have nice soft mats at Fighting Fit, which is a big help!), but I was admittedly glad when it was over.
Sensibly, the ground technique continued from there, discussing how to maintain side control. You start with an orthodox grip, one arm under their head and grabbing the far shoulder, while your other arm reaches over to their far side, underneath their far arm. Use your elbow to maintain some control of their far hip. Your knees are in tight, and you've also cleared their elbow (move slightly further towards their head to make sure they can't pull it back out).
If they try to shrimp out and insert their knee to recover guard, switch to scarf hold by kicking one leg straight by their head, the other knee raised for base. If they then bridge, you go back to side control. Alternatively, from scarf hold you can then reach around their trapped arm, then use your body weight to press that arm against their face.
Using that point as a fulcrum, sprawl your legs back and walk to their other side. Also keep a hold of their far arm, so they can't try any sort of escape. Once you've moved all the way round to the other side of their body, reinsert an arm under their head. This puts them in what Liam called a 'barbed wire' position, with their arms criss-crossed over their upper body and/or face. I've also seen it called the 'bow-tie', I think. There are various subs you can do from here, like turning to face the other way and applying a waki-gatame armbar. 
Chatting to Liam afterwards, he spoke about how the beginners syllabus was built up. I had assumed it would have some kind of link back to the SBG teaching methodology (which is certainly there, especially the integral progressive resistance approach), but apparently The BJJ Labs has used the basic framework provided by Gracie Barra Fundamentals. Modifications occured for various reasons, such as the manner in which a takedown in the DVDs might end in side control, but then the next set of techniques would continue in mount. That doesn't make much sense, so instead Liam and the gang made the more logical progression of - for example - a takedown into side control, followed by attacks from side control.
Class finished up with a bit of light sparring. I was with my training partner, JP, a friendly tall Canadian (all the Canadians I've ever met seem to be tall). He had been asking lots of sensible questions throughout drilling, something I very much approve of, given that's exactly what I've been trying to do ever since I started. He took onboard everything that had been chatted about earlier, making sure to try and kill the near arm, switching back and forth from scarf hold and being certain to keep his weight pressed into me.
Sparring was fairly brief, so I don't think I had a round on top: the advanced class was waiting to go, although I wasn't able to join in, as I needed to head back to Davenport to join my gf. On my way back to the station I could take in slightly more of Manchester than the hurried previous journey, but still not a lot. Before today, I've only been to Manchester Airport, back when I used to live in Yarm. It would be good to check out the city properly some time: after all, one of my all-time favourite bands hails from here, The Smiths. :)Our last walk, my favourite, was on Thursday (again from the Jarrold book: Walk 2). This time we were in the Castleton area, which again has amazing views, but it also has the bizarrely interesting ruins of the old A625. Apparently, back in the day this was a main route between Manchester and Sheffield, but because of the unstable ground, bits kept falling off. A particularly major landslide in 1977 caused serious damage: the road was finally closed to through traffic in 1979.
It felt a lot like walking through one of those apocalyptic landscapes from a dystopian sci fi film, like Planet of the Apes or Mad Max. The road was smashed up, yet the signs of civilisation could still be seen: a drain cover, a cat's eye, the lines up the middle. For some reason, I was fascinated. Not far from there was a historic site (dating to the 13th century, allegedly) with the awesome name of Odin Mine, though I wasn't able to walk too far inside before I started sinking into clay. Reminds me I'm looking forward to watching Thor. ;D
07 December 2010
07/12/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)
Class #366
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 07/12/2010
All about side control escapes tonight, which was ideal for me given I've been playing with the running escape. Kev started off with the basic escape to the knees, which I still hardly ever do. Howard gave me a handy tip on shrimping twice to thread the leg through more effectively: I frequently find I end up with crap posture when I try to go to knees, so just get flattened.
Kev's aim for this one wasn't to single leg and move to the top. If you have your head on one side and raise your leg on the other, you can slide your other leg in to replace butterfly guard. If you have your head and leg on the same side, you can make space by driving your elbow backwards against their arm, then kick your other leg through and spin to their back (a wrestler's sit-out).
On top, Kev demonstrated a method of maintaining side control, by switching to the other side when they try to escape. They're attempting to do that same escape, swimming their arm through. As soon as they do that, thread your arm under theirs (known as a whizzer), reaching through with your hand so you can push on the back of their head (no their neck, as that isn't so controlling a grip). Keeping your weight down, follow them round, moving to the other side. Even if they get to their knees, this hold is sufficiently strong that you should still be able to move around to the other side, rolling them onto their back.
Another more difficult option is to go against your instinct, and turn your bum towards them as they try that escape and you establish the whizzer, meaning, you end up sitting on them. From there, you can either bring your leg through past their head and look for the triangle, or possibly set up an armbar, due to the control you have on their arm. I felt vulnerable in terms of balance and it felt like I was leaving a lot of space, but then Kev does this to me all the time, so I guess it's a matter of practice to get the sensitivity and timing.
Sparring was of course specific from side control. As ever, I was giving the running escape a go again, but I am still finding that I end up just settling into the position and then struggling to move anywhere. I was generally not being too proactive under side control, going flat on my back too often.
I'm also still tending to do silly things like look for the armbar or triangle from under there, which is particularly foolish against other blues. I did get to half guard once, but I'm pretty sure Howard could have got back to side control if we'd kept going: I always find it tough to fully establish guard when escaping his side control.
On top, I was trying to drop my weight and go high on the shoulder, to see if I could sneak my way into that step-over triangle position. A couple of times, I noticed that I could slide into mount due to all the space, but that almost feels like cheating when doing specific side control sparring. That's because in the specific setting, if you spend a lot of time working high on their shoulder, they start to forget about the possibility of mount so you can sneak it in. I should be taking the opportunity to practice more control in side control and attacks.
Or at least that's how I felt, which was possibly a bit silly. Probably also affected by the fact I really don't like being in mount (which is definitely silly, as that is supposed to be a major dominant position, not a place to avoid!), as I'm far more comfortable attacking from side control. So on the other hand, good to practice getting to mount as well.
I also had a go at that control Kev showed by threading the arm, although I went too low, holding the neck rather than behind the head. That meant Howard could get to his knees and reverse, because my grip was too weak. Still, I like the concept, so I'm going to try and use it more often in future: just need to make sure I'm going higher, so controlling the head like a muay thai plum clinch, not the neck.
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 07/12/2010
All about side control escapes tonight, which was ideal for me given I've been playing with the running escape. Kev started off with the basic escape to the knees, which I still hardly ever do. Howard gave me a handy tip on shrimping twice to thread the leg through more effectively: I frequently find I end up with crap posture when I try to go to knees, so just get flattened.Kev's aim for this one wasn't to single leg and move to the top. If you have your head on one side and raise your leg on the other, you can slide your other leg in to replace butterfly guard. If you have your head and leg on the same side, you can make space by driving your elbow backwards against their arm, then kick your other leg through and spin to their back (a wrestler's sit-out).
On top, Kev demonstrated a method of maintaining side control, by switching to the other side when they try to escape. They're attempting to do that same escape, swimming their arm through. As soon as they do that, thread your arm under theirs (known as a whizzer), reaching through with your hand so you can push on the back of their head (no their neck, as that isn't so controlling a grip). Keeping your weight down, follow them round, moving to the other side. Even if they get to their knees, this hold is sufficiently strong that you should still be able to move around to the other side, rolling them onto their back.
Another more difficult option is to go against your instinct, and turn your bum towards them as they try that escape and you establish the whizzer, meaning, you end up sitting on them. From there, you can either bring your leg through past their head and look for the triangle, or possibly set up an armbar, due to the control you have on their arm. I felt vulnerable in terms of balance and it felt like I was leaving a lot of space, but then Kev does this to me all the time, so I guess it's a matter of practice to get the sensitivity and timing.
Sparring was of course specific from side control. As ever, I was giving the running escape a go again, but I am still finding that I end up just settling into the position and then struggling to move anywhere. I was generally not being too proactive under side control, going flat on my back too often.
I'm also still tending to do silly things like look for the armbar or triangle from under there, which is particularly foolish against other blues. I did get to half guard once, but I'm pretty sure Howard could have got back to side control if we'd kept going: I always find it tough to fully establish guard when escaping his side control.
On top, I was trying to drop my weight and go high on the shoulder, to see if I could sneak my way into that step-over triangle position. A couple of times, I noticed that I could slide into mount due to all the space, but that almost feels like cheating when doing specific side control sparring. That's because in the specific setting, if you spend a lot of time working high on their shoulder, they start to forget about the possibility of mount so you can sneak it in. I should be taking the opportunity to practice more control in side control and attacks.
Or at least that's how I felt, which was possibly a bit silly. Probably also affected by the fact I really don't like being in mount (which is definitely silly, as that is supposed to be a major dominant position, not a place to avoid!), as I'm far more comfortable attacking from side control. So on the other hand, good to practice getting to mount as well.
I also had a go at that control Kev showed by threading the arm, although I went too low, holding the neck rather than behind the head. That meant Howard could get to his knees and reverse, because my grip was too weak. Still, I like the concept, so I'm going to try and use it more often in future: just need to make sure I'm going higher, so controlling the head like a muay thai plum clinch, not the neck.
15 May 2008
15/05/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)
Class #146
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Marcio Gomes, London, UK - 15/05/2008 - Advanced
My finger was still missing skin, so I stuck a plaster on top, then got some zinc oxide tape to hold that in place. As the abrasion is right on the joint, that makes taping it a bit awkward, but I was hoping that I could avoid bending the finger too much in training: e.g., sticking to pistol grips and relying on the lower part of the finger.
Marcio from GB Brighton took class today, which makes this the third time I've trained under him. He started off with drilling the double leg, then showed how you could switch to the single leg if that failed. The position was that they had moved back the leg nearest your head, having also secured a grip on your neck. Simply move round the side of their other leg, squat down then lift with your legs, dropping them into side control.
Marcio followed that up with some work from side control. First he showed how to maintain side control if they tried to turn into you and turtle up. To do so, they'll generally reach around your back with an arm. Before they can secure a grip, the elbow of your nearest arm goes by their armpit. You then move around their head, keeping your weight down and pushing against their arm with your elbow, until you end up round the other side with good control of their arm.
That can then lead to an armbar, though not the orthodox finish. As you moved round using your elbow, shift your grip so that you're cupping their elbow, trapping the arm under your armpit. Having reached the other side, staying close, bring your knee up onto them, while the leg near their head goes over their neck, diagonally. You can then drop back for the submission, which is a sort of figure-four on the arm (so like the straight armbar), though presumably you could also readjust and go for the more normal armbar from here.
The last technique of the day was a butterfly guard pass, used when they try to sweep you (with what looked to be the same method Jude showed us a few lessons back). As they try to lift you up with their hooked leg, you drive your knee through, twisting your torso in the same direction you're pushing your knee towards (this will mean their leg is in a sufficiently awkward position that its difficult for them to counter). Pull up their arm, gripping the back of their gi with your other hand, then pop over their leg to end up in mount.
Guard passage gave me another opportunity to try and stand up more, and I also attempted to grab a sleeve as I did so (something Ben had mentioned during an email exchange earlier). Hard to tell what effect that had, though, as I was rolling with people much better than me, meaning they could quite happily watch me stand up and try to secure a position, then just as happily sweep me.
I was a bit concerned that my shoddily taped finger was going to be exposed if I sparred a lot tonight, so wanted to limit myself to two. Therefore I sat out the first one, then sparred with Christy, who had also been my drilling partner. We had a good roll, where I ended up in either half-guard or butterfly guard, also trying to keep distance with my open guard. At one point I had the opportunity to wrap up a leg with my arms, so attempted to use that to escape out the back, but I think just ended up in a triangle.
However, I managed to get out of the triangle too, just about, also remembering to keep my trailing arm in tight, so I didn't leave myself open for an easy armbar. I had trouble getting past Christy's open guard, as while I had underhooked her legs, I couldn't seem to push them to one side and pass round. Nevertheless, felt like a relatively even spar (though no doubt Christy was taking it relatively easy, as I know she's got considerably more experience than me), so reminded me that I should roll with her more often.
The tape held up during that roll, but I'd misjudged, as that turned out to be the final round of sparring. Next time, I'll follow Jason's method (he always tapes up his fingers), and bend my fingers first, then wrap the tape round. Zinc oxide seems to do a good job of staying put, though I'm not sure if its an especially cost effective option: I paid about £3.70 for an 8m roll. No idea if that’s expensive or not, but either way I've read that duct tape is a functional alternative.
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Marcio Gomes, London, UK - 15/05/2008 - Advanced
My finger was still missing skin, so I stuck a plaster on top, then got some zinc oxide tape to hold that in place. As the abrasion is right on the joint, that makes taping it a bit awkward, but I was hoping that I could avoid bending the finger too much in training: e.g., sticking to pistol grips and relying on the lower part of the finger.
Marcio from GB Brighton took class today, which makes this the third time I've trained under him. He started off with drilling the double leg, then showed how you could switch to the single leg if that failed. The position was that they had moved back the leg nearest your head, having also secured a grip on your neck. Simply move round the side of their other leg, squat down then lift with your legs, dropping them into side control.
Marcio followed that up with some work from side control. First he showed how to maintain side control if they tried to turn into you and turtle up. To do so, they'll generally reach around your back with an arm. Before they can secure a grip, the elbow of your nearest arm goes by their armpit. You then move around their head, keeping your weight down and pushing against their arm with your elbow, until you end up round the other side with good control of their arm.
That can then lead to an armbar, though not the orthodox finish. As you moved round using your elbow, shift your grip so that you're cupping their elbow, trapping the arm under your armpit. Having reached the other side, staying close, bring your knee up onto them, while the leg near their head goes over their neck, diagonally. You can then drop back for the submission, which is a sort of figure-four on the arm (so like the straight armbar), though presumably you could also readjust and go for the more normal armbar from here.
The last technique of the day was a butterfly guard pass, used when they try to sweep you (with what looked to be the same method Jude showed us a few lessons back). As they try to lift you up with their hooked leg, you drive your knee through, twisting your torso in the same direction you're pushing your knee towards (this will mean their leg is in a sufficiently awkward position that its difficult for them to counter). Pull up their arm, gripping the back of their gi with your other hand, then pop over their leg to end up in mount.
Guard passage gave me another opportunity to try and stand up more, and I also attempted to grab a sleeve as I did so (something Ben had mentioned during an email exchange earlier). Hard to tell what effect that had, though, as I was rolling with people much better than me, meaning they could quite happily watch me stand up and try to secure a position, then just as happily sweep me.
I was a bit concerned that my shoddily taped finger was going to be exposed if I sparred a lot tonight, so wanted to limit myself to two. Therefore I sat out the first one, then sparred with Christy, who had also been my drilling partner. We had a good roll, where I ended up in either half-guard or butterfly guard, also trying to keep distance with my open guard. At one point I had the opportunity to wrap up a leg with my arms, so attempted to use that to escape out the back, but I think just ended up in a triangle.
However, I managed to get out of the triangle too, just about, also remembering to keep my trailing arm in tight, so I didn't leave myself open for an easy armbar. I had trouble getting past Christy's open guard, as while I had underhooked her legs, I couldn't seem to push them to one side and pass round. Nevertheless, felt like a relatively even spar (though no doubt Christy was taking it relatively easy, as I know she's got considerably more experience than me), so reminded me that I should roll with her more often.
The tape held up during that roll, but I'd misjudged, as that turned out to be the final round of sparring. Next time, I'll follow Jason's method (he always tapes up his fingers), and bend my fingers first, then wrap the tape round. Zinc oxide seems to do a good job of staying put, though I'm not sure if its an especially cost effective option: I paid about £3.70 for an 8m roll. No idea if that’s expensive or not, but either way I've read that duct tape is a functional alternative.
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