2nd Seminar with Charles Harriot, chokes and back maintenance

Seminar #034
Artemis BJJ, Charles Harriott, Bristol, UK - 08/02/2019

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Thanks again to @charlesharriott for his awesome seminar last week! I'll be trying to recap some of it in the blue belt + class tonight. 😀 #ArtemisBJJ #BJJ #BrazilianJiuJitsu #ArtemisBJJseminar #Bristol #UK #BJJglobetrotters #CharlesHarriott

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Feb 15, 2019 at 10:11am PST

Good general rule, don't bend your hand up, bad for the wrist.

The choke is all about the chest. Put your arms in place, elbows close together. Doing the macarena, hand on your shoulder (instead of behind their head). Bring your elbow forwards, trying to get your elbows to meet. Get your other hand to your other shoulder. Back is straight, don't lean back: often you might need to shuffle your hips back, so there is space by your crotch. Crotch should not be pressed against their back.

You don't want to be doing any movement. Expand chest, don't breathe normally. Circular breathing, so chest doesn't rise and fall. Keep your head at the same height as their head. If they are taller, slide back to get your head at the same height.

If you only have one arm around, not yet in place, use your chin on their shoulder to keep control. Imagine you have vampire teeth under your chin, bite them in the front of the shoulder. Use your free hand to keep pushing their hand along your arm, until you can lock it by the ledge: be careful they can't grab your hand at this point. Also remember, you can always switch to a bow and arrow.

If you have that arm around, but they've managed to pull it down, use your free hand to push their shoulder forward. If it's really low, push their elbow, so that you can grab their far tricep with your choking arm. Once you've worked that to the ledge, pushing their hand out of the way if you need to, you can choke with one arm. They will probably try to pull that arm off the ledge, so protect it with your chin, over the top.

When they push up and drive you to your back, put your feet behind their knees, extend and sit them back up. Alternatively, you can turn them towards your choking arm. Bottom hook is on the choking side, your other foot is behind their leg, extending and preventing their turn.

Bottom hook the more important, also use a shoulder wedge to control them. Your shoulder behind their head as you grip.

11/03/2015 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Open Guard

Class #633
Artemis BJJ (MyGym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 11/03/2015

Drilling with Chris, he wanted to go through some guard retention stuff. That worked well for me, as then I could work on my open guard, running through what I did at the Kev private recently. I'm still not too clear on the shin-to-shin guard, but that should improve the more I get to practice with it (the main thing at the moment is that I don't seem to end up in positions conducive to it at present, thought that could just as easily be an inability on my part to apply the guard to a sufficient breadth of situations). Chris had a nice wrestling type grip when he tried the second shin-to-shin sweep, switching to grab around the outside of their leg and threading it through. That helped control during the pass.

The single leg x guard is continuing to confuse me. Initially lifting that leg, it felt really heavy at first, though just from the lift that knocked Chris over a number of times. I changed to pushing out the other leg to help lighten the forward leg, which made a difference. I could also try that entry the visiting purple belt from the open mat has shown me before, from spider guard IIRC. I need to remember to hook my foot around their hip, in terms of my leg which is above their knee. To get the sweep, it was easier when I was attacking their left leg, I found I could raise my hips and turn over without it feeling so awkward. Not going too high and too tight with my leg under their knee was beneficial to the sweep too, it seemed.

Switching from collar to the back of the head before I switch to grabbing the shin might be worth practicing as well. Otherwise, it means there is a moment where I don't have any kind of grip on them with my hands. Finally, Dónal's grip-break from the back, raising the wrist of my top hand. That's something I should practice much more, as it is all on the back this month.

23/12/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Back Take from Closed Guard & Ryan Hall's Kimura Grip

Class #618
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 23/12/2014

Today we started off by working on closed guard back takes, as Chris had some trouble with it yesterday. It was useful for me too: pointing out where I was able to prevent him taking my back made me realise what steps could be taken to counteract my defense. So, that was in short the importance of controlling their posture, getting off to the side (angles, always angles) and pushing their head away. My main counters were to posture up or drive my head back across horizontally, so if Chris could stuff those, the back take was much easier. Also, if I step up a leg, he can underhook and roll me over in a nice sweep.

We took some video of the progressive resistance, in order to properly test out the HookSweep website. That's a service set up by Georgette's old team mates at Gracie Humaita Austin, where the idea is that students send their instructor videos of up to a minute, which can then be broken down and worked through. The membership is free at the moment, so I was curious to try it out. That also means we've got a bunch of training footage, something I've not had for years. I'll probably therefore embed it when Chris sends the video through. :)

After that, it was my turn for drilling, where again I picked maintaining the back, based off Ryan Hall's DVD. This time, we had a play with the kimura grip. Once you get it, stay firm. I don't think I had it quite right, as Chris could still move a bit. Getting into position is perhaps the hardest part, bringing the arm over their head. Donal's grip break is handy here, as well as pushing on their hip with your foot to block their movement.

We finished with some back escape specific sparring. I tried to use that kimura grip as well as the tweaks from yesterday, which helped a bit I think. Fun stuff: I still need to work on my control, but thanks to Ryan Hall and Chris, it seems to be improving. Unfortunately my injury means I can't use my legs properly, but I'm pleased I can at least work on the stuff that focuses on arms.

22/12/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Shoulder-to-Ear Clamp from Ryan Hall's 'Back Attacks'

Class #617
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 22/12/2014

I started off practicing one of the free stretches from Sebastian Broche's YogaForBJJ. I like the first one for the hip flexor, but I'm not as sure about the other two. I had trouble getting them right today, though they felt good when I did them at home with the video in front of me. Might just need some more reviewing. Chris also had a good tip on the first one, about tilting your hips to increase the stretch.

We went with back control for today's session. Just like my drilling on the guard over the last weeks, I wanted to focus on techniques using the arms. Once again, Ryan Hall proved to be a good source, this time his Back Attacks DVD. The great thing about that DVD is that like The Defensive Guard, it's focused on maintaining rather than spectacular acrobatics or convoluted positions. We started off with the classic seat belt, clamping your chest to their upper back with your head in tight.

The two bits Hall adds in are firstly gripping the first of your choking arm. His reasoning is that they will tend to try and pull your arm free, meaning that your choking arm can slide straight up (the same reasoning as John Will, IIRC). Personally, I found grabbing over the first didn't result in a secure lock (so I'm probably doing it wrong). I prefer Xande's palm to palm grip. There again you can twist straight up into the choke, while retaining that grip that at least feels more secure.

I found Hall's second addition easier to apply and much more to my liking. To really jam them in place, use the shoulder of your choking arm (so, the arm that is over their shoulder) and press it to their ear. This should also end up pushing their head forwards, something Hall recommends are being an effective way to put them out of alignment and therefore making it harder for them to bring any strength to bear. It's kind of like a cross face from side control, but from the back.

This grip felt awesome. I had excellent control over Chris, twisting him around when he tried to move. However, I must have been too tight and squeezing excessively, as I could feel that tell-tale soreness in my bicep afterwards. That also happens to me when I try and wrap up the head in closed guard: it ends up being a strength thing rather than a technique thing. Considering I'm a weedy small person, that's a very bad idea. So, good reminder for me to relax into that grip. ;)

We also tried Hall's dive into back control right off the pass, as they try to turn away. You immediately reach in for the seat belt, dropping into a scarf hold type position with your feet for base. It felt strong again when I did it, but it felt even stronger when Chris did it to me. Rather than clamping his chest to my upper back, he was pressing into my shoulder like you would from technical mount.

It turned out that this is exactly what Hall showed in the next video clipped I'd chopped from the DVD. I think the chest into back is when you're right behind, chest into shoulder when they're more on their side, but I need to watch the DVD more thoroughly. Chris also pushing off his toes for extra leverage, again like you would in side control.

We finished off with a quick bit of the same open guard drilling we did before, to practice those arm shields from The Defensive Guard. Those elbow blocks enabled me to sit up and move back into open guard, despite what seemed solid passing grips from Chris, who had his arms around both of my upper legs. I am also continuing to like the ankle pick sweep, but I'm not getting the loop choke. I probably need to commit to it, go for it more often and also set it up with something. E.g., make them lean forward more, perhaps in combination with that ankle pick sweep I keep doing.

On top, I managed to pass, but I was notably more out of breath than usual afterwards, so I think I was scrambling a lot and using force. Passing is generally going to be more tiring than guard, but if my approach is too tiring, I'm not going to be able to sustain that for very long. The handy thing about drilling so much guard is that I therefore also get a bunch of practice with passing. That would probably be a good thing to drill in a while. It also happens that Hall has a DVD set for that as well, so we can keep the 50/50 instructionals theme going. ;)

30/08/2014 - Open Mat | The Back | Turtle Basics

Class #588
Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 30/08/2014

In September, we're returning to the back, revisiting a position for the first time since we kicked off Artemis BJJ back in January. It won't be a retread of April, however, as the focus will be a specific variant of back control known as the turtle, where you're on your knees and elbows. This is something that crops up quite often as people try to avoid being passed, along with various other situations. It isn't a position I find myself in all that much, perhaps because I tend to go with tight, pressure passes that result either in a pass or getting stuck in half guard most of the time. Either way, it means it's a position I'm looking forward to exploring in more depth.

So, as usual with open mats, I wanted to have a play with some techniques I plan to teach next week. The reason I was especially keen to look into turtle was due to a couple of instructionals I've been sent to review that are based around turtle: firstly, Aesopian's Mastering the Crucifix that I reviewed recently, then secondly a turtle seminar from Nathan 'Levo' Leverton. A number of the techniques from Levo's video are ones I've seen before at his LSG back seminar, so it's good to get a different take on it as well as a refresher.

I'm going to cover some of the basics for maintaining the turtle, from the top person's perspective. For that, I'm using the side ride and the back control position Levo learned from Demian Maia. For the side ride, you have your nearest knee next to theirs, your other leg out for base (but bent, as if it's straight, that hinders your ability to react to their movement). Your same side hand is grabbing their arm, while your other hand is reaching inside their far hip. Don't go too deep, just to the level of your wrist, also being careful to keep your elbow out of range. Your head stays low.

A point of difference between how Levo showed it on that video and how I've seen Xande do the same thing is that Xande keeps his knee off the floor and leans into them. You can also see that in Aesopian's section about the side ride. I decided to go with knee off the ground, to add a bit more weight and mobility, but I'm still experimenting to see what works best both for me and for students.

You can also move around behind them, where you put both hands inside their thighs, your knees pressing into their hips, staying on your toes and keeping your weight low. From there, you can switch to the side ride on either side. If they manage to start turning, always run behind them to their back. If you run towards their stomach as they turn, that puts you in their guard.

Along with some of that maintenance, I had a quick play with the clock choke variation I learned from Kev, who got it in turn from Felipe Souza. I find it simpler than the usual clock choke, as you simply grab their collar, block the near side of their head with your free elbow, then walk round for the submission. I tend to find the standard clock choke tricky to get and more awkward to finish, but that's probably just because I always use the elbow-block version instead.

Finally, I also had a play with some crucifix stuff, which fits nicely with the side ride. In specific sparring, I was able to switch into the crucifix a few times, walking back and going into the collar choke. However, I also lost it a few times, their arm slipping free because my legs were too loose. I didn't get lifted up, as my training partner was my size, which meant different gaps in my technique were exposed compared to Congleton.

Underneath, my turtle escapes could do with some work. I was waiting for them to try and get their hook, then grabbing the arm and driving through. That kinda works, but it's sloppy and I think uses way too much strength. I felt sore in my lower abs/groin afterwards, which indicates to me I was relying on force rather than leverage. On the plus side, the random kimura grip thing to escape back control worked, having watched some guy use it while browsing the net earlier: getting something off a Sherdog thread to function has got to be a first for me. ;)

Best thing that happened all day was my training partner hit the clock choke variation I showed him a few minutes earlier! Unfortunately I wasn't watching at the time, but still cool to know it was effective for him straight away. :D

14/04/2014 - Grip Break When They Block Your Back Choke

Class #558
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 14/04/2014

I was still pretty sore from the GrappleThon yesterday, particularly my left arm. My own fault entirely, as I rely way too much on cross-facing, along with overwrapping from the guard and just generally grabbing the gi and yanking it a lot. It indicates I'm probably using too much force with that arm, which is ironic given how focused I am on technique. ;)

Well worth the pain, because we've managed to raise over £5,000 for the wonderful local charity Kinergy! Naturally you're more than welcome to keep pushing that total even higher, if you want to help an extremely deserving cause. It meant I didn't do any sparring today, though I was still able to join in with the drilling, as well as set the timer for sparring etc.

Dónal started off with a de la Riva pass drill. Squat, grab their collar and pull them in towards you (to get their shoulders off the ground, which makes it harder for them to sweep you). Shove the foot that is on your hip straight down, pushing near the ankle, then swing your leg up. Step on their leg, shoving it underneath the leg you raised to stick them in place. You'd keep going from there, naturally, but that's where we stopped for the drill.

The main technique was Dónal's grip break to attack the back: he has showed it to me before, in a private lesson a while ago. Remember to put it on slowly, being careful of wrist lock pressure. The situation is that they have grabbing your choking arm with both of their arms. Slide your non-choking hand out, then put it on top of their wrist, palm up (like you're holding a tray).

Use your choking hand to grasp your non-choking arm (you'll probably only manage a couple of fingers, but that is enough). Bend your non-choking hand backwards, at the same time twisting your choking hand in the same direction, still holding on. This should be uncomfortable on their wrist: pushing downwards will help too.

To finish extricating your arm, wriggle your non-choking wrist sideways into their arm, which should pop their hand out of the way. As soon as you knock it free, unclasp your hands and grab the meat part of their hand with your non-choking hand. From there you could push it down and step your leg over to trap it, or simply hold it in place with your hand. You may also be able to twist your choking arm straight into their neck, as they will often get distracted by what you're doing to their wrist.

Right at the end, Dónal quickly showed an entry into deep half from standard half: Roli wanted to know, as I guess he's working his deep half. Dive your inside arm to their opposite bum cheek and swivel underneath the leg. From there, you can go for the Homer sweep or maybe the Waiter, but the Homer sweep seems the simplest option for deep half. Simple is good! ;)

08/09/2013 - Study Hall (Back Escapes)

Class #522
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Study Hall, Bristol, UK - 08/09/2013

Today's session started off with a brief bit of takedowns, as that's what the people I was partnered up with wanted to do. I took the opportunity to play with some of the Rickson techniques I learned at the Michel Verhoeven seminar recently (later that seminar was handy once again, when I was helping Berry with some cross-choke details). As Arnaud pushed in towards me, I couldn't stop him shoving me backwards down the mat. However, if I switched to pick up his leg, he said he couldn't stop his momentum as he overbalanced, enabling me to put him on his back. I still don't have any intention of competing, meaning takedown practice is rather redundant for me, but it's good to have something to work on when takedowns training is unavoidable.

I'm still not happy with my back escapes, so I'm returning to the same techniques as before (which I suspect is going to be a regular occurrence for a long time). Switching to deep half when they go to mount could do with a lot of improvement. Hooking the leg is something I need to time, as if I do it too soon, I lose my supporting leg and can get rolled to the other side. I therefore should get my back properly to the mat first. A few times, they ended up in mount anyway: I then escape from technical mount, but that's not really the idea.

Another area where I'm having trouble is working out when to move to grabbing their trouser leg. In the scenario where they try to mount, that's useful, as it gives me the possibility of doing what Xande does and recover guard. I'd prefer to get on top, but having somebody in my guard is much better than having them on my back.

I took a different route to the usual progressive resistance. Although that is very useful and I do it frequently, it isn't always as effective at pinning down the specific problem, because it can turn into pseudo-sparring. To further isolate the specific training, I broke the escape down step by step, asking my training partner what their reaction would be at each point. That obviously isn't realistic, but I did find it helpful to work out what to do at which point, as well as different tweaks and responses my partner might have.

For example, Berry liked to switch his arms when I turn away from the choking side, which results in recovering the choking side without having to roll them over (as I taught a while ago). To avoid that, I need better control over the arms, which was a general theme over the whole session.

I focused on clamping my elbow to my side, to trap the arm they had reaching under my armpit. I then looked to also control their other arm, by grabbing the sleeve with that same elbow-clamping arm. I haven't yet worked out the best configuration to lock that in place. At present, they may be able to simply free that arm then pull it out of range. Then again, perhaps that would open up the chance of stepping over it with my leg, trapping it that way? Could work as a nice combination.

Another advantage of gripping like that is I'm using one arm to control both of theirs, leaving one of my arms free. I can use that free arm to grab their leg and being my escape, then reach behind their head and grab their far armpit. That puts me in my preferred cross-facing position. It isn't always easy to get, so I also need a Plan B: perhaps dropping my elbow like Dónal, or somehow getting my weight up onto their chest, or indeed reaching across their neck (again like I've taught before).

I don't often train with Nick because he is so big (literally about twice the size of me), but he's also very technical. Going through the same step-by-step process with him, he had various advice on maintaining the back. If you want to put them back over to the other side, press your heel into their hip on that side (similar to what I learned in the private on bow and arrow chokes). When gripping under their armpit, getting the opposite collar grip is going to be the strongest.

Rather than going to mount when they push off one hook, you can also do a very simple flick under their leg with your remaining hook, then walk around to side control. This does depend on how much mobility you have with their armpit arm, though: if they've really clamped it, you won't be able to turn. Afterwards I realised that this is something I used to attempt, way back in the day, but I think I generally got stuck due to that armpit arm. Nice option to have, either way.

11/08/2013 - Study Hall (Back Escapes & Maintaining)

Class #517
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Study Hall, Bristol, UK - 11/08/2013

Today I continued focusing on the back, still one of my main weak areas at the moment. Previously I would have said passing the guard was my biggest weak point, but I think the private lessons have helped a lot with that. I wouldn't say I'm confident passing yet, but I at least feel I have an idea where I want to go: previously, I'd end up staring blankly at somebody's open guard.

Having said that, since training at GB Bristol, I've also mainly been rolling with white and blue belts rather than purples and up, which is obviously a very different proposition. For a start, I rarely have people stick me in closed guard, which I should practice against more often. It would be good to get in more rolls with Dónal, as he's the closest to my size, along with the other two purple belts, Miles and Liam, plus high level blues like Tony. There is Geeza too, naturally, but although he's a black belt, he's so much bigger than me that I don't tend to get much of our rolls.

Interestingly, that need for partners with greater experience was mentioned by several of the higher level blue belts I drilled with today. Although there are definitely advantages to having lots of less experienced training partners - the biggest one is that you can test out techniques in which you lack confidence - they don't react the same way as somebody who has been training longer. The ideal situation is a relatively even spread of people who are less experienced, people at the same level and people who have been training longer than you. Hence why it is so useful to occasionally train at other schools, for both that broader range of experience and different games to what you're used to.

I'm teaching maintaining the back next week, so as I try to enable students to practice the techniques they learn in class when I teach, that means I'll also want to keep working on escaping the back. Rewatching a few of the back escape videos in my archive, I realised that the brief section Ryan Hall includes in his DVD on the back looks quite similar to what I learned from Dónal.

There is the same head to the mat process, followed by a switch to deep half when they try to mount. The two escapes I wanted to practice were Hall's take on using your foot to push the opposite hook free. Dónal did cover this in the private, but I don't think I remembered to cover it in the little review video we always do at the end of privates. So, study hall was a good opportunity to practice it.

The first back escape begins by getting your head to the mat, like Dónal demonstrated. You then push their hooking foot off with your opposite heel, immediately bringing your hips over. With that same heel, block the leg you just cleared out of the way. Keep shifting round, then either move to the top (if you're able to control their head in the way I like to), or take deep half and spin to the top.

Drilling that version with Luke (the bigger one: I drilled with both Lukes today ;D) yielded two pointers for improvement. Getting the shoulders to the mat is key: to get them there, I need a bit more explosion. It shouldn't take too much energy, just that extra twist to get myself out of range of most chokes. On that point, bow and arrow type chokes are dangerous, so I can never be complacent: Luke caught me in a very tight grip.

Secondly, something somebody mentioned in the changing room, which is pushing the head across. I have been getting lazy about that and been driving my own head across. If I instead make sure I am actually pushing their head across, that both gets my head in position, but it also puts my shoulders in the right place too.

Another variation Ryan Hall does when you end up on the 'wrong' side. Again, push their foot off with your opposite heel. Pop your hips over, then with that same heel, block the leg you just cleared out of the way. Next is a motion that Xande does on his DVD as well, reaching back with the non-choking side arm and grabbing around their head. From there, turn your hips towards their head, sliding your lower leg through, then securing some variation of side control.

This one was harder to get: I generally found it difficult to push off hooks, especially with Bigger Luke, as he had his feet solidly crossed off to the side (I did at one point try pushing them across to get that classic footlock, but to no avail). It's also important to turn the right way. If I try turning over the top, towards their legs, I will often get stuck.

Turning your hips towards their head instead is easier, but your head then becomes an important extra limb. I drove it up across Smaller Luke's chest (getting a worried squealing noise from the hair on the top of my head: better suited to those with shaved heads, I think). That maintains your control on their upper body.

I also practiced maintaining the back for Tuesday, working both the Marcelo tips and the stuff I was playing with on Friday (though using a single hook for back control is something Marcelo briefly talks about in his book). It seemed to function ok, although after doing it with more resistance I found my left hamstring felt slightly sore afterwards, which indicates I was using too much force on that side (interestingly, that was the free hook, not the one I had threaded through both legs).

Dónal's guard sweeps with the lapel were up next, mainly just getting in reps, before returning to more work on back escapes. I also got to drill lots of guard posture (which fits in nicely with what I said earlier about wanting to practice more against closed guard), because Smaller Luke wanted to practice his overhook guard. Initially that was with no resistance, then we upped it gradually. The big difference for me was going up on my toes, like Caio Terra advises. It isn't comfortable, but it massively increases your ability to drive, resist and adjust when in somebody's closed guard.

24/07/2013 - Dónal Private (Bit of Mount, Maintaining & Chokes from the Back)

Class #512 - Private #012
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 24/07/2013

I started off by asking about mount escapes, in case Dónal had any tweaks to add. I'm relatively clear on what I need to do when escaping mount, but I'm always looking to add more details or just different perspectives. Dónal had two suggestions: firstly, bump them with your knee to lighten their legs for the heel drag (a useful tip in general, which I think I initially heard in the context of half guard). There was a quick point from on top, where Dónal mentioned that to stop them getting on their side for the heel drag, Norby likes to put his body next to their head.

Secondly, if you're making a frame against their hips, turn your hand so it is palm towards the mat rather than pointing back towards you. Kesting recently had a video on that as well, where he suggests making a fist rather than open hand, in order to make it harder for them to knock your hand off and break the frame.

That didn't take very long, so for the rest of the hour we focused on the back. To being Dónal offered some suggestions for maintaining the back. They will be looking to escape by turning away from your choking arm, getting onto their side. To prevent them slipping free, tighten your hamstring by their choking arm side leg. You don't have to sit there tensing, as you're just looking to block them whenever you feel that leg try to move. If they are unable to bring that leg into action, then they'll struggle to both slide across and also use their foot to push off your heel.

If you can't get your seatbelt grip, dig your hand under their elbow on the non-choking side and pry it up, until you can slip that hand through. From here, you will often find they try to grab your choking hand. An effective way to break that hold is to put your non-choking hand on top of their same side forearm, palm up. Reach your choking hand to grasp your non-choking arm (you'll probably only manage a couple of fingers, but that is enough).

Bend your non-choking hand backwards, at the same time twisting your choking hand in the same direction, still holding on. This should be uncomfortable on their wrist. To finish extricating your arm, wriggle your non-choking wrist sideways into their arm, which should pop their hand out of the way. As soon as you knock it free, unclasp your hands and grab the meat part of their hand with your non-choking hand. From there you could push it down and step your leg over to trap it, or simply hold it in place with your hand.

You can now move into some attacks. Your first option is the short choke from last week, which you can do either grabbing onto their shoulder or holding the gi, then driving your shoulder into their head. Alternatively, there is Dónal's option, where the elbow is on their shoulder and you squeeze your arm together for the choke. A stronger option is the classic bow and arrow from the back. If you're still on your side, you need to get them upright: push on their choking side leg with your same side foot, shoving it forwards to bring them up off their side.

Don't make your initial grip on their collar too tight, or you'll lack the range to finish the choke. If they're got a GB gi on, you're gripping at roughly the 'G' from the ugly Gracie Barra patch along the jacket. Next you want to get hold of their non-choking side leg. With your same side heel, dig that by their knee and curl your leg back. That should bring their trouser leg in range for you to grab with your free hand, establishing a good anchor point.

Switch your non-choking side foot to hook around their far hip. That acts as a useful leverage point to swing your other leg out (you want to end up upright, rather than falling to one side). Your aim is to drop them into a space between your legs, rather than having them resting on your lap. Bring your choking elbow back to hide it near your hip. If you don't, they have a chance to reach back and pull on your elbow to try and escape. At this point, you will also probably need to release a few fingers, leaving you with two or three fingers. It ends up looking quite different to the version Roy Dean shows in the picture on the right, as Dónal doesn't extend his body like that or use the same grips.

That increases your range, but note that they will most likely attempt to grasp that hand and yank on it to remove your control. Two fingers gives more range, but feels weak on that situation: drilling, I felt more comfortable with three, especially if you imagine you're with a muscle-headed white belt looking to rip your hand off.

26/02/2013 - Liam Teaches (Back Takes & Trapping the Arm)

Class #488
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Liam Knapp, Bristol, UK - 26/02/2013

As Dónal has been busy with his new baby, the rest of the purple belts have been helping to cover his classes. Tonight it was Liam's turn: he's the most recent purple but has actually been training for longer than both Miles and I, so I was looking forward to what he'd come up with. After Miles took the warm up, Liam moved into several techniques for taking the back.

The first back take was a Marcelo Garcia classic from butterfly guard. The initial grip is important, starting by grabbing their wrist with your same side hand. You'll use your other hand to completely isolate their arm, cupping behind their elbow. This two on one hold will enable you to pull their arm across your body. Lift and kick your same side leg, simultaneously yanking their arm across. Use the combined momentum to shift your hips down to their leg.

They should now be low to the ground and turned slightly away from you. Clamp your chest to their shoulder, reaching your top arm around their back and grip their side, while the other hand bases on the floor. Bring your knee out slightly for balance, then swing your other leg over to establish your first hook. If they are blocking that hook with their arm, that means their neck is vulnerable so you can go for the choke.

The next back take from closed guard was quite different, this time influenced by Cobrinha. Establish a two-on-one grip, grabbing their sleeve with your same side hand, then reaching under with your other hand to grip your own wrist. Thrust upwards to break their grip on your jacket. Maintaining your initial grip, pull their arm behind your head, while also reaching your other arm around the outside. This feels a bit awkward, so it takes some getting use to: you're trying to essentially get your shoulder next to theirs, pulling their arm underneath your body.

After you've got into that odd position, which is already uncomfortable for them, the arm you just reached through is now going to go under their neck and grab their far collar. For them, it feels like they are being both choke and armbarred at the same time, so they will probably want you to take their back at this point. Kick out their knee with your leg to collapse them, then take their back.

When drilling, I found that I kept ending up with too little of Miles' arm. There is another technique Cobrinha uses for that kind of position, when he hooks that arm and gets into a very tight armbar if they turn towards him, but to complete the technique we were trying to drill, I found it helpful to reach close into Miles' elbow. If I could pry that elbow up as I reached through, it made it much easier to bend his arm and pull it underneath me.

Finally, Liam wanted us to play with trapping the arm from the back. He started off with the basic option of shoving their wrist down and bringing your leg over. Thread your leg through, pushing until you can get your foot behind their back, also squeezing your knee into them. There is also Dónal's option, where you bring your hand palm up, grab your leg, then complete the technique. That gives them very little chance to wriggle free.

Specific sparring was from a position where they had already trapped your arm with that method. My groin injury prevented me from practicing sparring when on somebody's back, but I could practice the defence. People weren't going all out for the choke, which made things fairly light and therefore meant things that were working for me probably wouldn't if we were going full speed. Still, I was having some success feeding my arm inside their choking arm to create some space. I was also trying to step on their ankles, in order to immobilise one leg and enable me to step over and hopefully free my hips.

I was finding that I could often free my lower body, which tended to be enough to walk around, get my weight onto them and then free my upper body. However, again at full speed that would have been much tougher, particularly as like Liam mentioned, if somebody can get that over under grip they can still control you whether or not they have the hooks in. It was helpful nevertheless, getting a feel for stepping on the ankles, hip movement etc.

There was then one round of free sparring, where as ever I found myself getting into a half spider guard type thing, adapting to only being able to use one leg properly. I end up pushing against a hip and framing with my arms, trying to maintain distance: against a white belt, that can work the whole spar, but with somebody more experienced, they will eventually pass. I am REALLY looking forward to having both of my legs in full working order again! On the other hand, being forced to play guard like this might help me avoid doing whatever it was that injured me in the first place (though more likely I'll just slip into the same patterns as before. Bleh).

I also had a chance to try Dónal's pass in a live situation. My legs got swiftly entangled and I also got stretched out, as well as Miles' arms framing into my hips (I think). I couldn't bring my hips in close to his to bring my weight to bear and also struggled to shrug off his legs. That ended up with him sweeping me, IIRC. On the plus side, I was able to get into my starting position, so that's something. Either way, it was useful, because I now had something to think about for the next private lesson. :)

14/08/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Trapping the Arm in Back Mount)

Class #463
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 14/08/2012

The writing workload has finally calmed down enough that I can get back to normal training, rather than just teaching. I'm looking to gradually get back to three or four times a week, preferably more, in time for my training trip to Texas in November. The GrappleThon in September should help with that too: if you haven't donated already, click on the widget to the left, or go here for the main GrappleThon team page on JustGiving. Even £1 helps! :D The following two weeks are all about the back. For this class, Dónal showed us a couple of details on how to trap their arm when you're on the back: that's helpful, because it then means you only have one of their arms to deal with, while both of yours are still free. I've seen a number of ways to do that, but Dónal's method was new to me. You will be trying to get a seat belt grip (so, one arm over their shoulder, the other by their armpit, then gripping your hands together, either palm to palm or holding your own wrist). They will normally have their crossed by their neck, in an effort to block your attacks. You should be able to get in at least one arm: over the shoulder tends to be easier. With your other hand, wedge it under their same side elbow, raising the little finger side. Wriggle that under until you have some purchase by the elbow, then lever their arm up. As soon as there is space, bring that hand inside their elbow, grabbing their wrist or forearm, your palm pointing away. Push their arm down, then fall towards your shoulder arm side.  Twist your hips slightly, towards your armpit arm side. That should give you slightly greater range of motion in your leg on that side, which you will now swing over their elbow. Swivel your armpit hand so the palm is facing in, then grab your own shin. Bring your leg through their arm, using your gripping hand to help, until you can get your foot to their spine. This should trap their arm securely, as long as you are above their elbow: otherwise, they might be able to wriggle free. From here, you should find it much easier to attack, as it is now two arms against one. If they are grabbing their gi or your arm, you'll need to break their grip before you can go for this technique. You are already holding their wrist with your armpit hand. However, you are having trouble pushing it down because they are grabbing their gi collar. To loosen that hold, wedge the wrist of your shoulder hand next to the knuckle of their little finger: the way I thought of it as like doing a heel hook, but with your wrist taking the place of the crook of your elbow, while the heel is that knuckle. Release your grip on their wrist with your armpit hand, so you can instead chop downwards directly into their wrist. As you chop down, also pull up with your shoulder hand. This should twist their wrist uncomfortably, until the leverage enables you to break their grip and enact the previous arm-trap technique. Even if it doesn't break their grip, you should find that by continuing to increase the pressure you will end up with your arm against their throat, ready to go for a choke (or at least, that's what Dónal did, when I asked what would happen if you couldn't break their grip and he demonstrated on me). If they are grabbing your wrist rather than their own gi, the technique is similar but you'll use a slightly different approach. Lock your hands palm to palm, then again twist their wrist by locking your hands together and levering them up. This is handy, as a very common defence is for them to grasp your shoulder hand to stop you securing position for a choke. It's been about two months since I did any free sparring, so it was good to get back into it tonight. Things kicked off with some specific sparring from the back, where I was practicing the Marcelo Garcia approach to maintaining the back, like I taught a while back. I got the hip extension a few times, until Tony got wise to it and managed to scrunch up.

I think the problem I then had was the separation between my chest and his upper back, caused by the way he was able to loosen my seat belt grip. That meant I couldn't get much control over his upper body, which you need in order to effectively stretch them out to re-insert your second hook.

I also found that while I was fairly happy underhook his leg with my own when he rolled to the armpit arm side to move him back the other way, it was more difficult if Tony successfully got his shoulder side leg out. I probably should have switched more quickly to either technical or full mount as the leg started to slip, rather than being overly focused on the leg lift tactic (which obviously doesn't work if they aren't bridging to put you on your back).

Free sparring started off with Mike, I looked to get into a passing position to start off with. He went straight for his preferred single-leg x-guard, which I attempted to counter by staying low and grabbing his collar to keep my balance. From there I worked on sprawling my legs back and trying to slide over his knee to move into top half guard, underhooking his far arm and then controlling his head first with my elbow, then a cross-face once I had enough base. I felt like I was in danger of being swept a few times (my slight weight advantage probably helped keep me on top), so I need to be careful of giving them too much space for their legs and knees to get underneath.

I finished off with a larger white belt, where as usual when the person is bigger, I stayed very defensive, switching between the running escape posture under side control then into spider guard variations if I could get out of there. I focused on making sure my legs were always pushing on hips, shoulders, arms or chest and my hands were grabbing either collar, arm or trouser leg. I think it was Christina who first advised me that you should always be grabbing something, rather than having an arm or leg uselessly flopping around in mid-air: either way, it's useful advice.

I still need to improve my ability to go to the back from guard. I felt like I was in position, having reached over to secure their lat, but struggled to get the rotation to move over the top. Something to work on: perhaps using my other hand to post? Or work harder to arm-drag, which is a technique I'd really like to incorporate properly into my guard game. At the moment, my guard remains super-defensive, so I'm not taking enough advantage of options like moving to the back.