06/10/2011 - Michael 'Big Mick' Wilson at Gracie Barra Bristol

Class #423
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Michael 'Big Mick' Wilson, Bristol, UK - 06/10/2011

Normally I would be teaching the Thursday class, but this week is a bit special. That's because this week, there is a top black belt training at Gracie Barra Bristol: Michael 'Big Mick' Wilson. I was therefore more than happy to give up my slot to him, especially as I thought I'd lost my chance to learn from Big Mick due to being away yesterday. Also, I stayed on my brother's floor last night after a five hour meeting I had to attend up near Leamington, so lack of sleep would probably have rather hampered my teaching. ;)

Instead, I could relax and be the student rather than the instructor. Big Mick's lesson got off to an excellent start, as I really like his approach to warm-ups. Rather than any running or press-ups, it was based entirely upon partner-exercises which were directly relevant to jiu jitsu. For example, pummelling in the clinch, bullfighter passes and a useful drill for working leg flexibility, hip movement and lower body dexterity all at the same time.

That third exercise begins by having your partner sat on their heels, with arms outstretched in front of them, held parallel. You then put your instep on the opposite arm, after which you rotate your hips so that the knee of that same leg points to the floor. Follow that up by swinging your other leg over the top, until the instep of that leg presses into the other arm, whereupon your repeat. Great drill.

Mick's lesson tonight looked into the efficacy of double sleeve control from guard. He described it as if your partner's hands are an opposing team's star players, while your hands are going to act as markers to take them out of the game (or to use Mick's choice of metaphor, taggers from Aussie rules football). If you keep hold of those sleeves, then even if they get all the way around your legs, you can still stop them passing. There is the possibility of a sweep too: using another metaphor, Mick described the person passing as a plane trying to touch down without landing gear, meaning they were liable to crash.

To drive that point home, he then had us do some specific sparring from that position. That brought up another feature of the lesson I liked, as Mick followed the system at Gracie Barra Birmingham. I've mentioned this before, but you have everyone line up, then count them off in groups of 1-2-3. The ones go down on their backs first and stay there, until time runs out and it's the turn of the twos, then finally the threes. That way, everybody gets a good chance to practice the position, instead of just the most skilled and/or athletic people (which is what happens in a typical king of the hill set-up).

The people on their backs started with that double sleeve control, so the aim was to see if you could use those grips to hold your partner at bay. I found it tough to pass (though my passing is crap, so that's not unusual), even when I managed to get into a good position. I managed to move round to north-south at one point, but due to that double sleeve control, I couldn't settle into a dominant position. I also found myself getting swept a few times, after trying my usual tactic of sitting on one leg to force half guard and pass from there.

Underneath things went better, but I wasn't very good at maintaining the double sleeve hold. Most of the time my fingers would fail me on at least one of the grips, meaning I went back to spider guard or looked to take the back. It required a slightly different mindset than normal, because the idea was to hold on as long as possible: most of the time, if somebody seems to have got to side control, I'd stop and restart. However, as the point this time was to see if those grips could rescue you from a worst case scenario, I tried to fight on unless they could establish firm control for a few seconds.

The first technique of the day was a triangle from spider guard, but different to Donal's version from Tuesday due to the grips. Rather than a spider guard with a lasso, this time you just had your knees pressed into the crook of their elbows. From there, you're looking to get one foot on the bicep, which means you can then kick through while simultaneously pulling their arms forward. That puts you into a good position to finish the triangle. Grab your shin, foot on the hip to readjust, then lock your legs and complete as usual.

Interestingly, both Oli and I had trouble completing the triangle on eachother. That's possibly because we both have small necks, so had to be careful to close off any possible gaps. Shifting the leg in closer helped, as did wriggling backwards to stretch them out. Mick went into more detail on the latter before moving on to the next technique, demonstrating how your opponent is much weaker if you can bring their head forward of their knees. For example, push on their hip with your foot while holding their arm to pull them out of posture, a bit like the Gracie Combatives 'giant-killer' variation.

Mick rounded things off with an omoplata from spider guard, again in the same position. This time, you kicked one leg up, until their elbow was slipping past your knee. You then immediately push on their wrist, so that their arm wraps behind your leg, enabling you to swivel. You want to get your foot by their head. Grab their trouser leg with your hand, then continue rotating until your foot is pointing forwards by their head. Kick them forward as you also pull with your trouser grip to flatten them out. You can then lock your legs for the omoplata, crawling up their back to bring on the shoulder submission.

There was enough time for a round of free sparring, where I again found myself looking for the back. I focused on breaking posture, then keeping them there with a high guard, wrapping behind the head and also seeing if the overhook was a possibility. I was looking to then sneak around the side and pop up onto their back. I often have a problem getting myself up from the side to the back, which was again the case here.

Eventually I managed to swivel round, but I think I need to use my bottom instep to hook around their far hip to help (I seem to remember being taught that a while ago, so need to go review my notes). Once I got on the back I wasn't very good at finishing the choke, but the main concern for now is working on back control. While I did land a RNC earlier during specific sparring, I made lots of mistakes, like leaving my arm vulnerable as I brought the second hand in, as well as leaving too much space.

Going from back mount to mount is another technique I'm not doing properly. I was able to shift to mount as I felt my back mount slipping, but not with sufficient control. They had little trouble readjusting and dropping me back into guard, so I need to work on securing that transition to prevent myself immediately losing the position. Something to play with when I come to teaching the back again.

25/04/2011 - Factory BJJ, Stockport

Class #390
Factory BJJ, (BJJ), Adam Adshead, Stockport, UK - 25/04/2011

On Sunday, my friend and I drove up to the Peak District, as thanks to that wedding all over the media, there is lots of holiday over the next week or two. Before we got to our bed and breakfast in Buxton, we stopped off at Sudbury Hall. My friend is a big fan of the 1995 BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (as opposed to the relatively recent terrible film version). Sudbury was used for the interiors of Darcy's home, Pemberley, so it's all suitably grand. Handily, there is a pretty good breakdown for fellow Pride & Preggers fans over at austenonly.com.

On Monday, my friend headed off for a walk, while I caught the 10:30 train from Buxton to Stockport. It was around £8 and got me into Stockport at 11:12, where I then headed to Factory BJJ in Reddish. If I'd walked, my phone tells me it would have taken around 40 minutes, so it's doable. Fortunately I didn't have to try, as the brown belt who runs the gym, Adam, generously offered to give me a lift.

I first encountered Adam through his insightful blog, Conceptual BJJ. It hasn't been updated in a while and now simply redirects to the Factory BJJ website, though naturally you can still find it on the Internet Archive. Since then, I've been chatting to him over email for the last couple of years, particularly as he's not only a BJJer, but also used to be a music journo, another favourite topic of mine. Best of all, we're both '80s fans – hooray for Hall & Oates! ;)


Factory BJJ is part of the Combat Base family, the team started by Dirty Dozen member Chris Haueter (who was also instrumental in the foundation of the Straight Blast Gym, with Matt Thornton). Adam recently became a full time instructor, also moving into a fully matted unit with plenty of room. That means you can train day and night at the gym, including gi BJJ, judo, no gi and MMA (Matt '12 Gauge' Thorpe runs his program out of the same location). Full details over on the Factory BJJ website.

The gym itself looked great, particularly as I was there on a decent sunny day. The front has a massive door, which is rolled up, meaning there is airflow right through the gym. I'm not sure what it's like when it's snowing, but it would be cool to find out. Rolling right from the mats into the snow sounds like a Factory BJJ advert that needs to happen later this year. ;)

I especially like the way that it really lives up to the 'Factory BJJ' name. Outside, there is a fenced off area filled with large chunks of metal. Next door, you have a mechanic: Adam tells me that normally you'll hear the sound of drilling and clanging throughout class. Finally, there's a train line outside too, so you'll frequently see beefy freight trains whiz by, which I like to think are filled with coal or something else suitably industrial. :D

Adam was a very welcoming host, as was everyone else turning up for the gi drilling session today. It's basically an open mat, split into ten minute rounds on a timer. Drilling is encouraged, though you can just roll if you want to. That works out well for me, as I wanted to practice some attacks from spider guard. I've been passively staring at people while holding a lasso grip for some time now, so I'd really like to progress to actually threatening with something.

So, before I showed up I went through my backlog of notes, pulling out all the attacks from spider guard I've learned, then picked the ones I felt most comfortable trying out. First up was a sweep I was taught by Geeza back in November last year. I wasn't absolutely certain I'd got the notes right, but the main idea seemed to be pushing them with one of your feet into their bicep, swivelling to hook their other leg with your same side arm, then knocking them over.

Adam had some suggestions for something similar. In his spider guard sweep, you start off with the lasso grip I prefer. Your other foot goes on their hip, or you can put your shin across their stomach. This acts as bait, as you want them to try and pass to that side. As they do, grab their same side trouser leg with your free hand, then bring your lassoing leg's shin and foot down to the floor.

Pressing that shin into the crook of their elbow combined with lifting their trouser leg will knock them to the floor, where you can shift into mount or side control. Even if they do pass and move to side control, you can still press into their arm with your shin and sweep them. It's a solid controlling point.


When the first ten minutes was up, Adam had a whole bunch of stuff he wanted to work from the recent de la Riva seminar. This was all based off an open guard position, which starts with you gripping their collar with your same side hand (instead of the usual cross grip). Keep your elbow flared to stop them just squashing that arm down and breaking your grip.

Still on that side, put your foot on their hip, straightening the leg to keep them back. Your free leg swings out. I can't remember if you do anything with your hand at that point, but Adam should be able to remind me if he sees this. He followed up with three attacks, based on what they do.

The first option is to go for an armbar if they grab the knee of your free leg. Use your free hand to grip behind their elbow to both break their grip and pull their arm towards you. Clamp both your knees around that arm a little behind that elbow, then go for the submission.

If they try to grab the ankle or low on the trouser leg of your free leg, bring the knee over and down to the floor to break their grip. You can then kick through, putting the leg around their head to progress into a triangle.

Finally, if they aren't grabbing anything, you can attack with an omoplata. Again, not sure if I remembered this right, but I think you kick the free leg under the armpit, bringing them down to the mat with your control over their other side. Push their arm around your free leg and move into the omoplata.

There was an interesting tip here from de la Riva. When you have them belly down, you don't reach over their back with your near arm to help keep control and flatten them out. Instead, twist your torso and reach over with your far arm. That makes it tougher for them to roll out. Once you've scooted sideways to knock them flat on the floor, you can switch your arms back and go for the omoplata as normal.

This fit in nicely with what I wanted to drill next, during the next ten minute segment with somebody else. Another attack I'd read back in my notes was an omoplata from Jude he taught back in 2008. Beginning with the lasso grip, you want to get them off balance. You'll also need your foot in their other bicep: push into that, while lifting their arm with your lasso.

Once you've got them sufficiently off-balance, pull their elbow down your lassoed leg while kicking the leg through, which will put you in the omoplata position. You can then finish as before: I tried using the de la Riva option rather than the orthodox, which seemed to function well.

However, I was having trouble getting them off balance. I also struggled to then maintain enough control to switch my grips to the elbow and tricep: they were able to just pull their arm out. I played around with it a bit after some comments from Adam (who was walking round the class offering technical tips to people), where I found that kicking my lasso foot deeper helped. That gave me a bit more control, as I could press down onto the back.

It also made their arm curve more readily, so that the elbow was temptingly poking upwards ready to grab. Rather than releasing both grips, I just released the non-lassoed sleeve, then waited until I kicked the leg fully through and pressed them to the ground before removing my lasso sleeve grip.

As before, I could then twist over to reach around their far side with my far arm. Scooting sideways collapsed them face down onto the ground, where I could switch back to the other arm for control, then finish by leaning forward as if whispering in their ear. Make sure you don't forget the various other basic parts of the omoplata, like triangling your legs then bringing them out to the side as you put your opponent on the ground.

Adam had a further suggestion, which was trying the 'foot stomp' he'd seen Michael Langhi teach at another seminar. From what I remember, you have a standard spider guard with both feet in the biceps. Release one to put your foot on the floor, pushing off with that foot as you kick your remaining bicep foot over your head. That should force them to step forward, meaning they're more vulnerable to being swept overhead.

I vaguely had in mind a sweep I'd seen at the Carlson Jr seminar back in December, though he only showed it briefly as it was a recap of something he had shown in a previous seminar. I couldn't really work that out from my notes, so moved into a method for taking the back, as I had a much better memory of that one. However, I won't go into details, as I promised the Carlson guys that I wouldn't write up any of the seminar techniques on the blog (as they asked me not to).

To finish off, I did two rounds of sparring with two different blues, Jake and Leroy. Each roll followed a relatively similar pattern, as I spent lots of time in the running escape posture. I'm still trying to spin out more often and more forcefully, but I'm also still getting passed pretty soon afterwards much of the time. I could try hooking the foot, or just blocking: like I said before, definitely need to rewatch the Saulo video to see what he does.

I attempted some of the spider guard stuff I'd been working too, mainly the sweep Adam showed me at the start. However, I don't think I'm off-balancing them enough, or providing the necessary temptation with my baiting foot. Might have also been pre-empting, as they were still standing rather than dropping down as they passed.

All techniques I'll look to continue playing with on Wednesday, when I'll be checking out Liam 'The Part-Time Grappler' Wandi's class at the BJJ Labs in Manchester. Unless it's all specific sparring from mount or something, though that's always good to work too. ;)

Sadly there was no iPod player and speakers today at Factory BJJ, as instead we were relying on a tape deck and CD player. I played lots of Hall & Oates while typing up these notes on my way back to Buxton, meaning I still got my '80s fix. ;p


On Tuesday, my gf and I drove off (well, she drove: I've yet to bother getting my licence, which I really should now I'm 30...) towards Bakewell, home of the Bakewell Tart (well, Bakewell Pudding technically, but everyone knows it as Tart). Much more interesting was the nearby medieval stately home, Haddon Hall. Impressively, this doesn't look too worse for wear, despite being built way back in the 12th century. There are several later additions to the architecture, the latest being around 1600, IIRC. I'm not quite sure why I'm sticking my bum out like that. ;)

06/11/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #192



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK – 06/11/2008 - Advanced

I was a bit sleepy today, as the trains fucked up last night so I got back home even later than usual. The Chiltern Line doesn't often break down, but an electrical failure meant I got home around midnight rather than around 22:30, which was a real pain.

Still, seemed to be just about awake for the lesson tonight, where Jude focused on spider guard (although he called it hook guard, so I presume its some kind of variation on spider guard?). The basic position is to shrimp from closed to open guard, then hook one around and under their arm, pushing in deep for the armpit, while the other leg presses on the bicep, each hand holding their same side sleeve.

From there, Jude first showed us how to get an omoplata. Having dug your leg right up under their armpit, lift that hook and push firmly with the other leg to lean your partner over to one side. Having unbalanced them sufficiently, let go of your sleeve grips: instead, you're going to apply your hands to the arm where your leg has a deep hook. Grab their tricep and elbow, then pull that arm towards you, pushing your leg through. This should automatically bend their arm around your leg, meaning you're set up to bring your leg over, triangling it with the other, then grabbing their side and raising up for the omoplata.

If they resist your attack by raising up their knee, on the side where you're pushing your leg straight into their arm rather than hooking, you can still get a sweep. Switch the hand that was gripping that sleeve to their other sleeve (so the one where you have your leg hooked). With your free hand, reach underneath and grab low on their trouser leg. Now in one motion, swivel around, bringing your leg up and over, rolling them past you, after which you can mount them.

I think we've done something similar before, but as with last time, I had trouble getting the mechanics, and also found it hard to spin smoothly. The defence against that sweep was a bit easier to understand, and again was a pass we'd done before, the "it's me!" pass. You're in the previous position, with your knee raised. Press that knee into their leg (which is trying to push straight into your arm), aiming to get it right over their knee, pinning their leg to the floor. On the same side, bring your hand around theirs and grip their sleeve.

Your other hand with also move to grip on that side, but on their trouser leg. This is the bit I found difficult, as I struggled to get that hold without losing balance: I found I had to strain to reach the leg. Once you have both those grips, stand and step back, then throw your hands apart still maintaining the grip. This should open them up completely, so you can simply move through into knee-on-belly.

To practice those moves, we began specific sparring with the same open guard position. I found it tough to pass Rodney's guard, due to the aforementioned problem of establishing that second grip. I kept on losing my base by overreaching, making it easy for Rodney to sweep me. So, what I need to do in that position is work on my balance and develop a more secure base, attempting to free my arms.

With the positions reversed, I didn't get especially far, as I felt as if I couldn't get enough leverage. I'm short and light, so that might have had something to do with it, but that probably also means I wasn't close enough. I need to get a more controlling hook with my leg, so I can use my limb to break my opponent's posture, moving them around by constant pressure on their arms.

Changing to side control, I had a lot of trouble getting any kind of control on top. There was about 14kg difference, which would account for some of that difficulty, but I also need to become more mobile. I think I've been improving in the switch between scarf hold and side control, but that's not enough. Going to north-south, reverse scarf hold, knee-on-belly etc are all transitions I'm currently lacking, so plenty of work to do there. I find that I can feel when I'm about to lose the position – sometimes just from being literally shoved up and off by my partner – but I'm not able to react and shift my base to maintain my top position. Something to think about.

Underneath, I was much happier, working escapes as usual. Rodney was fond of moving his legs around, presumably looking to step over my head, or possibly to get me thinking about one direction. That means that a quick shift in momentum could result in enough surprise to wrong foot me and result in getting mounted (which is exactly what happened the first time). I looked to get half guard as ever, though I need to be more versatile, trying escapes to my knees and the like.

On top in mount, I have no control at all, though Roger's basic tips yesterday on using the forehead in lieu of a hand was useful. Again, I felt more comfortable, still going for half guard, though also as before, I should try other things, such as different entries to half guard (e.g., hooking the other side of the instep, lifting, and inserting my legs that way) and combining it with more bridging.

I only sparred once today (not just the usual wimping out, as there was only time for two rounds tonight), with Junior, who is a huge purple belt, so took it very easy on me. I spent most of it looking perplexed in his guard, failing miserably to pass. Junior let me pop through into half-guard a couple of times, but I wasn't able to get my shoulder under his chin to enact Roger's half guard pass where you swing the free leg over.

Hopefully I'll get in some more drilling on Sunday with the Warwick Uni BJJ group (and/or Wednesday, as Lee has the activities room booked from 12:00-13:00 again: I must remember to ring up on Monday to make sure of getting the room for next Sunday), and also another session of Warwick Judo.

01/07/2008 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #158



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 01/07/2008 - Advanced

My arms felt much better after a rest, so hopefully I won't mess them up again from too much emphasis on my upper body. Tonight's class was all from spider guard, going through a number of submission options.

First, Jude showed us the armbar from spider guard. You begin in typical spider guard, both legs into your partner's biceps, one leg straightened out, the other bent. At the same time, your partner has a hold of your gi trousers with each hand, while you are holding both of their sleeves. First, you need to remove their grip on your bent leg. Pull up with your grip on their sleeve, and at the same time kick out with your leg: this should break their hold. Immediately pull them forward with your sleeve grip, bringing their arm around to the opposite side of your head, still gripping firmly.

Having secured that grip, bring your now free leg over their head to set up for the armbar. You can now switch your grip from behind their head to their wrist. Twist to get your other leg into position, then raise your hips for the submission. If they resist, knock them over and finish from side control.

Next, we were shown the triangle from spider guard. Set up is the same as for the armbar, but this time, once you have their arm behind your head, put your same side foot on their hip. Use that to shrimp out, then move your straightened leg from their biceps to go over the back of their neck. Lock that ankle behind your other leg's knee, then squeeze for the triangle. Due to your previous grip, their arm is already across your body.

Finally, Jude demonstrated the omoplata from spider guard. This was slightly different, as there was no arm behind the head. After freeing your bent leg, you drive your thigh into the back of their arm, pushing on their sleeve. The aim here is to bend their arm around your leg in a right angle. Once you've got them in position, bring your leg over that arm and past their face, still maintaining your grip on their other sleeve.

Pull that other sleeve up to your bum, then you can raise up and switch your other grip to their belt (or the back of their gi). Pull yourself in tight, shuffling forward if necessary: that will knock them down and make the finish easier. Your other leg will now be splayed behind you. Bring the foot of the leg you brought over their arm and press it towards your other knee. From there, push your hips forward, back straight, to get the submission.

Technique was followed by guard passage, which recently has moved away from the line-up system to instead be a matter of first come, first serve. That tends to mean I'll wait until either someone my size is free, or somebody I'm fairly certain isn't going to be an injury risk. However, as I'm quite lazy, that can mean I'm pondering for a while: still, I got in three specific spars.

All of them were a bit bigger and stronger than me, so I ended up defending, bringing my elbows to my knees. This held off Radek for a short while, but he eventually manoeuvred me into position for an armbar (which he didn't crank – we both knew he had it, so I tapped as soon as he got the position).

Justin was similar, in that I wiggled around for a little while, making adjustments with my knees and sprawling to avoid his sweep attempts. I was in the midst of defending an armbar, when I found myself underneath his back: he spun and finished in side control. Random, but effective.

Finally, I went with a guy in a Renzo Gracie gi, who I think might have been called Damian, but I'm not sure. I found myself presented with an opportunity to sprawl back and wrap up his legs, but as ever when I try that pass, it feels like my neck is vulnerable. Sure enough, though I passed his legs and moved to side control, he had some kind of grip on my collars. I then found myself flying over the top of him, while being simultaneously choked out. Not quite sure what he did, but a useful reminder to watch my neck when trying the sprawl pass.

Two of my favourite sparring partners were available for free rolling at then end of class, Joanna and Indra. Joanna has a fluid style, which tends to result in rapid changes of position when I spar with her (especially as she stays relaxed). We went through half-guard and open guard as ever, where again I need to sit-up rather than lying on my back, which is just asking to be passed.

At one point I got the handstand sweep (very nice to have a closed guard option when they stand up), but couldn't secure mount. However, I was able to spin over onto her back and get a body triangle, but she slipped down away from my arms, meaning I ended back in guard. I also had a chance to put into practice the principle of straightening out an arm into their thigh, with the intention of getting a knee through from half-guard to reclose full guard. Sort of worked at points, but not something I'm doing as automatically as I should.

My second and last spar was with Indra. She went to her back, so I spent a while trying to pass, as she came up on her side and tried to drive through to guard. Eventually I slapped on a sloppy scarf hold, but couldn't get much further than that. I was trying to pry out her arm, so I could then trap it with my leg and go for some sort of submission. Failing that, I wanted to come in under her knee, switch my base and secure a solid side control. However, every time I went to switch, I could feel her leg creeping up to snatch half-guard, meaning I bailed back to scarf hold.

So, not hugely eventful until I somehow found myself on Indra's back. I almost fell off, but because I'd been looking for a kimura, my hold on the arm kept me behind her and on top. I then tried to go for a belly down armbar, but Indra had no trouble protecting her arm, after which time ran out. I continue to suck at doing anything from the back, but practice makes perfect. The body triangle seems to be one interesting option, but I think my big problem is not knowing what to do with my arms to get a choke or armlock.

Then again, my main concern is still escapes, particularly from side control, and recovering full guard from half guard. That's progressing slowly, with the end goal being a solid defence from which I can take risks with my offence. Still a while off at this point, though.