Teaching #311 - Private #004
Artemis BJJ (PHNX Fitness), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 18/04/2015
I got to catch up with a training partner right after open mat, as Gina popped down for a private lesson (she also made it to the GrappleThon last month). She's been busy preparing herself for the Grappler's Heart tournament over in the States, coming up soon on the 25th April. Before she headed off, she asked me if we could work on some butterfly guard. Preparing the lesson, I had a few passes to show her, along with some variations on the typical butterfly sweep. It's always cool training with Gina, especially from an instruction perspective. She has a rare condition called dystonia: among other challenges, that means that techniques relying on a lot of foot and toe strength are problematic.
I focused on three techniques from butterfly guard (as per previous write-ups), the shin trap and knee forward passes, then the butterfly sweep grip variation. For the shin trap, I normally recommended sprawling back and walking round on your toes, but for Gina we tried moving more on the knees instead, or indeed shifting into a knee slide pass. That grip where you reach underneath and lock their trapped foot in with your hand should prove especially useful there, as that further prevents them wriggling their leg into some kind of half guard.
For the sweep, I went with that grip variation I learned from the Carlos Machado Unstoppable DVD, which I refer to as a shoulder clamp. One arm goes under their armpit, the other around their head, locking hands and pulling in tight by the shoulder. You can then use the armpit arm to add extra leverage to your butterfly lift with your same side leg.
Should they free their head from your arm, or if you end up with your arm under their head, you can then use your elbow for leverage, bringing it into their neck and jaw. Shift to your other leg and use that for the butterfly sweep instead. As Gina has strong arms and shoulders, that should hopefully work well for her.
Good luck to Gina at Grappler's Heart on the 25th!
Showing posts with label private (teaching). Show all posts
Showing posts with label private (teaching). Show all posts
18 April 2015
31 December 2014
31/12/2014 - Teaching | Private
Teaching #254 - Private #003
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 31/12/2014
This was nominally a women's class, but I wasn't expecting many people as the gym's opening hours meant it was running at 10am in the morning. Only Tracey was able to pop along, so the class turned into a private lesson instead. We just ran through everything she's learned so far, tightening up on the triangle and a few escapes. Sparring at the end, there was a noted improvement from Tracey. I definitely had to work a bit harder than before.
Her base was better and she was much harder to keep in guard, looking for the pass. That's always really cool to see, when somebody progresses from being unfamiliar in the guard to understanding the balance and posture required to launch a pass. Makes a huge difference. Fortunately, because she isn't heavy, that means I can spar pretty much as normal without having to worry about my leg.
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 31/12/2014
This was nominally a women's class, but I wasn't expecting many people as the gym's opening hours meant it was running at 10am in the morning. Only Tracey was able to pop along, so the class turned into a private lesson instead. We just ran through everything she's learned so far, tightening up on the triangle and a few escapes. Sparring at the end, there was a noted improvement from Tracey. I definitely had to work a bit harder than before.
Her base was better and she was much harder to keep in guard, looking for the pass. That's always really cool to see, when somebody progresses from being unfamiliar in the guard to understanding the balance and posture required to launch a pass. Makes a huge difference. Fortunately, because she isn't heavy, that means I can spar pretty much as normal without having to worry about my leg.
10 December 2014
10/12/2014 - Teaching | Private | Top Guard Posture & Triangle
Teaching #245 - Private #002
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/12/2014
We went through two main areas in today's private: posture in somebody's closed guard and reviewing the triangle. In their guard, stay upright, with your head up. Curving your back slightly can help too. Don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is very important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively, though it's tough to completely shut off their hips with just your hand. Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.
A key detail is to come up on your toes. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but it provides you with much better base than having your insteps flat on the floor. With your toes up, you can resist their attempts to pull your around. It also enables you to drive forward and improves your mobility.
Another way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base.
On the triangle, it was mainly just reviewing what I've taught already, along with a couple of pointers on escaping. You have the early escape, where you posture up to stop them closing their legs up and pulling you down. Wriggling your shoulder and arm back inside will help too, if you get that early enough. Later, you can try grabbing their knee and driving it to the mat, then coming up on your legs and pushing your weight through to try and break it open (be wary of them going for your arm, though).
The last ditch one I go for if none of that work is stepping over their head to generate some more leverage, but I don't get it that often. By the time I'm thinking of going for that it's normally too late.
My student seemed happy with what she'd learned, so that's the main thing: I tried to avoid throwing too much at her, responding to what she asked for as well as adding in my own thoughts on things she could work on, based on sparring with her. Hence why I thought doing some work on posture in closed guard would benefit her, as I had noticed in sparring that she wasn't staying upright, often turned so much that I could take the back, etc. Which is all understandable, as she's still quite new: there was a very marked improvement after the private. Yay! :)
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/12/2014
We went through two main areas in today's private: posture in somebody's closed guard and reviewing the triangle. In their guard, stay upright, with your head up. Curving your back slightly can help too. Don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is very important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively, though it's tough to completely shut off their hips with just your hand. Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.
A key detail is to come up on your toes. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but it provides you with much better base than having your insteps flat on the floor. With your toes up, you can resist their attempts to pull your around. It also enables you to drive forward and improves your mobility.
Another way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base.
On the triangle, it was mainly just reviewing what I've taught already, along with a couple of pointers on escaping. You have the early escape, where you posture up to stop them closing their legs up and pulling you down. Wriggling your shoulder and arm back inside will help too, if you get that early enough. Later, you can try grabbing their knee and driving it to the mat, then coming up on your legs and pushing your weight through to try and break it open (be wary of them going for your arm, though).
The last ditch one I go for if none of that work is stepping over their head to generate some more leverage, but I don't get it that often. By the time I'm thinking of going for that it's normally too late.
My student seemed happy with what she'd learned, so that's the main thing: I tried to avoid throwing too much at her, responding to what she asked for as well as adding in my own thoughts on things she could work on, based on sparring with her. Hence why I thought doing some work on posture in closed guard would benefit her, as I had noticed in sparring that she wasn't staying upright, often turned so much that I could take the back, etc. Which is all understandable, as she's still quite new: there was a very marked improvement after the private. Yay! :)
03 November 2014
03/11/2014 - Teaching | Private Lesson | Elbow Escape from Mount
Teaching #225 - Private #001
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/11/2014
As a rule of thumb, if you're underneath, you don't want to be flat on your back. So, start your elbow escape by turning to your side, getting a shoulder off the floor (be careful of turning too far, or they will find it easier to slip to technical mount). Saulo notes that you should be doing this as early as possible: if they are working to mount from side control, set up your escape during the transition, rather than waiting for them to secure their mount. Work an elbow inside their knee and set up your frame, in order to push into the leg.
There are several ways of framing for that push. I personally like to keep defending my neck throughout, using my elbows to dig into their leg. That keeps my neck safe, but it does limit your range and reduce leverage: you'll need to curl in towards their leg to generate enough push. The other main option is to extend your arms further towards their hip, leaving your neck vulnerable but considerably beefing up your leverage. That frame is also handy for stopping them moving up higher in mount.
Xande teaches that frame on BJJ Library too, addressing my concern by showing how once you have the frame and you're on your side, any move they make should give you an opening to quickly upa and shove the leg back. That frame also means you can choose whether to push with your elbow, as in my preferred version, or switch to the additional leverage of your hand. Either way, once you have shoved that leg up and over, immediately base on your outside foot to turn your knee inwards and get on your side. Underhook their armpit and bump, as you would in a basic half guard.
When I went to the seminar with the Dutch black belt under Rickson, Michel Verhoeven, he began by reaching across to their opposite hip with his hand, keeping his arm slightly bent. He then pushed on the hip: if they were higher up, he would form a frame with his arms and push. Put one arm across their hip (the hand is by one hip, the elbow by their other hip). For extra leverage, brace that first arm with your other hand, against your wrist. Stephan Kesting recommends keeping the hand of the hip-arm in a fist, to lock in the grip (so your second hand doesn't slide off as easily).
Whichever option you use, the idea is to make enough space from the combination of your shrimp and bridge to pull your leg through. If you're going with the Rener version, you can use that little bump to help pull your leg either through or under their leg. As with side control escapes, don't just bridge and plop back down, it needs to combine with your shrimp. The leg you're trying to pull free should be flat: if it isn't, they will be able to trap it with their leg. Having that leg flat also makes it easier to pull out. You other foot will be on the floor with the knee raised, in order to provide the push for your shrimp.
After you're on your side, bump slightly, then you can also pry their leg open with your elbow. Aim to pop your knee through between their legs initially. If you can pull the whole leg out in one, great, but don't be greedy if you're having to strain. Getting that first knee through will mean you can then brace your leg against their thigh, aiding your second shrimp to free your other leg. Once one of your legs is fully out, you can then use it to wrap around one of theirs and hook under their leg with your instep, or put your free leg around their back (be sure to clamp down if you do that).
You now have the option of moving to half guard (especially if you've wrapped their leg, you're basically there already), open guard (e.g., butterfly) or continue working for full guard. As with escapes under side control, keep shrimping until you have the room to pull your leg free. Even if you can't wrap their leg, you can jam your outside leg tight to theirs, then use that for your base to shrimp.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: This marks the first I've taught a private, so that's pretty cool. I've taught solo lessons a handful of times over the four years I've been instructing, but that was just a low group class turnout rather than a specific private lesson. I know the student and her needs fairly well, which helped make my preparation for the lesson fairly straightforward. It also helped me think more about getting the leverage to knock them over in the upa too, as we added that in at the end. Getting an arc is very important, adjusting the plane of your body to use the momentum of their weight to make the turn easier.
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/11/2014
As a rule of thumb, if you're underneath, you don't want to be flat on your back. So, start your elbow escape by turning to your side, getting a shoulder off the floor (be careful of turning too far, or they will find it easier to slip to technical mount). Saulo notes that you should be doing this as early as possible: if they are working to mount from side control, set up your escape during the transition, rather than waiting for them to secure their mount. Work an elbow inside their knee and set up your frame, in order to push into the leg.
There are several ways of framing for that push. I personally like to keep defending my neck throughout, using my elbows to dig into their leg. That keeps my neck safe, but it does limit your range and reduce leverage: you'll need to curl in towards their leg to generate enough push. The other main option is to extend your arms further towards their hip, leaving your neck vulnerable but considerably beefing up your leverage. That frame is also handy for stopping them moving up higher in mount.
Xande teaches that frame on BJJ Library too, addressing my concern by showing how once you have the frame and you're on your side, any move they make should give you an opening to quickly upa and shove the leg back. That frame also means you can choose whether to push with your elbow, as in my preferred version, or switch to the additional leverage of your hand. Either way, once you have shoved that leg up and over, immediately base on your outside foot to turn your knee inwards and get on your side. Underhook their armpit and bump, as you would in a basic half guard.
When I went to the seminar with the Dutch black belt under Rickson, Michel Verhoeven, he began by reaching across to their opposite hip with his hand, keeping his arm slightly bent. He then pushed on the hip: if they were higher up, he would form a frame with his arms and push. Put one arm across their hip (the hand is by one hip, the elbow by their other hip). For extra leverage, brace that first arm with your other hand, against your wrist. Stephan Kesting recommends keeping the hand of the hip-arm in a fist, to lock in the grip (so your second hand doesn't slide off as easily).
Whichever option you use, the idea is to make enough space from the combination of your shrimp and bridge to pull your leg through. If you're going with the Rener version, you can use that little bump to help pull your leg either through or under their leg. As with side control escapes, don't just bridge and plop back down, it needs to combine with your shrimp. The leg you're trying to pull free should be flat: if it isn't, they will be able to trap it with their leg. Having that leg flat also makes it easier to pull out. You other foot will be on the floor with the knee raised, in order to provide the push for your shrimp.
After you're on your side, bump slightly, then you can also pry their leg open with your elbow. Aim to pop your knee through between their legs initially. If you can pull the whole leg out in one, great, but don't be greedy if you're having to strain. Getting that first knee through will mean you can then brace your leg against their thigh, aiding your second shrimp to free your other leg. Once one of your legs is fully out, you can then use it to wrap around one of theirs and hook under their leg with your instep, or put your free leg around their back (be sure to clamp down if you do that).
You now have the option of moving to half guard (especially if you've wrapped their leg, you're basically there already), open guard (e.g., butterfly) or continue working for full guard. As with escapes under side control, keep shrimping until you have the room to pull your leg free. Even if you can't wrap their leg, you can jam your outside leg tight to theirs, then use that for your base to shrimp.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: This marks the first I've taught a private, so that's pretty cool. I've taught solo lessons a handful of times over the four years I've been instructing, but that was just a low group class turnout rather than a specific private lesson. I know the student and her needs fairly well, which helped make my preparation for the lesson fairly straightforward. It also helped me think more about getting the leverage to knock them over in the upa too, as we added that in at the end. Getting an arc is very important, adjusting the plane of your body to use the momentum of their weight to make the turn easier.
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