19/01/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #277



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 19/01/2010

Seymour over at Meerkatsu.com wrote a great piece on BJJ blogging. If for some unfathomable reason he isn't already in your RSS reader, check it out here. This was originally intended for a magazine, but that is currently on hold: hopefully it will resurface at some point, as I'd love to see more articles like this.

I also wanted to mention a new blog by an old training partner of mine, Ben. Check it out here: he trains over at the RGA affiliate in Farringdon, but used to train with me at RGA HQ. He's also the guy at least partially responsible for getting me to RGA in the first place, thanks to his encouragement on Bullshido.

There was a minor revelation tonight, which makes for an interesting reflection on the current state of jiu jitsu. I had thought that the thirty minutes extra in the beginner class was for working takedowns. However, this has now changed. Instead, each beginner class is now to begin with work on the Gracie Barra fundamentals (so I'm guessing like the DVD), which means some 'self defence' stuff. Apparently, this is being brought in across Gracie Barra (its been at other GB schools for a long time, but I guess not all of them). I sometimes forget that the Roger Gracie Academy network is technically part of that family: after all, Roger always competes for GB.

I'm not a fan of training 'self defence', as that tends to mean repetitive, compliant drills largely divorced from reality: this is exactly the kind of thing a focus on 'aliveness' is supposed to prevent. However, like Kev said, there are occasionally useful aspects, like working on hip mobility and the like. The drill today was to push your partner on the floor, who will then do a technical stand-up. Their free foot is used to press against the front leg (if the other person has a foot forward), with your arm raised as normal to block strikes. That was followed by stepping in to get a clinch, then a basic hip throw.

Getting back to the ground, this week Kev is sticking with the guard. He began with what is probably the most basic submission available from the guard, a cross choke. However, while its basic, that doesn't mean it is easy to get: everyone is expecting it, and lots of people don't apply properly anyway, including me.

I find that even in drilling, I struggle to turn my hands inwards properly, normally only managing a slight turn. That could be because I gripping too deep, I'm not using my legs enough to pull them in, or something else. Kev suggested that I concentrate on bringing my thumbs together, and watching Kev, I should also be bringing my hands down slightly as I secure the submission. This kind of thing is exactly why I'll always try to attend fundamentals/basics/beginners classes, no matter what belt I reach.

After that, Kev moved on to two techniques which are also quite familiar, but I hardly ever try in sparring these days. It used to be that the scissor sweep was a go-to move for me, but I've fallen out of the habit. Having secured a grip on their same side sleeve and collar, Kev demonstrated it from when they put one leg up in preparation to pass, whereupon you shrimp and drop your now raised leg across their stomach. Press in with your shin and hook round their side with your instep.

Your other leg drops to their same side leg, which should still be kneeling on the floor. You want to chop this leg, but it is important you don't go too low: otherwise, they can just step over that leg and pass. So, you want to be chopping slightly above the floor, possibly even hooking behind their leg.

To finish the sweep, you want to lift them forward and up onto your raised knee, which will disrupt their base. You can now simultaneously chop at their leg and move across with your hook, 'scissoring' your legs, then roll through into mount.

If they don't step up with a leg, Kev showed how you could instead go for the closely related push sweep. Shrimp out to make space to get that shin into their stomach, setting up the technique as before. However, instead of chopping out their leg, you're going to put your same side foot on the inside of their same side knee. Push that out and back, breaking their base, then roll them with your other leg into mount.

Kev also had a point to make about your knee position. If you have your knee lower, underneath their arm, that gives you great leverage for the sweep. On the downside, it also means your partner could potentially bring their weight down on your legs, then initiate a pass.

The alternative is to put your knee high, towards their chest or even shoulder. This isn't such good leverage, but it is a lot more secure. As Kev put it, if you're going to be in that position for a while, this is safer, because your partner will find it tougher to get their weight in place to crush your legs to the mat.

With sparring, usual story on top. I think I'm focusing a bit too much on keeping their torso down, which means that I'll end up standing with crappy posture, which is all too easy to break. I'm also relying far too much on my arms. Instead of grabbing and shoving with a weak part of my body, I should be driving with my hips, using my legs, and trying to put them under pressure with my weight. Easier said than done, of course, but something I want to keep in mind for next time.

I had a play with wrapping the gi around a white belt's arms, though I'm not sure there is any point to doing so on top. I was thinking I could perhaps isolate an arm, making it easier to pass on the that side, but didn't help me much. Still, fun to occasionally try something random.

I also wasn't really going anywhere from the bottom, though I did make a concerted effort to open up and try to attack. That generally just meant I got passed repeatedly, but its the only way to practice offence. I'd like to go for the arm more, especially as almost everyone staggers the arms, so it makes sense to work out how to attack it, and/or break the grip.

My legs come into it much more on the bottom, especially as I've been using them to knock people off-balance as they attempt to stand. That works, but it also uses lots of energy, so it would be better if I could shift into some kind of attack rather than just returning them to where they were before.

12/12/2007 - BJJ (Beginners)

Class #109



Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK - 12/12/2007 – Beginner

The Fightworks Podcast is going through the Best BJJ Blogs of the Year again (previous list here), but this time Caleb has stuck up a poll. You can vote here: looking through that group, I’d say Aesopian’s blog is still the obvious one deserving of the title, though personally I’m fond of Christina’s (fraquellibjj.blogspot.com) and Nick G’s (jiujitsubrotherhood.blogspot.com, soon to move to plain jiujitsubrotherhood.com). As I’ve only got the one vote, I went for Christina, but looks as though Aesopian should clinch it. Also cool to see a bunch of blogs I’ve not read before, so will have to give those a good look: plenty there to fill a train journey. ;)

Didn’t manage to train on Saturday after all: I was feeling a bit shitty in the morning, and traffic delayed us on the drive into London (as the whole family was coming to visit my sister and her baby, my mother decided to take the car). My niece is a lot more active now, and all that milk is starting to fill her out: amazing how much babies change in just a week. Will pop in on her yet again next Friday. :D

Tonight’s class (having also just visited my niece: they’re only babies once, so I reckon getting as much time with her as possible is probably wise, not to mention interesting) went over a number of techniques I’m fairly familiar with, but as always its great to go over fundamentals.

After a drill where you block a punch on your guard and go to a throw, Roger started with the scissor sweep, followed by the push sweep in case that fails. Useful tip I haven’t put into practice before is to lean back before trying to roll them into mount: that provides additional leverage, as far as I can tell.

Final variation on that technique was an armbar from guard, which I don’t think we’ve done before, but I recognised it from the Rowan Cunningham Abhaya vid. If the push sweep doesn’t work, put the leg you were previously using to push on their knee onto their hip instead. Straighten out your other leg, then proceed as normal with the armbar: bring that leg up and push them off balance, pushing off the other hip, then bringing your leg over their head to lock in the armbar.



That meant it was time for guard passage, working with my training partner Paxton (been a long while since I last had a class with him: good to see all those injuries have cleared up). I tried to go for a sit-up sweep a few times, but failed to commit, and I’m still not automatically going for the kimura if it messes up, a habit I need to drill into myself. Generally I ended up going to a sloppy open guard, a leg flailing about near Paxton’s head, until he pushed through. Particularly considering tonight’s class, I need to progress from just attempting the odd sweep to going through a chain if one fails, like scissor -> push sweep -> armbar.

Last technique of the class was a side control escape, something else I’m always happy to go over. This time it was the one where you come to your knees, which for this escape becomes functional when the person on top moves their arm to block your hips. Reach underneath their far armpit, swivel to your front, bring your knees up, grab their leg, driving with your head. Also raise whichever of your legs is on the same side as your head, pushing forward and lifting to drop them under your side control.

Sparring from side control followed the familiar pattern. On top, I was unable to hold my position, soon getting rolled over. My problem here, I think, is that I’m not switching around enough. As a small guy, I need to be more mobile on top, perhaps trying to move to knee on belly or something, so that the other person is kept on the defensive. Paxton did mention that when I got to certain positions, like scarf hold, it felt tight, but that’s not enough: just waiting there, I’m eventually going to get reversed.

Underneath I felt more confident, trying to go for that escape we went over recently, where you bridge and shrimp until you can slip your knee through to recover guard. I couldn’t quite get that, as Paxton’s side control was fairly tight, but I was eventually able to get half guard. From there, I attempted to move to a sweep, but had trouble getting into position. I thought it was then all over as Paxton seemed about to get an Americana, but I was able to keep my arm straight without too much effort. I didn’t realise at the time, but I think that was because I had the shoulder free, so was able to adjust in order to relieve the pressure.

Eventually I rolled Paxton into guard (at least I think that was side control sparring rather than the guard passage from earlier), though he had a fist firmly into my throat just before that. Had we continued, he may have got the submission, but then on top I would have had a much better base from which to resist. Probably would depend on whether or not I could posture up, instead of getting held down and therefore less able to resist.

Plan to train again tomorrow: I had thought about finally giving my Bullshido shorts a test run, but they’re still up in Birmingham. Maybe next week.

28/02/2007 - BJJ

Class #33

Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Jude Samuel, London, UK - 28/02/2007

I was going to go to a Ted Hughes seminar today, but as I had to miss ZSK yet again this week, decided against it so I could get some extra training in. Now that my shoulder seems healed up, I’ve been able to do padwork with my gf again, which I’m very pleased about. Also finally bought myself some flip-flops for wearing at BJJ – could have gone with my gf’s ones, but the pink floral design is too camp even for me! So, good ol Primark had some for a quid.

Today Jude moved back to guard work, having spent most of the recent lessons focusing on mount. For the first time at RGA, I got to see the scissor sweep demonstrated as well as the sit-up sweep, both of which I’ve been checking out on the internet for some time now. Unfortunately, I was in a three, which meant I didn’t get to drill as much as I’d like. On the other hand, Jude came over and talked us through the techniques, which was brilliant – always very handy to have the instructor watch while you drill.

Jude began with another sweep I’m keen to drill, the sit-up sweep. Person B bumps Person A forward to get them to put their hands on the floor, then rises up and brings an arm behind the opposite arm of Person A, coming high on the shoulder. Person B tucks that arm close in to their stomach, pushing on Person A’s elbow. Person B then twists up and to the side, using their other arm for balance (Jude emphasised that to get the necessary space, you had to come up on your hand as opposed to your elbow). Finally, Person B brings the opposite leg to the arm they’re gripping all the way across, ending up in mount. Here’s the vid of Rowan Cunningham demonstrating, which I’ve been trying to work in class for the past few months.

This was followed by the kimura from guard, which was especially useful as it functions as a Plan B if the sit-up sweep fails. Getting to the same sit-up sweep position as before, Person B finds that Person A has too good a base. So instead of struggling to knock Person A over, Person B grabs the wrist of the arm they’re isolating, gripping their own wrist with their other arm (which is already in position due to the attempted sweep). Person B drops back (having raised up for the sweep) then moves the arm away from their body (so Person A can’t cling on to a gi or a leg), clamping their leg across Person A’s back. Making sure they first bring the arm over their knee, Person B then pushes on Person A’s wrist, using Person A’s elbow as a pivot, resulting in the submission.

Jude then demonstrated the scissor sweep. Having looked at this sweep in detail on the net, I’ve seen a couple of different approaches, but one thing has been consistent – in their tutorials, Aesopian, Rowan Cunningham and Don Daly all wait for Person A to go up on one knee. It would appear that this isn’t absolutely necessary, as Jude went straight for the sweep. Person B grabs the opposite collar and sleeve of Person A, then rises up on their elbow to shrimp out to the other side. This provides the space to pull Person A towards them and get a shin into Person A’s stomach, hooking the foot round; Person B’s other leg drops down. Finally, Person B simultaneously pushes on the collar and pulls on the sleeve, while also pushing against Person A’s stomach and chopping with their other leg. This ‘scissors’ Person A’s base and spins them to the ground, where Person B moves into mount.

Again, Jude showed us what to do if that failed, which interestingly turned out to be what Aesopian refers to as the ‘stupid simple sweep’ (see his tutorial in the second part of this). Not sure what the most common name is, but I've seen it called a push sweep fairly often, so I'll use that. If Person A has too good a base, then Person B moves the chopping leg back, instead pushing on Person A’s knee, otherwise following through with the technique as before. Hopefully at some point we’ll also be shown the armbar Rowan Cunningham suggests as a Plan B in this video.

Although there weren’t many people in class, we once again did ‘king of the hill’ sparring, which was a shame. I’d have preferred to spar in a pair rather than from a line-up, so I could continuously work on technique, but I suppose that king of the hill does mean I’m forced to spar with people I wouldn’t normally pair up with. I didn’t have much success from the bottom, where I think I’m still leaving too much space. Hamid also mentioned that he thought I was attacking too soon – I can see what he’s saying, as I need to get better position first (e.g., control the arm, pull them closer to me etc). I went for a somewhat strange sweep I saw recently on Dominique when she stood up, but merely ending up getting passed – something that might be fun to try when we go back to the normal sparring set-up.

Passing was more successful. Mainly, I seem to be getting passes either when I’m escaping an armbar or when I manage to work my arms back sufficiently to go for double underhooks. This is exactly what I did with Paul (IIRC his name correctly), though I ended up using the shin to trap his leg instead. At first I stopped because I’d inadvertently stuck my elbow into his groin (not much use to me if I’m only passing due to pain rather than technique), but got the same pass when we restarted from our previous position. I could still do with switching my base quicker and keeping in tighter.

Against a big guy called Marvin (although not sure I caught that name right), I did the same pass, but I think he was fairly new. Jude was telling me to clamp down the leg, as Marvin kept going to open guard (either intentionally or through inexperience) – making sure my partner isn’t able to close their guard after opening it is something I need to work on. Through strength Marvin was able to effectively throw me over as I was passing, but I managed to scramble and ended up facing him with both of us on our knees. So, passed, but a little sloppy.

As my gf is in Bath this weekend, I’ll be able to train three times this week. That means I can make up for that class I had to miss due to the snow, which is cool.