03/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #329
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 03/08/2010

Tonight’s session was pretty much a repeat of the class Nathan ran a couple of weeks ago. Not that I’m complaining: it’s always good to review techniques, particularly when you feel you didn’t quite get to grips with them the first time round. That was true for the scarf hold attacks we ran through tonight, which had also been covered (with some modifications and variations) by Chiu recently.

The class began by revisiting the three side control transitions Nathan went through last week, starting with scarf hold, then reverse scarf hold and finally knee on belly. I tried to pay close attention to driving into their ribs rather than just dipping my head, and also staying tight when sprawling back and switching my hips. There were also some further details on moving into knee on belly from side control, in terms of the grips. As you lean slightly forward to pop up, slide one hand to their collar and straight arm into their face, while the other hand can either grip their knee or slide under their hip.

The scarf hold attacks were exactly the same as before, though Beton had a few useful adjustments to note on the second attack, where you pull up under their elbow. First, he suggested bringing the arm through further, so you aren’t just using your wrist, but cutting in with the upper part of your forearm. Second was the position of your head. Instead of posting on your forehead, Beton advised going higher on your head. The advantage is that this means your back is automatically more curved, meaning that you provide yourself with more space to pull into.

My training partner was a big white belt called Chris, who like many of the big white belts I’ve been training with recently was concerned about using too much of his weight. That’s three in a row now, so it’s good to see that at Gracie Barra Birmingham the stereotypical inconsiderate meathead white belt is not common. That meant that not only was he being cautious during drilling, but he also tried not to unduly use force during sparring.

We stuck with the same partner throughout, beginning with specific sparring, from side control. It wasn’t easy to stay on top with the size difference, so I attempted to focus on keeping control of the near elbow, jamming my other leg through to scarf if he got it free. I need to watch that I don’t lean too far forward when looking to stay tight in scarf, as especially with a big opponent, that just means I get rolled. Instead, I should be thinking of what Nathan said about driving into their ribs, which doesn’t leave you vulnerable in the same way.

Underneath, I was looking to curl up and spin, as Chris left a bit of space with his arm giving me a chance to push off them with my feet and shins. I also managed to get in a sweep when I hooked under one of his legs, but again, he wasn’t using his weight as much as he could have. If so inclined, he could easily have just crushed down and I would have been stuck.

With then moved into free sparring, where again I was looking to stay mobile and keep my legs curled in. I flung my legs up into a triangle, but Chris shrugged that off. I also tried getting my leg across, thinking of the omoplata, but failed to properly control around his back, scoot out or get the other leg into the right position. Going for the overhook also didn’t get me too far, as I didn’t have a sufficiently tight grip on his opposite collar.

I also need to be careful of some of the habits I’ve ingrained over the years, one of which is to be ready to block with my hands when they’re about to pass. Unfortunately for me, my hand was getting ready to block his hip just as he thrust his knee forward, meaning that his body weight slammed painfully through my arm, as my elbow braced against the floor, leaving my woefully unprepared wrist to bear the brunt.

Hopefully it will be ok tomorrow: I always get worried when I whack something hard during sparring, as I fear it’s going to swell up or bruise badly the next day. I’ve been stretching it since sparring finished (and as I was still able to grab and pull on the gi and grip the head, I’m taking that as a good sign), but we’ll see how my wrist feels after a night’s sleep.

My girlfriend is visiting again at the weekend, but as she is heading up on Saturday, I should be able to get in another gi basics class on Friday. Technically I could go for the no-gi, as I finish work early enough, but no-gi tends to be a last resort. Not something I enjoy anywhere near as much as gi: too much strength and speed involved, I find, and I always feel lost without those equalising grips. Then again, I haven’t seen Inception yet, so I might have to look into film times at the Apollo and check if I could squeeze it into Friday. ;)

24/07/2010 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #326
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Chiu Kwong Man, Birmingham, UK – 24/07/2010

After about a month, I finally made it to another advanced class, as this weekend my gf isn’t around. She’s teaching a course next weekend, so I should be able to make a Saturday or Friday class, and I’ve got some time in lieu I can use to make classes in the two weeks after that. So, this should hopefully mark at least a month of normal training (which for me is twice a week). Should also give me time to polish off some reviews I’m doing for a periodical (nothing to do with BJJ, though: poetry).

That black eye didn’t happen either, which is good: instead, I’ve just got an angry red mark underneath the eye, which is presumably burst blood vessels or something. It looks unpleasant, but hasn’t caused me any pain up until now, so I’d hope that will just gradually fade. Having said that, the last time I had something similar, it took months and months to go away. Bleh.

Chiu kicked off with some work on breaking grips from standing. Interestingly, Dan from Warwick Judo (who I’ve met a few times now at various grapples at Warwick Uni) was there, and even more interestingly, Chiu drew on Dan’s judo experience to offer some more grip-breaking options. When I said hi to him later on, Dan mentioned he’s been practicing for his 1st Dan, which is cool: clearly he’s been working hard on his judo since I last saw him.

Chiu’s class followed up nicely on what Nathan taught earlier in the week, as after the stand-up, he went straight into attacks from scarf hold. There was a little more detail about getting to scarf hold, as usual from when they shove up into your neck. Chiu emphasised that you want to tuck your chin and use your shoulder, to strengthen the position of your neck. When they push up on your neck, take that opportunity to pull up on their near arm and switch your hips. From here, you can settle into a solid scarf hold, keeping your head low and a tight grasp on their arm.

Alternatively, you don’t have to settle into the classic scarf hold/kesa gatame, with one knee up and the other leg stretched out past their head. Instead, Chiu showed how after pulling up their arm, you switch your hips, but then immediately switch them again, bringing your knee right to their head. Your other leg goes straight back for balance, and it is essential that you clamp your arm in tight to trap their arm. An armbar from scarf hold is now within your grasp.

To further isolate their arm, you want to turn your knee towards their legs. Wrap your arm around your knee, still with the elbow in. The idea is that you don’t leave any space for them to pull their elbow free. This is going to depend on your opponent’s body type, as Chiu noted. With a big, powerful guy like Beton, who has thick, muscular arms, it is in a sense going to be easier to trap them, due their sheer girth (though naturally a strong person can generate more pulling force to free the arm).

A small, weedy person like me has scrawny arms, which means I find it easier to wriggle my arm free, due to the additional space. To prevent that arm slipping free, you simply drive your knee further forward and in, leaving no wiggle-room. Push on their head and step over (or as in Nathan’s version, push their face towards you), foot by their neck.

From here, if you’ve got their arm straightened out and their elbow in the right spot on your hip, you can bring your elbow back and thrust your hips forward for the tap. If it isn’t quite in the right spot, an alternative is to bring your head to the mat and knee down, then again thrust your hips forward and lengthen your body.

If that still isn’t working, other options remain available. There is Nathan’s pressing armbar from Tuesday, or you can drop back alongside them for an armbar. The key here is to stop them getting up by wrapping your arm around a leg. They may be able to raise their torso, and it feels as if they’re going to escape, but your weight and grip on the leg means they’re stuck. Lean back for the submission.

There was quite a bit of sparring today. I started off with my drilling partner Christian, who tends to be quite energetic. When we roll, I often find myself struggling to catch up as he quickly moves through to side control. This time, however, I was able to keep him in closed guard for a while, looking to get that orthodox collar and elbow grip. I wasn’t able to do a whole lot with it, especially as Christian had little trouble circling his head free.

I also tried to get the overhook, but I wasn’t in a proper closed guard at the time: he soon wriggled free. I was pleased to later get the handstand sweep, but rather less pleased that I completely failed to follow up by driving my hips forward into mount. Instead, I managed to hopelessly lose a dominant position, ending up under side control.

For a while now, I’ve been attempting to straight arm into their armpit when they have both arms over, and finally it seemed to work, though I think I was a bit sloppy. That meant I could eventually reverse through into side control and mount (after narrowly avoiding getting pulled back into half guard). I had his arm over, but messed up the arm triangle attempt, as I didn’t have the arm at all in the right position by his neck. I should have squirmed around with my shoulder to adjust.

I had a couple of rolls with a friendly white belt called John, who has been training for about three months. He’s a fairly beefy guy, but showed good control. Of course, that also meant that there were points were he could have smashed his way into a dominant position, particularly when he had his arms wrapped around my legs, so probably could have stacked and passed.

I played around with triangle attempts, trying to use my legs against his arms as much as possible, but on the few occasions I got into position, I couldn’t stop John wedging his other arm in and shrugging free of my legs. I attempted a quick switch to an armbar, but didn’t have the arm sufficiently isolated or controlled, so ended up back in guard. I did at least remember to try and get some head control, but failed to shoulder-walk back properly, or keep his posture broken and head sufficiently trapped.

Still, I was happy to get a scissor sweep, as it’s been a while: John came up on one knee while I had a grip on the collar and arm, setting up the technique. Nevertheless, as with Christian, I’m not doing enough with that grip after securing it. With both of them, I was half-heartedly flailing at chokes, but nowhere near the correct position. I guess it can function as a distraction, but I need to sharpen those choke attacks so they’re a genuine threat.

Dan rolled with me too, who is an even bigger guy than Jon, but again was nice enough not to simply crush me. We generally moved between guard and half guard. At one point I thought I was about to get squished in scarf hold (exactly where you don’t want to be with a judoka), but Dan was keeping things relatively light and flowing.

Chiu was my last sparring partner: naturally there isn’t much I can do against someone of that high a skill level, so I just tried to keep my knees close to my chest, as per jnp’s ‘ ball technique’ I mentioned in my last entry. I presume Chiu was looking to see what I did in open guard, which unfortunately for me wasn’t much. I flapped at his gi to get some kind of grip, but couldn’t maintain a hold of his legs. So, I soon found myself getting surfed by knee-on-belly, side control, mount, half guard etc. Good way to get plenty of practice on my defence, attempting to stay tight and spin out of danger (though I think Chiu was taking it fairly easy, and intentionally left some space).

When he dropped into combat base, I found I didn’t really know what to do. Normally I try to scoot forward into butterfly from the knees, but that didn’t lead anywhere in this situation. Roger’s sweep popped into my head, where you lock around combat base and lean to one side, but for that you need closed guard first (IIRC). So instead I spent the concluding part of the roll floating over Chiu as he put me wherever he wanted with his hooks (normally under side control or mount), before time ran out.

I should be in again on Tuesday, then probably Saturday again. I could do Friday, but Saturday gives me an extra half an hour, as it’s advanced rather than basics.

20/07/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #325
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Nathan Roberts, Birmingham, UK – 20/07/2010

Unfortunately, buses meant that yet again I didn’t make it in time for Wednesday last week. Especially annoying was that I did risk trying the 17:57 train, but as is almost always the case, it got delayed so I missed my connection to Acocks Green. It is frustrating to spend £5.90 on a ticket, only to head straight back to Leamington without having down any training. Gah. Still, this weekend my gf is off at a hen night, so I should be able to train on Saturday.

After the warm-up for the basics class today, another brown belt appeared alongside Nathan, to help out with instruction. He was wearing a patch for Victor’s academy (the green one that looks similar to GB Brum), so I’m not sure if he’s just visiting, or will be a permanent fixture from now on. At first I thought he was French, as Nathan called him ‘Beton’, but it turns own he’s actually a Brazilian called Roberto. As is so common over there, he’s known by a nickname instead, in a typically ironic sense: ‘Beton’ is the diminutive form of ‘Beto’, I think, but he’s a pretty big guy.

It wasn’t escaping this week, but attacks. He started by running through the drill to get into scarf hold from side control. You’ve already cleared their near elbow, and you’rve got one arm behind their head, the other under their far arm. Lean into them, driving your shoulder into their face, then sprawl your legs back slightly and switch your hips. Make sure you keep pressure on their ribs the whole time.

As you switch to face their head, scoop up their near arm. You can grip on the tricep, or nearer the shoulder: it’s a matter of preference, as long as that limb is trapped. Your other arm maintains control over their far arm, gripping underneath. This will set you up for two linked attacks, beginning with an armbar from scarf hold (similar to what Craig Kukuk shows on the Renzo DVD, and it also features as the first part of an extended attack sequence on Cindy Omatsu’s hard-to-find set).

Having got that control over their near arm, keep pinching it between your elbow and knee. That should leave you free to use your hand to turn their face towards your leg. This will make it difficult for them to bridge, and also make it easier for you to step your foot over their head, sliding it back to their skull. It will help if you’ve made sure to leave no space with your scarf hold, as otherwise you’ll have to step a long way with that foot.

With the same leg, twist your knee to the floor, basing with your forehead (keeping the next technique in mind, try to keep your head against their arm so they can’t bring it loose). Bring the elbow by their near arm backwards and thrust your hips forward. For this to get the tap, you need to have their elbow pinned against your hip.

If that doesn’t work, or they manage to get their near arm free, you can still get an armbar on their far arm. However, you need to have maintained control with your other arm, and you also must further control their arm with your head. Get in the same position as before, with a knee to the ground and head on the floor, but this time, bring the wrist you have underneath their far arm to just above their elbow.

Reach over with your other arm and lock your hands together. To finish, pull up with your joined hands (palm to palm, though it can work with other grips), while again thrusting with your hips. That again will bend their arm the wrong way, getting the tap. If they manage to twist their wrist, you simply need to follow their elbow with your joined hands, and pull in whatever direction their elbow doesn’t want to go.

Sparring wasn’t specific tonight, instead split into three rounds of free sparring. I started off with my training partner Sofya, who is a fair bit smaller than me, so I could practice things like guard passing and the like. I find I often end up on top with her, whereas I should instead be trying to put myself in her guard to practice more guard passing. Still, the little bit I did meant I could practice some of the details from Kev Capel’s private lesson a while back, such as shoving their leg down and behind you, while doing a big step with your own leg.

The next two spars were rather different, as first Nathan then Beton pulled me over for a roll. Naturally I got crushed by both, though I did at least get another chance to try out jnp’s ‘ball’ defence (access to his excellent training log is one very good reason to get yourself a Supporting Membership on Bullshido). I’ve been attempting it intermittently since first reading that post a few years ago. Basically, the idea is to always keep your knees close to your chest and round your back to swivel more easily, so that even when your opponent thinks they’ve past, you can try to spin back into guard. Not that I’ve got the hang of it yet, but I’ve found it a useful concept to keep in mind.

Similarly, I was also trying to keep shins and feet into arms, to help push away and recover guard. Again, that seemed to help a little, but hard to tell as higher belts tend to let you try stuff out a little (especially if you’re small like me). I still need to watch out for footlocks, as I’m not careful enough with my feet, and think about the escapes when I’m about to get caught. Not many people try them, which is good in the sense that they’re dangerous, but it does mean I’m not used to defending them. Of course, I barely compete, so things like that aren’t such a concern in my case.

I was also attempting to use Nathan’s side control escape from last lesson, but I found it difficult to get my knee into the crook of the elbow. It’s going to take some more practice to work out how to manoeuvre their arm into position around your knee when you’re all curled up on your side under side control. Leaning my head back (again, as Nathan taught last lesson) may have helped prevent getting choked, but either way, good habit to get into from that position.

As we lined up at the end, Nathan pointed at my face and said “I hope I didn’t do that.” At first I thought I might have got a cut or something, but apparently there’s a swelling under my left eye. If that blooms into a black eye, should make for an interesting impression when I help out with the degree congregation at Warwick again tomorrow! ;p