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

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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.

31/08/2018 - Friday Charles Harriott Seminar, leglocks

Seminar #032
Artemis BJJ, Charles Harriott, Bristol, UK - 31/08/2018

It was awesome to get Charles down to Bristol, not long after he taught a superb class at the Heidelberg Camp on leglocks. I was really impressed by how he introduced the concepts, paying far more attention to safety than pretty much any other instructor I've ever trained with. Really impressive, which is why I was so keen to bring him to Artemis BJJ.

Everything he taught, and more, is on his new Leglocks 101 DVD, which you can check out at BJJ Fanatics for $47. I'd also highly recommend booking him for a seminar. Charles travels a lot, so it's entirely possible he will be within reach of you at some point, wherever you are in the world. :D

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Thanks again to @charlesharriott for an incredible #leglocks #seminar a couple of weeks ago! 😃 I have always been terrified of #footlocks, but training with Charles at the seminar and at the @BJJGlobetrotters Camp in Heidelberg last month has helped a lot. Definitely book him for a seminar if you ever get the chance, brilliant teaching. 👍😎 __________________________________________ Looking forward to even more Charles at Winter Camp in January! For which there are still tickets, if any of my students are reading this... 😉 https://www.bjjglobetrotters.com/wintercamp2019 #ArtemisBJJ #BJJ #BrazilianJiuJitsu #ArtemisBJJseminar #Bristol #UK #BJJglobetrotters #CharlesHarriott #ashigarami #heelhook #heelhooks #SupportWomensBJJ

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09/04/2017 - Dan Strauss Seminar

Seminar #029
Artemis BJJ, Daniel Strauss, Taunton, UK - 09/04/2017

Dan Strauss, who has become one of the better known UK Grapplers thanks to his charismatic performances on Polaris along with his popular Raspberry Ape Podcast, is nearing the end of his butterfly guard seminar tour. I missed his Bristol dates due to being away, but fortunately I was available for Dan's stop at Taunton (only about 30 mins on the train). Impressively, this is the 40th time Dan has taught this material, having begun his tour back in March.

He kicked off with some pointers about butterfly fundamentals. Keep your head in front of your bum and make sure they can't crush your knees together. They might try using their knees to do that, which you can prevent by staggering your hooks. If they attempt to pass, you need to make sure you have your hooks engaged. Dan made the useful comparisons to the back position, noting that back hooks also need to.be engaged (driving your heels in), or your back control will easy to escape.

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Similarly, if you don't tense your instep, then your partner will be able to backstep and pass. Should they crush down, you need to either push them away with your legs, or push yourself away. Their head may stay down (or they may try to lead with their head to pass), in which case you should threaten a guilloiltine. That will make them shoot their head back: if they leave their head there, naturally you can just finish the choke.

Dan also showed how you can enter into butterfly guard from half guard and side control. From half guard, shrimp out, insert your foot (lead with your foot, don't bring your knee in), then use that engaged hook to move into butterfly. Under side control, Dan had some variations for the standard guard recovery. Walk your feet out and bring your body to 90 degrees. Bring and bring your knee in as usual, but with an important difference. Tuck your other foot behind that knee, meaning it is there ready to become a butterfly hook. That will require you to swing your leg in with your hips, as you can't drive off your foot.

The technical bulk of the seminar built around two variations of the basic butterfly sweep. First Dan showed how you can use a whizzer to create a strong control. When they underhook, bring your arm underneath and move round to their shoulder. Reach through to hook your hand over their other arm. With your free hand, pull that same arm by grasping their wrist, yanking it to your hip. You can then switch from the wrist to grab their elbow.

Put your hook close to their knee, in order to avoid lifting up into the groin. If you need more leverage for the sweep, push with your other foot just above their other knee, like the push sweep follow up to a scissor sweep. You can enter this same position from half guard, when they get an underhook on you. Shrimp out, then establish your butterfly hook and overhook at the sake time. With a gi, it can be even stronger, as then you can anchor your whizzer on their collar.

The seminar finished with my favourite grip from butterfly, the shoulder clamp, which Dan calls the single shoulder. It's his favourite too, so he had lots of great details on tightening it up. First off, the hand going under faces away, while the hand over has palm towards you. Lock it by their shoulder, jamming that shoulder into your sternum. Keep that shoulder pressed in, dropping back and stretching them out with your legs.

Drive your arm under their neck and roll them over, windscreen wiping your legs across their body to get knee on belly on the other side. That leaves you with a strong control on their far arm. Looking forward to more from Dan in the future!

09/04/2017- Gret Zoeller seminar, worm guard

Seminar #027
Checkmat Edinburgh, Gret Zoeller, Edinburgh, UK - 09/04/2017

Gret is an excellent teacher, but what I like most about her seminars is how approachable she is. I love learning from Gret, whatever she is teaching is made fun due to her awesome personality.

Today, it was all about worm guard. Gret taught this from the guard pull. You are in typical judo grips. Take the opportunity to yank out their gi lapel, sliding down the collar as you do. Your opposite side foot goes into their same side hip as you drop and rotate. Swing your foot on the collar grip side over the gi, threading it under and past their hip. Pull that foot back in, as well as pulling in their collar as much as possible. Your other arm is gripping their sleeve. Shift your hips over to the sleeve grip side, then kick out your free leg, swinging it behind to help you sit up.

Once you've sat up, feed the collar to your hand behind their knee. As you do, push their knee inwards before the feed with your hand. When you've switch it, press your arm into their knee again, to further buckle it inwards. The first sweep involves bringing your wrapped leg knee next to their knee. Pull the collar grip towards the other side as you press with your knee, knocking them over.

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Continue to pull that grip, moving their knees across. You will then need to let go of the grip. Sometimes you'll be able to slide right into mount here, if you can shove their knee out of the way, but often it won't be that easy. You might find the gi gets stuck too, so pull it free if it does. Gret suggested wriggling in with your free knee into their back of their knees first, then a quick switch, drawing back your previously wrapped leg as if you're going to knee them in the bum. You can then move to side control.

If that isn't working for you, once you've got everything wrapped, there's also the option of basing on your sleeve grip hand in order to insert your shin. With that shin-on-shin grip, you can lift them as you pull on the gi, dropping them into back control. It's easier to do than explain, the motion feels quite simple. As Gret put it, there is only one way to go, due to the grips you've established.

Finally, for something flashier, you can invert, spinning straight through by rolling on your shoulder blades. Grab their arm as you spin, then you can swing your leg into place to drop them into an armbar.

09/04/2017 - Gret Zoeller Seminar

Seminar #025
Artemis BJJ, Gret Zoeller, Bristol, UK - 09/04/2017

When I went to the Super Seminar a couple of years ago, an awesome female black belt with cool hair immediately started chatting to me as if we'd known each other for years. That was Gret: charisma is an important quality in a seminar instructor and Gret has buckets of it. To teach a good seminar, you naturally also need plenty of teaching skill, which fortunately Gret has lots of too (it helps that she's been a school teacher for years ;D).

I really liked how Gret approached teaching a seminar. She made a point of spending lots of time with everybody there, always with a big smile on her face. She didn't even take any money for the seminar, deciding to donate the money to charity instead. It was also extremely cool that we had two visitors all the way from Scotland, Cristiana and Giles (who came armed with a whole bag full of tasty Scottish treats!).

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The entire seminar was based around a single technique, the double ankle grab sweep. Fantastic! I love seminars that go deep rather than broad, exactly the kind of thing I want from a seminar. Gret began by running through the double ankle grab sweep basic set up, with plenty of detail. She emphasised that she liked to hit this sweep by opening the legs and then pressing down with her calves into the top of their thighs. Pull your toes back to engage those calves, dropping your partner for the sweep.

A potential issue is a potent defence to that sweep. Rather than the typical option of grabbing the collars to maintain your balance, Gret showed how she grasps the belt and lifts them with it, essentially deadlifting them off the ground. You can start with two hands, then switch to one (which enables you to reach back and open up the legs for a pass). That one hand can be palm up inside the belt.

She has come up with several methods for beating that defence. The first one involved gripping their sleeve with your opposite hand, while your same side hand wraps behind their leg. You can then pass the sleeve you've grabbed to the one behind their leg. Rotate towards that leg, until you are able to bring your same side leg under their other leg. Again, push with your calf into their leg, then pass after you've knocked them down, into that supine twist.

If you go for that sweep, you can also move into knee on belly and grab a toe hold, as the foot is right there. You could kneebar too. If they step their leg back, you can instead grab their opposite collar. Drop your hips, rotate your hips around, then spin on your back. Your knee goes high on the leg you originally hooked, rolling through for a kneebar (or indeed toeholds again).

You try for the first two, can't get them. They've stepped back and they're blocking the collar grip. Foot into armpit, then you can do a variation on the first one. Only difference is you're now pushing into their armpit with your foot, rather than pressing down with your calf on their thigh. They might block that foot pulling behind their knee. If they do, you can just swing that leg way out, then chop it back in for the sweep. There's an omoplata option here too.

Gret teaches a brilliant seminar with bags of charisma, which makes a huge difference. If you'd like the pleasure of learning from Gret, she will be teaching a seminar up in Edinburgh on the 6th August. Hopefully I'll see you there! :)

2nd Seminar with Neil Owen

Seminar #024
Artemis BJJ, Neil Owen, Bristol, UK - 19/03/2017

Neil began with some simple drills for entering spider guard, starting with feet on the hips. Grab the sleeves, then put your feet into the biceps. The feet should always be doing a different job, one pulling while the other pushes. He also included moving to the knees, back to the hips, then lift them up. A nice, fluid drill to work on getting comfortable with open guard. Neil emphasised curling your foot around their bicep, like you're trying to grab it with a foot-hand. The same is true for the hip: curl your foot around the hip bone.

From there, get used to rotating. This was like the tips Chelsea gave in her seminar (I still need to write up her fourth one, from January), rotating to face the arm, with your outside foot extending straight as the inside leg curls in. To create pressure into the arm, push through with your heel, like you're putting a boot on (similar motion to the footlock defence). There is flexion in the foot too, for controlling the biceps.

Neil progressed to the concept of protecting your week side. By that he means the side where they can move around and pass. If you have a leg on the weak side that you can extend straight, that bolsters your defence. You want to spin so that your weak side is on the outside, your strong side is by them. They can pass around the inside, but they will get swept if you have your legs in place.

If they open your guard, they are passing. If you open your guard, then you're playing open guard. This is an important distinction. Neil demonstrated this idea by going into more detail about what he calls classic guard, getting there from as they try to open your closed guard. He prefers to grip under with his fingers on the collar grip, so thumb on top. Opposite leg on the floor and shrimp, then put your other foot on their hip. He has four points of contact: knee (into their chest), foot (on their hip), hand (on their collar) and other hand (on their same side sleeve).

If they stand, hide your outside foot. Should they grip it, you have their arm in range, which is what you wanted. Your weak side here is the outside, so the foot on that side swivels into the bicep and extends, while pulling down with the collar grip. For classic guard, he doesn't like to keep the foot in their bicep, it is too easy to weave the hand in. He prefers to keep his foot on the shoulder blade, that is much harder for them to weave their hand around.

When you have extended your legs into them all the way, it is hard for them to step around, but they might be able to go back to come off your feet. When they do that and break the connection, you could be in trouble. Therefore keep a little bit of a bend in your leg, as opposed to completely straightening them. The slight bend makes it easier for you to keep that connection between the soles of your feet and their hips/shoulder etc (your collar grip you're using to pull them in will help a lot here, leading into things later).

In terms of passing, should they have four points of contact, you need to remove some in order to pass. For example, controlling their legs, then moving your hips back in order to remove the feet. For the guard player, when you feel yourself losing those points of contact, sit up and press your collar grip into them. Move to the outside with your hips. If they move inside, your arm is strong, but if they move behind, you don't have much resistance. You therefore need to keep moving away to make sure they stay within that area you are strong. Any time there is a pause, strip the grip they have on your knee, meaning you can return to your previous position.

For stripping a grip, think about pushing the wrist over, rather than grabbing their sleeve and yanking. It's the same idea as when you're trying to remove a hook from a loop. Also keep in mind that when you are moving your hips away, they will occasionally try and drive forward. You therefore don't want to simply spin in a circle. If they manage to beat your legs and start dropping in, you can use your sleeve grip to keep pushing their arm away, same as the last time Neil taught us open guard.

When drilling, remember that with more resistance, there will be less space for you. That means the person on top needs to move in close, not giving unrealistic amounts of space. If you lose your grip, frame against their arm, moving your hips back until you can recover a guard. This should be pre-emptive, before they get in close to your hips. Your trigger to shrimp should not be when they have passed the knees and are dropping their weight into your hip/stomach. You need to do it earlier, just as they are starting to pass your knees.

Moving on to a different position, Neil talked about the turtle. He began with a drill where you are in turtle, then you post your outside arm and leg. Roll under yourself into that space, as if you're doing a really tight breakfall on the spot. You want to make a wide circle with your leg. You're reaching for your own butt cheek.

This can be applied to the previous material too. They have passed and are starting to press in. Roll away, swinging your legs through to recover guard. Your body shape is key, to avoid getting put flat. If you do that and they end up in a front headlock, you can do the wrestler's sit-out. Neil's version was a little different, hooking the leg with an arm and then firing out under the armpit.

Yet another option you could try is underhooking when the pressure comes in off the pass. However, that's a risky one, as it is when that pressure is there. Ideally you want to use one of the other options, before the pressure is applied.

The last part of the seminar was from what Neil calls classic guard. Again, you have a collar and sleeve grip, along with a foot into their shoulder (not their biceps). Your other foot is into their hip. Push with the hip foot, dragging their sleeve into your hip. Rotate your hip knee around, to move into an omoplata as you bend their arm around your leg. A typical follow-up is to square up, sit up, then get their shoulder on the ground. That isn't easy, especially if they are bigger than you.

Neil prefers to turn his knees away instead, pressing it to the ground. That makes it tough for them to bring their shoulder off the ground, as well as scuppering their ability to roll through. From there, wiggle your hips out and go to apply the omoplata. Be careful with the omoplata, it's a lot of control on the shoulder. Disentangle yourself with care, their arm and shoulder are very vulnerable. It is not like a choke, where you can just relieve the pressure and you are finished. You have to actively remove yourself from the submission.

Another option is a collar drag, switching your hips and dragging them into the space you've just cleared. Neil prefers to go to side control from there, rather than trying to jump onto the back. Be careful with this one, as it is difficult to hit this technique in sparring without smacking their face into the floor. With drilling, it's best for the person passing to let go of the legs, in order to land safely,.

28/01/2017 - 4th Seminar with Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner & Tom Barlow

Seminar #023
Artemis BJJ, Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner & Tom Barlow, Bristol, UK - 28/01/2017

To celebrate the third year anniversary of Artemis BJJ, Chelsea and Tom were back for their fourth seminar. As always, it was excellent. The main reason I bring down black belts to teach seminars on the MYGYM Bristol mats is to expand my students' horizons. For my own game, I focus on a narrow range of techniques, specifically selected to avoid doing any damage to my body, as well as relying on the least amount of physical aptitude possible.

So, to have somebody like Chelsea down is perfect, given that as a prominent competitor in the black belt division she is well versed in the modern style. Who better to teach us about berimbolos than a teacher at the Mendes brothers' Art of Jiu Jitsu school? :)

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For this seminar, she ran through the berimbolo and de la Riva techniques. Exactly what I wanted from Chelsea, flashy stuff I don't use so much. :D

18/12/2016 - Neil Owen Seminar

Seminar #022
Artemis BJJ, Neil Owen, Bristol, UK - 18/12/2016

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I signed Artemis BJJ up to the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Globetrotters affiliation some time ago, as I like the independence that grants me. Our club is not under anybody other than me, although I'm personally under Kev Capel from RGA Bucks (and have been since 2009). Being part of BJJ Globetrotters has a number of advantages, but perhaps the biggest is networking.

This seminar marks the fruition of that networking, something which is set to continue through into 2017 and beyond. We have already hosted one fellow BJJ Globetrotters instructor, Ana Yagues, but I've known her online for several years due to blogging. Neil Owen is somebody I've never met before, though I was aware of the name due to Brian Lister (a friend from Bullshido, who I met at the Oxford Throwdown a few years back now). In an interesting twist of fate, Neil happens to be the business partner of one of the teachers at the Leuven Globetrotter Camp, Chad Wright, who like me is very active on social media.

Chad sent me a message on Facebook asking if I'd be interested in hosting Neil (they run Infinity BJJ together, mainly based in Australia, but they have expanded to various other countries) for a seminar. Naturally I jumped at the chance: Neil has been training since the mid '90s, among the original pioneers of BJJ in the UK. He has an easy-going personality that meant he was a pleasure to deal with, something that also carries over to his teaching style.

Neil had asked me if there was anything in particular I wanted to work on. If you've been following this blog, you'll know that open guard has been my focus for a couple of years now. I sent Neil the recent sparring videos I've been putting up on Instragram, resulting in one of the most useful seminars I've ever been to. I'm very pleased Neil is going to be coming back (on the 19th March), where we can hopefully do the same thing. :)

The seminar began with a quick demonstration of various passes you might do off a standard kneeling guard break. Grab both their collars with one arm, then raise up very slightly to bring your knee into their bum. Push into their other knee with your arm to open, then move directly into an underhook pass (which Neil calls the 'bully pass').

Your arm goes underneath the leg you didn't push down for a single underhook pass, or swim both arms under for a double underhook pass. Alternatively, you might go for a knee slide, bringing your other knee into their thigh and stepping out with the other leg, then cutting through. If you put the same side shin over their thigh, that leads into the various leg pin pass options.

Should you prefer to stand up after opening their guard, a whole other set of options become available. Grab inside their knees and bullfighter by kicking your leg back and stepping through. Neil's favourite is the over-under pass, which effectively combines the single underhook with a bullfighter variation (as you underhook one one leg, while shoving the other back between your own legs).

We drilled all of those, to get familiar with the passes. That laid the groundwork to then learn how to defend against all those passes. In terms of moving from closed to open guard, put your foot on their hip (not near their hip, their actual hip bone) as soon as they get close to opening your guard. You're cupping their hip bone with the arch of your foot. That provides you with some distance control, along with enough time to shrimp out a little with your other foot. You also want to lean back slightly, to help bring your same side elbow back for base.

Once you've come up on your elbow, insert your free hand deep into their opposite collar. Go from your elbow to your hand, make it easier to shrimp a little more, squaring up to them. You're now ready to establish butterfly guard and go from there, making sure you are wriggling back on your bum to stop them shoving you down.

As Neil then demonstrated, you can use that to block all the passes he showed at the start of the seminar. It was a brilliantly taught sequence with a bunch of great little details. Even better, because it was so well targeted towards my game (given Neil had kindly watched those vids I sent him), this is going to perfectly set me up for both practicing and teaching in February (as that's open guard month). :)

If they bring their hands back to your knees after the guard has been opened and you've set up your open guard, it's likely they are going to stand up. Your basing hand switches to grabbing their same side sleeve. As they stand, swing out your other leg. This means all your grips are down one side of their body: you're grabbing their collar, their sleeve and also pushing into their hip. Neil called this 'classic open guard'.

That position can lead into triangles and omoplatas. You also want to be on your side, maximising the control you have with your grips. If they attempt to pass in that direction, it will be next to impossible for them to pass. If they go the other way, they are chasing your swung-away leg, also leaving their trailing arm vulnerable to the aforementioned omoplata. At any point, you can square back up by bringing that free foot to their hip, arm, chest.

Neil then ran through his theory of pass 'zones'. The bullfighter is out at Zone 3, while the knee slide comes in a little closer at Zone 2. Finally, an underhook pass is Zone 1. The smaller the number, the harder it is to prevent the pass. To succeed in their pass, they need to maintain their grips all the way round. Do not accept side control: if you lose the grip with your foot, you still have the sleeve from earlier. That's enough to recover your guard.

Stiff arm that away from you, returning to a sitting guard position. They cannot pass until they free that arm. Of course, you aren't going to wait there. You'll look to square back up and recover your guard long before they wriggle their arm out of your grip. If they insist on the pass, you might even be able to roll them right over the top. The only downside to this for me is the grip asks a lot of your fingers. I could try it with a pistol grip I guess, that's much easier on the fingers, but also easier to break. Maybe even gripping the wrist, just enough to recover my guard?

From a passing perspective, Neil discussed how you want to separate the elbow and knee. Therefore from the bottom, you're looking to keep those in tight. Hence why some people will work on getting the flexibility to put their knee into their armpits. Progessing to spider guard, if they break off one of your feet grips, swing it straight in to a de la Riva hook. Your same side hand will grab their foot, or the trouser leg. Keep your toes up, pulling your knee in. It's important to pull them in, because as Neil pointed out, the DLR hook only works on a bent leg.

In an effort to pass DLR, they may grab your knee, pushing it down and straightening their arm in the process. Keeping the arm straight, push your bum back to knock off that DLR hook. This puts the passer in Zone 2, ready to go for the knee slide. Do not buckle your knee sideways: step the other leg across, sink down to put your heel right on your butt.

On the bottom looking to recover guard, bring your ex-DLR knee across their hip to block. Neil noted that the important part here is not the knee, it's adjusting your upper body to line up against your knee. In practice, that means bringing your shoulder and head back, putting you almost perpendicular to the passer. Bring your bottom knee out, then square back up to guard.

The next scenario was countering the double underhook pass. They want to control your hips and either take them out of action (getting underneath them) or connect their hands to put those legs on their shoulders. Your defence is the same for both. Immediately grip both their sleeves and flare your legs. Push into their biceps, using that to try and create space by shrimiping. You'll also need to walk backwards on your shoulders.

If they really try to fling your leg, you can switch to the stiff arm into their sleeve, like Neil showed earlier. Should they manage to lock their hands, instead of grabbing their sleeve, stiff arm into the back of their elbow. You can then proceed to recover guard in much the same way as the stiff arm into their sleeve from earlier.

To finish, Neil demonstrated an over under pass, his personal favourite. Essentially, it's a combination of the bullfighter and the underhook pass. He explained how he does not buy into the idea that you can only pass on your feet, a trend which he feels is in part based upon the speed, balance and athleticism of elite competitors rather than the average grappler. He (like me) prefers to be in Zone 1, with a close connection.

Crouch, set, engage, like you're going into a rugby scrum. One arm goes under, the other over, so be careful of the triangle. You must control their bottom leg between your legs, to make certain they can't set up that triangle. Your head goes to their far hip, driving your shoulder across their stomach. You now have the option of either moving into mount or to side control.

As Neil believes this is the best pass, it stands to reason that to counter the over under is difficult. The option he suggested was to grab their armpit on the side their head wants to go. Do that before they get their head in position, keeping your arm tight, which will also block them getting their head to your hip. Twisting your knee inwards and kicking your leg, wriggle your hips out until you can pull your opponent away to your other hip, using your armpit grip. If you have long legs, that becomes much easier, as you can put your foot on the ground. With short legs (like me), you end up manically wriggling your knee and hips, an awkward motion to master. But then as Neil said, it is a tough pass to defend. Focus on defending the underhook element of the pass.

Rolling with both Neil and his black belt James (from Infinity Martial Arts Chesterfield) was good fun. They both took it fairly easy, letting me work through positions. I was trying the slow motion seoi-nage to avoid James taking my back, lots of gripping and elbow wedging from me to try and avoid his hooks. With Neil, he is not only much better but a lot bigger than me, so he was taking it especially light. Tried to put some of what he had taught into action, such as the knee shield where it's about leaning back with head rather than relying too much on the bracing arm. Another interesting thing he said during drilling, he doesn't rely on that so much from sitting guard, posture should be doing that job. So more like what I've seen from Graugart and I think Scully too?

Tasty pie afterwards, had a great long chat with Neil about UK BJJ history, particularly up North, along with how he and Chad have developed Infinity Martial Arts. Look out for the relevant episode of the Artemis BJJ Podcast, I'll have that up in the next month or two. :)

10/10/2016 - 3rd Seminar with Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner & Tom Barlow

Seminar #021
Artemis BJJ, Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner & Tom Barlow, Bristol, UK - 10/10/2016

A little under nine months since they last visited us in Bristol, Chelsea and Tom were back on the Artemis BJJ mats to share some techniques. Before the seminar got started I took the opportunity to interview them both, so that will be on the Artemis BJJ Podcast soon (and will mark the first time I've actually used new interview footage, ooo ;D). My free account on Spreaker is running out of space, so I've set up a Patreon for it. If there are at least six people out there who like the podcast enough to put in $1 a month, that will pay for an upgrade to the first tier of the pro account (which raises the amount of audio storage from 5 hours to 100 hours). If not, meh, saves me the work of doing a regular podcast. ;)

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Oct 10, 2016 at 9:52pm PDT

Chelsea kicked things off with a quick warm-up, then into spider guard drills. I've been wary of spider guard ever since Chiu told me years ago that he mashed up his fingers too much to play it regularly, but it's useful to know for teaching (and the occasional time when I need to fall back on it). Today's seminar was especially useful on that score, as Chelsea built up to the main technique gradually, with plenty of drilling. Grab their sleeves, feet in the biceps, being sure to keep their elbows flared out.You spin from side to side, extending one leg while pulling back your other knee. Do that three times, then kick your bent out and around their arm. Weave it around the inside, threading in your lasso grip.

I got a bit confused on which side to extend, but fortunately this time I didn't accidentally delete all my videos after the seminar. Therefore I can double-check: when you spin to go slightly sideways, it's the inside leg that you extend, meaning your outside leg is bent. Bring your shoulders and bum off the mat as much as you can, as that will make it easier to spin. If you don't spin inwards and stay square on, they are going to be able to leg drag you. It is always the bent leg that moves into the lasso.

For the first sweep, bring your straight leg back and up, past your head. That should make them step forward, enabling you to switch your grip from their sleeve to the bottom of their trouser leg (don't grip inside the cuff). Keep your foot extended into the crook of their elbow for distance, then drop that same foot to the mat, behind their opposite leg. The foot of your lassoing leg pushes into their same side leg, toes pointing towards their other hip.

Chop back with your foot that's on the floor, coming up immediately after the sweep. You'll end up a little entangled in limbs, but on top. Keep hold of the trouser grip, pressing it to the mat. Otherwise, they are likely to try and get their knee in the way, making it awkward to complete your pass. Be careful of the arm you've lassoed, as coming up on top might generate some bicep-slicer pressure.

It's a fast sweep, but Chelsea highlighted that the downside to that speed is that the other person can sit back up again without too much difficulty. As they do, make sure to bring your leg that was behind their leg out. That goes to their hip or stomach instead, to slow them down. On the lasso side, pull their elbow, which pops your leg through. Your other leg goes to their head, letting you transition into a triangle. The omoplata is an option too (interestingly, Chelsea mentioned that although she's a fan of the omoplata, it is a much lower percentage submission than the triangle or armbar, but a high percentage sweep). She also added in her tip about grabbing their head and twisting it to expose their neck.

They also might end up on their knees due to frustration at dealing with your lasso. If their knee is raised on the opposite side to your lasso, you can easily hook your foot underneath and sweep them. Therefore more experienced grapplers will make sure they either keep both knees down or raise it on the lasso side. If you're gripping the trouser leg, switch to grabbing their opposite collar. From here you can again go into a triangle, pushing your foot into the non-lassoed arm (or on their shoulder, if you've lost the arm), in order to then kick that leg into their neck. On the other side, pull on the lassoed elbow again to get your leg through, ready to lock up a triangle.

The last spider guard option Chelsea shared with us was my favourite. For this spider guard sweep they need to have the knee raised on the lasso side. Again grab their opposite collar (although for this one, you can grab their same side collar. As you don't bring that leg through to their neck, a same-side grip won't block it). Your lasso foot hooks in behind their raised knee, moving through to de la Riva. You'll need to turn to get that de la Riva all the way in, unless you have very flexible knees. When the hook is established, it should be simple to knock them over in that direction.

Chelsea then progressed to closed guard. She started with the posture break we use in our warm-up drills, flaring out their elbows and pulling your knees in. You can move into lots of closed guard variations from there (my favourite is the shoulder clamp): Chelsea began with the lapel over the back grip. Pull out their gi and pull it over their back. To give you the time to do that, anchor your other hand into their armpit. Feed the gi over their back to your hand, cinching it by their head. Switch hands, palm up. You can now go for a choke by locking in the other hand (on that gi on the other side of their head, by the shoulder, or even in the collar).

Her last technique was on the overhook guard, where after breaking their posture, you overhook their arm, anchoring by grabbing their opposite collar. Shrimp out slightly towards your overhook, getting slightly on your hand. Put your foot on their hip to make some more space, then you can bring your knee on the overhook side on top of their arm. Squeeze for the pressing armbar (as ever, the tricky part is getting the right spot on their elbow). If they try to turn their arm, as long as your grip is tight enough to stop them pulling their arm right out, just twist and you can americana them.

At that point, Chelsea paused the technical instruction to do a few rounds of sparring. I took the opportunity to get a roll in with Tom, which mostly consisted of him hopping to either side of my open guard. It felt like my open guard was made of tissue paper, something I haven't yet been able to resolve properly. With somebody less experienced I can get a shin-on-shin in the way, or keep them at bay with my legs, but that doesn't work when your sparring partner is good (especially if they're much better than you, like black belts ;D).

I asked a question about that later, during the question and answer section. The simple response was 'get grips', a useful pointer to keep in mind. I'm wondering if I focus too much on that leg on the outside, when perhaps I should attempt to really lock up the inside leg? I'll keep playing. I have a private with my instructor Kev Capel this month, so that's something I can ask about more.

Chelsea then passed over to Tom, so that he could discuss his approach to passing closed guard. He goes into depth on this topic over on his website, which also has a bunch of embedded videos. Read that for the full details, but in short, you get into the usual posture with an arm by the chest and on the hip. Tom notes that the elbow of the chest arm should be angled down, as that makes it much tougher for them to collapse it. Ideally you want to grab their same side sleeve with your hip hand, meaning you can step your foot up on that side with impunity.

Once you've up, stand up tall, immediately angling your knee on the sleeve grabbing side into their stomach. You want to hang them off their sleeve (or their collar, if they don't let you grab their sleeve), twisting their posture awkwardly and affecting their ability to sweep. Don't wait around there, moving to push on their other leg as quickly as you can. Pop open the guard, following their leg down with your knee so they don't have any space to start setting up an open guard.

24/07/2016 - Seminar with Ana Yagües

Seminar #020
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Ana Yagües, Bristol, UK - 24/07/2016

I am always keen to get more women down to teach at Artemis BJJ, as well as bringing in black belts for seminars. Up until now we've had Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner teach us twice, which was cool. When I heard that Ana Yagües would be in the UK for a BJJ Globetrotter Camp, I jumped at the chance to bring her up to Bristol. Ana is somebody I've known online for a number of years, initially due to her blogs about BJJ and pregnancy. I was able to train with her at the Globetrotter camp, from which she made the journey on Sunday morning (thanks to David kindly offering a lift, meaning Ana didn't have to contend with the clunky and overpriced British train system ;D).

We've been looking at Ana's de la Riva x guard sweep all week, so she kicked off with that. It's always awesome to have the black belt perspective, as Ana added several details I'd been missing. The most important tweak was on lifting the hips to make that de la Riva hook really deep. I had been lifting them straight up, but to get maximum extension, you should twist inwards. That then means you can get your foot horizontal: a few people in training had only been managing to hook by the hip, which isn't far enough. With that tip, they should hopefully be able to secure a much deeper hook.

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 22, 2016 at 12:02am PDT

To achieve the same sweep when your partner goes to combat base, push on their leg to open up space. It's tough for them to avoid giving you enough space to sneak that hook through. Once you have that, then it isn't too hard to get the other foot underneath. That becomes a powerful sweeping platform, in either direction. I'm looking forward to trying this out some more in sparring, as I like the idea of an open guard that keeps my partner close and controlled, as well as relying principally on my legs rather than some kind of finger-mashing gi grip. ;)

Next up was the shin-to-shin guard, also commonly known as shin-on-shin. We went through a sweeping sequence that was similar to the series my instructor showed me at a private in February last year. Put your shin in front of their same side leg, wrapping behind their leg with your arm. Your other leg pushes on their knee. That will normally make them post their arm, or at least put the arm in range. Grab their sleeve, ideally passing their arm under their leg to your other hand. With your passing hand, grab high on the arm you just controlled, up near their shoulder. Pull down on that arm as you lift with your shin. It's much the same motion as the basic de la Riva sweep I was taught at GB Brum.

Another option is to instead grab their far ankle, rather than high on their arm. This is to block them from stepping to recover their base. You can then again lift with the shin and drive through for the sweep. Finally, if you can't get either arm, again like the de la Riva series from GB Brum, grab their belt or gi tail instead and pass that under their leg. Should they base out heavily on their arms when you go for the sweep, you can potentially switch to a single leg, or move to take their back.

The only downside I find with the shin-on-shin guard is that the eponymous body part gets rather sore after a while, especially as I'm a wimp ;D. So I was relieved when Ana then moved into some closed guard options, starting with an old favourite of mine, the overhook guard. I sometimes have trouble setting that up: Ana had a simple but effective solution. Just swim their hands out as you pull them in with your knees, to make them post on the mat. You can then secure the overhook (another option is off the two-on-one grip break where you pull it behind your head, which is the one I was originally shown back when I first learned this. Tougher to get, but I might show that during closed guard month).

There are lots of attacks you can do from here. Ana began with a triangle from the overhook. Press into their non-overhooked arm with your free hand, then use the space to slip your leg through. You may need to shrimp slightly in order to get your leg past the arm, especially if you are tall. Once you've brought your leg out from underneath that arm, swing it across into their neck. Control their head (e.g., by grabbing the shin of the leg you now have across the back of their neck), then step on their hip to swivel into triangle-locking pushing. You can now bring their arm across and finish the triangle.

If you aren't able to get your leg out for the triangle, you could instead go for a pressing armbar variation. Shrimp out and bring one leg up their back, your other knee clamping by their chest. You still have your arm wrapped around theirs due to your earlier grip. Move your hips out slightly to straighten their arm: their wrist should roughly be on your ribs. To finish, press down on their elbow with your arm and knee. Be careful, as this can come on fast and they also might find it hard to tap as both their arms are in awkward positions. If they twist their arm out to escape, you're set up for an omoplata.

Getting the pressing armbar (or a shoulder lock, depending on the person) can be tricky, so another option is to move instead to a gogoplata. Bring your leg on the overhooking side past their head, threading it around the overhooked arm, until you can hook underneath their chin. You will eventually need to bring your hand out of the overhook, but you're still controlling that arm with your leg. To complete the gogoplata, grab your toes/foot to make sure it's tight and extend your leg.

If you have trouble with that one, keep extending your leg until you can get right under their far armpit. From here, you might be able to get a submission by twisting your hips, or you could go for a wristlock. I think you twist your hips away from them, but I'll check (either from drilling at open mat, or if Ana gets a chance to read this. I did take video of everything, but cleverly deleted it by accident).

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 24, 2016 at 7:13am PDT

The last technique of the day was reminiscent of what Chris Haueter taught in Leuven last month, with a cool additional detail. Pull out their gi tail, outside their arm. Yank it back across their arm, locking it in place by grabbing it with your opposite hand. Grip their sleeve with your same side hand, then use those two grips to bring their arm over your body. Slide your gi tail grip to the end of the gi lapel, wrapping your same side arm around their head (keep the elbow tight, so they can't wriggle their head free). Pass the end of the gi tail to that head-wrapping arm, securing it against their neck. Finally, use what is now your free hand to grasp their same side knee. Pull on the lapel and the knee to get a sort of bow and arrow choke: video above, if that's confusing. ;)

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 24, 2016 at 10:50am PDT

Thanks to everybody who came down to support the seminar, both from Artemis BJJ and from our friends at other clubs: it was cool to see Piotr again from Gloucester, who also brought his team mate Chris. Piotr was a major part of this year's GrappleThon, maintaining that big smile for most of the twenty-four hours. ;)

As always after Artemis BJJ seminars, we went to Pieminister for a delicious meal. If you'd like to come to the next seminar, keep an eye on the Artemis BJJ Facebook page: I'm intending to keep every seminar at £20 and they will also stay open to everybody. Hopefully see you at the next one. ;)

16/04/2016 - Jamie Hughes Seminar

Seminar #019
Pedro Bessa BJJ, Jamie Hughes, Bristol, UK - 16/04/2016

A photo posted by Jamie Hughes (@jamiehughesbjj) on Apr 16, 2016 at 6:28am PDT

At today's seminar, brown belt Jamie Hughes went through a few closed guard sequences he's found useful in competition. The first starts a with strong cross collar grip. Pull them in with your legs, then angle out. When they start to rise, establish a palm down grip on their collar, Get your elbow under chin and complete the choke.

If they block your second grip on that choke, whip your legs up and lock around them: you're looking for a 'diamond' clamp, setting up a triangle. It doesn't matter if they still have their hand in, that will simply fill up any space for choking. Slide your leg into position for the triangle, then to finish, bring your arm around your knee, gable gripping. Squeeze for the tap.

If they block the arm but have their arm further through, you can switch to an armbar. Push them away with your collar grip hand, then bring your legs up into the armbar position. Pull back toes to tense and add pressure. Alternatively, reach under their leg, rolling them into a mounted armbar.

Next sequence begins from the scissor sweep. You have that collar grip again. This time, drive your collar grip side knee up into their chest, pressing in tight. Your other leg drops by their same side leg, chopping them over into mount. You can finish the choke from there, or switch to another attack. Keep your sleeve grip and choke grip, pulling the sleeve across as you swivel into s mount for the armbar. That sleeve pull will raise their shoulder, making the s mount switch easier. It also gives you the option of technical mount.

If you can't knock them over with the scissor sweep, change to a push sweep. If you can't get that either, bring your pressing knee out and over the top of their arm, shove the arm back with the knee, then circle round their head to move into a triangle.

A photo posted by Tom Showler (@tomlovestriangles) on Apr 16, 2016 at 5:36am PDT

Switching it up, you can make as if you're going for the scissor sweep, but instead kick your cross grip side leg out and clamp around their back. Punch across with your collar grip, pull their arm across with the sleeve grip. Squeeze your knees for a weird choke. If this doesn't choke them, it will probably give you the arm for an armbar (with this one, Hughes said it was ok to cross your feet). If they pull their arm free, you're in the perfect position to move into an omoplata instead.

Third sequence goes from the two-on-one grip break. Hughes recommends a different version to what I'm used to. Rather than bringing an arm underneath, he puts both hands on top, gripping firmly: this is more powerful, in his opinion. Yank it up and pull across, switching your outside arm to a pistol grip. You're slightly off to the side behind them, almost at their back. Stay tight. Grip their belt, lock your elbow in. Switch your grip from the sleeve to their trouser leg.

Kick your leg up towards their opposite shoulder, aiming to knock their shoulder into your chest. Upa and punch up with your trouser grip to roll through into mount. Loads of options now, from armbars to back takes, chokes, kimura grip, all sorts. Tricky to get the right weight distribution initially. Alternatively, grip break and punch across as before, then shrimp a bit to go to the back. Bring your arm across their neck, lock your other hand on their back for the 'short choke'. For more leverage, thrust with your hips.

A photo posted by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Apr 16, 2016 at 6:18am PDT

If you can't knock them over, crawl up and around their back, swivelling the leg as you post out your arm, moving onto the back. From here, you can hook the far arm with yours, by the crook of their elbow. Bring your leg past the head, swivelling your body through. You can then lock in a 'reverse armbar', or grab their trouser leg and lift it through, to move into a standard armbar from mount instead.