12/07/2015 - Open Mat | Sitting Guard

Class #652
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 12/07/2015


Most of today I spent working some open guard stuff with Rafal. The first question was how to pass the sitting guard. In my case, I tend to go with a knee cut, as the bullfighter is not so effective when they are sat up. Or, pin a leg and try and dip low to get the single underhook. Rafal built off that second option, grabbing the back of my gi and then pinning the leg, again in order to walk around behind.

In specific sparring from open guard to work on those concepts, I was finding that when trying to pass Rafal, it often ended up in his half guard. That still means I can move into a pass, as I'm much more comfortable passing half guard than I am an 'unconnected' open guard, but ideally I'd come up with a way to prevent him being able to close his legs. That could be with an arm (but there are submission risks there if I mess it up), or configuring my legs and hips so his leg is pressure away from being able to lock with his other leg.

Underneath, I'm not being assertive enough with sitting guard, waiting too long so they start their pass. Also, thinking about what to do when they manage to either break your grip on their collar or prevent you establishing it in the first place. I wasn't reacting constructively to that, as I tend to just get flopped onto my back, a much harder position to stop their pass. It can also mean I end up chasing their legs while they are already half way through their pass.

On the plus side, all that work on the shoulder clamp last month has helped, because now I am looking to shoot my arm through for a tight underhook and start controlling their shoulder. Strangely (though maybe not that strange, as it happens quite often), I'm now finding that closed guard is more appealing than open guard, whereas it was the other way round as recently as two months ago. Hopefully by the end of this month, I'll have shored up my open guard some more.

Watching yet another Jason Scully video, he mentions simple but potentially handy tip. If I can't grab the collar right away, I can just grip lower on the collar with my other hand, using that to feed in the collar grip ot my first hand. Another potential solution for when I can't get that collar grip could be shin on shin, along with wrapping the leg with my arm (making sure I scoot around slightly so they can't just drive their knee down).

Again from watching Scully videos, that looks like it would fit not only into sweeps (he shows some nifty options where you're rolling underneath them, along with a technical stand-up), but also a useful counter to the knee cut. Kev showed me shin-on-shin during that private lesson a while back too, something i could add in here as well.

28/02/2015 - Private with Kev | Open Guard | Sitting Guard, Shin-to-Shin and Single Leg X

Class #630 - Private #020
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 28/02/2015

Just a short one this visit, as my brother-in-law's flight getting delayed in the US, combined with a mortgage call they were dealing with, meant that the birthday plans for my younger niece got moved around. Rather than being able to train until 2pm, that meant I was needed back home for 12:00. Fortunately I'd already booked a private lesson, so could still get in about an hour of valuable training with Kev.

For this twentieth private lesson, I wanted to continue refining a path Kev had sent me down with an earlier private back in November 2013. I have always liked the tripod and sickle sweep combination from open guard, resulting in my open guard being built around those sweeps. My starting position was initially just sitting up with a stiff arm, based on Kev's lesson.

I've since been able to refine that, after buying Ryan Hall's Defensive Guard during a Black Friday sale. For me (and my friend Seymour agrees) it is easily Hall's best DVD set, which is saying something as his instructional sets are among the best on the market. I drilled my way through the DVDs with Chris last year and it's had a significant impact on how I approach seated guard.

Armed with the stuff I've learned from the DVDs, drilling with Chris and what I've been doing during open guard sparring, I ran through it with Kev. He suggested a few tweaks, plus some helpful additions for scenarios I haven't had much of an answer for (especially when they come in close to your shin). As a result, I've now got a coherent plan of action from open guard, based around that sitting guard position. As I'm finishing this write up on the 9th March a day after the GrappleThon, I've got details from rolling at that too (you can still support Equality Now and donate, here).

* Sit up, base an arm behind, grab their opposite collar. Keep a strong line through your shoulders and expand your chest, like Ryan Hall shows.

* Keep the foot of my raised knee outside theirs. If that knee starts to angle inwards, they can crush it down and pass, similar to the principle with knee shield passing.

* If they move to the outside of my raised knee foot, go for a collar drag and take the back. Remember to scoot around their near leg as you do.

* If they move to the inside, look for the loop choke, bringing your outside leg over their back as well. You'll tend to end up with the other knee pressing into their stomach, to clamp them in place as you go for the choke. Also, be sure to get the grip and pull down, rather than just flailing. I'm still tending to snatch at this choke rather than securing it properly, something I want to focus on.

* If they stay in the middle and with their head up, especially if they start to move backwards, ankle pick sweep them.

* If they come in close and they're standing, put your foot on their hip and move into the tripod/sickle combination.

* If they come in close and start to sit with their knee on the ground, shift into shin-on-shin guard. I've never used this, but basically, just put your shin in front of their same side leg. With your other leg, push on their knee. That will normally make them post their arm. Grab their sleeve, then simultaneously pull on their sleeve and lift their shin for the sweep. Even better, pass their arm under their leg to your other hand. With your passing hand, grab around the back of their gi, then in combination with your shin lift, sweep them. It's much the same as the basic de la Riva sweep I was taught at GB Brum.

* If you try the shin-on-shin sweep but they put their arm out of range, continue reaching for that arm. Make them think you are going for that, then switch your legs so you are hooking their rear leg with your forward leg. Grab the side of their knee and drive forwards, a bit like an ankle grab sweep.

* If they stand up from the shin-on-shin, move into single leg x and double ankle grab sweep. That one I'll need to review, as I don't think I quite got it. From what I remember, you lift up with your shin, pull their leg around (almost as if you're pulling mount), bringing your other knee behind their leg, just above their knee. You're still holding the foot (and collar, ideally I think), so can lift your hips and drive forwards to knock them over.

Interestingly, Kev said he's moved away from the nappy grip he showed me back in 2013, as it isn't high percentage enough when you're up against somebody who gets wise to it. Nevertheless, it's still a useful last resort: I haven't generally had a lot of success with it myself, though it worked pretty well last time I was in Bucks last November. I also got it a few times at the GrappleThon, although that was mostly during the long flow roll with Mike, so he wasn't putting up much resistance.
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As always, visiting my parents meant art, this time the day after training. My father took me along to the Rubens exhibition at the Royal Academy, which is titled 'Rubens and His Legacy'. I have to agree with some of the critics who reviewed the show. While I don't think it's fair to complain that there isn't much Rubens, given that "and his legacy" is part of the description, there is an issue with a number of the comparisons. An exhibition based around a work's influence on both contemporaneous and later artists is something I could enjoy, but it quickly becomes frustrating if the original influences being discussed aren't there in some form.

That was a recurring problem here. Often, the text would say "and the influence of blah blah painting by Rubens can be seen in the blah', but that original painting would simply be referred to by its name and date. Even if there was some small monochrome reproduction, that would have been something, but nothing at all means the comparison is meaningless (unless of course you already know the paintings in question well, so my father didn't mind). Sometimes there was a copy of the original painting, which was better than nothing but still disappointing. The rather sparse audioguide didn't help.

I can understand it's not always easy to get hold of paintings, but I think the exhibition would have been greatly improved if they focused on the paintings they could get and build it around that. So although there were lots of excellent paintings, it felt like I had walked into the middle of a film and missed the start. Having said that, splitting it into themes (e.g., 'compassion' for his religious art, 'lust', 'violence', etc) was a good idea, showing the range of Rubens work. The 'violence' paintings were particularly good, my favourite being 'The Fall of the Damned' (at least I think that was in the 'violence' room. Either way, it was cool). Sadly the original wasn't there (though the replacement they found at least gave a good idea), but with the magic of the internet I can reproduce Rubens' painting here.

16/12/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Seated Guard & Submission Counter to Double Underhook Pass

Class #615
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 16/12/2014

Continuing with the Ryan Hall material from yesterday, Chris and I did a bunch of positional sparring from seated guard. The important thing is to switch sides rather than getting too static, going for stuff instead of just maintaining. I was pushing for the ankle pick sweep, which worked a few times, though it also morphed into a sloppy single leg at several points too. I'm also still trying to pull in for that loop choke, but without much luck. I need to work on securing that more firmly, as well as shoving their head into position.

In the midst of working on Chris's defence to the double-underhook pass, he showed me an interesting submission he'd seen somewhere (I think he said a de la Riva guy taught it to him?) They are going for the double underhook pass, you block them in the standard way by shoulder walking back and hooking your feet under their thighs. That means their arms are now wrapped by your legs. Grab their sleeve and pull it up, then press down with your leg. That results in a weird pressure on your upper arm. It feels a bit like a kimura, but the pressure isn't quite on the shoulder. Seems to work though.

15/12/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Arm Shields from Ryan Hall's 'The Defensive Guard'

Class #614
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 15/12/2014

Taking advantage of the Black Friday sale, I picked up Ryan Hall's new DVD set (one of several on World Martial Arts recently), The Defensive Guard. Judging by the trailer and description, it looked like it would fit in perfectly with my efforts since last November to improve my guard, in this case my open guard retention and ability to block passes.

Due to my old groin injury flaring up, that limits me, but fortunately Hall covers plenty of options that don't require putting a lot of strain through my groin. Specifically, he has a number of sections on the second DVD (I haven't watched the third one yet) where he details how to use your arms as a secondary line of defence. It makes more sense when combined with the leg stuff he covers earlier, but I wanted to focus on the arms. That way, I can still improve my guard despite not being able to use my legs properly at the moment.

I always rip DVDs to mobile compatible mp4, then stick it on my phone. I could therefore show Chris exactly what I wanted to work on, having also chopped up the files I wanted (out of four hours and two DVDs, I cut it down to twenty minutes. It's a good set, but Hall's DVDs could most definitely be edited to a much shorter length ;D). I started off by practicing the shrimp the Ryan Hall way, which appears to basically be getting more on your side, connecting your elbow to your knee to form a shield and keeping space between your feet (he uses the analogy of boxing footwork, where you would never put your feet right next to eachother). That was followed by the technical standup, where Hall emphasises that your head should stay up all the way through.

Chris and I then gradually worked through a bunch of the video clips I'd pulled from the DVD. First there is the stiff arm concept from open guard (or more specifically, seated guard, like what Kev recommended to me in what's become an increasingly important private lesson), locking out not only your arm, but also aligning it with your supporting arm to create the strongest possible structure. Chris was finding that you could just knock their arm upwards to dislodge that grip, but I guess at that point, they are committing their arms to break the grip, so you can dive in for the tripod/sickle sweep combo etc.

If they slip past, Ryan Hall has an 'elbow block', where you are jamming your elbow into their clavicle. That's not to dig it in, but just to create another sort of stiff arm, this time with your upper arm. The same principle then applies, trying to align your skeletal structure. It's also essential that you expand your chest and push your bum out.

If they get past that, then you can grab the belt, or more broadly (as this applies outside of gi or when their belt is loose), put on a whizzer. Other than that, same again, aligning your skeletal structure to create a shield.

Chris found that both of those work best when they are passing low, like it's shown on the DVD, rather than if they are still stood up. In that case, you would presumably go to your primary layer of defence (feet and legs) rather than secondary (arms). As I can't use my legs properly at the mo due to injury, I'm focusing on the secondary layer of defence. :)

Ryan Hall also shows a cool cross-grip type thing where you grab their sleeve, then drive your knuckles into the top of their wrist. It's the same idea Dónal has shown me in a few private lessons (e.g., on the windscreen wiper sweep and knee cut pass). That makes for a really powerful grip that is tough to break, though you need to be careful drilling it. After a while, it tends to make a red mark on your partner's wrist! ;)

More Ryan Hall fun next time. I'll also continue working my way through The Defensive Guard: I haven't started the third DVD yet, where he ties all the fundamental stuff together into some techniques.

30/11/2013 - Private with Kev (Closed & Open Guard)

Class #538 - Private #017
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 30/11/2013

I've taken a private lesson with Kev before, three years ago. Since I started training at the Wycombe branch in 2009, RGA Bucks has remained a home base for me, even though I have moved to various bits of the country in the ensuing years. Kev is still the black belt overseeing my rank, which also hasn't changed since 2009.

I wasn't making it back as often as I'd like in 2012 and 2013, so I decided in October this year that I was going to get down to RGA Bucks more regularly. I can combine that with visiting my parents in Aylesbury for birthdays, which I try to set aside for family time. I've got two nieces with a third on the way, so in addition to the rest of my immediate family that makes for eight birthdays a year plus xmas. So, at worst that should average out to a trip to the RGA Bucks mats about every two months.

A long-distance instructor/student relationship isn't all that common in BJJ, but with regular contact I think it can work. For the first of what should be many private lessons over the next few years, Kev and I started off by talking about where I'm at in my jiu jitsu game, as well as how things went in sparring during the preceding lesson. As any reader of this blog will know, I am an inveterate self-analyser, so I've got a reasonable idea of my weak areas. That means it's extremely useful to run through them with a black belt (especially a black belt close to my size who also happens to be a very good teacher, like Kev).

The main problem I've always had is my passivity, which in large part is down to my personality. What I need to start doing more is 'pulling the trigger' on techniques, rather than getting stuck thinking about the ten different options from that position, or going for it but then backing off when it doesn't seem to be as immediately effective as I'd hoped. That old "if you think, you're late" Saulo quote is relevant, so although I'm wary of anything that implies thinking is ever negative, I do need to try and be more streamlined in my reactions.

Kev went through a number of principles and technical tweaks that would help me with that, focusing on one of the biggest gaps in my jiu jitsu: an effective offence from open guard. Most of the time, I use open guard to simply keep people at bay, but as I just stay defensive, it becomes a matter of when rather than if they pass. I can manage to tie people up in spider guard for a while, pushing against their hips, but rarely move into any sweeps or attacks.

Similar to how I worked with Donal on improving what I already know and use, the main attack from open guard remains the tripod to sickle sweep combination. Kev suggested that I should be approaching open guard from an upright starting position, basing behind with one arm. That's more mobile and also less vulnerable than lying on your back with your feet flailing at them. From that seated position, grab their collar with one arm.

If you do the collar grip, be aware that there is a potential attack they can do here, if you're not careful. By basing on the floor with an arm, they can jump up into a armbar on your outstretched arm. Kev noted that Dan Strauss is a big fan of that. If you see them base on the floor with an arm when you have the collar grip, be prepared (e.g., elbow back, shift the grip, go for your attack, etc).

Presuming you aren't getting flying armbarred, with that collar grip, you can do a collar drag and take the back. You can also use it to swing in for their ankle with your other hand. That sets you up for either an ankle pick (a bit like last month at RGA Bucks), or moving into the tripod sweep. Interestingly, Kev advocates the heel grip, not the trouser grip. This isn't loose though: pull that heel up onto your hip, which both puts them off balance and makes it harder for them to kick free.

Particularly if they are futher away, you also want to follow the Roy Harris advice (Kev pointed to Michael Langhi, who says the same thing) about always keeping your feet on your opponent: that could be hooking behind their knees or leg, pushing on the hip, the chest, the biceps or their shoulder. To counter a leg drag and certain other passes, push off their opposite shoulder with your foot.

If you mess up and they get further along, there are two options Kev noted. The first one is when they drop their weight onto you. Shove their hand towards your legs (to prevent them turning towards your head and securing a cross face), bringing your other arm around their hip. From there, you can roll them over.

The second one was something Kev said he's been having a lot of success with. He calls it the nappy grip, which is an odd name but makes perfect sense when you see it. I've been told that the same grip is used in a number of guards, such as what gets called 'lapel guard' (specifically the grip switch Keenan does here at 01:18 or so). Kev also mentioned it has been used by Bernardo Faria at the highest level (some people apparently refer to it as the 'Faria grip', which would make sense).

As there doesn't seem to be a widely used standard term, I think I'll use mawashi grip: that's the thing sumo wrestlers wear and should help me remember what it looks like. The position reminds me of the de la Riva sweep position I learned at Gracie Barra Birmingham back in 2010, where you feed their sleeve between their legs to your other hand, then knock them over. If you can't get their hand, you can use their belt or lapel, which is what Kev does for this grip.

However, he takes it a step further. You've pushed their belt or lapel past their leg, then fed that to your other hand, which is reaching around the outside. You're then going to switch grips around, bringing your first hand around the outside and re-gripping. This clamps the lapel or belt tightly around their leg and bum, hence the name. It's the same kind of grip as the Roy Dean/brabo/lapel from closed guard, taught to me by Donal a few months ago.

Once you have that grip, you can then grab their hip and sweep if they put their weight on you like the earlier technique. If they don't have their weight on you, it's possible to move around and sort of old school sweep them. It also makes it very hard for them to push the knee through for a knee slide. I found that last time I visited RGA Bucks in October, as Kev did it to me repeatedly. The defence is to do a crescent kick, TKD style, as soon as they get that belt grip (be careful you don't smack them in the face, though).

In this private lesson, we had a brief spar at the start and end to first work out some weak areas and then to shore them up: again, Kev used that mawashi/nappy grip to great effect. The same principle can work in side control, like Roy Dean shows, as well as when passing, especially passing butterfly guard. When there is any clearance under their back, pull their gi lapel under their body, then do the same outside switch grip.

Donal's closed guard grip functions well too, of course. Kev has a tweak on that closed guard option, as he grips the same way, but deeper, securing his final grip by the armpit, not the neck. That also leads into the final bit of this write-up, where again it is something I've already been working on for a while now (Kev's lesson kept perfectly addressing those questions I've been raising with myself over the last year or two, possibly longer).

The general principle is that if your open guard isn't that strong, then why open your closed guard in the first place? Another way of putting it (I'm not sure who first said this: might have been Carlson?) is that they should be have to struggle to open your closed guard, don't give it to them. Either way, I have wanted to improve my closed guard for a good while, having taken several privates with Donal for that purpose.

I have been playing with chokes and sweeps. Kev prefers to take the back, an area I have considered but not concentrated on to the same extent. Break the grip on their left side, as most people are weaker there. Drag the arm across, then stiff arm, making sure you stay on top of their wrist rather than letting your grip slip underneath. With your other arm, reach around to their hip or their armpit.

Ideally, you want to be able to rotate them into your back control, relying on leverage rather than force or lots of agile scrambling (again, this builds on something I have already covered with Donal). That combines nicely with what Kev calls the kimura sweep, essentially a variation on the sit up sweep.

When you break their grip and drag their arm across for the back take, they will most likely resist, trying to pull their arm away. At that point, switch to a sit-up sweep, but keep hold of their arm, rather than posting behind for base. Knock into their opposite hip, then pull your gripping hand back to your armpit.

This will mean they can't post, so there is no barrier to knocking them to the mat apart from the knees and posture. That could potentially also fit into the windscreen wiper sweep, unsurprising because Donal's private lesson on that technique combined it with another sit up sweep variation where you grab their sleeve.

All in all a very helpful private: I'm looking forward to trying to implement this into my jiu jitsu. I am not training as much as I would like at the moment, but that should hopefully resolve itself soon, meaning I'll finally be in a long-term position where I can train as much as I'd like in a conducive atmosphere . :)