03/10/2017 - Academy Jiu Jitsu (Standing up in closed guard)

Class #904
Academy Jiu Jitsu, Dylan Hewitt, Melbourne, Australia - 03/10/2017

My ex-student Erin had told me all about her new school in Melbourne after she moved back home. A big part of my original reason for making the trip over to Australia was to see Erin and train at her new place. There was therefore quite a lot of expectation riding on what she'd said: as it turned out, those expectations were more than met.

Academy Jiu Jitsu is a lovely place to train, full of friendly people who immediately made me feel part of the family. In many ways it reminded me of training back home at Artemis BJJ, so I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Academy Jiu Jitsu if you're looking for a chilled out training environment with a friendly vibe. The rolls were technical, everybody was welcoming, lots of laughter during class.

The teaching was high quality too. Dylan went through a standard closed guard break and pass, with lots of details. Sit on your heels, thrusting your hip. Use your forward hand to grasp both collars, twist: that's to keep them down. Other hand grabs their wrist, pressing that into their hip. Slight flare of your elbow in order to press in their hip, but be ready to clamp that back in as it's dangerous (omoplata etc).

To stand, lean over to the non-wrist grip side, then step your wrist grip side foot forward. Stand, letting go of collars and pulling up on sleeve. Dylan likes to switch grips, but down to preference. Squeeze your knees together, then push down on their knee. You can follow with your shin and move into various passes. One I hadn't thought about was windscreen wiping your feet across, then you can go into mount, side control etc.

In closed guard specific sparring, I was lazy and just waited. It's important to be wary of chokes, I was lucky in that i could push on elbows to prevent the chokes, but if he had gotten deeper, that would have been on. I liked the simple tip that if they grab your collar, grab their hand and use that as your grip to stand. Worked well for me.a few times, but just white belts and I was telegraphing it too much. Next up, open mat.

21/05/2012 - USA Training Trip in November & GB Bristol (Opening the Guard)

Class #457
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 21/05/2012

For years now, I've been saying I want to go to the USA and meet up with some of the many awesome BJJers I've got to know online. I've always had five states in mind: California, Florida, Texas, Virginia and Oregon, based on the people I want to train with in each of those states. Canada is also somewhere I want to go (or rather, return to, as I went way back in 2002). I'm intending to visit all of them over the next few years, though I've no idea how long that's going to take. My girlfriend wasn't keen on doing a long haul flight this year, so I'm saving California and Florida: I think those are the two states she would most enjoy, possibly Virginia too, due to the landscape, sunshine and beaches (well, not so much Virginia on the latter two ;p).

That meant that this year, I've decided to go to Texas. My flights are booked, so I'm leaving on the 17th November, then coming back on the 30th November. At the moment, the only two places I'm definitely going are Dallas and Austin, with Houston being a likely third destination. So, if there are any BJJers from Texas reading this, let me know your suggestions. Though I should note I'm a bit weird in that while it would be fun to train with big names (Carlos Machado is the main one I'd like to check out), I'm a lot more interested in meeting fellow bloggers. :D

Speaking of big names, well-known BJJ film maker Hywel Teague is looking for contributions to his first full-length project, where he will be interviewing several red belts. The amount of first hand historical knowledge these guys possess is unmatched, so if you want to help out (the film will be freely available online, by the way, so this isn't a profit-driven project), go here.

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Getting back to training, tonight will be the only session I get in this week. That's because it's my girlfriend's 30th. Every other evening is going to be dedicated to her instead. Should be fun, as I have a short trip planned, along with an outing to Phantom of the Opera (she's a big fan, so this will be the fourth or fifth time I've been with her in the eleven years we've been together). Hopefully I'll be able to get back into my Tuesday training pattern after that: there has been a lot more teaching recently rather than training. Of course, I do enjoy teaching, but it's important to still get in some drilling and sparring time for myself too. At least I'm not feeling as run down as last week, meaning I should be back to normal soon.

Geeza focused on guard passing basics tonight, specifically opening the guard. He began with a drill he's taught before, which tends to get a few laughs as it looks a little odd. The idea is to use cats and dogs as a guide for your back positioning. You're on your hands and knees, starting in the 'dog' position: head raised, back curved down, chest up. From there shift into the 'cat', where you arch your back and dip your head slightly.

The application is posturing in somebody's guard. Your back should be in the 'cat' position, though not too pronounced. One hand is in front of the other, with each hand gripping both collars. Twist your hands so your palms face up, also using your skeletal structure to make a solid rod of your forward arm. If they try to grab your elbows and pull you forward, that forward hand can brace against the ridge of their sternum. If they keep trying to drag you towards them, they're merely going to rub a raw red mark on their chest where your knuckles dig in. Which incidentally can make this a bit painful to drill more than a few times. ;)

You also want to make sure your head position does not shift further forward that your lead hand. Otherwise, they'll have an easier time breaking your posture. They are eventually going to get frustrated and stop trying to yank you forwards by your elbow. This is when you shift to the more orthodox posture, turning your lead hand palm down, but still gripping both collars and keeping that skeletal structure in play. Your other hand presses into their same side hip: although this is difficult in practice, you want to use that to prevent them moving their hips.

Next, put your knee into their tailbone, then step back with your other foot. Aim to slide your hip into their linked feet, until you can break them open. As anyone experienced will know, this is tough, especially if they have long legs or are simply stronger than you. However, passing from the knees is 'safer', in that you're less vulnerable to sweeps, though arguably you're more vulnerable to submissions.

So, most likely you're going to have to stand up. First you need to trap one of their arms, pressing it into their stomach. If you don't, then there is a much higher danger of them controlling your legs and getting a sweep. Geeza likes to use his head as a pendulum, so he swings it one way in order to lift his leg on the other side. Twist your other leg and stand. From there, simply shake up and down until gravity forces them to open their guard. Geeza used the metaphor of shaking a ketchup bottle to get the contents out, which is apt.

We did a bit of specific sparring at the end, which this time was very specific. Starting in the guard, all the person on top had to do was open the legs, while the person on the bottom was supposed to just maintain their position, no subs or sweeps. It's a good drill, as that enables the top person to really focus in on balance and the mechanics of popping open the legs. On top, I was generally able to open the legs by standing up and shaking, but I doubt I would have been successful if subs and sweeps were in play. I'm still leaning too far forward and I'm also continuing to grip too long on their collar, meaning my posture is hunched and weak.

On the bottom, I mainly just bounced my hips over each time they tried to insert their tailbone. I also took the opportunity to practice bringing them down as soon as they tried to stand up, by sucking my knees into my chest. Each time I did eventually get my guard opened, but it was as ever a good exercise. The more specific sparring, the better. :)

06/06/2011 - Gracie Barra Fundamentals

Class #402
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt, Bristol, UK - 06/06/2011

First off, I wanted to mention the awesome achievement by a training partner of mine up at RGA Bucks. Yas Wilson won the silver medal in her purple belt weight category at the Mundials, facing heavy favourite Mackenzie Dern in the final. Very cool news, so many congratulations to Yas, and of course her instructor, Kev Capel. In case you missed the vids of Yas teaching, Kev has recently put up a number of posts on the RGA Bucks blog: Yas teaching here, Kev teaching here, along with a note on Yas' historic accomplishment here.

I wasn't able to watch any of the Mundials at the weekend, as I was at the Hay Festival on the Saturday, then working on the house on the Sunday. However, I was able to read a few excellent write-ups today, most notably Jen Flannery's sterling work on the Grappling Girls Guild. That has become the place to go if you want some analysis of the women's results, so I hope Jen can maintain it over the coming years. Discussion about the men seems to be readily available on the forums, but there is far too little talk of the women.

Class at Gracie Barra Bristol tonight was fundamentals, meaning it is from the Gracie Barra syllabus again. The self defence bit was a takedown from a headlock, where you turn your head towards them, grabbing their hip and pushing your other hand into the back of their knee. Take them down into side control, basing out with your hands immediately. Shift a knee up to their head, stepping the other leg over and bringing it tight to their hip. Make a frame on their neck to push up and free your head, finishing with an armbar.

The main technique followed on from last Monday, as it was another guard break, but this time from standing. As before, you start in their guard, where they've trapped your head. Put one knee in the middle of their bum, the other back. On the side of the leg you have back, slide your head out sideways and return to a good upright posture.

Grab their same side collar with each of your hands, then swinging your head like a pendulum, use the momentum to come to your feet. You stay in a sort of horse stance or crouch, your elbows resting on your knees, head slightly forward, pulling on their collars. This is a very stable position: it is difficult for them to sweep you from here, which we tested thoroughly during drilling.

To actually get the guard open, if they don't open it already in order to go for a sweep, release one collar and raise up, tucking the elbow of the other arm inside their leg (to avoid offering them a triangle). Reach back with your free hand, inserting it by their locked feet. Turn your body and bring your arm under their leg, aiming to pop their legs open. As soon as the guard is open, sink down and bring up one knee, so they can't re-establish their closed guard.

To finish, Geeza had everyone drill this for thirty seconds each again, just trying to open the guard. I was able to free my head and get to the crouching position, but to achieve the next stage was tough. Although the crouch is very stable, as soon as you try to raise up, it feels much more vulnerable. The closest I got was simply having my arm stuck. Nevertheless, looks like an excellent position to work on, as that stable base should prove useful.

Underneath, I was generally looking to either get an arm-wrap or see if I could disrupt their base by pulling them forward. I also tried the option of shifting my bum over their knee every time they tried to move it in order to initiate a guard break. I'm particularly keen to practice that side of things, as it's something I'll be teaching when I get to the maintaining lesson in the closed guard series later this month (next week is attacking mount, then escaping, then it will be on to closed guard).

I'm not sure if I'll get in another class before Thursday, so we'll see how the house is progressing. The floor is getting closer to being back down, which will be great as then we can finally move in the furniture and live in the house. That should immediately result in more training, as I'll be permanently round the corner.

I was also very pleased, once again, to hear two white belts tell me that they'd had been able to use what I taught them in the maintaining mount lesson last week. Most interesting was that the Saulo method, where you 'ride' the mount, was included in that: one of the taller white belts said he's been finding it particularly helpful. Cool stuff, as it means I managed to teach something I don't use myself in a sufficiently comprehensible manner that somebody else could apply it to their own game. :)

06/08/2010 - BJJ (Basics)

Class #330
Gracie Barra Birmingham, (BJJ), Norby Nowak, Birmingham, UK – 06/08/2010

Didn’t make it back in time for the cinema, but I did get out Hiroshima, Mon Amour from the library (which strangely enough relates to my interest in AIDS and cancer in poetry) before training. So, should make for interesting viewing: I don’t know much about it, but that’s how I prefer to watch films. I’d be much happier in a world where trailers were just the title of the film, that didn’t tell you anything about it at all (though I guess that might make it a bit tough to work out whether you might like it or not. But hey).

Also, I see from Matt’s blog that my first ever BJJ instructor, Oli Geddes, has a few instructional clips up, such as this one on his infamous loop choke:



I’m looking forward to seeing what he pops up with next.

It was another basics class tonight, this time with Norby. His focus was on passing the guard, easily the weakest part of my game. We began by drilling the orthodox standing guard break, from the standard grip where you hold both their collars in one hand (straightening your arm to keep their back on the mat), then grab their sleeve with the other (make sure you aren’t too obvious, so don’t just stare at their arm before trying to grab it). Finally, the elbow of your sleeve-grabbing arm must be braced inside your knee: if it is outside, then you're vulnerable to an omoplata.

You can either step up your leg on the trapped sleeve side, or slide your double collar grip up towards their head, using that as a post to jump up to your feet. As you raise up, let go of the collars, thrust forwards with your hips, while simultaneously yanking up their sleeve. To finish, push their same side knee off your hips with your free hand (which is often easier said than done, but at least this puts you in a good position to do it).

Next, Norby went through a variation on the leg pin pass. Instead of just dropping your knee other and keeping your shin on their leg, drop your knee as close as you can to their ribs. Keep your foot hooked under their leg, so it raises it up slightly. You’re also going to bring your same side arm under their head, driving your shoulder into their neck.

From here, you can exert a great deal of pressure on their legs, stretching them out until they’re liable to give up the pass just to relieve the strain on their inner thighs. Even if they’re flexible enough to resist that, you’re in an excellent position to complete the leg pin pass as usual, swinging your free leg right over to the floor past their legs, then switching the other leg underneath to establish side control.

Sparring was guard passage, with the class split up into ones, twos and three. The chosen group stayed on the mat, trying to pass the guard of everyone else. I was in the first group, and stayed very defensive. I had the excuse of my busted up wrist, but still, I should have been much more proactive. It’s very easy to slip into a defensive posture, just maintaining my base or tucking my elbows to my knees, which isn’t really the idea.

Underneath, in my comfort zone, I was a little more active, although as my first partner was pretty big, I was still fairly defensive, waiting for them to make a move. I thought I was going to get passed in short order as a result, because in flinging my legs up for a triangle, I went too high and immediately got stacked. However, for some reason he didn’t continue to push through and pass as I’d expected, so that eventually gave me the chance to move to half guard, reverse him and pass through to side control.

I asked later, and it seems that they were concerned about that triangle attempt. I doubt very much he was in much danger had he pushed through to go for a pass, but it’s interesting that proved a sufficient distraction to stop them completing the motion. Of course, this is the basics class: no way would I get away with that against blues or higher.

With somebody smaller, I was trying to be helpful, as they kept leaning forward when going to stand up, meaning it was a simple matter for me to pull in my legs and break their posture. I’m not sure if it is patronising to let them keep on making the same mistake and seeing if they correct it, or if perhaps I should have said something during the spar rather than after. It gave me a chance to practice the flower sweep, which I normally never get, but again, they were a good bit smaller than me, so it doesn’t really count.

I was reminded of reality again during an unsurprisingly brief specific spar with Norby. He easily opened my guard, then moved round to side control: I briefly tried to switch into butterfly guard, keeping my knees in tight, but too slow and without sufficient control.

A lot of people were trying to elbow dig to open the guard, which I really hate (also one of the reasons I like Saulo’s instructionals so much, as he targets plenty of scorn at that particular technique) . One of these days I’m going to have to spend a few hours drilling the triangle counter for that, as I still don’t have the timing down.

15/04/2010 - BJJ (Private Lesson)

Class #303 - Private #001
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 15/04/2010

Private lessons are not something I've considered up until now. Previously, I always felt I got enough out of the group classes, as my game wasn't sufficiently advanced to get any benefit out of a whole hour one-to-one with an instructor. However, there are several areas in my BJJ that have sucked for a long time, so I'd really like to try and overcome those deficiencies. Now seemed like a good time to work on the biggest: opening and passing the guard. Each of those are large areas in themselves, so I wanted to focus on just opening the guard.

Things kicked off with a brief point on reaching a safety position in the guard. If they pull you forward, bring your elbows to the inside of your knees, clamping both against their hips. This should kill their mobility, enabling you to recover your posture.

Kev then focused on three techniques for the private, which is good, as I was keen to go for depth rather than breadth. We started with the twisting guard break, something I've been trying to develop for a long time now. Kev provided a number of further details, as well as refining what I'd been doing in the past.

Begin by grabbing both collars with one hand, then twisting so your knuckles are pointing towards their head. Kev likes to have a finger in between the collars, something he was shown by Marc Walder. You should position your hand in the middle of their chest: this will prevent them from sitting up. If you hold lower than that, it is possible for them to curl around that hold. As a general principle, you also want your knees squeezed into their hips, to reduce their mobility.

Your other hand presses on their belt, on the hip. Either grasp the belt or simply push down on that area. Lean to that hip side, in order to help you step up your other foot, on the collar grabbing arm side. Put your foot right by their same side hip, turning the knee inwards to increase the pressure on their ankles.

As soon as that knee is up, it's essential that the elbow of the collar gripping arm locks to the inside. This is something I wasn't doing before, and it makes a big difference. Not only does this elbow and knee 'connect' (as Saulo might call it, and he does indeed do something comparable on his DVD) mean you have a strong frame, but it is also tougher for you partner to harvest that arm for attacks.

Come up on the other foot, twisting into a sort of horse stance. You'll necessarily be leaning forward, but this isn't a problem as long as you keep your back straight and head up. Bring your hip hand back to push on their knee in order to break the guard. This becomes easier if you maintain that pressure with your own knee, by turning it towards them.

As this was a private lesson, that gave me the chance to do plenty of troubleshooting with Kev. The part where I've been getting stuck in sparring is if they manage to establish a collar grip. Kev demonstrated how this doesn't mean you should stop: if they are grabbing with the same arm as your hip hand, simply keep going (as long as they don't have a deep grip: otherwise, you'll need to loosen it first, such as by pressing on their arm and posturing up).

If they grab your collar on the side of the arm you're using to grip both of their collars, then release your grip, bring your arm over theirs, re-establishing the hold. This means you can now use that arm to press down on theirs while posturing up, which should loosen their grip, enabling you to continue with the technique.

Something else I've been doing is keeping that collar gripping arm out straight to keep them on the floor. This tends to make it vulnerable to attack, so either they start a submission, or I think they're about to and sit back down. Locking the elbow to the knee really helps with that, as I'm no longer overbalancing forwards, or worrying about attacks on my arm.

Another common problem is that they'll grab your foot, or somehow try to hook inside. This doesn't matter so much in terms of opening the guard, but it does come into play with the pass. As he showed in a class late last year, Kev likes to grab their knee, step his leg inside on the collar grip side, while on the other, he pulls their leg back and takes a big step forward.

If they grab your foot, it is difficult to step inside. Instead, you want to circle around their leg on that side, grabbing it with both hands. You can now pull up, driving your hip forwards, then slide down and move into side control, using lots of pressure.

The next technique for opening the guard is something Kev simply referred to as 'Roger's technique', in the same way that the previous option is something he saw Carlinhos teach. It begins the same, with your knees squeezed into their hips and a double collar grab. However, this time you aren't just going to push on their belt by the hip. Instead, hold their same sleeve, then press that into their hip. You also want to tuck your elbow by their thigh.

Kev suggested you first make a 'pocket' with your thumb, then grab that with your fingers. You can put your thumb either on top or below: he often puts it on top, out of habit to make certain there is no chance a referee could complain about fingers inside of sleeve cuffs. In terms of the grip strength, it isn't that big a deal.

At this point, Kev warned against ever taking a cross-grip when in somebody's guard. I hadn't realised that was dangerous, and I realise now that having done it a few times, it was putting me in danger of getting submitted. Kev showed how that grip means you're basically giving them an armbar.

Having got that sleeve secured, stand up with the same side leg. If you step up with the opposite leg, they're liable to move into an omoplata, as Kev demonstrated. Once you're up, you can let go of your collar grip and stand up straight (maintaining that sleeve grip throughout). Gravity should be making their guard a lot tougher to retain. Finally, splay your hand (Kev said Roger called this 'making your hand big') and press the inside of their knee.

This will create tension on their ankles, and if that doesn't open the guard, you can also step back and push. Kev mentioned that he tends to stand square when doing this guard break. The only danger is the double ankle grab sweep, which they can't do as you have their sleeve. For any other attack, they'll have to open their guard, which is exactly what you want them to do. Once the guard is open, you can use a leg pin pass.

Sometimes an opponent will sit up with you, clinging onto the guard in midair, holding your collar. This isn't a major problem, as you just need to loosen that grip. Use the same tactic from earlier, bringing your collar grip arm over the top and press down.

Kev also gave some more general advice, about sticking with a technique. My passivity is of course a problem here, so I need to make sure that I push through when I try something. Not aggression of course (after all, I'm not keen on aggression), but conviction. Kev also said that you shouldn't get put off by thinking "oh, but what if they do this? Or this? Or maybe that?" Have faith in the technique.

The third technique was a pass, specifically for when they have pre-emptively opened their guard before you can. This can happen when standing, or with a knowledgeable opponent who can feel when you're about to open their guard. If that happens, Kev suggested I should immediately step backwards, holding their knee. At the same time, you want to shove their other knee to the floor and take a big step over the top of it.

You can then drop your hip into them, moving past that leg. You're still holding it with your hand, which should enable you to get your legs past before releasing. Your other hand will secure an underhook, sliding into side control. If you instead go to half guard, trapping their leg with yours, you can turn to face away from them, dropping your weight down next to them. Use your other knee as a wedge against theirs, freeing your first leg and passing.

If they underhook as you're moving around, drop your weight into them, scooting back to trap their wrist, then continue. Also, quite often when you try to step back and pass, they may well be able to get a shin across to block you: Callum does this all the time. I think it's what gets referred to as 'z-guard', due to the positioning looking a little like a 'z'. Collapse your weight onto that top knee, while your same side hand reaches over their back (not too high though).

You can now either gradually move through and continue the pass, or alternatively, go in the other direction. You'll use your outside leg to hook their bottom foot, holding it in place. Shift your body around their top knee and foot, then simply backstep to pass to their back.

Finally, at the end of the beginner lesson which followed (when I asked to quickly go through the three techniques from the private), Kev mentioned that your hand on the hip can come in handy if they open their guard. You can use it to push them down and prevent them from swivelling into an attack before you can initiate your pass.

So, main points I want to remember are connecting the elbow to the knee, moving back and stepping over their leg when they open, and following through on techniques.

We did lots of drilling, which was really helpful. I guess I could have asked to spar, but for the purposes of this private, I wanted to go into detail on opening the guard. If I ever did another private, it would be quite interesting to start off with a spar, then ask the instructor advice on fixing flaws. Then again, that could be a bit unfocused, so it seems to make more sense to come in with a clear idea of something you want to work on, as I did for this lesson.

I'm not sure when and if I'll take another private. I enjoyed this one, and felt I got a lot of good tips from Kev, but not all instructors are as approachable. I tend to be quite introverted, so it can take me a while to feel comfortable with people, especially in a student/teacher environment. If I'm able to develop that kind of relationship with an instructor again, then private lessons might come into the picture, though that also depends on cash.

09/03/2010 - BJJ (Beginner)

Class #293
RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 09/03/2010

Recently BJJ has popped up in a rather strange place: the Australian soap opera Home & Away (although the writers appear to have transformed it into something more akin to aikido). Being the internet and BJJ nerd that I am, naturally I tracked down the relevant episodes (5019, 5020 and 5023-5027 so far), recorded them, re-edited the relevant BJJ sections into a video, took lots of screen caps, then started posting about it on Home & Away forums. ;)

Kev started tonight's class with a follow up to the fundamentals scarf hold escape, if they're using the weaker version of holding under the head rather than the far armpit. Should your arm be sufficiently trapped that you can't get the elbow to the ground, reach over their back and lock your hands together.

Walk your legs towards theirs: if they don't move, hook and begin to escape to their back. Normally they will move, whereupon you wait for the right leverage, then roll them over your body. However, as Kev noted, this requires good timing. If you get it right, they'll feel weightless. If you get it wrong, you're never going to move anybody your size or bigger.

Next was a continuation on pulling guard. This time, instead of closed guard, Kev went to open. Again you start with a collar and sleeve grip, yanking the sleeve to get them to step with that side foot. When they do and you therefore have them slightly off-balance, put your same side foot on the hip and drop back (sinking on your leg then dropping, rather than flopping straight to the floor).

Your head will swivel towards that side hip. Maintain your grip on their collar, while pressing your foot into their other bicep (if they free their arm, circle your leg around to re-establish the position). From here, you can now apply a triangle, kicking your leg up past their bicep and into their neck, then locking your legs. After that, you proceed as normal.

Final technique was a basic standing guard break. You establish the orthodox grip, holding both collars with one hand on their torso, while the other hand is back on their hip, knees pressed into them to try and stop their movement. Lean slightly to one side and step up that knee, then the other, enabling you to stand.

As you do, you shift to gripping one collar (so that you can stand up and press your hips forward). Your hand on the hip shifts back to their leg, so that your forearm is along their inside knee: don't be brutishly dig with your elbow (listen to Saulo!) You'll use that arm to create tension, then simultaneously step back your same side leg and thrust your hip out in the other direction. That should pop their legs open.

Specific sparring was from the guard. On top against one of the white belts, I was slipping my knee through to half guard, fought for the underhook, then used shoulder pressure to pass from there. I'm still a bit wary about relying on that, especially as it mainly works on white belts (I've managed it on blues once or twice, but not often). Still, I did ask Kev reassured me afterwards that it was a legitimate passing method.

Underneath, I was looking to break his posture down with my legs and keep him in close. I wanted to slide my leg through for the triangle, but couldn’t quite get the right set-up. I was also looking to get an overhook or move to the Shawn Williams Guard. I did both, but to little effect. With the SWG, I tried to push the arm back for the omoplata, but it was too obvious. I probably should have pushed on the head more too, or at least the shoulder.

Shifting to an overhook and gripping the collar, I again was telegraphing, so couldn't secure the choke I wanted, or the right triangle position. I need to be thinking more about stepping off and pushing on the hip for armbars, though on the other hand, it could be good to develop that tight guard position.

This also came up with Howard. I was pulling him in with my legs, breaking the posture down and wrapping tight, but not getting much further. Armdrags are something I have to look at more closely here: if I also had proper hold of that arm as I pulled in and knocked them off balance, could open up a route to the back.

I know that Howard gets that knee in when I switch to a high guard, so I was trying to keep an eye out for that, but he got it anyway. He used the Roy Dean guard break I've never been able to get to work: I think he was staying lower than I've been doing in my attempts, so that could be something to try.

When I was on top, I couldn't really do anything until Howard opened up for an attack. I found myself looking to pass open guard, which is an even worse position for me than closed. Still, it gave me a chance to really focus on driving my hips forwards, then seeing if I could yank a leg towards the ceiling and slide down. Howard's grips on my sleeves scuppered that, but something to keep working.

I had to take Thursday off last week because I came down with manflu. While I think it is mostly gone, and definitely shouldn't be infectious anymore, I wasn't back to 100% yet. So, I didn't do the advanced class tonight. Once again, I'm off to Bristol to see my gf on Wednesday, which I'll be doing again on Monday 22nd (meaning I'll miss that whole week, unless I can get to Aylesbury or something).