28/10/2017 - RGA Bucks | Takedowns, Von Flue choke, double underhooks pass

Class #914
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Dan Lewis, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 28/10/2017

For the double leg takedown, get your standard judo grips, grip a collar and sleeve. Step back and pull them in towards you, raising your elbows. Then immediately drop, putting the knee on the collar-grabbing side on the ground between their legs. Step your other leg up on the outside and put your hands around the back of their knees, but not trying to link your hands. Your head comes up, then you also step up with your other leg. Do a little sideways run, away from your head, in order to bring them down.

They will often grab your head in an attempt at a guillotine, then land under side control, meaning they have a not particularly functional grip. If they insist on maintaining that grip, you can do what's known as a 'von Flue choke', presumably named after some guy. You establish the cross face as normal, but driving your shoulder into their neck. Your other hand goes underneath their gripping arm, linking up with your other hand. Make sure your cross-face hand is palm down for the gable grip (palm to palm). Move around to exert pressure for the choke. Either you'll get the submission, or they will let go of their grip.

A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Oct 31, 2017 at 8:57am PDT

Dan then ran through a double underhooks pass, drawing on the method Mauricio showed earlier that week (very awesomely, Mauricio is now teaching every Monday lunchtime at RGA Bucks). Roll their collars together to start (like Donal showed me a few years back), fighting off their hands if they try to stop you. It's worth taking the time to get that super strong grip. Your collar gripping arm isn't completely straight, there is a slight bend so you're not straining, ready to engage if they try to sit up.

Open their closed guard with the usual kneeling break, then get your shoulder behind their knee. Rather than immediately reaching for the collar like I'm used to, you instead rely on gripping your wrist to create a frame. Your arm that would normally go for the collar instead just wraps tight around their leg. Your other hand comes in tight, grasping the wrist of your outside arm. Driving forward off your toes, start to stack them, keeping your head up, driving with your hips too. Once they are stacked, that's when you go for the collar.

Grab their opposite collar (or shoulder, if it's nogi or you can't get the grip you want) with one of your hands, sliding your fingers inside. Bring your knee behind their bum to maintain your stack. It is important to keep maintaining heavy downwards pressure throughout this pass. Keep pushing until eventually you drive past their leg and transition to side control: don't raise your head, just keep pushing until you slide past, nudging with your shoulder if necessary.

If they bring their knee across to block that, by your neck, you can switch to something else. Grip their other leg (that isn't against your neck), low on their trousers. Step over the top of it, so you're in a kind of half guard. Your head then goes onto the leg-stacked side hip, driving across towards that side. Head stays low to avoid the reverse triangle, then you bring your other arm in for the cross-face. Walk your legs back toward the side your head is pressing into, as that shift back around should make it tough for them to keep control of your leg.

Good roll with Stu as always, where I again tried to fit in that single leg x and shin on shin guard, but not getting it where I want it just yet. I'll keep trying (naturally it's rather harder on brown belts like Stu!).

13/08/2015 - BJJ Globetrotter Camp | Sacrifice Throws

Class #660
BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Gareth McNamara, Leuven, Belgium, 13/08/2015

I am not a fan of throws and even less a fan of drilling them. However, I was keen to train as much as possible in the one day I had: this was the only other gi class. Good for me anyway, as I should force myself to do takedowns more often. Gareth McNamara was a decent teacher, which made things less onerous. First up was a grip break into an arm drag. Use that to get behind them, still retaining control of the sleeve.

Grab their belt near their far hip, then do a sort of one-legged squat and stick your non-squatting leg behind them. You can then drop to the mat, rolling them over your leg. As you roll them over, yank on the belt grip and push on the sleeve grip, to prevent them turning away to try and escape. I kept getting my hand squashed underneath, a common problem from what I could gather. Then again, Conor didn't have any problems avoiding his hand getting trapped: perhaps I need to commit to it more, or create more momentum?

There is also an option for throwing off a clinch. Get an over-under grip (one arm underhooking, the other over the top of their arm). Push into them, then when they push back, drop and roll them over into side control. I don't think I was doing this technique correctly, as while I got Conor down and it felt smooth (thanks to that underhook), I ended in scarf hold. Still, got them on the ground in what seemed like a natural motion, so that's good. I think I was missing a trip or something?

The final one I remember (there were a lot of techniques, as McNamara teaches quickly) was a sumi gaeshi (I think?) from a single leg. They go for a single, you grab their belt by their lower back. Make sure their head on inside, then drop underneath them and flick your leg. They should ideally land next to you, vulnerable to an easy north-south transition. You can also stay close to them and roll backwards into mount, which is what Conor did.


I enjoyed the training at the camp, which runs for a lot longer than the one day I attended. There were classes almost all week. By Thursday, everybody else had already had a chance to meet, chat and get to know each other: it was lucky for me that I already knew Conor (among a few other people, but mostly black belts who were teaching, like Oli Geddes), or getting a partner for each session would have been a little more awkward.

Then again, I hadn't met Stacey before, who kindly partnered me in the first class. I'm not very good at grabbing training partners (one of the reasons I like pairing people up when I teach, saves any of that potential awkwardness for fellow timid introverts). I think to get the most out of the camp, I need to bring a team over and stay the whole week, so that's what I'm planning to do next year. There's still lots I'd like to see in Belgium, and I know my girlfriend is interested in places like Bruges.

I'll therefore make a longer trip of it in 2016, start off in Bruges with her, then go to Leuven for the camp, maybe with some more time in Brussels. It would be cool to visit Antwerp too, as IIRC there are some excellent art galleries there too, with Ghent and Oostende as alternative/additional options for the same reason. On this trip, Brussels was my next stop, for many, many hours of art galleries. I'll have the write up for that on here shortly. :)

Pictures courtesy of Vara from BJJ Globetrotters

10/05/2015 - Super Seminar with Leoni Munslow, Yas Wilson, Gret Zoeller & Vanessa English

Seminar #016
Gracie Barra Nottingham, Leoni Munslow, Yas Wilson, Gret Zoeller & Vanessa English, UK - 10/05/2015

The numbers of women competing in BJJ has been increasing, with some representatives from the UK achieving impressive results on the big stage. To help fund the not inconsiderable costs of competing at the IBJJF World Championships (27th-31st May 2015), four of those success stories decided to offer a seminar at Gracie Barra Nottingham, for a very reasonable £20.

Black belt Yas Wilson is someone I already know, having first trained with her in 2007 at RGA HQ. Yas, who is Roger Gracie's first female black belt, has a lot of accolades to her name, including a brown belt gold at the 2013 Worlds. That same year, Vanessa English won gold at purple belt, while Gret Zoeller was on the podium in her brown belt division too, winnning bronze. Leoni Munslow's trophy case is also well stocked, most recently featuring a silver at this year's European Championship as a brown belt along with a nogi Euros gold.

Beyond their great tournament results, all four are excellent teachers: Yas and Gret are both black belts now, while Leoni and Vanessa are brown belts. It was therefore cool to get a chance to learn from them, especially as Yas was the only one I had met and trained with before. I was also keen to encourage some of the students from my women's class to pop up too: although this was a co-ed seminar (I was one of about five men there, IIRC), it was a particularly good opportunity for female students to network and train with other women. Thanks to Laura very kindly offering to take us in her car, four of us from Artemis BJJ made the journey to Nottingham.

There have been women only open mats running across the UK for several years, with a strong presence in London (the Facebook group looks to be more current than the page), the South West and probably lots of others I'm not aware of (feel free to add a comment if you known of any others in the UK). The US has loads as well, often highlighted and supported by Fenom Kimonos. Hopefully the Super Seminar will become a regular event too, with future editions already planned for London and Manchester. I'm not sure where the main updates will be, but for the moment you could keep an eye on the Facebook event page (which also has lots of pictures from the seminar).

The Super Seminar had support from several BJJ companies, meaning the raffle was crammed with prizes. Tatami Fightwear (who I think also sponsor at least three of the instructors) is always ready to give back to the community, on this occasion providing gis and caps. Idee Pure sent some soaps along too, plus there was another stall selling various healthy looking stuff with all proceeds going to support the instructors.

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The four instructors split the teaching between them, each focusing on a different area, mainly guard. Leoni was the exception, drawing upon her judo background to go through some takedowns. The first one reminded me a bit of the Roy Dean style single leg off Blue Belt Requirements, where after you shoot in, you hook a leg behind theirs and drive through. That's probably my favourite takedown (though I say this as somebody who pretty much never does takedowns).

Leoni's version starts with the usual collar and elbow grip. Pull on one side to get them to step a foot towards you, then immediately hook that leg and drop, driving through to knock them over. My drilling partner, David, emphasised really hooking that leg: I was initially just putting my foot behind and driving, whereas it's more effective to wrap further, enabling you lock their lower leg between your foot and shin. That seemed to add a bit more leverage when you drive. You end in top half guard, ready to pass.

Next was a hip throw, to which Leoni added some handy details, like the importance of maintaining the sleeve grip. Keeping hold of that arm can lead right into an armbar, especially if as you execute the throw their arm goes under your armpit (if it doesn't, it's still easy enough to switch your grip to control the wrist as they hit the floor). It also means you can adjust how hard they land. Leoni also showed how you can make it more effective by swinging your leg back.

Switching to closed guard, Yas detailed two solid options off the two-on-one grip break. Start by grabbing their opposite sleeve, then bring your same side hand underneath. You're looking to grab your wrist, using the combined power of your two hands to punch up and break their hold on your gi. Maintaining your sleeve grip, stiff-arm it away from you to turn them slightly, then capitalise by using your other hand to grasp their armpit. Lock your elbow against their back, which combined with the armpit grip and stiff-arming the sleeve should twist their torso.

That puts you in a great position to take their back. Staying tight to their back, release your grip on their sleeve in order to post on your elbow (ideally transitioning to your hand for improved base). Swivel your body around to their back, putting your knee on the mat. As Yas said, often people will look to establish an initial back control hook here, aiming to put in both hooks as they rotate around to the back.

Instead, Yas suggests bringing your foot across their thigh, crossing the other foot on the other side of that thigh. Crossing your feet around their thigh makes for a secure hold, facilitating your roll into back control. While you want to avoid crossing your feet in between their legs (because they can footlock you from there), crossing by the thigh looks to be safe. It also makes for an easy transition into a body triangle, if you like that position.

In terms of the grip on the sleeve you're stiff-arming (i.e., straightening your arm to use skeletal rather than muscular strength), that's going to vary depending on your preference. I usually prefer the pistol grip (where you grab a load of gi in your fist, like you were holding a pistol), though it isn't as strong as the pocket grip (your thumb folds the sleeve over your fingers, creating the titular 'pocket'). The advantage of the pistol grip is that it's a lot less rough on the fingers than a pocket grip.

However, I was finding that when I stiff-armed the sleeve away, my hand got twisted into an awkward position using my pistol grip. So a pocket grip is probably preferable, unless you switch your hands in the initial two-on-one grip break configuration, then pass the sleeve to your other hand for the stiff-arm. That way you can get a comfortable grip, but it risks them freeing their sleeve during the grip change (and adds an extra step to the technique).

If they are wise to that back take, they may post on their leg as you try to move around, using their weight to prevent you swivelling to their back. Yas has an answer for that, full of armbar goodness. Put your foot into the hip of their raised leg. That gives you the leverage to push and turn your body. As you turn, you want to simultaneously move both your other leg and the arm you reached around their back. The leg is going to slide into their armpit, while the elbow of your reaching arm shaves closely past their head, in order to press against their neck.

You can then use your arm to help shove their head back as you bring your first leg over. From there you're perfectly placed for an armbar. Their arm is already controlled because of your initial sleeve grip (from that grip break), so just extend your hips and pull down on the wrist. I found it helpful to lift my hips for that swivel, though you have to be careful you don't leave them any space to wriggle free. Making sure the arm stays really close to the head as you shave it past is important. That ensures their head is tucked out of the way for when you want to bring your leg across.

Third in line was black belt Gret Zoeller, a veteran grappler with fourteen years experience, presenting half guard. She shared a technique she first learned in 2003, from the legendary half guard pioneer, Roberto 'Gordo' Correira. Before getting on to the details, she gave us some history on the half guard, as well as this particular sweep. It turns out Gret used to train with Ben Poppleton, a name I don't hear as much these days, but a significant figure in the early years of UK BJJ, especially in the North (he's since moved to teach in the rather sunnier setting of Tenerife).

Gordo had great success with this technique as a competitor. I refer to it as the toe grab sweep, but it's often called 'old school', thanks to Eddie Bravo. Gret covered two versions. They both started the same, blocking the cross face and circling your other arm around for the underhook. That was followed by reaching your cross-face block under their same side leg, in order to grab their ankle and pull it up. You can then bring your underhook arm under their bum, switching grips so the underhook hand grasps their foot.

The two version diverge at this point. In the first version, your free hand grips their knee, then you drive forward to go on top. In the second, you tweak out their non-gripped leg first, then drive through, the same way Jason Scully teaches it. My preference is the second, which has the further advantage that you can take their back if for some reason you can't knock them to their back. I also find it easier to disentangle my leg with the second option, but they're both effective.

Gret progressed into something she's been playing with recently (thanks to her evocative choice of metaphor, this one surely needs to be known as the Jane Fonda sweep ;D). The situation is that you're under half guard and they've squashed you flat. You can't get on your side, ruling out a lot of the main options from the bottom. Instead, you're going to pull out their gi lapel and pass it over their back, to your other hand. I'm not sure I'm remembering rightly, but I think you use that to make some space and shrimp out slightly. With your free hand, reach underneath until you can get your arm to their far knee, wrapping around the outside.

You will normally have a leg locked over the back of theirs: keep that in place, but the other leg is going to swing as part of the sweep. The motion for the sweep is where Fonda comes in. Sadly I couldn't find a clip of Ms Fonda demonstrating driving a big truck (though I did enjoy this awesomely '80s workout, complete with random singing), but basically imagine you are trying to turn a huge steering wheel. Pull with the gi lapel grip and lift with your leg grip, also swinging your free leg. This shouldn't take a huge amount of effort, so if you're straining you probably need to adjust something.

I was finding that when I asked my drilling partner to apply some pressure on top, I generally had to try twice, getting the sweep on the second attempt after creating some momentum with the first. I realised I was gripping incorrectly on the leg after Gret came over during drilling: rather than grasping the gi material, you can hook your arm around the leg instead. That's much easier, especially if the material around their knee isn't loose.

Vanessa closed the technique portion of the seminar with a sweep from spider guard. If you're in closed guard, to move them to open guard, grab both their sleeves then put your feet on their hips. Extend your legs, at which point they will normally stand (if they don't you've got options like the triangle here). Put one foot into their same side bicep, then loop your other leg around their arm in a lasso, reaching your toes to their shoulder blade.

You can then pull them in, switching your grip from the lasso to their same side collar. Swivel your body towards them, so you're facing your bicep-pushing foot. If they don't do anything at this point, contract by pulling them in, then kick out your bicep foot and roll them over (you'll probably find your knee goes across their stomach too). More likely, they will try to go to knee on belly as soon as you present your side to them. They aren't going to be able to settle because you're still pushing their arm away with your extended leg. So, you can still roll through, but make sure you grab their leg. Using that grip, you can go straight into the leg drag position, shoving their leg down.

The seminar closed with some rolling. I mostly took photos, as I didn't want to take away the opportunity for two women to roll with each other. However, I did get a chance to roll with Leoni once the numbers had thinned right out. That was cool, as Leoni is somebody I've known online for a number of years, but we haven't met in person until today. Best of luck to Leoni, Yas, Vanessa and Gret at the Worlds and I look forward to the next seminar! :D

18/10/2014 - Artemis BJJ | Open Mat | Takedowns & Spider Guard Shoulder Variation

Class #599
Artemis BJJ (PHNX Fitness), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 18/10/2014

I have never been overly fond of takedowns, but as a few students have asked about bringing the fight to the ground from standing, I decided it's time I tried adding some to the warm-up. I want something that is broadly effective, easy to learn and relatively low impact (as the mats where I teach aren't especially thick, though there are some crash mats we can use for dedicated throwing practice).

Thinking back through the throws I've learned (quite a few over the years, and I guess I did technically train judo before I started BJJ, if only briefly), I thought that single and double legs would be best, especially as they also don't require a gi. I ran through the seoi-nage just to refresh my memory, but I think that's too high impact for the beginners I teach, especially as they haven't done much breakfalling yet.

The entry for both the takedowns I wanted to use is the same. Grab their collar and elbow, pulling that up and you drop down into a crouch and shoot forward. Wrap up both legs and drive through for the double leg, or alternatively, Roy Dean's version where you slot a leg through first and then drive. That means you end up passing smoothly at best and half guard at worst, but it's a bit more fiddly than simply blasting forwards.

The single leg starts the same, except you just wrap up the one leg. Pick it up and trap it between your legs. You can either 'run the pipe' by jamming your head into their same side hip and turning, or adjust to bring your hand under their leg while the other grabs around their other hip. From there you can bump them up and drop them. For beginners, I think running the pipe is better, as they don't need to worry about lifting wrong and hurting their back or something.

Another entry is to do an arm-drag, then dropping for the leg. That could be a better option, as firstly it means they don't need a gi and secondly the arm drag is useful generally rather than just as an entry. I'll try that on Monday and see how it goes. Randomly, I also had a play with flying triangles, as I'd been reading Dave Camarillo's old Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu to refresh my memory on takedowns. I'd forgotten he doesn't have any double or single legs in there, but I did get tempted by the flying triangle. Especially with my lovely new spats, which feature an awesome samurai triangle. ;)

A very helpful purple belt at the open mat suggested the arm drag to me, along with a great drill I want to try. This is for throws like the seoi-nage where you spin in to take people down. Step in and swivel as normal, then drop to throw. Instead of throwing, roll onto the floor. That means you are working pretty much the same motion as the throw, but without the difficulties of breakfalling, keeping your back safe, placing your partner as you throw, etc

That same purple belt also shared what he was currently working on, a spider guard variation that looks fairly similar to what Xande does on his DVD. The difference is that this one has you put a foot on the shoulder rather than the crook of the elbow, also pushing into the same side hip with your other foot. The hand grips are the same as Xande, pulling on the same side sleeve (that purple uses a pistol grip, which saves the fingers, but a typical pocket grip works too) as the hip-foot side, then cross gripping the collar.

Drilling that with Paul, I found that on the bottom it enables me to be much more proactive than my usual lasso spider guard: I'm definitely going to keep this in mind next time I teach my usual lesson on maintaining spider guard. Flowing into the push sweep felt more natural, plus the sweep just shoving with your legs from spider guard felt more powerful too. Triangles are also easier and it feels simpler to recover your shoulder push if they knock off your foot.

On top, I was finding that there are some disadvantages to be aware of, due to putting the foot on the shoulder. That leaves the arm on that side free, so I was able to repeatedly use that hand to push Paul's leg off my hip, having popped my hips back. To get the foot off my shoulder was slightly trickier (I brought my hand to my head in order to use the elbow to knock the foot away), but again once I had it clear the pass was right there. So, that's something I'll need to be aware of when using this guard: perhaps just a matter of switching between the shoulder and arm? I'll find out as I play with it more.

05/07/2014 - RGA Aylesbury (Knee Cut & Knee Shield Pass)

Class #578
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 05/07/2014

It's another family birthday, which means I'm returning not just to my family home, but to my jiu jitsu home as well, up in Aylesbury at RGA Bucks. Kev began with a very familiar drilling sequence: it's the same one I've been teaching for several years now, after Kev taught it to me earlier. That begins with them stepping to the level of your hip, then you recover your guard by shrimping and bringing your outside leg over to hook, pulling yourself square on to them.

The next step is to do a running escape type hip swing, although I normally do this from knee on belly; Kev did it from the same position as the previous technique. Useful variation to know, as then I don't have to explain what knee on belly is. Although if somebody doesn't know what knee on belly is, that could indicate they are too new to easily perform this drill. I'm still not sure if it counts as an advanced move or if it is suitable for beginners.

That same question sprang to mind with the new drill (or at least, new to me, as I can't remember having seen it before, though it's entirely possible I've seen it in an earlier Kev class). Again they have passed to the level of your hip. Bring your outside leg over, putting your shin on their near side thigh. That leg is going to stay in place for the rest of the drill.

With your nearest hand, reach to their far leg: you can either hook behind or grab the trouser leg. Raise your hips and swivel, using your shin on their thigh as the pivot point. Keep spinning until you return to a guard position in front of them. You'll probably need to pull yourself across a little with that gripping/hooking hand.

As is common to Kev's classes (and completely alien to mine), he added in a couple of takedowns. Like I've said before, Kev is not only a champion BJJ black belt, he's got a judo black belt as well. The takedown option he showed was directly in response to some typically dubious rule changes by the IBJJF (fortunately there are many other competition companies you can go to, though the IBJJF is influential). I haven't competed since 2007, so sometimes forget the impact that IBJJF rule changes can have.

The one pertinent to this technique is that now when you are being single legged and they have their head on the outsie, you apparently can no longer do the obvious counter, dropping back and rolling them over your head with your trapped leg (in judo, this is a 'sumi-gaeshi', I think). That means that when somebody tries to single leg you, they can feel a lot less in danger if they put their head on the outside than before.

Due to that rule, it means the takedown becomes easier. You start with a Russian grip (I think that's what it is called), where you are grabbing one of their arms with both of yours, a bit like you would in an armdrag. Your first hand is holding their wrist, the other is grabbing higher up and underneath their arm. When you get that grip, they will often pull their arm out.

Immediately drop and grab their leg instead, made vulnerable due to their sudden pulling back of their arm and accompanying shift in balance. Once you've grabbed it with both your arms, reach underneath their leg and grab some marterial, either their gi or their belt. Pull down on that like it was an old-style toilet chain and drop your hips, knocking them to the floor and putting you in a good guard passing position.

Alternatively, if they don't pull their arm away, dig your shoulder in behind theirs (getting the sweet spot isn't easy: it's roughly on the bottom of their shoulder blade on the side nearest to you, I think). Drop your hips and angle your body to knock them down, kicking their supporting leg away to make sure. I had some trouble getting the right angle: I think you're going a little forwards, but I'm not sure.

Moving on to the fun part with groundwork, Kev picked a couple of passes that relate to both half guard and open guard. The first was when they are in a sort of open half guard, with details on the knee cut that would also apply to a standard open guard. Grab their collar and follow it in with your body. You want to make sure you are not giving them any space to insert their knee under your arm as you do this. Also grip their knee and shove it to the mat, driving your own knee over their trapped shin.

On the other side, try to get an underhook: you may have to raise up slightly. The aim is to get your shoulder under theirs, so they can't pummel to get their own underhook. If the underhook isn't there, a good plan b is to drop the elbow of the collar-gripping arm and put your weight behind that. Use your head to push theirs out the way and with your free arm, pull up on their same-side elbow. This is better than pulling up on the sleeve, because if you grab the sleeve, their elbow is still potentially a risk (e.g., they can try to pop your knee off with their elbow, use it as a base point for shrimping, make space, etc). Slide through to finish the knee cut.

If they do get their knee in, you can try Kev's knee shield pass. Grab their collar and pull them in towards you, bringing your other arm around their lower back to block their hips. Step your leg up and sprawl back to pop your leg free (or do you step your leg up after? Can't quire remember). The lower part of the leg that was trapped now swings back (Kev refers to this as a windscreen wiper), pinning their leg to the mat.

From that position, Kev offered two ways to pass. My preference was the first, where you grab their trouser leg and shove it down to staple their legs in place. Shove down with your collar grip too, using those two grips as your base points to then walk around into north-south or side control, depending on how they react.

The other option is to reach through their legs diagonally, gripping the bottom leg to stop them recovering guard. Pull their legs out of your way and pass, without moving your hips too much in order to maintain the pressure.

My sparring today was all with larger blue belts, or at least blue belts bigger than me. I'm not sure how experienced they were, but their levels of intensity varied from fairly relaxed (I think because he was conscious of the size difference) to carefully measured bursts of speed (e.g., one of them tried shooting up their arm to grab mine when I was in mount and my arm came in range).

I was looking for the tripod/sickle sweep combo, as that's what I'm teaching next week. I sometimes have problems applying it because my arm or leg gets grabbed: I either need to consider how best to break those grips without giving them a pass (e.g., if I should do the hook behind and kick one or something else), or adjust to sweep them despite their grips, or indeed something else entirely.

I did eventually manage the tripod, but I need to get better at transitioning to the sickle. It isn't smooth enough on my part, as I'm pausing to think what foot goes where. I should try keeping in mind that whatever leg I've grabbed the heel/trouser, that's for pushing, the other is for pulling. I also need to be changing my body position for the sickle, swivelling my body.

My deep collar grip also keeps getting stuffed, normally because I can't get it in deep enough and/or they swivel their head around. I had the same problem last time I was sparring at RGA Bucks, so that's something to ask Kev and Donal about to see what solutions they try. I'm also continuing to play with the lapel guard type thing, although in my case it is more "grab the lapel and see what they do" rather than any kind of guard. Everything I've seen from lapel guard so far looks way too complicated, so I'll keep playing to see if I can find anything more mechanically simple and with fewer steps.

One thing along those lines is the mawashi grip, but I wasn't able to shove the lapel under their legs before they got deep in their pass. They did have a fairly tight gi, but still, I want to get better at using that grip, as Kev totally killed me with it a while ago. Very effective, judging by being on the receiving end.

I'm repeatedly going for the crucifix when they turtle, since that Dave Jacobs seminar. I started walking back to knock them over, but their base was too good, so they ended up almost just sitting up with me on their back. Squirming around a bit, I got a more orthodox back control instead, but wasn't able to finish, despite having an arm around the neck. Earlier on he was able to pull my arm over his head in one of the classic escape. I'm not sure exactly what grip I had, but pulling up on their gi and anchoring with my elbow seemed to at least hold me in place, which is better than losing the back (advancing to some kind of submission would be better, of course).

I continue to rely far, far too much on wrapping up with my left arm in closed guard. I can tell when I'm doing that, as my arm gets sore and I use way more energy. I need to come up with a better approach to closed guard when I've got someone big and powerful, as holding them down that way is not effective in the long term. Pulling their gi over their back could be one option, or simply be more proactive on sweeps rather than waiting for the perfect position. I managed to do that in a later roll, where again I had someone bigger wrapped up, but transitioned into the windscreen wiper sweep. I think I keep not swivelling my body enough on that, but must have been in the right spot this time as it felt like a smooth roll into mount.

However, once in mount I wasn't finishing. I was able to walk up into their armpits and hold them there, but not much else. I remembered to look for the switch into technical mount attacking for the bow and arrow choke, but couldn't get the handful of gi I needed to launch into that. So, more work required on what to do when I'm struggling to get their arms past horizontal in mount. I guess I could have looked more for the back by walking them over, or that tip Dónal had on moving your whole body around to the other side of their arm then squaring back up to trap it.

Sparring with Kev, I got stuck under his favoured kimura attack from north-south and side control. I went for the wriggling escape under north-south where you then try and swing your legs back over, which almost worked, but I couldn't quite establish the hook. Kev had two points to make on that: first, it's worth going for, though I could also be looking for half guard rather than all the way to the back. Second, although it does take more energy, you should consider whether you want to try for three escapes at 20% effort, or one attempt at a more effective escape at 60% effort. Seemed like a reasonable argument to keep in mind. :)

26/10/2013 - Training at the New RGA Bucks Academy in Aylesbury

Class #532
RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 26/10/2013

It is always really good to go back and train with my main instructor, Kev Capel at RGA Buckinghamshire. That's something I will be doing much more regularly from now on, although still not exactly frequent as it will be once every month or two. Having a long-distance relationship to your instructor can be difficult, but if the calibre of the instructor is high enough (as it is with Kev, who has the integrity to match his teaching skill), it's well worth the extra effort.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Kev's partner Yaz was promoted to black belt on Wednesday, making her the first female black belt under Roger Gracie and the fourth female black belt in the UK. The occasion for that grading was the official opening of Kev's new academy, a short walk from the previous location but a considerable step-up in terms of its facilities.

There is a sprung floor, top quality mats, a small gym with weights, male and female changing rooms, toilets, showers, a pro shop, entrance lobby with plush couches, plus there is ample parking nearby. The RGA Bucks academy is also still right near Aylesbury train station. The specific address is:

18 California,
Coxhill Way,
Aylesbury,
Buckinghamshire
HP21 8HH

My sense of direction is notoriously terrible and I'm also poor at reading maps (I got a bit confused by the Google Maps location). I therefore relied upon staring at my phone's SatNav, which eventually got me to the right place. The route I took was to walk up onto the bridge outside the entrance of Aylesbury train station: from there, I could see the RGA Bucks sign on the side of a building. Walk to the end of the bridge, then turn left. Go across the small bridge that has the 'cyclists dismount' sign on it. You'll soon see the entrance to RGA Bucks on the right, with a metal fence around it.

Saturday training begins with an hour and a half class, followed by open mat for drilling and sparring. Kev opened up the sessions with a single leg takedown, with two closely related variations. Block their hands from grip fighting by literally covering them with your own hands, then establish a cross-grip on their collar (i.e., grabbing the opposite side to your hand).

In a comparable motion to the collar drag from butterfly Dónal showed on Thursday, pull their collar down and past you. At the same time, slide your leg (same side as the collar-gripping arm) between theirs, wrapping around their lower leg. Be sure to bring your head to the outside of their leg, staying tight, or they can stuff your head. From here, stand up, lifting their leg and trapping it between yours as you do (the motion is basically a technical stand up, posting with the hand that was gripping the collar).

Switch so that your arm is under their leg rather than your leg (you can bump their leg up with your knee to facilitate that transfer). Bring your other hand around their same side hip, stepping sideways and staying close. That's in order to thrust your hip forwards to knock them sufficiently off balance that you can then lift them up and drop them. This isn't a strength move, so if you're having to use a lot of force, adjust your grips and your hip bump position.

The second variation is a small change, which is to keep hold of that collar grip when standing up, rather than posting on your hand. That means you can still do a technical stand-up, but also shove them away with the collar grip. As you step up, that gives you some additional leverage, which may enable you to knock them to the ground, putting you in a good position to pass the guard.

Next, Kev moved on to a choke against the turtle. Peruvian neck-tie, I think? Not quite sure, but something like that. As Kev mentioned in the class, after Roger Gracie taught this in his Wednesday seminar, Yaz put up a video showing the choke. You can see Yarden Gerbi from Israel having plenty of success with this choke en route to gold at the 2013 Judo World Championship, though from what I gather she did cause a brief bit of controversy in the judo world as a result (regarding the choke's legality under IJF competition rules). Skip ahead to 1:12 in the video to see it (there are some more nice details in this vid too):



You're on the side of their turtle, maintaining pressure. Open up your gi, pulling out the end of the lapel, then shove that down past the far side of their neck. Pass it under their body, so that your hand nearest their hip can grab it (be careful you aren't reaching too deep into their turtle, as they might be able to trap your arm and roll you over). Step your foot up to the far side of their body, angling it outwards.

Bring that leg over their shoulder, right by the gi lapel you've pull through, then drop back. Swing your other leg over them too, then use the combined leverage of your legs, arms and collar grip to apply the choke. It should be a blood choke rather than a crank or air choke, so adjust if you're having problems. A key point is not dropping off their head: stay tight with your leg so they cannot pop their head free.

The nogi variation is done with your arms. Rather than the gi lapel, put your arm (nearest their head) to the far side of the neck, just far enough that the blade of your arm is cutting into their neck. Just like with the lapel, reach your other hand underneath from the near side, linking up your hands. From there, it is exactly the same as before, just using your arms instead of the gi for the application.

I kicked off sparring with my training partner, Sandeep. I was being lazy and went straight into the running man escape when he managed to get on top. We then spent almost the entire roll fighting for a few millimetres, in my case attempting to shove his hand back past my knee and avoid his other arm from creeping around my neck. Eventually, Sandeep was able to get a grip under both my elbows, using that to slide into mount. That hasn't happened to me before, so I'll have to watch out for it. He didn't have a chance to finish from there, as the buzzer went shortly afterwards.

I then had a roll with Kev, who naturally dominated me quite easily, but also gave me some room to work. It was almost exactly the same roll as I had with my other instructor Dónal: lots of defensive scrambling on my part, trying to spin and twist out of submissions when I could feel Kev starting to lock something on. He finally caught me in an armbar, which I tried to hitchhiker escape out of, but he had a figure-four grip, closing that particular door.

After sparring, I stayed for a bit of drilling during the open mat. Sandeep gave me some awesome advice about a few more chokes from side control, fitting perfectly with my game. I've got several useful chokes for side control now, building on Dónal's private lesson and the two I used prior to that (step-over triangle and the lapel choke). Sandeep's first option was to get the arm nearest their head over to the far side. Reach back, in a sort-of guillotine grip under their neck, grabbing your own leg.

Block their near hip with your other arm, then start to move your head over to the near side as well (as you would with that lapel choke I like). If you need some extra leverage to finish, squeeze your arm. This should fit well with that half guard grip I frequently get behind the head, though I'd need to free my leg to finish the choke.

You can also try the classic leg scissor squeeze off a kimura. I first saw this on Rorion's original instructional and thought it looked dubious, but it's since appeared on a few other DVDs (such as Brown Belt Requirements, which changed my mind. Having now been on the receiving end, I am completely convinced. Rorion was right all along. ;)

Be sure to get your knee right onto their neck, then cross your ankles to lock your feet. Curl your toes back for additional pressure, like you would with a triangle. To get the submission, stretch your legs and squeeze. The tap is very quick, though it just pressure on the windpipe rather than a blood choke. Still, definitely an effective attack.

Before I left, I picked up an awesome RGA Bucks rashguard for £35, custom made for the Academy by Tatami Fightwear. I'll get a review of that done at some point in the future, though there are a bunch of others in the queue (Elastic Steel is the main one I need to finish off, now that I've completed my reviews of Black Belt Requirements and the Gentle Chief rashguard). In case you're wondering, I'm 5'7 and 145lbs, wearing a Small in the below picture (before washing, but I don't expect it to shrink given the material). Looking forward to the RGA Bucks curry night in a few hours! :D

08/09/2013 - Study Hall (Back Escapes)

Class #522
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Study Hall, Bristol, UK - 08/09/2013

Today's session started off with a brief bit of takedowns, as that's what the people I was partnered up with wanted to do. I took the opportunity to play with some of the Rickson techniques I learned at the Michel Verhoeven seminar recently (later that seminar was handy once again, when I was helping Berry with some cross-choke details). As Arnaud pushed in towards me, I couldn't stop him shoving me backwards down the mat. However, if I switched to pick up his leg, he said he couldn't stop his momentum as he overbalanced, enabling me to put him on his back. I still don't have any intention of competing, meaning takedown practice is rather redundant for me, but it's good to have something to work on when takedowns training is unavoidable.

I'm still not happy with my back escapes, so I'm returning to the same techniques as before (which I suspect is going to be a regular occurrence for a long time). Switching to deep half when they go to mount could do with a lot of improvement. Hooking the leg is something I need to time, as if I do it too soon, I lose my supporting leg and can get rolled to the other side. I therefore should get my back properly to the mat first. A few times, they ended up in mount anyway: I then escape from technical mount, but that's not really the idea.

Another area where I'm having trouble is working out when to move to grabbing their trouser leg. In the scenario where they try to mount, that's useful, as it gives me the possibility of doing what Xande does and recover guard. I'd prefer to get on top, but having somebody in my guard is much better than having them on my back.

I took a different route to the usual progressive resistance. Although that is very useful and I do it frequently, it isn't always as effective at pinning down the specific problem, because it can turn into pseudo-sparring. To further isolate the specific training, I broke the escape down step by step, asking my training partner what their reaction would be at each point. That obviously isn't realistic, but I did find it helpful to work out what to do at which point, as well as different tweaks and responses my partner might have.

For example, Berry liked to switch his arms when I turn away from the choking side, which results in recovering the choking side without having to roll them over (as I taught a while ago). To avoid that, I need better control over the arms, which was a general theme over the whole session.

I focused on clamping my elbow to my side, to trap the arm they had reaching under my armpit. I then looked to also control their other arm, by grabbing the sleeve with that same elbow-clamping arm. I haven't yet worked out the best configuration to lock that in place. At present, they may be able to simply free that arm then pull it out of range. Then again, perhaps that would open up the chance of stepping over it with my leg, trapping it that way? Could work as a nice combination.

Another advantage of gripping like that is I'm using one arm to control both of theirs, leaving one of my arms free. I can use that free arm to grab their leg and being my escape, then reach behind their head and grab their far armpit. That puts me in my preferred cross-facing position. It isn't always easy to get, so I also need a Plan B: perhaps dropping my elbow like Dónal, or somehow getting my weight up onto their chest, or indeed reaching across their neck (again like I've taught before).

I don't often train with Nick because he is so big (literally about twice the size of me), but he's also very technical. Going through the same step-by-step process with him, he had various advice on maintaining the back. If you want to put them back over to the other side, press your heel into their hip on that side (similar to what I learned in the private on bow and arrow chokes). When gripping under their armpit, getting the opposite collar grip is going to be the strongest.

Rather than going to mount when they push off one hook, you can also do a very simple flick under their leg with your remaining hook, then walk around to side control. This does depend on how much mobility you have with their armpit arm, though: if they've really clamped it, you won't be able to turn. Afterwards I realised that this is something I used to attempt, way back in the day, but I think I generally got stuck due to that armpit arm. Nice option to have, either way.

24/08/2013 - Michel Verhoeven (Rickson Black Belt) Seminar

Seminar #013
The Dojo Sidcup, (BJJ), Michel Verhoeven, Sidcup, UK - 24/03/2013

For many years, Rickson has possessed a mystical aura in BJJ, a remote demi-god whose knowledge was shared with a select few. More recently, Rickson has been increasing his seminar schedule, holding his first ever European seminars last year. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it in 2012 to train with the man himself, but I can make it to London to learn from one of his disciples.

When Al (who writes an excellent blog I've enjoyed for several years: like Rickson, he dispenses his wisdom infrequently ;D) mentioned that a Rickson black belt would be teaching in Sidcup, I therefore decided it was about time I experienced the legendary Rickson style. I was also intrigued by the prospect of learning from a Dutch black belt, due to the potential of getting an interview as well (which Al kindly set up for me). Up until now, I've only interviewed people from Brazil, the USA and the UK.

Update July 2016: You can listen to that interview now, as it's the first episode of the Artemis BJJ Podcast

Michel 'Babytank' Verhoeven started training jiu jitsu at the age of 13 in 1999, under Harold Harder (who had himself first met Rickson in 1996). Verhoeven is now a black belt under Rickson and head of Rickson Gracie Jiu Jitsu Holland, a growing organisation that is bringing Rickson over for a second time in October (which again I can't make, as it's my mum's 60th). Verhoeven's presence in the UK was organised by Paul Finn, who runs the Sidcup Dojo where the seminar was held.

Update Nov 2013: I did finally make it to a Rickson seminar, in November. No offence to Rickson, but for me, Michel's seminar was both better and cheaper. ;D

Verhoeven demonstrated his commitment to the basics immediately. During the warm-up, he took the time to not only correct how somebody was shrimping, but also showed the proper application. You might think that to correct a shrimp, you would tell the person to push off their foot more, perhaps raise their hips. Verhoeven told them to go into the defensive posture they would use under side control, then showed how they need to adjust to prevent him from easily pushing them flat on their back by pressing on the shoulder. This then fed back into the proper way to shrimp, keeping in mind the positions in which you might use that shrimp. It set the tone for the day: fundamentals with key details, which is exactly what I was hoping to learn.

Next up was takedowns. After 'self defence' drills, this is my least favourite part of jiu jitsu. It is therefore a testament to Verhoeven's teaching that it was both useful and engaging. That's because he did not begin with a load of throws. Instead, keeping the basics theme, he talked about takedown posture, which I find far more helpful. This followed on from another running theme in the seminar, dubbed 'game planning' by Verhoeven. What he means by that is essentially sparring followed by commentary. He had two of the white belts (who made up the majority of attendees: apart from them, it was just me, Al and a Carlson blue belt, Mike) briefly spar from standing. That became his example for some pointers on grips and posture.

The idea is that you stay solid while your opponent is bouncing around trying to yank you off balance. You react when their leg is in range or there is some other opening for a takedown. I'm not sure I quite got all the details, as I had slightly different advice from Mike and Al, but Mike's perspective was to jam your fist into the pec upon which the collar was resting. Keep that relatively firm, but as Verhoeven said a number of times, don't completely extend your arm, leaving a very small bend. As they push into you, use your fist into their chest to prevent their forward motion. As they pull back, follow them with your fist. This reminded me of what Sean Cooper said last November when I was in Texas, regarding the Rickson seminar he had attended and the importance of 'connection', something that would be mentioned numerous times today.

Al spoke about expanding and contracting, again in reaction to them pulling and pushing. This was also combined with putting your weight onto your front leg (for when they were pushing, I think), then the back leg if they pull. From what Al said, although that's counter-intuitive, the reason you load up your weight on the front leg if they push is that if you rely on the back leg, you have nothing behind it should they push you further. I think you expand your arms, flaring your elbows a bit, when they pushed, keeping an arm almost straight into them (I think like Mike described, but not quite the same?). Then you do the reverse when they pull, dropping your elbows a bit closer together and sinking your weight onto your back leg. Verhoeven mentioned this was something that takes a fair bit of practice, as it also needs good timing.

Verhoeven then demonstrated three throws. The first and last I think are standard judo techniques, seoi-nage and osoto-gari (though he doesn't kick through on the osoto-gari, instead saying that just placing your leg behind theirs as a brace is sufficient). The middle ones were more akin to what you can find in the rear takedown from Lesson Twenty Nine of Gracie Combatives. Start by opening up their elbow and collar by lifting your arms (something we had done as a separate drill earlier), then duck underneath, driving your near knee to the ground while stepping the other up. Keep your head raised to avoid guillotines, then spin to their back.

Put you head in between their shoulder blades so they can't connect with your skull by flinging elbows backwards. If they are upright, drive your hips into them to lift, then drop them back into the space you created. I was a bit nervous of trying that one, as I was concerned I might hurt my back if I messed it up. The second option was less nerve-wracking, as that was the same drop to the mat and pull them over your leg technique Rener shows on his DVD. Verhoeven noted you want to get your arm out of the way to stop them landing on it. I wasn't able to pull this off smoothly (unlike Al, who does it beautifully), mainly because I'm (as usual) over-cautious about committing to the move.

We continued into more comfortable territory with the groundwork, as Verhoeven began with a brief drill on maintaining mount. This was reminiscent of Dónal's method for taking the back in his ezequiel series, as the drill involves staying on your toes as they roll to their belly. You simply follow them sideways: the goal is to get used to having them roll through without letting yourself get stuck to them, as then you'd fall over and they'd end up on top.

That was as far as maintaining mount went (though submissions returned later), progressing instead to escaping the mount. Verhoeven first had us drill bridging in isolation, so he could work out if people were doing it right. Apparently only two people were. Bridge as high as you can, while also turning to one side: this is a significant turn, meaning that you body ends up twisted, your head looking in that direction. Verhoeven could then lead us through the upa escape from mount. The main detail he added which I'm not too familiar with is his grip. I'm used to grabbing the wrist and elbow, either behind the elbow (Rener style) or the crook of the elbow. Verhoeven's method depends on what they did. If they have their elbow out, push it towards their other hip, then grab the gi material of their upper arm and use that for your grip, pulling them down tightly.

The elbow escape instruction was helpful too. Verhoeven began by reaching across to the opposite hip with his hand. As with the tips on stand-up posture, keep your arm slightly bent. Push into that hip, then shrimp, using your free elbow to prise open their same side knee. Pop the knee through, pushing off that to make more space, then prise their other knee open. Once you get the leg out, wrap their leg with your outside leg, which becomes a base point to help slide your other leg out between their legs.

If they are a bit higher, use both of your hands to make a frame. This looks a bit like the recent video Stephan Kesting put out on framing, though he prefers to make a fist, as he feels that makes the frame stronger. The third option, for when they're pressing their hips down (as I like to do in low mount) is to go for the heel drag, still pushing into their opposite hip to help scoop up their leg. If you are having trouble reaching for the opposite hip because they haven't left any space, do a series of small bumps with your hips to create the room for your arm to slide under. This is what Verhoeven did when he used me as an uke for mount escapes, because I like to hold that low mount where I try to prevent them having much space (which is of course rather tougher to do on a black belt ;D).

The last section of the seminar was on submissions from the mount. I was extremely pleased at the selection, because almost all of them are techniques I've been looking to improve in my own game. The cross choke details were especially useful, as I realised I've been doing something fundamentally wrong for years: twisting my wrists the wrong way. I've been twisting them outwards when I should have been twisting them inwards. My training partner Martyn related a good tip for remembering this, which he'd heard from Allan Manganello (another Rickson black belt). If you cross your hands in front of you with the palms facing you, adjust your hands so the thumbs are touching. Now twist them so that the thumbs stay pressed against each other: if you twist the other way, you're opening up space. Genius.

Verhoeven's process is to insert your first hand, then bring your second hand underneath. Establish a relatively tight grip, already beginning to twist your hands inwards (remember the butterfly thumbs!) and raising your partner towards you slightly. Put your head on the mat above the shoulder your top hand is pointing towards, then twist and draw your elbows backwards to finish the choke. Don't flare your elbows, as then they can defend the choke by pushing those elbows back together.

If you can't get past their defending hands, there is the nasty option of digging your thumb along the jawline. I'm not a big fan of that as I find it too brutal, so prefer Verhoeven's other suggestion of flowing into another technique, such as wedging under their elbow and moving into a gift wrap. There was also a variation to the choke when you can only get one hand in, bringing your second arm around to the other side of their head, then 'shaving' back across their face to position that arm by their neck. Grab a handful of gi by their shoulder, then drop your elbow so your forearm is over their throat. This second arm doesn't move after that point: the choke comes from twisting the first hand and drawing that first elbow back.

Finally, there was a relatively straightforward application of the ezequiel choke, though Verhoeven does this differently to Dónal. He doesn't like to use less fingers for greater range, instead preferring to switch to the fist variation if you can't land the cleaner option. Driving your fist is certainly effective, but like digging across the jaw line, I would normally transfer to something else in that situation. In this case, that would be the next stage of Dónal's ezequiel series, the tight americana against the leg.

The more standard americana from mount followed, where once again, Verhoeven had a simple but significant tip. Instead of focusing your efforts on pushing their wrist to the floor, grab their wrist then concentrate on getting your elbow to the mat, by their head. For some reason, this seems to be a lot more effective at getting both your limbs and theirs in the right position to complete the americana. Martyn mentioned 'revving the motorcyle' here, another useful detail I often forget: in other words, curl your wrists up. If you lose the americana because they straighten their arm, you can flow into the straight armbar, much like the Roy Dean lockflow I like from side control.

Verhoeven finished off with an armbar from mount. I don't generally go for armbars from mount because I hate losing position, but it is something I should keep in mind as it's such a core submission from there, for teaching if nothing else. Verhoeven's application starts by grabbing their opposite tricep with one of your hands, using that to pull them up onto their side, so you can slide into technical mount. Post your free hand by their face, in order to swing your leg past their head. Don't drop back yet: first, wrap their arm with both of yours, grabbing your own collars, then raise your elbows and thrust your hips forwards.

That has two advantages. Firstly, it straightens their arm out. Secondly, it puts your hips closer to the shoulder. Together, that means when you do drop back, you're in a better, tighter position. That also means that the armbar comes on quicker, so be careful you don't crank this suddenly, or you're at risk of hyper-extending their elbow before they've had time to tap.

After some more game planning, it was time for free sparring. I decided against taking part this time because I wanted to make sure I was ready to head off and catch my train, so got changed instead (which also meant I could display the fabulous Pony Club Grappling Gear spats I'd been wearing under my gi, plus take a few quick photos for this post). However, I didn't escape getting smashed by a black belt today, as Verhoeven had grabbed me for a quick light roll before the seminar. In my attempts to escape technical mount, Verhoeven noted that I could have gone for a double shin sweep and come on top, something I need to remember.

I also went to my favoured running escape, but Verhoeven did the same thing Sahid does, trapping my trailing leg with his knee and effectively stymieing the escape as a result. As normally happens with higher belts, he eventually secured a collar for the choke. However, unlike some higher belts, when I used the poor defence of popping my collar up over my chin, Verhoeven didn't choke my face. He instead calmly waited for an opportunity to bring his other limbs to bear so that he could get the submission more smoothly. Always appreciated, and another reminder to be more careful of my neck when I'm flailing around with the running escape. :)

Thanks again to Paul, Al and of course Michel: I look forward to future seminars! It was five hours of technique, but because everything was fundamental I could concentrate – and more importantly, retain – some of those key details that make all the difference. This is exactly what I'm interested in, depth rather than breadth. I would much rather refine a collar choke or an elbow escape, as opposed to something flashy (or just outside of the game I'm trying to build for myself and my teaching) that I'll most likely never use. Next time I'll make sure I bring extra cash to buy a Babytank tank top: I was thinking recently, after all the hot weather, that I'd quite like a jiu jitsu tank top. Clearly having a black belt from Rickson gives Michel psychic powers as well as jiu jitsu skills. ;)

29/11/2012 - Rolles Gracie Jr Seminar in Houston

Seminar #11
Rilion Gracie Houston, (BJJ), Rolles Gracie Jr, Houston, TX, USA - 29/11/2012

I don't know much about Rolles Jr (and I'm still not completely sure whether his father should be spelled 'Rolls' or 'Rolles', as I've seen both. I think it is the former, but then why is it 'Rolles Jr'?), except that he is probably the largest member of the Gracie family and has had a successful MMA career, despite that one slip-up the UFC. These aspects of Rolles would both feature prominently in the seminar, which kicked off with a refreshingly humble tribute to his uncle Rilion (who has influenced his teaching too: the style felt similar to yesterday). Rolles noted that it felt strange to be the teacher while his own mentor was stood a short distance away.

My last bit of training for the Texas trip kicked off with a takedown, where Rolles noted that he prefers the upright posture of judo. My groin injury meant I couldn't really take part, but there were still a number of handy details I could take away. The initial grip looks especially useful: reach over the back and grasp a clump of gi near their shoulder blade, then bring your elbow down past their shoulder. This gives you a brace that can prevent them driving in for their own takedown.

I can't remember the actual takedown very well, but from what I recall, drop down with your knee raised on the outside, wrapping their leg, still holding onto their gi. Pull on the gi as you drive and lift into the leg, corkscrewing them into the mat to establish side control.

Getting to the ground, the focus was on closed guard. Rolles commented that as a big guy, he found that people often clammed up in his closed guard, staying defensive with elbows pinning his hips,head in his stomach and knees tight. It is difficult be offensive when confronted by that lack of space, but Rolles has developed a solution.

For the armbar, start by grabbing their same side armpit to get a fistful of gi material, then clamp your elbow to your side. Your other hand goes into their collar, again on that armpit side. At this point, many people won't react as they don't worry about the choke until your second hand comes into play.

Your hips are stuck, so instead, open your legs and straighten them, then swivelling off their thighs, bring your knee on the collar arm side in front of them. Shove that up by your collar grip (or the other side of their head, if you prefer), bringing your other knee up as well.

From here, you can squeeze your knees and pull on their collar and armpit, trapping that side of their body. With the foot of your collar arm leg, push into their same side knee, just like the push sweep. This will put their torso to the mat, flat on their stomach. Due to your grips, it should also stretch out their arm.

Bring your armpit side leg up their back to pin their shoulder, mirrored by your knee on the other side (rather like Levo's pressing armbar). Switch your collar grip to your own collar, in order to secure their wrist. It is now possible to turn your top knee down to the mat past their shoulder and go for a belly down armbar. If they roll, maintain your grips and follow them, then complete the submission from mount.

If they are a bit more savvy and grab the foot of your collar side leg, to stop you pushing their knee out, turn towards the other side, pressing into their hip with your armpit side foot. This sets you up for a triangle. Swivel the leg they are holding around their grip (you should be able to beat their grip on this, though that becomes more difficult if they manage to slide their arm further down your leg), then move into a triangle as normal.

Finally from that position, you can sweep them over your head. This time when you've got your knee into position, they stand up. Pull them in, raising your elbows up by your head, then put your feet on their hips and roll them past your shoulder. Again, my injury wasn't up to this, so I just continued with the previous techniques from earlier.

The second half of the seminar was nogi, or more specifically, MMA. I wasn't expecting quite so much relating to working off strikes, but then I guess Rolles is known for his MMA, so that shouldn't be too surprising. The initial takedown begins with a few jabs to judge the distance, after which you move straight into the clinch, reaching through to their far shoulder. Shuck their shoulder (particularly if they push on your head) then slide to their back, gable gripping your hands together.

You want to control a little below their hip, twisting you lower hand to dig your forearm in firmly. This isn't comfortable. Move forward to put them onto their knees, so that you can then progress to attacking the turtle. You have one knee on the mat, the other leg over their back. Punch their head on the leg-down side to get them to cover with that arm, to create some space to insert your hook.

Your arm on the other side wedges inside their leg, effectively becoming a hook. Roll them over, then either establish your second hook, or go straight for the rear naked choke. A quick tip on that was to grab the shoulder with your choking arm, not releasing it until your second arm was most of the way into position. That's because it is harder to pull your arm down if you're grabbing the shoulder, as opposed to open because you're about to weave it by your other bicep.

If you can't get that initial hook with your foot, simply jam your elbow into the other hip, bring your knee out slightly on what would have been the initial hook side, then drag them into that space you've created. That should roll them, so you can now insert your hook and move on for either both hooks or the RNC like before.

Finally, should they attempt to escape your back control, Rolles did a body triangle type counter, which I definitely couldn't do with my injury, but I was able to follow the head and arm choke counter he finished off with. This was quite similar to John Will's technique, where from the seatbelt grip you pull your arm through and turn. Block their arm from escaping with your head (keeping in mind this only needs to be tight enough to block) until you can turn all the way. From there, sink down and jam your head in place, then cinch in the choke.

07/02/2012 - Judo at GB Bristol (Morote Seoi Nage)

Class #11
Gracie Barra Bristol, (Judo), Kirsty Utting, Bristol, UK - 07/02/2012

It's been a long time since I last went to a formal class of judo, back in May 2010. As my girlfriend is away on holiday, I finally had the chance to go try out Kirsty's judo class. I'm not generally a big fan of judo training, because of that injury I got back in my third ever session of judo, which took me off the mats for about seven months. Hence why I've been a bit wary of judo ever since, not helped by stories of how hard judo is on the body and old judoka with mashed up knees.

Kirsty is a judo black belt with lots of competitive experience. She's been running a short judo class at Gracie Barra Bristol for a while now, which is a great idea for anybody who wants to compete, or simply develop a more rounded grappling game (neither of which I care about personally, which is why I don't normally do any judo). I particularly like the way that when he added the class to the timetable, Geeza emphasised that you take off your BJJ rank and put on a white belt.

Kirsty started with standing grip breaks. For the first one, they've grabbed your collar. With your same side hand, grab their sleeve, your knuckles pointing to the outside. Your grip needs to be tight, so to make it really firm, reach your fingers around to the inside (keeping your thumb out), gathering the material of their sleeve. Once you've taken out the slack, bring your hand back towards the outside, inserting your thumb to secure the grip. You'll end up with making a sideways fist.

Your other hand goes on top of their wrist, using a thumbless grip. Step back with your non-grip side foot, at the same time shoving downwards with both your hands and jerking your upper body backwards. From here you can immediately grab their gi and establish your own control: maintain that grip on their sleeve, as otherwise they can just re-grab your collar.

If they grab your same side elbow, grip their grabbing-arm sleeve with your free hand. Turn forcefully towards their free hand side, twisting your torso. You can now pull with your sleeve grip and again establish your own control. E.g., after pulling them in front of you, reach around their back with the other hand. I think that's called a 'Russian grip' or something like that? Been shown it in BJJ, IIRC, or it might have been one of the other judo classes from a few years back.

From the grip break on the collar, you can go straight into a morote seoi nage, which google tells me means 'two arm shoulder throw'. Pull them towards your collar side, then pull them onto your hip. Pull their sleeve out and up, bringing the elbow of the collar-gripping arm right into the sleeve-grip side armpit. Swivel, so that they're now facing your back, making sure your feet are inside theirs. Lift them up, then turn your head away from them to drop them onto the mat.

I liked the relaxed atmosphere of Kirsty's class, and also the amount of time she spent on drilling. She went round every pair making small corrections, then later pulled out the crash mats for an extra-soft landing. Well, unless you managed to miss the crash mat. Ahem. Fortunately my partner was smaller than me, so I could reduce the impact and stop them from going off the crash mat.

We finished up with one round of randori. As I was bigger and more experienced than my partner, I could be a bit more adventurous than my usual 'wait-to-get-thrown' strategy. Pulling guard wasn't allowed, so instead I had some fun practicing my trips and double-legs, but then it isn't difficult to pull off a technique on somebody smaller who has never seen it before. ;)