Class #673 RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 24/10/2015
Kev started with taking the back against turtle. Open up their collar with one arm, feeding that to the other, making sure you don't reach it so far that they can hook your elbow. Move around to the opposite side of your gripping arm and roll them into the back. You can move straight into a choke from here, where for some reason I got confused about which hand goes where. I think it was the same thing Kev was showing during that private last month, where you do the collar choke on the weak side (i.e., on the side you have your arm under their armpit), switching to a RNC with the arm by the neck if you can't get that.
Next was an escape, as Kev often likes to show both sides of a position when he teaches. For this back escape, grab their arm and pull it over your head, locking it by your shoulder with one arm. Move away from that arm with your legs, clearing their foot off your hip and walking over it. Once you have cleared that leg, grab their remaining leg, to prevent them swinging over into mount. Pushing off your feet, get your weight onto them, walk your feet around to side control, then finish by turning towards their legs.
The last technique looked perfect, as it was a knee cut counter. I get stuck there all the time. Kev did it from de la Riva, but I think it works from other places (e.g., IIRC, Bruno Matias did it from half guard at the BJJ Globetrotter Summer Camp a few months ago). It also comes with a flowery name, 'kiss of the dragon': Kev has the same view of fancy terminology for techniques as me, so said that with a wry smile. It certainly wouldn't be his choice of name, nor mine. ;)
Anyway, from de la Riva, switch hands to grab their ankle with your other hand (i.e., switch from your same side hand to opposite hand). That means you can pull their heel against your bum and lock their foot facing outwards. This should make it tough for them to turn their leg in order to do the knee cut. Your knee comes in place to block into their leg, again to hinder their ability to turn their knee in for the pass. Slide your free hand behind their other knee, back of the hand against the back of their knee. Use that as a guide to swivel your body and pop through their legs.
From there, you can just grab their ankles and knock them over. There's a chance you might be able to rotate your legs to the back of theirs, making it possible to flick their legs out and take their back. If not, knocking them into turtle may give you the opening to jump onto their back and lock on a seat belt. At worst, you should at least be able to get into top half guard. All of those are much better than getting your guard passed. :)
Sparring involved lots of guard passing attempts, where it took me most of the round to get past the first person's guard, then I had an americana locked on just as the timer ran out. I think I was underneath too and almost got my back taken at one point, so that was probably from side control. I have a bad habit of leaving my back exposed when escaping from there. Risky! I also missed a chance to try Chelsea's 'crazy dog' pass against a lasso spider guard in the last round, must remember to do that next time.
With a purple belt (who eventually got an americana too), I was trying out the sit-up escape type stuff again, blocking into his shoulder. Sort of worked, but he then got my basing arm and knocked me down, just like Kev warned in his private. Like I said before, I need to rewatch that Ryan Hall set where he talks about that, as I am sure he's got a counter to try. At the end of class, there were a few stripes given out, including one for me. Always nice, especially as it's been a few years. :)
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I've been looking forward to my next visit to Aylesbury, as there is a particularly good art exhibition on at the National Gallery right now, covering one of my favourite painters. 'Goya: The Portraits' has come at the perfect time for me, because my head is full of his work after my recent trip to Madrid and the accompanying research I did (for fun: I'm weird that kind of thing makes me happy).
It was a pleasure to see so many of the portraits I'd been reading about spring off the page. Three in particular stood out, 'The Family of the Infante Don Luis' (normally in Parma), 'Self Portrait with Doctor Arrieta' (from the Minneapolis Institute of Art) and best of all, the famous Duchess of Alba where she points at the ground.
She is rightly featured as the poster for the whole exhibition. A number of other sources I've read/watched interpret the fact that she's pointing at the words 'solo Goya' ('only Goya') on the ground as an indication of a romantic connection. The theory goes that it's Goya mooning over a younger woman and trying to 'claim' her in painting, like Rossetti arguably attempted with his endless images of Jane Morris. Another plausible explanation was offered by the audio guide, where the curator Dr Xavier Bray (who also notes it took a decade to get the exhibition sorted, apparently) says it is probably just Goya saying only he could paint the Duchess so well. Her potent presence is usually restricted to the Hispanic Society of America, based in New York, so as the audio guide said, it was awesome to get a chance to see it in person. Well ok, the guide didn't say 'awesome', but that was the gist of it. ;p
It was also really cool to see lots of other paintings that live in the US: the Duchess was just one of them. I've been earmarking various galleries in the States to see the work of my favourite painters, including a number of the Goya portraits that appear in this exhibition (works belonging to Washington and New York especially). Naturally that won't put me off going to the New York and Washington galleries: rather it acted as a delicious taster of what awaits me when I finally do make it out there (should be in 2017, during my next big BJJ trip).
There's a video done by the National Gallery introducing the exhibition embedded below, plus a few more over on the sponsor Credit Suisse's website.
Seminar #017 Artemis BJJ, Chelsea Bainbridge-Donner, Bristol, UK - 04/10/2015
I have 'known' Chelsea for a number of years now online, having first encountered her on reddit when she was a brown belt living in Hong Kong. That led me to her awesome blog, when she was still posting as purplekettle. Most awesome of all is this post, entitled “Wow, you’re a lot shorter than I thought you were.” If you haven't read it before, go read it: I have read many, many BJJ blog posts over the last decade, and that remains right up there among my favourites.
Since then, Chelsea has gone on to become a top competitor out of initially ATOS HQ, before moving to the affiliated Art of Jiu Jitsu Academy, run by ATOS stand-outs Rafa and Gui Mendes. She has won a world title at brown belt (after which Andre Galvao promoted her to black belt on the podium, along with his wife Angelica), the Dream submission only tournament and so far this year, medalled at the Worlds and Pan Ams. What I didn't realise was how good she is at teaching, perhaps helped by her considerable academic background (among her many skills she speaks fluent Chinese, for example!).
I therefore jumped at the chance to book her for a seminar when she got in touch to say she would be in the UK. There was a good turnout from Artemis BJJ itself, along with some other local clubs from Bristol and Swindon popping down: thanks for the support! We should have some more seminars in January, hopefully as well as a women's BJJ workshop with Leoni. :)
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Chelsea's teaching was well structured and focused, exactly what I want out of a seminar. She began with a number of drills related to passing the guard, the theme of the seminar. That progressed into some bullfighter passing drills. First, the one I'm used to, where you grab the bottom of the trousers, move round and drop the shoulder. Then we did the variation where you push the legs out of the way, establishing knee on belly. Chelsea and Tom (Barlow, of Polaris fame: it was very cool to have him there too) helped me out during drilling, noting that I should be pushing the shins so they 'spring' back, making it easier to then shove them out of the way.
The central technique of the seminar, which began as a drill, was something I think I've seen Saulo do in the past on BJJ Library. Chelsea pointed out that in open guard, it seems people are overly keen to get stuck inside a guard, whereas they should be passing pre-entanglement.
For this open guard pass, put one hand on their hip, the other on their knee. As you move around, bum in the air and legs wide, shove their knee down. Continue to pass around, then slide your grip so you can push their knee back. Follow it back with your body, moving into a leg drag position, driving off your toes as you descend. If you get greedy and try to go directly into side control, you may find they can get their legs in the way.
Often, they will try to turn away into turtle, preventing the pass (especially in a competition where points are at stake). To stop that, drive into them as they turn, locking on a seat belt grip. Previously I have tended to gable grip my hands, but as Tom explained during drilling, grabbing the meat of your hand with your grip on top is stronger, bringing your elbows into your sides. Having secured your seatbelt, curl your leg in tight to their back, pulling them up onto your knee (effectively putting them in your lap).
You can then roll back over your knee, bringing your other leg over the top, securing back control. I'm a big fan of that back take, though I've tended to do it from either technical mount or as a back re-take: getting some more tweaks was brilliant. It also made me think I should emphasise getting on your elbow next time I teach that move, as that really helps your balance.
To emphasise the importance of a strong seat belt grip, Chelsea then did some drilling on the back take portion of the technique, same as the drill I sometimes throw into our warm-ups at Artemis BJJ (although I've been combining it with mount, so switching to technical mount as they try to turn, then going for this back take). Chelsea and Tom both put that seat belt in really firmly, to the point where the arm is already almost choking you. That was made very clear, as she then had all of us take it in turns to experience what it feels like when she and Tom do it. Educational! ;)
You may find that rather than turn away, they will try and turn towards you. If that happens, sprawl back with your seatbelt grip in place, backstopping their elbow so they can't continue the turn. Walk around on your toes behind them, then pop up so you're crouched by their back. Either put your foot on their thigh or step it through, then take the back from there. Marcelo Garcia shows something similar in his book, on p100.
If Chelsea wants a partner for demonstrating a choke, hide
Chelsea showed a classic choke next. Open up their collar with your hand that's under their armpit, feeding it to your other hand. Having got a firm grip with that other hand, cinch it in, then push your armpit-hand behind their head. There are various ways you can add leverage to the position, ranging from crossing your legs to stepping on their arm. As you can see from Tom's expression in the picture, it isn't a whole lot of fun for your partner. ;)
When you initially attempt the pass, your partner might swing their leg over and wrap your arm with it, moving into a lasso spider guard (I liked how Chelsea had everybody drill that spider guard recovery at this point, to make sure everyone knew it). To pass spider guard from there, reach through and grab their other trouser leg with your lassoed arm, being sure to grip below their knee. With your other hand, grasp their collar.
Next is Chelsea's trademark control, driving her head right underneath their chin. Keep pushing with your head, something which they will definitely not enjoy, then walk back towards their legs. This is the same principle as with that pass from earlier, to make sure their legs are cleared out of the way. Which makes sense, as I can remember Chelsea's instructors, the Mendes brothers, highlighting the importance of walking back like that post-pass in a video a couple of years ago.
My drilling partner for this one, Nathan (the third black belt on the mats today), handily pointed out that I need to make sure I'm driving my shoulder into their leg to squish their knees towards the mat. I was being lax on that, which would make it easy for them to square back up and stop my pass. For a video of this pass, check out the interview Chelsea did on This Week In BJJ, here (she also shows the same pass from reverse de la Riva, as well as countering their invert).
If they flare out their knee on the lasso so it is difficult to drive all the way to under their chin, Chelsea showed how you can instead drive your head into their chest, proceeding pretty much as before apart from that. Except that this time, you move into knee on belly rather than passing all the way to side control. From knee on belly, if they push on your knee, you can reach through by the crook of their elbow, pull them up, then step around to drop into an armbar. Note that you need them to turn in towards you: this won't work if they are flat on their back, as you can't step over properly in that situation.
After all that excellent technique, Chelsea then fit in thirty minutes of sparring, quick three minute rounds. I am pretty sure this marks the only time I've ever sparred three black belts in a row (and the only time I've seen more black belts on the mat was my visit to Fabio Santos' school). Sparring with Chelsea, Tom and Nathan, I was mainly trying to use the stiff arm from guard. When that didn't work, I tried my follow-up of going into koala guard, but messed up each time. I did vaguely attempt a roll under sweep with Chelsea, but she had already passed regardless.
After getting passed, with all three of the black belts I was (not very successfully, as you'd expect) attempting to then block with Rockwell's sit-up escape frame. There was a lot of being crushed under mount, which seems to happen to me a lot with black belts (fair payback, as I was in mount on a white belt earlier in sparring. So, taste of my own medicine ;D). I very narrowly escaped Tom's bow and arrow type choke by pulling on his sleeve then elbow, also slipping free of the follow-up armbar by a whisker. No doubt he was going a lot lighter than normal as I'm a lower belt, but I was still pleased I managed to defend it. ;)
To finish, Chelsea did a question and answer session, a magnificent way of finishing a seminar. I asked about my main bugbear, back escapes. Chelsea recommended blocking their second hook coming in, then getting to the non-choking side and putting your back on the mat. She leapt right over when she did it, IIRC. Tom added in a nifty option when it came to turtle. If you can cross your ankles around their leg, then you've basically escaped turtle. However they move, you're either going to be able to spin free, invert, or recover your guard more conventionally. Therefore on top of turtle, be wary of them hooking your foot like that.
Of the seventeen seminars I've been to, I would put this and Dave Jacobs from last year at the top. If you get the chance to book Chelsea for a seminar, I highly recommend you do it. She said she should be back in the UK in January, so hopefully we'll be able to arrange another seminar then. I'm also hoping she'll be on the next Polaris event: there is such an incredible talent pool of black belt women that Polaris could easily fit in two female fights, if not more. :)
After I'd had some lunch upstairs, it was time for the next session. This was headed up by the guy who gave Graugart his black belt, Robson Barbosa. Sticking with the theme from earlier, it was more back stuff. Very handily, my old training partner Conor appeared as I was waiting for it to start, meaning I had someone to drill with in all of today's gi classes. Cool to catch up with him too, as it's been a few years since we last saw each other, at a GrappleThon two years ago.
Robson claimed it would be a simple technique to start with, then proceeded to acrobatically leap onto the back. Fortunately this back take from turtle did turn out to be a bit easier than it looked. Facing their turtle (i.e., so you're both looking at each other, not behind them), push their head down, while also gripping their same side arm. Step your arm-side leg through diagonally, spinning to face away. You end up sat on their back. If you pause for a moment to balance, it makes it easier to insert a hook, but that isn't necessary for the next technique
You're on the back. Grip the lapels firmly under their armpits, gripping quite high. Launch yourself diagonally, rolling next to their shoulder. The idea is to flip them over as you roll: I've tried this before, I think after seeing it on a video? Either way, works OK, although you have to be careful you don't crunch your neck or your partner's neck. Aiming your head at the space next to their shoulder seemed to work for me.
The third and as it turned out final technique was completely different, though it linked up well with what Oli had taught. This time you're in de la Riva. Grab inside their knees, pushing their knees close together and squeezing your own knees. Roll over your inside shoulder, as with Oli's rolling back takes, pulling the hip round.
Barbosa's teaching style involved a few quick demonstrations then loads of drilling time. That worked well for me, as Conor is an excellent drilling partner. Like me, he's very keen to explore the detail of a technique. We found that for the DLR back take, it was key to firmly trap their non-DLR leg while you were rolling through, also making sure you weren't starting too low.
I think Chris Paines (who was there with lots of people from Fighting Fit) said he would be YouTubing some of the technique, so that should help refresh my memory. Cool to see him again too. Next class, some even more complicated guard options with Bruno Matias.
Class #657 BJJ Globetrotter Camp (Sportoase Leuven), Oli Geddes, Leuven, Belgium, 13/08/2015
I went straight from the plane to the train, then walked from Leuven Train Station to the Sportoase. There was already a class going on when I entered, but as it was wrestling I wasn't too concerned about missing it. I had plenty of time to get checked in with Vara at the BJJ Globetrotter desk, then get changed.
The class I wanted was Oli Geddes' session on rolling back attacks. This was perhaps a bit fancy by my standards and it was nogi: I almost never take the gi off for BJJ. Nevertheless, there were some useful techniques from quarter guard and half guard, handy given that it is currently half guard month back home at Artemis BJJ.
Oli kicked off with a rolling back take against turtle. Turn to face their legs, with your knee nearest their head looking to jam inside the space between their knee and elbow. Your other knee is blocking their leg, to make it harder for them to reclaim guard. With the arm nearest their head, reach over and grab their ankle (at least that's what my training partner Stacey and I ended up doing).
Your other hand grabs inside their leg, gripping the ankle. Lift that ankle up and outwards, to make it easier to get your waiting leg inside (slipping it under first), hooking around their leg. Thrust your hips into them, then diving over to the far side, roll over the shoulder nearest their head (I think? I need to check that with more drilling). Get past their hip, swinging through to grab their arm and take their back.
If you get part way through the back take, but can't reach their arm or hip to complete the motion, wrap up their near leg with your arms instead. Your legs will still be clamping around their other leg. Pull on their leg with your arms, extending into their other leg for the submission. You can put one foot behind the other for extra leverage. Note that this submission is entirely down to their flexibility, so it has some limitations.
If you are going for the back, but can't get hold of anything, you can still triangle your legs around the leg you do have. Pull down on their toes for the calf crush. Wrapping their leg with your arm can add in extra pressure.
We then moved to a rolling back take from quarter guard, a common position as you're passing half guard or they are trying to escape mount. Turn away from the foot they've trapped, adjusting your knee position so it doesn't catch on their leg. Roll inside (I think inside? Again, I need to check that during drilling), then you're back into the same position as before. Similarly from half guard, you can do this after moving into the opposite side pass.
In that opposite side pass position, adjust your feet so their leg is still controlled, then turn with your shoulder to begin another back take. I'm not totally clear on how best to adjust your feet: I think you hook your instep over their leg to trap it? I've seen this technique before, but the same thing confused me, along with the turn. Oli's instruction definitely helped, I just need to drill this more. Generally rolling back attacks are a bit fancy for me, but it's useful to have some options against quarter guard.
You can do the same back take from deep half, where this time you'll need to push on their head to step your leg through. However, I'm not sure I entirely got the rest of the technique. Once again, needs more drilling, I'll grab some people at Artemis BJJ when I get home. Judging by the picture Vara put on Facebook (there are loads on the BJJ Globetrotter group, so I asked if I could use them in my posts), it's the shoulder on the same side as the trapped leg, diving over to the opposite side.
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
Class #618 Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 23/12/2014
Today we started off by working on closed guard back takes, as Chris had some trouble with it yesterday. It was useful for me too: pointing out where I was able to prevent him taking my back made me realise what steps could be taken to counteract my defense. So, that was in short the importance of controlling their posture, getting off to the side (angles, always angles) and pushing their head away. My main counters were to posture up or drive my head back across horizontally, so if Chris could stuff those, the back take was much easier. Also, if I step up a leg, he can underhook and roll me over in a nice sweep.
We took some video of the progressive resistance, in order to properly test out the HookSweep website. That's a service set up by Georgette's old team mates at Gracie Humaita Austin, where the idea is that students send their instructor videos of up to a minute, which can then be broken down and worked through. The membership is free at the moment, so I was curious to try it out. That also means we've got a bunch of training footage, something I've not had for years. I'll probably therefore embed it when Chris sends the video through. :)
After that, it was my turn for drilling, where again I picked maintaining the back, based off Ryan Hall's DVD. This time, we had a play with the kimura grip. Once you get it, stay firm. I don't think I had it quite right, as Chris could still move a bit. Getting into position is perhaps the hardest part, bringing the arm over their head. Donal's grip break is handy here, as well as pushing on their hip with your foot to block their movement.
We finished with some back escape specific sparring. I tried to use that kimura grip as well as the tweaks from yesterday, which helped a bit I think. Fun stuff: I still need to work on my control, but thanks to Ryan Hall and Chris, it seems to be improving. Unfortunately my injury means I can't use my legs properly, but I'm pleased I can at least work on the stuff that focuses on arms.
Class #582 Artemis BJJ (Impact Gym), Open Mat, Bristol, UK - 26/07/2014
The FREE women's class starts next week on Wednesday! So, I'll put up the poster on this post. If anybody wants to share that around (hey, you never know), feel free: after all it's a free class. I've stuck up a few of these posters around town, so will be looking for other places to put them. As the class has funding until the end of the year, that gives me lots of time to build it up. Hooray! All women welcome! Lots more info on this exciting new Bristol BJJ class here. :D
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As usual, I had a specific goal in mind for the open mat today, drilling the technique I wanted to teach next week in order to work out any kinks. The only downside of open mat at the moment is that because it directly follows the nogi class, the majority of class tends not to have a gi on (especially in the current hot weather). Fortunately for me, there were two others with a gi, so I had someone to drill with after they finished rolling.
I was looking at two techniques from cross grip guard (I don't know how popular that term is: I'm going off BJJ Library and Jiu Jitsu University. In other words, open guard where you have grabbed the opposite collar). I frequently get into this position in open guard, both because I always go for the tripod/sickle sweep combination and due to Kev's recommendation from that private lesson. Building on what I learned from Kev, I've also been looking at a couple of videos Xande did on BJJ Library, where he goes into considerable detail on the cross grip guard and attacks from it.
First off, keep your basing hand behind you where you can't see it. The only time it should be in view, according to Xande, is when you are shifting off to the side for a collar drag, pulling them by the collar into the space you just vacated. You can then take their back. From the same grip, you can go for the tripod and sickle combination. To enter into the guard, grab their same side collar while putting your opposite foot on their opposite hip. Open up the collar and switch to your other hand. If you're greedy and start off with the cross-grip, that may leave you vulnerable to getting passed, according to Xande.
You can also go for the ankle pick sweep I learned from Kev last year, where again Xande has a bunch of tips. If they begin to stand up when you have the cross grip guard, follow them up into a sort of combat base position, grab their leg, then use your collar grip to direct them to the mat as you pull back on their leg. You can grab the heel/ankle for an ankle pick type takedown (hence the sweep name, which Xande also calls the 'get up' sweep), or the material somewhere on their trouser leg (e.g., by their knee).
Xande emphasises that the leverage doesn't come from trying to muscle them to the ground. It comes from your action of standing up. So, concentrate on getting the grips and then getting up, rather than getting the grips and driving forward before you've stood up. Xande also notes that you want to be careful of your momentum, as it's easy to fall forwards if you aren't careful of posture. Lean back slightly instead as you knock them down, getting into a secure guard passing posture, then do a knee cut. Your knee should already be forward and in place, making this straightforward.
It was very useful drilling that with the two blue belts in gis, as that helped me practice my teaching and indeed modified my intended structure. I had thought to start off with some technical stand up drills, but actually the hip thrust may be more useful. By telling them it was like a technical stand up, that just confused one of them, whereas he found the hip thrust made much more sense. That may well vary by person, but it's extremely useful to know that the technical stand up might confuse some people in the context of this technique. I may still put it in the warm-up, but I'll now be considering how to contextualise it more carefully.
Class #556 Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 07/04/2014
Dónal started off with his usual movement drills, progressing to a simple drill for escaping the back. They are on your back, you push off their hook with your opposite foot. Use that same foot to step over their ankle, blocking their ability to regain that hook. Pop your hips over (have that other leg there complicates it slightly, but it still works) and angle your knee towards them, to increase your base.
The main technique was method of taking the back from side control. If they are looking to escape by turning away from you, immediately leap in and slide your foot underneath them. To force that position, wriggle until you can press your shoulder near the middle of their shoulder blades. Push into them, with the aim of turning their body. That should mean that some space opens up underneath them, whereupon you can shove your foot through the gap and establish your first hook.
Interestingly, Dónal's method is counter-intuitive. You would think that pushing off with your non-hooking foot would make sense, then shoving the hooking foot inside as soon as space opens up. However, Dónal finds it easier to generate the necessary leverage by pushing off his hooking foot, then kicking that one through once he's opened up space. That does mean you really have to jump into it, so it fits with Dónal's very mobile style.
In sparring, I wasn't having a huge amount of success escaping during specific sparring. I tried to slip down like Kev showed at the weekend, but I couldn't slide down very far. I kept in mind Kev's tips on being careful of your elbows, using those to dig under arms and knees. A few times I made the same mistake as before, where I was focusing too much on arms and knees rather than keeping my neck safe. I was able to swim my arm back in to block choke attempts, but that's quite sloppy and unreliable.
I still felt like I was just stalling most of the time, unable to progress my position very well. I guess being able to fend off attacks is something, but the goal is to escape to a better spot. I think my approach going forward is to revisit the escape Dónal showed and remember to keep trying that, adding in Kev's tips on improving that escape. I was thinking too much about elbows and not enough about getting my head and back to the mat, popping my hips over, etc.
It's in that respect a shame I'm going to miss most of the Artemis BJJ month on the back, as I'll be in the US. Given this is a weak point for me, I need to work on it. Still, because we also have free sparring anyway and should also be adding open mat by the time I return to the UK, I can continue to work on those weak points in addition to the specific position each month. :)
When I was on the back, I wasn't doing much better. I played around with the straitjacket, but wasn't getting anywhere near any attacks. As ever I should be threatening more, which is a long term goal. In free sparring, I wasn't doing much from guard as before, though it gave me a chance to try different grips. Instead of getting a death grip with the pocket on the sleeve from spider guard, I went for a pistol grip. That is normally kinder to your fingers.
I'm not angling out enough in guard, though I'm pleased I at least remembered to shoulder walk backwards in guard to stop getting crushed by somebody bigger. For general health, that's a good habit I should be developing. I should be trying Kev's grip break to back take or sit-up sweep combo more often, as well as the windscreen wiper variations I learned from Dónal. I did have a chance to play around with the gi tail grip from another Dónal private, but couldn't lock anything up with it (though it was helpful for controlling posture).
At some point I got to mount, but was way too complacent about holding it. I was sparring somebody bigger, who had little trouble rolling me over. If I am with somebody bigger, then moving up to a tight high mount immediately would probably be a good idea. I should also be thinking of transitional possibilities if I'm getting rolled, setting up an attack mid-reversal before they settle into my guard.
I'm continuing to pull the gi into various places to see what happens. That proved handy again today, this time attacking turtle. I yanked out the gi lapel and wrapped it around them, which seemed to help me go straight into side control as they attempted to spin to guard. I kept hold of that lapel, which was now pulled around and underneath them, possibly preventing them from turning effectively. Something to play with. :)
Class #538 - Private #017 RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK - 30/11/2013
I've taken a private lesson with Kev before, three years ago. Since I started training at the Wycombe branch in 2009, RGA Bucks has remained a home base for me, even though I have moved to various bits of the country in the ensuing years. Kev is still the black belt overseeing my rank, which also hasn't changed since 2009.
I wasn't making it back as often as I'd like in 2012 and 2013, so I decided in October this year that I was going to get down to RGA Bucks more regularly. I can combine that with visiting my parents in Aylesbury for birthdays, which I try to set aside for family time. I've got two nieces with a third on the way, so in addition to the rest of my immediate family that makes for eight birthdays a year plus xmas. So, at worst that should average out to a trip to the RGA Bucks mats about every two months.
A long-distance instructor/student relationship isn't all that common in BJJ, but with regular contact I think it can work. For the first of what should be many private lessons over the next few years, Kev and I started off by talking about where I'm at in my jiu jitsu game, as well as how things went in sparring during the preceding lesson. As any reader of this blog will know, I am an inveterate self-analyser, so I've got a reasonable idea of my weak areas. That means it's extremely useful to run through them with a black belt (especially a black belt close to my size who also happens to be a very good teacher, like Kev).
The main problem I've always had is my passivity, which in large part is down to my personality. What I need to start doing more is 'pulling the trigger' on techniques, rather than getting stuck thinking about the ten different options from that position, or going for it but then backing off when it doesn't seem to be as immediately effective as I'd hoped. That old "if you think, you're late" Saulo quote is relevant, so although I'm wary of anything that implies thinking is ever negative, I do need to try and be more streamlined in my reactions.
Kev went through a number of principles and technical tweaks that would help me with that, focusing on one of the biggest gaps in my jiu jitsu: an effective offence from open guard. Most of the time, I use open guard to simply keep people at bay, but as I just stay defensive, it becomes a matter of when rather than if they pass. I can manage to tie people up in spider guard for a while, pushing against their hips, but rarely move into any sweeps or attacks.
Similar to how I worked with Donal on improving what I already know and use, the main attack from open guard remains the tripod to sickle sweep combination. Kev suggested that I should be approaching open guard from an upright starting position, basing behind with one arm. That's more mobile and also less vulnerable than lying on your back with your feet flailing at them. From that seated position, grab their collar with one arm.
If you do the collar grip, be aware that there is a potential attack they can do here, if you're not careful. By basing on the floor with an arm, they can jump up into a armbar on your outstretched arm. Kev noted that Dan Strauss is a big fan of that. If you see them base on the floor with an arm when you have the collar grip, be prepared (e.g., elbow back, shift the grip, go for your attack, etc).
Presuming you aren't getting flying armbarred, with that collar grip, you can do a collar drag and take the back. You can also use it to swing in for their ankle with your other hand. That sets you up for either an ankle pick (a bit like last month at RGA Bucks), or moving into the tripod sweep. Interestingly, Kev advocates the heel grip, not the trouser grip. This isn't loose though: pull that heel up onto your hip, which both puts them off balance and makes it harder for them to kick free.
Particularly if they are futher away, you also want to follow the Roy Harris advice (Kev pointed to Michael Langhi, who says the same thing) about always keeping your feet on your opponent: that could be hooking behind their knees or leg, pushing on the hip, the chest, the biceps or their shoulder. To counter a leg drag and certain other passes, push off their opposite shoulder with your foot.
If you mess up and they get further along, there are two options Kev noted. The first one is when they drop their weight onto you. Shove their hand towards your legs (to prevent them turning towards your head and securing a cross face), bringing your other arm around their hip. From there, you can roll them over.
The second one was something Kev said he's been having a lot of success with. He calls it the nappy grip, which is an odd name but makes perfect sense when you see it. I've been told that the same grip is used in a number of guards, such as what gets called 'lapel guard' (specifically the grip switch Keenan does here at 01:18 or so). Kev also mentioned it has been used by Bernardo Faria at the highest level (some people apparently refer to it as the 'Faria grip', which would make sense).
As there doesn't seem to be a widely used standard term, I think I'll use mawashi grip: that's the thing sumo wrestlers wear and should help me remember what it looks like. The position reminds me of the de la Riva sweep position I learned at Gracie Barra Birmingham back in 2010, where you feed their sleeve between their legs to your other hand, then knock them over. If you can't get their hand, you can use their belt or lapel, which is what Kev does for this grip.
However, he takes it a step further. You've pushed their belt or lapel past their leg, then fed that to your other hand, which is reaching around the outside. You're then going to switch grips around, bringing your first hand around the outside and re-gripping. This clamps the lapel or belt tightly around their leg and bum, hence the name. It's the same kind of grip as the Roy Dean/brabo/lapel from closed guard, taught to me by Donal a few months ago.
Once you have that grip, you can then grab their hip and sweep if they put their weight on you like the earlier technique. If they don't have their weight on you, it's possible to move around and sort of old school sweep them. It also makes it very hard for them to push the knee through for a knee slide. I found that last time I visited RGA Bucks in October, as Kev did it to me repeatedly. The defence is to do a crescent kick, TKD style, as soon as they get that belt grip (be careful you don't smack them in the face, though).
In this private lesson, we had a brief spar at the start and end to first work out some weak areas and then to shore them up: again, Kev used that mawashi/nappy grip to great effect. The same principle can work in side control, like Roy Dean shows, as well as when passing, especially passing butterfly guard. When there is any clearance under their back, pull their gi lapel under their body, then do the same outside switch grip.
Donal's closed guard grip functions well too, of course. Kev has a tweak on that closed guard option, as he grips the same way, but deeper, securing his final grip by the armpit, not the neck. That also leads into the final bit of this write-up, where again it is something I've already been working on for a while now (Kev's lesson kept perfectly addressing those questions I've been raising with myself over the last year or two, possibly longer).
The general principle is that if your open guard isn't that strong, then why open your closed guard in the first place? Another way of putting it (I'm not sure who first said this: might have been Carlson?) is that they should be have to struggle to open your closed guard, don't give it to them. Either way, I have wanted to improve my closed guard for a good while, having taken several privates with Donal for that purpose.
I have been playing with chokes and sweeps. Kev prefers to take the back, an area I have considered but not concentrated on to the same extent. Break the grip on their left side, as most people are weaker there. Drag the arm across, then stiff arm, making sure you stay on top of their wrist rather than letting your grip slip underneath. With your other arm, reach around to their hip or their armpit.
Ideally, you want to be able to rotate them into your back control, relying on leverage rather than force or lots of agile scrambling (again, this builds on something I have already covered with Donal). That combines nicely with what Kev calls the kimura sweep, essentially a variation on the sit up sweep.
When you break their grip and drag their arm across for the back take, they will most likely resist, trying to pull their arm away. At that point, switch to a sit-up sweep, but keep hold of their arm, rather than posting behind for base. Knock into their opposite hip, then pull your gripping hand back to your armpit.
This will mean they can't post, so there is no barrier to knocking them to the mat apart from the knees and posture. That could potentially also fit into the windscreen wiper sweep, unsurprising because Donal's private lesson on that technique combined it with another sit up sweep variation where you grab their sleeve.
All in all a very helpful private: I'm looking forward to trying to implement this into my jiu jitsu. I am not training as much as I would like at the moment, but that should hopefully resolve itself soon, meaning I'll finally be in a long-term position where I can train as much as I'd like in a conducive atmosphere . :)
Seminar #014 Glasgow Club Bellahouston (BJJ), Rickson Gracie, Glasgow, UK - 03/11/2013
This November marks numerous anniversaries, with varying levels of significance. Perhaps the best known is that this month is the twentieth anniversary of the Ultimate Fighting Championship: UFC 1 was held on the 12th November 1993. A lesser known anniversary is that in the same month Royce stepped into the Octagon, BJJ was first taught in Europe, thanks to BJJ and MMA pioneer Remco Pardoel. He brought Romero 'Jacare' Cavalcanti to the Netherlands in November 1993, shortly before that first UFC and well before the vast majority of people in Europe had even heard of BJJ (which is why Remco remains high on my list of people I'd love to interview). Remco went on to fight Royce in UFC 2, followed by a spot at the first Mundials in 1996.
On a personal note, as of yesterday it is seven years since I took my first official class of Brazilian jiu jitsu, taught by Felipe Souza at the Roger Gracie Academy. November 2012 was the first time I flew to the United States. Today, I've got a new November anniversary to add to that list: November will now also mark when I trained with Rickson Gracie (shame about the picture quality: the guy who took it must have hit the wrong button on my phone).
When I previously went to Scotland, it was as part of a short holiday in Galloway: that involved an extended car journey spread across two days. A much quicker option is to fly, so I booked a £78 flight from Bristol. It meant for a long day, getting up at 05:30 and returning home at 23:40, but I thought it was worth it for the experience. I certainly wasn't the only one, as when I arrived at the sports centre, there were over a hundred people in attendance. That included several black belts, such as the UK trailblazer, Rick Young (who would also be a fascinating interviewee).
Thanks to Scott McVeigh, the organiser of the seminar who had very kindly given me a heads up before he released the date to the public, I was able to speak briefly with Rickson before the seminar started (that interview can be found in issue #18 of Jiu Jitsu Style Magazine, available here). I met Scott last year and he has stayed in touch, inviting me to multiple seminars since then. I was pleased I could finally take him up on the suggestion today. At £95 it is the most expensive seminar I've attended to date, but you have to expect that with a name as big as Rickson.
The man himself warmed up on a Swiss ball in the centre of the mats, exhaling forcefully in what I assume was a specific breathing exercise. At various points he stopped, stood up, then walked over to shake hands with a section of the group, making a point of greeting everybody on the mats. His three hour seminar began with the technique he'd been practicing in full view up until he officially kicked things off: how to breathe.
Probably the most famous scene in the seminal documentary Choke is when Rickson demonstrates his impressive diaphragm and breathing control. We were treated to a live performance, as Rickson pulled off his shirt so he could emphasise the correct way to breathe. His main point was that you should use the whole of the lungs, rather than just the narrow opening at the top. Most of us do the latter, breathing with our chest. Rickson advises using the diaphragm instead.
To practice, lie down on your back, with a hand on your chest and the other on your stomach. When you breathe, your chest should not move, just your diaphragm. Also key is exhaling when you're tired, rather than desperately gasping for breath. Rickson said that you need to expel what he called "bad breath", in order to leave room for "good breath," as if you were a bottle of dirty water that needs to be emptied before it can be refilled with clean liquid.
Just like Michel Verhoeven's seminar a little while ago, Rickson then covered how to create a 'connection' with your opponent from the standing position. It isn't enough to have base: you also need to generate that connection. This was definitely the most 'invisible' part of the invisible jiu jitsu shown today, a number of people struggling to apply it as a result. The idea is that when the other person pulls or pushes, you stay put due to this connection. It's based around your hip and leg posture, as far as I could tell, sinking your hips and sticking your bum out slightly, keeping your legs apart on the top right and bottom left corner of a square. However, I say that as somebody who struggled with this one too.
Adding to that was the same connection from a different position, where your arms are wrapped around their waist. This again was difficult to understand, but the 'connection' this time seemed to involve driving the point of your shoulder into their side, rather than relying on your arms. Finally, there was yet another stand-up connection, when you're trying to move in for a takedown. Rickson went through an exercise where you're grabbing their collar, pushing into their chest, then mirroring them with your feet as they move.
It was much easier to understand the two side control escapes Rickson taught us next. Both are mechanically quite simple, functional against the orthodox side control position where they have one arm under your head, the other by your far arm (as per that picture of Xande). Instead of the usual frame against their neck, your arm clamps on top of theirs, reaching for your legs. This is your point of connection.
Swing your legs up and then across, towards their hips. That should generate the momentum to turn so you're facing them, freeing your shoulder and pulling yourself onto your side. Use your outside foot for base as you shrimp back, where you can then either turn to your knees or look to recover guard. Maintain that connection of your outside foot to the floor, dragging your other leg out as you slide backwards.
The second option is for countering the cross-face. If they are driving hard into your face with their shoulder, the first escape variation will be difficult. So instead, you're going to move the arm that would be normally be against their hip (in an orthodox side control defensive frame). Reach underneath them, towards your same side hip. Using the shoulder of that arm, bump them with some quick bridging motions.
You're looking to knock them over your head, giving you the space to then swivel free past their arm, potentially even getting some control of their arm in the process. As ever in jiu jitsu techniques work best in combination: when they relax their cross-face to deal with this second escape attempt, it's the perfect time to switch back to the first variation.
Rickson followed up with some drilling of the side control top position, emphasising that you should aim to cross the line of their sternum with your own. He had us drill that without using our arms (I saw something comparable in Andre Galvao's book, which I turned into a drill I often teach in my own classes).
The topic moved on to the armbar from guard. Once you have control of their arm, rather than climbing for the armbar gradually, stepping off the hip, Rickson advocates jumping your legs up onto their shoulders right away. He feels that the slower approach, where you push off their hip to get your legs up there, gives your opponent time to stack and escape. I wasn't sure where you were basing for Rickson's shortcut, but when drilling it felt like I was pushing off my own shoulders as I flung my legs to wrap up high on their body.
The advantage of this method is that once you have the arm and spring to that position, they don't have much of a chance to resist: it's like you've skipped a step of the armbar set-up. You aren't scrunched up at any point, because you've gone straight to that stretched out position. Once you've got your legs by their shoulders, keeping your knees tightly clamped and calves gripping their back, you just have to bring your leg over their head to lock it in. Similarly, Rickson advised that if they stand, you need to become adept at walking your legs up their back, 'biting' in as you move, until you reach the shoulders and can again lock in that armbar.
Update August 2016: I've since had a chance to teach this myself, having learned a slightly different variation from another BJJ legend, Chris Haueter.
Sticking with offence from the guard, Rickson transitioned into taking the back, where the scenario is that you've already knocked them to the side and the route to their back is available. As with his perspective on the armbar, Rickson feels that the typical crawling around the back involves too much effort. He instead prefers to wrap one arm around the back, securing you in place pressed against their shoulder.
The difference comes with the legs. He locks those low on their back, then stretches his limbs out. You can use the lower leg (which will be across their stomach) to chop into their far knee, a bit like a scissor sweep. That should hopefully put them on their belly, making it easier for you to shimmy round and establish the back position.
Rickson then took a leaf out of Marcelo Garcia's Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, in that he also highlighted the importance of the seat belt grip when taking the back. Just like Marcelo, Rickson showed how if you have that seatbelt, you can maintain the back even without having your hooks in place. If your opponent is in the turtle, apply the seat belt. Be sure to lock it into their chest, not their head: with the latter, they can pop their head free.
From there, you can leap over and roll them into place, ready to insert your hooks. You can also do what Marcelo demonstrates, crawling behind them to force a seated position, where again you have a good opportunity to insert your hooks. You can then follow up with Rickson's suggested submission, the rear naked choke.
Rickson's concept here reminded me a bit of Saulo's defence. Saulo likes the have one thumb in the opposite collar, while his other hand stays mobile, blocking any attacks. Rickson does something similar with his offence. He works his choking hand in, digging past the jawline, then uses his other hand in an almost defensive way, stripping their grips and preventing them from blocking his choking arm. Once it is in place, he can finish the choke. As Demian Maia shows, you can complete the choke without getting your second arm behind their head, or even with just the one arm.
There weren't any breaks, meaning I don't think I quite caught the final two techniques. I concentrated on getting the earlier material in my head, as that interested me more. Nevertheless, from what I remember there was a discussion of vale tudo guard, something which Rickson feels has been increasingly lacking in modern MMA. This revolves around getting your shin across their stomach to control the distance, whacking into their side with your other heel.
The three hours finished up with a guillotine Rickson apparently learned from Kron. It's cool that his jiu jitsu is still evolving after all this time, though I have to admit I did not get good notes on this one. From what I can recall, it was applied with the palm down rather than up, but I may well be misremembering.
Rickson's teaching style doesn't spend too long going through the details. He'll run through the techniques a couple of times, then have everyone drill it for a few minutes before moving on. Although it did not feel like he was spending much time on explaining, his words were efficient, as aside from the vale tudo guard and guillotine, I didn't have any trouble recollecting the key points Rickson had made.
He also encouraged everybody to ask questions, both in drilling and immediately after he finished demonstrating. Generally he would answer questions by inviting the person who asked to drill it with him in front of everyone else, making sure they understood. Rickson did not stick with one uke either, rotating regularly by randomly picking people standing nearby. The pattern tended to be having them try their typical approach, he would show his variation, then he would get them to attempt it again, correcting as necessary.
Rickson is obviously well practiced at being a celebrity. He signed books and then posed for pictures with anyone who asked, resulting in a large huddle around him with people waving their phones (myself included). There was plenty of Rickson merchandise for sale, mainly t-shirts, gi patches, tank tops and baseball caps, emblazoned with the old Rickson Gracie Association logo. I think there were a few gis on offer too (though I'm not sure if they were the classic Mizuno gis I've heard used to be a staple at Rickson's schools).
In the weeks leading up to November, I had arranged to speak at greater length with Rickson after the seminar, for the JJS interview. Unfortunately that didn't work out: I guess Rickson was busy or simply tired (he had sounded under the weather), as he went straight back to the hotel instead. I think he will be over again next year, though I'm not sure when. Heading over to the Netherlands and training with Michel Verhoeven would be a great option as well: comparing the two seminars, I feel confident that you would not be disappointed if you went to Verhoeven's class hoping to learn Rickson's jiu jitsu.
The full picture is massive, given how many people there were, so to explain who is in this small section I chopped out: Rickson is obviously the guy wearing the red and black belt, on the front row. To the right of him is Scott McVeigh, the Royce Gracie black belt who organised the seminar. To the left of Rickson is Rick Young, the first British man (I think) to ever train in BJJ. Going up from Rick to the top of the pic, there's me with my unruly hair and carefully exposed RGA Bucks logo. ;)
Class #523 - Private #015 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 11/09/2013
Quite often when I'm sparring and get to closed guard, I'll break down their posture, wrap my arm over their back...then just sit there without much happening. I have several sweeps I like to go for, mainly the windscreen wiper and the sit-up sweep, but I feel I should have a couple of other options to attempt from that position. That's therefore what I wanted to work on with Dónal today: as ever, he more than delivered! :)
Once you've broken down their posture and have wrapped them up, Dónal suggests going for a particular gi grip. If you can get it, that becomes a powerful platform for launching several attacks. To initially get the gi tail grip, put your thumb in their collar as low as you can with your same side hand, while still remaining above their belt.
Slide it down, then briefly remove your leg on that side in order to punch your collar-gripping hand outwards. You don't want to have your leg swung out for too long as that may give them an escape opportunity, so you might also find that you have to do it gradually. Yanking the gi out in one motion is preferable, as then they have less reaction time, but you may not always get that luxury.
Pull that gi lapel across their back, feeding it to your other hand. It should be possible to do this while still holding them down, so don't relieve the pressure on their back. Your other hand should grab the gi lapel with the palm facing towards you. Grip it tightly and pull down, so your forearm is tight against their neck. Bend your wrist towards you, also tilting it slightly towards their neck, so that little bony outcrop by your wrist (on the thumb side) presses into the carotid.
From that grip, there are a number of different attacks. The simplest is a choke, much like the palm up palm down choke, with some similarities to the submission from mount I went through with Berry on Sunday. Punch your grip away from your while also shifting your hips, with the intention of knocking your partner to one side, transferring them towards your non-gi gripping arm side. Ideally that will mean you're now looking at their ear on the non-gi grip side, so can use your free arm to grab the gi material by their shoulder. That arm becomes a brace, then you squeeze and twist with your gi grip for the choke.
If you can't get them across for whatever reason, there is the option of a triangle instead. Put your hand slightly above their same side elbow with your free hand, then shove that backwards, swinging your leg over the top. Make sure you get over their shoulder too, or they can make space to escape. A handy tip when you can't budge their arm from the ground is to pop up on your shoulders and turn: this should lighten their arm, meaning your can scoop under their elbow and pull it across.
From there you can lock up the triangle as normal, though you'll need to release your gi grip first. Having said that, the gi grip is handy for keeping their posture broken as you set up the triangle. It might be possible to get a tap just squeezing with your grip in place and legs locked, but it would be low percentage.
Finally, you can try and take the back. You've set up your position as before, but aren't able to bump them over for the choke or push the arm back for the triangle. You can instead switch your gi grip to pushing their arm across their body, clamping your chest to their shoulder to prevent them pulling that arm back out again. Your other arm reaches for their far armpit, meaning that you can then flip them into the back position.
It's also worth keeping in mind that people may well put their hand on the mat when you initially get that grip, opening up the possibility of getting an overhook. As their hand is on the mat, the classic sit-up series and kimura could be there too, but I would have thought it would be hard to switch from a grip grip into a diagonal sit up and figure four. Still, something to play with.
Also, that gi grip is similar to what Roy Dean demonstrates on Brown Belt Requirements. He starts off from side control, using it for various chokes, before rolling through and applying the same grip from the closed guard. I'm keen to improve my chokes from side control as well, so this could be a good option to investigate next week (especially as it would follow on nicely from today).
I'm off to Doc Martin Land next week, so won't be back training until the week after that. :)
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