26/02/2020 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Opening from kneeling

Teaching #942
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/02/2020



The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your own grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Feb 28, 2018 at 12:46am PST

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Mar 1, 2018 at 1:01am PST

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.
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Teaching Notes: I could do with a better high quality vid, so the one at the top could be replaced. However, the instagram vids still work, definitely must watch those before I next teach to see if I could do it any better. Donal's break is decent, although I do still often find that hard to get. The tricky part is stopping them shuffling towards you, when you're trying to hold them in place to create the tension against their ankles.

I'll keep practicing. Things like maximum weight through my hip hand could help, also checking BJJ Library etc. Of course, standing is always going to be better, but I'd like to keep improving this lesson too, so there's a good kneeling option as well. :)

23/02/2018 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Kneeling Guard Break

Teaching #759
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 23/02/2018

The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your own grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Feb 28, 2018 at 12:46am PST

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Mar 1, 2018 at 1:01am PST

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.
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Teaching Notes: I'm tempted to add in the standing option as this is so simple, that's something to try next time. See if having both is too much, or if it fits ok into one lesson. Keep the head up, don't lift you bum off your heels. Also, don't rush the pass, a number of people were doing that. Although putting two guard breaks in one lesson may work better, rather than trying to a fit a pass on the end. So, next time, try both guard breaks, but no pass, just getting into position (but make sure to include the knee cut in the warm up drills).

17/07/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Kneeling Guard Break

Teaching #688
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/07/2017

First thing I wanted to cover was posture. Stay upright, with your head up. Thrusting your pelvis forward can help prevent them pull you down, as can curving your back, arching it like a cat. Don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively (though there are other methods, like Christian Graugart's 'samurai sword' grip, where both arms are near the chest). Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.

Be aware that you don't want to extend that arm too far or they can break your posture: it's also likely that they will primarily be looking to dislodge your arm and gain control of it, so be ready to disengage and then quickly re-engage the grip. Having said that, there are numerous other ways of posturing up, so it's good to experiment.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jul 21, 2017 at 2:08am PDT

For a strong base, widen your knees, sitting on your heels. Alternatively, you could try squeezing your knees to their hips to stop them moving, but that will result in a less sturdy base, which you can compensate by thrusting your pelvis forwards. Make sure you do not put your elbows on the outside of their legs: keep them inside, or they can start kicking up into your armpit for triangles, armbars, flower sweeps etc.

A key detail is to come up on your toes. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but it provides you with much better base than having your insteps flat on the floor. With your toes up, you can resist their attempts to pull you around. It also enables you to drive forward and improves your mobility.

Another way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base.

In order to attack, they are going to want to disrupt your base and break your posture down. The first way they'll probably do that is to establish a strong grip, on your sleeve and collar. You don't want that, so try to strip any grips before beginning your pass. Not to say that it's impossible to pass if they've got grips, but you'll find it easier if they don't.

If they grab your collar, you can use both of your hands to grab either side of that sleeve or wrist. Push it forcefully away from you, while simultaneously leaning back slightly. Another option is to put both your hands on their gripping arm, trapping it to their torso. Posture up forcefully to break the grip. Alternatively, you could try simply re-establishing your grips on their collar and hip over the top of their arms, meaning you can press your arms into theirs. That way, it's possible to use arm pressure to loosen their grips to the point they become less effective.

The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your own grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.
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Teaching Notes: There were lots of beginners, so I kept it extra basic. Nest time, I want to talk more about reclaiming and maintaining the position. So, things like putting your hands over top and regripping if they try to get a grip, as well as breaking the grips, which I didn't discuss in much depth. Presenting it more as a lesson about maintaining your guard rather than focusing on the guard break would be better next time I think. Different emphasis: include the guard break, but that shouldn't be focus. More about not being controlled in closed guard, not getting broken down.

04/01/2017 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Kneeling Break & Knee Slide

Teaching #617
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 04/01/2017

First thing I wanted to cover was posture. Stay upright, with your head up. Curving your back slightly, arching it like a cat (so, convex rather than concave), can help too. Don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively (though there are other methods, like Christian Graugart's 'samurai sword' grip, where both arms are near the chest). Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.

Be aware that you don't want to extend that arm too far or they can break your posture: it's also likely that they will primarily be looking to dislodge your arm and gain control of it, so be ready to disengage and then quickly re-engage the grip. Having said that, there are numerous other ways of posturing up, so it's good to experiment.

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 16, 2017 at 3:43am PST

For a strong base, widen your knees, sitting on your heels. Alternatively, you could try squeezing your knees to their hips to stop them moving, but that will result in a less sturdy base. Make sure you do not put your elbows on the outside of their legs: keep them inside, or they can start kicking up into your armpit for triangles, armbars, flower sweeps etc.

A key detail is to come up on your toes. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but it provides you with much better base than having your insteps flat on the floor. With your toes up, you can resist their attempts to pull you around. It also enables you to drive forward and improves your mobility.

Another way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base.

In order to attack, they are going to want to disrupt your base and break your posture down. The first way they'll probably do that is to establish a strong grip, on your sleeve and collar. You don't want that, so try to strip any grips before beginning your pass. Not to say that it's impossible to pass if they've got grips, but you'll find it easier if they don't.

If they grab your collar, you can use both of your hands to grab either side of that sleeve or wrist. Push it forcefully away from you, while simultaneously leaning back slightly. Another option is to put both your hands on their gripping arm, trapping it to their torso. Posture up forcefully to break the grip. Alternatively, you could try simply re-establishing your grips on their collar and hip over the top of their arms, meaning you can press your arms into theirs. That way, it's possible to use arm pressure to loosen their grips to the point they become less effective.

The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your own grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.

Saulo's version, as per that earlier picture, has the knee off to the side with the leg stretched out, using a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back. As ever in jiu jitsu, there are numerous variations: you can reach your destination following a multitude of paths. Tonight, I went with the knee cut, starting from a low position rather than the standing start I normally go from.
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Teaching Notes: I should add that break as a drill, to get people more used to it. With the knee slide, I taught a very low one. I think it's best to pin with the leg first, in terms of the order. This also relates to what Neil Owen taught, in his sequence: I'll be teaching the rest of it too.

In sparring, when sweeping I also forget to nab the hand, probably because I don't like gripping sleeves. That means I need to get people at underhooking the arm. It was also great to spar with Tad, as it's been a long time. I tried to various grips, trying to be careful of my fingers, eventually getting caught in a triangle. I went for the triangle defence where you grab the knee and drive, which gave me enough space, but then got armbarred instead. Worth remembering about trailing arms. ;)

22/08/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Passing Posture & Kneeling Break

Teaching #550
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/08/2016

First thing I wanted to cover was posture. Stay upright, with your head up. Curving your back slightly, arching it like a cat (so, convex rather than concave), can help too. Don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively (though there are other methods, like Christian Graugart's 'samurai sword' grip, where both arms are near the chest). Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.

Be aware that you don't want to extend that arm too far or they can break your posture: it's also likely that they will primarily be looking to dislodge your arm and gain control of it, so be ready to disengage and then quickly re-engage the grip. Having said that, there are numerous other ways of posturing up, so it's good to experiment.

A photo posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 21, 2016 at 1:01pm PST

For a strong base, widen your knees, sitting on your heels. Alternatively, you could try squeezing your knees to their hips to stop them moving, but that will result in a less sturdy base. Make sure you do not put your elbows on the outside of their legs: keep them inside, or they can start kicking up into your armpit for triangles, armbars, flower sweeps etc.

A key detail is to come up on your toes. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but it provides you with much better base than having your insteps flat on the floor. With your toes up, you can resist their attempts to pull you around. It also enables you to drive forward and improves your mobility.

Another way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base.

In order to attack, they are going to want to disrupt your base and break your posture down. The first way they'll probably do that is to establish a strong grip, on your sleeve and collar. You don't want that, so try to strip any grips before beginning your pass. Not to say that it's impossible to pass if they've got grips, but you'll find it easier if they don't.

If they grab your collar, you can use both of your hands to grab either side of that sleeve or wrist. Push it forcefully away from you, while simultaneously leaning back slightly. Another option is to put both your hands on their gripping arm, trapping it to their torso. Posture up forcefully to break the grip. Alternatively, you could try simply re-establishing your grips on their collar and hip over the top of their arms, meaning you can press your arms into theirs. That way, it's possible to use arm pressure to loosen their grips to the point they become less effective.

The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your own grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.

Saulo's version, as per that earlier picture, has the knee off to the side with the leg stretched out, using a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back. As ever in jiu jitsu, there are numerous variations: you can reach your destination following a multitude of paths.

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Teaching Notes: I have been trying a number of different incarnations for this class. I will give this combination another go next time, though I'm still not certain it's the best option. I think it is useful to go over posture and base, though possibly not essential to go into lots of detail on breaking grips. That might be better done in another class, but I'll see how people do in sparring. I rarely find myself breaking grips all that often in closed guard, as you tend to compromise your base and posture when you do. But I'll keep a close eye on people in sparring, see how grips affect it.

Anyway, I need to add some more detail to the kneeling break, I was too quick today. The important part of the placement of the hands, then how you shift them as you shuffle back. That wouldn't take much more time, but it makes the break more effective. At the same time, I kept emphasising that standing up is higher percentage. I made the mistake in my own training of not standing enough, a bad habit I don't want to pass on. It's something we drill every lesson, so hopefully that is becoming ingrained.

Ross mentioned something interesting on inserting the knee. He said he was thrusting his hips forwards, to stop them sliding up and regaining the space you've created. That's something worth investigating, as it's a common problem with the guard break. Also, I'll put my grip breaking material here, in case I do want to use it again next time:

If they get a grip on your sleeve, then grab their sleeve with your free hand. To break the grip, yank your trapped hand back as your gripping hand drives forward. TrumpetDan has a good video on this, here. I don't generally recommend YouTube, but he is one of the better teachers on there. A simpler option is to circle your hand either inside or outside of their arm, then chop downwards to break the grip: there is a good explanation of that in Beneville's excellent Passing the Guard.

There is also a one-handed grip break you can try, which Xande shows on BJJ Library: he calls it the 'y grip break'. This has some similarities to circling your hand, but this time you circle it underneath their hand, shoving the 'v' between your thumb and index finger into the heel of their hand. Thrust your arm forward forcefully to free your sleeve. You might also be able to use your hand position to grab their wrist, putting you in control and negating their own grip.

Should they get a hold of the material by your knee, grab their gripping wrist with your same side arm and press it to the mat, then kick your trapped leg back. Ideally, as with the previous grip break, this will now give you control of their arm, which you can immediately use to initiate your pass.

17/12/2014 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Kneeling Guard Break & Leg Pin Pass

Teaching #251
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/12/2014

There are three main ways of opening the guard. The most reliable is standing up, bringing gravity to bear on them, though this has the disadvantage of leaving you more vulnerable to sweeps. The most risky is baiting a submission to get them to open, as that obviously puts you in danger of getting caught if you're not careful. Finally, you can open the guard from the knees, which has the advantage of using less energy and leaving you with good base, but it does keep you in the 'submission zone'.

That last one is what I wanted to cover today. The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.

Saulo's version, as per that earlier picture, has the knee off to the side with the leg stretched out, using a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back. As ever in jiu jitsu, there are numerous variations: you can reach your destination following a multitude of paths.

Once you've popped their legs open, shove their leg to the floor. Immediately as their leg hits the mat, trap their lower leg with your same side shin by sliding it over, driving your knee into their same side hip. Hook your instep around their leg near the crook of their knee. Also shift the foot of your non-sliding leg closer to your bum, so they can't hook it.

The hand which was pushing on the knee now goes to wrap under their head, looking to get your shoulder next to their jaw. I'd suggest switching the other hand (which was gripping on their sleeve/collar/wrist) to behind their leg to stop them bridging and rolling you during the pass attempt. You could also try blocking their near hip with that hand, though that isn't an option I normally use. This also puts you in a powerful guard position, should you need to switch mid-pass if they resist your initial passing attempt.

To finish, swing your non-sliding leg all the way over, so your back is pointing at their head, in a sort of reverse scarf hold: you're sat next to them, facing their legs, sole of your non-sliding leg foot on the floor. You should still have their leg trapped at this point with your hooking foot. Finally, switch your hips, sliding that hooking leg under the back step leg, settling into side control.
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Teaching Notes: Last time I taught this in conjunction with the single underhook pass, using the leg pin pass in combination with a standing break. I'm still not certain what the best combination is, though I think the leg pin works well with both. I'll do the standing break on Monday, perhaps combining it with either the knee cut or the bullfighter. Although the bullfighter is more of an open guard pass. I could try the single underhook pass with a standing break? Something to play with.

Depends who shows up: if a lot of people from tonight are there on Monday, then they could practice the leg pin some more, or I could just show the single underhook from a scenario where the guard has just been popped. Choices choices. Lots of xmas fun coming up, as there are still another two SPECIAL XMAS CLASSES! Hooray! Then lots of open mats between now and 2015. Hopefully see you there! ;)

15/10/2014 - Teaching | Women's Class | Kneeling Break & Single Underhook Pass

Teaching #212
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/10/2014

There are three main ways of opening the guard. The most reliable is standing up, bringing gravity to bear on them, though this has the disadvantage of leaving you more vulnerable to sweeps. The most risky is baiting a submission to get them to open, as that obviously puts you in danger of getting caught if you're not careful. Finally, you can open the guard from the knees, which has the advantage of using less energy and leaving you with good base, but it does keep you in the 'submission zone'.

That last one is what I wanted to cover today. The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.

Saulo's version, as per that earlier picture, has the knee off to the side with the leg stretched out, using a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back. As ever in jiu jitsu, there are numerous variations: you can reach your destination following a multitude of paths.

The first guard pass many people learn is the single underhook, sometimes known as a smash pass (although confusingly, there is also a completely different pass you might see called the 'smash pass'. The joys of BJJ's non-standardised terminology). That combines well with the kneeling break. After you've opened their guard (this can also work off a failed armbar or triangle attempt on their part), you need to get one of your arms under their leg. Your other elbow – and this is absolutely key – must not slip in front of their other knee. If it does, then you're at risk of being triangled: they simply need to pull the arm forwards to move into a triangle set up, as your first arm is already out of the picture.

You don't want to leave that first arm under their leg, as unless you're much bigger, their leg is always going to be able to outpower your arm. Therefore you need to get their leg up onto your shoulder, either bumping it with your arm, or dropping down to put your shoulder in place. At that point, drive forward so that you're shoving their knee into their face. When you've got them stacked, reach your stacking-side arm around their leg and grab their collar. I tend to go four fingers in, but a thumb in grip sets you up for a simple (if somewhat crappy, so it's mainly for distraction) forearm choke (there is also the higher percentage breadcutter choke available here). You can try grabbing their opposite shoulder too, especially if they aren't wearing a gi.

Keep on driving forward, until they become so uncomfortable that they basically want you to pass. Don't lift your head to get past their legs. You are going to squash your body into them until you can slide by their legs, using constant forward pressure. At most, you might need to nudge their legs with your shoulder. To further enhance your stack, you can grab the back of their trousers, or alternatively put your knee there as a wedge. Remember to stay on your toes throughout: you want your weight on them, not the mat.
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Teaching Notes: I was very impressed with how the women did today. Of those in attendance, none had more than 8 classes under their belt, but when it came to sparring, they all looked fluid. Started in closed guard, they were passing to side control, taking mount, reversing, back to pass. I even saw them instinctively using butterfly guard, as well as rolling backwards into turtle to stop a guard pass. You should all be proud of yourselves, awesome stuff. :)

Seeing how well the class went, I don't think I'd change anything for next time. Although I was intending to use the John Will teaching method, but again forgot (except for the review at the end, as usual). Next time! ;)

28/05/2014 - Teaching (Kneeling Guard Break)

Teaching #158
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/05/2014

There are three main ways of opening the guard. The most reliable is standing up, bringing gravity to bear on them, though this has the disadvantage of leaving you more vulnerable to sweeps. The most risky is baiting a submission to get them to open, as that obviously puts you in danger of getting caught if you're not careful. Finally, you can open the guard from the knees, which has the advantage of using less energy and leaving you with good base, but it does keep you in the 'submission zone'.

That last one is what I wanted to cover today. The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up those two collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure.

Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee. Once your elbow gets to their knee, grab whatever trouser material is then under your hand, pressing your weight through that hand into the mat to try and pin their hips.

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are slightly raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees. Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee back and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.

Saulo's version, as per that earlier picture, has the knee off to the side with the leg stretched out, using a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back. As ever in jiu jitsu, there are numerous variations: you can reach your destination following a multitude of paths.
_____________________

Teaching Notes: I've always found this guard break difficult to get in sparring, but I still think it's an important technique to have in your toolbox. It's been more effective for me since I had that private lesson on it with Dónal a while back, which emphasised just wriggling back and sticking with it. Several people were doing the Saulo version instead, which is fine, although I should probably nudge them to at least try the variation I was teaching before giving up on it. ;)

Due to the Bank Holiday, I haven't been getting in much training myself this week, so I need to rejig the sparring a bit too. Now that the numbers are getting healthy, there are enough that I could split the class by weight and join the lighter group, which is what I used to do in the past. That way I can get in some sparring without taking away sparring time from a student. I'll be at the open mat on Sunday too (12:00-14:00 at our Longwell Green location), which will help too.

However, I'd want to make sure somebody was keeping an eye on sparring. The room we're in isn't huge (it used to look bigger, when we had less members!), so I wouldn't want people crashing into each other or the walls. Having said that, it hasn't happened so far. On a number of occasions, I've seen people notice before I get there and moving back of their own accord. That's a good habit to see, which I'll be looking to encourage.

It helps if people aren't being super aggressive, something else I've actively been dissuading: I use a combination of repeating stuff like "keep it light and technical", along with careful music selection. Upbeat, but friendly and non-aggressive. :)

22/10/2013 - Teaching (Preparing the Pass & Kneeling Guard Break)

Teaching #129
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/10/2013

Passing the closed guard is something I've always found difficult, so I'm particularly keen to break down the methods in order to make it easier for everyone else. That will in turn hopefully help me as well. Working out exactly what to teach takes some thought, as there is a lot to cover, even at the basic level of how to initiate your attempts to open the guard.

First thing I wanted to cover was posture. Stay upright, with your head up. Curving your back slightly can help too. Don't let them bend your arms: keep at least one of them stiff into their hip. It is very important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively. Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.

Another option is to grab their belt instead, but be warned that can come undone, automatically removing your grip. Whichever one you use, if possible, jam your collar gripping hand just under their sternum, to wedge it in place. You can either use the heel of your hand or possibly a fist, depending on how you're gripping their gi.

For a strong base, widen your knees, sitting on your heels. Alternatively, you could try squeezing your knees to their hips to stop them moving, but that will result in a less sturdy base. Make sure you do not put your elbows on the outside of their legs: keep them inside, or they can start kicking up into your armpit for triangles, armbars, flower sweeps etc.

A key detail is to come up on your toes. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but it provides you with much better base than having your insteps flat on the floor. With your toes up, you can resist their attempts to pull your around. It also enables you to drive forward and improves your mobility.

Another way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base.

In order to attack, they are going to want to disrupt your base and break your posture down. The first way they'll probably do that is to establish a strong grip, on your sleeve and collar. You don't want that, so try to strip any grips before beginning your pass. Not to say that it's impossible to pass if they've got grips, but you'll find it easier if they don't.

If they grab your collar, use both of your hands to grab either side of that sleeve or wrist. Push it forcefully away from you, while simultaneously leaning back slightly. If you remember the grip break from the maintaining closed guard lesson I taught a while back, this is a similar principle, but from the opposite position. Another option is to put both your hands on their gripping arm, trapping it to their torso. Posture up forcefully to break the grip.

If they get a grip on your sleeve, then grab their sleeve with your free hand. To break the grip, yank your trapped hand back as your gripping hand drives forward. TrumpetDan has a good video on this, here. I don't generally recommend YouTube, but he is one of the better teachers on there. A simpler option is to circle your hand either inside or outside of their arm, then chop downwards to break the grip: there is a good explanation of that in Beneville's excellent Passing the Guard.

Should they get a hold of the material by your knee, you can use a similar grip break. Grab their gripping wrist with your same side arm and press it to the mat, then kick your trapped leg back. Ideally, as with the previous grip break, this will now give you control of their arm, which you can immediately use to initiate your pass.

There is also a one-handed grip break you can try, which Xande showed recently: he calls it the 'y grip break'. This has some similarities to circling your hand, but this time you circle it underneath their hand, shoving the 'v' between your thumb and index finger into the heel of their hand. Thrust your arm forward forcefully to free your sleeve. You might also be able to use your hand position to grab their wrist, putting you in control and negating their own grip.

Finally, I finished off with the kneeling guard break, building on the private from a while ago. There are three main ways of opening the guard. The most reliable is standing up, bringing gravity to bear on them, though this has the disadvantage of leaving you more vulnerable to sweeps. The most risky is baiting a submissions to get them to open, as that obviously puts you in danger of getting caught if you're not careful. Finally, you can open the guard from the knees, which has the advantage of using less energy and leaving you with good base, but it does keep you in the 'submission zone'.

That last one is what I wanted to cover today. The basic method of opening from the knees starts by setting up your grips, grabbing both collars with one hand, by their chest, your other hand by their hip. Saulo's version, as per that earlier picture, has the knee off to the side with the leg stretched out, using a sort of dip rather than relying on scooting back.

Dónal has a handy tip about twisting up their collars, rolling them over each other so that there is no slack when you grip, though that may sometimes be tough to secure. Also try to jam your palm or fist into their sternum to lock it in place. Regarding your hand on the hip, measure your gripping position by bringing your elbow back to their knee, then grabbing whatever material is then under your hand.

From there, get your knee underneath their butt cheek, meaning they are raised up onto your leg. Your other knee slides out to the side, so you're now making a right angle with your two knees (this differs from Saulo's version: your leg stays on the ground, not raised up). Still keeping your back curved, slowly wriggle backwards, shifting your sideways knee and continuing to wriggle until you can pop open their ankles. As soon as you do, immediately shove their leg to the mat with your elbow and/or hand, then begin your pass.
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Teaching Notes: I'll see what feedback is like in regards to the amount of content, but I think this is getting towards being a useful lesson. I could easily teach the guard break and pass as a separate lesson, but judging by the feedback I had last time, it feels like the guard break is a useful thing to add in after the details on posture and grips.

A number of people were stepping their leg up and back for the guard break, which is how Saulo demonstrates it (as per the picture). That works too, but I personally have had more success with Dónal's method, as that feels more stable. To explain it during my John Will style review at the end wasn't as simple as I'd thought, given that a lot of people were still lifting their leg. I eventually just went to the front so they could see me: I could do that all the time, but at the moment I think it's more helpful if I'm facing the same way but also able to see them, which tends to mean I'm sat behind them. Then again, as they're all facing the same way, if I'm in front of them and running through it, they should be able to both see me and follow along with my words. Something I'll try next time.