25/07/2022 - Teaching | Open Guard | Leg squash and leg weave passing

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK -25/07/2022

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If you are passing nogi, you don't have the joy of gi grips to help you secure position. Instead, put your hands on the middle of their shins, driving them into their body. If they aren't blocking against their knees and framing with their arms, you want to drive their knees right into them, your bodyweight positioned over the top to pin them. Be careful of your posture: you need to get enough weight through your arms to pin their legs, but not be too far forward (they might be able to flip you) or too far back (your weight will shift off them).

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Move off at an angle, then step your leg in deep, shin against the back of their knee, trying to push their leg towards the floor with your hand (off that same grip you had originally). Turn your inside knee inwards. You've got your body over the top of their other leg, attempting to put your weight into the side of that leg.

By driving their leg across towards their other leg, they will tend to push back: it's common for people to give you the opposite reaction to whatever you're doing (i.e., you pull, they push). If they push back, use that momentum to move into a knee slide. You follow where they are pushing, bringing your shin over their thigh, your knee on the ground. Your other leg steps out for base.

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It is important to try and avoid their knee coming in, as you don't want to deal with the knee shield if you don't have to. In order to prevent it, circle your hand that is gripping to instead go to the hip, making sure your arm maintains a block on their leg attempting to sneak inside. You can then go to the underhook. Your knee that is on the ground pushes straight back, hip to the mat, then turn to side control.

If they don't push back, you can collapse your weight over the top of both of their legs, walking your way up into mount. A more complex option is the leg weave pass. Having moved their legs across, so the top leg is squished on top of their other leg, keep your weight on there, posting your outside leg for base. The knee of your other leg drives between their top and bottom leg, so that your knee is on the ground and pinning their bottom thigh with your shin.

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You have various options to complete the pass. My preference would be to hook their top leg with my outside leg, getting my shin behind it and doing a big step (handy tip from Kenny Polmans in relation to a different pass, but it applies in lots of situations). Replace the pressure of your body with your hand on their top leg, then move around behind. ____________________

Teaching Notes: Do I need both versions? Just the squash is probably enough, especially as it is way simpler than the leg weave. Though yeah, the leg weave gives better precision and control, so still worth teaching. But maybe in a separate class, perhaps as part of some other sequence? With grip breaks, something like that?

I also forgot to film myself freeing the leg, when they grab an ankle. NEXT TIME DO A VID! It is way easier if you are pressing down on the legs, as then you lift their butt off the ground, meaning you can simply kick across to free your leg from the grip.

20/07/2022 - Teaching | NoGi | Pasing open guard, knee slide

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK -20/07/2022

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If you are passing nogi, you don't have the joy of gi grips to help you secure position. Instead, put your hands on the middle of their shins, driving them into their body. Move off at an angle, then step your leg in deep, shin against the back of their knee, trying to get their leg towards the floor. Turn your inside knee inwards. You've got your body over the top of their other leg, attempting to put your weight into the side of that leg.

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By driving their leg across towards their other leg, they will tend to push back: it's common for people to give you the opposite reaction to whatever you're doing (i.e., you pull, they push). If they push back, use that momentum to move into a knee slide. You follow where they are pushing, bringing your shin over their thigh, your knee on the ground. Your other leg steps out for base.

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It is important to try and avoid their knee coming in, as you don't want to deal with the knee shield if you don't have to. In order to prevent it, circle your hand that is gripping to instead go to the hip, making sure your arm maintains a block on their leg attempting to sneak inside. You can then go to the underhook. Your knee that is on the ground pushes straight back, hip to the mat, then turn to side control.

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If they don't push back, you can collapse your weight over the top of both of their legs, walking your way up into mount.

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Teaching Notes: The Grapplers Guide videos from JT Torres on nogi passing are really handy, well taught too. Next time, I want to be more precise about how you put your weight to the side of their knee, also if it is possible that pushing with the arm can work ok too. It fits well with what I already know for knee cut, providing a different entry. The squash pass over the thigh fits in here nicely, but probably best saved for a separate class.

Also, the first vid in JT Torres' series is specifically against people self-framing into their legs, so most of that doesn't apply if they simply have their legs in the air. With that, you can drive their knees towards them, which makes everything a lot easier as they have less opportunity to get some kind of guard going.

28/08/2019 - Teaching | Open Guard | Backstep pass from step on thigh & vs shin on shin

Teaching #899
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/08/2019

The backstep is a very useful motion which applies in all sorts for scenarios. I'll start off with Brad Wolfson's step on thigh passing position, where you are placing your foot on their thigh to pin one of their legs to the ground. Once you do that, most of the time they will attempt to use their other leg to block you, such as hooking behind your knee.

This is where the backstep motion can come in. Drop your thigh-stepping knee into their stomach. Use that as a base point, flinging your other leg high in the air and all the way over. You should end up with your back is pointing at their head, in a sort of reverse scarf hold. In other words, you're sat next to them, facing their legs, with the sole of your non-sliding leg foot on the floor.



From there, switch your hips, sliding your other leg under the backstepping leg, settling into side control. You can also use the backstep from further out to pass. This is a more dynamic option, where you put your hand on their knee and hip, then fling your whole body around. The backstep comes in mid air, meaning you effectively jump over the legs



A slightly different option I also showed today comes from Christian Graugart. I refer to this one as a flare step, which Christian showed vs shin on shin. Grab the back of their collar, 'flaring' the leg that is against their leg over the top. It's a quick swivel, putting your foot from where it was behind their leg, to now appearing by their shin.

As soon as that foot is by their hip, you have passed their legs. Capitalise on that by sending the rest of your body to meet your foot. Again, you can do this via a backstep, flinging yourself over to land in that same reverse scarf hold type position.



You can also backstep in non-passing situation, like going from knee on belly to mount. Specifically, it's reverse knee on belly. From there, if you backstep your leg past their head, you can fling it through to end up in what I've heard called 'cowbody mount'. If you're lucky, you might be able to pinch your knees in and go for a triangle, depending where their arm is, but most likely you'll just end up in an unorthodox mount position.



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Teaching Notes: Felt pretty good, only thing is, do people need a lot of extra knowledge for this? Also, Christian said to grip collar with other hand. So, IIRC, not the one that feel natural, which is same side as you're passing, but the other hand. Reason being, you can then use your same side hand to control their knee on the way down. Should test that version next time.

26/08/2019 - Teaching | Open Guard | Backstep pass from shin on thigh

Teaching #898
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/08/2019

My standard option for engaging with open guard is to drop into a low squat, keeping your feet at the opposite corners of an imaginary square, shuffling forwards towards them (I've been referring to this as 'crouch stalking'). Your head should never go in front of your knees, keeping your head up the whole time. As soon as you look down, that breaks your posture: use your peripheral vision and touch to establish passing grips instead.

If you continue to drive your leg into the back of their knee, you might get lucky and be able to push that leg all the way down to the mat. Make sure your other shoulder is behind their other knee: you're now in a fantastic position to pass, with a whole bunch of options from there. It's unlikely it will be that easy to get here, but for the purposes of showing this pass, that's a simple entry to keep in mind.



Make sure you've trapped 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 stepping leg, settling into side control.
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Teaching Notes: I can't think of anything much to add here, so I'll just copy the notes from last time I taught this to make sure I have something to think about. ;)

In terms of the pass, I liked that this gave me another option from the leg pin backstep variation. The key thing people were doing wrong is a general point on combining it with a closed guard opening rather than specific to this pass when it is used in open guard, which is leaving space when shoving that leg down. It should be acting as a ramp.

Also, pinning the leg with your shin in the middle of their upper thigh, again to take away any space: a few people were too far forward with their knee, or too far to one side. Similarly, people shouldn't be trying to get their other leg straight through as then they have no base. Instead, it needs to be out to the side for support.

21/08/2019 - Teaching | Open Guard | Legweave pass (knee version)

Teaching #897
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 21/08/2019


The leg weave pass operates by trapping their leg underneath you. When their leg is between yours, you can cut across to the side and drop in order to trap it. Turn your hips out to the side, not straight down. From there, wriggle your legs up, as per the vid:




You can also pin their leg on top of the other, then move around behind to side control. Again, as per the vid:



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Teaching Notes: First time I've taught the leg weave as an evening class. Thing is this one also needs me to show the step on thigh part. I'm sure there are applications to more standard positions too, so I should test that more as well. Whenever they have a leg up and the other is low enough, that cutting the knee under should be viable.

Main problem is people keeping their hips pointing down at the ground, meaning they end up more on their knees and leave too much space for the other person to adjust and recover some kind of guard. Hips need to be facing more off at a sideways angle, I think, get the weight more onto them and take away that space.

19/08/2019 - Teaching | Open Guard | Passing Basics

Teaching #896
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/08/2019

The most significant difference in my passing success came from posture. I find that developing a 'safe' method to approach the open guard helps a lot with passing. Drop into a low squat, keeping your feet at the opposite corners of an imaginary square, shuffling forwards towards them. Your head should never go in front of your knees, keeping your head up the whole time. As soon as you look down, that breaks your posture: use your peripheral vision and touch to establish passing grips instead.



The control point framework from John Palmer applies here too. The primary control points (line of the hips, triangle of head and shoulders) are too far away, which leaves you with secondary (knees) and tertiary (ankles, potentially wrists) control points instead. Press in tight to the back of their knee, aiming to take away the space they need to start setting up open guard.

If you can't get in tight, you can try to control their ankles instead, then move in from there. Grabbing their toes and/or feet can work too, or alternatively grabbing their hands. The downside is that occupies your limbs: ideally, you want to prevent their mobility by pressing in and using your hips and pressure instead, leaving your hands free to help your pass.

Once you've successfully pressed in, that sets up a good position to begin your pass. The same position could also be used to try and attack with kneebars, depending on your preference.

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Teaching Notes: On what I've got so far, I can emphasise a right angle in the legs, keeping the head up, and getting your bum down. As low a crouch as possible, with the key goal being to take away their space. That fits nicely with John Palmer's control point framework. In this case, the primary control points are all too far away, but you can press into the knees.

They want to control your knees and ankles too, as that's also what they can reach. You therefore need to prevent that: keeping your knees inside theirs both stops them getting your knees, while at the same time you have some control over THEIR knees. Then it's a matter of using your hands to manipulate that position, pushing their knees, ankles etc to gain control. Keep in mind they can do the same to you, though.

Applying gravity, you can also try to pin down the hips. To get to those control points, you need to climb the ladder of their legs, Sometimes you have to start with the feet, but ideally you can get straight to the knees and start climbing from there. First primary control point to reach is the line of the hips, then you'll keep moving up to try and get the head.

I'm not sure there is enough here to be a class at the moment, so I can add in more details. I very much like emphasising the crouch, but a few more pieces would be handy. For example, kicking the leg out when they grip, that kind of thing. More emphasis on posture, dealing with the kind of things the person on the bottom might do. I could add in the squishing of the legs, Christian style? Or turn it into a modified version of how Christian teaches 'head over butt' in general, but with a clearer, more concise structure?

Teaching Notes: Just showing the crouch and stalk doesn't feel like enough, needs some other details. I could try things like removing grips, like kicking foot free, bringing hips under head to get a strong stance against a collar grip? That would be worth testing more, what to do against a really strong collar grip? I rely on posture, but also important to talk about grip breaks?

Another thing that could be useful is some kind of pass on the end, but it would be good to keep it as a maintaining kind of class if I can.

25/02/2019 - Teaching | Open Guard | Bullfighter pass

Teaching #839
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 25/02/2019

To pass the open guard, it is advisable to grip on the inside of both their knees for control (though not everyone would agree on that: others suggest gripping lower on the trousers by their shin, knuckles facing forward, or even at the bottom of the trousers). The main danger is that they will try to loop their leg over your arm, which you can mitigate by gripping a little lower than the knee. If their legs are raised, twist your elbows in, so that your forearms are parallel to their lower legs.

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Be sure to keep your elbows inside their knees: if they do manage to loop an arm, you may need to release and then re-grip back inside their knee. That means you can then start to move their legs in several directions. There are many variations of the bullfighter pass (also called the toreador, toreana, toreada, toreando and matador, among other names. Google tells me the Portuguese for bullfighter is in fact 'toureiro'),

Tonight, the focus was driving forwards into them with the bullfighter pass, after you've established your grips inside their knees. That should generate a reaction, as they will kick back. Direct that kick to your side as you step around. Saulo likes to open out their far leg while pulling their near leg across his body. That motion should swivel them in place for an easy pass. Even simpler, as you drive in and they react, fire their legs out to the side as you step around.

Alternatively, if they don't react, you can still pass after having driven their knees towards their chest. Thrust one leg forward, then step back, pulling the other leg with you. Drive that leg into the mat with a straight arm and your body weight, then pass around on that side.

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To finish the pass there are two main options. Either you can drop your shoulder into their hip, falling forward like in the 'pin the legs' version. If the position you're in doesn't lend itself to that, then simply moving into knee on belly may make more sense. Experiment with both: it will depend on the configuration of your body once you pass their legs.

For the pin the legs variation, you simply step back when you have that grip, so that the soles of their feet press into the floor. Straighten your arms and lean through them, so that all your weight is punching downwards towards the mat. The aim is to prevent them being able to move their legs, so that you can now walk around before they are able to recover. Keep your base wide, plenty of space between your feet. As soon as you get past their knees, turn slightly and drop your leading shoulder into their hip. Stay on your toes all the way through: if you go to your knees, that immediately reduces the pressure on your opponent.

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Teaching Notes: Establishing that knee on belly properly is important, plus not leaving too much space when you scoot your hips back. Some people were walking way back instead, I'll continue emphasising the hip motion. Also, pulling the legs across, not back, otherwise you're making it harder for yourself. I went with the simple 'scoot back and pull across' option, rather than opening out the legs or pinning them. This feels more mobile, which is the main point of me showing the pass.

Different grips? Grabbing inside the knees makes sense, as then you can also block with the elbows, but it is hard on the fingers. Grabbing the knees, shins etc also ok? I want a less grip-intensive option if possible.