15/04/2010 - BJJ (Private Lesson)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20/12/2009 - End of Year Open Mat

Class #273



RGA Aylesbury, (BJJ), Kev Capel, Aylesbury, UK - 20/12/2009

Great news for women BJJers in the UK (or indeed any women who make it over here): there is a female-specific BJJ training camp in the works. See here for further details, and join the Facebook group.

The snow has been heavy around here, at least by English standards, so I couldn't make it to training on Thursday, which was RGA Wycombe's last session. However, I knew there was an end of year open mat over at the Aylesbury location, so decided it was worth the cost of hopping on the train to make it. With my usual complete lack of a sense of direction, I ended up having to call Kev to find out where the hell it was: once you get to the Stocklake road, look for the brown sign pointing to indoor karting. The McLeod Academy is down that road.

In many ways it felt like a throwdown, with the same relaxed atmosphere. That is probably my favourite way to train, especially with the instructor present. I can chat about BJJ, get some pointers on techniques, and spar as much or as little as I want.

I began by rolling with Kev, which as usual was very defensive. I was trying to make sure I put my legs and knees in the way as much as possible, and also attempting to spin. After eventually tapping me with an armbar, I had a chat with Kev about the many, many holes in my game.

He suggested I should look into Robson Moura, as Kev feels Moura has an ideal game for small people like us. I have seen bits of that DVD (which I'll review at some point in the future), but came away feeling it was a little advanced for me. I still have enough trouble landing a basic armbar, let alone the complex gi-wraps Robson likes to use.

Nevertheless, as Kev said, that kind of thing can help your basics, presenting a different perspective to setting up the typical armbar. Kev also said that overhooks would be a good idea for me, which builds on the overhook grip I've been trying to use from guard. Kev noted that from that position, you need to shrimp out slightly to your side: I've been staying too flat after securing an overhook. I also need to make sure I pinch the elbow of my overhooking arm tight to my side.

Kev also suggested that I try the Shawn Williams guard, where you grab your leg. Unlike the 10th Planet JJ stuff, it has the major advantage of not being dependent on flexibility. I hadn't considered it before, so may have a look into this in order to play around with it. I'm hoping to go train at Hollywood BJJ if I ever make it out to the US for a training trip, so would be cool to have some questions for the man himself when I get there. ;)

My main goal for the open mat was to get in loads of drilling on the twisting guard break. This is something I've been working for a couple of months since Kev demonstrated it in class, so I was keen to take the opportunity to iron out some kinks. Kev directed me to a white belt who also wanted to work his guard passing, so after showing him the pass, we drilled it a bunch of times each, adding in some resistance later.

After a bit more drilling with a blue belt, I had a chance to work the break with Kev. This was immensely useful, as he pointed out some details I'd been missing. Before, I had thought it was really important to get a hand to their hip and stiff-arm all your weight on top of it. However, Kev said that you can start to slide that back as you stand up, putting the hand on their knee to push as you twist.

If you focus too much on pressing down on the hip, it can make for awkward posture, making it easier for them to pull you down. This also connects to the second point, which is the double-collar grip. Previously, I had been gripping as normal a bit below the chest, establishing that grip first. Due to the fact I kept either getting knocked forward or had my arm attacked, I thought perhaps I needed to get the hip locked down first.

However, Kev said that you do indeed establish that double collar grip first, you just hold lower down. Your elbow should be back, meaning that you aren't so at risk of getting your arm attacked, but you can still push your fist forward if they make a forceful effort to raise up their torso.

If they go for your arm as you're twisting and trying to break the guard, you may be able to go for what Kev called the Barbosa pass (it has loads of names: Wilson Reis pass, Sao Paulo pass, Roberto Tozi pass, ChimPass etc). This is especially true if they try to reach around your back. I'll have to look that pass over again: I was reminded of it recently because Jared Weiner demonstrates it on BJJ Spirits 6.

I finished off my training for 2009 with a white belt Kev said I should spar, as he was carrying a rib injury (I'm small and I like to think I'm also controlled, so always happy to spar with injured people, taking great care not to aggravate whatever they've hurt). He's still pretty new, which gave me a chance to play with armbars and triangles, but given the fact he only started recently and had that rib problem, submissions are pretty meaningless.

So, unless I can convince my girlfriend to do a bit more Gracie Combatives over the New Year (we'll be in Fishguard: on the very unlikely off-chance there are any BJJers around that part of Wales who fancy some training, feel free to drop me a line), that completes my time on the mat for this year. Roll on 2010, and merry xmas everyone: seeing as I won't be training, I should have an article or two up before the year ends.

01/12/2009 - BJJ (Advanced)

Class #266



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 01/12/2009

After the opening section on throws that always kicks off the advanced class, Kev asked what we most wanted to see (given that it was a small class). Both I and Dan, one of the white belts, immediately said "opening the guard," which resulted in lots of handy tips on the twisting guard break Kev had shown a while back.

The first point of interest was the grip Kev used on the collar. Rather than simply grabbing both collars with one hand and twisting, he inserted his index finger in between. Apparently, this is something he once saw a big name demonstrate at seminar many years ago, though he can't quite remember what the reasoning was. However, Kev finds it comfortable: anyone reading this use that same grip? I was wondering if perhaps it helped nullify that grip break where they yank their collars open (though for that reason, I think I'd be worried about getting my index finger mashed up).

If they grab your collar when you initiate this technique, you can counter that by stepping your leg up to the same side hip. This should take that collar grip out of the equation, though as you'll probably need to switch your grip to do this, be aware that they're looking to break your posture. If you take both hands off their torso, that provides them with a perfect opportunity. So, be careful.

My training partner Dan also had a handy suggestion for breaking the grip, which Kev had told him some time ago. Place both your hands on the arm they're using to grab your collar. That should lock it in place, so you can now forcefully posture up to remove their grasp. This was useful, as frequently I procrastinate about standing up to pass, because I think too much about that collar grip.

Moving on to the guard pass itself: once you've opened their guard, secure a firm grasp on the material on their same side knee, so you gain some control over their leg. You also want to bring your knee inside their leg, on the same side as your collar-grabbing arm. Using your grip on the knee, shove their leg to floor and step your outside leg around it.

Trap that leg on the floor by bringing your opposite shin across their thigh. You also want to get your hips onto theirs as quickly as possibly, to kill their ability to move. To complete your pass, you're going to slide your knee through.

You have two options: either grip their collar to keep their upper body down, or underhook their far side. You'll need to do one or the other, as it is important they don't have the space to try and take your back. Pulling up on their near arm is also a good idea, as that will help you slide into scarf hold.

As I soon reminded in sparring, the most important aspect of that twisting guard break is to really pin that hip, holding the belt and shoving straight down. You want to get your arm straight, so you can drive your weight on top of it (though I should note you may not be in position to do this immediately, so take into account your posture). I wasn't doing that enough, so each time I attempted the guard break, my partner could just move their hips, preventing the technique.

Dan's grip break worked well, and Kev's tip on shifting to the other side in order to beat the collar grip was useful too. I also liked Kev's suggestion that if they try to underhook the leg you step up to their hip, you can simply sit on the arm. That can set you up to pass that arm under their back and feed it to your other hand: this is a very frustrating position for them to be in. It's easier said than done, as normally they'll slip their arm free, but nevertheless an interesting option to aim for.

I managed to get to the back from half guard, looking for a choke, or maybe an armbar. Struggling to get either, I then saw a chance to step over the arm. I was thinking about the triangle from the back, but couldn't follow up properly. As often happens, I ended up slipping off the side and back into my guard. I need to solidify my grips, and make better use of my hooks. I also found that Dan slipped free of my overhook from guard too easily, so I must tighten that up as well.

Sparring another white belt, I found that using shoulder pressure to pass half guard has been working well for me. Previously I was concentrating on either attacking the arm or freeing my leg: both work much better when combined with the distraction of shoulder pressure. That also helps clamp their upper body in place while you wriggle your leg free.

22/10/2009 - BJJ

Class #253



RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 22/10/2009

I was excited to come across this blog by Cane Prevost recently, as he is an instructor at Straight Blast Gym headquarters in Portland, Oregon. I really admire the teaching methodologies of Matt Thornton, so I was very much looking forward to seeing how Prevost would go on to explain the thinking in his blog: this isn't your average "I did this, then we did this, next week I'll try to do this" BJJ blog (which is effectively what I do), but a focused exploration of the ideological structures behind SBGi. Cool stuff!

No Tuesday classes for me this week, as I was visiting my girlfriend down in Bristol. However, I was able to get back in time for Thursday, though I'm still not planning to do the nogi, so that means just the hour long beginners class tonight. Kev was continuing to work guard, so again showed us a guard pass and then a sweep.

The guard break was interesting, as it worked off a similar principle to the one Victor Estima went over in meticulous detail during his Belfast seminar last year. Nevertheless, I've been struggling with it, so very useful to have another perspective from Kev,

You begin by grabbing both collars with one hand, your other hand pressing down firmly on their hip (Kev suggesting pressing down on top of the belt knot and moving it into position). Next, step up your foot by their other hip, so close that its effectively underneath that hip. To make it really tight, angle your knee inwards too. This should already be making them uncomfortable.

In a single motion, step up on the other leg and twist, resulting in a sort of horse stance. Hopefully this will pop open their ankles: if not and you've done it right, you should at least have loosened their hold considerably, so can just push on their knee to open the guard. From there, you're ready to pass with a knee slide or underhook.

The difficulty I've had with this method of opening the guard is keeping control of that hip, so the tip on pressing with the belt knot helped, as did feeling Kev demonstrate on me. Testing this during king of the hill sparring later, I also think I was leaning too far forward, so was getting my posture broken. You are supposed to be leaning forward slightly, as you maintain that one handed grip on both their collars, but not so much that your balance fails.

As ever, Kev then followed up with a technique from the other perspective, this time the basic ankle grab sweep. I rarely get this, as people are expecting it, but its always useful to go over the fundamentals. I clearly still need the reminder for the defence, which is to simply keep grasping their collar and drive your hips forward: I keep forgetting to put my hips into it.

Specific sparring with Callum gave me the chance to go through the guard pass a few times, but without being able to complete the motion. I did at least manage to stand up, but was unable to finish. I'm trying to make sure I don't give up on the technique and keep persisting, so I'll have to keep on getting to that standing position and see how I can incrementally get closer to opening the guard. Dealing with the collar grip is one problem, the other is my posture.

However, I'm using too much force to maintain my balance on top, rather than good base. I find that I pull on their gi with my arms, rather than drive forward with my hips. I definitely expended more energy than usual as a result, which means my balance needs a lot of work: I'm never going to last doing it that way, as I'm way too unfit. Must improve standing posture and use of the hips, as well as more pro-active responses to my partner off-balancing me.

Underneath, I was looking to stay tight, using the grip over the head and around the armpit Kev showed us a little while back. I was also looking for collar grips, but not really able to do anything with them. I may be focusing too much on looking for a choke, rather than keeping in mind sweeps too. Still, concentrating on how to keep their posture broken has been productive, and I think I'm getting better at remembering to use my legs to bring my partner in towards me.

King of the hill was a succession of standing up, failing to open the guard, then either flopping back down or getting swept. Nevertheless, it was good to work on that one technique, especially as it was something we'd just been shown. I was asking Kev lots of questions, so as before that was really helpful in refining some of the details (though of course theory is very different from practice: no matter how many questions I ask, the only way to finally get it is to try the technique over and over in sparring).

21/06/2008 - Vitor Estima Seminar (Belfast)

Seminar #1
Gracie Barra Northern Ireland (BJJ), Victor Estima, Belfast, UK - 21/06/2008 - Seminar

I've never been to a seminar before, so I was intrigued as to what Vitor (or Victor, which I think is the English version of the name, and the one he normally uses) would show us today. I've also not been to Gracie Barra NI before (having arrived too late to Belfast during last year's throwdown weekend), so was cool to meet the rest of Mark's training partners. My hand was still a bit sore from earlier, but I was hopeful that wouldn't be too much of a problem.

The other two people I met last year, Ciaran and Conor, were both at the seminar, so nice to catch up with both of them as we warmed up. Vitor had some unusual exercises, like lying on the floor in open guard, hooking round the knees of your partner, then following them as they walk backwards to the other end of the room. Something I'll keep in mind next time I want to drill something, as I need to work my control from open guard.

Victor turned out to be a fantastic teacher. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I love the basics, and would appear that Vitor does too. The entire seminar was built up around a single technique, for which Victor kept on pointing out more details. This is exactly how BJJ should be taught: perfect class.

He began with some theory on guard passing. He had Graham, the purple belt instructor at Gracie Barra Northern Ireland, lie in front of him with legs splayed in a V. The line between his legs marks the edge of a triangle: Vitor emphasised the point that when passing guard, you simply want to get yourself out of this triangle. That can be done in four ways: through the guard (e.g., bringing your knee over their leg), over the top, to the left and finally to the right.

Today was going to be all about guard passage, as you'd expect from that introduction. More specifically, it was going to be about one particular guard pass. To start with, you have to break the guard, for which Victor demonstrated a twisting guard break. Grab both their collars with one hand and twist it over to secure you grip. With your other hand, take a firm hold of their same side sleeve. The leg on the side you grabbed their collar is now going to move out to the side, so your leg is against their bum, foot pointing away from their side. Your other leg lifts up.

As you stand, twist your body (don't stand up then twist: for this to work, you have to twist on the way up), so that the foot which was pointing out is now by their bum – after you've stood up, immediately bring that in tight. Your other knee is going to press into their side, twisting down. You'll need to bring that foot higher up, moving towards their head (so you'll end up driving it into their chest, or just below). Once you've established your base, posture up and shove your hips forward.

Throughout all of this, you have to keep a solid grip on their sleeve. While holding that sleeve, watch your elbow stays tight inside their leg, so they can't move to a omoplata or break your posture. Once you're upright, you can let go of their collar and grab their trouser leg instead. Grip comparatively high, and push their leg down: this should be made easier by the heavy pressure you're creating with your other knee, and you'll also have them off-balance due to the twist you did when you stood up.

That heavy knee, combined with the grip on their sleeve and your posture, should prevent them from being able to move their hips. Now that you've pushed their leg down and have a good grasp on the trouser leg, you can begin your guard pass. Step your same side leg back, bringing their leg between your own legs. Next, bring both your legs past (you'll effectively be jumping over, as you don't want to leave a trailing leg for them to catch in half-guard), dropping your shoulder straight into their chest, still holding on to both their sleeve and their trousers: this is why your grip can't be too low.

Keeping the pressure by staying up on your toes with your shoulder driving into them, move around their torso until you've got enough pressure on top of them that your can release the trouser leg. Note that this grip on their trouser leg and sleeve can feel awkward: I found it to get right over their legs while still holding the leg, as I think I was holding their trouser too low. However, its essential to keep their leg and hips under control, so you need that grip. Finally, bring your knees in and secure side control.

That's all we did for well over an hour, Vitor wandering around answering questions and giving out tips. I made sure to get hold of him both times after he demonstrated (he started with the guard break, then showed the guard pass): his advice was always spot-on, and Conor was also a good training partner, so we discussed to technique as we tried to improve. Victor seems really friendly, chatting away to me about Roger and how he's looking to bulk up. I'm beginning to sound somewhat sycophantic, but seriously, there was nothing I could fault about his teaching. Awesome instruction.

Vitor had been emphasising the importance of basics all the way through, but wanted to finish off class with a bit of flashy fun. So, to close off he went through the flying armbar. The position is that they are grabbing your collar with one arm. Bring your arm over the top and grab their same side collar, then with your other arm grab the other collar. You're now ready to jump into an armbar. Bring what will become the bottom knee up into their armpit, then your other leg comes over the top. That leaves you in position to secure the submission.

I'm not sure I was doing it right, as I was jumping up ok, but brought my leg over as I was pulling them towards the floor, rather than immediately after my knee hit their armpit. It felt like a smooth transition and I ended up holding a fairly tight armbar, but I'm wondering if I should have been flinging my leg over earlier. Either way, fun to do: Victor also showed a flying triangle, but I couldn't quite follow the technique. He also showed Mark and Ais a cartwheel pass, where the main thing seems to be getting your hand into their opposite armpit, the other hand by their shoulder, cartwheeling over and ending up in a high side control.

There was a bit of guard passage after the technique demonstration, but as there was such a huge turn-out, took a while to get round. I sparred twice, first with a big purple belt known as Angel (looks a bit like David Boreanaz). As Mark mentioned later on, probably one of the major reasons he's a purple belt is that despite being much larger than everybody else there, he doesn't use strength: he didn't simply bowl me over, but used methodical technique to get the sweep.

Next was a stocky looking white belt, who tried to choke me for a while, after which I passed to half-guard (he probably got a little tired after straining to get the choke, meaning his guard opened up). However, I must have been too far forward, as he was able to roll me over (unlike Angel, sounded like he was perfectly happy to use strength: some hefty grunting as I went over ;p).

I hadn't had a chance to roll with Ciaran since last year, so before we left I wanted to do a bit of sparring. As before, he crushed me, but like Angel, Ciaran is another strong guy who uses a technical game to dominate his opponent. He was very mobile on top in side control, so I found it difficult to work my usual slow escape. I think I might have managed to roll into guard from under his mount at one point, but not sure: I was doing a whole lot of tapping. Unfortunately I also managed to whack his nose at some point, but can't remember when: seemed ok, but had to stuff some tissue up there to stop the bleeding. Hate injuring people, but didn't look like it was anything serious.

Speaking of injuring people, I also got to witness my first belt whipping. One of the white belts was promoted by Vitor to blue, after which almost everybody in the room lined up and took it in turns to whack him on the back with their belt. Some of them were pretty vicious, with a painfully audible snap as their belts connected with the poor guy. I sat out, along with several other people, as its not a practice I'm comfortable with, especially as I was merely visiting. However, the new blue belt didn't look like he minded, and everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves: lots of laughing and good-natured banter as he was congratulated on his achievement.

I had a brilliant time in Belfast, just like last year, and it was really great to hang out with people who were more than happy to just talk about BJJ all day long. Also cool to roll with people who I hadn't rolled with in a year: Waqi and Mark said they could see the improvement, which was gratifying. I don't feel like I'm doing much different from last time, as I'm still clamped to the bottom trying to escape, but its hard to tell if you're getting better. That's why its extremely helpful to have the perspective of people who don't train with you ever week – looking forward to doing it again next year! :D

::: Next Seminar >