Teaching #042 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/02/2012
The rear naked choke (so-called because you don't need to grab any cloth: the Portuguese term is the more flowery 'mata leão', which means 'lion killer') is a high percentage attack from the back, and perhaps the signature submission in jiu jitsu. One of the great things about chokes is that they are so efficient: while somebody might be able to muscle their way out of a locked in armbar, a choke will work on everybody, no matter how big.
First, keep in mind those five points on maintaining the back I've mentioned over the last two weeks:
Establish your hooks inside their thighs, making sure you don't cross your feet
Bring one arm under their armpit, then the other over their shoulder
Follow them with your hips, so they have no space to escape
Press your chest into their upper back, for the same reason
Jam your head next to their skull, for better control and visibility
In terms of its basic mechanics, the rear naked choke is relatively simple. Begin by bringing one arm around their neck, so that the point of your elbow is under their chin. You don't want to leave any space, as the idea is to press into both sides of their neck. This will close off their carotid arteries and prevent the flow of blood to the brain. That is an efficient and safe way of subduing an opponent.
You are then going to grip the bicep of your free arm. This is to lock the choke in place. Bring the hand of that bicep arm to the back of their head: a commonly used version is to press the palm into their skull, but there are various options, coming down to personal preference. Back of the hand against their neck is arguably better, as that may slip in more securely than palm down.
Also, palm down is easier for them to grab, if they try to peel your fingers off their skull. Either way, when you're locking in the choke, don't reach your hand forward over their shoulder. If you do, then they can armbar you using their shoulder as a fulcrum. Instead, slide it behind the head.
Bring your head next to theirs on the bicep gripping side, to further cut off any space. If for some reason after grabbing your bicep you can't get your other hand behind their head, grab your own skull, using that grip to finish from there. Staying close to their back, expand your chest and squeeze your elbows together.
Despite the simplicity, it can be difficult to get the RNC choke. Everybody with more than a few lessons under their belt knows that you're going to be looking for that choke, so they will immediately be trying to create barriers with their arms and hands. Hence why I started the technical portion of the session by having everybody drill the basic mechanics, then went into further details on the RNC.
In order to clear a route to the neck, there are numerous options. First, you can adjust your hand positioning to maximise your efficiency. If you have one arm under their armpit and the other over the shoulder, then it can be helpful to grip palm to palm or grab your own wrist, with your shoulder arm on top. That means that as soon as there is any gap between the neck and chest, you can immediately slide your arm into their neck.
You can also try tricking them into giving you access to the hold you want. For example, when you try to get an arm around their neck, a common reaction on their part is to grab your arm and pull it down. If you respond by pulling up, they will pull down even harder. This means that if you time it right, you can suddenly switch direction, shoving their arms down right when they're pulling, then bringing your other arm across their suddenly undefended neck.
Even better, you can take their arm right out of commission. With one of your hands, grab their wrist. Shove it down towards their legs, then step over that arm with your same side leg. When you then re-establish your hook (or pin your heel to their ribs, or put your leg behind their back), they are left with only one arm to defend against both of yours. If they've grabbed your wrist, twist your palm outwards, shove it down and out, then again step over their arm with your leg. Make sure you maintain pressure, so they can't simply swim their arm free.
You can also just hold their wrist momentarily with your hand, although that does mean you are still going one arm against one arm, rather than the preferable two arms against one. Then again, if you have already trapped their arm on the neck-arm side, then you can use your hand under their armpit to hold their remaining arm. That would mean you now have one arm with which to attack, while they have no limbs left to defend themselves.
Another problem is that people will also tend to tuck their chin. Some people advocate unpleasant methods to force your way through to the neck in that situation. For example, Kesting has a list here: the results of that kind of approach (though Kesting does make a point of saying he is not fond of pain-based options either) can be seen in this video. That is not how I want my jiu jitsu to look.
My goal is smooth, technical, leverage-based jiu jitsu, causing as little pain to the other person as possible. As Saulo says in my favourite BJJ quote:
"You have to think that your partner, the guy that you're training [with], has to be your best friend. So, you don't want to hurt him, you don't want to try to open his guard with your elbow, make him feel really pain, because jiu jitsu is not about pain. You have to find the right spot to save your energy"
I strongly feel it is best to avoid hurting your training partners, for four additional reasons:
You're in class to learn, not to 'win' at all costs. Save the 'win' mentality for competition.
If you're always hurting the people you spar, eventually nobody will want to train with you, making it rather hard to improve.
Presuming you're in BJJ for the long-term, you're going to be spending a lot of time with your training partners. Therefore it would make sense to build a good relationship.
Even if you don't care about your classmates, everybody has a different pain threshold. So, the efficacy of pain-reliant techniques will vary from person to person. The efficacy of leverage does not: that's based on physics, not how tough somebody is.
There is a less nasty option you could try for opening up their chin, from Andre Galvao. If they really shove their chin down, this may not work, but it is worth a go. Twist your hand so that your thumb is pointing down, then as you slide the arm to their neck, twist the thumb back up to lift their chin.
If I find I have no option except something brutish (e.g., crushing their chin until they tap from pain or lift their head), my preference is to instead transition to a different attack, like an ezequiel, a bow and arrow choke or an armbar (which I'll be covering in later lessons). In my opinion, if I get to the point where force and pain are the main routes to finishing a submission, then my set up was poorly executed.
Class #446 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 14/02/2012
As often on Tuesdays, I got in some extra drilling before class started. Today, Mike asked to work on refining his knee slice pass, as he's been finding lots of people block it part of the way through by getting their knee in the way. We played around with that for a while, which is always fun (and useful for me too, because I get to work the flipside), then got some very handy tips from Dónal when he later arrived.
Normally when you knee-slice pass, you grab their trousers a bit below the knee, shove one leg to the ground and step over, while your other arm stays inside their knee to block them bringing it across. From there, you try to slide the knee through and pass. However, often you might find there is enough of a gap for them to get their knee in, or perhaps they grab half guard, or otherwise get their feet in the way.
Dónal suggested starting off from those same grips, but in a deep crouch. Then with the knee-blocking arm, he grips deeper, grabbing the same side collar. That means that there is much less of a gap for their knee, because your arm is now creating a barrier. You also want to hook their leg with your foot (I can't remember which one, so will have to ask Dónal), in order to stop them going for half guard. Your leg on the side to which you're passing stays slightly bent, so you can push off and use that extra power to drive into them, which also increase the pressure.
The class itself featured an armbar from the back. I had assumed that would be the one I'm familiar with, where you get a figure four grip on the arm, bring your elbow over their head then move into the armbar. However, Dónal's entry was quite different. They have their arms crossed to protect their neck: one of those arms will be on top. That arm will also have a small space beind the crook of their elbow.
With your same side hand, reach into that crook, twisting your hand so you little finger is pointing towards the ceiling, your palm facing away from them. Punch that arm right through, in the direction of their opposite leg. Once your elbow is far enough, drag it back to your hip, scraping tight to their body as you do. Your same side knee can come into play here, bringing that next to your elbow to facilitate the scraping motion, until your elbow is on your own thigh and their arm is well and truly trapped. Note, you may need to scrape several times to attain that control.
Grab their trapped-arm side collar with your far hand, like you were setting up a bow and arrow choke. Step your choking-arm side foot to their same side hip, in order to help you swivel. Again like a bow and arrow choke, bring both your feet to that other side. Stay tight with your legs, so you don't give them any space to turn towards you as you swivel, moving perpendicular to them. When you have sufficient control, you can let go of the collar and push on their head, bring your leg over then secure the armbar. If you need to, you can also curl the heel of the leg over their head into their neck, which should further assist your control.
The bow and arrow collar grip will make it hard for them to turn for an armbar escape. Another trick Dónal showed is to pull out their lapel on the trapped arm side (most commonly you'll do that before you trap the arm), then feed it across their body and under your own leg to your other side. Cinch it in firmly, creating a restraint across their waist. When you then go through the previous armbar technique, it should be even harder for them to make any room to escape.
In sparring, it was cool to have that new option for attacking the back. I'm not fond of going for the armbar as it isn't so easy to recover position as with choke attacks, but having another way to mount an offence meant I could be more pro-active. That means you have more opportunities for getting a reaction, which in my case will probably be used to bait for the bow and arrow. Kev uses that choke to great success, so I'm keen to follow his example (as he's a comparable size to me).
Thanks to Seymour for sending this book on to me for review: if for some reason you don't already know who he is, be sure to check out his awesome site, Meerkatsu
Short Review:This is a book aimed at competitors, presenting a methodical breakdown of Garcia's tactics for a jiu jitsu match. You'll learn takedowns, counters and re-counters, along with a well-structured path to certain submissions, particularly attacks from the back. Although Garcia makes a point of working on techniques that don't require strength, he does expect you to have speed, athleticism and aggression.
The selection of techniques reflects that ethos: Marcelo Garcia may be known for his big smile, but there is nothing friendly about attacks like the 'throat crush'. He also isn't directing his tips at beginners: after all, this is advanced jiu jitsu, so if you don't already have the basics, spend some more time developing your BJJ before you pick this up. Available to buy here (or in the US, here and here).
Full Review: When you ask people in BJJ who is the best grappler on the planet, two names will normally come up: Roger Gracie and Marcelo Garcia (though there is an increasing number who might say Rodolfo Vieira too). However, I haven't generally paid much attention to Garcia's output up until now, because I assumed his instructionals were too advanced for me. Garcia is an incredibly talented competitor with a knack for creativity. I'm an unfit hobbyist purple belt who still struggles to pass the guard.
It is therefore a little ironic that I find myself reviewing Advanced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Techniques: I was concerned that I'd soon be lost in a sea of tangled legs and backflipping Brazilians. Fortunately, aside from a couple of more acrobatic techniques, this book doesn't expect you to be one of the Miyao brothers. Nevertheless, it is not intended for beginners, as in keeping with some other top instructionals that give you a personal take on BJJ (e.g., Saulo Ribeiro's fantastic first DVD set), you're expected to already know the basics. Like Saulo, Garcia offers some ideas to build on those basics, as well as a few alternatives, based on his personal game. There is also no discussion of escapes here: the only defence consists of counters meant to help you stay on the attack.
When I opened up Advanced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Techniques, another Saulo product sprang to mind: Jiu Jitsu University. That's probably unsurprising, as Saulo's book was also by Victory Belt. They've gone for a similar layout here, with large pictures (normally six to a page at most), but it doesn't feel cramped. Most techniques will be presented from two angles, running simultaneously down the page, sometimes bolstered by a third angle presented within a smaller inset box. Occasionally there will also be a helpful close up, for such details as grips.
The book is arranged into six main sections: arm drags, establishing back control, submissions from back control, takedowns, attacking the guard and submissions. Garcia doesn't spend as much time as you might expect on options from the guard, instead referring the reader back to his previous book, The X Guard. I haven't read it, as I hardly ever use butterfly guard and never use x-guard, but given how often he directs you to go read The X Guard for more details, it doesn't sound like he is repeating any material from there.
Each of those main sections is subdivided into different colours at the edge of the page, with a main colour for the section above it. That's a format Victory Belt has used in the past, which helps your navigation through the book. For example, in attacking the guard, you start in the green 'breaking the closed guard', move through purple 'passing the closed guard', which shifts into yellow 'half guard passes' before becoming brown 'butterfly guard passes'.
Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques is introduced by former chess champion and current Marcelo Garcia black belt, Josh Waitzkin. The rest of the book is co-written by Glen Cordoza, a veteran of numerous Victory Belt releases, and The Cauliflower Chronicles author, purple belt Marshal D. Carper. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Waitzkin spends most of his introduction telling the reader how amazing Garcia is, which has some justification given his multiple world titles.
Waitzkin takes that further, however, with various stories that make Garcia sound like a superhero: he is able to masterfully pull off techniques he's never practiced before, he never gets caught in the same thing twice and he intuitively felt when he was in the best location for his new gym immediately upon walking through the door. He even almost leaps a tall building in a single bound, with a story about jumping across an eight foot expanse of water from a standing start.
Despite the gushing, it's an interesting introduction, providing you with insight into a great competitor. For example, there is an answer to a question you might well ask of somebody who has an extremely in-depth website detailing his every strategy for the world to see: aren't you worried your opponents are going to study your game? Apparently not. Garcia responds "If someone studies my game they will be entering my game. And I know it better than they ever will."
The discussion of MGinAction.com does not stop there, remaining a major presence in the book. Boxes entitled 'helpful hints' keep popping up through the text, which are little more than advertisements for the website. For example "For an efficient way to study the content, go to the 'InAction' tab and click on 'Load to Queue'" on p131. The extreme is reached with a two page MGinAction user-guide running through the key features on pp20-21. Although there is a seven day free trial available, the constant attempts to push you towards the website are a bit irksome
Update May 2013: I have since taken advantage of that free trial myself, resulting in this review of MGinAction.
Getting into the technique, Garcia kicks off with the armdrag (forty-six pages). Again like Jiu Jitsu University, there is a detailed introduction, where Garcia describes how the arm drag fits into his tournament strategy. Despite the fact I'm not a competitor, this made for interesting reading. The whole book follows that systematised approach with everything slotting together, including options for when you run into problems and common counters.
The arm drag starts with a variation for the gi, though Garcia notes he prefers nogi grips. He then stands up and demonstrates several methods of baiting wrist control: there is plenty of technique from the feet in Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques, another reason why this should appeal to competitors. That takes him right to the back.
If he can't manage to get the back from standing, or his opponent is simply much better standing than Garcia, there is also the option of arm dragging from a sitting position. This is the first of many techniques where Garcia puts his aggressive tactics into practice. He believes strongly that you need to always be on the attack, rather than playing a reactive, defensive game.
For his near grip arm drag, he scoots forward to get the arm, then launches himself backward to set up the transition to the back. After a few options for merging the arm drag with wrestling takedowns like the single leg and leg trip, Garcia combines his desire to constantly attack with a burst of athleticism. He literally jumps onto his opponent's back. The section then closes with a useful series entitled 'failed arm drag', where Garcia demonstrates how to follow up your technique if things go wrong, shifting into a double or single leg takedown.
[For more on Garcia's arm drag, here is a behind the scenes video from the Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques photoshoot, uploaded by co-author Marshal Carper]
Having got behind his opponent, Garcia spends the next section on establishing back control (sixty-eight pages). Interestingly, Garcia's attacking style means that he highlights the importance of the seat belt grip as opposed to hooking with the feet: he's willing to go on the offensive with one hook, or no hooks at all. As Garcia demonstrates later, his preferred submissions from the back are more reliant on your arms than your legs. In fact, Garcia actually says he prefers to have one hook rather than two, which is another reminder Garcia's book is not meant for white belts. You need to be very comfortable with the basics of back control to play a single hook game:
Regardless of the specifics, you always need to be prepared to go back to your techniques for establishing the second hook if necessary. With that said, the second hook is not necessarily vital in terms of control and finishing. The more I play the back position, the more I find myself preferring to attack with the seat belt and one hook, leaving my other leg free to stifle my opponent's counters by hooking his legs or by trapping his arms. This is an advanced way of approaching back control, and it hinges on your proficiency with the seatbelt.
Once again, the action starts from the feet, with Garcia standing behind his partner, arms wrapped around their waist. The first few techniques cover breaking wrist control, before Garcia gets acrobatic again. He leaps onto their back (whether or not they are leaning forwards) with either a jump or what he calls a 'crab ride'. A major advantage of being a seasoned and well-known competitor is that you can give specific examples where you've used a technique successfully. For the crab-ride, Garcia points to his ADCC 2005 victory over the much larger Ricco Rodriguez, where he used the crab-ride to collapse Rodriguez's base.
[For more on the crab ride, take a look at this blog post by Carper, which includes behind the scenes video from the Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques photoshoot]
Having finally got them onto the mat, there is still plenty of work to be done. Securing that second hook (for those of us who aren't yet comfortable with relying on just the one) can be a real pain, so Garcia has a number of options, along with counters to common escapes. There are also lots of techniques for getting to the back off your opponent's single leg, when they try to escape side control and finally from a butterfly sweep. Almost half of the book is dedicated to reaching the back and then choking your opponent out. So, if you're a senior blue or purple looking to improve that part of your game, Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques is sure to help.
My favourite section is probably the third, submissions from back control (twenty-eight pages). That's because Garcia hones in on just two techniques, both of which I regularly use (or rather, try to use) in sparring: the rear naked choke followed by the bow and arrow choke. Garcia's introduction echoes his major rival for the title of 'world's best grappler', Roger Gracie. Like Roger's cross-collar choke from mount, everybody knows about the Garcia RNC, but he still makes it work at the highest level. I especially liked his answer to the unspoken question: what's the secret?
The truth is that there is no magic secret to being successful with the rear naked choke. No sleight of hand or ancient ki technique. Jiu-jitsu is not a mystical art. There are no hidden moves. You already know why I have been so successful with the rear naked choke. It is the same reason any grappler is good with any submission: practice.
Garcia insists that if at any point you see their neck is exposed, you should immediately go for the RNC. It doesn't matter if you have your hooks in or not: if you can get your arm in place, attack. This contradicts the 'position before submission' principle, as Garcia acknowledges, but he has empirical evidence that the RNC is an exception. In the 2003 ADCC, Garcia credits that almost catch-as-catch-can spin on the RNC for his victory over Vitor 'Shaolin' Ribeiro. Having shrugged off Garcia's hook, Shaolin thought he was about to escape, but instead got choked unconscious.
If you've watched Garcia's DVD instructionals, much of this will look familiar, but it is very useful to have it all laid out methodically in a book. The anatomy of the choke is explained in detail, followed by some variations on the finish, along with three different options for trapping their arms with your legs (including one I haven't seen before, where you almost put them in a kimura as well as trapping the arm). That's a great strategy if you can get it, as then they only have one arm left to defend against both of yours.
Should the RNC be unavailable, Garcia suggests you try the reliable bow and arrow choke instead. As he puts it, "if I begin to feel that I am not going to be able to finish the submission, I can usually return to back control with little difficulty." That's as opposed to something like an armbar from the back, which has a much greater risk of losing position if you can't land the submission.
Takedowns (thirty-eight pages) comes next, with a heavy focus on wrestling. Garcia's thinking on this is in keeping with what I've heard from other instructors I respect, like Jude Samuel: judo isn't as applicable to nogi, whereas wrestling functions well whether or not there is fabric to grab. Garcia also feels that learning how to incorporate judo takes much longer than adding wrestling, so he'd have to take too much time away from his core, jiu jitsu.
[Garcia talks more about why he chose wrestling over judo in another behind the scenes video, here]
Garcia's preference is the single leg, but he notes that you should always drive deep enough for the double. That way, if you miss the double, the single is still there. Normally a good opponent will sprawl, so Garcia includes advice on countering that defence. He then moves on to a discussion of the clinch, switching to a rash guard and shorts to make those grips clearer.
Previously, he was in a white gi, whereas his partner Henrique wore blue. In this brief nogi sequence, they confusingly wear the same outfit, which makes it more difficult to distinguish limbs and hands. There is a slight difference in that Marcelo's rash guard has long sleeves and Henrique's does not, but it would have been better if they'd made a clearer distinction, as with the gi techniques.
Although he is famous for his x-guard and butterfly, Garcia notes that he always wants to be in the top position. To get there, you must first be confident attacking the guard (sixty-five pages): given his views on aggression, I'm sure it is no accident Garcia went with 'attacking' rather than 'passing'. He also writes that "rather than cover a bunch of techniques you already know, I included my method [...] My goal is not to reteach basic techniques but rather to help you see jiu-jitsu the way that I do". Again, Beginners don't already know those foundational techniques, so shouldn't be reading this book.
The guard break he starts with appears at first to be a basic standing one, but there is a clear danger of being swept. Interestingly, Garcia does not control a sleeve to prevent them grabbing his foot: "I do not waste time hunting for grips. I press my hands against Henrique's chest and lift my hips to jump to my feet." So in that sense, it's actually more advanced. Developing the sensitivity, base and timing to pull this off without getting knocked to the mat is difficult.
Garcia has a number of tips on how to avoid the sweep, along with a couple of variations, such as stepping on their bicep. He also deals with the common problem of your partner following you up as you stand. For all of these guard breaks, Garcia ends up in the same position, jamming one knee to the mat with his same side hand, while the other pushes into their hip.
That sets up his passing series, which will appeal to anyone who likes to pass by driving the knee through. There isn't anything especially fancy here, sticking with a fairly orthodox open guard and half guard. That's in contrast to the comprehensive approach of Jiu Jitsu University, which was stuffed with a considerable variety of guards, each with its own section on passing.
The only guard that is singled out like that here is butterfly guard. Reading this section also made me realise why I almost never use butterfly: Garcia points out that "unlike the closed guard or half guard, in the butterfly guard, your opponent is not trying to hold you in place." Holding them in place is exactly what I want to do, hence why I gravitate more towards half guard, spider guard and closed guard. A similar dynamism is present in the passing, such as the flashy 'tornado pass' where Garcia flips over their knees.
Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques closes with a sixth chapter on submissions (sixty-six pages). His opening statement is interesting:
Sadly, many grapplers railroad themselves into only attacking with a handful of the traditional submissions. The fundamental techniques are fundamental for a reason, and they should not be abandoned, but too many submission opportunities are overlooked. Those are valuable chances to win the fight, chances that should not be ignored.
Rather than review the submissions you likely already know or have seen in other books, I have collected an assortment of my favorite moves that may seem unorthodox but are still effective and useful. [...] In showing you these attacks, my goal is to expand the way you think about jiu-jitsu.
That's all well and good if you're Marcelo Garcia and you're already a master of the fundamentals. However, it's a potentially dangerous mindset if you're a fresh young white belt, who might take it as a license to spend all their time working on low percentage techniques. I'm much more comfortable with the Roger Gracie style of fundamentals above all else.
I was surprised to find that Garcia's first technique was the 'throat crush', which sounds brutish and crude. The submission works by crushing the windpipe, which is not something I ever want to do to my training partners. Having said that, I'm sure it's effective. Garcia uses it as a way to set up the guillotine, something for which he's become increasingly famous in recent years. That submission is explored in depth, with four ways of getting a guillotine as a counter to the single leg, plus some other set-ups, like a mounted guillotine off baiting the underhook during a pass.
Garcia is also known for the north-south choke, which he calls "one of my all-time favourite submissions." If you watch the ADCC 2007, you can see this working at the highest level: Garcia finishes both Mario Miranda and Pablo Popovitch with the north-south choke (check it out here). There's a good explanation of it in the book, although this is another technique that takes sensitivity to pull off, particularly in the gi. Garcia recommends you practice the north-south choke nogi first, as it's easier without the added friction of the gi.
The armbar from mount is covered in detail, followed by a few omoplata applications. Garcia shows how you can land it from butterfly guard, off your opponent's sprawl and when countering armbar and side control escapes. Even better, Garcia hones in on specific defences to the omoplata, like the forward roll and the bridge, as well as how to break their grip when they try to prevent your finish.
Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques is made for experienced competitors who want to gain a greater understanding of Marcelo Garcia's tournament strategy. It is also of benefit to hobbyists like me who are working on developing their ability to get to the back and apply a choke. Here's another behind-the-scenes video from co-author Marshal Carper, where Garcia talks about that preference for attacking the back:
There used to be a trend of instructionals throwing out the term 'advanced', like the old releases by Pedro Carvalho, but the content didn't justify the adjective. Times have changed, so if you're a beginner, you would be much better served by books like Jiu Jitsu University, or DVDs like Blue Belt Requirements. For everyone else, Marcelo Garcia's new release is available to buy here (or in the US, here and here).
Teaching #041 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/02/2012
I wanted to go through some more simple techniques tonight, this time for when your opponent is trying to escape and get their shoulders to the mat. Andre Galvao shows a simple option for retaking the back, which works well as a drill. They manage to clear one of your hooks and start bringing their hips over. Before they can get their shoulders to the mat, press your chest into their shoulder and roll them onto their side, in the direction they were escaping. Use the foot they've dislodged to post , raising yourself up enough that you can slide your dislodged knee high up their back. Sit back and roll them towards your remaining hook, onto their other side, then re-establish your second hook. You can keep doing that from side to side as a drill.
Back mount is a great position, but if you're about to lose it because they're slipping free, you can also try a basic method of shifting to mount. This time, they've not only cleared one hook, they've also managed to put their shoulders onto the mat. It might be tough regain your back mount from here, especially if they've moved over your leg or have it under their body. Instead, shift so that you can bring your remaining hook over their body. Clamp that heel to their far hip, making sure it is providing you with enough control that they can't simply shrug you off. Pull out your elbow for base, then turn and slide through into mount.
For sparring, I used that drill I like again, splitting the class into groups of three. There were twelve people tonight including me, which is more than usual, which meant I could divide by weight fairly evenly. Each person in the group spent six minutes maintaining the back, while the other two cycled in. There was loads of time left for sparring, so I also managed to fit in four rounds of 'normal' sparring from the back (so, specific from the back, but with submissions, not just maintaining), finishing up with a round of free sparring.
My classes have definitely got much more heavy on the sparring compared to when I started, ranging between thirty to forty minutes. Previously, the techniques I taught this week and last week were crammed into one lesson, which tells me I was trying to fit in far too much into a single session when I began teaching last year. I'll have to be careful I don't swing too far the other way, but it's always good to have plenty of resistance training. Still experimenting with the format, as this is now my first repeat of my planned series of classes (but in a different order, as there is that new system of all the instructors sticking to the same position each month).
Class #11 Gracie Barra Bristol, (Judo), Kirsty Utting, Bristol, UK - 07/02/2012
It's been a long time since I last went to a formal class of judo, back in May 2010. As my girlfriend is away on holiday, I finally had the chance to go try out Kirsty's judo class. I'm not generally a big fan of judo training, because of that injury I got back in my third ever session of judo, which took me off the mats for about seven months. Hence why I've been a bit wary of judo ever since, not helped by stories of how hard judo is on the body and old judoka with mashed up knees.
Kirsty is a judo black belt with lots of competitive experience. She's been running a short judo class at Gracie Barra Bristol for a while now, which is a great idea for anybody who wants to compete, or simply develop a more rounded grappling game (neither of which I care about personally, which is why I don't normally do any judo). I particularly like the way that when he added the class to the timetable, Geeza emphasised that you take off your BJJ rank and put on a white belt.
Kirsty started with standing grip breaks. For the first one, they've grabbed your collar. With your same side hand, grab their sleeve, your knuckles pointing to the outside. Your grip needs to be tight, so to make it really firm, reach your fingers around to the inside (keeping your thumb out), gathering the material of their sleeve. Once you've taken out the slack, bring your hand back towards the outside, inserting your thumb to secure the grip. You'll end up with making a sideways fist.
Your other hand goes on top of their wrist, using a thumbless grip. Step back with your non-grip side foot, at the same time shoving downwards with both your hands and jerking your upper body backwards. From here you can immediately grab their gi and establish your own control: maintain that grip on their sleeve, as otherwise they can just re-grab your collar.
If they grab your same side elbow, grip their grabbing-arm sleeve with your free hand. Turn forcefully towards their free hand side, twisting your torso. You can now pull with your sleeve grip and again establish your own control. E.g., after pulling them in front of you, reach around their back with the other hand. I think that's called a 'Russian grip' or something like that? Been shown it in BJJ, IIRC, or it might have been one of the other judo classes from a few years back.
From the grip break on the collar, you can go straight into a morote seoi nage, which google tells me means 'two arm shoulder throw'. Pull them towards your collar side, then pull them onto your hip. Pull their sleeve out and up, bringing the elbow of the collar-gripping arm right into the sleeve-grip side armpit. Swivel, so that they're now facing your back, making sure your feet are inside theirs. Lift them up, then turn your head away from them to drop them onto the mat.
I liked the relaxed atmosphere of Kirsty's class, and also the amount of time she spent on drilling. She went round every pair making small corrections, then later pulled out the crash mats for an extra-soft landing. Well, unless you managed to miss the crash mat. Ahem. Fortunately my partner was smaller than me, so I could reduce the impact and stop them from going off the crash mat.
We finished up with one round of randori. As I was bigger and more experienced than my partner, I could be a bit more adventurous than my usual 'wait-to-get-thrown' strategy. Pulling guard wasn't allowed, so instead I had some fun practicing my trips and double-legs, but then it isn't difficult to pull off a technique on somebody smaller who has never seen it before. ;)
Class #445 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 07/02/2012
Lots of great drills from Dónal as usual, all related to guard passing. Start by standing up, holding their knees. They shrimp, you drive your weight through your hands and therefore also jam their knees to match, then hop over to the side behind their knees. They shrimp again and you repeat the motion to the other side.
Another nice guard passing drill, which we've done before, again starts with your standing up. This time, you're square on to their open guard, although for the drill they aren't getting any grips on you, they're just lying on the mat, feet on the floor. Bring one your legs between theirs, then drive your knee across to the opposite side. As you do, with your opposite arm, underhook their same side armpit.
An interesting variation pops up if they manage to get an underhook. Immediately overhook/whizzer that arm, reaching your overhook hand right through to their hip. As you continue the pass, slide your hand back, keeping your arm straight. Eventually that should mean you're hooking their near side leg, helping you to move into side control.
The text message for tonight indicated that the topic was be preventing your opponent taking your back, which sounded interesting (although Geeza does sometimes put his own spin on the text message either I or Dónal send him about our respective classes). That proved to be an extremely simple (which in BJJ tends to be a very positive adjective) concept from turtle. After they've got their first hook, all you do is turn towards their leg (so, towards the outside), recovering half guard. That's it. :)
During sparring, Dónal had another cool tip (as he very often does: if you've got the chance to do a private with him, go do it) for passing half guard. This depends on how they've locked their feet to trap your leg. If the big toe of the foot is nearest to you, then you simply bring your trapped leg back and shove that foot off by hooking under their heel, breaking their grip. Is the big toe is pointing away, that means their heel is on the wrong side, so you can't just bring your leg back and knock the foot away.
Teaching #040 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 02/02/2012
I was intending to continue my series on spider guard, with some attacks to follow on my lesson about maintaining spider guard last week. However, Geeza wanted February to stick with the back position, so I had to rethink my lesson after I got back from work, ready for class forty minutes later. So, rather less time than the week I normally spend planning, although on the other hand, I was intending to restart my first cycle in a few weeks anyway. I guess I'll have to save the spider guard attacks for later, bringing my series of lessons on the back a couple of months forward. If you read it last time, then you'll recognise what I'm about to post, as I'll be showing the same techniques from my first lesson on maintaining the back, but in a slightly different order and split across a couple of sessions.
The back is a great position to be in. There are lots of submissions, your opponent can't easily see what you're doing, and you'll also get four points in competition (once you've got your hooks in). Restarting this cycle, I'm beginning again with the most basic stuff: I'll see how it pans out, but I'm hoping that for the more advanced students, that will be a chance to revisit the fundamentals and consider how (or indeed if) they incorporate them into their game. For beginning students, it should be more obviously useful, as some of them won't have seen the basics from every position yet.
The first thing to note is a basic safety point, which is don't cross your feet. If you cross your feet, then all your partner has to do is cross their feet over yours and bridge, footlocking you. Instead, you want to be hooking your insteps inside their legs.
Second, you want to get a good grip with your arms. The harness grip (as always, various other names, like over-under) is a solid option for both gi and nogi. Begin by getting an arm under their same side armpit, so they can't slide down (as otherwise they can go for the escape I taught last time). If they have a gi, you can help secure the position by grabbing their opposite collar. The other arm comes over their shoulder.
If you can't grab a collar, then link your hands together, using that to lock yourself in place. You could also grab under both arms grabbing a collar, which is a excellent way to hold them in place. However, that means both your arms are occupied: for attacks, you have more options if you keep one arm free, to go over the shoulder.
Your arm by the shoulder is the one you'll be looking to shift into their neck and/or grabbing a collar, where you can start working for a choke. Stephan Kesting advises that rather than linking hands, you can grab your own arm, which in turn means you are blocking the best grip your opponent wants to get. As ever, play around and see what you prefer.
Third, keep your chest pressed against their upper back. To escape, they need to create space, so don't let them have any: stay glued to their upper back. You also don't want them to put you flat on your back, like in the bridge escape we saw last week, as then they can start moving their hips. If you drop back, make sure you've moved to the side. However, your ideal position is getting them face down.
Fourth, follow them with your hips, similar as when you're in their guard. If you keep moving your hips to square back up whenever they try and shift away, that again stops them creating space.
Finally, you want to keep your head locked to theirs, providing additional control. It also helps you to see what they're doing. Otherwise, their head would be blocking your line of sight. Place your head next to theirs on the armpit hand side, as that way you're controlling both sides of their skull.
From here, you might find they manage to knock off one of your hooks, or perhaps you're struggling to establish that second hook. If that happens, in order to take the back fully, use the grip you have with your arms to put them on your side, towards your remaining hook. Come up a little on your elbow and pull your remaining hook up slightly. Bring that foot across their body to hook their other leg. You're looking to retain enough control that you can then reinsert your second hook, particularly if their reaction is to kick out that leg.
That does take a bit of flexibility, so it may not fit into everybody's game. Another simple option to keep in mind is when they've managed to clear one of your hooks, or it's slipping and you want to replace it. You might find that you can simply put the cleared hook foot on the floor (still keeping your knee tight) and push, to roll them back to the other side and re-establish that hook. Be careful though, as they are obviously going to react if you release a hook: you'll need good timing and close control.
Class #444 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 31/01/2012
For tonight's technique, you're in mount, threatening a collar choke. However, that's not your end goal: you're intending to take the back. As they defend the collar choke, drive your other arm inside the crook of their opposite elbow. Reach back to their armpit, so you're effectively in position to do an armdrag, but from the mount rather than guard. Pull, so that they're moved onto their side, while at the same time you slide into technical mount.
Dónal added a quick tip on that, noting that he turns the foot he has pressed into their hip outwards, so that it points more towards their feet. This helps add a bit more control, as with that foot positioning, it is harder for them to recover half guard. You also want to be really tight with your upper body: Dónal makes that especially tight, as he gets his lower arm wrist right into their neck, gripping the wrist of his upper arm. If you then raise the elbow of your upper arm slightly, you might even be able to get a choke.
Most likely, you'll just make them uncomfortable. Lean forwards, then use their discomfort to help you roll and shift into back mount. As you go to the back, set up and apply your choke. I wasn't too good at going straight into the choke, but that's something useful I can work on. Just as it makes sense to set up a strong guard position if you can feel you're about to be past, moving straight into an attack as you transition is a good idea too.
Specific sparring was from the back, beginning with 1-2-3 sparring (everyone is given a number, then the 1s go down for a few minutes while everyone else spars with them, followed by the 2s and then 3s). When escaping, Dónal gave me some handy advice. I tend to escape by pushing their hook off with my opposite foot, popping my hips over and moving around to side control or half guard.
That last part is where I often have trouble, so I'll get into a cycle of dislodging their hook, move my hips, they recover the hook, I pop it off again and move over, then recover...over and over again. Dónal suggested that when I push off that hook and step over, I should immediately bring the heel of the foot I've left behind (I think? Maybe I misheard, and it was the other foot) against the top of their ankle. That should lock their leg in place, meaning they can't recover their hook so easily, which also gives me more time to transition to the top.
Like always, my attacks from the back weren't all that great, as I tend to lose the position pretty quickly. I'm still working on the bow and arrow choke, as Kev finds that such an effective submission and he isn't far off my size. My problem is that I sometimes mess up by grabbing the wrong collar, or I hesitate trying to remember which side I should be circling towards. Sometimes even if I go to the right side, I end up with them too high, so can't get my leg out from underneath, which makes it tough to shift them towards my lap. Then again, I was landing this choke a few lessons back, so meh: I can occasionally get it to work. ;p
There was enough time for some free rolling, where I got the chance to spar with Oli. That's always fun, as he tends to be creative, and it's been a while since I last sparred him. In fact, I think it's been so long that he may have even grown a bit since then (he's either 17 or 18). I had a go at that escape from Xande where as they try to take the back, you switch your hips in midair and swing to the other side, swivelling into side control. I almost made it, but didn't fling myself far enough over, so ended up losing position. Entertaining escape to attempt, though.
Teaching #039 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/01/2012
Reading the forums and Facebook, it sounds like the UK BJJ contingent at the Euros has been getting some incredible results. Top UK brown belt competitor Luke Costello didn't just win his weight category, he won gold in the absolute as well. More results have been coming in steadily over on the EFN, so I look forward to hearing more. In terms of the GB Bristol team, there were some great results there too: Geeza won the silver medal in the ultra heavy brown belt division, an age division or two below his usual, which makes it even more impressive. Well done Geeza!
As Geeza was busy winning medals, I ran the open mat today. That's the easiest class to run, as all you have to do is go through the warm-up, pair people up, make sure nobody crashes into each other, then stretch out at the end. It also meant I could get in a few rolls myself, which is always nice. I was intending to try and work some spider guard sweeps, as that's what I'm teaching next week, but once again found myself working from top half guard much of the time.
That seems to be my go-to position at the moment (or at least it is when I'm sparring someone around my size), but still plenty of kinks to work out. I forgot to follow my own advice at one point, when I went for the inverted half guard pass, but didn't take enough care to prevent the recounter. Mike got a smooth sweep on me off that, which is a good reminder to always be ready for them flipping you over as you try to pass to side control.
I sort of got a sloppy roll back sweep from half guard, after trying to scissor, but I think I had a kilo or two on my training partner (amazingly, there are a few people slightly smaller than me at the club), so I probably wouldn't have got it without that weight advantage. It's definitely something I want to practice more often in sparring, especially as that will mean I can teach the sweep much more effectively.
I also ran the nogi open mat, which was significantly smaller. Almost everybody had left, leaving just Ben, Martin and Dónal. Due to the tiny numbers, I used a specific sparring set-up I quite like from previous lessons: one person on the mat for six minutes in one position, with the other two cycling in whenever that one person achieves their goal. I started it off with the person on the mat staying under mount for six minutes, then guard (only closed or open, rather than getting into half) and finally back mount.
I didn't spar nogi myself, as no-gi is not something I normally enjoy. I never go to the nogi class, unless I'm needed there to run it. However, I was thinking about nogi recently, because I see that veteran nogi coach Nathan 'Levo' Leverton is codifying his own nogi system. He's calling it 'Leverage Submission Grappling' (nice play on his surname ;D), with ranks, affiliation options, seminars etc. Although I've never met Levo in person, he's earned my respect from the posts he's made on the internet over the years, which are always insightful, mature and intelligent. So, despite the fact I'm not a big fan of training nogi, I'm intrigued to see what Levo has come up with and how it develops. The new LSG website is here.
Teaching #038 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/01/2012
There are three main variants of spider guard, all of which require you to grab both sleeves: this guard isn't commonly used in nogi for that reason, though it is possible to adapt. You will also normally have your feet curled around their biceps. For the most common variant, put your feet on their same side biceps, pulling their sleeves towards you, then push one leg straight, while keeping the other leg bent. This is intended to break their posture, keeping them off balance.
That is true whether or not they are standing up. There are several basic spider guard sweeps, which begin by pushing one arm out to the side, that work in either situation. You also don't have to push your feet into both biceps. There are numerous spider guard variations, such as pushing into one arm while also hooking behind their same side leg, or pushing into an arm and also holding a collar, which can set you up nicely for a triangle or omoplata.
A second option is to use your knees rather than your feet. While you could use this when they stand, it is more typical to do so when they're sat in your guard, given the obvious point that you've got a much smaller tool to work with when using your knees rather than the full length of your legs. The same sweeps can work here too, except that you're shoving their arm out to the side with your knee rather than your foot.
In nogi, you could grab around the back of their arms, just behind the elbow. In gi, you can grab the sleeves. This is something that you'll see pop up in Gracie Combatives, where it is part of the punch block series. I don't really use this one, but it's an option, and there is a bunch of stuff you can do from here: for example, the series Big Mick taught when he was visiting us.
The third option, and the one I and Dónal prefer, is known as the lasso grip. Circle your leg around the outside of their arm, so that your lower leg is on the inside, then wrap your foot so that it hooks the outside of their arm. You can then either keep your foot there, or Dónal's option of going deeper, hooking it under their armpit and around their back. That gives you a bit more control over their posture.
In terms of your sleeve grip, it's important to get that fabric as far round the front of your thigh as you can, clamping your elbow tight to your side. Braulio uses the metaphor of tying up a boat at the harbour: to pull their arm free, they have to not only fight your grip strength, but your thigh and your elbow as well.
As before, you don't have to keep both feet against their arms. You can also switch grip on their non-lassoed arm from the sleeve to their collar, slide your foot to their shoulder, or indeed push on the hip. That's useful if you find that you want to create some distance, as well as keep them off-balance. Pushing into their non-lasso side knee is another option to disrupt their base.
One warning about spider guard is that it is liable to bust up your fingers. As I've mentioned a few times in the past, a black belt once told me he doesn't use spider much for that very reason. So, be careful with your grips, and know when to disengage and re-grip. Speaking of which, next time I might try adding in more about grip fighting, and possibly things like recovering spider guard from a guard pass. The technical instruction didn't take up much time: tonight's lesson was more about giving everybody plenty of opportunity to play around with the spider guard position. I may well shift things around next time, as I look to refine my lesson plans.
Class #443 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 24/01/2012
More drilling with Mike before class started, working on an interesting quarter-guard sweep from Caio Terra's DVD. It's been useful for passing to keep working on specific positions like that, and hopefully has been useful for Mike too (in sparring, he swept me with the exact butterfly sweep we drilled a while ago, which was cool ;D).
Tonight's lesson went through the basic butterfly sweep. Dónal's variation was a little different, as you start from further out than normal. That means you're too far to get the usual deep underhook. Instead, you're going to grip on the back of their head, slightly higher up on the skull for better control (like a muay thai plum clinch, but with one hand).
Other than that, the sweep is the same. One foot is hooked underneath their thigh, while your opposite side hand grabs their same side sleeve. From there, lift with your foot on the head grab side, pulling the sleeve grip towards the hooked leg (you need to make sure they can't post with this). Your other leg threads underneath the underhook side leg, as you continue to drive their weight through their knee. Bring them to the mat, then transition to knee on belly. Normally it would be side control or scarf hold, but due to that increased distance, knee on belly feels more natural from here.
Specific sparring went as poorly as usual for my butterfly guard, which is a really weak position for me. My go-to guard is either cross-grip or spider, which are both long-distance, so the close-up nature of butterfly guard is still a struggle. I've said it before, but something I need to work on. Generally, they just stand up and we end up in one of the two aforementioned guards. I was trying to go to sitting guard instead, to stick with something at least related to butterfly guard, but that's even less familiar. So yeah, I didn't get too far on the bottom.
On top, I looked to pass the same way as when drilling with Mike a while back: stay low, get a strong grip on the collar, try to drive my knee through and get past their leg. I also had a go at the one Kev showed me a year or two ago, where you kick your leg back and bring both your knees against one of theirs. I think I forgot a few details though, as I was having trouble isolating the leg properly.
Good luck to Geeza and all the GB Bristol students competing at the Europeans! :)
Teaching #037 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/01/2012
Today I wanted to take a look at a position Ed Beneville and Tim Cartmell refer to as 'inverted half guard' in their book. The orthodox method is to get a similar 'super-hold' (as Xande calls it) to side control, then use shoulder pressure to hold them in place as you bounce your leg free and slide through.
With inverted half guard, you're using a different kind of pressure. For this pass, you will start off by controlling their head, where you have a broad choice of grips. Option one is to reach under their head with the arm on the same side as your trapped leg: that may feel counter-intuitive, as normally that is the arm you would use to underhook (it will make sense in a moment). Option two, still with that trapped-side arm, is to grab their opposite shoulder.
Option three is grabbing the back of their gi. Option four comes from the Beneville book: if you can get this one, it's probably the tightest option. Before you swing over, open up their lapel on the free leg side. Pass the end of their gi to the hand you have under their head and feed it through. Push their head slightly towards the trapped leg side, then shove your head there.
Whichever hold you've gone for (there are more, but we'll stick with four for now), the next step is to swing your free leg over to the trapped-leg side, so you're lying next to your opponent. This is where that grip comes in, as if you don't have one of those grips, they would be able to simply turn and take the top position. If you've gone with option two, in the process of swinging over, you'll bring your arm across their throat. That is therefore probably the least pleasant of the four options.
You need to be careful of their leg, as you don't want them to bridge. Grab their far knee to keep them in place. You can then kick their other leg off and free your foot. At this point, watch out for a counter they may try, which is to lift up your leg with their foot, flipping you over. To re-counter that, immediately switch from holding the knee to hooking behind their knee with your arm. That should stop them lifting for the sweep.
Also, very cool that there were two women in my class tonight. The number of female students regularly attending class at GB Bristol is about three at the moment, so I'm hoping that number continues to grow.
Class #442 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 17/01/2012
I'm among the fortunate group of people who received a pre-release teaser of Roy Dean's latest instructional, Brown Belt Requirements. So far, that just means the first DVD: judging by the outline I was sent, the set will be in four parts, with two DVDs of instruction, another with high quality versions of Dean's famous belt demonstrations (unsurprisingly the focus is on purple belts), then finally what looks to be a more artistic disc to finish off.
If you were a fan of 2009's Purple Belt Requirements, the new set looks like it will be following a comparable format. Again, the technical instruction is not in-depth, instead picking out details, almost always extending into combinations. There is coverage of the top and bottom game, generally finishing with a submission. You'll also get some insight into passing, but best of all, there is an extended discussion about pressure.
I'm looking forward to the full release, as there was a lot of content that would fit right into my game: I've been playing a lot more top game over the last few months, attempting to build up controlled pressure. That's exactly what Dean investigates, with his trademark smooth transitions. It's a DVD directed at senior belts, but not necessarily because of the techniques. I'm not talented or flashy, so to me, a lot of DVDs look cool, yet leave me thinking it's restricted to the latest Brazilian whizz-kid sensation, not me.
This DVD is advanced, but it didn't feel out of reach in the same way: to pull these moves off takes experience and timing rather than incredible athleticism. As in Purple Belt Requirements, the instruction is rapid, but there is more than enough detail if you've got the necessary mat time to recognise what's happening. Dean's selection is even more of an overview than Purple Belt Requirements, providing you with options and ideas rather than a carefully mapped out game plan.
It feels a bit like when you have a few higher belts on the mat before or after class, having a technical exchange. "Yeah, you could do that, but how about I go here?" "That looks good, but what about this?" I'm intrigued to see what else Dean is going to be sharing with the class, as he progresses to the undergraduate level of BJJ instructional.
__________________________________
Tonight's class was a de la Riva back take I've seen before, but with a few different details, as Dónal has his own way of doing things. You're in de la Riva, hooked around one leg and holding the bottom of their trousers with your same side hand. Your other foot is pushing into their other leg, while your free hand is looking to grab a sleeve. They aren't letting you get the far arm, so instead, you grab their near arm. Swivel off to the side, lift your hips up, then kick your hooking leg through, so you can curl your instep all the way around their far hip.
Swing your other leg over their arm, trapping their limb, getting your foot behind their leg. Shimmy your hips to get square behind them, or alternatively, using your hooking leg to twist their knee, so they are presenting you with their back. When you're behind them, switch your grip on their trousers to the other trouser leg, then switch your sleeve grip to the back of their belt. With both feet behind their knees, kick forward to drop them in front of you and take the back.
I did some drilling and focused light sparring with Mike before class again, which proved useful for sparring, as it meant I did a lot of passing butterfly guard. I was tending to secure a collar, lock my elbow inside my knee, then work to shove down their leg and step over, or crush down with my hips. I was doing something similar during class, when specific sparring de la Riva. I definitely prefer to force half guard in order to pass, which in the past I've worried is something I rely upon.
Still, it is better than having no passing option at all, which is how I frequently feel in open guard. If I can develop a method of getting to top half from most open guard positions, then that means I can move into a situation I understand how to pass. It would be better to be able to pass a greater variety of guards with confidence, of course, but I'll take what I can get.
Also as has been the case over the last few months, I was spending a lot of time in top half or side control. Partially that's because I've been avoiding anything that puts strain on my neck, but I would also assume that it's because at GB Bristol the instructor almost always pairs you up for sparring. That means I'm normally with people about my own size, so I don't get squished on the bottom as often (unless I'm with somebody much better than me, like Dónal).
Even though I can get to those dominant positions, I continue to fail to launch much of an attack from there. Again, need to think about combinations, rather than just going for an americana over and over again, or always looking for my step over triangle positions. From what I've seen, it could be that Brown Belt Requirements is coming along at just the right time, as it deals with the same kind of positions I've been reaching. Handy. :)
Teaching #036 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/01/2012
Continuing with the knee shield, I wanted to start with a simple sweep I learned from Nick Brooks. Having watched the Caio Terra DVD since then, I've been able to pick up a few more details: Terra refers to it as the 'half guard scissor'. Nicks version is from the knee shield with your feet locked, which I personally find more difficult to use (as I always get my knee shoved to the ground), but may work well for those with longer legs, or who are simply better at this position.
As I mentioned last week, the reason you lock your feet is so they can't raise their trapped leg and pivot, bringing their lower leg through the gap between your feet. If you're using the Terra version, you'll still need to drop your drop so that it is across their stomach, as with a scissor sweep from guard. In either position, always aim to prevent them getting a cross-face, as otherwise they will have a very strong position to work from on top. Therefore you need to block that arm, either with one or both hands, using the 'paw' grip.
For Nick's sweep, grip the sleeve of the arm with which they want to cross-face you with your opposite arm (i.e., the arm that would be on top if you were blocking with both hands). Your other hand reaches under their same side leg, grabbing the bottom of their trousers (not inside the cuff though, as that is illegal). Alternatively, Terra grabs the outside of the knee. In both cases, it is to block them posting out with that leg.
Pull their sleeve across your body so they can't post out on their hand. If you're having trouble getting that arm, push them a little first to lighten their arm, then pull it across to the other side. To finish, you want to do a scissor sweep motion, except that instead of chopping their knee with your leg, you're pulling it in with your arm. It also means you have both legs to lift and drive, rather than just one. Make sure you maintain the grips you have with your hands: this is key.
Also, don't get over-excited and try and jump right into side control. Instead, a great tip from Nick was to just roll your hips over, staying low and pressed into them the whole time, hip to hip. As you are still holding their leg, they can't re-lock their half guard. You can simply move your trapped leg backwards to stretch out their leg, then circle it free, moving into side control.
You also still have that grip on the sleeve, which sets you up immediately for an americana. You have a number of options to secure the figure four, depending on how you're holding that sleeve. One way is to control their arm with the other hand to then re-establish a better grip on the wrist with your first hand. Another is to roll your hand forward or backwards to change from the sleeve to the wrist. Or you could try pressing your head into their arm, and use that to hold it in place while you get the proper grips.
There is a handy follow-up if they shift their base to prevent the sweep, which Terra calls the back roll (I can't remember if Nick had a name for it, but 'back roll' is a rational choice). For example, you've gone for the scissor motion, but they have moved their head in the opposite direction your knee shield is pointing. You can no longer get the half guard scissor, but in changing their weight distribution, they have opened up an alternative.
Open up their arm with the sleeve grip, so that they move perpendicular to your body, using your leg grip to help (you may find the knee grip easier for this one, but experiment). This also means you can shift your knee shield so that they are balanced on the shin. If you get it right, they should feel fairly weightless. All you need to do now is roll backwards over your shoulder, still holding on to that sleeve grip. As before, you'll end up in side control with the americana ready to be applied.
Be careful of your head. Lift it a little off the ground and look in the direction their head is pointing. You obviously don't want to roll straight back over your head, or you're liable to hurt yourself. So, make sure it is out of the way and you instead roll over your shoulder, like when you do a basic backwards breakfall during drilling.
Class #441 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 10/01/2012
Dónal is now back from Austria, which meant more cool drills to work body movement and weight distribution. They fit in particularly well tonight, as I spent about 30 mins with Mike before the lesson started drilling and then testing a butterfly sweep he wanted to practice. Dónal's drills were related to that baseball slide he has shown in the past, where you bring your knee out underneath your other leg. That has since increased in complexity to doing it from all fours, as well as doing a little hop and changing sides.
Dónal added on yet another layer of complexity with tonight's lesson. First off, he had us go on all fours, then fling our legs in the air, trying to land softly on one foot. The next stage was to do the same thing, but this time you switch your hips in mid-airs, bringing one leg underneath the other. That means you land with your legs splayed, like you would if you were dropping your hips low in scarf hold or something like that.
Even better, Dónal showed the application. As Miles attempted to butterfly sweep him, Dónal switched his hips. For the sweep, Miles had hooked under one leg: Dónal therefore swung his other leg over the top, which not only switched his hips, but also meant that he slid off Miles' hooking foot and into side control. Nice.
However, the main technique for tonight (and there was only one, which is good) was a choke from side control. This is the same thing I learned from Matt Burn a while back at RGA Bucks, but Dónal had a few more details to add. The basic idea is to open up your far lapel with your far hand, bunching it in your fist. Punch that past their arm so that your fist is next to their neck.
Your other hand should be underneath their neck, meaning you can then feed the lapel from your far hand to your near side arm hand. Straighten your near arm into their neck, then gradually bring your head to their near side hip. Keeping your arm straight as you turn should cause the pressure on the sides of their neck to increase until you land the choke.
Dónal suggested that you not only pull your lapel out of your gi, you also twist it up into a rope. Twist the gi towards your feet, until you have what is effectively a coil of rope. Hide that in your hand and punch it through as before. This rope should make the choke noticeably more effective at digging into the carotid arteries: keep in mind the choke is around the back of the neck and side, not the front or the throat.
Rather than simply straightening your arm, you also want to drop your shoulder and across. You can either sprawl as you move around, or you can raise your bum in the air to drive your weight through a smaller area. If you need some extra pressure when you're in that finishing position, Dónal moved his choking arm elbow across, which seemed to be a useful way to finish off a stubborn opponent.
Dónal also holds side control a bit differently. I normally bring my knees in tight, as I like that feeling of security: other people like to sprawl back, as they feel they can drive more weight through their opponent that way. Dónal sort of did both. He folded the leg nearest their hip right back, so that his heel was touching the back of his own leg, while still keeping the knee of that leg pressed into their side. His other leg was sprawled behind him.
Sparring started off with specific sparring from side control, which all of a sudden made me realise I haven't been under side control as much as usual (mainly because I've been either starting from or working towards the top due to that neck injury). Still, when I am underneath, I'm making the same mistakes, relying too much on stalling with the running escape position and either getting my back taken or getting passed.
I still feel relatively comfortable under there, when I look to recover guard with the basic shrimp escape, but as ever I need to be more proactive. Fortunately I'm teaching side control in a few weeks, so I can focus on revisiting those fundamentals again. Hence why I also started under side control in free sparring a few times too.
On top, also as ever, I'm mostly maintaining, failing to launch any real attacks aside from a transition to mount (which is useful, but not the same thing as improving my submissions). I had some relaxing technical rolls with the other two purples at GB Bristol, Miles and Dónal, which was cool as Miles isn't normally at the same classes as me.
With some of the blues, I was looking to work my guard passing and particular trying to get to the back, neither of which I did particularly well: I could start the movement, but not actually get to where I want to go (i.e., I was flailing around looking to break down their turtle, but didn't manage to get both my hooks in). Long term goal.
Teaching #035 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 05/01/2012
Last time, I went through what I see as the basics of half guard, which is essentially creating a frame to block their cross-face, get an underhook, then get onto your side. Somewhat reluctantly, I also went through the lockdown, which I was in two minds about teaching as it so often becomes a stalling position (not to mention it locks you in place, so it isn't something I generally advise people use).
This time, I began with a brief discussion of maintaining top half guard, which I wanted to use to illustrate a typical mistake in knee shield, which is my personal favourite way of holding half guard. Basically, I was just sharing what I tend to do, if people let me get away with it by keeping their knee shield too low. I immediately move to tightly underhook their arm then brace my other elbow against the back of their head, dropping my hips and sprawling back. From there, I try to gradually put them flat on their back, then establish the usual cross-face and gable grip.
Note that a good cross face involves you gripping under their head, so that your bicep is pressed into the side of their neck. Your shoulder drives across their throat and may also shove against their shin. The idea is to not only make them uncomfortable, but also prevent them from turning towards you (which they generally need to in order to escape).
I don't like hurting my training partners unnecessarily, as I've discussed before, so this is about the borderline for me in terms of 'dirty techniques'. It's possible to be quite mean with a cross-face, so use your own judgement based on the people you are training with (i.e., I wouldn't recommend smashing your shoulder into the throat of a small white belt who is trying out their first class. However in a competition, it may be entirely appropriate).
Getting on to the knee shield itself, (also known as z-guard, and I think Geeza calls it shin guard, though that may be slightly different), the central idea here is blocking their hip with your leg, meaning they have more difficulty moving forwards. One option is to position the knee across their hip, which means you can keep your feet locked.
However, that also means you knee is quite low, so there is the disadvantage that they may be able to shove your knee to the mat and pass, like we did earlier. To stop that, you could put your knee up high into their chest, like Caio Terra. As ever, there are pros and cons, as putting your knee up high may open up a gap between your feet.
If you leave a gap between your feet, it is possible your partner may then be able to simply circle their lower leg around and free themselves. So, if you can't cross your feet, then clamp them together, to create a barrier to that leg-circling. Alternatively, clamp them onto your partner's leg, again to make sure there isn't a gap.
The hand positioning is relatively similar to the Indrek Reiland version of half-guard I showed last time. Caio Terra gives a few more details on the 'paw' grip, noting that you should be blocking their arm with your wrist rather than your hand, as that makes it harder for them to bend your block backwards. The other arm forms a frame against their neck, meaning that the elbow of that arm is close to the knee of your knee shield (this comes in handy later for transitions and techniques, which I'll probably get into next week).
Terra also mentions that he likes to go in close with his head. The reason for that is to make it harder for them to circle their arm around his blocking 'paw'. If they can get past that, they can attack for the underhook. It's possible to keep re-establishing the paw, but then you'll probably get into an extended battle of who can swim their arm faster. Hence why Terra prefers to cut out that space by curling inwards.
Class #440 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Luke Chamberlain, Bristol, UK - 02/01/2012
My first class of 2012 was, unusually, taken by Luke, one of the better blue belts at GB Bristol. I knew he had an interest in teaching from discussions we've had in the past, so I was intrigued as to what and how he would teach. Normally it would be Dónal, but I think he's skiing in Austria, and Geeza was also busy.
Luke more than lived up to expectations: he taught a very technical, carefully structured class, with loads of detail. That kicked off with a look at grip-breaking, which I'll definitely be keeping in mind for when I teach passing. Luke started with grip-breaking from the closed guard, from the perspective of the person on top looking to pass. If they grip your collar, the basic option is to place both your hands under their gripping wrist, then thrust upwards and away as you move your torso slightly backwards.
The second collar-grip break was a little more complex, which I hadn't seen before. IIRC, you start by bracing the elbow of your outside arm with your hip, cupping your hand underneath their arm, just before their elbow. Your other hand goes to the wrist again. Luke mentioned it was a bit like an armbar motion, as you're locking the arm out. As before, your then push up to break the grip (though I think I might be missing some details there).
Having dealt with the collar, Luke followed up with a grip break if they grab your sleeve. This was nice and simple, as you just circle your wrist in the direction of their thumb. If you try and go the other way, they can adjust and maintain the grip. Going against their thumb makes it much harder for them to retain their hold. Finally, if they grab your trousers near the knee, bring your hand underneath, then slide it up past their wrist to dislodge their grip.
Open guard grip breaks was next, focusing specifically on the spider guard. To escape my preferred lasso (where you wrap your leg around their arm), circle your hand behind their leg, then crawl your fingers around. I can't remember if the next one was also for a lasso or for the standard foot in bicep (I think it was the latter), but either way, you bring your arm down next to your knee, scraping their leg off, then circle your hand free of their grip as in the previous closed guard grip break.
If they are being sloppy with their feet in a foot-in-biceps spider guard, you may be able to simply circle your forearms under their legs, cupping the back of their ankle or leg with your hands, then push their legs off your biceps. That can then lead straight into a guard pass, as you take the opportunity to move round into knee on belly before they can recover their leg position.
The main technique of the night was the Margarida pass, named after Fernando 'Margarida' Pontes (read more about him here), a famous competitor from a few years back, who has beaten huge names like Saulo Ribeiro. Begin by grabbing their collars up high, near their chest, which is a common grip for when you want to stop them sitting up. Your other hand is going to grab low on their same side lapel, pulling it tight to take out any slack.
Use a swaying pendulum motion to stand up, then put the leg on the same side as your high collar gripping arm behind their bum. You want to get your knee into their tailbone: finding the right spot can be difficult, but if you just bounce your leg, that should be enough to jar their guard open. As soon as their legs open, drop down into a tight combat base: the knee on the tailbone break leg side will be raised. Your other knee will be on the floor, with the foot of that knee curled behind you, while your high collar grip is pressing into their shoulder.
It is important that you sink down quickly and tightly, as otherwise they may be able to sneak a leg behind to establish a de la Riva hook. I was finding that as I'm skinny, there was normally some space, but you can generally use your elbow to block what little bit of foot they manage to insert. Also, your weight should be mainly towards the leg you have on the floor rather than the raised knee. If your weight is leaning towards the raised knee, you're vulnerable to being swept.
Next, you want to slide your raised knee forward, up into their sternum, still pressing your high collar grip into their shoulder. The low grip you have on their lapel should help with this, as you can pull on that for additional leverage (a note of caution for drilling: you may end up squishing male training partners' tender areas if you're not careful). After that knee is into their sternum, you can shift your low lapel grip to the front of their same side trouser leg, about a fist's width below the knee.
Shove that leg down, coming up on your hips slightly if you need more force. Do a 'sumo step' over that leg once it is on the floor. Keep hold of that leg until you can slide your sternum knee to the mat, which will block that leg, meaning you can safely let go. Switch the leg gripping hand to instead grab their same side sleeve and pull it up high, across your chest.
If you can establish an underhook with your other arm, great, but most likely they'll be wise to that. In that likely event, drop the elbow of the high collar arm across to their other shoulder, so that your forearm is now pressing into their throat. Keep sliding through, until you can free your trapped foot, then move into side control. You also have the option to apply a collar choke, particularly if they're being very squirmy after you free your foot.
We didn't get a chance to practice that in specific sparring, moving straight into free sparring. I was paired up with three people not too far off my weight, which meant I was able to get into top half guard. I'm having a reasonable amount of success tightly underhooking their arm then bracing my other elbow against the back of their head, dropping my hips and sprawling back. From there, I found I could gradually put them flat on their back, then establish the usual cross-face and gable grip.
However, that was mainly because people weren't putting their knee up high towards my chest when they went to z-guard/knee shield. Instead, they were keeping it low by my hips, where I was able to sprawl on top of the knee and essentially negate it. That isn't a wholly reliable tactic on my part, as Callum used to knee-shield me all the time and I really struggled to get past: I think he must have had his knee a little bit higher.
I also failed to launch any real threat from top half guard. About the only attack I ever do is an americana, which is what people are expecting. I'm also often too hesitant about shifting from my secure grip to a position in which I can attack. I need to think of some options for offence based off that solid grip, with one arm under their head and the other under their armpit. Maybe some kind of choke?
Getting to mount a few times didn't help my attacks, as I'm limited there too. I'll either go for an ezequiel, but normally struggle to finish the choke (at least partially because I keep raising up, which gives them space to defend), or again an americana, but I'll often get stuck because my arm is still under their head. To complete the lock, I have to circle the arm over their head, at which point they can either block with their head, or take the opportunity to try and free their arm.
In terms of its basic mechanics, the rear naked choke is relatively simple. Begin by bringing one arm around their neck, so that the point of your elbow is under their chin. You don't want to leave any space, as the idea is to press into both sides of their neck. This will close off their carotid arteries and prevent the flow of blood to the brain. That is an efficient and safe way of subduing an opponent. 
Even better, you can take their arm right out of commission. With one of your hands, grab their wrist. Shove it down towards their legs, then step over that arm with your same side leg. When you then re-establish your hook (or pin your heel to their ribs, or put your leg behind their back), they are left with only one arm to defend against both of yours. If they've grabbed your wrist, twist your palm outwards, shove it down and out, then again step over their arm with your leg. Make sure you maintain pressure, so they can't simply swim their arm free.
