SJJA 22-12-11

Venue: Sweat FA

Instructor: Ian Rossiter.  (SJJA)

 

 

Last night was the last session of the year for SJJA down Sweat FA. I have, unfortunately, missed the last 2 classes in Weston due to work commitments so I very much wanted to attend the last one. On getting to the gym though I was initially very concerned as the only people there were the gym staff and they were cleaning(?!). It honestly looked like the place was closing down for Christmas and when I was approached by Josh, one of the managers at Sweat FA, he was unsure as to whether or not the session was on. I was fairly certain the lesson had not been cancelled as I had exchanged text messages with Ian early in the week but when you're the only person in gym waiting for said lesson you start to doubt yourself. To make matters worse I have a tendency to get to the gym about 20 minutes early to socialise/warm up and on this occasion I was the only person to do so which only added to my concern for the possibility that the lesson had been cancelled without my knowledge.

As it got to 8 o clock though, Ian trundled through the door to my relief and we walked into the Martial Arts section of the Gym to find there was a guy waiting there who wanted to start training with us. As we were chatting and getting ready 3 others walked in and during the warm up another 3 trickled through so we had reasonable numbers in the end.

Warm Up: Laps of the mat, including ass kicks, knee ups, facing inward for a lap, facing out for a lap. Neck, Arm and Shoulder stretching. Push ups 15 x 3, Squats 15x 3, Crunches 15 x 3 and then some leg stretching.



Techniques:
For the first technique Ian had us breaking closed guard (or at least coming to a position where you're about to break guard) by first taking a grip on your opponents gi front with one hand and pulling the guys arm across him a securing it at his belly with the other. Then, standing in the opponents closed guard, push your knee against their ass then drop back down so you're kneeling in their guard. Your knee should come in between you and your opponent so you're in a combat stance in their closed guard - depending on the size difference this action alone may break the guard. We drilled getting to this position for a couple of minutes first. I was drilling with Marcus for this bit and we had a bit of a chat and a laugh about his new job (congratulations by the way, I think forgot to say that in my last SJJA blog post).

Ian then moved us on to the pass. For this we push through the gap with the knee to the other side of the opponents body (be sure to underhook on the farside arm for this and pull up on the jacket sleeve at the nearside elbow), slide the leg through so your ass has passed and is on the mat, then pull the other leg through with a yank. You should now end in Kesa Gatame. I drilled this pass first a few times with Marcus, then we changed and I went with Gary.

Ian then changed the focus of the position to the guard player. As the guy on top is in the combat stance (knee forward through the closed guard), with one of his hands gripping the jacket front and the other gripping the guard players sleeve arm, the guard player then takes a grip of the sleeve cuffs of the opponent (for the one where his arm is gripped just switch your arm under and to the outside to take the grip) and simultaneously clenches and pulls up with his closed guard while pulling up and over his shoulder with the opponents arms (shoulder on the opposite side to the one where the guy was about to pass). This movement should sweep the guy over to his back with you on top but with the guys leg rather uncomfortably in the way in a kind of half butterfly hook that is pushed over to the wrong side. You then pressure down on the leg with your bodyweight so the guy can't use it to sweep you back off, switch your hips so your ass is on the floor and kick the leg the opponent has hooked out and then swing it up and around in a wide arc to the floor. Once there you're in a reverse Kesa Gatame position (facing legs instead of head), you can then switch your hips to bring your lower leg out from underneath to get to a strong side control position. Me and Gary drilled this for a while also trying out some variations on how to either pass over to the other side or get to mount.

After this Ian moved us on to a drill where you start in closed guard, the bottom player sweeps to mount then the mounted player upa escapes back to guard. We drilled this for a few minutes getting the chance to try out a load of different sweeps which was much fun.

After this we had a roll. I was mostly trying to fight from guard for the duration of the session to try out some sweeps and subs. I managed to hit an arm bar from guard but that was pretty much it. I also managed a kind of inverted Bow and Arrow choke from the top which was pretty sweet but it was against a newer guy so it doesn't really count.

I really enjoyed this session. Everyone seemed very light hearted with Christmas round the corner and it felt like a good way to end the year. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Ian for the instruction he's given me over the last year and for getting me promoted to blue belt. I've enjoyed every minute of it and can't wait for the new Bjj year. \m/

Favoured Techniques: Calf Slicer

I've had virtually no time for anything Bjj related or anything else that doesn't involve work this week. I work as a Highways Inspector for the local Council (North Somerset) and part of this job requires me to work on call to cover any out of hours emergencies every 1 in 9 weeks. I am on call this week and we have had some heavy rainfall and high winds in the South West of England meaning that I have been called out A LOT to flooding issues, trees down in the road and various pieces of traffic management blown into roads. Glamorous much?

All this adds up to the fact the I've had virtually no time to train, read or watch anything Bjj related (except for the odd blog on my feed reader at work) and I'm a bit bummed out. This is the first opportunity to sit down at the computer for any length of time so I figured I'd do a quick update of my blog.

The subject is a technique that I don't use any more due to taking leg locks out of my game for the time being (not allowed in comps remember) but while I was using it I found it a very handy move to have in the arsenal. The Calf Slicer is a move that I found on Sherdog.com as the Technique of the Week back in September 2010 as shown by Former UFC fighter Gabe Ruediger and a rather despondent looking Mac Danzig.

The technique starts when attacking someone who has gone to turtle. This is the underlying reason why I loved this technique so much as there's a guy at our SJJA club who has a very effective turtle defence. Neil Owen (formerly called "Tank" but more recently rebranded as "the Turtle") is a former Judo practitioner and for some reason has a very very good turtle. He's a big, heavy, squat type of guy giving him a very good base that has proved nearly impossible to pull him over. Couple this with his near non-existent neck and very good collar up-head down position and it also becomes ridiculously difficult to get any form of purchase on his neck or lapel. Generally you'd end up getting bucked over the top whilst struggling to find his neck and you've lost your good position.

So when I saw this technique I couldn't wait to try it. The very next time in training it came to my turn to spar with Neil, I inevitably came to a position where I was to pass his guard and he rolled over into the turtle.This was my chance.

Move Description: 

I put pressure down on the opponents back from a rear side mount position and used a seat belt style grip around his body to secure him in position and make him think you're going for the neck or collar. You then tuck your leg that is closer to the opponents head, through the space between the guys arm and leg (as if to get the hook in). Then push that leg through further and pull it over the lower part of the guys nearside leg and reach down for the guys foot/ankle and pull it up so the leg pulled closed with your leg inside around the crook. You then fall backwards - forcing the guy to roll over onto his back - and wrap your other leg over the top of the first leg (as if you've got his leg in a triangle). Then just pull on his leg a little bit harder (not too hard though if it's just training) to clamp his leg shut with your leg still inside, to put very painful pressure on the calf. I have never seen seen anyone not tap to this sub when it's locked on.

Here's the vid of the move.

See what I mean about Mac.

So anyway, I hit the move on Neil first time and he tapped straight away. And told me it was a nice move. And called me a bastard. I used that move, or a variation of it, a few more times before hanging it up and I must confess that I really enjoyed landing it. One day I may dust it off if I ever have need but until that day I'll just consign it to the archives.

If anyone reading this has a reason to use it (they do MMA) or hold less guilt about non IBJJF legal moves in training, go ahead and have a crack. It's a fun move that yields instant results and gives you a nice warm chuffed feeling inside when you hit it.

Cheers now. I'm back to work. \m/

BjjHQ Scramble Bushido Athletics Rashguard

Hey guys. Just to let you know, the guys at the phenomenal Bjj apparel website, BjjHQ are unleashing a pretty rockin' deal tomorrow (that's the 12th December 2011). The amazing looking Scramble Bushido Athletics Rashguard for the freakin' amazing price of $35. That's just twenty two of our British pounds. And the thing looks amazing as you can see from the banner add at the top of the page. Great colour and great price. And with Christmas so near, it's an ideal pressie for someone in the business of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Remember though, if it's not the 12th of December then you've missed out on the Rashguard but there is always an incredible deal on at the BjjHQ website and you can see these deals daily if you just look at the ad on my blog page down the right hand side. Check 'em out. Even if there's nothing you need, you'll soon find something you want.

Merry Christmas. \m/

Checkmat Bjj 6-12-11

I'm hitting the Bristol class this week as I definitely won't be able to make Thursdays class at Sweat FA, so it was the long drive up to LA Gym in Bristol tonight to train under Chico Mendes. The class had impressive numbers but the temperature was cold, cold, cold to start with. Chico soon brought our temperatures up with a fairly active warm up sesh.

Venue: LA Gym, Bristol

Instructor: Chico Mendes

Warm up: Laps of the mat, including ass kicks, knee ups, facing inward for a couple of laps, facing out for a couple of laps, running backwards while striking for a couple of laps.Then into some push ups x 40 and then sit ups for a minute, elbow to opposite knee sit ups for a minute, cross choke sit ups for a minute, then finished with shrimping x 40 with the last 10 done really quick. After that we weren't cold any more.

The focus of Chico's lesson today was maintaining control. He started off mounting Raphael (Heck, Chico's demonstration partner) and demonstrating the importance of tight leg control around your opponents torso/hips. By gripping you knees into your opponent you are preventing him from getting his elbows in and making it difficult for him to perform the hip escape to Half Guard. He moved it on from there to show us his preferred method of controlling your opponents legs using your legs. He says if you wrap your legs around over the top of your opponents, then just cross your feet underneath, you have the best method of maintaining balance on your opponents without tying yourself down to him and giving him avenues for escape.

He went on to show us how important he feels removing the opponents grips is and the quick yanking method he uses to pull the grips off. We then went on to drill mount control. 

Next Chico explained his thought on the opponent performing the hip escape on you, where he pushes the leg on one side, shrimps away from it and pulls a leg up and out into half guard. Chico feels that if your opponent is looking like escaping this way it is better to give up the mount for side control, rather than lose mount to half guard. With this in mind he lifts the lower leg up and switches it across the grounded opponents body using the foot to hook the outside part of the guys leg taking away the chance of him being able to shrimp out to half guard. Now if the opponent attempt to wrap his legs around what is left there, all he's got is your knee. Chico then goes on to show us how to safely secure a strong side control from there, how to re-establish mount from there and even why you should flip around into the opposite side control if the guys looks to hip escape on the other side when you're re-establishing mount.

We drilled these moves for a while longer then Chico introduced the S Mount to it. When the floored opponent attempts to escape to one side you can simply switch around so you're almost at a 90 degree angle to him, with one leg (the leg on the side he attempted to escape) over the top of his body with the foot flat on the floor the other side. You other leg will be knee to the floor nearly behind your opponent. From this position you can secure the collar for a bow and arrow choke, force an arm around his head and scoop up then cable grip for a nice rear naked or just grab hold of the opponents top arm at the wrist using your opposite side arm around his head. This last position is (rather crinchingly) referred to as the "gift wrap" over in the states and can be used to pull your opponent over so you have his back with hooks in, perfectly sitting up for several cool fight winning chokes. 

We drilled this last lot quickly then went on to situational sparring where you start from mount and have to maintain control. If the floored guy manages to recover guard or escape your top control somehow you have to do 10 push ups at the end. Then you switch round and go from the bottom. We did this a few times and I was fairly pleased with the fact that I didn't have to do a single push up :o)

After this we had some excellent sparring. 7 minute rounds. Very intense and I'm pleased to say that my cardio (against all odds) held out very well. I was not really breathing heavy at the end and could've gone on for longer. I also managed to hit a rather tasty Omoplata against Shabbi, one of the more talented and experienced white belts present. Now Shabbi has been showing vast improvements in his rolling recently and has also entered himself for the Hereford Open in February. At 76 Kilos he was certainly handling himself well against a me, a guy of superior weight and experience level. He insisted we start off with me on mount over him and went on to show amazing defence against whatever I threw at him, eventually managing to recover to half guard. I eventually ended up with him in my guard and managed, after ages of trying, to lure him into putting one of his arms around me. From there I pulled the leg up and over, first threatened a gogoplata, then hit the omoplata. Magic. I was chuffed. That's another one of my Bjj aims done.

All in all cool class tonight with good rolling after. This may be my last class for a while as I am on call next week. So my ability to train depends on how well the weather holds up. If it's bad I'm likely to be out on the roads. :o( 

Ah well, there'll always be the week after. Cheers guys. \m/

That Omoplata again. UFC Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale.

For those of you who happen to watch the UFC Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale, you may have noted the rather excellent, acrobatic (some might say disco) and skillful rolling Omoplata attempt Tony Ferguson fired off against Ives Edwards. The reason why I bring this subject up is because it is exactly the same amazing disco move that Ian showed our class on Thursday last week. What are odds? You get shown a move for the first time one day and two days later the same technique is featured on a show of the most highly viewed outlet for your beloved martial art of choice. Good stuff.

Re-watching it now, Ferguson fires into it from too much of an angle which allows Ives to follow it over with his nearside leg to block the move. Then Ferguson can't hold him down to finish the sub and Edwards has the strength and ability to posture up out of it. Shame, a definite sub of the night if it lands.

Sub of the night honours did, however, go to Diego Brandao for his awesome arm bar submission victory over Dennis Bermudez. Brandao ate a pinpoint accurate right hand from Bermudez whilst he was charging forward swinging a wild left hook, dropped to his ass and then had to use his high calibre guard game to fend off Bermudez' vicious ground shots. When the New York native stepped back to take a breather then jumped back in it was enough time for the talented Brazilian to line him up, grab an arm and roll him over for the very flashy arm bar finish. That fight also earned both fighters fight of the night bonuses.

My hat also goes off to Michael Bisping, who, even though he's not a renowned Brazilian Jiu Jitsu artist, showed off some very good Bjj defence in the first round against a far superior grappler in Jason "Mayhem" Miller. Bisping was mounted midway through the first round but showed great tenacity in holding on until an opportunity to break free came available. Bisping then pretty much controlled every other aspect of the fight on his way to a third round TKO stoppage by knees to the body and strikes to the head. Bisping is on a 4 fight streak now and has been talked about in conjunction with a title shot. Michael was the first person to put those talks to rest saying he still has a bit of improvement to make on his game before a shot at 'The Spider' Anderson Silva. Wise choice Mike. Although a good few options for some marquee fights in the near future for the UK number 1.

\m/

SJJA 1-12-11

Tonight's session was totally amazing. Father Jits-mas definitely delivered tonight in the form of an amazing Omoplata transition that Ian saved for the end of class. For starters I've been on a bit of a high all day anyway what with it being the 1st day of Christmas. I opened the first door on my super expensive Lindt Chocolate calendar this morning which was a bit tasty, wore the Christmas socks into work and listened to some cool Chrimbo tune-age on the ipod and car stereo too. This is my season and I love it.

As for training tonight, there was an average turn out but all the guys that went were good guys who have been doing Bjj for a decent amount of time (well over a year) so there were no rookies to coddle or take all of the instructors attention. Not that I'm adverse to new guys attending you understand, it's just some weeks it's good to have a more experienced class.

Venue: Sweat FA

Instructor: Ian Rossiter.  (SJJA)

Warm up: Laps of the mat, including ass kicks, knee ups, facing inward for a lap, facing out for a lap. Neck, Arm and Shoulder stretching. Push ups 15 x 2, Squats 15x 2, Crunches 15 x 2, then a round of seated knee tucks X 10 per person and then some leg stretching.


For the first technique tonight Ian showed us an escape from side control into a single leg takedown position. You're on your back with the guy laying on you in side control. Go for the standard bump up and bridge to make space -1 forearm across neck, 1 across hips, knees bent with your heels up against your ass, explode up in a bridge (feet and shoulder) whilst bumping the guy up and away with you arms. At the apex of your bridge pass your leg that is nearer your opponent under your other leg and make as if to base out. Whilst doing that, the arm that was used to push your opponent away at the neck should pass underneath for an underhook on the guy, then run down their side to secure behind their nearside leg. By this point you will be in position to thrust your shoulder into their lower abdomen - being sure to put your head across their body, not out to the side (guillotine's ya see)- you are now in a good position to push forward for a knelt down single-leg takedown.

I drilled this with Dan the blue belt. We both had fun with the move and got it quite well. Although both of us initially got called up on the head positioning for the takedown.


Next Ian moved us on to doing the same technique but the top guys putting some pressure on. We did this and I found the move very scramble-y, not so easy to hit against a fighting opponent who's expecting it. We both got it a couple of times but it was very scrappy. Ian then swapped us around to try the technique on a different sized opponent. I paired up with big Justin, a large 16 and a half stone bloke who does a lot of power lifting. This move seems made for Justin who had a brilliant technique for making the space and then had all the room in the world to switch over for the takedown.

At this point Ian stopped us and brushed us all up on a key side control point. If the guys has his forearms on you for the bridge escape technique you can just secure his far side arm at the top of the tricep and pull toward you while simultaneously passing your leg nearer his low side under your body to press up against the underarm of his other arm. To secure a nice Kesa Gatame.

We then sparred situationally. 2 minutes each way from the side control position. The guy on top has to either maintain control or move to knee on belly and keep it for the 3 seconds (as if scoring points in comp). The guys on the bottom either has to get to guard or do the base out takedown to gain top control. I sparred with Justin with him on the bottom first. Justin managed to gain closed guard quickly on the first run. The second I hit the knee on belly quickly. Then I just maintained control for the rest of the spar, although during one of Justin's escape attempts he impressively dinked me in the chin with hi knee.

We stopped for water (I took the opportunity to stick my gum shield in) and then I was on the bottom. This was quite hard as Justin out weighs me by 2 and a half stone. Pushing him up was very difficult but I managed it once early and claimed closed guard. Then I struggled for quite some time (including getting another knee in the head) and managed an escape to closed guard late in the spar. Note for the future, Justin has good side control now and he's only going to get better with time. Don't let him get settled in side control for too long or he could hold you down and sap your sttrength.


After that Ian moved us back to our original partners (I was back with Dan) and showed us the standard sprawl counter to the kneeling single-leg. When the guys shoulder comes in to your lower abdomen, just lay your weight down on his back while exploding the secured leg backward for the sprawl. From there Ian had us transition to rear side mount and hit the clock choke. You've sprawled your legs away and broke his grip, move round to his side keep your weight on his back. You then lean your torso across his back so you're kneeling near his arm on the near side and your arm that would be closest to his backside can now reach down and under his far side arm and pull open his lapel. Then your other hand can reach under the guys neck and reach into the collar to secure a grip nice and deep. Now with the hand you used to open the collar you can just secure his arm at the wrist but from the underside of his armpit (kind of as if you were starting a crucifix) and simultaneously pull down with the other hand on the collar to tighten the collar around the neck a bit. Now to finish you pass the your leg that's nearer his lower half under your other leg and shift your body around so your legs are moving toward his head like a clock hand (hence clock choke). Tap city.

Me and Dan drilled this but both had trouble to start due to slack grips on the collar and not putting the hand in deep enough. It's one of those techniques though that once you've got it you know. After Ian had put us right on a few points we were making each others eyes comically bulge like a good'un.


Five Star Technique time.

Then came my favourite bit of the class. The super disco move. Cue Staying Alive sound track with John Travolta's funky dance moves. From the position where you're trying the kneeling sprawl, if for some reason you can't break the guys grip, all is not lost. In fact I would say it's possibly better than if you did break the grips because who wants stinky rear side mount anyway when you can have a disco 2000 transition to (dun dun DAAAAN) Omoplata. One would almost think Ian had read my blog from Tuesday night.

So you can't break the guys grip so in stead you turn yourself around in his grip by pivoting on the leg in his grip to the side where his head isn't. You then very quickly reach down with your near side arm to secure the wrist of his arm that's around your leg, put your other arm back between your legs and perform a forward roll. When you come up immediately put your arm over his back, then manoeuvre your legs out away from him with the arm snuggled neatly across your belly and if necessary flatten him out. Then lean forward applying the pressure on the Omoplata. Brilliant. Merry Jits-mas. I drilled this move, first with Dan a load, then with Marcus a load more. I do not think I could love this move more. Definitely one to add to the "To Do List".


Sparring tonight was fairly quick as time had drawn on. I had a quick 2 minute round against Marcus. Mostly top control, ended up taking his back with strong hooks in though he had his collar way up and defended his neck very well. Couldn't get anything near his neck and he was threatening escape so I secured an arm and jumped onto an arm bar which he fought  for a long time, I ended up having to reposition my hips a little closer to him and really thrust the hips forward to get the tap. Also got a good half guard sweep on him too. Getting more confident with my half guard which is good.

Second bout was against Big Steve (someone's gotta think up a more original descriptive appellation for the big guys around here with out sounding pervy). I tried a different tact today - for some stupid reason I usually try and out wrestle Steve from the knee to knee start which has worked sometimes but just as frequently fails. Today I just went straight into guard, fired up the old Omoplata straight away. Failed there with Steve ending up trying to pass over the top of me into side control, but I figure four'd his secured arm at the wrist (in a sort of Americana from underneath) and used leverage on this to pull him back round and reclaim guard. We then engaged in a little collar war tomfoolery before I bluffed him out with one arm for an arm bar, went to the other and twisted him round for an Omoplata. Unfortunately he managed to straight arm out of this so I left my legs in and put on an inverted arm bar for a tap.

Last roll was with Rich who has showed an increasingly good guard game over the last few weeks (ever since a Braulio seminar, the spawny bastard) and jumped guard straight away. I passed his guard a couple of times taking side control for a bit but he was able to recover guard on both occasions. Haven't tapped Rich for a while now, he's definitely polishing up his game. I have to say congratulation to him too for getting a new job as a website designer for a wedding company in Taunton. Well done mate.

So, awesome session tonight and a move that I would really love to hit in sparring. Game on.

Til next time guys. \m/