Favoured Techniques: Omoplata

Hey guys. I was thinking about some of the techniques I really like - but don't necessarily hit all the time - and I thought of the Omoplata. The Omoplata is a submission I do not find myself going for very often, in fact I can count on one hand the amount of times I've tried to land it. I can count on two fingers the amount of times I've actually hit the move.

The positioning for the basic Omoplata that I have hit is best started with your opponent in your closed guard. For the movement to be successful you need him to put his hand down on the floor to your side, (actually this is not imperative but just easier for the point of this explanation) you can then secure that arm to the side of you and, using the foot on the other side of him, place your foot on his hip and use it to push your hips out (as if shrimping) to the side of the secured arm. In the position you are in from that manoeuvre you will be able to bring your other leg up behind/on top of him to press on his shoulder strengthening the secure hold on that arm. You can then pull your top leg over his head and pull the leg down over the top of his shoulder to tuck the foot under his chin. It is pretty important at this point to secure his lower back somehow, be it by grabbing his belt or gi or wrapping your arm over his back. Now all you need to do is put pressure on his face using the foot underneath it by pushing forward and that will help you remove the leg that you have underneath him. From there you just lean forward with both your legs out to the side and your bodyweight pressing down on his back. His arm should be getting pushed forward by your torso in a painful school boy behind the back arm/shoulder lock. Sometimes you may have to flatten the guy out to apply the move which is best done by shifting your weight away from the guy (while keeping him held down) and pulling him off his knees.

Here's an example that closely represents what I was trying to explain courtesy of SandhillsBJJ

This is the only way I have hit this move but exploring YouTube show about a million other ways to go. I think I will be trying to hit more Omoplatas in the future as it seems quite tailored made to my Bjj style. One video showed the Omoplata being hit nicely from a defended Kimura which looks pretty awesome.

Courtesy of Submissions 101. Lovely looking move.

There's also a few ways to use the Omoplata as a sweep. If you threaten the Omoplata but don't manage to secure the back in time, sometimes your opponent will attempt to roll out giving you a cool option to dive right into side control. If you did secure the downward pressure on his back but don't feel you have the positioning on the arm to finish the sub you can just release the arm and transition to the back. Another option is to take the mount using this excellent sweep/transition.

Awesome move from Luiz Palhares showing how to use the omoplata to get the sweep to mount and even how to hit a triangle straight off.

In summary, I'm soooo going to be trying to hit some Omoplatas from now on. It's a cool move and if it doesn't work it has some great go to options. Another criminally underused sub in my game that I'm looking to correct. I'll tell you how I get on.  \m/

SJJA 24-11-11

Totally contravening what I said on Tuesday night, I was actually able to go to Bjj on Thursday. Cool Beans (it's a saying my missus keeps coming out with and it's starting to get in my head). This was mostly due to my previous family commitment not being needed any more and my wife being absolutely amazing and just coming out and suggesting I go to Jiu Jitsu instead (bless 'er). On top of that we had a good turn out tonight with a guest appearance from Nathan "Matrix" Moore Pointing who is trying to get in as much training as possible for Sundays English Open so all the best of luck to him on that.

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 10 x 3, Squats 10 x 3, Crunches 10 x 3, then a shitload of seated knee tucks and then some leg stretching.

Techniques:

Takedowns:

Started off tonight by re-drilling the takedowns from 27th-Oct Class, the walking forward tipping your opponent to the ground; the same again but with a sweep; then the arm bump to double leg and this time we added the single leg variation where you bump the guys arms up then shoot in for a single, figure four your arms high around his leg (like RNCing) and stand up raising the opponents leg. You then just turn and corkscrew the guy to his back. I was drilling with Marcus for most of these which was cool as Marcus is a good drilling partner who puts in the right amount of effort, never gives anything away too easily and always picks you up on something if you're getting it slightly wrong. At one point though (on the sweeps) we were swapped and I was with Big Steve. Big Steve is, as the name suggests, quite big. And when he sweeps you and lands on you it's not the most pleasurable of experiences. Regardless of that though it's always good to try your stuff out on people who are quite a bit larger that you as you will always find someone who is bigger than you and if you've never experienced what it's like to grapple against someone like that you'll just be crushed and laid on when you eventually do. Not a pleasant experience at all.

Guard passing:

Ian swiftly moved us on to some guard passing, starting with the basic pass from kneeling in a closed guard. In closed guard, secure guys arm to the front of him and put weight down on his hips using the other arm ( a combination of grabbing his gi and driving down with your elbow). Then, drive the same side knee as the hand that is gripping his gi, into his ass. Now put the other leg out and behind you slightly with the foot flat on the floor and shift your weight backwards so your hips move back to your rear leg. This action should drive your knee into him (not literally you sick people) while the rest of your bodyweight rips open his guard. You then, using the hand that was holding his arm down, reach back behind the leg on that side and scoop the leg up, then reach up to his opposite shoulder and push your weight down on the leg and slide across making sure to clear your head. Then just bump his leg down so you land in side control. Me and Marcus drilled this a few times.

The next technique was just a variation on the last. If, as you're sliding past his leg, the guy on the floor posts his arm out into your side to stop you from completing the pass, all you have to do is bring your nearside knee in and up toward you then tuck it inside his posted arm and turn the leg to push it back out again. This easily upsets the post and all you have to do is fall neatly into side control. I drill this with another big lad called Justin. If I was being honest I found it hard to close my guard on Justin anyway so I do not think I would be using a closed guard on a guys his side. He could break the guard just by inhaling so I don't think that's the way to go.

Ian then moved us on to another pass. On this one you are kneeling and had broken the guard and managed to get both arms around the back of the guys legs so his knees are near your face. Then, pulling the guys hips into you so his back is riding up your legs, simply push one of his legs down on the floor and then continue as if for the other pass, forcing his leg up and smashing passed in to side control. A nice user friendly little pass that I shall definitely remember for future. I drilled this with Nathan and Gary, both purple belts which was fun as they both give you a few tips to help improve your moves.

The last move of the night Ian showed us was without a doubt my favourite. Ian showed the technique as if the opponent was about to try for the previously shown arms behind legs pass. While the guys got your hips up and pulled in, you slot an arm under his armpit on the facing side (left to right, right to left) and reach over the top with your other arm and grab your hands together. You can then pull on the tucked under arm which forces the opponents arm to pop out from under your leg and leaves you in the most delightful position to fire your leg up around his neck for the triangle. I practised this sub with my brace of purple belts and they started to vary it going into straight arm locks and arm bars too. Nice stuff. A favourite was when you popped the arm out it naturally lands laying flat on you. If you literally just hug his arm at the elbow and move as if you're performing a crunch it earns you a nice cheeky tap. Amazing move. Triangle and straight arm lock. Cool beans (argh).

Rolling:

We rolled using the 3 guys, two in one out system. Unfortunately I was with the Purples at the end of drill time and got landed with sparring with them. I say unfortunately but I love the challenge really. Admittedly with Nathan in pre Tournament mode he really wasn't giving much away and he managed to pull off some fantastic escapes. His turtle has always been a thing of beauty, just when you think your got him and can work his back he pulls off some wizardry and you end up in guard. I managed to sweep him once and pass his guard once (maybe twice, unsure about the second) and even nearly accomplished a sweep from half guard on him which is amazing given how badly my half guard game sucks. Still, I managed to come out of it recovering guard which if is worth it. All in all I was only tapped once, by Nathan via triangle which he'd turned over and ended up on top with, so I walked away feeling pretty good about the whole affair. It's always good surviving higher belts and even though I didn't get to fire off any sub attempts myself I survived most of it which is important. Especially as on one of change overs, Gary jumped straight on my back into bow and arrow and I managed to escape it. That deserves a back pat in itself considering how much Gary loves that sub :o)

Anyway, it was a great surprise Jiu Jitsu sesh tonight and I can't wait for next week.
Til next time \m/

A Bjj Christmas

As my obsession for this wonderful martial art matures I find myself wanting more of the related paraphernalia that goes with it. I love a good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu manual and already have a fair few, but still I find myself wanting more. I am also a big time Christmas nut. I love Christmas and everything about it. As soon as it hits December 1st I am in Christmas mode and will have my house deco'd up to buggery. I think it's because my family always made Christmas a big time of year and I definitely feel I should pass this onto my kids. I will not rest until my kids think that Chrimbo is their favourite time of year too - James is basically already there but Jolie can't really speak yet so I think I might have to wait a while for her. Anyway, regardless of how broke we are I always insist we spoil each other with food, sweets and of course presents.

Now usually on the run up to Christmas, my wife and I would have been laying down some jaw jarringly brutal hints for the other to pick up on, so as to ensure the suggested items feature somewhere in our Yuletide holiday. This has previously lead to some doubt and the occasional miss cue on the present buying. So to make things absolutely certain this year I took the liberty of writing my missus up a list. After perusing back across the list I chuckled at the predominance of Bjj related items on my list. It seems my one obsession with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is transplanting itself onto the Christmas obsession. Hmmmmmmm. A bjj Christmas. i can think of nothing better.


The first item on my list was a new mini flip screen digital video camera. Now this is something I've been wanting for ages to film techniques in class at the gym or even at seminars (with permission of course). This will really help with the logging part of my blog as it will help me remember techniques and also enable me to add a video each time. No more having to trawl through the internet for the exact move you were taught last night, sometimes thinking you've got it only to discover the legs go in the wrong direction or the guys end up going for the wrong sub. Arrgghh! How many time this has happened to me already, I cannot say and I've only been in the blog writing game for a short time. So yeah, a pocket Flip Cam would be awesome.


The next important thing on my list would be a copy of Marcelo Garcia's X Guard manual. This is a book that was on my list last year along with a couple of others. Think I ended up getting André Galvão's book, drill to win, that has some very good drills that you can carry out by yourself to help improve your game (and coming from this years double ADCC champ you gotta believe it). But I was still yearning for the X Guard book. Particularly because I've heard there is also a very good section on the Butterfly Guard in there which I consider to be quite a weak part of my arsenal (not to mention the fact that the X Guard is a non-existent part on my arsenal) and I'd love this to help become a bit more complete. It doesn't hurt that I don't recall reading a single bad review of this book and I've read a few. And also that all the reviewers and bloggers whose opinions I respect speak (write) highly of Victory Belt as a publisher, which is why I was surprised when I went to their website and read their body of works and found that I have about five or six of their published books already. Haha. Muppet.

The next manual I consider to be important for me this year is the third book in the amazing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Details and Techniques series by Ed Beneville and Joe Moreira (actually it's only the second by Moreira as the first book was Beneville and Tim Cartmell). The third book 'Strategic Guard' is actually said to be better than the first two which I find hard to believe as I already consider these books to be the best manuals on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that I possess and have found in circulation. How can this other be better? I will have to wait and see. For any who are interested in the contents, here is a fantastic and as usual very thorough review on the book by slideyfoot that should tell you every thing you need to know.

For my final bjj manual yearning I would like the new Marcelo Garcia book, Advanced Brazilian Jiujitsu Techniques, that frankly looks and sounds awesome and if Aesopian's review is anything to go by it's a must have for this season. Seeing the guy rule the school at the ADCC this year has really driven him up my list of favourite practitioners of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and just looking at his instructional vids on youtube, you can tell just how completely amazing an instructor he is too. Really look forward to (hopefully) getting a brace of MG books this year. Got some fun reading times ahead.

I've asked for a few non-bjj related things for Christmas also, but the above mentioned items are definitely at the top of my list. I was thinking of going for a new groin guard as well but I don't want to take the piss. I hope my list has inspired you to start writing out you own list soon, and feel free to contact me if you feel there is an item of Bjj related awesomeness that I should have or that you highly recommend. If anybody wants a suggestion on their first book/s to get for Bjj I would definitely recommend  the Ed Beneville ones. Very thorough and very detailed.

til next time \m/

Checkmat Bristol 22/11/11

Can't go to my Weston class this week due to a family commitment so I went up to LA Gym in Bristol for Checkmat's Tuesday evening class. And what a class it was. Instructed by Chico Mendes and assisted by Raphael Heck, the class was a Bjj  obsessionalist's dream.

Checkmat  Bristol 22/11/11

Venue: LA Gym, Bristol

Instructor: Chico Mendes

Warm up: Start with neck stretches, then arms, then legs, then did some press ups. We then paired up and went through the motions of pummelling, from collar and elbow tie to underhooks. After we practiced shooting for doubles and singles, then drilled escaping the single.

For techniques tonight it was all about maintaining side control. Chico had some fighters in MMA competition over the weekend and apparently a couple of them made what he considered to be school boy errors from top control. Chico believes (in MMA and No GI) that you shouldn't be giving up a commanding position like side control in an attempt to gain mount unless you're absolutely comfortable with your side control position and have had a chance to move safely into mount. He also says that in an MMA match the arm bar is low percentage and most of the time not worth the risk, using an example of Dan Henderson at UFC 139 being mounted by Shogun Rua and offering up his arm as bait in the hope that Rua would go for an arm bar and lose the position. 

So Chico started from a tight side control with his knee up to the opponents hip and his same side arm secure the other side of the opponents body. He then passed his other arm under his opponents head gripping the gi collar or the shoulder. The next be he emphasized quite a bit. If you use your shoulder to push the opponents face on it's side to the mat you (preferably so it's facing you) you cut off your opponents range of movement for hip escaping helping to secure the position.

Chico then went on a long technique drive showing us about five or six moves involving going to Kesa Gatame or Knee on belly and then transitioning to either head and arm triangles or a nice mounted triangle. 

He then showed us two cool techniques from Kesa Gatame if your opponent uses his arms to push you away. The first was if the opponent used his far side arm to push you face/neck away, just push his arm diagonally up across his body, securing it there with your head and body laying across with your opposite arm encircling his neck.Then and easy knee on belly slide over the body to mount. Bring your other leg over also to find yourself on the opposite side of him with your shoulder pushing his arm up, your arm still encircling his neck and use your other arm to secure the choke using the crock of that elbow to pull on the arm that's underneath. 

Second move. Kesa Gatame again. He tries to use both arms to push you away at the face. Push on the elbow of his near side arm so it passes across his face/chest, then switch your base so your legs are sprawled on the mat and your body weight is pressed against the shoulder of the opponent keeping his arm in place. Pass your top arm (arm nearest his head) under the guys neck while the other arm guides his trapped arm to that hand. You can then pull on the arm so the guys neck and head are trapped in place by his own arm. If you pull hard on this you can turn the guy on his side so his back is facing you. Then you can heavily rest your knee on his side to make the hold a little more secure, and slide the leg over to gain S mount (which is incidentally worth 4 points in competition even though the guys is not flat on his back). Then, putting your other knee on the mat behind his back you can use the hold you have on the opponents arm/neck to pull backward getting him into rear mount with hooks in. A nice move to a cool little back take. We had loads of fun drilling that one.

Rolling: We did lots of rolling to night with 6 minute rounds. I rolled against Jason first, whose a blue belt and one of the nicest guys you can meet. We have a really good high intensity roll with lots of transitions and great defence. We were both pretty tanked after.

I then rolled with Tom, a white belt who often attends the Weston class. It's good rolling against Tom because he's goes quite hard and you find yourself being pushed to go hard too to keep up. I nearly managed to get him with a triangle transition from an armbar attempt but he got his elbow down well and kept space so I had to settle for tapping him with a transition back to the armbar.

Next roll was against Black Belt Raphael Heck and I felt that I had a really good go here. He was probably only rolling at a low percentage but I managed to pass his guard twice and maintain top control for a decent amount of time. He did mount me once and I managed an escape using my legs to pull him down to his back. I also swept him from half guard which is one of my biggest achievements to date as my half guard game isn't that impressive. Not getting tapped by a black belt was the highlight of my night, especially as I felt him pile on the pressure in the last minute to try and tap me. I had to go on a mega defensive just toward the end and was very satisfied surviving.

I then rolled against a wiley white belt named Mike who I've rolled with previously and tapped a couple of times a few months back. He has definitely improved though and even though I spent most of the roll in control, I slipped up during a guard pass attempt and he caught me with a tasty arm bar making him the first lower belt to tap me out. I then proceeded to try my best to gain my re-weng-ee but it turns out I'd left it desperately late and only had about 30 seconds. I'll look forward to rolling with Mike next time. 

Next up was Tom "Egg" (on account of his bald head) a blue belt with some experience on me, which was why I was fairly chuffed when I tapped him to a real rookie mistake. From the start he managed to gain a nice underhook on me and passed to my back. He didn't really show any signs of threatening my neck or anything at this point and I feel quite comfortable with my ability to shake back mount usually but I couldn't seem to shake a hook off. Risking a quick glance down I noticed he had his feet crossed, I mean this is school boy stuff, so I passed my leg over the top and rested it on one of his feet a pressed down. He resisted for a couple of seconds then tapped. I confessed to him that I didn't feel any joy in the tap as it would be an illegal move in a competition but he accepted that he was using poor technique and deserved to be called up on it. The rest of the roll was very high octane with Tom using his high quality guard game to try and sweep me (he nearly managed twice) or to armbar me (nearly succeeded once). I managed to pass his guard a couple of times to which he quickly recovered, and passed him to turtle one time to which he also quickly recovered back to butterfly. Tom's butterfly guard is good.

Last roll was against Josh, a white belt who has been training hard under Chico for some time now. Josh has also improved a lot since I last rolled with him, showing a very good half guard game. He even took my back at one point but I shook him off quite easily. Josh does have a weakness for trying omoplatas though to which I was using to pass his guard quite often. This was the last roll of the night and I have to admit to feeling pretty knackered so I didn't really push the pace to much. Neither of us really took the upper hand and time fizzled out.

All in all it was a great session and I really enjoyed the intense rolling at the end. 

One big good luck to Raphael Heck and Jason Brookbank who're both going in for the English Open this weekend and Raphael is also doing a superfight at the Hereford Open the weekend after. Hope it all goes well guys. \m/

SJJA 17th Nov 2011

Thursday 17th November 2011

Low numbers tonight. I expect this'll probably continue up to Christmas as people slack off, funds are low, late night shopping is always on Thursdays etc....   Christmas is a time for joy but in the Bjj world it's also a time for excuses. And I won't lie, I'm kind of up there with the best of them for this. I have a wife and two present hungry kids and am already in debt up to my eyeballs. So I have to slack off of Bjj a little bit in the roll up to Christmas to save the bucks for whatever super expensive present the young lad wants. This means 1 lesson a week usually and the skill and fitness level also suffers a bit. I love Christmas but my Bjj Obsessed side doesn't. Still, I'll probably get some cool new Bjj kit or manuals on the big days so wahoooo.

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 15 x 2, Crunches 15 x 1. We then partnered off for Kimura sit up drills 15 each side. Then some leg stretches.

First technique of the night was the Kimura. We mixed up partnering all night so I can't even begin to remember who I partnered with for each individual drill. Starting in guard, opponent has his hands on your gi front. You bring your arms under his and hold your hands together as if praying. You then explode your hands up through the middle in between his two arms, pushing outwards, at the same time pulling his torso up towards you with your closed guard. The up and outwards pressure should cause him to base out on the ground to either side of you so his hands are flat on the ground. You then select one of his arms and grip his wrist with the hand that's on the same side (right for left, left for right) and, dropping the foot of the leg on the other side of your body to the floor and pushing down on it, throw your other arm over the top of his secured arm, reach down and grab the wrist of your arm that is still gripping his (if that makes any sense). Then, holding his arm tight to your body, fall back with your body weight pulling his arm with you and close your guard. Keeping the arm tight to you and at a forty five degree angle, push the arm around as if it were a clock hand, clockwise if it's his right, anti clockwise for left. Some guys weren't holding the opponents arm tight enough to themselves so the whole technique was too loose. Others weren't securing the guy by closing the guard back up after they'd falling back with the arm secure. Ian offered a couple of pointers then we moved on.

Ian's next technique was the option for the guillotine. From the position where your got the wrist secured at your side and leant over to grab for the Kimura, quickly reach back around the guys head and thread your wrist underneath his chin. Then let go of the secured wrist and use that hand to reach under his body and grab your other hand and pull on the arm to win the tap from a choke. Now then mistake I was making and this seems to be one of the most common mistakes, was that I was pulling up on the arm trying to choke my opponent across the throat. Now this might eventually earn the tap but Ian pointed out to me that the more effective way to execute the move is to try and pull the arm through. This tightens the hell out of the choke and gets the tap a lot quicker. It's worth mentioning that the bigger guys also have problems with threading their hand under the opponents head/neck due to a lack of space. It seems a bigger guys need a bit more fumbling about to secure the hand grip under the chin.

Next up was the guillotine defence. Ian showed us the defence from sitting first. The guys got the arm around your neck and is about to lean back to fully torque it in closed guard. You put your arm over his far side shoulder and try and reach down his back. This takes all the pressure off of the hold when he closes guard and leans back. Then reach up with your free hand to grab his arm and take more pressure off the choke, and push up on your feet so you can drive your shoulder into his throat. It is possible to submit an inexperienced guy with the shoulder drive alone but usually an opponent will drop the choke attempt and push you off leaving you in a good top position to start passing guard.

We then went on to the guillotine defence from standing. Starting in the guys guillotine you once again pass your nearside arm over his far side shoulder and at the the same time reach up with your other hand to his arm and pull down. All this relieves the pressure from your neck and even if he wants to try and blow himself out  lifting your body up in the air to torque the choke, all he'll be doing is gassing himself out. With the elbow of the arm that is reaching up to relieve the pressure from your neck, push against the opponents leg then pass around to the other side of his body and push your nearside knee into the back of his knee. This will cause the opponent to easily drop backwards to the floor. If he has (stupidly) maintained his hold around your neck you can then drive your shoulder into his throat once again whilst looking up in the air and working on pulling his arm out to work the head free leaving you in side control. Little tip that Marcus gave me on this one that I'd missed in the demo was that when you drop the opponent to the floor and are driving the shoulder, have your legs facing towards his legs to apply more pressure on the neck and allow your full body movement strength to pull the grip off of your neck.

Rolling tonight was 3 minute rounds which absolutely flew by. I rolled with this new blue belt (new to the class, not to the belt) called Dan who'd just moved to the area. We had a good roll, I took him down to side control, went for a straight arm lock, he shirked it and recovered half guard. I then (copped out) went for the Ezekial and had it quite tight but he managed a panic jerk just about popping his head out (went an interesting colour though). I then worked on passing his guard and he shot the leg up and locked the legs around for a loose triangle. I got into position to block and escape to which he pushed my leg down with a wiley counter. He then pulled down on my head which, rather than choke me out, just smothered me out of breath for the tap. New guys pretty good. We restarted and I took him down to which he jumped into guard. I broke his guard and started to pass to which he threw up a weak arm bar attempt which I easily blocked and used to pass. Then unfortunately time was called. I hope Dan comes again, it was fun rolling against someone who provides me with a big test. It makes me raise my game more.

My second roll was against a guy named Chris whose a white belt that has come on and off for a while. Chris' main problem is he's basically totally rigid through his sparring which makes him exceptionally easy to sweep and takedown. I took him down and he was trying to arm drag me to get my back. I managed to jump straight on him to full mount and remembered my aims for the class. I was trying for the mounted triangle which I couldn't secure and ended up losing mount for side control. From here I secured Kesa Gatame and used my near side leg to hold his leg down, then passed my far leg over and under his head then pulled that leg into the crook of my other leg and locked up a fantastic (if I do say so myself) inverted triangle choke. Wahooo. One of my aims done. 

Got a couple more taps from the sparring but nothing of note. I'm gonna have to try harder to achieve my goals here. 1 a week is pretty shit. 

And I hope Gary Davies is back next week. His demon guard game is always a pleasure to roll against. \m/

Stuff to try this week 16/11/11

I've been horrendously busy this week with the local Carnival (I had to shut the roads and monitor a section of it for safety) and family commitments (Wife's birthday, family down) so I haven't really had a chance to give blogland a look in. Needless to say I've still been entertaining myself with reading the odd manual and watching the odd vid. I have a copy of Ed Beneville and Tim Cartmell's excellent Passing the Guard book in the bog for some emergency Bjj reading material and I am still trawling my way through Roy Dean's Blue Belt Requirements Dvd. So all in all the obsessional itch is being scratched, if only in a small way.

But I still find myself thinking about Thursday and what I want to achieve during the rolling part of the lesson at SJJA Weston. I'm still thinking on the lines of the side control escapes carried over from last week. I managed to hit the spin out but that was the only time I had someone get side control against me so I didn't get a chance on the other apart from a quick theoretical drill against Marcus. So I think my big aim will still be to practice the side control escapes from Roy Deans Dvd, particularly the basing out one as I didn't hit that last time.

Other stuff I'd like to get to grips with; I'm still loving the mounted triangle, very nearly hit one last week but Rich had it well scouted so no joy but I think I'll try and make it my try first mounted attack for the next few weeks to really learn the movements and see if I can land it a few times. In fact, I think I'll be trying to hit more triangles in general as the triangle is a criminally under used sub in my repertoire. Don't know why I've never bothered too much with it given that it's one technique that truly epitomizes Bjj but I always find the armbar more natural. So from now on, the triangle is the way forward. I've been looking at a lot of triangle stuff this week to help me in this but one video I've enjoyed is this little number by Stephen Kesting.

A few different types of triangle there and well explained. The next triangle inspiration I've been looking at was in the BJ Penn Closed Guard Book of Knowledge. In there he shows how to hit a triangle on a guy who's dropped his weight on you in your guard. It's a cool little move that I have actually hit before ages ago (on one of the few times I've actually gone for a triangle choke) but came rushing back into my memory when I was thinking about this self challenge. I've found a video that is very similar to it on YouTube and it's taught on there by Bj which is handy cause the technique is very similar to the one in the book. This one will particularly come in handy due to the fact that there is a few guys at our class who like to get in your guard and crush their weight on you while they stall for breath.  

This weeks "pipe dream" section will add another Roberto 'Cyborg' Abreu super disco move from Tornado Guard. This is the latest entry from the Bjj Weekly site and is in keeping with my theme here. Same as last week, going into the Tornado guard but this time you can't get the sweep so twist back around for the triangle. I have little to no chance at all of managing to hit this move in sparring but I put it up here anyway as who know's? One day I might be regularly hitting stuff from the tornado guard and I'll look back at this and laugh at my own naivety (big fat yeah right on that one). 

I'll update tomorrow to tell you how it went.

Cheers \m/

SJJA 10th Nov 2011

Back to training tonight. Enthusiasm was at an all time high and I had a few moves banging around in my head that I wanted to try out in training and maybe even rolling situations. The class numbers had picked up again and everyone seemed to be in jovial and all around good moods.

 

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 15 x 2, Crunches 15 x 2. Leg Stretches.

Quickly in to the first few techniques. Ian said he was briefly recapping some stuff from last weeks lesson to which I was chuffed as I missed last week. 

 

From Closed Guard.

Sitting with your guard closed around opponent. Take deep grip into his collar, make as if to grab opposite collar to which opponent blocks. Quickly grab their sleeve and pull their arm across you, open guard and put foot on guys hips (the foot on the side that his arm has been pulled from), escape hips to make space then take foot off of the guys hips and put it on his back. Then using your free hand, reach up and push forearm against the side of his neck. Choke-tastic. I was drilling this technique with Gary (Master Roshi) Davies which was fun as he has a wealth of experience and can give you little tips on just about everything. The sub came fairly well and I felt it was a nice easy start.

Next was the Armbar for Guard, starting with hand deep in opponents collar (cross grip). Secure the guys arm that is on the same side as the collar grip using your other hand. Open your guard, feet on his hips to help you hip escape, outside leg (opposite side to collar grip) rests over high on his back, other leg comes up and rests on his head, release the collar and use both hands to secure his arm to your chest, thrust your hips out for the easy tap. An oldie but a goodie as they say.

 

The last technique from this position was the same up until you've got the leg high on his back, then he pushes foward so you struggle to get the other leg over. For this all you need to do is grab his nearside shoulder pressing the side of your arm/wrist against his throat and, keeping your arms tight to you body, pull down. The pressure put across the throat produces a pleasant eye bulgy tap. When done correctly. To begin with I was putting the arm across the side of Gary's neck and pulling with the gi cross and pushing my arm into his throat effectively trying to crush his throat side ways on with sheer strength. A move which would probably work after a while but basically wastes strength and is overall poor technique. Fortunately Master Roshi (loving that new nickname) was on hand to point out what I was doing wrong and corrected it. Technique done properly and everything was fine.

From side Control (Top)

Ian then went on to do the forearm choke from side control. Laying on your opponent in a nice strong controlling position, hand at the head side takes a grab of his collar from behind his head. Other hand, while keeping all your weight on him, reaches down to grab his gi jacket underarm from the near side. You then whip your arm out from under his head and over the top, placing pressure on his neck for the tap. We had swapped partners this time and I was drilling this with Marcus Hedley, my long time training partner. I found that I was doing the technique ok but I noticed the amount of pressure he was putting on was amazing. Closer examination revealed once he had the arm over the top of my head he was kind of locking his elbow in close to his body and using all of his body weight down on my throat. A handy tip. That'll be why I never tapped the guy out in the welsh open with it. 

In between drilling this move and being shown the next I had a bit of time to practice some of the moves I mentioned from yesterdays post. I was practising the two escapes from side control which were coming very easily and naturally, then I turned to Gary who was drilling with Rich Presley and found him trying the highly touted Tornado Sweep to Kimura. Gary then let me have a go to which I managed the sweep but forgot to secure the arm to come up for the Kimura. Then Rich let me have a go on him, to which I just about got the sweep although it was a struggle (Rich is a fairly big bloke mind) and by the time he was over the Kimura was nowhere to be seen, I might just about have managed an arm bar or a weird americana from above. Marcus let me have a go on him then and the move went perfectly, the flip over with the arm secured and straight into Kimura. Definitely not likely to be a go to move in rolling or competition any time soon but fun all the same.

Anyway back to the class. The second move from side control was where you go for the same start, grabbing the collar of the gi etc... but the opponent keeps his head pressed down so you can't pass the arm. What we were shown then was to twist your legs as if to be going to a close approximation of a Kesa Gatame (scarf hold), step you foot over to the other side of his head, then lean forward keeping your arm straight and a slack grip. The pressure goes on nice and tight for a lovely (dare I say cheeky) little choke. Problems faced were, when we first started we were gripping the collar to far out of the other side of his head so when we were leaning it was becoming more of a crank. Ian corrected us on this and everything was groovy.

Rolling:

 

Ian had us once again using the 3 man rolling system as explained on the Oct 27th class post. I was rolling in the big guys group (it's gonna be a long time before I shake that image) with Rich and a fairly huge guy called Justin Thomas. The other two went first then after the first minute I took Justin's (he was in the dominant position) back and worked from there. Managed to get a good bow and arrow on him. Continued, then time went and Rich dived on my back. Continued round like that for a bit, got a few more back related taps on Justin and later hit an armbar from mount on him. I know, I said I wouldn't go for it but it was there for the taking and instinct took over. I very nearly hit a mounted triangle on Rich which was a highlight of my session but he had it really well scouted. I did manage to perfectly pull off the spin out escape from side control though.

All in all a great session of rolling. And a great class. Good to be back.

Til next time \m/

Stuff to try this week.

I've been out of training last week due to a pretty hefty amount of overtime I've had to put in (Christmas won't pay for itself) so I been pretty much only able to train by myself or with my unwilling wife for the last 12 days. I hate not training and given that when I'm not training Bjj all I'm doing is thinking about, reading about or watching Bjj, I've been doing a whole lot of these things recently.

In particular, I've been reading the latest issue of Jiu Jitsu Style, which has quickly risen to the top of my most awesome and highly regarded magazine wish list. This most recent issue features some brilliant articles on September's ADCC tournament, an interview with 'The General', Fabio Gurgel, the always brilliant "Ask Dr Braulio" section and an interview with the legend that is Leo (He was there when I got my blue belt) Vieira. I particularly like the interviews with the legends as they tell you what their lives were like in the early days of Bjj (well it's all still early days really in comparison to an art like Judo) back in Brazil where they all seemed to know each other and train together. It was also clever seeing the two different sides to the Alliance break up as told in the interviews of Gurgel and Vieira. And I really loved the Jiu Jitsu Style on the Road article which featured Gracie Barra Bristol and the interview with their Head Instructor, Nicolai 'Geeza' Holt. Honourable mention for the article goes to it's writer Can Sönmez, aka the blogging world's own Slideyfoot, who even managed to get his picture in there.

Now the reason I bring this up is because my favourite feature of this magazine is the techniques. Scattered throughout each edition of the mag are some favoured techniques of some of the stars of the Jiu Jitsu world. The most recent issue had moves from Nick Brooks, Jasmin Wilson and Daniel Strauss. Jasmin's triangle from the mount and Strauss' Omoplata from the mount were both awesome subs that I am dying to try out at training tomorrow night. As it is, recently I've decided to try and stop using the stuff that I find comes easy to me and start trying to vary my game. As I mentioned previously, I tend to make myself somewhat stale by resorting to the same old moves if I don't stop and kick myself up the arse. This leads to me becoming a bit predictable which is never a good thing in bjj.

To combat this I'm going to look to do different stuff when I get to certain positions. In particular, when I mount I'm usually looking for the armbar or the Ezekial. Ages ago I was always on the hunt for the Americana or the forearm choke. I need to once again spice up my repertoire and add some new flavour. This week if/when I mount I'm going to try looking for mounted triangles and omaplatas (maybe even a gogoplata if I'm feeling really stupid). I've been watching, reading, thinking over in my head and practising the motions of these moves on my living room floor against a pillow, my wife, my 5 year old son (hello? child services you say?) and think I've got the manoeuvres committed to muscle memory at least. It's just whether or not I can remember them when I'm blowing out of my ass! Ah well, only time will tell.

Other stuff I've been doing to "feed the obsession" this month; I've managed to get hold of a copy of Roy Deans Blue Belt Requirements off of a mate. I had a quick skim through the first 40 plus minutes of it and liked it a lot. So much so I stopped and have started rewatching the DVD and taking notes, rating techniques for use with my style etc..  I have only just got to the where I was previously after the skim through but I like what I've seen so far. There are two side control escapes which I have particularly developed a love for. I had the missus on the floor practicing them for a good half hour the other night :o)

I have added the side mount section here as I found it fairly useful. (Thanks go to Roy and Youtube)

One last thing, I had this technique in my email inbox from Bjj Weekly the other day and it seems to have caught like wildfire. Everyone seems to be linking it or sharing it on Facebook or Twitter. It's Roberto 'Cyborg' Abreu's Kimura from Tornado Guard. It's a really disco looking move that's actually simpler to pull off than I thought it would be (thanks must go, once again, to my wife) it just requires a good bit of flexibility. That's not to say that it will be easy to pull off in sparring mind you, just that the move is there, it's possible, I've got it down, I just need to see if I can remember it when the adrenaline's pumping. Anyway, if you're one of those people who've had their head under a rock all week, here's that move below.

Ok, looks easy doesn't it? :o)


I'll keep you updated with my progress on it.
Til next time \m/

BJJHQ: Thanks for the Rashguard.

Hey guys, I'd just like to thank the amazing BjjHQ for supplying me with a brand new True Rashguard.

I was contacted by Aaron at BjjHQ through Twitter, asking if I would pump his company on my blog for a free rashguard or fightshorts. I found this a very fair deal and had a hole in my collection where my old rashguard used to live so I requested a brand spanking new rashie. I also offered Aaron a space on my blog for a spell. For this he sent me via email a couple of bits of HTML code to put some tasteful ads up.

I draw your attention to the box on the right here:

⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉⇉

                                                     

Now when I went to look at their website I was initially a bit concerned as I noticed the fact that the pricetags I saw were in US dollars. I immediately thought "ah well, that's a deal breaker, he ain't gonna want to ship out to me over here in England" but I sent him my address details anyway to see what he said. The return email did not even bat an eyelid at the UK address and further scrutiny of the website revealed a small line that says "Welcome UK Fans" and an option box to select the UK. Good stuff. 

My generally pessimistic mind then thought "I bet delivery will take an absolute age" but low and behold the rashguard got to me in 7 days, not even 7 working days but 7 actual days. Now that is awesome service from the States to the UK. I've ordered things from England before and still had it take more than 7 days to get here. That is impressive. The True Rashguard that was delivered is good quality and fits well too (tight like a second skin but that's how I like 'em) which was never a given seeing as how I just gave Aaron my chest measurement and said send me whatever size you think'll fit. Thanks mate.

 The True Rashguard, not modelled by me ;o)

BjjHQ.com offer a new deal everyday at amazing special offer prices. The deal on at time of writing this is Clinch Gear shorts at a very reasonable price of $25 (plus shipping). It's worth checking this site on a daily basis just to see what cool item they've got on sale for the day. Or you can just check out my blog on a daily basis (even though I only update about every 3 days) and look at the box on the right for the deal of the day. This way you can check on a good deal and read my shit (too cheap a plug?)

Anyway, check out their site now by using one of the links scattered around this blog page. And thanks loads once again to Aaron for my ace new rashguard :o)

\m/

UFC 138

Well, last nights UFC card, the 138th of their numbered shows was staged in Birmingham, England, and what a show it was.

I was foolish enough to look at Joe Silva's fight selection for this event and decide not to go. In hind sight that is a decision I will regret. The UFC doesn't come to the UK very often and I'd gone to the last event here back in October 2010 at UFC 120 at the O2, London. Seeing what I thought to be a lower quality card for star power and given the fact that I am extremely broke at the moment, I made the bold statement that I would not go to another UFC in England unless it had some real big names on the bill. Let me officially go on the record as saying I now rescind that previous (and very stupid) statement.

I have just got done watching the show from last night that I Sky Plus'd off of ESPN and I was pretty blown away. The main card fights were absolutely first class. Terry Etim, Liverpudlian UK MMA superstar, back from a 19 month break due to a rib injury absolutely stole the show with his 17 second submission finish of Edward Faaloloto by a fantastic jumping guillotine to his standing opponent, pulling him to the ground and drawing the tap. With this victory Etim equals Damian Maia for Submission of the Night awards with 4. An amazing return for one of the UK's top prospects.

 Etim choking out Faalolott

The second televised fight was a classic example of the striker vs grappler debate. Australian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, Antony Perosh fought French kickboxer, Cyrille Diabate in a good paced two round affair where who controlled the balance of the action was basically dictated by where the action took place. At the beginning of both rounds there was a spell where the fight was carried out standing and Diabate showed his obvious class and out struck the Aussie (hate the way Mike Goldberg says that) using his Muay Thai talent. Unfortunately for "The Snake", the action in both rounds didn't stay on the feet. Perosh managing to secure some fairly scrappy takedowns, in the first he got to mount but didn't manage to finish the fight, in the second he got to mount and decided to soften Diabate up with some ground and pound. As a result of this, Diabate gave up his back to protect himself which was a written invitation for the Bjj ace to slap on the Rear Naked Choke for the sub victory.

 Perosh finishing Diabate via RNC.

Now the third fight shown on tv was actually the second prelim fight of the night, and this was really the fight I was wanting to see. Ché Mills, former Cage Rage Champion, who happens to train with Trojan Freefighters and Checkmat BJJ, was on his UFC début taking on former Tough Enough season 13 alumni Chris Cope. And what a welcoming to the promotion it was for the Brit. Mills issued a 40 second beatdown on the American punctuated by two particularly violent knees, one that started Cope's down fall, the other that finished it. A couple of follow up punches to his downed opponent were all but immaterial as the damage had already been done, the ref stepped in to stop the fight and I was jumping out of my chair. Ché looked over the moon with his performance and the British crowd were really popping loud for him. He was also lucky enough to be awarded the $70,000 dollar bonus for KO of the night for his performance.

The pleasing sight of Ché Mills tko-ing Chris Cope.

After the fight as Ché was exiting the Cage, who should be the first to congratulate him, Chico (Mendes) my Bristol instructor. I was like "hey, that's Chico!!!" to my five year old son who really didn't care one bit.

With the fourth fight (3rd Mian card bout) came another quick submission victory, this time at the unlikely hands of Thiago Alves against Papy Adebi. Alves, predominantly known for being a Muay Thai wrecking machine showed off his immense MT skills from the start, eventually hitting Adebi with a two punch combo that dropped him to the floor. Jumping into mount, Alves then peppered his opponent with punches and elbows, one of the latter of which bust Adebi open somewhat. None of this served to finish the bout though and Adebi rather unwisely gave up his back then eventually succumbed to a rear naked choke. This submission marks Alves' first tapout in the UFC and his first career sub that wasn't due to strikes showing that he's really trying to develop his game.

 Alves closing out play with a text book RNC.

The Co-Main event was a Bantamweight throw down between Brad "One Punch" Pickett and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, Renan Barão. The fight was a lightning paced punch up between the two, with the Brazilian looking more technical but the Brit landing some heavy blows and tasty combos. It was all academic once it hit the ground though courtesy of a combination from Barão, the talented grappler easily taking the back and then locking in a RNC with minimum effort at just over the four minute mark. A great match with both guys earning themselves bonuses for fight of the night. During Barão's interview with Joe Rogan after the match there was a great cameo appearance from Braulio Estima acting as the in ring translater and doing about as good a job in the role as anyone I've ever seen do it. Much better than some (cough cough Ed Soares!).

Yet another Rear Naked, this time Renan Barôa over Brad Pickett.

The Main Event was another good punch up between Chris Leben and Mark Muñoz. Both came out aggressive but "The Filipino Wrecking Machine" taking the upper hand due to his wrestling and Leben didn't look himself cardio-wise. The action carried over to the second round though with Muñoz going on to severely batter Leben's face down the left side during a positive bit of ground and pound. Referee Mark Goddard gave Leben the opportunity to call it when he stopped the action to ask if he could see alright. Leben said he could so the bout continued but the damage had been done. After the second round Leben's corner threw in the towel saying their guy couldn't see out of his left eye. Leben didn't seem to argue with this decision.

 

As I said earlier, the bout didn't look the prettiest on paper but action-wise it was a scorcher and from a Bjj fan's perspective it was the best UFC in a long while. Looks like I best go to the next one in the UK then.


Til next time \m/

Favoured Positions: Ezekiel Choke.

No training this week due to some night time works I've been supervising. I haven't really even had a chance to get on my computer to update.

The next in my line of "Favoured Techniques" is what I consider to be my really lazy top move. If my Cardio is starting to flag and my creativity gone out the window and no is arm being freely offered for an armbar attempt I will invariably fall back on the Ezekiel Choke. It is a move which is both at the same time easy to pull off and leaves you feeling a little bit cheap. By this I mean if you get the tap using this move, its easiness makes you feel like you haven't tried hard enough.

The technique was originally a judo submission called Sode guruma jime and was brought over into the world of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu by a Brazilian Judo practitioner called Ezekiel (first name I believe). For some bizarre reason I cannot recall when I was taught this move. My first recollection of the move was what seems like ages ago now, driving up to Trojan Bristol with Ian (Rossiter) and my long time training partner Marcus (Hedley), with Ian saying that Marcus had got his first tap the week previous up at Trojan using the Ezekiel. I wasn't familiar with the name so asked what it was, Ian explained and I remember thinking that I knew and had used the move but can't remember from when (probably old Burnham days).

Anyway, the Technique is most effective from full mount but can also garner results from half guard and side mount and is even one of the rare chokes that can occasionally be effective from inside an opponents guard. I have tapped people using this move from all of these positions so can definitely confirm that it is an effective sub. From Mount make sure you have established a strong mount position where you are not prone to being thrown off. Lay down onto your opponent and wrap one of your arms around his neck. Using the hand of that arm grab inside the sleeve of the opposite arm using a four figured grip. Then pass the sleeve arm over the top of the opponents neck placing the forearm directly across the throat and push down with both arms. This will put an intense choke onto your opponent which, if got right first time, can usually earn a panic tap, but even if the guy holds on he will eventually choke out.


Here is the technique demonstrated by Daniel Moraes.

 
It's also worth noting that the Ezekiel Choke can be a very handy move to distract your opponent or to set up other techniques, particularly the triangle choke from mount. All in all it's a great move but one that starts to become a bit of a habit, leading the rest of your game to stagnate sometimes. This is why I've recently made a conscious decision to stop using the technique for a while. Plus I've seen an awesome omoplata from the mount that I've been dying to hit.