Checkmat Interclub 29/9/13 - London.

So I've missed out last Thursday's blog as I didn't really have time to type it up. In fact time seems to be a big issue for me lately between training, getting quality time in with my family and studying, I don't seem to have enough. I am however, glad that I took the time to go up to the Checkmat Uk Interclub in London last Sunday. The atmosphere was great. Seeing a load of the Checkmat extended family was cool and getting the opportunity to compete was pretty good too.

The venue was the Brittania Leisure Centre in Islington. It was a relatively small venue and made even smaller by the fact that we only had half the hall. Most of our half was separated off for the matted area leaving a very small section for people who weren't competing at that exact moment. So it was very much standing room only with no seating even being offered unless you wanted to go out in the lobby. Space was probably the major down point of the day as everyone was huddled up and struggling to see anything and there wasn't really even a dedicated warm up area. In the end we jumped the barrier to the climbing wall area and used the mats there to stretch.

The competition itself started a little bit late as the weigh ins and the team photo took place before hand and this all took a bit of clever man management to initiate. Fair play to Luiz and Chico, they did a good job of keeping the thing going and catching up with the match timings. By midday they'd managed to catch up with all the match times.

I was instantly impressed with the level of talent on display. I managed to grab myself a spot right front and centre and watched avidly as a very skilled array of white belts competed. Very impressive. The first category I had a real vested interest in was the Adult White Belt Light Weight (<76kg) as Marc Aplin from our club was competing and previous outings had left me filled with high hopes for him. Marc is a phenomenal athlete with with a bucket load of stamina and strong as hell for a 76kg-er. Which was why I was surprised when Marc spent a lot of his time from his first two matches in guard and down on points. His composure was spot on as he didn't panic or flake out once but he wasn't up to his usual standard. He managed to win both his first two matches with well executed triangles from his guard though so I can't complain and, as I said before, the level was very high so who am I to judge?

The big downside to the comp came in Marc's third bout. He was working from guard again, the opponent was 2 points up and Marc had an advantage. Then the power went on the timer/points display and the ref called timeout while some techie guys fixed it. When the screen was put back on the guy Marc was fighting had inexplicably been given 3 extra points taken his total to 5. Something I hadn't noticed until toward the end of the match. At this point Marc was quite happily sitting in guard and then quickly swept his opponent right at the end for two, thinking this had won him the match. However, no one else wanted to listen to the protests and the opponent was given the match thanks to these mysterious extra 3 points. Marc was understandably miffed, as were the rest of us. This put a bit of a black mark on an otherwise good day.

The next match I held an interest in was Chris Cook's outing in the White Medium Heavy bracket. Chris has been training very hard recently and I had some hopes for him too. Unfortunately his opponent (the eventual bracket winner) was very savvy and a bit of a machine and quickly got to mount on Chris. From there I couldn't see what was going on cause the view was obstructed so I though I'd seen Chris buck his opponent off but it turned out he'd rolled over into an arm bar. Bad luck to Chris but it's all experience. He'll be back and better, I guarantee it.

As the afternoon was moving on I could feel the approach of my bracket. I was in the Masters Blue Belt Medium Heavy and I knew there was only 3 entrants. I was to be in the first round against a guy named Chris Gregory from Margate Bjj, then the loser would fight the other guy, Ben Bryant. If Ben won that he'd get the opportunity to contest for Gold.

It's worth mentioning at this point that due to my rather ill timed holiday at the end of the month previous, a fantastic week all inclusive in Ibiza, I was well out of my fighting shape going in and had to put myself up in weight category. Couple that with the fact that I technically qualify as a senior (old bastard at 36) fighting in a division of masters, (30 to 35) I had a bit of a disadvantage going in. Regardless of this I went in fairly confident as I'd trained like shit for this and actually had a game plan to work off. Unfortunately this didn't come off as Chris Gregory was one feckin strong dude!

My game plan was to work on a takedown - of which I had prepared and drilled about four good ones that I was confident to use - gain top control and work from there. Bummer then that Chris instantly pulled guard and had the grip strength and closed guard of a titan! I spent most of the first two minutes of the round blocking his collar chokes and trying to pry his legs apart. Every time I started to threaten a guard break he'd tighten a collar choke on so I'd have to concentrate on blocking that. He then got a good sweep on me to mount, which I managed to reverse back to be in his strong guard again. At one point he tried for a triangle which I managed to block and break out of. When I'd broken it I was semi excited as I had the opportunity to spin round and pass however, "Wonder Ref" (yes it was the same guy Marc had), decided at that point to stand us up. My opponent then pulled guard again and I was left struggling against his superior strength. By the end of the match he'd swept me three times to mount and I'd reversed them back all three times. As I'd managed to mount no effective offense whatsoever I lost the match 18 x 0.

Pretty poor performance really and I was completely shagged. I had the length of the next match to recover which was nowhere near enough for me. In a very short space of time I was called back to the mat to face off against Ben Bryant from Essex. We jockeyed a bit as if looking for takedowns but he then quickly pulled guard. I had minimal strength in me against a totally fresh guy. He threatened a choke and then quickly switched to a triangle attack. I managed to hold it off for a decent amount of time but he was really good at adjusting his hips to stop my particular method of triangle block to keep me in it. When he eventually worked out what I was doing he started trying to pull my arm in for an arm bar, which totally destroys the triangle block. I adjusted my grip and pulled my arm away but this gave him the space to tighten the triangle even more and pull on my head. I was very near to passing out at the end and survival instinct made me tap.

Both Ben and Chris were really nice humble guys and I gave them both big congratulations but at the end of the day I was a bit gutted by my own performance. Didn't have the strength in the first match and my stamina completely left me for the second. For future comps I will most definitely be dropping down to the next category and doing a shit load of strength and stamina training.

Chris went on to beat Ben in the final by another triangle but I think Ben was happy with his silver. Chris was just a machine and would be a strong competitor for anyone at that weight.


The only other match I held an interest in after that was with Checkmat South Shields Blue Belt, Jamie Berry. Jamie is a really nice guy I met at a previous Checkmat seminar in Cheltenham about a year ago. Jamie, for me, represents everything good about Bjj. The cameraderie. The wider team mentality. I have only met Jamie on one occasion previous and yet we greeted each other like old buddies and chatted for large portions of the day. It's always good meeting people through your chosen method of time consumption as you know they have one common interest and generally, what I have found with Bjj, is that there aren't that many people who train it that you end up disliking. By and large all my Jiu Jitsu compatriots are nice guys who you wouldn't mind going for a beer with after.  Jamie is exactly this and I hope I see him at many more of these events in the future.

As for Jamie's match. The ref on mat 3 was on form once again. James had a very tight, very composed guard game and hadn't given up any points. I think he was actually ahead due to an advantage or a penalty (I think, I can't be sure on this). Right at the end though his opponent made a pretty impressive switch down at his legs and came up in a banana split (I wasn't sure that was legal at Blue and after trawling the internet for hours, still am not convinced) which seemed to turn into a knee bar as he tightened it on. Jamie, feeling the knee being extended, looked bemused and tapped with that pointing at the knee and questioning the ref type look that people do when an illegal technique has been used to get the tap. The ref didn't have any of it (once again) and consequentially, half the people watching were staring on in bewilderment as the knee barrer had his hand raised for the victory.

Jamie was understandably gutted. So was I. Unfortunately, as it's an interclub and everyone's a team mate you can't really go and make a song and dance about it. Winds me up a bit though.

All it all it was a great day out. Didn't go the way I'd hope but these things never seem to. Back to the drawing board again then. I'm on a big time diet now to bring my weight suitably down below 13 stone on a permanent basis so I don't need to do a dramatic cut to fight at middle weight. Hopefully I'll be down around there in the new year when I'll be pumped to do more comps.

Checkmat Rules!!! ¬m/

Checkmat BCL 10/9/13

I've had a fairly full week of training this week. I've hit the lunch time training with Marcus (Hedley) Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and I also took a trip up to Bristol Combat Legion to Chico Mendes' class on the Tuesday evening.

Training in the week with Marcus was very varied. We did stand up on Tuesday, focusing on Uchi Mata throws, trips and double and single leg takedowns.

On Wednesday we recapped on a load of the X Guard stuff we studied during one of our past sessions. It was pretty awesome going back over that as I'd forgotten a lot of the set ups. Strange that I've remembered the sweeps really well and have hit a couple of them in active sparring but only when I've basically been awarded the X Guard position by fluke as I'd nearly totally forgotten the set ups. Glad we went back over them.

Thursday was a bit of a mix of some gi chokes and a lot of sparring. Good hard session. We were both totally done after.


Highlight of the week though was going up to Bristol Combat Legion in Bristol, to Chico's new Checkmat class up there. And I have to say, the set up they have going on up there is amazing. The matted area is so smooth and all one peace, it's like grappling on a mattress. Brilliant.

Chico ran us through a basic Butterfly Guard Sweep. First solo drilling the fall sideway, kick up motion. Then going on to the live opponent drilling. Oddly, we were only using one hook in (right) while the other leg (left) was folded in and tucked behind the first leg. Grabbing a hold of the opponent's right wrist with your left hand and underhooking the guys left with your right, keeping your head ducked down inside toward the guy's chest, you now pull his right arm in (to stop him basing out) and fall sideways using the underhook to take him with you. As you are falling you kick up with your right hook to turn the guy over onto his side, with you coming over into top control. You can often get side control here but your opponent has a fleeting opportunity to recover guard in the transition.


Chico then ran us through a drill where you hit the sweep, come over into your partner's guard, then lean forward to force him into the ground. He then using both of his forearms to push against your shoulder, pushing you down his body until he can kick out with his legs and recover to Butterfly Guard. At which point he does the same thing over and you both continue on in a flow drill.


After this we did lots of situational butterfly guard rolling which was awesome. The class ended with the 2 in 1 out for a minute rolling (or mugging as I like to call it). Loads of rolling and loads of fun. A brilliant class to attend in a spanking new gym. Now I've got a ton of training to get to for an upcoming interclub on the 29th Sept. ¬m/

Bridgwater Combat Club. 2/9/13

Ok so I've missed out a couple of weeks worth of blogs. I've got the notes for it but I haven't really got time to go back and type it out.

Anyhow, I thought I'd do a quick entry about my good buddy Glenn Cutter's new gig as Bjj Coach down in Bridgwater, Somerset, UK.  Glenn has taken the spot training the club on their ground work as of Monday 2nd September and I had the pleasure of attending his first class.

The Bridgwater Combat Club is a tidy little unit around the back of Deniz Kebab House on St John's Street in Bridgwater and it is decked out very well with a cage wall down the side and a fully matted floor. The all white finish gives the place a cool, fresh feel to it as well.

As the Bridgwater club is relatively new, most of the guys in attendance were fairly new to the Bjj and groundwork game. There weren't many training in the gi to start except for a couple of guys that have come up from Glenn's regular training venue at Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare (under Ian Rossiters tutelage), me being one of those. The rest of the guys were in combat shorts and rash guards or t shirts.

Glenn ran the class through the very basics to begin starting with the theory behind basic closed guard and posture control, then going on to guard breaking and a basic smash pass to side control. He then ran everyone through a rear naked choke from behind (un mounted) and then showed it with the full rear mount with hooks in. He finished off the class with the traditional staple escape from rear mount. All good strong beginning techniques and most of the guys I was watching and drilling with were picking it all up pretty quickly.

We done to Glenn for getting this new position and I hope he enjoys teaching there for many years to come. I know I will try to attend the occasional lesson down there. ¬m/

Chico Mendes Seminar 3/11/12

I was fortunate enough on Saturday, to be able to attend a fantastic Chico Mendes seminar down at Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare. The first of many to come we hope. The attendance was pretty good. Better than Ian (Rossiter) expected for the first time out, with a lot of our guys and the guys from Bristol attending, along with some of the Wednesday night MMA class guys and some other random Jiu Jitsu enthusiasts.

As usual, Chico's teaching was absolutely first class, striking the right combination of technical instruction, coupled with a good dose of humour to make people feel at home and comfortable. I've never found my attention slipping in a Chico class or seminar.

No Gi Techniques:

We started off with a couple of techniques for passing a seated opponents guard from a standing position. For the first you are to wait back and let the opponent come to you using their legs to drag them forward. As he's come toward you and ready to pull forward again you quickly step forward and pull his leg up high toward you so he goes down on his back. You secure his leg by kneeling into him so your knees are either side of his leg and you fold his leg over your leg nearside leg and "put his foot in your pocket". You should be facing him head on for this not off to the side. With his leg clamped between your legs you have a teasing leg lock finish although that's not what we were being taught. You basically sit there and wait for the guy on bottom to act first (usually by trying to push you away using his leg so he can recover guard) so you can push his leg out of the way and step around and come down into side control.
I was fortunate enough to be Chico's demonstration dummy for this move so got to see if fresh and first hand. One specific thing I remember that Chico showed us as a tip was that when you first grab the leg and pull it up so the guy's back goes flat to the floor, a common thing for the guy on the ground to do is attempt to cross over his free leg to hold you off. However, if you hold the secured leg forward and stand off until you've found your position you can actually use that leg to block the guy from crossing over his free leg to regain some semblance of guard.

All photos come courtesy of Chico's Facebook page.

The second technique along the standing pass line involved finding the seated opponent's stronger side. You do this by stand in front of him, both feet level to give him the option of which side to attack. When he presents himself in a seated combat posture, where one leg is forward and he's leaning his elbow on that leg for base, you know that is his stronger, preferred side (unless he's poker playing, bluffing genius) and you can then switch your stance so your leg that is directly opposite his forward leg is now stepped back whilst your other leg is forward. With this stance he cannot get and easy grab of the preferred leg. From this position you should be stood crouched, with your head in line with your lower body so as to not be easily unbalanced. From here you once again wait for the opponent to make a move forward then drive froward yourself, simultaneously pushing on the inside knee of his forward raised leg with one hand (left hand for right leg or vice versa) and your other hand presses against his waist on the other side of him, using this position to push his leg down to the ground so he turns on his side. Whilst doing this you should be stood fully away from him so he can't recover by getting hold of a leg somehow. You can finish the pass by walking out around the leg that is secured down and then dropping into side control (keeping the legs held away all the while). This is a move that I learned ages ago but have never actually put into good use which is pretty criminal really given the amount of opportunities I've had to do so. Gotta try and use it a bit more.

I was drilling both of the above with Rich Presley.

Moving away from the standing passing but staying with the passing theme, Chico next showed us a Half Guard pass. The first thing about passing half guard that he drilled into us was the importance of getting the knee up. You must bring the knee of the trapped leg off of the ground and preferably out of the leg trap. To do this you can turn to your side and rest on your non trapped leg so you can bring the other leg up. You may also encounter half guard users who love using the leg trapping method (lock down - urgh) in which case you rest your weight forward whilst you use your other leg to push open the trap so you can bring the first leg out and bend it to an untrappable position. You then once again work at popping the knee up through.
Another very important point was that when the opponent on the bottom is using the strong half guard style of laying out to one side of you, always ensure you have the underhook there to stop him from going to your back. If not the underhook then an over-underhook like a whizzer.
We drilled around with these tips to begin with, trying to get the leg out/up, un-trapping where necessary, just so we get well used to the idea of getting that knee up. I drilled this with a young lad called Sean Errock, who trains a bit of gi but is a very talented young No Gi grappler. We drilled quite hard in the end, with the guy on bottom really trying to stop the knee escape or keep the leg trapped. I found it remarkable that when you're not thinking about trying to submit the guy from half guard top, it actually proves quite easy to blast past his half guard.

For an actual half guard pass from here, Chico then ran us through one of his main thoughts from this position. Always use your head! It's like a third limb that you can use for pushing. When the guy has a strong side control position on your and you want to flatten him out, use your head against his shoulder or neck, to push him down so his back's to the floor. From here, to help with your pass and also to assist in bringing the knee up if necessary (if the guy is really persistent or tenacious), your head by his so you can bring your free (outside) arm up behind his head to tak a grab of the material at his shoulder on the other side. With that position correct you can now drive your shoulder forward to painfully push his head to the side, effectively cutting down half the escape possibilities for him (if his head can't turn back toward me, neither can the rest of his body). From this position you can walk your nearside underhooked arm up the mat a bit to bring the opponent's arm up (up the mat not up in the air). you can now bring both of your arms together so your arm passed behind the head can reach to grab the wrist of the one that has walked up the mat. You now have the opponent in a very uncomfortable position with his offside arm trapped above his head so as to not interfere with anything. The opponent will generally want to release your leg at that point just to get out of this position but if he's really stubborn it proves quite easy to flatten your offside to the ground so you can bring the trapped knee up now. Once up and out of the trap it's just a decision at the whether you want to slide the knee over and go to mount or slide it across and come to side control. We drilled the mount version which would usually be a no brainer as it's worth more points, but maybe some people are more confident with their side control or use it better fro MMA. Or they might even be confident that they can then easily pass to mount from side thus getting extra points. Lots of reasons for going to side then. If you go to mount though you've got a nice set up for an arm bar right there too.

After a quick group photo and change to Gi we were quickly into a bit of Closed guard work. The first move was a handy little sweep if your opponent puts his leg forward in your guard. So he's put the left leg forward and has a grip of your left lapel with his right hand. Now this is to good an opportunity to miss. You need to chop his leg out by bringing your right arm underneath it and chopping upward toward you at about the ankle. Make sure to hold on to the leg in the crook of your elbow. Now with your free left hand you grab his right hand to keep it secure near you so he can't base out. To hit the sweep you lean forward pushing the leg forward with you, so he tips to his back on the side where he has no basing arm. As he's tipping you need to open your guard and ensure you straighten out your left leg so when he flattens to the ground you can switch the leg out and come to your knees in the mount. This is a pretty good sweep variation from closed guard that will add another dimension to my game.

Next up was a sweep variation for if the guy traps your arm. He's in your closed guard and baited you with the open left leg. You reach under to take it but he's too quick and clamps his leg back down shut again, trapping your right arm in there and cutting off one side of your upper body defence. However this is not the end of the world. In fact after a short while of drilling this move I felt this was an amazing turn of events. All you need to do is ensure he can't move his right hand from your waist at this point then you can sweep him over to your left (his right) side. To do this you open your guard and drop the left foot to the floor and can basically roll him over to his back using a flower sweep style right leg up, kicking him (not proper kicking, it's just a description) at the left under arm to flip him over and come up comfortably in mount. I absolutely LOVE this sweep as a cool variation on the Flower Sweep. I've already hit it a few times in rolling since. Love it!!
You can even just slot your arm inside when he hasn't opened the leg. Works the same way. Amazing sweep.
I was drilling this one with young Paddy.

A quick alternative to the above sweep was to turn it into an arm bar. You have your right arm trapped under his leg as above. You also have his right arm trapped secured with your left hand. You need a bit more of the arm trapped here though so most of his forearm is on your chest/stomach. From here you shift your hips out left and use the arm under leg hold to shift you position so you can open your guard and bring your left leg up and over his head. You can finish the arm bar here with him sat up but most likely the superior strength of your legs and the hold you have on his leg will push him down to the mat  so he's flat on his back and you have the arm bar like that. This is a very common finish for me and one of my most frequent methods of tapping people out these days.
Alternatively with this, if the guys retracts the elbow just enough that the arm bar doesn't hit, at least with the arm in leg you've swept them to their back and can come up into technical or s-mount.

Chico then ran us through some tips for enhancing your Arm Bar from Guard. From closed guard you have the right arm secured with your right hand. Grip it at the upper forearm or elbow to start, by cupping your hand across the top of the arm and having the cupped hand go under on the other side. You then escape your hips left as standard arm bar practice. Now pull the arm tight inside so the elbow is uncomfortably pulled in at an angle. Reach over with your free left hand and grab his free left arm on the gi material at his upper arm/triceps. You use this grip to help you turn into position and get the leg over the head. When you are finishing, bring your left hand back down to help with the control of the wrist. Whilst extending the hips, if you point your heels down and flex your feet up it adds extra tension to the hold.
The feet pointing up tip was a particular eye opener because you wouldn't suspect it would make much difference but you really feel it when it's on.

The last technique I was in attendance for was an amazing Gi choke. From closed guard you open your opponent's Gi for ease of access. Using your knees to brings him towards you, you drive your right hand fairly deep into his right collar and grip tight. Shift your body around to that side (your left) to create the opening for your other hand. He'll instinctively be trying to pull away at this point so you just need to use your knees again to pull him back and pass your left hand UNDER your right arm to slip into his left collar. Shifting back to head on position you clamp your arms shut around his neck (like a scissor motion) to hold him in place and OPEN your hand grips slightly. Now using the knees to keep him closed you drive the hands ridiculously deep into his collar and then close them. At this point the guys eyes are already watering in anticipation of what is about to come. To painfully finish you just pull your elbows in tight to your ribs and then outwardly flex with your hands. Christ this is painful. Brilliant move.

This was the last move I got to see as I (unfortunately) had to leave a little early to get my kids :o(. Fantastic seminar though. It fact I'd go out on a limb and say it was one of the best I've been to. Chico is an amazing instructor for this sort of setting. Very entertaining and the whole class was entranced throughout. I really hope we get another again real soon.

¬m/

Checkmat Bjj 30/10/12

Went to Chico's Bjj class in Bristol Tuesday 30th Oct. Loads of guys there as usual and a great camaraderie as is always the case with Chico's classes.

Venue: Bristol Combat Legion, LA Gym, Bristol, Uk.
Instructor: Chico Mendes (Grade 2 Black Belt).


Techniques:
(All move descriptions are based on how I first learnt them. I.e left grip, right foot etc..)
Chico started off with some standing techniques. First move started face to face with the opponent getting a quick grip on your right collar with his left hand. You quickly pocket grip (turn the cuff inside out over your hand) the gi cuff of the guys gripping hand with your left hand whilst reaching over the top of the extended arm with your right arm and gripping his left collar. From this position you close your right elbow hard into his extended left arm to cause discomfort and shake the guy's balance. To finish the technique you pull out with your hand gripping his collar to take him over to his left (your right), whilst you quickly drop down to your left on both knees (important that it IS both knees to ensure he can't reverse the move and get points on you) and secure his right leg in the single. I had the added advantage of training with Raj Bista who has some pretty awesome wrestling skills, so was able to show me where I was going wrong with this.


We moved on to a simple Wrist Lock from this starting position. As before, he's reached in and grabbed your right lapel. You take the pocket grip of his cuff with your left, but this time your right hand reaches to the back of his extended left arm at the just above the elbow. You once again close your arm in to force the opponent's arm in at an awkward angle, then advance toward the opponent whilst pulling the arm in toward you to put pressure on the wrist. Chico's tip with this one is Do Not stop walking forward once you have the arm secured as, if you don't get the tap, you'll at least get 2 points for the guy walking off the mat to get out of a submission hold.


Chico then moved us on to some closed guard stuff. You start off in the closed guard position with the opponent postured up with his hands at your waist to resist being moved about. With both of your arms you can attempt to remove one of the opponent's arms from their bracing position. Selecting the guy's right arm, you pass your right hand over his arm, above the elbow, while passing your left hand inside his arm. Once there you can grip your hands together and pry the guy's arm open so you are able to pull him toward you using your knee. With his posture destroyed in this way you can obtain an over-under hook grip on him to secure him close to you by bringing your right arm around over his left shoulder and gripping your hands behind his back. Now with your left arm you pry his right arm open and up  at an angle so you can press it into your shoulder. You finish the move by pressuring the back of the secured arm with your arms forcing the painful straight arm bar.
I was drilling the rest of the techniques with Chris Cook

The last technique Chico showed us for this lesson was how to obtain a nice tight single arm overhook guard and a triangle from there. With the guy in your closed guard, his right hand gripping your lapel, you pocket grip the his sleeve cuff with your right hand whilst passing your left arm underneath his right and grabbing your own right forearm (on the underside). You can then simultaneously pull up with your arms whilst breaking his posture with your knees. You should be able to pull his arm right up and out straight above your head. You can then bring the left arm inside and overwrap the secured arm (you'll need to still be holding the cuff grip to get this to work). To secure your hold on the arm you can get a high grip of your left lapel. There are plenty of finished from here, Chico showed us the triangle. Pushing the opponent's left arm down and to his waist you can now open your guard and pass your right leg over his shoulder, crossing both legs behind his back to form a diamond holding him in place. You can now shift hips to the left and reach up with your right hand to help position your right leg correctly so the left leg can wrap over it to get the tight pressure needed for the triangle. Brilliant technique.


For part of the lesson, Chico ran us through the 3 essentially important Brazilian words that all Bjj competition practitioners should know, and their relevance in a fight.

The first phrase is Combate (pronounced com-ba-tchee ).
This signifies the beginning of a Bjj fight. When you referee says this it's time to bring the thunder (haha).


The second phrase is Parou (pronounced Parow).
You here this when a referee is calling a halt to the action, be it for a positional stoppage, a time out or the end of the match. When this is heard stop everything but be sure to hold your position in case it's only a time out.


The last phrase is Lute (pronounced Lu-tchee).
The command is heard when a combatant is stalling or inactive, the referee calls "Lute" for a 20 second marker to be put on. This first time is a warning. If still inactive after the 20 seconds the command will be heard again and will come with a penalty for the staller and and advantage for the aggressor. After a further 20 seconds the command will be heard and a further penalty will be issued with the aggressor earning 2 points and both combatants being stood up.
Chico says this is a common technique to use if the fight is in it's last minute and one combatant is ahead comfortably.


Rolling:

For this session we didn't have much time left to roll and Chico only had us do situation guard passing/sweeping. I went first with Chris Cook who I passed and swept a couple of times. My second opponent was Big Justin Thomas. Although I was able to pass his guard during my top control turn I couldn't shift him at all during my time on the bottom and it was all I could do to keep my guard. That lad's definitely getting better.

Another damn good session up with Chico and the Bristol boys. After this I was really looking forward to the seminar down in Weston Super Mare on the 3rd Nov.
That write up to come in the next couple of days.

¬m/

Checkmat Bjj - 5/10/12

I've had a double great day today.  Not only did I get some lunchtime No-Gi training in down Sweat FA in Weston, I also managed to get up to Ronan Fleming's  Checkmat Bjj class up at Bristol Combat Legion.

The session was very good. Ronan demo'd a couple of techniques then we got a shit load of sparring in. When I'm next training for a competition, I will definitely be going to Ronan's class for a bit of extra sparring and to build up my match ready grappling fitness. The guys up there set a good pace and keep it up all the way through.




Venue: Bristol Combat Legion, LA Gym, Bristol, Uk.
Instructor: Ronan Fleming (Purple Belt - Checkmat).



Warm Up:
For the warm up we started with laps of the mat whilst doing knee ups, butt kicks, inward facing sidesteps, outward facing sidesteps, then two in two out sidesteps. We then did lengths of the mat, doing forward rolls (X 2 Lengths), backward rolls (X 2 Lengths) and Spiderman Crawls (X 2 Lengths).



Techniques:
(I will describe each technique using the method I originally learned it. ie. left or right grips etc. for ease of description)


For the techniques, Ronan started us off with some escapes from Rear Mount. Starting with your opponent having your back in seated rear mount with both hooks in. You defend your neck with both your hands and plant both feet flat on the ground to push yourself back into your opponent, flattening his back to the floor. You then shift your hips out to the right, moving your back out also, to get it to the floor. During this movement, the weight of your lower body should press against the opponent's right inside leg, knocking the hook out and leaving you the opportunity to use both of your legs to trap the guy's left leg (as if for half guard). At this point, if he's sensible, he'll accept that he's lost the position and try to limit his losses by coming over on top of you into your half guard. However, if he tries to hold on for dear life and not accept that he lost the back control, you'll find it easy to roll over on to him, bringing you up into half guard top.
Working under the assumption that the guy is going to take the sensible option and roll on you for half guard top, Ronan had us drill practice two different methods of ensuring you come up in as favourable a position as possible. The first being the side half guard with deep under hook that I've covered here a lot recently. The second being a cool underhook for deep half guard. The guys (Ronan and Josh Kersey) also showed me a nifty little deep half sweep for if the guy tries to base out using his left leg.


The second rear mount escape was the more common butt scooth, leg drop and hip shift method that I have written up many times before. A great basic staple move that everyone practising Bjj should know.



Moving on from there, Ronan ran us through some good basic finishes for if you have the guy's back. He hit us with three nice easy ones in quick succession and then had us drill all three together. All of these are from the full seated rear mount position.

First was a variation from the rear naked choke for if you're finding it too hard to get your (right)arm buried all the way in under his chin so you can apply the rear naked properly. Instead, you can finish the choke using the forearm/wrist under the chin, angling it just so that the flattest part is crushing the opponent's throat. To finish this you only need to pull the right arm up into the opponent's throat using a no thumb grip down over the hand with your free left hand. If applied correctly the choke comes on quick.

The second and third were two variations of the rear mounted ezekiel.
From a seated rear mount with seat belt control, your right arm is over the top of his right arm (as if to attack the neck), your left arm is under his left. You reach up in front of him with your left arm and put the fingers of your right hand into the sleeve of the left arm. You then pass the left hand behind the guy's head, with the right hand nestling neatly into the opponent's throat. The finish this you just need to lean your body weight backward which seems to naturally push your arms out. Very tight choke.
The alternate method is where you push your left arm fully under his arm and through so it is past the right side of his head. You then put the fingers of your left hand into the sleeve cuff of your right and pass the right arm behind the opponent's head so the blade of your right hand can be pushed into the left side of his neck. Once again, finish by laying backward and pushing your arms out.
Two real eye waterers there.


Sparring:

We kicked off with some situational sparring. Attacking the back. The guy with the back has to submit. The guy whose trapped has to escape to either top control or guard.

We rolled with loads of guys through this and as mentioned before, the pace was really high. Some great rolling. I didn't get tapped out through any of the situational stuff and managed to get a couple of taps.

For the full sparring I had a turn against Tom Kocur first, who was really on his game. Although he didn't finish me, he basically controlled me for 85%  of the round, quite a lot of it in a triangle choke attempt. It was a real tough round and by the end I fel totally beasted.

Then my second round was against Matt Sellars. A long standing brown belt who, quite frankly, is waaaaay out of my league. Every once in a while you have a roll against someone who reminds you just how very far you have to go in your Bjj development. Matt Sellars was that guy for me. I held him off with my guard for about a minute at the start but he pretty soon found a way to glide past and once in side control it was pretty much all over. He tapped me first with forearm choke from side control, then we pretty much repeated the transitioning and he got me with an Americana. Thoroughly handled but Matt's a very humble and friendly guy and tried to give me pointers on how to tighten up my game.

I very briefly had a roll against Ronan who also managed to pass my guard before the bell saved me from some form of pain.

My last roll was against a guy named Ben, a white belt who was showing some really good movement and strength. I got some sweeps on him and got to mount once but he recovered quite nicely each time. I eventually managed to get him with an ezekiel from mount.

For my first taster of a Friday sesh under Ronan I had a bloody good time and really loved the masses of rolling. I shall definitely be attending some more if time allows. ¬m/

Checkmat Bjj - 2/10/12

It's been a while since I've managed to get up to train with the guys at Checkmat Bjj Bristol and I've definitely missed it. They've got a well attended class up there with a few new guys I've not seen before, mixed in with the regular old faces. Great atmosphere with lots of camaraderie but also a good batch of guys who take their training relatively seriously.

Venue: Bristol Combat Legion, LA Gym, Bristol, Uk
Instructor: Chico Mendes (Grade 2 Black Belt, Checkmat Bjj)


Techniques:
(I will describe each technique using the method I originally learned it. ie. left and right grips etc. for ease of description)

Chico started off by running through a couple of the techniques he did last week (which was good for me as I wasn't there last week). Seems last week he was dealing with various methods for breaking the closed guard of which he re-demonstrated 3 quickly and had us run through them quickly a couple of times.

1/. In opponent's closed guard, right hand gripping the lapels of his jacket together, left hand gripping the material of his gi pants right around his pelvis region and pushing your knuckles into said pelvis region in an attempt to keep his hips pinned to the floor. From there you bring your right leg up and forward on the outside, so you can press that shin/knee against the opponent's side. From there you can increase the pressure on his side as if you are turning in towards him (sometimes this can break a guy's guard) or you can stand in this position, increase the pressure on the side and use you left hand to lightly push away his right, easily breaking the guard.

2/. In opponent's closed guard, using your right hand, grab his left and push it hard into his pelvis area to achieve the same sort of pinning as in the first method. With your left hand on his knee you raise your left leg outside of him to apply pressure in his side. The just use your right elbow to push against his left inside leg to achieve the easy guard break.

3/. In opponent's closed guard, both hands gripping the gi pant material at the pelvis and pushing down. With this one you just lean off to your left slightly and use your left elbow to push hard into his right inside left until he eventually lets his guard go just to relieve the pressure.
It's worth noting that this technique is not the same as the one where the guy in guard postures up and deliberately digs his elbows callously into your quad muscles just about halfway up your upper leg. The former technique is a good and legitimate way of passing guard. The latter is a bit of a fuck wits move to callously and intentionally hurt the sparring partner until they let go of their guard in agony and will probably be left with heavy bruising for the next week. Don't be that guy.

I did all my drilling with Tom "Medal Collector" Hill.

Chico then took us through some methods of passing the guard after you have broken it open.

The first passing method was the knee slide. You've just broken the guard open. You now need to press your left leg into the guy's inside leg, pushing it out ward to keep the leg at bay so as to not allow the guy to recover guard. With your right arm you push the guys left leg down to the floor and quickly hop your right leg over it. You then quickly slide your knee over the top of his left leg until gets to the ground one the other side of him. Whilst doing that you also underhook the guys right arm with your left, lay your down either to the mat on the left of him or pressing hard against his chin/neck area, and also overhook his left arm with your right so you can pull that arm behind you to stop him from blocking your pass. Once in this position you can bring yourself further over him and then work to pull your trailing leg through too. Then scissor your legs to switch over into side control.


The second pass demonstrated was basically exactly the same as the last but against the De La Riva guard.


Next up was a variation of the smash pass. You've broke the opponent's guard open and have your left leg pressing against his right inside leg. Your left hand is grabbing his gi pants at the right knee. Your right is gripping his gi front/lapel/belt. You now reach under his left leg with your right arm and then push your arm under as far as it will go so you can grab his right lapel. This enables you to bring the leg right up on your shoulder, leaning your weight against the leg to make it quite uncomfortable for the opponent. You also need to make sure you've kept your left leg in place and brace it there with your left hand. This stops the guy from being able to hit a triangle on you.
From this position we were shown two passes. The basic smash pass and a variation. For the basic smash pass you heavily press your weight up against the guy's left leg until it's basically pushed across his body. When it's forced as far as it'll go you can just turn your upper body slightly (the right shoulder goes forward) so the leg flies right by you and you can pass comfortably into side control.

For the second variation, you're in the smash set up position with the guy's left leg pressured. Instead of trying for the first smash pass, you can use your left hand to wrap around the guy's left leg, then roll left and forward while bringing your right leg up high and over, passing the guy's right leg. If done correctly, when you rolled forward, your knee at his inside leg would've passed over as well leaving only that foot left to pass. Once there you just switch your hips to gain a strong side control position.
I was really impressed with this move. When you drill it repeatedly you can really make it flow. I could easily see it becoming a go to pass of choice.





Situational rolling:

We started off the sparring with some situational stuff. You each get a couple of minutes in guard. Guy on top has to pass. Guy on bottom has to sweep or submit.

I went first against Tom with him going on the bottom first. I managed to pass his guard twice and then swept him once during my guard time.


Next up was Tom Kocur. I have a lot of respect for Tom's guard game. He's definitely a dangerous guard player, so during the course of this session I was very mindful of Tom's ability to whip out some sneaky subs. I did however use his sub hunting skills against his to get passed his guard as I lured him into trying for an arm bar, then turned the arm up so he couldn't hyper-extend it while I just passed around the open side. I was really chuffed with this. Tom is one of those guys that is pretty damn slick, so when i get anything on him it feels like I'm progressing. We restarted back in guard and before long Tom was threatening, first with and arm bar, which I switch out of again, then with an omoplata, which I managed to extend my arm to keep out of. It was during this second escape/block that Tom managed to switch on me getting the sweep. Very slick.
during my guard with the guard, neither of use managed to accomplish anything of noted. I threatened a couple of subs but he easily blocked them. He didn't manage to pass my guard.


Last guy I did the situational against was Mark Acton. Mark is a very wiley opponent who brought it too me straight from the off. He broke my guard using one of the techniques from the beginning of the evening, then after a good struggle and a few well varied attempts, he managed to pass my guard using a Toreando pass. we were both pretty gassed after the struggle mind and basically killed off the rest of my round with stalling play.
My time in Mark's guard was horrendous. I don't know it it was due to me gassing in the round before or what, but I couldn't summon up the strength to break open Mark's guard. I was throwing a lot of stuff at him but he was resisting fantastically. The only plus I take away from that was the fact that Mark didn't manage to sweep me either.


Rolling: 7 Minutes rounds.


For proper rolling I had a go against Rich Long first. Rich's game is ever improving and once again he used some really good techniques to get out of some tricky spots. It was a very back and forth roll with each of us getting a good amount of time on top and on back. I found myself attacking Rich's turtle twice. The first time he executed and immediate escape recovering to half guard. The second time I just marginally missed taking his back. I did manage a pretty cool half guard sweep on him at one point, but then he managed to burst out of a flattened half guard (using the very recognisable Lucas Leite technique) to recover to full guard. During one of my times on the bottom he made the mistake of presenting too much arm while postured up trying to break my guard. I bluffed him by pretending I was going for a gi choke while sneakily pulling myself in to position, where I managed to hit an arm bar on him. All in all it was a great roll. 


My last roll was against a new guy I'd never met before (Chris?) who said he'd only been going 2 months. I went very easy on him and talked him through some escapes from some of the tougher situations. I also tried to talk him through some of the basic mistakes he was making but as is always the case with new guys, no matter what I said I couldn't get him to stop trying to push away using his extended arms whilst in my guard. To his credit though, he had a contingency plan for when I went for the arm bar, using his other arm to block. From there though I threatened the omoplata, making him extend the arm, leaving me in the position where I just had to kneel upright and extend his arm straight to get the tap. It still didn't ram the point home though as he went straight back to arm extending in my guard after the reset. I was just about to hit him with another arm bar when time was called. I guess he's gonna need to be arm barred a few times before he learns. Oh well, we were all beginners once.

That ended a really cool session in Bristol. It was great to be back up there with those guys I hope to get back there really soon. At the end, Chico gave a quick talk about the London Open and European No Gi Championships being held in London at the end of the month, of which Chico himself is entering. Should be good fun but the prices are astronomical so I will not be able to participate myself. Ah well. Stick to training hard and hopefully good things will come. ¬m/

Checkmat Seminar and Grading 19/8/12

It never ceases to amaze me the emotions that this Martial Art I love can bring forth in myself and my friends.

On Sunday I was fortunate enough to attend another Checkmat seminar at Trojan Freefighters Gym in Cheltenham. As is the norm with these Grading seminars that our instructor, Chico Mendes puts on, we were spoiled with the talent that was brought to us, to impart on us some of their Jiu Jitsu knowledge. Attending the seminar alongside Chico (Black Belt Grade two), were Valmyr Neto (Black Belt Grade two), Marco Canha (Black Belt Grade 1) and Luiz Ribiero (Black Belt). We were also graced with the presence of Walter "Broca" Pinto da Silva Jr (Black Belt Grade 3). The Bjj coach of none other than former UFC Light Heavyweight world champion, Lyoto Machida. That's a whole lot of Black Belt on the mats for us right there.

All photos supplied from Chico's Facebook album, shot by Paul Benjiman- paul@Strikingshots.com

The event was exceptionally well attended by Checkmat students from all over the Uk with guys travelling from London, Kent, The Midlands and even from as far north as South Shields. This was great for the Checkmat organisation in England as a whole, not so good for the guys that got graded. Hehe.

We were first treated to something a little different with a Wrestling for Bjj seminar by Marc "Suplex" Allen. Marc showed us a lot of tricks and some pretty slick takedowns to compliment the standing start part of our games for use in competition. The move that I was particularly chuffed with in that segment was a single leg lift up-fall back takedown. About as close as you could probably get to a suplex in a proper Bjj comp. Real great move that I think I will cover in another entry along with a few of the other things Marc taught us.

After the wrestling segment the Black Belt instructors took the mats for the No Gi portion of the day. This was pretty cool as each visiting instructor in turn(except for Broca for some reason) demonstrated a technique and then walked the mats while the students attending drilled it, helping and correcting where necessary. This gave the students a taste of each instructor's style and how they like to work and I have to say, all three instructors really are first class. It's an absolute privilege to train under these guys, it's just a shame Chico didn't get in on the instructional act. Chico's teaching is also amazing and it'd be cool to experience some more of his seminar level techniques.

For drilling all of these techniques I paired off with a nice guy called Jamie Berry from Checkmat South Shields (near Newcastle). I have to say I am very impressed with how far these guys travelled for this seminar. That's commitment for you.

Techniques: No- Gi
(I will describe this moves from the position I initially learned them).

The first technique of the day was demo'd by Valmyr Neto and was a Triangle from Butterfly Guard. You have your opponent in your Butterfly guard (seated with underhooks). The idea of this move is to force a reaction from your opponent by leaning him over toward his left side. To do this you need to release your right underhook use that hand to base out a little behind you while pushing him left (your right) using your left underhook. This should force the guy to put his left hand out to stop the sweep at which point you can push away from him a bit with your legs while keeping him pressured with your left arm. Now you can push yourself away further using your feet on his hips then bring your right leg out (keeping the left in place at his hip) and use it to overwrap around his left shoulder/behind his head and bring the left leg up to lock it up for the tight triangle. Neto added some little bits to tighten the triangle or to turn it into and arm bar but it was all pretty obvious stuff from there. The magic is in getting there and that is a move I could definitely get on board with.
He also showed us a variation on that move that got to a really slick shoulder lock too (like an upright omoplata). When you reach behind and force the opponent over to his left so he extends the hand, keep a tight grip on the left underhook and bring your left knee up over his shoulder and lay yourself forwards on the floor. If done correctly you should be able to roll further over on your left side to increase pressure to the lock.
Both of these were pretty goochy moves that came quite natural with just a little bit of drilling.

The second technique was from Marco Cahna. Again from Butterfly guard but this time it was a sweep. From seated butterfly with the left underhook in and the right arm pulling the opponents left arm in tight, kick your right leg under your left leg (through the gap between your foot and your ass) and lean out right, kicking with your left leg to bring the guy over with you easily. This felt like a really natural butterfly sweep and I found myself easily sweeping Jamie over and coming up in side control. However. Marco also pointed out that if you were in a sport Jiu Jitsu match and trying to maximise your points you would be best served leaving your left foot in between the opponent's legs allowing him to close up for a really feeble half guard. That way you can lean over to the guys left side (so your left leg is flat to the floor except for the trapped part, you still have the left underhook to stop him from taking your back) and push your right foot against his right leg so you can easily pull your left leg out. From there you must stay tight to him and hip switch to a strong side control position.

Third move was from Luiz Ribiero and was a half guard sweep. It was very similar to the one demonstrated  by Leo Vieira at his last seminar over here except you have your left arm over the opponent's right and across his shoulders/back a little. You have the opponent's right leg in your half with your right leg securing. You are leant up on your right side a little but the opponent has a good underhook on your top (left arm) and is confident of a pass. You have your right hand on his bicep and wait for the guys momentum to shift forward. It doesn't even have to be a lot, just an ever so slight shift and you can use it to twist over to the left with your legs, whilst rolling over that way using the right arm on the bicep to assist in the very effective sweep. Although you invariably come up in half guard top you have good head control and can crush the opponent's face sideways to limit his manoeuvrability and assist you with the pass.
A great variation on what was already my favourite half guard sweep.

The last technique in the No Gi portion was another Marco Cahna move and felt quite familiar as it was a transition from the Butterfly Guard to X Guard then finish with a knee bar or toe hold. Starting for the same position as for Marco's previous move, you attempt the same sweep but the opponent anticipates it and brings his left leg out and bases with it to block the sweep. From here you pass your right arm under his left leg (low to the ankle or foot) and chop it out and up to your shoulder pulling down tight on it with a double wrapped arm grip to keep it in place), whilst at the same time bringing your left hook high in his inside (right) leg and your right hook back and putting in underneath the your left at about the knee. This is the X Guard position. From here you use your left leg to push his right leg away at the knee which forces the opponent to turn away from you slightly allowing you to turn him around so his knee is facing down into your stomach. You now just pass your right leg out and over the top of his upper leg and triangle it on the other side of him with your other leg, but then hide the lower of part of the securing leg above him to avoid a toe hold counter. From that position you just need to extend your hips into his knee while pushing your legs into his butt/lower back for the knee bar.
If for whatever reason it's not coming on, a slight adjustment turns it into a painful toe hold.

Some great and easily attainable techniques for the No Gi part. After a very short break and a quick change into something a little less sweaty we were back for the Gi portion of the day.


Techniques: Gi


The first gi technique was almost like an old friend to me as it was the Flower Sweep from closed guard as demo'd by Luiz Ribiero. Luiz did show it with a couple of obvious differences to how I usually do it. From closed guard you grab the opponent's left gi sleeve at the cuff and pull it in towards you, whilst at the same time you reach down a grab his left pant leg as low as possible. Now opening your guard, your drop your left leg low to his side whilst kicking up high into his shoulder with your right leg and at the same time pulling up on the left pant leg. At this point though was the main difference between how I usually do it and how Luiz taught it. Luiz had us pull the leg as high up towards our heads as possible to totally destroy the opponent's balance and easily tip him over into side control. Very effective but at the time I was thinking there wasn't much difference between it and the method I usually use.
However. After playing around with that for a while, Luiz showed a counter for if the opponent manages to block the sweep (usually by bringing their left arm across to act as a large ditch base out). This is where having the opponent's left leg held high comes in. With your strong grip on the leg you turn your right elbow underneath the leg so you can turn the arm fully under that leg and have it tightly secured at your shoulder. You can now bring yourself back to a seated position and close the guard with the slight difference that you have his leg trapped rather uncomfortably (for him) up at your shoulder.

Now for the first move from here (you've still got his right sleeve gripped right?) you can just shift your hips out to your left a little and swing your left leg up and over for quite a tight arm bar.

The second move from here you keep the arm grip and swing you leg up and roll over on your right (taking him with you). He instinctively bases out with his left hand leaving you perfectly set up to pull on his right arm using your lower body as a fulcrum for one of the tightest arm bars you can get on a guy.

If all this looks like failing you can switch your left hand grip of his right sleeve over to pull on his left sleeve and you can sweep him over the other way coming up into mount as you would have for the original sweep.

Exceptionally cool options from the flower sweep using that leg pulled high.


Next up was Valmyr Neto showing us a cool pass for Butterfly guard. The opponent has done everything right with his butterfly guard, he's sat up with full double underhook control and both hooks in. You are on your knees postured up. From here you reach over the opponent's shoulder with your left hand to grab at the guys belt or gi at the lower back. Next you use your right hand to reach inside the opponent's left leg at the knee crook and bend your hand back to hook out around the leg. Now you just kick backwards with your right leg and use your belt control and leg control to tilt and turn the guy so you land neatly in side control. As a little addition, Neto landed in side with you shoulder crushing into the opponent's face quite heavily, leaving the opponent no choice but to attempt to relieve pressure on his face by bringing his arms up then eventually bridging up, by which time you have all the space in the world to transition to mount.
Another very slick, very easy to learn move.

The last technique for the Gi portion of the seminar was another Marco Canha one and was perhaps the most tricky move of the day. Mainly because there seemed to be so much to it. Starting from your opponent's Spider Guard with you standing, you manage to pull your right arm free. you reach inside and grab a hold of the opponent's gi then collapse his guard and quick step around his right leg to land knee on belly. From there the opponent reacts by trying to get up on his side and pushing against your knee with his hand. You rotate yourself around him, stepping up past his head to come back around into side control the other side,  but you have the guy tilted up on his side slightly with his back to you a little. You need to use your downward pressure against his side/shoulder to keep him in position while you thread your right arm under his head and initiate a seat belt grip in front of him. You must keep you upper body tight to him at all times from here but you can give the opponent a little space at his lower body to "invite" him to attempt to turtle. Should he take you up on this you have space to quickly thrust your right hook in and quickly pull him back down. At this point you may be able to get the left hook in too. If not, you need to lock up your one hook using a sort of rear mount half guard style to maintain maximum control. The finish Marco showed us from here was very similar to Lucas Leite's. You open the guys left collar using your left hand by putting you thumb on top of the collar and turning it proper inside out. This allows you to bring right hand across in front of him and get sooo deep in at the collar that the choke is virtually on already. Now you can grab the guys right lapel quite low with your land and finish by applying the choke. Interesting detail here was instead of just yanking away to finish, lift yourself up on your right elbow and turn and the choke apply much tighter anyway.
Some nice parts to the move and I might have lost a couple of details here as this was one of those techniques where the demo was very long and descriptive. Works well though.

Rolling:

We all had a little roll at the end. I rolled with Jamie, who I had trained with all day, first. I basically just played around with my guard for this one. Trying to submit off my back and moving him a round a little. Jamie managed to pass my guard handily at one point but I was able to recover it quite well. That's about as much of it as I remember to be frank. He seemed to have some good movement and held me quite tight, not leaving much space. For a white belt he had a pretty damn good game and I can't imagine that he's too far off his blue belt.


Next up was my annual thrashing from Paul Severn, although I was pleased to see that I was holding my own a bit better this time. We played with some good guard work back and forth before he cleverly passed my guard to side control. I managed to escape his side control using the Lucas Leite set up to the inverted Anaconda but turned his lower body toward me before I could try and tighen it fully and recovered guard. From there he managed to cinch on a nice tight arm bar which "convinced" me to tap after a brief struggle. Can't remember the rest of it except for that I played it quite safe after that.


My last roll was where I made a massive mistake. I was against quite a big heavy guy called Wayne. We started with a little knee to knee grapple where he got such a tight hold on both my lapels that I had to struggle to loosen it or risk going out. From there I pushed him over and got in his closed guard with him working the collar still and me bringing the knee in for the pass. At this point we clashed with another pair on the mat and in my Herculean stupidity I tried to move Wayne across using the pull him across by the gi jacket method that you can generally get away with when grappling a guy of similar or smaller size. Oh my god did something go in my back at that point. I carried on the roll with some twinges of pain there, passed his guard and attempted a bow and arrow from top but I really couldn't focus on anything other than the pain. I welcomed the end of that roll and was actually glad when it was over. I also sat out the rest of the rolling to stretch out my back. It has healed over the last few days but the Sunday night at home was sheer agony.



Grading:

On to the final part of the event. And what a climax it was. Chico started off the proceedings by issuing the Blue Belts out. Notable among them were Bristol Class regulars, Andy "Ginge" Bremerkamp (he didn't know that was his nickname and evidently neither did Chico when he was reading the names on the belts out :oD) and Martin (Late show) Rose, and DV8 and Bristol regular Tom Hill. There were a few other guys who scooped Blues as well. Good stuff all of them. It's a great feeling getting your first awarded belt as it's a long journey with few stops along the way.

Next up were the Purple Belt guys and this was quite a big moment for the South West Branch of the Checkmat family as, up until now the highest rankers were all Blue Belts, except for a very light smattering of Brown Belts that have been training for ages and landed in Checkmat recently. Notable amongst the Purples were Ronan Fleming of the Bristol Club and Paul Severn of the Cheltenham and Worcester Clubs, as these guys have been training for a fair old while and it was universally felt that their promotions were a necessity by this time. Other guys I've rolled with who scooped their purples were Stuart Austin and Antanas Jazbutis. Both very worthy guys. Well done the lot of them. They've done theirselves and their team-mates proud.

The last and most special award of the day to be given out was a big moment for Checkmat Uk as a whole and for our little DV8 club in particular, as my Instructor, Ian Rossiter, was presented with the monumental honour of being the first home grown Checkmat Black Belt in the West of England. And a very emotional time for him it was too. It truly was priceless to see Ian's jaw drop and to have him stand up in front of the gathering getting his pristine new Black Belt tied around his waist and giving his speech, whilst choking back his Tears of joy. I can honestly say that, looking at Ian come the journeys end, the final big step makes all the hard work, the training and learning, the niggling little injuries, the long distances travelled and the hardships endured all seem worthwhile for that one moment of elation when you get exactly what you've worked these long years for. Congratulations Boss. You thoroughly deserve it.

¬m/

Uk Premier Bjj - Bristol Open - 5th August 2012

So the big day was finally here. My competition day. The Bristol Open at the Filton College campus in Filton, Bristol. I was pumped up and raring to go. What a massive disappointment it was. Or I was, whichever you prefer.

First impression of the event were "oh my god this is squeezed in to a very small space". The campus itself seemed enormous but the space we were jammed into was half (yes, half!) a reasonable sized sports hall. The other half of the hall was occupied by a what seemed to be a wheel chair basketball match so we were all rammed into a small half a hall with the most hilariously cramped in warm up area and 3 match pitches laid out in an L shaped occupying the largest part of the hall. All spectators and non-fighters were expected to sit in the stand which featured some of THE most uncomfortable seating I have ever had the misfortune of resting my peachy cheeks on. It was a common sight to see spectators getting up and stretching as if they were just about to get on the mats for a match. But alas, they were only trying to alleviate the immense pain prolonged contact with the seats had caused.

As for everything else, the atmosphere was brilliant. As always, what never ceases to amaze me at an event where highly athletic guys are trying to inflict pain on each other, Bjj competitions are an example of combat sports competitors who are also nice, honourable guys. If you were to get a similar set up for a boxing competition or MMA competition the amount of IPSM (idiots per square metre) would be significantly higher. Probably due to the fact that those guys always think they're better than everyone else. It's the mindset you have to have to do that sort of thing. But Bjj-ers have been beaten, tapped out, choked out and folded in half so many times by their peers that it's rare you will find a guy with a massive ego. Those guys don't last long in Bjj.


I arrived at the event toward the end of the white belt competition so didn't get to see much of the lower rank action. A short while after I arrived, the Brown Belt prize money competition started. There were only 3 competitors for this bracket and the first two were absolute monsters. 1 in particular, was referred to as Jack Black on special chicken by some of the spectators looking on. Jack Black-alike won the first match by takedown and pass to side control, that was pretty much the sum total of the match. I think the other guy managed to recover half guard at one point but was quickly passed again. Pretty boring match with JB taking the points decision.

There was a bit of a chuckle for the second match as the third competitor was pitted against the loser of the first match. This new guy was probably a middle or light weight against the Super Heavy plus, the other guy was. We all should've known better to chuckle though (we've been studying this art for long enough to know size shouldn't matter) as the small guy swept the big fella and got him quickly with a gi choke.

The final between Jack Black and the little guy was another surprise. The little guy managed a takedown and a pass and then did enough to keep busy and the opponent away from points to take the victory. He got a fairly big cheer for it too. Well done that man, for proving the whole thing that Bjj was supposed to be created for still rings true.


Our Checkmat Team we took managed to scoop a few medals with Tom Kocur and Shabba Vaithianathan both scoring Bronze in the Adult Blue Belt Lightweight catagory and Ronan Fleming grabbing a silver in the Adult Blue Belt Super Heavyweight catagory. Well done guys.


Now on to my performance. I was entered into the Masters and Seniors Blue Belt Medium Heavyweight bracket and I was massively chuffed with my weight cut for this. I've spent the last month eating carefully and working out or training every day to keep a semblance of cardio and strength at my new found slim line stature. And I felt that I'd done quite well with that and I'd even dropped a bit past the weight I needed to attain so I could eat relatively heartily on the weekend of the comp so my energy levels would be right up there.

All in all I was slim, fit and definitely game. I wasn't overly nervous. I had a bit of an idea of what I wanted to do. None of this mattered in the end.

The guy I was against in the first round was a really nice guy called Tyrone Derrick. A Blue Belt from Gracie Barra Southampton (amusingly this is where Marcus' will probably be training when he moves down there) he was really approachable and and pleasant. When we got on the mat and started the match we had a very brief grip fight before I stepped in for a takedown to which he reacted with a very tasty fall back suicide trip. If it failed he would've been in the shit but as it was the gambit paid off and he had the two points. I quickly managed to attain closed guard which (and I've discussed this at length with people since) is totally weird as I can count on 1 hand, the amount of minutes I spent using closed guard in sparring in the last 3 months. But no, for some reason I had closed guard and I kept my closed guard on whilst trying for gi chokes, arm bars, a couple of flower sweep attempts and a couple of set ups for kimuras. None of this was very effective because Tyrone was very strong and basically planted his fist at my hips and postured up while trying break my guard. Every time I managed to pry one of his arms away from his and break his posture he'd lean forward for a second or two, I'd reach up for a collar choke or something and he'd plant the fists back and posture up again and continue to try to break my guard. The annoying thing is I should of just been opening my guard anyway. My open guard is pretty good. I probably would have had a lot more options to sweep him and felt more comfortable doing it. But hindsight is always 20/20 and at the time, Tyrone felt so strong that I felt to lose my closed guard was to surrender a position. So I stupidly kept the closed guard there. I got an advantage for a relatively close gi choke but other than that I did bugger all. At the end I tried a bit frantically to sweep him from closed guard and he managed to counter neatly and pass to my half guard. I was just gearing up for a half guard sweep when the time was called. Tyrone won from the two points he'd scored in the opening seconds of our fight. I was pretty gutted about this but at the end of the day I did it to myself. Well done to Tyrone, he went on to win Bronze at our weight and also in the Absolute.
I've included the video for anybody who wants to sit through five minutes of relatively little action.

As for me, it's back to the drawing board. I will need over the next couple of weeks to re-evaluate what I need for my game to progress. It's my ability to process a game plan in the heat of the moment. Mental Strength a lot of people call it and mine left me that day. I also think a bit more situation training where I work my way out of positions I am held in. I should try and up my game as well. Never take the easy option in sparing, instead always roll against the toughest, strongest and best guys in the class. Only this way will I learn how to counter strong guys who have a strong hold on me or be able to increase my skill level by rolling with the higher level guys.

I'd just like to thank my instructors, Ian and Chico, for their tuition and support and for yelling out their instruction from the side lines. Sorry I didn't do better for you guys. 

I've got a couple of weeks off now as I'm on annual leave from work and I've promised my wife and children some solid family time together. I shall be back in action on the 19th August at the Checkmat Grading Seminar where I shall get the opportunity to whip some backs in the name of team spirit and camaraderie. It'll also give me a little bit of time to rest up on a growing list of aches and pains before I get back to training hard. At the moment the next competition in my sight is the Hereford Open in December unless something else pops up in the meantime. I really have got the bug after my little outing Sunday. I NEED to compete.

I'll see if anything else comes up. ¬m/