DV8 Academia de Jiu Jitsu - 13/9/12

This blog is a land mark for me in my Bjj Obsession for 2 reasons. Firstly, it's my one hundredth blog entry, which is pretty special in it's own right. Secondly, and more importantly in my eyes, it's the first opportunity I've had to teach this martial art that I love so much. Yes, that's right, I am chuffed to fuck because I was allowed by my long time instructor, Ian Rossiter, to instruct part of this nights class in his absence. I say part of as I shared the instruction privilege with Glenn Cutter, who for half of the class, ran us through some very handy throwing techniques.

Wahooo, I finally found a program that will make transparent backgrounds for my pictures :o)

 

Venue: Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare, Uk.
Instructors: Martin Eyre (Blue Belt, Hey that's me :oD), Glenn Cutter (Blue Belt).


Warm Up:
 I started the warm up with the usual laps of the mat with arms windmilling, then butt kicks, then knee ups, side steps facing in, side step facing out. We then stopped for some arm stretching and neck stretching. Then some leg stretching. Then, at the request of Rich Presley before the class, we changed it up a bit and paired off for some no handed guard passing/sweeping, then some guard pulling (10 each). We then did some break falling up the mat. First forward rolls. Then forward rolls into backward rolls. Then another which I can't remember (d'oh). Everybody was breathing fairly heavy after all that.




Techniques:
(I will explain the movements from the perspective that I first learned them for ease of description)

For the techniques this week, Glenn Cutter took the first half of the class and showed us some pretty excellent takedowns. He demonstrated techniques that lent themselves well to Bjj stand up, particularly against a resisting opponent.



 First up was a pretty cool method of getting a trip takedown against an opponent's guard pull attempt. So your facing off against the opponent, both collar and elbow grappling for position to initiate a throw, with your right hand on his collar and left at his elbow. The opponent decides to pull guard and you are quick enough to see this happening. As he's raised his right leg up and started to wrap it around you, you twist your grip on his lapel about a quarter turn clockwise whilst pushing that fist against him to bring him off balance. You then step forward to bring your right leg behind his left and then pull back with it whilst simultaneously pushing forward with your clenched right fist. The guy should go flat (and quite hard) down on his back with you following him down to land with your right knee across his left inside thigh - to close it down from any counter attacking or defensive movement - and a large part of the rest of your body weight leaning against his other leg. The pass should come very easy from there.
I drilled this and all other moves with Rich. We both enjoyed this move and indeed the whole takedown segment of this class.



Next up we did the same but without the guard pull attempt. So basically, you push him away with your clenched fist grip, then step in and try for the trip. This version, as Glenn pointed out, can be a lot scrappier and no where near as clean, as you go into a kind of locked legs struggle, but as long as you persevere you can get the guy down eventually by waiting for him to try and turn his weight against you then just taking him down the opposite way.



The third takedown of the night was one I really enjoyed. Taking a grip of the opponent's right sleeve cuff with left hand and a grip of his collar (either side) with your right, step away from the opponent to the opposite side from which of his hands you have - in my case I had his right so I stand away from him to his left . You then quickly turn away (turning left) from him whilst pulling him around in that direction rapidly as if to swing him over. Consequentially, his body moves at a much faster rate than his legs can carry him and he goes over on to his back with the arm you had originally secured presenting itself neatly for the arm bar finish.

While doing this move I commented to Rich about how friggin awesome it would be to pull the whole lot of it off in a competition. The swing takedown into arm bar. The would be up there with flying arm bars for silky smooth finishes.



For the last move Glenn demonstrated a step in for O Soto Gari, then turning it into a Seio Nage. You're standing facing your opponent with left hand grip on his right cuff, and a right hand grip of his right collar. You then step your left leg out slightly left so you can bring your right leg forward to the outside of his right leg. This is where you'd usually go for the O Soto Gari. That's exactly what the opponent will be expecting too so for this move, Glenn showed us a slick way to turn it into a Seio Nage. By then swinging your left leg back and around in a sweeping motion, so you have essentially turned you back on him, you can extend your right left straight and flip the guy over your shoulder, hard to the mat and end neatly in side control.
I found this move difficult at first because I kept bending the right leg right at the end taking away my power to throw him over the shoulder and basically turning it into a trip. Got it ok in the end though.

Some great moves there from Glenn and a lot of the guys commented that we could maybe do a a regular half class of takedowns, maybe on a monthly basis. I'll have to put that to Ian and see what he says.


The second half of the class was taught by me. It was a real land mark in my Jiu Jitsu progress that I was allowed to take this and I was really chuffed. So I decided to do the segment on my old personal nemesis, The Half Guard. I used to find the half guard a real problem when i first started Jiu Jitsu, seeing it as more of a position I was trapped in and must escape from, rather than a position where I could easily transition to rear mount, sweep or submit an opponent. The key thing I have found is to make the space to get off you back  so you are turned onto your side facing in to your opponent, preferably with an underhook in too.

With this in mind, the first technique I demonstrated was a method of breaking free from the flattened out half guard bottom, to get to the attacking half guard on you side. Starting with my opponent laying flat on top of me with his right leg trapped in my half guard (his left leg basing off to my right side), lying diagonally across me so his left arm has wrapped around under my head and his right arm is under hooking my left and reached up to grip his other hand to the left of my head. He's rather fiendishly using this position to stall, maybe because he's short of breath, maybe the times nearly up and he's ahead on points. What you need to do first is make some space for yourself. You do this by reaching up with your right hand to take a grip of gi underneath his left arm pit, and reach up over the top of his right arm with your left, sliding the arm under his face/neck, to grab a handful of his gi  at the top of his left shoulder (your hands should be framing his shoulder, one above, one below). You can now bridge up using your legs to assist you, pushing out with your hands to make enough space to get your head in under his head/upper chest. Once it's in there you can quickly swing your left hand down then up to go under his right arm and reach around to take a grip of his gi or belt as far as you can reach around. You can now bring your right elbow in close to your lower stomach, until you can get it under you. You can now use the combined strength of your arm, shoulder and body, to move yourself into a more upright position. This is now a much more attacking Half Guard position, giving you a good set up for a transition to rear mount or some good sweeps.
I had the class just practise getting themselves out of the troubling flattened position first.


Moving on from there I added a sweep to it. You've got yourself to the attacking Half Guard set up position above. To pre-empt any attempted moves to back, the opponent quickly gets the whizzer on your deep under hooking left arm. From here you start to push your weight into him, sitting up very slightly as you go. When the guy inevitably starts to push his weight back against you, you quickly reach down to grip his gi pants at the left knee with your right hand, then quickly fall/turn backwards while pulling him over with your deep left under hook and then pushing him over with the pant knee grip. If executed correctly you should be able to easily sweep even a much heavier opponent to his back and come up in side control.
I seemed to get a fairly good reaction for this sweep which was good.



The last move i demonstrated was the Half Guard Twist Sweep. You've managed to get slightly upright on to your side with your half guard ( the guys right leg is trapped) but he's clapped pushing your left arm at the bicep to stop you from getting the under hook. You must ensure at this point, that you are trapping his right leg using your right leg wrapped over it so your right foot ends up on the outside of his right leg. You must position your right knee so it is pressed against his inside right thigh and then quickly move your left foot to press against the outside of his right knee. From here you use your left hand to ensure he can't base out and stop the move with his right arm, by gripping it in close. Then twisting your lower body left, you push your right knee against his inside right leg, which pushes him over your left foot, sweeping him over onto his back with you coming up neatly into side control. The move is easier if you get it set up and then wait for your opponent to push forward, then use their momentum to help you, but it's a very doable sweep even with out the additional help.
This is easily one of my favourite half guard sweeps.



Sparring:

For the sparring this session I had a fairly mediocre night. I got a couple of subs but nothing that will set the world alight.

I rolled with Rich, Glenn'son, Sean Errock, 'Big' Justin Thomas and Tommy Hill.


That was it for the week for training. I was hoping to get a session in with my mate Tom Gifford but unfortunately it didn't happen. I shall try and coax him into some for next week. Gotta get the mat time in :o)

Two Man Gi Training - 18/6/12

One again Me and Marcus hit the mats for a bit of training Monday lunchtime. We hit up a bit more of the Jason Scully Half Guard Bottom vid. I have really been ranting on a bit about his videos but I think he's really hit onto something by pouring as many techniques from a single position into a 7 minute-ish vid and letting the watcher work out the rest themselves. It's like have a specialised book in video form. If you take the time you can catalogue the moves he's doing and work out a small session using just 30 seconds of his vid. I cannot recommend these films enough.

Here is the video just to refresh you on what I'm ranting on about.

We started off this time at about 2:34 on the clip doing a Half Guard to Rolling Triangle. The guy is attack your half guard trying to pass. You've ended up bringing your free leg up to block him against his torso whilst your trapping leg is still between his legs. He makes the mistake of bringing his arm to overhook your top leg then drive the arm up between your upper legs. You then secure that arm in position between your legs and bring your trapping leg up and out (effectively releasing half guard). You bring that leg out the side where your butt is pointing and do a sort of forward/sideways roll bringing that freed leg over his head and around his neck to close the triangle on him. This technique lends itself to getting a near perfect position for the triangle. I found myself not actually having to work too hard as the position was naturally there.

The second one, at 2:42, was the Hallf Guard to Rolling Omoplata. Exactly the same setup as above but instead of rolling forwards/sideways you just roll forward, bringing you up in an amazing and super sweet looking Omoplata finish. These are two super disco looking moves that I'm fairly sure I will be trying to attain for some time.

The third and final technique we tried from the Jason Scully vid was another Omoplata. Once again from the above setup with the arm between you legs but this time you overhook the arm (he has stuffed up between your legs) right at the arm pit and pull while you drive your leg forward and through. Now all you need to do is pull the leg over and tuck it under the opponent's chin and then move around into Omoplata position. This is by fair the simpler variant of the three and we also found it lends itself to a fantastic tight Gogoplata. Nice move.

We moved on from Half Guard for a bit of variety and stole a move from Ciao Terra.

I really enjoyed this little variation on the Side Control/S Mount Armlock. I am always finding myself in this position so to find a little gem like this was a pretty good.

The last move I can remember from the Monday sesh was a Ricardo Almeida Gogoplata/Armlock from Mount. 

This is a lovely little move and if I can ever pull it off I will be over the moon. In fact I'm on a bit of a major crusade to pull off a Gogoplata against a resisting opponent at the moment. I've had so many near misses but still not actually got there. It'll come one day. I've just got to remember that I need one of my opponents arms very securely wrapped up before I can even attempt the Gogaplata or it's too easy for him to move.

We chucked a bit of rolling in at the end but were constrained for time so only had about 25 minutes. I'm still pretty impressed with how my rolling cardio is coming along.

In all a great (if quite short) little session Monday. I'll post the Tuesday No- Gi session as soon as I can type it up. I seem to have a recurring alcohol indulgence problem at the moment as there has just been an enormous development in my Wife's life that has given us reason to celebrate so typing up these blog entries has come a bit late. The alternative is to do it a bit pissed which is not a good idea.

Catcha later ¬m/ 

2 Man Training 12/6/12

It was back to just two of us for mine and Marcus' Tuesday No Gi session. And as I was a bit lax with the pre-planning for this one, it was Marcus who stepped up with some techniques. And he really did have Disco fever. I am unsure if this is all the moves we drilled, in fact I'm pretty sure there were more, but as I didn't write anything down at the time I've completely forgotten some of the stuff.


First up was the Tornado Guard Triangle. As there is a perfectly good video of this technique laid out to the internet masses just over half a year ago by the Bjj Weekly crew, featuring the creator of the Tornado Guard, Roberto 'Cyborg' Abreu, I will just put that up here and anyone reading this can watch it. It's nowhere near as hard as it looks (in practice).

Same again for the next  technique. We did the Tornado Guard Sweep to Kimura, same source, same master. Great move, a little bit harder to pull off though.

For the next move of the day we tried the Half Guard to Toe Hold at 1:50 of Jason Scully's Half Guard bottom vid. I didn't really bother with this yesterday as I don't really train leg locks in Gi as you can't use them in competition until Brown Belt anyway (and that's a loooooooong way off for me). But in No Gi it's like open season. Try it out yourself. You'll love it.

The last move I remember was an escape from Kuzure Kesa Gatame (Scarf Hold) bottom flip to Darce Choke. It took a couple of tries to get the manoeuvre right but when you do it feels really sweet. And of the super disco moves we worked today I'd say this would be the easiest to attain (I wouldn't put the Toe Hold from Half on the disco list just so ya know). If fact it might be worth subjecting myself to a bit of Scarf hold situational just to try it out sometime.

We rolled shit loads after that. Probably rather unwisely too, as we both went training in the evening too. I was aching and blowing out my ass after this one though and I'm fairly sure we managed to clock up 35 minutes of rolling in total for that sesh. At least my cardio's getting a good run out.


I'll try and finish off the write up to Chico's lesson tomorrow night or something. S'laters \m/

3 Man Gi Training - 11/6/12

I've hand a bit of a bumper couple of days of training this Monday and Tuesday. I started off with a Gi session over lunch on Monday, then a No Gi session lunch Tuesday and finished up with a class under Chico Mendes Tuesday evening.

Now usually it's just me and Marcus trying to rip each others arms off on a Monday and Tuesday but we were lucky enough to be joined by fellow club mate Tom Hill. It's always good to have more people to train with and Tom added a different dynamic to our rolling at the end, as his style is different to both mine and Marcus'. Where as Marcus is very technical and exceptionally good with his hip escapes; and I use a lot of flexibility and try to use a bit of agility in my passing and guard maintaining; Tom uses quite a bit of strength and likes to close out his opponents by grabbing them and giving them minimal movement space. Sometimes it can be tricky rolling against Tom with this style as he doesn't leave you a lot of room to get controlling positions on him and he's very quick to power out of any bad positions you have him in if you let him, which trains you to tighten up your game.

So coming in I had a load of techniques planned out. It's been a while since any of us had done a good old Half Guard session so I went back to the Jason Scully YouTube vids that have been doing the rounds and found the Half Guard Bottom one. Jason basically rams as many techniques into one video a he can get, usually only giving you one view of the move but occasionally two angles on some of the trickier moves. He outright says it's not an instructional vid but rather just a visual record of as many techniques as he can get in. But if you sit down and go slowly through each technique, writing them out in (semi) detail, you can pick up quite a lot. And there are quite a few moves that I'd never seen or rarely seen, so it's really helpful.

So here's the video I have been using (many thanks to Jason Scully). Take into account we only really covered the first 2 minutes or so of it cause the vid really has loads of stuff on it and we were limited for time.

Now rather than write a full description for all of the techniques we covered I shall just list them along with any notes I had on the move. The video is sitting right there if you would like to look at it for the moves yourself.

We started out with Jason's Basic Half Guard Position. Where as I like to secure a leg with my inside leg and hip escape out to the side slightly, holding the opponent off with and arm pressed across the his chest, the other arm free to fend off his outside arm or grab a leg if it comes up; Jason Scully secures the leg with his off side leg, using it to pull the guys leg out and upset his balance. He also favours an underhook and leans in towards his opponent, still using the free arm to defend or attack as necessary. I must confess to finding this position preferable to my usual half guard style but you need to have a lot of space to really get the lean in correct. There is LOADS of sweeps from here though.


First move we went with was the Transition to Rear Mount, exactly the same as Chico showed us a couple of weeks ago. Great move and I've managed to hit it a couple of times since learning it.


The first sweep we learnt from the basic position was a Half Guard Push over sweep at 1:24 on the vid. From the basic position but the opponent leaves his offside leg too close to you. Reach down with your free hand and pull it inside, then using your other hand, grab it around the back to destroy any chance of basing out, and lean forward to tilt the guy over onto his back. Easy and simple.







Next was a Half Guard Flip Over at 1:31 on the vid. As if you’re going to back (as before) but the opponent has a strong over under hook. You sort of turn around and base out with your free arm, pushing against his near side arm with your trapped arm so he pushes back, then drop down and shoulder roll over, grabbing his leg as you go, to flip him. (probably need to watch this one). We all loved this move. It's really slick and the momentum makes the move fairly easy.




Now the Kimura flip sweep at 1:44 was difficult for us to work out, mainly because my notes were shit. What you actually do is attempt to base out the same as before, then bring your free (basing arm) back to grab his nearside wrist (remember it's over under hooking you at that point) and circle round his now secured arm with your other arm to grab your own wrist. You can then come out the side and spin over, flipping the opponent with you if he's sensible, ending up in a top control position with a wrist lock right there. This move was a little tricky to hit at first but once we got it we felt it was a pretty slick tactic to use.


We then did the single leg takedown stuff that starts from 1:55 for a couple of move, including a variation with a knee pick if he decides not to stand with you.


We chucked in the Calf Slicer at 2:12 which is a very cool move, even though we won't be able to use it in competition. Always nice to know. All you gotta do is duck out the side as if you're going to back but instead turn around and pull the opponent's leg up while your trapping leg (you use the inside leg this time) is pulled in his knee crook.


Next up was a Kimura on the opponent's free arm at 2:18. From the basic, secure his free arm at the wrist and reach over for the kimura. You can roll the opponent over you using this technique for the sweep.


Last technique we did was the Arm between the legs sweep at 2:24. Push the guys free arm between his legs and reach over his back with the arm you've just released from under hooking (reach past his shoulder on the side of the arm to be Kimura'd) to his belt and then twist and push out to rotate them away and over to the commanding side control with the Kimura right there.


After that we did some good hard sparring for 5 minute rounds.

So that was a good session with some great Half Guard moves to sink our teeth into. I really am starting to fully understand how to get a threatening Half Guard now. I won't say I have it anyway near mastered or even competent yet but through understanding something your ability to practice and become proficient at it grows. I will be continuing to work on my Half Guard as it's a valuable position to have as a strong part of your game. When you think about it, it's the last line of defence before an opponent has top control on you. Having a useless Half Guard leaves you just clenching your legs together to trap your opponent in place, to stall his progress to top control for as long as possible. But having an attacking half guard makes this position still a threat for the opponent to be in. You can still sweep, you can still submit. I used to consider Half Guard bottom a position I needed to escape from the same as side control bottom. It's all about the positioning of your body. As long as you can shift your body out to the side (not be flat on the ground) you can be a threat.

Gotta keep training Half Guard.

Checkmat - Bristol 8-5-12

I took a full car up to the LA Gym in Bristol for the Tuesday night Bjj session at Checkmat - Bristol Combat Legion. The usual faces of me, Ian and Marcus were joined by Dan Foster and Justin Thomas, regulars of Ian's Thursday night class down Sweat FA Weston. So the banter in the car was good instead of the usual - me talking at Ian and Marcus for 20 odd miles.

Venue: LA Gym, Bristol, Uk.
Instructor: Ian Rossiter - Checkmat.


Warm Up:

Laps of the mat, including, ass kicks, knee ups, facing inward for a lap, facing out for a lap and arm windmilling for a couple of laps. Neck, Arm and Shoulder stretching. Push ups 10x8, Squats 10x 8,  Crunches 10 x 7 (Stupid big classes :o|), then some leg stretching.



Techniques:

First technique of the night was how to force the opponent to give up the arm for an Arm Bar from Mount. Starting with the mount on your opponent, with one of your hands, reach over and cross grab the guys non opposing shoulder (so if using your right hand you'd grab his right shoulder) and crush your forearm down across his throat. This move is never going to get a tap from anyone as the block for it is instinctive. The opponent reaches over with his opposite side hand and pulls on the crushing arm at the elbow to relieve that pressure on his neck. In doing so he exposes a lot of his arm and lifts his shoulder partially off the ground. Now you can secure his blocking arm by releasing the neck crush  and reaching through the gap to the high arm/shoulder and turning your body in toward his shoulder to stop the opponent from pulling his arm away. Whilst doing this you also switch your far side leg (the leg on the far side of his body when you turn) to point up towards his head. Now you change the arm you have securing his arm over (you should now have your arm nearer his head threaded into his endangered arm elbow crook), and use the newly freed arm to either grab his gi pants at the near side knee or post out behind you. To finish this move you just need to bring the other leg over his head and lean back, clutching the opponents arm tight to your chest so you can use the power of your whole body to extend his arm. Clench your knees together tight so you only need to lightly pull down on the arm to finish. If your legs are too lose you have to pull right back on the arm and over extend your hips to get the tap.
This move has been a staple of my Bjj repertoire for years and I cannot even begin to remember how many guys I've tapped with this exact technique. I drilled this move with Marcus.


Moving on from there, the standard defence against the above arm bar is to clutch the endangered arm with the other arm. The next set of three mini techniques were some tips Ian gave us for breaking the opponents arms apart when he uses this method to block the arm bar.
The first was a simple wrist lock. The opponent is holding on to the secured arm with his other arm for dear life, trying to puzzle out a way to escape the imminent danger. All you need do is grab the hand of the secure arm and pull it down, bending it at the wrist, as if you're trying to get his hand to touch his elbow crook. With the elbow of that arm firmly against your stomach there is nowhere for him to move to relieve the pressure. A submission is imminent. This move is sometimes known as a goose neck wristlock.
The second method to break the grip is to just swim your free arm inside the opponents clenched arm ensemble and then back away, leaning in that direction too (still clenching the arm to you) to snap the grip apart.
The third method Ian demonstrated (on me, the bastard) was to bring his arm right into the crook of the opponents secured elbow and use his other arm to crush that arm together (so the wrist pushes toward the shoulder) closing the elbow so the arm left inside expands the elbow joint for lots of pain.
Three good techniques for the arm bar clutch break. I drilled these techniques with Rich Long. I found the first two fairly easy but the third took a bit of exploring arm positioning to get the most effective hold on.


Ian showed us one more technique to combat someone blocking the arm bar attempt. This time, you've got to the arm bar set up where the arm is secure (but clenched to defend) and both your legs are over the opponent to prevent his easy escape. Sometimes people have a tendency to try and push on the far side arm at the bicep with their far side (leg side) foot. This technique works when the guys shakes your foot off leaving both your legs positioned above (closer to his head) the far side arm. You can now move your near side leg (the one over his head) out at roughly a 45 degree angle to his head, then reach behind his head with your near side arm to grab the your other leg at the ankle and pull that leg partially around the opponents head, keeping your arm very tight to the back of his head. Some guys might tap at this point to the arm and leg triangle but the real choke comes when you wrap your other leg around the choking leg to form the traditional triangle figure four for the tight choke. If you're still having problems finishing it from there you can move your ass away from the opponent, increasing the pressure on the neck.
Me and Rich both found this move easy to get to grips with and very effective.


Next up was a Kimura from Half Guard top. In your opponent's Half Guard, you have managed to isolate his arm (the off side arm so you are leant right across his body, with him flattened out) off to one side. You secure it for the Kimura using the traditional overwrap figure four arm hold and pull the arm in close to your body. You then pull the opponent up a bit so you can roll over on your shoulder and head to come up on the side bringing the opponent forward slightly so you can finish the Kimura behind his back. Ian suggests crossing your legs as you go over so the guy can't push forward to roll you over and escape the hold. Marcus and his drilling partner, Shabba, also discovered that if you bring your knee up once you've gone over the opponent stops dead in his tracks and the Kimura almost finishes itself.


Ian's final technique of the evening was a Kimura reversal. From a Half Guard bottom Kimura, the opponent has your arm locked up on the other side of your body to the trapped leg. To block the hold you need to grab your gi pants to give you some time to reach under inside and grab the secured arm by the wrist. Now you can lean in close to the opponent while you pull the secured arm up, so the opponent's figure fouring arm get pulled up uncomfortably until he's forced to tap.
Me and Rich both initially had the problem that we were just pulling the arm up with out leaning in. The opponent can easily slip the hold in that situation.


Rolling:

First roll was against Rich Long. And I have to say, Rich has improved A LOT over the last few months. Dedication has done his game the world of good. I started off by push him backwards and attacking his guard. I managed to pass briefly to side control but Rich recovered well back to half guard. While I tried to pass his half guard I think I over commited as Rich managed to sweep me over to mount, although I Upa'd out of it in super quick time and finished the round trying to pass his guard again.

Second roll was against Shabba. It was a back and forth affair with some sweeps and passes for each of us. I threatened an Americana at one point, shabba threatened a triangle at one point. Other than that it was fairly even.

Third roll was against a guy whose name I can't remember. I attacked straight off and passed his guard to side control. I broke off then and pulled guard instead to work on my bottom game. While we were struggling in this position I came up against a floor to ceiling speedball half garrotting my neck. We could of moved but I figured the obstruction could one day represent a table leg or other obstruction so I  should try and work my way around it. Unfortunately it allowed his to pass to side control and my best method of escape actually required me to remove my head from my shoulders. Consequentially he trapped me in a head and arm triangle which I was able to "answer the phone" to block. I was just working on a hip twist escape when time was called.

I wasn't very impressed with my own performance that session. I was, however, very impressed with Big Justin's progress. He went up to a class where there's a considerably higher level of grappler and managed to come away without getting tapped. That's a very good step up in game for him.

That's it for me for Bjj for the week :o( My next session will be with Marcus on Monday. I wish I could train more \m/

Leo Vieira Seminar 18-2-12

Saturday was an amazing day for me. For the second time I had the opportunity to go and train under the Legendary Checkmat Head, Leo Vieira. Leo is over in the UK to help train his good friend and student (and incidentally one of my instructors) Chico Mendes for his upcoming MMA debut. But it wouldn't have been fair on the members of Checkmat UK if Leo visited and didn't do a seminar so Saturday was the day. The location was the awesomely kitted out, yet slightly chilly, Trojan Freefighters Gym in Cheltenham Gloucester. The attendance was very good without being too packed. And the techniques taught were brilliant.

First up we lined up for the introductions. Chico took the lead with a little speech and introduction for Leo. He also introduced another Brazilian Black Belt Amaury Pugliese, Brown Belt and Checkmat MMA representative Mauro Xuxa, and Checkmat Bristol regular Rafael Heck.

The first portion of the seminar was No Gi, only my second time of actually training No Gi. Leo ran us through a quick warm up and then we went into techniques.

First technique (well drill really) had us pummelling then one guy drops down for the double leg takedown and the other guy sprawls, securing the first guy around the chest. We drilled this for a couple of minutes then moved on. I was drilling through the No Gi part with Dan 'Grizzly' Adams, an old training buddy from the Burnham Class where I first started Jiu Jitsu.

The next technique was started from the sprawl. You're leaning on the shoulders/back of the guy after he'd tried a double leg on you and you've reach over his arms and around his torso to grip him around the chest. From here you take the guys chin in one hand for control and reach down and grab the same side arm of the guy with the other hand. Then pass the arm up the other hand and secure it in close to the guys body so you can then transition around the guys undefended side to get to rear side mount. We drilled this a few time time then moved on.

Next up starting from the sprawl position again, cup the guys chin with one hand, then with your other arm reach inside for the underhook and pass your arm through the gap and then over his back and use the leverage you gain to pry his arm up. From there you can turn the guy over into side control using the arm to control his body, but ensure you press your weight against him at all times so he has absolutely no space to shrimp out. Really liked this as a simple method of attacking a guy in the turtle. Drilled the move for a bit then moved on.


The next set of techniques were from Butterfly Guard which was amazing for me as I am really developing a love for this guard set and I've been working on trying to improve this part of my game loads lately.

First off Leo focused on recovering to Butterfly and included a nifty sweep in there. From attempting the sprawl the opponent either manages to pull your legs in or you have attempted to pull guard (you have still managed to overhook the back and secure the guy around the chest). The guy starts to pass around to side control but you've still got that vital grip. From there you can hit a cool sweep. Raising the near side leg against the guys side, push off with the other leg and pull the guy over using the torso grip. From this point Leo showed us a few things to do depending on what happens from there. If you get a good bit of momentum on it you can sweep the guy right over and roll over backwards to land in side control or better still, mount. Alternatively you release the chest grip and push off the guys shoulder while turning your body to face down so you can push up onto you feet (handy for MMA or if you just wanted to reset and start from standing). Lastly, if the guy manages to push himself back over and around the worst that can happen is that you land with both Butterfly hooks in and you've still got the overhook chest hold. Now you can fire the guy backwards with your legs and sit up into a very commanding Butterfly position. We drilled these over and over for a while. I particularly loved the sweep but the reset to Butterfly was also a favourite.

Next up we worked on the Butterfly Guard proper. Starting from the Butterfly Guard with overhook, the guy either manages to get his head out or you let it pop out but keep a grip on the arms. A very strong grip. From there you lay backward so the guy is forced to catch both of your body weights on his hands. From here you can twist over to one side and back and kick out with the leg on the opposite side to flip the guys over and land in mount (with the guys arms still gripped to your sides). Leo also showed us a way around if the guy is quick and manages to base out with his outside leg. Simply kick it away using your other leg. Fairly obvious really but very handy and the sweep is amazing. This was probably my favourite technique of the day. Me and Dan drilled the move to death and tried to theorise on whether it would be possible for the guy getting swept to react quickly and upa escape back round. We established that it was fairly unlikely as the sweep exerts a fair bit of pain on the ribs of the guy on the receiving end and you're too busy thinking about alleviating that squeeze on the ribs before you even consider busting out of the mount.

The next technique shown was a couple of cool subs. From the Butterfly Guard but with only one of the overhooks. Make sure there's a bit of space between yourself and your opponent and that your leg on the opposite side to the secured arm is in a position to stop any possibility of passing. Now use your free arm to push the other guys free arm out of the way and you can fire the leg on that side up and over the shoulder and bring the other leg up to wrap around the first for the triangle. I found that you need to thrust up with your hips to make space to pull the guys trapped arm into the correct position. Either that or switch it to an armbar.
The alternative that was shown at the same time was instead of firing the leg up for the triangle, pull the other leg up and around across the underside of the guys face to turn into the omoplata.
Both great moves. Really enjoyed drilling these subs as I'm always on the look out for new ways to hit an Omoplata or Triangle.

Last technique for the No Gi part was from the Half Guard but similar to the Butterfly (almost as if the guy managed to pass one leg over your Butterfly Hook), the arm is overhooked. You must ensure that your inside leg is up out past the knee pressing into the guys gut so he can't pass. From there you can press the foot of your outside leg up against his knee on the same side. Now you can press your inside leg knee into the guys near inside thigh and twist into him whilst pulling the trapped arm and push him over with the free arm.
At first I was really uncertain about this sweep, not being sure if I could get enough power to flip the guy over but after a few attempts and a handy pointer from Amaury Pugliese I found the move fairly reeking of awesome.

To close the No Gi part of the seminar out we had some situational rolling. Starting from some of the various positions we'd practised today. One guy had to try and hit the move, other guys has to pass or break out of position. We changed partners after 3 or 4 minutes. I really enjoyed this rolling as I was hitting just about everything I was trying and it really gave me a confidence in the stuff I had learned so far that day. Awesome first part of the seminar.


We quickly had a drink and changed into our Gis for the second part of the seminar. None of the usual half hour to an hour break that we often have with Checkmat seminars. We went straight into the Gi portion of the day with no preamble.


For this segment of the day I had the fortune of training with Gary Davies, Ian's long time SJJA instruction partner who has a dearth of helpful tips and tricks to help improve your game. Whenever I train with Gary I never fail to learn at least something new to improve my game.

For the first Gi technique of the day, Leo showed us a really cool little Gi choke that goes against most of your conventional Gi chokes from Guard. Start with the guy in your closed guard. Reach up for the cross collar grip deep into his collar. Then with the other hand, reach to the other collar (going over the top of the first arm) and grip the collar deep using a kind of upside down (thumb pointing downward) grip. Then you simply scissor you hands together whilst pushing up (that's right, up?!). We really loved the simplicity of this move and I have no doubt that Gary is trying to tap someone out with this sub as I type (he runs a Monday class in Taunton). I must admit though I was finding it hard to land at first as I couldn't get past the urge to pull down. Also, I wasn't driving my top hand into the collar far enough for a while.

Leo moved this technique on by having the guy getting choked attempt to resist by pushing on the choking arm. When he does this you can just escape your hips to the side of the arm he's using to block, swing your leg up and over the top of his arm and across his chest for a really tight armbar. The arm actually lands in a position very low on your crotch so the falcrum of the armbar is really tight on.

Next Leo took us through some Half Guard tactics. Things to improve your basic Half Guard. He started by putting us in the basic Half Guard with your butt out to one side (the strong side, where your leg is on the outside). You then put your outside arm across to push against the guys shoulder (the shoulder on the opposite side, so your left hand pushes his left shoulder or right for right). Your outside leg hooks the guy around the outside but the knee points up inside at the shoulder. From there you secure the guys outside arm at the wrist with your free hand, then base up on your elbow and windmill your other arm (the one that was previously cross bodying him) under his nearside arm then around his back. You then drive your shoulder up whilst basing out with your free hand, forcing your opponent down using your bodyweight (so he's on three points with your underhook pushing him down at the fourth point). You have still got your inside leg tucked in and wrapped over the guys near leg. From this basic position came pretty much every other technique we did that day.
We drilled getting to this basic position a few times before being moved on. It was during this time that Gary imparted upon me one of the most basic yet important pieces of Half Guard knowledge I have heard. It's almost so simple I'm surprised I've never heard it before but there you go. Whilst drilling the basic Half Guard I was initially forgetting to put my cross arm up sometimes going for an underhook or something. Gary kept reminding me and eventually told me that the FIRST thing he does when hitting Half Guard is to get the hips to the outside and put the arm across. Why had I never seen it before? So simple. Arm across stops the guy passing while you set yourself up for other stuff. Epiphany.

Moving the series on Leo showed us two sweeps from that basic start position. The first was simply whilst leaning into the guy you grab his knee with your free hand or pull his gi pants at the knee and he just collapses on the floor with you quickly pulling your leg out to jump into side control. The second was very similar but pulling the ankle instead. Nice easy moves to start with. Easily drilled.

The next move Leo demonstrated from the initial basic position had you pressing down on the opponents head as if tying to tuck in underneath him. You then lean your hips into him whilst freeing the tangled leg and the guy goes first inverted, then flips over for you to land in side control or North South. Drilling this one was a bit fiddly and I got it wrong a few times. The inversion part of it is not comfortable either when you're the guy getting swept over.


Next up was another easy one. From the basic position you reach up to his collar with your free hand and use it and your arm around the opponents back/shoulders to shunt the guy forward so you can pop your head out and take the back or at least rear side mount. See, nice and simple yet very effective.

Another one, this time a little bit more fiddly, can happen if the opponent tries to stand from the basic position by basing out on his outside leg and getting a whizzer on the arm you have him underhooked with. What you do is keep your nearside leg (not the one that's entangled with his nearside leg) pressed tight to the back of his nearside leg so he can't pull away and grip his gi at the shoulder with your tangled arm. Then with you free hand, reach down and grab the guys gi pants near the very bottom (don't use the illegal fingers in grip) and stand so his leg is now parallel to the floor and he's hoping on one foot, still with your arm around his back, gi clutched at the shoulder. Now all you need do is walk forward whilst pulling back on his gi. Even guys with the best balance will go down to this eventually.

The final move of the day (that I remember) was for if the guys manages to get to feet or knees and escapes his tangled leg. So he has the whizzer and has escaped his foot but your shoulder is still up behind his back. Just quickly shift your hip in toward him and turn him over you for the flashy judo style throw. For extra assistance pull on his outside arm. This move can be done equally easily from the knees.


After all the techniques were done we did some situational rolling. First, we started from what I've been calling the basic position and the one guy tried to sweep or advance position while the other guys tried to break or gain position. This very quickly deteriorated into a Half Guard situational roll though as most guys just seemed to be tapping hands then going balls to the wall from a half guard start. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was doing really well in all this. I managed to hit quite a few sweeps and not get swept much at all. I know! Me. Hitting half guard sweeps. Cool.

Seeing this was just breaking down into Half Guard rolling Leo stopped it and put a load of pairs on the mat. Then lined the remaining guys at the side. The deal was that the guy on the bottom stays on the mat for 5 rolls. The object is to start from Half Guard with the guy on the bottom trying to sweep or regain full guard, the guy on top has to pass. Once the objective has been completed, regardless of who won, the guys on bottom stays on until he's had 5 goes, then swaps with his last opponent. I loved this style of training and was experiencing some really cool results. I managed to sweep quite a few people, twice hitting the twisting half guard sweep from the No Gi part of the seminar. I was also passing well too though my sweeping game was better than my passing game.

I think on reflection this had been the best seminar I have been to for stuff I've learnt that has been relevant to my current goals in Bjj. We covered Butterfly Guard stuff and Half Guard stuff. I had a fruitful day in the situational sparring. Things were working for me. Some days you feel good about your game.

Chico only gave out two belts on the day as most of the other guys he was ready to promote were in competition the next day so he said he'd save it for in the week. I have high hopes for a couple of the guys at the Bristol club this Tuesday and am warming my belt whipping arm in anticipation.

As an amusing ending to the day, Chico had us all do some weird dance moves on the mat so he could upload them to some weird website that makes it into a video. The results are pretty funny but unfortunately I can't put them up here as the flash video is not downloadable so you'll have to take my word for it.

\m/

Half Guard - Making Space

If you, like me, realise that part of your problem with the half guard is making the space to shift your hips out to one side then I found a couple of technique vids on YouTube that you may appreciate. I don't have a problem with guys of a lower weight than me, I find I can get the hips out just fine then, so that tells me that I am just using Strength/Power to get in to position rather than any proper technique.

Last Thursday I rolled with two guys from our SJJA club, 1 (Craig) was about the same weight as me but physically superior,  the other (Justin) was just a massive beast who outweighs me by about 2 and a half stone and is so much stronger than me it's not even funny. Now Craig has always been a bit of a master of top half guard control, being able to flatten you out and distract you with what he's doing with his arms to the point that you can't spare the time to attack from the bottom (flimsy excuse I know) so I actually looked forward to rolling with his this time, what with my current goals in mind. From the point our roll hit half guard I was once again smothered to the floor, occasionally managing to escape my hips for a few seconds before being pancaked back to the floor. In the end it was all I could do to go for the cheap option and recover full guard.

In my roll against Justin, a fairly inexperienced white belt, I jumped into half guard and he leaned his weight on me and then used his vastly superior strength of arm to try and grapple a submission out of me. To his credit he was trying for Americana's, Kimura's, a Straight Armbar and even a Head and Arm Triangle. I managed to evade all this (with effort) and realised that I was once again falling into a Half Guard bottom survival role. I should of been attack him and threatening sweeps or something but I was making myself too busy fending Big Justin off and not really considering what I should be doing to improve my position. I wasn't until right at the end that I got a nearside underhook , escaped the hips, trapped his base arm and turned him over into his guard but this is something that I should have been doing straight away.

To that end I've sat down and thought about where I was going wrong and it has become plainly obvious to me that the problem lies in me not getting the space I require to work in quick enough. I am allowing larger/stronger opponents to lay on me and where I'm used to using strength in that situation I am becoming stuck. My technique at this point is missing. To that end I dug up these two videos from YouTube, posted by TechniquePrevails, which were handily titled Creating Space from Half Guard. Even though these techniques are demonstrated in No Gi the principals can still be applied to Gi grappling.

I particularly like this easy option for making space. Framing your arms out to push the opponents head back seems so obvious and simple I can't believe I never thought of it before. The trick here will be to ensure that you can pummel your arms to the inside.

This second one I believe I have studied and drilled before and forgot due to my previous lack of focus on the Half Guard part of my game (idiot). Simple premise, just ensure your opponents leg is secured in your Half Guard and your arms are underneath his arms then lift his weight up and to the side.

I shall be training down Sweat FA again this Thursday and hope to see either Craig or Justin (or one of the other heavy guys there) to practice my Half Guard some more. I need to get better at Half Guard.

Laters. \m/

Checkmat Bristol 17-1-12

Venue: LA Gym, Bristol
Instructor: Chico Mendes

Can't go to Bjj Thursday (that's today, Wow you're behind Mart) at Sweat FA so met up with Ian and Marcus on Tuesday to go to Chico's class at LA Gym, Bristol. My body was still protesting a bit after the extended service it gave me at the Checkmat Training Camp/Seminar on Sunday and to make matters worse there had been an accident on the Long Ashton Bypass (our regular route into Bristol) so we had to go through Long Ashton, adding about 10 minutes plus to the journey. Consequentially, when we got there the warm up had been and gone and Chico was getting into the first technique. Triffic! I knew going in that it was a mistake to not warm up (at my ripe old age of 34) or I would be regretting it the next day (or two), but I wanted to ensure I got the most out of the lesson so did some stretches (not enough) whilst watching Chico demo the first move.

On the plus side I was totally chuffed to see that Chico was continuing the Half Guard theme from the Seminar so my new aim in life has taken a step forward. Chico started with a lengthy explanation of different tactics to use while playing Half Guard. Things he touched upon were foot/leg positioning, hand positioning, controlling the direction of the opponents head (don't let him start moving over your top shoulder or you risk being flattened out), avoiding being cross faced, escaping hips so as to be laying on your side (very important!).

He then had us drill various tactics, along with opponent head control from the Half Guard. You've got you're opponent in a half guard with the controlling leg going through between his legs and wrapping around his near side leg. You other leg is posted upward against your bottom leg and put up as a block to his body. Your near side hand is pushing his arm in toward his body (Chico demonstrated this at length, why it was important, why it's better to grab the wrist than the sleeve), You outside hand has a loose grip on the opponents nearside arm. Then you sit there and wait, bide your time until the opponent reacts with a pass attempt. From this position the opponent to do anything, generally pushes forward with his head. All you need do to counter this is use your outside hand that was previously on his arm, to flat hand push his face in the opposite direction so he stays on your strong side.

We paired up and drilled these different tweaks to half guard to see what we were comfortable with. I was with Marcus, who has been in an increasingly upbeat mood since his entry into the world of employment. We tried out all the different aspects of leg positioning, talking through a lot of them to decide which felt better and more controlling.

Chico then moved us on to a nifty half guard sweep. Over wrap the opponents nearside arm (whizzer style), push the other arm into his torso (as above). Release the outside leg figure four  (ensure your inside leg is firmly crossed over his near side leg for control) then put hook against his near side inside thigh (same as Neto taught us at the seminar on Sunday). Then, wait for the opponent to make a move. As soon as he attempts to pass or flatten you out you can push up with the hook and sweep him over onto his back usually landing in side control but if the opponent is fast (Marcus is very fast) and your technique is sloppy/timing is off,  they can scramble to secure half guard bottom. We drilled this move for a short time and found it very effective and easy to get to grips with.

From there, Chico moved us on to a very tasty omoplata from that same set up. You're in position where you're waiting for the opponent to react. From here there's this additional option. Pull your bottom leg (the one that's wrapped around his nearside leg) out and up a bit so it’s between you and the opponent, then release the guys outside hand and use your hand to push the guys face away whilst posturing yourself backward. Then you can swing your hook leg out and over the shoulder for the omoplata. Chico pointed out that laying the leg flat instead of bending it round decreases chances of the guy powering out. *Also, when using your free hand to clamp down the opponents body so he can't roll over, ensure you don't just secure a leg or something by accident as the opponent can then, not only roll out of the move, but also roll into a position where you are left in the exact same hold. (Bloody awesome!!)

After drilling these moves for a short while we were moved on to situational Half Guard sparring. I  quickly ran off the mat to grab my gum shield and by the time I got back Chico had stolen Marcus off me so I managed to pick up a stray Josh Kersey and roll with him. The roll was fairly good for me as I managed to get into deep half (for the first time ever in an intended situation) and used the pull out the back door shrug sweep to rear mount. I was more chuffed for that one moment than for any submission I've pulled off in a long time. Doing something for the first time always feels good and this felt special as it's working towards my Half Guard goals. 

After Josh I managed to get a situational roll in with Marcus and actually managed to tap him out with a Kimura from Half Guard. Talk about on a roll. Marcus managed to pass my guard at one point though and we both managed to reclaim guard at one point.

Next was Jason Brookbanks. And he hasn't let up on his air tight guard yet. I managed to get a sweep on him when I was on bottom and he managed to reclaim guard once on me but neither of us managed a pass. After that we had a five minute roll and I stayed on with Jase. As mentioned before, sparring with Jase is fun because he goes at quite a hard, intense pace without doing it like an uncontrolled spaz whose trying to use all his strength at all times. You leave a roll with Jase knowing you've been pushed hard and feeling like he's demanded your full attention and ability. During the roll I managed to take Jason's back and the last 2 and half minutes featured me trying to submit him with him exhibiting some of the most stubborn and energetic rear mount defence I have rolled against. I had him in a bow and arrow at one point but he executed some brilliant moves to ensure I didn't get the tap from him and just as the session was called to an end he managed to escape and turn into my guard. Well done Jase. Top moves.

With that the class was over and so was my instalment of Bjj for another week. Loved the lesson, enjoyed practising half guard. Can't wait for more. Think I'm going to go home and take out the Ed Beneville books on the guard as they both have a healthy section on the half guard in them (1 for passing, 1 for sweeping). See ya Later \m/.