DV8 22/11/12

Went to Ian's class on the Thursday (22/11/12). Attendance was pretty good as usual.

Venue: Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare, Uk.
Instructor: Ian Rossiter (Black Belt - Checkmat).

Techniques:
(As usual, I will explain the movements of each technique from how I first learnt them)
After a brief warm up Ian took us straight into some techniques from side control. The first was a Gi choke from side. Laying across your opponent with your left arm around under his head and your right elbow pressed against his right hip to brace him into place. Using your left hand you take a grip of his gi collar on the right side of his head. Maintaining heavy bodyweight pressure on him, you pass you right arm down to the left side of the opponent, taking a grip of his gi at the under arm. You can now finish the move by opening your left arm out (whilst maintaining that grip of the collar) so your arm passes over the head and you can bring the forearm down onto the throat of the opponent, pushing up into the neck to apply the pressure.
This is a good technique that is fairly usable against anyone as long as you get the technique right. I very nearly tapped someone out with this in my first ever competition. I was also tapped out with this by Matt Sellars just recently.


The second technique of the night was from the same starting position but this time you don't grip the collar as far over to the right, more like at the back of the neck. You then turn your lower body left, so it's facing up toward his head. Now, keeping your left hand grip on the collar, pass your left leg up over the guys head and wrap it around. Leaning forward you now push back with your legs whilst keeping your tight grip with your hand, cutting off the flow blood for the choke out.
It's worth noting that this move can be quite hard to pull off on certain types of people. I was training this move with Tom Hill and Luke Brown. Meand Tom found it particularly difficult to hit this move on Luke. To finish him with it I found I really had to wrap my leg around his neck and drive down. The more blade-like I could make my arm with the collar grip seemed to make a difference too.


Ian then brought us on to Side Control Transition to North South then to arm bar. Laying across the opponent with his head to your left, you secure his left arm so it is to the right side of your head. Now, dropping to your right hip so your lower body is facing upward toward his head, you can step his head with your left leg to attain the North South position, using your right shoulder to push against the secured arm to keep it in position. Ensure you are keeping good downward pressure on the opponent's upper body so he can't easily tilt in one direction to escape. Pushing up against his secured arm as if to push it across his body, this will make the guy angle up on to his right side slightly giving you the opportunity to bring your right leg up and press it into his left side. Taking a double hand grip of his arm at this point, you can now lean forward to bring the right leg up over his upper body as you sit back with the secure arm for the very tight arm bar. Clenching your legs together at this point helps apply the pressure.



Ian had us do that technique first so we were already fluid in controlling from the North South position. For the next technique you do the above as far as the North South then grip the wrist of the guy's left arm you have secured with your right hand. Now, passing your left hand underneath his left arm at the elbow you can grip your own right wrist. Using this "figure 4" grip gives you the all important strength advantage so you can pull upward bringing the guy up onto his right side, so his left side is upright and you can tighten your legs around his head and upper chest to keep him in that position. To finish the Kimura lock, you bring the guy's upper arm up at a 90 degree angle to his body and then, using the superior strength of both of your arms, you turn his lower arm left. Very painful. Most of the time though, the guy will know this is coming by the time you've started adjusting your grips in the North South and they will generally grab a hold of their gi or their belt. All you have to do is lean into the grip and use your body strength to rip it away from what it is gripping. Always be sure to rip away from not into the grip.

For the last move Ian showed an alternate for if the guy is too strong for you to break his grip for the Kimura. Instead you just bring your left knee up and press it into his back, then as before with the first arm bar, lean forward, bring your right leg up to position and then sit back so your right leg is over his face/upper body. You should have loads of methods for breaking his grip at this point to fall back for the arm bar so I'll leave it there.



Rolling:

For my first roll of the night I was against Tom Hill. For me it was mostly top control. i managed to pass his guard a couple of times but he recovered very well. The highlight of the roll was Tom's awesome escape from turtle choke attempt to recover guard. He basically folded himself in half to recover guard while I was trying to choke him. Great stuff.



Next up was a very game Cameron Rothery. I tapped Cam very quickly to an Arm Bar from guard once again. I will continue doing it until he stops extending the arm to try and almost push his way out of guard. I also got him with a Bow and Arrow but that was while I was playing about with position and managed to transition to his back so I just thought I'd test him with it.


Third was against Glenn. I was chuffed once again cause I managed to get the first takedown and was close to hitting an arm bar but he rolled out. Glenn then got second takedown and transitioned to North South which is somewhat of a resting position for him. As I don't generally feel overly threatened in North South I just wait for a movement for my opportunity to escape. On this occasion though, Glenn seemed happy to stay in his commanding position so it ended there.


For my last roll of the night I was against Chris Whiting. After a brief scramble I took top control then secured a leg and dropped back for the Achilles lock. The rest of the round I just played a bit of guard until time.

At the end Ian called us all round so he could award some stripes to some of the white belts. Justin Thomas was well deservedly notched up to his third stripe, Rob (Morris?), Chris Whiting and Chris Cook were all made up to 2 stripes and Cameron and Luke were given 1 each.

Good session all around. Now I've only got the one more lesson before my big competition on Sunday 2nd December. The Hereford Open. Can't friggin' wait!!!

¬m/

Bow and Arrow from Side Control.

I've been getting good results with this technique recently and to be honest it wasn't something I'd seen on YouTube or had been taught, I'd just kind of edited what I already knew about the Bow and Arrow to be applied from Side Control. I often find myself in Side Control searching for a sub and the old me would be trying to hit an Americana or an Ezekial Choke from Side, or just trying to transition over to Mount.

My sub knowledge from side control is ok from a practical, sit back and think about it, view point, but when it comes to stuff that jumps into my head during the heat of the moment I'd say I become a bit more limited in my options. This is something I'm going to be working on in the coming weeks with a series of goals, to hit (or at least attempt multiple times) different subs from side control.

But that is off the track of what this particular post is about as, for the time being, I am pleasantly happy and chuffed with the development of this Bow and Arrow variation I had been working on. The method I use to pull it off is slightly different to the video I found (but you gotta get a video, right?), so I'll describe what I do first and then you can look at the vid to see how it's supposed to be done. Remember, I am not trying to teach people here, I am just typing what works for me.

So I have Side Control on my opponents. He's flattened out on his back and I have a controlling arm around his neck, hand near his shoulder, my other arm his bracing his far side to prevent him from shrimping out and my leg side knee is braced against his low side (also to prevent movement). Maintaining downward pressure on his body I bring my bracing arm up so I can grab his nearside collar and pass it over into my other hand (at the opponents shoulder). I then use the hand that I passed the gi over with to reach down and grab a hold of the opponents nearside leg at the knee, either by grabbing the gi material or grabbing under the knee. I can now push my legside knee into the side of the opponent and use that to keep the opponent down in place, while I pull around the neck on the gi collar. I have finished the sub from this early position a few times before but should it require, you can bring your other leg up and pass it over the opponents far shoulder to put additional pressure on the choke.

I have, on one occasion, hit this move from half guard top too. To do this you have to ensure that the knee of your trapped leg has passed through the opponents guard. Then you can pass the collar the same as above and pull back and up on your opponent with that hand on the gi so you can bring the other leg around behind his neck and over his shoulder (a certain level of flexibility is needed for this bit). From there you can reach down with the other hand for the opponents leg and lean back on the hold. As I've said, it's worked for me twice, I've only managed to try it three times.

Anyway, enjoy this video of a variation of this move. Video was uploaded to YouTube by GGBJJ (many thanks).

Enjoy. \m/

Weston Bjj 12-4-12

It was my beautiful little girl's birthday Friday (Happy Birthday Jolie xxx) so I'm a bit behind with my typing up of Thursday nights class at Sweat FA. The numbers had picked back up a little which is good although some of the guys seem to be pushing the starting time back a bit. Ten past eight guys?

Venue: Sweat FA, Weston Super Mare, Uk.
Instructor: Ian Rossiter (Brown Belt).
 
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 15x3, Squats 15x 3,  Crunches 15 x 3, then some leg stretching.




Technique:
First technique of the night Ian demonstrated was a transition from Side Control to Mount. From a basic strong Side Control with the opponent well flattened out, use your near side hand (the one closer to his head) to grab over his shoulder and secure the gi at the under arm pit (the arm that is nearer your head- the top arm). With your other arm, reach down and brace the side of the opponent (the side that is closer to your legs) to stop him making space from you when you move. Next, switch your legs over so you're sort of facing his legs (ensuring you keep downward pressure on his torso) and bring your bottom leg in close to the opponent to replace your low arm bracing at his side. That arm can now either grab one of his legs or grab the arm opponents top arm to stop his defence of the transition. Now you can easily kick your top leg up and over the guy in a crescent kick style, to come over the top of him into mount regardless of whether or not he has a knee up to defend. If you've maintained your grip of the guys top arm you have a good starting point for attacks on a shoulder lock or arm lock.
I drilled this transition with Tom Hill. I find this move particularly easy due to my flexibility and I generally use it as my Side Control to Mount transition of choice.


Next Technique Ian demo'd was another Side Control to Mount Technique. This time it was a knee slide method. Using the same start with the under arm pit control and the hand brace at the opponents side, this time, bring your far side knee up (the knee farthest from his head) inside your bracing arm  and on to his belly. Now you can remove the bracing arm from his side and use it to push off his top leg to help you turn yourself up to mount whilst simultaneously sliding the knee up so you can bring the rest of that leg over.
I drilled this move and the rest of the techniques this lesson with the late arriving Dan Foster. I find this transition a little more awkward than the last but still pull it off fairly regularly in sparring, although if you are not careful you can land yourself in a very loose but annoying half guard if the guy on bottom manages to push your sliding leg through between his legs to stop the mount.


To take the movement further, Ian showed what happens if the guy on the bottom tries to block the knee sliding through with his top arm hand. Using your far side arm (arm furthest from guys head), thread the arm through the gap at the elbow of the opponents blocking arm and then start walking up the arm up the mat using your hand, to pull the blocking arm up with it and get the pass to mount. You've also got a handy start on a mounted Kimura lock or Americana lock from the resulting position.
Drilling this move demonstrates that if the guy on the bottom has fairly strong shoulders the walk the hand up the mat action is a bit of a struggle. If the guy is much stronger than you I can easily imagine the move being impossible.


Ian had already thought of all this though and the next move was specifically for if you cannot move the guys arm up. Instead, when you reach through the elbow gap, pull the arm toward your body and step your near side leg (leg closer to opponents head) over his head to rest behind his head giving a minimum of space for him to move. Now, leaning forward, you just switch around on your legs (leaving one leg laying across his body) and then fall backwards to pull his arm back for the arm bar. You can grab a hold of the opponents gi pants or belt for additional control when falling back, to keep him pulled toward you for a tight arm bar.
When using this technique in sparring you should be mindful that if you pull back hard on the arm as you fall you risk damaging your opponents arm. On the other hand, if you don't pull the arm back quick enough, the opponent may block the move by gripping his arms together.

For the last technique of the night Ian showed the same Kimura from side control that he showed last week and then showed the variation for it, for if the opponent blocks the standard kimura by grabbing his belt.
Last weeks Kimura: You establish a strong side control on your opponent with lots of downward pressure on his torso. Next you push his far side arm out at a 90 degree angle to his body, then bend his arm at the elbow so it's pointing south from his upper arm, also at a 90 degree angle, and secure the arm in that position by grabbing his wrist with your far side hand (the one closer to his legs). Now take your other arm and thread it underneath your opponents upper arm, reaching to grab your own wrist forming a figure four and massively strengthening your hold. From there you switch your legs so they are turned toward his head and then step over his head with your top leg. Applying the sub now is a simple matter off pulling up and toward you on the arm that's threaded underneath while keeping the opponents wrist held down. This move is not one that your training partner will thank you for if you hammer the technique on as it is quite an intense shoulder lock.

Variation: If by the time you've formed your figure four, he has grabbed his belt, pull the arm hard toward you and then step over his head and clench together hard with your knees to secure him in place in a North South position. You should now have his arm upright 90 degrees from his body with it still secured for the kimura attempt but he is blocking the move with the belt grip. From here you can push the opponents arm out and away from his grip using all the strength of both your arms and your back, easily breaking the grip, then pull the arm back to the 90 degrees and rotate the lower arm backwards applying pressure for the Kimura.
We drilled this move for a short time before rolling.

Rolling:

My first roll of the night was against Big Steve. I didn't bother to resist for too long in the knee to knee start jumping to guard . From there I threw up a few choke attempts and then went into a seated sweep attempt which Steve based out to block. It was an easy transition to and omoplata from there though and I didn't really even have the move sunk in properly before Steve was tapping.


Had the opportunity to roll against Ian next and after some initial grip fighting I managed to land in Ian's guard. After a long struggle I was able to pass to side control and from there I used the crescent transition to mount. I tried a cheeky ezekial which Ian easily blocked. I then passed my arm under Ian's neck and fed his far gi lapel into my hand and switched to an S mount to reach back and grab Ian's knee for a Bow and Arrow choke variation. Ian managed to impressively block this as well and the round ended with me first trying to torque the hell out of it, then realising what Ian was doing and trying to transition to an arm bar instead.


Next up was a roll with Dan. This time I managed to get the advantage from the knee to knee, taking him down into guard. After a long period of trying switch side and re-trying, I managed to pass his guard into side control. From there I went to S mount and went for the Bow and Arrow choke again. This time I didn't have managed to get my leg up around his neck and shoulder and he managed to get a little space and roll out.


Fourth roll was against a very intense occasional trainer, Chris Hardaway. Chris has been training for years but due to his work commitments has never had the time to dedicate to grading or anything. On top of that he's athletic as hell and strong as a guy twice his size and he never grapples at anything less than 100%. From the knee to knee I jumped into guard but Chris quickly managed an athletic pass into Kesa Gatame side control where he tried to focus on attacking my nearside arm so I well able to bridge out of the hold and get to top control. From there I was able to pass Chris' guard and finished the round attacking at side control myself. A good hard paced round there.


Last roll was against returning gold medalist, Tom Hill. I jumped to guard for this one and mostly tried gi chokes against him. Eventually though I had to settle for a sweep and then passed to side control. I then used the gift wrap arm hold around the neck to pull him over and take his back. The round played out with me attacking Tom's back for a rear naked.

A good session of Bjj this week with a good bit of rolling at the end. Can't wait for next week. \m/