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Article - No Gi Worlds 2009 Live Stream

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Article #3, by Can Sönmez

[If you're looking for the No Gi Worlds 2009 results, click here. For future reference, this is where the IBJJF stores competition results]

Update: According to a Budovideos rep on The Underground, there will be a replay tomorrow night, staying up on nogi.com for a week. May just be the finals though, so not including the interviews and other matches.

I had an article all ready to go for later this week, but after watching the No Gi Worlds live stream last night and this morning, I felt the need to put something out about that instead. It is potentially a historic moment in BJJ, but not because of the fights. While the action was exciting, with upsets, beautiful grappling technique and even high amplitude throws, it is the medium which may prove truly momentous.

BJJ is known for being an expensive sport. The monthly training fees are often huge, to buy a gi can take plenty of cash, DVDs are far from cheap, and private lessons tend to be an expensive treat. However, Nogi.com, Budovideos and a whole bunch of other sponsors have done something new with Nogi Live. They've released an event for free: no pay per view required, just an internet connection.

You can't complain about free, but as one of the organisers of the No-Gi Worlds live stream warned might be the case, in an earlier Fightworks Podcast interview, there were a number of technical problems from the beginning (which here in the UK was 19:00).

The live coverage stuttered along for the first hour and a half, stopping and starting repeatedly. As you can see from my Twitter feed, I almost gave up at several points. However, I'm glad I decided to give it another try later, as the commentary had kicked in by 20:30. At 21:14, the Nogi live video went down again, but stabilised around 21:22, after which I didn't have any major problems (well, except for my laptop crashing, but I can't blame the No Gi Worlds for that). By the time of the finals at 22:06, the streaming issues appear to have been solved.

There was also a sidebar which didn't seem to serve any purpose. The whole night, it simply read "Upcoming Competitor 1 vs Upcoming Competitor 2". I presume the idea was that this would update as the event progressed, but clearly that needs more work for next time. It would be a handy feature if they could get it up and running.

Initially, commentary was handled by Joanne Spracklen (not Spracklan: the caption was wrong) and Jeff Glover. If you're not sure who Spracklen is, she runs MMA Girls.net, an unusual qualification for BJJ commentary (though she sensibly left the technical side of things to Glover). Either way, they had a difficult job. The camera jumped around from match to match (there were many to choose from, with twelve mats going at once), often with two at the same time on a split screen, making it tough to keep track of competitors. Glover didn't appear to have any notes, so had to rely on his ability to recognise fighters from his personal knowledge of the BJJ scene.

I was particularly pleased by the amount of women's matches on show: in terms of gender equity, the stream was much, much better than I'd expected. Having said that, I did get annoyed at the prolonged drooling over two ring girls, especially when it interrupted fight footage. I strongly dislike the whole concept.

By 21:39, I was watching my third female bout, a trend which continued into the finals. Another four had been streamed by midnight, including the excellent match featuring Sophia McDermott (they appear to have had trouble spelling her name), a methodical Rickson Gracie brown belt. Canadian blogger and black belt Sheila Bird was also competing, in what eventually became an exciting match with Hillary Williams.

There was a notable shift in commentary style for the finals. Glover and Spracklen were chatty, cracking jokes and exchanging anecdotes. Shawn Williams and Sean Patrick Flanery modified the tone, focusing on in-depth technical analysis rather than banter. That is probably a reflection of their experience commentating on the 2008 Mundials.

I don't often bother watching competitions unless there is a good deal of commentary: for me, it doesn't just add to the viewing experience, it makes it worthwhile. Even two people stalling in guard becomes an intriguing battle of wills, if the commentators can provide relevant and interesting technical input (such as noting grips, pressures, angles etc). Getting background details on competitors is great too, fleshing out the athletic endeavours taking place on the screen.

A few hiccups occurred with that commentary, such as the awkward handover shortly after 10pm, which involved several minutes of dead air and paper shuffling. It then completely disappeared at around 00:30, after the finals, but presumably that was so Sean and Shawn could take a break, given that this was a live event. Once the finals and ensuing discussion had finished, there was an extended period of bouts with no sound at all, from 02:17 until 02:55, after which the screen went black. I went to bed a bit after three, so not sure if and when the absolutes took place: something to look forward to when I wake up, I guess. ;p

Interestingly for a BJJ competition, it wasn't just BJJers. Renowned MMA champion and catch-wrestling proponent Josh Barnett made a triumphant appearance in the black belt division, despite holding no BJJ rank (for his explanation prior to the event, click here). Satisfyingly, there was an interview with him later on, at 1am, one of several (including Kron Gracie, somewhat randomly) to fill in the time before the absolutes. This was a fabulous idea, especially as the two Seans did a brilliant job with the questions. So, definitely something that should be repeated for the next event.

I'm hopeful there will be future free streams, which I guess will depend on how much attention the advertisers receive as a result. All in all, this turned out well, so if the connection issues can be ironed out, perhaps this could be the future of BJJ broadcasting.

Article - BJJ Schools: Size Matters

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Article #2, by Can Sönmez [FAQ Entry]

[This article is about the size of your school, rather than your training partner. If you're looking for advice on that, see here if you're small, or here if you're large]

Generically speaking, you can divide BJJ schools into two types, big and small. I began at the largest club in the UK, perhaps even the whole of Europe: the Roger Gracie Academy. There are several hundred students, with new white belts turning up every session, and a significant proportion disappearing soon after.

This is related to one of the disadvantages of a large school: with so many people, it can take a while to make social connections and feel a part of the team. However, in my experience this is not due to all the regulars forming a clique, but the rapid turnover of beginners. It's harder to invest time in somebody who you can't be certain will be there next week. Hence the tendency to wait until building relationships with newcomers.

In a large school, it's also difficult for the instructor to answer everybody's question. Even if there are several instructors present, there is only so much time to get round all the students. This conversely points to the major advantage of training at a big school: a broad range of experienced training partners of all shapes and sizes, who soon become integral to your development. That happens to an extent at every school, but especially if it has a lot of members.

In my case, I learned a great deal from Tran and Christina. Not only were they both much better than me, but also willing to answer all my never-ending questions on technique. As a result, much of what I try in sparring is directly influenced by them: what I refer to as the 'Tran side control escape' is something I use all the time.

At a small school, you don't get that same diversity of training partners, which is especially irksome if you're very small, rather large, or a woman. You have to make do with the same people most sessions, so you don't have the luxury of sticking to those around your size or skill level. The huge powerlifter known for neck cranks and injuring people, whose orbit you would have carefully avoided at a large school, suddenly becomes a regular opponent.

However, that also means there are less people competing for the instructor's opinion, meaning you can benefit from plenty of personal attention. Experienced training partners are a good thing, but easy access to an instructor is even better. I've really enjoyed taking full advantage of that where I am now, RGA High Wycombe.

Every lesson, I aim to put as many questions to Kev as possible (though naturally I don't want to get annoying, so I try to keep them sensible and concise). His brown belt knowledge has already been hugely helpful in the couple of months I've trained under him.

Having experienced both environments, I'm not certain I would pick one over the other given the choice. As with everything in life, there are both positive and negative elements to either option. However, I can say that I'm very happy where I am now: as long as there are people who can challenge you and help improve your game, you're at a good school, no matter the size.

03/11/09 - BJJ (Advanced)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Class #258

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 03/11/2009

Kev has officially instituted thirty minutes on takedowns at the start of every advanced lesson on Thursdays. That's good news for people keen on competition or self-defence, less good for wimpy hobbyists like me who just want to play on the ground. Still, it's only half an hour, and probably useful to get in a little takedown training, even if I don't like it.

After the throws, Kev continued with side control, this time running through two submissions, one on top, the other underneath. For the rolling triangle from side control, you begin with your hands locked under their head and arm in the classic controlling position. First, you have to clear their near arm, either by switching your hips, or getting your hip to the floor and driving backwards against their arm.

Having got that arm out of the way, you can now shove their other wrist to their chest. Your near shin presses against their body. As you still have that arm wrapping their head, raise it. This gives you the space to step your other leg right over, slipping it under their head. Grab your ankle with the hand you already have under their head.

To finish, roll over your shoulder, which puts you in the guard with a leg locked over their head, one of their arms trapped. You're therefore perfectly set up for a triangle. Simply adjust your legs by pushing off their hip, then lock in the submission. You may also need to raise your hips to push their arm across before completion.

It is possible they will bridge into you before you execute your roll, as you don't have a strong base. However, that doesn't matter, because all that means is they've put themselves into a triangle.

The next attack was, unusually, an armbar from underneath side control. This again works off the arm gripping under your head. First, shrimp your hips out, then in one motion, swing your leg over their head, while your other knee must drive in to their chest. Due to that arm under your head, you're now in position to armbar. Squeeze your knees together, then raise your hips for the submission.

This isn't very high percentage, especially as your knee may get blocked by their other arm. Nevertheless, even if you don't land the armbar (most often because they yank their limb free), you should still be able to move to open guard. Either way, you're in a much better position than stuck under sidemount.

During sparring, I found that Christina's advice from her last lesson at RGA Kilburn finally started to sink in, in regards to using your legs in guard. I made a concerted effort to either use the instep to hook their leg or ribs, while also getting feet to their hips to maintain some kind of control, especially as they were trying to pass my open guard.

This is also something Roy Harris discusses during his seminar on the fundamentals of open guard, as featured in the Roy Dean DVD. Harris is known for making methodical lists, which he does here in sets of three: that's what came to mind tonight. Along with using my feet and instep, I was also trying to use my knees to press against their chest and shoulders. This seemed to work well in keeping them at bay, although on the other hand, I as usual had sat out one round while everyone else did the full three. So, fatigue no doubt comes into it as well.

03/11/09 - BJJ (Beginner)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Class #257

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 03/11/2009

I finally finished writing up my trip to Turkey, if anyone's interested. I have thought about moving the travel stuff to a separate blog, given its got nothing to do with BJJ, but I don't think I do it regularly enough to warrant one. Still, there's a suitably silly video of me belly-dancing on there, so that might amuse regular readers. ;p

This week, Kev is focusing on side control, beginning with the two basic escapes, recovering guard and going to your knees. One point to note was that Kev recommended beginners put an arm by their partner's armpit rather than into their throat. This is less effective that driving your forearm into the throat, but it is also safer, as they won't be able to attack your arm as easily.

That was followed by another basic technique, transitioning from side control to mount. Again, Kev kept it simple, with a big step rather than sliding the knee, or grabbing your foot and pulling it past their blocking knee.

In specific sparring, I'm still being far too flat on my back under side control, and end up waiting for them to make a move rather than forcefully bridging. Partly that's because I want to conserve energy, partly because I'm small, but mainly because I'm lazy. I need to stop relying on my partner making a mistake (e.g., stepping over to mount and allowing me to bridge into them for the Tran side control escape), and do something more proactive. First thing is to focus more on getting onto my side. As we'll presumably be doing more of this on Thursday, I should get plenty of opportunities to practice.

On top, I was able to play with the triangle position from side control again, as one of my partners was effectively giving me his head. I don't think he realised what I was doing, as there was no resistance to my attempts to hook my leg over and lock in the triangle position. I can never actually finish somebody with just that hold on top of side control, so tend to look for the arm.

However, he had his arms firmly locked, and I wasn't able to break them free: eventually, he reversed me into guard. Still, it proved to be a relatively stable controlling position for a while, but that was probably just because he wasn't used to being held like that.

With Joel, I ended up in half guard while under side control: we didn't stop at that point, so instead I was presented with the problem of when they face your legs. I found that I was trying to work my way to the position from last week, so I could hook the arms and try the sweep. However, that's more of a last resort than a position you actively put yourself in, because you're then flat on your back with your upper body controlled. I should instead have been looking at deep half guard or something, given I was near his legs, so that's something to keep in mind next time.

Article - BJJ in the Olympics

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:06:00 +0000

Article #1, by Can Sönmez

[My plan for these articles (I may not stick with that name – I'm envisioning them as more like a weekly column – but 'article' is a convenient categorisation), at least initially, is to see if I can come up with something interesting by running through topics from the FAQ, along with anything that grabs my attention from around the net (e.g., the whole Gracie University debate, which resulted in this).

I'm also going to try and restrain myself to around five hundred words, as I tend to ramble. As its the first one, I'll cheat my own arbitrarily imposed rule: this introduction doesn't count towards the word limit. ;p ]

Even before the announcement that the 2016 Olympic Games would be held in Rio de Janeiro, the idea of Brazilian jiu jitsu as an Olympic sport was a popular topic for discussion among the BJJ community. So, is there actually any possibility BJJ could make it to the Olympics?

To be blunt, its extremely unlikely. There have already been convincing arguments put forward as to why that is the case. J-Sho, perhaps the most reliable source on the internet for BJJ statistics, laid it out in depth on the MMA.tv thread. As per this link he provided, which details the 'Olympic Programme Commission Report To The 117th IOC Session', there are thirty-three criteria to meet before you can become an Olympic sport. BJJ falls down on quite a few of them. For example, here are five big ones:

• Television coverage
• Press coverage
• Gender equity
• Anti doping
• Universality

On top of that, there's the problem that places for new events are very limited: the IOC is trying to cut down their number, not increase them. BJJ would be competing against some of the most popular sports on the planet, while not even being officially recognised as a sport itself. Also, as J-Sho points out, further problems like domination by one country (Brazil would get a clean sweep in pretty much every weight category) and the similarity to judo are major stumbling blocks.

Ok, so BJJ has effectively no chance. Submission grappling is far better positioned, with support from FILA (and it doesn't have the name of a country in its moniker, which helps), but its still a long way behind golf and rugby. Considering the above, why is it that all over the BJJ online community, there are people starting threads and launching petitions? Are they just ignorant of the IOC rules? Perhaps to an extent, but I think it is indicative of something more than that.

BJJers want their sport to be popular, to be acknowledged by the mainstream. They want to be able to go down the pub and talk about the Mundials instead of last nights football game. In short, we want to be accepted, just like everyone else. Imagine what Olympic status could mean: sponsorship, grass roots support from national governments, a huge increase in public awareness...its a tempting prospect.

Then again, look at taekwondo, the perfect example of a martial art ground down by its own success. In the rush to attract students and maintain profit margins, TKD became heavily diluted, losing the all-important element of 'aliveness'. Judo has fared better, because competition and randori have remained integral, so maybe BJJ would be able to follow that model. Still, there are those who feel that adaptation to Olympic strictures has had a detrimental effect on Kano's creation, the most obvious change being a focus on high amplitude throws above all else.

However, BJJers should not despair, as they can content themselves with Caleb's hopes on the Fightworks Podcast. An Olympics in Rio means global attention on everything Brazilian, with journalists ransacking the city for material.

Brazilian jiu jitsu's Olympic dreams may be ill-founded, but the arte suave nevertheless has an excellent opportunity to feature as part of Brazil's cultural heritage. So, fingers crossed that we'll get to see some high quality BJJ documentaries aimed directly at the billions of people watching the Olympic coverage.

29/10/2009 - BJJ

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:22:00 +0000

Class #256

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 29/10/2009

Shereen, a female BJJer who I became aware of due to this thread, has just set up a training blog here. She isn't your average woman, at over 200lbs of muscle with many years of bodybuilding and powerlifting behind her. So, I'm very much looking forward to following her training, as for a female BJJer, she has a fairly unique combination of attributes.

Tonight Kev continued with the half guard, but this time it was orthodox rather than lockdown. First up was a drill for demonstrating how to recover full guard from half guard. Step out your leg and shrimp out to the side of half guard, making space to wedge your knee into their chest. Use that pressure to straighten up your torso, free your other leg, then put your feet on their hips. You can now either go to full guard, or stick with open guard.

That was followed by passing the half guard, where as on Tuesday shoulder pressure was paramount. Begin by securing a grip under their head and arm, gable gripping your hands and driving your shoulder into the side of their face. The aim is to turn their head away from you.

Now that you've jammed their upper body to the mat, you can push off your toes and straighten your legs. This feels vulnerable because your hips are raised, but if you've got your shoulder in the right place, they won't be able to capitalise with a sweep. To finish, get your knee free and slide it to the mat for mount. If you can't quite pull out your foot, use your other foot to push their away.

If they manage to shove your head to the other side, it makes little difference. You'll simply trap their head there instead, by putting your head onto the mat, right next to their skull. Straighten your legs and raise your hips as before, but this time you'll slide your knee the other way, moving through into scarf hold instead of mount.

Being squished flat on your back is tough, but there is a solution. Kev showed us two related sweeps from half guard, dealing with exactly the situation he'd just demonstrated on top. You first need to overhook their arm on the same side as the leg you've trapped, reaching through to grab their collar (this can act as a handy grip, pulling it up to their armpit). You're also going to hook over the other arm with your own, reaching back towards your head. This may telegraph the sweep, so if you wish you can leave it for later.

Release your top leg from half guard, maintaining a good grasp with the remaining leg behind their knee. Switch the top leg to a butterfly hook and lift, also basing off the toes of your other foot. Bridge and drive diagonally to the side, lifting with your hook. Done right, this should put you straight into mount.

It is possible for the person being swept to widen their base, preventing your sweep with their knee. If that happens, simply step closer with your basing leg and push again. Eventually, they will go over, as you have much more leverage than they do.

Alternately, they might get their arm free from your hook and base out that way. If that happens, you can switch to butterfly guard, then bridge the other way. As you have their other arm locked up, you should be able to sweep to mount that way. Even if you can't, you're still in butterfly rather than half, and can normally recover full guard from here.

Specific sparring with Callum went similarly to previous times I've been in his half guard. He wasn't wearing a gi, which didn't help, but the central problem on top was that I still can't beat their underhook. I can get that whizzer, but fail to do anything much with it. This time, I tried harder to use that grip to try and wrestle them back down to the mat, but without much success.

Underneath, I also didn't get very far, and the same thing happened with Joel. I realised later that the very obvious problem was that I wasn't doing what Kev had just shown us. Instead, I was thinking too much about my foot position, although I did get a chance to play with the lockdown and work harder for the underhook. Still, even though I had double underhooks on Joel, I couldn't move his weight. He's a fair bit bigger, but my technique was of course the main problem.

On top with Joel, I did remember to use Kev's technique, trying to get that shoulder pressure. I could just about get the grip, but wasn't able to straighten up and get my legs free. What kept happening was that I'd raise my hips, but then Joel would get a lockdown and pull me back down again. Then again, that gave me the opportunity to practice releasing the lockdown, which went as per drilling: shift down to put pressure on the grip until you can circle your foot free, then hide your leg.

27/10/2009 - BJJ (Advanced)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:58:00 +0000

Class #255

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 27/10/2009

Yesterday marked three years since I first walked into a BJJ school for my introductory class. I've tried to avoid modifying that post since (in case people hadn't noticed, I'm constantly reworking my posts, especially reviews), though I couldn't resist adding a video and a picture some time during 2008. I have just stuck in a bunch of links, but other than that, I'll be restraining myself.

Anyway, three years ago, I was still actively involved in my previous martial art, Zhuan Shu Kuan. I'd barely done any grappling (but still tried to heel hook somebody in June 2006, apparently: totally don't remember that, so was very surprised to come across that post while reading through some old notes. I guess we were all idiot noobs at some point!) and had taken a long time to get interested in groundwork.

I was finally convinced after doing lots of reading at Bullshido, in particular the king of all internet threads and Ben, a guy who still posts there as Asriel (he trains at that Farringdon location I mentioned in the old post). Reading through some old PMs, I'd forgotten how he'd been an important factor in my decision to start at RGA, so I owe him some retrospective thanks. ;)

Since then, I've managed to keep training on a relatively consistent basis, though never especially frequent: at most, its four classes a week, normally more like two. More to my surprise, I've been steadily blogging every lesson ever since: I never expected writing a blog to be so enjoyable. Its brought many advantages since I began doing it seriously in September 2005, and has hugely enhanced my training experience.

If you haven't yet seen Leslie's new article up on BJJ Grrl, go check it out now. Aside from the great writing and advice, I enjoyed seeing the massive number of comments. One of the major advantages of blogging, which sites like BJJ Grrl exemplify, is the sense of community sharing your experiences can foster. BJJ is already known for the manner in which it builds close ties quickly, due to training, sweating and learning together over weeks, months and years. That same sensation extends to the online world: BJJ really brings people together. So, if you're reading this and haven't yet started your own blog, I hope BJJ Grrl inspires you to start!

Speaking of inspiration, I've been thinking about trying something new on this blog for a while now, and those musing articles by BJJ Grrl have motivated me to give it a go. Most of my posts are "we did this, then we did this, I did this in sparring, should have done this." That's really useful for me, but I doubt its especially exciting to read. I don't intend to ever stop doing that (because it definitely helps me focus my training), but I want to try writing something a little more thoughtful on BJJ in general. I'll put up the first of those later this week, and see how the experiment goes.

Getting back to the advanced class, Kev continued with working off (and against) the lockdown. He began by demonstrating a kimura from half guard, off the same passing sequence he'd shown in the beginners class. This time, once you've got the stage where you're grabbing their knee, they attempt to remove your grasp by gripping that same hand.

This is a mistake on their part, but first you need to secure good base. Switch your shin off their leg, instead putting the knee to their side and spreading your legs for balance. Next, remove the arm you were using to cross-face them for the shoulder pressure, instead bringing it under their arm. You can now release your grip on the knee and switch to securing a figure four hold on their arm.

Bring that arm to the ground, then base off your head. This will enable your to raise your hips and straighten your legs, so that you can walk your outside leg over their head, then use that leg to hook their neck. Finally, roll over your other shoulder, taking your partner with you (with that leg in place, you can add further leverage by pressing on their neck as you roll).

This puts you in a great position to finish the kimura. Even if they've grabbed their belt or gi, that hold you have with your leg combined with the figure four grip is really strong. You should be able to break their grip and apply the submission without too much trouble.

For the person on the bottom, Kev ran through a triangle from half guard, which reminded me a little of the techniques from Demian Maia's triangle DVD on Science of Jiu Jitsu. Start by stepping a leg out so you can shrimp to create some space. Get your outside knee into their chest, then lean your torso back, so you're more linear.

You also need to make sure they don't cross-face you, or this technique won't function too well. Use your near arm to 'paw' their bicep, preventing them bringing it to your head. When you've made space, you can shift your grip to their wrist, like Maia does in the picture on the right. You should now have enough space to bring your previously trapped leg through, bringing it all the way out and past their arm.

Immediately lock your ankles around them, after which you can proceed to get the triangle (usual steps of securing head control, clearing their arm, locking your legs in position then adjusting your angle). Don't get greedy and try to jump straight into a triangle as soon as your leg is clear: they're likely to posture up, meaning your legs will never get in place. Its better to lock your ankles first, so you have a strong controlling position, then finish the triangle.

This time my partner for specific sparring was Kev himself: one of the nice things about the advanced class, at least today, is that it was quite small, so I was able to ask Kev loads of questions (I always try to do that anyway, following my own advice on asking questions, but its obviously easier when there aren't many other people there).

I was unsurprisingly unable to pass his half guard, mainly because I couldn't find a way to flatten him out. He immediately got up on his side and secured an underhook, so while I could get a whizzer for some control, I struggled to swim my arm under for my own underhook. Again, this emphasises the massive importance of shoulder pressure: the one time I did manage to get my shoulder vaguely in place, I was far closer to passing than before (naturally still got swept, but it was less immediate).

Later, he had me in a kimura. I was able to manoeuvre myself into a position where I could resist, but it felt like I was mainly just bracing myself against the submission instead of using good technique. This is something I've been pondering recently, as it seems like I might be more productive simply tapping and restarting in those situations.

Kev's advice when I asked him if I should continue to strain or just restart was, firstly, that it depends on if you're safe from injury. If they aren't in the process of dislocating your shoulder, and you're with a controlled senior belt rather than a big, powerful beginner, you will have enough time to tap if you're definitely caught.

Secondly, Kev said that one of the marks of a senior belt is that when they get a good position – such as the kimura he had on me – they don't give it up, trying hard to finish. Similarly, a mark of a senior belt is that they're harder to submit. So, if you can get into a defensive posture that gives you some breathing room, that's good. You now have time to think, what do I need to do to escape from here?

Next time you're in that same position, you'll be able to draw on your experience and react quicker. Even if you didn't get out the first time, the more you're in that position and the more you understand what's happening, the better your chances of escape will be.

Free sparring was with Callum, where I kept ending up under side control. I played around with using the reverse triangle position to help me escape, and also tried out escapes from north south. That didn't work out too good, as Callum spun to an armbar, but it did teach me something about the benefits of instinctive reactions. I like to be able to pause and think, but that time, I knew he was going for the armbar. I also knew there was an escape I could do from here. The problem was, I thought about it rather than just did it, so was tapping before I could even attempt to get free.

At other times, I was trying lots of triangles from the guard. People are slipping out of these too easily, so I'm definitely doing something wrong. I get head control, but they still seem to be able to get through some gap I'm leaving with my legs. It could be I need to be tighter, raise my hips more, get better control of the arm, or simply improve my grasp on their head.

However, I'm glad that I'm at least finding myself approaching triangles more often at the moment: finishing would be nice, but its more important to work out the kinks in my technique for getting there.

27/10/2009 - BJJ

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:15:00 +0000

Class #254

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 27/10/2009

It was an interesting class tonight, as Kev was teaching techniques I recognised from 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu, specifically the first few pages of the half guard section in Mastering the Rubber Guard.

This was something of a coincidence, as I noticed earlier today that the people from the new 10th Planet JJ site were so impressed by my BJJ glossary they've decided to copy it for their own site. Hopefully they'll do me the courtesy of a link back to my original version.

There is a copyright notice on mine, but given that this is about the fourth or fifth time someone's copied my Brazilian jiu jitsu glossary without asking or acknowledgement, it clearly doesn't do much good. I did what I always do, which is send a polite email asking if, seeing as they've taken my BJJ glossary, could they please link back to the original.

Not sure if I had Eddie Bravo's email right, or that of his web guy, but we'll see if that sorts the problem. Bravo seems like a decent guy, so I wouldn't have thought he'd knowingly plagiarise somebody else (even though he gets accused of stealing from Nino Schembri and renaming it 10th Planet JJ and 'rubber guard', Bravo does always acknowledge his sources).

Anyway, on to the beginner class tonight: Kev kicked off by showing the proper application of the lockdown (pp54-55 in Mastering the Rubber Guard). Hook their leg as normal with your outside foot, then step your other leg over. However, instead of just locking your legs together, you're going to hook the foot of your second leg under their shin. From there, stretch your legs out to immobilise their limb.

The next step in 10th Planet JJ would be the 'Jaws of Life', which is basically shoving against their face to make space to get double underhooks. Kev instead incorporated this into the third step, the whip up (pp58-59 in Mastering the Rubber Guard). Once you've managed to make some space, get your hands to their hips. Maintaining your lockdown, bring your knees towards you while simultaneously pushing on their hips with your hands.

That should mean you have enough room and leverage to 'whip up' onto your side, securing an underhook. This is a much better position than flat on your back in half-guard, as now you have the option to go on the offensive. Still in keeping with Mastering the Rubber Guard, you can now move to what Eddie Bravo calls the 'old school' sweep (pp60-62).

However, Kev's version deviates from 10th Planet JJ at this point, and I have to say I prefer his variation. Rather than actually sweeping your opponent, you simply secure a dominant position and move round either to side control or their back, depending on how they react.

You being by reaching through with your free hand to grab their far ankle. This grip is key: don't let go until you've passed. Having got hold of their ankle. you now need to get out from half guard. Pull their leg back with your top foot, which should give you enough control to slide the other leg under, coming up to their back.

From here, you simply move around to side control. This is facilitated by the typical response of your opponent, which is to try and turn into you. As long as you keep hold of that foot, you should be able to keep walking your legs round and secure sidemount. If they choose not to turn into you, that means their back is right there for the taking: you just need to insert your hooks (you may also need to move their arm out of the way, but due to your underhook, you can just shrug it off with your shoulder).

Bravo's method is to instead grab the toes, pull, and drive through to initiate a pass. While there is nothing wrong with doing that, Kev's method uses a lot less energy, something that immediately makes a technique appeal to me.

As ever, Kev also showed the flipside, which is one of the things I love about his classes. In order to pass the lockdown, you first need to free your foot. You could use something like the infamous 'Indian death lock', as described in Passing in the Guard (p219), but that can seriously damage the knees of both you and your partner.

Fortunately, there are alternatives, two of which appear in the new second edition of Passing the Guard. Kev didn't go that route, instead using a simpler method to free the foot. First, you need to shift your weight back: you aim is to create enough pressure that you can circle your top foot free, then slide it underneath their leg to free yourself. It doesn't matter if you can't entirely get the foot under their leg, as long as your able to shove your knee up to their bum. You need to hide your leg so they can't re-establish their lockdown.

Now that your leg is no longer stretched out behind you, drive your shoulder into their chin, creating as much force as possible with your weight. It is essentially you maintain heavy pressure with your shoulder, as that will mean you can raise your lower body in order to bring your free leg through. You want to get the shin of that leg on top of their leg, so it can act as a wedge.

You need to be careful here, as you're vulnerable to an easy sweep if they just bridge into you. Therefore it is absolutely imperative that you make sure you grab their knee. That will make their bridge ineffective: if they try it, you can use your grip on the leg to make space and simply pull your leg free, switching to side control.

If they're sensible enough not to bridge once you're holding their knee, then you still need to free your leg. There are two options: firstly, you can use your shoulder pressure and blocking shin to make enough room to free the leg. Secondly, you can your grip on the knee to pull their legs towards you, again making space to yank your leg out.

In specific sparring, I found that the lockdown was almost totally ineffective against my training partner, Howard. He was able to simply shift down to my hips and immobilise me each time I tried it. I've read in the past that some people don't like the lockdown because it limits their hip mobility: I can now see exactly what they mean.

I had better luck with orthodox half guard, where I managed to recover full guard a couple of times. Passing was much less successful, as I had trouble getting Howard flat. He also kept grabbing my foot, which scuppered my passing. I asked Kev for his advice, and he said that you must get them flattened out: that's the best option on top of half guard. However, if they manage to get your foot, then try changing your angle to a different pass. He also suggested that I try the brabo off the whizzer (overhooking their arm), as I'll often get that position in sparring.

Book Review - Passing the Guard (Ed Beneville & Tim Cartmell)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:29:00 +0000

Short Review: Everything you could ever want to know about passing the guard is covered in this book. Opening the guard from standing or kneeling, dealing with grips, countering submissions, beating the lockdown, solo drills and of course a huge number of different passes are all included. As this is by Ed Beneville, that is all described in copious detail, well-illustrated by masses of clear photographs and helpful accompanying text.

Beneville's first volume is justly regarded as one of the best BJJ instructional books on the market, and with this second edition, it is now even better: available to buy here (US version here).

Full Review: Passing the Guard was originally written in 2001 and released a year later, to widespread acclaim. Top BJJ blogger Aesopian has referred to it as his "favourite BJJ book of all time", typical of the high praise Beneville's first publication received (another high profile BJJ blogger, Val Worthington, also has a connection to the book, in that she was involved in the editing process).

I was keen to get hold of this back when I initially started buying instructionals, but by that point, it had become a rare prize, with the accompanying inflated price tag. It was already a brilliant book when first released in 2002, when the authors Ed Beneville and Tim Cartmell were both still purple belts. They have each since received their black belt, so you can imagine just how much more information they are able to offer now.

Beneville began revising his modern classic some time ago: I've been eagerly waiting for the second edition. It finally hit the shelves earlier this year, expanded with new photography and the helpful flow-charts first seen in Strategic Guard (which in turn may well have taken its cue from Mastering the Rubber Guard). Like previous volumes, those flow-charts appear at the end of every chapter, concisely summarising the preceding contents and the various connections between each technique and situation.

The authors make the important note that "this book is not a substitute for training, nor for the feedback of someone who knows what he is talking about." This should always be kept in mind when reading or watching instructional material: your instructor is always the best person to talk to if you are having technical problems in class. Another essential point is that you shouldn't give up on techniques just because you can't immediately get them to work. As Beneville puts it, "all of the techniques in this book work, but none of them work when poorly executed."

For those who haven't read any of Beneville's books before (I review the other two here and here), he has developed an excellent format. Firstly, the photography is clear, with one guy always wearing a blue gi while the other wears white. This is a big help for the textual descriptions, as Beneville can just write 'blue' or 'white' to refer to each person, rather than confusing the issue by using their name (as Saulo does in his book), or something like "person on top".

Secondly, there are a number of simple symbols added to the pictures to show the direction of flow, emphasise details or show a tangential option. This is the same system as in the other two books, and is explained at the beginning of Passing the Guard. Each chapter also includes an insightful introduction, running through central principles, along with things like competition strategy.

As with every instructional BJJ book I've ever read, the first chapter is my favourite, which is unsurprising given I'm mainly interested in the absolute fundamentals. This is especially true of guard passing, because as I've mentioned many times in the blog, that is by far the weakest part of my game.

Chapter one is entitled basics (25 pages), at first emphasising two key factors, balance and sensitivity. Beneville moves on to posture and base, which interestingly appears to have a sequence of photographs from his competition history to illustrate a point. I'm not sure if Beneville is the first to include what is effectively competition footage in a book, but that has always been the mark of a good instructional video, so adding it to the book medium is an innovative step forward.

However, the opening chapter also brought up one of the few elements I dislike about Beneville's book series, which is the inclusion of what I would call 'dirty' moves. Beneville often puts forward somewhat disreputable techniques as a viable option, which in this case is the method of digging your elbow into your partner to open the guard. Even worse, he continues with a detailed exploration of the 'can-opener', a form of neck crank.

While both can undoubtedly be an effective method of beginning your pass, I don't feel comfortable hurting my training partners. I also don't want to rely on overcoming somebody's pain threshold. I much prefer Saulo Ribeiro's approach, where he talks about treating your training partners like they're "your best friend," always relying on smooth technique rather than crude pain compliance.

The next chapter is all about passing from the knees (76 pages). Beneville spends a lot of time going over the smash pass, with variations and counters, such as what to do if they try to stiff-arm you. That flows into coverage of the 'scissor guard', which is useful: at least in my experience, its very common you'll find they manage to get a knee in as you're looking to pass, which is what this segment aims to overcome. Common passes like the double underhooks also crop up, along with some potential problems, like how to prevent your partner from rolling out into the turtle position.

Standing passes (52 pages) is less geared towards specific techniques, instead focusing on how to deal with what your opponent is attempting to accomplish. For example, while the previous chapter included sections like 'cross knee pass', 'scissors pass #4' and 'double underhooks pass', chapter three has subtitles like 'freeing the arms' and 'feet on the hips', along with plenty of detail on 'standing and opening'.

Presumably that is because if you're able to open the guard from standing, you may well transition into a pass from the knees. I prefer the approach in the third chapter, as it is probably a better mindset to react to a particular situation, rather than insist on going for a certain technique no matter what your partner is doing. In other words, taking what they give you.

Chapter four on defences and counters (48 pages) follows in a similar vein. When standing, the big worry is getting swept, whereas on your knees, you're in danger from submissions. Beneville and Cartmell run through defences to all the common attacks, like armbars, cross-chokes and triangles, as well as typical grips, like an overwrap on the arm or a hold on your gi trousers. Those standing sweeps are covered too, along with some further responses to particular situations, like the de la Riva hook.

This chapter also has a far higher proportion of pictures from the original edition of Passing the Guard, so presumably that also means it hasn't been altered as much as the previous segments. Like in earlier Beneville releases and in Saulo's book, possible mistakes are also described. That threw up some submissions that looked like fun: for example, the 'leg strangle', where you simply secure a collar grip, then throw your leg over your head and push.

Half guard (30 pages) again began with an excellent treatment of the basics, as is true for all the chapters in this book. For half guard, that is how to flatten your opponent on their back, which is naturally then followed by several passes. As in previous chapters, methods of dealing with what your partner is doing to prevent your technique pops up too.

The most interesting example of that is several pages on countering the lockdown. Beneville had earlier shown some familiarity with techniques popularised by 10th Planet JJ, which is clearly something he has been aware of for many years: the pictures for the first lockdown escape are from the original edition back in 2001.

That begins with the 'Indian death lock', which I've seen discussed before, and presumably isn't all that high percentage (Beneville mentions "this one is painful for both players, but it is worse for the guy on the bottom.") However, there are new methods for the second edition, which look less risky, with both early and late defences.

Beneville also includes submissions from the top, with chokes, armlocks and kneebars. Half guard is a position in which both participants have various attacks open to them, so it makes sense to include them in a book on guard passing. As Beneville notes on the chapter flowchart, "your chances of successfully applying one increase if your opponent is concerned with you passing his guard."

Less common is trying attacks from inside the guard (16 pages), as detailed in chapter six. Generally this isn't too effective, especially as your primary aim should be passing the guard, but there are several possible submissions. The ezekiel choke can work, or potentially a neck crank against butterfly guard. Again, that is normally illegal, not to mention dangerous. Its also a rather dick move to pull against training partners.

In his defence, Beneville does put up a big red warning on the same page (p235, if you would like to judge the legitimacy of the technique yourself), stating:

Be extra cautious with any submissions involving the spinal column! The potential for serious injury must be taken seriously. It is one thing to hyper extend an elbow and quite another to damage the spine!

If this was a book about self-defence, I could understand the inclusion of neck cranks. Yet that isn't the impression I get from the introduction, where Beneville says "the rules and strategies discussed throughout the book were written with Brazilian jiu jitsu sport competition in mind." Even if neck cranks are 'part of the art', I'd rather they hadn't been included here. I would hate to think white belts are reading that section in Passing the Guard, slipping over the warning, and then seriously injuring their classmates in sparring.

However, such attacks in the guard tend to be rare: the higher percentage option is to go for leglocks, which make up the majority of this segment. If you have the original edition of Passing the Guard, this chapter will probably look very familiar. Every technique, except for the toe hold at the end (which incidentally also gets a warning), uses pictures from the first release, so I assume it hasn't been significantly changed for 2009.

Along with neck cranks, this section also includes another example of Beneville's occasional tendency to cover especially dangerous techniques, triangle leg control. This is currently outlawed from BJJ competition. Presumably the reason Beneville shows a banned technique is because it was covered in the previous edition. As Beneville explains:

Since the first edition of this book was published, this version of the ankle lock has been banned from many BJJ competitions. This is considered reaping the outside of the knee and apparently that is too dangerous. You cannot wrap your outside leg over and across your opponent's leg from this position. This technique is effective, however, and it is part of the art.

Chapter seven also focuses on submissions, this time from the turtle position (44 pages). This reminded me of what I'd seen at the Roy Dean seminar, with lots of rolling attacks, in-depth discussion of the clock choke and details on the crucifix. Finally, Beneville closes the book with a brief chapter on solo drills (12 pages), designed to help you practice the sometimes difficult motions required for certain passes (e.g., head springs and modified cartwheels).

My reservations about neck cranks aside (a very small proportion of the book), I can see why Aesopian rates Passing the Guard: it is comprehensive, clear and concise, reaching the same high standard as all of Ed Beneville's publications. Everything you could want to know about passing the guard is covered, from breaking the guard to dealing with grips and submission attempts, along with the actual pass itself. If you manage to absorb everything in Beneville's three volume series, you will be incredibly effective at attacking and using the guard.

That is a big 'if', however. There is a great deal to take in, so its unlikely you'll improve from simply reading Passing the Guard from cover to cover. A book like Jiu Jitsu University is easily comprehensible, as the techniques are basic, explained slowly, from the perspective of an overview.

Beneville, on the other hand, leaves nothing out, so it can be an overwhelming experience reading his work. I have had his other two books for almost two years now, and barely scratched the surface of what they have to offer. To benefit, you'll need to invest considerable time and effort into a small number of techniques, attempting to use them in sparring over the course of weeks, months and years. Available to buy here (US version here). Alternately, you could always look on eBay:

22/10/2009 - BJJ

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:17:00 +0000

Class #253

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 22/10/2009

I was excited to come across this blog by Cane Prevost recently, as he is an instructor at Straight Blast Gym headquarters in Portland, Oregon. I really admire the teaching methodologies of Matt Thornton, so I was very much looking forward to seeing how Prevost would go on to explain the thinking in his blog: this isn't your average "I did this, then we did this, next week I'll try to do this" BJJ blog (which is effectively what I do), but a focused exploration of the ideological structures behind SBGi. Cool stuff!

No Tuesday classes for me this week, as I was visiting my girlfriend down in Bristol. However, I was able to get back in time for Thursday, though I'm still not planning to do the nogi, so that means just the hour long beginners class tonight. Kev was continuing to work guard, so again showed us a guard pass and then a sweep.

The guard break was interesting, as it worked off a similar principle to the one Victor Estima went over in meticulous detail during his Belfast seminar last year. Nevertheless, I've been struggling with it, so very useful to have another perspective from Kev,

You begin by grabbing both collars with one hand, your other hand pressing down firmly on their hip (Kev suggesting pressing down on top of the belt knot and moving it into position). Next, step up your foot by their other hip, so close that its effectively underneath that hip. To make it really tight, angle your knee inwards too. This should already be making them uncomfortable.

In a single motion, step up on the other leg and twist, resulting in a sort of horse stance. Hopefully this will pop open their ankles: if not and you've done it right, you should at least have loosened their hold considerably, so can just push on their knee to open the guard. From there, you're ready to pass with a knee slide or underhook.

The difficulty I've had with this method of opening the guard is keeping control of that hip, so the tip on pressing with the belt knot helped, as did feeling Kev demonstrate on me. Testing this during king of the hill sparring later, I also think I was leaning too far forward, so was getting my posture broken. You are supposed to be leaning forward slightly, as you maintain that one handed grip on both their collars, but not so much that your balance fails.

As ever, Kev then followed up with a technique from the other perspective, this time the basic ankle grab sweep. I rarely get this, as people are expecting it, but its always useful to go over the fundamentals. I clearly still need the reminder for the defence, which is to simply keep grasping their collar and drive your hips forward: I keep forgetting to put my hips into it.

Specific sparring with Callum gave me the chance to go through the guard pass a few times, but without being able to complete the motion. I did at least manage to stand up, but was unable to finish. I'm trying to make sure I don't give up on the technique and keep persisting, so I'll have to keep on getting to that standing position and see how I can incrementally get closer to opening the guard. Dealing with the collar grip is one problem, the other is my posture.

However, I'm using too much force to maintain my balance on top, rather than good base. I find that I pull on their gi with my arms, rather than drive forward with my hips. I definitely expended more energy than usual as a result, which means my balance needs a lot of work: I'm never going to last doing it that way, as I'm way too unfit. Must improve standing posture and use of the hips, as well as more pro-active responses to my partner off-balancing me.

Underneath, I was looking to stay tight, using the grip over the head and around the armpit Kev showed us a little while back. I was also looking for collar grips, but not really able to do anything with them. I may be focusing too much on looking for a choke, rather than keeping in mind sweeps too. Still, concentrating on how to keep their posture broken has been productive, and I think I'm getting better at remembering to use my legs to bring my partner in towards me.

King of the hill was a succession of standing up, failing to open the guard, then either flopping back down or getting swept. Nevertheless, it was good to work on that one technique, especially as it was something we'd just been shown. I was asking Kev lots of questions, so as before that was really helpful in refining some of the details (though of course theory is very different from practice: no matter how many questions I ask, the only way to finally get it is to try the technique over and over in sparring).

15/10/2009 - BJJ

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:22:00 +0000

Class #252

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 15/10/2009

Now it turns out I won't be teaching that seminar, as there was a whole one person booked. I guess Michael Donaghy isn't as popular as the organiser was hoping, which is a shame. I would have enjoyed both the teaching experience, and the chance to explore a poet I haven't read much in the past. Ah well: I still have another one to teach next month, for Sexual Health Week at Warwick Uni. Unlike Donaghy, that one is directly related to my PhD thesis, so looking forward to it.

For class tonight, I knew it was all about the guard this week. So, I sought out a few videos to try and refine what I know about guard passing. First up was a clip by Michael Jen, from one of his various instructionals. Lots of interesting points on opening the legs from the knees, such as turning your hands slightly outwards rather than completely straightening your arms, and also driving the ridge of your palm into their rib cage.

Jen also talks about humping your lower back to pop the ankles open, and emphasises the principle of never putting your head in front of your hands. To that end, when you're initially getting into position, you should first bring your knee out, rather than shove your knee into their butt.

That's because you may well have to raise up and move forward if you shove the knee in without first bringing the other knee out to the side. Your partner can then knock you off balance.

The second video featured Braulio, covering closed guard and passing. This time, I found the other side of the equation more interesting, as Braulio showed how you can keep shifting your hips square on to mess up their passing attempt.

He also had an interesting option for when they stand up: with a grip on their sleeve, you bring your hips to their other leg. Brace your same side arm against their other leg and pull them towards you. You've blocked both of their avenues for stepping to catch to balance, so they end up falling forwards.

All of that was immediately applicable to tonight's class. Kev showed us two basic ways to open the guard, both from standing and kneeling, then two passes from combat base.

The kneeling guard break began in the classic posture. Back straight, one hand gripping both collars, the other back by their hip. Slide one knee out to the side, then place the other knee right into their tailbone. You'll now pressure backwards with your arms until you can pop open the hips to open the guard, moving into combat base.

Alternately, you can use a standing guard break. This time, you have a hold of their sleeve and their hip. On the sleeve side, step your leg up: you have control of their arm, so can prevent them hooking your leg and going for a sweep. Stand up, keeping the other leg back so they can't hook that one (if they do, you may need to sit back down again). Finally, use your free arm to push their same side leg off your hip, then settle down into combat base.

If you want to pass over the leg closest to your raise knee, then Kev suggested using the leg pin I've seen a few times before. This is the one I've used most often in the past, although my guard passing is absolutely terrible, so I do it in a very sloppy fashion.

Should you instead want to pass over the leg opposite to your raised knee, you have another guard pass open to you (and incidentally, this is also something I've seen Michael Jen demonstrate, although he does it slightly differently). Begin by pinning that opposite leg with the shin of your raised leg, making sure you keep it trapped.

Use your arm on the other side to hook around their armpit, so that you can use your upper body to pin their torso, preventing them from taking your back. Your free leg will walk over, enabling you to then slide your knee through, bringing your hips to the floor. Readjust and switch into side control.

Kev is very approachable as an instructor, which combined with the comparatively small class size makes it easy to ask him questions. His response exemplifies the biggest weakness of tapes, which is that they can't correct errors and gear techniques to specific body types.

During specific sparring, I had been focusing on getting that grasp on the ribcage Jen talks about. However, I was attempting that against someone well over six foot, so unsurprisingly his legs were far too long for that to have any effect. As Kev said, what I needed to do was shift my grip further back, grabbing the top of the trousers, or even further up on the leg (Jen does mention this, but I'd forgotten that important detail).

Kev also spoke about how you want to make a really wide gap between your knees, rather than trying to shift back lots or even leaning forward to try and increase the leverage from your arms. You want to create an angle, rather than staying square on: if you stay square, its easy for your partner to break your posture.

Finally, Kev had some handy advice about trapping their arm underneath their back, which I've seen a few people do (and had done to me, which proved very effective). During sparring, I had no idea how to do this, so was trying to bait my partner into giving me both their arm and space by snatching at it after I stood up.

Kev's suggestion was much better and more effective. You have a grasp on their bicep and manoeuvre the arm down. Place your head next to it, using that as a wedge. To get their arm under their back, either raise up a leg to make some space underneath them and feed their sleeve to your other hand, or you can be more cunning.

If you raise your leg up, the person on the bottom is likely to try and hook it with their hand. As soon as they do that, sit back down, trapping their arm in the process. You can now shove your head against it, then proceed to bring it under their back.

That wasn't something I was going to be able to easily practice in nogi, due to the lack of sleeves. Indeed, I wasn't going to be able to practice most of the techniques I'm interested in due to that lack of grips, not to mention I was a little wary of the almost complete lack of other blue belts. So, I decided against the hour of nogi sparring tonight (such shameless wimping out would no doubt be frowned upon at Carlson's ;p), as I already had lots to think about after Kev's excellent advice.

13/10/2009 - BJJ (Advanced)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:54:00 +0000

Class #251

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 13/10/2009

If there is anyone reading this who happens to enjoy poetry and can get to Birmingham at the weekend, yours truly will be teaching a seminar. I was asked to discuss Michael Donaghy at the Birmingham Book Festival on the 17th, so in the unlikely event any of the BJJers out there reading this are interested, would be cool to see you there. Further details on their site.

Getting back to tonight's class, Kev continued with work from the guard. He started by drilling a combination attack. First you go for the armbar, letting them pull their arm free. Switch to an omoplata on the other arm, allowing them to posture up. Finally, open your legs and shift to a triangle. Change sides and repeat, then let your partner have a go.

The first technique was the omoplata from guard, which I've always found confusing. The way Kev showed it was from a triangle, but they've managed to hide the arm you've isolated, reaching around your leg towards their feet.

This gives you the perfect opportunity to go for an omoplata. Reaching over the arm which is reaching back, grasp their belt, locking your elbow in to prevent them escaping. Your leg is still around their arm and now locked in, so grip the shin with your free arm, then step out with your other leg. This will enable you to shift into position.

Bring the leg still on their back past their face, until you can sit up, sliding your other leg back. You are now sitting with their arm still trapped in your leg, unable to move because it is pressed against the floor and your legs are blocking escape routes.

You also want to get them flat on the floor, by switching your grip on their belt to instead clasp around their far side. Shift sideways in the other direction, until you've broken their balance and they are lying flat on the floor. To finish, simply lean forward, as if you were going to whisper in their ear, which should torque their shoulder.

Alternately, there is an omoplata sweep. This time, they've stood up in your guard, while you've got a grip on their opposite side sleeve. Move to wrap their leg as if you were attempting a hand stand sweep, switching the sleeve to your same side hand (which is wrapped around the bottom of their leg). Your guard stays closed.

Next you need to break their posture, so that they are leaning found. You can do this through a combination of pulling down on their collar, then if you need greater leverage, swinging your far leg around and pressing it down on their head. They should now be off balance.

Take that leg off the head and triangle their arm (though you don't need to lock it in). In a smooth motion, bring your legs away from their body, aiming to roll them over to the side. Continue the roll and sit up, so you are sat on their arm while they are on their back. You can now switch to side control.

There are some similar techniques covered on the Demian Maia DVD, though I'm not sure he does the exact same thing as Kev in the omoplata part of the set.

Kev then ran through two omoplata defences, early and late. If you react quickly enough before they've managed to lock on the omoplata, you can just roll over the shoulder of the other arm, making sure to get your head out of the way (I didn't the first time, and its not pleasant on the neck). Also, you need to immediately pull the arm they attacked towards you, or they could transition into an armbar.

The second option is for when you're caught. Before they can complete the submission, grab your trousers with your trapped arm. That should give you a moment to then turn into them. You end up stuck under mount, which is still a bad position, but it is better than being a few seconds away from tapping out (if you're looking at it from a competition perspective).

In sparring with Callum, I ended up in the reverse triangle as he was moving to side control a few times, and tried to be a bit more active in that position. It helped me sit up and go to a sort-of front headlock a couple of times, but that was only if I was quick and got there before he could settle into side mount.

I also attempted to lock in my favoured overhook in the guard, but he knew exactly what I was going for (in fact, we'd been chatting about it earlier). He managed to step through into half guard, making it rather less useful, though I had a try to see if I could still launch and attack from there. I need to make sure I don't forget about my legs when attempting to get that overhook, and also pull them in towards me: I think Callum was able to posture, which in turn made passing over my leg easier.

Finally I went with Joel, which was another slow, patient spar. I spent most of it in his guard (which is where we started: Kev again had everyone begin in a position, then free spar from there), defending against chokes and trying to maintain good posture. I also wanted to stand up, but couldn't avoid his deep collar grip. Maybe Passing the Guard will have some useful tips, though naturally the best thing is to prevent them getting that grip in the first place.

Thursday's sparring hour is going to be nogi again, so I may or may not attend. Kinda reminds me of what Simon Hayes said here, about forcing people to train nogi by not telling them in advance. I certainly don't think Kev is doing something similar (its just because there are a bunch of people competing in a nogi tournament soon), but made me think about how I'm perfectly happy to just stick with gi and let the nogi slide. Very much a hobbyist! ;)

13/10/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:17:00 +0000

Class #250

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 13/10/2009

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday morning by a delivery of a book I ordered, Passing the Guard. I hadn't expected it to arrive for another month, seeing as I'd picked the slow option, so that was cool. Thanks to anyone who clicked through and bought something from one of my reviews, as I ordered the book entirely from a resulting gift card (took a while to build up enough, of course). So naturally, I'll be reviewing Passing the Guard shortly (various job interviews to attend and seminars to teach though, so might be on the backburner for a little while).

Unusually, Kev added in throws to the warm-up, like he does with the advanced class: could be he's moving towards the same kind of structure I remember from RGA HQ.

First technique of the day was the basic cross choke from guard. It was a useful reminder, as Kev emphasised how the choke comes from gripping with your palms facing up, then turning your hands, as opposed to flaring your elbows. I tried to really concentrate on keeping my elbows in, which definitely made a difference: its much tougher to defend if you can't simply lock and squeeze their elbows to relieve the pressure of the choke.

Kev followed that with another simple submission, the armbar from guard. However, he had an interesting variation on the grip. Grab their opposite sleeve, then secure their opposite collar with your other hand. That means you can use your collar arm to lock the arm you're already using a sleeve to control. This makes for a really strong grip, after which you proceed as normal. You could also potentially move into a choke, as you've already got the one hand in.

Next up was the defence to an armbar. Before going into the usual basic technique, Kev surprised me by stating a very simple, but rarely mentioned solution. The best way to escape the armbar is to tap. Its an obvious point, but doesn't occur to people because then they've 'lost'. However, in terms of training, it makes a lot more sense then straining away desperately when you're caught: as Kev says, you tap, then restart and try not to get stuck there again.

Specific sparring was from guard, with our training partner. That meant it was the format I prefer, where first one of you is in guard for a round, then you switch and go for another five minutes. That tends to mean a lot more mat time than king of the hill (well, unless you're actually good, unlike me).

The main problem I had was that I keep shifting into tight controlling positions, but then fail to progress to an offensive set-up. For example, I'll pull them in close with my legs and control the head, but then struggle to get to a triangle and I can't get past the arm. In that situation, I need to make sure I take the risk and open up a little.

During king of the hill (I only sparred once), I stayed very patient in the guard, as I was with a white belt so they were trying all sorts of things (like an americana from their guard). Eventually I slipped into half guard, but as I tried to stabilise, I just got rolled. I'm not managing to get into a decent attacking position, which is possibly because I tend not to think about going from kind of distracting submission attempt. Might be good to threaten with a choke or something so they forget about their legs.

08/10/2009 - BJJ (No-Gi)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:43:00 +0000

Class #249

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 08/10/2009

I wouldn't normally treat the second hour on Thursdays as a separate lesson, because previously it has just been a load of extra sparring. However, tonight was different: tonight Kev used it for a no-gi class instead. Good thing I had a t-shirt with me, because I hadn't realised it wouldn't be the usual hour of rolling with the gi. Makes sense though, as there are a few people preparing for a no-gi competition.

Things started of by drilling the single leg, followed by takedown sparring. This is by far my least favourite part of a BJJ class, so I'm glad it doesn't happen often. As usual, I was incredibly defensive, but fortunately for me, sparring consisted of one person restricted to attack while the other could only defend (though I remained very tentative when it came to my turn to attack).

It was then time for full sparring, although starting from guard. I'm normally wary of white belts due to their tendency to lack control, but that is even more the case in no-gi. So, I made a bee-line for blue belts, starting with Howard, who is becoming my most regular training partner.

I started in guard, trying to stay tight and look for triangles from Rener and Ryron's Punch Block Series (as demonstrated on Gracie Combatives). However, I couldn't keep it sufficiently tight, especially as I was telegraphing my triangle attempts.

After that, I got stuck under mount, particularly technical mount. I'm not overly familiar with being under there, but I have been reading Jiu Jitsu University a lot recently. I vaguely remembered Saulo's advice on escaping technical mount, though I don't think I got into the right survival position. Still, managed to wedge my way out and slip my knee through, probably because it is easier to spin without a gi.

Next up was Kev, who as a brown belt has by far the best control in the room. Naturally I couldn't do a lot, but he let me work in guard, where I again attempted to stay tight, looking for that Gracie Combatives controlling posture and triangles. As he inevitably passed, I tried to switch to reverse de la Riva, without any success. Every time I spar Kev, I always get stuck under a version of side control where he is moving to scarf hold, which I find really tough to escape (at least it feels like something between side control and scarf hold: he doesn't normally have the arm, but does face towards my head up on his side a bit).

Sitting out the following round, I finished my sparring with Callum. He had been planning to sit out himself, but decided to go for one more. That fatigue is probably why I was able to maintain a top position, where I kept finding myself in a sloppy half guard. He was slipping free each time, but I had a hold round his head and then fought for the underhook. My knee was gradually being edged out, so the other main battle was wriggling that knee back through, so I could maintain better control.

Instead of further sparring or a warm-down, Kev managed to cram in some handy technique. He asked people what they have most trouble with, so I immediately said grips. Kev's suggestion led into an armbar from guard.

The grip starts by grabbing their same side wrist, pulling it across your body while simultaneously bringing them towards you with your legs. You should also use your opposite hand to grasp just above their elbow, near the tricep. That should mean you can then clamp the top of their arm under your own elbow, making for a secure hold on the arm.

To further increase your control, either grab around their head to keep them from posturing up, or reach around to grip their armpit. This sets you up for the armbar, particularly if they try to bring their head out. Push off their same side hip, swivel into position, then shove their head out of the way as you swing your leg over.

Kev finished things off with a nogi guard pass. This was basically the 'rape choke' option he showed us a while ago, where you press into their neck and stand up to get them to open their guard.

Alternately, you can push your hands into their biceps in order to stand. You then step on a bicep and straighten up, which should break their guard open. Of course, this won't work all that well if you're too short, so it will be most effective against those your own size or smaller.

08/10/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:21:00 +0000

Class #248

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 08/10/2009

Kev continued with mount, started off by drilling mount to technical mount, which basically involved sliding your knee up their back while the other leg went up, foot tight to their side. You also put a hand behind you for base, which is something I haven't done in the past: it makes a lot of sense, as I feel a lot more stable. Kev also clarified that the knee goes to the top of their back. Previously I've tended to try to get to their head, which is probably because I got confused with an armbar set-up.

From there, Kev wanted to demonstrate an armbar from mount, starting in technical mount. Reach over and grab their elbow with both hands, pulling up. You're now going to switch back to mount, but this time you can go straight into high mount. The space is already there because you pulled on that elbow, which gets their arms out of the way of your knees.

You can now finish with an armbar, using the same technique as last time. The next technique was also a repeat of what we did on Tuesday, escaping mount by using the heel drag. Always good to get more drilling on those essential basics, so its cool Kev is making sure those are thoroughly covered.

In specific sparring, I'm still trying to do low mount with grapevines. I can maintain it, but not attack, so today I was keen to really push for a submission set up. In low mount, the only one I know is an ezequiel (not that I've ever landed one). I still can't get that hand onto their neck, as my training partners know exactly what I'm attempting to do.

Afterwards, I asked Kev his advice on getting the ezequiel. He advised hiding what you were doing by shoving your head next to theirs. That way, you can have the ezequiel all set-up, without giving them any warning, then quickly get into position after moving your head out of the way.

I also wanted to keep trying to shift to technical mount. I need to incorporate that basing hand, and make my slide sufficiently smooth that I don't leave space for them to block my foot. While low mount has been working well for me, I need to make sure I don't limit myself to that just because its comfortable. So, I tried to utilise high mount too, which is much tougher to maintain: I still haven't got a good grasp of how to 'ride' my opponent's bridging, or switch to technical mount. and need to avoid always using low mount, get better at riding out high mount. Still, I was again close to taking the back at one point, but fell off back to guard.

With Callum, I tried to put Kev's suggestion into practice, but still too obvious. Looking for those submissions made my low mount a bit sloppier, as I didn't react quickly enough when he trapped an arm and bridged. Still, that did at least give me an opportunity to ask Kev another question, this time about what to do if they block your foot when you try technical mount.

His response was that you then should switch to a pass: trying to regain mount is likely to get you swept due to the possibility of elevator hooks and the like. Something I'll have to work on, as that is almost what happened with my next sparring partner, Tom. I was blocked, looked to pass instead, but just got knocked back into guard.

06/10/2009 - BJJ (Advanced)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:06:00 +0000

Class #247

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 06/10/2009

Advanced class began with throws as usual, this time moving from an outside trip to an inside trip (ko-uchi gari into o-uchi gari, I think, or possibly the other way round). Kev then added on a version where you wrap your leg around their's on the inside trip, then underhook an arm and drive forwards at a forty-five degree angle, locking them to the floor with your shoulder pressure into their sternum.

Ground technique (the fun stuff: throws remain something I feel I have to get through rather than enjoy) continued to focus on mount. As this was the advanced class, it was a combination attack, going from collar choke to armbar, which fits in nicely with Roy Dean's philosophy of using attacks as a 'probe' on Purple Belt Requirements.

The collar choke isn't what you're looking for, but you still need to go for it properly, or you won't get the resistance you're looking for. Start with a deep grip, then slide your other hand around to grab their shoulder (as much as possible, avoid letting your head pass the centre line of their head as you do this). Apply the choke at this point, but don't drop your head to the floor in the normal: keep your torso slightly raised.

That should get a reaction, as they try to defend the choke. You can now slide into s-mount, then release the grip on their shoulder to wrap their arm instead, completing the armbar as normal. You have the added bonus of potentially getting a choke too, if it turns out that you don't merely cause a reaction, but a tap.

Next Kev showed us an armbar escape Nick G had taught a while ago. You're in a bad position, with the arm about to be trapped, but not quite locked in yet. You'll need enough freedom to point both your arms towards your legs. Bring the foot closest to their head out and up towards it, then bridge firmly in that direction.

Keep going until you're sitting on them, facing their legs. It should be relatively easy to extract your arm now, if they're still holding it: you'll know if you were too late at this point, as they'll likely switch to a belly down armbar. Finally, you want to switch into normal mount (unless you're happy with reverse mount, which is a viable position. I can remember Stephan Kesting talking about it in one of his newsletters a while ago).

To do that, bring one leg under the other, spinning into mount: alternately, you might end up in side control. It looks pretty cool when done right (Kev does this to me all the time whenever I spar him, looking like he isn't expending any effort as he floats from position to position), but also appears a bit complex. I'm doubtful I have the coordination yet to get this outside of drilling, but then that's the first step: introduce, isolate, integrate.

Specific sparring from mount followed as before, and also was with Howard again. I did much the same thing, with the Saulo frame and a few overly strength-based escapes from underneath, then grapevining as much as I could on top. Positional control is getting better, but my mount offence is non-existent. I need to work out how to move into chokes when grapevining, or alternately transition more smoothly into s-mount than I'm currently managing.

Full sparring was next, but starting with somebody in mount. I was with Rob, who I knew was liable to choke me repeatedly. I tried to stay tight and defensive, ending up in a another position from Jiu Jitsu University, the running escape. However, I stayed there way too long, unsure of what to do next, as Rob progressively tightened his choke, eventually bringing all his limbs to bear on my neck. My neck lost.

At another point, I found myself in Rob's guard, slipping out of a triangle. I tried to immediately switch to a double underhooks pass, reaching for the opposite collar, but as usual couldn't maintain the pressure, ending up back in guard. I think I need to drive my hips more, as I always leave way too much space. This keeps happening when I go for the double underhooks, so clearly there is a fundamental flaw with my technique.

I also had another play with the reverse triangle, seeing as Rob's head was low. Last time I made the mistake of focusing too much on the choke, forgetting about the position. So this time, I tried to look for the arm and kimura opportunities, but wasn't able to isolate it properly. I also could probably have tightened the triangle, which would have helped as a distraction.

On top, things went a lot better. I again used the grapevine, managing to maintain that mount position, but not able to launch any attacks. I'm also trying to switch grapevines like Rener does on Gracie Combatives, though its a habit I'm not quite used to yet (still helped). The low swim also proved useful again, preventing my arms from getting trapped too easily. Of course, I'd just sat out the previous round, so was coming in fairly fresh, which makes a difference.

06/10/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:02:00 +0000

Class #246

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 06/10/2009

While reading one of my favourite blogs, BJJ Grrl, I noticed that Leslie from BJJ Grrl has found a whole load of blogs I've never seen before, which is cool: BJJ Kids, GrappleThink, Dev's Blog, Cabbage BJJ, Neil vs BJJ and Goatfury (though I've obviously heard of Andrew Smith, as he's fairly active on forums and runs US Grappling). I've added all those to the Index: if there are any bloggers reading this who aren't on there, let me know by posting up a link to your blog in the comments, and I'll add you on there. The more the merrier!

I didn't make it to class last Thursday, as I wanted to spend more time with my gf. As we're again in the annoying situation of having to live apart, BJJ might suffer a little due to visits, but I should normally be able to get in two nights a week at RGA Wycombe. Hopefully one of us will find a job soon, so that we can live somewhere permanently. Birmingham remains the preferred option (which would also mean training under Braulio at GB Brum, a very tempting prospect), but we'll see what happens.

Anyway, Kev's theme for tonight was the mount. We started with some basic points on getting to a high mount, with two options. First, wedge your arm in by their elbow, walk your hand up the floor towards their head to make space, then fill that space with your knee: repeat for each side until you get their arms right over their face.

The second option is to grab their sleeve and pull up, lifting your leg, then turning your knee back down to suck up any room by their arm. Both of these options were intended to set up the armbar we were shown next.

Its a pretty basic armbar from mount, as once you've got that high mount position with their arms over their face (Kev mentioned this is sometimes called the 'bow tie', due to the way the arms are squished over your face), you can then select the arm they have on top.

Slide your same side knee to their head, while the opposite leg will first raise (still keeping the foot tight to their side), then move to trap their arm. You want to have your foot near the shoulder, so the leg is diagonally across the arm.

Finally, slide your same side knee over their head and drop back for the armbar, making sure that you use the momentum of that drop to get the arm, maintaining a close hold. You don't want to fall back and then try to pull the arm down, as you'll no longer have much weight behind that pull.

There was one interesting difference from the way I've normally been shown this, which is that Kev advocates crossing your feet for the armbar from mount. The reason is that he feels its tighter, and prevents them escaping by just pushing a leg off their head. However, in guard you should always keep the feet uncrossed, in order to press down with your legs.

Next, Kev went through my favourite mount escape, the heel drag, which I first learned from Johannes at the inaugural Belfast throwdown. Keeping your elbows tight to stop them sliding forward to high mount, get up on your side. Use a slight bridge into them and your elbow to push their leg back. Step your leg over both your other leg and their leg, so that you can then use your heel to drag their foot over your other leg.

You can then either go to half guard, which is what I normally end up doing, or keep on shrimping and get to full guard or open guard. That is where I'd like to be, but generally I can't make enough space. Roy Dean does an excellent demonstration of this in the mount escapes section of Blue Belt Requirements.

Specific from mount was interesting. Underneath, I'm trying to work on Saulo's survival position from Jiu Jitsu University, especially making a frame against their hips with your arms. This has proven effective, though I think it also makes it tempting to try and explode with your arms. At least it did for me, meaning that I was escaping sometimes, but purely because I shoved hard with my arms, rather than smooth technique. Not very useful.

On top, I was far more successful than I've been in the past. Specifically, I seem to be able to hold the position, but not launch any offence. I'm continuing to grapevine the legs and switch arms under the head, along with the low swim: like I said last week, this is largely thanks to the Gracie Combatives sessions I've been doing for my girlfriend. She's definitely getting the hang of it, and going through Rener and Ryron's lessons appears to be rubbing off on me.

I was able to maintain mount for a while against the two blue belts I rolled with, and steadily improved at switching to s-mount looking for attacks. I wasn't getting anything in the way of attacks from mount itself, except for some hopeless ezequiel attempts: collar chokes are something I should also be trying, but I get too paranoid about losing my base.

I also felt I was progressively getting closer to taking the back. Switching to s-mount and staying tight eventually led to the opportunity. However, it also quite often meant I got caught by their leg under mine as I tried to switch, giving them the leverage and space to slip free. I secured both hooks during the last roll, but my bodyweight was too far forward, so I was easily shrugged off into guard. Still, taking the back from mount is where my girlfriend is currently up to on Gracie Combatives, so maybe that will help! ;)

29/09/2009 - BJJ (Advanced)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Class #245

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 29/09/2009

As appears to be a theme for Tuesdays, the advanced class started with takedowns, focusing on the single leg. Kev then drew on his judo experience (he's a black belt in that, along with his brown in BJJ), showing us a throw you can try if they've trapped your leg from the shoot, leaving you hopping around on one leg.

Its a variation of the sumi gaeshi sacrifice throw (lots of clips here). I don't normally bother listing throws, but this one was interesting. Having gone for a single, they've trapped your leg, holding it with their arms and pinching it between their knees. First you need to find your balance: Kev mentioned that at some point in the future, he wanted to get us doing some drills for that.

Reach over their back and hook your hand into their far armpit (Kev used two fingers, so I'm not sure if its better to do that, or grab with the whole hand). Your other hand will grip their far sleeve. You also want to hook the inside of their leg with yours, before sitting down and dropping back, flipping them over, then coming on top to side control.

If you're not careful, they may be able to turn into you after landing, so that you end up under side control instead. To prevent that from happening, you'll need to make some adjustment before you throw. Move your head so that it is in pressing in front of their head: maintain that pressure all the way through the throw. That should stop them being able to turn into you, and also make it easier for you to switch straight into side control.

Continuing with side control, we worked the Brabo choke (which as Kev mentioned, has a lot of names: John Kavanagh apparently takes the mick out of this difficulty with nomenclature, calling it the 'chokey choke'). Once you've cleared the elbow, move round to north south, making sure you don't let them get that arm free.

Now that you have their arm squished against their head, slip your opposite hand under their head, reaching past their trapped arm. Grab your the bicep of your other hand (like you would for a RNC), then reach that arm over their stomach. Squeeze for the submission (again, like a RNC).

If they get their arm free when you try that, there is a variation available. Make sure their head is facing away from you (if not, push their chin with your knuckles). Slip your hand under their head as before, so that your bicep is pressing into their throat.

You can now either slide backwards for a crank, or get that hand right through. That will then allow you to again grab your other bicep and get that RNC type position, squeezing for the choke. This is especially good if you have skinny little arms, like me: otherwise, it may be tough to get the right pressure on the neck.

Sparring started from side control, but wasn't specific: after that, you continued until somebody got a submission. Kevin does this quite a lot, and it like the way it cuts out that slightly pointless moment of staring at each other from the knees, where I inevitably pull guard.

Sparring with a tall white belt, I found myself in mount. As he was trying to wrap my arm, I swam through without thinking to re-establish my position. It then struck me that this is exactly what I'd been working with my girlfriend, who is still slowly making her way through Gracie Combatives. I then made a conscious effort to use the high and low swim, which functioned well in combination with some of the other parts of Rener's lesson, like 'anchor and base', along with hooking both legs.

Just goes to show how good Rener and Ryron's teaching is on that DVD. I haven't been practicing any of it myself, but instead have been directing my girlfriend in her training, after watching the videos together. Nevertheless, it has clearly sunk in, as I was able to use it effectively tonight against somebody bigger.

With Rob, I soon found myself in the opposite situation, under his mount. This happens frequently against blue belts, so I'm clearly making the same mistake. However, it also gives me a chance to try the techniques from Saulo's book, focusing on making a frame with the arms against their hip. I need to use that more, and as ever stop being so static.

I also got caught in that triangle position again where they don't have the arm. This isn't really a submission, but it hurts your neck. I'd learned my lesson from straining against this one when sparring Dan a while back, so just tapped. Much better to restart and do something more productive, instead of hurting myself to soothe my ego.

Finally I rolled with Howard, a blue belt I haven't seen before, but seems both experienced and friendly. I was trying to think carefully about using my arms, legs and hips under side control: I often forget about my arms, as I'm being overly careful to avoid expending energy. They're handy for wedging some space, and helped me escape a couple of times.

At one point, I even found myself set up for a triangle when spinning out of side control. It wasn't a planned set up, I just happened to have my legs in the right place. Howard immediately postured and moved back, so it wouldn't have gone anywhere even if time hadn't run out, but still something to keep in mind. Roy Dean spins into triangles out of side control repeatedly on Blue Belt Requirements, so I should try it more often.

I'm stll getting crunched up in half guard, where I need to try bumping them with my knee more often, to break their posture. I'm also continuing to find myself under knee-on-belly, which I have to block more effectively. I've been trying Michael Jen's defence, where he lifts their leg into half guard with the space between thumb and finger, but the arm feels vulnerable when stretched out like that.

29/09/2009 - BJJ (Beginner)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Class #244

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 29/09/2009

Bit late on this, but I just saw on one of the forums that Black Eagle is doing another 10% discount at the moment. To get the 10% off, go to their site and use the voucher code sept09 when you check out. Only works until the end of this month though, so seeing that is today, probably not too helpful.

The theme tonight was side control, beginning with the basic side control to mount transition, followed by an Americana from side control.

There are several ways of getting your arms in place for the Americana, and while I never get this submission, it is interesting to see the slight differences. Once their wrist is secured, Kev was slipping his whole arm past the elbow and into place. On Gracie Combatives, Rener and Ryron insert the hand palm up near the elbow, then gradually twist it round to secure the grip. The main problem for me, however, is working their arm down in the first place, so I need to focus on that part of the technique before worrying about the finish.

Kev also went through some defensive options if somebody catches you in an Americana. Naturally its better to not end up there in the first place by keeping your arm safe, tucking the elbow, but that's easier said than done during sparring. If you do get caught, then Kev suggested getting your head into the crook of their elbow, which is a great stalling position to give yourself time to escape. However, as Kev heavily emphasised, you need to tap if you get caught during the escape: it isn't worth your shoulder.

Finally, Kevin showed us a basic escape from side control, which is always welcome. The point to note on this one is using a single leg bridge. You can go to both legs to increase the power of your bridge, but that will give them a chance to block your knee with their arm. If you bridge off one leg with your knee already in place by your ribs, then you can drop that knee right into place after bridging. They don't have time to jam their arm in the way.

That also reminds me, again, that I haven't updated my technique summary in a long time. Now that I'm regularly attending a basics class again, that's definitely something I'd like to do (if nothing else, means I can just link to the technique rather than repeatedly writing it out).

Sparring was of course from side control. It was king of the hill, and I was pretty terrible at maintaining my side control tonight. I attempted to stay mobile and switch position, swinging my arm through to block the hip if they were slipping free. However, I was neither quick enough nor sufficiently sensitive to how they were moving.

I can feel myself losing control, as their hips begin to escape, but I'm never able to do anything much about it. I should be controlling their hips better in the first place, but this isn't a position where a small guy like me can just hunker down and hope to squish them in place. I have to move, but more importantly, I have to know where to move. That's at least one aspect I'm missing at the moment: just randomly going to some variation of side control isn't going to help.

24/09/2009 - RGA Wycombe

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Class #243

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 24/09/2009

Continuing the lessons from Tuesday, Kev added in some more work on the butterfly guard. He also repeated the drill where you lift up your partner then put them back, but with a twist. This time the point was for the person on top to sink their weight and prevent being lifted. I was pretty crap at that, which is partially because I'm small and light, but also because I'm still poor at dropping my hips down.

That was followed by a butterfly pass. You begin by threading your arm through their legs. Push their knees to one side, crushing down with your body weight to help your arm. If their arm is in range, grab it and feed the sleeve to the hand you now have between their legs.

With your other hand, reach for the back of collar: you could also secure a grip over their shoulder. Drive your head into their stomach, using that for base, then raise your hips and walk around.

Once again, Kev then showed the counter, with a butterfly sweep. As soon as they try to thread their arm through, stiffen your legs. That should give you enough time to grasp the sleeve of that threading arm with your opposite hand. Reach over their back with your other hand and grasp some gi fabric.

Next, turn and bring your hooking foot from the threading arm side to their other leg. Your free foot can be used for additional power, as you now lean back and lift, simultaneously pulling with the grip you have on their back. Done right, that should flip them into your side control (make sure you keep your head close, so they don't land too far away). There are submission opportunities here too, but as a beginner class, we stuck with the basics.

Specific sparring from butterfly guard again didn't yield much success, as my training partner Sam had little difficulty passing. Hopefully it still helped me to familiarise myself with the position, but clearly I need lots of work for both the bottom and the top of butterfly guard.

After that, it was straight into the hour of sparring, though I ended up only going three rounds. I tried to be more aggressive, especially with collar chokes, particularly the one where you get a deep grip, then sneak your other hand around the back and wait to try and loop it round. I wasn't get close to choking anyone, but it did seem to work to a degree as a distraction.

I later managed to get something I've been trying for a while, where you first underhook an arm in guard and grab their collar, then use your other arm against their neck for the choke. However, I think that was mainly because my sparring partner had just got choked the previous round, so was being especially careful. I need to be tighter, set it up better and secure a tighter grip.

Guard passing was improved from yesterday, as I wasn't so bent over once I stood up, but I nevertheless kept sitting back down. I tried to achieve a straighter posture, and successfully got the cross-grip I've been looking for to help me pass. However, didn't manage to capitalise, as he still hooked my other leg. I need to stagger my legs more carefully, and also improve my balance and posture.

Another thing I'm still attempting is the triangle. I was especially looking for the spider guard set up, but too obvious. On one of the white belts he could see it a mile off, whereas on another guy I had a leg over his neck, but couldn't fully close the lock. I tried hooking the arm and swivelling to make more of an angle, but was too stacked by that point. Seeing he was standing at this point, I then looked to switch to an armbar, but too late, as I no longer had enough control.

Remembering what Dolph mentioned in a comment last time, I focused on getting an underhook from under half guard, also thinking about what Brad suggested (on Facebook, so can't link to that, unfortunately) in regards to Eddie Bravo's approach (the half guard is one of the few sufficiently basic parts of Mastering the Rubber Guard I'm therefore willing to try). Again, attacking the neck seemed to help as a distraction.

22/09/2009 - Advanced

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Class #242

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 22/09/2009

There wasn't much of a break between classes, going straight into a thankfully brief warm-up (a few throws, with some uchikomi: Kev also has a black belt in judo, so that's unsurprising). At RGA in London, I used to get a little rest when doubling-up classes, because you could sit out the warm-up if you'd just spent the previous hour training. Not so here, meaning that my cardio is going to take some time to adjust! ;)

As with the beginner class, Kev's theme for the intermediate/advanced was butterfly guard. He started with another butterfly pass, this time off an armdrag. You have them in butterfly guard, where they then grab your collar. Strip that grip (e.g., both hands under and thrust away), then with one hand on their sleeve and the other by their armpit, pull them across your body.

They will now be overbalanced and close to you, meaning that you should immediately capitalise. Reach under them with one arm, over their back with the arm, locking a gable grip by their side where your hands meet. You can now sweep as in the last class, noting that you have to lift them as you drop back. That means you can also readjust your hooking foot deep behind their knee, as space should open up in the midst of that motion.

Kev followed this up with a submission, the D'arce choke. From the previous gable grip position, you remove the hand you had on top, instead threading that under their near arm, reaching right by their head. Your other arm goes over their head.

You need to grab the bicep of that arm with the hand you have by their head. Especially in the gi, it can be difficult to get the hand and arm close enough for a good grip. If you're finding it tough, try pushing down on their head with your arm: that should make it easier to secure a hold on your bicep.

Finally, reach over their back with your bicep arm, squeeze and drop back. Getting a good grip may take a few tries: speaking personally, I was ok on my strong side, but could only manage a loose grip on my weak side. Also, Kev showed how this can be an option as they switch to side control. Even if they're pretty much past, if you've set it up in time, the submission is still an option.

The last technique was moving from butterfly guard into an x-guard sweep. This is the same thing I saw about three months ago at Nova Força, useful for when they try to initiate a butterfly pass. As soon as they post their leg, swivel your body towards that limb, using your arm to trap their foot against your head, getting it right to your shoulder. Put your legs into the x-guard position (one foot under their thigh, the other foot on their hip, pressing with the top of your instep).

Next, you want to get the foot you've trapped off the floor, by pushing with your own feet on their leg. Make sure you have their foot right up to your shoulder, or your grip will be too loose. Once you feel their foot lose purchase on the ground due to your push, switch the hooking foot you have under their thigh to their knee. Push more to get them off-balance, then do a technical stand-up to get back to your feet, still holding their leg (this should be straightforward if its on your shoulder). Their base is now completely broken, so it should be a simple matter to take out their leg for the sweep.

During specific sparring, I didn't really get anywhere with my training partner Callum. He had little trouble sweeping me when underneath, or passing when on top. However, I did at least get to familiarise myself with butterfly guard a little, trying to bring him back with my legs when he managed to flatten me out. I also had a go at wiggling my arm through for the D'arce, but wasn't quick enough.

During free sparring, I got smashed by one of the blue belts, Rob. He was throwing on a whole bunch of chokes, easily getting to a high mount each time. As in the last lesson, I need better hip movement, and also more activity on the bottom. I did remember to try and bump them forward a few times to disrupt submission attempts, but didn't manage to make space and shrimp.

I think there was someone else before that, but can't remember. The last spar was interesting, with the same white belt from last week, Dan. I again tried standing to pass, but this time almost handed him an armbar and then a triangle. I managed to wriggle my arms past his legs and thought I'd be nicely set up for a double-underhooks pass.

No such luck, as instead he clamped his legs around my head. That was distinctly uncomfortable for two reasons. First, I hurt my own neck if I tried to move in either direction, and secondly, I was unpleasantly close to a faceful of humid man crotch. Not fun.

I did eventually get free, trying the pass where you grab the back of their gi pants and flip them right over. That didn't quite go according to plan, as after a scramble I ended up back underneath again. I tried the Tran side control escape, but didn't have any energy left, so instead got squished under mount. Squirmed my way back to half guard a little later, managing to get on my side, but again in the wrong spot to launch an attempt on the back.

After that round was finished, I decided to sit out the last one. I know my stamina will improve if I keep showing up and training, but its a strenuous process getting there. I've had a slight lay-off while in Turkey for three weeks, but its probably more due to the fact that I've only been training an average of once a week over the past few months. Its good to get back to twice a week, with two classes each night, but my body was definitely complaining the next day.

22/09/2009 - Beginner

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Class #241

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 22/09/2009

Today would involve a little more training than Thursday, as while both nights are split into beginner and intermediate/advanced classes, on Thursday its just extra sparring. On Tuesday, the split is sufficiently clear that I'll stick it into two entries rather than last time, when I combined the hour of sparring into the beginners class write-up.

Kev's focus for the beginner class was butterfly guard, providing us with two options for sweeping and passing respectively. More than that, however, he wanted to get across the principles involved in butterfly guard: balance and leverage. Towards that end, we started with a drill where we started in butterfly guard, locked both hands behind our partner then leaned back and lifted at the same time.

That led on to the first butterfly sweep. Its a fairly basic one, which starts by gripping their same side sleeve and collar. You scoot slightly away, maintaining a hook with your foot underneath their other leg. For the sweep, lean back, simultaneously pushing their sleeve down between their legs while you lift with your hook. Done right, you should end up in mount.

The point here is to use the momentum and leverage you've created by leaning back, rather than trying to lift them up purely with your hooking foot. Unless you're very strong, or your partner is very small, that isn't going to work. If on the other hand you get the leverage right, but they are still too big, you can drive off the toes of your other foot to add some power.

The next butterfly sweep is similar, but works both gi and nogi. Instead of grabbing their collar, you're going to underhook them on the same side as your hooking foot, reaching your hand around their back. With your other hand, you'll grab their elbow instead of their sleeve. Otherwise, it is the same motion as before, pulling their arm in as you lean back and lift, rolling on top into mount.

Like last time, Kev then provided the other side of the equation, with two passes. His opening butterfly pass involved flattening them out before they can lean back and lift you up. You aren't out of danger, as they can use their butterfly hooks to move you back and sit up again, but it gives you some time to work.

Now that they're flat, wrap around the outside of their leg with your arm, which stops them lifting your leg with their hook. Press your other side shoulder into their torso, then raise your hips and walk around into side control. You can also use a hand to push their other leg, if you're having trouble clearing that space.

The pressure from your shoulder is essential here: that will pin them down as you walk around. Raising your hips takes your weight off them, so you need to use your shoulder to make sure you keep gravity on your side.

The next butterfly pass is much the same, with one difference. Instead of pinning their leg and walking around, you're going to bring one of your legs back to release their hook. You can now reinsert the knee by the instep of their other foot, so that you now have both legs against their single limb.

That also means you can bring all your weight to bear on that one side, trapping that leg, while their other foot has nothing to hook. As before, walk your legs around to side control, maintaining pressure, pushing their leg out of the way if you need to.

In specific sparring, I spent most of my time readjusting underneath, as ever ending up in one of those boring half guard cycles where they bring their knee through, then you re-establish your lock, over and over. I'm trying to get more on my side and look to see if I can get to the back, but I'm still ending up with my torso on the wrong side most of the time. I need more hip movement, more bumping and perhaps more threatening for some kind of attack (not that I expect to even get close to submitting somebody, but it might help give me space).

During guard passing, I'm pleased I managed to get myself to stand up, but I ended up in a very vulnerable bent over posture, so plopped straight back down most of the time. Later I tried to straighten up, but left my arm out in the process, which my partner happily took for an easy submission. Still, its a start, so I just have to keep on standing until I get better posture and balance.

17/09/2009 - RGA High Wycombe

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Class #240

RGA High Wycombe, (BJJ), Kev Capel, High Wycombe, UK - 17/09/2009

I got back from Turkey last night: as usual, I'll do a write-up later, sticking in the link once its done. My gf and I spent a little under three weeks wandering over my father's country, bookended by the city where he grew up, Istanbul. I haven't been in over eight years, so it was very interesting to see what's changed (most notably a whole load of trams which weren't there before), along with all the places I've not visited before around the rest of Turkey (like Kaş, Antalya, Pamukkale etc).

While that was of course a great trip, it also meant that I missed lots of training. I try not to go more than two weeks without BJJ, so the day after I got back, I headed down to the Roger Gracie affiliate in High Wycombe. As I'll be staying with my parent's until I get that ever-elusive job, RGA High Wycombe is only five miles away. This time round I got a lift from my gf, but I'll hopefully be able to cycle it in the not-too-distant future. Cryer's Hill should certainly make for a workout on the way back!

RGA High Wycombe isn't the easiest place to find, especially as the Google Map was a little confusing. It appears that a car park has popped up which Google didn't notice, so that the roundabout where it says "third exit to Temple Street" doesn't make sense. If you happen to be coming off the A40 or A4128, its the exit after the two that head to the car park (the second is deliveries only).

Union St also appears a bit vague, as that sent us into a bus station. Drive past that instead, then once you're onto Desborough Road, it makes more sense. Turn into Green Street, then go to the end of Leigh Street. When you see those gates at the end, you should be near a tunnel on the right. There are signs for 'HWABC', which stands for 'High Wycombe Amateur Boxing Club'. RGA High Wycombe is in there, so you follow the tunnel and turn left, then up the stairs (a few more HWABC signs are dotted around helping you along the way).

It was good to see Kev again, who has received his brown belt since I last trained with him at RGA HQ. He has been teaching in High Wycombe since January this year, having already begun teaching in Aylesbury a bit earlier. Classes at RGA High Wycombe are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting with an hour for beginners at 19:00, then the advanced class after that. I'm not sure what happens on Tuesday yet, but on Thursday, its an hour of free sparring.

The beginners class started off with a fairly brief warm-up, consisting of the usual shrimping, breakfalling and lizard walk (at least that's how I first heard it titled: its the one where you start with your left arm forward and left leg back, while your right knee is touching your right elbow. You then go up the room switching that position, doing a press-up motion as you change from left to right).

Technique was good and basic, covering the triangle from guard. Kev demonstrated the simplest set-up, which is to grab both wrists, then push one back. Bring your same side thigh to their neck, making sure to completely clear the arm your just pushed into their chest. Lock your feet together: it is important that from then on, you never leave them space to posture up and escape.

To finish, you need to readjust so that the leg you brought up goes directly across their leg, locking your shin behind your other knee. The easiest way to do that is grab the shin in question and pull it back, until you're able to put it behind your knee. This creates the triangle position, after which you can then squeeze your knees together and raise your hips for the tap (you may also need to pull down on their head).

Kev also mentioned several useful tips for getting to the triangle. If you aren't able to bring both your legs up straightaway, you can take the slower route, pushing off their hip with your free foot. That will give you additional lift, so you can get your other thigh right up to their neck.

You then have two main options for swivelling (it is a good idea to create an angle, as finishing the triangle square on is tough). First, you can grab your shin to maintain control, then use your free foot to push off the floor and turn. Alternately, you can try the Ryan Hall method, which is to underhook their arm, using that as a pivot point instead.

Having shown the submission, Kev followed up with two triangle defences. The first was for when they haven't yet locked on the triangle, but you find yourself with one arm in-between their legs, the other outside. This is dangerous, as you are presenting your opponent with an opportunity to triangle you.

If that happens, immediately reach across their body with your free hand, as if you were throwing a left or right hook. At the same time, drive off your toes, so that you end up turning your body around their leg. It is important you don't just rely on your arm, as that won't provide enough power to pop open their ankles (if they've already locked them). Keep moving through until you can slide into side control, remembering to pressure with your hips.

The second triangle defence is for when you've been caught. Their legs are in place and locked. Grab their collar with the arm in-between their legs (if they're controlling that arm, you'll have to wriggle it free, or this defence is dead in the water). Grip the back of their gi pants with your other hand, in order to prevent them moving their hips.

Jump up to your feet and push their collar to the floor, thereby driving the edge across their throat. That pressure should be enough to get them to open their legs, whereupon you can initiate a pass: if not, you may be able to submit them from here. Be careful that you maintain that hold on their pants: otherwise, your arm is outstretched, so if their hips are free, they can swivel into an armbar.

The nogi option is to just drive your hand into their throat, using the part between your thumb and forefinger (which I think is called the 'cagina'): this has acquired the unfortunate name of the 'rape choke'. Not sure if there is a more pleasant term.

Specific sparring from guard finished off the beginners class, where I found I was just about able to pass my partner's guard, but in a rather sloppy fashion, and mainly because he was very active in going for submissions. That paid off for him when we moved to his guard, as I got caught with a kimura (which surprised me: I didn't think he was in position, so need to be careful), and he also managed to swiftly spin into a rear naked choke.

I had a more measured roll with Joel, a big blue belt, possibly because he wasn't using his strength due to the size difference. Most of the spar was spent in my open guard, as I tried to grip either his sleeves or lapels, pushing his arms and hips with my feet. When he eventually managed to start passing into side control, I tried pushing on his head and shoulder to recover guard. That worked for a little while, but it was only holding off the inevitable. I should also have probably concentrated more on actually pushing on the head, rather than just wedging my arm against it.

The next hour was all free sparring, divided into six minute rounds with two minutes rest in between. I got to roll with almost everyone, but had to leave early in order to catch my lift. Generally I was spending a lot of time under either side control or half guard, staying too flat on my back in both positions. I also need to be less passive: I'm too content to just lie their and wait. While that does conserve energy, which is handy when you're sparring for an hour, it makes for a dull roll.

The main problem, however, was the old one of guard passing. I made a couple of half-hearted attempts at the Roy Dean pass, but really I to stand up. I've been saying it for years, but it remains a sticking point. So next time, particularly as there is so much sparring time, I'll have to force myself to stand, working on the component parts (e.g., grip, getting to one knee, how to stand, base etc).

My leg also cramped up, which is an irritation I've had a few times, especially when I'm reaching for half guard. This time it happened while sparring with Kevin, which was probably a good thing as he is the most experienced, and therefore most relaxed. Hopefully that cramp won't happen so often once I get back into the swing of things, particularly as I settle into cycling.

Cycling definitely appeals, as the area surrounding the gym isn't especially pleasant. I can't say I much enjoyed waiting for my lift, while a succession of distinctly dodgy looking blokes wandered past. So, being able to immediately cycle off would be good!

Turkey 2009: 30th August-16th September

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:46:00 +0000

My father is Turkish, and as a result I've been to his home country many times, in order to visit relatives. We used to go as a family every year, but I shifted to travelling on my own with my girlfriend around 2001. As my parents have some property over there, in both Bodrum and Istanbul, its rather tardy of me that I'm only taking my gf eight and half years into our relationship. I guess better late than never, as the cliché goes.

For this trip, we decided that we wanted to see a bit more of Turkey than just Istanbul or Bodrum, so plumped for a tour group company, Intrepid Travel. My gf and I have travelled with Intrepid before, back in 2004 when we joined one of their tours around China. As there was a 20% discount on Intrepid's 'Comfort Turkey' offering, we jumped at the chance.

The itinerary takes you from Istanbul to the famous rock formations of Göreme in Cappodocia, then onto the conservative town of Konya, followed by Antalya, which by contrast is saturated with tourism. A boat trip from Kaş came next, then the ghost village of Kayakoy, never repopulated after the exchange (more on that later). The trip drew to a close with historical Selçuk, well-placed to visit the ruins of Ephesus, then finally the natural wonders of Pamukkale before returning to Istanbul.

30th-31st August: Istanbul ^

We flew out with British Airways, which is the first time in a while my gf and I have looked beyond the no-frills budget airlines. It was refreshing to not get punched in the wallet for the smallest extras, with a relatively decent meal in the middle of the flight. We arrived into Turkey too late for the orientation meeting at the Blue Hills Hotel in Sultanahmet (the epicentre of Istanbul sight-seeing), so instead had to introduce ourselves to everyone individually at breakfast the following morning.

It soon transpired that with only a few exceptions, our fellow travellers were middle-aged Australian women (ranging from around thirty to seventy). There was also an American and a New Zealander, while my gf and I are from Europe. The gender balance was therefore very heavily female, myself and an older gent providing the sole male representation. That was perfect for me, as I much prefer the company of women. Even better if its mature women, as that greater life experience tends to mean more interesting conversation!

The tour leader, also Australian, took us on a quick walking tour of Istanbul over the course of the morning (including the beautifully tiled Rustam Paşa mosque), after which we had the day to ourselves, before an overnight train to Göreme. Fortunately for me, my parents were finishing off their own trip that day, which meant my gf and I could meet up with them and have a lovely meal at Saray Muhallebicisi, my favourite restaurant in Beyoğlu. Took me a while to find my father, who found my distinctly touristy outfit hilarious: pale white legs poking out of shorts, shades and a suitably silly hat from Spain.

Travelling from Sultanahmet to my father's boyhood haunts in Taksim meant I got my first look at the new tram system (or at least, new to me). It costs 1.50 TL to go one way to any stop (no matter how near or far down that line), then a further 1.50 TL if you want to change or go back the other way. You either buy a 'jeton' (a round token made of metal or plastic: don't mix them up. For example, the Taksim funicular uses the plastic ones, whereas everywhere else – I think – uses the metal coins), or use an 'akbil'.

If you're familiar with the Oyster card on the London Underground, this works on the same principle: load up your akbil with money at a machine or ticket office, and you can then use your balance by touching it to the relevant part of the turnstile. The akbil itself is a plastic strip with a metal blob at the top: you insert the blob into a round circle on the turnstile, whereupon it tells you how much you've got left, and makes a click to inform you its now possible to push your way through.

1st-3rd September: Göreme, Cappadocia ^

Our overnight train left Istanbul at around 22:30, getting into Ankara the next morning, followed by a private transfer to Göreme. The surrounding area of Cappadocia is famous for its bizarre rock formations, which are often referred to as 'fairy chimneys'. At least, that is what you'll read in guidebooks: most of them actually look like a giant penis made of rock. I took the conventional photographic route, but there were plenty of imaginatively posed pictures produced by other members of the Intrepid tour group...

Lewd photography aside, these 'chimneys' have seen a good deal of history, having been used as cave dwellings over the centuries. Once you break through the layer which has hardened through exposure to the air, the rock is apparently very soft and easily excavated. That is why people used to literally dig their homes out of these natural structures, the most fascinating examples of which are at the Göreme Open Air Museum. There was once a monastic community in the area, who carved not only homes, but churches too: frescoes still survive, along with iconoclastic decoration.

On a more random note, there was also a large film crew following round a group of men in tracksuits. My girlfriend and I looked on curiously from the steps of an old monastery, trying to work out who these people were. A few days later, that question was answered as we briefly watched the TV in our Konya hotel room: it was the Turkish football team, who were training in nearby Kayseri. My father would have been a lot more excited than I was to see Fatih Terim (current national team manager and famous ex-player for Galatasaray), so shame he wasn't there with me.

The Open Air Museum also gave me the opportunity to pick up a Müze Kart ('museum card'). For 20 TL, this gets you into a huge range of museums and sites across Turkey, so its incredibly good value. My parents had recommended I get one, as it pays for itself quickly, especially given how expensive places like Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace are. The only downside is that you have to be Turkish. That means while I had no problems (except other Turks often find it a little strange my grasp of Turkish is so tenuous), I had no luck trying to get one for my girlfriend. "Turkish only, sorry," was the blunt response.

Göreme is relatively touristy, but in a much less obnoxious fashion than a major centre like Istanbul or one of the coastal resorts. We weren't pestered by touts, and as the guide books promise, the hotels are plonked straight into the middle of ordinary village life. Outside where we were staying at the Arch Palace, there were a bunch of chickens and a rooster, while villagers regularly pulled their carts up and down the road, taking no notice of us.

However, being tourists, we were keen for entertainment. Intrepid offers a 'Turkish Night' as one of its optional activities at this point, and despite the way it sounds, it was actually a lot of fun. The performers all seemed eager, with a real sense of humour, so while I've no idea how authentic the folk dancing and food was, I don't particularly care: very enjoyable.

Belly dancing was, as you'd expect in Turkey, a central part of Turkish Night. I had mentioned to the tour leader that the last time a belly dancer had tried to call me up for some audience participation, I was an introverted child on the cusp of puberty, bubbling with hormones. So I tried to hide under the table. That didn't help, as the belly dancer chased me down, gyrating hips leading the way.

I'm now an introverted adult instead, but as an adult, I have access to the joys of alcohol. Naturally the tour leader told everyone in the group to try and make sure the belly dancer picked me, so I was getting through a steady stream of red wine in preparation. Certainly did the trick when I was indeed eventually called up, made even less intimidating by the various other guys who were brought up along with me. The dubious fruits of the belly dancer's instruction can be seen below:

Apparently my gf was disappointed by my lacklustre hip wiggle, given that I'm normally MUCH more enthusiastic. I guess she has a point, as I look a little stiff, but hey, I need '80s music to really throw myself into the dancing. Other cheese will do the job too, like at my sister's wedding (for Facebook friends of mine). ;)

3rd-4th September: Konya ^

As the alcohol slithered its way out of our systems, we were on another bus across the country, this time to the conservative centre of Konya. 'Conservative' was a word that repeatedly popped up in descriptions, and to an extent it is certainly true. Far more women in headscarves, and Ramadan appears to be a bigger deal than places we'd been previously. That was made abundantly clear when it got later at night, and it was time to announce the end of fasting. Most places would make do with a guy chanting, or possibly drums. That's not good enough for Konya: they set off a massive explosion. Which is especially loud if you happen to be trying to drink tea in the park a few metres away.

I have to say that Konya itself didn't hold that much interest for me. It was nice not being bothered while walking through the shopping areas, and the Mevlana Museum had a few attractive exhibits, but it isn't a city you especially need to see. If I was in the area again for some reason, I'd bypass Konya and head straight for Çatalhöyük, an archaeological site I would love to visit (unfortunately we arrived too late during our one day in Konya). It can legitimately stake a claim as the oldest human city in the world, founded around 7000BC (IIRC).

If you're heading to the Mevlana Museum (2 TL), be aware that it's a pilgrimage site, so wearing a headscarf and covering your shoulders and knees would be advisable. It also apparently attracts the mentally unbalanced, judging by one chap who was wandering around stroking everything in reach and pressing his face to exhibits. He seemed entirely unconcerned with the prominent DO NOT TOUCH signs, brazenly slouched next to one of the tombs. Security attempted to get him to move at one point, but either they gave up trying, or he said something suitably pious in Turkish. I would be surprised if you had more leeway in a shrine than in a typical museum, though obviously I don't know how the conversation went.

4th-6th September: Antalya ^

Antalya has a lot more to offer for the average tourist. After a six hour coach journey, we had the afternoon to ourselves, with no group activities planned. Along with a fellow traveller on the Intrepid tour group (I have absolutely no sense of direction, so always try to tag along with somebody else if possible), I headed to one of the reasons I wanted to go on this trip in the first place: the Antalya Archaeological Museum.

My father had told me this was among the best museums in Turkey, and it didn't disappoint. There is a stupendous collection of sarcophagi, my favourite featuring a chronological series following the twelve labours of Hercules (I adore the old tongue-in-cheek TV series, so even without my longstanding interest in mythology, Hercules gets my attention). I particularly liked the way the sculpture connects all twelve into a developing narrative: first you see a beardless Hercules slay the Nemean lion, then later he's wearing the lion skin as a cloak, steadily sprouting a manly set of whiskers as you continue to walk around the four sides of the sarcophagus.

The best aspect of the museum is probably its comprehensive information panels. The translation to English is perfect, and they are both actually informative and helpful in adding to enjoyment of accompanying exhibits. The Hall of Gods was another highlight, although the lighting relied upon motion sensors, which got a little annoying: you had to dance around in front of the statues to finish reading the captions.

For some reason, after all that hard work the museum put into ancient history, it gives up once you get to the ethnographic section. Suddenly the information panels disappear, meaning you've got no idea what you're looking at or its importance. Given that there is so much else to see, this isn't a big problem, but it's a shame the standard drops at the end.

Antalya itself has plenty of history in its architecture, centred in the old Kaleici district, where our hotel was located. I had a great time on the second day just meandering past the cluster of buildings, listening to a podcast on Byzantine history. My girlfriend headed off to a waterfall instead, which apparently was well worth the trip, but as I'm more interested in history than natural wonders anyway, I thought I'd save the cash.

6th-9th September: Kaş & Kayakoy ^

Kaş was next up on the tour, our starting point for a beautiful boat trip. September can be variable in terms of weather, but we were lucky that it stayed clear for our time at sea. Food was included, which was handy: the tasty meal involved one of the very few things I can cook, köfte. Our boat stopped at regular points, allowing for some swimming, as well as a bit of sight seeing, led by our personable tour guide. The longest pause was at a fishing village you can only reach by boat (but on all the tourist routes): very pretty place, with fabulous ice cream. Xanthos, the local group Intrepid used for the boat tour, seem to be a good company, so if they're always up to that standard, I can recommend them.

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Kayaköy followed, which proved to be a revealing personal experience for me. We were told the name literally means 'ghost village', which is confusing. While 'köy' definitely translates as 'village', I know someone called Kaya: it means 'rock', not 'ghost'. Unless I misheard, and they said 'the ghost village of Kayaköy', rather than claiming that was its actual name.

Either way, the reason it's referred to as the 'ghost village' is due to the fact the entire population was moved to Greece during the early part of the 20th century. The idea was to effect a 'population exchange' between Turkey and Greece, with 'Turks' moving to Turkey and 'Greeks' moving to Greece. Theoretically you can see what they were thinking, but in practice, it involved uprooting people from their homes, their friends and their livelihood due to quirks of religion. These people may have lived there for centuries: they certainly didn't care about arbitrary borders.

Kayaköy was one of the failures. There were many more Turks of 'Greek' ancestry relocated to Greece than in the other direction. Even when there were Turks to replace the Greeks, they weren't always able to flourish in a new environment. Hence why Kayaköy was abandoned: there was nobody to take over from the previous inhabitants. Shells of buildings dot the landscape, along with derelict churches, a few of which still retain some of their decoration, but mostly it looks as if the area was a casualty of war.

The reason this was personal for me is that I'd known my grandfather used to live in Crete. I also knew that he'd moved to Istanbul after the Ottoman Empire collapsed, almost taking Turkey with it (and probably would have, if it wasn't for Ataturk: as a result, you'll see his face everywhere you go in Turkey). What I didn't realise until going to Kayaköy was that this meant he was in fact part of that population exchange. Asking my aunt and father later on, they told me that my grandfather's family had been in Crete for a couple of hundred years prior to that. So, somewhere in a graveyard in Crete are the bones of my ancestors, which is a weird thought.

Kayaköy was also our base to visit Ölüdeniz, the most unpleasantly touristy part of the whole trip. I don't have a problem with tourists, as that's exactly what I was doing: Intrepid is a tour group, after all. However, I don't much enjoy the chavvy brand of tourist which is unfortunately one of Britain's major exports, on show in force at Ölüdeniz. My girlfriend and I decided to head off for another boat trip, as the first one had been so good, but it was overrun by chavs.

One lady in particular epitomised that kind of tourism. In the middle of Ramadan, a religious festival based on abstinence, she was proudly displaying her breast implants to the Turkish crew. Not satisfied with baring all whilst sunbathing, she later took to lounging around the ship, still topless. If you want to get a tan on your chest, fine, but a smidgeon of cultural sensitivity wouldn't go amiss.

Speaking of the Turkish crew, there was an entertaining character on board, looking to take photographs and sell them back to tourists. I'm not sure how much money he makes doing that, as most people have their own cameras, but he does at least have a gimmick. Ramos sports a full beard and long hair, wears a sash, a three-cornered hat and a bandana. Remind you of anyone? Ramos insists he came up with the idea long before the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but it's a pretty blatant Jack Sparrow outfit. Most amusing of all, he has a t-shirt with a picture of himself on it, grinning happily with thumbs up.

9th-12th September: Selçuk & Pamukkale ^

There was flooding during that week, so our bus to Selçuk was a little delayed. Once it finally got going, it took us four and a half hours to reach our destination: it's indicative of how much travelling this tour involved that it seemed like a short journey. The main purpose of going to Selçuk was its proximity to Ephesus, a major Roman ruin. It is also the namesake of Efes Pilsen, my father's beer of choice.

When you've been to Pompeii, it is tough for any other ruin to live up to expectations, but Ephesus does have plenty of intriguing things to see. The remains of a library and the theatre are two of the highlights, with various interesting sculptures, gates and columns dotted around the site.

The Ephesus Museum back in Selçuk is something you should make sure to check out in order to get the full picture. The highlight comes in the form of two large statues of Artemis from her temple, once counted among the original Seven Wonders of the World. I had also hoped to check out the archaeological library mentioned in my guidebook, but annoyingly it was closed to the public: apparently students from the University of California had taken it over until the 14th September. Bleh. I had a quick whiz around St John's Basilica instead, which I wouldn't have paid for, but as I could get in with my Müze Card anyway, I thought I might as well.

Another tourist stop when in Selçuk is the short bus trip to Sirince. Like Kayaköy, this was subjected to a population exchange, but in Sirince's case, the transplant was successful. The Greeks who settled there came from a wine-making region in Greece, and found the land around Sirince well-suited to apply their cultivation skills. Hence why Sirince is now famous for its wines, especially the many fruit wines, which is what the tourists head off to drink. If you wanted to, it would be pretty easy to get roaring drunk, as there are streets full of shops, all offering a free tasting. There isn't a whole lot of point in shopping around, however (unless you're on an extended 'tasting'), as the price for any bottle of fruit wine appears to be set at 10 TL.

Pamukkale was our final stop before heading back to Istanbul, and it was what my girlfriend had been waiting for. As I mentioned, she's a big fan of natural wonders (as described on the Pamukkale website, it is home to a rare chemical process), so was excited to see the white travertines. I hadn't been too thrilled by the prospect, but must admit it was fun to walk up them barefoot, especially paddling through the pools squishing the soft minerals between your toes.

The travertines themselves are fragile, and easily damaged by human sweat and the dirt from footwear. That is why you have to take your shoes off before heading up the slope (there is a broad path you are allowed to use, but only barefoot). There has already been serious damage, due to the tourist boom some years ago: hotels were once built directly on top of the travertines. All those tourists bathing and walking in their shoes on the travertines discoloured the rock. This has since been stopped and the hotels pulled down.

Or rather, it is something the authorities are trying to stop. There wasn't much security, which could do with being beefed up. You are supposed to stick to the path, which our Intrepid tour group did, but many others didn't. I'm not quite sure why, but Russians appear to be very bad at this (at least I assume Russian: may have misplaced the language). They took no notice of the frequent signs or angry whistles of the guards, caring only about posing for pictures. It got worse later on at night, when the guards couldn't see, with these idiots crunching down the travertines in their shoes. It's frustrating that there are always a few people more than happy to ruin it for everyone else.

I was more interested in the Roman ruins at the top of the travertines, Hierapolis. Not only does this boast a fine museum (if small), it also has the best Roman theatre I've ever seen, easily superior to the example at Ephesus, with even the stage fairly well preserved. That theatre also boasts an incredible view: if we had time, I would have liked to have sat there much longer. One of many reasons I'm keen to return at some point in the future.

13th-16th September: Istanbul ^

Istanbul holds plenty of memories for me, especially the area my grandparents used to live. Sadly they both passed away several years ago, my grandmother following her husband, meaning I can no longer look forward to their boisterous welcome. My grandfather's shop, where his broad smile and sparkling humour brightened the street for decades, is in the process of being redeveloped. I haven't been back since he died, so it was sad to see that shopfront transformed into a characterless, empty flat.

Nevertheless, my aunt still lives nearby (literally: her flat is in the block next door), and she was very happy to see my girlfriend and I. Its been at least eight years since I last saw my aunt, and she's never met my girlfriend before, so was full of Turkish hospitality. Linguistically that made for an unusual experience, as I was speaking to my aunt and uncle in German, who would occasionally clarify between themselves in Turkish, which I would then translate into English for my gf.

The women who had joined us on the Intrepid trip hadn't entirely dispersed by this point, so we were able to have a get-together on the top floor of the Blue Hills Hotel. We got through some of our wine from Sirince, staying well away from the somewhat sparse safety precautions. Instead of a fence, there is currently a string stretched along the roof edge, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence.

It was lovely to spend some more time with the Aussies: my second Intrepid tour has definitely made me want to go with the company again somewhere else. This was undoubtedly the best tour group I've ever been with, and they really added to the experience. Hopefully we'll all be able to keep in touch. However, I remain less than eager to return to Australia (I've been once before, but only for a couple of days), despite their repeated attempts to reassure us it wasn't that dangerous. At least in England, you can be pretty certain that its only other people who might hurt you, as opposed to the majority of the wildlife. ;)

The next day my gf and I moved over to my parents' flat, which has a similarly grand view (although annoyingly, the chap across the street somehow got planning permission for an extra storey, which has partially obscured what used to be an amazing panorama). It's located above my aunt, so she was on hand to help us settle in. Having family in Turkey is a major advantage!

My gf's second introduction to Istanbul began with the Blue Mosque, which while worth visiting in its own right (especially as its free), we went to because the guidebook recommended it as a comparison for our next stop, Hagia Sophia. This was of particular interest to us both due to all the Byzantine reading we'd been doing. It is a hefty 20 TL to get in (if you don't have a Müze Kart), and at present armoured in several layers of scaffolding.

That detracts from the spectacle of the dome, and also means certain of the mosaics aren't fully visible, which is annoying. However, the upper galleries continue to boast all their treasures, though you'll have to wait for the crowds to thin out for a decent view. Although there is impressive artwork on display, I'm not sure I'd pay 20 TL if I didn't have the Museum Card.

I have been to Topkapı Palace many times, but was newly excited by the excellent book I'd been reading, Inside the Seraglio by John Freely. I'd forgotten just how busy it gets. The courtyards were rammed with tour groups for much of the day, resulting in long queues for popular exhibits like the treasury. Aggravatingly, numerous sections were closed, including my favourite, the weapons room. It is also very expensive, as on top of your 20 TL, you have to pay another 20 TL for the Harem (even with a Müze Kart). Nevertheless, there is plenty to see, from sacred preserved footprints through to jewel encrusted thrones, along with beautiful views of the Bosphorus.

Rather better value can be found at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. For 10 TL, you have access to a tremendous range of ancient history, easily comparable to the exhibits on display at Antalya. The highlight is a section devoted to finds from the Royal Acropolis of Sidon (in modern-day Lebanon), especially the so-called Alexander Sarcophagus. This recreates scenes from the life of Alexander the Great, with some of the original paintwork still clinging to the stone. My favourite, however, was a sarcophagus featuring a pair of sphinxes above battling centaurs: the design seemed almost art deco, centuries before it came into vogue. I guess unsurprising, as the inspiration had to come from somewhere.

I'd also recommend the Basilica Cistern (known in Turkish as the 'sunken palace', Yerebatan Sarayı), though your 10 TL (3 TL with a Müze Kart) does not get you quite as much this time. The cistern is a subterranean reservoir, filled with columns brought from all over the city, meaning there is considerable diversity. Best-known are the two columns placed atop rotated medusa heads, which has generated numerous theories: perhaps a means of showing Byzantine dominance over pagan gods, or simply a practical method for further elevating pillars. More randomly, there are a large number of carp swimming in the shallow waters, clamouring for breadcrumbs.

If you have a spare 8 TL (again, I had my Museum Card, which covered it), you could also check out the Great Palace Mosaic Museum, showcasing remains of an old Byzantine palace floor. It is comparatively small, but possesses a glorious collection of Byzantine mosaics. The attraction is that not only are these mosaics well-crafted, but they are still in relatively good condition, remaining sufficiently intact that a large continuous section spreads across most of the museum.

We finished off our stay in Istanbul – and by extension, our time in Turkey - with a visit to the Galata Tower (10 TL, Müze Card again not valid). The only reason to take the lift up this historical monument is the view across the city, as the insides are distinctly modern. There is a cafe and apparently a cultural show on certain nights too, but we didn't have the financial resources or time to take advantage.

I hope to bring my girlfriend to my parents' holiday home in Bodrum at some point in the future, where I'll also have the opportunity to properly explore the history. That will have to wait, however: Spain is a more likely prospect, given that we're both still job-hunting. My personal preference is to finally make it out to America for a BJJ training trip (I'd love to go visit some of my fellow bloggers), but that's going to require a lot more funds.

24/08/2009 - BJJ (No-gi)

noreply@blogger.com (slideyfoot) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:00:00 +0000

Class #239

Combat Athletics, (BJJ), Rich Green, Coventry, UK - 24/08/2009

[I fly to Turkey on the 30th August, and won't be back until the 17th September. I had planned to get in another training session after this one, but as it turned out I was busier than I expected on Tuesday. So, tonight was to be my last session for a while, and my last session in Coventry]

As appears to be the norm for classes at Combat Athletics, Rich began with more mobility drills, again based around guard retention. This was done in pairs, starting with you lying on the floor, while your partner stands above you. Shrimp away from their knee and return to a square on position, then after they walk back up to your hips, shrimp away again. Once you get to the end of the room, switch over.

That then progresses with your partner kneeling above you with one leg raised, then into mount. This is definitely a useful method of practicing shrimping, as it really drives home the applicability: its all too easy to treat it as some isolated exercise when you're just shrimping up and down the room, with no resistance except the friction of the mat.

Not only was this useful for the person on the bottom, but it later became a good drill for the person on top, too. As the person underneath shrimps, the person on top tries to move round to the back or side control. Rich used that to show how it can be difficult to prevent the person on top doing that if they anticipate your efforts to escape.

Naturally, that immediately leads to the guard retention solution. This requires a modification to the shrimping method, making sure you bring your top leg through (so, if your hips are shrimping out to the right, this will be your right leg). As they try to move around to pass, use the foot of that top leg to hook under their leg. This will mean that you are now effectively attached to them: if they try to step past, you'll be dragged to face them. To finish, use that hook to readjust into butterfly guard.

While drilling that with Rich, he showed me another handy option, which I guess would effectively count as a sweep. If as you shrimp out you find you can get both shins to their leg, you can then grab their same side heel. Push through to knock them over, coming up as you do, passing into side control. In other words, this is similar to Saulo's sweep from reverse de la Riva, although with a different set-up.

Continuing with sweeps, Rich's next technique looks perfect for me. The position is that you have one shin across their stomach, the other leg free. They have secured an underhook and are ready to pass, thinking that your shin into the stomach is an obvious path to side control.

However, in underhooking you, they're also locked up one side. Swivel in the direction the knee of your stomach leg is pointing, hooking under their same side leg. Next, pushing off with your free leg and the shin in their stomach, roll them over. Note, however, that you're going towards your free leg, which I found a little counter-intuitive, but it works: you end up immediately in knee-on-belly.

I'm always getting into the position with my shin in their stomach, as I'll often start off sparring from there. So, looking forward to giving this a go next time. It is also a bit reminiscent of the sweep Tim showed me, which was more reliant on the gi.

The sweep also works from what effectively is stage two of the Gracie Combatives punch block series. Again, their arm is locked, but this time that's because you've got it trapped against your shin. Naturally Rich didn't refer to this as "punch block stage two", but it looked very similar.

Finally, Rich supplied a useful hint for mount escapes. Before you try to bring your knee through as earlier, tuck your foot just above the knee of your straight leg. This should prevent them hooking it. You can then gradually shift your straight leg and foot to the side, opening up space as a result. Done right, that should make it much easier to escape/

Sparring was just specific today, from mount. I wasn't really able to do anything, as on top, I'm even worse than normal, because I can't even go for chokes. So instead, I tried to settle into a good control position by grapevining the legs, then looking for armbars and triangles as they tried to escape.

While I was able to roll into what vaguely approximated armbars and triangles, each time my partner had little trouble either slipping out, or stacking me into oblivion (Roy Dean had a video showing a solution for this a while back, which I'll have to dig out: something about rolling through and getting a belly down armbar instead). Although a gi would have provided more friction and control, the ease of their escape nevertheless indicates I'm not keeping tight enough.

Underneath, I couldn't do all that much either: my partner kept managing to transition into scarf hold. Admittedly he was bigger, but I still should have been better at making space and slipping free, particularly as it was nogi, so far less friction.

That marked my last class (like I said, I had intended to go on Tuesday, but turned out I was too busy), so will be my final training until I get back from Turkey on September 17th. My gf and I have now moved out of Canley, and after ten months of living there, I don't think I'd recommend it. Not the nicest area. I'll only miss two things: proximity to Warwick Uni and Rich's well-structured classes.

On a completely different note, I also feel I have to mention just how incredibly awful the Post Office are at supplying broadband and telephone services. After at least forty phone calls, lots of stress and an apparently arbitrary approach to billing with whatever number pops into their heads, our final payment has still not been sorted out. Their sluggish connection, terrible customer service and a completely different set of excuses every time we spoke to them makes me miss Tiscali: never had any any problems with them in Birmingham.