(Anyone a Sandra Boynton fan?)

Anyway, it’s been quiet on my blog because it’s been quiet this week. Hanging out with loved ones, not training at all (though I have been CrossFitting on my own), turning into one giant carb, if you are indeed what you eat. I’m back in LA tomorrow, which means back to some semblance of a normal routine and diet, though there is still the New Year’s Eve holiday to get through.

So for now, all the best to everyone for a happy and healthy holiday season, and a great start to 2009! I’m planning to have a great year, and I wish the same for all of you!!

Class #207

Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Roger Gracie, London, UK – 29/12/2008 – Advanced

Over Christmas, I enjoyed myself geeking out over the online archive of Black Belt Magazine, hosted on Google Books. Specifically, I made a spreadsheet, trying to list all the BJJ-related articles from their first appearance in a 1988 issue of the magazine, up until Rickson Gracie discontinued his ‘No Holds Barred’ column in 1999. The archive itself is fairly comprehensive, but there are a few issues not included, some months are mixed up, and occasionally an issue will have a chunk missing. Still, makes for a fascinating look at the early history of BJJ in the US: I’m hoping my Black Belt spreadsheet can act as an index for fellow history fans.

Today the Academy was open for a sparring session from 13:00-14:30, so I decided to take the opportunity to get in one last bit of training before the end of the year. Roger kicked off with specific sparring, starting with guard passage. I couldn’t get past Liam’s guard, spending pretty much the whole time pondering how to free my sleeve from his grip. That tight hold meant he could keep my arm pulled across my body, so in order to get into position to free myself, I put up my same side leg. I also kept shifting my knees in close so that Liam couldn’t make space to go for a sweep, or perhaps a submission.

So, I managed to present a defence, but nothing more than that. I find it hard to extricate myself from grips, particularly when I know the other person is stronger than me (almost always the case), so need to develop some technical methods of removing their hold, as well as improve my ability to prevent them getting a good grip in the first place.

Side control was up next, this time my partner being Rico, a stocky white belt (about my height, but 15kg heavier). He had no trouble flinging me off when I was on top, though he was trying to avoid just using power moves. The main reason was that I kept putting too much weight forward, rather than staying on his chest. Always useful to try side control against a big guy for that reason: you become very aware of your mistakes.

Underneath, it was the same pattern as normal, as I stayed relaxed and looked to go to half guard or slip my knee under. Didn’t get very far, so if I recall correctly, just moved around in a circle. Again, I need to be more proactive, particularly in terms of getting to my knees, and I also have to watch my forearm under their neck. I was trying to make sure I tucked the elbow into his armpit to stop my arm being so vulnerable to submission, but not sure it worked. Could be he just held off going for the Americana due to the size difference.

Finally, I did specific mount sparring with Nick Brooks. Naturally he could have escaped any time he wanted on the bottom, or submitted on top, but instead offered lots of helpful advice, waiting to see how I reacted to what he was doing. Main important thing to keep in mind is to squeeze my knees and feet: Nick mentioned I was leaving too much space, so he could get his elbow in. Also, I should be aiming to move forward, getting up under their armpits.

For free sparring, I just waited to see who wanted to roll. First person to ask was a powerful purple belt, who I think is called Darren (but had something else written on his gi, though he might have been borrowing it). He went really easy on me, noting when I could go for a submission, and letting me try for armbars. Even when he let me isolate his arm and get into position, still a simple matter for him to escape. I continue to be a fish out of water when I’m staring at a submission opportunity, even when my training partner is literally telling me what to do in order to secure it.

Next was a tall purple belt I’ve rolled with before, called Lex. He’s still carrying an injury, which I assume is why he approached me: because I’m small, people with busted up shoulders/backs/legs etc are often keen to go with someone unlikely to aggravate injuries. After getting me into position to choke, he mentioned I should be turning in the other direction. I had in the mind the “face the same way as their fist” principle, but clearly that can’t be applied to every situation. He had my collar pressing into my neck, so as he advised, in that case it is better to turn the other way, raise their elbow to make space, then turn back and try to escape.

The general principle of using elbows and knees is something I tried to implement today, which was of some help with my next spar, against Lubo. I managed to land on my fingers at one point, making an unpleasant cracking noise, but seems ok: the little finger is still sore, but as its only slightly painful, should be fine in a few days. Lubo danced around on my back, then worked for a choke for the rest of the spar. I attempted to triangle my legs around one of his limbs and then turn into him, using my elbow to block his efforts at getting in a second hook. Didn’t quite work, but did appear to hold off the choke. I squirmed around until the end of the spar, and as ever, I’m not sure if I was defending well, or Lubo simply didn’t slam on the choke because he’s bigger.

Finally, I rolled with another larger training partner, a blue belt called Johannes. He was definitely taking it easy, letting me work underneath with my half guard and open guard. I’m continuing to try and get a two on one grip on their sleeve then push on the hips, which is working out better than my previous habit of attempting to wrap up their legs. I still need to bend them in half properly, and it might also be good to switch to spider guard occasionally to further try and off-balance them.

In half guard, I wanted to get a high overhook on the arm, so I could try and go to their back. I got the high overhook, but couldn’t switch to the back properly. My balance is lacking, as is my weight distribution. I did manage to get back to full guard a few times, although not always closed: Johannes kept trapping my leg. It wasn’t in too bad a position across his stomach, but as he was squishing it tightly between his torso and legs, I couldn’t pull it free to go back to closed guard.

Not sure when I’ll next be training, but I’d guess January 6th or the day after. That’s when I’ll be meeting my solicitor to go over the redundancy package (legal requirement to get a third party to run you through it before it can all be signed off), and can then presumably train in the evening.

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All content copyright ©2004-2009 by Can Sönmez


Reviews, History, Beginner FAQ

Whatever the move is, whether its a triangle, kneebar, or sweep, every limb and part of your body has to come into play, if you don’t its that much less effective and efficient.

How many times you see someone escape out of a triangle cuz the person applying it is only using his legs, and is not using his arms to change angles or pull his head down or scoot back?

Or trying to sweep but inefficiently using all limbs. Maybe you aren’t posting with the free hand or butterfly hooking with your free foot.

Sure you don’t do it cuz you think if you apply it correctly you don’t have to. Do it anyway! It’s one of those things where doing it applies 0 risk, and only offers rewards.

Open Mat (12/27/08 10:00am)

Neil and I met up for open mat on Saturday. The gym has limited hours during these holiday times so we decided to take advantage while we can. There were no normal classes on Saturday (i.e. No gi, Fitness Kickboxing) but instead open mat ran from 9:00am to 1:00pm. That’s pretty awesome. Actually, I wish the open mat time was like that every week. I find that time invaluable because I really learn a lot in that environment.

Neil had said that he had wanted to learn from me so, that was interesting. Particularly because at times I feel like I don’t really know anything!!! But as it turns out I had plenty of things to show him. He wanted to work primarily on sweeps from guard and on some side control escapes. Both of those are things that I always want to work on because of how practical and necessary they are.

We went over the pendulum sweep; he got that one down pretty well quickly. We also did the normal scissor sweep and thanks to my new Jiu Jitsu University book (Thank you Saulo Ribeiro) we worked on a nifty sweep from the guard that makes it easy to take your opponent’s back. I love that book. It doesn’t teach anything new and flashy but it sure puts the polish and perspective one things.

We reviewed different side control escapes and I helped him work on his phobia of being trapped in side control. This was good for both of us. I have always had a really strong side control so working with someone who is really wanting to learn to escape was beneficial for me in terms of positional awareness when I get it. Also, who doesn’t hate being in side control? It sucks. So why not work on getting out of it whenever you can.

We did take some time and I taught Neil that choke the Doctor and I learned from Dennis during the last open mat. I was actually pulling it off pretty well this time. I like it now and I think I will be using it during rolling as situations arise.

We finished the session off with some specific drilling. Starting from guard, the other would try to pass while we would attempt to sweep, submit, retain guard or just survive. It went well. Neil did an awesome job. He tried out a nifty choke from inside my closed guard that worked surprisingly well, so we’ll try that out some more and report back later.

Been reading this book over Christmass (Jiu jitsu university – Saulo Ribiero), really enjoying it. Giving me lots of ideas for articles and Im only 1/5th of the way through. Survival postures, dead angles for sweeps, many escapes including one where you turn away from side control (normaly a bad idea as it leads to them on your back).

The clubs been closed for the holidays, so should be back to training on the 2nd. But one of our illustrious members made this promo for the club!

Any comments and critisms you have would be great to read.

To much christmass food for me, its not gonna be fun working this off.

I consider myself a bit of a leg lock enthusiast. I don’t consider myself an expert yet mainly because my straight ankle is not the greatest. Admittedly it is the hardest attack to get people to tap on, but there are some greats who can tap just about anyone with it.

Right now I am trying to wrap my brain on the idea that an achilles lock and an ankle lock are two different submissions. Tell that to Ken Shamrock right? Grab an ankle and yank. But yes, you can attack the back of the ankle on that tendon and cause serious pain, or you can attack the actual ankle, in particular the instep. I think it’s pretty hard to do both at the same time, one will suffer.

Anyhow that’s not even my point. My point is that leg locks and upper body submissions are different. I used to say for many years and thought I was on a break through when I thought that a leg lock and an arm attack were the same thing. You pull on a knee bar and armbar the same way, omaplata is just a heel hook on the arm. And actually my attacks on the legs went up thinking this way. But…I guess that was one break through. Now in hindsight I think my thinking was limited.

That it is NOT the same. Here is why. The mechanics of arms and legs are similar but here is where it is different. You can submit an arm because your legs, which are much bigger and stronger than your opponents arms have wrapped around your opponents arms, leaving little room to escape, then your arms and the strength of your back pry that arm loose and you get the tap. Also you can hold onto your opponents leg while armbarring as well. And the arm is attached to their torso not their hip.

Now trying to control your opponents legs with your legs which may be just as strong, and sometimes even weaker than your opponents, luckily slightly stronger, changes the whole dynamics of it. Not only that its not attached to their torso, its attached to their hips! And jiu jitsu is all about hips and hip control, because the hips are so powerful and flexible. So it’s your back and arms and legs vs their legs, hips, and arms. That is nothing like an armbar where you have a clear advantage. It’s like trying to submit a bucking horse.

So questions arise. How do I give myself the upperhand? How do I pull off a leg lock without blowing out my groin and back and give myself a hernia? How do I pin his hips in place?

You know what, I don’t know. But these are good questions at least for me let me know that leg locks are a completely different animal due to the leverages involved. Yes similar fulcrums and levers, put the lengths of the levers, the weight of the counter weight and push points are different. It’s like being near the center of the centrifuge and being at the end of it. Same centrifuge, totally different results.

But give me time, I will figure it out.

I wonder if, out there, anyone else’s family has the same … issues that mine does.

Every family vacation is the same. They argue and argue and argue, I escape to some reverie of my own, whether on the double-black diamond trails or to meditated serenity now. Eventually, though, the escilating harsh temperments subside and they find solice in food. Food glorious food. Every day of my family vacations is planned around which restaurants they want to eat at.

I would be perfectly happy with my bag of dry musseli and some squashed veggie sandwiches stored in my 12-year-old backpack for the week.

Of course, I’m also perfectly happy chowing down on a chocolate-filled calzone that they ordered for desert last night. Completely unnecessary. I was simultaneously pleased and furious. I told them, ordering that desert was like putting a margarita bucket in front of a recovering alcoholic.

I blame Switzerland.

I decided on the first day, staring in to a window filled with confections that looked more like jewlery than edibles, that I was strong enough not to become addicted to chocolate. To satisfy my cravings, I had one small square of chocolate after dinner each day. Unfortunately it’s not the quantity of chocolate that forms an addiction, but the consistancy at which you eat it.

Four months later, when I returned to PA, I was insatiably hungry for two weeks. I couldn’t figure it out. Protein, carbs, veggies, I had everything that I needed including a women’s daily multivitamin. I hadn’t eaten any chocolate during that time because everything about Hershey’s chocolate disgusted me. Yes, I’m a snob. Finally I gave in to a Lindt my mom had given me, and the hunger disappeared.

So, with no competitions on the immediate horizon, and no weight classes to fit into, I simply have no reason to resist the cravings.

I tried to curb my family’s restaurant-centric tendencies but suggesting that we take advantage of our condo’s kitchen. “Let’s go grocery shopping and save money by making our own dinner!” Unfortunately they got to the grocery store before me and stocked up on breakfast foods and snacks… including a box of chocolate mint cookies.

Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll for what videos you think I should do next. There was an overwhelming interest in guard defense, so I have started to plan out a handful of tutorials on this subject.

First one is my take on how to defend the double under pass, which is a very common and basic guardpass. Basically, I have three plans of defense when people try to use this pass, which I explain about in the video. I hope you don’t mind I mumble a bit in the video and also is quite pale – I had a TERRIBLE hangover when shooting it LOL

…and don’t forget to vote

Thanks to everyone who voted on the poll for what videos you think I should do next. There was an overwhelming interest in guard defense, so I have started to plan out a handful of tutorials on this subject.

First one is my take on how to defend the double under pass, which is a very common and basic guardpass. Basically, I have three plans of defense when people try to use this pass, which I explain about in the video. I hope you don’t mind I mumble a bit in the video and also is quite pale – I had a TERRIBLE hangover when shooting it LOL

…and don’t forget to vote