'Superhero Landing' posture inside guard 16 Feb 2024 5:40 PM (last year)

I have completely gotten out of the habit of posting up classes on here, as I've been using a spreadsheet since last year instead. Much more efficient! But I do want to keep using this blog to collate Instagram videos like in previous posts, especially as Instagram has gotten increasingly annoying about listing all the vids on a hashtag. ;)

First up, I wanted to save the vids I took of my classes on the 'superhero landing' posture inside guard. I labelled it as 'superhero pose' on the vids, as that's one syllable less: not sure which one I prefer yet. The former is more descriptive, the latter is quicker to say. Anyway, I learned it from Chris Paines at the Artemis BJJ München Camp 2023 (I'll most likely do more camps there, in which case you can book them here). It is a posture I can remember Priit showing at one of his mega long weekend seminars at Chris' gym a few years back. As it was Priit, I found the explanation confusing and it never really stuck, despite several hours of Priit lectures.

Chris is an excellent Priit translator. In the space of about a minute, he was able to condense that down and make it very easy to understand. I've tried to continue that process, so I'm slapping a hopefully evocative name on it, with a few simple points to explain the mechanics. I called it superhero landing because it looks much like the pose you always see superheroes do when they hit the floor after flying in to stop the villain. Specifically, that's a three point landing (I guess technically four, but mainly three): hand, foot, knee. You can argue the foot of the knee leg makes it four points, but there isn't much weight on the foot back there.

That same position works surprisingly well inside guard, with a few tweaks. Imagine there is a stick running from the top of your head to your tailbone, that needs to stay in alignment. You also want to keep everything pointed forwards, particularly your knees. The hand on the ground breaks the usual rule of guard top that you don't put your hand on the mat. However, because of the positioning and alignment, you are putting all your weight through that arm, meaning it way less vulnerable to kimura and the like.

The hand also doesn't have to be on the mat (I'll often base off my fist, that feels more comfortable). You can put that hand on their collar, or probably the best of all, on their arm pinning it to the mat. Another good option is getting that arm by their head, if you manage to move up their body enough. You can then effectively cross-face them by placing it tight enough to their head to drive their ear towards their shoulder, misaligning the spine.

Chris told us at the camp that he's had his gym do this and pretty much nothing else for about 2 years. That has resulted in everybody having to get much better at guard, because you have to work harder to break it down when somebody gets good at using this posture. I'm planning to incorporate this into my classes on passing, eventually I'll work it up into a seminar I can teach at camps. It combines well with how I already teach my passing intro, so I think there's plenty of scope to play with it more.

Update 2023 20 Aug 2023 9:29 PM (last year)

I haven't posted anything on here in quite a while, mainly because I'm not finding it as useful as I once did to write everything up. I've switched to a simplified version instead, with a spreadsheet. I just fill in the teaching notes at the end, that's proven more efficient.

Still, I will try and put in at least occasional posts, to remind people I'm still alive. I've got some travel posts to write up, plus a massive backlog of old posts I may or may not finally finish up at some point. Oh, and for those who missed it, I got my black belt back in May of 2023, which makes a handy milestone for the blog.

I'm also still very regularly posting technique vids on Instagram, so head over there and follow if you haven't already. We've got two camps coming up, in Germany on the 7th/8th Oct 2023, then back in Bristol from the 24th-27th November. There's also our annual GrappleThon, which this year is taking place from the 30th Sep to the 1st Oct.

07/11/2022 - Teaching | Leglocks | Escaping seated single leg x 13 Feb 2023 3:22 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 07/11/2022

First reaction for escaping footlocks is to 'put the boot on', where you shove your heel forwards to tense up your calves. That should make it harder for them to push on your toes, which tends to be part of most straight ankle locks. Angling your toes away from them is also a good habit, as that helps to hide your heel and make it harder for them to therefore go for a heel hook.

The other big part of escaping this position is pushing their foot off your hip. You can then move forwards, which is a great way to prevent any further footlock attempts. The simple way to push the foot off is to bring your hips up, in order to expose their foot and reduce their ability to maintain pressure and grip on your hip. Once you have push it off, you can either come over the top of the foot, or better, land on their foot. With your weight on their leg, again their opportunities to continue footlock attempts are reduced.

In order to get to the mount when moving forward, you may need to remove the obstacle of their knee. It is common for that to end up stuck between your legs. You can shove that down with your free arm, then pop over the top. To help with that, you'll want your posting arm relatively close, or be able to adjust it quickly. You may well not land in a perfect mount, but as long as you quickly remove any space, that's good enough. Leaving space is almost always a mistake, as they could then either escape, or worse, set up some other attack.

Posting on your hand in order to create the angle to push their foot off your hip is a useful option. However, it does occupy both your hands. An alternative is to instead grab the upper part of their foot, near the toes, then shove that towards them. This can be enough to remove their foot from your hip, whereupon you can then shove it down and proceed as before. That uses only one hand, leaving your other hand free to grab their collar (or potentially head, in nogi) and pull them towards you. This both prevents them leaning back to finish a footlock and makes it much easier to move yourself on top into mount.

I'll also keep adding in my safety video, as I don't think this gets emphasised when teaching leglocks nearly enough. Really important: for twisting leglocks (which can happen accidentally, in the not uncommon event that the person being footlocked tries to explosively spin to free their leg), tap to pressure, not to pain.

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Teaching Notes: I split this into three, I may not need all those options. The third one, where you push the foot forward and down, is definitely superior I reckon. Having that hand free to grab their collar or head makes a big difference. The other thing I want to do better next time is moving through to mount. Is there a way to more smoothly get to technical mount, making sure your knee gets into that gap by their shoulder you create with the collar pull?

09/11/2022 - Teaching | Leglocks | Basic kneebars 5 Feb 2023 10:09 PM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/11/2022

The first basic kneebar I ever taught was one I learned from Seymour. You approach the guard as if you are going for a pass, meaning you are in a crouching posture, shuffling forward. Face straight ahead (don't look down), pressing your shin into the back of their leg. Rather than passing, you're instead going to backstep to the outside, so that you are now looking towards their foot.

Sit on them, securing their knee by wrapping your arm. Drop to the side, using their foot as pillow. Cross your arms, triangle your legs, driving the hips through. Make sure their foot is under your head, not above it, You don't want them to be able to rotate, as that facilitates their escape.

Second option from Charles Harriott. This time, do everything the same as before, until you get to the part where you are sat on them and securing their leg with your arm. Instead, grab both legs. As before, drop to the side, but you need to make sure the leg you are attacking is on top. Bring your elbow over the top while still holding their leg (Charles calls his a snapdown guillotine motion), to put their foot in your armpit.

That underarm finish requires their leg to be on the side of your head that is away from the floor. That way is stronger, as your arm and leg can clamp their leg more effectively in place. If you are going underarm with your bottom arm, it would be easier for them to turn their leg.

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Teaching Notes: I could probably do two, as it is essentially just a slight variation rather than a whole new technique. Though yeah, if I want to spread things out, it didn't feel sparse doing just the one variation across two lessons. Then again, if I did put them together, then I could do this on a Monday, followed by the vs knee shield style on a Wednesday (adding in a bit about how spinning through with the knee across, like on the knee shield version, works for lots of entries).

02/11/2022 - Teaching | Leglocks | Maintaining seated single leg x 1 Feb 2023 9:32 PM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 02/11/2022

Seated single leg x, also (rather pretentiously and unhelpfully, IMO, unless you happen to be training in Japan) known as ashi garami, is the entry level leg lock position. Typically you'll get there from a sweep, or possibly off an escape from mount, but in order to get the basics, I tend to teach it from both people sitting down, facing eachother. Get your legs on the inside of theirs, then grab their ankle. Holster that to your hip, while simultaneously kicking your same side leg forwards. Put the foot of your leg on their hip. With your other hand, grab their knee (still on that side, so opposite to your hand), then fire your hips as close to theirs as you can.

You want to be turned towards the side where you have your foot on their hip. With your other knee, cover that foot as much as your can. The foot should be curled around their hip bone, as tight to them as you can, toes facing outwards. Your same side hand wraps up their leg, ready to take one of multiple grips. The basic one is to encirlce their ankle with that arm, while your other hand maintains hold of their knee. This is good for preventing their ability to extract that leg.

Alternatively, you can move into a figure four. The hand of the arm encircling their leg grabs the wrist of your other arm, grasping their shin with your free hand. This is useful for preventing them rotating. You can also move directly into a (fairly weak) straight leglock from their, driving your hips into their leg. It's less effective, as your arm is flat, so the sharp radius isn't pressing into the meat of their leg or their achilles (depending how high you have your grip).

A third grip option is to keep their same side leg encircled with your arm, then do the same thing with your arm on the other side. This is best used when they are attempting to stand up. By controlling both feet, that makes standing up impossible: they have to break your grips first.

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Teaching Notes: I could potentially try and cram this into the initial drilling class, but I think it makes sense to separate it out. At the moment, leglocks are still very new to most people at the club, so taking it really slow and avoiding overwhelming makes sense. In future, when leglocks are less confusing for students, I could probably add in some other details. Especially because at this stage time will be eaten up a bit, as I still want to add in the safety chat. If people remember nothing else, I want to make 10000% sure they've all experienced the knee sensation so they know to tap to pressure, not to pain.

26/10/2022 - Teaching | Leglocks | Basic seated single leg x/ashi garami drills 15 Nov 2022 7:45 PM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/10/2022

In preparation for the first ever leglock month at Artemis BJJ in November, I ran through some of the basic drills that I learned from Charles Harriott (which you can also find on his excellent Leglocks 101 instructional). Sit facing your partner, legs in front of you , feet on the ground, knees up. Start with one leg inside theirs. When you say 'left', both of you move your left leg to the inside. When you say 'right', put the right leg in.

Next do the same again, this time grabbing the heel of the outside foot each time. Then we play a game, where the goal is to get both you feet inside, also grabbing both their heels. That covers off the first chunk of drills, after which we can move into the actual footlock position, which is single leg x. John Danaher insists on calling this ashi garami, because he likes to sound fancy. But it is just single leg x, on the ground. ;)

To enter into this position, get inside control with your feet. Grab the heel of their outside leg, pulling it up to your hip, like you have a holster there. At the same time, kick your leg out straight. Put the foot of your outside leg on their hip bone, curling it around so there is as little space as possible. With your free hand, hold their knee, then shoot your hips forward as close as you can. Bring the knee of your inside leg over your hip foot, trying to cover it, in order to make it harder for them to push it off their hip. The foot of your inside leg is hooking under their butt cheek.

You can then turn this into a continuous drill, where you enter into that position, they push your foot off their hip. You use your inside foot to hook their leg and keep it in range, then repeat the footlock entry on the other side. The MOST IMPORTANT part of the class is highlighting the danger of your knee getting twisted (e.g., by heel hooks and toeholds). I don't want people playing with heel hooks at this stage, but getting everybody to go into that seated single leg x and then hooking the heel demonstrates how it feels. As Charles puts it, tap to pressure, not to pain. Therefore eveyrbody needs to be able to recognise that pressure.

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Teaching Notes: I went through the drills multiple times across several classes, keeping things very simple. Next time I can experiment with a bit more info. The marching drill is useful. So far, I start with that, then add in grabbing the heel and tucking your foot under their butt, until the third drill on getting inside leg control. I could probably have people grabbing the heel and holster? That might be worth a try as the middle drill.

This first attempt, I didn't get to the continuous drill, as I didn't want to confuse people by also showing the escape. I could test trying that next time. The key thing will be making sure I run through the warm-up drills, so as I did this time, replace the normal warm up with the marching drill, heel holster, then inside control.

31/10/2022 - Teaching | Mount | Heel drag escape 15 Nov 2022 7:40 PM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 31/10/2022

Short Version:

Get one leg flat on the floor, other knee raised
Turn slightly on your side, just lifting your shoulder
Step your raised-knee leg over both your flat leg and their leg
Using your elbow to help pry their leg up, drag their foot over your leg with your heel, also bringing your flat leg knee up
Turn your hips out to the flat leg side: you can then go to half guard, or shrimp to full guard

Full Version: My personal favourite mount escape is the heel drag, by far the highest percentage way for me to get out from under mount. It's also quite simple, another reason I like it so much. You're in mount, your elbows in a good place for defence, down by their knees. For this escape to work, you need to have one of your legs out flat, just like before. Again, you also need to get on your side: a slight bridging motion will help.

The big danger at this point is that the person on top will switch to technical mount. I recommend just lifting your shoulder slightly, rather than turning all the way on your side: that prevents exposing your back too much. Make sure that your neck is safe if you mess up and they do manage to start turning to technical mount. You also don't want to let them settle into technical mount: immediately prepare your frames to start escaping before they secure the position. You may even be able to disrupt them as they try to shift, using that window of opportunity as they're adjusting their base to enter into your escape.

If they don't get to technical mount (or you're able to work back to the previous position where you'll slightly on your side), wedge an elbow inside their knee. You can either make a frame against their hips, or if you're concerned about your neck, adjust so that you can still pry your elbow under their knee while protecting your collar with your hands (I prefer the latter). As well as chokes, you also need to be wary of their cross-face. If they can control your head, they can flatten you back out, which will make the escape less effective. Use a combination of your elbow and shrimping to shove their knee backwards, on your flat leg side.

Bring your other foot over both your flat leg and the leg they have next to it. That means you can use the heel of that foot to drag their leg over your flat leg. As soon as you get it over, lock half guard and shrimp towards their trapped leg. In half guard, you want to get onto your side as quickly as possible: if you stay flat on your back, you've already done their work for them, as they will want to flatten you out in order to pass half guard. If you're comfortable in half guard, you could stay there and work your attacks.

Alternatively, keep shrimping in the other direction, in order to free your other leg, just like you would with an elbow escape. It's also worth noting that some people, like Roy Dean, recommend just pinching your knees rather than fully triangling your legs around theirs, so that's worth trying too. To help recover full guard, you can also bring your arm across to their opposite shoulder, impeding their movement while aiding yours. Emily Kwok has a handy tip too: if their foot is too flat, making it hard to get your heel in for a drag, slide your flat leg outside to roll their heel up. That will create the space you need in order to insert your heel between their foot and the mat.

A very similar escape, which I don't use much, is the foot lift. Dean shows these two escapes in sequence on his excellent Blue Belt Requirements. The foot lift is for when they have some space underneath their in-step. People won't often do that, in my experience, but if they do, this time just step over your flat leg. Use your foot to hook underneath their instep and lift it over, then as before lock up half guard (your legs are already in position), or shrimp to recover full guard.

Make sure that you pay particular attention to shoving on their knee with this variation, as it is easier for them to slip free (though if that happens, you can always switch to the heel drag). With both escapes, it is important to get the knee of their trapped leg back behind your legs. If they still have their knee past your legs, it makes it much easier for them to move straight into a half guard pass, by driving their knee to the mat and sliding through.

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Teaching Notes: I can't think of anything I forgot. Emphasising the leverage of the three motions (elbow under knee, knee to elbow and push down on ankle) is handy, I think that's a good one to keep highlighting.

19/10/2022 - Teaching | Mount | Low to high mount 31 Oct 2022 8:17 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/10/2022

In order to progress from low to high mount, the main barrier is going to be their elbows. There are several ways you can remove that barrier. There is the brute force method, yanking their elbows out of the way and driving your knees up into their armpits. I wouldn't recommend that method, though it can work. A more reliable option, with greater finesse, is to put your hands on their shoulders. Keeping you arms straight, lean forwards to put all your weight through your arms. That should lift their elbows, enabling you to slide right up into high mount.

The ezequiel choke is another way to get them to lift their elbows: as soon as they give you that space in their attempt to defend, shove your knee into the gap. To really fire the leg forward, you can push off your toes. Another option is to simply keep walking your feet up their sides, as if you were climbing up a wall. Every time you see a gap, fill it, until eventually you're up really high and their bridge is nullified.

Grabbing the top of their head and driving your hips forwards is another possibility, using that leverage to raise their elbows. To further help that motion, you could try hooking an elbow and 'spider-walking' your fingers up the mat, aiming to bring their elbows away from their body. Once you have gotten up into high mount, make sure they can't wriggle back out by blocking their shoulders. You could do that with your elbows on the mat, grabbing their head or indeed the cross-face.

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Teaching Notes: I think I got everything, this class is coming together well. As I forgot it until Rob mentioned it in daytime class, remember elbow hook and walk! Most important one. ;)

17/10/2022 - Teaching | Mount | Maintaining low mount 31 Oct 2022 3:05 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/10/2022

There are two basic types of mount to choose from, which I call low and high. Once you've achieved mount, I find that low mount provides the most control. First off, you want to immobilise their hips, as their main method of making space is to bridge up forcefully.

Bring your feet right back, threading them around their legs to establish two hooks: this is known as a grapevine. Alternatively, you can also cross your feet underneath (or just near, depending on your flexibility and leg length) their bum, which has the advantage of making it much harder for them to push your hooks off. Your knees are ideally off the ground, to generate maximum pressure. How far off the ground they are depends on your dimensions: the key is getting loads of hip pressure. Another option, which I learned from Rob Stevens at Gracie Barra Birmingham, is to put the soles of your feet together and then bring your knees right off the floor.

Whichever option you're going for, thrust those hips into them. It's important to get into a position where you can thrust your hips down, rather than getting bunched up so your bum starts going into the air. Use your hands for base, where again you have a couple of options. Either have both arms out, or put one under the head (remember, you can always remove it for base if you're really getting thrown hard to that side) while the other goes out wide for base.

Try to grip the gi material by their opposite shoulder, or even better, by the opposite armpit. Keep your head on the basing arm side, loading up your weight there. If they're bridging hard, you can switch from side to side, lifting their head slightly and bringing your other arm under, meaning your remaining arm bases out to the other side.

To do the trap and roll/upa escape, they will need to get control of your arm. So, don't let them grab it and crush your arm to their side. Instead, swim your arm through, like Ryron and Rener demonstrate in the third slice of the third lesson in Gracie Combatives. Be sure to do it one at a time, or you may get both arms squashed to your sides.

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Teaching Notes: Next time, add tech mount switch back in, as a reaction to elbow escape. Too brief without.

24/08/2022 - Teaching | Butterfly Half Guard | Roll under sweep 26 Oct 2022 8:35 PM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 24/08/2022

Generally, the simplest option from half guard is to try and get back to either open or closed guard. Always keep that option in mind, if they leave enough space that you can free your leg. Saying that, if you can get a sweep, that's even better, because it puts you on top.

For example, if you're in butterfly half guard, when you go for the sweep you may find they manage to post to prevent you sending them over in that direction (or their base is really solid). Should that happen, you can instead roll underneath them. Fire your arm, shoulder and then head between their legs, rolling them over the top. This should be effortless: if you are finding it a strain, you haven't got underneath them enough.

Maintain your hook on the leg, as that will mean you can engage your legs, rather than relying on your core to roll them over the top. As a good general rule, remember to always control their arm in the direction you're sweeping. They may try to post it to prevent the roll under. You can use your free arm to wrap around their arm, meaning they can no longer post. _____________________

Teaching Notes: Emphasise the hips getting right under. Also, always control their arm in the direction you're sweeping, hooking around with your free arm. That bit is easy to forget, but also easy to correct when wandering around in drilling, as it's obvious when somebody can post with their arm to stop the sweep. ;)

28/09/2022 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Posture & grip breaks (top) 29 Sep 2022 1:17 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/09/2022

First thing I wanted to cover was posture. Stay upright, with your head up, thrusting your hips a little forward. Curving your back slightly, arching it like a cat (so, convex rather than concave), can help too. Avoid them bending your arms, also trying to put your weight through one arm into their hip. It is important to control their hips, as they need to angle off to attack effectively (though there are other methods, like Christian Graugart's 'samurai sword' grip, where both arms are near the chest). Your other hand is ready to push them down if they attempt to raise their torso towards you, or more typically, gripping both collars and keeping their back on the mat.

Be aware that you don't want to extend that arm too far or they can break your posture: it's also likely that they will primarily be looking to dislodge your arm and gain control of it, so be ready to disengage and then quickly re-engage the grip. Having said that, there are numerous other ways of posturing up, so it's good to experiment.

For a strong base, widen your knees, sitting on your heels. Alternatively, you could try squeezing your knees to their hips to stop them moving, but that will result in a less sturdy base. Make sure you do not put your elbows on the outside of their legs: keep them inside, or they can start kicking up into your armpit for triangles, armbars, flower sweeps etc.

A key detail is to come up on your toes. This will feel uncomfortable at first, but it provides you with much better base than having your insteps flat on the floor. With your toes up, you can resist their attempts to pull you around. It also enables you to drive forward and improves your mobility.

Another way they'll be looking to disrupt your base is to angle their hips away. To prevent that, you can simply follow them, making sure you keep squaring back up so they don't have that attacking angle anymore. You could also try caging their hips by squeezing your knees together, but that can result in a less stable base.

In order to attack, they are going to want to disrupt your base and break your posture down. The first way they'll probably do that is to establish a strong grip, on your sleeve and collar. You don't want that, so try to strip grips before beginning your pass. Not to say that it's impossible to pass if they've got grips, but you'll find it easier if they don't.

If they grab your collar, you can use both of your hands to grab either side of that sleeve or wrist. Push it forcefully away from you, while simultaneously leaning back slightly. Another option is to put both your hands on their gripping arm, trapping it to their torso. Posture up forcefully to break the grip. Alternatively, you could try simply re-establishing your grips on their collar and hip over the top of their arms, meaning you can press your arms into theirs. That way, it's possible to use arm pressure to loosen their grips to the point they become less effective.

By contrast, you can also use their grips against them. If they grab your sleeve, adjust your hand to grab their sleeve too. You can then pull up on it and stand up, putting your leg forward on the trapped sleeve side. Similarly, if they grab your collar, you can use your same side hand to grab them back on their sleeve, then again stand up.

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Teaching Notes: I tried a slightly different format this time, which I want to do again next time, but with more structure. There is too much detail in the current version, but most of it is important. A way to split it would be high energy output vs low energy output, which I think would have enough to them to make a separate lesson.

For high energy output, I can go through the gi grip breaks, meaning sleeve push/pull (mentioning the Gragugart "they grip, you grip back" thing), two hands to strip the collar grip and the leg grip break. It's important to mention that while this is risky because it leaves your posture vulnerable, if you do it quickly enough you can get away with it. Also, always establish a grip afterwards. Either you are pinning with one hand, or if you end up with a cross-grip, switch to grabbing with both hands so you can free up an arm to push down on their leg when you need it (the same side grip will be pulling up o the arm). More I could add here, possibly.

For low energy output, that's the re-establishing your arm over the top. If they break you fully down, safety position with head in arms. If they get your arm across, put up your same side leg to recover your arm (never the opposite side leg, or they will sweep you). I think there is more that I could add here, something to think about for the next time closed guard month comes up. These are the vids I have so far, so watch these before next time:

17/08/2022 - Teaching | Butterfly Half Guard | Basic sweep 7 Sep 2022 7:38 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/08/2022

Along with the three leg positions I cover in a my usual basic half guard maintenance lessons, there is a fourth one that is worth developing too: the half butterfly. From your kickstand or inside hook, bring your outside foot back enough that you can hook by their thigh. This is significantly easier if you either have short legs and/or you're flexible. You ideally will also have an underhook on that side, staying tight so they can't swim inside your underhook. Your inside leg maintains a firm control, as with the inside hook leg control.

For a butterfly sweep, the key part along with that hook is controlling their opposite arm so they can't post. It is equally important here, but trickier to control due to how you are positioned in half guard. If you're able to control their elbow, suck their arm in, though it is usually difficult to get a sufficiently controlling grip from standard half guard. Jason Scully suggests getting your head past their arm (something I do by using the facepalm cross-face block I learned from Braulio videos). To control the arm from there, Scully does an unusual grip of reaching behind his head to then clamp their arm tight from there.

It's awkward to get used to, but all you need to do is stop them posting. As soon as you begin to elevate them with your butterfly hook, you can bring your head out and switch to a more comfortable grip on their arm, controlling their elbow. From there, finish the sweep as normal if you're able to get your leg into position, or aim to end up in a strong knee slide position and pass from there.

As an alternative to what Scully suggests, you could also try using the paw position. If you are able to slide down and control their elbow, that is a much simpler variation, but it may be difficult to pull their arm in enough without them managing to swim it free.
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Teaching Notes: Get that underhook arm right up into their armpit, making sure you whack them forwards, where your head in pointing. I like to flick with the butterfly hook, but if you end up following through, make sure they don't manage to trap your knee. With the knee free, you can either go to mount, or move that knee to the other side to knee slide.

27/07/2022 - Teaching | Open Guard | Spiralhook (new name for DLR, because he's rightly been cancelled), underhook to technical stand up sweep 24 Aug 2022 12:40 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK -27/07/2022

Bring your leg around the outside of theirs, hooking your foot around the inside. This establishes the spiralhook, of which there are several variations. In a standard spiralhook guard, you grab the foot of the trapped leg with your same side hand, while your other foot presses into their far leg. Your free hand is looking to grab a sleeve or even better, their collar. If you can't get either, then grabbing a gi lapel can work too. From there, you can transfer the sleeve or lapel to your other hand behind their leg for a variety of sweeps, or do certain other sweeps should you have the gi collar instead.

I've always found the spiralhook a tricky position as I don't have flexible ankles or big feet. I therefore go for a spiral underhook instead. From the spiralhook, reach your same side hand between your butt and their leg, trying to get the crook of your elbow right against their leg for maximum reach. You can then either grab your shin with that hand, or your gi trousers. You can use this to prevent a common grip break that starts by them pushing down on your leg.

Should they instead underhook your spiral leg to strip the leg, switch to x guard as an easy transition. If you're able to maintain the spiral, you can use the other leg to push theirs, and scoot your hips underneath them. You'll need a gi collar grip too, so that you can combine your leg push with a yank of the collar, in order to make them do a big step.

That should give you the opportunity to lift their trapped leg. Adjust your grip so they can't free their leg, bringing your own leg underneath. Come up on your free arm, in a technical stand-up motion. As you do, grab their other leg if it is in range. If not then pull back on the leg you have trapped, before driving forwards again to ideally grab that other leg and take them down.

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Teaching Notes: It's a quite confusing position, so although I'm explaining it very slowly and carefully, some people still have trouble working out where everything goes. But meh, I can fix that during drilling. However, next time it is probably worth doing the step-by-step thing I do at the end of class before drilling too, making absolutely sure everybody knows where to put their hands and legs.

01/08/2022 - Teaching | X Guard | Tilt sweep & single leg X switch 24 Aug 2022 12:39 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 01/08/2022

X guard involves having one of your knees behind their leg, the foot hooking across their hip, while the other leg hooks behind their far knee. There are other variations, but this is the one I was taught by Henk Heneweer and find the easiest to use. In Henk's grip, your arm then hooks around their nearest leg. Another common x guard grip is to instead grab on the inside of their leg.

A simple entry, which is most typically a drill, is to stamp on the floor between their legs to pull yourself under, then quickly bring your legs into position. You could also enter from single leg x, swivelling the foot you have on their hip into position for x guard if they push it off. Alternatively, it is possible to spin into x guard from the inside spiralhook. See below video for a brief demo.

When you pull yourself underneath, it's important that you are right under their hips. The goal is to keep them off balance, constantly pushing and manoeuvring so they can't establish a solid base. The more under their hips you are, the more effective that off-balancing will be. Too far away from their hips, and they will be able to just drop their weight and prevent your efforts to establish a good x guard.

To sweep from this position, we're going to knock out their legs. If you can, secure their far sleeve, though the sweep will still function without it. Extend your hip-hooking leg, while your behind the knee leg drops and kicks their leg out. Follow them up, ready to pass the guard. It may be possible to establish a superior top position than that, but in the attempt you may end up vulnerable to being swept or reversed in the process. Hence why I prefer to settle for a solid guard passing platform.

It is also important to be able to switch into single leg x, in order to have a solid x guard. To counter x guard, they will often push your foot off their hip. When that happens, transfer you legs to their other leg, clamping your knees just above their knee. Your outside leg has a foot on their hip, your inside leg has a foot hooking behind their other leg. If they then push your foot of their hip, you can switch back into full x guard. It is also possible to do a simple sweep from single x, raising your hips and driving through.

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Teaching Notes: Is it too much to have both techniques? I think they need to be taught together, as pushing that foot off is so common, but I could try seperating them out. Also, remember to emphasise getting your hips underneath, the whole guard messes up if you don't have your hips underneath them.

22/08/2022 - Teaching | Half Guard | Bridge Sweeps 24 Aug 2022 12:36 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/08/2022

Short Version:

You've been squashed flat, they have a crossface and underhook
Block their non trapped knee with your arm
Drive off your outside leg (stepping it out from the kickstand if needed)
Punch up through their head with your trapped leg side arm
Bridge and roll to the top

Full Version: I first saw this sequence on an DVD series from a few years ago, by Vince Quitigua. In Lost Techniques of the Half Guard, he has a simple solution to when you've been put in what would generally be seen as the worst position under half guard. They have not only managed to get a solid cross face, they've also underhooked you on the other side. However, using the same principle as the trap and roll from under mount, that means there is an opportunity to block off two of their limbs on the same side.

As they have already put their arm under your head, if you can block their leg on that side and bridge, you can roll them over. Therefore all you need to do is use your arm to stop their leg from stepping out. If their leg is too far away, turn your hips towards your underhook side to bring it in, then place your arm next to it. Push off your other foot and swing your arm up around their head on the side they've underhooked. Bridge and roll them over from there.

The major flaw with this option is that if they bring their arm out from crossfacing you, then they will be able to use that to prevent your roll. A method for preventing that defence is to use your own arm to lock their crossfacing arm by your head, like you would if they were crossfacing your from mount. As your arm is now occupied, you're going to use your same side leg to hook their leg instead, then push off with your other leg to complete the roll. Again, if their leg is too far away from your body, turn your hips to the underhook side.

Be aware that there is a risk if you uncross your legs to generate the leverage for the push, so be careful of them freeing their leg. Also, with a savvy partner they may be able to avoid your attempt to bridge and roll by quickly adjusting their weight distribution and putting up a leg. Be ready for that opportunity to recover to full guard, as they will find it tricky to do that without leaving some kind of opening for you to bring your leg through.
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Teaching Notes: I was uncrossing my kickstand in order to get the push, though if your legs are long enough, then you could still get enough leverage without doing that. By uncrossing your legs, there is a risk they will manage to pass at that point, so if it's possible to get the roll while keeping the kickstand locked, so much the better. Something to attempt before next time. Also, does it matter if you grab the trouser leg instead of simply block? Less versatile I guess as you've committed to a grip, but still works.

I also should make more of a point about the chance to recover full guard, in case they react before you're able to complete the sweep. On the second one, I find that you normally are able to step through to side control due to the position of your legs, but if you end up inside their guard instead, still better than being stuck on the bottom. But again, something to look at when preparing to teach this next time.

Turning towards your trapped leg to bring their leg closer to your body is really useful too, keep emphasising that.

04/07/2022 - Teaching | Open Guard | Lachlan Giles style guard retention (asymmetric grilled chicken) 17 Aug 2022 9:07 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK -04/07/2022

The guard retention course on Lachlan Giles' submeta.io site has some similarities to what Priit teaches in his grilled chicken system. An important initial difference is that Giles takes an asymmetric approach, with one foot higher on the side that your partner is trying to pass, while your other leg is folded with the heel in tight. This is meant to make it difficult for them to initiate a pass, as you can work your back to putting your foot onto the biceps.

Giles talks at length about why he feels keeping that asymmetric guard with the foot high works well. With the foot high, if they grab it and you push against them, you'll spin with your feet ready to square back up. If the foot is low, when you push your head will move towards them. Giles also notes that if you reach with your leg as they pass, that gives them an opening to grab and move into the space. Keeping it in tight with a high leg means you keep the space closed.

Putting your foot on the biceps rather than the hip is another important element. If you can get them close enough, you want to get both your feet onto the biceps, grabbing a collar to lock that in. To then make it even harder for them to disengage, hook one of your feet behind their arm, preventing them from backing away.

If they try to get around your leg, frame against their shoulder, then cross your foot over (also turning your hips, keeping your leg high) to push against their biceps and square back up. Frame against the nearest shoulder, which will be based on their angle. If they turn towards your torso, it will probably be their far shoulder that is best to push against. If they don't turn towards your torso and instead stay facing your head, their near shoulder may be the one in range of your foot.

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Teaching Notes: I need more practice on this to feel comfortable, but I can merge it with the grilled chicken stuff I've learned from Priit. So, things like if they push legs up lock head and butt to the ground, push them down then sit up. I want to work a load more on the cross over, plus dealing with things like leg drag passes. Combining the approaches would make sense, as it feels like there is plenty of common ground between the two systems.

03/08/2022 - Teaching | Half guard | Basic maintaining & back take 4 Aug 2022 12:47 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/08/2022

Short Version:

Wrap one leg behind theirs, putting your shin behind the knee of your outside leg
Use that 'kickstand' to get on your side, blocking their crossface with either a 'paw' or facepalm
Drive your elbow to their armpit, rotating your arm around their back
Fire that arm into their armpit and kick to scoot down, shucking their arm
Come up on your elbow and knee, bring your leg over, then secure the back with a seatbelt grip

Full Version: In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.

Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.

For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

After you've controlled a leg, got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Almost a decade ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw by swimming their arm around, bring your underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second: this is what Reiland calls the 'double-paw' (as he says in the video, it's an approach he learned from SBG black belt John Frankl).

Similarly, if they manage to underhook your underhook, bring that arm over for a double-paw (this is also applicable from the start, if you're framing against their neck), then work to recover your underhook. Keep in mind with the double-paw that you need to make sure you don't leave space under your elbow. Otherwise, as Reiland demonstrates, they can they go for a brabo choke. Get the elbow of your top double-pawing arm to their nearest armpit, as that makes it easier to circle your arm around to their back.

To take the back, fire your underhooking arm up into their armpit. You're trying to knock them forwards, while simultaneously scooting your body down towards their legs. At that point, pull your 'paw' arm back, so that you can base on that elbow, swiftly pushing up onto the hand. That should give you the balance to reach around to their lat with what was your underhooking arm. For further control, swing your leg over their back too. Establish a hook by digging your heel inside their knee. Finally, get a seatbelt grip (one arm under their armpit, the other over their shoulder, locking your hands together) and roll towards your non-hooking foot for standard back control.

To help with the back take, it is a good idea to tweak out their leg before you swivel up. Your outside leg steps over and drags their leg out. This disrupts their base, making it much easier to go to their back. It can also lead to the easier to control back position where you have brought them down to the mat, rather than leaping onto their turtle (which feels inherently less stable).
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Teaching Notes: Fairly happy with this at the moment. I think it is of use mentioning you can generate extra momentum with that kick, but that it isn't always necessary. Also worth noting that knee shield makes a big difference, but that we'll cover that in a future lesson as it's important to learn the basics first.

25/07/2022 - Teaching | Open Guard | Leg squash and leg weave passing 3 Aug 2022 8:48 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK -25/07/2022

If you are passing nogi, you don't have the joy of gi grips to help you secure position. Instead, put your hands on the middle of their shins, driving them into their body. If they aren't blocking against their knees and framing with their arms, you want to drive their knees right into them, your bodyweight positioned over the top to pin them. Be careful of your posture: you need to get enough weight through your arms to pin their legs, but not be too far forward (they might be able to flip you) or too far back (your weight will shift off them).

Move off at an angle, then step your leg in deep, shin against the back of their knee, trying to push their leg towards the floor with your hand (off that same grip you had originally). Turn your inside knee inwards. You've got your body over the top of their other leg, attempting to put your weight into the side of that leg.

By driving their leg across towards their other leg, they will tend to push back: it's common for people to give you the opposite reaction to whatever you're doing (i.e., you pull, they push). If they push back, use that momentum to move into a knee slide. You follow where they are pushing, bringing your shin over their thigh, your knee on the ground. Your other leg steps out for base.

It is important to try and avoid their knee coming in, as you don't want to deal with the knee shield if you don't have to. In order to prevent it, circle your hand that is gripping to instead go to the hip, making sure your arm maintains a block on their leg attempting to sneak inside. You can then go to the underhook. Your knee that is on the ground pushes straight back, hip to the mat, then turn to side control.

If they don't push back, you can collapse your weight over the top of both of their legs, walking your way up into mount. A more complex option is the leg weave pass. Having moved their legs across, so the top leg is squished on top of their other leg, keep your weight on there, posting your outside leg for base. The knee of your other leg drives between their top and bottom leg, so that your knee is on the ground and pinning their bottom thigh with your shin.

You have various options to complete the pass. My preference would be to hook their top leg with my outside leg, getting my shin behind it and doing a big step (handy tip from Kenny Polmans in relation to a different pass, but it applies in lots of situations). Replace the pressure of your body with your hand on their top leg, then move around behind. ____________________

Teaching Notes: Do I need both versions? Just the squash is probably enough, especially as it is way simpler than the leg weave. Though yeah, the leg weave gives better precision and control, so still worth teaching. But maybe in a separate class, perhaps as part of some other sequence? With grip breaks, something like that?

I also forgot to film myself freeing the leg, when they grab an ankle. NEXT TIME DO A VID! It is way easier if you are pressing down on the legs, as then you lift their butt off the ground, meaning you can simply kick across to free your leg from the grip.

20/07/2022 - Teaching | NoGi | Pasing open guard, knee slide 28 Jul 2022 12:16 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK -20/07/2022

If you are passing nogi, you don't have the joy of gi grips to help you secure position. Instead, put your hands on the middle of their shins, driving them into their body. Move off at an angle, then step your leg in deep, shin against the back of their knee, trying to get their leg towards the floor. Turn your inside knee inwards. You've got your body over the top of their other leg, attempting to put your weight into the side of that leg.

By driving their leg across towards their other leg, they will tend to push back: it's common for people to give you the opposite reaction to whatever you're doing (i.e., you pull, they push). If they push back, use that momentum to move into a knee slide. You follow where they are pushing, bringing your shin over their thigh, your knee on the ground. Your other leg steps out for base.

If they don't push back, you can collapse your weight over the top of both of their legs, walking your way up into mount.

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Teaching Notes: The Grapplers Guide videos from JT Torres on nogi passing are really handy, well taught too. Next time, I want to be more precise about how you put your weight to the side of their knee, also if it is possible that pushing with the arm can work ok too. It fits well with what I already know for knee cut, providing a different entry. The squash pass over the thigh fits in here nicely, but probably best saved for a separate class.

Also, the first vid in JT Torres' series is specifically against people self-framing into their legs, so most of that doesn't apply if they simply have their legs in the air. With that, you can drive their knees towards them, which makes everything a lot easier as they have less opportunity to get some kind of guard going.

29/06/2022 - Teaching | Back | Bow & Arrow Choke 22 Jul 2022 11:33 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK -29/06/2022

Tonight, it was time for the signature move at Artemis BJJ, the bow and arrow. Starting from standard back control with a seat-bet grip, you open up their collar with the hand you have under their armpit. Fold it over (a handy tip from James '300' Foster), then grip it with the hand you have over their shoulder. Don't grip too high, or you'll lack the range to finish the choke.

Next you want to get hold of their non-choking side leg. If you're having trouble grabbing it, Dónal suggests using your same side heel to dig in by their knee, curling your leg back. That should bring their trouser leg in range for you to grab with your free hand, establishing a good anchor point. You then want to swivel your body, in order to get your leg-grabbing side foot to the outside of their other thigh.

I tend to push off their non-grabbed leg side thigh with my same side foot, to help me move my other foot over. Once you've got that foot locked in place, you want to keep it there to block them from trying to turn into an escape. Along with your initial grip on their leg, that hook with your foot gives you better leverage to move into the main choking position.

To get there, swing out your non-hooking leg. You want to end up with your opponent's head on the thigh of that leg you just swung out. Tuck the elbow of your choking arm back by your hip, as pulling on the elbow is one of the main escapes. To finish, pull your hand down (like you were cracking a whip), pressing your forearm into their head (you can drive with your shoulder too). If that doesn't work, you can try increasing the range by gripping with less fingers (though this does make your grip weaker). Putting a leg over their shoulder and then crossing your feet can give you more leverage, as you can then thrust your hips up into the choke.

If that still isn't getting the choke, try bringing the hand that was gripping their leg behind their head, driving it through to push their head forward as you lock in the choke. For even more leverage, you can bring it under their arm. That then sets you up for yet another follow-up submission: the armbar is right there from that position.

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Teaching Notes: Rewatching the video from a BJJ Globetrotters class I went to in Leuven 2018, I realised the importance of crossing the legs over the shoulder. Rather than it just being an option, it feels like it is fairly key to getting the leverage. It also reminded me that it is worth showing the leaning back option, which functions as a simplified method. I still prefer being upright, but going straight to bringing the leg over the shoulder to then cross the feet is a viable option that I need to show too.

27/06/2022 - Teaching | Back | Armbar 21 Jul 2022 2:58 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 27/06/2022

Along with chokes, armbars are another good option from the back. You have the usual seatbelt grip, with one arm under their armpit, the other over their shoulder. Chop your hand up between their elbow and torso, to then wriggle through and grab their shoulder. Reach your foot on the armpit side over to the opposite hip, hooking around with your instep. Use that to swivel: you can also add in a swing with your other leg to help the rotation, much like with the bow and arrow choke.

You can also push off the floor if you prefer. As you turn, bring your free hand to their head and stiff arm it away. Keeping their arm tight and your bum close to their shoulder, bring your leg over their head. You could also try shifting into a more bow and arrow position: the leg going over the head is usually the biggest risk in this technique, as that is where you're liable to leave the most space.

Finally, adjust your position if necessary (e.g., scooting your hips in closer to their shoulder in order to prevent giving them any space), squeeze your knees then gradually drop back. Don't let go of the figure four until the last moment, moving up to the wrist. Raise your hips and pull down on the arm to finish. Make sure their thumb is pointing up (if it isn't, you can still finish the armbar, it's just a bit more awkward as you have to angle based on their elbow).

To add further control, you can put your leg higher on their head, making it more difficult for them to raise their head up. If they do manage to turn in towards you, you're in a good position to move straight into a triangle from guard. Quite often they will also link their hands together: there are many methods for breaking the grip, but one I like is simply kicking their grip apart (making sure you aren't giving up too much control in the process).

Another option for putting them in position for the armbar is to put both your feet on their hips and push them down. That way, there is much less distance for your leg to cover when you're trying to bring it over their head.

You'll most likely have to break their grip as they defend against the armbar. The simplest is putting your foot in the crook of their arm, pulling with your arm as you push. Alternatively, reach through around their arm to grab your own hip, then lean off to the side and back in a semi circle. Finally, there is the complex option, where you reach you hand that's by their head through. Your other arm goes in front of their elbow, gripping your hands together. Twist to open. If that is too awkward, reach both arms through parallel, achieving the same kind of pressure, if to a lesser extent.

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Teaching Notes: Matt H once again had an armbar grip break for me to try. This time, your arm nearest their legs loops through under their arm, aiming to grab your hip (that's nearest their head). If you can't get all the way to your hip, wriggle your way there gradually. You can also try really jamming it through, to maximise reach. Once you've grabbed your hip, lean towards their head, adding power and leverage.

However, that isn't as clean as the twisting grip break, which is all leverage. Also be aware that there are tougher grips to break than hands together. If they grab their gi and protect that with their other arm, even harder to loosen up.

There is quite a lot to fit in with the three grip breaks, but still worth mentioning that a common method they've use to escape is pushing either your leg off their head, or shoving your other leg down towards their legs. There is a lot of detail I can go into with armbars, so the question is how far to go with that. Probably enough to split across two classes, but meh, you have the introduce the armbar some time, so then again, not good to overload with detail.

22/06/2022 - Teaching | Back | Panda defence & scoop escape 30 Jun 2022 7:18 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/06/2022

Before they get their upper body grips, immediately leans forwards. Protect your neck by keeping your hands close, palms facing outwards (snapping at any grips attempting to come in: IIRC, Priit uses the handy metaphor of piranhas). Keep your forearms tightly in your hip creases, elbows slightly past your hips. The further you can lean forward, the better.

If they attempt to step a leg over the top of your leg, underhook it, turn and go for the pass. If your defences havea gat and they do manage to get their hooks in, grab around their feet. With your arms inside their legs for extra leverage, pull up on their feet. That should make it really hard for them to do anything proactive.

This then leads to the scoop. As with any escape, you need to stay tight. Should you prefer a different hand position to the piranha, there are numerous schools of thought on just how to do that: clamping your hands to both sides of your neck (which I learned as the 'Shirley Temple' defence), crossing your hands over your neck, grabbing both your collars, and Saulo's method of just grabbing one collar, keeping the other hand free to block.

If you go for any of those options, you need to be careful that you don't reach too far with that free hand. If you do, then you may give them space to establish a firm grip or launch their attack. Keep the 'defensive zone' of the free arm small, with your elbow staying tight. Should they manage to get past your arms and being setting up a choke, you'll probably have to bail on that and simply grab their arm. The first priority when somebody takes your back is protecting your neck.

What Saulo calls the 'scoop' back escape starts with that hand positioning, one thumb in the opposite collar and the other hand defending. The same thing works from the panda position too (but be careful if you are pulling up on their feet, as their legs are in a vulnerable position when you move your hips forwards). For this escape to work, you need to have prevented (or cleared) any grips they have below your arms. That then enables you 'scoop' your upper body down and your hips forwards, as low as you can. Next, kick out one of your legs to clear their hook (you may also need to nudge it with your elbow), then drop your other elbow down past their other leg and turn.

That's a little counter-intuitive: keep in mind you are not turning towards the hook you kicked free. You also need to be careful here that they can't re-establish their second hook: block it with your elbow and knee if they try. Once you've turned, stay heavy on their leg and move up into side control.

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Teaching Notes: I should look more into that escape where the feet are grabbed and Priit spins around from there. Also, emphasising the elbows are on the inside of the legs when they get their hooks in against panda. Do you need both arms under the leg when they step a leg over, or is one enough? To turn you would have to remove one arm anyway, unless I'm forgetting something Priit taught.

01/06/2022 - Teaching | Back | Basic maintaining 24 Jun 2022 7:03 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 01/06/2022

The back is a great position to be in. There are lots of submissions, your opponent can't easily see what you're doing, and you'll also get four points in competition (once you've got your hooks in). The first thing to note is a basic safety point, which is don't cross your feet. If you cross your feet, then all your partner has to do is cross their feet over yours and bridge, footlocking you. Instead, you want to be hooking your insteps inside their legs, or digging your heels in. The idea is to generate enough connection with your feet that when your partner rolls to one side, you will roll with them.

Having said that, there are situations where you can cross your feet. The main one to avoid is crossing them in front, low enough that your partner can easily triangle their legs over the top. You can get away with crossing them up higher, though be aware that in competition you won't get any points. Another option where crossing your feet can conversely be a great control is a single hook, Marcelo Garcia style. One leg is in front, the other behind: this can be useful when you only have one hook (though again, it won't get you points in competition, despite being a good control).

Second, you want to get a good grip with your arms. The harness grip (as always, various other names, like over-under and seatbelt) is a solid option for both gi and nogi. Begin by getting an arm under their same side armpit, so they can't slide down (as otherwise they can go for the scoop escape). If they have a gi, you can help secure the position by grabbing their opposite collar. The other arm comes over their shoulder.

If you can't grab a collar, then link your hands together, using that to lock yourself in place. You could also grab under both arms grabbing a collar, which is a excellent way to hold them in place. However, that means both your arms are occupied: for attacks, you have more options if you keep one arm free, to go over the shoulder.

Your arm by the shoulder is the one you'll be looking to shift into their neck and/or grabbing a collar, where you can start working for a choke. Stephan Kesting advises that rather than linking hands, you can grab your own arm, which in turn means you are blocking the best grip your opponent wants to get. As ever, play around and see what you prefer.

Third, keep your chest pressed against their upper back. To escape, they need to create space, so don't let them have any: stay glued to their upper back. This is very important, as most escapes will rely on them creating distance between your chest and their upper back. You also don't want them to put you flat on your back, like in the bridge escape, as then they can start moving their hips. If you drop back, make sure you've moved to the side. However, your ideal position is getting them face down (as long as you have your grips, otherwise it can be awkward to move into position for an attack).

Fourth, follow them with your hips, similar as when you're in their guard. If you keep moving your hips to square back up whenever they try and shift away, that again stops them creating space.

Finally, you want to keep your head locked to theirs, providing additional control. It also helps you to see what they're doing. Otherwise, their head would be blocking your line of sight. Place your head next to theirs on the armpit hand side, as that way you're controlling both sides of their skull.

Often, you will find that you end up falling to one side. Ideally, you want to try and fall to your choking arm side (the arm that is over their shoulder), as if they try to escape that way and you have a choke partially locked in, they're moving deeper into the choke. It also means you have greater mobility, as falling to the other side your arm would be stuck under their armpit. Be sure to also keep your bottom foot hooked: if they clear the top one, you can recover, but losing the bottom one means it will be tough to prevent their escape.

I finished off with the simple way of recovering mount from the back. They've cleared one hook and managed to put their shoulders onto the mat. It will be tough to regain your back mount from here, especially if they've moved over your leg. As soon as you feel their bum move past your knee, bring your remaining hook over their body and clamp the heel to their far hip. Make sure it is providing you with enough control that they can't simply shrug you off. Pull out your elbow for base, then turn and slide through into mount, using your heel for leverage.

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Teaching Notes: I can't think of anything particular to add, so I'll just repeat what I said last time. You can only have head tight on the armpit side, that's worth noting. If they fall the other way, go for the choke, I guess? Also, Tom Barlow's tip on establishing the seat belt close to their armpit, harder for them to strip it away.

I reckon Charles' tips on kicking behind the legs could help here. I'm still not sure on the best format for the lesson, maybe that fits better in the 'regaining hooks' class? I do like mentioning the single hook, but it's possible I could put that all in the regaining hooks lesson. Next time, I'll try have the single hook stuff and Charles' material, see if that makes things too long or not.

30/05/2022 - Teaching | Side control | Baseball bat choke 24 Jun 2022 12:55 AM (2 years ago)

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 24/06/2022

Start in standard side control, one hand under their head, heavy cross-face. Slide that back slightly, in order to grab right behind their collar, where the label would be. Straighten that arm firmly, so that your forearm is pressing into their neck.

The tricky part is bringing in your second hand. You need to get your hand on top of the other, holding their collar like a baseball bat (hence the name of the choke). To do so, your second arm has to slide down along their far lapel (fingers first), as you have to get your second arm pressed against the other side of their neck for the choke. Angle the elbow of your second arm inwards, towards your first arm.

Put your knee on their belly to stop them escaping, then apply the choke by twisting inwards. This should make your arms press firmly into both sides of their neck: your first arm stays fairly static, it's the weight dropping through the second elbow that applies most of the choke. Be careful you are pressing into the sides of the neck, not the windpipe. If you need more leverage, try rotating around to a north south type position, putting your head on their chest.

A handy alternative is to use the gi as a way of providing the grips you need. Pull out their gi lapel on the far side, dragging that under their arm. Grip it with your crossfacing hand, straightening your arm into their neck. The second grip comes in as before, except that this should be much easier because you don't have to slide it inside their collar, where they are likely to realise and block the hand. Once you have the grips in place, you can finish as before.

Years ago, Donal showed me a method for avoiding telegraphing your grips. He suggested putting in your second grip first. This is a little confusing at first, but if you get into the habit of putting in your second grip (backwards, as you're going to follow it in a moment), it will make you baseball bat choke sneakier. Admittedly I get confused, as I haven't practiced it enough yet myself. ;)

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Teaching Notes: Importance of mentioning knee on belly as a way to stop them escaping their hips. I could mention that you can do the same thing from the bottom, though it is low percentage. Possibly go more in depth on Donal's second grip first (but backwards) method, though I did remember to show it.

23/05/2022 - Teaching | Side control | Guard recovery (Lachlan Giles version) 20 Jun 2022 7:50 PM (2 years ago)

Teaching: Evening
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/05/2022

Short Version:

From your frame, bridge and shrimp
Put your shin on their hip, knee pointing down, then extend your leg
Frame against their shoulder and bicep with your arms
Bring your near leg under their arm, into their shoulder
Use those base points to move into open guard

Full Version: First thing to note is that they will want to kill your near arm. This is bad for you, because it means you can't stop them shifting up towards your head. From there, they can make as much space as they want and pass to mount. So, you need to get your arm inside, the forearm pressing against their hip: this is more reliable than using your hand, as they can potentially still bring their body onto your hand and collapse it, especially if you're grabbing the gi (given the loose material). The forearm into the hip will help block their movement, and initiate your attempts to create some space. It should also help you block them moving to north south, as if you clamp your arm by their side, your body will move with them if they try to switch position. Be sure to also keep your elbow inside their knee.

Be aware that having your forearm by their hip like that does leave you more open to the cross-face. So, you could potentially block inside their cross-facing arm instead, which will prevent their shoulder pressure. This is the Saulo method from his book, which has advantages, but personally I prefer to block the hip.

With your other hand, grab the gi material by their shoulder, close to their neck, then pull down. You're aiming to use the lower part of your forearm. Twist that arm up into their neck, keeping your elbow in: you need to be tight here, as otherwise they will go for a figure four on that arm. Once you've got the forearm into their neck, they can't press down into you, as they'll essentially be choking themselves. Note that this is a block: you don't want to start pushing and reaching, as that may leave you vulnerable. Reach too far and they can shove your arm to one side and set up an arm triangle.

Next I moved on to the legs. Your legs have two main purposes here: first, blocking your opponent getting to mount. Raise your near knee and drive it into their side. The idea is to wedge them between your knee and the arm you have by their hip. Personally, I like to keep my knee floating, glued to their side.

That makes it easier to slip my knee under as soon as they give me any space, which is something I learned from Roger. Many people prefer to cross their foot over their knee, which is something I used to do in the past as well. However, as this long Sherdog thread discusses, that can leave you open to a footlock, and also limit your mobility. Then again, you can see it used at the highest levels, like here at the Mundials.

The second use for your legs is bridging. Marcelo Garcia has a handy tip for this (although the escape he is doing there is slightly different), related to increasing the power of your bridge. To do that, bring your heels right to your bum, then push up on your toes. That increases your range of motion, so you can really drive into them.

Make sure you turn into them as you bridge, rather than just straight up. This will help the next part, which is to shrimp out as you come back down. That's why you've created space in the first place: if you simply plopped back down, then you've wasted the opportunity. As soon as you shrimp out, slip the knee pressing into their side underneath. Note you aren't trying to lift them with your arms. Instead, you want to push off them, moving your body away rather than pushing theirs higher up. When your shin is over their stomach, you can use that to square your body up, pushing through your leg to move your head in line with theirs.

This is where the Lachlan Giles version differs from what I've always taught. Rather than bringing your knee across the stomach, your shin goes to their hip, with your knee angled downwards. Giles argues that having the shin across the stomach is less effective, as it's too easy for them to squish that down with their weight. Extend your leg to create space, then frame against their arm with both of yours. It becomes reminiscent of half guard at this point, in terms of what you're doing with your upper body (specifically the longer range half guard, where they haven't managed to get a cross face).
Your other leg can now move inside their arm, with your foot near their hip (so, also near your other foot). That should give you enough base to swivel into open guard. You could potentially go all the way to closed guard, though that feels a bit redundant at this point. If you do, Giles suggests moving your hips away, counter-intuitively. I'll have to remember to check the video to remember why. ;) ______________________
Teaching Notes: I've been enjoying the trial month on Lachlan Giles new Submeta site, which has so far delivered exactly what I want from an instructional. I.e., stuff I already know, but with interesting variations and new details. I think Giles' version may be simpler than the one I've taught up until now, less moving parts. I'll keep experimenting.

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