03/12/2011 – Mauricio Gomes Masterclass & GB Submission Only Comp
Posted: 03/12/2011 Filed under: BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, Bristol, choke from knee on belly, Gracie Barra Bristol, guard pass, half guard sweep, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Nick Brooks 4 CommentsClass #435
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Mauricio ‘Maurição’ Motta Gomes, Bristol, UK – 03/12/2011
I’ve been out of training for the last week, as last weekend I got some kind of nasty flu. That meant I wasn’t sleeping well, so spend the day and night sniffling while wrapped up in a sleeping bag, my laptop at the ready. Also meant I finally got round to watching the commentaries of my Blackadder box set, then put on Battlestar Galactica, which I keep hearing is really good. Decent plot and acting so far, but then I’ve only been through the mini-series and first episode.
I was determined to make today, as we were going to have the rare treat of Mauricio ‘Maurição’ Gomes popping down to do a ‘masterclass’, before the regular internal Gracie Barra competition Geeza runs every few months. If you don’t know who he is, Maurição has four major claims to fame: first, he is one of the very few people to be promoted to black belt by Rolls Gracie. Second, he is the man largely responsible for growing BJJ in the UK. Third, he is a member of another rare group, red and black belts (the belt after black belt). Finally, his son is Roger Gracie, whose name might ring a bell. 😉
I was also to grab Maurição for an interview later in the day, which was cool: we spent a good forty minutes chatting about Rolls Gracie, BJJ in the UK, Roger, belt tests, the first female black belt and various other topics. Always great to chat to the big names. I have met Maurição before, back when I was training regularly at the RGA HQ, but I was surprised that he remembered me. Clearly a man with a good memory for faces! 😉
There was no warm-up, as Maurição went straight into technique, keeping things fairly basic. He started off with a guard pass, where you grab both their collars with one hand and their sleeve with the other. Shove that sleeve into their hip, then hop up into a crouch, basing by pressing your weight through your hands. Stand up, letting go of the collars but pulling up on their sleeve. With your free hand, press inside their knee while simultaneously stepping your same side leg back.
Ideally, that should mean you can now open their guard and shove their knee to the floor. As soon as you do, slide your same side knee over, pinning their leg to the mat with your shin. You now have two options for passing. Either you can bump their other leg up onto your shoulder, reach for the collar with your outside hand then smash pass (like I showed last week), or you can go the other way, backstepping then pulling your leg through.
Maurição followed up with some knee on belly attacks, of which I think there were about four. However, I was drilling with Maeve, so that was a bit overwhelming for a white belt, meaning we just stuck with the first one. After you’ve passed and established knee on belly, sliding your knee across their belt line, get a deep grip in their collar, four fingers in, just like you were going for a cross choke. Your other hand goes on top, gripping the other collar thumb in. Once you’ve secured that grip, sprawl back with your feet, which puts all your weight through the neck, then twist your wrists to finish the submission.
Having covered knee on belly, Maurição moved rapidly onto attacks from mount. Specifically, it was technical mount, for when your opponent has turned to one side. Again, just like a class I’ve taught before (although obviously I don’t teach it anywhere near as well as Maurição, who has literally been a black belt longer than I’ve been alive), during the technical mount portion of my attacking the mount lesson.
Finally, Maurição went through a couple of basic sweeps, the double ankle grab and one of my favourites, the sickle sweep (which I last taught here). He then handed over to one of the other black belts in attendance, Nick Brooks (if you’re wondering who the other two were, it was Salvo from GB Bath and Raphael Dos Santos, who runs a number of schools under the GB Cornwall banner)
Having experienced Nick’s excellent instruction at Mill Hill a couple of times, I knew he’d have something good up his sleeve. Today, that was a nifty but simple half guard sweep. The starting position is unusual. You have your inside foot over their upper leg, hooking around for control, but the knee of your leg is still in front of them, pressing into their hip. Your outside leg is just clamping tight against them, rather than locked up into an orthodox half guard.
Grab their sleeve on the outside leg side, while also gripping their trouser leg on the inside leg side. Bridge slightly, then turn towards the outside leg, driving your knees in that direction, pulling on their sleeve and lifting with your trouser grip. Very simple, but effective.
That marked the end of the masterclass, which ran for about an hour. Geeza then sorted out the brackets for the internal competition. This is open to all Gracie Barra students in the UK. Previously, the competitions have mainly consisted of Gracie Barra Bristol and Gracie Barra Bath, but this time a number of students came along from Cornwall, Birmingham, Swindon, Wales, the main RGA school in London and Nick Brooks’ school in Mill Hill. GB Bristol has a lot of mat space, so Geeza was able to have five matches running at once.
I wasn’t feeling up to competing (perhaps I’ll give it a shot in the future, as I couldn’t really ask for a more convenient environment), so instead I helped out as a ref. Of course, that wasn’t a very demanding job, given the rules of this particular competition. Geeza, as you may know if you’ve ever watched his TheRealGeeza YouTube channel, is a firm believer that you should aim to finish the fight, not play for points. To that end, the internal GB comps he runs are submission only.
That meant my job as a ref was basically to stop people rolling into other fights, avoid hitting the wall, pause the action if trousers or jacket were falling off (more common than you’d expect!), stop the fight once someone was tapping and then raise the hand of the winner. Some techniques were illegal, such as cervical locks, slamming and all leglocks except straight ankle locks, but nobody ended up doing them and getting disqualified.
It was cool to get some reffing experience, as that’s something I’d like to get into, in order to become a better teacher: I’ll often have students ask, “so how many points would that be?”, and I’m not always certain when the situation gets a bit more complex. Submission only is a good way to dip my toes, as it is so much simpler than the usual IBJJF rules. Most of the fights were pretty quick, but there were a few monsters, such as the epic eighty minute white belt battle. Among the women, Maeve also had an impressively long fight, going for fifty-three minutes.
Finaly, it was great to catch up with some old training partners from RGA and GB Brum, especially Conor, who I hadn’t even realised was here in England now rather than Belfast. There should eventually be lots of videos, either on TheRealGeeza or the official Gracie Barra Bristol channel, so keep an eye on those. 🙂
03/12/2011 – Mauricio Gomes Masterclass & GB Submission Only Comp
Posted: 03/12/2011 Filed under: BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, Bristol, choke from knee on belly, Gracie Barra Bristol, guard pass, half guard sweep, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Nick Brooks 4 CommentsClass #435
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Mauricio ‘Maurição’ Motta Gomes, Bristol, UK – 03/12/2011
I’ve been out of training for the last week, as last weekend I got some kind of nasty flu. That meant I wasn’t sleeping well, so spend the day and night sniffling while wrapped up in a sleeping bag, my laptop at the ready. Also meant I finally got round to watching the commentaries of my Blackadder box set, then put on Battlestar Galactica, which I keep hearing is really good. Decent plot and acting so far, but then I’ve only been through the mini-series and first episode.
I was determined to make today, as we were going to have the rare treat of Mauricio ‘Maurição’ Gomes popping down to do a ‘masterclass’, before the regular internal Gracie Barra competition Geeza runs every few months. If you don’t know who he is, Maurição has four major claims to fame: first, he is one of the very few people to be promoted to black belt by Rolls Gracie. Second, he is the man largely responsible for growing BJJ in the UK. Third, he is a member of another rare group, red and black belts (the belt after black belt). Finally, his son is Roger Gracie, whose name might ring a bell. 😉
I was also to grab Maurição for an interview later in the day, which was cool: we spent a good forty minutes chatting about Rolls Gracie, BJJ in the UK, Roger, belt tests, the first female black belt and various other topics. Always great to chat to the big names. I have met Maurição before, back when I was training regularly at the RGA HQ, but I was surprised that he remembered me. Clearly a man with a good memory for faces! 😉
There was no warm-up, as Maurição went straight into technique, keeping things fairly basic. He started off with a guard pass, where you grab both their collars with one hand and their sleeve with the other. Shove that sleeve into their hip, then hop up into a crouch, basing by pressing your weight through your hands. Stand up, letting go of the collars but pulling up on their sleeve. With your free hand, press inside their knee while simultaneously stepping your same side leg back.
Ideally, that should mean you can now open their guard and shove their knee to the floor. As soon as you do, slide your same side knee over, pinning their leg to the mat with your shin. You now have two options for passing. Either you can bump their other leg up onto your shoulder, reach for the collar with your outside hand then smash pass (like I showed last week), or you can go the other way, backstepping then pulling your leg through.
Maurição followed up with some knee on belly attacks, of which I think there were about four. However, I was drilling with Maeve, so that was a bit overwhelming for a white belt, meaning we just stuck with the first one. After you’ve passed and established knee on belly, sliding your knee across their belt line, get a deep grip in their collar, four fingers in, just like you were going for a cross choke. Your other hand goes on top, gripping the other collar thumb in. Once you’ve secured that grip, sprawl back with your feet, which puts all your weight through the neck, then twist your wrists to finish the submission.
Having covered knee on belly, Maurição moved rapidly onto attacks from mount. Specifically, it was technical mount, for when your opponent has turned to one side. Again, just like a class I’ve taught before (although obviously I don’t teach it anywhere near as well as Maurição, who has literally been a black belt longer than I’ve been alive), during the technical mount portion of my attacking the mount lesson.
Finally, Maurição went through a couple of basic sweeps, the double ankle grab and one of my favourites, the sickle sweep (which I last taught here). He then handed over to one of the other black belts in attendance, Nick Brooks (if you’re wondering who the other two were, it was Salvo from GB Bath and Raphael Dos Santos, who runs a number of schools under the GB Cornwall banner)
Having experienced Nick’s excellent instruction at Mill Hill a couple of times, I knew he’d have something good up his sleeve. Today, that was a nifty but simple half guard sweep. The starting position is unusual. You have your inside foot over their upper leg, hooking around for control, but the knee of your leg is still in front of them, pressing into their hip. Your outside leg is just clamping tight against them, rather than locked up into an orthodox half guard.
Grab their sleeve on the outside leg side, while also gripping their trouser leg on the inside leg side. Bridge slightly, then turn towards the outside leg, driving your knees in that direction, pulling on their sleeve and lifting with your trouser grip. Very simple, but effective.
That marked the end of the masterclass, which ran for about an hour. Geeza then sorted out the brackets for the internal competition. This is open to all Gracie Barra students in the UK. Previously, the competitions have mainly consisted of Gracie Barra Bristol and Gracie Barra Bath, but this time a number of students came along from Cornwall, Birmingham, Swindon, Wales, the main RGA school in London and Nick Brooks’ school in Mill Hill. GB Bristol has a lot of mat space, so Geeza was able to have five matches running at once.
I wasn’t feeling up to competing (perhaps I’ll give it a shot in the future, as I couldn’t really ask for a more convenient environment), so instead I helped out as a ref. Of course, that wasn’t a very demanding job, given the rules of this particular competition. Geeza, as you may know if you’ve ever watched his TheRealGeeza YouTube channel, is a firm believer that you should aim to finish the fight, not play for points. To that end, the internal GB comps he runs are submission only.
That meant my job as a ref was basically to stop people rolling into other fights, avoid hitting the wall, pause the action if trousers or jacket were falling off (more common than you’d expect!), stop the fight once someone was tapping and then raise the hand of the winner. Some techniques were illegal, such as cervical locks, slamming and all leglocks except straight ankle locks, but nobody ended up doing them and getting disqualified.
It was cool to get some reffing experience, as that’s something I’d like to get into, in order to become a better teacher: I’ll often have students ask, “so how many points would that be?”, and I’m not always certain when the situation gets a bit more complex. Submission only is a good way to dip my toes, as it is so much simpler than the usual IBJJF rules. Most of the fights were pretty quick, but there were a few monsters, such as the epic eighty minute white belt battle. Among the women, Maeve also had an impressively long fight, going for fifty-three minutes.
Finaly, it was great to catch up with some old training partners from RGA and GB Brum, especially Conor, who I hadn’t even realised was here in England now rather than Belfast. There should eventually be lots of videos, either on TheRealGeeza or the official Gracie Barra Bristol channel, so keep an eye on those. 🙂
12/01/2009 – BJJ (Intermediate)
Posted: 12/01/2009 Filed under: BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, guard pass, Intermediate, London, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Roger Gracie Academy, standing pass (over) 3 CommentsClass #209
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK – 12/01/2009 – Intermediate
Tonight was concentrated on guard passing, which continues to be my worst area. Maurição stuck with the basics, beginning with a straightforward standing guard pass. Post your hands on their chest, spring up to your feet, also grabbing one of their sleeves. Push their knee on the other side off your hip, bouncing to help dislodge their hold.
Once that limb is loose, immediately clamp their knee to the floor, bringing your own knee over the top to pin their leg. Swing your other leg behind you, then put your nearest hand by their hip, in order to block them. Shift your first leg under the other, staying sprawled out: don’t bring your knees up to their side yet, as that gives them a window of opportunity to get their knee through and escape.
If they put up resistance when you try the leg pin pass – e.g., block your knee, shrimp onto their side etc – then you can switch to a different guard pass. Get your same side arm under their leg, grabbing their opposite collar (palm down, so your fingers are on top). From this position, you can either move around past that trapped leg, shifting your hips and keeping the pressure on to slip through, or try moving round the other side.
Specific sparring with Justin was rather one-sided, as he had no problems at all either passing my guard or sweeping me. I attempted the hook sweep as usual, though need to be careful I’m not too exuberant when disengaging closed guard: I ended up flinging myself right off and Justin simply used gravity to go straight to side control.
I tried my favoured (but almost always ineffectual) kneeling guard break, but wasn’t able to open up Justin’s guard. Nick G stepped in at this point, noting that its difficult to keep control of their hips with that technique, especially if they have a size advantage. He suggested I should instead be trying to stand more often, and also briefly demonstrated another kneeling option. Your posture stays low, grabbing the gi material on their sides, after which you gradually work your knee through: Nick noted that you have to be very wary of chokes when doing that.
Next up was side control, this time with Liam. Again, on top I was being flung off or reversed with ease: I kept overbalancing, and I’m still not mobile enough in transitioning. I had a go at the knee-on-chest Maurição showed us last week, but not getting that knee in right yet. I’ll keep practicing, as I’m keen to establish an option that doesn’t require you to get their elbow clear first, along with the typical pass which does.
Underneath I was more comfortable, shifting around and following Liam to prevent the pass, but nothing more than that. I was simply holding him off rather than getting near to escaping. That continued into free sparring, which unfortunately today was a continuous line-up rather than picking our own partners. I spent almost the whole of that thirty minutes in half-guard, which was ok if my partner wasn’t too big, but I got smashed when trying that against the beefy Polish guys.
In the midst of that smashing, the second of the Poles was looking for a guillotining, but ended up face cranking me instead. I didn’t want to tap to that, as its not going to help him against anyone his size or bigger so bad habit to get into, but on the other hand, I probably should have just saved myself some pain and restarted. Eventually slipped out, but my face and neck were a little sore at the end of class.
Most useful tip was when I went with Nick. He disdainfully looked at my “flop on the floor” approach to sparring from the knees, advising me that I have to ensure I establish some grips, even if I’m planning to pull guard. I also need to prevent my partner from getting grips: I’m way too complacent when going from knees, as I pretty much assume I’m going to be defending for the majority of the spar, so don’t pay much attention to their opening grips. Something to rectify.
Finally, Nick also had some advice for the mounted triangle. He let me get to mount in order to see what I’d do, but noted that once I’d got a leg under their head, I was raising up my other leg in order to lock on the triangle. That’s a mistake, as it gives your partner the chance to escape: you should keep your hips down and weight low all the way through the technique. So instead of lifting your leg to try and get it around your foot, pull your ankle back enough that you can slot it into place behind your other knee.
Should be training again on Wednesday, but I have some preparation to do for a job interview next week, so may stay at home in order to work some more on that. Depends how far I get tomorrow night.
08/05/2008 – BJJ (Advanced)
Posted: 08/05/2008 Filed under: advanced class, BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, London, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Roger Gracie Academy 2 CommentsClass #144
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK – 08/05/2008 – Advanced
Today marks 1.5 years since my first BJJ class, and I can see there is still plenty that I had trouble with back in November 2006 that continues to cause me problems now. Guard passing is the big one, though Brian’s sprawl pass has helped a little on that: still need to force myself to stand up more, but I think that’s steadily getting better. It’s a shame I missed Maurição’s class on breaking the guard last week, as it wasn’t on a day I could make, but hopefully that will be covered again at some point. My top game is bad in general, but passing the guard is the weakest part, followed by submissions from mount (my subs from side control are crappy too, but at least I have a few I can go for).
My regular training partner Christina is off in the US at the moment, so I’m in the unfamiliar position of having to search for someone to drill with. Yesterday that was with Indra, who is a good substitute (similarly mature and interested in working out the fine points of a technique), but I’m not always quick enough to catch her eye. Today, none of my regular training partners were there anyway, although as it turned out, we didn’t do any technique.
Instead, Maurição decided to have a sparring class. We began with three specific spars in a row, with the same partner. I found myself with Jalal, who must have found it a little dull, as he had no trouble whatsoever in the first specific spar, from rear mount. I could do absolutely nothing when I was sat in position to choke him, as my hook was completely ineffectual: he brushed it away like it was nothing. I had no idea how to stop him, so repeatedly got in position, felt him twist and remove my hook, then escape my grip. I was even more helpless when the situation was reversed, unable to put up any resistance to Jalal’s chokes.
My heart sank when I heard the next specific spar was knee-on-belly, as that could be rather painful. However, turned out to be much better than rear mount, at least when I was on the bottom. On top, I once again couldn’t control Jalal at all: I tried posturing up, pressing my weight down, shifting to the other side, but to no avail. The position felt completely alien to me: I have never ended up there in sparring, so I probably should have been thinking about sliding through to mount. Jalal noted that I should keep my foot off the floor to put as much pressure through my knee as possible, and also need to be careful I don’t lean forward too much, as its then a simple matter to roll me over.
Underneath, I had more of an idea what to do, working for half-guard, shrimping and bridging. Jalal had a choke at one point, but I was able to get an arm in the way to prevent him locking it in. While uncomfortable, I found that I could brace my arm into position, stopping him from squeezing my neck (though my face did get a bit squashed several times during out specific spars). I even found myself popping out the back door at one point, having got half-guard and then gone between his legs, but not quite sure how I ended up there.
Half-guard is where I normally find myself during sparring, so I was relieved that we’d be doing the third specific spar from there. On top, I was again pretty useless, as Jalal turned to his side and pulled out, or rolled me over. He advised that I could try posting on my head to create additional pressure, which is something I haven’t attempted before. I was thinking of the passes Maurição showed us earlier, but clearly I have a lot of work to do before I can use those effectively.
Underneath, I clung to half-guard, continuing my attempts to follow Aesopian’s videos. I still can’t get that knee in, but am finding myself in what Aesopian calls deep half guard more frequently now. Must look into sweeps from there, as at present I grabbing the leg and then looking confused. Squirrel-fu is helping to keep me safe, but very passive.
We did some guard passage after that in a king of the hill line-up, though I only rolled twice. I was knackered by this point, so reverted back to my usual defensive posture avoiding chokes. Others were a little more competitive, as the purple belt I’d just rolled with cracked Radek right in the eyebrow with his heel, making a nasty cut. Radek headed off to hospital shortly afterwards, where I imagine he’ll be getting a fair few stitches. Hopefully he’ll heal up ok.
Maurição then paired us up. I was put against a guy named Simon, who I haven’t seen before. Either he was tired or going light, as I didn’t feel I was in too much danger under his side control, eventually getting half-guard and again curling up tight against his leg. As before, I tried to think of some kind of sweep, lifting his trapped leg up and getting a grip on the other one with my arms, but not clear on the proper technique.
Things finished up with Grant, who as always schooled me: armbars, chokes etc. Shame there weren’t any small people in class at all, but then I have been spoiled at RGA, given that normally there are a reasonable number of people my size and lower.
At the end of class, Maurição made a brief speech about how you shouldn’t get over aggressive in class, as its not a competition. Going rough will soon mean you run out of training partners. It’s a sentiment I certainly agree with, but made me wonder what prompted him to want to prove that point through lots of sparring (although he might have just been emphasising the point due to Radek’s hospitalisation).
Just as people were about to get up to shake hands, Maurição pulled a purple belt out of his gi to give to Connor, who’s been a blue belt for a good long time now. Presumably the high level blues like Gavin, Oli and Tran won’t be too far behind. Also, speaking of purples, Luciano is back from Brazil, though he obviously won’t be training for a while given the recent surgery.
01/05/2008 – BJJ (Advanced)
Posted: 01/05/2008 Filed under: advanced class, BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, half guard pass, London, maintaining mount, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, passing spider guard, Roger Gracie Academy Leave a commentClass #142
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK – 01/05/2008 – Advanced
The more I read by Roy Dean, the more I’m impressed. I already like his videos and blog, and now I’ve been enjoying his free online book, An Uchideshi Experience. Anyone who has read Angry White Pyjamas (my review of that here) will remember that an uchideshi is a live-in student. Dean’s writing is a little later (1999) than Angry White Pyjamas, and also considerably more informed: unlike Robert Twigger, Dean was already an experienced martial artist. Even better, he had begun his training in BJJ, so brings a much more critical eye to traditional martial arts. He provides a balanced perspective on both their benefits and their flaws, with particular regard to aikido.
As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, I’m trying to pull together a long post on BJJ history (which will link back to the ones I’ve already done on the early UFCs). For that, I’m mainly drawing on Mastering Jujitsu and The Gracie Way, so things like An Uchideshi Experience – given the time of writing – are going to be very useful for broadening my sources. Look forward to getting to Dean’s thoughts on the SEG era of the UFC, as in keeping with most non-Brazilians who began BJJ in the 1990s, he was inspired to take up the sport by Royce Gracie’s MMA victories.
Tonight’s class was, in contrast to yesterday, technique heavy. Maurição kind of did what he did yesterday, but this time with careful explanation and clearer goals for us to practice, as opposed to the more conceptual approach last lesson. The pattern was to first do a specific spar, then work a technique from that position, which proved a good structure.
Sparring from the mount with Herman, I was able to escape ok, especially doing my usual half guard, then shifting to full guard by pushing the leg away and slipping under. However, on top I was much less successful. I did at least get to try different things, attempting to secure my leg under his head to get into the mounted triangle position, where my intention was either to go for an armbar from there or finish the triangle. Unfortunately, I was leaving way too much space, so either got swept or Herman was able to escape.
Maurição then instructed us on maintaining mount. The scenario was that they have managed to get an elbow between your knee and their side. Get hold of their other elbow and drag it back, aiming to shove their arm across their own throat. With the same side knee, shift up towards their head, raising up slightly with your other leg (but keeping the foot tight to their side, leaving no space for them to try and underhook it). Also make sure your hips are on them, keeping the pressure.
You can then either go for the armbar, or there was some kind of choke Maurição showed us. I don’t think I quite understood it, but from what I can remember, you open up their collar with one hand, bring your other hand under their head, feed the collar through, grab their other collar and secure the choke. I’m pretty sure I got it wrong, though, as it didn’t feel very tight.
We then moved on to sparring from half-guard. I went for submissions, mainly the kimura, but couldn’t secure Herman’s arm. I also tried switching to a straight armbar, but wasn’t in position to apply enough leverage. Underneath, I was doing much the same thing as from under mount, using the half guard to try to recover full guard. I also attempted shifting to deep half guard (so up by Herman’s legs), which again didn’t yield much as I wasn’t quite sure what to go for. At another point, I’m sure I was in position for some kind of sweep, with my legs under, but again, couldn’t think how to finish.
The technique was two half guard passes. For the first one, you sit back on their leg. As they raise up their torso, you shove it down with one arm. With the other, press their knee to the floor (this will be the knee you were previously sitting on, so its already down by the ground). Having got control of that knee, bring your knee over, then keeping the pressure with your hips, slide through to side control.
Second method was for when you’re closer to them. They’ll most likely try to bring their arm to bear for the underhook, so control that and squash it into their body. Your free knee presses into their hip, blocking the movement of their leg. You then slip your trapped foot out and move to side control. I think: feels like I’m missing something there.
Our last bit of specific sparring was from open guard. With passing, I kinda swung my way past a few times, but not all that securely: had we been free sparring, I don’t think Herman would have had too much trouble coming to his knees and getting up, or going to guard. I also got the sprawl pass again, but need to both control the legs better and improve what Brian called ‘rock climbing’ at the Oxford TD (i.e., pulling myself up his body into side control).
Underneath, I was trying spider guard, but as has been a recurring problem today, wasn’t totally clear on what I was trying to achieve. I really need to review the sweeps from open and half guard, as I can normally get to some semblance of the position. Now I need to clarify my goals once I reach that point in the spar.
Maurição then showed how to pass the open guard. This is something I’ve seen Gustavo demonstrate, and it’s a technique I like (though haven’t quite used it successfully yet, probably again due to problems with pressing my limited weight downwards). They have spider guard. You circle your arms underneath and grip behind their knees. Stack them up (by pushing their legs back), aiming to get their knees to their shoulders. Sit on the back of their thighs, thrusting your hips forward and keeping the pressure downwards. Then simultaneously slip to the side and thrust their legs out the way, sliding into side control.
Free sparring with Herman was quite fun, as I went for lots of submissions. I started with an attempted guillotine, but only had one arm in and couldn’t secure it. I tried switching to a kimura but couldn’t get the arm, and then as Herman came to his knees at one point, I even went for a brabo choke. I think I did it totally wrong, so definitely need to refresh my memory on that one: got the spinning to your back bit, but think my grip on the neck was incorrect.
I also tried for a triangle, as I worked to get my leg over Herman’s arm while pulling the other one forward, but left too much space. I need to thrust my hips up more, and perhaps swivel round. I remembered to try for the armbar, but didn’t have enough of a hold with my legs to stop Herman from pulling out. I really wanted to go for an omoplata too, but couldn’t get the position to swing my leg over and wrap up the arm. Enjoyable, but repeatedly sloppy technique on my part.
My next free spar was quite different, as it was a great deal less mobile. I was with Andy, a white belt who had a bit of size on me. While underneath, he tried to crush my head into his side, which was random: I got my leg around his head and then used the pressure to gradually pry his arm off my head. I’m not sure if he could have got a submission out of that, but presumably was just trying stuff to see if it worked.
I eventually ended up under mount, but was able to sweep him when he went for a choke. However, he was dead keen to get that submission, so held on tightly to his grips as I rolled him into guard. I wrapped up his arms and postured up, so felt fairly confident I was safe. He gave it a good try, though, and definitely wasn’t comfortable. That also made me think about what point do you tap on a choke: I didn’t feel I was in danger, though it definitely wasn’t a fun position to be in. I probably should have also been pressing his elbows in more, rather than just wrapping and posturing.
It was clear that he didn’t want to let go, and that I was going to be able to sit there and resist while he strained, so I advised him to try something else. However, by that point the time was about to run out. I didn’t fancy another roll after that, so sat out the last round of sparring to get some water.
Next bit of training should hopefully be the inaugural meeting of the Warwick Uni BJJ group, which will give me the chance for loads of drilling. Will see how the organisation goes, but could be the start of something really handy.
30/04/2008 – BJJ (Advanced)
Posted: 30/04/2008 Filed under: advanced class, BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, London, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Roger Gracie Academy Leave a commentClass #141
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK – 30/04/2008 – Advanced
Turned out that SENI was well stocked for helpers, so I wasn’t really needed. I brought the food round and did an hour of table judging (i.e., flipping the points board), but aside from bringing along some of the tickets, that was it. Very much enjoyed even that small bit of helping, though, and definitely would like to do it again. Excellent way of getting an in depth view of competition, given that you’re forced to concentrate as you’re waiting to note down points.
It was also really nice to chat to various people at RGA, as well as see a few other BJJers for the first time in a while (like Ben and Oli, who both used to train at RGA and are now at Farringdon, along with the guys from Belfast and Anne, who is now in Brighton).
When I left (about 17:40), there had already been a few RGA successes, most notably Christina kicking arse: gold medal in both her weight category and the absolute. I think one of the heavy whites also got a gold, along with Joanna too. Joanna also, somewhat randomly, did some fights in the cage set up elsewhere at the venue: I missed the first fight, but in the second (pure grappling match), she won through armbar. Not only that, but she beat a guy, which always makes me happy: hooray for feminism! ;D
Watching the SENI did make me think that when I next compete, I might do it at a smaller tournament. The white belts took so long that they were still going when I left, having started at 10:00: some very packed weight divisions. The other thing was that space restrictions (not in terms of competition, as there were eight mats, but around the edge) meant you couldn’t take your bag with you. I really don’t like being away from my stuff, as I’m hyper-paranoid since getting things nicked twice last year.
I’ve spent a lot of yesterday and today reading my way through Roy Dean’s website, which has lots of interesting content. Dean is a BJJ black belt under Roy Harris, but he also has an extensive background in styles like aikido, which has clearly affected his approach. What I like most about Dean is his teaching style, as seen in a number of his videos. He emphasises basics, which is definitely to my liking, and in particular escapes, which is even more up my street. So may well have to pick up one of his DVDs in the future.
Getting back to tonight’s class, somewhat strange in that there was no technique. Instead, Maurição talked for a while about general strategy. His main point, if I understood correctly, was that you had to think a few steps ahead of your opponent, instead of just working to counter whatever they were doing. His analogy was going round a wall – if they went the long way, circling around the right to reach the left corner on the other side, you shouldn’t follow them. Instead, walk straight past the left corner, heading them off.
In the course of demonstrating his point, he went through a whole bunch of positions, mainly working through side mount and knee on belly, showing various submissions and ways of regaining your control. I was waiting for a particular technique, but he then said “go and try,” which confused me: that left a lot of room.
So what Christina and I ended up doing was a bit of side control, moving to knee on belly. The way Christina advised, having learned from Maurição, was to bring your knee diagonally onto your partner, then use that to shift up high onto their chest. From that, you can then swivel round for the armbar. I have never used knee-on-belly, but then I’m rarely on top. If I get there, its either side control or top half guard, after which I normally get swept.
King of the hill guard passage followed, where I was trying to make myself stand up. That didn’t get too far until I went with Lorenzo, who essentially coached me, which was pretty helpful. He emphasised driving my hips forward and being very careful not to lean over, especially as a small guy. I was also trying to remember ShanghaiBJJ’s point about your feet and knees pointing in: Lorenzo let me pass a few times, and then went to sit out. I didn’t actually pass his guard properly, but ended up staying on anyway (though that was short lived, as I was then immediately passed by my next partner).
Free sparring was interesting today. I started off with Tran, and as ever worked escapes against his tight top game. As with the nogi class last week, I keep ending up clamped in half-guard, though this time I tried to move in towards them rather than just clinging on waiting to get passed. Maintaining that grasp on Tran’s leg (which kinda shifted to his ankle several times, so a rather tenuous half-guard on my part) seemed to help resist his submissions, but it was completely defensive. I also used my knuckles to block his hand sliding across my throat, which again was a purely defensive measure.
I need to have a clearer goal to work towards when I’m doing my “clinging like a limpet” half-guard. There’s the option of trying to come up on my side, but that never happens, as I can never find the space. Going to a deep half guard curled up against their legs was a position I could achieve, but do nothing with. Ideally, I want the half guard to be a transitional position for me to get back to full guard. As usual, that’s due to my desire to keep things basic, rather than attempt lots of half guard sweeps or something.
Much the same thing happened with Yasmine, though I did find myself moving towards a stack pass several times. However, on each occasion Yasmine was able to come to her knees and I found myself once again on the bottom. I think that must be my old problem of keeping my weight pressed down: securing the double underhooks isn’t enough, I need to drive forward and really use my hips to maintain the pressure.
Finally, I had a roll with Christina. I’m still working on my spider guard with her, and today I felt a bit more confident with the position. Rather than kinda hanging there and then getting passed, I was focusing on shrimping away, using my wrapped up legs to push off my training partner’s arms. Christina was continuing to drive forward powerfully with her hips, but shrimping away helped a little. However, I’m not doing enough with my arms, and like with half-guard, need to come up with a more specific aim. For that, I’ve been looking at Mark Massey’s videos on YouTube, which gave me some ideas. Possibly a little ambitious, but the concept of shrimping away certainly helped.
As before, my neck was a bit stiff, so I may have to look into that if it becomes a problem. The right thumb is also still sore, but I’m hoping that’s just a matter of time: I’m not really using it much beyond typing, so it shouldn’t be under a great deal of strain. Also need to watch whacking people in the face when in open guard, as I caught Christina with my knee. I don’t think it was too bad, as I didn’t feel any impact (unlike last time), so hopefully it was just a minor knock. In recompense, I’d earlier got smacked in the nose by Uyi. 😉
23/04/2008 – BJJ (Advanced)
Posted: 23/04/2008 Filed under: advanced class, BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, half guard pass, London, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Roger Gracie Academy, takedowns 2 CommentsClass #138
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK – 23/04/2008 – Advanced
Felt good to finally get back to RGA: I was annoyed to only make one session last week due to my neck problems, as that ended what had been a very consistent run of training (although at least I did make that one session, rather than miss the whole week). The bit of grappling at ZSK was fun too, and it was interesting to roll with a completely different set of people than I’m used to (especially much, much bigger guys like Paddy and Glen).
Term has restarted now, so its back to the pattern of just Weds and Thurs available to train (though as happened last year, I very rarely managed three classes despite the potential to do so). Hopefully will make three this week to make up for that: would be fun to do the nogi class again, as its been a long time.
Maurição is back taking class, which is always cool. He started off with some takedowns, including one I haven’t done before but did recognise: in the very brief period I did judo, I had a dig through the technique section on the excellent JudoInfo site. So, I knew the technique tonight was called kata guruma, or shoulder wheel.
If I got this right, you start with a pistol grip on their same side arm. Your elbow comes up and under the inside of their arm, as you turn into their body, sitting down. Maintaining a firm grip on their sleeve, you have the knee nearest to them on the floor, while the other leg is up. To complete the throw, stretch out that leg and fall to that side, rolling your partner up over your shoulders and to the side. You can then follow them round into side control.
Ground technique this session focused on half guard passes. The first one was from a position where you’re on top, they’re curled up towards your knees, with one underhook, preparing to sweep you. First, you reach around the outside of their underhook and reach through, grabbing your opposite lapel, clamping your elbow down to trap their arm. Next, bring your other arm right into their face, with your hand on the floor directly behind their head. Shove that arm towards the opposite side, forcing their body to swivel away, which messes up their sweep attempt.
You then bring your body backwards, changing your grip on the lapel to instead cup their knee and hold it in place. Bring your trapped knee over the top of their leg, then drive your hips forward in order to slide into side control.
The second situation was again from half guard, but this time they’ve managed to get a knee into your stomach. Passing is surprisingly simple, at least in principle. Posture up and drive your hips forward, then grab the fabric by their knee with both hands. Shove that knee right down to the floor: this means you’ve now got a solid control of their legs and hips. Bring your back leg behind your, keeping your arms out to continue trapping their legs, then slide round to take a sort of side control (albeit with them up on their side). If they try to spin out, you can take their back.
For sparring, Maurição started off by pairing up, according to weight and rank. I ended up with Christina, who I most likely would have picked anyway, so that didn’t make too much difference to me. Yet again, after I pulled guard, Christina began to pass, while I attempted to get into a spider guard. As always happens, I tried to push her away with one foot, but her hips were forward and I couldn’t readjust. She gradually crushed her way through to side control, then eventually got mount. That’s where we stayed for the rest of the spar. I maintained a defensive posture, and tried to work on dragging her foot out so I could snatch half guard. However, I didn’t get very far – I wasn’t able to get much purchase on her foot.
Next up was Herman. I started in his guard, as he wanted to practice going from there due to SENI at the weekend. After some straining, I eventually passed to half guard and worked for the kimura: this happens quite often when we spar. I was trying to go for the kimura where you shove a knee into their armpit, pull them up on their and secure the sub. I couldn’t free his arm at first, so bided my time until I was eventually able to isolate the limb. Herman managed to straighten his arm, so I transitioned to a straight armbar.
I wasn’t expecting to land it, but I think Herman was still anticipating the kimura, so I was able to lock it on. I must check the proper technique with an instructor some time, as I think I’m going off Beneville or something at the moment: can’t remember where I first saw it. Either way, I’m definitely not doing it quite right, so would be good to know how to do it properly off a failed kimura.
Third spar of the evening was Indra, another of my favourite sparring partners (I was spoiled for choice tonight, as almost everybody I most enjoy rolling with was there). I find that the last few times I’ve sparred Indra, I’ve tried to pull guard, she’s almost escaped, and I’ve then found myself half taking her back, but can never get the second hook in. I did at least mostly manage to stay on top, seeing if I could grab a kimura, but didn’t have a good position on the arm. I went after a series of submissions, but with sloppy technique, so I don’t think I was close to getting anything at any point. However, I’m at least being more offensive in sparring now.
Finally, I got to roll with an old sparring partner I’ve not had a chance to work with for quite a while, Dominique. I’d forgotten how good her guard passing was, as even pulling guard on her was difficult. I eventually rolled her into half-guard (though I think more through my slight size advantage than technique), and attacked in the same way I had against Herman earlier. Dominique is good at quickly grabbing her leg when she’s at risk of a kimura, so I wasn’t able to immediately isolate the limb.
That gave me the perfect opportunity to try something I’d seen Stephan Keating advise in one of his YouTube vids on finishing the kimura from half guard (although his demonstration is from underneath rather than on top). He recommended pushing as if trying to go through their leg, then relaxing as if giving up, finally yanking to free the grip. Seemed to work, but again, I’m not sure if it was a size thing. Will keep it in mind next time I find myself in that position.
I was trying to use more spider guard and attempt the omoplata a lot tonight, in combination with the kimura, but still have a long way to go. I came closest with Indra, and IIRC did at least still end up in side control, but wasn’t able to spin round to what I think is called ‘s-mount’: we’ve been shown a bunch of stuff from there earlier, so I’d like to get better at that position.
Tran asked if I wanted to do a light roll after class, but unfortunately I’ve always got to rush off in order to catch a train on Wednesdays. It would be nice to live more locally, although that would be rather expensive and its highly unlikely my gf would ever want to live in London. Could be we end up there through work some time, which would be convenient, but she really doesn’t like the capital, so not too likely.
29/08/2007 – BJJ (Advanced)
Posted: 29/08/2007 Filed under: advanced class, BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, London, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Roger Gracie Academy, single leg defence Leave a commentClass #83
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK – 29/08/2007 – Advanced
I felt sufficiently ok for the advanced class, unlike a fortnight ago when I dragged myself home after the beginners. The first technique was a little confusing, but I think it was a defence against a single-leg. As they go for the takedown (with a leg and an arm wrapped round), you reach back between your legs and grab the trouser of the leg they’ve got curled around your limb. You also grab the back of their gi. Pulling up on their leg, fall parallel by their side, still holding their leg, then push on their knee with your outside leg. This will provide space to bring your leg out and round, so you can then move into side control.
Maurição then went through a variation where you press heavily on their leg with your knee, also pulling up on their gi collar. Drag their other leg behind you, then swing all the way over with the leg you had been using to drive down into them. Switch your base, finishing up in side control. That was then followed by a basic half-guard escape, if I recall correctly.
In specific sparring, which this time was guard passage, I just tried to keep posture and work my defence. I made some attempt at passing guard, with my favoured (but increasingly less successful) tailbone guard break, but generally worked to try and keep my back straight, head up and base solid. I also need to watch my arm, which I occasionally left too far forward, meaning I was very vulnerable to a submission. I was eventually swept each time, but hopefully it helped to some small degree in my sensitivity to submission attempts. Then again, I was sparring blue belts and higher, so they would have been going easy on me anyway.
I only rolled twice once we got the end of class sparring, but that was largely because the room was stuffed with people (though admittedly I’m prone to slacking if given the opportunity). First I sparred Dominique, as in the beginners class, and once again found myself mostly in half-guard, or alternately spinning about trying to recover guard. I had a go at the windscreen wiper sweep Ciaran showed me, but Dominique’s elbow wasn’t really far enough out, so I should have tried for a better set-up first.
I could do with practicing more sweeps from half-guard, given that I’m ending up in that position so frequently, or preferably, methods for recovering full guard from there. At the moment, I either try and just drive my knee through, bounce around attempting to make space or lie there waiting for an opportunity. I need to look back through my log to remind myself of the potentially useful related techniques we’ve been shown, like the sweep Maurição demonstrated where you lift them back into your closed guard.
At the same time, I mustn’t forget to work the basics, like the elbow escape and upa. While half-guard is a tempting position to try for, its pretty pointless if I can’t do the fundamentals, as that means as soon as I spar somebody good at passing half-guard, I’m screwed. Not to mention my half-guard is largely of the noobtastic ‘cling on desperately and hope’ variety.
Like in the beginners, my escapes from underneath side control and mount weren’t up to snuff, particularly when it comes to making space. Same thing happened with Nathan, when I spent even more time in half-guard, Nathan tending to dominate on top. Both he and Dominique are becoming much tougher sparring partners (not that I ever had an easy time against them, but its significantly harder now).
Might also help if I was more aggressive when pulling guard, rather than ending up in either half-guard or a sloppy open guard. Though that’s still better than the previous position I ended up in during advanced class, which was in somebody’s guard after which I immediately got swept. On the other hand, I could try being more forceful in driving for the top position: at present I’m heavily leaning towards guard and half-guard, so I need to be careful I’m not neglecting other parts of BJJ.
29/08/2007 – BJJ (Advanced)
Posted: 29/08/2007 Filed under: advanced class, BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, London, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Roger Gracie Academy, single leg defence Leave a commentClass #83
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK – 29/08/2007 – Advanced
I felt sufficiently ok for the advanced class, unlike a fortnight ago when I dragged myself home after the beginners. The first technique was a little confusing, but I think it was a defence against a single-leg. As they go for the takedown (with a leg and an arm wrapped round), you reach back between your legs and grab the trouser of the leg they’ve got curled around your limb. You also grab the back of their gi. Pulling up on their leg, fall parallel by their side, still holding their leg, then push on their knee with your outside leg. This will provide space to bring your leg out and round, so you can then move into side control.
Maurição then went through a variation where you press heavily on their leg with your knee, also pulling up on their gi collar. Drag their other leg behind you, then swing all the way over with the leg you had been using to drive down into them. Switch your base, finishing up in side control. That was then followed by a basic half-guard escape, if I recall correctly.
In specific sparring, which this time was guard passage, I just tried to keep posture and work my defence. I made some attempt at passing guard, with my favoured (but increasingly less successful) tailbone guard break, but generally worked to try and keep my back straight, head up and base solid. I also need to watch my arm, which I occasionally left too far forward, meaning I was very vulnerable to a submission. I was eventually swept each time, but hopefully it helped to some small degree in my sensitivity to submission attempts. Then again, I was sparring blue belts and higher, so they would have been going easy on me anyway.
I only rolled twice once we got the end of class sparring, but that was largely because the room was stuffed with people (though admittedly I’m prone to slacking if given the opportunity). First I sparred Dominique, as in the beginners class, and once again found myself mostly in half-guard, or alternately spinning about trying to recover guard. I had a go at the windscreen wiper sweep Ciaran showed me, but Dominique’s elbow wasn’t really far enough out, so I should have tried for a better set-up first.
I could do with practicing more sweeps from half-guard, given that I’m ending up in that position so frequently, or preferably, methods for recovering full guard from there. At the moment, I either try and just drive my knee through, bounce around attempting to make space or lie there waiting for an opportunity. I need to look back through my log to remind myself of the potentially useful related techniques we’ve been shown, like the sweep Maurição demonstrated where you lift them back into your closed guard.
At the same time, I mustn’t forget to work the basics, like the elbow escape and upa. While half-guard is a tempting position to try for, its pretty pointless if I can’t do the fundamentals, as that means as soon as I spar somebody good at passing half-guard, I’m screwed. Not to mention my half-guard is largely of the noobtastic ‘cling on desperately and hope’ variety.
Like in the beginners, my escapes from underneath side control and mount weren’t up to snuff, particularly when it comes to making space. Same thing happened with Nathan, when I spent even more time in half-guard, Nathan tending to dominate on top. Both he and Dominique are becoming much tougher sparring partners (not that I ever had an easy time against them, but its significantly harder now).
Might also help if I was more aggressive when pulling guard, rather than ending up in either half-guard or a sloppy open guard. Though that’s still better than the previous position I ended up in during advanced class, which was in somebody’s guard after which I immediately got swept. On the other hand, I could try being more forceful in driving for the top position: at present I’m heavily leaning towards guard and half-guard, so I need to be careful I’m not neglecting other parts of BJJ.
29/08/2007 – BJJ (Beginners)
Posted: 29/08/2007 Filed under: armbar escape, beginners class, BJJ, Brazilian jiu jitsu, flower sweep, London, Maurição Gomes, Mauricio Gomes, Roger Gracie Academy 2 CommentsClass #82
Roger Gracie Academy (BJJ), Maurição Gomes, London, UK – 29/08/2007 – Beginner
August has been a strange month. Since dropping weight for the Bristol Open, I’ve been fluctuating from slightly woozy to bedridden, not really feeling 100% at any point in the past four weeks. I took last week off entirely to try and finally shake the sick feeling clogging up my head, which has at least partially paid off in that I felt well enough to train tonight. I had been considering training on Tuesday, but from what Owen said about the class, I’m glad I didn’t: apparently lots of over-enthusiastic aggressive noobs resulted in various injuries.
I was expecting to see some kind of celebratory sign to commemorate Roger’s momentous double gold at the Mundials – as there had been after he beat Waterman in his MMA debut – but there was only a congratulatory note on the whiteboard. Also hadn’t expected Roger himself to be back so soon (though he didn’t take the class, I saw him in the office): then again, it is his club, so not entirely surprising he’d want to return as soon as possible.
Maurição was taking class again, which as always meant an atypical syllabus. He began with a cool set-up for the flower sweep, which made a lot of sense. Previously, I’ve found it difficult to get in position, but Maurição showed how a flower sweep could be done off an armbar attempt. If they have their elbow too far back to get the armbar, you can instead hook round their leg and go for the flower as normal, pulling them towards you over your shoulder then rolling into mount, using one leg against their side, the other sweeping out and then back (to avoid throwing them onto your own leg).
This was followed by an armbar escape from mount which I’ve never seen before. If they are pulling back for the armbar but haven’t yet secured your wrist, immediately twist your trapped hand so its palm down and curl your arm towards their knee. At the same time, move round with your legs and turn your body over, grabbing their leg as you scramble in order to better transition to side control. Finally, put your knee into their side then swing your leg over into mount – if they try to stop you with an arm, underhook and push it out of the way.
Maurição then ran through the Americana from mount, emphasising that you should be using your weight rather than arm strength, as well as advising against the ‘monkey grip’ (holding with the thumb wrapped round). I continue to struggle with submissions from mount, generally ending up trying to maintain the position and move up to high mount, flapping uselessly at my partner’s limbs. Nevertheless, always good to have a reminder.
Sparring was from side control, where I didn’t achieve too much from top or bottom except holding position. I think I swept Dominique once or twice, and occasionally got through to mount from on top, but that was only after she very nearly caught me in full guard several times. I feel like my mobility is improving, but I continue to lack sufficient downward pressure and I’m still leaving too much space. In addition, while I’m moving a little better, I need to move more.
I’m also finding myself frequently in half-guard, which I can just about hold, but not very proactively. I’m trying to work on recovering full guard, or possibly go for some half-guard sweeps, but I’d prefer to keep things basic. That sweep Maurição showed a while back where you lift your opponent into full guard looks worth a go. I’d also like to get better with the fundamental mount and side control escapes, which continue to be weak points: I don’t make enough space under mount or side control. I did try the typical push up and shrimp out escape, but I tend to end up squashed and incapable of creating room to move.
I attempted a few submissions, mainly armbars, but was mostly going from weird places (at least to me: for example, from a poorly executed back mount missing a hook I ended up in at one point). It would probably be a better use of my time to continue ignoring submissions for the most part to concentrate on position, so that I can hopefully get to a point where I can confidently hold guard/mount/side control etc, therefore providing a good platform to launch a sub attempt.
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