GoBeyondTechnique by Kit Dale and Nic Gregoriades Review

I purchased the new DVD of GoBeyondTechnique by Kit Dale and Nic Gregoriades.  The video itself goes for about 1 hour and covers 20 concepts.  Now one of these concepts is free on Youtube.  This was taken from the DVD and it really shows how they filmed the content and what type of content was included.  

The concepts and principles are what I consider the unsaid things that link techniques together.  These concepts are varied and are kind of universal and I'm not going to go about listing them in detail out of respect to Kit and Nic.  I will say it's actually refreshing being able to look into x and y concept and see it in action.

Before buying the video I watched the Takedown Postures and Nic's Climb the Ladder concepts.  Now applying those concepts I watched the Cyborg VS Buchecha ADCC 2013 match (I have never seen it before then) I was able to identify every takedown that was going to be attempted BEFORE it was attempted. Every Single One (except the failed Buchecha because I could see that going for the legs was NOT available). I was then able to predict what passes were going to occur as well.  I've never been able to watch a fight and know with a high degree of certainty and for that long what they are going to do BEFORE they do it.  

That's the power of Concepts vs Techniques. Using technique knowledge would have made me guess LATE or incorrectly (I know I've tried before). Instead I could see the setups before they happened - not because I knew them but because I was trying to apply my knowledge of the concepts now. I'm not endorsing that I could even last 10 seconds against those two monsters! I'm just saying that I could understand what was actually going on at a deeper level for Cyborg finding success.

Concepts 10/10

The concepts shown in the DVD are great. All of the concepts are game changing and apply to your Jiu-Jitsu not someone else's.  I feel like I have some direction to in my game especially during uncertainty.  It will definitely help you to correct mistakes, improve scrambles and improvise.

Production Quality  5/10

Some of the production values were quite poor. Shaky cam's, noises, jarring transitions between concepts.

Humour 9/10

I liked that they left bloopers in the video.  Certainly helps keep the video entertaining to watch.

Applicability 10/10

Most videos  I see have limited applicability to my game. I find that I'm never in the exact situation as it feels different, I've missed my timing and it feels like a struggle. I'm not flexible enough etc.  The reality is I often miss a key step and then the entire technique falls down like a house of cards.  Instead what Kit and Nic teach means I can concentrate on applying the right concept/s for the situation and the technique will present itself.

Overall 9/10

There is no video like this on the market. I consider it the number one supplement to your steady stream of techniques from your teacher. The only let down was the production quality and length.  If we had a longer DVD with more examples of each concept and it had higher production standards this would be THE definitive grappling video.  I've done privates that have dedicated the entire private to one concept -albeit game changing.  This video gives me 20 game changing concepts to apply to my game.  

I love the fact that I don't need to change overnight though to use the material, I can take these concepts and start introducing them to how I roll. 

No Drilling, No Worries.

When does Jiu-Jitsu get easier?

The short answer: it doesn’t for a VERY long time.  At least that’s my experience and the experience of those I talk too.

I’m asking this in a self-reflective way because my perception of how difficult it is for me and other people’s perception about how I’m rolling are quite different. I feel like I’m terrible, too slow, too late and yet other people say I’m rolling really good.  I think it’s encouragement but the hard thing about BJJ is it just doesn’t seem to get any easier.

You start off as a White and think that once you get your blue the problems you are having will be solved or at least easier.  The thing is…it doesn’t and you find out that even white’s cause problems to Purples from time to time.  Jiu-Jitsu is relative especially during the years until your black; you will always be training with people of better and equal skill.  Until you get past that hurdle that’s a very long time where Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t feel easy.

Once you can roll very relaxed and adaptive to the situation then I think Jiu-jitsu may become a bit easier. So enjoy rolling and leave your ego at the door – otherwise that’s doing to be one bruised ego after 10 years of jiu-jitsu training.

Dan

Mat Stickiness

So most of April was a total write off for me.  I managed a grand total of 6 training session;  injuries and holidays are bad for Jiu-Jitsu!

One thing I’ve rarely paid is the mats I train on.  My gym has old worn out PVC rubber mats that have lost the ridges and gloss.  In other words you could never use them as a slippery slide. 

I’m musing whether or not one type of mat in particular stifles the learning of BJJ.  Other mats I’ve trained on are the opposite;  they are so slippery that you can slip and slide on them if you wear socks.

I wonder how would this effect the development of a person’s Jiu-Jitsu. Would having low friction mats enable the person to develop excellent hip movement from underneath.  Promote a more flowing game and fun rolls?  Would high friction mats promote more reversals than escapes,  and make it harder for the person underneath to move or escape?  My experience is this – on high friction mats it’s physically easier to wait for a timed roll or reversal than it is to escape by moving on the mat.  Would one mat promote an overall more well rounded game than the other?

Or are both fine and good to train on?

Take tennis as an example.  The surface of the court makes a massive difference.  A person who only ever trains on a hard surface courts usually really struggles when they play on a clay surface and vice versa.  They develop very different games, and if you’ve watched matches on both types of courts you would notice that they style of tennis even looks different.

From my observation of video’s released on Jiu-Jitsu it seems more places have low friction mats than they do high friction mats.   So I wonder, am I doing myself a disservice by training at a gym that has extremely high friction mats?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen any good conversation around this as applied to Jiu-Jitsu and grappling.

A Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu Rebirth

Last week was a fairly pivotal week for me BJJ wise.  I decided I needed to get a private lesson from someone not affiliated with my school, or even in the same federation (Will-Machado).  My reasoning was simple: I needed a different approach to my training and technique.

I discovered that there is a Rickson Gracie affiliated academy black belt an hour from my place.  Seriously, what are the chances! So I talked with my current instructor and told them I would like privates with this other person; they were fine with that.

The results were astounding.  I’ve read about people coming away from Rickson Gracie seminars completely in awe and how everything has changed.  I had exactly the same feeling.   What I loved about my private was he used the same terminology such as Connection, Energy etc that I heard and read that Rickson uses.  I left my private lesson completely shell-shocked and in awe.

It confirmed everything I thought and hoped; it gave me insight into how Rickson makes things seem so effortless.  I have to start again,  my basic movement has been completely changed:  Do you know how long it’s going to take to undo the muscle memory of 10000 incorrect hip escapes (shrimping for the people in America)?!

It’s the best money I’ve spent for BJJ: Better than any seminar I’ve taken, lesson or free roll.

I feel like I’ve got lost in the BJJ city and ended back where I started,  only this time I know where not to go!  Time to try again,  this time I’m driving in that BJJ city with GPS (Rickson Gracie black belt) directions.

Dan

Defensive Mindset for BJJ

One thing I’ve noticed is that big white belts can get extremely competitive in rolling with blue belts.  Especially if they are 4 stripes.  My theory is they want to test themselves against the blue; beat the blue and prove that they deserve a blue belt.

This is one of the main reasons I don’t roll with large strong white belts close to their Blue Belt.  They muscle moves instead of finesse them;  each roll feels like an ADCC match.  The end result is an unhappy roll with injuries.   I’ve incurred 2 injuries in the same number of weeks due to this; bruised ribs and a hyper extended elbow. All caused by overly “eager” white belts with a point to prove. 

If you are a big white belt – then please don’t act like every roll with a blue belt is life or death.  Relax and treat your training partner as a training partner and not an opponent!

Ok, end of rant.

So to combat this I’m following a plan to improve my defences;  the plan helps me have focus and conserves my energy.  I allow the white belt to attack, get good positions and I work on my survival and escapes.  I’ve changed the focus of my rolls from wanting to tap someone, to trying to be efficiently unbeatable for that roll. 

I was quite surprised to see John Will blog on this very topic recently.  He made a point that having a defensive mindset for rolling is a very empowering experience.  In fact a lot of high level black belts always repeat this exact thing.

• Keith Owen on tapping 10000 times to blackbelt
• Saulo Ribeiro jiu-Jitsu University,  The first two chapters are all about about survival and escapes.

Personally, I enjoy the defensive aspect – the more you do it the more you become relaxed and still feel like you are in control..  I don’t feel I’m struggling and gassing out at all.  In fact I can keep this up for 8+ rounds – which is a record for me!

Initially I thought my focus would be on Side Control for just a week or two.  I’ve realised however that most people in my gym prefer side control to any other attacking position which means I need to spend more time working escapes.  It also means that if I want to practice mount and back defence I specifically have to ask my opponent to start from those positions.

So my average roll atm looks like this: Survive, Survive, Survive, Escape, Survive, Escape, Pass, Reversed, Survive, Escape Pass, Pass, Submit (optional).

Much better than: Stall, Stall, Pass, Attack, Attack, Attack, Stall, Stall, Attack, Exhaustion.

Dan

Butterfly Sweep Leverage Explained

In my previous post titled “Understanding Leverage in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu" I explained some of the basic concepts for leverage in general in BJJ.  I wanted to give a more concrete example applied to just one branch of techniques.  So the technique is the Butterfly Sweep.  I’m not going to explain how to do one.  I am only going to explain the leverage behind it a bit more.

In my previous post I mentioned that I thought I saw the Butterfly Sweep as utilising a Class 2 lever.  Well I think that the sweep has more than one lever.

Using the Opponent as a Class 2 Lever

Let’s have a side on look at the butterfly sweep.  Btw this is Stephen Kesting demonstrating the sweep.  Let’s look at the Opponent (White Gi) first.  This is utilising a Class 2 Lever.  His Load is low to the ground on his hips.  If you look at the 3rd and 4th picture you can see that Stephen is creating a Fulcrum on the opponents left shoulder.  In the 3rd and 4th picture you can see that a Force is being generated from the hook . 

So this is our classic Wheelbarrow lever.  The opponents shoulder is the wheel, their load is now in the middle, their leg is the handle. These combine to lift the person over the Fulcrum point (their shoulder).

Using yourself as a Class 1 Lever

Stephen is also using himself as a lever.  To help generate the Upward Force to lift the handle he sits up and in.  He then propels himself backwards (Force going down behind him) while keeping his leg at the same position relative to his own body.  This seesaw action is key,  he doesn’t lie down and then lift his leg – the leg starts lifting as soon as he starts any backward movement. 

If you break it down to basic concepts.  The Load is on his left foot – the handle of the wheelbarrow.  His butt is the Fulcrum (the part that doesn’t move) and the Force is throwing himself backwards (which gives the bonus of gravity to add to your mass) to the ground.  What Class lever is this?  Well the Fulcrum is in the middle of this lever.  He becomes a seesaw.  So it’s a Class 1 lever – which is the strongest for lifting a heavy load.

If Stephen was stronger relative to the person he was sweeping then I’m sure he could have relied on his own muscle strength. He could potentially just sit back and then lift the person using a straight leg. I’ve seen strong guys to this to lighter people.  They muscle the technique. This requires a very strong Class 3 lever.  Where possible utilise Class 1 or Class 2 levers.

Another point is this, if you are too weak to be able to structurally move your leg up as you fall back, keep your hook leg (Load) closer to your Butt (Fulcrum).   Structurally you will make the Lever (your body) stronger, but the side effect is it’s now slower to lift.

This is where feel comes in.  I’m just discovering this, but I think the really good guys make all those adjustments on the fly to make the levers work.  I know I use to do everything correctly, but it felt impossible to actually lift the person because one minor part was wrong.  The part I was forgetting was I had to also make myself a lever.  This helps increase the Force generated to help me lift the opponents leg. It’s easy to overlook that part.

The Butterfly Sweep is a very powerful sweep.  It utilises both people as different levers.  Thinking about BJJ at this level sounds very complex, but the beauty now is once you understand this for Butterfly Sweep  you only need to think about 1 sweep instead of 10  – every butterfly sweep from now on is just a minor adjustment for a specific scenario.  Every Butterfly sweep should have a Wheelbarrow and a Lifting Seesaw.

Some Reasons Why things go wrong

Q: The sweep failed, when I fell backwards he lifted up but then he was able to post out with one hand which stopped him from being swept.

A:  Most instructors probably will say you didn’t secure his arm etc.  A more technically correct answer as applied to leverage is this.   He was able to MOVE the Fulcrum from his shoulder to posted hand (think how hard it is to lift a full wheel barrow when the wheel moves forward as you tried to lift it).  Make sure the Fulcrum can’t be changed or make sure you account for that change. 

Q: The sweep failed,  I did everything right, I used myself as a lever, he came forward but I could lift him.

A:  An Instructor might say keep your hook further down his leg away from the centre line.  A more technical answer is this: The upward Force was being applied to close to the Load.  The further back from the Load you can apply the Force, the less Force you need.  Think trying to lift a wheelbarrow full of cement from the point the handle meets the barrow – This is much harder then lifting it at the end of the handle.

These are just demonstration examples for highlighting  how to apply some good thinking. I’m much more concerned about fixing the basics of my BJJ.  If I can get these concepts correct then I think it will be easier for me to correct minor things such as poor grip selection in a particular scenario.  Through this understanding I will have LESS things to think about when rolling.  For me it’s about technically correct simplification of my applied BJJ.

Happy Rolling

Dan

PS:- Did  you see there are actually 2 Class 2 levers on the opponent – the one I didn’t mention is on the the initial pull down – Looks at Stephen’s arms...

Understanding Leverage in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu

I’ll preface this whole blog by saying that this is going to be a work in progress – expect mistakes.  I’m going to update this particular blog many times (I hope) as my understanding of the mechanics solidifies.  I’ll try to add and expand it.  It MAY be incorrect at times – which is fine as I’ll be able to come back and really refine what I thought I understood.

BEGINNER’s Terminology of Leverage

A Lever can be described in 3 main parts. A “Load”, a “Fulcrum”, and a “Force”. 

Fulcrum – it’s the immovable part,  the part that the rest of the lever has to work around

Load – that’s the weight you are trying to move. Such as the opponent.

Force – That’s Acceleration multiplied by Mass.  A small Mass can produce the same Force as a larger Mass if  the small Mass is Accelerating faster.

In BJJ terms we care about leverage, which means we care about all 3 points as it’s applied to us and our opponent. The chief point we care about is the Fulcrum.  So if you want to apply leverage (which we do if we use BJJ) always think about the Fulcrum.  To get the Fulcrum though you need to have a connection.  This is why connection is critical for BJJ.

No Connection = No Fulcrum = No Leverage = No BJJ.

3 Class Types of Levers

To easily think about what type of lever is being used I currently like to think about what part of the lever is in the middle.

Class 1 Lever – This lever has the fulcrum in the middle. Think  Seesaw.

 

 

Class 2 Lever – This lever has the Load in the middle.  Think Wheelbarrow.

 

 

Class 3 Lever – This lever has the Force in the middle.  Think Tweezers.

 

 

If we considering each of the class levers above with the same load of 1KG.  The Class1 lever requires the least amount of force to move it.  The class 3 lever requires the most amount of force to move the load.  Class1 levers are more efficient than Class 3 levers when it comes to moving something very heavy.  However Class 3 can move the load faster and further.

This is why people say technique triumphs over strength in BJJ (excluding where you talk about both together).  Strength relies a lot on Class 3 levers (your own muscle) to generate Force without considering using the leverage. While good technique will take advantage of Class 1 and Class 2 levers that can be used using less Force and effort to manipulate the opponent.

Examples of Class 1 Lever BJJ techniques

• Armbar from Mount
• Kneebar
• Kimura
• Americana
• Omaplata (sub or sweep)

Most limbs can easily be manipulated by class 1 levers for submissions.  Force can be generated from your hips, or your legs, or just your body weight.

Examples of Class 2 Lever BJJ techniques

• Butterfly sweep
• Arm drag from guard to back attack.
• Upa from Mount
• Sitting Roll Over sweep
• Shrimp (Hip escape – upward and towards part of it) movement from Side Control

I think BJJ utilises class 2 levers mainly for sweeps and reversals.  A lot of the force is generated through the hips (either from the feet and legs or from the core).  Thus like a wheel barrow, it’s easier to lift a weight much more than you would be able to normally.  So generally, we use this class of lever when underneath an opponent. 

Examples of Class 3 Lever BJJ Techniques

• Bicep Crush
• Scissor Sweep
• Front Sweep against standing Guard

I’m not sure how accurate these ones are.  I’m struggling to find  many techniques that actually use class 3 levers.

Leverage is a core component of BJJ.  Being able to move and manipulate using them is one thing.  Being able to recognise the leverage an opponent has against you I think is even better. I’m struggling to find a good defence strategy that is easy to understand.  With so many techniques it’s very hard to identify what my opponent is really doing.  Instead I’m going to develop feel triggers based on the 3 leverage concepts.   I’m going to try to set people up with a repeatable pattern so I can recognise what leverage the person has against me.

In terms of attacking,  I’m already starting to think that an Armbar is an Armbar, no matter from where it’s put on.  Understanding how to to anticipate my opponent based on the leverage he is trying to apply I think is key.  That’s the end goal on why I blogged this.  I want to be able to distil all these attack and defence “bjj techniques” down to core concepts only. For my brain, it’s easier to think about 3 things (Force,  Fulcrum and Load) than 50. 

That’s my very long term plan anyway – that seems like a galaxy far far away…

Happy rolling,

Dan

Keeping it Simple and Real

I follow a lot of BJJ blogs online.  It's good for information and insight, or even bad insight that I can then turn into good insight. 

So I was reading a blog entry from the Inner Game of Jiu Jitsu.  The heading of the blog was titled KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid).  I agree with this principle whole heartedly. I agree and have thought for a long time that you don’t need to learn all these variations of techniques.  To me, my blog has always been about making my BJJ as basic as possible.  If you understand the finer concepts of a choke or armbar then you probably can execute 1000 minor technical variations of each quite easily. I think just “choke”, or just “armbar” now. I find it simplifies things greatly.

What I don’t agree with was the assumption that simple meant to pass guard, then mount and finish.  If you read my previous blog on the Attack Triangle then you would see that I think this strategy limits yourself to one side of the triangle – I think that this approach misses all the neck and arm attack opportunities along the way.  The approach, while sounding simple is actually very predictable and your opponent will fight against you tooth and nail along the way.

It’s great to have a specific strategy,  but one strategy does not fit all – every opponent reacts in a unique way.  That’s why as a large beginner I could easily get Kimuras on small guys, but against larger more savvy opponents those opportunities dried up. My strategy no longer worked.  I would fight for it, and the person would know and concentrate on arm defence.

I consider my Jiu jitsu is becoming much more simpler now. If I was to articulate the actual techniques I now know I’m sure it’s far more then 12 months ago.  Yet it feels simpler – I can understand techniques more easily as I see the similarity between them all. Currently when rolling I try to only think of the the simple stuff – never a specific technique.  So in my mind, I’m usually thinking:

• Redirecting Resistance
• Moving Hips
• Attack Triangle
• Grips
• Feel (does what I’m doing right now feel effortless)

The more I watched Rickson Gracie talk about techniques. The more I heard him express things in a simple manner,  just choke the person,  just armbar, just pass, just hold the arm.  I realised he has distilled his BJJ down to the very basic concepts – that then link into a very complex tree of technique I’m sure.  Of course it’s incredibly technical if you were to pull it apart – but the high level thinking behind this is simple.  Thinking simply leads to good timing as you are operating on feeling your opponent and not thinking about the specific steps for your next move. 

The last key to making things simple is the ability to critically reflect on rolls.  Go through it in your mind afterwards and identify the core concepts you executed well and executed poorly.

I think the measure to tell if you followed the KISS principle is this.  If the move ended up feeling effortless and highly effective then it was the right thing to do.

Keep it simple, keep it real.
Dan

The Attack Triangle Trinity of BJJ

During my time studying these Rickson Gracie seminar’s I’ve been slowly coming to revelation on various attacking options.  I started with the micro, that is, I just pick one technique from one position and tried to understand how he applied it.

That attack for me was the Knee-In Armbar from Side control.  It was my worst submission, now it’s by far my number 1 submission.  Gone are the days of forcing on Kimura’s.  However  people have started to wise on to what I’m doing and to varying degrees can make things more difficult for me.  Now a few times I’ve chosen to grind through and get the arm bar, thus causing the roll to stall a bit.  Other times I’ve tried to attack the neck which has then re-opened the arms to attack.  Still something was missing – and yet again watching these Rickson Gracie seminars I stumble upon an almost throw away comment he makes.

He was stating that the person cannot defend all three (arm, neck or you getting better position), and that you always have these attack options as long as you move and keep fluid.   The comment was simple.  It was basic and easily understood.  This tells me it’s valuable.

If they defend the neck, then attack the arm.  If they turn into you from side control then take mount or attack the neck.  Rickson’s commentary on this sounded bigger than just an answer to a quick question – it sounded like a philosophy or core concept for attacking in BJJ.

I’ve fallen for the error of trying to attack a persons arms, then their neck and somehow they’ve managed to defend both and getting caught up in that.  The thing I’m forgetting in these circumstances is my opportunity to improve my position or change it.  Numerous times now people have attempted to get to turtle from under my side control rather than lose the arm to the inevitable armbar.  In these circumstances I generally control an underhook on an arm and stopped them turning.  I get frustrated as they were defending the arms and the neck.  What I should have done is take the back as they go to turtle.  I’m one step ahead of them anyway,  I know what they are about to do, but in these circumstances I choose not to flow with the go. 

This was an error on my behalf.  So intent was I on the control and submission of the arm or neck that I neglected the free opportunity to improve my position.  Many times after rolls I recall opportunities that I missed to get full back control or mount.  I failed at applying the Attack Triangle (neck, arm, position) concept correctly.   My opponent was giving me position, he didn’t want me to attack his arm or neck – yet I ignored this.

If you focus on position improvement and their arm then your opponent is going to stop you from getting those.  The defender can stop a person achieving these goals.  It’s so easy to get focused on two sides of the triangle that you ignore the third. Try to keep fluid between all three sides of this attack triangle.  Pick a side and legitimately go for it, then be on the lookout to switch to another side of the triangle attack and opportunities to finish or get better position will present themself.  Part of this is changing position yourself when you feel you aren’t making progress.  Knee-Ride, North-South and others are just variations of side control.  Use them all in side control and flow.

This Attack Triangle concept is just part of the BJJ building blocks – I believe most good BJJ players do this subconsciously and only a select handful can articulate this concept.  I come from a software development background,  in that you have a triangle for Cost, Quality and Time Constraints.  You can only ever achieve two of these constraints in a software development project.  If you have a set Cost and a set Time Frame then you have to sacrifice Quality to achieve those other constraints. I think the same applies for Jiu-jitsu defence -  it’s almost impossible to defend all 3 sides of the Attack Triangle unless you have a very good idea what the opponent is going to do next.

As an attacker I think you want to have good control, be fluid, use your hips and their levers correctly.  A sure sign you are not doing things correctly is if you find yourself grinding on the other person and trying to force a submission for say more than 5 seconds.  I’ve done this a ton in the past and it was such an effort to attack.  If you can’t get the neck after 5 seconds, then most likely you are NOT going to get it in without something changing – the only thing that can change in this circumstance is you.   Think about when someone attacks your arm and they are just belligerently trying to get it from the same position (say Kimura from Side Control).  You start to adjust and make it as difficult as possible to apply the position, and you start to work for escapes to use their strength against them.

For now I’m going to try to think about the Attack Triangle when I’m going for my attacks.  I’m going to see what other opportunities open up for me with this trinity of options.  I’m hoping Mount and Back Control.  They aren’t my strongest areas of control but I’m looking forward to see what I learn next.

Happy rolling.

Dan

Fluidity as a Basic Concept

Continuing on my theme from the last couple of posts I wanted to talk more about fluidity. This is another area I’ve studying from all BJJ video’s I could find on Rickson Gracie.  What does fluidity mean in BJJ.  Watch any video’s of most top BJJ practitioners– past and present.  Then watch two white belts or two blue belts at your gym.  Invariable one will have lots of movement…the other very little and lots of stalling.

I’m going to argue that the big difference isn’t in the amount of technique a blue vs high level belt knows but the core difference is in how they roll and create opportunities. A part of that is the use of triggers.  Beginners learn techniques but aren’t wired yet to instinctively know the triggers and what to do.  A beginner is all intent and zero opportunity.

Using this principle I’ve totally gone against  Cross Face from side control.  I can’t stand it any more as it doesn’t create opportunity.  The position anchors the top person onto the bottom person.  Making it hard for either person to move or work.  It’s this type of position that restricts fluidity.  As a person on top what option have I left the bottom person.  None.  So what is he going to do, keep tight and defend.

Everyone quickly learns the lesson of elbows in and protecting the neck.  So you aren’t going to get what you want, unless you give the other person what they want.  The other person wants the opportunity to escape.  To this extent, use less pressure (pressure for pressures sake)  when on side control and mount.  Become more mobile and use your hips to deflect their arms and stop their escapes thus creating opportunities for yourself. 

For myself I’m putting into practise triggers.  Depending what the person on bottom is trying to do, I’m trying to find very simple answers to that.  The end result is many opportunities for submissions arise and now I’m getting many submissions every roll if I get on top.

So I’m happy with my progress in this area.  Each training session I’m becoming more fluid  and more dangerous  with my attacks.  To do this I’ve eased up on the pressure, relaxed and concentrate on breathing and moving in reaction to whatever the opponent gives me.

Here are some tips I’ve been using myself when on top attacking:

• Never Cross face (shoulder of justice) from side control, it locks you to your opponent.  Good for points, bad for everything else.
• Never use excessive pressure – it locks your opponent so they can’t move and therefore can’t create opportunities for you.
• Don’t get into static escape fights– you engage in arm battles instead of redirection with hips and movement to stop your opponent escaping.
• Don’t try to force a particular submission – only go for it once the setup opportunity has arisen.
• Switch hips to redirect pressure from escapes.
• Keep moving at a nice easy RELAXED pace.  Use a 3 second rule so you don’t stall.  Stalling is just another word for a loss of opportunity, trying moving and switching your hips when you feel stalled.

Rickson Gracie Side Control Analysis

I was watching some Rickson Gracie Seminar’s over the last couple of weeks.  One aspect I’ve been really trying to hone and rethink is my side control all the way to mount or submission.  One thing I’ve noticed when Rickson rolls is just uses whatever the opponent gives him.  He has very fluid hip movement and doesn’t use any strength to hold a person down.

I’ve noticed at my school and many people I train with is they have one thing in common from side control.  They love the cross face (shoulder pushing into face).  While this keeps a person pinned it really doesn’t achieve much else.  It’s difficult to attack and you expend lots of energy.  To top it off the person will naturally want to be tight and not give you much because you haven’t give him much.

Instead what I’ve seen is that Rickson prefers to keep a short base side control with both arms on the other side of the opponent.  The difference is, he isn’t static.  If someone pushes his hip near their head he will switch base towards their head.  Likewise if they push his far hip or leg (the one near their leg) he will switch base and look to quickly take mount.

He will keep going around to the head and back to side control looking for any opening.  Always attacking, always moving.  However it’s the small details that make a big difference.  Switching hips, breathing, not using strength.  Lots of feints, letting the opponent trying to move a bit.  Going around to the head, he will keep his head pushing into the chest. That is, up until he has the reverse underhook locked up.  Then it’s game over with the arm bar.

I’ve been trying a similar strategy of keeping my hips moving, searching for the elbows, going to mount if the opportunity arises.  It’s proving quite effective.  I know a couple of posts ago I was bemoaning the fact that this was suppose to be the gentle art.  I’m starting to notice my top game is becoming that.  So far every time I’ve got top position (side control or mount) I’ll end up getting the arm bar!  Against blues, whites and against massive guys (120KG) full of muscles.

So much to learn. My next step is to take the side control flow and utilise a similar strategy for mount.  All the while looking for this arm bars.

Flow with the go! 

Rickson Gracie Arm Bar Grip Analysis

The last week  I’ve made some great strides in the entries and finishes for arm bars.  In particular the finer details with which grip to use in the setup.  I was watching an old Rickson Gracie video and I noticed how he was setting up his grips for the arm bar.  The other points I noticed was how when finishing the arm bar he would get on his side slightly, always facing towards the opponents head.  It didn’t seem to matter about being perfectly perpendicular to the opponent,  sometimes it appeared he would even have the arm stretched out past that 90 degree point, more towards the opponents head.  I hope that makes sense.

So with these in mind I tried to apply some of the concepts to how I apply arm bars.  The most critical part is the grip he achieves.  It’s far superior to other grips I’ve seen and tried to use. 

1. Grab their wrist with the hand nearest their head and get the other hand underneath their armpit and connect into a figure four grip by holding your wrist.  Never let your wrists bend backward once you’ve achieved this grip.
2. Jump up, around or whatever variation you are currently doing.  Aim to get your hip behind their elbow near the shoulder.
3. Try to “fall” onto your side slightly.  You should be on your hip/butt check nearest their head.
4. This angle, with this grip enables you to pry open most grips. 
5. Don’t be afraid to roll with the person, just don’t let go of the grip.

I’ve got this from a lot of setups over the last couple of days. Which is surprising given I never get arm bars at all!  Ever.  I’m sure their are issues, but now I’m getting 3-4 arm bars on each person I roll with!

I’m sure I was shown something like this when I first started, but honestly it’s all the little details that this grip delivers that make the big difference. I see people grabbing the grips the wrong way around, or using the forearm up near the bicep instead of the the wrist, or not using leverage by falling slightly away from the opponents strong resistance point.

 

Rickson Gracie demonstrating the grips for arm bar from side control

2011–Year of the Scissor sweep

So I’m setting myself some goals this year.  Nothing major but enough that it gives my training some underlying focus.  I want to work on all aspects of my BJJ and will work with whatever happens to be taught, but for clarity and purpose I’m going to pick some basic techniques to continue to sharpen.  Foremost this year will be the Scissor sweep.

I find I have more luck with sweep than finishes from guard.  Historically I’ve been a slow methodical BJJ practitioner who doesn’t give up top position once it’s gained.  My goal however is to roll more dynamically and not be worried about giving up top control as long as it’s flowing.

The other part move is going to be arm bar.  The most dreaded underutilized move in my arsenal.  I never even attempt this move.  I want to get to the point that I can just roll from armbar to sweep to armbar.  I still will go for the collar chokes, and to a lesser extent figure four locks but the emphasis is going to be on finding techniques that use my hips and legs and not my upper body or arms so much.

I want to see if I can change how I roll over the next twelve months.  Fundamentally change how I approach things to become more fluid.  A big part of this change will be flexibility.    I’m not  very flexible and I believe that is something that hinders my progress.

I really enjoyed the changes I made during the later half of 2010.  Focussing on a subset of techniques and really reviewing and drilling them in detail. I’ll still incorporate the collar choke into my fluidity, gaining high mount correctly. For learning though I’m going to just go for arm bars…and I imagine for 3 months really suck at them and get reversed and submitted badly.

Through these techniques my goal is develop an understanding of the application of the following concepts:

• Fluidity
• Timing
• Controls (grips and levers)
• Distance

Onwards to 2011

We had our grading last night.  Nice to see a few more people made Purple belt after a gruelling 10 rounds of fun for them.  It’s a nice way to end out the year.  For me there was no rank improvement, for which I’m grateful!  I’m actually quite happy staying where I am, while I rebuild my game. 

As it was, part of my game I’ve been trying to get under control is the scissor sweep. It’s funny how you can have months of frustration with a technique, then suddenly it all comes together. Twice last night I surprised my training partners even though they knew it was coming.  It was really a combination of the following:

1. Speed (Decide when to “go”, then make sure you aren’t doing it lethargically)
2. Space (create lots of space with the hips, kicking away with their legs if needed and sit up)
3. Timing (knowing when to stop pushing to make space with legs and arms and when to start pulling)
4. Grips (using the grips to pull the person forward into the hole, keep contact with their legs and hips too at all times)
5. Momentum (Not stalling or stopping at any point between these parts, sit-up while creating space and lie down while sweeping)

I’ve been working on different set ups but the single biggest improvement has been wrapping the opponents gi behind their back and using that as the grip instead of the lapel inside the collar.  The real breakthrough though came with the realisation I need to move back, sit-up and create lots of space, then make the person chase me down and use their momentum against them.  It’s a timing thing, which brings me to what I want to improve in 2011.

Here is a short list of things that I want to improve.

1. Timing (right speed and using the right momentum of the opponent)
2. Efficiency – being able to increase my work rate but not gas by being efficient
3. Create a simultaneous defend attack mentality

There were some really good things I did in 2010, the biggest I think was resistance drilling and focusing on a position.  So for 2011 I’m going to train the following ways:

1. Position of the month – work entries, exits, submissions, flows from this position
2. Trigger flows – multi-position setups to account for action/reaction
3. Each training revise of one of these basics – guard sweep,  guard pass, side control pass and escape, mount control and escape, cross collar choke submission (all positions)  and variations, back control.
4. 70% effort with 100% timing – keep my timing fast against training partners
5. Applied concepts – learn underlying concepts (angles, stiff arms, sit-up, hip control etc) and understand every concept for every technique I work on.

I’m planning to make 2011 a technical learning year.  One where my wrestling fitness does improve, but my focus is on making my BJJ more efficient for me.  I will start writing out each move individually and finding out how all the underlying concepts apply to that particular move or technique.

Mind Vs. Reality

I my mind when I think about how I want to so easily impose my game.  Be able to flow from one move to the next and essentially have my partner have no idea on how to keep up.  I can imagine myself effortless chaining armbars into sweeps and making it look easy.  Move like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

The reality is starkly different.

I’m often jerky and slow.  I don’t attack that well.  I’m often stuck on my back.  I get lazy and start to rest when I should be moving.  I can’t get arm bars at all, I’m always out of position.  I can’t get chokes,  it feels like they are always defending and so much stronger.  This can come from just having one or two bad rolls.

It’s funny, if I can’t impose any of my game plan on someone it can be quite deflating.  Admittedly I’m not going flat out any more, but still I feel that I should be able to flow and impose a game plan against people going hard.

I feel I have more technical knowledge than most.   This comes from knowing all the finer points that most people forget, and I see that they have forgotten in drilling.  However I’m struggling translating technical knowledge into ground advantage.

I feel my timing is off.  Windows of opportunity are passing me by and I’m just powerless to stop it.  This I imagine frustrates a lot of BJJ practitioners.  The problem is the other guy (or girl).  They are learning too, and I imagine in their own mind would also see themselves as rolling the way I envision I want to roll.

I want to be a butterfly,  yet I’m just a slimy slug atm.  I know what I want to do, but it’s so far away right now.  I guess that’s why I’m liking the going back to basics.  Re-assessing everything I know about BJJ.

Hopefully one day I’ll stop being such a slug.  For now I have to learn how to quicken my timing to take advantages of tactical errors.

Dan

Slow and Steady

Training has been going slow and steady for me as of late.  I’m just getting back into my old gym and trying to step up in a few areas.   One thing I didn’t want this blog to be is a, oh I trained this tonight.  I wanted it to be more of a reflective blog about the basics of BJJ.  So part of that has seen me go back to the beginner class in an assistant instructor rule.  Essentially being someone else’s test dummy.

The great thing about this is,  I get to practise all the fundamental moves.  I have limitations,  flexibility being the main one.  I’m going to start sacrificing strength for more flexibility.  It'll take time, but I think in the long term the transition is the correct one to make.

As for training, I’m taking things slow and steady.  I need my rest days, and I am definitely looking forward to improving my teaching style.  I’m of the belief that you can be great at something, but you might not be the best teacher.  This fits in with my long term goals. 

1. Master the basics
2. Make BJJ a part of my life
3. Develop strong connections with people from all circles of life.

I guess technique area’s I’m looking to improve are guard sweeps and passing to mount.

Half Guard to Cross Collar Choke Analysis

I decided to have a break this week from training.  However after my last little successful module on closed guard I thought I’d start my research around my next major area I want to improve.   Just to be clear,  I’m not a youtube warrior and I’m not after anything fancy…in fact I’ll only look for really small simple stuff however I want the little details that make the difference.

So I’ve been doing some research on transitions that end up in the mount, and hopefully setup my favourite submission the Cross Collar Choke.  I’m naturally a slow moving guy on the ground and not that flexible.  So I’m after nice reliable and repeatable ways to get the mount.

I came across an outstanding breakdown video on Roger Gracie’s Cross Collar Choke that involves an analysis on how he transitions from Half Guard to Mount.  Fundamentally what I like about Roger Gracie (and this example) is how he just sticks to basics, and he has them down in such a minute detail that they really work for him.

I’ll give a breakdown from what the video talks about:

1. Start in Half Guard, preferably on your opponents left side (as this will eventually set up your more dominate right handed grip for the choke)
2. Close the space (which is a problem in itself)
3. Get your right hand under their head reaching as deep as possible to grab under their right armpit with your right hand.
4. The result should be your bicep is cutting across their Artery and you generate tremendous pressure via a pull push motion.
5. Unravel their gi with your left hand and pass it across to your right hand
6. tighten the grip by grabbing the lapel deep under their arm pit and lean over them more.  Don’t push your shoulder into their face, instead go for a deeper grip.
7. Try to get your head inside their elbow (arm triangle setup) or just put your head all the way to the ground beside their right arm
8. Turn your hips Anti-Clockwise a bit and straighten your right leg
9. Your left leg should be bent coming with the knee coming up close to their butt
10. Use your free left hand to push their right knee down so you can pass your left knee over the top of it
11. When you finally free your foot bring your right knee high up under their armpit so you can secure a high mount immediately.  Do not lift your head off the ground
12. Release the lapel with your right arm
13. Loosen the lapel with your left hand while keep your head low
14. Bring your right arm back around their head and secure the collar grip
15. Use your left hand to help adjust the lapel to get a deeper grip
16. Crunch down hard with your right elbow onto their chest, raising their head.
17. Loosen the gi with your right hand
18. Bring your left hand around and under their raised head keeping your left elbow inline with their spine
19. secure the second grip and bring over to complete the choke
20. Put your head on the mat above their head to finish it

I really like that this set up creates it’s pressure through a pull push action.  Like knee ride the end result is more than just your weight being applied.  I like that this pass and set up takes away the opponents ability to create space,  the only time is at the start after that you have no space to work with.  Lastly I like that it gets a dominate high mount immediately, and the pressure doesn’t end until you’ve achieved that. 

It should be noted I’ve seen Roger Gracie use his right foot on their hip in high mount to defend the upa.  So I think getting the high mount at least with the right leg is also critical to the success of this move.

 

Dan

The Process of Rebuilding my Guard

Sometimes to move forward you have to tear down what you already have and rebuild.  Fix the foundation so to speak.  In my case I can compare my old guard game like a skyscraper made out of match sticks where it was so fragile that it would come crashing down at the slightest hint of a breeze.  Sure, it had a lot of facets to it, but it wasn’t sturdy or reliable. I’ve gone back and looked at a lot of my techniques in Guard, thrown out most and slowly tried to develop a plan for guard that involves good basic technique without the bells and whistles.  It’s now a modest house, but at least I can live in it.

My requirements were:

• Closed Guard only, no open guard, half guard, De La Riva, X-Guard, Butterfly Guard etc
• Gi and No Gi Grips (while using a Gi)
• Exploiting Resistance with Timing, no strength battles.
• Fundamental Sweeps (Scissor, Hook, Sitting Roll Over and Scoop Sweeps)
• Good Defence against passes (under, around, through and over) from both closed guard and a compromised unlocked guard.

I have to say, Point 3 is the hardest but what I consider the most important for everything Jui-Jitsu.  I rediscovered a lot of the essential concepts again going through this process.  My journey roughly involved the follow training area’s over many training sessions.

1. Getting Grips
2. Breaking Posture
3. Effective use of timing  to exploit the grip fight, posture battle, strength, stacks etc
4. Timing Submission attacks
5. Through passes, and counters to these
6. Compromised broken guard and counters to passes around or over
7. Timing sweep attacks
8. Putting it all together

I’m really glossing over details here, but honestly I found having a methodical process really helped.  The most important question I now ask myself is, what is the path of least resistance to get what I ultimately want.  Some things I rediscovered to a deeper personal understanding through this, and I guess to some degree I’ve taken ownership of these concepts.  They include:

1. Frames, creating and maintaining space
2. Timing, real jiu-jitsu is in the transitions using your opponent’s movement against them.
3. Resistance Drilling to improve timing,  seriously I should have done this years ago.
4. Grips, you don’t have control without them.
5. Don’t Fight muscle with muscle – it’s so easy to do subconsciously.
6. Always Attack when you have guard.
7. Move those hips, get to the side.

Anyway, from where my Closed Guard was technique wise, I now feel it’s far improved. I don’t rely on one trick ponies anymore. It’s consistent and I feel that sticking to basic techniques has actually made me a lot more creative and dangerous.  So overall for the time being I’ve accomplished my mission with Closed Guard.

I will start focusing on Side Control to Mount for the next month or so.  Really my plan is sweep, pass, mount, choke.  I’m going to explore every avenue in achieving the goal of pass. For revision in warm ups I will incorporate some of the cooperative resistance drills for Closed Guard to keep my timing sharp.

Dan

My Love Affair with Sweeps

Part of the last few days I’ve spent a fair bit of time drilling my guard sweeps and going over the basics of them.  The basics are fair from simple when it comes to sweeps.  You can’t really force a sweep. I want to make my sweeps feel effortless for me and my partner - I’m finding the best time is in the transitions of attacking and defending from guard.  Feeling where their weight is committed.

So with that in mind I’ve gone through the basics again of Scissor Sweep, Sitting Rollover sweep, Rolling Shoulder sweep and the Hook Sweep with all starting from closed guard.  They all have advantages and difficult timings.  I’m trying to identify for myself the exact timings to use on each one and also the likely blockages when I’m not doing the technique correctly.

For instance what I’m working on mainly is Scissor Sweep.  I picked this sweep specifically because:

1. I like it
2. I can get it but not as often as other sweeps
3. Rickson Gracie likes it, and there is a good chance he will be teaching it in his seminar soon.

So what are some of the challenges I face for the Scissor Sweep?

1. Partner puts all his weight down very low, to stop me from getting his weight onto my shin
2. Opponent pushes down the knee the is across the belly pinning it
3. Opponent doesn’t open his leg to the side that benefits me transitioning from closed guard to Scissor Sweep.

Still with these challenges I’ve also had some good wins with it.  Mainly the following little tips

1. Grip, get it first before anything.
2. Timing – Anticipate and feel their reaction
3. Space,  don’t get cramped and have no room to move.
4. Push Pull action to load up their weight onto your shin.
5. Feel where their weight and posture is, understand it
6. Drive with your grip hand and commit to coming up onto your knees into mount.
7. All sweeps have a window of opportunity,  transition once that window is gone.

Drilling Resistance

I’ve been thinking recently about how much drilling I do.  I worked on a simple sequence  last Saturday that involved an action—>reaction—>action—>reaction round trip sequence.  While in cooperative drills I noticed one of my partners would do the moves, however when we moved to in the hole resistance drilling to train the timing etc he would not perform the moves required so I could get my timing.

I noticed that this actually stifled my ability to train working out the timings for reactions etc.  I’m of the camp that believes in repetition to increase muscle memory, and I’m starting to think that’s what I need to do to improve my reaction timing.

I sometimes feel a step behind in a live roll. I  know what to do, but I’m just not anticipating peoples reaction.  So I end up resisting their reaction instead of using it against them.  I want to make the other person feel like they are one step behind.

So I’m going to see how my strategy of focusing on resistance drilling develops, so for each of the ways we can resist I can feel comfortable in the transition.  From now on I’ll be asking my partners to use resistance, but limiting it to 4-5 options.  So that way I can practise my counters and timing as well.  Over time I hope to bring in more options to the drills.

Hope that makes sense!

Dan