•  Reverse Half guard in response to losing the Rodolfo ride:  When riding the opponent like Rodolfo Vieira does using the GFT standing guard pass, if the opponent sits up into the seated half guard, you can either just push them back down by letting go of the knee and pushing on their shoulder.  If things are really bad and you starting to lose control, you let go of the lapel, grab behind the opponent’s back, and hip switch to reverse half guard.  The two keys are to control the outside knee and to have a heavy cross face.  Then scoot your butt away and use the other foot to brace and yank you stuff foot out of the half guard.
• Reverse Half guard bottom:  The goal is to remove the cross face, get the opposite under hook, and come up for the sweep.

Describe important technical details or tips you learned today:

•  In Reverse Half guard, the person on top must control the opponent’s upper knee to prevent the sweep.
• The over the back belt grab grip isn’t as good since the opponent can take your back.

Sparring comments:

•  I got a really nice De La Riva sweep from the sitting half guard.  I got the grip on the far arm, switched back from seated half guard to De La Riva and pull the outside arm for the sweep.  The key was the speed of the De La Riva hook to sweep transition.  I didn’t sit with the hook on place.
• I had success to switching the leg and arm hooks between sides when attempting the standard butterfly sweeps.

What do you need to improve at this point?

•  Got swept from deep half guard again.  Need to practice the bottom.

Notes:

• We spent many rounds drill guard passing.  I did quite well.

Enjoy, keep training.

Bruno Frazatto (Atos BJJ) shows how to take an opponent’s back when they have you in deep half guard.

Working from half guard or deep half guard – Robson shows how to move to a reverse triangle. If the opponent rolls or avoids the triangle, tuck the arm against your head for a straight arm bar!

We had a good turn out for a noon class.  The Demon was there, so I had girl to train with.  But she had a Christmas hangover.  For those that don’t have kids, a Christmas hangover means they have tons of energy and absolutely no attention span!  (Watch out BJJGRRL, kids class is gonna be a mad house)

Technique was another sweep from deep half guard.  Then we did positional sparring from deep half.  I did really good the first few rounds.  Toward the end I started loosing control of my right hand and foot.  But, I didn’t give up.  I just latched on and held her tight in my half guard.  She said I was like a leach.  Only a BJJ girl would think that was a complement.    I rolled the first and third round with her, and sat out the second to give my wrist and foot a break.

It’s great rolling with The Demon.  We’re pretty evenly matched.  Where she has weight, I have strength.  Then she’s got smooth technique, I’m very wirey.  We had some really good rolls.  We were laughing but training really hard.  We’re both really fast, so there were a lot of transitions.  I did get my spider guard sweep a few times.  I ended up with knee on belly every time.  However, I was so busy celebrating I would miss the armbar!   I pulled butterfly guard a few times.  I think that is the guard position that I want to develop next.  I’m where I want to be with the spider guard for now.

My goals for spider guard were to prevent the guard pass and learn to sweep.  I’ve got that down pretty well.  Not butter smooth, but well enough.  I want to move onto something else, and I think butterfly guard would be a natural transition from spider.  I’m not worrying too much about submissions at this time.  I know they will come.  I just want to be able to control where the roll is.  Specifically, me not being squished!  So, new goals…  Obtain butterfly guard.  Learn to control someone in butterfly guard.  Sweep from butterfly guard.  And of course, continue preventing people from passing my guard.

I’ve been obtaining some dominate positions since I changed my approach to rolling.  Maybe I should say since I started developing an approach to rolling.  But like I said earlier, I want to focus on controlling the roll, and keeping it where I want it.  In the spring, I hope I’m well enough to compete.  The months before that I will focus on submissions.

BTW, Demon’s second roll was with “Suave” a tall lanky boy with Hapkido experience.  Yeah, I could hear him thinking, “OMG, I’m getting my butt kicked by a girl!”  I’ve got to give him credit, he seemed to have a good working knowledge of the joints and how they work.  He’s just used to doing this standing up.

Happy New Year!!

We go back to half guard and work to get to deep half.  I had my right leg holding him in half guard.  I swing under his hips and try to connect my hands on the back of his left hip.  It is very important to stay in tight here so as to make sure I don’t get the shit crossfaced out of me.  (Which happened during positional sparring when I lost my contact up into my eye and got a mild cut on my lip.)  With the lock on his hips, its my job to get under him.  NOT to pull him onto me.  So I use my left foot and grips to scoot down the floor, my right leg tracking down the back of his right leg.  He shouldn’t be able to bend his knee and I am now under him.  I pendulum my legs to turn towards my left and into deep half.  My right hand should still be gripping his left hip, left hand hidden from kimuras.

To move into the waiter sweep, I jump my legs up and fish his right leg up with my left hand.  Make sure to use the back of the hand so that you stay safe from getting the arm pulled off.  My legs will end up above his knee and the hand that grabs will get any material it can.  If I grab his right hand, I make sure he can’t post…but grabbing lapels works just as well.  From here, we rock them back and forth to make it unpredictable.  When I am ready, I rock him backward and then to my right to sweep.  Quickly, I swivel my hand inside his leg and grab his lapel.  I scoot my hips back (otherwise we are able to be shoved straight back) and then spin to my knees.  As I spin, the left hand that was grabbing the lapel dives under his right leg.  Either I drop my hips to immobilize the leg that worries me and then windshield over and pass.  Or I can move towards his center before mule-kicking back and advancing to the position where my knee splits his legs and he is on his side.

Great class.  And good to get back to some deep half.  I am really upset that a manager at work is taking Saturday off with no real notice, and that instead of learning from Jake McKenzie, I will be running an empty restaurant.  Fucking awesome.

Cindy

5 kipping pull-ups, 10 pushups to lockout, 15 squats // as many rounds as possible in 20 mins / to maximize work, stay in one spot under the pull-up bar

My result: 10 rounds + 2 pullups before time expired.  When I asked Coach Max how my performance was, he replied matter-of-factly: “Not bad, I guess, for a beginner.”

This workout was very challenging.  Physically, it taxed my wind and muscles.  My hands were calloused and bleeding from the punishment of the pull-up bar.  Mentally, I had to work on turning down the noise in my mind and letting my body go on auto-pilot.  From a cognitive stand point, the literal thought of another pull-up or another squat at certain points during the workout created a tremendous road block.  The only way to keep going was to turn the volume down and just go!

It was also challenging from a technical perspective, as there were new things to keep in mind and Coach Max is cleaning up what I’m coming to realize is sloppy technical performance of very basic movements.

A great example is the kipping pull-up, which CrossFit uses in its workouts.  Hanging still from the bar, you hip forward, hip back, and then explode upwards, aiming to have your chest touch the bar.  At first glance, the motion looks like cheating.  But, the larger objective is to teach a motion that will translate over to gymnastic rings, specifically, the muscle up.    And I guarantee you – it does NOT feel like you’re cutting corners.

The pushups were standard pushups, but with a strong emphasis on perfect form, getting your chest all the way to the floor and locking out at the top before it would count as a rep.

The air squat also needed tweaking.  With feet slightly wider than hip width and knees out (not collapsing inward), you crease at the waist, butt down all the way so that your thighs break the parallel plane, and then push back up all the way, keeping everything smooth and continuous.  A key point here is to keep your chest up and out for the entire motion and keeping your head level.  This extra focus results in better posture, but also requires a bit more energy and attention.

The video below has some good footage of the kipping pullup, as well as of modifications made for users at different ability levels.

Try it, and leave your results in the comments below.

Extras

The No-Gi Worlds, broadcast by Budovideos.com, was a great event!  Caleb and Shawn are improving as a commentating duo each time out, with Shawn keeping viewers engaged on the technical aspects of matches and Caleb providing data points and color commentary.

Some thoughts:

• I love that they won’t let competitors just sit to guard outright.  It is incumbent on all of us a jiujitsukas to work on our throws and takedowns.
• Kevin Howell is working on a new book with none other than Terere!  Woah!
• It was fascinating to hear Shawn talk about cycles in BJJ.  Deep half guard was the “Vitor Shailon Guard” back in the day.  X-guard was being used frequently by Fredson Alves back in ’98.
• The female competitors were absolutely amazing to watch.  Incredibly technical, aggressive, and submission-oriented.
• Emily Kwok, who I got the pleasure to interview for The Fightworks Podcast, won gold in her division.  Very inspiring to see her hard work pay off.

On a side note I thought this clip was particularly fitting as Ze Mario will be out here in Sydney for a series of seminars in July and I cant wait to train with the master again! I’m very excited and hope to get some exclusive footage of a few techniques for the blog so if there is anything that you would like to see please comment and let me know!

A quick photo at BTT after a gruelling session back in the day!

Good luck with your training and Happy rolling!

Felipe Grez

Jiu jitsu Kingdom

Basic Movements/Issues in the Shrimp Mount Escape

First, let’s discuss shrimping.  One of the major flaws that people have while shrimping is to turn to their side and shrimp away, with their knees almost touching.  Both instructors never fail to point out how structurally weak that way of shrimping is.  All that the opponent needs to do to defeat you here is to put weight on your knees.  So how do you prevent this?  Stay in strong base.  Let’s say you are curling towards your right side.  Right leg is flat on the ground, left foot is braced.  Right elbow is cocked in to your side and essentially stays there.  Now push off your left foot and pull your hips backward.  Imagine your right elbow scraping something off your right thigh.  Now you are shrimping correctly.

One of the main issues in Jiu Jitsu is the concept of space.  Invade the other person’s space without them invading yours and you will usually win.  When someone gets the mount on you, the space they are taking over is both sides from hips to pits.  You need to take this area back in order to escape and mount an offense.  Any bit of this that you take back, you cannot then relinquish or you start over.  And do not let them get farther, obviously.  A person with a low mount is far less dangerous to you than someone that has climbed their knees up into your armpits.  Make sure you brace against their hips to prevent this.

Technical Details of the Escape

We will assume that the person that has mount is still fairly low on our torso and is sitting upright (or at least hasn’t entwined our legs).  Immediately use your arms to frame space and prevent them from advancing.  Straighten the right leg (for the sake of the explanation) and onto your right side.  Your left leg is responsible for providing resistance if your opponent tries to push you onto your back, so keep it planted firmly on the ground.  Your top elbow will stay flush with your side, bottom hand protects against the cross face.  This is VERY IMPORTANT.  I forgot many times during the drill to prevent the cross face.  Your elbow should be in at your side, while your forehead is right behind your hand.  Do not extend your arms to protect.  Now hip escape out further to create more space with which to work.  Now to transition to the deep half.

Deep Half Guard Sweep

Your opponent will be somewhat off balance now that you have created all of this room.  Use your bottom elbow to push their knee down while you bring yours up.  Left leg comes over and clamps down on their foot.  You may need to guide their foot onto your bottom leg with your foot.  Or knee them in the ass to make the leg lift.  Use whatever method necessary.  As this happens, your top hand slides under the thigh of their trapped leg.  Scoot your body down and run like Homer Simpson until you get to the deep half guard.  Because we are going back to the basics, we are looking to get to a very simple deep half.  Your head will press back against their far hip to control.  Your hand grabs the near hip.  Other hand hides under their leg.  Outside leg goes over their trapped leg, and your inside leg then reinforces that.

The sweep from here is one of the most basic ones from deep half.  You swing your legs back and forth until you either get your opponent to come up on their hands or sit on their ass.  They come up, you come out the back door.  They sit down, you come up.  Remember that what ever direction their knee is pointing, your body should be too.

Positional Drilling

I rolled with one of the newer white belts, who probably outweighs me by at least thirty pounds.  We were supposed to drill the escape up until deep half and then roll at normal speed.  Top guy just trying not to get swept.  He didn’t really hear the part about drilling, but that was helpful.  I leave my head open way too fucking much.  Against a blue or purple, I would have had my head cross faced off.  I need to remember to block my face with that hand.  But other than that, the escape works really well.  I would like to keep working it often and get proficient at it.  Seph was saying how people that have a good deep half have a tendency to be able to escape to it from anywhere.  Maybe someday….

Bring your left ankle in to just under his right knee, with your right foot on top.  Turn to your side and extend.  As you do this, switch so that your right foot is hooking his right thigh and get a tight grip on his hips.  Move into the back take from Tuesday.  So get his left arm hooked and take him back over that shoulder and then extend your legs forward.  Back taken.