Class 196...

It's my final week of work hell, but I managed to make the open mat session and rolled with a variety of people. 

I did OK against a very strong white belt, then got ruined by a couple of blue belts, and finally got ruined by a very good white belt. I can defend against better people for a while, but I just wasn't up to speed against really decent opposition.

In truth, it was a bit of a ropey session on the mat but it feels like it's been a year of some improvement. I simply need to train more regularly and put the basics of attack, frame, positioning and off-balancing together. 

Things to remember: Frame and attack; spend some time on escapes from side control.

Classes 194 & 195...

Work is currently hell so I've been restricted to two classes over the last two weeks.

First up was a morning class where we worked on guard passing drills. The key one of these was the toreador pass, which I remembered pretty well and even managed to use in sparring. We also worked on a step-out pass from a high half guard. I've forgotten the details here, though, so I'll have to revisit it. 

In sparring, I got ruined by a blue belt that I usually do OK against, then I got to roll with a new white belt... he turned out to be an old-school judoka, who knew how to pin and how to use his weight. I did OK here, though, and was decent against a couple of other opponents. 

The second class was an open mat session. I feared two weeks of bad food and stress at work would catch up with me during this class, but I did OK against a smaller but very mobile blue belt, then I had decent patches against a much better blue belt. After this, I did OK against a couple of fellow white belts and used my frame to tire them out before attacking. 

Things to remember: Continually apply pressure when guard passing; use frame when creating space and defending as it's less tiring than using muscle power.

Classes 192 & 193...

A morning class followed by an open mat session. 

In the morning class, we continued to work on spider guard and did specific drilling to defend and attack the position from sleeve and bicep control. The take-home here was to keep tension if you're defending the position or using it to attack, and get rid of the sleeve control by grabbing the pants and walking the hands and using the hips if you are attacking the position or trying to get round it. 

Sparring was good and I'm starting to get back into a groove with it. I'm still not very good, but I'm not making daft mistakes and I even hit a few sweeps and also got my first tap with a foot lock.

The open mat session was fab and exhausting. I sparred with my small but mobile blue belt friend and held my own, but the speed of his movement is extraordinary... even when he's carrying rib injuries and a damaged knee. I then sparred with a couple of white belts and did OK keeping guard and attacking from guard. 

I also did a bit go no-gi. I did OK at this against one opponent, but I got comprehensively ruined against a much higher belt. I don't really do no-gi, though, so I'm not too worried about this. I did remember not to surrender the undertook, though, and I rolled to the correct side to escape a body triangle, so little victories among the carnage!

Things to remember: How to defend and attack spider guard.

Private Class No.9...

A private class and some work on the arm bar, omoplata and leg triangle combination. The armbar was OK, and the take-home on the omoplata was a reminder to cross grip and use the nearest arm to grab the opponent's leg to make the attack easier. 

The leg triangle mechanics needed a bit of work and the emphasis was on establishing wrist control on both wrists of the opponent, the left hand stuffs the right arm of the opponent, the right foot on the hip, hips rise, the left leg comes over, the right hand grabs the left leg to close, the right arm underhooking the opponent's outside arm and the right leg pivot left underhook to angle off. then lock leg and flare our foot. 
We then did some work on the breaking the guard using the standing guard break of pushing one of the opponent's hand to the side, then pushing the leg off one side, dropping to combat base, with knee up and one knee hooking the leg, driving for head control, shoulder pressure like a Pez dispenser, step out trapped leg while flattening hips, securing positions. 

We then used this guard break and pass as an entry into a leg lock. The basic mechanics of this are to get the nearest arm under the nearest leg, drop down to the side of the trapped leg with the leg secured; leg under the opponent's leg has heel on hip of opponent with toes pointing out; other leg pinches trapped leg of opponent with foot under trapped leg; then go backwards on elbow to apply pressure; then rooster chest out and turn.

Classes 190 & 191...

First up, a lunchtime class with some specific techniques and specific drills, followed by sparring. 

The technique taught was spider guard and leg lasso, followed by a couple of sweep options. 

The take-home of the technique class on spider guard was to keep the sleeve grips tight and use the legs on the arms/hips to stretch the opponent. The leg lasso works by looping the knee to the outside of the opponent's arms, then the foot goes under the armpit with the foot hooking under the arm.

The two sweep options relied on using the lasso to ensure the opponent can't base himself. One stretches the opponent out, the other relies on spinning to get both knees under the opponent to take his weight before sweeping him back. There are also options to switch to an omoplata and a bicep cutter. 

In sparring I did OK. I held my own with a blue belt, then rolled with a new white and took it quite steady. It's about getting used to rolling again at the moment. 

In the second class, we worked on a defence from the leg triangle. This involved the trapped man posturing up and framing, then using the non-trapped hand to drag the opponent's knee to the floor. This creates space to feed the other hand through and either break the guard or move to a guard break/pass. 

The second version of this involves a more dynamic movement with the same idea but throwing the leg over to protect the attack on the arm bar. 

Things to remember: Leg lasso and spider guard used for unbalancing; leg triangle escape. 

Classes 188 & 189...

My first proper class for a few weeks and some work on the spider guard. 

This was more of a theoretical class than a technique class, and the take-home was about keeping tension through extending the legs on the same side that the opponent moves, but also confirming the grip on the opponent's sleeves to control his movement. 

We did some specific sparring and I nailed a few sweeps for different positions, but I wasn't good enough in normal sparring. I was still hard to tap but I was too slow and not sharp enough. That will come back in time, though. 

At the open mat session, I drilled some techniques and worked on defending seated guard. I also managed my first sweep from x guard. This was something of a milestone. 

I also rolled with a very agile and mobile purple belt. We were just rolling for position but he was just too fast most of the time. 

Things to remember: Maintain tension in spider guard; train more and sharpen up attacks.

Classes 186 & 187...

It's been three busy weeks at work and I'm also nursing a recurring knee injury, so I've only made it to a couple of open-mat sessions. 

The somewhat limited goal at these sessions was essentially to keep remind my body what it was like to roll so I didn't feel too out of it when I got back proper. I did pick up a few good pointers as well, though.

In the first session, I seemed to do a lot of no-gi and I rolled with a very good purple belt. I was much better at not surrendering the underhook but in focusing on that, I ended up giving up a lot of leg locks.Leg locks still escape me a bit. I have a rough idea how to enter into them, I have a rough idea of how to apply them and I'm getting at defending them, but I need to spend some serious time on them. 

In the second session, I did some drilling and worked on some gi submissions and moving for position. A senior belt then did some work on showing the lateral drop, which is a technique I'm going to spend proper time on.

Things to remember: Do not surrender underhook; work leg locks; work lateral drop.

Grappling Talk…

I’m currently injured so I’m out of regular training for a while, apart from a few open mat sessions, where I’m essentially turning up to do light rolling or drilling.

It’s not my first injury lay-off and it probably won’t be my last, so I try to remain stoical and philosophical. But injuries remain annoying, especially when it’s put the kibosh on all my competition plans for this year.

I was reading an article online a few days ago, though, about an American black belt called Chris Haueter. He’s one of the so-called ‘Dirty Dozen’, which is a group of BJJ practitioners who were among the first 12 Americans to be awarded their black belts in the US. And he said the following line:

‘It’s not about who’s good, it’s about who’s left.’

I loved that and it chimed with me a lot. In my other martial art, Hapkido, I was a terrible white belt and not much better in my other early belts for the first three or four years. I also saw younger, more skilled and more graceful students join and leave me in their slipstream as they progressed up the ranks.

I wasn’t good, but when they didn’t stick around I was left. And because I’d not stopped, I did slowly get better. Even at the giddy heights of black belt, I still wouldn’t claim to be a good black belt, especially when I look around the do-jang and see other students who are faster, more technically proficient, more graceful, more balanced, etc.

But I will be left and that means I will continue to improve. It’s a good lesson and one thought that keeps me sane when injury prevents me from training.

I can’t give any advice on BJJ because I’m still not a very good white belt. But I can give advice on training and, like Chris Haueter, that advice would be: ‘Don’t be good, be left…’

Classes 184 & 185...

My knee injury is back with a vengeance so it's only gentle rolling at a couple of open mat classes for me. 

I rolled with a couple of newish white belts and did OK, then rolled no-gi with a good purple belt. I don't really roll no-gi but he seemed keen, so I agreed to have a go and told him not to expect too much. He then got slightly annoyed that I wasn't very good at it and kept emphasising the importance of not giving away the underhook as I was making it too easy for him. 

I genuinely appreciated the underhook advice. But I thought it was quite funny that he was a little annoyed about the fact that I wasn't very good at something that I told him I wasn't very good at. 

Any enjoyable couple of classes, though.

Things to remember: The importance of the underhook at no-gi.

Class 183...

An early-morning class and some work on the omaplata from full guard. 

The detail emphasised here was to secure sleeve control on the opponent in your guard, then put a foot on the hip and knee to trap the arm, so the opponent can't base out when you attack with the omaplata. Keeping control of the opponent by grabbing the belt or the waist was also emphasised to stop the opponent from rolling out. The other details emphasised was to pull away from the opponent to flatten him out and further restrict his mobility.

There were a couple of variations added to this attack. The first to apply an armlock from the position by figure 4 crossing the legs and putting the furthest away leg through so it goes under the opponent's neck and out under his armpit. Then stretch the through leg out and drop the curled leg down.

The other variation was a counter to when the opponent rolls out. To counter this, base on you knee and spin out to secure mount. 

Sparring was pretty good and I did OK against a very tall blue belt with long legs, then I moved well and threatened much against two fellow white belts. A fab class. 

Things to remember: Use the omaplata as a base to launch other attacks.

Classes 181 & 182…

First up, an early-morning session and a class focusing on the Toreador Pass from standing. The key details taught in this class were the thumbs facing each other as the standing man grabs the gi pants at the knee of the opponent on the floor, then swapping hands on the changeover so the hand driving the top leg down is the moved hand and the other hand is driving for head control.

The choke that then follows involves securing side control with the head control arm under the neck. The other hand then feeds the tip of the gi jacket flap from one hand to the other, before moving to north-south and dropping both elbows to the mat and using the elbow pressure and the movement to choke the opponent out.

Sparring was fab and I did well against a few fellow white belts at about my level, and I survived against a decent blue belt, too.

Second up was an open mat session. This was pretty continuous sparring for about an hour and I did better against a white belt colleague who's a good wrestler, then I got to roll with a very light and very mobile blue belt, before finishing off with a very muscular and big purple belt. I got pretty comprehensively ruined against all three in the end, but my defense was OK and I did pick up a few key pointers. 
I also felt like my engine was up and running. This was my fifth martial arts class of the week.

Things to remember: Don't cross your arm over your middle line. I did this a lot today then had to fight like crazy to get it back. Keep your knee up when somebody is trying to close guard around you. It makes it very hard to close the legs. It also gives you escape options.

Classes 179 & 180...

First up was an open mat session. I got pretty comprehensively ruined by a couple of blue belts and a very good white belt.

I did, however, pick up one very good additional method of breaking an opponent's closed guard. This involved the usual hands on hips, stepping back and creating space to put your knee in their bum, but then bringing you knee up and sitting back to prise the legs open. From here, it was into passing stance of one knee up, one knee down and elbows connected to knees.

The second class was also an open-mat session. I sparred with a couple of good white belts, one small and agile and the other muscular and strong, and a good blue belt, who was strong and has excellent leg locks, and I got ruined.

On the plus side, my movement is feeling much better and I did escape a leg triangle at one point by posturing up then doing a judo escape, which involved putting my feet on the hips of my opponent and prising him off. I also had some success with spinning out of turtle and catching an opponent in my guard.

Things to remember: Keep working on movement; play with spinning and rolling into guard from turtle.

Private Class No.8...

My first private class after a lengthy lay-off following a few injuries. 

First up, we went through the three-attack combination: armbar, omaplata and triangle. This was OK, but the main advice was to tighten up the mechanics and maximise the pressure, particularly between the switch over from left to right when drilling.

We then did some work on chokes, which seemed to be OK. I also learnt two new chokes. 

The first of these relied on the same initial collar grab, but saw the thumb of the other hand go in at the back of the gi collar, then swoop over to the other side and tighten as normal to close the choke. It seems to rely on timing your opponent's escape to make it truly effective.

The second new choke involved grabbing the flap of the opponent's gi jacket from guard, then passing it over the shoulder of the opponent onto the other side and securing it as one side of a choke. The hand grips like an uppercut. Then the other hand goes in as normal and secures the choke and tightens it. 


We did some work on breaking and opening guard. The main adjustments here involved having the hooking leg tight and the escaping leg flat on the floor to block the hips. 

Finally, we did some work on pulling guard. The key advice here was to use the foot on the hip to apply tension between you and the opponent. 

Things to remember: Tighten the mechanics, the new choke options.

Classes 176, 177 & 178...

Three very good morning classes in quick succession and I'm slowly starting to feel like I'm getting back up to speed. 

The first class was with a guest teacher and we did some work on a sweep against a standing opponent. 
i) The man on the bottom has his feet on the hips of his opponent, with the right hand on the opponent's lapel and the left arm trapping the opponent's right leg; the bottom man then hip escapes out and hip escapes back in in so his knees are trapping the right leg of the opponent; your left foot then goes onto the hip of the opponent and your right foot drops to the right knee of the opponent and stretches him out into a sweep.
ii) If the opponent moves in to break leg pressure, let go of the collar grip, pinch knees together and roll onto left side to take opponent over; pass trapped leg and pin onto your right hip; then technical stand-up and leg drag before passing into side control.  

In the next morning class, we worked on a sweep when the opponent tries butterfly guard. 
i) Your head on shoulder of opponent; grab foot same side as head and grab back of opponent's collar with other hand; pull down with collar, pull up with leg and move own legs out to create space then drive for side control. 
ii) The choke from this position involved moving to knee on belly, extending arm at collar to apply pressure, then releasing left hand and going deep with palm up and pinky to opponent's neck, then turning to apply choke. 

In the third morning class, we then worked the same 'steering wheel sweep' as an attack into side control from no contact. 

Sparring was fab and I was mainly paired with fellow white belts. I caught one opponent in a head and arm choke and a couple of other opponents in kimuras. I also rolled with a very good blue belt and defended myself for a decent amount of time before falling into an armbar when escaping a bad position. 

It's good to be back and it's better to feel like I'm picking up full fitness again. 

Things to remember: the steering wheel sweep from butterfly guard.

Competition No.5...

Today, I was supposed to be competing in the Surrey Open, which was supposed to be my third BJJ tournament of the year. But I'm still recovering from injury, so, like the last one, it was a non-starter, making it a disappointing one out of three for the year so far.

A couple of my pals were fighting, though, so I went along to see what was what.

The first thing to note was that it a very well run event, with mat times and fight schedules running pretty much exactly as advertised. One of my friends picked up a deserved bronze after winning one fight, then losing the next. The guy he lost to looked much bigger and my mate had a damaged hand, so he did well not to get submitted. My other friend fought a guy who quite simply looked like an ogre, and he was eventually submitted, despite battling on very bravely against what looked like a brutal leg triangle attempt.

It was good to watch them in action, though. I then went to watch the people in the category I would have been fighting in. If fully fit, I think I'd have done OK. 

The one thing I did do, though, was to make sure I was on weight for this event. Even if I couldn't compete, I did at least get that part of the preparation right.

But I'm slowly coming back to training and competing in the London Open in October is now the goal.

Class 175...

Another open mat session and a bit of light sparring. 

My injuries are healing up and my body is slowly returning to normal, but I'm off the pace with movements and recognising basic positions and threats. 

I did some gi sparring and got shown a really useful escape from on the bottom in scarf hold, which involved dropping onto my shoulder so I'm sort of back to back with my opponent, then connecting my hands around the waist of my opponent, and rolling over so I end up on top. 

I also did a bit of no-gi. This was fun and I'm slowly working out what to grab and what submissions I can use without the gi. It's fun but it's quite fast-paced. 

Sadly, I'm  unlikely to compete at a tournament I've entered this week. My ribs are so-so, but a knee injury has recurred, and it's hard enough competing when I'm fully fit never mind when I'm half fit! 

This is annoying but I have to take the long-term view. There's no point competing when I'm half fit and risking a re-injury and being out for another six to seven weeks. It's good to be back on the mats, though.

Things to remember: The escape from scarfhold.

Class 174...

This week, I finally returned to rolling in an open-mat session and I enjoyed a bit of light sparring. 

The ribs are about 80 per cent healed, but the recurring knee injury is still pretty fucked. It was still OK, even though I may have to miss the competition next week if I'm not fully fit. 

I rolled with a couple of blue belts and did OK, but they were taking it easy. I did get to try some positions out, though, and my full guard was working OK. 

I also got shown a nifty guard passing strategy for if you get caught in your opponent's full guard. This involved stuffing one of the man on the bottom's hands behind his back, then passing on your side because it's undefended. 

It's nice to be back. Even if I'm not firing on all both barrels yet. 

Things to remember: Use the hand behind the back to pass the opponent's full guard.

Competition No.4...

I was supposed to be competing at the Brighton Open. Unfortunately, my ribs are still healing and a recurring knee injury is flaring up, so I went along to support my team-mates and do a bit of a recce to see what the competition was like. 

My friends did very well. One blue belt pal looked pretty unstoppable in both go and no-gi, while a white belt colleague won all three of his fights to win his division pretty comprehensively.

I watched the fighters in the age and weight category that I compete in and a few of them looked very good, very calm, very experienced and technically very solid. But I felt, if fully fit, I could have worked as hard as they did and have been as dynamic, which would give me a decent chance of at least not getting totally ruined against them. 

It also made me realise that If I want to compete and do well I  have to train, eat and rest properly before an event. Preparation may not be the key to winning against a more skilled fighter, but it will give me a better chance of success. 

I saw two brilliant things at the Brighton Open, though. 

The first was a young lad in a wheelchair, who had lost the use of the bottom half of his body, fighting in the event. He won a massive round of applause for both his fights and rightfully so. Getting caught up with winning and losing can sometimes make you forget that just competing and learning and improving should be enough when you're doing a martial art. It was a good lesson in humility.

The second was a young girl of about six competing. She already looked quite fluid but everyone else was just so much bigger than her. It was impressive to see, though, and again quite humbling. 

But it was a good day. Competing would have been better, but a bit of supporting and the chance to do a recce wasn't a bad second place option. 

The key tactical things I took from the day were: fighting and driving for position and securing a stronger position; and never accepting an inferior position.

Class 173...

A tentative return to the mats while still recovering from an injury. I basically went to see what condition my condition was in, and the upshot is I'm still a few weeks away from resuming full training.

On the plus side, I did some drilling on guard breaking and passing and I could sort of move OK with this. It was also just nice to pop into the school and remind myself that I am actually quite comfortable there…

Things to remember: You can always train something.

Class 172...

An open mat session and some sparring with a much better white belt, two very good blue belts and a smaller but also much better white belt.

Both the blue belts were hugely strong so I defended a lot and got battered. One good thing, though, was I ended up in a very deep head and arm choke and I managed to defend it by bringing my hand to my ear on the choking side, then I got both my feet in his belt and managed to pry him off so he had to let it go.

It was a fun session until I twisted to escape an arm bar and something went pop in my floating ribs. It's a on occurrence of last year's rib injury. It's nowhere near as bad but I t may mean a rest for a few weeks.

And this may be a problem because I have a grading at another martial art and a BJJ competition coming up. Bugger...

Things to remember: Foot in belt and prying opponent off can be a good last-ditch tactic.

Private Class No. 7...

A private class and more work on the fundamentals I'm trying to get a grip n. 

The mechanics of the armbar, omoplata and leg triangle combination are getting cleaner, and the chokes are getting tighter. Everything obviously still needs work, though. 

We did some work on guard breaking and guard passing, too, with the focus on two breaks that move into combat base, before using the same pass. The key was one knee up and one knee under in combat base with elbows connecting to knees. One knee slides over the opponent's knee to pin the opponent's leg, the arm on the same side sweeps under the opponent's head to exert shoulder pressure. Meanwhile, the other knee goes vertical and connects to your arm to trap the opponent's other leg. Once shoulder pressure is exerted, the other leg kicks over and you move into side control. 

There were two exercises to drill the basics of guard passing. These were as follows: 
Knee up/down walking exercise across mat; sag to side for head control.
Base switch exercise: face down on all fours; foot stamp on floor, with head control.

We also did some introductory work on foot locks from the leg trapped position in combat base. The entry is the same for both a  foot lock and an achilles lock.

Things to remember: Sliding leg down to trap opponent's leg, followed by other knee up connecting to arm to trap opponent's other leg. Knee up, knee down. 

Class 171...

A dinner-time class with 20 minutes of specific technique drilling, followed by specific sparring, then sparring.

I worked on a kimura drill and a leg triangle from an arm overbook in the technique drilling, and sort of did OK in the specific sparring bits, which focused on either attacking from guard or retaining guard. 

I also got the chance to roll with a purple belt who managed to continually stuff one of my arms so I couldn't use it to defend his attacks. It was a good technique. I shall employ this myself.

Things to remember: Keep drilling.

Class 170...

An open-mat session and non-stop rolling for about 80 minutes, which was a stamina-sapper. 

The good news is that I was hard to tap among the fellow white belts that I rolled with… until my strength and endurance went and then I was useless. 

But I was threatening a few kimuras and omoplatas and I did some good escape work. I even managed a few positional reversals. 

One of my fellow white belts is very small and very fast, though, and trying lock him up is like trying to knit fog. It's an example I can learn from, though, as his constant movement makes it tough to tap him. 

I love open mat sessions. I just sometimes worry I enjoy rolling so much I sometimes forget to focus and drill.

Things to remember: Constant movement makes it harder for your opponent to nail a position.

Classes 167-169...

Two early-morning classes and an open mat session in a seven-day period. My body is starting to recover. 

The early morning classes focused on the extended half guard. The take-home advice from these two classes was as follows: 
i) The bottom man should always fight for an underhook on the same side as the opponent's trapped leg, then attack for the opponent's back.
ii) The top man should always fight to prevent the underhook. If the man on the bottom secures the undertook, then the man on top needs to switch base. 
iii) The man on the bottom should always have his near arm inside the vertical knee in half guard. If the arm is outside, the man on top can pressure smash through because the integrity of the frame is jeopardised. 
iv) The man on top needs to change his angle and secure the legs before attempting to pass. He needs to move round where the frame is strongest. 

The open mat session was a bit of drilling with lots of sparring. I did OK in the sparring and I am starting to improve my defence against slightly more senior belts.

Things to remember: Extend the frame in half-guard and keep the elbow inside the knee if you're on the bottom; fight for the underhook. On the top, bypass the legs and pressure pass. 

Classes 165-166...

Back on the mat with two open mat sessions to check out how my injury is doing. The good news is I'm pretty much there and should be back in full training mode this week. 

In the first open mat, I did a bit of flow rolling with a friend of mine who's much smaller than me but much more skilled. I also did a bit of no-ti, too. 

In the second open mat, I got stuck in a bit more with a stringer and younger white belt, whose technique suggested he was more like a blue belt in waiting. 

It was good to be back, though, and I'm playing more with establishing my guard and attacking from there with kimuras and chokes. I'm also having some success with hitting the leg triangle from both on top and on the bottom in side control. 

Things to remember: Keep playing guard.

Class 164...

My third class of the week and I made it through a gruelling warm-up, then it was straight into sparring... and twang! Something turned in my back as a much heavier purple belt flattened me out and drove their weight through me. 

Fortunately, it's an old injury so I wasn't too worried. I'll be off training for about a week. But it's a salient reminder not to overdo anything. I'm 46 and I need to pace myself occasionally, especially if things are also hectic in other areas of my life.

Class 163...

Another early-morning session, featuring a back climb and a sweep from the bottom in half guard from the previous class. There was an initial variation I missed on this, which went something like this:

i) Opponent's right leg is trapped in your half guard; you have a high half-guard control, which means your left leg is under the armpit of the opponent and your left arm is on the inside of your left leg; use your leg to push the opponent off; as he pressures back down, secure the left underhook and shrimp down so your head is on the belly of the opponent and you are propped up on your right elbow; from here, reach round and attack the back. 

I was paired with a very helpful purple belt who showed me some gripping sequences to turn the back take options into a choke. The key seemed to be either establishing a collar grip or moving into the rear naked choke. 

I again did OK in sparring and I felt quite mobile against three fellow white belts. I also defended quite well and locked in a few submissions, including a kimura and the knuckle variation of an Ezekiel choke. 

I struggled to pass one of my fellow white belt's open guards, though. I need to look at some guard passing strategies again. 

Things to remember: Keep using the Ezekiel choke; do some research into guard breaking, then guard passing.

Class 162...

An early-morning session, featuring a back climb and a sweep from the bottom in half guard. These went something like this: 

i) Opponent's right leg is trapped in your half guard; secure sleeve control of opponent's right hand with either two against one or your right arm only; yank the opponent's right arm across your body and under his; then shrimp out and grab the opponent's left lat; take the back.

ii) Opponent's right leg is trapped in your half guard; secure sleeve control of opponent's right hand with either two against one or your right arm only; yank the opponent's right arm across your body and under his; opponent defends by grabbing your leg; push the opponent away and use his momentum as he comes back to sweep him over. 

I did OK in sparring and I felt quite mobile against three fellow white belts. I also defended quite well and locked in a few submissions. A good class.

Things to remember: Keep working from guard with the arm across the throat and the wrist control. It's starting to pay dividends.

Class 161...

An open-mat session and some flow rolling with a smaller but very skilled and fast white belt, then some no-gi rolling with a bigger and more skilled white belt. 

This was a nice session and, even though it wasn't hugely competitive, I still landed some decent positions and got some decent submission attempts in, too. 

It was also very tiring, though. It seem 90 minutes straight rolling is very fatiguing. 

Things to remember: Persevere with the chokes from guard. You're having success with these.

Private Class No.6...

Another private class and some work on the armbar, omaplata and triangle.

We then did some work on the following chokes:
Palm up, palm down choke
Palm up, palm up choke up
Loop choke (push away, up on hip and resting on elbow, momentum back in allows you to catch head and put arm in)

We also did some work on the cross collar grip and stuffing the opponent's hand, and using this to set up the kimura and the cross collar choke, followed by the Ezekiel choke from mount and side control. 

These lessons are invaluable and I'm starting to get more comfortable with chokes.

Things to remember: The Ezekiel choke is a great option from pretty much anywhere.

Class 160...

Today, an early morning class and with three positions from the closed guard. They went something like this:

i) Arm drag and back take: Opponent is in your closed guard; reach both hands to get wrist control on opponent’s right hand with fingers gripping sleeve; bridge up and collapse his posture with your legs as you bridge down and push his arm across his body to your right to expose a shoulder; keep the right wrist control in place and shrimp out as your left arm swims over his back and grabs under armpit; pull yourself round and attack the back as you secure hooks. 

ii) Arm drag and straight armbar: Opponent is in your closed guard; reach both hands to get wrist control on opponent’s right hand with fingers gripping sleeve; bridge up and collapse his posture with your legs as you bridge down and push his arm across his body to your right to expose a shoulder; the opponent uses his free hand to press up; hip escape back and catch his pressing-up arm by sending your right arm underneath and clamp down with his hand at your neck; bring your knees up and clamp them together for a straight arm bar.

iii) Arm drag and sweep: Opponent is in your closed guard; reach both hands to get wrist control on opponent’s right hand with fingers gripping sleeve; bridge up and collapse his posture with your legs as you bridge down and push his arm across his body to your right to expose a shoulder; the opponent uses his free hand to press up; keep his right hand in wrist control and stuffed across his body with your left hand; hip escape back and with your right hand, grab his leg; then kick through his shoulder with your right leg and come up to sweep him.

I'm also starting to experiment with the entry footwork for leg locks from standing against a seated opponent. 

Things to remember: Arm drag and back take.

Competition No.3...

Today was the yearly club tournament and I once again competed at middle-weight. 

Sadly, I missed the weight by about 1.5kg, but I was still allowed to compete as it's quite a relaxed affair. In any other event, though, this would be an instant disqualification. So the first lesson of the day: I need to manage my weight loss better. 

So, for the remaining three events I'll be doing this year, I've now given myself a five-week schedule to diet and drop any additional pounds (and it's pounds because I still work in metric).

Onto the fight itself, and I lost quite heavily on points. On the plus side, I defended well and didn't get submitted, and I even managed to get back to half-guard, and full guard at one point.

My opponent got side control then full mount and I was defending pretty much for all that time. I had a couple of very small chances, one a throw from standing and another an attack from full guard, but I was just too exhausted. My opponent was also a decent wrestler who knew how to use his weight. 

But I was never really in it and I wasn't aggressive enough. I should probably have exerted myself more to escape bad positions earlier in the fight and tried to tire him, but I never felt I had a decent opening. 

However, another event done and more things to work on. And, last year at this point, I didn't even last a full round. 

Things to remember: Be more aggressive. Don't rely on countering all the time. 

Classes 158 & 159...

Two early morning classes, both focusing on control positions and submissions from Side control. 

The techniques went something like this: 
Secure opponent's gi at back of neck with right hand; left elbow blocks opponent's hip movement; step over opponent's neck with right leg; choke between right hand and leg to submit.

Shoulder pressure using arm under neck and driving weight into opponent; opponent gets underhook; arm under neck swims out and traps opponent's arm at his side; switch base and go to straight arm lock.

Variation: If opponent defends by grabbing belt, then use own arm to lift his belt and lock opponent's arm in place; free hand goes deep in collar and under neck to choke; if that fails, roll opponent onto side and bring knee between own arms and on back of opponent's neck; drive in with knee and sag back with arms.

In sparring, I did OK in both sessions. I'm starting to feel more up to speed again. 

Things to remember: Shoulder pressure!

Class 157...

An early-morning class and some work on sweeps using the omaplata. There three variations went something like this: 

i) Opponent in your closed guard; right hand grabs opponent's left sleeve and left hand grabs opponent's right led on gi; open the guard and stuff the arm so the elbow can't base out; bridge and kick through with the left leg to sweep the opponent over; opponent bases with his left arm; bridge up again and drive forward to sweep him so you come on top in mount. 

ii) Opponent in your closed guard; right hand grabs opponent's left sleeve and left hand grabs opponent's right led on gi; open the guard and stuff the arm so the elbow can't base out; bridge and kick through with the left leg to sweep the opponent over; opponent bases with his left arm; sweep leg under and onto shoulder for arm bar. 

iii) Opponent in your closed guard; right hand grabs opponent's left sleeve and left hand grabs opponent's right led on gi; open the guard and stuff the arm so the elbow can't base out; bridge and kick through with the left leg to sweep the opponent over; opponent bases with his left arm; right arm swims under opponent's leg as he comes back into position; sit up and secure same side arm; then drive forward to secure side control. 

We then went onto sparring and I did OK with my fellow white belts. I'm starting to use the guard position a lot more and launch attacks from it and I threatened a few kimuras and cross collar chokes. I'm also using the hand in collar and wrist control position and finding that really helpful. I even early caught a couple of Ezekiels today. 

Things to remember: The omaplata sweep and its variations; persevere with the guard as it's starting to pay dividends.

Classes 155 & 156...

I did two BJJ classes this week and, coupled with a boxing session and a hapkido session, it's been a good week on the training front... which is just as well as I have a small competition coming up in a few weeks.

First up was a dinner-time class and 90 minutes felt very brutal at the end of it. But it's getting my body back used to it and this will take a bit of time.

In the class, we drilled the armbar, omoplata and triangle combinations, then we worked on specific sparring with the man in guard having to escape and the man holding guard having to submit. 

We then went on to sparring and I did OK sparring with a younger white belt opponent, but I got murdered by a much bigger and stronger and very solid blue belt. At least, I was trying a few different attacks and even tried a gogoplata at one point.

On the plus side, I used the guard position with the cross-collar grab and the wrist control I picked up in the private class, and this is bearing fruit, slowly.

I then went to an open mat session and sparred with a much heavier blue belt and defended OK. I then did some no-gi with a couple of much smaller opponents and did OK. No-gi is still a bit alien to me, though. But it is good fun. 

Things to remember: Persevere with the cross-collar grab and wrist control from guard. Leg locks and wrist locks are allowed in no-gi.

Private Class No.5...

My fifth private class and we went straight into working on the trinity of armbar, triangle and omaplata, plus the cross collar choke. Further notes on these techniques included:

Armbar from guard: leg on opponent's neck drives head out away from body as armbar us applied.


Omaplata from guard: nearest hand grabs nearest wrist, right hand takes cross collar grab, stuff hand away using knuckles.

Triangle from guard: toes up and vertical with leg flaring out to tighten choke.

Cross collar choke from guard: angle off the choke, then the choke tightens as you come back to centre.


We then did some work on two chokes:

Sleeve choke from guard: loose initial cross collar grip, bring body up and push opponent's head under your own armpit, hand slides behind own wrist then flicks up to lock choke in, fall back and squeeze.

Ezekiel choke from mount: arm under neck of opponent, use own head to push opponent's head to opposite side so opponent can't see what is going on, grab sleeve of own gi with hand under opponent's neck, then other hand slides on top of opponent's neck, then turn palms in  to face self and sag weight down to tighten the choke.
 Tip: if opponent does not tap, use own head driving on top of choking hand to apply pressure.

Things to remember: Use the cross collar grip with the nearest hand controlling the nearest hand of the opponent.