Last blog post

When I originally started the blog it was just to document my training but ive not really used it as an effective tool. With this and the fact that I am starting a new job where I wont be able to spend all day sat at a desk doing nothing this is gunna be ma last blog on here.

I still keep a diary (on Word) off all my training sessions (i.e tips I receive, things ive learnt such as sweeps, submissions etc) which Im in the process of putting them on to Evernote and will then just update Evernote after every training session with what Ive learnt.

Hopefully, in many many many years to come, when I'm a 3 stripe white belt, Il come back to here and reminisce of my BJJ early days.

Its Chhhristmass

I can't believe I've done two blogs in two days and there both about Christmas and we are only in October! I hang my head in shame.

But, yesterday I got my main Christmas present off the old faithful mum and dad. Its a Koral Classic White Kimono/Gi. Unfortunately I don't get to wear it until Christmas but I did try it on and it fits like a glove

I ordered it from MMA fightwear and they were top notch! I placed the order on the 27th at 16:30 and received it the next day, which in my book is excellent service! It was £110, but they are now on sale for £99 (including the blue/black one which I think was listed £115). Bit gutted about that but I suppose shit happens and I'l defo be buying from MMA Fightwear again.

In terms of sizes, I'm about 5'10 - 5'11 and weight about 11stone. I like to see myself as the "athletic build" but in realty I'm the "skinny" build. I ordered the pre shrunk A2. The pants fit perfect in terms of length and waist and the Gi jacket is the same. It comes down to around my wrist and feels perfect. Ive obviously not rolled in it yet, but in terms of size/service I'm 100% completely satisfied.

Over the next couple of days I'm going to order one for myself for now, I'm most probably going to get an A2 Classico Blue Faixa Rua so I'l be posting on hear how that one fits.

BJJ Now till Christmas

Over the past couple of weeks my mat time has been seriously lacking! Ive been away with work, having some tattoo work done and had dreaded man flu. Thanks to Leroy however I have been watching BJJ related stuff every day (Science of JiuJitsu, JiuJitsu Lifestyles, Renzo Gracie Legacy and others) but nothing quite hits the spot like actually being on the mat.

Yesterday was good to be back and the people that completed the intro course joined the main training session. It was a good time to see if I have actually improved because every now and again I have a training session and think I'm just the same as the very first time I stepped through the Factory BJJ doors. Rolling with the new people defiantly demonstrated to myself that I have improved 100times more than my first day which I was pleased with. Even against bigger (not the biggest I must add though) people I felt I could quite easily control them and decided where I wanted to be (I.e playing guard, on top, in side control, working a triangle/armbar etc).

Ive also decided to make a bit of a BJJ commitment to myself in an attempt to carry on improving and developing. I don't want to miss I session now until Christmas. When I say session, I'm excluding the day session because I work but I'm talking about Tuesday, Thursday and both Saturday sessions. Now I know I defo can't make Thu 12th November but other than that I don't want any excuses to miss a session. Even if I can' train, I'l go down and just watch.

Ive also got Mondays evening spare because my girlfriend works and I really want to do a session on Mondays. The only place I could find was an MMA club which I went down to a couple of weeks ago. They do submission wrestling on Mondays and I went down to check it out (and jumped in on there session). They all seemed pretty cool, and its not Gi BJJ which is what I really want to do more off, but I guess its better than nothing.

Off the Mat Pursuits

Due to work commitments this past week has been seriously lacking in BJJ mat time. But.... I have been keeping up with some off the mat pursuits to stay in shape and hopefully go some way to improve my BJJ.

When I first started BJJ, I thought I was in reasonable shape, but like most new starters I rolled for about 30seconds and felt physically exhausted. As such I started to do a bit of off the mat pursuits to try and get in shape so I could roll more. Because I get so bored off doing the same thing, it firstly started off as just running on Mon/Wed. Then I threw in a swimming session on Wed instead of the run, then I got a bit fitter and started to add a Friday session. Before I knew it, I was doing running on Monday, BJJ Tuesday, Swimming Wed, BJJ Thursday, Cycling Friday, BJJ Saturday and rest day Sunday.

So.... Whilst at work I was searching the Internet and came across a sprint Triathlon that was being advertised near where I live that was 4 weeks away. Now if I plan anything, I normally needs months of preparation to even think about it. But believe it or not I kind of pulled some inspiration from the guys at BJJ. James Nardone had just come back from an amateur MMA contest with very little stand up/striking experience, I thought he was crazy for doing it with so little striking training. He went on to win the comp with 4 1st round submissions. Joe who I did the intro course had also entered a Gi comp and won his first match.

So I thought what the heck its time I jump head first in to something. I payed my 30quid, carried on with training and on Sunday finished my first Triathlon! It was a 1/2km swim, then a 600m run to the bike transition, 12km on the bike up some seriously steep hills, then a 6km off road run. I finished it on 2hr 17minutes. Considering my bike broke which I lost about 15mins sorting out I was pretty happy with the time. On the provisional results I came 107th, I wont tell you out of how many though haha.

Il be posting the pics on my facebook soon so feel free to check them out, cant wait to get back in to BJJ training and I hope my new found fitness (I use the word lightly) will have a positive factor on my BJJ.

Septembers Review

Since Ive become a bit more busier at work Ive not managed to update my training as much. I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable with the techniques now so there's no reason to document each technique step by step, I can be a bit more general with them. This month we have been looking at the following:

Stand up:

Whizzer (I think thats right). Its something Ive got quite a lot of success out of, you overhook the persons arm and either take a tight grip on the Gi or put your hand on your own chest to keep it tight. You can then work your hip movement and sweep them from there using your legs/hips.

Scarf Hold attacks:
Arm triangle and shoulder lock - With the shoulder lock you want the persons arm as close to you as possible (ie the arm is not extended, it is bent and you are hooking your legs around it)

Inverted Scarf Hold attacks:
BreastStroke Choke and arm bar from north south.

Rolling Review - Rolling seems to be going good and Im beginning to catch a few submissions here and there. Was speaking with John after I rolled with him and he was giving me some tips on playing half guard. When playing half guard I usually go for the sweep that Cecil showed us, which I do get some good success with. However John was showing me some old school and plan b half guard sweeps so Im going to try and use these as well so I have more options when in 1/2 guard.

Personal Development - I have now finally started to catch some triangle chokes, and as that was one of my goals I was pretty happy with it. In terms of developing my own game, Ive identified 4 places that I need to work on.

Top Positions
Playing Side Control
Under Side Control
Taking the back/finishing from the back.

I think for the next coming weeks I'm going to work my side control, as in playing under side control. Il probably roll as normal but atleast one roll a session ask to play under some ones side control and start working my escapes.

Underhook from Guard and Applying Pressure

The past week we have been looking at the Cecil Burch Seminar stuff and then a recap of some of the Scarf Hold control (Which I have been spelling incorrecty as "Scar Fold"! - Cheers John).

Doug was showing me some good control whilst in guard which was to get a underhook on the person in my guard and then push your legs onto there hips to try and flatten them out. Tried it a few times and it feels really good, was able to push them out and work a Oma Platta/Triangle and it also fits nicely in with my Hip Bump Sweep that I seem to have pretty gud success with.
If I can get the Hip Bump Sweep then I keep hold of the underhook and work a straight arm bar from there which also seem to worked nicely.

John (Art of Jits) was also showing me in mount to be patient if your working with the arm bar, as per all of my game I seem to rush to much. He was showing me when Im in mount, jst push there arms up and slowly make your way around. This fit nicely in with some tips from Doug - when you mount some one don't go straight for a submission, pressure them a bit by applying weight to them, then go for the submissions.

Rolling Review: I seem to have finally slowed things down whilst rolling, the underhooks in mount seem to be working great and I can control people alot more if I get the underhook in. Likewise with applying pressure, if I mount some one then I'm able to work Gi chokes etc if I just spend a bit of time just putting them under pressure with weight/top control.

In my quest to get fitter I have also enrolled for a Traiathlon which starts in 3 weeks, its 1/2Km swim, then 12Km bike ride then a 6Km run. My runnings note to bad, can do 5Km around 20mins so just going to concentrate on swimming and cycling and see if I can atleast finish the race.

Saturday 05th - Cecil Burch 1/2 Guard and 1/4 Guard

Saturday I attended a Cecil Burch (Megaton Brown Belt) at Factory BJJ where he did some Gi 1/2 and 1/4 guard positions, although they could equally be used for no gi.

Fundamental positions:

1/2 Guard: When you have some one in 1/2 guard you want to make sure that both knees are pinching the persons leg together. Torse control is also important, you want to be in contact with there torso and looking for an underhook, the underhook and need to try and swim it around and grip the persons opposite shoulder.

1/2 Guard to Back: When you get control of the under hook with your other hand you want to be pushing yourself up towards the person and then you want to bring your knee that isnt "trapped" towards the back of the person and take there back. Its important to get the under hook in and keep your torso as close to theres as possible.

1/2 Guard Sweep: You need to be looking to take there back as per above but then you "dive" under the persons opposite side to your 1/2 guard and sweep them around. This sounds really basic and useless but I tried it and it seemed to have some good results. He also shown one were you push your hand under there legs and grip the persons toes (the leg which has the half guard trapped) and then bring the persons leg up and push in to them.

1/4 Guard: If they have almost past but you still have some of there leg still trapped (ie the calf) then you want to push your hand through and use your arm to tighten up the 1/4 guard. If for example I have there right leg trapped (my left side) then I want to use my right hand and push it through to create a move secure 1/4 guard.

All in all the seminar was great and I got alot out of it, especially the torso control and some one the taking the back. Cecil was a real cool guy and its always great when some one so high up and good talks about when he was a beginner and struggling to grasp the basics.

1st week back at training - Scard fold and pins

After a nice 2 week holiday Ive bin back in to training this week. For some reason on the journey down I was really really nervous about coming back, I was shitting bricks that I was gunna forget everything (which in fairness isnt alot!) But... it wasnt to bad.

Warm ups - Did some normal warms up and then as part of the warm ups did some drills were we picked 2 sweeps from guard to drill 3 times. If we carry on doing this then I'm going to document it to see if Ive got some half decent sweeps/submissions to use from different positions. If not, then I know where to practise:

Sweeps from guard - I practised a hip bump sweep and a scissor sweep from my back and when the person was standing I practised 2 different variations of spider guard sweeps, one where u grip the back of the ankle and on the same side of the ankle grip push on the persons hips with your foot, then sweep the other foot. And then one where I had a grip of both sides of the ankle and pushed him down with my legs on his hips.

Gi pins: Tuesday Gi (Done by Doug, who normally does no gi) and we did some Judo inspired pins using the Gi. My top game is really really weak so Im defiantly going to be incorporating them into my game. The main want I wanted to use was when in side control, you control the persons leg with his belt/your arm. The leg nearest to you, you lift up and push it towards his other leg, you then get his belt and kind of hook/control his leg with your belt.

Thursday no Gi (Done by Adam, who normally does Gi) and we worked on some scarf fold. I thought it fitted in nicely with the Gi session as there both stuff you can use from side control. I already had a little bit of knowledge about scarf fold as I injured my arm from being in scarf fold (accidentally). An important aspect of it was keeping the leg that is under his arm at a 12Oclock position and then drag his head off the mat whilst applying pressure to his stomach (bum off the ground but not enough to get swept).

Scarf fold in to arm triangle - From scarf fold we worked an arm triangle which was awesome as I'd just watched Chris Leben put to sleep with one in an UFC match. From Scarf fold you want to get the person far away arm across his neck (normal triangle position) and then put your arms in a rear naked choke type position. You want to be sprawled out with one leg at 06 O'clock and at 09 Oclock and "smeer" his arm into the side of the neck. When I was doing it I found the trickiest thing was 1)getting the arm under there neck and 2) getting a deep enough "rear naked choke" position. I seemed to be hitting the spot when drilling though.

My review of my rolling: - I still need to slow things down, think I get a little eager when Im on the mat to try anything and everything that I almost know. Doug and James where showing my, when in guard, just relax, get a grip of them and then work that grip. Don't grip something, then grip something else, then grab an arm, then the neck. Jst relax and slow down!

Wednesday 19th - No more Gym

Went to the Gym yesterday to do some pull ups, push ups, sits up etc and my motivation was absolutely zero. I use to be able to do 3 -4 Gym sessions a week whilst at Uni but since starting BJJ and getting the buzz of rolling, the gym just seems really really boring. So I think yesterday was my last Gym session in terms of actually going in to the main gym and doing a typical work out.

I was doing the workout and thinking if im really honest, I'm no longer enjoying doing it. Plus I think it will be very very minimal in terms of how it can improve my BJJ game. I'm still going to do other stuff, just not solo boring gym stuff.

After the work out (I call it a work out - it lasted 20mins, most of which was me watching the plasma screen) I hit the swimming pool (kind of inspired by this link http://www.ultimategrapplingmag.com/content/view/48/46/ plus I actually enjoy swimming!).

I did about 30 lenghts - butterfly stroke and it felt pretty good. It got the heartbeat going, my legs felt it and my arms felt like they'd done a nice work out. Sooo will defo now drop the gym sessions and add in the swimming sessions - possibly even 2 swimming sessions.

Tuesday 18th - Spider Guard in to Triangle

We focused mainly on Spider Guard again for the Gi session, in particular defending it and going to a triangle from it.

For the setup - your playing Spider Guard and you twist your hips to try and secure an arm down on the floor with your leg. The leg that is up then comes under neath his arm pit which then creates the arm the you are isolating to pull over. From there you put your legs in to the triangle position and look at getting the persons arm across to finish the triangle.

In terms of passes, they seemed quite simple but effective. Most of the Spider Guard passes (as in your in Spider Guard not playing it) involve gripping the persons Gi (the front shin of the leg). You then need to get a arm loose by bringing the persons legs together and kind of "pealing" your Gi sleeve away from the persons grip. Then you can sit on the persons legs so youv kind of squashed him up with his head popping in to between his own legs.

In terms of rolling I got two rolls in, both which felt really good. I threaten with a couple of good arm bar attempts, took the persons back and generally felt quite good. I got tapped both times but it felt like a great session.

Big running improvement

A few sessions ago Adam gave me some tips about stretching, mainly not to do it "cold" so I have changed when Im going to stretch. Instead of before a BJJ session Im going to do it warm after a gym work out (10minutes of the bike to get warmed up etc). So from now on Il be stretching Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

After last weeks bad running times I decided to download some new songs and get back to some improved running which I new i was capable off (last weeks excuse was I was full of a cold).

I did 2.75 miles (includes a massive hill) in 21.52 so I was very happy with that considering the week before I was around the 25 minutes mark. Need to consistently keep it around 22mins mark for the next few runs and then up the distance to 3 miles (including 2 massive hills)

Saturday 15th - Wrist control

Could only manage 1 hours of training today as my girlfriend was leaving me to fend for myself and heading for sunny Spain for 2 weeks.

Did some rolling with John Allan and he really made me realised something that I lacked in the guard and that was wrist control. I started in guard and he must have passed it about 5 times in the space of about 3 mintues. Most times he was able to get my wrist controlled and I was working to try and "escape" from wrist control he was able to break my closed guard and open guard/pass. When I started in guard again and took wrist control I did much better and was able to start threating with Triangles, Omaplatas and Arm bars. After the role he kindly took 5 mintues out and gave me some feedback which is always great when people do that, especially respected senior guys.

John (Art of Jits John - http://artofjits.com/ ) also did some under hook guard passing drills with me and gave me some tips on doing an under hook guard pass:

*Keep it tight

*When you go in to the seatbelt really push your arms down to there stomach to put more pressure on them

*Sprawl out and hold them there, keeping it tight and putting the person under pressure.

*When you pass keep them "folded together"

*When your in side control push the leg nearset you over there own leg, and put your arm across there next and push there neck/head the opposite way.

I almost caught someone in a Triangle, the legs were over and locked in but they escaped. If I remember correctly I didnt create enough of an angle and didnt press the head down using there other arm. I'm not to unhappy witht that though because im getting closer so its all good!