That’s the Slowest Foot-lock I’ve Ever Seen!!!

Friday’s class was a great session. I was able to actually notice a jump in my ability to defend guard passes and I was able to pull off a submission I’ve never done before and another that I think I have never done before.

Warm-up

Warm-ups were led by Art (blue belt) and we started off with a light jog (with short sprints), followed by the Geisha Duck Walk (on the balls of our feet and toes), Geisha Hops and Animal drills. After stretching, Carlos (Brown Belt/1 stripe) led us in drills.

Drill

Today Carlos provided us with a clinic on how to obtain, maintain and reverse Knee on Belly. I have rolled many times with Carlos and I have literally frozen when he has applied his knee on belly techniques. From below it looks as if he is spinning around like helicopter blades. My Knee on Belly technique is ’suspect.’ I mainly do it to see if I can get it. I don’t have a string of techniques that I apply after achieving it, although I know a few I can do. What usually happens it that I will give up a mount or side control to try it and then the person under me will either explode or shrimp out and I end up in a scramble with my sparring partner. Carlos took us through many scenarios and I learned where I have been going wrong.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling

My first roll was with Dan, a 6ft 4 and 217 pound white belt. (Earlier I asked Dan if he was okay because I had inadvertently hurt his back by performing an Ippon Seo Nage (shoulder throw) from a standing position when I should have been on my knees. He said that he was fine and that the pain subsided by the next day.) We started from our knees and I immediately pulled guard. I set up a flower sweep and had everything in place, or so I thought. He went halfway and then anchored down. I then worked for a head an arm choke and actually got his head and arm off to the side but trying to lock my arms around his frame proved to be impossible.

Carlos, who was observing, told me to play open guard. I played for a few seconds and then Dan pulled off a Torreando (bull fighter) pass on me. I remember thinking, “I didn’t know Dan knew how to do that.” I was able to reverse him after he obtained side control though by turning into him and then turning the other way and flipping him onto his back. From there I transitioned to mount, he recovered to half guard and then I was able to obtain a one collar side choke for the tap.

I also rolled with Art and I was able to work on the solo drills I had been practicing all week. Art shut my defenses down the previous week with his Torreando Pass. So much so that I was up late thinking about it one night and wondering what I was going to do. I kid you not, I had a thought to grab my University of Jiu-jitsu book. I opened it and the page was on how to defend the Torreando pass. Saulo Ribeiro provided four different techniques to stop, defend and counter the pass. I began practicing them immediately.

I must admit Dan caught me off guard when he did it, but I knew that Art was going to do it. When he did it was as if he was moving in slow motion. I could hear the instructions in my head as tried to pass and I was able to counter successfully and was able to go on offense. It reminded me of the boxer’s adage that it’s the blow you don’t see that knocks you out. I realized it’s the same with BJJ. It’s the techniques that you are unaware of and can’t decipher that renders you blind and the tap will soon follow.

As a result of rolling with Art last week and being handled my BJJ skills increased and I told him so. I learned four defenses, a guard pass, a submission and was able to incorporate them into my arsenal. I need more beatings like that from guys who are just above my level. Often with purples, browns and blacks the submissions come and I don’t know what happened. I don’t even know what to ask about what happened. When I rolled with Art (who is a fellow blue belt), I could see what was happening even if I didn’t know exactly what occurred.

Note: Art did tap me out twice during our roll.

My last roll was with Chase (4 stripe/White belt). Long story short, I was able to sink in a foot-lock that I have been working on in my solo drills. He was playing a loose guard, and I saw the opening. I started to wrap my arm around his ankle and I was thinking the whole time, “Is he going to let me do this?” After I locked it in I began to fall backward. He tapped before my back could hit the ground. Carlos called out, “That is the slowest foot-lock I’ve ever seen!”

I’ll take it. But I made a mental note that I have to speed up my solo drills because I practiced that technique slowly and I applied it slowly while rolling.

Great class!

“Any Excuses Tonight Roy?”

*Boxing note: First, let me say that I am and always will be a major Roy Jones, Jr. fan. I think Antonio Tarver just had Roy’s number and if it would have been earlier in Jones’ career he would have destroyed Tarver. That being said, you couldn’t help but enjoy Tarver’s taunt of Roy Jones before their fight.

How does this relate to me? Well, I attended a tap clinic that was held by Art last Friday. He totally shut down my guard, nullified my side control and tapped me out. But I’ll talk about that in a second.

Warm-ups

Although the warm-up period was shorter than the Wednesday night class it still was pretty intense. After jogging and shrimping we performed animal drills again; duck walks, jumping duck walks, variations of bear crawls, gorilla crawls, etc. My breathing was labored but I made it through.

Drills

We performed a drop version of ippon seo-nage, which is a shoulder throw. I accidently hurt Dan because I didn’t drop to my knees and performed the throw standing. I tried to do the throw as softly as possible, but later on he was complaining of his back hurting. I felt terrible. I know how it feels to be hurt by another person’s carelessness. I am always railing against this behavior and now look who’s guilty.

Sorry Dan.

We also drilled a version of the flower sweep and reviewed a butterfly guard sweep we worked on Wednesday too.

Rolling

My first roll was against ______ (I want to say Dustin). I need to find out and remember, but he is a young guy with a beard. He’s a white belt and a regular. Since he didn’t have a gi, I took my gi top off. As we pummeled for position, I gained an overhook/under-hook, placed my left leg behind his legs and twisted him backwards onto the mat. The last time I rolled with him I had my gi on and we played that game where he grabbed onto my sleeves and collar and I had to keep breaking grips and make sure I was always square. This time it was different, but only a little because he has an incredibly strong grip. I was able to posture more and eventually broke his grips and split his guard. After opening his guard, he was able to scramble to his knees and then he stopped.

Carlos, who was watching asked him what was wrong. ‘Dustin’ explained that he was holding me so tightly with his legs that he needed a small break.

When we started again, I was able to pass and I gained side control for a little while but he was able to get to his knees. I jumped guard and after a few moments used the flower sweep we had been working on earlier. I ended up in the mount from the sweep and eventually jumped to knee on belly using a technique I have been working on at home. He pushed me off, we scrambled, I jumped guard and that’s how we ended.

My next roll was with Art. Art started off by asking me if I wanted to be on the top or the bottom. Since I usually end up on top with Art (and most people) I chose bottom. Long story short, Art used the Toreando pass and basically stapled me to the ground. Usually I can get a hand on the hip and a forearm on the neck before whoever I am grappling against settles, but this time both of my hands were ‘out of position.’ He tapped me twice using that pass.

But that’s not the end of it. He tapped me also when I landed in his guard. I asked a lot of questions after we rolled because I wanted to know what technique he used and how.

Following that I rolled with Carlos (Brown Belt, 1 stripe/Congrats Carlos!). He tapped me at the very end of a 3 minute roll.

Lessons Learned

I found out how to use the Toreando Pass effectively and that I need to shore up my defense on passes. I was able to use a knee on belly technique I have been solo drilling so that’s a plus as well.

Glover’s Travels

I just bumped into these videos tonight. Jeff Glover, Budovideos and Nogi have teamed up to create a small 20 minute show called Glover’s Travels. It is a entertaining and pretty laid back show with interviews, technique and BJJ action w/top level grapplers. Above is Ep.1, part 2.

If you’re tired, it doesn’t matter what you know!

Night Class – Wednesday

The academy was packed. About 20 people were in the boxing room and 30 to 40 training in the Muy Thai/Kickboxing class. I observed for about 15 minutes before BJJ class and briefly chatted with Josh and Polar Bear.

Class began with a light jog, shrimping and a few rolls. Then it became clear that this was no ordinary warm-up. We performed duckwalks, duckwalks with hops, military type pushups while crawling, a number of bear crawls, body drags, etc. Warmup was at least 30 minutes. I was exhausted before we began drilling.

Drill

We worked on a sweep from sitting up guard and a sweep from butterfly guard.

Rolling

After drill we began rolling but with a twist. Prof. Smiley had us rolling for flow and without submissions – just technique. Although I was exhausted I was immediately happy. I have been working on certain techniques for weeks and have not been able to try any of them in the gi class because, well they are gi classes. As one who wants to become proficient in the gi I spend way too much time grip fighting and defending submissions.

I first rolled with Robert (Frosty). He seemed to be relatively new. I decided to work on an escape from turtle position that I have been experimenting with at home and have been taught a few times in class but never pulled off in a roll. I baited him to take my back and when he would get to the side I would roll and put him back into my guard. I nailed it the first time out. I was so excited I tried it at least four more times. The fifth time I learned an important lesson. Don’t use the same technique too often. He timed me and gained side control. As we were going back and forth it really didn’t matter though and we just worked on changing positions.

The next guy I rolled with was definitely a new guy. We traded positions and once again I couldn’t resist baiting him to take my back and then hitting the roll to escape and place him in my guard.

After this roll I thought we were through. However, Prof. Smiley had a different plan for us and we had to continue to spar. I don’t remember who I rolled with next  but following that I partnered with a white belt who seemed pretty sure of himself. I had that sense of dread that comes when you are facing a guy with a high energy level and you know that you have little in the tank. All through class I had seen him and a couple of others who seemed to be bouncing off the walls with energy.

We began with him sitting down in BFG. I initially passed his guard but he did a good job of not remaining flat and was able to shrimp away. I sat back and immediately regretted it. He jumped up in a fury and garnered a knee on belly. I didn’t have the energy to respond. My goal at that point was just to keep him from getting the submission. During the remainder of our roll I saw many opportunities that I had to shut down his game but I didn’t have the energy to do so. We ended up with me in his guard.

After that I rolled with Jaime (blue belt). I tried to pass his butterfly guard and ended up in his guard. He was able to get a sweep but in the process my foot became entangled with his legs and immediately cramped into an L position. I yelled tap. I sat out for a minute and we began to grapple again. A few seconds into it, Prof Smiley stopped us to show us a technique (I didn’t mind) and that was the end of class.

Overall: I was glad to see that my solo drills continue to pay off. But, I was definitely unhappy about my cardio level. It doesn’t matter what you know if you are too tired to use that knowledge.

Fabio Gurgel and a young Leo Vieira – 1997

The fluid nature of their grappling is amazing!

*The funny thing about this video is that no one in the background is paying them any attention.

Forecast – Swampy!

Florida, like most of the U.S., is experiencing mind-boggling temperatures. One day it’s hot and the next day it’s cold. I think this had something to do with the classroom temperature on Friday. It wasn’t exactly scorching inside but it felt ’swamp-like.’

Warm-ups consisted of a light jog, rolls, shrimping and stretching. In drills we worked on a takedown from behind, an X-sweep and 2 variations of the X-sweep. Those 2 variations were ‘killer.’ Professor Smiley showed us how to perform a variation of the sweeps where we turn upside down and then spin around again for a triangle choke. I didn’t know I could perform those techniques because I am not as flexible in my back and hips as I would like to be. But I was able to do it with little struggle. Later  I was lucky enough to have Prof. Smiley demonstrate the technique on me during ’sparring.’

Rolling:

I rolled with Prof. Smiley first and we started on the ground. Good news first, I was able to use the sitting up guard pass he showed me last week. He complimented me on the pass and said for a second he was ’stuck.’ I had solo drilled the pass all last week so I was happy that I was able to pull it off. Although I tapped constantly, I was still able to use some of the techniques that I had been drilling at home to varying effect. I have been trying to concentrate on not lying flat on my back, using the umpa (sp), sensing escapes from the half-guard, etc.

My next roll was with Art (blue belt). The main thing I want to say here is that Art is very good at tapping people out from his guard. He maintains a Youtube page that maintains his exploits. So I spent most of my time defending his attacks from guard. I was able to use a arm bar defense that I learned from Dave Camarillo. (It’s on my video side-bar page.) I drilled that technique at home as well because with the gi I needed a different set of techniques to defend them.

All in all, good practice. I am seeing little improvements. But if they keep occurring they will one day be grand improvements.

Crazy Dreams…

Last night, I had a dream that my wife and I were walking down a street and all of a sudden we were surrounded by a group of guys and one random women. They looked pretty threatening and were about to attack us.

Seeing there was no escape, I said to them (and this is a dream now), “Why don’t you be men and fight me one on one.”

One of the guys who was about 5′11 with brown hair and a snarl ran toward me and said, “Come on!”

As I ran toward him he jumped guard. I pulled back, he landed on the ground and I yelled the cheesiest thing I have ever heard.

“YOU THINK YOU GOT JIU-JITSU!   —-  I GOT JIU-JITSU!!!

I grabbed his legs and began to pass (at least that’s what I’m claiming), but then I woke up. Which is what I usually do when I’m in danger in a dream.

This morning, when I told my wife what happened, she just rolled her eyes.

Promotions, New Gi and New Mental Approach

First things first:

Congratulations to Professor James Smiley on his promotion to Black Belt! I am a little late, but I finally had a chance to say congratulations on Friday when I went to train. Also, congratulations to Art (promotion to Blue), who is a training fanatic and who I doubt will remain a blue belt for long.

Drilling:

We drilled a takedown and practiced sweeps from a modified butterfly guard position.

Sparring:

I bought a new gi and it’s been a while since I have worn a full Gi to class. It presented a few new training challenges for me as I am used to my old reliable Judo gi with the much shorter sleeves.  But it also taught me a valuable lesson as well. Let me explain.

In my first roll (didn’t catch his name), I rolled with one of the guys who didn’t have a gi. In the past I used to take my top off when rolling with these guys because they have material to grab onto and the person wearing the gi has nothing. I am not that proficient in using the gi as a weapon yet so it offers me no advantages to wear one against a no-gi opponent. When grappling him I was able to counter his attempt at a leg trip and then I obtained side control. I held the position for a while and then decided to transition to another position as I wasn’t able to gain a submission. I eased up and he secured closed guard.

That’s when the fun started.

I spent the next few minutes breaking his grips on my sleeves and collar and attempts at arm-bars while I had nothing to grab onto. I had to make sure I was square with him at all times, posture up as much as I could and make sure he couldn’t obtain any angle. At one point I baited him with an arm in order to snatch out my arm but I forgot I was wearing a gi so I spent the last 2 minutes defending his all out attempt for an arm-bar. I need to continue to learn how to defend and use my gi as a weapon, but I am not going to do it with people who don’t wear a gi.

My next roll was with Cedrick. I rolled with Cedrick probably a month or so ago. He’s about two months in now and he had on his gi. Cedrick attempted a sacrifice throw and ended up on his back with me standing up looking down at him. He attempted to use spider guard but I was able to pass and gain side control and then gain mount. He is a big guy so I couldn’t get a quick Knuckle choke. I also tried an Ezekiel Choke and an Americana. He was defending well and I had the mount for a while so I decided to switch positions. As I decided to spin out to side control he clamped a lockdown on me. Then we spent the next 7 minutes or so with me in his lockdown. I couldn’t break the lock. In no gi, I can usually use a couple of tricks and get out pretty easily. The gi complicated things for me. He had no intention of letting it go either.

Joel told us we had been wrestling (or stalled) for over 10 minutes and after a couple more minutes Cedrick suggested we restart, which was fine with me. (We didn’t re-start though.)

I learned two things from those rolls. First not everyone is interested in exchanging and working from different positions. Many are going for the tap (as in my first roll) as long as it takes or are willing to hold you in one position for the entire time if it keeps you from advancing. Why should I be so willing to exchange positions and put myself in danger of being tapped if others don’t follow the same model? I don’t fault them at all. I also don’t blame it on them being relatively new. It has dawned on me that the higher belts (purples, browns and blues) don’t give up their dominant positions when they have them. They will work for the submission until they get it and that is precisely what makes them higher belts.

I have given up dominant positions many times after I knew that I could hold it for a long time in order to be fair and to be conscientious of my training partner. Also after training with giants who were 6′6 and who outweighed my by 30 to 70 pounds I know that it is not cool to smash your opponents in training to the point where they question if they want to continue. But at the same time, being conscientious has often put me on the defensive when I didn’t need to be and the same generosity is not always extended. I think my new approach will be to not give up position and work for the submission.

I also rolled with Professor Smiley twice. I was able to avoid being tapped the first round. We started halfway through it so I was able to escape being submitted. I was lying flat on my stomach with both arms behind my back when the buzzer sounded though. On our second roll I boarded the Tap Train but I could see that the daily drills that I have been working on at home has helped. After our roll, Prof. Smiley showed me how to escape an omoplata by standing up and another way to pass butterfly guard.

Good class.

Purple Belt Demonstration

Once again, an incredible display of BJJ out of the Roy Dean Academy!

New Solo Drilling Regimen, Class and Rob Lovi

Even though I haven’t been able to make it to class, with any regularity these past few months, in the last few weeks I have been training everyday on my own. I rationalized that just like baseball, tennis and soccer players must have outside training regimens if they want to improve substantially then I need to take seriously the idea that I can do that with my BJJ training.

The very premise of this blog began with the idea that I would do something related to BJJ for a year and see what could happen. As a result, I became proficient at a lot of different basic moves and was able to earn 4 stripes on a white belt during that year. I received a blue belt 3 months later.

After my birthday this November I once again began to think about what direction I wanted to go in BJJ and how I would get there. But, in the absence of regular training at my academy I didn’t want to be too bold with my unleashing my goal upon the world. But I can talk about some of the techniques I have been working on and how well those techniques worked out in BJJ class today.

I rolled 6 times after the drilling section of class and I was able to carry out a number of techniques with various levels of success and one with complete and utter failure.

The first guy (forgot his name) I rolled with I tried to use Rob Lovi’s (see above) approach to grappling, which entails a lot of spinning over (or under) your opponent. We started from our feet and he immediately fell to his back. Usually I just kneel down with someone does this but this time I stepped over his right leg with my left leg with the intention of achieving a knee on belly (KOB). I have never ever tried to do this with a live opponent. (I wanted to establish the KOB and then spin around my right leg to achieve mount.) Instead, he spun underneath me and latched on for a foot-lock. So I spent the next 30 seconds or so untangling my leg and foot. Once I escaped I proceeded to pin him down and hold him in side control. He was wiry so I had to keep re-establishing dominant positions until the bell rang.

Next, I rolled with a guy whose name is Clarence (I believe). Before we began, Carlos called out to him, “Watch out…” and then stopped midsentence and said, “Never mind, you’ll find out.” Clarence looked a little suspicious after that and made a joke, but he was still game. As soon as we locked up I was able to obtain a left side foot sweep that put him on his back. That’s when Carlos said, “He’s a Judo Guy.”

Since he was a big and strong, I didn’t let him use his explosiveness and went from side control, mount, etc. I did however try the Marcus Jones “Darkness” crucifix and was able to get it. For anyone who doesn’t know that technique all I did was turn into him as if establishing a scarf hold from side control and then placed my far left leg over his head and locked his head under my leg. (The last time I tried this move was almost a year ago when I was grappling with one of the guys after learning it from either one of my Gracie books or a video on Youtube. I was able to get it then but didn’t know what to do with it so I never put it into my arsenal.) I tried a knuckle choke on him but he had a huge neck so I gave up on it. I finally saw that he was open for an Americana but by the time I latched onto his arms the buzzer sounded.

I know this is bad (forgot his name), but then I rolled with a guy with a beard. When I first shook his hand earlier in class it felt like he was going to take it with him so I knew he was going to be strong. However, he played more of a leg game and liked to use the butterfly guard. So I began to work on some the butterfly passes I have been working on. I was able to slice through his butterfly with the guard pass about three times but I have to work on establishing the under-hook on the far side when I am passing because he was able to turn into me each time before I could establish side control. This back and forth went on for the rest of the time. I would pass and he would re-establish his butterfly a short time thereafter. My next goal is to establish position after the pass.

Following that I rolled with big Josh. He was one of the original guys that prompted me to want to learn how to pass butterfly guard easily and with no fuss. So I was happy to roll with him. The only problem was at this point I was tired. I learned quickly that the stand-up pass that I wanted to use on him requires a lot of oxygen. After we slapped hands he assumed his guard and I stood up immediately. I then took my right foot and slid it into his right leg in the hopes of pinning it and leaning into him for a knee on belly. But when I would begin to press my leg against his he would extend his body backwards and lay flat. It didn’t happen like that on the video I have been using to drill. So in the end we ended up in the cat and mouse game we usually play where I am try to pass his guard and he tries to defend. However, when I opted not to pass and instead try for a guillotine he had to work to free himself. If I work on that technique some more I would be able to nail someone with it. At one point he ended up on his knees and I immediately began working on the D’arce choke. I didn’t get it but I tried to hit it immediately.

One benefit of me going over a number of moves each day was that when people ended up in certain positions today I didn’t have to think about what I wanted to do or how to do it. I had a plan.

After Josh and I stalemated Clarence asked if I wanted to grapple again. This time we started from our knees. I dragged him down to his back by pulling on his left arm and controlling his neck. Then I hit side-control, mount and tapped him with an Americana. We slapped hands and began to wrestle again. This time when he fell to his back I jumped up and again went for my left leg step over knee on belly pass. I was able to briefly hit the knee on belly. I then spun my right leg over and it landed for an instant before he bench-pressed me off of him and I was headed for a landing on my stomach. I spun around to meet him and we grappled for position. He had a sort of butterfly technique going on so I wrapped my arms underneath his thighs, placed my head onto his stomach and then jumped both legs over his guard (I learned this from an Eddie Bravo video). From there I was somehow able to get to his back and he kept turning into me so I let him turn into mount. He turned onto his stomach again but this time I was too high on his back and I fell with him landing in my guard. I tried for an arm-bar but couldn’t sink it in. We ended with him in my guard. After rolling with him I asked how long he had been grappling and he said 3 weeks. I was shocked. But he also said he’s in the MMA class so that might be the reason why he has ‘presence’ but not necessarily the BJJ technique.

My final roll was with Carlos (Brown belt). Carlos is much smaller than me but he is one of the few guys that I am not able to fool with my Judo tricks. The last time we rolled he threw me after about 2 minutes of jostling. I was dead tired so after I could see that we were headed down the same path I sat down on my butt. I have been working on the opening steps to De la Riva guard so I immediately placed my left foot into his hip and my right leg around his left leg. I became confused on what arm I was supposed to grab but I remembered in a video I watched that Rob Lovi grabbed Jacare’s leg like a Koala bear after he established De la Riva guard so I did the same thing. I could swear Carlos laughed. I didn’t know what to do after that so after a little bit of a struggle I let go.

Even though Carlos was able to pass my guard I was able to hold him at bay for a good while (seconds). When he established side control I was able to lean into him and then roll him onto a sort of reverse side mount but he was able to explode out of it pretty quickly. At another point where he established side control I was able to sit up and push him away. He was right back on top of me though. (I am able to do that sometimes because I don’t think anyone is ever expecting that. I learned I could do that when I first started grappling in 2004 but don’t do it that often because I never really think about it. )

It ended when he was able to get my back. I have been working on turtle escapes so I baited him to a side and figured I get a chance to try out the roll I have been working on for weeks. But he cross-faced me. I realized quickly I wasn’t rolling anywhere. He then sunk his hooks in. We struggled for a while and then I tapped to a RNC. At the end of our roll Carlos complimented my ability to stop him coming inside with a stiff arm, he compared it to Smiley (Head instructor and owner). I’ll take that compliment any day ☺

This post is probably one of my longest. Yet, I wanted to highlight how I was able to incorporate a number of new techniques into my arsenal even though I haven’t been able to make it to class as often as I like. By practicing on my own these weeks and concentrating on key techniques I feel like my BJJ ability and IQ has increased substantially. This experience has only made me want to train more.