Class notes: elbow and ankle extension, inner forearm and bicep suppression

Elbow extension (arm bar)
Overhook an arm.
Stand on the foot so the foot is under the shoulder and near the head.
Swing other leg over the head.
Sit hips close to his shoulder and pull the arm up.
Keep his elbow tight to your chest.
Squeeze knees together.
Lie back with his arm wrapped, push the knees and heels down.
Now lift the hips.

The following videos just because the quality of her rolling and set ups are outstanding.



Inner forearm and bicep suppression - the bulldog and ninja choke

More details to follow. Lee made a video going through thme.

Ankle extension (straight ankle lock)

Lee talked about several steps of the ladder to get a secure ankle extension:
Wrap the lower leg so the top of the foot is against your lat.
No gaps between you and his foot and the wrapping of the foot.
Place the wrapping hand high on your chest to close the gaps.
Use the bones of the forearm on the Achilles area.
Squeeze the knees together.
Fall to either side.
look 'up'/away by arching.
Common errors are when people lie straight back - this leads to a much greater percentage that the submission will fail.

Dean Lister's approach:


Lister talks about tightness.

Stephan Kesting's 3 common errors:


The fist 2 applied to our learning: no gaps and squeeze the knees together.

How to...


Key tips from this clip are the tightness and going to your side.

Post class I was talking to Lee. One of the tips was about open legs. In UFC 1 Ken Shamrock beat Pat Smith with an ankle submission.

As you can see his knees are miles apart. I do remember him having to adjust to a modification as it never worked first time, probably as Lee said, the knees weren't tight. He then appears to turn it into some type of ankle rotation.

The fight begins at 33.07. Decide for yourself and see how far the technical quality of the sport has evolved over the 20+ years.

http://vimeo.com/45287348

The whole main card is on this video

Class notes November 2014: escapes and reversals from your back

Solo drill escape warm up: these are some of the motions used in the partner work.

Shrimp: lie on back, feet under hips, hips away and pike position to touch toes as lying on your side.

Bridge: lie on back, feet under hips, lift hips and move to crown of the head, arms overhead so back of hands touch the floor and back again.

Hip up roll: lie on back, feet under hips, lift hips and turn onto the outside of a shoulder, same side face on the mat, reach opposite arm and leg over and end up perpendicular to your original position with knees tucked in. This image illustrates in part the concept of the motion.

4 escapes from centre control (mount:
Drilling the 4 escapes with our partner then chaining them in sets of 3. The first 2 fail and the third one works. This was about constant movement and manipulation of him, not allowing him to settle and thinking of a series of moves not balls out for one. We could do the 3 in any order eg, 1, 2, 3 or 1, 1, 1 and so on.

1: hip escape to leg trap in half guard.
2: hip escape for complete escape.
3: trap and wrap an arm and same side ankle, bridge and roll.
4: hip up and shooting out from underneath under his hips.

Escape / reversal from bottom control (guard:
Wrapping the arms with underhooks, getting to a side and coming under an arm and grabbing the far side lat. Pull hard o the lat to see what pressure he gives.



To reverse and roll him you need to do three things. Keep the leg trap trap, you are essentially humping the outside of his leg, reach through his legs and under his knee and capture around on his hip, straighten the legs (keeping the leg trap) and move your hips around his leg so you now appear to be humping the inside of his legs.You need to go back under him to roll him. When doing this at first I struggled as my hips were wrong, the head was not going under and the leg trap went off and on. But after some extra coaching from Lee it started to come along for both me and my partner.



Tag team grappling: As it says!



Free form rounds: Sparring for position and submission.



Heavy vs light: Heavy fighter stays on his back, lighter fighter can go for submissions and positions. I got Seb then Milzy. If this means anything to you, you know the difficulties both these guys present. Python strength and fluidity. Both a nightmare and a pleasure to work with.



Slaughtered by Seb: An extra roll with Seb to practise, practise, and practise some more. Always hard. always lose. always love itna .

Class notes October 2014: side back control

Pinning drill form the knees - start from the knees, takedown and wrestle for position. There was no submissions just trying to keep the partner pinned. They could try to reverse the position and pin you.

Grappling class:

Wrestling against the cage, no grip flow. Not being static and keeping the hips away and concave spine. I felt having when with my back against the cage I could use soft arms to feel and direct my partner's head without too much energy expended. I was just flowing with his movement, something that we have been working on in the other martial arts class I go to (Workman Martial Arts https://www.facebook.com/workmanmartialarts)

Side back control, with a leg on the inside Phil Davis domination from UFC 179 over Glover Texeria

We worked the basic position but we had a leg through his leg and we then hooked it behind the knee for a figure 4 control. We then looked at breaking the arm down, applying shoulder pressure, staying no more then in the centre of his back to avoid being rolled. The key was the shoulder pressure which had to be felt. It was something Georges St Pierre dominated Nick Diaz with. It was a small but vital detail that I had noticed before but will be something to watch out for in the future.

Side control far arm manipulation: getting the head up, inverted triangle, hips over the shoulder, you can face plant, go for the elbow extension, downward shoulder rotation. Tight with the inverted triangle is key.

Here is a video detailing some similar learning points we went through:



Free form sparring with Craig and Lee. With Craig i went for a head and arm but he cheekily turned it into some type of knarly neck crank. I then managed to secure a triangle from my back which he rolled to his back and I finished from top position.

Lee got me three times with a triangle, arm extension and then a downward shoulder rotation (DWL) with me face down.

Was great to be welcomed back.

Catch wrestling principles

Here are some of the principles in catch wrestling. Learning these is as important as learning the techniques themselves...

Basic Principles

- always keep your elbows in

- control your opponents hips

- control your opponents head

- control your opponets breathing

- keep your center of gravity lower than his is possible

- minimize space when in a superior position

- create space when in a inferior position

- always think ahead, have a plan for every scenario

- have an emergency plan for failed 'hook' attempts

- make life miserable for the bottom guy (poke, scratch, elbow, knee, punch etc.)

- make the bottom guy carry all your weight

- think before you act

- attack and control your opponent at angles, not straight on

- know your own body

and finally,
- know that your fight is won in the gym and not in the ring (which means train hard!

Class notes August 2014: pummel masterclass

Fighting out of the pummel: this was the focus from which all of our learning came out of tonight using our 5 primary grappling based attacks

1: arm drag

2: double lap

3: DWL

4: head and arm choke

5: long arm head control

DWL: details: get his hand away from you and him, whilst being in control, to stop the hand clasping. Create the space for the arm and then you step in to meet his wrist and not pulling it in to your chest. This will keep his arm away from him. 

Clasp over the elbow or on the tricep with your armpit not on the forearm. You will not have the leverage if you are too low on his arm.

To do the empty chicken wing shoulder control make sure when you transition from the DWL to the ECWSC that you close the gap between your side and his. I did this with the Saracen leader and he commented on how much more effective it was when this gap was closed.

Head and arm snatch into choke: Martin reminded us of the need to close the gaps and ensure everything was in the right place. Primarily the deltoid need to reach right through and under his jaw line. I was working with the Saracen Leader and several things happened in slow motion. I put the technique on and within half a second I let go. Saracen stumbles, I thought he was taking the piss by doing a comedy stumble. As he stumbled he banged his head then proceeded straight body and hit the back of his head on the floor a few times. He appeared to be fitting. I know you must leave people alone and put them in the recovery position afterwards. Luckily this lasted for a few seconds before he jumped up feeling a little queasy. I felt really bad that this happened but SL was super cool about it all. It also made me realise that if everything is in the correct place that this choke is fast and can put someone to sleep after you have let go. 

In real MMA action:



In a grappling match:



Long arm head control. Elbow up and elbow down. Martin spent some time going through this and perhaps I am over thinking it or simply crap at it at the moment. Found it really hard to get on. Along with the double lap more time on this is needed.



And how it should be done properly:



Rotational power, pulling the other hand or leg or waist back to give power to the striking tool.

Class notes April 2014: grappling from the pummel

Grappling from the pummel: The techniques we looked at tonight can be labelled loosely for memories sake, and even now only a few hours later I am struggling to remember all the variations. I think this is because it for me was about flow and not individual moments.

The individual positions were from the Thai clinch:
Headlock take down,
Chicken wing,
Standing Kimura,
Bail out and strike,
Two hand to One shoulder control.

There was a few more but 2 things stick in my mind, the corrections for the Thai clinch and the concept of flow. For the Thai clinch we were reminded about weight distribution - have weight in the back leg so the front can start to knee. Heaviness - put your weight through the top of their head, let them carry you. Squeezing forearms - clamp down as being in the Thai clinch is murder. No technique is worth fighting for. Don't stay and fight for a technique or a position, if it is not there or working, go to something else. Be fluid and keep moving but with control. Don't resist the resister. This was something me and Tristan had time to play with. Starting from the half Thai clinch, we would take it in turns to see what we could get, always going back to the Thai clinch if it was there. Being the one being moved around is quite alarming as you have not time to get set, you are always thinking about defending, about moving away from the pressure, the pain or escaping too. What was most refreshing about this part of the class was Martin's honesty. He said that what he was teaching was messy, few people teach messy as people like crisp, neat and tidy. But rarely to thing look neat and tidy in the chaos of combat. Messy in the visual sense not in the practical sense. Here is a video that is a stylised version of what we were doing and i can see many of the positions we trained in this drill.



The final part of the grappling tonight was countering the double wrist lock. Change levels and secure a hip capture palm to palm grip

Class notes March 2014: standing neck crank

The pummel: addition of detail from previous blog entries, when turning the shoulders for the underhook there is a slight pushing motion with the upper arm and shoulder. This subtle motion adds to moving the partner and affecting his balance. The rear arm is also activated so that the lat muscle is helping to secure his underhook and give it no space to move around.

Half Thai clinch: This was covered a few sessions ago but new details worth mentioning is that as he goes for his underhook you take the back of the head. You still have the underhook on the other side so clasping the shoulder and pivoting with help to to control him. I think we only looked at pivoting one way and that was towards half Thai clinch side. Full Thai clinch: don't let go of the contact to get it. Steps of the ladder. Swim your underhook out to get full clinch.

Arm drag: Trace the arm back, punch the hips and no matter what his size grab around at the hip bone. Any further and he can look for the DWL. DWL: Trace the arm back, rev the wrist and reach over his arm, maybe catching a naughty elbow on his nose on the way over... This is what can happen to the elbow on the ground if you chose not to tap when in a deep DWL:







Standing neck crank and the magic bones. If he goes low with the Thai clinch or head control you can look for this which at first glance is a guillotine. In fact it is a bloody horrendous neck crank. His head needs to be at your ribs just under the pec muscle and you want the hairline at the forehead to be on you. Slide your forearm along his jaw bone using the key bones of the arm, the 3-4 inches of ulnar and radius bone from the wrist crease, then go palm to palm. This driving of the forearm will cause the head to turn, as if he is looking across the front of your torso. As you push your hips forward pull the radius bone towards you causing both big pain in the jam but tremendous pressure on the neck.



This is a nice technique to use if you have gone for the choke and he has worked his head out. Even though we were not doing it hard, my neck is still not 'right' almost 3 hours later. If this was done in the heat of combat it really would mess up someone's neck for a long time. I have just looked at this bit with no sound so don't rely on my lip reading.



His use of the forearm looks really good in terms of what Martin was talking about as the key bones on the arm in grappling. The neck crank he does later on in the video, not the set up but the actual crank position looks quite similar to the one we were doing last night. It looks like nothing but until you have felt those bones grinding across your face, well enjoy the thinking about future parts of training we are yet to wince from.

class notes April 2013: throws

Front hip lift: as with the naming convention it simply refers to the part of the body being used and on occasion a direction. Start in standard shoulder control clinch and the secondary grip on the tricep. Transfer to side body clinch with head on shoulder blade, squeeze the elbow together, thrust with the hips as you look up and lift onto your arching chest. To complete the throw relax the shoulder and dump him on the floor with you in a dominant position to continue.

Back hip throw: first looking at using shoulder control and tricep grip then and underhook and overhook clinch grip as this secures their shoulders. Anyway the first one we looked at was concerning the feet. Initial step is in front of his foot, not past, get your hips lower than his then attack with your chasing foot. That one steps a little deeper between his legs and triggers a fast insert of your hips into his hip space. Lift and throw.

Double leg takedown into calf trip: starting front body clinch, drop and change the level to go for the double leg takedown. Importantly shift the stance back a little to enable you to get the front knee to the floor. From here wrap the outside leg around their front calf and drive forward, keep the calf wrapped and thus controlled when they are on their back, you then move into your next positional transition.

Sitting takedown from side body clinch: step behind his knee so that you are square in your stance. Simply, sit your arse down whilst maintaining your body clinch grip. He should go down with you. Do not turn or rotate him as you go down, trust the motion. Here is a great video of Rhonda Rousey in an open workout. She pulls off a few of the moves we trained tonight plus some we could never imagine!!!

Class notes April 2013: muscle compressions

6 submissions: these are all high risk and low success rate submissions.

1: bicep compression from pre elbow extension in sitting side control: top arm under (through his elbow crease) and same leg crossing over into what looks like a triangle or figure four position. This is because you are better balanced here as we'll as the arm and leg tie up works better from here. Small part of the forearm near the wrist bone will be digging in nicely to the bicep.

2: bicep compression when opponent is in turtle position. Side back control and wrist control on his outer arm. Feed the other through as you dive over and elegantly face plant. Squeeze the knees together ( your shins will now be on his torso and neck respectively) making sure his arm angle is straight from the shoulder to the wrist (whilst folded) to complete the compression.

3: side control to leg attack, as if hunting for the knee extension. They cross their legs to prevent to submission so you manipulate the heel, lever the forearms. This causes his lower shin to be compress his lower calf, if fails then the knee extension is there.

4: calf choke from back control: pass the lower leg around the neck and secure with the other hand, fold the foot onto his shoulder to secure the position. Lean forward as if rolling over his head. This will cause tremendous strain on the front and back of the neck and when released coughing and gagging might occur. This for me was the grimmest of all the submissions this session. The most pain and panic. Horrible.

5: shin choke from centre control: pass the shin onto his neck, weight towards the foot or you will get rolled. This one finishes quickly. It looks like a simplified gogoplata from mount.

6: centre back control, ankles crossed into lower calf compression. This requires some manipulation of his legs to get them in the right position. Crossing the ankles is a no no anyway so hopefully of he is doing this then he won't be too aware of the attack coming his way. I made this very foolish mistake early on training in BJJ and the guy I was fighting with, in class and 4 days before a big competition, took advantage of my position and chose to put his leg over my top ankle. This resulted in my knee being messed up very badly after an audible crack followed by an involuntary howl from me. Point is be careful with the knees. They can go quick without any pain warnings

Class notes March 2013: outward arm manipulation

Clinch grappling warm up with Phil then Milzy. This is one of the best ways to warmed up quickly, especially if you do it with someone who has a major size and strength advantage. It is a great way to build some resilience and tenacity.

Takedown from shoulder control: You are deep in their space, your knee is behind theirs, your torso pressure is on them so there are no gaps when you bump the knee and pull the shoulder down to collapse their structure. This works when you have opposite legs forward.

Knee trip and shoulder take down: I sat out of this one as my knee is still sensitive to the slightest lateral pressure but sometimes it is good to watch and see how other people move and apply themselves. The trip is simply a barring action (the hand on the side of the knee) so that the leg has nowhere to go. The arm in shoulder control straightens from the bicep and the ‘bowls’ as the trip happens acting as a fulcrum. This technique works when you have the same leg forward as the partner. The two above techniques can then be used in combination when pressuring the opponent and can be chained or switched between each other meaning if he changes legs then either can be attacked.

Outward arm manipulation from side control: Worked on securing the arm by wrapping as well as looking for it without losing control of his base and simply fighting to gain control of his arm.

Upward shoulder rotation from side control: From control we can start to look for submissions. The worst case scenario is that you don’t get the sub but his arm is now depleted and thus a less effective tool for him. Best case is a submission. If you have control of his arm then take your time with this, rushing will create gaps and errors. When you have wrist control, use the head high knee against his head and same side elbow

Elbow extension from side control: As he fights to escape by straightening the arm you can now look at the elbow extension. Make sure his elbow is off the floor as this adds to the pressure and the sub will come on a lot quicker.

Switching between the two above: Similarly to the takedowns at the start of the class, these two submissions depend on the energy he is giving you, plus you can switch between the two. Again if they don’t come off, he has a very tired arm.

Clinch grappling with no grip and eyes closed with Seb and Charlie: Apart from being rag dolled around at will by both Seb and Charlie it showed me the potential of what can be and how devastating the clinch position is when you are in control. Mostly I was defending and defending and trying to keep to their tempo. Both are excellent at changing levels, consistent pressure and constant movement making you second guess and not take the lead

Class notes March 2013: the lion killer

4 basic takedown drilling: the single hip capture, double hip capture, single and double leg.

When drilling it is important to keep the pressure always on them so they are being controlled by you. Pressure does not mean always forward.

Forearm and bicep suppression (the lion killer)details. We spent a few minutes getting the mechanics down on a kneeling partner: at least the wrapping arm to get the elbow under the chin by driving the shoulder forward, arms are relaxed, other arm with back of hand on the head, head to head, turn the muscles on from relaxed and this should enable to technique to finish.

Freeform grappling: A good hard couple of rounds with Craig and a big fella who likes competitive shooting (sorry for not remembering your name). Worked with Craig on how to transition from bottom and half bottom control to the knees. We also looked at how to not slide over the head when in back control with the person the floor in the turtle position

Class notes February 2013: shoulder control part 2

Single leg, single hip, double hip and double leg takedown chain grappling. Keep the pressure on be that movement in any direction, just make sure that the head stays in contact with the torso then the chest pressure on his legs. Gaps equal opportunities to escape so give him none. As this was the first session of the class it is surprisingly tough on the legs as the quads are always turned on. When the quads are working so is the heart.

Shoulder control takedown from knees: Secondary grip on tricep and pinch down with your elbow, step your knee in front of his knee to create a barrier and pull him over that as you follow into a high angle side control.

Shoulder control in side control: Use the shoulder to pin his shoulder or face to the mat, use the head to keep the gaps tiny so there is no room for him to work an arm in for underhooks. Escaping side control by getting to the knees using lat control: Firstly you need to create space as if his side control tight there will be none. Push the head or angle your body away to create a gap between his shoulder pressing down and yours. When the gap appears work the arm in and through for the underhook and most importantly is to turn to your knees as quickly as you can. From here wrap the arm around and grab a hold of his lat muscle. This will enable you to pull on it for 2 effects. Number 1, if he braces against the pull then you have a solid structure to work against to get the legs out from under him. Number 2 is that he pushes back into to you so you simply roll him back over you. Your forearm will be against his hip so you are pretty much effortlessly using his structure to sweep him. Very little power is needed, just his applying his momentum against him.

Bottom control escape with shoulder control: I think (cant quite remember) it being similar to the side control escape... Bottom control super grip shoulder control: Over the trips so the shoulder is forced down and the elbow pins the head to prevent movement. Lee referred to the rubber guard and the relation to this movement in that you can isolate and pin the shoulder here and look for transitions and submissions too. This is something I am going to explore as I do enjoy the work of Mr Bravo but my hips struggle to fully express his ideas. Having the same concept but using different tools is a great eye opener for me. Submission hunting grappling: I worked with Ivan and the drill was to get a submission in 2 minutes. One person looking for the subs and the other simply defending. Lovely dril

Class notes February 2013: shoulder control

We started by simply practising the correct positional mechanics for shoulder control: eyes to the centre of his head driving with the forehead, shoulder clamped tight with same arm elbow tight and down, take a secondary grip with the other arm and strong base so your legs and knee position are disrupting his. Shoulder control with pummel escape and elbow strike: As he attempts to pummel out if provides you with an excellent opportunity, if timed well to elbow strike at close range. Elbows for one reason or another are something I am to keen on practising with, probably because of their simply destructive nature but perhaps I need to start thinking about when they can be used as a striking tool.

Shoulder control with leg trip and takedown: This works as you move him around and his stance goes long and skinny. As you sweep the leg from under his hip, pull down on the shoulder, as if you are pulling the shoulder down to his hip. Having no base or balance means he should go to the floor with you following him closely into side control.

Shoulder control with single leg capture: Change the level and literally slide your face down his torso as the eyes need to stay up to promote a positive and strong posture. Reach through and around both of his legs as your chest should now be pressing into his hip and thigh, both palms facing down as you grip hand to wrist with your elbow crease behind his knee. Lift high.

Shoulder control with bicep cricket bowl escape: Thrust your bicep into his tricep which will cause his shoulder bones to lift then bowl the arm straight. It feels like you are using your skeleton and not muscle to perform the action whilst disrupting his skeleton. Similar to the leg trip takedown talked about before, you are affecting his structure which is a much harder thing to defend as muscles don’t do anything to stop the motion is done correctly.

Side control outward arm manipulation: For me this was simply horrendous. My shoulders were ready to tap out even before the tiring of the arm happened. When in side control and working on the outward arm it is important to control it. By wrapping your arm under it so that the point of your elbow is on the ground this elevates his arm so that only the hand is on the floor. As previously stated, in itself this was not a good place for me. Lee had us simply making the arm tired, swapping our arms over to feel the wrapping on different sides. The sooner this was over the better for me. I guess the point is other people have similar shoulder tension so time to hunt for this position more in side control!

Class notes February 2013: front body clinch

Lee talked about never wanting to wilfully give up your back and when it hits the floor there is a second when you can bounce back up to the knees and then standing. See UFC 156 and this was used by firstly Benevidez and then Fitch. Obviously this always goes on but only now are my eyes open to it and seeing how an effective defence it can be rather than the temptation to pull guard (bottom control). Whilst Fitch ultimately lost the fight he sustained very little damage have his back taken for the majority of the fight. Primarily as he is a master at defending from that position but also the attacks are limited. Yes he was taken down and controlled easily, in the relative sense that you have Maia on the back, but he was not on his back for long and looked to pop up to his knees quickly.

Front body clinch: elbows pressure into the sides as if squeezing the lats. Having this done turned you more into a rag doll as your posture is controlled with greater ease. So how do you get out of the double underhooked front body clinch? One way is to get the pummel in when double undercooked by stepping back and turning the shoulder into the opponent. This should create a gap for the arm to swim through, then swap sides to repeat to establish your own under hooks. The key point here was the turning or driving of the shoulder into the opponent as this disrupts their base and grip to a greater extent.

Front body clinch fighting. Simply fighting for position. It still amazes me that watching the UFC how few fighters use the head as a controlling limb in clinch and grappling. Being a smaller man I find it an invaluable asset when in close as it has the added bonus of aligning the spine in the correct way too. Front body clinch lift from double hip capture. God damn horrid. Rag them around and when the hips get close change the level and drop down for the double hip capture and lift, looking up to the ceiling. As above with knee sweep to avoid the inner forearm choke or some kind of monkey style guard play. As above into double leg, head on same side as leg forward for square symmetry Small glove free form double leg shooting practise x 2 round

Class notes January 2013: getting back into it

Transition from side to inverted Downward shoulder rotation with the leg Own leg grab with head control Elbow extension with pushing the shoulder down Arm trap with leg for striking opportunities Free form grappling with Craig. Big moment for Criag as he pulled off his first sub against me; a swift and nasty inner forearm choke that I defended poorly and he deserved to get.

Class notes October 2012: inner forearm choke

Creative warm up led by Joe including some partner body work drills such as piggy back squats, calf raises and torturous squats to jumping knee repetitions.

Head control into inner forearm choke. Worked on this section with Joe who rightly chastised me on my first go as the gap between my torso and his was cavernous. So with head control (primary grip) and with the tricep (secondary grip), feet inside his base I put the wrong arm into the choke. What again Joe pulled me up on was to use the secondary grip to use as the choking arm. I assume as this maintains better control of the opponent. In securing the choke from standing we take a both palms facing the torso grip at the wrists and stack the top forearm over his shoulder and onto his back and move your shoulder, arm under neck side, towards the wrist to close the choke.

Defence against inner forearm choke: first job is to look up and get the spine positive and drive up. Failing that, turn your face towards him. As Lee put it, “Sniff his side”. This releases the neck slightly and will mean he will need to go to option B, details to follow. As the head turns to face him, drop your level and try to take side control and snake the front arm behind his knee. From here you can lift quite effortlessly and spin into a slamming takedown. Now if you are the attacker and he defends with the above head turn then keep turning with him, release the top hand so that it comes under as if to make an isosceles triangle. Lee made reference to this is how Machida was finished on his feet by Jon Jones earlier this year. I have made reference to this in a previous post as Rogan called this a power guillotine. Getting the elbows together really closes the choke off quickly and painfully

Class notes October 2012: lower leg submissions

Ankle extension: Starting from an open bottom control position, he has one foot one your hip so this is ankle you are going to attack. Wrap the forearm under the calf as you step up to have both feet close to his hips and as you sit your hips go close to your heels. As you lie back squeeze the knees together and allow the forearm to slide down his leg. You should feel the bridge of his foot against your lat or top of the shoulder. Make sure that forearm bone (radius) is nice and tight and the bottom of the calf muscle. Look behind and over yourself to complete the ankle extension. We then looked at a defence to this and that is as soon as they start to lie back you need to relax the leg, shoot the foot behind him and sit up by pulling on his neck for anchorage. Maintaining the neck control you can pass to the side or either with a crushing knee on belly control.

Calf compression from side control: Naturally they should have the cross leg defensive position to prevent your attempts to move to top control and then want to slide the knee into your centre to begin escaping from side control. This is the bait. Allow their knee to come inside, as it does insert your forearm around and behind the knee. An overhook rather than an underhook, a tight one. Now for the tough part. Step over and insert your foot between his legs and close to his hips. It is hard because it require swift dexterity. It also means his leg is tightly wrapped. From here use the forearm bone on the outside of his calf for the pain. 2 days later I still have a 50p coin sized bruise on my calf where Neil successfully closed off his submission attempts. This is a high risk move because it is a pain only submission as not much will break or tear.

Scissor takedown into ankle extension: From the standing clinch look to perform a hip throw. If he does not defend then complete the throw. However if he defends by straightening his posture attempt the entertaining. From the hip throw your backside should be against his thigh. Drop to the floor and scissor him down, top leg attacking high and front and the lower leg low and behind. Do not let your lower leg hit the floor. From here you can clasp his leg with your knees and perform the ankle extension as outlined earlier on.

Class notes August 2012: Richard Cranny guest instructor

Tonight we had the privilege to be taught by Lee and Rich Cranny who is the Head instructor for Pro Mai in Australia, PLatinum Extreme. The focus was on groundwork and instead of my usual detailing of techniques and drills I will just include the learning tips I picked up.

1. Control the head control the body. Face bars are horrible.

2. Posture in grappling: concave spine to control his posture. Side control the pressure drives into the side of the rib cage not planted on top.

3. Pyramid concept of base.

4. Control with the body is much more effective than squeezing with the arm

Class notes July 2012: leg locks

Leg lock from the open guard position.

Start is if going to pass with shin over their thigh and make sure that the foot is placed deep under their thigh. When you look to pass with the shin it will be much deeper and have an opening of the hips preventing him from escaping easily to another position. Instead of passing hold the high leg and sit back as you come under his leg with yours. You are essentially clasping his leg between yours. Now that you have his leg clasped you can begin to work on the lower part of his leg for the submission.

We looked at 2: Achilles compression: With his toes under your armpit insert your inner forearm bone against his tendon to apply pressure.

Heel hook: this is a much more devastating submission due to the potential long term injury the leg can suffer. With his toes under your armpit roll towards them lifting the far side shoulder off the floor. This will allow you to sink his heel into the elbow crease of your arm. He is now seconds away from a 2 month limp.

Class notes June 2012: inverted side control

No grip grappling warm up: great fun grappling this way as I found ways to use my legs and the back of my wrists to enable control without the use of the inner parts of the hands.

Main technical part of the class: Inverted side control:

Key points: leg side leg sweeps under own hips, weight on his chest, tight bicep grip and elbow clamp, no gap between you and his armpit so he can't escape, hips off the floor and weight driving into his chest.

Knee extension: he goes to hook a leg in escaping from the inverted side control so dive for the foot and pull it into to the side of your neck. Feet on his arse, knees clamped together, one hand control his foot as the other wraps the lower leg to your chest. Extend and arch backwards with tight tight control for the sub. Forearm with shoulder suppression: Let him escape by trying to push the face. As his arm straightens push past it and throw the head to the floor as you get your hips to the floor quickly too. Palm to palm grip and drive down with the shoulder hopefully closing the sub off. I need much more time with both of these as I found them quite difficult to pull off swiftly and cleanly.

Reversal sweep: Keep him moving and disrupt his base, feel for the gap and roll him over (timing not strength)