class notes: submissions from centre control

Free form warm up

Side control escapes drilling x 4 individual and then chaining them in sets of 3
1: knee escape
2: hip up and roll
3: swim under the lat and swim out
4: inverted under the belly spin and escape

Submissions from centre control (mount)

Leg suppression (triangle)

Not quite the way Lee showed but the final finish is the same





With fist suppression (pulse side of the neck) from triangle

Fist choke (fist to centre of throat) from triangle

Here is a video of Lee finishing from his back but a main theme from tonight was translation of mount attacks to bottom control position



Shin choke (gogoplata)

Elbow extension (arm bar)

Here is video Lee created showing the shin choke to elbow extension



Submission from side control: downward shoulder rotation with leg trap on the head

Attacks from centre control (mount) translate to bottom control (guard)

Free form grappling

Eyes closed grappling for position and submission

class notes: bottom control (guard) masterclass

Takedown drill warm up: double leg to side bag clinch to single leg.

Key learning points are the hips; keep them pinned to him if you want the takedown, keep them away if you don't want it and want to avoid him getting it. Throughout each phase of movement in this drill they should feel head pressure.
On the outside of the ribs on the double leg.
On their shoulder blades on the side back clinch.
On their front ribs on the single leg.

This image below illustrates the depth and commitment of the double leg.

In essence you are moving around him whilst in contact. For example, shoot in on the right leg, move around his back and capture the leg leg for the single.

Bottom control 1:

Submit or pass. Person on their back has to look for creative and a variety of submissions or submission attempts. Top person has to avoid the submission and pass the legs to side control. When passed, start again. The one thing I noticed was when going for the shoulder rotation (omoplata) they might defend by sitting up and pulling away. From here you can slide the near side leg under his chin to set up the shin choke (gogplata). The angle is far from perfect so you need grap your foot by reaching around his head. You might not even get the finish but having the shin across their neck will generate movement from them so you can explore other positions.

My partner got some nice elbow extension on me. The type when the pressure is applied to the tricep and my hand is on his shoulder.

Submit or reverse: Similar to above except the person on top is not trying to pass. They are preventing the submission and keeping their base to avoid being swept.

Inversion from open spider guard

inversion dexterity from the bottom: side control to north south - 'roll' out

These are complicated motions to describe in words, hopefully these images will give some clearer ideas of what we were doing.

dexterity against the wall



This is an example of the dexterity drill we dill.



This video, start at 1.48 gives an idea of the motion. We were not using the inversion as an entry but from contact range already.



Again, this video is not what we were doing but is a creative way to get the triangle from an inverted position.



This video looks very similar in terms of movement that we were looking at. Start it at 2.22

Akiyama's trip throws

http://www.mma121.com | Learn how to do Yoshihiro Akiyama's amazing trip takedowns that he used on Jake Shields at UFC 144. Akyama may have lost to Jake shields at UFC 144 but he still managed some impressive looking dynamic Judo style takedowns on the way. The technique looks incredibly fast when you watch it in real time but the real key is in the preparation. In order to perform an outside trip on the front leg at such a pace Akiyama prepares himself while Shields is closing the distance instead of waiting for the clinch to be solidified before starting the takedown. Akiyama does this by recognising the times when Shields is closing for a clinch and before Shields has the clinch formed he starts to turn sideways and looks for the underhook on Shileds rear arm. Because of this preparation when shields moves in Akiyama is already half way through the technique, he's stepped most of the way across the front leg and his lead hand is waiting to pummel under. If he gets that position it's a very tough takedown to stop but if it goes wrong Akiyama can end up with his back to his opponent like he did with Jakes Shields in Round 3 of their fight. A great example of Judo in MMA



www.promai.com/mma

Arm bar to triangle choke

http://www.mma121.com | In this video you will learn how to switch your attack to a Leg Suppression / Traingle Choke when your opponent defends the Elbow Extension / Arm Bar. It's very common for an opponent to defend the Arm Bar by pulling their arm back through the hips before the submission is locked in. When this happens there is an opportunity to retain control and chain the submission into a Triangle Choke. This requires the person applying the submission to think ahead, react fast and control well with the legs.

This submission combination is great for chaining together in MMA competition or BJJ matches



www.promai.com/mma

Arm bar with your legs

http://www.mma121.com | In this video you will learn how to apply an Elbow Extension (Arm Bar) From Invert Side Control (Scarf Hold). This is an advanced submission attack that also gives you great opportunities to strike once the leg trap is achieved. The finish is quite difficult because it requires an acute understanding of the angles needed to finish the arm bar submission and you need to feel these angles through your legs. But it's a low risk attack that can be incredibly effective if you get it right.

An advanced submission that's great for MMA competition and BJJ matches.



www.promai.com/mma

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

Switching The Rear Naked Choke To Forearm Choke

http://www.mma121.com | Switching from a locked in Rear Naked Choke to a palm to palm grip when your opponent strips the hand as part of their defence is fairly common. What's not always appreciated is that during the process you can switch from a blood choke on the sides of the neck to an Inner Forearm Choke on the throat and airway

Class notes: UFC Fight Night Austin - Edgar's takedowns

Frankie take down

Round 2 against Cub Swanson:
My words would be ineffective if preceding Lee's words so here is the video he made.



Side back control from standing, side body cinch, apply pressure with the shoulder to the back to drive him down to the floor, he will push back up, keep the grip and slide around to his front, keep the head against his body, slide down to the double hip lift.

Marcello Garcia inner forearm choke from the back, hand on the shoulder and squeeze your elbow to your shoulder. The concept was tilting the head forward to close the gap and pressure to the back of the head. Lee showed a reverse gogoplata, and omoplata (shoulder rotation with the legs), spider web from the back to inner forearm choke.

In the following video you can see Garcia applying some very tight forearm chokes.

At 1.21, 1.44, 2.20, 2.39 and so on... He uses the concept Lee was talking about, closing the chin to neck gap and pressure on the back of the head.



In this video you can see Garcia doing the one armed inner forearm choke, first at 0.17. It is quick and horrible. It feels like the throat is being crushed.



Freeform sparring

Some footage from the class

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 .

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!

Catch wrestling notes from Trist

Trist has been doing some extra research and here are his tremendous insights as of late:



This whole video is really interesting to watch although a lot of its not relevant to what we are training. At 7.00mins in Billy starts talking about arm positioning for double wrist locks and arm bars, this then progresses to a few face crank positions, a standing double wrist lock takedown (bring on the mats!) and then at 8:30 he demonstrates the elbow/lever position (this is what I was focusing on transitioning to after establishing the lock and seem to work really well with both Ron and yourself)



Strangely the early part of this vid shows something not a million miles from what Ayyaz was talking about last night but Billy is immediately establishing his own wrist control, also an interesting break from two hands on one arm. The arm drag variations are around 2:00mins, the first is the variation we train and the other two seem more wrestling specific but still interesting from a grappling standpoint.



1:05mins in Billy shows an interesting idea for grapple sparring as a nice way to go for double wrist lock



This is on the ground but check out Billy at 2:05 onwards reminds me of Martin demonstrating good position.

Trist, thanks for all your insights, these videos are fantastic and help to keep us all learning

Kimura

Grovit

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