Slidey's Training Log

Book Review - Advanced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Techniques (Marcelo Garcia, Marshal D. Carper & Glen Cordoza)

Published on 2012-02-12 05:39:00

Thanks to Seymour for sending this book on to me for review: if for some reason you don't already know who he is, be sure to check out his awesome site, MeerkatsuShort Review:This is a book aimed at competitors, presenting a methodical breakdown of Garcia's tactics for a jiu jitsu match. You'll learn takedowns, counters and re-counters, along with a well-structured path to certain submissions, particularly attacks from the back. Although Garcia makes a point of working on techniques that don't r

09/02/2012 - Teaching (Maintaining the Back)

Published on 2012-02-09 14:30:00

Teaching #041 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/02/2012I wanted to go through some more simple techniques tonight, this time for when your opponent is trying to escape and get their shoulders to the mat. Andre Galvao shows a simple option for retaking the back, which works well as a drill. They manage to clear one of your hooks and start bringing their hips over. Before they can get their shoulders to the mat, press your chest into their shoulder and roll them onto their

07/02/2012 - Judo at GB Bristol (Morote Seoi Nage)

Published on 2012-02-07 15:15:00

Class #11 Gracie Barra Bristol, (Judo), Kirsty Utting, Bristol, UK - 07/02/2012It's been a long time since I last went to a formal class of judo, back in May 2010. As my girlfriend is away on holiday, I finally had the chance to go try out Kirsty's judo class. I'm not generally a big fan of judo training, because of that injury I got back in my third ever session of judo, which took me off the mats for about seven months. Hence why I've been a bit wary of judo ever since, not helped by stories o

07/02/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Defending the Back)

Published on 2012-02-07 14:30:00

Class #444 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 07/02/2012Lots of great drills from Dónal as usual, all related to guard passing. Start by standing up, holding their knees. They shrimp, you drive your weight through your hands and therefore also jam their knees to match, then hop over to the side behind their knees. They shrimp again and you repeat the motion to the other side.Another nice guard passing drill, which we've done before, again starts with your standing up. Th

02/02/2012 - Teaching (Maintaining the Back)

Published on 2012-02-02 14:30:00

Teaching #040 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 02/02/2012I was intending to continue my series on spider guard, with some attacks to follow on my lesson about maintaining spider guard last week. However, Geeza wanted February to stick with the back position, so I had to rethink my lesson after I got back from work, ready for class forty minutes later. So, rather less time than the week I normally spend planning, although on the other hand, I was intending to restart my fir

31/01/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Mount to Back)

Published on 2012-01-31 14:30:00

Class #443 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 31/01/2012For tonight's technique, you're in mount, threatening a collar choke. However, that's not your end goal: you're intending to take the back. As they defend the collar choke, drive your other arm inside the crook of their opposite elbow. Reach back to their armpit, so you're effectively in position to do an armdrag, but from the mount rather than guard. Pull, so that they're moved onto their side, while at the same tim

29/01/2012 - Teaching (Open Mat)

Published on 2012-01-29 09:42:00

Teaching #039 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/01/2012Reading the forums and Facebook, it sounds like the UK BJJ contingent at the Euros has been getting some incredible results. Top UK brown belt competitor Luke Costello didn't just win his weight category, he won gold in the absolute as well. More results have been coming in steadily over on the EFN, so I look forward to hearing more. In terms of the GB Bristol team, there were some great results there too: Geeza won

26/01/2012 - Teaching (Maintaining Open Guard)

Published on 2012-01-26 14:56:00

Teaching #038 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/01/2012There are three main variants of spider guard, all of which require you to grab both sleeves: this guard isn't commonly used in nogi for that reason, though it is possible to adapt. You will also normally have your feet curled around their biceps. For the most common variant, put your feet on their same side biceps, pulling their sleeves towards you, then push one leg straight, while keeping the other leg bent. This

24/01/2012 - Gracie Barra Bristol (Butterfly Sweep)

Published on 2012-01-24 15:07:00

Class #442 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Dónal Carmody, Bristol, UK - 24/01/2012More drilling with Mike before class started, working on an interesting quarter-guard sweep from Caio Terra's DVD. It's been useful for passing to keep working on specific positions like that, and hopefully has been useful for Mike too (in sparring, he swept me with the exact butterfly sweep we drilled a while ago, which was cool ;D).Tonight's lesson went through the basic butterfly sweep. Dónal's variation was a li

19/01/2012 - Teaching (Passing Half Guard)

Published on 2012-01-19 14:30:00

Teaching #037 Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/01/2012Today I wanted to take a look at a position Ed Beneville and Tim Cartmell refer to as 'inverted half guard' in their book. The orthodox method is to get a similar 'super-hold' (as Xande calls it) to side control, then use shoulder pressure to hold them in place as you bounce your leg free and slide through. With inverted half guard, you're using a different kind of pressure. For this pass, you will start off by contr