Recently I have been helping on of my students with his rolling reversals from under side control. Doing this of course got me thinking about the importance of not letting the opponent pass your guard in the first place and if he does pass taking action that gives you the chance to roll him off.
As usual when I am teching my imagination ran away with me and I started thinking of silly analogies to help with the teaching points. In this case I said that when your gaurd is passed it is akin to being invaded by an agressive foreign force and the lead arm is the advance party of this force. As in battle, by taking out the advance party you can confuse and disorientate the main force, in BJJ terms by controlling the leading arm you make it hard for the opponent to establish control. The result is that it is easier to regain guard or to setup a reversal.
A few options for working with this include: overhooking the arm, underhooking the arm, double hand blocking/kimura, stuffing the arm and also pillow defence (although this is an entirely separate kettle of fish).
In all cases the task is to prevent the leading arm from establishing control of your upper body, particularly with cross face. Regardless of how this is done the point is destabilise, if through this action you can regain guard the that is the best choice, using anything you need to such as shin blocks and crossovers etc. If you are unable to block the pass but you can control the lead arm, the next step is to hip away and face your opponent slightly then reach your far hand over their back and grab their belt or their lat. With their lead arm blocked you can shuffle round so that you are in a straight line with your opponent and then bridge and roll to take the top position.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Mental Toughness Training
I have been trying to squeeze two kettlebell workouts in a week for the last month or so, and have been alternating between two basic variations. Both require mental toughness as much as fitness and strength, which is important for any fighter.
The first is based on Steve Maxwells 300 workout where I do 300 individual repetitions of 18 different exercises without putting the bell down. This workout has a warmup component, a ballistic component, a strength component and a core component. I have been doing this with an 18kg bell and my best time is 20 minutes and 2 seconds so far.
The second is simlar but varies a little in that I do the same warmup component and then do 3 identical rounds consisting of 5 different exercises and a total of 90 reps each. Similarly I don’t put the bell down between rounds so I rest but not so much. Of the 2 this is probably the tougher workout as I really drive certain muscle groups to fatigue through doing more repetitions of less exercises. Also it is pretty close to doing three five minute rounds so is like a fight in that regard. My best time for this one is 17 minutes and 29 seconds including the warmup.
As I mentioned of the two the second is probably tougher and requires more drive to complete it, but the first covers a wider variety of movements so is more of a full body workout. I am thinking that my next goal will be to design a workout with shorter rounds probably around 2 minutes and then work towards doing 10 rounds. I’ll see how that works though.
Sunday, November 09, 2008
Arm Drags
As with many techniques and concepts in Jiu Jitsu for me arm drags have followed the same progression. That is to say, we are shown a technique, we try to make it work (with more or less success), then it “clicks” and the mechanics of the technique start to become evident. After that you usually start to get a few notches on your belt and develop an ownership for the technique.
For me this has happened with arm drags quite recently, which is allowing all the good things that come with arm drags including; taking the back, triangles and sweeps. I found that the key seems to be not so much in the “dragging” the arm, but in “hanging” from the arm. As I reach an arm accross to the inside of of my opponents opposite bicep and start to pull the arm accross, I lift my back and hips slightly off the ground so that my weight is directly hanging off my opponents arm. This makes it very difficult for my opponent to escape and makes the speed of the arm drag a lot quicker. As soon as I drag the arm, I consolidate by getting about halfway to the back, grabbing my opponents far lat to “close the door” on my opponents arm and putting my outside leg over their back to start climbing on their back. From their I have been trying for three options (Plan A, B and C if you like).
1. Taking the Back - Once the arm drag is complete you are already half way to the back. To consolidate the position I like to reach over the back and get a paddle grip on the far arm as I slide my far leg further over the back to get a hook. While I do this I climb more squarely onto the back using the paddle grip for an anchor. Once on the back I use my near arm to either attack the neck or setup a harness.
2. Triangle - This is a far more successful option for me as most people tend to defent the back very hard. Essentially as I am completing the arm drag I take my inside knee quite high towards the opponents chest. Once in place I maintain my grip on my opponents far lat to keep my attachement to them and then use my other hand to block their far arm. To clear the arm and get to “triangle guard” (one arm in one arm out) there are two basic options. The first is to block the arms movement and bring my knee and foot inside their arm and around the neck. The Second is when the person triest to use the arm to pin my leg and attempt a pass. In this case I push the arm between my legs while I swing my leg around and over the neck. In either case once I have cleared the arm, I have Triangle Guard and can complete the triangles as I normally would.
3 Hooks Sweep - There are 2 basic ways to get the hooks sweep from the arm drag, one towards that arm that is dragged and the other is away. I most commonly go for the away from the arm drag option, as I find it easier as the opponent is already unbalanced and there abaility to post is killed by the arm drag, I basically use my inside arm as an underhook and sitout to the underhook side and lean back for the sweep. The other option is the to go towards the arm drag. In this scenario, you reach the inside arm out over both your opponents arms to kill the post. You are already sitting out to the side so you lean down and do the sweep.
There arm many more things that can be done from the arm drag, but that is the 3 things that are working for me the most at the moment.
Have fun stay safe on the mat!
For me this has happened with arm drags quite recently, which is allowing all the good things that come with arm drags including; taking the back, triangles and sweeps. I found that the key seems to be not so much in the “dragging” the arm, but in “hanging” from the arm. As I reach an arm accross to the inside of of my opponents opposite bicep and start to pull the arm accross, I lift my back and hips slightly off the ground so that my weight is directly hanging off my opponents arm. This makes it very difficult for my opponent to escape and makes the speed of the arm drag a lot quicker. As soon as I drag the arm, I consolidate by getting about halfway to the back, grabbing my opponents far lat to “close the door” on my opponents arm and putting my outside leg over their back to start climbing on their back. From their I have been trying for three options (Plan A, B and C if you like).
1. Taking the Back - Once the arm drag is complete you are already half way to the back. To consolidate the position I like to reach over the back and get a paddle grip on the far arm as I slide my far leg further over the back to get a hook. While I do this I climb more squarely onto the back using the paddle grip for an anchor. Once on the back I use my near arm to either attack the neck or setup a harness.
2. Triangle - This is a far more successful option for me as most people tend to defent the back very hard. Essentially as I am completing the arm drag I take my inside knee quite high towards the opponents chest. Once in place I maintain my grip on my opponents far lat to keep my attachement to them and then use my other hand to block their far arm. To clear the arm and get to “triangle guard” (one arm in one arm out) there are two basic options. The first is to block the arms movement and bring my knee and foot inside their arm and around the neck. The Second is when the person triest to use the arm to pin my leg and attempt a pass. In this case I push the arm between my legs while I swing my leg around and over the neck. In either case once I have cleared the arm, I have Triangle Guard and can complete the triangles as I normally would.
3 Hooks Sweep - There are 2 basic ways to get the hooks sweep from the arm drag, one towards that arm that is dragged and the other is away. I most commonly go for the away from the arm drag option, as I find it easier as the opponent is already unbalanced and there abaility to post is killed by the arm drag, I basically use my inside arm as an underhook and sitout to the underhook side and lean back for the sweep. The other option is the to go towards the arm drag. In this scenario, you reach the inside arm out over both your opponents arms to kill the post. You are already sitting out to the side so you lean down and do the sweep.
There arm many more things that can be done from the arm drag, but that is the 3 things that are working for me the most at the moment.
Have fun stay safe on the mat!
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Can Openers
When I say “Can Openers” a lot of people get the image of neck cranks from inside guard a la Tito Ortiz, but that isn’t what I am looking at here. These can openers are means seperating a persons arms from their body when they are defending really well in the bottom position. I have been working with three different types of can openers recently;
1. The “Homer Simpson” - I picked this name as it resembles Homer’s celebratory habit of lying on his side and “running” in a circle. Essentially this technique is from side control and is used to clear the far arm from the body to insert an underhook and go for submissions. To do it you grab your opponents far trap (as you would with an underhook) and make sure that your bicep is between his elbow and body. Then making sure that your chest is low enough to be below the level of your opponents forearm do the tight Homer Simpson walk around the head of your opponent until the arm is clear. Once it is free you have many options, such as a progression of submissions like: Figure 4, Straight entangled Arm Bar, Far Arm Bar.
2. The Wrist Drive - This technique is much like the previous one and achieves a similar result, the only difference is that instead of driving in a circular motion around the body, the pressure goes in a straight line driven by both feet. Start by gripping the arm in the same way as the previous technique, but slide your chest up to the wrist. Once there drive accross the body with both legs, this should apply maximum leverage on the elbow and force the arm away. Once arm is seperated follow the same submissions as the previous example.
3. The Smear - Unlike the previous two can openers, the smear is done from front control and is used to clear an arm to setup a forearm choke or front headlock. In essence I use the inside of rib cage as a hook to drag the opponents arm away from the body. Start in front control and move slightly further down opponents body so you can get your rib cage over the opponents elbow. Then keeping tight to their body move laterally back and forth smearing their arms away from their body. As soon as the arm clears the body drop your elbow into the arm pit to keep it seperated. From there you can start to attack with Front Headlocks or setup a forearm choke, it is also a good scenario for setting up a cross face with the arm trapped.
Heaps of Fun have a crack!
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
X Guard
I am still really only scratching the surface of this great game, but I am liking what I am finding. X- Guard has become my answer for people who manage to flatten me out in Half Guard, even if I have the appropriate underhook sometimes people still cross face so well that I am flat out on my back, especially with stronger opponents. My approach is to under hook my opponents free leg and start to shuffle my self further under them, this originally came as a result of avoiding the discomfort of the cross face, but pretty soon turned into “Back Door Escape”. When I am dealing with someone to strong for the back door option or who is to low to make it work, I trap the opponents far heel to the ground with my inside leg and then insert my outside hook. Then using the hook and my arm I can create enough space to insert the rear hook. It is really important when you are transitioning to full X-Guard that you use your free arm to block your opponents knee so they step over your hook to mount.
Now, the sweeps, there are 2 I have been doing regularly and one I have been trying (poorly)...
1. Ankle Grab - This sweep involves grabbing the outside of the opponents far ankle with your free hand. Then by pulling in on the ankle as you extend your hooks you can cause your opponents to fall back, you need to go to your knees and under hooks both legs straight away to get your pass and avoid the triangle though.
2. Hi/Low Hooks - To do this sweep slide your front hook down to the opponents ankle and your rear hook up as high as possible. The by extending both legs you cause the opponents far leg to be swept out from underneath them, they should fall backwards. As above underhook both legs to pass.
3. Near Arm control - This is a sweep or more accurately a series of sweeps that I am playing with from watching Marcelo Garcia, it involves controlling the opponents near arm and passing it to your underhooking arm to grip the sleeve or wrist. The idea, as near as I can tell, is to take more control of your opponent to do basically all the other X- Guard sweeps, or to free your hand up to pull down on the opponents lapel to give you rolling sweeps. To date I have had only marginal success with this, however I supect the weakest link is me not the technique at this stage!
Monday, November 03, 2008
Triangles
As I have mentioned in previous blogs I was a self confessed “Triangle Spastic” until about 6 months ago, in that most of my game was going OK and developing well, but I couldn’t get a triangle for love or money. Now that I have scaled the invisible barrier though I am actually finding that I’ll get 1 or 2 taps with triangles every time that I roll. So what has changed? Basically I have gotten better at them... But it is more that that it is also my approach, this has 2 steps,
1. Clear one arm to get what I call triangle guard and
2. Cinch up the choke and finish.
The big improvement is not only getting good at those 2 parts individually but also seemlessly linking the 2 of them and performing them with control at all times. A bit of a dogged tenacity in the application doesn’t hurt either as opponents tend to get a bit of the “a tiger is at most dangerous when cornered” thing going on and really explode to get away as you are trying to finish it.
In terms of the details of those 2 steps though the things that I am looking for as follows:
1. Clearing the arm. Ther are heaps of ways to achieve this, but other than specific gameplans to achieve this (eg rubber guard etc) the things I have the most success really revolve around cutting angles away from the arm I am trying to clear. Basically by this I mean doing something like faking an Omoplata attempt or getting an Underhook and sitting my hips out to that side. I have been getting arm drags and faking going for the back then clearing the far arm as well. In each case this gives me more freedom to control the opponents far arm and either force my leg past it or push it between my hips. As soon as I clear the arm I immediately cross my legs and control the opponents posture. Which brings me to Point 2.
2. Finishing the Triangle. When I was developing whatever ability I have at the Triangle Choke I knew I had to divide them into these points, and while I knew the variations for point 1 were endless, I really didn’t want to too much variation on point 2. So the keys are making sure that I turn my body to make the angle for my calf to cut accross the neck (rather than relying on my non-existent flexibility). This involved doing various things to keep the person from posturing, usually underhooking the free arm and “hanging” my weight as well placing my palm over my ankle to lock my leg down on the neck. From here it is jsut a question of triangling my legs and squeezing my knees. The only points tidy up the choke for me are: pointing both sets of toes to the ceiling, doing a slight crunch and often getting a gable grip on the free arm and squeezing down to prevent turning out of the choke.
For me that is basically Triangle, without going into a detailed description of every setup I know that is!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
My 3 current themes
Been a while between updates, family strain is the main cause of this, but that is “part of the fun” as my Dad used to say so I can’t complain. In my personal game the biggest things that have been happening a lot recently are; Triangles, X-Guard and Can-Openers. I’ll write a bit about each of them and their impact on my game in the near future, but for know a general overview of what I have been doing with them.
Triangles - really all I am doing is just trying to get triangles, but I have been experimenting with different setups and different ways to finish, particularly in light of some comps starting to outlaw pulling down on the head.
X-Guard - I have been playing with 2 or 3 sweeps from half guard, but the main thing I have been doing is transitioning from a tight crushing half guard to X-Guard as an option to keep my opponent off balance.
Can-Openers - This is is a topic that I covered with John Will on my recent training visit, there were about 3 different ways that we covered for clearing the arms away from the body when opponent is defending tightly under side control.
In other news, between recent National and State tournments, quite a few members of our club have either placed or done really well. In particular there have been a few golds and some silver and bronzes as well. In a recent statewide submission grappling tournament quite a few from our club placed including a fantastic win for Heavy weight Second Place with a cutting arm bar from guard, a really great effort.
Any check back soon for updates on Triangles, X-Guard and Can-Openers.
Triangles - really all I am doing is just trying to get triangles, but I have been experimenting with different setups and different ways to finish, particularly in light of some comps starting to outlaw pulling down on the head.
X-Guard - I have been playing with 2 or 3 sweeps from half guard, but the main thing I have been doing is transitioning from a tight crushing half guard to X-Guard as an option to keep my opponent off balance.
Can-Openers - This is is a topic that I covered with John Will on my recent training visit, there were about 3 different ways that we covered for clearing the arms away from the body when opponent is defending tightly under side control.
In other news, between recent National and State tournments, quite a few members of our club have either placed or done really well. In particular there have been a few golds and some silver and bronzes as well. In a recent statewide submission grappling tournament quite a few from our club placed including a fantastic win for Heavy weight Second Place with a cutting arm bar from guard, a really great effort.
Any check back soon for updates on Triangles, X-Guard and Can-Openers.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Training Trip
No updates for a while I know... things have been busy sorry...
However in few days I am going to be traveling over to Geelong to spend a few days training with my coach John Will both in privates and in his school. It is always so great to spend some time in Geelong as the depth of talent there is so deep that you can't help but come away having learnt a great deal.
Anyway I'll be sure to write a whole heap when I get back about the stuff that I have learnt and I'll try to get some pics as well.
However in few days I am going to be traveling over to Geelong to spend a few days training with my coach John Will both in privates and in his school. It is always so great to spend some time in Geelong as the depth of talent there is so deep that you can't help but come away having learnt a great deal.
Anyway I'll be sure to write a whole heap when I get back about the stuff that I have learnt and I'll try to get some pics as well.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
"Rubber Mount"
My personal game at the moment is as I have been writing about a lot recently, mostly it has been about triangles and omoplata combinations. The big factor is that I am more and more starting to view guard as a place to get submissions first and sweeps second, where previously I had always swept primarily. The result I guess is that I have developed a reasonably good sweep game over the last few years, but haven’t done a lot of work on subs, I think I have John Wills recent seminar on Omoplata to thank for my new found offensive guard game though.
Anyways, I have also been playing with a new top game as well and been covering it in my Wednesday night Intermediate classes. I have been working off different options and submissions from S-Mount, I am playing with the name “Rubber Mount” at the moment for the game as I do a lot of grabbing my own feet and pulling them all over the place, much like Eddie Bravo does with his Rubber Guard.
Basically I have been working on going to High Mount, then Pivoting to S-Mount and pulling my foot really tight into my opponents far arm pit with my lower arm. From there I have been going through this progression;
Ÿ Upright Near Arm Bar
Ÿ Far Figure 4 (to break grip for arm bar)
Ÿ Insert lower shin through arms (to break grip for arm bar)
Ÿ If grip wont break go to mounted triangle.
Ÿ From there go to upright arm bar if they don’t tap to the triangle.
I’ll get some pics of this up soon, and mention more about it as things come up in my rolls.
C ya
Anyways, I have also been playing with a new top game as well and been covering it in my Wednesday night Intermediate classes. I have been working off different options and submissions from S-Mount, I am playing with the name “Rubber Mount” at the moment for the game as I do a lot of grabbing my own feet and pulling them all over the place, much like Eddie Bravo does with his Rubber Guard.
Basically I have been working on going to High Mount, then Pivoting to S-Mount and pulling my foot really tight into my opponents far arm pit with my lower arm. From there I have been going through this progression;
Ÿ Upright Near Arm Bar
Ÿ Far Figure 4 (to break grip for arm bar)
Ÿ Insert lower shin through arms (to break grip for arm bar)
Ÿ If grip wont break go to mounted triangle.
Ÿ From there go to upright arm bar if they don’t tap to the triangle.
I’ll get some pics of this up soon, and mention more about it as things come up in my rolls.
C ya
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Triangle Graduation
After a fair bit of work over the last year (and no doubt aided by the fact that I am 22kg lighter and a lot more flexible) I have started to get a lot more triangles than in the past. I am confident to say that I am no longer a "Triangle Spastic", I am by no means an expert, but I am a lot more comfortable with them than I was. I think that it is mostly about tightening and finishing the triangle as I have always had a million ways to set them up, I just used set them up and arm bar everyone from the failed triangle. Another thing is that I have gained confidence to try them more often now as I am getting reasonably good at sweeping people by under-hooking their leg if they stack me when triangling them.
The flow on effect of this of course is that I am now getting a lot more Omoplatas as well, as the two tend to go hand in hand. Especially with the game I have recently been playing. This is to go for triangles and to use a reverse triangle to clamp down if the opponent turns away from their deltoid to avoid the choke, this either gives me a control grip to reset the triangle up with or goes straight to the Omoplata, either is cool.
Anyway I intend to get some vids of this stuff up here soon, I'll see what I can do.
ta ta
The flow on effect of this of course is that I am now getting a lot more Omoplatas as well, as the two tend to go hand in hand. Especially with the game I have recently been playing. This is to go for triangles and to use a reverse triangle to clamp down if the opponent turns away from their deltoid to avoid the choke, this either gives me a control grip to reset the triangle up with or goes straight to the Omoplata, either is cool.
Anyway I intend to get some vids of this stuff up here soon, I'll see what I can do.
ta ta
New Bells
As you will have no doubt read I have been using Bells for about 2 years now primarily since rehabing my major should reconstruction. I went from an 8kg bell to a 12kg bell and until recently have been using one 18kg bell (Ozbell), I have decided recently though that the time has come to move on.
So, I splashed out and bought some new bells the other day, very exciting times!
I have had the Blue 18kg bell on the far right for a while but had been thinking about getting a pair and was also thinking that I was ready to move up to a larger bell. So I figured I'd get a pair of bigger bells while I was at it. I got the 2 new 25kg bells (the black ones) and the new 18kg to match my existing one from Mike Patterson, my Osteo, who designs and makes Ozbells. Ozbells by the way are the best Kettlebells in the world, bar none. They come in 1 and 2 kg increments as well as some made from bronze in some really ornate designs.
Anyways I am finding lots of evil doing double clean and presses etc on the 25kg bells and am loving doing double rows as well. I recently purchased Mike Mahler's Beginner Kettlebell Workshop DVD which is great and also got with it Mike's Kettlebell ebook. They are both fantastic and worth having. I found most of Mike's ideas useful including ideas on Nutrition, Mike's ideas helped to form part of my nutritional plan that has allowed to lose 22kg over the last 5 months or so (116kg to 94kg approx).
I am have always been simple with bells, basically just doing swings, Cleans, Clean and Presses and Rows. I have started now to add in Windmills and Turkish Get ups all though I am only doing the last 2 with the 18kg bells as I still need to build a little more post operation stability in my shoulder, but I am getting there.
Anyway like I said, very exciting times!
So, I splashed out and bought some new bells the other day, very exciting times!
I have had the Blue 18kg bell on the far right for a while but had been thinking about getting a pair and was also thinking that I was ready to move up to a larger bell. So I figured I'd get a pair of bigger bells while I was at it. I got the 2 new 25kg bells (the black ones) and the new 18kg to match my existing one from Mike Patterson, my Osteo, who designs and makes Ozbells. Ozbells by the way are the best Kettlebells in the world, bar none. They come in 1 and 2 kg increments as well as some made from bronze in some really ornate designs.
Anyways I am finding lots of evil doing double clean and presses etc on the 25kg bells and am loving doing double rows as well. I recently purchased Mike Mahler's Beginner Kettlebell Workshop DVD which is great and also got with it Mike's Kettlebell ebook. They are both fantastic and worth having. I found most of Mike's ideas useful including ideas on Nutrition, Mike's ideas helped to form part of my nutritional plan that has allowed to lose 22kg over the last 5 months or so (116kg to 94kg approx).
I am have always been simple with bells, basically just doing swings, Cleans, Clean and Presses and Rows. I have started now to add in Windmills and Turkish Get ups all though I am only doing the last 2 with the 18kg bells as I still need to build a little more post operation stability in my shoulder, but I am getting there.
Anyway like I said, very exciting times!
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
High Octane Cardio
After reading an article by Mike Mahler recently on his concept of High Octane Cardio I decided to change up my workout a bit and see how it felt.
The basic gist of what Mike suggested was to perform some form of cardio exercise whether it be running, heavy bag work, skipping etc and intersperse short rounds of training with a high energy calisthenic or weights burst. One suggestion was to run laps of an oval with explosive sets of 10 clean and presses at half way intervals, another alternative would be to spar with the heavy bag for one minute rounds interspersed with clean and presses. So here is my experimental workout on this theme:
(note - all push ups are done on a down hill slope with push up handles)
Rounds 1-3:
1 minute of Alternating hand Tyre Chopping interspersed with 10 explosive push ups.
Rounds 4-6:
1 minute of alternating single hand Kettle Bell swings interspersed with 2 sets of 5 Horizontal KB Rows on each hand.
Rounds 7-8:
2 walking laps of my back yard (approx 30metres per lap) with KB in Rack position, once left once right, interspersed with 10 explosive pushups.
Round 9:
1 minute of Alternating Hand Tyre Chopping (adding in single hand swings) interspersed with 10 explosive squat and reaches holding the bell.
Round 10:
1 minute of Alternating Hand Tyre Chopping (adding in single hand swings) interspersed with 5 explosive KB Presses on each arm.
Rounds 11-12:
30 Bridging Crunches interspersed with 5 KB clean and Presses on each hand.
Round 13:
2 walking laps of the yard holding the hammer in the air at arms length (alternating arms) interspersed with 5 Horizontal Rope pull ups (feet touching the ground)
and finally (buggered by this point)...
Round 14:
2 walking laps of the yard holding the hammer in the air at arms length (alternating arms) interspersed with 10 explosive push ups to finish.
So, my opinion after doing that once? Crazy hard, I am definitely going to do more of it and possibly add some snatches or even burpees to the between cardio brackets for more evil. The whole thing took about 18 minutes and gave me a good over all feeling of tired, the kind that we like after training.
Thanks all, c ya.
The basic gist of what Mike suggested was to perform some form of cardio exercise whether it be running, heavy bag work, skipping etc and intersperse short rounds of training with a high energy calisthenic or weights burst. One suggestion was to run laps of an oval with explosive sets of 10 clean and presses at half way intervals, another alternative would be to spar with the heavy bag for one minute rounds interspersed with clean and presses. So here is my experimental workout on this theme:
(note - all push ups are done on a down hill slope with push up handles)
Rounds 1-3:
1 minute of Alternating hand Tyre Chopping interspersed with 10 explosive push ups.
Rounds 4-6:
1 minute of alternating single hand Kettle Bell swings interspersed with 2 sets of 5 Horizontal KB Rows on each hand.
Rounds 7-8:
2 walking laps of my back yard (approx 30metres per lap) with KB in Rack position, once left once right, interspersed with 10 explosive pushups.
Round 9:
1 minute of Alternating Hand Tyre Chopping (adding in single hand swings) interspersed with 10 explosive squat and reaches holding the bell.
Round 10:
1 minute of Alternating Hand Tyre Chopping (adding in single hand swings) interspersed with 5 explosive KB Presses on each arm.
Rounds 11-12:
30 Bridging Crunches interspersed with 5 KB clean and Presses on each hand.
Round 13:
2 walking laps of the yard holding the hammer in the air at arms length (alternating arms) interspersed with 5 Horizontal Rope pull ups (feet touching the ground)
and finally (buggered by this point)...
Round 14:
2 walking laps of the yard holding the hammer in the air at arms length (alternating arms) interspersed with 10 explosive push ups to finish.
So, my opinion after doing that once? Crazy hard, I am definitely going to do more of it and possibly add some snatches or even burpees to the between cardio brackets for more evil. The whole thing took about 18 minutes and gave me a good over all feeling of tired, the kind that we like after training.
Thanks all, c ya.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
A few variants to my workout.
After a typical easter of over doing it on the Easter Egg and Hot Cross Bun front I did a workout with my bro to try and counter act a bit of the fat we had no doubt put on. Being that it was about 90% humidity and bloody hot we didn't go for the full routine though just did 2 rounds of our normal tyre chopping/pushup sparring combos but did some different endings for each round, that I though were worth a mention.
Warm up:
10 KB Clean and Presses on each hand
Round 1:
Normal Tyre chopping/Pushup Sparring combo
One person did 4 laps running up and down the 15 steps at the back of my house with the KB at chest height, while the other did a ladder of 5 chin ups (or at least tried...), then alternate.
Round 1:
Normal Tyre chopping/Pushup Sparring combo
One person did 10 reps of squatting down and explosively picking up the KB and putting it on top of my Greenhouse (head height) while the other did as many Bridging Crunches as possible in the time it takes for your partner to finish (I did 51), then alternate.
Cool Down:
10 KB swings on each hand.
Only a small set, but the variable exercises were quite fun and have got me enthused in trying to think of more explosive elements to intersperse in my Cardio, much like Mike Mahler talks about as High Octane Cardio, but more on that when I get there.
Anyway gotta go, catch ya.
Warm up:
10 KB Clean and Presses on each hand
Round 1:
Normal Tyre chopping/Pushup Sparring combo
One person did 4 laps running up and down the 15 steps at the back of my house with the KB at chest height, while the other did a ladder of 5 chin ups (or at least tried...), then alternate.
Round 1:
Normal Tyre chopping/Pushup Sparring combo
One person did 10 reps of squatting down and explosively picking up the KB and putting it on top of my Greenhouse (head height) while the other did as many Bridging Crunches as possible in the time it takes for your partner to finish (I did 51), then alternate.
Cool Down:
10 KB swings on each hand.
Only a small set, but the variable exercises were quite fun and have got me enthused in trying to think of more explosive elements to intersperse in my Cardio, much like Mike Mahler talks about as High Octane Cardio, but more on that when I get there.
Anyway gotta go, catch ya.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Mat developments and Easter
Recently I have been discussing my strength and conditioning training as much as my BJJ training, so today I figured I'd write more about my grappling and only a little on the other.
I will quickly cover off on the workout I have been doing recently just for fun though, I have been doing 3 rounds, with a total time of about 15 minutes.
Round 1
Push Up ladder from 10 - 1 with a set of 10 crunches between each rung of the ladder.
Round 2
2 sets of 10 Clean and Presses on each hand (18kg kettle bell)
Round 3
Squat Ladder from 10 - 1 (holding the Bell at chest height) with 2 Hindu Push ups between each rung.
It is a quick workout but is very intense, my quads certainly let me know after I have finished...
Onto grappling, there are a couple of things that I have been working on recently. One is as always, triangles, I am constantly trying to improve my triangle game, as it is probably the weakest part of my guard. I have been playing recently with the idea of a "triangle guard" essentially closing my guard with one of my opponents arms trapped in side, making sure I am clamping the upper arm to the body. I have found that this midway position allows me to use both arms to break down the opponents posture and hold it down. Then it is a fairly small movement to scoot my hip out and a bit and setup a triangle rather than trying to clear the opponents arm and setup the triangle all at once. I had found that doing it all at once tended to give my opponent time to escape. The other good thing is that I have found that most traditional triangle setups can be used to setup the "triangle guard", so it is fairly easy to find.
The other aspect of my game that I am using a bit more is X-Guard, to be perfectly honest when I learned X-Guard I didn't think it was something that I would use a lot, but as it turns out the half guard hooking sweep that I mentioned in my previous post tends to turn into X-Guard quite readily. The reason is that I have found that the only may people are countering the hooks sweep is by moving to the opposite side of my body from my hook and effecting an explosive pass. After being passed a few times I discovered that this movement actually gave me an opening to put my inside leg into it's position for X-Guard. I already had an underhook on their leg for the sweep and my outside hook was already in so one small adjustment gives me X-Guard. Once I get X-Guard I try to sweep immediately, the sweep I go for first is to grab the opponents other foot with my free hand and drive my hooks into the knee, this is essentially the same as the first X-Guard sweep that Eddie Bravo shows in Jiu-Jitsu Unleashed. The next step if that sweep fails is usually that my opponent will reach for a cross face with their near arm. I have found that I can claim that arm and use their motion to do a back roll and sweep them over my shoulder.
Anyway that is basically all that I have been adding to my game recently except of course for Omoplata from mount which I learned from John Will in the recent seminar we hosted. The other great Omoplata trick that John showed us that is your opponent rolls out of your omoplata, that you should keep their arm by cupping their elbow, this allows you to move to the opposite side of their body and pull them into a tighter omoplata, I have been getting a lot of mileage out of that as well. I believe that there is a video of that very move on Aesopian's blog if you are interested.
Anyway gotta go, Easter things to do, have a good holiday.
I will quickly cover off on the workout I have been doing recently just for fun though, I have been doing 3 rounds, with a total time of about 15 minutes.
Round 1
Push Up ladder from 10 - 1 with a set of 10 crunches between each rung of the ladder.
Round 2
2 sets of 10 Clean and Presses on each hand (18kg kettle bell)
Round 3
Squat Ladder from 10 - 1 (holding the Bell at chest height) with 2 Hindu Push ups between each rung.
It is a quick workout but is very intense, my quads certainly let me know after I have finished...
Onto grappling, there are a couple of things that I have been working on recently. One is as always, triangles, I am constantly trying to improve my triangle game, as it is probably the weakest part of my guard. I have been playing recently with the idea of a "triangle guard" essentially closing my guard with one of my opponents arms trapped in side, making sure I am clamping the upper arm to the body. I have found that this midway position allows me to use both arms to break down the opponents posture and hold it down. Then it is a fairly small movement to scoot my hip out and a bit and setup a triangle rather than trying to clear the opponents arm and setup the triangle all at once. I had found that doing it all at once tended to give my opponent time to escape. The other good thing is that I have found that most traditional triangle setups can be used to setup the "triangle guard", so it is fairly easy to find.
The other aspect of my game that I am using a bit more is X-Guard, to be perfectly honest when I learned X-Guard I didn't think it was something that I would use a lot, but as it turns out the half guard hooking sweep that I mentioned in my previous post tends to turn into X-Guard quite readily. The reason is that I have found that the only may people are countering the hooks sweep is by moving to the opposite side of my body from my hook and effecting an explosive pass. After being passed a few times I discovered that this movement actually gave me an opening to put my inside leg into it's position for X-Guard. I already had an underhook on their leg for the sweep and my outside hook was already in so one small adjustment gives me X-Guard. Once I get X-Guard I try to sweep immediately, the sweep I go for first is to grab the opponents other foot with my free hand and drive my hooks into the knee, this is essentially the same as the first X-Guard sweep that Eddie Bravo shows in Jiu-Jitsu Unleashed. The next step if that sweep fails is usually that my opponent will reach for a cross face with their near arm. I have found that I can claim that arm and use their motion to do a back roll and sweep them over my shoulder.
Anyway that is basically all that I have been adding to my game recently except of course for Omoplata from mount which I learned from John Will in the recent seminar we hosted. The other great Omoplata trick that John showed us that is your opponent rolls out of your omoplata, that you should keep their arm by cupping their elbow, this allows you to move to the opposite side of their body and pull them into a tighter omoplata, I have been getting a lot of mileage out of that as well. I believe that there is a video of that very move on Aesopian's blog if you are interested.
Anyway gotta go, Easter things to do, have a good holiday.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Half/Hooks Guard and Butterfly Arm Drag
Hey All, sorry no post for a while, this whole being a new Dad thing is busier than I expected (lol), but I have still been able to roll a few times at least. A couple of things of note have happened on the mat recently, I'll mention both, but the thing with both of these techniques is that while I have been off the mat spending time in the hospital with my wife and young Paddy I have been doing moves in my head which I can't ever seem to stop doing. Anyway it is always nice to get on the mat and actually try them out, in this case I have had success with both, so here we go.
Half/Hooks Guard
I can't claim credit for making this up or anything, I was originally taught it by my coach John Will in a private lesson with him a few years ago. I have had success with it but haven't used it much as I very rarely get into the spot to do it. As well as learning from John I also found this great vid of it on Aesopian's Blog, I have put the link below, so you can check it out. Click here for vids
Anyways on the mat the other night we were running a set of drills essentially designed to encourage a person in guard to prevent their opponent from closing their guard once it was opened. One of the drills involved the person on top trying to maintain top position while preventing the person on the bottom from either pulling guard or sweeping. I found that I was able to use the concepts of getting one hook in to either get to full guard or use the sweep on the video's on basically any opponent regardless of size. I am just glad I had that running through my head before the half guard session. A small note I also found that I could get the same sweep even without the overhook, I simply started to sweep and when they posted with their free arm I brushed my arm to my head to take their post away. This had the added bonus of giving me the underhook once I had completed the sweep. I think the main key to making that series of movements work is to keep the elbow that isn't overhooking tight to your hip to block their knee from getting close to your body and also to interrupt their hips.
Butterfly Arm Drag
This one I would like to say I invented, in as much as anyone can claim they invented a technique, I mean I certainly didn't invent butterfly sweep and I didn't invent Arm Drags so all I can really claim is that I figured it out my self. Anyways I am a big fan of butterfly sweep (not hooks in sweep or elevator sweep as they call it in the UFC), I am talking about sweeping from the guard with your shins in your opponents biceps while controlling their wrists with your hands. This is one of my strongest sweeps, I take one shin across the belly and reach the same side hand down to their ankle, I then pull them with my shin towards the arm I am controlling and lift the ankle to take them over, normally to knee ride. I find that I can get that sweep on most people, but some people have been countering it recently by sitting back against the pull on their arm. So I figured that I could arm drag them by bailing on the ankle grip and reaching across so that both hands grabbed their sleeve. Then as they are resisting I simply kick my leg straight and pull their wrist with both hands giving me an arm drag, leading to all the good things that arm drags lead to. Anyways I thought of it and then tried it a few times on the mat and had pretty good success with it. I'll try to get some pics up here of the technique if I can.
Half/Hooks Guard
I can't claim credit for making this up or anything, I was originally taught it by my coach John Will in a private lesson with him a few years ago. I have had success with it but haven't used it much as I very rarely get into the spot to do it. As well as learning from John I also found this great vid of it on Aesopian's Blog, I have put the link below, so you can check it out. Click here for vids
Anyways on the mat the other night we were running a set of drills essentially designed to encourage a person in guard to prevent their opponent from closing their guard once it was opened. One of the drills involved the person on top trying to maintain top position while preventing the person on the bottom from either pulling guard or sweeping. I found that I was able to use the concepts of getting one hook in to either get to full guard or use the sweep on the video's on basically any opponent regardless of size. I am just glad I had that running through my head before the half guard session. A small note I also found that I could get the same sweep even without the overhook, I simply started to sweep and when they posted with their free arm I brushed my arm to my head to take their post away. This had the added bonus of giving me the underhook once I had completed the sweep. I think the main key to making that series of movements work is to keep the elbow that isn't overhooking tight to your hip to block their knee from getting close to your body and also to interrupt their hips.
Butterfly Arm Drag
This one I would like to say I invented, in as much as anyone can claim they invented a technique, I mean I certainly didn't invent butterfly sweep and I didn't invent Arm Drags so all I can really claim is that I figured it out my self. Anyways I am a big fan of butterfly sweep (not hooks in sweep or elevator sweep as they call it in the UFC), I am talking about sweeping from the guard with your shins in your opponents biceps while controlling their wrists with your hands. This is one of my strongest sweeps, I take one shin across the belly and reach the same side hand down to their ankle, I then pull them with my shin towards the arm I am controlling and lift the ankle to take them over, normally to knee ride. I find that I can get that sweep on most people, but some people have been countering it recently by sitting back against the pull on their arm. So I figured that I could arm drag them by bailing on the ankle grip and reaching across so that both hands grabbed their sleeve. Then as they are resisting I simply kick my leg straight and pull their wrist with both hands giving me an arm drag, leading to all the good things that arm drags lead to. Anyways I thought of it and then tried it a few times on the mat and had pretty good success with it. I'll try to get some pics up here of the technique if I can.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
John B Will Seminar Feb 2008
On Thursday Feb 2008 we were privileged to have have John Will, a 3rd degree Black belt and the Head of BJJ Australia. John took us through a seminar on advanced Omoplata setups and drills. It was an extremely good session and was I think just what I needed as the drills where beneficial not only from a submission point of view, but also from a transition and control point of view as well.
I also asked John for some advice on Brabo Chokes and he gave me some good pointers; essentially he said, make sure you sprawl onto the back of your opponents arm and drive it into the neck (not the chest or face) and if needs be use your lower knee to keep his arm from between his legs. He also said to make sure that the bottom arm is through as far as possible and that you squeeze the head back in towards you as you bring your elbows together.
Here is a pic from after the seminar.
And here is John offering his thoughts on my brabo choke question.
I also asked John for some advice on Brabo Chokes and he gave me some good pointers; essentially he said, make sure you sprawl onto the back of your opponents arm and drive it into the neck (not the chest or face) and if needs be use your lower knee to keep his arm from between his legs. He also said to make sure that the bottom arm is through as far as possible and that you squeeze the head back in towards you as you bring your elbows together.
Here is a pic from after the seminar.
And here is John offering his thoughts on my brabo choke question.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Endurance Training
Hi All, I haven't done any training in the last few days... but if you ever want to see what kind of stamina you have, attend the hospital with your wife/partner for labour and birth, I know a bazillion people have done this before me, but I am almost unable to describe how great/hard/emotional/draining/happy/terrifying/exciting the whole thing was. I don't think that I am really finding the first 24 hours afterwards much easier, but at least there are three in the team now not 2!
Here are some pics...
For those that are keen let me know, there are some pics of the Patrick's head poking out of mana's tummy during the ceasar, but only if you can take a kind of gross pic (amazing shots though).
Thanks love to all.
Here are some pics...
For those that are keen let me know, there are some pics of the Patrick's head poking out of mana's tummy during the ceasar, but only if you can take a kind of gross pic (amazing shots though).
Thanks love to all.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Current Progress and a new exercise
I don't have a great deal to add to the blog today in regards to exercises except that I have had a go at putting my gi over my chin up bar so that I can do "choke-ups" basically training the lats and my grip strength by doing a cross lapel choke as a pull up. It is pretty bizarre as the muscle groups that I am using aren't the same as the ones that I usually use for pull ups, plus I am not used to having tired hands and wrists from pull ups as I normally drape my hand over the bar rather that squeezing it tight. The other odd thing about this exercise is that there is nothing to stop you from spinning as you pull yourself up, it made it heaps of fun as I swung round in circles.
I have been trying to variations of this exercise, one is to do short quick reps so that I can get used to "hitting the choke" quickly and deeply. The other is to do a full pull up and then maintain the tension for a slow count to ten to replicate holding a choke on an opponent who doesn't like tapping.
I intend to play with ways to do a similar exercise to train a "No-Gi" choke, but I haven't found an effective one yet, short of grabbing my brother and choking him that is...
On a personal progress note, I am now down to 99kg which is a drop of 17kg since I started really concentrating on nutrition and harder exercise in November. I still have about 13kg to go to get me down to 86kg ("ish") which is roughly where I want to be. It will be weird to wrestle people who aren't lighter than me anymore, but hopefully my ever increasing mobility will make up for the lack of crush in my game.
Training was funny last night, we were doing various chokes and due to the heat when we demonstrated cross lapel choke I almost went out during both demos and saw plenty of stars before I tapped, bring on autumn...
I have been trying to variations of this exercise, one is to do short quick reps so that I can get used to "hitting the choke" quickly and deeply. The other is to do a full pull up and then maintain the tension for a slow count to ten to replicate holding a choke on an opponent who doesn't like tapping.
I intend to play with ways to do a similar exercise to train a "No-Gi" choke, but I haven't found an effective one yet, short of grabbing my brother and choking him that is...
On a personal progress note, I am now down to 99kg which is a drop of 17kg since I started really concentrating on nutrition and harder exercise in November. I still have about 13kg to go to get me down to 86kg ("ish") which is roughly where I want to be. It will be weird to wrestle people who aren't lighter than me anymore, but hopefully my ever increasing mobility will make up for the lack of crush in my game.
Training was funny last night, we were doing various chokes and due to the heat when we demonstrated cross lapel choke I almost went out during both demos and saw plenty of stars before I tapped, bring on autumn...
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Workouts and Brabos
Well first things first, we are still waiting on our baby to be born, at this stage we are 4 days over due and have another appointment with doc tomorrow morning at 9.00am. We are both a little over the waiting and think that anytime now would be fine...
In training news, we went through a series of chokes on Thursday night to try and expose everyone to a wide variety of positions and options, including Rear Naked, Head/Arm and cross lapel. We also touched on Brabo Choke (and proved that we are basically all crap at it, although I did nearly go out when it was being demonstrated on me at one point). It is interesting to play with this choke as it fits in nicely to the Head/Arm family (head/arm, anaconda, triangle, brabo etc) and they all share a lot of the same angle requirements as each other etc. After realising how poor my efforts at this choke were i trawled the net for instructionals and came up with this beauty http://brazilianjiujitsu.blog.de/2007/03/11/bjj_brabo_choke_instructional~1886105 well worth a look I highly recommend them and think that the delivery is hilarious, "brabo choke is coming...".
Anyways after watching those clips and some of Rick Estrada (from Subfighter.com) I tried it out on my brother when he came round for our workout and I think I have got the angle figured now, interestingly enough it seems to work substantially better if you don't sprawl.
Now, on to the workout...
I have been changing my workout a bit recently and have hit onto a them that I like. Essentially I am combining cardio and strength based training and trying to make it fight compatible. At the moment I am doing 3 rounds which consist of a standard part and a variable part.
The standard part is the same everytime, 2 minutes of tyre chopping with a sledgehammer and truck tyre and 2 minutes of pushup sparring (8-10 strikes in combos on the heavy bag, then 3 pushups... repeat).
Todays variables were as follows:
Round 1:
10 Kettle bell clean and presses on each hand.
10 Kettle bell squats
As many Chinups as possible (3... I was stuffed)
Round 2:
1 minute of plank work (holding my body straight on my elbows and feet)
10 Kettle bell squats
3 sets of 5 Kettle bell vertical rows
As many Chinups as possible (3... I was more stuffed)
Round 3:
1 minutes of hammer balancing (half each arm)
10 "greyskulls" (hold the hammer in front like excalibur and push to the sky)
20 Single hand Kettle bell swings on each hand.
As many Chinups as possible (2... I was done...)
That was the day, pretty worn out at the end, but after about 4 sessions of that I think it is time to increase the length of each stint, I reckon 2.5-3 minutes on the tyre and heavy bag stations will be the goal next time. Anyway I'll let you know how that goes and do my best to find a few brabos at training.
In training news, we went through a series of chokes on Thursday night to try and expose everyone to a wide variety of positions and options, including Rear Naked, Head/Arm and cross lapel. We also touched on Brabo Choke (and proved that we are basically all crap at it, although I did nearly go out when it was being demonstrated on me at one point). It is interesting to play with this choke as it fits in nicely to the Head/Arm family (head/arm, anaconda, triangle, brabo etc) and they all share a lot of the same angle requirements as each other etc. After realising how poor my efforts at this choke were i trawled the net for instructionals and came up with this beauty http://brazilianjiujitsu.blog.de/2007/03/11/bjj_brabo_choke_instructional~1886105 well worth a look I highly recommend them and think that the delivery is hilarious, "brabo choke is coming...".
Anyways after watching those clips and some of Rick Estrada (from Subfighter.com) I tried it out on my brother when he came round for our workout and I think I have got the angle figured now, interestingly enough it seems to work substantially better if you don't sprawl.
Now, on to the workout...
I have been changing my workout a bit recently and have hit onto a them that I like. Essentially I am combining cardio and strength based training and trying to make it fight compatible. At the moment I am doing 3 rounds which consist of a standard part and a variable part.
The standard part is the same everytime, 2 minutes of tyre chopping with a sledgehammer and truck tyre and 2 minutes of pushup sparring (8-10 strikes in combos on the heavy bag, then 3 pushups... repeat).
Todays variables were as follows:
Round 1:
10 Kettle bell clean and presses on each hand.
10 Kettle bell squats
As many Chinups as possible (3... I was stuffed)
Round 2:
1 minute of plank work (holding my body straight on my elbows and feet)
10 Kettle bell squats
3 sets of 5 Kettle bell vertical rows
As many Chinups as possible (3... I was more stuffed)
Round 3:
1 minutes of hammer balancing (half each arm)
10 "greyskulls" (hold the hammer in front like excalibur and push to the sky)
20 Single hand Kettle bell swings on each hand.
As many Chinups as possible (2... I was done...)
That was the day, pretty worn out at the end, but after about 4 sessions of that I think it is time to increase the length of each stint, I reckon 2.5-3 minutes on the tyre and heavy bag stations will be the goal next time. Anyway I'll let you know how that goes and do my best to find a few brabos at training.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
northern guests
Last night we had a good training session and enjoyed the company of Jim, Jesse and Bill Reid on the mat. Typically Jim beat us all up, but Jesse and Bill gave us all a run as well. Jim is preparing to head over to the States to compete in the up and coming and Mundials so is getting as much mat time in as possible.
Jim gave us all a few good points on a triangle setup and also on details for finishing the triangle. Essentially if your opponent stacks you up, immediately under hook their leg to prevent being slammed and to create a sweep. As for the actual choke, use small "crunches" to get position and tighten the choke up.
Connor and I also discussed doing shin blocks from half guard to pull back to full guard or at least hooks or butterfly guard. I suspect that butterfly guard is a better option for me as I am stronger with butterfly sweeps than I am with hooks and it is also relatively easy for me to go to a pendulum setup from there which also works relatively well for me.
Anyway I am off, our baby is due tomorrow, although it isn't necessarily coming tomorrow, but we'll see.
Jim gave us all a few good points on a triangle setup and also on details for finishing the triangle. Essentially if your opponent stacks you up, immediately under hook their leg to prevent being slammed and to create a sweep. As for the actual choke, use small "crunches" to get position and tighten the choke up.
Connor and I also discussed doing shin blocks from half guard to pull back to full guard or at least hooks or butterfly guard. I suspect that butterfly guard is a better option for me as I am stronger with butterfly sweeps than I am with hooks and it is also relatively easy for me to go to a pendulum setup from there which also works relatively well for me.
Anyway I am off, our baby is due tomorrow, although it isn't necessarily coming tomorrow, but we'll see.
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