Coaching: Mr Quite now Mr Armbar

Had a really small group yesterday. Only four youngsters. So I asked them what they wanted to work on submissions or positions (yeah, they picked submissions). So I started showing the arm bar to omaplata to triangle to armbar drill. It didn't go down well at all. So decided we'll focus on armbar from guard, and that’s what we did, again and again. Machida didn't enjoy this and his long arms were really long levers for Mr Quite (now Mr Armbar) to clamp on some impressive (gruesome to view) armbars. Sparring also started right here. This allowed each of the young guns to field test what they'd drill against full on resistance.

Warm up: Rolling forward, backward, one Ginastica exercise

Technique: 1. Armbar from closed guard in detail. Drilled around 25 reps each, with tweaking every 5 reps.

Sparring: Starting position in closed guard, two on one grips, with legs locked over one shoulder (trapping arm and head). First to submit or a gain a Point scoring position wins. Every restart swap around.

Lesson I learned: Every lesson doesn't need to be high intensity or break neck speeds. Sometimes good old fashion drilling session followed by a very specific positional sparring session goes down very nicely indeed.

New rule instated: Those who came late and didn't put the mats out, they can put them away.

Register for a competition, then to prepare well’

'A truer test of my Brazilian Ju-Jitsu is to register for a competition, then to prepare well’.

On the day I’ll come in on weight, face my opponent across the mat, heart racing, nerves rattling, mind blank of any game plans or techniques and just scrap with every intention to submit them and none to cause them damage. When it's over, regardless of the results on the day I’ll walk away with a smile knowing I prepared well and left it all on the mat.

- Badshah (just a regular guy who enjoys BJJ)

Fitting short bouts of intense exercise into a busy lifestyle

Packed my sauna suit and skipping rope into my pannier bag this morning. Soon as I finished work, I got changed into my sauna suit and set up the interval timer on my android phone and had a 20min session in the work car park.

5 secound sprints followed by 30sec slow and steady. Rinse and repeat.

I was drenched in sweat by time I was half way through. Cycled home as my cool down. Next time I intend to add ankle weights to the mix.

Taking the back from half guard

In today's no-gi class I covered how to get to half guard from being in the opponents side control, then rapidly taking the back. Key points were the deep under hook, ear placed on the shoulder just were it meets the pec muscle and posting with the other arm then launching the opponent forward as the head slips under the armpit.

Then loads of sparring from here with submissions.

Best No-Gi Class I've taught to date.

Yesterday I was shattered, I walk out of Dalston Kingsland Station with idiosyncrasies similar to the Dustin Hoffman from Rain Man. I just couldn't focus. I down a mighty malt and two fresh figs. No lesson plan, no motivation, and mentally fatigued. But this ends up being the best session so far.

Warm up: Rolling forward, backward, tornado rolls

Drill: No-gi 101 drill (love this drill, and keep coming back to it)

Technique: 1. Kimora attack after peeling elbow during guard pass 2.Triangle attack from last set up

Sparring: x3 pairs on mats, winner stays on (positional, starting from closed guard) First to improve position which would score points in a comp gets you a win. I.e taking side, mount, back, sweep etc

submissions added 15 minutes in.

If I saw a key error, I'd cover very quickly what went wrong in a one to one then have them join back of que. This worked really well.

Quick Group Q&A (5min): How do I sweep from guard ? I demo the scissor sweep (adapted for no-gi)

Cool Down & Stretch (10-15min): Walking with focus on breath work to lower heart rate. Stretches focusing on groin, ham strings and calves.

Stacking functions, food, clothing, repping CGM.

Coach gave me an AWESOME gift a while back. One of the first black FaixaRua gi's. This is a double weight weave beast of a gi, and by the time we get to sparring feels like rolling in a weighted vest. But I love it. Only down side is the tad bit of extra space it takes up in the gym bag, which is a pain when your squeezing in work laptop, training gear, on average three packed meals, so today was jeans for Genes day, I rocked the gi pants, which may as well be denim, thobe, gi jacket as a blazer. Just made sense, don't worry I had an over jacket on during journey on bus. But having the gi hanging off my work chair repping the firm, it's hardcore. Oh well.

Online scoring & timer

As I was going through the blogs I'm subscribed to I found this http://www.undocumented-feature.com/bjjscoreboard/bjjscoreboard.html

created by Jamal @ http://www.riodejamalgo.com/

A free online timer and scoreboard. Hope it'll come in handy for some.

No Gi Scoring

When I first started I had no idea how the points system worked in Gi & No Gi BJJ competitions.

I found these video's below to be a huge help.

Damaged ring finger from BJJ

Novice Weight Lifting @ UEL Startford

Had my first novice weight lifting session at Stratford UEL (University of East London). Worked on getting my technique for the snatch and clean element of the clean and jerk. Who would have thought working with a broom stick and empty bar would have me sweating and tired within thirty minutes.

Click here for UEL's weight lifting info

BJJ in Stratford E15

http://www.carlsongraciemataleao.com/index.php

Attempting accelerated BJJ learning - part 2 - Side Control

For March I'll be focusing on the side control/ cross body position

Thoughts on UFC 127 Nick Ring vs Riki Fukuda

Spoiler Alert:  Results for this event will be discussed, so watch it before reading below

Prelims


 Nick Ring vs.  Riki Fukuda


Ring wins via what can only be called a unanimous robbery. Fukuda dominated the fight and in my opinion won all three rounds. The judges displayed below.

Popping bones back into their place.

Five years ago while cycling to work I was hit by a van. after being x-rayed and given a prescription for pain killers I was released from hospital. When the swelling in my shoulder area had subsided I noticed my collar bone being out of place. I went to see a physiotherapist who recommended massage as a means of pain relief but stated surgery would be needed to correct the problem. I wasn't happy with the answer and decided to visit a chiropractor/ osteopath (can't remember which). 

At my first visit he examined my shoulder and collar bone. After some vigorous massage he just popped the displaced bone back into place. I was in awe at the instant non invasive cure. 

While rolling with larger guys, especially being stacked, I've had my ribs/ spinal vertebrae displaced at least on three occasions. 

The man I visited who worked his magic is Torben Herborg, located at the Central London Osteopathy and Sports Injury Clinics. 

Torben is a black belt Judoka, so he understands the vigour's of combat sport. Next time something feels out of place book a session with him.

Attempting accelerated BJJ learning

Nothing can substitute mat time, but doing the same things over and over again will not take me to the next level. It's not practice which makes perfect, but perfect practice which makes the technique perfect.

Four of us (guys I roll with) have intended to watch one section of Saulo Ribeiro Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Revolution Series One

After watching the section we'll practice what has been mentioned, the whole month. While comparing and learning from each others experience. Four people viewing and attempting the same methods should give us four different view points and experiences. During the month we'll re watch the same section.

This month (Feb 2011) we will study the The Mount position.