» Grappling and Ju-Jitsu »

Last night at no-gi jiu-jitsu training, we went over the popular flower sweep. This can be done with or without the gi, obviously last night we did it without. Here is a video version of the sweep.

I’m gonna go over his head, grab his neck. This hand is gonna go under and between his legs and I kinda want to get side. Right here, boom, and I’m rolling him up on that leg to the sky. Alright. We’ll do that at a different angle so you can see it. Over, up, this hand goes under between his legs. I’m using the momentum to kick this leg as far as I can over. Kick forward, and using that to come up on top. I’m really heavy. The whole thing with sweeps are that submissions are right there and I usually end up in a more comfortable position for myself.

From my class, here are the key points to remember.

Flower Sweep

1. Since I have longer legs, I need to create some distance first to get my foot on his hip. I typically would have right hand head control, and left hand wrist control. I maintain my grip on his head and wrist, but you my hips and legs to push him back a little. I can also bait him into creating the space for me by being heavy on his head so he postures up hard.
2. Once I get my left foot on his hip, I want to pressure his shoulder and arm with my left leg. Keep him close and tight.
3. I then shoot my right arm under his thigh like a dagger. Make your hand small.
4. I turn my body to be a 45 degree angle and drive and turn my right leg across his shoulder blade.
5. From here I drive and hip up with my right leg, and lift with my hand under his thigh to sweep.

Flower Sweep setup to Armbar

1. Follow steps 1-4 with the sweep, but instead of driving forward, if they don’t protect their arm, swing my left leg over their head.
2. I can do 1 of two things. If they don’t defend or protect their arm, I take the hand out from underneath their leg, and put it on his elbow and go for the armbar.
3. If they do defend, I can still sweep from here, and you end up in the armbar position.
4. Fall at a 45 degree angle towards their head to break the grip, then finish the armbar.

Flower Sweep to Omoplata

1. Follow steps 1-4 for the flower sweep
2. When you get to the flower sweep position, they pull their arm out (the one you would attack for an armbar, and leave the other arm behind.
3. From here, you would attack omoplata. Click here for some Omoplata videos for reference

More Flower Sweep videos

from Grapplers Guide or Jason Scully - Amazing resource.

This is a video of the basic flower sweep done without the gi on. The biggest point is how you go about trapping your opponent’s arm when establishing the sweeping position

What I really like about this video is the simple little armdrag to setup with sweeping position.

Flower Sweep to Omoplata Sweep

Here’s a video showing the transition to the Omoplata at about 1 minute in. We did this in class, yet finished the armbar instead of going for the Omoplata sweep. We’ve trained the sweep from the Omoplata position before, and it works sporadically.

Closing the distance in an MMA or street fight is a vital skill for a grappling martial artist. If you are dealing with a good striker in a mixed martial arts fight, and you need to bring them into your world, you need to train to close the distance. If you are a bouncer or fight yourself in a street fight scenario, training to closing the distance is necessary to keep from getting hit and quickly ending the fight. These concepts and training methods will teach you how to close the distance in MMA or any street fight scenario. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a post from www.aespoian.com - one of the best grappling and jiu-jitsu blogs! As I continue to play and learn half guard from a beginners perspective, I found this post and video very useful. Like I said, from a beginners perspective, getting underneath in half guard has been the only way I feel like I can be offensive, rather then defensive.

Getting underneath in Half Guard

Hip movements for going underneath: backroll, swinging and pendulum.

Try drilling the leg and hip movements solo and with a partner to get a feel for them. You’ll find that when they resist one direction, they usually leave themselves open to the other.

I had a private lesson again with Luigi last night. It was a great lesson, we reviewed some of my problem areas in seated or butterfly guard. When I just have one hook or one foot on my opponent and I’m seated, I have been getting passed very easily. One of the key points was to keep my foot as a hook in the crook of his knee. In my best Brazilian accent - “Monkey Paws, not pudding foot”.

I was having a tendency to put my foot just on the hip, which allowed my opponent to move around and pass very easily. Just putting my foot in the crook, changed a lot of things. I played with this later during a great rolling session and I instantly felt improvement.

Read the rest of this entry »

Many of heard you praise The GrapplerGuide.com and Jason Scully. This is an article that I really liked by him. Check out his site for more amazing articles and videos.

21 Tips to Improve Your Grappling Game

By: Jason Scully  
Goal oriented training Have a specific technique or area of focus for each rolling session. For example, I will come into training thinking "Today I am going to work on passing the butterfly guard". You may even want to let your training partners know this and start in those positions.
Consistent Training
Make BJJ a priority in your life, training 3-5 times a week EVERY week. It’s no coincidence that the best guys in class also have the best attendance.
Set a schedule for yourself and don’t let anything that isn’t really major interrupt it. Some guys get good really quick, but the best guys have all put in countless hours to get there. You will never see your game improve as fast as it should if you are missing classes or weeks of training.
Read the rest of this entry »

Drilling is one of the best things you can to do improve your grappling game. There are even some great solor drills you can do with a stability ball, or even just rolling around on the mat. Here are some of my favorite grappling drills videos Read the rest of this entry »

I am sure you have heard me mention the name Luigi Mondelli 8 million times over the past few months. He is an American Top Team 2nd degree black belt, and one of the most technical and nicest Super Heavyweight BJJ champions in the world. He is a 4x PanAm Champion as well as an accomplished instructor at Best Way Jiu-Jitsu in Connecticut.

Luigi will be competing in the BJJ World Championships in the beginning of June. The tournament will take place on June 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th in California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California, USA. The World Jiu-Jitsu Championship 2008 will be organized by the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation.

This is the official, biggest and most prestigious championship in the world. Athletes from all over the world compete in this event. In the last edition over 1,000 fighters signed up to fight in the Worlds.

The worldwide media coverage is ample. Magazines such as Gracie Magazine, Tatame, Martial Arts World, Ultimate Grappling and others are always present as well as sports channels (ESPN, SporTV, Premiere Combat/Brazil and others ).

Luigi is coming off of a big win at the Pan-American Championship recently and is poised to do very well at the Worlds. He is looking to raise some money to help him get there and compete.

Expenses:
Air Fare: US$ $412 + $28 taxes & fees = $440 per person
Lodging US$ 285.00
Car Rental: US$ 88.00 + US$ 60.00 insurance = US$ 148.00
Registration Fee: US$ 105.00
Total: US $890.00

I would take it as a personal favor and Luigi would be very thankful if some of you would be willing to throw in a some cash to help Luigi get there. If you are looking for something in return, such as a link to your website, a blog post, etc. Let me know.

Thank you, and I appreciate it!
Please use the donation button to send a sponsorship donation directly to Luigi.

The second part of the long distance and deep half guard videos.

Pass prevention: scissors, hugging, stacking and reverse scarf (Marcelo) pass counters. Backroll sweep.

Private Lesson with Luigi - Gi Jiu-Jitsu Training:

Last night I had a private lesson with Luigi Mondelli from American Top Team, then attended his No-Gi class after. I have been to his no-gi class before, and its an amazing experience. All of his class and students have an amazing attitude and all are extremely friendly and helpful. It’s a great learning environment. One thing I noticed (which I failed to do) was that once someone entered the mat, they walked around to everyone shaking their hands and saying hello. I thought this was a great way to start the class and get to know your fellow students.

During my private lesson(s) with Luigi I have been greatly trying to improve my basics in guard and overall… basics. He knows so many small details that completely change the way you grapple. In the grand scheme of things, my guard sucks monkey nuts. So I wanted to start working just the basic closed guard, and some attacks and transitions from there. I also use the scissor guard and wanted to work that with him as well. We have a similar body type - over 250lbs, over 6′2″, and longer legs. So our grappling game “could” be similar. My grappling game fails in comparison but he is the perfect person to learn from and model my jiu-jitsu techniques after.

Cross Grip Lapel and Gi “Coat Tails” Control from Closed Guard

One of my questions was what sort of attacks can I do from closed guard given the length of my legs and my fatassness. One of the coolest things we did was actually using the person’s lapel and the bottom of the gi (like the coat tails) to control. You first get a cross collar grip in their lapel, and put a lot of pressure to make the person uncomfortable. Then you start to pull the persons gi lapel out from their belt so it is completely un-tucked. From there, you wrap it around and isolate the person’s arm. This gives you a great deal of control of the person, which allows you to start working you hips out, but also allowing you to setup a freaking cool choke!
The choke is Kata Juji Jime. In Kobukai Ju-Jitsu we do a couple different variations, but this one is great using that extra label control. How is works is that I bring the person down closer to me with my legs and lapel control(s). Assuming that my right hand has the cross collar grip and my left is controlling the label, I pass my left hand over their head and sink in the choke. It’s hard to describe with text. I’ll try for some video this weekend.

Read the rest of this entry »

The other night we worked some breakdowns from an opponent posturing in guard. I found this drill from a series of techniques on grapplersguide.com which has just become one of my favorite new websites.

Posturing in Guard

When you are in top guard position, basically your main goal (in a grappling scenario) is to pass the guard. There are very few submissions from the top guard position. Most of them are leg locks, heel hooks, or kneebars. Though all of those are great techniques and can be used, they should be used at a higher level. After you are first able to pass the guard.
Control the hips - when you want to posture up in guard, you want to control the person’s hips. Hip movement is key to the person in bottom guard. The ability to rise, maneuver, and switch hips is vital in the bottom guard position. So the person on top wants to take away this ability and pin the opponents hips to the mat. We accomplish this by placing our hands on the person’s belt or pelvic area and drive back
Head up high - while you drive back with your hands, you want to keep your head up high and your shoulders back. This creates space for you to start passing, but also limits the options a person has to break down your posture and negates some submission attempts such as the triangle, guillotine, etc.
Note: I am going to bring camera to class again soon and will demonstrate some of these positions.

Read the rest of this entry »