Leverage Grappling System Seminar Reviews - Part 2: Half Guard

One month on from the side control seminar the Leverage Fundamentals Open Guard + Passing seminar was running at Leicester Shootfighters.  I was very interested in attending this but the lure of Terror playing in Nottingham that night was just too great.....

Anyhow, the following seminar came up pretty quickly and I decided that I couldn't afford to miss another (it's my aim to attend all six) booking in as soon as it was announced.  This was the final session in the Fundamentals series and covered the half guard and "extras" on which more later...
The half guard portion of the seminar was split in to bottom and top sections, both covering the essentials of posture with bottom taking in transitioning to guard, taking the back and sweeps, whilst top position covered passing.  As is his method, Nathan demonstrated and coached through each step of whatever he was showing before setting people to work in pairs, coaching and correcting around the room.  It bears emphasising that a key part of Nathan's method of coaching/teaching is to break things down in to bite-sized chunks so that, for me at least, there's more chance of remembering the technique and being able to drill it.  Coupled with a very articulate manner and an understanding of his subject that is clearly deep and expansive, this makes for quality and accessible coaching.

From the off, there was a lot of detail in this seminar.  The basic 'safety' position when using half guard filled a page of my notebook with points on posture, basing the foot, the importance of blocking the crossface, getting the underhook, and on it goes........ What's more, looking back through my notebook as I write this I realise that I remember it without prompting.....mostly.  Once we'd got the posture down we started to work on improving position - getting back to closed guard or open guard.  Finally from bottom position we looked at two sweeps including the 'Old School' sweep before moving on to top position.

Again we started with posture and looked at the two main positions; Underhook & Crossface and Sit Through.  I have to confess to never really using the sit-through position previously feeling a little vulnerable when presented with the opportunity to use it.  However, the details taught by Nathan have given me more confidence in the position and in switching between that and the underhook-crossface.  We worked three passes from these two positions, one I was familiar with (if not competent!) and two others that were new to me but easily learnt and practiced and again, given some more drilling I'd be happy to try them when rolling.

The Extras...

First up was learning some flow rolling drills.  Flow rolling - and forgive me if this isn't the best explanation - is non-competitive, non-strength-based, rolling for position with the emphasis on smooth transition rather than speed, and compliance rather than competition.  In order to do this  Nathan showed us two drills:

• Passing guard - transitioning to mount - being reversed to guard - beginning again with opposite roles.
• From being mounted - regain guard - sweep top man - transition to mount position - begin again with opposite roles.

We didn't spend a lot of time on this but I can imagine that this type of rolling can improve your transitions, your techniques and your thinking/reacting.

The final part of the day was spent looking at things that don't fit anywhere else in the Levergae system, for example, dealing with an unskilled opponent on the mat or off it in a situation that requires you to utilise some restraint rather than flatten your opponent, e.g. the friend of a friend down the pub who knows you 'do some of that UFC stuff' and wants to test you out... you get the idea.  Within this we looked at breakfalls and getting up safely, releasing wrist grips, bodylock takedowns and escapes, guillotine defence and standing and ground headlock escapes.  There's some interesting debate going on at the moment - in Jiu Jitsu Style magazine for example - about BJJ having lost some of the self-defence type elements due to the focus on sport BJJ.  It'll be interesting to see how this develops and how the ideas shape schools and styles in the future.

By the end of the five hours I was saturated and really struggling to take any more in, though to be clear, that's about me not about the seminar itself.  Once again an afternoon's top-class instruction in a friendly environment.  I can't recommend the Leverage Seminars enough.

Next up:

Sunday 20th January 2013
Fundamentals 01: Theory, Basic Skills, Mount.  (I'm already booked in for this).

10th February 2013
Leverage Submission Grappling Fundamentals Seminar 02: Side Control (Repeat)


https://en-gb.facebook.com/LeverageSG

Leverage Grappling System Seminar Reviews - Part 1

Nathan Leverton in action at NAGA European Championships

Recently I've become a bit of a seminar junkie.  In addition to the Neil Adams and Dean Lister events that I've reviewed here I've also been along to two seminars in the Leverage Grappling System Fundamentals series.  Those of you who check in here occasionally may have seen the link that I posted to Slideyfoot.com's review which went in to some considerable detail about the LGSF Closed Guard seminar. In part it was this review that made me want to check out the seminars although, obviously, as a regular student at Leicester Shootfighters I know the quality of the instruction and training on offer, especially by Head Coach Nathan Leverton whose system Leverage is.

My training time is limited so any opportunity that I get to work in more mat time I try to take.  Spending 5 hours of a Sunday focusing in detail on an aspect of the ground game seems good training economy to me, especially with my grappling needing all the work it can get and jits being such an important part of amateur MMA.

Back in October I signed up for the side-control seminar.  I've always felt comfortable in side control, it seems more stable than mount although sometimes the attacking options aren't as obvious.  This was the first Leverage seminar that I'd atttended and retaining the information  gleaned over 5 hours seemed daunting.  It's for this very reason that Nathan recommends bringing a notebook, and why wouldn't you?  You wouldn't attend any other workshop, lecture, seminar or training without some way of recording the information being imparted.

Prior to beginning Nathan distributed an agenda for the day and gave a little bit of background to the Leverage system.  Essentially, Leverage is his response to student grapplers learning techniques on an as-and-when basis, depending on what classes they attend where and at what time.  Through Leverage Nathan is presenting a system that, starting with the fundamental series, gives fighters/students/coaches a solid grounding that builds on the basics and adds in complexity going forward.  After all, what use is the Peruvian Necktie if you can't pass the guard? 

After taking us through the fundamentals of hip movement - shrimping, bridging, etc - and getting from a lying to a standing position, Nathan moved on to the top game focusing on the correct way to pin the bottom guy with side control.  The thread throughout the seminar, and, in fact, all Nathan's teaching, is the attention to detail, and it's often these details that make all the difference.   It's easy to lie across someone but to optimise your position to get real pressure through the points of contact...... that's where the details prove their worth. 

Nathan discussed the 4 positions that arms and legs can be in and the merits or otherwise of these - staggered offers better control with elbow and knee pinching hips.  We worked through under/overhook positions, the 'VW' pin and sitting through to regain control and position.  Once we'd established some competence in holding the pins we moved to transitioning to mount.

The seemingly most obvious submissions from side control are Keylock and Kimura and Nathan demonstrated both of these, again with attention paid to the details that may determine whether you get the tap or not.  The mistakes with hand/arm position that Nathan covered can be seen at pretty much every MMA event, preventing finishes from such a dominant position.  Following the armlocks we looked at the Side Choke and Nathan was able to use a bout from the previous night's UFC as an example of a common mistake being made by a very high level fighter leaving him unable to finish the submission (Nog Vs. Herman in case you're wondering).  The final submission of the day was the armbar.  I've trained transitioning from side-control to armbar before but being able to focus on it in this session has really embedded it in my mind and I can actually see myself trying it at some point.

 

Throughout the seminar Nathan stopped so that people could write up what they had learned.  He was also cool with people taking video as long as it's for their own use and not publicly broadcast.   I tried taking video of the teaching segments but I found that this doesn't work for me.  I may have a video to refer to afterwards but I take almost nothing in at the time!  I made two short videos and then just concentrated on watching and learning.

The final session of the day covered being pinned in side control, surviving and escape.  Starting with positional theory Nathan taught escaping to guard and to the knees.  Another key feature of Nathan's teaching, for me at least, is his emphasis on principles that are applicable in various situations.  For example, underneath side control 'framing' with the arms in order to maintain space is a key principle that also applies to half-guard (more on that in Part 2).  

The whole five hours was tiring but extremely valuable and being able to focus solely on one aspect - albeit many facets of that aspect - brought improvements in my understanding and hopefully in my game.  The quality of the instruction was awesome at any price but Leverage seminars are priced extremely reasonably.  Attending these seminars has to be one of the best ways of building or reinforcing your ground game.  I really wanted to get down to the Open Guard + Passing Seminar that Nathan taught next in the series but Terror were playing Nottingham that night so.....  I did, however, book in for the Half-Guard Seminar as soon as it was announced and I'll be posting up a review of that soon(ish).

 There will be further 'Fundamentals' seminars next year, if you love ground fighting and want some quality instruction that will impact your game, there can't be many (any?) better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.  See you there.....

http://www.leverage-grappling.com/

Dean Lister Seminar at Leicester Shootfighters

This Wednesday I had the privilege of training with The Boogeyman himself – Dean Lister. Dean has given a seminar at Leicester Shootfighters previously but I was fairly new back to training so didn't feel confident attending, so glad I did this time.

Dean set the tone for the session as soon as he came in, getting on the mat and shaking the hand of everyone on the mat, and the mat was packed. Taking us through a warm-up that he promised wouldn't be hours of running, Dean focused on a quick jog round the mat before some tumbling and then a shrimping drill for which he first demonstrated correct technique and some details that make a difference when hip escaping. He also used the drill as an opportunity to provide correction or coaching for those needing it.

The seminar moved on apace but Dean's coaching style makes it easy to pick things up. There's a fine line between not showing a technique, drill, etc. enough and showing it too much – For me, Dean gets it just right and is able to illustrate his point through experiential anecdotes. After all, whether it's ADCC, PrideFC, UFC, KOTC, whatever, he's been there and probably has a story to tell. Anyway, Dean showed some interesting side control positions and attacks. Starting with shoulder pressure in to the downed man's face(!) that turns his head away from you (can't see what you're doing) and it makes it difficult for him to turn in to the top man to effect an escape. From the control position the far hand/arm is freed up to attack the leg by grabbing it. As the guy on the bottom tries to flatten down it leaves him open to a pass to mount.

Dean showed another crazy detail from side mount - basically changing hand position in order that you exert pressure with your thumb in to the soft part of the bottom guy's shoulder blade. It's such a small difference and it sounds like nothing but it hurts. A lot. Especially combined with the shoulder pressure in to the head. Dean showed another pass from here that involved putting your head on the mat to the far side of the bottom man. All really easily learnt but seemingly very effective.

At the request of Nathan Leverton Dean showed some stuff from the over-under guard pass position including an entry in to a footlock position (Dean asked that those with cameras & phones didn't splash this all over the internet!) and a kneebar with the legs when the pass is stuffed. Essentially it involves figure-fouring the leg with your own and using them as a fulcrum. It takes a little manoeuvring to find the the right leverages but when it's on, it's on.

We moved to learning the 'armless triangle', i.e. the triangle choke that doesn't require you to have your opponent's arm trapped. Now, try as we might neither I, nor my training partner John, could make this work – our legs and arms were just too short! We called Dean over to get some help and he stopped the class to show us all what we could do in this situation – the Fatboy Triangle. This is a variation that does require trapping the arm but doesn't need the legs locked in the figure four. The legs are kept locked at the ankles whilst the head is pulled down, the legs pulled in and the heels down....simultaneously. Dean explained that this choke/crank takes quite a lot of energy and that if you don't get it I the first 8 seconds you need to think about transitioning to something else. Having experienced the choke/crank first hand I can attest to the effectiveness. Oh, and it's called the Fatboy as it's used by a training partner of Dean's who is a ringer for Shrek! (allegedly).

The final thing that Dean showed us was a Kimura variation shown below. Again, the details make all the difference.

This seminar was awesome, Dean's a fantastic coach and and entertaining one at that. All the things he showed were easily picked up and his coaching style allowed me to retain pretty much everything that I learnt over the 2+ hours. Nathan and Rob keep bringing fantastic coaches to Leicester Shootfighters for seminars, a great way to learn some new stuff from another source. I'll be keeping an eye out for other seminars in the new year and if The Boogeyman is planning a return , I'll be one of the first to put my name down.

Free Ebook from Juggernaut Training Systems

Those of you with an interest in strength training may have come across Juggernaut Training Systems before.  They fall in to the same trustworthy-no bullshit-tried and tested category as Elite FTS, Westside Barbell and DeFranco's Training.  Additionally, they provide strength and conditioning training for World, Pan-American and National BJJ/No gi champion  Fabio “Gigante” Villela.

 JTS put all their jits combat preparation in to a manual:


 Sadly, given the focus of this blog, it's not the BJJ ebook that's being given away for free!  However, if you train for strength deadlifting should probably be a part of your repertoire and JTS' Deadlift Manual is certainly worth a read.  In order to get it all you need to do is go here and sign up for the JTS newsletter.  Easy as that!  Who doesn't love free stuff............

(B)logging

Training around other commitments can sometimes make it feel as though I'm lacking consistency, volume and the correct elements in what I'm doing. Perhaps it's easier to notice (and regret?) days off than consistency or progress. Of course, this is where logs come in and many people now keep training logs on websites and forums – T-Nation (mine's there), Rosstraining and many other sites have sections devoted to users' training logs.

I have always found that having a log on a forum or site is a great motivator for getting out and doing some training, you don't want others to see the big long gaps between sessions! My only problem with logs is that it can be difficult to see a broader picture of your training, across two weeks for example. So it was with this in mind, and because I haven't posted too much training-wise recently and I don't want people thinking that I'm not training, that I decided to copy my log from T-Nation, annotate it a bit, and post it up here. I've taken approximately two weeks from the last month, have a look and let me know what you think.....

Wednesday 10^th October:

Swissbar press 5/3/1 up to 8 x 56kg
Power Clean 5 x 5 up to 67kg
Deadlift 5/3/1 up to 12 x 108kg

Thursday 11^th October:

1 hr grappling, 1 hr boxing, 1 hr circuit/stretching/mobility.


This was training at LeicesterShootfighters, as I can only usually get there once a week I try to do three sessions while I'm there.

Sunday 14^th October:

5 hours jiu jitsu seminar
Part of the Leverage GrapplingSystem 'Fundamentals' series focusing on side control. Review to come.



Monday 15^th October:

5/3/1 Trapbar deadlift up to 8 x 122kg (fucked up here and miscounted the plates ending up doing 13 x 112kg before the 122kg)
5/3/1 swissbar bench up to 10 x 61kg.

Tuesday 16^th October:

2 x 10 station circuits as posted previously (felt easier)
Planks


Wednesday 17^th October:

Lifting tonight, short on time so Cleans were only done for three sets. Time was I would've skimped on the warm-up/mobility but it's self defeating and an invitation to injury.

5/3/1 Swissbar press up to 9 x 51kg
Power cleans 5 x 50kg, 60kg, 70kg
5/3/1 Deadlift up to 15 x 102kg

Good session considering I only had 35 mins.

Thursday 18^th October:

1 hour grappling + 1 hour muay thai.

Training at Leicester Shootfighters.

Sunday 21^st October:

Very sore hip/groin/lower back for no discernible reason so decided not to risk any Trapbar work.

Mega warm-up mobility work (stretching, rolling, resistance band).

5/3/1 Swissbar bench. Up to 12 x 58kg
Supersets 40kg DB row 28kg DB bench.

I've reduced the weight on the DB bench in order to get more reps in.

Monday 22^nd October:

Lots of mobility work.

10 x 3 min rounds muay thai on the heavy bag.

Core work – generally either ab wheel rollouts, planks, hanging leg raises or barbell twists.

NB: I was on holiday Tuesday to Friday this week.

Saturday 27^th October:

Mobility/warm-up

5/3/1 Trapbar up to 12 x 115kg
5/3/1 Swissbar press up to 8 x 54kg (Super-setted with Swissbar rows)
3 x 10 sandbag press

5 x 10 sec sprint/20 sec run.

Monday 29^th October

Conditioning circuit, 10 stations, 50 secs each, 10 secs change over.

Heavybag - 3 combinations followed by a sprawl after each three.
Bag hops - hands on heavy bag that's lying on the floor, hop feet over from side to side.
Resistance band snap down.
Heavybag - Combo followed by kick each time.
Ab wheel rollouts
Wall sits
Heavy bag - punch in to clinch and lift the bag
Barbell twists
Burpees
Heavybag combinations (minimum of 4 punches each combo)

Went through this twice.

Tuesday 30^th October

Full warm up & mobility + foam rolling.

Power cleans - sets of 5 up to 72kg
5/3/1 deadlift up to 15 x 110kg.

5 x 10 sec sprint/20 sec run

My mobility work always includes:

Resistance band scarecrows

Resistance band dislocates

Resistance band hurricanes

Resistance band face pulls

Hydrants

Groiners

Cat stretches

Quad/groin stretches

Hurdler stretch

4q2 Fightwear Fight Socks - A Review

When I made the decision at the beginning of the year to start training in earnest again, I knew that I'd have to get some sort of foot covering due to a problem with my left heel (long story).  I have wrestling boots but on checking with Rob at Leicester Shootfighters I was told that they're not permitted on the mats due to the damage they cause.  The hunt was on for something that would cover my foot and be allowed on the mat.

I often wear ankle supports for kicking bag/pad work but the problem with these is that they don't cover the heel.  I looked at the 'foot grips' that Hayabusa and Combat Sports International make but although they cover more of the foot than regular anklets they don't cover the heel.

Digging a bit deeper (well, surfing the web) I came across 'Grappling/MMA Socks'.  The easiest to find were/are the Badboy grappling socks.

Pretty much everyone at the gym who has asked me about my socks has mentioned these and has said that price put them off trying them - me too!  The problem is that grappling socks are still pretty uncommon (I'm the only one at Leicester MMA Academy with them as far as I know) and few people are likely to take a punt costing £25 - £30 on something that they haven't seen in action and is, after all, a bit of a luxury.  So, liking the idea of grappling socks the hunt was on for something cheaper.

Checking out Ebay (of course!) I came across the 4q2 (F**k You Too?) socks.  Even with shipping they came in at a much more reasonable £16-ish, so the money was Paypal'ed through and I awaited my new footwear.

 
Though they shipped from The States the socks came pretty quickly and were ready for me to start back on the mat.  I had contacted 4q2 prior to purchase with regard to sizing and opted for the XL (I'm UK size 11) which fit well.  I was suprised how roomy they were as I thought they'd be a little tighter but this is probably because the XL goes from 11 to 12.5.

The socks are made from a lycra-type material with a neoprene toe, sole and heel section that extends up the Achilles to a flat inch-wide lycra cuff around the ankle.  The sole of the socks feature 4q2's 'heel-to-toe power traction dot designed bottoms' a little like the soles of Hayabusa's foot grips.  I bought the socks in January this year and have worn them pretty much every week to train for between 1 and 3 hours on jigsaw style mats and grappling, boxing, conditioning, MMA have all been trained.

So what do I think?  Well, the socks do a pretty good job of protecting the feet, my dodgy heel has been fine and the grip is excellent.  The materials used in the sock wash and dry well, very quick to dry in fact, and hasn't seemed to affect the longevity of the construction - they've stayed together pretty well with no adverse effects on the stitching from either use or washing.  The socks are great for grappling, both stand-up and ground work, they're so light you don't really know they're on, much lighter even than wrestling boots.

What about striking training?  This is where the socks fall down a little bit.  They provide a lot of grip but unlike the soles of your feet you can't really control how much you 'stick' to the mat.  This becomes a problem when twisting for round kicks and even punches.  All the twisting in boxing and striking training soon pulled the grip off the soles of the socks leaving little black dots all over the mats.  It created quite a mystery for Rob at the gym who wondered what all the dots were when cleaning the mats after practice!  Boxing training has been particularly tough on the big toe of the left foot wearing a hole through the bottom layer of fabric.

Wear on the soles of 4q2's Fightsocks.

Losing the dots isn't such a big deal for me - it's bound to happen through virtue of them providing grip and having a 240lb man twisting them repeatedly for hours on end.  The neoprene sole provides plenty of grip in itself and makes twisting for kicks a little easier.  Though the fit of the socks is good, they can become twisted and out of place during drills or sparring that necessitate a lot of movement.  Also, talking to one of the fighters at the gym recently, he was saying that he'd tried Hayabusa foot grips and found that even at £35+ they lost their grip dots pretty quickly and he was pretty interested in the fightsocks at half the price.

Summing Up

I like 'em.  The fit is ok given that they need to fit 11 - 12.5 sized feet with one size sock.  They've so far lasted about 100 hours of training and still have plenty of life left in them.  I like the fact that I don't have to worry about how fresh or otherwise my feet are after a day at work(!) or become self-conscious about it when grappling with a training partner, the same goes for forgetting to cut toe nails(!!).  They protect my feet without a hard sole that could be uncomfortable for training partners or tear up softer mats, and they provide a benefit with regard to hygiene - who knows what lurgy lies in wait out there....

Rating

Construction         3.5/5 (But I don't know how this can be solved)
Fit                           4/5
Value                     4/5
Style/aesthetics   3.5/5 (It's really not important though..)


Buy Again?   Yes.

Get them HERE

Shootfighters - The Movie

For a little while now the trailers for the documentary "Shootfighters" have been available, a tantalising taster for what looked to be a thoughtful short film on the life of local show fighters.  Of course the clincher for me was that it's based around Leicester Shootfighters and FightUK, a Leicester based promotion.

The full film is now available on Vimeo and I write this post having just watched it.  Richard Butterworth's film is thirty minutes long and takes as its focus Aiden Hayes, a young fighter from Leicester Shootfighters.  We learn a lot about Aiden, primarily through pieces to camera by his Dad and his older brother.  We learn that he was expelled from school(s) and that boxing, and subsequently MMA, gave him a purpose/focus/discipline that set him on a more positive path.

The film follows Aiden from an amateur MMA fight - against a much heavier opponent - through the training for his next fight.  There is lots of training footage; we see Aiden running, wrestling, doing pad work, Jits and conditioning, and talking about the sacrifices fighters make in order to do what they do, even at an amateur level.  It's an indictment of those proponents of the view that MMA is just legitimised thuggery, especially when you see the sheer amount of training that even local show fighters undertake to compete.

Leicester Shoot Head Coach Nathan Leverton also features and provides his usual insightful and incisive commentary on the evolution and present state of MMA, as well as an interesting comparison of winning an MMA bout as opposed to a grappling tournament.

The film feels well put together and follows an interesting narrative using Aiden's journey to illustrate what MMA is all about.  Colour and insight is added by the pieces from the FightUK guys and Nathan as well as Aiden's family.  I don't want to give the ending, such as it is, away, but I would urge you to give it a look.  It won't be a wasted half-an-hour, and if you fight, train or even just attend local shows you might recognise something in what you see.

Enson Inoue - ヤマト魂

People who know me will attest to the fact that I'm a bit of a Nipponophile, Japanese culture fascinates me on many levels, especially the aesthetic.  Manga, Anime, Bonsai, woodblock prints, Japanese cinema, Japanese gardens, Zen...... I love it all.  Of course there's plenty about Japanese culture that I'm not at all in to and I acknowledge that - I'm no Nipp-Otaku.  When I was first getting in to MMA I was far more a fan of PrideFC than I was the UFC, part of which was because it was so Japanese, and, just like K-1, the Japanese audience watch in silence which is awesome.  Many MMA fighters have commented on the way that they're treated by the Japanese public - as warriors, inheritors of the samurai way.

Throughout the reign of PrideFC there was one fighter who summed up the Samurai Spirit more than anyone, Enson Inoue.  Enson was renowned for his refusal to quit even when being beaten to literally within an inch of his life (Vs. Igor Vovchanchyn, PrideFC 10) or in danger of having his arm ripped off (Vs. Heath Herring, PrideFC 12):


Yeah he asked me to give up or he is going to break my arm and I replied, "If you can break it then go ahead and break it."  It was cracking and popping so I was wondering if he could actually break it.  Then the referee came running over and asked me if I wanted to give up so I answered him by hitting Heath on the back of the head with my free hand.  That was a funny situation

As a Hawaiian Japanese, Enson embraced the culture of his familial homeland, living, training and fighting there.  Being tough and decorated with tattoos Enson was often associated with the Yakuza (Japanese organised crime) and he has gone on record as saying that he had links with Yakuza adopting one of their expressions:

Live as a Man,
Die as a Man,
Become a Man.   

Enson last fought in April 2010 but he's still a popular figure in the world of MMA.  He has maintained a presence on the MMA.tv Underground forum, answering fans questions and most recently (and the reason for this post) been the subject of a fascinating two part interview on the Open Mat Radio.  Amongst other things Enson discusses his time in prison, disaster relief, tattoos and Japanese MMA.

Often a divisive character but always interesting, these two interviews are definitely worth a listen....
Listen here

slideyfoot.com - Leverage Submission Grappling review

 Just wanted to post up a link to this review which is an incredibly detailed and comprehensive review of a recent Leverage Grappling Fundamentals seminar delivered by Nathan Leverton at Leicester Shootfighters.

To give you an idea of just how comprehensive this review is, it consists of over 3,500 words!  The level of detail is such that it seems it would make a pretty good notebook-instructional to accompany the seminar.  There's a lot of good stuff in here, the level of detail that Nathan is known for is presented well in a clearly written, engaging style.  I have to admit that the author (Can Sönmez?  Apologies if I've got that wrong) got me at at the fourth paragraph:


The reason it intrigued me back in January was mainly down to Leverton's reputation. I expected that if he was creating a system, it would be technical, cerebral and for want of a better word, 'grown-up'. That's as opposed to something like 10th Planet Jiu Jitsu: though much of Eddie Bravo's nogi system is viable if you are an experienced grappler with the requisite flexibility, I'm put off by the marketing approach and constant drug advocacy. Leverage Submission Grappling also has the advantage that it was advertised as fundamentals, which always perks my interest. 

I feel pretty similar about 10th Planet and the Leicester Shootfighters/MMA Academy environment - which is at very least in part due to Nathan's attitude/style - is 'grown up' without losing the fun element that should be what training, at least for hobbyists, is all about.

As it goes, and entirely coincidentally, I'll be attending the next seminar on side control and I'll try to post up a review here.....don't expect anything like Slideyfoot's though, I dont have the time or the talent!

slideyfoot.com | bjj resources: 30/09/2012 - Leverage Submission Grappling Fundamentals 04 (Closed Guard)

Neil Adams No Gi Seminar - A Review

Nathan and Rob who run Leicester MMA Academy (Leicester Shootfighters) have made a habit of bringing in some excellent fighters to run seminars.  To date the gym has hosted Dean Lister, Kenny Johnson, Paul Daley, Ryan Hall and Wanderlei Silva amongst others.  Having not been able to attend any of the previous seminars I was pleased to find out that, following his return to Britain, Neil Adams would be delivering a seminar on no gi grappling that I could definitely be at.

I'd had a nudge from Nathan on Facebook that Adams would be at the gym sometime in the future, and as soon as the seminar was anounced I booked my place without further ado.  Having trained in Kano Jiu Jitsu years ago, very similar to Judo in it's emphasis on throws & submissions, and being involved with a Judo club through my daughter, I was very much looking forward to training with a top of the tree Judoka and learning what he could bring to the world of no gi grappling and/or MMA.

Neil took the class through an initial warm up focusing on foot movement and balance.  Re-balancing would be a theme that we would repeatedly return to throughout the session, emphasising the importance that balance and getting your opponent off balance play in Judo and it's throws.  The second part of the warm up was a series of games in which the object was to prevent others from being able to touch your shoulder or back, utilising movement.

Once warm we moved in to clinch range with Neil spending time getting the class to understand the necessity of controlling the head - where the head goes, the body follows, yours and your opponent's.  We worked from a head and arm tie, cinching the head tight in to the crook of the arm.  From here we worked on breaking balance using movement, particularly foot movement. Neil drew the parallel between the boxer's jab and the foot movement of the Judoka, an interesting way of thinking.  We moved from breaking balance to throws, Osoto Gari & Tai Otoshi-type throws.  As with all good coaches, it was the details that Neil taught that made the difference between getting a technique and not getting it although some of us - me definitely included - had to be shown more than once before successfully drilling.

Moving from standing through the transition to the ground we began to work to defeat the turtle position from the back.  Again, Neil returned to the importance of maintaining balance but this time to ensure you maintain position and don't slip off.  Anyone who is aware of his competitive career will know that Neil is famous for his armbar - Juji Gatame, and this is what we worked for from the back.  As you'd expect from such a decorated and experienced coach and competitor Neil has so many variations of technique to get from the back to the Juji that it was sometimes difficult to remember what he'd shown, my training partner and I settled on one technique to drill and try to get down.  On top of the armbar we learnt some choke variations.  Neil ended the session by answering questions on the techniques shown followed by the obligatory photos.

So, what did I take away from this session?

• The oft forgotten importance of Kuzushi - unbalancing the opponent - and the importance of adjusting to correct your own balance.
• Control the head of your opponent as his body will follow.
• Point your head in the direct in which you want your opponent to go (in a throw, obviously!)
• Transition from standing/clinch to ground is where fights can be won or lost - make sure you've got a game for this aspect.
• If you're going for the arm, go for it, hunt it, persist.
• During Juji attempts leg pressure on the head of your opponent will do more to make them release them arm than just trying to pull it free with your upper body.
• Don't forget the brutality, you need to be a little bit brutal (Great quote/piece of advice at the end of the seminar, incongruous coming from such a nice fella).
• You can't learn feel from books, you got to do it.

In al a great couple of hours training with lots to hold on to, think about and apply next time on the mats.  Judo's often overlooked as an effective martial art and it was great to get a fresh perspective on how its techniques can add to the arsenal of the submission grappler or MMA fighter.

The Cauliflower Chronicles - A Review

I've been wanting to write a review of Marshall D Carper's book 'The Cauliflower Chronicles' since finishing it earlier this year, following a recent re-reading I'm finally getting round to it.

I've heard it said before that what makes a good travelogue is that the author puts as much of themselves in to it as they do the place that they're writing about. Norman Mailer wrote that a good memoir allows the reader to put themselves in the shoes of the writer even though they may never have been in similar circumstances. With 'The Cauliflower Chronicles' Carper does both these things and more.

The book begins with Carper having broken up with a serious girlfriend and moving to Hawaii to study, heal his heartbreak and most importantly, for the book and for me, to train with Jiu Jitsu/MMA legend BJ Penn and earn his Blue Belt from the man himself.

Joined by a colourful cast of supporting characters – fellow students, grapplers, locals and others – Carper falls in love with the island rather than a girl and by the end of the book it's difficult to imagine a Hawaii that's anything other than the one he describes. Visiting some of the most notable spots on The Big Island, lava flows, waterfalls, cliffs, beaches Carper takes us to the idyllic side of Hawaii. In the background, however, Carper is always cognisant of the tension that exists, with good reason, between indigenous Hawaiians and 'Haoles' or White people, giving the reader a useful potted history of Hawaii and it's exploitation/colonisation/oppression by the USA that nicely contextualises some of the sentiments that he encounters.

It's Carper's personal journey that makes this book though – his quest for the Blue Belt, falling in love with the Big Island and it's people, struggling (with himself as much as with others) for acceptance at BJ's gym and trying to get to roll with the man himself. All told with good pace and in self deprecating entertaining language that stops the right side of maudlin and betrays the insight that the author has in to himself and his own life.

For the Jits player or MMA fighter there's plenty of training insights. Particularly nice are the descriptions and appreciations of how the others in the gym fight, their style, strengths or how they teach. This is especially interesting when Carper talks about rolling with Charuto or Gunnar Nelson or any of the Penn brothers (this makes a particularly intriguing comparison). 

Best of all for me it gave me the kick up the backside I needed to get back on to the mat after an absence of over two years. Did it re-ignite my love of grappling? Let's just say that the first session in nearly three years back at the gym was a submission grappling class.......

Circuitry

Last week I arranged things so that I could get to a grappling session followed by striking training (Good training economy) at Leicester Shootfighters. True to form I got stuck in traffic on my way from work to the gym with no chance of arriving in time for the grappling session. I really wanted to get to the grappling class as I'd been re-reading Marshall D Carper's excellent 'Cauliflower Chronicles' and realised that the violent allure of MMA often distracts me from my Jits. Rather than let my frustration get the better of me and become anger (see last post for details!) I decided to just get to the gym and make the most of the session that I could get to.

Following a good session on kicking, Mark, a training partner asked me if I was staying on for the fitness/conditioning session. To be honest, I told him, I didn't think that I'd last the course....however I watched part of the warm up and decided to go for it.

We spent some time moving down the mat in various ways, chosen ourselves – cartwheels, bearcrawls, boxing footwork, lunges, etc. Then moved on to the meat of the session, circuits. The circuit consists of six stations each with two exercises. Each exercise is done for one minute, rest thirty seconds, then perform the second exercise for one minute before moving on to the next station. This week's circuits consisted of:
Bagwork + pressups with one hand on a floor bag.
Medball slams + bobbing and weaving along a length of elastic at head height.
Partner crunch medball passes + plank.
Burpees + Mountain-climbers (This hurt)
Dumbell shadow boxing + sit-through/hip heist drill.
Powerbag squats + calf raises.

When I look at this now it seems fairly benign but when I was in it, it was painful. I found that it was a lot more difficult than the circuits I've set for myself and maybe this is due to a few things – familiarity of exercises and order of exercises, going for a minute as opposed to 30 – 45 seconds and being in a group/partner environment in which I'm bound to push myself harder than if I'm training on my own. We finished with a nice stretching & relaxation session led by JD Hylton. As it stands I think I'll be going back to the fitness sessions, apparently the circuits can get much, much harder.....

Frustrating times....

When I'm thinking about what to write here it sometimes seems that all I talk about it how tough it is to find time to train, how injuries stop me training, how things get in the way - moaning basically.  Don't misunderstand, I don't think that I've got things bad, there are guys and gals out there fitting training and competing in wherever they can, the net's full of tales of getting up at 5am to train, or slotting training in around work and life as a single parent.

I guess that what makes the topic of frustration really pertinent to this blog is that trying to be a husband, father, employee, son, student, etc. whilst trying to improve one's chances of being able to fight in 12 - 18 months and not be a complete embarassment...... well, it shows that this really is a young, single man's game.  Now, I'm not saying that I wish I didn't have the responsibilities of being a father, a partner, having a relatively senior job and living parents.  No, what I'm saying is that in the scheme of things, family and the security of a good job are more important than training.  

I love training and there's no doubt that it really supports good mental health, but my kids won't be young forever and time spent with them is incalcuably precious.  I'm reminded of a recent conversation with a a chap at the gym.  He was telling me how his ex-partner won't let him see his kids and that training was a way of relieving the stress and anger that that causes him.  Taken in light of this guy's situation I'll take parent's evenings, school functions and being Dad's Taxi Service any day of the week.

So, what prompted this post?  Following a two-week lay off due to the gym being closed plus a shitty week at work I was really in need of getting to training at Leicester Shoot - there's only so much you can do at home on your own right?  I planned meticulously around family commitments, squared it with my boss to finish work a bit earlier and.......traffic, traffic, traffic.....thwarted every mile of the way!  I work about 30 miles from the gym (I live about 40 from work) so there's plenty of potential to get caught in a snarl up.  After an hour and a half in the car I gave up and arrived home in a stinker (though I really was trying not to take it out on anyone else).

This reminded my of something Jim Wendler said in an interview:

Why would you sacrifice this one life that you have for just training? Everybody has their
own set of gifts, and those things can develop or change over time. But if you're always on
Blast mode in the gym, everything else just gets thrown to the side. Sometimes, you need to
step back and take notice of other things; especially the people who've helped you the most,
and matter the most.
Wherever you are, that's where you should be. So if you're at work, be at work. If you're at
home, be at home. If you're with your buddy, be there for him. In other words, don't constantly be thinking about training when you're at the park
with your kid: If you have a bad day at the gym, don't take it out on your wife or your kid.
They didn't have anything to do with it. It's a fucking squat.

Seems like pretty sage advice, and not a little Zen either(!) but that's for another post.  I guess what I've learnt is that if I'm to achieve my goal I've got to make it happen, just not at the expense of everything else that's going on.  I've got a loving family that I need and that needs me, and they understand that I need to train in order to be who I, and they, need me to be.  It's a long haul not a sprint, and life won't end just because I can't get to a training session.

Okay, got it out of my system.  Finally, I wanted to link to some videos of the Leicester Shoot boys in action at a recent amateur event.  Lukasz in particular did a great job.  Trained with him a few times and he's a nice guy and a beast.  

Until next time.....

Getting the basics right first.

Haven't posted for a while....but don't be fooled, I have been busy.

My shin is now pretty much healed and I've been able to do some grappling and mma training alongside the boxing.  Most of the scabbing is gone and, despite not getting stitched when I shoulda, I don't think there's any risk of re-tearing it.  Next week I'll be re-integrating deadlifts in to my strength work making sure I use the right socks to prevent injuring it again.

I've loved the boxing training recently and much of that is down to the way JD Hylton runs the classes.  I've previously written on here about his style and how it really works for me - I manage to retain a lot of what I learn which is the key thing.  I think that this is due to the fact that JD emphasises a lot of the techniques, skills, tips consistently throughout lessons - he doens't mention something one week and not again for a couple of months; it's there week-in, week-out.  Another thing that I find helpful is the way in which the classes always start the same, emphasising the same attributes - starting slowly to build smoothness, long punches to ensure an ability to fight at a realistic range without having to make huge adaptions, movement.  There's nothing flashy here, and nothing earth shattering just lots of solid technique, not based on attributes, and lots of reps in order to really develop something that's learned.

This is what makes it real and applicable.  When you get to my advanced years (Ahem!) you realise that doing the Ali Shuffle or developing Anderson Silva style head movement is some way down the road if your footwork means you get battered while you're trying it.

At the last lesson JD acknowledged that he's 'not the most exciting boxing coach' but I'm always very suspicious of coaches in any martial arts/combat sports who show the class flashy moves.  One of the final nails in the coffin of kickboxing for me was when our coach showed us some 'self defense' moves.  At the time I was training Kano Jiu Jitsu as well and also studying the work of Geof Thompson, Kevin O'Hagan, Mo Teague, and Dave Turton.  The stuff showed by the kickboxer was useless, but all those in the class were lapping it up and that's worse than useless, it's dangerous.  For me this is too much like death punches, secret pressure points, etc.  Perhaps you can make these work if you're a 10th degree Master in your artform but too many guys turn up to classes wanting to learn spinning backfists before they can move or jab.

Given the choice I'll take a solid grounding in the basics every time.  When I've got those down then I'll maybe learn some more complex stuff... if I'm up to it.

More soon.