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.