The seminar that Carlos Gracie Jr. gave at Gracie Barra Tampa (http://www.tampabjj.com/) this last Sunday was excellent. It's always a pleasure to hear Carlos talk about BJJ, its history, its future, the growth of Gracie Barra, growth of the sport, teaching, coaching and pretty much anything.
Someone asked him if he's trying to get BJJ in the Olympics, and I know this is common question online, so I'll share his answer. He said he doesn't plan on getting it into the Games since the requirements call for the sport to be represented in about 70 countries, with each country having full black belt teams, both male and female. He left it open as a possibilty, but didn't see it happening until further down the line.
The instruction was very clear and detailed, as always. He did a good job of explaining the strategy behind the technique, and each move tended to naturally follow into the next. He didn't just show a bunch of flashy moves isolation or try to overload us with "advanced" techniques. He said he likes to use seminars to share techniques between the different Gracie Barras, and that he always makes it a point to find a black belt who is doing something well and sharing his way of doing a technique. You can see this in what he taught below.
Techniques: Gripping and sitting to triangle (like Roger vs Xande)
Uchimata to sacrifice throw (Carlinhos' favorite)
Uchimata to ankle pick (Marcio Feitosa's favorite)
Grip break to omoplata from standing
Omoplata to triangle, counter defense with backwards triangle
Sitting armbar from standing (that one of his black belts won 80% of his fights using)
Recovering from being flattened out in butterfly guard to sweep
Countering underhook with armdrag and sweep from butterfly guard
Countering hook sweep defense (posting leg) with another sweepUnless I'm forgetting some, I thought it was interesting how many of the techniques started standing.
You'd almost call them a "flying" triangle, omoplata and armbar, but it was more of a sitting or "pulling guard" motion, not jumping up to them. The triangle from standing was similar to the one Roger used to beat Xande (http://www.bjj.eu.com/movies/rga.swf), and he used the same grip for the uchimata variations. The grip for all of these was interesting enough that I made sure to get a photo for reference:
It's surprisingly easy to get a triangle off this grip by just putting a foot on the hip and pulling spider guard.
Overall, a great seminar by a friendly and skilled instructor. Definitely get to one if you have a chance.
GoldenJonas
5/31/2006 11:53am,
Bah, posted this earlier on an older thread, but since Aeso started this one I'll repost it here to keep it consistent.........Gracie pretty much taught the same things in Orlando that he did in Tampa...although, I don't rememeber the "seated arm bar" or the "recovery from being flattened", although I had to run to the can and may have missed these in the process....
Just as a follow up. Seminar was awesome. I was able to go to the Orlando one.
Anyone out there that does not train specific BJJ or GJJ but trains MMA, Sub-grappling, or some other style of resistant jujitsu should run to this seminar if Gracie Jr., is in your area. For a patriarch in the much vaulted Gracie family he is very approachable, hands on with his instruction, and was an overall very nice guy.
Hearing his first hand accounts of Rickson and Renzo's street fights with Luta Livre (sp?) guys is worth the $80 alone.
Great teacher, great seminar.
Aesopian
5/31/2006 12:02pm,
I'm glad you got to get to his seminar up there. Marcio Simas from Gracie Barra Orlando was down here too. You can see him in the background on the far right of the photo.
Like you said, Carlinhos is completely open to meeting and talking with everyone, and has no problem helping even the clumsiest white belt figure out the technique. Last time he was here, I ended up talking with him about playing Ages of Empires, since he said he loves strategy games.
FYI: He likes commanding the Roman troops.
GoldenJonas
5/31/2006 1:03pm,
I just watch the vid you posted up top. That is almost identicle (slight variation in hand placement) to what Gracie Jr., showed this weekend.
All of the tech. started from the same set-up but rolled into different endings, either sweep or submit, options, options, options, loved it.
Aesopian
5/31/2006 1:13pm,
Did he grip the belt instead of the collar? Because that's what Roger did in the Pan Ams.
Aesopian
5/31/2006 2:12pm,
The triangle setup starts like this:
He grabs my lapel with his left hand.
I reach under his arm with my right hand and grab his opposite lapel. My left hands opens the collar and feeds it deeper.
My left hand grabs his left sleeve and pulls his arm to me. His arm will feel "secured" once you get your right elbow behind his.
That's the end of gripping aspect. You end up here:
Notice how the grip has turned his shoulder towards me, and I'm now standing sideways to him.
For the triangle, I continue by:
Stepping on his left hip (same side as the trapped arm) with my right foot to stretch him back as...
I sit down. My hips spin to the left and my left leg swings out.
Now I can quickly throw my left leg around his head for the triangle. Or if he grabs my left knee to prevent the triangle, I just circle my foot to his biceps to break his grip then throw the leg over for the triangle.
My right hand comes off the collar to grab my left ankle, as I quickly take my right foot off the hip and lock the triangle. My left hand pulls the arm to cross it.
Squeeze knees and all that jazz to finish the choke.
Make sure you stretch him out with your foot on his hip as you sit. This will make getting the triangle easier and make it harder for him to use the other arm to grab defend.
What's so surprising about this setup is that while you're standing, you'd never expect it ending in a triangle so quickly.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
GoldenJonas
5/31/2006 2:44pm,
Did he grip the belt instead of the collar? Because that's what Roger did in the Pan Ams.
No we did the collar, not the belt, for the triangle. Thats what I meant by the hand position being different in the vid from what was shown at the seminar.
The only belt grip shown this weekend was the sweep/reversal from seated butterfly (the underhook counter and sweep).
Aesopian
6/01/2006 7:56am,
I'm getting asked about these moves on other forums, so I might as well post my explanations for you bumbfucks too.
Here's "Recovering from being flattened out in butterfly guard to sweep":
You have butterfly guard, but they have flattened you out, have underhooks (or at least denied you underhooks of your own) and have their head buried in your chest/stomach. So a fucked up place to be. You want to get your forearm against their throat to create a frame and make space, but you can't get your arm under their head no matter how hard to dig.
Do a quick, sharp bridge and put a forearm across their neck as they head pops up. Grab their opposite shoulder, and put your free hand on top of the other to reenforce the frame across the neck.
Lift your elbow to drive your forearm against their throat to lift their head as you escape your hips to the same side as the framing arm.
Keep lifting your elbow and framing their head up as you put your other elbow on the ground. Sit up until you can post your hand on the mat behind you.
Get into a good sitting position. The arm that's framing the neck rotates down and swims for the underhook.
Grab the belt, trap the far arm, hook sweep like normal.
chingythingy
6/01/2006 11:02am,
For the triangle, I continue by:
Stepping on his left hip (same side as the trapped arm) with my right foot to stretch him back as...
I sit down. My hips spin to the left and my left leg swings out.
Now I can quickly throw my left leg around his head for the triangle. Or if he grabs my left knee to prevent the triangle, I just circle my foot to his biceps to break his grip then throw the leg over for the triangle.
My right hand comes off the collar to grab my left ankle, as I quickly take my right foot off the hip and lock the triangle. My left hand pulls the arm to cross it.
Squeeze knees and all that jazz to finish the choke.
Make sure you stretch him out with your foot on his hip as you sit. This will make getting the triangle easier and make it harder for him to use the other arm to grab defend.
What's so surprising about this setup is that while you're standing, you'd never expect it ending in a triangle so quickly.
Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. What I'm seeing is that step#3 is kind of dependant upon surprise and not seeing it before - getting the left leg over his right arm - instinctively if he is gripping my sleeve he doesn' t let go and gets finished. However, once he sees it a couple times he was piercing his RH through to block the triangle setup.
If the triangle gets blocked, I was seeing you have a pretty good transition into an armbar by shifting hips to the other side and throwing your RF over the head. If he breaks his lapel grip you also have an omoplata entrance.
Aesopian
6/01/2006 11:18am,
If he tries to defend the triangle by putting his other hand in, you can help prevent this by making sure your foot on the hip keeps him bent over and really stretched out, and the left leg can fight to step on his biceps and push it away before going to the triangle (like I said before). But like you said, they'll probably get wise to this and still put up a defense once they've seen it enough. If you think about the grip and the entry as pulling spider guard, I'm sure you can find all of the other major submissions too, like you have been doing.
Aesopian
6/01/2006 11:39pm,
Here's the flying/sitting armbar:
1. From standing, I grip his opposite lapel with my right hand like I'm setting up a collar choke. My left hand holds his sleeve at right elbow.
2. My right foot steps on his right hip and stretches him back to bend him over as...
3. I sit down, spinning my head counter-clockwise (so my hips spin to the left) and throw my left leg over his face. Make sure you pull his elbow in deep and lift your hips high.
4. I finish the armbar by squeezing my knees, pulling his head down with my left leg (like I want my foot to touch my butt) and lifting my hips. My hand comes off his collar and holds his wrist to make sure his arm stays extended and his thumb is pointing off my chest.
It can be made to work with no gi if you use your right hand to grip the back of the neck and your left hand to grip your opponent's right tricep.
It can be seen here (about a minute though):
http://www.chitown-vidz.e-places.net/throwdown11/zingvsna3.avi
Disclaimer: I suck at bjj and it's sloppy like a mofo.
Aesopian
6/02/2006 11:39pm,
The backwards triangle goes like this:
You're going for an omoplata on their right arm but they posture up and turn into you to escape.
You switch your legs and catch their head in a triangle. The only problem is that his arm is still in the omoplata position and you can't get a good angle for the choke. He may even grip his arms together behind your legs to stop you from moving your hips.
Slide your right hand against the inside of your right knee (next to his head) and switch your legs, bringing your left foot to your right hand and grabbing your ankle to keep his posture broken.
Reclose your triangle on this side. You've now got the triangle locked the "wrong" way, thus the "backwards" in the name.
But due to the position, you can use his right shoulder and your right thigh against his neck to submit him. Squeeze your knees together and hug around your knees to affect the choke. The finishing pressure isn't really how hard you lift your hips or pull on his head but how tightly you bring your knees/thighs together. This is true of normal triangles too, but even more so here.
