Master Worlds Trip 2021 Part 1 Preparation and Training

I wanted to get my thoughts down about the experience of preparing and competing in IBJJF Master Worlds 2021.  While I've competed in this tournament 2 other times (2017 and 2019), this is the first time that I helped others prepare.  We went with a good size group this year.  This year Zac Davis and Josh Johnson signed up to compete as well.  I felt like it was on me to share my past experiences and to come up with a plan to help us all prepare.

Preparation

June 23rd Started Line Group: Used a messenger app that we could share all of the details of the tournament and plan our training.

August 8th: Sunday training started

November 11-13: Competition

My personal goals:

• Get better and more confident with stand-up
• Improve gas tank and aggression

Team goals:

• Develop game plans
• Familiarize everyone with the rules
• Describe the experience to help prepare for the chaos of a tournament
• Get to know teammates' personality and games
• Develop coaching relationships

Creating a warm-up

This is a factor of BJJ competition that I think is often overlooked.  With the adrenaline dump we can often go out on the mat and be strong, but it often leads to tightness during the match, muscle burnout, and make it difficult to catch your breath which can exhaust you for your next match.  I tried to emphasize to everyone to pick warm-up exercises that you can do by yourself with limited space.  Things like burpees, push-ups, airplane push-ups, jumping squats, etc.  You really want to get a sweat going before you get on the mat for your first match. 

Making Weight

Making weight was a huge part of the trip.  It's important to know if you can make the weight class that you enter under and if you can feel strong at that weight.  In Jiu-Jitsu you usually have to weigh in on the day if not right before you compete.  It doesn't pay to dehydrate yourself to make a weight class.  Months ahead I changed my diet to use intermittent fasting and that seems to work for me.  I was on weight a couple weeks before competing.  

Check out the rules for the tournament and figure out if you have to weigh with your gi on and how much time you need before you compete.  It can be a tough decision to determine if going down a weight class is worth it.  Competing is stressful enough but limiting calories can have an affect on the fighters mood as well as physical performance.

We all made weight easily, partly because I think their scales are like 5 lbs off at least. But it did cause some stress for each of us.

Sunday training:

For the Sunday training sessions we would start at 8:30 AM and train for a little over an hour.  I would try my best to figure out a theme for each session.  During the earlier sessions we would discuss our A game strategies.  The main topics being a Guard Pass, a Sweep, a Submission, and the Stand-Up strategy.  We did some sessions where we would drill these techniques and then do some rolling.

One of the drilling formats is the Best Case Scenario drill.  This is drilling your A game techniques from standing until submission.  For instance my A game path was to get grips cross collar and sleeve and throw tai otoshi, then go to knee on belly and setup a baseball bat choke.  That was my game plan if everything went according to plan.  

As the training sessions progressed I put a request out to see if others would join us so we could have fresh opponents for shark tank type training.  So Zac, Josh, and I would stay on the mat for 5 to 10 minute rounds while fresh people would cycle in.  I recorded a great deal of these sessions and would put them out on the google drive so everyone could review the training and look for things they needed to work on.

Another topic that we focused on was getting out of bad positions with positional sparring.  This would range from our 8 minute escape type drill to starting in other positions like front head lock and being down 2 points and having to work hard to make a come back.  With time as a factor we really had to learn when to turn it up and use energy when down on points.

Probably the drill that I loved and hated the most was the first to score drill.  We would start standing as if it were the beginning of a match and then go until the first person scored.  Whether that was by take down, sweep, guard pass, or submission.  This was the thing that I wanted to improve on the most.  I believe I've heard that statistically the first person to score is statistically the winner of the match.  I also feel like the more often we can drill the beginning of a match the more prepared we'd be for the adrenaline dump.

Questions  

If you helped us prepare or you have any oppinions on our training camp, please message these to me in Facebook or email me at HapkidoJosh@yahoo.com

What went well?

What would you change for future tournament camps?

Comments for Josh C:

Comments for Josh J:

Comments for Zac:

My Personal Thoughts 

What went well?

Establishing the line chat was helpful I think to keep everyone updated about the tournament and trainings.

I found a lot of benefit in recording the sessions although there was not always the best video angle for everyone.

The training partners that came and helped were awesome and I'm very thankful to have those volunteers.

I felt very prepared concerning my personal stand-up game

What would you change for the future tournament camps?

Nail down who can make it to the trainings each time to be able to better plan the session.  Need enough people to have fresh bodies for the competitors.

Figure out some more good solo warm-up routines for the bullpen

Stress that we'll all have good and bad days and that the training is to instill toughness and winning all of the time is unrealistic

Determining when to rest and take a day off was tough for me.  I trained in some capacity every day and avoided injuries, but could I have had better gains doing harder training and then resting a day?

Personal Goals going forward

• Judo Black
• Continue to stress the stand-up strategies
• More grip fighting
• Train more wrestling
• Guard passing, breaking guard, balance

Thank Yous!

Of course my wife Jennifer deserves a lot of credit for the support, helping me train, and helping me eat right.   I tried my best not to be too moody this time around.  Hopefully I didn't get on her nerves too much.  She's also improved with Jiu-Jitsu recently, I'm excited to see her get promoted to blue belt.

Huge shout out to Conan for traveling with us as our coach.  He was on board since the beginning and it was good having him around while we trained not only to teach us each technical Jiu-Jitsu but also to practice his coaching skills and get to know our personal games better.  He was there for each of us in the bullpen and when we competed.

Another shout out to Krista, Craig, Aaron, and Emily for also traveling with us and their support.  It's good to have a cheering section and people to go out walking, eating, and drinking with in Vegas.  Especially when you're trying to cut weight and they all send you pictures of their heavy lunches ;)  Leading up to competition can be a stressful time and having people to get you a water or sit with you before or after your match.  

For me personally I learned the most from rolling with Jerad and Mike.  They both played huge parts in keeping me sane during the covid shut down times and I gained a lot of skill by rolling with each of them day in and day out.

I was blown away by all of the people that were willing to help us train!  I did my best to figure out everyone that showed up on our Sunday trainings, hopefully I didn't miss anyone.  Conan, Jerad, Mike A, Craig, Aaron E, Hugh, Chris R, Tyler R, Bob, Mike W, Justin M, Cody, Dave M, Tanner, and Tony.  As well as the many rolls with people in classes and open mats.  I honestly felt support from the whole gym.

 

Dummy Drilling Techniques

Warm-up
KOB switch
CPR Armbar
X-Pass
Closed Guard punch to loose Triangle
Butterfly head stand passes

Series
Beginner
Knee cut, Farside Armbar
Double Under Pass to Paper Cutter Choke

Intermediate
Chair Sit Backtake, Arm Trap, RNC
Over/Under Pass, North South Choke or Kimura
X-Pass, KOB, Baseball bat
Straight Ankle Lock, Leg Drag
Leg drag, back Ezekiel
Butterfly Arm Crush, Hook Sweep
3/4 Mount to Rolling Back Take

Combo
Headquarters Passing (X, Smash, Knee Cut)
Guard (Hip bump, kimura, Guillotine)
Guard 2 on 1 (Back, Hip Bump, Butterfly Sweep)

Subs from Positions
Mount: Cross Collar, Armbar, Americana, Triangle, Spiral Armbar, Monoplata, Ezekiel
Side Control: Far side Armbar, Americana, Kimura, Arm Triangle, NS Choke
KOB: Baseball bat choke, Far side Armbar, NS Choke
Back Control: RNC, Cross Collar Choke, Wing Choke, Arm bar, Ezekiel
Closed Guard: Kimura, Guillotine, Cross Collar, Omoplata, Triangle

Sweeps from Guards
Closed: Hip Bump, Scissor, Omoplata
Half Guard: Twist Sweep, Butterfly
Butterfly: Hook Sweep, Arm Crush Hook Sweep, 2 on 1 hook sweep

Transitions:
Mount to Tech Mount, Chair sit to back
Side Control to Knee on Belly to Mount
North/South under armpits lift to Back

Davi Ramos Seminar

With the UFC in town and some due diligence from Ben Landwear and Henry Ems, we were fortunate to have Davi Ramos give a fantastic seminar at our gym. 

He is an ADCC champ as well as an MMA fighter for the UFC with many more accolades.  Further more, he was very friendly, personable, funny, and a great teacher. 

He recently did a podcast interview on Grappling Central that is worth a listen: http://grapplingcentral.com/episode-299-davi-ramos/

Highlight Video:

The techniques and positions he covered were a good mix of basics ending with some leg entanglement work.  I especially liked the small details about a few of the basics that I didn't know.

Passing the Gward

Davi has a very tight passing strategy. We worked from top half guard controlling the legs first then moving up to the hips and finally the arms and head.  He talked about using his finger tips to assist with gripping in no gi.

The first drill consisted of getting the underhook and placing our hand in the middle of the opponent's back and then flattening them with a cross face. The hand on the back part was new to me. Then he emphasized closing the legs tight.

Back control

One of the best tips that I'm going to play around with is pinching the knees while in back control to keep them from turning their shoulders.

We worked on a modified body triangle with moving the foot between legs to avoid the escape.  The big takeaway for the RNC was to use your cheek to help push their head to assist getting the hand behind neck

Kimura

Starting back from our tight top position in half guard we worked on getting the kimura grip and the Davi showed us the back take he used in his recent MMA fight.  We did a shoulder roll, maintaining the grip and when they get up executing kind of a chair sit motion back take. Another good detail here was to hook their shoulder to keep them from getting their back to the mat in transition.

From there he also showed us a vicious scissor choke if they don't try to get up out of the kimura trap.

Armbar from ADCC

Davi talked us through how he setup the armbar in the video below. By repeatedly tying up Lepri's neck and gauging his reactions, until he finally saw his moment to jump into the armbar. We worked on that for a while but I don't think I'll be pulling it off in open mat anytime soon. Well maybe on Mike Wilson.

Q & A

After this he opened it up for some questions. He talked us through his thoughts on half guard. He likes a shallow half with a good bottom hook. He also went over defending a triangle with hip positioning.

Leg Entanglements

I asked how does he decide when it's the right time to go for ankle locks? He showed several quick transitions that were very smooth. Ben seemed to be ready at any moment to tap.

Davi went back to the tight top half guard position and we drilled back step to toe hold, then rolling into knee bar. This is something I think I can incorporate into my game.  The last technique we worked on was back step to knee bar that they defend with a triangle, we then kind of moved to the saddle position and controlled the other leg to make a similar lock to the Texas Cloverleaf.

New Classes at LBJJC

It was recently announced that new classes would be offered at LBJJC: Jiu-Jitsu Lab and Drilling, Judo for BJJ, and Advanced Youth.  Since I'm teaching one of them I decided to dust off the blog to explain my thoughts on these new additions.

Advanced Youth:

I think it's a great addition as many of the kids are ready for more challenges and more mat time.  I think it will be a great transition to get them ready to eventually move to the adult classes as well as get them ready for competitions.

Judo for BJJ:

I completely vouch for Bob's skills and teaching ability.  I started training for Masters Worlds in early 2017 and Bob was a huge piece of making me feel more confident in my stand-up.  I encourage anyone to attend as we don't always get enough time to work on stand-up especially if the class is packed. 

I was in the office the other day when Greg purchased a crash pad.  This is a fantastic piece of equipment that our school has needed.  It obviously helps the person being thrown to take the fall easier, but it's also great for the thrower to put a little more oomph into the throw.

One of the biggest positives to this class will be learning to fall safely.  This is something I believe all martial artists should be good at.  In fact it may come in useful when the sidewalks are iced over. You'll also be able to decide where the match goes.  You can still pull guard but it's good to also be able to have a few techniques to bring the match to the ground on your terms.  You'll be more difficult to take down.  Your balance will improve and you'll learn body control to avoid being taken down.

Jiu-Jitsu Lab and Drilling:

Drilling has become a quintessential part of my progress in BJJ.  I think it's the best way to incorporate new things to your Jiu-Jitsu and to get the things that you are already good at to that next level.

In early 2017, Greg introduced me and some other students to the Grappling Improvement Plan Sheet and had us choose things to improve on. Along with some techniques that were already a part of my game I added the crucifix position, a position I hardly used unless I accidentally ended up there.  After several weeks of drilling the position when I could it started to become a big part of my game and now I finish submissions regularly from there.  Without putting the time into the position through drilling and just trying to add it in through rolling I think I would have abandoned it long ago.

Class description: Students will fill out a grappling improvement plan worksheet with techniques they want to drill during the class.  The class will have 8 timed drilling rounds and sparring at the end.

Grappling Improvement Plan Sheet: To determine what techniques to put on your sheet, try to find a good mix of things you're already good at, new techniques, and techniques that solve a consistent problem during rolling. Also feel free to contact the coaches that you work with the most and know your Jiu-Jitsu game to get ideas.  

Students are encouraged to research their techniques by finding video instructionals and adding them to the sheet.  There is also a section for recording notes and successes with the techniques throughout the week. 

Class Format: Students will be given 5 minutes to get warmed up and stretch on their own. From there, students will partner up and the timer will be started with 4 minute rounds with 30 second rest for 8 rounds.  

Gi/No Gi: Students are asked to bring both gi and no gi gear to each session.  Currently we will be doing No Gi on the first Monday of the month.  But it is subject to change if we find a schedule that works better.  It is also possible to train both gi and no gi in a given session by wearing a rash guard under the gi top and removing it when needed.

Sparring: students can do positional sparring related to the techniques that they drilled with 2-4 three minute rounds. Finishing with open free rolling.

New students: If a new student attends the class they will be shown 1 or 2 basic techniques (escaping mount, side control, scissor sweep, etc) or techniques from the weekly curriculum.  They will then drill those techniques for all of the rounds.

Technique rules of the gym

This post is about the techniques rules at the gym.  What you can and cannot do at each belt level.  Also some thoughts on how to treat your training partners

A lot of our class rules coincide with the competition rules for IBJJF tournaments.  Here's a link to the IBJJF Rule Book v4.0 in case you're curious but if you've just started Jiu-Jitsu you may want to wait to thumb through it when you've had a couple of months of training.  This PDF might be more helpful as a quick guide: Technical Fouls & Illegal Moves Poster (pdf)

That being said there are a lot of different types of tournaments and rule sets and we'll often modify our training based on the upcoming tournament's rules. Whether that's for points, submission only, gi and no gi, ADCC, no time limit, combat jiu-jitsu, etc.

Remember while it is a combat sport and martial art, we must take care of our training partners.  A common expression is "don't break your toys."  We want everyone to avoid injuries and be able to train as often as they can.  Furthermore, knowing when you need to tap is paramount. 

Techniques that are prohibited for everyone:

Slamming or throws that puts your partners head/spine in danger (suplex)

A common example of slamming is having a person in your closed guard, standing up, and then dropping them to the ground with force and landing on top of them.  There are videos on youtube that are titled "How to get DQ'd in BJJ" It is a very dangerous technique and can cause damage to your training partner's back, neck, and head. 

That said, we should not ignore it completely and learn how to defend against a slam.  Whether it's self defense situation or you are rolling with someone that isn't familiary with our rules it's good to protect yourself.  Here's a decent video with some options: How to Not Get Slammed in the Guard

Small Joint locking (Fingers and Toes)

You are not allowed to grab individual fingers in order to escape a submission or in the process of attempting your own.  You may grab all of the fingers together, but any single digit manipulation is not safe for your training partner. 

Techniques like eye gouging, fish hooks, hair pulling, groin strikes, biting, etc.

These are probably obvious and I'm probably missing some.  Again for self defense purposes we should be aware that these things can happen, but they have no place in our average class. 

Heel hooks and reaping the knee in the Gi

The heel hook is one of the strongest submissions in BJJ and has found some popularity lately in sub-only no gi events.  It is a general rule in Gi BJJ tournaments that heel hooks are not allowed along with reaping the knee because of the added friction the gi provides.

Prohibited techniques for white belts specifically

• Wristlocks: Any pain compliance techniques using the wrist
• Twisting Ankle Locks: Toe Holds, Heel Hooks, Estima Locks
• Knee Bars

Blue belt and above

So that would imply the techniques above are fine for blue belts and above.  I would still stress some caution when it comes to new blue belts or other blue belts you don't normally roll with or visitors to the club.  It's perfectly fine to ask, "what do you think about toe holds and knee bars?" as you slap and bump before the roll.  Once you've established that you and your partner are both good with them, then it's probably fine to use them in future rolls.

Reminder that heel hooks and reaping are not allowed in the gi at any level, only no gi.  

Also it's good to keep in mind that many of these techniques are still not allowed in tournaments that you might compete in, so get familiar with the rules of the tournament you are preparing for.

October 6th & 7th - Cole Franson Seminar

Cole Franson is a brown belt that trains at Tinguinha HQ and is an avid competitor.  Check out some of his matches on youtube.  Greg brought him out to give us a taste of a different style of BJJ from a high level competitor. 

I didn't take as good of notes as I normally do for a seminar so a lot of this is from memory and I probably forgot some of it.  I plan on using much of this as I enjoy guillotines.  I'd like to get good at berimbolos some day but it just hasn't been a focus of mine yet.  I did enjoy the lasso stuff that we did though.

Cole ended up rolling a lot and he looked smooth and always in control.  For my experience rolling with him, I didn't ever feel like I got him in a position that I wanted him in.  I attempted my over/under pass and I couldn't push his foot down between my legs.  I put him in deep half and I couldn't hold him tight to my shoulder.  When I tried to pass his guard he inverted and kind of walked back up into me and reguarded.   So I have a lot to learn still, duh.

We had an unfortunate accident Friday night as my buddy Craig dislocated his elbow while posting on a scissor sweep.  We got him taken care of at the hospital where they relocated it and doped him up a bit. Then back home safely that night. 

I'm in the background wishing I was rolling instead

For some reason we look more happy than we should in this photo.  Probably the drugs

Friday

Techniques Covered:

• Guillotine with chinstrap grip 
• Headlock position
• They defend by grabbing wrist, butterfly hook sweep
• Situp guard: push head to the outside back step sit pass
• Get to Side Control
• Opponent does Side control escape with underhook
• Fall into Guillotine as they situp
• If they don't come up, mount
• If they roll the other way, anaconda

Saturday

Techniques Covered:

• Reverse De La Riva Kiss of the Dragon backtake
•  If they lean back, waterfall to back
• If they lean forward, hold hips to get up
• If they sit balanced and grab feet, grab higher on their lapel and butterfly sweep to one side
• De La Riva Berimbolo Back Take
• Lasso
• Invert to Sweep
• If they switch legs, DLR sweep to invert to omoplata

Beginner Curriculum Technique Companion Links

This week I completed a post for each week of the curriculum.  These are the requirements to get promoted to blue belt.  I've included a link to a youtube video for each technique, unfortunately I wasn't able to always find a video that matched the way we do things 100%.  Please let me know if you find a better video that represents what we do for a given technique or if any of the links are broken. Hopefully this helps you potential woul blue belts out there.

Week 1
Techniques: O-Soto Gari, Basic Side Control Knee Escape, Paint Brush (Americana) from Side Control

Week 2
Techniques: Standing RNC Defense: Seio Nage, Farside Armbar From Side Control, Scissor Sweep

Week 3
Techniques: O-Goshi, Cross Collar Choke from Closed Guard, Armbar from Closed Gaurd

Week 4
Techniques: Standing Headlock Escape to Tani Otoshi, Kneeling Guard Break, Single Under Pass

Week 5
Techniques: Double Leg, Mount: Cross Collar Choke, Upa

Week 6
Techniques:  RNC Defense with O-soto gari, Back Mount: Escape, RNC

Week 7
Techniques: Seoi Nage, Back Mount Lapel Choke, Guillotine from Guard

Week 8
Techniques: Technical Stand-up, Closed Guard: Hip Bump Sweep, Kimura

Week 9
Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Standing Guard Break, Torreando Pass

Week 10
Techniques: Standing Guillotine Defense, Half Guard: Back Take, Recover Full Guard

Week 11
Techniques: O-Soto Gari, Half Guard Knee Slide Pass, Turtle Granby Roll

Week 12
Techniques: Leg Over Headlock Escape, Turtle Turnover to Side Control & Back Mount

Week 13
Techniques: O-Goshi, Back Mount: Wing Choke, Bow and Arrow Choke

Week 14
Techniques: Standing Headlock Escape to Hammerlock, Mount: Armbar, Elbow Escape

Week 15
Techniques: Double Leg, Mount Americana, Side Control Bread Cutter

Week 16
Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Side Control: Tripod Escape, Kimura

Week 17
Techniques: Standing Guillotine Against Wall Defense, Kneeling Guard Break, Double Under Pass

Week 18
Techniques: Seoi Nage, Double Ankle Grab Sweep, Butterfly Hook Sweep, Butterfly Guard Pass

Week 19
Techniques: Headlock Escape to Back Mount, Kneeling Guard Break, Knee Slide Pass

Week 20
Techniques: Koshi Guruma, Basic Triangle Setup

Week 21
Techniques: Basic Open Guard Position, Sweeps, and Submissions (Collar Sleeve Guard)

Week 22
Techniques: Guillotine Defense from Guard, Ezekiel Choke from Mount & Half Guard

Week 23
Techniques: Head Lock Escape Over Head Roll, Straight Footlock and Defense