Posted: 27 July 2007 at 00:33 | IP Logged

I've notice that Brazilian Top Team have got a school right near where I live and they are doing MMA classes as well as BJJ. I'm very tempted to check them out.

Anyone else train with BTT? Are they any good?

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 00:00 | IP Logged

Well I've signed up for a week of free classes starting next Monday.

Monday is BJJ with a Gi, Wednesday is a beginners BJJ class, Thursday is MMA/Vale Tudo and Saturday is another BJJ class.

Really looking forward to the MMA class as thats what I want to have a go at. I'll let you know how my week goes.

Posted: 31 July 2007 at 22:47 | IP Logged

Mate, try it and see how you go, different things work for different people!

Let us know how you find it

Posted: 06 August 2007 at 22:29 | IP Logged

Had my first BJJ lesson today.

My first impressions were a bit suspect as the gym is quite small and a bit grotty looking, but once the class started I really enjoyed it.

It was good also because the class was unusually small, the instructor said there were usually more people, but this meant I could get eased into it better.

For the first hour, we worked on escapes from side control, full mount and when someone has your back, reversing position from guard, applying and escaping arm bars and applying a heal lock.

The second hour was drills and sparring.

One person would pin me and just try to hold the position while I tried to escape. It was most satisfying when I managed to escape and get in their guard or get in side control

The next lesson is on Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to that.

Posted: 08 August 2007 at 23:01 | IP Logged

OK, had my second lesson. Really enjoyed it too.

We worked on some escapes and position reversals. Some of the same ones I did on Monday but also some new ones. Also worked on applying a triangle choke.

This was the first time I have been on the receiving end of a choke and can now appreciate how uncomfortable they are!

We ended the class with some sparring, the guys I spared against obviously took it very easy on me, but I was quite pleased with how I did. I even got in a few armbar attempts, although they escaped from them pretty easily. I got choked out a lot

I found I was getting into side control or even full mount, but then I didn't know what to do next! Obviously that will come with time.

Tomorrow is MMA which I have been looking forward to, so I'll let you know how that goes.

Posted: 10 August 2007 at 21:02 | IP Logged

Had the MMA lesson last night.

We spent the first part of the lesson working on take downs - double leg and single leg. Admittedly, this is probably the most useless thing for me to learn at the moment as the last place I want to be in a fight is on the ground!

We then went through some submissions - knee bar and another one which I don't know the name of, from side control you come up with one knee on opponents stomach and strike to the face then back to side control, repeat a few times the on another repeat, you switch knees and step all the way around so you are sitting on your opponents stomach, grab the back of their neck and pull up until you get the submission.

Then for the last part of the lesson we did some sparring.

I had a go with one guy, as I guessed I did well while the fight was stand up, I was able to land punches and kicks and wasn't troubled by my opponents strikes but he didn't let the fight stay standing up for long and easily took me down. Once on the ground I didn't stand a chance and he arm bared me continually!

The only time I gave him any trouble on the ground was when he took me down I managed to get an arm round his neck so I was on the bottom, but I had him in a head lock. I tried to choke him, but didn't have my arm in far enough but I was stopping him from doing anything else.

It was a good lesson and I have more bruises and scratches to add to my collection!