A math question first.

An idiot (with a bad back) trains in a dojo at a rate of 25 Jujigatame (Standing to lying armbar) per hour for three hours.

Q: how much pain is the idiot in at the end?

Q: What is the speed of the other train?

Q: how many oranges are left?

This week we concentrated on studying Juji-gatame / straight arm bar from standing to lying with all the details so that it makes it very difficult for your opponent to counter at any point. Of course in real combat it’s not as easy as that but if you train right then your chances are much higher. As most of you know Juji is used as a finishing move in many submission tournaments but it’s also quite useful done from a standing position. This is the old jiu-jitsu and Judo method that used to be taught. That’s what we covered this week. The move is also common in Kali too. It’s important to grab the groin as you go down as it prevents them from hitchhiking their way out to escape. They escape in the direction of the thumb and you break the arm the opposite way. If you’re going to escape then you have to go early and get the leg from on top of your head but it’s not impossible to do.

The best example I ever saw of this wasn’t a flying arm bar as I’ve often seen done but one of my young Blackbelt candidates doing it in his exam. Anthony Shackell was fourteen at the time. We’ve never graded at this age but in this one black belt we did. Anthony had been at the club for a long time and always trained with the adults. Even attending a legendary hard camp in the Isle of Wight. No-one get any special treatment in the black belt tests it’s the same for everyone. Everyone gets bashed and tested to break point. His opponent in his Black belt sparring was Ken Fergus a giant of a man. Ken had a twenty three inch upper arm and a big scar down his face from a childhood accident. He looked and was fearsome as a fighter. Twice the size of Anthony there was no chance for the youngster who evaded and moved so as not to get hit. Then in a surprise move  Anthony simply ankle swept Ken stepped over his head as he fell and arm barred him on the ground. David against Goliath. The Black belt panel that day (Terry Barnett, Ralph Jones and I ) turned around and looked at each other and all thought. ‘Well there’s a black belt! ‘

On another occasion my friend Willy Mohan a long time policeman (who we didn’t pass at black belt even though he was a legendary fighter ) used the same lock after a sweep to arrest a guy in Camden passage islington then calmly radioed in his position and call for assistance whilst keeping the guy in the lock. So it pays to study the detail well but in the end it’s down to you to find the timing and the opportunity to use it. You know it works. Good luck.

Lots of us are now on facebook and twitter so check us out there. Plus we’ve started putting some clips on Youtube. We’re starting slow but will soon be up to speed. I hope you like it.  I know that I’m a bit of a luddite with this stuff but trying hard and it’s easier to let people know what’s happening on a daily basis and give you updates on seminars training and general news. Plus you can check out technique basics on Youtube.

Roger Barnes wife Susan is now on Facebook too so send your support her way I’m sure it will be appreciated. B.I.G instructor Steve Fan is now out of hospital after his tumour operation and i’m sure he’ll like the support too. Anyway, back to the future!

ps Youtube check out bobbreenacademy. Twitter check out bob_breen

Knife Defence is obviously the new game in town. We have our very popular Knife Day on September the 6th. This really is the cutting edge of martial arts. Our monday Knife Defence class is also doing great and one of the most popular classes of the week and the standards very high now due to incessant drilling and training hard. Knife is the most difficult area to get down so it needs lots of work but the attributes rub off onto everything else you do. Positioning, awareness, speed, footwork it all gets worked hard plus you learn to have a killer instinct. Check out our clips on Youtube. We’ve got some basic stuff there and a little ad hoc video of Steve Wright and I playing disarms but we’ll be putting lots more up real soon. See you on URBAN KNIFE DAY.. 6TH SEPTEMBER!

Ian Oliver’s hugely successful Boxing Fitness book has now been turned into a training DVD and is available from the club. Ian has done a great job assisted by some of the Academy A team. Dave Birkett, Corey Donoghue and others. If you don’t have the time to get into training or just want to learn more from one of the best coaches around then give it a spin. Let ‘Fighting dad’ lead you to success.

We have a grading coming up soon and everyone is training hard for it. The standard is pretty high at the moment with a few people going for second brown. Last time we had a very good grading with lots of people going for grades from yellow to second brown belt. On the night we had a couple of very good blue belts who pushed the brown belts very hard. Some candidates who really knew there stuff and sparred well got first class grades including Tuan Nguyen, Suleiman Cetin, and Richard. All in all the standard was high.  As in all these things it’s about knowing your stuff so that you drive the practice not depending on a compliant partner to help along the process. Sparring was good and strong though too many lightweight people sought to trade blows with heavier people and came off worse. The thing to do here is  sting and move. Don’t be there. Worth noting was that many of the techniques that were featured in the grading worked all the time in the sparring in particular the low jab to high left hook and the single trap on the lead hand followed by a combination.  Let’s hope that in the September grading we keep up the same excellent work.