About Mike Bidwell
Mike the “Spider-Ninja” Bidwell is a BJJ Black belt under Phil Migliarese and Ken Kronenberg. Mike Bidwell is also well known as full time BJJ blogger, check out his website BJJ After 40 or his Facebook page. Mike was a BJJ Brown belt from 2001 to 2014! Clip of his path from Brown to Black belt was an unbelievable voyage… below.
Below is a sneak peek on what Jiu-Jitsu Brotherhood, Black belt Nicolas Gregoriades and Mike Bidwell’s collaboration have to offer…
Some Video Content Reviewed
I’m not an expert, however, devil are in the details and buying this would be a good addition to any BJJ video content collection. I love the small detail about the bicep forearm pump to finish for a better grip from the baby restraint which appears to be a variation of the typical seatbelt grip.
I love the inside kimura grip control from a hinged breakdown, from closed guard concept. This appears to be similar to an arm drag control, but without pulling the arm through. Mike Bidwell then shows a bunch of chaining from a closed guard hip bump set up to various control positions and submission… basic and very optimal on some uses of reactions.
Might I add, easy to understand?
- Sweep to mount
- To face or gift wrap
- To back take
- To baby restraint
- To bow and arrow or RNC for Nogi
- etc…
Some nice details for standard Americana and chaining to other various submissions
- Arm triangle
- Wrist lock
- Bow and arrow variations
Gi Submissions… #boomdigity!
Again I’m not an expert, but I love these kind of submissions. #gistrangles4life! For those that know me and how I roll lol. Gi, Gi & Gi. They might not work on a everyone, but they will absolutely work on a non-trained opponent, if put into a random scenario to do so… you never know. The more tools in your tool set to deal with variant situations eh??… shit is slick, #word, like his video’s he post on his Facebook page, in which others may criticize. Clip of Mike’s Kimura sweep counter sweep’s below from the instructional.
Live Rolling
During open mat, I managed to execute the hip bump sweep with the reverse kimura grip control, to attack the back, and an obvious bow submission was the conclusion. I tried one of the Gi lapel subs on a brown belt… with no luck, just got legged locked lol. But hey, if it were in the street, dude had no grappling experience, had me in an awkward position and I got a hold of their jacket, being if he was wearing one, which usually they are in northern Canada, especially in the winter… boom!!! Strangling will occur! A lot can be learned if you open your mind!!
Mounted Ninja lapel attack?
Just saying… get the video lol or show up to one my Sunday morning BJJ classes, and I may be doing a rundown on this strangle.
Conclusion
One thing to note is that I’m not a Black belt, I’m only a drop in the ocean regarding my expertise in BJJ, hence a great choice of demographic to review what an expert of the field has decided to provide regarding a choice of their instruction to a non-Black belts!
I have a few advanced level buddies that hate his content… but eh, to each their own? it’s their loss. I once read somewhere from a very high level…Very very high level BJJ practitioner who is actually Brazilian and BTW trains and teaches Jiu-jitsu, state that,
“the first rule to perfect your Jiu-jitsu is to never be death to other people’s knowledge,”
Wonder who that may be?
I’ll tell yah, I have learned from White belts lol… so why not him?
Open the mind brah… open the mind!!
For beginners though?? ummmm No dice, due to the elements of chaining, from one attack to another playing on reaction, to the others, usually built upon sensitivity in the time built from rolling on the mat, however the video is basic enough to cover execution on the classic hip-bump sweep and mount attacks, which may eventually, in turn, help develop a foundation to move into other movements, multiple chaining of positions and submission attacks. Awesome thing was that he also showed Nogi scenarios as well, and the zooming in was cool! Video was clear and crisp. I guess at the end of the day, repping or drilling them out a million times wouldn’t hurt, then drilling them with different levels of intensity wouldn’t hurt niether.
Big picture is your still training BJJ…
I’m not getting any younger homies. Been training since 2008, in fact 38 years of age currently as of a few days ago. This is a great video for those that want to continue their BJJ journey and open other insights creatively in their self-expression of their Jiu-jitsu. I may never be a world champion Black belt, I train sometimes like a world champion Blue belt, however Jiu-jitsu is for everyone, learning from everyone will only help its continued growth nad its just plain fun!
Overall, I thought it was clear and concise on what was being taught, definitely not for White belts, but a good resource to have when you’ve developed the fundamentals and want to branch out from the norm to help structure the development in being creative for your own game and development of strategy. Not going to lie, I have watched his videos on Facebook numerous times lol, I won’t be hitting any advance BJJ guys with it, but you never know, just gotta rep them out a million more times. However, at least I have some new tools in my game when an opportunity ever arises with a solution for the right scenario. But seriously though, I think his shit is pretty slick!!
Again, devil are in the details, and buying this would be a good addition to anyones BJJ collection for reference.
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