Gi Review: Shoyoroll Batch 11: "The Count" Maeda Edition

Ladies and gentlemen, after 4 months of waiting, the newest Shoyoroll has been shipped to customers worldwide. I am not one who supports the idea of pre-ordering a jiu jitsu gi and having them take my money 4 months in advance, but Shoyoroll is notoriously hyped in the BJJ world as being a premier gi that fits like no other. So I bit the bullet. I don't spend my money on much, mostly because I'm a poor college student, but I was in the market for a new gi anyway. The biggest reason is because although I love my Keiko Raca Limited Edition blue gi jacket, the pants are awful. Seriously Keiko, where do you get off selling these crappy pants? Anyway, I digress. How does the new Shoyoroll measure up? Let's begin. And please note, these are POST-WASH measurements. I'll talk more about this later in the review.

The kimono top feels great. There was a small amount of bunching at the back shoulders, but the wash (warm) and hot, complete dry seems to have fixed that. Before the wash, the cuffs stopped about a half inch above my wrist. Post-wash (actually 2 washes later, since I rolled in it last night after the initial shrink), it's about 3/4" above the wrist. Quite honestly, it fits almost perfectly. One thing that I really like about the Keiko Limited kimono is the tapered collar that curves downward. It's a different style, and there's more material. Merely a matter of opinion, I would think. This shoyoroll is definitely lighter. Less material overall, and a different weave (pearl, compared to Keiko's gold). This of course also factors into the shrinkage issue. Here are some more pictures of the kimono.

Lining looks fancy. Stitching is a bit crooked.

Close-up of the trademark patch.

Let me quickly address the stitching on the kimono. Some others who reviewed the previous model shoyorolls have griped about the crooked contrast stitching. This model is by no means perfect, but it's pretty damn good, in my opinion. Nothing is too muffed up looking. The seam tape is also straight all around. I think Shoyoroll fixed any problems they had with previous manufacturers, which is good. Now, on to the pants!

I'll cut straight to the point: these pants are perfection. They feel custom made. There is no excessive bunching in the crotch area, and there is the RIGHT amount of material, given the size, at the waist so I don't look like I stuffed a pillow over my ass. The cuffs are slim and don't provide an excessive amount of material for easy gripping. The crotch is reinforced with a slice of gold weave gusset, and the inside of the knees, pictured below, are reinforced with a layer of gold weave for extra durability.

Post-shrink. Honestly, the cuffs lost maybe 1/4". I'm talking virtually zero shrinkage here. Enough for it to pretty much form-fit you.

Side.

Front.

Here are some stats for you. I'm 5'10", about 147lbs, and the gi size is A1L. This is apparently a new size from Shoyoroll that is made for taller, skinnier guys. As you can see, even out of the box the thing fits wonderfully. For those unfamiliar with the weave, "pearl" refers to a treated material that withstands shrinkage better than any other weave. From what I can tell, this is true. My Keiko is a gold weave that that thing is STILL making me paranoid to dry it, even 6+ months after I got it.

The Shoyoroll, on the far right, boasts the thickest collar. This could be attributed to wear and tear on the other two (blue is the Keiko, white on the far left is my pearl weave Alliance gi).

Final picture is the gi bag that came with it. I don't intend to use this, and it doesn't seem to be particularly durable. It took me a minute to realize the glaring typo here ("repsect"). I know it isn't the gi, but they should have made sure this didn't happen.

The retail price of this gi was $165 + $15 in shipping. On a scale from 1-10, I have to give it a 9/10. By comparison, given my complaints about the Keiko pants, I would have given that gi a 6.5/10. Shoyoroll needs to kill their waiting period and have gis ON HAND. I also expect a premium gi to NOT have typos on any part of the package.

Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave any questions or comments, and please subscribe to the blog for future gear reviews and more thoughts from a grappler!

3/7/12- Gi

Let me just start off by saying that the new gym looks baller. The ring is badass and the Zebra mats are super nice. Plus the finish on the mats is such that I will never get mat burn again. Great success!! Even the old wrestling mat is pretty comfortable and it serves a purpose on the other end of the room as additional mat space.

Worked some wrestling with Johnny teaching. Went over pummeling for double underhooks, locking up your hands and getting them to the ground with really any kind of trip. Also drilled the over/under position with an inside trip on the underhooked side as well as the outside trip on the underhooked side. After this, we drilled technical armbars from guard, scissor sweeps, and then combo'd them together.

We have a bunch of new folks already which is pretty awesome. A couple guys my size and even smaller. One is Reid, about 125lbs and another new guy I met today named Brad, who's probably around 135-145. I rolled with Brad and although the dude was a white belt, he put on a hell of a fight. Pretty close to blue belt I would think. I pulled guard but he wouldn't let me close up and pushed combat base from the beginning. I struggled to make anything happen from half guard because he had good shoulder pressure and was doing everything he should have been. He wouldn't let me get the underhook there either, and he ended up passing my guard a few times. He wasn't particularly tight from there and I reversed him a few times and snagged a nice inverted triangle off a scramble. Second roll, he got swept off my butterfly hooks (I think) and tried for an armbar but I defended well, blocked his triangle transition and passed into side control and north/south and the round ended. Actually a pretty chill, super technical match with him. Looking forward to rolling more. Rolled with Johnny and got raped as expected. Closed out the night with Antony and a bunch of back and forth until the end minutes when he mounted a few times.

We actually have a bunch of people now but I've yet to see some of the other, more regular people.

Rolling No-Gi with Casey!

I guess everyone was super hungover from Saturday night because no one else showed up! That wasn't my excuse though. Their loss anyway, because I got some great practice in rolling with Casey.

I went over some tips on how to secure the rear-naked choke when your opponent is fighting tooth and nail to keep your arm off their throat. Pretty much, I'm going to need to AGGRESSIVELY slide my arm across their neck if I want the choke. I guess I'm too complacent. The RNC is a super important, bread and butter submission and I want to work on making it high percentage for me. This means going for it whenever I have the back. Nothing else. No collar chokes, no armbar transitions, just being patient and fighting for it. Some tips included trapping their arm, which I'm capable of doing but I need to do it more often. Monkey-pawing the non-choking arm and keeping it out of the way, then forcing your knuckles across their throat and looking for the palm-to-palm or bicep grip. Also remember that if necessary, you can pull the non-choking arm out and look for the choke that way. Finally, if they try to slide out of back mount over your choking arm, you can lock arms, let them slide out and pull around for the arm-triangle.

Rolled for over an hour and just felt super smooth, technical and dynamic. No injuries and my mind felt clear. Played a lot of butterfly and De La Riva and actively looked for the hook and sickle sweeps. Tried some X guard but I'm pretty incompetent there. Overall it was a great night of rolling and I definitely see a difference rolling with Casey now. Biggest thing: not as intimidated and not feeling nearly as out of my element as I was a year ago.

In related news, this all took place at the all new Megalodon MMA in Watkinsville. Yep, our own gym. We have the ring set up, dressing rooms, locker rooms office space and a kiddie area. It's awesome and in prime location in the heart of town. Definitely gonna get some high school wrestlers in there to choke and armbar. Can't wait! Zebra mats should be coming in today, and I'm sure my knees will be less bruised in the long run. Super excited to never go into Athens Tae Kwon Do again. Stigma! "It's not a TKD gi, I actually use it to choke people!! I train in a real, practical martial art! I swear!"

Advanced Gi Half-Guard Techniques

We had a rather small class today consisting of me, Michael, Coe and Ian. Casey was sick and couldn't make it.

Started off with some armbars, triangles and omoplatas from guard to warm up, then Coe showed us some judo stuff. One could be used when you cross sleeve grip your opponent and gain access to their back. Reach around to their armpit and try to trap or trip their near leg. When they step back to avoid the trip, you can hook their far leg, above the knee with your instep and roll backward, ideally landing on top.

Worked some Lucas Lepri half guard techniques which I want to implement into my game. One was the lasso pass from "quarter guard" for when you're trying  to knee-cut pass and they turn into your trapped calf. You're pulling up on their same-side arm and lasso-ing your free leg around their head and dropping, then switching, your hips into side control. Second technique was if they under hook or bodylock your opposide side (not trapped leg side). You grip their arm and you can walk your free leg up to their neck and hit a monoplata, gogoplata or straight armlock. Final half-guard tech was if they're blocking you from lasso-ing your leg around by grabbing gi material. Underhook that arm and cross face, dropping your weight and releasing their grip. You can then knee cut over their belly, switch your hips and take side control.

Rolled in a gauntlet and managed to hit the double underhook pass twice. Boa!

Standing Guard Passes and Top Game

It's all about the standing guard passes. I've been having a ton of success with them, and although they can still be very sloppy, I'm making them work more than ever before. Consequently, my top game has been improving. Better side control, easier time maintaining mount and less struggling for control in top half guard. I've been working wrestling a lot more thanks to Johnny's instruction on Wednesdays, and it's translating to me feeling more comfortable with takedowns and transitions from guard to single-legs. I've been securing back mount much more as well. Thing is, my attacks from the back are not where they should be. I need to work rear naked choke, collar choke variations and the occasional armbar transition.

I've noticed higher percent Torreando passes and double-under passes. The former will sometimes allow me to pass to side control or knee-on-belly, but the latter is harder to finish into side control. When I do get it working, I can usually scope out a path to their back by driving their hips away with my shoulder. Nothing wrong with that, though.

Sweeps from guard have been getting better. I've committed the opposite scissor sweep variant to muscle memory and it's been super high percentage lately. I want to integrate the hook and sickle sweeps and De La Riva sweeps into my standing sweep game and continue using the bread and butter ones for a sitting opponent.

So, the thing that's really glaring in my head right now is back finishes. Nothing else too major and I feel like my game has been steadily improving in nearly all facets.

Gi: 1/25

Started off training with Johnny teaching some wrestling stuff. Single legs, specifically. He taught the one where you pull their leg out with you completely on the outside (not with it trapped between your legs), reach around and trip them down. Also the one where they try to crossface your head to the outside and you have to act quickly by turning the corner toward their free leg as opposed to the other way. I suck at describing takedowns. Johnny mentioned he's doing TDs on Wednesday now which is cool. I need to work my wrestling more. Just hope my kneecaps don't get fucked up too badly.

Casey went over the kimura from north/south and armbar transition. Both among my highest percentage attacks. Third attack was you grabbing their own far side lapel with your laced through arm (as if going for the kimura but not grabbing the wrist of your other hand; instead you grab their lapel from under their belt), tie up their arm, drop your weight and take the paper cutter. Hadn't seen that technique before, but I like it.

Rolled with Sergio and Antony. Played some good guard with Antony. Had some great hip movement and tried working De La Riva with little success. Rolled with Michael at the end and had the scissor sweep variation sweep, guard passing, etc. Nothing too remarkable to report on.

1/20 Gi: Nut Shots and Turtle Rolls

Did some warm ups which involved running around the gym, double legging the heavy bags and taking down the last person to run the circle, then getting taken down yourself. Worked the baseball bat choke, the lapel choke where you pull your own lapel, the one closest to their head (when you're in side control), feeding across their neck and spinning to north/south for the finish. I think it's called the Jacare choke on youtube. Maybe. Also worked the modified bow and arrow from crucifix, which you achieve from side control after jacking their lapel up to their neck and passing behind their head.

Drilled from side control then rolled with Sergio and Antony. Some triangles and armbars for Sergio but Antony and I had some great competitive rolls. Our last one had some epic scrambles. I escaped to turtle at one point and rolled through while controlling his leg and managed to recompose guard. Felt pretty good about that. At the end, JC and I ganged up on Coe but ended up losing miserably. Although it doesn't really count because Coe insisted on kicking me in the nuts. The damn cup slipped and caught a testicle at one point which sucked so fucking much.

Been taking the back a lot more than before which is nice. Still gotta work on securing the submission that I want without being forced to transition because of sloppiness.

No-Gi: 1/15/12

Got to the gym at 6pm and rolled with Josh until the main class at 7:30. He got me in his ridiculous Rick Flair style kneebars off my De La Riva attempts. If I'm gonna do that, I probably need to better control his wrists. Worked some open guard since I can't ever establish closed with him, got choked, armbarred, etc. Didn't want to over train since I got over a cold this week and energy-wise, I wasn't back to 100% yet.

Sat out most of the main class and watched. Two new guys were there. One might have been a UGA student and the other was a young guy who recently moved to the US from Germany. The techniques were arm-triangle from mount --> side control finish, keylock from scarfhold and some sort of neck crank. I tried watching them roll but it was torturous; new guy kept struggling to get out of JC's guard (expected) but his arms were posted super high near JC's shoulders and no armbar was occurring. Thus, he kept posting his arms high and thought it was OK. Michael kept RNC'ing the German guy (Roland, I think) until the guy realized he needs to protect his neck. I stepped in to roll with about 20 minutes left. Got Michael in an ankle lock, RNC'd Roland a bunch and armbarred the other guy into oblivion. Gave him some tips at the end on how to avoid getting your arm cranked such as don't extend it when in a bad situation, posture up in guard, etc. I think they both signed up, so fresh meat to train with.

In other news, I think butterfly hooks are my new bestest friend. I've been using them a lot to sweep, prevent passes and such. Combined with improved hip movement, I'm seeing my guard continue to evolve and improve. Looking forward to some gi on Wednesday.

No-Gi: 1/8/12

Fun night of no-gi action. Worked some more Z guard techniques. One was a pass where you reach down behind their top leg and monkey paw right above the knee on the bottom leg. Grab a hold of their bottom arm wrist, plant the top of your head into their stomach, kick back the trapped leg and pass into side control. The counter to that was to fight back and control THEIR wrist (same one trying to grab yours) and push their head downward into the ground. When you get enough space, you can recompose guard. We also discussed how you can counter the pass by controlling their monkey pawed arm wrist (thumb up for you), slide your shin into the bicep and work leg lasso position for the bicep slicer, the sweep (controlling their closest leg and kicking out), or spinning under and around for the omoplata.

Rolled with JC, Katie, Sean and Fausto, who's finally back from getting his Master's out of state and will be training with us while he looks for work. I felt like I had my strongest no-gi night possibly ever. Worked on maintaining good posture control, over/underhooks, head control and working submissions from guard and playing with hooks. Got tons of sweeps, played top game and worked passing, hit some nice transitions including armbar --> flower sweep --> armbar finish with opponent on his back, triangle-based sweeps, mounted triangle attempts, head scissor finish from north/south, etc. Felt really relaxed and in control the entire night, never losing guard and imposing my offensive game to the fullest. Even got out of JC's closed guard and passed/mounted/dismounted/north-south. Passing his closed guard is definitely an accomplishment because he's got those crazy long legs and can hold you there for ages while you gas out defending submissions.

All in all it was an awesome night. I need to work on getting used to more no-gi because the gi feels like a security blanket at times, even though I know my ground game is really solid right now.

The Power of the Blue Belt

There are a lot of people that make snide comments about shiny, expensive gi's and gear, saying "I hope these make my armbars better", etc. Well, there's something to that. New stuff, including a new belt rank, DOES make you better. How? The grappling game is part physical, part technique, and a whole lot mental. Sometimes a new piece of gear will give you that confidence you need to get your game to the next level.

When I replaced/retired my shrinking white Alliance gi from my lineup and put on a slick new blue Keiko Raca, I definitely felt more solid: because I looked fucking pimp. Now with the blue belt, I not only feel pimp-er, but I feel the need to kick my game up to the next level. It's like I can't take mediocrity. How does this directly translate? A HUGE problem with newer grapplers is the inability to get out of a bad situation if you're gassed or feel it's pointless. I feel the need to FORCE myself to escape from bad positions. I have that extra breath. I will not settle for complacency! Why did I have the tendency to "chill" in certain positions (eg: guard, mount)? That is not acceptable, because if you're not on the offense, the other person is.

Constantly attack. Show no mercy.

I felt great tonight, back in training for the first time since December 19th when I was promoted. I was fierce and constantly attacking. Using hooks to sweep. Armbars. Back to guard. Cross-sleeve control. Throw that nigga around. Take the back. Give me your fucking neck.

We worked some Z guard stuff. Triangle, Omoplata, Mir lock and some straight armbar options. I was familiar with all this stuff as I play a lot of Z guard, but I usually opt for the armdrag --> back take. I'm going to work on implementing more of these attacks as Z guard is my prime half guard position. Also, as mentioned, work for the underhook and check out the sweep options. I don't intend to explicitly work on deep half any time soon, but if it happens, it happens.

As a bonus, checked out the berimbolo position... but much like my initial attempts at tornado guard, I couldn't figure out the mechanics of the position enough to take the back. I *may* continue to work this out, because it's an awesome counter to the combat base (or standing de la riva); and I need something like that in my game. Check out the video. Warning: very fancy.