A Weekend with Henry Akins (Seminar at Quest Martial Arts Chandler October 27-28, 2018)

Pressure and connection. Pressure and connection are two terms that describe attributes that are commonly held in high regard in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.  As a practitioner with some experience, I thought I had a really good handle on what heavy pressure and solid connection felt like. On the weekend of October 27th and 28th of 2018 I had the opportunity to visit my friend Michael Stinson’s dojo, Quest Martial Arts Chandler, and attend a seminar taught by Mr. Henry Akins. After attending this seminar I have a much better understanding of what is possible in terms of dynamic pressure and and solid connection.

Once Michael told me that he was going to be hosting Henry I made sure that I was going to be able to attend.  For one thing, Michael’s dojo is in one of our favorite parts of the country. As far as learning from Henry, I was really excited for the opportunity.  I’ve seen several videos on social media of Henry teaching and the amazing thing is that from his short video delivery of the material I have been able to almost immediately employ what he’s teaching after just watching it once.  In fact, one of my favorite and most successfully used take-downs came from a Henry Akins video. I felt that if I could learn that much just from his videos then I should really be able to get a ton from training with him in person. I was right.

I first met Henry right before the seminar began.  He was very nice and went around introducing himself to everyone attending and stayed very approachable during the entire event.  Henry was wearing a wrist brace as a result of a pretty serious motorcycle accident that happened just a few weeks prior. The effects of the wreck didn’t seem to slow him down at all.  

I can’t give you the full seminar content of course, but the overall theme seemed to me to be centered around “pressure” and “connection”, using pressure to establish connection, and using connection to guide and direct your pressure. On day one we explored pressure from different side control applications and applying constant weight as you shift between different types of “cross side” positions.  I’ve felt the uncomfortable “shoulder into the jaw” kind of pressure, but this was something different entirely. Henry was literally able to put so much weight onto my torso that it restricted my breathing significantly, and maintain a crushing pressure as he shifted to accommodate or shut down different escape attempts. Henry’s pressure allowed him to keep me completely flat on my back and if I was able to move I carried his full weight with me, draining my energy very quickly. I am  personally very excited to try to develop these attributes. 

We then looked at using our weight as a weapon from the “bottom guard” position.  As he was setting up the lesson I couldn’t guess where it was going but he taught us all the true power that we had in the guard position that would keep our opponent from being able to stand up to pass along with some cool strategies to stop a “stack” and “double unders” pass.  Again, I look forward to developing these skills personally.

Seminar day two revolved around pressure from the mount and attacks from the mount.  Henry used a “dynamic tension” between the knees to maintain a strong connection while mounted and a hip lift that kept the person on top from being affected by the bottom players hip bridge.  We explored counters to the two most common mount escapes. We also looked at americana setups, cross collar choke details, and attack combinations utilizing cross collar chokes and americanas.

I had several “a-ha” moments and big takeaways from this training experience.  Henry is an impressively skillful instructor and led a very fluid and cohesive seminar. My sense of “pressure” and “connection” will be forever altered and I learned several “why didn’t I think of that” kind of techniques and strategies.  I also feel like I have a better sense of why Henry calls his material “Hidden Jiu-Jitsu”. If I didn’t feel what he was doing I don’t think that I would “get-it”. If you have an opportunity to train with Henry Akins in the future you should do yourself and your Jiu-Jitsu a favor and do it.  

NinjaEveryday.