Waxwingslain's Log

Side submissions

2007-10-02T21:49:00.000+09:00

Submitting your opponent

Whatever submission you are going for, the important thing is to be careful not to give away control when setting it up. The moment when the person on top goes for a submission is very often the moment when the bottom person will make his escape.

Submissions can be roughly divided into armbars, bent armlocks, chokes/collar chokes and leglocks. The possibilities are endless so I’ll leave you with some free videos I found on the net. See if you can figure out how to work them together into flowing combinations!

Americana and Kimura variations

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSwja0FKUMU

Gi choke to armbar or kimura

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnHqYtMP6mU

Arm compression and Shaolin choke variation from side (Spanish)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6GjICTSDds

Choke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNfNh6avg-k

Triangle and kimura from under diaper check

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giZJ-8CtEXI

Far side armbar 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8rp6Fd4ZGE

Far side armbar 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qinDDaDtOc

Odd armbar entry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVoaEJiY9xE

Kneebar from side control

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6280073366392382222&q=bjj+side

Books I recommend

Although the title of this book is Ultimate Fighting, it is in fact devoted to gi bjj techniques. Royce Gracie explains a myriad of useful techniques for finishing the fight from on top of your opponent in a top quality book filled with clear photos.

Rubber Guard

2007-09-19T22:10:00.000+09:00

If you haven't seen this rubber guard video yet, it's worth a look. There used to be 3 of these out there.

Part 1

Highlights from an Eddie Bravo seminar

Rubber guard finishes

Some very rough garage grappling (not me!)

Books I recommend
Both of Eddie's books are well worth a look.

Mastering the Rubber Guard

Jiu-jitsu Unleashed

Locks from Mount

2007-09-13T20:33:00.000+09:00

Locks

Americana

Americana (Off S-mount)

Similar technique

Ryron and Rener armbar (with sweet grip breaking technique)

Armbar (Off a turn to the side)

3 Armbars (Off S-mount)

Knee bar
Move one foot inwards so it rests on the inside of O’s thigh
Spin round to the same side and grab the leg with your arms
Fall off and extend the leg for the kneebar
Apologies for the very basic explanation! I couldn’t find any videos for this One tip I find very useful is, rather than thrusting my crotch forward to get the kneebar tap, I try to extend my whole body, especially my legs.

Neck crank to armbar Notice how Paulson doesn’t fall off to the side – ideally you should never give away top position.

Similar style armbar

Toehold

Toehold from under mount (!)

Books I recommend
No-one should be without this awesome book by BJ Penn. This goes for around £20 in Waterstones so save yourself some money with Amazon.

Chokes from Mount

2007-09-13T19:59:00.002+09:00

Chokes from Mount

“Anaconda Vice”

Arm triangle
Closest clip I could find - from side

Brabo
(Off elbow escape) Check out Bjorn's excellent Brabo instructionals

Cross collar choke
Demonstrated by Ninjas… No-one’s going to lay there while you do this unfortunately.You have to be careful with this one as once you put an arm into the collar you cannot use it to post out when O bridges.

Ezekiel (Gi)The mechanics – shown from guard

Ezekiel (No gi)
Thank you Frodo!

Ezekiel (Own lapel)

Guillotine

Gogoplata
There's a less subtle version of this where you simply bring your shin across O's throat and pull up on the back of his head.

Triangle
It’s not a great example I'm afraid.

Wrist locks

2007-06-01T19:26:00.001+09:00

Simple wrist locks

Wrist locks are an interesting technique in BJJ. Most people don't seem to use them much possibly because they are seen as cheap or liable to cause injury. Another reason they are overlooked might be that people feel they are not the "fight-ending" technique that, for example, a kimura is.

On the other hand (get it? please yourselves), they are extremely painful, they take away the use of one of your opponent's hands and might be easier to explain in court than an armbar. In addition, wrist locks are worth practicing even if all you learn is how to avoid them.

Spazzing out and wrenching your partner's wrists is a good way to make your partner angry, however, when done smoothly wrist locks can be valid techniques. I suggest you mention to your partner that you want to carefully incorporate wrist locks into your roll beforehand if you do not usually practice them.

Basics
To effect a wrist lock, you will need to immobilise the arm at the elbow before bending the wrist either forwards or backwards by pushing on the hand.
To defend a wrist lock, you will need to nullify one of these control points. In other words, either free your elbow or protect your hand.

The simplest way to defend a wrist lock is to bring the other hand over and grab the hand that is being attacked. Accordingly, we need to be alert and avoid situations where one arm is isolated and vulnerable. Without the support of your other hand you are simply going to have to squirm your elbow or hand out of the lock as fast as possible.

Now lets look at some of the positions where we can apply wrist locks. This is by no means an exclusive list!

Side
Control the elbow with both arms with a hugging grip as you use your chest to bend the far wrist inwards. This one won't always be there but the opportunity sometimes arises for it.

Wrap O's lapel around the outside of his arm, trapping his elbow against his body. Secure the lapel with your head side arm. Grab his wrist with your leg side arm and push it inwards for the tap.

Spider web position (sitting out for a juji-gatame/armbar)
O is folding his arm towards his body to escape the armlock, grab his wrist with both hands and pull it in towards you.

Guard
Praying Mantis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wfIT6rz8KQ

A sneaky wristlock can be employed when O stiffarms you back onto the ground. Grab behind his elbow with both hands and sit up, curling inwards and away from his other hand as much as possible. his wrist will be bent back against your chest and he will be forced to tap.

When O has your back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPxltLz0ueU

Omoplata
A wrist lock is an easy way to finish an opponent from the omoplata position. The arm is isolated and held in position by your legs. Simply bend the wrist.

Triangle
You can't really see what's happening here but the wrist lock can be performed on the trapped arm by bending it inwards (the elbow is locked in place by your legs). If he tries to defend with his other arm try switching to a kimura on that arm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXsAGM9Iyak

Switch between the armbar, wrist lock and kimura from the triangle until you get the tap.

Mount
Here's an odd one that shows what you can do if you're creative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUvvOI7bXuM

Random
It's difficult to see clearly but this vid might give you some ideas. The uke screams horribly throughout which is annoying but there are some legit techniques in there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UoghCk_8FE

Standing
Here's a simple standing lock flow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lpKuPDhPh0

An explanation of simple standing wristlocks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVX0UtThpN8

Another flow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vSokq5xoZE

This kali vid has some nice lock flows from about 5.36 onwards.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWSi_X0Gpm4

Hope this has helped!

Closed guard basics

2007-04-17T01:48:00.000+09:00

Closed guard

"How did Ricardo Arona get in my guard? Maybe he took me down, it doesn't matter, maybe I just woke up one morning and Ricardo Arona was in my guard. Here's what I'm gonna do."
Mario Sperry (Stolen from RadBoy's signature!)

Contents

Posture
Good posture for O
Good posture for you
Grips
Unbalancing O
Left/Right
Forward
Backward
General advice
Be active
Relax
Be ready to open your guard
Avoiding submissions
When your guard is passed
Guard techniques
Collar and lapel chokes
Shoulderlocks
Sweeps
Ways to take the back
Miscellaneous
Books I recommend

Posture
Good posture for O
Good posture for O is to be upright, one or both hands controlling your hips in some way, his weight based out making him difficult to sweep. From here O will attempt to open your guard and either pass or attack with a leg lock.
Check the start of this clip with Gustavo Dantas to see an example of such posture.
Here is another example of O taking a strong posture to control the hips.
O will want to keep his arms free so he can post out to avoid having his posture broken/being swept. If you want to sweep him, you have to control the arm on the side you want to sweep.

Good posture for you
You want the opposite of what O wants.

Keep your hands free
Keep your hips free
Keep him off balance
Control his arm/hand on the side you want to sweep

Grips
To break O's posture you will need to get a dominant grip and stop O from gaining a good grip on you. In gi BJJ you can grab the sleeve at the wrist, behind the elbow or inside his collar. Check this clip for some gi grip ideas.
I usually grab across my body (my right hand to his right sleeve, elbow or collar and vice versa). I also like sticking my hand in the collar to threaten the choke and get some good pulling leverage.
In no-gi, you will be looking for underhooks, overhooks and to wrap the neck. Check out this clip for some no gi ideas.
Of course, these positions are possible in gi BJJ too although the feel is different.

Unbalancing O
Once you have your grip, ways to offset O include:

Left or right
Armdrag
Pull one of his arms across his body and hug him to you so that your body blocks the elbow from retracting.
See Frodo do it here.
Note the little bridge he does at the start to help break O's grip.

Forward

Grab and fall

Sit up, grab O and fall back down, using your weight and gravity to bring him forward.

Leg pull

Pull O towards you with your legs. You need to send him off to the left or right at the same time or he may end up headbutting you.

Climb your legs

Whenever possible, I like to climb my legs up O's back. The higher your legs are the easier it will be to transition to armbars and the harder it will be for O to regain posture.

Backward

Push him backwards with your legs.
Pull him forward and when he resists, push him backwards with your legs.
Threaten O's neck with a collar choke. He will instinctively pull back.

This will set you up for the hip bump sweep/kimura/guillotine.

General advice

Be active in your guard

The guard is not a place for you to rest. Constantly pressure O by pushing, pulling and threatening subs and sweeps. The moment he feels safe, O will start to pass.

Relax

Being active doesn't mean spazzing out! Breathe. Attack O logically using good technique and leverage. Pull one of his arms with both of yours. Use your legs to unbalance him. Use your weight to unbalance him. Threaten him with collar chokes and submissions. If you are going red in the face and getting nowhere you are doing something wrong!

Be ready to open your guard

When your guard is closed you actually have very limited mobility. You will need to open your guard to sweep, to submit, to avoid being picked up and slammed if O stands up move, to move into open guard and to stand yourself up.

It is essential that you develop an open guard game as well as a closed guard game. Of the two, I would say a good open guard game is more important. The closed guard is easier to pick up for a beginner but open guard is such a huge part of bjj at the higher levels that the sooner you start to learn it the better.

Avoiding submissions
There are a few submissions O can do to you whilst in your guard. Know them and avoid them.

Can opener

Thrusting choke (tsukkomi jime for any Japanese speakers among you)

Once these are on, escaping or countering requires that you open your guard. Hence, many use these techniques to open a closed guard in order to begin passing. However, they are legitimate submissions so be aware.

In addition, there are numerous leglocks that can be applied once O has opened your guard. You must learn at least the basics of leglock attack and defence.

When your guard is passed
So O opened your guard and you couldn't stop him from passing. Once you've lost the guard battle you begin a fight for posture, usually under side control.

Keep your knees and elbows tight to your body and between you and him.
Do not let O establish a comfortable side control.
Don't let him take the underhook or crossface.
Don't let him flatten you out, try to turn onto your side facing O.
Scramble to use your escapes (turtling, returning to guard, spinning out etc.).

Guard techniques
I have already posted on armbars and triangles from the guard and these are both high percentage techniques. However, there are many more techniques and submissions available from the guard, of which the main ones are collar and lapel chokes, shoulderlocks, sweeps and ways to take the back. Attack with combinations of these to keep the pressure on O.

I will add more to these later!

Collar and lapel chokes

Shoulderlocks

Sweeps
Hip bump sweep
Pedro threatens a collar choke to make O lean backwards

Locked guard sweep
Attacker breaks O's posture forward with a leg pull.

Locked guard sweep 2

Overhook sweep
Check how he takes the overhook grip with his left hand.

Scissor sweep to collar choke/armbar

Some no-gi moves
They work because O has no posture

Ways to take the back

Miscellaneous
Krellik's Lockflow thread

Lockflow techniques resource

Books I recommend
I recommend Essential Guard by Kid Peligro and Rodrigo Medeiros. It contains a wealth of useful information on the guard including nuances of posture and drills to help make your submissions more effective.

Top Mount Basics

2007-04-09T20:18:00.000+09:00

Mount

Posture

Staying on top
“It doesn’t matter how many attacks you know from here if you don’t know how to stay here.” Cesar Gracie on the mount

Arms

Keep your arms free to post. See this video at 2.23.
Use a swimming motion (breast stroke) through his arms or legs to disentangle yourself.
If one arm is caught shift your weight slightly over to the other side to destroy his bridging leverage.
If O catches one arm and bridges before you can shift your weight or you simply cannot stop his bridge, you can base with your head. This is to be done from a low posture as you do not want to be slamming your head into the mat from any great height (or even worse onto concrete!).
Pull up on O’s head to destroy his bridging leverage. Erik Paulson shows how in this video.

Knees
If he is good, O will likely adopt a very tight guarded posture with his elbows tight to his body and his hands protecting his neck

Keep your knees tight to his sides.
Do not sit on top of his arms or he will escape “out the back door”.
Do not let him jam an elbow inside your knee for the elbow escape.
Move your knees up under his armpits when possible (any time O raises his arms) - ideally go to the knee clamp position. Try setting up the knee clamp by threatening a choke (O will raise his hands to defend).
Hold the top of his head to stop him wriggling away from you – Erik Paulson shows how in this clip.

Weight

Stay loose and relaxed.
You don't have to sit down heavily on O, doing so will actually give him more bridging power.
Keep your feet tight to O's body to give you extra "grip" when he bucks.
Let the guy on the bottom tire himself out trying to escape, inexperienced guys will likely panic when mounted and expend lots of energy trying to buck you off.
Be ready to lean back, post out or shift your weight slightly to one side to deal with the bridge.
Be ready to turn to the kneeling mount shown here.

Demonstration
The swimming motion and the lean are demonstrated by Cesar Gracie at the start of this clip. Cesar also demonstrates the knee clamp, how to set it up and two submissions (armbar and Americana).

Clip no longer available...

Basic Escapes
Everyone uses these and you will have to know how to deal with them. Below each escape I list the various motions you can use to counter.

Bridge (upa)

Lean back.
Post out with your arm(s).
Base with your head.
Shift your weight slightly to one side.
Pull up on his head.

Elbow escape

Keep knees tight.
Turn to kneeling mount.
Counter with Brabo.

Giving you the back

Take the back and flatten him out.
Turn into the kneeling mount.

Double/Single leg escape (O brings his leg(s) around your chest to lever you off)

See a single leg version here (awful sound).

“Swim” with a breast stroke motion through the legs.
Be aware of it, the faster you can respond to this one, the more likely you are to retain mount.

Back door

Don’t sit on his arms.
Turn around very fast if he gets out.

More escapes
Play around with these Roy Harris escapes with resistance - see what you come up with.
Roy Harris Foot Drag escape

Roy Harris Foot Drag escape 2

Roy Harris Foot Turn escape

Roy Harris Kneeling mount escape

13 Triangle setups from guard

2007-04-06T17:58:00.000+09:00

Triangle setups from the guard can be broadly divided into ones where the leg passes on the outside of O's arm (over the arm) and ones where the leg passes on the inside of O's arm (under the arm).

Leg passes on the outside with O's arm on the inside.

1. Push the hand inside.
Demonstrated by Luiz Tannuri.

Slightly different style using the shrimp.
See 00.47 of this video.

The Wicked Triangle!

2. Grind the knee over
Set this one up by using a scissor sweep motion, only you come over the arm and make sure to keep it trapped against O’s body.
Once your shin has trapped his arm you change direction, raise your hips and lock your legs for the triangle.

3. Lapel wrap

Break O’s posture so he is leaning forward.
Use O’s left lapel to trap O’s left arm against his body by wrapping the lapel over the arm and passing it to your left hand behind his back.
Raise your hips and lock your legs for the triangle.

This can obviously be done on the right as well!

4. Grab the hand behind the back
This one is similar to number 3 only you trap his arm by grabbing his sleeve behind his back.

5. Rubber guard to Triangle
These girls don't have the greatest technique...

Leg passes on the inside with O's arm on the outside.

6. Spider guard
Demonstrated by Gustavo Dantas on a standing opponent, the technique is also applicable to a kneeling opponent.

See also the start of this clip

7. Omoplata to triangle
Set up the triangle with an omoplata.

8. Push the hand outside
See 00.33 of this video.

9. Overhook armbar to triangle
Demonstrated by Sergio Silva at 01.23 or so.

10. Inverted guard to triangle
The kindly Aesopian provides us with a demonstration of this one.

11. Kick the arm out of the way
See it here.

12. Failed armbar to triangle
See it here.

Extra links
Dean Lister on the triangle

Books I recommend

24/03/07 Top Side Control Basics

2007-03-24T18:02:00.000+09:00

Top Side Control Basics

Contents

Posture

Head side arm
Hip side arm
Legs
Weight distribution

Objectives

Maintaining and improving position

Prevent him returning to guard
Kill off his frame (arms)
Deal with him turning toward you or away from you
Move to scarf hold/KOTB/Mount

Submitting your opponent

Various technique videos

Conclusion

Books I recommend

Posture

Let’s take a look at the various basic options you have regarding the positioning of your arms and legs as well as the idea behind your weight distribution.

Head side arm

Cross face vs far side

Cross face

Allows you to control the head with your shoulder preventing him turning toward you.
Essential for setting up the cobra hold/gift wrap/various lapel chokes

Far side

Lets you attack the far arm with armlocks

Hip side arm

Near side pants grab vs Elbow on the far hip

Pants

Allows you to get up on your toes and grind your weight into O
Prevents him turning into you
Leaves his far arm free (not good)

Far hip

Allows you to attack the far arm
Allows you to make easier transitions to mount and KOTB
Affords you some control of his hips (sandwiched between your elbow and your knee).

Be aware that with the diaper check (hand between the legs position) can leave you vulnerable to a triangle (the shame of being triangled from the bottom!). However, I sometimes stick my arm between O's legs to prevent him turtling. This can be done from the front or back.

Legs

Both knees in vs One knee in vs Both legs sprawled out

Both knees in

Gives you good mobility
Protects against the guard return
Helps you kill the near arm if you can get under the elbow
Doesn’t allow you to press a lot of weight on O

One knee in

Protects against the guard return
Allows you to press a fair amount of weight on O

Sprawled

You need to position your hand to prevent the guard return
Allows you to press the most weight on O by getting up on your toes and driving forward.

Weight distribution

Your aim is to keep O flat and prevent him from keeping good posture i.e. turning onto his side with a good frame. To do this you will need to use your weight efficiently.

The basic idea behind weight distribution is that you want your weight where it makes movement hard for O. You should not remain in the same position no matter what O does. All is timing.
If O tries to turn toward you, push your weight into him to flatten him.
Pushing your weight too far forward at the wrong time may allow O to roll you over him.
If you are fighting a very strong O who outweighs you then you will need to play a fast, mobile game, using KOTB, North/South.

Objectives

Maintaining and Improving position

One of the underlying theories behind BJJ is that of improving position. All beginners are taught this basic progression:

Mount/Back > Side Top > Guard > In Guard > Bottom side > Bottom Mount/O on back

However, within the individual positions themselves it is also necessary to improve position.

When on top

You should be working not only to maintain position but also to take away O’s leverage and gain more and more control over his body.

When on bottom

You should be working to create space and lock that space off with barriers before using it to escape.

The greater your understanding of the bottom game, the better your top game will be and vice versa.

Prevent him returning to guard or half guard

You need to deny O the space he needs to insert his knee under your body. The 2 main ways to accomplish this are:

* Grab his pants by his near hip

* Bring your knee up to his hip

It is also good to avoid leaving your legs close to O’s legs as you do not want to become entangled in half guard.

Kill off his frame (arms)

O will try to place his arms between you to create space and act as a barrier. Control them with your body so he has no leverage to escape.

i) Far hand

Forearm under your neck

Push his arm up with your arm and tuck your head under his elbow so he can’t bring it back.
Pull his arm across his body and lie on it.

Underhook

When he underhooks, kill it by bringing your hand back and grabbing his gi pants on the near side (whizzer).
You can counter the underhook with a Brabo choke.

Ideal position

Ideally you would like to have this far arm tucked under your head side armpit as your arm encircles his neck. I’ve seen this position called a few different names: Howdy, Barbed wire, Ji-boi. Whatever the name, this position sucks for the guy on bottom.

How to get it

* Swim your arm under his armpit and wind back round under his head, crushing his arm across his body so it sticks out under your armpit.

* Change sides via North/South taking the near arm with you against your body. When you reach the opposite side, the arm should be ready for the taking.

ii) Near hand

When he puts his forearm in place to block your hips, swivel your hips towards his head and under the elbow as if you were going to scarf hold. Block his elbow from returning with your hip and knee.
Once in this position, you may move to north/south and then to side control on the opposite side, crushing his arm under you as you go. Upon reaching the opposite side, you should lock his arm (now the far arm) in the ideal position as described above.

Ideal position

An excellent way to kill this near arm without changing sides is to grab the wrist with the hand you have under O’s head. It’s difficult for O to pull his hand out. Again this position has a number of names: the cobra hold, the gift wrap.

How to get it

* Pass it over with your other hand.

* Push your weight on the elbow to move his hand into position.

* Attack the far arm with an Americana, forcing him to reach over and grab his far arm to defend, when he does so, catch the near arm and gift wrap it.

iii) Rolling with the frame

If you can’t seem to stop O from getting a good frame, you can use your hips to break down his frame by

* Rolling under his frame for a scarf hold (underhook his far arm).

* Rolling onto his frame for a reverse scarf hold

Deal with him turning toward you or away from you

1) O turns toward you in order to go to his knees.

O will try to get on his side - it is good basic posture for him. You need to flatten him out which can be done in a number of ways.

* Push his head away from you with the shoulder of justice from the crossface.

* Grab his pants at the hip and push your weight into the far side of his body to flatten him out. You can use your head, chest, anything really.

* Roll into reverse scarf hold, dropping your weight across his shoulders

2) O turns away from you in order to go to his knees.

This is generally considered not as good an option as turning toward the guy on top as it exposes the back. However, people do try this.

Grabbing the far arm

* Grab under his far elbow. He will find it very difficult to turn when you have this gripped.

Hooking the near arm

* Hook the near arm with your head side arm. From here grab the belt, step over the head and go for an armbar.

* Hook the near arm with your leg side arm, reach under his head for his collar and half nelson gi choke him.

Taking the back

* If you cannot stop him turning to his knees, you want to take his back. One way is to slide your head side knee under him and pull him back towards you by pulling on his far hip. As he falls into you, get your hooks in and clasp your hands in the harness grip.

Move to Scarf hold/KOTB/Mount

Taking Scarf hold/KOTB

Taking scarf hold requires you switch your hips so they slide under O's armpit.
Taking knee on the belly requires that you either hop your knee onto O's stomach or grind your knee in.

Taking Mount

Side position is good but traditional BJJ theory states that mount position is better. Mount your opponent to get a whopping 4 points in competition.

O will likely have his near foot on his far knee, placing his knee by your hip to prevent you taking mount. What can we do?

Rickson leg pull- Turn into reverse scarf hold, pull O’s near leg toward you, when he resists, let his leg go and pop into mount as his leg springs out of the way. You can see Rickson do this in “Choke”.
Turn slightly to reverse scarf hold, grab your own foot and pull it across O’s body into mount.
Slide your knee hard across his stomach to the other side.
Reverse scarf hold again. Hook the near leg with your near leg, push his knee with your far hand and mount.

Experiment with taking the different positions from side control whilst keeping your balance and using your mobility to stay in control.

Conclusion

I hope to have covered some of the basic information regarding side control. There are plenty of different theories about side control. Checking out books and instructional DVDs is a great way to see how others approach the position.

Books I recommend

2007-03-11T14:08:00.000+09:00

14/03/07 10 Armbars from the Guard

Here are 10 armbars I practice on a regular basis as uchikomi from the guard.

1. Traditional
*Monkey grip (thumb down) behind the opposite elbow,
*Bring the same side foot to the hip and block the arm from retracting,
*Grab the opposite collar with your other hand,
*Spin your body round in the direction that the arm you want to armbar is pointing,
*At the same time bring your opposite leg up your opponent's back under his armpit and "bite down" with it so he can't escape,
*Push the head back with the arm that was grabbing the shoulder and bring your same side leg round and over your opponent's head,
*Grip O's hand with the hand you just used to push his head back and align his arm,
*Raise your hips to apply the armbar.

You can see the no-gi version of the technique here - it's basically the same except he doesn't grab the shoulder before spinning.

2. Knee-hook armbar
The knee hook can help you sweep your opponent over, allowing you to finish the armbar from the side.

See it here - there's some nice detail about pushing the head back to create space.
See also here - can't argue with this guy!

3. Lower lapel wrap and armbar
This is done like 1. only you secure the arm by wrapping his lower lapel around the outside of his elbow and gripping it instead of using a monkey grip. If you want his left arm, use his left side lapel.

Found a demo of this at MMAlibrary.

4. Sweeping style
*Grip your opponent's right sleeve with your left hand and his right collar with your right hand
*Put your left foot on his right hip to block the arm
*Push off from his right hip and spin your body to your right, pulling your opponent forward
*Bring your right leg up high on his back and "bite down"
*Bring your left leg over his head for the armbar
*You can monkey grip his behind his elbow with your collar hand to give you added control of the arm

This armbar relies on unbalancing your opponent almost as if you were going to sweep him and is a little faster than 1.

See it demonstrated by Pedro Sauer here.

5. Sweeping style with knee hook
Pedro also demonstrates the armbar with a knee hook in the above demonstration.

6. Armdrag to armbar
*Pass your opponent's right hand over to your right side with your left hand
*Armdrag with your right hand, gripping behind the elbow (thumb up)
*Catch his right hand hand under your right armpit
*Grip the collar with your left hand
*Spin your body to the side
*Raise your hips and bring your left leg around your opponent's face

Be careful with this one as the armbar comes on very quickly.

See it demonstrated here.

Here is an interesting crucifix technique from the guard that uses a similar set-up (note to self, stay on topic!).

7. Armdrag to armbar with knee hook
Same as above, only you hook the trapping arm's hand under your opponent's knee as you turn as shown in 2. Be even more careful with this one.

8. Overhook armbar (Wakigatame)
*Overhook your opponent's right arm with your left arm
*Grab hold of his left lapel with your left hand to secure the overhook
*Put your left foot on your opponent's right hip
*Hip out to your left, extending the arm
*Bring your left knee over the top of your opponent's right arm and pinch down with it
*Push up on your opponent's right shoulder with your right hand to effect the tap

There is an excellent instructional on this and related techniques here.

Here is a similar move done without the overhook.

9. Switching armbar
This is used in the event that your opponent pulls his arm out of the armbar before you finish it. You'll obviously have to arrange for your opponent to pull his arm out when drilling.

See it here.

10. Scissor sweep to armbar
This is a beautiful move that makes use of your opponent's energy as he blocks your scissor sweep.

See it here.

Enjoy!

Books I recommend
If you're interested in improving your armbars from the guard, I recommend Essential Guard by Kid Peligro and Rodrigo Medeiros. It contains a wealth of useful information on the guard including nuances of posture and drills to help make your submissions more effective.

2007-03-09T01:19:00.000+09:00

8/03/07 Using the Lower Lapels

I had a real epiphany as we went over lower lapel chokes today in my BJJ class. There are so many variations to try.
You have 4 lapels (2 of yours and 2 of his)

They can be wrapped to the left or right of the face.
His lapels can be wrapped over or behind his armpit or around his lower arms.
They can be gripped with your left or right hand.
The lapels can be used for just about any choke you can think of including straight collar chokes, baseball bat chokes and Ezekiel style chokes etc.
The lapels can be used to trap O's arms to set up other submissions that do not require lapels e.g. triangle choke, armbar, wristlock.
You can use them from the back, the side, KOTB, guard or even from inside your opponent's guard.

If you're going for a lapel choke, try to pull out the lapel surreptiously or feint another attack so your opponent doesn't realise your intentions until it's too late. Also, be aware that your lapels can be used against you if you take them out of your belt.

When practicing these chokes, it's a very good idea to think about how your opponent is likely to defend and how you can re-counter his defence. For example, if he grabs your arm to stop your collar choke from KOTB, you may be able to pull his arm across his body and trap it to set him up for an armbar.

For beginners, there are plenty of instructionals out there on the internet to give you ideas and start you off. Once you have a few chokes down, try experimenting with each of the positions and see what you can come up with!

The lower lapels can be used in other ways too. You can wrap up your opponent's arm when in guard to secure the arm for an armbar, or you can wrap up an arm to help you pass your opponent's guard. A sneaky one is to wrap O's arm from side control and apply a wristlock.

Some online choke tutorials.
Google
Series from the guard
Youtube
Side control, opponent's near lapel
Guard, opponent's lapel
Back, your lapel
Back, your other lapel
Grapplearts
Andreh Anderson's Ninja choke
Shaolin choke
Lockflow
Basic head and arm control from side
Jacare own lapel choke from side
Aesopian's site
Lapel Ezekiel from mount
MMALibrary
Chicken wing from back
Half guard pass