BJJ / Grappling Tips: Cross Side Top Theme Part 3 - Submitting from the side mount

It's all about setting the right traps and removing obstacles (Image source: WatchBJJ)

In a previous post I explained the main concepts a jiujitsu practitioner needs to keep in mind to control their opponent from cross side top (ak. side mount or side control) and how to transition from the side to the full mount. I also promised I'd discuss what I have found to be the highest percentage ways to submit the opponent from side to mount so here we go:

The thing is, as you may have noticed from the previous two articles, my high-pressure control itself and constant threat of mounting usually opens doors to submission that wouldn't normally be there. Just take the Kimura Roger talks about in the previous post for instance: That's probably my favourite go to straight from side mount.

Check Article 2 in this series for details of this position

I am very grateful that almost every teacher I have ever had in jiujitsu and judo has emphasized the importance of crushing pressure without over-engagement from the arms. This has meant that the system I currently follow when attacking from the side goes like this:

1. Kill the nearside arm: To do this from my version of the side mount, I use my shins to pin their forearm to the mat (preferably my south leg so I can ...)
2. Post the north leg while isolating their farside arm further (putting my north arm deep in between their arm and their torso)
3. Secure the kimura grip and attack with:
• Kimura
• lapel-trap paper-cutter choke
• Leg scissor choke

I recently found a good video that demonstrates one variation of the lapel trap choke I mention above, although I would try to keep more pressure on the opponent:

Let's be crystal clear: My goal from the side mount is very simple: I want you to tap from my pressure alone. I will do everything I can to tip the scales in my direction when it comes to me having a stronger mechanical advantage, leverage and "comfort" and I will angle my body and contour around your frames and add more and more pressure until you tap from pressure alone. Going to mount and / or submitting you with a choke or armlock will always be my secondary option but because I am so pressure-focused, when I do actually go for the attacks, my opponent has had to endure some serious claustrophobia and their frames and spine are all out of proper posture. 


I hope you enjoyed this extended and detailed style of blog and that you spend the upcoming 5-6 weeks putting one or two tips out of it into your own practice. I welcome all feedback, just drop me a line through the link at the top of the blog.


Next topic: My favourite - the  mount.
--------------------------------------------------

ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!

Check for more resources on Amazon.com:

Support British Jiujitsu: Valor Fightwear

BJJ / Grappling Tips: Cross Side Top Theme Part 2 - transitioning to mount

In a previous post I explained the main concepts a jiujitsu practitioner needs to keep in mind to control their opponent from cross side top (ak. side mount or side control). I explained that I've found that the key to maintaining that control is through a combination of the right positioning / postures, weight distribution and pressures on the opponent body and limbs and I promised I'd discuss what I have found to be the most dominant ways to transition from side to mount so here we go:

From a private lesson I took from my teacher, professor Eddie Kone, many
years ago. Notice how free his hands are to attack and submit, as opposed to
being preoccupied with holding or squeezing the opponent.

I mentioned last post that there are many different ways of laying cross side on top of your opponent and that in this particular 6-week study, I'm focusing on the version closest resembling judo's kuzure yoko shiho gatame as opposed to the more often seen underhook-and-cross-face style of hold down. This is not to say that this is the only way I hold someone in side control. It's just my current favourite and the one I'm exploring. Naturally, my transitions to mount will flow directly (and sometimes indirectly) from that particular style of side control.

Kuzure-Yoko-shiho-gatame

Since my top arm is wrapped around the outside of the opponent's far arm, the body's naturally more incline to turn to face the legs than to face the opponent's head. What this means is that it would be more natural for me to transition to the mount using the high step method than through the knee slide method:

Screenshots are courtesy of Evolve University & Chew Jitsu

After flattening the opponent, I use my back to push and open up (separate from the torso) the opponent's nearside elbow. The flattening action actually makes opening the elbow easier.

Once the elbow is open and my back has shrimped away from their legs, I prop their nearside knee with my knee / upper shin (I don't feel it makes a difference which leg!) then drag both their legs down to collapse them before high stepping to the mount. Here's a nice clip of Mr Roger Gracie showing what I mean:

I have to admit, however, I do two things differently to Roger. I'm not Roger's size so I need to put in a couple of safety measures when I high step to mount:

1. I use my nearside leg (the one I am not stepping over with) to hook under their nearside leg. This gives me my first leg hook before I've even mounted and prevents them sliding under me for a sneaky backdoor escape from the mount - aka elbow escape from the side control.
2. I don't step onto the mat with my foot. Rather, I hook my heel on their far hamstring-area then use that connection to pull myself up onto them, sliding that heel deeper into what becomes my second leg hook. This slide is lead by the hips

Rather than stepping, hook the heel and pull yourself on top

In the next and final post on the topic of the Side Mount - Top, I will discuss submission opportunities that arise naturally when your control is tight and your mount transitions are always a threat! Stay tuned.

--------------------------------------------------

ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!

Check for more resources on Amazon.com:

Support British Jiujitsu: Valor Fightwear

BJJ / Grappling Tips: Cross Side Top Theme Part 1 - maintaining the side control

What is the easiest position to control someone in grappling?

Most people I know love the side mount and will put it ahead of the mount. Especially beginners as they still haven't developed their mount maintenance techniques and attributes and always feel in danger of getting flipped. With your body off your opponent in the side mount (aka cross side or side control), the risk of the position getting reversed is reduced.

Personally, I see the side mount as a portal to the mount. Yes I use it to exhaust my opponents and yes I have a number of submission attacks from there, but my goal is to mount my opponent.

While I am laying cross side on my opponent, I'd like to use the following postures and pressures to open them up for the aforementioned attacks, including the transition to mount. The position itself is most reminiscent of the kuzure yoko shiho gatame in judo, or "broken side 4-way hold-down", with an adjustment or two.

Kuzure-Yoko-shiho-gatame

Position, relative to the opponent:

Alignment: My spine is at 90-95 degrees to their spine, angling north. My chest / breastbone practically right on top of theirs and my chin near the outside of their far deltoid which my own north side armpit is close to their chin. I like to keep my head super low both to deny space but also to prevent damage from effective strikes (accidental or otherwise). The hips, controversially, are higher than my shoulders, but I stay behind an invisible wall defined by their centre line to prevent getting flipped.

Arms: my north arm wraps around their far arm / shoulder. I also like grabbing the belt with that hand and making sure the far shoulder is isolated from the ground by that arm. I also pull that arm to my hip so it restricts the movement of his head. The south arm is guarding against their attempts to replace me into their guard by hovering between the level of their knee and mid-thigh. I sometimes go lower, but I'm always aware of the risk of them bringing their shin through the space potentially created by my elbow. I'm always alert to hug, especially with the south arm, if they bridge explosively.

Legs: my north leg is straight. My south leg is bent with the knee close to my south elbow / their nearside hip

Picture courtesy of JiuJitsu Mag's Youtube channel

Pressure: 

This positional alignment creates a ton of pressure against the opponent's far shoulder, but also their chest. As you become comfortable on top, listen to their breathing and deepen your position and hold over them at the end of their exhale.

Weight distribution: Play around with this until you find the sweet spot. For me, it's usually sternum-to-sternum. If they start to turn towards you, distribute your weight to turn them flat again. If they try to frame against your north-side hip, drop your other hip to contour around their pressure.

Comfort: Get your knees and elbows off the ground to direct all the weight into the opponent at all times, hence tipping the comfort scales in your favour.

It goes without saying that this is only a narrow, specialised 6-week deep-dive into one variation of how to hold your opponent from the side mount. You can orientate your arms, legs and torso in a variety of other ways and I will investigate these in the future, but for now: This is my go-to strategy.

In the next article, I will talk about the pathways I've been investigating to go from the side to the full mount.

--------------------------------------------------

ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!

Check for more resources on Amazon.com:

Support British Jiujitsu: Valor Fightwear

Is BJJ a martial art?: Expressing the same principles in different ways

I've been listening to a lot of interviews with the two above Chrises: Haueter & Graugart, and thinking a lot about what it is about jiujitsu that we happily dedicate so much of our time and energy to. Why is it so engaging?

In a now famous grading speech by Chris Haueter, he talks about he misses the old days where the applicability of jiujitsu as a fighting art was still paramount and how, nevertheless, he loves the technical advancements of modern competitive jiujitsu. He seals the deal with the quote:

Watch Chris' full speech here: https://youtu.be/y-uF-9-EUho

We all get taught and shown the same fundamental techniques and principles of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Everybody gets shown the same fundamental guard passes and everyone is made aware that if you leave a hand in and one out you risk getting triangled...etc.. Not because there is some superior authority that runs around and checks that people adhere to abstract rules and regulations, but rather because BJJ and Grappling (and by extension MMA and all true combative sports) have an inbuilt reality-check: Does it work in sparring?

But while we are all taught the same principles for, say, chokes from side control, every athlete is free to interpret and indeed express these principles in her own way. Each athlete becomes, or at least is given the opportunity to become, an artist in their own right, with the jiujitsu mat being the canvas. Why else would we consider techniques, even when they bring us pain and discomfort, beautiful?

Just the other day I visited the Roger Gracie Academy HQ here in London where Mr Charles Negromonte was holding a fantastic class on specific sparring. We would spend round in the following geographies: Side, mount & back. Attacking and defending for full pelt. After the end of each double round (so both partners get a chance) Charles would stop the class and gather us all around to discuss any issues that may have arisen. I asked him about his favourite details regarding transitioning from side to the mount and the things he showed were nothing short of revolutionary to my game. Why? Because he provided me with amazing tools. Using the artist analogy, he upgraded my brushes and provided me with uber-rich palette of colours to paint with.

BJJ / Grappling Technique: Knee on Belly

Knee on belly / stomach (KOB) is one of the most painful and frustrating positions to achieve in grappling / jiujitsu / MMA. On the top you can control your opponents hips and shoulders, or at least stay on them as they move about. If your opponent tries to escape you can pull up with your hands and force your knee ibnto them, hence increasing the pressure, or transition back down to side control or even flick your leg across to the mount or back mount.

A variety of strikes, chokes, arm- or even leg-locks can be started from this position and your relative disengagement from the opponent, compared to say a deep low mounted position, means you can be more aware of your surrounding and can react faster in a multi-attacker situation.

You can enter the KOB position from a variety of scenarios. You opt to go there instead of mount after a hip throw or a guard pass. You could pop there from side control or even retreat from mount when you want to maintain a high level of mobility while still affecting tremendous pressure on the opponent.

There are no right or wrong ways of going into or out of the KOB. Only ways that afford you control (tight) vs ones that afford you mobility (loose). Here's a concise treaty on the topic of Knee on Belly:

BJJ / Grappling Tips: How to escape the side control position and not fearing the learning curve

Something happened yesterday that reminded me of a BJJ session on side control escape I once had as an early blue belt. We were talking about how incorporating a new technique or concept correctly into one's A-game in jiujitsu takes about 6 months of progressive drilling and sparring.
The fundamentals of side control escapes are:

1. Recover forearm posture
2. Get on one side
3. Strong back foot
4. Shrimp to create space
5. Pull guard / Underhook to the knees / Back-and-forth

My partner for the side control drills that day was a strong blue belt with a solid judo background. The only problem was: he didn't want to go side control and just played from scarf hold which, naturally, has different escapes.

After a few goes, I told him that his scarf hold was very solid indeed but we should probably focus on the Side Control drill like everyone else. He gladly obliged.

I was applying all the techniques taught and escaping very regularly. Soon he was getting pretty frustrated and at one point said laughingly: "Liam you're showing me up."

No I'm not, I thought to myself. I'm showing that the techniques work.

When I got on top he couldn't escape. Not even once, even though I was going no more than 20%. Not because My side control is inescapable! But rather because of two things:

BJJ / Grappling Tips: control vs management

Yesterday, I choked a white belt out from side control with the bread slicer choke (aka the fish bone). Here's a very nice and detailed breakdown of the choke by Kid Peligro:



I initially learned this technique from another Royler Gracie black belt, none other than Saulo Ribiero, or at least his amazing DVDs: Jiujitsu Revolution 1, but a couple of weeks ago I visited my friend and instructor Mr Eddie Kone and attended his Annual Gathering and there he taught, amongst many other techniques and concepts, the finer details of the bread slicer choke.

As soon as I settled in position, I started adding pressure onto my partner and I asked him:

-Are you ok buddy?
-Yes.

I started controlling the nearside arm and waited for him to move his far-side arm and as soon as I could, I pinned it with my head. All that was left was to grab his gi and apply the choke and the circular motion that Kid explains in the video above. I asked again:

-Are you still ok buddy?

-Yes.

I put the choke on and waited for the tap, but instead of realising he was in too deep, my partner started bridging and thrashing like mad, trying to push me off him. The thing is, the more he pushed, the more he released the gi that was trapped under him and the more material I had to work with. Tight tight tight!!

-Are you ok buddy?

No answer. But he was still moving.

I let go and looked at him, only to realise he had passed out. 

Survival & Escape Side Control & Rickson Gracie: Citizen of Humanity - Just Like You

Here is a quote from Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking:

"A project in Dale County in Florida had at one point in time an unusually high number of violent incidents between police officers and civilians" A study into "how the officers' behaviours matched up with proper training techniques" revealed that they "were really good when they were face-to-face with a suspect... they did the "right" thing 92% of the time. But in their approach to the scene they were really terrible, scoring just 15%" pages 235-236.

For some reason, reading that made me think of escaping side control in jiu jitsu and, the mirror question, how to dominate from it.

It all lies, as with every other position, in the correct survival posture:

Blocking the cross face, blocking the Knee on Belly & Denying the far-side underhook.

The battle is not in the escape; it's in surviving the attacks of your opponent. Once they can't get zip on you, once you are comfortable on the bottom, they will change the dynamics of the position and give you an opening to create distance and either pull guard, get to your knees or (the least favoured option) bridge and roll them.

Put all your energy into the survival and the escape will present itself. Not to mention that you’ll feel invincible and make your opponent desperate. Now that's a sweet sweet feeling.

Check out this beautiful video of the master of invincibility and citizen of humanity - Just Like You, Rickson Gracie:


Rickson Gracie: Just Like You from Citizens of Humanity on Vimeo.

--------------------------------------------------

ZHOO ZHITSU IS FOR EVERYONE!

Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

Proudly sponsored by Predator Fightwear: Built for the kill and Brutal TShirt: Made By Grapplers For Fighters

BJJ / Grappling Strategy: Attacking v Stalling

Learning from the masters: Here with John B Will

In a recent post, I highlighted the importance of sticking to strong fundamentals. That is the heart and soul of BJJ / grappling. What is important, and often difficult, is striking the right balance between maintaining a good advantageous position (such as side, mount, back...etc.) and going for attacks. We want to attack and make our opponent / training partner submit to a choke, arm or leg lock but we know that by opening up our grappling game we might open a door that allows them to escape the positional dominance we have on them. A simple example is the BJJ player who passes your guard then holds side control so tight that you can't escape (nor can they attack with anything except pressure). For years I called this attitude "stalling" but I now realise that when I shout out loud "position before submission" to beginners that they may indeed interpret that as "be risk averse and don't go for too many attacks!"*

I came to think of this recently when reading (well, I was listening to) Richard Dawkins' THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. There is a ton of gems in this book but one bit really caught my attention as a link to the beautiful game of Jiu Jitsu: Flight Distance...

BJJ Tips: Side control posture breaking and the value of your jiu jitsu instructor knowing you

BJJ seminars are a fantastic way to learn grappling techniques. My favourite ones are with instructors I have some form of a relationship with*, such as my own instructors or people I have come to learn from or roll with over the years. Why? Because they know me and where I am in my development and what I mean with my questions.

Yesterday, a small team of 6 Lab Rats travelled down to London to the Mill Hill Jiu Jitsu Club for the first Biannual grading and seminar with the CFS-BJJ head instructor David Onuma and his friend, training partner and super-nice guy Nick Brooks (Roger Gracie Black Belt, head instructor at MHJJ). We have known David (and Nick, thru him) for quite some time, learned from them and rolled with them on several occasions.

What this means is that when, during the Q&A section, I asked about good side control attacks two things happened:

1. My coach David came around and added a few details on how he works to kill the arm posture on i, the far side ii, the near side and iii, how one posture attack can lead to the other. Tips he gave me were fantastic and beautifully suitable to my game.

Here is an example of some basic posture breaking from side control top by BJJ Black Belt Dr. Marc Hagebusch, head instructor and owner of Texarkana Jiu Jitsu:



2. Nick presumed that I have done all I can to break my opponent's defences but he has somehow managed to maintain and airt-tight defence. I am in side control top, but don't quite have the arm posture broken so he showed me how to advance my position to a far more dangerous one (and gain a few nice points along the way)

BJJ / Grappling Techniques: Controlling from Side Control

How to control a strong opponent from side control in BJJ? This is one of the key questions within the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and MMA too. Stephan Kesting, BJJ black belt and the man behind BeginningBJJ.com and GrappleArts.com and many top notch Grappling DVDs and iPhone Apps, gives us here 5 tricks in a fantastic video on how to control your opponent from side control.



What is your best tip for side control top?

Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi ----Did You Like This Article?--- Click here to add The Part Time Grappler to your Favourites / Bookmarks

BJJ / Grappling tips: Side control escape: re-establishing guard

To re establish guard from side control bottom, we need to:

1. Make space between us and the opponent (By framing, bridging and shrimping)
2. Fill that space with our frame (nearside knee) and then
3. Use that frame to push against and move / pivot our head and shoulders away (to take away the opponent's advantage of being at a 90 degree angle to us). Once we have done that, we...
4. Shrimp to get our legs, knees and feet between us and them, re-establishing guard.

The thing is, when I demonstrate that or teach it during a BJJ session or private, I'm talking to people and explaining the technical details of what and why I'm doing so what should be one smooth continuous motion is sometimes misunderstood as segments or separate moves.

Here, the Part Time Grappler uses the beautiful Live-Love-Fight Ultra light gi to demonstrate.



The same is true for many moves. It's fine to break down a BJJ or grappling move and practice / internalize it in chuncks, but the more you work on it the more you should be moving towards performing it (sweeps from guard, attacks from mount, guard passes...etc.) as one smooth motion.

Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

----Did You Like This Article?--- Click here to add The Part Time Grappler to your Favourites / Bookmarks

Escaping Side Control

Roy Dean is a very technical 2nd degree black belt in BJJ and a great instructor. His academy blog is a wealth of both instructional and motivational videos. Check this out where he talks about side control escape strategy:



Make sure you read Roy's blog regularly and subscribe to his YouTube channel.


Liam "The Part Time Grappler" Wandi

----Did You Like This Article?--- Click here to add The Part Time Grappler to your Favourites / Bookmarks

BJJ Tips: Best Side Control Offense and Roger Gracie Purple Belt Can "Slideyfoot" Sönmez visits The BJJ Labs @ Fighting Fit Manchester

The focus of last night's fundamentals session at the BJJ Labs* was "How to best control someone from the side mount position". To best convey this, we looked at what the bottom person would need to do to survive and eventually escape the side mount and the different ways to deny them those necessities.

BJJ Privates: Learning BJJ fron Royler Gracie Black Belt Mr Eddie Kone

Where's my money man? Where's my money?!

I recently went to London on a trip organized by my lovely wife in celebration of my 33rd birthday. Not only had she baked me one of her famous cakes, booked train tickets and a hotel, she had also arranged for several hours of BJJ privates with Royler Gracie black belt and head of EKBJJ Mr Eddie Kone at his London headquarters (and a couple more activities!!).

I humbly borrow this awesome image from Seymour "Meerkatsu" Yang

I resisted the temptation to go submission-mad and asked Eddie to focus on the following areas instead:

BJJ / Grappling Tips: Learn By Watching, Learn By Listening!

In the above clip, Marcelo Garcia (what a legend!) shows the bridge escape from side control (while Kid Pelligro if I'm not mistaken gives us the audio breakdown).

It's a great clip. Marcelo is a great competitor, practitioner and I've heard many describe him as a great man and teacher. Awesome stuff. I have no illusion that he is trying to short change me.

But, If you listen to the description and follow the instructions, you will do something that he himself doesn't do when he actually does the move in full speed at the end of the clip. Can you see it? It's a small contradiction but it's there nonetheless.

Well, here it goes.

At 3.13 the instruction is very clear: Bring your right (near-side) leg and cross it UNDER your left leg to come to your knees. Marcelo then goes on to demonstrate what he means. This instruction is repeated again in both words and actions at 5.01. Everybody with me so far?

The thing is, and here is the thing. In keeping with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu DVD Mantra, the two slow explanations are always followed up with a "and now, in full speed" where the BJJ / Grappling transition, submission or whatever is shown in...full speed. This is what it looks like when done with automation that comes from years and years of practice to perfection. This reflexive action. This is the Shizaaam.

But when Marcelo...ehm...shizaaams, he VERY CLEARLY crosses his left (far-side) leg OVER his right to get to his knees. When performing the move as he would at full speed, Marcelo does the exact opposite of what he just explained, advised and instructed.

Now, there are more ways than one to skin a cat, but he is not showing us two moves, nor does the audio make reference to that. These are two different approaches and if you disagree, go try it with someone on the mat. Crossing under gets you at a 90 degree angle and is more likely to lead to a snake-belly approach (ala Saulo in Jiu Jitsu University and Roy Dean's Blue Belt Requirements) while crossing OVER will most likely put you in a more parallel position closer to their back (ala the Full -speed version above) or even roll them if they stay connect to you (ala Joao Crus).

My Karate sensei once told me: "You have to use your eyes, ears and body to not just learn what you are being taught, but also steal as much knowledge as you can".

__________________________________________________

Ps. Renzo Gracie and Craig Kukuk show something that looks like a bit of a hybrid between the two. I don't like that, but who am I to argue with them :)

----Did You Like This Article?--- Click here to add The Part Time Grappler to your Favourites / Bookmarks

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tips: Balancing Control and Mobility

Put a basketball on the ground. On it put:

A. A plank of wood.
B. A wet towel*.

Sometimes in BJJ / Grappling you need to be the plank of wood (projecting gravity through a small contact area with them which frees your limbs for mobility and attack) and sometimes you need to be the wet towel (maximizing friction, minimizing your own efforts, unifying both masses into one). Leverage hunters will master the plank version (constant pressure from the side control, half guard and mount top which can be tiring for both) and muscle-heads the wet towel version (constant closeness, perfect tight control but don't dare attack fearing the well-timed escape).

High quality Brazilian Jiu Jitsu players I've rolled with fluidly switch between the two almost without working up a sweat. It's not that they smother the submission out of you, which is still a valid grappling strategy, but rather the submission seems to come when you least expect it. They don't chuck you out of the frying pan into the fire. You walk into it voluntarily. That's BJJ.

*The Wet-towel analogy came to me from an excellent Roy Harris article on using Space in BJJ.

----Did You Like This Article?--- Click here to add The Part Time Grappler to your Favourites / Bookmarks ---------------------------------

First BJJ / Grappling Session

I remember reading an interview in Ultimate Grappling years ago with Ryron and Rener Gracie where they explain that a beginner should not feel totally exhausted from training the first couple of weeks.

I also remember thinking to myself that that was too soft. I filed it under “marketing” or “McDojoism” but I’ve come to change my mind recently.

I have a passion for the mat. I love stepping into the LABS and seeing my friends’ faces. I love putting the gi on and rolling and drilling. Most importantly, I love the way it makes me feel. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu makes me happy.

I spent an hour last Friday teaching my 14 year old brother the upa escape and a couple of mount maintenance techniques ala Gracie University. I had a great time and so did he (at least he said he did). He worked against progressive and suitable resistance and when I checked on him on Saturday, he wasn’t aching or too exhausted. He is asthmatic so I made a point to check that he was OK.

Yesterday, a completely new guy walked into the LABS. His name is John and it was the first time he'd ever stepped on a mat. Order of the day was Side Control Escapes. Martyn covered all the details of getting to a better survival position before working a number of escapes. He made sure everybody was on the same page and walked around the room correcting details during the drilling portion and ensured the resistance was progressive and suitable. It was an hour of work. Technical work, but work none the less.

I paired with John for the first couple of rounds and then he paired up with another player for the remainder of the session. He worked hard and struggled a little with the new geography, the long-forgotten muscles and the other usual suspects. He did, however, pull off a few moves against the appropriate resistance. What was the most important thing, however, was what he said after he got changed and was heading out of the door:

“See you all on Wednesday”

The magic is in the long-run and I’m in it for the magic.

I thank Allie and my brother for inspiring this post.


----Did You Like This Article?--- Click here to add The Part Time Grappler to your Favourites / Bookmarks ---------------------------------

Passing The Open Guard. Pit Stops, Awareness and the 3P

I watched some old-ish footage of a Joe Moreira and Roy Harris seminar on open-guard passing during this Easter break just gone.

Joe Moreira wasn't really showing any particular techniques that I wasn't familiar with which was a bit odd, mainly because I have this image in my head of him showing 12 ways to drink a glass of pineapple juice! (After all, the man released a book with over 100 techniques just from Side Control!) What he did instead was something much, much more valuable.

He gave his take on the 3P model. He never called it that but hey...pineapple juice is pineapple juice no matter what else you call it. What he did was:

1. Got rid of and constantly fought against any meaningful contact or pressure exerted by the guard-player on him and instead established his own meaningful grips (posture) and
2. He fully turned on the pressure. Pressure pressure pressure! Now for those of you who haven't seen what Mr Moreira looks like, he's not a big man by any measures, but once he had the postures and grips he wanted, he was in the zone. The pit-bull zone! Pressure pressure pressure! I swear at one point it looked like he was going to fall out of the TV screen! That would've been awkward. "Hey Joe. How's it hangin'? Pineapple juice?"
3. The third P- the possibilities- kind of took care of themselves. I mean you can either pass over, under or around the leg(s). Which one ends up depending on what the poor guard player “gives” you.

Yesterday, I taught a private session on passing. I showed 2 techniques (the double under and the bull pass) and entry to a good pit stop (See my drawing above) and we spent a lot of time working on the necessary awareness to clear any obstacles (hands, hooks, knees...etc.) and Pressure pressure pressure! It was emotional.

Now despite all that, why did I still show two techniques? Not because these specific two are the be-all-end-all of passing and not because they are my favourites, but simply because they served as good demonstrations of the principles.

And the pit stop? Well, it’s all in the pit stop baby!

Oh by the way, Cane did an excellent piece on Guard passing. Highly recommended reading!

----Did You Like This Article?---
Make sure you add The Part Time Grappler to your Favourites / Bookmarks
---------------------------------

BJJ Concepts: Fundamentals = The Least You Can Do

You'll see a lot of people going on about "concept" vs "technique" and nowadays you can get fantastic sets of DVDs that will show you both. In HD!

The way I see the two:

Concepts are the first thing you need to concern yourself with in any position. They are the make it or break it detail. They say you can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs. Bingo! That's your concept.

Techniques are means to an end. They are sets of steps that lead to a destination or outcome. Usually that end is a new concept or at least an extension or a variation on a previous one. A basic egg cracking one is when you use both hands and a flashy advanced one is when you do it single handedly. Any one else getting hungry?

Here is my list of concepts for the most common situations in a roll.

Mount Bottom:

Keep your elbows glued to your ribs (unless strikes are allowed)

Half guard Bottom:

Prevent the cross-face

Side Control Bottom:

Keep your elbows in posture

Turtle Bottom:

Shut one side and guard the other

Turtle Top:

Let them carry your weight

Inside Closed Guard:

Keep them flat on their back and in front of you

Inside Open Guard:

Keep your elbow(s) connected to your thigh(s) to block their hooks

Half Guard Top:
Get them flat on their back

Side Control Top:

Make them carry your weight

Mount Top:

Remove obstacles and climb your knee(s)

Closed Guard:

Get your body off-centre

Open Guard:

Entangle their leg(s)

This, of course, is not all you need to do, but you'll struggle to do anything productive if you violate these. There is a variety of ways to achieve these concepts. Those are techniques. You can spend a lot of money and time learning techniques but chances are they won't work* unless you observe the concepts first.

Furthermore, if you run into a situation where your techniques aren't working or they are taking a whole lot of energy/strength/speed to do so, check your underlying concepts.

----Did You Like This Article?---

Drop me a line on parttimegrappler@ymail.com or explore some of the recommended past articles on the right...

----------------------------------

*You can violate a concept intentionally, setting a trap. This, of course, is not advised early on but you will see the advanced players do it now and again.