Frodo's Grappling Log

Half bicep slice omoplata

2008-02-20T17:30:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes.

Establish bicep slice half guard on his right side. Remember that your left leg rotates in for biceps slice while you hold his right cuff with your left hand.
Escape your hips out to make some space. Bring your inside (right) leg across waist out to opponent's outside (right) hip.
Prop yourself up on free hand.
Roll onto your knees facing away from the opponent, but still holding his cuff.(skip step when you get better).
Do a FORWARD roll into omoplata.

Rick also finished the omoplata with an armbar: Stop on side with your top knee over his back. Can push on his hip with your other foot for leverage if needed. Armbar. Keep it if he rolls.

Phil Migliarese likes a similar movement where you spin on your back to the omoplata instead of rolling to it. It is like the pendulum sweep to belly-down armbar spin. Hard to explain entirely, but easy to do once you understand it.

Half bicep slice flower sweep

2008-02-20T17:29:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes.

Establish bicep slice half guard on his right side. Remember that your left leg rotates in for biceps slice while you hold his right cuff with your left hand.
Try the bicep slice pendulum sweep. However, the opponent is heavy or bases out. Keep your grips secured on his cuff and far pant leg.
Shove your entangled knee deep through the bicep slice, while maintaining your grips. Use it to build momentum to sweep.
Knee upwards forcibly while using both your arms lifting him up to sweep him over his shoulder.
Finish sweep into side control or opponent's half-guard.

Galvo likes this sweep a lot in the gi.

Half bicep slice pendulum sweep

2008-02-20T17:29:00.001-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar, but I first learned it from Bobby. Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes.

Establish bicep slice half guard on his right side. Remember that your left leg rotates in for biceps slice while you hold his right cuff with your left hand.
Next use your free (right) hand to secure grips on opponent's far (left) pants near the ankle, or hook underneath his leg instead.
Jerk opponent out with your intertwined foot so all his weight goes onto your hooking (right) leg. You can set this up using a Jedi mind trick then jerking his weight onto your shin.
Rock opponent forward while pushing out with left leg. You are a pendulum. Push up and roll him over you and over his (right) shoulder.
Pass into side control or finish biceps slice from side.

This sweep is similar to the spider pendulum sweep.

Bicep slice half guard

2008-02-20T17:28:00.001-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar, but I first learned it from Bobby. Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes. The bicep slice guard is set up by a failed attempt to close distance from half-guard.

You have half guard, on his right side, with the underhook and posting on his knee, like usual.
Open your half guard. Keep the inside hook in, but post with your outside leg and shrimp out.
Intertwine his outside (right) arm with your outside (left) leg: Go underneath then over top his arm to intertwine his arm. The instep of your foot is touching his triceps, your ankle is in his elbow. Keep control of his wrist!
You now have bicep slice half guard.

This is a good move when your opponent tries backing up out of your half guard too. I used to name this move the "entangled" half guard. Andrew called it a "bicep slice" which is better terminology. You use the bicep slice from spider guard a lot too.

M/2 guard to 50/50 position with sweep

2008-02-12T15:54:00.001-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Andrew for recording these notes. I am not very good at this move and need to practice it a lot more.

Establish m/2 guard from half guard on his right side.
Switch feet controlling trapped leg.
Lift opponent's leg and rotate, placing right leg into 50/50 position after full revolution.
Kick through to sweep opponent.
Posture up while pushing hips forward to pass opponent's leg into either side mount or knee-on-belly position.

M/2 pulling sweep

2008-02-12T15:52:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes. This is a good sweep if the opponent steps over your body.

Establish m/2 guard from half guard on his right side.
Opponent kicks his free (left) leg around and over top of your body. He might sink to a kind of ushiro kesa gatame or attempt a kneebar.
Use your inside (right) hand to feed his (left) lapel to your outside (left) hand.
Switch your hooks controlling opponent's leg again so that your inside (right) foot hooks beneath their leg and your outside (left) secures over it.
Shoot your inside (right) arm under his armpit across opponent's neck, while also kicking up with your inside foot.
Pull with your lapel as your cross face with your other hand and Switch hips and roll opponent over your shoulder.
Immediately finish sweep to side control and go for the arm triangle choke.

M/2 backdoor sweep

2008-02-11T16:40:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes. This is a good sweep if you go for m/2 and the opponent sits back too far.

Establish m/2 guard from half guard on his right side.
Outside (left) hand feeds opponent's trapped (right) side lapel to your other (right) hand. Grip his belt with your outside (left) hand.
Switch hooks on opponent's leg so that now inside (right) foot hooks underneath and your outside (left) foot hooks over top.
Inside (right) leg kicks and lifts the opponent forward as you escape to the back. An elbow escape may be necessary to successfully complete transition to opponent's back.
You should escape enough to end up parallel with your opponent, but with your inside (right) foot hooking his knee. Copy that with your other (left) foot. Make sure to maintain both your grips too.
Attack the opponent's back:
1. If he goes forward, pressure into the opponent. Then leap onto his back.
2. If he goes backward, straighten your hooks under his knees to take out his base and roll his back to your body.
Then attack the opponent's neck: when he raises hands to defend, insert your hooks over his legs.

M/2 rolling sweep

2008-02-11T11:43:00.001-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes. This is a good sweep if you go for m/2 and the opponent sits back too far.

Establish m/2 guard from half guard on his right side. Uke leans backward after you switch to m/2 guard.
Inside (right) hand should help feed opponent's trapped-side (right) lapel/skirt to your outside (left) hand.
Your outside now hand grips opponent's lapel. Then your inside (right) hand should grip opponent's other (left) lapel, belt, or gi/pants.
Kick up your outside (left leg) as your bring into the opponent while maintaining your grips.
Turn and drive over your back shoulder. Your opponent topples over top of you.
Passing opponent's side, drive your elbow across opponent's chest while maintaining posture, and assume side control. Use the double underpass if necessary.

Watch Professor Teco Shinzato demonstrates this sweep in a youtube video.

M/2 single leg sweep

2008-02-11T11:42:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his gi seminar. Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes. This is a good sweep if you go for m/2 and the opponent leans too far forward.

Establish m/2 guard from half guard on his right side. Uke leans forward after you switch to m/2 guard.
Your inside (right) arm crosses over to opponent's trapped (right) hip.
Kick out with outside (left) leg, lifting the opponent's leg.
In the same motion, roll through then duck out the back.
Once behind or to the side of opponent, reach across and break down opponent's base. Take the back if possible.

Watch Professor Teco Shinzato demonstrates this sweep in a youtube video.

Establishing m/2 guard

2008-02-11T02:04:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his gi seminar. Thanks to Andrew for helping me with my notes.

Establish a good half guard with good posture and the underhook with your outside arm.
Use your inside leg to push his trapped leg straight out.
Underhook free leg and pull your head beside it using your inside arm.
At the same time, place outside foot under his ankle with your knee tight on the other side. Your inside foot goes over top his trapped leg. This locks his leg so he can't move it out.
Lift opponent's trapped leg with own feet, creating enough space to shoot your outside arm through. This underhook helps you prevent the opponent from attacking with a kimura.

I have been calling this "m/2" guard - short for Macauley's half guard. It feels a lot like x-guard, but different. Jaysculls calls this the deep half guard.

Top kneebar to heel hook

2008-02-10T21:38:00.001-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes.

Try the top kneebar, but you can't finish it for some reason.
Switch your hips. Your body rotates 180 degrees so you are facing him. Let his foot go across your body to your other side.
Trap his toes in your armpit and bring your forearm under his heel. Gable grip right over his Achilles tendon to lock his heel.
Bend his knee so it is not straight to make it more effective. Roll over your other shoulder. Tap!

Be careful because a heel hook can cripple. Torn ACLs and LCLs are common. In practice just let go of the heel so your partner doesn't hurt his knee.

Rolling toe hold to top kneebar

2008-02-10T21:37:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes.

You try the rolling toehold but he straightens his other leg into it to defend. Switch your attack to that leg.
Swim your top arm around so his ankle is under your armpit. Pinch your elbow to your side for control.
Keeping your butt close to him, lean back and hip in to finish the kneebar.

Bottom kneebar to rolling toe hold

2008-02-10T21:35:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes.

You try the bottom kneebar but he defends by triangling his legs.
While facing away, swim over top of his right leg with your right arm at the ankle.
Front roll over your right shoulder into the toe hold.
Figure-4 your arms around the ankle with the top on his toes.
Bend his knee to make it more effective (not straight leg). Try to put his toes into his butt. Tap!

Footlock to bottom kneebar

2008-02-10T03:31:00.001-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes.

You try the footlock from half guard on his right ankle. But you can't get it for some reason (like he crosses his legs). Let go of the ankle. Use your left hand on his calf (gripping outside-in) to turn his leg towards you and control it a little better.
Post on the ground with your right hand and twist your body parallel to the ground (belly down) with your butt scooted closer to his hips.
Sit on his hip and keep his leg tight to your chest. Sit back for the kneebar with your hips glued to his thigh and your knees pinched tight.
Finish the kneebar by leaning back and hiping in like an armbar.

You can do this from any ankle lock not just the one from half guard. I call it a bottom kneebar because you are attacking the bottom leg. In other kneebars you attack the top leg.

Footlock from half guard

2008-02-04T16:07:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes.

You are on top of half guard with your right leg trapped. Bring your right up with your knee bent so your foot is near his butt. Post on his chest/throat so he stays pinned to the mat.
Duck walk your left leg over his body to the other side.
Fall onto your right side. Put your left foot on his hip so he can't sit up into you. Pinch your knees to isolate his leg.
Finish the footlock.

Achilles footlock

2008-02-04T16:02:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes. It can be set up from many positions, but Rick showed us the setup from half guard.

No matter how you set it up, you want to be on your side for control. If you are attacking his left foot, fall onto your right side. Put your left foot on his hip so he can't sit up into you. Pinch your knees to isolate his leg.
Trap his ankle under your right armpit. You want to be as close as you can be to his foot. It may feel like it is almost going to slip out, but this is a good position.
Use a figure-4 grip with your left forearm biting into his Achilles tendon and your right hand on his shin.
Lean back with your head on the floor to finish.

There are many more finishes than just using the figure-4 grip and leaning back. Rick thinks the figure-4 is the most secure grip. The cup-and-saucer grip is a common grip; you look over your shoulder next to the ankle lock to finish it. The reverse RNC grip AKA "Bicep Grip" is a cool option, but you have to look over your other shoulder to finish it.

Arm-in guillotine to anaconda choke combo

2008-02-04T16:00:00.000-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes.

You get an arm-in guillotine any way. Rick showed examples both from a front headlock while standing and from butterfly guard on the ground.
He starts passing to your right.
When he gets closer to parallel with your body, rotate your hips so you have a good base with your body above his, still with the headlock.
Shove your right arm across his chest just outside his right armpit. Grip your left arm's bicep. (I have short arms so I sometimes use a tight Gable grip instead.) Your left hand goes on his back.
Dip your head into the hole and gator roll 270 degrees so you are on your side. Walk to his feet to finish the anaconda choke.

Arm-in guillotine from butterfly guard

2008-02-04T15:57:00.001-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes.

You have butterfly guard with an overhook on his right side and your right forearm framing across his throat.
Drive up into him so your COG is above his, threatening the sweep. He will start to to pressure back to prevent going onto his back.
Slide your right arm over his shoulder then around his head. Hold his chin for control. Without unlooping your overhook, grip your own wrist with your left hand. Now you have the headlock with his arm still inside.
Finish the arm-in guillotine as before. It is not necessary to completely free your right leg as long as you grip tight around his waist with your guard and are on your side. You can switch to and anaconda choke if he tries to pass.

Front headlock to arm-in guillotine choke

2008-02-04T15:53:00.001-05:00

Rick Macauley showed us this move at his seminar. Thanks to Prashant and Pat for helping me with my notes.

You start in a staggered stance standing from neutral. Get over-unders:
1. Grip his left wrist with your right hand with an "outside grip" (i.e. your thumb towards your).
2. Pull his arm a little, being careful of his shot. Swim your elbow inside of his elbow. Let go of the grip and bring your hand around for the underhook. Your Other arm overhooks his other arm.
3. Keep good head pressure with your head above his and to the side over his shoulder.
Pull down on his shoulder with the underhook as you pressure on his head and tilt his body to side of your underhook.
When you have enough space, shove his head under your right armpit. Then wrap your right arm around his neck. Hold his chin for control. Without unlooping your overhook, grip your own wrist with your left hand. Now you have a headlock with his arm still inside.
Lift up your right foot and bring it across his body just outside of his right hip/leg with your shin angling across his body. Then pull him to the ground, throwing your left leg over his back and pinching your legs together. You want to land on your side not with guard flat on your back.
Tighten the choke as you do an ab situp/crunch, bring your head towards his left knee. Make a "thumbs up" like the Fonz with your right hand to tighten the choke. He taps.

Bryan Harper has a good demo of the arm-in guillotine. Rick basically does it exactly that way, except he seems to just jump into it. If they guy starts to pass to cross body anyway, then he just bases out then switches to the anaconda choke. It is a nice effective move.

Low single leg cross guard sweep

2008-02-04T15:43:00.001-05:00

Establish cross guard.
Uke RIPS his arm free. As he steps back, hook his far ankle with your same-side foot.
Sit up and use your hook to bring his leg close for the low single leg. You can finish by standing up finishing the takedown.

Single leg cross guard sweep

2008-02-04T15:40:00.000-05:00

Establish cross guard.
Uke steps away so you can't reach the leg for the swinging cross guard sweep.
Cup his ankle with your outside leg and do an MMA standup.
Finish with a single leg - running the pipe by pressuring with your shoulder. Make sure to pin his leg to the ground so he can't try for a triangle choke.

Swinging cross guard sweep

2008-02-04T15:39:00.000-05:00

Establish cross guard.
Swing your head under him (like in x-guard) and grips his pants by the knee (fingers upward). Don't stop but flow into the next move.
Continue to use your momentum, pulling on his knee. Uke tumbles over you.
Keep control and establish side control.

Establishing cross guard

2008-02-04T15:38:00.002-05:00

You have open guard.
Get a 2-on-1 with both grips on the same wrist. Pull towards your belly for control.
Uke has one 1 way to pass (non-gripped arm way). When he tries, arm-drag his gripped arm and move toward his near leg on the (trapped) side. Sit up around it.
Leg go with the near arm and reach around his near leg. Now hand-off his wrist to your wrapping (near) arm's hand.

Ankle blocking sweep

2008-02-04T15:38:00.001-05:00

You have open guard with double wrist control and your fee on his hips.
Push on his far hip away, off-balancing him. Sit up around his near knee.
Pull far wrist to his near knee. Let go of the near wrist and reach around his leg. Hand-off his wrist to your wrapping arm's hand.
Grip his far collar with your free hand.
Ankle trip his far foot. At the same time pull with both your grips so he tumbles.
Establish side control. Hand off the your wrist grip back to the other hand for more control.

Reverse staple gun pass

2007-09-12T05:13:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed me this variation of the staple gun pass when he blocks your initial swing:

You're in Uke's open guard.
You try the staple gun pass, but he posts on your other hip or you feel you can't swing your leg through the opening.
Simply rotate your body so your non-posting leg goes over top of the other one as you fall to ushiro kesa gatame.

Be careful if he scrambles. Makes sure to do this in a controlled manner keeping as much body weight pressuring his other leg as possible.

Staple gun pass

2007-09-12T05:10:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed me this "staple gun" pass. It is good as a counter pass and must be done very quickly.

You're in Uke's open guard.
You try the leg on shoulder pass but he posts on your body to prevent you from passing that way. Uke could also be trying to pop your leg off to the outside. Ergo you are having trouble passing his hips.
Step on his leg (which you are pinning to the floor) right above his ankle using your closest leg (i.e. not the outside one). This secures his leg to the ground. During this, remember to keep pressure on his other leg with his knee to his face.
Swing your other leg through the opening in a smooth, swift manner under your post leg but over his pinned leg. Keep control of his other leg so he can't shrimp away during this motion.
Use your momentum to bring your hips to the ground besides his hips. Switch your legs and establish yoko shiho gatame.

Lateral

2007-09-12T03:35:00.000-05:00

The lateral is a very instinctual move. The lateral is a good option when the opponent drives forward into you. I remember catching Randy with his move in a game of Sumo at Grandmaster's school when he stepped in for osoto gari near the edge of the ring.

Start with a over-under tie up. Use a Jedi mind trick so your opponent pushes into you.
Step in with your outside leg so you make a triangle with his legs and your leg in the middle. You need to get close with your hips still under you.
Lower your level and pull down with your overhook and upward with your underhook. You can optionally block his ankle on that side. You and your opponent start to rotate and roll in the air.
Twist your body so he lands on his back instead of you. Finish with kuzure kesa gatame.

The lateral is one of only two moves I remember from that freestyle club back at Shaler for a few months after my first high school wrestling season ended. NCEP calls his a lateral twist - differentiating it from a lateral drop. Here is a good lateral in a wrestling match.

Pulling guard

2007-09-10T14:37:00.000-05:00

This is a way to pull guard when faking tomoe nage... or from a failed tomoe nage. LOL :p

Grip opponent's sleeve under the triceps/bicep. Grip collar opposite of your sleeve grip in an orthodox grip.
Put your foot on opponent's hip and fall back/pull them down.
Maintain sleeve control as you go down to prevent opponent from getting hand on your foot.

Make sure opponent doesn't grab your foot before you pull guard otherwise they will get takedown points in a tournament.

Foot-pressing cutting kata juji jime

2007-09-10T14:36:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed me this cool move for when the regular cutting cross choke doesn't work for some reason such as if tucks his chin or defends with his arm.

Tori the regular cutting cross choke but can't get the submission for some reason.
Maintain your cutting grip. Pivot hips (similar to arm lock) and swing your opposite leg (i.e. not overhook side) over top of the opponent's shoulder.
Swing your other leg over his back and cross feet.
Apply choke by pulling the collar and pushing with your legs. Tap!

If that doesn't work, simply throw your leg over for the triangle choke.

Peruvian necktie

2007-09-08T04:47:00.000-05:00

The Peruvian necktie is a cool choke that Tony DeSouza made popular based on an old wrestling move. The choke is a good option from a front headlock when your opponent prevents you from spinning to take the back.

From an over-under, snap down your opponent and get a front headlock with one arm in and one arm out. Bring him down using your hips by lowering your level and sprawling out. This is also a good submission if your opponent shoots and you sprawl very well.
Once on the ground, you end up sprawled out on your turtled opponent. Place your own shoulder right between his shoulder blades to pressure all of your whole weight right on top of him. Also remember to be sprawled out off of your knees and on you toes too. This will keep him on the ground.
If you have not already done so, secure a backwards-harness like headlock with one arm in and one arm out. Your headlock grip does not need to be very tight, in fact a loser headlock is preferred. You can use a harness grip instead of a tighter gable grip if you want.
Step over his head with your high-side leg as if you want to sit on his head. He might want to grab it and push forward, but that's ok. Make sure to get deep enough with your step.
When he pushes forward into you, throw your other, low-side leg over the guy's back. If your opponent doesn't press forward, simply move the the side to increase the pressure before throwing your other leg over top. If you can't go over top, you might be able to catch his near leg, but I have problems finishing from here.
After hooking your lower leg, you usually fall to your butt (i.e. don't fall face-down over his back). Straighten your legs and pull for the tap.

Swinging your leg over the back helps keep your opponents from rolling and increases the pressure of the choke. If they do roll with your leg on his back, you can ride him and finish the choke inverted, according to Joe Camacho. Here are some references demonstrating the technique:

Tony DeSouza explains the Peruvian necktie from his DVD called Cholitzu.
Lockflow's Peruvian necktie discussion.
MMA Girls showing a less-than-perfect Peruvian Necktie.
Joe Camacho attempts a Peruvian necktie in his match against Alberto Crane.
I attempt a Peruvian necktie in my first match against Dana.
Match ends by Peruvian necktie.

The Peruvian necktie is also a slang term and the BJJ usage is a joke on this usage. It is also the no-gi version of the belt grip cross choke used with a gi.

Reverse anaconda

2007-09-05T02:24:00.000-05:00

Here's a no-gi choke that I figured out myself a few months ago. I was inspired when we learned this choke that Jacare demonstrates and this choke that Marcelo demonstrates. Here's what I've been using:

Start out with side control like in Marcelo's choke. First establish high side control to isolate his close arm between my thigh and my hip. Stay sprawled out with the low leg to prevent the opponent from shrimping out.
Next I like to start attacking my opponent's far arm as a distraction. With him thinking armlock, pull his shoulder with your low hand and insert the half nelson with your high arm. Then block his near hip with your low hand so you can move around.
Keep your hip pinning his triceps as you rotate to north south. By staying low with my head and hips, you prevent him from getting his arm free.
Then switch your hips like in ushiro kesa gatame or twister side control. I keep my head low so I don't get bridged over. You can finish grabbing your thigh with your half-nelson hand to your thigh.
Squeeze for the tap.

If he rolls away from me, I simply stay loose and switch to a Darce. Sometimes I finish just by grabbing my hands together outside of his arm instead of switching my hips and grabbing my leg. This is why I thought it was like an anaconda, but backwards. Jeff Monson calls this a 69 choke.

Lever Sweep

2007-09-03T01:54:00.000-05:00

This sweep is like the pendulum sweep, but you block his foot and roll him like a lever instead of swing your leg out for momentum. Both Sonny and Bobby showed me this sweep, but I always have trouble with it. Randy helped me with some tips when Deninho visited Tony Passos's school. Here is his description:

Left hand secures the arm at the wrist or elbow - it's your choice. But I'd do wrist on this one. Cat's paw grip on his gi.
Other hand grabs the pants at the ankle instead of the knee.
Take your foot that would normally be the pendulum. That is, the foot that is on the same side as the cats paw grip - not the foot that rides up under his armpit (the pendulum leg). Put that one on the mat right next to his foot. Know why? So he can't post.
The way Deninho does it, he hardly turns his hips, but I don't like that way personally. I let the other foot ride up in his armpit, but keep that one foot there blocking his post.
Then it's a simple sweep mechanism - same as the regular sweep really. Lift his leg with your pants grip and use your leg under his armpit to push him over. Pull on his trapped arm to help off balance him.
Yeah that's all it is.

He only really has one counter to that sweep by posting with the arm you didn't grab. That is kind of hard to do, but if he does that, you can do the face down armbar on it. You will spin towards him actually. It's not the regular guard armbar but the spinning face down version.

Spider sickle sweep

2007-07-18T21:32:00.006-05:00

Start with spider guard. Uke is standing.
Uke backs away.
Post on his (left) hip with one (left) foot.
Your other (right) hand grips his other (right) ankle from the outside.
Your other (right) leg goes through his legs and sweeps the back of his other-side (left) ankle.
At the same time, push with your hip (left) leg and pull with your ankle (right) hand. Your sleeve hand still grips him, pulling him off-balance to his back-sweeped (his back-right) side.
Being conscious of the triangle, pass to side control.

Spider push sweep

2007-07-18T21:32:00.005-05:00

Start with spider guard. Uke is standing.
Uke pushes into you with both feet by your hips.
Drop your hips and grab both his ankles from the outside.
Hip up, pull with your hands, and push back with your legs to get the sweep.
Pull yourself up to mount.

Spider pendulum sweep

2007-07-18T21:32:00.004-05:00

Start with spider guard. Uke is standing.
Intertwine his right arm with your left leg: Go underneath then over top his arm to intertwine his arm. The instep of your foot is touching his triceps, your ankle is in his elbow.
Your free (right) hand underhooks his other leg.
At the same time, hook your free (right) foot at his hip on the intertwine (right) side. Your shin goes across his waist area.
Pivot yourself perpendicular by pulling with your underhook arm.
Jerk him out with your intertwined foot so all his weight goes onto your hooking (right) leg. You can set this up using a Jedi mind trick too then jerking his weight onto your shin.
Now you are a pendulum. Push up and roll him over you and over his right shoulder. Land in side mount.
Finish with a bicep slicer.

Spider smash pass

2007-07-18T21:32:00.003-05:00

Uke starts with spider guard. You are standing.
Grab under both his legs and hip in as far as you can go.
Continue stacking him so you are literally sitting over his chest with his knees between both of you.
Push both his legs to one side and establish side control.

Half X rolling sweep

2007-05-22T14:30:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed me this cool little half guard sweep. At first it seems like the rolling sweep, but it works on a different principle.

You have bottom half guard with good posture on your side. You have the underhooks and a triangle on his legs.
Unlock your legs. Your outside leg goes down by his ankle and pulls his foot to your bum just like in the driving sweep.
At the same time, shrimp your other foot out and hook his knee from the outside. Keep your knee inside across his belly, though. The effect is to lock his knee and leg into place so he can't move it, and it is uncomfortable.
Grab under his far knee, or just using double underhooks, roll him (and yourself) over your outside shoulder. Go at a 45 degree angle over your shoulder, not straight across your back, for maximum leverage. Keep your head pinned to his far hip and a tight grip on his near leg with your legs.
Circle step around so he can't get half guard, and establish side control.

Hooking reverse scissor sweep from spider guard

2007-05-09T03:38:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed me this cool move from spider guard.

You have spider guard with both sleeves gripped. Uke is standing.
Overhook one arm with your leg and hook your foot at his triceps.
Bring your other shin across his belly and hook your foot at his hip (on same side as overhook leg).
Underhoook Uke's leg on the other side as your feet near his knee if possible. Spin yourself sideways.
Uke ususally squishes you to try to pass. If he hangs out, pull him down.
Lift him off the ground with his weight supported by your shin across his belly. Roll him towards your feet onto his back.
Finish with side control. You may get a bicep slicer with your ankle in his elbow, if you keep that tight to your body.

This is very simular to John's reverse scissor sweep from spider guard. The difference is that your opponent is standing instead of sitting. So you hook your opponent's arm with your foot in this case to prevent the pass and get more control. Here's a video demonstration.

Armdrag of death

2007-05-09T03:35:00.000-05:00

The armdrag from guard is a very important move. It sets up a lot of other moves and helps break your opponent's posture.

You can get several grips on your opponent. Here are just a few.
- Double wrist control: This works well in no-gi or if he has straightish arms. It is also good when using the bridge to "pop" his arms off your body. E.G. He is gripping your gi, or trying to posture up to pass your guard. You can use two regular grips, inside or outside figure-4 grips (depending on direction: across your body or over your head) a combination with a pistol or cuff grip, etcetera.
- Inside cup: Using the outside hand gripping near his wrist (pistol grip, cuff grip, regular wrist grip makes no difference) and the other cupping his triceps from the inside. This is great for generating dragging power around your body.
- Outside push: Using the outside hand to push his elbow or triceps across your body and the other arm gripping at the wrist (pistol grip, cuff grip, regular wrist grip makes no difference) to guide his arm around your body. This is great for generating dragging power around your body too.
Pop your hips up and down to loosen the grip/post. Whenever you lift up then down, there is a momentary hole where his grip/post is above your body. His grip/post is very weak here. Using this space lets you slide an arm inside or just drag with much less effort.
Drag your opponent's arm across your body and shrimp away. You don't really move your opponent, but move your own body out of the way with the shrimp. The goal is to get his shoulder in the middle of your body and/or his arm to the floor on the opposite side of you. This takes out his arm-post and breaks his posture.
Immediately hug him tight to your body afterward with your outside arm so he can't get out!!! You can hug the lat under the armpit, or around his neck, depending on the situation and opponent.
You got many options to finish. Here are just a few.
- Rolling sweep: Simply open your guard and roll him diagonally over his missing post.
- Take the back: Open your guard and post on his knees. Escape your hips out slightly while staying tight to the top of his body. Now hook one leg over his back as you roll him to back control.
- Gift wrap: Keep control of his dragged arm. If Uke tries to yank his arm free, guide his wrist around his head to your hugging hand. Grip and go from there.
- Armbar: Open you guard and finish the 6-point armbar. I won this match this way.

When you armdrag, you move yourself in relation to your opponent, and not vise a versa. That is, you are pulling yourself around his force rather than trying to counter his own force directly. Very aikido-like. Here are some demonstrations:

Half guard roll

2007-05-01T11:34:00.000-05:00

I learned this move from Bobby in no-gi. It is a cool option, but it must be done immediately and explosively so your opponent doesn't see it coming.

You have top half guard. You are fighting for the underhook. Don't let him grip double-unders!
Triangle your legs with the lock on the outside.
Instead of fighting him, explosively granby roll parallel with your opponent by his knee. Roll over your close-side shoulder.
You just reversed the situation, but now you have space. Uke lands almost in referee's position to your side.
Several ways to finish:
- To take the back:
  1. Reach around his back and grip his far lat.
  2. Post on your other hand and climb up. Keep your head on his close-side shoulder and pressure so he can't roll or wiggle out.
  3. Climb around. Throw your other hook in and establish a harness.
- To knee crush:
  1. Shift out a bit so your ankle/low-shin is in the crook of his knee.
  2. Reach so your arms are completely behind his bum. Grab his toes.
  3. Keep his knee close to your body as your bring his foot toward his bum.
  4. Tap!

The knee crush is like this technique from Joseph Garza.

Establishing high side control

2007-04-28T15:35:00.000-05:00

A lot of times after passing the guard, your side control isn't as tight as possible. A tighter side control is more stable and also easier to attack from. One way is by switching your hips to kesa gatame momentarily:

You have loose side control.
Switch your hips and pull his arm at his elbow like in kesa gatame.
Switch back so his arm folds over your thigh but under your body, but stay high on his chest near his head.
Finish with your knee by his ear and his arm trapped between his head and your hip.
Put your arm on the other side of his head to trap it between your elbow and your knee.

I like to attack with many armlocks or chokes from this position on either arm.

Smashing armbar escape

2007-04-28T15:15:00.000-05:00

This is a common escape from an armbar from guard. If he tries an armbar from mount, simply grip your arms together then bridge and roll so the attacker is on his back. Then continue with the escape.

Your attacker tries for an armbar from guard.
Hold your arms together.
Readjust your grip so your trapped arm grips your other bicep. Your free arm grips behind his knee.
Post your leg on the ground right by in his hum so he can't escape his hips to finish the armbar.
Relax and pull your trapped arm out.
Pass and finish in side control.

This is similar to the smashing triangle choke escape Tatu showed us at his seminar. In fact, it is common to for the attacker to switch to an armbar, so you should try this escape.

Backdoor sweep

2007-04-24T17:26:00.000-05:00

Both Drew and Bobby showed me this move once. I call it going out the backdoor, Randy prefers the twist-back sweep, and Eddie Bravo calls it an electric chair. No matter what you call it, it is a good move when you can't get good position from under half guard. Don't hesitate or you will lose the window of opportunity.

You have good posture in bottom half guard with the lockdown and both underhooks. Keep your head hugged below your opponent's chest so he choke you. Uke posts on his far leg out far so you can't drive into him or easily roll him.
Reach deep under Uke's posted leg with your same side hand near his thigh/knee area. use the hook to help roll under your opponent in the next step.
Stretch your opponent's legs out with the lockdown and your grip around his other leg. This takes out is base. At the same time, do a crunch and drive under his hips. You are trying to kuzushi his weight forward onto his arms.
Clasp your other hand around his leg with a gable grip and keep your arms tight. Continue rotating and him over top of you.
Come out the backdoor with Uke still extended and your arms clasped around his leg. Sometimes this will tap people who are not flexible. Usually you should continue the sweep. You end up behind your opponent with his base out.
Release the gable grip and post on the mat with your outside hand. Keep control of his legs close to you with your lockdown and other arm.
Drive your opponent to his back and transition to side control.

Here's a good description of the electric chair by Eddie bravo. If Uke is driving into you and breaking your posture, Chris Leben learned a cool electric chair variation from Eddie Bravo. Just post both your hands in his armpits for extra leverage when turning, then clasp around his leg. Sometimes you may need to hook his leg with the far arm, rotate and use your other arm for leverage under his armpit, then secure your gable grip. Different variations are called for different situations.

Toehold roll

2007-04-24T11:14:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed us this move from top open guard. You have to be explosive without hesitation.

You do the baseball slide ankle pick and land close to Uke in his open guard.
Slide your back leg under his not-dragged-side leg. Trap it between your calf and hamstring and sit on it.
Roll perpendicular over Uke's other leg. Go over close shoulder, and hook his other leg.
Finish the roll perpendicular with that leg close to your and leg-scissoring his other leg. Keep your leg scissor extended so he can't ankle lock you!
Figure 4 around his ankle, grabbing his toes, and try to put his toes into his bum. Tap!
Optional: If Uke tries to push your toe hold off with his trapped leg, shift yourself parallel to that leg, circle his ankle behind your armpit (keep your arm close to your body) and kneebar it!

After a baseball slide ankle pick takedown, you often land in the ideal position for this move. However, you can do it after opening his guard too when he tries entangling your legs.

Baseball slide ankle pick

2007-04-24T11:06:00.000-05:00

Bobby loves using this takedown and setting up leg locks off of it.

You have inside head control from standing with your right hand.
Circle to your right and pull him hard. Uke steps around to square up and put his weight on his right foot.
Lower your level and slide in under his hips with your left leg in between his legs. You MUST pull his head low.
Pick Uke's right ankle from the outside. Scissor his other one with your left leg and use your right one to drive him to his back.
Immediately start your pass.

This is a good takedown with the gi too, because you can pull down with a collar grip behind his head.

Americana

2007-04-24T10:04:00.000-05:00

Americana or bent armlock from mount is one of the most basic and most common attacks from mount. And for good reason. It is high percentage and hard to escape once you get it locked. Here's how do do the armlock:

You begin mounted on your opponent. Your opponent may:
1. Roll to his stomach. Then you just take his back and choke him out.
2. Push on your chest. This sets up the spin and armbar.
3. Your opponent decides to only cover his face. In that case, go for the armlock.
Secure a grip on Uke's right forearm using both hands. Your right arm posts near his elbow, and the left arm goes near his wrist. Lock your arms so they are straight. If he defends by turning sideways, then go for the armbar.
Drive his arm down to the ground using the weight of your body. Don't try to muscle it here. Just let yourself go down.
Bring your elbow to the ground by his head and ear as you push it to the gorund. You want to put a lot of weight on your arm to help base yourself. Watch it though: Donny caught me in a wristlock from here before! Cup his wrist with your hand using a palm-down thumbless grip.
Shoot your back hook in on the opposite side for support. Don't put both hooks in; the same side knee goes forward for base. If you put both both hooks in (narrow base) or neither hook (for control), you risk being thrown off. Finally drive your hip weight into him to the floor.
The whole time you are doing this, you should have your head down over the lock. This protects your face from potential strikes, bases yourself more from the Uke bridging out, and helps keep his arm pinned to the ground. The hook is in, the head is down.
Reach your left hand under his elbow palm up. Thread it through and grab your right wrist - now palm down - like in a figure-4 lock. Just slide your hand inside: five fingers together on each hand (thumbless grip). Keep your wrists perfectly straight.
Slide his hand down towards your knee. Doing it from really high near his head often allows hip too much flexibility. Lift his elbow up while keeping his wrist pinned to the ground. At the same time, turn your body towards that side for added support and pressure. No need to go fast with the lock. You can finish it slowly with more control and more pressure.
Tap!

This is the canonical version. Usually you stay low on Uke while mounting him. By staying low, your prevent many counters and escapes as your smother him and easily climb higher under his armpits. Your help stay stabilized by keeping your hands out wide then holding around the person's neck.

Don't be in a hurry to get the armlock or chase his hand. That telegraphs your submission. Just maintain the mount position, and when he brings his arm up to escape, grab it and go for the americana. Sometimes your opponent might try to entangle the americana around his own head to prevent you from finishing. However, a determined individual can still finish it with the head laced.

Pedro showed us this little tip: If you have trouble sliding your arm under his elbow, go under his forearm and rotate under his elbow. Make sure you keep his arm bent - not straight, with your wrists straight after locking the figure-4. Then attack away. Ryron and Rener have a great video tutorial on the bent armlock.

Vomoplata

2007-04-23T12:31:00.000-05:00

This is a cool move Sonny showed me.

You have side control with shoulder of justice around his head.
Uke posts on your neck with his forearm.
Pin it to the floor, drive into uke.
Shoot your arm under his armpit, but keep it tight around his head.
Post on his hip, and lean into uke's other side.
Tap from shoulder lock!

I call it a "vomoplata" because it is like using the pillow-arm of a v-1 lock to torque the shoulder. You don't need the V-1 to do this move.

Brabo choke

2007-04-23T12:25:00.000-05:00

I first learned the brabo choke from half guard from Mike Nesto when he visited the CMU Grappling Club. From side control, it is effectively the no-gi version of the shaolin Choke. Sonny helped me polish my technique a lot.

You have side control with both arms on far side and his arm trapped between his head and your hip.
Grab his shoulder from under his arm with your low arm, pull him sideways a little to make space under his head.
Rotate your high arm under his head like a half nelson. Grab your own knee.
Post on his hip with your free hand and rotate to north-south, stay tight to keep his arm trapped.
Post on your head and tipod up with the other leg to make some space under his shoulder. Remember to stay tight with the other hip!
Let go of your knee and grab your bicep like in a RNC grip.
Shoulder in and tighten the choke. He will either tap out or pass out!

My personal variation of this move involves keeping my grip on my knee, and switching to ushiro kesa gatame. I keep my hand on his hip so he can't rotate out. If I can't finish from here, I simply switch my hips back to Sonny's version. Most of the details with the brabo choke from half guard also apply to side control as well.

Americana from guard

2007-04-18T11:33:00.000-05:00

This is a cool armlock that I first learned from Bobby. It is one of the first moves he showed at South Hills Judo. It is the end of a sequence of moves starting from a hip bump sweep.

You fake/try the hip bump.
Uke defends the hip bump, so you swim under for an elbow press. When elbow pressing, place your outside arm over his elbow and grip your inside arm's wrist, palm away. This make it easy to transition to the americana.
Uke rotates his arm out of the elbow press. Catch his wrist with your inside hand and keep his arm bent and entangled.
Take your top leg and rotate your calf across his neck. This prevents him from posturing out. Make sure to pinch your legs together around his chest.
Pin his arm to your chest and rotate away from hip. Tap or snap!

It is imperative to get into the correct position during the elbow press. Make sure to escape your hips out and get your knee on his shoulder. You want to be at an angle when you attempt both locks.

Reverse scissor sweep from spider guard

2007-04-17T03:13:00.000-05:00

John showed me this cool spider guard sweep.

You have low spider guard: You have double wrist control and both legs inside his arms, with your feet on his hips and knees pressing outward while arms pull in, creating tension.
Pull him into you, then push him away by bridging your hips high. This creates momentum.
As you bring him back to you, place your right leg across his body like in a reverse scissor sweep from half guard. Your feet are on the same side of his body - i.e. his right hip - and your knee is on the opposite hip.
Use his momentum to get his weight on your leg and pivot 90 degrees.
Pull with your left arm grip and roll him to your left. Establish knee on belly position.

This is very simular to Bobby's hooking reverse scissor sweep from spider guard. The difference here is that your opponent is still kneeling down isntead of passing, so you have to intiate the movement.

Whizzer hook sweep

2007-04-17T03:08:00.000-05:00

Brad showed me this cool butterfly guard sweep.

You have butterfly guard with good posture.
Uke drives into you and under hooks.
You use your whizzering hand to grab his far collar.
Post on your other hand so he can't drive you back, make an angle.
Fall to that side, sideways. When uke posts, grab his post and pull it out.
Use your whizzer-side leg as a hook and extend it. In the same motion, pivot over your head and get mount or side control.

This is very similar to the regular hook sweep from butterfly guard.

Reverse scissor sweep

2007-04-17T02:48:00.000-05:00

Santino showed me this cool half guard sweep.

You have half guard with the underhook and posting on his knee, like usual.
Open your half guard. Keep the inside hook in, but post with your outside leg and shrimp out.
Bring your outside leg across Uke's stomach (straight across). You should get it as far across as you can, but remember to use your foot to hook the one side like normal.
With your posting hand, underhook his knee and bring your head to it so you are parallel with your leg across his chest - perpendicular to him. Keep your underhook on his back as tight as you can.
Try to sweep him over you. You can't because he can post with his arms. The motion is rolling so you get his weight on your scissor-leg.
Let go of your underhook on his back and grap his far-side posting arm (the one in the direction of your feet).
Roll him using your scissor leg towards your foot (not towards your head). at the same time, pull out his posting hand on that side.
When you get on top, unthread your inside leg from his legs and finish with knee-on-belly.

Arm star sweep

2007-04-11T01:59:00.001-05:00

While practicing on Jeff, I finally got this sweep to work with a lot of coaching from Randy. This is a good sweep sweep when the opponent postures up but you can't hip bump him. Randy agrees not to do it on people bent over. It's a good posture type of attack. If they are bent over, you should try to attack with a triangle since you have that arm instead.

You have good guard. Cross grip his sleeve so your free hand can grip his (same-side) knee.
Unlock your guard and keep sweep-side foot tight across his shoulder blade. Use your foot to help pull yours hips close for the sweep.
Up and over your (gripping side) shoulder so you land parallel. You want your hip high in his armpit when you go over top.
Pull his arm and leg as you use your momentum to pull him to his back.
Establish side control.

Randy and Bryce first showed me this move. Here's a good video of the technique. I'm not very good with the arm-star sweep, especially against heavier opponents. It seems most easier for me using it to set up omoplata submissions instead.

Whiplash sweep

2007-04-06T23:57:00.000-05:00

You establish low hook guard and try the osoto gake sweep.
Uke posts on you with his (close) right hand to get his balance.
Take your (posting) right hand, and feed his arm to your wrapping hand. Grip tightly.
Take your right hand and grip his belt on his back (near the middle if possible) with your fingers out and nuckles down.
Keeping your legs tight, swing around his leg to the back so you head is between his legs from the back. Continue your momentum by pulling his belt so he falls onto his back. Do this in one motion.
Immediately high-leg over to side-control.

Osoto gake sweep

2007-04-06T23:49:00.000-05:00

You establish low hook guard and try the kouchi gake sweep.
Uke drives his knee into you, preventing you from sweeping him.
Instead of fighting muscle with muscle, you redirect his momentum around you. Switch your legs so your left leg hooks his ankle and your right leg is turned backward like in an omoplata configuration.
Stay close and shoulder into him to drive him as you pivot your hooking leg to lift his leg up and towards you.
As you drive him to his back, you have to prevent the triangle or him taking your back. Block his left leg with your right hand. Move your head to his far hip, but keep it facing the near hip.
High-leg over to side control.

Kouchi gake sweep

2007-04-06T23:46:00.000-05:00

You establish low hook guard.
Sit up close to his leg (head on the inside). Post on the ground with your right hand for support. Maintain glued to his leg throughout the sweep.
Take your left hand and grip around his leg from the back to the front. If you can, grip his low lapel or even your own collar, but this is not required.
At the same time, switch your legs so your right leg hooks around his ankle (from the inside, front to back). Also turn your left leg so you end up with your legs in an omoplata-like configuration.
Using your right hand and left leg as support, stand up in base slightly. Stay close and shoulder into him to drive him backward. As you do stand, use your hooking leg to lift his leg up and towards you.
As you drive him to his back, you have to prevent the triangle or him taking your back. Block his left leg with your right hand. Move your head to his far hip, but keep it facing the near hip.
High-leg over to side control.

Establish low hook guard

2007-04-06T23:43:00.000-05:00

Sonny showed me this technique and related sweeps. Craig also helped me with the details.

You have guard, but Uke stands up. Try to maintain a sleeve grip with your right hand if you can, but this is not necessary.
Don't wait for for Uke to stand up all the way. If you do, he can control your posture. Instead, open your guard before he expects it.
Grip his right ankle with your left hand (from the outside). Pull yourself so your bum is on top of his foot.
Entangle your left leg around Uke's right leg (from back to front) near the ankle, and post your right foot on Uke's left knee. Push Uke's left leg away with your right foot to get him off balance. This uses x-guard principles.
Don't let him heel hook your entangled leg. Keep that leg low instead of on his hip.
You have low hook guard.

Shuck to circle out

2007-04-05T22:41:00.000-05:00

Circling out after a shuck is a very easy way to get a takedown. I first learned (and forgot) from high school wrestling. Aaron showed it to me again, and it all started to come back...

Starting with a collar-elbow tie, shuck your opponent's arm off and establish a close claw grip.
Circle away and pull down on his neck, so he goes on all fours. Keep it tight!
Now it is a simple matter to get back control. If he is on a tripod, bring your arms back and swing his arms away to make him eat the mat.

Claw ride

2007-04-05T22:17:00.000-05:00

The claw ride is an old-school technique I first learned (and forgot) from high school wrestling. Aaron showed it to me again, and it all started to come back...

Starting with a collar-elbow tie, shuck your opponent's arm off and establish a close claw grip.
Squat down a little, keeping that claw.
With your shucking hand, reach around and under his near thigh.
Lift your opponent up into the air and rotate him so his back faces the mat as you slam him down.

Shuck

2007-04-05T21:48:00.000-05:00

The shuck isn't a submission or a takedown, but it is a nice way to set up many takedowns. The normal way to execute a shuck:

Start with a collar-elbow tie.
Your elbow hand goes in from outside and wraps around his arm (to his triceps if possible).
Twist and lean away to shuck it by you. Pull him very close to you, but with his body still upright.
Finish very close to your opponent with your collar grip still tight. We called that hold "the claw" in high school. You will have his collar grip broken. However, you finish at a slight angle under his armpit so he can't back out or get his grip easily.

Here's another easy way to shuck off your opponent's tieup. It takes a lot of finesse:

Start with a collar-elbow tie.
Bring your elbow-hand underneath. "Catch" their elbow in your elbow.
If you need some extra support, grip your own elbow on the other arm with your shucking arm's hand.
Step to outside (on shuck side) and get hip-to-hip. As you do that, twist and lean away to shuck it by.
Pull him very close to you, but with his body still upright.
Finish very close to your opponent, with your claw still tight, at a slight angle under his armpit so he can't back out or get his grip easily.

One good tip: don't move your arm, let the shuck shuck it by.

Barsagar

2007-04-05T09:21:00.000-05:00

Barsagar was an Iranian wrestler from the 1970s who used this move a lot. Here's how Aaron showed the takedown:

Start with an overhand grip on an inside-out tie.
Pull up and lower your level.
Step in for a high-crotch.
Keep his leg tucked under your outside arm. Lift up and "run" at 45 degrees. Your head will be driving along his hip.
Block far leg at the knee and scissor your arms. This helps him go horizontal.
Your opponent goes flying. You should still be on your feet when he goes down to prevent the roll. After he hits the mat then aggressively attack!

Sometimes it is also called a far knee block. The Barsagar can be found in the book Winning Wrestling Moves (page 22), which is free to read on Google.

Bottom lapel rolling sweep

2007-04-04T15:52:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed up this technique at class once. It is a sweep when Uke tries to defend the bottom lapel version of gyaku juji jime from guard. Because you have a grip of the bottom of his lapel around his back, you can use it as an underhook. This gives you the control needed to preform this sweep.

You have closed guard and broke Uke's posture. Free out his right lapel from his belt and feed it under his armpit and over his back to the other side of his head. Hold it with your left hand.
Now feed the bottom of the lapel to your right hand again, palm-side out. You want your wrist to be across Uke's right carotid, with your radius bone pressuring into his neck. Use your grip to help you dominate his posture.
Now like in normal gyaku juji jime, you start to slide your left hand under your right arm, mirroring it with the palm facing outward.
Uke is smart and blocks your left hand with his own left hand. You simply grip his left arm with your left hand and drag it across your body. Now he has no post on that side.
Keep your opponent tight to you, and simply roll to your right. If you need to, push his left knee out with your foot to make the sweep easier.
Finish with mount.

Bottom lapel gyaku juji jime

2007-04-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed up this technique at class once. It is very similar to normal gyaku juji jime from guard, except you choking with the bottom of his lapel instead of the top of his collar. This grip lets you control him a little better like an underhook too.

You have closed guard. Break Uke's posture.
Free out his right lapel from his belt and feed it under his armpit and over his back to the other side of his head. Hold it with your left hand.
Now feed the bottom of the lapel to your right hand again, palm-side out. You want your wrist to be across Uke's right carotid, with your radius bone pressuring into his neck. Use your grip to help you dominate his posture.
Your left hand now slides under the right arm, mirroring it with the palm facing outward. Grip the part of his collar which is exposed.
Pull your arms together and do a crunch to help get Uke close to finish the choke. Keep your elbows in throughout the motion.
Tori curls his wrists and finishes just like in normal gyaku juji jime.

If you have problems finishing, open your guard and kick his knees out. You can keep the choke and sweep as you finish it too.

Yanking turtle turnover

2007-04-03T12:19:00.000-05:00

This is a very simple, basic technique that Eugene showed me. Almost instinct.

Uke is turtled right beside you at about a 90 degree angle.
Grip his far elbow with your high hand.
Yank his arm across his chest to take out is post.
At the same time, drive into him so he rolls over his shouler
Finish with side control.

Gogoplata sweep

2007-03-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

Sonny showed me this move at Steel City. He joked I shouldn't show anyone, so don't read this post if you are not me!

You have closed guard, and Uke sits up straight. You try the situp gogoplata but can't get it.
Let go of his head and extend your gogoplata leg straight up. Uke will have no choice but to follow and get off balance.
Roll to your side as you push Uke to the ground.
Switch your hips and establish side control. Slide your omoplata leg over Uke's close arm for more control.

Optional: If you can, keep Uke's trapped arm bent with his forearm pressing against your belly. Then loosen it up a little to slide your omoplata leg's ankle into his elbow (instead of simply over his arm). Now press your weight down for the bicep crusher.

Situp gogoplata

2007-03-28T11:17:00.000-05:00

Sonny showed me this move at Steel City. He joked I shouldn't show anyone, so don't read this post if you are not me!

You have closed guard, and Uke sits up straight.
Sit up with him. Reach over his back with your right arm and grip your own left foot.
Fall back. Uke will fall with you. As you fall, pull your leg up his back towards his head.
Keep your other foot posted on his hip and your leg close to his side. Shrimp out to get space, but keep his arm (on side you are doing the gogoplata) trapped.
Push his face away with your free hand and slide your foot over his head and under his chin.
Reach over his head with your same-side hand and finish like a normal gogoplata.

Ripping triangle to counter the underpass

2007-03-26T05:07:00.000-05:00

If your opponent tries the underpass then you have to be quick to counter. Don't let him get your hips off the ground! Santino showed me this submission that works well when you can rip out one of his underhooks.

Uke has both arms under your legs for the underpass.
Scoot your butt out so you have good posture and Uke has bad posture with his head low near your hips.
Post back with your hand for support. Your free hand grips his wrist so he can't get out (same side as your free hand).
Post one leg in his hip (close to his body) and push off to further break his posture.
Open your other leg out a little to make space, and underhook from the bottom by his armpit. Grip your underhook with your other hand.
Rip his arm out from under your leg using your free elbow high on his back for leverage.
Immediately bring your leg (posting on his hip) across his back and spin to the triangle for the tap.

Padlock to counter the underpass

2007-03-26T04:55:00.001-05:00

If your opponent tries the underpass then you have to be quick to counter. Don't let him get your hips off the ground! This submission is a very sneaky move that Santino showed me.

Uke has both arms under your legs for the underpass.
Scoot your butt out so you have good posture and Uke has bad posture with his head low near your hips.
Post back with your hand for support. Your free hand grips his wrist so he can't get out (same side as your free hand).
Shoot your free side's leg through, and hook your foot under his far hip.
Straighten your free leg as you begin to pinch both knees together.
You'll catch him with a fast tap.

It is a subtle technique that requires a lot of drilling to be effective!

Guided foot mount transition

2007-03-24T02:42:00.000-05:00

I first learned this transition from John a long time ago by watching him at his brown belt test. It is a good technique with a little bit of flavor.

Tori has ushiro kesa gatame with his far arm going around Uke's shoulder and gripping his belt. This is a very tight lock. Uke's arm is trapped behind you in this technique.
Scoot up high under his armpit so there is lots of space around his hips. It does not matter if your opponent has a leg up or not.
Grab your own outside foot with your free hand . You use your hand to help guide your foot and to defend against Uke trying to block or grab it.
In a quick motion, sweep your foot across Uke's belt line and onto the other side of the mat. Ideally, your hand still grips your foot during this process.
Immediately switch your hips back into a mounted position.

As usual, Abhaya has a great tutorial on the mount transition.

Defense to bottom kimura

2007-03-21T11:51:00.000-05:00

Bobby showed me this cool defense when you have side control, but the bottom guy tries for a kimura.

You have side control, but the bottom guy is trying for a kimura.
Step over his head with your high-leg and trap the lock under your leg. This prevents him from getting leverage to finish the move.
Several ways to finish:
- Relax your arm and pull it out. Finish with north-south.
- Relax your arm, but keep his arm entangled. In one motion, bring your high get under the lock and your other leg over his head, and pivot your body around his arm to juji gatame.

You sometimes get in this situation if he tries kimura from half guard, but you free your legs.

Hip bump sweep to counter the underpass

2007-03-20T02:00:00.000-05:00

If your opponent tries the underpass then you have to be quick to counter. Don't let him get your hips off the ground! This sweep is a good option if he is determined to pass under both your legs.

Uke has both arms under your legs for the underpass.
Scoot your butt out so you have good posture and Uke has bad posture with his head low near your hips.
Post back with your hand for support.
On the same side as your post, hook your foot under his leg.
Reach over his back with your other arm and grip the belt. In no-gi, you can sometimes get it by gripping deep along his side.
Use your free leg to push and hip in using your post for support. This flips your opponent.
Finish with knee-on-belly with a grip on his arm (instead of his leg) for attacks.

Timbaland at Sherdog gave me these pointers for preventing the pass before starting the sweep:

When Uke tries the pass, straighten your body. Extend your hips so your body is in a straight line.
Spread your legs as wide as possible. This is to make sure your legs are not on top of his shoulders, you're basically doing the sideways splits. Your legs end up against the side of his shoulders or against his arms. He can't pass like this.
Place both of your feet (heels first) on his hips if you can and push off a little to create a little space.
Plant both your feet on the ground and come up and do the rest of the sweep.

Kata ha jime to armbar

2007-03-17T19:46:00.000-05:00

This is a cool armbar setup Sonny linked from a kata ha jime from guard. You try the choke but your opponent prevents you from bringing finishing it by posting on your arm.

You have guard. Arm drag, hug around head.
Use other hand to open up his collar. Feed his collar to your other hand around his head. Only 2 fingers needed if your can't get the entire grip.
Bring your foot (armdrag side) across Uke's back on Uke's other shoulder. This keeps his posture broken.
Uke is smart and posts on your free arm's bicep with his free hand. This prevents you from gripping is collar and finishing kata ha jime. Keep Uke close to your body, though!
Rotate your arm towards your head. This breaks Uke's posture and brings his arm close your your overhook hand (right now gripping his collar).
Post in his hip with your other-side leg. Pinch in with your knee at his shoulder/upper arm. This is critical, because it traps his arm and brings it closer to your overhook hand.
Let go of his collar and grip the gi of his arm with your overhook hand.
Pivot, bring your overhook-side ankle over his shoulder, and finish like a 6-point armbar, except with the overhook and your new grips.

Foot-pressing collar choke

2007-03-17T19:38:00.000-05:00

This was one of the first moves Bobby showed me. Sonny linked to a kata ha jime from guard, but you can just transition to it directly from the arm drag:

You have guard.
Arm drag, hug around head.
Use other hand to open up his collar.
Feed his collar to your other hand around his head. Only 2 fingers needed if your can't get the entire grip.
Bring your foot (armdrag side) across Uke's back on Uke's other shoulder. This keeps his posture broken.
Uke posts on your free arm so you can't bring it under his arm and behind his head (like in kata ha jime).

Instead, use your free arm to grab your own foot (on his shoulder).
Pull down on your foot and tighten the choke for the tap out.

This is a brutal and effective submission. Pulling down on your foot helps push his head into the choke. You are still safe to transition into a lot of different finishes too.

Kata ha jime from guard

2007-03-17T14:26:00.000-05:00

Sonny showed me this cool technique from guard. It is very similar to a technique Bobby showed me a long time ago. It is a cool option from the arm drag:

You have guard.
Arm drag, hug around head.
Use other hand to open up his collar.
Feed his collar to your other hand around his head. Only 2 fingers needed if your can't get the entire grip.
Bring your foot (armdrag side) across Uke's back on Uke's other shoulder. This keeps his posture broken.
Your other hand goes under Uke's arm (armdrag side) and behind his head like a half nelson.
Squeeze. Tap!

If you can't get the tap, you can optionally bump your hip into him as you get to the side, climb to his back with kata ha jime still locked.

Belly down armbar

2007-03-14T19:04:00.000-05:00

Santino showed us this interesting option from mount.

You have mount. Uke has his elbows in, like he is supposed to.
Keep your knees low near the ground. Bear down and put your hands on the top of his head. Now push on his head to get to a higher mount. This helps wedge your knees high under his armpits and bring his elbows up a little bit so you have leverage to begin attacking.
Take your right hand and slide it under Uke's right forearm and grip his right triceps. He won't want you to attack or extend that arm and grips his arms together.
Bring your left knee up near his hear and pivot your left leg so you end in S-mount You can grip your own leg if you wish with your free arm, but it is not required.
Lean toward his left hip and step over his head.
Instead of falling back - where Uke's lock is strong - fall forward belly-down (across and down slightly towards his hips) so his arm naturally straightens and his lock is weak.
Pinch your knees together and slide your grip to his wrist to break his grip, if required. Hip in to finish the armbar as usual. Be careful because it is a quick submission even if you let go when he taps!

Shaolin choke

2007-03-13T12:03:00.000-05:00

John first showed me this nifty choke at Steel City. I call it a watch choke because you open your gi like you're selling watches from the inside (not that I would know anything about that). You use your lapel closest to your head instead compared with the one Sonny showed me a while ago. Andreh Anderson calls the high lapel watch choke a Shaolin choke since he learned it from Shaolin at a seminar, I presume.

Kneebar from turtle

2007-03-07T20:32:00.000-05:00

Drew showed me this sneaky submission that you can try when your opponent just gets you in a referee's position like turtle.

You just turtled, either from a failed takedown or to prevent a pass. Uke is behind you trying to gain control, rather than at the side.
Look under your legs. If you see his leg or knee between your legs, then you can go for the kneebar. If it isn't, you can sometimes reposition yourself first so your leg is between his legs.
Dive under for it. You want to dive like doing a forward roll, so make sure to move your head out of the way. Stay close and shoot your legs through his legs as you roll. Try to roll in place without much Cartesian displacement.
Shoot both arms deep behind his knee as you roll too. Keep your hips close to his and try to prevent him from tying his legs up in a figure-4.
You should end up roughly perpendicular with him with your side on the ground. Now is the time to execute the Kneebar

Number one tip for success: Your free leg must kick behind his armpit HARD. You do not want to end up on your side, and you do not want to need "momentum" to finish it. Knock his ass forward with the leg in the armpit.

Head in/out is a matter of choice. The majority opinion is to keep your head out (Kesting for example). However Michael Jen's view is to keep the head in, like a rolling kneebar from standing. Both have advantages. Head out, you can kick the armpit and roll easier. Head in, however, there is a "sideways" sweep you can do. I think it's ok either way.

Kneebar from turtle is a very much momentum dependent move. The more powerful roll, the more the success you'll have finishing it. Here's a good discussion on executing a kneebar from a turtle.

Tatu keylock

2007-02-24T16:51:00.000-05:00

Tatu showed this technique at a seminar last month. This version uses your arm as the key instead of your shin like in other bicep slicer techniques.

You have guard, but Uke is starting to post on your belly.
Your same-side hand grips his wrist and pins it to your body.
Your other hand goes inside and pulls out his elbow. Uke's posture tumbles forward.
While Uke falls, open your guard and escape your hips out a little. Place your same-side leg over his wrist, but still over his back, trapping it.
Your other leg goes over his head. Both legs push him downward to keep his /peaking down his posture and make the lock tight.
Thread your same side hand (the one which was grabbing his wrist) through from the bottom side to the top side (near his back) so your wrist is by his elbow.
Clasp you hands together (I like a gable grip) and squeeze.

Here is a video of me demonstrating the technique (badly):

According to Letmbleed: It's not uncommon to start applying a kimura, and to use the same side leg the way it's being used in that video to keep the guy from straightening his arm. He's used this approach successfully against roid ragers.

According to Sponge: It works good when you are trying to triangle someone, and he defend sby trying to feed the arm that's in through the legs. He sets himself up for it, The first time Sponge rolled with Chris Brennan, he was trying to triangle Sponge; He thought he could get his arm out but Chris caught him with the keylock.

Tatu mount rotation

2007-02-24T15:17:00.000-05:00

Tatu showed us this clever way to mount someone who blocks your attempts to transition over his legs.

Tori has kuzure ushiro kesa gatame with his far elbow in Uke' armpit.
Tori leans onto his far arm a little. simutaneously kicks outside leg towards Uke's legs. This is a jedi mind trick AND gives you momentum to turn the other way.
Pivot around his head in the opposite way, using your outside leg for momentum. Use your near knee as a pivot point.
Land in mount over he head. If you land with your outside leg over top of his far arm, you can transition to a triangle setup from mount. If you land with your outside leg under his far arm, then begin mount attacks.

This is a very good transition that I got on Santino and others.

Star Sweep

2007-02-24T12:38:00.000-05:00

The star sweep is one of Bobby's favorites. While the move looks spectacular, it is really quite simple and based upon sound mechanical principles according to Royler and Renzo.

Uke stands in your closed guard. Keep your hands close to your body with your arm flat on the ground. this makes it easy to hook his ankle. Uke starts to drive his knee to your chest.
Immediately hook one arm inside and around at the ankle on the leg Uke is driving into you. Grip the ankle tightly during the entire sweep. Places the palm of your other hand on the floor close to your own ear on the other side.
You're too late to drop your hips for the handstand sweep because Uke is pressing his knee into you. Don't wait for him to get a good drive into your chest. If he smashes you, the technique won't work.

Rather than fight with strength, open your guard to release the pressure as soon as he drops the knee. Concentrate all your power into the same side you are hooking his ankle (and he is driving his knee into you). Tilt your head away from his leg so you roll over your shoulder instead of your head (thanks Tony).
Quickly force your knee up and lift your hips. Spin your outside leg (the one on the same side as the hand pushing off the floor) in a wide looping motion around his other leg. Your leg whips around in a wide arc, blasting through Uke's arms if he tries to grab you.
Land on your knees outside of the Uke's leg, facing the same direction as your opponent. Keep low with your weight down; don't raise back up.
Now pull your opponent's ankle off the floor forward and up, and drive backwards into Uke to force him to fall in a quick motion. Keep his leg straight, but use it as a pendulum.
You can finish with side control or transition into a toe hold since you already have good position on hs ankle.

Although it looks like you are a breakdancer, with a little practice the star sweep can be preformed easily. If he is standing in your high guard is even easier to achieve, and I have scored this technique on both high white belts and even good purple belts. There is another popular version where you sweep around his arm instead of his ankle, but I am not as good with that one.

This is technique #4 in Saulo's gi dvd on the guard. I learned the above version at a seminar taught by Rogerio "Tatu" Taborda. Here's a good video demonstration of the star sweep by Submissions 101.

Smashing triangle choke escape

2007-02-24T02:31:00.000-05:00

Tatu showed this at his seminar. It works better for loose triangles than tight ones.

Uke gets a triangle from guard.
As soon as Uke gets the choke, Tori drives into Uke and stacks him, This smashes him and lifts his rear off the ground.
Tori posts his inside hand besides Uke's head (on the same-side) for support and to prevent Uke from moving it across.
Tori circles slightly away from his inside arm to make some space. This loosens the triangle and makes it easier to get your arm free.
Tori places his low leg (knee bent) right next to Uke's rear. This contrains Uke so he can't extend for an armbar.
With Uke smashed and a hole opened, Tori pulls his arm free and settles into side control or north-south.

Americana

2006-11-18T11:20:00.000-05:00

I learned this nifty setup for an americana armlock from Pedro Sauer at seminar.

You have a strong kuzure kesa gatame and fake an overhead armbar. Uke stops you by posting on your leg as you step over.
Leg go of his arm and come behind your own leg with your arm to grip his arm.
Switch your hips back to side control as you thread your other arm for the Americana from side control. Finish him.

Ude gatame

2006-11-18T11:15:00.000-05:00

Kuzure kesa gatame (scarf hold, modified with your "head" arm under his far armpit instead) is a good holding position, but there are a few good submissions from there as well. I learned this one from Pedro Sauer at a seminar. Ude gatame is also called an elbow press in BJJ.

You have a strong kuzure kesa gatame. Uke has his far hand/arm behind your head. Remember to keep alive feet. Keep hold of his near arm with his wrist in your armpit by gripping the gi by his elbow and keeping your own elbow pinched to your side.
Maintaining control of his arm, step over his head with your outside leg. If you step too far, pull back to make there no space. To remain balanced, lean with your head near his far side hip.
Simultaneously, trap his free arm between your head/neck and your far arm. Make sure you extend his arm straight.
Clasp your hands together for added power and control Slide your grip up his triceps towards his elbow. Keep pressuring into him as you pull his arm towards you.
One you meet the elbow, he should tap. With practice, this can be combined with the overhead armbar for a double submission!

Overhead armbar

2006-11-18T11:09:00.000-05:00

You have a strong kuzure kesa gatame. Remember to have alive feet. Keep hold of his arm with his wrist in your armpit by gripping the gi by his elbow and keeping your own elbow pinched to your side.
Maintaining control of his arm, step over his head with your outside leg. If you step too far, pull back to make there no space. To remain balanced, lean with your head near his far side hip.
Hip into his arm, and at the same time, pull back with your security arm, armbarring him.

Kosoto gari

2006-11-18T05:03:00.000-05:00

I mainly learned this as a self defense technique. In kosoto gari, you reap the outside foot with your own foot. From the t-position:

You close the gap and establish the t-position.
Your opponent steps away from you with his far leg, widening his base.
Turn your back foot slightly to cup his heel and reap it up, tripping him over it. Kuzushi him backwards over it using your underhook.
Land in mount.

I haven't really used kosoto gari much in a tournament setting yet, but it is very possible that I will. Sometimes I shoot a double and wrap the outside of his leg with my leg from a very low level in a variation called kosoto gake.

Sgt. Jones demonstrates the t-position kosoto gari for self defense.
Sensei Jones demonstrates the judo kosoto gari as a proactive technique.
Here are competition kosoto gari examples in real matches.

Cutting kata juji jime

2006-10-27T13:12:00.001-05:00

Brad showed me this move back in November 2005 when I just started gi training. It was my favorite move for over a month.

Tori tries cutting armlock from guard but can't get the submission for some reason.
Tori grips Uke's gi at the collar (or just gi material near there) by Uke's right neck/trap with your thumb inside.
Tori closes guard and brings his collar-arm's elbow to Uke's chest down then in, getting under his chin and pressing against his neck.
Tori rotates his collar hand to press his wrist into Uke's carotid. Tori's overhooking hand pulls the other collar taunt like in okuri eri jime.
Tori puts his foot (on the side of his trapped arm) on Uke's hip (if not possible use mat) and escapes his hips outward.
This angle helps make the choke much stronger and opens the possibility of easier transitions (near armbar, omoplata, etc.) and stretches Uke so he has less leverage.
Tori crunches forward as he pulls Uke's head toward him. Tap!

Wakigatame kata juji jime

2006-10-27T13:12:00.000-05:00

Misnamed version of a cutting kata juji jime.

Single to a double

2006-10-25T21:51:00.000-05:00

This is a high-crotch to a double leg takedown. See that article instead.

High crotch

2006-10-25T21:09:00.000-05:00

The head-outside single leg (or high-crotch single leg) is a great takedown which can be set up from a snap down, from a headlock, or set up in other ways. Aaron gave me a lot good advice on executing the high-crotch to double leg takedown. Here is the basic way to initiate a high-crotch:

Start with a staggered stance. Make sure to keep your back straight and head up throughout the entire shot.
Clear your opponent's arms and lower your level just like in a double. Your head stays on the outside throughout the mvoe.
Take your penetration step a little shallower. Your knee in the high-crotch goes where foot goes in the double.
Bring your outside leg around parallel with the other one.
Wrap around his near leg, with the inner arm going high near his crotch, and the outer one low by the knee. Your shoulder and chest should drive into him. Good posture is critical!
Pivot on the outside leg so you are driving at an angle. Pull his leg as you lean in and look across his back.

Remember to head on outside, take a shallow penetration step (knee in hi-c goes where foot in double), and to pivot upward. A common finish is to switch to a double leg takedown:

Lift your opponent up into the air like a squat using your shoulder to support his weight. This isn't strictly necessary or that common in practice, but if possible then it virtually guarantees a good side control for you.
Bring your inside hand to his far knee to chop it.
Continue turning the corner and drive him to the mat.

Sometimes this is called a reshot too. It is an essential move all wrestlers should know. Here's several good links on the technique:

I hate this name, though. It's just too silly!

Double belt grip elevator sweep

2006-10-24T21:33:00.000-05:00

Eugene showed me this sweep during judo class at Pitt. I think I have all the details correct...

You start with butterfly guard.
Arm drag his left-side (Uke's right) hand. Your head stays on the right side of Uke's head.
Your left arm goes over and grips his belt. Your right arm goes under Uke's arm, grips belt. Stay close.
Sit back to your left side and extend your right hook to elevate Uke's left leg. Keep your toes pointed towards you so your hook remains strong.
Uke can't post out a lib to prevent going over since his right arm is being controlled. Land on the top.

Rolling armbar from turtle

2006-10-24T17:21:00.000-05:00

This is a good armbar and also a turnover in case you can't finish the technique:

You have back control with hooks, but the Uke has turtled and it is hard to get a choke.
With your left arm, hook his right arm and get a good grip. Uke will probably lock his hands to prevent the armbar.
At the same time, rotate perpendicular with him and remove our left hook. Slide your shin across the back of his neck/head. This drives his head to the ground. Rotate the other hook across his opposite abdomen to the outside of his left thigh.
Squeeze your knees together to start isolating and controlling his arm. Aesopian, who's just totally awesome, shows the position in this picture:
With your free arm, grip his close ankle (or gi pants) and extend his leg as you bring it over your head. Now let go and grab his other ankle (or gi pants) and pull it over your head again.
Keep your grip and roll your opponent onto his back while keeping the armbar. You need to roll them over to get enough leverage to break their grip.
While rolling the opponent over, try to maintain your body at a right angle to his; pull his left arm well toward your and keep your hips close to his body. After rolling, make sure to place your left leg around his head.
Uke will probably still have his hands locked. Break his lock and extend his arm to your chest. Hold the opponent's right arm with your left hand, and raise up your stomach slightly to apply the lock.

You also have to control his collarbones at the end. Armbars are all about controlling the core of his body. You have to have that leg driving hard across his collarbones so he cannot sit up. The defense against an arm bar is for him to pop your leg off his chest and turn, pulling his elbow downward, right? So remember to staple him to the ground with the leg across his collarbones. The arm is easy after that. Here's a good discussion of the rolling armbar from turtle.

Standing Hadaka Jime

2006-10-19T13:30:00.000-05:00

The classical jujitsu version of a hadaka jime - in Japanese, literally naked choke aka RNC in BJJ or hadaka jim ni (#2) - was developed with the battlefield in mind. You typically get behind your opponent somehow while standing. This standing position still lets you disengage if you have to make a quick get-away.

You start standing behind your opponent with one leg forward.
Grab his shoulders and pulling him backwards as you kick the back of his knee with the instep of your boot/shoe. This off-balances him a lot. In fact, off-balancing your opponent is a focal point and allows this choke to work well from the position.
Opposite arm goes around his neck with your thumb facing you. Try to trace around his neck with your thumb like the "off with your neck" motion. This helps you sneak your arm under his chin while staying close to his neck. Keep lots of pressure and do it quickly!
Finish your motion with your elbow below his chin and the other two long sections of your arm pressing into his carotids. If you need to, grip the boney part of his opposite omoplata with your hand to secure your hold.
Note:
Grip your hands together in a gable grip with your choking arm palm-down; the free arm's elbow stays low so he can't grip it. Or you can simply use the regular RNC grip behind his head.
Pull him back into the hole behind him beside your extended leg while squeezing his neck. Keep his head horizontal to the ground while his back arches. Also keep the thigh of your forward leg in his tailbone to keep him off balance.
CTFO!!!

While executing the choke, place your head slightly to the side of his head to prevent head butts. You want shoulder-to-shoulder contact with him as well. Space is the enemy! Your head and shoulder trap his head and shoulder so that he has no slack to escape and less slack to breath.

The staggered stance with your body turned sideways keeps him form ippon seoinaging you over his shoulder, which is the most common counter to a weak RNC. When behind your opponent, you switch to the staggered stance because:

It lets your be stable in the motion you are pulling hip.
It makes your most stable direction perpendicular to his most stable direction.
The knee in the back could probably hurt like a SOB as well.

There is some room for him to wiggle to the sides, but keeping him off-balance maintains control over your attacker. This way he can't back up and push both of you down, or lower his hips and koshiwaza you into the pavement. It also makes a space you can pull him backwards into - destabilizing him - while remaining stable yourself.

This hadaka jime is similar to how its taught in the military. You encircle the choking arm around his neck (much like described above) preferably using the arm that is opposite your secondary weapon(pistol) to choke. Standing hadaka jime more of a self defense than sport technique, but can still occasionally occur after a duck under or an arm-drag.

Shin guard to triangle choke

2006-10-16T20:30:00.000-05:00

Check out this video demonstrating several closed guard moves, including a shin-guard to triangle choke aka "Rubberbend."

You have shin guard.
Shrimp your right leg all the way through. Let go of his left wrist if you have to. Don't let him grab your leg!
Raise your hips and shove your right leg by his neck and lock your feet get a weak reverse-triangle.
Quickly hold his head with your right hand again. Use your left hand to grip your ankle.
Open your feet. Pull your right leg over his neck behind his head. Put your left foot in his hip and pinch your knee to his side (this prevents him from freeing his trapped arm).
Push on your left leg and get perpendicular. Reset the triangle by lifting your left leg and setting the back of your knee over your right ankle. Bend your left leg so your foot goes towards the ground. This looks like figure-4 with your legs.
Lift your hips and reset his trapped arm across his body. Pull down on the head
Lights out for Uke.

Jorge Gurgel demonstrates a triangle choke in this video.

Shin guard position

2006-10-16T19:49:00.000-05:00

Check out this video demonstrating several closed guard moves, including "shin-guard."

You have closed guard. Break Uke's posture.
Overhook his right arm (your left-side) tightly with your hand "zipping your coat." Wrap your right arm are around his head to keep his posture broken.
Climb left leg on his back, right foot goes on his hip with your knee pressuring into him. This keeps his posture broken as you let go of his head.
Grip Uke's left wrist (your right-side) with your right arm. Position it away and scoot your hips to your left. This creates space for your right leg.
Slide your right knee though the hole. Pressure on the inside of his elbow with your shin. This traps his arm between your shin pushing it and your wrist control pulling it.
This is shin-guard.

Switch to wakigatame

2006-10-15T20:37:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you end up turtled with your opponent facing you with his chest on your shoulders. You have to act quickly before he takes your back or tries a turnover or submission. This switch out from wrestling is a good option and often leads into a wakigatame.

You are turtled on the floor with your opponent is sprawled out over top of your shoulders.

He may grab around your body under your armpit or by your waist with one arm. That's the side you want to switch your hips toward.
Put your weight on your opposite arm and same side leg. Inokuma suggests grabbing the opponent's knee on your switching side with your opposite side arm for control in Best Judo.

Grab his arm with your switching arm on that side to set up the armlock.
Sit your opposite side leg through the whole as you stick your head upward on his side. It should be easy because your weight is on your other two posts. This brings your hips out to the side and facing the sky.
You want to be squarely perpendicular to your opponent's arm, so your back is facing the opponent and your head is upward and not drooping towards your belly. Instead pressure back onto his shoulder with your head. This keeps breaks his posture and keeps him on the mat and not following you.
Trap his elbow underneath your outside arm's armpit. Also twist his wrist so his pinky is facing upward during this motion. This is critically important so you get the correct angle on his elbow.
Continuing your pulling motion, sink your weight on his elbow as your lift his wrist for wakigatame.

This situation happens a lot when you try a shot, but your opponent sprawls out very well. Now you are nearly collapsed on your elbows with the opponent's pressure on your shoulders. You won't always catch the wakigatame, so be prepared to scramble out and take his back! Here's a short tutorial on switching to wakigatame.

Collar choke to sitout wakigatame

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This is an attack when the Uke turtles. Good for judo especially.

Uke turtles, Tori is on his left side. Tori keeps his armpit pressuring on Uke's far shoulder to prevent a sit-out.
Tori fakes okuri eri jime with high hand. Uke defends by gripping his own collars high up.
Tori slides low knee into space between Uke's arm and Uke's leg.
Tori's high hand grips his own knee that he slid into that space.
Tori sits out into a kesa-gatame-like position by siding his knee and arm down. Tori keeps pressure on Uke's arm.
Sit out motion frees Uke's arm and straightens it for wakigatame. Keep Uke's pinky finger pointed upright.

This is a wakigatame for the top guy, unlike the switch to wakigatame which is for the bottom guy.

Collar grip front choke

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This is an attack when the Uke turtles. Good for judo especially.

Uke turtles, Tori is in front of him with his pressure on uke's shoulders.
Tori's right hand grips Uke's far collar under his neck like okuri eri jime.
Tori's left hand grips under Uke's arm in into Uke's far collar, thumb-side out.
Tori bunny hops over the plane of Uke's shoulders.
Fall or your back and choke him out!
For more pressure, cross your feet over his back. Careful when practicing, a deep okuri eri grip will make him easily pass out.

Belt grip cross choke

2006-10-15T15:00:00.000-05:00

This is an attack when the Uke turtles. Good for judo especially.

Uke turtles, Tori is on his left side.
Tori's high hand grips Uke's far collar under his neck like okuri eri jime.
Tori's low hand grips Uke's belt to control him.
Tori steps over Uke's butt-end with low leg and Uke's head with high leg. Can do both at same time in "bunny hop" motion. Keep weight on your side of his body, though.
Fall to your back and choke him out!

Underpass

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The underpass is one of Eddie Bravo's favorite ways to pass the guard. It seems unconventional, but it still satisfies the principle "two in or two out" when you are trying to pass the guard. It can be found in his book "Jiu Jitsu Unleashed."

Start in Uke's open guard.
Snake both of arms underneath his legs and join them hands together right above his stomach using a Gable grip. With a kimono, you can grip low on his lapels. Pinch your elbows in tight, and don't give your opponent any space.
Press forward and lift hips off the mat. He will be in kind of a crunch position.
Throw your legs back and stay on your toes to apply your weight onto Uke. You don't want him to push away or get leverage for a submission like a collar choke or the phantom.
Drive one of your hands down across to his far shoulder like in the leg on shoulder pass. Make sure that there isn't even a fraction of an inch of space when you pass. Continue to control his hips with the hand.
Rotate around (same way as the arm that went around his neck) to the side and drive into his shoulder.
Make sure to press all your weight down onto Uke. Finally, clear his legs and move into side control.

Backdoor back mount escape

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Bryce likes this escape a lot from back control.

Uke has back mount.
Tori prevents the choke by bringing hands close to neck and tucking chin in.
Tori rolls until Uke is pinned between the mat and him.
Tori slides his hips down to the mat between Uke's legs.
Tori violently extends one leg straight to remove the hook.
Several finishes:
- Tori underhooks both legs, switches legs and rolls belly down. Now he is under both legs and finishes with a double underpass.
- Tori brings his elbow to the mat, switches legs and rolls belly down over the opposite leg (which was shucked off). Now he is trapping that leg and finishes with Pablo's over-under pass.