Shoulder Walk

This escape walks bottom's shoulder to create space to turn in and reguard.  It looks easy and effective.

Why oh Why

Today we drilled  a few Y escapes from being underneath someone's side control.  Things to remember include:
   1.  Push the elbow; not the armpit.
   2.  No one can really explain why this is called a Y escape.  :)


111611#193

Side control and mount escapes

Under your opponent's side control, bump up, get the under hook, and get wrist control. From here, you can pick the arm and sweep.

If your opponent wizzers your underhook, you can duck through and apply a kimura.

When doing the elbow/knee escape, you can often use your free foot to pry your opponent's heavy leg.


11211#189

Adjusting to Bottom's Work

When in side control, your opponent (on bottom) will often want to explode up and get the under hook.  As he does this, you can counter by popping up with him and going to knee-on-belly.

From knee-on-belly you can do any of the following which we drilled today:
1.  kata juji jime
2.  top-side armbar (think guillotining your opponent's elbow)
3.  switch to a classic kimura
4.  from a classic kimura set up, go to the armbar

While mostly a knee-on-belly clinic, it was neat to consider these moves as a reaction to bottom's attempt to pop up from side control.

101911#181

Flow Work

With your opponent on mount, you must elbow/knee escape; you can bump to help this move.

Mounted on your opponent, if he attempts an elbow/knee escape, you can transition to side control.  You can also transition to knee-on-belly.  From knee-on-belly, we discussed finishes.

In other news, I got my blue belt today.  It happened at the beginning of class and came as a surprise to me.  My instructor has told me that it would be coming soon.  Using me as uke for our first move, he announced to the class that he was tired of seeing me in a white belt.  He, then, presented it to me.  I was surprised, and much of the rest of the class was in a different gear (mentally).

101711#180

Better Movement

In this private, I worked on flowing from Kimura (hand always is down), American (where the hand is above), and other arm bars. As the opponent moves his arm, the possibility for one lock or another is high. If the opponet straightens his arm, I can control his wrist and insert my forearm under his elbow and basically bend his arm the wrong way. (The option to climb on top to execute a similar lock is there too.)

After that flow drill, we applied the similar mobility to the bottom guard by climbing our legs up to play a high guard. Various wrist lock possibilities were discussed.


10711#175

Side Control Class

From the bottom of side control, don't give up.  Class focused on swimming for the under hook, coming up to your elbow, and controlling the wrist with a knee pick.

Regarding your opponent is always an option.  Sure you remain on bottom, but that's much more neutral than being on bottom of side control.





10511#173