December 2021

Butterfly Arm Drag

/ ,

Our attacks from butterfly have so far been similar. We’ve either gotten underneath our opponent to sweep him directly from butterfly or gotten underneath to enter into an x guard position. The setups are so similar that if one isn’t working, you might find that the other isn’t working either. To add some variety to the attacks, consider the arm drag. Arm drags can be performed standing and in closed guard as well, but here, we’re focusing on the butterfly version.

I watched several videos. This one was my favorite for the description of the grips and the demo that works nicely as a drill:

Bernardo has a short and sweet video against a standing opponent. I’m interested in his gripping strategy that leads with him baiting a wrist grip:

An arm drag has happened. Now what? Marcelo discusses defense (stand up!) and what to do to finish the back take:

Maybe one day I’ll make a post that doesn’t reference a Lachlan Giles video, but today isn’t that day. I just really appreciate how he explains details that go unspoken in other videos. A notable difference from Marcelo’s video is that he switches to a single leg takedown when his opponent stands as opposed to jumping into a backpack position.

Finally, a message from Wardziński on the subject. His instructional series has more about back takes and additional coverage of this position, but what I found on YouTube is this variant of a familiar roll-under sweep. His grip preference is unique with a cross sleeve and armpit grip (rather than a tricep).

Butterfly Arm Drag Read More »

X Guard Back Take

/ ,

This is the version I was taught and the one we did in class 12/13. It involves grabbing the belt or hips and has the ride at the end:

This one has a little bit different arm work in ducking the head to the other side. I’d feel weird about the left elbow position where he’s not holding onto the left leg. I haven’t played with that variation though. He does have an answer for someone whose weight is too far forward and also adds another sweep into a leg drag:

This third video is the biggest departure from what we’ve covered so far. First, his entry into x guard starts with more of a single leg x position that waits for the top guy to make space for the two leg x guard. He doesn’t like the ride at all and prefers to grab the ankles right away rather than going for the belt. To me, there’s a tradeoff here. When the belt version works and your opponent goes for the ride, the end point is a pretty solid back control position. However, it may be the case that the success rate is somewhat lower. The ankle grabbing version might have fewer escapees from the x guard, but it seems like much more of a fight to get a solid back position. We can work on this sequence next time.

X Guard Back Take Read More »

Fundamental Movements

/

We’ve had some new people join the Mörning Crüe recently. It occurred to me that I’ve neglected to provide some basics. It’s hard to plan the right lessons when there’s so much variance in the audience. Still, we can’t just leave this out. I’ll start bringing back some warmups to address some basic movements. If the movements in class still feel bizarre to you, check out John Danaher’s Self Mastery series: https://bjjfanatics.com/products/self-master-solo-bjj-training-drills-by-john-danaher. It’s free! It’s thorough (as all of his videos are) and it provides many options for practicing movements by yourself. It was released during the pandemic to help isolated Jiu Jitsu nerds keep their movement sharp. If Danaher is too much for you, this is a decent collection: https://jiujitsulegacy.com/health/strength-conditioning/10-best-bjj-drills-you-can-do-home-alone/.

Everyone needs to have some concept of hip escape. There are plenty of videos saying “Everyone is doing it wrong! Listen to me!” Whatever. Bernardo is doing that a little bit here, but this is good enough:

Why? Why hip escape? Because you’ve been mounted and you need to get the heck out of there:

The technical standup should also be a familiar movement:

A lot of people describe this movement talking about self defense. More directly related to our current purpose is the x-guard sweep:

Fundamental Movements Read More »