Side Control Escapes

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We worked on escapes before, but you can always benefit from getting better at escaping. Gordon says it’s the most important thing:

This link is what we covered last time: https://halfguardlife.com/escapes/.

This time, I was specifically looking for video of the first escape shown here:

I found myself attempting variations of that this morning when stronger guys wouldn’t let me do anything else. Note that the video is named 2/3. The 1st video contains the advice on “what to do before you get fully pinned and squeezed:”

The third video of that series contains an entirely different move, which is worth considering down the road, but a bit off the theme of this post.

This next video has a better version of the underhook turn than what I showed Monday (1/10/22) morning. Marcelo still starts with a similar framing concept as the previous video. That portion alone is worth some focus since the rest of the escapes will be blocked if you can’t get out of that head control.

To keep with tradition of this site, here’s my dude Lachlan Giles getting out of side control:

Side Control Escapes Read More »

Butterfly Arm Drag

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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

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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

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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 »

Butterfly to X Guard

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Since this is mostly a Lachlan Giles fan page, let’s start with his entry into X guard:

He has good tips for controlling the position and keeping your opponent’s posture broken down. The entry involves altering your butterfly position a fair bit. You’re abandoning the butterfly sweeping position. What if you’re already committed to the butterfly sweep? I like this version that puts the transition right into the failed sweep:

Once you’ve gotten that far, then what? Stephen Kesting’s summary covers several options in a nice, succinct video:

I think this one moves a little fast for an instructional, but if you really want to taunt someone with your awareness of the matrix, this back take is fun and so is the ham sandwich at the end:

Butterfly to X Guard Read More »

Getting to Butterfly Guard

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So far, we’ve been emphasizing the mechanics of sweeping from the butterfly guard, but in order to use those skills, we’ll need to establish the right positioning. A hinderance to my adoption of butterfly guard has generally been the lack of control I feel when I approach someone with the mindset to enter butterfly rather than establishing a different guard. My legs get grabbed, hopped over, or danced around before I get anything going. Pulling half guard generally reduces the movements and encourages my opponent to perform a more high-contact guard pass, which I prefer. I’d rather be smashed than have to chase someone.

My preference for slow control makes Marcelo Garcia’s approach problematic for me. He replaces physical control with an onslaught of attacks. He doesn’t need so much control if his opponent is always on the defensive. It obviously works for him, but his instructional is about nogi where grips are not so powerful. Wardziński seems to drag people into butterfly with collar and sleeve grips. That’s a bit closer to my comfort zone, but the sleeve grips are not a natural move for me yet. What else is there?

Saulo doesn’t seem to like a direct entry into butterfly either. He shows how to move from a full guard position into butterfly. One point of emphasis that I took away from this video is the priority of pushing into the opponent first. It’s more important to post with a hand behind you and get your hook deep underneath them than to start worrying about their posting arm for the sweep defense.

I already live that half guard life, so maybe butterfly is a place to go but not to start. We worked on a version of this back in the half guard unit:

Maybe you don’t like being smashed so much and like knee shields more than I do. There’s a good reminder here that although there’s some visual similarity between half butterfly and a knee shield, they work differently. Your butterfly hook needs to go outside, it cannot go inside the way the knee shield does:

This next one doesn’t necessarily belong in this post, but it’s something that I watched while I was pondering the other resources. Gordon explains the necessity of combining multiple guard systems:

Getting to Butterfly Guard Read More »

John Wayne Sweep

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Here’s the John Wayne Sweep from our guru of the month, Adam Wardziński:

Here’s some more from a familiar face (Lachlan Giles):

I have no idea why it’s called the “John Wayne Sweep.” Danaher described the same movement in his half guard series as a “knee lever.” Just for funsies, here’s the “knee lever” being applied in MMA:

John Wayne Sweep Read More »

Adam Wardziński Butterfly

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I was looking for butterfly resources in the gi. Apparently, Adam Wardziński is the man. I found a reference to the BJJ Scout study of his game first, but that rabbit hole goes deeper than I’m ready to handle right now. Let’s start simple:

On the question of lifting with the legs, this video emphasizes the bottom leg:

5 drills to fix my butterfly guard? I don’t need an experienced training partner? Yes please.

Lastly, here’s the first (of 5) BJJ Scout study of his butterfly game. You’ll see that he likes to use a half butterfly position a lot. As you would expect, I’m intrigued.

Adam Wardziński Butterfly Read More »

Intro to Butterfly Guard

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As a relative n00b to butterfly guard, I’m already finding resources challenging with contradictory information. Like any other jiu jitsu positions, it will come down to what works for you and the combination of bodies involved in your current roll. When someone says “don’t do it like this, do this instead” try to understand why they have that preference, but everything has tradeoffs and other people might prefer to balance them differently.

Let’s start with a common reference on this site, Lachlan Giles. He’s great at breaking things down with clear instruction. Note the lack of lift and amplitude in this sweep. I’m drawn to it because it more closely resembles my experience, but it differs greatly from some other demonstrations that involve kicking up in the air. In fact, he says not to do that:

Here’s a bigger kick version of the basic sweep:

Even in videos featuring other famous Jiu Jitsu players, everyone references Marcelo Garcia when discussing butterfly guard. I don’t find his explanations to be as clear or detailed as some others, but he definitely applied the techniques at the highest level so it’s worth considering his thoughts on the subject:

Another guy that you have to consider based on performance is Gordon Ryan. He describes some principles regarding the entry and inside control that are lacking from the other instructions that I’ve seen. Gordon seems more willing to roll onto his back than Lachlan or Marcelo.

Kenny Florian has an interesting breakdown of the body connection required to succeed with butterfly attacks:

To wrap up this first post, here’s one that addresses a concern that I’m sure a lot of people have. He’s so heavy! I can’t move him! He uses a principle we’ve seen many times before and will see many times more: switching between pushing and pulling to get opponent reactions that will help you complete the movements.

Intro to Butterfly Guard Read More »

Bow and Arrow Part 2

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I like this idea of skipping the back hooks and going directly into the bow and arrow choke. I often look for it when my opponent is on their side, as in Emily Kwok’s video that I linked on the previous bow and arrow post, but I’ve never thought to force it while their back was still on the mat.

I was looking for an example of performing the choke from back control where both players are on their side. It seems more common in my experience to be on the side, but many of the demonstrations show the attack from a seated, center position. I’m a bit puzzled by the following video from Lachlan Giles. As he’s demonstrating elbow and head position, he briefly falls onto his control arm side, with the choking arm on top. He shows first the consequence of losing the head position, but then shows a quick switch into the bow and arrow choke when the head position is maintained correctly. Following that, he demonstrates a bow and arrow sequence from the opposite side, with the choking arm on the mat side and describes that side as “easier.” Perhaps you notice, as I did, that this “easier” side requires several steps and requires some movement to free your bottom leg compared to the nearly instant transition from the traditional “weak” side. I understand the preference for ukes to escape on that side. It’s easier to win the head positioning and scrape them off your back. With the choking arm on the mat side, there’s more opportunity to reset the back position even if they beat the hooks. However, if the desired destination is a successful bow and arrow choke, it feels easier to me to use good head positioning and the leverage of my legs on the top arm choking side. It’s a simple turn on that side. If the bottom hook was any good, it’s already in position for the choke. Maybe at higher levels the head positioning is that much harder to win? Danaher’s bunch seems to like that side though.

What about the turtle? Get ’em with a bow and arrow there, too:

Bow and Arrow Part 2 Read More »

Back Control Drills

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These three videos are similar, but each has some options or details that they emphasize that the others don’t.

In the first, watch the feet. I think this video emphasizes the feet better than the next two. Also, the third variation, the “re-roll” is not addressed in the others:

In the second video, he addresses the elbows. Control is not about pulling the hands of the seatbelt in, but rather closing the elbows. He’s also more deliberate about the leg positioning and roll direction:

This third video offers a less dramatic recovery. Rather than rolling entirely to the other side, scooting to recover the hooks. The leg curl at the beginning of the recovery is a neat detail. There’s a good reminder about not holding on to a crappy position as it slips away. You gotta move. The new leg position in the second part is cool too. Danaher ranked that leg position 2nd to the body triangle in his order of preferences. The body triangle isn’t always physically possible depending on your leg length and opponent’s gut. This leg position is more widely attainable.

Back Control Drills Read More »

Bow and Arrow Choke

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In the link below, Emily Kwok shows a bow and arrow choke starting from a mounted position. The grip concept is the same from the back and she shows it from there as well. I know I’ve worked harder than necessary to finish gi chokes because I didn’t grip the collar correctly. Don’t waste your great positioning with a lousy grip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS6ALx73epc

Lachlan Giles is always a good resource. This video covers both the Bow and Arrow Choke and the classic escape from the back:

I’ve often used a variation of this technique:

It feels like an escape, but it’s still death.

Bow and Arrow Choke Read More »

Gi strangles from the back

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If you take nothing else away from this post, take this: when we’re doing jiu jitsu with gis on, prefer gi strangles to naked strangles. Collars are easier to get under the chin than arms are and using the collar permits you to apply more force from additional muscle groups to get the finish. In the video below, Danaher explains this principle and introduces the submissions that deserve your training attention:

It’s worth going through the entire video at least once, but if you want to revisit a specific part, here are the timestamps:

0:44 – Difference between strangles and chokes

5:26 – Gi Properties

9:30 – Utilizing entire body in Gi Strangles

13:31 – Turning Lapel in Rear Strangles

16:25 – Most High Percentage Gi Strangles (3 Most Important)

17:22 – Sliding Collar Strangle (Rear Strangles)

19:05 – Cross Collar Strangle

21:07 – Ezekial Strangle

24:17 – Review + Closing thoughts

Gi strangles from the back Read More »

Back attacks

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I’ve been working my way through Danaher’s “Back Attacks Enter the System” instructional. It contains a LOT of great detail, but it is expensive and quite lengthy to consume. I haven’t reviewed the following content yet, but I’m saving the link as a starting point for free resources.

The THREE BEST Online Resources on Back Attacks

It looks like this schoolofgrappling blog was started to be essentially the same concept as halfguardlife but it stalled out after a couple posts in early 2020. They clearly put more effort into writing content, so props for the attempt. In case they let the domain or hosting lapse, here are the links to Tom Halpin’s Back Attack Series on Youtube:

The series below is 2.0 of the same videos based on feedback from the first:

schoolofgrappling has a couple more posts about the back. If you want to study further, this post analyzing back attacks at ADCC might interest you:

ADCC 2019: Back Attack Study

Back attacks Read More »

Back escapes

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In the sequence below, Lachlan uses a pretty standard back escape. It includes a solution for clearing pesky hooks. That’s a part that I’ve gotten stuck on and will have to practice.

Here’s Saulo explaining his escape:

Below, is a lengthy exploration of back escapes starting with a scoop out of the bottom. It’s nogi, but the positioning is interesting.

I’m going drop another link here at the bottom out of appreciation for a blog started in the same spirit as this one, but with more original commentary:

Escaping the Rear Bodylock/Mat Return

Back escapes Read More »

Slow Down

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You don’t learn when you are fighting, bringing in all sorts of tension and emotion. You learn when you are having fun, training in a smooth and gentle way. You need to work on improving your technique until you are comfortable in any situation. Eventually, you will develop a subconscious understanding of the techniques and they become reflexes. Only after you have done all this you are ready to take your natural abilities “off the shelf” and add them back into your game. Now the effectiveness of the technique will be at least ten times better.

Rickson Gracie

What is flow rolling?

This is a longer video, but worth considering. A lot of people talk about “light rolls” or “flow rolling” but they are poorly defined and it’s a skill in itself and it’s not widely taught.

1 Hour Slow Rolling Crash Course (As Alternative To “Just Smash Him”) with Christian Graugart

Slow Down Read More »

Deliberate Practice

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I spent some time talking in a recent class about the value of deliberate practice. The idea is important to me as I’ve always felt that Jiu Jitsu classes could be improved by a more thoughtful class structure. Ben Askren once shared his perspective as a wrestler on JRE:

We know, without a shadow of a doubt (that) just saying ‘go for five minutes’ is not the most effective way to train someone.

If I’m coaching at my academy, and we were drilling the front headlock, we don’t just say ‘OK, now go five-minute goes’ because how many tries are they gonna get at going at the front headlock position? Maybe one, maybe two, but essentially most people, if you say ‘go for five minutes’, they’re not disciplined enough to make themselves do new skills. They revert to whatever they do best. And then they just do it over and over and over again.

If I want a kid to be good at a front headlock – which if you’re gonna wrestle at a high level, you need a good front headlock – I’m gonna put him in there 50 times in that practice. He’s gonna get it over and over and over, and maybe the next day, it’s single-legs, and maybe the next day it’s double-legs. And maybe some days, you say ‘hey, go for ten minutes, go wrestle.’

But saying ‘go for five minutes’ every single day is very much not the most effective way to do it, and it’s so insanely frustrating for me to have that happen at almost every jiu-jitsu school in the planet.

Ben Askren

In the following video, Chewjitsu addresses the comments and shares the dilemma about this problem. Essentially, rolling more fun than focused practice. He tries, as I do, to find a balance between the two. He also used the music analogy. I actually dug this video up after that class. I didn’t mean to parrot his ideas, it’s convenient parallel thinking.

Also, I’ve previously linked to the full podcast, but if you want a more digestible portion. Here’s John Danaher’s thoughts on “drilling”:

I think getting your brain in the right mode to learn is as important as any technique that we’ll work on. I’m guilty of all of the bad habits myself, but I’m trying to be conscious about what I’m doing to make better use of my precious limited mat time.

Deliberate Practice Read More »