When we returned to side control as a position, we started with transitions to mount:
I love me some Twister side, so this is the mount movement that I use the most:
We also talked about the more traditional knee-across transition:
I’m not a big user of Kimuras or Americanas, so we acknowledged but haven’t spent a lot of time on these yet. We can come back to them.
Boom brought out the Brabo choke a couple months back. I love it. We will also work on the cross and baseball bat chokes that exist in the same neighborhood.
Day 1, we played with an overhook guard to get to an omoplata. I don’t have an exact replica of my approach, but it’s something like a combination of these next two videos. Lachlan has better details than I shared on getting to a triangle position from an overhook closed guard:
I don’t finish a ton of triangles. They always feel like more of a fight for me compared to omoplatas. People seem much more willing to let me have the shoulder. Even if I only get a sweep out of it, the exchange feels worth it. Stephan Kesting understands my struggle. It’s around 3:08 where he does the move that matches my departure from Lachlan’s triangle sequence above:
On NoGi Wednesday, we got to the omoplata from rubber guard. The first video below ends with a gogoplata rather than an omoplata, which is nice if you can get it. I find it hard to stop opponents from turning away very hard and again offering the shoulder rather than the choke.
Denny shows essentially the same rubber guard progression, but skips the gogoplata and goes right to the omoplata:
Day 3 added a couple of different ways to initiate omoplata attacks. First, my butterfly guard guru attached the omoplata to the hip bump sweep:
We also talked about going to an omoplata when someone attempts to stand up to pass your closed guard:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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:
It’s one of the most basic sweeps that everyone learns. Even if you don’t prefer to use it, you at least need to know that every white belt is going to try to use it against you.
We’ve also been playing with triangles lately. Why not combine the two?
We’ve previously worked this one from mount, but it’s also valuable to know from closed guard. I appreciate that it’s a pretty low-risk maneuver. Failed attempts at triangles or armbars can result in easier guard passes for the top guy. There’s less exposure in attempting this collar choke. Also, the threat of the collar choke can set up the other submissions when the top guy defends his neck. My finishing skills need work. Apparently, I’m not alone in that. Many of the videos on this submission acknowledge that many people move away from it after not finding success. However, even with the lack of choke finishes, I’ve caught many arms by first attacking with the collar grips.
This is a classic drill that ties three common submissions from guard. Defenses for one of the moves generally open up opportunities for another. Being able to switch back and forth between them will significantly increase your success with submissions.
From guard, the arm bar, omoplata, and triangle choke all play nicely off of each other. Frequently, the defense of one will open opportunities for the others. We’ve done a little bit with arm bars and omoplatas, so it’s time to add triangles into the mix.
My approach will be based on Ryan Hall’s Triangle DVD series. His approach is different than traditional triangle instruction, but he makes a solid case for the mechanical advantages of his version. The video below covers the finishing sequence:
Legs too short?
Danaher shows how to cut an angle to remove your opponent’s shoulder from the triangle. The trapped shoulder what is blocking the legs from locking correctly. His movement emphasizes trapping the arm not the shoulder.
In the next video, option 1, switch to omoplata is honestly my standard solution. I don’t finish triangles often, but I hit omoplatas a lot. “Look at the triangle as a position” is consistent with what Danaher and Hall say about it, but might not be specific enough to be useful. “Say ‘to heck with form’ and use your meaty thighs to power through” isn’t necessarily what I hoped for either. I include the video since it illustrates a common dilemma. It’s not just you.
Lachlan Giles has an approach pretty similar to Ryan Hall’s but he suggests a different locking position with the leg. I appreciate the explanation about not pushing the opponent’s head away while turning to find the angle.
We haven’t really worked on this in class yet, but Eric had some questions about it one day, so I did some research. I had bookmarked these videos before I had this site to hold them for me. I’m sure we’ll get into this eventually. The defensive techniques have already helped me.
I’ve had a lot more success with the half butterfly sweep than with any of the variations that Lachlan Giles describes below. I’m also pretty complacent about my opponent grabbing the kimura grip as I pass their half guard on top. Lachlan Giles is a high level competitor though, so my differences in this position suggest I need to study it deeper. I regularly hit the arm bar that he says he used to fear but should never happen.