Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 19/03/2013
Geeza is away in the US again, so various senior GB Bristol members are sharing teaching duties for the next week or two. Now that I'm back from Paris (I'll do some kind of write-up and stick the link here, in case anyone cares), I'm covering the next two Tuesdays along with my usual Thursday classes: there won't be a nogi class, so the Thursday gi class will be on Mat 1.
Tonight I went with the basic guard recovery under side control. Along with the running escape, this is the escape I personally use the most. I started by focusing on your hand and arm positioning. First thing to note is that they will want to kill your near arm. This is bad for you, because it means you can't stop them shifting up towards your head. From there, they can make as much space as they want and pass to mount.
So, you need to get your arm inside, the forearm pressing against their hip: this is a bit more reliable that grabbing the gi material, as they can potentially still bring their body onto your hand and collapse it due to the loose material. The forearm into the hip will help block their movement, and initiate your attempts to create some space. It should also help you block them moving to north south, as if you clamp your arm by their side, your body will move with them if they try to switch position.One thing to note is that having your forearm by their hip like that does leave you more open to the cross-face. So, you could potentially block inside their cross-facing arm instead, which will prevent their shoulder pressure. This is the Saulo method from his book, which has advantages, but personally I prefer to block the hip.
With your other hand, grab the gi material by their shoulder, close to their neck, then pull down. Twist that arm up into their neck, keeping the elbow in: you need to be tight here, as otherwise they will go for a figure four on that arm. Once you've got the forearm into their neck, they can't press down into you, as they'll essentially be choking themselves. Note that this is a block: you don't want to start pushing and reaching, as that may leave you vulnerable. Reach too far and they can shove your arm to one side and set up an arm triangle.
Next I moved on to the legs. Your legs have two main purposes here: first, blocking your opponent getting to mount. Raise your near knee and drive it into their side. The idea is to wedge them between your knee and the arm you have by their hip. Personally, I like to keep my knee floating, glued to their side.
That makes it easier to slip my knee under as soon as they give me any space, which is something I learned from Roger. Many people prefer to cross their foot over their knee, which is something I used to do in the past as well. However, as this long Sherdog thread discusses, that can leave you open to a footlock, and also limit your mobility. Then again, you can see it used at the highest levels, like here at the Mundials.
The second use for your legs is bridging. Marcelo Garcia has a handy tip for this (although the escape he is doing there is slightly different), related to increasing the power of your bridge. To do that, bring your foot right to your bum, up on your toes. That increases your range of motion, so you can really drive into them.
Make sure you turn into them as you bridge, rather than just straight up. This will help the next part, which is to shrimp out as you come back down. That's why you've created space in the first place: if you simply plopped back down, then you've wasted the opportunity. As soon as you shrimp out, slip the knee pressing into their side underneath. Note you aren't trying to lift them with your arms. Instead, you want to push off them, moving your body away rather than pushing theirs higher up.
Once your knee is through, you need to be careful they don't immediately pass by pushing down and moving around that knee, ruining all your hard work. To prevent that, keep your hand by their shoulder. Straighten it, then add further support by bracing your other hand into their bicep (same side as the blocked shoulder). Your new frame should create a barrier to their pass, giving you enough time to recover your guard, or even move into a submission.
Alternatively, you can control their arm with your hip-bracing arm as you escape, like Roy Dean demonstrates in Blue Belt Requirements. That will also stop them pushing down on your knee, as their arm is trapped. It is worth trying both and seeing which you prefer, or which one the situation demands.
Roy Dean is also a useful reference point for the second side control escape I like to demonstrate, where you go to your knees. It begins in much the same way as the shrimp back to guard, again establishing that frame with your arms, knee into the side and bridging. As an instructor, that meant I could review what we'd just done once again, which is useful: whenever possible, I also want to closely link whatever techniques I'm teaching.
After you bridge and shrimp this time, you're going to do something different with the arm you have into their neck. Rotate it under their armpit, then reach for their legs. Roy Dean shifts out to the side, ending up crouched next to them (as in the picture). From there, he reaches for the far knee and drives forward, moving to the top position. ________________
Teaching Notes: I managed to get in more sparring today, as given it was a Tuesday there were enough people for me to join in. I decided to split the class by weight, as there were some quite big guys along with people more my size. I don't normally mind rolling with somebody bigger when it is side control, as that's a great test of my ability to maintain and escape, but when I'm injured it's entirely different. As to the students, I think most of them prefer somebody around their weight, though I know a few also enjoy rolling with bigger people, such as those who like a self defence angle to their training.
So, the methodology I used this time for breaking up the sparring pairs was have two groups, one of bigger people the other of smaller. Within those groups, half the people went on their backs and stayed on their backs, the other half rotated on top. That then switched for the next round. It did mean that everyone didn't get to roll with everbody else initially, so in the third round I mixed them up to make sure there was enough variety.
In terms of teaching, I'm fairly happy with how the lesson went. As this is the lesson I've been teaching the longest, I'm confident about the content now, though I'm still looking for areas to refine. A number of people were forgetting to put their knee up to block the transition to mount and also not bridging enough, so those are two things I could emphasise more next time.
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