10/12/2014 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Sit-Up Sweep

Teaching #247
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/12/2014

Previously I've started out with the scissor sweep when I'm looking for basic attacks, but personally the sit-up sweep (also often know as the hip bump) has been my highest percentage sweep from closed guard. It also fits well with the discussion on posture from last week, because the reaction you'll get when you try to break somebody's posture is often that they will lean back. That's a perfect time to go for the sit-up sweep. Handily, it also makes for a classic offensive combination with the kimura and guillotine, which I could show in future lessons (though as this venue has a lot of MMA people, they are probably pretty familiar with the guillotine already).

For the sit-up sweep, open your guard, then come up on your elbow. Your other arm reaches over their opposite shoulder. Keep moving diagonally, progressing from basing on your elbow to your hand. Your second base point is your foot, on the opposite side to your basing hand. Use those two base points to stay close to your partner, bashing them with your basing leg side hip. Keep swivelling, reaching further with your shoulder-arm to grab their triceps. If they try to put that hand behind them, you can pull back with your triceps-hand.

You're essentially swivelling on the spot. This should cause them to fall off balance. Once you get your knee onto the mat, twist your upper body so that you're effectively doing a take down. Ideally, you'll end up directly into mount. Even if this doesn't work because they're resisting so much, you should be able to follow up with a kimura or guillotine.
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Teaching Notes: Annoyingly I still can't spar properly at the moment, due to that old groin injury flaring up again. That hinders my teaching a bit too, although as I can control the strain on that injured area more easily when demonstrating, it isn't a major problem. Still, that does at least mean I can look closely at what people are doing. It was a fairly big class today, so it wasn't entirely a bad thing that I couldn't spar.

I'm going to keep thinking about how I can train around the injury, as I want to make sure it is healed up in time for the GrappleThon next year (which is in March, so you'd hope it would be ok, but I remember it took ages to heal last time). My own fault for not doing the exercises the physio recommended last time I injured it. ;)

Teaching wise, the main things I was saying to people was lifting their hips up high enough, making sure they are coming through in an arc and reaching over the opposite shoulder. That last one isn't entirely essential (watching my new Ryan Hall DVD, I noticed he went over the same side shoulder during a sit-up sweep), but I like to do that in order to grab the tricep and complete the sweep if they block it. It's also handy for kimuras. It could be Ryan Hall doesn't always do that because he likes to go into a triangle if they resist the sit-up: I'll have a play at open mat some time, if my injury is up to it.