06/11/2015 - Teaching | The Back | Bow & Arrow Choke

Teaching #417
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 06/11/2015

Tonight, it was time for the signature move at Artemis BJJ, the bow and arrow. Starting from standard back control with a seat-bet grip, you open up their collar with the hand you have under their armpit. Fold it over (a handy tip from James '300' Foster), then grip it with the hand you have over their shoulder. Don't grip too high, or you'll lack the range to finish the choke.

Next you want to get hold of their non-choking side leg. If you're having trouble grabbing it, Dónal suggests using your same side heel to dig in by their knee, curling your leg back. That should bring their trouser leg in range for you to grab with your free hand, establishing a good anchor point. You then want to swivel your body, in order to get your leg-grabbing side foot to the outside of their other thigh.

I tend to push off their non-grabbed leg side thigh with my same side foot, to help me move my other foot over. Once you've got that foot locked in place, you want to keep it there to block them from trying to turn into an escape. Along with your initial grip on their leg, that hook with your foot gives you better leverage to move into the main choking position.

To get there, swing out your non-hooking leg. You want to end up with your opponent's head on the thigh of that leg you just swung out. Tuck the elbow of your choking arm back by your hip, as pulling on the elbow is one of the main escapes. To finish, pull your hand down, pressing your forearm into their head (you can drive with your shoulder too). If that doesn't work, you can try increasing the range by gripping with less fingers (though this does make your grip weaker). Putting a leg over their shoulder and then crossing your feet can give you more leverage, as you can then thrust your hips up into the choke.

If that still isn't getting the choke, try bringing the hand that was gripping their leg behind their head, driving it through to push their head forward as you lock in the choke. For even more leverage, you can bring it under their arm. That then sets you up for yet another follow-up submission: the armbar is right there from that position.
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Teaching Notes: I'm feeling confident about this lesson. The only thing I think I'd change is that next time, I'd like the bow and arrow to come after both lessons on the armbar and the arm push collar choke. It felt like a lot of technique with the variations in the sense there were four different finishes, but at the same time, they aren't overly complex. It would be best if everybody had a chance to see them in isolation first though.

I taught the armbar from the back the lesson before, which finishes in the same way as the armbar from mount last month. However, I don't think I've covered the arm push collar choke: that could combine well with a technical mount lesson, so I'll look to fit it in there next time, I think.