20/04/2016 - Teaching | Women's Class | Maintaining Mount

Teaching #497
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/04/2016

There are two basic types of mount to choose from, which I call low and high. Once you've achieved mount, I find that low mount provides the most control. First off, you want to immobilise their hips, as their main method of making space is to bridge up forcefully.

Bring your feet right back, threading them around their legs to establish two hooks: this is known as a grapevine. Alternatively, you can also cross your feet underneath (or just near, depending on your flexibility and leg length) their bum, which has the advantage of making it much harder for them to push your hooks off. Your knees are ideally off the ground, to generate maximum pressure. How far off the ground they are depends on your dimensions: the key is getting loads of hip pressure. Another option, which I learned from Rob Stevens at Gracie Barra Birmingham, is to put the soles of your feet together and then bring your knees right off the floor.

Whichever option you're going for, thrust those hips into them. It's important to get into a position where you can thrust your hips down, rather than getting bunched up so your bum starts going into the air. Use your hands for base, where again you have a couple of options. Either have both arms out, or put one under the head (remember, you can always remove it for base if you're really getting thrown hard to that side) while the other goes out wide for base.

Try to grip the gi material by their opposite shoulder, or even better, by the opposite armpit. Keep your head on the basing arm side, loading up your weight there. If they're bridging hard, you can switch from side to side, lifting their head slightly and bringing your other arm under, meaning your remaining arm bases out to the other side.

To do the trap and roll/upa escape, they will need to get control of your arm. So, don't let them grab it and crush your arm to their side. Instead, swim your arm through, like Ryron and Rener demonstrate in the third slice of the third lesson in Gracie Combatives. Be sure to do it one at a time, or you may get both arms squashed to your sides.
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Teaching Notes: There was a new person in class tonight, but we were able to fit in both low mount and some details on high mount. Like I was saying a couple of weeks ago, I have been moving towards Saulo's version of the high mount, which is more upright than I normally play mount, a hand in the collar.

With the transition to high mount, interestingly there was some discussion of there being an element of pain compliance here, which I hadn't noticed before. People were saying that pressing into the shoulders can pinch into the muscle up there, so that's something for me to keep in mind. It's not meant to be something based on pain, but leverage: I'll have to experiment with hand placement on that.