12/10/2016 - Teaching | Womens Class | Mount Choke Variations

Teaching #573
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/10/2016

Once again, it was just experienced students, so I tried out some choke variations from the mount. Last time it was mount month, I worked on the single arm choke Saulo likes, so I tested out that along with the standard Verhoeven variation I normally teach on the cross choke. From drilling and testing that lots with Ruth, I've got the next few lessons sorted for this month, which I'll try to build on as ever next time mount month rolls around too.

The Verhoeven choke is palm up, sliding that up the collar, then getting the other hand to the shoulder. From there you can apply the choke by leaning through your other forearm (I teach this as a sort of iron bar you lay tight against their neck), twisting your first grip and bringing your elbow back. For the Saulo single arm choke (which isn't quite single arm, so I need to come up with a better name for that, though I think he does manage it with one arm. But then he's Saulo, so he's on a whole different level ;D), the palm is down.

Rather than inserting your fingers into the collar, you're therefore just putting your thumb in. That slides in as before. Keep your head by that hand, to make it harder for them to roll you over. Reach under yourself with your other hand, grabbing their opposite collar: this doesn't need to be so deep as the first grip. Twist back towards their legs as you press your weight into your neck arm, rotating your torso.

The handy thing about both of these grips is that it also opens up the armbar. If they try to block, they will tend to raise their elbow. That enables you to slide your knee to their head. Your arm is already in place to hook their arm. You can now go for the armbar, or switch back to a choke. Saulo likes to switch grips for this, which makes sense. He can then take his pick of the armbar or the choke.

I'll keep playing with these in sparring, so hopefully by the end of the month, I'll have a good sequence for people to go for from mount. Depending on my back: I'm writing this up a day later, so as you'll read in the next post, I've managed to hurt myself again, so I'm not certain if I'll be teaching on Friday or not (fortunately Chris has said he's able to cover).