16/12/2019 - Teaching | Half Guard | Twisting Pass

Teaching #924
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/12/2019



Start by flattening out your opponent, driving your free knee into their hip, then walking your trapped leg across. Apply a heavy cross-face: this is absolutely central to the technique. Without a solid cross face, they will be able to turn towards you, perhaps even getting a reversal. If they manage to get an underhook, you'll still need to be wary of getting rolled over: hooking an arm by their leg should block it.



Once you've got that cross-face firmly locked in, you need to adjust your position so you can twist in towards them, bringing your bottom leg into play. You're trying to get your free knee into their hip (sliding underneath your trapped leg). Shift back slightly, in order to make some space in front of their bottom leg: you could also raise up to get that twist, but that's more risky. Shrimping away tends to be securer. Using either the knee or your shin, wedge that against their lower hip. With your free arm, grasp their trouser leg and yank it towards you, in order to open up enough space to free your leg. Ideally you also want to keep your head low and turned towards their legs, to make it harder for them to push into your throat.

_______________________
Teaching Notes: Remember to talk about pulling their leg right across, that helps with the leverage. You only need the point of your knee in their hip. Also, get your hip right to the ground, if you're in midair you may not have the necessary weight.

The little shrimp to make space is the best option for inserting your wedge, but raising up isn't awful, just a secondary option. Then for a third and final resort, push with the foot of your bottom leg. The problem there is the difficulty of maintaining your crossface. So yeah, same pointers as last time, keep doing it.

Worth noting that Xande doesn't have a crossface when he shows it, he brings his arm over to the other side, under their armpit. So there are alternatives, check those vids before teaching it again, would be interesting to play with. Still my favourite pass. Is it worth showing with elbow behind the head too? Again, Xande does an entirely different arm drape thing for control rather than crossface.