26/07/2021 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Armbar from 2-on-1 grip break

Teaching #961
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/07/2021

An armbar is one of the various options you have off the standard 2-on-1 grip break. For that grip break, gather their opposite sleeve in your fist (i.e., a pistol grip), then your other hand goes underneath their arm, grabbing your own wrist.

With that configuration, you can either punch straight up to break their grip, or angle your hips away slightly. Make sure that you maintain your grip on their sleeve, straightening your arm. You want to push their arm across their body, while simultaneously pulling in with your knees. The intention is to collapse them on top of their arm. Due to the grip configuration, your outside hand can reach around to their far armpit. You would then normally hook your fingers in for a solid hold, then twist your elbow in firmly. Combined with your stiff-arming sleeve grip, that should rotate their torso and make it hard for them to turn back towards you.

For this armbar, you will instead grip firmly around their back, swimming your other arm under their same side armpit. That means you can lock your hands behind their back, in order to keep their arm firmly stuck. Push off their hip to swivel, angling your body perpendicular to them. From here, you can then push their head out of the way with your head/collar grip. That should make it easier to bring your hip-pushing leg over their head. At this point, you can switch to grasping their wrist with your hand if necessary, or wrap over the top with your arm. Squeeze your knees together, lift your hips and pull down gradually on their wrist for the tap

A common problem is that your partner will 'stack' you up onto your shoulders, making it difficult (though not impossible) to finish the technique. This is a common problem with the triangle too. To prevent that situation, push with your legs, as well as really knocking your partner's posture when you kick across with the armpit leg. You can also 'walk' back on your shoulders to recover a more extended position if they are squashing you. Finally, angling the leg you have by their head can help (like on Adam Adshead's old DVD), as that makes it tougher for them to push into you.

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Teaching Notes: I haven't taught this particular set up for the armbar before, but it feels like a handy additional option off the 2 on 1 grip break I often teach. The tricky bit is the rotation, to position yourself perpendicular. I found that looping your same side arm under their arm bit with the other around the head made for a solid control, leaving your legs free to push and swivel you into position.