14/08/2019 - Teaching | Lapel Guard | Overwrap to Push kick sweep

Teaching #895
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/08/2019



Lapel guard has numerous variations. The one I learned from Mario at the 2019 BJJ Globetrotters Heidelcamp is what is commonly known as squid guard. Given that's a rather unhelpful name, I'm choosing to refer to the position in a more descriptive way, so a lapel overwrap. Start off by getting a grip of their lapel, putting your same side foot into their hip and shoving.

You then want to grasp the lapel with your other hand too. The hand on the same side of the lapel should be on the bottom, in order to facilitate transferring the grip later on. Be aware that this can put a lot of strain on the gi, so an old gi might not enjoy the tension much (as I discovered when I taught this ;D).

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A post shared by Can (Jun) (@slideyfoot) on Aug 9, 2019 at 12:12pm PDT

You are then going to let go with your same side hand, underhooking their leg. You may need to swivel sideways slightly for this. Bring your same side foot slightly past their hip at this point, while also bringing their lapel over the top of both your leg and their leg. Pass the lapel to your underhooking hand, securing the position.

This is now a very strong guard. That's because your foot is firmly attached to them, meaning they can't shove it to the side for the usual pass. If you foot was not wrapped in the gi, they would have a number of options to go over, around and under the leg. Wrapping it with the gi removes all of those routes to a pass: they have to disentangle themselves first.

At this point, you can now go for one of the simplest sweeps in BJJ, a variation of what I call the double ankle grab sweep. Grab the outside of both their ankles, then retract both your feet so they are on your partners hips. Note that you don't want to hang out here: as soon as you bring your lapel overwrap foot away from the overwrap, your leg is much more vulnerable to getting shoved out the way and thereby losing the position and perhaps even getting passed.



Push them over, as you do so bringing your knees towards your chest and immediately sitting up into a crouch. From there you're in a great position to pass. There are numerous other ways you could get up, that's just the simplest. You could also keep hold of an ankle, rotating your hand to push down on the top, then do a technical stand up to get up and move into a pass. Or, you could switch your grip to their trouser cuff and shove it into the air, passing to knee on belly. Or, you could try and diagonally slide through to mount. Etc. ;)

Mario has a video on this (taken at the camp) over @mariodrills on his Instagram:

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A post shared by Mario Hudelist | BJJ Drills (@mariodrills) on Aug 2, 2019 at 6:17am PDT

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Teaching Notes: Is this more of a closed guard technique, appropriate to that? Not really I guess, because of the set up I've been showing, though you could go from closed guard. Next time, good to show some other ways of getting up, potentially, though I like the simplicity of the one I typically use.

12/08/2019 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Double ankle grab sweep (knees and feet on hips variations)double ankle grab

Teaching #894
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/08/2019

The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. This is the version that Xande refers to as a 'chair sweep', because it looks a little like you are sitting in a chair. I prefer to refer to this family of sweeps as 'ankle grab', with this particularl variation being a double ankle grab, finishing with the knees.



You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).

After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.



If you're using the feet in hip variation, then you don't end up with your legs entangled. Instead, you can retract your feet as soon as you feel them falling backwards, ready to move straight into a guard pass. This is what I like to do with any sweep that doesn't require my leg to continue pushing. That way, I can get to my passing position and I don't have to vary it by the sweep. Much less confusing if your legs aren't stuck in some random position, like past their hip, around their leg, wrapped in a gi or whatever. ;)

Another option is to grab their trouser leg, generally easy enough as you're already holding their ankle (or alternatively, you could start with a trouser grip instead of an ankle grip). As you come up, also pull their leg into the air. That sets you up for an immediate pass, as well as preventing them from standing.
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Teaching Notes: I keep forgetting to do that rock forward and hip thrust as a drill, that would be useful. Also, breakfalling is handy to re-emphasise here. Gripping the trouser leg is another good option, so you can thrust their leg into the air as you stand. So, similarities to standing up from the sickle sweep or tripod sweep.

13/07/2016 - Teaching | Women's Class | Double Ankle Grab Sweep

Teaching #529
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 13/07/2016

The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).

After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
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Teaching Notes: I added in more drills for getting up after the sweep, as that's the part most people have trouble with. Basing out with a hand helps. Ideally, the hand would be grabbing their ankle, but that does make it tougher to get up. I'll keep playing with the drills, if I can come up with something useful, that would be applicable to all sorts of sweeps. :)

17/02/2016 - Teaching | Women's Class | Double Ankle Grab Sweep

Teaching #463
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/02/2016

The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).

After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
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Teaching Notes: I still want to come up with some kind of drill that helps people practice getting up after this sweep. Probably best thing to do would be practice the sweep a bunch of times. In terms of teaching it, still a useful technique: one of the blue belts hit it at a comp recently (though they didn't manage to come up in time to get mount, another good reason for me to put it into the warm-up as a drill).

29/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Handstand Sweep

Teaching #458
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/01/2016


A good follow up to the double ankle grab sweep is another option that works off wrapping an ankle. This one is normally known as the 'handstand sweep', though invariably there are lots of other names for it. As your partner stands in your closed guard, keep your guard closed, wrapping an arm around their same side ankle. You're looking to get the crook of your elbow behind their ankle: for further control, you could try reaching through to grab your own collar. For power, range and balance, put your free hand on the floor, as if you were doing a handstand (hence the name).

To complete the sweep, you need to bring their knee out sideways. Their foot has to be immobilised for that, or they'll be able to adjust and maintain their balance. To turn their knee out, bring your hips sideways, pushing into the inside of their knee (don't go above the knee, you need to stay either next to it or underneath). Once you've pushed it far enough so their leg swivels, that should knock them to the floor. Your guard stays closed throughout, opening at the last moment to adjust into mount.

However, that still leaves them a hand with which they can post out and recover. To prevent that, you can cross-grip their sleeve. This is what Xande calls the 'muscle sweep', because their ankle is by your 'muscle' (i.e., bicep). The set up is the same as before, but this time, you don't use your free hand to push off the floor. Instead, you grab their opposite sleeve, thereby both preventing them from posting out, and also providing you with an easy way of pulling yourself up into mount.

The difficulty is the decreased leverage at your disposal. Now that you can't use that hand to push up, you instead have to really push into their knee. Make sure your grip around their leg is tight, pulling their foot right up to your shoulder. You will also use your grip on their sleeve, pulling their arm to help you. This is tougher to pull off than the handstand, but it makes the transition to the top much easier.

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Teaching Notes: I always show both the option of pushing off the floor and grabbing the sleeve, though the second one is much tougher to get. That was borne out again today, with people having trouble completing the sweep without the hand to push off. I also think that next time I'll make a point of keeping that grip low on the leg, to really bend their leg around your hip as you push. It seems that if the grip is too high above their foot, they can resist the sweep more easily, judging by the progressive resistance I watched today.

27/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Double Ankle Grab Sweep

Teaching #457
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 27/01/2016

The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).

After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
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Teaching Notes: I tried adding in a drill to help pushing through to mount, emphasising how you drive your hips forward at an angle. I have tended to tell people to keep a hand on the foot to help stop them sitting up before you can drive forward. However, I wonder if it is more helpful to instead put the hand out further forwards, to help that drive. I will try switching to that to see if it helps: once I've got some kind of drill sorted for this, could perhaps help with coming up from the tripod, sickle and handstand too, although then again those end up in slightly different leg and arm positions.

Something else I should note is the importance of including some breakfall drills when teaching something like this, as you're getting knocked over. To the extent I should probably put it in the main chunk of the write-up, as a reminder to me too.

22/09/2015 - Teaching | Women's Class | Ankle Grab Sweep

Teaching #393
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 23/09/2015

The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).

After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
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Teaching Notes: I forgot to bring in what Ross mentioned last time, about squeezing the legs to use the momentum of the fall. That's a useful tip, so worth adding in. Generally I think people were ok with the sweeping part, but as ever the difficult bit was coming up after the sweep. The intuitive thing to do is push straight forward on both legs and arms, which is difficult and awkward.

To help get the most effective motion, I think doing a drill would help. E.g., having one knee on the ground and the other raised, then pushing through from there. It's a bit like the hip thrust drill I've done before, except you're angled backwards and coming up at an angle.

29/06/2015 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Handstand Sweep

Teaching #346
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/06/2015



A good follow up to the double ankle grab sweep is another option that works off wrapping an ankle. This one is normally known as the 'handstand sweep', though invariably there are lots of other names for it. As your partner stands in your closed guard, keep your guard closed, wrapping an arm around their same side ankle. You're looking to get the crook of your elbow behind their ankle: for further control, you could try reaching through to grab your own collar. For power, range and balance, put your free hand on the floor, as if you were doing a handstand (hence the name).

To complete the sweep, you need to bring their knee out sideways. Their foot has to be immobilised for that, or they'll be able to adjust and maintain their balance. To turn their knee out, bring your hips sideways, pushing into the inside of their knee (don't go above the knee, you need to stay either next to it or underneath). Once you've pushed it far enough so their leg swivels, that should knock them to the floor. Your guard stays closed throughout, opening at the last moment to adjust into mount.

However, that still leaves them a hand with which they can post out and recover. To prevent that, you can cross-grip their sleeve. This is what Xande calls the 'muscle sweep', because their ankle is by your 'muscle' (i.e., bicep). The set up is the same as before, but this time, you don't use your free hand to push off the floor. Instead, you grab their opposite sleeve, thereby both preventing them from posting out, and also providing you with an easy way of pulling yourself up into mount.

The difficulty is the decreased leverage at your disposal. Now that you can't use that hand to push up, you instead have to really push into their knee. Make sure your grip around their leg is tight, pulling their foot right up to your shoulder. You will also use your grip on their sleeve, pulling their arm to help you. This is tougher to pull off than the handstand, but it makes the transition to the top much easier.

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Teaching Notes: Next time, I'll emphasise getting your shoulder to their heel. It's also worth highlighting hip position relative to their knee, as that needs to be next to their knee, not above. If the opponent is taller, then you'll have to open your guard, but keep your legs tight. Then again, perhaps this isn't the best sweep if your opponent is taller? Something for me to think about.

In sparring, I continued for going for the deep collar grip and then getting the underhook, to create a sort of 'collar clamp' alternative to the shoulder clamp. Jason Scully mentioned something I want to try next time on the Grapplers Guide, which is reaching across with the underhooking arm to grab their far collar. I hadn't considered doing that to lock in the position, but then it works for the overhook guard. Like the overhook guard, it also sets up a choke.

I think the big difference today was remembering to walk my legs up their back, as Chris advise. They are managing to stand sometimes now, but I'm turn finding myself going for armbars. It would be good to teach that standing armbar during open guard month (maybe it would apply to closed guard month too). I don't go for submissions from open guard much, just the loop choke and I'm not very good at it yet.

In especially cool news, tonight was the best turnout ever for an Artemis BJJ, with 18 people on the mats. Even better, four of them were women, so that's almost a quarter of the class! I'm really pleased not only how the club is growing, but that the female membership is continue to move towards that 50/50 gender split goal. Right now, women make up nearly a third of the total membership. :D

22/06/2015 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Ankle Grab Sweep

Teaching #342
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/06/2015

The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep. One advantage of the knees is you can keep squeezing your legs into their sides, which can help you use their momentum as they fall back (but be careful you don't get your feet under them too much, or you might hurt yourself as you hit the floor).

After they've hit the mat, before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee. Bring your hips forward on that same side. It's much easier if you move in a diagonal direction, rather than trying to go straight forward. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing behind their head (or collar). From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
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Teaching Notes: Ross mentioned about squeezing the legs to use the momentum of the fall, a useful point I hadn't considered before. I'll be sure to add that in next time, seems like a handy addition. Other than that, not too much to add as this is such a simple sweep. I'll do the handstand one next Monday, using the rest of this week to go with other basic options like the scissor/push sweep. Maybe reverse scissor on Friday, but I could do the flower sweep instead.

I also need to make sure I get in at least one round of sparring at open mat. Maybe grab somebody straight off, or have a timer running? A lap timer type thing would be useful, I'm sure there's an app on my phone for that.

22/04/2015 - Teaching | Women's Class | Ankle Grab Sweep

Teaching #313
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/04/2015

The situation for this is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep.

Before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee, then bring your hips forward on that same side. It's important you don't try to move straight forward: your direction must be diagonal. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing their head. From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I used a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
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Teaching Notes: I forgot to emphasise grabbing behind the head to help pull yourself up, must do that next time (though Summer was doing it instinctively, which was cool). Also, on the technical stand-up version, staying tight, driving forward and really pulling up high on the leg. I included both versions, which this time seemed to make more sense to the students. They had trouble with the technical stand up last time (a few months back), but this time round I think it may have made more sense than the hip thrust, as that can be a bit awkward (though the head grab helps). So, worth keeping in both versions for the moment.

05/11/2014 - Teaching | Women's Class | Ankle Grab Sweep

Teaching #227
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 05/11/2014

Almost to the day, it has been eight years since my first BJJ lesson. Appropriately, I am teaching one of the very same techniques I learned during that inaugural official class, the ankle grab sweep. The situation is that they have stood up in your closed guard. As they stand up, if you've got a grip on their collar or head, maintain it in order to keep their posture bent forwards. At the moment you let go of that grip (if you have one) and they try to reach an upright position, grab behind their ankles (around the outside: if you grab around the inside, there's an injury risk).

Open your guard (when they stand, they are looking to open it and pass. It's better if when you open your guard, it's on your terms rather than theirs), bringing your knees together under their chest. You can also put your feet on their hips, depending on their height and how much leverage you need. Either way, drive those feet or knees into them. That should knock them over if they aren't prepared for the sweep.

Before they can react, come up on your hand and same side knee, then bring your hips forward on that same side. It's important you don't try to move straight forward: your direction must be diagonal. Slide your knee on that side to the mat, keeping your hips low, also grabbing their head. From there, you could go to mount, s-mount, side control etc. It is an awkward position, so takes a bit of getting used to. I use a hip thrust drill during the warm-up to help: you can do a technical stand-up from here too if you find that easier, keeping hold of their leg and passing around to the side.
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Teaching Notes: I went through both the hip thrust and technical stand-up during the warm-up, to give the students both options for transitioning through to mount or side control after the sweep. People definitely found the hip thrust easier, so I stuck with that when it came to demonstrating the technique. I also went through breakfalling, as you're falling onto your back. It's possible to go through the motions of the technique by having your partner just sit down and lie on the floor when you go to knock them over: that's handy if they have a back injury.

This technique should fit nicely with the tripod sweep, which I'll be teaching later. It's sort of a precursor to that. The tripod sweep has the additional advantage that you can control their descent, as you're normally grabbing a sleeve or collar as you knock them over.

28/06/2012 - Teaching (Basic Sweeps When They Stand In Your Guard)

Teaching #061
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/06/2012

In my first formal lesson of BJJ, back on the 8th November 2006, I learned something called the ankle grab sweep. It's a very basic technique, so most people are going to be expecting it and ready to counter, but it's nonetheless important to have it in your repertoire. If nothing else, by reviewing the ankle grab sweep, you can take another look at both the counters, re-counters and potential follow-ups. The technique itself is very simple. They are in your guard, in the process of standing up. Before they begin setting up their pass, open your guard on your terms: you don't want them dictating the pace, as they will then also dictate the grips. Slide down their legs slightly, then bring your knees together. Your lower legs will be splayed out, over their hips. Grab behind their ankles (around the outside: that's safer than inside), then drive your knees up and through their chest. That should put them on their back. It's very important that you don't stop at that point celebrating how awesome it is you've knocked them over. Immediately move through to the mount. Don't try and push straight forward, as that is going to be awkward, slow and liable to leave gaps for them to exploit. Instead, drive diagonally across them. You can either put a hand behind you for base (it will be the hand on the same side as the direction you're moving), or alternatively, grab their same side trouser leg with that hand. That's probably preferable, as then you have both base and some control over their lower body. As you drive through, stay tight with your hips, bending your knees to slide straight into mount. If they are taller or you're getting stacked, then there is also the option of switching from driving with your knees to putting your feet on their hips and pushing. That gives you a greater range. It might also mean they fall back away from you, in which case you could do a technical stand up instead, then pass the guard. Almost everyone will just grab your gi jacket to counterbalance the ankle grab sweep. The next option is a little harder for them to defend. I know it as the 'handstand sweep', though invariably there are probably lots of names for it. As they stand, keep your guard closed, wrapping an arm around their same side ankle. You're looking to get the crook of your elbow behind the ankle: for further control, you could try reaching through to grab your own collar. For power, range and balance, put your free hand on the floor, as if you were doing a handstand (hence the name). To complete the sweep, you need to bring their knee out sideways. Their foot has to be immobilised for that, or they'll be able to adjust and maintain their balance. To turn their knee out, bring your hips sideways, pushing into the inside of their knee. Once you've pushed it far enough so their leg swivels, that should knock them to the floor. Your guard stays closed throughout, opening at the last moment to adjust into mount. However, that still leaves them a hand with which they can post out and recover. To prevent that, you can cross-grip their sleeve. This is what Xande calls the 'muscle sweep', because their ankle is by your 'muscle' (i.e., bicep). The set up is the same as before, but this time, you don't use your free hand to push off the floor. Instead, you grab their opposite sleeve, thereby both preventing them from posting out, and also providing you with an easy way of pulling yourself up into mount.

The difficulty is due to the decreased leverage at your disposal. Now that you can't use that hand to push up, you instead have to really push into their knee. Make sure your grip around their leg is tight, pulling their foot right to your head. You will also use your grip on their sleeve, pulling their arm way across towards their trapped leg. This is tougher to pull off, but it makes the transition to the top easier.

For both variations, make sure you are driving your hips across into their knee, rather than rising up as you would with the ankle grab. If you rise up, then you'll be going above their knee, which will lessen your leverage. Your hips should be next the knee to generate maximum torque.