Teaching #879
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/06/2019
If you're having trouble with the standard way of knocking them over in a scissor sweep, Xande has a useful suggestion to change the leverage. Instead of kicking your leg across, shift your leg position. Rather than your knee diagonally pointing at their opposite shoulder, put it vertical so it is against their same side shoulder. Hook your foot by their armpit, then complete the sweep as before, but with a diagonal kick towards your opposite shoulder rather than a kick across. It's a subtle difference, a good option for when your partner is heavily resisting the standard option.
Less orthodox still is the reverse scissor sweep. When you try to hit the scissor sweep, you may find that they shift their weight to block it, or try to grab your knee. Either way, that means you can then change to a reverse scissor sweep instead. Your shin is either across their stomach for the scissor sweep, or as Kev recommends, going higher and angling the knee up into their chest. You've also got a grip on the collar as well as their same side sleeve.
Rather than pulling them onto you and chopping out their leg, switch your sleeve grip to their opposite sleeve, then yank their arm across their body. The elbow of your gripping arm can be used for base. From the typical collar and sleeve grip, it can be tricky to adjust. John Will uses a slight variation, on his Mastering Sweeps DVD (which I bought from him at his excellent seminar a few years ago). Rather than gripping the collar and sleeve, he advises gripping and then pushing your palms inwards, rather than leaving any slack. This makes it a bit easier to switch their arm to your other hand, as you already have a grip, rather than having to use your collar grabbing arm.
If you're using standard collar and sleeve, release your collar grip arm and reach around to their opposite armpit, bringing them in tight. As when you're trying to take the back, you need to press your chest into the back of the arm you pulled across their body, so they can't pull it back out. Sit up into them, then drop back. This should enable you to fling them over in that direction with your braced leg (this should feel effortless: if you're straining, then adjust, as without good leverage you could hurt yourself) and move into side control. You should also end up in a great position to cross-face.
________________
Teaching Notes: A lot of people don't immediately grasp the difference between the standard scissor sweep and the armpit hook. The way I think best explains it is talking about kicking yourself in the opposite shoulder, though that is a motion that can be tricky. The Xande video sums the three typical scissor sweep variations up nicely.
On the reverse scissor, making sure they sit up is the thing to emphasise, along with the placement of the knee. It's up by the same side shoulder, not diagonally towards the opposite shoulder like in a standard scissor sweep.
Showing posts with label teaching # Closed Guard: Scissor Sweep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching # Closed Guard: Scissor Sweep. Show all posts
14 June 2019
12 June 2019
12/06/2019 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Scissor Sweep (standard & push variation)
Teaching #878
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/06/2019
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow or sleeve. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand/elbow on the mat and prevent the sweep?
The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option (which I prefer) is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach. There's yet another version from Xande, as he shows how you can hook under their armpit for the same effect.
A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with a secure collar grip in order to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well. Kid Peligro suggests squaring your torso up, really arching your back and looking over the shoulder nearest the ground: Xande similarly arches away for extra leverage. You want to be on your side as you do this.
Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance. Should you have trouble chopping into their leg, you can also switch to a push sweep. This works in exactly the same way as the scissor sweep, except that rather than chopping, you put your foot into the side of their knee. Push it out and back (describing a semi-circle), which will knock out their base in the same way as chopping. You can then progress the sweep as usual.
Whichever sweep variation you use, maintain that grip on their collar. This will serve you well as you sweep them to mount, because you can then go straight into a submission. The choke is there, the armbar is a possibility too. At the same time, be wary of their escape: if you need to remove your grip to base, better to hold the mount.
________________
Teaching Notes: People were making the usual mistake of not lifting the elbows right up, so I'll keep emphasising that. More people seemed to get it when I did the review at the end, talking about 'airing out your armpits'. Perhaps that works better as a visual cue, bit of humour is always good too (makes me wish I was naturally funny, makes teaching way easier ;D).
I combined the standard sweep with the push sweep, which I think works well. I also showed a number of people the Xande armpit hook variation, which I could show as part of this class, but I think that might be overloading it. I'm going to teach it separately on Friday, together with the reverse scissor sweep. We'll see how that goes, particularly if there is anybody in that class who hasn't seen the scissor sweep before.
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/06/2019
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow or sleeve. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand/elbow on the mat and prevent the sweep?
The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option (which I prefer) is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach. There's yet another version from Xande, as he shows how you can hook under their armpit for the same effect.
A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with a secure collar grip in order to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well. Kid Peligro suggests squaring your torso up, really arching your back and looking over the shoulder nearest the ground: Xande similarly arches away for extra leverage. You want to be on your side as you do this.
Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance. Should you have trouble chopping into their leg, you can also switch to a push sweep. This works in exactly the same way as the scissor sweep, except that rather than chopping, you put your foot into the side of their knee. Push it out and back (describing a semi-circle), which will knock out their base in the same way as chopping. You can then progress the sweep as usual.
Whichever sweep variation you use, maintain that grip on their collar. This will serve you well as you sweep them to mount, because you can then go straight into a submission. The choke is there, the armbar is a possibility too. At the same time, be wary of their escape: if you need to remove your grip to base, better to hold the mount.
________________
Teaching Notes: People were making the usual mistake of not lifting the elbows right up, so I'll keep emphasising that. More people seemed to get it when I did the review at the end, talking about 'airing out your armpits'. Perhaps that works better as a visual cue, bit of humour is always good too (makes me wish I was naturally funny, makes teaching way easier ;D).
I combined the standard sweep with the push sweep, which I think works well. I also showed a number of people the Xande armpit hook variation, which I could show as part of this class, but I think that might be overloading it. I'm going to teach it separately on Friday, together with the reverse scissor sweep. We'll see how that goes, particularly if there is anybody in that class who hasn't seen the scissor sweep before.
15 January 2016
15/01/2016 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Scissor & Push Sweep
Teaching #450
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/01/2016
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow or sleeve. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand/elbow on the mat and prevent the sweep?
The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option (which I prefer) is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach. There's yet another version from Xande, as he shows how you can hook under their armpit for the same effect.
A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with a secure collar grip in order to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well. Kid Peligro suggests squaring your torso up, really arching your back and looking over the shoulder nearest the ground: Xande similarly arches away for extra leverage. You want to be on your side as you do this.
Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance. Should you have trouble chopping into their leg, you can also switch to a push sweep. This works in exactly the same way as the scissor sweep, except that rather than chopping, you put your foot into the side of their knee. Push it out and back (describing a semi-circle), which will knock out their base in the same way as chopping. You can then progress the sweep as usual.
Whichever sweep variation you use, maintain that grip on their collar. This will serve you well as you sweep them to mount, because you can then go straight into a submission. The choke is there, the armbar is a possibility too. At the same time, be wary of their escape: if you need to remove your grip to base, better to hold the mount.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: My plan was to link this to the palm up palm up choke, as often when you do that, you'll find it hard to get the second grip. Instead, you can go for a scissor sweep, a palm up palm down choke, an armbar etc. The armbar connects better with the palm up palm down choke, as for that one you're angling off with your legs. I like being able to combine techniques in that progression, especially as all of them also work in isolation.
Now that I have a whole month and five classes a week to play with, compared to one a week and only a fortnight (which is how I started off teaching before Artemis BJJ), there's lots more scope for this kind of fun. Hopefully I'll have even more classes to play with in the future: in an ideal world, I'd spend all day teaching, sparring and drilling (though I think I'd always want two evenings off a week and my Saturday free, as it's importance to have balance, like my latest tattoo says ;D). I'll get there one day.
After class we headed off to a nearby bar to celebrate Kirsty's birthday (I don't drink, so none of those beers were mine: my diet is bad enough without adding alcohol to it ;D). Cool to spend some time chatting about BJJ and some of the upcoming coolness, like the trip to Belgium. I'm looking forward to the Globetrotter camp, where we'll get loads of time to socialise as a team. Before that, we have the awesomeness of Pieminister after Chelsea's seminar at the end of January. :)
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/01/2016
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow or sleeve. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand/elbow on the mat and prevent the sweep?
The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option (which I prefer) is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach. There's yet another version from Xande, as he shows how you can hook under their armpit for the same effect.
A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with a secure collar grip in order to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well. Kid Peligro suggests squaring your torso up, really arching your back and looking over the shoulder nearest the ground: Xande similarly arches away for extra leverage. You want to be on your side as you do this.
Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance. Should you have trouble chopping into their leg, you can also switch to a push sweep. This works in exactly the same way as the scissor sweep, except that rather than chopping, you put your foot into the side of their knee. Push it out and back (describing a semi-circle), which will knock out their base in the same way as chopping. You can then progress the sweep as usual.
Whichever sweep variation you use, maintain that grip on their collar. This will serve you well as you sweep them to mount, because you can then go straight into a submission. The choke is there, the armbar is a possibility too. At the same time, be wary of their escape: if you need to remove your grip to base, better to hold the mount.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: My plan was to link this to the palm up palm up choke, as often when you do that, you'll find it hard to get the second grip. Instead, you can go for a scissor sweep, a palm up palm down choke, an armbar etc. The armbar connects better with the palm up palm down choke, as for that one you're angling off with your legs. I like being able to combine techniques in that progression, especially as all of them also work in isolation.
Now that I have a whole month and five classes a week to play with, compared to one a week and only a fortnight (which is how I started off teaching before Artemis BJJ), there's lots more scope for this kind of fun. Hopefully I'll have even more classes to play with in the future: in an ideal world, I'd spend all day teaching, sparring and drilling (though I think I'd always want two evenings off a week and my Saturday free, as it's importance to have balance, like my latest tattoo says ;D). I'll get there one day.
After class we headed off to a nearby bar to celebrate Kirsty's birthday (I don't drink, so none of those beers were mine: my diet is bad enough without adding alcohol to it ;D). Cool to spend some time chatting about BJJ and some of the upcoming coolness, like the trip to Belgium. I'm looking forward to the Globetrotter camp, where we'll get loads of time to socialise as a team. Before that, we have the awesomeness of Pieminister after Chelsea's seminar at the end of January. :)
24 June 2015
24/06/2015 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Scissor Sweep
Teaching #344
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 24/06/2015
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow or sleeve. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand on the mat and prevent the sweep?
The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option (which I prefer) is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach.
A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with a secure collar grip in order to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well. Kid Peligro suggests squaring your torso up, really arching your back and looking over the shoulder nearest the ground. You want to be on your side as you do this.
Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: I'll add the Kid Peligro extension into the teaching next time. It's a detail I remembered in the middle of my demonstration, having read it a while back in one of his ebooks. I normally add in the push sweep, but decided to leave that to when I was walking round. Next time I teach this lesson, I will show the push sweep instead for variety. I also need to emphasise squaring your torso up and getting on your side more, as a number of people were ending up curled towards them, which I find makes the leverage weaker.
In sparring, yet more shoulder clamp. I need to get my legs more involved. On the plus side, I found it led into the windscreen wiper sweep a few times, I think because I'm now being a lot more active in attacking for those angles. Handy, as I'm teaching that sweep on Friday. ;)
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 24/06/2015
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow or sleeve. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand on the mat and prevent the sweep?The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option (which I prefer) is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach.
A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with a secure collar grip in order to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well. Kid Peligro suggests squaring your torso up, really arching your back and looking over the shoulder nearest the ground. You want to be on your side as you do this.
Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: I'll add the Kid Peligro extension into the teaching next time. It's a detail I remembered in the middle of my demonstration, having read it a while back in one of his ebooks. I normally add in the push sweep, but decided to leave that to when I was walking round. Next time I teach this lesson, I will show the push sweep instead for variety. I also need to emphasise squaring your torso up and getting on your side more, as a number of people were ending up curled towards them, which I find makes the leverage weaker.
In sparring, yet more shoulder clamp. I need to get my legs more involved. On the plus side, I found it led into the windscreen wiper sweep a few times, I think because I'm now being a lot more active in attacking for those angles. Handy, as I'm teaching that sweep on Friday. ;)
15 December 2014
15/12/2014 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Reverse Scissor Sweep
Teaching #249
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/12/2014
That was followed by the reverse scissor sweep, which I taught a class on a few years back. When you try to hit the scissor sweep, you may find that they shift their weight to block it, or try to grab your knee. Either way, that means you can then change to a reverse scissor sweep instead. Your shin is either across their stomach for the scissor sweep, or as Kev recommends, going higher and angling the knee up into their chest. You've also got a grip on the collar as well as their same side sleeve. Rather than pulling them onto you and chopping out their leg, switch your sleeve grip to their opposite sleeve, then yank it across their body. The elbow of your gripping arm can be used for base.
Next, release your collar grip arm and reach around to their opposite armpit, bringing them in tight. As when you're trying to take the back, you need to press your chest into the back of the arm you pulled across their body, so they can't pull it back out. On the same side as the arm you've trapped, put your back on the mat, which should enable you to fling them over in that direction with your braced leg (this should feel effortless: if you're straining, then adjust, as without good leverage you could hurt yourself) and move into side control. You should also end up in a great position to cross-face.
John Will uses a slight variation, on his Mastering Sweeps DVD (which I bought from him at his excellent seminar a few years ago). Rather than gripping the collar and sleeve, he advises gripping and then pushing your palms inwards, rather than leaving any slack. This makes it a bit easier to switch their arm to your other hand, as you already have a grip, rather than having to use your collar grabbing arm. Will comes up on one arm, then as he falls back to lift them, he switches the posting hand to instead reach through their arm. This is so he can end up reaching past their armpit into the collar.
_____________________
Teaching & Sparring Notes: Emphasise coming up on the side, chest into shoulder, attaching yourself and becoming one unit. A number of people were leaving a gap as they fell back, which means you end up using lots of force and straining: this sweep should be all about leverage, so fairly effortless. Also, when they fall back, they should flare out the leg: I'll emphasise that next time too.
Sparring was interesting. With Chris, I stepped over his head to avoid armbar, hooking it like I would for the step-over triangle. Unfortunately I can't lock that up at the moment due to my groin injury, but it did lead directly into a nice strong north-south. I couldn't secure a decent attack of it though. Later with a white belt, I had the north-south kimura, but forgot to keep in mind where his fingers were: to follow my own advice from when I taught this relatively recently, I need to pull against the fingers where they're weak, not just straight up where they're strong.
On Wednesday 17th December, it's the first of my three planned XMAS CLASSES! Yay! Looking forward to it, so if you're coming to the women's class at 18:30, wear a santa hat and whatever other xmas gear you can fit around grappling. There will be cheesy xmas music and mince pies too. Second xmas class is the open mat on Saturday 20th December (10:00-12:00), then finally the mixed class on Monday 22nd December from 19:30-20:30. :D
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/12/2014
That was followed by the reverse scissor sweep, which I taught a class on a few years back. When you try to hit the scissor sweep, you may find that they shift their weight to block it, or try to grab your knee. Either way, that means you can then change to a reverse scissor sweep instead. Your shin is either across their stomach for the scissor sweep, or as Kev recommends, going higher and angling the knee up into their chest. You've also got a grip on the collar as well as their same side sleeve. Rather than pulling them onto you and chopping out their leg, switch your sleeve grip to their opposite sleeve, then yank it across their body. The elbow of your gripping arm can be used for base.Next, release your collar grip arm and reach around to their opposite armpit, bringing them in tight. As when you're trying to take the back, you need to press your chest into the back of the arm you pulled across their body, so they can't pull it back out. On the same side as the arm you've trapped, put your back on the mat, which should enable you to fling them over in that direction with your braced leg (this should feel effortless: if you're straining, then adjust, as without good leverage you could hurt yourself) and move into side control. You should also end up in a great position to cross-face.
John Will uses a slight variation, on his Mastering Sweeps DVD (which I bought from him at his excellent seminar a few years ago). Rather than gripping the collar and sleeve, he advises gripping and then pushing your palms inwards, rather than leaving any slack. This makes it a bit easier to switch their arm to your other hand, as you already have a grip, rather than having to use your collar grabbing arm. Will comes up on one arm, then as he falls back to lift them, he switches the posting hand to instead reach through their arm. This is so he can end up reaching past their armpit into the collar.
_____________________
Teaching & Sparring Notes: Emphasise coming up on the side, chest into shoulder, attaching yourself and becoming one unit. A number of people were leaving a gap as they fell back, which means you end up using lots of force and straining: this sweep should be all about leverage, so fairly effortless. Also, when they fall back, they should flare out the leg: I'll emphasise that next time too.
Sparring was interesting. With Chris, I stepped over his head to avoid armbar, hooking it like I would for the step-over triangle. Unfortunately I can't lock that up at the moment due to my groin injury, but it did lead directly into a nice strong north-south. I couldn't secure a decent attack of it though. Later with a white belt, I had the north-south kimura, but forgot to keep in mind where his fingers were: to follow my own advice from when I taught this relatively recently, I need to pull against the fingers where they're weak, not just straight up where they're strong.
On Wednesday 17th December, it's the first of my three planned XMAS CLASSES! Yay! Looking forward to it, so if you're coming to the women's class at 18:30, wear a santa hat and whatever other xmas gear you can fit around grappling. There will be cheesy xmas music and mince pies too. Second xmas class is the open mat on Saturday 20th December (10:00-12:00), then finally the mixed class on Monday 22nd December from 19:30-20:30. :D
08 December 2014
08/12/2014 - Teaching | Closed Guard | Scissor Sweep
Teaching #244
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 08/12/2014
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand on the mat and prevent the sweep?
The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach.
A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with that collar grip secure to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well.
Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: My intention was to add in another option to follow on from the lesson about breaking their posture. The pressing armbar makes sense if you can pull them right down, so for the collar and elbow grip, the scissor sweep feels like a natural progression. It's a fundamental technique, though personally I rarely get this in sparring. My issue with it is opening the guard without giving them too much space.
So, using Kev's knee-in-chest version could help with that, as then you can generate more pressure by pulling them in at the same time as you push into them with the knee. It also makes it harder to shove your leg down. However, raising them up onto your leg remains difficult if they have good base, so I need to think about some good follow ups (e.g, submissions).
I showed the push sweep too, as it's a natural one to follow up if you've got into a good position but their leg is too heavy. I'd like to fit in the usual armbar/triangle/omoplata sequence at some point too, so will have to see where that makes the most sense. Naturally I don't have to cram absolutely everything about the closed guard into this month, as long as I can provide a decent overview for students to build on. Christmas cuts into things a little, but should still leave enough time for a few more subs and then onto passing.
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre/MyGym), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 08/12/2014
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand on the mat and prevent the sweep?The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, pushing forward with your knee at the same time as you pull on their gi (this can act as an entry into the triangle too). That also makes it much tougher for them to shove your leg down and pass, a potential vulnerability of the shin over the stomach.
A key detail is to get them off their heels. Sit up into them, then drop back with that collar grip secure to move them. Alternatively (or in addition), raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them up onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer heavy their own leg, making it easier to chop. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer as well.
Having hopefully made them lighter, drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over. You can then roll into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance.
_____________________
Teaching Notes: My intention was to add in another option to follow on from the lesson about breaking their posture. The pressing armbar makes sense if you can pull them right down, so for the collar and elbow grip, the scissor sweep feels like a natural progression. It's a fundamental technique, though personally I rarely get this in sparring. My issue with it is opening the guard without giving them too much space.
So, using Kev's knee-in-chest version could help with that, as then you can generate more pressure by pulling them in at the same time as you push into them with the knee. It also makes it harder to shove your leg down. However, raising them up onto your leg remains difficult if they have good base, so I need to think about some good follow ups (e.g, submissions).
I showed the push sweep too, as it's a natural one to follow up if you've got into a good position but their leg is too heavy. I'd like to fit in the usual armbar/triangle/omoplata sequence at some point too, so will have to see where that makes the most sense. Naturally I don't have to cram absolutely everything about the closed guard into this month, as long as I can provide a decent overview for students to build on. Christmas cuts into things a little, but should still leave enough time for a few more subs and then onto passing.
18 May 2012
18/05/2012 - BJJ Intro at Aro Ling (Closed Guard Sweeps)
Teaching #056
Aro Ling Buddhist Centre, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 18/05/2012
Having gone through mount escapes on Monday, I could have shown them how to hold the mount too. I instead decided to move on to the guard, which is arguably the most fun position in jiu jitsu. As the last lesson put them in guard after shrimping out of mount, it seemed like a useful progression. The most simple sweep I know is the scissor sweep, so I went with that.
Start by getting a deep grip on their opposite collar, then with your other hand grab their same side elbow. Alternatively, you can grip their wrist and pin it to your chest. Rener makes a clear distinction here, as he suggests grabbing the sleeve if they are pushing into your bicep, grabbing the wrist if they are pushing into your chest. Either way, your intention – and this is true for lots of sweeps and reversals – is to prevent their ability to post with that hand. That makes for a straightforward test for whether or not what you’re using is effective: can they put their hand on the mat and prevent the sweep?
The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, which can act as an entry into the triangle.
A key detail is to then raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer on their legs. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer.
This should make them lighter: drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over, rolling into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance.
As it turned out, one of the people attending the session has problems with her back and leg, which made the scissor sweep difficult for her. From my perspective as a teacher, that was great, as it meant I had an interesting challenge to overcome. Fortunately, BJJ is adaptable for body type, so I instead showed her the flower sweep. There are lots of options in terms of grips, but to keep things simple, I stuck with double wrist control. Kick your leg to swivel your body to a perpendicular position, which should also put your other leg right up into their armpit.
Bring that armpit leg over your body (go diagonally, towards your shoulder), while chopping the other leg underneath. It's important you clear that leg out of the way, in order to smoothly roll through to mount. If you fail to chop that leg through, you'll roll your opponent on top of your own leg. At best, you'll then end up with a very sloppy sweep, but at worst, you'll block your own technique and end back in guard. I hadn’t prepared for teaching that sweep, so it was a bit off the cuff: next time, I can be more thorough.
The scissor sweep shouldn't require much strength, so if you're having to strain, you probably haven't pulled them forward enough first. You can also get this sweep if they raise a knee up, which is the classic way to teach it. Drop your same side knee towards their opposite hip, then continue the sweep as above. If you're finding that when you try and chop their leg they simply step over it, raise your chopping leg slightly. You might even try hooking behind their knee with it, as that will immobilise the leg, although it may also make it more difficult to get a smooth chopping motion.
If for some reason you're having trouble chopping out their leg, you can switch to a push sweep, which is very similar to the scissor sweep. Everything is the same, except that you don't chop the leg. Instead, move your head back in line with theirs, so your torso is square on, then slide what would have been your chopping leg backwards. You now have room to use the foot of that leg to push into the side of their knee. Tracing a semi-circle, you're then going to shove their knee straight back, which will knock them off balance, whereupon you can roll through to mount as before.
A common mistake is to try and push the knee backwards right away. That is unlikely to work, as there will probably be too much friction. You need to push the knee slightly sideways first, then trace that arc to get the leg back. They should start to fall as soon as you do that, meaning that gravity will help you initiate the sweeping movement.
Aro Ling Buddhist Centre, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 18/05/2012
Having gone through mount escapes on Monday, I could have shown them how to hold the mount too. I instead decided to move on to the guard, which is arguably the most fun position in jiu jitsu. As the last lesson put them in guard after shrimping out of mount, it seemed like a useful progression. The most simple sweep I know is the scissor sweep, so I went with that.
The next step is to put your foot on their same side hip (or the floor, depending on your preference) and shrimp out slightly, to make space to insert your knee. Slide that knee over, once again to that same side, until your shin is across their stomach. Hook your instep around their other side. Another option is to angle your knee towards their shoulder, which can act as an entry into the triangle.
A key detail is to then raise your elbows towards your head, so that you're pulling them onto your shin. The aim is to load them onto your leg, which in turn means that their weight is no longer on their legs. Extending your torso back, rather than remaining curled up, may help that weight transfer.
This should make them lighter: drop your other leg to the mat, chopping underneath them as you bring your hooking leg over, rolling into mount. Ryron has two handy tips here. Firstly, use the heel of your hooking foot to swivel and clamp to their side, becoming a leverage point to assist your shift into mount. Secondly, bring the elbow of your sleeve gripping arm further backwards, to put your opponent even more off balance.
As it turned out, one of the people attending the session has problems with her back and leg, which made the scissor sweep difficult for her. From my perspective as a teacher, that was great, as it meant I had an interesting challenge to overcome. Fortunately, BJJ is adaptable for body type, so I instead showed her the flower sweep. There are lots of options in terms of grips, but to keep things simple, I stuck with double wrist control. Kick your leg to swivel your body to a perpendicular position, which should also put your other leg right up into their armpit.Bring that armpit leg over your body (go diagonally, towards your shoulder), while chopping the other leg underneath. It's important you clear that leg out of the way, in order to smoothly roll through to mount. If you fail to chop that leg through, you'll roll your opponent on top of your own leg. At best, you'll then end up with a very sloppy sweep, but at worst, you'll block your own technique and end back in guard. I hadn’t prepared for teaching that sweep, so it was a bit off the cuff: next time, I can be more thorough.
If for some reason you're having trouble chopping out their leg, you can switch to a push sweep, which is very similar to the scissor sweep. Everything is the same, except that you don't chop the leg. Instead, move your head back in line with theirs, so your torso is square on, then slide what would have been your chopping leg backwards. You now have room to use the foot of that leg to push into the side of their knee. Tracing a semi-circle, you're then going to shove their knee straight back, which will knock them off balance, whereupon you can roll through to mount as before.
A common mistake is to try and push the knee backwards right away. That is unlikely to work, as there will probably be too much friction. You need to push the knee slightly sideways first, then trace that arc to get the leg back. They should start to fall as soon as you do that, meaning that gravity will help you initiate the sweeping movement.
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