28/08/2019 - Teaching | Open Guard | Backstep pass from step on thigh & vs shin on shin

Teaching #899
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/08/2019

The backstep is a very useful motion which applies in all sorts for scenarios. I'll start off with Brad Wolfson's step on thigh passing position, where you are placing your foot on their thigh to pin one of their legs to the ground. Once you do that, most of the time they will attempt to use their other leg to block you, such as hooking behind your knee.

This is where the backstep motion can come in. Drop your thigh-stepping knee into their stomach. Use that as a base point, flinging your other leg high in the air and all the way over. You should end up with your back is pointing at their head, in a sort of reverse scarf hold. In other words, you're sat next to them, facing their legs, with the sole of your non-sliding leg foot on the floor.



From there, switch your hips, sliding your other leg under the backstepping leg, settling into side control. You can also use the backstep from further out to pass. This is a more dynamic option, where you put your hand on their knee and hip, then fling your whole body around. The backstep comes in mid air, meaning you effectively jump over the legs



A slightly different option I also showed today comes from Christian Graugart. I refer to this one as a flare step, which Christian showed vs shin on shin. Grab the back of their collar, 'flaring' the leg that is against their leg over the top. It's a quick swivel, putting your foot from where it was behind their leg, to now appearing by their shin.

As soon as that foot is by their hip, you have passed their legs. Capitalise on that by sending the rest of your body to meet your foot. Again, you can do this via a backstep, flinging yourself over to land in that same reverse scarf hold type position.



You can also backstep in non-passing situation, like going from knee on belly to mount. Specifically, it's reverse knee on belly. From there, if you backstep your leg past their head, you can fling it through to end up in what I've heard called 'cowbody mount'. If you're lucky, you might be able to pinch your knees in and go for a triangle, depending where their arm is, but most likely you'll just end up in an unorthodox mount position.



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Teaching Notes: Felt pretty good, only thing is, do people need a lot of extra knowledge for this? Also, Christian said to grip collar with other hand. So, IIRC, not the one that feel natural, which is same side as you're passing, but the other hand. Reason being, you can then use your same side hand to control their knee on the way down. Should test that version next time.

26/08/2019 - Teaching | Open Guard | Backstep pass from shin on thigh

Teaching #898
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/08/2019

My standard option for engaging with open guard is to drop into a low squat, keeping your feet at the opposite corners of an imaginary square, shuffling forwards towards them (I've been referring to this as 'crouch stalking'). Your head should never go in front of your knees, keeping your head up the whole time. As soon as you look down, that breaks your posture: use your peripheral vision and touch to establish passing grips instead.

If you continue to drive your leg into the back of their knee, you might get lucky and be able to push that leg all the way down to the mat. Make sure your other shoulder is behind their other knee: you're now in a fantastic position to pass, with a whole bunch of options from there. It's unlikely it will be that easy to get here, but for the purposes of showing this pass, that's a simple entry to keep in mind.



Make sure you've trapped their lower leg with your same side shin by sliding it over, driving your knee into their same side hip. Hook your instep around their leg near the crook of their knee. Also shift the foot of your non-sliding leg closer to your bum, so they can't hook it.

The hand which was pushing on the knee now goes to wrap under their head, looking to get your shoulder next to their jaw. I'd suggest switching the other hand (which was gripping on their sleeve/collar/wrist) to behind their leg to stop them bridging and rolling you during the pass attempt. You could also try blocking their near hip with that hand, though that isn't an option I normally use. This also puts you in a powerful guard position, should you need to switch mid-pass if they resist your initial passing attempt.



To finish, swing your non-sliding leg all the way over, so your back is pointing at their head, in a sort of reverse scarf hold: you're sat next to them, facing their legs, sole of your non-sliding leg foot on the floor. You should still have their leg trapped at this point with your hooking foot. Finally, switch your hips, sliding that hooking leg under the back stepping leg, settling into side control.
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Teaching Notes: I can't think of anything much to add here, so I'll just copy the notes from last time I taught this to make sure I have something to think about. ;)

In terms of the pass, I liked that this gave me another option from the leg pin backstep variation. The key thing people were doing wrong is a general point on combining it with a closed guard opening rather than specific to this pass when it is used in open guard, which is leaving space when shoving that leg down. It should be acting as a ramp.

Also, pinning the leg with your shin in the middle of their upper thigh, again to take away any space: a few people were too far forward with their knee, or too far to one side. Similarly, people shouldn't be trying to get their other leg straight through as then they have no base. Instead, it needs to be out to the side for support.