13/11/2019 - Teaching | Side control | Transition to mount (reverse scarf hold)

Teaching #914
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 13/11/2019



Short Version:

• Scoop up their near elbow by scraping your hip along the around
• Once their arm is up high, turn tightly into reverse scarf hold
• Move your hips back, then drive your knee across
• If you need to, block their knees with your arms
• To finish, put your knee to the mat on the far side, pushing back to clear their leg

Full Version: This is the other main method I use for going to mount from side control. It involves reverse scarf hold, where you switch your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up (you have the option to switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm too). While trying to scrape that arm off the ground, grab their triceps with your same side arm to help pull it out of place.

As experienced grapplers will tend to keep their elbows tight, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow should enable you to scoop up their arm. However you manage it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular technique for transitioning to mount. Having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip.



Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control. That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment).

When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together. If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.



Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then push back with your knee to clear the space. You can also try using the 'fishtail' method (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You could possibly grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. Either way, I'd recommend using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.



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Teaching Notes: Nothing I can think of to add here, though I guess I didn't mention the danger of that midway bridge, worth adding next time. Re-read notes, as ever, I don't always remember to check through my write up above (especially with the more basic techniques like this one). ;)

11/11/2019 - Side control to mount (knee slide)

Teaching #913
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 11/11/2019



Short Version:

• Hook their far elbow and walk your hand up, until their arm is up high
• Trap their arm by their head with your cross-face hand, using your head if necessary
• Move your hips up towards their head
• Drive your knee to their far armpit, aiming to avoid their legs. Go inside your arm if you need to block their knees
• Get your knee to the mat. If their leg is too close, push it back with your knee to clear a space

Full Version: The second main option I use for transitioning to mount from side control is the diagonal slide, which has a lot less steps compared to the reverse scarf hold approach. Start in side control, with a heavy cross face and your other arm under their far arm. Shift your body up towards their head. Walk the hand of your other arm up the mat (like a spider), until you can get their far arm tight to their head. At this point, you can grab just below their elbow with your cross facing hand, locking their arm to their skull (if you want extra control, you can use your head too).



Your other hand grabs their far hip, bringing your elbow to their near hip. That creates a barrier, making it tougher for them to block with their knee. Drive your knee inside your arm, as high as you can on their body, sliding it diagonally over their chest. Aim to put your knee by their armpit. Once you knee hits the mat, slide it directly backwards into their leg. That should clear there leg out of the way, resulting in an easy transition into mount.



You can also use a transition to north-south to open up that far arm. This variation relies on the mechanical strength of bringing your elbow back, using that to pry their arm open as you switch back from a north-south transition to regular side control.


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Teaching Notes: Keep emphasising bringing your hips up high to their head, that's the thing people were forgetting most often. Walking your hands up high enough is important too, or they will be able to power their arm back down. It would also be worth mentioning that if they try and block with their arm, you can potentially spin into an armbar, or simply insert your arm into the gap and walk your hand up again to clear that block.

03/11/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Transition to Mount (Reverse Scarf Hold)

Teaching #720
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/11/2017

Short Version:

• Scoop up their near elbow by scraping your hip along the around
• Once their arm is up high, turn tightly into reverse scarf hold
• Move your hips back, then drive your knee across
• If you need to, block their knees with your arms
• To finish, put your knee to the mat on the far side, pushing back to clear their leg

Full Version: This is the other main method I use for going to mount from side control. It involves reverse scarf hold, where you switch your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up (you have the option to switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm too). While trying to scrape that arm off the ground, grab their triceps with your same side arm to help pull it out of place.

As experienced grapplers will tend to keep their elbows tight, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow should enable you to scoop up their arm. However you manage it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular technique for transitioning to mount. Having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip.

Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control. That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment).

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Nov 6, 2017 at 12:20am PST

When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together. If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then push back with your knee to clear the space. You can also try using the 'fishtail' method (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You could possibly grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. Either way, I'd recommend using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.

______________________

Teaching Notes: Remember to emphasise pushing back with your hips once in reverse scarf hold, to recover any space you've lost during that turn, and/or gain extra. If they try to follow you with their legs (like you were transitioning to north-south), focus on getting their arm up high as then you can pin that primary control triangle of their shoulders and head. Also, you can always try switching to the other method, the diagonal slide.

It's important to get your hip right to the ground in order to scrape. It's also worth using your same side arm to grab their triceps and pull up, as you drive your hip along.

01/11/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | Transition to Mount (Diagonal Slide)

Teaching #719
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 01/11/2017

Short Version:

• Hook their far elbow and walk your hand up, until their arm is up high
• Trap their arm by their head with your cross-face hand, using your head if necessary
• Move your hips up towards their head
• Drive your knee to their far armpit, aiming to avoid their legs. Go inside your arm if you need to block their knees
• Get your knee to the mat. If their leg is too close, push it back with your knee to clear a space

Full Version: The second main option I use for transitioning to mount from side control is the diagonal slide, which has a lot less steps compared to the reverse scarf hold approach. Start in side control, with a heavy cross face and your other arm under their far arm. Shift your body up towards their head. Walk the hand of your other arm up the mat (like a spider), until you can get their far arm tight to their head. At this point, you can grab just below their elbow with your cross facing hand, locking their arm to their skull (if you want extra control, you can use your head too).

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Nov 2, 2017 at 12:37am PDT

Your other hand grabs their far hip, bringing your elbow to their near hip. That creates a barrier, making it tougher for them to block with their knee. Drive your knee inside your arm, as high as you can on their body, sliding it diagonally over their chest. Aim to put your knee by their armpit. Once you knee hits the mat, slide it directly backwards into their leg. That should clear there leg out of the way, resulting in an easy transition into mount.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Nov 3, 2017 at 1:13am PDT

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Teaching Notes: Keep emphasising bringing your hips up high to their head, that's the thing people were forgetting most often. Walking your hands up high enough is important too, or they will be able to power their arm back down. It would also be worth mentioning that if they try and block with their arm, you can potentially spin into an armbar, or simply insert your arm into the gap and walk your hand up again to clear that block.

The knee pushing back thing would be worth highlighting too, along with including that detail on gripping their far hip and your knee going inside that arm barrier, so they can't bring their knees up.

30/09/2016 - Teaching | Side Control | Diagonal Slide to Mount

Teaching #568
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 30/09/2016

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Oct 3, 2016 at 3:14am PDT

The second option I use for transitioning to mount from side control is the diagonal slide, which has a lot less steps compared to the reverse scarf hold approach. Start in side control, with a heavy cross face and your other arm under their far arm. Shift your body up towards their head. Walk the hand of your other arm up the mat (like a spider), until you can get their far arm tight to their head. At this point, you can grab just below their elbow with your cross facing hand, locking their arm to their skull (if you want extra control, you can use your head too).

Your other hand grabs their far hip, bringing your elbow to their near hip. That creates a barrier, making it tougher for them to block with their knee. Drive your knee inside your arm, as high as you can on their body, sliding it diagonally over their chest. Aim to put your knee by their armpit. Once you knee hits the mat, slide it directly backwards into their leg. That should clear there leg out of the way, resulting in an easy transition into mount.
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Teaching Notes: The importance of moving further towards their head before you start is something I should mention next time. I think that's one of those things I do without realising, so will highlight it. Using your head helps too, which can set up arm triangles, moving into armbars is a possibility too. A lot of people weren't getting that pushing back with the knee detail, I'll keep emphasising it.

In sparring, I was having fun sparring with Rich, it's always a good pace and vibe rolling with him. I was practicing control from north south, seeing if I could scoop up an arm to get into an attack. Good defence from both Milka and Kirsty, which is great to see, then finally I tried out the Rickson escape I was practicing earlier (as John Kim asked, I'll talk more about that in an open mat write-up), but without too much success against more experienced people.

30/03/2016 - Teaching | Side Control | Diagonal Slide to Mount

Teaching #486
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 30/03/2016

The second option I use for transitioning to mount from side control is the diagonal slide, which has a lot less steps compared to the reverse scarf hold approach. Start in side control, with a heavy cross face and your other arm under their far arm. Walk your other arm up the mat, until you can get their far arm tight to their head. At this point, you can grab just below their elbow with your cross facing hand, locking their arm to their skull (if you want extra control, you can use your head).

Drive your knee as high as you can on their body, sliding it diagonally over their chest. Aim to put your knee by their elbow. If you go too low, they may be able to snatch half guard. To prevent that, you can also use your free arm to block their legs, either simply shielding the area, or grabbing their near leg and pushing it away. The near leg is the one that will be on top if they try to drag your leg into half guard. If you have control of that top leg, it's impossible for them to get half guard: with just their bottom leg, they can't do much.
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Teaching Notes: Locking that arm to their head seems to be important, as that messes up their attempts to escapes during the transition. In one of the older Grappler's Guide video, Jason Scully uses this version too, although he does it a bit differently, with more use of his head: that's something I could try using more. I was also finding you could switch right into armbars off the transition, possibly kimuras too, especially if you were able to get them to reach up over your shoulder.

Some people didn't want to 'spider walk' their fingers, instead doing something that looked a bit like the 'butterfly stroke' from swimming. Whatever works, I guess, so that's one I'll keep in mind for next time. ;)

23/03/2016 - Teaching | Side Control | Reverse Scarf Hold to Mount

Teaching #484
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 23/03/2016

There are two main methods I use for transitioning from side control to mount. The first method involves reverse scarfhold, where you switch your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up (you have the option to switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm too). As experienced grapplers will tend to keep their elbows tight, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow should enable you to scoop up their arm. However you manage it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular technique for transitioning to mount.

Having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip. Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then 'fishtail' (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.
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Teaching Notes: I may remove the fish tail element, as that causes problems. Perhaps instead, I could teach driving your knee backwards once you've got it across their belt line, pushing into their hip and thigh? I can't remember where I first saw that (though I'm sure it's in my blog somewhere), but that should be a lot easier than the fish tail. Next week I might go with the diagonal side control to mount transition on its own, though I've also been considering teaching the baseball bat choke at some point. But as we've moving into mount next month, I think sticking with the transition makes more sense.

03/02/2016 - Teaching | Women's Class | Side Control To Mount

Teaching #460
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/02/2016

There are two main methods I use for transitioning from side control to mount. The first method involves reverse scarfhold, where you switch your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up (you have the option to switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm too). As experienced grapplers will tend to keep their elbows tight, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow should enable you to scoop up their arm. However you manage it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular technique for transitioning to mount.

Having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip. Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then 'fishtail' (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.

A less complicated version is the diagonal slide, which has a lot less steps to it. Start in side control, with a heavy cross face and your other arm under their far arm. Walk your other arm up the mat, until you can get their far arm tight to their head. At this point, you can grab just below their elbow with your cross facing hand, locking their arm to their skull (if you want extra control, you can use your head).

Drive your knee as high as you can on their body, sliding it diagonally over their chest. Aim to put your knee by their elbow. If you go too low, they may be able to snatch half guard. To prevent that, you can also use your free arm to block their legs, either simply shielding the area, or grabbing their near leg and pushing it away. The near leg is the one that will be on top if they try to drag your leg into half guard. If you have control of that top leg, it's impossible for them to get half guard: with just their bottom leg, they can't do much.
_____________________

Teaching Notes: Checking my notes from last time, I meant to go with the diagonal slide next time I taught this, rather than the reverse scarf hold method. I ended up doing both, but next time, diagonal slide! This is the danger if I don't leave enough time to check my previous notes before heading off to class. ;)

Not that the reverse scarf hold method is bad, but the diagonal slide is so much easier.

09/09/2015 - Teaching | Women's Class | Side Control To Mount

Teaching #385
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/09/2015

There are two main methods I use for transitioning from side control to mount. The first method involves reverse scarfhold, where you switch your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up (you have the option to switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm too). As experienced grapplers will tend to keep their elbows tight, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow should enable you to scoop up their arm. However you manage it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular technique for transitioning to mount.

Having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip. Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then 'fishtail' (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.

A less complicated version is the diagonal slide, which has a lot less steps to it. Start in side control, with a heavy cross face and your other arm under their far arm. Walk your other arm up the mat, until you can get their far arm tight to their head. At this point, you can grab just below their elbow with your cross facing hand, locking their arm to their skull (if you want extra control, you can use your head).

Drive your knee as high as you can on their body, sliding it diagonally over their chest. Aim to put your knee by their elbow. If you go too low, they may be able to snatch half guard. To prevent that, you can also use your free arm to block their legs, either simply shielding the area, or grabbing their near leg and pushing it away. The near leg is the one that will be on top if they try to drag your leg into half guard. If you have control of that top leg, it's impossible for them to get half guard: with just their bottom leg, they can't do much.
_____________________

Teaching Notes: Last time I taught this lesson, I decided that the reverse scarfhold option was unnecessarily complicated for beginners. The diagonal slide is much simpler, but it does have the downside that people often don't put their knee high enough and therefore get stuck in quarter guard. Still, quarter guard (where they've only managed to trap your foot, not your whole leg) isn't as onerous to pass.

You just bring your trapped knee over to their other side of their body, then complete a knee cut as normal. If you aren't able to bring that knee over, you might be able to do an opposite side half guard pass. If they are turned a lot towards your trapped foot, another possible option is to slide your free knee up high and take their back, rolling over your free knee as normal. Or finally, there is the rolling back take I taught a while ago, though I find that isn't as high percentage.

08/04/2015 - Teaching | Women's Class | Side Control to Mount

Teaching #304
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 08/04/2015

To transition from side control to mount, start by killing the near arm. When you're underneath, one of the worst things that can happen is they control your near arm. Now that you're on top, that is therefore exactly what you want. Start by digging your knee in to get it into the armpit: Saulo suggests faking a choke to get them to raise their arm. You want to slip your knee right under their arm, bringing your knees in close to their head.

Another thing to try is switching your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up, then switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm. If you are having trouble, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow may enable you to scoop up their arm. However you manage it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular method of transitioning to mount. Once it's secure, you've got several methods for getting to the mount.

My preference is to use reverse scarf hold to go to mount. From tight side control, having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip. Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then 'fishtail' (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.
_____________________

Teaching Notes: Bank Holiday on Monday, so the gym was closed. Getting back to teaching tonight, I'm wondering if I should just teach the diagonal armpit option, as people always get confused with the fishtail anyway. If I do, then I should also talk about getting the far arm out of the way, walking your fingers up to make room. Having everybody go through it John Will style would be worth bringing in earlier (I've said this before and keep not doing it), as I noticed people weren't quite getting the positioning for that reverse scarf hold switch with their legs.

29/10/2014 - Teaching | Side Control | Transition to Mount

Teaching #223
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/10/2014

To transition from side control to mount, start by killing the near arm. When you're underneath, one of the worst things that can happen is they control your near arm. Now that you're on top, that is therefore exactly what you want. Start by digging your knee in to get it into the armpit: Saulo suggests faking a choke to get them to raise their arm. You want to slip your knee right under their arm, bringing your knees in close to their head.

Another thing to try is switching your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up, then switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm. If you are having trouble, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow may enable you to scoop up their arm. However you mange it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular method of transitioning to mount. Once it's secure, you've got several methods for getting to the mount.

My preference is to use reverse scarf hold to go to mount. From tight side control, having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip. Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then 'fishtail' (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.
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Teaching Notes: Fish-tailing is the bit people have the most trouble with. To help with that, I could try emphasising shoving your partners leg back with your knee first. Alternatively, there is the option of driving your knee diagonally into their armpit instead. It's a bit less stable, IMO, but it makes it tougher for them to snatch your leg in half guard.

Also, I'm letting multiple variations sneak back into my teaching. Next time, I need to stick with just one, even though it's really tempting to show a couple when I teach. For this lesson, it's killing the near arm that tempts me into two variations. The basic way is to drive your knee in, but that often doesn't work because they're staying really tight. So, the more effecitve - at least in my experience - option is Roger Gracie's method, dragging your hip along the floor under their elbow in a sort of scarf hold. I should just teach that one next time.

22/10/2014 - Teaching | Women's Class | Side Control to Mount

Teaching #217
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 22/10/2014

To transition from side control to mount, start by killing the near arm. When you're underneath, one of the worst things that can happen is they control your near arm. Now that you're on top, that is therefore exactly what you want. Start by digging your knee in to get it into the armpit: Saulo suggests faking a choke to get them to raise their arm. You want to slip your knee right under their arm, bringing your knees in close to their head.

Another thing to try is switching your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up, then switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm. If you are having trouble, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow may enable you to scoop up their arm. However you mange it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular method of transitioning to mount. Once it's secure, you've got several methods for getting to the mount.

My preference is to use reverse scarf hold to go to mount. From tight side control, having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip. Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then 'fishtail' (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.
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Teaching Notes: I don't think there is too much I'd want to add on this, except perhaps emphasising the value of shifting your hips towards their head once you've trapped the arm. Just like last week, I was impressed by how well the women were sparring and drilling today, loads of nice transitions and escapes. :)

I also added in a takedown, looking to gradually work those into the warm-up. I wanted something super-low impact, so I went with the osoto gari ('large outer reap' in Japanese: I couldn't remember the right name tonight, so just googled while writing this ;D). It's handy that a number of the women now have a gi (thanks to Geraldine!), as that provides grips for a gentle landing.

26/02/2014 - Teaching (Side Control to Mount)

Teaching #142
Bristol Sports Centre, (Artemis BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 26/02/2014

To transition from side control to mount, start by killing the near arm. When you're underneath, one of the worst things that can happen is they control your near arm. Now that you're on top, that is therefore exactly what you want. Start by digging your knee in to get it into the armpit: Saulo suggests faking a choke to get them to raise their arm. You want to slip your knee right under their arm, bringing your knees in close to their head.

Another thing to try is switching your hips into a scarf hold position to pry their elbow up, then switch back to a more orthodox side control to trap their arm. If you are having trouble, dragging your hip along the floor and into their elbow may enable you to scoop up their arm. However you mange it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular method of transitioning to mount. Once it's secure, you've got several methods for getting to the mount.

My preference is to use reverse scarf hold to go to mount. From tight side control, having killed the near arm, switch one arm to grip their far arm, putting your other hand by their near hip. Shift your hips right back towards their head, as far as you can. Your elbow will either be in their far armpit or wrapped underneath their far arm for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring your leg across. Ideally, you'll pin their knee to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switching through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount. Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

Beginners will often try to simply swing their leg over, which is instinctive. However, while that can sometimes work, especially if you time it well, there are two main dangers. The first is that they will snatch half guard as your leg swings over, as it will normally be within range of their own legs. The second is even more dangerous. If they bridge into you midway through your swing, they can roll you onto your back and end up in your guard.

The safest option is to slide your knee across their belt line, then 'fishtail' (slapping the mat with the side of your lower leg) when your knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.
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Teaching Notes: I went into quite a lot of detail tonight. I think it's good to give plenty of pointers, but there is a balance. It was a bit extended by answering questions, which was hopefully useful. It's always good to have students who want to delve into technique, something I especially noticed tonight. That fits well with my teaching style and my own learning preferences, though at the same time you want to make sure you're catering to everybody's needs.

As ever, it was also useful for me. Teaching tonight made me think more about control points, based off my favourite theoretical framework which John discussed in Texas. From the reverse scarf hold position, you end up using the point of your hip to drive your weight into their near armpit, helping to secure that shoulder. You elbow over to the other side of their head helps with that control point, while the armpit of that arm puts some of your weight into their far shoulder.

When getting the knee across, the control points in the line of their hip become important. I'm not sure if it is best to grab the far hip and block their knees coming in that way, or to grab their legs instead. I think I prefer grabbing their far hip, as that way I can block their movement in that direction as well, especially if I'm reaching right across. Putting my arm by their far hip is another possibility, but I wouldn't want to risk too much weight going into the mat rather than into them.

04/10/2012 - Teaching (Side Control to Mount)

Teaching #075
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 04/10/2012

To transition from side control to mount, start by killing the near arm. the first thing is to reverse engineer the escape. When you're underneath, one of the worst things that can happen is they control your near arm. Now that you're on top, that is therefore exactly what you want. Start by digging your knee in to get it into the armpit: Saulo suggests faking a choke to get them to raise their arm. You want to slip your knee right under their arm, bringing your knees in close to their head.

Another thing to try is switching your hips to get that elbow up, then switch back to trap it. However you trap it, getting the near elbow out of the way is key to this particular method of transitioning to mount. You've now got several methods for getting to the mount.

A very simple side control to mount option comes from what Xande calls the 'super-hold', where you have one arm under their head, the other arm under their far armpit. Drive your knee across their hip (this part often isn't easy, as they'll be blocking), then raise that far elbow up, to twist their body and open up more space. Once your knee gets to the mat, use it to slide their legs backwards, then 'fishtail' your own leg, slapping it to the mat.

The reason for that is to stop that snatching half guard. If you simply swung your leg over, that can work, but it's risky. First, you may find either their near or far leg gets in the way. Second, should you get past the near leg, they still might be able to snatch half guard. Finally, even if you are able to clear their legs completely, there is a simple escape they can do mid-swing. As you bring the leg over, they can turn towards you and bridge, coming up into full guard. Therefore I wouldn't recommend this option: sliding the knee through and fishtailing is much safer.

A slightly more complex option is using reverse scarf hold to go to mount. From tight side control, having killed the near arm, switch one arm to their far arm, putting the other hand to their near hip, then shift your hips right back towards their head as far as you can. Your elbow is either in their far armpit or wrapped underneath for control. This position means you're also blocking their view with your entire body. Lean into them, using your body weight to help maintain control.

That therefore stops them from seeing exactly what you're doing (note that when Saulo shows it on his DVD, he suggests you mess with them by slapping their legs, until you can pick your moment). When you've got up really high and are ready to go (at this point, they should almost be bridging to relieve the pressure), grab their knee to stop them snatching mount, then bring the leg across. Ideally, you'll crush this to the mat, squashing both their knees together.

If you're able to clamp their knees onto the near side, there is the possibility of inserting your foot behind their knees and switch through to mount. However, it generally isn't going to be easy to get them into that position, so I wouldn't rely on this, but still, if you can get it that's an easy route to mount.

Second, you can grab your own foot and pull it across, or just squeeze it past your own arm, depending on your flexibility. This is useful when you have limited space, but personally I find it feels a little awkward, in that you might tangle yourself up in your own limbs.

However, as before the safest option is to slide your knee across the belt line, then fishtail when that knee touches the mat. You can also grab their belt or cup their far hip to stop them shrimping midway through. I feel this is the best method, using steady pressure to get into place, rather than relying on explosive power, flexibility or luck.