13/04/2018 - Teaching | Side Control | Transitions to North South & Scarf Hold

Teaching #770
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 13/04/2018

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Apr 17, 2018 at 12:36am PDT

When moving around to north-south from standard side control, start by shifting your grip. You'll need to place one arm by their near hip. A useful tip from Braulio is to anchor your hand flat on the mat by their legs, elbow near their bum. If you instead grab their gi or their trousers, they will be able to follow you with their legs as you turn. If you put your hand in the way, that acts as a barrier, meaning you can scoot around but they can't scamper after you. Your other hand will normally wrap under their far shoulder, especially if you're looking for a kimura.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Apr 18, 2018 at 12:48am PDT

As always with top positions, you must make sure you are maximising the weight you're driving into them. Stay on your toes as you walk around, also establishing solid grips with your hands. Press your chest down to turn their head to one side: that is a good general rule of thumb from top position, as if you can turn their head to one side, it is tough for them to turn their body in the other direction.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Apr 18, 2018 at 11:48pm PDT

There are numerous ways you can grip in this position, as ever. A common option is to basically flop your upper body onto their head, bringing your knees in. My personal preference is to move off to one side of the head, driving my weight onto their shoulder, my head low and pressing down, sprawling back with my legs.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Apr 20, 2018 at 12:39am PDT

You can also experiment with various grips. The most basic is probably grabbing under their shoulders and reaching for their belt, then pulling them in towards you. You could also try putting your elbows into their armpits, or maybe wrap up an arm, perhaps sliding your arm under the head. Another common approach is to have one arm over their arm, while the elbow of your other arm digs into their armpit.

Generally you want to keep your hips low, like in side control, but there are variations where you raise your hips, driving your weight through your shoulders. As Jason Scully over on Grapplers Guide mentioned, if they try that escape where they wriggle out and fling their legs over to take your back, raising your hips can be useful. You can then drive your forehead into their chest to stop them completing the escape.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Apr 23, 2018 at 11:12pm PDT

The best place to learn about maintaining the north-south probably isn't BJJ: its parent art judo is much better at pins. In judo, the orthodox north-south is called 'kami shiho gatame', with lots of variations. For example, the above picture shows three options mentioned in an old instructional book from 1952, Higher Judo: Groundwork, by Dr Moshé Feldenkrais (not only a good judoka, but an engineer, physicist and founder of the eponymous 'Feldenkrais Method').

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Teaching Notes: I spent a good ten minutes teaching today, which was too long. That's because I tried combining north south and scarf hold in the same class. There's more than enough material for two classes, but I wanted to try packing in both as I haven't done that for a while. Also, as I currently teach two evening classes rather than the three I used to (not that I'm slacking off, as I also teach two daytime classes, so more teaching all in all ;D), it feels like I can't get through quite as much material as I used to each week. Still, next time, separate classes for these. Though I still think the class went well, focusing on one sub position makes sense.

The main thing to change with the north south portion next time is making sure people have that slight angle, over the shoulder, rather than directly back over somebody's head. That can work too, but there's no reason to be mean like that. A slight angle means you can essentially cross face them using your ribs/side. A few people had their hips too high, head too forward and sometimes head not pressed down enough. At the same time, it is important (for me) to keep in mind that there are plenty of variations. E.g., raising the hips can be a good option if the person underneath is trying to fling their legs back to escape.

With scarf hold, a number of people weren't keeping their leg bent, which reduces mobility, is at greater risk of being hooked by the escapers leg, plus it makes it tough to lift your weight onto them. People also weren't always extending their other leg up by the head, though I guess the position can still work without that. Keeping the head down is something to emphasise here too, just as with north south. I mentioned the americana in passing, but next time will have to think if it is worth doing that (because people invariably get distracted by trying that before they have the position itself down).

I could and probably should do a separate lesson on scarf hold next time, so I'll add videos for that here:

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Apr 21, 2018 at 11:08pm PDT

Combining with north-south:

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Apr 22, 2018 at 11:42pm PDT

14/03/2016 - Teaching | Side Control | Transition to North/South

Teaching #478
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 14/03/2016

When moving around to north-south from standard side control, start by shifting your grip. You'll need to place one arm by their near hip. A useful tip from Braulio is to anchor your hand flat on the mat by their legs, elbow near their bum. If you instead grab their gi or their trousers, they will be able to follow you with their legs as you turn. If you put your hand in the way, that acts as a barrier, meaning you can scoot around but they can't scamper after you. Your other hand will normally wrap under their far shoulder, especially if you're looking for a kimura.

As always with top positions, you must make sure you are maximising the weight you're driving into them. Stay on your toes as you walk around, also establishing solid grips with your hands. Press your chest down to turn their head to one side: that is a good general rule of thumb from top position, as if you can turn their head to one side, it is tough for them to turn their body in the other direction.

There are numerous ways you can grip in this position, as ever. A common option is to basically flop your upper body onto their head, bringing your knees in. My personal preference is to move off to one side of the head, driving my weight onto their shoulder, my head low and pressing down, sprawling back with my legs.

You can also experiment with various grips. The most basic is probably grabbing under their shoulders and reaching for their belt, then pulling them in towards you. You could also try putting your elbows into their armpits, or maybe wrap up an arm, perhaps sliding your arm under the head. Another common approach is to have one arm over their arm, while the elbow of your other arm digs into their armpit.

Generally you want to keep your hips low, like in side control, but there are variations where you raise your hips, driving your weight through your shoulders. As Jason Scully over on Grapplers Guide mentioned, if they try that escape where they wriggle out and fling their legs over to take your back, raising your hips can be useful. You can then drive your forehead into their chest to stop them completing the escape.

The best place to learn about maintaining the north-south probably isn't BJJ: its parent art judo is much better at pins. In judo, the orthodox north-south is called 'kami shiho gatame', with lots of variations. For example, the above picture shows three options mentioned in an old instructional book from 1952, Higher Judo: Groundwork, by Dr Moshé Feldenkrais (not only a good judoka, but an engineer, physicist and founder of the eponymous 'Feldenkrais Method').
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Teaching Notes: I seem to have forgotten to put this one up after Amsterdam, so I'm adding this a month later. Which also means I really can't remember if there was anything to emphasise after this class. I do remember using the north south transition as a drill in the next class. It's probably worth adding some kind of very simple submission in here, or something to beef it up. But meh, I probably had something to say along those lines: this is why I should update my training summary spreadsheet more often, as it highlights when I forget a lesson. ;)

09/09/2015 - Teaching | Side Control | Transition to North/South

Teaching #386
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/09/2015

When moving around to north-south from standard side control, start by shifting your grip. You'll need to place one arm by their near hip. A useful tip from Braulio is to anchor your hand flat on the mat by their legs, elbow near their bum. If you instead grab their gi or their trousers, they will be able to follow you with their legs as you turn. If you put your hand in the way, that acts as a barrier, meaning you can scoot around but they can't scamper after you. Your other hand will normally wrap under their far shoulder, especially if you're looking for a kimura.

As always with top positions, you must make sure you are maximising the weight you're driving into them. Stay on your toes as you walk around, also establishing solid grips with your hands. Press your chest down to turn their head to one side: that is a good general rule of thumb from top position, as if you can turn their head to one side, it is tough for them to turn their body in the other direction.

There are numerous ways you can grip in this position, as ever. A common option is to basically flop your upper body onto their head, bringing your knees in. My personal preference is to move off to one side of the head, driving my weight onto their shoulder, my head low and pressing down, sprawling back with my legs.

You can also experiment with various grips. The most basic is probably grabbing under their shoulders and reaching for their belt, then pulling them in towards you. You could also try putting your elbows into their armpits, or maybe wrap up an arm, perhaps sliding your arm under the head. Another common approach is to have one arm over their arm, while the elbow of your other arm digs into their armpit.

Generally you want to keep your hips low, like in side control, but there are variations where you raise your hips, driving your weight through your shoulders. As Jason Scully over on Grapplers Guide mentioned, if they try that escape where they wriggle out and fling their legs over to take your back, raising your hips can be useful. You can then drive your forehead into their chest to stop them completing the escape.

The best place to learn about maintaining the north-south probably isn't BJJ: its parent art judo is much better at pins. In judo, the orthodox north-south is called 'kami shiho gatame', with lots of variations. For example, the above picture shows three options mentioned in an old instructional book from 1952, Higher Judo: Groundwork, by Dr Moshé Feldenkrais (not only a good judoka, but an engineer, physicist and founder of the eponymous 'Feldenkrais Method').
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: Previously I've taught both scarf hold and north-south at the same time, but tonight I decided to try splitting them into separate lessons. I think I'll continue doing that, as there was enough material in north-south to focus on that alone. Also, I was asked quite a few follow-up questions, indicating again that there's plenty there for students to get their teeth into.

I didn't mention Scully counter to north-south escape, but I don't think many people were familiar with the position so don't know escapes from it anyway. Should I make some space to show the escapes this month? I'll see how classes go. There is the back roll, the amusing Kurt Osiander one and the thing I've been trying from Rockwell. Multiple options, which is good, I used to only have one.

In sparring, I was pleased to get a kimura when somebody reached an arm around my head. I trapped that in place, then grabbed their wrist and twisted for the tap. It was a bit spur of the moment, so I need to drill that at open mat to see if it's viable long term, but fun either way. ;)

However, I'm still not finishing off those kimura/armbar attempts on top due to be too cautious. I was also trying to go for a baseball bat choke using the gi tail. Sometimes their gi proves not to be long enough, making it awkward to get the hands in place, and more savvy opponents will block me from getting the second arm in place. Control feels good though, which helped me take more risks: I went for the choke position and one point and got rolled, so developmentally that's good, giving it a try rather than waiting for everything to be absolutely perfect..

Continuing on with usual escape practice underneath, with more Rockwell stiff arms. I think pushing them further down towards my legs would be a good idea, that seems to help. I'm not satisfied with my cross face block yet, as they are eventually managing to grip my gi and start establishing some kind of pressure. I'll keep on rewatching the instructional, as I think I'm missing some details. There's a little Facebook group specifically for people who have bought Artechoke Media instructionals where the authors will answer your questions, should help iron out some problems. I could even film myself doing it? Yay for Web 2.0! 3.0? Whatever it is now. :P

10/09/2013 - Teaching (Side Control Transitions to North-South & Scarf Hold)

Teaching #124
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/09/2013

When moving around to north-south from standard side control, start by shifting your grip. You'll need to place one arm by their near hip. A useful tip from Braulio is to anchor your hand flat on the mat by their legs, elbow near their bum. If you instead grab their gi or their trousers, they will be able to follow you with their legs as you turn. If you put your hand in the way, that acts as a barrier, meaning you can scoot around but they can't scamper after you. Your other hand will normally wrap under their far shoulder, especially if you're looking for a kimura.

As always with top positions, you must make sure you are maximising the weight you're driving into them. Stay on your toes as you walk around, also establishing solid grips with your hands. Press your chest down to turn their head to one side: that is a good general rule of thumb from top position, as if you can turn their head to one side, it is tough for them to turn their body in the other direction.

There are numerous ways you can grip in this position, as ever. A common option is to basically flop your upper body onto their head, bringing your knees in. My personal preference is to move off to one side of the head, driving my weight onto their shoulder, my head low and pressing down, sprawling back with my legs.

You can also experiment with various grips. The most basic is probably grabbing under their shoulders and reaching for their belt, then pulling them in towards you. You could also try putting your elbows into their armpits, or maybe wrap up an arm, perhaps sliding your arm under the head. Another common approach is to have one arm over their arm, while the elbow of your other arm digs into their armpit.

Generally you want to keep your hips low, like in side control, but there are variations where you raise your hips, driving your weight through your shoulders. As Jason Scully over on Grapplers Guide mentioned, if they try that escape where they wriggle out and fling their legs over to take your back, raising your hips can be useful. You can then drive your forehead into their chest to stop them completing the escape.

The best place to learn about maintaining the north-south probably isn't BJJ: its parent art judo is much better at pins. In judo, the orthodox north-south is called 'kami shiho gatame', with lots of variations. For example, the above picture shows three options mentioned in an old instructional book from 1952, Higher Judo: Groundwork, by Dr Moshé Feldenkrais (not only a good judoka, but an engineer, physicist and founder of the eponymous 'Feldenkrais Method').

Scarf hold is useful to switch to if they start shoving into your neck and bridge. Turn your body, resting your torso on them, leaning into them for extra weight. You can have your knee up (to provide a counter if they start forcefully bridging into you), but be careful they can't hook that with their leg. You can also sprawl your legs out, one crossed over the other. Keep your head low for additional control.

The position is also handy for when you want to kill the near arm. Scoop up their elbow with your near hip, digging it underneath as you switch to scarf, pull up the arm, then return to side control. Bring your knees in tight and suck your partner in with your arms to remove any space for their arm. From there, you can turn your hips towards their legs and shift backwards, keeping your hip tight to the floor the whole time. From there, you can go for mount or start setting up submissions: it will be harder for them to see what you're doing as your body is obscuring their view.

Many instructors would say that it is very important you pull up on their arm and keep good control of that elbow in scarf hold. If they can get their elbow back and dig it under your hip, they can start to make space and escape. However, John Will disagrees. He feels that this position wasn't as common as it used to be, because people often have a bad experience. They go into scarf hold, pulling their opponent’s arm up...then the opponent links arms behind their back and rolls them over. The move can often be discarded by beginners as a result of that bad experience.

For Will, the key detail is that linking arm. Instead of pulling it up and trapping it under your armpit – which exposes you to that linked hands escape – jam your arm next to your raised knee so they can’t get their arm around your back. There are various attacks you can do on the arm if you use the non-Will orthodox scarf hold, or like good judoka, you can simply pin them here. If they try and shrimp away, you can return to side control, and switch between the two. Also, make sure to stay right up into their armpit, rather than going low by their hip.

Finally, this can also combine well with the Saulo position I demonstrate in my side control basic maintenance class. If they are really shoving their forearm into your neck, you can go with that pressure but still keep control, 'connecting the hip' like Saulo advises.
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Teaching & Sparring Notes: I spent too long during the demonstration section, which cut into the sparring time later. Partly that's because there were some questions which sparked a discussion, but I could also be more concise with the details I'm showing. As Tony said when we were talking about it afterwards, rather than trying to cover every potential eventuality, you can deal with at least some of them if they crop up in drilling.

I initially thought that perhaps I should switch to focused lessons on scarf hold and north-south, adding the transition to mount onto scarf hold and a kimura onto north-south. However, asking the class, they all agreed that they liked having that pure focus on transition. So, I'll stick with this arrangement for the next class, but try to be more concise.

Sparring with Tony is always useful. I found that trying to hold north-south was possible, but it took a fair bit of energy: I'm clearly not efficient with that position yet. Tony was able to get out by switching from side to side, meaning that once I loaded up my weight on one side, he would circumvent it by exploding to the other side. Side control was less energy intensive, as I'm more comfortable there, but at the same time I was wary of letting go of any grips, due to how close Tony was getting with his escapes.

Taking risks is something I don't often do: being willing to have someone escape for the chance of a submission set-up is something I should try more frequently. At the same time, I'm keen to develop a game where those risks are minimised as much as possible. When I go for a submission, I'd like to be able to do it from a secure position that isn't overly affected by that submission set-up (the reverse scarf position is good for that, fitting nicely into my favoured gi tail choke). Tony's breadcutter choke would be another good option for me to try.

28/03/2013 - Teaching (Side Control Transitions to North-South & Scarf Hold)

Teaching #101
Gracie Barra Bristol, (BJJ), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/03/2013

When moving around to north-south from standard side control, start by shifting your grip. You'll need to place one arm by their near hip. A useful tip from Braulio is to anchor your hand flat on the mat by their legs, elbow near their bum. If you instead grab their gi or their trousers, they will be able to follow you with their legs as you turn. If you put your hand in the way, that acts as a barrier, meaning you can scoot around but they can't scamper after you. Your other hand will normally wrap under their far shoulder.

As always with top positions, you must make sure you are maximising the weight you're driving into them. Stay on your toes as you walk around, also establishing solid grips with your hands. Press your chest down to turn their head to one side: that is a good general rule of thumb from top position, as if you can turn their head to one side, it is tough for them to turn their body in the other direction.

As ever, there are numerous ways you can grip in this position. A common option is to basically flop your upper body onto their head, bringing your knees in. My personal preference is to move off to one side of the head, driving my weight onto their shoulder, my head low and pressing down, sprawling back with my legs.

You can also experiment with various grips. The most basic is probably grabbing under their shoulders and reaching for their belt, then pulling them in towards you. You could also try putting your elbows into their armpits, or maybe wrap up an arm, perhaps sliding your arm under the head. Another common approach is to have one arm over their arm, while the elbow of your other arm digs into their armpit.

Generally you want to keep your hips low, like in side control, but there are variations where you raise your hips, driving your weight through your shoulders. As Jason Scully over on Grapplers Guide mentioned, if they try that escape where they wriggle out and fling their legs over to take your back, raising your hips can be useful. You can then drive your forehead into their chest to stop them completing the escape.

The best place to learn about maintaining the north-south probably isn't BJJ: its parent art judo is much better at pins. In judo, the orthodox north-south is called 'kami shiho gatame', with lots of variations. For example, the above picture shows three options mentioned in an old instructional book from 1952, Higher Judo: Groundwork, by Dr Moshé Feldenkrais (not only a good judoka, but an engineer, physicist and founder of the eponymous 'Feldenkrais Method').

Scarf hold is useful to switch to if they start shoving into your neck and bridge. Turn your body, resting your torso on them, leaning into them for extra weight. You can have your knee up (to provide a counter if they start forcefully bridging into you), but be careful they can't hook that with their leg. You can also sprawl your legs out, one crossed over the other. Keep your head low for additional control.

The position is also handy for when you want to kill the near arm. Scoop up their elbow with your near hip, digging it underneath as you switch to scarf, pull up the arm, then return to side control. Bring your knees in tight and suck your partner in with your arms to remove any space for their arm. From there, shifting backwards and sliding through to mount becomes much easier.

Most instructors would say that it is very important you pull up on their arm and keep good control of that elbow in scarf hold. If they can get their elbow back and dig it back under your hip, they can start to make space and escape. However, John Will disagrees. He feels that this position wasn’t as common as it used to be, because people often have a bad experience. They go into scarf hold, pulling their opponent’s arm up...then the opponent links arms behind their back and rolls them over. The move can often be discarded by beginners as a result of that bad experience.

For Will, the key detail is that linking arm. Instead of pulling it up and trapping it under your armpit – which exposes you to that linked hands escape – jam your arm next to your raised knee so they can’t get their arm around your back. There are various attacks you can do on the arm if you use the non-Will orthodox scarf hold, or like good judoka, you can simply pin them here. If they try and shrimp away, you can return to side control, and switch between the two. Also, make sure to stay right up into their armpit, rather than going low by their hip.

Finally, this can also combine well with the Saulo position I demonstrate in my side control basic maintenance class. If they are really shoving their forearm into your neck, you can go with that pressure but still keep control, 'connecting the hip' like Saulo advises.
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Teaching Notes: North-south is my personal favourite transition and I also often shift into scarf hold. I've combined north-south with knee on belly in the past, but I think knee-on-belly is better served by a separate lesson. I'll have to think of what to combine it with: perhaps reverse scarf hold and a transition into mount? That might be too much for one lesson though.

Today ended up being quite conceptual, which is hopefully useful. I know I like general principles that can be broadly applied, but then not everyone likes to learn in the same way. I'm at the point now where I'm confident on at least one lesson for each position, but still working on how best to introduce techniques beyond that.

That's one of the downsides about only teaching once a week, as I can't test things out as regularly as I'd like, but then teaching more often on a regular basis at this point would essentially become a job, so I'd need to get paid to make it viable. Hopefully some day in the future that might happen, but for now once a week is cool. :)