[FIGHT] Strapple: August Lessons
First, a couple of do-not-forgets that have occurred to me lately:
1. Remember to use leverage. You can turn your hips when applying a Kimura or Americana, for example, rather than just relying on your arm strength.
2. V1 armlock with legs: In applying the armlock from kesa-gatame position, don't forget that you can pull up on the back of your opponent's head to cause extra discomfort. Typically, this is done by clasping your hands behind his head and leaning back with your upper body. Your lower body must remain committed to the armlock.
3. Armbar from side position or knee-on-the-belly: In taking the opportunity for an armbar, it may be a good idea to control the susceptible arm with your hand that is farther from bottom guy's head. This frees your other hand (your right hand in the case where you are taking his left arm) to help you out in throwing your leg over bottom guy's face. Once control is established between your thighs, you still have time to consider whether to use your left hand to instead control your opponent's pants.
And as for some recent technique:
Triangle choke trap from half spider guard
A simple but effective set-up. Start with a half or modified spider guard, say, grips on both of upper guy's sleeves, left foot on his right bicep, left on his hip. In a standard spider, you hold your opponent's right sleeve tightly inside your thigh, while your knee comes around the outside of his right forearm and elbow, and your lower leg dips around and back inside his right arm. Usually, your left foot ends up inside his right armpit, but in this trap, you leave it square on his bicep.
The upper guy's typical attempt to free his right arm will result in him rotating his forearm counterclockwise (from his perspective), and at 6 o'clock, bottom guy's grip (with his left hand) will come free. Switching back to bottom guy, who lays the trap in this instance, the moment of freedom is the precise time to shoot your left foot forward such that your knee ends up near your opponent's right ear. To help the set-up along, use your right hand (as well as your left, possibly) to pull on upper guy's left arm to bring him forward into the triangle choke. As usual, your left foot should find its way under the small underside of your right knee in this case to close the triangle.
Resetting the triangle choke against knee-in-asscrack defense
For upper guy, an important defense against the triangle choke is straightening his back to prevent closure, then standing up enough to bring the leg corresponding to the side of his trapped arm forward, say his right. Sitting back down will slide his right shin into the bottom guy's asscrack, creating precious space to work against the triangle. For bottom guy, there is still the chance to reset the choke if you have sufficient devotion. Use the palms of your hands to pull yourself away from upper guy and the shin in your ass; in fact, if you're flexible enough, you may be able to will yourself backward from a rear handspring posture. The battle ensues as upper guy keeps trying to re-insert his shin and as bottom keeps trying to create distance to finish the choke. When trying to regain the triangle, don't forget that you may improve your chances by lifting your hips and straightening your lower back.
Half spider guard with reversed legs to reverse triangle and armlock combo
Now this was cool. Imagine the modified spider guard from bottom discussed above. Keep the hand grips the same, but switch sides on your feet. That is, your left foot goes to upper guy's left shoulder, while your right foot goes to the outside of his right abdomen. A quick and powerful enough pull with both arms brings him in and gives you the chance to close a reverse triangle. In my case, it seemed more comfortable to bring my left leg around the left side and back of upper guy's head, then tuck the top of my left foot under the underside of the knee on my now straightened right leg. This will not result in a tap, but now you have two arms to work against upper guy's left arm.
I found it easy enough to go for the basic 2-arms-to-1 armbar. In other words, tuck his left wrist between my head and right shoulder, then cup his left elbow with two arms, then pull down while nudging the grip closer to his body to find his breaking point. Failing that, a wristlock is an obvious alternative.
Escape from under side position, then to side-back and tackle
From underneath side position and before top guy can establish a great grip and control, lift your hips into the air and get to your side, facing him. Here, assume that you roll onto your right side. Next, stab your right elbow into the ground at the same time you deftly scissor your legs, left foot forward, right foot back. Bring your knees up and you should at least make it onto all fours. This is no time to stop since you could be giving up the backmount. Quickly, your left leg shoulder should get off the ground behind you and shoot across diagonally, in front of your right leg, while you turn at your hips to the open right side. You can leave your left hand between top guy's legs, but fully extent your right arm and sweep a big circle with it, in and away, to clear his left arm. Then shift your frame again, lifting your right knee and leg into the air, counterclockwise and then back into the ground, now behind top guy's butt. Grip his right ankle area with your right hand. Leaning forward with your head and upper torso, combined with your right hand grip and left hand inside his left thigh, will force your opponent into your back and give you a chance for side position.
Reversal from butterfly guard and hands tightly clasped
Assume both you and your opponents are on your butts, feet forward and bent at the knees in your typical natural position, with all four hands jockeying for a good gi grip. Rather than play this game, take the earliest opportunity to shoot both arms under your opponent's armpits and clasp your hands tightly on the other side, on his back. At the same time, your feet should be inside his upper thighs to establish the butterfly guard. Rock back, even if just about on your back, while keeping your opponent close to you. Then rock back forward, lifting your legs while your opponent is still mid-air, putting him back on an unsure base when he gets back to earth. As with the usual warm-up drill, shunt one of your legs, e.g., the top of your right foot and shin sliding along the mat, under the other and under your butt as you sit up. Press forward to create your base, and your opponent will have none. His base gone, you can take top position in the guard or, if you're lucky, the half guard.
If the top guy attempts to sprawl wide to prevent you from rocking him back into a bad base, just continue with it. Resistance is futile, since his feet will eventually touch ground far behind him while you continue to lean forward into the top of his body, leading to a mortal bear hug.
1. Remember to use leverage. You can turn your hips when applying a Kimura or Americana, for example, rather than just relying on your arm strength.
2. V1 armlock with legs: In applying the armlock from kesa-gatame position, don't forget that you can pull up on the back of your opponent's head to cause extra discomfort. Typically, this is done by clasping your hands behind his head and leaning back with your upper body. Your lower body must remain committed to the armlock.
3. Armbar from side position or knee-on-the-belly: In taking the opportunity for an armbar, it may be a good idea to control the susceptible arm with your hand that is farther from bottom guy's head. This frees your other hand (your right hand in the case where you are taking his left arm) to help you out in throwing your leg over bottom guy's face. Once control is established between your thighs, you still have time to consider whether to use your left hand to instead control your opponent's pants.
And as for some recent technique:
Triangle choke trap from half spider guard
A simple but effective set-up. Start with a half or modified spider guard, say, grips on both of upper guy's sleeves, left foot on his right bicep, left on his hip. In a standard spider, you hold your opponent's right sleeve tightly inside your thigh, while your knee comes around the outside of his right forearm and elbow, and your lower leg dips around and back inside his right arm. Usually, your left foot ends up inside his right armpit, but in this trap, you leave it square on his bicep.
The upper guy's typical attempt to free his right arm will result in him rotating his forearm counterclockwise (from his perspective), and at 6 o'clock, bottom guy's grip (with his left hand) will come free. Switching back to bottom guy, who lays the trap in this instance, the moment of freedom is the precise time to shoot your left foot forward such that your knee ends up near your opponent's right ear. To help the set-up along, use your right hand (as well as your left, possibly) to pull on upper guy's left arm to bring him forward into the triangle choke. As usual, your left foot should find its way under the small underside of your right knee in this case to close the triangle.
Resetting the triangle choke against knee-in-asscrack defense
For upper guy, an important defense against the triangle choke is straightening his back to prevent closure, then standing up enough to bring the leg corresponding to the side of his trapped arm forward, say his right. Sitting back down will slide his right shin into the bottom guy's asscrack, creating precious space to work against the triangle. For bottom guy, there is still the chance to reset the choke if you have sufficient devotion. Use the palms of your hands to pull yourself away from upper guy and the shin in your ass; in fact, if you're flexible enough, you may be able to will yourself backward from a rear handspring posture. The battle ensues as upper guy keeps trying to re-insert his shin and as bottom keeps trying to create distance to finish the choke. When trying to regain the triangle, don't forget that you may improve your chances by lifting your hips and straightening your lower back.
Half spider guard with reversed legs to reverse triangle and armlock combo
Now this was cool. Imagine the modified spider guard from bottom discussed above. Keep the hand grips the same, but switch sides on your feet. That is, your left foot goes to upper guy's left shoulder, while your right foot goes to the outside of his right abdomen. A quick and powerful enough pull with both arms brings him in and gives you the chance to close a reverse triangle. In my case, it seemed more comfortable to bring my left leg around the left side and back of upper guy's head, then tuck the top of my left foot under the underside of the knee on my now straightened right leg. This will not result in a tap, but now you have two arms to work against upper guy's left arm.
I found it easy enough to go for the basic 2-arms-to-1 armbar. In other words, tuck his left wrist between my head and right shoulder, then cup his left elbow with two arms, then pull down while nudging the grip closer to his body to find his breaking point. Failing that, a wristlock is an obvious alternative.
Escape from under side position, then to side-back and tackle
From underneath side position and before top guy can establish a great grip and control, lift your hips into the air and get to your side, facing him. Here, assume that you roll onto your right side. Next, stab your right elbow into the ground at the same time you deftly scissor your legs, left foot forward, right foot back. Bring your knees up and you should at least make it onto all fours. This is no time to stop since you could be giving up the backmount. Quickly, your left leg shoulder should get off the ground behind you and shoot across diagonally, in front of your right leg, while you turn at your hips to the open right side. You can leave your left hand between top guy's legs, but fully extent your right arm and sweep a big circle with it, in and away, to clear his left arm. Then shift your frame again, lifting your right knee and leg into the air, counterclockwise and then back into the ground, now behind top guy's butt. Grip his right ankle area with your right hand. Leaning forward with your head and upper torso, combined with your right hand grip and left hand inside his left thigh, will force your opponent into your back and give you a chance for side position.
Reversal from butterfly guard and hands tightly clasped
Assume both you and your opponents are on your butts, feet forward and bent at the knees in your typical natural position, with all four hands jockeying for a good gi grip. Rather than play this game, take the earliest opportunity to shoot both arms under your opponent's armpits and clasp your hands tightly on the other side, on his back. At the same time, your feet should be inside his upper thighs to establish the butterfly guard. Rock back, even if just about on your back, while keeping your opponent close to you. Then rock back forward, lifting your legs while your opponent is still mid-air, putting him back on an unsure base when he gets back to earth. As with the usual warm-up drill, shunt one of your legs, e.g., the top of your right foot and shin sliding along the mat, under the other and under your butt as you sit up. Press forward to create your base, and your opponent will have none. His base gone, you can take top position in the guard or, if you're lucky, the half guard.
If the top guy attempts to sprawl wide to prevent you from rocking him back into a bad base, just continue with it. Resistance is futile, since his feet will eventually touch ground far behind him while you continue to lean forward into the top of his body, leading to a mortal bear hug.
posted by hamu86 at 12:56 AM
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