Tag: bow and arrow choke

A Diamond Back Terrapin walks across a dirt road on a sunny afternoon.

Turtle Attack Review – BJJ Training 8.22.2016

August 23, 2017 / Scott / 0 Comments

I was pretty happy when I found out we were going to review the Bow and Arrow and Rodeo chokes from Turtle position. I remember going over these, and I remember how awkward they were for me the first time. I’ve been in the position to use these quite a few times, but couldn’t recall in the moment what the steps were to execute them.

I couldn’t believe when I went back and reviewed my notes that it was almost a year ago when we first went over the Rodeo choke, and last November since we set up the Bow and Arrow from turtle.

I as really excited to find during drilling these two that they were a little less clumsy for me. Here are the details I was able to record by writing notes in class, which is something I’ve switched to instead of trying to remember details after an exhausting hour of getting beat up by Ed.

Bow and Arrow:

Opponent in turtle
Drive knee into pocket and grip the opposite shoulder. Work to get knee to the mat
Opposite hand in to open the lapel. Don’t reach so deep that you can be rolled. Pull it down to get it tight to his neck
Hand under neck, thumb in and deep.
Opposite hand on the small of back to keep him down
Switch the leg in the pocket and step around to opposite pocket
Hand into the hole between his heel and thigh
Forward roll and shoot leg deep
Other leg over shoulder

Rodeo:

Same setup as Bow and Arrow, but instead of stepping over into the opposite pocket, swing leg all the way around (spin) to sit on head/neck.
Fall back, pinch knees, leg press out and down

Four Step Progression From Side Control — BJJ Training 3.28.2016

March 30, 2017 / Scott / 0 Comments

I actually have been training a lot more than you’d think by following my blog, but there have been some interruptions due to to moving and a persistent shoulder injury. Only 10.5 hours of BJJ training in the last three weeks though. I heard the guys on the BJJ Brick podcast mention a good idea–a pain journal. I may try keeping up with the little annoying things that hurt here and tag them up so I can try to figure out what is causing something and know to avoid it. I have no idea where this shoulder thing came from, but it was pretty much immobile for a couple of days. I just woke up one morning and it was stuck.

Anyway, for this session we reviewed some very basic stuff in a series of submissions and answers to the defenses. Some people may get bored learning something they already know in class, but I really love going over the basics and picking up the details that I missed the first time around or having the chance to ask a question about something I’m having trouble finishing. The Americana is a great example–I got some key points that I missed out on the first time around when I was just focused on what an Americana is.

And even though I feel like I have pretty good side control for my skill level and size, picking up some finer points never hurts. Those details come in handy when trying to keep a big guy under control.

Side Control

Pull up near side arm by the triceps, elbow tight
Slide knee under that shoulder and arm under head
Elbow to knee. Gable grip with the underhook from opposite. Hand under the head goes on top.

Americana

Side control pressure to cause reaction of reach across the face
C-cup grip between bicep and shoulder, or post their arm to the ground with the head (my preference)
Under head arm comes out and push face back with elbow
C-cup grip at wrist. Two fingers on each side of the bend
Grip forearm
Reverse motorcycle the wrist grip first to create the angle and prevent defense
Reverse motorcycle forearm hand to elevate elbow
Paint the floor

Downbar From Failed Americana

Loosen grip on wrist if needed to allow some extension
Clamp back down when arm is out
Slide forearm grip arm back to elbow
Push wrist out, reverse motorcycle grip
Reverse motorcycle grip elbow arm to elevate

Kimura From Failed Downbar

Pull toward you to move them to their side, elbow tight
Pin near side arm with leg and windshield wiper to switch to the other leg
Step over head
Establish kimura grip, assuming the defense will be a grip on their belt or lapel
Pull hand away against the fingers–towards the front of their body
Pull arm up so they can’t establish another grip
Pull arm back and to opposite shoulder

Choke From Unbreakable Kimura Defense

Open the pants and reach in to trap the defending hand. There–you can have it there forever
Thumb in lapel grip
Step other foot over head and drop shoulders behind their shoulders. We want them on their side until we establish choke, but not pushing them to their bellies either
Pull lapel over and place knife of forearm on opposite carotid.
Elbow to the ground

See, I’m already forgetting some of the details of the last couple because I seldom progress that far successfully.

Rolled with Brad (quickly becoming one of my favorite people to roll with), Dr. Dan, Ed, and Dave. I love how easily Dave can take me down. He just stands up and whips out some judo on me that works even though I’m on my knees alread–crazy. Got closer than I’ve ever been with a bow and arrow on ol’ Tuesday.

Pain Journal: right shoulder still sticky. Left thumb weak from two year old rugby smash–can feel this when reaching into lapels for grips.

[image credit]

Omoplata From Armbar – BJJ Training 11.2.2016

November 2, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

Really sweaty warmup for me. We did sit-through and rotate drills, which we haven’t done in a while in class, and I could really tell a difference in my fitness and agility with these, which I credit to a weight drop.

Technique was more working from the armbar out of closed guard. I really like that we’ve been working on the different variations from this same setup because we’re getting a lot of reps on the armbar itself. I can tell I’m getting a little better at the finer details that make all the difference–things like keeping my knees pinched!

For the omoplata from armbar:

Set up armbar
Control non-armbar wrist and punch to waist
Foot to enemy’s neck and push head away
Rotate and sit up to side-by-side with (KEY POINT)legs straight and grip enemy across belt to hold in place
Post foot out and scoot hips out, dragging enemy to flatten him out
Move legs to s-mount, pinching trapped arm between your rib cage and thighs
Underhook other arm and gable grip to hand above shoulder
S-mount drill forward/up while bending down to tell him how much you love him

It’s sort of like this, but with more detail. I just like this fella’s accent.

We went to 4 five minute rounds of rolling.

First up was good ol’ Ed. We started with him attempting a guillotine, which I used to work towards side control. Once I got it I focused on the collar and getting mount, where I focused on the collar more. Went for an americana once, which he quickly defended.

The next round was Ed again, but we me having his back. Skipped the RNC and went straight for the bow and arrow. I think I got close, but couldn’t finish it. Moved to my guard and attempted the worst triangle ever, which he got around. I ended up back in mount and got an armbar a few seconds before time ran out.

Next was Rudy, who came at me really hard tonight. I put up a decent fight for a while, defending the armbar and eating a couple of bicep crushers. Defended one seated triangle, but tapped to another. I know he got me with something else too, but I was so exhausted I don’t even remember what it was.

Norm got the scraps tonight. And ate them all. I think he tapped me 3 or 4 times. I know he gave me one sweep from half guard, but we spent a lot of time with him on top. After the last submit we had about 20 seconds left, so I pulled guard and tried to defend that as best I could, knowing he’d try hard for a quick submit. He passed right as time was running out.

Smash Pass Options – BJJ Training October 25, 2016

October 26, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

Not much sleep the night before, and I could tell during the warmups this one would be tough for me. Ana and I were the only white belts in the class though, so I knew it was going to be very…”educational”.

We worked on variations from the Smash Pass for technique. First we just went over the pass, then a variation to get mount when caught in quarter guard while passing. This is happening to me a lot lately, and I know we’ve gone over it before, but it’s more meaningful now.

Trap the underhook and post hand
Back step to other side
Grab knee and shuffle backwards 3 steps, switching enemy’s hips
Push down and step back over, holding bottom leg down with shin and top with butt
Slice knee in and pop trapped foot
Underhooks and get mount

Then we worked on the collar choke from quarter guard for when you have a deep grip or just can’t get out. Or, in my case, you can’t dance well enough to step back and forth around their legs.

I rolled with Norm, Frank, Norm, and and Brandon who was visiting from Boise. Or, in belts, purple-brown-purple-purple. I got absolutely demolished! Really fun though–got banana split submitted for the first time. I didn’t know my legs could stretch that far. And Frank got the bow and arrow he’s been wanting.

Funny to know that it’s coming for several days and still not be able to stop it.

Arm Bar Flow From Guard – BJJ Training 10.20.2016

October 21, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

Normal warm up and we went into some partner drills–KoB rotation, chucking feet from standing to pass into side control, etc.

Technique was really useful for me tonight because we based everything off of the arm bar from guard–something I’ve had some trouble with since the beginning. Maybe it’s not that I had trouble, but we learned it so early on that I needed to review and also get as many reps as possible. I got a lot of reps tonight with Norm (quality reps).

Wrist control
Reach under one arm for cross triceps control and clamp
Former wrist hand reaches up to control head and/or grab back of gi
Foot on hip and other leg holding down posture
Whip leg over to face and heels to ground
Tight hips, head side arm to kimura grip. Elbow-to-elbow
Bait with the foot between the legs and release head
Post with free hand to take the back or…
Go to back with leg over head, post out and roll to arm bar

Rolls with Dan the man

Escaped triangle, tried shoulder choke

Coach Frank

Defend bow and arrow, mount escape, then choked

Norm

Tapped me at least three times with a bunch of chokes

Rudy

Tapped me with one choke, cardio paid off at the end, attempted the shoulder choke

Foot Lock Defense – BJJ Training Log 10.18.2016

October 20, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

Had a meeting run over at work, so I missed the warmup–a day after Coach Frank posted a meme about people who’s best move is escaping warmups. 🙂

I did make it in time for some RDLR single leg drills. Better, but still not very coordinated.

Technique–the objective is to keep the enemy from rocking backwards

Grab same side lapel and pull towards you while…
Kicking the locked foot through the grip
Use hand on the side with the foot on hip to remove the foot from the hip
Scoot out, then sit on that foot
Sit up to mount/KoB, depending on which shoulder/elbow enemy was using to trap the foot

Rolling:

We went five 5-minute rounds. First up for me was Dan the Man. I really like rolling with Dan–his style is the most contradictory to mine, at least if you discount brown belts and up. He’s tall and lanky (~150 lbs), and really technical. I try to be as technical as possible when rolling with him instead of relying on weight and power. Hopefully this will help me to learn his game better. We started with me (again) just trying to pass guard. I made it to side control and immediately moved to KoB, but without all the weight. I have limited attacks anyway, and without weight I can’t even start to set those up, so I focused on trying to travel. The result was me turtled up with Dan attacking. At one point he removed my lapel from my belt, so I was really on the lookout for a choke coming, but he didn’t do anything with it. He rode me for a long time and ended up attempting a bow and arrow, which I was able to defend.

Next up was Ana-conda. Another lighter and more technical opponent. Let her work some, and I did the KoB rotation successfully. Here I definitely focused on changing positions as much as possible–again, it’s still hard for me to attack without throwing weight on other people. Her mount is getting really good. Without muscle, I have a tough time escaping it. She actually inspired me to try some stuff she was doing later with Ed. These rolls are good for me because they force me to rely on technique only.

From here out, it was going against guys who have a more similar style to mine.

Good Ol’ Ed was my third round. I spent a lot of time with him in my full guard and attempted a cross-collar choke (now I know why it failed) and a triangle. This time, I was able to prevent him from passing to side control because I bailed on the triangle early and instead tried to get him in the RLDR position so I could go for the sweep. He recognized it and I wasn’t able to set up. But I realized that I was 75% there already, and even if I couldn’t get him to his back, I could still force a scramble for position. I’d have the advantage since I’d know when it was coming. It worked, and I was able to work towards a kimura before we ran out of time.

Roll 4 was Norm. From the get-go, I could see the triangle coming. It was like I was getting sucked into a black hole in slow motion. Tried and tried to avoid it, then defended early. He still got it. Norm. We restarted and he worked me through a few positions. Ended up trying a choke with me on bottom. I was able to bridge up and defend, but it was crazy uncomfortable. I think he cracked my neck about 5 different ways, which actually felt pretty good!

One more round with Ed. This time we went without Gi on the top. Changes the equation quite a bit, especially because I spent a lot of time in this roll with his back. Wished we’d had the gi so I could shoot for the bow and arrow since I’ve been having trouble with the rear naked choke. Oddly, the RNC was much more available all of a sudden. I almost finished it. Almost. This time I gave up on it before I got too tired and moved to mount and practiced grapevining him to flatten him out ala Ana-conda. This was a really good roll for me, but I felt bad for him. He’s got some nasty cauliflower ear going and I could tell he was favoring that the whole time–one reason the rear naked choke was so open for me.

Reverse De La Riva – BJJ Training Log 10.13.2016

October 13, 2016 / Scott / 0 Comments

Smallish class tonight, and me the only white belt.

So, yeah…beat down.

For warm ups we mixed it up a little with grip fights, knee on belly drills, and reverse de la riva switching drill. I missed Tuesday’s class, so I was already behind on the RDLR, but wouldn’t have mattered a lot–it will be a while until that coordination kicks in for me. Not a problem–I was in the same place with KoB a month ago.

Oddly, the technique part of class was all reverse de la riva based, and I had a much easier time of it. The sweep I got (not perfectly, but I got it) immediately. Then we did another more technical move.

Reverse De la riva sweep

Pull ankle tight to the butt
Cross grip deep into the lapel
Same side grip on the cuff
Punch down and sweep

Like this

The RDLR to take back–I can’t even begin to explain. Luckily I can post a Kurt Osiander video and he can show it. Like he says in the video, this is a good one for little people.

I’m not a little people.

Three five minute rolls in rotation. Went with Norm first–one tap to some sort of choke, but I felt like I defended some others pretty well.

Next up was Dan the Man. He had a pretty tight triangle on me, but I stacked him up and was able to rotate out. That alone got me pretty tired. I was kinda sorta trying to work a baseball choke at the end, but I was screwing it up in every possible way. He probably was completely confuse.

Last was coach Frank. Of course he got my back, and then he aimed for the bow and arrow choke. I defended. I’m sure he could have submitted me a hundred different ways, but he seemed determined to try and get it, so I kept defending and looking for a way out. He got a wrist lock on me as the bell went off, so I didn’t have to tap. LOL