Back System

1. Introduction to the Back Position (opens in a new tab) (00:00)
2. The Primacy of Strangles in Jiu Jitsu (opens in a new tab) (01:15)
3. Contemporary Issues with Back Finishing (opens in a new tab) (02:42)
4. Systematic Approach to Back Finishing (opens in a new tab) (05:00)
5. Core Techniques for Back Control (opens in a new tab) (07:23)
6. Understanding the Straightjacket System (opens in a new tab) (09:38)
7. Leg Staple Technique Breakdown (opens in a new tab) (15:23)
8. The Importance of Diagonal Control (opens in a new tab) (19:32)
9. The Concept of the Head Trap (opens in a new tab) (25:15)
10. Addressing the Alignment Problem (opens in a new tab) (30:29)
11. Protecting the Bottom Hook (opens in a new tab) (47:13)
12. Crab Ride and Its Variations (opens in a new tab) (32:47)
13. Submission Setups from Power Ride Positions (opens in a new tab) (48:32)
14. Understanding the Head Trap (opens in a new tab) (57:17)
15. Defending the Bottom Hook (opens in a new tab) (58:16)
16. Recovering a Lost Hook (opens in a new tab) (58:49)
17. Maintaining Alignment (opens in a new tab) (01:04:39)
18. Switching Arms for Control (opens in a new tab) (01:12:32)
19. Introducing the Straightjacket System (opens in a new tab) (01:16:05)
20. Neutralizing the Strong and Weak Side Myth (opens in a new tab) (01:18:15)
21. The Primacy of Strangleholds (opens in a new tab) (01:44:30)
22. The Importance of Hand Position (opens in a new tab) (01:49:39)
23. Top Hand Positioning and Control (opens in a new tab) (01:51:55)
24. The Hidden Hand Principle (opens in a new tab) (01:53:36)
25. Specific Grips Principle (opens in a new tab) (01:58:29)
26. The Default Principle (opens in a new tab) (02:02:36)
27. Hierarchy of Hand Fighting Positions (opens in a new tab) (02:06:55)
28. Closed Wedges Principle (opens in a new tab) (02:16:24)
29. Introduction to the Straightjacket System (opens in a new tab) (02:23:17)
30. Setting Up the Stranglehold (opens in a new tab) (02:47:08)
31. Avoiding Contested Strangles (opens in a new tab) (02:47:34)
32. Hierarchy of Hand Fighting Positions (opens in a new tab) (02:49:05)
33. Double Cross Grips (opens in a new tab) (02:49:39)
34. Executing the Strangle (opens in a new tab) (02:51:36)
35. Penetrating the Jawline (opens in a new tab) (03:01:10)
36. Rotational Method of Strangulation (opens in a new tab) (03:11:16)
37. One-Armed Strangles (opens in a new tab) (03:21:02)
38. Transitioning from Control to Support Hand (opens in a new tab) (03:25:51)
39. Mandible Strangles (opens in a new tab) (03:33:35)
40. Understanding Strangulation Mechanics (opens in a new tab) (03:35:00)
41. Mandible Strangle Technique (opens in a new tab) (03:35:31)
42. Empirical Proof of Strangle Effectiveness (opens in a new tab) (03:37:37)
43. Combat Application of Mandible Strangle (opens in a new tab) (03:38:32)
44. Avoiding Failed Mandible Strangles (opens in a new tab) (03:39:24)
45. Key Elements of Effective Mandible Strangle (opens in a new tab) (03:40:24)
46. Introduction to the Straight Jacket System (opens in a new tab) (03:41:13)
47. Neutrality of Back System Positions (opens in a new tab) (03:41:43)
48. Attacking from the Overside Position (opens in a new tab) (03:42:39)
49. Turtle Position Variations (opens in a new tab) (03:43:50)
50. Closed Turtle Position Attack (opens in a new tab) (03:46:14)
51. Open Turtle Position Attack (opens in a new tab) (03:54:16)
52. Switching to Auxiliary Systems (opens in a new tab) (04:12:36)
53. Using the Ushiro Senkaku (opens in a new tab) (04:14:49)
54. Supplemental Finishes: Arm Locks and Kimura (opens in a new tab) (04:27:11)
55. Wrist Locks and Joint Manipulations (opens in a new tab) (04:28:46)
56. Reviewing Joint Locks and Transitions (opens in a new tab) (04:29:27)
57. Troubleshooting Ushiro Senkaku (opens in a new tab) (04:34:44)
58. Reverse Top Lock Explained (opens in a new tab) (04:42:54)
59. Cross Body Ride and Leg Attacks (opens in a new tab) (04:57:01)
60. Initiating the Toe Line Threat (opens in a new tab) (05:16:41)
61. Applying the Overwrap Grip (opens in a new tab) (05:17:04)
62. Executing the Wishbone Effect (opens in a new tab) (05:17:44)
63. Cross Body Ride Control (opens in a new tab) (05:18:09)
64. Diagonal Control Explained (opens in a new tab) (05:19:00)
65. Elevating Hips for Leg Attacks (opens in a new tab) (05:20:43)
66. Attacking the Nearside Leg (opens in a new tab) (05:21:13)
67. Achilles Lock and Heel Hook (opens in a new tab) (05:22:51)
68. Hammerlock from Cross Body Ride (opens in a new tab) (05:28:44)
69. Transitioning to the Twister (opens in a new tab) (05:37:22)
70. Stranglehold Transitions (opens in a new tab) (05:51:44)
71. Introduction to the Back Crucifix (opens in a new tab) (06:07:06)
72. Stabilizing with Hand on the Mat (opens in a new tab) (06:07:43)
73. Elbow Penetration Technique (opens in a new tab) (06:09:12)
74. Practicing the Turtle Position (opens in a new tab) (06:11:43)
75. Back Crucifix and Arm Locks (opens in a new tab) (06:17:15)
76. Transitioning to Rear Mount (opens in a new tab) (06:31:23)
77. Controlling Turtle Position (opens in a new tab) (06:46:48)
78. Establishing Hooks and Rear Mount (opens in a new tab) (06:53:38)
79. Understanding Body Contact and Weight Distribution (opens in a new tab) (06:53:51)
80. Knee vs. Foot Entry: An Introduction (opens in a new tab) (06:54:13)
81. Executing a Foot Entry (opens in a new tab) (06:54:54)
82. Knee Entry Techniques (opens in a new tab) (06:56:23)
83. Comparing Foot and Knee Entries (opens in a new tab) (07:00:05)
84. Establishing Near Side Hooks (opens in a new tab) (07:02:17)
85. Concrete Methods for Knee-Based Entries (opens in a new tab) (07:06:13)
86. Low Amplitude Methods for Hook Establishment (opens in a new tab) (07:15:59)
87. Tight Waist Breakdown for Foot Entries (opens in a new tab) (07:30:04)
88. Using Two Legs to Establish One Hook (opens in a new tab) (07:36:09)
89. Effective Foot Entries for Back Control (opens in a new tab) (07:36:51)
90. Mastering Knee Entries for Beginners (opens in a new tab) (07:37:39)
91. Two-on-One Control Principle (opens in a new tab) (07:40:28)
92. Rolling Entries: A Dynamic Approach (opens in a new tab) (07:41:49)
93. Executing the Seatbelt Rolling Entry (opens in a new tab) (07:45:02)
94. Crab Ride Transition for Tight Knees (opens in a new tab) (07:52:53)
95. Reverse Underhook for Rolling Entries (opens in a new tab) (07:58:41)
96. Rolling from Mount and Half Guard (opens in a new tab) (08:04:10)
97. Challenges of the Four-Point Position (opens in a new tab) (08:15:07)
98. Conclusion: Mastering Back Attacks (opens in a new tab) (08:18:30)

1. Elbow Control for Preventing Turning (opens in a new tab) (19:32)

   a. From the back position, without hooks in, control the opponent's movement with your elbows.

   b. One elbow should be behind one of the opponent's arms, while the other elbow should be in front of their opposite shoulder.

   c. This creates a barrier that restricts the opponent's ability to turn in either direction.

2. One-on-One Grip Control (opens in a new tab) (19:32)

   a. From the back position, control the opponent's arm with your hand on the same side.

   b. Maintain your elbow behind the opponent's arm to prevent turning.

   c. This grip serves as a base for various back attacks.

3. Diagonal Control with Single Hook (opens in a new tab) (19:32)

   a. Utilize a single hook and a single control grip on opposite sides of the body.

   b. This prevents the opponent from turning in either direction.

   c. Effective when transitioning to full back control or attacking with one arm.

4. Double Hook Control (opens in a new tab) (35:03)

   a. Secure both hooks deep inside the opponent's thighs.

   b. Prevents the opponent from turning and creates a strong base for back attacks.

5. Post Rear Mount (opens in a new tab) (47:13)

   a. Place one foot high on the opponent's hip and bring the other foot to meet it.

   b. Apply weight to pin the opponent's leg to the ground.

   c. Provides strong control and limits the opponent's ability to bridge or turn.

6. Figure Four Body Lock (opens in a new tab) (47:13)

   a. From a post rear mount, lock your legs in a figure-four position around the opponent's waist.

   b. This creates a very secure body triangle and prevents escapes.

7. Crossed Ankle Rear Mount (opens in a new tab) (47:13)

   a. Cross your feet underneath the opponent's hamstring muscle.

   b. Provides a closed wedge and limits their hip movement, making escapes difficult.

8. Switching Arms for Control (opens in a new tab) (1:12:32)

   a. When the opponent threatens to escape, switch your strangling arm to a control arm by punching through under their armpit.

   b. This provides temporary double underhook control and allows you to recover position.

9. Straight Grip Control (opens in a new tab) (1:58:29)

   a. Grip the opponent's hands with your hands in a straight alignment (left hand to left hand, right hand to right hand).

   b. Target the knuckle line for a stronger grip.

   c. Press the opponent's hand to their ribcage to limit movement.

10. Cross Grip Control (opens in a new tab) (1:58:29)

a. Grip the opponent's right hand with your left hand (and vice versa for the left side), targeting the inside of their wrist.

b. This creates a "straight jacket" effect, limiting the opponent's ability to pull their arms free.

c. Provides greater control and leverage compared to straight grips.

11. Double Straight Grip (opens in a new tab) (2:49:05)

a. Control both the opponent's hands with straight grips, aiming for top hand position on both sides.

b. Allows for effective control and can be used to transition to other grip variations.

12. Double Cross Grip (opens in a new tab) (2:49:05)

a. Secure cross grips on both the opponent's hands.

b. This is the most dominant grip variation, significantly limiting their arm movement and facilitating attacks.

13. Flattened Fist Neck Penetration (opens in a new tab) (3:01:10)

a. Form a flattened fist with your strangling hand.

b. Penetrate the opponent's jawline with the knuckle of your thumb.

c. Gradually extend your hand and finger walk across their chest to achieve full wrist penetration.

14. Rotational Rear Naked Choke (opens in a new tab) (3:11:16)

a. After penetrating the neck, rotate your strangling elbow over the opponent's shoulder.

b. Utilize the power of your back and lat muscles to increase strangulation pressure.

15. One-Handed Rotational Choke (opens in a new tab) (3:21:02)

a. With one hand controlling the opponent's arm, penetrate their neck with your strangling hand.

b. Close the circle around their neck by touching your chin to your wrist.

c. Execute the choke by rotating your elbow over their shoulder.

16. Mandible Strangle (opens in a new tab) (3:35:31)

a. Position your strangling elbow directly on the opponent's mandible (jawbone).

b. Execute the strangle with a rotational motion, even without deep neck penetration.

17. Closed Turtle Breakdown (opens in a new tab) (3:46:14)

a. When the opponent is in a closed turtle position, apply a tight waist grip and use your knee to break their base.

b. As they base out with an elbow, secure a seatbelt grip and penetrate with your knee to establish a hook.

18. Open Turtle Knee Wedge (opens in a new tab) (3:54:16)

a. Against an open turtle, position your knee behind their elbow as a wedge.

b. Post on their hands, elevate your hips, and drive your knee deep to trap their arm.

c. Roll through and secure a hook, utilizing their body weight to pin their arm.

19. Ushiro Senkaku (Rear Triangle) (opens in a new tab) (4:14:49)

a. Transition from a back control position by extending the opponent's arm overhead.

b. Throw your leg over their shoulder and lock your legs in a triangle position.

c. Use your hands to tighten the triangle and apply strangulation pressure.

20. Arm Locks and Kimura from Ushiro Senkaku (opens in a new tab) (4:27:11)

a. Utilize Judo Gatame, Kimura, and American Lock variations from the rear triangle position as backup submissions to the strangle.

21. Wrist Lock from Ushiro Senkaku (opens in a new tab) (4:28:46)

a. Control the opponent's wrist from the Ushiro Senkaku and apply a wrist lock as a supplemental submission.

22. Reverse Top Lock (opens in a new tab) (4:42:54)

a. Secure a Kimura grip on the opponent's arm.

b. Pass your leg over their shoulder and lock your feet together, establishing a "top lock" from the back.

c. From this position, you can attack with armbars, triangles, and other submissions.

23. Calf Crush from Cross Body Ride (opens in a new tab) (5:16:41)

a. From a cross-body ride, elevate the opponent's hips and secure a grip on their toes.

b. Lock your legs in a figure-four position around their lower leg.

c. Apply pressure with your hips and turn your shin outwards to crush their calf muscle.

24. Hip Lock from Cross Body Ride (opens in a new tab) (5:18:09)

a. From a cross-body ride, secure an overwrap grip on the opponent's near leg.

b. Extend their leg and pull their knees apart in a "wishbone" motion.

c. Apply pressure to their hips, forcing them to tap.

25. Achilles Lock and Heel Hook from Cross Body Ride (opens in a new tab) (5:21:13)

a. Attack the near-side leg with an Achilles lock or transition to a heel hook depending on the opponent's reaction.

26. Hammerlock from Cross Body Ride (opens in a new tab) (5:28:44)

a. If the opponent prevents leg attacks by lowering their hips, extend your legs and point your toes towards their head.

b. Wedge their hand to the floor and secure a "wristwatch" grip, crossing your wrists.

c. Cup your hand under their tricep, elevate their shoulder, and apply pressure to their elbow for a hammerlock.

27. Twister (Spinal Crank) from Cross Body Ride (opens in a new tab) (5:37:22)

a. From a cross-body ride, punch your arm through and secure a grip behind the opponent's neck.

b. Bring your chest to their chest and use your top arm to encircle their head.

c. Lock a figure-four grip and drive your head underneath theirs to apply pressure to their spine and ribs.

28. Back Crucifix Entry from Turtle (opens in a new tab) (6:07:43)

a. Establish a back crucifix from turtle position by off-balancing the opponent, securing a tight waist grip, and trapping their arm with your leg.

29. Back Crucifix Entry from Referee's Position (opens in a new tab) (6:07:43)

a. Enter a back crucifix from the wrestling referee's position, trapping the opponent's extended arm with your leg.

30. Arm Lock from Back Crucifix (opens in a new tab) (6:17:15)

a. From a back crucifix, open your figure-four grip and flare your knees outwards.

b. Shuffle backwards on your knees, using your hand for support.

c. Position your hip bone over their elbow joint and arch your body forward to apply breaking pressure.

31. Arm Lock from Supine Back Crucifix (opens in a new tab) (6:17:15)

a. Control the opponent's jawline to prevent head movement, scissor your legs, and apply an arm lock from a supine back crucifix position.

32. Transition from Back Crucifix to Rear Mount (opens in a new tab) (6:31:23)

a. Utilize the opponent's bridging motion to transition from a back crucifix to a traditional rear mount.

33. Tight Waist Control for Hook Entries (opens in a new tab) (6:53:38)

a. Establish a tight waist grip, use your knee as a blocker, and break the opponent down to their hip.

b. Transition to a seatbelt grip and use knee or foot entries to establish hooks, depending on the opponent's reactions.

34. Two-on-One Leg Control for Hook Entries (opens in a new tab) (7:36:09)

a. Use two legs to control one of the opponent's legs when establishing hooks, maximizing control and making entries smoother.

35. Seatbelt Roll (opens in a new tab) (7:45:02)

a. Utilize a seatbelt grip and momentum to roll the opponent over, creating opportunities for hook entries.

36. Crab Ride Transition (opens in a new tab) (7:52:53)

a. If the opponent maintains tight knees during a seatbelt roll, transition to a crab ride position and establish hooks from there.

37. Reverse Underhook (opens in a new tab) (7:58:41)

a. Establish a reverse underhook from side control or mount and use it to create a top and bottom leg position, facilitating a roll to the back.

38. Rolling Entry from Mount (opens in a new tab) (8:04:10)

a. Counter the common elbow escape from mount by baiting the opponent to trap your foot, then transition to a reverse underhook and roll to the back.

39. Rolling Entry from Half Guard Top (opens in a new tab) (8:04:10)

a. From half guard top, transition to a quasi-mount position and then utilize the reverse underhook and rolling technique to take the back.

40. Asymmetrical Rear Mount (opens in a new tab) (8:15:07)

a. Establish an asymmetrical rear mount with a shallow far-side hook and a deep near-side hook to control an opponent in a four-point stance.

41. Elbow-to-Wrist Control (opens in a new tab) (8:15:07)

a. From an asymmetrical rear mount, control the opponent's wrist with your elbow and pull their wrists together to break them down.

42. Power Half Nelson (opens in a new tab) (8:15:07)

a. If the opponent resists elbow-to-wrist control, apply a Power Half Nelson by passing your arm across their neck, locking your hands, and driving their head down.

1. Primacy of Strangles (opens in a new tab) (01:15)

   a. Emphasis on strangles being the most reliable submission, as even the toughest opponents cannot resist a fully locked strangle.

   b. Prioritizing strangles over joint locks when attacking from the back.

2. Contemporary Issues with Back Finishing (opens in a new tab) (02:42)

   a. Highlighting the need for a systematic approach to finishing from the back, not just relying on taking the position.

   b. Addressing the lack of focus on finishing from the back in contemporary Jiu-Jitsu due to point-based systems incentivizing control over submissions.

3. Systematic Approach to Back Finishing (opens in a new tab) (05:00)

   a. Presenting a comprehensive system for finishing from the back, encompassing core principles, techniques, and strategies.

4. Left-Right Control (opens in a new tab) (25:15)

   a. Emphasis on controlling the opponent's movement both left and right from the back position.

   b. Using elbows to prevent turning and maintain chest-to-back connection.

5. Diagonal Control (opens in a new tab) (19:32)

   a. Controlling the opponent from opposite corners (e.g., right hook and left-hand control) to prevent turning.

   b. Maximizes control even with limited limbs engaged.

6. Head Trap (opens in a new tab) (57:17)

   a. Keeping the strangling arm and head on opposite sides of the opponent's head.

   b. Essential for successful rear-naked choke applications.

   c. Understanding the opponent's strategy to break the head trap and the importance of defending against it.

7. Alignment (opens in a new tab) (30:29)

   a. Maintaining proper body alignment with the opponent's spine to prevent escapes and ensure effective control.

   b. Understanding how the opponent attempts to break alignment and the need to counter those movements.

8. Deficit Problem (opens in a new tab) (05:00)

   a. The attacker from the back typically has fewer offensive weapons than the defender.

   b. The system emphasizes using leg control and arm trapping to overcome this numerical disadvantage.

9. Closed Circle Principle (opens in a new tab) (47:13)

   a. Maintaining a closed circle around the opponent's neck with your strangling arm and chin to prevent head movement and strengthen control.

10. Neutralizing the Strong Side/Weak Side Myth (opens in a new tab) (1:18:15)

    a. Rejecting the notion of strong and weak sides when attacking from the back.

    b. The system is neutral, with both the under and over sides offering advantages depending on the situation.

11. Primacy of Strangleholds (opens in a new tab) (1:44:30)

    a. Strangleholds are prioritized over joint locks due to their higher finishing percentage and finality.

12. Hand Fighting Principles (opens in a new tab) (1:49:39)

    a. Hidden Hand: Concealing hands, strategically revealing them for attacks, protecting the thumb line.

    b. Specific Grips: Using distinct grips for straight and cross grips (knuckle line vs. inside wrist).

    c. Default Principle: Immediately attacking the neck when the opponent's chin rises.

    d. Hierarchy of Hand Fighting Positions: Understanding grip dominance and transitioning to stronger grips.

13. Rotational Strangulation Mechanics (opens in a new tab) (3:11:16)

    a. Utilizing a rotational elbow motion over the shoulder for strangles, generating more power than traditional forward contractions.

    b. The rotational method allows for one-armed strangles and even mandible strangles to be highly effective.

14. Law of Extension and Contraction (opens in a new tab) (3:41:13)

    a. Understanding how an opponent's level of contraction or extension affects their vulnerability to off-balancing and submissions.

    b. Exploiting this principle to break down defenses and enter into advantageous positions.

15. Two Legs to Establish One Hook (opens in a new tab) (6:54:13)

    a. Using two legs to control one of the opponent's legs when establishing a hook, maximizing control and making entries smoother.

16. Challenges of the Four-Point Position (opens in a new tab) (8:15:07)

    a. Recognizing that traditional back control methods can be problematic against an opponent in a four-point stance.

    b. The need for specialized techniques and strategies, such as the asymmetrical rear mount, to effectively control a four-point opponent.

[00:00:00] Let's begin with some general reflections on the back position. A question we might begin with is why do I favor the back position so [00:00:10] strongly? Why do I favor it above all the other positions in submission grappling? There is a fundamental asymmetry in the [00:00:20] human body. Between threats that come to us from the front, which our body is well adapted to deal with, and threats that come from the back.

[00:00:28] In almost any [00:00:30] combat sport, you will see that a constant theme is the idea of achieving dominant angle upon your opponent. It's always to our advantage. to attack from [00:00:40] flanks, and the ultimate flanking attack is one where we're directly behind our opponent. The human body, as I said earlier, is well adapted to deal with threats [00:00:50] coming in from the front, but poorly adapted to deal with threats from the rear.

[00:00:55] We want to make use of this asymmetry as much as possible. We engage in [00:01:00] in the sport of Jiu Jitsu. The back maximizes our ability to attack our opponent from the front, and the back maximizes our ability to attack our opponent While at the same time minimizing [00:01:10] their ability to counterattack and come back at us.

[00:01:15] There's another reason why I favor it. This has to do with what I call the [00:01:20] primacy of strangles. Whenever we go to submit someone in the sport of Jiu Jitsu, we have a fundamental choice. between submission holds which arise out of [00:01:30] strangulation and submission holds that arise out of joint breaking. As powerful a weapon as joint breaking is, [00:01:40] there are always going to be opponents who are willing to take damage and will surrender a joint in order to continue a fight.

[00:01:49] The [00:01:50] case of strangulation is very different. It doesn't matter how courageous or mentally tough your opponent is, if they're locked in a very, very tight stranglehold, they will simply [00:02:00] pass out. I've seen elite athletes battle through severe damage to joints, but I've never seen anyone resist a fully locked in [00:02:10] strangle.

[00:02:11] They simply pass out when they try. Because of this, The back is a position I favor above all others [00:02:20] in submission grappling. In other contexts such as mixed martial arts you may well make a strong argument for other positions being more dominant but in submission grappling I always [00:02:30] urge my athletes to work their way to the back and if they're in any situation where they have an attacking opportunity, if there's a choice between back and any other position, I'll always urge them [00:02:40] to go in that direction.

[00:02:42] Nonetheless, the contemporary use of the back in jiu jitsu suffers from some problems. [00:02:50] When I look at contemporary Jiu Jitsu, I see a vast number of athletes who are extremely good at getting to the back and maintaining the back. [00:03:00] However, I see a relatively small number of athletes who specialize in finishing from the back.

[00:03:07] With regards finishing, one sees a few [00:03:10] outstanding individuals, people like Roger Gracie, Marcelo Garcia or Felipe Pena, who are very strong at finishing from the back, just as strong as they are at their positional skills from [00:03:20] back. But in truth The majority of athletes are far superior at positional work from the back than they are from finishing work.[00:03:30]

[00:03:30] One of the problems associated with the back is that there is very little incentive for jiu jitsu athletes to finish from the back. The back is of course one [00:03:40] of the highest point scoring positions in the sport. In addition, by the time you get to someone's back, typically you've scored other points for takedowns, [00:03:50] guard passes, pins, etc, etc.

[00:03:52] By the time you've taken athletes back in most jiu jitsu competition scenarios, you're so far ahead in points that there's very [00:04:00] little incentive to go on and actually finish your opponent.

[00:04:05] For reasons like this, there's this discrepancy between the strong [00:04:10] positional work on the back that I see in most contemporary athletes versus their ability to finish. This all came to a, uh, to a head with the rise of submission [00:04:20] grappling. As soon as submission grappling, uh, came to, to prominence in, in the jiu jitsu community, suddenly athletes had to convert back position into submission [00:04:30] holds.

[00:04:31] There were many examples in, say for example, EBI overtimes, Where outstanding athletes really struggled to, to exhibit [00:04:40] sufficient finishing skills in, in these overtime scenarios. And even in regulation time, without points being offered, athletes suddenly had to switch from just [00:04:50] assuming that it was good enough to get to their opponent's back, to actually having to convert back position into back finishes.

[00:04:57] And many of them struggled in this regard. [00:05:00] The intention of this video is to address this contemporary imbalance between the strong back positional skills that we so often see versus the [00:05:10] noticeably weaker back finishing skills. I will be using the exact same techniques, concepts and tactics that have proven so successful for my athletes in championship [00:05:20] competition.

[00:05:21] What is needed is a systematic approach to finishing from the back. The first thing that we need from this systems based approach is the recognition [00:05:30] of the reality that the rear naked strangle is the single most high percentage finish from the back and which ought to be the centerpiece of any back [00:05:40] submission system.

[00:05:41] Nonetheless, like any move, And any system, it has its limits. And there's going to be times where no matter how strong our [00:05:50] system for implementing the Rear Naked Strangle is, it's going to run into sufficient resistance that we can't get a breakthrough. So there has to be a backup element to the system.[00:06:00]

[00:06:00] There has to be a means by which we can distribute attacks over the whole body. So that rather than just having one attack to one part of my opponent's [00:06:10] body, I also ought to have auxiliary attacks, where I can redistribute my submission attacks over the length and breadth of my opponent's body. The back [00:06:20] system that I offer you does exactly that.

[00:06:22] There is a main part to the system which comprises a highly effective set of techniques [00:06:30] based around hand fighting and leg trapping which make the use of the rear naked strangle much more effective than normal but at the same time there is a set [00:06:40] of auxiliary subsystems based around the main system so that if the main system of hand trapping working towards the rear naked strangle should fail.

[00:06:49] [00:06:50] There are auxiliary systems which enable me to use a wide variety of other submission holes distributed over the length and breadth of the human body, so that the bag is not limited to [00:07:00] one target. Rather, we can use a combination of the auxiliary systems and the main system to exhibit the most high percentage, Uh, submission in the [00:07:10] sport and back it up with a wide variety of attacks to the rest of the body if that main system should fail.[00:07:20]

[00:07:23] Welcome to back attacks into the system. My intention in this video is to give you a [00:07:30] complete rundown to the idea of attacking your opponent from back positions. Very often, back attack, uh, [00:07:40] methodologies, uh, focus only on a small part of the human body. But my intention is to give you a system which enables you to use your whole body to attack your opponent's whole body.[00:07:50]

[00:07:50] By distributing the attacks over your opponent's, uh, uh, whole body, the finishing percentages go up considerably. In addition, we're going to be [00:08:00] spending a lot of time on one rather notorious element of the back attack system. Uh, that which involves trapping our training partners arms to greatly [00:08:10] increase your, your percentage chances of success of working your way through into the most important finishing hole from the back, the rear naked strangle.[00:08:20]

[00:08:23] It's my belief that the back represents the single greatest, uh, opportunity to, uh, to attack [00:08:30] an opponent in any combat sport, jiu jitsu being no exception. If you look at the very structure of the human body, the human body is always set up well and [00:08:40] adapted well to dealing with threats from the front.

[00:08:43] However, it is very poorly adapted to dealing with threats from the back. Unless you know the, [00:08:50] the precise technical methods of escaping from back, you're just simply not going to be able to do so against. Anyone with even mediocre skills. [00:09:00] Because of this, I value the Beck more than any other of, than any of the, of the dominant positions in the sport of Jiu Jitsu.

[00:09:08] More than Neon Valley, more than Mount, [00:09:10] more than Cross Side, North South, etc. etc. All of these positions are good. They all have their virtues. Um, however, it's my belief. And, a belief which I [00:09:20] try to inculcate in all of my students, that the back is king of them all. It may not score more points than the mount, but in my opinion, if I'm given a choice between mount and back in a [00:09:30] submission grappling context, I will almost always go with the back.

[00:09:38] I've been describing the [00:09:40] straightjacket technique. system as the centerpiece, the focal point of the overall back attack system. Um, but like any system, the straitjacket, uh, uh, [00:09:50] has its, has its limitations. Let's have a look at those now. If I'm behind an opponent, one of the great problems with the straitjacket system is it uses only one part [00:10:00] of my body, my arms, to work its way into the opponent.

[00:10:03] an attack on one part of my opponent's body, the neck, okay? That means we've got [00:10:10] one part of our body attacking a relatively small part of my opponent's body. No matter how good of a job I do of trapping my opponent's arms with my legs, etc, etc, it's still a fairly small piece [00:10:20] of real estate to be attacking.

[00:10:22] And as a result, your opponent can focus all of his defenses on one very small area. Now, anytime a large set of [00:10:30] defenses are focused on a small area, it's going to be hard to get a breakthrough. Okay? It's very, very important that when we work behind people, we must be able to [00:10:40] do better than only having one part of my body attacking one part of his body.

[00:10:45] We must be able to distribute our attacks over the whole body so that we [00:10:50] become unpredictable in the nature and scope of our attacks. This is exactly where the auxiliary systems of my back attack [00:11:00] system come in. As powerful a weapon as the straitjacket is, and despite all the success it's had in competition, it would be a [00:11:10] failure on my part to offer you a back attack system which only enabled one part of my body to attack one small area.

[00:11:17] Of my opponent's body. The [00:11:20] auxiliary systems that we'll be looking at later in this, uh, video series enable us to distribute attacks over the length and breadth of your opponent's body so they become much less [00:11:30] predictable. And, uh, this you're attacking such a, a wider scope of real estate over your opponent's body that.

[00:11:36] Achieving the breakthrough becomes much, much easier. [00:11:40] This relationship between the main or central focus of the back attack system, the straight jacket, and then these auxiliary systems, which have the effect [00:11:50] of distributing the attacks over a much wider area, is a central focus of this video series.[00:12:00]

[00:12:00] There's no question that the most well known and, uh, well publicized part of my back attack system is the [00:12:10] straight jacket system. This involves the use of our legs to pin our training partner's arms, uh, in a position where they appear relatively [00:12:20] helpless and open up attacks to the neck with the rear naked strangle.

[00:12:25] In, in competition, this has been the number one method of success [00:12:30] on the back by far for my students. Um, statistically, it's not even close between, uh, the straightjacket system and the auxiliary parts of the [00:12:40] system. In terms of numbers, it's The overwhelming majority of our finishes have come from the straitjacket.

[00:12:46] Um, some of the most notable successes in the [00:12:50] straitjacket system have come in submission grappling tournaments utilizing an EBI format, where in overtime, my athletes would select the back position as their [00:13:00] start. You have a choice between armbar positions and back positions. My athletes would exclusively choose back position knowing that they had a system in place, which gave [00:13:10] them a very, very high percentage chance of success.

[00:13:13] Um, Their extraordinarily high success rates in comparison with [00:13:20] other athletes in EBI overtime position, uh, got a considerable interest in the straitjacket system. Uh, let's begin our [00:13:30] study of it now.

[00:13:34] Let's start off with just some very, very general basic, uh, uh, talk about [00:13:40] the nature of the back position in particular. The incredibly close relationship between the back position and the number one method of finishing from the back, the rear naked [00:13:50] strangle or mater leon. Um, there's absolutely no question that in, uh, grappling without the gi [00:14:00] and in combat sports like mixed martial the Once someone gets to the back, the absolute number one method of finishing by a landslide [00:14:10] is the rear naked strangle.

[00:14:11] Okay. In fact, the rear naked strangle more or less can't be pulled apart from, uh, the rear mount position. The two do so hand in hand. There are [00:14:20] relatively few examples in competition. where Rear Naked Strangles are not applied from Rear Mount. There's some ways you can do this, we'll be looking at them later, but almost always [00:14:30] there's a massive correlation between the Rear Mounted Position and the Rear Naked Strangle.

[00:14:37] The Straight Jacket System is designed [00:14:40] with this in mind. However, it was also designed with the idea that there's ways we could make this close relationship even [00:14:50] more, uh, functionally effective through the use of the Our legs to remove the main apparatus of our opponent's defenses, his defensive arms.[00:15:00]

[00:15:03] I want to go over some of the core preliminaries of back control, which will [00:15:10] become extremely important as we work our way through the straight jacket system. These would be, uh, important even if you weren't using straight jackets. They're just general [00:15:20] considerations when you hit the rear mount of position and you are interested in working your way through towards the, uh, the rear naked strangle.

[00:15:26] Um, they form [00:15:30] the, the, uh, as it were, the conceptual core of working successfully from the back towards the rear naked strangle. The first is the notion of left right [00:15:40] control. If I'm behind someone, it is absolutely critical that I have the ability to control their movement left and right. So often I see athletes [00:15:50] control one side of the body, the right side or the left side, but not the other.

[00:15:54] And as a result, it's relatively simple for your opponent to go out and start escaping. Let's [00:16:00] start with some preliminary ideas here. The idea that when I work behind my training partner, I will have one arm up. Underneath my opponent's arm and one arm going over the shoulder like so. Okay. [00:16:10] The danger here is that of course my opponent can start turning inside my arms.

[00:16:14] And when I have my hooks in, I will be demonstrating that shortly, They can start turning inside my legs. Okay? [00:16:20] We can never have an opponent who is able to turn Turn because ultimately a turn will create a situation where I'm no longer on my opponent's back and he can fully turn into me, okay? So [00:16:30] preventing our opponent from turning left and right is a critical, critical element because if that turn should be sustained, ultimately they'll turn into me and I will no longer be on their back, okay?

[00:16:39] [00:16:40] So this ability to shut down turning movements left and right is absolutely critical. Okay. Um, once we get behind someone, okay, we have a control hand [00:16:50] going underneath and an arm over the top. You'll see that if I use my left hand as a control hand, this will prevent my opponent from turning to the right.

[00:16:58] As he goes to turn to the right, [00:17:00] my elbow behind his arm. However, it does absolutely nothing to stop my opponent turning in the other direction. So that would be the direction of his escape. Okay? I have [00:17:10] two arms here in front of my training partner. It's absolutely critical that I use the elbow on one side in front of his shoulder as a, [00:17:20] uh, as an impediment to, to movement.

[00:17:22] I can have my hands locked in this position. Okay? Or I can have them open, but one thing doesn't change, my elbow positions. I have an [00:17:30] elbow behind him on one side and an elbow in front of the shoulder on the other. If my opponent goes to turn in this direction here, my one on one [00:17:40] grip makes it difficult.

[00:17:41] Okay, my left hand one on one grip prevents my opponent from turning to the right. If my opponent tries to turn to the left, it's my elbow here in his [00:17:50] shoulder that makes it difficult for him. Okay? So if I have no hooks in, just my arms controlling my opponent, it's absolutely critical that I control him between my [00:18:00] two elbows.

[00:18:00] One elbow is in front of one shoulder, one elbow is behind the other shoulder. And as a result, when he goes to turn in one direction, one elbow [00:18:10] will stop him. When he goes to turn in the other. The other elbow will stop him and he's being controlled between my elbows. The elbows are the focus of your upper body [00:18:20] control.

[00:18:20] Okay. Unfortunately, people often misunderstand the control is the locking of the hands. The locking of the hands simply holds my [00:18:30] elbows in place. Remember, there's going to come a time when you go to strangle someone, you're going to have to unlock your hands and you still have to be able to control them.

[00:18:38] Okay. If my hands are [00:18:40] locked. I'm no serious threat to my opponent strangulation. I can control people here all day. But at some point, if I'm going to strangle someone, my hands have to [00:18:50] unlock and we have to learn to work with open hands. That's why it's important you understand where the focus of control is.

[00:18:56] It's in your elbows. One behind your opponent, [00:19:00] Like so. And one in front, at the shoulder. So, if I'm interested in [00:19:10] strangling someone now, and he goes to move around, even though my hands are open, my elbows are still controlling his movement. If I always work with my hands locked, it's hard for me to [00:19:20] transition to strangles.

[00:19:21] Okay, at some point we're going to have the confidence to work with open hands, and as he goes to move around, We control him between our elbows. [00:19:30] Going further into this, sometimes you'll only have one hand on your opponent. [00:19:40] In these cases, we have to learn to control both sides, left and right, through our legs.

[00:19:45] A very, very important concept here is the concept of diagonal control. [00:19:50] We've seen that if our opponent can turn a sufficient distance, he can turn into us and actually get us off the back position, okay? If I have my left hand controlling [00:20:00] his upper body movement, that will make it very difficult for my opponent to turn in this direction as we saw previously.

[00:20:06] If I have my hook. on the same side, and only [00:20:10] one hook. Now, it's very, very difficult for my opponent to turn to the right. There's both a hook and a hand controlling him, but it's absurdly easy [00:20:20] for him to turn this way and turn into me, and eventually escape the back control. It is absolutely critical.

[00:20:28] That if we have one hand [00:20:30] on our opponent and one hook in, they'd be on opposite sides. If I have my right hook in and my opponent goes to turn left, it's my right [00:20:40] hook that makes it difficult for him. When he goes to turn to the right, it's my left hand that holds him in place. This is the principle of diagonal control.

[00:20:49] Again, if [00:20:50] I have only one hook and one upper body grip, they must be on opposite sides of the body, so that movement both left and right is constrained. This is what [00:21:00] we call diagonal control as the control goes through my right leg up my opponent's right hip in a diagonal line up to his left shoulder, which [00:21:10] is now controlled by the hand.

[00:21:11] Now, even though I have only one hook in and one hand on my opponent, when he goes to move around, he's constrained on both [00:21:20] sides, one side by a leg, the other side by hand. Whenever we have a situation where we have only one hook on our opponent, it is absolutely critical [00:21:30] that we work with this principle of diagonal control.

[00:21:33] If I have no upper body grips upon my opponent, then the onus is on me to have two hooks [00:21:40] in at all times. Okay? If I have only one hook in with no upper body control, then I have no upper body control. There's simply no reason why my opponent can't easily turn inside my hooks and turn and [00:21:50] face me. So if I work in a situation where I have no effective upper body control, I'm not underneath his arms with either arm and I'm just like so, for example, over both arms, it is [00:22:00] critical that I have two hooks in, in some capacity.

[00:22:02] Whether it be conventional hooks, even better, a body triangle, or what have you. Okay? [00:22:10] Again, if I have no control hand underneath the arms, then I need hooks controlling both sides. But my opponent's lower body only then will I be able to stop the [00:22:20] turning motions that could make an opponent to take me off his back.[00:22:30]

[00:22:31] Let's have a look at the critical distinction between use of a strangle hand and a control hand whenever we get behind our opponent. We need [00:22:40] to, as it were, cement our chest to our training partner's back. That is done through the use of a control hand, which goes underneath one of my opponent's arms and locks [00:22:50] in like so.

[00:22:52] Now, a natural thing you might want to think is, why don't we put it in two control hands? Wouldn't that be better? Couldn't we go underneath both of our training [00:23:00] partner's arms and hold them? Wouldn't that make the connection of chest to back even stronger? Yes, it would. Uh, it comes to unfortunate. You've got excellent control of your [00:23:10] opponent now, but you're no threat to your opponent.

[00:23:12] He doesn't need to worry about a transition into a stranglehold, because both of your arms are underneath his. [00:23:20] I always need an arm over my opponent's shoulder to create a viable threat of strangulation. Could we not say, well, of course. One arm [00:23:30] as a threat of strangulation is a good thing. What about two?

[00:23:33] Okay, why don't I have two arms working over my opponent's shoulders? Well, that would be a disaster because now there's no real sense of control. [00:23:40] My opponent can easily turn inside my arms and get into a position where I no longer have my opponent's back. So the right way to work here is always a compromise between [00:23:50] control and threat of strangulation.

[00:23:52] And that almost always means under one arm and over the other. This gives the ideal compromise. [00:24:00] where at any given moment I can work through into a strangled position with one arm, and yet, with the other arm, keep my chest pinned to my opponent. So if he goes to move away rapidly to the [00:24:10] right, I can follow the position.

[00:24:12] Okay, if he moves away rapidly to the left, again, I can follow the position. So, this is the ideal compromise between the threat of [00:24:20] strangulation, which may, as it were, the submission threat, and the, uh, the ability to control our opponent's movement. As much as possible, we always want to work in this [00:24:30] fashion, with one arm under and one arm over.

[00:24:33] At any given moment, there should be the threat of strangulation at all times. My opponent has to respect that. But at the same time, I'm [00:24:40] locked securely enough to the back through the use of my two elbows, in particular, the control hand running underneath my opponent's arm, that I'm not going to lose the position during any kind of strong [00:24:50] defensive activity

[00:24:57] We're looking at the preliminaries to back [00:25:00] control. You have to excuse me if some of these seem so obvious or basic, but, uh, we can't make any kind of, uh, theoretical [00:25:10] understanding, uh, of the back position overall without first clearly stating these. The third one that I want to look at now is the, the idea of a head [00:25:20] trap.

[00:25:21] This general, uh, principle is so. massively important to [00:25:30] understanding the back position overall. I want to spend quite a bit of time on it and you will see it. the implications [00:25:40] of it throughout this entire video instructional series. On the face of it, it's very, very simple and probably, at least on a subconscious level, obeyed by [00:25:50] almost all of you.

[00:25:51] But until you explicitly understand it, you'll never understand what it is you're fighting against when you're [00:26:00] trying to control people from the back and they're trying to escape from you. Okay, what is a head trap? A head trap is just the basic idea that whenever I get behind my opponent, [00:26:10] I always want to create a situation where if I'm interested in attacking with a rear naked strangle, uh, there are other forms of attack from the back that don't rely on a head trap, but if I'm working with a rear naked [00:26:20] strangle, I always want to create a situation where my head and my strangle arm are on opposite sides and they work in unison to [00:26:30] trap my opponent's head.

[00:26:32] Okay, so typically we'll have a control hand just like so, and I'll have a strangle hand. My strangle hand, in this case [00:26:40] it's my right arm, and my head must be on opposite sides. The moment my head and my strangle hand end up on the [00:26:50] same side, you've got no viable threat of a strangle on your opponent.

[00:26:55] Okay, now it's so easy for him to start turning inside me and facing me and [00:27:00] destroying the effect of the strangle It doesn't matter whether it's my failure and my head went to the incorrect side Or his move where he for example grabbed [00:27:10] two on one And then transferred my arm across now the same thing has happened Okay, he's put my arm and my head on this, my strangle arm and my [00:27:20] head on the same side.

[00:27:21] That's something I as the attacking player can never tolerate. I have to stop whatever I'm doing at this point and redress this fundamental problem. [00:27:30] Remember, the only way I can control my opponent from the back into a renegade strangle is when my head and my strangle arm are on opposite sides. [00:27:40] As the offensive man, everything that I do from this position is designed to preserve this relationship between my head, his head, and my [00:27:50] strangle arm.

[00:27:51] They must always, as we saw, be lined up in such a way that his head is trapped between mine and my strangle arm. [00:28:00] Every escape that he goes to work with is designed to do one thing. to break that relationship. If I'm working behind [00:28:10] someone and I have an effective head trap, if my opponent begins to move over to the side and go into some kind of basic escape sequence, his whole [00:28:20] idea, the whole purpose of what he's trying to do is to create a situation where his head moves in such a way [00:28:30] that my stranglehand and my head end up on the same side.

[00:28:35] Without a head drag I cannot perform a satisfactory stranglehold from the [00:28:40] back. It doesn't matter whether he does it by shifting his body or by gripping my wrist and moving my arm across. In both [00:28:50] cases he's done the same thing. He's transferred my head and my stranglehand onto one side of his head. The one thing I could never accept.

[00:28:59] And the [00:29:00] one thing I can never work against when it's time to attack the back. So our whole thing when we work behind our opponent, leading towards a rear naked strangle, is to [00:29:10] keep situations where my strangle hand and my head are on opposite sides of his head. His head trapped between my head and my strangle [00:29:20] hand.

[00:29:21] As the offensive man, my whole goal is to preserve this relationship. As the defensive man, my His whole goal is to break [00:29:30] that relationship either by changing the alignment of his body or by moving my strangle arm.[00:29:40]

[00:29:42] This fundamental insight, the idea of a head trap will run throughout this straitjacket [00:29:50] system. My ability to create a head trap and to keep it is the absolute key to my ability to succeed from the back. His [00:30:00] ability to break that head trap and create a situation where my strangle arm and my head are on the same side of his head is the key to his ability to escape.[00:30:10]

[00:30:10] Once you understand that absolutely critical insight, you have a very clear idea of what the defensive man's responsibility is and what the offensive man's responsibility is. [00:30:20] A lot of what we do will become a lot clearer and a lot easier to understand.

[00:30:29] I'm sure you're [00:30:30] all aware by this point that whenever it comes time to build a system, a key element is the idea of identifying the central problems of any given position or scenario in the [00:30:40] sport and, uh, building a set of solutions which, uh, When they get to a certain level of complexity, we'll create a, uh, a system.[00:30:50]

[00:30:50] There are two central problems associated with the rear mounted position. Overcoming those two central problems is [00:31:00] basically the story of the, uh, the straitjacket system that I teach. The first problem is well known to almost everyone in the sport of Jiu Jitsu. [00:31:10] This is the problem of alignment. Once I get behind someone in the rear mounted position, Usually, what happens is our two spines line up in a straight line.[00:31:20]

[00:31:25] Once I get hooks in on an opponent, there's a degree to which the [00:31:30] hooks and my upper body grips are designed to keep me roughly lined up with my opponent. Almost all of my opponent's [00:31:40] escapes involve the idea of breaking this alignment. We know that the head trap is the basis of my alignment. When I can [00:31:50] keep a stranglehand on one side and a head on the other, whichever way we fall now, we're lined up with our training partner.

[00:31:58] His whole thing is going [00:32:00] to be to get a hold of me, my dangerous stranglehand, and then from here break this alignment. As we fall to one side and he starts to move his body [00:32:10] over like so, you can see what's happening. The alignment between us is starting to break. Critically, it started with the idea of the head trap.

[00:32:19] [00:32:20] As my opponent starts working his way over my feet, from here the alignment gets further and further. Now, my chest is moving away from his back. That's always the [00:32:30] fundamental measure of our alignment. Is my chest connected to my opponent's back? As he continues to move further and further away from me, the alignment, the angle between us is [00:32:40] increasing, the chances of me getting successfully through to a stranglehold diminish further and further.

[00:32:46] So our whole goal, when we're behind someone, is to stay [00:32:50] aligned. This is the first problem that we face, and a big part of our early discussion will be finding solutions to this general problem. [00:33:00] The second problem that we face is one which probably forms the single most important part of my back attack [00:33:10] system.

[00:33:11] This is the deficit problem. What is the deficit problem? Whenever you get behind someone, we're always [00:33:20] told, and indeed I told you the same thing, That the rear mount is one of the absolute best positions in the sport. In fact, it's my contention. In submission grappling, it is the [00:33:30] best position in the sport.

[00:33:31] In mixed martial arts, it's a little more debatable, but in submission grappling, I believe this is the ultimate position. This is the one you should be spending most of your time trying to work towards. [00:33:40] And yet, once we get there, we find something rather puzzling. Once I get behind my opponent, Let's have a look at how many defensive [00:33:50] and offensive instruments the two athletes have.

[00:33:53] If I'm working for a rear naked strangle, which is our primary focus when we get behind our training partners back, a [00:34:00] simple question is how many offensive instruments do I have? Well, given that most of the time I have one arm underneath my opponent's arm [00:34:10] as a control hand, that leaves me only one arm to try and strangle my opponent with.

[00:34:16] So most of the time I have one offensive [00:34:20] instrument, a strangle arm. If I had a body triangle locked around my opponent, then I could be a little more liberal with the control arm and I could perhaps take it out. And from [00:34:30] here I could work with two arms in unison, threatening strangles from both left and right side.

[00:34:36] Okay, so most of the time I have one offensive instrument [00:34:40] one strangle arm And if I had say for example a body triangle, which can make it be very securely through the lower body I would at most have two strangle arms [00:34:50] two offensive instruments Let's contrast that with your opponent and his defenses.

[00:34:56] Well If we're locked in like so my [00:35:00] opponent will have up to three Defensive instruments a left and a right hand In a situation where I'm [00:35:10] controlling one of my opponent's, uh, hands, he will still have a defensive hand and a jaw, versus my one offensive instrument. So no matter whether, [00:35:20] no matter how we hold our opponent, you're always running at a deficit in terms of offensive versus defensive, uh, control.

[00:35:26] If I have two free [00:35:30] hands, he's got two free hands and a jaw. So I've got two, he's got three defensive instruments. I've got two offensive, he's got three defensive. If I'm controlling one of his arms, [00:35:40] I've got one offensive instrument, and he's got two, a hand and a jaw, defensive instruments to stop me. Now, that's crazy on the face of it.[00:35:50]

[00:35:50] We get told this is the ultimate attacking position, and that when you get there, you find no matter how you configure your arms, you're always outnumbered. Your [00:36:00] opponent will always have more defensive instruments than you have offensive instruments. That's, that's horrible news. This is supposed to be the ultimate attacking position in the [00:36:10] sport.

[00:36:10] And yet, in the context of a submission grappling match, you're outnumbered no matter how you configured your, your, your, your arms. That's the fundamental problem of the deficit. [00:36:20] And a big part of what we do when we work the bank system is learning to overcome that problem. Now, interestingly, the alignment problem and the [00:36:30] deficit problem run right next to each other.

[00:36:34] You're going to have to solve both at the same time. This is not sequential. You don't do one and then the [00:36:40] other, okay? In live combat, most of the time he's trying to escape as you're trying to both hold him and strangle him at the same time. You can learn them [00:36:50] sequentially, but in live training and combat, you're going to have to perform them side by side.

[00:36:56] We're going to start first looking at the alignment problem and then we'll [00:37:00] come back to the deficit problem.

[00:37:06] We're looking first at the alignment problem, the first of [00:37:10] two central problems whenever we're working on someone's back towards a rear naked strangle. It's very, very important if we're going to offer any kind of [00:37:20] solutions that we have a crystal clear understanding of what the problem is that we're trying to solve.

[00:37:26] The good news is. It's very, very easy to [00:37:30] render it crystal clear. Let's look at a situation where we're behind someone, and we have hooks in on our training partner, and we have [00:37:40] a control hand underneath our training partner's arm, a strangle hand over the top. It doesn't matter whether our hands are locked or open, okay?

[00:37:49] [00:37:50] Whenever we get to this kind of position, we know what our opponent's gambit is. It's to break the alignment, and ultimately get my chest off their back, and critically, we win. And [00:38:00] the most important thing is they must break what we are calling the head trap. The situation where my head and strangle arm are on opposite sides, [00:38:10] trapping their head in the middle so that they can be subjected to a rear naked strangle.

[00:38:15] Remember, there's no way for me to effectively attack the rear naked strangle. [00:38:20] So their whole game is to break alignment, get my chest off their back, and critically, create a situation where I no longer have their head [00:38:30] trapped between my head and my strangle arm. The process of accomplishing that is incredibly difficult.

[00:38:39] [00:38:40] predictable. When my opponent falls, he wants to fall to a given side. As a general rule, he wants to fall to what we call the open [00:38:50] side, where there is a hole between my hand and the rest of my body. Through this gap, my opponent's head can start to move. If he [00:39:00] falls in the opposite direction, he just falls right into my arm and the head trap is never broken, okay?

[00:39:06] So it's very much in his interest to start going in this direction. [00:39:10] When he goes to pitch over to the side, we get an incredibly predictable sequence of events. You'll notice I have my two hooks in. [00:39:20] For him, as the defensive man, everything begins with one critical step. He must beat what we call the bottom hook.

[00:39:29] If you [00:39:30] look at my two feet, you will currently see that my left foot is lower than my right foot. That's because we've fallen to one side. Initially, [00:39:40] we started with my two feet symmetrically positioned at the same height. But when we fall to one side, one of my feet, in this case my [00:39:50] left foot, My left foot is converted into a bottom hook and my right foot a top hook.

[00:39:55] My opponent's opening gambit is always to beat the bottom hook. [00:40:00] When they start to move out, watch how he beats the bottom hook. The moment that occurs, he's [00:40:10] gone into the first step of his escape sequence, go bang. So once again, we have a top hook and a bottom hook, even a [00:40:20] relatively small movement on the part of my opponent.

[00:40:21] Let's see how small we can make the movement. A relatively small movement will enable him to beat that bottom hook. It doesn't take a lot. Now what does that [00:40:30] leave us? My knee. The real focus of my control when I'm behind someone is my knees. [00:40:40] As long as my opponent is between my knees, I can always recover the bag with minimal effort.

[00:40:46] It doesn't take much for me, from this position, just to push my [00:40:50] knee and recover that hook. Please remember this, when you're the offensive man controlling the bag, [00:41:00] the measure of whether you're controlling the lower body is always, is your opponent inside your knees or not. The knees are your focus of [00:41:10] control.

[00:41:10] He has to beat the hook first, but ultimately he has to beat the knee. That means his next movement will always be to [00:41:20] slide over and across my knee. Now, once my opponent gets to this position, things are looking good for him and very bad for me. I've lost [00:41:30] more than the bottom hook now. I've lost the bottom hook and the bottom knee.

[00:41:35] I still have some things in my favor. I've still got a head trap here. My [00:41:40] strangle arm and my head are still on opposite sides of his head. My opponent needs to address this. So the next move for him, having just beaten my foot and [00:41:50] then my knee, is to beat my head. So what he wants to do is bring his head forward.

[00:41:57] Once the head goes forward, he can move it [00:42:00] across to the other side. He's now accomplished this. The third critical step. He beat my foot, then he beat my knee, [00:42:10] now he's beaten my head. Now the last thing for him to do is to beat me with the inside shoulder. My opponent brings his elbow up, brings it [00:42:20] between us, and drops his inside shoulder to the floor.

[00:42:24] The moment the inside shoulder touches the mat, there's simply nothing left on my part offensively from the [00:42:30] rear position. There's a sense now in which I've, I, I have only the upper hand. Appearance of my opponent's back at this point. Okay? There's no strangle holder I can apply from here. The angle is [00:42:40] all wrong.

[00:42:41] It's very, very difficult for me to recover back position here because the shoulder has touched the mat. And at this point, for all intents and purposes, your opponent has effectively [00:42:50] escaped. From this point on, it's very much in my interest to switch to another position. So what we have there. It's a crystal clear description of [00:43:00] the process of escape from the back.

[00:43:02] The interesting thing to note is it's entirely predictable and entirely sequential. It has to go in a certain [00:43:10] pace, in a certain direction, in a certain step by step procedure. The more you know and understand about the procedure, the easier it's going to be for you to escape. is [00:43:20] the offensive player to shut it down and stay aligned.

[00:43:24] Let's go through that procedure one more time so that you clearly understand what you're trying to fight against. [00:43:30] That's going to make the idea of staying aligned on a resisting opponent so much easier for you to understand in the next few sections. So [00:43:40] we know that from a starting position with an underhand, an overhand, and two hooks in.

[00:43:47] We're in a pretty solid attacking position here, [00:43:50] okay? My opponent's defensive movement almost always involves a pitch to one side that creates a top hook and a [00:44:00] bottom hook. The moment we get here, we are now in a situation where his first gambit is always pass over the [00:44:10] bottom hook. That's always step number one.

[00:44:13] If my opponent never goes over the bottom hook, he'll never get over my knee. [00:44:20] If he can't get over my knee, he'll never beat my head. Okay? It's always in these situations, critical that he starts with the bottom hook. [00:44:30] Then the next movement, just raise your arm. is to beat this knee. As he scoots over the knee, I've just [00:44:40] lost even more control of my opponent.

[00:44:43] Now, I still have an effective head trap. I still have a strangle hand on one side and a head on the other. [00:44:50] So there is, believe it or not, still some threat of strangle from here. Okay, I could transition from, to, to other attacking positions here and still have a stranglehold. So that's why for him, the [00:45:00] next third step is to beat the head.

[00:45:02] So he goes forward with the head, okay, if he doesn't go forward with the head, then I can glue my ear to his and when he tries to get his head to the [00:45:10] floor, my head will be in the way. So he has to go forward and around, and now he's beaten my head. At this point, critically, he's beaten [00:45:20] what we call the head trap.

[00:45:21] He's got my head and my strangle arm on the same side as his head. That's good for him. It's terrible for me. It means that from now on, there's no more [00:45:30] viable threat of a stranglehold. Okay? The last remaining piece of the puzzle is for him to beat me with the inside shoulder and get that to the floor.

[00:45:39] And now [00:45:40] he's truly won the position. I pretty much have to abandon ship now and go to something else entirely. Okay? So that's the entirely predictable, sequential [00:45:50] pattern of your opponent's escape. That's how they're gonna break alignment. And the overwhelming majority of cases, when you work against them.

[00:45:58] Once you have a clear picture [00:46:00] of what they're trying to accomplish, your ability to shut that down will go up dramatically.

[00:46:09] [00:46:10] We're looking at this idea of overcoming the alignment problem. The alignment problem is absolutely fundamental to your ability to succeed. Uh, from back position. If you can't stay [00:46:20] aligned with your opponent, you're not going to be strangling anybody. Okay, so our first concern, stay aligned, keep your chest on your, uh, training partner's back, and more than anything else, preserve [00:46:30] this, this critical element that we call the head trap.

[00:46:33] Where our opponent's head is trapped between our head and stranglehand. As long as his head is positioned between my head and my [00:46:40] stranglehand, I can win. Okay, I can go through and finish with a renegade strangle. As long as my chest is glued to my opponent's back, uh, I'm going to be able to maintain that head trap.

[00:46:49] But the [00:46:50] moment they begin that process of misalignment, I have to stop whatever I'm doing and address that fundamental problem. We just saw in the previous [00:47:00] section that the process of breaking alignment on the part of the defensive athlete. is entirely predictable. You know exactly what he has to do. He has to beat [00:47:10] that bottom hook.

[00:47:13] Knowing this, we can start to bring about or show some simple tactics to [00:47:20] protect that bottom hook and start the, and stop the process of misaligning from even beginning. Remember, this is a sequential [00:47:30] move that my opponent goes through. If I stop the first step in the sequence, none of the other elements are going to work.

[00:47:37] So protecting that bottom hook is a critical, critical [00:47:40] thing. We've seen that when we fall with conventional, symmetrical hooks, it's very, very easy for my opponent to beat the bottom hook. Even a [00:47:50] minimal movement enables him to beat the bottom hook. It doesn't require much on his part. So we've got to do better than this.

[00:47:56] We can't just have our hooks in this conventional [00:48:00] phase. Locked in like so. One of my favorite things to do in this position is to switch to a position which I call a post rear mount, where I take [00:48:10] my foot and I post it on my training partner's hip. I don't just put my foot here vaguely without any effect.

[00:48:17] I use weight. I push [00:48:20] like a bridging motion off my opponent's hip that puts large amounts of weight through my opponent's hip and makes movement quite difficult. [00:48:30] Then I take my other foot and I bring it up to the posted foot. So that Placido will tell you he feels weight through his hips. When he goes to move the [00:48:40] hips around, it's very, very difficult.

[00:48:42] The function of this is two fold. First, it puts weight in my opponent's hips, and secondly, it greatly increases [00:48:50] the elevation of the bottom hook. Here, the bottom hook is so low that even a small movement beats it. The moment I switch to a post [00:49:00] rear mount, now my opponent has to move so much more in order to beat the bottom hook.

[00:49:05] But there's a problem. I'm bridging off the hip. So when he goes to move the [00:49:10] extra distance to beat the bottom hook, it's incredibly difficult. He's locked in place. Moreover, this position facilitates very well a [00:49:20] transition to the ultimate method of protecting the bottom hook, which is the figure four body lock, where I physically grab a hold of my own leg, and from here, I lock a [00:49:30] body lock.

[00:49:31] Now we have a closed set of wedges around our training partner's abdomen. When he goes to beat the bottom hook, the bottom hook is reinforced by the [00:49:40] other leg. It's extremely difficult now for him to untie my legs in this position and get over that bottom hook. I have a choice between locking [00:49:50] my body triangle outside my training partner's legs, which for me personally is the preferred choice or I can lock inside my training partner's legs.

[00:49:59] Kind [00:50:00] of a compromise where I have a hook in with my right leg plus a body triangle. Also very, very effective. Again, that strongly reinforces the [00:50:10] bottom hook. When my opponent goes to turn and pivot out, it's extremely difficult for him now to beat that bottom hook. Another option that I [00:50:20] have to protect the bottom hook is to go underneath my training partner's leg, and from here, cross my feet underneath my training partner's hamstring muscle, like [00:50:30] so.

[00:50:30] When my opponent goes to turn out and beat the bottom hook, my two feet are locked together. Again, it may not be quite as strong as a body triangle, but it's plenty strong enough for [00:50:40] most cases. We have a closed set of wedges. My feet are locked. Make sure in these situations that you go over your training partner's hip and [00:50:50] lock.

[00:50:50] Don't just go behind your opponent's back and lock. You won't have an adequate control of the hips. From here, we lock, our feet point in opposite directions. Now, [00:51:00] when my opponent goes to scoot his body out and misalign, we lock. My opponent's hips are completely controlled by my crossed feet. So once again, we've [00:51:10] seen that if we have conventional hooks on our training partner, it's extremely easy for my opponent to go over the bottom hook because first, there's no weight on my [00:51:20] opponent's hips, and second, the distance that he has to travel is so small because the elevation of the bottom hook is so low.

[00:51:29] So we [00:51:30] need to do something to reinforce that bottom hook. What I generally use as a rule of thumb is this. When my training partner is big through the waist [00:51:40] and my own legs are relatively short, I typically go with a post rear mount. That puts weight on the hips and greatly increases the elevation of the bottom [00:51:50] hook.

[00:51:50] So when he goes to slide over the bottom hook, it's very, very difficult. If my opponent is slim through the waist, or if you have the [00:52:00] gift of long legs, then from here, I will go with a body triangle. Our preference is on the outside, but you also have the choice of a [00:52:10] body triangle with the leg on the inside.

[00:52:15] If my opponent is big through the waist and that doesn't feel like it's [00:52:20] possible, then from here, I will lock with my feet underneath my training partner's leg and a crossed ankle rear mount. Like so. [00:52:30] This is perfectly safe. There's no kind of foot lock danger from here, because I have only one hook in.

[00:52:36] In a position like this, this does an excellent [00:52:40] job of preventing my opponent from turning the hips and going into an escape. Because my legs are locked together, it's a closed wedge, difficult for my opponent to [00:52:50] dislodge. In an emergency, where I have an opponent who has a big waist and I feel I cannot lock a body triangle and I feel he's starting to I personally am not [00:53:00] averse to the idea of locking my feet.

[00:53:03] I know what you're thinking. We always get told from the first days in Jiu Jitsu, this is some kind of abominable sin and we [00:53:10] should never cross our feet in the rear mount. Please bear in mind that it's only dangerous for me to cross my feet when my feet are positioned poorly inside my opponent's hips.[00:53:20]

[00:53:20] If my feet are crossed outside my opponent's hips, the danger here is minimal. However, I will say,[00:53:30]

[00:53:30] Even in cases where I've poorly positioned my feet between my opponent's legs, You should never really tech. to a situation where [00:53:40] your opponent puts on a simple foot lock over your legs from the rear mount. There's a very, very simple solution to that problem. I'll go over it now just since many people will [00:53:50] tell you if you lock a body triangle or across your feet from rear mount, Um, you're going to be finished by a simple foot lock counter.

[00:53:59] Um, in [00:54:00] top level competition, I've literally never seen anyone apply a body triangle and then get submitted by any kind of foot lock counter. Let's have a look at this rather simple [00:54:10] thing now. Okay. One of the great cliches of Jiu Jitsu is if I put my feet inside my training partner's legs and then I cross my feet, my opponent can lock a triangle over my [00:54:20] legs.

[00:54:20] And then when we fall to the side, he can arch his body back. And from here, put pressure on my feet and submit me, okay? If I'm naive, that's entirely true. If I were teaching a [00:54:30] beginner's class, I would do what everyone else does. I would teach people not to cross their feet in this position, okay? But bear in mind, at top level competition, you may have motivations [00:54:40] Uh, going far beyond the beginner's class to cross your feet or lock a body triangle and your opponent may well try some kind of foot lock counter in these situations.

[00:54:49] Bear [00:54:50] in mind one simple fact. All of these foot lock counters involve an arch on the part of your opponent. His head must move backwards, his pelvis forwards, [00:55:00] and when he arches, the pressure rises. Knowing this, whenever I'm behind someone and they go for any kind of footlock counter, all I do is I just take my two hands out, [00:55:10] like so, and I post my hands on my training partner's head.

[00:55:13] When he goes to arch back into the move, I simply stiff arm and post. [00:55:20] And there's just no pressure whatsoever. It doesn't matter whether I have a body triangle or crossed feet. Okay? When he goes to move his head, et cetera, et cetera, around my, my, uh, [00:55:30] uh, around my hands and go down to the floor, etc. I just follow the head with my hands.

[00:55:35] Okay, when he goes to arch and break my feet, he simply can't exert any pressure. [00:55:40] And while he arches, there's no reason now why I can't just turn my feet and extract them and move out. It's the simplest thing to counter, okay? Don't be intimidated by [00:55:50] the idea of someone attacking your feet in this position.

[00:55:52] Same thing if I have a body triangle. You'll see people try to walk over the legs. Like so, drive me to one side or the other, [00:56:00] and go to finish in these positions. Whenever you see this going on, they have to arch into you. When you see them trying to arch, it's posting a go. And they simply can't build any pressure [00:56:10] whatsoever, and we just point, switch.

[00:56:12] Here, I'll cross my feet, my opponent goes into a breaking position, goes to exert full pressure. We put a hand in behind, go. [00:56:20] And it's so easy to stiff arm them off, extract the foot. And go back into your finishing positions, okay? Um, don't be intimidated by the [00:56:30] threat of footlock counters to the back. Yes, I agree, in a beginner's class, beginners shouldn't be crossing their feet.

[00:56:36] But at advanced levels, there's times that warrant [00:56:40] it. And in the few cases where someone even attempts footlock counters, they're so easy to counter and stop. Don't be intimidated by them. Continue doing what you're doing. [00:56:50] We're looking at the first of the central problems of the back system. This is the so called alignment problem.

[00:56:59] We've seen that [00:57:00] whenever we're behind our opponent, we have to stay roughly aligned with them. We have to keep our chest locked to our training partner's back. And critically, we have to create a [00:57:10] situation where we maintain a head trap. Where my opponent's head This position between mine and my strangle arm.

[00:57:17] As long as I have a head trap, I have a viable [00:57:20] method of going through to get a rear naked strangle. If I cannot maintain that, I have no method of, uh, attacking successfully with a strangle. Your opponent [00:57:30] knows that. And so everything they will be doing will be to create misalignment and ultimately to break the head trap and free their head.

[00:57:38] If they can do that, they're almost [00:57:40] certain to escape. We've seen. That the process of breaking alignment is exactly that a process that has a first step and [00:57:50] that first step is for your opponent to Beat your bottom hook Once they beat the bottom hook they have to beat the bottom knee Then they have to beat your head and ultimately beat [00:58:00] you with their inside shoulder to get both shoulders down to the floor If they can successfully do those things in a sequence they can escape from your back We've seen [00:58:10] that as the offensive man, our whole goal is to prevent them beating that first hook.

[00:58:16] The first method of defending the bottom hook [00:58:20] that we looked at was basically through reconfiguring our legs using body triangles, crossed feet, etc, etc, to reinforce the position of the bottom hook. [00:58:30] That's not the only base, that's not the only method of doing it. So there's going to be times that despite your best effort, your opponent does beat the bottom hook.

[00:58:39] And then it's going to [00:58:40] come down to mobility on your part. You must be able to move around your opponent's body and recover. lost hook, or a lost knee. [00:58:50] Um, this is the next skill that we're going to look at right now. Let's look at a situation where I'm behind my training partner. We know that once we get behind our training [00:59:00] partner and we have hooks in, arms set, just like so, It's very much in his interest to pitch over to a side and create what we call a bottom [00:59:10] hook.

[00:59:11] Once we get to a position like this, their whole first gambit is going to be to beat the bottom hook, and then ultimately beat the bottom knee, [00:59:20] then beat the head, and ultimately get their inside shoulder down to the mat. That's the sequence of their escape. It's our [00:59:30] desire to stop the sequence as early as possible and that means stopping it at the bottom hook.

[00:59:36] We looked at them, we looked at the idea of preventing them [00:59:40] ever beating our bottom hook through reinforcement, body triangles, crossed feet, etc, etc. Now we're going to look at a situation where they did beat the bottom hook and we have to learn to recover. [00:59:50] So, from a situation where I'm behind Placido, and he falls and successfully beats my bottom hook.

[00:59:56] Let's bear something in mind. Yes, he beat your bottom hook, but he [01:00:00] didn't beat the bottom knee. Remember, he doesn't create misalignment at the lower body until he beats your knees. When he gets [01:00:10] outside of my knee, that's a problem. He's, he's winning the alignment battle now, okay? Here, he's just beating the hook.

[01:00:17] And a hook can always be replaced. How? [01:00:20] Simply, I just take my leg and extend it. This takes my knee further out and increases the distance that he must move in order to beat [01:00:30] the bottom knee. So as soon as I lose the foot, my first thing is I move the knee. Now it's a bigger distance for him to move. [01:00:40] Now, my foot goes in a pattern and a sequence.

[01:00:42] It starts on the ball of the foot and then I go to the heel. Now we're in a position where I can [01:00:50] put my foot on the floor and switch my body in the opposite direction. Now, my foot comes up and I lock a body triangle, [01:01:00] or If my opponent's so big to the waist that I can't accomplish this, I put on a post rear mount, and as a result, we've recovered the hook on the other side, [01:01:10] and we've positioned it so he won't be able to continue the process.

[01:01:13] of continually beating my bottom hook. What we want to do, once we've [01:01:20] recovered a bottom hook, is to prevent having to keep recovering, recovering, recovering. Remember, ultimately, we want to finish this guy. We want to stop him in his tracks. I need a [01:01:30] static opponent in order to submit him. I can't have a situation where I'm constantly following his movement, following his movement, following his movement.

[01:01:37] I have to follow his movement to a degree, then [01:01:40] stop him, and then finish him. We don't want to just create a cycle where I just go left, right, left, right, trying to recover a bottom hook. Once we recover a bottom hook, then it's time to [01:01:50] fall to the other side and position our legs in such a way that he can't beat the bottom hook on the other side and keep a sequence of escape going.

[01:01:57] We want to shut down his sequence and then shut [01:02:00] down movement. And then when I have a static opponent, then we can start going in and finishing people. So let's have a look at this again. We start off behind our opponent. [01:02:10] We've got our arms well set, the head trap is in place, and then from here we start falling over to the side.

[01:02:18] Okay? Now, [01:02:20] as my opponent beats the bottom hook, you can see right now there's a minimal distance that he has to move in order to beat my knee. Okay? I've done it, I've done nothing to protect my [01:02:30] knee here, I haven't made it, uh, move far at all or anything like that. But the moment I put my foot out, now the distance he has to travel is greater.

[01:02:39] It's going to make my [01:02:40] job easier. Now I push off the floor, I use my right leg to pull, make your body go this way, look how his direction is going, this way on the escape, [01:02:50] look at the effect of my right leg. It turns him in the direction that I want. Then I push off the floor, and I bring him back in the opposite [01:03:00] direction.

[01:03:00] So his whole goal was to escape to my left. Okay? Over my left bottom hook. He successfully beat the bottom hook, he wants to [01:03:10] continue going left. That's his goal. So I increase the distance he has to travel, then from here, I bring my foot up. [01:03:20] My knee is now so far out behind him that when I retract my foot, put it in my training partner's buttocks, when I push off the mat, now he wants to go lift, and end up getting [01:03:30] turned to the right.

[01:03:31] Now, here's something I want to avoid. I don't just want to put a hook in, and then Plessy does the same thing on the other side, and just escapes. It beats my hook [01:03:40] on the right side and now he's gone. I don't want to create situations where i'm following a cycle of escapes. I want to beat his cycle of escape.[01:03:50]

[01:03:50] So as I lose my training partner on one side He goes over the bottom hook I increase the distance that he needs to [01:04:00] travel by putting my foot out I bring my foot in but not my knee Remember, it's the knee that he has to beat, not the foot. Then I turn, [01:04:10] and bring him over to the other side. But I keep my new bottom hook, now my right hook, so high that it's an easy thing for me to either go post rear [01:04:20] mount, if my legs are short and his waist is wide, or body lock if my legs are long and his waist is thin.

[01:04:27] In this way, we [01:04:30] protected the bottom hook on one side and then reinforce it on the other to break his cycle of escape.

[01:04:39] [01:04:40] We're looking at the alignment problem. When we get behind someone, we If I cannot stay aligned with my opponent, no amount of other skill in my back attacks is going to count for anything. I [01:04:50] have to be able to stay aligned. We've seen that the process of my opponent in misaligning the body is an entirely predictable sequence of steps.

[01:04:59] And if we can [01:05:00] learn to shut down those steps, you can preserve the alignment and ultimately get through to a situation where you can control your opponent, stop them from moving, and then start to bring the hand fighting system [01:05:10] that we'll be looking at shortly. and get through to a strangulation win.

[01:05:15] Now, in the previous sequence, we saw that if our opponent gets over our [01:05:20] foot, they're on the beginnings of escape, okay? But ultimately, they have to beat my hook and then my knee. We saw how to recover if they beat the [01:05:30] bottom hook. What if the guy's a high level and he doesn't just beat the bottom hook, he beats the bottom knee as well?

[01:05:36] Well, then we need to go to the next level of sophistication as the, [01:05:40] as the offensive man and go to recover. Let's look at that process now. From a situation where I'm behind Placido and from here he pitches [01:05:50] down to one side and beats the bottom hook. We know that we're supposed to protect the knee at this point and bring our opponent back to the other side.[01:06:00]

[01:06:00] Unfortunately, he knows that too. He does a good job of going over the knee. Now, the moment he does this, there's good news and bad news. The good news is, you've [01:06:10] still got a hook to work with here, so you do have some control of your opponent's body. The other piece of good news is, you've still got a head trap.

[01:06:17] Um, my seatbelt grip around my [01:06:20] opponent still puts me in a position where my head is on one side, and my strangle arm is on the other. Okay, so the strong seatbelt grip is preserving me and is [01:06:30] preserving my head trap to some degree here. Now, the bad news is he's actually beaten the knee. So it's not like the previous situation, come back a step, where I could use my [01:06:40] leg underneath him to shovel him back where he came from.

[01:06:43] Okay, I no longer have that option. So what I'm going to do instead is I'm going to direct my opponent's head in the same [01:06:50] direction that he wants to go. Remember, his whole thing now is to bring his head. Here to this side. Okay? So as his head is moving in that [01:07:00] direction, I'm gonna point my head in the same direction.

[01:07:03] I can't have my head static while his head is moving. If his head moves and mine's from remain static, I lose the head [01:07:10] trap. Okay? So as I see his head moving, I move mine. How do I do it? Through my bottom leg. I take the balls of my feet [01:07:20] onto the mat and I push and I bring my head to the mat before his head gets in front of mine.

[01:07:26] I'm in the perfect position now to start a tripod in action [01:07:30] where I push and tripod over my training partner. Now, I lift and I take my knee and I put it right behind my training partner's arm so that [01:07:40] my knee emerges a second time. Remember, the whole key here is your knee position. The tripod is just a mechanism to recover the position of your [01:07:50] knee.

[01:07:50] That's all it is. Once my knee comes out, I can return my opponent to the other side and put my foot in a nice high position where he won't be able to go [01:08:00] easily over the top. And again, I'll either go to a post rare mount if he's big through the waist and my legs are short, or I'll go to a body triangle if his waist is thin and my legs [01:08:10] are long.

[01:08:10] Let's have a look at that again. Remember, the basic theme that we're pushing here is the idea that the knees are the locus of my [01:08:20] control when it comes to aligning my opponent between my legs. The bottom, the, the, the bottom extremity of my leg, the [01:08:30] hook just holds the knee in place. That's all it's designed to do.

[01:08:35] But what actually is the measure of whether my opponent is aligned with my lower body or not is [01:08:40] whether he's between my knees. So once he beats my knee, I need some kind of mechanism to recover the knee. And that mechanism is tripodting, [01:08:50] okay? So if we start off on the other side this time.

[01:08:56] Faced around like so. We have an opponent, we've [01:09:00] got hooks in on our training partner like this. I see him pitching over to the side. And I see my opponent beat the bottom hook and the bottom knee. You can [01:09:10] clearly see my left knee has been beaten. It's behind him now. So I place the ball of my foot on the floor, and I begin a race for head position.

[01:09:19] He [01:09:20] wants to beat my head by getting his head to the mat. I want my head underneath his, so my head also goes to the mat. Now a [01:09:30] tripod action. That tripod puts me up into a position where I can lift and expose my knee on the other side of his body, so that I [01:09:40] reposition in between my knees a second time.

[01:09:42] Now, my hook here drags him back, and you can clearly see that my knee has been re established. [01:09:50] I now have a knee on either side of his body, we've re established knee position, and now it's a matter of preventing him going over the second hook. As [01:10:00] a result, we now have back position recovered. When he tries to slip over the bottom hook now, it's difficult, and if I lock the body triangle.

[01:10:09] even more so. [01:10:10] Let's have a look at that again from another angle.

[01:10:15] We've been looking at this idea that when we control our opponent, [01:10:20] we always want situations where we have knees on either side of them. That's what constitutes alignment or misalignment, okay? His whole thing ultimately is to [01:10:30] beat my knees in these situations. So, in a situation where we lock up with our training partner and we have two hooks in, [01:10:40] When we fall over to the side, you can clearly see as he goes over, he beats the foot first and the knee second.

[01:10:48] I now have two knees on [01:10:50] one side of his body. That's good for him, bad for me. I need a knee on each side of his body. So from here, we're going to tripod and get our head to [01:11:00] the floor. We're going to continue that tripod and get our knees off the mat. So that I can lift and expose and get my knee back in [01:11:10] place.

[01:11:10] Now, once again, I have a knee on each side of his body. I have a hook here in his leg, which enables me to pull [01:11:20] and end up in a position where both knees are on one side of his body each. As a result, from here, it's an easy thing for us to lock up either the figure of [01:11:30] four or a post rear mount so that when he goes to escape a second time, it's a very difficult thing.

[01:11:35] Now we can play.[01:11:40]

[01:11:44] We're looking at the alignment problem. The basic idea here is that if we can't stay successfully [01:11:50] aligned with our opponent, no amount of hand movement is possible. Uh, fighting and trapping of arms is going to have any effect whatsoever. Our opponents are going to escape the overall position and none of [01:12:00] our strangles, none of our sophisticated means of, of, uh, locking our opponent's arms down are going to be of any value.

[01:12:06] Our first thing, you've got to stay aligned with your opponent. We've [01:12:10] seen that the process of misalignment that my opponent's trying to create is entirely predictable. It begins with beating the bottom hook and then ultimately beating the bottom knee and then [01:12:20] go into a situation where his head beats my head.

[01:12:23] And then finally, his shoulders, both of them on the mat, particularly the inside shoulder, and he's out. We've seen ways [01:12:30] to try and shut down and combat this. Let's look at another method, the switching arms method. For a situation where I'm behind a training partner, like so, [01:12:40] and he's done a good job of pitching over to the side and is threatening to go over the bottom hook and even the bottom [01:12:50] knee.

[01:12:51] In these situations, what I will often do, particularly when I'm worried my opponent will eventually beat the head. That's the most worrisome thing of them all. My [01:13:00] opponent beats my head. I'm pretty much gone at this point. What I will often do in situations like this is switch my arms. I currently have a left [01:13:10] hand control arm.

[01:13:12] and a right hand strangle arm. My opponent knows that, and so he's trying to go in the same direction my strangle arm is pointing, [01:13:20] beat the head, and move on out. Okay? Whenever I see this is a real danger, and I feel I'm about to lose the head, I will take my strangle arm and convert it [01:13:30] into a control arm.

[01:13:31] So as my opponent goes to make his escape, I punch out, And I go underneath my training partner's arm, so I now have [01:13:40] two control arms. I go underneath my own hand and grip his wrist. Now, as I lose the battle for head [01:13:50] position, I relinquish my hand. My opponent goes into what he thinks is his escape. I lift my arm through and pull and switch sides on my [01:14:00] opponent, okay?

[01:14:01] And now, We're right back in order, ready to attack. Once again, we started off with a fairly [01:14:10] conventional situation, two hooks in. I have a control hand and a strangle hand. My opponent beats the bottom hook and is starting to threaten to beat the head and come [01:14:20] all the way out. I will initially switch my hands and go through.

[01:14:26] So I now have two control hands. It's true I no [01:14:30] longer have the capacity to strangle my opponent. But I'd rather stay on his back and work back to a stranglehold later than just lose everything right here. One good way for [01:14:40] me to work from here is to go across and cross grip my training partner at the wrist.

[01:14:46] I put my hand through and as I lose the head, he starts moving away, [01:14:50] I pull and I put this arm back in. So what have we done? We've preserved the head trap. I have a stranglehand on one side, [01:15:00] my head on the other. Then I just reposition my legs and I find myself back in a position where I can dominate the bat.

[01:15:08] Let's have a look at that from another [01:15:10] angle.

[01:15:17] From a situation where I'm behind my opponent [01:15:20] and I feel my opponent is getting away from me. Not only has he beaten the bottom hook but he's starting to beat the head as well. [01:15:30] From here I go through and punch in a new control hand. I go across and cross grip my training partner's far wrist. [01:15:40] I slip my wrist underneath and as Placido comes out, I lock here and here.

[01:15:47] As a result, I can easily turn my opponent [01:15:50] over and recover the position. and go right back into a flying attacking situation.[01:16:00]

[01:16:05] We're starting to get into the, uh, the nuts and bolts of the [01:16:10] main core element of my back attack system, the straight jacket system. Most of you are aware that this is based around the idea of [01:16:20] of, uh, a specific set of hand fight, uh, uh, techniques, which ultimately create a situation where I can use one of my [01:16:30] legs to trap an opponent's arm and then from there take away their ability to defend themselves and go through into a successfully applied stranglehold.

[01:16:39] So far [01:16:40] we've been looking at the central problem that runs alongside what we're calling the deficit problem. Okay, we have the alignment problem. We saw some, uh, some ways of getting [01:16:50] around that. That will enable us to stay aligned with our opponent long enough that we can create a static opponent, and then we come to our next problem, the so called deficit problem.

[01:16:59] This is the idea that [01:17:00] when I get behind my opponent, I find, rather to my surprise perhaps, that at most, I have two offensive instruments, and usually I have only one offensive [01:17:10] instrument, a single strangle arm. Your opponent, on the other hand, has at least and often three defensive instruments. He [01:17:20] has two defensive arms and a defensive jaw.

[01:17:24] At the very least, if I'm trapping one, he'll have one defensive arm. and a defensive jaw. This is [01:17:30] my one offensive arm. So no matter how you configure your arms, you're always going to be the outnumbered guy when you're attacking from the back. You'll always have more defensive instruments than [01:17:40] you have offensive instruments.

[01:17:41] So we need some kind of system that gets us around this fundamental problem, that redresses this fundamental imbalance. It's no good calling this the ultimate attacking [01:17:50] position if you're outnumbered every time you use it. That's exactly what the straightjacket system is designed to do. Now, before we get into the nuts [01:18:00] and bolts of hand fighting our way through to success and strengthening people, it's very important that we address a very widely held notion in the sport of [01:18:10] Jiu Jitsu, which I'm hoping to dispel in this video series.

[01:18:15] This is the idea that there is a strong side and a weak side. [01:18:20] when I work to strangle someone from the back. Probably one of the most commonly held cliches in the sport of Jiu Jitsu is that once I get my hook center on my opponent, there's a side which is [01:18:30] easy for him to escape, the weak side, and a side which is hazardous for him to escape.

[01:18:35] the strong side. Let's first understand why people thought this way for so long [01:18:40] and then make some notes from there. Okay, once I get behind my opponent we know already that we have a control arm that goes underneath my [01:18:50] opponent's arm and a strangle hand that goes over the top of her shoulder. This creates a sense in which there's an opening as I have my [01:19:00] hand here on my training partner's shoulder between my hand and my upper body.

[01:19:05] The opening is only on one side. It's on my opponent's left hand side. [01:19:10] There's no opening here. My arm leaves no opening whatsoever, but the space between my hand and my shoulder on the left hand side does create an opening. [01:19:20] And through that opening, my opponent can start to move his head. And once his head moves through that opening, he's broken the single most [01:19:30] important element in all of back control, which is the idea of a head drag.

[01:19:34] Where my opponent's head ought to be caught between my head and my stranglehand. [01:19:40] That's the only position from where I have a viable threat to strangle my opponent. The moment my stranglehand and head go to the same side, the cat's out of the bag, [01:19:50] and it's lost. There's no more viable threat of a strangle.

[01:19:53] Okay? And in this sense, I agree. It does look like this is the weak side. Okay, [01:20:00] if my opponent falls to the other side, in this direction here, it's very, very difficult for my opponent to break the head trap, okay? Even as he [01:20:10] goes to move out, at all times, he's still caught in that fundamental head trap that positions his head between my head and the strangle [01:20:20] hand, okay?

[01:20:20] So, once again, from a different angle.

[01:20:26] When I work behind my training partner,[01:20:30]

[01:20:31] we know that in situations where I fall to a given side, most of the Jiu Jitsu world will tell you he's [01:20:40] fallen to what, uh, would be considered my weak side, okay, because there's an opening between my hand and my upper body. And [01:20:50] through that opening, my opponent can move his head. In such a way that he breaks the single most important element in the entire back control leading to a [01:21:00] strangle, uh, series.

[01:21:02] The idea of the head trap. Now he's positioned my strangle hand and my head on one side of his head. That's great news [01:21:10] for him, and it's terrible news for me. In order to strangle someone, I always need my head and my strangle hand on opposite sides of his head. [01:21:20] Because there's an opening here between my hand and my upper body, he can exploit that.

[01:21:25] Go through the opening, and now break the head trap. And now [01:21:30] there's simply no chance of a strangle. I have to scramble to something else now. Okay? So that's why most of the jiu jitsu world considers this the weak side. [01:21:40] When my athletes first started entering high level competition and finishing people regularly with strangleholds from the back, people were [01:21:50] shocked by the fact that not only were they falling to the weak side, They were pushing the action in that direction, as though it was something desirable.[01:22:00]

[01:22:01] This was very, very surprising. Why do I not concern myself with strong and weak side? I don't even use the terms. Okay, I simply [01:22:10] talk about underside and oversight. My back system is neutral with regards to falling left or right. I just don't care. In some cases, I [01:22:20] actually favor falling to what most people would call the weak side because it actually makes it easier for me to use my legs to trap my opponent's arms.

[01:22:27] I'll come back to that [01:22:30] shortly. Well, the truth is that once you understand what your opponent needs to do to get out of these positions, and you have a good set of responses to [01:22:40] those, to those elements, it doesn't really get any easier or more difficult for him to escape on either side. If I have [01:22:50] An opponent in a position like this as long as I'm cognizant of my head position.

[01:22:56] He's not gonna beat my head Moreover as long as I'm [01:23:00] cognizant of my hand position. I'm not gonna leave much of an opening for him to work with Okay Yes, it's true. If I fall to the side with my hand [01:23:10] poorly placed. Yes, it's true There's a giant gap and my opponent can bring his head through that gap.

[01:23:14] Let's go And yeah, it's easy for him to get out. Okay. However, if I'm always [01:23:20] ear to ear with my training partner working as I should be with my head forward on my training partner, and I'm not simply laxodasical with the arm around the [01:23:30] neck, but rather creating what we call a closed circle. A closed circle is where my strangle hand goes over my training partner's [01:23:40] shoulder and my chin touches my own hand.

[01:23:44] Now, there's simply no hole for my opponent's head to move through. [01:23:50] Remember, if my hand is poorly placed, and my head is poorly placed, yes, there's an open hole for my opponent to move through. But when my [01:24:00] hand is properly placed, and my head, my chin covers my own hand, when he goes to move out in that direction, There's no hole for him to go through.[01:24:10]

[01:24:10] The hole on the left side is just as securely closed as it would be on the right. Okay? I cannot stress this enough. When I add [01:24:20] to this the idea of a protected bottom hook, whether it be with a body lock, or with a post rear mount, [01:24:30] I close the circle in the upper body, and I close the circle with the lower body, When Placido goes to move out of here,[01:24:40]

[01:24:40] he finds it's just as difficult as if I fell to the other side. Remember, what determines the ease of his escape is not whether it's left or right, it's [01:24:50] whether or not there's an open circle for him to move through. That's what determines the ease of the escape. Yes, if my feet are open and he just hops over the foot, yes [01:25:00] it's easy.

[01:25:01] Yes, if my hand is poorly placed and my head is poorly placed. Yes, it's easy for him to move his head through, but if I close the [01:25:10] circle around his waist, and then close the circle around his head and shoulders, now when he goes to move, [01:25:20] it's no more difficult for him to escape left than it is right. Once you understand these simple ideas, you will see that in [01:25:30] fact a good back system will always be neutral between escaping to the underside versus the over side.

[01:25:37] What creates a strong or weak side is [01:25:40] not whether you go left or right, but rather failures in posture on the part of the athletes. Once we work with this principle of the closed circle in both upper and [01:25:50] lower body, Your back attacks will become neutral as to whether you go left or whether you go right with your opponent.

[01:25:57] We've been looking at the [01:26:00] straitjacket system, and, uh, we've seen that essentially the straitjacket system was a response to two [01:26:10] main problems, two central problems as we call them. The first was the alignment problem. This is the idea that when we, uh, Uh, behind our opponent and wish to strangle, there always has to be some degree of alignment.

[01:26:19] [01:26:20] Okay? That's based around the idea of my strangle arm on one side and my head on the other. If my head ever comes to the same side as the strangle arm, [01:26:30] there's, there's no strangle for me. It's a disaster. We always need opposite head, opposite strangle arm. Once we get to this situation, we've seen that it's relatively easy for our opponent to [01:26:40] break alignment as long as we have our feet in fairly conventional hook positions.

[01:26:44] Now if my opponent starts going over the, uh, foot, then over the knee, then he can start getting [01:26:50] head to floor, shoulder to mat, now he's broken the alignment between my body and his, and essentially he's escaped from the position. So that's the first thing, how do we overcome this? [01:27:00] Um, the second was the so called deficit problem, when you actually do get behind someone, there's a problem.

[01:27:06] I have usually a control arm underneath his arm, [01:27:10] and I have a stranglehand. At the very most, if I have a body triangle, I have two stranglehands I can work with. But most of the time it's just one stranglehand. My [01:27:20] opponent has three defensive instruments. Okay, he has a primary defensive arm, a secondary defensive arm, [01:27:30] and he has his chin.

[01:27:32] So he has three things to stop me from strangling him. You on the other hand, have usually only one offensive instrument. And at [01:27:40] most, two. So, when you go to strangle someone from the back, you're always outnumbered. He's got three, or two or three defensive instruments, and you've got one or two [01:27:50] attacking instruments.

[01:27:51] And we need some method to overcome that deficit. Now, we saw that basic method is to use our legs as hooks over our [01:28:00] training partner's arms, and, uh, uh, create situations where we create what we call an uncontested stranglehand, where it's just my stranglehand against my opponent's. chin and then [01:28:10] eventually we can, we can get a breakthrough.

[01:28:12] There's a third problem that often emerges here, the problem of the pinned arm. Orthodoxy has it that when I get behind someone and [01:28:20] I'm working with the right strangle hand, I should typically fall to my right hand side. in order to maximize my chance of success. There's definitely some [01:28:30] logic to it. It's not, it's not a foolish opinion.

[01:28:31] It's, uh, there's, there's a rationale for it. And we explain what that was in terms of if I fall to the side of the underarm, there's more [01:28:40] space for my opponent to get his head and shoulders to the floor and break the alignment that we talked about earlier. Okay. Um, however, there's a problem when I fall to the side [01:28:50] of the straddle hand.

[01:28:51] When I fall in this direction, the leg on that side gets pinned to the mat. His body weight is on the leg. So [01:29:00] when he starts trapping my arms, and I want to use my leg to hook his arm, I can't because he's literally pinned to the mat. pinning my leg to the floor. His body weight has pinned my leg. So yes, it's [01:29:10] true.

[01:29:10] There's some degree of additional security. It's more difficult for my opponent to break alignment. But on the other hand, it's almost impossible for me now to overcome the deficit [01:29:20] problem. My opponent will always have his defensive hands and shin outnumbering my offensive, uh, uh, weapons now. So, by falling to the [01:29:30] same side as a stranglehand, I've essentially pinned my own leg.

[01:29:32] Now my legs can't be used to help me to trap his defensive arms and create an uncontested stranglehand and [01:29:40] get through to the finish. So, that's why, very often from here, I like to see my athletes fall away from the stranglehand [01:29:50] because this creates an unweighted leg. That unweighted leg now has mobility.

[01:29:55] If I can simply just place my training partner's hand below the line of his [01:30:00] chest at any given moment, I can come over the top. And use my leg to trap his arm. Now, for the first time, we've got an uncontested stranglehand. There's nothing, [01:30:10] there's no hand left for him to fight my hand with. Both his hands are occupied, one by my hand, one by my leg.

[01:30:16] I have a free hand to work against my opponent's jaw, and [01:30:20] go in and finish. Okay? So, there's a sense in which, by falling to the underarm side, I create the possibility of [01:30:30] overcoming this, this third problem, the problem of the pinned leg. But there's another way I can do it, too. If my opponent's in turtle position,[01:30:40]

[01:30:41] I can hook his arm before I commit to the mat. And in that way, I can safely fall to the side of the stranglehand, because my leg is not yet [01:30:50] pinned by his body weight. When I work in positions like this, I can put my leg in prior to me pinning him. falling down to the floor. And as a [01:31:00] result, when we go down, we now end up in a situation where Even though, yes, his body weight is on top of my strangle hand, the arm was pinned [01:31:10] before I committed to the floor, before my leg was pinned by body weight.

[01:31:13] Now there's a sense, this is actually a positive thing. Now his body weight is not only pinning my [01:31:20] leg, it's pinning his right arm and tracking underneath his body. And so it's even harder for him now to escape the stranglehold. Let's have a look at that again from another angle. From a situation [01:31:30] where we start off in front of our training partner and I wedge.

[01:31:35] the knee in behind and step over the top. From here, when I roll my [01:31:40] training partner over, you can see the arm is trapped underneath the body. And as a result, when he tries to pull his right arm free, it's almost [01:31:50] impossible because our combined body weight is pinning it in place. Now, when I place the second hook over, yes, we've fallen to the side of the strangle hand, but we've done so after.

[01:31:59] We trap the arm, [01:32:00] facing in this direction. From here, I go in and hook over my training partner's arm. [01:32:10] Now, when we fall over, you can see the arm is well trapped underneath both of our body weights. I've fallen to the strangle hand, and I've [01:32:20] done so in a way which permitted me to hook my opponent's, uh, uh, defensive arm because I made the hook prior to falling down to the side of the [01:32:30] stranglehand.

[01:32:31] What we can't do is sit him down, start off on the floor, fall to the side of the [01:32:40] stranglehand, now it's going to be impossible for me to hook. with my right leg, my opponent's right arm, because he's literally sitting on top of my right leg, okay? I would have to, under these [01:32:50] circumstances, make a switch of side, and then from here, now I can hook, okay?

[01:32:55] However, if I do wish to fall towards the side of the [01:33:00] stranglehand, and take advantage of the security of falling in that direction, then I must make my hook prior to committing to the ground. So it's typically done in some kind of turtle [01:33:10] situation, for example, as I go in on my training partner and catch.

[01:33:13] Now, when we commit to the floor, yes, we've fallen to the strangle side. We [01:33:20] do have the arm trapped, arguably in the best possible way, because now both of our body weight is helping to assist in the pin of that arm, and now we have an uncontested stranglehand, and [01:33:30] we're ready to go through and finish. So the problem of the pinned arm states very clearly, um, that if we're [01:33:40] already in a rear mount position, we ought to fall.

[01:33:43] away from the strangle hand, the exact opposite of what we normally get told. If we're going to use our leg [01:33:50] to hook our opponent's arm and hold it down and overcome that deficit problem. If on the other hand, when we're not yet down on the floor, we're in say, for example, a turtle position [01:34:00] and we hook the arm prior to falling, then it's fine to fall down to the side of the strangle hand.

[01:34:04] In some ways, even better because now both of your body weight is literally pinning your opponent's arm behind [01:34:10] his back in a way that makes escape extremely difficult. When you, uh, when you understand the problem of the pinned arm in these fashion, it becomes very obvious which way you ought to prefer [01:34:20] falling, depending upon the situation in which you find yourself.

[01:34:24] Speaker 6: Now, whenever we go to describe a given system in Jiu [01:34:30] Jitsu, there's always a kind of decision procedure. A system has a sequence and you work your way through that sequence. There's also a series of techniques that [01:34:40] allow you to punch through that sequence. by underlining all of these. Uh, uh, technical aspects of a system is also the [01:34:50] tactical and, um, uh, principle aspects of the system.

[01:34:55] These are the underlying broad principles that give an [01:35:00] overall flavor and character to the system that you're trying to, uh, describe. Um, when we looked at the LegLock system, for example, we saw there were 10 underlying [01:35:10] principles. Uh, why should you? Uh, a bunch of them, but I characterized the ten main ones, um, uh, and I think people found that was helpful for, uh, understanding [01:35:20] what the general character of the leglock system was.

[01:35:22] Well, of course, the back system, too, has its own, uh, underlying principles, and I thought it would be a good idea to run [01:35:30] through some of those founding principles. As a means of helping you understand the general character of what we're trying to accomplish, what we're trying to do, when we work with this back [01:35:40] system.

[01:35:40] Let's start off with the first of the 10 principles we're going to look at. The 10 most important. There are others, but I, I want to spend all day flashing out principles, [01:35:50] but I'll focus on what I think are the 10 most important for you to know. Um, let's start with the neutrality principle. We have a train partner seated in front of us.

[01:35:59] Traditionally, the sport of Jiu [01:36:00] Jitsu was always said, When we go behind someone, we want to have an underarm and an overarm, and I control my opponent between underarm and overarm and [01:36:10] head position. Between those three elements, that's where the primary upper body control comes from. Then I throw in my hooks, and we add lower body control.[01:36:20]

[01:36:22] Once we get this kind of thing, lower body control through the hooks and upper body control through head, strangle arm and [01:36:30] control arm. There's always been a bias in Jiu Jitsu to always encourage athletes to fall towards the side of the strangle arm. Now there's a lot of logic to this. [01:36:40] There's wisdom behind it.

[01:36:41] The idea is that when I have If my stranglehand placed, there's an opening through which my opponent's head can move. [01:36:50] Remember, the fundamental desiderata of anyone who's trying to perform a strangle from the back is to keep their strangle [01:37:00] arm and their head on opposite sides of their opponent's head.

[01:37:05] This is absolutely crucial to any kind of strangle success from the back. [01:37:10] It is the most fundamental demand when you want to strangle someone from the back. My strangle arm and my head must be on [01:37:20] opposite sides of his head. If I ever fail in this basic demand, failure of the system overall is completely inalienable.[01:37:30]

[01:37:30] His whole game as the defensive man is always to put my head and my strangle hand on the back. There's always his gambit. [01:37:40] Mine is the exact opposite. I always want to keep my head and strangle arm opposite side of his head. And there's a battle going on here for head position. [01:37:50] Whenever I fall towards the strangle hand, sorry, away from the, uh, the strangle hand, there's an opening between Head and my hand that [01:38:00] my opponent can exploit, especially when he is holding my hand down.

[01:38:04] He brings my hand down, uh, the hole gets wider and wider, and as a result now his [01:38:10] head passes through and what's he done? He's just put my head and my strangle hand on the same side of his head is a sense in which he is now absolutely winning [01:38:20] the battle. In order to succeed with a right handed strangle, my head must be on his left hand side.

[01:38:26] That's absolutely clear. [01:38:30] However, you can see my fingers are pointing the direction of the escape of his head. When he holds on tight to my hand and moves his head, Through [01:38:40] that opening, he's just won the battle. He's just put my stranglehand and my head on the same side as his head. And that's a disaster for me.[01:38:50]

[01:38:51] What I always want is to ensure that my head is on one side, my stranglehand on the other. The way we do this is ultimately through [01:39:00] head position. If my head is poorly placed and my hand is poorly placed, it's inevitable that I will fail. The good news is, however, that if I close the [01:39:10] gap between my head and my hand, It's very difficult for me to lose this battle, okay?

[01:39:17] Again, if I can carefully monitor [01:39:20] the distance between my strangle hand and my jaw, like so, when he goes to through that gap, it's very, very difficult. I've closed a [01:39:30] circle around my training partner's neck. If the circle is ever open, now there's an escape route, and my opponent can break the fundamental structure that [01:39:40] I need.

[01:39:40] Which is, as we said so many times now, head on one side, strangle hand on the other. Okay. The moment there's an opening between [01:39:50] my head and my hand, I'm giving him the escape route he needs. And in this sense, the orthodox approach is absolutely correct. Okay. If there's a [01:40:00] failure to maintain head and hand on my part, yes, it's easier for my opponent to escape.

[01:40:06] However, if I'm always mindful, Of the distance between [01:40:10] my straggle hand and my head through the jaw. Now, when he goes to escape, there's simply no opening for him to work with. I've closed a circle around his neck. [01:40:20] The moment my head and hand come apart, the circle is open. And now there's an escape route, okay?[01:40:30]

[01:40:33] So there's a sense here in which, yes, there's wisdom in the old fashioned approach. There's a so called strong [01:40:40] side and a weak side, okay? Let's be clear about this. Throughout most of its history, Jiu If I fall to the side of the stranglehand, [01:40:50] I'm falling to a strong side. Because now, in this direction, there's no opening for my opponent to go to the right.

[01:40:58] Okay? My [01:41:00] right arm is simply there. Okay? You can't just open it. If, on the other hand, for a right handed strangle, I fall to the left, this is [01:41:10] typically characterized as the weak side. Because there's an opening between my head and my hand for my opponent to exploit. His head goes through that, and as a result, [01:41:20] my sprangle arm and my head are now open.

[01:41:22] Fatally on the same side of his head, which means that there's no more strangle. I can't strangle from here. Okay, the angle is all wrong. [01:41:30] However, just by being mindful of this simple idea that I never want to have an open circle around my opponent's neck, but rather the hand [01:41:40] and head connected through my jaw.

[01:41:42] Now, when he goes to exploit what people call the weak side, he can't. It's only when there's a failure on my part [01:41:50] that he can do so.

[01:41:57] A huge and very important underlying principle of [01:42:00] my particular approach to the bank system is that it's neutral, left or right. I don't posit the idea of a strong side and a weak side. [01:42:10] I'm happy to see my athletes fall in either direction. In fact, there are some advantages to falling to what people call the weak side.[01:42:20]

[01:42:20] Okay? The most important of which, you should have gathered by now, which is that it creates an unweighted leg. And that unweighted leg can, [01:42:30] under the right conditions, be used to trap an arm and put it pinned underneath our leg. In [01:42:40] these circumstances, there's advantages to fall into what many people call the weak side, what we call the underside.

[01:42:46] Provided I keep my head in good position relative to [01:42:50] my hand. So that as much as possible, the circle is closed. If I ever feel that I'm losing that position, I will stop whatever I'm doing [01:43:00] and control my training partner's head and replace it until we get back into a winning position. But we must never lose track of the most important.

[01:43:09] The single [01:43:10] most fundamental demand of the back position when we're going for strangleholds. And this is the idea that my stranglehand and my head must be on opposite sides of my opponent's head. [01:43:20] Whenever you feel that basic demand is not being met, you must stop whatever you're doing and address that first and then go on to work.

[01:43:29] So [01:43:30] if I feel I'm losing control of my opponent's head, I will stop what I'm doing, adjust and go back into work. If I feel his whole goal is to [01:43:40] beat me with the head, then we'll pay particular attention to our hand and head position. Even if the chin is down, I'll just put hand and head together and make it [01:43:50] difficult for my opponent to work.

[01:43:53] Used in this sense, we can be neutral between falling to the underside. Or [01:44:00] fall into the oversight. And so throughout this dvd, you'll, you won't hear me talking about a strong side and a weak side. You'll hear me simply talk about an oversight and underside. Both can be used with [01:44:10] extraordinary success.

[01:44:11] Don't, as it were, favor one over the other intrinsically, but rather see one is better or worse than the other, only in the way in [01:44:20] which they're being used.

[01:44:24] Let's look at our second critical principle for the back system. This is [01:44:30] the. The primacy principle can be stated very, uh, very simply. I always put primacy on strangleholds [01:44:40] over joint locks. Whenever you look at submission holds in the sport of jiu jitsu, the basic choice you have is between strangulation on the one hand and breaking limbs on the other.[01:44:50]

[01:44:51] Given a choice, I will always go with strangleholds. As a general rule, especially at world championship level, [01:45:00] Strangleholds have a finality to them, which is not matched by, by Joint Locks. As powerful a weapon as Joint Locks are, if you have a strong minded opponent [01:45:10] with limited time left on the clock, they may be well, uh, accepting the idea of a broken arm, a broken leg, or what have you.

[01:45:18] But there's no acceptance of [01:45:20] strangleholds. When they're well applied, you simply pass out. There's no degree to which mental toughness or courage or fortitude can get you through a stranglehold. They [01:45:30] simply pass out wherever you are. Um, and so given the choice between the two, I will always go with strangles.

[01:45:38] Now, when we're on someone's back, [01:45:40] there's obviously a vast number of choices we can make with regards how we're going to go in and submit someone. The most obvious one from here, of course, is always strangleholds. The rear naked [01:45:50] strangle the ly arm, okay? But from the same position, I could just as easily go into arm locks, et cetera, et cetera.

[01:45:56] However, because I put a [01:46:00] extraordinary emphasis on strangulation over joint locking as a general rule, given a choice between the two. I will typically [01:46:10] focus on the Rear Naked Strangle and[01:46:20]

[01:46:20] Ushiro Senkaku, the strangulation using the legs, as my two favorite attacks from the back. Because both are [01:46:30] instances of strangles. Both are extremely high percentage in different ways. One through the precision, using my arms, and the other using the power of [01:46:40] my legs, will break through and apply the strangle.

[01:46:43] Strangle holes that will rapidly induce unconsciousness and even the toughest of, uh, of [01:46:50] your opponents given a choice between the various kinds of submission holes that we went over in this, uh, instructional video, if I ever have a choice, [01:47:00] I'm gonna go with one of those two.

[01:47:05] Let's go down to a third of the underlying principles of the back care system. This one's [01:47:10] very. Uh, easy to explain. This is the percentages principle. We saw a similar version of it with the leg system. There's absolutely no question that in [01:47:20] the sport of Jiu Jitsu and the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, the single most effective, uh, submission hold in Jiu Jitsu.

[01:47:26] Any no gi scenario is the Rear Naked Strangle, the [01:47:30] mata leon. Um, nothing else is even close to it in terms of the number of people who get finished, the finality, the certainty with which you, it's just the [01:47:40] most high percentage submission hold in the game. So the back system that I espouse reflects this, and it puts a heavy, heavy [01:47:50] emphasis on the rear naked strangle above all the other methods of finishing.

[01:47:54] We saw many of them, but nothing else is emphasized even close to the degree to which the rear naked strangle [01:48:00] is emphasized. Um, the amount of control that you have over The, the, the arms here is just extraordinary. Between the control arm, the [01:48:10] strangle arm, and the head position, it's so hard for your opponent to, to prevent, once everything's locked in place, to defend themselves, um, from this position [01:48:20] that, uh, there's no question that If I'm offered, uh, my opponent's back, I will always begin [01:48:30] with a concerted attack with the Rear Naked Strangle.

[01:48:33] If I've broken off a strangle, uh, sorry, the Rear Naked Strangle into another form of attack, some of the [01:48:40] other ones we looked at, that means that my opponent has Sterling Defense and has literally stopped me in my tracks for a considerable period of time. [01:48:50] Don't just flirt with the Rear Naked Strangle and then switch off to something else.

[01:48:56] It is your most high percentage attack. [01:49:00] The fact you had to switch to something else should suggest that your opponent has cast iron defenses to, uh, to the Rear Naked Strangle. As I said, don't just flirt with the [01:49:10] move and then go off. I couldn't get it in 10 seconds, let me try something else. You should try and batter down walls with the Rear Naked Strangle first, and only when you're absolutely stopped in your [01:49:20] tracks, do you go into other elements.

[01:49:22] Stick with the most high percentage moves. There's a reason why, for so long, for so many generations, it's finished more people under more [01:49:30] circumstances than any other. Done properly, it'll do the same for you. Go high percentage.

[01:49:39] Now, a [01:49:40] very important principle, which especially pertains to the hand fighting element of the straight jacket system, is the top position principle. [01:49:50] Whenever I'm behind someone and looking to strangle, it's very, very important we understand the incredible value of my hands being on top [01:50:00] of my opponent's hands, and vice versa.

[01:50:04] If my hands are on top of my opponent's hands, There's nothing between my strangle arm and [01:50:10] his throat, okay? Just one quick movement and it's in. But if his hands are on top of mine, that's not true. I have to get [01:50:20] through his hands first before I can get through a stranglehold. And so there's a constant battle when we're behind for top position with the hands.[01:50:30]

[01:50:30] In fact, I would go so far as to say who's on top with the hands in this situation is analogous to whose feet are inside in the leg lock game. [01:50:40] Just as you will often hear me say the man whose feet dominate the inside position will always dominate the ashigurami game, so too the man whose hands are on [01:50:50] top will generally dominate the strangle game from the back.

[01:50:54] Now, there's a problem here. One of my hands ought to be on top, at all [01:51:00] times, the control hand, but there's no guarantee that my opponent will always be able to keep my strangle hand on top of his. Sometimes yes, sometimes [01:51:10] no. In cases where I cannot get the top hand position with my strangle hand and he's completely shutting me down here, That's when you've got to bring in legs.

[01:51:19] It [01:51:20] doesn't have to be my hands that are on top, it can be my legs too. So when I get behind someone, my [01:51:30] first thing, generally, is to look for two hands on top. Best of all is when you have hands on top with cross grips. That's the, the [01:51:40] king. But I like hands on top as much as possible. If in situations where I cannot get top hand position, then I will settle [01:51:50] for leg over the top to replace the hand.

[01:51:54] Something's got to be on top. Either a hand or a leg. Okay? When we fall [01:52:00] over to the side, yes, he's got top hand position, but when my leg goes over the top, Now my leg's on top of his arm, okay? Now we've got the free hand [01:52:10] that we want to go in and start strangling. So whether it be my hands on top or my legs on top, something's got to be on top of his defensive hands, okay?

[01:52:19] [01:52:20] We want to create situations where most of the time, this is my primary concern here. Getting my control hand on top of his primary defensive hand, [01:52:30] locking it down. Now, I don't want to get into long, convoluted battles for top hand position with my opponent. He goes in for his top hand there. I go in, he goes [01:52:40] in.

[01:52:41] And we're just fighting and fighting and fighting with no result. Okay? Once we get to a certain situation where once I get here, I'm going to use my legs [01:52:50] and put my leg on top of his arm. Now, there's no hand left for him to get top hand position. I've won the battle for top. I've got top [01:53:00] hand here, top leg here, and as a result, an uncontested stranglehand.

[01:53:07] But whether it be our hand, or whether it be our leg, [01:53:10] you've got to have top position. Your limbs, whether arms or hands, have to be on top of his if you're going to get through into a successful stranglehold. [01:53:20] Constantly look for that when you're in back position. I'll say it again, the athlete whose limbs dominate the top position, will dominate the hand fighting game, leading to strangles on the back.[01:53:30]

[01:53:33] We're looking at the underlying principles of the bag system. Let's move now to the hidden hand principle.[01:53:40]

[01:53:43] Of course, the straight jacket system is essentially a system of hand fighting. It's an elaborate system of hand fighting which enables me to [01:53:50] trap my opponent's defensive arms so we can overcome what we call the deficit problem. The idea being that when we go to attack an opponent, we've got one offensive instrument.

[01:53:58] He's got one, two, three. [01:54:00] Three defensive instruments. That's a deficit we need to overcome. Now, one way that we can make a hand fight situation better for ourselves is to [01:54:10] hide our hands from our opponent's hands. There's a battle here for top position. If I can get top position, I'm winning. He knows that, and so often from here [01:54:20] he'll be looking to control my hands from top position.

[01:54:23] One thing I can do during all this hand fighting is to hide my hands from my opponent. [01:54:30] There's different ways in which you can do this. The first and one of the more obvious ones, I know my opponent wants top hand position But if I [01:54:40] took my hand and hit it underneath my training partner's pectoral he wouldn't be able to access my hand very easily and In time as we play the back [01:54:50] position, he might well grow forgetful of my hand position I might well see his chin rise just a fraction and in that moment of opportunity my hidden hand Comes out and goes [01:55:00] into the perfect strangulation position.

[01:55:02] Okay? So rather than allow my pump to cover my hand, that's not to my advantage. I will hide it from him so there's no covering, and then [01:55:10] in some moment of distraction, I will. reveal the hand and it'll go into a strangulation position. So I play between concealment and revealing, [01:55:20] okay, at the appropriate time.

[01:55:22] That's the first of the manifestations of the hidden hand principle. The second one is, in my opinion, more important. [01:55:30] Once I've actually penetrated the neck and I've gotten into a position like so, so often athletes will reveal their hand to their opponent by putting the [01:55:40] hand on the shoulder and as a result their opponent can reach up with a secondary hand, pull it down and destroy your ability to strangle.

[01:55:48] Once you penetrate the neck, [01:55:50] it is absolutely critical that we hide the most important part of your hand, the thumb, the line of your thumb around behind your training partner's [01:56:00] neck. I don't care if my opponent can access my wrist, That's fine. He won't be able to pull me down from the wrist. What I care about is that he can access my thumb.

[01:56:08] When he can pull down on the line of the [01:56:10] thumb, he can stop me in my tracks. So once we're penetrated, it's very, very important from here that we hide the thumb line from our opponent. I'll even go so [01:56:20] far as to put my chin over it. When he reaches up now, He can only access the wrist and that's never enough to stop us.

[01:56:26] Okay, there's a third manifestation of the hidden [01:56:30] hands principle. That when I make a transition by withdrawing my control hand and I go in, I never want to expose I want to use my framehand to [01:56:40] my opponent by grabbing my bicep. Now my opponent can hold the framehand and I'll never get the figure four set and go into a successful strangle.

[01:56:48] Not only do I want to hide my [01:56:50] stranglehand from my opponent, I want to hide the framehand as well. So we never grab the bicep and expose the framearm. Rather, we use the cross wrist methods, [01:57:00] where I put my elbow in front of my training partner's shoulder and my wrists cross, just like so. Once the wrists cross, we focus now on [01:57:10] hand, elbow, To bicep and fingers to opposite shoulder.

[01:57:14] At no point was either the frame hand or the strangle hand sh [01:57:20] revealed to my opponent or exposed to my opponent. So once again, I don't want to have unnecessary hand exposure. I either want my hands on top of his [01:57:30] or hidden when they're hidden. I will take advantage of momentary distractions to quickly reveal overhand.

[01:57:37] and put it into a strangle position. [01:57:40] Once there, I hide it. In particular, the crucial line of the thumb, which gets hidden behind my training partner's neck. Now I can only access [01:57:50] my wrist. That will never be enough to stop me. Then, it's important too, we never expose the frame hand. So we put the wrist and elbow [01:58:00] in place, but never the hand, never exposed to my opponent.

[01:58:03] Then when the hands cross, we put our hands into the preferred strangulation position and close out the [01:58:10] strangle. This principle of the hidden hand will make you a far more effective hand fighter when you're working your way towards strangles from the back.[01:58:20]

[01:58:21] Let's look now at another critical principle of this hand fight. From the back, from the uh, the straight jacket system. This is the [01:58:30] specific grips principle. When I'm behind someone, it's extremely important how I go to grip my opponent. Let's understand there are two main forms of grip [01:58:40] whenever I'm behind my opponent and working to control his hands.

[01:58:43] There are the so called straight grips, where my left hand controls my opponent's left hand. And [01:58:50] my right hand controls the right hand. Whenever we use straight grips. The target of our control is your opponent's knuckle line. [01:59:00] It's illegal for me to grab fingers, especially if it's single digits, but it's fully legal for me to grab all four of my training partner's knuckles.

[01:59:09] This creates a [01:59:10] much stronger control by controlling the end of the lever and enabling us to press our training partner's hand to his ribcage so that when he goes to [01:59:20] free his hand it's enormously difficult. If I grab the wrist on the other hand my opponent can easily extend his arm and break the grip.

[01:59:28] So whether I'm grabbing my [01:59:30] opponent's secondary defensive hand or primary defensive hand with these straight grips it's the knuckle line which is the target [01:59:40] of our grip. This all changes when we go to cross gripping. When we go to cross grip, we want to take our thumb underneath and [01:59:50] take the inside position on our training partner's wrist, so that the area where the veins of the wrist are manifested.

[01:59:58] That's our target. [02:00:00] Then we hold on the wrist this time, okay, holding in just like so. So when my opponent goes to pull away, His elbow is locked to his [02:00:10] own ribs, and my elbow on the other side is locked to the ribs. Best of all is when we have both of our training partners wrists controlled. The principle that's [02:00:20] being used here is similar to the principle of a straitjacket.

[02:00:23] As a straitjacket restrains my opponent's wrist. like so, by locking [02:00:30] his arms in such a way that only the weak rotator cuff muscles of the shoulders can be used for escape. When he tries to pull away, it's so difficult. His elbows are wedged in tight to his body. [02:00:40] The second principle that's involved in a cross grip is that of a rope and a knot.

[02:00:44] Just as you can enhance your grip of a rope by tying a knot at the end of it so that your hand [02:00:50] slides down the rope and catches on the knot, So too, the human hand slides down the forearm and catches on the knot of your training partner's hand. The [02:01:00] forearm starts thick, then thins down to the wrist, and then thickens again at the hand.

[02:01:05] My hand slides down the rope of the forearm and sticks on the knot of the [02:01:10] hand. Used together, when my opponent goes to pull away, It's so difficult between the straight jacket effect and the rope and knot effect. It's very very hard for them to [02:01:20] break away So let's be sure that when we're behind people and we're working with our two primary forms of grips straight grip and cross grip that we know Exactly what we're doing.

[02:01:29] We grip quite [02:01:30] differently in the two cases Straight grips we dominate The knuckle line, pressing everything into the ribs, so when he goes to pull away from us, it's a difficult thing for him to achieve. [02:01:40] Even better, the so called cross grips, where the inside area of the wrist, covered by the veins, is the target of my thumb.

[02:01:48] The fingers come over the other side, [02:01:50] and we hold in like so. This creates a straight jacket effect, where my opponent tries to pull away, Only the weak rotator cuff muscles of the shoulders enable him to do so. It's [02:02:00] hard for him to break away. It's hard to develop the strength to do so. In addition, my grip tends to function like a hand on a rope, which slides down to a knot at the end.

[02:02:09] So when [02:02:10] he goes to pull away from us, he's It's a very difficult thing, indeed. Gripping in this fashion, using these specific grips for straight grips on the one hand, [02:02:20] cross grips on the other, will make you a very effective hand fighter when you're working for your strangles from the back.[02:02:30]

[02:02:31] Now, let's go further into the principles underlying the back attack system. I want to spend some time now on what I believe is one of the [02:02:40] absolute most important. of all the underlying principles of the back position, the default principle. We know that essentially when we're behind someone there's essentially a hand fight going on [02:02:50] here where we're trying to get top hand position and, uh, ultimately throw a leg over our training partner's arm and, and create a situation where both of his arms are trapped and we have an [02:03:00] uncontested stranglehand.

[02:03:01] to, uh, go in and finish the strangle. Now, whenever you're involved in a vociferous hand fight with your training partner, there's gonna come opportunities [02:03:10] where your training partner's chin rises. Okay? That's entirely natural because you're engaged in hard hand fighting. He gets distracted. Okay, so as we [02:03:20] work in situations like this, there's gonna come periods where you just see that chin rise.

[02:03:25] I only need my opponent's chin to rise the width [02:03:30] of my wrist. It's not much. We're not asking for a lot here. We don't need someone looking at the ceiling or anything crazy like that. Okay. All you need is the width of your wrist. [02:03:40] Measure it yourself. It's not that big. If we turn side onto the camera here, his chin is on his chest.

[02:03:47] That's actually a pain. It's not painful, but [02:03:50] it's an uncomfortable Uh, uh, and energy consuming posture for my opponent to take. To keep his chin on his wrist is not easy. [02:04:00] In the midst of a hard hand fighting struggle, inevitably it will rise to some degree. Now that doesn't look like much of a rise, does it?

[02:04:08] Just a small change in [02:04:10] angle. Well, here he can stop my wrist, here he can't. That small change in angle was [02:04:20] more than enough for me to get the width of my wrist to the Inside and underneath my opponent's neck and penetrate the neck. This is where the default principle becomes so important. [02:04:30] As we engage in a hand fight, we're looking for top hand position.

[02:04:33] I detect that my opponent's chin has risen to some degree whenever I see the chin [02:04:40] is away from the chest by the amount of the width of my wrist whenever that occurs and as soon as it occurs in one motion My hand [02:04:50] will go in and solidify the entrance, the penetration, which ultimately leads to the stranglehold.

[02:04:56] This has to be a hardwired [02:05:00] instinct on your part. This can't be something you think about later. Oh, I had an opportunity. No, no, no. The second you see that rising at the chin, we're hearing the hand fight. The hand [02:05:10] goes in, and of course the hidden hand all the way around and behind, and we go into the finish.

[02:05:15] This must be something which you instinctually go into. [02:05:20] It can't be, as I said, something you have to consciously think about. Unless your opponent's chin is physically stopping you, you should be [02:05:30] going in on that default principle, the moment the chin rises to even a small degree. We go straight in and start to attack with a stranglehold.

[02:05:38] There has to [02:05:40] be an absolutely constant threat of your arm penetrating the neck and going through into the stranglehold. This will keep your opponent honest with his [02:05:50] chin position and form distraction on the part if he focuses so hard on the chin position, it's going to become easier for you to win the hand fight battle and start throwing legs [02:06:00] over And you play your opponent in a dilemma between dominating the arms And then as he reacts to that and lifts the chin, going back into the default, [02:06:10] the immediate attack on my opponent's neck, which should occur any time our opponent's chin lifts higher than the width of our wrist.[02:06:20]

[02:06:20] As I said, this has to be a hardwired instinct on your part. This should be occur almost on autopilot. Anytime the chin rises even that minimal degree, the [02:06:30] hand shoots in and we work immediately for the stranglehold. If we get frustrated, we go back to the hand fight and try to trap the arm. Play your opponent off between the default principle [02:06:40] and the trapping of the arm with one of your legs.

[02:06:42] And believe me, you'll be a hard person to stop when you're fighting for strangles from the back.[02:06:50]

[02:06:50] We're running through ten of the major principles that characterize this technique. Let's go now into the hierarchy principle. This is the idea that when we work behind [02:07:00] someone, there's a hierarchy of hand fighting positions that we can go into. Okay. We know that in general, we like to have our hands in top position.[02:07:10]

[02:07:11] If we're going to have a hand on bottom, we'll accept bottom hand on the strangle hand. Not so much on the control hand. It's very [02:07:20] important that we always get top hand on the control side. I can tolerate bottom hand on the strangle side because ultimately I can always use [02:07:30] my legs to back me up on that side.

[02:07:32] Okay, but here on this side, the control side, I'm always looking hard for top position. If I feel I've ever lost top position on either [02:07:40] side, I can always pull my hand back in the direction of weakness and go in and seize my opponent. on top. Okay. He will be doing the same thing, twisting and turning [02:07:50] away and looking for his own top position.

[02:07:52] So there's a strong hand fight here. We've seen that when we work here, the hierarchy of hand [02:08:00] positions goes between top and bottom. That's one kind of hierarchy. And the other is between straight grips and cross [02:08:10] grips. Okay, because of this we can start to create a sense of hierarchy that when we work with straight grips, the bottom of the [02:08:20] hierarchy, the absolute undesirable bottom would be me with two straight grips on bottom.

[02:08:25] This would be undesirable, okay? From here we can just pull our hand back [02:08:30] and take top position, and this brings us to the an adequate grip. It's not a great grip, but it's adequate for our purposes because we do have top hand on [02:08:40] the control, but we've got bottom hand straight. We've got two straight grips, one top, one bottom.

[02:08:45] We could take our opponent's hand down below the [02:08:50] line of his chest and from here hook over the top and now we're in a winning position. We have an uncontested stranglehand ready for the strangle. How do we grade the [02:09:00] hierarchy? Well, ultimately it comes down to one thing. It's our ability to take our opponent's secondary hand below the line of his chest.

[02:09:09] The line of the [02:09:10] chest is usually pretty easy to identify in most healthy males. It's the line of the pictorial muscles. Just like so. I always want his hand, especially the [02:09:20] thumb, below that line. If my opponent's hand is above the line of the pictorials, it takes a considerable amount of flexibility to be able to hook [02:09:30] your opponent's arm.

[02:09:31] When the hand, in particular the thumb, goes below the line of the pictorials, it takes very little flexibility to be able to put my opponent's [02:09:40] hand behind the bank and lock it up. So, how we grade the various hand finding positions is basically based on around that simple idea. How good is this [02:09:50] grip at keeping my opponent's wrist and thumb and hand below my training partner's pectorals, okay?

[02:09:57] We've seen that, [02:10:00] uh, from here the, the bottom of the hierarchy is when he's grabbing my hand, he has top hand position on the strangle side, and we just push our hand down, come over, catch, and put it behind. [02:10:10] A slightly better, more controlling would be where I have two straight grips on top. And now I can physically push my opponent's hand down below the pectorals [02:10:20] and go in and make a good hook.

[02:10:23] Cross grips are even better than straight grips for the simple reason that we get an effect rather like, as we discussed earlier, [02:10:30] a rope with a knot at the end of it. So when he goes to pull away, that knot effect makes it very, very difficult. Moreover, because I control the inside wrist, [02:10:40] and can easily glue my opponent's hand down to his own chest.

[02:10:44] It strongly controls my opponent's elbow on the one side and enables me to use my own elbow [02:10:50] as A wedge around my opponent's rib cage, so when he goes to Yanks arm free, it's shockingly difficult. This makes it very easy for me to [02:11:00] maintain his wrist well below the pictorial line, and as a result, we can easily hook onto our training partner's arm and clear it behind the back.

[02:11:07] The minimum that I need when we work in these [02:11:10] situations is what we call single cross, where I take a single cross grip and hold one hand, just like so his other hand can be anywhere it wants. just by holding the one hand that's more than [02:11:20] enough for me to tramp and then from here get my control and then ultimately come back to a control grip.

[02:11:26] Here, and lock up. However, most of the time we like [02:11:30] to work with two hands gripping our opponent. So, once we get the cross grip here, and hold it down, we have single cross, our opponent may well [02:11:40] grip our wrist, so that we can't strangle him. Okay, let go. From here, if he doesn't monitor my strangle hand, I'll go right in and strangle right here.

[02:11:47] So of course he's interested in locking on tight. [02:11:50] Tight. Now, from here, I bring my foot over, and And put his hand behind the back. Then I punch through, strip his grip off, and what have we got? An [02:12:00] uncontested stranglehand for the finish. But best of all, however, the top of the hierarchy, so to speak, is a situation where I have a cross grip, a single [02:12:10] cross grip from my opponent, and he goes to peel my hand off.

[02:12:13] Not a bad move on his part, because if he succeeds, he frees himself. However, by trying to take my hand [02:12:20] off, he exposes himself to a double cross grip, the strongest of all the grips from here. When he goes to pull away from me now, it's shockingly difficult and as a result we can [02:12:30] easily pass the foot over the top, lock in and find ourselves with an uncontested stranglehand ready for the win.

[02:12:37] Once we understand this [02:12:40] simple hierarchy of hand fighting positions, you'll know exactly what you want to look for. You'll look ultimately for the top of the hierarchy, double cross grips. Which make it an easy [02:12:50] thing for you to force your opponent's secondary defensive hand down below the pictorials.

[02:12:55] And as a result, you'll have an easy time hooking onto your opponent's [02:13:00] arm and creating your own uncontested stranglehand.

[02:13:07] Now we're going through the underlying principles [02:13:10] of the back system. Let's look now at one of the crucial ones for the system overall. This is the concentration diffusion principle. We've seen that [02:13:20] most of the back system, the primary interest that it has is a hand fighting system designed to set up, uh, The most high percentage of all the finishes from the bag, the rear [02:13:30] naked strangle.

[02:13:31] Okay, so most of what we do is an elaborate hand fighting system designed to create situations where my opponent's arms are bound up and controlled by [02:13:40] arm and leg and from here We can go in and attack. The number one move of the sport, as far as finishing percentages goes, the rear naked strangle from the back.

[02:13:49] [02:13:50] Now let's understand something. The rear naked strangle is a move utilizing my arms against a very specific part of my opponent's body, the neck. Very localized, small [02:14:00] thing. So what have we got here? We've got one weapon, the rear naked strangle, being used against one very specific part of my opponent's body, the neck.[02:14:10]

[02:14:10] So you've got essentially a battle here for concentration of force. My one arm has to penetrate a very small area and go through into [02:14:20] one move, the Red Naked Strangle. So, I know what I want to do, he knows what I want to do, and he's going to localize all his defensive forces around that one specific area that I'm [02:14:30] attacking, and I need an elaborate method of tying up those defensive forces, however we were doing it, so that I can fight my way through and get to the strangle.

[02:14:39] So the whole [02:14:40] emphasis on the straightjacket system is concentration of force. Everything's about one weapon fighting through a very small area against very strong defenses. [02:14:50] Then we've got the auxiliary systems, which have a completely different modus operandi. They are designed to diffuse our attacks over the whole body.

[02:14:59] A [02:15:00] wide array of attacks, many different attacks. Submission holds of every kind. Arm locks, leg locks, strangle holds, um, even spinal cranks, etc, etc. [02:15:10] Um, so we have a wide array of attacks over the lengths and breaks of the human body. So the auxiliary systems have a diffusing element, which put, as I [02:15:20] said, a large number of attacks over the whole body.

[02:15:22] The straitjacket system, the main part of the system, is the opposite of that. Which is just one weapon breaking through a very [02:15:30] localized, heavily defended part of my opponent's body. By playing those two against each other, concentration of force on your one hand and diffusion of [02:15:40] of targets on the other.

[02:15:43] That's how we achieve the breakthrough. You create a tension in your opponent between very concentrated attacks on one part of the body on the one hand, [02:15:50] and then substituting that to various means of switching attacks[02:16:00]

[02:16:00] on the other. By playing those two off, concentration of force versus diffusion of attacks on the other hand, you're [02:16:10] going to break through a lot of people.

[02:16:15] We're going through ten of the major, uh, underlying principles [02:16:20] that, uh, give character to the back to back system. Let's go. Now, the closed wedges principle. Um, you will probably remember from the Leglock, [02:16:30] uh, DVD that I have a, uh, a preference for closed wedges over open wedges in many cases. Not all cases, but in, in many cases I, I do favor them.

[02:16:39] Um, [02:16:40] they add a kind of security of grip. Which can be very, very useful. Now, in the case of the back, you'll see that my knees function as wedges around [02:16:50] my training partner's body and offer lower body control. Okay? The basis of my hooks is really my knees. People always understand it as your lower legs, the area from the [02:17:00] knees to the feet.

[02:17:00] In fact, it's more about the knees themselves. You can clearly see this with a simple experiment. When we take our feet out and place them in what we In America, it would be called a crab [02:17:10] ride position. You still have excellent control of your opponent's hips just from your knee position without any hooks inserted at all.

[02:17:19] Once you, [02:17:20] uh, understand that the knees are the focus of control from the back, you can see that when we walk, when we work, sorry, with open feet, it's relatively easy for my [02:17:30] opponent to first beat my foot, and then critically beat my knee. and escape the back position.

[02:17:39] [02:17:40] So, anything we can do to prevent our opponent beating the foot first and the knee second is going to be money in the bank. So when I fall to a given side, it's often a good [02:17:50] idea to get my foot as high up as possible and keep my feet as close together as possible so that the wedges, my two knees around my opponent's [02:18:00] body, get locked in place.

[02:18:02] Now the single strongest lock you can form in these situations is always the figure of four, the body triangle. [02:18:10] This means now that my two knees are simply locked in place around my opponent's body. When he goes into any kind of attempt to misalign his body to [02:18:20] mine, it becomes significantly more difficult for him to do so.

[02:18:23] Whether my leg is locked on the outside, which is generally my preference, or my second preference, on the inside. These [02:18:30] are going to lock the wedges of your knees around your opponent's body in a very, very strong and satisfying way. Now that we've done that, now we can take our time, start to win the [02:18:40] hand fight, and then from there start pinning arms down.

[02:18:44] Now, Realistically, in a gym, you're going to be expected [02:18:50] to go with people well outside of your own body weight. And it's not always going to be realistic, given your body versus your opponent's body, that you're always going to be able to [02:19:00] lock a body triangle around your opponent's midsection. I was born with relatively short legs for my height, and so, for me, it's often a struggle when someone [02:19:10] generously built through the waist to lock a successful body triangle.

[02:19:13] In cases like this, another closed wedge that we can use is to take our training partner's body and lock over [02:19:20] with crossed feet over our training partner's hip like so. This too has a very strong wedging effect and when my opponent goes to turn his hips and [02:19:30] misalign himself from me, it's a difficult thing for him to achieve.

[02:19:33] These locked feet over one hip are almost as good is the body triangle option [02:19:40] and very useful in situations where you have shorter legs or your opponent is generously built through the waist. There's always going to be that guy who's so generously built through the waist [02:19:50] and hips that you can't even achieve this.

[02:19:52] In these cases, I generally recommend the foot on the hip and a post of your right foot on the hook pushing down [02:20:00] and the left foot coming up like so. You don't need to lock your feet here, just have your feet close together. And in this way, your feet are not [02:20:10] locked, it's not a truly closed wedge, but they're so close together you get most of the benefit of a body triangle without the necessary leg length or thinness through your opponent's [02:20:20] waist that would require, be required in the case of a true body triangle.

[02:20:25] But when my opponent goes to move around to you. Even though this is technically still an open [02:20:30] wedge, it's still a lot more closed than if I just had my feet in a symmetrical position like so, where even small movements will enable him to quickly beat my hooks. So, [02:20:40] ranking in order of importance, if possible, either because my legs are long enough or his waist is slim enough, when we can lock the full body triangle on the outside, that's [02:20:50] our general preference.

[02:20:51] Body triangle on the inside would be next after that. Yeah. Also very good is to lock over my training [02:21:00] partner's hip with crossed feet, like so. In certain situations, provided I don't cross my feet in the middle, it's even fine to cross my feet in situations [02:21:10] here. I wouldn't recommend it between your training partner's legs, then you can run into problems.

[02:21:14] But we've seen some simple solutions to this in the past. Um, In [02:21:20] situations where my opponent is so thick through the waist, and my legs are so short, that even these things are not possible, just post on your training partner's hip, and bring the foot up to your own foot. And in [02:21:30] this way, your feet are as close to being closed, without actually locking, as they can be.

[02:21:37] And now when my opponent goes to move away from me, it's hard for [02:21:40] him to do the bottom hook. What we want to avoid is situations where we simply have our feet in a symmetrical position where you can easily go over. Now, if for whatever reason, usually [02:21:50] because my legs are very short and his waist is very large, that I can't even get any kind of closeness on the part of my feet, forget about a lock, I can't even bring my feet too [02:22:00] close together, I have to work with open feet like so.

[02:22:02] In these situations, the closure has to be with your upper body. So we'll take our hands and lock them here like so. [02:22:10] Now, when my opponent goes to move away, even if he beats the bottom control, we still have good control of the top. upper body grips and we've got [02:22:20] a locked closed wedge around our training partner's head and shoulders and from here it's not so hard for us to start coming up and turning people [02:22:30] over and going back into lean positions.

[02:22:32] So the general rule is when we have a choice If our legs are long enough and our opponent's waist is slim enough, I [02:22:40] generally tend to favor body triangles, variations of body triangles, or closed feet, any kind of closed wedge that inhibits the movement of my opponent's body misalign his body with [02:22:50] mine.

[02:22:51] Um, In cases where that's just physically impossible, I should at least bring my feet as close together as I can through the use of a post rear mount. In [02:23:00] cases where even that's not possible, then the closure has to come from the upper body and we lock up a tight seat belt around our opponent and use that to maneuver around our opponent's body and make up for the [02:23:10] failure to get closed wedges in the lower body with closed wedges at the upper body.

[02:23:17] Speaker 8: [02:23:20] It's time for us now to start to go into the actual workings of the straightjacket system. We've seen how to stay aligned with our training partner. We've seen the crucial [02:23:30] themes that make the straightjacket system possible. Now it's time to actually look at a situation where you have the rear mounted position.

[02:23:37] You want to fight your way through into a, a, [02:23:40] a, a rear naked strangle. Let's start by looking at a very, very important division in the system. There are two ways that the system goes, [02:23:50] okay? There are essentially two straightjacket systems. The first is where we fall towards the underarm side. I'm just going to demonstrate what I mean.

[02:23:59] We know that [02:24:00] when we're behind someone and we have our hooks in, et cetera, et cetera, We have an arm that goes under our opponent's arm, which we refer to as the control arm. And we have an [02:24:10] arm that goes over the shoulder, which we refer to as the strangle arm. Okay. Orthodoxy in Jiu Jitsu says that this is the weak side.

[02:24:19] and falling [02:24:20] to the strangle side is the strong side. Okay. We've seen that my approach to the back position is neutral with regard side. I've [02:24:30] tried to explain to you that, uh, uh, I, I favor falling in either direction. There's pros and cons to both. Okay. And it is neither as weak or no stronger than the other.

[02:24:39] [02:24:40] So I classify. The first part of the system, not as the weak side part of the system, but as the underarm side of the system. We're going to look first at the idea of [02:24:50] falling towards the underside. First, why do I fall back to a side? Why is that important? Okay. Um, it's very important that we don't fall back in straight [02:25:00] lines.

[02:25:00] I'll demonstrate why. When we fall back in straight lines, our opponent can start bridging. And as he bridges, his head Starts to come higher [02:25:10] than my head and that creates situations where it's very very hard for me to get successful strangles on my opponent Moreover any pull on his part of my strangle [02:25:20] arm is extremely effective Okay, this is not a good position to be strangling people in.

[02:25:26] I must have my opponent's head lower than my head [02:25:30] The moment I see someone's head getting high up like this I gotta stop whatever I'm doing and break them down to a hip So I need, at this point, to start pommeling my legs underneath my training [02:25:40] partner's legs. And from here, we hit a forward shift that puts my opponent down into a situation where I can put a single hook in, and then break them [02:25:50] down to a single hip.

[02:25:52] When he goes to bridge out of this position now, he'll never be able to get his head higher than my head. I cannot tolerate situations [02:26:00] like this. where his head Comes up higher than mine. This is not a good strangulation position. So if this should ever happen I've got to stop whatever [02:26:10] i'm doing at this point and start putting his body weight down my body I've got to create a situation where his head Is lower than my head and from here I [02:26:20] break into a single hit Once he's on one hip his ability to bridge is strongly diminished And now I can keep him where he ought to be which is his head lower than mine where [02:26:30] my strangles take great effect Okay, this is a little proviso there on head position and the relative height of your your opponent's here now With that being said we [02:26:40] need to go into the first part of The back attack system the straightjacket system which involves falling to the underside This is probably the most well known [02:26:50] part of the back attack system.

[02:26:52] It is also the one which caught most people's eye because it seemed to go against orthodoxy. We're always getting told don't fall to the weak side. Don't fall [02:27:00] to the weak side. And yet here you had a group of athletes who deliberately fell to the weak side and got an unusually high number of submission hole finishes on what people [02:27:10] believed was the weak side.

[02:27:12] So why do I encourage my athletes? to fall to the weak side so often. What's in it? Um, well, we've already seen that there's nothing [02:27:20] really intrinsically weak about it. It's only weak if I create conditions that make it weak. There's nothing inherently weak about it. There are, on the other hand, some [02:27:30] considerable advantages.

[02:27:33] When I fall to the side of the underarm, it creates an unweighted leg. When I fall to my [02:27:40] left hand side and I start putting my foot up high in this position, this creates one leg that carries no weight. And as a result, it can move [02:27:50] in a very mobile fashion around my opponent's body. I can use it to lock down his body with a body triangle, either inside, outside, etc.

[02:27:59] I can [02:28:00] post on my training partner's hip to put weight on my opponent. And critically, I can use it, because it's unweighted, to start hooking into my training partner's arms. [02:28:10] Remember, what we're working against here is the deficit problem. My opponent has one, two, three, items of defense. [02:28:20] I, at the very most, have two items of offense, and usually it's only one.

[02:28:25] Okay? We have to be able to redress that balance. You just can't accept [02:28:30] getting outnumbered when you're in what's supposedly the most dominant position in the sport. The way we overcome the deficit problem is to incorporate the use of our [02:28:40] legs, where our legs play a role in immobilizing our opponent's arms.

[02:28:46] Only then can we get to a situation where I have [02:28:50] parity of numbers with my offensive instruments versus his defensive instruments. We're not being outnumbered anymore, okay? So we need ways to bring our [02:29:00] legs into the equation. It's so much easier for me to bring my legs into the equation when they don't bear weight.

[02:29:07] Here I have an unweighted leg, which means any, [02:29:10] if it or might not. To trap an arm is so easy. Let's contrast that with falling to what is supposedly the strong side.[02:29:20]

[02:29:20] When I fall towards the strong side, as most people call it, now, all his weight's on my right leg. There's no way I can [02:29:30] use my right leg now to trap his arm. It's trapped by his body weight. Now, he's got his arms set defensively on me, I've got to fight through his hands. Okay, we'll see [02:29:40] later that there are some arm traps on the control side.

[02:29:44] They're, they're not bad. They're not as good as attacking the secondary arm, but they're there. We'll look at them later. [02:29:50] But there's no way I'm going to trap his secondary arm with my legs now. He's sitting on top of it. Okay, so ironically, falling to what people call the strong side, actually, [02:30:00] strengthens your opponent's defenses.

[02:30:01] So I guess in that sense, it is a strong side. Um, when we fall across the other way, that's exactly when we [02:30:10] have an unweighted leg. And from here, it's relatively easy to start getting feet hooked over our training partner's arms. Okay. So with that in mind, as a [02:30:20] provisor, that's why I so often like to see my opponent, sorry, my athletes fall.

[02:30:26] Towards the, uh, uh, what most people call the weak side, what we [02:30:30] call the underarm side, since we're neutral as to whether one side is stronger or weaker than the other. Now, with that in mind, as a provisor, it's time for us to start going in here, [02:30:40] and the first thing we're going to look at is establishing a hierarchy of hand fighting positions.

[02:30:47] Not all the hand fighting positions are considered equal. [02:30:50] They're all good. But some are better than others. Okay, let's start off with the bottom of the hierarchy and start working our way up to the top [02:31:00] Okay, I'm behind my training partner I have my arm underneath I have my arm over the top and I'm looking for grips Okay, probably the grip that I will [02:31:10] focus on first more than anything else is to take care of my opponent's primary defensive hand Okay, because that's the hand that will literally stop me in my tracks It [02:31:20] establishes inside position with my opponent's thumb, and as a result, it's almost impossible for me to work my way through.

[02:31:27] So whenever I'm behind someone, one of the things I like to do [02:31:30] right from the start is to get a hold of my training partner's primary defensive hand at the knuckle line and bolt it down. Unfortunately, that means that he's got a [02:31:40] secondary defensive hand, which if he knows what he's doing, he'll hold the thumb line, and now I won't be able to finish my strangle.

[02:31:46] Okay? If he holds the wrist Then I could [02:31:50] finish my strangle. I could get my elbow in position and go to work. But when he holds the end of the lever, up there at the thumb line, it's difficult. So now I have to start incorporating [02:32:00] my legs. I'm going to take my foot across my opponent's body, and from here I have either a body lock if my legs are long and my opponent's waist is [02:32:10] thin, or a post rear mount if my legs are short and his waist is thick.

[02:32:15] Now, in this situation, what do I need? Well, the minimum [02:32:20] requirement that I need is to take my opponent's secondary hand and put it below the line of his chest. Your opponent's chest line, the line of your opponent's [02:32:30] pectoral muscles, is the critical demarcation line. I must push my opponent's wrist below that line.

[02:32:39] If [02:32:40] the wrist is above the line of the chest, it will take extraordinary flexibility on your part to be able to get a hook over your training [02:32:50] partner's wrist. So what we need is the ability to put the wrist below the line of the chest. Once that occurs, even a 51 year old man [02:33:00] with a hip replacement can easily put his foot over the top lock and start to control.

[02:33:06] Okay. The question is, How am I going to get that hand down there? [02:33:10] Well, the first grip that we're going to look at is the lowest in the hierarchy of grips. That is where I have top hand dominance on my [02:33:20] opponent's primary hand, but he has top hand dominance on my stranglehand. So here we have an example of indirect gripping.

[02:33:28] I have two straight [02:33:30] grips, but one of them is indirect. Okay. From that indirect grip, I'm going to try to strangle and I feel his power as he [02:33:40] stalks me in my tracks. What do I do? I lift the control hand and then I take, with that indirect grip, his wrist below the line of [02:33:50] the pectorals. The second I feel it go in, I make use of an attribute that every single [02:34:00] one of you, every human on this planet has.

[02:34:02] That is prior perception. The ability of one part of my body to find another. My foot [02:34:10] will always find my own hand, even in total darkness. So all I do is just take my foot and slap my own hand with it. [02:34:20] That puts it over my training partner's wrist and allows me to dominate the arm. I take his foot and I put my shoelaces [02:34:30] behind his back.

[02:34:31] And I touch his spine with my shoelaces of my foot. If I just put my hand, my foot here, he can eventually pommel his hand [02:34:40] free and escape. Okay. So it's very important when he holds me tight, tight, I push his wrist below the line of his chest. That's step [02:34:50] number one. Step number two, I take my unweighted leg and I use that human attribute that we all have, prior perception, and I slap [02:35:00] the heel of my foot.

[02:35:01] And as a result, it's so easy to push, extend, and put my [02:35:10] shoelaces all the way through and touch my training partner's spine. Now when he goes to pull his arm free, it's a closed circle around his [02:35:20] arm. The only thing left for him to defend himself is his chin. We now have what was the goal all along, the critical, critical [02:35:30] goal.

[02:35:31] An uncontested stranglehand. There is nothing left to fight my stranglehand. The primary hand is controlled by my [02:35:40] hand, top hand dominant. The secondary hand is controlled by my right leg. Now, the only thing between me and a successful [02:35:50] strangulation is my opponent's chin and jaw. And I have one of the most efficient instruments in the world.

[02:35:57] an uncontested stranglehand to go [02:36:00] through and finish. Very soon, we're going to be looking at exactly how we use that uncontested stranglehand to get the finish. So there's the bottom of the [02:36:10] hierarchy. It's good, but obviously there's better. That's where my stranglehand is controlled by his secondary hand.

[02:36:18] From here, I [02:36:20] try to bring it up. I know what my goal is, is to put his wrist below the line of his chest. The second that happens, we can use the unweighted leg to go through, [02:36:30] and I use prior perception to touch my own hand. Regardless of how old or inflexible you are, I'm the perfect example, you should be able to do this.

[02:36:39] [02:36:40] One part of your body can always find another part, regardless of your, your athletic abilities. Now, from here, he makes a strong arm, his arm is [02:36:50] never as strong as my leg. I bring my shoelaces behind his back until my shoelaces touch his spine. When he goes to [02:37:00] circle his arm out, it's almost impossible.

[02:37:03] Because of my knuckle line grip, when he goes to circle out the other arm, it's very, very difficult. [02:37:10] If I feel I have to, I will double up on it. When he goes to wriggle free, I make sure I keep good head position. We don't want our [02:37:20] opponent's head. beating our head. If we should ever see there's a danger of this, I will stop what I'm doing, and I will use a wraparound grip, where I grab my training [02:37:30] partner's head, and I correct it.

[02:37:32] I don't care if his jaw is down, this is not a strangulation grip. As I lose the head, head to the floor, [02:37:40] I will use a wraparound, control the whole head, and physically pull my head back into a winning position, so that the head trap is The fundamental basis of [02:37:50] back control, my head, and stranglehand on either side of his head, is maintained.[02:38:00]

[02:38:00] Let's go further into this hierarchy of hand fighting from the back. We just looked at the bottom of the hierarchy, which is double straight grips, with one of those grips being [02:38:10] indirect. Now let's look at double straight grips, two direct grips, slight improvement on what we just saw previously. We know [02:38:20] that when we get behind someone, we're under and over, okay?

[02:38:24] We have an opponent with a primary defensive hand and a secondary defensive hand, okay? [02:38:30] As soon as possible, we want to tie up the primary defensive hand because that's the hand which will stop me in my tracks. The dominant inside thumb prevents me from getting any kind of [02:38:40] effective strangle going So we always want to tie it up and because it's a straight grip we work at the knuckle line like so, okay once we fall Over to our side in a [02:38:50] position like so very often.

[02:38:51] We'll have an opponent who has a strong grip on us So we have an indirect grip on him. Okay, let's understand something His grip is very very [02:39:00] strong at preventing me bringing the hand across the body But it is shockingly weak in another direction The grip that he has now is very good at [02:39:10] preventing my right hand going over his left shoulder, which would be a strangulation.

[02:39:15] But it is abysmally weak at stopping me taking my hand over his right [02:39:20] shoulder. It's so easy. People fight against the strength of a grip, not knowing that all the time, all they had to do was change direction, and they'd [02:39:30] get out so easily. I never fight into the strength of my opponent's grip. I fight out of the strength of his grip.

[02:39:39] [02:39:40] If he holds me with his right hand, the weakness is over his right shoulder. He can hold as tight as he want. He'll stop me easily going over the left shoulder, [02:39:50] but he'll never stop me going over the right. The second that happens, I go in and I take a grip along the knuckle line, top hand dominant. [02:40:00] Now I have double straight direct grips.

[02:40:04] This is one of my favorite grips to work with. It's a little superior to the idea of an indirect grip, [02:40:10] because in truth, the only thing holding me on to my opponent now is my opponent. If he was smart and let go, and changed grips in the [02:40:20] course of combat, I wouldn't be able to manipulate him into an arm trap.

[02:40:24] But when I grip him, it's me deciding where his hand goes, not him. [02:40:30] So when I get double straights, again, the goal is always the same. I want to take his wrist below the line of his pectorals. That's the critical demarcation line that I'm [02:40:40] always thinking about. So as I'm behind my training partner, I lift the control hand and I push the secondary hand, my opponent's secondary hand, down below [02:40:50] the line of his pecs.

[02:40:52] As a result, I can use prior perception to touch my own hand like so. Now, I push. I [02:41:00] put my shoelaces in behind his spine, and once again, what have we got? Two trapped arms. Both of his arms are pinned down. When he tries to release them, [02:41:10] it's so difficult. If I should feel he's trying to move his head away from me, then from here we use the head wrap to get our head back in a winning position.

[02:41:19] And from [02:41:20] here, we're in a position where we can start to strangle. When he goes to move away from me with arms, it's so difficult in this position. Okay, again, [02:41:30] I start off behind my training partner. Okay, he has me with the grip. If I try to fight into the grip, yes, he feels as strong as a bull. But when I go [02:41:40] right over right, he feels as weak as a kitten.

[02:41:43] Now I catch and hold. When he goes to pull away from me, it won't be easy in the time available. [02:41:50] Because the time available is simply the time it takes me to push his wrist below the line of his pectorals. Then I use my unweighted foot to go over [02:42:00] the top and my heel touches my own hand. You can do this in the dark, your body can do it, you have to trust me.

[02:42:08] Now from here, we [02:42:10] push down, my shoelaces go behind his back, and now there's nothing between my arm and his neck. His two hands are [02:42:20] both pinned down and we're in the perfect position to start fighting for the strangle.[02:42:30]

[02:42:32] We're starting to get into the details of the straightjacket system. We've seen in the [02:42:40] past that I have a strong preference for cross grips over straight grips. The reasoning was that cross grips do a better job of [02:42:50] controlling our training partner, utilizing the His ribcage and torso and therefore do a better job of controlling my opponent's elbow [02:43:00] when he goes to yank away his elbow is pinned close to his own body and my elbow is reinforced by his ribcage as opposed to a situation [02:43:10] where my elbow is unsupported with a straight grip and his elbow is unrestrained and as a result violent movement from his elbow usually results in a breakout.

[02:43:19] [02:43:20] Here both his elbow and my elbow are restrained. In addition, we get a slipping effect going to the end of a rope [02:43:30] using the additional width of the hand to our advantage. As a result, when my opponent goes to pull away, it's just not easy. Now, [02:43:40] because of considerations like that, I rate cross grips higher than straight grips when we're working with a hierarchy from behind our opponent's back.

[02:43:48] The minimum cross grip that [02:43:50] you need if you're going to be successful in these situations is what we call single cross. Whenever we get behind our opponent, the first thing I'm looking for is to get, at a [02:44:00] minimum, the single cross grip. Yes, there are better grips than the single cross, but the single cross is your minimum requirement.

[02:44:07] If you can get that, you can definitely [02:44:10] hook onto a lot of people's arms, pin it behind the back, and strangle a lot of people. Let's have a look now at single cross. In a situation [02:44:20] where we're behind our training partner, we've seen that we always start with an arm underneath, an arm over the top, and typically from here we're looking to tie up our training partner's primary [02:44:30] defensive hand.

[02:44:30] Just like so. Once we start the action of falling over,

[02:44:39] and [02:44:40] we're in a position like so, as much as possible, we're As early as possible, I want to get away from straight gripping, which is good, to go [02:44:50] into cross gripping, which is great. Okay? So, from here, we're going to use a move called the pass off. I have double straight grips. [02:45:00] I'm going to take my hand, and I'm going to put my hand between our two hands.

[02:45:06] What I'm looking to do is to expose what we're calling, [02:45:10] with rather poor taste, the It's the suicide zone of our training partner's wrist, okay? I'm trying to expose it to my thumb. So [02:45:20] I take his hand and turn it and I expose the suicide zone. I put the blade of my hand between our two hands and my thumb covers the [02:45:30] suicide zone.

[02:45:31] When my training partner goes to yank out, he just goes to tighten the knot at the end of the rope that we talked about previously. You [02:45:40] now have A single cross grip. The beauty of the cross grip, or one of the beauties of it, is that it does an exemplary job of keeping your [02:45:50] opponent's wrist below the critical demarcation line, the line of his pectorals.

[02:45:55] Remember, if the wrist is above the line of the pectorals, it will [02:46:00] take extraordinary flexibility on your part to be able to hook your training partner's wrist. Now, if you're built like BJ Penn, you may be able to do this. But if you're built [02:46:10] with a 51 year old body with a head replacement, you're definitely not.

[02:46:13] So, we need to be able to push the wrist below the line of the pictorials. The beauty of the [02:46:20] cross grip is that because of the thumb inside position, if my opponent tries to bring the wrist northwards towards his chin, my thumb is [02:46:30] inside his wrist and makes it extremely difficult for him to bring the hand up.

[02:46:35] It's a great, great way to solidify his wrist. below the line [02:46:40] of the pictorials. Now, I don't care what he does with his other arm, okay? For now, all I know is that if I have single cross, I'm ready to go. There's no need for me to [02:46:50] wait. At this point, I can have an arm around his neck. He can be dragging, it doesn't matter.

[02:46:54] All I do is I just throw my foot over and I touch my own hand with my own foot, [02:47:00] making use once again of the innate ability that all human beings have, prior perception. Your foot will always find your hand. From here, I go [02:47:10] over and touch. Now, I use the heel to go through and put it in behind. Once I get the secondary hand behind, I go hunting for my [02:47:20] opponent's primary defensive hand.

[02:47:21] Catch it, pass it, and lock it up on the knuckle line. And what have we got? Two trapped arms, and [02:47:30] An uncontested stranglehand, which is always our goal. Our goal in the entire straitjacket system is to create conditions where I [02:47:40] have an uncontested stranglehand to use against my opponent's neck. What I don't want It's to have to strangle in a contested situation, where his two [02:47:50] hands are controlling mine, and I'm trying to get strangles on him.

[02:47:52] This is a disaster. It's so difficult to strangle people like this. I'm sure you've all had those frustrating experiences where you take someone down, pass [02:48:00] their guard, get their back, score your points for hooks, and you just can't break through. The hands are all over you. You're outnumbered here. He's got two defensive hands and a [02:48:10] chin against your one offensive stranglehand.

[02:48:12] You're outnumbered three to one. Okay, we can't accept that. Those are just not good odds. So from here, we've seen this [02:48:20] idea that when someone grabs our wrist, we use a pass off. I go through, grip, and I take a single cross grip. The moment [02:48:30] I have that in place, there's no need to wait. We go over the top and touch our own hand with our foot.

[02:48:36] And then we go around the corner and put it behind the [02:48:40] back. As he goes in to stop the strangle, I get opportunities to tie up his one remaining hand. Now both arms are constrained, and I [02:48:50] still have a free hand, which there's nothing to fight against it except his jaw, and we'll soon see it's not going to be enough.[02:49:00]

[02:49:05] We're working our way through the hierarchy of the possible hand fighting positions [02:49:10] when uh, when we work on someone's back. We've seen that we have a general preference for cross grips over straight grips. And we have a general preference [02:49:20] for direct grips over indirect grips. That's not to say the other grips are not valuable.

[02:49:26] We use them all the time. Sometimes you can't get the most preferred grips. Sometimes you gotta [02:49:30] go with what you got. Okay, you're not always going to get the best grip imaginable, but a lot of times you will, but if you have choices Obviously work your way up the hierarchy. We're going pretty far [02:49:40] up the hierarchy now We're starting to get into the so called double cross grips.

[02:49:43] The first one we're going to look at is double cross indirect Okay [02:49:50] We're behind our opponent We've got one arm under one arm over and from here we've fallen successfully to one side Now from this position, we're trying [02:50:00] to fix up our grips. We've seen that if we start with double straight It's not a difficult thing for us to use a pass off and get a single cross grip.

[02:50:08] Okay? Now, [02:50:10] you have a stranglehand. Your opponent knows that. He reasons to himself, well, the stranglehand is going to enter here. So let [02:50:20] me put my remaining defensive arm exactly where he has to enter. Smart move. That's a good man who thinks that way. He's reasoning tactically and that's a good move.

[02:50:29] [02:50:30] Actually, the best move he could make under the circumstance. I am going to willingly give him my strangle hand. I put my hand in and [02:50:40] I fake a strangle. If he doesn't react to the fake, I'll strangle him right here. I'll go through and strangle. So he has to react to the fake. He goes in and makes a solid grip.

[02:50:49] [02:50:50] So now he has a direct grip on me. I have an indirect grip on him. But I have a direct cross grip on the one that counts. The [02:51:00] secondary defensive hand. That's the one I'm trying to hook with my leg. Now, as he holds me off, he thinks he's doing a good job. He's stopping that strangle. I'm doing fine. I'm surviving.

[02:51:09] I'm doing fine. [02:51:10] All I do is I go over the top. I use prior perception to touch my own hand and put his secondary hand behind his back. I've got two [02:51:20] hands. He's only got one. Now I fake the strangle and get him pushing on me. And all I do is I go over the top and I seize the knuckle line. [02:51:30] I strip his grip off and what have we got?

[02:51:33] An uncontested stranglehand once again. From here, the uncontested stranglehand goes in [02:51:40] with no resistance from my opponent's arms. Let's have a look at that again. We're behind our training partner. We successfully go in under and over. [02:51:50] I start off with double straight grips. That's a good grip. I could just attack straight from here.

[02:51:56] But I see an opportunity as we fall over to the side to go to our [02:52:00] preferred cross grips. I take single cross using the pass off. My opponent intelligently reasons that the next attack [02:52:10] is going to be my stranglehand. And it's going to come in right here. So intelligently he puts his hand as a blocking mechanism.

[02:52:18] I give him the [02:52:20] block. Now, he has a cross grip on me that is direct. I have an indirect cross grip on him, but here I [02:52:30] have a direct cross grip on the arm that counts. He has an indirect cross grip on me. This is the arm that I want to take out of [02:52:40] business, the secondary arm. I take my foot over the top and eliminate it.

[02:52:45] Once the secondary arm is eliminated, I go back to the primary [02:52:50] arm. I bring my hand inside. I don't attack at the wrist. I attack at the knuckle line. I put my fingers underneath, making sure that I never [02:53:00] break the rules of jiu jitsu by gripping fingers. That's illegal. I go through under the knuckle line, close my thumb over the top, he holds on as tight as he can, and I break it free.[02:53:10]

[02:53:10] Remember, never try to pull the hand off your wrist. That takes strength. Just immobilize the hand and turn your [02:53:20] wrist, and it comes out like magic. Again, never try to pull his hand off yours. That takes enormous amounts of strength. [02:53:30] Simply hold, and from here, I just turn inside the weakness of his thumb.

[02:53:36] And as a result, I come out, his [02:53:40] primary defensive hand is immobilized, his secondary defensive hand is immobilized. Is immobilized and the only thing between me and a strangulation victory is his [02:53:50] jaw. And we'll shortly be looking at how to win that battle.[02:54:00]

[02:54:00] Now we are looking at the hierarchy of grip fighting positions that our hands can go in relative to our opponent's hands whenever we find ourselves in a hard hand [02:54:10] fighting situation. on someone's back looking to trap arms in the so called straightjacket system. So far we're looking at the situation where we fell to what many people describe as the [02:54:20] weak side, what we call the underside.

[02:54:21] Our system is neutral whether we fall left or right. Um, we're going to look now at what is the top of the [02:54:30] chain as far as the hierarchy goes. This is the best hand fighting position to be in. This is the so called double cross position. Um, double cross with two [02:54:40] direct grips. This more than any other is the position which is associated with my students and their success in competition.

[02:54:46] This is the one we look for the most. Can we always get it? [02:54:50] No, but it's not always necessary. You can often get success with the grips we've looked at so far, but if you give us a choice, this is the one we're going for.[02:55:00]

[02:55:01] Okay? We're behind our training partner. We've seen standard beginning position. We go in and score our [02:55:10] opponent's hands. I'll demonstrate it out of double straight grips, okay. From double straight we use a pass off and we go in and secure our training partner's wrist, [02:55:20] okay. That gives us single cross. If my opponent didn't move from here and just sat there inert, okay, there's no reason why I [02:55:30] can't use single cross to just go in and start scoring his arm.

[02:55:33] Okay? But of course, no one's going to passively sit there when you're cross gripping them like so. [02:55:40] What we typically find is opponents do one of two things. Some people block here at the neck. But that's kind of a losing game. [02:55:50] Because when they block the neck, all we have to do is fake a strangle, ignore the indirect grip, and as we saw previously, go [02:56:00] through.

[02:56:00] and put them into a situation where we have an uncontested stranglehand. So what other opponents do is they reason to themselves, well, the real source of the problem is this damn [02:56:10] cross grip. That's what's causing all the problems. Because when he goes to pull his arm away, he can't. When he tries to bring his hand upwards, he can't.

[02:56:18] It runs into my thumb. [02:56:20] If I have to, I'll even use two hands here to hold it down and keep his wrist below the line of his pectorals. Remember, that pectoral line, that's the demarcation line. If my opponent's hand rises [02:56:30] above the pictorial line, there's no way I'll make a hook. So I always have to keep that wrist down there towards the belly button, okay, at least below the line of the [02:56:40] pictorials.

[02:56:40] And as a result, I'll always be able to get my foot over the top. So what many of your opponents are going to reason is, okay, this, this cross grip, that's the source of all my problems. [02:56:50] If he could take that off somehow, say for example, by reaching with his other hand and peel it off, well then he'd be free.

[02:56:57] And then he could start escaping. It's a natural [02:57:00] thought, okay? It's an intelligent thought. But unfortunately, it's also, uh, runs into major problems. When [02:57:10] I hold my opponent's wrist like so, if he ever goes to peel my hand off, which is a natural, intelligent thing to do, because it would, if it succeeded, it would actually [02:57:20] free him, he exposes himself to the double cross.

[02:57:24] The moment his hand goes to mine, Let's understand this in terms of the principle of top hands. Okay, give me a hand. [02:57:30] I started with two straight top hands I transferred To a better cross grip top hand. He went to peel it off. So now he's [02:57:40] got top hand control But i've still got an extra hand My extra hand just comes in and pulls it off Now you've got double cross [02:57:50] When your opponent goes to yank away from double cross Good luck.

[02:57:54] It's very, very difficult to get away from. Then from here, we just throw the foot over the top, [02:58:00] put behind the back, pass it off, and we're back into the knuckle line, and we're ready to go. Okay, this is my favorite way of controlling the back [02:58:10] and getting into the strangles. So again, we're going to demonstrate it out of double straight.

[02:58:14] That's a good grip in itself. Okay, a lot of times you'll finish people just with double straight. Okay, the problem is, however, [02:58:20] that at the higher levels, double straight, the elbows are not controlled. My opponent can violently yank his arms, and eventually break his way out, and then control my hand with top hand control.

[02:58:29] [02:58:30] Okay? So, we generally do better using a pass off to get cross grips. Now, if he puts his hand up here, as in the previous move, we saw how to deal with [02:58:40] that. This guy reasons to himself, well this cross grip, that's the source of all my problems, let me peel it off. The moment he goes to peel it off, he gives me double [02:58:50] cross.

[02:58:51] Two direct grips. It doesn't get any better than that. That's the top of the line. When my opponent goes to yank away, it's so difficult [02:59:00] and so easy for us now. To go in, control, and what have we got? An uncontested stranglehand. What we wanted all along. www (opens in a new tab). LRCgenerator. com The goal of [02:59:10] every single one of these hand fighting sequences is the same.

[02:59:12] It's always the same goal, to create an uncontested stranglehand. As my opponent's chin goes down, we [02:59:20] now find ourselves in a position where my hand can work without any resistance from my opponent's hands. It's so different from the normal situation that we see [02:59:30] athletes working on the back, where one stranglehand is getting submerged by two defensive hands, his chin is down, and you're pushing him away.

[02:59:37] Desperately trying to break through your opponent's hands. It's a [02:59:40] disaster. It's so difficult But the moment we create situations Where there's no defensive hands left It's just his jaw [02:59:50] against my strangle hand and that's when you're going to start strangling people on a lot of different occasions[03:00:00]

[03:00:02] We're looking at the straitjacket system where we fall to what most people call the weak side, what we call the [03:00:10] underside. And, um, uh, We're going through, we have been through, the various hand fighting, grip fighting sequences that we use culminating in [03:00:20] a hierarchy that builds up to the so called double cross position, our favorite position, to hook our opponent's arm immobilize both the primary and the secondary [03:00:30] hands so that we create what we call an uncontested stranglehand.

[03:00:34] We're always looking to create a situation where both of my opponent's arms are locked down, one by [03:00:40] our leg, One by hand, and from here, we go in and we have an uncontested stranglehand. There's nothing except his chin to stop me from strangling him. That's [03:00:50] always the goal. Now, ordinarily, I would be down with two hooks in to perform this move in a combat situation.

[03:00:59] But I'm going to [03:01:00] demonstrate it for you in a kneeling position without hooking my opponent's leg. Because I want you to see the precise details of my hand positioning, which are very, very important here. [03:01:10] Ultimately, what we have to do is to be able to penetrate the space underneath our training partner's jawline and get to the situation where [03:01:20] my arm is in a position to strangle.

[03:01:22] Your opponent knows that. You've got both of his arms pinned and he will do everything possible to keep his chin down and [03:01:30] and prevent you penetrating underneath the jaw. Remember, there's a simple measurement here as to whether or not you're going to succeed or fail. That [03:01:40] measurement is the width of your wrist.

[03:01:43] If I can get my wrist underneath my training partner's jawline, I can [03:01:50] definitely strangle someone. But there's a problem. Your opponent can physically touch his chin to his chest. Any [03:02:00] Reasonably athletic human being can do that. That space is much smaller than the width of my wrist. So [03:02:10] we've got an immediate problem here.

[03:02:11] I need to be able to get my wrist underneath this jaw. But my wrist is physically much larger than the space between my opponent's jaw [03:02:20] and chest. So how are we going to do this? The metaphor which we have to work with is drawn from that of a knife. When you have a [03:02:30] knife, obviously it has an edge which is extraordinarily thin and sharp.

[03:02:36] When a knife cuts through something, the first part of the knife that [03:02:40] enters is that thin, sharp edge. The rest of the knife, working the way up from that thin, sharp edge, is actually quite thick by comparison. [03:02:50] So when you take your knife and you cut through something, the thin, sharp edge creates a small opening through which the thicker part of the knife [03:03:00] gradually penetrates until finally the thickest part of the knife, the spine of the knife, can ultimately get through.

[03:03:07] But you never could have taken the spine of the knife, [03:03:10] turned the knife upside down and just cut straight through to whatever medium you were cutting through. That never would have happened. It's just too thick. So too with your penetrating [03:03:20] hand. You'll never just start off on someone whose chin is tucked and just get your wrist underneath.

[03:03:24] It's too big. You have to contour and manipulate the [03:03:30] workings of your hand so that thinner parts of your hand penetrate first. Like the edge of a blade, and then the thicker part follows [03:03:40] on afterwards, like the thick spine of a knife. Keep this metaphor in mind when we work with this position. Now, when we go [03:03:50] to strangle, you can see that my wrist is relatively thick compared to the other parts of my hand.

[03:03:56] The thinnest part of my hand, which I can generate to [03:04:00] penetrate underneath a resisting jawline is always the knuckle. of the thumb. That is the thinnest part [03:04:10] of your hand. That's what's going to be the edge of the knife that first gets underneath. At the same time, I'm [03:04:20] not going to work with a thick clumsy fist.

[03:04:24] We're going to work with what we call a flattened fist. In a flattened fist, I make a not [03:04:30] like a punching fist, but rather like this. with my knuckles straightened out. This flattened fist is relatively [03:04:40] thin in its cross section, so now I have the thinnest part of my hand, the single knuckle of my thumb, followed by a [03:04:50] relatively thin fist, and then ultimately a flattened hand, Which will walk through and give me an entrance of the [03:05:00] entire wrist.

[03:05:01] So I go from the thinnest to the thickest until I get the full penetration I need for the strangle. That [03:05:10] metaphor of the edge of the knife going through is exactly the metaphor that you must work with. I'm going to show you now by having someone very close to the camera so you can see [03:05:20] the small minor details which make the difference between between success or failure.

[03:05:24] Remember, if you cannot penetrate your opponent's jawline, everything else you've done in the [03:05:30] back system is worthless, means nothing. When it comes time to strangle, the ability to penetrate the jawline is one of the [03:05:40] key elements. Just as there is no heel hook without heel exposure, there is no strangulation without some kind of exposure of my training partner's [03:05:50] jawline.

[03:05:52] I'm going to show you some exceptions to that rule later. Don't worry, but I'm talking most cases here. Okay now [03:06:00] We're behind our training partner he tucks his chin From here if I put my wrist in there, the wrist is far too thick and will never [03:06:10] go underneath jawline So what I do is I take the flattened fist and I take my thumb knuckle.

[03:06:19] I Position [03:06:20] it behind the ear and I find the line of the jaw. The jaw goes in a curve and then a [03:06:30] straight line. Chore down tight, tight. I go behind the curve and I put my thumb as a wedge underneath my [03:06:40] training partner's jaw. Strong. I wedge underneath. I flatten my fist. Once I feel my fist [03:06:50] is flattened, I separate the hands just like so, and I finger walk across my training partner's chest until [03:07:00] the wrist is penetrated.

[03:07:02] The second the wrist is penetrated, the second it goes through, my elbow follows, [03:07:10] and I find myself in a position where I can hide my thumb line behind my training partner's neck. Now we're in the perfect position to start the [03:07:20] business of strangling. So, successful penetration of the neck. My opponent is down.

[03:07:26] From here, we make a flattened fist. Don't go [03:07:30] through with an extended hand too early. If your opponent starts grabbing fingers with his other hand, it's going to stop you in your tracks. Remember, some people play fast with the rules. And it's not [03:07:40] supposed to happen, but Often they will, okay? So, I don't want to expose fingers.

[03:07:45] They're too easy to grab. So, I make the flattened fist. He goes down [03:07:50] tight, tight, tight. Strong as you can. Don't be, don't be kind. Turns the chin in, puts the ear down. Does all those things. Brings the shoulder up. All those things that people do. We take this, [03:08:00] and we enter behind our training partner's jaw.

[03:08:04] Now, I get the thumb knuckle under the jaw. Cool. Once the thumb knuckle enters, [03:08:10] the hand flattens. I walk across, and from here, once we penetrate, look how the elbow goes around the corner, and I hide my thumb line. [03:08:20] So when he tries to reach for the thumb line, it's not there to be taken. If I give him access to the thumb line, I've got to start all over again now.

[03:08:28] Okay, so [03:08:30] once again, he goes in, look how we make a flattened fist. That's the thinnest fist you can make. You start like this, you're never going to get anybody. All you do is annoy [03:08:40] people. So we go in behind and I take my thumb knuckle, the thinnest part of my hand, strong, and I penetrate underneath. [03:08:50] Once I get that initial penetration, the hand extends and I begin a process of finger walking until the wrist penetrates.

[03:08:59] The second the [03:09:00] wrist penetrates. The elbow follows. I hide my thumb line and I find myself now in the perfect position to go in and [03:09:10] finish the strangle. There is a direct relationship between the action of finger walking across the chest [03:09:20] and Finger walking down on the mat. From a mounted position. Very often you will see people in the mounted position finger [03:09:30] walk an arm up.

[03:09:32] Finger walking up, finger walking up. It's a mechanically strong method of generating movement. Utilizing the [03:09:40] strength of the fingers to generate movement against resistance. We do exactly the same thing here, except it's across the chest. So, as we go in behind our training partner and we [03:09:50] penetrate with the thumb, then from here I finger walk all the way through until my wrist is through.

[03:09:56] Once the wrist is through, the elbow always [03:10:00] follows. Then we follow into a perfect strangulation position. That's how we use the theory of the flattened fist to get through even the most [03:10:10] resistant of jaw lines.

[03:10:15] One thing you may have been impressed by watching my students in competition is just the sheer [03:10:20] mechanical power of many of their strangleholds. When George St. Pierre fought Michael Bisping and, uh, applied a [03:10:30] powerful stranglehold to his opponent, people were stunned at how quickly he rendered Michael Bisping unconscious with the stranglehold.

[03:10:38] On many occasions, [03:10:40] I've heard George St. Pierre Both competitors who went against my, uh, uh, students and onlookers or spectators who came up to me after matches watching, for [03:10:50] example, the Ryan Brothers or Gary Turner or Eddie Cummings or any other of my outstanding students. And they were absolutely stunned at the physical force of their [03:11:00] strangleholds.

[03:11:01] And they attributed this to some kind of crazy strength or conditioning program that they were doing. In fact, [03:11:10] It's none of those things. It's simply a new approach to strangling mechanics. I'm a proponent of what I call the rotational method of [03:11:20] strangulation. Classical methods of strangulation are almost always dominated by a constricting method, where [03:11:30] the elbow is lined up directly with our training partner's chin.

[03:11:36] Then from here, the athletes lock into a classical finishing [03:11:40] position, and the idea is to drive the two elbows together, contracting. The force is one of a forward contraction. [03:11:50] It's more than enough to put someone to sleep. I'm not saying that it doesn't work, please don't misunderstand me here. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to render someone [03:12:00] unconscious.

[03:12:00] Even poorly applied strangleholds can do it. But I'm not interested in the idea of being good enough. I'm interested in the idea of taking world class competition [03:12:10] and making them submit to a stranglehold in record time. That's the interesting question. Remember, if even a poor stranglehold will do it on an inexperienced opponent, that's one thing.[03:12:20]

[03:12:20] But I'm interested in strangleholds that work on the best people in the world. So the classical method almost always involves forward contraction. Where the elbows go [03:12:30] forward, the head goes in, and my body contracts around my opponent's body. It's, it's a workable method. It's, it's worked for generations.[03:12:40]

[03:12:41] And yet, I was never fully satisfied with it. The truth is that it involves a lot of arm power. So, uh, [03:12:50] And, on many occasions, you will see athletes attempt a rear naked strangle and get stymied for a period of time by their opponent, and their arms go to the point of [03:13:00] exhaustion. And the strangle simply fades out, and their athletic performance diminishes soon after that for a period of time, but they have to go and recover their arms.

[03:13:09] [03:13:10] What went wrong? Well, when I put in a forward contraction, if my opponent gets inside position on my forearm and pulls vertically down [03:13:20] the chest with all his strength. I can't bring my elbows close enough together to put enough pressure in to finish. Okay. The truth is that the only [03:13:30] scissoring effect here is the effect of my two elbows going towards each other.

[03:13:34] It's just the work of my pectorals and my arms and shoulders. What I [03:13:40] prefer to work with is a rotational method, which actually is much closer in spirit. To a GI collar strangle. When we work with a GI [03:13:50] and we strangle everything rotates over my training partner's shoulder. Even the Japanese term for the move refers to a sliding action, which goes [03:14:00] over my training partner's shoulder.

[03:14:02] Watch my right elbow. When I perform the classical GI strangle, my right elbow goes over the shoulder [03:14:10] as my head moves away. This is true regardless of whether I hold like so, or like so. It's always the same [03:14:20] action of a rotation of my elbow over the shoulder. Everyone knows how efficient and how deadly strong collar strangles are.[03:14:30]

[03:14:30] I was also impressed by this and I asked if there's a way in which I can apply the same kind of rotational method of the elbow going across the shoulder with no gi. [03:14:40] And the answer became after a short period of research, absolutely. When I lock up on my training partner, I really don't consume myself with [03:14:50] my elbow position.

[03:14:51] I don't care about lining my elbow up with my training partner's chin like so because ultimately My elbow is going to [03:15:00] drift over my training partner's shoulder. When I get into a strangulation position, my whole emphasis, once I [03:15:10] close my hands, is on taking my body and rotating my right elbow for a right handed strangle over my opponent's right shoulder.[03:15:20]

[03:15:20] Even if my opponent puts both of his arms in, And locks and pulls down as tightly as he can. The simple action of rotating the elbow [03:15:30] over the shoulder puts an unbearable amount of pressure into the stranglehold and creates both extraordinarily quick strangle [03:15:40] outs and the ability to go through even extreme resistance with hands, chin, etc, etc.

[03:15:48] Far more so than the [03:15:50] classical contractual methods where my opponent can pull down the body. Look how as I go forward into a contraction, placido stops me, but when I change directions to a [03:16:00] rotational finisher, the pressure is immense. Not only is the pressure more impressive, in this superficial [03:16:10] sense, but there's a deeper mechanical reason behind it.

[03:16:14] Until you utilize the power of your chest into a strangle, you'll [03:16:20] never have an efficient strangle from the back. If it's just your arms contracting forward, you'll always put limits on how much power you can generate. [03:16:30] What I do is I have my chest going forward and my arm going back. So that my opponent's neck is caught between two opposing [03:16:40] forces, two coupled forces going in opposite directions.

[03:16:44] One is my chest pushing forward into him, and the other is my [03:16:50] elbow pulling him back. That scissoring effect creates immense tension. turning forces as my opponent locks in and defends himself to the best of his ability. [03:17:00] Watch how my chest goes forward into his back and my elbow goes in the opposite direction, and the strangulation pressure is simply immense.[03:17:10]

[03:17:11] When you feel the effect of this rotational force, It is an eye opening thing. As I said, many people [03:17:20] were shocked when George St. Pierre used this against Michael Bisping at how quickly it rendered an opponent who was a weight division higher than him unconscious. Many people have [03:17:30] remarked when they've seen Gordon and Nicky Ryan strangle right through their opponent's hands and jaw and get very, very quick submission holds on extremely [03:17:40] talented opponents who have fought at the highest levels of the sport.

[03:17:43] And many Opponents have come forward and said, where did that strangle power come from? Well, it came [03:17:50] from the power of rotation and the power of coupled forces. The two things that have been missing in most approaches to the rear naked strangle for the longest [03:18:00] time. Once again, once we get behind our training partner, And we go in, like so.

[03:18:08] The rotational force that we look [03:18:10] for, once we've penetrated, is one, where everything lines up, the arms go in, and then from here, everything rotates over the [03:18:20] shoulder. I will even rotate my head. by putting my chin on the back of their skull to aid the rotation of my right elbow. Classically, we get [03:18:30] taught to put our head down.

[03:18:31] That actually limits how far my right elbow can rotate. So typically, I look in the direction of the strangle. [03:18:40] Once I make that look, even when he grips with me, everything he's got. Let's make this interesting. Bernardo, you come too. You come behind [03:18:50] me or in front, whichever is more comfortable, and you pull down two on my arm.

[03:18:55] So two men pull down on my arm. Get [03:19:00] down nice and low so you're in a better pulling position. Get down low so you're in, good. Okay, both of you, pull. Boom. Got it? Strong as you can. Go, go, go, go, go, [03:19:10] go. And you simply go right through it. Okay? There's no arm resistance that will stop that kind of rotational force.

[03:19:19] [03:19:20] There's too much force behind the coupled force of the chest forward and the arm back. And The strong rotational ability, which makes me utilize my entire [03:19:30] back and scapula to pull across like a, like a geese strangle rather than whatever I have in my pectorals and shoulders, [03:19:40] crunching forward on my opponent.

[03:19:42] This approach to strangulation will double or even triple the amount of mechanical power. You can apply [03:19:50] to a strangle. Now, is this a good thing? Well, in truth, strangles don't typically require a huge amount of pressure in order to work. [03:20:00] If you have an unresisting opponent, even a poorly applied strangle will work.

[03:20:05] But at world championship level, it makes a difference. You may not have long to apply [03:20:10] the strangle on a skillfully escaping opponent. And so if you can strangle them more quickly than usual, that's definitely a plus. Plus, you often deal with athletically very [03:20:20] strong opponents who can exert tremendous hand pressure.

[03:20:23] And classical methods may not get you through and may actually exhaust your arms in the attempt. But this method, it's my back [03:20:30] pulling. At no point are my arms engaged. My arms won't get tired using this method. I can squeeze for two, three minutes with my lat muscles, no problem. But I can't squeeze with my [03:20:40] biceps for two to three minutes.

[03:20:41] I'll be exhausted quickly. This method is the back, is the basis of our approach to strangulation from the back without the gi. [03:20:50] Um, I think when you try it, You'll be impressed.

[03:20:54] Speaker 2: We've been looking at a new approach to the [03:21:00] mechanics of a rear naked strangle. Um, one of the great benefits of using the rotational method is that for the first time you can start to [03:21:10] reliably strangle people with one arm. Now, don't get me wrong, one armed strangles have been around for a long time, but typically what you will see is certain [03:21:20] individuals could do well with them, okay, often they had physical attributes that made them succeed with one handed strangles.

[03:21:28] What I want to give you is [03:21:30] a method of strangling with one arm, which requires no extraordinary physical attributes, but only a simple knowledge of mechanics. You will soon find that the rotational [03:21:40] method, combined with a simple element of head positioning and hand positioning, will create tremendous strangling pressure.

[03:21:47] With just one arm. If I'm [03:21:50] behind my training partner, in a classic finishing position, and let's say for example we've fallen to the underside, and we've successfully [03:22:00] uh, hooked up on, uh, into a strangle type situation. We know that from here, often it's not easy to extract this arm [03:22:10] and go in to apply the conventional two handed strangle.

[03:22:13] Okay? Sometimes it's Your opponent's, uh, primary defensive hand is a worrisome thing, and I have to stay [03:22:20] monitoring it, like so. Okay? Whether I be controlling my opponent's secondary arm, or what have you, doesn't really matter. However we find it, we find we've penetrated [03:22:30] the, uh, opponent's neck, and it's time to go into strangle.

[03:22:34] Now, you can hit a very, very strong one rotational method. The key [03:22:40] element is this idea of closing the circle. If I put my hand on my training partner's shoulder and I just try to squeeze my wrist towards my [03:22:50] shoulder, you're not going to strangle many people. The key element is that I want my hand to penetrate all the way through behind my training partner's back.[03:23:00]

[03:23:00] And I want my jaw to come forward so that a circle is closed around my training partner's neck. When he tries to move his head out in this closed circle Ordinary [03:23:10] defensive movement. Let's go It's difficult because the circle is closed around him if my hand were forward and my head back That's exactly when my opponent can escape out of the [03:23:20] open hole in the circle and Make good his escape.

[03:23:24] So we want to close that circle. I want to find the turn of my [03:23:30] wrist with my chin Like so. When he goes to move out, the closed circle makes it impossible. And now, we take our [03:23:40] elbow, and we go down, and as he tightens up his neck, tries to defend with his arms, etc, etc, closes up, all we do is rotate [03:23:50] over the shoulder using the rotational method.

[03:23:52] I promise you, done in this fashion, there is actually not much difference between a one handed strangle and the conventional figure four [03:24:00] two armed strangle. It's an intimidating thing. So, we're behind our training partner, and we manage to penetrate as he goes down with the chin. We use the flattened fist method, and we walk [03:24:10] our arms across like so.

[03:24:11] Don't be satisfied with gripping the shoulder. Don't be satisfied with a gap between your chin and your wrist. Now it's going to [03:24:20] deteriorate into a pull back into the throat, which is not much more than an annoyance to a world champion. From here, we bring our arm all the way through [03:24:30] and my hand tucks around the corner.

[03:24:32] Critically, my chin comes forward and touches my own wrist. Now, even as my opponent puts everything down, let's [03:24:40] say for example, he even took his arm out somehow, I didn't know how, but he did it, and he grabbed ahold of me. Uh, forearm, pull down at the wrist, you get a better grip than that, by the wrist. Did all those things that people like to [03:24:50] do, okay?

[03:24:51] Crunches up his neck, rounds his shoulders, does all those things. From here, the rotational finish is simply too much. And the [03:25:00] one handed strangle proves to have around 90 percent of the finishing power of a two armed strangle. It's an incredibly useful way to get into quick, rapid finishes [03:25:10] and put your opponent under extreme pressure.

[03:25:12] with just one arm.[03:25:20]

[03:25:21] Okay. We're looking now at the sheer mechanics of the renegade strangle. Um, I want to shift now from mechanics into, uh, technical [03:25:30] elements that range outside of that. Okay. Um, the red naked strangle can, it can come unstuck in numerous ways. Let's run through some of the more common ways now, how to avoid [03:25:40] them and, uh, how to get out of that annoying situation where you do all that good work, you get behind your opponent, you've taken them down, you're past their guard, you've got your hooks in and you can't finish with the strangle.

[03:25:48] It's always [03:25:50] frustrating. Okay. Um, now we know that when we first go behind our opponent, we have a control hand that goes underneath our opponent's arm. And we have a [03:26:00] strangle hand that goes over our opponent's shoulder. And between my two elbows, I control the movements of my opponent's upper body. Okay?

[03:26:08] Once I get [03:26:10] penetration of the neck, and we're up here, we've closed the beginnings of the strangle, I have to relinquish control. You gotta take the control hand out. You gotta take it [03:26:20] out, and that control hand now becomes a support hand. With a support hand. Creates a situation where the strangle [03:26:30] hand can go to bicep, support hand goes across, and we go into a finish.

[03:26:34] Whether it be the rotational finish that I favor, or the contractual finish that most people favor. [03:26:40] Okay, so we lose a control hand and gain a support hand. What goes on there? Okay, [03:26:50] that's where a lot of things go wrong. Once I get that first hand in, So common. I see this mistake all the time, even at surprisingly high levels, people will come out and they [03:27:00] will mistakenly take the strangle hand to the bicep.

[03:27:04] That's just a disaster waiting to happen. Okay, at world championship level your [03:27:10] opponent will do everything they can to block the support hand If I go to grab my bicep i'm literally offering my support hand to my opponent who [03:27:20] rapidly gets a hold of it Yanks it down my body and now you're left in a rather forlorn situation where you don't even have a control hand anymore Your opponent can now start tuning inside you and it [03:27:30] always goes to hell.

[03:27:30] Okay. So let's make sure we never do this. Okay. Once we get the stranglehand set, we never go stranglehand to bicep. That's just asking for trouble. [03:27:40] Okay. Another common mistake that I see is people will take their support hand and place it very, very poorly. Usually what you see is things like this, where people put a support hand on top of the [03:27:50] skull.

[03:27:50] This too is just terrible. That's just asking for defeat. From here your opponent can easily strip the hand down and once again you've got a situation where your support hand is controlled. Now you don't even have a [03:28:00] single control hand in place. Your opponent turns inside you and it's just a disaster.

[03:28:04] Okay, so what should we be looking to do? How should I transition from a control hand to a [03:28:10] support hand? What's the right way to do this? Okay, well first, Let's look, uh, we'll come a little closer to the camera. Let's look first at this idea that when I [03:28:20] work in this position, don't relinquish the control hand too early, okay?

[03:28:24] When I get behind my opponent and I've successfully penetrated, the first thing I want to do is I want to play with the principle [03:28:30] of the hidden hand. My strangle hand always hides the hidden hand. here. Specifically, what I'm looking to hide is the thumb line of my hand. [03:28:40] Because if my opponent accesses the thumb line, he can always stop my strangle.

[03:28:45] Okay? So we always want to hide the thumb line behind his neck. Just like [03:28:50] so. Okay? I also use my head to make up for the loss of the control hand. If my head is back and I relinquish the control hand, there's a [03:29:00] huge gap for my opponent to start moving his head in this direction. He's turning. Like so, and going out.

[03:29:05] So we make sure that we put the head [03:29:10] in and we pressure with the head. I close the circle around my training partner's neck by putting my chin over my own wrist and I use my head [03:29:20] to push him against the direction of his escape. My stranglehand fingers point the direction of his escape. If he moves his head this way, that's how he starts to escape.

[03:29:29] [03:29:30] That's how he turns into me. So from here, I EZ goes to move his head, my head drives against him, and opens a situation where I can go to [03:29:40] work. Now, the one thing we've seen we never do is go here, hand to bicep. What we do is we go wrist over wrist. [03:29:50] When I withdraw my hand, I bring my wrist over my own wrist.

[03:29:57] I cross [03:30:00] wrists. I never cross arms. From the cross wrist position, I put my elbow in front. I don't care if I [03:30:10] surrender my elbow to my opponent. I care if I surrender my wrist, the end of the lever. That's what I care about. So from here, I come back, [03:30:20] I put the wrist over my own wrist, and the elbow goes forward.

[03:30:24] Then from here, I punch across, and my hands go into perfect position. My strangle hand [03:30:30] goes to the upper bicep, and You, as the looker from the point of view of the camera, should be able to see the fingernails of my support hand. [03:30:40] If you cannot see my fingernails, I have penetrated insufficiently. I need to go through until you can see the fingernails from your point of view as a person in [03:30:50] front.

[03:30:51] Now from here, I put my chin over the wrist of the support hand. And I look in the direction of the strangle. As [03:31:00] you know, my personal preference is for rotational finishes out here. If you prefer contracting finishes, then we'll go forward, elbows together. [03:31:10] Rotational finishes, the elbow goes over the shoulder, and we get our finish.

[03:31:15] Let's have a look at that whole sequence again, from a situation where we start off behind our [03:31:20] opponent. Everything now is about managing the transition from control hand to support hand. Okay, how we manage that transition is [03:31:30] huge for your success or failure with rear naked strangles So as we're behind our training partner and we penetrate in like so first We hide the [03:31:40] thumb line Then from this position as we relinquish the control hand we use the head to make up for the lack of control hand Then from here [03:31:50] I go wrist over wrist Elbow over And then everything goes into place.

[03:31:58] And from this position, [03:32:00] my personal preference, as you know by now, is the rotational finish. Now, let's have a look at how that may look in a situation where I have hooks in, rather than this artificial [03:32:10] kneeling position.

[03:32:14] From a situation where I'm behind my training partner, and I go in, [03:32:20] like so. I penetrate. Hand goes in. I withdraw the control hand. As he goes to move out, I keep my [03:32:30] head locked to his, pushing against the direction of his escape. I withdraw the control hand, and I go wrist over wrist, elbow [03:32:40] over shoulder, head turns, and you can see my fingernails coming through on the support side.

[03:32:46] Even as he grabs both of them. Both hands to my forearm and goes [03:32:50] into block from this position. We simply use a rotational finish and it's done. Now I'll demonstrate it on the other side if we had fallen to what people call the weak side.[03:33:00]

[03:33:04] Same idea, we fall down to the side. From [03:33:10] here, we go in and grip. As I withdraw my hand, I go wrist over wrist, elbow over shoulder. We punch through [03:33:20] until you can see the fingernails of the support hand. Now a rotational finish and our strangle is set.[03:33:30]

[03:33:35] Now one of the great consequences of having One of the greatly enhanced [03:33:40] mechanics behind your strangles utilizing the rotational method is that you can start to reliably strangle people even when you don't penetrate underneath [03:33:50] the jaw. Spectators are often shocked when they see my athletes apply what we refer to as mandible strangles where we go over the jaw [03:34:00] bone and strangle people.

[03:34:02] Often this confusion, they will say, Did the opponent tap because he was in physical pain? After all, [03:34:10] it is physically painful to have someone close a tight stranglehold over your jaw and teeth. The answer is no. At world championship level, athletes are not [03:34:20] intimidated by pain. They're used to it, they've dealt with it their whole lives, there's a lot of money and a lot of pride, a lot of prestige on the line.

[03:34:28] They're not going to tap [03:34:30] to simple discomfort. They're going to tap because they're about to pass out. Now, how is it possible to strangle someone when you don't even have [03:34:40] clean contact with the carotid arteries? Well, the truth is, you don't need absolutely clean contact with the carotid arteries.

[03:34:47] Understand the very nature of strangulation. No [03:34:50] strangle is 100 percent efficient. There's no strangle out there which will close off 100 percent of your body's blood supply to the brain. [03:35:00] The way strangulation works is by reducing blood supply to the brain, not by completely cutting it off. Remember, there are four carotid arteries leading [03:35:10] to the, sorry, four arteries leading to the, uh, to the brain, not two.

[03:35:14] There are two in the front and there are two subspinal arteries in the back. [03:35:20] The only way to completely cut off blood supply blood from your body to the head is to literally cut your head off. That's illegal in Judaism, last thing I heard. [03:35:30] So what we have to do is reduce the blood flow, and that can definitely be done over your opponent's jaw, provided we have the right [03:35:40] mechanics.

[03:35:41] Most of the time, we have a strong preference for penetrating underneath our training partner's jawline, but if we can find ourselves in a situation where for whatever reason we're [03:35:50] just unable to do it, okay, we'll use a mandible strangle where I match my elbow with my training partner's chin, even [03:36:00] physically pulling the elbow if necessary to get that line up.

[03:36:04] Once that occurs, we use exactly the same rotational method that we saw previously. [03:36:10] We lock up, and now, even when my opponent grips as strongly as he can on my forearm, he has a strong defensive grip, and I, on the other hand, [03:36:20] have no penetration whatsoever of my training partner's jawline, the simple act of a rotational finish will create not pain, [03:36:30] well, it is painful, but it will create An efficient or efficient enough strangle your opponent will pass out if he doesn't tap [03:36:40] Okay, I cannot emphasize that enough.

[03:36:41] The object here is not to cause pain or discomfort. It's to create a strangle Will it be as efficient as a [03:36:50] strangle that goes underneath your opponent's jaw? No, it will take slightly longer But it will work nonetheless again The idea is first to [03:37:00] create alignment So it needs a deeper penetration with the elbow around.

[03:37:05] I can't be as shallow as I was in the previous moves. I go all the way [03:37:10] around. If necessary, I will even use my hand as backup to secure good alignment. From here, we use the cross wrist methods. [03:37:20] to go through and fix up good hand position. Now, even with my opponent with everything in place defensively, jaw down as tight as he can, two hands dug in, shoulders up, [03:37:30] everything in place, just the act of rotation creates an immensely strong stranglehold.

[03:37:37] Now, there is always a [03:37:40] simple empirical proof of whether or not a strangle is in place or not. And this is bloodshot eyes. You can't fake [03:37:50] bloodshot eyes. We're going to go closer to the camera and we're going to apply the mandible strangle and you will see bloodshot eyes in [03:38:00] my training partner. As we go through and secure the initial position, we go through, he has jaw down, I have no penetration.

[03:38:08] of my training partner's, [03:38:10] uh, uh, neck. We go through in the usual fashion, crossing wrists. He gets all his arms in, defensively sound, shoulders up, etc, etc. And from here, we [03:38:20] work the strangle. And yet, you will see clear bloodshot effect in the eyes, indicating a successful stranglehold. That's not [03:38:30] pain, it's not discomfort.

[03:38:31] It's a strangle. Now let's go back a little bit and show how we would use this when we actually have hooks in, in a combat situation. [03:38:40] So we're behind our training partner and we fall to a given side and my opponent successfully gets his jaw set in a way where I [03:38:50] cannot penetrate the jaw. So we focus as always on pulling the elbow as far around as he possibly can.

[03:38:57] From a position like so, I cover the [03:39:00] wrists. He gets his hands set defensively, puts his chin down, everything in place, strong, strong, strong, shoulders up, etc, etc, doing everything he can defensively, and we focus on a rotational [03:39:10] finish that will result in unconsciousness if there's not a submission hold.

[03:39:17] This is the idea behind a mandible strangle. [03:39:20] Please don't confuse it with simple discomfort or pain. Let's contrast this for failed mandible strangles, which you'll sometimes [03:39:30] see. Sometimes you'll see people put a chin down. You'll see people put a forearm over the teeth or the nose, things like this. And they try to lift people up and [03:39:40] you can see people kind of butchering away at a, at a stranglehold.

[03:39:42] These are not strangleholds. These are just people using rather unclean technique. Um, this is not the idea. [03:39:50] Remember, I don't have to penetrate the jaw. But my elbow should touch his sternum If my [03:40:00] elbow does not touch my training partner's sternum You are not performing a mandible strangle. You are simply causing annoying discomfort to your training partner [03:40:10] In the gym, you will annoy your training partners in competition.

[03:40:13] You may well be Uh, run afoul of the referees and that's not going to make anyone [03:40:20] pass out. That's simply going to annoy the person that you're attempting to strangle. The key element is that my elbow touches the sternum. That's what defines a [03:40:30] mandible strangle as opposed to an annoyance. Once my elbow touches the sternum, I'm going to strangle.

[03:40:36] Down there to the sternum, now we're going to have an effective [03:40:40] strangulation. Even when my opponent sets himself defensively, from here as we rotate over the shoulder, we get the stranglehold that we're looking for. [03:40:50] If my elbow does not touch, then you're simply squeezing your training partner's jaw and making an annoyance of yourself.

[03:40:56] That's not the idea. Remember, at world championship level, people don't paint [03:41:00] tap to pain of discomfort. They tap to the threat of unconsciousness, and that's what must always be your goal with a properly applied mandible, strangle,[03:41:10]

[03:41:13] we're making our way through the uh, RAI jacket system. Uh, it's very important we understand The straight jacket system [03:41:20] has really two components. We've made a distinction between situations where we fall to the underside. The arm that is underneath my opponent's arm. If we fall this [03:41:30] way, that's one thing.

[03:41:31] We've been looking at that in some detail. That's the situation that most people in the sport of Jiu Jitsu, uh, describe as the weak side. We've been at pains to [03:41:40] try and say it's neither weaker nor stronger. It's just neutral. Okay. My back system is neutral between falling to the underside and the over side.

[03:41:48] Okay. Um, we're [03:41:50] now going to start looking at situations where we fall to the over side. Okay. Now, Many people misunderstand my back system and say [03:42:00] that my athletes always try to fall towards the underside. That is not true. Remember, the back system is neutral between over and undersides. It just [03:42:10] so happens that most of our opponents, after years of being conditioned to always escape towards the underside, push our athletes in that position most of the time.

[03:42:19] And [03:42:20] so statistically, Most of our finishes occur on that side, but it's not because of a deliberate design or bias on our part. Um, that just happens to be the way that most of our opponents go to [03:42:30] escape. Um, as I said, the, the system itself is neutral. It doesn't say going underside or oversight. Neither one is better than the other.

[03:42:38] They're just different. [03:42:40] Now, we're looking at the idea of falling to the oversight and immediately you're going to see there's a problem. If I have conventional [03:42:50] hooks in on my training partner and I have an underarm and an overarm, if I fall to the side of the overarm, that immediately puts weight on my leg.

[03:42:58] And as a result, I have [03:43:00] no ability to use my right leg to hook onto my opponent's secondary defensive arm. And so the entire nature of the system [03:43:10] has to be radically different if I fall to the side of the overhook than if I fall to the side of the underside or the underhook. [03:43:20] How now am I going to trap my training partner's arm?

[03:43:23] He's sitting on top of my leg. How am I going to trap it now? Okay, well, [03:43:30] the best time to trap my opponent's arm, if I wish to fall to the side of my strangle arm, is before I commit to the floor, [03:43:40] usually in a turtle position scenario. Let's have a look at this now. We're going to have a training partner in a turtle position facing this way, like so.[03:43:50]

[03:43:50] Let's first understand that people talk about turtle position just as there are many forms of guard position, there are many forms of turtle position. Let's make a simple [03:44:00] distinction from the start, the simplest distinction. There are many different forms of turtle position, but the simplest one we can work with is the distinction between what we call an open and a closed turtle position.[03:44:10]

[03:44:10] An open turtle position is any time there is no contact between my opponent's elbows and knees, so there is an opening between elbow and knee. [03:44:20] In addition, my opponent's elbows are outside the line of his knees. The advantage of an open turtle position is that it has a good [03:44:30] wide base of support, and as a result, it's very, very stable.

[03:44:34] The problem with it is that it's relatively easy to go in and penetrate in various ways to go on the [03:44:40] attack. Okay. So it's, it's sacrifices defensive responsibility in favor of stability. The alternative is a closed [03:44:50] turtle position where my opponent brings his elbows inside the knees and there is contact between elbows and knees.

[03:44:57] This means that my opponent is very, very [03:45:00] defensively sound from submission holds. It's going to be very, very hard for me now to go into armbars, for example. Difficult for me now to go into strangleholds. Everything's locked in so tight. [03:45:10] But that tightness came at a price. My opponent now has sacrificed stability.

[03:45:15] As his base of support narrows, now it becomes relatively easy [03:45:20] to pull him over and disturb his base of support. This means, for instance, It makes it simple for us to illustrate one of the fundamental rules of the [03:45:30] sport of judo. It's one which my students take advantage of all the time. This is the law of extension and contraction.

[03:45:37] Your opponent can only have [03:45:40] one or the other. It's a choice they have to make. You can't have extension and contraction at the same time. Your fundamental choice as a defensive person [03:45:50] Is you're either going to have to contract everything in, in which case you'll be difficult to submit, but very easy to off balance, or you're going to have to widen everything out, in [03:46:00] which case you'll be very stable, but on the other hand, you'll be relatively simple to finish with submission holds.

[03:46:07] Learning to play between extension [03:46:10] and contraction is a big part of the skill we're about to look at. We're going to start off with a training partner who's decided to go into a closed turtle position. [03:46:20] And as a result, it's difficult for us to just hook in and trap an arm. However, if I put a tight waist on my training partner, just like so, [03:46:30] and I start off with a knee blocking his knee, I position my hand on the floor so I have a tight waist grip that controls my training partner's hips.

[03:46:36] I'm going to move my body over to the side. And from here, I'm going [03:46:40] to use my right knee as a wedge to pull him over. As I feel his base of support is being broken, I'm gonna break him down to a hip. That's easy because he was in a [03:46:50] contracted state. The only real response he can do as he goes down to a hip to prevent falling over is to extend his elbow out of the mat and save his base.

[03:46:58] If he didn't do that, [03:47:00] then I would simply pull him over into a position where I pinned him. And now we have a top pin, we can work our way into various kinds of, uh, point scoring positions or, or [03:47:10] other forms of dominant positions in a submission grappling match. We could get mounted, what have you. So what we find the overwhelming majority of our opponents do is they try to recover their base by basing out with an elbow.

[03:47:19] [03:47:20] Okay, so we start off behind our training partner in turtle position, we go in, we get tight waist grip and from here we put a hand on the floor. Now I move across our training partner's body, I pull him into the fulcrum of [03:47:30] my knee and then from here I simply withdraw it just as I pull and there's the base of support.

[03:47:36] As soon as we see that make your body strong. From here we're going to go [03:47:40] around the corner and lock the seat belt. As I make the lock, I take my weight off my knees by rising. And I put a wedge in behind my [03:47:50] training partner's tricep. That's going to make it very easy for me to swing my foot around the corner and hook.

[03:47:57] From this position, I simply rake my leg back and put [03:48:00] my knee on the floor so my opponent comes up to his base. We now have the arm well trapped. As soon as we have the arm trapped, we're going to put our [03:48:10] head down on the floor. next to his head. I'm going to open my hips, roll through, and we find ourselves now in a situation where I have his arm [03:48:20] tracked.

[03:48:21] Both of our body weight are on top of the tracked arm. I insert my hook, so we have hook control, tracked arm, he [03:48:30] has no defensive arms left, and we're in the perfect position to finish a strangle. on the other side. I'm going to demonstrate that from another angle so you can see what [03:48:40] was happening

[03:48:44] from a situation where we start off like, so we go in behind our training partner [03:48:50] in what could only be described as a closed turtle position. From here, we put a hand on the floor. I look across my training partner's body. I [03:49:00] block with my knee. And as a result we're able to pull him and force him to base out.

[03:49:05] The second we see that, we go over the top and lock that seatbelt. I bring my knees [03:49:10] off the mat and I put a wedge in behind my training partner's knee. Now I go around the corner with my foot and hook and collect up my training partner's [03:49:20] arm. I'm in the perfect position now to start a roll through. I open my hip and roll my training partner through.

[03:49:28] And as a result, the hook goes [03:49:30] in very easily on one side. Now, when he goes to move his right arm, it's not only hooked by my leg, that hook is solidified by his own body [03:49:40] weight. So there's a sense in which his arm is pinned not only by my leg, but by his body weight as well. We'll go through a range of different angles for you to [03:49:50] see how this occurs.

[03:49:52] This time, we'll face away from the camera. From here we start off with our opponent in a [03:50:00] closed turtle position. We go through, take the tight waist, hand goes on the floor, I move across my training partner's body so that my [03:50:10] knee goes from my opponent's left hip to the right hip, and as a result I can pull him over the wedge of my right knee.

[03:50:18] Now, I withdraw my [03:50:20] knee, so that I don't want this. I don't want to pull him onto my lap so we're both seated. There's other moves where we do do this, but not this one. So I pull him to [03:50:30] the point where his balance is broken. The point of kizushi. Now I move my body back, pull, and break him down to a hip.

[03:50:37] He's forced to base out with an elbow, otherwise I just pin him right [03:50:40] here. We go directly into a seatbelt grip, my head over his. Now I'll make a strong body. From here, I bring my body up, put the wedge in, my foot goes [03:50:50] around the corner, and we hook onto our training partner's arm. This means that as we go to roll our training partner over, we end up in a situation [03:51:00] where my hook goes in, I trap his primary defensive arm.

[03:51:04] The secondary defensive arm is pinned underneath his own body. When he tries to pull it free, [03:51:10] His own body weight makes it very difficult. Now, both arms are well trapped, and we have what? An uncontested stranglehand. And as a result, we can [03:51:20] go through and into a fine strangulation position. The key idea is that this arm trap is even stronger than the ones we saw earlier today, because it's [03:51:30] reinforced by body weight.

[03:51:32] However, it had to be done prior to taking the rear mounted position. [03:51:40] Typically, we take rear mount position first and then look to trap an arm. Here, we're reversing the order. Our favorite way to work over, uh, uh, [03:51:50] oversight leg controls is by first hooking the arm and then taking the rear mount. So, once again, facing in this direction.[03:52:00]

[03:52:03] We start off behind our training partner, we put him in a tight waist. I block the knee, I move across, and break him [03:52:10] down to a hip. We immediately lock his seatbelt, we take our knees off the mat, and we go in and hook our training partner at the arm. As he returns to his base, [03:52:20] from here we put our head down on the floor, and rotate through.

[03:52:24] Now, we find ourselves in a situation where we have a hook, and a trapped arm. When he goes [03:52:30] to turn out, it's incredibly difficult. Now it's relatively simple for us to go through and into our usual finishing mechanics. [03:52:40] When he tries to pull the arm free, so difficult, and our elbow is positioned close to the floor, which makes rotational finishes [03:52:50] particularly strong.

[03:52:51] This method of hooking our opponent's arm first and then falling and finishing on the strangle side. It's one of our favorite ways to use [03:53:00] the straight jacket.

[03:53:04] We're looking at the idea of attacking with a straight jacket on the over [03:53:10] arm side. We've seen that if we start behind our opponent in a rear mounted position, that's not really an option, at least on the conventional, uh, method that we looked at [03:53:20] previously. So typically what we do when we want to attack, uh, with our legs constraining We typically start in a turtle position.

[03:53:28] In the previous move, my opponent was in a [03:53:30] turtle position, and he was in a closed turtle position. We're defining a closed turtle position as one where the elbows are inside, making contact with the knees. [03:53:40] We saw a fundamental rule of Jiu Jitsu, the law of contraction and extension, that the more contracted my opponent's body, the more safe he is [03:53:50] from submission holds, but the more vulnerable he is to off balances.

[03:53:55] If my opponent extends himself, well, the safer he is from off [03:54:00] balances, but on the other hand, the more vulnerable he is to various forms of submission hold. Okay, so your opponent always has to make a choice between expansion and contraction for every [03:54:10] situation that he's in. Previously, we looked at the idea of attacking a contracted.

[03:54:14] closed turtle position. Let's look now at the idea of attacking an extended [03:54:20] open turtle position. In these cases, we like to use our knee as a wedge and penetrate with the knee and then start hooking our opponent's arm. So we're going to [03:54:30] start off in a fairly conventional situation, but we're going to change our leg configuration.

[03:54:34] Normally, when we go to attack a turtle position, the standard method involves covering [03:54:40] our training partner's hips, like so, so that we have The hips covered. This would be the standard method of working against turtle position. A nice alternative method, which is [03:54:50] particularly useful against open turtle positions, is to use a wedge behind the elbow, where I take a hand, I change my body position, I place my knee [03:55:00] behind the elbow, and my foot goes out wide.

[03:55:03] This gives a good sense of mobility and movement around my opponent's head and shoulders. The classical method [03:55:10] is very good for controlling the hips.

[03:55:15] This method is very good for controlling head and shoulders, and [03:55:20] particularly for setting up attacks on my opponent's nearside arm. What we're going to do from here is we're going to post on our training partner's two hands, just like so. [03:55:30] I'm going to rise by turning my head across my training partner, and bringing my knee off the floor, and we penetrate with the knee.

[03:55:39] So that my knee [03:55:40] becomes a wedge behind my training partner's arm. Now, all we're going to do is take our foot and the heel is going to touch our own [03:55:50] knee. There's a trick to this. If my knee points across my training partner's center line and my arm, opponent's arm is in tight, it's quite [03:56:00] difficult to make an effective hook.

[03:56:01] It takes quite a bit of flexibility. So what we want to do is the exact opposite. We want to point our knee outwards, away from the center line, [03:56:10] and we bring the heel in first. And as a result, you make an easy contact requiring no flexibility. Only now do I turn the knee inwards [03:56:20] and I start a raking action backwards with my leg, which makes it possible for me to catch my training partner's arm and drive my knee to the floor.

[03:56:29] Now, as [03:56:30] always, we put an arm around the neck, we put our head on the floor, we open our hips and we roll our training partner through. And once again, we have [03:56:40] our opponent's secondary arm trapped with his own body weight. We insert the hook and from here when he goes to defend himself, both arms are completely [03:56:50] constrained.

[03:56:50] And as a result, we can go through into a superb finishing position. Let's have a look at that again from another angle. We'll start off facing [03:57:00] in this direction. We're going to see a change in leg position. As we have an open turtle position here, we change our leg position just like so. [03:57:10] Now, I'm going to drive my knee in as a wedge.

[03:57:14] I change my orientation. My knee penetrates and becomes a wedge behind the tricep. [03:57:20] Now, I turn my knee outwards, so it's relatively simple for me to step into my training partner's forearm and begin a raking action that brings my opponent's leg back. [03:57:30] I put the hand in. I put my head on the floor. And I open my hips so that my opponent turns over and his [03:57:40] arm is well trapped.

[03:57:41] When he tries to extract his right arm, it's incredibly difficult because his own body weight is aiding in the pinning of the arm. At the same [03:57:50] time, I have the primary defensive arm locked up in my hands. So once again, we've created a situation where we have an uncontested stranglehand. Always, I [03:58:00] try to get the arm in and penetrate before I even initiate the roll.

[03:58:03] But if my opponent's chin was down, this would be a very easy time for me to apply a simple mandible [03:58:10] strangle for the finish. Most of the time, however, you're going to find, because of the very nature of the roll, you'll be able to go in and finish either with a one arm strangle [03:58:20] or a slightly stronger two arm strangle.

[03:58:23] Let's have a look at that whole sequence again from another angle. from a situation [03:58:30] where we're behind our training partner. Normally we pin at the hips, this time we [03:58:40] put our knee in behind his elbow as a wedge using either a wrist grab or A seatbelt grip. We turn our body, drive the knee [03:58:50] in as a wedge.

[03:58:51] Let's turn this way. So you can see my knee is an effective wedge behind my training partner's tricep. Now, I turn my knee [03:59:00] outwards to make the step in very, very easy. If my knee turns inwards, it takes quite a bit of flexibility to hook. So the knee turns out and we step on in. [03:59:10] Now I work my heel down to the floor and drive my knee to the mat.

[03:59:18] Once we go into the roll, [03:59:20] let's look at how first I catch my training partner's wrist, penetrate, and I close the circle by driving my chin down and head to the mat. Now I [03:59:30] don't want to fall to a back crucifix, so I open my knee behind my training partner. And when we tilt, we go directly into the spine attacking position.[03:59:40]

[03:59:40] When he tries to pull the arm free, his own body weight pins it in place. When he tries to extract the left arm, my grip in the knuckle line makes that very difficult. [03:59:50] And from here, we extract and go into our usual finishing position.[04:00:00]

[04:00:02] We're looking at this idea of attacking on the overarm side and trapping our training partner's arm according to the [04:00:10] precepts of the straight jacket system. We've looked at situations where our opponent was in a turtle position, we trapped the arm first and then rolled into the [04:00:20] rear mount, sitting our body weight on top of the arm and trapping it.

[04:00:23] That's a very desirable situation. There's got to be times, however, you fall down into a rear mount [04:00:30] and your opponent is sitting on your leg and you're going to have to work to trap your opponent's arm without Being able to move your bottom leg. [04:00:40] So what do we do now? This is where side switching becomes very important.

[04:00:44] Let's say we're behind our training partner and we had hooks in. [04:00:50] We had one arm over, one arm under and our opponent fell in this direction. Okay? You can clearly see in this situation that he's [04:01:00] sitting on top of my right leg. So there's no way I can use the ordinary right leg to trap my training partner's right arm, his secondary arm, [04:01:10] in the fashion that we've been doing all day.

[04:01:14] What should I do under these circumstances? If I can't use my right leg to trap the right arm, the [04:01:20] secondary arm, what else can I do? Well, there are ways to trap the primary defensive arm using the other leg, which is now obviously [04:01:30] unweighted. However, it needs some modification. When I work in this position, I'm going to post, rear mount, [04:01:40] or body triangle.

[04:01:41] Because one thing never changes. We're always looking to defend the bottom hook. If my bottom hook is vulnerable and easily passed over, that's never a good thing. So we [04:01:50] always want the bottom hook either as high as possible, or as reinforced as possible. Okay, now once we're in this position, one great option for us [04:02:00] is to take our training partner's primary defensive hand and push that hand down below the line of the chest.

[04:02:08] As it goes below the line of the chest, [04:02:10] I'm going to unhook my legs, and I'm going to put my hamstring over my training partner's elbow. That is critical. I cannot do this below the elbow. You won't [04:02:20] form an effective catch of your opponent's arm. So my leg rises above his elbow. And I put my, the heel of my hand inside my own [04:02:30] thumb.

[04:02:30] Remember, prior perception means you will always be able to do this, even if you can't physically see your hand. Your own body will know where hand and foot need to [04:02:40] go in order to touch. So, I push down the body, and then from here, I block over the top of the elbow. So when he tries to move the elbow, [04:02:50] it's constrained by my leg.

[04:02:52] Now, I just touch my foot to my own hand, and as a result, I can limp my arm free. [04:03:00] Now, I take my feet, and I cross them, so that when he tries to pull the arm free, it's exceptionally difficult. Notice that the [04:03:10] leg which is controlling my opponent's arm is the foot on bottom when I cross my feet, to maximize tightness.

[04:03:18] Now, from here [04:03:20] I have no control hand. It's not a good thing. Okay, it makes me unstable. I have trapped the arm, but I need to establish a control [04:03:30] hand. No matter how tightly he holds me with this grip, I can always take a cross grip and pull. All I do is pull his [04:03:40] wrist and off it comes. I lift the elbow and I put my hand underneath and establish a cross hand.

[04:03:48] But now we've got one dreadful [04:03:50] problem. You'll remember from earlier in the video that one of the foundational elements of all back control leading to strangles is the idea that I must always have my [04:04:00] strangle arm and my head on opposite sides, otherwise I can never strangle my opponent. I've just broken that rule.

[04:04:08] I've positioned myself [04:04:10] so that my strangle hand and my head are on both on the left hand side of my opponent's head. So there's no strangle here. I physically can't do it. I've trapped his [04:04:20] arm. I've established a control hand, but I can't strangle this guy. No problem. From here, we're going to use a head pommel.

[04:04:28] I'm going to grab a hold of my opponent's head. [04:04:30] Even if he drives his head towards the floor in an effort to escape, it's an easy thing for me to bring my elbow forward and pommel the head and get my head into the [04:04:40] desirable position where my head is on one side, and my strangle hand is on the other, so that we have an effective head trap, the two sided head strap.[04:04:50]

[04:04:50] Now, when he tries to move away from me, I just keep everything in close, his secondary defensive arm is well pinned, his primary defensive arm is well pinned, and we're in the [04:05:00] perfect position to start penetrating the neck. As the chin goes down, we know what to do, we make the flat fist, we go walking all the way through, and now we're in the perfect position to apply either [04:05:10] one handed or Two handed strangle for the finish.

[04:05:16] Let's have a look at that again. We [04:05:20] start off in a conventional hooks position behind our opponent. We lock up. Our opponent falls to the over side. Okay? No [04:05:30] problem. From here, we first establish our legs. We can't have an easy lower foot for him to go over, so we either go here, or here. Now, from this [04:05:40] position, we lock up.

[04:05:41] Look how initially I need to establish control of my opponent's primary defensive hand. We push [04:05:50] that down the body so that the hand goes below the line of the pectorals. As a result, it's not difficult for me to put my hamstring over and [04:06:00] above the elbow. And as a result, I can extract my arm and cross my feet with the trapping leg in bottom.[04:06:10]

[04:06:10] Now, I've trapped an arm, but I have no control hand. I need to establish that. No matter how tightly he holds my hand, I can always grab his wrist and [04:06:20] lift the wrist. I put my thumb underneath and lock. But now we've created a real problem. We've broken the fundamental rule of hit [04:06:30] on one side, strangle hand on the other.

[04:06:32] There's no strangle from this position. I put my arm around his neck, there's nothing. So our first action here, before we get any kind of strangle, There's a head [04:06:40] pommel, even when he's driving his head to the mat defensively and bridging and doing all those things that people do, we just want to lift and pommel the head to the other side.

[04:06:49] Once that's [04:06:50] established, we're in the perfect position to start our usual game, taking the thumb, penetrating underneath with a flat fist and going through and around and establishing [04:07:00] the conditions we need to apply a rotational strangle.

[04:07:09] [04:07:10] Now, we've been looking at some detail at the straight jacket system. This is the centerpiece of my back attack system. It's the one which, uh, brings us the most success in competition. [04:07:20] And it disproportionately, uh, uh, occupies our training time when it comes to, uh, working back positions as a whole. So, Now, [04:07:30] let's quickly run through some, uh, some basic summaries, we went through an awful lot of stuff.

[04:07:34] We've seen there's a fundamental station whenever we get behind someone, uh, that's been in judiciary for the longest time. [04:07:40] Most people define it as a strong side and a weak side. We've seen that our approach to the back is fundamentally neutral between which side I fall towards. We have an underside and [04:07:50] an overside.

[04:07:51] When we fall to the underside or the overside, it doesn't matter which, we always have one clear goal in mind, and that's to create what we call an uncontested [04:08:00] stranglehand, where one of my arms is, there's just nothing between my arm and the neck, okay? Um, this will have to involve. The use of my [04:08:10] legs because what we're going up against here is a fundamental problem that whenever I get behind my opponent He will always have more defensive instruments than I have offensive [04:08:20] instruments Okay, this deficit problem runs throughout the back position So what we need when we get behind people is an ability to incorporate our legs to help restrain his [04:08:30] arms if we fall to the side of the underarm Then typically, our first thing here is to protect the bottom hook.

[04:08:39] We [04:08:40] like to reinforce it, take it up nice and high. And if possible, to lock it in place. If not, then at least put weight on the hips. Like so. [04:08:50] Okay? From situations like this, now it's much more difficult for my opponent to begin the sequence of misaligning his body from mine. As a result, we now [04:09:00] had the time to start restraining his arms.

[04:09:03] We've seen he has two arms, a primary defensive arm and a secondary defensive arm. The typical pattern is one where we use our [04:09:10] legs to restrain the secondary arm. We saw a hierarchy of grips, which culminate in the idea of a double cross grip, which make it relatively [04:09:20] easy for me to take my leg and hook over my training partner's secondary arm and put it behind his back.

[04:09:26] From situations like this, we then go back and [04:09:30] constrain the primary defensive arm. So there's nothing between my strangle arm and his neck, other than his chin. Then we [04:09:40] saw a very particular method of penetrating the chin, the flat fist method, which makes it relatively easy to go through and into a position where we can employ an interesting variation.[04:09:50]

[04:09:50] Of the standard method of strangling the rotational method, much more similar in spirit to GI strangles than no GI strangles, where the elbow rotates over my [04:10:00] Trini partner's shoulder, resulting in terrifically strong strangles either with one arm, with two arms, or in some cases even directly over our chin partner's, mandible right through [04:10:10] the jaw and still getting tremendous strangulation properties.

[04:10:14] We saw that there was a second part to the system. Where we would fall in the [04:10:20] opposite direction, this time falling over the overarm side. Typically this is used in situations where my opponent is in say for example a turtle position [04:10:30] or even a wrestler's referee position where the elbows are off the mat.

[04:10:33] Elbows off the mat, like so. And from here, we need some kind of wedge behind our [04:10:40] training partner's tricep. And then from here, the leg comes around and hooks. Then from here, we roll through first, and trap the arm [04:10:50] second. And from situations like this, we could use body weight to pin our opponent's trapped arm, and go through into a very strong hook.

[04:10:58] finishing positions. [04:11:00] So whether we fall to one side or the other is not so important. What is important is the ultimate goal, which is to create that uncontested strangle [04:11:10] hand falling in either direction. And as a result, we could go through into very, very high percentage approach to strangles, which overcomes the two central [04:11:20] problems associated with finishing from the back.

[04:11:22] The first problem being the alignment problem and the second problem, the deficit problem.

[04:11:27] Speaker 4: [04:11:30] Now, we've looked at the straitjacket system. The intention of the straitjacket system was very, very clear. It's to take one weapon, [04:11:40] the rear naked strangle, and punch it through strong resistance on a small localized area, my opponent's neck. Once again, the [04:11:50] intention of the straitjacket is to create concentrated force attacks, my one arm, in a rear naked strangle.

[04:11:57] against one very specific [04:12:00] area of my opponent's body, the neck. So you've got one part of your body attacking one small part of your opponent's body. It's all about localized force, everything going in on a [04:12:10] specific area. That's why it was so important for us to remove the impediments that my opponent puts in the way, the jaw, the arms, etc.

[04:12:18] We had to [04:12:20] force one weapon into an area Very, very small that my opponent was strongly defending. That's why it took so much in terms of, of removing those [04:12:30] impediments. That's why there's so much effort to remove defensive arms, penetrate necks, etc. and break our way through. No matter how good you get at [04:12:40] working with the straightjacket system, there's always going to come a day you can't get one weapon through one small zone of your opponent's body.

[04:12:48] It's going to happen. [04:12:50] That's where the auxiliary parts of the back attack system come in. Many people misrepresent my back attack system as just a series of [04:13:00] hand fighting maneuvers designed to trap an arm so you can get a red naked strangle. That's one part of the system. Yes, it's the most important part, [04:13:10] but let's not misunderstand ourselves here.

[04:13:13] The auxiliary systems are extremely important and they have a completely different focus. [04:13:20] from the primary system, the straitjacket system. Their focus is not to take one part of your body and force it through a small part [04:13:30] of your opponent's body. Their function is to take your whole body and attack your opponent's whole body.

[04:13:38] The function of the auxiliary system [04:13:40] is to distribute your attacks across your opponent's whole body, away from that one vulnerable area of your arms versus their neck. [04:13:50] By diversifying the attacks across the whole body, you become much less predictable, and your opponent has to defend a much broader area of his body.

[04:13:59] A difficult [04:14:00] thing to do. The first out of these auxiliary systems is my personal favorite. This is a switch where instead of using my [04:14:10] arms to strangle my opponent's body, I'm going to use my legs. Now, one of the fundamental asymmetries of the human body is the discrepancy between strength of our upper body and our [04:14:20] lower body.

[04:14:20] Our lower bodies are massively stronger than our upper body. In situations where my arms can't get an effective stranglehold, very often your [04:14:30] legs will get the breakthrough. Why? Because they're three times stronger. Many of the things that will stop a strangle with the arms will not stop a strangle with the legs.[04:14:40]

[04:14:40] Your opponent can put hands in, interfering, they're not going to stop the strength of two legs around their neck and shoulders straining with a triangle. Let's have a look [04:14:50] at this first of the auxiliary systems, my favorite, the reverse triangle, or as we refer to it, the Ushiro Senkaku, the triangle from the back.[04:15:00]

[04:15:03] Let's go into the use of Ushiro Senkaku, the triangle from the back, or the rear triangle. [04:15:10] Um, this is absolutely one of my favorite ways to enact a stranglehold on an opponent who has successfully stalked me using the most high percentage of all the finishes, the rear naked strangle. [04:15:20] If I ever find myself in a situation where my arms can't get the breakthrough, one of the first things I'm looking to do is to switch and get my legs to secure the breakthrough.

[04:15:29] Why? [04:15:30] Because the legs are so much stronger. And because the movement from a straight jacket to Ushiro Senkaku, the triangle from the back, is very small. [04:15:40] It's an easy transition to make. The same conditions that make the straight jacket possible also make the triangle from the rear possible. [04:15:50] I'm behind my opponent and I've managed in some sense to fall to one side and pass my leg [04:16:00] over the top.

[04:16:01] And my opponent is just doing a fantastic job of defending here, his, uh, his hand may not be quite as, uh, restrained as I wanted. [04:16:10] For whatever reason, I'm unable to get the breakthrough. They come to a certain point where. You, you've tried and tried and you're not making constant headway. There comes a point where you've gotta start switching things up.[04:16:20]

[04:16:20] Okay? If I cannot use my arms to strangle my opponent, at this point, I'm gonna go through to my legs. The question is, how am I gonna do it? [04:16:30] How am I gonna convert this from a situation where my arms are ready to strangle to one where my legs are gonna take over and do the strangling work? The [04:16:40] key is to understand that there's a real problem here.

[04:16:42] Like all the systems, there's a central problem. In the case of the Ushiro Senkaku, or rear triangle, [04:16:50] it has to do with the problem of extension. I'll be coming back to that as we work here. What I want to do is to get my opponent's arm, [04:17:00] the one which I'm controlling here, in this case it's his primary defensive arm, I want to get it extended over his head.

[04:17:07] We're going to use a mechanism of doing so. [04:17:10] where I take my strangle hand and I bring it to the other side of my training partner's neck. Okay, we're no longer straining with the arms, so it's fine to do that. [04:17:20] I bring my arm across, like so. I'm going to lift my training partner's wrist and I'm going to expose the suicide zone of his wrist.

[04:17:29] [04:17:30] And I'm going to match it with my suicide zone. So the two areas of the veins of the wrist cross over each other. Now, as my [04:17:40] opponent tries to keep his hand towards his chest, you find that you're essentially in an arm wrestling position. Your opponent's arm is bent like an [04:17:50] American lock. And just as the American lock exposes the weakness in my training partner's arm, so too does this.

[04:17:58] I hug with 2 [04:18:00] on 1. My opponent can't use his second arm to help himself because it's trapped by my leg. So I had the strength of two of my arms versus one [04:18:10] of his. Moreover, his arm is in a mechanically weak position, identical to an American log. And as a result, when he tries to keep his hand towards his [04:18:20] chest, all I'm going to do is incorporate my leg to extend him.

[04:18:24] And then I'm going to touch his knuckles to my chest. When [04:18:30] he tries to stop that motion, make your body as strong as you can, it's so easy for me to extend him back. And now we have that weak extended arm that we're looking [04:18:40] for. I'm going to take my leg over my training partner's shoulder. And all we're going to do is tilt across to the other side and kink [04:18:50] our two legs.

[04:18:51] So that my two lower legs and feet point in the same direction. I haven't yet locked the triangle. When my training partner tries to pull his [04:19:00] head free, just the leg positioning makes it incredibly difficult. Then I lock an initial Senkaku, which won't be particularly tight. [04:19:10] Then I use my hand to grab my own heel and hand assist to a tight triangle, and I take my shoelaces and put them behind his [04:19:20] back.

[04:19:21] I don't want my opponent bringing his arm back. Like so. If my opponent's arm is forward, [04:19:30] towards his belly button, that's not what I'm looking for. I always want an elbow extended over his head. He always wants an elbow [04:19:40] contracted towards his belly button. If he can succeed in doing so, he can push against my elbow and weaken my strangle.

[04:19:46] In addition, I now have to Go into [04:19:50] convoluted methods to finish the strangle. I have to try to sit up and pressure forward. I have to try and grab a leg and pull. These are very difficult to do under combat conditions. [04:20:00] And the more I try to do them, the more movement is generated and my opponent can start turning and slipping inside my triangle, and it's all gone.

[04:20:06] It's a disaster, okay? We don't want these methods of finishing. [04:20:10] What we want is to create situations where the elbow is extended overhead. This exposes his throat to the strangle. The [04:20:20] more my opponent's elbow is forward, the less strangulation power I have. His elbow protects him from the strangle. When the elbow is extended overhead, that's [04:20:30] exactly when your Shiro Senkaku has its maximum effect.

[04:20:33] And from here, We get tremendous strangulation pressure. So let's have a look at this all again. We're [04:20:40] behind our training partner. We managed to get our opponent down to the floor. We even managed to trap the arm successfully. However, our best attempts to strangle [04:20:50] with the arms proved insufficient. Time has gone by and it's time to switch to a different tactic.

[04:20:55] Okay, we gave it an honest attempt to strangle with the arms. We couldn't get the breakthrough [04:21:00] and we're not feeling like there's any reason to think there's going to be a breakthrough in the near future. So it's time to switch. We capture and bring our arm to the opposite [04:21:10] side. I lift and raise. I take the suicide zone of my wrist and match it to his.

[04:21:16] At the same time, I hug. I am not [04:21:20] figure fouring my opponent's neck. Um, there's other times we'll do that, not for now, okay? We hold it in just like so. My intention, make a strong arm, my intention is to connect his [04:21:30] knuckles to my chest. Then I extend one leg and I sit down into this strong position. When he tries [04:21:40] to pull his wrist back to himself, it's like you're trying to pull yourself out of an American walk.

[04:21:44] It's just not going to happen. It's just a weak extended position. If he tries to turn [04:21:50] out, my legs make it impossible. And the more he goes to turn out, the more he facilitates my triangle. If he tries to turn in, my [04:22:00] knee blocks him. If my knee was open, and my opponent turned in, absolutely he'd start to escape.

[04:22:07] That's why we have our legs in this [04:22:10] configuration. Even before I lock the triangle, it's already tight. When he tries to pull away, it's a tight, tight grip. Now, the first [04:22:20] triangle will never be optimal. It won't be until we reach down and hand assist and put the foot behind the back that we get an optimal triangle.[04:22:30]

[04:22:30] Now, as he tries to put his hands in defensively and grip my legs, this simply has no effect. The hands are massively weaker than the legs. And all we do is [04:22:40] focus on keeping his fist on my chest and then strangle. And the strangulation pressure, because it's using the legs on a very exposed neck, [04:22:50] is deeply impressive.

[04:22:51] Let's have a look at all those details one more time. Start behind our training partner. We go in and from [04:23:00] here we pass our foot across our training partner's body. Now we're in the perfect position to hook over our training partner's arm. To the best of our ability, we try to strangle with [04:23:10] the arms, and for whatever reason, it's just not happening, and we're not optimistic about our chances in the near future.

[04:23:15] So it's time to switch. From here, we go through, and bring our arm [04:23:20] across to this side. I lift my training partner's arm, and I go in wrist to wrist. So essentially, we're in an arm locking position. It's an American lock. Like so. [04:23:30] Now, I hug two on one. Two of my arms against one of his. Not only that, but my legs are involved too.

[04:23:36] Watch my left leg pushes him away and [04:23:40] weakens his position even further. Now I connect his knuckles to my chest. I sit across his body and scissor my legs. [04:23:50] So when he goes to yank out, those scissored legs make it incredibly difficult. We lock an initial triangle, then we hand assist it. And lock it behind [04:24:00] his back.

[04:24:00] Because we have an extended arm, when my opponent tries to defend himself by bringing the elbow down the body, it's incredibly difficult. And the strangulation [04:24:10] pressure, utilizing the strength of my legs, on an unprotected neck, is immense.[04:24:20]

[04:24:20] We're going through the first and in my opinion the most important of the auxiliary systems. The nature of the auxiliary systems is very different from the main [04:24:30] straightjacket system. The back attack system as a whole is quite different in spirit from say the leg system. The leg system was an example [04:24:40] of a symmetrical system where the major components of the system had a roughly equal weight of importance.

[04:24:47] Sure, there was a hierarchy, one position was [04:24:50] considered better than another, but in order to be considered competent in the system, you had to be pretty much equally good at all the major components. The back attack system is quite different. [04:25:00] One part of the back attack system, the straight jacket system, accounts for the vast majority of our finishes, and the vast majority of our training time.

[04:25:08] Nonetheless, it [04:25:10] suffers from a defect, and that defect is that it asks you to take one part of your body, your arms. and smash through one tiny part of your opponent's body, the [04:25:20] neck area, to get the finishes. The auxiliary systems are built around that system as a mechanism of support so that when you [04:25:30] can't use your arms to break through that small area, the auxiliary systems allow you to diversify your attacks over the whole of your opponent's body with [04:25:40] your whole body.

[04:25:41] That's the beauty of the rear triangle, or ushiro senkaku. Instead of limiting myself to strangling with my arms, now we get an opportunity to [04:25:50] also strangle with our legs, from the back. You must learn to take advantage of this. Remember, the strength of your legs is two, three times whatever [04:26:00] the strength of your arms is, and as a result you'll break through some very strong defenses with this method.

[04:26:06] Now, we just looked at the Ushiro Senkaku for the purposes of [04:26:10] strangulation. We used our legs to strangle our opponent. But Ushiro Senkaku, or the rear triangle, is also a fantastic way to put tremendous breaking pressure [04:26:20] on our training partner's arm, diversifying attacks away from strangles and into joint locks.

[04:26:25] Let's have a look at that now.[04:26:30]

[04:26:31] When we work behind our training partner and trap the arms in the usual fashion, we've seen a method of going wrist to [04:26:40] wrist with our training partner. He makes a strong wrist and from here we lock up two on one and we use the strength of our legs as well to extend our opponent's body away and drop him [04:26:50] into this position here, so that we can use our legs to control one arm and his head.

[04:26:57] Even if my opponent tries to lock his hands together here and [04:27:00] defend himself, it's still an easy thing for us to lock an initial triangle, hand assist it, and then we have the impressive strangulation power of our legs [04:27:10] working in our favor. Now, there's always going to be that day that for whatever reason, you're not breaking through with a strangle.

[04:27:16] Don't worry. You have excellent other supplemental [04:27:20] finishes from here. Once I separate my training partner's hands, and that's an easy thing to do because his hands are locked over his head, I go to the end of the lever, [04:27:30] all the way up here at the wrist, I lock the figure of four, and I separate my training partner's arms.

[04:27:35] The first finish here is a variation of Judy Guitardi, where I plant my [04:27:40] foot flat on the mat, and I take my training partner's elbow over the hip. For our first finish. So this is Senkaku with a Judy Gatame or [04:27:50] arm lock finish. We can make this even stronger by taking our training partner's hand to our shoulder, blocking it, and using a wraparound [04:28:00] grip.

[04:28:00] We put our hand on our own buttocks and then arch to an even stronger version of Judy Gatame. This, too, can be supplemented in another way. We [04:28:10] can lock a Kimura in this position. And from here, because your opponent's head and arm are constrained, when I touch my opponent's elbow to my abdomen, the Kimura pressure from [04:28:20] here is immense, because your opponent's head can't move with the Kimura, and it greatly tightens it up as a result.

[04:28:27] Elbow goes in, Wrist goes across, [04:28:30] and the finish is very, very strong. In addition, if my opponent's arm is bent, and it's proving to be difficult to go into Judo Gatame, we can go into variations of the American Lock, where we [04:28:40] hug our training partner's elbow, and then from here we pressure forward, and we get very, very strong pressure on the elbow joint.

[04:28:46] In addition, we can also work on [04:28:50] our training partner's wrist. When my opponent's arm is very, very tightly bound in here, I simply put my hand over the knuckle line, and I hold the opposite [04:29:00] wrist, and we slap the wrist down turned. Now, I close my elbow over his elbow, and hand over hand, we get the wrist break.

[04:29:09] We do [04:29:10] not figure four. That's a different kind of wrist lock. Here, we trap the elbow, and we smack to bend the wrist. Once the wrist [04:29:20] is bent, Elbow to elbow, hand over hand, and the wrist lock is extraordinarily powerful. Let's have a look at those various joint locks again. [04:29:30] We start off behind our training partner and fall over to the side.

[04:29:37] Now, from this position, we [04:29:40] cover our training partner's secondary defensive arm. Despite our best attempts, we fail to break through and we decide it's time to go to another means of attack. [04:29:50] the triangle from the rear. We come around, we establish wrist to wrist contact, and we use a hug motion that brings our training partner's knuckles [04:30:00] to our chest, combined with extension of the leg, drops our opponent in front of us, and gives us an initial lock, which we reinforce with a hand [04:30:10] assist.

[04:30:11] From here, we have an initial judogitami. We have an even stronger version of Jiri Gitame, where we go [04:30:20] around the corner, lock up, and develop tremendous breaking pressure. If my opponent's arm should slip out, and I see a bent arm in front of me, [04:30:30] no problem. From here, we can lock a particularly tight variation of Kimura, where the elbow is connected to our hip and stomach, and from here, we develop tremendous [04:30:40] breaking power.

[04:30:41] In addition, we can attack with an American Lock, where I feed my arm through and around and I take his elbow, [04:30:50] hold, and drive my pelvis forward for the finish. In addition, if none of those are working, there's no reason why we can't simply hold the suicide area of the wrist [04:31:00] and slap our training partner's hand until the wrist is bent.

[04:31:04] Now, when I want to attack the wrist, I must control the joint above it. In this case, it's the elbow. [04:31:10] I cover the elbow and we get a very strong break. Working from another angle.[04:31:20]

[04:31:22] We start off behind our training partner. And from here we go in and [04:31:30] control our training partner as we so often do. I bring my arm to the same side, lift and expose the veins of his wrist and bring the [04:31:40] knuckles to my chest. As I bring him across, we lock the figure of four. Ordinarily from here, we'd like to work with a stranglehold, but for whatever [04:31:50] reason the stranglehold's not getting the breakthrough, we switch to joint locks.

[04:31:53] You've got a bunch of good ones right here. From this position, we saw first a fairly conventional [04:32:00] jujigatami, where we keep the senkaku and we apply juji pressure on the elbow. We can strengthen that by going around. locking [04:32:10] and working again with that strong elbow breaking position. It's also permissible here to come up to an elbow to enhance the break.

[04:32:19] [04:32:20] Now we can also go with twisting locks. Kimura is an obvious candidate. If I can't extend my opponent's arm then I bring the elbow inwards [04:32:30] and from here we get very strong breaking pressure. In addition, we can use a variation of the American lock. When the arm is sharply bent, we simply pass our [04:32:40] armpit around the fist and lock in place.

[04:32:42] Hugging the elbow and driving forward creates an immensely strong Americana lock. If all of those are [04:32:50] failing, then from here we simply hold the wrist and slap the wrist down, bending it in place and then trapping the elbow. A general rule of thumb in all [04:33:00] of Jiu If I wish to break any given joint, I need to control the joint above it.

[04:33:05] So if I wish to attack and break the wrist, something must control my opponent's elbow [04:33:10] joint. If I wish to break the elbow, something must control the shoulder. And so on and so on. From here, because it's a wrist lock, I control the elbow. And from this [04:33:20] position, We drive in and get a very strong finish.[04:33:30]

[04:33:31] We're looking at the auxiliary systems of the general back attack system. We've seen that the general back attack system has two major components. [04:33:40] This is on the one hand, the central system of the, uh, the back attack, the straight jacket system. That's a series of, of hand fighting maneuvers designed to pin my [04:33:50] opponent's arm and facilitate really good strangles.

[04:33:52] With my arms behind my opponent. Um, this is it were concentrates one [04:34:00] type of attack, a renegade strangle on one specific part of my opponent's body, his neck, uh, as impressive as that is as a system, it's not enough. [04:34:10] I should be able to distribute my attacks, diversify my attacks over the whole body. In cases where I cannot achieve a specific breakthrough in a specific area, [04:34:20] I should be able to redistribute my attacks over the whole body so I become unpredictable and it becomes very difficult for my opponent to defend his entire body against my attacks.

[04:34:29] One of the first and [04:34:30] best steps in this approach is to switch from using my arms to attack my opponent to switching to using my legs in the form of a triangle from the back, [04:34:40] the Ushiro Senkaku. We're looking at that Ushiro Senkaku system. Let's go through some troubleshooting now, common problems that arise with the use of [04:34:50] Ushiro Senkaku.

[04:34:51] So, we're in behind our training partner and we've managed. To pin our changing partner's arm down and then make the switch. [04:35:00] First common problem here, my opponent has very strong arms, okay? And I'm concerned, can I really touch my opponent's knuckles to my chest? [04:35:10] Well, we have a specific mechanism to do this, okay?

[04:35:13] It's a method of working where I expose my wrist to my opponent's wrist. And that's always where I want to [04:35:20] work. I want to use this two on one. Grip like so. As my opponent goes to pull and pull and pull, he's pulling against me, I'm locked in [04:35:30] place and it's so easy for me to use my legs to move his body down mine and connect his knuckles to my chest.

[04:35:37] Now, once I get the knuckles to the chest, [04:35:40] when my opponent goes to move around, it's an incredibly constraining position because there's a sense in which he's in something of a stocks position [04:35:50] where my foot is in his armpit. Blocking the effects of his right arm. His neck is wedged by my thigh, so when he goes to bridge, etc.

[04:35:59] It's a difficult [04:36:00] thing. And his hips are controlled through my left hook. And as a result, I can easily move my body over, scissor, and lock up the beginnings of a [04:36:10] triangle. Now, despite our best efforts, there's always going to be that guy who manages to lock his hands, and bring his elbow down into a sound defensive position.

[04:36:19] [04:36:20] Okay. And as a result, it can be difficult for us to, to bring the hands back. He's sufficiently strong here. It's not an easy thing. So when we see this happen, one good thing for us to do is [04:36:30] to reach for the second elbow. So as my opponent denies me the left elbow, I reach for the right, and I bring it up and hug, just like so.

[04:36:38] Now I gather [04:36:40] both elbows together, and fully expose my training partner's neck. And as a result, the strangulation pressure here is absolutely immense, okay? So once again, if [04:36:50] we find ourselves in a situation Where I could not control my opponent's elbow position, he successfully pulls the elbow down in a position where he can start interfering with my triangle now by pushing against my [04:37:00] triangle.

[04:37:00] Okay, in these situations I cut through inside my opponent's arms. As he makes strong resistant arms, I want to focus here on a pull that [04:37:10] brings the other elbow up high and weakens the position of the first one so that both elbows can be drawn up into a good attacking position. Now as my opponent [04:37:20] tries to defend the stranglehold with two elbows in an extended position, it's well nigh impossible.

[04:37:25] And as a result, we cut directly through for the stranglehold. [04:37:30] Let's look at some other examples. Again, we start off with our opponent's [04:37:40] arm trapped. He makes a strong resisting arm, and from here, we connect the knuckles to the chest. It always begins with that knuckles to chest element, which locks my opponent's [04:37:50] head an arm in this tracked position.

[04:37:53] When he tries to pull away from me, that's so difficult. When he tries to rotate out of the lock in either direction, so difficult, because the [04:38:00] head is wedged by my right leg and the hips are wedged by my left leg. As a result, we can turn across our training partner's body and lock up the beginnings of a figure of four, [04:38:10] okay?

[04:38:10] Again, we have an opponent who brings the elbow down into a strong defensive position. We always want extension. He always [04:38:20] wants the elbows contracted inwards. That's the problem of extension with Ushiro Senkaku, okay? Now, as my opponent starts bringing the elbows down, what we want to avoid in these situations is [04:38:30] convoluted finishes where you're trying to sit up and push people forward or reach for legs and pull legs up.

[04:38:35] These things really work in, uh, in live situations, okay? [04:38:40] Um Always my number one concern here is getting my opponent's elbow above his forehead. That's always what we work with here. Okay? So if I am going to take a seated [04:38:50] position, I'm not going to try to crunch forward on my opponent. I'm going to use the seated position to impart momentum where I go elbow to elbow on my training partners.

[04:38:57] He makes strong, resistant arms here. I go elbow to [04:39:00] elbow and lift. This is often a better tactic than pulling on a wrist. Sometimes it's not easy to bring my opponent's elbow [04:39:10] through the wrist back over his head. So we're going to release and come up. And we're going to come in here elbow to elbow. As my opponent holds on tight, I'm just going to put my hand over my own thigh [04:39:20] and use my own thigh.

[04:39:22] As a device to expose his wrist and bring the elbow back overhead into a winning position for the [04:39:30] strangle. Once again, my opponent has successfully brought the arms down and I've lost contact with the hands. His hands come all the way down to his stomach, like so, and you feel you've completely lost the position, okay?[04:39:40]

[04:39:40] Instead of me trying in these situations to come forward like so, or full only reaching for the legs in these other disasters, we go through elbow to elbow. And I put my [04:39:50] hand on my own knee. I use finger walking to walk the hand up. Now make your arm as strong as you can. I just lean over to the side and I easily bring this wrist up here to my elbow.[04:40:00]

[04:40:00] And as a result, we clearly bring ourselves into a winning position. Often here, I want my knee inside his bicep. So I will often physically pull. [04:40:10] I don't want his bicep inside my knee. I want my knee inside his bicep. When he goes to hold off the strangle. Now it's so difficult as we apply the power of the [04:40:20] legs.

[04:40:24] Now let's look at the idea of switching off into other triangles. Another common method of [04:40:30] troubleshooting here. There's always going to be those times. That we work.

[04:40:39] With an Ushiro [04:40:40] Senkaku. And I feel my opponent using his free hand to interfere with my feet and strip the feet away, etc, etc. Whenever we see this kind of thing going on, there's no [04:40:50] harm in us switching our body position across the other side. And as my opponent comes up towards me, kicking my legs over and going from a rear triangle as he comes up.[04:41:00]

[04:41:00] into a front triangle. Okay. Whenever you have a rear triangle, you always have access to a front with a simple change in orientation of the body. Now, as he comes up, [04:41:10] he rises not into an escape, but into another form of triangle and finish. Starting off in Ushiro Senkaku.[04:41:20]

[04:41:22] Like so. We get everything extended over our training partner's body, but before we can close the Senkaku, we see him coming in, pulling on the feet, [04:41:30] and starting to come towards us. When we see this, we cast our leg over the top of his shoulder. Now from here, we bring the legs into a winning position, we lock up the figure of four, [04:41:40] and now we're in the perfect position to strangle for the finish.

[04:41:45] Considerations like these show that this is a very versatile finishing position, [04:41:50] even when your opponent Uh, fights back with strong resistance. There are many ways to diversify the attacks over the head, shoulders, and arms, and as a [04:42:00] result, break through and get the finish.

[04:42:05] Now we're looking at the auxiliary systems that back up the [04:42:10] main system, the, uh, so called straight jacket system, uh, of the overall back attack system. So we've got the back attack as a whole. It has [04:42:20] its main component, the straight jacket system. And this is backed up by various auxiliary systems. The function of the auxiliary systems is to distribute our attacks [04:42:30] over the whole human body.

[04:42:32] The function of the, uh, straightjacket system was to focus just the attack of our arms on one specific area of [04:42:40] our opponent's body, the neck. Okay, so the auxiliary systems have this, this tendency to distribute attacks over the body with our whole body. We just looked at the [04:42:50] idea of a rare triangle, Ushiro Senkaku, the triangle from the back.

[04:42:54] Let's switch now to another of the auxiliary systems, also very, very useful indeed, [04:43:00] the reverse top lock. Now, first question. What the hell is a reverse top lock? Uh, for that matter, what is a top lock itself? I'm pretty sure all of you guys are [04:43:10] familiar with the idea of what I call a top lock. I'm sure you have your own names for it.

[04:43:14] Let's look at, um, one of the most common moves in the sport of jiu jitsu, the jujigitami arm lock [04:43:20] from closed guard. If I'm working from a closed guard situation with a training partner, one of the most popular and most effective ways of [04:43:30] applying jujigitami, the arm bar from guard. is to lock my legs over my training partner's shoulder.

[04:43:37] Okay. If I just go naively for [04:43:40] you to tell me on an opponent who's experienced and knows what an arm bar is. If I start making a turn and he sees quickly, what's coming up. And as I try to throw my leg over, he pulls the arm away and it's all gone. [04:43:50] Okay. So, uh, a very popular modern method of applying arm locks in competition, which is probably the most, popular and probably the most effective way of [04:44:00] applying our mask from a closed guard scenario in modern judaism is where we use what I call a top lock where I get a hold of my training partner's, uh, shoulders and I lock my [04:44:10] feet over my training partner's shoulders.

[04:44:12] Just like so. So when he goes to pull away from this, my elevated hips make it very difficult. This dramatically shortens the distance that my [04:44:20] cross faced leg has to go over to hit the arm bar. It also makes for a very good turning surface as I get to turn off my training partner's shoulder. And when I go to move my leg over the head, [04:44:30] it moves only a very short distance.

[04:44:32] As he goes to pull away from us now, we find ourselves locked in and in a good, tight judogitami, and we're ready to go. So instead of traversing a [04:44:40] wide area, where there's a tremendous amount of time and distance for my opponent to pull the arm free and escape from the armbar, we break the armbar down into two [04:44:50] distinct phases.

[04:44:52] The first is where I focus on just getting my legs over my training partner's shoulder and establishing a top lock. As he goes to pull away from me in here, [04:45:00] it's not an easy thing. And now we can turn off our training partner's shoulder, travel a relatively small distance, and go into a tight Jiu Jitsu Gatame finish.

[04:45:08] Okay, so that's [04:45:10] what I call a top lock from close guard. I'm sure you have your own names for it. Um, commonly seen and highly effective method. Now, We can use exactly the same method when we're [04:45:20] behind people and apply that same top lock principle, but from behind a reverse top lock. So here we are, we're behind our training partner.

[04:45:29] And for whatever [04:45:30] reason, we're having a very hard time breaking through our opponent's defensive apparatus. Okay. As he's working in this position and defending the neck, well, we're, we're having a [04:45:40] hard time hooking over his legs, et cetera, et cetera. I will take my strangle arm and I will move it to the other side.

[04:45:46] As a result, I can lock a Kimura on my training [04:45:50] partner's arm and lock it up like so. Now, what 90 percent of the Jiu Jitsu world does in this position is just to throw their leg haphazardly over their opponent's shoulder. And [04:46:00] go into Jiu Jitami. This is fraught with problems, okay? Because my opponent can easily see that I've given up on the idea of a stranglehold.

[04:46:08] The moment my arm comes from [04:46:10] this side to this side, there's no more strangle here. He knows I'm going for an umpire. So he can simply time my leg and catch it. And now I have no cross face leg. [04:46:20] Now it's very easy for him to push my foot and start turning into me, and coming up to his base, and I'm left in a rather weak looking position like so.

[04:46:27] Okay? In [04:46:30] addition, if I just lock a Kimura on this side and go to throw my leg over, he can turn his head sharply into me. And [04:46:40] as a result, I don't have the flexibility to get over my training partner's head. And we get what we call the turn in problem where my opponent is constantly turning into me, coming up to his base [04:46:50] and I lost what was a good position and ended up with very little, my opponent turning inside of me.

[04:46:57] Now. What I prefer to do, rather than [04:47:00] just to simply haphazardly throw the leg over and hope for a judogitami, is to lock a top lock over my opponent's shoulder. In the same way that this gives us better results attacking with [04:47:10] judogitami from guard, it'll also give you better results attacking with judogitami and other attacks from the back.

[04:47:16] So, as we start off behind our training partner, [04:47:20] and he's defending himself very well in this position, I forsake my strangling hand, and I bring it over, and just like before, I lock a Kimura. But instead of just throwing my leg [04:47:30] over my opponent's head and hoping for the best, I'm going to take my leg over his shoulder, a much shorter distance.

[04:47:37] What I'm looking to do is lock my [04:47:40] feet over that shoulder. As he tries to turn into me, I control the far shoulder through the top lock. Even if he expends considerable energy coming up towards me, I can always [04:47:50] force his shoulders down to the mat. Now once his shoulders start coming down to the mat, there's a definite arm bar danger here, and so most of your opponents start locking up their hands [04:48:00] defensively.

[04:48:01] And from here, I move my body over and switch into a variety of different kinds of attacks. One of my favorites from here is the lock to the shoulder. [04:48:10] My two feet around my training partner's wrist and just push and put my foot into his armpit as he brings his arms in. Defensively, [04:48:20] it matters not We're in a position where we can easily switch off and go back into the move we saw previously who shiro in Kaku, the triangle from the [04:48:30] rear.

[04:48:30] Now, as my opponent tries to defend himself, we know what to do from here. We always want to go in, control the wrist, connect the knuckles to our chairs. And from [04:48:40] here, we're in the perfect position to apply strangulation for the finish. So our first finish out of this position will be [04:48:50] Ushiro Senkaku. We have an opponent in like so, and from here we catch, pass our foot across, as [04:49:00] he goes in defensively, we start off by bringing the Kimura lock over our training partner's arm.

[04:49:05] As his arms come in tight defensively. We want to focus on getting a leg over our [04:49:10] training partner's shoulder. If necessary, I will turn off my training partner's shoulder, and lock up a nice tight top lock. As he tries to turn into me, I use my [04:49:20] legs to drop his shoulder to the mat. Once his body drops into this position, I put down a supporting arm.

[04:49:27] As he tries to lock his hands nice and [04:49:30] tight, we bring our two feet around our training partner's forearm. We give a good solid push and separate and put the foot into the armpit. [04:49:40] Now, it doesn't behoove him to have his hands in this weak position. It behooves him to have his hands close together. He lets his hands go like he did previously.

[04:49:48] Then we can just sit back here for an hour. [04:49:50] Okay, so he needs to defend himself at this point. We're going to switch our legs as we did previously in the previous auxiliary system, and we lock the figure of four. [04:50:00] From here we start that action of going down to the wrist, tightening with the hand if necessary and as he tries to bring his arms in defensively we always [04:50:10] focus on bringing his knuckles through to our chest and then from here the strangulation pressure is very impressive.

[04:50:19] We can do so much [04:50:20] more out of this same top lock position. In addition working from here We've seen the idea of bringing our [04:50:30] arms over and locking Kimura. He goes into a strong defensive position with his hands. We've seen the idea of turning off the shoulder and locking over our training partner's shoulder like so.

[04:50:39] This [04:50:40] enables us to drop our opponent's shoulder to the floor. The problem we're always working against here. The central problem of disposition is the turn inside problem. My opponent [04:50:50] always wants to turn inside my legs and turn up to his base like so. That's always what he wants. So once we get our feet over the [04:51:00] top and lock that top lock, when he goes to turn inside, I always look to open my knee and drive my training partner's shoulder to the mat.

[04:51:08] So when he tries to turn up into me, [04:51:10] it's a very difficult thing. Now in the previous move, we were looking to get Ushiro Senkaku. This time my opponent locks his arms very, very securely and I can't get in. No problem. I [04:51:20] take my second foot and I pass the shoelaces right inside. Now when my opponent goes to turn inside, no.

[04:51:27] He turns directly up into a [04:51:30] Mote Senkaku, the triangle from the front. And as he comes up into what he thinks is a winning position, I He gets strangled in the process. Once again, you [04:51:40] start off behind our training partner. We go into a standard back position from here. I bring my strangle hand across and lock Kimura.[04:51:50]

[04:51:50] My opponent's defensive arms make it difficult for me to go into any conventional strangle. So instead we shift off and lock. [04:52:00] over the top, the reverse top lock position. As he tries to turn inside, we focus on our knee coming down towards the mat and dropping his shoulder to the mat like so. [04:52:10] Now, if we could kick our foot into the armpit, we'd go Ushiro Senkaku, but my opponent's proving to be very, very strong here.

[04:52:18] No problem. I take my [04:52:20] second foot and feed it through, pulling my foot into the gap. Okay, as my opponent tries to complete the turnout, he finds himself coming directly up into [04:52:30] a Mote Senkaku, the triangle from the front. As he tries to finish, he runs right into the stranglehold, going back down. If my opponent was smart, [04:52:40] and he reasoned to himself, well, if I come up, I'm going to go right into a triangle.

[04:52:43] Why would I do that? Well, if he decides to stay on the floor, and we just pass our leg over the top, and [04:52:50] lo and behold, we have a variation of Juji Gatami. Where now when my opponent goes to turn out, the configuration of my legs makes it very hard for him to turn out and away from me [04:53:00] because I'm controlling the head with what we call a three quarter judogitami, a little different from a conventional judogitami where my opponent can easily turn his body out in this [04:53:10] direction.

[04:53:10] In three quarter judogitami, the control of the head is much greater. So when he goes to complete the turnout, he stops at a certain point and we get very strong armwork [04:53:20] finishes. Let's run through all of that again. Let's go further this way. Now, we're looking at this [04:53:30] idea that when we get behind someone

[04:53:35] and we find we're unable to break through with strangleholds, we can switch our arm [04:53:40] and go through and lock a kimura grip. The main danger now is that if I try to attempt a basic Jiu Jitsu Gatame as most people do, my opponent will either grab the leg [04:53:50] or he will simply turn inside my Jiu Jitsu Gatame.

[04:53:53] And he's going to end up losing what was a very good position. So, we break it down into a step where I go with my [04:54:00] leg over the top and lock a top lock from the back, the so called reverse top lock. Now when he goes to turn up inside, my legs make it exceptionally difficult for him. And we can easily put him [04:54:10] down to the mat.

[04:54:11] Once he goes down to the mat, he's much more easily controlled, flat on his back, than when he's trying to whip up inside me and get up to his knees. We've seen that in [04:54:20] situations like this, we can separate his arms. If I can get my foot in his armpit, we know what to do. Straight to Ushiro Senkaku, the triangle from the back.

[04:54:29] [04:54:30] If on the other hand I feel I cannot break his arms apart. Then we pommel our foot inside and we look at our opponent's reaction. If he turns into us, [04:54:40] he goes directly into a mote senkaku, the triangle from the front. If he realizes that's a disaster and stays where he is, then we lock a jujigatami [04:54:50] here, the arm lock, but a jujigatami where our opponent's head and shoulders are controlled, a little different from here.

[04:54:57] where only the torso, the chest [04:55:00] and the head are controlled. This position makes it relatively simple for my opponent to begin a turnout escape. So, but when I hit the three quarter judokitami, the [04:55:10] control of my opponent's head and shoulders is much more intense. When he goes to turn out, it's so much more difficult for him.

[04:55:16] And as a result, we can create tremendous breaking pressure on [04:55:20] the shoulder. In this way, we can add a very, very effective set of attacks from this so called reverse top [04:55:30] lock. We can use the same guiding principles that we use every day when we attack armbars from guard. Just as the top lock from close guard is the By [04:55:40] far and away the most popular and effective method of enhancing the effectiveness of armbars when we're working from close guard facing our opponent, we can use that same notion of a top lock [04:55:50] from the back to create more success with both triangles and armbars as an alternative to strangles.

[04:55:59] The general [04:56:00] picture of the back system that we're trying to paint is one of a main or central system that does most of the work in competition. Um, this is the so called straight jacket system, which has a [04:56:10] very clear intent. It's to, uh, break down my opponent's defenses around his neck so we can use our arms to work our way through and get the classic red naked strangle.

[04:56:19] [04:56:20] No matter how good you get at that system, there's always going to be athletes who do a good job of defending that one localized area around the neck. And when you can run into that, it's time to start [04:56:30] distributing your attacks around the body so that we're not focused only on one area. We've got to have alternatives.

[04:56:35] As you start to expand your arsenal of attacks over the whole body, it becomes [04:56:40] very hard for your opponent to guess where are the attacks going to come from. And as they start to defend wider and wider areas of ground, it becomes easier and easier to get the breakthrough. When you play the [04:56:50] bat game between concentrated attacks on the neck with your arms, interspersed with attacks around the body through these auxiliary systems, you become very, very difficult to stop when you're working [04:57:00] on someone's back.

[04:57:01] One method of attacking or distributing attacks around the body, which we often use, um, and is very popular, uh, largely due [04:57:10] to the work of Eddie Bravo. And his approach to Jiu Jitsu is well known through him, but we make use of it often. Uh, it's derived originally from the sport of wrestling as a pinning system, [04:57:20] but it also has an excellent ability to restrain movement in ways that lead into submissions.

[04:57:25] The way we use this is perhaps a little different, and the submissions that we emphasize are also a little [04:57:30] different. Um, this is what we refer to as a cross body ride. That's the name often used in the sport of wrestling. Um, often referred to as, uh, I believe.[04:57:40]

[04:57:43] Let's have a look at a situation where we're behind our opponent and we have a fairly conventional [04:57:50] hooks in scenario. Once we're behind our opponent, most of the time we like to work with one arm under for control and one arm over to create a strangle [04:58:00] threat. That's the typical pattern that we work with.

[04:58:02] There's always going to be times your opponent does a good job of riding up high on your body. So as I work [04:58:10] from behind my opponent, he's doing a good job of going high on the body and for whatever reason, I'm having a hard time bringing him back down. The usual methods of pummeling underneath and, uh, sitting our opponent down, [04:58:20] perhaps they're not working for me or what have you.

[04:58:21] Okay? Whenever I feel the arm going over the top is ineffective and strangles are not working Proving fruitful as I'm working on my [04:58:30] opponent's back. An excellent alternative way of working is for me to put two arms underneath my opponent. Now I have two control arms. Now there's good and bad to [04:58:40] this.

[04:58:40] You have excellent control of your opponent. Whether you choose two one on one grips or a high body lock, it doesn't really matter. They're both very strong. Okay, you've sacrificed the [04:58:50] ability to strangle your opponent. You no longer have that ability because your two arms are underneath his arms.

[04:58:53] There's no strangles from here per se. In order to do that, one arm has to come out. Whether you're cutting your tummy or [04:59:00] naked strangles or what have you. When I have two arms under, it's time to start thinking about attacking the joints of the body. Okay, um, and one excellent way to do that [04:59:10] is through the use of the cross body ride.

[04:59:12] As I go in behind my opponent, I'm going to take one foot and pass it over my training partner's, uh, uh, leg, just like so, and I'm going [04:59:20] to deliberately keep the other leg out in a kind of crab ride position. Now, from here, we're going to lift, elevate, and turn our training partner and get him into a situation [04:59:30] where now I can take my knee and put it right here behind my training partner's buttocks.

[04:59:35] As a result, I can bump his weight even further forward and catch the figure of four with [04:59:40] my legs and hook my shoelaces into my training partner's shoelaces. Just like so. This position here we often refer to as an outside scorpion. [04:59:50] Okay, it's um, uh, in Tenth Planet Pilots this is kind of like a lockdown from the outside.

[04:59:56] As opposed to the normal inside lockdown you'd do since a bottom half guard. [05:00:00] So it's the same idea of shoelace to shoelace contact, but it's done from the outside. The outside scorpion as we refer to it. Okay? Now, Once we get into [05:00:10] a position like this, Our lower body control comes through the legs. Okay. I make sure that I keep my opponent's foot extended and there's tension in my [05:00:20] foot.

[05:00:20] I don't want my legs to relax here. We can set the palm of his leg free and cause problems for me. So let's make sure there's a tension and hook in both of my feet that creates some solid [05:00:30] sticky contact there. Okay, that's my lower body control. So my opponent's right hip is controlled through that outside scorpion.

[05:00:36] Now one of the big themes that we work with whenever we're controlling the back is [05:00:40] that both sides of the body need to be controlled. Okay, if my opponent tried to turn into me, that scorpion is going to make it impossible. But it's very [05:00:50] easy for him to turn away from me, because I have no control of the left side of his body coming back.

[05:00:56] So we need, we've got the right side of his body controlled through our [05:01:00] legs, but we need some kind of upper body control. That control will come simply from controlling the wrist, and then hooking from inside over and a [05:01:10] wrist deep grip over my training partner's forearm. The idea is to glue my training partner's entire forearm to my torso, just like so.

[05:01:18] Now when my opponent goes to [05:01:20] turn away from me, he's pinned in place by his left arm. When he tries to turn into me, he's pinned in place via his right hip. So we have a [05:01:30] fantastic exercise of what we call diagonal control. The right hip is controlled by my legs and the left shoulder is controlled by my arms.

[05:01:38] As my opponent tries to struggle his [05:01:40] way out, he finds it very difficult. Moreover, if my opponent goes to sit up, I can use my legs to elevate [05:01:50] him back to the points of his shoulders. Okay, so we have tremendous control. If he tries to high leg over, he can't because I can lock my feet to the floor. If he tries to [05:02:00] sit up, use the chest, extend, drop him back to his shoulders.

[05:02:04] He tries to turn back into me, the lock down makes it impossible. Goes to turn away, the [05:02:10] grip on the arm makes it impossible. Okay, so you can see that it's a fantastically controlling position. It [05:02:20] exercises a kind of diagonal control that runs from one shoulder through to the opposite hip. It controls completely the lower body and the upper body.

[05:02:28] Let's have a look at it once again. [05:02:30] From a situation where we start off behind our training partner, we'll work from a different angle this time.

[05:02:39] As we start [05:02:40] off, normally from here, we have one arm over, one arm under. Instead, we're playing with two arms under. This in itself is interesting because your opponent will often become [05:02:50] very confident at this point, knowing that there's no strangle danger. And we'll often move in the exact ways you want, which is to have him riding up your body.

[05:02:58] Okay? So as I put a hook in, [05:03:00] whether he rides up or whether I, whether I force him up through the use of this crab ride, we put him up in the ear, I put my knee behind my opponents and I [05:03:10] bump him forward off that bump. I lock the figure of four and my shoelaces find his. My initial gambit here is almost always to pin my opponent's [05:03:20] foot to the mat, like up.

[05:03:22] Okay, I like the security of the foot on the mat. I don't like situations where my foot is just suspended in the air. Now my opponent [05:03:30] can pommel his feet around mine. That's never a good thing. So I like to take my heels and put them on the floor. When my opponent goes to pommel the second leg in, I straighten [05:03:40] out the legs and make it very difficult for him to work.

[05:03:43] When my foot is just up in the air, his right foot can pommel around mine. Okay, that's never a good thing. [05:03:50] So we prevent his foot, his right foot, from pommeling by heels to mat, okay? I will periodically elevate my feet if I feel him sitting up. If I feel his [05:04:00] shoulders coming off the floor, that's the time for me to extend and return his shoulders to the mat.

[05:04:06] And then of course my heels go back to the floor. Now, as he [05:04:10] has his hands in a defensive position here, we're going to go through and secure our training partner's wrist. We come in wrist deep, don't go elbow deep here. It's not the idea, [05:04:20] okay? We go in wrist deep and we take our training partner's hand and forearm and lock it into our chest.

[05:04:26] Now we have diagonal control. Right hip [05:04:30] controlled by my legs. Left shoulder girdle controlled by my arms. When he goes to turn into me, very, very difficult because of the legs. When he goes to turn away from [05:04:40] me, incredibly difficult because of the shoulder girdle. When he goes to sit up, easily stop by elevation.

[05:04:48] When he goes to slide away, [05:04:50] stop by a combination of legs and arms together.

[05:04:57] You can see that it's an incredibly effective [05:05:00] way of controlling my opponent's movement. Once you have someone held down in that position, often there's a certain amount of extension on their, on their part as they start to try and [05:05:10] flail and move away. And that's going to open up a host of submissions for us to work with that range the length and breadth of the human body.[05:05:20]

[05:05:21] One of the great virtues of the crossbody ride is that it enables us to attack the length and breadth of our training partner's body. One of the best ways to [05:05:30] start the attacks is down at your opponent's legs. My athletes are well known for their ability to attack legs, however, Most of the time when we attack legs, it's through the use of [05:05:40] some kind of Ashigarami based leg, uh, leg attack.

[05:05:43] The beauty of the cross body ride is you get introduced to a whole family of leg attacks that have nothing to do with Ashigarami. [05:05:50] Remember, Ashigarami based leg attacks are just one species of leg attack. In my opinion, they're the most high percentage and the most effective. But it would be a mistake to think they're the only form.

[05:05:59] [05:06:00] Out of the cross body ride, we get some very interesting varieties, which we'll often look at. Uh, surprise and get the breakthrough even on tough opponents. Let's look at a range of [05:06:10] successful leg attacks out of the crossbody ride position. We'll start off facing in this direction. From here. We drop our [05:06:20] training partner into the crossbody ride.

[05:06:21] We've seen that typically we begin with two hands underneath our opponent's arms. Unusual. Normally from the back we're one under, one over. Here we're [05:06:30] working with two arms underneath. Now, from here we've seen this idea of dropping our training partner down into the beginnings of the crossbody ride. of a control, okay?[05:06:40]

[05:06:40] Once we get to this control position, it's time to start getting on the attack. One excellent form of attack here is to get our opponent's hips elevated. So I'm going to turn my hips [05:06:50] up, much like so. So his hips face up towards the ceiling. From positions like this, we can go into some very strong forms of leg attack.

[05:06:58] One of the first involves me [05:07:00] hooking shoelace to shoelace with my training partner, and then pumping my knees in towards myself, so that his foot comes closer to me. Now from this position, I reach up [05:07:10] and I catch my training partner at the end of the lever. Let's make sure of several things when we go to grip in this position.

[05:07:16] It's very, very important that I grab the line of the [05:07:20] knuckles of my training partner's toes, here. This is the end of the lever. Don't grab the toes themselves, they will slip. Certainly, don't grab the shoelaces. And [05:07:30] worst of all, don't grab the shin or the ankle. You're not maximizing your leverage here.

[05:07:35] Let's make sure we come up with a five finger grip and get a good, strong grip, [05:07:40] just like so. Okay, my second hand never makes the mistake of reaching inside my training partner's legs. This is a horrific [05:07:50] mistake. Here, my opponent can reach out between his legs with both hands, between the legs. And from here, he can [05:08:00] seize my right wrist and perform an armbar from which I am locked in myself.

[05:08:05] My own body is locking me in this armbar. As he tries to apply pressure on me here, this [05:08:10] is a very difficult one to extricate myself from in time, because my own body is holding me in place. Don't give yourself an easy, your opponent rather, an easy counter to your lock. [05:08:20] Always, we never reach inside and expose my arm to his counterattack.

[05:08:25] We always reach outside the leg. From the outside [05:08:30] position, there's no armbar counter. Now from here, I have several configurations for my feet. The most obvious one is a simple figure of four. A [05:08:40] stronger variety is for me to cock my foot and then from here, place my foot on my own Achilles heel. In either case, whether I [05:08:50] lock like so, or like so, it's very important that we use our shin correctly.

[05:08:57] Don't simply pull down on your [05:09:00] training partners. It's very important in this situation that we actively turn our knee outwards so that the [05:09:10] blade of the shin runs directly into our training partner's calf muscle. Then from here we arch and we get tremendous power into this calf [05:09:20] crushing lock. The power is radically increased when we start a complementary push with both feet.

[05:09:27] into our training partner's, uh, [05:09:30] carpuscle like so. So a slightly weaker but more secure version of the lock and a slightly less secure but considerably stronger [05:09:40] version of the lock. right here. Okay. Once again, starting off behind our training partner, we go in underneath both of our training partner's [05:09:50] arms.

[05:09:50] We use that crab ride to tilt our training partner over and immediately put our knee and thigh in our training partner's tailbone. As a result, I can quickly [05:10:00] extract my bottom arm. We catch a hold of our training partner's forearm and we have a hand inside wrist deep and a hand on top, which glues my training partner's [05:10:10] forearm.

[05:10:11] Let's try to avoid situations where the hand is elevated and my partner can pull the arm free, et cetera, et cetera. Okay? We want to make sure the forearm is locked down here to [05:10:20] our chest. Now, we bring our genie partner's hips up into the air. That creates a situation where I can pump my knees towards my body as my arm comes around the hip, never [05:10:30] in front.

[05:10:31] And from this position, I drop the leg down, snatch it, and pass it in to the second hand. Now. We lock up the figure of four with our [05:10:40] legs, or alternatively, we go foot to foot, like so. From this position, I turn my shin, so the blade of the shin goes into the [05:10:50] knee, maximizing the force as we apply pressure with the hips forward, and we get a very, very strong submission hold indeed.[05:11:00]

[05:11:00] This knee compression is one highly effective way to attack our training partner's legs out of this position. It's an excellent move that attacks the leg that's [05:11:10] furthest from us. However, it's one of just several excellent moves that come out of this series. Let's continue further into it with the idea of attacking not the far leg, [05:11:20] but the near leg.

[05:11:21] This time we're facing this direction. Once again we bump our training partner up into the air [05:11:30] and we get into a cross body ride position underneath our opponent like so. We've seen this idea of getting our opponent up and elevated and as a result [05:11:40] we could easily access our training partner's foot and come in in front like so and lock up our training partner.

[05:11:47] A very common response to this is for my opponent to [05:11:50] use the other leg to defend the leg that's being attacked. He could, for example, use his feet to push on my grips and break the [05:12:00] grips. He could also take his foot and put it underneath his ankle so that when I go to pull down, he pushes up with the other foot and frustrates me.[05:12:10]

[05:12:10] Whenever we see this kind of behavior going on, we're going to sweep our grip up here towards our knee. So I release. And I come in just like [05:12:20] so. Now I release the first foot, and I catch my training partner at the leg. And I make a hugging action where my two arms cross over just like so. [05:12:30] I take my training partner's ankle down tight so that when he tries to extend his leg, it's very difficult.

[05:12:37] Don't have everything up here where now he can extend the leg. [05:12:40] We want to hug the whole length of the leg. Just in like so. Now, I put my head next to my training partner's knee. As [05:12:50] he tries to extend the leg and get away, it's incredibly difficult. And then from here, I push outwards, and now we get tremendous breaking pressure on [05:13:00] the hips.

[05:13:01] As my opponent tries to move away from me, we get a quick submission. Interestingly, this submission will work regardless of your training [05:13:10] partner's flexibility. This is not an attack on the muscles around the hips, even if your opponent can do a full side split. That is irrelevant. It's an attack on the structure of the hip [05:13:20] joint.

[05:13:20] The way we ensure that it's an attack on the joint is that we pull the knees apart from each other. I don't simply stretch my legs, or it simply stretches my training [05:13:30] partner's muscles. When I lock in, I rotate the hip and pull the hip in an arc out in this direction. So we lock, my opponent goes to [05:13:40] pull away from me and extend the legs, and then from here, the lock comes directly onto the hip sockets.

[05:13:45] not the muscles surrounding the hip socket. So once again, [05:13:50] from a situation where we start off with our training partner, we go into the previous move, and my opponent intelligently uses his legs to either push or [05:14:00] to block. And as a result, the previous calf compression is not working. From that failed calf compression, I bring my hand up to the end of the lever.

[05:14:09] [05:14:10] So I switch to here. Now, as I release the far foot, I go in and catch with my wrists crossing and my elbow trapping his foot [05:14:20] down. So when he goes to extend the leg, it's very, very difficult. Now I stretch out and we pull in such a way that the attack goes directly upon my opponent's [05:14:30] hip. If, for whatever reason, when you go to control the near leg, he successfully extends the leg, and you feel the leg extending out into the distance, so you [05:14:40] try here and he pushes the leg straight, straight, and you feel you're losing the grip, okay?

[05:14:46] If this should ever happen, as you feel you've lost the grip, I go through [05:14:50] underneath. Okay, so I had an overwrap grip, he extends the leg, I go through underneath, and I lock the figure of four. From that figure [05:15:00] four lock, we do the same thing. I pull here on my training partner's leg and stretch out. We get that exact same hip breaking pressure.

[05:15:08] So once again, I [05:15:10] have an overwrap grip, like so. Unfortunately, my opponent proves adept at extending the leg. I send my hand through. Now I lock the figure of four [05:15:20] on the leg. I bring everything down, the legs stretch away, and we get an incredibly tight leg. strong and effective lock on my training partner's hips.

[05:15:29] [05:15:30] I'm just going to demonstrate that same move from a different angle. So you get a sense of where the legs and feet are going.[05:15:40]

[05:15:40] Once again, we're working behind our training partner, usually in some kind of crab ride type position. We're underneath both of our training partner's arms. As strangulation. [05:15:50] It's time for us now to start taking advantage of her. That's a, a dropped guard on the part of my training partner. I hook into my training partner's body, one [05:16:00] goes over, one goes under, and from here I expose his tailbone.

[05:16:04] As the tailbone is exposed, it's an easy thing for us to bump him forward, block the figure of four, and hook up. [05:16:10] on our training partner's foot. Now, we pull in our training partner and we get that control that we want out of our training partner's forearm. So now we have what we [05:16:20] refer to as diagonal control.

[05:16:21] The far side of his body is controlled by my legs, the near side of his body is controlled by my arms. Now, I want to bring his legs towards me, so [05:16:30] I bring my knees into my chest. The first attack in this position involves us going around the arm Never in front. That's always a [05:16:40] disaster. And from here, I bring my feet inwards and expose the vulnerable line of the toes.

[05:16:48] Once I get a hold of the toe line, we [05:16:50] put an immediate threat on our training partner. As he tries to relieve that threat by either pushing or blocking. From [05:17:00] here, we get an opportunity to bring our wrist up and catch. The first grip we're using here is an overwrap grip, where I lock in and I [05:17:10] separate the hips.

[05:17:11] Don't just stretch the legs, that's not the idea. The idea is to take your opponent's two knees and pull them [05:17:20] apart like the wishbone of a chicken. And in this way, you get tremendous breaking pressure. If my opponent should successfully extend his leg [05:17:30] I pass the hand through and lock the figure of four.

[05:17:33] Now when he goes to extend the leg, the figure of four puts a limit on, go, it puts a limit on how far it will [05:17:40] extend. Keep going. Fighting. Now from here, we do the same thing. We get that wishbone effect on our training partner. We do not simply [05:17:50] stretch our legs. In fact, My legs go down towards the floor. I push his knee away and I open so that we attack the hip [05:18:00] joints rather than the muscles around the joints.

[05:18:02] In this way, your opponent's flexibility level will be irrelevant when you go to apply the lock.

[05:18:09] Speaker 3: [05:18:10] We're looking at the cross body ride, an incredibly useful way of restraining movement in my opponent, and then redistributing [05:18:20] the attacks around the human body, going all the way from the legs It's an incredible way of attacking the entire length and breadth of the human body [05:18:30] while exhibiting considerable control over them.

[05:18:32] Later on we'll also see it's an incredibly effective way of transitioning back and forth to other forms of back attack. So far we're [05:18:40] focusing on leg attacks. This is a particular fascination to me. Um, the most people associate the leg attacks that I teach with the Ashi Garami position. There's a reason for [05:18:50] that because those are the most high percentage attacks.

[05:18:51] Those are the ones I teach. I focus on the most, but let's not kid ourselves crossbody ride gives access to some of the strongest and most unpleasant leg attacks in the [05:19:00] business. Let's continue with some more of these Um, we'll start off facing in this direction We've seen the basis the theoretical basis behind crossbody [05:19:10] ride control is idea of diagonal control We know that whenever we're behind our opponent We have to be able to restrict movement in both left and right directions at a minimum Okay, that [05:19:20] means that at a minimum Um Now, one, one joint of mine, or one limb of mine, sorry, must control direction, must control movement in one direction, and one limb of mine must [05:19:30] control, at a minimum, the other direction.

[05:19:32] And this is what we refer to as diagonal control. So here, I have my right hook in, okay? If my opponent tries to turn [05:19:40] against the hook, it's difficult. The right hook makes movement to the left difficult. If I grab my opponent's left wrist and he [05:19:50] goes to turn to the right, the left wrist and elbow of mine makes movement to the right difficult.

[05:19:55] So even though I only have two limbs on my opponent, I still have two free [05:20:00] limbs doing no work at all. Okay? I still completely control movement left and right. That's the beauty of diagonal control. Okay? I don't have to use all four limbs to control [05:20:10] movement left and right. I can use two. get the same amount of control and then I have two free limbs to actually attack my opponent.

[05:20:17] So we often make use of this principle of diagonal [05:20:20] control, okay? Nowhere is it more evident than in the case of a cross body ride, or as many people today call it, uh, twisting. So [05:20:30] we work out of this position. And we saw the idea of locking up on our training partner and getting that initial control.

[05:20:37] When we want to attack the legs, the first thing we want to [05:20:40] do is get our opponent's hips squared to the ceiling. Okay? So the first thing we do here is shift and bring our knees up, and now his hips are elevated. Once the hips get [05:20:50] elevated, that's when the leg attacks start. Okay? We've seen the idea of compressing our training partner's knee.

[05:20:56] That's a good place to start the various leg attacks. [05:21:00] We've seen as our opponent reacts to that threat. We get opportunities to go in and attack our training partner's hips in various kinds of ways. Now, let's talk about attacking [05:21:10] directly our training partner's nearside leg. Very often, when we try to pull our training partner's leg in, he will respond by straightening his leg.

[05:21:19] And [05:21:20] as a result, you can never get to the far leg. Whenever we feel the far leg is being denied. We come straight back to the near leg. Okay. One way we like to [05:21:30] do this is to get a hold of the end of the lever right here at the shoelaces. From this position, I'm going to extend the leg away and put two hands on my training partner's foot.[05:21:40]

[05:21:40] And I'm going to physically draw his foot in towards my neck. As a result, I can put two on one grip in place. I take his shoelaces and [05:21:50] I put them right here on my neck. My two hands come up to the knee. I extend his leg away and I pull down on the knee. And [05:22:00] as a result, we put tremendous breaking tension into our training partner's hip flexor tendon.

[05:22:05] We're not attacking the muscles. You're attacking the tendon that connects the hip flexor to [05:22:10] the hip. And as a result, flexibility will not be an issue when you go to apply the move. So once again, we start off. I want this foot. I try to bring it in. My [05:22:20] opponent extends the leg and denies me the foot. So I catch my training partner at the opposite foot, just like so, and I draw the foot in towards my [05:22:30] neck and I put the foot on the side of my neck and pinch it inwards.

[05:22:35] Two hands go here to my training partner's knee. As I extend the leg away [05:22:40] in the same direction that he's going, complementing his force, I take the knee downwards. And as a result, we get shocking breaking pressure on our training partner's [05:22:50] hip flexor tendon. Alternatively, when we work in this position, I can make a pass directly into an Achilles lock.[05:23:00]

[05:23:00] From the Achilles lock, I lock the figure of four. Now, we hit exactly the same movement, applying tremendous tension to the hip flexor [05:23:10] tendon. So whether I use a neck brace method, or an [05:23:20] Achilles method, we can put this crushing pressure on our training partners hip flexor muscle. If for whatever reason, this should prove inadequate, we I'm [05:23:30] not sure why, but let's say for the sake of argument that it does, we can go into an even more heinous looking lock from this position.

[05:23:39] [05:23:40] Once I make the grip across my training partner, I'm going to take my free arm and put it around my training partner's ankle. Just like, so [05:23:50] I'm going to take my foot hand to my training partner's foot and take this grip. Now I go hand over hand on my training partner. As he tries to extend his legs [05:24:00] and get away, I apply a heel hook from the outside.

[05:24:03] This is an inverted heel hook applied without an ashigurami. When he tries to extend the leg, it's simply [05:24:10] impossible. There's just too much hand in the way. And then I rotate inwards and apply braking pressure. I'm going to show you that move from a different angle and from a closer [05:24:20] direction so you can see more of what's going on.

[05:24:25] So,[05:24:30]

[05:24:32] we'll start with the cross body ride. We've seen that as we tilt our training partner over, we would like [05:24:40] in these situations to bring the foot in. He knows that and denies us the foot by extending it away. So I catch my training partner just like so. When he goes to [05:24:50] extend his leg, this leg, it's difficult because you're holding the end of the lever and your elbow functions like a wedge on the outside.

[05:24:59] of his leg. [05:25:00] When he goes to extend, you have excellent control. And as a result, I can pass the foot into vulnerable areas, to the neck, [05:25:10] to the armpit, or in this case, to a pass off, where I bring my hand outside, my hand under, [05:25:20] outside, and I pass Like so. Now, I reinforce the first hand. As he tries to extend his leg away, I keep the heel on the chest [05:25:30] and then we turn in for a shockingly strong lock to our training partner's ankle.[05:25:40]

[05:25:42] Working from the other side.

[05:25:48] We start off, as always, [05:25:50] underneath our training partner's two arms. We tilt the training partner over and lock. Gaining diagonal control [05:26:00] over our opponent's body. Once we start the process of attacking the legs, it all begins with this idea of elevating his hips. I would love to be able to access [05:26:10] the far foot, but he does a good job of keeping it away from me.

[05:26:14] We go in and catch our training partner right there, using a wedge of the elbow [05:26:20] and a grip at the end of the lever. As he tries to extend the leg It becomes very easy for us to pass the foot around the corner. Now I bring my hand [05:26:30] through underneath and grip. I reinforce it with the second hand and I keep the heel down on my chest so that my [05:26:40] head helps in the effort of blocking.

[05:26:42] When he goes to extend the leg, it's well known possible. And then I pull my elbow inside his hamstring [05:26:50] and push forward with both hands applying the same effect. as an inverted or inside heel hook on my training partner. If my opponent proves so [05:27:00] strong that in this position he was able to get the foot to the wrong side of the head and pushed his foot away from me and sprung free, don't worry, you can always go straight back to the original [05:27:10] control and start all over again.

[05:27:11] He's not going anywhere. So once again, we start all of our leg attacks through elevating the hips. That's knees to chest, foot to ceiling. [05:27:20] From here, I try always to bring his foot towards me. If I succeed, we start off by compressing our training partner's knee. [05:27:30] He knows that, and he goes to extend the leg away.

[05:27:34] So I focus my attention on the near leg. If I could get to a [05:27:40] position like so, that would be highly effective. He knows that and tries to extend the leg away. When we see that, we reach, catch, and get to this useful grip. [05:27:50] When he tries to extend the leg now, it's very difficult. And as a result, I can pass the foot into a range of incredibly punishing positions.[05:28:00]

[05:28:03] Which culminate in the idea of catching my opponent, passing through, and locking here, and [05:28:10] reinforcing. I put my training partner's heel on my chest. Now, as he tries to kick free, it's extraordinarily difficult. And then from here, [05:28:20] We get true breaking pressure.

[05:28:29] [05:28:30] We're looking at the idea of the cross body ride. We've seen it's an excellent method of immobilizing opponents, using the principle of diagonal control. We've also seen it's a tremendous way to go in and attack our opponent's [05:28:40] legs with non Ashigurami based leg locks. One of my most, um, uh, I guess one of my favorite methods of attacking from a cross [05:28:50] body ride is to make use of an arm lock attack, which one rarely sees in submission grappling.

[05:28:56] This is a hammerlock. A hammerlock is normally [05:29:00] not the most effective move, you rarely see it in international competition, because it's relatively easy for an opponent to spin out of it. But when you combine it with a crossbody ride, it's [05:29:10] potentially devastating. It's essentially a, uh, the ride, the braking pressure is the same as a Kimura, um, but the gripping method is, uh, quite [05:29:20] different.

[05:29:20] Let's have a look at it out of a cross body ride, we're facing this direction, so you can see the details of the grip. From a situation where I start off with my training partner, two arms underneath, and I tilt [05:29:30] him into the basic cross body ride position. And we secure our opponent in like so. Now, we know that if we can elevate our opponent's hips, [05:29:40] we're opponent's legs that we've just seen.

[05:29:43] Pretty soon your opponent's going to know that too. And what they're all going to start doing is sliding down and away, so that their hips can [05:29:50] no longer be elevated. Okay? They're doing a good job of getting their shoulders down to the mat and preventing me from, uh, elevating them up. [05:30:00] Whenever we see this, it's very important I turn my toes to face towards my opponent's head.

[05:30:05] If my feet face up towards the ceiling, as I did previously, it's very easy for my opponent [05:30:10] to pommel his leg free and escape the position. So it's important that I follow him to by extending my legs and pointing them towards his head. So when he goes to pommel out, it's a lot more [05:30:20] difficult. Okay. Now, once we see our opponent pulling away from us, it's pretty obvious.

[05:30:25] The leg attacks are going to be difficult to sustain, but the further he goes down and [05:30:30] avoids my leg attacks, the easier it becomes for me to go into a leg attack. In particular, the Hammerlock Kimura. As I see my opponent moving away from me here, I'm going to take my hand that [05:30:40] was inside him, and I'm starting to lose the hand off my chest now, so this is another bad thing from my perspective.

[05:30:45] I'm going to take my hand out, and I'm going to prop myself up on my elbow. I'm going to take my [05:30:50] opponent's hand, and I'm just going to wedge it to the floor. When my opponent goes to yank the arm out, it's surprisingly difficult because you can't Essentially wedged on the mat. I'm going to take the [05:31:00] wristwatch Area of my wrist the area that would be covered by a wristwatch if I were wearing it on my right hand I'm not sure why and I'm going to cover the wristwatch area of [05:31:10] his wrist just like so so we have two crossed Wristwatches, okay, so I grab and catch then I'm going to come [05:31:20] down towards my training partner's elbow I'm going to take my hand and I'm going to cup all the way through underneath my training partner's tricep.

[05:31:29] [05:31:30] I'm going to lift and elevate my training partner's shoulder and expose the back of the shoulder and tricep to my second hand so that my hand comes through like so. [05:31:40] Avoid the natural temptation that most jiu jitsu players have to lock hands, palm to palm, like so. Don't. Go hand over [05:31:50] hand. You actually weaken the hold when you lock your hands here.

[05:31:54] Hand over hand is the way to go. I take my training partner's elbow forward. [05:32:00] That creates the pulling pressure. But we know from all we've seen so far in our, uh, instructional series, the [05:32:10] real key to breaking pressure on the joints is never a singular direction pull. It's coupled forces going in opposing directions.

[05:32:17] So as my hands pull, my [05:32:20] elbow pushes outwards. And we get this coupled force on our training partner's arm that creates an incredibly strong Kimura like effect through the [05:32:30] hammer lock. Instead of locking with a Kimura, which is very awkward in this position, we simply come through, lift, [05:32:40] extend, And there's the hammer lock.

[05:32:43] Most of the work is done by the bottom arm, but it's reinforced by the top. So that I get a strong [05:32:50] pull with two arms, my head comes up to the elbow, and then my right elbow pushes outwards. My training partner is on breaking point right here. [05:33:00] And yet, you can clearly see, I have a huge follow through to enact a very, very strong break.

[05:33:08] So once again, we're [05:33:10] gonna start off just like, so. I would love to be able to elevate my opponent's legs and get into the legs for the attacks we've seen so far. My [05:33:20] opponent knows that, and so he scoots on his shoulders and gets away. I follow him with my toes pointing towards him so that when he tries to pommel his leg free and break the lock.

[05:33:29] It's a [05:33:30] difficult thing. Now, don't try and perform the hammerlock down on your shoulder. It's very difficult to get into. Our first movement is to get height, [05:33:40] so that I can cover the wristwatch of his wrist with the wristwatch of mine. Then I go forward and put body weight over it. My hand goes in. As [05:33:50] he tries to pull his arm free, there's too much body weight on top of it.

[05:33:54] I expose my training partner's arm. And the hammer lock hand goes in. [05:34:00] Once we get that hammer lock in place, we reinforce it hand over hand, not palm to palm. From the hand over hand grip, I first bring my [05:34:10] chin to the elbow. The strong pull on my training partner's elbow creates a strong push with the elbow at the same time.

[05:34:19] There's breaking [05:34:20] point right there. And yet, we still have a huge follow through. So you can see the breaking potential of the move. is very impressive. [05:34:30] Let's have a look at it from another angle. From[05:34:40]

[05:34:42] a situation where we start off in front of our training partner, we tilt our man down to the floor and we get into the classic [05:34:50] cross body ride. Initially, we would love to elevate our man up to the air and attack the legs. He knows that and deliberately scoots his shoulders down and away from me. So [05:35:00] from here, it's moving your leg away so the camera can see from here.

[05:35:04] I come up and prop myself up I take the back of my wrist and touch the back of his [05:35:10] wrist Now I go forward and claim the arm lifting And punching through. The hammer lock goes in [05:35:20] first. It is reinforced by the second hand. Don't get your hands the wrong way around. You will lose some degree of pulling power.[05:35:30]

[05:35:30] Push hand goes in first, pull hand goes in second. Now from here, we bring the elbow, pulling, as our own elbow [05:35:40] pushes on his wrist, and we get the breaking pressure we want. I'll just demonstrate from another angle.

[05:35:48] From[05:35:50]

[05:35:51] a situation where we move in behind our training partner's face this way. And we tilt our training [05:36:00] partner over. From here, our opponent does a good job of scooting down the body. No problem, we push down to the mat [05:36:10] and elevate our own body. We cover his wrist so there's a 90 degree angle. Our wrists cross each other.

[05:36:16] I bring my body weight forward. forward and catch. [05:36:20] I lift and expose the arm and then I take my left down so the right goes in. Now, the left covers [05:36:30] right. From this position, I bring my chin forward to his elbow. I pull on the elbow and at the same time, I [05:36:40] push with my own elbow so that we get a severe, turning effect.

[05:36:45] As the, his elbow goes forward and his wrist goes back, we get a strong [05:36:50] coupled force that creates incredible breaking pressure on our opponent's elbow joint.[05:37:00]

[05:37:00] In this way, we can start to incorporate arm lock attacks in addition to the leg locks. So we're starting to attack the lower body, and the midline body [05:37:10] of our opponent through the crossbody ride. Next we'll be looking at the idea of taking the attacks further up the body into the torso and neck.[05:37:20]

[05:37:22] We're looking at the crossbody ride and its use when we go to attack our opponent's back. We've seen it's an excellent method of [05:37:30] sustaining attacks across the Length and breadth of the human body, starting at the legs, working our way up the arms. Now we're going to torso and neck attacks. Um, the attack I want to look at now [05:37:40] has been, uh, justifiably made famous by Eddie Bravo, who, um, uh, he and his students have had considerable success with this over the years.

[05:37:48] Um, [05:37:50] originally it was a wrestling move referred to in the sport of wrestling, in American high school wrestling, as a guillotine, but of course you can't use the word guillotine to describe this move in jiu jitsu because that [05:38:00] describes a stranglehold, one of the most common strangleholds in the sport. So um, we'll go with the more popular and well known version, Or name the, the twister, as Mr.

[05:38:09] Bravo [05:38:10] would call it. Um, we have, uh, uh, a few little takes on the twister that you might find interesting. Uh, let's look at how we use this to, [05:38:20] uh, create tremendous attacking pressure on your opponent's torso, ribs, and, uh, even spine in some cases. So we're going to start off with the [05:38:30] cross body right, and tilt our training partner over as we've been doing all along.

[05:38:37] Now, we know that as a general rule, if we can elevate [05:38:40] our training partner's hips and square them to the ceiling, you've got a great chance of going into the legs. Your opponents are quickly going to figure that out, and so many of them are going to start walking away [05:38:50] and making it difficult to get that kind of elevation.

[05:38:53] We've seen that when this occurs, it's a pretty easy way to attack to, uh, to go into our opponent's arm with the hammer lock. [05:39:00] But if for any particular reason, that's proving difficult. A nice alternative is to come up into the twister. The idea here is that we're going to take our hand, which was wrist deep, and we're going to [05:39:10] punch our arm through.

[05:39:11] Now, here's the classic method of attacking twister, which you'll often see. Uh, people will punch through. and transfer the hand behind [05:39:20] the neck just like so, so that the my opponent's arm is trapped underneath mine. My intention is get to my elbow down to the floor and then from here I go forward on my training partner and get an [05:39:30] arm, in this case the arm that goes underneath the head around my training partner's neck.

[05:39:34] Then from this position we can use a variety of different locking grips and Bring their head in towards [05:39:40] us. You can see what's happened here. My bottom arm in this case My right arm is the one gripping my training partner's head and the bottom arm brings my opponent towards [05:39:50] me and exerts Tremendous pressure through my opponent's spine and ribcage to get a submission hold Okay, what we like to do in this situation instead of being bottom arm dominant.

[05:39:59] We like to come face to [05:40:00] face further forward onto our opponent's chest and get top arm dominance for additional pressure. So once I get my opponent in like so, I use this to draw his head in towards me and I bring the [05:40:10] top arm around my training partner, okay? So I go from controlling the top arm and I go on and I score with the bottom arm and then we lock the figure of four.

[05:40:19] This brings [05:40:20] my training partner in towards me and I focus on getting my head underneath his. Now as he tries to move away from me. It's incredibly difficult. The lock is much, much tighter. And when I [05:40:30] drive forward from this position, the braking pressure is immense. Once again, in the situation where I start off behind my training partner and I successfully [05:40:40] tilt my opponent over and we end up in a position We can get into the cross body ride.

[05:40:47] From here I punch through, I go up [05:40:50] around my training partner, and sit over my training partner's body. Now instead of going in with the bottom arm, and from here fixing up with the bottom arm for the break, we're going to use the bottom [05:41:00] arm to feed the top arm around. From top arm, we lock the figure of four, and I put my head through underneath.

[05:41:06] Now, as he tries to move away from me, it's a much tighter lock. And [05:41:10] critically, my opponent's nearside shoulder is well controlled. As a result, slippage is almost eliminated. And from here, we can get huge breaking pressure on our [05:41:20] training partner. When I work with bottom arm dominance, my opponent's nearside shoulder can still move, wiggle, let's go.

[05:41:28] And as a result, [05:41:30] Yes, problems here with slippage. My opponent can use his free hand to start pushing up and freeing the head, et cetera, et cetera. Okay. When we come in with the top arm, when he goes to [05:41:40] push on my elbow, there's so much more tension around the head and shoulders that the submission comes on very, very strongly.

[05:41:47] The chest to chest position eliminates [05:41:50] Wiggle and movement when he tries to wiggle his way out There's too much body weight on top and from here the arch forward creates an unholy amount of breaking [05:42:00] pressure Let's see this top arm method of working from another angle from

[05:42:07] a situation where I'm behind my training partner [05:42:10] And I tilt him and from a cross body ride I feel my opponent is moving down the body preventing leg attacks from here We've seen that [05:42:20] you're getting our elbow inside his and coming forward The idea here is to pin the nearside shoulder. Any theta on my part to control the shoulder means the head can move away [05:42:30] and the arm can slip and the position be lost.

[05:42:31] So it's very, very important from in here that we come forward and crowd the shoulder. Now, we use a passing method where I [05:42:40] work with the bottom hand to bring the head towards me and my chest to his chest. Once I get sufficiently close, we replace bottom hand with top arm. Then we lock the figure [05:42:50] of four.

[05:42:50] My head goes underneath his. When he tries to pull away from me, the control of the head and shoulders is very impressive. And then from here, we drive forward for strong [05:43:00] finishes. When we lock in here, there's considerably more space. A bottom arm lock creates Considerably more space even when it's locked with a figure of four and there's very little chest to chest [05:43:10] contact when I drive from this position It's very uncomfortable and will submit most people but there is some wiggle wiggle room for my opponent And there is a capacity to lift hands overhead and start [05:43:20] to escape.

[05:43:20] Okay, this is The threat of this is greatly diminished when I work with the top arm. Now, from in here, the head goes in as he tries to move away from this [05:43:30] position, we drive the pelvis forward, and the braking pressure is immense.[05:43:40]

[05:43:41] We're looking at the idea of a cross body ride as a mechanism to extend our submission attacks the length and breadth of our training partner's body. We've seen working all the way down from [05:43:50] the ankle, coming up to the hip, through the arms, now we just saw neck and torso. Now let's go back to strangle holds.

[05:43:58] Crossbody ride is not [05:44:00] only an incredibly effective position for inhibiting my opponent's movement, restricting movement, but also an incredible, uh, position to enhance my [05:44:10] own movement around his body. And the most significant kind of movement I can make is one from a crossbody ride in into a position where I can apply strangleholds.

[05:44:18] The good news is that transition is [05:44:20] incredibly easy. And, uh, tactically, it's pretty simple because you start in a position where there is no stranglehold. So often your opponent will engage in defensive [05:44:30] movements that make the transition into a strangle particularly easy. Let's look at a situation where we have a crossbody ride.

[05:44:37] We've tilted him over and taken him [05:44:40] up into the classic cross body position and we've got him in working like so. Our thing in this situation of course is to be able to control this near arm. Your opponents will [05:44:50] often know that and they will do everything they can to lock their hands together. They know that if their hands unlock, then we can go into a host of upper body submissions from twisters to [05:45:00] hammer locks, et cetera, et cetera.

[05:45:01] Okay. Whenever I see, I cannot. Unlocked my opponent's hands. We're stuck here. One good thing for us to do, of course, is to return to the legs. As he [05:45:10] denies me the upper body, it's usually pretty easy now to start going into legs. Okay, but we've already seen that route, so we won't go over that a second time.

[05:45:18] As I see my opponent stopping me in [05:45:20] this position, one excellent alternative is for me to withdraw my right hand. Okay, the hand which controls the crook of my training partner's elbow. And from here, I'm going to pass it through. and bring my [05:45:30] arm elbow deep underneath my training partner's neck. Okay. As I get that elbow deep position, I'm going to take my knees and elevate my training partner up.

[05:45:38] Remember, I need to stay [05:45:40] behind his elbow. If my opponent gets his elbow to the floor between us, that's a problem. Okay. So when we make this transition, I need to stay behind [05:45:50] his elbow. So our whole thing here is to start by bringing his elbow up onto our chest and elevating his head. And as a result, I can get my arm elbow deep around the neck.

[05:45:59] If [05:46:00] my arm is elbow deep around the neck, there's no way he's bringing his elbow between us. Okay? Now my next thing is to ensure that doesn't happen by putting a one on one and controlling my training partner's [05:46:10] knuckle line. So I don't need to lock my hands here. Just got this grip in like so. When he goes to move away from me, it's incredibly difficult.

[05:46:19] [05:46:20] Okay? Again, we have diagonal control. left side of his body controlled by the one on one right side of his body controlled by the outside scorpion on the [05:46:30] leg. Now from here, I want to transition to a strangle. I currently don't hit the angle for a strangle hold. So I'm going to release my outside scorpion and put in [05:46:40] my crab hook just like so from this position, we're going to lift and elevate our training partner and shift our hips out.

[05:46:48] I'm going to place my foot on my training [05:46:50] partner's hip. and bring my leg up and catch a hold of my own foot just like so. We're in the perfect position now to lock the figure of four, or if my opponent's very big through the waist and that's not [05:47:00] practical, I'll put my foot as a post on my training partner's hip, and my second foot comes up high.

[05:47:05] As a result, when he tries to beat the bottom hook, it's exceptionally [05:47:10] difficult. We're in the perfect position now to make the transitions into the very strangles that we saw earlier in the instructional series, and from here Go into the [05:47:20] most high percentage of all the back finishes, the rear naked strangle.

[05:47:23] Once again, from a situation where we're behind our training partner, we [05:47:30] begin with a fairly standard entry into a cross body ride. At this point, your opponent's not concerned with strangles at all because both of my arms are under his arms, which means there's no effective strangle from my point of, [05:47:40] uh, my point of view.

[05:47:42] As I put my opponent down into the cross body ride, we lock up, I withdraw my [05:47:50] body just like so. Now, as I see my opponent locking his hands defensively, it may well be a difficult thing for me now to transition to twisters, etc, etc. So, [05:48:00] from this position, I control the elbow. I bring his elbow onto my sternum.

[05:48:04] Remember, if he gets his elbow between us, that's a potential problem. Okay? So I take [05:48:10] his elbow. up onto my sternum. As I withdraw my arm, I put my arm here underneath his head. There's no way he's going to be able to bring his elbow between us in this [05:48:20] position. I take my right arm and lock 90 degrees, bend in my arm.

[05:48:26] When he tries to bring the elbow between us, even if I release it now, [05:48:30] it's impossible. My chest is simply in the way. I shoot my one on one through and control my training partner's wrist. Now, from this position, my hand goes over the shoulder. [05:48:40] I bring my leg out and make a hook. I use this to shimmy my hips around the corner and bring my foot over my training partner's hip.

[05:48:49] [05:48:50] If I physically can, because of the length of my legs and my opponent's waist, I lock the figure of four. If not, I put in a post rear mount [05:49:00] and catch on like so. As my opponent tries to move away from me here, it's a very difficult thing. And as a result, I We can go through and into one of our favorite [05:49:10] finishes.

[05:49:10] Again, from a different angle.

[05:49:19] We work with our [05:49:20] training partner, two arms underneath. As a result, we can quickly go into the beginnings of the cross body ride. Come in, [05:49:30] catch, my opponent defensively locks his arms and I can't get a breakthrough. As a result, I can't go around the corner, etc, etc. Can't get a hammer lock, none of that is working.

[05:49:39] So I take my [05:49:40] training partner's elbow, etc, etc. I don't want the elbow coming between us, that's going to cause unnecessary problems. So my first action here is to tilt my body in such a way [05:49:50] that the elbow comes onto my sternum. Now, I go through, under the head, my arm bends 90 degrees, and everything comes up, my [05:50:00] hand touches the shoulder.

[05:50:01] Even if I release the arm now, if you try to bring the elbow between us. There's simply no room. I shoot my hand through and catch. [05:50:10] Now, my foot hooks underneath, I tilt, and my body comes out into a position where we can quickly go on the attack with our favorite [05:50:20] and most high percentage of all the, uh, movements from the back.

[05:50:23] The Rear Naked Strangle. This transition completes the range [05:50:30] of submissions that begin at my training partner's ankles, work up through the knees, hips, ultimately the torso, arm, the [05:50:40] spinal column at the neck, and finally, strangulations at the neck. In this way, you can clearly see the cross body ride enables us to To take an opponent while we're on their back and [05:50:50] use the full length of their body as a target for our submissions.

[05:50:54] In this way, it's an ideal method of distributing submission attacks around the body from the back and [05:51:00] forms one of the very best of the auxiliary systems in in the overall back attack system.

[05:51:09] We are looking at the [05:51:10] auxiliary systems. that surround the main system, uh, the so called straightjacket system, uh, in our back attack [05:51:20] series. We're going to turn our attention now to the last of the, uh, auxiliary systems. They're not presented in any particular order. It's not like they're, one's more important than [05:51:30] another.

[05:51:30] I have my favorites, but I'm sure you'll develop your favorites too. Um, uh, they're just, uh, backup systems to, to the main system and you put [05:51:40] them in whatever order you wish. Um, I'm just presenting them in a, in a given random order. Um, the last one we're going to look at is the back crucifix. Now this is an interesting one.

[05:51:48] Excellent attacking [05:51:50] position based on very, very sound mechanical and tactical principles. Surprisingly, it's not more used in the sport of Jiu Jitsu. Um, there's a few outstanding [05:52:00] individuals, probably the most well known would be Marcelo Garcia, who has tremendous success with, uh, back crucifix. But outside of a few individuals, it's surprisingly uncommon, given that it really [05:52:10] is one of the most effective attacking positions on the back in the entire sport.

[05:52:14] Um, let's have a look at, uh, my approach to back crucifix [05:52:20] and how it fits in with conventional attacks when we go to strangle people, and of course, we have other attacking options out of back crucifixes too, notably arm lock attacks. [05:52:30] Okay, typically, if I'm behind someone with hooks in, we are aligned.

[05:52:35] Spine to spine, okay? Our spines line up with each other. And from [05:52:40] situations like this, we go in and attack our strangleholds. The whole idea of a back crucifix is that completely changes. There's one commonality. There's still chest to back [05:52:50] contact, okay? The main feature that we're looking for whenever we're in a situation like this.

[05:52:55] We're looking to control our opponent and work with strangles with our arms on our opponent is [05:53:00] chest to back contact, like so. And we saw earlier that the key element is what we call this idea of a head trap, where my head is on one side and my strangle [05:53:10] arm is on the other. If my head and strangle arm are ever on the same side, there's no arm strangle here.

[05:53:14] Okay? My opponent will easily escape. So, we're always looking to create situations, usually done through [05:53:20] some kind of seatbelt grip or, uh, uh, Garaud grip or what have you. where, um, my head is on one side and my strangle arm is on the other, and this creates a situation where his [05:53:30] head is trapped between the wedge of my head and the wedge of my shoulder and bicep.

[05:53:35] So when he goes to move his head, it's that wedging effect of my head and my [05:53:40] shoulder that traps his head in place and facilitates strangles. The moment my head goes to the wrong side, I no longer have any wedge on that side of That, that side of the body. So his head is free to [05:53:50] move in that direction and he can go to escape, okay?

[05:53:52] So that simple wedging effect is the basis of control when we're going to strangle people with our arms. That [05:54:00] uh, idea of lining up, my spine lined up with his is the basis of, of regular forms, conventional forms of back control. Things start to change when we [05:54:10] have, for example, a turtle position. And from here, we work perpendicular to our training [05:54:20] partner's spine.

[05:54:20] So my, my spine forms a cross to his, okay? And this is exactly the kind of area where back crucifixes come to, to, [05:54:30] to work. As a result, the back crucifix is not only a highly effective way of attacking my opponent's Back in itself, it's also an incredible compliment to conventional back attacks [05:54:40] because as my opponent tries to break the alignment of our spine in, in, in, in a given direction, we can accept their method of breaking alignment [05:54:50] and just switch into a back crucifix and sustain our attacks.

[05:54:52] So, for example, I'm behind my opponent. I know when I'm behind someone here, their primary thing is to break alignment. [05:55:00] Okay, we're currently aligned, and as a result, I can strangle. So my opponent, intelligently in this situation, starts to, uh, to, to, to turn out and [05:55:10] escape. If I trap my training partner's arm, like so, and I see him beat the bottom hook and go over the top, and from here, we can go directly into a [05:55:20] back crucifix.

[05:55:20] Yes, he misaligned his body with mine. But we still have highly effective attacks out of this position, the back crucifix, okay? The beauty of a back crucifix [05:55:30] is that it works with that same idea of an uncontested stranglehand. Both of my training partner's arms are constrained, one by my legs, one by my hand, and like before, we have an [05:55:40] uncontested stranglehand to go through and finish.

[05:55:43] So it's an odd thing where it has There's some things very much in common with the back attacks we saw [05:55:50] with the straight jacket and some things very different. Obviously, the most notable difference is the idea of perpendicular angle as opposed to alignment, but there's also the commonality. The idea of [05:56:00] creating an uncontested stranglehand to break through my opponent's defenses and get strangles.

[05:56:05] Let's, uh, have a look. at the idea of entering into [05:56:10] bat crucifixes and the probably the single biggest problem that we face. The biggest problem you face anytime you want to go into bat crucifixes, [05:56:20] total precision, is the idea of how am I going to get in a fight. effective trap on my training partner's arm.

[05:56:26] It's not always easy. Very often, the arms are in tight. [05:56:30] Uh, it's not easy to get me in behind and start hooking my opponent's arm, et cetera, et cetera. Well, the easiest way to do it is always to create some kind of kazoo shie or off balancing. Okay? Where I start, [05:56:40] behind my training partner, I will typically put a hand in either wrist deep or or elbow deep and from here start pulling in order to create a situation where my opponent has to base out on an elbow.

[05:56:49] Go back. [05:56:50] If my opponent doesn't base out on an elbow and just collapses to his shoulder, well then he's just giving me a pin, okay, and from here I'm on the cross side, okay. So most of your opponents would be unwilling to [05:57:00] give up a simple pin in that fashion and so typically they base out with an elbow and try and recover back to turtle position.

[05:57:06] So, when we see that, that, uh, mode of play. [05:57:10] of recovery. You'll see our opponent come in like so. This is the ideal time for us to work. I don't want him quickly springing back up to his base and getting into position where now I have to fight [05:57:20] all over again, okay? So, once I break my training partner down, I like to slow him down from getting back up.

[05:57:27] So I take my fist and I put it right here [05:57:30] on the floor. When he goes to get back up, that has an immediate slowing down effect, okay? So off the breakdown, I put in a tight waist on my training [05:57:40] partner and I break him. down to the mat and I put my fist in. When he goes to spring back up, it definitely slows him down to a degree, okay?

[05:57:47] I also like to prevent him from moving his arm around [05:57:50] so I often catch it in post and I take my knees off the floor. As a result, I can easily penetrate with the knee and I sweep my foot around the corner and hook my training partner's arm. [05:58:00] Now from here, I go hunting for the second arm. As he returns back up to his base, we catch and we find ourselves now in the back crucifix position.

[05:58:08] Okay, I have his arm [05:58:10] trapped. If we turn in the angle, I have his right arm trapped by my legs, and I have his left arm trapped by the one on one. As a result, we're in an [05:58:20] excellent position to go on the attack. We've gotten to the arm, to the back crucifix position, and we're ready to go. Let's have a look at that again.[05:58:30]

[05:58:32] On the initial position, we start off behind our training partner, we go through, we take the tight waist grip, hand goes to the floor, we're [05:58:40] down in a good position to start breaking him down to the mat. Immediately as he goes down, I post on the floor. Okay, now from this position, as he goes to return back up, it will definitely slow him down.[05:58:50]

[05:58:50] I catch, use that as a post, and as a result, I can get my knees off the mat. As a result, I can quickly penetrate with the knee, then I bring my foot around the corner and hook [05:59:00] over my training partner's arm. From here, I go back with my heel, catch my training partner's second hand right there at the knuckle line.

[05:59:07] We find ourselves now in the perfect position [05:59:10] to lock up over our training partner's arm. When he tries to bring the arm in, et cetera, et cetera, it's well locked in place. Okay? Both arms are now controlled, we have the back crucifix established, and we're [05:59:20] ready to play. A second method of going in to control our training partner involves putting ourselves on our back.

[05:59:28] Okay, this is a sit through [05:59:30] method. This time, we're going to start with a seatbelt grip on our chin and buttocks back, just like so. I'm going to start by pushing my knee inside the seat. My [05:59:40] training partner's, uh, tricep, just like so. I typically use this method when my opponent is in what we call an open turtle position, where there is space between elbows and knees.[05:59:50]

[05:59:50] This is the easiest time for me to penetrate with the knee and get the block in, okay? A good time for us to use this It's when we have an opponent who's emphasizing the idea of a wider base [06:00:00] so that I can't pull him over as we did in the previous move, okay? Because he's got a wider base, I can't offset his balance, but on the other hand, it's a lot easier for me to penetrate with the knee.

[06:00:09] So a [06:00:10] simple rule of thumb, the more his elbows go in, the easier it is to off balance him down to his side and force him to put an elbow out and use the move that we saw previously. [06:00:20] The more my opponent opens up. The heart of that becomes, but on the other hand, it's no longer necessary. The knee can just penetrate by itself.

[06:00:28] So as I see an open turtle [06:00:30] position, we're gonna start off with our legs in the following configuration. I put my knee right next to his knee. I put my second leg out and I lock my seatbelt. As a result, I can level change up. [06:00:40] Now I'm going to sit right on top of my training partner's forearm and sit to my buttocks.

[06:00:45] As a result, I can use that seatbelt grip to pull my training partner over, [06:00:50] catch the arm, and we find ourselves now in a supine position. On our back, but still with our training partner's arm trapped on one side with our legs. And it's [06:01:00] hand trapped on the other with our hand. This would be another excellent way to enter into the back crucifix position.[06:01:10]

[06:01:13] The idea of attacking out of the back crucifix, we're going to focus first on strangulation. This is the ideal time to strangle [06:01:20] because both of your opponent's arms are pinned down, one by your legs and the other by your hand. And as a result, we have that thing that we're always looking for, the uncontested strangle [06:01:30] hand.

[06:01:30] Now let's quickly review the idea of getting through your opponent's chin. We have an opponent seated in front of me. Seated. Let's quickly review the [06:01:40] idea of how we're going to use the flattened fist method to go through my opponent's chin. If I have both of my opponent's arms constrained, one by legs [06:01:50] and one by arms, A hand.

[06:01:52] In situations like this, the only thing left for me to fight through is my opponent's jaw. I never want to come through with the thick parts of [06:02:00] my hand and forearm. I never want to come through with a fist and a wrist, okay? Fist and wrist are simply too thick to get underneath your opponent's jaw line.

[06:02:07] You'll always be shut out. I want to go [06:02:10] through in the same way that a knife cuts through any given material. The thinnest part, the edge, goes in first and opens the way for the thicker parts of the knife later. [06:02:20] So, we start off with the flattened fist and I take my thumb, the smallest part of my hand is the knuckle of my thumb, I enter [06:02:30] underneath my training partner's jawline with the thumb.

[06:02:34] It cuts in like the edge of a knife, an open space for the flattened fist. Then I [06:02:40] open. The Flattened Fist and I finger walk across my training partner's chest until the wrist enters. The second the wrist enters, the elbow [06:02:50] follows. Then I put my hand around the corner and I put my chin over my own hand.

[06:02:57] Once my chin covers my own hand, we use the [06:03:00] rotational method to rotate the elbow over the shoulder. And we can strangle with just one hand. A key element here is the idea of the closed circle. [06:03:10] When I work with a stranglehold behind my opponent, I never want to have, if you picture your arm as a circle around your opponent's neck, I never want an open circle.

[06:03:19] Here, you [06:03:20] can see there is an opening between the hand and my body. And as a result, there is a poor strangulation effect. What I want, for the purposes of both the [06:03:30] strangle and the control, is the idea of closing the circle, where my hand goes all the way behind, and my chin comes forward over my wrist, so that a circle is formed, [06:03:40] beginning with my right shoulder, going around, through my chin, up through, uh, my head, and forms a complete circle, from the shoulder girdle, [06:03:50] Through the length of the arm, up through the wrist, through my own head, a circle is formed around my training partner's head from which there is simply no means of escape.

[06:03:59] If the [06:04:00] circle is opened, it will always be a path of escape for my opponent and a diminishing in control and strangulation pressure. Once we close the circle, it's just a rotation of my [06:04:10] elbow. over my training partner's shoulder. That's always the principle of strangulation that we use. Nowhere is it more effective than in the case of a back crucifix.[06:04:20]

[06:04:20] Let's have a look at that now from a situation where we're have an opponent in turtle position, facing in this direction, and from here we [06:04:30] have successfully entered. into the back crucifix position. We've seen that from here, it's not a difficult thing for us to sit down onto our butt and start [06:04:40] pulling him backwards.

[06:04:41] Even as I'm pulling him backwards, I make the catch on the far arm. Even as I pull him backwards, my arm begins the process of shooting around the [06:04:50] neck. Let's move this way. Now from here, as I go in on my training partner, I go in as far as And my hand goes all the way in behind. [06:05:00] Now, I put my chin forward so that there is a closed circle around my opponent's head and shoulders.

[06:05:06] When he goes to move away from me, it's such a difficult thing. [06:05:10] I bring my knee as a wedge up into my training partner's armpit. When he tries to use his right arm It's locked in place when he [06:05:20] tries to use his left arm defensively. I control the line of the knuckles, making it immensely difficult for him to move.

[06:05:27] If I control the wrist, he can free his wrist and [06:05:30] come in and start defending himself. So we always control the line of the knuckles. Now from here, there's nothing left to do but strangle. I take my right elbow [06:05:40] over the right shoulder and it's done. Okay. The rotational method involves rotating my elbow directly over the shoulder for an [06:05:50] incredibly effective strangulation.

[06:05:52] Even if I find myself here in the supine position, working against his chin, still we can use the flattened fist method to [06:06:00] penetrate. We create the flattened fist. I find the area behind the ear and the thumb knuckle penetrates first. Once the thumb knuckle [06:06:10] penetrates. Then from here, the flattened fist penetrates.

[06:06:13] Ultimately, the flattened hand enables us to finger walk and get through until the wrist penetrates. [06:06:20] The moment the wrist penetrates, the elbow follows. Then it's all about closing the circle. From the closed circle, the elbow goes over the shoulder, [06:06:30] and it's done. Now, let's look at how that same strangulation procedure is done not in a supine position, But in a [06:06:40] prone position with our bodies facing down towards the mat.

[06:06:43] We'll have turtle position facing this way Once again, we successfully enter into the back [06:06:50] crucifix and this time we find ourselves prone Facing down towards the mat instead of supine facing up towards the ceiling As before, I want to control the [06:07:00] knuckle line of my training partner's hand. As before, I want to control my opponent's arm through my legs.

[06:07:06] I'm going to post my hand out on the mat just like so. When he tries [06:07:10] to pull away from me, I have the stability of the hand on the floor. When I see the appropriate time, I snake my hand through and I put the hand over the top and my head [06:07:20] goes forward and I find myself in the perfect position now. to raise the elbow and strangle.

[06:07:26] It's every bit as effective as a collar strangle, just because of the [06:07:30] sheer mechanical, uh, operation going on here. So, as my opponent tries to move out, twist out, et cetera, I use my hand for stability, until I see an [06:07:40] opportunity to put the hand in. Now, let's look at this. When I go to penetrate from this position, I always go in with the elbow.

[06:07:49] [06:07:50] Many people make the mistake of going across with the wrist, and as a result, they always come up short with the strangle. They never get to close the circle. A key element here, sitting up,[06:08:00]

[06:08:03] total position, total position, sitting up. A key element here is I don't [06:08:10] want to go in with the wrist where I come up short. What I do in this position is I go in with the elbow so that my whole arm goes around and I close the [06:08:20] circle effortlessly. Again, if I go in short with the wrist, you'll always come up short on the strangle.

[06:08:25] You'll never close the circle on your opponent. So my whole thing here is when I [06:08:30] go in, I take my elbow and I touch the elbow to the breastbone. It's the elbow that goes through and then the hand goes over the top and the circle is [06:08:40] closed. So when we have a turtle position with the back crucifix in place, look out from here.

[06:08:47] When I start off behind my opponent, I take my elbow [06:08:50] and the elbow goes through. I don't go in with the wrist with my thumb, making contact with my training partner's, uh, breastbone. [06:09:00] I come in and the elbow makes the contact. And as a result, We effortlessly bring the hand all the way through to maximum extension.

[06:09:07] My head goes forward, and from here, [06:09:10] we get the strangle we want. The way I recommend you practice this first is without the back crucifix. Just turtle position. From here, we're going to [06:09:20] start with a single hand. through our training partner and catch. We're going to square up to our training partner and instead of just shooting the arm across to the shoulder, as so many people do, [06:09:30] and then when you try to strangle one handed you always come up short, we're going to practice the skill from here, going through with the elbow and just touching the elbow to our training partner's [06:09:40] chest.

[06:09:41] Because the elbow penetrates, it now becomes very easy to go over the top and lock all the way around and then the head comes forward and the [06:09:50] strangle is set. Again, if I go in a straight line, when it's time to bring your hand over the top, You'll always come up short with a weak and feeble looking strangle.[06:10:00]

[06:10:00] So when I first penetrate from here, look how my elbow goes in. As the elbow penetrates, the hand effortlessly goes over the top. The only [06:10:10] way I can do this is by moving my head. If my head is stationary, the hand always fails to penetrate properly. So the head goes forward, and [06:10:20] as a result, the elbow is in perfect position.

[06:10:24] Lock, head goes forward a second time, and then from here, the [06:10:30] strangle is done. Once this starts to feel natural for you, do it with the arm trapped. Now, From here, as my opponent goes to [06:10:40] work his way out, look how my head goes forward. And as the head goes forward, the elbow touches. It's the elbow touching which [06:10:50] makes it possible to get my wrist over the trapezius.

[06:10:54] There is an infallible sign as to whether or not you're doing this correctly. Ask yourself one simple [06:11:00] question. Can you get your wrist all the way over his trapezius? If you cannot, you are not going to be able to strangle with one hand. [06:11:10] So my thing is to get the head into a position where the elbow can touch all the way through.

[06:11:18] Once the elbow touches, it's [06:11:20] the easiest thing in the world. Let your head move. If your head is static and stationary, it's very hard for the arm to move into the proper positions. So from the situation where [06:11:30] we're wrestling live down on the floor, he's moving, et cetera, et cetera. Look how the head moves, the catch, and the strangle is set.[06:11:40]

[06:11:43] We're looking at the idea of the back crucifix as another method of working our way against spirited [06:11:50] resistance and getting through to submissions from our opponent's back. It forms the last of the, uh, auxiliary systems that we'll be looking at in this series. [06:12:00] Uh, it's a fantastic finishing position, one which, as I said earlier, is pretty much underutilized in the sport of Jiu Jitsu.

[06:12:06] There's a few outstanding individuals who've had great success with it over the years, but by and [06:12:10] large, um, for reasons that I'm not really sure, It hasn't figured heavily amongst the majority of athletes despite its mechanical efficiency [06:12:20] and proven effectiveness. Um, we've been looking at strangles from the back crucifix, and there's no question those are my favorite attacks from that position.

[06:12:29] [06:12:30] We've seen an approach to the one handed strangle using our rotational method, which makes it a bit tougher. Particularly strong form of attack, uh, out of, uh, back [06:12:40] crucifixes. Let's now switch our focus, the idea of arm locking from the back crucifix. Of course, the idea that we are working with here is we want to better distribute attacks over the whole body.

[06:12:48] That's the primary focus [06:12:50] of the auxiliary systems, the straight jacket system, the core component of my back, uh, back attack series. is designed to [06:13:00] put fantastically strong, difficult to stop attacks onto one part of my opponent's body, the neck, with one part of my body, the arms. The auxiliary systems have the [06:13:10] exact opposite effect.

[06:13:11] They're designed to distribute attacks over the whole body. And that's exactly what we're doing now with this back crucifix. Um, strangulations, now let's look at [06:13:20] arm locks. The main form of arm lock, from a bat crucifix is particularly interesting because it incorporates the strength of our legs. You guys all know, of course, that [06:13:30] the human body is set up in such a way that the legs are much stronger than the arms.

[06:13:33] Even if someone's upper body is significantly stronger than mine, their upper body won't be significantly stronger than my [06:13:40] legs. So this is a quintessential example of a move where I use the strongest part of my body, against a weaker part of my opponent's body. It's a great way for a smaller person to control and submit [06:13:50] a bigger, stronger, more athletic person.

[06:13:53] Let's start the ball rolling with what is this arm lock and then start looking at some scenarios where we'll use it. I'm going to demonstrate [06:14:00] the entry into the crucifix a little bit differently this time. So far we've been looking at turtle positions as the main form of entry. Okay. We're now going to look at [06:14:10] the wrestling referee's position.

[06:14:11] Crucifix is used usually in a context where your opponent wants to stand up on you, okay, in a turtle position if his elbows are down. My opponent can't stand up on [06:14:20] me in any way, shape, or form until the elbows come off the mat, okay? Once the elbows come off the mat, that's a pretty clear sign to me as the attacking athlete, this guy's interested in standing up on me, [06:14:30] okay?

[06:14:30] And crucifixes work incredibly well in these situations for the obvious reason, you've got an extended arm. Okay, so if I'm behind my opponent in turtle position [06:14:40] And I see my opponent start to rise up. It's pretty clear what his intention is. He wants to get up on me Okay, this is the perfect time for me to turn the corner and then from here I just [06:14:50] throw my foot in on my training partner immediately just hook my opponent's head Now, as he goes to complete the stand up, he can't because one of his arms is taken out.

[06:14:59] [06:15:00] Okay? Then I go in, I put my hand underneath, and I use a passing method to bring my opponent's hand to me. Okay? Put the hand out wide. Don't try to reach like this. [06:15:10] Just put the hand through, and then use the passing method to draw the hand and feed it to the second. Okay? Now, we lock up on our training partner.

[06:15:19] And we bring our [06:15:20] legs into a figure four pattern, okay? As I hit the figure of four, it's very important to understand the nature of the figure of four. My right leg is [06:15:30] controlling my opponent's right wrist. So it's my right leg that will form the triangle lock. And my left leg that will form the second half of the triangle, the [06:15:40] support half of the triangle.

[06:15:41] Now, from this position, I'm going to open the triangle and flare my knees out wide. And then we're going to do a knee shuffle, where I shuffle [06:15:50] backwards on my knees. And I use my second hand for support. Don't work with a seatbelt grip here. It's not stable. We need a hand on the floor. Okay. Now from [06:16:00] this position, I want to wiggle my hips until I feel the bony bones, sorry, the bony bones, the bones of the hip on my opponent's elbow [06:16:10] joint.

[06:16:10] Don't use your inner thighs or any other part of your groin as the braking fulcrum. Find the hip, okay? [06:16:20] When the hip bone settles over your opponent's elbow, that's the time to hit the brake. Now from here, I flare my knees, And I arch my body forward. [06:16:30] So the head rises, the pelvis goes forward, and we get the break that we're looking for.

[06:16:34] What I don't want here is my knees close together. Now when I go forward to sprawl, there's just [06:16:40] nothing there. Okay? So we need stability. Make your body strong. Don't have your hands locked. Put a hand out for stability. Open and flare your [06:16:50] knees, so that you can walk backwards. Then adjust your hips until you feel the bones of the hip.

[06:16:56] on the back of his elbow joint. And then from here, we [06:17:00] arch for the finish. This creates a very, very impressive Rock, which utilizes the strength of your hips, your body weight, [06:17:10] uh, extraordinary amounts of breaking pressure on your opponent's elbow. Let's have a look at the whole sequence again. We're going to start off in a turtle position, behind our training partner, and from here [06:17:20] we notice our opponent has put his elbows off the floor, and as a result that's a clear signal that he's interested in standing up on us.

[06:17:26] Okay? From this position I come around the corner, [06:17:30] I line up and my body goes perpendicular to his. I bring my head across my training partner, my knee points outwards, I hook just inside the wrist, and I lift and elevate, and [06:17:40] as a result we take the hand away. I bring my hand through, I don't try to grab, it's too far away.

[06:17:46] I use the passing method to drag and feed [06:17:50] his hand to mine. Now I put my hand down on the floor. Let's move in this direction. From this position, look how we lock and initial. Figure of [06:18:00] four. The initial figure of four will not be adequate to break your opponent's arm. There will have to be a period of adjustment.

[06:18:07] That adjustment first consists of me [06:18:10] Flaring my knees and squaring my hips to the floor and securing my base of support. Now as he goes to move around It's difficult. We have the [06:18:20] extended arm and I find, through movement, my hips to his elbow joint and then from here We sprawl down the head rises, the hips [06:18:30] come forward, and we get very strong breaking pressure as a result.

[06:18:36] That's our first method of attacking this arm lock. [06:18:40] Now let's look at another method in a situation where we were in a front headlock and our opponent completely came off the mat. So from front head lock, [06:18:50] his knees come up off the floor, 84 points. Keep that good. And we're in a position now where we have very little control of our opponent.

[06:18:58] I'm gonna bring my head [06:19:00] across my training partner's body, and I'm gonna come in with what appears to be the wrong leg, and I'm gonna use that same method of hooking and bringing my opponent's body down to the floor. [06:19:10] Okay, so I hook the arm with what appears to be the wrong leg. Now let's shuffle in this direction.

[06:19:16] We're going to look now at the critical skill of passing the arm. [06:19:20] Passing the arm consists of me taking my opponent's arm and passing it from one leg to the other. As I put my, uh, cross face in just like, so [06:19:30] I'm going to extend my opponent's arm in a way which creates arm lock pressure. If my opponent doesn't react, there's an arm lock here.

[06:19:37] Okay. So what they all do is they [06:19:40] twist their arm out in order to avoid the pressure and they give me what I really wanted. Control with the second leg. Okay, so I have My [06:19:50] opponent's leg here putting armlock pressure as he twists out. I switch my legs and now I find myself Switching off into my opponent's second arm.

[06:19:58] Okay Now [06:20:00] let's come back in this direction Now we find ourselves right back in the same winning position. We were in before we take our hand to the floor. We lock up the figure of four [06:20:10] on our training partner's arm. We move down the mat, and we find ourselves now in the perfect position to put a sprawling pressure over our training partner's arm.

[06:20:17] The key element, as always, in this [06:20:20] position is to find the elbow to the back of my training partner's, uh, uh, sorry, my hip to the back of my training partner's elbow. And as a result, we get fine [06:20:30] breaking pressure down on the floor. Once again, I'm in a situation where a guy's in forepoint, and we have a front headlock.

[06:20:37] Let's move in this direction. [06:20:40] From that front headlock, my head moves across my opponent's body, and I enter with what appears to be the wrong leg. I pick his foot up off the [06:20:50] floor, and as a result, we break him down to the mat. Now, from the breakdown, look how I use my leg to extend and create pressure on my training [06:21:00] partner's arm that motivates him.

[06:21:02] And now we've switched past the arm from one leg to the other. We come back in and catch. As he recovers turtle position, [06:21:10] we put our hand down on the floor. We lock up the figure of four and start walking down our training partner's body. And as a result, as we find a period of adjustment where our hip [06:21:20] goes right over our training partner's elbow, we get a fine breaking pressure.

[06:21:24] Now, let's look at another way in [06:21:30] which we can use arm lock pressure out of this position. This time we have turtle position, and we have an open turtle, which means it's relatively simple for us [06:21:40] to take our knee in as a wedge, lock the seatbelt grip, and from here, Go across, catch our training partner's wrist, and sit down to the mat, and hook over our training [06:21:50] partner's arm.

[06:21:50] Okay? Once we get our opponent in this broken down supine position, we can also hit a fine arm lock from here too. A key element is the idea of [06:22:00] scissoring with my legs. If I lock a triangle when I'm in a supine position, it's not wrong to do that. You can get breaking pressure with a triangle grip here.

[06:22:08] But there's quite a bit of [06:22:10] play in your opponent's elbow and he can exploit that to move around and slip. And so you often get spaghetti arm people who can be quite difficult to finish in this position. [06:22:20] So what I like to do in these situations is I take all the slack out of my opponent's upper body by manipulating the neck.

[06:22:28] I take my [06:22:30] forearm And I lock and I cross my arms and I pin his ear to my chest. The more my opponent's head can move, the more he can [06:22:40] wiggle his elbow and free his arm. So what I do is I lock his head in like so. Because I have both the arm and the [06:22:50] head, it's legal. Now, from this position, as my opponent goes to move around, I don't lock a triangle.

[06:22:56] I bring my knee up here as a wedge in his armpit. And [06:23:00] I flare my knee, then I bridge off the floor and we get fantastic breaking pressure. We're just going to go closer to the camera and change the angle so you can see that better. [06:23:10] From a back crucifix position, where we wedged our training partner and came in and sat down into a potentially [06:23:20] winning position like so.

[06:23:21] Now, from here, if the head can move around, he can wiggle his arm, move the shoulder, and slip free. So, what I [06:23:30] like to do in this situation, is to take my training partner's jawline, I don't go across the eyes, the nose, or anything like that, I go across the jawline, and I turn the back of my hand [06:23:40] into him.

[06:23:41] So I can go in and control my training partner's jawline. That restricts the movement of the head quite dramatically. When he goes to [06:23:50] move the head around, it's locked in place. Now from here, I go down to the end of the lever. My foot Goes down, all the way, [06:24:00] ankle deep, to my opponent's wrist. My second leg comes up here as a wedge in the armpit.

[06:24:06] And from this position, it's a very easy thing for me to start a [06:24:10] bridging action, which takes my training partner's elbow directly over my hip. And from here we get fantastic breaking pressure. I generally prefer [06:24:20] this to figure four elbow methods. When I figure four my legs in a triangle, my opponent's elbow can slip.

[06:24:25] So what I like to do instead is catch and [06:24:30] extend the arm. Then from here I scissor my legs rather than triangle my legs. From the scissored legs, when he tries to move out, it's exceptionally [06:24:40] difficult, and the breaking pressure here is considerable.

[06:24:48] In this way, we [06:24:50] can distribute our attacks from crucifix, from neck to arm, very very successfully. Please note, that the more your opponent goes to defend the arm, the more vulnerable he becomes to [06:25:00] the neck, and vice versa. So for example, turtle position, I have my opponent's arm extended out. And, for [06:25:10] whatever reason, I'm unable to get the full finish.

[06:25:13] I walk back, sprawl, and I see my opponent is turning and twisting his elbow, and the pressure's there, but it's not breaking pressure. [06:25:20] As soon as I see that kind of distraction, I'll take my hand, flare it through, and work for what I really wanted, the stranglehold. Okay. Conversely, as I [06:25:30] see, bring your arm in tight defenses.

[06:25:32] Okay? I come in here working for a stranglehold. He starts dipping the chin and I work, work, work for the stranglehold, and then one motion, I just start walking [06:25:40] down his body, and then from here we get breaking pressure on the arm. Okay? He goes to turn the arm out and escape. Then I come right back up to the.

[06:25:48] And we find ourselves [06:25:50] in superb attacking positions where we can either go back to the regular back system, stay with the crucifix, or what have you. The idea is always to create that dilemma between attacks on my [06:26:00] opponent's arm and attacks on my opponent's neck. As I begin distributing attacks around the body, that's when we get the breakthrough against tough opponents.

[06:26:08] Always bear in mind that whenever you have [06:26:10] these back crucifix positions, very simple movements will take you from a back crucifix to the rear mounted position. And right back into the main core element of our system. [06:26:20] So for example, if I have a back crucifix on my training partner

[06:26:28] and I've hooked over my training partner's [06:26:30] arm, if I see my opponent bridging to resist the power of the strangle, there's no reason why I can't shift my opponent over using my hip and from this position, lock up the figure of [06:26:40] four over his arm and trap it. When he goes to extract his arm now, it's incredibly difficult.

[06:26:45] And from here, a relatively easy thing to finish. Let's have a look at that again from a different angle. [06:26:50] Let's start in turtle position. We get a simple breakdown on our training partner. Using back crucifix, we come through and put the man down. Now, as I fight hard for [06:27:00] the strangle, I see him bridging over my hips, and as a result, straining from the back crucifix may not be easy.

[06:27:05] We take our leg, extend it through and around, and drive the man over. [06:27:10] And we're in the perfect position now to lock up on our training partner and go into the main part of our back attack system, rear mount, arms trapped, et cetera, et cetera. [06:27:20] So please understand the incredible value of this back crucifix.

[06:27:26] It's an amazingly effective method of [06:27:30] transferring attacks around the body. You've got fantastic arm lock attacks, utilizing the strength of the legs, the single easiest way a small weaker people to overcome bigger [06:27:40] stronger people putting your legs and match them against your opponent's arms that's always a good, good way to deal with stronger people.

[06:27:46] It's an incredibly effective way of opening up the one handed [06:27:50] rotational strangles which we've shown in this video series and at any given time you can switch from back crucifixes relatively easily. All the way back to the main system where we [06:28:00] get rim out to position and work between those three You're going to finish a lot of people trust me when I say this The next generation of jiu jitsu players should actively [06:28:10] look to incorporate the back crucifix position much more than it has in the past This has been the province of a few outstanding individuals It could [06:28:20] easily be one of the more mainstream attacks of Jiu Jitsu.

[06:28:22] It's combat proven by some of the best people in the sport, and highly effective. Works well at distributing attacks over the whole body. It's mechanically very [06:28:30] sound. Uh, it's just a move which I believe is undervalued and underrepresented in the sport for reasons that were never really clear to me.

[06:28:39] Speaker 7: [06:28:40] We're looking, uh, or we have looked, rather, at the various systems, the main system and the auxiliary [06:28:50] systems that, uh, form the centerpiece of my approach to attacking from the back. That was the, uh, The main thing that I wanted to, to [06:29:00] focus on, because that was the, uh, the element which enabled us to work towards submissions, which I see as the biggest problem for most athletes in the sport of Jiu Jitsu today.

[06:29:08] When I look around the sport of Jiu [06:29:10] Jitsu, I see a tremendous number of athletes who are highly talented at getting to submissions. I see a tremendous number of athletes who are very good at retaining and maintaining [06:29:20] the back once they've got there. But I see only a few outstanding individuals who can actually finish reliably from the back.

[06:29:26] So the main emphasis in this video series has been the [06:29:30] idea of redressing that balance. Okay, there's already a lot of people that are good at getting to and maintaining the back. Not nearly so many good at finishing from the back. The idea behind this video, the central idea behind [06:29:40] this video was to, to redress that balance.

[06:29:41] To, to, to show. a systematic approach to, to working towards submissions from a range of back positions. Nonetheless, [06:29:50] um, uh, I do think it would be, uh, unwise to put out a, uh, an instructional series on the back without also showing how to get there. Okay. You've got to, you've got to know [06:30:00] something on, on how to get to the back.

[06:30:01] We've seen back maintenance, but how are we going to get to the first place? How are we going to establish our hooks, get hooks in on a resisting opponent [06:30:10] and, um, uh, and then actually work through the various moves that we've looked at. So I'm going to spend some time now just on, on my approach to, uh, uh, to establishing hooks and [06:30:20] remount position and, uh, and, and work our way through so that we can actually get to the very positions that we've studied in so much detail.

[06:30:28] In the, in the various systems [06:30:30] based approaches to the back position. Let's start off with just some general broad reflections on what we're trying to do when we go to, uh, establish, uh, [06:30:40] hooks or rear mounted position. Let's look at the main situations we find ourselves working against. Probably the single most common would be a turtle position.

[06:30:48] Okay. My opponent [06:30:50] is in a turtle position like so. This is a fairly strong defensive position. In certain ways it can even be offensive, but, um, Um, it's, [06:31:00] it's not always easy for me to go to a position where I have my opponent's back per se, and now I want to get hooks in and establish a rear mounted position.

[06:31:08] Often it's a, it's a [06:31:10] tricky business. So let's talk a little bit about this. Let's talk about just some broad background theory on, uh, what options I have, what options he has, [06:31:20] and then we'll start getting to the nitty gritty of actually how to get hooks in. First, let's talk about, uh, my various stances and postures that I can take around his turtle position.

[06:31:29] Okay? [06:31:30] The first, which I often favor, involves lining my opponent's body up. I'm going to be doing a diagonal line from my opponent's far shoulder to his near hip. So what I'll often [06:31:40] do in situations like this when I approach a turtle position, is I will take a knee pinch, where my two knees go down into a squat, and from here I pinch my knees around my opponent's hips, so [06:31:50] that my knee is low on the far hip, and even lower on the near hip.

[06:31:54] And I face from my opponent's right hip to left shoulder and vice versa. So [06:32:00] I cover a diagonal line across my opponent's body, okay? From a starting position like this, I go through and secure either a wrist or a tight waist. This [06:32:10] position is essentially a squat with a pinching of the knees so my opponent feels some tension as my knees pinch in on the hips.

[06:32:17] Then I focus on going through and getting my hand [06:32:20] underneath the forearm. This gives me options of driving forward into a seatbelt. Driving forward. and taking a wrist on the far side driving forward and taking a [06:32:30] wrist on the near side or both at the same time. Okay. So it's an excellent attacking position to, to start the ball rolling.

[06:32:36] It gives me good mobility. If my opponent went to stand up, I can, I'm [06:32:40] mobile on my feet and I can move around my training partner, standing up, et cetera, et cetera. And I can move with him as he goes to stand. Okay. Now, once we start off in a position like this, [06:32:50] the, the keynote feature is the idea that it gives us mobility because we're not really on the floor at all.

[06:32:55] We're in a kind of a low squat, and as a result, we can move around our opponent quite rapidly. So that's [06:33:00] one good option that we can work with. A more classical option is to ground one of our knees next to our training partner's knee, just like so. Let's make sure if we face in [06:33:10] this direction that we know exactly what we're doing with the other leg.

[06:33:16] Here I have a grounded knee. My second leg stays low [06:33:20] on my training partner and my knee is on his far hip. Don't have situations where your hamstring is over your opponent's lower back. Okay, this is not a controlling position. If I'm finally stood up from here, [06:33:30] I'm immediately off balance because of that.

[06:33:31] Uh, I have no real weight and control over my opponent. I want to make sure that my knee is the same height as his lower back and pressuring [06:33:40] forward into my opponent. And from here we get chest to back contact. I can be underneath my opponent's two arms, I can have a seatbelt grip, you can have a single wrist, whatever you want.

[06:33:49] [06:33:50] Okay? Tight waist, they're all good. But the key element is that our leg is not hamstring on lower back, which is not really a controlling position at all. If my opponent just [06:34:00] suddenly stood up from here, I would inevitably fall off. There's no control. So we start off everything in close and chest to back contact just like so.

[06:34:09] Okay. [06:34:10] Another The third excellent way of configuring ourselves relative to our opponent is to put my knee, in this case my left knee, my, what would [06:34:20] normally be my rear knee that covers my training partner's hip, is to bring it forward and position my knee outside his. And then put my other leg up in line with his [06:34:30] hands.

[06:34:30] Typically, in these situations, we work with a seatbelt grip, just like so. This too has various advantages. Because I have a leg off the floor and it's unweighted, this becomes an excellent knee for us to [06:34:40] use for various kinds of crucifix attacks, et cetera, et cetera. Okay? Um, so those are three good starting options when I go to control a turtle position.

[06:34:49] Let's quickly review them [06:34:50] again. The first Is a kind of a horse riding position I guess where I just take a low squat and pinch around my training partner's two hips and stay above my training partner like so. Okay, [06:35:00] this gives tremendous mobility around my training partner's body. Okay, that's its primary advantage.

[06:35:05] A second option is to ground one knee and come further around and get a stronger chest to back contact. [06:35:10] whether I'm under two arms, over under, securing wrist, etc. etc. This gives a very strong control of my opponent, like so. Okay? A third option [06:35:20] would be for us to configure our legs so that we have a knee, here, next to our training partner's knee and an unweighted leg.

[06:35:26] And that unweighted leg could be used in many different ways. to go on the [06:35:30] attack and move around that training partner. So at any given time we can pop up into the three various methods of controlling our training partner and go on to the [06:35:40] various back attacks that we looked at. So that's three good options that I can use as I move around my training partner's body.[06:35:50]

[06:35:50] We're looking at the idea of establishing rear mount and hooks against someone who's usually in a turtle position. It's probably the single most common position that we have to work against when we go to, [06:36:00] uh, establish our hooks. Later on today we'll look at the idea of out of scramble positions and out of other positions besides turtle.

[06:36:07] Um, but we'll start with turtle since that's probably [06:36:10] statistically the most common scenario you're going to have to deal with. Now it's very, very important. We just saw different alternative stances. that we can take around our opponent. Now let's look at the idea of [06:36:20] different focus points when I go to control someone in a turtle position.

[06:36:25] Um, probably the three best focus points for you guys to [06:36:30] begin your study of, of, of entering against turtle position are the head, the hips, and the wrist. Okay? Let's have a look at these. Whenever I go to [06:36:40] work against turtle position, the first thing is, first What am I going to control? I can't control his whole body.

[06:36:44] Okay, life doesn't work that way. I can't use my whole body to control his whole body. I have to use a big part of [06:36:50] my body to control one specific area of his body. Okay? One of the first methods of controlling our opponent in turtle position is through your opponent's waist and [06:37:00] hips. And the mechanism of control is going to be a grip we call the tight waist.

[06:37:03] Okay, if my opponent sits up, I'm behind my opponent with a knee on the floor and a knee behind. A tight waist [06:37:10] involves me going through on my training partner and putting my hands in one of several good alternative positions. If I'm particularly long in the limbs, it can be a useful thing for me to go [06:37:20] through and hold my training partner here at the near waist.

[06:37:22] For most people, the belly button is a pretty good area. And sometimes there's an advantage putting in a shallower tight waist down [06:37:30] Where I go wrist deep around my opponent's far hip so it's not that tight of a waist Okay The key element is that the idea behind a tight waist is that what it really even though it's called a tight [06:37:40] waist The real control is of your opponent's far hip.

[06:37:43] That's what i'm looking to do So I lock in on my training partner He goes down to a turtle position if we face in this direction turn in this direction [06:37:50] The real locus of my control is through my elbow on his far hip Okay. As my opponent tries to move away from me, for example, I can stay down in position here.

[06:37:59] Look how [06:38:00] easily I can pull my opponent using the elbow on the hip. As he goes to return back up to a turtle position, look how the elbow is constantly pulling in on my training partner. So I'm [06:38:10] learning to control the far hip. through the tight waist position. Okay. So even though the grip itself is on the waist, it's the far hip, which is the actual focus of my control.

[06:38:19] So if [06:38:20] many situation where I'm working behind my training partner, we go through, we establish that grip and lock the elbow. The primary emphasis is on my elbow going to the hip. Don't focus on holding the [06:38:30] stomach. That's not, that's where you're holding your opponent, but it's not the focus of your control.

[06:38:34] The focus of your control is your elbow at the far hip. And from here, when he goes to move away from me, look how I can get a [06:38:40] significant amount of pulling power on my training partner's hip and start to off balance my opponent into positions that confer great advantage to me. Okay? You can use switching tight [06:38:50] waist, where you can go from one side to the other.

[06:38:52] So if I start off with a tight waist on one side and I feel I can't move my opponent, I can always switch across to the other side and break my opponent down to the [06:39:00] floor. The idea behind a tight waist is to achieve breakdowns, where you break your opponent down to a hip and an elbow. Once you get broken, uh, once you get an opponent broken down, [06:39:10] In order to be athletic he has to return to some kind of position where he comes back up to turtle or referee's position or what have you.

[06:39:16] And as he makes that transition back, that's exactly where so many [06:39:20] of our back attacks come from. Okay? But when you get initial control, uh, the first one we, which I personally favor a lot, is this idea of tight [06:39:30] waist control. which enables me to break my opponent down to a hip. So one more time. From any situation where we're behind our opponent, we go through, establish a tight waist, and focus primarily upon [06:39:40] my elbow and my opponent's hip, which enables me to off balance my opponent into positions where you have excellent control from here.

[06:39:46] So many forms of back attack. That's our first, [06:39:50] uh, method of controlling our opponent. Another excellent method of control is our opponent's head and shoulders. Okay. This is [06:40:00] typically done not with a tight waist but done with a grip often referred to in the jiu jitsu community as a seat belt. Okay a seat belt Can be done in many different ways But the [06:40:10] key idea is that my head goes across to the far side.

[06:40:13] My arm goes through underneath my training partner Other arm goes over, so I have the far arm goes under my [06:40:20] opponent's arm. The near arm goes over the other arm. And from here I can lock in various ways. Some people like a five finger grip. Some people like palm to palm. Some like wrist to wrist. Um, they [06:40:30] all have their pluses and minuses.

[06:40:31] Probably the most versatile all round one. A good one to start with is a five finger grip where I take five fingers and lock in like so. Now, [06:40:40] um, there's different ways you can use a seatbelt. Okay. If I focus primarily upon the grip of my hands, it gives, it has the virtue of [06:40:50] enabling my head to move around and separate distance from chest to back when I'm where I need it.

[06:40:56] Okay. Um, another way to operate down [06:41:00] to a position is instead of focusing on my hand grip, is to focus on my shoulder position, okay? Often, when we work in a seatbelt position, [06:41:10] I will take my shoulder and I will roll my shoulder on top of my training partner's head, okay? This gives tremendous downward pressure on my opponent's head.[06:41:20]

[06:41:20] If I just had my hands locked and my shoulder retracted, uh, this is good for certain ways of attacking from a seatbelt but doesn't do much to control my opponent's head. When I roll my [06:41:30] shoulder forward, forward and put my shoulder on top of the head it puts tremendous weight over my opponent's head when he tries to rise and stand up and all those things people like to do it's so difficult [06:41:40] and as a result it's going to be easy to start turning people and flipping people around as we'll shortly see so this time facing the camera Okay, uh, different [06:41:50] ways of applying the seatbelt grip.

[06:41:51] From here I can work with my hands locked and my head and shoulders back. That's one way where this has the advantage, it gives me mobility with the head to move [06:42:00] around my opponent, et cetera, et cetera. But another way is to take my shoulder and roll the shoulder forward over my training partner's head, keep strong body, and then from here you have tremendous control [06:42:10] and tremendous weight over your opponent's head.

[06:42:12] Um, neither one is really better than the other. They just give different alternatives. Okay. Key idea behind any basic seatbelt is the [06:42:20] idea of head and shoulder control. When I lock in here with my shoulder retracted, the control tends to be through my opponent's shoulder girdle. Okay. Across the line of his shoulders.

[06:42:28] When I roll the [06:42:30] shoulder. It appears to be very, very direct pressure over our training partner's head, okay? And as a result, you can put tremendous downward pressure. That use of the shoulder on the [06:42:40] head is directly analogous to something we often do, for example, out of single leg situations. If I have a single leg takedown on my training partner, [06:42:50] very often from a single leg position, if my hands are just locked here, it's hard for me to put sufficient downward chest pressure.

[06:42:55] Pressure on my opponent to knock him down to the floor. But if I take my shoulder and roll my [06:43:00] shoulder over my training partner's hip, okay, then I can put tremendous downward pressure on my training partner. So the shoulder is creating that chest pressure that puts him down. [06:43:10] The further my shoulder is away from him, he's looking at me the wrong way.

[06:43:14] Wisdom wrist like so. Okay. Here I have almost no capacity to put any kind of [06:43:20] pressure downwards on his thigh, but when I take my shoulder and roll the shoulder over the thigh, any step back on my part will immediately sit him down to the floor. Similarly, from total position, [06:43:30] we use that same idea of the shoulder going forward and it puts pressure down over my training partner's head.

[06:43:36] It's like, so, and as a result, when he tries to rise with the head, [06:43:40] there's tremendous pressure going down and this will facilitate. Many of the attacks that we see, we will see later in the series. So we've got the idea of [06:43:50] tight waist control. We go in, secure the waist. And as a result, the far hip is controlled in ways which create breakdowns.

[06:43:58] Then we saw the idea of [06:44:00] controlling our training partner's head or shoulders through the use of the seatbelt. And as a result, once again, we can form strong methods of breaking our opponent down. [06:44:10] Now, what if my opponent is in such a tight turtle position, where he's so good at hand fighting, that when I try to get his, uh, seat belt grip, he fights me off with [06:44:20] the hands.

[06:44:20] He's so tight in here, and so good with the use of his elbow, that I can't establish any kind of workable tight waist. One grip he can almost never deny me is a [06:44:30] one on one grip. Why? Because the only thing I need to penetrate through and get a hold of my opponent's wrist is the width of my hand. I don't need to get my [06:44:40] hand all the way and cross in front of my training partner's neck.

[06:44:42] Moreover, the entry to a one on one is behind my opponent's arm, where grip fighting is very, very difficult. If I try to come in [06:44:50] front of my opponent's chest, of course his grip fighting is strong there. But when I go behind an arm, it's hard to grip fight there. Okay, so we're going to take our hand, and we're going to pull on our training partner's shoulder [06:45:00] and push the hand through.

[06:45:01] And as a result, I can score my training partner's hand, usually at the knuckle line. If I grab the wrist, he can easily extend the arm away and move [06:45:10] away from me. So typically from here, we'd like to control the knuckle line. When he goes to extend the arm away from It's a difficult thing. Okay. So when my opponent's in a very tight turtle position, [06:45:20] like so, I make my hand like a knife and pulling either here or here.

[06:45:23] I put my hand behind the tricep and I punch my hand through and take a hold of my training partner's knuckle line. When [06:45:30] he goes to move away from me, now the focus is on the control of that arm. Okay. And this will set up similar breakdowns to the various I'm going to show you a couple of elements that we saw earlier.

[06:45:39] If my opponent stays in a [06:45:40] turtle position, this will also give us other non back related options. From here we can start maneuvering, punching the partner over, etc. etc. These are [06:45:50] all very very useful ways of controlling our opponent. So when I approach to a position, The question which always runs through my mind, how will I go to control him?

[06:45:58] And three of the most important [06:46:00] choices, they're not the only choices, but they're three very good ones for you to start with, will always be hips, head, and wrist, okay? As we come into, enter with our training partner, my [06:46:10] first thing is, what am I going to control? That will be determined by what kind of turtle position he's adopted, okay?

[06:46:15] A good place for us to start is always that initial tight waist, which enables us to take him out of balance. [06:46:20] He goes into a cover, and we take a wrist. He clears his wrist out. And from here we come up and control our training partners here. Any one of those three options [06:46:30] will give us an excellent means of controlling our opponent and an ability to break him down in ways which will set up hooks.

[06:46:38] It's important you become highly competent in [06:46:40] all three. And you'd be able to transition effortlessly between the three of them.

[06:46:48] We're looking at this idea of establishing [06:46:50] hooks and rear mount typically against turtle positions. But as you increase in skill level, you will have to do it out of scramble situations and a wide variety of positions. We'll show some of those later today, but let's [06:47:00] start with a turtle. That's the place to start building your skills.

[06:47:03] And that's probably the area you'll be using these skills the most, both in competition and in training. Um, and The [06:47:10] great alternative that you have when it's time to establish your hooks is the choice between entering with your foot or entering with your knee. Now there's pros [06:47:20] and cons to both and there's times when one is good and one is not so good.

[06:47:24] Okay. As a general rule, this is a general rule, not a hard and fast [06:47:30] rule. As a general rule, most athletes find it easier to penetrate with a knee and a foot second. It takes less flexibility. It's [06:47:40] easier to maintain a tight chest to back contact when you use this method, but it does have the drawback that it's a two stage method.

[06:47:47] You go in with the knee first, and then you [06:47:50] establish the hook second. The virtue of entering with the foot first is that you have the hook right from the start. Your foot goes in, it's a hook. Okay, but it comes at a [06:48:00] price. You're going to require greater flexibility. to fold a foot into a correct position.

[06:48:06] It can also be slightly less [06:48:10] stabilizing because, uh, stabilized, sorry, because you don't always have the same degree of chest to back contact as you try to establish a foot as the, as the method of entering into [06:48:20] the hook. In time, you will gain experience and find when it's appropriate for you to use a foot and when it's appropriate for you to use a hook.

[06:48:28] But when you first start off, I [06:48:30] generally encourage beginning students into most of the time with a knee. It's typically a little bit easier. a little bit safer, and um, requires a little less dexterity on your part, [06:48:40] and it's easier to maintain a tight body connection, okay? Let's start off with the idea of what we want to avoid, okay, like, like, um, bad ways of entering with feet, et [06:48:50] cetera, et cetera.

[06:48:50] If I've got a turtle position here, so often I see people engage in this kind of behavior, they're, they're behind someone and they're like, okay, I want to get a hook in. Okay. So you see them create [06:49:00] one of the big mistakes, which is to lose chest to back contact. The chest comes off the back. Okay. That's, that's almost always a bad thing.

[06:49:09] Okay. It's, [06:49:10] there are some exceptions to that rule, but most of the time this is not good. Okay? Then, they just throw a leg in, usually foot first. Now, always bear in mind, [06:49:20] when I'm in turtle position, most of the time I'm on either one side of my opponent's body or the other. That means I'm currently on my opponent's, uh, uh, right [06:49:30] hand side, okay?

[06:49:31] I'm out to his right hand side. That gives me a choice between putting in the left hook first, the far side of his body, or my [06:49:40] right hook in first, the near side of his body. As a general rule, this is a general rule, there are exceptions. As a general rule, I have a preference for putting the [06:49:50] near side hook in first, okay?

[06:49:53] There are exceptions to this. But one thing we want to consciously avoid if we are going to throw a far side hook in first is this kind of thing. Where [06:50:00] there's a separation of the body and people just kind of throw a leg in and hope for the best. Okay? At this point, there's no weight on your opponent whatsoever, and as a result, very little [06:50:10] control.

[06:50:10] So even if the hook does go in, my opponent goes to stand up on me, the second hook doesn't come in and you end up looking like a fool. Falling off your opponent in a clumsy fashion and [06:50:20] losing what could have been a very good winning position. Okay. So we want to avoid massive losses in chest to back contact, unnecessary losses of contact with our opponent.

[06:50:29] And you [06:50:30] want to avoid throwing a leg over the far side of your body in a way where there's no effective way of holding your opponent's body weight down. Okay. The moment my body weight comes off him and I [06:50:40] start throwing legs in like this, it's just a disaster waiting to happen. Okay. Um, now the, the sad thing is that Occasionally you'll see methods like this work [06:50:50] because the guy on bottom doesn't really know what he's doing and people will see this and say well it worked then so it must be good.

[06:50:56] Okay let's understand something just because something worked in jiu jitsu doesn't mean it's [06:51:00] good it might just mean your the opponent was not very good. Okay. Um, success, limited success can actually be a dangerous thing in judaism because it will often [06:51:10] reinforce bad habits. Um, don't ask yourself if something will work.

[06:51:14] Ask yourself if it will work on someone very good, reliably, for many different people. [06:51:20] That's when you know a technique is sound, not if it works per se. Again, any technique will work on someone that sucks. Um, the question is not whether it will work on a beginner, [06:51:30] but whether it will work on a resisting world champion who knows what's going on.

[06:51:34] Okay. When it works under those conditions, yes, it's a good technique. Okay. So yes, it's [06:51:40] possible that you can go up against a beginner and just kind of just throw a hook in and you got the hook. Okay. It, it kind of worked. Um, but it's, [06:51:50] you can see that just conceptually, it's, it's kind of a, a flawed enterprise.

[06:51:53] You've lost contact with your opponent. There's no means of holding his body weight down. If he should just explosively get up, you'd [06:52:00] fall off. Um, that's not really the way to go. So typically what we like to do, if we're going to enter with either foot or knee, is we want to create conditions where there's [06:52:10] substantial body contact of my upper body to his upper body.

[06:52:13] And that should be maintained as we get the hook in. Okay. So whether I choose foot or knee, the first constraint is, [06:52:20] The first question I've got to ask is, how much is this going to cost me in terms of upper body contact with my opponent? If I have to completely lose upper body contact and come up like this in order to get a hook [06:52:30] in it, That should be setting off some warning lights in your mind, okay?

[06:52:35] The good news is when we use knees to enter, there's almost never a need [06:52:40] to sacrifice contact with your opponent's body. And there's ways to manipulate my opponent's body where I can just get my foot in without sacrificing body contact, [06:52:50] okay? So body contact is our first step. as it were, uh, signal as to whether or not this is a sound method of getting either knee or foot in.

[06:52:59] The [06:53:00] other one is weight distribution. If I have to completely take my weight off my opponent in a way where my opponent's ability to move is not constrained at all, that's [06:53:10] also a disaster. That's why I don't like to see people put legs across the back. Because now as my opponent goes to rise and I go to get a foot in, there's simply no control of my [06:53:20] opponent's body weight and you just end up flopping off like a fool.

[06:53:23] Um, there has to be something holding your opponent down. Okay. When we go to get [06:53:30] hooks in, we'll look at many ways to do this, but those are the two clearest signals to me that you're operating with a flawed method of either getting a knee in as a hook. Or a foot and it's a hook. [06:53:40] If you're losing a lot of body contact, that's never a good sign.

[06:53:43] If you're creating situations where you have no capacity to put weight down on your opponent, that's a bad sign. And if they're both together, [06:53:50] it's a terrible sign. Okay? So with that as a piece of background information, let's start to look now at the idea of entering with a knee versus entering with a foot.

[06:53:58] Okay. First, what do we mean when [06:54:00] we say enter a hook with a knee? Well, whenever we go to enter with our training partner, um, the basic two penetration points can be my [06:54:10] knee or my foot. Okay. If I just go to throw a foot and just put your elbow down like so, If I just go to throw a foot in, it [06:54:20] takes a certain amount of distance between my body and his in most cases, and it takes a certain amount of flexibility on my part to throw a nearside hook in.

[06:54:27] Okay, and from here, I've established a nearside hook, [06:54:30] and now we're in chest to back contact, and we've, we've got a single hook in, and we're ready to start the game. Okay, so that would be an example of throwing a foot in. You can see, [06:54:40] because my flexibility is not particularly good, that I had to rise off my opponent in order to do this, okay?

[06:54:46] It also required that my opponent was in a pretty open turtle position. If he was [06:54:50] clamped up very, very tight, that would have been pretty much impossible for me to do, okay? Now, let's contrast this with the idea of a knee entry, where I take my knee, and from here I drive my [06:55:00] knee in towards him. My training partner's crotch and point in just like so.

[06:55:04] Because the knee is entering, the amount of space required for [06:55:10] the entry is just the circumference of my knee, which is a relatively small area, okay? And as a result, even when your opponent is bunched up tight, okay, there's a [06:55:20] hole in there behind the arm. And the circumference of my knee is roughly the same size as that hole.

[06:55:26] So even when my opponent is in a fairly tight turtle position, it's not that [06:55:30] hard for me to take that narrow circumference of the knee and contour it into my training partner's thigh and penetrate. Okay? Now, when we sit down towards the floor, you'll [06:55:40] see that the knee functions more or less like a hook.

[06:55:44] Like so, so that my two knees pinch around his leg. Once the knee penetrates in this [06:55:50] position, and I've exposed my opponent's chest to the ceiling, the simple act of extending my leg will create a hook. [06:56:00] Okay, so we go in in two stages. The knee penetrated first, then as the leg extended, my lower leg [06:56:10] So, I first penetrated with my upper leg through the knee, then by extending the leg, my lower leg becomes the hook.

[06:56:18] And as a result, [06:56:20] from here we can establish the other hooks and go out. Okay? So this is the basic dichotomy between foot based entries, if we have a long space, okay, where I take my [06:56:30] foot and I enter first with the foot, okay? As the foot enters. with the hook is established right from the start, right from the moment of entry, we've got that hook established.

[06:56:39] [06:56:40] Okay. We'll see various methods for doing this safely. Obviously that would not be an example of a safe entry because there was no chest to back contact. Now, when my opponent's in a [06:56:50] tighter position, where it would be very, very difficult for me now to enter with a foot, then the small circumference of the knee is one of the more appropriate ways of doing it.

[06:56:58] From [06:57:00] here, look, I punch and turn around the corner. And my two knees pinch around my training partner's thigh, so that as I sag down to the mat, essentially my two knees [06:57:10] pinch around his near side leg. Then the simply act of extension creates a foot that becomes a hook. And from here, it's a simple thing.

[06:57:19] for you [06:57:20] to go through and establish the rest of the rear mount. But it all began with the knee. Now, there's a sense in which [06:57:30] your upper leg functions as a hook when you enter in this fashion. Ultimately, every hook is cemented in place by your lower leg. [06:57:40] But we have to divide our leg into upper leg from the knee up to the hip and lower leg from the knee down to the ankle.

[06:57:45] Okay, when I enter, Just like so and punch in on [06:57:50] my training partner. It's the upper leg functioning like a hook on my training partner Okay, so that as I sag down to the floor my upper legs [06:58:00] are pinching in a way quite similar to a hook So when he goes to move his right leg around his upper leg is constrained Yes, he can move his lower leg, but I'm [06:58:10] not concerned about that.

[06:58:11] The upper leg is effectively hooked. Then to finish the job, phase two is just extension, leg goes over, now you got a hook. [06:58:20] And from here, it's a simple thing to shift and solidify the position overall. So this is always our basic choice. Will you enter with a foot [06:58:30] or will you enter with a knee? The general point is this.

[06:58:33] They're both excellent. Each one has its good points and bad points. Foot entries give you the completed job right from the start. [06:58:40] When the foot enters as a hook, you've established the entire hook. It's done. Job, job accomplished. Okay. But it comes at the price that's going to require greater flexibility on your part.

[06:58:49] [06:58:50] Um, and um, potentially the loss of body contact, which can be a little risky. Okay. You've got to know what you're doing. If you enter with the feet. Okay. As I said, it is [06:59:00] faster if it's done well, if it's done well, it's, it's priceless. It's beautiful to look at and it's highly effective. Okay. Done poorly.

[06:59:07] It's an absolute disaster. We, there's no control of your [06:59:10] problem. You just fall off and look like an idiot. Entering with the knee on the other hand is slower because it involves two phases. You got to enter with the knee, establish. Upper leg control and then [06:59:20] extend your leg and establish lower leg control.

[06:59:23] So it is a little slower. But on the other hand, you can enter into much tighter crevices with the small circumference of your [06:59:30] knee than you can with the clumsy whole lower leg. And, uh, At the same time, it's much easier for you to maintain chest to back contact and keep [06:59:40] close proximity to your opponent, making overall escape difficult.

[06:59:44] If you're going to call yourself a master of entering into the bag, you've got to be good at both. But, as a general rule for [06:59:50] beginning students, most beginning students find it much easier and much more mechanically sound to enter with the knee first, rather than the foot. In time, however, it's much easier.

[06:59:59] You will become [07:00:00] equally adept at both.

[07:00:05] We're looking at this idea of establishing the rear mounted position, getting hooks in. We're looking at it [07:00:10] first in the context of a turtle position. That's a good place for you to start and probably the most common situation in which you'll be using it when you're engaged in competition and live training.

[07:00:18] Um, I said [07:00:20] earlier that I have a general preference when it's time to insert hooks. to work with what we call near side hooks. Let's understand exactly what this means, and then start going through some concrete ways of actually doing [07:00:30] this, okay? Whenever we go to control a turtle position, in the overwhelming majority of cases, I will be on one side of my opponent's body.

[07:00:37] Here, I've chosen my training partner's [07:00:40] right hand side. I can be out to one side by varying degrees. I can be completely Out to one side, like so, where I'm literally perpendicular to my opponent. I [07:00:50] can be Partially behind, down by one hip, but you're always going to find in the overwhelming majority of cases You're on one side or the other.

[07:00:59] Okay, it may [07:01:00] not be by much But it'll be to some degree. That creates conditions where you have a near side hook, the same side that you're on, and a far side hook The [07:01:10] opposite side, you have to go a further distance to get the hook in, okay? As a general rule, not as a hard and fast rule, but as a general rule, I have a preference for my athletes to go in near side [07:01:20] hook first.

[07:01:20] There are some exceptions to this rule, and some of those exceptions are pretty important. But, it's a good place for you to begin your work, okay? Um, it's [07:01:30] relatively rare, it's not impossible, but it's relatively rare to start off directly behind someone lined up like so. Okay, most of the time we start off with at least a slight bias [07:01:40] to one side or the other and that's where we're looking to get that near side hook in.

[07:01:44] What I want to do now is to look at some concrete methods of getting establishing a near [07:01:50] side hook using either the knee or the foot. Okay, um, you heard me say earlier that I have a I believe that most athletes, it's generally a little easier for [07:02:00] them to use knee based entries rather than foot based entries.

[07:02:03] That's not to say that you won't be using foot based entries on a regular basis. You will. Okay, they're very, very important. You must develop [07:02:10] them. But I'll start with knee based entries, um, because most athletes typically have an easier time with them. Let's start off. In a situation where my [07:02:20] training partner's around like so, and I'll ask, what's the problem that we have to overcome when it's time to get the knee in?

[07:02:26] Well, the problem is always, how am I going to penetrate the area [07:02:30] between my opponent's elbow, lat muscle, and thigh? That area can be bigger or smaller depending upon my opponent's body [07:02:40] configuration. Here my opponent's taking a tight, closed turtle position. If he opens up. The task becomes more and more easy as the space increases, okay?

[07:02:49] [07:02:50] Now, the important thing to remember is the space required for a knee entry is relatively small. It's simply the circumference of your knee, okay? You will have to learn [07:03:00] to push your knee into fairly small crevices and establish that upper body hook and turn it into ultimately a lower body hook. As a [07:03:10] general rule, I like, once I penetrate with the knee, to turn the knee back into my opponent's thigh, towards the crotch.

[07:03:17] So that I develop a pinching effect [07:03:20] around my opponent's thigh. I'm going to demonstrate this now, so you can see exactly what I'm talking about. From a situation where I start off like so, the [07:03:30] ideal is for me to penetrate with the knee. And then get my knee facing back towards my training partner's crotch.

[07:03:37] This means that when I go to sit down and sag [07:03:40] down to the floor, you'll notice something interesting happens. It finishes with me in a knee pinch, where my two knees pinch and control my training partner's hip. That creates [07:03:50] a very, very easy set of conditions where the simple extension of my leg creates a perfect hook.

[07:03:56] And once we create that perfect hook, it's fairly easy for me to [07:04:00] turn and turn it into a full back position. Okay? So, that's always what we're looking for when we go in on our training partner and try to establish, uh, the knee entry. [07:04:10] Let's look first at a situation, our first means of, uh, going in on our opponent.

[07:04:14] that hook. where he has a pretty tight turtle position. It's pretty defensive. The elbows are in, in, and [07:04:20] it's a pretty tight looking turtle position. Okay. So first things first, we'll start off just like so. We're going to go in and establish a grip on our training partner's wrist. And then from here, I'm going to go in and [07:04:30] take the seat belt grip.

[07:04:31] Okay, as I take that seat belt, I'm going to push my knee In that area, right there, behind my training partner's tricep, over the thigh, and as a result, [07:04:40] I can punch around the corner and point my knee back to my training partner's hips. Then I use my second leg as a drive leg. I'm going to use a sagging method, where I just [07:04:50] sag over to my shoulder and pull my opponent's body and pinch my knees.

[07:04:55] And as a result, we get excellent control of the hips. From this position, the [07:05:00] seatbelt locks me in place, where I can extend my near side leg. And it becomes a near side hook. Then from here, open up the second leg, shift [07:05:10] my hips, and I find myself now in the perfect attacking position, behind my opponent, ready to attack.

[07:05:16] Let's look at that from another angle.[07:05:20]

[07:05:20] Facing this way. So, we're here in front of our training partner. I go in with the knee. We're starting off behind our training partner. [07:05:30] Seatbelt established. I turn the knee around the corner and sag down towards the floor. Okay, now that's sagging entry I'm not doing a forward roll. We'll look at forward rolls [07:05:40] later But for now, we're using a conservative sagging method of putting my opponent down Okay, when I drag my opponent down to the floor Look how my right knee [07:05:50] shovels underneath my opponent's body, so that as I pull him to the mat, my right knee lifts and shovels, so that his hips elevate up into the air, okay?

[07:05:59] I [07:06:00] maintain the seatbelt, the foot goes over the top of my training partner's leg, and we're in the perfect position now to drop him into the space we've developed, and end up in a fine attacking [07:06:10] position. This is a good example. of what I call a low amplitude method of establishing the hooks. As a coach, [07:06:20] I have a general preference for low amplitude methods of entering into the back position.

[07:06:26] I will show you later today high amplitude methods where there's a [07:06:30] spectacular rolling effect where we, we cover a lot of distance with an athletic looking roll and expose hooks, et cetera, et cetera. These methods have their good and bad points. Um, one [07:06:40] of the bad points is the danger of slippage where you can attempt a big athletic roll.

[07:06:44] Slip off your opponent's back and end up bottom north south. The beauty of these low [07:06:50] amplitude methods is that they don't so much throw your opponent's body to the ground as they drag him to the ground. As a result, there's a lot less that can go wrong with them. They may not look pretty. [07:07:00] They may not look gymnastic.

[07:07:01] But they get your hooks in with minimal risk. Okay, so let's have a look at this again. We'll start off facing this way We go in [07:07:10] On our training partner and we establish some form of upper body control It starts with the wrist say and then transfers into a seat belt now from here I move around the corner and I punch [07:07:20] the knee in behind and point it towards my training partner's crotch Just like so now from here.

[07:07:25] I push off my left foot and I simply sag down to the mat You I use the [07:07:30] seatbelt as a pulling mechanism. Okay. Remember there's different ways to use the seatbelt grip. Uh, right now we use it as a pulling method. Watch my left elbow. The left [07:07:40] elbow pulls as the left foot pushes. And as a result, we break our training partner down.

[07:07:46] Now, with my two knees pinched around the hip, my right leg [07:07:50] extends and my left knee rises. And as a result, We go directly into a position where my two knees are around my opponent. From here, it's a simple [07:08:00] shimmy out, the legs come over the top. We've got a position where the bottom hook is protected. I could figure four if I wished, or just stay with a post mount when he tries to beat the bottom hook.

[07:08:09] [07:08:10] It's a very difficult thing. And now we're in the perfect position to begin the various strangling sequences that we saw earlier. This would [07:08:20] be a classic example of a low amplitude entry using a knee entry to get hooks and establish a rear mounted position. It takes [07:08:30] minimal risk, minimal athleticism and is highly effective.

[07:08:37] We're looking at the idea of establishing hooks and rear mount. We're going [07:08:40] into concrete methods of doing so now. We've seen that as a, as a coach, I have a general bias in favor of low amplitude methods of establishing near side hooks [07:08:50] using the knee. over the foot. Okay. There are many exceptions to those.

[07:08:54] There are other ways of doing it and they're all highly effective, but my personal bias is towards low [07:09:00] amplitude moves. So there's relatively little risk of losing contact with the opponent as you're trying to transition to the hooks. Um, maximal body [07:09:10] contact as much chest to back contact as possible so that we're not slipping and sliding off people.

[07:09:14] Um, uh, maximal, weight application, so there's always weight on my opponent so he can't just stand up [07:09:20] on me and move away if he feels like it. And the idea of entering with the knee has been a little bit easier than entering with the foot. Although there are some important exceptions to that rule. [07:09:30] Let's look now at an extension of the previous move when we come up against very strong resistance.

[07:09:35] We'll start facing this way, so we'll turn our position. [07:09:40] Now, we just looked at the idea of entering with our knee, and we've seen our knee has a very particular directionality. I put my knee on top of my training partner's thigh, and I point the knee in towards the crotch. [07:09:50] Once you get into a position like this, we're looking to sag our opponent over, break him down, and get that hook in.

[07:09:56] Your opponents are pretty soon going to figure out that's what your goal is and they're going to make things very, [07:10:00] very difficult. Very often we have to use what we call a leg assist to get the hook in. Okay? And we're dealing with an opponent who knows that [07:10:10] if he stays broken down, I'm going to get hooks in and establish a rear mount.

[07:10:13] So they start returning to a turtle position after I break them down. This often happens, for example, in ADCC [07:10:20] competition where no one wants to give up hooks. Turtle position is fine, doesn't score any points. You give up hooks and you run into real problems. Even in submission grappling it's a problem [07:10:30] because if I establish hooks on someone, or any one of my students does, there's a high likelihood there'll be a successful stranglehold applied afterwards.

[07:10:37] So no one wants to give up their hooks for free. [07:10:40] Once I get into a position like this and we go to break someone down, very often there's tremendous resistance here. As I put weight over the head, you'll notice his buttocks start to rise because [07:10:50] I'm putting weight over the head to sag him down to the floor.

[07:10:53] So watch how my opponent's buttocks rise as I put weight on. When I see that, I will step my foot [07:11:00] over and inside my training partner's ankle, just like so. Okay? As my opponent puts on maximal resistance to the total breakdown, I'm going to put weight over the [07:11:10] hip, and I'm going to pull on my training partner's leg.

[07:11:12] So that as I break my opponent down to the mat, I physically pull my hook into place. Now, [07:11:20] my opponent knows if he stays broken down, I'm going to establish the other hook. So he comes back up to his base, and I follow him. And what have we got? We've got a hook in. [07:11:30] We've established our hook. Let's turn in this direction.

[07:11:34] Now, One hook is good, but we know our infallible rule of the back is that [07:11:40] both sides have to be controlled. I'm controlling his right side through my right hook. But I don't have a left hook in, so we've got to go back to diagonal [07:11:50] control. My left hand immediately comes in and snatches a one on one on the far side.

[07:11:56] So I now have diagonal control. The left side [07:12:00] of his body is controlled through my arm. The right side of his body is controlled through my right hook. If my opponent goes to move around, both sides of the [07:12:10] body are controlled. Okay? If I didn't have my left arm in place and say, for example, he sat to guard, well, it would be so easy for him, okay?[07:12:20]

[07:12:20] But when I control the far side and he goes to sit to guard, well It's so easy for us to roll across his body now and establish a good attacking position. I [07:12:30] cannot emphasize enough to you the importance of controlling your opponent's movement, both left and right, by controlling both sides of the body.

[07:12:37] That means, if I only have legs, [07:12:40] I need two hooks. If I only have arms. I need over under or some other grip which controls both sides of his body. If I have one hook, then I need an [07:12:50] opposite side, um, and get and work with diagonal control. Let's have a look at this again. We'll do it this time facing this way without total position.

[07:12:59] As we move in on [07:13:00] our training partner, we start off as we so often do with a basic seatbelt in place. And from here, my knee goes into penetrate pointing back towards the crotch. I push off my left foot and I [07:13:10] start breaking my training partner down towards the mat. I see the buttocks rise. And I step over his ankle.

[07:13:15] Okay. Now, sometimes from here, when you hook and pull, his knee will come up off the floor. [07:13:20] His knee comes up, no, the other knee. And as a result, you just establish the hook right from the start. Okay. But you can't count on that. Back down. So very often what we have to do here is to [07:13:30] break our opponent down to the floor.

[07:13:32] Once I break him down to the floor, when he tries to pull his right leg away from me, he can't because I'm hooking it. It's hooked in place. Move your other legs if you can see. [07:13:40] Okay. He tries to pull his right leg away. It's locked. It's wedged by my two legs. And as a result, I can quickly establish the hook.

[07:13:48] Now if he stays where he is, [07:13:50] I'll take rear mount. Your opponent knows that, so many of them will go to return to turtle position. We follow, and we've established the hook. Facing [07:14:00] this way, so I have a right hook in. Now the right hook's good, but it's never enough, because it only controls one side of my opponent's body.

[07:14:09] The moment I [07:14:10] get here, it's going to take time for me to establish a second hook. If I try to establish a second hook here, look, I simply don't have anywhere near the flexibility to get it done. I'm going to have to rise [07:14:20] up with my chest. You lose body contact. You throw the hook and it's a disaster. So we don't do that.

[07:14:25] We throw the hand in and we work with diagonal control. [07:14:30] Now the left side of the body is controlled through my one on one grip. The right side of the body is controlled through my right hook. Wherever we go now, I'm attached to him. Okay. If he [07:14:40] just stays here, I could strangle here. If I fall to my right, you've got the excellent control you need to finish going back.

[07:14:48] If my opponent on the other hand, [07:14:50] goes to roll through, I bring my knee forward and get the roll through. and into a winning position we go. Regardless of [07:15:00] which way he goes, diagonal control will keep me glued to my opponent's back in a way which enables me to stay with the hooks in, ready to go into the other elements of our [07:15:10] back attack system.

[07:15:15] We're looking at the idea of a Getting our hooks, establishing a rear mounted position. [07:15:20] We've seen that I have a general bias towards low amplitude moves, which feature, uh, near side entries, typically with a knee and [07:15:30] a maximal body contact, maximal, uh, body weight on our opponent. These aren't the most spectacular looking entries into our opponent's back, but in competition, they're the [07:15:40] most reliable.

[07:15:40] And they're the ones which are used by far and away the most in top level competition by the world's best athletes. Now, we've been looking at the idea so far of using [07:15:50] seatbelt grips and driving our knee in as a wedge inside our training partner's, uh, thigh and breaking them down and establishing that near side hook.

[07:15:59] Let's look at a different [07:16:00] methodology now, where we're going to start by breaking our opponent down using a tight waist. This is one of my absolute favorite ways of working, because it breaks your opponent down into a non athletic [07:16:10] position, from where they cannot just simply stand up on you and dislodge you or what have you.

[07:16:14] Okay? So we're going to start off behind our training partner, and go in with a tight waist grip. Just like so. [07:16:20] From that tight waist, we're going to move over to the side, we're going to use our knee as a blocker. Like so, and pull him over the knee, and then pull ourselves out, so we break him down to an elbow and a [07:16:30] hip.

[07:16:30] Okay? The moment we get to this position, our head is going to crowd our training partner's head, and we're going to switch to a seatbelt grip. Just like so. Once we get the seatbelt, you've got a [07:16:40] space so large, you could drive a truck through that space. And so your knee is going to penetrate very, very easily and deep.

[07:16:45] Make a strong body. From here, watch how my knee penetrates through. [07:16:50] Now, remember what we said before about far side hooks, we always like to get the near side hook first, well here's an exception to the rule, I've put the knee [07:17:00] in, but because my opponent is broken down to a hip, there's no danger of him standing up on me.

[07:17:05] He's going to have to get back to turtle position first before that can happen. So now, I [07:17:10] throw the far side hook in, and it's a foot entry, not a knee entry. Okay, as my opponent's broken down, I simply see the opportunity to pass my foot [07:17:20] in. Then from here I recline to the side of the hook that's been established first and fall over to the side.

[07:17:28] As a result, we're in perfect [07:17:30] position to lock up whatever forward back control you favor, depending upon the size of your own body and the size of your opponent's. Once again, starting off behind our training [07:17:40] partner, we go in, we establish a tight waist, our hand comes down to the floor, my knee blocks, and I pull my training partner over my knee.

[07:17:47] Right when I feel his balance is [07:17:50] broken, I pull and I move my body back you. So that I stay over him and he's broken down to the floor. Now, he wants to return to turtle position. So we quickly go in and re [07:18:00] establish, or first establish this seatbelt grip. Now, as my opponent goes to move, look how I slide my knee in the space between elbow and hip.

[07:18:09] As he [07:18:10] goes to get up, my knee slides in. Now I'm in the perfect position to throw him. a foot entry in on the far side. It was permissible because [07:18:20] my opponent was broken down to a hip. There was no point at which he could simply stand up on me and dislodge me. Now we fall towards the side of the hook that we've just established [07:18:30] and then take advantage to apply the second lock of our legs.

[07:18:36] And from this position, we know now there's so many ways that we [07:18:40] can operate in positions like this, based on what we saw earlier in the video series. So from a different angle,[07:18:50]

[07:18:50] just like so, start off behind our training partner. We go in, we establish the tight waist. From here, the hands go down to the floor. I put the blocking leg in and pull my body out. We lock up a seat belt [07:19:00] and my knee penetrates first. Okay. Now from this position, look how I take my leg, And I use a foot entry on the far side.

[07:19:08] It was safe because my opponent [07:19:10] was broken down to a hip. As opposed to the situation here where I throw my foot and it is not stable at all. If he just stood up at this point, [07:19:20] I'd be gone. Okay? So, when we've got him broken down to a hip, That's no longer a problem. We start off with a tight waist grip, hand goes down, there's the breakdown.

[07:19:29] He goes [07:19:30] to get back up, seatbelt in place, and we slide in behind. Okay, now as I pull, he tries to get up, look out the knee, separated from the chest so I can throw [07:19:40] the hook in. Now I tilt my training partner over and we establish whatever form of control that we favor. to [07:19:50] go into the finishes that we saw earlier.

[07:19:53] Let's look now at a variation of the same move. Same situation. We start off with a tight [07:20:00] waist in like so hand goes down to the floor. We break our training partner down. This time we lock the seatbelt grip. My knee penetrates and I feel my [07:20:10] opponent's knee come to the chest. And as a result may not be.

[07:20:13] possible for me now to throw that far side hook in. Whenever we see this we simply pull his chest back towards us. [07:20:20] As I pull I extend my bottom leg and as a result the hook goes in very easily. Now as he brings his knee to his chest it's hard for [07:20:30] me to get that hook in. So I take my two feet and hook them crossing ankles over his hip.

[07:20:38] Now I simply extend my [07:20:40] body and bring his hips. His knee is now further from the chest, and as a result, I can easily pass my foot in over the top, create situations [07:20:50] where we can go into the various attacks that we saw earlier in the video series. Once again, the second variation, we start off as we so often [07:21:00] do with the tight waist grip.

[07:21:01] We go in, establish the tight waist, hand goes down to the floor, knee blocks my training partner's knee and I pull him over the knee and then break him down to a hip. [07:21:10] Immediately we go in and lock up the seat belt. This time, as I slide in with the knee, he does a good job of blocking that foot entry on the far [07:21:20] side.

[07:21:20] No problem. From here, I draw his body in towards me. As his legs become light, the near, the near side hook is easily established. [07:21:30] However, it's very difficult for me now to establish the far side hook because of his leg position. No problem. I go in underneath my training partner and lock my feet. [07:21:40] Now I straighten my whole body out and bring his knee away from the chest.

[07:21:44] And as a result, it's relatively easy for me now to establish the back positions [07:21:50] that we favor.

[07:21:55] Speaker 5: This idea [07:22:00] of entering into hooks and rear mounted positions. We've seen that as a general rule I tend to favor low amplitude methods with maximal body contact, minimal [07:22:10] ability on the part of my opponent to stand up out of the move. these are the most high percentage ways for us to work. We've made a division between entering with the knee, which is generally [07:22:20] the easier one for most athletes and the safe one in the most applications versus entering with the foot.

[07:22:26] Now, please don't think that I'm saying you shouldn't enter with the foot. [07:22:30] That's absolutely not the case. There are many good times to enter with the foot and there are many benefits to entering with the foot. Remember, if I enter with the foot first, the hook is now [07:22:40] complete. There's nothing else to be done.

[07:22:41] If I do it with the knee, then I have to afterwards, then I have to extend the leg and establish the hook. It's kind of a two part move. So there are real advantages to [07:22:50] entering with the foot. They tend to be smoother, faster entries. Anytime I can operate with maximal body contact and a broken down opponent, I'm going [07:23:00] to favor foot entries because they are faster and smoother.

[07:23:03] But I'm not going to favor them in uncontrolled situations where my part is not broken down and I have to sacrifice body contact. That's the [07:23:10] rule that I'm pushing towards you. Now, um, let's look at a tight waist breakdown that creates an exceptionally good opportunity for a foot based entry. [07:23:20] And this is an excellent way for you guys to begin training your body to enter with the foot first.

[07:23:27] We're going to start off turtle position and we're going to show you the same kind of tight [07:23:30] waist breakdown that we've been looking at all day. The key elements to the tight waist breakdown are first the establishment of the tight waist itself. We go in and the primary focus is on my elbow or my wrist at the [07:23:40] hip.

[07:23:40] It doesn't matter whether I use wrist or elbow, I'm demonstrating out of an elbow. But from here, it's the elbow that does the work. Now, I transition my body across his and my left knee goes from [07:23:50] his left hip to his right hip. And as a result, I'm able to pull him over. I get to a certain point where I can feel his balance is broken.

[07:23:57] I withdraw my knee and I break him down to a hip just [07:24:00] like so. Now, everything we've done so far has been of this, the seatbelt. We're going to keep a strong chest to back contact on my training partner, but I'm not going to lock a [07:24:10] seatbelt. Okay. Instead I'm going to focus on taking my elbow and gluing it to my training partner's hip.

[07:24:17] Now, if my opponent was an idiot, and just [07:24:20] stayed where he is, okay, didn't move, well, I would just do the move we saw previously. I'd just slide my knee in, I'd take his back, okay? Or I could just go straight into a stranglehold right from here. You [07:24:30] could do many good things, okay? But let's assume my opponent's not an idiot.

[07:24:34] Let's assume he's, uh, at least as good as we are in practice. So in situations like this, [07:24:40] he's going to look to return to a turtle position. When I hold my elbow tight to my own body, there's only one way he can return [07:24:50] to a turtle position. I know that before we even begin the move. He's going to have to scissor his legs.

[07:24:55] If he just tries to flip up to his turtle position, my elbow [07:25:00] will prevent him. The only mechanical way he can do it is to scissor his legs. That's the only method strong enough to get up against my elbow. Go back. Again, if he just tries to just [07:25:10] turn naively up, my elbow will stop him in his tracks. Okay, I'm, you can't see this on camera because my elbow is not moving, but I'm pulling my elbow back hard into his hips.

[07:25:18] Okay. So he goes to get [07:25:20] up, go, it's not going to do it. The only way you can do it, it's mechanically efficient, is to scissor his legs. Now, he gets up, scissors, scissors, yep, now he can [07:25:30] do it. Okay, and he got up. Okay, so the resistance of my elbow pull means there's only one way he can get back up to his base.

[07:25:38] No other method mechanically will [07:25:40] do it. Okay, there's other things he can do. He can hit a sit out from wrestling, there's other things he can do. But for now, returning to turtle position, he's got to scissor his legs. And that's exactly what you want to take [07:25:50] advantage of. So, for a situation where we start off behind our training partner, he's We start off with that tight waist and we break him down.

[07:25:56] I see him trying to scissor and come back up, [07:26:00] okay? From here, my leg comes forward and my foot enters. My whole shin is along the mat. That way I keep my body contact [07:26:10] with him. So as he returns to a turtle position, my hook goes in. Now I've established my right hook and I'm in the perfect position to take diagonal control.

[07:26:19] So that when we [07:26:20] fall, we've got our first hook established and we can start going into the second hook. I'm going to demonstrate that now on the other side, so you can see, face the other way, [07:26:30] what was going on there. So from a turtle situation, we start off behind our training partner, we [07:26:40] go in, we use a tight waist breakdown.

[07:26:42] I glue my elbow in tight. If he's an idiot and stays where I was, I'm just going to go straight into the moves we saw previously. Okay? Now, from here he goes to get [07:26:50] up, I glue the elbow in. Okay, as he goes to work, work, work, going up, going up, look at my foot, just go straight in. And we've established that first [07:27:00] hook.

[07:27:00] Now as good as one hook is, it's only one side of his body that's control. I need both sides, the fastest way is always diagonal control. We lock it in, [07:27:10] and now we're in the perfect position, wherever we go, it doesn't matter. Break our opponent down. and end up in a finer tanking position. Let's have a look at that again.[07:27:20]

[07:27:21] We start off, tight waist breakdown. In tight. We go in behind our training partner. We break him down to a hip. [07:27:30] I use that elbow pressure. If he decides to get it naively, he'll never do it. He's got to scissor the legs. The action of scissoring the legs creates the space I need to slide [07:27:40] my hook in. Okay. As a result, I can go in and score that diagonal control.

[07:27:45] It means that no matter which direction he goes, you'll always be stuck [07:27:50] behind your opponent ready to attack in the fashions that we favor. This method of using a foot entry is probably the single best way [07:28:00] to train your mind and your body. to efficiently enter in a way which is highly effective and very safe.

[07:28:06] You'll see that one of the key notes is that at no point did I [07:28:10] start picking legs up and throwing hooks in. That's always a disaster, okay? Rather, we used a knee along the floor and we slid the [07:28:20] whole length of the shin. In as a hook, okay? So, turn position, facing this way. What we don't want to see with foot entries is this kind of thing.

[07:28:28] Picking a leg up [07:28:30] and stepping in, okay? Or even worse, picking a leg up and stepping a leg in. That's just, that's just a disaster. So, from situations where I break [07:28:40] someone down, when he goes to get up, look out from here, the whole leg. slides in and as a result we're in perfect position now to score the far wrist, break our [07:28:50] training partner down and that's where I'm here we've got the perfect attacking position ready to go.

[07:28:55] This means of [07:29:00] working our foot in as It's not only beautiful to look at, but it's incredibly efficient mechanically. And it's a hallmark of good athletes attacking the back. [07:29:10] They can effortlessly play between knee entries and foot entries. They know when to use which and what are the conditions for success or failure with each.[07:29:20]

[07:29:22] We're looking at the idea of establishing hooks, um, working our way into the re mounted position, typically against a turtle situation, [07:29:30] but we'll be looking at others fairly shortly. Um, it's, we're looking now at this idea of entering with our feet. We're seeing there's a basic choice between [07:29:40] entering the hook with the knee versus entering with the foot.

[07:29:43] Um, we're looking now at this idea of what are the right conditions to enter with the foot. Well typically it's best done from [07:29:50] broken down positions where my opponent is trying to climb back to a turtle position rather than one where my opponent is in a settled strong turtle position. Then you have to kind of pick [07:30:00] legs up and throw hooks and it's better to enter with the knee under those circumstances.

[07:30:04] I want to demonstrate an important point now which is the idea of using two legs. To [07:30:10] establish one hook. We saw earlier how to do this with a knee. We saw that if we had an opponent facing in this direction and we have a seatbelt [07:30:20] grip and our knee has entered in like so. When we use a sagging entry, we saw the idea of stepping over our opponent's foot.

[07:30:28] And so two of my legs [07:30:30] control one of my opponent's legs. And as a result, when we broke our opponent down, there was a tremendously effective pinch punch. around our training partner's legs so that when he [07:30:40] tried to move his right leg, it's pinched by both of mine, one from the back and one from the front.

[07:30:45] And as a result, it was incredibly easy for us to control that transition into the [07:30:50] hooks. Okay. We can do much the same thing when we work with foot entries, but it's got a slightly different feel to it. What we're going to do is we're going to use one of [07:31:00] our legs. To pin our opponent's leg at the hamstring muscle and this will radically slow your opponent's leg down and greatly Facilitate the [07:31:10] foot entry of your other leg.

[07:31:12] This can be done in many many ways Whenever I see someone who's truly a master of entering into the back I'm always [07:31:20] struck by the beauty and effectiveness when they apply moves like this It makes entering the back look so effortless and it can do the same thing for you If you just know what you're doing, [07:31:30] let's look at a situation Where I've broken my training partner down, we'll say, we'll demonstrate, have a tight waist situation just as we've been using and we break our training partner down as I see [07:31:40] him go to recover position.

[07:31:41] We know that we use the elbow to slow him down. Anything that slows down his movement is money in the bag. It's good. Okay. As he comes up, [07:31:50] look how I take my left knee and shin and I sit on the back of his knee and hamstring so that if my training partner tried to bring his knee to his [07:32:00] elbow, it's blocked by my body weight.

[07:32:04] If my leg wasn't there, he could bring the knee forward, close the space, and now it's very hard for me to get the foot in. [07:32:10] Moreover, he can move much more athletically. There's nothing holding him back. Okay, go back. So from the breakdown position, one of my favorite tactics here is to keep my left knee low.

[07:32:19] [07:32:20] Now, just freeze. My left knee is right at my training partner's tailbone. So that as my training partner goes to get up, I put weight over the hamstring [07:32:30] muscle as he fights to get up to his base. It plays a role, like a break on my chin, like a hand break on my chin, part in's leg. When he tries to go to get up, I just bring my [07:32:40] head forward and my leg goes in effortlessly.

[07:32:43] If I didn't do that and my opponent head, quick reaction speed, as his right leg comes up, I missed the opportunity to get [07:32:50] my foot in it. So he's gonna bring his right knee to his elbow, okay, as he goes to get up now. I'm too slow and I couldn't get my hook in. Okay. But when I [07:33:00] see my opponent go to get up and I physically pin the leg when he goes to move it now, it's so difficult and it's relatively easy for me now to get that [07:33:10] hook in.

[07:33:10] Okay? Whenever I have an opportunity to chase an opponent who's recovering from a breakdown of any kind, in any scramble situation, whenever I have [07:33:20] an opportunity to pin his leg with my shin. To facilitate the entry of my foot hook, I'll take it. Let's look at another example. Um, common method of guard [07:33:30] passing, leg dragging.

[07:33:32] Okay. Meet up from any given leg drag type situation where I move on my training partner and we come down and pin our training [07:33:40] partner. A very common reaction is no one wants to turn into you, into me, into me if it gives up a pin, okay? And I'll get passing points. So what so many of our opponents do [07:33:50] is they turn to come up to total position.

[07:33:51] What am I doing? I'm sitting on the hamstring, and as a result, it's such an easy thing to transition my foot directly in as a hook, and from [07:34:00] here, we're back in business. So, once again, facing this direction, leg drag situation, leg drag situation, [07:34:10] facing this way. From here, we saw this idea that from any given leg drag type situation, as I come here and crowd my training partner and he turns away before I sit on the hamstring, [07:34:20] my shin down on top of it, body contact maximal.

[07:34:23] When he goes to get up, he's slowed down by the influence of my left leg. As he fights up to his base, look how that [07:34:30] facilitates the entry of my right foot. Then when we seize the opposite arm, we have the diagonal control we need. So that when we fall to the man, we're ready to go. This [07:34:40] simple action of slowing my opponent's legs down by using one leg to pin my opponent's leg so the other leg can hook is a hallmark [07:34:50] of good back control jiu jitsu fighters.

[07:34:53] Typically they will use two legs. to restrain one of their opponent's legs and establish their first hook. [07:35:00] Most beginners in the sport do almost nothing to constrain their opponent's legs. They just throw hooks in. Now, at beginner level, that can work, okay? But it's not [07:35:10] going to cut it at championship level.

[07:35:12] Don't be satisfied with what works at beginner level. Be satisfied with what works at championship level. Regardless of whatever skill level you are, [07:35:20] that mindset will make you a better athlete. Let's go through this again. That'll serve him. We'll demonstrate it now out of a simple breakdown. [07:35:30] We've seen that off that initial breakdown, when I work in here, my opponent goes to get up, look at my knee position right on the tailbone, so that one of my legs is already, [07:35:40] in this case it's my left leg, is controlling the movement of my opponent's right leg.

[07:35:44] As he goes to get up, that slows him down and greatly facilitates the entry of my right hook. [07:35:50] So that when we fall over, we're in a winning position. Same situation, facing the head this way, leg drag situation, leg drag situation. [07:36:00] We move in on our training partner from any given leg drag type movement. If my opponent turns into me, he gives me the pin.

[07:36:05] So most competitive athletes don't want to give up pinning points. And so they start turning away. [07:36:10] Look how my knee is in the tailbone. He goes to get up. And from here, that greatly facilitates the passage of my foot in as a hook. Okay. These work so well because [07:36:20] We have maximal body contact with our training partner.

[07:36:23] He's in a non athletic position trying to get up to an athletic position. And as a result, there's no danger of us throwing a hook at him, just [07:36:30] standing up on us and throwing us off. This is the quintessential idea of how we can safely and effectively use feet. foot entries into hooks. Okay. Done in [07:36:40] this way, foot entries are an incredibly valuable and useful part of your repertoire for establishing back position.

[07:36:47] Done poorly, where I just throw hooks in, it's a [07:36:50] disaster waiting to happen. Okay. That's why, as a general rule for beginners in the sport, I generally counsel knee entries. Knee entries. Let's face the other way.[07:37:00]

[07:37:02] Knee entries generally make it an easier task for me to use two of my legs to control one of my [07:37:10] opponent's legs. So two legs establish one hook. Okay. As a general rule, it's relatively simple for me to use two legs pinch around my training partner's [07:37:20] legs like so. And from here we hook it. Now two of my legs left and right are controlling one of my opponent's legs, his right leg.

[07:37:29] In a [07:37:30] way which means that as I pull him down, he's caught, one of his legs is caught between two of mine. So I'm using the two on one principle on my opponent's legs. [07:37:40] Two of my legs establish one hook. Just like so. Okay? That's always something that elite athletes want to use when they go to establish [07:37:50] their back position.

[07:37:51] Typically, Tairo's and beginners in this sport. tend to just throw a hook in rather than using two on one control. When it's time to enter with the feet, we [07:38:00] use the same principle, slightly different operation, but the idea is the same. Two of my legs to establish one hook. We've seen this idea of an [07:38:10] initial breakdown like so.

[07:38:12] As my opponent goes to get up, look how my knee is on top of his, okay? So my left leg is involved in the [07:38:20] establishment as he goes to work and get that pinch. The left leg is involved in the establishment of the right hook. Both of my legs are locked around his knee. When [07:38:30] he goes to move, I'm wedging two legs around one.

[07:38:33] And as a result, the transition to a hook is extraordinarily easy. I [07:38:40] cannot overstate the importance of this distinction. Beginners in the sport throw hooks in. Experts in the sport use two on one control to [07:38:50] establish a hook with control. Two legs establish one hook. Use this principle and you'll find your ability to enter with both knee and [07:39:00] foot goes up dramatically.

[07:39:02] Please understand. I'm a 51 year old man with a hip replacement and about to get a knee replacement. [07:39:10] If I can enter with my foot in this fashion, it will be extraordinarily easy for you. Once again, [07:39:20] we get our break. Let's understand. That when we first get our breakdown on our training partner, I'm not a person gifted with flexibility on the contrary I'm [07:39:30] on the exact opposite.

[07:39:31] I have a hip replacement. I'm about to get a knee replacement But if I use this simple methodology of the breakdown and as my opponent goes to get up I pinch [07:39:40] two knees around my opponent Okay, it requires no flexibility on my part when I use this two on one control principle to simply move my legs and fit my hook [07:39:50] in effortlessly.

[07:39:51] Then diagonal control, and wherever we go now, we've got the breakdown into a winning position. [07:40:00] If someone in my condition can do this, imagine what someone in your condition can do. Okay,

[07:40:09] we're looking [07:40:10] at the idea of entering into our training partners. back. So far, the talk that we've made with regards to entering the back is dominated by the idea of knee and foot entries, and [07:40:20] those account for the absolute majority of the best entries that we see in modern day competition, not just amongst my athletes, but for athletes in general.

[07:40:28] Um, but they're [07:40:30] not the only methods of entry into the legs. There are a whole host. Of entering our legs as hooks into our opponents and, and establishing the rear mount that don't involve foot or knee entries. [07:40:40] Um, probably the broadest category of alternatives are rolling entries, and there are different ways we can roll our opponent.

[07:40:47] Establish hooks. That don't involve entering with a knee or [07:40:50] a foot first. Okay. The first rolling entry we're gonna look at is probably the simplest and probably the most commonly seen. It's usually done out of a seatbelt situation. We'll just move further back away from the camera. [07:41:00] Um, and we'll turn to an angle back up.

[07:41:04] Okay. Um, the idea behind a rolling entry. is that we're going to do some of the things that I cautioned you [07:41:10] against doing, which is to generate high amplitude and movement. Okay. As a general rule in top level competition, typically it's safer to use low amplitude [07:41:20] movements to enter into the hooks. Okay.

[07:41:21] There's less that can go wrong because there's less momentum of the two bodies. There's less danger of slippage in the two athletes. Breaking apart, et cetera, et cetera. [07:41:30] But, you know, let's not kid ourselves. They can definitely work. Done in the right way, they can definitely work. Um, here's what I believe is probably the most high percentage, the most commonly used method of [07:41:40] using a rolling entry, where instead of using my knee and feet, To enter, I use the momentum of a roll to create hook opportunity and get to my opponent's back.

[07:41:49] As I said, we'll start [07:41:50] out of a seatbelt grip. From a situation where we have a strong seatbelt on my training partner, I'm going to, I'm going to use my seatbelt in a significantly different way. [07:42:00] Remember, the seatbelt is one grip, but it can be used in many different ways. Very important, okay? I can use a seatbelt to pull people.

[07:42:09] I can [07:42:10] use a seatbelt to push people. And I can use a seatbelt to put weight over the head and roll people. And that's what we're going to look at now. From a situation where I have a [07:42:20] seatbelt on my training partner. Instead of having my chest and back away from my opponent, sorry, my chest and head away from my opponent, I'm going to take my shoulder and I'm going to roll [07:42:30] my shoulder over the top of my training partner's head.

[07:42:32] So if my opponent's in a tight, compacted turtle position, this is the perfect time to hit this kind of move. We take our shoulder, we raise the shoulder, and we put our [07:42:40] shoulder over our training partner's head. Then I put my own head down on the floor and my knees come up off the mat. Now, in one motion, I take my leg off the floor, in this case it's my left [07:42:50] leg, the rear leg, and I simply turn my body through and roll my opponent like so.

[07:42:56] Because there was momentum behind the roll, my opponent's [07:43:00] knees separated from the chest. And as a result, I can quickly throw my foot across my training partner's body and go into post rear mount position. body triangles, et [07:43:10] cetera, et cetera. And from here, we're in a position to go on the attack. Let's have a look at this again.

[07:43:14] So from [07:43:20] here, we go in on our training partner and lock up, we get that seatbelt in place as the seatbelt locks. I like to do a trick with this particular version of the seatbelt. I'll say this [07:43:30] again, because it's very important seatbelt is one grip. There's many different varieties of it. We sit up, I can lock a seatbelt with my hands on the far side.[07:43:40]

[07:43:40] Or I can lock a seatbelt on the near side. When I hit the move that we're about to look at, I typically like to take my far side arm and come through all the way so I [07:43:50] lock on the near side of the neck instead of the traditional far side. Okay, so my opponent's down in a defensive position. And lock up on the near side, just like so.

[07:43:59] Now, I move [07:44:00] my body around to the side, and put my shoulder on top of his head. That's the crucial component. Look how I move my shoulder, and the shoulder dominates the crown of the head. I put my own head on [07:44:10] the floor. As my body turns, we now get a whiplash effect as my leg moves. High legs over, it takes my opponent through and into a [07:44:20] position where we can easily go on the attack from behind.

[07:44:24] The idea is to create sufficient momentum that my opponent's knees [07:44:30] separate from the chest. Okay? If the roll is done in a convincing fashion, it'll often do that. So one more time. We start off behind our training [07:44:40] partner, we go in, we get that initial seatbelt on our training partner. We move around to the side and we Position our hands and our shoulder.

[07:44:47] Then the head comes through and I go into this high tripod [07:44:50] position. From here we high leg and physically throw our training partner into a position where we can go on the attack. Now here we looked at a situation [07:45:00] where the knees went away from the chest. You're going to deal with more and more disciplined opponents who know that knees away from the chest is an open invitation to hooks and even when you use [07:45:10] this method and considerable momentum on them, they'll land with their knees in close to their body.

[07:45:16] Then we're going to have to make a transition to a crab ride and then establish the [07:45:20] hooks. So we have an opponent in a turtle position. We want to break them down to their buttocks. We'd love to get hooks in, but now we have an experienced opponent who [07:45:30] has seen this move before. and goes with the roll and keeps their knee to their chest.

[07:45:35] So we go in, we establish that initial seat belt. We're locking it here on the near [07:45:40] side of the neck. I come around the corner, put my head down, and as I roll my training partner through, he keeps his knees in close. And so there's no way I'm going to establish hooks. [07:45:50] Okay. In these situations, we get our feet in behind our training partner and we start lengthening.

[07:45:55] legs, like so. So when his feet are incontracted, I use my foot [07:46:00] and I lengthen a leg. And as a result, I can easily pass my foot to the inside. Keep your knees up tight. Now I fall across the opposite way and we find ourselves in a [07:46:10] position where we can go into our regular position. attacking sequences in the ways that we saw earlier in the video.

[07:46:16] So if we, if we do roll our opponent through and his knees stay [07:46:20] tight in a disciplined fashion to his chest, don't despair. You can just use a crab ride to place the hooks in after the fact. So once again, we move in on a training partner. [07:46:30] We established that initial seatbelt grip and we end up behind our opponent but unable to bring the knees away from [07:46:40] the chest.

[07:46:40] From here my feet come in close and I place my foot in behind as a hook, make a strong leg. No matter how strong his leg in this position, my leg can always extend his away, okay. [07:46:50] And as a result we're in good position now to start throwing hooks across our shaking partner's body and go into our various forms of attack.[07:47:00]

[07:47:02] Now this is one form of roll. which generates momentum and allows us to get hooks in. This was done [07:47:10] from a seatbelt grip. Let's look at a very different way of rolling now, done not from a seatbelt, but rather [07:47:20] from double underhooks with either a body lock or even open hands. Okay, the grip should be high underneath my [07:47:30] training partner's chest.

[07:47:31] Okay, and this will create conditions where we can do a roll Not out to one of my opponent's sides, but a roll directly lined up with my [07:47:40] training partner. This will confer tremendous momentum, which throws my opponent through, and offers great opportunities to go into various forms of back attack, whether it be with hooks in, [07:47:50] or a cross body ride, or any other form of the attacking methods we've looked at.

[07:47:54] Let's move back a little bit further away from the camera, and show the kind of movement [07:48:00] involved here. We're going to start off behind our training partner. And this time we're a little more lined up with our training partner than previously. Okay, so we've got a slight angle, but nothing crazy. Now, [07:48:10] from this position, we went in to fight for a seat belt, but my opponent hand fights and prevents me from getting the hand in front and locking my hands.

[07:48:19] In these [07:48:20] situations, I will often counsel my students to bring the hand back and go into the one area they can't hand fight, which is the area behind their arms. Okay, remember if I go in. [07:48:30] Front of the hands and shoulders. That's where they can hand find me. If I get shut out, then I just release and I come back in the one area.

[07:48:36] They can't stop, which is behind the arms and [07:48:40] armpits. And then from here, we're going to lock our hands. I'm going to recommend for now a palm to palm grip. When my two hands locked palm to palm, just like so. [07:48:50] Okay. No thumbs just locking in like so. So I get shut out from the seatbelt. I go in behind and my hands lock.

[07:48:58] Now I'm going to put [07:49:00] my body into a high tripod over my opponent. So I'm going to drive my body weight. forward. I'm going to put my head down on the floor and I'm going to come up into a high [07:49:10] tripod. From the high tripod position, I'm going to bring my body up as my feet leave the mat. We're going to start to develop an ability to bring our [07:49:20] feet up and over our training partner's body like so.

[07:49:23] Now from here, I'm going to throw my body weight forward. And send my opponent over. As a [07:49:30] result, we're in perfect position to hook legs and go into situations, for example, like a cross body ride. And from here, we're ready to [07:49:40] attack. Once again, this time we'll do it going in this direction. Go around here somewhere.[07:49:50]

[07:49:50] From a situation where we're behind our training partner, We go in, we can't get a seatbelt, so we go in behind and we lock our hands. The first requirement here is we get into a high tripod. [07:50:00] So my head goes forward. Move your hand, from inwards, from here. I bring my body into a high tripod, like so. From the high [07:50:10] tripod, I want to create a condition where my body goes up.

[07:50:13] As my body rises, we create a situation where from here I throw my body first [07:50:20] and his body second. So we want my body to go and only when my body goes does his follow. And [07:50:30] as a result, we're in perfect position to get hooks in and go on the attack. The important thing here is that we want to create a situation [07:50:40] where I go first, Don't make this common mistake.

[07:50:48] People just hook [07:50:50] and just try to pull him. And this happens. It's a disaster. You have to create a situation where there's separation between your [07:51:00] body and his. So that as you have the two athletes connected, one athlete goes first and then pulls the other one with him. Not two athletes together, okay? [07:51:10] So we start off with our training partner.

[07:51:12] We go in and we get the high body off. I bring my body into a high tripod and from here I just throw [07:51:20] my body through and break him down to the mat. Now we're in the perfect position to fight for seatbelts, hooks, et cetera, et cetera, and go into our winning position. [07:51:30] This would be another example of using a rolling entry to enter hooks, et cetera, et cetera, on my opponent.

[07:51:37] It doesn't involve the entry of the knee or the foot [07:51:40] first.

[07:51:43] We're looking at the idea of entering into the rear mounted position. Um, we just looked at rolling [07:51:50] entries. Which featured our upper bodies connected to our opponent's upper body, my chest to his back. And as a result, we were able to roll through, generate momentum, and then throw in hooks and [07:52:00] establish the hooks.

[07:52:00] That's one form of rolling entry and a very important one. There's another completely different form of rolling entry, also equally important. This is the idea of using [07:52:10] my legs to hook into my opponent's legs, generate a roll, And end up on my opponent's back. This method of using my legs to enter the [07:52:20] back is a very, very important one for your development.

[07:52:22] These are particularly good methods of entering the back out of scramble situations, um, I'll show them out of set situations, but [07:52:30] throughout your career you'll be able to use these particularly in scramble situations to, to work your way to your opponent's back and get hooks in. They tend to have a very disorienting opponent.

[07:52:39] They get [07:52:40] spun around like a washing machine and then they wake up and there are two hooks around. Um, very, very effective and very useful in a wide variety of contexts. Let's look at the first one out of a bottom [07:52:50] side control position, top side control position, with downside control. From here, let's Let's talk about the idea of a reverse underhook because that's going to be the precursor to what we [07:53:00] need to get this move to work.

[07:53:01] Normally, when we talk about an underhook, it's my left arm underneath my opponent's right arm. And if you go on YouTube and look up underhook, you're [07:53:10] going to see something like this. My left versus his right. A reverse underhook is a situation where my right goes under his right, like so, okay? So my arm [07:53:20] is under his.

[07:53:20] But you can see it's not in any stretch of the imagination a normal underhook. It's it's completely reversed Okay. Now the function of a reverse underhook is not to control the [07:53:30] upper body It's to expose the back of my opponent's hips and lower back and as a result, we're gonna better get rolling entries What I want to do is create a situation where [07:53:40] I take my opponent's legs from a symmetrical square position And I want to create a top leg and a bottom leg Okay, that means I'm gonna have to move his legs [07:53:50] In a certain kind of way.

[07:53:51] Now, the only thing I've really got to move his legs at this point is my hand. And let's be honest, your hand is never gonna be as strong as your opponent's legs. [07:54:00] So I'm gonna use my hand to just smack his legs over and pass it to my own leg. I don't want situations where my [07:54:10] hands are fighting the strength of his legs, if I'm gonna fight the strength of his legs.

[07:54:14] I'm going to do it with my own legs, okay? So we're going to start in a position like so, and I'm just going to take my hand, and in [07:54:20] one motion, I'm just going to surprise my opponent and create a top leg. So that now, we have a top leg and a bottom leg, okay? I take his top leg, and I [07:54:30] hook it right there at the Achilles tendon with my foot.

[07:54:33] So when he tries to pull his foot back, he's not fighting against my hand. It's fighting against my legs. Moreover, I'm [07:54:40] controlling him at the end of the lever, all the way down by the Achilles tendon. So it's hard for him to retract his legs. It's not going to be easy, okay? Again, what I don't want to do is this.

[07:54:48] I don't want to grab a [07:54:50] leg, move it, and then try to hold a leg with my hand. If he retracts the leg, It's impossible. My hand's not that strong. Okay. So all I do is I prepare my body, [07:55:00] I position myself and in one quick motion I whip the leg over and I step my foot over it. So when he tries to retract it, he's not finding my hand strength.

[07:55:07] He's finding my leg strength and my leg is [07:55:10] positioned at the end of the lever. So I'm in a mechanically sound position. Now I'm currently on my side. What I need to do now is come up to my knees and hook my right hook in. [07:55:20] Okay, from this position I lock an outside scorpion on my training partner's ankle.

[07:55:25] I'm in the perfect position now to pin my training partner's ankle so both legs are [07:55:30] controlled and then all I do is I just put my elbow inside my training partner's knee and roll my training partner through. As a result we end up in very good attacking position. From [07:55:40] here obviously we have the cross body ride, that's an obvious movement from this position.

[07:55:44] Or from here, I can put a hand on my training partner's hip and a hand here on my training [07:55:50] partner's neck. When he tries to move away from me, that hand doesn't look like much, but it's a very, very controlling grip. Now from this position, it's a simple thing for us to put our foot as a hook [07:56:00] underneath our training partner's leg, generate movement, and find ourselves back in one of our favorite attacking positions.

[07:56:05] Ready to establish our back attacks. So once again, [07:56:10] this way. We start off by establishing the one prerequisite we need, that's the reverse underhook. If we don't have that, none of the other stuff's gonna [07:56:20] work. So, from any given side position, we go through and establish that reverse underhook. Then we turn and face towards our training partner's legs.

[07:56:28] I take a hold of my training [07:56:30] partner's leg and create a top leg and a bottom leg. From that top leg situation, I hook and I control his leg with my leg. Never fighting the strength of his legs. with my hands. Now, as [07:56:40] I come back up to my base, look how once again, the great principle of controlling. Two of my legs control one of his, and as a result, I'm able to [07:56:50] walk like so.

[07:56:51] Two of my legs on one of his. That same principle that we saw earlier in this back entry system. Now, from here, we catch a hold of our [07:57:00] training partner's opposite foot. Both legs are now controlled. As a result, I can easily pass my elbow through. And hit a simple disorienting roll that puts my hand [07:57:10] underneath my training partner's neck and gives us good control of hip movement.

[07:57:13] and head. When he goes to move away from me, it's shockingly difficult. And as a result, [07:57:20] it's a simple thing for us now to turn our training partner and go into winning positions behind our training partner's back. Once again, the stone head facing this way.[07:57:30]

[07:57:33] On the situation, we start off with a reverse underhook. We start off in a fairly conventional Side pin, we go through and [07:57:40] establish the reverse underhook just like so, okay? Now from here we need a top leg and a bottom leg so we reach across our training partner. I never try to have my head on my opponent's center [07:57:50] line and grab a leg.

[07:57:50] If he makes a strong leg, you'll never move it from here, okay? We always need our head coming across just like so, okay? Now from here with my head in this position, I just [07:58:00] quickly move and get the top leg and bottom leg created. I step over the top of my training partner's foot. As I return to my knees, my hook goes in so that I [07:58:10] have a pinching effect around my training partner's leg.

[07:58:12] When he goes to move the leg, two of my legs, control one of his. As a result, it's an [07:58:20] easy thing for me to roll and control my training partner like so. When he goes to move around from here, it's an excellent control of hips and head. From here, simple thing, can [07:58:30] move our opponent and go into a winning position.

[07:58:32] So that would be one classic example of rolling into the back position. Let's look now at variations on [07:58:40] this theme. Let's look now. From mounted position. That's out of the way. As I find myself in the mounted position, [07:58:50] probably the single most common escape to the mounted position is the good time and tested elbow escape.

[07:58:57] The most commonly seen variations of the elbow escape involve [07:59:00] my opponent turning onto a side and trapping my foot. Once he tracks my foot, he pushes out and tracks my knee, then he moves in the other direction, brings the second knee through, [07:59:10] and puts me back in some form of guard. Okay, it's a move that I'm sure all of you are very familiar with.

[07:59:14] It's probably one of the first moves you get taught in the sword jiu jitsu and one you'll use almost every day of training. [07:59:20] Um, it goes in a very predictable sequence. It starts with a foot, goes to a knee, and then goes to the other side of the body. What we do is we surrender our foot to our [07:59:30] opponent.

[07:59:30] So we've mounted on our training partner, and from here I see him turning into an elbowscape. I willingly give him the foot, okay? As he takes the foot, [07:59:40] I take my knee and I move back and center my body over my training partner's hips. I take my arm and punch through as a reverse underhook. [07:59:50] Now I face back towards my training partner and I physically lift his foot out so that he no longer has a figure of four.

[07:59:57] I catch the second foot, elbow goes [08:00:00] inside, and once again we catch hip and head and find ourselves in the perfect position to go on the attack. And establish our favorite back position [08:00:10] attacks. Facing the other direction. We're here working with our training partner. I deliberately offer my foot to my partner.

[08:00:19] How [08:00:20] do I do that, Gabay? I physically take my foot off the floor. So it's like a bait. It's so easy for my partner to hit that elbow escape now. Now from this position, I reposition my [08:00:30] hands. And I backstep so that I'm centered directly over my training partner's hips. Regardless of how my opponent is pushing on me, that's going to make it easy for me to punch through to a reverse underhook.

[08:00:39] [08:00:40] Now, I like in these circumstances to uncross the feet. It's not essential that you do that, but I like to do it. I uncross my training partner's feet and catch the second foot. My [08:00:50] elbow goes behind my training partner's knee, and as a result, we easily pass our opponent over and capture a hit. and hit and go into [08:01:00] potentially winning position.

[08:01:01] Okay. So that would be a good example of using it from a mounted position. Now let's look at one of the most common positions in the sport of Jiu Jitsu, half guard [08:01:10] top. From a half guard top scenario, that's facing this direction, half guard[08:01:20]

[08:01:23] top. My opponent's working from this position. We're going to start off by tripodting and walking [08:01:30] across our training partner's body. I'm going to put my hand on the hip, make a strong lock on my legs. And put my elbow inside my training partner's knee so that I can slip my knee free and drive across into a kind [08:01:40] of a quasi mounted position.

[08:01:41] Let's move this way. So, there's a sense in which I'm mounted because I have two knees on the floor, but I'm not really mounted because he still has my feet. foot, [08:01:50] okay? Um, from this kind of quasi mounted situation, it's not a difficult thing for us to hit that same back step that we just saw. I bring my leg back on through, I [08:02:00] punch through to a reverse underhook.

[08:02:01] My general preference here is to unhook my opponent's feet, but if that should prove difficult to do, then I'll simply hook my opponent's opposite foot and hit that same [08:02:10] roll through that we've been looking at. From here, head and hips, and we're in a good attacking position. Once again, [08:02:20] from half guard top.

[08:02:29] My opponent can have the [08:02:30] underhook, it doesn't matter. He locks high on my legs. I'm going to put my hand on the hip and my elbow inside his knee. Okay, as he holds on tight, [08:02:40] I'm just going to push with my elbow and turn my knee so that I can drive my knee to the floor. And we end up in this interesting position, okay?

[08:02:49] Uh, there's a [08:02:50] sense in which you are mounted because you do have two knees on the floor, but there's an obvious sense in which you're not mounted because he still has your foot. It's kind of quasi mounted position. We sit back over our training partner's [08:03:00] hips. If he's pushing on my hips, I just go through underneath my opponent.

[08:03:02] If not, I just put my hand into a reverse underhook situation. From here, I get a hold of my training partner's opposite foot. And from here, a [08:03:10] simple roll. We'll take us through. Look how that rolling action exposes my training partner's back, hips, and head. [08:03:20] Now from here, we go on through and into our favorite attacking positions.

[08:03:29] [08:03:30] These rolling entrances, which are possible in so many different scenarios in which we find ourselves in the sport of Jiu Jitsu. are a fantastic way of supplementing your ability, especially out of [08:03:40] scramble situations as you gain in skill, uh, to take your opponents back, establish your hooks, hooks and get into the winning positions, uh, to utilize [08:03:50] the, the systems that we saw earlier in the series.

[08:03:57] We're looking at the idea of establishing our hooks [08:04:00] on an opponent. And, uh, breaking them down into situations where we can go into the various forms of submission attacks that we saw earlier in this instructional, uh, video. [08:04:10] Um, a very specialized position, which is becoming increasingly important in both submission grappling, especially at ADCC because of the point structure, and also in Jiu [08:04:20] Jitsu in general, is the so called four point position.

[08:04:23] Where my opponent is no longer in a turtle position, but rather comes up so that they have four points of contact with the floor. Okay? [08:04:30] Just like so. Okay, so they have no elbows on the mat and no knees on the mat that's facing this direction. So this would be a good example of a four point position. This radically [08:04:40] changes how I go to stay on my opponent's back.

[08:04:43] You can see what the fundamental problem here is. My opponent's back slopes down to the floor and this creates a lot of [08:04:50] problems for traditional methods of imposing control on my opponent. So, for example, a seatbelt, which is such a successful way [08:05:00] of controlling an opponent with upper body grips when their knees and elbows are on the floor, is a disaster against a four point position.

[08:05:07] When I try to lock a seatbelt, my opponent just has to [08:05:10] walk backwards, and there's a problem here with slip dips, where you just fall off your opponent. All they have to do is shrug their head and the seatbelt just slips off because of the angle of the back. Okay. So as I try to [08:05:20] hold a seatbelt here and they just move backwards, you just inevitably slip off your opponent.

[08:05:24] Um, many skilled athletes in the bottom position know this and they will use this against people who put them in a [08:05:30] seatbelt. They'll tripod up in this position, go to four point and just shrug their opponents away. Um, in addition, it's, It's kind of not always clear how you're going to throw hooks in here and stabilize [08:05:40] people.

[08:05:40] The problem is that traditional approaches to the back are symmetrical. They line me up with my opponent's spine. So for example, if I had hooks in on my [08:05:50] training partner in this position, a traditional method of going to the back. Square on to my opponent in this position. If he starts walking backwards on me here, the symmetrical position in my body means he [08:06:00] continues walking backwards and starts losing hooks.

[08:06:02] And you see people lose the position and have to scramble back and work their way out of there. So four point position presents real challenges. [08:06:10] for the traditional methods of, uh, controlling the back. Even things like the crucifix don't work well. Let's face towards the camera now. When I had my seatbelt grip in here, [08:06:20] even if I'm behind my training partner's two arms, traditional methods of crucifix don't work well here.

[08:06:25] It's awkward for me to place my foot and hook that I have to use the rear leg. I've used [08:06:30] different versions of crucifixes to attack. So the problem here is that the four point position, tends to be highly resistant to traditional methods of controlling the bag and breaking people down [08:06:40] to go into our attacks.

[08:06:41] We need to have better methods of working against this interesting position. So let's have a look at some of those. The one that I want to focus on the most with you is the idea of what we [08:06:50] call an asymmetrical rear mounted position. Okay, let's take a standing position. from a standing position where I knock my training partner down to a four point.

[08:06:58] Let's say for example I have a [08:07:00] body lock, I put my leg in, I knock my training partner down to a four point position, okay? The first thing I do here is I start off as we so often do, with the idea of two legs pinching around one [08:07:10] of my training partner's legs, okay? I can't be naive, and leave a leg out here for my opponent to roll into my legs and go for leg attacks.

[08:07:16] So I just keep a knee pinch just on like so. Now, the first and most [08:07:20] important thing we work with a four point position. We never go over under. Okay. Traditionally, just standing up. Traditionally we get taught in Jiu Jitsu to go over [08:07:30] under. And lock in, like so, the seatbelt grip, and variations of that, okay?

[08:07:34] Now that's fine when we're down on the mat. Against forepoint, we've seen that's a disaster, okay? So [08:07:40] when we work against forepoint, we always work with two arms behind my training partner's two arms. To get around the problem of slippage, okay? If I go over, and he walks backwards, [08:07:50] you slip right off. When I stay behind two arms, I'll stay to him.

[08:07:55] When he goes to move away, I'm stuck to his body. Okay? [08:08:00] So that's our first insight. When we work against a forward position, we stay behind two arms. We don't go up or under. Standing back up. So, we've seen from the idea from a rear body lock on our chain [08:08:10] partner, we put our knee in. And we bump our training partner down, we pinch around one of our training partner's legs.

[08:08:15] We stay behind the two arms, okay? Now, I'm going to throw the far hook in [08:08:20] first. The thing that I told you not to do when we were down on the floor. Why is it safe for us to do that? Because the weight's over the hands. He's already up on his feet. Uh, in a four point position. So there's the question of [08:08:30] him standing up is, is, is moot at this point.

[08:08:32] He's already stood up. Okay. Uh, all we got to do is keep weight on the hands. So from this position, I'm going to throw my far hook in and we're going to take a very [08:08:40] particular kind of rear mount, an asymmetrical rear mount. Okay, instead of being lined up with square hooks, we're going to throw our hook in on the far side.

[08:08:48] We're going to place the hooks [08:08:50] in so that they are asymmetrical. So that I have a left hook Which faces out like so. The left hook is shallow. And the right hook is very deep. I knee [08:09:00] deep with the right hook, and ankle deep with the left hook. And as a result, I can hang off my opponents body with no hands.

[08:09:07] I put my arm in behind his arm [08:09:10] and I bring my head over the left hook. Down next to his head. So there's tremendous weight on his hands. Now I take my elbow to his wrist and I bring his two wrists [08:09:20] together and I break him down to the floor and as a result we're in a winning position. We're going to do the same move facing towards the camera.

[08:09:29] [08:09:30] So, let's move back a little. We start off in a standing rear body log, standing position. We bump our training partner down to the mat. Okay. From here, we put two [08:09:40] arms in behind our training partner's arms. Now, as my head goes forward, my far hook goes in as a shallow hook and [08:09:50] my nearside hook goes in as a deep hook.

[08:09:52] One arm in here, one arm in behind, my head over his head. So when he goes to stand up, there's so much weight. [08:10:00] It's impossible. Now I bring my elbow to his wrist. I can hang from Off my opponent's body to a degree where I can look at his face. Then you know, [08:10:10] you've got good control here. We hook

[08:10:15] and break him down. Okay. So [08:10:20] standing over here, we start off the rear body lock. I'm going to pump our training partner down to the mat. Okay. Two arms in [08:10:30] behind like so good control of our training partner's body. There's a big space here. Let's take advantage of that space. I take my foot hook, [08:10:40] And we've got a long hook and a short hook.

[08:10:43] As a result, with two arms in behind, I've got weight over his hands. Now I slide down [08:10:50] to the wrist with my elbow and I physically pick his wrist up and move it towards his other wrist. And as a result, we get a perfect breakdown [08:11:00] onto the floor. I'm just going to show that one facing away from the camera, so you get used to the idea of a long hook and a short hook.

[08:11:09] [08:11:10] Remember, if I have symmetrical hooks, as we would down on the floor, it's very easy for my opponent to simply slip out of the rear mounted position. So from a rear body lock, we've [08:11:20] seen the idea of a trip that puts our opponent down to the mat. Okay? Two arms in behind, the left foot goes in shallow, and the right hook [08:11:30] goes in deep.

[08:11:30] So that even with no hands, I can hang off my training partner's body weight. And as a result, I can easily put my head in a winning position [08:11:40] to break him down to the floor and get control of my opponent. This is the long hook, short hook method of controlling [08:11:50] my opponent. And we used an elbow to wrist method of breaking him down.

[08:11:55] Let's look at the same move. But a very different method of breaking down, [08:12:00] uh, a very strong opponent, the power half Nelson. Same scenario. We have a standing rear body lock. We go in [08:12:10] on a training partner and bump him down to the floor. From here we go long hook, short hook, just as we did previously. Chest comes down, two arms behind, hook [08:12:20] goes in, and we've got the long hook and the short hook.

[08:12:23] This time, I physically can't move his wrist, too strong. So I come up, and I put a bar [08:12:30] across the back of his neck. I bring my hands through, and I lock palm to palm. I push my opponent's head down to the floor, and we get [08:12:40] the perfect breakdown, all the way to the mat. And one of our favorite attacking positions.

[08:12:46] Once again, I start facing [08:12:50] towards the camera. Coming back. We start off, standing rear body lock. We go through and bump our training partner down to the mat. Catching, [08:13:00] two arms behind his arms. Never going over under. It's a disaster in a four point position. Okay. We bring our foot all the way through. And hook.

[08:13:08] Long hook and short hook. [08:13:10] I try to come down to the elbow. Not working. Too strong. We come up. We put the bar across the head. We lock our hands palm to palm. I push the head [08:13:20] under the armpit. And we roll through into one of our favorite attacking positions. Once again facing in this [08:13:30] direction this time.

[08:13:30] For a standing rear body lock we go through, catch, drive straight down to the mat. We lock in, we bring the head forward and as a [08:13:40] result we get the long hook. Now, hand comes forward, bar comes over, hands lock, [08:13:50] and we drive the head, not straight forward, but underneath our training partner's armpit. And as a result, it's a relatively simple thing to go into a [08:14:00] winning position.

[08:14:01] Now, let's provide an acid test. Whether or not you're doing a good job with that long hook and short hook. That's your [08:14:10] ability to use your legs alone to hold your body weight without the use of your hands. So, we'll face in this direction. From [08:14:20] that body lock, we'll drive our training partner down. Body weight goes forward, finding the short hook, goes um, and lock.

[08:14:29] I have the short [08:14:30] hook and the long hook. If I can bring my face in front of his and look at my opponent, you know you're doing a good job with your legs. Okay? No hands [08:14:40] required. Okay. And from here I can bring myself

[08:14:47] back into those wing positions [08:14:50] that we talked about earlier. Okay. That's your acid test as to whether or not your legs are working efficiently in a way, which will hold you on an impeditive context [08:15:00] in the standing position against this four point position.

[08:15:07] We've seen a tremendous amount of material [08:15:10] concerning the back attack system, which I teach to my students and which they've had so much success with. Okay. Over recent years in international level competition, the keynote themes that I [08:15:20] want you taking away is the idea that in juujitsu these days, there's a tremendous number of athletes who are highly uh, skilled at taking their opponents back, maintaining the back, but there are [08:15:30] significantly fewer.

[08:15:31] who are highly adept in finishing from the back. The central purpose of this video series is the idea of [08:15:40] finishes from the back. It was designed to show a systematic approach. The keynote to that system is the idea of a central system. Which, uh, we call the straight jacket system [08:15:50] where it is designed to pin my opponent's defensive arms down in ways which greatly facilitate the use of rear naked strangles.

[08:15:57] We also saw a new mechanical [08:16:00] approach to the rear naked strangle itself, um, around that main system where a group of auxiliary systems, which have a very different focus [08:16:10] instead of taking. One move, the rear naked strangle, and trying to push it through one vulnerable part of your opponent's, uh, uh, body, the neck.

[08:16:18] The auxiliary [08:16:20] systems are designed to spread the attacks out over the whole body. And we saw a range of auxiliary systems that did exactly that. Then we finished with the idea of getting to [08:16:30] these winning positions on the back. And we saw some critical principles that my athletes use, and many other great athletes do, to get to the back positions.

[08:16:37] That'll make these finishes and the [08:16:40] systems that they're bound within work. And I'm sure that in a short time, they'll start working for you too. Thank you.