Grappling Tips Newsletter

As you know, in the last few newsletters we've been discussing body position for guillotine chokes and using the 'Von Flue' choke to recounter the guillotine. If you missed them you can click to see the first post here and the second post here.

Well, thanks to Shaldag on the Sherdog.net forums I recently I found yet ANOTHER example of a the Von Flue choke being used in competition. This one is nice because it shows both things we've been talking about: the battle to circle the body so as to nullify the power of the guillotine, and then finishing the fight with the Von Flue choke.

So watch this video with our recent discussion in mind. The positional work to counter the guillotine (and the subsequent choke) starts at about 2 minutes and 14 seconds:

Labels: chokes, the guard

When people are learning the Von Flue choke they often find that their opponent can bridge them over and they end up on the bottom. If you're getting rolled into a bad position when trying this choke then check that your legs are perpendicular (i.e. at 90 degrees) to your opponent. If his head is pointing to 12 o'clock, then your legs should either be to 3 or 9 o'clock. The closer your legs get to his head the easier it is for him to bridge you over.

Also keep in mind that some grapplers just have very explosive bridging power. If I was unsure about my base and going against one of these bridging dynamos I might choose NOT switch my legs, and simply use shoulder pressure. It's the same choke, just relying less on body weight, more on arm strength, and a bit slower than the inverted-leg-switching Von Flue choke I showed in aforementioned blog entry.

To illustrate this non-leg-switching variation, here is another video of another Von Flue choke in action (thanks to TravenBJJ on the mma.tv forum for bringing it to my attention):

Labels: chokes, the guard

OK, I have to admit that I'm exaggerating with the whole "never get guillotined again" title, but it's almost true. If you incorporate principle that I'm about to share with into your grappling two things will happen:

1. you'll tap out to many, many fewer guillotine chokes, and
2. you'll really increase how often you manage to finish your opponent's with the same choke.

I was very happy when I managed to formalize this principle in my own mind. Both for my own learning process and for teaching others in person or via DVDs I really like to emphasize principles over technique. It's much simpler to memorize one principle and use it in 10 different situations than it is to memorize ten different techniques.

So go watch (and rate) my Youtube video on body positioning for the guillotine choke. As a special bonus I've included a section on the 'Von Flue' guillotine recounter, which is always an unwelcome surprise for your sparring partners!



And if you think that the Von Flue choke is unrealistic I encourage you to watch Jason Von Flue pull it off on The Ultimate Fighter TV show:

Labels: chokes, the guard

A reader asked:

Q: "How do I escape the Rear Naked Choke - I've tried all sorts of things and they don't seem to work"

A: The Rear Naked Choke (or RNC) is one of the top finishers in submission grappling and MMA. Once applied, the odds of an equally skilled grappler getting out of it successfully are very small, probably 5 to 10%. You have two general options: 1) Prevent it from being applied, and/or 2) Escaping it once it is applied.

PREVENTION: Preventing the RNC from getting sunk is much, much, much better than trying to escape it once it's applied. The best way to prevent it from being applied is first to understand how to apply it yourself. I have previously developed and shared a 'roadmap' for applying the RNC. This is relevant to the discussion because if you understand how to apply a submission you can also reverse engineer a defense for it.

In the aforementioned video I break down the choke into a series of steps. Accordingly, if you can block one or more of those steps then you're well on the way to preventing the RNC from being applied to you. For example, you can put roadblocks in his roadmap by

1. grip fighting to prevent your opponent from initially linking his hands
2. rolling your body towards the underhook side
3. preventing him from getting his underhooking arm out
4. not allowing him to tighten the choking arm around your neck
5. anticipating his attempts to strip your grip and trying to prevent it
6. etc.
   

ESCAPE: Escaping a full-on RNC is very difficult: even with lots of technique neck strength, determination and pain tolerance escape is usually impossible! There are a few things you can try, however, just make sure your opponent will release you if you pass out in the process!

1. Keep your chin down. If you keep your chin glued to your chest you block the path of his forearm to your neck. It IS possible to choke someone unconscious by choking them on their jaw/chin area - the jaw gets pulled into the throat - but it's a relatively slow process and it may afford you some time to escape
2. Relax and breath shallowly. Relaxing is going to be tough but you have to do it. If you panic you are going to use up your oxygen that much faster. Generally speaking you want to avoid large exhalations because this causes your neck and upper chest to relax slightly, giving them more room to sink their choke.
3. Look to leglock. If your opponent has the RNC fully sunk with his ankles crossed you can apply a leglock by crossing your legs over his. Now it is a 50/50 proposition: maybe you're going to pass out from the choke and maybe he's going to tap from the ankle lock. Sometimes you can even use various escaping hip movements to sucker your opponent into crossing his ankles to control you better.
4. Remove the spearhand. In the RNC one arm goes around the neck and the other arm, the one with the hand behind the head, plays a critical role in locking everything in place. If you can, reach up over your head and pull that hand forward off of your head. Now tuck that arm somewhere safe (like back) under your armpit and then use both hands to try and remove the arm around your neck. Incidentally it is a lot harder to remove the first hand if he has the BACK of his hand against your neck, in the video I refer to this position as the 'spearhand'.
5. Suffer. One last ditch strategy that sometimes works IF you've kept your chin down is to push his choking arm up, over your face. Take a look at the photo at the top of this article: if the guy being choked had his chin down then he could try pushing his opponent's right elbow up towards the top of his head, using both hands to push if necessary. This isn't a high percentage technique, but it works often enough for me to mention it here. Be forewarned that even if you do it perfectly you build a lot of character as his bony forearm slides over your mouth, nose and face.
   

Labels: chokes

The Rear Naked Choke, or RNC, is one of those fundamental techniques. Choking someone from rearmount is an incredibly effective and efficient tool in the jiu-jitsu arsenal, but I only acquired it relatively late in my grappling career.

Instructions on how to do the RNC are in the first martial arts books I bought when I was 12 years old. I also learned how to do it in Judo class at about the same age. The choke is easy to apply once it is locked on, but getting my arms into the RNC position on a skilled, resisting opponent was usually an exercise in frustration. Until about two years ago I had probably used this choke successfully less than 5 times in actual sparring.

Since 2005, however, the RNC has been one of my best submissions. So what changed?

Over the years I had gone repeatedly to Marcus Soares and Erik Paulson with questions about how to sink it, apply it, and counter my opponent's attempts to stop it. They told me what I was supposed to do, but the RNC still wasn't happening for me in sparring. One of my favorite expressions is that "lessons repeat themselves until learned", and apparently I wasn't learning the RNC lesson very quickly.

Two other things finally helped me connect the dots: watching Marcelo Garcia compete, and working with Marc Laimon for an afternoon. It's asif I'd reached critical mass: finally I'd heard and seen the important details enough times and the route to the RNC started to swim into focus. I now had a roadmap for the RNC, where I could insert all the various technical details I'd been shown.

So without further ado, I'd like to direct you to my latest creation: a 10 minute video tutorial on applying the RNC. Hopefully it won't take you 25 years in the martial arts to make this choke work for you!

You can see it below, or visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=176SLdBhj_A
to view it.

Labels: chokes

There is a relatively unknown choke that has been making waves in MMA for a couple of years now: it is a rolling head and arm guillotine, otherwise known as the “Anaconda Choke”. This is the choke used by such fighters as Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira in Japanese Pride, Randy Couture in the UFC and Denis Kang in Russian M1.

I started using this choke in sparring about a year ago: occasionally it would work, but often my opponent would counter or escape. Then Denis and I filmed his soon-to-be released instructional video, called “My Mixed Martial Arts”. One of the many things he wanted to show was the Anaconda Choke – he had just choked out Alexei Veselovzorov with it.

I was directing the action from behind the camera, but even watching through the viewfinder I learned at least 3 details that I hadn’t previously been aware of:

1 – dipping my shoulder when initially sinking the arm across the throat
2 – getting my hand well past the bicep when locking your arms
3 – putting my head to the side of the body during the roll, NOT on the back

Adding these details made this a far more powerful and effective choke for me. If you already know this technique you might be able to learn 3 entirely different details just by watching Denis teach this technique, so check out the QuickTime movie at www.grapplearts.com/My-Mixed-Martial-Arts-Download.htm. If this is a new technique for you then your training partners might be in for a surprise the next time you hit the mats!

Labels: chokes, MMA

Before we leave this topic I want to point out that not all chokes occur at the neck. Of course squeezing the windpipe is the most common form of choking, but you can also impair breathing by applying pressure to the torso.

The diaphragm is a powerful sheet of muscle that lies between your heart and lungs in the upper part of your torso, and your stomach, intestines and other organs in the lower part of your torso. The diaphragm is the primary muscle responsible for moving air in and out of the body by inflating your lungs.

Typically diaphragmatic choking is accomplished using the knee-on-belly position. The knee is placed fairly high on the belly, usually just near the solar plexus. To increase pressure the arms are anchored on your opponent and pulling him into you.

This pressure means that the diaphragm and lungs can’t operate properly and that his breathing becomes labored and ineffective. Maintain this pressure on the diaphragm and lungs, and he will be forced to submit from lack of air reaching his lungs. It might be a little bit slower than closing down the windpipe, but the final effect is the same.

Labels: chokes

For the last two weeks we have primarily been discussing strangles – this week I’d like to move on to ‘chokes’. A choke is a submission which primarily cuts off the flow of air through the windpipe, as opposed to a strangle which primarily cuts off the flow of blood to the brain.

Chokes are typically applied to the front of the throat, usually with the forearm (although hands, knees, shins, and other body parts can also be used). This action pushes on the Adam’s apple and compresses the windpipe which prevents air from moving down to the lungs. Since it blocks airflow, rather than blood flow, chokes usually take longer than chokes to render someone unconscious.

The paradox is that people usually tap out QUICKER from a choke than from a strangle. This is because chokes are very painful, whereas many strangles are not painful. Chokes work just fine on the mat, where most people will tap out when caught in a painful technique, but they may not be the technique of choice in a self-defense situation. If your opponent has a very high pain tolerance however, or is on a lot of drugs, then strangling would be the technique of choice, not choking.

One other thing to keep in mind is that choking is probably more dangerous than strangling. There have been several deaths recorded where police officers and sheriffs applied chokes and managed to kill the person by accident. The intent of those officers was almost certainly to put the resisting person to sleep, but they applied a choke rather than a strangle. The choke then damaged the person’s windpipe, compromising their breathing even after it was released, and the person died.

There are several morals to these stories. The first is that you should really know the difference between a choke and a strangle, and have the presence of mind to choose the appropriate technique for the appropriate situation. The other take-home point is that it is VERY important to monitor your opponent during the choke/strangle, and after you have released it. These are powerful techniques, and like we all learned in the Spiderman movie, “with great power comes great responsibility”.

Labels: breathing, chokes

If you practice chokes and strangles long enough you will eventually choke someone partially or fully unconscious – because some strangles are not very painful people can even go unconscious without realizing it. This is not an inherently dangerous situation so long as you follow a few safety precautions.

The first time I saw someone strangled fully unconscious it was frightening. A competitor at a local tournament was being strangled and resisted tapping a little bit too long. At first he just lay there unresponsive. Then he emitted a very loud snoring/gurgling sound. Then he started to shake and quiver as if he was having a ‘gentle’ epileptic seizure. Finally he awoke, looking somewhat sheepish and embarrassed. The whole thing took about 10 seconds, but seemed a lot longer to me.

Now not everyone who gets strangled out will respond the same way – a lot depends on how deeply unconscious the person is and how long the strangle is held. Sometimes they’ll snore and sometimes they won’t. Sometimes they’ll shake uncontrollably and sometimes they won’t. People can even lose bladder control if the choke/strangle is held too long (fortunately this is a fairly rare occurrence).

If you DO throttle someone fully out then here are some safety precautions you should know about:

1. Be aware of your opponent’s level of consciousness. People don’t always know they’re about to pass out, and some people won’t tap to chokes. This is especially true if you ever use a choke in self-defense: with all the chaos and adrenaline you might hold the strangle for a lot longer than necessary.
2. Release the hold as soon as possible. Continuing a strangle after someone is unconscious is very dangerous.
3. Roll the person onto their side (unless you also suspect spinal injury). By placing them onto their side you are ensuring that their airway remains open - many people die when they lie unconscious flat on their backs.
4. if they remain unconscious for more than 20 SECONDS call for medical help and initiate artificial respiration and/or CPR
   

I know that this is all scary stuff, but keeping these safety precautions in mind helps keep choking amd strangling relatively safe. Hundreds of thousands of chokes have been applied in Judo and Jiu-jitsu for centuries with very few resultant injuries.

Labels: chokes, Injuries

This week we will discuss strangles and strangulations; this will be the start of series of articles on the topic of chokes, strangles and other submissions attacking the neck. I define a “strangle” as a grappling technique that restricts the flow of blood through the carotid arteries, giving your opponent the choice of submitting or becoming unconscious.

First it is important to understand a little bit of anatomy. Try turning your head to one side and then pinch the big long muscle on the opposite side of your neck. This muscle runs from just behind your ear to the top of your breastbone, and is called the “Sternocleidomastoid”. The carotid artery is roughly located underneath this muscle.

The take-home message of the above anatomy lesson is that proper strangles attack mainly the SIDES of the neck. When these arteries are compressed by a choke the brain doesn't receive enough blood and the person becomes unconscious. In the hands of an expert this can take as little as 5 to 10 seconds. Most properly applied strangles are not usually very painful, although there are a few exceptions to this rule.

Resisting a strangle is not a question of toughness. Because you are temporarily restricting the flow of blood to the brain, even if the person high on PCP, or has superhuman pain tolerance, they should go unconscious. As with all techniques there are a few freaks of nature that have necks strong enough to resist most strangles – but you should know that these people are VERY few and far between.

Next week we will discuss some very important choking and strangling safety tips, including what to expect when someone has been rendered fully unconscious.

Labels: chokes

There is nothing worse than tapping out to a smother. It is one thing to get caught in a nice technical choke and having to tap out, but it really sucks to get slowly smothered as someone covers your nose and mouth with some part of their body. It's slow, it's frustrating and it's undignified. Sometimes the guy doesn't even know that he's doing it to you, which doesn't make it any better...

Here is a simple, but not commonly known, technique to survive the smother. When you feel like there simply isn't enough air coming into your mouth and nose, open your mouth as wide as it can go. Most of the time the increased intake area will allow enough air to get into your lungs to survive and start plotting your escape and revenge.

This is particularly relevant when you are doing gi-jiujitsu (although it is occasionally useful in no-gi submission grappling as well). If your face is covered by someone's gi and your mouth is just a little bit open, then you are trying to suck air through a relatively small area. If you open your mouth wide then you double or triple the area of gi you are breathing through, making life much better for you.

Labels: breathing, chokes

The so-called rear naked choke (also known as “hadaka-jime” in Japanese) is one of the most powerful submissions in grappling. Properly applied, this choke should give your opponent no way out except to tap or go to sleep.

When using this choke I often think about the angles at which I am applying pressure. Keeping these angles in mind has made my rear naked choke much more powerful:

First squeeze DOWN (ie bring your arms down towards your belly button a bit)

Then squeeze IN (i.e. bring your arms towards his spine)

Then squeeze UP (towards the top of his head).

This 3 part sequence helps gets your forearm and wrist under his chin and helps you dig deep into his neck. My visual picture is popping the head off of a daisy...

If you want a visual for this choke check out the Grapplearts picture of the week from March 28th, 2004. Incidentally, the two combatants in this picture (Castro and MacDonald) are now teammates on Epic Fight Team!

Labels: chokes