June 29, 2007
The 'Kick Out'
Today I want to talk about a little move that has probably saved my butt at least a thousand times. I call it the Kick Out and if your game includes any standing guard passes I think it might deserve a place in your repertoire.
If you stand in your opponent's guard then it is inevitable that you will sometimes have your foot gripped like this:
Nothing good comes from having your foot controlled like this: here you are vulnerable to many powerful sweeps (e.g. the Foot Trip and the Sickle Sweep). Therefore, when grabs your foot it is important to clear it as soon as possible. One possible solution is the Kick Out.
Let's say that, as in the picture above, your opponent is holding your right heel with his left hand. The Kick Out works best if your opponent is pulling your foot with his hand, taking the slack out of the system. Often he will give you this pressure as part of his efforts to control and sweep you, but if he doesn't you can try moving your right foot slightly backwards (i.e. towards your heel) to incite him to pull on your foot.
Once you have this tension and his arm is straight you kick your foot forwards (toe towards his armpit) until it is above the level of his arm. Now circle your foot outwards, bringing it back behind you to re-establish your balance.
In mid-move you are balancing one one leg while looping your captured foot outwards. It looks and feels precarious at first, but once your newly-freed foot touches down behind your body your balance and stability are restored.
Once you master this move you will even be able to apply even after your opponent has started his sweep and you are beginning to fall over. When you use the Kick Out here it is reactive rather than proactive, but the path the foot follows remains the same. The Kick Out is an elegant little move, and hopefully it can save you as many times as it has saved me.
P.S. Those of you who own my Grappling Drills DVD might recognize the Kick Out from Drill # 80. That drill is an excellent way to get lots of repetition of the Kick Out crammed into a short length of time.
If you stand in your opponent's guard then it is inevitable that you will sometimes have your foot gripped like this:
Nothing good comes from having your foot controlled like this: here you are vulnerable to many powerful sweeps (e.g. the Foot Trip and the Sickle Sweep). Therefore, when grabs your foot it is important to clear it as soon as possible. One possible solution is the Kick Out.
Let's say that, as in the picture above, your opponent is holding your right heel with his left hand. The Kick Out works best if your opponent is pulling your foot with his hand, taking the slack out of the system. Often he will give you this pressure as part of his efforts to control and sweep you, but if he doesn't you can try moving your right foot slightly backwards (i.e. towards your heel) to incite him to pull on your foot.
Once you have this tension and his arm is straight you kick your foot forwards (toe towards his armpit) until it is above the level of his arm. Now circle your foot outwards, bringing it back behind you to re-establish your balance.
In mid-move you are balancing one one leg while looping your captured foot outwards. It looks and feels precarious at first, but once your newly-freed foot touches down behind your body your balance and stability are restored.
Once you master this move you will even be able to apply even after your opponent has started his sweep and you are beginning to fall over. When you use the Kick Out here it is reactive rather than proactive, but the path the foot follows remains the same. The Kick Out is an elegant little move, and hopefully it can save you as many times as it has saved me.
P.S. Those of you who own my Grappling Drills DVD might recognize the Kick Out from Drill # 80. That drill is an excellent way to get lots of repetition of the Kick Out crammed into a short length of time.
June 16, 2007
Caging the Hips
It is a truism in BJJ that hip movement is the most important thing. "Boca" Oliveira, a de la Riva black belt, recently told me: "the hips are 90% of jiu-jitsu, and position is the other 10%". Most instructors would agree with the spirit of his statement, because the hips allow you to escape bad positions, throw opponents, pass the guard, and apply armlocks, leglocks and chokes.
Let's consider the closed guard position. To set up the vast majority of offensive actions in the guard you have to do one, or both, of the following:
An example of the first motion (twisting the hips) can be found in this grappling photo. It is perhaps appropriate that it is the aforementioned Boca who is using this movement to armlock me.
An example the second motion (hip swiveling) can be found in the swinging armbar drill in this article. No swivel, no armbar!
The flipside of this principle is that if you shut down your opponent's hips you shut down most of his game. In the guard I call this "Caging the Hips". If you are in your opponent's closed guard you cage his hips by always staying square with your opponent and keeping his hips flat on the ground, trapped between your two knees. If he escapes his hips out past your right knee, for example, then you circle to your right until you are square with him again. If he twists his body onto his right side you circle towards your left and roll him flat.
Once you are square with your opponent you can make it harder for him to escape his hips by applying an inward pressure on his hips with the inside of your knees. If appropriate, you can also use your elbows to help limit his hip movement, but the main pressure comes from your knees. Objectively you aren't applying very much force with your legs here - your adductors aren't very strong muscles - but even a little bit of pressure can kill his movement to a significant degree. You can use this inward pressure both kneeling or standing in your opponent's guard, but it is easier to learn and apply in the kneeling position.
Give these circling movements and inward pressure a try with a training partner and see if it makes a difference.
Let's consider the closed guard position. To set up the vast majority of offensive actions in the guard you have to do one, or both, of the following:
- twist your body so your weight is on one buttock only,
- and/or swivel your hips so that he is no longer square with you.
An example of the first motion (twisting the hips) can be found in this grappling photo. It is perhaps appropriate that it is the aforementioned Boca who is using this movement to armlock me.
An example the second motion (hip swiveling) can be found in the swinging armbar drill in this article. No swivel, no armbar!
The flipside of this principle is that if you shut down your opponent's hips you shut down most of his game. In the guard I call this "Caging the Hips". If you are in your opponent's closed guard you cage his hips by always staying square with your opponent and keeping his hips flat on the ground, trapped between your two knees. If he escapes his hips out past your right knee, for example, then you circle to your right until you are square with him again. If he twists his body onto his right side you circle towards your left and roll him flat.
Once you are square with your opponent you can make it harder for him to escape his hips by applying an inward pressure on his hips with the inside of your knees. If appropriate, you can also use your elbows to help limit his hip movement, but the main pressure comes from your knees. Objectively you aren't applying very much force with your legs here - your adductors aren't very strong muscles - but even a little bit of pressure can kill his movement to a significant degree. You can use this inward pressure both kneeling or standing in your opponent's guard, but it is easier to learn and apply in the kneeling position.
Give these circling movements and inward pressure a try with a training partner and see if it makes a difference.