Do you even armbar bro?

[Human Bass]

Braziliian Gracie Mag just posted this yesterday

 

[Leify]

Armbars are my thing, but I never go foot on the hip. I prefer to throw my hips up into high guard right away and attack from there. This is almost always a follow up to an arm drag where I can't get to the back.

And even though armbars were my thing from white belt, I couldn't develop the armbar from guard until I really got good at the arm drag during my time as a purple belt.

 

[BJJ_Rage]

Armbars are my thing, but I never go foot on the hip. I prefer to throw my hips up into high guard right away and attack from there. This is almost always a follow up to an arm drag where I can't get to the back.

And even though armbars were my thing from white belt, I couldn't develop the armbar from guard until I really got good at the arm drag during my time as a purple belt.

Foot in the hip never worked for me either

 

[BJJ Coffee Drinker]

Foot on hip isn't necessarily wrong, it works but has to be done at the right time with awareness. For example, if the top passer is trying to pressure or eating towards you trying to take away space to not the leg come over their face, putting foot on hip works well. If the opponent is posturing up trying to pull their arm out, good luck using any foot on hip variation

 

[Coconutwater]

I feel like the overhook armbar has a shorter 'access path' and affords more control (and so easier to pull off at higher levels).

Yeah, that was a sick armbar. It's like a trachea crush as opposed to a blood choke, if we were talking about chokes...

That said, I'm paranoid about the slam and abandon any offense when I feel the lift coming, with the exception of the split second prior to grabbing a leg to stop the slam/lift.

 

[dimmyfinster]

Also, for anybody with a sub to Braulios site, Braulio his this over and over from the high guard. Usually he goes from the 2 on 1 setup to high guard, though I've seen him use the traditional collar sleeve also.

 

[Calibur]

Why no belts in robot jiu jitsu?

Probably so they don't get automatically dismissed because they were purple belts or whatever.

 

[Calibur]

I don't think the traditional arm bar is important to know, other than to have seen for purposes of defending. It's just not as effective a way of doing the move as the Roger way. I'm not a big fan or retaining things just for pedagogical purposes, my experience has been that generally you get just as much benefit from using other moves that actually work on good guys but that incorporate the same sorts of motions without the negative effect of ingraining a suboptimal way of doing a move. 'Good jiu jitsu' is not an aesthetic judgement (or shouldn't be), it's a measure of what works. By that metric, the Roger way is 'good jiu jitsu' and the trad way is less so.

Well, the good news is I never teach the foot posting armbar for that reason.

I like the idea of the 3 step armbar. Not because of dogma or because of aesthetics. I just think it teaches people how to move laterally using only their hips while maintaining superior posture. I think that skill varies over.

I teach the Fedor armbar or the Roger variation you showed almost once a month but it's just not popular with white belts and blue belts anymore. Was wondering why.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

Armbar from guard was my bread and butter for whitw and blue belt. Now that im a purple i rarely finish it, but im good at getting people to react to it and advance from there.

 

[masada555]

I have far more success with the Carlos Machado style "Americana squeeze" armbar from guard, where you hip out far to the side, so the guy's weight isn't on you (the relative body positioning is more like an omoplata or a belly-down armbar than a classic armbar). The pressure is more on the shoulder than the elbow, but hey, I'm not picky.

 

[randomg1t]

very rarely from the guard, but i'd say more than 50% of my finishes are armbars from the mount.

sweep, pass, get the mount, threaten the collar choke, armbar. it just never gets old.

 

[dmwalking]

My armbar from guard sucks. I don't really commit to them though because I feel like you really end up in a bad spot if you fail. When I play guard I'm looking to sweep. My only high percentage subs from guard are set up through "meat hook." And flower sweep set ups. Sometimes I'll catch an arm if someone gets sloppy when i'm playing flower.

 

[dmwalking]

very rarely from the guard, but i'd say more than 50% of my finishes are armbars from the mount.

sweep, pass, get the mount, threaten the collar choke, armbar. it just never gets old.

Do you stay mounted when you armbar?

 

[randomg1t]

Do you stay mounted when you armbar?

not really. i've done it a couple of times, but mostly i do the classic armbar.

i do it exactly like the video below. if you do everything williams says you need to do, it's very difficult for them to stop you, and very unlikely that you'll lose position. if you get the mount and lose position doing this exact armbar, then you fucked up.

"if do right, no can defense"

 

[berimBOWLoh]

Rickson 1 step armbar is the only one i ever hit

 

[EndlessCritic]

not really. i've done it a couple of times, but mostly i do the classic armbar.

i do it exactly like the video below. if you do everything williams says you need to do, it's very difficult for them to stop you, and very unlikely that you'll lose position. if you get the mount and lose position doing this exact armbar, then you fucked up.

"if do right, no can defense"

That detail of walking the elbow up... the first tiem I saw that was years ago in a Braulia Estima arm-triangle instructional, and yet I almost never see anyone do it, until I saw Gregor Gillespie do it in the UFC a few weeks ago against Gonzalez.

 

[randomg1t]

That detail of walking the elbow up... the first tiem I saw that was years ago in a Braulia Estima arm-triangle instructional, and yet I almost never see anyone do it, until I saw Gregor Gillespie do it in the UFC a few weeks ago against Gonzalez.

i destroy people with that elbow walk. even if you're not going to armbar them, when you get the mount, you need to crossface with one arm and walk their elbow up with the other. it takes very little energy from the top, and it's infuriating for the bottom man. i'm pretty much the smallest guy in my gym, and i've done this to everyone, from girls to heavyweight guys.

it doesn't look like much, but it's extremely difficult to stop it. guys will often try to scoot backwards while pressing their elbow back to their ribcage, but you just start over again, slowly walking with your fingers and pulling their elbow higher and higher. by the 3rd time you do it to them, they're exhausted and can't defend it anymore. then you have all sorts of fun stuff: armbars, americanas, arm triangles, giftwrap backtakes, wristlocks.. you name it. they're mounted, with their arm isolated, and their energy sapped. they are completely and utterly fucked.

if i ever meet shawn williams, i owe him a beer.

 

[Mr Rick]

i destroy people with that elbow walk. even if you're not going to armbar them, when you get the mount, you need to crossface with one arm and walk their elbow up with the other. it takes very little energy from the top, and it's infuriating for the bottom man. i'm pretty much the smallest guy in my gym, and i've done this to everyone, from girls to heavyweight guys.

it doesn't look like much, but it's extremely difficult to stop it. guys will often try to scoot backwards while pressing their elbow back to their ribcage, but you just start over again, slowly walking with your fingers and pulling their elbow higher and higher. by the 3rd time you do it to them, they're exhausted and can't defend it anymore. then you have all sorts of fun stuff: armbars, americanas, arm triangles, giftwrap backtakes, wristlocks.. you name it. they're mounted, with their arm isolated, and their energy sapped. they are completely and utterly fucked.

if i ever meet shawn williams, i owe him a beer.

I really like the elbow walk too. I think of it as a little spider walking along the floor. It's so frustrating to defend against. Sets up lots of other things too not just armbars.

 

[dmwalking]

not really. i've done it a couple of times, but mostly i do the classic armbar.

i do it exactly like the video below. if you do everything williams says you need to do, it's very difficult for them to stop you, and very unlikely that you'll lose position. if you get the mount and lose position doing this exact armbar, then you fucked up.

"if do right, no can defense"

Great technique. I set up my mounted armbar the same way. I go to S mount. Although, there is a point where you can snatch the mounted triangle. And from there, you can take the mounted armbar if they resist. I get that if you messed up, then you messed up. But I like to minimize my screw ups. So I stay mounted because if I mess up, I'm still mounted. Just a personal preference. But that tech is still solid so it's not like I can give any valid critique. It's just my personal preference to stay mounted. I love staying on top.

 

[rickjamez]

Armbars from the closed guard are a lot harder to finish than they seem, for me atleast. Big guys love to switch between stacking hard and beastmoding pulling their arms out.

I was watching this Firas Zahabi instructional, where he shows what he does against the stack -> flowersweep or roll under depending on their position relative to you.


The straightening out your spine before you swing your leg over the face also seems like a good solution. I have been in armbars like these and it is definately on immediately.

This guy is a master at the armbar from closed guard > Jaime Canuto
Here you see him armbar benson henderson.

and here is another highlight where he armbars a couple of guys from closed guard.