How to Finish the ARM IN GUILLOTINE - Fold his Head down to his Nuts

I'm having a hard tie imagining this with a footlock. You have any videos?
I saw a recent Danaher video where he's finishing a heel hook in a similar way. I'm not sure what to call the type of crib he's using , his hands are snake together for each hand is grabbing the other hands wrist.

The video is posted here recently.
 
Assassin Progress

I was able to get the assassin on people of average builds.

Larger people
Similar to the anaconda, the assassin was difficult to pull off on people of thicker builds (i.e. thicker shoulder+neck relative to my shorter arms).

I felt like going for the assassin, as opposed to the regular arm across guillotine from guard, actually gave larger people greater leverage to peak out their head during the transition from front headlock to mount; this is likely because my choking arm elbow jutted off to the side rather than being directly under their chin, making my arm clamp weak. What's worse, my jutting elbow allowed my opponent to actually reach for my choking elbow and peel it to relieve the choke while putting an almost kimura like torque on my shoulder.

Even once in the assassin, the larger person was more difficult to finish with the classic guillotine hand grip, even with only mild resistance. I found more success finishing the choke when transferring the hand of my choking arm to the inside of my near side thigh. Keeping my hand on my inner thigh even seemed to help me turn them onto their back from FrH to the mount as well as protect my shoulder against the kimura-like torque that the opponent could put on my shoulder from peaking out.

Passing the arm across their body in front headlock (FrH)
I had initially abandoned the arm across guillotine as more savvy players would stick their arm out to block my hip from coming around from FrH. I did the technique used in the "Wrestling Submission by Assassin" video above. My only modification was that I placed my grip lower just above the elbow joint which seemed to maximize leverage.

I'll continue to explore the technique.
 
Assassin Progress

I was able to get the assassin on people of average builds.

Larger people
Similar to the anaconda, the assassin was difficult to pull off on people of thicker builds (i.e. thicker shoulder+neck relative to my shorter arms).

I felt like going for the assassin, as opposed to the regular arm across guillotine from guard, actually gave larger people greater leverage to peak out their head during the transition from front headlock to mount; this is likely because my choking arm elbow jutted off to the side rather than being directly under their chin, making my arm clamp weak. What's worse, my jutting elbow allowed my opponent to actually reach for my choking elbow and peel it to relieve the choke while putting an almost kimura like torque on my shoulder.

Even once in the assassin, the larger person was more difficult to finish with the classic guillotine hand grip, even with only mild resistance. I found more success finishing the choke when transferring the hand of my choking arm to the inside of my near side thigh. Keeping my hand on my inner thigh even seemed to help me turn them onto their back from FrH to the mount as well as protect my shoulder against the kimura-like torque that the opponent could put on my shoulder from peaking out.

Passing the arm across their body in front headlock (FrH)
I had initially abandoned the arm across guillotine as more savvy players would stick their arm out to block my hip from coming around from FrH. I did the technique used in the "Wrestling Submission by Assassin" video above. My only modification was that I placed my grip lower just above the elbow joint which seemed to maximize leverage.

I'll continue to explore the technique.
Nice
 
I saw a recent Danaher video where he's finishing a heel hook in a similar way. I'm not sure what to call the type of crib he's using , his hands are snake together for each hand is grabbing the other hands wrist.

The video is posted here recently.
I think you're thinking of the butterfly grip as they call it. It's one step deeper than the gable grip but still short of a full figure four grip. Does this look like it?

polaris.jpg

55e5c90f1f8b5.jpeg
 
Interestingly the same movement is how you should finish a straight foot lock as well, and yet you see the same basic mistake with both ... instead of crunching and rotating, people try to extend and pull.

It's the correct motion for finishing any guillotine. It works pretty well for finishing Darces and anacondas, and RNCs as well (Braulio's 'choke them through the chin' is basically forcing them into the fetal position as a strangle/smother). The way I describe it when I'm teaching is 'make them go fetal'. I think it's very hard for people to grasp because almost all athletic motions in most sports are explosive and extended, not static and contracting. People associate effort with extension, whether it's shooting a basketball, running a sprint, or throwing a football. The notion of forcing contraction is very alien, and it takes time for it to become second nature.
 
I think you're thinking of the butterfly grip as they call it. It's one step deeper than the gable grip but still short of a full figure four grip. Does this look like it?

polaris.jpg

55e5c90f1f8b5.jpeg
That's it. Need to work it into my game more
 
That's it. Need to work it into my game more
I just forget a lot. On inside heel hooks it honestly doesn't really matter. They're so powerful that any grip at all should get the job done. Craig Jones for example doesn't bother with anything but gable grips for inside heel hooks. On the outside heel hooks I think is where things like the butterfly grip or the reverse figure four grip can make a big difference.
 
It's the correct motion for finishing any guillotine. It works pretty well for finishing Darces and anacondas, and RNCs as well (Braulio's 'choke them through the chin' is basically forcing them into the fetal position as a strangle/smother). The way I describe it when I'm teaching is 'make them go fetal'. I think it's very hard for people to grasp because almost all athletic motions in most sports are explosive and extended, not static and contracting. People associate effort with extension, whether it's shooting a basketball, running a sprint, or throwing a football. The notion of forcing contraction is very alien, and it takes time for it to become second nature.

Can you be more specific and/or provide a video of what you're talking about?

I think I get what you'really saying but would like to make sure.

Also your saying you do that oblique crunch (like in guillotines) even for footlocks?
 
I would have thought this was pretty widely understood by white belts with a few months on the mat, but I suppose not.
 
It's the correct motion for finishing any guillotine. It works pretty well for finishing Darces and anacondas, and RNCs as well (Braulio's 'choke them through the chin' is basically forcing them into the fetal position as a strangle/smother). The way I describe it when I'm teaching is 'make them go fetal'. I think it's very hard for people to grasp because almost all athletic motions in most sports are explosive and extended, not static and contracting. People associate effort with extension, whether it's shooting a basketball, running a sprint, or throwing a football. The notion of forcing contraction is very alien, and it takes time for it to become second nature.
This is why most wrestling strength training programs are flawed. I’ve only encountered maybe 3 strength coaches who understand wrestling requires the static contraction and core grip as well as explosive extension
 
Can you be more specific and/or provide a video of what you're talking about?

I think I get what you'really saying but would like to make sure.

Also your saying you do that oblique crunch (like in guillotines) even for footlocks?

Here's the Braulio vid I referenced:



As for using the oblique crunch to finish footlocks...'footlocks' is way too broad a category to really give a solid answer. There are situations in which it's the right finishing mechanic, many toe holds for instance, but if you're doing a knee bar you need extension. Heel hooks are somewhere in the middle, you generally crunch to keep the foot in place while also hipping in to put pressure on the knee so it's a bit of both. Finishing straight ankle locks involves more of a twisting motion, with more extension. So it really depends.
 
I felt like going for the assassin, as opposed to the regular arm across guillotine from guard, actually gave larger people greater leverage to peak out their head during the transition from front headlock to mount; this is likely because my choking arm elbow jutted off to the side rather than being directly under their chin, making my arm clamp weak. What's worse, my jutting elbow allowed my opponent to actually reach for my choking elbow and peel it to relieve the choke while putting an almost kimura like torque on my shoulder.

Even once in the assassin, the larger person was more difficult to finish with the classic guillotine hand grip, even with only mild resistance. I found more success finishing the choke when transferring the hand of my choking arm to the inside of my near side thigh. Keeping my hand on my inner thigh even seemed to help me turn them onto their back from FrH to the mount as well as protect my shoulder against the kimura-like torque that the opponent could put on my shoulder from peaking out.


Grips for front headlock chokes are as vagarious as drops in a storm. Not all are created equal though, of course.

You can try the deep tricep grip, like the one demonstrated by Ben Darmstatd above, or like shown here (besides the finish).




The inwardness would be greater positive control over how he turns, as well as keeping his arm in position to push his shoulder and neck together.


Another option would be what i call the power assist grip. It can be done open hand or closed fist, with arm in or no arm.

Melanson shows a no arm closed fist version here. Also known as the 'gogo choke' that Ben Rothwell used on Matt Mitrione and Josh Barnett.




An arm in version would be similar to the choke shown here vs half-guard, only with your other arm also going in deep to grip your wrist or your elbow to lock it in tight.




This is one of those things i've 'sat on' for a while, but i think sufficient time has passed (and enough people putting out similar materials) now that it's fine to share. The inwardness of it all is basically... when hitting a 'classic' guillotine, the idea is to push their head down into your hands/push your hands up into their neck. Well, as a demonstration, try putting your hands together in front of you and push them up; what is the most natural way of doing such a movement? Like a prayer position perhaps? Well, how about if you want to lock your arms together in some way, what then? The common grip of taking one hand and cupping under the other more or less doesn't go past horizontal 'naturally', and if you do you are pretty much working against your wrists; closing your elbows together basically pops the grip out.

What to do then? Well, really its simple; look at you holding your arm up in front of you (like if you were flipping someone off), and just... grip it like that. Around the wrist, or elbow, or tricep. You have the option of adjusting how deep you go to account for your angle of attack or how large or how small your target is. When done well, you can even potentially finish in just the head-to-head position by just slowly ratcheting up the pressure, without necessarily needing to go torso-to-torso (though, obviously, this multiplies your finishing power, torso-to-torso pinning their back on the ground most especially).
 
Last edited:
Back
Top