What are your thoughts on head on the outside single?

ArtemV

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I remember in one of the first bjj gyms I went to, they told me something like 'you must not have your head on the outside when doing a single leg as you will get a guillotine' but literally everybody I did it against there didn't tap me with it once. Each time I done it I made them land on their back/side, I was never in threat of it.

I really think if you're lazy, you will get caught. If you have a a strong back/neck/posture, you will not get caught. Unless somebody stops your shot, and you are just standing with his leg in the air, you should change to a double or trip the free leg up.

Do you like this technique? do you get caught?
 
A High Crotch is a head on the outside single, and many people execute it well. There is a wrong way and a right way of doing everything. If you do it right, with good timing and posture, the danger is minimized.
 
There is a big difference between moves advocated for expert wrestlers vs. group class BJJ players.

Most BJJ purple belts can't double leg no gi without getting choked so, as a rule it is better not to be telling people to head outside single.
 
My coach said he didnt want people do a outside single because in the gi if they grab your belt and pull you down they can spike you hella-hard on the ground and fuck you up if you're unlucky, not so much in nogi as you dont get such a powerful pulling grip.

There is a big difference between moves advocated for expert wrestlers vs. group class BJJ players.

And agree on this, difference on what you teach a bunch of white belts with varying backgrounds compared to moves for experts!
 
My coach said he didnt want people do a outside single because in the gi if they grab your belt and pull you down they can spike you hella-hard on the ground and fuck you up if you're unlucky, not so much in nogi as you dont get such a powerful pulling grip.

Not allowed in BJJ competition though. If your head hit the mats first they would get disqualified.
 
Not allowed in BJJ competition though. If your head hit the mats first they would get disqualified.
Yup. My instructor told me too when I went for a sumi gaeshi counter with a double-wristlock.
 
There is a big difference between moves advocated for expert wrestlers vs. group class BJJ players.

Most BJJ purple belts can't double leg no gi without getting choked so, as a rule it is better not to be telling people to head outside single.
Yes, you're right. But even some beginner wrestlers can execute a reasonably good single leg (and probably wont get guillotined) after a few weeks of training it. But I agree with you, I am in a better/more experienced BJJ school now, and they are a bit better with standing tachi waza/takedowns gi and no gi, thankfully
 
High crotch is good. Better as an entry for Jiu-Jitsu but it can chain into a lot of stuff.
 
High crotch is good. Better as an entry for Jiu-Jitsu but it can chain into a lot of stuff.
Of course, high-c to double leg is one of my go-to moves, or if I can't switch out, I just swing the leg around into a different holding position
 
There is way more risk head outside vs head inside. I have a video showing a good way to quickly switch off from a failed double to a head outside single to a flair finish that lands you in side control. Not the most basic technique.

 
The guillotine risk is pretty minimal unless you really screw up. If you do a high crotch right, either your head should be facing almost towards the center of your opponent, your head should be up, and you should be lifting, all of which make the guillotine hard to lock on. Or you're immediately running the pipe, which if you do it right also makes it really hard to lock on a guillotine. It's not the first TD I'd teach a white belt, but I've never gotten choked doing it. Probably your biggest risk is if you end up in a crack down, but even in that situation if you're aware of the risk it's going to be hard for someone to catch you before you can transition to a pretty safe smash passing position.
 
The switch against the head outside is murderous .... to me that's the biggest problem with it. You can also get crucifixed or reverse omoplata'd (a filthy counter if you get good at it like some Sambo guys) which is miserable.

Too high risk for most. I think the guillotine exposure is overrated as a problem with the TD and these other issues are underrated.
 
The switch against the head outside is murderous .... to me that's the biggest problem with it. You can also get crucifixed or reverse omoplata'd (a filthy counter if you get good at it like some Sambo guys) which is miserable.

Too high risk for most. I think the guillotine exposure is overrated as a problem with the TD and these other issues are underrated.

Switch yes, crucifix yes, but reverse omoplata? That requires the leg to step OVER the arm, you'd have to switch which leg you had inserted for the crucifix. That seems like a corner case to me, those are much more common when someone sits on your low single and gets the free leg inserted over your arm on the off side.
 
Reverse omoplata is always available from the crucifixed near arm, although you are correct it has to be 'passed' from one leg to the other as part of the setup. Once you get good at that, however, it's not particularly hard to do. Definitely takes practice though, and you have to work to the side crucifix position rather than being squared up. Often this happens during the defensive scramble anyways.

Against a head inside single, you can counter with a rolling regular omoplata, which is super fun and less injury causing than the reverse omo.
 
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