armbar's like chicklets?

So normally I suck ballz at straight armbars.

Generally I use an armbar setup to sweep from the guard, and when I attempt an armbar from the mount, I just use it as a ploy for a triangle.

In the past 3 weeks, I bet i've hit more straight armbars than the previous 3 years combined. And it's not like i'm looking for them either, they're just starting to work without me making a conscious effort.

Anyone else have a sub that just magically starts working for them?

 

Omoplatas.

I came from a wrestling base, so for a long time I did not like giving up my spots for sub attempts. I still almost always go for chokes onstead of joint locks. BUt then one day, I started wondering why I had so much more faith in my wrestling techniques than my bjj techniques. For some reason I just never had the same faith that they were going to work...

Then one day, I decided my bjj ability had surpassed my wrestling ability and just started taking more chances. I started getting omoplatas out the ass. I get them from every position, all the time.

I just started believing in the omplata, that was the difference.

In takedowns, I suddenly and out of nowhere became very adept at foot sweeps. I never made a concoius effort, they just started working for me suddenly.

 

Collar Choke from mount. I always knew what to do, how to set it up, but i'd fail. Two weeks ago, I started smashing them through on some blues, and whites. Maybe it is that through training, my base and ability to hold mount improved to the point where I could finish this choke.

 

^^ I find that the collar choke from mount success rate is directly proportional to how big of a dick you are willing to be in training.

When I just started committing to it, I started getting it pretty regularly. At first I thought I was muscling it. BUt after having time to think about it, you are on top, all of your weight and gravity are helping you get the grips despite chin tucking and hands in the way. You are at a large mechanical advantage, that's jiu jitsu.

 

Yea. Before I started hitting them, I would try and sneak my grips in, but it's not like that. Cross choke from guard is more sneaky/slick, but from mount, I found I just gotta smash my hands in there.

I figured, my training partners will encounter this in a competition at some point, and at least they'll be prepared. I can't practice this choke without being a bit of a dick, and I won't be able to hit it in comp without putting in the time. It's the same way I think about shoulder pressure. Can't get good at it without practice, and your training partners will get used to crap shoulder pressure if you don't practice on them.

 

I fully agree, I am a massive prick to train with (according to a lot of SD posters anyway).

 

I need to think this way more.

I tend to back down, because I'm not competing and don't want to hurt anyone. It's one reason that rarely work my knee on belly, which is something that I should be working....

I need to be more of a dick....

 

Jag, a lot of people disagree with me... but I only have a limited amount of training time, so I try to maximize it. I have no problem at all going to the knee on belly. It hurts, but unless you are MUCH bigger, you are not likely to injure someone with it IME. I have no problem doing stuff that hurts but is legitimate.

If a guy is just tucking in and defending on bottom, you have to give him a reason to move sometimes.

What irritates me is when big guys pin me down and don't really work for anything. i would much rather you try to make me uncomfortable for a minute in pursuit of a finish than just squish me and try not to get reversed (I am pretty good about getting out of side control and mount against guys my level, but I tend to get pinned in half guard a lot).

 

O Soto Gari is working a lot more that I have been focusing on a few things on my entry.


My omoplata is tightening. It went from not working, to working as a sweep sometimes, to working as a sub sometimes, but consistently as a sweep.

 

Exactly the way I see it. Knee on belly is always going to hurt, thats the position. If you expect to survive and escape the position, you need to feel it. I have two people that I work that position with, I wont ask anyone else because they dont think like I do. So I mostly do situational type stuff and make sure we switch, so its a two way street.

 

The problem is that I'm 265.

There aren't that many people that I train with that are my size, maybe 6...at best 10.

Mostly, I'm facing people 40 lbs less than me or more all the time.

 

Armbars for sure with me. I could never get them from my back or from mount. I started using a different grip for the setup from mount and all of a sudden they started coming much easier.

 

Anyone over 180 is fair game IMO, definitely over 200#

I am about 200# and I really don't consider the big guys as having a significant advantage on me because of their size. We have 2 guys that were both college football lineman, and they both try to smash the shit out of me. Use your size, it is your gift. Other guys have speed and flexibility, you have size. Don't be ashamed.

 

Sweet. I'm going to try and cause some BM's this week!

 

Seriously, unless you are just way better than your training partners, why hold back your weight against guys that are only 1 weight class down (and in some tourneys, 215 and up is all the same division). It is 40 pounds, but it is only 15% of your body weight. That is like a guy that weighs 180 holding back against a guy that weights 155... Size is an advantage, but the SHW's usually don't win the absolute divisions (at any weight or skill level IME). I think the most common weight to win the absolute division is around 200-215#... guys that size should be able to handle your size.

 

Not a sub - but an aspect of my game.

Open guard sweeps - one day I just sort of understood them. Not awesome by any means, but part of my game now.

 

Haha, I was gonna ask why you didn't like doing knee on belly, as I think its to transition into when in side control and opens up different attacks, but now I know. I'm sure your training partners that are lighter appreciate it. I know as a 165 pounder, I would.

 

I fight southpaw and primarily drilled my o soto orthodox....took me a while to uncross my wires ;D

 

Personally, I have always hit arm triangles from mount, using a forearm choke bait/ setup; it wasn't until recently that I learned how to properly finish the head & arm. I would just squeeze as hard as I could and try to spin, as Rogan says, like a clock. Then I asked my coach why it was such a struggle for me to finish, and he showed he some things about head pressure/ positioning, and now guys tap almost instantly when I lock in my arm triangle.

PS- i'm 6'2 220, so I know all about the big man woes. I try not to rely on my strength/ size as a crutch, but when i'm on top I absolutely use my weight properly. Especially from side control, I try to be as heavy and tight as possible.

For me, the biggest adjustment was to just start on my back, because oftentimes smaller guys will just pull guard because they don't want to get into a wrestling struggle. So I started on my butt, and often invited them to take top; this has really helped my bottom game a ton. Generally, I just work for a sweep, or threaten with subs enough to get a scramble going, because I know that i'm much better on top. But I figured it was high time for me to start working my whole game.

 

Guillotines. Specifically Marcelo's guillotine. Obviously I always really preferred the RNC and the Darce, anaconda, and triangle. I thought the guillotine was a cheap way to tap someone, almost a quasi-strength type move. Once I saw the thought, technique, and skill required for the elbow-lift version I decided to learn it. Even before I set out to really get good at it, it just started happening everywhere. It still does. It's surpassed the Darce and the RNC in terms of how often I land it, and I'm finding that I need to back off of it a little to expand some things.