Better ways to upa?

[JerseyTrash]

I'm just not good enough yet to get a bigger/more experienced opponent off of me. It seems so simple when the black belts show you; just bridge up and push off. It just never works for me though. Got any tips? advice? drills? etc

 

[Jimmy Cerra]

You don't have to get a huge over hook on the arm. I usually just clamp my hand over the elbow as a temporary block while I bridge and roll.

You also need to know when to do it. The upa works best when combined with other escapes. If he gets his head to the floor and sinks a grapevine, it can be hard to do it. You need to learn to combine it with the shrimp-type escapes and transition between them back and forth.

 

[Slithers]

a black belt fixed my upa by telling me I upa'd like little girl!

seriously, ever since I "upa like a man" like he told me to, I have had much greater success, even with much larger opponents.

 

[hayliks]

the best upa is the hip escape

 

[WNYguy]

technique + timing

 

[Zankou]

the best upa is the hip escape

+1. I've never upa'd anybody purple belt or above off me, and I don't think I've ever been upa'd off anybody in all the time I've done BJJ.

The upa's reason for being is to set up the hip escape, to defend submissions, and for self defense against an untrained opponent.

I will say that one problem with the upa is people don't do it hard enough. You have to bridge through the roof to have success.

Interestingly I think the best time to upa is one that people never try. When your opponent is leaning way back, cowboy style, if you can trap an arm by his waist and *then* upa diagonally over that shoulder, he'll go flying.

If he is sprawled out flat and low, good luck with your upa, unless he has gone retarded.

 

[Slithers]

we talkin bout 'upa + roll'?? or just 'upa'?

true, upa and roll mount escape is best used in conjunction with the elbow escape, hip escape.

But just plain Upa can be used from other positions besides mount.

So I'm wondering what we are actually talking about here.

TS (Jersey) Are you talkin bout the mount escape 'upa and roll?' or the basic movement known as 'upa?'

 

[JiuJitsu_Greg]

I agree with zankou. If you want to be successful with your upa you have to tie it in directly with your elbow escape. If you don't then guys will get high on you every time.

 

[LocalNmass]

for increased upa power, bring your feet closer to your butt. Also look/turn your head in the direction you are going.

 

[JerseyTrash]

for increased upa power, bring your feet closer to your butt. Also look/turn your head in the direction you are going.

Good points I may be missing. I also think that timing is my problem.

 

[Afrofeet]

for increased upa power, bring your feet closer to your butt. Also look/turn your head in the direction you are going.

Yeah I have great succes with upa, you just have to trap one side and bridge hard! Key is that you must bring your feet close to your butt (as close as possible) and bridge with your balls of your feet, heels must be up, not on the floor. You are going higher this way.
Look how the man himself teaching it (garcia, its not mount escape but bridge is same)

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GTnW0MxrcKA&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GTnW0MxrcKA&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>