Newbie Armbar question

[Masamune01]

Hey everyone,

I'm a total newb when it comes to grappling so forgive me if my question is a bit laughable. When you are trying to apply an armbar and you're at that point where the other person is on the ground, you have both legs over him, you're sitting up, but the other guy prevents you from extending his arm by locking his wrists/hands together....what are you supposed to do? I imagine you could overpower him...but what if it's someone who has a particularly strong grip? Is there some subtle way of breaking his grip that I'm not getting?

 

[JackDaniels]

A beginner way is to kick out the his other leg with your leg that isn't over his head.

 

[snigg]

one technique i use is to bend his hand downwards. me and my buddies call it the "gay hand", you know how gay dudes do the limp wristed shit. if you can, bend his down towards his elbow. just like this dudes hand is bent, but obviously the positioning would be different. not sure if its 100% effective, but it has been known to work

 

[Jiu-Jitsu Cop]

When sitting to the side you could bounce your leg up and down quickly on his face (Some people hate that), you could cross your leg over his hand and create a figure four with your legs and pull up on his arm creating a forearm crush, you could sit up on the subjects stomach the swithc side and take the other arm. Check out KibunInc.com this video has 4 or 5 counters to this exact hold.

 

[IllWil]

use one of your legs to push/kick away the arm that is preventing the arm to extend

 

[krait]

one technique i use is to bend his hand downwards. me and my buddies call it the "gay hand", you know how gay dudes do the limp wristed shit. if you can, bend his down towards his elbow. just like this dudes hand is bent, but obviously the positioning would be different. not sure if its 100% effective, but it has been known to work

It works if the hand close to your body is palm down. I try to get my hand palm up on the side closets to opponents body when blocking the arm bar. It can still work but its alot harder. Also if your both sweaty you'll slip a lot.

To the poster there are a lot of different ways to break the grip. They are kinda hard to explain in just text. Also depends on how they lock hands ( cupping their finger, the handshake grip or if they grab their wrists. Different methods work better for different defenses. I personally am not a big fan of using your foot against the inside of the elbow away from you. When you finally break the grip it will pop and since your already pulling really hard its real easy to completely miss the arm bar. I actually let go when as soon as I feel the other guy really start to pull real hard and roll towards them pulling my arm in at the same time. So far I've gotten out of the arm bar everytime. Now I roll in no gi so it may not work as well in a gi.

Best option is to ask your instructor to show you. Or get some dvd's or video to show you and try them out.

 

[SmashiusClay]

There's a ton of ways to do this, the simplest and the one that seems to work most of the time for me, is to simply 'earthquake', rock back and foreward tugging at your opponent's grip, once you get some momentum going plus you're back into the pull there's no way they'll be able to hold on.

 

[myrtle]

this is almost always true: your back is gonna be stronger then his forearms or biceps.

so just sit up move your forearm as close to his wrist as cou can then with your other hand grab just below your forearm. This should be done in a way so that you situp so his arm is trapped between your chest and arms. To complete it do arch your back down to the floor again, DO NOT give any space in between his arm and your chest just lock your arms in place and use your back. Anypne get what im saying?

The downside to this move is if he is quick and well versed he will 'as you sit up' flip you and get into your guard however at this point the chanse of you gettin armbar or triangle is high.

I also like "the gay hand" (never heard the expression before but i'm gonna start using it).

The fot on the biceps opens for an not very dangorus way for your opponent to get inte your guard

 

[Waxwingslain]

Be careful when pulling hard for an armbar. Sometimes they let go suddenly and you don't want to hurt anyone.

 

[buttski]

Be careful when pulling hard for an armbar. Sometimes they let go suddenly and you don't want to hurt anyone.

yeah tell me about it, someone did that to me, didn't pop all the way but my arm was useless for 2 weeks
and barely useful for 2 more weeks

 

[wOg]

Be careful when pulling hard for an armbar. Sometimes they let go suddenly and you don't want to hurt anyone.

Good point--especially if you're just in training.

A lot of good suggestions. What about trying to move the arm up toward the head first before pulling it toward you? Sort of "up and around" rotating the arm at the shoulder instead of just "straight over" ...

That said, I try and take what I'm given. If going for the armbar is going to take everything I've got, then I go for the choke (I do gi, so there's always a choke opportunity ) instead of using up a whole lot of energy. Most guys can't defend both at the same time. Sooner or later, if your positioning is good, you'll catch him with one or the other.

 

[Stoic1]

Cowhoof, Nutcracker, climbing the arm, kicking the other arm, etc. are all good options.