the darce choke

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almann1979

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I seem to be having trouble getting this choke to be a choke. I tend to have my opponents arm on their jaw, rather than their neck and my arms never feel long enough to put it on properly. I know that sounds daft, but that's the best way I can explain it.

1. How effective a choke is it?
2. Is it an advanced choke, or am I just rubbish :-)
3. What are the best positions to apply it from?

Thanks :-)
 
1.very 2.a little of both probably ;) 3. I can hit it from half guard but I see it more often in scramble situations
 
I've always found hitting the D'arce more difficult. I'll start with the postitions- primarily I'll get it from either knees after a scarmble or after defending a takedown by sprawling. Head to head situations like that. That being said, from those positions I prefer going for the anaconda. I find it easier to get a true choke out of it, rather than just a face crush. Plus that roll is fun and if they defend it's easy to switch to a guillotine or abandon and end up nice and tight in side control.

That's just my two cents. I wish I was better at the D'arce as that would give me another option, but the anaconda is a nice choke and easier to finish. Look to add that one in to your game if it's not there already, then work the D'arce.
 
It's one of the strongest chokes in BJJ, IMO. You just have to understand the way to create the right pressure. If choking with the right arm deep, you should be breaking his posture with your left elbow, lifting your right elbow (as you turn to face his legs) to bring your right shoulder out from his armpit, then dropping your right shoulder on top of his left shoulder, 'rolling' it into his carotid. You can step over to mount if you really want to kill him, but most times it's not necessary IMO.

BTW, I think knee on belly or front headlock are the best positions to set it up from.
 
almann1979 said:
1. How effective a choke is it?
2. Is it an advanced choke, or am I just rubbish :-)
3. What are the best positions to apply it from?

Thanks :-)
Click to expand...

1: Very effective, it's my favorite choke to go for, and not a lot of guys know the proper defense to it when I apply it at my gym.

2: I consider it advanced but the more you drill the technique it becomes a natural motion. I used to try and visualize how I could hit it in certain positions and I would always have to motion with my arms at what angle I'd have to try it, but now it just seems natural to me and I can plan it out in my head with no hesitation.

3: I've recently had a lot of success from side control and North/South. It's the choke I can bait my opponent into rolling right into it. Any type of top sprawl position sets up the choke well too.

I actually just posted a topic on 'How Versatile is your Darce Choke?' you should check out some of the answers.

To me personally it's the greatest feeling when I'm able to pull of a Darce, I've worked really hard at being able to drill this technique and now i'm seeing some results. My BJJ is more fun because apart from just reacting to situations, I'm planning and setting moves up, and the Darce is my favorite move to bait someone into, very rewarding. Now on to the next focus drill, My Mount position. Keep at it man, have fun.
 
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The d'arce is a legit choke and very simple once the mechanics of it are understood. Having long arms does help, I have long arms and do not have the issues that others I know with shorter arms have. It can be hit from a variety of positions, mostly from top game, usually side control, but anytime a guy has a lazy underhook, he is wide open for a d'arce. It is a choke worth practicing because of it's versatility alone.
 
Unr8dBJJ said:
1: Very effective, it's my favorite choke to go for, and not a lot of guys know the proper defense to it when I apply it at my gym.

2: I consider it advanced but the more you drill the technique it becomes a natural motion. I used to try and visualize how I could hit it in certain positions and I would always have to motion with my arms at what angle I'd have to try it, but now it just seems natural to me and I can plan it out in my head with no hesitation.

3: I've recently had a lot of success from side control and North/South. It's the choke I can bait my opponent into rolling right into it. Any type of top sprawl position sets up the choke well too.

I actually just posted a topic on 'How Versatile id your Darce Choke?' you should check out some of the answers.

To me personally it's the greatest feeling when I'm able to pull of a Darce, I've worked really hard at being able to drill this technique and now i'm seeing some results. My BJJ is more fun because apart from just reacting to situations, I'm planning and setting moves up, and the Darce is my favorite move to bait someone into, very rewarding. Now on to the next focus drill, My Mount position. Keep at it man, have fun.
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Exactly this. The way Brendan Schaub set up his darce on Matt Mitrione by pretending to let him up from side control is a pretty textbook way to do it.
 
I keep posting in darce/brabo threads for years on end... :/

Don't sweat their arm being across their neck or not. it's actually not that important. Same way that an arm across isn't that important for the triangle. As long as they don't have a strong underhook, then you should be fine. It's not their arm, but their shoulder that's dropping into their neck to close off one artery.

When you shoot your arm don't shoot it too shallow or too deep. use the "rule of thumb" and shoot deep enough so when you make a thumbs-up it lines up flush against the back of his neck. Deeper and it's a neck crank, shallower and it's going to crush your fingers and make your grip slip. With the grip at this proper depth, the sharp part of your forearm should align perfectly with his artery.

Get a strong grip on your biceps, with your shoulder behind his, and use your shoulder pressure into his to drop/roll his shoulder into the side of the neck, as you place your free hand high on his back and gently squeeze. You shouldn't be burning your arms out. Relax your body, drop your shoulder into his, and calmly apply pressure.

With this proper blood choke finish you can finish anywhere. Finishing from the top or even mounting to finish is very secure, and as you get more comfortable you can work on falling to your hip and "Homer Simpson" running on your side underneath them to finish. You may commonly hear this called the "marce". It's a powerful finish.

Just give it time and I'm sure it will work well.
 
I think if you are looking at positions you have two positional hierarchies. Setting it up and finishing it.

For setting it up, my top three are:

1) Turtle. Turtle you have both the m'arce as well as gable gripping and breaking a guy back down to side control and going for a standard d'arce. If you chain it together with DoB (D'arce or back) you will be a pretty legit threat from the position.

2) Half guard. From half guard you can effectively hold them in place and they will generally fight for the underhook so you can set it up. However, its really hard to get their arm between your torso and their neck, making it a bad place to finish.

3) Side control. You have the spin to d'arce where you trap their arm and force it, as well as setting it up off of KoB. You can also give them the underhook and also force turtle from here.

Finishing positions:

1) Mount. If you get to mount with the d'arce, its over. Even if it isn't perfectly set up, its over. The angle is too dominating and the pressure is just crushing.

2) Bottom turtle. (m'arce) Probably the cleanest way to finish a d'arce, in that it cranks the neck the least and chokes the most cleanly. It can take awhile to run someone down as they will run away, but it will finish them.

3) Guard. Oftentimes as you go to mount against a strong guy, they will bridge and you end up on bottom. Guard has the same angle as finishing from mount, just not the same pressure. I don't think you should ever pull guard to finish the d'arce, but it is a strong position if they force you there
 
Also from some advice I got from our Black Belt instructor I've stopped lifting so much in the shoulder area to stop bulking and start building flexibility. I've never had a bulky frame or lanky frame, 5'11 180lbs just pretty average.

But since building that flexibility in my shoulders I find recently My guillotines and Darce chokes are able to be applied deeper and from more difficult angles.

Just keep training man, and have fun
 
Your d'arce chokes got better because you're a beginner and the learning curve is super fast right now, not because of some really dumb advice on not lifting your shoulder area.
 
I'm having a really hard time visualizing a mounted d'arce. I always thought your chest had to be perpendicular to your opponent's chest. What am I missing?
 
You lock up the d'arce, then step to mount. It'll turn their neck into the choke.
 
^Which makes it really, really tight. If you step over to mount, squeeze, and don't get the finish, there's a really good chance that you're missing something important and fundamental. It's my favorite finish. It's a bit simpler than the sit through/Marce finish and just as devastating in my opinion.
 
Drew Foster said:
When you shoot your arm don't shoot it too shallow or too deep. use the "rule of thumb" and shoot deep enough so when you make a thumbs-up it lines up flush against the back of his neck. Deeper and it's a neck crank, shallower and it's going to crush your fingers and make your grip slip. With the grip at this proper depth, the sharp part of your forearm should align perfectly with his artery.
Click to expand...

Word. This is also very important, too many people teach it going too deep, causing you to choke him with the meatier part of your arm, and preventing you from extracting your shoulder to bring it on top of his.
 
Re: mounted d'arce, gotcha, good stuff. I guess I wasn't paying attention and thought you guys were talking about hitting it FROM mount.
 
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