Tonight we practice and drilled basic side control escapes. This is an area I sorely needed help and, so tonight was just what I needed. We did a couple escapes, but really spent most the night rolling.

Side Control Escape Notes
  • As soon as I feel myself getting put into side control, I need to get on my side. I have a tendency to let my opponent get his arm on the back of my neck and flattening out. Then I’m stuck.
  • Speaking of getting his arm round the back of my neck, I need to stop focusing on pushing their knees off me and start working at the defending that arm. That arm is what is causing me to not create the space I need to escape. This is where I get caught up the most; I work on pushing their knees away and leave my head completely is exposed. Sooner or later they are able to put enough pressure on my head to clear my knees and they will have me in side control.
  • What I need to do is with my bottom arm push out at the arm that is trying to control my head. This will create additional space and give me room to hip escape. My top arm should be pushing their knee away, or the shoulder away.
  • watching a video from the image that I pulled from the top, Kurt also makes a good point of using your arm to protect the top your head instead of just pushing away. This might be a good spot for my near side arm that is closer to the mat.
  • Coach made a good point that when we are protecting against some of passing, we need at least three points of contact. If we have three points of strong contact, the pass will be more difficult to do. Four points would be the best, making a pass almost impossible. When you drop to two or one point, the past is probably going to happen. When I am getting passed on my back, I’m really only giving two points of contact which is why continue to get passed.
  • Another good point that this protection will actually help with my guard game. This is because I should not be scared to attack from guard because I know even if someone is starting to pass me, I should be able to get my guard back. It’s really good advice

Live Rolling Notes
  • I was caught a Kimora as I was passing someone’s guard. I left my entire arm on the mat as I was working the past the legs, and the person shrimped in and tied me up. He then just roll over and I rolled with him, where he was able to finish the submission. I still trying to figure out how that happened, as I don’t think that is a very viable move normally.
  • I’m going to have a question around what I should do when I have an opponent heavier than me completely tied up in my full guard. I feel like even if I have their arms trapped, I cannot get enough momentum to get them rolled over. If there’s any type of base on their knees, it is too much for me to roll them. What I will try next time I’m rolling is if I have them tied up getting one leg down and kicking out one of their knees before rolling them over. I just seem to have a problem with that because my legs are so long, and they’re usually crowding me.
  • I completed a pretty good triangle today from opponent where I baited them to attack me. I had one leg down and away from their arm, and when they attacked me I threw it up and lock it in. Boom.