10 September 2014

10/09/2014 - Teaching | The Back | Crucifix Single Collar Choke

Teaching #195
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/09/2014

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Tonight I went with another choke from the crucifix. It begins in a very similar way to yesterday's class, but this time you use the gi so the finish is slightly different.

Starting from the side ride, dig your near knee next to their hip. You're aiming to shove that as deep as you can behind their arm. Once it is in deep, flare the knee out towards you, which should make their arm available for your other heel to hook. Drag it back over your other leg and use your legs to lock that arm in place. At this point, you've already got a bunch of attacks available to you, but we want to get them face-up.

You'll probably be grabbing their wrist, their bicep, their sleeve or something else with your arm on the near side. With your other arm, reach under their far armpit and grab their shoulder. They could trap your elbow and try to roll you at this point, but that puts you where you want to be anyway. In the likely event they aren't foolish enough to do that, you have a few entries to the face-up crucifix available to you.

The one I prefer is from the Dave Jacobs seminar. Walk your feet back towards their bum, staying low and tight. Keep walking until you roll over their leg, putting them face-up. As you move into that position, make sure that your far arm is hooking back behind your head: otherwise, they can wriggle their arm free without too much trouble, enabling them to turn and escape. You can also begin to establish your grip mid-roll, reaching for the collar with your free arm.

You don't want their weight too far on top of you, as again that can help them escape: if that happens, shrimp your hips slightly to bring them down again. However, you don't want them to slip too far down to the mat, as there's another escape they can do in that situation. So, if they're too far down, scoop under them to prevent that escape.

You're now ready for the choke, which is nice and simple. With your free arm, reach around their neck and get a deep grip on their collar. Pull that around the neck as you would in a bow and arrow choke, getting additional leverage due to the way you've trapped their arm with your non-choking hand. For another boost of leverage, Aesopian's tip from Mastering the Crucifix is handy: bring their weight slightly onto you and bridge up into them.
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Teaching Notes: Not too much to add in, except I could perhaps talk more about getting your free arm into place as you transition. Teaching the crucifix has gone well so far and proved to be a good test of the instructionals I'm reviewing at the moment (or at least, two of them, as I haven't finished watching the third one for Nic Gregoriades and Kit Dale, or indeed the fourth one from Roy Dean. Lots in the pipeline at the moment!) I could potentially repeat a lesson on Monday, depending on who shows up, but I'd like to give the reverse omoplata a try.

I would never normally teach something like that, but a central pillar of Mastering the Crucifix - and Aesopian's online output generally over the last decade - is that the reverse omoplata can be effectively picked up and used by beginners. I'll make sure to test it out on a beginner at open mat first. Either way, I'm curious to see how it goes. It's also a handy option when they've curled their arm back in the crucifix, IIRC.

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