Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 09/11/2016
I went with a mount escape and a guard break today, though I'm not sure it was the best combination. The trap and roll is easy enough, although having said that the variation where you trap it by your head does bring up the issue of hooking their leg. Not as easy as the usual version, because you can't shove it with your elbow due to wrapping that by your head. Still, it's comparatively simple by comparison to passing the guard.
I wanted to emphasise the importance of standing up, as it is something I rarely do due to laziness. Standing to break the guard open provides you with the power of gravity. However, a lot of people initially struggle to stand up (I often forget, until I am teaching a beginner who has never done that before). I'm not especially strong but I don't have an issue with it now: I'm wondering if there is something in the way I'm standing that I should be teaching? Keeping the head up and back straight is part of it, also the positioning of the feet. Maybe also using the hip hand to help, without falling into the trap of using the chest hand (and that makes your posture awkwardly front-loaded)?
On the plus side, I can think of several students who used to really struggle with this and now do it easily, so it might just be a matter of repetition. I do it as a drill in every class downstairs: I'll try doing it more regularly in the women's class warm-up too. I could try teaching the kneeling break first, as that's not as strenuous, but I don't want people to fall into the same lazy pattern I have of avoiding the stand, because trying to break the guard from your knees is so much less effort. ;)
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