20/11/2017 - Teaching | Side Control | N/S Kimura to Armbar

Teaching #727
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 20/11/2017
Short Version:

• You're going for the north south kimura, but they grab their gi/belt
• Maintaining a tight figure four, step your knee up on their hand side
• Swivel to face the side their elbow was pointing, tucking the foot of your raised leg under their side
• Squeeze your knees and staying close to their hips, drop back
• Keep the figure four grip as long as possible, then pull on the wrist and raise your hips

Full Version: If you're having trouble finishing the kimura from north south (most commonly because they have grabbed their gi), you can instead switch to an armbar. Bring your knee up on their trapped arm side. This will enable you to put your whole body into it when you turn towards their other side, which should break their grip. Make sure you keep that figure four grip, as it is about to prove useful. If possible, you also want to try and slip your foot into the armpit of their free arm, which should help prevent their escape attempt.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Nov 21, 2017 at 12:50am PST

Pinch your knees together to control their arm, in what is sometimes called a 'Japanese armbar' position (I'm not sure why: something from Japan, I guess? Or maybe Pancrase? Leave a comment if you know). You don't have both your legs over their body, which means that the hitchhiker escape is a possibility. It's called that because they lead with their thumb pointing the way out, turning their body and walking around. However, because you have that figure-four grip, they can't use it anymore. If they try to turn away, you can just apply the kimura. In order to relieve the pressure, they'll have to turn back. You can then drop to the mat, switching your grip to finish the armbar as normal. Another option is to grab their leg, wrapping underneath it ideally. That will prevent them turning, because they need to swivel that leg down: they can't if your arm is in the way.

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Teaching Notes: This does rather rely on people already knowing the N/S kimura, so I am still wondering if the hopping armbar would be better to teach just in case of beginners. Next time, I should try teaching that in isolation. Then I can say to the more experience people that it also works from the N/S kimura, much the same motion.

Another thing to add is some pointers on the basics of armbars, like squeezing the knees together. Making sure the foot is tucked under is important too for the Japanese armbar, while noting that the 'standard' armbar is much stronger.