25/03/2019 - Teaching | Back | Turtle escape, post and tip

Teaching #847
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 25/03/2019

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To escape the turtle position, your main options generally involve turning back to guard. If they leave enough space, you may be able to do a tight roll over your shoulder to swing your legs back into play. However, with a more experienced opponent, they will often be able to anticipate your roll and move around the side control. Alternatively, you can try turning the other way, again timing it for when they give you some space.

Another option for when they are on your side starts by stepping your near side leg behind them. Cut your other knee in front, just past their knee. Block their other leg by grabbing it, then turn underneath. If they are smaller than you or the same size, you may be able to roll them right over and get side control. If not, then guard recovery should be possible, at the very least half guard.

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Should they make the mistake of reaching deep with their arm, you have a simple method to get on top. Trap their elbow by bringing your same side arm back and wrapping it tight. Look away, kick back your same side leg and roll through, getting your weight up onto them. In wrestling, this is apparently called a 'Peterson roll'.
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Teaching Notes: How important is it to emphasise you can use this as a guard recovery too, if they're big? Also possible to combine it with simply turning as they move around, or should that be in a separate lesson?

28/11/2016 - Teaching | Back | Turtle Escape

Teaching #600
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 28/11/2016

A video posted by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Nov 30, 2016 at 3:19am PST

To escape the turtle position, your main options generally involve turning back to guard. If they leave enough space, you may be able to do a tight roll over your shoulder to swing your legs back into play. However, with a more experienced opponent, they will often be able to anticipate your roll and move around the side control.

Another option for when they are on your side starts by stepping your near side leg behind them. Cut your other knee in front, just past their knee. Block their other leg by grabbing it, then turn underneath. If they are smaller than you or the same size, you may be able to roll them right over and get side control. If not, then guard recovery should be possible, at the very least half guard.

Should they make the mistake of reaching deep with their arm, you have a simple method to get on top. Trap their elbow by bringing your same side arm back and wrapping it tight. Look away, kick back your same side leg and roll through, getting your weight up onto them. In wrestling, this is apparently called a 'Peterson roll'.

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Teaching Notes: Main thing is does the arm across put you at risk of crucifixes? I think if you don't have it too low, you should be ok, keeping it more by the hip. Interestingly, Milka said the Peterson roll put her arm in a painful position, so I'll have to watch out for that. Shouldn't hurt, I'll have to video her when she next does it to check her placement.

16/11/2015 - Teaching | The Back | Turtle Escape

Teaching #422
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 16/11/2015

To escape the turtle position, your main options generally involve turning back to guard. If they leave enough space, you may be able to do a tight roll over your shoulder to swing your legs back into play. However, with a more experienced opponent, they will often be able to anticipate your roll and move around the side control.

Another option for when they are on your side starts by stepping your near side leg behind them. Cut your other knee in front, just past their knee. Block their other leg by grabbing it, then turn underneath. If they are smaller than you or the same size, you may be able to roll them right over and get side control. If not, then guard recovery should be possible, at the very least half guard.

Should they make the mistake of reaching deep with their arm, you have a simple method to get on top. Trap their elbow by bringing your same side arm back and wrapping it tight. Look away, kick back your same side leg and roll through, getting your weight up onto them. In wrestling, this is apparently called a 'Peterson roll'.
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Teaching Notes: I didn't go into detail on the Peterson roll, so I'll do that next time. I also mentioned the tip from Tom Barlow, where you hook your feet over/under theirs, though I need more time to play with that before I do a full class on it. I was a bit uncertain about the leg you step behind, as I'm not sure if that open you up for any attacks (like a rolling knee bar) or escapes. Seemed to work ok, but I'll keep testing.

29/09/2014 - Teaching | The Back | Turtle Wing Escape (Leg)

Teaching #202
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 29/09/2014

Last time, we looked at escaping when they're attacking your turtle from the front. If they are moving to the side from behind you, then a different turtle escape comes into play. The idea is similar, but this time rather than blocking their hip with your arm, you're going to use your leg. Place your instep/shin by their opposite hip: it will be the near side hip for whichever side they're moving towards (i.e., if they're moving to your right, use your right leg to hook their opposite hip). Though you don't have to wait for them to move to your side, as you can move into this position if they're directly behind you too.

Once you have that foot in place, you have two options. The simple version is to swivel underneath, towards the side they're trying to reach, putting you right into a strong open guard. Your knee will already be in place to block them and provide some distance control, then you can back that up by framing your arms and bringing your other leg to bear. The more complex option is a bit higher risk, but you get higher potential reward.

This time, grab their trouser leg on the inside, reaching through your own legs (this is key: if you don't get that grip, they can avoid this technique fairly easily). You can then swing your non-hooking leg over the top, so swivelling in the other direction compared to the previous guard recovery. That ends up potentially putting them right into your triangle, but on the downside if you mess it up, they're now in a good spot to pass.
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Teaching Notes: This one was a little trickier than the arm wing from last week, though the principle is much the same. I'm not sure which leg is best to grab on the second method: we experimented with both, but I'll keep playing with that. Although personally I still don't tend to use it as much when sparring, as I prefer the lazier strategy of waiting for an opening, then spinning into it.

Next time we go through turtle, I might teach a really basic class, showing how to stay tight, look for space and then exploit it (e.g., rolling over your shoulder, swivelling into half guard, etc). This will be the last class on the back for a while, as October starts on Wednesday, when the position of the month will be the mount. Should work well, as we started at our new second location in Kingswood on Thursday, where I'd be expecting most of the people there will be beginners. So, perfect time to review the basics of mount. :)

24/09/2014 - Teaching | The Back | Turtle Wing Escape

Teaching #201
Artemis BJJ (Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 24/09/2014

Essentially, as they try to move to your side from the front of your turtle, all you do is stick out an arm (your 'wing') on that side, thumb pointing down. Hold it around the level of their hip and don't straighten it. That motion reminds me a bit of how Braulio finishes his running escape, though for this turtle escape, your 'wing' is considerably lower. Also, don't try to wrap up their leg with that arm, keep it straight. By this point, they're already by your side, so single leg attempts etc will likely just put your arm in danger of getting attacked.

That outstretched arm acts as a barrier, preventing them from establishing hip-to-hip contact. As with side control as various other positions, if they can't get their hip next to yours (or alternatively, a knee/elbow/hand by your hip), it considerably reduces their control. You can then do the same motion as in that earlier drill, bringing your leg through to establish a hook. Even better, your arm is already in place to immediately become an underhook, meaning you move right into a strong half guard.
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Teaching Notes: The main things to emphasise next time are keeping that arm straight, as it is hard to overcome the natural tendency to try and grab the leg as they move around to your side. I thought about adding in the second part of the technique, where you use your leg to counter them as they move from behind you, but I'll save that for next week.

I was super-pleased that there were two women in the class, coming over from the women's class directly before. The main reason I set up a women's class was to provide beginners with an access route into the mixed classes (as per Chrissy's sensible advice: this is how she ran her women's classes too), so hopefully this is the start of a trend. The more women there are in the mixed class, the easier the transition from the women's class. :)

Of course, one of those women was not a beginner, she's a three-stripe purple belt. Which was cool in a whole other way, as firstly it is always brilliant to have high-level visitors, secondly she's a perfect training partner for me, as Rachael is around the same size and more experienced. Yay! I've followed her blog for a few years now: you can check it out here.

We're shifting into mount next week, after a final class on the back on Wednesday. Also next week, we're making an exciting move from our current Staple Hill venue (no change at the original Artemis BJJ location in Bristol Sports Centre, where we've been since the beginning) to Dean's new place in Kingswood: the times at Kingswood will be exactly the same as the current Staple Hill times. I'll be putting up full details on the website once we switch, but I am fairly sure it will be from Thursday 2nd October. I'll check tomorrow at the Staple Hill venue to clarify. :)

Update: Matt Freedman put up a helpful comment, featuring two videos that show a variation of this defence. The difference is they put you on top: I like the sound of that, as I'm much happier on top. Something to try next time, and interesting in the context of Chris' question about single legs and the like.