03/08/2022 - Teaching | Half guard | Basic maintaining & back take

Teaching #Evening
Artemis BJJ (7 Easton Rd), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/08/2022

Short Version:

• Wrap one leg behind theirs, putting your shin behind the knee of your outside leg
• Use that 'kickstand' to get on your side, blocking their crossface with either a 'paw' or facepalm
• Drive your elbow to their armpit, rotating your arm around their back
• Fire that arm into their armpit and kick to scoot down, shucking their arm
• Come up on your elbow and knee, bring your leg over, then secure the back with a seatbelt grip

Full Version: In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.



Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.



For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

After you've controlled a leg, got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Almost a decade ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw by swimming their arm around, bring your underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second: this is what Reiland calls the 'double-paw' (as he says in the video, it's an approach he learned from SBG black belt John Frankl).

Similarly, if they manage to underhook your underhook, bring that arm over for a double-paw (this is also applicable from the start, if you're framing against their neck), then work to recover your underhook. Keep in mind with the double-paw that you need to make sure you don't leave space under your elbow. Otherwise, as Reiland demonstrates, they can they go for a brabo choke. Get the elbow of your top double-pawing arm to their nearest armpit, as that makes it easier to circle your arm around to their back.



To take the back, fire your underhooking arm up into their armpit. You're trying to knock them forwards, while simultaneously scooting your body down towards their legs. At that point, pull your 'paw' arm back, so that you can base on that elbow, swiftly pushing up onto the hand. That should give you the balance to reach around to their lat with what was your underhooking arm. For further control, swing your leg over their back too. Establish a hook by digging your heel inside their knee. Finally, get a seatbelt grip (one arm under their armpit, the other over their shoulder, locking your hands together) and roll towards your non-hooking foot for standard back control.

To help with the back take, it is a good idea to tweak out their leg before you swivel up. Your outside leg steps over and drags their leg out. This disrupts their base, making it much easier to go to their back. It can also lead to the easier to control back position where you have brought them down to the mat, rather than leaping onto their turtle (which feels inherently less stable).
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Teaching Notes: Fairly happy with this at the moment. I think it is of use mentioning you can generate extra momentum with that kick, but that it isn't always necessary. Also worth noting that knee shield makes a big difference, but that we'll cover that in a future lesson as it's important to learn the basics first.

02/03/2022 - Teaching | Half Guard | Maintaining, then take the back

Teaching (Evening)
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 02/03/2022

Short Version:

• Wrap one leg behind theirs, putting your shin behind the knee of your outside leg
• Use that 'kickstand' to get on your side, blocking their crossface with either a 'paw' or facepalm
• Drive your elbow to their armpit, rotating your arm around their back
• Fire that arm into their armpit and kick to scoot down, shucking their arm
• Come up on your elbow and knee, bring your leg over, then secure the back with a seatbelt grip

Full Version: In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.


Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.



For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

After you've controlled a leg, got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Almost a decade ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw by swimming their arm around, bring your underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second: this is what Reiland calls the 'double-paw' (as he says in the video, it's an approach he learned from SBG black belt John Frankl).

Similarly, if they manage to underhook your underhook, bring that arm over for a double-paw (this is also applicable from the start, if you're framing against their neck), then work to recover your underhook. Keep in mind with the double-paw that you need to make sure you don't leave space under your elbow. Otherwise, as Reiland demonstrates, they can they go for a brabo choke. Get the elbow of your top double-pawing arm to their nearest armpit, as that makes it easier to circle your arm around to their back.



To take the back, fire your underhooking arm up into their armpit. You're trying to knock them forwards, while simultaneously scooting your body down towards their legs. At that point, pull your 'paw' arm back, so that you can base on that elbow, swiftly pushing up onto the hand. That should give you the balance to reach around to their lat with what was your underhooking arm. For further control, swing your leg over their back too. Establish a hook by digging your heel inside their knee. Finally, get a seatbelt grip (one arm under their armpit, the other over their shoulder, locking your hands together) and roll towards your non-hooking foot for standard back control.

To help with the back take, it is a good idea to tweak out their leg before you swivel up. Your outside leg steps over and drags their leg out. This disrupts their base, making it much easier to go to their back. It can also lead to the easier to control back position where you have brought them down to the mat, rather than leaping onto their turtle (which feels inherently less stable). Similarly, you can drag their leg backwards in order to further disrupt their balance
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Teaching Notes: How important is adding the kick to get that momentum? It's useful, but mostly the leverage comes from that knock into their armpit. Use the dog fight switch I taught a while back (so you're on their leg), then drag their leg back, in order to make it easy to go the mat and bring them into a more standard back positions.

02/08/2021 - Teaching | Half guard | Basic maintaining & back take

Teaching #963
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 02/08/2021

Short Version:

• Wrap one leg behind theirs, putting your shin behind the knee of your outside leg
• Use that 'kickstand' to get on your side, blocking their crossface with either a 'paw' or facepalm
• Drive your elbow to their armpit, rotating your arm around their back
• Fire that arm into their armpit and kick to scoot down, shucking their arm
• Come up on your elbow and knee, bring your leg over, then secure the back with a seatbelt grip

Full Version: In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.



Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.



For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

After you've controlled a leg, got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Almost a decade ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw by swimming their arm around, bring your underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second: this is what Reiland calls the 'double-paw' (as he says in the video, it's an approach he learned from SBG black belt John Frankl).

Similarly, if they manage to underhook your underhook, bring that arm over for a double-paw (this is also applicable from the start, if you're framing against their neck), then work to recover your underhook. Keep in mind with the double-paw that you need to make sure you don't leave space under your elbow. Otherwise, as Reiland demonstrates, they can they go for a brabo choke. Get the elbow of your top double-pawing arm to their nearest armpit, as that makes it easier to circle your arm around to their back.



To take the back, fire your underhooking arm up into their armpit. You're trying to knock them forwards, while simultaneously scooting your body down towards their legs. At that point, pull your 'paw' arm back, so that you can base on that elbow, swiftly pushing up onto the hand. That should give you the balance to reach around to their lat with what was your underhooking arm. For further control, swing your leg over their back too. Establish a hook by digging your heel inside their knee. Finally, get a seatbelt grip (one arm under their armpit, the other over their shoulder, locking your hands together) and roll towards your non-hooking foot for standard back control.

To help with the back take, it is a good idea to tweak out their leg before you swivel up. Your outside leg steps over and drags their leg out. This disrupts their base, making it much easier to go to their back. It can also lead to the easier to control back position where you have brought them down to the mat, rather than leaping onto their turtle (which feels inherently less stable).
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Teaching Notes: I copied the text and notes from last time, when I added a back take. This time I just stuck with basics, but adding the back take makes sense because it is easy. There is some nuance to it though. E.g., you could use the dog fight switch I taught a while back (so you're on their leg), then drag their leg back, in order to make it easy to go the mat and bring them into a more standard back positions? That leg tweak from Saulo seems very useful, I'll start sticking with that version from now on, I think. Though I'll have to refresh my brain on what that tweak was, hopefully I included it in the vids. ;)

30/12/2019 - Teaching | Half guard | Basic maintenance & guard recovery

Teaching #929
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 30/12/2019


Short Version:

• Bring your outside leg to the inside, hooking in tight
• Curl in towards their knee, prying it out with your elbow
• Pop your knee through, pushing off their thigh with your shin
• Wrap their arm and grab your opposite shoulder, put your free leg over their back
• Shrimp out to free your other leg, recover closed guard

Full Version:
In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.



Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.



For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

For guard recovery, an inside hook is preferable: step your outside leg over, to hook their leg. Your other leg should not by locking, but squeeze your thighs to maintain control. After you've controlled their leg, got the underhook (though for the guard recovery, an underhook isn't essential) and onto your side, you want to block their arms.



There are numerous options for this, but for guard recovery, I like to use an option I learned from Braulio Estima. I can't remember his name for it, but I call it the facepalm, or the Captain Picard (I LOVE Star Trek ;D). Put simply, slap yourself in the forehead. Keep your hand there, with your elbows in close. You can do this with one arm, or with both: I will often go with both, though it is useful to get an underhook with an arm if you can. With your facepalm shield in place, 'dig' with your elbows to get to their knee.

Pry that knee with your elbow, sliding your same side shin onto their thigh. Square back up. At this point, they will probably be trying to push your knee down to recover their top position. Underhook their arm, just above the elbow, then lock their arm in place by grabbing your opposite shoulder. Your opposite leg goes on their back, then shrimp out until your can free your elbow-prying side leg. Now you can establish closed guard.

You can also try framing to move into sitting guard. Simply sit up, framing with your arm into their collar bone. From there they will often forget to keep their legs tight, meaning you can move right into open guard. If you wanted, you could then recover closed guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 18, 2018 at 11:40pm PDT

If they attempt to duck their head under as you try to frame, adjust your arm to push against their head instead. That should give you enough time to reach a stable position to continue the switch into sitting guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 19, 2018 at 11:01pm PDT

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Teaching Notes: All good, nothing to add really. I ran through all the leg positions quickly, along with arm variations, including how you could move to open guard too. Seems to work pretty well. Only change, I guess be sure to do this early in the month, whereas I did it at the end. Though that's because we had a heavy focus on knee shield this time around.

17/07/2019 - Teaching | Dogfight | Drive down and roll under sweep

Teaching #889
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 17/07/2019

Although this is a position I'm teaching as part of half guard, you could potentially end up here from various routes. For example, it might be that you are defending a knee cut pass and swivel up, or perhaps even somehow end up there when attacking the turtle. Most of the time, it crops up in half guard, either from a standard half guard, knee shield or quarter guard.

However you arrive at the dogfight (side by side turtle with an underhook, plus you have their leg hooked), there are several solid options to arrive at a better position. If they haven't got a whizzer (overhooked your underhook), you can simply throw your elbow forward to take their back. If they do have a whizzer but it's loose, you can relax your arm and whip it free (known as a 'limp arm'). Most of the time, the whizzer will be too solid for that, particularly with the added friction of a gi.



The simplest option against a strong whizzer is to drive them down to the mat. Grab their far knee and push into them, collapsing their base. From there, move behind them. I like Kenny Polman's method where you put your shin behind their leg (below the knee) and do a big step forward. You can also grip the side of their knee and put your weight through it to pin that in place, or grab behind with your leg.

Should they insist on holding onto the whizzer at this point, it's not going to do them any good. You can simply wait it out or apply a little pressure to pop the arm off (they won't be comfortable in that position if they insist on holding the whizzer underneath side control).

If you've gone for the drive down, but they resist, then the follow up is to roll underneath. Maintain your hook on the leg, as that will mean you can engage your legs, rather than relying on your core to roll them over the top. You're aiming to fire your head and shoulder between their legs, Combined with the momentum of their drive towards you, that should send them rolling to the mat. Come on top, then proceed to side control as before.



Sometimes they will remove their whizzer to post, in order to prevent being rolled. The reason you went for the drive down and roll under in the first place was because the whizzer was blocking your route to the back. Therefore whenever they remove it, the back is open once again. That means you can just return to the back take when they try to post, shoving the arm forwards if you need to.
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Teaching Notes: A few people were curious about what happens when they still have the whizzer: I don't think it does any good, so I'd say just wait it out or apply some pressure to pop it off. Still, worth mentioning.

15/07/2019 - Teaching | Quarter Guard | Dogfight to the back

Teaching #888
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 15/07/2019



As they either start to free themselves from your half guard, or possibly they are just going for a knee cut and are most of the way through, hook the bottom of their leg. You can get this tighter by bringing your top leg under theirs. In other words, your outside leg goes over, then you hook underneath their leg, your knee to the ground. If you can, try for a 'mini lockdown' by also hooking your other leg under their foot, but this isn't always viable (depends on your leg length relative to theirs).

You are now in what's called quarter guard, as you've basically got half of half guard (the bottom part of their leg, as opposed to above the knee, which is much more secure). Heather Raftery taught an excellent lesson on this at the 2018 Heidelcamp (you'll see me pop up behind her during the teaching ;D), which I've been drawing on for when I teach quarter guard.



You must get the underhook, or you will get passed. Swivel to your knees, into the dogfight position (essentially, side by side turtle with a leg hooked). The simple option is to shuck their arm forward, popping out to attack their turtle. To fully take their back, you can move your knee forward, chop it into their knee and roll.

You've got a few other options too, which I'll to cover in future classes: e.g., driving them down by grabbing the knee, or you can also roll under (like you do against a whizzer). If their whizzer is weak, you may be able to 'limp arm' it free: in other words, fully relax your arm and then whip it free. With a proper whizzer, particularly in the gi, the friction will make that difficult.


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Teaching Notes: The main part people got confused on was leg position. I'll keep emphasising that, go through it a few more times. Hooking over and under, ideally mini lockdown if leg length allows. Also, it might be worth talking a moment about what a whizzer is, as the uke doesn't always immediately recognise it when I say.

Somebody on instagram was also asking about headlocks when you're coming up to the dogfight from quarter guard, so that might be worth considering. Hasn't cropped up in sparring yet, but I'll keep an eye out. I guess you'd want to stay on your side, posting solidly with an elbow/hand, plus making sure your head is in tight to their body.

10/07/2019 - Teaching | Half Guard | Knee shield to dogfight

Teaching #886
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/07/2019



The knee shield is a very useful tool for managing distance. From half guard, adjust so you can put your top knee right onto their hip bone. This is enough to prevent them driving forward, plus importantly it also means that even if (like me) you're short, you can still keep your ankles crossed. Due to the distance, you can simply block their wrist to prevent the cross face, rather than keeping your arms in closer: they can't crush in, so you have much more space than usual.

That position is good for maintaining the half guard, but to progress, you will generally want to bring your knee shield up high. Put your knee up by their chest, buttressed by your arm: like I mentioned already, be aware that it will be hard or even impossible to cross your ankles, so there is that opening in your legs, be aware of it. In terms of your arm placement, there are two main options. If you put your elbow inside your knee, that makes it tough for them to crush your knee down to start their pass. Alternatively, you could put your elbow on the outside of the knee. That means you can reach across with your hand to their other shoulder, creating a frame comparable to the solid defensive frame from under side control.



For the back take, it's probably easiest to put your elbow on the inside, but that's just my personal preference. Open up your knee shield slightly, to create a gap by their armpit. Into that gap, reach your hand through too. As you do, kick forwards. The momentum of the kick - combined with the sudden departure of resistance to their own weight and forward pressure - should enable you to 'dive' through that gap for the underhook, swivelling through to take the back.

This does depend on how savvy they are. If they don't put in any kind of whizzer (aka, overhooking your underhooking arm), then your route to the back is simple. Just spin through and go for the back take. For a more secure route, adjust your leg position first. You're going to bring your outside leg over, hooking their leg. Try to slide your leg underneath, for a stronger grip. You can then swivel to your knees, putting you in the dogfight position. From there, you can still take the back as before, if they don't whizzer, but you're prepared if they do whizzer.



Once you're in the dogfight, you open up a broader sequence. That starts with a back take, against no whizzer. Against a weak whizzer, you can 'limp arm', relaxing your arm and whipping it free. Versus a decent whizzer, you can try and drive forwards to knock them down, then if they resist that, you can roll underneath. I'll be going through those options in future lessons.



Xande has some nice tweaks from BJJ Library on the standard knee-in-hip version, where your knee is much lower. He comes up on his elbow (reminiscent of Ryan Hall's sitting guard approach, stiff arming into their collar bone too), then moves into a 'bodylock', scooting in after he gets the underhook and locks both his hands around their back. From there he can use that bodylock to help adjust round to the back.

To finish off this post, here's a summary video of the knee shield into dogfight:



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Teaching Notes: Make sure to come up on the elbow. After you get the underhook, make sure you get in close, so ear to their chest. Keep the knee shield leg tight to them.

08/07/2019 - Teaching | Half Guard | Maintaining & Back Take

Teaching #885
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 08/07/2019

Short Version:

• Wrap one leg behind theirs, putting your shin behind the knee of your outside leg
• Use that 'kickstand' to get on your side, blocking their crossface with either a 'paw' or facepalm
• Drive your elbow to their armpit, rotating your arm around their back
• Fire that arm into their armpit and kick to scoot down, shucking their arm
• Come up on your elbow and knee, bring your leg over, then secure the back with a seatbelt grip

Full Version: In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.



Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.



For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

After you've controlled a leg, got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Almost a decade ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw by swimming their arm around, bring your underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second: this is what Reiland calls the 'double-paw' (as he says in the video, it's an approach he learned from SBG black belt John Frankl).

Similarly, if they manage to underhook your underhook, bring that arm over for a double-paw (this is also applicable from the start, if you're framing against their neck), then work to recover your underhook. Keep in mind with the double-paw that you need to make sure you don't leave space under your elbow. Otherwise, as Reiland demonstrates, they can they go for a brabo choke. Get the elbow of your top double-pawing arm to their nearest armpit, as that makes it easier to circle your arm around to their back.



To take the back, fire your underhooking arm up into their armpit. You're trying to knock them forwards, while simultaneously scooting your body down towards their legs. At that point, pull your 'paw' arm back, so that you can base on that elbow, swiftly pushing up onto the hand. That should give you the balance to reach around to their lat with what was your underhooking arm. For further control, swing your leg over their back too. Establish a hook by digging your heel inside their knee. Finally, get a seatbelt grip (one arm under their armpit, the other over their shoulder, locking your hands together) and roll towards your non-hooking foot for standard back control.

To help with the back take, it is a good idea to tweak out their leg before you swivel up. Your outside leg steps over and drags their leg out. This disrupts their base, making it much easier to go to their back. It can also lead to the easier to control back position where you have brought them down to the mat, rather than leaping onto their turtle (which feels inherently less stable).
______________________
Teaching Notes: Dog fight switch and then drag their leg back, in order to make it easy to to the mat and bring them into a more standard back positions? That leg tweak from Saulo seems very useful, I'll start sticking with that version from now on, I think.

03/07/2019 - Teaching | Half Guard | Maintaining & Guard Recovery

Teaching #885
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/07/2019

Short Version:

• Bring your outside leg to the inside, hooking in tight
• Curl in towards their knee, prying it out with your elbow
• Pop your knee through, pushing off their thigh with your shin
• Wrap their arm and grab your opposite shoulder, put your free leg over their back
• Shrimp out to free your other leg, recover closed guard

Full Version:
In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.



Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.



For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

For guard recovery, an inside hook is preferable: step your outside leg over, to hook their leg. Your other leg should not by locking, but squeeze your thighs to maintain control. After you've controlled their leg, got the underhook (though for the guard recovery, an underhook isn't essential) and onto your side, you want to block their arms.



There are numerous options for this, but for guard recovery, I like to use an option I learned from Braulio Estima. I can't remember his name for it, but I call it the facepalm, or the Captain Picard (I LOVE Star Trek ;D). Put simply, slap yourself in the forehead. Keep your hand there, with your elbows in close. You can do this with one arm, or with both: I will often go with both, though it is useful to get an underhook with an arm if you can. With your facepalm shield in place, 'dig' with your elbows to get to their knee.

Pry that knee with your elbow, sliding your same side shin onto their thigh. Square back up. At this point, they will probably be trying to push your knee down to recover their top position. Underhook their arm, just above the elbow, then lock their arm in place by grabbing your opposite shoulder. Your opposite leg goes on their back, then shrimp out until your can free your elbow-prying side leg. Now you can establish closed guard.

You can also try framing to move into sitting guard. Simply sit up, framing with your arm into their collar bone. From there they will often forget to keep their legs tight, meaning you can move right into open guard. If you wanted, you could then recover closed guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 18, 2018 at 11:40pm PDT

If they attempt to duck their head under as you try to frame, adjust your arm to push against their head instead. That should give you enough time to reach a stable position to continue the switch into sitting guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 19, 2018 at 11:01pm PDT

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Teaching Notes: Tuck head in, don't leave space by forearm shield for them to swim in cross-facing arm. Also, great turnout for the women's class, 10 women! Yay! I've said it before, but the fact that a third of the Artemis BJJ membership is made up of women makes me very proud. :D

12/12/2018 - Teaching | Quarter Guard | Take the back

Teaching #824
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 12/12/2018

As they either start to free themselves from your half guard, or possibly they are just going for a knee cut and are most of the way through, hook the bottom of their leg. You can get this tighter by bringing your top leg under theirs. You must get the underhook, or you will get passed. Swivel to your knees, into the dogfight position (essentially, side by side turtle with a leg hooked).

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A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jan 9, 2019 at 11:03pm PST

The simple option is to shuck their arm forward, popping out to attack their turtle. To fully take their back, you can move your knee forward, cut it into them and roll. You've got a few other options too, which I want to cover in future classes: e.g., driving them down by grabbing the knee, or you can also roll under (like you do against a whizzer). It's all in Heather Raftery's awesome class, which is where I learned all this.
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Teaching Notes: Next time, I want to remember to add tweaking the knee when you've got to the dogfight, which further helps break their posture. However, also important to emphasise that you need to be careful with that, the knee is vulnerable. A few people had trouble hooking their leg underneath - I guess it isn't totally essential, as long as you can swivel to your knees. I do think it's stronger than the standard kickstand though, so will keep showing it as the preferred leg position in quarter guard.

05/12/2018 - Teaching | Half Guard | Maintaining & Guard Recovery

Teaching #820
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 05/12/2018

Short Version:

• Bring your outside leg to the inside, hooking in tight
• Curl in towards their knee, prying it out with your elbow
• Pop your knee through, pushing off their thigh with your shin
• Wrap their arm and grab your opposite shoulder, put your free leg over their back
• Shrimp out to free your other leg, recover closed guard

Full Version:
In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.

Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 14, 2018 at 10:10pm PDT

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.

For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 17, 2018 at 11:15pm PDT

After you've controlled a leg, got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Almost a decade ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw by swimming their arm around, bring your underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second: this is what Reiland calls the 'double-paw' (as he says in the video, it's an approach he learned from SBG black belt John Frankl).

You can also try framing to move into sitting guard. Simply sit up, framing with your arm into their collar bone. From there they will often forget to keep their legs tight, meaning you can move right into open guard. If you wanted, you could then recover closed guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 18, 2018 at 11:40pm PDT

If they attempt to duck their head under as you try to frame, adjust your arm to push against their head instead. That should give you enough time to reach a stable position to continue the switch into sitting guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 19, 2018 at 11:01pm PDT

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Teaching Notes: Probably too basic, unless it is the Monday fundamentals class. So, worth adding in that simple method of getting to sitting guard instead. I taught those as separate techniques last time, but I'll try doing it in the one lesson next time. I do still want more practice with it though, to see how viable it is. Rolling with Matt H from half guard would sort it, he's probably the best half guard guy at the club.

I have been playing a bunch with the sitting guard switch: sparring with Josh a while back meant I added in switching from a collar grip to directly pushing your hand on their head if they try to duck under. That duck under is a common defence, I am trying out the head push as a quick back-up when that happens. I also want to play with the loop choke from there more too, but it is still too windpipe-y for my liking at the moment. :)

03/12/2018 - Teaching | Half Guard | Maintaining & Back Take

Teaching #819
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 03/12/2018

Short Version:

• Wrap one leg behind theirs, putting your shin behind the knee of your outside leg
• Use that 'kickstand' to get on your side, blocking their crossface with either a 'paw' or facepalm
• Drive your elbow to their armpit, rotating your arm around their back
• Fire that arm into their armpit and kick to scoot down, shucking their arm
• Come up on your elbow and knee, bring your leg over, then secure the back with a seatbelt grip

Full Version: In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.

Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 10, 2018 at 6:52pm PDT

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.

For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 11, 2018 at 10:32pm PDT

After you've controlled a leg, got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Almost a decade ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw by swimming their arm around, bring your underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second: this is what Reiland calls the 'double-paw' (as he says in the video, it's an approach he learned from SBG black belt John Frankl).

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 12, 2018 at 11:07pm PDT

Similarly, if they manage to underhook your underhook, bring that arm over for a double-paw (this is also applicable from the start, if you're framing against their neck), then work to recover your underhook. Keep in mind with the double-paw that you need to make sure you don't leave space under your elbow. Otherwise, as Reiland demonstrates, they can they go for a brabo choke. Get the elbow of your top double-pawing arm to their nearest armpit, as that makes it easier to circle your arm around to their back.

To take the back, fire your underhooking arm up into their armpit. You're trying to knock them forwards, while simultaneously scooting your body down towards their legs. At that point, pull your 'paw' arm back, so that you can base on that elbow, swiftly pushing up onto the hand. That should give you the balance to reach around to their lat with what was your underhooking arm. For further control, swing your leg over their back too. Establish a hook by digging your heel inside their knee. Finally, get a seatbelt grip (one arm under their armpit, the other over their shoulder, locking your hands together) and roll towards your non-hooking foot for standard back control.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 14, 2018 at 12:29am PDT

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Teaching Notes: Mostly ok, except I'd like to have more details to show on finishing the back take. After all, they should have some idea of why it is worth going to the back, which will be tough to emphasise if they can't maintain it at all and slide off. I'll check some more vids before next time, drill that end part some more too. My favourite back take is the shrimping away one, but that's from closed guard where I've got their arm across the body. Not sure it applies in the classic half guard underhook situation? Must think about it more.

For now, I could show that switch to sitting guard along with a whizzer sweep next week. OR, some material from Heather Raftery, as I'm keen to delve into her quarter guard. Videos, videos. ;D

06/06/2018 - Teaching | Half Guard | Guard Recovery

Teaching #784
Artemis BJJ (MYGYM Bristol), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 06/06/2018

Short Version:

• Bring your outside leg to the inside, hooking in tight
• Curl in towards their knee, prying it out with your elbow
• Pop your knee through, pushing off their thigh with your shin
• Wrap their arm and grab your opposite shoulder, put your free leg over their back
• Shrimp out to free your other leg, recover closed guard

Full Version:
In half guard, your first concern is to stop them flattening you out and starting their pass. They are generally going to want to establish an underhook on their trapped leg side, using the other arm to control under your head. In many ways, it is a similar position to standard side control. That will enable them to crush you to the mat, then exert lots of shoulder pressure to kill your mobility. Many of the same attacks from side control can also be viable from here, like an americana.

Naturally, you don't want them to reach that dominant position. Your goal is to get up on your side, with your own underhook around their back, on your trapped leg side. That is one of the main fights you'll have in half guard, so it is essential that you get used to working for that underhook.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 14, 2018 at 10:10pm PDT

If you can get the underhook, that accomplishes two things. First, it prevents them crushing their chest into yours, which would help them flatten you out. Second, it means you can press into their armpit to help disrupt their base, as well as help you get up onto your side. You can use your knee knocking into their bum at the same time to help with this too, as that should bump them forward.

For your leg positioning, the standard half guard is to have the inside leg wrapped around with your foot on the outside. Your other leg triangles over your ankle. This provides you with what SBG refer to as a 'kickstand': that outside leg is useful for bridging and general leverage. It's harder for them to flatten you out if you can resist with that kickstand structure.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 17, 2018 at 11:15pm PDT

After you've controlled a leg, got the underhook and onto your side, you want to block their arms. Almost a decade ago, Indrek Reiland put together an awesome video (made even more awesome by being free) about the fundamentals of half guard. The main principle I use from Reiland is what he calls the 'paw'.

By that, he means hooking your hand around their bicep, just above the elbow. You aren't gripping with your thumb: this is just a block, to prevent them getting a cross-face. Reiland emphasises that preventing that cross-face is the main principle. Therefore, if you can feel they are about to remove your paw by swimming their arm around, bring your underhooking hand through to replace your first paw with a second: this is what Reiland calls the 'double-paw' (as he says in the video, it's an approach he learned from SBG black belt John Frankl).

You can also try framing to move into sitting guard. Simply sit up, framing with your arm into their collar bone. From there they will often forget to keep their legs tight, meaning you can move right into open guard. If you wanted, you could then recover closed guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 18, 2018 at 11:40pm PDT

If they attempt to duck their head under as you try to frame, adjust your arm to push against their head instead. That should give you enough time to reach a stable position to continue the switch into sitting guard.

A post shared by Artemis BJJ (@artemisbjj) on Jun 19, 2018 at 11:01pm PDT

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Teaching Notes: Another one of those lessons where I feel fairly confident that there isn't a whole lot to add. The main thing is to emphasise keeping your hand on your forehead for the facepalm defence, using the length of your arms as a kind of shield against the crossface, while the elbows are for digging to their knee. A number of people were leaving a gap: perhaps it isn't as important as I'm imagining to keep the hand in place, but it seems to me that it would leave a hole in your defence if you do that. Also, you're not anchored in the same way, so less strong.

I covered the class beforehand too as Marcus couldn't make it, where I tested out the Xande option which is a sort of sitting guard frame for half guard. I have been playing a bunch with this recently: sparring with Josh on Monday meant I added in switching from a collar grip to directly pushing your hand on their head if they try to duck under. That duck under is a common defence, I am trying out the head push as a quick back-up when that happens. I also want to play with the loop choke from there more too, but it is still too windpipe-y for my liking at the moment.

Final thing to mention is that I was able to do another after-class promotion tonight, this time old student Lloyd visiting from New Zealand. I've been waiting for him to pop back to the UK for a while, as he was about to be promoted when he originally emigrated over there. Felt good to finally give him his well deserved belt. He had a year's training already before he started with us, and was at the club for over a year too. Great training partner and good attitude, hopefully he'll move back to Bristol some day! ;D