Fundamentals – Sunday 27th April
Tonight we looked at the four basic arm-bars
- arm-bar from mount
- near arm-bar from side control
- far arm-bar from side control
- arm-bar from guard
Arm-bar from Mount
- take mount, use your chest to smother your opponent
- let them push you away (you want them to do this)
If you’re attacking their left arm:
You want to apply most of your weight to their chest, arms straight, palms down.
- right arm goes around the top of their left arm
- left arm goes through the middle
Think “CPR” – no mouth to mouth though please.
Keeping your weight on their chest
- hop up to your feet
- left foot goes next to their right hip; right foot next to their left ear – you’re facing about 45 degrees to the left
- swing your right foot over their head
- “slide down the pole” (i.e. their arm) to sit at 90 degrees to your opponent
- claim their arm to your chest
- squeeze your knees
- lie back slowly to get the tap
As you get more confident, leave out the intermediate step of hopping up. Apply your weight through your hands to balance yourself as you swing your legs round.
This clip (setup#1), although slightly different, covers most of the essential points above.
Near Arm-bar from Side Control
Starting position: (on your opponent’s right side for this example)
- Apply your weight chest-to-chest on your opponent, lying at 90 degrees
- Left-arm controls your opponents left arm
- Right hand is blocking their hip
To set up the arm-bar:
- Left hand grabs opponent’s right arm at the elbow (tricep if no-gi)
- Right hand makes a fist and plants near opponent’s hip on their left side
- Push-up to knee-ride
Key points for knee ride
- pull their arm up high to turn them left, creating space under their shoulder for you to sit in
- drive your right hip forward – this puts more weight on your knee and raises your torso higher, helping lift their arm high
Step over their head with your left foot
- claim their arm to your chest
- sit down close – under their shoulder ideally
- squeeze your knees
- lie back for the tap
Far Arm-bar from Side Control
Starting from knee-ride, your opponent pushes on your knee with their left hand to try and shift your weight. This creates a space between their arm and ribs.
- reach your right hand into the space created and cup their upper arm at the tricep
- pull their arm toward you, turning them onto their right side*
- step your left leg over into the space created at the small of their back
- spin round to face the direction you came from
- claim their arm to your chest**
- sit down
- squeeze your knees
- lie back for the tap
*You’ll have to step back slightly with your knee-ride leg to allow them to be turned to create space
** For an arm-bar that’s harder to escape from, claim their arm with your right, and grab their left leg with your left
Arm-bar from Closed Guard
- control your opponent’s right wrist with your left hand – either grab the gi or hold the wrist, palm down
- bring your right arm across to grab their left tricep – for this grip, your little finger is pointing up and your arm forms an ’s’ shape
- uncross your ankles
- slide your left knee toward you so your left foot rests on your opponent’s right hip*
Now you have the arm isolated:
- sit up
- push off your left foot and turn your torso to the right, as close to 90 degrees as you can get
- simultaneously use your right leg to cut left across their shoulders
- bring your left leg over their head, squeeze your knees together
- point your toes up, pull your heels down to your butt
- slowly raise your hips to pressure the elbow for the tap
*slide it close to their ribs and into the back of their tricep, stopping them from pulling their arm free
Drill
Put it altogether:
- Mount up, partner pushes you away, arm-bar
- side control, push up to knee-ride, near arm-bar
- knee-ride, partner pushes the knee, far arm-bar
- partner escapes into your guard, claim the arm, arm-bar
- repeat and then trade places
