Kamikaze Half Crush Broken Down!

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First off, I must say that there are some techniques in Brazilian Ju Jitsu that have some very wild names. This is certainly one of them. In this post, we’ll be taking a closer look at the Kamikaze Half Crush. The half crush capitalizes on the situation where your opponent might happen to be on their back and you happen to be in a dominant position relative to them.

Diving head first into the Half Crush.

With your opponent on their back, begin by flattening yourself out onto your opponent’s torso and acquiring your side control. This basic, rudimentary step ensures that you will have an effective control over your opponent from the very beginning. Doing so will have a large effect on neutralizing any attempts by your opponent to use their arms or knees against you at this time.

Then, roll to one side so your back is to your opponent’s face and the side of your body is now turned in such a way that it is acting as a check on your opponent’s upper body and arms. From this position, check your opponent’s knee with one hand. Doing so should not be difficult and, in fact, the position can be held indefinitely! With that same leg, fling it back towards you and catch it with your leg. At this time, your opponent’s arms and one of their legs should be blocked out.

Finally, roll yourself across their body, taking with you the leg that has just been locked up. This is the essence of the Kamikaze Half Crush. Keep both hands on that leg and compress it against your ankle and engage a downward motion to impart pressure on your opponent’s ankle joint.

Kamikazes can be an effective and unique way to get your opponent in a very unusual and powerful locking position. The move itself is at times an anomaly and not seen very often, but when it is it really is a cool sight.

Check out this cool tutorial for more information on this crush and lots more moves here:


Be safe and practice hard!

-Mike

Walk like a Duck

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Understanding the value of movement in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is to understand how to win games. There are so many different ways to get from point A to B on the mat and even more ways to move around your opponent to put them in different locks, holds and to set them off balance. Though there are many ways to get across the mat and close the gap between you and your opponent, this article will focus on one particular movement drill: the duck walk.

Using the Duck Walk

Duck walking can be a very powerful tool for closing the gap very quickly. Typically the walk is used for just that but it is not uncommon to use it for launching oneself into an offensive move or passing the guard. The key thing to remember is timing and being mindful of your distance already.

To begin, start on one of your knees with the other knee angled back. Then, drive the leading knee forward and drop on the back knee. If you are someone with sensitive knees, go slowly and carefully with this technique! Once you’ve positioned yourself so both knees are down, shoot yourself back up by bringing your back knee forward and repeat the process. Typically, this drill can be worked by going up and down the length or width of the mat you are working on (it’s not advised you do this move on hard surfaces or concrete!) While practicing, focus on length of stride, launch and speed. These are all critical components that can seriously up your game later on.

Want to see a professional work the duck walk in real time? Check out this tutorial:

Be safe and practice hard!

-Mike

X Guard Sweep Breakdown!

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X guard sweeps are a very common and very efficient way to get your opponent in a position favorable to you. There are many kinds of X guard sweeps ranging from having your opponent stand to having your opponent in another guard. Today, we’re going to be looking at the X guard sweep from a standing opponent.

Approaching the X Guard Sweep

For this entry, we’re going to be looking at this with your opponent in a standing position and yourself in a neutral position.

The cornerstone of this sweep is getting in between your opponent’s legs. Your left leg is going to act as a lever against the inside your opponent’s right thigh and your left leg is going to lever behind your opponent’s right leg. Be sure to focus that right leg lever into the knee pocket, causing your opponent’s leg to collapse when pushed in. For more control, take your left hand and grab hold of your opponent’s left knee and your right hand onto the sleeve of your opponent’s right arm. Though this step is optional, it doesn’t hurt to gain as much control onto your opponent as possible!

To enact the sweep is as simple as kicking out your left leg and dropping the right leg. The left leg is going to be doing the major “sweeping” motion, while the right leg is going to act as a “support” in that it will be doing more unbalancing than sweeping. While performing these 2 motions, be sure to maintain control of whatever parts of your opponent you have chosen to grab hold of. Your end result should be you inside of their guard.

For more information on how to pull of a killer X sweep from a neutral position, check out this cool video below!

Be safe and practice hard!

-Mike

Chokes like Clockwork

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There is no shortage of the kinds of chokes that can be done in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. There are as many as there are variations in snowflake design with varying degrees of difficulties and certain needs in order to make them work properly. Today we’ll be examining the Clock Choke, a choke dependent on your opponent being in the turtle position or the turtle guard.

Breaking Down the Clock Choke

One of the most critical components of this particular choke is your position relative to your opponent’s turtle guard. There are a number of places in setting up this choke where you are setting yourself up for the possibility of being rolled over or bucked off by your opponent and inadvertently putting yourself in an undesirable submissive position and your opponent in a dominant position.

The first aspect you’re going to want to do is gain control of the body. To do this, you’re going to need to secure the inside collar of your opponent’s Gi and your opponent’s leg on the same side. It is not advised that you attempt to control the body with both hands on the inside. Doing so will put you in a position that your opponent can roll you over like mentioned before. By controlling one part of the collar, one leg and spreading your body out across their back, your are assuring a more balanced surface area and complete cover of your opponent.

From here, move your body across their shoulder, still maintaining the collar hold. Again, this is still maintaining control and now putting yourself in a position to set up the actual choke. From their shoulder, switch your legs and extend yourself outward across your opponent’s front. Your hips now should be touching your inside arm. Remember to control the leg!

The rotational motion, resembling the motion of a clock, used to get around your opponent’s body puts the clock in clock choke. When rotation is fully imparted, your collar-grabbing hand will have aligned itself within your opponent’s neck. At this time, all that is needed is a little bit of compression and the choke is accomplished.

Check out this awesome tutorial of John Machado demonstrating this choke:

How To Become A Fighter

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A Long And Rigorous Road 

As the UFC continues to grown so it spreads the spiking interests in fighting.  Many young teens and young adults want to get it to a fighting sport.  Some used to look to mixed martial arts or the forever established sport of boxing.  Now has come along a sport where you can do bother.  MMA or MIxed Martial Arts continues to grow gaining more and more viewers and fighters.  With that, many people ask the question; “What does it take to become a fighter?”

Cardiovascular

The first thing you need to know and keep in mind is the amount of cardio that you have to do.  Fighters at any level have to be in phenomenal cardiovascular condition.  Some professional trainers will tell you that if your fight is three rounds you need to be able to fight six.  With out the proper conditioning you will get gassed very easily and run out of energy.  Doing cardio increases the amount of oxygen your blood cells will carry to your muscles and your brain.  When you are not in shape your body becomes deprived of oxygen making your muscles very weak and tired.  Fighters train for hours a day for months in preparation for a fight.  As Floyd Mayweather always says, “Hard Work, Dedication!”

Training

Fighters not only work on their cardio but obviously their fighting as well.  Continues drilling and repetition is key.  As the old saying goes “practice makes perfect.”  It is about training your muscles so that it becomes natural to you.  You act and react without thought or hesitation.  Your movements must become like clock work so that you know what your doing in every situation and you do not have to think about it.  I was taught my whole life, especially in high pressure situations,  not to think but to just do.

Mentality

One of the hardest parts in becoming a fighter is not necessarily the conditioning and training but the mentality you need or need to develop.  You need to get used to and comfortable with getting hit hard in the head and knocked out.  Cant be afraid to break your nose or even afraid to hurt someone else.  It is not easy the first couple of times your go to fight, its nerve racking.  On top of that you have to keep your head in the game at all times.  Lose of concentration may get you knocked out.  A large aspect is the visualization. Almost 60% of Olympic athletes training they spend visualizing.  They train their brain and perception for when they have to perform.

Flight of the Flying Triangle Chokes

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Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a fantastic martial arts field largely in part of it’s ability to adapt, change and draw from a multitude of different other styles of BJJ. One of BJJ’s close partners is Mixed Martial Arts. Perhaps one of the most interesting technical developments to come from this cross-discipline interaction is the Flying Triangle Choke. Sound exciting? You bet it is. In this entry, we’ll be examining what it takes to pull of the perfect Flying Triangle.

Flying Triangle Choke Basics:

Watching a Flying Triangle happen in real time is a pretty wild move to witness. Usually the sheer speed is enough to daze the opponent into falling into the ensuing triangle and lead to a submission or tap out. But Flying Triangles can be dangerous to yourself and your opponent if done incorrectly – and there is a sizable amount of room to make some very painful errors.

Starting from the standing guard, position yourself in a lead leg stance and grab hold of one of your opponent’s Gi sleeves and the non-lead hand grabbing hold of their non-lead bicep/tricep. From this position, the next moves should be a done with caution as it will involve active participation from both you and your Uki! From your lead position, pull down your opponent and jump up at the same time with the goal of bringing your lead leg around your opponent’s neck. You should still be holding onto your opponent’s Gi during this phase.

As your opponent drags down, you will find that it will become easier to arrange the triangle choke from here. From a fully erect opponent, it is nearly impossible to enact this move, so it is critical that your first priority should be to pull your opponent down THEN engage the choke. As you’re pulling down, remember to tilt your head to one side and tuck your chin. Not doing so would mean putting immense strain onto your neck and head which in the long run is going to undo much of the impact you hope to achieve with this move on your opponent.

Check out this tutorial from Submission 101:

 

Be safe and practice hard!

 

-Mike

 

Back to the Back Roll

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One of the most fundamental aspects of good Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ground game is knowing how to move around. Whether fully on your back, partly on your back or sitting on your butt, it is important to know how to maneuver around properly as to gain the most advantageous position on your opponent. Rolling around whether as a front or back roll is a great skill to know. Though very basic, it does not hurt to learn proper technique in order to do so. So with that, today we’ll be breaking down the backwards roll.

Backwards Rolling 101

One of the most basic movements of BJJ is the roll, particularly the backwards and forward rolls. But for the sake of time, we’ll be covering only the back roll in this issue.

The most critical components to the backward roll are: chin tuck and curved back. A tucked chin will ensure that when rolling backwards, your neck is not in a place of harm. Keeping a tucked chin will ultimately play a key role in both properly aligning your spine for the roll back and keep your head safe from any surprise twists and knocks.

Keeping a curved back is the backbone (no pun intended) of this technique. Attempting to roll on a flat back will, first, lead to a role better resembling a flop then a smooth roll back and ultimately cause you some harm and cause even more problems to your game. The curved back will allow you to roll back nice and smooth. Think this:

How to Roll Backwards

Starting from a sitting position, cross one leg underneath the other and have the non-crossed leg planted foot-flat into the mat. This setup is the basic lever for making this roll happen. Your legs should resemble a figure 4.

Next, tuck your chin and try rocking back and forth on your lower back and tail bone and bringing yourself back to starting position. Get a feel for what “smooth” should feel like and find a good balance.

When you’re ready to roll back, tuck your chin in, rock yourself back, pull your hips over your head while moving your head out to the side and land like you did to start the roll. A good rule of thumb is that the less shuffling and tumbling sounds you make during rolling, the better your form will be.

Be safe and practice hard.

-Mike

Check out this cool tutorial on back rolling from Submission 101:

 

 

Americana Escape Broken Down

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Learning to properly escape from any submissive position is an absolutely essential technique in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Simply put, if you’re pinned down or locked up with no knowledge of how to escape, then that’s that – the match it over. Figuring out proper technique to make your escapes as smooth as possible and as safe as possible while still allowing yourself enough room to catch your opponent if need be is a very welcomed and paramount skill in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In this entry, we will be breaking down the escape from the Americana.

Knowing Your Lock

Once you’ve found yourself wrapped up in an Americana hold (also known as a Kimura), things can get pretty difficult. One wrong turn of the arm and not only will the lock be lock in for good and ultimately lead to a tap, but physical damage can be inflicted which will definitely hurt your game later. To learn to escape properly can mitigate both of these issues.

The first aspect of understanding the escape from the Americana is understanding how your opponent is manipulating your arm. If your opponent has your arm pinned palm down, to move your arm backward would result in harm. The solution is to move your arm towards your knee. The downward movement will reduce the locking motion of your opponent’s attempt.

If your opponent is locking your arm while your arm is palm up and forming an “L”, the opposite is true. If you were to move your arm toward your knee to mitigate the tension, this would only exacerbate the tension. In this situation you would want to move your arm back towards your head to undo the tension and free your arm.

The Escape

Now that we’ve identified basic kinds of Americanas it’s time to break free of them! Assuming you are caught in the latter of the two Americanas, begin by first spreading your feet shoulder width apart and extending the locked arm as far out as you can. From there, rotate your body as if you were going to turn onto your stomach. Lift your hips and pull your non-locked arm out from across your body. By this time you have nullified as much of the Americana as you can minus actually reclaiming your arm. For the final step, simply pull your arm away from your opponent’s grab.

For more information on Americana escapes, check out this cool video below!

 

Picking the Ankle to Pick

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One of the fastest ways to turn the tides of a close match is to get your opponent off balance. A small shift in your opponent’s center of gravity during a critical moment during a game can mean the difference between win, lose or draw. In this article we will be examining one of the many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu techniques, designed to throw your opponent off kilter: the ankle pick.

The Ankle Pick Explained

The crux of the ankle pick is to go from a standing position to a dominant position on the ground. In doing so, the movements should be quick and swift and not allow your opponent much in the way of time to react or counter the pick. There are two ways to do an ankle pick: one from the same side and another crossing sides.

Starting from the same side, grab the your opponent’s wrist on the side you want to engage the pick on. In one fluid motion, drop to one knee into that leg, re-grab that ankle and drive with the opposite shoulder while picking up that leg and driving it down to the ground with you. If done properly, your opponent should be driven to the ground and you should still have a hold of their leg – which you will then be free to manipulate however you please

To perform a cross ankle pick is not much different then before. In this case you will grab across your opponent to their opposite wrist, drop down towards that wrist and drive into their opposite shoulder than before. The fundamental difference lies in the base setup, but follow through and the result is ultimately the same: an opponent taken by surprise.

For more on ankle picks, check out this cool video below!

 

Battleground Training For A Smithfield Fighter

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The Training: What It Took For Black Diamond Student To Win Local Smoker Fight

Black Diamond MMA student Johnny “Red” DuBois is Victorious in his last Smoker Fight

On Saturday, January 12, 2013 Johnny DuBois entered the octagon for a local smoker fight coming out of the Battlegrounds victorious with a TKO in the end of the third round.  Johnny “Red” DuBois has been training at Black Diamond MMA in South Kingstown RI.  For months he dedicated his time and all his energy into training.

Training

Six days a week Johnny Red was preparing for this fight.  Every week he trained to strengthened his stand up game working his strikes, countering, and combinations.  On top of that he worked his cardiovascular abilities three times a week with rigorous drilling, he even wore an atmosphere mask that simulates breathing at higher altitudes to increase lung capacity and strength.  This was to ensure that he had what it would took to “Go the distance” once he entered the Battleground.

Three out of six days were dedicated to his stand up.  Johnny Red spent hours drilling running continuous pad drills working on strikes, slipping punches, combinations, sprawling, and takedowns.  Not only did he drill pads put he worked the heavy bag as well.  He ended up training to the point where his knuckles started to bleed despite wearing heavy bag gloves and proper wrist wrapping.

The other three days he worked on his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and grappling skills.  Knowing that the fight would end up on the mat he had to ensure he would have the advantage.  Just like his striking, Johnny Red trained for hours rolling and grappling to work on any weaknesses he may have.  Dan Faggella, head coach at Black Diamond, was instructing him the whole way making sure he had every aspect covered on the ground.

With Johnny’s hard training and dedication mixed with the great coaching at Black Diamond it was obvious to see why he came out victorious in the octagon Battleground.