'Sneaky' Americana for No-Gi

Here is a No-Gi variation for the Sneaky Americana (Keylock) I've been using from under the head. Using the shoulder to crack open their frame, can help me pry my opponents arm up closer to their head, where I can snag ahold of it to go for the Sneaky Americana. 

Be sure to insert the hand palm up so you can use the fingers to ply along the muscles of their arm and help you get underneath when they are trying to block it. 

Again, this variation I've been using in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) in order to keep my position during the attack. If I launch my attack across the body, the more savvy practitioners will counter and push my arm away, or launch me over their body. 

A nice alternative to the keylock for more flexible opponents, is pushing the elbow vertical and then applying downward pressure to lock the wrist. 

The turn away: when they go on their side to defend the arm, we go for the arm closest to us to setup and armbar. If they begin to block that, it will create the opening we need for the Americana. If they block both, step the leg over the waist and roll them back into our guard to finish them from the back. 

Have fun with this technique. I've been enjoying it a lot!!!

I'm Not Ready For That.

"I'm not ready for that." is a healthy approach to training things that overwhelm us.

Here are a couple of counters to the standing guard pass to help your game. Years ago I learned the second of these moves at a workshop with Renan Borges. I was still a white belt at the time, and even though I really liked the move, it wasn't something I was ready for. 

I filed it away in the "I like this, but I'm not ready for it right now. I'll do my best today, and someday I'll come back to this." A few months ago, it started reappearing in my rolls and here's how I integrated it and hopefully you can too. When you are ready.

Sickle Sweep - place the feet in the hips as they stand up. As they push the leg down, rotate your foot inside to help with leverage. Not necessary, but it can give a good bite on the hip. 

Use your other arm to attack the ankle with an underhook. Push up with the foot in the hip, and slice the back of the ankle with your leg as you hold the other ankle. 

Deep Pass Defense - when they step through more aggressively, it is difficult to get the leverage to apply the sickle sweep. Here we shoot the arm through the leg following with our head and shoulder. Think of the hand as the tip of the arrow, and the head is the feather.

Place the back of the tricep on the back of the leg to help finish rotating through. No need to pull the leg all the way through, and it is faster to use the shin with the other leg. Grab the ankles and leverage up. 

You can then take the back, or attack the ankles. 

Defending the Worst Position Ever!!

The High Mount combined with striking is a deadly combination. This is by far, one of the worst positions you can get stuck in on the ground. The traditional BJJ escape for mount - bridge, trap, and roll doesn't work quite yet, and meanwhile our opponent is raining punches on us, and bringing the thunder like Poseidon.

All too often, we panic in this situation and end up flailing, or trying to grab arms. Here we show a technique we call - 'Shield Up / Shimmy Up' to help you deal with this problematic position. We have to work from where we are, not where we want to be.

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BJJ Mount Attacks For Smaller Fighters

Fighting bigger opponents can be frustrating when we try and control the mount position. I know I avoided the mount most of the time as a BJJ White Belt after getting tossed around repeatedly. After a while, I started using the high mount to setup some attacks. Here's are two videos highlighting some attacks from the mount. 

Moving closer to the head helps maintain the control needed, but many opponents will seal their arms up to try and stop arm bars, and americanas. Here's a tool to crack open that pesky shell and get the arms exposed for attack.

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