The High Side

As most of my recent blogs show, I've been working a lot on my top game. My passing game has definitely improved a lot, and I'm starting to play with some new stuff in side control.

Usually, once I get side, I'll have one knee down by my opponents hip, and the other all the way up under his shoulder. I feel like I'm in a really dominant position and it's very hard for my opponent to escape. Sometimes though, he's able to get his elbow inside, under your hip that's closest to his shoulder.

When that happens, I've started working on a really high side control. I feel like I have a whole new set of options from here. When he gets that elbow tucked in, I've started crossing my ankle closet to his hips over his bicep or forearm, and putting about 70% of my weight on that arm. It really has the effect of gluing that shoulder to the mat. Once I've got that, it's hard for him to roll away, so I try and keep him from being able to roll into me. For that I just take my arm that's nearest to his head and get under his head and grab is lapel.

Lots of cool things have started happening for me when I get here...

The Pass

Since I'm now away from my opponents hips, he feels really free with his hips. This is something that took me a bit to get used to. I usually like making my opponents position as close to static as possible. I want to be the one moving, not him. In this scenario though, I've found that he really can't do much except get himself in more trouble... Why? Because he's not going anywhere without his shoulder and head right? So He can buck all day, but unless he gets at least one shoulder free, all he can do is buck up and down like uhhhh--- a very frustrated person?? Well, to buck, he needs to plant his feet on the ground. When he does that, passing to mount is EASY because he can't block me with his knees. I just gotta do it quickly, and make sure to get heavy as soon as I complete the pass.

The far arm

As long as I stay heavy on his near shoulder, I can sometimes release the cross face, and get 2 on 1 on his far arm. I've landed kimuras and americanas pretty easy, and even an arm bar. The nice thing is that he really can't roll over to protect since you've got his near shoulder glued to the mat. I've actually been toying with letting my high leg clear his head, and seeing how that works out. It feels like I'm a little vulnerable to a sweep when that happens so I wanna work more on my weight distribution when I do that, but man, his arm is DONE when I get there!

The near arm

Ok, so this is cool. That near arm is not defended at all, and most guys don't expect you to attack it. There's a whole plethora of cool subs for that near arm. I landed a near side shoulder lock using my weight to clue down his forearm and just pulled up on the elbow on one guy. Americana's are there for the taking, and even arm bars.

Anyway, I still have a lot to figure out here, but it's a nice little switch up to have in my repertoire.

Happy Rolling!

The Geek in a Gi