Hooking Sweeps
With hooks in, we seek three basic upper body controls – double underhooks, double overhooks, one under one over.
The techniques shown give options from every position.
Warmup drill
One guy on his knees, one with his hooks in.
Hooks in guy lies back, does a situp, gets double underhooks, rocking chair, lifting the other guy and making him post with his hands. Put him down, let go, lie back.
Situp, get double overhooks, rocking chair, put him down. Let go, lie back.
Situp, one over one under, rocking chair, put him down. Let go, lie back.
Situp one over one under on the other side, rocking chair, put him down, let go, lie back.
Repeat.
A proper rocking chair requires your torso and legs to move as one unit, keeping a constant angle at the hips. Dropping the torso to the mat then trying to lift with the legs will not work well.
John calls the move where you rocking chair the guy, drive him back and sit up to get better controls the “reset”.
All the sweeps below can be initiated from hooks in, your back flat on the ground, with whatever arm controls. he is pretty much sprawled on top of your hooks. Obviously there are better positions to sweep from, like sitting up, but we look at less preferable starting positions.
Double underhooks, hooks in
Gable grip. Pull your hands right up behind his neck, and clamp down hard, so his arms are forced away from his body and your legs. You may be able to rest here for a short time. He can’t strike or post well enough to lift himself up from here from here – though he can post well enough to stop you sweeping him.
From here, reset just enough to create enough space to get your right hand over his right shoulder. Gable grip again and clamp down hard on his right shoulder. You could scoot your hips out to your left and get the cutting armbar on his right arm from here. To protect his right arm, he wraps it around your head. Drive your right elbow into the right side of his jaw turning his chin away to his left, and lift with your right hook, sweeping him to your left. NB – to get maximum range of movement with your right elbow, best to do the Gable grip with the right palm facing away.
To avoid the half guard, as he goes over, turn with him and drive your right knee to the mat next to his right armpit, and your head to the floor, keeping his right arm and shoulder under control. Use your head to drive his left ear into his shoulder, reducing his ability to turn toward you. He cannot pull guard or half guard on you now. From here:
i) Post on your right hand, and on your left with the fingers facing to your left to facilitate the move, keep your head on the floor, and walk your feet up toward your head. Cartwheel over his torso through headstand, avoiding his legs as you jump over. You end up on his left side underhooking his right arm.
ii) Go to mount. Slide your right knee over his stomach. you should be able to drive it under any attempt of his to block it with his knees. Pur you right knee on the floor. If you just move your shin to the floor from here, you will probably get caught in half guard. To avoid this, bring your left foot next to his body and stand in it. Now quickly slam your shin to the mat in an arc. It is very hard for him to catch this in half guard. Now sprawl on his right hip – this flattens his hips and makes his left knee come up so you can get your right hook under it. Now consolidate the mount.
Double overhooks, hooks in
Overhooks can be easy to get – the other guy generally wants an underhook if he can get it.
The best way to get and keep an overhook is not to clamp down on it like grim death – this gives him a static platform that he can pull his arm free of. Rather the overhook is alive, constantly actively following his attempts to extricate his arm by continually climbing his upper arm with your armpit. You can start with fairly shallow overhooks and get them tighter and tighter by continually climbing his arms. the grim death clamp feels like you are on solid ground and can brace against it to extricate your arm, the other way feels like you are in quicksand and cannot get a purchase to get out.
To sweep, turn slightly to your left and get your left shoulder and elbow on the ground. Push with your right hook and drive your knee in deeper so as to elevate his left leg. He should now be significantly off balance toward your left. To get enough drive to complete the sweep, move your left foot back under your body to the right, so it is bent up toward your butt. You can now drive off the left foot to elevate your hips and use your right hook to flip him onto his back. Drive your right knee into his right armpit as before, and consolidate your position via one of the same two ways.
You can’t sweep him with your head off the mat, you need to have your shoulder and ear to the mat to be able to lift your hips effectively.
One over one under, hooks in
You are flat on your back, hooks in, right underhook and left overhook. Do a full reset, lifting him then pushing him back on to his knees. Drive your underhook deeper and shift your overhook so your armpit is clamped on his wrist.
A common error with this sweep is to clamp too high up on his arm with the overhook and leave the elbow sticking out – the guy may still be able to post, and your elbow may stop the sweep, making you fall flat on your back again.
You need to clamp the wrist and pull your elbow through behind your torso as you sweep, so it does not stop the “rocking chair” part of the sweep.
S Mount armbar and recovery drill
People don’t go for armbar from the mount because they are afraid of losing position. Hopefully mat culture can go a long way to reducing that fear, but this armbar reduces the risks significantly.
From regular mount, slide your left knee up high under his right shoulder, starting to isolate his arm. Circle your right foot forward and around so it is near his left ear, outside edge of the foot on the mat. This is the S mount. You are basically sitting on his torso – a heavy position for him. If he bucks his hips up, use that to gain a standing position astride him, ready to lay the smackdown.
From the S mount, grab his right arm with your L, ready for the armbar. Take your left foot away from his body so the shin is about 90 degrees to his torso, giving you room to sit on the floor to his right, fall to your right and underhook his right leg. You have both his arm and leg. He may be able to sit up, but he won’t be able to go to his knees and come on top. From here, drive your right leg deeper under his left armpit, put your left leg over his face and complete the armbar.
If he manages to free his arm, come up on your right elbow, keep the leg control and use your right leg to push his back to the mat and hold him down. Swing your left leg over his body and roll your hips over him, so you end up on his left side, base switched toward his feet, his hips pinched between your right hip and right elbow. Inch your hips and elbow alternately up towards his head, dragging his arms up with them, until you have his arms outstretched and controlled under your right hip and elbow. Grab your left foot with your L hand and take it over his body to mount – doing it this way will get your foot past any attempt he may make to block you moving to mount with his knees. John calls this the “invisible mount”. From here, drive your left knee up under his right shoulder, go to S mount, get he armbar and repeat the drill as often as you like.
It at least as important to notice the small (and large) differences between concepts and techniques, as to notice the similarities.
After you have the basic concepts, it is noticing the small details that is important.