John Will Seminar 29th September 2013 – Crucifix Control

Held at Rick Spain’s gym in Surry Hills.

Osotogari  

(done as a warm up rather than in depth technical analysis)

Major outer reaping throw from Judo

Step

You both have judo grips (R hand on his L collar, L hand on the gi seam under his R elbow). Pull his collar to your R and sleeve to the L as you step past his R leg with your L then chop th back of his R leg with your R leg. Get your R shoulder driving into his chest.

Hook

Judo grips as before. His R leg is too far away for you to step. Hook his leg with the back of yours and hop until you are in a suitable position to take him down.

Pull

Same grips. This time step back and to the L with your L foot, pulling his weight onto his R leg. step and complete the throw from here.

Run

Same grips. Cross step toward his L foot with your L foot. Step back with your R so you are facing away from him. Left your R leg back, lifting his R leg with it (like Uchimata). He should step back to counter (if not he gets thrown). Take three steps to chase down his R leg and sweep it with your R.

Crucifix

Entries

Counter to bad single leg

He makes the mistake of trying to do a single leg from head to head with his head on the outside (L) of your L leg. Turn to your L 90 degrees and pinch your knees together, trapping his L arm. His L forearm will normally be on top of your L calf (“upstream”). You L arm posts out to your L in front of his head. Get underarm wrist control on his R arm with your R arm. From here, either:

• He tries to turn to his L and pull guard. Put your R ear to the ground, roll over your R shoulder and take him with you. L hand goes around his neck, R hand grabs over the top of L wrist. (He will try to peel your R hand off, leaving your L hand with a direct path to the choke. Do it the other way round, if he peels the top hand off you have nothing).

• He just sits there. Turn back toward his head, join your hands under his R arm, straight arms, and drag him over to your R. Finish in same position.

  (John demonstrated a third way of rolling them over where you scoot your butt back and roll them over your ankles, which sets up a reverse omoplata. I had this done to me and couldn’t see it and will have to get some free mat time to see if I can work it out)

Sprawl and snag

He shoots at your legs, double or single, you sprawl. Post out behind him with your L hand and move up on his back to “stare into the abyss”. Hook over his L arm with your R leg, then turn ninety degrees L and pinch you knees to trap his arm. This time his L forearm should be over your R calf (“downstream”). Roll either way as above to similar position, same arm position around his head and arm.

Snag and drag from side/back control

You sprawl on him. Step up with your R foot to block his arm and prevent you from grabbing it as you move to side/back.  As you move to side/back on his L, drive your R knee between his L elbow and knee. Use your R knee to drive his elbow forward and away from his body. Snag it with your L heel and drag it down to pinch between your knees. His arm usually ends up upstream. Roll either way to  crucifix control as before.

Changing upstream to downstream

You have his L arm trapped upstream. Keeping both knees on the mat, drag your L knee along you R shin toward your R ankle, and then across your calf/achilles tendon, taking his forearm with it. Once the forearm is on the R side of the R shin, slide your L knee back to its original position. Put your R foot in the crook of your L knee to triangle it off and keep the arm trapped.

Back control (from non master side, he starts to escape)

Normally when you get back control with a seat belt grip, you roll him to the side away from the trapped arm (“master side”). If you get him on the other side and he gets off your hooks and onto his back on your L side, apply choke pressure to his neck. When he grabs your R wrist with his R hand to peel off the choke, use your R hand to push it away and snag it with your R leg. Consolidate crucifix control with your arms.

Finishes

Near collar choke (upstream/downstream)

From crucifix control, turn on your R side and get your L thumb as deep as possible in his R collar (touch your chin with your fist – Rodin’s The Thinker). Take your r arm circling wide to snag his R arm as low as possible and drag it around so your hand grabs behind your head, at the same time, rolling onto you back, pulling him on top of you and pulling your L elbow to the floor to apply the choke.

Far collar choke (downstream)

His L arm must be downstream. Get both arms gripping around his R  arm rather than around his head. Push his head down toward your L hip as far as you can. Your L hand reaches over his throat to grab his L collar. Hook the crook of your L leg over his head. Pull on the collar and push away with the hamstring and glute for a strong choke.

Stocks neck crank

From crucifix, get both your arms around his R arm. Turn belly down with your L forearm going under his R arm, L elbow to the floor. Your torso is under his head as if he were using you as a pillow. Your R hand circles down to beside your R hip so you can use it as a “pectoral fin” to push and rotate your body to the right, putting cranking pressure on the back of his neck. You can start switching your base out to the R for extra pressure, but this is usually not necessary.

BE CAREFUL WITH NECK CRANKS – THEY ARE ILLEGAL IN BJJ COMPS FOR GOOD REASON. APPLY VERY SLOWLY, NO SUDDEN MOVEMENTS. THE CONSEQUENCES OF CARELESS USE COULD BE CATASTROPHIC.

Vale tudo / side neck crank

From crucifix control, Lift his R arm with your R arm so you can thread your L arm underneath it and grab the back of his head. H is R arm is caught behind your L armpit. You can now punch his face with your R hand while he can’t defend. Alternatively, join your hands in an S grip behind his head and crank his head toward you for a side neck crank (similar to the twister). grab near the top of his head for best leverage with the crank.

Prone armbar (60s bikini girl on the beach)

Get the starting position on his back with the legs trapping the L arm and underarm wrist control on the R. His L arm must be in upstream position. Cross L foot over R. Lift the feet off the mat and walk your knees backwards, gradually straightening his arm. Keep pulling your heels to you butt, engaging the hamstrings. when the arm is fully straight with the knees pinching the wrist you can use the hips to apply pressure to the elbow and get the tap. You end up sort of like this:

Supine armbar

From crucifix control, Get your head down as close to his as possible. His L arm must be in the upstream position. Flare your L knee out to the side and slide the outside of your ankle down to his wrist,, straightening his arm. Your R leg can triangle over your L foot to stop him getting his arm out. Pull down on his wrist with your foot and lift your hips under his elbow to get the tap.

  John also discussed the T Choke (used when he won’t let you overhook the arm for a rolling half nelson lapel choke form head to head), and the importance of acquiring a training buddy with whom you can work together to solve problems, using situational sparring.