Due to classes and general busyness, heat and the fact I exercise for four hours a day…. I haven’t put up a blog entry in a week! Naughty naughty; I’ll try to behave better. With this in mind, I have something particularly near and dear to my heart I would like to share.
I’m not sure I’ve adequately expressed my love of newaza—ground fighting—over the course of my posting. Ground fighting is, however, where I feel the strongest. Maybe it is because of the close proximity of my opponent, but I feel like I can better read my opponent’s movements while on the ground than when standing and fighting. Of course, I must work to develop both aspects of my judo; I wanted, simply, to share my enthusiasm for the technique I am about to show.
This technique is both a sankaku (triangle choke) and ude-garami (arm bar). A friend taught me the technique three weeks ago and I have found it to be extremely effective, even against people who know exactly what I’m about to do.
The volume in this video is quite low and my explanation is in Japanese, but please
Watch
And I’ll give a more detailed description below.
When an opponent lies flat on the tatami, he is probably stalling and waiting for the referee to stop the match. In Judo, very little time is allowed for ground fighting. This turnover, however, is quite fast.
As you sit on the opponent’s back, you want to grab the back of their collar with your hand and, if you’re particularly nasty, try to dig a few knuckles into the back of your opponent’s neck. This will make them more willing to move momentarily. With your other hand, try to pull your opponent’s arm away from their body. Obviously, your opponent wants to stay huddled up and probably won’t let you push their arm out. So, it helps to use a knee behind the elbow. Believe me, your leg is a lot stronger than their arm.
Once you have opened a small space between the opponent’s elbow and body, lift the opponent using the hand at the collar and back of the elbow. Shoot your foot around, under the opponent’s neck, and put your foot into the space you opened before. In this case, my right heel must touch my left knee.
Now, fall to the side and roll your opponent over. While in this motion, try to shoot your foot inside the bend of your knee to form the triangle. With the leg that is free—my left leg, in this example, I use my foot to hook the opponent’s hip and turn my body. I turn simply to better position my leg across the opponent’s neck.
In this position, you are ready to choke. Just squeeze your legs and lift your hips. The triangle has to be quite accurately placed in order to choke the opponent and often times I fail to hit the mark. The benefit of this turnover, however, is the option to make an arm bar.
The opponent has their left arm within your triangle and, therefore, it is rather isolated from the rest of their body. You can easily sit up and wrap your arm around theirs. Then, try to find the opponent’s elbow. Place your hand on their elbow and, using your own elbow, press down to bend the arm backwards.
I change one detail in this turnover in my second demonstration. As I lift the opponent and bring my right leg around, I catch my own ankle with my hand. There is a reason to do this. Most likely, at this point, your opponent will have figured out what you are trying to do. They will try to close the space you have opened by bringing their elbow close to the body and blocking your leg. When you slide your hand in that space, however, the opponent cannot stop you from catching the ankle. As you do the turnover, just pull your own leg through and hook it with the opposite leg as before.
AS I mentioned before, I have had a lot of luck with this single turnover; more, in fact, than with any other technique I’ve ever been shown. It is fast, simple, and allows for either a triangle choke or an arm bar. I hope the explanation has been clear and that the video is likewise understandable. I will try to edit the video for volume in the next few days; I wanted to get this post up as soon as possible.
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