Getting Grounded (diary entry)

15.10.16   This morning’s double lesson began my client’s course on Basic Submission Grappling (Groundwork) for Cross Training in the Martial Arts. We will be focusing entirely from a grappling “no-gi” perspective, learning and layering the rough categories of the fight as we progress through the lessons.     Ground is considered by many MMA coaches to be the third area or range of the fight game with the first two being stand-up and clinch. The ground game is possibly the most sophisticated area of the fight and can be broken down into top position and bottom position. We began with an in depth look at side control, transitioning to under-hooking scarf hold and escapes from underneath. We then finished with an introduction to the Americana arm-lock submission.     The warm-up was completely geared towards groundwork, both top and bottom positions. This included backwards, forwards and sideways bear crawls, spider-man crawls, seals and commandos for top position mobility. Bottom position mobility involved forward and backward snaking as well as bridging off each individual shoulder with full extension.     Side control is a common position found in all sports that allow ground grappling. In wrestling styles it is a fast and furious position with the person underneath having little to no time to escape. In Judo the game is a little slower with the person underneath fearing both a submission and a pin, should he not be able to escape in time.* In general submission fighting and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, there is no time limit underneath and the emphasis is mainly on getting a submission.**In one-on-one fights, side control is commonly sought early on and it is not easy to escape. The fighter on top is locking down the upper half of the body and separating the core at the hips. This deprives the opponent from the bridging power derived from properly engaged and active gluteus muscles. Here the fighter needs to prevent the opponent from shrimping/snaking away to gain a guard position or reversing the position by bridging on the opposite shoulder.     Of course, no pin is full-proof and the position is regularly escaped by those who know when and where to bridge and then to exploit the gap. A good fighter will be a step ahead, sensing and then blocking the direction the opponent tries to move towards, usually resulting in little more than a fruitless bridging up with no gaps created between the two fighters. Looking at this particular battle taking place beautifully represents the principles of a reaction loop. If the fighter should feel too compromised whilst trying to retain the pin he might wish to transition. In this instance I introduced the modified scarf-hold. As previously discussed in these diary entries, submission grappling has generally changed the traditional Judo scarf-hold (Kesa-Gatame) to involve an under-hook rather than a head-lock. This is due to the risk of having one’s back taken. We looked at the importance of minimising gaps throughout this transition and then retaining the same level of control found in side control.     Escapes focused on the basics of snaking away to gain a guard position and bridging to reverse the pin both from side control and scarf-hold.     The lesson was finished with a complete focus on the Americana arm-lock. We practised this from standing to isolate the movement, retaining the hold as both partners moved into the ground position (the fighter submits opponent from side-control). Then, when the basic mechanics of the submission were confirmed, we incorporated the technique into side-control. This followed the simple lesson of “position before submission”.  

*Previously this was 30 seconds but was later reduced to 25 seconds and now it is 20 seconds to gain a full point ippon win. Wazari (½ a point) is awarded for 15 seconds and yuko (an advantage point that is only used in case of a tie) is awarded for 10 seconds.   **However, if the person on top is ahead on points he might choose to simply hold the pin until the end of the match. This sort of thing is very common at lower level competition, but is not considered particularly good BJJ or submission fighting.       Photo Credit: Sonia Audhali circ. 2010 from the Clubb Chimera Martial Arts Combat Grappling Workshop