Training 2015/05/22 #021 -- Submission Academy -- Perfect arm bar, omoplata, RNC, etc.

Another day at the Submission Academy. I wanted to get a feel for some of the other instructors and I wasn't disappointed.

Perfect arm bar from guard

The first technique that we worked was the arm bar. It was a great follow on from Monday's triangle class.

1. Start with guard. So you've got them in guard. Do what you can to break their posture with good grips, chipping their elbows out, etc. Basically, break them down.
2. Choose a side. You can only attack one side so I generally go for the strong one: their right, my left.
3. Control the arm. Attack one arm. Basically you want to get that arm vertically in line with your torso (like Lesnar's dagger tattoo). Control their wrist with your same side hand and control their bicep from the front with the far side hand. So, if I'm attacking their right arm I want to control the wrist with my left  hand and get my right hand onto their right bicep. Ideally, I want to use that hand to pull their elbow into by belly button.
4. Put your foot on their hip. You will need to rotate to get the armlock so put your fit into their hip. In this case, I'm putting my left foot onto their right hip, or the same side as the controlled arm. You also want to keep your knee right close to their body because it will block them from pulling that arm free.
5. Clamp down with your other foot. Push out with the foot lodged in their hip to rotate. Slide your other heel up their back and up to their armpit. Keep that foot flexed and really try to knock them down with it.
6. Cross their face with your other leg. Now, move your foot from off their hip and get it around their head and across their face. Note that the further you knock them down, the easier this movement will be. You really need to use that other foot to position them properly.
7. Finish. Flex your feet and don't cross them. Make sure that their thumb is pointed to the ceiling. Extend your hips to finish.

Arm bar to omoplata

They might pull their arm out of the armbar. In this case, go for the omoplata.

1. Control the other hand. Don't let them pull that other hand out. Keep a hold of the wrist.
2. Don't let them roll. Posture up and control their belt. Really get over their back to prevent them rolling.
3. Control. Settle everything down to position them. You might have to triangle your legs. You might have to scooch to stretch them out. Just keep control.
4. Finish. Lean forward to apply pressure.

Omoplata to triangle

Instead of trying to roll out of the omoplata, your partner might try to posture up and lift you.

1. Follow them as they posture. Don't give up the leg hold.
2. Hit the triangle. As they come up, swing your other leg into their neck to set up the triangle. Try to knock them down to get the angle. Grab your shin to control them and get position and then close the triangle. Note that if you set the arm bar up on your strong side you need to finish the triangle on your weak side!

RNC

We also did some work on taking the back. The first step was the basic RNC.

1. Set up the seat belt. Your hooks are in and you've their back. Ideally, your strong arm is over their shoulder and around their neck. You've got a gable grip with your choking hand on top. If they strip your grip, your choking arm stays in place. 
2. Tighten the choke. After they strip your grip, get your hand over their shoulder. Ideally, their trachea is in the notch of your elbow (although you could get a trachea crank!).
3. Lock the hand ear-to-ear. Put your chin on that choking hand. Get ear to ear with your opponent to keep everything tight.
4. Slide your other hand into place. Get that other hand behind their head. Slide it in like a tegatana. Don't put your hand in front of them or you will get armbarred!
5. Slice off their head. Get a grip on your own bicep and the drive the bottom outside part of your hand into their neck.

RNC with the tucked chin

Sometimes they will tuck their chin into your choke.

1. Set up the RNC. Do everything as before.
2. Push back the head. As you slide your tegatana into place, make a detour. Push back their forehead so you can get your arm into the choke. 
3. Finish. As before.

Rear collar choke

You might want to use the gi to choke your opponent.

1. Set up the RNC. Again, everything as before. You've got a deep choke with the gable grip and your opponent pushes off your hand.
2. Open the lapel. Use your non-choking or bottom hand. Flick the lapel open. Ideally, roll the lapel over so it makes a nice grip. 
3. Get the choking thumb into the lapel. Use the hand of the choking arm to grab that rolled up lapel. Get your hand as deep as possible; push it right to the label. Ideally, use the hand of the non-choking arm to twist the lapel around.
4. Grab the other side of the lapel. Use the non-choking arm. You don't have to grab very high.
5. Tighten. You have a few options: pull your hands apart, push their body forward, or fall back. Or you can do all three by pinching your shoulder blades and pushing your chest forward.

Rear collar choke to bow-and-arrow

You might not be deep or tight enough to make this choke work. Transition to a bow-and-arrow.

1. Set up the rear collar choke.
2. Grab their pants. Use the hand of your non-choking/bottom arm to grab a pants cuff. 
3. Rotate. Begin a rotation by pulling with both the choking and the control arms. 
4. Get your leg over their shoulder. Put that bottom leg over their shoulder to secure everything. 
5. Finish. Extend to get the tap. Note that you could also transition to an arm bar at this stage.