Newbie question-escape side control

[cronin]

Was wondering how people did the side control escape when you're under a much heavier guy--everytime I try to create the space, move my hips out and try to regain guard, he follows me along, sandwiched between his triceps and legs, smothers me and sooner or later, gets mount. It seems with this guy, once he's got me pinned cross-side, I find it better to have him mount and reverse him there as my upa/bridge is much more effective.

Anyway, apologize for the newbie question and appreciate any ideas suggestions-- thanks in advance.

[SamuraiGuy]

Try to push him up with your arms, bridge at the same time, then come up on your side and grab a single leg... works for me..

[JaredExtreme]

SamuraiGuy is entirely correct. You gotta bridge up and try to push the guy down towards your legs at the same time. There should be just barely enough space for you to either slip a leg back in to re-establish guard, or turn over to your belly to attempt a single leg.

[leviethain]

frame, 1 forearm across his(or her) neck/face and the other across his hip.
as you push on your frame(almost like you were moving it over your head, with an explosive motion move your hips OUTWARD and slide your knee in to gain half guard, and then proceed to gain guard.

ps:you might have to bridge up(also, an explosive movement) to gain that space to slide ur knee in.

[doubleouch]

If you are new and he's bigger and more experienced he will always crush your game. You really just need more time in. Sounds like you are doing the right thing. All escapes begin with establishing the right posture first.

[aseepish]

I think we've all been in your situation!

If you're relaxed you can sometimes feel when your opponent's weight is off-centre - sometimes when they're following your movement they can over extend themselves. It's possible to bridge once to shift their weight off your chest, and then again taking them over. It's a bit of a timing and sensitivity move. The direction of the bridge is subtle though. A bit tough to explain.

The bottom line is like most things in BJJ there are several ways to accomplish your objective. Stay busy, and mix them up.

[Penance]

You need to practice each of your individual side escapes until you're able to do them well against moderate static resistance (this means they just use their weight and strength to resist). At first, you don't want them to switch to another side control position when practicing.

Then you need to start linking the escapes together and be able to flow from one to the other smoothly as your opponent changes positions to keep up with you. Your goal is to "get ahead" of them in the sequence or get them to make a mistake.

You won't be able to do this sparring against a heavier person. You need to practice this during warm ups where you can tell your partner how much and what kind of resistance to give you.

Don't bother trying to push against him using your arms. This wastes energy and won't work against bigger people.

The most basic posture is to put the lower 3rd of each forearm (near the elbow) on his hip bone (with your lower arm) and on his trachea (with your upper arm). You want to keep a solid frame like this and use your BRIDGING to push that frame up into him. Then ROLL into him and onto your shoulder. You want to shift his weight just enough to give you space to SHRIMP your butt away and make more space to either get your leg in or go to your knees.

Imagine your arms are pieces of metal that have been welded into an "L" shape. You're not bench pressing him; you're pushing that frame up into him using your legs and hips by bridging and rolling.

Almost every side escape involves bridging like this to make space. You're almost never pushing with your arms and if you are, it's only to supplement the bridge and roll movement in some small way.

[aseepish]

The most basic posture is to put the lower 3rd of each forearm (near the elbow) on his hip bone (with your lower arm) and on his trachea (with your upper arm).

And this is what they mean when they say BJJ is a game of inches. Pay close attention to the angle of your forearm (the one that's on his trachea) - you'll observe a much greater effect if it's perpendicular - all of his weight is putting pressure on his own throat. But if the angle is smaller, your forearm is still on his throat, but due to the position of your elbow, the pressure is more on his upper chest.

[Kenny Chance]

Depending on the situation theres a few things I like to do

First of all fight for the underhook. If possible shrimp your hips out to one side, slide your knee under yourself and get back to your knees, or if your long and flexible like me, take the leg thats not on the mat, throw it over and hook it in and try to take the back. I also like to scamble from the bottom around to north south and either bump, bridge, spin so my knee is under me and grab a leg or pull my legs over and try to take back. If you are really really stuck just keep shrimping your hips out over and over and over, as he scrambles to catch you,. youll eventually be able to catch a leg from half guard and work a sweep or retain full guard or something. Side control is tough, and it sucks especially when the guy is bigger, its all about getting those hips out and working from there. Its one of those things that you can read 1000 tutorials on but when it comes down to it, you gotta just get under big dudes and try to work out of it and find an escape that you really like. Eventually fending them off from taking side becomes instinct and you learn to suck your knees to your chest and keep shrimping out, etc etc to make it hard for them

[Aaronblue]

The most effective way i've seen to create some space is putting your forearm into their neck. If you are applying it correctly, they will have to move back some to release the pressure on their neck. That should give you enough space to bump and try to regain some positioning.

A few things you need to be aware of:

1) Be careful when you are putting your forearm into their neck because if you leave it exposed for too long, they can push your arm to the other side and use their weight to pin your arm over your neck on the wrong side which leads to a few submissions. Generally it's good to do it when you guys are tight just to create a little bit of space and you don't have to extend your arm and expose it.

2) A lot of times I see people take their inside leg and try to pin it on the other side of the side mounted person's closest leg. It's hard to explain in words but I am referring to the two closest legs in a side mount position. The person on the bottom will try to pin the leg of the person in side mount which is extremely dangerous. It leads to an extremely easy submission that will pop your knee out, and most people don't know about the submission so it's quite likely you can accidentally blow out your knee. The side mount person will make a sudden move to try to free his leg, and your leg is trapped and you can't pull it out so their movement to stop you from trapping their lag will result in your knee being torn. Basically don't ever try to trap their legs by bringing your closest leg over theirs from the bottom of a side mount.

3) A good thing to practice is to take someone's back instead of trying to work back into your guard. It depends on how tight their side mount is and how much space you have to work with but a lot of times you can take your outside leg and step all the way over their back and hook it into the other side and pull yourself onto their back from the bottom of a side mount. Just practice trying to step over onto someone's back and you'll begin to realize when you can go for someone's back and when to simply try and pull guard. Just getting in the practice of noticing when someone's back is available is a good advantage to have. You'll start to see opportunities for you to step over and take someone's back in a lot of other situations.

[lorenzodamarith]

Try to push him up with your arms, bridge at the same time, then come up on your side and grab a single leg... works for me..

hello,

ignore this method.

thanks.

[lorenzodamarith]

SamuraiGuy is entirely correct. You gotta bridge up and try to push the guy down towards your legs at the same time. There should be just barely enough space for you to either slip a leg back in to re-establish guard, or turn over to your belly to attempt a single leg.

hello,

samuraiguy is not correct.

thanks.

[lorenzodamarith]

If you are new and he's bigger and more experienced he will always crush your game. You really just need more time in. Sounds like you are doing the right thing. All escapes begin with establishing the right posture first.

hello,

getting warmer.

thanks.

[lorenzodamarith]

You need to practice each of your individual side escapes until you're able to do them well against moderate static resistance (this means they just use their weight and strength to resist). At first, you don't want them to switch to another side control position when practicing.

Then you need to start linking the escapes together and be able to flow from one to the other smoothly as your opponent changes positions to keep up with you. Your goal is to "get ahead" of them in the sequence or get them to make a mistake.

You won't be able to do this sparring against a heavier person. You need to practice this during warm ups where you can tell your partner how much and what kind of resistance to give you.

hello,

getting really really close now.

thanks.

[lorenzodamarith]

hello,

your first step is simple.....

talk to your instructor about this. actually, talk to them about any technique or position issue that may arise.

after talking to your instructor and practicing what they preach, if the problem still persists, you may need to find another instructor.

now. considering that you said you felt that you were crushed... it seems you are in a position like this:

you on bottom, them on top across you, thier arms have scooped both your head and the arm farthest from them. is this correct? you feel crushed not because of thier true wieght, but the squeeze they apply with thier arms in conjunction with thier wieght.

you also indicate they follow you.... you are not "framing" to stop them.

lastly, you have probably heard something to the effect of "scoot your hips out and shoot your knee across, achieving guard" upmteen million times, neh? well, this is largely correct.

more to follow.