staying on top

[blown383]

I have been doing BJJ for about a year and a half now and I can usually survive for a good 10-15 mintues but I always end up tapping. My problem is that I have a hard time getting the top position, I always end up on my back with the guy sidemounting me. I defend myself fairly well while on my back but as soon as the guy moves into a "kesa-gatame" postion I have a hrad time getting out...I always end up tapping. What do you guys recommend as a stradegy for keeping an individual off of me? How can I get the top postion better? Thanks!

[TKOU]

I share the same frustration lately. Side mount or kesa, my escapes suck big, dirty, well you know the rest. I spent about an hour recently with Roger Machado and we worked on escapes and reversals from the cross side. I will let you know how it works out for me when I try rolling with it.

Anyone else willing to share I know I will welcome your feedback too!

[Angel_of_Pain]

The best defence is offence, when your in a fight you dont want to survive you want to be the hunter, you want to be the predator and you want to be the killer... if you go in a fight and say "I must survive" it will not work and you will lose.
#1 Ok now always check if the guy is well grounded, people in general always take 5 to 8 seconds to ground well and it gave you enough time to move move move! push him and get in the guard!
#2 If the guy is well grounded just make sure you dont give your arm, lift you leg that is closer to his body to make it harder for him to get in the full mount position and start to do a snake move to slip under him push him punish him and slip under him to get in your guard and from there CHOKE HIM OUT!!!

[SweepEm]

blown, express your concerns to your instructor and have him watch your specific mistakes and how you can correct them.

A semi private or private class after this will improve your top game.

[E1am]

I prefer being on the bottom. Though I tend to last longer on top.

[SweepEm]

Originally posted by E1am
I prefer being on the bottom. Though I tend to last longer on top.

She says that last night,
you only lasted 45 seconds on top......

HA!

[E1am]

That's because she wanted me out of there before you got home.

[TracyKarate]

Then I came in and did it right! (Just kidding fellows!) If I can be serious for a moment, a martial artist MUST have exceptional balance. This is a prerequisite for the "combative arts". Balance is perhaps even more important than a warrior's "fighting techniques". Train on!

[dan downard]

No advise over the internet is going to help you.
Go to your instructor and ask for an evaluation.
He will tell you what to work on.
Have you tried another instructor?
Everyone teaches differantly.



Everytime I asked for a reason why I couldnt get off the bottom,I was told I just needed to practice more.
Some get it right away and others take longer.

The biggest thing is to be athletic.In good shape and able to work those escapes.If you dont give 110% to your escapes you will never get off the bottom.

I have a little trick I use to get space.Inhale and fill yourself with air.Then exhale when you shrimp.Instant 1/4 inch of space.Thats should be all the room you need to move. But,if you are overweight and slow,nothing will help you.Speed and timing are esential to your escapes.

[Mr. Miyagi]

If you let someone get a firm side control on you you are already kinda screwed. If you are sure the person is passing your guard, you can go from open guard and turtle and go for his legs or grab a leg without turtling and see what he does next. If he doesn't sprawl well take him down, otherwise pull guard. Escapes are great to work on but they are extremely difficult against bigger, stronger, or more advanced opponents.

[Twisted up]

escaping bottom

I'm going to assume that you're already familiar with the technical escapes from the cross-body/cross mount and kesa-gatame.

If you are, the key to escaping is to keep your elbow tight to your side when the top-man is transitioning from cross-body to kesa-gatame.

The key to controlling someone from kesa-gatame is to have tight control of the down-man's arm. You have to make sure that he doesn't get this control by pulling your arm in tight when he sits out into kesa-gatame from cross-body.

From this position, he will only have a headlock, not a head AND arm lock and that's much easier to escape from (if you can escape from a basic head lock.

Hope that helps. I'm sure I may have left some info out but that about covers it.


Good training!
John

[Americana]

A good side mount is damn hard to escape from. I actually have better luck being mounted. From the mount, I have the bumb and roll, which works well except for heavy opponents. There's also a neat escape from the mount on tape 7 of the first Carvahalo series which, if done right, ends with an ankle lock. You have to be very flexible. I've caught alot of people with this.

[gungfuhero]

Kesa gatame is perhaps the hardest of positions for me to escape. Cross body is a close #2. In terms of strategy -I agree with dan that anything too technical over the internet is almost doomed to mis-interpretation- have you been playing between different escapes? What I mean is that it is fairly easy to retain a dominant position if the other guy is only doing one escape (easier yet if he isn't putting everything he has into it or if his timing is off). Try one escape and if it doesn't work, try another which may be more appropriate with the position he puts himself into by trying to stabilize himself. Conceptually it works like this: he can only defend himself or his position in so many ways at once. If his weight is up to high, try to roll him. His natural counter is to move back (to a point of more security). By moving back, doesn't that give you an oppertunity to create some space?

Just a thought

[TKOU]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I don't know what happens to you all but I feel like i used to get out of alot of "sticky situations", just lately I am getting stuck in some aweful positions. I am re-evaluating my approach and your feedback is most helpful. I used to trty to emulate Frank Shamrock with his constant movement and transtition game. I was fairly successful with this approach, but for whatever reason have gone over to playing more static position stabilization without a good enough understanding of how to play that style game. Sounds like most of you are spending alot of time with fluid transition and movement approaches so I will go back to that and see how it works out. I appreciate your willingness to share your experience and expertise over the forum.

Peace,
Patrick