Moving into our side control bottom or guard recovery block should be pretty straight forward. Even though our focus in the previous block was top position the students spent the majority of their drilling time working from the bottom position. The class begins with some simple defining of positions. The key here is understanding how we define a guard. From there we can begin to work backward and learn to recover. For me this is taught quite simply, our goal is to bring our knees to our armpits, or thighs to chest. If we can accomplish this, we have a guard. This can be done on our backs or from a turtle position in this lesson.

Game 1: Bottom player is the active player and they stay in for 3 minutes. Top player starts off in side control of their choice. The bottom player can end the rep in one of two ways, the first being they are able to bring their thighs to their chest, the second being they are able to roll to a turtle. The top player can win in several ways. Top player can mount, take the back (score points) or the top player can submit.

Discussion: This game went exactly as I had hoped. The students were already familiar with the game format and rules so the pace stayed very high and the reps looked really clean. I always laugh when I see these games. Rarely does a rep last very long, often times the bottom person is able to change positions within 20 seconds. However, when I watch live rounds at the end of class I see a very different outcome. Students are pinned in losing position for minutes without being able to escape. This is where context and scenarios become important. Setting the stage and the expectations is paramount to getting successful reps. For this game the scenario is a familiar one. Top player is down on points and needs a submission, mount or back control to win the match. Clearly we are referring to ADCC finals, you’re 30 seconds away from a million dollars (thats what they win right?). Bottom person you’re ahead on points but recovering your guard solidifies the win. There should be intensity in these drills, otherwise the students give up, they play the game, but are unwilling to push through when their cardio fails.

I wanted to give them a few tools to help them win the game. A bottom player will never recover guard slowly. It always comes from a scramble. I need to create space, not much, but I need some space to begin my escape. This comes from a burst, typically an oompa. Then I need to be prepared for the defense. If I think about my escapes as a singular action then they are always going to fail. My goal is to start rocking the boat, or as Jerry Seinfeld said “you can’t tip over a vending machine in one push, you have to rock it back and forth” who knew he was a Jiu Jitsu genius? So we start our escape, then we continue to build on this momentum until we can claw our way to a recovery. This is never easy. We are losing and this will always be difficult to recover from.

Game 2: No changes in rules or format. 3 minute rounds, groups of 4 students.

Conclusion: It must have been the Seinfeld reference because the students really started to see the value in linking their escapes together. They are starting to see that you can’t just give it one push and hope for the best. These escapes take real effort. Sure, there are some fantastic techniques to escape side control, but in my experience it is less about perfect technique and more about just being difficult to hold down. We have to be willing to put everything into an escape. If we are patient and still things will only get worse. The exception being if I’m stuck in a submission, then I may need to slow things down to find a way out. But for now we are focused more on positions. I want my students to fearlessly move throughout positions without the immediate risk of submissions. Sometimes just the thought of a submission paralyzes us into a position. I think we are starting to see, at the highest levels of grappling, the active escaper is finding a very high success rate. Guys like Andrew Tackett are simply not accepting a position. Craig Jones sold thousands of videos on Just Stand Up. These are the best guys in our sport understanding the importance of action. Take away the threat of submissions and students of all levels can learn to excel at that. Then start to introduce the submissions later and they will find ways to make their escapes work in spite of the risks. One more day of side control bottom then we move onto our next block. In the next class we will really focus on moving to turtle early in the guard pass and using turtle to build base.