Grapplearts: A Name, and Another Unorthodox Position
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Stephan Kesting
Mar 23, 2009, 2:09:17 AM3/23/09
to New Grapplearts Newsletter
OFFSIDE KESA GATAME = MAKURA KESA GATAME!
OK, it's official. The collective intelligence of the Grapplearts
readership is awesome.
About 5,000 people receive these newsletters, and many more read it on
the website, via RSS feeds, etc. If we all got together and combined
our knowledge we'd make Rickson Gracie look like a three-stripe white
belt.
A few days ago I talked about one of my favorite unorthodox positions:
"Offside Kesa Gatame." I also said that, to the best of my knowledge,
there aren't any formal names for this position.
(That article is available here)
http://www.grapplearts.com/2009/03/offside-kesa-gatame-another-unorthodox.htm
Well Chris Beaver from Canada and Pierre Henry from Belgium both wrote
in to tell me that Judo DOES have a name for this position, namely:
"Makura Kesa Gatame."
The funny thing is that, before I wrote the article in question, I'd
asked about 5 Judo black belts if they'd ever seen that position and
they all said no.
After I got those two emails I did some additional research and found
out that there are a couple of variations of Makura Kesa Gatame. One
of those variations is very similar to what I call Offside Kesa
Gatame.
It's a bit of a digression, but one thing to keep in mind is that
while some Judo players may use this as a PINNING position, knowledge
of the submission potential of this position will be more rare. In
Judo the pin itself can win the match, so why risk going for a
position and losing the position.
(Back when I did Judo going for a submission from a good pinning
position in competition would have been considered insane).
I've often said that we should look beyond the borders of our own
specific martial arts for additional information. Chris and Pierre
helped me do just that!
Thanks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNORTHODOX BJJ POSITIONS - REVERSE MOUNT
Today we're talking about the Reverse Mount (click on the link below
to see a picture of it)
http://www.grapplearts.com/Images/unorthodox_positions/Reverse_mount_in_BJJ.jpg
The first time I saw the Reverse Mount I was at an Erik Paulson
seminar. My reaction was something like "yeah, right...."
I honestly thought that Erik had run out of high percentage things to
teach and was now just making stuff up.
Knowing Erik though, I really shouldn't have doubted him...
As soon as I used the reverse mount in sparring I realized that my
opponent had no clue about what to do. In addition, the pressure on
his diaphragm turned out to be quite intense, making it hard for him
to breath.
(Choking the diaphragm is also discussed in a previous post here:)
http://www.grapplearts.com/2005/07/one-more-thing-about-choking.htm
Difficulty breathing = panic = doing something stupid = easy
submission! I finished my partner with a submission and that was the
beginning of a beautiful relationship.
After that I started using it fairly regularly. I even won the a BJJ
tournament with it: I started in North South, jumped up and forward to
get to Reverse Mount, and then sunk in a kneebar (a video of that
finish made it into my Dynamic Kneebar DVD).
It's funny, before you identify something as a position it just looks
like a wacky tangle of legs and arms. You think to yourself "how
could I ever end up in that silly position?"
But after you isolate it and give it a name you start seeing it much
more often. Grapplers may not mean to end up there, but they do
anyway.
And you see this position even at the highest levels: I remember
watching two top ranked fighters in Pride end up in this position and
stalemate there for what seemed like hours (in reality it was probably
only a few minutes).
It's so unusual that the vast majority of people trapped on the bottom
have no idea how to escape from here or even what kind of submissions
to expect
(To my loyal readers I'll spill the beans and tell you that most of
the attacks from here involve leglocks, but don't tell anyone...)
Knowing how to apply a few so-called 'specialty' positions can be an
absolute ace up your sleeve that you can pull out in a close match!
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com
P.S. The first person who proves to me that the Reverse Mount is also
an 'official' Judo position gets a free DVD of their choice!
OK, it's official. The collective intelligence of the Grapplearts
readership is awesome.
About 5,000 people receive these newsletters, and many more read it on
the website, via RSS feeds, etc. If we all got together and combined
our knowledge we'd make Rickson Gracie look like a three-stripe white
belt.
A few days ago I talked about one of my favorite unorthodox positions:
"Offside Kesa Gatame." I also said that, to the best of my knowledge,
there aren't any formal names for this position.
(That article is available here)
http://www.grapplearts.com/2009/03/offside-kesa-gatame-another-unorthodox.htm
Well Chris Beaver from Canada and Pierre Henry from Belgium both wrote
in to tell me that Judo DOES have a name for this position, namely:
"Makura Kesa Gatame."
The funny thing is that, before I wrote the article in question, I'd
asked about 5 Judo black belts if they'd ever seen that position and
they all said no.
After I got those two emails I did some additional research and found
out that there are a couple of variations of Makura Kesa Gatame. One
of those variations is very similar to what I call Offside Kesa
Gatame.
It's a bit of a digression, but one thing to keep in mind is that
while some Judo players may use this as a PINNING position, knowledge
of the submission potential of this position will be more rare. In
Judo the pin itself can win the match, so why risk going for a
position and losing the position.
(Back when I did Judo going for a submission from a good pinning
position in competition would have been considered insane).
I've often said that we should look beyond the borders of our own
specific martial arts for additional information. Chris and Pierre
helped me do just that!
Thanks!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNORTHODOX BJJ POSITIONS - REVERSE MOUNT
Today we're talking about the Reverse Mount (click on the link below
to see a picture of it)
http://www.grapplearts.com/Images/unorthodox_positions/Reverse_mount_in_BJJ.jpg
The first time I saw the Reverse Mount I was at an Erik Paulson
seminar. My reaction was something like "yeah, right...."
I honestly thought that Erik had run out of high percentage things to
teach and was now just making stuff up.
Knowing Erik though, I really shouldn't have doubted him...
As soon as I used the reverse mount in sparring I realized that my
opponent had no clue about what to do. In addition, the pressure on
his diaphragm turned out to be quite intense, making it hard for him
to breath.
(Choking the diaphragm is also discussed in a previous post here:)
http://www.grapplearts.com/2005/07/one-more-thing-about-choking.htm
Difficulty breathing = panic = doing something stupid = easy
submission! I finished my partner with a submission and that was the
beginning of a beautiful relationship.
After that I started using it fairly regularly. I even won the a BJJ
tournament with it: I started in North South, jumped up and forward to
get to Reverse Mount, and then sunk in a kneebar (a video of that
finish made it into my Dynamic Kneebar DVD).
It's funny, before you identify something as a position it just looks
like a wacky tangle of legs and arms. You think to yourself "how
could I ever end up in that silly position?"
But after you isolate it and give it a name you start seeing it much
more often. Grapplers may not mean to end up there, but they do
anyway.
And you see this position even at the highest levels: I remember
watching two top ranked fighters in Pride end up in this position and
stalemate there for what seemed like hours (in reality it was probably
only a few minutes).
It's so unusual that the vast majority of people trapped on the bottom
have no idea how to escape from here or even what kind of submissions
to expect
(To my loyal readers I'll spill the beans and tell you that most of
the attacks from here involve leglocks, but don't tell anyone...)
Knowing how to apply a few so-called 'specialty' positions can be an
absolute ace up your sleeve that you can pull out in a close match!
Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com
P.S. The first person who proves to me that the Reverse Mount is also
an 'official' Judo position gets a free DVD of their choice!
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