Head and arm... or arm and head....?

Problems set in if the performer has a brittle dependence on the safety of absolute perfection. -Josh Waitzkin, “The Art Of Learning”




Form Of the Day: Catherine Dao

Friday evening no-gi at Sleeper Athletics:

The take-away for tonight was "You don't EVER want to have one arm trapped up by your head." You won't merely get tapped, you'll get tapped and you'll **SUFFER**.  Point in fact: when I performed my first drill, my partner's response was "Dear God, please stop."  Kitsune: "It's gonna be a three-ibuprofin night, I can tell already."

We began with the same thing we'd done Wednesday, from the snap-the-head-down- only this time, I was confused in very short order because we were encircling from the ARM(pit) side of the head-and-arm instead of the HEAD side. I immediately thought, all right, now every time I consider doing *any* of these techniques, I'm going to be paralyzed with confusion over whether I should reach around HEAD-AND-ARM or ARM-AND-HEAD. Cindy informed me that I am thinking too much. It will work either way- I should just secure the grip, and then hopefully the following step will be apparent.

Another one of these, starting from a double-leg attempt.

Then: You have side control. Move to scarf, then back to side control (with elbow on far side of opponent's head), in order to get the near arm isolated and sticking out of the opening under your armpit. I had a little trouble with this until I started keeping hold of the arm during the transition. Now, shove your elbow into the side of your foe's head and tighten everything up so that hir head is off the ground, lying on your thigh and clamped there with the back of your arm.

Now, take the arm closest to opponent's feet and place it on the mat at opponent's hip to control the hip. Your other arm goes behind opponent's head, grab your own leg.

Edge your way into a north-south position, bringing opponent's arm across hir own throat. Take a moment now to adjust the arm and make sure it's right where you want it before you do "RNC" grip and start squeezing. Sprawl. Hips down to the mat.

All of tonight's techniques employed what I think of as The Cindy Three-Prong Attack: 1)It'll make you tap, 2)it HURTS like hell, and 3)you are so wrapped & tangled & immobilized that often it is difficult to tap at all (including having your neck kinked and restricted so that you can't verbally tap). Those are scary.

Another important point with these: employment of the blade of the forearm- as well as the little knobby bone on the outside of your wrist- is a key. It was easy to make each of these techniques more A)chokey, or B)nerve-grind-y. I myself am quicker to tape to nerve point pain than chokes- but if I have someone that I know is not gonna want to tap, it might be helpful to steer for the chokey version instead.

Rotating spars with everyone. Lamont was not there tonight, but Terry was, and Cindy was rolling too. I told everyone to leglock, kneebar, and footlock me- but slow enough so that I could try to work escapes. Cindy and Cord both caught me in head-and-arm stuff, which was exasperating. I feel like such a moron when I get nailed with the Technique Of the Day. I once got Cord in a head-and-arm situation, but did not have quite the correct grips. I was able to hold him there, but I knew if I eased up enough to correct my grips, he'd escape- so it was a stalemate. I tried to muscle-finish it, and it didn't work.