in general, when you're on top with larger and much stronger
opponents, do you feel like you have more control from north/south or
cross side?
not necessarily looking to "pin" but to control them and keep them on
their back so set up subs.
thanks
cross side. keep your hips low, but don't let them catch any posture. if they do, and they're strong, you could be in for a ride. be ready to mount, take knee-on-belly, or submit.. always keep them on defense.
I like to think of all the pins as one position because in order to have a good pinning ability you need to be able to switch between side control, modified scarf hold, reverse scarf hold, north/south, knee on belly and the regular scarf hold (rarely used).
In terms of your question I rarely stay in N/S for more than a few seconds and usually it is a way to get to a submission or when I am switching sides. Side control, modified scarf hold and reverse scarf hold would be the main positions I would be switching between to control a big guy.
Ridge is correct that mobility is more important than one single hold down, especially against the King Kongs of your gym. But yeah, I've felt that it can sometimes be a bit easier to hold them down from north-south than from cross side. From cross side, a big guy that also knows some grappling can often just stiff-arm you away to get enough space to pull guard. You're as far away from his guard as possible when you're in north south. For what it's worth, Matt Thornton says on his Functional Jeet Kune Do Series 2, that when you're pinning a bigger man, you need to be good at travelling around his head - that means moving from cross sides to north south to cross sides on the other side.
Cheers,
jonpall.
Definitely cross-sides, particularly for no-gi. These days I'm coming round to Luis Guiterrez's view that reverse scarf works best against big guys and you should always be looking to get the back. Let them push you off (to the back)!
I train with Luis G. and agree that reverse scarf is great, but at 160 lbs. North/South is my preferred position from top. It is much harder for someone to get me back in guard and the kimura from there is my favorite sub.
It also sets up other things, taking the back for example and mount. When they are trying to defend the kimura it is easy to throw your knee over to mount. They rarely expect it. (Hermes Franca did that to me in a tournament and I have used it ever since :)
But like any position N/S has to be practiced. A small guy has to know how to keep his weight on their stomach, keep them from rolling up on your back, change positions like others have said, etc.
thanks for all the great replies. top game is something i'm just
recently concentration on as i've been pretty content to play guard or
back mount.
i know as a smaller grappler i need to keep moving (around the head,
etc) when on top, however i'm always looking for a lazier way to
maintain top position and to burn as little energy as possible, which is
what sparked my question.
just recently i've been taking low mount and doing the (Saulo
recommended), grapevine legs/superman arm position, which is seems
like a sort of "safety position" where i can relax and hold position
briefly.
i'm also comfortable with reverse scarf and can pin pretty well from
there. actually, it seems the only time i get rolled over or put back into
guard is from holding a "regular" side control (knees up+crossface etc).
oddly after passing the guard i always lock in side control like it's
programmed in me.
i know the game is fluid and that all positions are needed...
ttt for lazy little guys.
Try using your elbow and knee to lock down his hips in side control to keep from getting thrown back into guard. I'm a pee-wee, too, and this seems to be working very well for me.
Hi asymmetrik,
In addition to the discussion of being able to keep mobility and to be able to pin from a number of positions, I generally try to pin "high," that is, not just over the my opponent's chest but also covering his neck and face. I also try to put my knee, hip, etc. (depending on the particular pin) under my opponent's arm pit to make it more difficult for him to move "low" in the direction towards his feet. Finally, something that has helped me alot both in traditional wrestling and BJJ is to always try to keep my opponent's neck "out of alignment" when I am trying to pin. By that I mean getting one of his ears as close to one of his shoulders as possible. It is much harder to bridge, shrimp, press (me up), etc. when your neck is not in line with the rest of your spine.
Rich
excellent tips. thanks everyone.
Rich, when you say your knee is under your opponent's arm pit, do you
mean from the standard side control (both knees up/mid chest) or are
you doing it from the high/sprawled leg position?
what are your guys' thoughts on this particular pin position for small vs
large:
you're across sides, higher up on this neck/face, both arms are
underhooking/imobilizing his far arm.
now, you are up on your knees, but your feet are "X'd" overtop his near
side forearm/wrist to imobilize it.
this position was shown to me by Dave Ginsberg a while ago though i
haven't really played around with it that much. it wasn't necessarily
shown for "small vs large", but it seems like it might be promising for
such things.
guess i'm just wondering if i should abandon "standard cross sides"
against much larger guys all together.
thanks
dp
knee on stomach i have found controls the bigt guys, but it takes a lot of balance
asymmetrik,
If you are in standard side control and X is managing to slide a knee thru to put you back in guard that usually means you are not keeping a knee right up against his body. If I am on X's right side my right knee is always making contact. If he scoots away that knee goes with him. My other leg is sometimes straightened back for balance or sometimes in his armpit.
Also if you are in side control and X starts turning into you to bring his knee thru you can sit out to the modified scarf hold and actually put your hips on his leg that he is trying to slide under you.
One other general tip for pinning is that if you want to make yourself feel much heavier you can take your R hand if you are on X's right side and slide it under him to his spine. Your L arm will be in the cross face position. Now you tilt you body into the modified scarf hold position and leave your legs sprawled out with just a small portion of your feet touching the mat and all your weight laying on X's chest. By turning your body sideways on his chest you get more weight pushing down over a smaller surface area (like using the edge of a knife instead of the flat of the blade). Your arm underneath him will pull up slightly to make it hard for him to breathe.
great points. thanks.
the problem i generally have when my knee(s) are up (ie: i'm not
sprawling or toward his head) is not the guy reguarding, but him
rolling me toward my head. it's not really a problem with people
neared my weight, it's just much larger or much stronger people (which
is nearly everyone).
I am not sure exactly what you mean by "rolling me toward my head". Can you explain that more?