Curriculum Thoughts

Specifically the GU curriculum. What they have out is what they consider black belt level technical knowledge but there is nothing on North/South offensively or defensively and no wrist locks from what I can see.

Anyone besides GU think that stuff isn’t important? Even at black belt level?

Of course it’s important.

North-South Corner Hold is my favorite offensive position on top.

IME, most people are just not very good at escaping it, even experienced people --especially compared to escaping Side Control or Mount which everyone drills all the time.

For at least 15 years I’ve been saying to anyone who’ll listen North-South Corner Hold is a “blindspot” in BJJ --sorta like Leg Locks were. With comparatively little effort you can dominate better people whom you wouldn’t otherwise be able to dominate from Side Control or Mount. It all goes back to the fact that most people don’t train N-S offense nor defense nearly as much as they do other positions *.

So, yeah, I’d say it’s a big mistake to omit that knowledge.

  • (BTW, when I say ‘North-South CORNER Hold’ I mean a north-south position where you lay over your opponent’s SHOULDER rather than his face. N-S Corner Hold is a much stronger position than regular N-S, IMO).
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As a big bad blue belt I have found since white belt days that I can control MUCH better opponents when I end up in that position… meaning they pretty much give it to me. They never give it to me again though, so I wonder why on earth GU would leave that position out.

I remember us being of very like minds on this very topic a long time ago.
Still agree.

I can’t critique the GU curriculum though. I’ve never seen the vids.

Helio created N/S corner hold to compensate for his frailty.

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The way I heard it was one day as they poured him out of the iron lung, in which he spent most of his time, he landed in North-South Corner Hold and discovered it was surprisingly hard for his opponent to escape.

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its my favorite holding position.

I feel very solid when I get my (holding them on their right side) right arm under their near armpit and grab their near shoulder, and also get my left arm under their far armpit from the reverse side. Basically pinning both of their shoulder to the mat. you can also use your forehead to turn their head away so they cannot easily turn into you

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