Sayonaisse, I do train at Relson's main academy in Honolulu. I am a big haole, four stripe blue, been with Relson since '98. I used to mostly do no-gi/mma which is why I wasn't getting promoted. Perhaps my experience with how that stunted my development in jiujitsu (doing only no-gi) made me react to your post in the way I did.
Please tell your brother that he is welcome and we have a fun crew of guys to train with, no matter what his experience level. Why is he moving to Hawaii?
Sorry to the original poster for taking over your post.
Mat Pimp- My brother's name is Oly and he's moving out there for a 3 month externship for law school. He's 5'9 145 pounds and has trained at James Boran and Fabio Santos place. Both said he deserved his blue belt but each time things changed and he had to move before he got promoted. He now hasn't trained in 2 years. By the time he's ready for promotion, I'll probably be a black belt and will have to do it for him. Is there any inside knowledge you have about training out there or about the area that might help him out?
Tell him to come down, or I could pick him up and show him how to get there. Like I said, we have a lot of good guys and I will make sure he is welcomed and taken care of. Relson is an awesome guy, as is Ronn Shiraki his BB that share's instruction duties. We have a bunch of talented guys in his weight category too.
..plus lots of other BBs like Sam Mahi, Malcolm Ahlo, Kofi Debrah and so on. There are also many great browns like the Onzukas, Ren, Rex, etc. We do have many colored belts, but also lots of beginners to pick on. Also we get guest instructors; in the past couple years we have had Ryron and Rorion drop in, Renzo, Caesar Gracie, Daniel Moraes, Fredson, etc.
As for food, clubs, surf...we can work that out when he shows up. There are plenty of guys here who can take him surfing, and he could check out Kai Garcia and his guys on the north shore. We have 360 degrees of beaches so surfing will not be a problem.
TBoy2- If my opponent keeps his arms/hands close and tight to his body, then I have several options I can chose from. I can try to force to hook an arm, and from there are several ways to pry that arm open for an armbar or kimura by using your own gi or your opponent's gi, and proper body mechanics as leverage. Or you can choose to try another submission i.e. collar chokes or other movements that will cause your opponent to open up his arms. In other words, use diversion to create openings for you. This is nothing new or a secret move, you see alot of the advanced and experienced BJJ practitioners do this all the time. It's alot easier to execute an armbar from the mount on a beginner that it is on a more experienced practitioner, esp. when they know what you're going for. Most of the time your opponent will keep his arms close and tight to their body, while protecting their neck as well when mounted. Because they know you'll either go for a choke or an armbar. So if you want to do an armbar but you can't hook an arm, then go for a choke. This will make your opponent open up a bit to protect their necks better and will eventually open up their arms. So you're making them think you're going for a choke when actually you're going for an armbar. To me, Jiu-Jitsu is not just all about waiting or creating openings for me to execute a move or submission. It's also about a game of trickery for me, esp. when you and your opponent have the same amount of skill and knowledge of movements and submissions. It's not just all about matching that person a move for a move, but being the wiser one. So next time you want to attempt an armbar on an opponent who stays real tight, don't worry about it. Just go for something else and see if it creates an opening for the initial submission that you wanted. But it's also good to work different submissions and take what your opponent gives you. I don't want to lead you to think that I only go for collar chokes from the mount all the time, but that's usually the beginning sequence of attacks I initiate when I get the mount position. Give it some thought and try it out in class.
Thanks for the tips. I'll try them in class. I have been taught some of the things you mentioned in the past. I like to hear how different people do different techniques because everyone adds their own variation to the base technique.
I'm going to start on the white belts with what you mentioned and move my way up. = ) I'll start with the Triple Attack from Mount. I have not worked on that in a few years. Been too focused on Butterfly Guard and Half Guard.
By the way do you like to cross your legs using a straight armbar. Top Judoka like doing this but many years(6+) ago a BJJ black belt said not to do that. A year ago I saw my BJJ brown belt instructor do it and since then this is my prefered way to armlock. It depends on my angle. Sometimes I just put my foot under their back and throw my other leg over their head. But on guys that are good at escaping armbars I try to cross my legs in the armbar trapping both their arms. I have since noticed in BJJ videos of all the top BJJ guys crossing their legs.
You've pretty much answered you own question correctly.
If both arms are in it's ok to cross your ankles
but
If only the arm your attacking is between your legs and they are crossed, he can escape by pushing up on your legs with the free hand.
As your legs are acting as one unit both will be pushed off.
As for GI chokes I'm constantly trrying to improve mine. I come from a no-gi background and put the gi on about 2 years ago. If i'm submitted 70% of the time its by gi choke.
TBoy2- Every now and then I'll cross my ankles when I'm about to execute the armbar, mainly to control the opponent better. Shin2Chin also brought up a good point of only crossing your ankles when both arms are locked in. I've been told as well that you're not to lock your ankles when doing the armbar because of the huge gap/opening it creates between the knees which will make it easier for your opponent to escape. However, that is not always the case and I've seen top BJJ black belts cross their ankles w/ only 1 arm in and still execute the armbar i.e. Rickson Gracie, Roger Gracie and many more. I think there's times when you should and shouldn't do a move. It's about executing the move only at the right time or situation.
Yeah, I know to only cross ankles when both arms are in. I found that you can also use this when in Guard and your opponent starts to stack you. Then if you flare your knees out they can't stack you. But, like you mention you have to know when to use it because it leaves kind of a gap for them to escape.
Mainly I like to cross my ankles in the straight armbar when on top.
Tonight I was going to try the Mount collar choke setup you mentioned ricenlechon, but I was feeling a bit sick from not getting enough sleep so I skipped class. My two youngest kids kept me up.