Thursday, March 08, 2007

Scissorhands and its Discontents

"Scissorhands" is my jiu jitsu code for the scissor sweep/armlock combination from the guard.

Everywhere you go. people talk about how well these two attacks go together. Some great video instruction on both the scissor sweep and the armlock from the scissor sweep is available from the good folks at Abhaya Academy in Canada.

The detail I appreciate in this explanation is how the instructor gets up on an elbow right before the pull and kick manuever.

Here, the key detail is punching the leg that was used as the crossbody hook straight back behind the guy. Then swing into the armlock with the same motion we use in the armlock-from-the-guard warmup/drill.

I've been caught by a few scissor sweeps this year. I found some interesting conversation about the scissor sweep, a counter to the scissor sweep, and a counter to the counter to the scissor sweep over at one of my favorite places on the Internets: the Jiu Jitsu Gear Forum.