For Feitosa Seminar Day One: Takedowns, click here.
From the ground, Marcio had us work on some chokes and armlocks from the guard while using the gi to help break posture and control the guy. Marcio said afterwards that he had picked up a lot of these techniques from training with Carlos Jr.’s son, a purple belt who was making much use of the gi from the bottom.
The first technique was the armlock. Attacking the guy’s right arm, we loosened up the gi lapel and snaked it under, out and then back over the arm. Pulling it tight helped trap the arm in place. From here, it is the basic armlock from the guard: step on the hip of the trapped side, swing the other leg up, sthleg up and chop down. Squeeze the knees. Raise the hips.
The next technique was the choke. The choke is a good alternative when the guy’s posture is too low and you can’t get at the arm. Take the gi lapel under and out, but then transfer it behind the guy’s head to your other hand. Then use a cross grip to grab the end of the lapel as it comes over the shoulder. With your other hand, use a cross grip to grab part of the gi on the other side. It makes for a very powerful choke, moreso than the regular one.
The last technique was an escape from the lapel wrap. Basically, you want to shrink down, sprawling to get both low and to create some space. It helped me to turn my head to the side also. Reach up and pull the lapel wrap over your head as if you were taking off a tight sweater.
Kyra showed us a kneebar counter to the lockdown. But truth told, I had a very hard time following it. My partner seemed to get it pretty well. But I could never quite get in the right position. My suspicion was that the lockdown wasn’t consistently applied, so I couldn’t do the counter correctly. The next time I get caught in a lockdown, I’ll have to try the counter from memory (though most of the lockdowns come from lower belts whom I’m a lot like likely to kneebar, for Pete’s sake ...)
