Unaddressed Topics

Two posts ago I mentioned that I would discuss things such as "story telling" and "wide thumbs." These topics will have to wait a bit longer until I have a camera.
For now, more class notes...

From Dave Ginsberg's class:
We spent the whole class escaping from having your back taken and trying to keep someone's back and choke them out. I always love classes like these because they really force you to focus and work on one specific thing. You can really see a drastic improvement in a short period of time. I assume that I'll remember the basic escape from back, so I'm just going to share the details. Elbows in!!! When you get off to the side and aim to kick off your opponent's heal, you must shake your leg and dig your elbows into their thighs.  You must be careful you don't get both your arms trapped.  Also, after you're out to one side and have their leg pinned you should take your time.  Don't rush into anything, you're in control here.  If they go to mount than you can under-lace their leg (I'll talk about under-lacing below).  As they mount, use their structural integrity provided by the under-lace to move out to the side, and either take their back or get on top in half-guard.

What is under-lacing?

I've been using under-lacing for some time without having a name for it, or realizing what I was doing.  Basically, this involves being on your back and still having control of your opponent's leg.  Imagine an X-guard but very extended and low on the leg.  In a very nasty variation of under-lacing, I just use one hook to "stay connected" to the other person's leg.  This is very disconcerting for him or her.  You do NOT put pressure on that hook, only enough to follow their leg around.  Once you get the hang of this you will be surprised at how wide and far you can follow them around!  In the case of the back escape under-lacing, I'd use my arms to frame against their upper body, make space, and protect from the cross-face.  If their right leg is creeping over into mount, I take my right leg and hook my ankle under their calf.  My left leg should hook OVER their leg.  That way, if I have to I can go immediately into half-guard, or it will also allow me to continue working out to take their back.