Combat Chiropractor

Couple of days of training without updating. On Thursday (2/23) worked out for about an hour doing MMA rounds with Derrick and Jeff. Friday (2/24) we did about an hour of gi rounds in anticipation of the Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championships in early April. This morning (2/25) we started our day by cutting, cleaning and moving wrestling mats for our practice area. This made me late for JKD & BJJ, so as I arrived the purple belts were put in charge of teaching.
I covered setting up the triangle from the feet in the hips position and then applying the 3 dimensions of the triangle. Obviously, I attack the choke first, but sometimes other avenues must be pursued. From the triangle I like setting up the reverse arm bar, most typically against larger, stronger grapplers who like to extend their arms to break and pass the triangle. I also use the straight arm bar and have been working to the back:

Reverse Armbar on Free Side

I like attacking this side because if I am aligned straight on with my opponent I can use their arm to pull myself to a better angle. Feed a same side underhook and then roll your thumb, palm to your opponent, toward your chest while clasping with your other hand. Use the boney part of the distal forearm to attack just proximal to the elbow joint on the upper arm. Your opponent's wrist will either be caught against your biceps or in the crook of your neck and head.

Reverse Armbar on Triangled Arm

This occurs more when your opponent is trying to stop the triangle by creating space on the arm side of the triangle but is worried about oma plata, thus the arm is breaking the triangle and baiting a straight armbar (the "Hot Model"). Rather than open a locked triangle, reach a same side underhook and then roll your thumb, palm to your opponent, toward your chest while clasping with your other hand. Use the boney part of the distal forearm to attack just proximal to the elbow joint on the upper arm. Your opponent's wrist will either be caught against your biceps or in the crook of your neck formed by tilting your head.

"Hot Model" (Straight Armbar from Triangle)

If your opponent straightens their arm to defend the triangle, take the leg on the same side as their arm, and cross your legs as if you were a pin-up girl. Curl the heels to your rear and extend your hips.

Taking the back from triangle

I've been experimenting with getting to the back. One of the things that I usually do when my triangle collapses is to return to closed guard, but instead I drag their arm across as I reach for their opposite lat and pull myself to a rear mount. Your leg will be over one of their arms, but clamping down will keep them from escaping.

I also covered the key for passing, especially when you are larger than your opponent, that is keeping the hips low and eliminating the space usable for shrimping. One method for doing this is to control the passing side pant leg by extending it as much as possible while retaining head control. Keep the hips low and tight as you move from half-guard to side mount.
After practice we did rounds, I noticed that I have to:

1. Unbalance more using my hooks inside and open guards to increase my kazushi.
   
2. Attack more to complement and take advantage of the unbalancing.
   
3. Prevent or detach my partner's grip from my pant legs sooner.

Jeff also pointed out two good techniques today:

Gable Grip Rear Naked Choke (RNC)

Regular rear mount for RNC, but clasp hands behind partner's ear, then drop your rear hand elbow behind their shoulder blade and cinch in.

Gogo Plata

From guard bring foot up and over shoulder, safely past partner's face, and prop shin across neck. Reach same side hand over top of neck and grab great toe, create figure four across free side of neck with the opposite hand. Extend shin while pulling down with arms.

Despite feeling like I'd been run over by a truck full of mats, I sparred a little at Goshin Jitsu today. Winning in practice doesn't count so it always amuses me to see people go a little harder and faster in timing than they are ready for. I enjoy sparring these people and do my utmost to show them the difference between the two types of play. Everyone is a tough guy until they spar and start to realize that looking good is a long way from being good. The point of sparring is application both in attack and defense, the place where words no longer count and heart is tested. By sparring good fighters you may "lose" but at the same time you will win experience, respect and courage. The other fun thing about sparring is seeing someone you train pull off combinations/submissions/throws/whatever on you. They hit hard, wrestle well, and can throw you around the room whereas before they largely couldn't do any of these things to you. If this is in some small part due to my coaching I'm happy, I'm doing something right and transferring information correctly. Despite the lumps, bumps, and need to pull out some new tricks to save my bacon.
Posture is important in all types of fighting. Erect but flexible posture is vital in boxing and muay thai. Classically the Thai's stand as erect as possible on the balls of their feet to minimize knees to the head. When we break someone's posture in muay thai it is typically to the front, e.g. off a deep knee, head knee combination, or to the rear for a dump. In knee play the anterior combat chiropractor is a fight ender, knees are hardly defensible from this position. In judo or wrestling posture is fundamentally important, throws are accomplished by breaking the other person's posture. Judo and Greco-Roman wrestling is more erect and uses displacement (kazushi) to set up throws. Freestyle wrestling falls back to a posture seen in our hominid ancestors, bent but balanced. A head snap is an example of anterior combat chiro while a front or side underhooked clinch position would result in posterior and lateral combat chiro respectively. In sport jiu-jitsu, posture is used defensively to set-up the guard pass and to defend chokes. Offense is often geared toward combat chiro in all directions such that it makes it eliminates core muscle groups and isolates the neck or limbs. With rare exceptions (e.g. collar choke or gogo plata) we must always go off the centerline or fundamental positions in order to secure a submission and by doing this we disrupt our opponent's posture. There are four general concepts of combat chiro, a quick and corny acronym, SPInE:

Snap

Any use of a sudden yank such as in an arm drag or head snap. This is an explosive and sudden way of unbalancing and breaking your opponents posture. It usually generates combat chiro action but the effect is temporary and less predictable than other methods, since your control is typically less.

Push-Pull

Here we generate two opposing vectors at different levels or places on the body. We can generate more efficient displacement by using two vectors as well as making this harder to defend since two forces are being applied at once. This is generally more technically challenging but yields better results. I use this to set up ogoshi (hip toss) from side clinch or to dump people with an outside to inside leg reap. The concept of push-pull is very well covered in "Small-Circle Jujitsu" (Wally Jay).

Inch

Micro-adjustments against the core body, limbs or head can gradually work the combat chiropractor effect, breaking the posture and isolating your target one small step at a time. By moving limbs in a slow, irresistible fashion your opponent's posture can be disrupted without giving up position. The downside is that these adjustments are limited in scope and since they are slower have more time for compensation.

Extend

Oddly sometimes increasing the space between you and your opponent increases the effective force. Consequently the combat chiro is greater by moving away from your opponent. An example is finishing the oma plata you scoot laterally away from your opponent and their posture disintegrates pushing the shoulders flat into the mat. When moving someone in plum, we typically close (the step up) and then open distance (the extension by stepping away). A similar effect is used when throwing ikkyo (roughly, one point arm throw) by stepping away and pulling the shoulders to the mat, rather than into and driving the shoulders to the mat.

Obviously these concepts are not distinct and overlap, being used in successive or simultaneous combinations. Different opponents and situations require different reliance on each.