On Saturday December 3^rd Clockwork BJJ hosted Dustin “Clean” Denes’ second seminar in New York City. Clean focused on variations of the clock choke for the first 2 hours of the seminar. He covered several variations of the position in detail and why to use them. He focused on finishing from the back position with the “executioner” choke (see video below) for the last hour of the seminar. It was a great seminar and well received by everyone who attended.

ClockWork from Missy Birrittella on Vimeo.

Josh Griffiths and students – enjoy!

A prolific gi competitor in his own right, Kenny will be showing some of his best techniques in the gi. His scientific and down to earth teaching style assure his techniques and concepts can be easily understood. Spots are limited, so please call now to make sure you get in.

Clockwork Jiu Jitsu
212 675 0300
39 west 14th st, suite 203

Of course the biggest benefit I’ve gotten from drilling is muscle memory. You do enough repetitions and you become good at something. Its very simple. More than physical though, drilling has effected my mentality on the mat and my perspective at gaining skill in anything.

Moves I  considered myself “not good” at became part of me, and I started using them a lot more. I realized it wasn’t a question of “being good” at something, but just putting the work in to bring a higher level of body-mind understanding.

It can’t just be theory, because you won’t ever touch it. Thats why you can have someone explain the technique to you in perfect detail, and you still “won’t get it”. At the same time, you can’t just show up and mindlessly do reps and expect to have real progress. I found focusing on the details, listening to my coach, tons of reps, and feeling what my partner was doing when I was on the receiving end of the move all elevated my ability.

In my case, I developed a decent X-choke from guard after drilling it for a month. Before drilling I considered my X choke weak, and that I just didn’t get it. The grips seemed too tough for me, it was hard for me to finish. After doing tons of repetitions and listening to details with real concentration, its become one of my go to moves. I think this is possible for nearly any move for nearly anyone.

Check out one of the drill classes at 10:30 AM, or really focus when its the technical side of class and get as many reps in during then, or the open mat after. Your game will elevate big time.

Here’s a recap of the four Cantor flavors of armbar (attacking their right arm, on your left side):

1 – REGULAR
This is the normal armbar. There are several steps, which when followed often result in success.
First pull them forward with your knees and break their base. grab the back of their head with your left hand and reach across the top of their right arm with your right arm and grab behind their elbow on the bottom of their tricep. next, do a small bump and land on your right hip. post your left leg on their right hip to block them from pulling back their right arm. Reach up more with your left warm, pulling them down more, and grab behind their left armpit. Kick your right leg up so your calf is across their back as you move your right ear towards their knee and push their face away with your left hand. Next move your left leg across the back of their neck to secure the armbar. This next part is counter intuitive, but important. Next, instead of straightening the legs, keep both legs bent tight driving your heels down. move your hips up to get the tap.
2 – THEY LEAN BACK
if the lean back as you are going for the armbar, reach underneath theor left knee with your right hand and hit the Flower Sweep by turning your hips perpendicular to their chest and kicking the right leg over them, sweeping them. For there, take the mount or finish the armbar.
3 – THEY LEAN INTO YOU
if they lean into you, then switch arms so you are trapping their right arm with your left arm. Turn your face into the ground to your right and roll over to the belly down armbar.
4 – THEY STACK YOU
You have the armbar position, but you are getting stacked. you’re going to spin under them in a flash way, like a break dancer, and finish. release your left leg from behind the head and move it so your shin is in front of their face. swim your right arm under and in front of them so that it is thumbdown and in front of their right leg. duck your head under them, in front of their legs and you spin under them on your shoulders. They will end up face down and you will still have the arm. Finish.

Thank you Mr. Cantor, for these insights into Armbar Land. You will be missed on the mat.