Armbar Defense
Defense · Closed Guard
Saves the arm from an armbar and takes you on top to side control. The moment is while your elbow is still bent. Lock your hands: grip your own gi or wrist so the free arm holds the attacked one bent. Turn the thumb down and the elbow toward the mat so the elbow rotates out of line with his hips. Come up on your knees, step toward his head and stack him onto his shoulders, weight driving over his hips so he cannot lift them into your elbow, then slide the elbow out between his legs and pass. A bent elbow is safe, a straight one is lost: when the arm straightens under pressure, tap; never jump or spin out. If he switches to a triangle, defend the triangle.
How to do it
- Lock your hands together: grip your own gi or wrist, so the attacked arm is held bent by the other arm.
- Turn your thumb down and your elbow towards the mat, so the elbow turns out of the line of their hips.
- Come up on your knees and step towards their head, keeping the hands locked and the elbow bent.
- Stack them onto their shoulders: drive your weight forward over their hips so their hips cannot lift into the elbow.
- Slide the elbow out from between their legs while they are stacked, and pass to side control.
Key details
- Bent elbow is safe, straight elbow is lost.
- Thumb down turns the elbow out of the lock.
- Knees under you, then stack: from your back you have no weight to drive into them.
- Block their hips with your knee: one knee under their lower back or beside their head, so they cannot drop the hips or spin under you.
- Once the elbow is out, glue your ear to their leg and come around for head control: a gap there lets them swing the leg over for a triangle.
Common mistakes
- Pulling the arm straight back. — The arm straightens and the elbow breaks. — Turn the thumb down and bring the elbow to the mat.
- Letting go of the lock. — One pull straightens the arm. — Keep the hands locked until the elbow is out.
- Staying on the back. — From your back you cannot stack them. — Come up on the knees first.
- Driving forward with high hips. — They roll you over their head or spin underneath and finish. — Post on the back foot and keep the hips low while you stack.
If they defend
- They break the grip. → Tap if the arm is straight.
How to drill it
Partner sets an armbar with the grip broken slowly, you stack and work the elbow out, 8 reps each side.
Safety
Tap when the arm is straight and pressure comes. Never jump or spin out of a locked armbar.
What comes next
Where it comes from