Sprawl
Defense · Standing
Stops their shot at open distance and takes you to a front headlock. Move at the first drop of their head, before the hands reach your legs. Throw both legs back and wide, up on your toes with the knees off the mat, and drop your hips onto their shoulders and head so your weight lands on them, not on the mat. Cover the head with your hips or chest, shove it down with a hand if it is outside, cup their arms at the armpits so they cannot wrap your legs, then circle to the side for the front headlock or the back. Hips down, not up: raised hips leave them room to keep driving. Against a single, sprawl away from the trapped leg; if they keep one leg, whizzer.
How to do it
- See the level change: their head drops and they step in. Move at the first drop of the head, before their hands reach your legs.
- Throw both legs back and wide, far from their hands, knees off the mat and up on your toes.
- Drop your hips down onto their shoulders and head, so all your weight goes onto them instead of the mat.
- Cover the head: drive it down and away with your hips or chest; if it is outside, shove it down with your hand. With your hands cup their arms at the armpits, so they cannot wrap your legs.
- Do not stay in front: circle to the side and take the front headlock or the back.
Key details
- Hips down, not up, and knees off the mat: then all the weight goes onto them and their drive stops.
- Legs back and wide, far from their hands: a wide base is hard to drive through and the legs are out of reach.
- Sprawl, then circle: never stay in front, where they can recover and shoot again.
- Your hands block their arms at the armpits: without arms around your legs the shot is only a push, and your hips on their head do the rest.
- Against a double sprawl straight back; against a single sprawl away from the trapped leg and whizzer.
Common mistakes
- Hips up in the air. — Your weight is on your hands and feet, not on them: they drive through and finish the takedown. — Drop the hips to the mat on their head.
- Sprawling late. — They already hold both legs and you cannot throw them back. — Move the legs at the first drop of the head.
- Staying chest to chest in front. — Their head is free in front of you: they recover and shoot again. — Circle to the side right away, keeping your weight on their head.
If they defend
- They come up to a single leg. → Hop back, keep the leg between theirs and break the grip.
How to drill it
Shadow sprawls 3 × 10. Then the partner shoots on a signal, you sprawl and circle, 10 reps.
What comes next
Where it comes from