Take The Back, Finish The Choke

Thanks to Graham in black gi and Mikey in white gi.

Australian black belt, John Will, was teaching us how to hook sweep properly and someone was taping it. When John saw him he said “put it on youtube and it will get no views at all. People will go, oh hook sweep, I know that already”

You might know how to take the back and choke but here is a step by step guide, practice it slow to start with and don’t miss out any steps otherwise you will be falling into the trap of thinking ‘oh I know this already’

Difficult to see the pressures but Graham is putting pressure on Mikey’s head and starts to switch his hips out the way he wants to go.

Graham’s right hand is blocking off Mikey’s right arm to take away Mikey’s ability to grab his leg on the way round.

Notice how Graham’s weight is right on Mikey’s hips NOT his back. Mikey has tight defence so Graham is setting up how to make some space.

Cupping Mikey’s right knee Graham bumps him forward, disrupting his base, making some space to put a hook in. (Notice how people tend to put their elbows inside their knees when trying to have a tight defence)

Graham puts in the near side hook, heel first, then rolls to the SIDE making sure that the one hook is the bottom hook. DO NOT try to pull them over backwards, always take the path of least resistance which in this case is sideways. Arms are setting up the over/under or seatbelt control.

Bottom hook and over/under are held super-tight as Graham pushed his hips into Mikey’s back to stretch him out to get his top hook in and start to expose Mikey’s neck.

Notice how Graham’s left hand rolls the gi collar and feeds it to the right hand.

From there he starts to withdraw his choking arm to start to pressure the neck. He then has to free his trapped left hand so pushes Mikey’s elbow forward with his knee and pulls out his left hand.

As soon as his left hand is free Graham grabs the gi pants to start making some pressure whilst pulling back on the choking arm.

IMPORTANT you now have to loosen/remove the hooks otherwise you are limiting your ability to move.

The detail:
Really concentrate on how Mikey’s hands control the collar, how it is rolled and gripped, how he uses his knee to help free his trapped hand then finishes the choke.