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When I train one of the biggest problems I have when I roll is getting out of a side mount when someone is very skilled and has incredible base. It takes speed, agility, power and knowing your opponent's position to get out of a side mount. Especially with jujitsu when you are rolling with a gi, leverage and positioning are the utmost important characteristics to get out of a side mount.

This week Stephan Kesting from Marco Soares’ BJJ MMA Team talks about the side mount and how to better condition yourself through a couple of very innovative training videos for mixed martial arts. These videos show you don’t need a fancy gym with muscle bound gym rats to get into great shape. Next time you at the gym see if any one of those muscle heads can do one of these workouts. So here are this week’s two tips for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, submission grappling and mixed martial art training and conditioning.

This weeks mixed martial arts training tips by Stephan Kesting includes:

1) Side Mount - A Game of Inches
2) Conditioning Video Survey

1) Side Mount - A GAME OF INCHES

I was recently helping someone with their sidemount escapes, and of course we had to discuss posture when trapped in side mount (which I have previously addressed in this newsletter).

As I was working with this person we kept on returning to one particular detail: namely which part of your arm should you use when you are trying to get posture, to keep his weight off of you, and to make some space to move.

Consider the following picture of a very common sidemount escape posture:

Notice how my hands aren't holding onto my opponent - they are loose in the air. This is NOT how I used to position my arms when I first started using this posture. Back then I used to put my wrist and/or upper forearm under his chin and push up. Sometimes I also gripped
my opponent's deltoid with palm of my hand.

Many years later I use a superficially similar posture, but I try to push with the lower part of my forearm (closer to my elbow). It's not a very big change - only 5 or 6 inches - but it makes a huge difference in escaping sidemount. First of all, pushing with the bottom part of your forearm means that you rely much more on the structural strength of your bones (specifically the humerus) and less on tricep strength. This makes it much harder for your opponent to collapse your framing arm simply by shifting his weight. Also using the bottom part of your forearm makes you less vulnerable to certain wristlocks.

This is one reason I love jiu-jitsu so much: little things make a huge difference. Changing the position of your hand by as little as one inch can take you from losing to winning a grappling match.

2) Conditioning Videos

OK, it's reader participation time. I recently watched several interesting online videos of MMA fighters and grappling competitors doing different types of conditioning sessions. Here are some of the more interesting ones I came across:

Gracie Barra BJJ Drills:

Shawn Sherk Caveman Training:

Stephan Kesting
www.grapplearts.com