There’s a Short onto my YouTube channel addressing how to properly transition from the front headlock position to the guillotine choke.
Now this might seem like the simplest transition in the world, but it’s easy to screw up. The most common mistake is trying to rearrange your grips (from their arms encircling his head and his arm to encircling just his head) without offbalancing the other guy first.
If you just try to move your hands to slap on the submission then he will gripfight and probably escape his head. Now you’ve lost both the controlling position and the submission.
But if you offbalance him first then he’ll be too busy getting himself sorted out to stop you from making the transition, and then you can choke him out much more reliably.
Here’s an example of what that offbalancing and transition might look like…
This takes us back to something we’ve discussed before, namely the critical importance of off-balancing an opponent before attempting a sweep, submission or takedown.
Offbalancing someone, also known as kuzushi, involves disrupting his base, posture and/or structure before you have a reasonable chance of success. So when you’re drilling, training, or sparring make sure that you’re regularly messing up your opponent in at least one, preferably two, or ideally all three of these areas.
The implications and applications of base, posture and structure are laid out in Rob Biernacki’s BJJ Formula instructional if you want to study this area further.
Cheers,
Stephan Kesting
P.S. From the front headlock you also have other submission options, including the Anaconda and D’Arce chokes.
These chokes (and every other attack from there) will ALSO benefit from Kuzushi before the attack, because an opponent who is off balance and out of position is always easier to submit that one who isn’t.
