#191 Russian Two on One and More Cross Grip Half Guard Passing

In this episode, Jake and I revisit the cross grip half guard passing and Russian two on one as I start to play with those in training. Hope you enjoy!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Hello?

SPEAKER_00 0:11

What's up, Josh?

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Yeah, I always get went just the same. Like every time. I say the same thing. Yeah, I wanted to continue the conversation we've been having. Um, I feel like I'm starting to use some of the stuff we've been talking about. One is that cross-grip half-card passing, and then the other one is um that that Russian two-on-one, but bleeding into the other side. So I think the theme across both these connections or directions or whatever is I'm starting to get better connections, but not exploiting them just yet, or like truly upgrading them just yet to where it's like really uneven, like really good for me. Um, I don't know which one do you want to start with, the Russian or the the cross grip?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

Uh it doesn't matter. I guess just we'll start with the cross grip and then we can go into the Russian.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Cool, cool. I think I have a habit of going into high stepping, or maybe it's my lately my first initial attempt at passing is like switching sides on the outside and then picking a direction to go into that outside, like J Point style passing to north-south. And then they hook in their bottom leg, and now I'm still standing in half guard. And this week is when I was like, oh, maybe I'll try that cross grip stuff here. So I end up switching my hand grip to cross grip on their ankle, which has been really nice, and then holding their top arm down and just kind of camping, hanging out there until they freeze something again. I don't remember exactly the situation, but I I started thinking, all right, maybe when I get there, I'll try blading differently, like messing with that leading edge now that they don't have that top arm. But I I haven't done it effectively just yet. So yeah, yeah, that's kind of the scenario of like testing some of this out in the room.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Yeah, I would say um the blading. I think I think at least the the framework that I'm thinking about it from is we have to beat their arm frames and then we have to beat the frame with their legs, so like their knee shield. So by pinning the wrist with their cross grip, you're freeing up your leading edge so that you can use that leading edge to beat their leg frames, like their knee shield. So like the function of your leading edge is to beat their their knee shield. Like that's the way I've been, I've been thinking about it. I don't know if that's the way you're thinking about it. Like, are you trying to use your leading edge to get chest to chest or like free your foot to go into like outside passing or or what? But um, at least for me, I've tried to not free my foot, and that's kind of like a last resort. Um, and more like stay in the pocket and try and like beat their their knee shield um and smash their legs together, ideally.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

That makes sense. I think I've been so um tunnel vision on the high step that I like stay standing and I let their knee shield just be there and just kind of hang out there until I can free my foot and go in. Um, but maybe it's uh better to not do that as the first approach because they're still quite dynamic there, maybe. And I should just like shut down their movement first since I'm already in there, you think?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

I I think so. And and at least for me, the scoop grip on your your leg, um, like I don't know if they're doing this to you or not, but if they do scoop your leg and you are standing, it does give them a bit more range of motion with their their legs. And if they do enter your legs, it's probably gonna be easier for them to attack your leg because your knee is off the mat. Whereas if you take the posture where your free knee is on the mat, like your lead leg is on the mat, your knee is, and your trap foot is on the mat. Even if they do scoop, it's like kind of hard for them to attack because you're on your knee. It's kind of like if they entered K-Guard and your knee's on the mat, you're got an early defense in in place. So um, yeah, like uh I don't know if that's that's helpful or not, but I try to not stand as much and try and take that posture where you're um on your knee. I think this like when you beat their their knee, you're already your head's already much closer and you're already like putting pressure on them as opposed to being standing. You gotta kind of cover a lot of distance to go into to more tight passing. So by standing, I think you are doubling down on the outside passing approach, you know.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Yeah, yeah. I think I need to mix it up a bit instead of like outside pass, high step. Oh shit, I'm still standing, but I I'm holding their limbs here and just hanging out. Um, really good note on that scoop grip because um a lot of times, like when they scoop grip on me and I drop to my knees, I feel like I have to let go of that cross grip and get the cross face, or else they're gonna just hold my leg all the way across, and now all of a sudden I'm like deep into some entanglement of theirs.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's not wrong to take a cross face. Um, I've tended to try to go into like over-underpassing, if that makes sense. So like uh the cross grip would come down to their leg and your V grip would take a scoop grip on their leg. Oh, and then you try and use that to go into over-underpassing. And then as you work like back towards their their legs, you kind of like break their their cross grip. Wow. Um, so that's or their scoop grip. So that's one way to go about it. But again, I've I've really been trying to think of like how to stay close to them and resort to outside passing as kind of a a later stage uh defense to the to the grips they take. But yeah, um, yeah, unless they're like just giving it to you and their legs are like wide open, you know? Yeah. Um but yeah, that's kind of the way I've been I've been approaching it. And the other thing that might be worth considering is the V grip you take on their ankle, if you take it with your hand on top of their ankle, they're gonna probably bring their leg like underneath your grip to break it. And if you take the grip like on the inside of their ankle with your palm facing the ceiling, it's probably gonna lead to them more like going out to break your grip. So obviously, like if they go out, we would much prefer this for things like over-under passing or like freeing our leg to go into the high step type passing. Whereas if we have it on top, it allows us to go into more like smash type type passing. So um if you are thinking like, man, they have a scoop grip, this is generally when I'll try and switch from like a grip on top of their ankle to um underneath or like on the side of their ankle with my palm facing the ceiling. Um, and then that will lead to more like over-under type passing, or I think um easier high step type type passing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

Yeah, yeah. Much more nuanced. Um, so your plan A, maybe maybe I am like kind of just not remembering what we talked about last week. But your plan A is kind of to smash the new shield down once you have that cross cross grip. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

And then like if you do start to like flatten them out, um, you can get to chest chest half guard. But I've tended to find that it can be a little bit difficult to flatten them out with a cross grip. Um, whereas it tends to be easier to flatten them out where you like pin their other wrist to the mat um or to their like body, you know. So um I found it to be easier to go into like over-under type passing initially and then use that to get to chest chest half guard as you, you know, flatten them out, or to smash their legs together. But for the most part, I feel like I I smash their legs together like eight times out of ten, and then I split their legs apart the other, the other times. Gotcha. Um yeah, and then high stepping is I don't even put it in the the numbers. I use that as a last resort.

SPEAKER_01 7:59

Got it, got it. Mine's been flipped. Okay, cool. So um maybe we don't go too far because I'm gonna forget everything beyond this. So yeah, that's the next thing I'll try is like new direction. Plan A is to smash once I get the cross grip to smash the knees and stay tight. And then plan B, if they scoop the lane, then I can extend going to high stepping or or overunder. Um cool. How about the other scenario you mentioned the other week? Getting to that Russian two-on-one, and then you know, they're framing across your face, and then instead of bleeding with this side, you know, you switch to your leading edge. So I've been just messing with switching that edge, but I forgot what to do with it. So I'm starting to get get there a little more, and it at least it feels a little better than like forearm across your face, like they're making so much distance. Right. But maybe I'll just like hold it on too long, like not switching to another thing. I I don't know yet.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

I I'm this is just me guessing, but you demonstrating it. Um let me just ask this this question and then um it might give me a clearer picture of how you're applying it. Um well, like let's say you have like a standard Russian arm, yeah, and your like right hand's like closer to their armpit and you're leading with your right leg. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then when you switch to put your left shoulder as your leading edge, are you also switching so your left foot comes forward?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

No, I'm not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

That's the problem. When you're demonstrating it, it looked like you were leaving your stance in the same stance. But yeah, I think uh you gotta switch your your lead foot as well. And this allows you to get like more close to them um and make it hard, like like suffocates their their frames more.

SPEAKER_01 9:36

Yeah. So you're pulling them across too, like it seems like uh like they're standing right in front of you, yeah, face to face.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Yes. Yeah. You're like very close to the room.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

You're just like yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

And their arms are just kind of like smooth in between you, like way across.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

Yeah. Wow, okay. So you're really just pulling all the way across. And where where do you like to go from there?

SPEAKER_00 9:59

So what I've been doing um is if they kind of leave their frame and they keep trying to push with their frame, I just uh take the hand that's like grabbing their wrist and I bring it up to their arm and I arm drag.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Oh, the arm drag, the the the I see, I see. That's right. That's right. I remember now. I remember you saying that now.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

And then if they take their frame out, which I think is the more common approach, um, because their frame, they feel like it's just getting suffocated and they can't really push away. Yeah. So they'll try and pull their arm out. Yeah. And when they pull their arm out, the hand that's grabbing their wrist will take an underhook on that side.

unknown 10:40

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

And then you let go of the hand that's on their elbow and you go like knee tap.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Oh, you just go straight. Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

Yeah. This this combo has been very nice. That's very nice. Yeah. So I would say like you want to maintain your position outside their elbow as much as possible. So the hand that's like in their armpit generally stays. And then the hand that's on their wrist can be dynamic and it can go take an underhook, you can go arm drag, you can go snap down, you can whatever you want to do. It generally comes from you moving that hand that's that's on their wrist.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

Very nice. Okay. So let me just remember see if I remember. So you got three directions, kind of you switch your stance, and then you can go arm drag, you can go snap. If they pull it out, get the underhook, go straight into a knee tap. Okay. Yeah. Wow. Very, very clean. Okay. I gotta learn how to be ambidextrous on like both sides for this.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I would say when I'm trying to teach this to people, I think it is just like more natural for people to like look for an underhook for whatever reason. So like people will look for underhooks when the frame is still in there, and there's nothing really for them to underhook. Yeah, yeah. So it can be a bit weird. So if you do take that hand out and like look for an underhook, it's it's not wrong, but it's it might not be there. But you can like elbow pass or something on the other side to like, you know, go behind or go into a single leg or whatever. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I've just found the underhook to be much more effective when they pull their hand out. Um very nice.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Okay, okay. I'm writing these down this time. Um, yeah. Plan A with the cross grip is try to smash, and then plan B is to to um high step or reset to something else. And then I like this with the Russian tie. Three directions to go for that drag, snap, or underhook based on their reaction.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

Yeah. And then, like, not to confuse you, you want to throw more information at you. That's a game. I find to be relatively common is what really screws this up is their head starts getting like low into your chest. So, like, maybe as you're trying to bring your head over, they bring their head like underneath your head. And this is when like snap downs become pretty good. And then as you try and snap, ideally you get their hands down to the mat and you take top front headlock. But if you try and snap and it doesn't work, you just keep your grip like outside of their tricep and you like bring your head to the outside, if that makes sense. And then you can uh take the hand that's on your wrist and do like an inside reach for a single leg on that that side. So it's like as they resist the snap, their legs come forward and you shoot in for a single leg. But ideally you stay outside their elbows when you're shooting in for a single egg, so they can't like down block or underhook you, that type of thing. Yeah, I see. So that goes to what we're talking about. Like just stay outside their elbow and you're just like holding that position, and then you kind of like take whatever offense they they give you. But it's I found it to be a very nice, because I'm not very like explosive or like enjoy those kind of like more timing type wrestling shots. Yeah. I I really like the like you can sit there and just kind of like feel it out. And I I found it to be a very nice position to maintain like outside their elbow, and then you can just kind of like feel what would be best to go for, you know. Got it.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

Um is it a reaction where like let's say um let's say they have a usually I get to the Russian when they collar tie me and I'm like stripping it and I grab that the uh Russian two-on-one. Okay, so now I switch stance and I'm pulling them across to make them face me. Is it a reaction where they backstab and they just keep rotating away from you to uh to not let their arm come across? You know, they like open back up and try to get that frame back.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

If they do that, if I'm picturing what um you're describing, like anytime they're they're moving in that direction, they're basically like exposing their back to you even more. Um, and if they're trying to keep their frame in, like this is where the arm drag is like the easiest thing. So like if they are backstepping to try to like reinsert their frame, this leads to nice arm drag, so you can easily grab their far hip, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because they're turning their fore hip to you and you're just right there to grab it. Exactly. And you're already outside the elbows. I see, I see. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

unknown 15:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

So anytime I feel like I've I've beaten their frame, but they're like really insistent on framing, basically you arm drag and then you like try and turn your chest like down towards the the mat, which clears their frame like completely. Right. So yeah. And if they're moving in that direction anyway, it like makes it even easier.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Got it. Okay, okay. That's the reaction that makes that one easy. Okay, cool. Sick. Gonna write those down. Okay. I'm just gonna write that real quick. Arm drag, um, snap, underhook. Yeah, yeah, wow. That's cool. Yeah, those those um those feel just like all three just feel like way better connection than the Russian by itself.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I haven't I still haven't watched that much Greco, um, but I want to. And I'll probably do it after I get back from from our trip. Um, but yeah, I'm planning to do more like front headlock escape stuff, and then dive more into like Greco stuff. Um, but yeah, I I've really enjoyed this, and Joseph was the one who said that he got it from Greco people. So yeah, I want to start watching more of that.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Nice. Um, yeah, I'm excited for that. I'm excited for the front headlock stuff. As I told you before we start recording, you know, lately I've stopped pulling guards, so I just end up in the front headlock all the time. So uh yeah, excited to to see how to make do with that. And my defense lately, just because my neck injury has just been grab that jokey as much as I can. And just I a lot of times I give up the the go behind because I'm like, I don't want you to go for a joke, just take my back instead, and we'll go from there. Right. So yeah, that's been my final experience. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Anything else you have been working on?

SPEAKER_01 16:58

Uh mostly just wrestling. So initially I was thinking, you know, the hand fight, try to get to underhooks. Now I'm trying to also add knee taps and snap downs. Um, and then I think last night I had a dream that I should start adding in like foot-to-foot. Like foot sweeps would be so nice to learn. I just never really tried, I never go for that. The timing seems really hard. Like it all just seems very tricky. But uh I'm trying to learn, I guess, like that phase of the standing, how to like get to better connections. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Yeah. Um, I'm not too good at like foot sweeps or like trips, that type of thing. But just from watching Joseph, and like when you do any sort of like trip or foot sweep, they generally tell you to like, or like a throw, like an Uchimada or something. They generally tell you to like hop forward. So like your planted leg is like underneath your center of gravity, and then you can get like a really strong trip or like throw type of thing. So the way I've been I've been doing it is like it came from watching Joseph's role with JFLO. Um, and it seemed like whenever Joseph had like a overhook or an underhook from standing, he was postured very like tall and like very hip to hip. And it kind of led to to JFLO trying to like foot sweep or trip or like even reach for Joseph's leg, obviously, because his legs are very close and accessible. And the the idea being like if you can get their shoulders to turn, you're the one who's gonna like get the the takedown, as opposed to them getting the takedown on you. So idea is if you have a if you're standing up tall, you have a good base of support underneath you. So even if they do do like a trip or a throw on you and your foot is off the mat, you still have a good base of support underneath you. And then you work on trying to turn their shoulders and like counter their takedown with a takedown of your own. So, like one thing that I've found to be pretty effective, there's this guy who comes and he's the wrestling coach. And I was able to get this on him quite a bit. And eventually he was like, I don't know why I keep doing it. You keep like, you know, I just keep falling right into the trap. But like whenever he tries to do like a trip or an Uchimata on me, you basically like counter their throw or trip with a trip of your own. And this has been very helpful or like a foot sweep of your of your own. So um, yeah, just trying to like stand up tall when I get an underhook or an overhook, and then waiting um for them to to try and engage my legs in some way, and then trying to use the the base of support I have and then counter it with my own um has been helpful. I I imagine I'm gonna get some, we're gonna get some comments in that's terrible, terrible advice. But uh yeah, um I found it to be fun and it is quite satisfying where like they try and like outside trip you and then you inside trip them back and then you end up on top. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

That's sick. I've never really even gone for a trip or a sweep, or I think there was a time where I was messing with Uchimana's a little bit because I'm my hips are usually a little higher than other people's, so it I think it helps, but I've completely given up on it. Uh now I'm just like wrestling more. Maybe if I did more Gee, that stuff would come around more. Like, but um yeah, I'm just gonna forget all that you just said if we'll revisit it another time. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Have you I know you were working on standing underhooks. Have you been doing that still?

SPEAKER_01 20:35

Yeah, yeah. I've been trying to get them. And then um the the adjustment I made this week is once I get them to just really try to make them flare their elbow more instead of yeah, because I I was trying to figure out what a good underhook is, and I talked to Drake um this week. He's he'll episode should come out soon, or maybe before this one. And he said that's like the thing is like, or that's where he places his attention, I guess, is like opening up that space for their elbow. Um because his question was like, when do you know you have an underhook, or when does the other guy have an overhook? It's like the difference.

SPEAKER_00 21:11

How close their elbow is to their body.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Yes, yeah, yeah. Actually, I think you might have told me that before too.

SPEAKER_00 21:17

I think Randall was the one who was talking about that quite a bit. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Okay, okay. Yeah. That's the hard thing about information or like knowledge of versus like knowledge about or whatever when you do it. Um, it can only hold so many things to try. So I'm glad to thank you for your patience as I revisit these topics this week. Yeah, it's all good.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

But uh one thing I have been working on, not not from standing under hooks, but from close guard, um, or just like guard in general, is like you know, a pinch headlock is it's it's good position, right? But if you don't have anything like in front of their shoulder, it's basically like them being in the same position on you, if that makes sense. So, like if you have an underhook and their head, they also have an underhook and their head.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Oh, I see, I see, yeah. Yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

But what makes it a strong position for you is when you have like a frame in their collarbone. So now they can't use their control and you can use your control. Yeah. So just from uh like I don't know if you saw Jet Thompson using the back take from closed guard in PGF, but this got me very excited to play with underhooks from closed guard. And a lot of people are relatively new in my gym, and they just like as soon as you get any sort of like advantage from closed guard or like an underhook, they'll just like pressure forward super hard on you. And after watching Jet um use it, it seemed like he always had something like in front of the shoulders. So, like, if he had an underhook, it would be like gripping the far shoulder and kind of like alleviating the pressure of them. And then he was like slipping out the the back door. And then there was this clip of Sarah Galval working to pass from close guard, and this girl got a pitch henlock on her, and Sarah just basically took uh head and arm grip to counter it. Basically, the girl didn't have a frame on the collarbone, and then she like split the legs and and passed. Like, yeah. So I was like, okay, the most important thing when you're playing with an underhook from from bottom that I've been trying to think about is when I get to a pinch headlock or a shoulder crunch or an underhook, I'm trying to have something blocking their their shoulder. Um, so I don't know if this applies from standing or not, but that's what I've been thinking about when I've been playing with the pinch headlock um specifically, is having something blocking their shoulder. And the way I've really enjoyed it is initially you get pinch headlocked with your forearm on their shoulder, and then you like get your arm super deep until your hand can take over the control of their shoulder, and then you start to work like to slip out the the back door um to get behind them. But yeah, this has been the the cue I've been thinking about.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

They're like smothered in there. Yeah, yeah. Nice, very cool. Always working on something, so many things. I don't know how you like keep it all in your head.

SPEAKER_00 24:24

Yeah, I don't know. All I think about, so it helps.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Cool, cool. Well, yeah, I'm gonna head out for a couple weeks on a trip, so no training. I think I'm gonna get my last session tomorrow morning, and then yeah, we'll we'll catch up after your trip as well.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Yeah, come back mid July, July 15th. I come back.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Okay. Sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

All right, there you go.

SPEAKER_02 24:46

Cool, cool. See ya.