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Side Control Escapes, Part 1: Stop the Head Control, Find the Elbow

Professor Binish SukhijaProfessor Binish Sukhija · 4 min read

Stop the head control. Find the elbow.

No-Gi class at Knots & Collar, New Delhi — Professor Binish Sukhija. Full video: 15:31.

Most people treat bottom side control as a place to survive. This class treats it as a place to attack. Part 1 builds the base of the whole series: stop the head control, find his elbow, and understand why your partner ends up rolling over.

This is Part 1 of 3. Part 2 is Side Control Escapes, Part 2: Attack from the bottom. Part 3 is Side Control Escapes, Part 3: When he switches.

1. Don’t give him the head control

The class starts one step before the escape. The top person wants head control. You want to stop it for as long as possible. Professor Binish asks you to see his hand as a punch, a slap or an elbow strike.

Stop it with your forearm, not your fingers. Keep your feet light. Move your head like a pendulum. Shoulder walk if you need to.

In the warm-up rounds, nobody escapes. “Top person is supposed to win. You are just borrowing time.” If he gets the head control, you reset.

2. The first part of losing

Now the real drill. He is about to take the head control but hasn’t got it yet. That moment is where you work.

Move your head away. He follows with his hand. Then you stop and swim your arm outside. And while his arm is still stretched, the kimura is there. Look at his arm: if it can stretch, that’s a good kimura.

3. Why they roll: it’s an armbar

This is the idea the rest of the series hangs on.

You have his shoulder in check and his wrist in check. One hand slides down against his elbow. His arm is completely stretched out, and you start moving it away. Now there is pressure on the elbow joint. Professor Binish compares it to breaking a matchstick in the middle.

“If partner does not roll, they either tap or they get their elbow broken.” That is why they roll over with you when you turn away.

So when you roll him, you are not doing a sweep. He is rolling to relieve armbar pressure. In the professor’s words: “It’s all armbar. Right from the very beginning.”

4. The elbow, not the tricep

The drilling showed where people go wrong.

  • Start with his hand on the ground, as if his thumb is going for the head control.
  • Slide your arm outside and find the elbow. Not the tricep. Not the underhook, the armpit space.
  • Lead with the thumb. Be precise with the elbow: the cavity.
  • Keep pulling down until you feel the elbow, then stop. Don’t cross it. Go too far over and there is no escape from there.
  • Get both hands in front of the elbow.

5. Trap it, then turn away

Once you find the elbow, trap his arm with your head and shoulder. Don’t cup it with your hands. “You’re helping him.” It’s a precise trap.

Then turn away from him without looking at him. Roll away. Don’t lift him. Keep your head and shoulder tight and roll with him.

6. Slow down, pay attention

Go at 10 percent. Don’t complete the movement at full speed. And note one limit: if he drops his chest, there is no rolling over.

The last chapter is about precision. If you are in the right position, his arm is captured and stretched out. Miss it, and you lose it. “You missed the precision, pay the price.” So take your time. Move your head away, move your shoulders back, and only go once you find it.

The 20 chapters

  1. Why we stop the head control
  2. Forearm, not fingers
  3. Light feet, pendulum head
  4. Don’t escape yet, borrow time
  5. The first part of losing
  6. Move your head away, swim your arm
  7. The kimura is there if the arm stretches
  8. Why they roll: it’s an armbar
  9. Start with the hand on the ground
  10. Slide to the elbow, not the underhook
  11. Roll away, don’t lift
  12. Slow down: 10 percent
  13. The elbow, not the tricep
  14. Trap it with your shoulder, don’t cup
  15. Trap, then turn away
  16. Find the elbow, don’t cross it
  17. Both hands in front of the elbow
  18. Rolling through the armbar
  19. It’s all armbar
  20. Missed the precision, pay the price

What to take away

  1. Stop the head control with your forearm, not your fingers.
  2. Move your head away, then swim your arm. If his arm stretches, the kimura is there.
  3. Find the elbow. Not the tricep, not the underhook, and don’t cross it.
  4. Trap with head and shoulder. Don’t cup.
  5. Roll away, don’t lift. He rolls because of armbar pressure.
  6. Go slow and be precise. Miss the elbow and you pay the price.

Next, watch Side Control Escapes, Part 2, where the same pressure turns into attacks from the bottom.

Train with us

Knots & Collar, New Delhi.

दिल्ली में ब्राज़ीलियन जिउ-जित्सु (BJJ) सीखें — Knots & Collar में आपकी पहली क्लास फ्री है।

Filmed at Knots & Collar, New Delhi. Head instructor: Professor Binish Sukhija. Intro music licensed from Epidemic Sound: “Limitless” (LONELY.ROBOT).