Mount-ober: Session four

My last training session didn’t actually bring with it any specific lessons. Mostly, I just found that I was still making the same mistakes, although slightly less. It’s progress, but I won’t be fully satisfied until I’m not making those mistakes at all.

If you’re wondering what I’m going on about read this, this, and this to see the lessons I’ve picked up so far in my training focus on the mount.

In today’s blog I would simply like to make an observation, or two.

My focus is attacking from the mount position during sparring. I’ll lay out my current game plan and make note of the things that I find interesting.

From Head to Head the Arm Drag is what I’m looking for from standing/kneeling starts. From standing I would likely look for a single leg as my second option. From kneeling I usually look to (1) Arm Drag, (2) Pull Guard, or (3) Collar/Neck Drag. This is where those usually lead to:
Arm Drag to Back/Turtle Top/Guard Top
Pull Guard to Guard/Half Guard
Collar/Neck Drag to Turtle Top/Back

From Guard Top I look to pass the guard (obviously).

From Turtle Top I look to pull over and attack the Back.

From the Back I look to scoot around to Mount.

From Closed Guard I look to sweep into Mount (Scissors Sweep, Hip Bump Sweep), or scoot around onto the Back.

From Open Guard I look to sweep (Hooks Sweep, X Guard Sweep). Usually I end up either in Side Control or Guard Top.

From Half Guard I have been looking to get deep and scoot out the back door to the Back.

From Side Control I either look to switch base and Mount or transition to North/South.

From North/South I look to take the Back, or go to the other side into Side Control.

Now, that all looks pretty simple and straight forward. Here’s what I’ve observed from this game plan.

I have developed a Guard to Mount game.

I would say that I’m in one or the other 80% of the time, if not more. I believe a lot of this has to do with the previous month I spent working in Guard. It didn’t make me some amazing guard player, but it did get me very comfortable there. It also made me confident in my ability to get back to top once I am in guard. The previous month was spent on escapes, so I’m still rather confident getting out of trouble once I’m there.

When I do get to Mount I am not worried about getting rolled back into Guard. So, if I get a deep collar grip and have to give up the upa in order to get the other grip in, I’m happy to do that, and finish it from Guard. I’m comfortable and confident there.

In fact, in my last four sessions I have only finished once in Mount. All my other taps have come from a setup in Mount and a finish in Guard. Triangles, Armbars, Guillotines, and Cross Collar Chokes. All are set up in the Mount position initially. In order to lock them in I have been allowing the opponent to roll over into Guard. If they’re turning me, they’re not protecting their necks or arms.

If I don’t get the finish I let go and look to sweep back to Mount, or climb around to the Back.

Back to Mount. Mount attack. Finish in Guard OR restart.

This was not expected, but it has become welcome. It’s part of learning to embrace my natural game.

Mount-ober:Session two

Wednesday was my second session in October, where attacking in the mount is my focus. Here are some more lessons I’ve learned.

For lessons 1-2 click here

Lesson #3- 100% of the shots that you don’t take, won’t go in
I’ve quickly realised that I’m not willing to pull the trigger on submissions. For example, I got into mount and worked into a deep cross collar grip on my opponent. From there, I reached over to grab a palm-down grip on the other shoulder to put on the choke. However, I only went towards the shoulder at 30% pace. I was thinking, “Surely, he’s going to stop this”. Sure enough, he did. Would he have stopped it if I’d gone at full pace, with full determination? I don’t know. But I do know that he was able to easily stop the 30% attempt. I didn’t actually take the shot.

He brought an arm up to defend, so I grabbed the elbow, pushed it across into the underhook, moved my legs halfway into place and thought, “Surely, he’s going to stop this”. So, what happened? Well, my prophecy came true. He stopped it. Would he have stopped it if I’d gone at it 100%? I don’t know. I didn’t take the shot.

So, can a shot that’s never taken hit a target?

The answer is, no. It can’t. Because it never left the gun.

This links into lesson 4

Lesson #4- Don’t be scared to jump… especially when you know how to land
I rolled with my coach last night. He let me pass his guard (he rewards proper technique. If you try to muscle through a pass he’ll shut you down and sweep you. If you use proper technique he’ll allow it, even though he knows full well how to stop it. It’s quite nice of him, really). I get into side control, switch base to face his legs, and pull his far knee towards me so that I can switch to mount.

Then I just froze. I sat there looking at his legs.

After a few seconds he says, “So… are you going to go to mount, or what?”

I froze because I was thinking, “He’s setting me up for something. He’s going to put me right back into guard if I try to go to mount”. But, let me think about it for a minute. I’m in side control without an underhook, and not a ton of control over the bigger, stronger, more technical, more experienced opponent. Would I actually rather stay there than attempt a switch to mount and maybe get caught in half-guard (which I have always been confident in passing)?

Risk vs Reward

If I stay in side control until I know I can get mount (when would I know that anyway?).

Risk = losing side control and ending up in full guard. Being swept would probably be the worst case scenario. Considering I’m pretty comfortable on the bottom, and confident in being able to sweep, I’d say this ins’t a huge risk. But, just staying there till mount presents itself would give me:
Reward = absolutely nothing, since I didn’t have a controlling side control anyway. I’m not attacking from there, so there’s no insentive.

Now, what if I’d just taken the chance and attempted mount?

Risk = getting caught in half-guard on the way through. I’ve always been confident in my ability to pass the half-guard. Esspecially if I get caught coming through from side control because I tend to be able to gain some kind of head/shoulder control in transition.

Reward = mount…

Risk vs Reward points (overwhelmingly) to attempting mount instead of just sitting there.

Finally, I’m comfortable on the bottom because of my last two months of work (escapes in August and guard in September). So, attacking on the top shouldn’t worry me at all. I should be attacking liberally when I’m up there.

My fear of jumping into transition and submission isn’t rational.

And that is the glory of being able to fight off your back. It frees your top game up to be fast, flowing, and attacking.

So, I will be doing a lot more of that for the rest of the month.