How to get your leg flat when you’re escaping mount
We’re continuing our mount drills at Hollywood BJJ and Shawn Williams had some great tips for how to get your leg flat when you’re setting up a mount escape. Before this class I knew enough to try to get my leg flat but I didn’t know the proper technique so I would just basically kick around with my feet until I got my leg flat. The problem with this is it takes too frickin long. You obviously want to start your escape quickly since you’re deprived of oxygen because of your opponent’s weight
Anyway, the context here is that you’re mounted and your opponent has his feet crossed behind your butt. What you want to do is attack the top foot but you can’t see what’s going on down there because your opponent’s body is in the way. So what you do is splay both your legs straight out so that they’re resting on top of your opponent’s ankles. One of your legs will feel higher than the other. That’s the leg that is resting on top of your opponent’s top ankle. So if your left leg feels higher, use your right foot to push your opponent’s foot to the side and hold it down if possible. Then rest your left leg on top of your right foot. When you remove your right foot, your left leg will just fall onto the mat. At that point you can begin your mount escape. The whole thing can be accomplished in less than a second which is much more efficient than what I’ve been doing.
The same technique can be applied when your legs are grapevined. You can defeat one grapevine by just straightening your leg until you can get it over your opponent’s hook. Then use it to hold down your opponent’s other foot and continue the technique as described above.
On a somewhat unrelated note I have concluded after today’s class that I suck ass at BJJ. Some guys in my class are incredibly smooth with very precise and technical transitions. I on the other hand roll like a beer keg with four Duraflame logs for limbs. It’s hideous to behold. I just want to play the beautiful jiu-jitsu but it continuously eludes me.