TFS#144: Mount Control, Head and Arm Choke, & Appreciating Training

You shouldn’t be losing Mount.

If you haven’t settled on a new year’s goal yet, aim for this one: when you get to mount, it should be game over for your opponent.

And if you can’t control or maintain the position, you have no business trying a submission.

Here’s a basic hierarchy for what you should be prioritizing in the mount:

1. Hip control (aka “low mount”) - The first thing your opponent will try to do is to use their hands to push off your hip. When this happens, sit back on their hips. I even intentionally feed a hook to put myself in ¾ Mount.*

2. Get an under hook - Attempt head and arm choke. If that doesn’t work, you can transition to the back.

3. Get double under hooks - If you feel like you can’t take the back, get the second under hook and start moving into S Mount for armbar attacks.

*I like ¾ Mount better than Full Mount because what it encourages your opponent to expose their back.

This is the perfect time to settle back and sit on their thighs.

From here, the head and arm choke is available.

Here’s some great details to help you improve your Mount.

Here’s how to finish your Head and Arm Choke.

This video goes over 5 tips that can improve your finish.

I’m sure you can use at least one of them.

Perfect example of Mount Control.

It’s another video on how to finish the submission, but I’d like to point out the positioning of his mount.

This is the ¾ Mount position I like since it gives you more options.

Your opponent ends up taking their shoulders off the mat for you…

Finally in the clear.

After a long month of working what felt like endless hours, I’ve completed my work for the emergency fires in Los Angeles.

Mapping out the entire burn areas and calculating mudflow hazards took a lot of work.

But knowing I was able to help in whatever way I could was rewarding.

And during this time, my Jiu Jitsu training wasn’t consistent. I was dropping into classes whenever I had the time and energy.

Honestly, it sucked, because I didn’t have the free time to study on my own. So I was essentially showing up to class without a game plan.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m lucky I was even able to still train.

But I could tell that my focus was off, and I wasn’t progressing the same way I normally would.

Jiu Jitsu took a backseat during this time…and it’s only made me more thankful that I get to train this awesome martial art to begin with.

I’m excited to get back to my regular routine.

Hope your 2025 has been good so far,

Wayne

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