TFS#80: Hate It Or Love It

The Fourth Stripe newsletter is designed to be short and focused.

I do my best to keep it digestible and actionable.

But if you want to add a little light-hearted BJJ humor to your inbox, you should check out Tap, Nap &, Snap.

Now, on to this week’s study…

Last week, we looked at getting to the Chair Sit position from Side Control which is a study that leads us to the back.

If you need to review the study, it’s available on the website.

Continuing to build off that, we’ll look at another method to getting to the Chair Sit position.

Stack Pass With Two Options

This is most effective against an opponent who likes to keep their feet high when they’re in the open guard position.

One way to do it is to start in open guard.

Cup underneath their ankle and pushing their feet up and over into a stack like in the photo below.

Key detail: you’ll want to get one of your knees behind their back to keep them from flattening out back on the mat.

A) Leg Drag Finish

For the Leg Drag pass, while you maintain one knee behind your opponent’s back, you’ll use the other knee to drop behind their knee to keep that leg pinned.

Grab their thigh and drag it across your body, use that same hand to grab the opposite collar.

Turn the corner and you should have the pass.

Watch it in this short.

The passer uses a slightly different entry: he uses the weggie grip to lift their lower back off the mat.

Once you get the pass, the Leg Drag position is usually a great place where the opponent exposes their back and thus you can transition into the Chair Sit position.

B) Diving Back Take

The name of this move isn’t as crazy as it sounds.

You might think “My body can’t handle a dive or anything that athletic.”

This back take attempt doesn’t require any athleticism.

The lower you are able to maintain your posture, the lesser the “dive” since you’ll be closer to the mat.

The setup is very straight forward: once you pin their knee down, you’ll cross step to put in a hook and fall to your side.

Key detail: As you fall, make sure to pull their hips up while you try to get under their hips. You need to get under the hips. Otherwise you can connect to the Crab Ride…which we can cover another day.

Building Up Back Flexibility

Getting stacked isn’t fun.

Some flexible guard players can deal with it but folks who are getting up there in age (myself included) or certain body types can’t handle the stack.

I’d recommend doing these inverted drills at home just to improve your flexibility and mobility.

You won’t be able to get into a full stack but at least it’ll buy you more time to adjust yourself.

In the GIF above, when you recognize your opponent attempting the stack, be sure to drive your heels down, keeping your legs heavy.

Also, use your hands to push on their elbows and shoulder walk back to create the space your hips need to get you to roll over your shoulder.

But this 5 minute video will go over 3 helpful stretches that will save your back and neck.

Closing Remarks

As mentioned earlier, the Leg Drag position is a great place to transition into the Chair Sit position.

Establishing the horse collar grip will make it easy to get around their shoulder.

If you need additional details, let me know.

But before we warp up here, I have just one question for you…

Thanks for letting me know!

Until next week,

Wayne

P.S. Most people get it wrong when playing to their strengths.

***

In Jiu-Jitsu's intricate dance,
Stack pass can be used as a skillful advance.
Leg drag swiftly flows,
Diving back takes, it shows,
A fluid sequence in a strategic stance.

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