#27 Hand fighting/takedown set ups: it’s all about elbow control

[@a.m.4479]

And man... I think I've already said this but I can't give you an idea of how much you've been helping me... I've been learning an absolute TON from you and I'm so grateful to have come across your channel at the time I'm starting wrestling... Thank you so, so much!!!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

That is great to hear! Drill hard and trust the fundamentals. They won’t let you down!

[@corrugatedcavalier5266]

Great stuff! That medieval master I study is all about elbow control to the extent that people make jokes about it. People will say "If I see an elbow I push an elbow!" in kind of a tongue in cheek way because the community is primarily about sword fighting and it can seem a little silly to them. But he has pushing up on the elbow to get under, pushing to the inside, and posting there to check grabs etc.

[@BernardoFlor_Krio]

I live in a island in the middle of nowhere, a dry desert of wrestling. so this channel is a absolute God send. Thank you guys

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you for your support!

[@themaster-jp6sp]

I'm learning a lot here. That stance you thought is great. I realized in bjj. I'm much less susceptible to the single or double from that position.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Stance is everything man. The whole objective is to get him out of his stance and for you to not let him get you out of yours. By getting him out of his stance, you are opening him up

[@nick0424]

This is gold, thank you.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you! Feel free to ask questions. I want this page to be a learning community

[@nick0424]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 I will! Thank you! Now I have to go to BJJ on Saturday morning to experiment and feel how this stuff works, I want to ask real questions and not waste your time.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@nick0424 everyone has to start somewhere. I coached kids for a long time. Like I tell my students in the classroom, lots of people probably have the same questions, but are too afraid to ask. So by asking you are helping them learn

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Drilling is super important. Have your partner give you 20% until you feel it. Then have him progressively increase the resistance only after you initiate the move, so you the pressure.

[@johnsapla7906]

I haven't even properly worked on this stuff yet, just trying random stuff that you show in my training and I already have huge success.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Great to hear! This system gets kids brand new to wrestling winning championships. I know it works, because I took many kids with little athleticism far in the sport-well I taught them the system and encouraged them. They did the rest

[@LuisVLowned]

Thanks, I'll try this today in no gi class. I think it would be awesome to see you and your partner have some live wrestling rounds. With some commentary so we can understand your thinking at that moment. Thanks for this gold!! Subbed

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

He’s knee is jacked up right now. Not sure how long that will be. There is a young buck (25) who wants in on this stuff. I could bring him in and run a clinic on him, lol

[@dominicmagliocco7523]

I will go some rounds with Joe.😎

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@dominicmagliocco7523 uh oh…here we go. We are gonna document our injuries, lol

[@sunshinemedia6235]

​@@josephbreza-grappling9459😂 this aged well...

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@sunshinemedia6235 Lol!! I was laughing at one of the videos where someone commented that I was gonna hurt my knee taking the back and I said my knees are indestructible. Lol!! Everyone is destroying their knees on the floors at the university’s judo club. I said that I felt the floor give away and people blew me off. Well, they are definitely broken. The university is in the process of fixing them. They are the gymnasts floors and have some spring to them. There are dead spots. A number of us have torn our ACLs because of that stupid floor

[@YungKashewz]

Another amazing video as a non-grappler who fell into BJJ. Thank you Joseph!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you! Never too old to get into it!! It’s life changing. I’m grateful every day after I train that I can still do it at 43 and with all the years I trained (31 years now).

[@a.m.4479]

My goodness, Joseph. Another banger as always! Amazing stuff!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you!

[@jpinto9935]

Dude - your channel is awesome, thank you!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Thank you! I am glad that you like the content. Thank you for supporting the channel.

[@MK-ev6ov]

Just wanted to comment that your videos are really helpful. Thank you. I hit a clean double in to side control last night on a high school wrestler. As an older practitioner with no wrestling chops I feel pretty good about it. I had collar tie/bicep and I dropped to shoot and felt a stiff arm on the side I had the bicep. I got back up from the dead shot and wrenched the bicep side arm up and threw it away. This give me the clear path I needed. To hit the unobstructed double. Clearing the hands is such a key concept that I was never taught. It should be right up there with the mechanics of how to actually perform the shot.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Awesome! Thank you! Yes, videos #9, 21, and 27 are super fundamental but highly effective. They are important to drill a lot so you can feel the timing. Good work! It only gets better from here!!

[@NiekMagnel]

Great video!

[@davidm2843]

Another great video, full of solid gold advice. I reckon even I, in my advanced years and crap mobility, could make that single work.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Even when coaching young people, I teach what is most efficient. This is because you need technique that will work when you are tired and need to score.

[@vango7990]

Good stuff!

[@dradamov]

I know it sounds crazy, but this principle is something that is taught in Aikido very early on. Wrists are just an example of contact points and the goal is to control elbow and above. ...or head, but thats another sorta thing.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Doesn’t sound crazy to me. There are only so many ways that you can control the human body, so the truth extends through many disciplines. Some are just more slow to learn them, because they insist on trying to reinvent the wheel rather than to learn from other arts that are much much older

[@dradamov]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Cant agree more, Aikido has abysmal methodology to get that across. On the flip side I will say I really love the honesty of human body and how it can be manipulated within grappling overall :)

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@dradamov people split hairs with the differences between the styles, because they are selling you something. There are differences in scoring and grips with and without jackets, but the core is the same.

[@Sjman548]

Great Video! working through your series, hope you get healed soon so you can make many more lol !

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

LOL! The problem has been that we have nowhere to do it when it’s so cold. Nobody likes us filming at the academy, so we were filming at our house until it cold super cold.

[@geraldjosephdonttrip1370]

Yo whats your workout routine man you're jacked. Also, great information, will definitely implement elbow control in my nogi game.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Oh man, just you wait! Dom, my partner was a 4x state champion bodybuilde. He is my trainer now. I was always gifted in that I could put on muscle, but as I got older, it got harder and harder. We plan on having Dom take us through some training tips. It will be getting cold here soon and we won’t be able to make wrestling videos at my house. The mat gets super hard in the cold. We will end up doing some of the work at Dom’s in his gym and on his mat. It will be a few months from now, but stay tuned, because Dom is a legitimate trainer. He has helped a lot of us older guys with training, because as we get older we have to train smarter. I actually had a mess up shoulder and he rehabilitated it. The PT people weren’t helping. He knew the issue (distal clavicle osteolysis-aka weightlifter’s shoulder) and after some adjustments to my training, it was getting better soon after.

[@RyderKnightly]

this is amazing. we are always grip fighting for wrist control- which is good for specific things, but noone I train with controls this way.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

If their hands aren’t out in front enough to control their elbows, then you should be able to get to their legs without much trouble. The t-rex arms thing people do won’t stop the blast double. So wrestlers put their hands out farther to provide better defense. Now you must attack the elbows for control or you’ll never get past their defense

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

If anything, grab all 4 fingers…not the wrists. It’s just too easy to break away. But definitely difficult to get away from a four-finger grasp. And definitely not that hand clasp thing-no advantage there

[@RyderKnightly]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 yeah we do the four fingers thing, but like most guys who do a lot of BJJ (and I live in Aus where we dont really have high level wrestling anyway) their wrestling is not great and they (myself included) are always reaching, so arms are constantly extended. I swear if I wasn't 6'5 (and my knees and ankles and toes weren't wrecked) it'd be blast double city here. This elbow control is going to allow me to get in on guys sooooo much better than before. I love it!

[@RyderKnightly]

actually I can blast double because I don't need to drop to a knee to do it, I just don't because im huge and would injure my partners, and myself (because im 48 and everything is broken) but I can't shoot in with decent penetration at all. to get at the legs I need them to push into me so I can clear an arm and drop and almost have them come to me. which is exactly what all these were. the elbow pass you showed to the single almost from the side is perfect because I can do that without having to shoot properly.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@RyderKnightly being 6’5” I think you would benefit a lot from what I showed in video #9. Walk forward and when the reach out, post under the elbow and use your reach to snag the inside of their knee (on the tendons). Then put your forehead on the ribs and push with your legs. This transfers their weight to their back foot and the leg gets light. Practice your level changes a lot. You must go down and then shoot in. A lot of people make the mistake of going down and in at the same time, and that 45 degree angle thing doesn’t work. It rounds off your back and allows me to stuff your head and elongate your body. Power comes from when your not extended. To take your power away, I have to extend you. Level changing and then penetrating, makes that challenging for me to get you out of position

[@dirtygeazer9266]

I've got a physical condition where my lower legs bend like crescents and my toes point inward i think this causes issues bc my IT band hurts when i squat I'm pretty sure its it band but it starts at the pointy bone on outside of leg and goes down halfway my upper leg I hurt to squat and level change not sure what to do took 2 days off but it's always been an issue I can barely squat heavy got good flexibility though when i was i could go ass to grass but would after like a month of basic starting strength program i felt it start i never been physical i started wrestling as a sr last year was terrible at it loved my coaches bjj is fun but this leg pain i used to have elbow pain some how I think just from all the weight loss and starting something so physical from being a couch potatoe any recommendations for this leg issue exercises maybe or stretches

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I would look into “Dr Kickass” on instagram. He is a physical therapist and BJJ blackbelt

[@IbrahimAboalsoud]

I want to get good at the underhook, but I am having trouble when they grab my fingers or knuckles. What's your favorite way to break hand control?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Sounds like they’re catching your hand on the way in? That’s why I like to do the greco entry, where I do a cross wrist grip and then put my forearm on top of theirs and slide off to the under hook. I show on my instructional and I believe I show it on the channel as well. But if they have control over my fingers, I cross wrist their hand with control, break the grip, and now I have a outside single. I show a variation of this on my instructional as well when they have both wrists. Same concept

[@IbrahimAboalsoud]

Thanks, I just remembered every time I got the cross-grip they never got my hands.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@IbrahimAboalsoud yeah man that cross grip forearm on top is super effective. Hurts like hell too if you squat just like the pressure on the thigh move. That makes their arm chicken wing out and gives you the underhook

[@douglesmicheal678]

I recently Had a round with an adcc competitor and he was able to ankle pick me over and over again from a seated guard. (I was matching his head level to avoid the wrestle up). any advice?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Cross face the living shit out of him and he’ll think twice about touching your legs again, lol! A wrestler’s cross face, where you use your wrist bone under their nose. It makes people think twice about it. They just lay on their back and play guard with me. Lol Use your head as a weapon, and don’t forget to those hands reengaged. Control one of his hands all the time and he can’t get the collar tie and your ankle-he needs both for it to work.

[@douglesmicheal678]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 Thank you 🙏

[@1long]

can u do a video about a bodylock takedown and set up ? p/s thank u for the video it help me so much on the grappling journey, and sry for my bad english.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Videos 6, 7, 8, and 22

[@1long]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 thks u coach love the content 🙏

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Also, on #25, I show you can mat return or do gentle suplex from the bodylock if you end up halfway behind them. Definitely not the best position though. If you end up there on me, I am going to headlock or inside trip you. Best to step in the middle, like I show the aforementioned videos

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@1long thank you for your support!

[@GrappleHeavy93]

Great stuff! Any chance of getting a better mic? Content is some of the best I've seen for grappling, but better audio could take it to the next level imo. Regardless, thanks for the awesome stuff.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I have a microphone now. See my new videos. But, I broke it (I haven’t posted that video yet) and am looking to get a replacement

[@GrappleHeavy93]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 gotcha, thanks again for the content!

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Funny thing is that I kinda miss the low tech way…I know there’s an echo, but it just got more complicated since I got the new mic, lol

[@GrappleHeavy93]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 totally understand, stuff never works as easy as it's advertised.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@GrappleHeavy93 yeah, it requires it’s own program to connect with the camera…it sounds good most of the time, but it sometimes loses connection briefly with the bluetooth and/or makes horrible rubbing sounds while demonstrating technique. Sometimes it’s hilarious though, like when Dom was strangling me and it sounded like it felt, lol

[@ferskakulinaren4360]

Can you make more videos with attacks from russian 2 on 1 ?

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

Have you seen video #22? Those are high percentage attacks and deal with the most likely 3 positions. One really doesn’t need a lot more different attacks from there. Those are all very common at very high levels. Is there something specific you would like to see?

[@ferskakulinaren4360]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 yes i have already watched that, but you said you could run more options beacuse you hade a ton of different variations, i Was just curious of more variations

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

@@ferskakulinaren4360 thank you for watching! I do have more from there, but they start to become more risky, which at this point I want to avoid. I want people to stick with high percentage moves that are low percentage risk. I will think about it some more. What I want to avoid is dropping the head, because while it works in wrestling, it might put you at risk for a choke. I have to keep in mind what is going to be solid for both wrestlers and BJJ practitioners.

[@josephbreza-grappling9459]

I was having a good time and talking, which I tend to do, lol

[@ferskakulinaren4360]

@@josephbreza-grappling9459 ok i understand