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Sit-through to half guard

The foundational escape from front headlock. Walk to a leg side, frame, wedge, capture the leg.

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Source: Volume 02, §2 — Watch at 00:03:52   (full transcript)

Purpose

Get a connection to your partner by capturing their leg and reaching half guard. From half guard, you have offensive opportunities.

Entry condition

Front headlock, partner's hands locked, you can walk toward one of their legs.

Mechanics

Variant A — Walk to the arm side

Because we're going to need to use our inside arm as a frame, our secondary defensive hand will start in place to keep his hand down. If, at any point in the escape, you feel his strangle arm creeping up — his hand rising in front of your deltoid / over the shoulder line — immediately stop what you're doing. Put your head on the floor, come back down, and start to defend the grip first. Then resume.

Setup: Partner on knees, his hands locked.

  1. Inside-position grip. Take your left hand (your outside hand here) and get a grip on the inside of your partner's wrist — inside position.
  2. Walk toward the arm side. Sometimes we walk toward the head side (Variant B); for this one, we walk toward our partner's arm side. Swisher your feet out that way with your head on the floor. Move your knees out in that direction.
  3. Frame across the hips. Take your inside arm and create a small frame across your partner's hips.
    • Be mindful of extension: don't push everything out and create separation, or it makes it easy for your partner to strangle on one side or the other. Keep your elbow bent and frame.
  4. Step the outside leg up. If you can, step over your partner's foot — but a savvy person often won't be close enough to allow that. That's fine.
  5. Drop the inside knee. Keep walking out to the side, and drop the inside knee so it touches your partner's knee. Take that inside knee and swing it in so it forms a wedge in front of your partner's leg — when he goes to move that knee forward, he's stuck.
  6. Step the foot up over the top and gather the heel. From here, draw your partner's leg out and pull it through. This puts you in half guard.
  7. What you do next depends on what your partner does with their arms (next chapter).

Variant B — Walk to the head side

Same situation — caught in front headlock — but moving the other direction:

  1. Keep your left hand in place (defensive) and draw your right elbow back (the elbow cut from Vol. 01).
  2. Move out toward the head side — circle a bit.
  3. Frame in place — keeps separation between his hips and your head.
  4. Slide the inside knee forward — right leg up, left knee in.
  5. Now your shin is in front of your partner's knee. Reach, capture the leg, give a little pull. That moves you into the same good half-guard position.
  6. From here, you can keep your arm as a frame, or — as we'll see — take your hand around your partner's leg.

The mechanical sequence (no partner)

  1. Defend the strangle.
  2. Create a frame.
  3. Move toward the leg you want to capture.
  4. Step up.
  5. Connect knee to partner's knee — drops you onto a hip and an elbow.
    • Forearm in place so partner can't continue charging forward.
    • Bottom knee is a wedge in front of partner's leg.
  6. Step over the top — beginning of your connection.
  7. Pull, connect, bring your partner toward you — improves the connection.

What you do next is determined by whether your partner keeps their hands locked or unlocks them — that's the branch we look at in the knee lever and trilemma.

Key details

  1. Defensive responsibility throughout — if strangle arm creeps up, stop, put head on floor, defend grip first.
  2. Inside-position grip on partner's wrist with outside hand.
  3. Frame across hips with elbow BENT — don't extend and create separation, or it makes it easy for your partner to strangle on one side or the other.
  4. Wedge inside knee in front of partner's leg — when he goes to move that knee forward, he's stuck.
  5. Step foot over top and gather the heel — this is the beginning of your connection to your partner.

Common failures

  • Extending the frame arm. Pushing everything out creates separation that opens strangles on either side. Keep the elbow bent.
  • Ignoring the strangle arm. If his hand rises in front of your deltoid or over the shoulder line and you keep going with the escape, you risk the submission. Stop, head on floor, defend first.
  • Not walking far enough to the side. You need enough angle to get the knee wedge in place. If you stay too square, the wedge doesn't work.
  • Lifting the head off the floor during the walk. Head stays on the floor as you swisher your feet out.

Connections

Moves

The edges of the graph. A chronological ledger of every move I've embodied, in the order I embodied it.

Knee lever

When partner keeps hands locked after you reach half guard, tilt them over using their trapped arm and leg.

On this page

PurposeEntry conditionMechanicsVariant A — Walk to the arm sideVariant B — Walk to the head sideThe mechanical sequence (no partner)Key detailsCommon failuresConnections