This past Saturday we covered how to escape from the bottom of side control. When you are working to escape a position in BJJ yiu are always looking to move towards open space. This means you will need to be able to move your body effectively in multiple directions and be able to switch directions to be able to stay ahead of your training partner.
In this class we covered the whale walk, which is a way to move your body towards your underhooked arm, opposite of the direction of an elbow escape which is much more common in bjj. The elbow escape being more common means that the top bjj player is much more likely to shut it down because it is more familiar and therefore more expected. If you only have one way to move on the bottom is is much more likely that that movement will be shut down and you will end up stuck in an inferior position. By learning a second direction to move we can switch between the two creating enough space to escape.
The whale walk allows you to escape from the bottom of side control and puts you on your partners back where you have the advantage. We were able to cover many important details for this position such as where to keep your arms to ensure your structure is solid and not strength based, we also discussed how to move from being flat on your back to being on your side and how to use your legs to keep the top bjj player from adjusting to stay on top.