00:38 - From turtle, the defender is going to try to roll over their far shoulder. As the top player, we would ideally follow the roll and insert our hooks. The problem is our first hook is usually relatively shallow and easy for the defender to clear. Often times as we follow the roll we will end up on the back with no hooks but a chest to back connection on the underhook side.
01:03 - We can often end up with a seatbelt and no hooks when trying to take the back from positions other than mount. When you take the back from mount, you often do so with a good ability to establish both upper body and lower body control.
01:34 - When taking the back, ideally we are able to establish both lower body control and upper body control. However, our opponent is likely going to clear our lower body hooks as we try to climb up their body to get upper back exposure. If we are able to get upper back exposure, this would be considered a success for us. Upper back control is preferred over lower back control.
02:02 - There are a lot of routes to the back, but a lot of times you are going to have just a seatbelt and have to work to throw in your hooks. What we are going to do is double down on our upper back exposure to establish control with our lower body. So it is really important to understand what to do from the underhook side and overhook side when you dont have any hooks.
02:17 - When we have a seatbelt with no hooks, one very common escape for the defender is to turn away from us towards turtle. If we are on the underhook side and they turn away from us, when they get to turtle, our seatbelt is on the wrong side so it is hard for us to maintain control. If we are on the overhook side and they turn away from us, we have a standard seatbelt and we are able to continue our attacks from turtle. To make things worse, on the underhook side it is very hard for us to stop our opponent from turning to their knees. Compared to the overhook side where we can make it much harder for our opponent to do so. Therefore, if we have a seatbelt with no hooks, as the attacker we would prefer to be on the overhook side.
02:23 - From turtle, as the top player we often have our chest connected to their back and we are working to insert our lower body as hooks. Probably the best way to do this is the 2 on 1 leg method
04:15 - When trying to take the back, as the attacker it is risky to hang out on the underhook side if we do not have any hooks. To avoid staying there too long, we can quickly be looking to sit them up and insert our hooks from there.
04:24 - From a seated back situation, as the attacker it is generally more difficult to insert your hook on the underhook side. Also, if you are successful, you end up on the underhook side with a high ball ride which is not preferred. Generally, it is easier to insert you hook on the overhook side and more preferred to do so as well because the result is the overhook side with a high ball ride.
04:40 - When attacking from a high ball ride on the underhook side, it is very hard to prevent the defender from turning to their knees. The defender can also use their secondary defensive hand to defend your top hook from coming in. Compare this to the overhook side, where we can make it hard for the defender to turn to their knees and the defender would have to use their primary defensive hand to defend our top hook. Therefore, if given a choice it is preferred to have a high ball ride from the overhook side.
05:52 - From a high ball ride or a situation where we are attacking the back with just our bottom hook in, we should be looking to cross our foot. The defender is going to try to hook their foot behind ours to clear it. We can make this impossible for them if we cross our feet. Or we can bait them to hook behind our leg, and when they do we can cross their feet to trap their foot inside.
06:00 - When in the hoghball ride, we can bait our opponent to pummel their foot behind our hook by oppening our feet. This makes it possible to capture their foot when crossing our feet again
06:20 - When trying to insert our top hook to complete the back take, generally we are looking to stomp our top foot on the defender thigh. This allows us to cut our bottom hook across to the top hip and complete our back take.
06:20 - To escape the back, the defender can do so by first escaping at the lower body or by starting at the upper body. As the attacker, it is going to be much harder for us to re-establish upper back exposure. Therefore, as the attacker we want to prioritize our upper body control.
08:23 - To escape the back, the defender is going to try to bring both of our arm to the same side of their body. This prevents us from strangling them as they work to escape. This is much more effective from the overhook side than the underhook side. Therefore, as the attacker, we should be hesitant to let go of our seatbelt from the overhook side to threaten a RNC as it will give the defender the ability to escape. However, from the underhook side we can spam RNC's without having to worry about it as much.
10:08 - When finishing a RNC, you can do so from the overhook side, underhook side, or double overhooks. The overhook side tends to lead to more opportunistic mandible finishes. The underhook side tends to be easier to get under the chin for a clean finish. Double overhooks is pretty even between mandible and under the chin finishes
10:49 - When trying to finish a RNC from the back with double overhooks, you can use one arm to hide and protect your strangle arm. This gives you time to walk your strangle arm deeper and deeper to finish the RNC. This is satisfying as the attacker as it tends to be a slow and nicer form of finishing the RNC.
11:17 - When trying to attack a RNC, if you are on the underhook side or have double overhooks you can create a belly down dilemma for the defender by creating strong pressure with your top arm to force them belly down. If the defender does not post, they will go belly down which will likely lead to a RNC finish. If the defender posts to avoid being turned belly down, then we can use a gravity drop to finish the RNC.
12:24 - By having a roadmap and understanding the hierarchy of positions, it allows you to be much more energy efficient. If a technique gets you all the way to your end goal right away, that is great, but not very likely. I have been trying to ask myself "what happens if this technique fails? Does it allow me to move one step closer to my end goal, or does it bring me back to the beginning?" Ideally, when moves fail you are able to still move closer to your goal. Understanding the hierarchy of position and having a clear roadmap allows you to assess whether you are moving closer to that end goal, or further away from it.
