Arm Bar Demonstration by Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt

Mike Martin, Owner of Strong Heart Academy, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Phoenix Arizona, and third degree black belt, demonstrates an arm bar.

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Watch the video below:

armbar, guard, closed guard, Bjj

Okay. So basic armbar that we're gonna go from the guard is everyone needs to know from the very beginning is if I wanna attack this arm, I'm gonna come underneath his other arm and grab across, pulling the elbow to the hip. Same side foot goes on the, off the arm I wanna attack.


So I come on me grabbing behind the tricep versus arm. If I grab arm arm, he pulls his arm back and it's nothing. So I want to grab behind that tricep and control the wrist, and then I'm gonna pull it to my far hip. So center line's okay. But if you get it to the far hip, you're gonna have a lot better arm bar. Foot goes on the hip. I don't want any gap. I wanna squeeze my knee. I grab the far shoulder. Other leg goes high. It's gonna give me a nice angle. If I could see in his ear, then my leg can come over. I do not wanna cross my ankles cuz my knees tend to flare. So you wanna pinch your knees together and try to pull your heel to your own butt. And from here, like even just his wrist, close to my chest, he's gonna be very close to tapping.


I don't even need to lift my hips. If I'm lifting my hips, I'm actually breaking the arm. So again, I have his hands. I come underneath, I grab this tricep or behind the elbow. I pull to the far hip. I grab his shoulder, whatever arm I'm attacking. That foot goes on the hip. My other leg goes high on his back. I step over pinching my knees together, pulling my heels down, gripping the wrist, pulling to my chest. If I'm having issues with his, turning his wrist, then I need his thumb towards the sky. Gripping his wrist with two hands. So I transfer from his tricep to his wrist, pinching my knees. You can slightly lift your hips if they're very flexible and maybe it's not as tight, but if you're curling your heel down, you're gonna have a very, very, very tight armbar. If I want him to fall over, I wanna take my knees, my knees go down towards the ground. Now it's very tight. If I get his hand even close to my body, he's gonna tap. If it touched my body, I'm probably gonna break his arm off. If I lift my hips, I can take his arm off and feed it to him. So at that point so quick,


My knees, I come underneath, I finish with my arm bar.