Developing Your Judo #32

#32: Surprise Armbar Out of The Blue

The fastest match I ever won was 8 seconds.

It was at a national championship, and the technique came out of the blue.  It wasn't even part of my game plan, but it sure worked

beautifully!  It was a combination fake tomoenage to juji-gatame.

You can watch an example of it at 1:26 of this video.   Here's how it works:  

As I sit down and turn, I make sure I have a strong left grip on uke's right sleeve and pull it in toward me. At the same time, I push with my right foot to stretch out uke a bit. (Note: I am using a standard right-handed grip.)  By doing this,his sleeve arm (the one I'm holding with my left hand) is being straightened out. 

Immediately, I bring my left leg over uke's head so it's now in front of his throat, and I'm pulling hard with my sleeve grip.   At this point, I have two choices: if uke is bracing himself backwards, I push hard against his neck so he falls backwards, and we both end up on our backs.  If, however, which happened in my case where I have pushed very HARD with my foot, uke will fall forward. I let him come forward onto his stomach and I also turn over onto my stomach, never letting go of my grip. In either case, I can finish with a strong juji-gatame.

By: Rainer Fischer (Canadian Olympian)