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BJJ Fundamentals

Lesson 9 – Butterfly Guard Arm Drag

Warm Up (5min)

Solo Drills

  • Backward Scoot
  • Technical Standup
  • Backward Roll

    Lesson (25min)

      Arm Drag – Butterfly Guard Entry

      1. Start in butterfly guard
      2. Cross-grip uke’s tricep from the inside and post your foot on uke’s opposite leg
      3. Simultaneously drag uke to the mat and push out their leg with your foot
        • The motion is as if you are ‘moving out of the way’ from the spot on the mat in front of uke
        • Uke should post on the mat with their arms to avoid face-planting
      4. Scoot out to the side and connect your chest to uke’s tricep
      5. Use your arm to grip uke’s far side lat, locking down the position

      Arm Drag – Back Control

      1. Continue from arm drag grip setup
        • Don’t release uke’s tricep until you have connected behind them and locked down the position, as this will give them the underhook and you will no longer have access to the back
      2. Connect your chest to uke’s tricep and grip their far-side lat (same as before)
      3. Once you have locked on properly, use your arm to post on the mat and scoot your leg backwards
        • The motion is similar to a technical standup, but without coming all the way up to your feet
      4. Now that you have gained a height advantage on uke, secure a seatbelt grip
      5. Establish hooks on uke to finish the transition to back control

      Arm Drag – Single Leg

      1. Continue from arm drag
      2. Uke puts their leg up to shut down the back take
      3. Overwrap uke’s leg and pummel your head inside uke’s shoulder
      4. Post your hand on the mat and use a technical standup to come up to your feet
        • If uke flattens you out, you won’t be able to stand up; use your hand post to scoot out to the side and heist your hips off the mat as soon as possible
      5. Stand up while maintaining control of uke’s leg, ready to take them down

      Arm Drag – Overhead Sweep

      1. Continue from arm drag
      2. Uke puts their leg up to shut down the back take
      3. Overwrap uke’s leg
      4. Place ‘X-hooks’ under uke’s far side leg and use them to elevate uke
      5. Sweep uke onto their back, either to the side or directly overhead
        • If sweeping overhead, be careful that you don’t roll over uke’s neck (or your own); students should be able to perform a backwards roll correctly before attempting the overhead variation