Maintaining Control

Roger Gracie shows how he holds side control and how the pressure sets up his attacks, with Bernardo Faria. Weight placement on the arms and torso and the opening of the elbows.

Henry Akins on making side control as heavy as possible through connection and weight distribution rather than muscular effort. Long-form lesson with Bernardo Faria.

Chewjitsu on the concepts for holding side control: controlling the hips, shoulders and neck, and how to shift between them as the bottom player moves.

Chewjitsu on creating heavy pressure in side control when you are the smaller person, focused on where the weight sits and keeping the knees off the mat.

Chewjitsu's tour of five side control variations - standard, reverse, hip-to-hip and so on - and when to switch between them to kill the bottom player's frames.

One essential side-control detail for white belts: where the weight sits so they cannot shrimp.

Stephan Kesting on making the crossface genuinely uncomfortable: using the shoulder and hips rather than arm strength, and where to anchor the hand.

White belt tips for keeping side control from The Grappling Academy: the common leaks that let the bottom player recover guard and how to close them.

Jon Thomas on the core idea behind a strong side control - pinning the shoulder blades with chest weight - then how to counter the neck frame, hip frame and underhook, and when to move to mount.

Jean Jacques Machado on the principles of maintaining side control: reading the escape attempt and adjusting your base instead of clamping down.

Roger Gracie explains his side control pressure on his own channel: hip position, keeping the weight on the opponent rather than the mat and staying below the elbow line.