One of the many questions Fight Times receives is how do I escape this hold or that choke and so on. Unless we dedicate time to actually have a technique column it is difficult to explain even with pictures sometimes, as there are, like all other techniques, an almost infinite amount of variables. Often I have heard from students who have attended seminars that the instructor is asked a valid question on how to escape a submission attempt or a control position that the student is having trouble with only to receive an answer like ‘if you’re already there it’s too late!’. Sometimes it is too late but there is always a chance that submissions can be escaped if you can create a small space or make your opponent react a certain way.
One of the best ways I believe to practice escapes from submissions is once taught the technique to then drill slowly with very little or no resistance. Once you have performed this many, many times it is good to add combinations of escape techniques. For example you may know 5-6 ways to escape a triangle so it is good to be able to flow from one to the other when the first one or two are not working. This is also dependent on how your partner is reacting to your escape attempts. Once again this should be done with very marginal resistance. What I typically find is that after a student has drilled the escape half a dozen times they or their partner start to add too much speed or resistance. This impatience inevitably leads to ‘muscling’ of technique along with developing bad habits.
The next stage of development is to make it more live. That is, I might pass the guard then work my way into an arm lock, again with light resistance, and then have my partner escape. This way it becomes more of a transitional drill, which is more realistic because it is not so static.
Having said all that the other interesting thing I find myself when students ask these types of questions is that their sole focus is on the escape from the submission. The problem is the escape should have happened well before the submission is on.
The important thing here is to be able to re-trace your steps and figure out why you were in a submission position and realise that is where the majority of your time should be spent. Understanding how you were put in that position or what the set-up was. Focusing on your game in this way you will come to understand what is coming next and how it effectively can be prevented.
