Side Control Submission Step Over Armbar.mov

The Step Over Armbar is a submission I see attempted a lot but finished a little. This technique, like many others, is often discarded by the time you become a purple belt because of lack of success but the truth is this is a great submission!

Make sure that you move your hips back. It's so important to move the hips back that I make it steps 1 AND 2. Make sure you keep your chest angled towards your opponent and just move the hips. This will make sure you dont get reversed and it will give you plenty of body angle to step the leg over the head without relying on flexibility. So many times I've taught this technique and students have complained that they arent flexible enough to step over the head. If you have the same problem it's because you're not moving your hips back.

Another point of interest in this technique is making sure that you keep your hips off the ground. You will notice that it is a recurring theme in all of my techniques to lay on your opponent. This makes it difficult for your opponent to move while at the same time sapping some of their energy through no work of your own...gravity does it all!

The last and arguibly the most important most missed part of the technique is driving forward with the pelvis. If you do this correctly it wont even look like you're doing anything when your opponent taps. A lot of people get caught up with arching their back and stretching. This is HORRIBLE. Do not do this or you will mess up your base and get thrown into a position that you do not want. Pretend you're humping the elbow. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if it doesn't look wrong you're not doing it right.

If for some reason you can not finish the submission take the foot off the head and maintain the top position. Do not get caught up in trying to finish your opponent at the cost of giving up that dominate position. Position before submission!