Side control escapes
Learn the main ways out from under side control, and how to escape kesa gatame and other pins. You will also learn which escape fits which moment.
Frames and your side
Side control: the top player lies across your chest, past your legs. Frames are bent arms braced on their body to hold them away.
Loading 3D view
You are on the bottom, and their chest lies across yours. Side Control in the library ›
Use two frames. If they are on your right side, your left forearm goes across their neck. Your right elbow and forearm go on their hip.
Back to guard
- Get on your side with a forearm on the neck and an elbow on the hip.
- Bridge into them to make them light.
- Shrimp: move your hips away from them.
- Slide your near knee in across their hip.
- Bring the second leg in and recover guard.
Bridge into them, not away. The bridge lifts their weight for a moment, and your hips move in that moment.
To your knees
Sometimes their hips go back and their chest comes up high. Now your knee cannot reach their hip. Use the underhook instead: your arm goes under their arm.
Loading 3D view
You are on your side, turned in toward them, ready to come up. Escape to the Knees in the library ›
Slide your near arm under their arm on your hip side. Keep your head on the outside. Turn into them and drive up to your knees.
You bridge and shrimp, but they move their hips back out of reach. Their chest is high. You switch: underhook, turn in, come up to your knees.
The running escape
This is the one time you turn away from them. You turn onto your side, never flat onto your belly.
- Hips tucked under you.
- Elbow and knee close together.
- Nothing open for them to take your back.
- Then turn back in and recover guard.
Kesa gatame and other pins
| Pin | What you see | First job |
|---|---|---|
| Kesa gatame (scarf hold) | They sit beside you, hip to hip, your head and near arm wrapped | Free the trapped arm: elbow down and in |
| Reverse kesa | They face your feet, an arm under your far armpit | Frame on the hip, get the knees in |
| Head and arm pin | Chest to chest, your head and one arm wrapped together | Elbow tight, bridge into them, turn in |
| North-south | Their chest on yours, their head toward your hips | Hands together, elbows in, frame the hips |
Kesa GatameThey sit hip to hip beside you and wrap your head.
North-SouthTheir chest is on yours, and their head points to your hips.
Kesa gatame escape: free the trapped elbow, then wrap that arm around their waist. Walk your feet in, then bridge and roll them over you.
You freed your trapped elbow, and that arm is now around their waist. They lean back onto your chest. You bridge, roll them over your body and come up on top.
They spin from side control to north-south. Your frames now point at nothing. What do you do first?
Common mistakes
- One big shrimp with the knee at the same time. They follow your hips.
- Shrimping again without putting the frames back.
- Going flat on your belly to crawl out.
- Pushing their face with two straight arms.
- Under the head and arm pin, pushing with the trapped arm. It drifts across your neck for the arm triangle.
- Rolling from kesa gatame before the trapped arm is free.
Train it on the Path
Reading is the first step. The Side control escapes unit has 5 short lessons: you see a position and pick the best move.
Side control escapes is part of the Blue belt, included in Rolla Plus. Start free with Foundations and the white belt.