Thanks to Supreme Commander Jim, we now bring you the Jim Choke. I’ll try recount as much of his lessons as possible in this write up.
Version One – With the Arm
If in North-South, you opponent grabs round you neck, he’s not doing himself any favours. On bottom, we want to be space creaters.
Even if he just has an overhook, you can still get the first choke
With your ‘free hand’ reach underneath your opponent’s neck. Reach far through.
Jim says you need to get your elbow joint to ninety degrees. If it’s not a right angle…
…it’s a wrong angle (below). Without getting your elbow all the way through, you’ll only be putting pressure on one side of his body.
With your left hand, catch your right wrist. Do so with a thumbless grip. Do not lean to one side like Jim is doing here. He’s leaning purely so you can see the grip.
Slide off your opponent. So that most of your weight is off him and one the floor.
This makes it difficult for you opponent to escape, as any twisting they do will not move you, it will only hurt them (if you’ve set the choke up right).
Jim likes to apply what he calls ‘the squeeze’. Essentially at every step along the way to getting a choke, you tense up just a bit to remove any air, so that your opponent has less room to escape.
To finish, worm your body along the floor. Don’t just move your hips, drag your chest along with you. This is illustrated in the video.
Version Two – Without the ArmThe Sans-Arm version can be achieved from a side control, any time your opponent attempts to create a frame against your hips.
Jim reaches around and sets up a guillotine with his right arm, then turns onto his right hip and with his left hand underhooks my left hand to clear it out of the way.
From here, Jim reaches across and catches his arm in the same way he did with the armless version.
The difference between the photo above and below show Jim sliding off my chest to get the pressure on my neck.
A final caveat. If at any point along the way your chest is on your opponent’s face you’re doing it wrong and he can breathe on the body side of his neck. You might still get the tap here but resilient fighters can hold out. Get your chest to the floor and push against his neck with the side of your ribcage.
Jim Choke Version Two – Without the Arm
Thanks again Jim!
If any of you want to see Jim in action, he’ll be at the National Submission Championships on June 14th 