Interesting BJJ t-shirt choke

[C.J.W.]

Just came across this clip on my friend's fb, and the second choke utilizing the t-shirt caught my attention -- quite ingenious in my opinion. Wonder if it's something the Gracies have recently come up with as part of their no-gi curriculum.

[RobP2]

I don't know, but I've seen it and variations used in the Russian martial arts. I think one of Vasiliev's early TRS videos had a section on this, don't know if it's still available

[snafu]

That's a variation on a standard gi choke. I learned that within the first month on the mats under a student of Ralph Gracie. The only difference from the gi here looks like the bunching up of the t-shirt to help reduce the chance of the shirt ripping (that would probably be the most important point in this video and a useful tip).

[GrahamB]

I've been thinking about that vid quite a lot.

First, as snafu says, it's a pretty basic choke from the guard that any blue belt should know - the detail with the t-shirt is what makes it interesting. (Renner and his bro have a whole DVD of t-shirt chokes you can buy, I think - they also use a little bracelet tool you can carry in your hand to create a million more choke variations without the gi - I remember watching a trailer for the did years ago, something like 'choke people from anywhere! (Tm)')

Second - there's a huge difference between 'yeah, I saw this in a dvd once years ago' and having the ability to actually make that work on a resisting opponent. So, I don't know how 'honest' it is to show that on a video and expect people to make it work without months of practice. What makes BJJ effective is a combination of 2 things - the techniques and the constant, repetitive practice of trying to apply them against highly resistive people actively trying to stop you. It's not going to work for you after watching that video - chokes require a huge amount of sensitivity and feel to get right, kind of like riding a bike. The right amount of pressure in the right place, the slight angular ion of a wrist or hand, it's all the kind of stuff that's picked up through months of practice on people.

If you haven't got that under your belt then I'd let anybody do that t shirt choke on me, and I bet I could nullifying it just by holding my neck stiff and at the right angle. I'm sure everybody over blue belt in BJJ has had beginners collar choke them with both hands in the collar and just sat there and smiled because there's no threat. It's not easy! Then you have to factor in them using both their (free) hands to defend the choke (not shown in the video) because that's what they'd do in real life - why is the 'rapist' in that video not punching her in the face, for example?

I guess the point of the video is to try and get people into their courses to try out some of these things, so it works in that sense as a marketing tool. I'm conflicted about the rest of it - yes, it's probably the most effective thing to do in that situation, but equally, they're making it look too easy in the video.

[RobP2]

Yep, they are making it easy in the clip - I mean the guy doesn't move while she puts on the techniques. But I guess that's no different from any other instructional set up.

The point for me with these things is not to learn them as techniques but as outcomes of being in the right place at the right time and being able to make use of what is at hand. Likewise it's good to work on being in the wrong place at the wrong time too, which is where the technique approach tends to falter

[C.J.W.]

Out of all the martial artists out there, the Gracies are still among the small percentage of those who can actually talk the talk AND walk the walk. That's why I'm pretty sure they are aware of the differences between showing techniques for a demo and applying them against resistance. And since this one is meant to demonstrate the former, I personally do not see anything wrong with it.

[zrm]

Greg Thompson shows that choke in his modern army combatives book from 2006. His material is largely based on stuff by Royce Gracie (he is a black belt under Royce), but also includes stuff from Machado family, Dog Brothers, Mauy Thai etc.

He also sells this wrist band for watches that extends out so you can do that choke.
http://www.spiderti.com/dband/DBandFrameSet.html

[GrahamB]

More Breakdown of real life women's self defence stuff - looks good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loGSO00pK7U