Side Control Escapes for BJJ

[pama]

I totally agree with tallgeese on all his points. I would add that preventing your partner from having good head control (when they hug your neck to have shoulder pressure on your face) will make all your side control escapes much easier (i.e. replacing guard, coming to knees to double leg, etc.). The fact that they are hugging your neck and having shoulder pressure on your face is most of the problem. Since side control is usually a result of someone passing your guard, work on your guard skills with guard maintenance with drills like this one,

A good preventitive method is to place your hand on the bicep of the arm that is trying to hug your neck. If they do hug your neck take your same side hand (the side of your body he is on) and place it behind his elbow, turn away from him as you shrimp and pull peel the arm off from behind your own head. This will remove his arm and create space for your to start and move and open up your escape. This one is hard to expalin. If you want to see a video of this tecnique let me know and I can whip something up.