It's a mount, it's a judo pin, it's an armbar - no, it's a set-up !

Or: More than you ever wanted to know about the upper four corner hold also lovingly known as tate shiho gatame

Life is unfair. I FINALLY get a few days off work to have time to do judo again, I get back in town last night and I find out that there is no practice this weekend at the West Coast Judo Training Center because everyone is at tournaments. Oh well, there's always next weekend.

Maybe I will just grab Ronda and go some place local and work with her this weekend. We can try to get some shots for the book.

Speaking of grabbing Ronda, she's always off practicing or working but the next time she sits still for a minute and I can find someone to hold the video camera we are going to do another Sneakerdoodle Zebra Judo on set-ups. For now, these photos will have to do.

Jim Pedro, Sr. and I have a bit of a different view on tate shiho gatame (I think jiu jitsu people call that some sort of mount. If you know, write and tell me.)

Other than the you're-on-top-they're-on-the-bottom simulation of the missionary position (oh DON'T act like that never occurred to you!) there are a lot of ways you can vary this pin and still have it go by the same name.

Tate shiho can be a good pin if you are a heavy weight because you can have all of your huge weight squashing on the person. If you have little stumpy legs like me, you can get your feet up by the other person's hips so there is no way they can grape vine your legs. If you have long legs and bony ankles like Ronda, you can hook your opponent's legs and stretch them until she feels like she's a Thanksgiving turkey and you're about to make a wish. (I wish I was winning this match - see, it works!)

As far as your upper body goes, you can slide your left hand under the opponent's neck and use your right hand to feed the lapel of her gi under her armpit and into the hand under her neck. Once you have her gi, this allows you one hand to hold her and one hand free to do other things, say, to post if she tries to bridge out of the pin.

You can also push her arm across her face, slide your right arm under her neck, put your head against her arm to hold it there, clasp your hands together and squeeze. (This is the exact same, on the upper body, as kata gatame, which is a pin far too few people teach or learn any more if you ask me, which you should, both learn the pin and ask me.)People who are not very tough can be convinced to tap out on this pin because it hurts, especially if you are doing the aforementioned getting your little stumpy legs up by their hips and putting all of your weight on their face. This isn't a really effective choke, but it hurts, so some people will tap. Even really tough people will be distracted when you almost (or actually) dislocate their jaw, which brings their attention away from escaping the pin.

Despite all of these cool things about tate shiho, Jim doesn't like it. I told him that was because it looked too much like sex and he was a prude. He told me that I have a dirty mind and no. (I did not know it was even possible to say such a simple word as "No" with an eastern accent. It turns out that it is. It sounds like No-o. )

He said he doesn't like tate shiho because it is too easy to escape because the person can entangle your legs.

The missing element here is the failure to understand that my usual intention in doing tate shiho is not to pin the opponent for ippon, although if that turns out to be the case, it is nice and I won't object.

No, my real objective is to armbar the person with juji gatame, which my friend Steve Scott has renamed the "cross-body armlock" and even written an entire book about it. I guess cross body armlock is how you say juji gatame in Midwestern.

For those of you from the south, here's a picture. (Dennis and Bruce, that comment is just for you-all (-: )

If I'm on top of you and have both of my arms by your head, say one arm under your head, with my hands clasped together, and your arm shoved across your face then:

1. I have your arm. Duh.
2. I have TWO arms close to your one arm. Advantage to me.
3. If I have my little stumpy legs pulled up, it isn't that much distance to sit up, throw my left leg across your neck and lean back.
4. If you are trying to escape, because you feel like you are being choked and/ or your jaw is about to be dislocated, you often push against me with that arm across your face. This is awesome because normally when you have both arms on someone's arm, they think you are going to armbar them and they try to keep that arm they suspect (rightly) you are trying to break bent and hold on to it for dear life. They don't push against you with it.

I have a point. Three, actually.

1. Sometimes having a body shape that resembles more the dwarf in fairy tales than the giant (or the bean stalk) is an advantage.
2. People don't do enough set-ups, particularly in matwork. Juji gatame is a very effective technique, once you've got it, but it's the getting into that position on your back with their arm that's the tough part.
3. It's bad to get stuck in a rut, whether it is always doing that same complicated roll over to get juji gatame when it's right there in front of you, or always thinking of tate shiho as just a pin or thinking of set-ups as something you only do in standing technique, or even working all of the time and never going on vacation.

P.S. For those who sometimes email me and say you would like to have your younger kids / students read my blog on some technique but you don't want to have to answer any uncomfortable questions like,


"Sensei, what's the missionary position? Did we learn that in class?"

I promise that, just for you,  in the next day or two I will do a G-rated Sneakerdoodle Zebra Judo on set-ups.