Basics - Basic Arm Bar from Guard

The other night, we worked on tightening up and improving our arm bars from Guard position. Arm bars seem easy, but are difficult to master and there are many points to keep in mind when attempting one.

Arm bars utilise the simple concept of a lever and hyperextending the elbow in a way they aren't meant to bend. By placing the elbow joint over a fulcrum, in this case, your hips, you require very little force to break the arm. This embodies a key concept of martial arts, whether it's jiu jitsu, karate, kung fu etc. That any person, even if they are weak, should be able to execute this move effectively with the use of simple mechanics.

"Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.” Archimedes

See the Submissions 101 video as they have some really good tips and points about the basics of an arm bar.

Some things I noted (Bold and underlined are the things I personally need to remember):

1. Arm control is integral. Whether it's with or without a gi, getting control of that arm can make or break this attempt.  The method of grabbing the arm can vary, but you need to have that arm pinned to your chest. One to pin the wrist, one to pin the tricep to stop them pulling the arm away. I find that quite often when I fail to finish an arm bar, the biggest reason is that I haven't pinned that arm properly.

2. Once you have the arm pinned, put your leg on the same side of the pinned arm on their hip and push off and swivel. Theres several additional points to note about this:
 - When you push off the hip, the pushing leg should be tight against their arm. Keeping your knee against their arm ensures this. In the video above, you can see that there's space when he starts to swivel. Space equals opportunity for escape.
- Cut your non pushing leg down across their shoulder. This stops them from sitting back and stopping them from moving away from you and the lock.

3. Bring your leg over their head whilst keeping the arm against your chest so your legs are parallel. Don't cross your feet or legs when they are over the head.

4. Raise your hips to get the lock. Their pinkie should be on your chest, their thumb (if they gave you the thumbs up) should be pointing to the ceiling.

Contingency:
Should they manage to slip their arm out, you can transition into a triangle choke. This can be achieved by pushing off the opposite hip, shifting the leg that went over the head to the other side of their head, bending that leg and bring your calf across the back of their neck and hooking that into a triangle (trapping the opposite arm). This video from TrainFightWin shows it in depth and another one of their videos shows that if the triangle fails, you can also transition to do an armbar the other way.

I'll cover the triangle choke in more depth later.
Credit and thanks to Submissions101 and TrainFightWin for the helpful videos. Wish I could take pictures etc myself, but without a training partner, it's kinda difficult :P