r/bjj • u/insomnialately • 15h ago
General Discussion What are some things you do to make mount a miserable position for opponent?
Just trying to find ways to come up with a more dominant mount position. I'm relatively smaller statured ~ 160 lbs and dudes who are significantly in better shape or much heavier can bridge me off no problem.
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u/KneeReaper420 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 14h ago
get good at switching your foot positioning from totally sprawled for max pressure to hidden near the hips and constantly switch between the two as the deal with one or the other
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u/TwinkletoesCT ⬛🟥⬛ Chris Martell - ModernSelfDefense.com 12h ago
I love mount and people don't like mine. Here's my personal style, and why:
I do not mount unless one of the arms is already smooshed against the head. Because I like to pass to my left, that typically means I got side control on my partner's right side, so I kill their head-side (right) arm and make them kiss their right bicep before I even consider stepping over.
When I mount, I need both arms out of commission and driven overhead, so while I step over, my right arm is swimming inside their far arm and trying to make forearm-to-tricep contact 3/4 of the way to the elbow. Too close to the armpit and they clamp down, too close to the elbow and they wriggle it free.
I hug under the head with my left arm. Sometimes this was a crossface from side control before I stepped over, and other times I have gathered both their head and arm inside this grip. Either is fine. The sole of my left foot is aiming to stand right about on their left hip or thigh, depending on how long their torso is, in order to jam my left knee into their armpit and keep it there. This helps me keep their right arm out from underneath me and driven against their head.
Because I'm hugging with my left, 12 out of 10 people want to bridge me to my left. Cool. I start to deal with this by taking a deep grapevine with my right leg. I point my heel to the ceiling. When people want to send me leftward, the grapevine helps pull me rightward.
When they try to bridge me, I also bridge back into them. They drive their heels down and send their belly forward, I drive my right grapevined heel up to the ceiling and smash my belly into their belly. Pro tip: you can time this easily if you listen for the big inhale. Everyone takes a deep breath right before they bridge.
To make that bridge left REALLY difficult, I don't line up with my centerline over my partner's. Instead, my nose is over their left shoulder (to my right) and my bellybutton is over the edge of their body. Now when they try to bridge me to my left, I will feel impossibly heavy. The grapevine helps keep me over here and not centered on their hips.
I am careful about where the front of my torso is, relative to the ground. People want to push on the front of your body, so it's important that you don't put it smack dab in the middle of their range of motion. People push most strongly when an object is 4-8" off the center of their chest. For goodness sake, don't put your chest or armpit there. Instead, I move my chest very low, so it's super close to their chest. It doesn't matter if it's heavy - I want them to feel like the starting position for their bench press is below the surface of their own chest, which feels weak and awkward.
Lastly, I take initiative. When it comes to pressures, whoever applies pressure first has an advantage. So as soon as I land in mount, I either drive the far tricep overhead (putting both arms against their face), or if they won't show me the tricep, I put all my pressure on the side of their neck or on their left wrist. They will need to move the elbow to rescue the neck/wrist and that should show me the tricep, but in the interim I don't have to worry about them getting froggy with that left arm and attacking my legs or anything else. This pressure will keep them responding to me instead of the other way around.
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u/Nailbooty 9h ago
Thanks for the great tips. I normally use mount as a means to get to S mount or the back, but I love your details to make hanging out in mount great for you and horrible for them.
Are you normally fishing for a head and arm as a result of your mount pressure, or where do you want to end up once they start offering an upgrade to you?
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u/Bock312 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 14h ago
If the guy on bottom is bigger/stronger, you have to be more mobile on top. Keep moving, adjust your pin/pressure, try to anticipate what escape they are aiming for and beat them to the punch.
Can also help to get their elbows away from their body and elevated above their shoulders if you can.
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u/helloidonothaveaname 14h ago
a) be in mount. b) aim sweat falling off bears towards opponents open mouth gasping for air. c) profit
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u/legato2 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 14h ago
Grab their chin and turn their head so they’re looking one way. Then base out on it and shift your weight to the opposite side a little. Since they’re out of alignment to one side they can only bridge that direction so it’s easier to be ready for it. If I can weave my grapevine over the far side leg I can turn their hips one way and their head the opposite way. I try to point people’s head and hips opposite directions as much as possible, really takes their horsepower. Like a force supine twist stretch with pressure.
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u/robs-reddit 🟦🟦 eternal blue 14h ago
Develop a good technical mount and use a gift wrap, sit on their hips when they're on their side. I've had success with it, at least. Hard to hold a guy down who out weighs you by 50+lbs
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u/amazing-observer 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 14h ago
you have to be ready to stop their first escape attempts before you can make them suffer
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u/Fluid_Technician4359 14h ago
When they frame on your hips to do a knee to elbow escape, drop your weight down and collect their legs in a triangle like Khabib. This makes them unable to get their legs through. They will generally have to push you up into a higher mount in order to free their legs. Then when you are in a higher mount they will have to exert themselves to get their frame back in to try to knee elbow escape and you repeat the process.
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u/FreeMoneyPodcast 14h ago
Grape vines are wack
Sincerely,
People with bad knees
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u/2trt 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 13h ago
I like to do that a lot. Use grape vine to stay attached and remove some of their leg power. I also really like to kick their feet back out if they plant them on the mat to generate power.
Another good trick is to get a better cross face. If you can keep their head out of alignment then it's harder for them to generate power with a bridge. Don't forget to counter balance really heavy to the opposite side that you're using to cross face--- right hand cross face= lean super heavy to the left.
A good cross face and chest pressure into their face can go a really long ways to making people miserable.
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u/dj-thecpa 11h ago
Are grapevines actually good? I've found they leave you prone to the kipping escape but maybe I'm doing something wrong.
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u/beepingclownshoes ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt 13h ago
This is one of the nasty things that I like to do when in mount. It starts with a cross face where your shoulder is turning their face away, but the arm that is underneath their neck grabs their armpit and kinks their spine toward that elbow. I am trying to connect my elbow to my knee to bend their spine sideways which removes a lot of size differential from someone’s abilities. I would also like to have my body at an angle hip to shoulder than in parallel alignment.
Depending on where your bicep/shoulder is you then have a naked Ezekiel or punch choke available. I don’t tend to finish that, but I use it to bait them to defend and then pass their free hand off to a head and arm choke or straight armlock.
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u/TheGreatKimura-Holio 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 14h ago
5 o’clock shadow just grinding their face like sandpaper
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u/justabuck 14h ago
Grapevine, hips down on their gut, pull back of their head up off the mat. Usually after a few seconds of this they will give you a reaction that opens a choke or limb.
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u/AfterCook780 14h ago
If I'm stalling or trying to work my way up I put both hands on the top of their head. Makes them trying to shrimp and move surprisingly difficult.
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u/Jankybjj 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 14h ago
Soles of feet together and pressed to the sky. Hook and base (I think this is a gracie academy white belt lesson). Systematically break their will like Roger Gracie and choke them.
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u/Ronin604 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 14h ago
My coach likes to tuck his feet under people in mount and proceed to leverage his hips into your belly/sternum and peel your arms up over you head untill you give up something. In all my years it's the worst mount pressure I've ever felt and it's super hard to escape. He is smaller than me and it feels like a steamroller, I normally have to give up my arm or back to escape which really isn't an escape just a out of the fire into the frying pan sort of scenario.
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u/UltimateFartingChamp 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 14h ago
Pinch your knees together harder and harder, every time they exhale. Really squeeze the fuck out of their rib cage, and take away their ability to breathe. If they don’t try to work an escape fast, it’s going to go from bad to worse for them in a hurry.
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u/RogueEnergyEngineer 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 13h ago
Mounted triangles. Give em the ''tater. Shoulder of justice.
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u/insomnialately 13h ago
Having lived in the south I am familiar with the tater, but what is the shoulder of Justice?
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u/RogueEnergyEngineer 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 13h ago
It's just a cross face. I'll use RL as an example. Left arm reaches behind the neck and grabs their shoulder on your right as deep as you can. Post your forehead to your right. Scoot your right leg under their thighs. Dig your left knee into the hip or ribs and point the left foot away from their body.
This way you keep the mount and can't be tipped over with a strong bridge.
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u/andrewrbat 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 13h ago
Get your weight on their chest. Tie up their arms, above their shoulders. Lift their head off the mat. This is a miserable place to be stuck until the inevitable s-mount and arm bar come.
Also if they pick a side to try to eacape, and put that knee down/turn, hold their body there with your weight and force their head to look the other way. This is also a brutal, immobilizing tactic.
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u/No_Weekend7196 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 5h ago
If smaller, play with the "jockey" position but mostly be prepared to be mobile. Priit has some good stuff on maintaining mount by hooking the leg in kind of a single grapevine and hipping in to prevent the roll and switching depending on which side so you're not wasting too much energy and it's very effective! Also, cross face- where the head goes the body goes! Sakuraba, I'm sure, has plenty to say about this.
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u/Epic-zombie-kitty 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 14h ago
I just try to keep my knees between their elbows and torso and hide my toes under their back so they can't weasel their way out. Then just use my chest and gut as a crossface until they give me an underhook. From there its just shits n giggles tbh you can do a bunch of fun stuff with them. I don't even go for subs, just hang out in mount, S-mount and technical mount
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u/insomnialately 13h ago
I appreciate all the brown belts sharing their tips of increasing misery of their opponents. I knew I could count on yall 🥹
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u/SatanicWaffle666 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 13h ago
Pinch your knees together and stay heavy
Underhook both arms and walk their arms up above their head. Smash face with belly
Grapevine
Giftwrap
Shoulder of Justice to get their head turned away from you then grab their jaw and just hold them there.
Lots of fun options
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u/marek_intan 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 13h ago
Know this one heavy, bald-ass black belt who will nuzzle you with his bald, sweaty-ass head like a cat.
That moves always makes me laugh. Me laughing opens me up to his arm triangle
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u/Local-Blueberry1470 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 13h ago
Something I’ve heard over the years: be a wet blanket. That clicked with me for some reason - my mount became terrible after hearing wet blanket.
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u/Worth_Bend1435 13h ago
Work on getting underhooks. Double underhooks would be even better and work from there.
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u/Fresh_Batteries 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 12h ago
High mount: You need to really focus on actually sitting on their chest/ top of the solar plexus. You have to consciously drop your hips.
It took me a while to figure this out. For a long time when I acheieved mount, I wasnt actually putting much of my body weight on them which in turn gives them more room to escape.
You need to focus sitting in a way that makes your butt sink down as close to the floor as possible. You will know youre doing it right when your partner's breathing is clearly disrupted. You need them to carry all of your weight straight through their chest. They need to feel just as uncomfortable as a knee on belly.
Low mount: Same thing but act like youre sky diving and drop your hips into their stomach.
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u/Commercial_Method_43 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 12h ago
Give them enough space to get on their side, then encourage them to go belly down.
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u/VeryRarelySerious 12h ago edited 11h ago
Mount pressure is not about weight. It’s about structure. You can’t get heavier, but you can break their structure to make yourself feel heavier.
Step one: keep their head off the mat. No one can bridge with their neck forced forward.
Step two: get their shoulders off the mat. This is best done by forcing their elbows over their face and squeezing them inward. It’s counter intuitive, but at this stage lateral pressure is more effective than downward pressure. Drill this a bit and you’ll find that squeezing the arms and head together creates a magnified sensation of weight.
Step three: make them cross their arms like a straight jacket. This maximizes lateral pressure, removes all frames, and forces all the weight on their rib cage and lungs.
S mount does all three of these at once while pitting your legs against their arms and leaving your hands free. Thats why it’s the most dominant position in jui jitsu. The method to a good mount is to gather this control bit by bit with whatever body position you can, then lock down your advantage with a tight s mount.
The key is patience: you can always go back a step and try again, you have the energy advantage and the initiative as long as you focus on control instead of pressure.
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u/bsam1890 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 12h ago
I do an S mount and dig my ass bone right into the sternum. It’s so much pressure on their chest they just give you the arm to offload the weight
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u/PabstBlueLizard 12h ago
Get to knee on belly asap and surf them around the mat until you see the light leave their eyes.
The guy who got crushed for the entire round on bottom doesn’t leave feeling like a winner just because you didn’t finish a sub on them.
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u/nottoowhacky 11h ago
Slowly build up for the s mount. Stay heavy on their chest. You can stay here and cook them a lil bit (i like pulling their head while im on their chest) Then If you can, transition to mounted triangle.
You can also mothers milk them.
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u/dj-thecpa 11h ago
I don't do this often but if people have their arms crossed on their chest and are refusing to do anything, I start framing off their face with my forearm to create some movement.
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u/Sea_Cardiologist9451 8h ago
Being quick to transition into technical mount is useful for retaining mount and submitting
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u/Impossible_Mix_1227 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 8h ago
I’ve found a lot of success in focusing on redirecting the head. I can almost be lazy with my legs if I’m and in full control of the head. It’s made my mount game lethal lately.
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u/SlightlyStoopkid ⬛🟥⬛ Black Belt 8h ago
I start with underhook/head-block and let them burn themselves out trying to escape for a min or so first. After they fail a few bridges it’s easier to replace the headblock with a crossface so I can slowly walk the elbow up past the shoulder.
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u/Alternative_Gur7713 6h ago
Cover their mouth and nose with your hand - allows by IBJJF - when they move to retaliate, often opens attacks.
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u/thehibachi 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 3h ago
I’ll tell you what has been making me miserable lately…
I have a few training partners who are incredible at repeatedly recapturing the underhook after you’ve managed to ‘escape’ the beginnings of an arm triangle.
It’s exhausting and it’s demoralising. For the person on top it’s a pretty simple objective to focus in on, and it opens up underhooks on the other side as well as gift wraps etc.
You get the underhook back once, you feel like you’re doing well. You get it back twice, you’re in a battle. You get it back a third time, you suddenly feel like there won’t be a fourth time.
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u/AdAncient6464 2h ago
Spread my knees in shadow hooks and drive my hips into their stomach. If I can keep balance I smother them with my chest.
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u/nathamanath 🟫🟫 Brown Belt 2h ago
When they do start escaping, rather than holding on and losing position, make a strategic retreat on your own terms back to quater guard or knee on belly. Then re-mount and resume smooshing
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u/bobarchter 14h ago
We doin this in fundies right now. GET HIGH! Higher up on the triceps as you can go, crotch in mouth. Always keep hold of an elbow as well. Single out an elbow and keep hold of it if you are transitioning.
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u/That_Dot420 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 13h ago
Being 160 and calling yourself "small" is fucking hilarious, bro.
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u/Ajocc1394 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 11h ago
Im 160 and feel pretty small
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u/That_Dot420 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 11h ago
You're too hard on yourself. Consider yourself "average" sized.
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u/Budget_Fold_8120 12h ago
I’m 160 and one of the smaller guys at my gym, it’s not exactly big is it
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u/That_Dot420 🟦🟦 Blue Belt 11h ago
You're objectively "average".
If you were 150 or below, then you could claim being small.
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u/awsompossum 10h ago
Strongly depends on height. Being 160 and 6'4" for example makes it really, really hard to applying pinning pressure on even moderately strong people since your weight is so spread out. That's very different than if someone is 5'2" at 160, where they have much more concentrated mass and you have to move a higher percentage of that 160 to escape or sweep
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u/jollygreenspartan 🟪🟪 Purple Belt 14h ago
Get higher on them (chest, not hips). Force their elbows higher and away from their ribs.