Student Objectives:
The student will apply the Kimura from the Closed Guard position with a compliant partner.
The student will identify a bent arm and explore the pathways to bend the arm with a compliant partner.
Teaching Cues:
Grab their Wrist
Grab your wrist
Hips out
Knuckles to Spine
Lesson: Closed Guard Kimura
The practicing student will start in the Closed Guard position, flat on their back with their legs wrapped around the waist of the assisting student. The assisting student will place their hands on the floor a few inches from the waist on either side of the practicing student. The assisting student should maintain as much posture as possible while having their hands on the floor.
Make sure to instruct the students that having the hands on the floor is only for practicing purposes and can lead to being swept or submitted. Their hands should avoid the floor. This technique can be used as part of that conversation.
To start the technique the practicing student will clasp the wrist of the assisting student with a Power C Grip. Then they will open their legs and angle their buttocks away from the wrist that they are controlling. This should allow for an easier transition for the second hand. The second hand will reach up and over the tricep, then snake back in around the pit of the elbow until it can firmly grasp the practicing student's own wrist.
Emphasize that this technique requires the arm to be bent. This means the pulling and pushing pressure created with the Kimura Grip is to achieve, at least initially, the bent arm. The assisting student should assist in the bending of the arm while the practicing student is learning the movement.
As the arm is bending the Power C grip should push the wrist towards the spine of the assisting student. To assist in this motion the practicing student should slowly slide their hips towards the Kimura Grip. This will be a large hip movement with the goal to be completely off to the same side as the Kimura Grip. Once the body is on the same side as the Kimura Grip, and the knuckles of assisting student are placed against their own spine, the knuckles can be gently lifted off the space.
When done correctly, with the arm completely bent, the knuckles on the spine and a very controlled separation of the knuckles from the spine, the shoulder should be extremely isolated and tight.
Make sure to give increased instruction on how to tap and when to tap while in this submission. Oftentimes children have hyper-flexible joints. This may lead children to avoid tapping because they don’t feel any pain or tightness. THE CHILD SHOULD NOT FEEL ANY PAIN. If they wait until it is painful they have waited too long to tap and should tap earlier.
For the sake of training and sparring, students should be instructed to tap when their arm gets separated from their body and their knuckles touch their own back. If their knuckles are immediately lifted, rather than being taken towards the spine, they should tap as soon as the hand passes the plane of the back.
Possible Extensions:
The Kimura is a versatile and powerful submission that can be applied from a variety of different positions. A common application of the Kimura is from the North/South position. Allow the practicing child to start in North/South position. The assisting child will place one hand on their belly button and Shrimp to get on their side, making sure their hand that is on the belly button is also the shoulder that is raised and pointing towards the ceiling.
The practicing student will use the hand that the assisting student is facing to grab the wrist with a Power C Grip. The second hand will enter behind the elbow and take a pathway under the elbow and above the rips. This hand will make its way to the practicing student’s own wrist and make a firm grip.
To finish this Kimura the practicing student will sit straight up with posture and pull the controlled wrist up as the posture is being gained. Then the practicing student will make a slight rotation to bring the controlled wrists over the body and touch the knuckles to the spine. The closer to the spine and back of the head, the tighter the shoulder should get. Once the knuckles are on the spine, the move is finished by lifting the knuckles off the spine. Remember to give increased direction on safety and moving slowly.
The Kimura is also a great form of control and can lead to a lot of powerful transitions. The seatbelt grip from Back Control is very similar to the Kimura Grip, to transform the Seatbelt into a Kimura grip while in Back Control, simply take the empty hand and cross grip with a Power C on the opponent's cross side wrist.
The Kimura grip can then be used to maintain position as the assisting student escapes Back Control. To practice this transition the assisting student will use their free hand to clear the same side hook and slide their back to the floor. The practicing student will then shrimp away from the assisting student gaining a large amount of space between the two bodies (except for the kimura grip). As the space continues to grow the practicing student will belly down and then push up to their knees with a large force moving forward into the Kimura Grip. This should prevent the assisting student from being able to turn into the practicing student. Then, the practicing student can step over the body with the leg closest to the hips and perform the back take as outlined in the Gift Wrap lesson plan.
Possible Refinements:
Weak wrist position is a recurring problem with all students. Make sure the student is flexing their wrists in the “check your watch” fashion to get the most powerful Kimura Control.
Bending the arm needs to be the initial focus during the Kimura. This is a combination of pulling the forearm across the back of the elbow and using the Power C grip to push the hand off the floor. This very much has a “gas and clutch” feel to it and requires the two pressures working together.
The more bent the arm, the greater the power. This is why we are taking the knuckles to the spine. When applying the Kimiura and trying to finish, make sure they are limiting their partners range of motion by using this relationship between the hand and the spine. Otherwise, some students may not feel any isolation on the shoulder even though the arm is bent and past the plane of the body.
Reference materials:
Teaching Reflections:
How did I do teaching?
What could I do better next time?
Did the student gain proficiency in lesson material?