by Great Grappling | Feb 17, 2014 | Uncategorized | 12 comments

In this video I show a great defense to the Back Step. It is amazingly simple and easy to do but requires some practice and a couple of small details to make sure you don't get caught mid transition. The most important thing about this defense is that you make sure and differentiate between the Back Step and the Reverse Sit. If you try to do this move when someone does the Reverse sit….your'e gonna have a bad time. If you know anything about me you'll know that I like to play with the underhook. If you also play with the underhook, and good body angle, you'll find the logical result is the Back Step. Back Stepping isn't something that I really had to deal with a lot until I got to the purple belt level because it does take good time, good body angle, hip control and good balance/base. But once your peer group has these things it can be a very viable, and frustrating pass to deal with.The ultimate goal is for your opponent to either make space by back stepping, sitting their bottom on the ground and scooting their hips back to clear their leg OR, make space and hop back over (in an attempt to out pace your underhook). In either of these cases this is a great option. The first thing you need to do is turn your knees (and hips) away from your opponent. This is very counter intuitive but very important. That inside leg, the one closest to your opponent is going to be the most important. It will eliminate the ability of your opponent to simply lift their leg out. If you do this correctly your opponent/'training partner should feel a slight bind on that bottom leg like it's being purposefully straightened out. Now that you've switched your hips you can take that outside hand and get a grip on the pant leg (reference the video). Turning your hips will buy you a little space but if you have problems grabbing the leg this move can be completed without the pant grip. If you choose to do it without the pant grip you're going to have to be VERY practiced at this as your opponent will be looking for the opportunity of the leg switch to escape their leg. It's very important to keep that top knee turned out with active pressure on the back of your opponent's thigh/calf while you're straightening your bottom leg to come in and chalk that leg. Once your bottom leg has taken control it's important to bend your knee and bring it in towards your chest. This will start to tilt your opponent back and buy you space to underhook the ankle. Underhook the ankle and then keep it in the crook of your elbow.At this point one of two things will happen. Either 1. you have enough leverage from underhooking the leg that your opponent base is falling in the wrong direction and you can shrimp and come uporThey try to hop back over. The hop back over will be covered in my next video as it is very common at the higher levels for people to freak out and try to and resist or bail on being taken over.