by Great Grappling | Apr 30, 2012 | Uncategorized | 7 comments

The Dragon Tail or more commonly called Back Stepping is a great way to add depth to your game, especially against an opponent who likes to use the Underhook. In this video I show some of the finer points of being successful when you Back Step. The first step is to clear your knee. This is an important step that is often taught but under stressed. Besides it being a good idea to clear your knee from the Half Guard it also sets up this move, takes pressure off your knee AND aligns your hips correctly with your opponents (so that you don't get your back taken when you Back Step).Once you have cleared your knee you must chalk the armpit with your hip. If you do not put your fist inside your opponents armpit they will regain and underhook on the other side and have the ability to move their hips with a lot more force.After you have chalked the armpit you are ready to Back Step. The most important part of this whole move is maintaining good posture with your chest and angle it towards the floor (reference the video) when you reach the other side. This is important to not having your position reversed once you get to the other side.Once you have reached the other side and you have stabilized your position, you can start working to finish the pass. The easiest way to do this is to shrimp your hips back towards your opponents head and add pressure to their head/face. Once you have extended your leg your opponent may continue to control your ankle. There are multiple ways to deal with this and in this video I show just one.