The back mount is considered, by many, the most dominant position in grappling martial arts such as BJJ. It allows you to attack the opponent with some of the strongest submissions in the game, like the rear naked choke and rear triangle. While the ability to finish your opponents from the back mount is empowering, getting there against an opponent positioned towards you is a challenge. There are different ways to take the back on the ground, and the chair sit is one of them. This article will discuss improving your back takes with the chair sit in BJJ.

The Chair Sit In BJJ

The chair sit is the primary method of taking the opponent’s back, usually when you’re in side control or the mount. It is done when the opponent starts turning away from you, and you’ve established a seat belt grip. Side control allows chest-to-back connection if the opponent begins turning away to their side, which exposes their back. As the opponent turns, you can move up by sliding your sternum on their shoulder and behind their scapula to prevent them from shifting back towards you as you establish the seatbelt.

With the seatbelt grip, you can lift your knees off the ground to drive you farther over the opponent as you bring your knee up, resting behind the opponent’s head. The movement changes the position of your elbow from resting on the mat to your thigh to tighten the grip. Keeping your elbows on the mat gives you more range of motion with your shoulder and neck, whereas bringing your elbows to your thigh tightens everything up as you keep your chin down.

Your left foot bases on the mat while your left shin applies pressure on the hip. After ensuring everything is tight, bring your left leg over on top of the opponent’s hip and across their body. A common mistake is when grapplers go directly for a hook instead of resting your leg on top and across the opponent’s hip, as they can use this to trap your leg. Committing this mistake disables your ability to control the bottom side of the hip, allowing the opponent to escape by scooting their hip and walking away to end up in half guard.

Maintain your chest-to-back and hip-to-hip connection while your top leg (left leg) is planted on the mat across the opponent’s body. Pull the opponent back and rotate to the opposite side. Staying tight and not detaching the upper body connection as you pull would be best. Use your bottom leg (right leg) and right arm to pull and elevate the opponent. Ideally, you trap the opponent’s arm with your right leg as you land on the opposite side. Though this doesn’t happen all the time, you can instead place your feet together and decide if you will apply the body triangle or the hooks.

Chair Sit From The Mount

From the mount, if the opponent turns their body to the side, plant your knee behind their shoulder. Do not place your knee behind the opponent’s head, as it is too deep. Your other foot comes up and across the opponent’s hip. Get the seatbelt grip and maintain chest-to-back and ear-to-ear connection. Sit up to your hip while bringing the opponent up. Remember to not directly pull the opponent back into back control as they can easily slip out of position; instead, sit the opponent up.

You can practice looking for the choke during the sitting-up motion by controlling the opponent’s hand down and going all the way to the back of their shoulder with your top hand, which will be the choking arm, as you fall to the side. After landing, you can lock the body triangle while maintaining control over the opponent’s hand using your bottom arm. In contrast, your top hand’s elbow pushes down into their chest while controlling over the shoulder. Place your head under the opponent’s head and not on top to have better success finishing the choke.

Another scenario is to finish quickly with a choke from the chair sit when you are in the low mount while maintaining control over the opponent’s head. Opponents typically look for different ways to escape when pinned down in a dominant position like the mount. While controlling the opponent’s head (head control) from the mount with your left arm, and if they decide to take both their hands out, turn towards your controlling arm, and let them slip their elbow and get behind them.

Getting behind them will turn your left arm into the choking arm. Immediately put your right hand behind their head and reach for your left shoulder. As you go up and fall to the opposite side, lock in the choke and finish with the body triangle with your elbow on their chest.

Chair Sit To Triangle

A tight head and arm control from the mount with your chest dropped on the opponent’s face produces suffocating pressure that will force them to flail out and escape. In this example, if the head and arm control traps the opponent’s left arm and uses their right hand to get inside and under your left leg, use it to trap their arm beside their body. While maintaining the head and arm control, quickly jump up into the chair sit.

As the opponent comes up, use your left leg and swiftly wrap it around their neck. Lock the triangle with your right leg as the opponent advances up. Your movement on the chair sit is the same as if you are taking the back and applying an armbar. It would help if you practiced the primary movements to quickly slide in and surprise your opponents with the triangle.

Conclusion

There are many ways to take the back, and you must work on the best entry that suits your game. Getting behind the opponent is a way to go. However, you must still practice attacking and finishing to get the most out of the position, as submitting an experienced opponent from behind can be challenging. Work on your back control as sometimes a loose back mount can result back into the closed guard.

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