top five novice techniques... ?

[Cody Kietzman]

1 shrimp
2 upa
3 kimura
4 hip bump sweep
5 rear naked choke

This is really similar to my thoughts, it makes me feel like my instructor is keeping my head in the right direction (thanks Derek)

I think that with that upa good solid proper bridge needs to be taught. How to get your hips high and how to bridge with your head and not your shoulder. Once i figured that out it i went from rarely escaping bad spots to regularly disrupting my opponents base enough to either escape or force a scramble.

I think when you say shrimp it would cover shrimping to escape mount and side control all the way to guard.

If you put a guard pass in there then you could have a cycle where u can pass guard get to mount and submit. If you end up on your back then you know how to get to guard (shrimping). From guard you know how to mount (hip bump) or submit (Kimura). From mount u can submit (kimura). If u end up in guard u know how to pass. The only place u would really be screwed is if someone took your back.

I think 5 is really to few...i think at 10 u could start to round yourself out.

Then again am I only a blue what do i know...

[Jon Watkins]

Not a douchey post. They're good points. Again, I'm a novice. And you're right, a lot of bad things happened to me (and still happen every so often) when I go for the double under pass. I was only saying what I'm good at, not what every novice should learn. I'm in agreement with the higher ranked folk in this thread.

Thanks for being cool about it. I try not to be a jerk when I propose an argument on the internet and leave that to the trolls. I also think the double under pass is a good pass to learn early on. It is just not my first choice of passes to use against a guy who is better than me.

[Jeremy "The Gerbil" Arel]

I chose the double under pass because of a couple of reasons.

1. I assumed that the person asking would be doing no gi (even though I'm teaching it in a kimono)
2. It's a low pass that does not require any grips.
3. It does not require the less experienced guy to stand. Let me be absolutely clear, I believe standing is the best way to pass at higher levels but the truth is at lower levels most people are wheebles and will fall over if they try to stand and/or break their posture to try and stand.
4. This pass focuses on keeping good posture until it's time to bring both hands in, which is something that is easy for a white belt to focus on.
5. If your'e fighting someone more advanced and you find yourself in their guard it is not an accident that you are there. In this event what pass would you suggest someone do over the double under assuming that they are a novice and dont have the base to stand and you're in no gi?

[David Rosado]

Thanks for being cool about it. I try not to be a jerk when I propose an argument on the internet and leave that to the trolls. I also think the double under pass is a good pass to learn early on. It is just not my first choice of passes to use against a guy who is better than me.

I try to be open to correction when someone knows more than me. Hahaha. But yeah, it's not the first pass I learned. It's just my most successful one so far. And by so far I mean just about a year.

[Jeremy "The Gerbil" Arel]

actually I didnt choose the double under...but I would have included it if I had picked a guard escape

[David Rosado]

I chose the double under pass because of a couple of reasons.

1. I assumed that the person asking would be doing no gi (even though I'm teaching it in a kimono)
2. It's a low pass that does not require any grips.
3. It does not require the less experienced guy to stand. Let me be absolutely clear, I believe standing is the best way to pass at higher levels but the truth is at lower levels most people are wheebles and will fall over if they try to stand and/or break their posture to try and stand.
4. This pass focuses on keeping good posture until it's time to bring both hands in, which is something that is easy for a white belt to focus on.
5. If your'e fighting someone more advanced and you find yourself in their guard it is not an accident that you are there. In this event what pass would you suggest someone do over the double under assuming that they are a novice and dont have the base to stand and you're in no gi?

Ah great points. This actually explains why I find a lot of success with it. Jon is right that it can be dangerous. Mostly if you don't maintain posture. If nothing else you can baby wipe. But you make great points on why it's good for a beginner. Good post.

[Jon Watkins]

I chose the double under pass because of a couple of reasons.

1. I assumed that the person asking would be doing no gi (even though I'm teaching it in a kimono)
2. It's a low pass that does not require any grips.
3. It does not require the less experienced guy to stand. Let me be absolutely clear, I believe standing is the best way to pass at higher levels but the truth is at lower levels most people are wheebles and will fall over if they try to stand and/or break their posture to try and stand.
4. This pass focuses on keeping good posture until it's time to bring both hands in, which is something that is easy for a white belt to focus on.
5. If your'e fighting someone more advanced and you find yourself in their guard it is not an accident that you are there. In this event what pass would you suggest someone do over the double under assuming that they are a novice and dont have the base to stand and you're in no gi?

Assuming, it is open guard, I believe the cross knee pass is a safer option for a novice. If I were personally passing, my pass of choice is a mean variation of the ananias pass where I splay the legs extra wide while passing. I also like no gi varation of the scoop and dive pass that also splays the legs. I perform all the above mentioned passes from the knee up postion and the second two I also perform from standing as well. Closed guard breaks are a whole different can of worms. I like Popovitch's no gi stuff there. And again, I believe that the double under is a great pass to learn starting out. It is just not my first choice when I am facing someone better than me because too much can go wrong. I am not saying it doesn't work though and I think it is a totally legit pass once it is mastered. I would just not recommend it to a novice looking to survive.