Perfecting the electric chair

[Josh Passini]

More single arm curls in the mirror has helped take my electric Chair game to another level!

[Arman Fathi]

More single arm curls in the mirror has helped take my electric Chair game to another level!

Josh gave a couple great tips last time we talked about the electric chair. He talked about how it's a misconception that you want to extend your leg for ANy OTher time than a whip-up to get on your side or the whip to complete the sweep. Pinching your knees and not extending until you're sweeping the guy (think someone talked about that) has been a gamechanger for me. Also, we were shown the mechanic sweep which ties nicely into this sequence if a guy has a strong whizzer. I've been catching that one in the GI fairly easily since the guy is more trapped with his arm due to friction.

[Elisha J Baker]

Easily my favorite sweep.

If they're bigger than you and they have a good strong sprawl, that's pretty much the hardest scenario. Unless they're hulk-sized it's usually still possible but you might have to summon some grit and make more than one whip with the leg. Torque it like you mean it — most of your ability to move their body weight is in your lockdown. If the whip stalls once, try not to let yourself roll all the way back to the start position. You don't have to give up. Torque it again. Throw a lot of mini-explosions into it. Might take three or four. Maybe more, depending on what's going on. Be like a ratchet with your legs. An aggro ratchet. If you can get your shoulder under the knee you're probably home free. If they're committed to the sprawl remember the option of moving to stoner control.

That's what usually works for me.

[Arman Fathi]

Easily my favorite sweep.

If they're bigger than you and they have a good strong sprawl, that's pretty much the hardest scenario. Unless they're hulk-sized it's usually still possible but you might have to summon some grit and make more than one whip with the leg. Torque it like you mean it — most of your ability to move their body weight is in your lockdown. If the whip stalls once, try not to let yourself roll all the way back to the start position. You don't have to give up. Torque it again. Throw a lot of mini-explosions into it. Might take three or four. Maybe more, depending on what's going on. Be like a ratchet with your legs. An aggro ratchet. If you can get your shoulder under the knee you're probably home free. If they're committed to the sprawl remember the option of moving to stoner control.

That's what usually works for me.

+1. In other words, BELIEVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Brent Smith]

I feel you, I've been experiencing this as well. One thing that's helped is going for the old-school sweep in conjunction with going for the electric chair. By going for that sweep first, if they defend it correctly by basing their leg out, it makes the electric chair that much easier. A detail that's helped me tremendously is to drive INTO the guy by driving your chest in once you have the electric clinch. I really like to cinch in that electric clinch and secure solid-ass underhooks and a tight-ass clinch. By driving my chest in from that point, it'll hopefully cause a reaction to have him drive into you, allowing you to roll over your shoulder and whip your lockdown to the opposite side, disrupting his base. You need to get his leg up on your shoulder by your neck. If it's on your bicep, it'll be weak. Sometimes it might take repeating this sequence two, three, four times or more until you get the space to push his armpit away and complete the sweep. But it sounds like you're believing in it more and more and it's the details and timing sequence. The more you believe in the steps and feel the right way vs. the wrong way, the more higher percentage it'll be. Hope this helps a little..

This. To stop the electric chair they have to bases certain way and that actually opens them up for the old school sweep or at least a modified version. I rapid fire a handful of sweeps until I catch them slipping.

[TThompson]

After reviewing the videos and some other sources here, I will definitely try some of these adjustments. Thank you guys for all the help again it means a lot to help improve my game. I do remember though when I went to hit old school my under hook of his leg was stuck so I was unable to grab his foot to sweep him that way. Again I'm going to try these little adjustments to make bigger gains, so I cannot wait to try them out. Again thank you guys for all the information.

[Isaac Atley]

I suggest looking at the bigger picture. Electric chair works best for me when I look at it as a piece of the puzzle that is half guard bottom. My goal in half guard is to get the leg hooked with one arm and I have my other (higher) arm ready to reach around their back. then once I am ready, I wrap my arm around their back and I go for Dogfight. this has they same principle as pressing into them except you are aiming to get somewhere and if they don't fight back then you will get there.

Then I go for the electric chair and the thing I've really found important, is the timing of swinging my legs. I found that if I twist with my upper body first and then follow through the legs, I get the best results. (I think everyone should figure out timing for themselves though)

If electric chair doesn't work, and you just can't budge them, you can start stomping and working from either butterfly guard or homie control/prison guard.

I see half guard as a transitional guard. It is a very very active guard, where you cannot rest, it has to be prodding and pushing and pulling. make physics work for you rather than against you. remember the three bases rule. switch things up and practice not just each technique by itself but as a whole and you will really start seeing results.

Of course Brent is right in saying there are other sweeps to go for, like old school etc, I prefer the mixture of dogfight electric and stomp because they seem to attack their base from different directions more than others. I'm sure as I get better, I'll add in more parts.

I hope this helps.

[Justin J.NiX Nichols]

Roughly 30 seconds start to finish... Electric Chair win at the Alaska state BJJ tournament, forgive me for the GI.
Justin x Zach: https://youtu.be/X4f9Q3hnh4g