The greatest vulnerability of the human body – the back: The human body is entirely set up to deal with threats directly in front of it. The further around the body you go, the less well it can deal with any threat. That is why angle is such a cherished commodity in all combat sports. The ultimate angle is to be directly behind someone. There are many ways to get an advantageous angle – in grappling sports probably the most successful route is to get control of, and then move outside of, your opponent's ELBOW. While there are other very effective routes to the back, it is probably fair to say that domination of the elbow is the royal route to the back in grappling sports. Learning to get control of an opponent's elbow when you are in any dominant or even neutral position, and getting a position outside of it, is a great thing in Jiu Jitsu, as you now have a clear path to the back. SHOW ME ANY NEUTRAL POSITION IN JIU-JITSU AND I WILL SHOW YOU A POSITION WHERE, IF YOU COULD SLIDE OUTSIDE YOUR OPPONENTS ELBOW, IT WOULD NO LONGER BE NEUTRAL BUT DOMINANT. learn to look for elbow control at all times and look to use that control positively get getting your body outside and past your opponent's elbows and I promise you that you will soon be scoring more back points than you ever did previously. Here, Nicky Ryan, young master of the back, climbs skillfully around an opponent's elbow from bottom guard. Guard is a neutral position – but once the elbow is beaten it becomes highly advantageous. Just a few seconds after this photo was taken he had successfully applied a strangle.
