He who controls the hands controls the beginning of every exchange: In the vast majority of grappling encounters ENGAGEMENT WITH THE OPPONENT BEGINS WITH THE HANDS. As such, if we can dominate our opponent's hands as we first engage with them in a given scenario, we will have a significant advantage for the rest of the ensuing action. Make a habit of fighting to control your opponent's hands and you will soon it is much harder for opponents to control and attack you. This advance pertains to some scenarios more than others. For example, escaping a mounted pin is not really dependent upon hand control and so it is much less important here; but other scenarios, such as defending and escaping rear mounts, are very much dependent upon good control of your opponent's hands. Identify the scenarios where hand control is crucial and experiment with different grips and strategies to dominate your opponents hands – you will be impressed by how often this strengthens your initial defense and offense.
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