The remarkable powers of the cross lapel grip: There are no universal panaceas for the myriad problems and scenarios of Jiu Jitsu – we have to be adaptable and look for individual solutions to every problem. Nonetheless there are some moves and concepts etc that have incredibly wide applications and come as close to a panacea as we can get in this sport. One of them is the cross lapel grip. This is probably the single most effective and versatile grip we can employ from guard position and many top pin scenarios as well. It is a grip that gives excellent and immediate control of your opponents HEAD, arguably the most important part of the body to control. In addition it creates an immediate danger of STRANGULATION to harass, intimidate and even finish an opponent. It gives a bottom guard player good distance control for both offense and defense. Perhaps most important it enables a bottom player to constantly break AN OPPONENTS POSTURE and thus create strong action/reaction attacks as an opponent tries to resist and recover. Experiment with different ways of holding the grip based upon what end you want to achieve. Learn to switch hands and grip and re grip side to side so as to lead actively into attacks rather than just holding on with a death grip without purpose. Create a sense of push/pull and action/reaction – this is the element that makes Jiu Jitsu interesting and artful rather than a slogging match. There is a reason why so many great athletes made this simple yet devastating grip the basis of their attacking grip game – make it part of yours too!!
