# Sprawling



## Lisa (Jan 6, 2005)

I need advice on good body mechanics for successful sprawling.  I find it difficult to accomplish.  Shooting my legs behind me feels awkward and perhaps it is just the change of position and center of gravity but any help anyone can give me would be appreciated.


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## grappling_mandala (Jan 8, 2005)

Solo Sprawling:

Kick your legs out behind you, focus on where your hips are, get your hands to touch the mat first (of coarse) and the hips come just after. Hands are together, and the arms ARE NOT straight, they are loose and bent to absorb impact, the hands should touch slightly befor the hips, and the hips touch as the chest touches the floor. 

Can't find a video right now, but maybe someone else can post.

For partner practice, have someone shoot for a single or double, and first use your hands like you did solo, put all your weight on them and get your legs out of the way, that is the point of a sprawl. After you get a feel for that; sprawl chest to back or hip to back/shoulder and focus on "arm position" and body angle.

Most important thing on a sprawl is to get your legs back and your hips dropping on top of them. 

A follow up drill is as soon as you sprawl and your partner is smashed under you or turtled (on hands and knees) spin around them to their back and secure a better position.

Good training to you hope this helps,

Dave Copeland
Beaverton SBGi


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## Fightfan00 (Jan 8, 2005)

Tony Cecchine has a video out called lucky 13 and it has the sprawling exercise in it.Very good video a lot of info.You can find it on his website or doing a search and using his name.Hope this helps!


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## Han-Mi (Jan 9, 2005)

This is gonna sound funny, but have you ever heard of a break dancing move called the worm?
There is a dive that goes into it... much like an overzealous sprawl.... basically just try diving at the ground in a fashion that you won't hurt yourself, and You will do a very exaggerated sprawl, it gets you used to throwing your legs back though. Eventually it will be nothing to just throw them back for a sprawl.


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## ace (Jan 14, 2005)

get a pounching bag & lay it on the floor.
now practise droping down on it chest 1st.
 U can start in a squated position & work your way up.


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## eric (Jan 18, 2005)

great responses everyone. 
The only thing that I can add is what you can do with your arms. There are an infinite amount of variables and counters that can take place but to stick to the basic shoot scenario where your opponent has shot and you have dropped your hips and body weight on top of them. They will have their arms outstretched to gain some control over your legs so you can use one or both of your arms to underhook their body between their head sand shoulder. This can help you get a little more pepper in your sprawl. From there you can do whatever you want. Hope this is helpful! :jedi1:


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## Lisa (Jan 18, 2005)

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate all the input.  I also received some great advice on the "avoidance" thread as well.  Mostly I think it is a mental thing for me.  Hopefully that will pass with practice.  I will let you know how it goes.


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## Shogun (Jan 19, 2005)

If you have someone to work with, then go through it really slow at first then start to speed it up. place your arm around their head (like applying a guillotine) and the other arm hooked on their arm, and slowly walk backwards. once you get the feel for it, quicken the pace. if you get good enough, you can actually pull someone down to the floor with a good sprawl, they dont even have to shoot.

case in point: Kimo vs Tank Abbott


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## redfang (Jan 20, 2005)

Some people make the mistake of thinking of a sprawl as a purely defensive move.  In reality, it should be both offensive and defensive.  Yes, you are sprawling to remove your legs from the range of your opponent's shoot.  But you should sprawl to make them sorry that they ever shot.  I want them to feel every ounce of my weight driving them head first to the ground or mat.  I want them to go down hard.  I want them to be stretched out and unbalanced.  And as soon as they go down, I'm looking for a choke or going into my spin drill and taking their back.


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## Pittbull (Jan 21, 2005)

Redfang you've got the best idea of the sprawl so far because if you sprawl correctly on your oppent they should land face first in the mat.My goal when sprawling first is to make my oppent sorry they ever shot in on me in.Second I'm looking for postion on them.Also one needs to be careful not to antisipate the shot and sprawl to soon I'm speeking for experince.First you may end up giving your oppent a dominate position on yourself,two you can injury your back as I did a few weeks ago.And before some one says I did something incorrect I am an experinced sprawler with several years of grappling.


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## Shogun (Jan 24, 2005)

> Some people make the mistake of thinking of a sprawl as a purely defensive move. In reality, it should be both offensive and defensive.


Exactly. thats what I mean when I say pull them to the ground. you can slam your weight onto them, or you can simply hook the head or the head and arm, and pull them down. when on the ground, you have the back, but you are in more of a north south position.




Kyle


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## Old Tiger (Jan 26, 2005)

Lot of great posts and information above! I would just add this to all the good advice.  When you drill your sprawls always land with your toes pointed behind you. This way if you are late in your sprawl and your opponent has his knees under him or tries to shrimp out to the side and push you back, or if he is much larger than you and just muscles up;  if you sprawl with your feet under you they will catch on the mat or ground and he can fold you back up and / or run over you. If your toes are pointed behind you you will only slide backward while maintaining control of him. You can always flip your toes forward when YOU decide it is time for traction.


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## JDenz (Feb 14, 2005)

Ya want to catch his arms or trunks on the start of the sprawl to keep his arms off your legs.  You want to at least get to where you are snapping his down into the mat.  Also most of the time you are not just sprawling striaght back,  you should be cutting your hips away from the side that he is shooting on.


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