Bridge&roll from munegatame

Munegatame (chest hold) is the second osaekomi that we teach in judo, and the bridge&roll escape that is associated with it is one of the easiest bridge&roll escapes to get working, but sometimes students still have trouble getting a handle on this escape, so here is an explicit recipe for producing a bridge&roll escape from munegatame in practice.

1. feet tight under your butt and elbows close as possible to your chest.
2. bridge with both feet straight up to create space under you.
3. turn onto your side, facing uke
4. bottom elbow under uke's hips and top hand over uke's shoulder
5. shrimp 2-3 times directly away from uke while pushing/holding him in place
6. when uke climbs back on top, hold his head to the mat with your top arm
7. bridge straight up with both feet and push uke's hips over your head with your bottom elbow.
8. scramble on top of uke.

...and some general practice hints...

• Practice getting all the steps in.  Work for mechanical precision, as if you were a bridge&roll machine that is designed  and programmed specifically to tear apart this particular hold-down.
• Repeat each step several times, then add the next step, repeating all previous steps.
• Practice with moderate-to-light resistance at first and build up toward heavy resistance over the course of weeks-to-months.
• When drilling, allow uke to get all the way into the hold and start from a dead standstill, but when applying the escape in randori or shiai, do not wait for the opponent to set the hold 100%

... and a video of Nick and Damon demonstrating the bridge&roll from mune with only slight differences from my recipe...

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Patrick Parker
www.mokurendojo.com