There was no way to cover everything I wanted to cover in the last class.  The Americana from scarf hold was a favorite that I heard more than one person say they were going to add that right away.  I introduced the concepts of the Americana and demonstrated half a dozen variations to start the process of understanding this type of shoulder lock more completely.  This lesson will cover two more variations of the Americana.

The first one we will cover is the Americana from a failed triangle.  Sometimes when you go for a triangle your opponent will posture up before you have a chance to lock the triangle in completely.  Often your opponent will also place the hand of their trapped arm on your biting leg.  This Americana is the perfect answer to this scenario and for many inferior triangle attempts.  In fact, I once narrowly ran out of time in a competition match as I was starting the Americana against an excellent wrestler named Tim Bodah.  Five more seconds and I would have had a submission win instead of a loss.  Once you have some form of triangle locked on, you can use that control to attack the arm that is trapped, and the Americana is a very good option.

The second Americana style shoulder lock will be from side control.  Instead of a normal Americana against the far arm, we will perform a near side Americana.  I’ve had this scenario come up where I was attacking the far arm and my opponent turns towards his arm that is in danger.  If his arm in inside my arms with his hand near my armpit, I can hit this near side americana fairly easy.  This Americana will demonstrate using just one arm to lock the attacked arm while your other arm blocks the escape route.

If everyone gets these two down, I’ll show a risky side control escape that uses the americana.  I say it’s risky because if you don’t identify the scenario correctly, you’ll quickly be hit with an americana against you.  If you do identify the situation correctly, you can turn this escape into an armbar.  It’s not exactly normal fundamentals fare, but it does demonstrate the use of an americana style lock as a means of controlling your opponent.