First Submission — the Cross-Collar Choke from Mount — Fundamentals cycle — the first finish, earned from the position weeks 1–3 built

Fundamentals cycle — the first finish, earned from the position weeks 1–3 built

First Submission — the Cross-Collar Choke from Mount

Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Week 4 · White belt
60 min
Any class size, worked in pairs
1 coach
Effort 3/5
Full mat area
curriculum
white belt
fundamentals
submissions
mount

The MatPlans curriculum teamBJJ black belts & coaches · 12+ yrs on the mat

Kit: Mats. Gi strongly recommended this week — the technique lives in the collars. No-gi pairs borrow a jacket or drill the same hand path to the sides of the neck.

Warm-up10 min

Mat Movements + The Three-Week Staircase

Setup: Staggered lines, arm's-width apart, everyone moving the same direction. Pairs form for the review half.

How it works: Lengths, twice each: shrimps, bridges with the full hip turn, technical stand-up, and seated collar-grip pummelling with a partner walking alongside for the last length. Then the staircase review in pairs, one minute per step at light resistance: posture and break the closed guard (week 1), one pass to the side (week 2), settle to mount and hold through two bridges (week 3). Say the point of the month out loud: three weeks were spent earning this position — tonight the position pays.

What to say

“Every warm-up move tonight has appeared in a lesson — spot them as you go.”
“Review at learning speed, not rolling speed.”
“Mount holders: heavy hips and wide knees before anything else.”

Easier

Half-lengths; review on a cooperative partner with no bridges.

Harder

Review flows unbroken — break, pass, mount, hold — three times through each way.

Drill16 min

Technique of the Day — The Cross-Collar Choke

Setup: Pairs, one mounted on the other exactly as week 3 left them. Demo twice — once at speed so they see it works, once slow with the steps numbered aloud. Before any drilling, teach the tap and the release as seriously as the choke itself.

How it works: The first submission of the cycle, and the reason it's taught from mount: everything below you is already won. Walk the room watching hands and elbows — the choke is finished by posture and chest, not by pulling arms. Set the safety contract plainly: partners tap early and loud, chokers release the instant they feel it, and nobody holds a finished choke to admire it. A tap tonight is a shared rep, not a victory.

The technique, step by step

From mount, walk your knees up under their armpits — the high mount you finished week 3 in.
Open their left collar with your left hand, pulling it away from their neck at chest height.
Slide your right hand in palm-up, cross to that left collar, four fingers inside, deep behind the corner of their neck — knuckles touching the mat is deep enough.
Lean your weight through that grip and post your head low to the mat on the right side, wide knees keeping your base.
Bring your left hand over your first arm and grip the other collar palm-up, as deep as you can reach.
Drop both elbows towards your hips, curl your wrists so the blade of each forearm meets the sides of the neck, and expand your chest — the tap comes in seconds, so listen for it.

Key details

Palm-up on both grips — palms up turns your wrist blades into the choke; palms down turns it into a face-pull.
The pressure belongs on the SIDES of the neck, never the windpipe — a correct choke is quiet and quick, a throat crush is just pain.
Head low and knees wide while you place the second grip — that is week 3's mount-keeping doing its job mid-submission.

Common mistakes

A shallow first grip — if only your fingertips are in the collar, abandon it and re-grip deeper rather than finishing badly.
Sitting tall and pulling with the arms — you'll lose your base to a bridge and learn that the choke was never about arm strength.

What to say

“Get the first grip deep enough that the collar disappears into your fist.”
“Finish with your elbows dropping to your hips, not your hands pulling apart.”
“The tap ends everything instantly — release first, celebrate never.”

Easier

Bottom partner opens their own collar and offers it; drill only the two grips with no finishing pressure.

Harder

Bottom partner frames on the biceps and turns slightly, so the choker must keep base while placing the second grip.

Drill12 min

Drilling

Setup: Same pairs, spread so nobody can roll into a neighbour. Coach calls every round; remind the room once more that taps are early and releases are instant.

How it works: Three rounds of two minutes each way, resistance climbing: round one, the bottom partner is still — full sequence on repeat, finishing only to the first sign of pressure. Round two, quarter resistance — bottom frames and shifts so grips must be earned, and bridges once mid-sequence so the choker proves their base. Round three, half resistance — bottom hunts the trap-and-roll from week 3, top must keep mount and still complete both grips. Count clean grip sequences, not taps; the finish is the easy part once the grips are right.

Rounds: 3 × 2 min each way · resistance 0% → 25% → 50%

What to say

“Score yourself on grip depth — a deep first grip makes round three easy.”
“If you get rolled, that's week 3 homework, not a week 4 failure — knees wide, head low, go again.”
“Bottom partners: tap to pressure, not to panic, and coach your partner's worst grip between reps.”

Easier

All three rounds at mannequin resistance; finish nothing, place everything.

Harder

Round three: bottom may bridge and frame at three-quarters; top must finish or transition to keeping mount without losing the first grip.

The rest of this lesson is free — along with 3 more this week.

House lesson.

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