Calibrating the attack

Securing a guillotine choke involves precise adjustments to eliminate space and control the opponent's spine, limiting their mobility. Begin in a sitting half guard position, ensuring your hook is on the inside leg and your outside leg is braced against the opponent's leg to prevent guard passing.

1. Lean over the opponent's back, bringing your elbow back while keeping your shoulder forward and chin tight to their back.
2. Extend your arm out to the side with your thumb pointing down, following the trajectory straight to your body.
3. As your thumb reaches your body, roll it to secure your grip, sandwiching the opponent's head and arm between your body and your hand.
4. Shrug your chin into your shoulder to tighten the position and hide your elbow by turning it inwards.
5. Focus on fitting in the technique rather than using strength, ensuring that your upper body mechanics are correct before advancing to more complex movements.
6. Whether from a sitting position or from your knees, the upper body fitting is crucial for all variations of the guillotine, including twisting grips, arm-in guillotines, armpit guillotines, flat hand guillotines, or chin strap twisting.

Practice these fittings to ensure that even when fatigued, you rely on technique rather than strength, and remember to keep the opponent's neck completely concealed with your shoulder cap for maximum efficiency.