Ah, the armbar. It was the first BJJ submission I learned in my first jiu-jitsu class.

I was hooked on BJJ the second I felt the power of the armbar. I describe the story in my book BJJ For Beginners.

Now, I’d seen the armbar hit in the UFC plenty of times. Behind the rear-naked choke and the guillotine choke, it’s the 3rd most popular BJJ submission in the UFC.

But despite seeing it all the time — and learning it during my first class — it wasn’t until I was a blue belt that I finally started to hit the armbar consistently. 

In this article, I’ll explain the armbar sequence that works best for me — as instructed by my coach, Ritchie Yip.

Using this simple 5-step method, you’ll develop an armbar setup that is nearly impossible to escape.

Armbar For Beginners: Table Of Contents

• How To Do The 5-Step Armbar
• 3 Tips To Make Your Armbar Unstoppable
• How To Defend The Armbar
• Takeaway Thoughts & Discussion

How To Do The 5-Step Armbar

The armbar is one of the basic submissions you’ll learn in BJJ as a white belt.

Although it looks simple on the surface, it is anything but.

You can hit the armbar from dozens of different positions.

But in this article, I’ll teach you how to do it from the top mount position.

Ritchie, my coach who taught me the armbar during my intro class, calls this the 5-step armbar.

However, you’ll notice there is a 6th step: the finish.

The reason for calling it the 5-step armbar, even though it has 6 steps, is this:

If you do steps 1 through 5 correctly, finishing the armbar is easy.

So pay particular attention to steps 1 through 5.

Step 1: Grab The Right Arm With Your Right Arm

From top mount, reach your right arm towards the bottom player’s right arm and shoulder.

Use this grip to create some space for your left knee to come up towards their head.

If the bottom player has their hands on your chest, you can skip this step. They are already giving you the space you need for step 2.

Step 2: Bring Your Knee Up To Their Ear

Put your free hand on the mat above their head to make your hips light.

Slide your left knee up to their ear.

Get into a perpendicular angle where your head is facing their side, and not facing their head.

Doing so will enable you to get into a strong “S-mount” position.

Step 3: Get Into S-Mount & Solidify It

Get into the S-mount, and make it as tight as possible.

Try and connect your heel to your knee. Collect both of the bottom player’s arms.

The more miserable you can make the bottom player, the easier it will be to finish the armbar.

This is the step that will make or break your armbar.

Make your S-mount airtight — try and tap them with the pressure alone!

Step 4: Switch Arm Grip & Put Your Hand On The Mat

With your S-mount solidified, now you’ll bring your right arm through to trap their arm.

Bring your left arm through underneath their left leg and onto the mat, so that their body is twisted.

You’ll also have a better base and balance with your hand on the mat.

Step 5: Bring Your Leg Over Their Neck

Lean over to your left, and swing your leg over their head.

Flex your hamstring to make their neck look away.

This alone might be enough to get the tap.

Step 6: Extend Their Arm & Finish

Now, extend their trapped arm by bridging their hips and hugging their arm tight to your body to get the tap.

I like to finish the armbar like this from top mount.

But you can also fall back and finish it with your butt on the mat as well.

If you follow steps 1 through 5, you can finish the armbar any way you please!

3 Tips To Develop An Unstoppable Armbar

1. Focus On Breaking Their Alignment

It’s impossible to hit the armbar when your opponent has good alignment.

If their neck, core, and spine are in a strong neutral position — and their elbows and knees are connected — you cannot do the armbar.

The key to hitting the armbar is NOT to simply extend their arm.

The key to hitting the armbar is to break your opponent’s alignment. Twist their neck, core, and spine. Separate their knees from their elbows.

Only once you’ve done that can you extend their arm and get the tap with minimal chance of them escaping.

Breaking their alignment is steps 1 through 5 of this armbar.

Step by step, we are breaking down their alignment from strong to weak.

By the end, the armbar almost magically appears.

This principle applies to more than just the armbar. It applies to BJJ in general.

Establish good control and break your opponent’s alignment. Then it will be easy to submit them.

2. Work The Armbar From Both Top & Bottom

If you want to get better at the armbar, attempt it from everywhere.

Bottom closed guard. Top half guard. Top turtle. Butterfly guard. Everywhere!

I started learning the armbar from bottom closed guard. Once I mastered that submission, it was easier for me to hit it from top mount.

No matter which position you’re trying to hit it from, the same principles apply.

So by going for the armbar from many different positions, you’ll improve your general armbar technique.

3. Specifically Train The Armbar

If you want to get better at the armbar, you have to practice the armbar.

Here’s a challenge for you: in your next class, make it your focus during each roll to hit this armbar.

Trying to hit specific moves during sparring is called “specific training” — and it’s how Gordon Ryan masters submissions.

Then, after class, write down in your BJJ journal…

• What worked (example: “During one roll, I got into S mount and hit the armbar.” )
• What didn’t work (example: “During another roll, I went for the armbar by falling back, but my training partner was able to get their elbow to the mat and escape.”)
• Questions or notes for next class (example: “Ask coach how to better solidify the armbar so that the bottom player can’t slide out of it.”)

Ask your training partners if you can start from top mount. This will make hunting for the armbar much easier.

Do this for 4 weeks, and I guarantee you’ll get much better at the armbar.

NOTE: I teach this specific training and journaling process in my BJJ Journal Of Champions Course.

How To Defend The Armbar

1. Preventing The Armbar

The first stage of “defending” any submission — especially the armbar — is prevention.

You don’t want to try and escape the armbar when your arm is fully extended.

Instead, you want to prevent your arm from ever getting extended in the first place.

So, to prevent the armbar, focus on keeping good survival posture.

• T-rex arms. Knee-elbow connection. Defend your neck.
• When you feel the top player going for the armbar, disallow them from even getting to step 1.
• Bump and shrimp. Get on your side. Frame against their hips.

What the top player wants is to control you.

As the bottom player, you want to create instability and movement — so that they cannot control you.

If you can prevent them from establishing good control, they will not be able to armbar you.

Instead, they’ll have to focus on keeping their top position.

2. Mid-Stage Armbar Defense

Say the top player has gotten into the armbar position.

They have their legs over your head and neck, and they have collected your arms for the armbar.

But, they haven’t fully extended the arm just yet.

What I like to do here is get my elbow on the mat. By any means necessary.

Wrap your arms up tight. Use your lower body to create just an inch of space.

Then, try to bring your elbow down to the mat.

As long as you can get your elbow down to the mat, they cannot armbar you.

You’ll still be in a bottom position, but if they try and extend your arm, they won’t have your elbow.

Your elbow will be on the mat instead of on their hips.

3. Late-Stage Armbar Escape

Now, let’s say you’re REALLY in trouble: not only have they locked up the armbar position, but they’ve fully extended your arm.

You’re seconds away from tapping.

As a late-stage armbar escape, I like the hitchhiker escape.

In order to fully extend the arm and elbow, the top player needs your thumb to point up.

With your thumb pointing up, you cannot bend your elbow within their control.

But, if you can point your thumb out to the side — or down — you can bend your elbow enough to roll over and escape.

This is a dangerous, late-stage escape.

If I find myself in a fully extended armbar, this is the escape I rely on.

It’s gotten me out of many tricky armbars and back into a top, dominant position.

Takeaway Thoughts & Discussion

The armbar is one of the classic BJJ submissions.

Using this 5-step armbar setup from mount is what made it “click” for me.

I teach it to every new white belt who walks through the doors of my gym.

And I love seeing the smile on new students’ faces when they first understand the power of Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

What is YOUR favorite way to set up the armbar? Leave a comment in the section below and let me know.

And if you hit this armbar sequence in class tonight, I’d love to hear about it!

Happy rolling. 🤙

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Tsavo Neal

Tsavo is the founder of BJJ Equipment, author of BJJ For Beginners, creator of the BJJ Missions app, and a brown belt instructor at InFighting. He launched BJJ Equipment to help grapplers at every belt level train smarter, make faster progress, and find the best gear for their game.