Olympic Insight With Travis Stevens
How Travis Stevens Punched His Ticket To The 2016 Olympic Finals
Anytime you can get into the mindset of an elite athlete it’s important to take advantage. Absorbing top-tier techniques from someone like Travis Stevens is great, but to hear the methodology and strategic breakdown of said techniques, takes it to a whole other level!
Travis has been pumping out steady streams of content from his YouTube channel, and today we are going to take a look behind the scenes of how Travis earned his spot in the finals of the 2016 Olympic games in Rio. Take a look at the choke that helped him do it, and the two years of planning that went into its application!
On top of technique breakdowns and AMA’s on his YouTube channel, Travis has also been keeping EXTRA busy on the instructional front. Be sure to swing by JudoFanatics.com and check out the complete Travis Steven’s collection! Click Learn More!
Back To The Breakdown...
During the breakdown Travis explains that he was working on this specific situation occurring for over two years. Travis had faced his semi-final opponent, Avtandil Tchrikishvili, previously in competition. He explains that this specific scenario had played out before, where Avtandil raised his hips high in the air to defend the choke attempt. Only this time Travis was ready.
Travis goes into detail about baiting his opponent for the drop seoi nage. By keeping his pressure going forward he provided an opportunity for Tchrikishvili to drop into his attack. Since Travis was able to anticipate this he was able to react to not only defend the drop seoi, but initiate his own attack. By keeping the over hand grip high on the collar he is able to set the grip and get to his feet. Once on his feet Travis is able to use this grip to yank his opponent’s base open which allows for him to enter into the choke.
In the past when Travis attempted this, Tchrikishvili was able to raise his hips to buck Travis off. Knowing this ahead time allowed Travis to adapt his strategy. In the video Travis shows how to counter the high hips by snagging an elbow-deep grip on his partner’s support arm and rolling to his side. This prevents his partner from being able to stand up to defend. Now he is able to finish the choke.
The arm that hooked the opponent’s support arm will now turn into a powerful tool to assist the choke. Travis loops it behind his partner’s head and over top of his wrist on the choking arm. The legs also play a pivotal role in completing the choke. Travis slides his leg from underneath of his partner’s weight and overtop of the shoulder. By crossing his feet and extending them away during the choke it brings his knees together assists in adding a ton of pressure. You can see how much pressure at the 2:50 mark…
How Travis Drilled This Technique
As an added bonus Travis goes into detail about how he built the reactionary skills to pull off this maneuver in a pressure packed Semi-Final of the Olympics! To get better at attacking the Turtle position Travis uses the drill he demonstrates at the 4:10 mark. As he touches his partner’s shoulders they drop into a turtle position. As his partner drops Travis shifts to the side to attack the Turtle.
If you have spent some time in this position you know that you don’t have a lot of time to get good grips. By using this drill you can get quicker at snagging the grips you need to initiate the British Strangle variation that leads to the Single Wing Choke.
To approach this situation proactively instead of reactively, Travis finishes the demonstration by showing how to attack using the same grips that he started with. By kicking out his partner’s lead leg he puts them into a square stance, which makes the high lapel grip have the leverage needed to yank his partner to the mat. Once they hit the mat, the same steps from before apply. By keeping the high lapel grip, Stevens is able to open his partner’s base by shifting to the side while using the lapel grip to pull them...aggressively. This provides the space needed for Travis to enter into the British Strangle!
Travis is known for his brutal Ne-Waza, Ne-Waza Mastery is a 14 chapter submission hunting SAGA! Learn match winning details from one of the very best, Travis Stevens. Keep your opponent guessing by having next-level Ne-Waza!