Demarcation point – the elbow: It sounds so obvious as to be foolish, but It's important to know where you are in grappling, because knowledge of where you are determines how you ought to act. In most cases it's pretty obvious where you are – inside a closed guard, side control, knee on belly, north south etc etc Most white belts can tell you immediately where they are at any given point in a match. Things can get more tricky in some situations however. The most commonly occurring situation is where you are still ostensibly in front of your opponent BUT YIU HAVE GOTTEN BEHIND HIS ELBOW. If you look at this picture of Gordon Ryan from last years ADCC world championships you will probably think that he is in the mounted position – and by standard criteria you would be correct. However, he has gotten behind his opponents elbow. Even though they are still chest to chest, once you've beaten your opponents elbow you are 90% of the way to the back – at this point you should already be switching mentally to the idea that you are BEHIND your opponent and adjusting your targets accordingly. remember that the elbow is the single most important demarcation point in upper body back attacks – once you've passed that point it's time to start thinking in terms of a new position and change your focus.
