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Cranking It: Not Just an Annoying Hip-Hop Lyric
As far as submission fighting goes, there are few values more prevalent in the sport than the ability to commit to a technique, sink it in, and crank it for the tap-out. The real secret is, though, it doesn't always happen in that order, and thats one of the things that seperates the world class submission fighters from the rest.
I was working the other day with some of my more submission saavy sparring partners and caught one in a guillotine. Now, he has a short neck, but a big chin. At some point, my forearm got out from under his neck and started cranking his chin. It's a position that isn't too uncommon in BJJ or submission grappling.
Even as I thought he was starting to slip out, I kept working the submission. I didn't get it right away, but I put compression on his neck in a way that forced him to move back into the guillotine choke and allowed me to adjust and finish.
While there are some moments when you have to let go of a submission (the guillotine on an opponent who has passed guard is a good example), there are some where you just have to keep working and ignore the lactic acid build up in order to get that tap-out.
When you hear cornermen yelling at their fighter "crank it, crank it" it's not because they've got it sunk in and are about to finish, it's exactly the opposite. When a fighter like Tim Sylvia was slipping out of Frank Mir's armbar, Mir just cranked it and had good enough leverage to break Sylvia's arm to end the fight.
There's one thing that great submission fighters know: submissions are not an exact science. We may know alot about the better ways to get leverage, but you don't always need to be dependent on the perfect armbar or the best guillotine choke. Sometimes, just having the willpower and that last little bit of gas left in your tank is enough to twist the body and finish the technique, or at least give you a second put your opponent in enough pain that you can easily readjust your leverage.
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