One of the most commonly used sweeps in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is the Pendulum sweep. This can be used as a white belt, through to black belt, and beyond. The reason for this is that it’s fundamentally sound and works against all body sizes. What’s more, the Pendulum sweep is also used in MMA and self defense. From here, the bottom player can go from a bad position to a great position in seconds. With this said, you should really learn this if you don’t know it already.
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How to use the Pendulum Sweep
The Pendulum sweep is done from the Closed guard which is where you have your feet wrapped around the torso of your opponent. Perhaps the hardest part of this sweep for beginners is the angle that is needed for it to work. Usually, this means swinging your hips to the side, rather than being face-on with your opponent.
To set this up, you will always need to control the opponent’s wrist to the side you will be sweeping them. The reason for this is that it takes away their base and stops them from defending. So, you should grap their wrist (or sleeve in gi) and then try and place your arm under the other side leg of the opponent. By doing this, you should be able to pivot on your hips to create a sweeping angle.
To create the angle, you’ll need to open your legs to let your hips move. From here, you’ll then want to bring your leg up on the side that your arm is in between the opponent’s leg. Ideally, you want this leg as high as possible, so your knee is touching their armpit. In short, the higher your leg, the easier it will be to swing down which is where the name ‘pendulum’ comes from.
Mechanics of the Pendulum Sweep
Whilst doing this, you’ll want to bring the opponent down to break their posture. As your arms are occupied, you’ll need to crunch your hips down towards your head. Ideally, this should bring the opponent down towards you. With this done, you now want to swing your high leg to the other side in a chopping motion. With your other leg, you’ll also want to chop the opposite way.
The reason for this is to chop the opponent in two ways. Your one leg pushes their upper body to the left, and your other leg pushes their lower body to the left. By creating this chop, you should sweep your opponent and land in mount.
Using the Pendulum Sweep to submit the opponent
How to do the armbar from the Pendulum Sweep
Although the Pendulum sweep is good on its own, it’s better with submissions chained together. Typically, these are armbars, omoplatas, and triangle chokes. If you think about it, the Pendulum sweep uses similar movements to the armbar.
Basically, if you’re mid-swing and your opponent has postured down, you may be able to drag their arm across to the other side of your body. If this is possible, then don’t even bother to sweep the opponent. Instead, bring your lower leg over their head and you’re now in an armbar. If you pressure their head enough, you’ll also force them into a bottom armbar position.
How to do the triangle from the Pendulum Sweep
The triangle comes from a similar position. Again, this is best attacked mid-swing whilst your opponent is panicking and trying to defend the sweep. If you’re agile enough, then you can literally bring your bottom leg over the opponent’s arm and shoot a triangle.
However, often, you will do this when they free their arm and post on the floor to defend the sweep. Here, you can easily swing your leg over their head and enter the triangle.
How to do the Omoplata from the Pendulum Sweep
Always remember, where there’s an Omoplata from a triangle. From the previously mentioned triangle entry, if someone postures up then you can always go for an Omoplata instead. Arguably, you should aim for a triangle instead.
However, the Omoplata is still an option. Arguably, this is easier to do in the gi as you can start pulling on the collar to re-break their posture. From here, you’ll want to kick your leg over the shoulder instead of attacking the triangle. Even if the Omoplata doesn’t submit the opponent, it can still be used to sweep the opponent instead.
How to defend the Pendulum Sweep
Obviously, you shouldn’t allow the opponent dominant grips in the first place. Having said this, against a good opponent this may prove difficult. Firstly, you never want to stand one leg up without controlling the opponent’s same-side arm. In other words, if you don’t have grips, don’t just stand your left leg up. This is literally inviting the Pendulum sweep as your opponent can easily reach under to create the angle needed.
Secondly, a lot of the defense is about improving your posture. If you can manage to keep your head high and shoulders lifted, then the Pendulum sweep becomes much more difficult. Therefore, as much as anything, remember to keep your posture when someone is trying to sweep you.
Lastly, if they do manage to grab under your leg, remember to follow their hips. For instance, if they move off to the left, then follow them to the same side so that your hips are facing each other. If your hips are in alignment then the Pendulum sweep cannot be done as there needs to be an angle.
What’s the difference between a Pendulum Sweep and the Flower Sweep?
You may think that the Pendulum sweep is similar to the Flower sweep. That’s because there’s actually a lot of similarities between the two. However, there are some key differences. In short, the Flower sweep is primarily a gi move that needs grips that aren’t possible in no gi. Also, it doesn’t rely on such an angle, compared to the Pendulum sweep.
For example, instead of swinging under the leg, you instead grab the edge of the opponent’s pants. Instead of grabbing the wrist, you instead grab their sleeve (for the Flower sweep). This means the Flower sweep arguably requires less athleticism but is still big on hip movement.
To summarize, both moves have similar mechanics but the angle of the Flower Sweep is based more on pushing than using the momentum of an angle, whilst also relying on gi grips.
Summary
Perhaps the beauty of the Pendulum sweep is that it can be done in both the gi and no gi relatively easily. In other words, it’s not one of those BJJ techniques that requires a sleeve or lapel. As well, it’s also very effective when you’re doing it. Usually, you can end up in a mount or a submission position. As far as sweeps go, this one is up there as one of the best if you manage to pull it off. So, if you don’t use the Pendulum sweep already, it’s about time you learn it.
