When I shoot the photographs for a tutorial, I’ll often run through the move several times from different angles to make sure I capture all the details and don’t need to reshoot later. As a result, I end up with a large number of photos that never make it into instructionals. The most extreme case of this was my first rubber guard tutorial, where I had shot the sequence once all the way through, but felt the angle didn’t show the grip changes well enough so I did it again.

This left me with a ton of photos with nothing was particular “wrong” with them, just not meeting my personal standard. But rather than let these go to waste, I’ve decided to share them since 1) it’s nice to have a second angle on a move and 2) I think they offer some insight into how much flexibility I’m using, especially in my hips.

So here’s the rubber guard to omoplatarmbar again.

Gable grip on neck after breaking posture. Right foot on hip.

Mission control. Here is when to start judging how much flexibility I’m using.

Fist in place to zombie.

Zombie complete. Jon’s arm is on the floor.

New York.

New York from another angle.

Karate block my arm to the other side.

Second angle.

Chill dog.

More chill dog.

Begin kung fu move.

Forearm and shin parallel.

Buddha palm strike to my ankle.

To prevent the omoplata, Jon grabs my knee.

Grabbing his elbow.

Yank the elbow, kick the leg, break the grip.

Triangling the legs around the arms.

Grabbing the wrist to finish.

So how much flexibility do I seem to be using? It didn’t feel at all extreme when I did it, but maybe I’m just a weirdo.