I'm not sure if these are widely used terms, so by "old school arm bar" I'm referring to an arm bar with your leg-side foot tucked under rather than over the opponent's body.

By "japanese" arm bar I mean the kind you see most of the time with both legs over the body and both feet on the floor on the other side of your partner.

Obviously the old school is not as good a hold if your partner is on his back because there is less stopping him from doing a bridge and step-over to escape.

However, the old school is easier to set up from some positions (such as the top of north-south).

I've had some success in rolling by setting up armbars from north-south, but I found I was relying on speed to step over and spin into a japanese-style armbar. So I moved to trying it old-school, which has a much more technical, elegent set-up. However, then I ran into problems keeping my partner from escaping. Idealy I would have the advantages of both by working on stepping over into the japanese as I sit back into the armbar, which I intend to work on.

So my question is this: do you use the old-school style arm bar at all? Only with certain set ups? Or is it japanese or nothing? Tips for setting up from north south (I know, ask my instructor. I did, so I'm looking for less obvious tips or alternate ways of approaching it)

I plan to work on my setups for both styles, but I'd just like to see if you guys have any thoughts.