Open guard strategy- how to keep it or pass it

22. Dec, 2009 1 Comment

Last night I was working w/ Pete who is a great blue belt. We were troubleshooting his guard games and started to focus on open guard. But not so much on the techniques and details but more of the philosophy. So just a quick note on this…

Guard is the unique feature of BJJ. You are using your body to fight off your back. Reversals and submissions right? Of course but before you can go to those options you need to be able to keep the guy in your guard. Control the position. So use all your weapons…legs and arms and angles!

My first goal is to get a comfortable grip w/ my hands on a part of his upper body (ie; sleeve and/or lapel) for a pulling force. The second piece is to use my legs like pistons to push (hips, bicep, far leg) which combined w/ my grips will control the distance and keep the other guy off balanced. My opponent should feel kinda stuck in my web. And as he tries to defeat my grips I am constantly adjusting things to keep him there and break his balance.

- Now that I have he is stuck he will get frustrated and that is prime time to setup my sweeps, armdrag to start taking his back, climb a leg over and start triangle/armbar/shoulder locks.

- In the middle of the fight you can choose to slide into closed guard or 1/2 guard and then use your strategy from there.

- IF he starts to dive his upper body down to pass…I change my grips to be a pushing force, move my hips, maybe pull out and reinsert my legs, and regain my position.

- IF he hugs my legs (which often happens when he is frustrated)…I like to use the arm control & belt grip rollover sweep (see Carlos Machado Infinite Jiu Jitsu series)

The flip side of this is passing. Read all the above and then don’t let the guy on bottom get what he wants…grips, screwing w/ your balance, etc. I like to misdirect my pressures so that I can catch the guy on the bottom making a mistake. And then pass.