Tag Archives: Closed Guard
How to Counter the Stupidest Closed Guard Break Ever - The Elbow Grind on the Inner Thighs
Grinding away on your inner thighs is the favourite (and often only) closed guard breaking strategy of meathead grapplers everywhere.
I don’t know who originally came up with this bush league, Dim Mak wanna be, pressure point bull**** strategy, but for some reason you run into ‘grinders’ at almost every club.
Like most pain compliance techniques the elbow grind is something that works semi-OK in sparring, but almost never works in competition (more…)
What is the Closed Guard?
Here’s a short 1:30 minute video breakdown of me explaining the basics of the closed guard.
And just to keep things interesting I also throw in my single best tip about how to maintain the closed guard, shut down your opponent’s guard pass attempts and put you in a position to successfully launch your own attacks. (more…)
My 2 Best Triangle Choke Escapes
I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s tip about escaping the armbar from guard. Today I want to continue exploring how to get out of submissions and share my two best triangle choke escapes with you.
I’ve experimented with lots of different triangle escapes. Unfortunately I’ve found that many commonly-taught techniques (more…)
How to Defend and Escape the Armbar from Guard
If you’ve been grappling for any length of time then you know that anytime you’re in the closed guard you’ve got to watch out for the armbar from guard. It’s one of the most common and highest percentage submissions in all of BJJ, submission grappling and MMA.
So if we’re going to be running into a technique like the armbar from guard this frequently then we HAVE to have some good answers for it, or else we’ll be tapping out all the time! (more…)
The Easiest Triangle Choke Followup
One of my newsletter readers recently had an interesting question for me:
Q: “Hi Stephan, I have this training partner with a huge neck who is incredibly resistant to chokes. Everybody in class has problems choking him. The problem is that my favorite submission is the triangle choke – what’s a simple way to finish the choke on someone like that? Thanks – Dave from England.” (more…)
Roadmap for BJJ Package Now Available Again!
A few years ago I released the Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructional package.
This is a multi-component product that focuses on the strategies, tactics, techniques and training methods of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. It’s basically a quick start guide for how to get good on the ground as fast as possible. (more…)
4 Tips to Pass ANY Guard
Passing the guard of a skilled opponent is one of the hardest things to do in BJJ.
If you don’t believe me, take a look at high level BJJ and submission grappling competition like the Mundials or ADCC. (more…)
An Advanced Guard Sweep
What is an ‘advanced’ guard sweep?
Well, sometimes it’s a technique that requires such ridiculous levels of strength, flexibility, or explosiveness that it’s completely out of reach of 99% of recreational BJJ players. (more…)
Advanced Triangle Choke Details
Today’s tip is about the details of the Triangle Choke, one of the very highest percentage submissions at every level of competition.
Have you ever noticed how some people can catch EVERYBODY in their signature submission, again and again? Once they’ve got their setup position it’s pretty much a done deal (this applies whether that signature submission is an armbar, a triangle choke, a kneebar, or an upside-down, inside-out Jehosophat choke).
Defending Stupid Big Guy Attacks (and the Honor of Jiu-Jitsu)
It’s amazing what some big guys will do when they get frustrated. In fact, sometimes they’ll try stuff so stupid that it’ll take you completely by surprise!
Now, many BJJ instructors never bother to teach you what to do against these ‘stupid attacks.’ (more…)
How to Attack Super-Defensive Opponents
It’s a fact: big guys don’t like losing to smaller guys.
That’s why sometimes, when a bigger guy realizes he’s not going to be able to actually win a match, he changes gears and uses all his strength and size for only one thing… (more…)
Advanced Omoplata Armlock Finish
Jiu-jitsu is so cool! As you might know, the omoplata armlock is one of my very favorite techniques. But even after 10 years of studying this position, I’m still learning new stuff about it…
Today I want to share a variation of the omoplata that I learned this summer working with Brandon Mullins. Of course this finish works great on larger people, but even though I’m 6’2′ and 215 lbs I’m gonna ‘hijack’ it and use it in my own game as well. (more…)
BJJ Competition and Training Strategies with Brandon 'Wolverine' Mullins
In this interview 2 x World No Gi Champion Brandon ‘Wolverine’ Mullins shares his best competition and training advice. The questions come from my newsletter readership, who I polled to see if they had any questions for Brandon, especially about training, competing or holding their own against bigger opponents. Boy, did they ever!
We then sifted and sorted hundreds of emails to pick out the very best questions for him, and this in-depth conversation was the result. Maybe one of my best interviews ever! (more…)
What To Do When Your Guard Attacks Fail
It’s my very favorite quote from the movie ‘The Avengers’ which I saw last night:
Captain America: We need a plan of attack!
Iron man: I have a plan… Attack!! (more…)
An Easy Way to Make Your Closed Guard Hard to Pass
I was recently watching an out-of-print instructional DVD by a friend of mine and had one of those really great ‘aha’ moments.
It was a tweak that I can use to make my closed guard much, much harder to pass. And also much more powerful when it comes to setting up attacks and sweeps. (more…)
As you probably know, I write a free newsletter called the Beginning BJJ eCourse.
Just to give you a taste, here are some of the tips that get sent out in that newsletter – some sample lessons, if you will.
Technique 2: Reverse Shoulder Lock
Marcus and Denis demonstrate the reverse shoulder lock. (more…)
Marcus Soares - Kimura from Mount
Here’s how the Kimura can help you transition from the Closed Guard, to the Mount, and then to your opponent tapping out. (more…)
Marcus Soares Kimura from Closed Guard
Marcus Soares demonstrates a basic attack from the guard: Closed Guard to Kimura (more…)
Technique 4: Omo Plata to footlock
A four step instructional article on transitioning from guard to the omoplata and then into an unexpected footlock when your opponent attempts to counter the omoplata. (more…)
Technique 3: Scissor sweep to Omoplata
The scissor sweep is one of the very first sweeps most BJJ students learn. And it’s a legit technique, but even if your opponent counters it then it can still be used to set up a great omoplata attack… (more…)
Technique 2: Omoplata to wristlock
It’s never good when your opponent manages to stand up in your guard. Fortunately you can use the omoplata to bring him back down to earth and put him into a very bad position… (more…)
Technique 1: Triangle choke to Omoplata
The omoplata can be an attack in its own right, or a great followup to another technique. Here Stephan shows you how the omoplata can be used to salvage a failed triangle choke… (more…)
Eddie Bravo's Rubber Guard "The NewSchool"
In this sequence Eddie ‘Twister’ Bravo shows yet another one of his innovative rubber guard setups to lock on the triangle choke. (more…)
Armbar to Reverse Roll Guard Sweep, by Andreh Anderson
Here’s a combination that takes you from an arm bar attempt to a powerful guard sweep from the closed guard, demonstrated by BJJ black belt Andreh Anderson. (more…)
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