Posture in the butterfly guard is incredibly important. With the butterfly guard (as with any guard position) good posture is the key to defending the guard pass, attacking with submissions, and/or sweeping your opponent. But maintaining good posture is easier said than done, because your opponent is actively working to break it down. In fact if I'm trying to pass someone's butterfly guard, … [Read more...]
Guard Sweeps
My Digital Reading List, May 23, 2013
I always say that this jiu-jitsu stuff is a marathon, not a sprint. Partially this is because it takes time to remodel your body so that it can do the things you want it to do. It's also because you need to find and incorporate hundreds of little tricks, tweaks and techniques that work with your body and your ever-evolving style on the mats. … [Read more...]
My Favorite One-Two Sweeping Combo from X Guard
Today I'm going to share two of my favourite (and very powerful) X guard sweeps with you. Plus I'll show you how put them together so that it looks like you have amazing timing without actually having to increase your reaction speed one iota. Let's first talk about what makes two techniques work well together in general. I touched upon the topic of complementary techniques in a previous … [Read more...]
The Easiest Butterfly Guard Sweep
Today I want to quickly share the easiest way to sweep someone from the butterfly guard. Many butterfly guard attacks require you to close the distance, pull your opponent forward, load him up onto your legs, and then sweep him. But what if he resists? What if you've caught him with the butterfly sweep so many times that he now refuses to engage, keeps on backing up, and gripfights like … [Read more...]
My Favorite One-Two-Three Sweep Combo from the Half Guard
The half guard is one of my favorite guard positions. And here are three of my favorite half guard sweeps and attacks! Not only is each of these moves a high percentage technique in its own right, but when you put them together they create a powerful one-two-three combination that will serve you well in the half guard for the rest of your grappling career. The first attack in this sequence … [Read more...]
What is the Butterfly Guard?
The Butterfly Guard is one of my very favorite positions these days. Regardless of whether you're rolling with or without the gi, the Butterfly Guard keeps your opponent's weight off of you, it gives you unparalleled mobility on the bottom, and it allows you to unleash blistering combinations of some of the most powerful sweeps and reversals in all of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. But I wasn't always … [Read 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. … [Read more...]
How to Salvage a Failed Butterfly Guard Sweep
The 'basic' butterfly guard sweep is one of the most strongest sweeps in grappling. That's why it shows up again and again at the highest levels of competition. It's powerful, reliable, and works for a wide range of body types. It works with and without the gi, on bigger people, smaller people, wrestlers, and judoka. This combination of power and versatility makes the butterfly guard sweep … [Read more...]
How to Set Up the X Guard
I love the X Guard. It's such a high-percentage position. First of all, it can be applied from a huge number of open guard and half guard situations. If you've ever watched an X Guard specialist you'll know that he needs just a tiny bit of room to insert those hooks and - BOOM - he's slithered into the X Guard. And once an opponent is caught in the X Guard he's going down! In fact, by the … [Read more...]
How to Counter the Backstep Guard Pass
BJJ and submission grappling are in a continual state of evolution. New techniques, tactics and strategies emerge, or are rediscovered, or are brought into the art all the time. The backstep guard pass is one such modern technique. You won't see this guard pass in old-school BJJ … [Read more...]
The Jab-Cross of Open Guard Sweeps
Let's talk about two of my favorite sweeps from the open guard. These are high percentage techniques that are used again and again at every level, by novice whitebelts and world-class blackbelts. When learning a new position I think it's important to learn the high percentage stuff right away. In general you should first pick the low-hanging fruit, and then move on to the stuff that you're … [Read more...]
How to do the Butterfly Guard Sweep
Today I want to teach you how to do the most important sweep from the butterfly guard correctly. This is because sometimes in life, you just HAVE to learn certain things. … [Read 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. … [Read 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... ... to stall, stall, stall and hope for a draw! It can be super-frustrating when an opponent absolutely refuses to engage with you. Especially when the damn guy … [Read more...]
What a Spider Guard Fail Teaches You About How to Train Any Technique!
Today's tip comes was inspired from some training I did with a smaller grappler, let's call him 'Stu.' Stu wanted to learn some sweeps from the Spider Guard (an open guard position where you control both of your opponent's sleeves and have one or both feet on his biceps). Anyway we worked on what I call the Baiting Sweep.' (Those of you who have purchased the Spider Guard Masterclass … [Read more...]
The Seated Guard and the ‘Idiot Sweep’
Here's a video in which Emily Kwok uses me as a dummy to teach the fundamentals of the Seated Guard and also one of my very favorite sweeps: the 'Idiot Sweep.' (I call it that because it's so simple and so effective that when you catch your opponent with it, he feels like - well - an idiot.) … [Read more...]
Three X Guard Mistakes (and my Best Drill for Getting a Killer X Guard)
The X Guard is one of my very favorite 'go to' positions. If I can get there in a match then I'm suddenly a very happy camper... In fact, this position is so dominant that you should be able to sweep your opponent at least 80% of the time when you get him jacked up into the X Guard. But people make a lot of mistakes when they try to use this open guard position. Mistakes that absolutely … [Read 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. … [Read more...]
A Confusion of Open Guards
The open guard can be quite confusing. Basically any time your legs are not closed around the back of your opponent you are in a type of open guard. Butterfly guard, X guard, spider guard, sitting guard etc. etc. are all open guards. … [Read 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. Photo 1 - If your opponent is quick he may be able to counter your Kimura from the guard by posting his foot and grabbing his pants. You may be able to simply rip his grip free from his gi pants if you are stronger or he is sloppy, but the following is a more elegant … [Read more...]