Many of the most powerful guard sweeps rely on your hips being underneath your opponent’s center of gravity.
This makes him very unstable – think of the difference between
1. standing on the floor beside one of those stability balls, and
2. trying to stand on top of that same stability ball.
Obviously option 2 is a lot less stable. And that’s exactly how your opponent feels when you invade the space underneath his hips. (Somehow that just sounds wrong, doesn’t it?)
So here are two great drills taught by Emily Kwok that teach you how to get underneath your opponent
Drill 1 teaches you how to use your hooks to control the distance between you and your partner (and is a KILLER core workout at the same time). Here’s the direct link to it on Youtube or you can watch it below:
Drill 2 teaches you how to get underneath your opponent and explosively lift him off the ground. This is another move that Marcelo Garcia uses to launch people, all the time. Watch this drill on Youtube or on the video below:
Try both these drills and leave a comment below how they worked for you!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The techniques in this video clip are from the Gripfighting and Essential BJJ Drills volume in the first How to Defeat the Bigger, Stronger Opponent instructional set with 3 time world champion Emily Kwok, available both as a series of mobile apps and as a 5 DVD set.