how does one develop a good guard?

[al000]

i've been doing bjj for like 4 months and my guard sucks. anybody and their grandma's could pass it. what are some good guard drills that you guys recommend. i want one like barrett. he's my hero. thanks alex

[Mr. Miyagi]

Just keep practicing it. When you spar invite your partner into your guard and try to keep him there. Try to keep pulling him down and distracting him with sub attempts. Also, don't cling for dear life to the closed guard, learn to control him with an open guard too. But mostly, it just takes time.

[SweepEm]

My recommendation would be to take a private lesson (or semi if you have some friends/classmates that have the same problem as yours) and focus on keeping an opponent in your guard and then offensive moves from the guard, closed first, then when you can feel confident about your closed guard, move on to the open guard.
Talk to your instructor to get helpful hints.
And ask your fellow classmates that you feel are good at their guards, and have them show you some pointers.
Unless you're a jerk or one that never washes your Gi, you should be able to learn from many.

[al000]

bjj

problem is is that there are only like 4 of us in a class. i live in a small town. i know the open guard but am not really familiar with it. how does that go. now i should just fake sub attempts and go for the sweep. i have short legs, should i go inverted if he grabs like a leg or just elbow escape. oh yeah and whenever i do triangles, the foot i figure four hurts like hell. it feels like my anke is going to snap. is there a proper way to apply it.. anything will be helpful thanks alex

[SweepEm]

Make a trip to LA

or some place that has some good schools nearby

[SweepEm]

oh, and check out:

http://www.royharris.com

he has some great articles on BJJ and the analysis of techniques

[Edited by SweepEm on 12-30-2000 at 02:41 AM]

[Twisted up]

A good guard

First MASTER the basics. That also means knowing the correct TIMING of when to apply them. That you will only get from a good, experienced instructor!

Michael Jen at http://www.teammaa.com has a great video series called (appropriately enough) "The Ultimate Guard". I would say to get that if you have the funds.


Other than that, PRACTICE! Only through that will you develop the timing which is so important.

Three things to attack while in a guard (in no particular order):

Balance, Arm, Neck.

Attack one and when he moves to defend, attack one of the remaining two.

Hope that helps!


John

[Edited by Twisted up on 12-30-2000 at 01:04 PM]

[bear]

okey,,,a couple things to remember
-if you go for chokes say with the lapel it will brings the guys hands to his neck to defend, therefore his hands are not opening your guard
-when he counters the chokes watch for the arms getting sloppy then go for the arm
-in the mean time continue checking the base
-move from move to move in a consistant attacking manner
-practise passing so you learn the steps then when you try to stop the pass you will have a good idea what the passer is looking for
-practise practise practise there is no substitute for mat time

[Angel_of_Pain]

Ok here's my opinion, try to do a lot of weight lifthing whit your leg, my leg are small 2 but they are strong so I can kep my opponent in the position I want, what I like to do his get my scissor right under is arm pull him whit is gi so hes really close to me so he cannot breath, then I skeese my scissor for like 5 to 10 second, the guy will try to get up and will give you one of his arm so JUJI!!! inverted juji, arm bard or even a choke whit is gi.
2) Your triangle is not suppose to hurt it mean you put the pressure on your ankle, so try to put your leg closer to your knee, I know it sound funny but you will have no more pain and the guy head will have no more space and that mean pain!!!. try it, it worked for me.

[PatrickH]

This might not be quite what you're looking for, but one thing that I do is let my opponent pass my guard over and over again. The only catch is that I'll put both of my hands inside of my belt. I'll drill this for 10-15 minutes or so. It really forces you to use your hips legs and feet to compensate for the lack of control with your hands. This isn't a quick process in developing your guard, but it has been very helpful for me in my development of the open guard. It's funny because after you've let a guy pass your guard over and over again for 10-15 minutes and then you start to use your hands after that..........you feel like you're cheating!

good luck and be patient with it

PatrickH

[al000]

thanks alot guys. i appreciate the advice. i really didn't get how to apply the triangle correctly though. can someone help with this.

[Twisted up]

The Triangle

If you are familiar with the basics of the technique, it really then comes down to how much you can pivot so that you're perpendicular with your opponent.

Elevating the HIPS OFF THE GROUND is very important as well!

Learn to work the armbar off of the triangle! You'll be glad you did.

Also, check out some technique sites if you don't have to money for videos or private classes (or access to the Fighter's Notebook).

You could check out the techniques at http://www.mixedmartialarts.com They have an archived section of techniques. Look for details there if all else fails.

You really should get the Ultimate Guard though.

Just my two cents.

John

[Chad W. Getz]

Great tip PatrickH. I'll be trying that one.

When I first started learning grappling, the first thing we did was have someone try to break the guard. He couldn't use submissions, he could only break the guard. The guy on his back could actually do a submission on the other guy if opportunity presented itself, but his main goal was to make sure his gaurd wasn't passed.

I think it is very important to be able to work both open and closed guards as well. I am very limited in the definition of the very many types of open guards, but I am posting a new thread about it, so check that out as well.

[Martial Artist]

Well,I like just going to the open guard sometimes.In all of jiu-jitsu my favorits techs are sweeps.So natrually,I like playing the open guard.Although,it gets passed like a hot knife through butter its a whole lot funner to play around with.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Everyone should be familiar with the correct application of the triangle, but honestly, if you really have short legs then you probably should look for other stuff from the guard, or better yet, try to be on top. Guys with long legs usually have a guard that is hard to pass and guys with short legs usually are difficult to sweep. But basically, everything is just a matter of time and the guys you train with can help you much more than we can.