Improving My Guard For BJJ

Off Topic
1

I won’t lie, my guard sucks. It seems like whoever I roll with his a pretty easy time breaking my guard, whereas I struggle in doing the same.

So, I guess I have two questions:

  1. Aside from the obvious of working on using my guard more, what other things can I do to strengthen my guard?

  2. For guys that are tall, what’s your preferred method of breaking the guard? I try and round my lower back out and break the guard that way, but it seems that my arm is still vulnerable to an armbar/triangle because I’m lanky. Is it possibly more effective to posture up and try and break the guard from a standing position?

2

I haven’t rolled in a while, but a couple of moves I liked that didn’t require a partner used a heavy bag:

  1. free-standing bag with its own base, or low thai-style banana bag…lie on a abdominal fitball like you are going to do crunches on it. Move close to the bag, and instead of planting your feet on the floor, wrap them around the bag with a closed guard or really tight open guard.

When you are set you should have your legs around the bag, and your body mainly resting on the fitball. Since you will have a tendency to roll left or right off the ball, you will have to use leg/hip/ab strength maintain your position. You can also work strikes from the guard on the bag from this position.

  1. take heavy bag off the chains. Place it upright on the floor and lie on your back in the guard. Keep the bag upright with guard and you can work strikes here too. I admit you need a heavy bag to get much out of it, but it works.

  2. with a partner, I got this one from a Bas Rutten BBC. One parter stands straight up, you are facing him on your back in guard position. Partner squats down and underhooks your legs up to the back of the knee. You close guard (legs around his back). He gets a tight grip and stands up, with you now coming off the mat. You can hold for time until you/he get tired, or you can do some crunches up toward him. This requires a strong partner that you don’t outweigh too much. It will look like he’s about to power slam you or something :wink:

As far as opening the guard, I’ve always been a sucker for a can-opener/neck crank. Gets me every time.

To open guard (I’m not very experienced) I’ve had some success with a high stack using the shoulder at their head and then a step trough at full arch extension. Hard to explain but it worked for me. I’m not tall though 5’8" so it may work better/worse for you.

3

Yeah, I have had this problem too and still do to some extent. Be very active in your guard. Constantly grip the head and arms and pull them in. Remember, you don’t want space and they do (in general, but not always). Get your guard up high off of their hips and near their shoulders and look for submissions. If you just lie there they will break it.

4

I like the suggestions that medevac suggested for improving the guard, and as fireplug said, you must be active from the guard (or any position for that matter).

Some other ideas are to

  1. find a tree (preferably one that you can get your legs around into a closed guard position, but just barely) and hang from your guard for time. Or if you really want a challenge, hang on with your legs while doing sit ups.

  2. get into a closed guard position and have your partner stack you. Go up on the top of your head. Then have him apply forward pressure (the level of force will depend on the strength of your neck muscles) while you do bridges.

This will not only increase the strength of your legs having to hold onto him but also the strength of your neck and make it harder to “steam roll” you (don’t know if that’s the popular term).

  1. go out and find a tree (as in #1) but instead of hanging for time practice climbing the tree (like a bear, not by using the tree limbs). You’ll need to find a tree that doesn’t have low branches (oaks are good). This will help to strengthen up your inner thigh muscles.

  2. instead of climbing the tree just get into a closed guard on it and try to crush it. You won’t be able to do so, but the attempt will strengthen your inner thigh muscles (along with your hip extensors and knee extensors depending on what mechanics you use). Like other isometric exercises this is a great way to develop maximal strength.

As for opening the guard, well that depends on the rules you’re abiding by I guess. The single most effective guard breaker I’ve ever found was just a simple thumb in the hollow of the throat while attempting to stand up and disengage.

If you’re looking for a more “sport oriented” technique I too would suggest a can opener. Only don’t just crank the head straight down, as some people have good neck flexibility and the chin will actually limit the heads ROM. Instead turn the head to the side and then crank it forward. Slight modification, but, at least for me, it noticeably increases the effectiveness of the technique.

There are numerous others that I (and I’m sure others) could suggest. But try the can opener and see how it works for you.

As for open guard, I always just felt that this was fairly easy to deal with and that the opponent had basically done a step for me. You can also break the legs further apart using the point of the elbow and applying pressure into the nerve on the inside of the leg near the knee.

However, you must place your thigh under the leg to brace it, kind of like your leg is the anvil and your elbow is the hammer.

If you were to try to just hold a piece of metal out in the air and pound it into shape with a hammer it wouldn’t be very effective. However, if you put that piece of metal on a solid surface, like an anvil, now you can pound it into shape. The leg acts in the same way, and greatly improves the effectiveness of the technique.

From there you can fall back into a heel hook/straight ankle/toe push back (although with an open guard it’s often possible to do this anyway). You can pin the leg to the ground with your elbow, then drag your shin across the inner thigh (further pinning it) while transitioning into side control (or sit through).

With the leg pinned you could bring your leg through his legs and spin to a knee bar/toe hold/wrapping knee bar.

Hope this gives you some ideas to work on.

Good training,

Sentoguy

5

I’ve been doing MMA jujitsu for years and this is an honest question: Why work from a closed guard? You’re basically just buying time to rest while the guy on top smashes your face. From the bottom position, I’m either working for a sub or trying to scramble out. I don’t really see the closed guard used much in MMA.

As for breaking the guard, I do it from standing. Try to wedge one knee in and sort of do a lunge. The guard usually breaks while your knee pops through and you can easily pass either right or left right away. Hard to explain; I hope you get the idea.

6

[quote]fit24hrs wrote:
I’ve been doing MMA jujitsu for years and this is an honest question: Why work from a closed guard? You’re basically just buying time to rest while the guy on top smashes your face. From the bottom position, I’m either working for a sub or trying to scramble out. I don’t really see the closed guard used much in MMA.

As for breaking the guard, I do it from standing. Try to wedge one knee in and sort of do a lunge. The guard usually breaks while your knee pops through and you can easily pass either right or left right away. Hard to explain; I hope you get the idea. [/quote]

I agree that the closed guard is just to by time or get into position and limits your movement, I used the butterfly guard myself…but I think he meant making his overall guard harder to pass, not just the closed guard. The suggestions above require you to close the guard (at least some of the time) for balance or for stamina but I think you can do some of them with a tight open guard.

7

Thanks for the tips. Not sure if it was just due to soreness or what, but the other night when starting off from my guard, it seemed that it didn’t take long for the person to break my guard and pass. It also could be that I just don’t have a lot of experience yet in using my guard.

I think the first thing that pops out is that I give the opponent too much space, allowing him to sit back and break my legs apart. I need to pull him close or perhaps when I feel the legs breaking, make a quick switch to butterfly or half-guard.