Being active on bottom but not "spazzing"

The Persian Prince

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When you guys are on bottom in half guard, side mount, mount, or north-south where do you draw the line between being active and "spazzing"?

Im often too relaxed and have been making it a point to always be pushing on the hips/ shrimping and working to recover guard from side mount and not to "settle" in any inferior position.

So do you guys pick your spots, or try and stay as active as possible?

(Obviously the more experience and better you are the easier it is to pick your spots im about 10months in)
 
I pick spots. Top half guard is my fave position so when I'm on the bottom, I try to wait for moments where if I were on top would basically avoid.
 
I pick spots. Top half guard is my fave position so when I'm on the bottom, I try to wait for moments where if I were on top would basically avoid.

Half guard i dont have too much of a problem with because i like to use the lockdown and play with some eddie bravo stuff unless they angle themselves off and are real high in my half guard then i have trouble establishing the lockdown

Sorry if that doesnt make sense lol
 
When you guys are on bottom in half guard, side mount, mount, or north-south where do you draw the line between being active and "spazzing"?

Im often too relaxed and have been making it a point to always be pushing on the hips/ shrimping and working to recover guard from side mount and not to "settle" in any inferior position.

So do you guys pick your spots, or try and stay as active as possible?

(Obviously the more experience and better you are the easier it is to pick your spots im about 10months in)
You don't move just to move and be active. Your movements need to have a purpose behind them, even if they are feints. If you are on bottom guard you should be trying to sweep and submit or both at the same time. If you are on bottom side mount you fucked up a long time ago. If you are on bottom mount, again you fucked up. Either way, you should be moving with a purpose and not just moving.
 
depends if I smoke a fatty before or after....or both
 
You don't move just to move and be active. Your movements need to have a purpose behind them, even if they are feints. If you are on bottom guard you should be trying to sweep and submit or both at the same time. If you are on bottom side mount you fucked up a long time ago. If you are on bottom mount, again you fucked up. Either way, you should be moving with a purpose and not just moving.

What do you feint if your in side mount/ mount?

I have a boxing background and yet feinting in jiu jitsu never occured to me lol. Ill go for things i dont intend to get but i dont really consider those feints more like set ups
 
What do you feint if your in side mount/ mount?

I have a boxing background and yet feinting in jiu jitsu never occured to me lol. Ill go for things i dont intend to get but i dont really consider those feints more like set ups

I like to bridge into them and then try to roll them over. They'll post a hand to stop the roll, and I can grab their wrist.
 
If I am on bottom of a bad position I try I couple of things. First I try to frame and create some space to keep myself comfortable. From there I try to hip escape and get my legs in to recover guard. If there is a strong cross face and/or shoulder pressure it is going to make escaping that much more difficult. You want to avoid this whenever possible.

If I am able to stay somewhat comfortable I may wait for some movement from my partner and try to use that opportunity to escape the bad position. For example, if I am in bottom side and they try to go knee on belly, I might be able to time an escape. My goal is usually just to get my guard back.

Sometimes I may try to go for a baseball bat from bottom side and use my partner's reaction to get the space needed to recover my guard.
 
You are supposed to be active on the bottom, guard being a partial exception you are safer there, as long as we are not talking about MMA / street self defence with strikes. You are not supposed to just chill back and let your opponent attack with full initiative from a superior position. The most basic thing to do is always to try to move back up the hierarchy of positions mount->side control->half guard->guard and you shouldn't stop trying until you improve your position however don't exhaust yourself or become predictable, try different things until something works and you may have to try one replace guard / sub / sweep etc to make your opponent react then hit him with the next link of your chain.
 
I personally believe that defensive hand fighting and posturing from bottom is incredibly powerful and that if you know how to T-Rex through the most conservative positions, and there isn't a large disparity in power, you can regain guard or get up most of the time.

It isn't just doing moves. It is knowing the best defensive posture for each position and rigorously maintaining it, forcing your opponent to either stall and hold you there, or give greater effort attacking, which will introduce some space for you to counter.

The first thing is knowledge of the best defensive postures and how to worm into them. BJJ is just a bunch of stupid bullshit if you don't have the starting postures for reference. Everything is true if the starting positions are random, but some are much, much better than others. The second is having enough rolling experience to recognize all the attacks against those postures when they start. Third is weight training to get as strong as possible for SD or for comp, as much as possible for your size. Fourth is knowing counters.

Spazzing is when you do a powerful motion without really knowing what the outcome is going to be. A standard hip throw is stupid spaz if you can't tell how the person will land. Jumping guard is dangerous spaz if you don't know they can hold you and set you down safely. Bridging from mount is spaz if you don't know how or why to do it.

Unfortunately, the cure is mat time and knowledge, both of which require experience and a long period of instruction.
 
for me half guard is an offensive position, the other ones you've listed not so much. but I'm always hunting kimuras triangles omoplatas back takes etc from different forms of half guard.
 
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