Awful Open Guard

When I started developing my open guard, I started with Butterfly Guard. It sucked for a long time and got passed a lot, but then I got comfortable controlling someone with those hooks and stopping the guard pass. That gave me the comfort to start experimenting with a broader open guard game.
 
I also add that I'm glad to see someone else turtles. No one at my school turtles, and it may even be frowned upon. The thing is, I feel safe there. They go to pass, turtle, grab a leg, and pull half-guard, which is my favorite. I know we should all work every aspect of our games but we'll all fall back to our strong suits when push comes to shove.

I also speculated that turtling was easier for me than shrimping.

And if you think about it, turtle is an open guard. Just a defensive open guard.

I like MMA for self defence/MMA purposes so I always think to myself, maybe the turtle is a bad habit. Saying that, in pure grappling, like you say - I think it is a great method to get to a dominant position and I probably do this more than shrimping. For me, it feels like I expend less energy.
 
I always work the open guard, but when I do this I always have a trick up my sleeve.

1. keep ahold of the gi or if you are training no gi keep wrist control
2.keep the legs high to prevent a pass
3. be very fast when you are working for a submission. triangle,plata, sweeps,arm bars etc.
4. keep your legs tight


it all takes practice though. I went 6 years not training the open guard I finally did and it was the best thing
 
I love this topic. Not for the fact that the thread starter has an awful open guard, but because the guard is my preferred mode of playing the whole BJJ game.

I'm 5'7", 150lbs. In our academy, the only people who are remotely close to my weight are some of the women, one of the instructors, and the big 14-15 year old kids. Most everybody's in the 180-225 range. In this scenario, I prefer not matching strength from the start of rolling, so I end up in my guard. I'm relatively strong so I probably could if push comes to shove, but I've noticed I last longer and get more rounds if I just... CHILL....

So I end up in the guard a lot. Open guard, most often, because most everyone in our academy is pretty good at avoiding being locked up in someone's closed guard. What I find really useful is just being comfortable twisting yourself in weird positions as if you were doing yoga. Learn to be comfortable doing lots of rolling over the shoulder, getting in inverted guard position, and just playing around on the mat by yourself as if you were a little kid (my nephews and nieces, when they were young would always crack us up by rolling around on the floor for fun).

I find that while these positions may not necessarily be used in the roll, the mechanics and feeling of it all help to make you comfortable thinking, "Some way, somehow, I'm going to get my legs between you and me again." When they have both your legs to one side, rolling onto your far shoulder to windmill your legs back into place isn't an uncomfortable prospect anymore. If they've begun to pass such that they've scissored your legs (your bottom shin is across their belly, top calf is somewhere across their throat) and you don't seem to have space to get open guard back the normal way, roll inverted through to get guard that way.

One of the assistant instructors told me, "Open up. Have fun with it. Too many people get concerned with being safe all the time. Take risks, make your mistakes here to learn what can work for you."

I've since taken the point of "playing around" and ran with it, and it's worked wonders for my guard. I guess this ties in excellently with another thread on this forum about overthinking BJJ. Many times I get into positions that were never taught, and don't even have names, or some weird guard variation that has yet to be formalized. But I clearly see in my partner's face that he/she finds it strange/confusing, and it makes me happy. :)

One drill that I love doing is on those padded posts that are usually found in the center of the mats at most BJJ academies. I lie on my back and post my feet on it, like it were someone's hips. I crisscross my legs then roll into inverted guard position, keep rolling, and come up the other side. Then back. Lather, rinse, repeat. Very fun exercise, and for me has a lot of "wheeee!" factor. LOL.
 
I've only been training for about 9 months and I've already taken the plunge into the open guard. My reasons for doing so try to be in lockstep with Saulo's pedagogy:
  1. I'm likely going to get passed, so I should have plenty of opportunities to work survival and escapes, which are the things I should be drilling the most.
  2. I'm most definitely a top game person, so understanding the guard will make me a better passer.
  3. It's fun! IMO, learning a new guard is like a pitcher adding a new pitch to his repertoire: you can try it, but it won't be yours until you get command and control of it.
  4. Although it also needs work, my closed guard game gives me just enough options for me to venture out of it.
Some people on this board have been telling me that constructing an open guard game can be frustrating (and it has been for sure), but the juice is worth the squeeze.

Viva the Reverse De La Riva, Butterfly, Deep Half, and Shin-to-shin guards!
 
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