Baiting the tripod sweep - Marcelo guard break

So I've been studying a guard break that marcelo uses as his go to guard break.

He pops up, not in a staggered stance but feet parallel and stands tall, the guard player naturally goes for the tripod sweep by pulling on the ankles which is what marcelo wants, he then kicks one leg out in sort of an outside cresent kick motion to retain his balance.

So I tried this 5 times today and got tripod swept like a boss each time and every time my sparring partner gave me a "tip" not to do that as its a noob mistake

This guard break/pass seems really risky to me compared to his other go to guard break where he stands up in a STAGGERED sprinter stance and pushes down on the knee, that to me is much safer, but having said that I've never seen marcelo get swept with the tripod so what am I doing wrong?

Is there some finer detail I'm missing to make this work?

Cheers

 

You don't care if you get tripod swept. You're ready for it, and when he does it use your arm to push off his chest as he tries to come up and voila, you're back on top and his guard is broken. I've been knocked on my butt like this plenty of times, but never actually swept into mount. It's pretty effective, though you might give up an advantage if it's an IBJJF tournament. You just have to be ready to simultaneously post on the floor and on his chest, though don't straighten your arm with the chest post or you're in danger of being arm barred if he's slick.

 

Well what you just described is exactly what happened, I fell, but I knew it was coming so I sprung back up as soon as my arse hit the floor and stopped him from sitting up, I don't want to rely on that tho because what If I'm going against someone who is faster than me?

hmm but I see what your saying I was out of the guard so I advanced my position. I just felt like a noob falling over and only kept top position because of my explosiveness, marcelo always keeps his balance when I watch his in action vids

 

Marcelo has amazing balance, but he does show that block and reset as part of his technical videos if you're a member so I know it's what he's relying on if he gets swept.

And it's really not about who's faster, it's about you knowing what's coming and being prepared. Your arms are already basically in the correct position, you just have to know to block and post. I think it's actually pretty good jiu jitsu because instead of using a lot of energy you're just taking what your opponent gives you to accomplish your goal.

 

Yes I am a member, I will have to look for it, will it be under closed guard breaking ?

this break seems like a good one to try first as its so quick, so if it didn't work you could work on the slower ones, i.e. post 1 foot up, swivel to stand then press down etc, but this 1 is boom, pop up, open guard, avoid sweep, done! So I'm wanting to master this one so I can attempt it as soon as I am in closed guard to prevent any stalling ASAP

 

It's annoying when people give you advice that is unnecessary to your aim. If you know that something is going to happen and are doing it with the intention of learning to deal with it, and people give you advice, it find its best to just say thanks and move on. Ignoring their actual advice of course.

I was working on the Galvao style torreando, where you just post on the hip and push the knee across your body, tilting them to the side. I nailed it perfectly live on a higher belt, and he "corrected" me, in that I should have taken grips first. Well, I passed your guard bro. Deal with it.

 

Yeah I was just polite and said thanks I wasn't thinking straight or something along them lines, easier than explaining that I'm working on some unusual technique that requires a bait.

I get the same thing with going for leg locks, I dive for a toe hold in side control and violently tap the guy out and he tells me I shouldn't go for leg locks! erm bro I almost snapped your ankle like a wish bone

 

People who complain about how you submitted them are not your friends. It's BS, but luckily it lessens as you move up the ranks.

 

de mad bros

 

I do this guard break a lot as well. Two tips: 1. flare one of your knees inward (whichever you favor) as you reach back to break the guard 2. work on solidifying your base when you do this guard break, as the basic white belt ankle sweep you're describing is pretty hard to do once you master the balance. it's a subtle balance, but really pay attention to how far you're leaning forward versus backward until you feel that sweet spot where you can't be swept.

 

Do you stand up with feet parallel even though you have the inward flared knee like marcelo? I don't want to question his technique or anything but I don't see why this technique can't be done but with a staggered stance like his other guard break? So one foot more forward then the other.

Its possibly to do with the fact that you can't stand as upright in the staggered stance and parallel feet puts more pressure on the guard players legs but the staggered stance seems safer to me

 

I think the main reason Marcelo does it parallel a lot is that he's often in no-gi trying to put his hands under the armpits and you can't really do that from a staggered stance. In gi I typically grab both lapels and lift the guy with me, and only drop one lapel and go to stagger when I look to break the legs. But I always keep the idea of the defense to the push sweep in the back of my head.

 

Yes parallel, though the flared knee isn't as necessary once you have the balance down. I personally went through the same thing you're describing with this pass whereby I'd get ankle swept, fall to my butt then pop back up. I thought that was okay because my opponent couldn't come on top of me (as one of the earlier posters suggested) until I started playing with my base and realized that there was almost no way I could get swept in the first place if I didn't want to be. Also, keep in mind that this break doesn't really work with the gi if your opponent has any kind of grips on your collar or sleeve (i.e. it essentially doesn't work at all).

 

Okay I will stick with parallel and try work on my balance...and its okay I only train no gi anyway so should be fine

 

Ive seen Marelo explain this before and he always emphasises the kick out when they grab your ankle.

I have been doing this guard break since I was a white belt and still cannot get the kick out right although it is working 50/50 now.

As said above after 6 months or so I stopped getting swept and just post quickly on their chest and reset,mostly with the guard now opened.

Marcellos brilliance with this move has kept me motivated to eventually get it nailed down but it is not an easy technique.

 

that's the worst feeling lmao, when you're trying something new, and you are bound to fail, but you're just putting in the numbers, but you keep getting those "beginner tips" every time...

 

Okay I will use this as motivation to stick at it, it obviously takes time to master the finer details... well the technique is considered advanced on MGinAction, but you tell its super effective because he does it in almost every sparring video where he ends up closed guard

 

I hit this move last night in training and I thought of you, internet stranger. When I did, my opponent went for a well-telegraphed tripod sweep and I simply stepped my leg back. As I opened his guard he then got desperate for the sweep, sitting up on his shoulders and kicking my hip as hard as he could. This did not have much effect, and I immediately started on a knee cut pass. A couple of other finer details that I noticed: Even though the feet are parallel, you definitely favor one leg over the other (the opposite leg from the hand you use to pry open the guard). Also, it's imperative that you clear any grips off your head before attempting the pass; when I first stood up my opponent still had some head control which he was able to use to lock one of my shoulders with a high guard. I had to lean forward (though keeping my weight back so as to not get swept) and cross-face him with my forehead until I could wiggle out of the high guard and retry the guard break.