Beginner Moves from guard

[Easto]

I find when I am in guard I tend to lock my legs for dear life and hold on as long as I can. I am a 2 month veteran in BJJ and over the last 2 weeks I have switched from No-Gi to Gi.

I have learned:
Scissor Sweep
Arm Bar from guard
Triangle
Guillotine
... and I think that's it (from guard).

This is a very very basic question. What should I be doing when I am on my back with someone in guard? I just feel that as soon as I unlock my feet my guard gets passed then I am fighting out of side control, back, or mount.

What did you guys have success with when you were first starting out?

 

[Mikey Triangles]

start to use your hips more. do you know the kimura? how about the kimura sweep? these usually go hand in hand with the basic guillotine

 

[Chinaboxer]

i'm in the same boat...going from nogi to gi. here's my advice. to attack, you have to open your guard. but when you do, don't relax your legs and knees or else they will pass you easy. I see this a lot with beginners. Always make sure you keep the "squeeze" on your opponent. Also don't get in the habit of laying flat on your back. learn to control the sleeves and collar while using the "butterfly" guard, keep them off balance and attack or sweep.

 

[Chris H]

Always work on breaking down your opponents posture.

If in the gi, cross grab his lapel and pull him down to you. If no gi grab the back of his neck/head and pull him into you.

As stated above, hip movement is key. Drill shrimping.

 

[randomg1t]

for a longass time i kept my guard closed too. mostly i went for triangles and armbars with an occasional kimura. i actually think this approach is good to some extent. i've developed quite a nasty triangle and while my armbars are nowhere near perfect, they're at least threatening. i think it's good to have a solid full guard base before you start opening up.

then i started working the halfguard, and did almost nothing but that for a long long time. now i mostly play butterfly guard and work for sweeps rather than subs from the bottom.

so my advice to you would be stick to the basic moves you know and work them until they're GOOD. it's not how many attacks you have, but how good you are at them. a guy at our gym has a kimura from hell. he might as well tell you "kimura coming up in 5" and still get it, its just that hard to counter it.

when you get the basics down real good, open your guard.

regarding the fear of getting passed, i always give out the same advice. as soon as they start working a pass, get wrist control on them and put your heels on their hips. from there you can shrimp, threaten with triangles or just move to different guards and work from there. good luck.

 

[Trickster***]

Pelvis sweep (hip sweep, sit up sweep or whatever you call it....) Sets up soooo much!!


1. Drop your feet
2. Turn to your side
3. Immediately sit up (for this example to your right side) and reach your left arm over his head and grab his left tricep
4. Hug his shoulder tight
5. Pull his arm down as your left leg (as if you are throwing a low kick) kicks over and you end up with mount

YouTube - Pedro Sauer Sit up sweep Technique

There is the video for reference.

NOW...if he drives his head into you to stop you, you have a guillotine. If he posts his hand on the mat to stop himself you have a kimura. If he drives you back down you get a omoplata or a straight arm lock. If he pushes your chest down with his hand you have an arm bar.

THAT MOVE OPENS UP EVERYTHING FOR YOU!!

Go PLAY! =)

 

[Trickster***]

Double

 

[hamilton]

Randomg1t is right.

practice your stuff over and over and over and over. BUT, and it's a big BUT, stop doing the same stuff. doing a push-pull triangle is fine, hell maybe it'll even work for you once in your life, but find other triangles. hell, i can think of a dozen setups from high guard alone. this is why bjj is fun as hell! there's millions of ways to do everything. dont focus on learning gogoplata to locoplata to armbar... focus on playing with your triangle or your armbar or your kimura or whatever to find tons of setups so when you get an opening, you sink your triangle in and you finish every damn time.

 

[Mikey Triangles]

Pelvis sweep (hip sweep, sit up sweep or whatever you call it....) Sets up soooo much!!


1. Drop your feet
2. Turn to your side
3. Immediately sit up (for this example to your right side) and reach your left arm over his head and grab his left tricep
4. Hug his shoulder tight
5. Pull his arm down as your left leg (as if you are throwing a low kick) kicks over and you end up with mount

YouTube - Pedro Sauer Sit up sweep Technique

There is the video for reference.

NOW...if he drives his head into you to stop you, you have a guillotine. If he posts his hand on the mat to stop himself you have a kimura. If he drives you back down you get a omoplata or a straight arm lock. If he pushes your chest down with his hand you have an arm bar.

THAT MOVE OPENS UP EVERYTHING FOR YOU!!

Go PLAY! =)

BTW thats what i meant by kimura sweep. not sure why i always call it that, just seems to fit.

 

[Easto]

WOW!

Thanks for the quick in depth replies guys.

In the sit up sweep, do you want a powerful hip bump to knock the top person off balance then sweep him?

 

[Mikey Triangles]

WOW!

Thanks for the quick in depth replies guys.

In the sit up sweep, do you want a powerful hip bump to knock the top person off balance then sweep him?

not really, just trap the arm, glue your hips to him, and drive him in a circular motion with your hips

 

[Trickster***]

BTW thats what i meant by kimura sweep. not sure why i always call it that, just seems to fit.

Great minds think alike!

not really, just trap the arm, glue your hips to him, and drive him in a circular motion with your hips

Yea def no need to bump him...just make sure your ass is off the ground and you are sitting in his lap (hense why were I used to train called it a Pelvis sweep)

Its not like the scissor sweep where u are looking to displace his weight...this sweep works because he can not post on that side to stop himself from falling over.

Oh BTW if BMA_MAT was here he would tell you either armbar or triangle from the spider guard!

 

[lethalazn]

This is a very very basic question. What should I be doing when I am on my back with someone in guard? I just feel that as soon as I unlock my feet my guard gets passed then I am fighting out of side control, back, or mount.

What did you guys have success with when you were first starting out?

I've done Gi as long as you have so I'll keep my mouth shut about it :icon_chee
But for No-Gi, I can tell you some common noob mistakes that I've made or that others have made for you to avoid:
- Not raising your hips sufficiently for the Armbar, What happens if you don't? Well...some guy thought that the armbar is ineffective because he feels like his nuts are always intimately grinding against a guy's elbow. Think shooting your hip up rather than just swinging a leg over.
- Being flat on your back and in front of the person. Your instructor should have some drills to teach you how to move your hips in guard. Either sit up a little, move to a side, or butt scoot back. I always used to make that mistake before I had any official grappling instruction (an entire year -_-)
and if you're not sitting up or at an angle, it's hard to really land anything.

and finally...
When someone breaks your guard and moves to the side of your legs, it's not over until they fully establish get side mount, get in a habit of turning towards your opponent when that happens and get ready to underhook (i.e. if he's moving to your left, turn left and get ready to underhook with right arm) it'll make escaping much easier

When to move into learning open guard? Well I personally got away with moving onto Butterfly Guard (and making good use of it) which is considered more "advanced" without ever landing a single Triangle Choke when rolling (which is considered "basic"), but you should definitely get the hang of using the closed guard before trying anything else, and even open guard takes a lot of drilling to get used to.