Cross Guard

[zicherja]

I recently watched the Tinguinha DVD on the cross guard (one foot on hip, body at angle, one arm hooking one of their legs, other arm controlling sleeve, and my other leg over their shoulder).

The setup is awesome and opens up the omoplata and omoplata transitions.

I tried it out today against a more advanced and stronger guy and he would just sink both of his elbows tightly against my thighs. I could not do anything with my legs. Every time I tried to hip out and swing for omoplata he just grabbed my leg. At that point, I just tried to transition into spider guard.

What do you do when opponent has both of his elbows tight against your thighs in your guard and is prying legs open. It is hard to break posture at that point. Any suggestions?

 

[Guiness]

Elbows in is a good defense against the cross guard, but there are some options. Try rocking them back and forth with your legs and hips. If they post with an arm go into one of the sweeps or submissions Tinguinha shows on the DVD. If their base is still solid either switch to another guard or go upside down.

 

[Zankou]

I have that DVD. It is sweet. The cross and spider are my two favorite guards.

I have found that you have to have your hips free to establish the cross. If you can't establish the cross because your hips are controlled, you can just pull spider first (do that the way Tinguinha shows, and it doesn't matter if the guy is controlling your hips -- you will rip right out of his control). Big guys with good posture aren't going to give you the cross guard easy; they'll posture back with their elbows real tight. So you gotta go to spider. Then it's pretty easy to go from spider to cross if you want.

 

[Sherdog_Mutt]

Hey guys, I have the good fortune of actually training the cross guard with Tinguinha. When the guy postures up like what you are describing, the easiest solution is to simply roll backwards while pulling up on the leg that you've controlled. This is a very simple sweep and often times the guy is completely surprised that you can sweep him when he has good posture.

 

[Zankou]

Thanks for posting some of the wisdom of the master. I take it what you mean is to break down his posture by leaning forward, latching on to the collar/arms, and rolling back while kicking your legs up? Then launch into the cross?

 

[Bama Zulu]

Try using your knees to pry loose an elbow, make it easier by distracting him, just play with his neck.

 

[zicherja]

Sherdog_Mut,
I don't understand the technique. When you roll backwards, do you still hold onto their sleeve and have their leg underhooked? It seems that they would roll on top of me? Can you break down that sweep in more detail? What is the final position following the sweep?

 

[Sherdog_Mutt]

Hey guys, sorry for the confusion. The absolutely easiest thing to do when the guy postures up and keeps his elbow in is to do the basic sweep that you do when you get stacked in the omoplata position. You let go of your grip on his sleeve and all you do is roll backwards while yanking up on his leg.

Imagine that you attempt to pull cross guard on the guy by underhooking his left leg with your right arm and grabbing his left sleeve with your left arm. The guy is defending by posturing up and keeping his left elbow in tight. Easiest thing to do is to: 1) release your grip on his arm, 2) roll backwards over your right shoulder, 3) yank up on his left leg with your right arm. If done properly, you wind up with top side control on the guy. If the guy postures or leans forward to counter this sweep, just yank on the leg harder. Worst thing that happens from this sweep attempt is that you both wind up on your knees.

Alternatively, you can try and break down his posture this way. From the same position as above, you throw your hips up as high as you can, kicking upwards with your right leg (in the direction of his head) while yanking his left arm away (basically an omoplata attempt). Throwing your hips and kicking up with your leg off balances him and makes it really hard for him to maintain his posture and keep his elbow in.

Another tricky thing you can try to do when the guy is keeping his elbow in that tight is to look for the armbar on his other arm. He wont be expecting it and it surprises the hell out of people. What I like to do is: 1) From the position described above, 2) I use my left foot (which should be on his right hip) to help me prop my hips up (trapping his right arm, but he's still mainly concerned about the omoplata on his left shoulder), 3) I quickly release my grip on his left arm and grab his right arm (which is already trapped by my hips) and throw my left leg above his head for a surprise arm bar. Sometimes, I release my hold on his left leg and use my right arm to shove his face away to help cinch the arm bar.

Hope this helps.

 

[zicherja]

thank you. excellent break down. what confused me before was when you said roll backwards ( you meant roll over your shoulder--I get it.