How to Keep My Guard Closed

Calibur said:
A lot of people will say butterfly guard doesn't work well if you have short legs, but there are a lot of closed guard retention techniques that I rarely see taught. It makes me wonder if people would have the same opinion if they knew them.
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I always heard it was the opposite, if you have longer legs it's more room you need to make to get to butterfly guard. heh
 
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newerest said:
I always heard it was the opposite, if you have longer legs it's more room you need to make to get to butterfly guard. heh
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Whoops! My bad, I meant closed guard. Quick ninja edit.
 
newerest said:
exactly.


I'm 5'7 and I play guard with the idea that whenever my opponent has posture - it's defcon 5.
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Defcon 5 is actually the lowest level of alertness (1 being the highest).

They do mix it up in the movies though...
 
I play closed guard a lot, and here are things I do to keep someone there...

1. Break posture at all times. Never allow the guy to get his head up.
2. Recognize when he initiates trying to open the closed guard. Doing the above will stop a lot of this to begin with, but just in case he manages to keep his head and back up, know that he will try to press down on your solar plexus with one hand to keep you down, and then either try to stand or shift one of his knees in between your legs to pressure you into opening your legs. Stop this as soon as you see it coming by controlling his arms.
3. Attack attack attack. Always keep the submission threats going. If he is too busy defending, he won't be able to worry about breaking apart your closed guard.
 
Lift your hips off the ground, also.

Guys with the best guard games, even the ones with long legs, will lift their hips off the ground to maintain control. Try breaking someone's guard when their hips aren't pinned to the mat. If they're decent at all, it's not going to happen.
 
Calibur said:
A lot of people will say closed guard doesn't work well if you have short legs, but there are a lot of closed guard retention techniques that I rarely see taught. It makes me wonder if people would have the same opinion if they knew them.
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They should. Playing closed guard with short legs is working against your body type. You can make it work if you devote enough time to mastering the techniques involved in guard retention, but you will always be compensating for a weakness and not complimenting a strength. I think someone who has short legs would be better served focusing on guards like butterfly where short legs can work to their advantage.
 
mtruitt76 said:
They should. Playing closed guard with short legs is working against your body type. You can make it work if you devote enough time to mastering the techniques involved in guard retention, but you will always be compensating for a weakness and not complimenting a strength. I think someone who has short legs would be better served focusing on guards like butterfly where short legs can work to their advantage.
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Agreed. I suffer from short leng syndrome as well, and while my legs are short my closed guard has greatly improved. But most of the time I transition to half guard as it caters to my body type way more.
 
SLaKKJaW said:
Lift your hips off the ground, also.

Guys with the best guard games, even the ones with long legs, will lift their hips off the ground to maintain control. Try breaking someone's guard when their hips aren't pinned to the mat. If they're decent at all, it's not going to happen.
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when I came back from a long layoff, first guy I drilled guard passes with did this. I stood up right away at the start, and he just bridged all the way up on his head I was completely shocked- haha never saw that before.
 
lightw8 said:
when I came back from a long layoff, first guy I drilled guard passes with did this. I stood up right away at the start, and he just bridged all the way up on his head I was completely shocked- haha never saw that before.
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Yep, I'll do that and just work sweeps from there, if the guy wants to stay standing. Or I'll switch to De La Riva if I'm training gi.
 
tehk1w1 said:
Here's my problem, whenever I'm on my back and my opponent is in my guard, I have a really, really hard time keeping him there. I have really short legs, and as a result, it takes virtually no effort for them to break my legs apart and pass my guard.

Any tips on how I can prevent this from happening? Do I need to strengthen my leg muscles more? It's not so much a matter of my legs getting tired, it's just I can barely get my legs around my opponent to begin with.
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once you get your basic game down id say use open guard
im in the same boat as you, im 5'6" and have short legs for my height
i just keep my guard open and be sure that my hips are active
 
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