Anyone have pointers on breaking closed guard? In particular, my instructor has been working with us on putting the knee into the tailbone of the guard player and using that to "get long," pressing backwards to put pressure on the closed guard and working with elbows on the guard's thighs to open the guard up. My problem is that I always seem to have the guard's tailbone slide back up onto my thigh as I start to press backwards, which relieves all the pressure of me pushing back and totally negates the technique. I feel like I am really mashing down on the guard's hips with all my weight, which should be stopping this from happening...but obviously I am doing something wrong. Any tips on how to fix this or alternate approaches to opening the closed guard would be appreciated. Thanks!
When your making your body long, also make your knee point to the sky. So as you elongate yourself(I think that's a word) push your knee up so his butt can't slide over top of it. My personal favorites are a little more advanced but see if your instructor will show you some standing guard passes. These seem to help against larger opponents with strong guards.
Keep your arm parallel to his femur bone. Thats the key. As long as it stays glued to it you should be able to open it eventually. Just place YOUR knee on (close to) the tail bone like normal and place the other hand on the knee. Now instead of pushing down on the knee to open the guard (like most people do) simply place your hand on the knee and start scooting backwards. No matter where your knee is as long as your arm is connected to his femur and your hips are moving backwards, his legs will start to open. You will notice your opponent will start to attack the femur connection at this point. Just be ready with a counter and keep going as planned. It will help if you drill it with a partner before and after class. One more time. 1. Arm/Femur connection. 2. Kick leg back and place other hand on opponents knee. 3. Finally start wiggling backwards (to your 5 Oclock if your right handed) until his legs unlocked. If you lose one of those three steps start over. Drill, drill drill.
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It is not just a matter of pushing on the legs it is a matter of foot position as well. Make sure if you push down on the leg that there is room for the leg to be opened. Additionally, moving the legs back and out at an angle can help create depth in your opponents guard and will force him to work the open guard game.
It does. The "tail bone" leg should be the same side as the "femur controlling" arm. This isn't one of these things you'll get over night. Some people have really good closed guards. Even white belts.
Theres no need to practice with digging your elbows into their thighs. You should be able to open up most peoples guard with that technique without using your elbows. I open up guys guards with that technique that are 80lbs bigger. Just got to work on it...
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My current favorite is to put both hands in his armpits thumbs up. Stand and get a knee in and then sit back into like a combat base. Works on almost anyone and extremely effective. For some reason I rarely see this taught but it works great.
Depends on the length of their legs. Longer legs = easier to use this technique. This is my primary method of opening the legs for the last 3 years. Here are some details: - If you're doing gi, grab the belt and walk your hips back until your arms are extended. Walking your hips back creates a huge amount of space to put your knee in. - When you stand up and put your knee in position, sit BACK, not down. These details (belt grip, walk hips back, arms extended, sit back) will make a HUGE difference in how successful you are with these technique. Also, hands in the armpits/biceps is OK but just be aware that there's a slight danger of being armbarred when you stand up.
