Some Deep Half Troubleshooting

[selfcritical]

So, recently, in the class i'm able to attend, my most frequent rolling partner has been pretty frustrated with my A game, which is using butterfly sweep attempts and distance management half guards (think very high knee shield) to set up DHG sweeps, in particular the standard roll toward the trapped leg to come up in double unders position. Last session, the guest coach coached him heavily through rolling, so he's now discovered the existence of the "step over the head into the backstep position" counter/pass. My on the spot troubleshooting.....left a lot to be desired.

First attempted solution- Come up onto single leg....not very successful. I can get on top pretty much every time, but my head is outside, so if i come up in good posture, my neck is way too easily snatchable.

Second attempted solution- move head from thigh of trapped leg to thigh of free leg to prevent step-over, homer simpson to destabilize. Only seemed to delay the process.

Brainstorm ideas

1) Enter the waiter sweep. The question is if i can do this as a reaction, or if i'll need to enter it the second i go into DHG

2) Use hooks on the legs earlier, and kick the leg off if the backstep starts to occur.

My copy with Ryan Hall's set is in storage right now, so i'm not sure if i'm just forgetting a solution that's already been devised.

 

[cartwheelpass]

I had a deep half guard phase. Are you sort of playing a Bernardo Faria-ish DHG where it's a bit more stable or like Glover style where its a tad more dynamic?



I've seen Gabriel Moraes work some magic from the reverse half position. I'd suggest possibly referencing Bernardo as I'm sure he's been there plenty of times competing.

As for my own experience, I tend to try to deny the cross face and then use my hooks to elevate and come up into something resembling like a pseudo-leg drag. At the very least, on top in
a decent passing spot.

 

[goatfury]

I'm not sure if these are exactly what you're looking for, but I have three tutorials on deep half, and use it as a go-to position:

http://hubpages.com/sports/Deep-half-guard-tutorial-entries-and-sweeps-sport-BJJ

http://hubpages.com/sports/Advanced-Waiter-Sweep-Options-from-Deep-Half-Guard-a-BJJ-Tutorial

http://hubpages.com/sports/Skateboard-Escape-from-the-Back-to-Deep-Half-a-BJJ-Tutorial

I tend to get there against stronger, faster partners when they're aggressively trying to smash me. Hope this makes some sense!

 

[selfcritical]

Close to Glover and Hall. I typically have both arms and my head in contact with the trapped leg, and I enter when space under the trapped leg opens up (shucking with the underhook, fake scissor sweeps, timing an attempt at a knee slice)

 

[FatherSauce]

I'm interested in this because my solution has only kind of worked. When I notice this happening I try to use my outside leg to do a kind of single leg crab ride. I want a regular one but I can't ever seem to get there. I say it kind of works because it slows them down enough for me to get to full or half guard but I can't really advance position.

 

[BJJArsenal]

Use levers under the legs. Keeps you much more mobile in the deep-half and allows you to manage distance better.

 

[rmongler]

Maia vs Nelson.

4:45 r1, 3:55 r1, 4:25 r2, nelson wins scrambles and gets on top, in the back step position twice in r1.

Incidentally, further proof that riding is a most vital and fundamental grappling skill. Gunnar actually technically was the first one to gain top position in both r1 and r2, if he was better at keeping opponents pinned, the fight could have had a much different character.

 

[nodferatu]

Not sure if this is what you're talking about with the back step position but here is something.Jake MacKenzie has some good options from that position.

 

[rmongler]

Also this.



2:10, 3:30.

The back step has always struck me as an inherently unstable position, and I feel like the reason its not taken advantage of more often (by the guy on bottom) is simply due to relatively low exposure.

 

[Uchi Mata]

Instead of coming up on the single when he steps over, as he steps over come up on the double. You have time this well, but it works. To play deep half well you need to develop a 6th sense for when someone is stepping around your head. Another option is to go more to the waiter or Faria style lapel feeds, which prevent the step over. Incidentally, if you decide to go this route, then instead of underhooking the same leg your legs are trapping, underhook the other leg (so his hips are over your chest) until you can establish the waiter position. This is a less dynamic but more stable form of deep half.

 

[EGDM]

Also this.



2:10, 3:30.

The back step has always struck me as an inherently unstable position, and I feel like the reason its not taken advantage of more often (by the guy on bottom) is simply due to relatively low exposure.

There's got to be something to any technique that works twice in a row on Rafa Mendes.

 

[selfcritical]

Also this.



2:10, 3:30.

The back step has always struck me as an inherently unstable position, and I feel like the reason its not taken advantage of more often (by the guy on bottom) is simply due to relatively low exposure.

I've just watched this clip like 30 times now. I'm not supposed to use more than like a quarter of the screen for videos at work, so i'm going to have to suss out the grips a bit more

 

[selfcritical]

Use levers under the legs. Keeps you much more mobile in the deep-half and allows you to manage distance better.

The Sim Go transitions here are lighting up a lot of bulbs for me.

 

[pistol3]

If somebody is stepping over your head on top in deep half, as long as you have your grips right, you should be taking their back. I try to trick people into doing it. If they do it by themselves, consider it a gift. Here is a good example of Jake MacKenzie taking the back from the deep half step over:



Ryan Hall covers the move on disk 2 of his deep half DVD set in the waiter sweep section.

 

[selfcritical]

I definitely saw the opening for it, although this particular session was no-gi, but there should still be SOME exposure to a crab ride or something like this. Coming up on a shitty single definitely isn't the solution.

 

[BJJArsenal]

The Sim Go transitions here are lighting up a lot of bulbs for me.

Yeah, once you get the hang of lifting the guy up and making him really light on top of you the transitions become so much easier. I'm not saying you're doing this, but too many people think that deep-half is hugging the leg as tight as you can, whereas I think it's almost the opposite - I always see deep-half and x-guard as an extension of one another. Once you think of them as similar mechanics it becomes more noticeable how levers can be so useful from the deep-half.

Unless you play deep-half more like Faria, in which case you sort of do wanna be tight on the leg, but the lapel grips change everything.

 

[Stephan Kesting]

I seem to recall attending a Bernardo Faria seminar where he said that as soon as your opponent is trying to step over your head you abandon everything and turn towards your belly (which obviously you won't get to). This'll force your opponent to plant his hands in front of him, at which point he's no longer pushing your head down to step over it.

 

[pistol3]

I definitely saw the opening for it, although this particular session was no-gi, but there should still be SOME exposure to a crab ride or something like this. Coming up on a shitty single definitely isn't the solution.

Works no-gi too. Ryan Hall took Hermes Franca's back off a step over from deep half.

 

[selfcritical]

So if i'm watching that correctly, there were really two back take exposures there. The first is when Ryan moves to the waiter sweep, and Hermes posts way forward to avoid being swept backward. The second when Ryan posts up, and uses the space to begin the rolling back take.

 

[jack36767]

I'm interested in this because my solution has only kind of worked. When I notice this happening I try to use my outside leg to do a kind of single leg crab ride. I want a regular one but I can't ever seem to get there. I say it kind of works because it slows them down enough for me to get to full or half guard but I can't really advance position.

I am actually really really good from that single leg crab and regular crab ride position. I have some scrambles.. no that's not the right word exactly, techniques I used when I wrestled and they work amazing from half. But I do things differently like posting the leg up among other things. But I can't ever explain it, it's all feel