Definately my favourite guard to work from when being offensive & also works well for me to stall & think what I want to do. I like to sweeps & switching to the de la riva guard aswell. I've said somewhere before that I feel comfortable because it suits my body, I have quite short arms in compared to my legs & they are quite strong. The problem I'm having is, when I'm in someone elses spider guard. What I tend to do is try roll my wrists to grab their gi pants & sit actually down & back & wait to see what they do. This isn't very good for competitions because I would appear as if I was stalling. I try not to get my opponent under me to sweep but have no idea how to gain control again, I just wait for my opponent to attempt something else. What do you guys try?
What type of passes do you suggest when their feet are on your hips & they have your gi gripped? One I have tried is stepping back with one leg but it leaves you open for a de la riva guard & sweeps.
could always take the foot he's giving you and torque it. dont have to go for a boston crab but you can definatly go for something with a leg. maybe fake a pass, hook the foot above the ankle and drop back really quick unti a leglock or potential heelhook if you dont think he'd get free. try that out on the mat when you're rolling in a spider guard next time. if you fake a pass well he won't see a kneebar coming, but the trick gets old if you get too popular with it. worse case you're out of the spider guard and can work for a better takedown or something you're more familiar with.
go for a catch wrestling toe hold instead more realistically, or for fancy, indian deathlock or a normal deathlock. spider guard is cool, i just started learning about it recently, i like it but i think i am too inexperienced and small to use it right now effectively.
defending spider guard can be a bitch. that's why I like it. If he has a hook, you have to break the hook before you can pass. There are a couple ways to break the hook and I'm not sure if I can explain it in writing. If he has his shins inside the crooks of both your arms, you have to get elbows back inside and then control his pants inside his knees.
