TRAINING TIP OF THE MONTH DEC 09

Here we start our training tip of the month, this will be supplemented by a training video so you can obtain all the finer details of the technique stay posted for video.

COMMON MISTAKES IN THE CLOSED GUARD

Throughout my years in bjj i have always been surprised how many basic mistakes are made when inside the guard of an opponent,

These mistakes all stem from one basic thing (Posture).

As i have made these errors too i recently found a student of mine was having problems from inside the guard which prompted me to write this post as i find this can be an enormous factor through out all the belts in BJJ.

The first and most common mistake is

(Bad posture)

when inside your opponents closed guard one must always keep there back straight head and eyes up and hips forward, place one of your hands on your opponents chest grabbing both lapels and making a fist which is placed onto your opponents chest.

The second hand should be placed on your opponents thigh with your elbow tucked snug to there knee, this creates a stable base and avoids you being off set if your opponent try's to grab your collar or sit up into you and the hand in the chest also prevents you being pulled down .

The second mistake is

(Never place the hands on the ground)

as this opens you up for attacks like the Kimura , Omaplata , and Triangle, you should allways keep your hands on your opponent and connected to your body as much as possible controlling your opponents hip movement is imperative.

The third mistake is (Avoid leaning back)

This will allow you to be swept and takes weight off of your opponent, giving him movement to sit up or set up scissor sweeps to name a few attacks you must keep his hips controlled.

The fourth mistake is to avoid allowing your arm to cross the centre line of your opponents body, as this makes for easy armlocks, having your back taken and being swept.

listen to what your mum used to tell you (keep your hands to yourself) this way you will be able to feel what your opponent is trying to do.

Also avoid placing one arm inside the legs unless you know how to prevent the triangle, the best movement i have found when inside the guard is to move side to side and avoid moving forwards and backwards this is also the same when standing up from the kneeling position and is a great warm up drill.

This will be supplemented with an instructional video very soon .

Above all remember (Good posture ).

EK