Elbows to thighs in guard

**5FingazofDeath** · Posted On: 7/01/2004 1:23pm

Originally posted by Boyd
What works better I was told was posturing up, putting the knee under the tailbone and then working the thighs.

Yeah, it works really well if you want to get swept worse than the Flyers at the '96 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Putting your leg back like that makes you VERY susceptible to the flower and scissor sweeps, not to mention various slightly more complicated gi passes.[/B]

I dont know.....I like to do the guard break as mentioned. If you have good posture as soon as they unhook the guard and "hips out" for any sweep, especially scissor, I just pass the guard right there. Knee in middle and over one of the thighs till it hits the ground. Its predictible for them to try to sweep, so why not capitalize?

As far as them putting their elbows in the thighs, you COULD just sit up and grab their elbows with both hands and then sit back to pull the elbows out to relieve the pressure. But with gi, go for the choke. Or no gi, grab both hands on one arm and yank it back and triangle. On the recieving end I like to go offensing as mentioned before.

**Yrkoon9** · Posted On: 7/05/2004 12:44am

Tell me something.

What exactly can you do with a closed guard? Choke? And....? Maybe if you are lucky and not outweighed you can hook the leg for a sweep. But seriously - your options are limited.

If you want to sweep, triangle, armbar, or make space to get up you have to open your guard. Even momentarily, it has to open.

If you are going to be a ***** about it and keep your legs closed in hopes to stalling out the round with X cross attempts then get the F off the mat IMO. Instead, open up and go for it. That passive defensive stalling and holding game is for people who have no technique and are scared to try anything. The guard is going to open eventually - whether it be from a massive GnP attack, a larger and stronger person grinding away, or simply from exhaustion. So don't screw around - open up and go on offense from the get go.

I have a different style than most guys in my gym. We start from the guard sometimes and they just look at me all confused...I just open my guard up and put my feet on the floor. They are like...WTF? Usually they spend a couple of minutes trying to open each others guard up. I just shrug my shoulders. I trust in my bottom game. Even if they start to pass my guard I can recover to at the VERY worst into half guard. Or if things went really wrong I will go to all fours and take a single leg. But no matter what, from the time the match starts I will be going going going going going. My opponents will not have time to go on offense because they will be defending the whole time. Sure they might counter something, but I am not a sniper - I am a machinegun. Rapid technique succession. Nonstop movement. I won't go for something and if it misses immediately close the guard back up and hug him. Nope. If I miss a triangle, its on to the armbar/omoplata. That misses I am trying the sweep. He pulls the arm out I am on all fours taking him down. He sprawls out I try the sit out and if gets squashed I sit back to the butterfly guard and immediately go to sweep. He tries to press a knee down and I am going for the back. He shuts me down and I pull half guard and duck into him trying for sweeps. But at no time will I come back to a closed guard.

The reason is the bottom sucks. I want to change the position. I want to be on top or have him submitted. I don't want to sit on the bottom for even a second longer than neccessary. The mentality of stalling and resting on the bottom while wearing the other guy out has been exposed as a weakness. The days of Royce Gracie chilling for 30 minutes waiting for the other guy to make a mistake is gone. Nowadays you would have 30 minutes of being punched in the face because people are submission savy. The GnP is too damaging to sit in that passive mode. Take it one step further, *if* it were a real streetfight you can't sit in a closed guard. You are going to get slammed, GnP'd, and kicked in the face by bystandards. You are going to have to open up and take a chance to get out from under that problem.

Bummer if your open guard sucks. Bummer if people pass your guard too often. Practice and get better.

**SAFTA4Life** · Posted On: 7/05/2004 2:19am

good post, Koon

**chaosexmachina** · Posted On: 7/05/2004 3:39am

Hear, hear. I try to work from an open guard, but I'm still new, so I'll go back to a closed one if I don't feel safe enough. But I love trying to work sweeps... even on the better guys.