The Secret to Rubber Guard

**Aesopian** · Posted On: 12/01/2006 1:05pm

Learn more about how Suzanne Somers and I will save your rubber guard.

**OldDog53** · Posted On: 12/01/2006 4:09pm

Although I no longer attempt to practice rubber guard, it's always good to have tight conventional closed guard.

I've found two alternatives to paying royalties to Suzanne Sommers:

1. Get a 40 or 70 bound Everlast or Century punching bag and instead of hanging it up, put the mounting hardware aside and tie an old kimonono belt between a couple of the hanging triangles. Then practice holding this in your guard, tightening Gable grips and knees (isometric contractions, since the bag won't give much). These bags tend to cost from $40 to $70 at Walmart, the cheapest place to buy them.

2. Go to Target, Walmart etc. and walk down the toys aisle. You'll see kids inflatable "beach balls" (they aren't actually beach balls but that's the closest description I can come up with). These are usually decently inflated right out of the store and cost under $10. You can put this between your knees and do limited isotonic squeezes (squeezes with motion) as well as holding an isometric (no motion) squeeze once you've hit the tightest you can get. Unlike Swiss balls, these kid balls aren't designed for this type of use/abuse so make sure the little filling hole is pointed away from your face in case it pops out like a champagne cork. I also use mine to do leg curls - lie on your back, put your heels on the ball and drag it under your body. You can also do reverse sit ups with the ball between your legs. (Swiss balls, btw, tend to be too big for this exercise, hence the use of the kiddie ball as a smaller, cheaper substitute.)

The punching bag is also good for dragging around your house/apartment (that get's tiring after a while, if you don't annoy your spouse/roommates first) and good for hoisting from side to side (40 pounds of deadweight can actually feel heavier than 160 pounds of practice parner when you are trying to move it around). Finally, you can take the mount position on the punching bag and drop punches on it, which is an eye opener (if you don't have a strong wrist and good form it's easier to hurt yourself than the bag).

(See, I quickly realized Aeso was serious about leg gripping.)

Finally, if you want to build up leg grip strength when you just have a single leg and not an entire trunk trapped, you can get a yoga mat and wrap it around a broomstick (get a wooden dowel from Home Depot) and tie it on, then practice deathgripping that.

Caveat emptor: from personal experience, I can vouch for the fact that having a strong grip (legs and arms) can definitely foil or at least seriously slow down your practice partner, but lead to annoyance if that's all you can do.

**Aesopian** · Posted On: 12/01/2006 5:22pm

Which IntoCombat DVD did you buy?

**OldDog53** · Posted On: 12/01/2006 6:00pm

Originally Posted by Aesopian

Which IntoCombat DVD did you buy?

Ha ha! Do they really have the same tips? No, I came up with those myself!

In terms of confessions of a DVD-aholic, my most recent purchase was Kesting's Dynamic Half Guard.

Although we started doing Butterfly Guard in school so I dusted off my old Kesting Dynamic Butterfly Guard and it wasn't that helpful. I am hoping his Half Guard will show a more complete game.

**Bang!** · Posted On: 12/01/2006 6:11pm

Good suggestions. I like kneeling on a stability ball and squeezing. Leg swings with the ankle attachement on a cable machine, or with a resistance band are also good for adductor strength. However, I also think that the stabilizing strength that you get through exercises like lateral lunges is vastly superior to what you can get off of toys like Chrissie Snow's slut machine.

I've also been pointing out to people that it is actually possible to increase your dynamic range of motion, i.e. reaching your bent leg toward your head unassisted (ala B.J. Penn) through isometric stretching techniques.

**MuKen** · Posted On: 12/14/2006 8:06pm

Between the two exercises Bravo said were important (thighmaster, leg curl), I think the leg curl is the more important of the two. Do both anyway, though.