Breaking the guard

Discussion in 'MMA' started by Andrew Green, Mar 28, 2004.

  1. Andrew Green

    Andrew Green Member

    Breaking the closed guard – In a little more detail

    Step 1


    First thing you have to do is protect yourself from being swept or submitted.

    First you want a good wide base with your knees, keep them outside of either side his hips, this will also restrict his hip mobility.

    Now get your weight down low, butt to heels and keep it there.

    In order to attack he needs use of his arms, his hips or both. So we have to tie them up. Also if he has control of your arms you will be unable to pass his guard, and in danger of a submission.

    So use your head to pin him. You are using it as a third hand to keep him flat on the floor. At the same time you are protecting yourself from a whole bunch of sweeps and submissions that require your head to be up to do.

    Now we want to control the arms as well, in order to break the guard so that we may pass / stand up / leg lock we need to control the inside line. So start working to control his arms at the elbow and keep them up and away from him. Do not fight him with strength, instead relax and bring your arm back inside and reset when he tries to fight out. It takes practice but you do not want to rely on strength when doing this.

    *A simple drill is to get into a closed guard and fight for control of the arms. He is trying to get underhooks / overhooks / neck ties, you are trying to pin his arms out.

    Ok, now we’re safe, time to start working into position to break the guard.

    Step 2

    Posture the legs.

    With his arms tied up with your arms, and him pinned on his back with your head you are fairly safe to adjust your base to a less stable position, but one you can use to break his guard.

    Stick your right knee right into his tail bone it is going to be used as a wedge. Your left foot is going out to the left and back a bit so that he can’t reach it to grab it.

    Make sure you keep yourself low and your head pressing down.

    Step 3

    Move the hands into position.

    Now that we have the base we need to break we have to move your hands into position. They are going to move from his elbows to his hips and take over the job that your head was doing so that you can posture up.

    Your arms will be far enough back to make attacking difficult, especially with his hips pinned to the floor.

    The most common mistake that gets made is to bring the head up before the hands are on the hips. This opens you up to a number of sweeps and submissions during this step. Keep your head down.

    Step 4

    Straighten up

    Now that the hands are in place pressing the hips to the floor you can bring your head up. Keep the pressure down on his hips and straighten yourself up, here your butt comes away from your heels and your head away from him.

    Step 5

    Break the guard

    Using that right knee as a wedge sit back and keep his hips pressed to the floor with your hands. If the guard is not breaking use your right elbow to press down on his leg to assist, keeping your hand on his hips.

    Now that his guard is broken you can pass, fall back to a leg lock or stand up and separate.

    Other methods of guard breaking work of similar ideas, First you protect yourself and control the inside line. Adjust your base if you need to, put your hands in position, posture up and break it.

    The important thing to realise is that if you loose control at any time you must start over, otherwise you are in danger. So if you get to step 4 and he gets an underhook go back to step 1 or you could be in trouble.
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2004
  2. yes

    yes Banned Banned

    I think the key point is to shut down the hip movement and keep them still - you do that, passing the guard becomes easy.
     
  3. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    just some ideas:

    grappling only: elbows on the inner thigh.

    with strikes: why get out? pummel him into the mat. wait for for him to defend then kimura his arm.
     
  4. YODA

    YODA The Woofing Admin Supporter

    Kimura from inside someone's guard? Are you serious?
     
  5. Kwan Jang

    Kwan Jang Valued Member

    -One of my favorites is one I got from Frank Shamrock. You protect your head as you place your forehead into opponents solar plexus coming up under the sternum. From there you post, creating a tripod with your forehead and supported by your legs. You can clinch to increase pressure. Your opponent has two options. Option A: Release and collapse their guard and keep their sternum intact. Option B: Be stubborn and have their sternum cracked and then release and much more painfully collapse their guard. (I hope from my description you can visualize this well. In this instance, I am not describing this as clearly as I would like).
    -As an instructor, I teach my students the more standard ways of passing the guard used in BJJ. These are much safer for practice and safety always has to come first. If it were for the street however, I find Frank's method much easier and quicker to apply.
     
  6. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    oh baby! it works! try it!
     
  7. Trent Tiemeyer

    Trent Tiemeyer Valued Member

    Against a skilled opponent, NEVER.
     
  8. yes

    yes Banned Banned

    lol, grapple with some half-decent grapplers who know their stuff. I bet you'd be swept or submitted.

    I thought I must have misread your post before.
     
  9. Freeform

    Freeform Fully operational War-Pig Supporter

    No it doesn't, thats the point in a guard. Whilst your in it stuff generally doesn't work!

    Col
     
  10. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    i understand it seems strange the :D :D :D kimura. put your elbow on the guy's pipe before you make a box/ break a box. hips down.

    against a decent grappler, closed guard: toe hold (from behind). neck cranck (pretend it's a kimura, slip one hand under his neck and use that to grab his wrist. hold your own and make a box and break the box). boston crab (if you get lucky). step over face lock.

    [​IMG].

    nice thing about these are, they'll never expect it.
     
    Last edited: Mar 29, 2004
  11. TheMachine

    TheMachine Valued Member

    In passing a guad, one has to be able to neutralize the legs of his opponent. Sometimes you must also neutralize his arm movement as well
     
  12. shootodog

    shootodog restless native

    hey there!

    maybe you could vouch for some of these techniques. in jgs, didn't the manwhore do those things?
     
  13. Ad McG

    Ad McG Troll-killer Supporter

    I am a relative beginner to the the ground game, and I even I can think of at a few ways of countering someone trying to stupidly do a kimura from inside a guard. I don't know who your partner is, but I'm pretty sure if you try it with someone with a small amount of experience or technical knowledge they will know what to do to get out of this. Probably one of the daftest moves in this situation I have ever heard. A train to submission central, and you're running for it.

    I'm thinking of making "Kimura from the guard!" my new sig. It's that good.
     
  14. saikyou

    saikyou New Member

    kimura inside the guard? can be easily stopped or countered. for me, attacking while inside the guard is just wasting your strength. get out of it(guard) and attack. i used to try to kimura or gi-choke my opponent while in the guard but it rarely worked. besides, you have more options if your in the mount or side mount. (assuming that no strikes are allowed)
     
  15. Yukimushu

    Yukimushu MMA addict

    I had a dream i was grappling just a few mins ago when i was asleep lol. I pulled guard and arm barred the guy from closed guard lol.

    That's something i've really got to practice actually lol, they why i reckon i drempt about it.
     
  16. mikelw

    mikelw New Member


    YEah for real, that would never work on anyone who has any idea how to lock their legs around your waiste......oh wait, that's called the guard position!
     
  17. The Wastrel

    The Wastrel New Member

    Kimura from inside guard? Way to give up your back there.
     
  18. Kenpo Kicker

    Kenpo Kicker New Member


    That the move where you sit back in your base while grabbing their pants and using your elbows to break the guard in the inner thighs? I love that technique but i'm still a newbie. I think I would go for a straight arm bar, since I dunno too much after breaking the gaurd in this manner. What is a kimura anyways? They don't tell me the names of all the moves.
     
  19. saikyou

    saikyou New Member

    here's a pic:
     

    Attached Files:

  20. YODA

    YODA The Woofing Admin Supporter

    That's a Keylock / Americana.

    A Kimura is the other way up (His forearm pointing towards his feet) like this...
     

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    Last edited: Apr 11, 2004

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