Half is life.
I would like more people to understand that.
But many moons ago, while I was at a seminar, almost an hour was spent on how to slice through it like butter and make your opponents suffer so much that they just want to let you pass.
Underhooks were stolen left and right. Shoulders were driven into faces with no mercy. And hips were locked down so bad that they couldn’t even move babies.
Such wanton destruction of my position…
But understand this, it all comes to micro battles.
There isn’t a position in the world that can’t be beat. Never forget that. But the fight for the position is fought over and over again long before any pass happens.
Case in point:
A part of my creed for playing half guard used to be that I will win any battle for the underhook because I will not stop. It’s a war of attrition that I refuse to lose. And if, by some fluke, I do lose it, I’m going to immediately frame against the face to prevent my opponent from flattening me out, which keeps my hips mobile.
Doing just that would have killed the whole passing strategy that was taught at that particular seminar.
Why?
Because it all depended on flattening your opponent out. If an opponent fails in doing that, passing the half becomes a nightmare against anyone who understands the battle.
It is a micro battle in the truest sense, and micro battles matter. Hell, they matter a lot.
And that’s true for all positions.
It’s the thing that separates the experts from the exspurts. You don’t really know a position at a deep level until you understand the micro battles that are fought in the transition.
And on the topic of half guard, it’s time to strengthen the half guardian army with additional lessons. Expect to see something new before the end of the week.
For those who haven’t enlisted yet though, you can head this way if you wish to do so: