The beginning of a defensive sequence for escaping side control

An one handed loop of doom

At a certain point, one of my teammates made a significant change in her game.

She stopped going for armbars in closed guard.

Why?

It’s because she kept running into hyper flexible women in tournaments. She would get the arm across, establish good angle and then shoot the hips up, but yet still it would be a fight.

So she started asking herself if there was something else she could do when she got that arm across.

And midway through blue belt she came up with an answer.

Instead of going for the arm, she started reaching around the neck and grabbing the far side collar. And she built a whole system of offense around that one little grip. In fact, it’s what she used to dominate match after match on her way to winning Worlds at blue belt.

It was same exact grip every time.

And all her competition saw it coming but they couldn’t stop it.

Once she got that grip, it was over. She either took the back and dominated or choked them out right then and there. The choke is a thing of beauty too. It’s one of the strongest and sneakiest loop chokes I know.

And I added it to my arsenal, of course.

But some changes were made.

I change the grip and made the whole system of offense more versatile. Even slapped on a catchy name for the hell of it too. But within that system are many basic principles for developing effective offense for closed guard.

And it can all be learned here:

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When the elbows close, la la land soon follows

The layers of an effective kneetap offense

The underhook half guard without a strong knee tap would be a sad and dreary thing.

Yes, you still have the kneebar, triangle, shovel sweep, and backtake, but understanding the mechanics of executing the kneetap and going for it with gusto opens the door for so much offense.

I would even say that having a great kneetap makes everything you do in the underhook half easier.

Case in point:

Opponents will commonly snap a strong overhook on you when you get to the underhook position and then try to flatten you The underhook half guard without a strong knee tap would be a sad and dreary thing.

Yes, you still have the kneebar, triangle, shovel sweep, and backtake, but understanding the mechanics of executing the kneetap and going for it with gusto opens the door for so much offense.

I would even say that having a great kneetap makes everything you do in the underhook half easier.

Case in point:

Opponents will commonly snap a strong overhook on you when you get to the underhook position and then try to flatten you out by driving into you. In that moment, there are many opportunities, but if you go for the kneetap first, you will magnify their response and make even easier to roll through for the shovel sweep, jump up for the triangle, swing through for the backtake.

There’s even a whole offensive sequence that flows from the kneetap based entirely on how opponents will try to stop the sweep.

And how, oh how, will those dastardly fiends attempt to stop your glorious sweep?

Let us count the fiendish ways:

  • They’ll base out by moving their outside knee far away so you can’t reach it.
  • They’ll step their outside leg up and close the path to the sweep with solid base.
  • They’ll snap the overhook on you and pressure down to threaten the armbar.
  • They’ll post on your shoulder and weaken your control by creating separation.
  • They’ll drive into you hard to force you flat.
  • They’ll frame against your neck and commit outright underhook theft in broad daylight.

…..those bastards.

But I got something for them.

Some of those responses are exactly what I want for hitting the triangle, backtake, shovel sweep, and for finishing the kneetap in more dominant fashion.

And you know what?

Elements of that strategy are already covered in my half guard course, and more are the way. In fact, I’ll be taping today. Plan to add some demonstrations that show the systems of offense in quick little bits for review and study.

It’ll be all found here soon enough:

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Slipping out of grapevine like a ghost