Half guard, take II

So, I've diligently pulled half guard the majority of the time for a number of classes.

I still hate half guard, but I'm beginning to feel the common mistakes and I'm recognizing the common pass themes that people use. It's not actually that varied and if I avoid being cross-faced at all costs, I can usually make something happen.

I'm still new to it, so I'm taking a step by step approach.

1. Fight the cross face.

2. Get the under hook through a combination of shrimps, bridges and general annoyance.

This is where it tends to branch off. I can usually shoot low and start looking for the far side foot, but most people already know that sweep (thanks Matt). When they base out, I try to come to their back and then start rocking them, looking to either take the back or sweep them over my body. This is especially true if they "Wizzer" my underhook, because I can control their base.

If they are really pushing me down so that I can't come to my knees, I look to go deep half guard and start working to either an X-guard or Homer Simpson type sweep from there. See here for a break down on half guard by Aesopian.

If they try to switch their hips over me and start working the kimura game (to weaken my underhook), I start looking for the half butterfly hook and start trying to sweep them in the opposite direction.

Next, I need to start working on full butterfly guard reclamation and long distance half guard to X-guard or the standing in base sweep...I don't know what it's called.

So many of these things don't really have a name.

Half Guard

I'm slowly dissecting the Stephen Kesting half guard DVD. I've decided to do this based on the last tournament I was in. I won 4 of 6, and the two that I lost I really could have won. My problem was being stuck under half guard and I need to change that.

So, I'm watching video. I'm chasing people down to ask questions and most importantly, whenever I roll for the next two months, I'm either pulling half guard or fighting to get there somehow so that I can work it often. I'm going to also keep trying to work it against people my size so that I get really used to the weight of it.

I feel very good about this decision because it's about discipline for me. Sure, I could just go and work on fun things that I like. That would be a good thing too, because it keeps you interested, and I might do that half the time after about 4 weeks of working half guard. But forcing yourself to face your weaknesses, that seems to me to be the real first step in mastering something and it's usually something that I avoid doing in most things.

Anyway, I did a decent job of getting the underhook and framing to protect myself from the cross face. People still got it but I at least have a plan to get right of it.

I worked a couple of different sweeps from Kesting and really need to drill the foot hold sweep more. I have always had the far side deep half guard sweep in my arsenal, but that is too hard to really force. They need to give me the energy to do that. I also need to work on deep half guard entries from the underhook, so I can work the same start and then go into a various different games.

Best of the Best 16, March 12, 2011

I had a great competition. I won my division, Masters, which is great. I had two victories to get to the win, so that's good. After my two matches though, I was asked if I wanted to drop down to the younger group, to fill out the bracket. I felt good, so I gave it a shot.

I won 2 of 4 matches there and didn't give up a single point in all 6 of my matches....I lost by advantages.

I'm pretty proud of that showing. My guard never got passed, I was not taken down and I was never in any danger of being submitted at all.

What I did figure out is that I need to work on the entries to my throws and my bottom half guard game.

First, for my entries, they need to be deeper and more committed. During the match, being less committed feels safer, but you have to risk to get the reward of a nice, clean throw. I never fully committed and, as a result, lost some opportunities. In every match that I started from the top, I won easily. I have a solid top game, passes and control. I was less than 50/50 from the bottom.

Second, half guard. I have sweeps from there. I work them a lot. I need to work them with 270 lb men more often, because it's very different. I kept on my side fairly well for some of the time. I had some good movement and threateed some things, but in the end, I couldn't force a switch in position (I was tired, having already done plenty of matches).

As for my positives, I passed half guard very effectively using a Tackle Pass and Roger Gracie's pass to quarter guard posted by Trumpetdan.

Competition Jitters.

I don't really get jitters much anymore, but I do really start to focus on planning. Rather, I take what I've worked on for the last few months since my last competition and try to condense it into a new plan, taking into account things I've added and looking back on things that work for me, but I've perhaps set aside for a while.

It's a good way to remember lost, but vital techniques and to force yourself to consider all positions, even those you don't want to find yourself in.

To that end, I've basically drafted a game plan which has moves from every position that I might find myself in (for instance, close guard, open guard, under mount, etc.). They are not really ranked from favorite to least favorite, but rather, grouped based on which few seem to work well together.

Something though that I've been focusing on very recently is following Roger Gracie's methods on breaking and passing guard, passing half guard and passing butterfly guard. I like his methodology, because it makes sense to me. It's focused on lateral movement and pressure. I have a natural ability to apply pressure (I'm fat), so adding the lateral movement is a means to make use of my food given talent.

So, I've been following a purple belt's dissection of Roger's game. He can be found here on youtube and he posts a number of videos detailing Roger's approach to passing and ultimately getting to mount. It's a very well done video series. There are other lessons about using your own guard, how to finish from mount and other escapes. All are worth a view, but the one's I'm most focused on are the Passing lessons.

I really like the detail on how to stand, something I've always had a problem with during rolling. In my last two sparring sessions though, I've done nothing but stand in the guard to break it and I've only been swept once, and I specifically tried to cheat on a step in the lessons.

Thankfully, this is the exact sort of game that Ed (my instructor) plays, so he was able to give me specific adjustments that he uses to help his game work better for him. He was also able to analyze what I was doing while I was trying to follow the techniques, and he showed me where I was failing....namely in the lateral movement. You can't be centered on people while in their open guard, because you give them what they want.