So far in our Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Curriculumn we have covered:

Open Guard --> Guard Passing --> Half Guard --> Passing Half Guard/ Half Guard Top 
--> Turtle Position Taking The Back --> Closed Guard -->

And now what naturally follows is to learn how to open the closed guard so that we can get some offense going. The truth is that if we are not able to open the guard we will never be able to improve our position and therefore be subject to an intense series of memorized attacks as we have learned in the previous months. Opening a great closed guard player’s guard or a much taller opponent guard can be quite the challenge and this is why we are devoting an entire month to this subject.

After we are done learning how to open the closed guard, we will study open guard basics. This will naturally affect the way we go about passing the guard. Earlier in the curriculum we assumed we had a resilient opponent that went from Open Guard- Half-Guard-Turtle…and will not give up until we took his back and finished him/her from there. This time around we will manage to pass the guard and we will learn to finish from side control, and keep improving our position to devastate our opponent.

Make sure to bring NOTEBOOKS!

Warmups: Guard Stand Explosion, Grip Fighting ( One Person Looks for Crazy grip one looks for standing grips)

Week 1

No-Gi

1-) Good Posture:

• Knees positioning on the ground.
• Look at the ceiling
• Elbows straight and stapling the oponnent, One hand on the hips other one on the chest
• Gripping will Change from No-Gi to Gi but what is important is that we do not let it slide. Places to grip under neath the Ribs and Under the Chest !
• Hand on the chest killing sitting up motions like bump sweep. Hand on the Hip Killing Hip movements.
• Don’t put your toes curled on the ground unless you are in control of your weight , Third Point pressure should be on him but you should be perfectly balnced with a good base
• Grab the tip of the gi at the end to buy seconds and grip fight better
• Don’t put hands in the ground.

2-) Grip Fighting

• Person starts bringing one shoulder off the ground–> Walk by opening the base of your legs towards the side the shoulder is lifted
• Person lifts both Shoulders walk towards the hip you are stapling with your weight and third point pressure
• Person Drags Your Arm . Cross your hands and regroup.
• Person goes for your head …look towards the ceiling.

3-)Surfing Guard Break

• Starting Point is Good Posture. If at any point Posture is sacrificed or good grips you have to go back ASAP by all means back to Good Posture. DO NOT CONTINUE TO OPEN THE GUARD WHEN YOUR POSTURE HAS BEEN SACRIFICED. IT WILL RESULT IN DISASTER.
• Remember to open your legs with open your legs by open follow approach. Your hips should be 80 -85 degrees in comparison to his. Pus your butt out to explode the legs.
• Once you manage to pen the leg step over with knee and search for the under hook.
• If person grabs head with one hand due to a superior reach advantage walk towards passing in the direction of the hand that is not gripping.
• Use the bottom of your eyes to look not your head.
• Watch out for leaning forward when starting your movement.
• IF your legs are longer or if you are taller per say and your hips find the right angle the opponents leg should explode open without need of your hand.
• Always start with good posture and a huge base. Then open it more and follow little by little. THIS IS A GAME OF INCHES.

Please Note that in class we teach a  system and a process that needs to be follow for maximum efficiency. There are a lot of details not covered here by the person in the video due to time limitations, etc… Please make sure you come to class to pick up on KEY DETAILS. This videos are for review and to see someone other qualified practitioners of the arts explain with small variations their approach to similar passes.

4-)Surfing Guard Break Opponents Lifts His Hips.

Note: When passing with knee cut make sure to keep elbow and head and forearm compressed to avoid spider hook. Off the pass dont forget to go for the cross face with lapel to pin opponent.

Note #2: When knee Cutting when the person lifts his hips and you press it down keep the pant grib and lowering shoulder and com,pressing to still avoid spider hook. This knee cut variations follows almost identitical.

Gi

1-) Good Posture

2-) Grip Fighting

3-) Surfing Guard Break

Week 2

1-) Wilson Pass

• Head Down.
• Ways to break cross legs and figure four around waist
• the importance of getting heavy and turning opponents hips of the ground
• Elbow down against the omaplata
• The importance of deviating opponents hands by driving head north
• Leverage of the ankle against the triangle
• How to cross legs for the Pass instead of just sliding theorugh

Please Note that in class we teach a  system and a process that needs to be follow for maximum efficiency. There are a lot of details not covered here by the person in the video due to time limitations, etc… Please make sure you come to class to pick up on KEY DETAILS. This videos are for review and to see someone other qualified practitioners of the arts explain with small variations their approach to similar passes.

2-) Kneeling Pass

3-) Standup Pass

Week 4

1-) Armbar Defense- Circle with the opponent and clear the leg off the hip.
2-)Armbar Defense- Proper way to stack and how to proceed after clearing the hand
2-) Triangle Defense ( 80 Degree Setup)
3-) Triangle Defense Last Resort (Roger’s Escape)
We used this video today in class to demonstrate on triangle escape. Watch around 1:12 , 1:35 into the video.

You can see his full match vs Xande here:

The escapes happens at 2:21 in the video

WEEK #1

Breaking the posture and Know Good Posture

GI

-The most important part of the closed guard is being able break the person posture and start looking for sweeps and submissions, grip breaking, and using your legs to bring the person into you. In the Gi when the person goes to get good posture the first thing you need to do is break the grip on your collar. Good postrure meaning the person has a grip on both your lapels one finger on the inside of both lapels and other hand blocking the hip, make sure you look toward the ceiling and keep good posture on the center of the chest and the hip. To break the posture what you are going to do is break is grip on the center of your chest, to do that grab a top grip on the sleeve and go under the arm and grab your own wrist, and lift it toward the ceiling. Now drag go underneath the arm and grab over his arm and grab the cross lapel to trap the arm.

-Also one grip break is going to lead you to the over hook like explained in the previous the other is going to leave you with the overhook grip this is going to depend on where you pull his arm if you pull the arm up and over you head then you can go to his back, if you pull the arm and then overhook and grab cross lapel then you land in the previously stated position.

No-GI

- To break the posture No-GI pull them in with your legs and pull on the elbows toward the inside. Now overhook the arm and hold on to the top of the head to control the posture. Make sure that you keep good pressure on the top of the head and control the arm as well as you can.

- Break the posture by swimming your hands inside his while lifting your hips off the ground and doing a circular motion until his/her hand reach the ground.

Stuff Arm Triangle

GI/No-GI

- Now that you got the guys posture broken, were going to start looking for attacks, the first one being the triangle. First what you need to do is grab the wrist with your hand then keep your hips out to one side. By shrimping your hips out, which will get your leg crossed with your opponents. Now you can use the arm that you have controlled stuff it through and bring the other leg up and over. Now grab your shin over the top, step on the hip to turn yourself perpendicular with your opponent lock your leg over the shin to lock up the triangle. To get the finish squeeze your knees together, raise your hips, and then pull down his head to get the tap.

Kimura

GI/No-GI

- You broke the guys grips, broke his posture he made the mistake of putting their hands on the mat, now what you need to do is know that the hands on the mat is a trigger to go for this next technique. First what your going to do is sit up, grap the wrist with your same side arm and go over the arm and grab your own wrist. Now get your hips out to the side of the arm and use your knee to push on the top of the shoulder. Raise his arm towards the celing and get the finish with the kimura.

Go Team Third Law

WEEK #2

Attention: The following techniques are shown by Mike Fowler a Lloyd Irvin Black Belt. They are put here to give you a general idea of the moves. Nevertheless there might be differences in the way we teach our techniques and we expect you to demonstrate them in your test as we show you. Realize Mike Fowler might not be able to discuss all the details of a bump sweep in a short video.

Bump Sweep

Bump Sweep To Kimoura

When the opponent plants the hand close to you. The Kimoura becomes easily available. If the hand is to far away then the Triangle becomes available as Mike Fowler illustrates below.

Bump Sweep To Triangle

IN ACTION:

Teammate Joseph Ruggiero has a very nice Bump Sweep, and his explosiveness with it should be immitated. Notice Joey react to the “trigger” at 8:13 into the video. Joey in that one was ready to transition into the back…

WEEK #3

Armbar to Butt scoop.

Armdrag to Redrag

Arm drag to back mouse and cat – arm drag to quick triangle both sides

Unstoppable Armbar

Arm drag to trapped arm sweep bit sides two variations

WEEK #4

Flow Drill – Gi & No-Gi Sequence

Breaking the Posture ( 1 and 2 with The Gi)
Stuff Arm Triangle
Basic Kimoura
Basic Bump Sweep
Basic Bump to Kimoura
Basic Bump to Triangle
Armdrag to Back
Unstopable Armbar
Trapped Arm Sweep.

Note: Only difference in Gi and No-Gi sequence is the grip breaking, and the arm drags.