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BJJ Fundamentals

Lesson 2 – Opening Closed Guard

Warm Up (5min)

  1. Partner Drill
    • Stabilising Closed Guard Top

    Lesson (25min)

      Vertical Guard Break – Standing Up

      1. Start in closed guard top with double lapel grips
      2. Pass both of uke’s lapels to one hand
        • Point your thumb down to stiff-arm uke and prevent them from breaking your posture
      3. Grip uke’s sleeve with your free hand and stuff their wrist under your lapel grip
      4. Take a step up on the side of uke’s trapped arm
        • Ensure your foot comes forward towards their elbow, so that uke cannot easily pull you forwards
      5. Take a second step up and square your hips up to uke

      Vertical Guard Break – Finish

      1. Continue from closed guard top, standing over uke
      2. Let go of your lapel grip and come up to a vertical posture
        • Bring your hips forward and your head upwards; don’t lean forwards as this can result in uke pulling you back down
      3. Use your elbow (on the side of your sleeve grip) to frame against uke’s thighs
      4. Use your free hand to open uke’s closed guard
        • First variation: push on uke’s knee
        • Second variation: reach back with your arm and open uke’s guard from the inside

      Knee Post Guard Break

      1. Start in closed guard top with double lapel grips
      2. Come up to a standing position, keeping your posture low and bent over
      3. Gradually walk your knees behind uke’s buttocks
      4. Bring one of your knees to the middle, behind uke’s tailbone
        • Squat and sit back into your heels to apply initial pressure to uke’s guard
      5. Use your knee post to push on uke’s hips and open their guard
        • Switch your grips to uke’s belt or pants so that you can push uke away

      Recovering Top Position

      1. Continue from closed guard top, standing with no grips
      2. Uke executes some sort of backwards knockdown
      3. Recover top position before uke has a chance to get up
        • Don’t put too much detail into the actual sequence used; the main emphasis is to teach students not to “accept” sweeps from this position. Getting knocked down from standing is not like being swept from the knees (where you usually end up in a pin); it’s important to get in the habit of scrambling back up to top position as fast as possible.
        • You can avoid the knockdown itself by kicking out from uke’s ankle grips
        • If knocked down, use a technical stand up to recover, and keep grips on uke’s legs to prevent them from coming up