The closed guard can become a holding position. That is useful for slowing a fight down, but it is not enough. A good guard should threaten reversals. It should make the person on top defend their posture, hands, knees, and hips.

Poster of two green-lit grapplers demonstrating guard, with text: Master Your Guard, essential training games for beginners.

Guard passing gets messy when you treat every guard the same. That was the big theme in the eighth lesson of my couple client’s Submission Grappling course. We came back to guard passing, but this time we didn’t start with a single pass. We started with distance.

The best rounds in grappling don’t always look like sparring. Sometimes they look like a tiny fight inside one position, with clear rules, short time limits, and one simple question: can you solve this problem before the other person does? Tonight’s session was a good example.

Back control seems simple when explained from the finish: chest behind their back, seatbelt grip, hooks in, staying glued to them. Easy enough. Then the person underneath starts moving. They get to their knees, hide their neck, peel your hands, and turn into you. Suddenly, the “best position in grappling” becomes a scramble, and the person escapes. This was the focus of hour nine in my client’s first personal training course.

Lesson eight showed clear progress. The client’s top control is becoming smoother. His transitions between pins are less forced. His escapes are also improving because he is starting to recognise pressure, frames, and timing earlier. That matters. In grappling, control comes before submission. A choke or lock is hard to apply if the position is loose. This session kept that order: hold the position, move between pins, isolate the back, then attack the choke.

A grappling dummy will never replace a live training partner, but it can still teach useful habits if the session has structure. Tonight’s remote lesson with a teacher client from Hostlebro Taekwondon Klub in Denmark was meant to be boxing-based. We changed direction and moved into submission grappling instead. With no training partner available, the dummy became the training body, and the goal became clear: make the positions feel connected rather than treating each choke

Scarf-hold side control is a powerful position in submission grappling that offers control and multiple submission opportunities. In lesson three of my client’s first Submission Grappling Personal Training course, we focused on refining this position, transitioning between scarf-hold and back control, and exploring defenses. We also introduced no-hands sparring drills to emphasize hip movement and mobility, which are crucial for effective ground fighting. This post breaks dow