Active Guard (diary entry)

The first of tonight’s private lessons focused on submission grappling, fighting from underneath. We began with a revision of ground postures, performed as a series of repetition exercises. This is a good way to get the heart rate up whilst reinforcing correct form for the activities that are to be tackled during the session.  We then moved onto escapes, covering escapes from side control, mount position and back mount. These then specifically moved onto escapes into guard. From the guard position we looked at the importance of keeping the guard active. Just as you tell a novice stand-up fighter to keep a high guard with their chin in and to hold a stable but mobile stance, so the ground-fighter needs to have their head off the floor with their core and hips actively engaged. We looked at climbing the closed guard to encourage this type of active behaviour. From here we looked at a very simple tight guard arm-bar. Then we revised the standard arm-bar (which should never be done with the legs crossed), triangle choke and oma plata shoulder-lock.