Posted by: JKogas
Fundamental 5 for cross-sides top (Blocking guard) - 11/30/05 06:55 PM
Fundamental 5 (etc)
Ok, here’s the thread you all wanted – the Fundamental 5.
Here they are again, listed in the revised order that Matt Thornton sees as their natural order (the order in which you will encounter their "necessity"):
1. Blocking out the guard
2. Locking in position
3. Killing the inside arm
4. Controlling the far elbow
5. The Floating top game
And the 6th fundamental (my OWN inclusion to this list)
6. The “Harness” game (taking the back)
What I’m going to do is provide my OWN perspective on these various fundamentals based on my experience with them.
In this first post, we'll just deal with blocking out the guard:
This is the first fundamental because without doing this, you’ll just wind up right back inside of someone’s guard and any effort you used to pass it will have been all for nothing. You don't want that, do you?!
Blocking out the guard is a relatively simple process accomplished by keeping his hip in check. Notice I said "simple". Don't confuse that with "easy". That depends on how good your timing is versus how good your opponent's ability to create space is.
You keep the hips in check by keeping either your knee, bicep or your own hip tight against his hip (on the near side to you obviously).
When I use my knee to block out, I will sometimes adjust to my opponent when he creates space by continually sliding my knee back up against him, maintaining tightness to him.
Many times I’ll use my arm to block the hip out. This is particularly true when I’m “walking the clock” (moving from 9 to 3 on the clock with my opponent’s head by 12:00 and his legs being 6:00. Always stay away from 6).
I run my arm all the way to the bicep against his hip on the near side and hug tight (my other arm is usually staying tight as well against his far arm and is helping me hug tight to my opponent).
Sometimes I will sit out using my own hip against his hip (kesure kesa gatame / modified scarf). Whichever way you choose will accomplish the same objective - which is again, to prevent him from easily bringing his legs underneath your cross-sides position and recovering his guard.
You can create an isolation drill to practice your timing, having your opponent try and only obtain the guard as you practice blocking his attempts. Everyone has a different style in jiu-jitsu. I accomplish these fundamentals in my own way. But, the underlying concept is absolutely critical, regardless of how it’s done. Those three methods of blocking the guard (knee, arm or hip) need to be in place to make it as hard as possible to keep someone from easily recovering the position.
To make it short, it’s really no more complicated than sticking something in his hip and keeping it there. Timing is important. Also, understanding how to lock in position will do a lot for your ability to prevent someone from easily shrimping away and obtaining the guard – but that’s another of the fundamental 5 and that's coming up.
More to come…
-John
Ok, here’s the thread you all wanted – the Fundamental 5.
Here they are again, listed in the revised order that Matt Thornton sees as their natural order (the order in which you will encounter their "necessity"):
1. Blocking out the guard
2. Locking in position
3. Killing the inside arm
4. Controlling the far elbow
5. The Floating top game
And the 6th fundamental (my OWN inclusion to this list)
6. The “Harness” game (taking the back)
What I’m going to do is provide my OWN perspective on these various fundamentals based on my experience with them.
In this first post, we'll just deal with blocking out the guard:
This is the first fundamental because without doing this, you’ll just wind up right back inside of someone’s guard and any effort you used to pass it will have been all for nothing. You don't want that, do you?!
Blocking out the guard is a relatively simple process accomplished by keeping his hip in check. Notice I said "simple". Don't confuse that with "easy". That depends on how good your timing is versus how good your opponent's ability to create space is.
You keep the hips in check by keeping either your knee, bicep or your own hip tight against his hip (on the near side to you obviously).
When I use my knee to block out, I will sometimes adjust to my opponent when he creates space by continually sliding my knee back up against him, maintaining tightness to him.
Many times I’ll use my arm to block the hip out. This is particularly true when I’m “walking the clock” (moving from 9 to 3 on the clock with my opponent’s head by 12:00 and his legs being 6:00. Always stay away from 6).
I run my arm all the way to the bicep against his hip on the near side and hug tight (my other arm is usually staying tight as well against his far arm and is helping me hug tight to my opponent).
Sometimes I will sit out using my own hip against his hip (kesure kesa gatame / modified scarf). Whichever way you choose will accomplish the same objective - which is again, to prevent him from easily bringing his legs underneath your cross-sides position and recovering his guard.
You can create an isolation drill to practice your timing, having your opponent try and only obtain the guard as you practice blocking his attempts. Everyone has a different style in jiu-jitsu. I accomplish these fundamentals in my own way. But, the underlying concept is absolutely critical, regardless of how it’s done. Those three methods of blocking the guard (knee, arm or hip) need to be in place to make it as hard as possible to keep someone from easily recovering the position.
To make it short, it’s really no more complicated than sticking something in his hip and keeping it there. Timing is important. Also, understanding how to lock in position will do a lot for your ability to prevent someone from easily shrimping away and obtaining the guard – but that’s another of the fundamental 5 and that's coming up.
More to come…
-John
)
. That’s what these forums are for! Lets have some fun.
