This is a guest post by Patrick Tenney of the Bloody Elbow grappling team.
Defeating your opponents hips is one of the key pillars of successful guard passing, hopefully this guard pass series will be able to help you out in achieving hip control from a standing position.
This guard passing series is designed to shut down your opponents ability to use their hips as a destabilizing weapon against you during competition. By controlling the distance of the match and by dominating the opponents hips – while maintaining a safe posture – you’ll be able to either pass all the way into side control or mount when executed properly, or you will be able to at least advance into half guard.
It is important to remember the following details that are also stressed in the videos:
– You must maintain hip/shoulder posture: your hips need to be parallel under your shoulders (squared up) and you should strive to position your hips as close to parallel over your opponent’s without going too far and thus creating issues with your stability and balance.
– Your feet must dig into the mat. Pay attention to the odd way my feet are positioned during the initial parts of the pass, as this foot position allows me to press my hips forward and my shoulders back so I can stay in proper alignment.
– The leg you control once pressing the knees together and hips down is the bottom leg. You control the bottom leg by pressing it down into the mat so that it lowers the chance of that foot becoming an active hook. The press downwards also prevents your opponent from turning back into you (ending the position in half guard, instead of allowing you the full pass).
– You must ensure your hips are safe in the position. Do not allow the opponent access to your hips with their feet, as that will allow them unwanted control over the distance between you.
– Maintain tight and effective grips throughout the technique. No single part of this pass is done without expending energy, and you must be actively applying pressure and enforcing your leverage advantages, while simultaneously limiting your opponents mobility as much as possible.
This guard passing series will continue at a later date with two more variations on the initial setup. The variations are designed to deal with the “trickier” guard player.
Enjoy!
Other videos:
No-Gi Back Control (Wrong Side) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D20sir0gaXY&feature=plcp
No-Gi Arm Hooking and posture control https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiD4CBBIGL8&feature=plcp
No-Gi D’Arce from top half https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA9NAp7K0hU&feature=plcp
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