Sunday 2 August 2009

Half Guard: Getting Deep

My half guard has come on in leaps and bounds! It used to be one of my worst positions; if someone passed to my half guard I would suffer. I ended up flattened out with someone's shoulder pressing into my face. It was only a matter of time before I was passed.

These past six months or so I've been experimenting more with the X-guard and this has made me feel comfortable getting right underneath my opponent's centre of gravity. I've tried to apply this knowledge to the half guard. Now when someone passes to my half guard I don't let them control my head and neck, I stay on my side and I immediately go straight to the deep half guard. As well as feeling safe from the pass or submissions I also feel offensive from this position. I'm finding that I can consistently sweep people from the half guard now (something I've struggled with before).

Deep half guard seems to suit my body type as I tend to be smaller and more compact than the people I roll with and compete against so it's relatively easy for me to get into this position. I feel like this development has really opened up my game and I'm looking forward to trying more sweeps from the deep half guard.

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