Now usually it's just me and Marcus trying to rip each others arms off on a Monday and Tuesday but we were lucky enough to be joined by fellow club mate Tom Hill. It's always good to have more people to train with and Tom added a different dynamic to our rolling at the end, as his style is different to both mine and Marcus'. Where as Marcus is very technical and exceptionally good with his hip escapes; and I use a lot of flexibility and try to use a bit of agility in my passing and guard maintaining; Tom uses quite a bit of strength and likes to close out his opponents by grabbing them and giving them minimal movement space. Sometimes it can be tricky rolling against Tom with this style as he doesn't leave you a lot of room to get controlling positions on him and he's very quick to power out of any bad positions you have him in if you let him, which trains you to tighten up your game.
So coming in I had a load of techniques planned out. It's been a while since any of us had done a good old Half Guard session so I went back to the Jason Scully YouTube vids that have been doing the rounds and found the Half Guard Bottom one. Jason basically rams as many techniques into one video a he can get, usually only giving you one view of the move but occasionally two angles on some of the trickier moves. He outright says it's not an instructional vid but rather just a visual record of as many techniques as he can get in. But if you sit down and go slowly through each technique, writing them out in (semi) detail, you can pick up quite a lot. And there are quite a few moves that I'd never seen or rarely seen, so it's really helpful.
So here's the video I have been using (many thanks to Jason Scully). Take into account we only really covered the first 2 minutes or so of it cause the vid really has loads of stuff on it and we were limited for time.
Now rather than write a full description for all of the techniques we covered I shall just list them along with any notes I had on the move. The video is sitting right there if you would like to look at it for the moves yourself.
We started out with Jason's Basic Half Guard Position. Where as I like to secure a leg with my inside leg and hip escape out to the side slightly, holding the opponent off with and arm pressed across the his chest, the other arm free to fend off his outside arm or grab a leg if it comes up; Jason Scully secures the leg with his off side leg, using it to pull the guys leg out and upset his balance. He also favours an underhook and leans in towards his opponent, still using the free arm to defend or attack as necessary. I must confess to finding this position preferable to my usual half guard style but you need to have a lot of space to really get the lean in correct. There is LOADS of sweeps from here though.
First move we went with was the Transition to Rear Mount, exactly the same as Chico showed us a couple of weeks ago. Great move and I've managed to hit it a couple of times since learning it.
The first sweep we learnt from the basic position was a Half Guard Push over sweep at 1:24 on the vid. From the basic position but the opponent leaves his offside leg too close to you. Reach down with your free hand and pull it inside, then using your other hand, grab it around the back to destroy any chance of basing out, and lean forward to tilt the guy over onto his back. Easy and simple.
Next was a Half Guard Flip Over at 1:31 on the vid. As if you’re going to back (as before) but the opponent has a strong over under hook. You sort of turn around and base out with your free arm, pushing against his near side arm with your trapped arm so he pushes back, then drop down and shoulder roll over, grabbing his leg as you go, to flip him. (probably need to watch this one). We all loved this move. It's really slick and the momentum makes the move fairly easy.
Now the Kimura flip sweep at 1:44 was difficult for us to work out, mainly because my notes were shit. What you actually do is attempt to base out the same as before, then bring your free (basing arm) back to grab his nearside wrist (remember it's over under hooking you at that point) and circle round his now secured arm with your other arm to grab your own wrist. You can then come out the side and spin over, flipping the opponent with you if he's sensible, ending up in a top control position with a wrist lock right there. This move was a little tricky to hit at first but once we got it we felt it was a pretty slick tactic to use.
We then did the single leg takedown stuff that starts from 1:55 for a couple of move, including a variation with a knee pick if he decides not to stand with you.
We chucked in the Calf Slicer at 2:12 which is a very cool move, even though we won't be able to use it in competition. Always nice to know. All you gotta do is duck out the side as if you're going to back but instead turn around and pull the opponent's leg up while your trapping leg (you use the inside leg this time) is pulled in his knee crook.
Next up was a Kimura on the opponent's free arm at 2:18. From the basic, secure his free arm at the wrist and reach over for the kimura. You can roll the opponent over you using this technique for the sweep.
Last technique we did was the Arm between the legs sweep at 2:24. Push the guys free arm between his legs and reach over his back with the arm you've just released from under hooking (reach past his shoulder on the side of the arm to be Kimura'd) to his belt and then twist and push out to rotate them away and over to the commanding side control with the Kimura right there.
After that we did some good hard sparring for 5 minute rounds.
So that was a good session with some great Half Guard moves to sink our teeth into. I really am starting to fully understand how to get a threatening Half Guard now. I won't say I have it anyway near mastered or even competent yet but through understanding something your ability to practice and become proficient at it grows. I will be continuing to work on my Half Guard as it's a valuable position to have as a strong part of your game. When you think about it, it's the last line of defence before an opponent has top control on you. Having a useless Half Guard leaves you just clenching your legs together to trap your opponent in place, to stall his progress to top control for as long as possible. But having an attacking half guard makes this position still a threat for the opponent to be in. You can still sweep, you can still submit. I used to consider Half Guard bottom a position I needed to escape from the same as side control bottom. It's all about the positioning of your body. As long as you can shift your body out to the side (not be flat on the ground) you can be a threat.
Gotta keep training Half Guard.
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