Sounds easy right? Just do everything from last week but in reverse. Ready go!

Game 1: Guard player is the active player and they will remain in for three 1 minute periods. Their goal is very simple; stand up or be the person on top. Top player looks to remain on top and safely behind the guard. No guard passing.

Discussion: I like the break things down as simply as possible. So lets think about this from 3 possible outcomes. 1- top player backs away to avoid any connection from guard player. In this situation nothing stops the guard player from standing up and winning the game. 2- top player pressures forward with their chest up and hips in. In this situation (as with almost all guard situations) the guard player makes first contact with their feet on the top players hips. The top player’s chest up hips in posture means the guard player can easily make a connection with the top player’s feet. This sets up sweeps that result in tipping top player over their heels. 3- top player pressures forward with their chest down and feet away. This scenario allows guard player to make first connection with their feet on the hips and their hands gripping onto the sleeves or lapel. This sets up sweeps in the direction of the arms.

Almost everything we do in Jiu jitsu breaks down to these 3 situations. Every complex guard is based around my feet or shins on my opponents hips and my hands connected to either their upper or lower body. Don’t over complicate this. Once we have one of these connections we simply need to push our opponent over the trapped post. Everything we learn about sweeps and reversals breaks down to this.

Game 2: This will be a repeat of game one. Guard player is the active player and they stay in for 3 one minute periods. Sweep or stand up to win.

Conclusion: I wish I would have learned this years ago. I learned so many complicated guards without understanding the common ground between all of them. Legs connect to hips, hands connect to either upper body or lower body. All the complex guards do is give us more tools to accomplish this task. They are important. We need to have options, but they all accomplish the same task.