6 Mat Tips to Improve Your Closed Guard Attacks!

If I said that I could provide you with 6 simple tips that could make your closed guard more threatening to your opponents, would you be interested? If you're a grappling nut like I am, the answer is yes! But I have to warn you, the tips that I'm going to provide you aren't anything profound like discovering a cure for the common cold. And yet while these tips may seem basic, they could mean the difference in you controlling and submitting your opponent or just waiting for your guard to break down before you get hammered.

Here are Tips 1-3 for improving your closed guard:

Tip #1: Don't allow your opponent to get their grips - When grappler are sparring and they start out in the guard position, all too often I see the grappler on the bottom allowing the grappler inside their guard to get their grips first. Whenever you allow your opponent that's trying to pass to your guard to get their grips first, you give them an advantage over you that will enable them to pass your guard. You need to attack their grips and force them to deal with you tying them up instead of passing your guard.

Tip #2: Keep your opponents head in front of their hips - Someone may be asking right now how I'm supposed to make that happen while sparring. You do that by forcing your opponent to keep leaning forward in bad posture and not allowing them to sit back trying to get correct posture. The easiest way to do that is by pulling your opponent forward off his base by bringing your knees towards your head while keeping your heels pressed down on their lower back. You should do that along with pulling down on their head while keeping them from establishing their grips (Tip #1). If your opponent can't keep good posture, it's highly unlikely they'll be able to pass your guard.

Tip #3: Try to get into your opponent's "blind spot" by using angle attacks - Whenever you start with your opponent in your guard and you're aligned or parallel with each other (as if your opponent could lean forward and head butt you with ease), your opponent has you in their full vision. But once you start breaking down their posture while scooting out your hips off their centerline (requiring them to have to turn their head to keep you in full view), you're in their "blind spot" and that makes re-establishing their body alignment more important than trying to pass your guard because they're vulnerable to sweeps and submissions.

Apply these three tips and you should notice that your opponents will find your guard more difficult to pass as well as providing you more opportunities to set them up for your favorite attacks.

In the next article, I will reveal Tips 4-6 for improving your closed guard.

Paul M. Greenhill, "The Wise Grappler", is the creator of The Wise Grappler System, OG Shadow Grappling http://www.OGShadowGrappling.com and author of The Wise Grappler Ezine, a weekly ezine that provides grappling and mental mindset training tips and products for the older (over 30) and non-traditional/non-competitive martial artists of all ages.

To learn more about "The Wise Grappler" and to sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit his site at http://www.thewisegrappler.com or paul@thewisegrappler.com

(c) 2008 Paul M. Greenhill

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