The Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open GuardA natural evoloution for most Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners is moving from the closed guard to the open guard. The closed guard feels safe, so most beginners use it a lot more. But as someone progresses they begin to see the many opportunities presented to them by the open guard game. When playing open guard there are so many variations: spider guard, X guard, split guard, etc. Once you learn to defend the open guard you can really make it a huge part of your game. In the open guard position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you need to make a habit of not being flat on your back. Make a habit of staying balled up as much as possible. Staying crunched will help give you the leverage to pull off sweeps, and help prevent passes. Even if your opponent passes your legs, by staying crunched, you have pre-positioned yourself for an escape right away. If an opponent gets past your legs but you are able to recover guard or score a reversal, your BJJ guard will become much stronger and your confidence from the bottom position will skyrocket because you won't be afraid to risk going for sweeps and submissions. Your opponents will become ineffective against you because they will fail to put you in a bad position. Make sure also, that if they do pass, that you never get flattened out. Keep your elbows close to your body and don't stop moving your hips until you have escaped. The only reason you should go to your back on purpose is to avoid a submission, and that should be your last resort. When you're flat in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, you're stuck. Your mobility is almost non-existant, and you'll have to work that much harder to escape and defend against submissions. Remember to keep your head in when your crunching in order to prevent your opponent from controlling your head and to give you more leverage for your sweeps. More BJJ Articles
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