Donāt Just Stand There!
When it comes to partners that have long leg reach, I tend to find myself on the defensive rather quickly. Their guard play is tricky for me and I frequently get caught in their triangles or sweeps.Ā
Thinking back on last nightās rolls with two very tough partners with long legs, I found that they were able to utilize their limbs effectively whenever:Ā
1. They had grips on my sleeves/collar+sleeve.Ā
2. I was in front of their open guard.Ā
Playing tight wonāt help me much if they have strong grips on me. So, of course the natural thing to do is to break them free. I need to remind myself to stop avoiding the grip breaks. Not sure why I donāt address it but if I avoid it long enough (like most things in life), it will only make the situation worse for me.Ā
Now, I know better than to stand in front of their guard. How else am I suppose to pass, right? Well, I donāt know whatās come over me but I didnāt move around to the sides as much as I shouldāve when rolling with these particular partners. I was in front of them, in plain sight. Even when they didnāt have effective grips on me or grips at all, I was still in front of them. Perhaps I was hoping to get in a butterfly sweep? I recall at some points trying to initiate some leg attack entries but I would often get blocked effectively. Still, I was stubborn, so I just continued to attempt butterfly attacks to no avail! Fail! Gotta do better than that.Ā
If they donāt have grips on me, or if they have weaker grips secured, then I have the luxury of movement, and I should effectively maneuver to the sides while nullifying their legs, to pass their guard. Simple! But not easy, am I right? I need to improve on that.Ā
Partner A -- the first of the two guys giving me trouble with their grips and legs -- is a more advanced purple belt with a very strong grip game and knows how to use his legs and feet to pull & push you off balance. It works almost every time. Without fail, heād secure strong grips on my sleeves, then would eventually use my energy and momentum (when Iām flailing around to get some leverage on him, yeah right) to get his feet on my biceps, shoot his hips up, and triangle me. Or at least get the triangle lock on me and if I was able to defend the choke, heād work an arm and/or wristlock (dirty bastard... love it). This was a common occurrence in our multiple rounds together, sadly (for me, and maybe for him too).Ā
Partner B is a tough blue belt whoās been using his even longer legs to his advantage against all of us in the school. Most times, heās able to get a nice scissor sweep on many of us -- even those above blue belt. Itās scary. My rolls with him werenāt quite as punishing for me as when I rolled with Partner B, but Partner A still gave me lots of trouble whenever I was physically in front of his open guard (dummy, stop doing that!) Heād manage to get me off balance here and there by attempting scissor sweeps and spider guard tactics but most times he didnāt secure effective grips; because of that, I was able to fend off some of his sweep attacks, pin one of his legs down to work a knee slice pass, or stack him to attempt pressure pass. On the other hand, he was very good at recovering guard due to some impressive flexibility of his, which kept us in a constant battle for position.Ā
This just shows how significant it is to address the grips. Where both partners demonstrated effective use of their legs, Partner A had a better advantage by securing powerful grips and was 100%Ā the one to dictate how theĀ āfightā (not even close) would unravel; as oppose to Partner B, with almost equal skill with his legs as Partner A, didnāt quite employ grips as effectively and thus, giving me more chances to pass.Ā
This was longer than I anticipated -- forgive me -- but I need to really hammer it in my head to not fucking be in front of their open guard so much and to fucking break the grips before I move my ass!Ā
This has been a public announcement. Thank you.Ā