Closed Guard: Control, Break, and Attack

With your ankles crossed behind your partner's back, you control the distance between their hips and yours, which is the variable most attacks depend on. The person on top wants posture, straight arms and a hand on the mat. The person underneath wants them bent forward with their elbows inside the knees. Almost every closed guard attack begins by breaking posture and then rotating the hips to an angle instead of staying square below them.

Key points

• Break posture by pulling with your heels against their lower back rather than curling upward with your arms alone.
• Keep their elbows inside your knees, because once their arms are outside and straight they can posture and begin passing.
• Create an angle by shrimping onto one hip so your chest faces their shoulder instead of pointing straight at the ceiling.
• Take grips in pairs, one on a sleeve or wrist and one on the collar, neck or head, so both halves of their posture are managed.
• Open the guard deliberately when you attack; a closed guard that never opens produces control without any progress.

Common mistakes

• Lying flat with your hips on the mat and your arms extended, which gives your partner posture and free rein to build grips.
• Crossing the ankles and squeezing as the entire plan, which tires your legs and gives a patient passer time to open them.
• Releasing both grips at once to reposition, which restores their posture and undoes the setup you just spent energy building.

Put it into practice