Wednesdays with Coach Tim: Standing Up In Closed Guard

Standing up in the guard is a basic move that I've struggled with throughout my time training BJJ.  I seem to be able to drill it properly (if slowly), but during sparring I very rarely make it to standing and breaking the closed guard.  Instead, I (1) try not to get stuck in someone's closed guard or (2) break the guard from sitting (which exposes me to a higher risk of triangle or omoplata submissions).

In class on Saturday we worked on what to do to prevent the double ankle sweep once you've stood up in guard, but that implies I've gotten to standing!

Coach Tim, to the rescue!

Today, I've identified where I find I have problems standing up in the guard during sparring, and asked Coach Tim to help me out.

My Attempts to Stand up in the Guard:

First, the grips I usually get are the lapels and the hip.  I'm able to keep my posture secure at this point, keeping my opponent away from me.

Second, I step forward with the leg that is on the side I have a grip on the hip.

Third, I get stuck.  One of two things happens:  Either I literally feel stuck to the mat, unable to stand up, or as I start to stand up my opponent hooks my foot, my brain yells "DANGER!" and I sit back down.

Help!

Coach Tim's Advice: 

Let's look at the major steps encountered with standing up:

1) Frames / Arm Position: 

Before you even think of lifting up your knee and replacing it with your foot, you must place yourself into the best position possible. Just like everything else in Jiu Jitsu, once you complete a movement, the stability of that position is your platform for launching your next movement. If this setup is even a little bit off, your attempts at moving forward will be easily thwarted.

Whether you prefer to control the lapels and the hip, both lapels, the lapel and sleeve is not as important as the position of your elbows for these grips. Always turn your elbow-pits and armpits away from you (creating external rotation, the same you use for a proper pushup), anchor your hands to the gi and completely close your hands. Position your elbows before you grab the gi! If you grab the gi first, the hand position will determine the elbow position. It is better to have perfect elbow position and allow your hands to fall and grab whatever material is available so we do not compromise elbow positioning.

Another good rule of thumb is to keep your head behind the belt-line of your opponent. Bringing it further forward than that places your center of gravity over the fulcrum of their hip. This makes it incredibly easy to break your posture down by pulling forward with the legs and if that is not enough, this forward pull will enable the guard player to sit up and grab your head, which, barring a huge strength discrepancy, will ALWAYS break down your posture (a spinal fault will always be addressed by your body, even if this means opening your elbows and allowing the rest of your body to fall into poor position).

Lastly, you cannot allow for any slack in your body positioning or grips. This means that wherever you hand grabs, it grabs all the material until it flush with your opponent. Your hands don't slip around, rather they attach like they're bolted into place. Your core and hips are engaged to stabilize your upper body, there is not looseness in your spinal structure. While you don't have to flex like Arnold trying to win Mr. Universe, you should have enough tension throughout your upper body that your movements do not break down the structure you have built with your grips, arms, torso and head.

2) The first step up:

We are traditionally taught to step up one leg at at time. Later, it becomes appropriate to jump both legs up simultaneously. For the purposes of learning proper bracing technique, one leg at a time is best. The most important aspect to remember about the first step up is that you are transferring weight from your hips and legs (you are sitting on your ankles, after all) into your hands so that you can step up to your foot on the mat. In order to do this, your hands must be in position to support your weight. Go back and review step #1 if this is not the case. If you are trying to stand and your training partner is pulling you with their legs, having your weight in your hands will still cause your legs to "feel light enough" to lift off the floor. You need to step forward far enough to create a 90-degree angle between your foot / ankle and your knee. Then, you need to turn this knee is so that your training partner's hip is contained between a) your knee on one side and b) your hand / elbow (depending on your grip) on the other side.

If you feel off-balance here, either a) step #1 was incorrect and you were not able to properly brace your weight or b) your foot positioning is preventing you from creating torque off of the ground which would stabilize you enough to step up your second leg. Regardless, as always, if you do not feel strong and balanced at this point, advancing forward will only make it worse! Go back and correct if necessary.

3) The second step up:

The second step up is tricky because you have elevated your entire body (relative to our starting position) yet your hands are in the same place and are still required for you to properly brace your weight. Instead of making the mistake of rounding your back OR dropping your hips below your knees (both are done to make it easier to place weight on your hands), use your braced core, grips (elbows turned in!) and knee position (turned towards their hip) to elevate your opponent's hips (rounding their back and destroying their posture) and balance on their hips. If any weight is not braced against your knee and hand positioning, your remaining leg will feel very heavy. Shift the position so that you can feel your second leg free itself from the load so you can step up.

4) Once you are standing:

You must keep your elbows tight, turned towards your body, with your elbow-pits and armpits turned away from you. Your knees should meet underneath your opponent's hips (your feet must be pointed straight forward and will be fairly close to each other). If your core is braced and the previous criteria are met, once you are standing your opponent should have their back bent and be supporting themselves only with their weight. Properly situated, they will be unable to use the double-ankle sweep because they do not have their shoulder blades on the ground and therefore cannot create the torque to push you away while controlling their ankles. In addition, if they release their closed guard, your positioning will cause them to recede away from you before their knees can make contact with their body, giving you the chance to begin passing instead of having to defend a sweep.

With regards to grip and actually opening the guard, that can take a number of directions based on a) how insistent your partner is in keeping their guard closed, b) whether or not they sit up with you as you stand and c) your relative height.

If I am opening the closed guard and my partner is shorter than I am, using my knee (same side as the hand on the hip) in their tailbone (ON their tailbone, not next to it, with your foot precisely under your knee) and then stepping my remaining leg back while using that same side hand to push their knee down is the preferred way to open the guard. This capitalizes on the height advantage by creating so much space inside the closed guard that they cannot keep it closed.

If they are taller than you, that same knee in the middle will instead slide up between their legs and you can open the guard from the kneeling combat-base position. Again, the exact mechanics used to open the guard will vary depending on height, but having a stable position (posture) to do this from is of utmost importance!

Long story short, the most appropriate way to think of standing in the closed guard is to simulate the way you sit up out of a chair without the use of your hands. Instead of trying to stand straight up vertically, which is difficult because your weight is set behind your knees, you will tend to lean forward, brace your core, and then stand up. This is the same movement for standing in the closed guard, with one additional caveat: because your partner is trying to pull you into the ground, when you begin to stand up, you arms provide a frame / brace for you to bear your weight on when that pull comes into play. This is why it is incredibly important to have the proper hand/elbow positioning so that you don't lose your own progress in standing up just because your opponent pulled down on your gi.