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4 Guard Survival Strategies For Small Players
There are a few uncomfortable realities in Jiu-Jitsu. Such as, Size does matter!
Smaller, lighter Gracie Barra Jiu-Jitsu students will immediately relate, having the uncomfortable and direct experience of being smashed under a bigger opponent. The game is simply different when you are the much lighter person in the roll, and your training partners outweigh you by 10 to 50 lbs!
That said, there are advantages that a lighter BJJ practitioner enjoys over their heavier, slower, and longer-limbed training partners. A smaller Jiu-Jitsu fighter most often enjoys a speed advantage. With shorter limbs, they can more easily find space to slip a hook in and start an escape, and many develop superior technique out of the necessity to survive.
If you observe the more skilled, lighter students in your GB Jiu-Jitsu school, there are a few guard survival strategies that they all seem to have in common, and they demonstrate the effectiveness of Jiu-Jitsu for smaller people.
We are focusing on the guard bottom position as that is where smaller students will most often end up in rolling. Sometimes, you don't have any choice but to play bottom against a heavier training partner. By spending so much time at the bottom, they become very effective at defending and winning from the guard.
The GB Online video catalogue features different guard series that show specific aspects of the bottom game that can help smaller BJJ students do like Grandmaster Helio Gracie famously said: "Survive..then win!"
Here are the 4 most important guard survival strategies for smaller, lighter Jiu-Jitsu students.
1- Great Hooks and defensive guard to stop the opponent from quickly throwing the legs aside and passing. You are going to need some strong hooks to be able to control your opponent from passing. The ideal guard game will also prevent the bigger opponent from applying their weight and smashing you.
The strong hooks of the Spider guard and Lasso Guard have helped countless smaller Bjj fighters in keeping the pressure off and controlling the guard passer. Check out these excellent video resources.
1A- Gracie Barra Lasso Guard
The Lasso Guard System with Professor Thiago Aso
1B- Gracie Barra Spider Guard
Keeping the Pressure Off: Spider & Lasso Guard by Professor Ana Laura Cordeiro
2- Using Leg Entanglements. Leg entanglements come in several different forms - Outside Hook guard or De la Riva guard, X-Guard, Single Leg X-Guard, 50-50 guard, and so on. These guards are great for slowing down standing guard passers. These leg entanglements are especially great for No-Gi, where the sleeve and collar grips have disappeared.
The Single Leg X-Guard might be the most powerful tool for No-Gi guards for lighter players. This series, 12 Ways to Help You Win with Single Leg X-Guard by World BJJ Champion Professor Ana Laura Cordeiro, teaches you how to control and then attack much bigger opponents using and connecting the different leg entanglements.
3- Have a major submission threat from the bottom
Out of all of the possible submission attacks from the guard, there is one attack that is most successful for smaller students (who may have shorter legs and not as effective with triangles) - the Armbar from the guard. The female Jiu-Jitsu students who tap bigger training partners tend to be really skilled at the straight armlock from the guard.
When you develop a dangerous submission threat from the bottom, your opponents won't be so confident and fearless to take chances to try to pass your guard.
The Armbar Arsenal by Fabiana Borges features multiple strategies and techniques for setting up and attacking the Armbar from the bottom.
4- Guard retention and replacement skills
Many Gracie Barra students ask about how to escape the dreaded stuck in the bottom-of-side control position. But if we rewind the tape, we see the problems started earlier, when their guard was passed. Preventing the pass in the first place and avoiding getting pinned under heavy side control is an overlooked guard skill. And learning how to recover your guard is one of the most important - if underrated - skills in Jiu-Jitsu.
Professor Ian Cardoso goes into depth on how lighter students can retain and recover the guard in the GB Online instructional series Your Guard Will Never Be The Same. Check it out.
Want access to the complete library Gracie Barra BJJ instructional technique videos? Sign Up HERE to get started.
Professor Alexandre "Cafe" Dantas Top Half Guard Submissions
If a World Champion and 4th degree GB black belt asked you what you wanted him to show you, what would be your request?
GB Online did just that with Professor Alexandre Cafe Dantas asking the members "What position would you most like to see from Professor Cafe?"
Jiu-Jitsu students' most popular answer was the Half Guard. Not only did Professor Cafe agree to share his favorite Half Guard techniques, he doubled the techniques and taught BOTH Top and Bottom Half Guard techniques - each position with its own video series.
This week Professor Cafe focuses on submissions from Top Half Guard. He demonstrates that you can attack nearly every part of the opponent's body - neck, arms, shoulders and legs from the Top Half Guard.
Check out Professor Alexandre "Cafe" Dantas Half Guard Submissions from the Top here
Typically, as Jiu-Jitsu students, we are taught to pass the Half Guard to advance to Side Mount. That is one of the main strategies certainly, but as Professor Cafe shows in the Top Half Guard submission video series, it is not the only option.
Professor Cafe takes advantage of the top position in applying pressure to the opponent and making them uncomfortable. When the bottom fighter is uncomfortable, they fatigue rapidly, and expose themselves to submission attacks when they try to escape the pressure.
Professor Cafe shows the following chokes, Armbars, Kimura, and Knee Bar variations from Top Half Guard:
Knee Bar from Top Half Guard
Spinning Knee Bar from Top Half Guard
Arm Triangle - Darce Choke From Top Half Guard
Kimura Counter To The Under Hook
Kimura To Straight Armbar
Brabo Choke From Top Half Guard
Gift Wrap From Top Half Guard
Straight Armbar - Ude Gatame from Deep Half
Kimura Counter Kimura From Top Half Guard
See all of the Top Half Guard submissions from Professor Alexandre "Cafe" Dantas in Half Guard Submissions from the Top
Perhaps the best part of Professor Cafe's teaching style is his emphasis on the easy-to-miss details that make all the difference in the success of the technique. It's possible that you have seen many of the techniques before, but dismissed them as not being a good fit for their game because of a lack of immediate success when you first tried them.
You may have been missing a key detail in the mechanics or timing of the technique, that when fixed, suddenly makes the technique work on fully resisting opponents.
In the Top Half Guard submissions, Professor Cafe shares many of the crucial, black belt details that may not be obvious the first time that you see the technique.
What is your go to submission from Top Half Guard?
Want full access to the complete library Gracie Barra BJJ instructional technique videos? Sign Up HERE to get started.
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Share your journey on how this martial art has helped you overcome challenges and build confidence. Remember to be respectful and supportive while sharing your experiences.
Let's create a thread where we can all learn from each other's stories and insights. Your journey could inspire someone else going through similar challenges!
Ana Laura Cordeiro - First Woman Instructor For The GB2
GB Online is proud to introduce the NEW GB2 with Professor Ana Laura Cordeiro. Professor Ana is the first woman instructor to teach the GB2 Curriculum, and she shares some of her decades of experience both competing at the world level and teaching in the GB2.
You will remember Professor Ana from her other instructionals on GB Online: Keeping the Pressure Off: Spider & Lasso Guard, (this author´s favorite GB Online instructional series!) - 12 Ways to Help You Win with Single Leg X-Guard, and the GBF Curriculum.
GB Online recently caught up with Professor Ana Laura to talk about the new GB2.
Some of the topics Professor Ana Laura discusses are her preparation in designing the program, the significance of being the first woman GB2 instructor, the motivation that comes with upholding the legacy of great GB instructors, and the culture of women´s classes in GB.
Studying Jiu-Jitsu to create the GB2
Professor Ana Laura confesses that even though she is a World Jiu-Jitsu champion and has been teaching for many years, that she felt motivated to study and refresh her inventory of techniques to make this the best possible version of the GB2.
"I studied a lot, I made a lot of research, watched many, many hours of videos so I can get my ideas all together," says Professor Ana.
Continuing the legacy of excellence
"It's just a very selective group of people (GB Instructors) that have taught the curriculum," says Professor Ana, "If I'm not wrong, I'm the eighth person to teach."
Professor Ana recognizes the significance of following the previous GB Instructors and breaking new ground as the first female GB2 instructor, "And on top of that, I'm the first woman contributing to the curriculum of Gracie Barra."
This sense of continuing the history and standard of excellence of instruction in the GB curriculum fueled a strong motivation to share her very best in designing the curriculum contents.
"I think the bar is super high," says Professor Ana of the first two GB2 curriculums. "Professor Victor is teaching; Professor Pimpolo taught in Portuguese. This is a big responsibility, to meet the criteria."
The first woman to create a curriculum for GB2
Professor Ana derives inspiration from the honor of being chosen to teach the GB2 curriculum. This is a significant milestone in women´s Jiu-jitsu. However, she doesn't feel extra pressure because she is the first female GB2 instructor.
"It's not a pressure. I never feel it as pressure, but we know, as a woman, we always have the proof that we can do that; we can do things.
And for me, being the first one, it put for me the pressure that, hey, I have to make the best that I can. So other women have the same chance that I had," says Professor Ana Laura.
GB Online asked Professor Ana: How do you feel being the first female to be creating a curriculum for GB online?
"I think at the same time that it's an honor; it brings a lot of responsibility because I know I'm the first one, but for sure, I'm not going to be the last one," says Professor Ana.
"There is going to be many other women after me and, I'm paving the way for them." With more than 20 years of teaching Jiu-Jitsu, Professor Ana says, "I feel like I've been paving the way for a long time for other women. When I started doing Jiu-Jitsu, there was only me on the mat. Now we look on the mats and there are many other women taking classes and teaching classes."
Professor Ana has many women instructors teaching in her schools.
Professor Ana says, "So people can see that women can teach complex techniques, and it will be paving the way for other women to come after me."
Who is the curriculum designed for?
While GB2 typically caters to more advanced students, are there any elements or sections that could benefit beginners or intermediate practitioners as well?
"I've been teaching specifically the GB true curriculum for the last 14 years," says Professor Ana, "So I have a lot of experience, and I'm still teaching. So, after teaching for so many years. I am still teaching on a daily basis, I teach for competition classes."
While designing the new GB2, Professor Ana was aware that a lot of the time, people, are migrating from GB1 to GB2
"So the techniques cannot be super complex where the student won't understand anything," says Professor Ana.
Jiu-Jitsu philosophy - Making the complex simple
"But there is a way where you can show complex techniques and the way that I broke down the techniques, in a way that anybody can learn the techniques."
Click HERE to hear more from Professor Ana Laura.
