Teaching #886
Artemis BJJ (Easton Road), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 10/07/2019
The knee shield is a very useful tool for managing distance. From half guard, adjust so you can put your top knee right onto their hip bone. This is enough to prevent them driving forward, plus importantly it also means that even if (like me) you're short, you can still keep your ankles crossed. Due to the distance, you can simply block their wrist to prevent the cross face, rather than keeping your arms in closer: they can't crush in, so you have much more space than usual.
That position is good for maintaining the half guard, but to progress, you will generally want to bring your knee shield up high. Put your knee up by their chest, buttressed by your arm: like I mentioned already, be aware that it will be hard or even impossible to cross your ankles, so there is that opening in your legs, be aware of it. In terms of your arm placement, there are two main options. If you put your elbow inside your knee, that makes it tough for them to crush your knee down to start their pass. Alternatively, you could put your elbow on the outside of the knee. That means you can reach across with your hand to their other shoulder, creating a frame comparable to the solid defensive frame from under side control.
For the back take, it's probably easiest to put your elbow on the inside, but that's just my personal preference. Open up your knee shield slightly, to create a gap by their armpit. Into that gap, reach your hand through too. As you do, kick forwards. The momentum of the kick - combined with the sudden departure of resistance to their own weight and forward pressure - should enable you to 'dive' through that gap for the underhook, swivelling through to take the back.
This does depend on how savvy they are. If they don't put in any kind of whizzer (aka, overhooking your underhooking arm), then your route to the back is simple. Just spin through and go for the back take. For a more secure route, adjust your leg position first. You're going to bring your outside leg over, hooking their leg. Try to slide your leg underneath, for a stronger grip. You can then swivel to your knees, putting you in the dogfight position. From there, you can still take the back as before, if they don't whizzer, but you're prepared if they do whizzer.
Once you're in the dogfight, you open up a broader sequence. That starts with a back take, against no whizzer. Against a weak whizzer, you can 'limp arm', relaxing your arm and whipping it free. Versus a decent whizzer, you can try and drive forwards to knock them down, then if they resist that, you can roll underneath. I'll be going through those options in future lessons.
Xande has some nice tweaks from BJJ Library on the standard knee-in-hip version, where your knee is much lower. He comes up on his elbow (reminiscent of Ryan Hall's sitting guard approach, stiff arming into their collar bone too), then moves into a 'bodylock', scooting in after he gets the underhook and locks both his hands around their back. From there he can use that bodylock to help adjust round to the back.
To finish off this post, here's a summary video of the knee shield into dogfight:
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Teaching Notes: Make sure to come up on the elbow. After you get the underhook, make sure you get in close, so ear to their chest. Keep the knee shield leg tight to them.
Showing posts with label teaching # Half Guard: Knee Shield (Bottom). Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching # Half Guard: Knee Shield (Bottom). Show all posts
10 July 2019
25 February 2015
25/02/2015 - Teaching | Half Guard | Knee Shield (Back Take)
Teaching #285
Artemis BJJ (MyGym/Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 25/02/2015
A simple method for taking the back from the Caio Terra style high knee shield starts with your frame. Put your knee up by their chest, buttressed by your arm. You've got two main options for arm placement. If you put your elbow inside your knee, that makes it tough for them to crush your knee down to start their pass. Alternatively, you could put your elbow on the outside of the knee. That means you can reach across with your hand to their other shoulder, creating a frame comparable to the solid defensive frame from under side control.
For the back take, it's probably easiest to put your elbow on the inside, but that's just my personal preference. Kick your knee shielding leg forwards, out under their armpit. Into that gap, reach your hand through too. The momentum of the kick - combined with the sudden departure of resistance to their own weight and forward pressure - should enable you to 'dive' through that gap for the underhook, swivelling through to take the back.
Xande has some nice tweaks from BJJ Library on the standard knee-in-hip version, where your knee is much lower. He comes up on his elbow (reminiscent of Ryan Hall's sitting guard approach, stiff arming into their collar bone too), then moves into a 'bodylock', scooting in after he gets the underhook and locks both his hands around their back. From there he can use that bodylock to help adjust round to the back.
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Teaching Notes: I'm still working out what best to teach from the knee shield. I went with the main knee up by chest version this time round, though I'm still including my notes on Xande's version. I also ended up repeating a good chunk of what we did on Monday. I think that's a good thing in that it's useful to revise material, but I'm also still working out how best to cater for both Monday-only and Wednesday-only students. That's one of the challenges of having quite a few students who train once a week, while at the same time providing some development across the week for students who train multiple times a week.
Artemis BJJ (MyGym/Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 25/02/2015
A simple method for taking the back from the Caio Terra style high knee shield starts with your frame. Put your knee up by their chest, buttressed by your arm. You've got two main options for arm placement. If you put your elbow inside your knee, that makes it tough for them to crush your knee down to start their pass. Alternatively, you could put your elbow on the outside of the knee. That means you can reach across with your hand to their other shoulder, creating a frame comparable to the solid defensive frame from under side control.For the back take, it's probably easiest to put your elbow on the inside, but that's just my personal preference. Kick your knee shielding leg forwards, out under their armpit. Into that gap, reach your hand through too. The momentum of the kick - combined with the sudden departure of resistance to their own weight and forward pressure - should enable you to 'dive' through that gap for the underhook, swivelling through to take the back.
Xande has some nice tweaks from BJJ Library on the standard knee-in-hip version, where your knee is much lower. He comes up on his elbow (reminiscent of Ryan Hall's sitting guard approach, stiff arming into their collar bone too), then moves into a 'bodylock', scooting in after he gets the underhook and locks both his hands around their back. From there he can use that bodylock to help adjust round to the back.
________________
Teaching Notes: I'm still working out what best to teach from the knee shield. I went with the main knee up by chest version this time round, though I'm still including my notes on Xande's version. I also ended up repeating a good chunk of what we did on Monday. I think that's a good thing in that it's useful to revise material, but I'm also still working out how best to cater for both Monday-only and Wednesday-only students. That's one of the challenges of having quite a few students who train once a week, while at the same time providing some development across the week for students who train multiple times a week.
23 February 2015
23/02/2015 - Teaching | Half Guard | Knee Shield (Maintaining)
Teaching #283
Artemis BJJ (MyGym/Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 23/02/2015
Having covered the orthodox approach to half guard, today I moved on to the knee shield, position also commonly known as z-guard. Using your knee, you can make it more difficult for your partner to move forwards against your half guard. It's also handy for creating distance, as well as nullifying the whizzer. If you use the leverage from your knee to square up your upper body by leaning back, that should help avoid the control they can generate with a whizzer.
For knee positioning, one option is to put it right on their hip, which means you can keep your feet locked. However, that also means you knee is quite low, so there is the disadvantage that they may be able to shove your knee to the mat and pass, particularly if you have the knee right across to the opposite hip (on the same side hip, there should be less danger). To enhance your control, you can try Xande's approach of coming up on your elbow while also stiff-arming into their shoulder (sort of like sitting guard). Another option comes from Jason Scully, who likes to get a tight overhook from that position.
To stop that, you could put your knee up high into their chest, like Caio Terra. As ever, there are pros and cons, as putting your knee up high may open up a gap between your feet. If you leave a gap between your feet, it is possible your partner may then be able to simply circle their lower leg around and free themselves. So, if you can't cross your feet, then clamp them together, to create a barrier to that leg-circling. Alternatively, clamp them onto your partner's leg, again to make sure there isn't a gap.
Whichever position you go for, the ability to control the distance means that one good option from the knee shield is recovering your full guard. Push with your controlling knee to square up your body, then pull out the other leg. You can often get that in transition, as your opponent tries to move around your knee. But be careful, as if they can crush down onto your leg, that can stuff your guard recovery. It's therefore important to prevent them from bringing their weight down, either using your knee (like Caio Terra), your stiff arm (like Xande) or the overhook (like Jason Scully).
________________
Teaching Notes: It's been a while since I've taught half guard and even longer since I went through the knee shield. I'm still working out the best structure, but tonight went relatively well. I could cut down on the amount of variations, though I think it's worth going through Xande, Scully and Terra's approach, as that can be shown without going into too intense detail. I could potentially have added in taking the back, but I'll leave that for Wednesday, I think. I might put in the scissor sweep too.
During the mini open mat afterwards, Rafal shared a useful escape he learned at SBG Dublin, in regards to the arm triangle. I don't often get put there and I rarely use that submission myself, so my options from it are pretty basic. The SBG Dublin escape involves 'corkscrewing' out of the arm triangle, turning in and then away to free yourself.
Artemis BJJ (MyGym/Bristol Sports Centre), Can Sönmez, Bristol, UK - 23/02/2015
Having covered the orthodox approach to half guard, today I moved on to the knee shield, position also commonly known as z-guard. Using your knee, you can make it more difficult for your partner to move forwards against your half guard. It's also handy for creating distance, as well as nullifying the whizzer. If you use the leverage from your knee to square up your upper body by leaning back, that should help avoid the control they can generate with a whizzer.
For knee positioning, one option is to put it right on their hip, which means you can keep your feet locked. However, that also means you knee is quite low, so there is the disadvantage that they may be able to shove your knee to the mat and pass, particularly if you have the knee right across to the opposite hip (on the same side hip, there should be less danger). To enhance your control, you can try Xande's approach of coming up on your elbow while also stiff-arming into their shoulder (sort of like sitting guard). Another option comes from Jason Scully, who likes to get a tight overhook from that position.
To stop that, you could put your knee up high into their chest, like Caio Terra. As ever, there are pros and cons, as putting your knee up high may open up a gap between your feet. If you leave a gap between your feet, it is possible your partner may then be able to simply circle their lower leg around and free themselves. So, if you can't cross your feet, then clamp them together, to create a barrier to that leg-circling. Alternatively, clamp them onto your partner's leg, again to make sure there isn't a gap.
Whichever position you go for, the ability to control the distance means that one good option from the knee shield is recovering your full guard. Push with your controlling knee to square up your body, then pull out the other leg. You can often get that in transition, as your opponent tries to move around your knee. But be careful, as if they can crush down onto your leg, that can stuff your guard recovery. It's therefore important to prevent them from bringing their weight down, either using your knee (like Caio Terra), your stiff arm (like Xande) or the overhook (like Jason Scully).
________________
Teaching Notes: It's been a while since I've taught half guard and even longer since I went through the knee shield. I'm still working out the best structure, but tonight went relatively well. I could cut down on the amount of variations, though I think it's worth going through Xande, Scully and Terra's approach, as that can be shown without going into too intense detail. I could potentially have added in taking the back, but I'll leave that for Wednesday, I think. I might put in the scissor sweep too.
During the mini open mat afterwards, Rafal shared a useful escape he learned at SBG Dublin, in regards to the arm triangle. I don't often get put there and I rarely use that submission myself, so my options from it are pretty basic. The SBG Dublin escape involves 'corkscrewing' out of the arm triangle, turning in and then away to free yourself.
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