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Bjarni Baldursson of Straight Blast Gym in Iceland put together an excellent tutorial on two aspects of his half guard, and he was happy to let me share them here.

What I found especially interesting about his material is how it’s very similar to Eddie Bravo’s, but has little variations. His lockdown has a slight difference in foot placement. He gets the underhook much like Eddie does with the Jaws of Life, and he gets the butterfly hook almost like Eddie’s Super Stomp, but neither are exactly the same.

I like to see the little differences that happen when multiple sources work on the same positions and strategies, and what Bjarni shows is very solid material. I’m going to be working on this to see if I can’t revive my underhooking half guard game.

From Bjarni’s Half Guard Game

Just wanted to show you a part of my half guard game. It’s mainly what I use to get the underhook and block the cross face by using lockdown and pushing the guys chin, or if that doesn’t work I go to Butterfly half guard.

Before I continue I’d like to point out that I don’t use this kind of lockdown, as it traps one of my legs and makes it harder to get to Butterfly Half Guard.

Instead I use this one. I pull my left heel towards me and press on my right calf with my left toes.

When he’s cross facing me with his left shoulder I use the lockdown and extend my legs to pull him down, and get the pressure off my chin.

1. I push on his chin to make him look to his right. (It’s important to push on the chin and not on the side of his head cause it’s really hard for him to resist that.)

2. By doing that I create enough space to get my right hand through his armpit and block the cross-face.

3. I simultaneously a) press with both hands to push his chin/head further away and b) move my torso left and turn a bit into him.

4. Continue pushing with my right arm while I get the underhook with my left hand.

5. Go as much under him as I can.

6. Move my right hand off of his chin and on his left bicep.

If, on the other hand, he keeps his head down so I can’t push his chin to the side, I try to go to Butterfly Half Guard. Most of the time when he pushes his head down the legs get a little lighter so I’m able to lift them.

1. I lift his leg up, almost kicking it up.

2. Swing my left leg in. (It’s difficult to do this if you use the lockdown that’s on the first picture.)

3-6. Get the hook in and secure his leg.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 30th, 2006 at 5:36 pm and is filed under Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.