Finding Comfort

Bottom half guard has always been a stickler for me.  I get trapped on the bottom, all twisted up and find myself hanging on desperately with no plan for how to get out.

The solution: drill some good escapes until I find comfort with them and they become second nature.  The result: we worked a half guard escape sequence in class today.

The sequence actually started from mount.  From there, we did an elbow escape to half guard.  Often, when I get into half guard, I get flattened out – that’s why I end up squished and struggling on the bottom.  So after grabbing half guard, we made it a priority to get the underhook, get a better position with our feet (either kick stand or lockdown) and getting to our side.  Being squished flat is a bummer – it’s like sparring from a normal stance.  After coming to our sides and establishing a decent base, we slipped out the side, moved to dog fight position and then took our partner to side control.

It was a long sequence but a good one that hopefully illustrates one of the most fundamental things to learn from grappling – take a bad position and systematically improve it until you are in a good position.