Quote:
Originally Posted by Aesopian
Surprisingly, it worked great. It had much the same feel as x-guard but with little different quirks. It felt right and I decided to work on it more.
Afterwards I remembered how I'd seen something like this in Baret Yoshida's book/DVD. Here are some screenshots.
The main points in Baret's technique that I want to steal are being deep under their free leg while having my knee across their chest, and getting the other knee up under their hips to keep them elevated. These effectively keep them from crushing me, which makes me very happy, and I can play the position almost exactly like I would x-guard, so I'm not having to learn everything from scratch.
Like you said, having the knee in also gives you time (and leverage) to set things up. Wilson's sweep from half guard is much like the one Baret shows (expect he doesn't stand up all the way). But he gets it by explosively flying under them and driving up from below. I don't have that speed and power. So the z-guard knee looks promising as a replacement.
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Yeah, this is the game exactly. For me, instead of explosively flying under the guy, which can be hard if you are not a little dynamo, I tend to have better luck by dominating the crossfacing arm and use that to create the space. Baret just slides under it in that picture, but I like to really push the elbow and sprawl the guy over me with it. Just grab it with both hands, and either kimura it or yank it right over, use whatever momentum he gives. With the gi, it's a lot easier to control that arm. Z guard gives you a lot of time and leverage to do this, though it can also be done without it (takes more struggling). Then you get in the position Baret shows in those pics. You have stated teh correct with elevating his hips with your knees.
Saulo's new half guard dvd shows how you typically can play that position as either an "x guard" type position or a "single leg" kind, depending on what kind of stance your opponent is taking.
That video on your website from Jorge is fascinating ... it really gives good insight into what the half guard is all about. I feel like it gets into the heart of the game, though it takes time to understand what he is showing.