00:55 - When playing guard, we want to use the connections we have to our opponent to manage distance. K-Guard works great because sometimes it is a bit congested to use our foot as a frame, so instead, we can invert our knee to the inside. This allows us to use the lower part of our leg as a frame to effectively manage the distance as we work our attacks.
01:17 - When we stand up to open a closed guard, we can expect our opponent to take a scoop grip on our leg to enter K-Guard.
01:44 - When passing the guard, our first goal is to get around the legs of the guard player. Once we get around their legs, this gives us the ability to effectively move towards our opponent with the goal of controlling their shoulders and/or hips to solidify the pin.
03:36 - When we are trying to pass from a closed guard, it is much worse to be pulled forward than to be knocked backwards. If we get pulled forward, that is there we have submissions that would end the match. If we get knocked backwards, the worst thing that could happen is we get swept to bottom position. However, even sweeps are much worse if you get pulled forward. Forward sweeps have a lot of body connection, so when your opponent completes the sweep, they will likely end up on top of you. On the other hand if you get swept backwards, there is very little body contact and is much harder for your opponent to actually take top position. Because of considerations like this, when trying to open up a closed guard, whatever problems you have being knocked backwards as you stand up are insignificant to the problems you would have being pulled forward.
05:00 - The basic idea behind high tripod guard passing is the top player is looking to pin the bottom player's shoulder to the mat while they work to pummel their legs to complete the guard pass. The guard player would like to lift the top player which would allow the bottom player to compromise the control the top player has over their head and shoulders. The top player would like to create a situation where the bottom player only has one lifting leg, making it a more stable position for the top player. This battle may take a while and go back and forth, but the passer is generally trying to create situations where they are only fighting one lifting leg and the guard player is trying to establish 2 lifting legs to help loosen up the control over their head and shoulder.
07:56 - If we try to secure a pinning position by just controlling the hips, our opponent can still move quite effectively. On the flip side, if we just focus our control on the shoulders, our opponent can also move relatively effectively. The most secure pins are ones where you control both the head and the shoulders. This gives us a much greater ability to hold our opponent flat on the mat. An opponent that if flat is much more susceptible to being pinned.
08:26 - The beautiful thing about high tripod guard passing is we control our opponent's head and shoulders before we pass their legs. After we pass their legs, if our goal is to stabilize a secure pinning position, we should focus on controlling our opponent's hips. This is difficult to do if we pass directly to mount. Instead, it would make sense to transition into a leg riding position, such as a shin mount, as this provides us control over our opponent's head and shoulders. If we control both the head and shoulder, we can more easily keep them flat and pinned.
09:00 - As the top player, clearing your feet from the guard is useful only once extension has occurred. Your feet being trapped in guard gives you the ability to control your opponent's hips and keep them flat on the mat. It is hard to prevent your opponent from rotating to get their back off the mat when we free our foot to pass the guard. Keeping them flat is the key to your pin. If you are able to extend your opponent's arms above their head, now you are safe to mount as you are relying on the extension to secure the pin instead of keeping them flat on the mat.
09:10 - We can pin someone by keeping them flat on the mat. To do this effectively, we need to control both our opponent's shoulders and hips. The other way to pin our opponent is through extension. If we can extend their body (bring their arms up over their head) then our opponent can now take their back off the mat, but they can no longer build height. This gives the attacker the ability to transition into submissions or other forms of pin.
10:53 - When attacking from the back, a huge part of the battle is the grip fight. As the attacker, our goal is to compromise the structure of the grip the defender has on our strangle arm so we can threaten a RNC. We can compromise the structure of their grip at the wrist or the elbow.
12:07 - Every grip has a function and a limit. From the back, the defender can use a c-grip or a monkey grip on the strangle arm of the attacker. The C-Grip is strong of the defender has their elbow above their wrist and the monkey grip is strong if the defender has their elbow below their wrist. The monkey grip has much greater mobility while the C-grip has limited mobility but is more robust. When we are attacking from the back, we can use these insights about the strengths and weaknesses of the defender's grips to free up our strangle arm for a RNC.
