Lesson 4 recovering guard with scrimping

Early ideas

You need to know when your guard is passed. It's when you cannot recover your frames. This the time to start escaping. Escaping is more difficult when opponent has control on you. Opponent wants to control your hips, shoulder, and/or head. Basic idea for passer is to get close and control, so goal for escaper is to keep distance and opponents weight of off you.

Progress of a pass

Often a pass starts by passing legs and getting hip control and then going for shoulder or head control. One main goal for passer is to keep opponent flat on their back.

Recovering guard with scrimbing

If opponent does not control your hips, it gives an opporturnity to try to get your knee between you and opponent. This is easy if you have "long frames" (you are framing your elbow against opponents shoulder and with near side arm his biceps). If you need to bridge, it would be better to direct opponents weight of you and bridge at 45 degree angle. Scrimbing is the move that makes space and also lets you turn to your side. One idea in scrimping is that you can "run a way" with multible scrimbs by moving your shoulders away, scrimbing and again moving your shoulders - if opponent is following you to keep their weight on you.

Lot of problems

Recovering guard is not easy in live roll. First fight is to get to your side - and your own "safe position". My safe postion if I have lost my frames is to keep both hands near neck and block opponents arm from getting head control. Opponent has his weight as an advantace. My goal is to move him so that he can use his weight as little as possible. I try to keep his hips far a way, but watch out for loosing near side arm. Both arms have their "problems" near side arm can be pulled to flatten my and framing with upper arm will transfer his weight to my shoulder and push it to the mat. Two big danger with arms are open armpits and crossing you arms - or elbow crosses your center line.

So when is it safe to push with your arms? When opponents is not on top of you. After pushing you have space and opponent falls to side, not on you. Then it's safe to push. (As safe as it gets...you are always inviting an armlock when you have straight arms and opponent catches them.)

Lets make it easy

When opponent has you in tight side control and uses his arms to pull him tight to you - WAIT. There is no danger. His arms are busy.

When he is tired of applying "shoulder of justice" - swim your hand under his armpit and walk your fingers against your face to release pressure. Turn to your side.

If you have your outside arm hanging some where - bring it in to your chest - push it in under opponents jaw or hit his crown of head with you biceps to turn his head and pull your arm in.

First assignment is to get to a safe side position facing opponent.

Next - get you hips a way from him to make space for your knee to get in.

Third - it's a fight. Block him from getting head control - keep you head far far a way or hook his leg to not let him get to better side control...