ALTA Week 2 Grappling

Grappling – Open Guard Bottom

This position follows on very nicely from week one with our backwards breakfalls and tech standing. We will use those movements throughout this position along with upkicks and a few variations on sweeps.

Base posture and Party Legs

When knocked to the ground, your first priority will always be to get your legs between you and your opponent. They are your last line of defence preventing your opponent from jumping on top of you or kicking you in the head. From our base posture we can stop the rot and begin our build back.

Your back is on the floor, hands on the mat beside you, one leg on the mat and the other up in a ready position to up-kick. DO NOT SIT UP YET!
Be ready to rotate and spin to keep your legs between you and your opponent. They may try to run around you or side step so use your arms and bottom leg to manoeuvre to a defensive position.
“Party legs”. If your opponent grabs your foot/feet in an attempt to swing them aside, use party legs to free yourself and return to base posture.

Up-kicks

This is the reason why we do a lot of glute bridges in our Conditioning workouts. The up-kick is very effective as a deterrent and helps establish range.

From base posture, use your bottom leg to push your hips high off the floor. Your top leg kicks in a stomping or pushing motion upwards at your opponent.
Targets include the chest, stomach or head (for the sport of MMA). In self defence, you can also target the groin or the knee (we avoid this in training for safety purposes).
If your opponent is standing close enough, you can stand on their lead thigh with your bottom leg and get an even higher kick (usually this is necessary to reach the head if they are standing upright).

Tech stand

If your upkicks are effective and you earn some range with your opponent stepping back, this is a great time to attempt your tech stand.
Be prepared to bail and reset if your opponent closes back the range quickly. Just because you start a tech stand doesn’t mean you have to complete it – especially if range changes midway through the technique. Safety first, always.

Tripod Sweep

If your opponent persists through your upkick range, this will open the opportunity for the sweep series. “Sweep” refers to reversing your position from bottom to being on top. The tripod sweep is the first opportunity you’ll get.

With one of your hands, grab the heel of their foot that’s closest to you. Prevent them from stepping back with that leg.
Use your corresponding leg to step on their hip that’s closest to you. (eg your right hand holds their heel, your right foot stands on their hip).
Your second foot hooks behind the knee of your opponent’s other leg.
Pull your bottom two grips and push the top one. This will cause your opponent to fall backwards.
Keep hold of their heel as they fall and you begin to sit up. Lift their foot up and pass it to your other hand (as if you were holding the Olympic Torch). The higher you lift their leg the better. This guarantees that they cannot stand up while you do and gives you the time you need to stand up.
As you hold the leg up, perform a tech stand to gain the higher ground.

Tomahawk or Sickle sweep

This variation is available when your opponent pushes the foot you have on their hip between their legs. Effectively, they’ll stop your tripod sweep, but they’ll give you a different sweep.

As they push the foot you’ve got on the hip down between their legs, quickly replace that foot with your other foot on their hip. You’ll need to turn on your side to reach across.
The foot that they push inside will now hook behind their foot that’s furthest away from you.
You still have a hold of their heel that’s closest to you with your hand.
Now you’ve got a different configuration of the tripod sweep. Once again, pull your bottom two grips and push your top one.
Repeat the Olympic Torch and Tech Stand as before.

De la Riva Sweep (DLR)

This variation is available when your opponent pushes the foot you have on their hip to the outside. Once again, this kills the tripod sweep, but opens the door for the DLR.

As they push the foot you’ve got on their hip to the outside, wrap your instep around the back of their hamstring on the leg that’s closest to you.
You keep the grip you have on the heel of their foot that’s closest to you with your hand.
Your other leg switches from hooking the back of their knee to instead pushing that leg away from you at the front of their thigh. (It’s a stomping action. Just be careful not to injure your partner’s knee doing this). This action will cause them to spread their legs a lot wider.
Now take that stomping leg and switch it to the hip that’s closest to you. You’ll now have both your legs on one of theirs.
Push on their hip with your top leg and because of their wide stance, their balance will be very compromised. They will fall.
As with previous variations, use the Olympic Torch and tech stand to get top position. On this technique, your legs will be tangled up with the DLR so you’ll need to perform an extra motion of untangling your legs as they fall over before you can do the Tech Stand.

Idiot sweep

The final variation occurs when your opponent steps even closer to you. This is called the Idiot sweep because it’s a rookie mistake by the top person to allow you to get hold of both their ankles.

From the tripod position, use your bottom leg which is hooking the back of their knee to pull that leg to you. This should allow you to also now grab the back of that heel. You now have both their heels caught with your hands.
Now you can circle your leg that’s standing on their hip inside to hook behind that knee (mirroring the hook you have with the other leg). This foot position is called “butterfly hooks”.
Holding the heels, you now use your butterfly hooks to push their knees apart, causing them to fall backwards helplessly.
Again, as with all the variations, use the Olympic Torch and Tech Stand to get top.

Drilling your Open Guard Sweep Series

This series of sweeps and the open guard bottom position as a whole has a lot of details and you will be overwhelmed by it trying to remember everything. The only way to get past this is by drilling it round after round. The more reps you get, the more muscle memory you’ll build and eventually it will become second nature.

Partner Cooperation (rep for rep): One way of drilling is to cooperate with a partner. Start from standing and A pushes B. B lands with a breakfall and assumes the upkick posture. From there, A will attempt to go around the legs or grab the feet. This gives B a chance to practice upkicks and party legs. A then offers up one of their legs to be grabbed so that B can assume the tripod sweep position. A can either allow the tripod sweep to happen or push B’s foot off the hip to prompt for a tomahawk or DLR sweep. Sometimes, A can even step forward closer to allow the Idiot sweep. Once the sweep happens, reverse roles and continue. Vary the cues to allow the defending partner to react to realistic signals.
Shark Tank: This drilling system allows large groups to practice an isolated position very efficiently. The entire class is split into 3 groups (Team A, Team B and Team C). A will be in the tank first for a 5 minute round. B and C will be their opponents. A will take a space on the mat. B/C will form a queue against the wall. Whoever is at the front of the queue will go to any A that does not have a partner. They will push A to the ground and work through the sweep series as described above. B/C will be swept by A for the entire round. Each time B/C gets swept, they return to the back of the queue and a new partner from the front of the queue will take their place. For round 2, B is in the tank with A/C in the queue and for round 3, C is in the tank with A/B in the queue.
Resistance Levels when drilling: When drilling, it’s important to realise you’re not sparring. You don’t win in drilling. It’s a method where you help your partner to get better by giving them realistic movement and balance. You can add resistance as they get the hang of the technique but always gradually over the duration of the round. You should make it challenging, not impossible. When it’s time to resist, the coach will let you know.