I'm just here for the hobby, five out of seven days a week.

Hi I am a hobbyist too, I train 7 days a week, twice a day

5 day a week hobbyist lol. I consider myself a "hobbyist" at like 1-2

I wonder if he misunderstood his coach when asking Chewy this question. Sometimes coaches want their students to explore new positions and develope other parts of their game so that they're not so one dimensional. I mean the guy is only a white belt, his coach could be trying to develop him in different areas of his game to push him to blue belt. Anyways solid advice as always professor!!

Back when I was a blue belt, my old professor from Rio had the _nastiest_ closed guard I had ever seen. _EVERY SINGLE TIME_ he got me there I knew I was screwed 😆 Maybe not right away, but eventually I would get swept or submitted... for 2 years I *never* got out of his closed guard safely even one time!! That really inspired me to develop my own closed guard. 5 years later and a couple stripes into my brown belt, I have one of the best closed guards in my dojo. Everyone hates getting caught there when they roll with me and I only have Felipe to thank for destroying me all those times in the past. He really opened my eyes to the potential of that position! I always tell my white belt training partners to never look past it because it's just so fundamental and very effective / dangerous if someone puts in enough practice. Do it!

All techniques suck until you get good at them

What he hears, "full guard is a waste of time" What his coach said, "you are wasting time with your full guard and you need to try something else"

Ask your coach if he has ever heard of a guy named Roger Gracie. I still use it myself quite a bit and always will🤙 seen the title and had to watch.

I love full guard. The entries into K-guard and the leg entanglements when my opponent switches from their knees to one leg up can help keep the attack going or help me stand up. Love it

There's a guy names mica galvoe...he uses it pretty effectively. He's young but I think the kid has a future

Sometimes us old guys need to slow some young scrappers down. That's what full guard is for.

Great advice, Coach. Thank you. I would respectfully submit that the closed guard is a friend to any older student who enjoys playing it. A 38 year old embracing closed guard, it will serve him well into his 40s, 50s, 60s, and beyond.

Thanks Chewie. Love to play the closed guard

Much appreciated, thanks.

I'm a longer guy (6'2") so my go to on bottom is the closed guard. I can play overhooks and have multiple subs off that. I can transition to spider, Williams, and lasso guards for sweeps and subs. Lots of options from the full guard. I remember watching Flo Grappling and Roger Gracie had a video on closed guard and it was a game changer on my closed guard.

my old bjj coach wouldnt teach half guard, he said thats not a good guard, youre halfway getting passed

maybe he's trying to get you to build other weapons. having a decent open guard is mandatory because closed guard is hard to obtain on good guys because they keep the knee up/not let you pull it.. they avoid it because there's no moves the really work besides open the guard/stand and open. then your back to square one . meanwhile on bottom like every submission can be done, loads of sweeps plus transition to nearly guard available. meanwhile the top guy can do two things lol . yeah closed guard top is awful ... braulio estima, claudio calasans , robert drysdale, roger gracie, kron gracie, xande ribeiro, caio terra, jacare etc also have used closed guard at the highest levels.

The way you said boyfriend 😂 .

Every time I see a video like this, I am reminded why I love my professor/coaches/gym. We are always told, BJJ is a very personalized. “Find what works for you”, is heard a lot around there. Basic fundamentals executed properly always work, but that doesn’t mean everyone will use them.

I tune into you a lot, there has to be a distinction made between sport BJJ and as you say traditional GJJ. In GJJ the guard is important because you can stop the person on top from hitting me on the bottom. In BJJ there is more movement, in GJJ my job is to exhaust you then submit you the mindset is different. In a BJJ tournament it's called stalling in GJJ it's called exhaust the heck out of your attacker without getting hit in the mouth, so the mindset is very different. I am going to make you fight for every inch, you may hit me lightly, you will not submit me I will exhaust you.

Excellent perspective. It seems that the people that bash closed guard typically struggle against people with good closed guard games. People that bash wrestling/standup typically struggle with that part of the game. People that complain about leg locks aren't usually proficient at leg locks. Different things work for different sizes, ages, builds, etc. Don't ignore other aspects of the game, but keep using what works for you.

I'm super new but I looked up full guard just to make sure it was the same thing as closed guard, because I was told right away that full guard was a great place to be. My instructor does poke fun at our highest brown belt for his inclination to heel hooks though, whereas he seems to really emphasize the importance of armbars himself. Maybe he likes stressing simplicity in effectiveness but I am seeing how personal styles seem to differ. I'm really excited to explore my own path. I cant sink any submission yet to save my life but I really like full guard and am starting to find myself setting people up in triangle chokes quite regularly. I would feel discouraged if my instructor told me to hold back on those.

I don’t like to spend much time on bottom closed guard early on with my students, because they feel too safe there just locking their legs. Showing them how to retain guard in open guard scenarios instead helps their coordination and movement skills, framing, etc. I remember when I was a white belt. I felt too safe in closed guard and didn’t want to work on more advanced guards. You have to get past that early. Long term, closed guard shouldn’t be neglected though, even if you don’t ever elect to play it, just because I believe in having a complete knowledge base in all positions. There shouldn’t be areas you aren’t proficient or knowledgeable in “just because you don’t play that game”.

Great stream. I'm about 4 hrs in here lol. I hear you say a lot of bring back when you draft players, meaning NFL week 17 playoffs? Does that draft strategy work on other platforms like Drafters or is the bring back mainly an underdog strategy?

It's the best guard. I say that as someone that loves "modern" guards. You have sweeps and back takes, but the most control, and the most submissions of any other guard.

@Chewjitsu, you gotta contact Leake BJJ back for when you come to MO in August. We want you there!! Please and thank you 🙏 😊

Well said chewy 👏

The thing is, from a historical perspective, the entire martial art of brazilian jiu jitsu really revolves around this one position, the full guard. And to this day, full guard is a very effective position against people who don't know jiu jitsu. Full guard is still pretty effective in jiu jitsu, certainly you can make it work in your gym, but it's fallen out of favor because it's not very effective in MMA. And with the decline of full guard we've seen the decline of jiu jitsu specialists in MMA.

went to a seminar with the brilliant Gordo not too long back. Nothing half past about that half guard 👌🏼

I really want to get better at closed guard, because I’m 40 and I think that being able to control a younger and stronger opponent’s explosiveness would be easier with more of my body connected to theirs. Problem is the gym I’m at doesn’t seem to spend a whole lot of time teaching those techniques, so I’m just working hard on Z and Butterfly guard

I’m a purple belt but I know a black belt who’s closed guard is so dangerous he can sweep me at will. I mean I kind of suck but I know what he’s trying to do and I can’t stop the dude.

Ummm closed guard is still cool. Friken mica galvao uses it all the time

I have the opposite problem with my coach. I never go to full guard and actively avoid using it, not because I think it’s useless but because I am trying to build a game that directly translates to my mma game. My coach is always telling me I have to use full guard and while I understand that he’s the coach and a black belt and knows more than me I respectfully disagree that it’s absolutely necessary to use full guard in grappling. I think you can see clear as day that less and less people in high level MMA are using full guard and the people that do often get trapped on bottom and elbowed. I’d rather expose my back, understanding the risks and fighting the hooks and then stay underneath somebody in a grappling exchange. If that means when I do jujitsu, I get my back taken and choked more often, then it is what it is but my coach doesn’t understand it.

I also train 5 times a week but consider myself a hobbyist. Reason being is the guys in my gym that compete train 2-3 times a day at 5-6 days a week. Id like to train more but due to work and that I can only get 1 class a day in mon-fri.

Closed guard is not a problem to play. If you know what you are doing, you are not going to be submitted from there. They have to break open the guard to pass (endless number of transitions to other guards from there). All while they play defense, you are playing offense with sweeps and submission attempts. Most of the time while they are trying open the closed guard they are wasting energy.

I'm purposely de-emphasizing my full guard for opposite reason, I'm not particularly effective in it. From white => blue re-acquiring full guard was drilled into me over and over again. I got relatively good at it and holding people there. Unfortunately it became my comfortable way of escape, a safe place to rest, and with larger, experienced partners I'm now more often getting passed and smashed under some kind of mount or side-control. Now that I'm in blue => purple part of my journey my coaches have told me to take more chances, sweep and move to more advantageous positions and be more aggressive seeking submissions. My full guard submissions are just not very good yet, yes I will still work on them, but one purple belt has encouraged me to "make them earn full guard". Play more open guard.

This is why it's called Martial Arts. Like art teachers, teachers teach you how to do the basics but eventually you'll find your own style

In scenarios where I’m hearing new guy is questioning advice of an experienced person I admit new guy could be right but lean towards assuming they didn’t understand the feedback. I’m wondering if feedback was more towards feeling they should work on other aspect of game besides guard (takedowns or passing or escapes from bad positions etc.) Also maybe even just try other guards beyond full guard to be more rounded. I know the poster specifically framed question in way that made it sound like their coach felt closed guard wasn’t good but that’s such bad advice I think something had to be lost in translation.

Depends on body type. Probably wouldn’t work very well with someone who has 2-ft legs.

If you plan to transition in to mma, you wouldnt want to find yourself in the close guard position. But if you're just doing BJJ the full guard is an amazing position

4 years in and I'm at a point where it doesn't matter. Do what ever you want. It's a game, have fun.

I mean if you were training MMA, full guard would be risky unless you’re extremely high level. However, pure BJJ shouldn’t have be a problem

When i was a white belt I hyper focused on full guard and thought it was working. However, my game stagnated seriously until I ended up swearing it off for a while to focus on other things. Not saying that's the case here, but IMO at white belt people tend to focus and on things that aren't right for them to the detriment of their overall game.

I wonder if Brian‘s coaches were attempting to ensure he gives proper focus to other things as well. Like with new people, bigger people, they habitually rely on strength and size to achieve things and this is often at the expensive developing technique and understanding of leverages. So maybe a coach wants to prevent that by asking him to focus on something he’s not strong at. But if not, yeah any coach that says don’t use guard is probably missing the point. “Whatever controls the opponent“ is something that works.

I wonder if he is misunderstanding what his coaches are wanting him to do. His coaches might be wanting him to venture away from full guard to try and build a foundation around a different guard and the he’s getting too comfortable doing the same thing. I’m thinking that it could be the fact that they want him to start getting his feet wet around the board with different positions as a white belt who is still learning.

Incredible how anyone that has done jj beyond white belt could ever say closed guard is bad 🤦🏻‍♂️ A good closed guard is loaded shotgun; I mean look at Mica, at Meregli at Roger, for crying out loud. Again, incredible and a coach saying something like that, would make me doubt his legitimacy right away.

My challenge to grapplers who believe it is suitable for street fighting: run your week of practices and sparring in a parking lot. On the concrete. I learned the hard way. Won a fight but looked like I was in a motorcycle accident. Thoughts?

So I think people build up too many distinctions between techniques in Jiu Jitsu. The classics are classic for a reason. While you may not see a lot of traditional Closed Guard at the highest levels, you can easily see the principles of Closed Guard coming into play. Take for example Levi Jones Leary in his most recent W at Oceania trials. He plays feet on the outside and bolos, but when people get their hips low and shut it down, he transitions into a hip bump without ever going to a Closed Guard. While he may not lock a Closed Guard, he's still within the realm of "Full Guard". Even some "modern" guards like K Guard can be seen as an extension of "full guard".

Full guard is so fundamental and being offensive from that position is excellent. But work on other guards so that you're versatile and simply more skilled.

i can understand his coach tho. it's not about winning rounds by pulling someone into your closed guard and holding them there. it's better for the development of your guard to learn how to move being on your back, how and when to play certain grips, to learn when it fails why it fails, developing guard retention skills etc. even danaher prefers half guard for beginners vs having them learn closed guard first. i've seen people in my gym being strong one trick ponies and when the level got higher and people learned how to open their closed guard or beat their "move" their whole game crumbled.

If you’re going to play guard whether it is full guard or open guard, stay dynamic, stay fluid, and keep attacking.

Yes sir we see how all of that worked out. I use all of those often. Not so much full guard anymore but that's because I'm playing with other interesting guards.

In BJJ there are nearly no other people than hobbyists. Its because you cant make money in it. Anyway, as for full guard, im not dogmatic in that sense. I think its important to keep advancing your position to the top or a submission. Full guard can be used effectively to that goal. But it can also make people "lazy", and they get stuck there. In that last case I would encourage people to open their guard and make their game more loose.

I'm not saying the case and certainly wasn't involved in the conversation but a part of me wonders about using a technique too much because it's comfortable. The idea relating from other activities I'm involved in being that if you always fall back to what you're comfortable with you may slow your development. Of course that doesn't necessarily play well with your specialization video from not long ago but I'm a white belt so specializing isn't exactly in my cards yet.

Anyone else hear the question and think the guy asking the question is just grabbing someone and holding them in closed guard and not moving or attempting any moves?

The guy who told you that guillotines are low percentage must have been on crack. According to the Tapology dataset, guillotines are the #3 submission in MMA.

Nothing wrong with full guard. But there can be something wrong with staying with something you are already good at, failing to evolve, not risking leaving your comfort zone or neglecting other positions. He should listen to his coaches, its rare that they actively steer you wrong.

if you can keep breaking posture so they cant stand, full guard js very effective

i am purple belt and i do not do closed guard anymore, just do open guard.

I find that so crazy the dude's coaches are telling him full/closed guard is ineffective and shouldn't be used while the guy is a white belt. Full/Closed guard is like an iconic position of BJJ and one of the first positions every BJJ practitioner learns. Personally, I love using full/closed guard. I was just at a IBJJF tournament and people were using full/closed guard in almost all the matches so it can't be a waste. Maybe, the guy's coaches are just trying to get him out of his comfort zone or maybe they fear he might be stalling too much?

Im 6 ft 1 215 lbs and full guard, x guard, single leg x guard etc etc work well for me.

Lol. I remember all those. "Half-guard is half-mount."

Closed guard is one of the strongest positions in jiu-jitsu

Closed guard is there to make the best of a bad situation. It's notna "go too".

to chewys point about the dude that told him not to play half guard, the top level guys in bjj currently use half guard as a checkpoint to successfully passing the guard, being less dangerous and easier to control than a full open / closed guard game at the highest levels... gordon ryans whole game passing style revolves around securing half guard... just my observation on this, maybe theres some merit to these "myths"

I don't think, we will have a ressurection of closed guard in high Level competition. Closed guard is a very strong grip but you lock up your own legs, we have a trend in many high Level Sports and competitions towards more dynamic, high risk fast aktion but also stalling heavy, playstiles. Rigit linear playstiles once beaten don't seem to come Back. For a single Person this doesn't matter ofc.

hobbyist 5 days a week - wish I had that time to train. it sucks training only two days a week

I used to play full guard, now I almost never use it, everyone’s game changes over time

someone in here should be mentioning the power slam

Full guard is a neutral position

Hobbyists isn't about attendance. I was twice a week guy BUT now a school opened up next door to my house so I do two a days now but still hobbyist.

Am I stupid for thinking being in a good guys full guard is dangerous asf

I spent 15 minutes playing guard in an MMA fight. I did not win.

I think people dont know how to control the head and arm, and thats why they aren't being effective with closed guard.

A closed gaurd player is dangerous. Tall, lanky triangle dudes lol

Full hard can be hard on the lower back

I'm a hobbyist and train bjj 8 hours a day.

half guard not a position? lol what?

ask roger gracie

upside down mount

I'm in the gym grappling 7 days a week, but I consider myself a hobbyist because I'm not a competitor. Isn't that how it works? (Not Sarcasm)

Chewy is older than half guard

Any coach that steers his students away from Closed Guard doesn't fully understand it. Watch how Roger and Mica absolutely destroy the competition with it. Closed Guard > Half Guard > Rest

I’m 6’5”, brown belt, with 9 years of training. Guard is a good position, but its drawbacks are it’s easy to get comfortable in there. And after a while, people start figuring you out. I now make it a point when I train that if I can’t sweep or submit in 1 minute, then I let the guy pass so I’m forcing myself to work on something else. Oh and guard is a bitch on your lower back as you get older. I’ve got the chiropractor bills to prove it.

Ask mica galvao then 😂😂

Jiu Jitsu IS the guard..change gyms.

no half guard? blaspheme!

Sounds like a bad coach. The only thing I could imagine is if the coach wants him to explore other positions which adhere to a curriculum in order to advance. But we all no there is no curriculum on jiu-jitsu.

Should we report the spam/porn comments or are those good for the algorithm?

I hate the title of this video. Old or Modern, Jiu Jitsu is a martial art, which means fighting. Tournaments are not the art.

leg locks not technical lool I hate dogmatic teachers... they know their techniques really well but they can't understand that there are things THEY don't get that can be good

Closed guard is to BJJ what O Soto Gari is to Judo. Very cool the first time you learn it, never works, then when you get it, it's absolutely overpowered.

Closed guard takes so much energy to force moves and it also is extremely predictable. Most other guards(including half guard) are flexible enough to transition to other guards if something is going wrong and also gives the abilitiy to go for forms of ashi garamis, 50 50, saddle, etc. Thats why I would encourage people to learn something like k guard over closed guard.

Hobbyist 5 days a week??

what cycles are you talking about? jiujitsu as a competive sport has only been around 30-40 years. That's not a lot of time for these 10-15 year cycles, especially when you consider there STILL isn't a competive ruleset in the gi that allows playing footsie. And its not like they didn't do that stuff in judo in the gi back in the day--because they did. Yet, still no cycle--unless you're going to say the cycle is actually around about 100 years, but that's not what you said in the video. I just don't think that's true, and grappling isn't like rock paper scissors. I think there is only make what is weak strong.

Full guard? Use it's real name: *Missionary*

Use what works for you, try a different gym

ah yes, like in gaming - the current "meta" is always shifting

Side control is a bad position. Don't use it because you'll get buggy choked...

its just not fun to play closed guard.