John Danaher on why the classic two-on-one armbar fails against good people and how the top lock fixes it: elbow inside your hip, head over the elbow, then a small pivot. A definitive lesson.
Submissions
Submissions
Armbar, triangle, kimura, cross collar choke, guillotine and omoplata - the classic closed guard attack chain.
Closed Guard Bottom · Closed Guard
The other side: Closed Guard Top
Techniques in this topic
Resources
21 resources
YouTube videos
Roger Gracie's basic lapel choke: feeding the opponent's own collar and finishing with posture rather than arm strength.
Roger Gracie teaching closed guard for FloGrappling: collar grip, posture break and the attacks he actually used at black belt.
Danaher's perfect armbar: the top lock, head position and the small pivot that finishes when the classic two-on-one stalls.
Very Simple And Efficient Armbar From BJJ Closed Guard by Giancarlo Bodoni
Bernardo Faria BJJ Fanatics YouTube
Giancarlo Bodoni's simple closed guard armbar: leg straight up then heavy heel high on the armpit, lock the shoulder, thumb to the sky and finish with the hips. Includes a grip break.
Davies' twisted armbar from closed guard, a finish when they hide the arm from the classic juji.
Jared Welman fixes the closed guard armbar: control posture first, isolate the arm with a two-on-one, back-stop the elbow with your arm and pin the far shoulder with your foot.
Chewjitsu's closed-guard kimura for white belts, the grip and hip details that actually finish it.
Chewjitsu's fundamental armbar from closed guard for beginners, broken into the grips, the angle and the finish.
How to Reliably Hit the Triangle Choke from the Overhook Grip in Closed Guard, with Jon Thomas
Stephan Kesting YouTube
Jon Thomas on hitting the triangle from the overhook in closed guard, including the anti-stack motion that keeps your hips on the floor when they drive in. From his Grapplearts closed guard course.
Brazilian Jiu-JItsu - Advanced Basics - Transitioning to Triangle from Closed Guard - Firas Zahabi
Tristar Gym YouTube
Firas Zahabi's drill for the closed guard triangle: pummel the arms inside, collar tie and wrist, hip escape to a clamp guard, then shoot. Framed as a repeatable drill for white belts.
Gustavo Gasperin breaks posture with the legs, deflects an arm, wraps it and hip escapes to slide the shin across for a basic triangle setup.
Roger Gracie's closed-guard arm-lock finishing details: the angle, the pinch and why the elbow has to stay inside.
Getting from closed guard to a front headlock: overhook, post, get your head above theirs and transfer the legs outside, then finish a high-elbow guillotine.
Fundamentals class on the cross collar choke from mount and closed guard: how deep to go, palm up versus palm down, and which way to lean or pull for each grip.
Uses the sit-up sweep as a starting point and shows the armbar, triangle and omoplata that appear when the opponent posts or pushes you back down. A tidy first attack chain.
Finishing the triangle when you have short legs or limited flexibility: foot on the hip, grab the shin, get the angle and pull towards you rather than down.
Beginner armbar from closed guard with the details most white belts miss: set the elbow to your centre line first, pivot like a top rather than hip escape, and do not cross the feet early.
Roger Gracie attacking from the arm-wrap in closed guard, the omoplata/kimura family when they hide the collar.
How the hip bump and kimura feed each other depending on the opponent's posture and hip height, with detail on generating speed for the sit-up and trapping the post.
Beginner cross collar choke from closed guard: deep first grip, step on the hip to expose the far side, second hand in the crease, then build the squeeze gradually so your grips do not burn out.