So I will try to study more on Half Guard. We have 13 courses here about half guard. What flow of topics should I target? Initially, I am thinking about Regular Half Guard > Deep Half Guard > Z Guard or Butterfly Half Guard etc. Thoughts on this? Thank you.
I know there is a page about this (required and optional learning etc) on the old website but I can't find it here on the new website.
Sounds like a plan! Enjoy!
I find myself in half guard a lot so I would definitely be interested in the best route to study.
Hi @@Jason_Scully - Do you still have that page where you discussed required and optional training videos for each position on the new website? Can't find it. Thank you!
If it was me I would do regular half>butterfly half/z>deep half. My reasoning would be to learn in order of where I’d most to least likely to transition from regular half guard to. I could also see why you’d do it your way too though because it seems like you went in order of most to least similar to regular half guard. Maybe it’d be easier to grasp deep half before z or butterfly half once you already understood regular half guard.
I like to teach half guard in this order:
1. Knee shield and general half guard retention, so that people don't get insta-passed in half guard.
2. Underhook / coyote guard / single leg / dog fight / back takes a la Lucas Leite, to start adding offensive options.
3. Deep half which I see as "underhooking in the other direction", i.e. now you're going below/inside to underhook the leg as opposed to above/outside to underhook the arm.
4. Connecting half guard to other guards: half butterfly, closed guard etc.
5. Z guard for either retention or leg entries.
skrumian, post: 60870, member: 31496
Isn't knee shield and z guard the same? Pardon my ignorance.
It's important not to think Z guard is just knee shield played sideways, as your knee will end up way too deep past the opponent's center line and you'd get smash passed. They're different positions that lead to different setups and entries.
skrumian, comment: 85, member: 31496
Cool man. Thanks! I like the being offensive in #2. I need to be in that mindset.
otravers, post: 60953, member: 33661
Half guard has turned into an offensive position since Roberto "Gordo" Correa back in the 90s, but you have to know how to play the position by not getting underhooked and crossed faced into being flat on your back. If you're flat your underhook is useless and you'll get pressure passed, you're left with trying to sweep or at least create space with a butterfly hook if you can get it. Recovering the underhook is pretty hard against someone comfortable playing top half.
To be honest, I would not approach it that way in advance. I would suggest beginning by studying the "Regular Half Guard" material. There is A LOT of material in there. As in months worth of study. Work on building a solid game from Half Guard before you decide where to go next. At that point you will know what kinds of problems that you are running into and can explore which of the more advanced variations will help with those issues or will be a better fit with the game that you are developing. For me the next step was Deep Half and it totally revolutionized my Guard game. But, for you, it may be Z Guard, mastering DogFight, or even something more exotic like G-Roll. It is just too early to tell right now.
Just my two cents worth.
I want to study the "regular" half guard more as well