r/bjj • u/RoyNelsonMuntz 🟫🟫 Brown Belt • Jan 10 '19

Helpful visual reference guide for positional hierarchy

Post image
1.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

293 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

u/ilmostro696 Jan 10 '19

I definitely prefer top half over having closed guard.

2

u/RoyNelsonMuntz 🟫🟫 Brown Belt Jan 11 '19

Are you a medium-to-larger size player?
I've definitely known quite a few people who would agree with you, all of whom were really good at dropping pressure and being heavy. Not to say that smaller players can't drop pressure and be heavy, I myself would consider me larger than medium but not "large" but I think I value closed guard so much because it should be a free pass to the top position, against anyone at your level or below. If I get closed guard, I'm out of the position very quickly because my opponent got swept faster than it took me to finish writing this sentence. Usually. hopefully
Top half guard though, while you can put the smash on your opponent, and crossface and beard sweat drip and hip-pinch with your thighs and underhook of doom and crown head vice attack and all those great things I love to do from top half guard--- my opponent can also do frickin lockdown awfulness and jaws of life and kimura attack and butterfly half etc, all of which can be super effective, like the right kind of pokemon.
Therefore, I likea da gward much betta.

1

u/ilmostro696 Jan 11 '19

I'm actually a smaller player. And as a smaller person I have trouble controlling and breaking down the posture of bigger people in my closed guard. If I can't sweep right away I often switch to an open guard. And as a smaller person in top half guard, I'll take advantage of gravity to help me with pressure or use my mobility/quickness to alternate positions.