skribs
Grandmaster
Recently, I've felt like the worst part of my game is bottom guard. I don't feel confident in my ability to attack (sweep or submission), and so it's a major stalling point for me in any roll. If I pull guard, I'm stuck. If I recover guard, I'm stuck. If I get swept, I'm stuck.
I talked to one of the brown belts yesterday and said that I really want to develop a sweep game. His advice for me was to develop an attack sequence. Pick a starting point and a submission that's the end goal, and work specifically towards that. Don't worry about branches and alternatives. Focus on that one attack sequence and troubleshoot any issues with it. Drill that sequence against white belts, and then just be a punching bag for upper belts. (Take any obvious submissions that are there, but otherwise focus on one submission).
I get where he's coming from, and what he's trying to get me to do. But I actually feel relatively confident in my attacks from a control position, it's just my attacks from guard that are the weak link. He was also intentionally vague on how I should develop this sequence. Which leads to a few questions that I'm asking myself, and maybe I could get some guidance on.
I talked to one of the brown belts yesterday and said that I really want to develop a sweep game. His advice for me was to develop an attack sequence. Pick a starting point and a submission that's the end goal, and work specifically towards that. Don't worry about branches and alternatives. Focus on that one attack sequence and troubleshoot any issues with it. Drill that sequence against white belts, and then just be a punching bag for upper belts. (Take any obvious submissions that are there, but otherwise focus on one submission).
I get where he's coming from, and what he's trying to get me to do. But I actually feel relatively confident in my attacks from a control position, it's just my attacks from guard that are the weak link. He was also intentionally vague on how I should develop this sequence. Which leads to a few questions that I'm asking myself, and maybe I could get some guidance on.
- Should I develop a "defensive" sequence that starts from recovering guard, or an offensive sequence that starts with me getting on top with a take-down?
- Is the development of a sweep game a subset of what he suggested I do? Right now that's the link in the chain that needs troubleshooting.
- What submission do I want to focus on? Based on how things have been going recently for me, armbar seems a good one. Although I want to be the wrist lock spammer when I hit blue. I also do enjoy a nice paper cutter, punch choke, or Ezekiel, although I haven't gone for them in a while.
- How narrow of a path should I carve for myself to get there? For example, do I always want to go pass guard - side control - mount - S-mount - armbar? Or do I want to just focus on advancing position until an armbar is an option?
- Do I want to include other submissions as part of the attack chain (i.e. threaten the Americana to get the armbar) or do I want to focus exclusively on the armbar?