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In another special week of Renzo Gracie Online Academy, Leo Tunico offers several tips for you to fight with the open guard, from both a defensive and an offensive standpoint, with multiple sweeps and one submission.

With firm grips, loose hips, lots of creativity and the entire repertoire of positions taught by Leonardo Tunico, you will be qualified to best even the strongest passers at your gym.

In your lifestyle lesson, catch a powerful motivational speech by judo champion Jimmy Pedro.

This week of Renzo Gracie Online Academy is organized as follows:

• Five open guard techniques.
• One lifestyle lesson.

Day 1: Monday

Lesson 1: Open guard concepts

Learn general notions of positioning and adjustments to safely fight with your guard open. Pay attention to how Tunico breaks his opponent’s posture with the hand on the collar, and also to the way he controls the distance with one foot propped on the passer’s hips, while his other leg makes circular motions to break eventual grips on his pants.

Day 2: Tuesday

Lesson 2: Sweep from spider guard

One way to fight with the open guard, without losing control over your opponent’s movements, is by controlling both their sleeves, using your feet on their biceps. It’s what we call the spider guard. Leo Tunico reveals positioning details for you to accurately execute one of the most basic sweeps from the spider guard.

Day 3: Wednesday

Lesson 3: Triangle from spider guard

Combine two or three attacks in a sequence — that is one of the secrets to making your spider guard truly efficient. In this lesson, Leo Tunico analyzes a common scenario. The guard player tries to sweep the passer, who momentarily gets unbalanced but does not fall. That does not mean the attack was useless, though. Tunico shows that in the middle of the movement, the passer made himself vulnerable to the triangle.

Day 4: Thursday

Lesson 4: Sweep from the sit-up guard

The adjustments of the sit-up guard require you to hug one of the passer’s legs and, if possible, control the sleeve on the opposite side. Pay attention to the stress Leo Tunico places on the need to break your opponent’s posture to be able to sweep them.

Day 5: Friday

Lesson 4: Lifestyle / The art of challenging oneself

Jimmy Pedro says that nothing can stop us but ourselves. In this lesson, he instigates you to leave your comfort zone and strive to realize your dreams. A true push of confidence and positivity to help you pierce the blockade of fear and laziness and go get what’s yours.

Lesson 6: Variation on the sweep from sit-up guard

Tunico shows that when we play the sit-up guard, our opponent tends to use their knee to press our body against the ground. Knowing this, he adds an effective counter-move and ends up on top.

Renzo Gracie Online Academy

This week at Renzo Gracie Online Academy, you will revisit basic positions that we’ve looked at throughout the course, being reminded of adjustment and movement details. These are fundamental topics that must be often looked at if the student is to refine their technique in search of maximum efficiency.

For example, Leo Tunico talks about general open guard notions. How must one break their opponent’s posture with a hand on the collar? How to control the distance with one foot on the passer’s hip? Tunico has the answers here:

Robsinho Gracie teaches a simple way for you to defend against a back attack. By mastering this technique, you will ensure that you’ll never again get scared and try to brute-force your way out of an attack to your back.

Your takedown lesson reminds you how to nail the sumi gaeshi.

Finally, in your lifestyle lesson, you can get inspired by Jimmy Pedro’s thoughts on the art of challenging yourself:

Go to www.gallerr.com/rgoa and get discount of unlimited access to RGOA.

Go to Back Escapes complete program -> gallerr/rgoa/backescapes

Go to Open Guard complete program -> gallerr/rgoa/openguard

Continuing with the theme studied last week, Renzo Gracie and Leo Tunico teach fundamental techniques starting from the open guard, further widening your range of options so you never again have to feel unsafe when your opponent opens your guard. You will learn that the space and mobility your opponent has when they open your guard can be used against them, as if the guard player were throwing bait to attract the passer toward devilish traps. In your lifestyle lesson, check out the testimonial by Olympic judoka Travis Stevens, who shows how you can benefit from the winning mindset of a high-performance athlete.

This week of Renzo Gracie Online Academy is organized as follows:

• Seven lessons about open guard techniques.
• One lifestyle lesson.

Day 1: Monday

Lesson 1: Back-take via collar drag

When your opponent opens your guard and bullfights in search of side control, you can control their collar, thus controlling their moves and attacking too. It’s what Renzo Gracie teaches in this special lesson about the open guard, shifting between chokes and collar drags. Note that it’s important for you to place yourself sideways at all times, providing your hips with mobility and also widening the angle that will make your collar pull extra powerful.

Lesson 2: Sit-up guard controlling the near sleeve

As you hug your opponent’s leg in order to play sit-up guard, you have multiple options to grip the passer’s gi: lapel, belt, sleeve on the opposite side, or the sleeve closest to you (same side as the leg you’re controlling). Tunico demonstrates a sweep that uses this last type of grip. Pay attention to the details of Tunico’s spin designed to unbalance his opponent.

Day 2: Tuesday

Lesson 3: Choke from the open guard

Renzo Gracie shows how the cross collar is a very effective support point for you to stay protected with your guard open. Note that Renzo uses the grip on it as a sort of shield, controlling the distance in relation to the passer’s body in a dynamic way. The second his opponent approaches more than necessary, Renzo grips his jacket with the other hand and squeezes. Pay attention to how Renzo gets his opponent’s neck close to his stomach. If the passer moves away rather than closer, Renzo uses the collar control to pull abruptly and then move to the back.

Lesson 4: Sit-up guard to single-leg

Leo Tunico draws attention to the possibility that your opponent may break your grips the moment you arrive on the sit-up guard. In this case, a great option is to move to the single-leg. Pay attention to the positioning details so that you can stand, and don’t forget to use your shoulder to take your opponent down.

Day 3: Wednesday

Lesson 5: Tripod sweep

Leo Tunico teaches one of the most basic sweeps from the open guard — one that is recommended for when your opponent tries to pass your guard standing. One hand controls the sleeve; the other controls the heel. One leg hooks the opponent’s free leg while the guard player pushes the passer’s hips with their other foot. After he fells his opponent, pay attention to the details that Tunico teaches for you to easily get on top.

Day 4: Thursday

Lesson 6: Lasso defense

One option you have to play with the open guard is the lasso guard. Leo Tunico tackles the defensive aspects of this position, revealing tricks for you to wrap one of your opponent’s arms with your leg and contain their passing attempts. Pay attention to the way Tunico grips his opponent’s sleeve.

Day 5: Friday

Lesson 7: Lasso sweep

Leo Tunico analyzes the lasso guard from an attacking perspective. When his opponent tries to get to side control without getting rid of the leg that’s wrapping his arm, he becomes extremely vulnerable to getting swept to the opposite side he’s attacking. Tunico draws attention to the importance of not losing the grip on the sleeve, among other details.

Lesson 8: Lifestyle/ Competition

Travis Stevens believes the training plan of a high-performance athlete can be applied to the life of anybody faced with a challenging goal. In this lesson, Travis draws attention to the fact that you need a clear, realistic vision of who you are and what your true potential is at each stage of your journey.

Renzo Gracie Online Academy

Renzo and his team have built a weekly lessons program to supplement your training, routines, and your lifestyle in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Sign up now!

GMA member Adem Redzovic of Team Redzovic in Chicago, IL will be in the Bay for a seminar on Aug. 18.

The class from 5 to 6:30 p.m. will go over his techniques on the open guard and will break down or “translate” the many variations.

If you’d like to be more well-rounded and spice up your guard, head to this seminar.

To reserve your spot contact 45-255-8482. The cost per person is $50.

Learn more about Adem and his team at www.chicagojiujitsu.com

Learn more by watching this video of concepts and Jiu-Jitsu positions explained:

When you’re playing open guard, the opponent’s path is clear to attack, take your legs out of play and pursue a position of advantage like side-control or the mount.

That’s why it’s always handy to have some weapons up your sleeve for when he opens your guard.

Today, GRACIEMAG dug up a choke by the black belt Eric Bordo, who demonstrates how to use an attack on the neck to disconcert the opponent and set up the counter-attack—a sweep topped with a mount.

Check out Eric’s tricks:

Liked that? Comment below.

Pay attention, Sonnen: Gilbert Durinho teaches how to fend off Jon Jones’ elbows. Photo: GRACIEMAG.

If you were Chael Sonnen, what would you do to keep Jon Jones’s elbows at bay?

The best thing to do, of course, would be to not end up underneath him. That’s no easy task. Another would be to avoid irritating the light heavyweight champion during shooting of season 17 of The Ultimate Fighter reality show, the final of which will take place April 27, probably in New Jersey, USA. But we doubt Sonnen will take that route.

So the solution is to tune in to the advice of Gilbert “Durinho” Burns, who helped train Vitor Belfort for his own encounter with Jones. To Durinho the trick is to meld Jiu-Jitsu with boxing.

That’s right, the leg guard of Jiu-Jitsu and the hand behind the head of boxing.

“Fighters these days insist on grabbing the wrist of the opponent on top doing ground and pound. That’s just what he wants, since all he has to do is twist and the elbow goes in crisp,” says Durinho.

“I’d rather climb my guard up and try clinching him behind the head. If he escapes, I protect myself with the hand behind the neck, like in boxing, until I can get a knee in and distance him or try an armbar…” he teaches, with the help of training partner Jhon Menezes in a training session filmed at Vitor Belfort’s Rio de Janeiro gym.

Did you find the 2011 lightweight world champion’s tip helpful? Let us know in the comments field below.

Pedro Mello in absolute final at 2012 South Brazilian Championship / Photo by Ivan Trindade/GRACIEMAG

Pedro Mello, a professor at Gracie Floripa, is calling on one and all to stop in at his Southern Brazilian academy. But first he wants to teach the following sweep that he always pulls off at championships;

It starts from open guard and from there things just get worse for his opponents, as he demonstrates. Keep an eye on his grips and the right moment to get on top.

What do you make of it?

Jean Jacques Machado in ADCC / Photo by Susumu Nagao

One of the attractions on tap for the October 14 Metamoris Pro event in San Diego, California, is the matchup between gentle-art professors Jean Jacques Machado and Nelson Monteiro, the two gentle-art idols from the early days of Jiu-Jitsu in Abu Dhabi facing off in a 20-minute match where only submissions count for the win.

Riding the wave of intrigue surrounding the match where neither points nor advantage points will be scored, the black belt Eddie Bravo, a student of the Machados’ from way back, brought up the way in which his teacher Jean Jacques overcame the lack of fingers on his left hand, living and touching proof of the adaptability so characteristic of Jiu-Jitsu.

“For those who don’t know, my master Jean Jaques Machado has no fingers on his left hand. That’s why his overhook is the best in all of Jiu-Jitsu. No one comes even close to his overhook. If he had fingers, he’d be grabbing the gi just like everyone else. Because he had no fingers he couldn’t grab anyone sleeve; he had to overhook everything. Over the years, he developed an Olympic wrestling overhook,” says Bravo in the following video.

“That’s why in Abu Dhabi, when everyone was trying to figure out what to do with the No-Gi game, we had all these legends in Jiu-Jitsu who were masters of passing guard and finishing, but they didn’t know what to do without the handles, and they were going up against all these wrestlers who were masters of controlling bodies without handles, but they didn’t know how to pass guard or finish. […] epic battles of nothing going on […] a sleeping pill. And then Jean Jaques came along and crushed everybody, finished everybody,” he elaborates.

Take note of the effectiveness of Bravo’s left hand, inspired by Jean Jacques, and watch how he uses it to bring the opponent to him, remove his base and hook sweep in No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu.

Photo by Regis Chen/GRACIEMAG

Learn to pull guard and sweep with Jiu-Jitsu professor Alexandre “Dande” Ferreira of the academy Gracie Barra South Austin, USA.

It’s a position he teaches in advanced classes but can still be useful to practitioners of all levels.

Note the key moment in the position, when Dande pushes the legs into x position, lets go of his sparring partner’s collar, posts his hand on the mat and sweeps.

Dig that? Comment below to help make GRACIEMAG.com even more useful to Jiu-Jitsu fighters.

Caio Terra sinks a triangle in 2009 Worlds final. Photo: Regis Chen/GRACIEMAG.

In the early days of the UFC, Royce Gracie took the world by storm with his Jiu-Jitsu and guard, leaving a string of bigger, heavier opponents in his wake. In December 1994, at UFC 4, the commentator for the fight between the Brazilian black belt and Dan Severn said: “He wants to get out of there; he’s got nothing.” A slight misjudgment, as Royce was in the process of introducing the world to the triangle choke. Within mere seconds, the lumbering wrestler was tapping out, signaling he’d given up.

The guard continues to draw awe to this day. In the latest issue of GRACIEMAG, for example, Jiu-Jitsu stars take a close look at the details involved in mastering the guard and the triangle. We made the most of the occasion to offer up some more ins-and-outs of the move, here. Just don’t forget: never rest in anyone’s half-guard; it could be your undoing.

1. Caio Terra & Co. teach tricks to the spider-guard

2. Ricardo de la Riva teaches sweep

3. Vinicius Canevari “Magoo” ensina a ir para as costas ou finalizar

4. João Santos demonstrates choke

5. Rubem Patrick teaches forearm choke

Two-time heavyweight world champ Rodolfo Vieira tries passing guard in training. Publicity photo.

Being good at passing guard means stringing together an array of techniques and having the foresight to see through what your guard-playing teammate is aiming for. That’s why you practically need superpowers, which only come through loads of training and repetitions.

Today, GRACIEMAG.com is looking to offer you some unfailing weapons for surmounting the barricade of your opponent’s legs. Practice them and then comment: What’s your favorite pass? Which of the following details was most useful to you?

1. Pass guard spreading the fan, with Bruno Frazatto

2. Rafael Lovato Jr. shows how to pass open guard

3. Claudio Arrais how to trap hand and pass guard with hips down low

4. Marcos Schubert teaches bull-fighter pass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kaq8EikhE5k

5. Sylvio Behring guard pass and back take