Catching both legs with guard: random catch? Or something to build up?

[Mario Lopez Alvarez]

Any videos?

[Carson J Lodge]

It's not personal, I know that. However, I often see that general way of thinking that black belts are this mystical figure to be all too common. It can be a mental block, and it needn't be. If the guy is truly a legit black belt, he should hold his own w/o question. I took his comment as a defeatist sorta way of thinking, not as a personal shot by any means. It's a way of thinking that more recently, I've made it a point to mentally overcome and not sell myself short in my conviction in playing my game. ForGET about their belt color and just play your game. I guess when I read it it struck a chord. Wasn't personal. I never take things personal, especially online. Even if they are.

In regards to your question, I know for a fact that Prof. Monteiro and any other black belt I roll with doesn't/shouldn't hand me things. I don't feel he does in the slightest. I was merely remarking about the general thought that a belt color makes you invincible, which is how I perceived his post. It doesn't.

It's not that I don't believe a lower level can catch a higher level, it is just a legit professor or high level black belt should have things down so much you can try tooth and nail and guess what? Nothing. I have a couple black belts at my school that let you put them in so deep that you think "OMG! I am going to get him, no one in the history of me being this deep in this move has ever escaped!" and all of a sudden they just shimmy out of it with hardly any effort and the tightest choke or arm bar just melts away like butter in your arms. They aren't invincible, I have seen some world level brown belts putting it on a new black belt and even giving one of the "monk like" black belts a hard time after he had a back injury, but even the world level purple belts have nothing on them. It's not even that they do techniques any different than someone that is good at a lower level, but their timing and execution is unlike anything else. They defend and escape at will at any point no matter how deep in anything, usually letting you get deep into things. That is my experience with high level black belts. I know everyone has trained with at least one person like that in their career

[Arman Fathi]

It's not that I don't believe a lower level can catch a higher level, it is just a legit professor or high level black belt should have things down so much you can try tooth and nail and guess what? Nothing. I have a couple black belts at my school that let you put them in so deep that you think "OMG! I am going to get him, no one in the history of me being this deep in this move has ever escaped!" and all of a sudden they just shimmy out of it with hardly any effort and the tightest choke or arm bar just melts away like butter in your arms. They aren't invincible, I have seen some world level brown belts putting it on a new black belt and even giving one of the "monk like" black belts a hard time after he had a back injury, but even the world level purple belts have nothing on them. It's not even that they do techniques any different than someone that is good at a lower level, but their timing and execution is unlike anything else. They defend and escape at will at any point no matter how deep in anything, usually letting you get deep into things. That is my experience with high level black belts. I know everyone has trained with at least one person like that in their career

For sure I've had experiences where I get a guy deep in a hole, but their experience/savvy overcomes any threat I might pose. The sweep or submission usually has to be clean and catch'em by surprise, but it can happen. Believing is the name of the game. Mentally, I try to act like I belong there, in an advantageous position. The range is pretty wide though. We're talking about different age groups, athletic levels, experience levels, and lineages. A lot of factors come into play. A Gracie Barra black belt would have a different style than a 10p black belt, as would a Gracie Academy black belt, Atos black belt, etc. etc. A 30 year old black belt would probably pose more of an immediate threat than a 50 year old black belt. A fourth or fifth degree black belt or even a coral or red belt would probably have layers to their game that a 1st or 2nd degree hasn't developed yet. Again, they got the black belt for a reason. Not every black belt I've rolled with has had the range of attacks and flat out danger factor as Nathan Orchard for example, but I'll be damned if I've met one that didn't have a pristine defensive foundation. I think it's a good habit to separate yourself from the rank with anyone you roll with and let it flow. Some might disagree, particularly on the merit that it's "good to see where you stand", and I could very well see their point. The reason I think this way though is because I never want to sell myself short and mentally psyche myself into thinking I can't catch someone, or just as importantly, get complacent vs. a lower rank and expect that they can't catch me. For all I know, that dude walking in with a 3 or 4 stripe white belt has been training for less than a year but is the next BJ Penn, straight up taking privates with Ralph Gracie 5 days a week. Extreme example I know, but you never know who might walk through that door.

[Sean Gamble]

[Joshua Jarboe]

Any videos?

White belts do not simply post videos to the 10th Planet forums...

Once I have a little more to show, I might post a video asking for criticism. If I understand the rules correctly, that would be ok as long as I'm not posing as a dude teaching anything (much less teaching 10pjj).

Got the position twice last night. Almost had double lockdown but rushed the sweep it and lost the position.

I picked up a sweep last night from a blue belt who immediately recognized how much trouble he was in in 'stage 1 double half' or 'low full guard.' He told me to block the shoulder and "just push him over." It worked of course. But will it work on an opponent that isn't compliantly teaching me? We'll see.

So I've got a lot of work to do to before I subject this to further criticism. For now, I'm just trying to find out if anybody out there has done something similar.

//video

Yeah, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. Thanks!

[Carson J Lodge]

Yay! A video The entry from someone standing looks way easier that the way I imagined it. I thought you were getting here from guard with your opponent sitting or trying to stand and pass from closed guard and somehow wrapping their legs up aha

[Tony "The Goods" Garcia]

Yay! A video The entry from someone standing looks way easier that the way I imagined it. I thought you were getting here from guard with your opponent sitting or trying to stand and pass from closed guard and somehow wrapping their legs up aha

Actually, that's exactly how I catch it...mostly full guard but also traditional half and lock down.

[Carson J Lodge]

Actually, that's exactly how I catch it...mostly full guard but also traditional half and lock down.

It's time to play with this new tool This is why I love discussing technique on this forum, even if I come from a skeptical POV sometimes, I always learn something

[Brent Smith]

Well that proves its effectiveness

[MikeW]

I was fooling around with this for a while. We called it whale guard because I was fat and lazy when I started playing with it. I haven't used it in a while but it was super high percentage when I was using it.

I would always try to work my way to the back forcing my opponent to post with the other hand on the other side. I would pick that hand for the sweep. There were a couple of other options. I used to hit an arm triangle from bottom similar to the one from lockdown and also the kimura is often there.

I will go back to it this week and see if anything else pops into my memory.