RubberGuard vs. Open Guard

[Richard Tran]

So my strength in jiu jitsu is to be on top with good passes and to control the fight. I feel my top game is superior to my guard game. I prefer the game where I am on top fighting my opponents guard and dictating the fightt versus fighting off my back and risk having my guard passed.

So the question is, If I have a really developed Open Guard game such as spider, x guard, butterfly, half, deep half, de la riva, etc. is it necessary for me to have a killer closed guard game also?

I know the goal in jiu jitsu is to master everything but for time's sake, should I be working on an open and closed guard game at the same time with both being developed slowly, or work on one and make it killer? To me I do not think it is not necessary to master all the rubber guard/doublebagger/ etc if I am proficient at sweeping a lot off my back.

My thoughts based on my game is that I want to get a killer open guard and be good at sweeps and have a good top game as well. I will still train some Rubber/closed guard stuff, but that will mostly just be a backbone plan to fallback on. So in a summary as time permits, I was thinking Get good at sweeping, pass guard, and win the top game.

What are your guys thoughts?

[Brent Smith]

Well the way I look at it is you can't learn everything at once. If you think developing your open guard will benefit your game the most, do that! Everybodys game will be different.

[Tony Toffolo]

^ agreed

[ajbab69]

Your game will improve as you put more time on the mats. Don't over think it trying to get good at one position. Instead train them all, train hard and train smart and you'll figure out what works best for you.