The spider guard is an outstanding position for your attacker to be in because beating this guard takes some serious skill. Known as one of the most frustrating guards to overcome in all of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the spider guard allows your opponent to use the full range of their body to maintain a firm grip on you to gain your submission or to sweep you. What began as a stalling or defensive position has become a movement that has been used by world-class fighters to bring them success in high stakes competition. Whether your opponent is using it to defend themselves or as a position to attack from, here is how you beat the spider guard. Looking for affordable jiu jitsu classes in Raleigh? Call Gracie today.
Posture
Having great posture is the key to beating the spider guard. Not standing completely upright and lowering your hips reduces the effectiveness of your opponent’s control over your arms with his or her legs and feet. Significantly reduce the leverage your opponent has on your arm by pinching and bending your elbows to your body.
Move Back
If you step forward, you’ll enable your opponent to sweep you or further increase their hold on you easily. Instead, step back and reduce their ability to control your biceps or use their legs to control you. Not only does moving backward make it a more difficult position for your attacker, but it also gives you some room to begin the next step of the process. Remember, never come to your knees during spider guard, your opponent will be able to sweep you easily.
Break Their Grip
If you don’t know how to break these types of grips properly, this could be the most challenging part of defending yourself against a spider guard. Once you have chosen which grip to break, you must first let go of your own grip on your opponent’s pant legs. From the outside, circle underneath your opponent’s leg and push through on the inside of their leg. This stretching motion will act as a wedge and force their grip to break. While this move is simple, it is also effective and will allow you to begin passing the guard.
Pass the Legs
There are two effective ways for you to get past the legs of your opponent. While you are in a significantly better position than you were in before, you are still in danger. By performing a thigh stomp pass or a leg drag pass, you have a good chance of getting out of the guard completely.
Thigh Stomp Pass Never allow your body to come too close to your opponent, you don’t want to give them control of your hips. To begin this pass, step on the thigh of your opponent’s bent leg with your opposite side foot. Before starting to break your opponent’s grip on your side arm, put some pressure on their thigh. Then take the foot that was on their thigh and move it across your body and the mat. As you do this, use the grip on their pants on the other side to push their knee to the mat. This pins their legs to the mat and allows you to pass safely into the turtle position or into side control.
Leg Drag Pass You will want to drag the leg on the same side as the unbroken grip. Step to the side to the drag the leg. This allows your leg to pass through more easily. Attempting to drag the leg while still in your original posture is incredibly difficult. Once you have stepped to the side, drag the leg out and step backward. Begin applying pressure. Be sure that when you step back, you don’t give your opponent too much space.
2019 Jiu Jitsu Classes in Raleigh
Learn these moves and more with the expert coaching staff at Gracie Raleigh! Call or come by the gym today to learn how you can up your skills in 2019 with the best jiu jitsu classes in Raleigh.