I’ll be honest….my closed guard isn’t a strong part of my game. I have very limited options from the closed guard but one of my main go to moves is the Arm Drag from closed guard. I really like this Arm Drag because it flows smoothly into a very easy back take.

One of they keys to hitting the Arm Drag from the open guard is to make sure that you have a good shrimp. When I first started playing around with this transition I kept getting put on my back even after I did the Arm Drag. After a few more attempts I realized that I kept getting shut down because I wasn’t moving my hips out. Since I kept my hips in line with my opponent’s all they had to do was push me straight down and I lost all of my movement. If you don’t want this to happen to you, make sure that you shrimp your hips out to the side after you hit the Arm Drag.

The second key to this transition is the kick up.  In the video below Gracie Barra instructor Tim Gillette makes it a point to talk about how the kick gives you the momentum that you need to get up to your elbow. Being a bigger Jiu Jitsu player this movement is super crucial. Trying to just do a sit up sucks. Use the kick here to pull your self up to him.

All month long we are studying the Arm Drag over at 10th Planet Van Nuys. Check out 10th Planet Van Nuys for more info!