Breaking Posture

Since I recently wrote about the importance of maintaining good posture in the Guard, I thought it was only appropriate to mention the importance of breaking your opponent's posture when you have someone in your Guard.

First off, it will always be far easier to maintain your opponent's broken posture than it will be to break his posture. With that in mind, begin the process immediately and stick with it. If you allow your opponent to establish a good posture, he may be well on his way to passing your Guard or mounting a leg attack.

Of course there are exceptions to this. If you're experienced and time your movements correctly, you can use your opponent's posturing to mount your attack. For example instead of holding him down, you could follow him up to execute a hip-heist reversal, Kimura or Guillotine Choke.

For most of us though, breaking posture may prove more reliable. There are a number of ways to do this, and it may depend on your opponent. Because of the dynamic nature of a grappling match, one can't really say to start at any particular place.

Some things to think about are controlling the back of the head (not the neck), attacking the elbows, attacking the wrists, using your hips, and using your legs. Don't muscle your opponent down. Use leverage and body mechanics to off balance your opponent.

As demonstrated by Roy Dean, here are some things to consider when breaking your opponent's posture.



This is a demonstration by Royce Gracie on breaking posture.