Distance control: one of the most important aspects of guard play is controlling THE DISTANCE BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR OPPONENT. If your opponent is move to move towards and away from you at will – he gets to choose when and how you engage – that's a big advantage for the top player. It's important you take those luxuries away from him and bestow them on yourself. Controlling distance without a gi can be a challenge as you don't have the gi collar to help you. I generally find the best all round method is ashi garami. Your knee positioned in front of him makes it difficult and risky for an opponent to push towards you and also difficult to back away as you have a leg positioned behind him as well. As soon as you control distance it's time to attack the opponents balance – and then attack with sweeps and submissions. start with grip into distance control, then off balancing, then the real attack. Multi tiered approaches like this are what will make your guard a formidable weapon for any opponent.
