Removing a potential base of support prior to a sweep: Sweeping tough opponents from open guard is never an easy thing. You can however, make it a lot easier by first taking away an opponents base of support in the direction of the sweep. This usually means trapping an arm on one side of the body and sweeping towards the side of that trapped arm. Here I have my partners right arm trapped between our bodies. This will make a sweep to my left much easier. This comes at the price of additional hand fighting prior to the sweep so that you can trap the arm – however a little extra work at the start of an enterprise usually leads to easier work down the line – and that's exactly the philosophy of arm traps as a precursor to sweeps. Use them whenever you can and watch your open guard sweep game make some serious progress!
