Open guard is a four limbed beast – not two: The mistake complete beginners make when learning open guard is to grapple with their arms. This is totally hopeless. Soon they wise up and start focusing on their legs as the basis of open guard. This is MUCH better, but over emphasis on the legs alone creates an over defensive open guard – hard to pass but not very dangerous. ONLY WHEN YOU USE ARMS AND LEGS TOGETHER IN UNISON CAN YOU BE EQUALLY STRONG IN offense AND DEFENSE AND ABLE TO combine UPPER BODY PULLS WITH LOWER BODY PUSHES (and vice versa) TO CREATE OFF BALANCING THAT MAKES YOU A DANGEROUS ATHLETE FROM underneath. As soon as you engage your arms and legs together your spine will round in the shape of a banana and friction with the mat will be greatly reduced and produce a rocking motion that will creat fast motion and enable you to carry and move your opponents weight – THATS when the magic of open guard begins! Here, Nicky Ryan show a superb interplay between upper and lower body engagement from open guard.
