Supine and seated guards: The foundation of the bottom game in Jiu jitsu is the guard position. Most Jiu jitsu students are taught very early to distinguish between CLOSED and OPEN guard. This is good, because they are very different games and understanding the difference is important for progress. There is another equally important distinction however, that gets much less attention, which is unfortunate because it too, is extremely important for your progress and understanding. This is the distinction between SEATED and SUPINE (lying on your back) guards. Seated guards create great opportunities to use your mobility and hand fighting skills. In addition they allow you to use falling body weight to generate impressive momentum and thus greatly increase your sweeping power. This does come at the price of increased back and neck exposure however. Supine guards on the other hand, practically eliminate back and neck exposure, but at the price of greater leg exposure to a skilled leg locker. Supine guards make your legs weightless and this allow for excellent leg dexterity for guard retention. They also place your legs very close to your opponents head and arms and therefore are ideal for upper body submissions when opponents are on their knees. Just as every Jiu jitsu student has an obligation to learn both open and closed guard to maximize the effectiveness of their bottom game, so to they have an obligation to learn to weave together seated and supine guards so that they can employ the strong points of both against tough opponents. Here, Gordon Ryan, a true master of both supine and seated guards and who specializes in integrating the two together to create a devastating bottom game, employs good foot/leg positioning to use a “forward shift” the most important transitional movement between supine and seated guards to move easily from one to another as he spars brother nicky ryan.
