Angle: We all figure out how early on in our development that is hard to attack someone directly from the front – you immediately run into their strongest lines of defense – the hands and head. Most success comes from circumventing those major lines of defense. In grappling this is done in two major ways – LEVEL and ANGLE. You can go UNDER and AROUND your opponents defenses much more easily that going THROUGH them. It's not easy to get advantageous angle on good opponents. Usually there has to be some form of distraction or misdirection first – but once you've got – it's a great momentary advantage that you must use immediately as it won't last forever. Understand that angular change doesn't have to be dramatic to be effective. Here in a drill I have gotten to perpendicular – that's great but difficult on a resisting opponent – you only need enough angle to slip outside head and hands – even a small angular advantage can yield good results. It's particularly important when working to pass guard on top of attack from guard on bottom. Next time you're working from either – don't make your first move TOWARDS you opponent but rather AROUND your opponent and see if you can get better success with your attacks as a result
