BaffledExperts by Adam Norman

15: Fighting from the bottom

When wrestling, you can either be on top or on the bottom. Positions in between, like side-to-side or face-to-face, degrade quickly into one person on top and one beneath.

If you have ever been in a schoolyard fight, or even witnessed one, you probably feel like being on the bottom exposes you to being straddled and punched silly. Relax. Being on the bottom is not necessarily bad. While any person being straddled and punched silly is on the bottom, not all people on the bottom are in that kind of danger.

In fact, there are many good submissions from underneath your opponent. For an experienced fighter, it even offers several advantages. Quite importantly, a man lying down appears weak. This appearance tends to make people do stupid things. Even otherwise good judoka will sometimes attempt to finish you with an enthusiastic choke when you appear vulnerable. As they do so, they usually lean in with straight arms and an open neck and expose themselves to danger.

Yet while the bottom position is not as bad as beginners believe, I (and most judo fighters), prefer to be on the top. It is a safer position. From the top, I can be more active; a bottom fighter must be slightly more reactive. I’m a big man, and from the top I can use my weight. And, of course, from the top it is possible to punch, while punching from the bottom is very difficult. [1]

Here are the top positions listed from best to worst for the bottom person:

• Holding full guard (do osae)
• Holding half guard
• Being held in full mount (tate shiho gatame)
• Being held in side control (yoko shiho gatame)
• North south (kami shiho gatame)
• Scarf hold down (kesa gatame)

Finally, there is one position that can be taken from either on top or underneath: rear mount (haigo gatame). It’s the most dominant position of all, but it is not recognized as a hold down by judo rules. I’ll explain it last.

The guard

"The guard" is the safest position to be in if you are fighting from your back. There is no standardized judo term for the guard, but do osae seems to be good Japanese.

The guard has two common variations, open and closed.

Closed guard
Closed guard is where most beginners start. You wrap your legs around your opponent’s trunk and lock your ankles together. It is a quite powerful position. You can squeeze your opponent’s trunk (although this is illegal in competition), and you have a great deal of control over him. Importantly, you can also keep your opponent away to buy time for reflection or recuperation.

Closed guard

There are two great disadvantages, though, to the closed guard: your opponent won’t let you keep it, and it is hard to submit him. Still, it is safe, and it offers much, so it is worth some study.

Principle 11: Stay off your back

Most judoka fight from flat on their backs. I think that this is partly from laziness, partly a result of education, and partly because of pressure from the opponent.

In any case, it is a bad mistake. To get a good hold down, your opponent must pin both shoulders to the ground. This isn’t merely a matter of the rules; with both shoulders pinned to the mat, it is very difficult to escape a hold down. By putting both your shoulders on the ground, you are helping your opponent.

Here are some pictures of excellent form on one's back. Notice how the fighters find it much easier to stay off their backs when their feet are unlocked.

Open Guard
It's quite easy to open up someone's guard. The easiest way it to dig your elbows into his thighs until it hurts so much he has to open his legs.

Good judo fighters don’t open up and give up, though; an open guard is a very good position. The open guard allows you to roll your opponent over and onto his back with a sweep, and it allows for many more submissions than the closed guard does.

The same principles apply to an open guard as to a closed one--but here they are crucial. If you lie on your back with your guard open, your opponent can stand up, step back, and kick you in the boulder Benningtons. Your guard has to be active. You have to hold your opponent with your arms and use your legs offensively. Use them to sweep and submit.

Because your opponent can escape more easily, I think it is best to alternate between an open and closed guard. If you have a closed guard around your opponent, she will try to break it open to pass your legs and get a hold down. To break your guard, she might stand up, forcing you to hang from your legs, or she might force your legs open with her elbows. As she does either, do not resist by clamping your legs shut ever harder. It hurts. Instead, open up and go for a roll over or an attack. Try to know when you are in a losing position, and capitalize on your opponent’s movements.

Principle 12: Keep your opponent in the middle distance

To fight well on your back, you need to know when you are in danger. The easiest way to tell is from the position of your opponent.

Your opponent can be in one of three places relative to you when you are on your back. She can be far from you and safe, closer to you and in danger, or near to you and safe. Of course, these three ranges bleed into one another. Your goal, though, should be to force her into the dangerous middle distance.

In the following two pictures, the men on top are obviously composed and relaxed. They clearly feel like they aren't in danger. In the one case, it's because the top man is keeping his chest close to his opponent and his weight far down on his opponent's belly. In the other it is because his weight is back.

In this case, blue is safe because he is keeping his weight back and over his opponent's hips. His elbows and wrists are preventing his opponent from closing the distance.

In this photo, the man on top is obviously safe because he is staying close to his opponent's belly. His weight is down and a bit back, over his opponent's hips, so his opponent can't sweep or submit him.

In both examples, the top man has his hands on the bottom man's belly. This is excellent form. It prevents the bottom man from moving.

If you are on the bottom, you want to push your opponent into an off-balanced position. To do so, you need to get his body into the middle distance. This puts his weight over you, instead of over his hips. It also exposes his arms to locks and prevents him from using them to regain his balance or thwart your movement.

In the following pictures, the competitors on top are in much more danger. They occupy that middle distance, with their weight neither down on their opponent nor back and out of range.

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[1] This, I think, is one area where BJJ has become a little inbred and where judo still mainly right. Preferring the top position makes a lot of sense to me. On the street, any guard position opens a person up to groin strikes. These are forbidden even in no-holds barred sporting events and thus may have permitted BJJ fighters to develop a slightly vulnerable ground game.