BaffledExperts by Adam Norman

18: Half guard

The half guard is when the bottom fighter holds one leg of the top fighter in between her legs.  According to the rules, a hold down is broken if the person being held can get a significant wrap around one of the legs of her opponent. Technically then, if you can hold your opponent in half guard, you have broken her hold down, and thus are not losing.

If you ask me, though, if you are holding your opponent in half guard, you have started losing. Your opponent is in a stronger position than you. Worse, her position is likely to improve, and yours is likely to get worse. You need to do something fast. If you ask me.

Other writers (and far better fighters than me) say that the half guard is an acceptable position. It can be used to prevent your opponent from getting a better position—yoko shiho gatame (side control) or guard, and there are some offensive possibilities. Or that is what they say.

I have never found the half guard to be anything but an annoyance. If I am being held in it, I find it fairly easy to escape. If I am holding it, I find it very hard to act offensively, and my opponent often passes into a better position.

Stick to the principles. If you are holding half guard, do anything you can to stay off your back. Stay curled up a little. Make a little space. Do not let go of that leg you have trapped. And do the shrimp.

Principle 12: If in doubt, shrimp

If you are holding your opponent in half guard, the easiest and best thing to do is work your way back to full guard. There are many submissions from guard, and it is a stable position—it stops the downward slide to worse and worse positions.

To get back to full guard, you will need to master the fundamental defensive move for fighting on your back: the shrimp. (Or, in Japanese, "The Ebi".)

Start by practicing alone. Lie on your back, with both shoulder blades on the ground. Put the sole of your left foot on the ground (unless you’re bizarre, you’ll have to bend your knee). While rolling to your right side

1. Straighten your left leg, leaving your foot in place
2. Pivot on your right shoulder
3. Bend at the waist, and
4. Force your bum out toward your top left

It is good practice, I think, to practice using your hands to push an imaginary opponent away.

The shrimp is the best escape from almost any hold down. The idea is to create a little space, shrimp, and trap an opponent’s leg to pull him back into guard. It works from half guard, yoko shiho gatame (side control), and the various mixed-up positions real-life rolling brings about. This principle is probably the most important principle of all. The shrimp is simple and crucial.

In order to use the shrimp effectively, you may have to change the way you think about fighting. Most fighting appears to be about the chest and fists--we pound and push our way to victory. This really isn’t the case on the ground.

Good ground fighters use their legs and feet offensively. Legs are great for pushing, of course. Your legs are incredibly strong. Use a push to create space. My friend Colin is brilliant at this. He always uses his knees, shins and feet to keep me away. If he cannot push me with his feet, he curls his legs up and uses them to maintain distance between us. Doing this makes it impossible for me to win, and places me at risk when I have to force him to move.

It is impossible to shrimp out of a hold unless you create a little space first. Most judoka try very hard to bench press their way out. Don’t. Use your chest and arms as little as possible; use them to make space for your legs. Once your legs are between you and your opponent, pushing is easy.