Science of the Closed Guard - Cross Grip Attacks with Dan Lukehart (On Demand)

The information, clear explanation, and demos in this instructional are great. The focus is on using a cross sleeve grip to break your opponent’s posture and get into what Xande Ribeiro refers to as the Side Closed Guard. From there, ways to sweep and take the back are shown.

As a white belt, before this instructional, my Closed Guard pretty much only consisted of holding on for dear life or opening my guard to attempt a scissor sweep or try, in vain, one of the basic armbar, triangle, or kimura attacks.

Thanks to this instructional, I now see how offensive and dangerous the Closed Guard can be and have already successfully used it during live rolling to sweep and take the backs of some of my training partners. Very much worth the small amount being asked for.

Closed guard had been a frustrating position for me for a while now. I was not able to get anything working on anyone who was not a complete beginner and had strong arms, good base, and athleticism. More than once in competitions I would switch from closed to half guard, so I don't spend the rest of the match in a frustrated tug of war.

Until this video.

This is just the beginning, but I have crossed the arms, hip-bumped, and taken the back of people on whom I didn't think I could get these working. It can take some time to break through a strong defense, but that is what you would expect from a good system. At the end Dan narrates a fight with a strong world-class medalist, where his system prevails. Now I like closed guard again.

Dan does a great job explaining and demonstrating the arm drag system from closed guard. This is a great value, and I highly recommend it.

Very concise information presented in a very systematic way. Good video and good content!

Science of The Closed Guard presents clear, effective, and extremely practical basic jiu-jitsu instruction. Dan Lukehart has taken his long-standing analyses of Roger Gracie's arm-drag, back-take strategy and systematized it into this compact instructional. Noted features include multi-angle perspectives of the various techniques, competition footage to demonstrate the techniques' practical application, and presentation of a coherent system rather than random, disconnected moves.