Personal experience: Half guard is one of the best possible options for shorter legged people, right alongside butterfly. Is there a threat of a darce? Sure, but only if you don’t close distance well enough and fast enough. If you play a half guard where you are always looking to get in close and get underneath them, and use their efforts to close distance to go in even further and faster than they intended, then half guard is ideal for a more compact player. Especially so if they are older and less athletic. The top 3 half guard series for short legs in my opinion are: 1. Deep half 2. Coyote guard 3. Lockdown/electric chair series Add to that octopus half, butterfly half and if they stand up and away, sit up guard, DLR and RDLR, and you’re going to have a pretty well rounded game. Playing a butterfly/leg entanglement style game with single leg x, x guard and DLR and RDLR is great for shorter legs too, but requires a bit more speed, dexterity and athleticism. What works less well for shorter legs in my experience are closed guard, spider guard, maybe lassos, and collar sleeve with legs on hips. De La Riva can be tricky if you try playing a tall man’s game, but magic of you play a short man’s game. A short man’s DLR includes chasing the back, stuffing the near sleeve for roll under sweeps, switching into x guard or waiter sweeps, and baiting them to step in and close the distance out of sit up guard, in which case you close the distance faster and further than they intended, immediately sweeping them with coyote or deep half, depending on which way their knee turns. DLR can work well for short legs too. You just need to know coyote, deep half, x guard, crab ride and waiter sweeps, and all the things that top players do to shut down the short guy’s DLR become liabilities instead of assets. (Bonus points if you can learn to berimbolo eventually, but I don’t think that’s necessary or even ideal. It sure is pretty though!)
Personal experience: Half guard is one of the best possible options for shorter legged people, right alongside butterfly.
Is there a threat of a darce? Sure, but only if you don’t close distance well enough and fast enough.
If you play a half guard where you are always looking to get in close and get underneath them, and use their efforts to close distance to go in even further and faster than they intended, then half guard is ideal for a more compact player. Especially so if they are older and less athletic.
The top 3 half guard series for short legs in my opinion are:
1. Deep half
2. Coyote guard
3. Lockdown/electric chair series
Add to that octopus half, butterfly half and if they stand up and away, sit up guard, DLR and RDLR, and you’re going to have a pretty well rounded game.
Playing a butterfly/leg entanglement style game with single leg x, x guard and DLR and RDLR is great for shorter legs too, but requires a bit more speed, dexterity and athleticism.
What works less well for shorter legs in my experience are closed guard, spider guard, maybe lassos, and collar sleeve with legs on hips.
De La Riva can be tricky if you try playing a tall man’s game, but magic of you play a short man’s game.
A short man’s DLR includes chasing the back, stuffing the near sleeve for roll under sweeps, switching into x guard or waiter sweeps, and baiting them to step in and close the distance out of sit up guard, in which case you close the distance faster and further than they intended, immediately sweeping them with coyote or deep half, depending on which way their knee turns.
DLR can work well for short legs too. You just need to know coyote, deep half, x guard, crab ride and waiter sweeps, and all the things that top players do to shut down the short guy’s DLR become liabilities instead of assets.
(Bonus points if you can learn to berimbolo eventually, but I don’t think that’s necessary or even ideal. It sure is pretty though!)
Great video! Covering standing and seated, as well as gi and nogi in 4 minutes; very impressive!
I'm back. I tried this today and it's working.
This is very helpful, thank you! It worked great in my rolls against bigger opponents
I was looking for tips like this.