The complete guide to attacking submissions from closed and open guard — armbar, triangle, omoplata, kimura, and chaining them.
Guard is unique: you are on your back, but you control your opponent's posture and movement. High-level guard players submit opponents at the same rate as top-position players. The guard is an offensive weapon.
No guard submission works against good posture. Your first task is to break posture: pull the head down with collar grips or overhooks, create an angle, and keep them disrupted throughout the attack.
From closed guard with posture broken: secure the arm with both hands, open the guard, shoot the leg across the face, pinch the knees, and drive the hips up. The elbow must be at hip level — too low and the lock won't close.
After breaking posture: redirect one arm across their centerline, shoot the leg over the shoulder (not behind the neck), lock the figure-four, angle to 90°, and break the posture further while squeezing the thighs.
The omoplata is a shoulder lock that opens when the opponent defends the armbar or triangle. When they pull their arm free from the triangle, reach under the arm with your leg and swing your hips through into the omoplata position.
Sit up to break posture, secure the figure-four grip on the near arm, fall back to the kimura angle, and rotate their arm behind their back. The kimura can also be used as a sweep platform (hip bump kimura).
High-percentage guard attacks flow in chains. Armbar attempt → they stack → triangle. Triangle attempt → they pull the arm → omoplata. This is not coincidence — it is the designed architecture of guard attacks.
Weekly technique breakdowns, training tips, and competition analysis.
The triangle choke is the most reliable long-term guard submission because it uses the strongest body parts (legs) against the weakest (neck and arm).
Angle your body at 45–90° to theirs, pinch the knees tightly, and break their grip before shooting the hips up. Angling eliminates most stack defenses.
They all require breaking posture, controlling the arm-head line, and creating an angle. Learn all three from the same setup — they flow naturally into each other.