Jon Calestine Guard Retention Drills

Part of the course: The Lord of the Guards: Guard Retention by Jon Calestine

Jon Calestine Guard Retention Drills
Get Access

Already have access? Log in

Jon Calestine
Jon Calestine

About this video

This video demonstrates a series of guard retention drills that can be practiced in class. These drills are designed to improve your guard retention skills over time through consistent practice.
The first drill is the supine drill:
  1. The top person moves around the outside, allowing the bottom person to work on their recovery. This is done at a light pace for two minutes each.
  2. In the second round, the resistance is increased. The bottom person's goal is to keep the top person in front without establishing any real connections, such as delihevo hooks. The top person aims to pass the guard, getting chest to chest.
  3. Additional aspects can be added to the drill, such as the top person trying to pass down the middle, or the top person trying to negate hooks while the bottom person tries to establish them.
The second drill is the seated guard drill:
  1. The top person moves around while the bottom person tries to keep them in front. This is done for two minutes each.
  2. In the second round, the top person's goal is to force the bottom person to their back. The bottom person works on their foot tracking, hand fighting, off balancing, and staying seated up.
  3. Additional aspects can be added to this drill as well, such as the bottom person trying to make connections of the upper body and establish control of the lower body, or the bottom person trying to establish hooks or wrestle up from the bottom.
These drills are designed to train your brain to not allow yourself to go supine without grips. You should only go supine once you have made control grips of the upper body, and then you can start to control with the lower body and the upper body as well.

Course Content