The Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD is an instructional by one of John Danaher’s senior black belts who prefers to fly under the radar. As one of the most technical students ever to train under Danaher, Brian Glick has a teaching style and an understanding of BJJ that rivals those of his mentor.
Since you’re going to end up playing half guard whether you like it or not, having a strong half guard game is essential if you want to have a good time on the BJJ mats. While you have plenty of choices in terms of half guard variations and different DVDs targeting each, going the route of developing a general understanding of the position is the most effective tactic available.
Key Takeaways
8-part No-Gi BJJ DVD with 6+ hours of material delivered by a Danaher black belt
A half guard system based on key skills, common problems, and smart tactics.
Directions on how to best study the material and tie it together as a system.
BJJ World Expert Rating: 10 out of 10.
BRIAN GLICK HALF GUARD MASTERY DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!
Why Every Grappler Needs the Half Guard
Like it or not, you’re going to play half guard in BJJ. You may not want to use the position as your main guard, but you’ll often find yourself forced into it by a top player with smart passing tactics. In fact, forcing half guard from the top is one of the best stalling tactics passers have at their disposal.
So, since you’re going to spend time in the half guard, why not pick a half guard variation and make it your own? The position allows you to make passing a nightmare for the top person, it offers direct access to both lower and upper body submissions and opens up sweeps in every direction. Plus it works just as well with and without the Gi.
At the end of the day, the half guard is just a more practical and much more versatile version of the closed guard. Granted, playing it can be boring and difficult at times, but if you truly want to excel at any other guard, you’ll need to understand how to play the one guard that is the final frontier between you and a strong passer.
Danaher Black Belt Brian Glick
Brian Glick is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt under John Danaher as well as a Judo black belt who resembles his mentor and coach Danaher in many ways. Glick is a very cerebral person, focused on dissecting Jiu-Jitsu to its most foundational components and figuring out how it all works together.
Glick, one of those grapplers who has never competed, teaches BJJ full-time in Brooklyn. Danaher singles him out as one of his senior black belts and a hidden gem among his most notable students. Having withstood the very violent early days of Jiu-Jitsu in the 90s, marred by dojo challenges and serious injuries, a small-framed Glick emerged battle-clad with buckets of grappling knowledge.
Being a small grappler in the early days of Jiu-Jitsu in America was no easy feat, and it forced Gloick to understand BJJ a lot more than any of his contemporaries. Having trained MMA with GSP and Chris Weidman, and grappled full-time with the DDS, Danaher uses Glick as the prime example of the transformative powers Jiu-Jitsu has.
In the Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD you’ll notice how much of an influence John had on Brian, in the way he delivers information, the structure of the instructional, and the depth of analysis in every single chapter.
Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD Detailed Review
The Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD is an eight-part No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructional featuring over 6 hours of ultra-high quality material demonstrated by one of John Danahers most valued students.
Part 1 – Half Guard Mechanics
As the DVD begins, Glick presents the half guard by explaining why he loves to use it and why it is essential for anyone involved in grappling. As part of his introductory volume, he talks about some key mechanics that make the half guard tick, such as posture, inside position, distance, and the importance of where you place your head.
He also portrays the three essential skills you need to make it work, all of them regarding the lower leg, a.k.a. the one you have wrapper around your opponent’s leg. Glick talks a lot about the importance of the lower leg shift, the knee lever, and shelfing as the main means to set up a successful half guard game.
Part 2 – Tight Waist
As we move deeper into the Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD, the attention is directed towards setting up and making the most out of the tight waist position from the bottom half. Glick explains this using a trilemma sweep example by focusing on solving three key problems:
The posted arm;
The leg post;
The Guillotine threat.
Once those are no longer of any concern, you can use the tight waist to finish your attacks, which diversify from roll-through sweeps to ankle picks by leveraging the three key skills explained in the first volume. I found the discussion on using momentum to be particularly eye-opening.
Part 3 – Duck Under
While you might not perceive that duck under as a move that you can use from the half guard, this wrestling staple actually has a huge advantage to offer. Given that we use stuff like arm drags and 2-on-1 from the half guard anyway, it makes sense that the duck under would find applications as well.
Most of the focus in the opening sections of this volume explores head positioning, and the optimal angles for a successful duck under. Once again, Brian ties in all the stuff presented earlier, introducing the tight waist control to provide versatility.
In fact, the second portion of this volume focuses a lot on solving the issues that arise when the top person uses common tactics to deal with your tight waist. The main culprits are a strong Whizzer, the knee cut pass, and the back step.
The volume ends with skill integration samples that can be used as drills. The feature uses the tight waist to sweep in combination with the duck under, ankle picks, and roll-throughs – the sweep trilemma.
Part 4 – Knee Lever
A crucial concept of playing half guard is understanding the knee lever principle which is a lot more difficult than it sounds. There are a lot of mechanics involved, but Brian manages to dumb it all down, despite going in great detail to explain how and why it works.
Initially, this volume of the Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD addresses the different directions of Kuzushi you can create using the knee lever, before looking at some grip combinations that enhance the move in different situations.
As this part edges towards its end, Glick offers his thoughts on how to manage scrambles that often emerge as you play with the knee lever, and how the height of your head is crucial in winning those scrambles. A few more troubleshooting tips end this portion, margin the halfway point of the DVD.
Part 5 – Whizzer Solutions
Another problem that every half guard player faces, whether they want to play underhook half guard or not, is the Whizzer, a.k.a. the overhook. Brain uses the Dogfight position to explore Whizzer solutions, offering great insights into a very useful position.
For the most part, Glick attempts to use the principles he already laid out to help solve the Whizzer situation when you are side by side with the opponent. Hip height, knee position, and the mandatory limp arm are concepts you can’t even think to grapple without. Brian also talks about a sneaky little trick in using your knee to dominate the exchange.
Once you learn how to neutralize the threat of the Whizzer, there is no need to get out of it, and Brian offers counters instead. I’d single out the Cowcatcher as my personal favorite, but going into single legs or using an outside scoop might work better for others. It is good to have options, though.
Part 6 – Troubleshooting
At this point in the Brian Glick DVD instructional, I had some questions and concerns, regarding some of the presented material. Luckily, Brian anticipated that and devoted an entire volume to troubleshooting common issues before moving further.
In the sixth portion of the DVD, Glick covers how to solve reverse over and underhooks, details on the sit-out, shielding in smash positions, and recovering to an offensive position. He also shows a cool roll-through variation that I find better than the original.
Part 7 – Half Guard Concepts and Principles
The penultimate part of this instructional is all about the conceptual framework that is responsible for the half guard’s effectiveness. Once again, the three essential skills make an appearance, as Glick uses them to guide us to the principles of playing half guard.
He uses different entries into the position to pinpoint the importance of key concepts, both from other guards and as a means of escaping pins. Once again, he goes over the key problems you’ll face, and how you can use the trilemma attack to destabilize the opponent before you finish the sweep using the essential skills of shelfing, knee lever, and lower leg shift.
All in all, this part of the instructional is a framework of how the entire system operates and how to best approach studying the half guard using Glick’s methods. As this volume unfolds, so does Brian’s half guard game, introducing leg locks, and wrestling up to the system.
Part 8 – Body Positioning
As we reach the very end of this Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD, he continues with the principles of how to study his material and make sense of it before you try stuff out on the mats. Here, the big picture regarding the Dogfight position and the Whizzer is in the spotlight.
Once again. Glick goes over everything he said about naturalizing the Whizzer, finishing sweeps, and getting superior positioning from the side-to-side position after successfully using the tight waist half guard. he also ties the stout into the system, rounding everything off in a way that makes half guard easy, logical, and fun to play.
How Long Do You Want to Train BJJ For?
If you are into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for the medals and glory of competition, you’re going to have a short-lived career in one of the best things you can do in life in the modern age. That, of course, is ultimately your choice.
However, if you are into Jiu-jitsu to try and understand, perhaps even solve some of BJJ’s great mysteries, then your goal is longevity. This is a much deeper and more meaningful goal to have, in my opinion, and one worth exploring more than simply being a competitor
Of course, the two are not mutually exclusive and you can still be a top competitor and grow as a grappler at the same time aiming to be able to roll for as long as possible, With longevity in mind, though, your game cannot be based on explosive motion and endless movement.
Instead, you’ll need to focus on a slower, more control-based game in every aspect of grappling. The half guard is the perfect example of a versatile position you can use to be able to do KJiu-Jitsu at a considerably high level for life, at least when it comes to bottom positions.
And no, you shouldn’t pick it up as a focus point after your competitive career is over. Why rack up injuries and abuse your body when you can be effective and smart from the beginning? The Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD is a great resource to set you up with a foolproof bottom game that will allow you to train BJJ for life. Think about it.
HALF GUARD MASTERY BRIAN GLICK BJJ DVD DOWNLOAD
Simplify The System!
Adding half guard to your guard game is going to offer a safety net based on simplicity and effectiveness that you can use whenever all your other guard attacks and tactics fail to materialize. Before you get passed, you’ll have one last chance to respond, and if you decide to study the Half Guard Mastery Brian Glick DVD, your response will be one that the opponent is going to hate!
A very, very smart investment in your longevity as a grappler and your effectiveness as a competitor. Even though I started this review as a skeptic, I am now a firm believer in the half-guard approach Brain Glick offers in this instructional.
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