Stephan Kesting and the crew at Grapple Arts have made a fantastic product in their Dynamic half Guard DVD. Once again proving that in depth content doesn't require six DVD's or a three figure price tag this DVD takes a very detailed look at one of the most neglected aspects of the BJJ/Submission grappling game.
While this DVD isn't especially targeted at mixed martial artists, there are definitely things in the Dynamic Half Guard to help improve your MMA ground game. While training for my fight I often found one of my best defences while I was in trouble on the ground was to gain half guard; and then sweep my opponent from there. I just wish I had seen this DVD first as it gives some very interesting submissions, escapes and particularly sweeps from half guard that can easily be worked into your current ground game.
Stephan Kesting has obviously put a lot of thought into what he would like to see in a training DVD and the result is that Dynamic Half Guard has excellent sound, multiple camera angles and the minimum of repetition. Kesting himself is an excellent instructor, breaking down each technique into its component parts and then putting it all together again for the viewer. Kesting also gives us some live examples of these techniques being used under tournament and hard sparring conditions.
We start out with Stephen Kesting taking us through the basics of half guard, while this DVD is obviously geared more for those who have a good basic knowledge of the ground game; Kesting gives an excellent background into the half guard game for those who might not have utilised it much in sparring yet. Even if you consider yourself a past master of the half guard it's still an excellent refresher into the basic mechanics of the position (plus Kesting mentions a way of hooking up a triangle choke from half guard just to keep things interesting).
Kesting then launches into what he calls his triple attack, which is fundamentally a way of chaining together three high percentage moves from the half guard, each one used to set up the next. It's a very effective way of fighting, especially for grapplers with an aggressive frame of mind. While he techniques presented are excellent, with Stephen giving very detailed step by step instruction, the principle of the triple attack can be applied to any part of your game and I'm really glad to see it on this DVD.
There is a huge quantity of material to go through and even though its not all applicable to MMA, most of the principles still apply, especially as regards the sweeps, submissions and control aspects of your game. While the sit up guard seems less of a Mixed Martial Arts position I feel its still worth knowing if you absolutely have to keep the fight on the ground and your opponent wants to stand it back up again.
I would like to give the Kimura section of the DVD special mention, even though its only one part of the half guard game, its given extra attention, and once you incorporated it into your game you will find it easy to see why. Kesting shows multiple ways of hooking on the basic kimura from half guard and then goes on to show how to counter the counters to the kimura and to incorporate the kimura as a sweep rather than a submission. If Dynamic Half Guard only had the kimura section on it then it would still be well worth the money, the fact you get all of the other aspects of the half guard just goes to make this even better.
Kesting also includes a bonus section on defending yourself while in the half guard which is absolute gold, especially if you find yourself up against experienced grapplers who know how to use half guard's weapons against you.
Dynamic Half Guard has excellent instruction, low cost, fantastic principles and techniques.what's not to like? Actually I could think of anything negative to say about this DVD, barring the non MMA focus this is on of the best investments you could make for your ground game. Two thumbs up. The Dynamic Half Guard DVD
is available at www.grapplearts.com.
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