How good is your knee shield half guard? Do you feel like you can use it to stay in the half guard for as long as you want, while you can set up traps and attack combinations to use at your convenience? If you need help with the position, we have just the resources for you.
It is called ‘Timeless Knee Shield’ and is a Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD that offers insights into one of the most effective staple positions of the sport. What sets this instructional apart from others is that the person doing the demonstrations is not just a BJJ World Champion, but also a proven world-class half guard player.
Key Takeaways
- Four-part No-Gi instructional roughly two hours of material.
- Full systems for common upper body submissions like triangles and Omoplats.
- Features sweeping, back takes, and guard transitions that tie in with the submissions.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10.
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The Only Half Guard Concept You Need
Half guard is the one position I keep getting asked about by people of all ages, and all levels. Almost every week someone has a half guard-related question, that is how much people like to play this guard and all assorted positional variations.
There are two key things to remember about the half guard, at least in terms of leg placement. The leg that is in between the opponent’s legs, a.k.a. the passive or ‘hook’ leg needs to go deep. By that I mean deeper than you think, and even a bit more than that, if you want to be sure the opponent can’t just easily pass by moving away.
Next, you need to pick the optimal position of the second leg, the free one which you can keep moving from one place to another, depending on your needs. One position that offers everything you’ll ever need from the half guard is using the top leg as a shield, by placing your shine in between you and the opponent.
The knee shield can be placed all across the opponent’s chest, with either of the shoulders and the shin across the stomach being the three most utilized (and effective ones). In the Timeless Knee Shield Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD, you’ll get to learn all the key things for all three of these top leg positions.
The BJJ Nice Guy – Rafel Lovato Jr.
After Conor McGregor’s antics in the UFC made him a living legend, he proved that Chael Sonnen’s bad-guy act works better than trying to be a respectful martial artist, such as GSP for example. Unfortunately, this trend poured over into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well, with people like Gordon Ryan using it in a smart way to gain attention, and others, like Dillon Dannis failing miserably at it.
Among the bunch of folks trying to capitalize on being ‘bad boys’, the few nice guys that stick to the values they believe in do make a mark in the sport. The ultimate nice guy in BJJ has to be Rafel Lovato Jr., a legendary grappler who is anything but nice if you’re his opponent on the mats or in the cage.
With a grappling record of 125 wins (with a 54% submission rate) and 67 losses (only 10 by submission) and a professional MMA record of 11-0, the former undefeated Bellator World Middleweight Champion has made history on more than one occasion in his career.
The Carlos Machado black belt decided to retire from grappling at the 2022 ADCC, being forced to vacate his Bellator title earlier because of health issues. Rafel has since dedicated himself to teaching in his Academy while offering lots of timeless knowledge in his instructionals, a standout being the Timeless Knee Shield: A Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD.
Timeless Knee Shield Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD Review
The Timeless Knee Shield: A Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD is a No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructional containing roughly 2 hours of high-quality material on the subject of the knee shield half guard. Rafel spreads his desaturations over 4 volumes, each covering a specific aspect of the full knee shield game, and masterfully bringing them all together:
Part 1 – Triangles and Omoplatas
The Timeless Knee Shield Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD starts very strong, covering a true timeless submission combo – the triangle and Omoplata. Across 30 minutes Lovato offers precise details on how to finish each of these staples of BJJ, but also how to integrate them together in relation to the knee shield guard.
Lovato guides us through the best way to introduce submission dilemma attacks from the knee shield when the opponent postures, or tries to go forward too much. He ties everything in with the powerful shoulder crunch position as well, ending with a very tight spiral armbar finish.
Part 2 – Kimuras and Armlocks
One of Lovato’s signature submissions is the Kimura, a move he has used successfully a dozen times against the very best in the world. In the second volume of the DVD, Rafael explores the pretty obvious Kimura from the knee shield, showing us how to make it work even when the opponent can see it coming.
Sticking to a multi-faceted game, Lovato ties in the Kimura finishes and set-ups with the previous threats of triangles and Omoplats, adding depth and options to an already versatile attacking knee shield system. The popular snap submission Choi Bar also makes an appearance in this part of the Timeless Knee Shield Rafael Lovato DVD.
Leaving no knee shield stone unturned, Lovato adds the final piece of the puzzle to this system by showing how to cover the only side left for the opponent to exploit with a guillotine choke threat.
Part 3 – Sweeps and Back Exposure
The first half of this Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD covers submissions from the knee shield position, with the second half focusing on transitioning and sweeping. Creating movement from the knee shield half guard is crucial for success, and Lovato chose to do drags.
Dragging an opponent’s arm across your chest, or theirs opens up immediate sweep threats while simultaneously exposing the back. Another world-quality dilemma attack that provides not just follow-up submission options, but also opens up transitions to other guards, such as the butterfly and X-guard.
The low knee shield guard, a.k.a. the Z-guard makes an appearance here, as one of the alternative guard positions to use to amplify the power of the knee shield. A few effective hook sweep-triangle combos wrap this volume up.
Part 4 – Leg Locks and Signature Sweeps
As we reach the final part of the Timeless Knee Shield: A Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD, sweeps still play a pivotal role in the instructional. Lovato uses half of this volume to foe over his favorite John Wayne sweep in great detail, tying it up with all the stuff he demonstrated in earlier volumes.
Given the closeness to butterfly positions, Rafael does not skip over the potential of the knee shield in terms of leg lock entries, dedicating several chapters to integrating Ahsi Garami into the system. The instructional ends with a simple way of opening up the dreaded Coyote half guard from the knee shield, as if we needed more variety from Lovato.
Versatility in Simplicity
The most powerful positions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu have become staples of the sport for a reason – they work and have been working for tens, maybe even hundreds of years. however, we see people avoiding these positions on account of them being ‘boring’ and too ‘simple’.
This is the best way to shoot yourself in the foot in terms of grappling. While there are positions and transitions that are visually stunning and effective, the efficacy of the ‘boring’, and ‘old’ positions, remains unmatched. The biggest conundrum is that people will revert back to closed guard or half guard variations, for example, once they feel the pressure in competition even though they prepared using De la Spider Inverted X-guards for months.
At the end of the day, less is more, and in a sport where literally every movement you make counts, moving more just for an artistic effect is always going to come second to restricting your movement only to the bare essentials. After all, we’re after the effects of performing a motion, rather than the performance itself.
One of the most basic guard variations people tend to ignore on behalf of flashier ones is the knee shield, used in different configurations from the half guard. Appropriately named Timeless Knee Shield, this Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD attempts to re-introduce the position to the general public as much more than just a boring fundamental.
TIMELESS KNEE SHIELD RAFAEL LOVATO BJJ DVD DOWNLOAD
Shields Up!
Playing half guard is not always a choice, as many times passers like to force it so that they can control the exchange completely. Why not be ready with an entire system of submissions and sweeps to mess up their plans and draw them deep into a quicksand of traps?
The Timeless Knee Shield Rafael Lovato Half Guard DVD is the ultimate resource to help you make sense of this half guard variations and develop a deadly game from it. Since the guard is perfect for both Gi and No-Gi, you’re getting one half guard variation to use against anyone with loads of success!
