Key Takeaways
- A No-Gi BJJ DVD that offers more than one way to deal with the half guard from the top.
- Features attacking different half guard variations using submissions systems and wrestling rides.
- Explains how to counter common defenses and use half guard structures against the bottom person.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10.
TOP HALF GUARD NEIL MELANSON DVD GET HERE:
The top half guard is a great position to be in, and you don’t even have to know how to pass. Yes, you read that right. Top half is a great position to pin people from, and launch all kinds of attacks that include passes but are definitely not limited to them.
These moves have always been there, it is your mindset, influenced by coaches, that has set you in a singular direction that often ends up in dead ends. Check out the Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD, filled with Neil’s groundbreaking catch wrestling-BJJ combos to break out and see Jiu-Jitsu form a much broader angle.
The Top Half Guard: Trapped or Dominant?
Every time you roll, you’ll end up in the half guard at least once. It is by far the most frequently used position, and everyone uses it, from top and bottom, Gi and No-Gi. The question is, who has the advantage as the half guard?
Most people would argue that the bottom person has an edge since they’re playing guard, which is designed to attack from. The premise is that the top person has to pass a guard before they can attack themselves.
In most cases of guards, especially the closed guard, this is true. The outlier is the half guard, which is the real 50/50 position in BJJ. Passes and sweeps are equally removed from the person trying to achieve them, while submissions are readily available to both.
The only thing tipping the scale towards the top person is something that the guard player can’t do anything about – gravity. Pressure is something that the top person has as a significant advantage, as long as they know how to use it. The Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD addresses this particular aspect in great detail.
Neil Melanson’s Efficient Grappling
I was a purple belt when I discovered Neil Melanson through a grappling instructional. It turned out I had seen him in the corner of Randy Couture during his time as UFC coach, I just had no idea who he is.
The Ground Marshal is was constant breath of fresh air in BJJ, introducing a lot of catch wrestling to the mix. He is only interested in one thing- efficiency, and goes after it with the determination and in-depth analysis to match any other world-class coach. The difference is that Neil likes to keep to himself and above all, keep things simple.
Interestingly enough, my very first Neil Melanson instructional was a top half guard one. To this day, I still use lots of the things I picked up from it very often, if not every day. I am expecting the Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD to introduce even more of Melanon’s crazy, but effective, grappling ideas.
Full Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD Review
The Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD contains eight volumes, each filled with a different number of chapters, but usually not more than five. As Melanson favors longer chapters, the material is organized into systems per chapter, rather than single moves. The entire DVD lasts for over 4 hours.
Part 1 – Key Concepts
There is no time wasting with Neil, as he gets straight to the point in part one. His signature way of delivering information is via very long chapters, running from 10-30 minutes each! Understandably, the entire first volume of the Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD only has three chapters, but contains 45 minutes of instructions!
Initially, he explains his top half guard goals, offering the concepts he uses to create his attacking strategies. there is a very detailed portion in this part on how to pin the near side arm so that can go straight to a traingle off of your pass. Shoulder locks, naturally, offer follow-up opportunities.
Part 2 – Butcher Shop & Bent Armlocks
What Neil refers to as the butcher shop is a choke I originally learned from Cyborg Abreu as the knee-on-neck choke. Regardless of the name, it is very effective and brutal, usually set up from the north-south.
In this part of the Neil Melanson Half Guard DVD, the focus is on landing straight into the butcher shop after you pass the half guard. In fact, setup happens while you’re still in the guard, with the resulting posture break helping you past the legs.
Kimuras and Americanas also feature in this part of the instructional but with a wrestling twist to them. Instead of going for them for the top half, which is pretty far for a finish, Melanson uses a classic leg ride – the Turk to bunch the bottom person up getting both an arm lock and a pass at the same time.
Part 3 – Using Underhooks
I am against using underhooks when you’re playing the bottom half mostly because of the crazy stuff Neil showed against them in his original top half DVD. From the top, however, they’re crucial, and this part of the Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD shows exactly why that is.
Neil begins in familiar territory, talking at length about the ‘standard’ half guard pass that involves both underhooks. He then moves on to explore different pins that are a direct result of the past, such as Kesa Gatame, with all the assorted painful submissions they bring.
Wrapping up are a few ideas on how to break through the bottom person’s defenses since people don’t just give away underhooks in grappling. Neil ends with a very unique twist, passing with a near-side underhook into a leg triangle.
Part 4 – Tulsa Rides & Chokes
This part is one of my favorites in this Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD as it contains some real wrestling gems that work perfectly in BJJ. The Tulsa ride is one such example, allowing you to torture the bottom person with pressure until they let you through. Neil will show you how to pike on their misery by landing straight into an arm triangle choke.
More rides feature in this part, with the Crab ride offering a different direction once you begin a Tulsa ride, leading to a bar arm, or chicken wing that I never got to work for myself. What I have working very well for me is the gift wrap, which is what Melanson covers next, complete, with several choke finishes.
Part 5 – Dealing With Z-Guard
If you can’t cope with the Z-guard you’re going to have a very tough time grappling this day, seeing how everyone is using it, Gi or No-Gi. Neil seems to share the same sentiment, dedicating an entire volume of his Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD to breaking it open.
The cradle pass, something I initially picked up from Melanson opens the hunting season on Z-guard, branching off into low passes, keeping the threat of submissions very high at all times. Speaking of submissions, knee compressions, and hip locks will all but guarantee that you make it past the Z-guard with ease.
Part 6 – Lockdown Solutions
Another go-to solution you need in your toolbox is the lockdown half guard. Neil offers a different route to what most people take (crawling or sitting back) as he disrupts the structure of the guard by going for the feet.
In the only other chapter in this volume of the Neil Melanson Half Guard DVD we get to learn what the Navy Shuck is, and how it allows you to do even more leg rides. This time, the rides are of the reverse kind, killing off the half guard in a way that BJJ folks find very confusing (when they’re on the receiving end).
Part 7 – Underhook Counters
Neils bread and butter attacks form the top half happen when the bottom person is trying to make something happen using the classic undertook-based approach. In wrestling-free BJJ, this may have a place, but when faced with the Half Stock, Nelsons, and Darces, the deck is completely fixed to suit you as the passer.
Very cool chokes, such as the Manly Choke (best name ever) feature in its portion of the Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD as follow-ups to the brutal ties and passes. There is also a very cool Octopus Guard counter that will force people to reconsider using it against you ever again.
Part 8 – Leg Locks
As we reach the end of this Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD, we get a real cherry on top of the cake – some of Neil’s signature leg lock finishes. Set up using leg rides (the half guard is very vulnerable to them) Melanson shows his knee bar system that involves several different entires and a bunch of great details on getting the tap.
He also shares a few toe holds, and something that is not easy to learn these days – a sequence of leg attacks taught to Neil by Billy Robinson himself! Say what you want. but Melanson certainly knows how to end an instructional in style!
Want to Pass? Trap A Leg!
The closest thing I can offer to a proven guard passing formula is to force the half guard when you’re on top. Simply put, just sit on one of the bottom person’s legs and they’ll have no option but to engage in half guard with you.
How does this help your passing? Well, instead of looking at an unknown number of guards, most likely in the hundreds by now, you now only have one guard to deal with – the half guard. Depending on how you position yourself, you can take away even the variation of the guard, ending up with a much more precise task.
Of course, in order for this entire strategy to work you’ll need to have idea of how to pass the half guard. That is not easy, but it is much easier to figure out compared to dealing with every possible guard variation out there. Plenty of concepts and tactics are available in the Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD.
DOWNLOAD NOW: TOP HALF GUARD NEIL MELANSON DVD
Ride The Top!
We already know that wrestling is extremely beneficial to BJJ. It takes someone like the Ground Marashal, though and the Top Half Guard Neil Melanson DVD to put things into perspective, offering a blueprint on how and when to use wrestling moves to donate BJJ. The rides and catch-wrestling submissions offered by Neil contain literally everything you’ll ever need to have an easy time when you’re in the top half guard.
Neil Melanson DVD Bundle Review: Filthy Brutal No Good Attacks [2024]
