Key Takeaways
- A Gi Jiu-Jitsu DVD rich with plenty of details on all crucial parts that make the spider guard effective.
- Contains a full tour of the spider guard, from guard pulls, through sweeps and submissions to drills.
- Offers a concept on how to create hybrid guards with the spider that fit your game.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 9 out of 10.
AGGRESSIVE SPIDER GUARD JOHNNY TAMA DVD AVAILABLE HERE:
Learning the spider guard requires time and dedication. Learning select parts of the spider guard to improve your game requires the same, just less. So why doesn’t everyone pick parts of the spider guard and kick-start their guards?
The issue most grapplers find when trying to deconstruct the spider guard lies with the ‘select’ part of my statements above. It is difficult to know what portions of the guard to integrate in a specific game if you don’t have all the details. Well, the Aggressive Spider Guard Johnny Tama DVD has them and does a great job explaining them for you.
Can you Play This Guard?
The spider guard is a tricky one. It is an effective guard, but it is also one of the most difficult ones to master, because of several key factors. The first, of course, is the specific use of the Gi.
Spider guard classes usually mean sore fingers and knuckles for days, and many people tend to half-ass their efforts during class precisely because of this reason. The result is a failure to make anything work, due to the lack of effort put in.
Another thing that often scares people away from the spider guard is the coordination requirements. Believe it or not, everyone is not suited to use their hips, arms, and spine in the complex patterns that the spider guard demands. If motion is an issue, pursuing more complicated attacks from the guard is futile.
Finally, there is the No-Gi elephant in the room, as most grapplers tend to favor a like-for-like (or as close as possible) replacement for a Gi guard in No-Gi. There are ways to play the spider guard in No-Gi, but they only work if you understand the Gi version. That’s what the Aggressive Spider Guard Johnny Tama DVD is here for.
BJJ History Maker Johnny Tama
Not many people this side of the 21st century manage to do historical feats in BJJ, since most of the first have already been achieved. Not Johhny Tama, though, who found a way to carve his name in the anals of Brzilian Jiu-Jitsu as the first Spanish man to conquer a black belt world title in the adult divisions.
An alliance representative and a very smart and experienced competitor, Tama has been involved in BJJ since 2009, competing more in the last 16 years than most people will in their lifetime.
Johnny has the bling to show for it, too. So far, he is a World champ in No-Gi under IBJJF and SJJIF, Gi world champ in SJJIF, F2W champion, Pans silver medalist, and winner of dozens of titles in regional and national tournaments.
Style-wise, he has a knack for the traditional. Understandable, given that his mentor, and the person who awarded him his black belt, is Juan Miguel Iturralde from the Fabio Gurgel lineage. Known for his super precise guard game, the Johnny Tama Spider Guard DVD offers a glimpse into what the Ecuadorian does when his back is on the mats.
Aggressive Spider Guard Johnny Tama DVD Review
The Aggressive Spider Guard Johnny Tama DVD contains four volumes, each lasting about 30 minutes. The instructional is Gi+specific given the subject, and follows a very well-structured progression from basics to more complex stuff:
Part 1 – Pulling Spider & Retention
In true traditional BJJ style, Tama goes straight for the guard pull in the first chapter of the Aggressive Spider Guard Johnny Tama DVD. All guard pulling jokes aside, the details are spectacular, and accompanied by a variety of drills to speed up the learning.
Once down, Johnny immediately pays attention to retention as the key guard parameter to focus on. He plays it very safe, looking for the spider lasso as fast as possible after the guard pull.
Some specific pass defenses follow, with the Toreando and track pass getting most of the attention, though there is a mention of over-under and the knee slice as well.
Part 2 – Submissions
Part two of the Aggressive Spider Guard Johnny Tama DVD is all about finishing. While this portion contains all submissions directly available from the guard, it focuses heavily on the Omoplata.
In fact, most of the half an hour of material in this volume explores different Omoplata variations, some of which are paired into crazy+effective combinations. Two such pairings involve the Canto choke and a lapel finish, respectively.
The usual follow-ups that include triangles and armbars also feature, albeit in just a couple of chapters. Tama goes over each of these two submissions in detail, but also offers a very interesting way to attack them simultaneously.
Part 3 – Sweeps & Combo Attacks
The game plan that builds up volume after volume in the Johnny Tama Spider Guard DVD gets even more defined in this portion. AS tama introduces off-balancing, sweeps, and hybrid guards start to appear, providing the complexity which the spider guard is infamous for.
The X+guard hybrid is up first, a proven method that is easy to get from a double sleeve spider guard, and even easier to sweep from. Several sweeps feature here, with Tama providing a nice organization of them by assigning each a letter( A, B, and C, in this case).
Toward the final third of this volume, the game appears as Johnny glues together the submission combinations and Omoplata madness with the sweeps and hybrid guards. I like that he doesn’t just go through loops, but rather does one-two combinations with the moves in his game.
Part 4 – Advanced Spider Guard
The final part of this Johnny Tama DVD instructional focuses on more combinations, mostly aimed towards those with a bit more experience under their belt. The entire instructional is aimed at white to purple belts, with this final volume intended mostly for the latter.
Some interesting variations of the spider guard appear here, such as the tarantula guard and the kiss of the spider. Tama went deep into the spider guard and came up with some great options that are not taught in your everyday spider guard class.
I’d point out the reverse triangle entry off of a loading over sweep as the combination to master. The added spider lasso options were also quite enjoyable to explore.
Details Matter More Than Techniques
The best part about spider guard is that you don’t have to play it and know everything bout it in order to use it. You can just take bits and pieces, asl long as they make sense, of course, and apply them to your own game.
That is why the spider guard might only be second to the De la Riva in terms of hybrid guard options – it is super easy to just throw a spider hook on the biceps and see what happens. When you get to know the details behind that hook, where it leads, and what you can create with it, you’ll start wondering why you’ve been shining the spider all this time.
The Aggressive Spider Guard Johnny Tama DVD contains said details. In fact, this DVD is all too much about spider guard details than a game, which his different, and exactly what the doctor ordered for those who enjoy exposing their knuckles to porrada only occasionally.
DOWNLOAD HERE: AGGRESSIVE SPIDER GUARD JOHNNY TAMA DVD
Weave the Web!
The spider guard, much like a spiderweb, has many moving components to it that all lead to the same inevitable end. If you’d like your opponents to discover what flies already known so well, then the Aggressive Spider Guard Johnny Tama DVD is for you. Even if you don’t like playing the guard – I don’t and I found some real gems in this one.
