Key Takeaways
- A single-volume Gi DVD covering lockdown half guard uses and variations.
- Features plenty of attacks and just as many follow-ups and backup strategies.
- Extends to include standing, passing, and transitional aspects.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
ERIC SILVER HALF GUARD LOCKDOWN DVD GET HERE
A half guard lockdown instructional that is meant for Gi Jiu-Jitsu? The Eric Silver Half Guard Lockdown DVD offers exactly that, putting a Gracie Jiu-Jitsu spin on a classic 10th PLanet move. I never thought I’d write a sentence like this in my life.
The lockdown remains one of the best half guard variations to play and provides a great way to stave off passing by way of mechanics that work like quicksand. The position and all assorted attacks and transitions are anything but easy to figure out though. Can Eric Silvver help you make sense of it? Read on!
Half Guard’s Final Frontier
The one thing every coach yells out when you end up being flattened while playing half guard is to keep your back off the mats. Well, that’s easier said than done, especially when the top person has any sort of underhook control. That, however, does not mean that the half guard is dead.
If your back is on the mats, you actually gain access to one of the best half guard variations that exist in the sport – the Lockdown half guard. Pioneered by Eddie Bravo in his early days of developing the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu System, the lockdown emerged as one of the best ways to stop people from passing and to launch a deadly combo of sweep-submission attacks that’s extremely difficult to deal with.
Bravo pulled it off against Royler Gracie in their second match, and countless high-level grapplers have used it in BJJ and MMA over the years. The lockdown represents the last half guard frontier before the top person can pass without worrying about attacking threats.
As such, it is designed to help you keep the top person stuck, as you battle for the grips that allow you to completely turn the tables and expose the top player’s weak points. The Eric Silver Half Guard Lockdown DVD offers a different take on Bravo’s original position, but is equally as effective, if not more.
Eric Silver: When Karate Meets BJJ
Inspired by Bruce Lee, Eric Silver started training martial arts in the 1970s with Judo providing an introduction to the world of combat sports. He followed that up with Karate practice, which he found interesting on account of the full-contact sparring back then, and remained with it.
Eric stumbled upon BJJ in 1994 when a friend asked him to visit a Rickson Gracie seminar in Atlanta. After seeing what Rickson could do to a human being, Eric immediately signed up and ended up as one of Rickson’s early US students.
These days, silver has a 6th-degree black belt in Wado Ryu Karate and a 4th-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He was promoted by Rickson in 2009 and remains one of the most dedicated Gracie Jiu-JItsu instructors in the US.
You can find Eric at his Zanshin Dojo in Nashville, or try to understand what his Jiu-Jitsu is all about from the Eric Silver Half Guard Lockdown DVD. Let’s see what this DVD has to offer.
Detailed Eric Silver Half Guard Lockdown DVD Review
This instinct strikes you as strange the moment you see it. It addresses the lockdown position, which was popularized by Eddie Bravo as a No-Gi half guard. In this instance, a Rickson Gracie black belt who likes to teach Gracie Jiu-Jitsu covers it with the Gi.
Don’t let first impressions fool you though, as the material inside it is very useful and organized in a systematic way. I only wish this DVD offered more content, as it barely lasts minutes. Let’s move on to the section-by-section Eric Silver DVD review:
I. Standing Tactics
you wouldn’t expect a lockdown instructional to begin standing, but Eric likes to be through and that is exactly why this Eric Silver Half Guard Lockdown DVD starts with takedown tactics. Eric shares the concept of base and connection immediately, setting it up as the foundation of all the material that follows.
He also covers optimal grips and precise movement to set up attacks, along with addressing ways in which you can defend common takedowns. Most of the attacks are rooted in Judo, with Silver providing a way to combine attacks as you leverage the double collar grip.
II. Getting to the Lockdown
In the next section of the DVD, the lockdown starts to appear, as Eric guides us toward guard entries starting with the open guard. He then offers a few direct attacks before covering entry points to the lockdown. A bit of guard passing, or, more precisely, failed guard passing followups also feature in this section.
III. The Nashville Lockdown
Eric’s own version of the lockdown, dubbed the Nashville lockdown dominates the central portion of the Eric Silver Half Guard Lockdown DVD. Silver outlines the ‘classic’ lockdown first, before moving on to explain how the East/West Nashville variation works and how you can attack sweeps and chokes directly.
True to the title of this instructional which also promises follow-ups, Eric then goes through some useful options to revert to if your sweep-choke combo fails. Speaking of sweeps, he also ties in a lockdown sweep with an Americana follow-up, showing you how to bundle the attacks very effectively.
IV. Lockdown Attacks
As this Eric Silver DVD draws to a close, the focus is completely on offense. Silver provides a different direction for your lockdown attacks by offering back takes that complement the sweep-submission combos he already covered.
He also addresses the turtle’s position, and how the lockdown can help you dismantle and attack it fairly easily. He uses the lockdown not just to break the turtle down, but to follow up with immediate pins, like the reverse knee on the belly, which offers plenty of toe holding options.
Prioritize Guard Retention
There is no point in playing guard if you can’t stay in that guard for as long as you want. That’s the one skill that needs lots of time on the mats and dedicated practice, and people often skip assuming the guard structure is somehow going to help them achieve it without any effort.
Let me put it this way: there is no complete BJJ game that doesn’t involve a guard or two, and there is no way to play guard without mastering guard retention. The Eric Silver Half Guard Lockdown DVD is a great resource to help you figure out how to use one of the best half guard variations to lock up and keep the top person stuck.
Touching briefly on the subject of stalling, utilizing retention tactics is not going to get you penalized, as long as you use them to block your opponent from advancing before you use them to set up attacks of your own. The Electric Chair sweep works because you end up tangling someone up with the Lockdown – it won’t work from a loose half guard.
DOWNLOAD HERE: ERIC SILVER HALF GUARD LOCKDOWN DVD
Dominate Half Guard!
In any BJJ roll or match you’ll do, you’ll end up playing closed or half guard at least for a little bit. These two guards somehow emerge when you end up being under real pressure from an experienced opponent.
They both obviously work well, which is why we revert to them automatically, making it very important to master variations of each. The Eric Silver Half Guard Lockdown DVD is a great way to introduce the lockdown to your Gi half guard game, taking most of your opponents by surprise.
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