Key Takeaways
- An 8-part BJJ DVD instructional outlining the No-Gi guard and passing game of Tom DeBlass.
- Focuses mostly on the half guard and closed guard, covering both bottom and top tactics.
- Just over 4 hours of details on how to set up DeBlass’ world competition-tested No-Gi guard game.
- BJJ World Expert Rating: 7 out of 10.
NO-GI GRAPPLING TOM DEBLASS DVD AVAILABLE HERE!!!
Setting Up a No-Gi Grappling Guard Game
The guard is the most difficult aspect of a No-Gi BJJ game to set up for effective use in competitions. As much as it is the go-to with the Gi, to catch your breath and rest, it is a dangerous and slippery place to be in when the security of the Gi is not there.
That being said, if you’re anywhere along your BJJ journey, from the first day to the first day of your third decade. the closed guard is a great idea for No-Gi purposes. On its own, it is powerful enough to cause problems in terms of passing for the top person, but not quite enough to sweep or submit effectively, which is crucial.
This is where another version of the closed guard comes into play – the half guard. As the natural continuation to and from the closed guard, the half guard offers fewer rendition options but far more in terms of attacks, especially submissions.
The half guard also opens up butterfly guard and more attack-minded open guard options that build off the security of the initial closed/half guard combination. All of these aspects feature in the Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD.
Athlete, Coach, and Advocate Tom DeBlass
There is no way that you do not know the name Tom DeBlass if you are involved in grappling, if for no other reason, than his always-entertaining Instagram account. Make no mistake, Tom is one of the baddest grapplers on the planet, ironclad through years of grappling MMA and altercations that saw him build a character that people look up to now.
The founder and head coach of Ocean County BJJ, now a worldwide affiliate organization, is himself a 3rd-degree BJJ black belt under Ricardo Almeida and the man behind the early development of some titans in the BJJ world such as Garry Tonon and Gordon Ryan.
DeBlass, apart from serving as an inspiration to folks through his social media, is also very active in directly helping out kids who face bullying all over the US and the world. He has lately been growing his Buddies over Bulles platform, which empowers kids with free BJJ classes to help combat bullying.
In a quest to provide the people who already train and are not getting bullied with some incredibly useful material too, Tom is issuing new instructionals very often, with his collection numbering over 20 titles at this point. One of his latest efforts is the Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD, his take on building a comprehensive No-Gi game regardless of your level.
Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD Review
I think a more fitting title for the Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD would be Fundamental No-Gi Closed and Half Guard. Seven out of the eight volumes in this No-Gi instructional focus on these guards, whether from top or bottom. In addition, Tom offers long chapters filled with very, bordering on overly, detailed explanations, offering no more than 30 minutes, often less, of material per volume.
Part 1 – Closed Guard Essentials
The closed guard is definitely a top option to use in No-Gi and I was interested to see whether Tom sticks to basics or goes off the deep end into modern iterations of the guard. Safe to say, he sticks to proven stuff, although he adjusts everything to fit the needs of modern BJJ perfectly.
The Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD starts with key details on braking posture and how DeBlass likes to use his legs to aid him, opening up triangle/Omoplata combos along the way. He goes deeper into the Omoplata sweep before connecting an armbar into the mix as the opponent fights for posture. 10 out of 10 for this volume.
Part 2 – Armbars From the Bototm
As we get to the second position of this No-Gi Tom DeBlass DVD, it seems as if we’re in for a treat, with Tom continuing to build on the previous fundamental combinations. He shares a few more top armbar to Omoplata transitions, taking the attacks full circle.
He also covers the concept of space, more precisely how to stop the top person from creating space while you’re transitioning in between armlock attacks. He wraps up with a chapter on the shoulder crunch from the closed guard.
Part 3 – Sweeps, Kimuras & Back Attacks
The third part of the Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD goes further into the closed guard, exploring how you can add the Kimura to the mix and introducing sweeps in more detail.
This is also where Tom starts to kind of complicate as I feel he diversifies too much trying to connect the previous attacks to intricate back takes and Kimura combos that will leave many people confused. It is a completely new game to the one presented before, and this is where the flow of the instructional is somewhat lost. The chapters themselves are solid in terms of the quality of instruction.
Part 4 – Defensive Guard Tactics
A useful part of this instructional that targets a more defensive use of guards with DeBlass exploring how to deal with the top person forcing chest-to-chest pressure and breaking apart your closed guard.
He ties this aspect in with some reactive sweeps, such as the hip bump and the push sweep, which work perfectly when set up using the opponent’s own movements. He also talks about overhooks and how hunting for them is the best way to recover half guard and stop the passer after they break your closed guard.
Part 5 – Passing and Back Control
This DVD kind of jumps out as we reach past the halfway point of the DVD, positioning you from the top and blending closed guard opening and passing moves with back control and finishes.
In this stuffed part of the Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD, Tom shares 6 chapters in 30 minutes, covering stack passing, guard breaks, back control, body triangle, triangle and choke finishes, and back takes against the turtle. It is like he is answering a random Q & A session in each chapter.
Part 6 – Half Guard Bottom
Once the confusion of the fifth volume is done DeBlass switches over back to guard, this time exploring the half guard. In my mind, he would’ve ended with a much better instructional if he committed to the previous volume completely.
This one is another great one. Tom DeBlass has one of the best half guards in the game so everything he says is legitimately important. He begins by sharing how to position your body relative to the top person and explores how to play the underhook game without exposing yourself to front headlock chokes or body lock passing.
This part of the No-Gi Tom DeBlass DVD also features the lockdown, and Toms’s own variation of it that helps him play a defensive-minded version of the half guard, in terms of recovering the underhook control.
Part 7 – More Half Guard
The penultimate part of the Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD goes on to build on the half guard foundations for No-Gi, covering some of the key sweeping parts of Tom’s half guard game. he starts with the knee lever, explaining it beautifully, before going on to cover guard recoveries and the butterfly half guard.
He spices things up with some interesting chapters on the knee shield in half guard and using the Kimura trap to maneuver that top person easily.
Part 8 – Top Half
The final part of the Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD covers Tom’s top half guard system. Well, it covers the basics of it, which is more than enough to get you going.
I’d single out the framing action from the top half, which is the basis of his entire game, confusing bottom players since they’re the ones usually resorting to framing. DeBlass likes to redirect the bottom person’s guard structure away from his passing, rather than the other way around, which he deconstructs in detail in this portion of the DVD.
He wraps things up by adding the knee slice pass as the natural follow-up of his pressure-based top half guard game, before concluding the instructional with a short overview of everything demonstrated in it.
Evolving Instead of Copying
This Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD might not be the best instructional to help you develop a precise guard game for No-Gi, but it does offer something very valuable – an approach.
So far, Tom has shared his game in instructionals, and I have tried some of his stuff since I liked playing half guard, hunting for kneebars, and attacking triangles for a while as well. The thing is, I am a featherweight, and found the mechanism to e off since Tom is heavyweight.
This No-Gi guard instructional, however, offers a lot more variety by building the positioning, attacks, and defenses on concepts that everyone can apply to their game. The DVD lacks a clear progression throughout, but there are systems that emerge in it, involving two to three volumes and allowing you to figure out how to evolve both your guard and passing game without the Gi.
FUNDAMENTAL NO-GI GRAPPLING TOM DEBLASS DVD DOWNLOAD!!!
Keep it Basic!
There is nothing that works as well in BJJ as the basics. This means sticking to proven gaurd positions such as the closed and half gaurd, but not the ultra-early variations shown by the Gracies. It is the developed and evolved versions of these grappling staples that
The Fundamentals of No-Gi Grappling Tom DeBlass DVD offers ultra-functional guard variations of the best positions to use in No-Gi. He also covers a vital aspect of gaurd play which is awareness of the possible threats and how to capitalize on the opponent’s actions.
