**Rubber Guard Technique:** ### Description: The Rubber Guard is an advanced guard system popularized by Eddie Bravo and the 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu system. It is a closed guard variation designed to control opponents from close range, keeping them off-balance and setting up submissions and sweeps. ### Japanese Name: **N/A** - Rubber Guard is a modern technique, not rooted in traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu, and thus lacks a traditional Japanese name. ### Top or Bottom Position: **Bottom** ### Position: **Closed Guard** ### Step-by-step Instructions: 1. **Establish the Guard:** - Start from the Closed Guard position, ensuring your legs are wrapped tightly around your opponent's waist. Control their posture by holding their head or grabbing their gi. 2. **Break Down the Opponent's Posture:** - Use your arms or legs to break your opponent's posture, pulling their head or upper body forward toward you. 3. **Set Up the Overhook:** - While maintaining their posture broken, use your right arm to secure an overhook on their left arm, trapping it against your chest to prevent them from striking or passing. 4. **Hook the Foot:** - Utilize your left hand to grasp your right foot and pull it to your opponent's upper back or base of their head. - Flexibility is crucial here, as you will need to stretch your right leg high enough to maintain control. 5. **Create the Rubber Guard:** - With your foot still held, release your grip from the right hand and replace your grip with your left heel hooking behind your opponent's neck. - Your leg should now be wrapped across their back while clasping your shin. 6. **Secure the "New York" Position:** - With your right hand, reach under your right leg and grip across, holding your ankle or shin while your left hand wraps around the back of your opponent's neck. 7. **Create Angles:** - Use your foot on their back to create angles and manage your opponent's posture, pulling them side to side or down to your level. 8. **Options from Rubber Guard:** - **Submissions:** Transitions into submissions like the Omoplata, Triangle, or Gogoplata by breaking down posture further or manipulating their arm positions. - **Sweeps:** Utilize the controlled posture to sweep your opponent by using leverage and weight distribution if they over-commit to a pass. ### Important Tips: - Flexibility is crucial for effective use of the Rubber Guard; practice stretching regularly. - Maintain a tight grip on your shin to prevent the opponent from easily countering or passing. - Control their posture continuously, resetting to Closed Guard if they begin to posture up or escape.