Closed Guard is sooooo boring, right? It’s, like, the very first thing you learn in your first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class. And it’s so static, there’s not a lot that you can do from it, and it’s so much fun to play any other guard game except the Closed Guard one… Or is it?
Whether you like it or not, you’re going to have to improve your Closed Guard as you (seek to) progress in BJJ. And that doesn’t mean just in regards to your skill, but also your strength.

But how the heck are you supposed to improve your Closed Guard strength? The answer is simple: through strength exercises. Namely, there’s this one rather weird exercise that will improve your strength in this position like no other exercise will.
Phil Daru explains and demonstrates.

WEIRD MEDICINE BALL EXERCISE FOR YOUR CLOSED GUARD

When you’re looking to break someone’s posture within your Closed Guard, what do you have to do and have? You’ve got to pull the opponent with your “knees”; and, therefore, you’ve got to have a strong “squeeze” with your legs.
These two things are exactly the ones which you’ll improve through this exercise.

To execute the exercise, you’ll need to have an elastic band and a medicine ball. Phil Daru explains that the strength of the band and the weight of the ball will heavily depend on your physical fitness.
Lie down on the floor, put the medicine ball between your knees and thighs, and grab one end of the elastic band. (The other end can be attached to a pole or your training partner can hold it).

From there, row the elastic band towards yourself as you crunch up and pull your knees towards your chest. The point is to do these two movements in unison and with control, as well as not to drop the medicine ball on the floor.
Watch Phil Daru demonstrate this exercise on the video below:

Learn from the most successful closed guard player ever with Roger Gracie’s closed guard system, totally explained in this 4-part series

• Lock on airtight submissions that work at elite levels, including cross chokes, lapel chokes, arm locks, and more.
• Roger Gracie is one of the most dominant grapplers in history, with 10 Black Belt World Championships and 2-Time ADCC Champion – and he did it with old school Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.