Ellu’s Rubber Guard and Lauri’s ‘Truck License’

This double pack instructional covers two important positions, both of which are used in regular jiujitsu (gi and no gi) and in grappling extensively these days, namely Rubber Guard and the Truck. Elvira covers her favourite transitions and submissions from the rubber guard, including the famous Dead Orchard, while Lauri shows various transitions and attacks from the truck, which is a powerful hip control that in fact is a key transitionary position in jiujitsu. Mastery of both the rubber guard and the truck will improve your performance in two key areas, namely the closed guard, and the back position. Lauri has a very interesting insight into the truck and uses it much more extensively than the average jiujitsu practitioner, and after the first couple of moves you soon begin to notice how powerful a position it can be. Elvira’s rubber guard will improve your closed guard leaps and bounds, and there are plenty of tips for those who feel they might not be flexible enough to perform rubber guard effectively.

One of Elvira’s standout moments was the 2017 ADCC where she progressed to face the legend Mackenzie Dern. In front of her home crowd in Finland, Elvira won an absolute battle of a match and the crowd went completely crazy as the buzzer sounded. She would go on to get fourth place in the event, and then in 2019 achieve a bronze medal at ADCC, making her Finland’s first female ADCC medallist. Her competition highlights include:

• Wining Team – Quintet Fight-Night 3 (2019)
• 1st Place NAGA Germany (2019)
• 3rd Place ADCC World Championship (2019)
• 4th Place ADCC World Championship (2017)
• Combat Jiujitsu Superfight Winner (2020)

Elvira has progressed very rapidly through the ranks of jiujitsu, thanks in part to her extensive background in sports – namely, basketball and dancing. In this instructional, she covers a lot of movements based around the 10th Planet variation of closed guard – the Rubber Guard. She shows a number of control positions and submissions that anybody will be able to insert into their game.

Lauri Karppinen, while a less active competitor, is partly responsible for the huge growth of talent and popularity of grappling in Finland, having been a pioneer of the 10th Planet system there. He is renowned as an excellent coach and Elvira’s success is a testament to his abilities. Lauri has a refreshing and clear approach to jiujitsu that is a combination of training under Eddie Bravo and other coaches, and being in Finland and figuring a lot of things out for himself with his training partners and students. In this instructional he goes over the Truck position. By concentrating on and expanding a position that is often used as a simple transition, Lauri opens up the possibilities that many practitioners may not be aware of or at the very least, were not concentrating on. The truck is in fact a very strong position with excellent opportunities for control and advancement of position, eventually leading to submission.