Rafael Lovato Sr. · Combo

The Timeless Closed Guard by Rafael Lovato Sr. reviews

The Timeless Closed Guard by Rafael Lovato Sr. has 9 customer reviews in this archive, averaging 5.0 out of 5. 100% are five-star and 0 are one or two stars. Reviews run from April 6, 2021 to September 11, 2026. All of them are published below in full, unedited.

Who reviewed The Timeless Closed Guard by Rafael Lovato Sr.

8 of these reviewers gave their belt rank when they submitted the review. BJJ Fanatics asks for rank, age and years training at the point of review, so this breakdown is self-reported by the customer.

Where to buy it

The Timeless Closed Guard by Rafael Lovato Sr. is currently listed on the BJJ Fanatics storefront at $79.00 USD. View The Timeless Closed Guard by Rafael Lovato Sr. on BJJ Fanatics

The reviews

• great series

  this looks like a great package for seasoned jiu jitsu students like me

  gianfranco d.September 11, 2026Verified buyerBlack belt16 yrs training

• gi closed guard

  Great step by step instructions and great explanation of the techniques.

  gianfranco d.June 26, 2026Verified buyerBlack belt16 yrs training

• excential closed guard

  Great instructional . Everything is really well explained. Explanations are maybe a bit repetitive at times but the techniques are really good. He likes to keep things simple, and his techniques are simple, yet very effective. That's the way I like it too

  gianfranco d.May 26, 2026Verified buyerBlack belt16 yrs training

• strategy from closed guard

  Great step by step instructions and great explanation of the techniques.

  gianfranco d.May 20, 2026Verified buyerBlack belt16 yrs training

• Lovato closed guard

  Great course, it covers a lot of useful detail, including small points that really make a difference. I love the length, you don’t have to commit full days to get through it, and he packs a lot of value into a short amount of time..

  gianfranco d.March 24, 2026United StatesVerified buyerBlack belt16 yrs training

• Timeless

  Great

  ChristianJune 6, 2025SwedenVerified buyerBlue belt4-6 yrs training

• The Timeless Closed Guard

  Great closed guard instructional

  Vinodkumar V.November 10, 2024United StatesVerified buyerWhite belt1-3 yrs training

• The Timeless Closed Guard

  Great instructional. Nice explanation of techniques that don't require a high degree of athleticism to perform.

  Vinodkumar V.November 10, 2024United StatesVerified buyerWhite belt1-3 yrs training

• Reflections on holding, attacking and sweeps from closed guard

  Objective of this instructional During the introduction Rafael Lovato Sr states that this instructional is aimed at the older practitioner, however he believes that regardless of your rank or age you will have fun with the techniques included in the instructional. The instructional addresses three components of the closed guard: holding, attacking and sweeps including adjustments to these techniques to better suit the older practitioner. The instructional provides specific insights to the closed guard rather than covering broadly the topic of the closed guard. Content Volume 1 (41 minutes and 11 chapters, including two chapters relating to introductions) covers: the use of two holding methods (i.e. with a focus on grips); how to respond to the opponent breaking your guard and passing from their knees leading to you sweeping and gaining side control; a response to an opponent standing up leading to a tripod sweep and ending with you gaining side control; a sweeping response (i.e. flower sweep) when they are in your closed guard and they place their foot within your range; braking the posture of a standing opponent and applying an armbar; how to transition to the guard headquarters position and then using a scissor sweep variant when the opponent breaks your guard by using both their arms to push against your belt; a method to take the opponent’s back when they attempt a single leg stack pass; a second method to take the back when the opponent attempts a single leg stack pass by relying on the use of a leg kick to defeat their underhook; and an early response to an attempted double leg stack pass leading to a re-guarding or the headquarters position or if you are late to respond to the opponent, a technique leading to a sweep. Volume 2 (36 minutes and 9 chapters) covers: a detail instruction on the conventional armbar including the likely response from the opponent leading to an opening for a triangle choke; three chapters are included on trouble shooting the triangle (i.e. responding to the opponent’s incorrect posturing to avoid the triangle and transitioning to an armlock; defeating the opponent’s posturing by using your legs to lock one arm and completing the triangle; and responding to an opponent who reacts to a triangle attempt by posturing forward to push your knees into your face by sweeping him and either completing the triangle from a prone position or using an armbar); trouble shooting the armbar (i.e. examining typical opponent posturing and pressure counters to your armbar that can be defeated by the pendulum sweep); a modified armbar that relies upon a two-on-one grip to quickly control their forward arm; dealing with the opponent blocking the cross choke through the use of an armdrag; as part of the previous technique there is the option to do an armdrag across their body but if they attempt to square up then to move to a pendulum sweep; and using a forward armdrag to get an overhook and choke from this position. Volume 3 (33 minutes and 11 chapters including the outro) covers: workshopping sweeps to improve entries or triggering reactions from the opponent to assist in getting into or successfully completing the sweep and refinements to the actual sweep to improve its success rate; and also creating options to combine sweeps with submissions. I personally liked the modified armbar and the entry to scissor sweep and switch to armbar. Sweeps covered include the sit up or hip bump, flower, scissor, underhook and omaplata. Rafael Lovato Sr speaks clearly and confidently. His instructions are easy to understand. As is the practice with BJJ instructionals techniques are repeated multiple times with verbal guidance. Picture quality is good with a sharp focus, however I believe that it would have been better if the camera had zoomed in closer to the action. Strangely it appears that the camera is on an angle as the angle of mats on the wall lean to the right, however this does not detract from the presentation. On balance the sound was fine. The camera work is basic and comprises a single fixed camera. As necessary, Rafael Lovato Sr physically moves to create different viewing angles. The preview clips are representative of the whole instructional and reflect the comments that I have just made. In summary, if you are wishing to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your closed guard as it relates to the topics covered in this instructional (i.e. grips / holding, attacks and sweeps) this instructional will have good value. I would recommend reviewing the list of techniques to determine if they would be useful for your game or solve problems that you are having with your closed guard game. The refinements to the techniques covered in this instructional reflect the many years of experience including teaching by Rafael Lovato Sr. By way of disclosure, I like and enjoy the closed guard. For me watching this instructional and seeing the refinements just puts a smile on my face and therefo

  Peter H.April 6, 2021AUVerified buyer

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Every number on this page is computed from the 9 reviews above at build time, out of 87,673 in the full archive. See the methodology for how the corpus is collected and what is excluded.