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The 4 Steps to Defeat the BJJ Guard
The order of execution in guard passing is instrumental in our success. Skip one of these steps and it usually ends in our demise. The following are the steps, or a sequence, we use in approaching guard passing as a methodical process. Order from chaos:
Base
Break
Control
Pass
Step 1 - Base
The foundation (no pun intended) for any guard passing begins with the base. A solid base is entirely focused on stability and sweep prevention. Without it, we’re doomed. The following points will help us create an effective base to build our guard passing game upon:
Rectangle vs Trapezoid
The overall shape of our body in the base should tell all. A rectangle standing vertical, is far easier to push over than a trapezoid. See the photos for examples.
3 Points of Contact
It is imperative that we maintain 3 or more points of contact the entire time we base, break, and pass. There are exceptions to this rule when we involve advanced guard passing concepts, but for now - 'learn the rule, embody the rule, and then you can break the rule.’
The Sunken Center (cg)
Our bodies Center of Gravity (cg) is located a few centimeters below the navel when standing and kneeling. As we execute basing and breaking, we want to keep our cg as low to the ground as possible.
Block the Sit-Up
Our third point of contact aside from our legs, should be blocking the opponents sit-up. This prevents them from getting up, or choking us as we are in guard.
Arm position for submission prevention
Keep the arms at a good midway point, usually around the opponents solar plexus to prevent the arms from extending too far out where they can execute arm bar submissions on us. Too far back, and we’ll be the victim of a leg triangle submission.
Step 1.2 - Grip Breaking
I have seen people that are extremely successful with breaking grips. In my experience as a smaller grappler/boxer, grip breaking has always been more of a liability than an asset. Especially when inside an opponent's closed guard.
Usually the grip break requires me to lose my ‘3 points of contact’ in order to initiate it. This is very dangerous and compromises our base, which in turn sets us up for a stronger opponent to knock us down.
Additionally, and I found this in stand-up grappling as well, whenever we take our attention away from basing and breaking, we are opening ourselves up for another attack.
If you do choose to fight grips while inside closed guard, then remember this important piece - ‘you break it, you bought it’. This means, if you break a grip, you have to keep control of that arm or it will just grab you again in the same place, or somewhere else.
It’s an interesting game, and far be it from me to dissuade anyone from trying it. If it is of interest, I suggest learning that from someone who is really good at it. Personally, I find it to be the game of defense, and always being one move behind the enemy.
Much of the passing and guard work we’ll deal with here, involves a different strategy - ‘Neutralize the Grips.’ We’ll be moving and using principles that will nullify the grips and holds of our opponent, and at times, use them to our advantage.
Whether we break grips, or not, once we establish a solid base, we need to think about how to break the guard…
Step 2 - Break
Break the Guard
Breaking guard is rife with challenges. Not only do we have a method and sequence to this phase, we have to monitor our posture, base, and technique, all while an opponent is trying to sweep and submit us, or at the least, creating problems for us. This is an extremely dynamic phase of the ground game. To ensure success, we want to work from principles
Basic Methods of Breaking - Gi Variants
Double Belt Push
The first break you’ll learn. Starting with the arms on the chest, walk one hand at a time down to the belt. As soon as the first hand arrives, push the belt toward the opponents head, not their abdomen. Then grip the belt with the second hand and apply continued pressure. Staying low with the cg, walk the knees back one space each, being careful not to overstep. (see posture above).
Diagonal Base Break
Using one hand on the lapel located at the solar plexus (ensure a strong grip here) push on the belt with the other hand. Keep the elbow tight as you move next. Take one knee and shift it to align with the opponent's spine. Pressure back on their legs with your back. You can walk the hand that was on the belt, further down to the hip, or if safe, even the knee. It is important here to have good control. If the opponent controls our grip, we can be triangled here. If the pressure is maintained on the solar plexus, and we stretch back, we are defending that triangle as we break the guard. Failure to keep our grips/position, will lead to our demise.
Basic Methods of Breaking - No-Gi Variants
Sealing Tightly
Pinning the arm across the body and using it as the platform to break. This is the number one go to for a no-gi situation where someone has no belt, or their pants are extremely flimsy, or stretchy, and unable to support the grips required to break.
Double Under
Same break as above, but performed with no-gi by palming pectoral minor and the deltoid muscle. Use of an eagle claw grip on pectoral minor can also increase success here.
Size Matters
Using breaking methods against taller grapplers can be a nuisance. Their legs are longer, making it difficult to stretch the legs far enough to keep pressure. The good news is, there are alternative breaking methods that larger opponents find extremely difficult to close down.
Double Lapel to Bipod
This is a great pass for smaller vs taller where you cannot extend the person’s guard enough to pressure their legs open. Starting from the same base position, grab a same-side lapel in each hand. Punch the lapels up and underneath the opponents underarms as you stand to a bipod position while keeping the head low. Generally it is a good idea to drive the forehead into their solar plexus. Next, bring one leg to the center, in line with their spine. Sit down to the combat position while bringing the knee of the center leg to your chest. This will pry open the guard completely, or enough to be able to get to the combat base where you can then continue to work the full break.
Common Failures in Breaking Guard
Posture is a predominant factor guard breaking. Without proper posture, we will either be swept easily by a larger, stronger foe, or we will fail to apply appropriate pressure at the right geometric angle to break the guard.
Flat Back - this one is common when facing larger opponents as the tendency is for us to solve lack of pressure, by walking our knees back further and further trying to force open the guard. As the knees go further back, our trapezoid disappears, and we’re back to that rectangle we do not want. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH LOW HEAD/SHOULDER POSTURE.
Upright - the opposite of the flat back, is sitting up straight. This is a big mistake that can lead to being pushed completely backwards landing under the mount position of our opponent.
The 45 - 45 degree angle of spine posture creates a good angle of attack. This can vary +/- 10 to 15 degrees based on our opponents attack strategy.
No Pop-Tarts - during the breaking phase it is common for us to want to lift our cg in order to move, or push on our opponent. Keeping the center low as we move to break, can prevent sweeps from our opponent, or allow us to regain a strong position in their guard if they are aggressively trying to toss us. The higher our cg in this scenario, the more they will rock us, and the bigger our corrections will be. The larger the correction, the greater window of opportunity for our opponent to gain what they want.
Step 3 - Control
Controlling the Guard
Before we initiate the guard pass, it is imperative to maintain control of the guard. Against an unseasoned ground fighter, without this step we may get lucky and still affect a guard pass, but it is bad practice. Controlling guard is all about proper grips, and/or blocking.
Walking the Ladder
Think of our opponent as a ladder. When we break guard we are essentially climbing down a ladder toward their feet; walking our hands, or control points incrementally as we go. If we skipped a rung of a real ladder, we will likely fall.
In BJJ, we’re already on the ground, but we still experience the metaphorical descent after missing a rung of this imaginary ladder. Without proper controls, this point of the guard break/pass maneuvering is where our opponent is most likely to succeed with a sweep, submission, or at the least, re-pull of guard.
Much of this can be stopped if we know how to control their guard.
Where to grip
Control Points - each of these is relative to the type of pass we’ll discuss in phase 4.
Solar Plexus
Hips
Thighs
Knees
Ankles
As you will see in the following passes, we’re controlling the opponent at one or more of the above locations as we perform each pass.
Step 4 - Pass
Pass the Guard
Basic Ground Passes
There are many guard passes, but the following examples are the passes specifically address some of the more common positions an opponent will take up once their guard is broken.
Knee Slice Pass
Knee Slice Variation w/ Baseball Slide
Double Under Pass
Weave Through Pass
Basic Standing Guard Passes
Double Stuff
Double Toss
Knee to Belly
Wash, Rinse, Repeat
If step 2, or 3 fail, we need to go back to step 1. If step 4 fails, we can at times, simply back up to step 3. If they re-pull guard however, we need to go back to step 1 and work our way down the ladder again.
Passing Advanced Open Guards & Passing
In addition to the basic categorization of ‘closed’ and ‘open’ guard, there are advanced open guards that will require more complex solutions to defeat. These include but are not limited to:
Spider guard
De La Riva guard
Leg lasso
Half-guard
Deep-half
Knee shield
50/50
X-guard
Butterfly guard
Mantis guard
These guards each require specific base, breaks, controls, and passes to neutralize and counter.
See Advanced Guard Breaking & Passing for more on defeating these advanced open guards. Also includes more passes such as - Toreando Pass, Knee on Hip w/ Break, and more.
Here is an example of one guard we’ll address later. The spider guard.
