Sometimes I pass ineffectively and end up in half guard. When I'm able to get head/arm control I'm OK for the half-guard pass because I decrease the space and can squash my opponent's body.

But some of my training partners make/get space, they seem to be slipping in their top knee to push me away and to thwart my half-guard pass attempt.

If I were big, I'd be pressing the knee down with my body weight and stretching out my legs to pass. But I'm not big. If I try that, my opponent sweeps. If I underhook the top leg to try and pry the knee away, I end up struggling against strength. If I pop up, sometimes my opponents use the pushing power of that knee and the pulling power of their upper body to try a kimura/transition into sweep.

I've got a couple of things I've been/will be trying, but what've you tried? Have you experienced anything like this?

When you do half-guard you want to be on your side right? So when you're passing, put him flat on his back and do you normal pass. If he's got his right leg hooking your right leg and his left knee across your chest - circle back to your right until he's flat on his back and both of his knees are pointing up.

When you do half-guard you want to be on your side right?

That must be why my half guard is more like a lay and pray. So you want to be on your side that gets your hips out from under the guy (like you're going to take the back), right? I gotta really keep that in mind. Maybe I'll actually take the half guard on purpose instead of desparation.

When doing half-guard the number one thing is to be on your side. To keep on your side, you want to stop the guy from doing a cross-face on you, or from getting an underhook on you because if he gets either he can flatten you out. Obviously you can start to work the lock-down, but I'm not a fan of it because you're essentially locking the guy's weight down on you.

When passing from any position, you generally want to keep the guys shoulders and hips flat to the mat (if you can turn his hips away from you that's even better). If his back is on the mat he can't move back and create space and if his hips are pinned down he can't use his legs as well.

In summary, when doing any sort of open guard, you want to stay off your back. When passing, you want to get your opponent's back flat on the mat.

Man I'm going to have to start crediting you when I start tapping the upper white belts at my BJJ school. I've learned just as much from reading your threads as I have from the actual class (well, you know...not really but still it's very helpful).

I was going to start doing all that crazy Eddie Bravo lock down stuff, but a friend of mine showed me his version which was easier for me when I trying to prevent the pass and bust a sweep from half guard. Plus it uses less energy.

It's really really hard as a white belt (and probably any other belt) to put yourself in a bad (or at least not great) position on purpose. No one likes doing it.

Thankfully, I got a nice kick in the ass at the last grappling tourney I did regarding my half guard. Namely, it is weak as ****. I have been working from it almost exclusively for the last couple weeks and will do it until it works out right.

The other thing I have noticed in the past year is that it took me a really long time to get comfortable asking questions in class. For probably three or four months of my initial training, I wouldn't worry about a technique that I couldn't do completely right. I REALLY wish I had started speaking up a lot sooner than I did.

The other thing I have noticed in the past year is that it took me a really long time to get comfortable asking questions in class. For probably three or four months of my initial training, I wouldn't worry about a technique that I couldn't do completely right. I REALLY wish I had started speaking up a lot sooner than I did.


Man I was annoying since day one. I was asking all kinds of questions, but then I slowed down when I thought I was eating up too much of the actual grappling time. But the instructor was cool with it (he told me later on), and wished more people would ask questions about their technique earlier and clean up their technique quicker.

Now it seems the classes are larger, and someone always asks the questions I would be asking anyway, so I don't look so annoying anymore. :)

I just learned the lockdown today, actually. Now I'm obviously not very experienced, but the way he showed us was that once you get the lockdown and the double under-hooks, you need to use the lockdown to sort of bump the other guy higher up on you, so you get lower down near his hips. From there, you can grab his non-lockdowned foot, and go for Eddie Bravo's Old School sweep, or a variety of others. But while it does lock the guy's weight on top of you, it doesn't stay that way, because the lockdown gives you a lot of control since he loses his base on that side.

But JohnnyS is certainly way more experienced than I am so I'm sure he's practiced the lockdown series and variations far more than I have.

When you do half-guard you want to be on your side right? So when you're passing, put him flat on his back and do you normal pass. If he's got his right leg hooking your right leg and his left knee across your chest - circle back to your right until he's flat on his back and both of his knees are pointing up.


JohnnyS,

It's hard responding to do this kinda stuff over 'forums', so I do appreciate you taking the time.

I can see where you're coming from as far as 'circling back' to flatten.

But, do you find people then claim full guard when you do that?

-Charles Choi

I'm not going to say it doesn't work, but I find it does instill bad habits in people. The lockdown was taught to the whitebelts at my school and they ALL had trouble being squashed. I taught the beginners/intermediate class for a couple of weeks and everyone's half-guard improved because I got them to stay on their side.

Sometimes I pass ineffectively and end up in half guard. When I'm able to get head/arm control I'm OK for the half-guard pass because I decrease the space and can squash my opponent's body.

But some of my training partners make/get space, they seem to be slipping in their top knee to push me away and to thwart my half-guard pass attempt.

If I were big, I'd be pressing the knee down with my body weight and stretching out my legs to pass. But I'm not big. If I try that, my opponent sweeps.

Don't just "stretch out your legs", sprawl. Extend your legs out and back, lower your hips. I'm 185 and do this pass effectively on guys that outweigh me by 70 lbs or so, so not being big shouldn't be that much of an issue for you.

Our instructor just spent a full class a week or two ago drilling half-guard stuff because he noticed we were all getting swept too easy from the top. A lot of it didn't stick with me all that well (it happens :p), but I remember him having us lean our weight forward perpendicular to their body (so that you if you look down you are looking at the small of their back) whenever they managed to get on their side. This helped prevent both sweeps and taking the back, and gave you time to reestablish an underhook or cross-face, and then after you put them back on their back you can bring your weight back to chest-to-chest.

Johnny S hit the nail on the head- you can "circle back" without losing the pressure in the half guard however (and avoid your opponent to get full guard).

Two ways I counter this position:

As Johnny pointed out, being flat on your back on bottom half guard sucks. If you dont want to circle back to put your opponent flat, you can reach forward and look for head control

i.e. Im in half guard and hes pushing me away with his right leg on top- I swing my arm in a circular motion and grab the gi on his back in line with his spine as low down his back as I can. At the same time, you're going to do what I call a "scorpion" and swing your left leg (the one in half guard) behind you. Its hard to explain, but it looks as if you simply sit your right hip to the ground (i.e. your hips are horizontal (---) before the move and vertical ( | ) afterwards. The grip on your opponents back allows you to drive your shoulder into his chin and flatten him out.

If my opponent defends his head, I use what looks like the same technique, except I go across his hips instead (i.e. left arm inside his half guard with right arm overclasp his hips and gripping my hands together). This is another good way to prevent his hip movement, but it is much more difficult to pass and maintain cross side than the first option.

Pics please?

As always to JohnyS and Gumby very good info - thanks.

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to JohnnyS again."

I took a class in NYC from Igor and Gregor Gracie last weekend, and we covered this exact situation. First, as everyone has already said, circle your opponent until he's flat on his back. From here, raise the knee that's inside the half guard so that you're basing off that foot and your other knee. As you do this, your other arm (the one opposite the knee you just raised) grabs and pushes on your opponent's corresponding bicep. Now, drop the raised knee across your opponent's low leg (the non-scissoring one). This should be at a fairly sharp angle, cutting across his body. It's very similar to a cross-line guard pass from the knees. Just slide through, turn into your opponent, and drive forward to flatten him out. If this is hard to understand, please ask questions and I'll see if I can make things a bit clearer; it's hard to explain w/o pictures.