17 Important Tips for the Half Guard on The Bottom

[jasculs]

17 Important Tips for Half Guard on the Bottom
Author: Jason Scully
www.GrapplersGuide.com

These are some important aspects to focus on and remember when it comes to being on the bottom in half guard

• Ideally you want to tuck your head deep under your opponent. This makes it much harder for him to gain head control on you. It also gives you a better opportunity to get deeper under your opponent so you can start working more offensive movements.

• Getting an underhook with your top arm is a good position because it assist with helping you stay on your side, but you also need to be aware of certain attacks your opponent can do to you. As the development of the half guard started to get more offensive the underhook was said to be extremely important in establishing an offense from this position. While this is still the case, there have been developments to counter the underhook positions. The use of movements such as brabo chokes and wizzers have been added to effectively work against your underhook position from half guard so you need to be aware that these counters exist.

• Work on always compromising your opponents balance and do not let them settle on you. As with tip number 1, you always want to stay active. Whenever they get a chance to settle it becomes much harder to reestablish your position.

• Constantly threaten to work back to full guard by doing so it makes it much harder for them to start working to pass.

• Be aware of the pressure your opponent is putting on you. Is he pushing into you? Is his weight back more? If you know how your opponent is distributing his weight, it will help you determine which direction you may want to attack towards especially if you are working for a sweep or to transfer to full guard.

[Yrkoon9]

#18. Protect your face, because it is going to get punched. A lot.

[jasculs]

#18. Protect your face, because it is going to get punched. A lot.

Possibly in an MMA fight...this is geared more towards straight grappling.

[Zapruder]

I find that when #2 happens to me and I get flattened out, this is a great time to move to butterfly half. And as it so happens I have some video of what I am talking about. This is some footage of Austins latest throwdown:
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[Yohan]

I work half guard lots - mostly because I end up there alot because I can catch my partners passing from guard to side, or passing from side to mount, or mount to side. I have one main escape I work where I get my hips out to the sdie and get up on my knees and fight from the knees.

Nothing but good tips here.

[GoldenJonas]

Hey look, a half guard thread. Here are some half-guard clips from my log for perusal. In one form or another my instructor has stated each of the things/points listed by jasculs; good, essential stuff.

I hope the following is at least interesting and at best provides some things you have not thought of from bottom half guard.

We are sticking with the half-guard stuff. We are working a pretty good sweep taking the half butterfly and immediately kicking the guy over using a statue of liberty reach to hit the posting arm. The sweep is very quick and there is no air time for the opponent; essentially you stretch them out and kick them over. If that gets countered or posted you rotate under the guy and bring him the opposite direction. The biggest difficulty with this counter is two-fold; 1) getting you head and hips down low enough under your opponent to create the leverage, and 2) pinning the sweep side arm to prevent the post. I will need to work on this counter as there is absolutely no hope of me getting it right now against a live opponent.

We worked back door slips from half guard to take the back and finish with a cross collar gi choke.

A few keys to remember to effectively ball down and slip out the back is to use both the upper and lower body to drive the opponent forward and then use a pendulum like movement to help you explode out the back door. You may be able to perform the escape without the combination and pendulum BUT you end up using more strength and thus lower the percentage of it working.

Don't rush to submission once you are out. With the escape you have your half guard hook already in. From side turtle control you need to secure your position and slowly work toward the back with control rather than rushing to get the opposite side hook and fiddlefucking a collar choke without properly controlling your opponent. Failure to secure your position results in space which in turn results in an increased percent chance that your opponent will escape, reverse, or at least marginally improve his position.

Great sweep tonight. I often find myself getting into a scissor sweep-like position with my legs when trying to make space and improve from under half-guard. Typically, this is subject to a smashing half guard pass attempt by the more skilled guys which ends up being a bit of a scramble for position on both sides. The sweep we drilled last night uses the scissor set-up from half guard so it is particularly useful for me....here goes one of my old-time detailed descriptions, that is how much I loved this sweep.

THE SWEEP: Opponent is on your left side and you have his right leg wrapped up in your half-guard; your opponent has the underhook. Pin your left elbow tight (grap the inside of your left leg or grab your opponent's belt by his right hip) to stop him from opening up your elbow. Post his left leg by grabbing his pant leg at the ankle or knee. Shrimp out to your left up onto your right hip and swim your left arm under his chin and grab his cross lapel putting your forearm under the guys throat and framing to create space. Slide your left knee across the guys waist like a scissor sweep set-up. Maintain control over his right leg and hip to stop him from inching forward. Grab the guys right sleeve at the wrist. Pull his right arm across your face to your left ear while rotating your hips under him to get and inside-out wrap on his left leg with your right arm. You left knee should still be across his waist and your right leg still has his right leg hooked like it was in half-guard. Pull the guys left arm straight down to your left hip and roll backwards bringing the guys right shoulder to the mat. Complete the roll back to complete the sweep. You end up in his half guard or you can roll and pass to side control on the guys left side by keeping your knee across the waist and using that leverage to pass his half-guard. The whole time keep your grip on the sleeve to kill that limb and any leverage you opponent may search for to counter.

We worked on two new half guard sweeps which counter the typical whizzer to brabo or darce set up when someone is in your half-guard. As soon as the guy pulls the whizzer to counter your initial sweep attempt reach down with the whizzered arm and grab the guys wrist while hooking the far leg from the inside with your other arm; push your hips down and under the leg you have trapped in half guard and sweep to the whizzered side.

The next sweep is pretty technical and uses a peek through to counter a guy who gets his arm over your head to post the first sweep. You still counter the whizzer by grabbing the wrist but after the post (or before it doesn't really matter) you place the half butterfly and push the guy back and essentially do a sit out on the whizzered side and seat belt to take the back. You can also switch your hops the other way after the sit out ans come to the front.

I liked the first one a lot; the second not so much.

[KhorneliusPraxx]

It is difficult to read descriptions of techniques without the benefit of pictures or video. I am trying to image being on top and in someone's half guard while crossing my ankles. I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

[Goju - Joe]

yes pics on how not to let people gain head control plz

[Roidie McDouchebag]

It’s extremely important to make sure you stop your opponent from crossing facing around your head and gaining head control.

I would add that you can get neck cranked to hell if this happens. Either the front naked or the Bulgarian headlock.

yes pics on how not to let people gain head control plz

Er...stop sucking?

[UpaLumpa]

It is difficult to read descriptions of techniques without the benefit of pictures or video. I am trying to image being on top and in someone's half guard while crossing my ankles. I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

There are a couple of ways. One is essentially just doing a lockdown from top.
Or you can just squeeze their leg with yours and cross your feet. This is common when you sprawl out on a leg to pass and stretch out one of their legs.

[E-Van]

Man what a wonderful post to read while at work! More posts like this would be awsome! Vids and pics would be nice but I think anyone with basic grapling skill can visualize exactly what is being described.

[UpaLumpa]

yes pics on how not to let people gain head control plz

Uh, what?
Keep your head and neck to the ground and swim through.

[jasculs]

Thanks for the added insight GoldenJones