Open guard set

Open guard set

Every open guard on the map, from seated guard to inverted.

0% complete. Progress is shared: finishing a position here also counts in every other path that includes it.

0 of 12 lessons completed. A lesson counts once you press “Mark lesson complete” inside it.

  1. 1
    Seated open guard Fundamental
    Feet and hands on their hips, biceps or sleeves keep them at a distance. The hub for every open guard.
    0% · 0/6 techniques · 7 in the library
  2. 2
    Butterfly guard Fundamental
    Seated with hooks inside both thighs. Underhooks and elevation take away their balance.
    0% · 0/5 techniques · 4 in the library
  3. 3
    De La Riva guard Intermediate
    Your outside leg hooks around their lead leg from the outside, with a grip on their ankle and their sleeve or collar.
    0% · 0/3 techniques · 3 in the library
  4. 4
    Reverse De La Riva Intermediate
    Your leg hooks inside their lead leg, often after they start a knee cut. A key guard for stopping knee-slice passes.
    0% · 0/2 techniques · 2 in the library
  5. 5
    R-guard Advanced
    An open guard against a standing opponent, a hybrid of De La Riva and reverse De La Riva: you lie on your outside hip with a low grip on their ankle and your legs locked deep around their leg. Your shin pushes their knee out until they post, then you sweep, wrestle up or pummel into the leg entanglements.
    0% · 0/3 techniques
  6. 6
    X-guard Intermediate
    You are under them, one leg hooked behind their knee and the other foot on their far hip, hugging their leg.
    0% · 0/2 techniques · 4 in the library
  7. 7
    Spider guard Intermediate
    Sleeve grips with your feet on their biceps. The long levers keep them far away and set up sweeps and triangles.
    0% · 0/3 techniques · 6 in the library
  8. 8
    Lasso guard Intermediate
    One leg wraps around their arm, foot on their back or hip. Very hard to pass and great for slowing a pressure passer.
    0% · 0/2 techniques · 4 in the library
  9. 9
    Collar sleeve guard Intermediate
    One hand on the collar, one on the sleeve, a foot on their bicep and the other on their hip or hooking a leg.
    0% · 0/2 techniques · 4 in the library
  10. 10
    Inverted guard Advanced
    You roll onto your shoulders so your legs face them. Used to recover guard and to enter berimbolos and triangles.
    0% · 0/2 techniques · 3 in the library
  11. 11
    Shin-to-shin Intermediate
    Seated in front of a standing opponent with your shin against their lead shin and a grip on that leg. A modern hub for leg entanglements, sweeps and wrestle-ups.
    0% · 0/2 techniques · 1 in the library
  12. 12
    Worm guard Advanced
    You feed their own lapel around their lead leg and grip it, building a hook that is very hard to remove. A Keenan Cornelius invention.
    0% · 0/2 techniques · 1 in the library

Seminars for this course

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Full-length seminars on the positions in this course.

MasterclassBottomGuard

Perfect Guard Retention

John Danaher

For Seated open guard: Keeping your open guard when they try to pass

John Danaher's lesson on guard retention: keeping the passer in front of your legs.

YouTube ↗
Full seminarBottomGuard

Butterfly Sweeps Seminar

John B. Will

For Butterfly guard: Sweeps from butterfly guard

John B. Will's seminar on sweeping from butterfly guard.

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MasterclassBottomGuard

Underhook De La Riva Masterclass

Daniel "The Manchild"

For De La Riva guard: Playing De La Riva with an underhook

A masterclass on the underhook variation of the De La Riva guard.

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Full seminarBottomGuard

Wrestle Up Fundamentals

Knight Jiu-Jitsu

For Seated open guard: Coming up from seated guard to a top position

A full seminar on wrestling up: getting from a seated or grounded guard back to the top.

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MasterclassBottomGuard

Butterfly Guard: Most Important Principles

Marcelo Garcia

For Butterfly guard: The core principles of the butterfly guard

Marcelo Garcia, one of the best butterfly guard players ever, on the principles that make the guard work.

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Class recordingBothGuard

Constructing/Deconstructing Guards

Chris Paines

For Seated open guard: Why guard works, how guards are built and how they come apart

Chris Paines explains the logic of guard: why it works, how to build one and how to take one apart. A concept class filmed at a BJJ Globetrotters camp.

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Class recordingNo-GiBottomGuard

Noon BJJ Class: the Butterfly Sweep

Firas Zahabi

For Butterfly guard: A full class built around the butterfly sweep

A live no-gi class at Tristar Gym where Firas Zahabi teaches what makes a powerful butterfly sweep.

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