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Inverted guard
You roll onto your shoulders so your legs face them. Used to recover guard and to enter berimbolos and triangles.
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Essentials
You roll onto your shoulders so your legs stay between you and a passer who has got past your knees. Inverting is a guard-retention skill and a launching point for berimbolos and leg entries.
Your goals
- Turn onto your shoulders, never your neck
- Keep your legs between you and them
- Return to guard or attack the back or legs
What they want
- Stack you onto your neck
- Walk around and pass while you’re upside down
Key principles
- Safety first: roll on the shoulders
- Inversion is a short transition, not a place to stay
Common mistakes
- Rolling straight onto your neck
- Inverting with no grips
Techniques to learn
Each one opens its own page and video.
Where it leads
- Moves from here
- Seated open guardDe La Riva guardBack control
- Escapes
- Escape the triangle
- In courses
- Open guard set
If this happens…
- they walk around your legsInvert and swing your legs back in front of them
- they stack you heavilyCome out of the inversion and turn to turtle or guard
Advanced detailsTransitions, threats, reactions, troubleshooting and a sparring drill
1. Overview
You roll onto your shoulders so your legs face them. Used to recover guard and to enter berimbolos and triangles.
Key controls
- Weight on shoulders, never the neck
- Feet active on hips
- Hands framing
In this position
3 transitions · 2 sweeps · 1 submissions · 2 reactions · 2 troubleshooting fixes · 1 sparring exercise · 2 techniques
Read about itGrapplearts articlesBJJ Heroes
Finish this lesson
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Test yourselfInverted guard lesson quiz5 questions · pass with 4