Naming Variations of Guard Positions, A Glossary with Pictures

[Stephan Kesting]

Elliott Bayev and I recently co-wrote a series of 3 articles dealing with the major variations of closed, open and half guard. These articles were recently published in an abbreviated format in Ultimate Grappling, and now I've released expanded versions of them on my website.

If you are interested, please check out

Article 1 - The Closed Guard

Article 2 - The Open Guard

Article 3 - The Half Guard

and also a mini article I wrote about naming guard positions and the debate between Lumpers and Splitters

Enjoy (or ignore!)
Stephan Kesting
Grapplearts.com

 

[Jimmy Cerra]

NICE!!! I'm going to reorganize my notes to these guards, mostly. "Shaun Williams" guard is what Eddie Bravo calls the chill dog, right?

 

[Slithers]

I think this was needed greatly for some. I really like how you mention the fact that Butterfly guard is really "sitting guard" on a kneeling opponent. I actually refer to what you call basic open guard as buttlerfly guard, I am glad you didn't call it spider guard with the knees, though!

Glad to see you did not include my favorite guard of all, the inverse guard.

 

[FLMikeATT]

NICE!!! I'm going to reorganize my notes to these guards, mostly. "Shaun Williams" guard is what Eddie Bravo calls the chill dog, right?

No. They are different positions. There was a thread on the "Shaun Williams" guard awhile ago. You can probably find it with a quick search.

The SW guard is a variation of the "leghook" guard where you have both arms on one side of his head. Chill dog you have both arms on the same side, but the hand and leg position is different. It's basically where you want to end up with Rubber guard as you can attack with omoplatas and other subs from there.

 

[Stephan Kesting]

Here's some photos of Eddie Bravo setting up a triangle choke from the Leghook Guard from a while back: Eddie Bravo's rubber guard triangle choke setup number 2
I don't know if his game still includes this guard position or not, but my game certainly does.

Stephan Kesting
Grapplearts.com

 

[Jaxx]

Awesome job, thanks.

 

[Stephan Kesting]

"Glad to see you did not include my favorite guard of all, the inverse guard."

Isn't this it?
Guard Glossary: The Upside Down Guard (Open Guard)

 

[Cash Bill 52]

Thank you Stephan. At times I have used many of these guard positions.

Do you think there will ever be a sanctioning body like judo or wrestling where these positions have definitive names?

I don't really hear judo guys arguing over the name osoto gari. But when I'm with some of my teammates watching the UFC the term "rubber guard" kind of gets them bent out of shape.

Also, how important do you think it is for an assistant instructor to master these positions? I never see Roger Gracie using a De la Riva, or X guard. When beginners ask me about these positions I always let them know that I am no expert.

Thanks again. I appreciate your hard work.

 

[STFUjiujitsu]

That's good stuff for real, Keep building on that and I guarantee people will reference your articles to explain techniques.

 

[Slithers]

"Glad to see you did not include my favorite guard of all, the inverse guard."

Isn't this it?
Guard Glossary: The Upside Down Guard (Open Guard)

No, that would be considered 'lumping' if I threw it in there with UpsideDown guard. Inverse guard is different. It is kind of like the Z half guard, only inverse. In the Z guard the top leg knee is used to keep space, while the bottom leg hooks him. Inverse guard has the bottom leg knee used to make space, while the top leg hooks over the head clamping down like an armbar.

 

[georgejjr]

Very nice, thanks.

 

[The Colonel]

Great job Stephan, keep it up. I'm familiar with most of the various types of guards (not saying I'm proficient at them though all though) but some of them I still had questions over what exactly they looked like.

Your dvds are awesome (I've got your half guard and knee bar dvds) and they were a big hit at the jiu-jitsu club I teach at as the assistant instructor. I'm planning on getting your new leg locks dvd once I feel confident with knee bars.

 

[Luther]

Great articles, thanks.

 

[Thrawn33]

A thousand Kudos to you TS!

My throw addled Judoka brain was not able to keep up with all this hip new BJJ slang that the kids are throwing around nowadays.

Very informative and very well presented.

You deserve a gold star!

 

[codemonkey76]

how bout adding the Robson Cross Guard, it's a bit different than the standard cross guard, with the foot in the armpit and with your head closest to the opponent, like inverted guard.

 

[DaRuckus337]

Cool link. Thanks.

 

[Luther]

how bout adding the Robson Cross Guard, it's a bit different than the standard cross guard, with the foot in the armpit and with your head closest to the opponent, like inverted guard.

I've seen a video, cool variation, but does he really uses it in competition?