Pesky Half Guard

I think that the day I didn’t panic when I was on the bottom with half guard was a day that I felt I had really moved forward in my grappling.  Half guard isn’t that bad.  As a matter of fact, no position is intractable (though some are exceedingly bad) and getting panicked about your position never seems to be very helpful.

So what does one do in half guard?  Well, if you’re on the top – finish the job and pass.  If you’re on the bottom, get your guard back or sweep the top person.  Sure, both players can submit from half but it is a fairly messy situation from either side.  That isn’t to say it shouldn’t be done but it seems wiser to get a better position rather than monkeying around in half guard.

Today in class we worked a few different approaches to passing half: straightening the trapped leg, putting our weight up high and on our partner, pushing out the bottom player’s knee with our arm or stripping the bottom player’s leg with our free foot.  As per the usual messy business of a resisting opponent, a combination of all these pieces is often involved in finishing the job.