Half-Guard Heaven

Tuesday was the first Jiu-Jitsu class I attended in 9 weeks. I broke my hand in early march and haven't been able to return to training due to the injury. March 6th was my last class and in this time I have done next to nothing in terms of training. Needless to say, I am a little out of shape.

In my absence from training, I also missed a seminar at the club from Pat Cooligan. He is the instructor at Team Renzo in Ottawa, who we are affiliated with. He is the only Gracie Jiu-Jitsu black-belt in Canada. Our club is very fortunate to have such a skilled practicioner as a friend of ours. Pat makes the trip to Sudbury twice a year, and we make the trip to Ottawa approximately the same amount. We are also fortunate enough to attend seminars by the man himself, Renzo Gracie.

During the seminar with Pat, the club went over a large number of half-guard techniques. Since I missed this seminar, I asked my instructor to run through some of these techniques during class on Tuesday. So here's a few techniques to use from half-guard.

First, a few basic rules of half-guard. Half-guard is when you have your legs triangling only one of your opponent's legs. The major rule here is to make sure you are underhooking your opponent's arm on the same side as the leg you have trapped. If you don't have this underhook, you are not in control. If you don't have the underhook, you have to fight to get it. There's nothing you can do without it. The underhook can't be sloppy either, make sure that your hand (we'll say the left one for this example) is underhooking his right arm and it is gripping his left shoulder. You should never be on your back, always on your side if you wish to mount any sort of offense. So, if you are underhooking with your left arm, you need to hip out and turn so that your left shoulder is off the mat. Pull your right shoulder back to be completely on your right side. Now with your right hand grip your opponent's left bicep or wrist. You need to control that arm. So this is what I consider to be half guard: On your side, trapping one of your opponent's legs, underhooking the arm on the same side, and controlling the other arm. In this position, YOU are the one winning the battle, not your opponent on top.

All these techniques begin from this position.

Escape To The Back

• Hip out as much as you can to create space. You will have to release the triangle you are using to trap your opponent's leg.
• With your left hand (that's underhooking) release the grip you have on the shoulder.
• Hip out again and shoot your left hand forward (in the direction that the top of your heads are facing), over his right shoulder. This should push your opponent forward.
• Now, he is on his belly, face down. You are on your side with your legs still in half guard.
• Grip his left shoulder again and pull yourself onto his back.
• Sink in your hooks.

Pretty simple, right? Try it out, it is very effective!

Half Butterfly Roll

• Hip out to create space. (Opponent's right leg in your half guard again.)
• Put in your left hook to create a half-butterfly-guard on your left side.
• Remove your right hand from your opponent's wrist or bicep.
• Swim your right arm in between your opponent's legs and hook his left leg.
• Bring your opponent's left knee to your head by pulling your arm forward and placing your fist to your head. (Like you would if you were talking on the phone.)
• Lift your opponent's right knee and suck your hips in to force your opponent on top of you, with his knee up. To keep his balance, he must plant his right foot on the mat. Your foot is now hooking at his right knee.
• Remove your left arm to release the underhook.
• Grab your opponent's right ankle with your left hand.
• In one motion, pull on the ankle and push forward with your left shin. This causes your opponent's right knee to twist and forces him backwards. With your right arm still hooking your opponent's left leg, you can use it to push him over as you are coming up.
• You are now in your opponent's half-guard!

Passing Half-Guard

The most largely used technique to pass your opponent's half-guard, is to lean forward, put pressure on your opponent's jaw, and with the leg that isn't trapped, hook one of your opponent's legs and pry your other leg free.

But that doesn't always work, whether it be because your opponent is trapping your leg too tightly or because you are losing your balance.

If this is the case, then there is a very simple way to pass.

In this example we'll say that your opponent has your right leg trapped.

• Simply roll over your opponent's belly and end up on his left side.
• Make sure that you control you opponent's right bicep during this motion. This is to prevent your opponent from rolling you over as you perform this move.
• Plant your left foot to keep you balanced.
• From here, pulling your leg out becomes much easier.
• Use your available leg to push against your opponent's legs and pull your leg free. You will end up in side control using this method.

Simple enough? Sometimes the most simple techniques are the most effective.