The Everyday Jiu Jitsu Podcast Ep 4: Half Guard Passing

General concepts:

- Half guard passing is pressure-based (tight/chest to chest)

- Half guard passing focuses on pinning the head and shoulders first, and clearing the legs second

- Loose guard passing can be used to achieve half guard passing as a “Checkpoint”

- Force your partner to constantly re-establish their frames by using bladed and relaxed shoulders; this action deflects your partner’s frames as you close the distance and work toward chest to chest positions

- Fight for the inside position to establish control

- Anyone can use this style of guard passing. Sometimes half guard passing can be difficult for a smaller person to use against a much larger guard player

- This guard passing style has been around since the beginning of BJJ, but has become very popular again

- Half guard passing allows the top player to use weight efficiently while the bottom player gets exhausted

- Just like all pressure-based positions, your head positioning is super important when passing the half guard

- 2 directions of attack when passing the half guard: Shoulder vs hip pins

What does the bottom player want in the half guard control position?

- Use Kuzushi to create disconnection between top and bottom player

- Establish frames; upper body inside position- lower body inside position

- Recover an offensive guard, or at least a neutral guard where they can rest and look to attack

Different arm configurations

- Cross face and under hook

- Near side under hook and head block

- Double under hooks/Body lock

- Kata gatame

Different half guard passing positions

- The fundamental half guard passing position

- Body lock vs half guard passing

- Half guard sit-out

- Reverse half guard sit-out

- 3/4 mount

- Deep half guard

- Addressing the coyote half guard/lower leg shift

Camp-style guard passing

- This is a relatively new guard passing concept that can be used in Gi and No Gi scenarios

- Made famous by Gordon Ryan

- Backtrack into positions of advantage to exhaust your opponent

- Camp-style passing prioritizes positions of advantage over the actual guard pass 

- Use a series of checkpoints to fall back on

- Review BJJ Mental Models Episode 224: “Waypoints and J-Points, feat. Matt Kwan”

Gi vs No Gi

- Half Guard passing in the gi provides more friction and grip options

- Mid range passes are more available in gi due to grips; weave pass, long step pass

- Lapel cross-face

- Collar grip under the arm

- Body lock is a strong grip for No Gi, but problematic in the Gi due to the belt grip

Half Guard vs Side Control/Mount

- Passing to side control opens opportunities for your opponent to turtle

- Craig Jones recommends passing to mount instead of side control

Resources:

- Gordon Ryan’s SIMPLE way to be an ADVANCED guard passer-BJJ Analysis (Less Impressed More Involved BJJ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGBHXO-EMk0

- Greed has no place in Guard Passing - Gordon Ryan BJJ analysis (Less Impressed More Involved BJJ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKVzL5kmijk

- How To Do The Perfect Jiu Jitsu Half Guard Passing by John Danaher: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz4oLDOHxLM

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