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17 TIPS FOR AN ACTIVE BOTTOM HALF GUARD, BY JASON SCULLY

These are some important aspects to focus on and remember when it
comes to being on the bottom in half guard

1. Don’t just hold on. Gone are the days when someone moves into
your half guard and then you try to hold onto them for dear life. The
half guard game is a more active, offensive, and aggressive position
then it once was. So if someone ends up in your half guard because
they were working a pass, you should know that you have plenty of
offensive options from this position and you should work just as hard
from the half guard as you would if you were in any other guard.

2. When you’re in the half guard on the bottom, you never want to
be flat on your back. The main reason for this is because when you’re
flat on your back you greatly decrease your mobility. You should be
facing your opponent on your side in a position that looks similar to
a fetal position. If you were to let your opponent get your back flat
on the mat then he will have a much better chance of stopping your
movement on the bottom and you will also feel much more of his weight
on top of you.

3. It’s extremely important to make sure you stop your opponent
from crossing facing your head and gaining head control. The reason
for this, is because when your opponent gets control of your head and
starts to place shoulder pressure on your face this does a very good
job of getting your shoulders and back flat on the mat, which in turn
decreases your mobility on the bottom.

4. Use the paw grip to stop your opponent from gaining head control
on you. Your opponent is mainly going to try to gain head control on
you most of the time by starting first to hook around your head with
his arm that is further away from your body so you need to at least
take the hand of your bottom arm and control his arm that is attacking
your head. A very effective way to do this is by having all of your
fingers close together forming something similar to a paw and
controlling at your opponent’s bicep. Many times stopping your
opponent from getting head control is so important that you may have
to use a double paw grip to prevent your opponent from getting head
control. This is where you will use both of your hands on his arm
that he’s using to establish control.

5. Ideally you want to tuck your head deep under your opponent.
This makes it much harder for him to gain head control on you. It
also gives you a better opportunity to get deeper under your opponent
so you can start working more offensive movements.

6. Getting an underhook with your top arm is a good position
because it assists with helping you stay on your side, but you also
need to be aware of certain attacks your opponent can do to you. As
the development of the half guard started to get more offensive the
underhook was said to be extremely important in establishing an
offense from this position. While this is still the case, there have
been developments to counter the underhook positions. The use of
movements such as brabo chokes and wizzers have been added to
effectively work against your underhook position from half guard so
you need to be aware that these counters exist.

7. Be ready for your opponent to turn his hip down and work passes
facing towards your legs similar to a reverse scarf hold position but
while in half guard. This position in my personal opinion and
experience is one of the hardest positions to deal with when you are
on the bottom in half guard. The main reason this position poses such
a problem is because when your opponent establishes this reverse top
half guard position they gain a lot of control of your hips making it
much harder for you to be as mobile as you’d like to be. I focus on
making sure my opponent doesn’t get this position just as much as I
focus on them not establishing head control. One way that I use to
stop my opponent from establishing this position is I post directly on
the side of the hip they are trying to turn down. As soon as I see
them turn their hips I place one (and many times two) of my hands
right on their hip bone and I stiff arm their hip. This makes it much
harder for them to turn their hip down and also many times creates
some space. Doing this requires a great deal of timing and practice
so it’s a good idea to start working on it now, because once your
opponent settles in that position it can be very hard to deal with.

8. Another thing to focus on is to prevent your opponent from
crossing their ankles while in your half guard. The simple act of
them crossing their ankles makes certain movements much more difficult
and it also makes them feel much heavier. Usually when I establish a
half guard one of the first things I do is I take my outside foot and
I hook it over my opponent’s leg that I have trapped. I then drag his
leg closer to me with my leg which brings his leg further away from
his other one. When you do this it makes it much harder for your
opponent to cross his ankles early on.

9. Don’t get lazy with your legs, keep them active. Many times
when the half guard position is new to someone they forget to keep
their legs active and they let their legs that have their opponent’s
leg trapped open up or just let their legs go flat without even
knowing it. When this happens it becomes much easier for your opponent
to just pull his leg out and work a pass. You should be aware of the
position of your legs and the position of your opponent’s trapped leg
at all times.

10. Get low under your opponent. When you’re able to get low under
your opponent you increase your opportunities to take your opponent’s
base out and mess with your opponent’s balance.

11. Always compromise your opponents balance and do not let them
settle on you. As with tip number 1, you always want to stay active.
Whenever they get a chance to settle it becomes much harder to
reestablish your position.

12. Constantly threaten to work back to full guard by doing so it
makes it much harder for them to start working to pass.

13. Be aware of the pressure your opponent is putting on you. Is he
pushing into you? Is his weight back more? If you know how your
opponent is distributing his weight, it will help you determine which
direction you may want to attack towards especially if you are working
for a sweep or to transfer to full guard.

14. Always look for your opponent’s arm that is closer to your top
arm to be across your body/chest. There may be times where your
opponent’s arm that is closer to you ends up going past the front of
your body. This is a perfect opportunity for you to work attacks
towards your opponent’s back.

15. To get their chest off of you and to gain some distance between
the both of you make a frame across your opponent’s neck with your top
arm. Many times in a no-gi situation I place my hand right no their
neck. When you do this it’s very uncomfortable for your opponent and
many times creates distance because they have trouble dealing with the
pressure on their neck.

16. Become familiar with the different half guard positions not only
for an offensive approach but also for a defensive approach when you
are on top of someone’s half guard.
A. Regular Half Guard – This is your basic half guard where
you have one of your opponent’s legs between your legs. It’s
recommended that you use your outside foot to hook over his trapped
leg and drag it out to stop him from crossing his ankes.
B. Z-Half Guard – In this half guard position you will have
your top shin across your opponent’s body. This position is good for
creating distance from your opponent. It is also easier to work an
overhook game from this position.
C. Deep Half Guard – In this half guard you are very low
under your opponent’s leg that is trapped. Your whole body should be
pretty much under that leg. This position is very good for
compromising your opponent’s base and balance.
D. Lock Down Half Guard – In this position you establish
strong control of your opponents trapped leg by lacing it in a
particular way with your legs. This position is very effective when
you also combine it with double underhooks.
E. Butterfly Half Guard – In this half guard you have one of
your opponent’s legs trapped and with your outside foot you tuck it
under your opponent’s thigh that’s trapped very similar to how you
would get a butterfly hook. This position is good for raising your
opponent’s body up, working sweeps, and transitioning into other
positions.

17. Be aware of the other different positions you can transition to
from the half guard such as Full Guard, Butterfly Guard/Sitting, X-
Guard, etc…

The half guard has come a very long way. In the past it was a
position to hold onto with very little options. It was a survival
position, but now it’s as active as any other grappling position out
there with its own set of sub positions. Don’t fall into the old
school trap that the half guard was once in where people would just
hold on for dear life in hopes they wouldn’t get passed. If you end
up in the half guard there is still hope and there are many
opportunities. When you take the time to learn the effective
positions and movements of the half guard it will become a great tool
to have in your grappling arsenal.