Project: Pass The Guard
Monday, May 11, 2009 at 07:10PM 
I love my time in class. Dave is a great instructor and he always reminds me through his material that simple is enough. However, I also realize that I cannot be spoon fed everything I need at a given time. I must take responsibility for my own development and drive my own growth as well. To that end, I am working to be a bit more structured in how I use my mat time outside of class.
My initial focus is going to be on the guard. The reason for the focus on the guard is pretty simple - I heard somewhere that 50% of bjj is the guard. If you think for a moment about open guard bottom as an example, you can quickly come up with a whole lot of guards: x guard, spider guard, sitting up guard, butterfly guard, 50/50 guard, de la riva guard, reverse de la riva guard, and more. Remember when life was simple and you just had to hold someone in side control?
Within the guard, I plan to start with just guard passing. Once I feel comfortable with that game (which will take a long time), I plan to move to guard retention and then ultimately, closed and open guard bottom.
The nice thing about starting with passing the guard is that it a position you get to naturally - a lot. As in, every time you roll. You can't say the same thing for something like turtle, mount, footlocks, etc. The other beauty in starting here is that it meshes well with what Dave has been teaching recently. So when I have issues, I know where to go for ideas and solutions. From a relationship perspective, it will also allow me to work what is taught. I think that is important - your instructor needs to see you at least trying what they teach.
I wil begin with the following pass positions:
- Framework Pass Series
- Stack Pass (Double Underhooks)
- Butterfly Pass (Hover Pass)
- Low Puzzle Pass
- Outside Pin Pass
- X Pass
My approach is simple. Take each position in isolation. Learn to control it as a hub. Once I can control it, then I move to advance it (ie. pass to side control). Once I feel good about the basics of each pass in motion, I will work transitions between them (ie. puzzle to stack, etc).
The last part of this equation is measurement. It is hard to know when you are "good" at something. I thought of a more quantitative way to handle this in my situation and it stems from something I read in a Royler Gracie book years ago. Royler's way of learning new material was to practice it on the worst white belt first, then onto the good white belts, then onto the beginner blue belts, then the best blues, then the new purples, etc. He did this until he had that game functioning against the best in the world. I plan to take the same approach (worked for him ;) ).
So in my world, this means, starting say with the stack pass. Working it as much as possible against the lower belts and not moving to higher belts until I have consistent success. If you think about it, this approach provides a nice way to visualize components of your game as a set of bars in a chart (see below). The goal would be to have each position be consistently strong against black belts.
Here is the current visual on my passing game. It really highlights where I need to work and where I am today. The red bar indicated progress. For example, I have consistent success against blue belts with my framework pass. You get the idea:
I am looking forward to watching this chart evolve over the next year.
See you on the mat!
Paul
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Reader Comments (6)
Hey Paul,
You always post some thought provoking ideas like passing along the gameplan of trying out new techniques on lower belts/skilled people first and then moving up. I have a few questions. Could you explain the Low Puzzle, Outside Pin and X pass? I have M Garcias book and am curious to see if the X pass is in there. Also in JJ University Mr. Ribero says that at purple to focus on guard retention rather than passing (which he suggest for brown). Thanks.
Fred
good article. im curious how you came up with the graph? i would like to use it myself and for my students
@Fred: The X-Pass is a pass I learned from Paul Schreiner a few years ago. It is also taught on the most recent Saulo series - He has a whole DVD on it. The low puzzle pass is where you pass low with your shoulder fitting like a puzzle into the opponents thigh. Imagine going for the stack pass and then taking one arm out, grabbing a knee and locking it out and towards your feet. Hard to describe I know. The outside pin pass is just staying on the outside of their legs in open guard. You grab at the knee and try to pin their knee to the mat as you pass.
As far as Saulo - I have read the book and am aware of his recommendation. He is pure gold - Love his stuff. Can't argue with him. My only defense is that I think we all need a basic all around game and I think he is more talking about focus and really honing a game. My problem is that I need work everywhere, but I am sure he is right.
@thepatriot: The idea for the graph is my own (based on Royler's idea as I mentioned), and I created it myself to help me understand my own game. I used apple Pages software to create it and then used Skitch to copy it as an image for the blog post. Both programs are mac only
Thanks for the comments fellas!!
Here is a guard pass for gi that I've used in class during training, but I'm just a blue belt.
The Monkey Pass (Gi)
1) When you're in your opponent's guard, grab his right sleeve with your left hand.
2) Sit flat on your butt with your legs stretched out in front of you.
3) Push your left heel into his right armpit and pull his sleeve at the same time. (Execute quickly and at the same time as step 2 to prevent him from mounting you.)
4) Grab his left pantleg with your right hand and use your right elbow to break open his guard. (You can even take your right knee and slide it in there to help break open his guard.)
5) Once his guard is open, bring your right leg through his guard to the right side of his body.
6) Get up onto your left knee. Your left foot may slide down to the crook of his elbow. Just make sure you keep constant pressure to prevent him from coming up and smashing your pass.
7) Lean forward and underhook his left arm with your right arm. This is done all at once with steps 5 and 6 plus you let go of his sleeve once you're on top and feel confident about passing his guard.
8) To finalize the pass, bring your left leg through and establish side mount.
9) End up on the right side of his body in side mount.
Nothing in Jiu-Jitsu works one hundred precent of the time. The Monkey Pass is used mainly to break open someone's guard who is long and tall or very strong because of the leverage you have when you're on your butt pushing with your right elbow and right knee. Once his legs are open, sometimes you can just squirm through his legs and pass.
The Monkey Pass (No Gi Variation)
1) Place your right knee in the middle of his butt. Place your right hand on his abdomen.
2) Step your left leg up and put your foot flat on the floor. Step three takes courage and risk.
3) Bring your left shin over his abdomen and form a body triangle around his waist while falling to your left side.
4) Use your elbows on his knees to help break open his guard.
5) Bring your arms between his legs and hug around both of them like you're going for the stack pass. Gable grip you hands.
6) Let go of your body triangle and come back to your knees.
7) Finished like you would for the stack pass.
I was training with a friend and I had him in my closed guard. He sat flat on his butt and brought his legs over and crossed them instead of going for a body triangle and it destroyed all my offense and prevented me from sitting up. I was able to break his crossed feet grip and go back to guard, but he did started opening my guard which is what the pass is designed to do. It will take practice and patience to develop but it could work for you in the end.
Hi Drew - Wow, thanks for the info. I am sure lots of people will find it useful. As soon as I get back on the mat I'll give it a try.
Have a great night!
Paul