The great thing about Jiu-Jitsu is that there are so many options. Every single practitioner will prefer different positions and have different views on each position. One of the most diverse positions in Jiu-Jitsu is the guard. Over the years there have been so many different types of guards developed that it is almost impossible to truly master them all and most people will usually have a few that they prefer. So in this blog I want to talk about what I believe are the most common guards played in Jiu-Jitsu as a whole.
- Closed guard – The most basic, but also most under developed guards in Jiu-Jitsu. This involves have an opponent on his knees with both legs crossed around their waist. There are many attacks and sweeps from here and there is also a lot of control.
- Half Guard Variants- There are so many forms of half guard but in general the guard involves trapping a single leg similar to the closed guard. However this guard in general is more focused on sweeps and back takes rather than the submission (although there are possible submissions)
- Spider guard- This guard involves placing both feet on your opponents biceps while also controlling both sleeves rather than a collar. This guard can be very hard to deal with when your opponent has strong grips and legs. This guard has a nice balance of submissions and sweeps available.
- Lasso Guard- Similar to the spider, this guard uses two sleeve grips normally and also a leg wrapped around the opponents arm. There are many variants for what the other leg may be doing and this makes this guard very tricky and effective.
- Butterfly Guard- This Guard uses both of your feet place in the middle of your opponents knees while both practitioners are sitting. The guard involves keeping close and using a combination of arm control (to stop the post) and both of your leg hooks to create a sweep. As such this guard is much more driven to sweep the opponent rather than to submit them.
This Will be Part Of a Two part Post so if the guard you prefer is not listed it will surely be in part two ! So be on the lookout for the next article.
