Half Guard Passing

I've been working a lot on my Half Guard recently and finally I'm at a place where I feel comfortable in Half Guard. Previously I would lay there like a mat with not much clue as to what to do and generally just hoping my opponent would pass so at least I'd be in a position I could work from. Not good.

Now though, thanks to a couple of good seminars featuring some Half Guard techniques, a couple of Chico's classes that were Half Guard focused and lots of sparring where I specifically tried to do something from Half Guard, I am happy that I have a decent arsenal of sweeps to go to. My recent favourite has been the Leo Vieira leg trap and hip twist sweep that I have been banging on about a lot on this blog. I have desperately been trying to find a vid of it on YouTube with no joy so I'm gonna have to film it myself to give you a decent idea of the awesomeness and simplicity of this sweep.

Suffice to say, thanks to my near single minded focus on getting better at Half Guard, I now find that I can sweep or recover guard far more frequently than I am passed. Job done then for that aim.

Now the problems I have recently been encountering have been more Half Guard Top focused. Most specifically pass the Half Guard and not allowing my opponent to recover guard. I am comfortable with submissions from the Half Guard Top, regularly trying for Americanas, Kimuras, Head and Arm Triangles, Cross Chokes and Ezekials. But if my opponent is particularly savvy and I can't hit any of these and the Half Guard to back Caio Terra technique I featured previously does not present itself I am a bit stuck. I find myself flailing about, looking to pull my leg out using main strength or just pulling the knee out and doing the semi mount thing without really clearing the leg fully.

So in light of this gap in my game my new goal for the time being is going to be passing Half Guard. The same as for my Half Guard bottom game, I am going to be purposely getting myself into my opponents Half Guard so I can attempt to pass it. The first thing though is to find a selection of decent workable Half Guard passes that I can commit to memory and that can be applied well to my game. With this in mind I have found a couple of good videos on YouTube (more to come but these are a good starter) that show a couple of decent passes to be going on with.

This first vid from ssfgear shows a couple of good passes. I particualrly like the first one where you just kind of stand up in the Half Guard while your head is on the ground for a base. I am in this position a lot where my opponent is flat on his back and I'm in tight near his face. The extending of the legs from there seems like a good touch and once you've done the hip switch, even if the whip out of the leg doesn't work you can then bring the other foot back to press on his knee to assist in the passing of the foot.

This one from Rafael Lovato Jnr shows a couple of move that work under the premise that you've managed to pass the knee but are struggling to get the foot through.

Two good places to start on the Half Guarding passing here. I'll be trawling for more techniques and will post any good ones. I'll also keep you updated on how I do with these. \m/