In sportive Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (with a gi), the Guard is a BJJ position that is frequently used in tournaments and training. The basic guard consists of having your legs wrapped around your partner's waist, and usually being on the ground. The guard can also be used when the opponent is standing, however, this not with the scope of this article. There are many variations of the guard. The basic closed guard consists of having your feet crossed behind your opponents back, so it is difficult to break open the legs.
The basic function of the guard is to stop the full mount. The closed guard restricts your opponents movements by controlling the waist and the hips. By opening the legs, the guard player can attempt to transition to different positions, or attempt various types of submissions. There are exceptions to this, in which some submissions can be executed from the closed guard.
One way that the guard can be used to control your opponent is by controlling his or her hips with your legs. In this BJJ position, the legs can be used to pull back on your opponent's back to attempt to force him or her to lean onto you or onto the ground (if you are angled to your opponent).
Another way that the guard can be used is to submit your opponents. From the guard position, a critical factor in applying successful submissions is by breaking the opponents posture. This means that your opponent is not sitting straight up in the guard. An example of this is having your opponent bent over and having his or her forearms on your chest or on the ground. From here, some basic attacks from this BJJ position include gi chokes, arm bars, and triangle chokes.
The guard can also be used to attempt to sweep your opponents. The sweeps rely on opening the guard and working in concert with hip and arm placement to move the opponent towards the dead angle. The dead angle is where the opponent does not have a limb to balance him or herself on when pushed in that direction. Some common sweeps are the scissor sweep, the flower sweep, and the hip bump sweep.
Some BJJ stylists use the guard as a transitional position. For example, when the guard is established, they quickly move to a different guard variation. Some basic variations of the guard include the open guard, half guard, and the spider guard. Some other more advanced guard positions include the butterfly guard, the inverted guard, and the turtle guard.
The guard is a very basic BJJ position that was made famous by the Gracie Family in the UFC. In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments, the guard is frequently used. Using the BJJ guard as an attack position is a common strategy in BJJ tournaments.
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