Half guard is a big topic. There are lots of variations, attack options, and risks involved in playing the half guard. It's important to understand the nature of half guard, what the concepts are that make it work, and in some cases fail miserably. Many high level athletes favor the half guard due to the sheer number of attack options. It creates a dynamic game that connects to other positions easily, and it's a relatively easy guard to enter. Defensively, it's often one of the first guards available to you as you look to reclaim the offensive cycle.
So, what is this thing?
With the different variations of half guard, the common denominator between them is inserting one of your legs between your opponents, and latching on to one of their legs around the thigh or calf. From here, the variations start to split your connection. There are two broad families of half guard variations.
Family one - You do not have a knee in front of your opponent. Both your knees (and potential frames) are behind their hips. This family includes deep half guard, and an under hook based half guard game.
Family two - You do have a knee in front of your opponent. These variations include the hip clamp, knee shield, and half butterfly.
You will need to approach these two families differently in strategy and attack. In part one of this Half Guard breakdown, we will focus on family one, and will follow up on the knee frame variations in part two. Let's get to it.
The Connection
When you are playing an underhook based game, your posture is very important. You should be on your side, and avoid being flattened at all costs. Your bottom leg will run under your opponent's hip, and will latch behind their knee. Your outside leg can either figure four here, or it can be used to create momentum by swinging around, kicking back, or pushing the knee into the back of your opponent's hips. When this outside leg is not connected to your bottom leg, the shoelaces section of your bottom foot should be curled around their calf.
Yeesh, that sounds more confusing than it is. Let's pause for a moment before we talk about upper body connection. These lower body connections are intertwined with your opponent's base. This is key to understanding the half guard perspective. Much of what you are doing in this family of half guards is attacking the base to set up sweeps. This is an important insight. Your connections are connected directly to the base of your opponent.
For this half variation, by definition, your upper body needs an underhook. Your underhook has to run underneath your opponents nearside arm, and create a tight connection to their body, so that they don’t pummel in their own underhook. The placement of this underhook can vary. Your hand can grab the belt, the far side lapel, the inside shoulder, etc…. In reality, those grips should be transitioning depending on your goals in the moment. For example, a belt grip helps aid in driving your opponent forward. Feeding the cross lapel to your underhook can perform the same function, but also set up cross body control on the back take. An underhook below the hip gives lots of pushing power. An underhook connected to the near shoulder makes it difficult for your opponent to pummel their own underhook in.
With this underhook, you must be on your side. If you get flattened out, you are effectively pinned.
Your head is being cross faced is the number way that you will be flattened out, which leaves us with the rest of our connection framework. There are three general places your head and non-underhook arm will be. 1. If your shoulder is on the mat and head is extended, your arm needs to be blocking the cross face at the bicep. 2. If your head is tucked in towards your opponent's lap, it is relatively safe from a cross face, and you can use your hand to grip. 3. You are propped up on an elbow or hand, pushing the side of your head into their chest. If you find yourself outside one of these three positions, your likelihood of being flattened will be high.
The Fight
Once an underhook is established with strong connections and posture, your opponent is in trouble, and they know it. The first fight that takes place is the fight for the underhook. If you are playing an underhook based game, your opponent will try to deny you this connection at all costs. Learning to pummel to the underhook is a key skill required to play this game.
The second fight is for posture. You must remain on your side. If your shoulders get flattened to the mat, you are effectively pinned and will be passed shortly. There are a series of things you can do to recover position once flattened, but you are working from an inferior position. Fight to stay on your side at all costs.
The third fight is for movement. You are attaching yourself to your opponents base with the intention of attaching that base and following up with a sweep. This is no easy feat. You will have to utilize your entire body to generate movement and off balance your opponent. This is the fight.
In short, the fight from the underhook based half guard game is:
Fight for the underhook
Fight to maintain your posture on your side
Fight to generate movement
The Base Attacks and Strategy
With a sweep based strategy, the base attacks and strategy is inherently defined by transitions. That said, the strategy is still clear and is the basis of an effective game. In your under-hooked position, you have three basic directions you can attack. You can move towards the back, towards the far knee, or roll your opponent behind you. Coach John Danaher calls this the “Trilemma”, but certainly predates his teachings. This strategy is the foundation of classic Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from the bottom position.
The power in the Trilemma comes from the action/reaction created by the relationship between these attacks. The common responses to defend one attack will help you take the attack in a different direction. In this sense, the attack set up is an attack itself. Specifically, in one direction you have a knee pick to top position. You can use the underhook to take the back, or roll the person over the top of you. Simple enough.
Conceptually, this is consistent with our fundamental concepts around kuzushi. We must constantly force an off balance when standing or on our backs. To capitalize off this concept, you must view kuzushi as live. It is not one movement, it's a string of movements that when properly strung keeps your opponent vulnerable.
Beyond this base strategy is a whole string of follow ups and attacks. Armbars, triangle, kimuras…. You know, all the classics. They are there, but you won’t be successful if you do not incorporate these attacks into your base attacking strategy.
The Transitions
Your transitions are defined by your connections. Your connections from half guard lend to a lot. This makes half guard a very dynamic position. Your bottom leg is the same hook that gives you back control. Your top leg is the same leg that secures closed guard. When you get behind the back, you have direct access to the legs. These pathways provide for creating a complex game.
Important positions sometimes bring you to where you are. Half guard is often the first stop when escaping pins. A strong half guard will be your conduit from a pinned position to virtually anywhere else. This function of half guard alone makes it a crucial position to become competent in. This is your defensive to offensive cycle.
That's half guard in a nutshell. Oh wait, that's half of half guard in a nutshell. In part two, I will review the game when the knee comes to play. Your goals and strategies begin to shift, and a whole new world of dynamic attacks opens up.