Get better at Closed Guard

Your guide for better Jiu-Jitsu

The Closed Guard is an essential position that needs to be developed in your Jiu-Jitsu Journey. This guide covers the basic concepts you need to succeed.

What we cover:

  1. What is a guard in Jiu-Jitsu

  2. Clinching

  3. Rock the Boat

  4. Invisible Jiu-Jitsu

  5. Common Reactions

  6. How to Train

  7. Training checklist

  8. How 3000 students feel about closed guard

The goal of the guard is to ‘guard yourself’. It is not to go inverted, slap on submissions or pull off some sort of power sweep. Your guard should be, first and foremost, about maintaining safety and control. All the fun stuff comes next. Your hip bones should be lined up to your partner.

  1. Objective of Closed Guard

Watch Video 1 | Closed Guard Objectives

2. Mechanics of Closed Guard

Distance Management and Angles are the two important principles of Closed Guard. The main mechanism to achieve success is to USE YOUR LEGS! Bring your knees to your chest to break their posture, and use your hips side to side to create angles. Beginners make the mistake of relying too much on their grips to try and break their partner's posture. 

Once you get the mechanics of closed guard working, sweeps and submissions will start presenting themselves.

Watch Video 2 | Mechanics of Closed Guard

3. Invisible Jiu-Jitsu

There are a lot of ways your partner will try and open your closed. One of the most common is trying to stand up. Fortunately there is a little trick you can use to prevent this.

By keeping your hips glued to the ground there is no space for your partner to get their knee under their hips. They will lose their balance and most likely fall forwards into your clinch. 

This is a skill that requires practice. So the best way to drill is using no hands. Ask your partner to try and stand. Keep your hips flat on the mat, and wait for the timing as they try to stand.

Watch Video 3 | Invisible Jiu-Jitsu

‘Elbow Pressure Of Death’

This is the most common reaction your partner will give you. They will try to get one knee between your legs and push down hard with their elbow on your inner thigh to open your legs. White Belts do this a lot. 

If your partner does not have good control over your hips, there is nothing stopping you from just coming back to a neutral position. 

If they keep trying, you can place your hip on the outside of their knee and sweep them to the side they have no base. To do this you need control of their leading wrist. Once your hips are on the outside you need to tip your knees and extend your legs outwards. This will add weight and force the sweep.

4. Common Reactions

Watch Video 4 | Common Reactions

To train for progress you need to practise mastering the mechanics. An easy game to play is ‘the floor is hot lava’. Your opponent cannot place their hands on the floor. Their goal is to stand up. Your goal is to use your legs to pull them in or off balance them to the side. You can practice all the techniques you have learned throughout the series. 

  1. Pulling them into the clinch with your legs 

  2. Using your hips to rock them side to side 

  3. Keeping your hips flat on the floor when they try to stand up

5. How To Train

Watch Video 5 | How To Train

Closed Guard Training Checklist

So you have watched all the videos and now have a better understanding of what you need to do in closed guard. Now it’s time to tick off your practice and progress.

Actions

  1. Practise using your legs to break posture (knees to your chest, or heels to the sky)

  2. Practise creating angles by moving your hips side to side

  3. Practise clinching from closed guard and not letting your partner recover

  4. Practise keeping your hips flat on the floor to prevent your partner from standing.

Progress Check In

You can hold closed guard against some equal to you.

You can clinch from closed guard against some equal to you.

You can hold closed guard against a higher belt.

You can clinch from closed against a higher belt.

You feel confident in maintaining your closed guard.

Unlock Closed Guard Series

✔️ Unlock all videos in Escaping Back Control Series.

✔️ Master escaping Back Control.

✔️ Learn how to train for progress

Unlock the Suitcase

✔️Unlock all the videos in the Essential Guides

✔️ Surviving Back Control Series

✔️ Surviving Mount Control Series

✔️ Surviving Side Control Series

✔️ Surviving Knee on Belly Series

✔️ Escaping from Back Control Series

✔️ Escaping from Mount Control Series

✔️ Escaping from Side Control Series

✔️ Escaping from Knee on Belly Series

✔️ Control from Back Series

✔️ Control from Mount Series

✔️ Control from Side Control Series

✔️Control from Knee on Belly Series

✔️ Guard Passing Series

✔️ Closed Guard Series

✔️ Standing Series (coming soon)

✔️ Submission Series (coming soon)

Unlock the Rabbit Hole

✔️ Unlock everything the BJJ Project has to offer.

✔️ All of Chris Bones Burns content/courses

✔️ All of Charles Negromonte’s content/courses

✔️ All of Sean Applegate’s content/courses

✔️ All of Tum Energia’s content/courses

✔️ All of Chase Hannah content/courses

The data from our BJJ Journey Score shows that most students feel confident holding closed guard against someone the same belt level as them.

If you would like to map your Jiu-Jitsu try our BJJ Journey Score below:

How Other Students Feel About Closed Guard.