The ‘4 Corners’ Rule And Layers Of Defense For Guard Retention

The guard is surely one of the most common positions in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu match. Every BJJ practitioner, whether they are a beginner or an experienced black belt, knows the guard position and also how they can execute it effectively. But the point here is not about executing the guard; rather, it is about retaining it. Everyone knows very well, as it seems easy for them to execute it, but many fewer people know how they can actually retain it. So that is very important for you, particularly if you are just starting your journey in Jiu Jitsu. Because guard retention is more important than its execution. There are multiple concepts of retention. Let's discuss the best, easiest, and most effective ways out there to help you get advanced in your guard.

The guard in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a position in which a practitioner or grappler uses their legs with their back on the mat to control their opponent for executing various sweeps, transitions, attacks, or submissions. It is the most common versatile position in BJJ in which the grappler can both defend and attack their opponent. So you are using it as your defensive position or a position to execute the attacks on your opponent while keeping them controlled with your legs.

Guard retention is the ability of the Jiu Jitsu practitioner to keep the guard against their opponent. In other words, it is the attempt or process of keeping the legs between the practitioner and their opponent, thereby preventing them from passing the guard. It allows you to keep your control over them while continuously trying to defend yourself and make sweeps, attacks, and submissions.

The most common rule that is followed for maintaining or retaining your guard against your opponent is the four corner’s rule of guard retention. It is the fundamental concept for retaining the guard in BJJ.

As the name indicates, the four corner’s rule includes four points of contact and four points of post (or simply four posts). The four points of contact between you and your opponent can be:

• Right arm

• Left arm

• Right shoulder

• Left shoulder

And the four posts are:

• Right shoulder

• Left shoulder

• Right hip

• Left hip

“The four corner’s rule says that if you can safely secure three out of four posts, then your contact points will remain safe, and your opponent will not be able to pass your guard, allowing you to keep your guard and defend against their attacks and make sweeps, transitions, and submissions.”

So the point to keep in mind here is that you should save your posts. If your opponent manages to get three of your posts then they can easily pass your guard and you will not be able to do anything.

You should try to keep the four points of contact between you and your opponent. Which are these four points of contact? It depends on you, your opponent, and the specific guard you are trying to apply, as well as your positions. You can use your knees or elbows as contact points, or your shoulders or arms. So it all depends on you, where you are taking the match.

The purpose of maintaining four points of contact is to make a barrier between you and your opponent that they cannot break. These contact points are the frames that are between you and your opponent. They are the corners of your guard. So they have a strong barrier between you and them, and they cannot pass your guard until they break that barrier or bridge. So if you are successful in maintaining your contact points, then your guard cannot get past, and you will be at an advantage, being in the dominant position. You can easily defend yourself against their attacks, and you are also able to make attacks for submissions.

• To retain your guard, you have to create some layers between you and your opponent. These layers act as the source of defense and barrier against your opponent. These layers must be strong enough for your opponent to break through to pass your guard. The stronger your layers of defense are, the more difficult it is for your opponent to break your guard.

• But what exactly are these layers of defense, and how can you create these layers? Let’s explore the layers and the ways to create them.

• The first layer you can create is the frame. The frames, as discussed earlier, can be anything from your body, which you can use to prevent your opponent from coming closer to you and passing your guard.

• For creating the frames, you should use your legs and feet. Use them first to create the space between you and your opponent. Make a considerable distance so that your opponent cannot easily break your guard. Make it difficult for them so that even if your guard becomes weak, they have to travel some distance to get into you. Use your feet to keep them at a distance. So this is the first frame that you can create by using your feet and legs to create the space, and then keeping them at a distance.

• The first frame is primarily used to create the distance. The frame we are now discussing is primarily used to keep your opponent at a distance. The second frame can be created by using your arms, elbows, or shins. Don’t leave your arms at rest. Instead, use them to create the frame for keeping your opponent at a distance.

• Use both these frames at the same time to retain your guard. Create both frames at the same time in such a way that you use your legs or feet to create the distance and simultaneously use your arms to keep your opponent at a distance.

The second important element in the layers of defense is the maintenance of your posture. You should try to keep the opponent on their side. Also, you should always be on your side. When you make sure of these two things, your opponent won’t be able to break your guard and defeat you because you can easily move your legs and hips if you have maintained your posture. This free movement of your legs and hips enables you to keep your opponent at a distance.

Your legs play a much bigger role than you think in retaining or maintaining your guard against your opponent. So strategically use your legs and don’t ignore them. Use them effectively against your opponent for your guard retention. You can use them to:

• Create a guard against your opponent.

• Create a significant distance between you and your opponent.

• Maintain and keep your posture.

• Disrupt your opponent’s balance.

• Keep yourself balanced and stable.

• Keep your opponent at a distance.

• Prevent them from breaking your guard.

• The next important thing is to keep your hips always free. Your hips are a very important thing for your guard retention. If your hips are free, you can maintain your guard. In contrast, the moment your hips get flattened or pinned, your guard will get easily passed by your opponent. This is how important your hips are.

• The reason is that your hips are the source of movement for you. When your hips are free, you can move easily. You have free movement in all directions and angles. You can move, invert, or do anything you want to do. But when your hips get pinned by your opponent, the game takes a dangerous U-turn for you.

• Your movement, which was totally free and in all directions, becomes restricted to a major extent. You cannot move or invert your body. You cannot keep your posture. You cannot maintain your angle anymore. So it is very important for you to keep your hips free all the time while doing your guard retention.

• Another important thing to remember is that your movement matters more than the strength you have for retaining your guard against your opponent. The myth that many people often believe is that your strength is either enough or plays a big role in your guard retention. But fortunately, this is not true. As we all know, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not a game that depends only on strength. Instead, it is the art that prioritizes techniques and strategies over strengths. It means that if you have mastered the techniques and execute your strategies very well against your opponent, then you can overpower your opponent even if they are bigger and stronger than you.

• So, the same concept goes with guard retention. You have to rely more on your techniques, strategies, movements, and skills to maintain and keep your guard. Focus on timing and precision, as these are very important. Notice when you have to move which part of your body and in what direction and to what extent. So don't focus on strengths and instead learn the techniques, strategies, timing, precision, and movements for your effective guard retention.

• For effective guard retention, you have to follow all the ways of defense against your opponent given in this article, such as layers of defense and the four corner’s rule of defense. For this, you have to do some training. You can do this training in different ways, such as technical lifts, side shrimps, hip escapes, inversions, and shin pivots.

• Moreover, you should practice guard retention in your daily Jiu Jitsu rolling or sparring. You should try to start with a position that is bad for you ,and you cannot retain your guard by remaining in that position. After this, you should try to move yourself and try to establish yourself in a posture so that you can retain your guard effectively.

• We all have heard many times in our lives that practice makes a man perfect. The rule goes the same here, too. For learning effective guard retention, you should make sure that you are practicing it again and again until it becomes your muscle memory. The thing is, we all make mistakes, and such mistakes cannot be solved if you do it once or twice and then leave it with a belief that you have mastered guard retention. Such mistakes can only be solved if you do it repeatedly. To make guard protection your muscle memory, practice it many times.

• When you are grappling in a professional Brazilian Jiu Jitsu match, you are in a pressure situation. With the big crowd around you in all directions, millions of viewers streaming online, watching your every single move is enough to make you puzzled. So, grappling under such great pressure takes a lot of guts for you to play like you were sparring. In such situations, your muscle memory is very helpful.

• Making full use of your muscle memory, you will grapple like you were sparring because it will not be a new thing for you to do. So you will not have to rethink the techniques and strategies to execute in your guard retention. Therefore, it is very essential for you to develop your muscle memory.

The granby rolls are the most widely used rolls for guard retention against the opponent. It is a shoulder roll, and it is very effective in escaping from bad situations or positions. You can use it for various purposes, such as reversing your position through the granby roll, escaping when you are pinned, retaining your guard, or creating the space between you and your opponent, and you can also use it for setting up submissions against your opponent. It is mostly applied to two situations. One is during the turtle position, and the second is during the guard retention. So it is very useful for you to learn the granby rolls.

Guard retention is a very important technique in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It serves various purposes for you, some of which are the following:

The grappler who is dominant controls the pace of the match. When you are retaining your guard, you are basically restricting your opponent from applying the techniques on you or defending themselves. So they are in a pause. They are trying to break your guard continuously, but they cannot because you are retaining very well. So the match is also like a pause situation if you are just retaining the guard and not doing any attacks on your opponent. So the pace is dependent on you in such a situation, and you are controlling the pace of the match. This is very beneficial for you as you have maximum chances to win the match.

Guard retention provides you with the optimum way to guard or defend yourself against your opponent’s attacks because in this position, you have entirely controlled your opponent. They will continuously try to open and break your guard so that they can have efficient attacks and submissions. But they cannot make any attack or submission successful. Instead, they have to rely on opening or breaking your guard. So until or unless your guard is broken down, they cannot do anything. So guard retention helps in defending yourself against your opponent’s attacks.

The third benefit is that you have your position in your control. You are able to keep it balanced and stable against your opponent. The keeping of position balanced and stable is very important for two reasons. One is to make attacks on your opponent effectively, and the second reason is to defend yourself against your opponent’s attacks. So, for ensuring both of these things, you have to keep yourself balanced and stable, and your position and your movement must be entirely in your control. This is what you can achieve by guard retention.

If you are maintaining your guard perfectly, then it acts as a hindrance for your opponent for many of their actions. So they are continuously trying to break your guard, but each time they try, they fail because you are doing a very good job in maintaining your guard. So it becomes a frustration for your opponent, and it leads to a lot of mistakes, which act as an opportunity for you to submit them.

Guard retention plays a very important role in improving your game. You are controlling your position, keeping yourself stable and balanced, controlling and manipulating your opponent anall this gives the result of sheer dominance over your opponent. So the guard retention is the very important tool for your improvement and dominance.

The guard is the most commonly used position in the art of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Whether its the beginners or the experienced grappler in BJJ they know how to execute the guard against their opponent but the only problem is its retention. People don’t know hoe can they retain the guard effectively. So you should learn the guard retention because it helps you in multiple ways.

The four corner’s rule says that if you can safely secure three out of four posts, then your contact points will remain safe, and your opponent will not be able to pass your guard, allowing you to keep your guard and defend against their attacks and make sweeps, transitions, and submissions.

As the name indicates, the four corner’s rule includes four points of contact and four points of post (or simply four posts). The four points of contact between you and your opponent can be:

• Right arm

• Left arm

• Right shoulder

• Left shoulder

And the four posts are:

• Right shoulder

• Left shoulder

• Right hip

• Left hip

Guard retention is the ability of the Jiu Jitsu practitioner to keep the guard against their opponent. In other words, it is the attempt or process of keeping the legs between the practitioner and their opponent, thereby preventing them from passing the guard. It allows you to keep your control over them while continuously trying to defend yourself and make sweeps, attacks, and submissions.

The following are some benefits of guard retention:

• You are controlling the pace of the match

• Strong defense against your opponent’s attacks and submissions

• Stable, balanced, and controlled position

• Frustration for your opponent

• Improvement and dominance