The Best And Easy Way to Open the Guard in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

There are many techniques in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that you can categorize as the most commonly used techniques. But even in that list, the most common technique, the one that you have kept at the top of the list, is the BJJ guard. Most of the time, the guard is the technique that is the starting point for many beginners, i.e, they use it as the first technique to learn. So it is not a special thing for you as a BJJ practitioner if you know how to execute this technique or position. The things in which many of the BJJ athletes are not good are that they don’t know how they open the guard. In other words, they know how they can execute but don’t know how they can escape from the guard if they get trapped in it by their opponent. This is very important for you to learn. It does not matter whether you are a beginner or not. You should consider learning this. But what is the best way to do it, and how can you do it perfectly? Let’s dive into the details.

The guard is a position or technique in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in which the opponent, who is at the bottom on their back against their opponent being on top, uses legs to attack, defend, and control them. The guard is a very versatile technique, and you can use it in both ways. You can utilize it for executing the offensive moves and techniques, and also in a defensive way. You can defend yourself against more attacks from your opponent through this technique. You can also take your opponent to the submission with the help of a guard. The guard has multiple types, which include the closed guard, in which you wrap and lock your legs around your opponent, the open guard, in which you can have more movement, and the half guard. So these different types serve a little bit different purposes, but you can use all of these for both defense and offense against your opponent.

Yes, you may have thought about this question of why you should learn the guard opening. Why should you even think about learning the guard escape? The following are some of the reasons that can answer this question for you.

• You should always defend yourself from the closed guard position against your opponent. The reason is that if your opponent becomes successful in trapping you somehow, then you will have to face many attacks and submission attempts from your opponent. They will already be dominating you, and you are already submissive. So you will have no other option but to receive the attacks. At this point, you have to execute the guard opening.

• The chances for you to submit against your opponent and tap out increase to a great extent because this is a position that provides a lot og perks and advantages to your opponent. So if they effectively use them against you, then you will surely have to tap out if you have not executed any strategies.

• The guard opening will reverse the positions and strengths between you and your opponent. So, as you were at the weak position before and your opponent was at the strong position, the moment you open the guard and succeed in that, you will become the one leading the match. You will become dominant over your opponent, and this will provide you with many ways to submit your opponent by executing the submission techniques and many attacks.

• Your movement will improve to a great extent. Previously, your opponent was dominant, and your movements were restricted. The moment you open the guard, you will become free and can execute any technique you want and any attack you desire just to get the submission. So this will also increase the chances of getting a submission.

• The guard opening is versatile. It is not limited to one or two options. Rather, you have a complete set of techniques, positions, transitions, and attacks to put against your opponent. So with only one thing, which is guard opening, you are getting a lot of things that are very helpful for you.

Before we go deeper, we should understand the basics of guard opening. The following are the fundamentals that you should consider while trying to open the guard.

• The first thing you should think about is adjusting your posture. The posture is the most important thing in BJJ when you are doing anything, such as defending against a move or executing a technique. So, the same is the case with the guard opening; you should set your posture for it. Keep it good and effective.

• Place your hands on your hips, biceps, or midline safely against your opponent. Don’t head down. Keep it up and straighten your back. This is the good posture that you must use for guard opening against your opponent. If you do not have a good posture, then your opponent can easily attack and break you down.

The second fundamental thing you must understand is that you should maintain your balance. You must not sit with your knees very close together. This will give your opponent a very big opportunity to make the sweeps against you. Keep your knees wide apart, and also your toes must be active to support your body. This is a very good balance, and you can easily manage to defend yourself against the sweeps of your opponent.

The third important tip or factor you must consider is that you must take things slowly and not rush. You must continue putting pressure on your opponent. Don’t do it all at the same time. Instead, take some time and do it step by step. If you do it quickly, your opponent will not feel any pressure, and you might not be able to open the guard. So don't rush, do it slowly, and take the lead.

The following are the top three guard opening techniques that you must implement in your grappling match against your opponent.

The first way to open the guard of your opponent is by standing all the way up against them. This creates a lot of pressure on them and their guard. Through this technique, your opponent will not be able to maintain their guard for a long time, and eventually, they will break their guard. The following is given the step by step approach to doing the stand up guard break technique for opening:

• So your opponent has put you in a guard. Maintain your posture and move up slowly. Don’t move fast. Move slowly and in an upward direction. After this, the next step is to control the sleeve of your opponent. You can also control their collar. Both will serve the same purpose.

• Now the third step is to move your feet upward. While doing this, you must ensure that your back is straight all the time. Because this will affect your posture and balance, and its disruption means you are losing the dominance.

• After this, in the last step, you have to break the ankles of your opponent and move them apart. This will open the guard. For this, you need to push down on the legs of your opponent. As you do this, the guard will open, and you have the opportunity to escape, make movements, and attack.

The second way for guard opening is the knee in the tailbone break. It is one of the basics of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for escaping from guard. So you should learn the basic techniques for guard opening. For executing this technique, you should use only your frames and posture for attempting the guard opening.

The following is given the step by step approach for attempting the guard opening:

• As you know, posture is always the first thing you need to adjust. So the first step is to set your posture.

• Keep your hands on any part of the body of your opponent.

• Now, in the second step, you have to place your knee right on the tailbone of your opponent. To do this, you have to move one leg upward in the air to keep your knee on your tailbone.

• Try to move yourself into a backward position with your hips.

• Continue doing this until the ankles unlock.

Now, instead of utilizing all your force, strength, or power, you can utilize your technique and strategy to open the guard of your opponent. This is better than other methods because you are able to save your energy for upcoming attacks or moves.

The following is given the step by step approach for attempting the elbow to inner thigh method:

• As previously discussed, the posture should always be the number one priority for you. So adjust your posture into an upright position. Keep your elbows nice and tight.

• Now you need to move towards the inner thigh of your opponent. For this, you should drive your elbow towards your opponent and take it to the inner thigh of the opponent.

• These steps will continually increase the pressure on your opponent. This will eventually cause their guard to open. You will not have to do anything extra here in this case.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not at all about catching the big fish. Instead, it is more about finding and then trapping the hidden and small fish. In BJJ, you need to focus more on smaller, hidden elements rather than putting all your efforts into learning big and common techniques. The mistake most BJJ grapplers make is that they do not focus on all the aspects of one technique. They just learn one or two things about a technique and then move to a new technique. This creates a disturbance for them in their BJJ career. So for a guard, you need to learn other aspects as well. You should not only focus on the guard and its execution. Instead, learn how you can open it once you get trapped in it.

The guard is a position or technique in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in which the opponent, who is at the bottom on their back against their opponent being on top, uses legs to attack, defend, and control them. The guard is a very versatile technique, and you can use it in both ways. You can utilize it for executing the offensive moves and techniques, and also in a defensive way.

The following are some of the reasons that can answer this question for you:

• If your opponent becomes successful in trapping you somehow, then you will have to face many attacks and submission attempts from your opponent.

• The chances for you to submit against your opponent and tap out increase to a great extent

• The guard opening will reverse the positions and strengths between you and your opponent.

• You have a complete set of techniques, positions, transitions, and attacks to put against your opponent.

• Your movement will improve to a great extent.

The following are the fundamentals that you should consider while trying to open the guard.

• Set Your Posture

• Maintain Your Balance

• Don’t Rush, Take Things Slowly

The following are the top three guard opening techniques that you must implement in your grappling match against your opponent.

• The Stand Up Guard Break

• The Knee in Tailbone Break

• The Elbow To Inner Thigh Method