How do I stop getting my guard passed?

You have to be aggressive with your feet when playing collar sleeve (well, with any open guard for that matter). Always be pushing on their far hip or bicep with the foot opposite your gripping hands. If they stuff your foot or get passed your leg, remember you can generally 1) bring your inside knee to your chest, 2) bring your far leg up and around in front of them, 3) pull half guard, 4) push/kick them off you and try to reset your grips/position.

The general rules for open guard apply: always be breaking your opponent's posture, dictating the pace, attack attack attack. People can often be too passive when playing guard. A good guard is not waiting for your opponent to move, or trying to hold on for dear life, it's a series of movements for attacking submissions or sweeping your opponent. Just because you're on your back doesn't mean you have to accept anything (weight, movement, grips).

Check out guard retention here and on youtube, it's a vast subject. Firas Zahabi's video on Guard Retention is very good: Youtube: Me6AZuicrpc

gregflanders, post: 62401, member: 16104

You have to be aggressive with your feet when playing collar sleeve (well, with any open guard for that matter). Always be pushing on their far hip or bicep with the foot opposite your gripping hands. If they stuff your foot or get passed your leg, remember you can generally 1) bring your inside knee to your chest, 2) bring your far leg up and around in front of them, 3) pull half guard, 4) push/kick them off you and try to reset your grips/position.

The general rules for open guard apply: always be breaking your opponent's posture, dictating the pace, attack attack attack. People can often be too passive when playing guard. A good guard is not waiting for your opponent to move, or trying to hold on for dear life, it's a series of movements for attacking submissions or sweeping your opponent. Just because you're on your back doesn't mean you have to accept anything (weight, movement, grips).

Check out guard retention here and on youtube, it's a vast subject. Firas Zahabi's video on Guard Retention is very good: Youtube: Me6AZuicrpc

tsneds01, post: 62422, member: 10427

Great advice,I notice that pushing off the hip is done more in MMA but is very effective in BJJ for retention,I always wondered why more people don't push off the hips with their feet.

We absolutely do push off the hips with our feet. Anyone who plays open guard off their backs will frequently be stepping on the hips, the biceps, the shoulders, the side of the neck, the front of the chest, underneath the armpit, inside the thigh, and other places.

One thing we don't do very much is step on the hips with the intention of kicking the opponent away to stand up, which is a very important technique for MMA. For BJJ though, in most weight categories except the heavyweights, it's going to be "easier" to score from guard than any other position (of course, this is an exaggeration -- it depends on the individual athletes; but statistically speaking, more scoring actions happen from guard bottom; scoring moves from guard top or from standing are less common).

Best advice? Keep going. 6 weeks isn't nearly enough time, obviously.

In the fundamentals class that I teach, I always tell people "if you try a move and it fails, try again.". I started studying butterfly about 3.5 years ago. for the first 3-4 months, I couldn't butterfly sweep someone in kid's class. You have to continue insisting upon positions and getting beat in them before you can have success in them. Or, at least that's my opinion.

I think it is important to keep things light playful, don't worry about it. Don't overcommit look at flowing to something else ie try going into a different guards you take the initiative try to go to situp guard or setup for a scissor sweep then go to half guard. Ask your professor or coach he/she can provide insights/