Guard Pull
Transition · Standing
Grip the sleeves or collar, sit to the mat and bring your legs up to land directly in guard.
How to do it
- Take a strong grip first: sleeve and collar, or sleeve and pants.
- Put the foot on the side of your sleeve grip on their hip, the knee bent, ready to hold the distance.
- Sit down close to your heel, right under their hips, not far away. Lower yourself under control, do not fall.
- Land on your side or with the hips mobile, never flat on the back, and pull them into your guard with the grips instead of falling away from them.
- Land with the feet in front and the grips intact, already in your guard, and make the feet active straight away.
Key details
- Grips first: without them you only sit in front of a passer.
- Sit close to your heel, under their hips: the closer you sit, the less room they have to step around.
- Feet active as soon as you land: a passive guard is passed in the first second.
- Land on your side or with the hips mobile, never flat on the back; pull them into your guard instead of falling away.
- The foot goes on the hip on the same side as the arm you control by the sleeve: that arm cannot reach your foot to push it down, and his free arm has to reach across. Have three contacts (collar, sleeve, foot) before you sit.
- Sit off to the side at an angle, not straight back: the angle makes him rebalance instead of passing over your legs.
Common mistakes
- Jumping guard onto a standing opponent. — Dangerous for both knees; IBJJF bans jumping to closed guard for white belts and kids. — Sit to the mat; jump only when the rules and the partner allow it.
- Sitting far from them. — They step around and pass before you have a guard. — Sit under them, feet on the hips.
- Pulling guard with no grips on the legs or sleeves. — Nothing connects you to them, so they stand back and pass at once. — At least two solid grips (sleeve plus collar or leg) before you sit.
How to drill it
Pull guard into a sweep of your choice, 10 reps; then rounds that start standing where the guard puller must sweep.
Safety
IBJJF bans jumping to closed guard for white belts and kids. Sit down instead.
What comes next
Where it comes from