Guard

The 10th Planet Guard family covers guard positions developed within Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu system, designed exclusively for no-gi grappling and characterised by flexibility-based leg controls that replace traditional gi grips. [1] The signature position is the Rubber Guard — from closed guard, the bottom player uses their flexibility to bring their shin across the opponent's neck and shoulders, controlling posture with the legs alone rather than collar grips. [1,2] The system uses a unique nomenclature (Mission Control, Chill Dog, New York, Meathook, Zombie, Crackhead Control) and creates pathways to submissions that are inaccessible from traditional closed guard. [2,3] While requiring above-average hip flexibility, 10th Planet guards have proven effective in both submission grappling (EBI) and MMA competition. [3]

Closed guard is the most fundamental guard position in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, where the bottom player wraps their legs around the opponent's torso and locks their ankles behind the opponent's back, creating a controlling clamp that prevents the top player from disengaging or advancing. [1] It was the guard that launched BJJ into global prominence — Royce Gracie fought almost exclusively from closed guard at UFC 1–4, submitting opponents with armbars, triangles, and guillotines from this position. [1,2] The closed guard offers the strongest positional control of any guard variation because the locked ankles prevent the top player from standing or backing away, while the guard player's hips can generate powerful off-balancing forces for sweeps and create tight angles for submissions. [2,3] Despite the proliferation of open guard systems in modern competition, closed guard remains the highest-percentage submission guard and the first guard taught to every BJJ beginner. [3]

The Guard Sweep family covers all sweeping techniques executed from guard positions to reverse the top and bottom positions — the primary offensive tool for the bottom player in BJJ. [1] Guard sweeps use combinations of grips, hooks, hip movement, and momentum to off-balance the top player and topple them, with the sweeper following through to achieve a dominant top position. [1,2] Sweeps are scored 2 points in IBJJF and ADCC competition and are one of the most important scoring mechanisms — many matches at all belt levels are decided by a single sweep. [2,3] This family covers sweeps from all guard variations: scissor sweep and hip bump from closed guard, hook sweep from butterfly guard, balloon sweep from De La Riva, and many more. [3]

The Guard Top family within the Guard Group covers the techniques and strategies for the top player when trapped inside an opponent's guard — maintaining posture, controlling grips, and working to break the guard open for passing. [1] This family addresses the fundamental challenge of being inside closed guard: the guard player has broken your posture, controls your collar and sleeves, and threatens with armbars, triangles, and sweeps. [1,2] The top player's survival and advancement depend on maintaining an upright posture, fighting grips, and systematically working to open the guard through standing or kneeling guard breaks. [2,3]

Half guard is a ground position where the bottom player controls ONE of the top player's legs between their own legs, creating a position that is half-way between full guard and being fully passed — once considered a last-ditch recovery position, it has been transformed into one of BJJ's most versatile and offensive guard systems. [1] Roberto 'Gordo' Correa revolutionised half guard in the 1990s after a knee injury forced him to rely on the position, developing an entire sweeping and attacking system that proved the position was far more than just a guard recovery step. [1,2] Modern half guard encompasses multiple sub-systems — the underhook half guard (Gordo/Lucas Leite), deep half guard (Jeff Glover/Ryan Hall), Z-guard/knee shield (Bernardo Faria), Lockdown (10th Planet), and half butterfly — each with its own sweep, submission, and back-take pathways. [2,3] Half guard is particularly valuable because it is reached naturally when guard recovery fails, making it the most commonly played guard in both gi and no-gi competition. [3]

Open guard encompasses all guard positions where the bottom player's legs are NOT locked around the opponent, instead using feet on hips, hooks on legs, grips on sleeves/collars, and dynamic hip movement to control distance and create offensive opportunities. [1] Open guard sacrifices the tight control of closed guard for greater mobility, a wider attack repertoire, and the ability to play at longer range — making it both more versatile and more technically demanding. [1,2] The open guard revolution began in the 1990s with Ricardo De La Riva's outside hook guard and exploded through the 2000s–2010s with innovations like spider guard, lasso guard, X-guard, worm guard, and berimbolo, creating a vast and ever-expanding universe of specialised positions. [2,3] Modern competition BJJ at the highest levels is dominated by open guard exchanges, with competitors building entire careers around mastery of a single open guard variation. [3]