Rather than list a bunch of ways of passing the half guard I’ll instead list out some fundamentals you need to build a passing game from there. Too often guys look at positions as problems that need a technique as a solution. The problem with that methodology is that you never learn the fundamentals. With that in mind here are the fundamentals of half guard top as I know them.
Fundamental 5 for Half Guard Top.
- Kill the bottom leg. You need to lock down the leg between yours and prevent the bottom guy from pulling guard. You can kill that leg 3 main ways.
- With you weight. Sit on it.
- With your foot. Place your instep over his leg in a reverse butterfly position.
- With your hand. Reach back and grab his pants at the knee. Use a stiff arm frame to block out his knee.
Kill the bottom leg with weight.
Kill the bottom leg with your foot.
Kill the leg with your hand.
- Block out his free leg. He’ll either pull Z guard, get a butterfly hook, or a lockdown with his free leg. Use your posture to block this out.
Keep your elbow in contact with your hip. Make sure your shoulder stays in front of his knee. This blocks out the Z guard and the butterfly hook.
It’s hard to see in the picture but the right foot is tucked in and not left dangling out. If you leave your right foot out there he’ll have a lockdown if he wants it. With your foot tucked in you take that away as a possibility.
- Prevent the underhook. He’ll try to get an underhook on the far side. If you keep him from getting an underhook you prevent him from building a good posture.
Keep your elbow on your hip to prevent the underhook on the top side.
- Kill the near arm. Get a sleeve grip with gi and a wrist or tricep grip without. Pull to prevent the bottom guy from building a base on the near arm. Killing this arm also prevents him from framing on your hip or knee as you flatten in the next step. His near arm is his primary frame if he’s going to try to shrimp his leg free.
- Flatten him out. This is usually the last step. You can’t flatten him out unless you are tending to the other 3 steps simultaneously. You can flatten him out with your head under his chin or with a cross face.
Flatten using head under chin.
Flatten using cross face.
Once you have all these parts in place you can begin a pass. Most all passing techniques come from this solid base though. You need to be able to build this posture progressively and hold it in order to have a good passing game from half guard top.
Concepts Video
Here’s a short video I shot describing some of the concepts.
