Position guide · Passing the guard
Passing the guard is patience, not speed.
Beginners try to rush past the legs and get swept or submitted for it. Passing isn't a sprint — it's controlling the hips and taking away the legs, then arriving somewhere you can actually hold. Slow down and you pass more, not less.
01 — The one principle: control the hips
You can't pass what you can't pin
Control their hips and posture up so you're not pulled off balance. A guard passes you the moment you reach and lunge — you give up your base, they load a leg underneath, and you're the one on your back. Pin the hips first; the pass comes after.
Then decide your style. Pressure passing — stay heavy, stay low, smother them so they can't move. Or speed / standing passing — control the legs, stay light on your feet, and move fast around them. Different tempos, same starting point: both begin with controlling the hips.
02 — The passes
A handful that cover almost everything
Knee cut
The bread-and-butter pass through half guard. Get an underhook, drive your shoulder into the jaw, and slice your knee across their thigh to the mat.
Toreando
The bullfighter. Control both shins or pant-legs, throw their legs to one side, and run around to the other before they can catch up.
Over-under
A heavy pressure pass — one arm over a leg, one under, staple the hips to the floor and slowly walk them down until they fold.
Leg drag
Drag one leg across your body and pin their hips sideways so they can't square back up to you, then step through into the pass.
Stack / double-under
Scoop both legs, fold them up onto their own shoulders so they can't recover, and pass over the top of the stack.
The mistake
Standing up straight and reaching for the pass — that's exactly when you get swept. Kill the legs and hips first, then move.
03 — Passing is only half of it
The pass isn't done until you've nailed the pin
The moment you clear the legs, you're not finished. Establish side control or mount immediately — chest-to-chest, weight down, no gap. Hesitate and a good guard player recovers their legs, and you're right back where you started, staring at the shins again. Clearing the legs earns you the position; nailing the pin is what keeps it.
04 — Your passing map
The whole thing, in one look
Control — pin the hips and posture up. Nothing works until this does.
Pass — knee cut, toreando, over-under, leg drag (pick by how they're defending).
Pin — lock down side control the instant you clear. The pass isn't complete without it.
Want the same map for closed guard, mount, the back and everywhere else? Open the free library.
05 — The hard part isn't learning it
It's remembering it next time you're there
You'll forget most of this by your next roll — that's just how memory works. Frame fixes it: log what you drilled in seconds, and it brings each technique back right before you'd forget it, until it's actually yours.