Benefits Of Playing Butterfly Guard

Buttefly guard. It is one of the preferred guards of higher level guys. Usually, you will not see white belts, or even blue belts playing much butterfly. Usually purple belts and up in becomes a popular guard. But why is it so popular? There are quite a few reasons why guys like to play in it. It works for both guys with long legs and guys with short legs. The guard works with small guys who compete or roll against bigger guys. And it is a very active guard. No one that plays it correctly sits there and stalls. It is an attacking guard and opens up a lot of possibilities. Let’s go over why you should play butterfly guard in Jiu Jitsu.

Dynamic sweeping

The butterfly guard is a position that offers many sweeps to get on top. By playing with tight butterfly hooks and working under hooks (or in some cases over hooks), you can sweep almost any person over and get on top. Hook sweep, elevator sweep and over the shoulder sweep are just some of the dynamic sweeps that will allow you to get a dominant top position on an opponent. These sweeps will work on a wide range of people because of their effectiveness.

Sneaky submissions

The butterfly guard also has some rather sneaky submission options. Since it is primarily a sweeping position, people often forget about the submission possibilities. You can take advantage of that. There are some great subs, such as triangle chokes, guillotine chokes and kimuras from the position. Also the guard provides some great avenues of going for leg attacks. Eddie Cummings, Gordon Ryan and Garry Tonon are three guys who use the butterfly guard (and butterfly half) to get to their opponent’s legs easily.

X guard as a back up

After mastering butterfly guard, you need to start playing with x guard as a back up. Or if you already enjoy x guard, butterfly can be a great compliment. The two guards work together like best friends. If someone tries posting out of your butterfly, then you can go to x guard and get a sweep. If someone tries going down to their knees from x guard, then you can always go back to butterfly. They work seamlessly once you have a good understanding of how they work.

One person who enjoys and uses this guard is Travis Stevens. The Danaher black belt, like most from that team have a in depth understanding and use of it to achieve victory. In his Chokes DVD, he has some awesome choking techniques from butterfly guard, so it is one that you will surely want to check out.

Click here to see Chokes by Travis Stevens!

Enjoy reading about butterfly guards? then consider checking others:

• Hip heist
• Butterfly guard basics
• Rafael Lovato's butterfly guard
• Butter guard