Counter A Common Half Guard Sweep
Let’s cut to the chase here. Lachlan Giles is a half guard dynamo and is responsible for some of the best instructional content on YouTube. He is the creator of The Half Guard Anthology which contains over 11 hours of footage of him teaching technique and a complete breakdown of everything half guard.
Half guard has been a staple in many of the top stars of grappling including Bernardo Faria, Tom DeBlass, Jake Mackenzie, and Lachlan Giles. It is a very popular position because most people of varying body types can find success at the highest level of Jiu-Jitsu. This means that there are a lot of practitioners out there practicing half guard and PASSING half guard. With so many people practicing a specific positions plenty of counters have been developed to pass the half guard.
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Lachlan Giles provides great insight, like usual, into countering one of the most common half guard sweeps. At the 5:00 minute mark you can start to see some of the strategy emerge from countering the entry into the initial sweep. Lachlan makes special note of having the correct angle before the opponent is able to slide deeper into the half guard and begin turning the passer’s knee. The goal is ultimately to get to ¾ mount and continue passing from there. For the half guard player this will start to put them out of position for most of their tool kit from half guard.
Counter, counters…..counters
What’s great about Jiu-Jitsu is that it’s ever evolving and from these evolutions new strategies emerge. As the passer begins to drive toward ¾ mount Lachlan immediately starts to go into his counter. Both legs become active and have specific responsibilities. The top leg will scissor into the back of the passers’ legs changing the direction of their knee drive. The bottom leg catches the ankle and traps their leg in place.
Trapping the leg is made complete by bringing your chest to the partners trapped leg and obtaining a far hip grip. This allows Lachlan to maintain control over his partner’s leg. From here Lachlan has the appropriate angle to get up from his side and onto his knee/feet, and can then enter back into the original sweep.
If you like half guard Lachlan Giles has you covered with 11 hours of content breaking down techniques and letting you into the mind of one of the top half guard players today!
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