Guard Retention Gems With Bernardo

When we first start training, we are taught the closed guard position along with a few sweeps and submissions from the closed guard position.  We are also taught how to open an opponent’s closed guard and either go over the opponent’s legs using a knee slice style pass or go under the opponent’s legs using a stack pass.  

And so it begins… The battle of counting your opponent who then counters you and so on and so forth. 

As we start to look at Jiu Jitsu from an offensive perspective we obviously love that for every technique designed to hold or us, or stop us completely, well, there is a counter to that move to allow us to continue on our journey and get to the next position, or get the submission we were looking for.  From a defensive perspective this can be scary. Basically, what it boils down to is your ability to learn more guard retention techniques than your opponent knows guard passing techniques.

Arguably one of the hardest things to do in Jiu Jitsu is retain your guard.  It’s a challenge that always seems to rise to the occasion. As you improve, so do your training partners and your competitors.   Retaining your guard is a constant battle, something we have to have a continual focus on at every level. 

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Lucky for us, we have access to the best of the best in the world through digital technology and the work of the folks at BJJ Fanatics.  Bernardo Faria is here to help us understand how to stop our guard from getting passed. 

 

The very first tip Bernardo shares is staying as tight as possible.  In the video clip he shows how when he is loose, from Z guard in his example, it is very easy for his opponent to sprawl his legs back and remove the danger. Alternatively, he shows how his opponent simply can not move when he gets a lapel grip and pulls him self into his opponent. 

“Don’t just hang out in guard, find the guard you like and stay very very tight” – Professor Bernardo Faria 

The second piece of advice Bernardo give us in regards to how to stop the guard pass is to frame against the opponent and immediately come up to a turtle position and either shoot for the leg or site through to half guard.  Bernardo shows a drill that he feels will help with this at about 5:00 in his video “Guard Retention: How to Stop Your Guard From Getting Passed”

The final method Bernardo shows is like the first in that we are still framing on the opponent, however rather than turtle towards the inside like mentioned above, but to turtle and roll away from the opponent.  As you remove your frames and roll away the opponent will follow you, however their legs will be trailing behind which will enable you the time and space to reestablish your guard, be it full guard, half guard, or something else you prefer.  

These are just a few quick examples that Bernardo extracted from his full video instructional and made available to us for free so we could get a feel for the amount of work that went into creating such an incredibly detailed video instructional.

Professor Bernardo Faria’s video titled “The Closed Guard” is an exceptional breakdown of highly detailed techniques that are sure to add an edge to your game.  What I love about Bernardo’s video instructionals is his passion for teaching that shines through, as well as the amount of detail that is shown, and the fact that it is all tried and true and backed by 5 Black Belt World Championships.  There is no doubt that any of Bernardo’s video instructionals is worth 10 times whatever the price.  

Bernardo Faria is one of the most accomplished competitors and AMBASSADORS of Jiu-Jitsu. His instructional Foundations of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu will lay the groundwork for you like NO OTHER. Get in early on your Jiu-Jitsu journey to reach your FULL POTENTIAL!!

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