Learn Jeff Glover’s Famous Deep Half Sweep with Bonus Heel Hook Entry

By Fanatics Authors, December 16, 2019

With his unorthodox and exciting style, Jeff Glover has been entertaining grappling fans for years. He’s a pioneer in the BJJ competitive scene with plenty of accolades to show for his competitive efforts. Glover follows his own path and is a true innovator of the art. Not afraid to try new things at the highest levels and never intimidated by any form of competition, Glover has always been game for anything and he’s been quite successful along the way.

One of Glovers most famous skillsets is his deep half guard. He’s often credited as being the first person to bring the deep half guard into a no gi competitive setting. He’s been using the position successfully for many years and is constantly making new amendments to the position. He seems to slip seamlessly in and out of the position, often snagging submissions along the way or getting to the back in many cases. One of the best things about Glover’s study of the deep half guard is the simplistic nature of the way he teaches it. He’s trimmed all the fat and only shares the most important, and refined versions of the techniques. Glove’s newest release with BJJ Fanatics, The No Gi Deep Half Guard 2.0 is available today and what Glovers given us here is an incredibly comprehensive system on the deep half guard that we can begin to implement right away.

As a beginner, you might find that you’re ending up in the deep half guard on accident, when trying to escape bad positions. I always noticed that upon exiting the back or the mount I sometimes ended up in the deep half guard as my training partner would try to purse the top position. This prompted me to learn more and the deep half guard became one of my favorites. If this is you, get some guidance on the position and learn how to begin using it to your advantage.

If you don’t have much experience with the deep half guard, maybe its time to give it a look. This highly effective cousin of the traditional half guard finds the guard player loading up the entire frame of the passers body from underneath. Think of a guard passer with one knee on the mat and the other leg extended like a kickstand. Then put them over top of the guard players body in a parallel position. With some anchoring points and good controls, this position is incredibly off balancing and if implemented correctly its almost impossible for the top player to make an exit without making a mistake. The possibilities from here are many and in Glovers instructional he covers how to navigate the most important aspects of the position. Including entering, transitioning, common errors, and much more.

In this video Glover gives us a look at what we can expect in the series. He begins here with an incredibly common sweep from the deep half that can serve as home base technique for your endeavors in the position. This is a great place to start. Check it out!

Setting up in the deep half guard, we find Glover’s partner positioned over his body, with one leg extended and the other knee on the mat. The extended leg is captured by the locking of Glovers ankles and the upper portion of the body is kept in place by his grip and clamp on the legs and the position of his head. His first order of business here is to use his grip on the leg and the rotation of his body to bring his partners right knee to mat. It’s very likely that his partner will answer this movement with some resistance and work to come back in the opposite direction. As this occurs, Glover follows his partner back to the top, riding the momentum, allowing his body to rotate around his partners extended leg, and traveling all the way back up to his knees.

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Now positioned on his knees, Glover takes a moment to talk about head positioning. He’s careful not to let his head travel to the outside of his partners body, as he will be exposing himself to a guillotine attack. Instead he keeps it tucked to the inside and keeps his gaze forward. From this position, Glover has now put himself in the drivers’ seat and can begin to carry on however he chooses.

The big story here is definitely momentum. Glover is allowing his partner to do all the work and simply going along for the ride. Glover is a master of this type of action reaction-based technique and this is a great example of this important process at work. There’s nothing crazy going on here. This is something that everyone can try and have success with. Just a basic understanding of the position and common reactions is all you need to add this one to your game!

We get a bit of a bonus here, as Bernardo Faria prompts Glover for a submission attack from the deep half. The deep half guard really isn’t known for providing many submission opportunities. Its mostly used as a tool to reverse and transition, but Glover always has some tricks up his sleeve and here, he shares an entry in tot eh 50/50 position where he can subsequently attack a heel hook. This is very slick!

Glover admits this technique does require a bit of flexibility but the application is really cool. From the deep half guard, he uses his front instep to hook underneath his partners extended leg and begins to elevate the limb. As the leg rises it creates room for Glovers other leg to transition to the front and then over top of his partners leg, landing him in 50/50. Here, Glover can immediately begin to attack the heel hook. This one may take some practice!

Great stuff here from one of the legends of the art!

The No Gi Deep Half Guard 2.0 by Jeff Glover

Jeff Glover’s Deep Half is designed to get you out of tricky situations! Find your way out of the mount and into Deep Half with Jeff Glover’s No Gi Deep Half Guard 2.0!

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