Pulling Half Guard From The Knees With Bernardo Faria

Do you even pull guard?  Do you even pull guard from the knees?  Well, if you don’t, you should.  In Brazilian Jiu Jitsu we constantly see people who pull guard when they start standing, but if it is on the knees, we typically see one person starting in guard without grips and one starting on their knees or in combat base. Most bjj academies around the world start most of their sparring sessions or rolls on the knees.

One thing to not about starting on the knees is the fact that if two people near the same level start on their knees and one is just sitting butterfly without grips, the one without grips is at a disadvantage.  This is because it is an unrealistic situation.  When we see tournaments, the people are standing, and one person gets grips and then sits to a guard.  The grips are the key.  If you are just sitting butterfly against someone who is the same level, they can just run around your guard.  Even playing a guard like half guard you need to know how to pull from the knees.

Half guard is one of the most simple and effective guards.  If you spend time developing the half guard, you will be able to nullify a lot of fast paced guard passers and hit moves on everyone.  The half guard has long been considered a “basic” or “fundamental” guard.  This is because it is one of the older positions in bjj.  Since the induction of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitions, we have seen the half guard utilized at the highest levels of competition. 

The half guard is one of the best positions to work from because of the fact that it is extremely versatile, it is simple and effective.  You can use the half guard for self-defense, MMA, gi and no gi bjj.  Some of the best people in the world have used the half guard, one of those people is 5x Black Belt world champion, Bernardo Faria.  Faria is infamous for having one of the most simple and effective games that there is because he plays the half guard.  Today we are going to look at how to pull half guard from the knees.

Pulling Half Guard From the Knees

So today we are going to learn how to properly pull half guard from the knees with half guard master and 5x Black Belt world champ, Bernardo Faria. Let’s take a look at the video below on how to do it and then we will break it down.

So as you can see in the vide above, this is pretty simple right?  IT is but there are some finite details that we need to pay attention to.  For example, Bernardo starts going knees to knees with the guy and he is going to get a collar tie and elbow control. 

To the naked eye, it looks like Bernardo just sits to guard but there is a lot going on.  The reason the Bernardo has head control is so that he can pull his opponent to the ground with him and control his posture.  IF he does not have this head control, as he pulls, he may have his guard immediately passed. 

He also controls the elbow, it is very important to note that the arm he control is the side he will pull half to.  For instance, in the video, he controlled the left arm of his opponent, and then he trapped his opponent’s left leg.  This is super important.  Why?  Well, the arm control is to make sure that as he pull the half guard his opponent cannot establish an under hook or set up a guillotine or something.  If that arm is free, as you pull they can tap your knee, hit a guillotine or get and under hook.

Make sure to control the same side arm as the leg you are going to trap. Then Bernardo goes to a combat base and puts the leg that will be on the outside up, stands for a split second and pull his opponent on top of him to get a reaction.  In the video he did all of this step by step and slowly but in reality, this is all occurring quickly.

IF you want to learn more high level and easy to use half guard tricks from Bernardo, check out his DVD and Digital download, “The Battle Tested Half Guard.”  This has long been one of our best-selling sets because so many people rant and rave about how Bernardo’s game is very good for the older guys and for people who are nursing injuries.  Anyways, check it out below!