subject: BJJ Guard Pass Under Legs [print this page] BJJ Guard Pass Under Legs BJJ Guard Pass Under Legs
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Guard Passing Under the Legs
In this week's instructional, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt Professor, Stephen "The MMA Performance Professor" Whittier, focuses on passing the guard under the legs in BJJ.
He begins by summarizing that in BJJ there are countless techniques for passing the guard, but there are conceptually only three main routes: around the legs, under the legs, or over the legs.
He then introduces the technical instruction with a review of the classic "double unders" (or "steering wheel") pass, in which both of your arms are underneath your opponents legs. This is a safe position if done properly because it limits your chance of being countered with a triangle choke and other attacks.
For this technique, Professor Whittier breaks down the details of controlling your opponents hips, making a proper attachment to his upper body, and passing tightly while maximizing your weight distribution and pressure while taking away his ability to create space or frame you away.
Next Prof. Whittier explains his "baseball slide" variation to the under the legs pass, which is designed to allow you to pass when your opponent effectively weights down his legs and frames you away with his arms.
As opposed to the steering wheel pass and other similar passes that rely on you to compress your partner's upper and lower body together for maximum effect, and in which you lead with your shoulder as you come around your opponent's legs, this technique favors "sliding" past your opponents legs and leading with your hips.
This is a particularly strong technique with the BJJ gi, or kimono, to grab. From the steering wheel position, you reach across your opponent's hip with one had to grab the bottom of his gi jacket and cinch your grip in tight. As your opponent frames you away with his arm as you start to pass, you grab the sleeve of that arm by the elbow and sit through toward your opponent's head, sliding your hips forward and then rolling around his legs as you turn around his legs. The grips both control his ability to create space and to try to roll away from you.
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