Sassom Fitness and 24-7 Gym on Facebook

BJJ Fundamentals

Lesson 22 – Knee Shield Pass To 1/2 Guard

Warm Up (5min)

Solo Drills

  • Hip Escape
  • Backwards Roll
  • Forward Roll
  • Granby Roll

Lesson Warm Up(5min)

Partner Drill

  • Forcing Half Guard

Lesson (20min)

Clearing the Knee Shield

  1. Start in half guard top, with uke using a high (shoulder-level) knee shield
  2. Turn your body inwards so that your chest pressures onto uke’s knee shield from the inside
    • Make sure that your hips are low and your chin is tilted upwards, straightening your spine; this makes use of your entire body so that uke finds it hard to push you with their frames
  3. Push uke’s bottom knee between your own two knees and keep it there by maintaining a close distance to uke’s hips
  4. Walk your torso ‘down and across’ uke’s body; make their knee shield point outwards, and their bottom knee point downwards
  5. Once uke is flattened, cover their far side hip with your armpit, blocking out the knee shield entirely and settling into half guard

Half Guard Control – Gripping Stance

  1. Start in half guard top
  2. Uke tries to recover by attempting elbow-escapes and reversals
  3. Make a strong base with your knees (“L” shape – knees pointing away from each other at 90 degrees) so that uke cannot off-balance you
  4. Stick your near side knee tightly to the space below uke’s armpit to make it difficult for them to elbow escape
  5. Now that you’ve established a secure base, dominate the upper body by getting to a crossface and underhook

Half Guard Control – Passing Stance

  1. Continue from half guard top, in the gripping stance with a crossface and underhook
  2. Turn your body so that your near side knee points into uke’s hips, blocking the elbow escape
    • Avoid putting your hip on the mat, as this will let uke off-balance you; use your foot as a base of support instead
  3. Take your far side knee off the mat so that uke cannot reverse the position with a knee lever

    Half Guard to Mount

    1. Continue from half guard top, in the passing stance with a crossface and underhook
    2. Walk your torso laterally across uke’s body until your forehead and knee make contact with the mat
      • Use your head (as well as the arm that was acting as an underhook) for base so that uke cannot reverse the position with a knee lever
    3. Use your hand to push uke’s leg trap down to your ankle, and bring your knee forward onto the mat (settling into three-quarter mount)
    4. Shift your weight behind uke’s hips, smashing their legs together so that they aren’t able to elbow escape
    5. To free your foot, apply a crossface the points in the opposite direction to uke’s knees
      • You should be able to ‘slap out’ your foot to the mat once uke’s spine is sufficiently twisted