What the closed guard is
The closed guard, also called the full guard, is the bottom position in which you hold your partner between your legs with your ankles crossed behind their back. It is the closest of the guards described in our guide to BJJ guards, and it is played in the gi, in no-gi and in MMA.
With your feet locked, your partner cannot move their hips away or step around your legs, so the work is about their upper body. They try to sit up straight, control your hips and unlock your feet. You try to pull them forward, take grips on their arms and head, and turn that control into a sweep, a submission or a back take.
Breaking posture and taking grips
Most submissions from closed guard start with breaking your partner’s posture, which means bringing their head forward and down so their weight sits over you. Pull your knees toward your chest to tip them forward, then pull their head down with your hands. A partner who stays upright with their hands on your hips or biceps is hard to submit and can work on opening your legs.
Lying square under your partner limits what you can reach. Most attacks begin by moving your hips to one side so you face one of their arms at an angle. Decide which arm you are attacking, and take grips that control that arm before you open your legs to attack.
Grips
- Cross collar gripA hand deep in the collar on the opposite side pulls the head down and sets up the choke.
- Sleeve gripHolding a sleeve at the wrist stops your partner from posting that hand or gripping you.
- Collar and sleeveThe two grips together control one side of the body for the scissor sweep.
- Overhook with a lapel gripYour arm wraps over theirs and your hand grips their far lapel, trapping that arm against you.
Main attacks
- Cross collar chokeBoth hands deep in the collar, wrists turning to close the choke.
- Scissor sweep
- Hip bump sweep
- Flower sweep
- Armbar
- Triangle choke
- Omoplata
Grips
- Wrist controlHolding one or both wrists keeps your partner from posting or pushing on your hips.
- Collar tieA hand behind the head pulls it down and keeps their posture broken.
- OverhookYour arm wraps over theirs at the elbow and pins it to your chest.
- Two-on-oneBoth your hands on one arm, used to drag it across and come up to the back.
Main attacks
- Guillotine
- Kimura
- Hip bump sweep
- Arm drag to the back
- Armbar
- Triangle choke
Distance
Closed
Rules
IBJJF, for example, bans slams at every belt and bans squeezing the ribs or kidneys with locked legs for white belts and youth divisions.
How the main sweeps and submissions connect
Many closed guard attacks are linked, so your partner’s defense to one opens the next. The hip bump sweep works when your partner sits back to posture. You sit up, post one hand behind you, reach your other arm over their arm on the posting side, and drive your hips into them so they roll toward that trapped arm. If they post a hand to stop the sweep, that arm is open to the kimura. If they lean forward into you, their head is in position for the guillotine.
In the gi, the scissor sweep and the flower sweep both take away your partner’s base on one side by holding the arm on that side, because they cannot post with an arm you control. The scissor sweep uses a collar and a sleeve grip, with one shin across their torso and your other leg against their knee. The flower sweep, also called the pendulum sweep, uses a sleeve and the pant leg on the same side.
The armbar, triangle and omoplata start from the same angle and the same control of one arm. The triangle needs one of their arms inside your legs and one outside. The omoplata uses your legs to lock the shoulder. The arm drag, common in no-gi, uses a two-on-one grip to pull an arm across your body so you can sit up and take the back.
How partners open it, and what to do
Partners open the closed guard from their knees or standing. From the knees, a common method places one knee into your tailbone and moves the hips back until your ankles unlock. Standing, they rise with a straight back and push one of your legs down until your feet separate. Each method has a cost. Kneeling keeps their weight low and makes them harder to sweep, but their arms and neck stay within your reach. Standing puts their arms and neck farther away but gives you more chances to sweep and attack the legs.
Attack during the guard break, while their hands are busy on your hips or knees. Once your feet unlock, you are in open guard. Have your knees and feet ready to frame on their hips or legs at that moment, before they can move past your knees.
Common closed guard mistakes
One common mistake is squeezing your legs as hard as you can to hold your partner in place. It wears out your legs and does little to stop them from posturing.
A second is leaving your partner’s grips in place. In the gi, a partner who holds your collar or belt with a straight arm can keep their posture as long as the grip stays. Strip or break those grips as soon as they land.
A third is holding closed guard without working toward an attack. It gives your partner time to set grips and open your legs on their terms, and under some rulesets a referee can penalize it as stalling.
What a reviewer looks for in closed guard footage
On video, a reviewer can count how often you broke your partner’s posture, how long they stayed upright, and whether your grips came before your attacks or after them. They also mark the moment your feet unlocked and what you did with your legs next. A verified black belt can go through your training rolls and matches this way in a roll review.