Guard retention is the skill of keeping your legs between you and your partner while they try to pass, and of recovering the guard when they get around. BJJ Heroes defines the guard by that job: the bottom player uses their legs to control the distance between themselves and the guard passer.
- In BJJ: the first thing a passer attacks and the last thing a guard player wants to lose. Scored indirectly, since a pass costs you three points under IBJJF rules.
- Tools: hip movement, frames with the shins and arms, and inversion.
- Opposite: guard passing, the top player's job of getting past the legs to side control, mount or the back.
What does guard retention depend on?
The guard is a distance-control position, and distance is managed with the hips and the legs. BJJ Heroes describes the butterfly hooks as feet placed against the inside of the passer's legs to jeopardise their base, and the half guard as both legs controlling one of the opponent's legs. Retention is the business of keeping those connections, and getting them back when they break.
Good retention is mostly hip movement. The passer moves around your legs; you move your hips so your legs stay in front of them. If your hips stop, the pass is finished.
How do you retain guard?
- Keep a connection at all times: a hook, a grip on a sleeve or a collar, or a foot on a hip. A disconnected guard is just lying down.
- Face your partner. Turn your hips so your knees point at them, whichever way they move.
- Use the shin as a frame. When the passer drives in, the knee comes across their body and the shin takes their weight.
- Shrimp away from the pass. When your hips get pinned, hip escape to the free side and bring the knee back in.
- Go to the turtle rather than giving side control when the pass is almost finished, and rebuild from there.
- Drill it live: positional sparring from open guard, with the passer resetting every time they get past your knees.
The most common mistake is grabbing with the hands and letting the hips stay flat. Hands slow a pass down; hips stop it.
Retention drills are the best use of a home mat. Our BJJ training gear collection has mats, spats and the rest of the solo kit.
When does the IBJJF count the guard as passed?
The IBJJF Rules Book defines the guard as legs blocking the opponent from side control or north-south. The pass scores, 3 points, only once the top player holds side control or north-south for three seconds, so a guard recovered inside that count costs nothing.
Sources
- BJJ Heroes defines the guard, BJJ Heroes
- BJJ Heroes describes the butterfly hooks, BJJ Heroes
- IBJJF Rules Book, IBJJF
Related terms
Guard passing, Shrimp / hip escape (ebi), Frames, Open guard, Half guard.