Just stand Up

This week I taught a technical stand up from butterfly guard. Not a sweep. Not a submission. A stand up with the top player still attached to you. It blew most people’s minds. I got a few laughs and the classic quip: “Jiu Jitsu doesn’t work if you just stand up.”

Let me explain. And possibly ramble, but it’s my blog. shrugs

One of the defining principles of BJJ is the guard. It’s what separates Jiu Jitsu from other grappling sports like wrestling, Judo, or Sambo. Because there is no way to win via pin in BJJ, meaning simply holding someone on their back, the guard became an incredibly developed and highly utilized skill set.

A guard can generally be defined as a defensive position where a grounded player uses their legs to manage distance, create angles, control posture, and prevent the top player from advancing or attacking effectively.

There are different types of guard. Closed guard is where your legs are locked around your opponent’s waist. Half guard is where your legs are wrapped around one of their legs. Open guard uses your feet and frames to maintain distance and angles. There are Gi-specific guards like spider guard and lasso guard. There are leg entanglement guards like De La Riva. There are inside-position guards like butterfly guard and X-guard.

There are so many variations and hybrid guards that I could probably spend an entire month writing about them, their pros and cons, and where they work best.

Because guard is emphasized so heavily, something interesting often happens around blue belt. People start to unconsciously believe that guard is where they are supposed to be in order to “do Jiu Jitsu.” And honestly, it makes sense.

Most beginners are correctly taught defense before offense. On top of that, many high-level competitors intentionally pull guard, willingly giving up top position so they can bait an opponent into engaging and then attack from underneath.

And I’m not saying that’s a bad strategy.

I am saying it shouldn’t be your only strategy.

At some point years ago, during some conversation I can’t fully remember, I came to a realization:

Your first guard is your feet on the ground.

If we go back to our definition of guard as a position used to manage space, angles, posture, and distance, then standing accomplishes a lot of those things extremely well. Putting an entire planet between me and my opponent is pretty solid distance management.

We also have to remember that BJJ was originally developed as a martial art before it became a sport. And when you zoom out even farther, martial arts themselves are systems of combat developed for self defense, fighting, competition, physical development, and skill acquisition.

Or, to put it more simply:

“Martial” means I can kick your ass.

“Arts” means I can do it on purpose with skill I developed through training.

And historically, BJJ was developed with the idea of dealing with a striker. That context matters.

Now let’s bring this back to modern Jiu Jitsu, where most schools operate through either a sport lens or a self defense lens.

In a sport context, the goal is usually to submit your opponent. And generally speaking, it’s very difficult to submit someone who is standing. There are exceptions, obviously. Standing guillotines, flying armbars, jumping to the back for a choke. But most submissions become easier once an opponent is grounded because their movement and defensive options become more limited.

In MMA or self defense, the equation changes even more.

If strikes are allowed, being underneath someone is dangerous. Really dangerous.

Gravity is a constant, and the ground removes half your escape routes. Being on top in grappling already carries a positional advantage. In self defense or MMA, being on top or standing becomes exponentially more important.

That’s why I believe the purpose of guard should ultimately be to help you get back on top.

Is it easier to get on top when your opponent is unconscious or has a broken limb? Absolutely.

But the larger goal should still be positional improvement.

Sometimes the best way to get on top is to stand up first.

That’s one of the reasons we put such a strong emphasis on takedowns, wrestling, and standing engagement in our grappling and self defense programs.

So remember:

Your first guard is your feet on the ground.

-Coach Brian