What is the Best Guard for Beginners?

The Short Answer

Closed guard is widely considered the best guard for beginners to learn first. It offers control, safety, and a foundation for understanding BJJ concepts that will serve you throughout your journey.

Why Closed Guard?

Closed guard is the Swiss Army knife of guards. When you have your legs wrapped around your opponent's waist and your ankles locked, you've created a position that:

• Controls distance - Your opponent can't easily posture up or create space
• Limits their offense - They can't pass your guard while it's closed
• Gives you time to think - The position is stable, so you can plan your next move

Key Concepts to Focus On

Posture Control

Your primary goal in closed guard is breaking your opponent's posture. When their head is down near your chest, their base is compromised and your attacks become much more powerful.

Use your legs to pull them in, grab behind their head or collar, and work to keep them broken down.

Hip Movement

Even in closed guard, hip movement is crucial. Learn to angle your hips to create attack angles and to readjust when your opponent tries to posture up.

The Core Attacks

Start with these fundamental attacks from closed guard:

• Armbar - The classic attack that teaches hip movement and control
• Triangle choke - Develops your leg dexterity and angle creation
• Kimura - Teaches grip fighting and off-balancing

When to Open Your Guard

Eventually you'll need to open your guard to attack or because your opponent breaks it open. Before you start learning open guards, make sure you're comfortable with:

1. Maintaining closed guard against resistance
2. Breaking posture consistently
3. Hitting at least one submission from closed guard
4. Recovering guard when it gets passed

Common Beginner Mistakes

Crossing ankles wrong

Make sure your ankles are crossed properly and not resting on their spine - this can lead to ankle locks.

Lying flat

Stay active! Use your hips and legs to off-balance your opponent constantly.

Ignoring grips

Control their sleeves and collar (or wrists in no-gi). Grip fighting starts in closed guard.

The Bottom Line

Master closed guard before moving on to fancy open guards. The concepts you learn - posture control, hip movement, submission mechanics - will make learning every other guard easier. There's a reason black belts still use closed guard effectively.