Yea, it’s not. I know, I know – everyone has seen Royce Gracie use his guard to defeat stronger opponents. Glad we all saw that tournament before grappling was more widespread. Now let’s talk about where we are today.

Being on the bottom is BAD. Being on top is GOOD.

Why?

On top you can use gravity to inflict damage and have more ability to get away. On bottom you are a victim of gravity and have less ability to get away. Pretty straight forward, right?

It is too common to walk into a BJJ gym and see fundamental classes with white belts learning to get comfortable with their back on the mat playing a guard. This is horrible. This is literally training someone to give up looking for a dominate position and make them comfortable fighting from an inferior one.

Story time…

Back in 2009 I was stationed in Hawaii and had to get ready for a water survival school. To prep for this, I learned how to drown-proof in place and across the pool. This got me very comfortable for what I was expecting to experience in the coming course. Proper planning prevents piss poor performance.

Flash forwards a few years later, I have a friend that cannot swim. He says all he does is sink to the bottom and he fears it. My dumbass had a thought – why not teach him to drown-proof so that he doesn’t fear going under anymore?

So I somewhat did this.

A few weeks later he goes to the pool and begins letting out air and pushing off the bottom to cross the pool. No longer is he afraid to sink because that’s all he does! Success? No. Now the motherfucker doesn’t want to learn how to swim because that’s more work and it would tire him out more than what he knows how to do now.

The guy never learned to properly swim. Iron fucking duck.

So how does this apply to guard and beginners?

When you teach someone to work off their back in the beginning of their journey you are teaching them to be comfortable there despite it being a horrible position (like being under 20 feet of water). While it feels like a shortcut to get them comfortable there, you are enforcing a horrible habit: Don’t bother getting a dominant position that is safer because you are more comfortable here. 

So when they get in a fight and pull guard, then get punched to shit you can thank yourself for allowing this false-sense of security to happen.

Beginners should learn from day one that the goal is to get on top and stay on top. If you are teaching them something else, you are setting them up to fail outside the sport (and people don’t walk in to learn to grapple because they want the sport 99% of the time. People outside grappling don’t know or give a fuck who Roger Gracie is).

Note: This isn’t to say learning to fight off your back doesn’t have a place, it does. But not for beginners.

So what should you do?

My Recommendation:

Guard work for fundamental classes should be focused on getting back to top positions and standing. None of it should be about getting to another guard and to lay on your back. 

Mathematical Jiu-Jitsu focuses on just that: Fundamental guard work is about getting on top (dominant position) or standing (neutral position). We do not believe you should accept an inferior position.