BJJ Guard Passing Blueprint: How to Pass Any Guard Systematically

You've been training BJJ for six months. You can escape, you can submit from guard, and you feel competent on bottom. Then you try to pass someone's guard and it feels like you're swimming through concrete. Welcome to the hardest skill in BJJ.

BJJ guard passing is difficult because the guard player has more options than the passer. They can sweep, submit, stand up, or just hold you in closed guard until the round ends. The solution isn't trying random passes. It's having a system. This guide gives you that system.

1. Breaking Closed Guard: The First Problem

Before you can pass, you need to open the guard. Closed guard is a locked door. You can't pass what you can't open. As the instructor explains what "passing" even means: "Passing guard means when I pass my knee, my knee has to cross his knee here. A lot of times people make a mistake saying the side control here is at three points, but this is not three points."

Stand up in their closed guard. Get both feet under you, hands on their hips, posture tall. This creates enough leverage to break the ankle lock. Once you're standing and they can't hold their legs locked, the guard opens and you transition to your passing strategy. Don't try to open closed guard from your knees by prying the ankles apart. It wastes energy and good guard players will just re-lock. "If he break your posture 100 times, you have to posture 100 times. The important thing about passing guard here when you start, try to keep your hands off the floor because when you put your hands on the floor, you open too much for he attack."

2. The Crawl Pass: Pressure Passing 101

Once the guard is open, the crawl pass is the safest, most methodical way to get past the legs. It's slow, grinding, and effective. Heavy grapplers love this pass because it uses weight advantage.

Control both sleeves or both lapels. Walk your knees up the center, pressuring their hips down. Keep your weight heavy and your head low. Inch by inch, work past their legs while denying them the hip space they need for sweeps or guard recovery. It's not exciting. It works.

3. Sleeve Control Pass: Shutting Down Their Game

The guard player's attacks require grips. If you control their sleeves, they can't grab you. If they can't grab you, they can't sweep you or set up submissions. Sleeve control passing strips the guard player's entire offensive game.

Grab both sleeves near the wrist. Pin their hands to their chest or the mat. Now pass to the side while maintaining those grips. They can't frame, can't grab your collar, and can't underhook. The pass itself is almost secondary. The grip control is the technique.

4. Chin Strap Pass: Beating Butterfly Guard

Butterfly guard is one of the most common open guards you'll face. The hooks under your thighs make it dangerous. The chin strap pass neutralizes those hooks by controlling the head.

Cup your hand under their chin (the chin strap grip). Push their head to the mat while stepping one leg back to clear the hook. The chin strap puts pressure on their neck that forces them flat. Once they're flat, their butterfly hooks lose all power. From there, slide past to side control.

5. Duck Under Pass: Speed Passing

Sometimes pressure isn't the answer. Against flexible guard players who can re-guard from almost anywhere, speed passing goes around the legs faster than they can recover.

The duck under pass works against open guard. When they reach for a grip or extend a leg, duck under their legs to the opposite side. It's a quick lateral movement that gets you past the guard before they can readjust. The key is committing fully to the direction. Half-speed on a duck under gets you caught in half guard. Full speed puts you in side control.