Complete index
All GrappleGuide guides
A discipline-neutral grappling guide: positions, guard, passing, submissions and takedowns treated as shared mechanics rather than as the property of any single art, with the small details that decide whether control actually holds.
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The Positional Hierarchy Every Grappler Shares
Grappling positions form a ladder from worst to best. Knowing where you are on it, and which direction to move, organizes everything else you learn.
Side Control and Mount: Holding What You Earned
Holding a pin is a separate skill from arriving in one. Chest connection, hip height and near-arm control decide whether the position survives real resistance.
Back Control: Seatbelt, Hooks, and Finishing
Back control is the strongest place in grappling, but only while your chest stays glued to their back. Every attack from here depends on that connection.
Closed Guard: Control, Break, and Attack
Closed guard is the most controllable bottom position because your legs set the range. The real work is breaking posture and finding an angle before attacking.
Half Guard: Underhooks and Knee Shields
Half guard is decided above the waist. Whoever wins the underhook and the head position controls the exchange, no matter how the legs are tangled.
Open Guard: Hooks, Grips, and Entries
Open guard trades the security of a closed guard for reach and attack options. It only works while your grips and your leg contacts agree with each other.
Guard Retention: Recovering Before You Lose It
Retention is the habit of noticing a pass early and moving your hips before your partner arrives. Late recovery is an escape; early recovery is retention.
Pressure Passing: Weight, Angles, and Patience
Pressure passing wins by removing options rather than by moving quickly. You take away space, wait for a leg to be surrendered, and then advance one increment.
Chokes: Blood, Air, and the Mechanics That Matter
Strangles close blood flow through the sides of the neck while air chokes compress the windpipe. The mechanics differ, and so do the safety requirements.
Joint Locks: Arms, Legs, and Safe Practice
A joint lock isolates a limb and moves it beyond its normal range. Everything about training them safely follows from how quickly that can go wrong.
Takedowns and Guard Pulls in Grappling Rulesets
The standing phase decides who arrives on top. Grip fighting, level changes and the option to sit to guard are all answers to the same question.
Frames, Levers, and Why Strength Is Not the Answer
Grappling rewards structure over effort. A frame borrows your skeleton instead of your muscles, and a lever multiplies whatever force you actually have.