Today, I am going to talk about a very common question people ask me a lot. The question is, should you practice your guard or passing game more? It’s a great question because everybody has their own styles, some prefer passing and some prefer the guard game.
If I had to choose one to focus on more, I would suggest focusing on your guard game a little more than passing. The reason I feel this way is that, even if you have the best passing game in the world, I promise that if you compete someday in a tournament, someone will sweep you. Then if you get swept, and you don’t have a good guard game, then you will be in big trouble.
When you play guard a lot, you will develop a good guard game. You will sweep people in training and if you sweep people then you will practice your passing game also.
I believe if you focus more on your guard game, then you will work on both the guard game and the passing game. Because after you sweep your training partners, you will work your passes.
If you only focus on your passing game, there is the chance you will develop a great passing game. However, you may never end up on the bottom in training and you won’t develop a good guard game.
For these reasons, I suggest you concentrate a little more on your guard game over your passing game.
In my case, for example, I focus way more on my guard game than my passing game, I pull guard almost every time I roll. I don’t have a stand-up background, I didn’t train in judo or wrestling, so I prefer to pull guard and work my sweeps.
Over time I developed a good guard game. I started sweeping people, and because I swept people, I started to develop a good passing game too.
So, I believe if you work on your guard, that you will have the choice to sweep and then work on your passes. However, if you only work your passing game, then only your passing game will get better. You will pass your opponent, then go to mount. You won’t end up on the bottom and be forced to work your guard game. Of course, you will get swept sometimes in training, but you will work the passing game much more.
I recommend that at least every other roll, that you pull guard, that way you can sweep and pass your opponent.
I promise that if you compete a lot, then you will get swept sooner or later. Even the best grapplers in the world, who have the best passing games in the world, get swept. I have seen Roger, Rodolfo and Jacare get swept by their opponents. That’s why it’s crucial to develop a good guard game because everyone gets swept at some time.
Here is my main tip regarding should you practice your guard or passing game more?:
- For a long time, I focused way more on my guard game. Then I started getting sweeps in training and as a result I improved my passing game as well. Hopefully, this tip will benefit everybody.
I hope you enjoyed this video. Oss.
