The main BJJ guard types are closed guard, half guard, butterfly guard and open guard, with advanced open guards like De La Riva, spider, X guard and K guard built on top of them. Each one is a way to fight from your back using your legs. Beginners should start with closed guard, then half guard and butterfly.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is one of the seven martial arts I’ve trained over more than 20 years. I’ve taught beginner boxing and Wing Chun classes, but not BJJ, so treat this as a map of the guard world, and let your coach decide which guards fit your body and your academy’s style.
- A guard is any bottom position where your legs are between you and your partner. That’s the core idea behind every name on the list.
- Four families cover almost everything. Closed, half, butterfly and open guard are the roots; most fancy guards are open guard variations.
- Learn in order. Closed guard teaches control, half guard teaches survival, butterfly teaches sweeping, and open guards come later.
- Gi and no gi guards differ. Spider, lasso and lapel guards need sleeves and collars, while butterfly and X guard work in both.
- Ignore most of the names for now. New guard names appear every year, and white belts don’t need to know them all.
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What Is a Guard in BJJ?
In BJJ, the guard is any position where you’re on your back or seated and using your legs to control your partner. Your legs act as a barrier and a lever. Your partner’s job on top is to get past them, which is called passing the guard.
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That’s why guard is the heart of jiu jitsu. Unlike many grappling arts, BJJ treats the bottom as a place you can attack from, not just survive. If the overall positions are new to you, my guide to BJJ basics for beginners puts guard in context.
The Main BJJ Guard Types for Beginners
Closed Guard
Your legs wrap around your partner’s waist with your ankles crossed. It’s the most stable guard, the one most academies teach first, and a great place to learn posture breaking, sweeps and the classic submissions. My full guide to closed guard BJJ breaks it down.
Half Guard
You trap one of your partner’s legs between yours. Half guard often happens when someone is partway through passing your guard, so it’s partly a survival position and partly an attacking one. A strong underhook on the bottom is the key detail coaches repeat.
BJJ Z Guard (Knee Shield Half Guard)
Z guard is a half guard where your top knee comes across your partner’s body as a shield, with your shin making a frame. It keeps space between you and stops heavy pressure. It’s beginner friendly and great for anyone who gets flattened often.
Butterfly Guard
You sit up with your feet hooked inside your partner’s thighs, your insteps acting like hooks. Butterfly guard is excellent for sweeps, because your hooks can lift your partner when they’re off balance. It works in the gi and no gi.
Open Guard
Open guard is a broad term for any guard where your ankles aren’t crossed. Your feet go on the hips, biceps or knees, and you use grips and distance to control your partner. Most advanced guards are specific kinds of open guard.
Intermediate Open Guards
These usually come after your first few months. They’re worth knowing by name so class makes more sense.
Collar and Sleeve Guard
A gi guard where you hold one collar and one sleeve and place your feet on the hip and biceps. It’s a common bridge from basic open guard into the more specialized ones.
De La Riva Guard
One of your legs hooks around the outside of your partner’s lead leg, with your foot hooked inside their thigh. Named after Ricardo De La Riva and often shortened to DLR, it’s a popular sweeping and back taking guard. The reverse version hooks from the inside instead.
Spider Guard
A gi guard where you hold both sleeves and place your feet on your partner’s biceps. It controls distance very well. It can be hard on your fingers, so many coaches teach good grip habits early.
Lasso Guard
Your leg wraps around your partner’s arm while you hold the sleeve. It’s very controlling and is a gi focused guard.
Advanced Guard Types
BJJ X Guard
You lie under your partner with your legs forming an X around one of their legs, one foot behind the knee and one on the hip. It’s a powerful sweeping position and works in both gi and no gi. Single leg X is a related position used for sweeps and leg lock entries.
BJJ K Guard
K guard is a modern open guard where one leg goes between your partner’s legs and your body angles off to the side, so your legs roughly form the shape of a K. It’s used to enter leg entanglements and back takes and is especially common in no gi. It’s not a first year guard for most people.
Rubber Guard and High Guard
Rubber guard holds your leg high over your partner’s shoulder, controlled with your arm. It needs a lot of hip and knee flexibility and can be hard on the knees, so it’s not a good choice for most beginners, especially after 40.
Lockdown and Deep Half
Lockdown is a half guard where your legs tangle around one of your partner’s legs to stop them moving. Deep half guard has you underneath, hugging one leg. Both are useful but are usually taught after basic half guard.
What About Y Guard, J Guard and Lapel Guards?
You’ll see plenty of other names online, like Y guard, J guard, worm guard and other lapel guards. Some are specialized competition guards, and some names mean different things at different gyms. If a coach uses one of these names, ask them to show you. You don’t need them as a beginner.
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Read My Honest Review →BJJ Guard Types at a Glance
| Guard | Level | What It’s Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Closed | Beginner | Control, posture breaks, classic submissions |
| Half | Beginner | Survival, underhooks, sweeps to the top |
| Z guard | Beginner | Keeping space against heavy pressure |
| Butterfly | Beginner | Seated sweeps in gi and no gi |
| DLR | Intermediate | Sweeps and back takes, mostly gi |
| Spider | Intermediate | Distance control with sleeve grips |
| X guard | Advanced | Strong sweeps from underneath |
| K guard | Advanced | Leg entanglements and back takes |
Which Guard to Learn First
Here’s the order I’d suggest for most beginners. Your coach may adjust it.
- Closed guard. Learn to hold it, break posture, and hit a scissor or hip bump sweep.
- Half guard with a knee shield. Learn to survive heavy pressure and fight for the underhook.
- Butterfly guard. Learn to sit up, hook and sweep.
- Basic open guard. Learn to keep your feet on the hips and recover guard when it’s opened.
- One specialized open guard. Pick whichever your academy teaches most, and stick with it for a while.
Many women I coach tell me they get overwhelmed watching guard videos online. That’s understandable. Choosing one guard per stage, rather than chasing every new name, keeps learning simple and fun. Your first month of BJJ is about closed guard and survival, not the latest trend.
BJJ Guard Top: The Other Side
Every guard has a top person trying to pass it. Playing the top, sometimes called guard passing, means keeping good posture, controlling the legs and moving around them toward side control.
Understanding guards makes you a better passer too. Once you know what a butterfly hook or a De La Riva hook is trying to do, you’ll know what to clear first.
Guard Safety Basics
Guard training is generally safe, but a few habits protect your joints:
- Respect flexibility limits. Don’t force rubber guard or deep inversions if your hips or knees protest.
- Mind your fingers. In gi guards, learn grips that don’t rely on clenching your fingers into the sleeve for long periods.
- Tap early to submissions. Many guard attacks are joint locks and chokes, which are always learned in class, finished slowly and released immediately on a tap.
- Never practice on untrained people. Guard submissions stay inside the academy with trained partners.
Your This-Week Plan
- Day 1: Watch your academy’s beginner class or curriculum and note which guards they teach first.
- Day 3: In class, spend your drilling time on closed guard posture breaks and one sweep.
- Day 5: Practice hip escapes and getting back to guard on a mat for three rounds of one minute.
- Day 7: Ask your coach which guard they’d suggest for your body type, and focus on it next week.
Quick Questions
What Is the Best BJJ Guard for Beginners?
Closed guard is the best first guard for most people. It is stable, easy to hold, and teaches the posture breaks, sweeps and submissions that every other guard builds on.
How Many Guards Are There in BJJ?
There is no fixed number. There are four main families, closed, half, butterfly and open guard, and dozens of named variations that keep growing as the sport evolves.
What Guard Is Best for Short Legs?
Half guard, Z guard and butterfly guard tend to work well for shorter legs. Closed guard can still work too, especially if you lock your ankles higher on the back.
Is Guard Pulling Allowed for Beginners?
In most academies yes, but rules vary by competition. Ask your coach how your gym handles guard pulling in class and in tournaments.
More from this series: start with my martial arts for beginners guide for the full overview, and see the armbar from guard to see one classic guard attack broken down.
The Bottom Line
BJJ guard types grow from four roots: closed, half, butterfly and open guard. Learn closed guard first, add half guard and butterfly, and save the advanced names like X guard and K guard for later. Pick one guard per stage, train it with patience, and let your coach steer the rest.
I’m a certified personal trainer and martial artist, not a physician, and this article is for general education only. Learn all guard submissions with a qualified coach in a supervised class, and never practice them on untrained people. If you have hip, knee, back or neck problems or another health concern, check with your doctor before training BJJ.
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