Guard passing is how you get from outside your opponent's legs to a dominant position. Here's what beginners at Kaizen Academy in Venice, CA need to know about developing this essential skill.
Guard passing is the skill of moving through or around an opponent's guard to achieve a dominant top position. It's one of BJJ's most important competitive skills and one of the most technically demanding. This complete beginner's guide from Kaizen Academy in Venice, CA explains what guard passing is, why it matters, the major guard passing approaches, and how beginners should prioritize developing their guard passing game.
In BJJ, the guard is your legs — the controlling framework that separates you from your opponent when you're on the bottom. Guard passing is the top player's challenge: getting through or around those legs to reach a dominant position where submissions and control are more accessible.
It's one of BJJ's most contested skills — and one that beginners consistently underinvest in. Here's the complete guide.
A practitioner who cannot pass guard will spend entire rolling sessions trapped outside their partner's legs — unable to establish dominant positions, unable to access many high-percentage submissions, and burning energy in a neutral-to-disadvantaged position.
Guard passing scores 3 points in competition — the third highest scoring action after mount and back control. And more practically: once you've passed someone's guard successfully, you've fundamentally shifted the dynamic of the roll in your favor.
At Kaizen Academy, we teach guard passing as a core component of the top game curriculum — because a student without it has a significant hole in their development regardless of how good their guard game is.
Pressure Passing: Maintaining heavy, controlled weight on your opponent to flatten them out and limit their hip movement. Pressure passes work by making the bottom player's guard retention uncomfortable and energetically expensive. Examples: the torreando pass with pressure, the knee slice pass, leg drag.
Speed Passing: Using rapid movement and level changes to get around the guard before the bottom player can react. More athletically demanding but highly effective against slow reactions. Examples: running pass, over-under with speed.
Combined: Most effective guard passers combine elements of both — using pressure to control and speed to capitalize on reactions.
The Knee Slice Pass: From a kneeling position, slice one knee across your opponent's thigh while controlling their hip with your hand. Drive forward, flattening them, and achieve side control. This pass works against half guard, seated guard, and many open guard configurations. It's learnable quickly and highly applicable — the first pass beginners at Kaizen Academy develop into a reliable tool.
The Torreando (Bullfighter) Pass: Control both of your opponent's ankles, redirect their legs to one side, step around to side control. Works best against open guard. Excellent for beginners because it doesn't require sophisticated gripping knowledge and provides immediate visual feedback on whether it's working.
Guard movement: Your opponent's guard isn't static — they're constantly adjusting to maintain connection with your body. A pass that works on a stationary partner in drilling fails on a moving one because the timing and angle are now different.
Hip reconnection: Skilled guard players "hip out" — re-establishing connection with their hips — every time you create distance. Learning to control hips before attempting a pass is the key technical insight most beginners are missing.
Balance while passing: You're moving through a physical space that your opponent controls. Maintaining your own base while moving is technically demanding.
In our adult BJJ program, guard passing receives dedicated drilling time. We begin with the two foundational passes above, develop their variations, and connect them to the reactions that require switching between approaches.
Kaizen Academy is at 2014 Lincoln Blvd, Venice, CA 90291. First class is free.