Get comfortable, this is going to be a long one. Previously we were looking at deep half guard, this material is adjacent to that discussion. We begin with a conventional half guard package that I used a lot at white belt and still return to today. I learned the first set of options from Eddie Bravo DVD’s back in the early 2000’s.

Old School Sweep

The old school sweep is a way to wrestle up from bottom half guard. It is not dissimilar to the way we finish a sweep single, the steps are a little out of order but it is at it’s roots a wrestling move. Beginning from bottom half guard, knee shield or conventional, we first look to acquire and underhook. Hugging our opponent close, we reach under the shin of their far leg and take a palm up grip on their pinky toe. It is important to grip at the toe and not on the shin, as it makes it much harder for them to kick the leg free. Next we step our top leg over the foot of their near leg and drag their foot toward us. The important thing here is to pull both of their shins into a straight line. This severely compromises their base, creating a lengthy hinge along the mat that we can tip them over on. A small bridge at this point will create the space for us to remove our bottom leg and get to our knees. From here it is a simple matter to drive forward and place them on their back, stepping over their leg and passing the guard at the same time as we finish our sweep.

Old school sweep with shin wrap

If you have trained with me or have read this blog for a while, you should be aware of my hesitance to wrestle up on an underhook above the hips. See this piece on punishing the underhook for details. As a result, it is my preference to use this modified version of the old school sweep whenever possible. I first learned this from Stephan Kesting but I believe Bernardo Faria is an advocate as well. We begin as above, however, once we win the grip on the toes, we seek to pass the foot off to our top hand instead. Our bottom hand then reaches back under and take a deep grip on the opposite hip, wrapping up the shin in the process. This gives us excellent control over the hips and keep us safe from the top players over hook. Everything else continues as in the first example. Another benefit of this version is that it gives us such good control over the hips that we have the option to apply the inverted kneebar, or dog bar as it is sometimes called, from both the bottom position before the sweep or from the top after the sweep but before we pass. This is not depicted below and will be covered in class soon.

Plan B Sweep

As mentioned above, I prefer not to wrestle up off of an underhook which is placed above the hips because of the threat posed by our opponents overhook. However, the under is safe to take for a moment while our belly buttons are pointed at one another. If our opponent attempts to take the early over because they are worried about us taking their back or because they are trying to run us to front headlock prematurely , we can use this to our advantage and attack the plan b sweep. Hugging tight with the underhook to trap their overhook between us, we reach with our bottom hand to cup the back of the knee instead of gripping the foot. From here we bridge and roll them over us toward their trapped overhook, ideally extracting our leg mid roll to pass the guard. This sweep is important to learn in order to inform your offense and defense from both the top and the bottom.

The Shaolin sweep

The Shaolin sweep as depicted below is not a sweep I ever really use. While easy in it’s late stages, I find the setup difficult and prefer other options. That said, I use several modified versions of the sweep often. For teaching purposes however, I thought it best to begin with the original. For a long form lesson see this video of Stephan Kesting and the creator of the sweep, Vitor Shaolin Ribeiro.

The initial position is a kind of double knee shield half guard. Double in so far as the top knee is in a conventional position but the bottom knee is elevated so that it is also acting as a shield against the top player’s far leg. Our bottom hand reaches and grips the pants at the knee of the far leg while our top hand reaches to take a palm up grip on the seam of the far arm. It is the knee shield that allows this to be done somewhat safely, but reaching for this grip can be dangerous, so be wary of the top player’s free hand. With both grips established we need our opponent to lean into us to be able to load them on our shins. Bridging into them with our knee shield and threatening to knock them toward their far side can motivate them to lean back into us. When they do, we pull the arm over our head and lift our legs to bear their weight across both our shins. Next, we drag the hand we are holding back down toward our feet, which should begin to turn their shoulders beginning our roll. Using our legs to direct their weight, we look to do a back shoulder roll in the direction of the hand grip, not the leg grip. Keeping our half guard intact, will help us complete the roll as their falling body weight will pull us over. When we land on top it is highly desirable to continue driving their arm down so that it becomes trapped between us and can be immediately attacked with darce chokes, etc.

Modified Shaolin Sweep against a cross body pass.

As I said, I don’t find myself playing the classic version of the sweep very often. I do however use this modified version more. It is common when playing a knee shield half guard for our opponent to look to pass by switching their hips and coming cross body. My preference in this situation is to take a butterfly hook and attack with it (more on that below), but sometimes I miss the hook and need another option. Once they switch, we have a head side hand and a hip side hand. The head side hand should immediately win a strong grip on the elbow. Driving this grip down toward our feet will rotate the top players shoulders making them easier to roll. This needs to be the elbow and not the cuff at the wrist which will have too much slack and not turn the shoulders enough. If the top player grabs the belt to make it hard to drive the arm down toward the feet, we must instead drive the elbow out away from our body in a chicken wing shape. They will most often let go of the grip in this case, but once the elbow is away from the body it won’t matter if they keep it. In the event that the top player trapped our arm under their own to set up a kimura when they switched their hips, it must be immediately freed, or failing that we must find the half butterfly hook. (Again, more on this below.) Our hip side hand will take a grip on the near leg. This grip can be fabric at the knee, the cuff on the lower leg, or the actual ankle itself. Just grab something that feels strong.

Pulling both our knees to our chest while we aggressively drive the arm grip down and pull the leg grip over our head will begin the same roll as the traditional version allowing us to again end up on top. Remember to trap the arm when you can.

Modified Shaolin sweep against cross body pass attempt

Sit up escape

Another place I will use a version of the Shaolin sweep is from bottom cross side when I am unable to do a traditional sit up escape. In order to put this in context let’s first look at the sit up escape.

If our opponent has passed our guard and is in the position some know as full mount prep or twister side control, our first concern is limiting the damage. Our head side hand should look to again find a strong grip on the elbow. This is important so that if they do throw a leg over to mount, they will not be able to turn their chest to face us and we will be able to shrimp out to recover our guard. Using the blade of the wrist, our hip side arm should be blocking their hips so that they can neither walk their feet up and assume north south nor can they trap the arm in their legs setting up topside omoplatas. Using both arms we must drive their weight low enough on our body that we can sit up. Before doing so, we will quickly switch our grips, passing their bottom arm to our hip side hand so that we can post as quickly as possible on our head side hand. It is ok to use our elbow to get up, but it is important to get to the palm as quick as possible so that they cannot jump their hips over our head and switch sides. Once up, we shrimp our hip free and regain our guard.

Modified Shaolin from bottom cross side

Although not technically a sweep, sweeps by definition must begin from a guard, this technical reversal is functionally a Shaolin variation. If while in bottom cross side we can win our opponents elbow, but we can not keep their weight low enough for us to be able to sit up, it is often possible to again roll them over our shoulder. In this circumstance, we need to guide their weight up with one of our knees while the other foot stays on the ground allowing us to bridge to generate force. Because our legs are no longer entangled in a guard it is not uncommon for us to become separated during the roll. If this happens the resulting scramble can go to either player, so it is much more desirable to complete the shoulder roll quickly and attain top position.

Modified Shaolin when opponent is too high to sit up escape

Half Butterfly

As mentioned above it is my preference to avoid most of this by instead taking a half butterfly hook when the top player switches hips to a cross body half guard. When doing so, the inside knee will most often come off the ground making the space for the knee shield to become the butterfly hook. For me this motion is very instinctual due to many years of practice. Note, the bottom leg curls around to trap the foot until it is necessary to remove it.

Finding the butterfly hook when opponent hip switches

Half Butterfly sweep against poor base

Once we acquire the butterfly hook, the low hanging fruit of this position is to sweep immediately. Our hip side arm reaches down and blocks the free leg from extending and basing behind, at the same time our inside foot uncurls and bases against the mat so that our butterfly hook has strength enough to sweep our opponent. In the example below, I again drive the arm across the body to finish with it trapped, however, this is tough to do without the jacket and in no gi I would be more likely to find and underhook with this arm and finish on the opposite side of my opponent like a traditional butterfly sweep.

Back take against the kimura.

One of the reasons I play so much of the butterfly hook in this situation is that often the top player has switched their hips hoping to attack a kimura. The butterfly hook offers an interesting counter in that case. Gripping the mat with the palm of the arm under attack to buy some time, we find our opponent’s hip with our free hand. This is one of, if not the only time I will tell you to use your palm on your opponent’s hip. It is normally dangerous and unproductive, but in this case their desire to finish the kimura keeps you safe. The harder they are trying to finish the kimura the better this move works. If they are half hearted in their effort, the following steps become more difficult. Simultaneously with the hook and the hand, we need to lift them in the air and hold them there for just long enough to shrimp back and free our bottom leg. This allows us to throw the leg over and attack the back. Taking the back here has the side effect of changing their kimura attack into a Sakuraba style straight arm lock though, so it is top priority to immediately reach and pin their arm for protection. Next we free our elbow and look to secure the position.

The shin wrap pass against half butterfly

One thing that a skilled top player may seek to do in the event the bottom player finds the butterfly hook is the shin wrap pass. This is functionally similar to an over under pass but it traps the butterfly hook, rendering it unable to extend. From the cross body position, when the hook comes in, the top player will wrap the shin up in their hip side bicep and look to get the deepest grip they can with their hand. The belt or skirt make the best choices. Once the grip is established the hook will lack the power to sweep as usual but the bottom leg is often still hooking. In order to clear this the top player will walk their feet and hips toward the guard straightening out the hooking leg, making it easy to step over and once again change direction to finish the pass.

Shaolin as counter to the shin wrap pass.

At this point it should be pretty clear how this works. Once the top player has wrapped the shin, they have as a side effect connected much of their weight to that thigh. If we can win the elbow and again drive it down toward our feet everything else is the same. We draw their weight up high by bringing our trapped knee to our chest, and look to roll over our shoulder. Again it can be helpful to bridge with the inside foot to create power for the roll.

Modified Shaolin sweep against shin wrap pass

Toughness. Effort. Technique. Discipline.