Open guard is any bottom guard where your legs are not locked around the opponent’s waist — including butterfly, De La Riva, spider, and modern lapel or entanglement guards.
Open BJJ Team
Open guard is any bottom guard where your legs are not locked around the opponent’s waist — including butterfly, De La Riva, spider, and modern lapel or entanglement guards.
Open guard is a family of positions that trade some security for mobility, sweeps, and modern control options.
Open guard covers bottom positions where your legs control the opponent without a closed figure-four around the waist.
Usually yes for beginners, because you must manage distance, grips, and frames without the security of locked legs.
Many coaches start with butterfly or basic seated open guard before specialty guards like spider or worm guard.
Heel hooks are generally not legal for white belts in IBJJF-style competition, and Open BJJ marks heel-hook IBJJF legality as restricted. ADCC and MMA rulesets often allow heel hooks, but event rules and division details always matter.
Build a simple closed-guard system around posture breaks, scissor and hip-bump sweeps, and two high-percentage submissions so every defense creates another threat.
Choose closed guard when you can lock the opponent in and break posture; choose open guard when distance, hooks, and grips are easier to build than a locked guard.