What Are the Main Positions in Jiu-Jitsu?

Focusing on techniques is one way to improve your jiu-jitsu game. But it also helps to know the main positions of the art as well.

Understanding the primary positions in jiu-jitsu is crucial to any practitioner’s competitive success and grappling knowledge. The main positions in jiu-jitsu that you should know are:

• Mount

• Back Control

• Side Control

• Knee on Belly

• North/South

• Full Guard

• Half Guard

• Open Guard

• Standing Position

While there are numerous other positions in grappling, the ones above are most fundamental to jiu-jitsu. Let’s delve into what makes each one useful.

Standing Position

Jiu-jitsu practitioners spend most of their training and competition time on the ground. Despite that, every match in jiu-jitsu begins in a neutral standing position.

In a neutral standing position, both practitioners begin on their feet before engaging in grappling. The two opponents will attempt takedowns or guard pulling from this position to bring the match to the mat.

Many people who train in jiu-jitsu neglect the standing position, opting to dedicate nearly all of their time toward perfecting ground techniques. However, a well-rounded grappler must have skills in all areas.

The ground techniques that make jiu-jitsu so effective are useless if a practitioner lacks the skill to take their opponent to the ground. A sensible jiu-jitsu practitioner will train standing positions until they develop a skill set they can rely on in those situations.

Guard Positions

The guard position is perhaps the most significant contribution that jiu-jitsu has made to martial arts. Nearly all other martial arts view being on your back as completely disadvantageous and spend little to no time developing techniques to use in that position. By contrast, jiu-jitsu supplies martial artists with a distinct set of tools to defend and attack off of their backs.

Anytime one person is on their back and has their legs between themselves and their opponent, they are using some form of guard. That loose definition implies that there are many ways you can employ a guard in jiu-jitsu. Here are a few of the main types of guard that jiu-jitsu practitioners use most often:

• Full guard

• Half guard

• Open guard

Each of those guards looks completely different and comes with a unique collection of available techniques. The single unifying feature of each one is that you’ll be using your legs to control and attack your opponent from the bottom.

Full Guard

Full guard consists of wrapping your legs around your opponent’s midsection and crossing your ankles to create a secure connection. This position allows you to control your opponent’s movement and use some of the most fundamental submissions in jiu-jitsu. 

Half Guard

When you are in half guard, you’ll have your two legs wrapped around one of your opponent’s legs. While full guard lets you have a degree of control over your opponent’s entire torso, half guard allows you to control one-half of their body, hence the name half guard. There are a few submission opportunities from half guard, but sweeps and the chance to stand up are more prevalent.

Open Guard

Open guard is the most complex guard in jiu-jitsu. We can define open guard as any situation where these factors are in place:

• You are on your back with your opponent in the top position

• Your legs are between you and your opponent

• Your legs are not locked around your opponent’s body

While full and half guards rely on clinching and holding your opponent in place with your arms and legs, open guards are far more dynamic. Open guard uses frames, posts, butterfly hooks, and other tactics to control the top opponent.

Among all guard positions, open guard is the most difficult to learn and employ effectively. However, this position is exceptionally common, to the point where all jiu-jitsu practitioners should have a solid open guard game plan.

What are the Different Types of Open Guard in Jiu-Jitsu?

Open guard includes many variations, which can make the position incredibly confusing. It’s easiest to begin by learning a few of the most common types of open guard in jiu-jitsu. Here are a few kinds of open guard that are extremely popular in grappling:

• Butterfly guard

• Spider guard

• De La Riva guard

• X-guard

• Single-leg x-guard

Learning each of those guard styles takes a lot of time, and each practitioner will find a preference for certain ones. Take time to explore open guard styles to discover which one comes most naturally to you.

Dominant Positions

When the top practitioner manages to pass their opponent’s guard, they will land in a dominant position. Dominant positions take many forms, but all share one similar feature. From a dominant position, you’ll have excellent opportunities to control your opponent and execute submissions. Meanwhile, your opponent will have minimal offensive options and must focus on escaping to a more neutral position or reversing the situation entirely. 

That discrepancy in offensive opportunities is why guard passing is the primary goal of a jiu-jitsu practitioner in the top position. Most matches mainly consist of a top player attempting to pass one of the guards mentioned in the previous section. While achieving that objective can take time and persistence, the dominant positions that await are worth the struggle.

Mount

In the mount position, the practitioner on top straddles their opponent’s torso. The top practitioner’s knees will typically rest on the floor on either side of the bottom player’s upper body. In this position, both practitioners are facing one another. The practitioner in the top position has many submission options, including armbars and chokeholds.

Back Control

Back control is a lot like mount, with the only difference being that the practitioners are no longer facing one another. Instead, the practitioner who has achieved back control will be behind their opponent with their legs wrapped around their opponent’s mid-section and their chest pressed against their opponent’s back. Back control and mount are the most dominant positions in jiu-jitsu, with the former presenting an opportunity to perform the most effective submission in grappling—the rear-naked choke.

Side Control

Side control is one of the most common dominant positions in jiu-jitsu. In side control, the two opponent’s bodies are perpendicular to one another. The bottom practitioner has their back on the mat, and the top opponent has their chest placed on top of the bottom opponent’s chest. From side control, you can attack for submissions and transition to other dominant positions.

North/South

North/south position is similar to side control. What makes north/south different is that the two opponent’s bodies will be parallel rather than perpendicular to one another. In north/south, the top opponent’s head is near the bottom player’s hips and vice versa. The bottom player remains flat on their back, similar to side control.

Knee on Belly

In the knee on belly position, the top opponent places one knee on their opponent’s stomach or chest while using their other leg to post on the ground for balance. Knee on belly is inherently less stable than other dominant positions but offers several submission opportunities.

Conclusion

Knowing the main positions of jiu-jitsu will help you understand when and where to employ your favorite submissions. Although there are many more positions in jiu-jitsu, the ones we have covered here are the most common ones you should study first.