Learning how to play guard and pass the guard in BJJ is a must. If you want to improve in these areas you might be looking for the best BJJ guard instructionals online. However, with so many options to choose from it can be hard to know what the best guard instructional is for you.
So in this article, we will discuss the best BJJ instructionals for playing bottom guard and the best instructionals for passing the guard. We will also cover instructionals on all different kinds of guards including butterfly, lasso, de la riva, x guard, and many more!
Best BJJ Closed Guard Instructionals
Knowing how to grapple from closed guard or even half guard is something that separates BJJ from many of the other popular grappling styles.
That said, there is a lot to cover here but let’s just talk about a few of the best closed guard instructionals you can buy online.
Best Closed Guard Instructional For Older Grapplers
The best bottom guard instructional for older grapplers is Jiu-Jitsu for Old Guys Bottom Game: Half Guard and Closed Guard by Bernardo Faria.
Though this might be marketed towards ” old guys” I think this instructional is relevant for all ages and belt levels. That said, if you are an older jiu-jitsu guy this might be perfect for you. In fact, I might even suggest going ahead and checking out his entire Old Guy Jiu-Jitsu Instructional Bundle!
This would include his Bottom Guard, Positional Escapes, Submission Escapes, Over Under Pressure Passing, and Sneaky submissions instructionals all for a discounted rate. All of which are focused on the older grappler.
If you can keep someone in your guard you won’t have to rely on being faster than your opponents. After all, you have probably noticed that some of the older higher belts often play bottom guard or bottom half guard.
This is simply because they can rely more on technique and rely less on speed and strength than someone playing the top game.
So if you are an older grappler or simply want to improve your bottom guard this is a great place to start. Even if you are only in your 30’s it might be a good idea to get ahead of the curve and start learning how to be a good grappler even if you lose some of your strength and speed.
The Roger Gracie Closed Guard:
Roger Gracie is also someone who many consider to be the best Gi competitor of all time. He is a 10-time world champion and a 2-time ADCC champion.
The great thing about it is that he was so successful with tried and true old-school jiu-jitsu mastery. Sometimes the best thing you can do is really master the fundamentals.
Not only does it cover closed guard submissions from the closed guard but it also covers sweeps to help you move from closed guard to a more dominant position.
All in all, there is not anyone better to learn the bottom guard from than Roger Gracie. He is, after all, considered by many to be the best BJJ competitor of all time in the Gi.
The Best Guard Retention Instructional
One of the most important concepts to a great BJJ guard is guard retention. After all, If you cannot keep someone in your guard then it’s a hard game to play. In my opinion, the best guard retention instructional is the The Guard Retention Anthology Bundle by Lachlan Giles & Ariel Tabak.
This bundle does not hold back in covering a ton of content. It contains as much info on guard retention as you are going to find in any BJJ instructional. This bundle contains both the Around and Under Instructional as well as the Through The Legs and Close Range instructional.
You can, of course, purchase them separately but most likely you can save a good amount of money by purchasing this bundle. It’s got a ton of content so it will likely keep you busy for quite some time. That said, this is probably not the first instructional I would get if I was brand new to jiu-jitsu.
The Best Butterfly Guard Instructional
If there is one name that comes to mind when it comes to the butterfly guard it is Marcelo Garcia. Marcelo Garcia is well known for his amazing butterfly guard and has two amazing instructionals on it.
The first one is The Complete Butterfly Guard which has been the staple butterfly guard instructional for some time now. It is a classic that everyone should check out. This is especially true if you are more focused on no-gi jiu-jitsu.
The butterfly guard is a staple guard in no-gi jiu-jitsu and there is no one better to learn from than Marcelo Garcia.
His next and more recent butterfly guard instructional is The Marcelo Guard: Mastering The Butterfly Guard. Unlike his previous butterfly guard instructional this one is taught in the Gi.
It relies much more on using gi grips and is great for those focused more on gi bjj. This instructional covers a ton of sweeps and even submissions from the butterfly guard.
Best X Guard Instructional
Another great instructional from Marcelo Garcia is The Marcelo X Guard. Like his mastery in the butterfly guard, Marcelo Garcia was ahead of his time and a pioneer for some of the less traditional guards.
Of course, many of these guards are commonplace now but at one point in time they were new and Marcelo was one of the main grapplers who popularized many of them.
In this X-guard instructional, you will learn a ton of sweeps including stand-up sweeps, tilt sweeps, push-back sweeps, and more!
Best Lasso Guard Instructional
The lasso guard is an amazing guard to play from the bottom position in BJJ. In fact, learning how to attack from the lasso guard was a game-changer for me to learn how to grapple off my back.
The best lasso guard instructional to start out with is Mastering The Lasso Guard by Marcos Tinoco. When I was new to BJJ the lasso guard seemed complicated and overly technical.
However, once I broke it down a little bit I understood that it was not very complicated but was very effective. Marcos Tinoco is a master at breaking down the lasso guard in a way that is easy to understand.
Marcos also has other great lasso guard instructionals as well including his complete lasso guard system, passing the lasso guard instructional, and his lasso guard transitions instructional.
You can get all of these plus the Mastering the Lasso Guard instructional at a discount by purchasing the Lasso Guard Bundle.
Best Spider Guard Instructional
Romulo Barral is a 5-time world champion and is considered by many to be the best spider guard player of all time. He was able to use the spider guard to be opponents much bigger, stronger, faster, and younger than himself.
Thankfully, he is not keeping all of his secrets to himself. He shares all of his spider guard secrets in his Everyday Porrada Spider Guard instructional.
This instructional will take your spider guard to the next level and help you keep up with bigger more vigorous opponents.
Best De La Riva Guard Instructional
It is hard to say what the best De La Riva Guard instructional is. However, De La Riva Fundamentals by Danny Stolfi might just be that and is certainly a great place to start.
Danny helps break down the De La Riva guard in a simple and effective way that anyone can understand. So if you want to learn the de la riva guard or simply want to take it to the next level that is where I would start.
Best Reverse De La Riva Guard Instructional
When it comes to the best Reverse De La Riva Guard instructionals two come to mind. The first is the Reverse De La Riva Formula Made Easy by Dante Leon. Dante breaks down the reverse de la riva into a simple process that can help you attack from the bottom position.
It is a classic RDLR guard instructional that will hold up for a very long time. If you want to learn the Reverse De La Riva Guard it is a great place to start.
The second is The Reverse De La Riva System by Mikey Musumeci. Everyone knows Mikey has a great RDLR guard game and he shows his secrets in this new instructional.
Best Lapel Guard Instructionals
Another great guard to learn is the lapel guard. Learning to use your opponent’s gi to control them from the bottom guard can give you a great advantage.
The Lapel Guard Blue Print by Alex Huddleston is one of the best lapel guard instructionals to get started with. Alex goes into the details of how he uses the lapel guard to beat bigger and stronger opponents from the bottom position.
Best Williams Guard Instructional
If you are wondering how to learn and master the Williams guard then you are in luck. The Complete Williams Guard instructional by Shawn Williams has over 8 hours of content.
Of course, there is a decent amount of material for free online. But you are not going to find this much great content from Shaw Williams himself.
This 8-volume instructional covers a ton of material both offensive and defensive. You will learn attacks, sweeps, and so much more!
The Williams guard is great for everyone but works really well on larger opponents and is great for older grapplers that might not have the flexibility they used to.
So whether you are a new young grappler who needs to improve their game or an older BJJ veteran, this instructional just might be the game changer.
Best Guard Passing Instructionals
Not only do you need to have a bottom guard game, but you need to also know how to pass your opponent’s guard. This is one of the most fundamental steps in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Here are a few of the best BJJ instructionals that might help you pass your opponent’s guard.
Battle Tested Pressure Passing by Bernardo Faria
This will help you pass your opponent’s guard whether or not you are the most athletic or youngest person at your gym. It simply shows you battle-tested tried and true pressure passing!
This pressure-passing instructional is excellent for everyone. With pressure passing you can pass the guard of opponents much more athletic than yourself. Best of all it works for passing all the various guards in BJJ.
The Complete No-Gi Guard Passing System by Marcelo Garcia:
Marcelo Garcia according to many people is the greatest no-gi competitor of all time. As a nine-time world champion, he certainly deserves to be placed amongst the greatest for sure.
Though it is hard to say who is truly the greatest. That said, Marcelo Garcia is not one of the best no-gi competitors but he is also considered to be one of the best teachers.
Marcelo Garcia teaches how to effectively pass the guard in no-gi jiu-jitsu. After all, knowing how to pass the guard is fundamental to any jiu-jitsu game.
It will equip you to learn how to attack the most common no-gi guards including, the butterfly guard, the inverted guard, the De La Riva, and more.
Outside of perhaps learning how to escape, learning how to pass the guard is undoubtedly one of the first things you should master.
Finding The Best BJJ Guard Instructional For You
Well there you have it, the best BJJ guard instructionals to buy online. Now all you need to do is figure out which one is best for you. If you are new to BJJ then you might simply want to start with the closed guard.
That said, there are many great guards to play in BJJ. My advise you simply be to pick one or two and really get good at them before moving on to the next one. That said, eventually, it would be good to get an understanding of how to play all these guards and to learn how to pass them!