Guard passing basics for BJJ come down to posture, base, and grips before any specific pass — the torreando and over-under are the two most reliable passes to learn first, and pressure beats speed every time.
Why Guard Passing Is the Hardest Fundamental in BJJ
Guard passing is hard because you are working against someone whose entire job is to use their legs to stop you. Their guard is built to sweep you, submit you, or just stall you out. That is why so many white and blue belts feel stuck every time they try to advance position.
It is also why guard passing separates decent grapplers from good ones. Most people I see on the mats at Darfight are not stuck because they lack a specific pass. They are stuck because posture, base, and pressure never got drilled properly. Fix those and the actual passes start working on their own.
Posture, Base, and Grips Come Before Any Pass
Before you think about which pass to use, you need to survive being in someone's guard. That starts with posture: spine upright, elbows in, hips heavy. If you let your posture break down in closed guard, you are opening the door to armbars, triangles, and sweeps.
Base matters just as much. Standing in guard, keep your feet wider than shoulder width. Kneeling, keep your hips low and controlled. Staying heavy and grounded is what lets you set grips and start passing without getting reversed the moment you move.
Grips are where most passes actually live or die. Control the legs first, not the upper body. A grip at the knee, the ankle, or across both legs is what lets you move your opponent's hips off the centerline and start opening space. In no-gi the concept is identical even though the grips change — I go into that difference in the no-gi lessons breakdown if that is where you train most.
Two Passes Worth Learning First
Torreando (Bullfighter Pass)
The torreando is the pass that carries best from beginner to advanced grappling. Control both legs at the knee, then pivot your hips to one side while pushing the legs the other way, aiming to get your hips past theirs before they can recover guard.
It works for beginners because you stay standing, which makes it harder for them to hit sweeps or submissions off your posture. The most common mistake is moving too slowly after you control the legs — they will simply replace guard if you hesitate. Pass, then flatten out into side control immediately.
Over-Under Pass
The over-under is for when you are already down on the mat inside their guard. One arm threads under a leg, one arm goes over the other leg, chest to their hips. From there you load weight and work to clear the bottom leg.
It is a pressure pass. Load your weight into someone's hips correctly and their options shrink fast. It is slower than the torreando but it smothers the guard and gives you a clean path to side control or knee on belly.
How Pressure Passing Actually Works
Pressure passing is not just being heavy. It is weight distribution combined with movement that takes away the guard player's options one at a time. Done right, you are not grinding someone down through strength — you are making a position uncomfortable enough that they have to move, and when they move, you pass.
The mistake I see most often in private lessons is rushing the finish. Someone gets the over-under set, feels the resistance, and immediately tries to yank the leg free instead of settling their weight first. The fix is almost boring: establish the position, breathe, let the weight sink in, then work the knee clear. Holding a pressure position calmly is a skill on its own, and it is one of the things a private lesson is good for because you can slow the moment down instead of resetting to a fresh round every ninety seconds.
Opening the Closed Guard Before You Try to Pass
You cannot pass a closed guard while it is still closed. That sounds obvious, but plenty of people try to force a torreando or over-under before they have actually opened the legs.
From the knees, a reliable opener is posting one hand on the hip and one on the knee, then stepping to a staggered base and driving your weight through their legs until the lock breaks. Once it is open you are passing into open guard, which is where the torreando and over-under actually apply. If you are opening the guard from standing, get your hips moving forward before you stand up — standing with a broken base is how you get swept before the pass even starts.
The part most white and blue belts lose is the transition right after the guard opens and before the pass lands. The guard player re-guards while you are still setting your grips. The fix is to have a grip on the legs established before you move your hips, not after.
Reading What the Guard Player Is Trying to Do
Guard passing gets easier once you know what you are actually defending against. The guard player is generally trying to do one of a few things: break your posture, set up a submission, sweep you, or re-guard when you get close to passing.
Recognize which one is happening and your response gets simpler. Pressure on your knee usually means they are trying to re-guard — keep your hips heavy and close the distance rather than backing off. A sleeve grab pulling you forward is usually a sweep or arm-attack setup — do not follow your arm, step your base out and reset posture instead. This is a reaction game as much as a technical one, and it is a big part of why sparring against live resistance matters more than drilling against a partner who is not actually trying to stop you.
Where Guard Passing Fits Into Your Overall Game
Guard passing does not exist on its own. It connects to takedowns, to top pressure once you land in side control, and eventually to submissions from mount or back control. If you are newer to the sport and still working out how private instruction fits into your training, private lessons for beginners and intermediates is worth a read alongside this one.
The IBJJF's own scoring structure reflects how central passing is to the sport — positional advancement through the guard drives a large part of how matches are scored, which you can see laid out in the IBJJF rule book. That rule book is written for competition, but the positional logic in it is the same logic that applies on a Tuesday morning private at Brighton Beach.
Train it, don't just read it
Guard passing improves through repetition against real resistance with someone correcting your posture, grips, and hip movement in the moment. Reading about the torreando will not fix your torreando.
I teach one-on-one, gi and no-gi, out of Darfight Martial Arts at 130 Brighton Beach Ave — a short walk from the B and Q train. A solo private runs $100 for the hour, or $50 per person if you bring a training partner to split the session. No packages, no memberships, just the session. Full details on pricing and booking are on the site.
If your guard passing has been stuck in the same place for a while, a private session is a fast way to find out exactly why.
Questions people ask
What is the easiest guard pass to learn first?
Most people pick up the torreando (bullfighter) pass fastest because it keeps you standing and away from sweeps and submissions while you learn to control the legs. The over-under pass is the second one worth learning, and it teaches pressure passing from the ground.
Why do I keep getting stuck passing guard even when I know the technique?
Almost always it is posture, base, or pressure, not the specific pass. If your posture breaks down or you rush the finish without settling your weight, the guard player gets time to sweep, submit, or reset to guard.
Is pressure passing better than fast, athletic passing?
Pressure passing scales better as opponents get more skilled, because it takes away options methodically instead of relying on speed or strength that can be matched or outlasted. Most reliable top players build their passing around pressure first.
Do I need to learn separate guard passes for gi and no-gi?
The concepts stay the same — control the legs, break posture, apply pressure — but the grips change without a gi to grab, so where and how you control the legs shifts. The no-gi breakdown on this site covers that difference in more detail.