Even When You’re Flat and Broke, Don’t Forget to Tip Your Attacker! – Analyzing the Deep Half Waiter Sweep

Last month, I took a look at how to disrupt and limit our opponent’s success from a more advanced perspective and position in the technique breakdown Entanglements, Chaos & Extraction. This was a bit of a more advanced breakdown, and so I wanted to follow up and offer a similar analysis for the beginning student. Late in the summer, we analyzed some basics on how to survive some unenviable, but inevitable, positions for the beginner (BJJ Foundations). Let’s bring it back to yet another position often suffered through by the beginner: bottom Half Guard.

What is interesting about Half Guard is that as a beginner it can be a much hated and desperate bottom position, but as our game develops, it becomes a desired and comfortable position; excellent for sweeps and escapes. As a more advanced player, it even becomes an aggressive attacking position, especially for the No-Gi leg lock game. This causes a good amount of beginner confusion—seeing our instructors purposely enter the position or calmly respond to an attacker that is half-way to passing their guard.

As a beginner, we know it best as the latter, but in a much more panicked frame of mind. As an opponent frees one leg and begins to pressure through, we cling onto Half Guard as a fleeting last resort to once again ending up in a fully dominated position. This frame of mind is exactly what makes it ineffective. As an attempt to stop the final stages of a guard pass, we are in a fully defensive focus, and so we do our best to frame properly (defend the underhook, get to our side, frame against the cross-face, frame against the upper body pressure, try to create and keep distance). Eventually, the frame begins to break down from the pressure and before we know it we are flattened out, fully controlled by a cross-face to underhook Gable Grip, and unsure of how to create any leverage. Our opponent feels our lack of options, and before we know it has passed into Side Control or even straight into Full Mount. Why do so many higher ranking belts like this position?!

Into the Deep

Well, it’s because for them, it is not the same position. They have either worked their defensive Half Guard frame to create some levers from which to attack or reverse, or they have “gone under” into the mysterious realm of the Deep Half [said with a whisper]. Deep Half Guard offers control of your opponent’s base by pulling their hips over your own and making your base the foundation of the entire structure. It further disrupts stability by lightening their posting leg and trapping their (now-grounded) passing leg. WATCH THIS VIDEO as Deep Half superstar, Ryan Hall, discusses the position and some entries.

As beginners it is certainly going to take work before fully embracing the Deep Half as a go-to attack and be anywhere near as comfortable as someone the caliber of Ryan Hall. However, there is a first step. Before you can turn it into a full on go-to attack position, you should get comfortable with it as an option to escape a dominated Half Guard position (where we so often find ourselves early in our journey). When a lack of technique options limits a proper Half Guard defensive frame to simply that; a solid opponent will eventually wear you down, weaken your frame, and secure a flattening control over your upper body. This is when Half Guard becomes fully dominated, but all is not lost. If getting back to your side with a proper frame becomes an unlikely option, dive deep and start to attack your opponent’s base from underneath, and breath life and movement back into your game. I call it “rocking the boat”, and this Waiter Sweep is a great example of why.

Step-by-Step:

1. Beginning in a flattened half guard, opponent has full upper body control w/ both an outside underhook and inside cross-face secured by a Gable Grip and free leg is framing with knee tight to own body on the inside
2. Relieve some of the cross-face shoulder pressure by framing opponent from the cross-face side shoulder to the outside across the neck, jaw, or chest with own outside arm
   • Tip: this also makes is easier to edge the elbow of own outside arm back inside of opponent’s underhook, somewhat alleviating the full underhook control
3. Open Half Guard and use outside leg to post, shrimp, and slightly turn into opponent for a little extra space
   • Tip: this isn’t necessarily easy, especially against a strong cross-face, so tuck chin in and “get tough” to create the space for steps 3 & 4
4. Dive  inside arm under opponent’s free leg, and use a strong underhook to get as deep as possible
5. Immediately use underhook to pull opponent up onto own body, while simultaneously using a strong outside leg post to shift own hips directly under opponent’s hips in a “whittling” motion, bumping knees up to offer space and keep opponent’s weight on the inside knee
6. Use deep leg underhook to reach all the way around opponent’s thigh and secure a controlling grip on the hip bone
   • Tip: keep head in spinal alignment and pushing against the thigh of opponent’s underhooked leg to prevent an easy step-over
7. Now completely underneath opponent and in Deep Half, step outside leg over opponent’s leg originally caught in the Half Guard, and use inside leg to butterfly hook underneath opponent’s calf and shin
8. Shift hips and legs into opposite direction (away from opponent) and use hook to lighten opponent’s leg and push forward to swim outside arm under
9. Immediately bring lightened leg up over outside shoulder while stretching out own legs and lifting hips
10. At this point opponent’s base is compromised enough to use momentum of own hips returning to mat and control of opponent’s legs to tip opponent back toward the outside hip completing the Waiter Sweep
11. Finish by transitioning to top position
    • Tip: If opponent posts with outside arm to disrupt sweep, use Technical Lift to escape and finish using control of opponent’s inside leg trapped over own shoulder by the original underhook

Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/15421875@N08/4676005258

Image credit: http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-deep-end-of-the-pool/

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