Best Guard Passing Instructionals for BJJ

The Two Schools of Guard Passing

Every guard passing system falls into one of two philosophies: pressure passing and speed/movement passing. Pressure passers use weight, smash, and friction to eliminate their opponent's guard retention options before completing the pass. Speed passers use footwork, fakes, and rapid transitions to get around the guard before the bottom player can react. The best grapplers can do both — and the best instructionals teach you how.

#1: Gordon Ryan — Guard Passing System

Gordon Ryan's guard passing instructional is the most comprehensive modern passing resource available. Ryan systematically breaks down his over-under passing system, leg weave mechanics, torreando variations, and the transitions between them. What makes Ryan's instruction exceptional is his emphasis on systems over techniques — he doesn't teach you isolated passes, he teaches you how to pressure through every defensive reaction.

Key sections: over-under pass setup, leg weave to headquarters, torreando to knee slice, and how to deal with De La Riva and leg entanglements while passing.

#2: Bernardo Faria — Over-Under Passing

Bernardo Faria's over-under pass is the most imitated guard pass in competitive BJJ. His instructional on this single technique goes as deep as any passing resource available — covering the setup, grips, weight distribution, how to deal with every possible defensive reaction, and the submissions available from the position. If you want to learn one world-class passing tool thoroughly, this is the resource.

Faria is a five-time world champion who used this exact system at the highest levels of competition. The technique is particularly effective for bigger grapplers who can leverage their weight.

#3: Lucas Lepri — Guard Passing System

Lucas Lepri is considered one of the best guard passers of his era — a multiple-time world champion at lightweight whose technical precision is unmatched in the gi. His passing system emphasizes grip fighting, timing, and combining passes so that the defender is always reacting rather than dictating. His coverage of the knee cut, leg drag, and torreando is excellent for gi-focused students.

#4: John Danaher — Passing the Guard

Danaher's Go Further Faster passing volume gives beginners and intermediates a conceptual framework for passing that few other instructionals provide. He addresses why passing is hard, what makes a pass "work," and how to think about guard passing as a problem-solving exercise rather than a series of techniques. This conceptual grounding makes everything else click faster.

#5: Xande Ribeiro — Guard Passing

Xande Ribeiro's pressure passing system is legendary among gi competitors. His approach is based on controlling distance, posture, and pressure to smother the guard player's options. He covers knee-on-belly positions, smash passing from turtle and side control entries, and how to deal with athletic, flexible guard players using fundamental weight distribution principles.

Passing Fundamentals Every Grappler Needs

Before buying any advanced passing instructional, make sure you've covered these fundamentals:

• Posture in closed guard — Breaking posture is the foundation of every guard game. You need to prevent it.
• Knee slice pass — The highest percentage beginner-to-intermediate pass. Simple mechanics, works against most guards.
• Torreando (bullfighter) pass — The foundational movement pass. Controls legs and redirects rather than smashing.
• Over-under pass — The pressure passing cornerstone. Works against most open guards when applied with correct weight.
• Stack pass — Closing the distance against closed guard and creating the initial pass.

Gi vs No-Gi Passing: What's Different

In the gi, grip fighting is central to passing — you're constantly fighting for and against collar, sleeve, and lapel grips that either enable or defend passes. No-gi passing is faster, more movement-based, and requires more athletic sensitivity to leg entanglement entries (heel hooks, knee locks). Gordon Ryan's system is primarily no-gi; Faria, Lepri, and Xande are primarily gi-focused.

AIBJJ's technique library lets you tag techniques by gi/no-gi context so your training notes stay organized by ruleset — valuable when you're studying from multiple instructionals across both rulesets.

How to Drill Guard Passing

Guard passing is best developed through positional sparring, not free rolling. Set up guard-passing rounds where one person starts in full guard and must pass; the other must retain or sweep. This focused context gives you far more passing reps per minute than full rolling, and the feedback is immediate and specific.

Supplement this with solo drilling: torreando footwork patterns, knee slice mechanics, and hip mobility exercises that make passing movement more fluid. Even 10 minutes of daily solo drilling builds the motor patterns that make live passing easier.

Common Passing Mistakes and How to Fix Them

• Standing too far from the guard player — Distance gives the bottom player time and space to react. Most passes work better from close range.
• Not establishing a grip plan — Reaching in without a grip plan lets the bottom player control your posture and tie you up.
• Abandoning a pass too early — Committing to a pass and riding through the defensive reaction builds the mechanical sensitivity that makes passing reliable.
• Ignoring weight distribution — Most passes fail because the passer's weight is in the wrong place. Correct weight distribution is what makes pressure passes suffocating.