The magic of half guard: Every Jiu jitsu athlete has a responsibility to excel in bottom position. If you can work effectively from bottom position you'll never reliably defeat bigger opponents or opponents with better takedowns than you. The question becomes – which bottom position will be your workhorse? There are many choices, each with their strengths and weaknesses. There is a lot to be said for half guard as your bottom game foundation. Any time you work from half guard with a good under hook you are immediately half way to your opponents back and halfway to a single leg takedown. This is a huge potential advantage if you know how to use it. It gives you a definite initial advantage that can be made to work strongly in your favor. Your opponent has to compensate for this with grip and body position and you can play off this compensation and play a very simple but strong sweeping game. In order to shut down that sweeping game he will make himself vulnerable to the initial threat of back exposure and single leg takedowns that he was trying to compensate for! The whole time there is so much body contact that it's extremely difficult for your opponent to simply disengage – it can be a real problem for even very tough opponents. If you struggle to be effective from bottom position and are looking for a sense of direction that will work well in almost very context – gi or no gi, grappling or mma, try half guard. The whole method of Jiu jitsu bus to gain prior advantage before attacking, and half guard bottom can definitely offer that if you know the right starting positions
