Guard Theory

Leg Locks Advanced · Gi and no-gi

In 50/50, both heels are exposed

The 50/50 guard is a mirror-image leg entanglement in which each player holds the other's leg the same way, so both heels are within reach at once and whoever hides theirs first gets to attack.

Position and problem

You entangle a leg, reach for the foot, and realise that your own foot is sitting just as close to their hands as theirs is to yours. Whatever you can do to them, they can do to you from the same shape, and a grab made without a thought for your own foot tends to be answered with the same grab. That is the 50/50 guard. Each player has the same-side leg wrapped by the other's legs, in mirror image, with the legs locked around each other's thigh in the same way. Unlike outside ashi garami or single-leg X, where one person's legs hold the other's leg and the holder's own legs are harder to reach, 50/50 gives both people the same access.

Objective

Hide your own heel and win inside position on the entangled legs before you reach for theirs, so that the symmetry of the position is broken in your favour.

Core concept

In 50/50 nothing about the shape favours either player; the position is decided by what each person does inside it. Both knees sit behind the other player's thighs, so each person holds the other's leg above the knee in the same way, and both heels face the other person's hands. The first job is therefore defensive for both people: turn the heel away and keep the foot flexed, so there is nothing to catch. The second job is to win the small advantages that break the mirror. Whoever has their knee tighter inside, their hips closer, and their hands on the other's foot while their own foot is hidden has turned a shared position into an attacking one. The symmetry reaches scoring too. A sweep from 50/50 often leaves the legs still entangled in 50/50, and the IBJJF's June 2024 rules (v6.1, p. 25) award no advantage "for sweeps that start and end in a 50/50 guard situation".

Key mechanics

  1. Hide your heel before you look for theirs. With the heel turned away and the foot flexed, your leg gives their grip nothing, and you can afford to spend your hands on attack.
  2. Pinch the entangled thigh with your knees. The mirror is broken by whoever holds the other's knee more tightly, because a loose leg can be withdrawn or turned while a held one is much harder to move.
  3. Keep your hips close to theirs. A gap at the hips lets their knee slide back out and lets your own leg be drawn to a worse angle.
  4. Come up onto an elbow to reach the foot. In a mirror position, whoever sits higher tends to reach the other's foot first.
  5. Put your free foot on their hip or thigh and push. It keeps them from sitting into you and from bringing their own free leg into the fight.
  6. Decide whether to attack, sweep or leave. 50/50 is a shared position, so staying in it without a plan leaves the outcome to whoever acts first.

Common errors

  • Reaching for their heel with your own heel exposed, which offers them the same attack at the same moment.
  • Lying flat with the knees apart, so their leg slides back through your thighs and your own foot stays in reach.
  • Sweeping to the top and staying entangled, which leaves the same entanglement in place with your own heel still in reach.
  • Standing up from 50/50 with weight on the trapped foot, which fixes your own knee just as the other player can turn.
  • Spinning out of 50/50 while your heel is held, which turns your own knee against the grip.

Safety

In 50/50 both players' knees are held above the joint and both heels face the other's hands, so a scramble here can hurt either person, sometimes both. A heel hook from this position loads the knee by rotation and gives little notice, so tap as soon as their hands have your heel and your knee is pinched between their legs, rather than trying to beat the lock by moving faster. Do not roll, spin or stand out of the position while your heel is caught, because the movement turns your knee against a grip that is holding the foot still. Standing up has a particular cost: with your weight on the entangled foot, that foot is fixed to the mat, and a partner turning inside at that moment loads your knee from the side. If both of you reach a heel at the same moment, both let go and reset; a race to finish first is how two knees get hurt in one exchange.

Training progression

  1. Static: both partners sit and build 50/50 slowly, one leg at a time. Each checks aloud whether their own heel is hidden and whether their knees are pinched on the other's thigh.
  2. Heel-hiding drill: one partner reaches for the foot at walking pace while the other only turns the heel away and flexes the foot. Swap after each round.
  3. Symmetry game: both partners start in 50/50 with no submissions allowed, each trying to get both hands on the other's foot while keeping their own heel hidden.
  4. Exit drill: from 50/50, practise leaving the position while seated, drawing your knee back out from between their thighs and then the foot, with no standing.
  5. Constrained: one partner may attack the foot only after hiding their own heel; the other may sweep or exit. The first person to be caught with a heel exposed resets.
  6. Live rounds: after the round, work out together which of you hid a heel first each time the position appeared.

Written material cannot correct your positioning, feel your pressure or stop a submission in time. Everything here is intended to make training with a qualified coach more useful, never to replace it.

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