Turtle Guard is a fundamentally important position within BJJ. Whilst it is mostly considered a defensive position, it can also be used as a counterattacking tool to get from bottom to the top position. Priit Mihkelson infamously studied the turtle of a purple belt for 2 years to learn more about the underutilised position.
It is important to know and understand how and when to use the turtle position. In IBJJF formats, it is used as basic defense from guard retention. Perhaps most famously, Xande Ribiero did not get his guard passed for over 10 years of competition by utilising the turtle. Whenever the opponent almost passed, he would revert to the defensive guard. If the opponent is unable to crack your turtle, they will only receive advantages, not points.
Most famously, Eduardo Telles helped bring a new light to the Turtle guard by using it as an aggressive sweeping device, which he successfully used against some of the worlds best. Telles would pull turtle in a competition and capitalise on his opponents mistakes with his very unique style.
Table of Contents
Defensive Fundamentals From Turtle
The name Turtle is appropriate as the guard physically represents the structure of a Turtle. For instance, if you do end up in the position, you need to tuck your elbows into your knees, keep your head and chin tucked and generally keep your limbs as tight to your body as possible.
If your opponent is able to isolate a limb or your neck from your body, it will be a lot weaker the further it gets away from your core. As soon as the structure of your turtle breaks, submissions will become available.
Not only this, but opening up space allows other ways for your turtle to be cracked. If you leave space in between your elbows and hips, your opponent can hook their legs in and score 4 points for back control.
As a fundamental rule, you must never let your opponent get any of their limbs inside your turtle (the exception being when you trap their limb for a reversal). You must also never leave any of your limbs outside of your turtle (including your neck). Whilst the structur of the turtle is maintained. It will not be cracked and you will not get your guard passed or submitted.
Guard Recovery From Turtle
There are two fundamental guard recoveries from turtle. If your opponent has a even a rough idea of what they are doing, they shouldn’t really give you any other guards from here.
Granby Roll Recovery
This guard recovery will often get you to a closed guard position, or at least a decent open guard. The basic idea of when to use a granby roll is when your opponent is not heavy enough on your hips and is too focussed on the upper body. This makes sense as you can imagine, doing any kind of roll which involves lifting your hips would be made 10x harder if your opponent had their weight on top of you.
Once your hips are in the air you can roll over your near side shoulder and end up in a guard position. If your opponent is fast enough, sometimes they will be able to jump over your body to avoid the guard. This can be made a lot more difficult by controlling their nearside arm.
Sit-Out To Half Guard
The sitout involves moving your nearside leg behind the leg of your opponent. This allows your hips to become somewhat free from the pressure of the person on your back. From here you are able to post on your hands and swivel in to a half guard position. You should be immediately able to control one of their legs and ideally opt for a knee shield position. If this is not possible you can always try a lockdown from half guard, although this is not what you should be aiming for.
Whilst it is possible to sitout to a closed guard, if your opponent is half decent and not a complete beginner, they will surely block any attempt and only allow a half guard at best.
Attacks From Turtle
Wrestling Double & Single Leg Variations
Reversals from turtle become available mostly when the opponent is on the front of your turtle and not keeping heavy enough on their lower body. Whilst a sprawl can usually put a stop to a lot of double and single leg attempts, sometimes when the hands are locked together it is much too late.
In general you want to try and grab hold of your opponents legs (single or double is fine) and drive to finish as you would with a takedown. Whilst you will not score points due to the lack of leg entanglement, you will find yourself in a top position.
This counter generally becomes available when your opponent is trying a submission such as a guillotine or necktie. They will need to be in front of your head to attempt this.
Rolling Kneebar
The rolling kneebar becomes available when the opponent makes the mistake of leaving one of their legs inside both of your legs. Good form for the top player should be to staple down either leg if they want to put their knee inside of the turtle players legs.
If the opponent’s leg is left open, you can look under your own body and reach through with your hands. Once your hands are clasped together you will be able to roll forward since you are able to push your opponents weight away from you with your own hips.
If you aren’t able to finish the kneebar from here, it is not ideal, but you are still in control of your opponents leg. You may be able to quickly stand up and recover a top position.
Arm Trap Reversal
This set up is very common when beginners overextend their arms from the top position.
Often the opponent will reach over the top of your back to try and control your hips, along with possibly securing a seatbelt grip later on.
If you are able to trap the opponents elbow in to your own body, whilst they are still on the other side of your body. You will be able to roll towards their trapped arm – without them having a base to stop this attack. Due to the complete lack of base, you will end up in top side control (reverse scarf hold).
This move is a favorite of Turtle-master Eduardo Telles. For more information on his Turtle system, you can find his teachings here.
Why Turtle Isn’t Used Often In MMA
Turtle is very rarely seen in MMA due to it being a bottom position with very little to stop getting punched in the head. Whilst the turtle is better than side control, back control or mount. It is still and extremely bad position in MMA. If the opponent can remain heavy on your hips, they can rain down strikes without much retaliation.
This is why when the turtle is seen in MMA, it is for a very brief moment. When we see a turtle for an extended period of time, it will often just be punches to the head, followed by a referees stoppage.
People who are on the bottom of the turtle want to escape immediately in an MMA setting and do not have time to set up submissions or other reversals.
