Scissor Sweep (Guard To Mount)

Learning How to Do The Scissor Sweep

The scissor sweep, along with the push sweep, are the two most basic and fundamental sweeps in JiuJitsu. Both are rather difficult to execute and many novices struggle with these two.

If you’re just starting out in JiuJitsu or a white belt, or just someone looking for a few pointers, then you’ve come to the rest place.

With the steps, you’ll learn how to do the scissor sweep properly. Not only that, you’ll also learn a few tips on how to make your scissor sweep a bit more effective.

1. With you having your opponent in the guard, grab their collar using your right hand. Make sure that your fingers are inside and your thumb outside. Then, use your left hand to grab hold of their right elbow.

2. If you’re using the closed guard, uncross your feet. If not, then simply proceed to putting your right foot on the ground. Apply much of your weight on both your left shoulder and right foot, then lift your hips while slowly taking it to the right. This will create the much needed space between you and your opponent.

3. Look at the ground right next to the opponent’s right knee and aim to put your left leg there. Bring your right knee across the stomach of your opponent as well.

4. Now, using one swooping motion, straighten your right knee and scissor your legs. This will sweep your opponent, hence the name. Make sure that you pull your shoulders back to drag the right arm of your opponent towards you during the whole thing.

5. During the same sequence of movements, you should be able to take up the mounted position. In addition to that, you’ll have control of your opponent’s right arm and employ any arm-lock that you may know of.

NOTES:

• A common mistake among many novices is forgetting to turn their hips out to the side and bringing their knees and nose close together. Hip movement is essential to BJJ, and not just the scissor sweep. Forgetting this simple thing could easily mean the difference between a successful sweep and one that could leave you wide open for a counterattack.

• To do a successful scissor sweep, you’ll have to use all your four limbs to sweep your opponent properly.

The tips above and the step-by-step procedure are just a basic guide to teach you how to do a scissor sweep. For a more detailed explanation, be sure to look up the sweep online and watch videos of people doing it in real time. Even better would be to ask your training coach to give you some pointers and even demonstrate it to you if time permits.

Remember that the scissor sweep, as basic of a move as it is, will take time to learn. So, take it easy and don’t be too hard on yourself if you can’t get it on your first few tries.

JiuJitsu is more about patience than anything else, so give it time.