Marcelo explains to Rob about circumventing your opponent's strengths: When you encounter something like your opponent's Low Knee-Shield (Z-Guard, Scissors-Half, et al.), you can test to see if it can be passed right away by staying low and heavy, and sprawling your leg free before running around to Side-Control. If however you find it difficult to break open your opponent's lock around your knee, opt instead to pick up their bottom-leg, undoing their favored tilt, and standing up into a Headquarters-like position. High-step your foot directly up and out of your opponent's legs and immediately apply an attack that doesn't leave your opponent an option to reset back to their preferred Half-Guard. A good option is to try folding your opponent's knees together and staying outside of their legs while attempting to put pressure on and pass the guard.