THE GI-BOOK

HOW TO
EXPERTLY USE
YOUR
OPPONENT'S GI
AGAINST THEM

WRITTEN BY CRISTIANO DEL GIACCO

CO AUTHORED BY KEENAN CORNELIUS
lapelguard.com
keenanonline.com
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
* If you're reading this on a
phone, make sure to flip
the screen

ABOUT THE AUTHORS ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

2 DEFINING PROBLEMS OF TRADITIONAL BJJ GRIPS AND HOW TO SOLVE'EM .......................................................................................................................... 5

The 3 Most Utilized Traditional Grips in BJJ ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

The Overarching Problems Traditional Grips Face ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 13
So, How do You Solve These Overarching Problems? ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
2 Problems Faced By The Lapel Grip ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 20

2 TAKEDOWNS FROM THE WORM AND SQUID GUARD OPPONENTS WON'T SEE COMING ............................................................................................ 21
The Single Leg Takedown ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 23
Keenan's Grimy Double Leg From Squid Guard ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 27

IS THIS THE WORM GUARD ENTRY FOR SHORT PEOPLE? ............................................................................................................................................................................ 31

Entering The Worm Guard From Single X .................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 34

CAN'T SET UP THE WORM GUARD? HERE'S 6 THINGS YOU'RE DOING WRONG ......................................................................................................................... 38
Trading Off 2 Limbs For 4-Dimensional Control .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 40
Rotational Pull ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 41
The Worm Guard is The Perfect Defense to The Knee Cut Pass ................................................................................................................................................................ 42

Common Mistakes When Setting Up The Worm Guard .................................................................................................................................................................................. 43

50
BONUS CONTENT ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Your Lapel Journey Doesn't Have to End Here .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 71

 ABOUT THE AUTHORS
KEENAN CORNELIUS
Keenan was ranked #3 in the World (pound-for-pound) by the
IBJJF for the 2018/19 season. To see his main competition
achievements go here.  Australia.
He is well known for developing his specific jiu jitsu style, mainly
focused on how to use the opponent's gi against them. Some of
the positions he created are the Worm Guard, Squid Guard,
Gubber Guard, etc.
Keenan's mission is to give you the tools he had to figure out on
his own so that you progress faster on the mats. 
He's doing that through two online sources of video
instructionals -  the Lapel Encyclopedia and Keenan Online.
Along with that, he recently opened a physical academy as well
called Legion AJJ.
CRISTIANO DEL GIACCO
Cristiano Del Giacco is a Jiu Jitsu Black Belt training
out of Southside Jiu Jitsu on the Gold Coast,
He's the head of marketing at Keenan Online and is
pretty much a content writing mastermind.
He created the content written in this Gi-Book, all
while also tackling a severe autoimmune disease like
it's no big deal.
If you're a Keenan Online member or have the Lapel
Encyclopedia, you have the pleasure of receiving
weekly educational newsletters from this champ.
3
 WHAT YOU'LL LEARN FROM
THIS GI-BOOK
Keenan is well known for using the opponent's gi in non-traditional
ways.

He developed guards like the Worm Guard, Ringworm Guard, Squid

Guard, Gubber Guard....

There's a few more and together, they form a proven system for easily
controlling, sweeping, submitting and taking the back of your
opponent.

These guards all have something in common. Keenan developed them

as a means to stop people from passing his guard, and to get an
advantage on the mats by controlling them in a uniquely effective way.

They've been tested and proven to work in the highest levels of

competition, on elite athletes. At the recent European championship
you may have noticed that the whole game has changed with many
competitors across all division started utilizing Keenan's teachings.

But you know what the best thing about these guards is? They were not
designed for specific body types, flexibility or strength levels only.

The system works for beginners as well as elite jiu jitsu practitioners, no
matter what your style is.

What follows in this Gi-Book are instructions and tips on how to best
use your opponent's gi to your advantage.

Your journey of tying up and controlling your opponents begins now.

The first step is learning how to improve what you already know. You 4
will do so by understanding the 2 biggest problems of traditional grips... photo by
@thegrappleclub
2 DEFINING
PROBLEMS OF
TRADITIONAL BJJ
GRIPS AND HOW
TO SOLVE 'EM
In this section, we’re going to uncover
the 3 most utilized traditional grips, PLUS
the 2 overarching problems they face and
how you can solve them.

(Hint: it's the lapel grip, but you knew that

already didn't you?)

5
 2 DEFINING PROBLEMS OF
TRADITIONAL BJJ GRIPS AND
HOW TO SOLVE 'EM
Remember your first ever training session?

Do you remember thinking to yourself “Crap! What do I do?”

As you fumbled around, you heard the instructor, or your training partner, or some crazy over the top white belt from the
side of the mat yell out, “GET GRIPS!”

Grips, of course…

…what a great idea!

Grips are obviously an integral part of Jiu Jitsu; however, chasing the wrong grip for your goals can prove costly…

Because the wrong grip…

… could get you swept…

… could get your guard passed…

… could get you tapped, or worse…

… could see you on the wrong end of some douche bag's Instagram highlight video…

… I mean, hypothetically (wipes tears)

6
 2 DEFINING PROBLEMS OF
TRADITIONAL BJJ GRIPS AND
HOW TO SOLVE 'EM

When we look for appropriate grips, we must first You see, the 3 most utilized grips in BJJ, while greatly effective
understand not only the purpose of the grip, but also its at all levels, are characterised by 2 overarching problems.
characteristics of control.
The 3 grips being:
When you boil Jiu Jitsu down to its bare bits, you’ll see that
the fundamental goal is to establish control over your 1. The Same Side Collar Grip
opponent. 2. The Cross Grip on the Collar
3. The Sleeve Grip
The greater the level of control you gain, the better your Jiu
Jitsu. And the 2 problems being:

Makes sense? 1. The relative ease of breaking

2. The concentration of end line control
Great.
The degree to which you’ll face these problems will be lessened
So, all you have to do is get your grips and you’re on your or intensified by the various positions you take…
way to greatness, right?
However, for guard players, today we plan to offer you a
Not quite… solution to these problems…

But first, let’s take a look at the 3 grips in a little more detail…

7
 THE 3 MOST UTILIZED
TRADITIONAL GRIPS IN BJJ
Before we talk about the 2 overarching problems faced by traditional BJJ grips, let’s first take a look at the 3 traditional gripping
archetypes.

THE SAME SIDE COLLAR GRIP

Here we see the fundamental same
side collar grip.
A key characteristic of this grip is that it
can be utilized in both attacking and
defending situations…
When used as a push, this grip is
very effective at maintaining chest
to chest distance.
Much like a boxer’s jab, the push
from a same side collar grip allows
you to regulate distance to the
extent of the length of your arm.
In attacking situations, this grip
provides a pulling force breaking your
opponent's posture and taking them
into the deep waters of your guard,
where they’ll be open to sweeps and
submissions.

8
 THE 3 MOST UTILIZED
TRADITIONAL GRIPS IN BJJ

THE SAME SIDE COLLAR GRIP CONTINUED...

However, while the same side collar grip provides sufficient push/pull control over your opponent, that push/pull can essentially
only be performed in a LINEAR path of movement.

That is, your manipulation of their body is essentially restricted to a forward and backward motion.

9
 THE 3 MOST UTILIZED
TRADITIONAL GRIPS IN BJJ
Cross Grip on the Collar

The characteristic benefit of our second most common grip,

the cross collar grip, provides a rotational pulling motion over
our opponent, allowing us to pull them across the side of our
body…

…opening up a number of opportunities to either stand, take

the back, sweep, expose the arm or encourage the opponent
to lift their leg.

While you can still push your opponent, to a certain extent,

the cross collar is more of a pull dominant grip as opposed to
the equal capacity for push and pull seen in the same side
collar variation.

10
 THE 3 MOST UTILIZED
TRADITIONAL GRIPS IN BJJ
The Sleeve Grip
Sleeve grips have two variants.
One, being the spider guard/cat’s paw
variation seen here.
While the other…
…is the pistol grip, generally used by
“Old-School” proponents or those
nursing injured fingers.
As the sleeve grip’s focus of control is
on the limb, rather than the shoulder, it
is restricted to a pull only mechanic.
However, it's not impossible to
generate a pushing force from a sleeve
grip.
All you need to do is gain a secondary
grip to aide you...
11
 THE 3 MOST UTILIZED
TRADITIONAL GRIPS IN BJJ
The Sleeve Grip

Either using a grip Incorporating the

on the collar or… use of a leg.

The main benefit of a sleeve grip control is found in its ability to expose your opponent’s arm by extending the defensive
gap between their elbow and their body.

However, it is extremely important to note that while you are able to control your opponent’s limb, you do not have control
over the primary levers of the torso, i.e. the shoulders or hips.

A sleeve grip, even one that is accompanied by a secondary grip generally only provides control at the axis of the nearest
joint, but unfortunately this where your control ends…

Meaning, you won't be able to dictate or influence the direction which your opponent will face.

12
 THE OVERARCHING
PROBLEMS TRADITIONAL
GRIPS FACE
Ok, so now we’ve briefly covered the pros and cons of the 3 traditional Jiu Jitsu grips, lets take a look now at the 2
overarching problems these 3 grips share…

1. These Grips are Relatively Easy to Break

I know, some of you just read that subheading and instantly thought, “Not my grips!”

The key word to take into account here is the word relatively…

…what it’s relative to, we’ll get to a little later.

But, it is important to know that fundamental grips can and are often broken…

This is why people tape their fingers…

The continual play of making and breaking grips happens a lot and unfortunately, we tend to lose a couple digits along
the way…

…This is the dance of Jiu Jitsu.

This is why, at the highest level, the majority of gameplay is focused on establishing and breaking grips.

If these 3 traditional grips were ultimately unbreakable, hardly a match would ever go the distance.

And the easiest and most effective counter to any move is the breaking of, or disallowance of, grip establishment.

13
 THE OVERARCHING
PROBLEMS TRADITIONAL
GRIPS FACE

Here, from the same side collar grip,
Keenan’s opponent is able to take a
double grip over Keenan’s
controlling wrist.
He then uses his double grip to push
Keenan’s own gripping hand away with a
short aggressive upward movement…
From here, the opponent will use this grip
break to immediately mount his own
attack, placing Keenan in a position
without grips and in a poor position to
defend himself…
…essentially, Keenan went from 1 step
ahead to 2 steps behind in his game.
The second overarching problem is a little
more advanced in its concept, however,
understanding this problem at the early
belt levels will go a long way in preparing
you for the big leagues.
And that problem involves…

14
 THE OVERARCHING
PROBLEM TRADITIONAL
GRIPS FACE
2. The Concentration of End Line Control

Let’s take a look again at our 3 traditional grips, this time But, if you also noticed the line of control traveling from
close up. See if you can identify a common aspect across all Keenan’s hand to its endpoint on his opponent’s body
three images… equals the shoulder…

…give yourself a round of applause!

While this concentrated end line can provide awesome

control over your opponent’s posture…

The initial attachment of these grips, without adding

further pull, does nothing in terms of controlling your
opponent’s direction…

Against a standing opponent, the focus of control at the

shoulder is a poor mechanic for rotational when compared
to the other primary lever of the body…

The hips.

If you said the haircut of Keenan’s opponent is at near

Mendes Bros level of perfection…

You’d be right.
15
 SO, HOW DO YOU SOLVE THESE
OVERARCHING PROBLEMS?
There are many ways to solve these problems. Solving the Problem of Grip Breaking
However, many solutions often mean many more hours of
practice to get good at each of them… Let’s approach this problem using the Worm Guard grip as
an example…
It also means you may have to incorporate a specific
solution for each problem ranging across a variety of
situations…

Requiring you to add multiple new things to your game,

when you’ve no doubt already have a million things on
your mind…

This is where many of you die-hard traditionalists will

probably roll your eyes…

But hear me out…

These overarching problems can all be solved, and solved

easily, using Lapel Guard grips.

Specifically the Worm Guard and Squid Guard.

Ok, so I’ve just made a pretty big claim and no doubt have
been crossed off the Christmas list for a number of my old
school friends.
But, before you get ready to crucify me, let me present my
case…
As you can see, the Worm Guard grip, once established, is
far more of a complicated grip to break than a straight
forward collar or sleeve grip.
The opponent is faced with a number of issues preventing
the application of grip breaking mechanics.
16
 SO, HOW DO YOU SOLVE THESE
OVERARCHING PROBLEMS?

The issues for the opponent here include…

1. Severely restricted posture, which means the Plus, if the opponent did figure out a method for breaking
aggressive, short jolt backwards as an opposable force to the grip, they would not be in a position to mount their
break the grip is near impossible. own attack so easily due to their need to still…

2. Torso torsion, making finding and securing a grip to 1. Unravel the lapel.

break movement against Keenan’s wrists extremely
difficult. 2. Remove the Worm Guard leg obstructing the hip.

3. Distant and obstructed path to the grip, making it 3. Square up and face you.
extremely difficult to even grab Keenan’s arm, as it is
obstructed by Keenan’s leg, placed under his own leg and That’s 3 heavy time consuming obligations that YOU can
secured tightly in place by the lapel. exploit for your own fiendish delights.

There are ways to unravel this spaghetti mess, and many Ok, so that’s one problem solved…
DVD’s on the subject to boot.
What about…
However, comparing the time it takes to break and unravel
this grip to the time it takes to break a traditional grip is
like comparing apples and androids.

17
 SO, HOW DO YOU SOLVE THESE
OVERARCHING PROBLEMS?
Improving the Concentration of End Line Control

Let's take a look again at those 3 images before...

While these grips are extremely good at controlling

the upper primary lever of the body (the shoulders),
against a standing opponent the degree of
rotational control we have lessens as the other
primary lever of control (the hips) become the
dominant factor in our opponent’s ability to face us.

But…

If we choose to adopt a lapel grip, our concentration

of end line control switches from the line of the
shoulder to the line of the hips.

Here, we can see that tension has increased at the lowest

level of the lapel, while slack is increased at the highest.

This is a complete inversion of the traditional grip, allowing

for torsion at the hips and greater rotational control over
our opponent, therefore the entirety of our opponent’s
body.

18
SO, HOW DO YOU SOLVE THESE
OVERARCHING PROBLEMS?

Furthermore, this tautness on the lapel doesn’t finish at the

nearest joint like the traditional grips do on the shoulder.

Rather, concentration of end line control extends to the far

hip, making the torque and rotational control of this grip
much more effective.

Pairing this concept with further progressions of the Lapel

Guard that we saw in our last section, that is the Worm
Guard and Squid Guard, greatly increases the intensity of
our rotational control as the lapel is weaved through and
under our opponent’s limbs and hips.

19
 2 PROBLEMS FACED BY THE
LAPEL GRIP
Now we’ve solved the 2 overarching problems faced by the
3 most common traditional grips in BJJ, we now have to
ask ourselves…
Does that mean that lapel grips are foolproof?
Of course not! Nothing in this world is perfect…
Especially not in the Jiu Jitsu world…
While the lapel grips featured in guards like Lapel Guard,
Worm Guard and Squid Guard were created to solve issues
like these, and many more, it doesn’t mean they’re flawless.
Like everything in life, all good things come with a trade
off…
1. Much like the spider guard, to control distance and
create a pushing mechanic, lapel grips will need an
auxiliary control.
Usually an added leg or foot...
2. Lapel Guards, Worm Guards and Squid Guards take
more time to set up compared to traditional guards…
However, playing either of these guards, or using a lapel
based grip, shouldn’t be a gamble for you…
You don’t have to race against the clock to establish your
grips…
Having to incorporate another limb for control shouldn’t
leave you with preoccupied limbs that you can’t attack
with…
If you want to learn more about how to use these grips to
dominate your opponents, both in the gym and in
competition, you can find it all plus a whole lot more
covered, with even more detail, inside the Lapel
Encyclopedia.
Next up: 2 takedowns from the worm and squid guard
your opponents won't see coming.
20
2 TAKEDOWNS
FROM THE WORM
& SQUID GUARD
OPPONENTS
WON'T SEE
COMING!
In this part, we’re going to show you that there’s
more than one way to score two points from the
guard, as we delve into two simple takedowns
that will help you turn the tables on your
opponent and show everyone you’ve got
#everynowandthenporrada in you!

21
 2 TAKEDOWNS YOUR
OPPONENT WON'T SEE COMING

If you thought Lapel Guards like the Worm and Squid

were only for young kids and IT nerds who like to do
spinning sh*t…

…think again!

While spinning sh*t is cool (you know it is) mixing up your

b-boy moves with good old American Wrastlin’ is one of
the greatest ways to keep your opponents guessing when
it comes to your guard.

Today, we’re going to show you that there’s more than one
way to score two points from the guard, as we delve into
two simple takedowns that will help you turn the tables on
your opponent and show everyone you’ve got
#everynowandthenporrada in you!

22
THE SINGLE LEG TAKEDOWN

As we can see here, Keenan is in a Sit Up Guard like

position, where he prepares to bring his bottom leg back
and underneath himself to stand and initiate the single
leg takedown.

However, what tends to happen when rolling with an

opponent who is savvy to this technique is that they will
take a pant grip on your bottom leg to eliminate your
ability to retract your leg and stand.

But, when Keenan attacks the same technique, this time

starting from the Ring Worm Guard, his opponent will
ALWAYS forgo the pant grip - and for good reason. After
all, your leg is trapped by the lapel and cannot be used for
standing, or can it?

23
 THE SINGLE LEG TAKEDOWN

You see, one of the unique benefits of the Worm Guard is –

you control the slack in the lapel trapping your leg.

What this means is, releasing a little slack when you need
it will allow you to retract your foot when it counts.

The lapel is still posing a barrier between your leg and the
ground, so you won’t be able to simply drop it to the floor.

In order to retract your foot from the Worm Hole, you’ll

need to pull your knee close to your chest.

While this may seem like a hindrance to your movement,

retracting your foot from the Worm Hole isn’t difficult and,
due to the structural support of your arm behind you,
won’t force you to give up much in the way of your base.

24
THE SINGLE LEG TAKEDOWN

Bringing your knee close to your chest to extract your leg

provides you with a head start against your opponent’s
attempted grip on your pants, allowing you to retract it
fully to a primo standing pozish.

Standing up now, we see that Keenan’s grip on the

weaved lapel allows him to maintain a solid, elevating
control over his opponent’s leg, without having to focus
too much on committing both arms to hold the leg.

This allows for a much faster and less awkward movement

during the transition to standing while making the
transition SUPER awkward for his opponent, as their
posture is severely compromised due to the close
proximity of their chest to their thigh...

25
 THE SINGLE LEG TAKEDOWN

From here, you have two highly effective methods for finishing the technique…

The first can be used as a takedown or a crazy effective ninja maneuver to the back, which Keenan WILL teach
you…

… just not here…

… you’ll find that little nugget of gold when you watch the Lapel Encyclopedia…

The second, while less ninja but by no means less effective, involves moving forward with the good ol’ single leg
takedown via running the pipe, as seen here …

Timber!!!

26
 KEENAN'S GRIMY DOUBLE
LEG FROM SQUID GUARD

To hit this technique properly
from the Squid Guard, you’ll
need to extract your foot slightly
so that your heel is just free of
the lapel.
Usually, in the Squid Guard, your
foot would be a tad further
through the hole; however, for
the purpose of the double leg,
you’ll need to adopt this
liberated heel position to
efficiently extract your foot when
the time comes.
Inside the Squid, your opponent may
take one of two options.
One, sit into a knee cut position, or two,
attempt to back out and away from you.
Let’s look at the knee cut scenario first…
From here, you’ll need to establish two grips
before moving forward.
One, take a grip with your non-lapel hand on
the lower pant of your opponent’s knee cut
leg.
Two, place your outside foot on your
opponent’s hip to maintain a strong distance
regulator.
27
 KEENAN'S GRIMY DOUBLE
LEG FROM SQUID GUARD

Use that leg now to push against
your opponent’s hip and elevate
them from their low stance.
From here, in this new high hipped
stance, you’ll easily be able to remove your
leg from the Squid Guard, placing it on
the mat between you and your
opponent’s foot.
It’s important that when you do
this you avoid the temptation to
place your foot around your
opponent’s leg (as seen in this
photo) in an attempt to bring it
up with you when you stand.

28
KEENAN'S GRIMY DOUBLE
LEG FROM SQUID GUARD

This will actually lock you under your opponent and make it
SUPER awkward to transition to a standing position, as both
your hands are committed to gripping the lapel and pants.

As the lapel and pant grips serve as the fundamental control

needed for the grimy double leg, we should hold them as a
priority and opt for the transition where our bottom leg lay
between us and our opponent.

From here, in this new high hipped stance, you’ll easily be

able to remove your leg from the Squid Guard, placing it
on the mat between you and your opponent’s foot.

29
 KEENAN'S GRIMY DOUBLE
LEG FROM SQUID GUARD
Most likely they will try to bear their weight upon you in an attempt to drive you back and flatten you on the mat.

This is where you need to act fast and immediately transition onto your elbows into a turtle-like position…

Don’t stress too much that you’ve gone from guard to turtle, as in this situation your lapel and pant leg grips are
affording you the control needed to foil their advances.

Meaning…

1. They can’t pass your guard

2. They can’t move laterally to take your back

3. You are too far under their hips for them to gain the ideal body alignment for any front headlock maneuvers

Now, all that’s left to do..

Is stand up on one foot... … then the other... … and finish the takedown! 30
IS THIS THE WORM
GUARD ENTRY
FOR SHORT
PEOPLE?
Do you shy away from playing lapel based
guards because you think your legs are
TOO short?

We’re going to help you get rid of that

preposterous idea once and for all.

31
 THE BEST WORM GUARD
ENTRY FOR SHORT PEOPLE
Just Like Rock Beats Scissors,
Covert Beats Overt
Now that the word about the Worm is out, it’s getting more
and more difficult to set up the guard from a straight forward
caveman type approach.

Instead, for greater success, and even greater frustration for

your opponent, your best bet is to have entries from a variety
of other guards, peeling the lapel and securing your grip while
your opponent tries to defend a different guard.

Now, those of us with short legs (yes, your faithful author is

also a Hobbit) could find this task a little difficult, especially
when our opponents are using our lack of length to their
advantage.

But this doesn’t mean all hope is lost…

No need to roll up your gi and belt and go home, just yet.

There are other guards, that work VERY well for shorties, like
you and I, that can be used effectively as channels for covert
entry into the Worm.

So, which guard works best?

32
 THE BEST WORM GUARD
ENTRY FOR SHORT PEOPLE

THE SINGLE LEG X GUARD

In fact, one of the greatest Jiu Jitsu competitors of all time, Marcelo Garcia,
who just happens to have short (yet super girthy) legs was a huge
proponent of the Single Leg X and Regular X Guards in his stellar
competitive career.

The beauty of the Single Leg X is, unlike other guards, it doesn’t require Go-
Go-Gadget like legs to hook, weave or push distant limbs, limbs an
opponent could otherwise step back to hide.

The Single X utilizes the concentration of your body as a whole against one limb of your opponent’s (i.e. their closest leg to
you) making it excellent for unbalancing your opponent to sweep or force their hands to the mat.

Another great facet of the Single X is its ability to be used as a controlling position for a wide variety of footlocks – once
your opponent has been swept to the ground, of course.

Ok, we’ve fawned over the Single Leg X long enough.

We can now see how short people in Jiu Jitsu can rely on the Single Leg X for success.

So, the real question is - how can it be used as a means for effectively entering the Worm Guard?
33
 ENTERING THE WORM GUARD FROM
SINGLE X
First, from the Single Leg X
position, use a tiger swipe against
your opponent’s lapel to free it
from their belt...
Once you’ve gained an adequate
grip on the lapel...
... it’s time place your inside leg on
your opponent’s far hip.
Now, feed the lapel over your leg,
and begin passing it under and
behind your opponent’s.
Once you’ve gained an adequate
grip on the lapel...
34
ENTERING THE WORM GUARD FROM
SINGLE X

You should now be in a Single X Worm Hybrid with your lapel grip limiting your
opponent’s ability to step backwards, while your outside leg creates
pushing/distance control against their hip.

From here, you’ll need to place pressure on your opponent’s

hip/upper thigh with your heel to help you elevate your hips and
place your Worm knee in a position above your opponent’s knee.

35
 ENTERING THE WORM GUARD FROM
SINGLE X
Once your knee is in a higher position, clasp both your knees together to help you better maintain this hips-off-the-mat position.
Having your hips elevated off the mat
will help improve the mobility of your
leg...
With this newfound mobility, you are
now able to shift your Single X leg so
that your foot will be blocking your
opponent’s far hip, much like it would
in a regular X Guard. Why?
This is because the next step in the
transition to Worm Guard requires you
to get up on your elbow and scoot
backwards…
However, blindly rushing this step could
provide your opponent with an
opportunity to either be more mobile on
their feet or control your bottom leg and
stifle the transition. Blocking the hip will
allow you to control the transition so that it
moves AT YOUR DESIRED PACE and
progresses when YOU want it to... 36
ENTERING THE WORM GUARD FROM
SINGLE X

Once you feel comfortable to move, quickly scoot backwards

by pushing into the ground with your elbow to alleviate the
weight from your hips and allow for more efficient movement.

Scooting backwards creates the space needed between your

hips and your opponent's shin to move your bottom leg to the
outside of your opponent’s.

There you have it, a super simple yet effective covert transition

into the Worm Guard from the Single Leg X.

What's that? You're saying this all makes sense but you tried
worm guard before and it didn't work? Let's look into that
next.

37
CANT SET UP THE
WORM GUARD?
HERE'S 6 THINGS
YOU'RE DOING
WRONG
Sick of having your guard passed and your
face smashed every time you try to play
the worm?

Let's cover some of

the amazing benefits of the worm guard,
along with 6 of the most common mistakes
people make when attempting to set it up.

38
 STRUGGLING TO
SET UP THE WORM?

Are you starting to think it’s a bullsh*t guard that only the
elite and lanky can play?
When you watch Keenan play the Worm Guard, does it feel
like watching someone tie their shoes, but when you do it,
it’s like tying your shoe with a Rubix cube attached to a
shark?
In this PDF, we’re going to cover some of the amazing
benefits of the worm guard, and 6 of the most common
mistakes people make that cause them to say things like…
“This guard doesn’t work”…
“This wouldn’t work in the streets”…

That is… “#everydayporrada”…

...Risky AF?
Concepts Behind The Worm Guard
The truth is, the Worm Guard isn’t a difficult position to
play…
So, before we get started fixing those holes in your Worm
… you’re just making it difficult. Guard, let’s take a quick look at the reasoning behind
playing the Worm and its advantages over other positions.
And, usually, the problems with your Worm begin with the
way you set it up…

39
 TRADING OFF 2 LIMBS FOR
4-DIMENSIONAL CONTROL

We use sleeve grips to gain an advantageous pull on our
opponents’ arm.
We use collar grips to control our opponents’ posture and
provide an advantageous push/pull control when standing.
The beauty of the worm guard, with just one leg and one
hand controlling a lapel, you stand to gain serious control
over your opponents’…
Ability to step back

Some people use the ‘oil check grip’ to… Posture

well, who knows why they use it, they’re just terrible human
beings… Advancement past your legs and hips

… so why the heck do we use the funky Worm Guard grip? Lateral movement

The Worm Guard has a distinct advantage over many grips

in the gi. One of them is the trade-off of two of your limbs
The best part about this is, you now have a free hand and
for 4-dimensional control over your opponent.
leg to attack sweeps and other off-balancing manoeuvres.

With other guards, like the spider guard, to control your

While this may be obvious to some of you, there’s another
opponent you need to allocate each of your limbs to the
benefit to the worm guard grip that many don’t know
task.
about…

For example, with the basic half guard, you trade off two of
40
your legs to control one of your opponent’s.
 ROTATIONAL PULL
To initiate the worm guard, you must pass your
opponent’s lapel from one side of their body to the other
via a perilous route weaving both under your leg and
theirs.
By the time you’ve managed to pass the lapel to your other
hand to solidify the Worm Guard, you have created not only
postural control but also tremendous rotational torque on
your opponent’s torso.
This torque provides two benefits:
1. Immense discomfort for your opponent in their posture,
causing them to exert more than when defending other
guards.
AND
2. A decrease in their ability to turn their shoulders/torso in
the direction of the controlled lapel…
Why is this rotational control a big deal?
Most guard passers, even high-level ones, usually prefer
passing on one side over another.
It is true, there are guard passers who can do both,
however, they will have a higher and more effective arsenal
of passes on one side, while only some on the other.
Identifying this and using the rotational control of the
Worm Guard grip can provide you with an advantage in
forcing your opponent to apply his methods of escape to
their poorer side…
… now that’s some Yoda sh*t right there!
The powerful rotation and postural control in the Worm
Guard generally forces the majority of guard passers to sit
in the knee cut position to either rest, re-plan their attack,
or close their eyes and #everydayporrada smash pass you
to hell.
Luckily…
41
 THE WORM GUARD IS THE
PERFECT DEFENSE TO THE
KNEE CUT PASS

Behind every good invention, there’s always a reason. In Keenan’s words,

And that reason is without a doubt always, necessity. “The Worm Guard creates a closed circuit”

Keenan created the Worm Guard initially as a defence to However, just like Super Man had his Kryptonite, and a
the knee cut pass: to subdue and fend off lethal smash seriously terrible disguise as his alter ego, so too the Worm
passers… Guard has a chink in the armour.

I mean, makes total sense when you imagine a well-known Yep, the weakness to this closed circuit of domination
guard player who competed on the reg with the likes of inherently lies in the fact that, while it is incredibly effective
both offensively and defensively, it takes time and
Buchecha coordination to actually set up…

Leandro Lo And clearly, this is where you need help…

Tim Spriggs

Is this list is seriously still going?

Erbeth Santos

Mahamed Aly
42
Yuri Simoes
 COMMON MISTAKES WHEN
SETTING UP THE WORM
GUARD

1. Fumbling to loosen the lapel

Simply removing your opponent’s lapel from their belt
usually doesn’t provide the slack needed to adequately
Probably the most common mistake people make when
weave through and across your opponent’s body.
setting up the Worm Guard is fumbling around with the
lapel.
So how can you solve this?
This causes three problems:
 After maintaining a grip
1. You completely telegraph what you’re doing on your opponent’s lapel,
in a seated position, it’s
2. Your opponent can begin shutting you down while you always a good idea to use
fluff about trying to get a grip the foot on the same side
as that lapel to gently kick
3. You look like a teenager trying to get to second base on and loosen it.
prom night i.e. a damn fool!
This is what’s known as a
That last point probably hurt the most, right? tiger foot swipe and is one
of the key concepts
The common reason for fumbling over the lapel relates to behind a successful Worm
the level of slack or, more accurately, the lack of slack in the Guard set up.
lapel.

43
 COMMON MISTAKES WHEN
SETTING UP THE WORM
GUARD

2. Being Overt When You Need To Be COVERT

As mentioned above, what often goes hand in hand A common strategy for someone
with fumbling is the complete telegraphing of your looking to pass this guard may be
intentions of setting up a Worm Guard. to step laterally to the open side
and sit in the knee cut position.
You may as well write your opponent a nice email telling
them what you plan to do with their lapel beforehand. (remember what we said earlier
about the Worm Guard and the
Yes, there are situations where you can straight pull knee cut?)
guard into the Worm, and we’ll get to that in a second,
but quite often you’ll find your best entries are the ones
that catch your opponent off guard.
As the opponent sits in this
As Keenan himself has mentioned, he is more of an position, they are providing
opportunist when it comes to the Worm Guard and will you with a great
prefer to play a wide variety of guards, pouncing on the opportunity, provided
Worm if and when the opportunity arises. you’ve gained some slack
in their lapel beforehand, as
One such opportunity can be seen when playing with per our previous tip.
the Lasso Guard…

44
 COMMON MISTAKES WHEN
SETTING UP THE WORM
GUARD

3. Falling When Pulling Guard

If you’re planning on pulling guard to transition into the Worm
Guard, there’s a more ideal sequence of events you should follow…
This is a critical error many beginners make when pulling
any guard from standing…
(As seen on the next page)

And it’s not entirely their fault.

4. Sitting Too Close

Many people are taught to gain some grip on their

There is another crucial mistake when people pull guard to
opponent, raise one leg and place it on their opponent’s hip
transition to the Worm.
to act as a distance regulator, then fall to the side of that
leg.
Even with all the good intentions of freeing the lapel, gaining a
two-handed grip and sitting to your butt, you’re still open to a
There are two problems with this…
number of guard passes if you choose to sit down too close to your
opponent.
Many other gyms drill to counter that style of guard pull by
simply pushing the leg away to earn a ridiculously simple
Instead, after taking a two-handed grip on your opponent’s lapel,
pass.
take one step backwards before sitting to the ground.

Falling to one side commits your body to that single

Yes, this tip could have been included in the previous one, however,
trajectory, which means if and when you are countered you
it is too much of an important step and can often go neglected…
do not have the ability to be mobile or reset your base…

… it’s basically Christmas, but the gifts are only going one
way. 45
 COMMON MISTAKES WHEN
SETTING UP THE WORM
GUARD
Do this instead...
1. Tiger swipe to remove your opponent’s lapel from their belt

2. Take a two-handed grip on their lapel

3. Sit down on your butt gently and do not fall back or to the side!

46
 COMMON MISTAKES WHEN
SETTING UP THE WORM
GUARD

5. Trying To Enter The Worm Guard Without After gaining your

Controlling The Distance First grip, taking a step
back and sitting to
Another cardinal sin when setting up the Worm Guard your butt, ensure you
is getting too excited and trying to weave the Worm place at least one of
grip without first controlling the distance on your your feet on your
opponent. opponent’s
shoulder/chest to
Controlling the distance is the crucial step between control the distance.
gaining an initial grip and weaving the worm that
often goes missing.

Failing to properly keep a distance regulator, that is

your legs, between you and your opponent, can lead to
a case of severe smash pass-itis…

… and you don’t want none of that.

What your other leg does is up to you at this stage and

can be also used on the chest/shoulder, on the hip or as
some form of hooking mechanism, for example, a
De La Riva hook.

47
 COMMON MISTAKES WHEN
SETTING UP THE WORM
GUARD

6. Not Swinging Your Leg When Sitting Up

Our last common mistake features in the transition of the lapel under your opponent’s leg to your other hand.

To pass the lapel through adequately, you will need to sit up, however, many beginners have waaaaaay too much faith in their
abs and either sit up at a super slow pace or fail to sit up at all, allowing the opponent to post on them and shut down the grip
transition.

The best practice for This will provide

sitting up quickly the momentum
involves the swinging needed to get you
motion of your into an upright
outside leg. position and
complete the
changing of grips.

48
 THERE YOU HAVE IT...

You now have a handful of solutions to some of THE most common mistakes people make when setting up the Worm
Guard.

As mentioned earlier, the Worm Guard is a great tool both offensively and defensively. However, your ability to use it really
comes down to how well you set it up.

You can choose to play the opportunist and snag a Worm Guard as those opportunities appear, or, you can shoot from the hip
and pull guard to the Worm like the Bad MFer you are…

However you choose to do it, just remember, each step of the set up is key...

...and missing even one could see you fighting for dear life underneath #everydayporrada.

49
BONUS CONTENT
WHY THE SQUID GUARD IS THE PERFECT
ANTIDOTE TO THE LEG DRAG

WIN MORE GRIP FIGHTS BY DOING THIS...

WHAT CAN THE SQUID DO BETTER THAN

THE SPIDER, SINGLE LEG X, AND KNEE
SHEILD?
HOW TO PLUG THE HOLES IN YOUR LEAKY
LASSO GUARD

2 POWERFUL PATHS TOWARDS MAKING

CONSISTENT IMPROVEMENTS IN JIU
JITSU
 4 TIPS FOR SHUTTING DOWN THE
BERIMBOLO

50
Photo by @thegrappleclub
WHY THE SQUID GUARD IS THE
PERFECT ANTIDOTE TO THE LEG
DRAG.
The leg drag is one of the most popular controlling
positions in competitive Jiu Jitsu today.

So how does the Squid Guard stack up against this highly

effective guard passing catalyst?

As your squid leg is secured to your opponent’s hip by their

lapel, the likelihood of your opponent dragging it across their
body becomes near impossible.

This only leaves one side for your opponent to potentially

attack the leg drag and one less you need to worry about....

If your opponent manages to drag your non-squid leg across

their body, you’re still safe from the pass.

51
As seen above, your opponent’s leg, which is wrapped up by
their lapel, hinders their capacity for movement: killing the
lateral motion needed to complete the pass or take the
back…  

Furthermore, changing the angles on your opponent, as seen

in the sequence below, sets you up in a killer position to hit a
variety of sweeps.

To see more details, go watch Chapter 7 of the Lapel Encyclopedia

Here.

And if you don’t yet own the Lapel Encyclopedia, but your New
Years’ resolution is to put a stop to your guard being passed - for
good - then Click Here to get your hands on the guard passer’s
nightmare today!

52
 WIN MORE GRIP FIGHTS BY
DOING THIS...
Can you guess why Keenan is smiling like this?

That’s because he knows something his opponent doesn’t.

Want me to let you in on his secret?

Read on...

Guard players...

Does maintaining a grip mean more to you than life itself?

And because of this, are you blowing half your paycheck on finger tape each week? 

We all know how important grips are in jiu jitsu, especially when playing guard, but are they really worth sacrificing your
fingers for?

What if I told you there was a way you could maintain your grips, reduce the risk of injuring your fingers, foil your
opponent’s attempts to break them and set up a sweep or a submission in the process?

Would you be interested?

Great, let’s check it out…

53
 WIN MORE GRIP FIGHTS BY
DOING THIS...
The concept we’re going to look at here involves off-
balancing your opponent the very second they commit to
breaking your grips.

To unpack this idea, let’s take a look at an example from the

seated guard. 

In the image here, Keenan has achieved an essential grip for initiating
the lapel guard system, however, his opponent has recognized the
danger in this grip and seeks to break it.

Rather than fighting tooth and nail, trying to prove who has the greater
grip strength, Keenan chooses to take advantage of the opportunity his
opponent has gifted...

… that is, he chooses to capitalize on the fact that his opponent has
committed both hands and their complete attention towards breaking
the grip on the lapel. 

Why is this a gift for Keenan?

Well, his opponent has now…

54
 WIN MORE GRIP FIGHTS BY
DOING THIS...
• Committed both hands to the grip, meaning they’re not
attacking a pass or submission attempt.
As his opponent attempts to break the grip, Keenan seizes
his opportunity by pushing on their far leg to attack his
opponent’s compromised base.

• Adjusted their stance to aid in breaking the grip: their

legs are now closer together to improve leverage for the
grip break, which means their base is now severely
compromised.

• Focused their attention on the grip, not on a pass, not on

submission and definitely not on whatever Keenan is
planning to do with his other limbs.

Knowing this, Keenan has a plan of attack in place, ready for

when his opponent seeks to break his grips. That plan?

Off balancing his opponent.

This push of the leg, assisted by a slight tilt to the side,

creates a dilemma for his opponent that they must now
address…

… Keep fighting the grip, but be swept…

Or

… Post two hands on the mat to negate the sweep, but lose
the grip war.

55
 WIN MORE GRIP FIGHTS BY
DOING THIS...

Neither option works out well for his opponent, whereas Keenan now has a list of uncontested options available.

For example...

Opponent insists on breaking the grip = a sweep has occurred. 

Opponent bases by posting hands on the mat = a path to the back has opened.

So, the next time you find yourself losing in a tug of war against an opponent, just stop for a second, breathe and take a look at
what they may be giving up to win that battle…

… you may just see something they don’t.

There are more options available to Keenan here, and you can learn them plus a whole bunch more inside the Lapel Encyclopedia.…

56
WHAT CAN THE SQUID DO BETTER
THAN THE SPIDER, SINGLE LEG X,
AND KNEE SHEILD?
What do spider guard, knee shield, X-guard and squid guard The Squid, however, has no push oriented block. Rather the
all have in common? squid guard utilizes the securing of your leg to your opponent’s
body via their lapel. 
They all provide a protective barrier blocking your opponent’s
path towards passing your guard and achieving chest on chest “Wait, wouldn’t this mean the squid guard is kinda locking my
connection. opponent to me, with nothing to stop them passing my guard
and acheiving chest on chest connection?”
What do the spider guard, knee shield and X-guard do
differently to the squid guard in this respect? To answer your questions in order…

Well, the spider guard, knee shield and X-guard seek to block 1. Yes
the pass by pushing with the legs.
2. No

That is... Let me explain…

In the spider guard, the feet are placed on the biceps At first thought, the innate pushing characteristic of the spider,
(commonly in combination with another auxiliary foot knee shield and X-guard seem to be the superior choice
placement on the hip, shoulder, thigh, etc) to ensure the mass compared to the securing characteristic of the squid guard.
of the legs are blocking the path to chest on chest connection,
as well as being able to steer the opponent.  But, let’s look at this from the perspective of the guard passer...

With the knee shield guard, careful yet varied placement of the
knee/shin on the opponent’s hip or chest area also blocks chest
on chest advancements, much like the spider guard, yet from a
closer range. 

In the case of the X-guard, the legs work to form a scissor

formation beneath the opponent’s hips to both elevate and
stretch out their base - keeping them in an upright position
where chest on chest connection cannot be reached. 
57
WHAT CAN THE SQUID DO BETTER
THAN THE SPIDER, SINGLE LEG X,
AND KNEE SHEILD?
The guard passer’s goals roughly adhere to the following
sequence of events: 

1. Engage opponent

2. Remove the first line of defense (foot and/or knee connection

to body)

3. Control and pass the hips

4. Achieve chest on chest

(Yes, many guard passers follow their own specific sequence of

events, but as a rough outline, the sequence above can be
considered as the general consensus with minor tweaks here I know…
and there dependent on the specific guard.)
… bear with me, it’ll pan out. 
So, after engaging the opponent, we can see that the guard
passer’s next goal is to remove the first line of defense - foot So, as you can see, the gentleman’s arm in the image above
and/or knee connection.  occupies the space between his body and the chair, and for as
long as his arm occupies that space, neither of the two shall
And the reduced probability of your opponent achieving this meet.
specific goal is what sets the squid guard apart from other
guards. However, this block is largely facilitated by a PUSHING
mechanic.

How? And as we know, a push in one direction can only exist if there
also exists a push in the opposite direction.
Check out this cool dude in the image on the right… Look it up, it’s science. 

58
WHAT CAN THE SQUID DO BETTER
THAN THE SPIDER, SINGLE LEG X,
AND KNEE SHEILD?
So, what happens when one of the pushing forces has been When your opponent realizes this, all they have to do is remove
removed? your capacity to “push” to circumvent your blocking defense. 

So, how does the squid guard remedy this?

By securing your leg to your opponent via the lapel. 

In the squid guard, you’re no longer reliant on a pushing force

to block your opponent, rather, the securing of your leg to their
body will provide that block for you. 

While the example above is an extreme and simplified case,

the same principle still works in jiu jitsu. 

The pushing force provided by the legs in the spider guard,

knee shield and X-guard rely heavily on the opposing force - or
weight - of your opponent’s body. 

(Next time you find yourself in your opponent’s spider guard,

take a couple steps backward and test this theory out for
yourself.) 

59
WHAT CAN THE SQUID DO BETTER
THAN THE SPIDER, SINGLE LEG X,
AND KNEE SHEILD?
Even if your opponent manages to remove your non-squid leg ... and if you’re a savvy squid guard player, you know you have
from the equation, the lapel wrapped under their leg means options from here to help you regain your guard or use your
they cannot circle to pass your hips; therefore, they cannot opponent’s over-commitment to sweep them. 
pass your guard. 
For more details, Check out Chapter 7 of the Lapel
Encyclopedia.

Now, no one is claiming that the image above could be classed

as a “comfortable” position, but remember, the scenario above
is the worst case for the squid guard.

Remember, in the scenario above, your guard has NOT BEEN

PASSED, even if your opponent has connected their chest to
yours, they still haven’t passed your hips…

60
In this part, we’re going to reveal how focusing on two simple
paths to improvement can help you double your
developments on the mat.
Interested?
Good!
Let’s get started…
On The Mats
"Success is a few simple disciplines, practiced every day; while
failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day."
This quote by Jim Rohn sums up the basic idea behind our
discussion.
It’s the results of the small, consistent decisions - or habits -
that you make each day that compound over time and shape
who you’ll be in the future: positively or negatively.
The main idea?…
… consistency is the KEY
Making good decisions, like attending an extra training session
each week, can really help you level up your game.
However, following those decisions through from a "time to
time" basis will never be enough to move the needle.
The same is true for bad decisions.
Missing one night of training won’t be the end of the world, but
missing a night of training each week for a period of 6 months
absolutely can be.
Assuming there are 4 weeks in a month, over a period of 6
months, depending on your decision you could be gaining and
extra 24 classes or falling behind by 24 classes.
A small decision may not seem like much at first, but when
combined with consistency, the compounding interests can be
quite significant.  
Ok, so this isn’t what you would call, groundbreaking news…
61
2 POWERFUL PATHS TOWARDS
MAKING CONSISTENT
IMPROVEMENTS IN JIU JITSU...
… but, I’m going to show you how you can tweak this concept to double your results on
the mat.

Double? Did you just say DOUBLE?!

Hell yeah I did, and the process is called improvement by addition and subtraction.

In a nutshell…

Improvement by addition = doing more of what works.

Improvement by subtraction = eliminating what doesn’t work.

Again, not quite earth shattering, but bear with me, because I’m going to reveal
something that may surprise you...

Let’s take a look at a couple examples …

Improvement by addition = Attending 5 classes per week, drilling before class, reflecting
on performance in your journal after class, working on mobility to reduce injury for 20
minutes a day, packing your gym back the night before, etc..

Improvement by subtraction = Limiting weekly junk food intake, figuring out why you
got tapped instead of making excuses for why you got tapped, missing fewer classes,
etc.

Check out the graph on the right here.... 62

2 POWERFUL PATHS TOWARDS
MAKING CONSISTENT
IMPROVEMENTS IN JIU JITSU...
As you can see in the second bell curve above, a focus on And it’s natural to think that the more we seek to improve on
improvement by addition, performing consistent positive our actions and habits, the better we will do.
actions, aids in moving your average performance from A to B
along the x-axis. It’s natural, but wrong.

In the third bell curve, you can see that a consistent reduction Let me explain, with the following two factors…
in poor actions also moves your average performance from A
to B along the x-axis.

Now to the surprising part that I promised…
I have a question for you…
Which of the two processes for improvement - addition or
subtraction - should you focus on more?
1. It’s much easier to recognize and eliminate poor actions
than it is to master peak performance -- the better you get at
improvement by addition, the harder it is down the line to add
more actions to return the same gains. Otherwise known as
the law of diminishing returns.

That is... 2. Improvement by subtraction means you are raising your

baseline, the more poor actions you eliminate, the harder it
Should you focus on doing more things better? becomes to sink to a point lower than that baseline.

Or The higher your baseline, the more you will develop at a

consistent rate; therefore, the greater the knock-on effect will
Should you focus on making fewer mistakes? be for your gains on the other side of the bell curve.  

Interesting, right?
Let’s look at an example…
If you’re like most people, you would have answered "Doing
more things better." (Wow, that really made me sound like a
caveman, didn’t it? But I digress…)

63
2 POWERFUL PATHS TOWARDS
MAKING CONSISTENT
IMPROVEMENTS IN JIU JITSU...
You make a good decision to attend 5 classes per week, that’s
one more than usual for you…
… but, you make excuses for getting tapped by the 16 year old
bluebelt, instead of figuring out why you got tapped.
As you can see from this example, the bad habit is dragging
down the efforts of the good.
So, does this mean you only have to focus on eliminating poor
decisions and habits from your life?
No, you need both, but just keep in mind that eliminating bad
habits is the low hanging fruit for your development.
So, how can you use this information to boost your
development in jiu jitsu, right now?
For the next 24 hours, I want you to periodically write down all
the actions you take in a day.
Take a minute or two every hour or so to write down what you
did leading up to that interval.
After you’ve completed this task, I want you to take a piece of
paper and draw a line vertically down the middle.
Next, write eliminate on one side and optimize on the other.
Now,  look at the actions you wrote down on the previous day
and place all the poor actions in the eliminate section of the
piece of paper and all the good actions in the optimize section.
Yes, there will be neutral activities performed that are neither
good nor bad - they just ‘are’ - so don’t get hung up on trying
to figure out whether going number twos in the morning was
a good action or a poor action, just mark it as neutral and move
on.
Once you have your list, start making promises to yourself.
I will eliminate or cut down on XYZ each day.
I will continue to or double doing XYZ each day.
Try this out and stick to your subtraction and addition
improvements for at least 30 days.
Once you’re done, feel free to message me at
cristiano@keenanonline.com to let me know about your
results.
I’d love to hear about them ;)
64
 HOW TO PLUG THE HOLES IN
YOUR LEAKY LASSO GUARD
Struggling to hold onto lasso guard when your opponent So, I have a question for you…
circles their hand under your leg to break your grip on their
sleeve? … is it absolutely impossible for your opponent to free their arm?

We’re going to solve that problem - together. Absolutely…

It’s no secret that the lasso guard is one of the greatest … not!
positions when faced with an athletic guard passer, especially
those who like to blitz attack your guard with lateral
movements.  You see, experienced opponent’s know that one of the easiest ways
to free their arm from the lasso is to rotate their wrist under your leg
and to the outside of your thigh. 

65
 HOW TO PLUG THE HOLES IN
YOUR LEAKY LASSO GUARD
Of course not. 

All we have to do is get our thinking hats on and identify what

it is we are doing that is allowing our opponent to circle their
wrist out and under our leg.

I’ll give you a couple of seconds to think about it…

…
…

Ok, I’m back.

So, if you guessed that it’s the way we grip the sleeve on the
lassoed arm which dictates whether or not your opponent can
circle their hand to freedom, you’d be 100% correct!

Check it out…

Rotating the wrist like this allows their hand and forearm to
move into a position outside of your leg where they can push
off your thigh and create sufficient leverage to break the grip
on their sleeve. 

Taking you from a solid guard passing defense to an “Oh crap,

oh crap, oh crap situation.” (Yes that’s the technical term for it.
It’s latin I believe.)

So, does that mean the lasso is garbage?

66
 HOW TO PLUG THE HOLES IN
YOUR LEAKY LASSO GUARD
As you can see in the image above, the slack afforded to your Try out it out the next time you’re on the mat and I guarantee
opponent in the palm down position, allows them greater it’ll blow your mind just like it did mine when Keenan first
freedom to rotate their wrist. showed it to me.

Using a palm up grip, as seen in this image, allows you to keep

a tighter grip on your opponent’s sleeve as their forearm is
pulled tight to your inner thigh. 

Furthermore, you can reinforce the strength of this grip by

tucking your elbow to your hip, rendering rotational escape for
your opponent virtually impossible. 

67
 4 TIPS FOR SHUTTING DOWN THE
BERIMBOLO

Do you have problems dealing with those blue belt phenoms Doing this will always leave your opponent a step behind, and
in your gym who like to hit spinning b-boy moves on you… you that all-important step ahead.

… AKA the Berimbolo.

The subject we'll discuss here could be a little controversial, as
you may be aware of Keenan’s stance on the berimbolo.  If your opponent is successful in initiating the De La Riva
But, after reading this, you’ll have a better understanding of
this notorious technique and more importantly…
… how to shut it down. 
Tip #1 - Don’t Just Walk Into Guard
Tip #2 - Think  De La Riva First
Guard, don’t start stressing about the Berimbolo just yet. 
Remember, the Berimbolo is a technique which is generally
implemented from the De La Riva Guard.
Therefore, you should always look to shut down your
opponent’s De La Riva Guard first, before considering the
Berimbolo.

This seems pretty obvious, right?

Tip #3 - The Floor is Lava for Your Butt
Well, you’d be surprised at how many people, including black
belts, will naively engage their opponent by walking straight
into their De La Riva Guard.   Your opponent’s first goal to hit the Berimbolo from the De La
Riva is to SIT YOUR BUTT ON THE MAT. 
And if your opponent loves the Berimbolo, this can prove to be
a costly mistake.  Knowing this, you can negate their goal by sitting to the knee
of your free leg when you feel your butt is in danger of kissing
Instead, always look to engage with the upper hand so that… the mat. 

1. You are initiating YOUR passing game

2. Your opponent has to break your grips and re-engage to
establish any sort of guard.

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 4 TIPS FOR SHUTTING DOWN THE
BERIMBOLO

Tip #4 - Distance is Essential

The final tip for shutting down the Berimbolo relates to

your opponent’s goal of spinning underneath you to
reach your back.

From the kneeling position, grab your opponent’s shin

that is closest to your hip. 

Pushing this away and creating distance will disallow

your opponent from spinning underneath you. 

Maintaining distance control over this leg will also limit

their ability to place their knee/shin under your leg to
elevate you... 

… and more importantly…

… it gives you the space needed to escape. 

To help you remember these steps, I’ve created a cool

little infographic for you on the right here.

I even went the extra mile and painted those pictures of

Keenan and pal for you… 69
 4 TIPS FOR SHUTTING DOWN THE
BERIMBOLO

But you probably didn’t notice that, did you?It’s ok, I still love ya…

… like a friend, I mean.  

Until next time…

… friend…

Enjoy ;)

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YOUR LAPEL JOURNEY DOESN'T
HAVE TO END HERE
You made it to the end of this Gi-Book. Hooray! Hopefully, you learned
something new and useful.

Take the knowledge to the mats and experiment with the techniques.

It might take some time for the stuff to work, and there will be failed
attempts. But once you first taste the sweet victory of sweeping your
opponent by tangling them up with their lapel...there's no going back.

If you want to see the techniques in video form, you have two options.

If you're interested in learning the complete lapel guard system, check

out the Lapel Encyclopedia. Along with the website, there's also a
mobile app that allows for offline viewing with over 10 hours of
content. The content is structured in easy-to-follow chapters (currently
14). Why currently? Because unlike any other jiu jitsu "DVD", the Lapel
Encyclopedia receives constant, free updates!

If you want to level up your entire jiu jitsu game, traditional techniques
included, join Keenan Online. There are over 300 videos, belt-rank
courses, and a plethora of positions explained.

And if you happen to be in the San Diego area, Legion AJJ doors are
open for you. Come train with Keenan himself!

Now unleash the Lapel terror on your opponents!

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