The secret trend behind modern guards

We’ve had deep half , x-guard, reverse de la riva / de la riva / berimbolo…what’s next? There’s an interesting trend we can see with modern guards and the people who use them to great success at the highest level. They are always unique and innovative. What’s really crazy is that they’re so new and innovative that the the people on the receiving end of them generally don’t know what to do. The newest guard on the scene has these attributes with a very interesting twist…

There are positions that not even the experts can comprehend straight off the bat, let alone the people you are likely to face in a competition. A glaring example of this can be seen when Keenan debuted the lapel guard at Worlds 2014. The top athletes in the game didn’t have a clue what they were in for. Since then the world of the lapel guard has really been expanded on.

Back then when the first techniques emerged using the lapel, most of them could be found on Keenan’s worm guard DVD. Whilst this really is the best congregation of the worm guard fundamental techniques most used by Keenan in competition, the game was only in its infancy.

A new era…

What makes lapel guard so special? It adds a whole new dynamic to the game. It’s literally like changing the rules of the game.

Imagine if a new piece was magically uncovered in the game of chess, today. Only those who studied and understood what to do with it, could use it. There you have the equivalent happening on the human chess board that is the Jiu Jitsu mats, lapel guard, a whole new piece revealed to the game.

It’s not everyday that you see an innovation like this come about. If you watch any of the most successful athletes using modern guards, the early adopters always get the most experience and end up miles ahead of their competitors. By the time they hit the mainstream it’s almost too late for most people to catch up.

Evolution

An interesting new development in the Jiu Jitsu community are the online resources. Back in the day if you were lucky enough to be a fly on the wall in the room where a decent berimbolo was being used or taught. That’s how you could learn it and bring it to the mats to wreck people in competitions.

Nowadays you can be a virtual fly on the wall in a studio or dojo. You can enjoy the instruction and learn how to tangle your prey into their own clothes. You can learn how to just make their day worse and worse, until they have to tap. 

This fast growth of online learning resources will be the catalyst that triggers the rapid expansion of our virtual prefrontal cortex in the evolution of our Jiu Jitsu brains. If you’re not in on it, get on it now before your competitors soak up all the good lapel stuff and leave you like a closed guard neanderthal (just kidding, closed guard is cool).

The fact that we can now virtually capitalise on the very newest techniques from the moment of their inception is a really big deal. You can extend your mind and memory by way of ones and zeros through your pocket computer. You can search for instruction and find it. That’s something to be taken advantage off? 

Are you ready to go down the worm hole? Let’s start with a basic worm setup:

Start learning the ways of the lapel, you might learn something about yourself. No spam, pinky promise. We are creating a beast. It's still top secret, but you can sign up below to be notified when it's released.

While you’re here…. Here are some lapel focused videos from K.O.

While you’re here…These videos are already available on K.O.