Butterfly Guard Fundamentals With Lachlan Giles

 

The Butterfly Guard is a staple position in Jiu-Jitsu, that doesn’t require extreme flexibility or athleticism. Instead the Butterfly Guard is all about tactics and strategy. Many of today’s top athletes use the Butterfly Guard in some fashion or another. The versatility of the Butterfly Guard is one of the reasons that the top athletes in the sport are using it! 

Another aspect that is desirable  about the Butterfly Guard is that it doesn’t require a Gi to perform. While some grips and techniques may benefit from the added grip the Gi provides, ultimately a Gi is not required to play with the Butterfly Guard. When you spend time learning this classic position you will be able to switch between Gi and No-Gi effortlessly. 

SO where is a good place to start if you are learning the Butterfly Guard? Lachlan Giles, 2019 ADCC Absolute Bronze Medalist,  has a great resource for us from his YouTube Channel! In 6 minutes covers the essentials you NEED to know when playing the Butterfly Guard. Check it out, and be sure to subscribe on YouTube!

 

One downside, if there is any, to Butterfly Guard is that it somewhat requires your opponent to be on their knees. This is one of the main dilemmas for many Butterfly Guard specialists out there. How do you force them to their knees? Well one way is to have a KILLER leg lock game like Lachlan. With ease of access to the standing passers legs, many athletes will use this space to enter into leg entanglements. Often times when the passer feels threatened they will get on their knees to defend. This is where you can start to utilize some of the strategies that Giles covers here. 

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One tip that stuck out, is that Lachlan says “it’s better to have one good hook, then two crappy hooks”. Many times beginners feel like they need to have both legs underneath of their partner’s legs, when in reality one leg can do the trick. If you are playing  a single leg butterfly guard, you can use your unoccupied leg to push off of the mat during your sweep attempts. 

Another self-check you can do when playing Butterfly Guard is monitoring the level of your partner’s shoulders. If their shoulders are lower than yours, there is a good chance that you will be flattened out and passed. A good angle to shoot for is demonstrated at 2:18. Draw a line from Lachlan’s head to his tailbone, this forward leaning angle will help with the passers forward pressure. 

At 3:25 you will see one of the essential tools of ANY good Butterfly Guard player. This scooting action forces the passer into a somewhat uni-directional method of passing. When Giles scoots off to the side like this he makes it very difficult for his partner to pass to their left. By limiting the direction of his pass, Lachlan can more reliably set traps for his partner from the Butterfly Guard.

Lachlan Giles has rocketed to the top of the Jiu-Jitsu world with his performance at ADCC 2019. His instructionals are changing the way Jiu-Jitsu is performed! The Leglock Anthology is Lachlan’s latest instructional and it is packed with the techniques that helped him defeat some of Jiu-Jitsu’s toughest competitors at ADCC!

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