Passing the Knee Shield, with Lachlan Giles

 

I have a love/hate relationship with the knee shield.  

When I'm the one using a knee shield to block an opponent's guard pass or to stop them from smashing me, I love it.

When someone is using the knee shield on me, I don't like it so much.

Fortunately, Lachlan Giles is on the case, providing us with some work-arounds to help us pass an opponent's knee shield.

 

Not surprisingly, Giles's first piece of advice is that it's better to prevent the knee shield from ever happening in the first place.  If your teammate already has a knee shield set up and blocking your pass attempt, you've already done something wrong.

In such a case, Giles recommends re-setting.  Instead of continuing to try to move to one side or another, Giles moves back to a centered up position in relation to his training partner's legs.

Dominate the Guard with The Body Lock Pass! Click Learn More!

LEARN MORE

 

Then, he places a blocking arm to prevent the knee shield from happening the next time he begins a pass attempt.  Giles places his hand on the side of his teammate's stomach, just above his hips.  That way, Giles's forearm is blocking that leg from swinging over and forming a knee shield.

If his opponent tries to go high to circumvent Giles's forearm, he flares his arm out.  If his opponent tries to go low, he drops his elbow.  Either way, the forearm holds the leg at bay, stopping the knee shield before it starts.

Giles also keeps his head low and near his blocking forearm so that his head serves as an added barrier preventing his teammate from going high to establish the knee shield.

If, for some reason, re-setting isn't an option, Giles's next discusses how to deal with an already-existing knee shield.  Instead of pushing at the hip or knee, Giles recommends holding the foot.  This will help immobilize the knee shield so that he can swivel his body around the knee and pass his teammate's guard.

Once he's passed their guard, he dives into side control.  However, Giles warns that this move does present a danger: if you aren't careful to keep your opponent's other leg pinned to the mat, they can re-gain the guard by raising that knee and sliding that leg past the hip to re-establish their guard.

Another option for dealing with the knee shield when you don't want to re-set is to go to your knee.  In this case, Giles has one of his opponent's legs immobilized under his own knee while the other leg is working as a knee shield.  

Giles's answer to this situation is to slip his knee behind the immobilized leg, bringing his knee to the mat.  He then weaves his hand behind the knee shield, through the legs, and in front of the other leg.  With that grip in place, Giles looks to pin his teammate's wrist with his other hand while he uses his head against their belly to prevent them from turning in toward him.

With both hands in place, Giles's next goal is to free his knee.  To do so, he stands up, knee cuts over his teammate's shin, and then windshield wipers his legs past his opponent's legs to complete the pass.

Next, Giles demonstrates a pass when his opponent has a low knee shield or a Z guard.  In this case, Giles reaches around his opponent’s hips while he presses his chest tight down onto the knee shield.

Giles’s left hand blocks his teammate’s lower leg, and he then applies pressure with his head to his opponent’s solar plexus.

Since Giles’s leg is still trapped, he has to turn his leg away (6:30) to extricate it.  Then, he turns it back to trap his opponent’s leg, enabling him to pass. Or, for an unexpected move, Giles can jump to the other side if he was able to keep his teammate’s legs turned.

Another option to get past Z guard is to put both knees on the mat and pinch your opponent’s lower leg.  At this point, his opponent has raised his knee shield higher to compensate for his other leg being trapped.  Giles presses his chest into the knee and steps his right foot behind his opponent’s backside.  

From here, he swings himself around until he is on his right knee, ending up in top half guard.

Probably the best option of all of these is to not allow your opponent to establish a knee shield;however, Giles provides a lot of options if you do, and you can watch him demonstrate them all below:

Hang on tight with The Body Lock Pass by Lachlan Giles. Revitalize your passing with the power of The Body Lock. Fresh off of a Stellar ADCC 2019 performance, Lachlan Giles is ready to show you how to Dominate with The Body Lock Pass!

BUY NOW