Sucked Into Squid Guard? Andre Galvao Has You Covered

By Fanatics Authors, December 21, 2019

Galvao has a unique insight into lapel guard strategies

Andre Galvao is widely considered to be one of the very best guard passers in Jiu-Jitsu. Whether it is Gi or No-Gi Galvao has time and time again proven that his guard passing is next to unstoppable. Atos is home to some of the most competitive and unique Jiu-Jitsu athletes in the game so Galvao gets to continually sharpen his skills against tricky guards including the lapel guard.

Lapel Guard is one of the newest guards to make waves. It can be one of the most difficult positions to pass especially if it’s locked on. The wide variety of lapel guards can keep the passer guessing, which is usually not a good thing as someone progresses through their chosen Lapel attacks. One of those varieties that poses a significant challenge to the passer is the Squid Guard.

Galvao is no stranger to being entangled with the lapels so he has spent ample time analyzing how to successfully defeat the squid! Let’s take a look at how Galvao dissects this devastating position.

Andre is a master at taking old-school principles and applying them to today’s modern guards. In fact this video is a small glimpse into Passing Modern Guards Using Old-School Principles by Andre Galvao. Passing these complex systems using methods you are familiar with is possible, especially with Galvao’s assistance!

A common approach Galvao uses in many situations is the stack. With the squid guard locked on the opponent is able to keep putting his hips down in defense of the stack. Galvao switches his hand from the lower back to four fingers inside the collar. To watch how he does this and really absorb this method of the reverse stack the sequence is from 0:18-0:35 in the video. This technique alone can make a big difference in being able to unlock their grip on the lapel and eventually passing the guard.

Galvao mentions that he uses this reverse stack position in no-gi as well. He modifies his collar hand into a fist that allows him to pivot his weight around the legs/upper body for the pass. Galvao has competed at the highest levels in Gi and No-Gi for over a decade so you can rest assured his modifications will work.

Andre seems to have just as many variations as the guard player, which says a lot because of the amount of options they tend to have!