The K Guard is a position in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu that is a form of open guard. Overall, it can be considered as an aggressive position that often leads to leg attacks and upper body submissions too. Because of this, it has grown in popularity over the years and is commonly associated with heel hook entries too.
Often, it also links up with the Matrix position too when playing guard in the gi. This is because mechanically, it has a lot of similarities with the Matrix. Below we shall go through the K Guard and assess its pros and cons.
What is K Guard in BJJ?
The term originated because the leg and body positions of the guard player resemble the letter ‘K’. A good way to getting used to the K Guard is by drilling it and learning the correct angle. This is because with the K Guard, the angle is a very important way of getting to the attacks.
From a practical level, you can drill this by having a closed guard on your training partner whilst they’re on their knees. Then, you should put your arm under their one leg (as if setting up a pendulum sweep). On the same side of this, you then want to place your knee inside their own knee, meaning your foot remains on the outside of their hip, but your knee is on the inside of their body. Ideally, your other leg should be placed on their far hip, with your free hand gripping their wrist or posted in their armpit.
With this set up, you’re now in K Guard. Perhaps the three most important aspects of this position are:
- Gripping under the leg with your arm (this will be important later and allows you to start inverting)
- Placing the same side knee in between their legs to be able to start attacks
- In doing the above, your body will need to be at an angle. You don’t want to be sat on your back side and need to have a hip touching the floor
Who invented K Guard?
Although K Guard has been popularized by Lachlan Giles, the original credit for the position goes to both Neil Melanson and Aaron Milam. In the earlier days, this guard was often referred to as the ‘squirrel guard’. If ever you’ve followed the BJJ careers of these two, you’ll know their styles are very experimental and so it’s no surprise they were the earlier pioneers of K Guard.
Having said this, Lachlan Giles was one of the first people who was able to pull off K Guard at the highest levels of competition BJJ. Therefore, all three deserve credit when talking about the position.
How to play K Guard
As mentioned earlier, K Guard is usually done in open guard, either against someone who is kneeling or standing. Depending on their stance, this will also alter your own options. Basically, if you’ve ever inverted from bottom half or closed guard, then it’s a similar movement when doing the K Guard, especially when going for leg locks.
To set up a heel hook for instance, you will often make sure your knee is inside, then invert and tip the opponent to their far arm. This will naturally take the weight off their near leg, which means you can then get under and control the leg. By swinging your own leg over and connecting the two, you can then attack the legs. In the gi, this could mean kneebars and toeholds, but usually in no gi it’s a great way to enter heel hooks.
However, there’s more to the K Guard than just leg attacks. In fact, in its earlier days, it often involved attacking the upper body. Here, people would clamp onto a leg, whilst holding the same side wrist. By controlling the arm, you can then use the K Guard to move into triangles, armlocks and omoplatas. As a result, it’s considered as quite an offensive position.
Perhaps one of the downsides of the K Guard is the lack of sweeps, as like Rubber Guard, it is primarily based on submissions. Nonetheless, there are some sweeps you can attempt. For instance, once you’ve grabbed the leg, you can then granby roll towards the outside of the leg. This will bring you into a kind of single leg takedown from behind your opponent. Often, you can wrestle, or attempt to take the back here and end in an advantageous position. Typically though, it’s meant for submissions.
How to defend and counter K Guard
One of the simplest ways of defending the K Guard is by backing off the moment you see someone committing to the position. Basically, some people may choreograph the move by setting it up which involves placing their hand under your leg. The second you feel this, do not allow their knee to get on the inside of your leg. Once this has been established, you’re in trouble.
As a result of not allowing the knee entering the inside, the K Guard is shut down before it’s even begun. Of course, sometimes someone may simply be too quick to shut it down in its infancy. This is where the second defense comes in.
Let’s say someone grabs your leg whilst you’re on your knees. Here, you need to free the wrist they will try to control or not allow it in the first place. With this hand and arm, you need to initiate a hard crossface on the opponent.
This will shut down any inversions which are needed to set up the K Guard. At the same time, you can also begin to sprawl your hips which will weaken the grip under your leg. This will not only kill the K Guard, but also put the opponent in a physically tough position where you can apply the pressure.
K Guard summary
Learning the K Guard is a fantastic option to play from the open guard position. Especially popular in no gi, it offers a lot of entries into heel hooks. Similarly, the K Guard is another great option in the gi as it enters into the Matrix position which is similar. Obviously in the gi, you will not be able to heel hook, but due to the gi grips, you’ll have more sweeps and back takes available.
At the same time, as seen the K Guard isn’t invisible either. Although it is a solid position, it’s also vulnerable if your control isn’t strong enough. If you try to force the position without the right grips and body positions, then you may get caught out. However, the same can be said for almost any position in BJJ. In conclusion, the K Guard is one of the more fun positions to try out in BJJ and can really elevate your open guard if used correctly.
