Table of Contents
Single Leg X Guard Masterclass
The Single Leg X guard is a position made famous by BJJ icon Marcelo Garcia which linked together with his other main guards, Butterfly and X-Guard. He would often use Single Leg X when an opponent stood up in his butterfly guard which enabled him to wrap his legs underneath his opponent due to being directly underneath them from the previous butterfly position. Another name for Single Leg X is SLX or even Anaconda in some circles.
Interestingly, the SLX is quite different when played in nogi in comparison to the gi. We shall go into the reasons behind this later and some of this is to do with the rules when competing in and out of the gi. Not only this, but the gi also changes the position completely with the addition of lapels and sleeve grips for both the guard player and passer.
With this said, it’s almost like the SLX is a completely different guard when used thought of in the gi and without it. Although Marcelo Garcia is no longer active on the competitive scene, his legacy of SLX continues throughout modern BJJ and is still used commonly today.
Entries to Single Leg X Guard
Typically Single Leg X can be entered when an opponent stands in butterfly, but can also be entered via shin on shin guard or even as a transition from full X-Guard. In more recent times, BJJ players have entered the position via half-butterfly guard using their hook to elevate their opponent up. It can also be achieved as a mount escape, again through elevation if you can bridge the opponent up and quickly create space for a leg entanglement.
Although these are the main entries, the beauty of Single Leg X is that it can be used from almost any position. For example, in the gi you can sometimes stomp the opponent forward in spider guard to get under them and enter the position. Similarly, if you manage to off-balance the opponent from de la riva and then re-arrange your legs underneath them, you can also access the SLX and start attacking from there.
All of these entries share the same theme in common, elevation of the opponent whilst underneath them. Physically speaking Single Leg X is then when you shoot your one leg from the inside to the out of the opponent’s leg, whilst clamping your other inside leg onto the inside of their thigh. Whilst doing this you should have your hand controlling the same side foot and using your other hand to control a wrist or attack their other heel.
Holding and maintaining SLX
Like all guards, after you’ve got there you need to establish control before thinking about attacking. Below we shall assess the attacks from the position, but for now it’s important to focus on keeping control. In brief, Single Leg X requires tight control when you are on the bottom.
It’s not ideal to have sloppy legs that aren’t tight to the opponent. Similarly, your hand should always be active. The one should be holding the ankle or gi pants, whereas the other should be trying to get wrist grips to break posture or grab the other ankle to off-balance the opponent.
Basically, the goal is to keep your opponent from getting settled. This goes for all guards, but if your SLX is that bad, then you’re one step away from getting mounted after your leg gets stuffed inside. Due to this, constantly unbalancing your opponent and grip fighting is imperative. When this is established then you can start looking at sweeps and submissions. A good way to think about this is to move your opponent into three areas. Generally, these are in front of you, behind you and away from the side of the leg entanglement.
Sweeps and submissions from SLX
From the Single Leg X position there are a number of sweeps, typically hipping up and catching their other ankle will create a sweep which can often lead to leg locks. In brief, the idea is to use your legs and hips to push your bodyweight into the one leg of the opponent, which forces them down onto the floor.
There are also other sweeps such as the Kangaroo position, which is where you change your hook from the hip to the inside of the leg and hook them away. Again, by using your bodyweight correctly this should result in the opponent hitting the floor. Remember to always control an ankle when sweeping in SLX, as you will need this to stand and come on top.
If you do not control a foot or leg, then the opponent can stand with you which can lead to a scramble, instead of a controlled sweep. There is little point in trying sweeps if the result is a scramble as it means you’ve worked hard and used energy without getting rewarded by improving your position.
Due to the nature of SLX and sweeps, you will often land in the ashi garami position which is rife for leg attacks. This means SLX has a reputation for creating leg locks above upper body submissions. The Single Leg X is often associated with toe holds, heel hooks and straight ankle locks as it can transition from the sweep straight into a submission. Remember, when using leg submissions, you must have control. A typical newbie mistake is lacking control when attacking legs which can lead to getting your guard passed.
Because of this, it’s important to have a tight ashi garami leg entanglement. Make sure your legs are wrapped well with active feet and tightness around the attacked leg. Similarly, make sure your hands and arms are gripping the foot correctly to allow minimal room to escape.
Not only can you attack submissions, but you can choose to simply come up and start passing after the sweep if foot locks are not an option.
Away from sweeps and submissions, you can also use SLX to take the back of the opponent. This is done by kicking them to the side away from your entanglement. From there, you should keep their far arm controlled by your arm to stop them from coming back inside. At this point, you can invert under the opponent similar to a Kiss of the dragon movement.
To finish the move, you will need to bring your outside leg to the inside and switch to a crab ride from the back. By controlling their hips, you can then kick out to put the opponent forward to get your hooks in. Like most back takes, this technique is easier to achieve in the gi due to the control that various grips offer.
How do I pass the Single Leg X Guard?
So far, we’ve analyzed how to play the Single Leg X from the bottom position. Now it’s time to look at passing it, as it’s only fair and balanced to do so. There are many ways to pass SLX, but for now we shall focus on the most common method. This involves pushing down the outside hook which is when the heel is resting on your hip. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, but when done, you can control the foot and leg.
You need to place the foot off the hip and downwards and then you can do a massive back step. Here, you can chose to drop to the floor and instantly crossface the opponent to stop them from coming up. At this point, you’ve basically done a backstep from half guard, albeit you started in SLX. What is meant by this, is although the positions are different, the ends is the same result. Next, you should then hip upwards whilst squashing the opponent’s face. From here you can free your leg and come into side control. Of course, maintaining a crossface at all times is vital, otherwise the opponent can recover.
Although less high percentage, the best pass from SLX is to push both the outside hip foot and the inside knee downwards at the same time. If done quickly enough, you can theoretically sit into mount, which is the best result from passing. However, against a good opponent they will recover quickly.
Due to this, it’s quite common to try and walk forwards when the legs have been stripped and remove the leg entanglement completely. Whilst you may not achieve mount by doing this method, you should now be free from the SLX and ready to start passing on your own terms.
Although there are many different ways to pass the SLX, they mostly always have the same principles and fundamental moves. This involves stripping the feet and legs before progressing. Too often, rookies will try and pass without doing this which means you will most likely get swept as a result. Like always in BJJ, before you can progress you have to focus on getting dominant grips first, which in this case means removing at least one foot.
Using the lapel – Wormaconda
Obviously, the use of SLX differs in and out of the gi. For top and bottom players, the lapel can bring pros and cons. One of the best moves to use from the bottom is the Wormaconda which is a lapel wrap. This is done by wrapping the opponent’s lapel under your inner leg and out through the back of their far leg. With this said, this is where the name Wormaconda comes from, as it’s a mixture of the Worm lapel wrap and the Anaconda position.
This lapel wrap is incredibly powerful and slows down even the strongest of passers. The main benefit of this is that allows the use of your far leg. As you’re already anchored to the opponent’s leg, you can now completely remove your far leg from the hip of the opponent.
In normal circumstances, this isn’t possible and can lose you the position. Due to freeing your far leg, you can use this to kick the opponent’s far leg to create sweeps. You can also use this leg to create a bear trap sweep and attack the far leg. One issue with this position is that it generally lacks submissions. Nonetheless, in a competition setting it is ideal for scoring points and stopping guard passes.
IBJJF rules on knee reaping and heel hooks when looking at SLX
On the Nogi circuit, Single Leg X is arguably more powerful when heel hooks are allowed. This is due to the various entries that SLX brings which can directly enter into heel hook submissions. However, this is only during competitions that allow heel hooks within their ruleset such as ADCC. Where heel hooks and knee reaping is illegal, beginners should be aware not to cross the hip line with their foot or leg in IBJJF rulesets since this will result in a DQ for reaping the knee when competing in the Gi. Therefore, it is safe to assume the position is more effective in Nogi, albeit it is still used in the Gi at the highest of levels.
An example of knee reaping is when your toes face inwards and force the opponent’s knee to bend inside as a result. If done with enough force, this can torque the knee and snap ligaments, as seen when Jake Shields defeated Cub Swanson using this method. Due to this, knee reaping can be considered dangerous and is not ideal for beginners to train with because of the potentially terrible injuries available.
Away from the IBJJF rules, some people use the SLX to get into the saddle position and look at attacking heel hooks. This shows how the guard can change its attacks, dependent on the rules.
Summary
Overall Single Leg X is an interesting guard to play and at the very least is a good option to escape mount and enhance your position. Taken further, when used in the gi, SLX can be a very tricky guard when lapels are involved and used to tie down the opponent.
Not only this it can be used to devastating effect when leglock submissions are involved so it should be a consideration for any player who has an interest in lower body attacks. Because of this, we suggest learning the SLX as it can massively improve your open guard whilst offering a good transition position if you enjoy playing X-Guard, 50/50 and butterfly too.
