Lapel Guard

Position · Open Guard

You pull his lapel out of his jacket and use it as a rope around one of his legs, one of his arms or your own leg, holding the end in your hand near your hip. The grip is strong and hard to break: the wrap itself holds the tension, so breaking one hand grip is not enough to free it. Wrapped around his lead leg with a De La Riva hook it becomes the worm guard; with the hook inside his leg it becomes reverse De La Riva with a lapel; wrapped around your own leg it becomes the squid guard. He tries to grab the lapel at his chest to give himself slack, or to back away before the wrap is set. Grip the lapel short and keep it tight: a loose lapel controls nothing.

How to do it

  1. First hold a De La Riva hook or a foot on the hip so they cannot pass while your hands work; then open their lapel and pull it out from under the belt.
  2. Feed the lapel around their leg (worm) or behind their arm (spider-lapel).
  3. Grip the end of the lapel close to your body and pull it toward your hip; keep the other hand on a sleeve.
  4. Put your feet on their hips or behind the knee so the lapel ties the leg to you.
  5. Sweep when they step or try to pass: the tied leg cannot follow.

Key details

  • Their own lapel is the grip: very hard to strip, because the wrap holds the tension by itself.
  • Pull the lapel tight: a loose lapel ties nothing.
  • Only in the gi, and slower: learn it after the basic open guard.
  • The wrap holds tension by itself: they cannot strip it by breaking your hand.
  • Learn the feed first: pulling the lapel out and passing it behind the leg is the hard part.

Common mistakes

  • Feeding the lapel before controlling the leg. — They pass while your hands are busy with the lapel. — Hold a DLR hook or foot on the hip first.
  • Holding the lapel far from your body. — The lapel is loose and the leg slides out. — Grip close and pull toward your hip.
  • Too many grips at once. — You tie yourself up and cannot move. — One lapel grip and one sleeve grip.

If they defend

  • They tuck the lapel back into the belt. → Pull it out again early, before they settle.
  • They step back to straighten the lapel. → Their weight goes back: sweep with the tied leg.

How to drill it

Lapel feed from DLR, 10 each side; then worm guard sweep, 6 each side; then 1-minute rounds where the partner tries to strip the lapel.

Where it comes from

  • Open Guard
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