Adults: X-Guard Passing
Warm-up
Connected Game
Player A
Attempting to get to a bodylock. Can start from hands connected around the hands and move to the bodylock or just work into the bodylock. Hold the bodylock, then reset.
Player B
Win Condition(s)
Knee Pits/Sweeping
Player A
Player A is attempting to get shins in behind the kneepits. You must get it three times, alternating, and then you can pass.
Player B
Player B is attempting to keep Player A out of their knees and trying to sweep or submit.
Win Condition(s)
If the pass or the sweep/submission happens, switch top and bottom.
X-Guard/SLX
Player A
Player A starts with either X-Guard or SLX. They are trying to get Player B’s hips to the mat or wrestle up with a connection.
Player B
Player B is attempting to clear the feet and pass to chest-to-chest or chest-to-back.
Win Condition(s)
If Player A gets Player B’s hips to the mat or wrestles up, that’s a win. If Player B gets chest-to-chest or chest-to-back, that’s a win. Switch top and bottom on a win.
Main Class
Passing X-Guard
For all X-Guard passes, whether it is full X-Guard or SLX, we always want to lower our level and put pressure on their legs.
Our next objective is to place our hand, closest to their head, on their shoulder to pin it. Our hand closest to their legs is going to cup the outside knee. This is to keep the foot from planting on the mat, so they can get up, and to help us off-angle their legs. If we leave them square, they can start to get up, so we’re going to pull their knees toward us as we step away.
Once we’ve pulled the knees away, we’re going to wrap our chest over their knees to keep it compress and switch our hand that was cupping into a stab grip on the ankle.
From here, we start to backstep. We slide our shin down toward their hip, laying our hip on their chest. From here, you can just slide down into side control OR you can backstep further, over their head, into triangles, armlocks, and omoplatas.
Passing SLX
Just like we lowered our hips in full X, we’re going to do the same thing in SLX.
Our next objective is to peel the foot off of our hip, as that’s their main pushing mechanism. To do this, we’re going to lean our head away from their foot, grab the foot pad, and use our bodyweight to pop it off. This lean also makes our hip push their foot away and makes it more difficult for them to off-balance us.
As soon as the foot is off, we’re going to pinch our outside knee in to stop the reverse X entry. From here, we go knee down and walk our toes away to smash. From knees smashed, we crossface and follow our elbow with our knee.