Spider Guard

What it is

Spider guard is a gi open guard where you grip both of the opponent's sleeves and press your feet into their biceps, so your legs steer their arms. With their arms stretched out they cannot grip your legs or drive in to pass, and every push and pull of your feet opens a sweep, a triangle or an omoplata. It is a distance guard that works best against a passer who is standing or kneeling in front of you.

What you want from here

• They are standing or kneeling in front of you and you have both sleeves.
• You want to keep a pressure passer at distance by putting their arms out of reach.
• You want to set up the tripod sweep, a triangle or a lasso from strong sleeve control.
• On top: you need to break one sleeve grip before you try to pass.

Key details

• Grip the outside of the sleeve cuff in a closed fist. Fingers inside the sleeve are illegal in IBJJF competition and hard on your fingers.
• Foot on the biceps, just above the elbow, with the toes turned out so the foot does not slide down the arm.
• Push with one foot and pull with the other hand. One arm stretched and one arm bent is what breaks their balance.
• Keep your hips close to them and your knees bent. Hips far away let them pull their arms back in.

Common mistakes

• Mistake: both legs straight and stiff. They step back, stand tall and break the grips.
• Mistake: feet on the forearms instead of the biceps. They bend the elbows, step in and stack you.
• Mistake: holding the guard with no plan. Your grips tire long before their arms do.

How it is escaped or passed

• Circling the hands to strip the sleeve grips, one at a time.
• Stepping back to stretch your legs straight, then passing to the side.
• Pushing a knee down and stepping in to stack the legs together.

Gi and no-gi

Spider guard is gi only, because it depends on sleeve grips. In no-gi the same idea becomes wrist control with feet on the biceps or hips, and the grips slip much more.