X-Guard by Marcelo Garcia

I nearly didn’t buy this book, but I had a gift card and a limited selection of books. Once I started thumbing through the pages I realized I had lucked into a great jiu-jitsu book.

I was reluctant to buy the book because I never really saw the x-guard as part of my grappling game. It seemed too specialized to thin flexible guys in jiu-jitsu tournaments. It turns out this book has a lot more technique than just the x-guard. Each technique has an indicator at the top that shows if the technique is applicable to gi, or no gi or both. It’s a nice touch, but it’s not really necessary – all the no gi techniques can be applied with a gi, and all the techniques demoed in a gi use grips that are obviously exclusive to jacketed practice.

The technique section begins with some griping and clinching strategies. It’s short and the grips aren’t particularly unique, but they form the opening to the later techniques and are overall useful.

The first section covers sweeps and transitions from the butterfly guard. It’s a full section of sweeps, and follow-ups. This section alone is worth giving the book a look-through. There are also a few butterfly guard submissions, but they feel more like a formality than real high-powered moves. Every one of the submissions requires the bottom player to move his feet out into another position, so the section feels less like “submissions from the butterfly guard” than “getting to closed guard submissions from butterfly.”

The next section is where the x-guard material begins in earnest. It starts with a huge section of ways to establish the x-guard. Garcia demos so dozens of ways to get into x-guard, including off failed shots, as escapes and out of several guards.

The real powerful material here focuses around the entries that link the butterfly guard, half guard and x-guard into a combined positional strategy. There are plenty of entries into the x-guard off attempted butterfly guard sweeps and from the half guard.

One of the largest sections in the book details the numerous sweeps from the x-guard. Garcia details sweeps of every imaginable variation. There is a lot of material here, including lots of follow-ups of defended sweeps and some complex control/sweep combinations. Some of it is probably only useful to a grappler who wants to specialize in the x-guard game. The bulk of material means that the x-guard will probably have to be installed into your grappling game in segments, some even left behind.

The book ends with a short section of x-guard submissions. The arm attacks look pretty shaky and depend on a lot of transition work. The few leg attacks look more solid and reliable, since they attack a limb that is already under control. It’s still a small section, but this book is really all about sweeps anyway.

The book is a large format, printed in glossy full-color. It is a Victory Belt Publication, and has all the hallmarks of their other books. Techniques are detailed in a series of high-quality photos from various angles, with some text description. The book also opens with the common story and philosophy from the author. It’s an interesting read if you have the time, especially the segment the details Garcia’s game developing with the x-guard.