What the lasso guard is
The lasso guard is an open guard played in the gi. One of your legs wraps around one of your partner’s arms from the outside, and the hand on the same side as that leg holds the sleeve of the wrapped arm. While the wrap holds, that arm cannot post, grip your pants or push on your hips. Our guide to BJJ guards places it with the open guards.
The lasso works against a partner on their knees or on their feet. Because your leg is wrapped around the arm rather than pressing on it, the lasso is harder to remove than a spider guard foot on the biceps.
Wrapping the arm and holding the sleeve
To trap your partner’s left arm, your right hand grips their left sleeve near the wrist and your right leg goes around the outside of that arm. Your foot then comes in between the arm and their body, so your lower leg wraps their upper arm. Common entries start from spider guard, circling the foot off the biceps and around the arm, or from both feet on the hips.
In a shallow lasso your shin stays across the upper arm and mainly manages distance. In a deep lasso your foot goes all the way to the armpit or behind the shoulder, which bends your partner’s posture down and holds them close.
Keep steady pulling tension on the sleeve, and set the wrap high on the upper arm rather than around the wrist, so the arm has no slack to slide out. Your other hand takes the other sleeve, the collar or a pant leg.
Grips
- Lasso hook
- Same-side sleeve grip
- Second sleeve or collar grip
- Pant grip on the far leg
- Free footOn the hip, on the other biceps as spider guard, or hooked as De La Riva.
Main attacks
- Lasso sweep
- Overhead sweep
- Omoplata
- Triangle choke
- Back take
No-gi
The lasso depends on a sleeve grip, so it is mainly a gi guard. Without sleeves to hold, players control the arm in other ways, such as wrist control or an overhook.
Distance
Open with grips
Rules
At IBJJF events, gripping with the fingers inside the sleeve opening is penalized, even during a sweep, so hold the lasso sleeve from the outside.
Combining the lasso with spider guard and De La Riva
The lasso controls one arm, and your free leg decides which guard you are playing around it. Paired with spider guard, your free foot pushes on the biceps of the other arm, so you control both arms. A diagonal push with the spider foot can tip your partner over from there.
Your free leg can also take a De La Riva hook while the lasso stays on the arm. The hook makes it harder for your partner to step to catch their balance, and the lasso takes away the post on one side. If your partner clears the lasso, the free leg’s guard is still in place while you work to wrap the arm again.
Main sweeps and submissions
The basic lasso sweep takes your partner over toward the wrapped arm. You extend the lasso leg and pull the sleeve while your free leg drops toward the mat or your other hand holds a pant leg. When your partner drives forward instead, the overhead sweep uses that momentum, lifting them with your legs and carrying them over your head.
The omoplata attacks the arm the lasso has already isolated. Turning your hips and bringing a leg over that shoulder traps the arm for the shoulder lock, and when your partner defends it, the same motion often sweeps them. A deep lasso that has pulled their posture down also sets up the triangle: you release the wrap and lock your legs around their head and one arm. With sleeve and collar grips, you can also use the lasso to spin underneath your partner and take the back.
How partners pass the lasso, and how to respond
A passer who keeps the elbows close to the ribs leaves little room for your foot to come in between arm and body. Once the lasso is on, passers usually remove it before passing. They break the sleeve grip, or they pin the lasso leg and posture up or walk their hips back to pull the arm free. They also avoid stepping forward with the leg on the trapped arm’s side, which weakens their base and makes them easier to sweep, and they keep you from getting your hips under them. With the arm free, common passes include the knee cut, the toreando, the smash pass and the over-under pass.
Attack as your partner steps back to free the arm: turn your hips to restore your angle and sweep while their weight moves away from you. If the wrap does come off, keep the sleeve grip, which lets you wrap the arm again or put the foot on the biceps.
What a reviewer looks for in your lasso guard
A reviewer checks how deep each lasso was when your partner tried to posture up or step back, and whether the sleeve grip loosened before the arm came free. They also look at what your free leg was doing while the lasso held, and which attack you chose from it. A verified black belt can timestamp these moments in your own gi rounds or matches in a roll review.