X guard in BJJ: the hooks, the main sweeps and single leg X

What X guard is

X guard is played from underneath a standing partner. You hug one of their legs to your chest or shoulder, and your legs cross in an X around their other leg, the far leg: your bottom foot hooks behind that knee, and your top foot presses into the crease of the hip on the same side. With one leg held and the other pushed away from it, you can take their balance forward, backward or to either side. It is one of the leg entanglement guards in our guide to BJJ guards.

Marcelo Garcia is widely credited with popularizing X guard at the top level of competition in the 2000s. It works in the gi and in no-gi, because the hooks and the hold on the leg do not depend on fabric.

Getting to X guard and holding it

A common entry is from butterfly guard. You lie back, lift your partner with a butterfly hook as their weight comes forward, and slide your hips underneath them. Players also enter from De La Riva, from single leg X, or with a shin-to-shin connection against a standing partner.

Once there, keep the leg you hug tight to your shoulder so the foot cannot return to the mat. Keep your head and hips close to that leg instead of lying flat with space between you.

The main X guard sweeps

Many instructors teach the technical stand-up sweep first. You extend your legs to push the far leg away and break your partner’s balance, release one hook, post on your free hand and come up to your feet with their leg still on your shoulder. From there you finish the takedown or move to the back.

The other sweeps answer the ways a partner resists it. If they keep their feet close together, sliding your bottom foot down behind their ankle while your top foot drives their hip back sits them down. If they push back against your legs, catch the far ankle with your free hand and extend again, and the leg buckles. If they lean far enough forward that their weight comes over you, lifting the far leg with both insteps takes them over your head, much like the judo throw tomoe nage. Because each sweep answers a different defense, many instructors teach them as a chain.

X guard and single leg X

Single leg X, often shortened to SLX, is a separate position that is easy to confuse with X guard. In single leg X, the leg you hold stays low, running between your legs with its foot at your hip. Your outside leg wraps behind the knee of that same leg, and your inside leg goes between their legs with the foot on their far hip.

The difference is where the knee hook goes. In X guard, the leg you hug is up at your shoulder and both feet work on their other leg. In single leg X, the knee hook is on the leg you hold, and the foot of that leg is already in place for straight ankle locks and other leg locks. Players often switch from one position to the other during an exchange.

How partners counter it, and common mistakes

Partners defend X guard by lowering their hips, controlling your free arm so you cannot start a sweep, and pushing your top foot off their hip. Once one hook is gone, they step over or backstep around the other and pass to side control. If your hips are still free when the first hook comes off, you can re-enter X guard, move to single leg X or deep half guard, or come up with the stand-up sweep.

Shallow hooks are a common mistake, because a partner can sit their weight down and flatten them. Another is leaving your partner’s far arm free, so they can post it on the mat or grab your head or collar to slow your hips. In the stand-up sweep, letting the leg drop off your shoulder as you rise gives your partner their base back.

What a reviewer looks for in X guard footage

On video, a black belt notes which guard each X guard entry came from, which sweep you tried first, and which way your partner shifted their weight to stop it. They also check which hook your partner cleared first, and whether they were standing tall or already low when you entered. A verified black belt can go through your own rolls this way in a roll review.