Guard Retention a la Marcelo Garcia: Denying the Cranial Shift

A get out of jail free card for guard retention.

Guard Retention can be one of the hardest things to master in BJJ.

And I’ve spoken extensively about it in the past.

I like to divide the way I teach it into two (usually seen as opposite) approaches, to make sure people have some initial success through tactics and specific heuristics, and concepts that will probably govern most of your later (higher level) guard retention once you start getting better at it.

Today, I want to cover the importance of a concept that John Danaher has made popular in recent years: The Cranial Shift.

The Cranial Shift refers to the necessary last step of controlling the head of your opponent in order to get a solid pass (AKA pin your opponent)

And it is a requisite every single time in order to get a solid pass. Yes, you heard it right: EVERY SINGLE TIME.

Remember, we are talking about how to pass good BJJ players, not sloppy white belts willing to give you the pass even when you don’t have it.

Marcelo Garcia is probably the best single example of Cranial Shift denial.

We’ve spoken about Marcelo’s Sit-Elbow Push escapes in the past, but looking at it in terms of concept, all he is doing for guard retention once their opponents put him in danger is denying them the Cranial Shift.

Look at it 👇:

He never lets his opponents control his head.

Marcelo is the goat 🐐, but he still gets his legs passed. But you rarely see him get pinned and getting his guard really passed because he denies the last crucial step needed to pass anyone’s guard: Letting them control your head.

So next time you get your legs passed, focus on not letting them control your head.

That’s it for this week!

Thanks for reading, and please share this with a friend 🙏 struggling with guard retention!