Week 7: The Highest Percentage Lapel Technique there is: 🪱Reverse de la Worm Guard to Back take

This week's focus will be Keenan's Reverse dela Worm Guard

Lapel guards are great for 2 things:

1st: Most people do not understand how to do the technique or how to defend it. The funny thing is that people think they’ll intuitively be able to respond to the technique. To be able to respond to any lapel technique, you need to be 100% oriented on what’s going on.

Any technique that involves lapels is usually super technical! This means you need to invest some time into learning the little details, but like any highly technical technique, they work if you get the pieces right.

2nd: It slows the game and makes it super easy to control and hold stronger opponents. I’m 150lbs, and this is my go-to technique whenever I need to control and slow down a 200lbs meathead.

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Technique

Part 1: Getting to Reverse de la Worm Guard:

First, you need to get to regular Worm Guard:

Here are some details:

Once you have secured the regular worm guard, you need to transition to Reverse deal Worm like so:

Make sure you understand this grip change:

And now, it’s time for the final CRUCIAL adjustment: Your knee needs to be above your opponent’s knee like so:

Part 2: Submission Options: Back take or Arm Bar:

You will go to the back or finish with an arm bar depending on your opponent's reaction.

Option 1: Back Take:

If your opponent doesn’t post on your chest/neck with his arm, you can transition to the back:

Use your free leg as a pendulum and use your free hand to grab their pants or belt:

Lift your hips to get closer to them and pull them on top of you by bringing your knees close to your chest.

Finish with a pushing motion to sit them inside of your hooks:

Choke them!

Option 2: Arm Bar:

If your opponent posts on your chest/neck with his arm, you can throw a very high percentage arm bar (without even releasing the lapel) like so:

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Related Resources

Watch it in action

• Keenan vs Herbert Santos

• Short

• Keenan’s Lapel Encyclopedia

• Lapelapalooza by Andris Brunovski

Best Fighters to watch

• Keenan Cornelius

• Andris Brunovski

Training Plan for the Week

• I train 3-4 days per week (I drill at home with a dummy almost every day). In order to make it easier for you and everyone else to adapt this plan to their training schedule, I'll divide the week into 2 parts and an extra for the lucky ones who can train more than 3-4 times per week.

First Half of the Week (Training sessions 1 & 2 of 4 for me):

• Drill the whole sequence and try the positions with your training partners before you try them while rolling

• Focus on rolling playfully with smaller, weaker opponents that are way below your skill level. If you can roll playfully with someone that knows what you are trying, that’s better. Tell them to resist, but ultimately let you win and try the positions.

• Remember, the first half of the week is meant to get reps and some feedback on what you are doing wrong and how to fix them.

Second Half of the Week (Training sessions 3 & 4 of 4 for me):

• Gradually start picking better opponents until you can no longer perform the move. Once this happens, start going down and picking less skilled opponents until you get to a sweet spot where you are performing the move more than 50% of the time you try it.

• Try to finish your week performing the move as flawlessly as possible with someone, no matter how low their skill level is: You want to make the last rep as perfect as possible; that's the repetition we internalize the most when we leave the training room.

• NOTE: At the least, you should be drilling at home with a homemade dummy for 10 minutes almost every day to take advantage of your training time at the gym and maximize your learning.

That’s it!

PS. I'd love to hear your feedback on this newsletter. Please reply and let me know what you want to cover next week.

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