The human body has limits in its movements. Some limbs have broader possibilities, such as the spine, shoulder, or wrist, while others are more limited, like the knee and elbow, for example. However, the combination of these movements makes the possibilities infinite. Our hand can reach our back through a combination of movements: the shoulder rotates backward, and the elbow flexes, making it possible for the wrist and fingers to touch to relieve a hypothetical itch.
Jiu-Jitsu is like a puzzle of the body, where we seek combinations and fits with the opponent to achieve the goal in a fight, whether it's dominance or submission. Techniques in Jiu-Jitsu stem from a solid foundation, with great variety, but simplicity.
Just as "scratching your back" is done by the combination of simple movements, the combination of these basic techniques allows for an infinite variety of positions that can lead to the development of a new way of seeing an aspect of the fight, whether it's the intention to takedown (throws), dominate from the top (guard passing), or escape from the bottom (playing guard).
My experience on the mat has allowed me to have moments of "vision" or creation of these possibilities, which set me apart from opponents. In each technical sequence that emerged while fighting, I thought more deeply about it, whether by repeating them in training or even in thoughts off the mat, until I began to succeed in the gym and finally put them to the test in tournaments, where it could be considered that it pierced the bubble of my circle to prove effective in the "real world" of competition.
Like an inventor, or even a poet, who is inspired and who improves, many practitioners have these moments of "epiphany", making it possible for their creations sometimes to revolutionize some aspect of the sport, as long as they are not lost in time until someone, elsewhere or under different circumstances, discovers them again.
I consider the Y Guard a contribution, a new way and alternative to see guard defense. One of these combinations of revolutionary techniques, serving as a defensive or offensive transition for those who find themselves underneath someone in a fight.
Mentally going back to when I started using this combination, I realized it was a slow and evolutionary process from my early years as a black belt, still in 2002. Being pointed out as a specialist in "half guard" since that time, I realized that I felt trapped every time my opponent managed to balance their weight on top of me or began to stand up. Even seeking a transition to the X guard, originally coming from the commonly called "Joga-fora-no-lixo" sweep, due to my physical abilities, I would lose control or have difficulty getting up and completing the inversion (sweep). In an exhaustive process of trial and error, I eventually realized that moving my opponent's leg from one shoulder to the other, unlocked movements that were previously impossible and that simple adaptation opened up a new range of possibilities that couldn't be seen. It was as if I had been trying to scratch my back without using shoulder rotation and then had added that possibility. Now I had access to all the points on my back that were previously unreachable.
Seeing that door wide open, I was able to combine aspects learned from many other training partners, such as details about the 50/50 guard learned from Ryan Hall, or other situations like a closed guard, the "lock-down" control, half guard (with strong influences from Comprido, despite our difference in size), among other aspects of consolidated knowledge, uniquely and creatively that I had never seen anyone else use.
I surprised my first opponents with this unique combination since competitions in 2005, still timidly, in a process of evolution, and I gradually taught it in my seminars, as I added details myself until I had a "complete system", with reactions and possible solutions to every move by the opponent.
Naturally, the idea spread. The name "Y Guard" was given by my Belgian friend and student Ken Van Gilbergen, around 2012, who jokingly compared it to the X guard, justifying that my body was positioned in a way that looked like a Y. In the absence of another name, this one became popular.
When I realized that I had developed a unique style, I tried to find other people who might be doing similar things but the more I looked, the more I understood that I had a rare and valuable solution in my hands. I noticed that even athletes of the highest levels when they found themselves in the position that would allow them to use that sequence, followed another path because they couldn't see the possibilities I saw.
I won several medals with the help of the Y Guard and the more I taught and tried to spread that understanding, the more specialized I became in the subject, while at the same time, I had the satisfaction of seeing training partners, direct or indirect students gain advantages over athletes who still didn't understand what was being done. Even today, whether in competitions or just in the gym training, I see that those who dedicate themselves to understanding the steps and possible stages with the Y Guard can surprise opponents or training partners.
Time will pass and I don't care if one day they won't know that I was the first to put this sequence together. That may be happening right now. In Jiu-Jitsu techniques, there are no copyrights, thankfully. I prefer techniques to be like motivational phrases that spread around, in quotes, written underneath "author unknown". That's okay, as long as I find out that one day, someone, maybe on the other side of the world, won a local tournament in their city with the Y Guard, even if it's not called that there, but the winds blew strongly enough to enter the mind of a new practitioner who had never heard of my name.
Wasn't it always like this? Could it be that, through one of those winds, it reached my mind? I almost hope so.
After all, surely the wheel wasn't discovered in just one place.
Text written by Felipe Costa (@FelipeCostaBJJ)