The game of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is all about constantly improving yourself. You should always be on the hunt to make better, faster, more efficient progress… So that you’re always one step ahead of your training partners and opponents. However, sometimes that’s not easy to do, especially if you’ve been training for quite a while and hit a plateau.
For example, figuring out how to improve your Butterfly Guard – especially if you want to make it as good as Marcelo Garcia’s – can be an extremely difficult task. So many details have to come together, in order to make it work!

EYES OFF THE DETAILS, ATTENTION TO THE CONCEPTS

But what if we told you that improving your Butterfly Guard (and the entirety of your Jiu-Jitsu, for that matter) isn’t solely about the details?
Sure, the details to the technique are important, as they’re going to make it more refined. More effective and more bulletproof. However, the details can only take you so far… If you haven’t acquired the concepts that make up the technique.

Kenny Florian pinpoints this well in his video. He explains that a lot of people are focused on how to grip the opponent when they’re in the Butterfly Guard; whether it’s going to be a Collar Tie grip combined with the tricep grip, an Underhook-Overhook grip, or some other variation.
However, the grips aren’t as important. You’ll need to find the ones that work best for you, that’s for certain – but grips won’t make or break the success of your Butterfly Guard… And they most certainly won’t take it to a Marcelo Garcia level!

THE SECRET TO MARCELO GARCIA’S BUTTERFLY GUARD

What makes Marcelo Garcia’s Butterfly Guard so effective is one really simple concept. It’s the concept of becoming one with the floor.
Yup, you’ve read that well! But „becoming one with the floor“ has two crucial components to it, that Kenny Florian goes on to explain.

First of all, you want to get beneath your training partner. Not just for a bit, but get beneath them totally. Kenny explains this by clasping one palm over another… The top palm has to go over the bottom one completely!
The point here is to incapacitate your training partner from generating power off the mats. And the way they generate this power is, essentially, through being able to post. So, when you get under them, you make it impossible for them to post on the floor – because you’re the floor now!

And secondly, Kenny points out that you’ve got to mimic your training partner’s body position. This is an additional step to „becoming one with the floor“, so don’t miss it.
Also, pay attention to how Kenny uses his legs to extend his training partner. Why does he do this? Yes, exactly – because this is a really important step to eliminating their ability to generate power off the mats.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Now that you know how to be „one with the floor“, you can already consider yourself to be one HUGE step closer to becoming a Butterfly Guard expert! Of course, it’s not enough for you to become like Marcelo Garcia (yet), but it’s enough to start putting it into effective use.

In other words: when you eliminate the training partner’s ability to generate power off the mats, you can pretty much decide where to sweep them! The technique you’ll use and the side you’ll sweep them towards will depend on the grips you have.
Watch the video below, where Kenny Florian explains and demonstrates this Butterfly Guard concept in fantastic detail… And start using it already!