The Single Leg X Entry is a fundamental transition in modern leg entanglement systems, allowing practitioners to establish a dominant sweeping position from various seated guard configurations. This entry creates a powerful off-balancing structure by controlling one leg while using your own legs to destabilize your opponent’s base. The position excels at creating immediate sweeping opportunities and serves as a gateway to more advanced leg entanglement positions.
Developed and popularized through modern competition grappling, the Single Leg X Entry has become essential for no-gi practitioners and increasingly relevant in gi competition. The technique leverages biomechanical advantage by attacking your opponent’s base from below while maintaining defensive safety through proper leg positioning. Success depends on timing the entry when your opponent’s weight is committed forward and their base is compromised.
The Single Leg X position reached through this entry offers multiple offensive pathways including sweeps to top position, transitions to more complex leg entanglements like Ashi Garami or X-Guard, and direct submission attacks. Understanding this entry is crucial for developing a comprehensive modern guard game and building systematic attacking sequences from the bottom position.
Starting Position: Seated Guard Ending Position: Single Leg X-Guard Success Rates: Beginner 30%, Intermediate 50%, Advanced 70%
Key Principles
- Control opponent’s captured leg at the ankle and knee simultaneously for maximum control
- Use inside leg hook behind opponent’s knee to prevent backward escape
- Maintain outside leg positioning across opponent’s hip to control distance and angle
- Keep hips mobile and elevated to adjust positioning and create off-balancing angles
- Secure grips early in the sequence before opponent establishes defensive posture
- Time entry when opponent’s weight shifts forward or their base narrows
- Create immediate sweeping threat upon establishing position to prevent opponent settling
Prerequisites
- Seated guard position established with hips mobile and not flat on mat
- Opponent in standing or combat base position within engagement range
- At least one grip secured on opponent’s leg, ankle, or pant material
- Sufficient space and angle to insert inside leg hook behind opponent’s knee
- Opponent’s weight beginning to shift forward or base compromised
- Your outside leg free to position across opponent’s hip for distance control
Execution Steps
- Establish initial seated guard position: Begin in seated guard with your hips elevated slightly off the mat, posting on your hands behind you. Keep your legs mobile and ready to engage, with knees bent and feet active. Maintain posture that allows quick movement in any direction while tracking opponent’s movement and weight distribution. (Timing: Preparation phase - establish before opponent pressures)
- Secure ankle or lower leg grip: As opponent steps forward or shifts weight, immediately secure a grip on their ankle, achilles, or lower pant leg on the side you intend to attack. Use a firm overhand grip with your hand wrapping around the ankle from outside to inside. This grip prevents them from stepping back and serves as your primary control point throughout the entry. (Timing: Execute as opponent commits weight forward)
- Insert inside leg hook: Rapidly bring your inside leg (same side as your gripping hand) underneath and behind opponent’s captured leg. Hook your foot behind their knee, creating a clamping pressure by pulling your heel toward their hamstring while your shin crosses behind their knee. This hook prevents backward escape and begins to compromise their base. (Timing: Immediate follow-up to grip - within 1 second)
- Establish outside leg frame: Position your outside leg across opponent’s hip or lower abdomen with your foot pressing into their hip bone. This creates distance control and prevents them from driving their weight directly down onto you. Keep this leg slightly bent with active pressure, ready to adjust angle as needed. Your shin should form a barrier that controls their upper body movement. (Timing: Simultaneous with or immediately after inside hook)
- Elevate hips and adjust angle: Bridge your hips up off the mat while maintaining both leg connections. This elevation is crucial for creating the off-balancing angle that defines Single Leg X. Rotate your body slightly toward the captured leg, creating an oblique angle that pulls opponent forward and across your centerline. Your shoulders should come slightly off the mat as you create this lifting pressure. (Timing: Continuous adjustment - maintain throughout position)
- Secure secondary grip and complete position: With your free hand, establish a second grip either at opponent’s knee (palm pressing into kneecap), behind their knee (grabbing hamstring or back of pant), or at their hip. This secondary grip works in combination with your ankle grip to create a two-point control system. Your inside leg hook pulls their leg toward you, outside leg maintains distance at their hip, and both grips control the captured leg completely. You have now fully entered Single Leg X position and can initiate sweeping or transitional attacks. (Timing: Final adjustment - position should feel stable and balanced)
Opponent Counters
- Opponent backsteps and pulls captured leg away before you establish inside hook (Effectiveness: High) - Your Response: Follow their backward movement by scooting forward on your hips, maintaining ankle grip while persistently pursuing the inside hook. Alternatively, switch to De La Riva or Reverse De La Riva guard if they create too much distance.
- Opponent sprawls heavily forward, driving chest pressure down onto your outside leg frame (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Immediately retract outside leg and transition to X-Guard or Deep Half Guard by swimming your outside leg deeper underneath their hips. Use their forward pressure as momentum to facilitate the positional change.
- Opponent circles away from your inside hook, rotating their hips to face away (Effectiveness: Medium) - Your Response: Follow their rotation by adjusting your angle, walking your hips in the same direction they circle. If they continue rotating, transition to their back or switch to attacking their opposite leg with technical stand-up entry.
- Opponent posts their free leg far away creating wide base (Effectiveness: Low) - Your Response: This wide base makes them vulnerable to immediate off-balancing. Execute your sweep earlier in the sequence, or transition to attacking the posted leg with your outside leg, creating Ashi Garami entry opportunity.
Test Your Knowledge
Q1: What is the primary function of the inside leg hook in Single Leg X Entry? A: The inside leg hook serves multiple critical functions: it prevents opponent from stepping backward to escape, creates clamping pressure by pulling their leg toward you, compromises their base by attacking one pillar of their stance, and works in conjunction with your ankle grip to create two-point control on the same leg. The hook should be positioned deep behind their knee with your heel pulling toward their hamstring for maximum effectiveness.
Q2: Why must your hips remain elevated during Single Leg X Entry rather than flat on the mat? A: Hip elevation is essential because it creates the lifting, off-balancing angle that defines effective Single Leg X position. When hips are elevated, you generate upward and angular pressure that pulls opponent forward and across your centerline, compromising their balance. Flat hips eliminate this leverage, making the position static and allowing opponent to maintain centered base. The elevation also keeps you mobile and able to adjust angles as opponent attempts to counter.
Q3: What is the correct placement for the outside leg frame and why is this positioning important? A: The outside leg should be positioned across opponent’s hip or lower abdomen, with your foot pressing into their hip bone. This placement is crucial because it controls distance and prevents opponent from driving their weight directly down onto you, which would flatten you and eliminate your off-balancing leverage. Positioning too high (at ribs or shoulders) allows them to drive past your frame. Too low provides insufficient distance control. Hip-level positioning maintains optimal leverage while keeping you safe from passes.
Q4: How should you adjust if opponent begins to successfully backstep away from your entry attempt? A: When opponent backsteps, you must immediately follow their movement by scooting your hips forward while maintaining your ankle grip. Pursue the inside hook persistently as you move with them. If they create too much distance and you cannot complete the entry, transition to alternative positions like De La Riva Guard or Reverse De La Riva Guard that work at longer range. The key is never surrendering your ankle grip prematurely, as this grip prevents complete escape and maintains your attacking connection.
Q5: What are the three primary offensive pathways available after successfully entering Single Leg X position? A: After establishing Single Leg X, you have three main offensive categories: (1) Sweeps to top position using the off-balancing structure you’ve created, typically sweeping opponent forward and over their captured leg, (2) Transitions to more complex leg entanglement positions such as Ashi Garami, Outside Ashi-Garami, X-Guard, or Deep Half Guard depending on how opponent reacts, and (3) Direct submission attacks including kneebars, ankle locks, or toe holds on the captured leg, though these require careful positioning and often work best in combination with sweep threats.
Q6: Why is angling your body toward the captured leg important rather than staying square to your opponent? A: Angling toward the captured leg creates oblique off-balancing pressure that pulls opponent diagonally forward rather than straight down. This diagonal pull is much harder to defend because it attacks their base at an angle where they have less structural stability. When you stay square, any pressure you generate is directly into their stance where they are strongest. The angle, typically around 45 degrees, also facilitates smoother transitions to connected positions and creates more difficult recovery problems for the opponent.
Safety Considerations
Single Leg X Entry is generally a safe technique when practiced with proper control, but several safety considerations must be observed. When inserting the inside hook behind opponent’s knee, do so smoothly without jerking or twisting their leg suddenly, as aggressive hooking can stress knee ligaments. If transitioning directly to leg locks from this position, ensure you and your training partners understand appropriate submission progression and tap early protocols, particularly with heel hooks which can cause severe injury. During the entry, be aware that aggressive backward resistance from opponent while you have deep grips can create awkward falling situations, so maintain control of your own balance. When drilling with elevated hips, ensure adequate mat space behind you as rapid angle changes can cause backward rolling if not properly controlled. Communicate with training partners during learning phases and start with cooperative drilling before adding resistance. For beginners, focus on position establishment rather than immediate submissions until mechanics are solid. As with all leg entanglement work, tap early and often to protect knee and ankle joints from cumulative stress.
Position Integration
Single Leg X Entry serves as a crucial hub position in modern guard systems, particularly for no-gi grappling and leg entanglement-based games. The position functions as a primary entry point into leg attack systems, connecting seated guard variations with more dominant positions like X-Guard, Ashi Garami, and Saddle positions. Within systematic guard retention, Single Leg X provides both offensive and defensive value—it can be used aggressively to off-balance opponents and create sweeping opportunities, or defensively as a recovery position when guard is under pressure. The entry integrates seamlessly with Butterfly Guard, De La Riva Guard, and Reverse De La Riva systems, often serving as the transitional position when those guards are being passed or stripped. For competitors, Single Leg X Entry has become essential knowledge, as it connects standing guard pull sequences to immediate ground-based attacking positions without passing through vulnerable neutral zones. The position also serves as a gateway to modern leg lock systems popularized by competitors like Garry Tonon, Craig Jones, and Gordon Ryan, making it fundamental for understanding contemporary submission grappling.
Expert Insights
- Danaher System: The Single Leg X Entry represents a fundamental shift in how we conceptualize guard work, moving away from traditional static guards toward dynamic, off-balancing structures. The biomechanical advantage of this position comes from creating a three-point control system on one leg—your ankle grip, your inside leg hook, and your hip elevation all work together to create vectors of force that pull opponent diagonally forward. This is not random; the diagonal angle attacks the weakest aspect of human balance, the oblique plane where we have minimal structural stability. When teaching this entry, I emphasize that success depends on maintaining constant elevation and angle adjustment. The moment your hips settle flat to the mat, you lose all mechanical advantage and the position becomes defensive rather than offensive. Think of yourself as creating a dynamic lifting platform underneath your opponent’s leg—you’re not simply holding position, you’re constantly generating upward and angular pressure that forces them to make difficult balance decisions. The entry timing is equally crucial; you must attack when their weight commits forward or their stance narrows, as this is when their base is most vulnerable to the off-balancing structure Single Leg X creates.
- Gordon Ryan: In modern competition, Single Leg X Entry has become absolutely essential, and I use it constantly both as a primary attacking position and as a recovery tool when my guard is under pressure. What makes this entry so effective at the highest levels is that it gives you immediate offensive options while remaining relatively safe from passing—your outside leg frame prevents opponent from simply driving through, and your inside hook prevents backward escape. I’ve found that the key to hitting this entry against elite opponents is creating the illusion of other threats first. I’ll threaten Butterfly sweeps or De La Riva attacks to get them moving, then transition to Single Leg X when their base becomes compromised during their defensive reactions. The beauty of this position is how many directions you can attack from it—straight to sweeps if they’re standing tall, transitions to Ashi Garami if they drop their weight, or even back takes if they overcommit to defending the leg. In training, I probably hit this entry thirty times per session because it connects so many of my primary attacking systems. Don’t think of it as just one position; think of it as the highway that connects your seated guards to your leg attack systems and sweeps. Master the entry and you’ll find yourself in dominant positions constantly.
- Eddie Bravo: Single Leg X Entry is where traditional and modern jiu-jitsu meet in a really beautiful way, man. We’ve been playing with leg entanglements in 10th Planet for years, and this entry is fundamental to how we connect different aspects of our system. What I love about it is how it embodies the core 10th Planet philosophy of always staying dangerous from the bottom—you’re never just holding position, you’re constantly threatening. From our perspective, the entry works best when you combine it with creating reactions. We’ll fake the technical stand-up or threaten other guards to get opponent moving, then boom, catch the leg and enter Single Leg X while their weight is shifting. One thing we emphasize that’s a bit different is really actively using that outside leg frame—not just as a distance keeper but as a steering wheel to control where opponent’s upper body goes. You can push their hip one direction to set up sweeps the other way, or pull them forward over your frame to set up back takes. Also, don’t sleep on the ankle grip variations in no-gi—sometimes the traditional ankle grab isn’t available, so we work a lot with heel grabs, achilles grips, or even using our shin across their ankle. The position is super versatile, and once you get comfortable with the entry mechanics, you can start getting really creative with how you use it as a hub for your whole guard game.