BJJ: Breaking a turtle down versus riding

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BJJ: Breaking a turtle down versus riding

BJJ: Breaking a turtle down versus riding, that is the question. When it’s time to attack an opponents turtle position, I teach my students to start by breaking an opponent down to a hip. This immediately reduces their athletic potential and makes them much more controllable so that you can focus on applying your attacks. However, there are going to be times you cannot do this on a tough opponent. At that point, you will have to get hooks in and ride the opponents turtle while they are still on their knees. Here, our Savarese BJJ Academy (www.bergencountybjj.com) student Cait faces this dilemma in a training session with Mariana. This is where the breaking a turtle down versus riding situation comes into play. Be sure to maintain a tight chest to back connection at control both sides of the body, otherwise you can slip off and end up underneath your opponent. Interestingly, the more your opponent resists being off balanced and broken down to a hip, the more he will have to widen his base and open himself up to your hooks and riding. In addition, the more he tightens up to resist the insertion of your hooks and riding, the easier he will be to off balance and break down to a hip. So the two modes of attacking turtle work very well as a dilemma.

Your response to mistakes

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Your response to mistakes

What is your response to mistakes? Lets face it, everyone makes mistakes. Your response to these mistakes goes a long way towards determining who you are and who you can and will be as a person. Mistakes don’t have to always be a bad thing. Win or learn! that is a phrase our Grandmaster Carlos Gracie said and we preach here at Savarese BJJ Academy (www.njbjj.com). You should be determined to grow and always learn from your mistakes. We should always move forward and not let our past skeletons haunt us. In addition, we must always bounce back from mistakes. If all we do is think about them, then they will hinder everything in our daily lives, damaging our personal growth. The map of life works like this “No matter how lost you get, always take one step in the right direction. Sometimes you have to get a little lost to find your way.” I’ve made many mistakes. Maybe different types of mistakes than yours but with each mistake, the clearer that message stands out. Bad experiences, mistakes, regrets all can be our greatest teachers. They allows us to grow, become better people and make better choices. Because that’s where we find success. On the far side of failure.

Tunnel vision in BJJ

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Tunnel vision in BJJ

Tunnel vision in BJJ can be harmful. One of the biggest detractors from performance improvement in grappling is tunnel vision. We all have a tendency to get fixated on one course of action and become blind to other possibilities that are right there in front of us. But as in life, if you can recognize possibility, you can ACT on it. Taking action is critical to success on and off the mats. This one important sense in which combat sports are a mental game. Every action begins as an idea/possibility in the mind. When that is absent, no physical action will be taken. Make sure in all your major attacking positions you have three or four major options that you work with on a regular basis so that you don’t become overly in love of one and fall into a one track mind. We must work both out attacks and escapes in series of combinations. Now, this may take time for you as a BJJ Practitioner to develop, but when it does, like we previously said, must be put into action. This photo is our Savarese BJJ (www.bergencountybjj.com) students doing their drills to gain muscle memory of some of the most important aspects of the foundations of BJJ.

Keep going to BJJ class

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Keep going to BJJ class

Keep going to BJJ class is what we are always told by our Jiu-Jitsu Instructors. Here is some BJJ advice regarding “Keep Going To Class” advice today (especially from white through purple)
So many times the instructors and upperbelts will tell everyone to “just keep coming to class” and that isn’t good enough, everyone thinks, “there has to more to it”, why am I not getting better? Well, more of the time, it is just that, you are not listening and trying to instruct yourself. You are so focused on trying to find that ‘hidden info” that you aren’t focusing on the good info right in front of you. Its the little details you miss the 1st 100 times you are shown the technique. then, one day…bam!…you catch that detail that you’ve been missing that makes everything fall into place. The detail was there all along but your focus wasn’t. “Just keep going to class” is legit great advice…follow it. The more you go to class, the more it sinks into you. You are so focused on trying to find that ‘hidden info” that you aren’t focusing on the good info right in front of you. Its the little details you miss the 1st 100 times you are shown the technique. then, one day…bam!…you catch that detail that you’ve been missing that makes everything fall into place. The detail was there all along but your focus wasn’t. “Just keep going to class” is legit great advice…follow it. And then the more repetitions of what is taught in class will help your physical skills as well as your muscle memory. Now you are on your way to that coveted blackbelt! The more you go to class, the more it sinks into you. Check back later at www.njbjj.com for more BJJ tips.

Dictate the pace in BJJ

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Dictate the pace in BJJ

Here at Savarese BJJ Academy (www.bergencountybjj.com), we are very big on being able to dictate the pace in BJJ. In Jiu-Jitsu, you don’t have to be the fastest athlete. You just have to be the athlete who gets to the finish line first. Speed is a wonderful thing in combat sports, but not all of us are born fast and even those who are born fast lose speed over the course of a lifetime. The idea is not to value raw speed so much as the ability to get to a goal before your opponent. And there are many ways to do that that don’t involve speed. One way to create the illusion of speed is to travel less distance in the same time. For example, the basic arm bar from guard. If you begin the move with your feet locked at my opponents lower back, that’s a considerable distance to move your legs and feet all the way up to the head to perform the move. If instead you slide your locked legs up to your opponents shoulder, then the distance required to transition to the arm bar is massively shortened, creating a much quicker performance of the arm bar even though you are moving at the same speed. In everything you do in Jiu-Jitsu, ask yourself, is there a way to speed up my performance of this move without speeding up the movements of my body? In most cases the answer is YES. And the act of researching how to do this will make you a better student of the sport.

Key to reading opponents weigh in BJJ

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Key to reading opponents weigh in BJJ

The key to reading opponents weigh in BJJ, especially in the butterfly guard, can determine whether you are successful or unsuccessful. How is that? Heels or toes? Whenever your opponent is standing in front of you there is a question of the greatest importance that in most cases can only be answered you and your opponent, where is your opponents weight centered? Is it on his heels or on his toes? The answer to this question will determine what form of attack and what direction of attacks you will use. Learning to read whether your standing opponent has weight forward on his toes or back on his heels is one of those skills that is often passed over in teaching but has has the greatest effect on whether your subsequent moves actually work or not. Sometimes I will use a basic arm drag on a standing partner and feel his reaction between heels and toes. Weight on toes is a good sign to continue the drag forwards. Weight on the heels is a good sign to switch from drag to some form of takedown or sweep to the rear. Failure to pay attention or the subtle but all important weight transfers between heel and toes means you have to use brute force to get moves to work, reading the heel to toe weight transfer well makes for seemingly effortless moves. Here in a Savarese BJJ (www.njbjj.com) class, Anoop is trying to get a read on Andrew’s weight to pan his next attack.

Greatest advantage of half guard passing

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Greatest advantage of half guard passing

The single greatest advantage of half guard passing methods over regular methods of guard passing is head control. The pattern of events in a guard pass is for the passing athlete get past the feet, knees and most importantly, the line of your opponents hips, and then transition to the head to complete the pass. That transition to the head (the head control) is a constant source of problems, as the defending guard player can exploit the time and pressure release involved in that transition to create strong defensive frames and move back to guard position. Half guard passing methods on the other hand, involve working your way to a situation where your opponent is locked around one of your legs whilst your other leg is free. If you can attain a chest to chest position you can now control your opponents head BEFORE getting past the line of your opponents hips. This means that when you extract your leg from his hold, you already have head control in place and there is no problematic cranial shift. This enables you to impose tremendous control and pressure throughout the pass all the way to completion. Here, in one of Savarese Jiu-Jitsu (www.njbjj.com) training sessions, our student Sean shows the end results of a good half guard pass into a dominant side control position.

When your BJJ match is over

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When your BJJ match is over

When your BJJ match is over, there is always a lesson to be learn, whether you won or lost. Hence, Grandmaster Carlos Gracie’s mantra “There is no losing in Jiu-Jitsu. You either win or you learn.”  When the action’s over in the time immediately after a tough match, whether on stage or in the gym, is always instructive and important. When you are finished, sometimes we expressed disappointment in the match. And like all true submission grapplers, we greatly value action leading to a decisive finish.  It’s important in these after match situations to assess what was good and bad. First, if it’s competition, you may have video to break down and the lesson are easier because you trained for this specific night. The training room, however, is just that, a TRAINING room. You are supposed to make mistakes there. And leave them there. Remember that not every match will be highlight reel of action. The important thing is that every match represents some kind of growth and improvement in the athlete. Understand that improvement comes in many different forms. Sometimes, it is about mental aspects of the game. Maybe we are taking on one of the world’s most dangerous and strongest grapplers, giving up a huge size and strength advantage, with total confusion and disarray in the week leading up to the match as to what will happen and  and yet we went out and attacked as best he could to battle to a tight tactical win. This was a win for athletic maturity. In this photo, my now blackbelt Brian Procel competed for the first time at the World Championships in CA under the bright light against a very experienced competitor from the Carlson Gracie team. Under tough and intimidating circumstances, he showed the improvements in his quiet, understated but impressive mental toughness. That is one of the best kinds of growth an athlete can experience and which will benefit him or her the rest of their career. Now as a white or bluebelt, sometimes, you will learn more from a loss than from a win. Wins can make you overconfident and make you blind to your weaknesses. Everyone is different in that aspect.  When you come to judge yourself after your matches,  don’t be too kind, but don’t to be too harsh either. Remember that not every match will be fireworks but that every match has some elements of positive growth for you that will help you in the future. Focus on those, incorporate them into your training and step forward to your next challenge knowing you are a better athlete

BJJ Chokes Gi vs No Gi

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BJJ Chokes Gi vs No Gi

BJJ Chokes Gi vs No Gi. BJJ chokes, and in particular, chokes from the back, are the single most devastating weapon in all of Jiu-Jitsu. Nothing else gives such certainty of success in application while maintaining your own safety from counters. Yet the two primary applications, gi and no gi, are very different from each other. In the case of no gi chokes from the back, you must use your head as a blocking wedge close to your opponents head. Your bodies will be aligned and the power of the choke will come from the rotation of your elbow around his neck. The instrument of strangulation will be your wrist/forearm and bicep. This is rather thick and so often it can be problematic to penetrate under the chin and often requires trapping the opponents defensive arms prior to applying the strangle. In addition, it keeps you away from being elbowed by your opponent. Now, in the case of gi collar chokes, things are very different. Now the instrument of the choke is the opponents gi lapel/collar. It has a hard and very thin edge that slices under the jaw/chin like a knife and makes penetration to the choke far more efficient. The collar/lapel is like a rope around the neck,  an extraordinarily effective choking implement. In addition, unlike naked chokes, you want to form a perpendicular angle to your opponents shoulders and the power of the choke comes from your body weight hanging off your opponent and your leverage leg pressing over his far shoulder. This puts all your body weight and leg strength into the choke with a cutting rope around the neck. This creates a far greater degree of efficiency strangle than any naked choke can ever hope to attain. If you enjoyed this article, make sure you visit www.njbjj.com for more tips in the news section.

The importance of connection in BJJ

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The importance of connection in BJJ

The importance of connection in BJJ cannot be understated. Maximize your connection and minimize your opponents postural integrity is the key. The biggest initial problem you will face when working from open guard is having no solid connection to your opponent. This will allow him to immediately get past your legs and pass before you can do anything effective. The second problem is that if his stance is well set, it will be very difficult to attack him successfully with either sweeps or submissions. So start by getting, whenever possible, BOTH FEET AND BOTH HANDS SET ON YOUR OPPONENT to form a solid connection that won’t allow an opponent to simply blow past your guard before you can do anything. For my Savarese BJJ students (www.njbjj.com), the safe zones you learn in fundamentals class should be utilized all the way to blackbelt. Learn how to get away from the “kick me in the face” seated butterfly guard and learn to enter into your opponents zone and WIN YOUR GRIPS. So often, it’s who wins that grip battle is who wins the fight. Then make a pledge to yourself that prior to any major attack from underneath, you will BEGIN BY DISTURBING YOUR OPPONENTS STANCE/BALANCE. Do this two things consistently and you will soon find yourself a better offensive and defensive guard player.