Arm Bar/Triangle combos from spiderweb position

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Arm Bar/Triangle combos from spiderweb position

Any BJJ practitioner will see great improvement once they understand the Arm Bar/Triangle combos from spiderweb position dynamic. Many times when you have an arm bar  in the spiderweb psoition, you also have a triangle available. Because, the positioning for arm bars and triangles is such that WHENEVER YOU HAVE ONE, YOU ALMOST ALWAYS HAVE THE OTHER AVAILABLE. Triangles are the better submission because they have the inherent advantage that they are locked around your opponents head and shoulder and hence much tighter. Also, triangles offer the dual benefits of a strangle as well as an arm lock. In addition, you can attack the joints from a triangle as well or even better than you can from a regular armbar position. For these reasons, it is often worth your time to switch your legs from the classic arm bar to a triangle when working for your submission. At little cost you will soon find yourself exerting considerably more control and with more finishing options. Here at Savarese BJJ (www.njbjj.com), we have spent the week working this position. In this picture, Professor Savarese show the proper arm bar depth to attack (elbow deep) that makes escape very unlikely and allows him to choose his next attack in a leisurely fashion. Next time you are in arm bar position, play around with transitions to triangle variations – front, side, rear and reverse – and see what kind of havoc you can create.

Two men are practicing judo on a blue mat.

Arm Bar/Triangle combos from spiderweb position

Make takedowns a priority in BJJ

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Make takedowns a priority in BJJ

If you want to be well-rounded in your Jiu-jitsu game, you have to make takedowns a priority in BJJ. So many BJJ practitioner are killers on the ground but not competent on the feet. Over the years, I’ve had the honor of working with, teaching and training with many elite takedown artists and grappling practitioners from other grappling styles such as Judo, Sambo and Wrestling. What I have noticed is that almost all of these men and women were always absolute killers on their feet. Some of them were so skilled that they could literally take their favorite throw and toss someone with it from virtually any grip and even determine which part of their opponents body would land first in the floor. They could grip and then immediately hit their throw/takedown. In addition to being absolute killers on their feet, they were also very competent on the floor. They were not World Champion BJJ caliber or in the elite level Jiu-Jitsu on the mat but they certainly weren’t bad. This is much different than many in the BJJ community who were absolute killers on the floor but completely incompetent on their feet. While there are some exceptional Jiu-Jitsu athletes who are very competent in the standing position, there is a huge disturbing number had a real discrepancy between their ground and standing skills. (although with tournament like ADCC and the rise in no-gi tournaments, it is getting better). In Jiu-Jitsu, you don’t have to be a world beater in the standing position. No one is expecting you to hang with elite Judo or wrestling athletes whose primary focus is standing grappling. But, and a big but, you owe it to yourself to at least be competent in your standing skills. When you train, work with the mindset that you will become a complete BJJ athlete or practitioner, equally skilled on the ground and your feet. That is an ideal that is easily attainable for us all and will make your eventual mastery of the art of BJJ much more rewarding and well rounded and give you a deeper understanding of the art.

The importance of warmups in BJJ

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The importance of warmups in BJJ

The importance of warmups in BJJ is always a hot topic. But I want to take a second to explain why they are so important. As you move up the ladder rank wise in your Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu journey, people seem to want to stop doing warmups. Upper belts think they are “too good” for warmups. They couldn’t be more wrong, especially if you are over 35 years of age. When you are new to BJJ, from whitebelt through the middle of your bluebelt, warmups are essential to your improvement through the ranks. If you are doing them correctly (and you are training at a good Academy that has a warmups based on BJJ movements of the fundamentals), you are building muscle memory of the most important parts of Jiu-Jitsu. So while we understand, many of you just wanna “roll”, if your goal is to get better, you have to do the little things that will make you improve. Activation of your muscles is a real thing, and warming up your body will also help to strengthen and correct  imbalances in your muscles. In addition, you want to roll forever right? Well, if you want longevity in this art, you must take the extra time to ensure it. if you are a BJJ practitioner who is passionate about staying on the mat and looking for longevity, become a person who seeks out ways to stay healthy, physically and mentally. Becoming well balanced Jiu-Jitsu is the path of the warrior. Also, here at Savarese BJJ, we believe in the “outliers” theory, it takes 10,000 reps to master something. The more you practice your fundamentals, the better your foundation of BJJ skills is going to be.

If you want to understand something – teach it

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If you want to understand something – teach it

If you want to understand something – teach it: Little known fact is when someone becomes my student I always teach them two different skills. The first is the one everyone knows about, how to get good at BJJ and improve your mindset through Jiu-Jitsu. The second is much less widely known. Once you get to purplebelt level, I teach all my students to teach. This forces them to be able to articulate exactly what they are trying to do. Learning to articulate this knowledge greatly clarifies it in your own mind. In my experience, the more clearly you think about your skillset, the better you will get at that skill. Often I make my students teach back the skills I taught them, or have them teach some new idea they are working on. In addition, the act of doing this always sharpens and enhances their understanding in ways that will increase their performance. It also has the additional long term benefit that they can make a good living from the art as a teacher as well as an athlete. It’s a way of paying it forward and spreading our art. Next time you feel confusion about an area of BJJ, do some research on it and try to teach what you’ve learned to a teammate, or if you really want a challenge, – to a non BJJ friend. Then you will have to add explanations as to why this skill is important, since this may not be obvious to an outsider. Make sure you make it shorter and simpler. I promise this will be more than just a fun experience, it will make you a better performer in that area of the game.

Reading your opponent in BJJ competition

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Reading your opponent in BJJ competition

Reading your opponent in BJJ competition: Competitive matches are a lot easier to win if you know what your opponent is going to do before he does it. Unfortunately, our opponents don’t tell us what they intend to do prior to doing it. Sometimes they even deceive us by creating an appearance of wanting to do one thing and then actually doing another. One thing I stress is to always watch the matches before yours after the brackets come out, while stretching for your match, take a mental note while preparing yourself for yours. Their body does not lie nearly as much as the mouth – you must learn to read what an opponent really intends to do through observing his STANCE, MOTION and LEVEL among other things. If your opponent holds his body in a certain way, it will tell you some kinds of action and prohibit others. This will immediately give you clues as to what he intends to do. If you fake or set offensive movements you will get a chance to read his responses and get good insight into his counter game. USE THE INTIAL ENCOUNTER AT THE START OF THE MATCH AND EVERY SUBSEQUENT TIME YOU RE-ENGAGE WITH YOUR OPPONENT TO GET INSIGHTS INTO WHAT THEY INTEND TO DO. You’ve spent your entire life learning to read people’s eyes and body to make assessments as to what they’re really thinking in every aspect of your life from business, friendships, dating etc. Now you must learn to do it in Jiu-Jitsu

The value of sweeps in BJJ

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The value of sweeps in BJJ

The value of sweeps in BJJ cannot be understated. Sweeps can do more than sweep. When we go to sweep an opponent from guard position, we typically do so with the goal of getting up to to top position and scoring two points or just getting a better position. Understand however, that sweeps have two major functions. The first is exactly what we just described, the attempt to put an opponent down to bottom position and gain top position. The second is much less talked about. A failed sweep almost always creates SPACE and EXTENSION in our opponent. Space, because they will need to move away to break connection and lessen the power of the sweep. And extension, because they will need to base their hands/feet outwards to prevent being turned over. These defensive reactions of space and extension will make it surprisingly easy to switch from the goal of just being able to reverse your opponent to actually submitting your opponent opponent. In addition, you can just stand up to your feet. Also, as the opponent bases out wide with feet and knees, leg lock entries become easy. As they base out with hands, arm locks and triangles become surprisingly easy. Kimuras/guillotines, hip heist sweeps as well. Always prepare yourself where you would go with regards submissions in this situation.
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The offense/defense connection in BJJ

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The offense/defense connection in BJJ

Once you understand the offfense/defense connection in BJJ, you game will go nothing but up. The basis of your confidence in your offense is the degree of confidence you have in your defense. Our fear is always that if we take a risk we will be punished with by being put into a bad situation from which we can not recover. However, if you know that your defense is so strong that there is simply no situation from which you cannot recover, all fear evaporates and you will attack with full confidence on offense and defense, holding nothing back. If you want an aggressive attacking game, begin your training by developing an iron defense. Usually around bluebelt, a little before and a little after, I tell my students to really work on guard retention. I explain that once you have the confidence to know that you can retain your guard whenever you want to, your fear of getting your guard passed evaporates. Then you will take more offensive chances in your guard to either finish or get more advantageous positions. That is a great example of the the offense/defense connection in BJJ.
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Control after the takedown in BJJ

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Control after the takedown in BJJ

It is important to maintain control after the takedown in BJJ. Jiu-Jitsu takedowns…controlling the aftermath of the takedown. A very distinctive feature of the Jiu-Jitsu standing game that separates it from many other forms of grappling is the 3 second rule. This rule states that takedown points will not be awarded unless the athlete performing the takedown can demonstrate control after the takedown for three seconds where control is understood as the ability to hold an opponents hips, shoulder, side or one knee to the mat for the full 3 seconds. This is actually extremely difficult. In combat sports, 3 seconds is an extremely long time. so if you really break it down, the rule is that the takedown itself is not really what is valued in Jiu-Jitsu, but what is valued is the aftermath of the takedown. The control is what you get the point scored for. In practice, your opponent will typically fight to keep his butt/side/shoulder/one knee off the mat. This means the points you score usually come from the scramble after the takedown (rear mount and sometimes mount are the most common). As Jiu-Jitsu students, you must pay particular attention to controlling this crucial post takedown phase. Because, very often this is the difference between a winning score versus a tiring scramble that ends with nothing. Check back tommorrow at www.njbjj.com for more training tips. See everyone on the mats.

Learning and retaining information in BJJ

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Learning and retaining information in BJJ

Learning and retaining information in BJJ is extremely important. In most BJJ schools or Academies across the world, the same class is taught weekly so students can learn, see and repeat the techniques more than once if they train more than once a week. Furthermore, the more we practice the techniques, we build muscle memory to do the moves correctly. In addition, this is why warmups are so important (don’t skip them!). The problem lies when students forget everything shown in say Week 1 as soon as the new weekly curriculum starts in week 2. You must continue to practice and drill everything from the previous week so it is “in your toolbox” We are always trying to add things to our toolbox. Keeping notes on your phone or in a book can help. So does video if you Academy offers that. at Savarese BJJ (www.njbjj.com), we do offer all of our taped classes on video so you can go back and study. Another common mistake is when students use youtube and Instagram to try and learn advanced moves before they are ready. This can hinder your progress. Build your foundation first. As the great Rickson Gracie used to teach “if your house doesn’t have a good foundation, the house will fall down”. Same with a 4 legged chair. If you take out a leg, the chair crumbles.

Head control in BJJ

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Head control in BJJ

Head control in BJJ is so important to the eventual finish. It starts w the head and shoulders. People talk a lot about head control in Jiu-Jitsu, and for a good reason. Because head control is probably the single best means of controlling the overall movement and posture of an opponents body. You control the head, you control the body. Understand however, that in the majority of cases in BJJ, it won’t just be control of the head that gives you the control you need for victory, but rather control of the head AND shoulders. When you control both the head and shoulder, then you truly control an opponent. In most cases this is done via an underhook or double underhooks in combination with a cross face, and this is locked in place through the position of your own head. This creates a tri-fold of pressure – crossface, underhook and head position. This position truly enables you to shut down resistance and movement as you play your game. This picture shows out student Anthony getting all three elements working in unison here to create the daunting pressure that makes him such a threat in top and top half guard passing situations. When you go to control the head, think about controlling the HEAD AND SHOULDERS, and soon you will be locking down opponents and getting to your winning positions en route to finishing your opponent. Check back tomorrow at www.njbjj.com