Chokes from the back in BJJ

Chokes from the back in BJJ

Here is a great lesson about chokes from the back in BJJ. Take your time trying to choke when you take your opponents back. In a match, our biggest battle in Jiu-Jitsu is a battle against the clock. We have to make decisions and perform moves in less time than our opponent if we are to put him under the kind of decision/action pressure that breaks people and let’s us finish decisively. Chocking from the back is a different sort of affair. Unless there is limited time left in the match, you will generally get better results focusing on maintaining chest to back position and making sure you are securely hooked into both sides of his body first and only when these are pre-conditions met, switching focus towards the choke. Understand that often position and control are partially lost as you attempt a choke. Should this happen, stop the submission attempt and re-establish chest to back contact and control of both sides of your opponents body. Quite often there will be an extended period of time where you have to fight for position and control on multiple occasions until finally you get the strangle opportunity. This is normal…TAKE YOUR TIME. Nothing is more heart breaking that getting all the way to the back and losing the position due to over zealousness. Here, the great Jean Jacques Machado shows admirable poise and calm as he positions himself for a choke vs Cael Uno in an ADCC match. Note that he has established the two main prerequisites – chest to back position and is hooked into both sides of his opponents body (a leg on one side, arm on the other). You can see he is in no rush to strangle, there is no reason why he should be, when you are in a winning position, let the position do the winning for you. Let your position be the main focus and your finish merely an afterthought.