BJJ Takedowns for Self Defense

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As far as BJJ Takedowns for self defense go, he are my thoughts on their magnitude. The common sentiment you will hear in BJJ circles is that one of the chief virtues of takedowns for self defense training is that a hard powerful takedown on concrete is a fight ender, In addition, it means you don’t even need to go the ground. There is definitely some truth to this. I have personally seen some fights ended immediately by a hard Judo or Wrestling slam into the ground. The old cliché is that a boxer can only hit with the weight of his hands, but a grappler (with high amplitude takedowns) can hit with the weight of the earth. My experience was that there were mixed results with big slams in street fights. For every time I saw someone incapacitated by a heavy slam, I saw many others get right back and immediately resume fighting. Also, I have seen situations where a hard throw was performed and the person thrown tightly grabbed the person throwing in panic and both participants went hard into the cement with the thrower getting hurt as badly as the person thrown. The truth is, the harder the throw, the more difficult it is to control the landing for both of you. Futhermore, hard throws on cement can be something of a double edge sword. If you are going to throw someone hard and use takedowns as a weapon in itself rather than as merely a means to take someone to the ground, then you will want to use techniques that out your opponent into a hard fall, not both of you. This means you generally ought to favor throwing techniques where you keep both feet on the floor and can retain balance after the throw (for example, a Tai otoshi Judo throw rather than say, uchi mata) Interestingly in the sport of sambo, they award the highest score to takedowns that do exactly this, throw someone with amplitude but where you remain standing over them. You don’t see it too often in competition as it’s difficult to achieve, but it does happen and is a good reflection of the self defense ideal for takedowns. Be realistic however, understand that a hard throw certainly can end a fight immediately, but is not guaranteed. As I said earlier, I’ve seen plenty of people get slammed hard and come right back up swinging. So finally, be ready to follow up appropriately based on the circumstances.

Guard passing angles in BJJ

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Guard passing angles in BJJ

It is very important while passing someone’s guard that you make proper guard passing angles in BJJ. While you might want to stand there because you think you can see better, do not stand directly in front of dangerous opponents. Standing or sitting. The human body is set up to be at its strongest both offensively and defensively against opponents positioned directly in front of it. A good boxer can/should be scared of standing in range directly in front of a dangerous puncher, and wisely always seeks to stay either out of range or angles off to a side whenever possible. In addition, a good Jiu-Jitsu practitioner should be wary of staying directly in front of a dangerous guard and should use distance and find proper angles to gain initial safety and advantage when approaching. As soon as you establish contact, look to create those angles and do as much of your work as possible with the benefit of angle instead of working working directly in front of a skilled guard player because many are very good at using their legs (when you are in between them) to do damage. Here at Savarese BJJ (www.njbjj.com) we teach a 4 limbs theory of keeping people inside our legs to attack.

The secret to guard passing in BJJ

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The secret to guard passing in BJJ

BJJ practitioners are always looking for the secret to guard passing in BJJ. As far as guard passing, here are two directions for your game, There are a vast number of ways to pass an opponents guard, but at the end of the day they can be divided into two camps. The first are those passes that focus upon using your mobility to gain a tactical advantage over your opponents legs. The second are those that focus upon rendering your opponents feet and hips and getting passed their immobilized hips. So one is concerned with using your mobility to pass, the other is concerned with restricting the opponents mobility. Toreando (bullfighting) passes are a good example of using your mobility advantage (you are on your feet, opponent is on his back so you should be able to move much faster and more freely than him). Body lock passes (known as KP pass at Savarese BJJ (www.njbjj.com) after UFC Kurt Pellegrino, one of the first people in the US using these passes) would be a good example of passes that shut down your opponents hips and feet and prevent him following your movement as you pass. It’s natural that you should favor one type over the other, but make sure you have at least one of these passes in your “toolbox” (and preferably a few more than that) so that you can play both games to throw off difficult opponents.

Thinking of your next move in BJJ

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Thinking of your next move in BJJ

One should always be looking ahead and thinking of your next move in BJJ. The ability to slow down and think will help you plot your next move and start to put together moves in combinations. One of the great things about martial arts that focus on grappling is they often offer you good opportunities to slow things down and to think about your next move. In striking martial arts there is usually a much higher pace and very little time to think once you get within striking range. Furthermore, in Jiu-Jitsu, all the dominant pin positions- rear mount, mount, side and north/south, along with top turtle position, half guard top and bottom and closed guard- enable you to take a breather and consider your next line of attack. Learn to use these positions as more than physical advantage, but also as a means to gain TACTICAL ADVANTAGE through the use of thinking ahead to a next move. Here, our Savarese BJJ (www.njbjj.com) student Cait has worked herself to top turtle position – a good one for taking some time to consider the next options.

Two girls are practicing jiu jitsu on a blue floor.

Your next move in BJJ

Breaking down your opponent in BJJ

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Breaking down your opponent in BJJ

Breaking down your opponent in BJJ is one of the “little things” that makes a big difference. If you can break an opponent down or make them stumble, whichever move you choose to perform next will be easy. There are many truly valuable combat skills, but the ability to make your opponent get broken down or stumble at will, which may not seem very useful on the surface but is in fact, arguably among the most useful of them all. In addition, it makes possible to execute so many of the other more well known and glamorous skills. If you can do this it will be much easier to perform the subsequent moves that you use to score points in competition or finish your opponent with. You must develop this ability to the greatest degree possible. It is particularly important when you are grappling in standing position and in situations where you are seated in open guard and your opponent is standing in front of you (though it is important in other common scenarios also). The ability to make your opponent stumble both forward and backwards, as resistance to one direction will set up attacks in the other. Furthermore, you will need to develop good dexterity in your feet as you will be using your feet and legs like hands and arms to reach out and grab and push and pull. If you can make your opponent stumble, you make them defenseless for a quarter of a second, and in BJJ or MMA, quarter of a second can be an awfully long time and make the difference. So work hard on this skill, it will make many of your other skills much easier to apply.

Tying sweeps and submissions together in BJJ

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Tying sweeps and submissions together in BJJ

A very important part during your rise up the ranks in Jiu-Jitsu is tying sweeps and submissions together in BJJ. Sweeps AND submissions! Very often, there is a natural tendency to divide our attacks from open guard into sweeps and submissions and to see them as as an either/or option. You either sweep the opponent or you submit him. In fact, I often say at the lower ranks, you normally fall into 1 of 2 categories. You either have good sweeps from your guard and have trouble submitting people. Or you have good submission from your guard but your sweeps game lacks. There is nothing wrong with that, but you will get much better results when you understand that they operate best when used in unison. Every time you attack with a sweep, your opponent will be forced to base out with his limbs to prevent it. This will immediately created extended limbs. And extended limbs are limbs that you can attack and used for submissions. The more you can get an opponent extended and out of balance, the easier it will be to submit him/her. Don’t see sweeps as an alternative choice to submissions, or vise versa,  see them as an attack about to come. Futhermore, watch your submission percentages increase overnight. Here, the great Kron Gracie launches an opponent into some serious air time w a sweep into an armbar at the BJJ World Championships. A sweep attack as powerful as this will either result in sweep points or at the very least, an extended and off balanced opponent who can easily be attacked via submission. If you like this article, make sure you are checking the news section of www.njbjj.com for more articles like this or BJJ tips to improve your game.

Two people are wrestling on a blue and yellow mat.

Tying sweeps and submission together in BJJ

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.