The power of upper body takedowns in BJJ

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The power of upper body takedowns in BJJ

The power of upper body takedowns are gaining popularity in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. usually, the most commonly applied and scored takedowns in no gi grappling are lower body takedowns (tackles to the legs). They are usually single leg and double leg variations. While there is no doubting the effectiveness of these techniques, they do have some issues in the context of no gi grappling. First, the contact they make is chest to thigh. This means that upon contact with the ground you lack upper body control. This always creates scramble conditions that make scoring under Jiu-Jitsu rules very problematic against a skilled and experienced opponent. Second, the lowered head and arm positions create dangerous amounts of head exposure (guillotine) arm exposure (kimura/Darce/armbar) and back exposure (sprawl and go behinds). It is very prudent to add upper body takedowns that begin with chest to chest or chest to back contact that greatly reduce the dangers of prolonged scrambles and submissions as you attempt takedowns. In the no-gi context these typically require a blend of wrestling, judo and jiu-jitsu skills adapted to Jiu-Jitsu scoring criteria. It is a fascinating part of the game and one that BJJ must incorporate if it is to progress towards it’s potential in takedowns suited to its unique rule set. You will often see my students utilize upper body takedowns when possible due to the advantages I mentioned. Best of all is to blend both upper body and lower body takedowns to create a dual threat that opponents will find very difficult to contend with. Most Jiu-Jitsu students have a solid understanding of upper body grips from their guard game – once they learn some principles of positional advantage in standing position they can usually adapt fairly quickly to gain competence on their feet with those same grips. This weekends Craig jones Invitational and ADCC 2024 Submission Grappling World Championship showed many competitors were able to showcase upper body takedowns to win medals at each tournament with 2 becoming millionaires in Nicky Rodriguez and kade ruotolo. With training they can work for you too!

Giving it all in Jiu-Jitsu

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Giving it all in Jiu-Jitsu

Giving it all in Jiu-Jitsu mean giving it everything. When we think of giving it everything in some aspect of our life, whether it be in Jiu-Jitsu or anything else, we typically think in terms of a single big challenge in which we give our all to prevail. So for example a very tough match in which we give everything we have to win. Certainly this is admirable and indeed necessary for your toughest matches, but the more difficult and important aspect of giving it everything is to do so over TIME. Most people can give everything they have for a ten minute match, but very few can give everything they have for ten years of a training program that prepares them for the biggest ten minute match of their life. Yet it’s who gives everything for ten years that will determine winner of loser, rather than who gives everything for that ten minutes. Your skill level is more important than anything for determining the outcome of your matches, and high level your skills are will be determined by your commitment over lonely years in gym workouts that no one sees rather than the few minutes you spend in front of an audience.

 

Chasing perfection in your Jiu-Jitsu technique

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Chasing perfection in your Jiu-Jitsu technique is a path to both heaven and hell. The closer you get, the better your performance. It can come at a heavy price however, the desire for perfection can paralyze action when athletes keep waiting for that perfect opportunity for the perfect technique that just never arrives, or hold back from trying a move for fear that it won’t be perfect. Make sure the chase for perfection plays a positive role in your development rather than a negative one. Relentlessly pursue ideal form in drilling and do your best to replicate that sense of perfection in sparring and competition, but temper this with the understanding that it doesn’t need to be perfect – just better than your opponents ability to defend it – so don’t hang back when the time comes – go into the technique with confidence!

The week before your Jiu-Jitsu competition

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The week before your Jiu-Jitsu competition

The week before your Jiu-Jitsu competition you have nothing but time. There is always a short time before the your next competition where your physical work is complete and now you have to wait to step up to the challenge. In that time, keep your message to yourself simple and clear. Don’t let complexity dull your direction now. Every match has a simple theme running through it so keep your mind on that theme. Victory in any given match up will come from adherence to one or two simple ideas that give you advantage over your opponent. For example, if you have a speed advantage over him, focus your thoughts on how speed can bring victory. See yourself as initiating action and moving away from threats with your speed. Picture your passing using methods where speed is a factor, such as toreando/bullfight passes. In bottom position, visualize yourself in open guards that allow speed of movement, rather than slower positions such as half guard or closed guard. When the action is close keep your thoughts simple and clear and the path to victory will be shorter and clearer!

Isolating a limb in Jiu-Jitsu

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Isolating a limb in Jiu-Jitsu

Isolating a limb in Jiu-Jitsu can be very beneficial to winning. Here’s my idea on your whole body versus their one limb: One of the essential principles of BJJ is to create temporary physical advantage by seeking to use their strength of your entire body against a single isolated limb of an opponent. The idea is simple but profound. An opponents whole body may well be stronger than your whole body – but one of his legs or one of his arms is certainly not stronger than your whole body. If you can create a temporary strength advantage over an important part of your opponent’s body – a knee, an elbow, a neck – then you can overcome an overall strength disadvantage by creating a temporary localized strength advantage in your favor and you can hold it long enough to end a match. This is one of the theoretical underpinnings of Jiu-Jitsu – make it the centerpiece of your approach to the game

Controlling your opponents movement in Jiu-Jitsu

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Controlling your opponents movement in Jiu-Jitsu

Controlling your opponents movement in Jiu-Jitsu is one of the most important aspects of your BJJ game. There are many forms of physical control in Jiu-Jitsu – positional control, balance control, grip control – the list is long; but the single most important form of physical control is control over an opponent’s movement. If you can achieve this, victory is just a matter of time. What you will find is that control over an opponent’s movement is really the sum of all the other forms of control added together. It is the final ideal of control that you must seek.

Committing to a move in Jiu-Jitsu

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Committing to a move in Jiu-Jitsu

Committing to a move In Jiu-Jitsu is essential to victory.: In BJJ, moves that almost worked don’t count. A move has to be taken from start to completion if it is to have an impact on the match. Timidity is thus not a virtue when performing moves against resistance. Even if you are using a move to set up another, there has to be sufficient commitment to its application to get a real reaction out of your opponent to set up the following move. Going into a move half heartedly actually makes you quite vulnerable to a counterattack since you have to sacrifice your defensive elements in order to enter into offense. If the opponent is not threatened by your move he can simply counter attack in the middle of it and easily score. So when it’s time to go – GO!! Enter the move with positive force and then you’ll have a much better chance of success. Don’t hang back and second guess yourself – now is the time to believe in the skills you’ve worked so hard on and go in with commitment

Off Balancing your opponent in BJJ

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Off Balancing your opponent in BJJ

Off Balancing your opponent in BJJ is one of the keys to good guard play. If your opponent is out of balance then being under their weight is no impediment to you. If you can interrupt their balance there is nothing they can do to you until their balance is recovered – and in that brief time there is a LOT you can do to them. Once you get a grip on your opponent, step one is to attack their balance – everything else you plan to do becomes easier when you start with this.

Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t have to be perfect, just on time

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Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t have to be perfect, just on time

Jiu-Jitsu doesn’t have to be perfect, just on time. that is a great quote from the book Jiu-Jitsu university by Saulo Ribeiro. Some moves come naturally…others…not so much: I’m sure you’ve had the pleasant experience of learning a new move and everything just felt smooth and natural from the start and within a short timeframe you were applying the move successfully in sparring against good people. I’m equally sure that you’ve had the unpleasant experience of learning a new move and feeling like it’s damn near impossible for you to even demonstrate it satisfactorily forget about employ it on a fully resisting opponent. Don’t get too discouraged by this. I’ve had plenty of moves that initially felt absolutely hopeless when I first learned them. My experience was that typically persistence brought the level of these difficult-to-learn moves up to a satisfactory level. They never felt like a favorite move but they were good enough to get reactions out of opponents and lead into my favorite moves – and that’s good enough to make the struggle to learn them worthwhile! Remember – a your execution of a given move doesn’t have to be perfect to be effective. It only has to be better than your opponents ability to defend it. An imperfect move often slips past an imperfect defense

Jiu-Jitsu starts with a plan

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Jiu-Jitsu starts with a plan

Jiu-Jitsu starts with a plan. Start with a plan: Every time you come toward your opponent from a neutral position there are myriad opportunities for both of you. One possible approach is to let your opponent initiate and react to that. Many athletes do very well with that approach. I generally prefer to see athletes take a more proactive approach, particularly in matches with a shorter time limit. Map your plan out BEFORE you make contact and you’ll have an immediate sense of direction that will put you in the drivers seat from the start. Of course you’ll still need to be able to adapt and improvise in response to rapidly changing circumstances since we never know exactly how an opponent will respond to our moves, but as a general rule it’s better to have an opponent of equal size and skill level reacting to you than rather than you to him, especially in matches of shorter duration