Defensive skills in BJJ

Defensive skills in BJJ are just as important as being an offensive killer. Lately, I see a lot of people hanging their heads after positional training and blitz, and are giving off terrible body language. As Grandmaster Helio Gracie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A9lio_Gracie) used to say, the primary objective of jiu-jitsu is survival, defense, which means neutralizing your opponent’s offense even when you are being dominated. Your defensive skills in BJJ are vital. If being dominated by a stronger opponent and focusing on defense is now seen as a negative, then we might as well just throw all of our history, which put BJJ on the map, in the garbage. Let’s not forget that some of the most important matches in the history of our art involved smaller fighters being dominated for a long time. Their defensive skills from the bottom was the key factor that allowed them to survive and, in some cases, win in the end. I try to tell my student at Savarese BJJ (www.njbjj.com), you are practicing, repeat practicing in timed sessions, which wouldn’t happen in a real situation. This is why I stress training more AFTER class when you can literally have a 20-30 minutes single session w/ a partner. In addition, if you are an upper belt, practice these skills against lower belts so they can train their offense and you can train position you don’t get put in often. This allows both of you to gain and grow from the training session. Remember, the faster you help your teammate improve his or her game, the faster you will have another quality training partner in YOUR effort to get better as well. Defense will be one of the most important aspects of your BJJ skill set and always remember, if you can’t be finish, you can survive. And if you can survive, you will make them tired, ALWAYS giving you an opportunity to win!