Standing foot sweeps in BJJ

Standing foot sweeps in BJJ

Standing foot sweeps in BJJ, just like in Judo, are a vital part of the standup game if your plan on doing competitions. Using your feet for takedowns must be trained for months, even years before mastery. Most Jiu-Jitsu practitioners spend the vast majority of their training time on the floor. This concept makes perfect sense since that is where most matches are won and lost and you always have the option of sitting to the floor without using takedowns. So when BJJ players do use and learn takedowns, they tend to focus on hand dominant takedowns w/ grips since most people are more naturally coordinated with their hands than than feet and legs. In adition, they are used to the gripping process. This is fine for short term development, but long term you must begin to use your feet and legs for takedowns to utilize the greater power and reach of the lower body over the upper body. Takedowns like standing foot sweeps, Uchi Mata, Ouchi Gari, Osoto Gari etc will make you much more effective on your feet. The learning time is longer but the potential rewards are greater. One of the best takedowns for Jiu-Jitsu purposes are the various foot sweeps. All of these techniques work very well along side the rules of guard pulling in Jiu-Jitsu and can send an opponent tumbling to the mat before he can get a grip on you to pull guard. Futhermore, try to implement low risk moves where you don’t have to turn your back on your opponent and are fairly easy to learn the variations most applicable to Jiu-Jitsu.

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