BJJ 101

Solo Inversion Drills

Whether you love it or hate it inverting has become a big part of modern Jiu Jitsu. And even if you never plan on Berimboloing like a Miyao, learning to go upside down can be very beneficial to your Jiu Jitsu.

The inversion movement is used in many different areas of Jiu Jitsu including back attacks, sweeps, submissions, and guard retention. On top of that, the increased flexibility developed from practising inverting can also help you avoid injury.

The video below covers a few simple solo drills that you can use to improve your ability to invert and flexibility.

Here’s what covered in the video:

Inversion Progression
Wall Drills (Cross Stepping, Spider Guard Stepping, Inversion)
Shrimping Inversions
Inversion flexibility drills (S Stretch, Hamstring Stretch, Squat)

Typically, when I practice these drills, I do each one for around 30 – 60 seconds. I find this is enough to loosen my back, hips, and hamstrings. That makes them ideal to use as a warm-up or cool down.

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Crab Ride Drills

Jiu Jitsu is ever-evolving (as it should be), and if you don’t keep up with the advancements in the game, you will get left behind.

Whether you intend on using positions like the Worm Guard, Berimbolo or Crab Ride it’s important you understand them. Like any position, once you understand the mechanics, you can choose to use it yourself or defend against it.

One position that is becoming very popular with lighter weight Jiu Jitsu players is the Crab Ride.

It’s a great position to both set up the guard pass or attack the back. And if you don’t know this position then you’re going to be left with a hole in your game that can easily be exploited.

Thankfully, there are a few easy drills you can do to help you understand the position. Check out the video below that covers some of the drills you should practice to learn the Crab Ride.

As with any new position, there are only really two ways to train to get better at it. You can spar or drill.

Sparring a new position is fairly self-explanatory, basically, you invert and see what happens. Drilling a new position can be a little more complicated which is where resources like Performance Drilling can be incredibly useful.

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Simple Knee On Belly Escapes

There are few positions in Jiu Jitsu as painful as Knee on Belly. When you get someone that understands how to control the position, it can feel like a baby hippo pressing down on your chest.

I’ve seen many people tap (and a few go to hospital) just from the pressure of the Knee on Belly position. Personally, anytime I end up in that Knee on Belly I try to escape as quickly as possible.

So how do you escape the knee on belly position?

Whether it’s Knee on Belly or any other position, your first line of defence is ALWAYS prevention. To prevent Knee on Belly, you can use your knee and elbow as a shield on the same side as your opponent.

For example, if you’re in bottom side control; your knee and elbow closest to your opponent should be ready to block any attempt they make to bring their knee on your stomach.

But what if you can’t do that?

There are a couple of other options, and the video below covers two of my favourite knee on belly escapes. Check out the video below:

As with any technique, you need to practice to get it to work for you. The simplest way to do this is to spend a few minutes before or after your regular class drilling the technique and then specific training from Knee on Belly.

Within no time, escaping knee on belly will be a piece of cake!

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3 Essential Concepts To Defend Any Submission

Every Jiu Jitsu player knows the feeling a split second before they get caught in a submission. It’s the moment you realise you’ve made a mistake and there’s nothing you can do about it. Your only option is to tap and nurse your battered ego.

Don’t get me wrong, getting submitted in training is a good thing. It means your training in an environment that will help you improve and that you’re expanding your comfort zones.

When Should You Tap?

Before we go any further, I want to share my thoughts on when you should tap. I see a lot of people pointlessly get injured because they try to fight out of a submission that’s locked on.

Once a submission is locked in tight, completing it has little to do with technique. Finishing a submission is mostly just strength. Consequently, once a submission is locked in tight, there is little you can do about it except either tap or break.

Personally, I’d like to be able to train the next day, so I fight with everything I have until a submission is locked tight, as soon as that happens I tap. And I advise all my students do the same.

Timing Is Everything

Ok back to defending submissions. Regardless of whether you’re a seasoned world champion black belt or a brand new white belt, how you react in the moments before a submission is locked in tight will dictate whether you tap or not.

And as with any bad situation, prevention is always the best option. The longer you allow a bad situation to progress the worse it will become.

Where a lot of people go wrong is they react too late. They only start defending the submission once it’s locked in. That should be your last line of defence not your first.

If you think about it, there are several things your opponent has to do before they get the submission. They have to set the right grips. They have to create the right angle. They have to open your opponent’s defences. And they have to transition into the submission.

At any of these points, you can stop their submission attempt in its tracks and force them to change their attack. In this article, we’re going to look at three key concepts that will allow you to defend against any submission.

Concept #1: Killing the Angle

Most submission attacks require your opponent to create an angle on you.

Take the triangle, for example, if your opponent is square on to you then it will be much harder to finish the attack as the pressure on the neck will be wrong.

The same applies to goes for armbars, leg locks, chokes, and just about every other submission.

Consequently, if you can kill the angle before your opponent starts the submission attack, you’ll never need to defend it. The video below explains this further and covers a few examples.

Concept #2: Centre Line Control

Controlling the centre line is very closely linked to killing the angle. Anytime your arms cross the centre of your body or your opponent’s body; you’re putting yourself at risk of submission.

An excellent example of this is the arm bar from closed guard. To apply an armbar effectively, your arm must be in the centre of your opponent’s body. If you stop this, there is little risk of the submission.

If you can control the centre line, you’ll be in an excellent position to avoid countless submission attacks. Check out the video below to see exactly what I mean.

Concept #3: Lines of Defence.

The final submission defence concept I want to share with you is lines of defence.

When I think about defending submission, I look at it as though there are three different times to defend.

Firstly, you can defend before the submission ever happens (we talked about this earlier with killing the angle and centre line control)

Secondly, you can defend during the submission. That would be something like hiding your arm as your opponent tries to arm bar you.

Your final line of defence is a split second before you’re forced to tap. This could be something like the hitch-hiker armbar escape or pulling the knee open during a knee bar. This video covers what I mean:

Be Safe Before You Escape

To close, I want to share one final thought about submission escapes.

Keep in mind whenever you’re defending a submission your primary objective is to escape the submission NOT to sweep or submit your opponent.

Sometimes your submission counters my result in a reversal or submission opportunity, but these should are by-products of your defence, not your goal.

Always remember, you have to be safe before you can escape.

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Points Mean Prizes: How To Score Quick Points In A BJJ Contest.

I have a question for you… Let say, you’re in the last minute of a Jiu Jitsu match, and the score is tied. If it goes to a decision, the referee could easily pick your opponent.

What do you do?

If your answer is “I’d set up my favourite sweep”, then you’ll probably run out of time. If your answer is “I’d submit my opponent”, why haven’t you already?

Regardless of whether you’re a black belt world champion or 4 stripes white belt, anyone can give you problems for a minute. You need a reliable way to score points when it counts late in the fight.

One thing that I regularly see missing from the games of many good, technical BJJ players is explosive, points-targeted techniques for use at the end of a match to score immediately.

Technical players want to take their time and set up their points carefully, which is great— until there’s only 1 minute left in the match and you need to score to win.

In this article, I’m going to share with you some of the best ways to score late in a fight.

The first one of these techniques is the collar drag. The collar drag is a great technique for this situation because it’s so powerful, particularly against opponents who are immobile, stiff, or stalling.

But it’s also a technique that is easy to do wrong. If you do the collar drag wrong, you might easily find yourself accidentally in the bottom of side control.

The easiest way to master the collar drag is from a seated position, but once you’ve got it, it’s applicable across a whole array of situations.

To learn the power of the collar drag the watch videos below now:

Technique #1: The Basic Collar Drag

Technique #2: Collar Drag Against A Standing Opponent

Technique #3: Collar Drag From Standing

It’s easy to get tired when you’re fighting a skilled guard player that frustrates your every move. When you get tired (like at the end of a match), kneeling and taking a break can seem like a good idea.

However, kneeling will give your opponent a great opportunity to score with something like the collar drag or ankle pick.

The ankle pick is like the yin to the collar drag’s yang. If you start with one technique your opponent’s reaction will set up the other.

Late in a match, the ankle pick and collar drag combination is a great way to score some fast points. Check out the videos below to learn two variations of the ankle pick:

Technique #4: The Basic Ankle Pick

Technique #5: Ankle Pick Against Kneeling Opponent

One of the most common questions people have is about the “technique” of the ankle pick — but there isn’t a whole lot of technique involved.

The ankle pick is more about recognising a lull in your opponents passing momentum and bowling them over with your hands, arms, shoulders, face, or whatever else is handy.

Getting the technique right for the ankle pick is easy, but the timing can be hard. Like the collar drag, the only way to get good at the ankle pick is to pressure test it in sparring over and over again.

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