Tag Archives: Positions
Kesa Gatame in BJJ - An Unorthodox Position
Kesa Gatame (what the guy in the white gi is using in the photo above) is the Judo name for a position that is also known as the Scarf Hold or the Head and Arm pin. (more…)
BJJ Positions - What About North South?
After my last tip about unorthodox BJJ positions I had some people contact me and tell me that I’d left out the North South position from my list of the 6 fundamental BJJ Positions.
I’ve actually addressed this issue in my Beginning BJJ Package, and so I’m just going to quote from there: (more…)
On Keeping the Top Position
This is an excerpt on one of the most important sections from my book ” A Roadmap for Brazilian Jiu-jitsu” (more…)
Learn to Crush the Bug
A large part of jiu-jitsu is using your weight to immobilize your opponent; “crushing the bug” as it is sometimes referred to. When done properly, the application of your body weight from the top position can be enough to submit your opponent by making it impossible for him to breath. (more…)
The Two Meanings of the Tap
Tapping out is sending a message to your opponent. The most common message is “OK, you got me with that submission. Now let me go”
Many grapplers don’t realize that tapping out can also be used to send a different message (more…)
Refusing to Concede the Sweep
I trained with Denis Kang for the first five or six years of his MMA career. At some point during that time he became very, very difficult to sweep. Partially this was due to his increasing technical knowledge, but it was also more than that. (more…)
Jiu-jitsu, a Game of Inches
One of my favorite expressions is that “jiu-jitsu is a game of inches”. Sometimes a whole match can be decided by the battle to move your hand one inch forward. (more…)
A Half Guard Secret
When fighting from my half guard I often recall something that Chris Brennan told me: “one of the secrets of the half guard is to bring your knees to your chest”. This advice, simple as it is, can add a whole other dimension to your half guard attacks. (more…)
A few weeks ago I was practicing technique with a big, strong rock climber who had a grip from hell and tenacious isometric strength. I noticed how much he liked controlling my gi, breaking my posture and attacking with collar chokes. (more…)
How To Get Posture While Pinned
We recently talked about some examples of good defensive posture when you’re on the bottom, achieving good posture when pinned under your opponent is the first, and often the most critical, step in the escape process. (more…)
Posture Outside of Guard
Practitioners of submission grappling and BJJ quickly learn about the importance of posture in an opponent’s guard. If you have bad posture in the guard you will get swept and submitted all the time. (more…)
Side Mount Escape Help
A Reader Asked:
Q: I keep getting trapped in side control. Sometimes I can’t even get my hips loose to attempt an escape. Some of the guys I train with are really good and get so tight, epecially trapping my hips between their knee and arm, that I can’t move my hips at all. (more…)
How to Make Side Mount Heavier
Last week we started a conversation about how to make yourself feel heavier while pinning your opponent. One way to do this is to take any weight you’re placing directly on the ground, and to place it on your opponent. (more…)
Sometimes when you’re grappling you might want to play ‘crush the bug’, totally immobilizing your opponent with your bodyweight and making it difficult for him to even breath. Obviously this is easier to do if you weigh 300 pounds, but most grapplers don’t position themselves properly to maximize the bodyweight they do have (more…)
If you try contesting a larger, stronger opponent using your strength against his strength you will probably lose.You need to fight the battle on your own terms, and two effective (and somewhat related) strategies to do this include:
1, Move quicker
2, Tire him out. (more…)
Escaping pins is never easy: if you get pinned in a match, then chances are that your opponent is either pretty good (relative to you) or that you are tired. Either way, escaping pins is almost always difficult and tiring, but a few simple principles can make it a little easier. (more…)
One more thing about Choking
Before we leave this topic I want to point out that not all chokes occur at the neck.Of course squeezing the windpipe is the most common form of choking, but you can also impair breathing by applying pressure to the torso. (more…)
The Fundamental Rear Mount
In the last tip we talked about how you should (mostly) avoid crossing your ankles while rear mounted on your opponent. This week I just want to go over some fundamental tips that may help you maintain rear mount on an opponent trying to escape. (more…)
The rear mount is arguably the most dominant position in grappling. When you have rear mount you can apply some very powerful chokes and locks. In MMA or self defense you can administer severe punishment without your opponent having the ability to strike you back. (more…)
Static Bridging - a Common Mistake in Sparring
There are two fundamental ways to escape from most pinning positions: escapes based on ‘shrimping’ style hip movement, and escapes based on bridging.
One common mistake I see among beginners is that they hold the bridge position for far too long. (more…)
Double Ankle Control Position for Footlocks
Today’s topic is a slightly unusual control position for footlocks. Control positions are methods of positioning your legs while you are attempting a leglock. The purpose of a control position is to control your opponent’s legs and body while you set up and execute your leglock. (more…)
Competitive 2 Person Drilling
We’ve talked about solo drills and partner drills. There is a final category of drills I’d like to talk about: competitive 2 person drills.
When you do this type of drilling you are training a specific aspect of your game against a resisting opponent. (more…)
Two-person drills are important training methods to develop skills on the mat. They can be used to warm up at the beginning of your training session, as part of your conditioning program, or as a finishing exercise. (more…)
One Simple Tip for Surviving the Smother
There’s nothing worse than tapping out to a smother. It is one thing to get caught in a nice technical choke and having to tap out, but it really sucks to get slowly smothered as someone covers your nose and mouth with some part of their body. (more…)
In this last installment on fine-tuning your sparring time I would like to talk about starting your sparring sessions from bad positions. Starting out in a bad position is a good way to rapidly improve your pin escapes and submission counters. It is also a great way to challenge yourself, particularly when sparring lighter or less experienced people. (more…)
Free BJJ Book !
To receive this free report and receive the Grappling Tips Newsletter enter your email below
Featured Grappling MMA Pic
