A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to be on the mat at the Gracie Academy out in Torrance California when Ryron was giving one of his first introductions to a 4-pronged approach to grappling and jiujitsu. He saw me intently taking notes and started laughing. Knowing my intentions, he asked me to not publish them immediately so, 2 years down the line, I feel I've honoured my promise.
In a nutshell, he explained that he approaches every exchange with these objectives:
Defend: anything the opponent may try to throw at you: including distance management
Escape: When the time is right, escape the bad position
Control: Using 3 methodologies (explained below) control the chaos when you are in a dominant position
Submit: only if it fits within the grand objective of survival. It's not always necessary to submit.
When you hear the words Jiujitsu, BJJ, Gracie Jiujitsu or even grappling, what images come to mind?
Most uninitiated would probably visualise Hollywood Karate-esque pyjama fighting. Those who have witnesses Mixed Martial Arts events such as the UFC or Bellator may envisage that a jiujitsu mat is full of brutes wrestling each other to submission and, finally, those who have had a taste of the art will describe what they know to the level they know it with the grappling vocabulary they possess.
But the truth is that while Jiujitsu is a martial art and a thriving combat sport, it’s only as violent as the instructor teaching it. My own personal journey has lead me to favour brain over brawn, even though I fully appreciate the importance of athleticism and physicality. I am a self-diagnosed Martial Arts Geek, but I also love pushing the boundaries of what my body can do.
Making the best of what we were born with
When planning and / or delivering a private lesson, a group class or a seminar, I try to stay true to three rules:
Positional sparring is a fantastic way to sharpen your execution of a technique. Way more important than Free Rolling and that's not just my opinion. It's the opinion of practically every single world champ or Gracie family member I have ever interviewed.
For those not familiar with the term positional sparring: The instructor introduces three triangle fundamental escapes (for instance) then you drilled them in isolation (against progressive resistance) and then you roll, but every roll started from inside your partner's triangle set-up position. This is an excellent way to learn fast and learn well!
My teacher Professor Eddie Kone recently released a beautiful video on "How to Develop Pressure in Jiujitsu" and the geography he chose to demonstrate these concepts was inside the closed guard. Developing and maintaining pressure is something we spend a ton (pardon the pun) of time and energy on within EKBJJ, no less so when passing the guard. Here's professor Kone's video on the subject:
Once you use these concepts to keep your opponent under physical and mental pressure and the legs are opened, your main choices to pass are:
A discussion about “Pure Jiu Jitsu” was brought to my attention yesterday. I must admit that the discussion itself didn’t really teach me anything I didn’t already know but it made me think.
The central question raised was: What defines Pure Jiu Jitsu? This situation is not unique if you look at many traditional martial arts. A family member(s) (usually the eldest son or brother or even most senior student) ends up "inheriting" responsibility for the art and feels, in a lot of cases, rightly passionate about preserving what they learnt and inherited. You see this in Karate (Wadokai v wado ryu or even ITF Taekowndo vs the WTF version), Jujutsu (Iwama ryu v Aikikai) and even weapon arts (family-based ryu or schools vs curriculums by the Budokai. I'm not agreeing with it, I'm just saying that it's a natural thing.
If I was to create a system (of any kind) and spent a very long time teaching the ins and outs of it to someone (especially blood related), then they will see my passion for it and may develop a feeling that they need to preserve it after my death, rather than open it up and develop/expand it. That is human. This is not even to mention the perceived financial advantageous of a monopoly!
On the other hand, you will often have a group of people who are more passionate about the art itself and how it can enrich people's lives. They respect what those who created it/discovered it/formulated it did but are more excited by the prospects that the future holds and they realise that for the art/system to thrive and expand, it needs to evolve and stay up-to-date. They form committees and they created federations and they bring in democratic regulations. That too is human and of course welcome.
Which way to go then? Well the beauty of it is that it's up to the instructor, as long as he or she is honest, it all adds to the art and by being honest, I mean honest in all your communication with your students and the public. If you focus on preserving techniques that were meant to deal with a set of circumstances (be it sword attacks, BJJ competition or Vale Tudo) and you tell everyone that that’s your focus then great. If they like it, who’s to stop them/you.
The original question (What defines Pure Jiu Jitsu?) is really just a trap. A trap of attachment and measurement. “Pure” simply implies that something/everything else is “impure” which we have come to feel is something negative, turning the question into, in essence, marketing. The word is not the thing. If you want to know the thing, go roll. Don’t power your way thru, leave your ego outside and flow with the go and you will experience the thing and no one will be able to take it away from you or make it “impure”, whatever the hell that means.
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Do you still practice karate? Which out of Jiujitsu, judo and
karate is your favourite martial art? What’s the best martial art out there?
What’s next for you?
These are the questions I get the most often when people hear
that I’ve earned black belts in three different martial arts (karate, judo and
Jiujitsu) and I’ve noticed, over the years, that my answers have evolved.
Every art I’ve trained to any length* has had an element of
exchange, aka partner drills / kumite / randori / rolling / sparring. Granted,
some arts focused on that more than others but even the year or so I trained in
tai chi chuan, an art made famous by its solo practice, had something called
“pushing hands” which necessitated having a partner / opponent.
Outside the above mentioned (1) exchange of techniques with a
partner, martial arts also have exercises that (2) strengthen the body and / or
improve your control over it (callisthenics, lifting weights, stretching,
coordination drills...etc), (3) solo forms of drilling the techniques (shadow
boxing / wrestling, forms aka kata in Japanese arts) and (4) equipment practice
(striking / wrestling bags, makiwara, elastic bands, dummies ...etc) and,
again, the extent to which these avenues of exercise are emphasised varied
greatly from style to style but also from instructor to instructor. I know for
instance that some styles of karate lay a huge emphasis on making the body
strong using traditional implements (weighted jars, iron rings, isometric
contractions...) while more modern styles emphasise explosive delivery of
techniques fostered through the use of elastic rubber bands and plyometrics.
Different courses for different horses.
My two major challenges were always that: 1. I like all forms of
exercise 2. There are only 24 hours a day and I’m only a part time martial
artist.
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu is not easy, nor is it meant to be. Sure you can learn and teach it in a variety of ways, some of which will make it easier, but it will never be easy. BJJ will always be a challenging endeavour. An example of this surfaced yesterday when two white belts asked if posting on the neck was a legitimate tactic, which I feel it is, or at least can be.
The Paper Cutter choke (espinha de peixe in Portuguese:
The Fish Bone) is an example of forearm pressure
Before you bite my head off, please hear me out. I feel pressure against the neck is a cautious subject, a bit like heel hooks. If done properly, it is simply another tool in the arsenal.
Let of set a couple of parameters first: by posting against the neck I don't mean squeezing the throat but rather creating a frame with you arm/hand the connects against the neck or near it.
The objective of this is, and herein lies the detail, to:
Govern the distance
Elicit a reaction.
A bit of both.
An example from side control top is threatening with a paper cutter choke-type pressure to clear the path for the knee on belly or enticing the opponent to open their closed guard and go for an armbar by posting against their neck with a straight arm, a risky albeit advanced tactic to facilitate the pass. The question is not whether it's legit or not, but rather "do you know why you are doing it?" But this post is about the challenges of BJJ/Grappling, not sneaky tactics. The reason I brought this up is because I feel such a tactic can freeze a jiu jitsu player up, at least the first time they are inflicted, and therefore it is important to learn how to handle it.
The villain behind this is usually the ego. Rather than deal with this obstacle, your ego starts whispering: "Boo! Dirty tactics! That's not allowed / legal / nice...etc." and you freeze. I'll tell you what it is. It's an opportunity to learn, nothing else. It causes no damage*, permanent or otherwise, and you should be able to deal with it technically and intelligently once you get over the voice of ego.
Hmmm...maybe a video to illustrate? I'll get back to you.
It's all about setting the right traps and removing obstacles (Image source: WatchBJJ)
In a previous post I explained the main concepts a jiujitsu practitioner needs to keep in mind to control their opponent from cross side top (ak. side mount or side control) and how to transition from the side to the full mount. I also promised I'd discuss what I have found to be the highest percentage ways to submit the opponent from side to mount so here we go:
The thing is, as you may have noticed from the previous two articles, my high-pressure control itself and constant threat of mounting usually opens doors to submission that wouldn't normally be there. Just take the Kimura Roger talks about in the previous post for instance: That's probably my favourite go to straight from side mount.
Check Article 2 in this series for details of this position
I am very grateful that almost every teacher I have ever had in jiujitsu and judo has emphasized the importance of crushing pressure without over-engagement from the arms. This has meant that the system I currently follow when attacking from the side goes like this:
Kill the nearside arm: To do this from my version of the side mount, I use my shins to pin their forearm to the mat (preferably my south leg so I can ...)
Post the north leg while isolating their farside arm further (putting my north arm deep in between their arm and their torso)
Secure the kimura grip and attack with:
Kimura
lapel-trap paper-cutter choke
Leg scissor choke
I recently found a good video that demonstrates one variation of the lapel trap choke I mention above, although I would try to keep more pressure on the opponent:
Let's be crystal clear: My goal from the side mount is very simple: I want you to tap from my pressure alone. I will do everything I can to tip the scales in my direction when it comes to me having a stronger mechanical advantage, leverage and "comfort" and I will angle my body and contour around your frames and add more and more pressure until you tap from pressure alone. Going to mount and / or submitting you with a choke or armlock will always be my secondary option but because I am so pressure-focused, when I do actually go for the attacks, my opponent has had to endure some serious claustrophobia and their frames and spine are all out of proper posture.
I hope you enjoyed this extended and detailed style of blog and that you spend the upcoming 5-6 weeks putting one or two tips out of it into your own practice. I welcome all feedback, just drop me a line through the link at the top of the blog.
Next topic: My favourite - the mount.
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In a previous post I explained the main concepts a jiujitsu practitioner needs to keep in mind to control their opponent from cross side top (ak. side mount or side control). I explained that I've found that the key to maintaining that control is through a combination of the right positioning / postures, weight distribution and pressures on the opponent body and limbs and I promised I'd discuss what I have found to be the most dominant ways to transition from side to mount so here we go:
From a private lesson I took from my teacher, professor Eddie Kone, many
years ago. Notice how free his hands are to attack and submit, as opposed to
being preoccupied with holding or squeezing the opponent.
I mentioned last post that there are many different ways of laying cross side on top of your opponent and that in this particular 6-week study, I'm focusing on the version closest resembling judo's kuzure yoko shiho gatame as opposed to the more often seen underhook-and-cross-face style of hold down. This is not to say that this is the only way I hold someone in side control. It's just my current favourite and the one I'm exploring. Naturally, my transitions to mount will flow directly (and sometimes indirectly) from that particular style of side control.
Kuzure-Yoko-shiho-gatame
Since my top arm is wrapped around the outside of the opponent's far arm, the body's naturally more incline to turn to face the legs than to face the opponent's head. What this means is that it would be more natural for me to transition to the mount using the high step method than through the knee slide method:
Screenshots are courtesy of Evolve University & Chew Jitsu
After flattening the opponent, I use my back to push and open up (separate from the torso) the opponent's nearside elbow. The flattening action actually makes opening the elbow easier.
Once the elbow is open and my back has shrimped away from their legs, I prop their nearside knee with my knee / upper shin (I don't feel it makes a difference which leg!) then drag both their legs down to collapse them before high stepping to the mount. Here's a nice clip of Mr Roger Gracie showing what I mean:
I have to admit, however, I do two things differently to Roger. I'm not Roger's size so I need to put in a couple of safety measures when I high step to mount:
I use my nearside leg (the one I am not stepping over with) to hook under their nearside leg. This gives me my first leg hook before I've even mounted and prevents them sliding under me for a sneaky backdoor escape from the mount - aka elbow escape from the side control.
I don't step onto the mat with my foot. Rather, I hook my heel on their far hamstring-area then use that connection to pull myself up onto them, sliding that heel deeper into what becomes my second leg hook. This slide is lead by the hips
Rather than stepping, hook the heel and pull yourself on top
In the next and final post on the topic of the Side Mount - Top, I will discuss submission opportunities that arise naturally when your control is tight and your mount transitions are always a threat! Stay tuned.
What is the easiest position to control someone in grappling?
Most people I know love the side mount and will put it ahead of the mount. Especially beginners as they still haven't developed their mount maintenance techniques and attributes and always feel in danger of getting flipped. With your body off your opponent in the side mount (aka cross side or side control), the risk of the position getting reversed is reduced.
Personally, I see the side mount as a portal to the mount. Yes I use it to exhaust my opponents and yes I have a number of submission attacks from there, but my goal is to mount my opponent.
While I am laying cross side on my opponent, I'd like to use the following postures and pressures to open them up for the aforementioned attacks, including the transition to mount. The position itself is most reminiscent of the kuzure yoko shiho gatame in judo, or "broken side 4-way hold-down", with an adjustment or two.
Kuzure-Yoko-shiho-gatame
Position, relative to the opponent:
Alignment: My spine is at 90-95 degrees to their spine, angling north. My chest / breastbone practically right on top of theirs and my chin near the outside of their far deltoid which my own north side armpit is close to their chin. I like to keep my head super low both to deny space but also to prevent damage from effective strikes (accidental or otherwise). The hips, controversially, are higher than my shoulders, but I stay behind an invisible wall defined by their centre line to prevent getting flipped.
Arms: my north arm wraps around their far arm / shoulder. I also like grabbing the belt with that hand and making sure the far shoulder is isolated from the ground by that arm. I also pull that arm to my hip so it restricts the movement of his head. The south arm is guarding against their attempts to replace me into their guard by hovering between the level of their knee and mid-thigh. I sometimes go lower, but I'm always aware of the risk of them bringing their shin through the space potentially created by my elbow. I'm always alert to hug, especially with the south arm, if they bridge explosively.
Legs: my north leg is straight. My south leg is bent with the knee close to my south elbow / their nearside hip
This positional alignment creates a ton of pressure against the opponent's far shoulder, but also their chest. As you become comfortable on top, listen to their breathing and deepen your position and hold over them at the end of their exhale.
Weight distribution: Play around with this until you find the sweet spot. For me, it's usually sternum-to-sternum. If they start to turn towards you, distribute your weight to turn them flat again. If they try to frame against your north-side hip, drop your other hip to contour around their pressure.
Comfort: Get your knees and elbows off the ground to direct all the weight into the opponent at all times, hence tipping the comfort scales in your favour.
It goes without saying that this is only a narrow, specialised 6-week deep-dive into one variation of how to hold your opponent from the side mount. You can orientate your arms, legs and torso in a variety of other ways and I will investigate these in the future, but for now: This is my go-to strategy.
In the next article, I will talk about the pathways I've been investigating to go from the side to the full mount.
In my previous 2 posts I explained the main concepts a Half Guard Player can dominate your trapped leg from the half guard by controlling your foot, your knee and / or your hip. I explained that I've found that the key to unraveling their control is to negate their control of the trapped foot using a "Lockdown" style control. Once I freed and hid my foot, I noticed most of my training partners tried to control my hip instead and yesterday I discussed what I have found to be the most important concept to prevent the opponent from controlling my hip (plus 3 auxiliary ones) and outlined my counters to their counters. Lastly, I promised I'd show two approaches I've been playing with to how I deal with the Butterfly Half Guard and today is the day.
The Butterfly hook in the half guard serves the purpose of creating space but also stickiness to the top player. If you are to negate that, you need to address both these consequences of the butterfly hook.
As promised, I give you two expressions of the same set of principles. First is Master Pedro Sauer's version and second is that of the legend that is Mr Roger Gracie. Notice that while they deal with the problem (having space created against them by the bottom guy) slightly differently, they achieve the same objective, albeit using different tools:
Master Pedro Sauer:
Professor Roger Gracie:
I hope you enjoyed this extended and detailed style of blog and that you spend the upcoming 5-6 weeks putting one or two tips out of it into your own practice. I welcome all feedback, just drop me a line through the link at the top of the blog.
Next topic: The side mount (AKA Side Control or even Cross Side).
In a previous post I explained the main concepts a Half Guard Player can dominate your trapped leg from the half guard by controlling your foot, your knee and / or your hip. I explained that I've found that the key to unraveling their control is to negate their control of the trapped foot using a "Lockdown" style control. Once I freed and hid my foot, I noticed most of my training partners tried to control my hip instead and I promised I'd discuss what I have found to be the most important concept to prevent the opponent from controlling my hip (plus 3 auxiliary ones) so here we go:
The most important concept(s) in preventing the HGP from controlling your hip in the half guard:
Keeping the opponent flat, rather than on their side. This will force their top leg to point upwards rather than into you, like a good frame would.
Using the outside of your elbow to peel off any part of their leg that tries to gain purchase against your hip.
Contouring your hip, ribs and torso past their top leg and closer to their torso, so that your top arm hugs their hip close restricting their ability to shrimp away and your tightness restricts their ability to re-insert the top knee or shin against your hip or chest.
As an extension of the point above, especially when the opponent frames hard against your upper chest / throat, considering turning to face the legs. Not only does this allow you to bypass their top leg entirely, it, consequently, allows you to land far more of your weight directly onto their torso and it gives you several tools to help free your leg and pass, if that's what you want to do.
It is important to note that not all these points are equally valued. Point 1 is king, because it directly facilitates points 2-4 and more, to be honest.
Back to our chain of command: foot - knee - hip(s)
In a previous post I explained that I will be focusing the blog articles on one theme for the duration of 6-week projects. This is to reflect my focus in training. The past 6 weeks I've focused as much as I could on the half guard top position. I've used this time to investigate the ins and outs of the position with regards to postures, pressures, submissions, strikes and guard passing (or any other positional change that I initiate from the top). Here's a summary of the variables I've been experimenting with.
Half guard top: foot - knee - hip
The Half Guard Player's goal is to dominate and manipulate all three of these joints if they are to truly dominate the leg and, by extension, your whole body, and sweep you. In order to weaken their control, we have to take control away from them and reclaim it back for ourselves.
To completely negate the half guard, we need to eliminate all aspects of control the HGP has on our foot, knee and / or hip, which in turn is the definition of passing and being in Side Mount. The sooner we dominate the control of the feet, knees and hips (starting with our own and progressing to our opponent's) the sooner we will dominate the half guard top vs bottom battle.
"In a fight, only one person can be comfortable. Your job is to transfer the comfort from the opponent to you" Rickson Gracie
The best position in grappling by the best grappler
For me, the most important position in jiujitsu, nogi submission grappling, mixed martial arts and even self defense* is the back position. It is the ultimate hierarchical position where you can cause damage (as little or as much as you want) and the opponent can't necessarily harm you. By extension, I feel that transitions that put you on someone's back are the most important transitions. I am always looking to get the back position: From the standing phase, closed guard, open guard, half guard, mount, side and, relevant to today's post, when the opponent turtles up.
Which judo throws are best suited for a BJJ player? I see this question asked over and over and while the rules of engagement of the two arts and sports dictate certain limitations, I strongly believe that the best return-on-investment comes not necessarily from training throws, but rather grips. A superior grip artist will have a huge advantage in both jiujitsu and judo over a superior thrower, if that makes sense. This is not something I stand by alone. In a recent interview on the Grappling Central Podcast, Judo and Jiujitsu black belt, Multiple Olympian and Olympic silver medalist Mr Travis Stevens highlighted the importance of having a well-rounded judo game, centered around superior gripping and standing-to-ground transitions.
Luckily, there are some goos resources out there to help you improve your gripping strategie such as "Grip Like a World Champion" by Mr Steven's judo coach, a legend in competitive judo himself, Mr Jimmy Pedro.
At it's simplest, grips fighting should enable you to stay safe from the opponent's throws while facilitating your own balance breaks and entries for throws. Here, I've included three videos which link together into a beautiful sequence that takes you from initial contact to dominance to throw. The first is by Travis Stevens himself:
Further, Travis' coach Jimmy Pedro talks to a personal hero of mine, Mr Saulo Ribeiro at the University of Jiujitsu about the Ko uchi gari:
Now that you have an understanding of how to bridge the gap, investigate how to use that advantage to dominate your opponent. Here's one such example, but the onus is on you to flesh out your own gripping game.
I recently wrote an article about the Knee on Belly position where I talked about some drills to stay on top and launch your attacks. I've had a ton of messages from that particular article that I decided to add a few more attacks to the repertoire. In particular, I'd like to offer a couple of suggestions to help deal with resistance to our attacks.
To start off, I will share this really nice way to remove the arm the opponent may use to block our choke, by Mr Robson Moura
While I've never been a Cross-fitter (besides stealing a couple of Workout-Of-the-Day off their website here and there), this paragraph out of Kelly Starrett's book "Becoming the Supple Leopard" really resonated with the martial artist and teacher in me.
Most judo or Jiujitsu sessions I attend, whether at EKBJJ HQ, New School BJJ, Tokei Martial Arts or the Budokwai (or any other academy I happen to visit) will easily exceed 25 attendees. Most of these academies hold 10-14 such sessions each week and are open an average of 48-50 weeks a year. This alone means that each year, each one of these academies / dojo / gyms will facilitate 12,000-17,500 athlete training sessions. Each year! So if an academy has been in business for say 10 years, that translates to 120,000-175,000 athlete training sessions.
Both jiujitsu and judo have an extensive repertoire of standing techniques. Gracie jiujitsu mainly concerns itself with defensive techniques and tactics that allow you to close the distance against an armed or unarmed opponent, sportive jiujitsu focuses on transitioning to the ground (mainly) and while that is also the focus of judo, the international judo federation rules add an element of explosiveness and finality to the standing portion: A good throw that lands the opponent flat on their back will not just score highly in judo, it will end the match!
Studying for me black belt theory in judo, I read that while jiujitsu had always been a fighting and, consequently, battlefield art, it never quite developed the foot sweeps much. Hip- and hand-throws (such as O goshi and Seoi nage, respectively) were king and queen. It was only with the focus of judo on indoor training on tatami (traditional straw-mats) that they flourished. Always training and competing on predictably flat and smooth terrain meant judoka could design competition strategies that centered around the timing-based foot sweeps or ashi barai.*
One such technique is the sasae foot sweep: Sasae Tsuri Komi Ashi. A beautiful technique centering around correct timing and weight distribution disrubtion. Here's a nice demonstration of the throw by none less than BJ Penn:
With that said, foot sweeps, or any other technique, work best in combination and since Sasae is a forward throwing technique, it's best combined with a technique that throws the opponent backwards such as O soto gari:
I've been listening to a lot of interviews with the two above Chrises: Haueter & Graugart, and thinking a lot about what it is about jiujitsu that we happily dedicate so much of our time and energy to. Why is it so engaging?
In a now famous grading speech by Chris Haueter, he talks about he misses the old days where the applicability of jiujitsu as a fighting art was still paramount and how, nevertheless, he loves the technical advancements of modern competitive jiujitsu. He seals the deal with the quote:
We all get taught and shown the same fundamental techniques and principles of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Everybody gets shown the same fundamental guard passes and everyone is made aware that if you leave a hand in and one out you risk getting triangled...etc.. Not because there is some superior authority that runs around and checks that people adhere to abstract rules and regulations, but rather because BJJ and Grappling (and by extension MMA and all true combative sports) have an inbuilt reality-check: Does it work in sparring?
But while we are all taught the same principles for, say, chokes from side control, every athlete is free to interpret and indeed express these principles in her own way. Each athlete becomes, or at least is given the opportunity to become, an artist in their own right, with the jiujitsu mat being the canvas. Why else would we consider techniques, even when they bring us pain and discomfort, beautiful?
Just the other day I visited the Roger Gracie Academy HQ here in London where Mr Charles Negromonte was holding a fantastic class on specific sparring. We would spend round in the following geographies: Side, mount & back. Attacking and defending for full pelt. After the end of each double round (so both partners get a chance) Charles would stop the class and gather us all around to discuss any issues that may have arisen. I asked him about his favourite details regarding transitioning from side to the mount and the things he showed were nothing short of revolutionary to my game. Why? Because he provided me with amazing tools. Using the artist analogy, he upgraded my brushes and provided me with uber-rich palette of colours to paint with.
