BJJ / Grappling Tips: More from the Knee On Belly Position

Learn the secrets of the Knee on Belly position from a true master of the position:
Master Mauricio Gomes on GALLERR

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

BJJ / Grappling Technique: Knee on Belly

Knee on belly / stomach (KOB) is one of the most painful and frustrating positions to achieve in grappling / jiujitsu / MMA. On the top you can control your opponents hips and shoulders, or at least stay on them as they move about. If your opponent tries to escape you can pull up with your hands and force your knee ibnto them, hence increasing the pressure, or transition back down to side control or even flick your leg across to the mount or back mount.

A variety of strikes, chokes, arm- or even leg-locks can be started from this position and your relative disengagement from the opponent, compared to say a deep low mounted position, means you can be more aware of your surrounding and can react faster in a multi-attacker situation.

You can enter the KOB position from a variety of scenarios. You opt to go there instead of mount after a hip throw or a guard pass. You could pop there from side control or even retreat from mount when you want to maintain a high level of mobility while still affecting tremendous pressure on the opponent.

There are no right or wrong ways of going into or out of the KOB. Only ways that afford you control (tight) vs ones that afford you mobility (loose). Here's a concise treaty on the topic of Knee on Belly:

BJJ / Grappling Tips: Mount transitions and fundamental movements

I love the fundamentals of Brazilian or Gracie Jiu Jitsu. The main reason is because I love movement. I am passionate about movement being the main component of life itself. While sweeps, escapes and submissions of BJJ are amazing, to me the simple art of moving around your opponent in the most energy efficient way is the most important, and visually attractive, part of our art of Brazilian Jiu jitsu.

Have a look at this clip of one of the masters of movement, Mr Andre Galvao in his now famous "Andre Galvao - Match One":



But how do we get to such dizzying heights of mastery? Where do we start?

Amazing Balls!

Yes I'm a great advocate of Unstable Base Training but I must admit I've never seen anything like this fella:

Mr Abmar Barbosa training on the Swiss-Ball



This is the man who (amongst many other accomplishments) beat Kron Gracie 11-0!

Can you see why?

A big thanks goes of course to Georgette Oden for directing me to this link.

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What Are The Fundamentals in BJJ / Grappling?

Martyn posed a great question on Facebook yesterday about how BJJ may resemble a tree. After many a silly answer (thanks Jake!) it came clear that he was hinting to the support the branches receive from a strong and sturdy trunk (the Foundation). Manik also made a very smart, out-of-the-box contribution that, to me, sounded very Avatar-inspired.

A lot of weight is placed on the fundamentals of BJJ, and of course rightly so. But what are they? What are the fundamental techniques of BJJ?

The first time I saw a good list of fundamentals was on Mr Roy Harris' website (which has a wealth of infromation and articles free for all to access. The man is a genius!). The funny thing is, when I saw that list back in the day, I didn't really understand much of it! Adding to that, I wasn't really doing much BJJ / Grappling at the time so I had no training partners or coach to ask and in 2001, the internet wasn't as overloaded with BJJ information as it is now.

Nevertheless, a day or two has passed since 2001 and I have come to re-arrange Mr Harris' list into my own progression which is what I use as a guidline both for my own training and for private sessions.

Basic BJJ Moves:
-Bridge
-Shrimp
-Sit shrimp
-Roll over your shoulder
-Box Drill
-Flip hips over
-Flip hips under
-Light legs

Guard Bottom
-APE-principle
-Breaking posture
-Shaking base
-Working towards the back
-Arm wrap pit stop
-Head and arm posture
-Knee Shield posture
-Biceps ride posture
-Harness control
-Scissor Sweep – Standard variation
-Scissor Sweep – Knee push variation
-Hip Bump Sweep
-Flower / Pendulum sweep
-Technical standing from guard
-Triangle choke
-Cross choke(s)
-Guillotine choke
-Kimura
-Straight armbar(s)
-Omoplata

Half Guard Bottom
-Stone Squirrel Posture
-Getting to your knees (dogfight)
---Knee tap
---Plan B
-Pull Guard

Half Guard Top
-Circle to flatten
-Underhook to flatten
-Wizzer
-Tight knees
-Cross Face
---Escrima pass

Mount Bottom
-Survival posture
---Elbow knee
---Back door shrimp Escape
Mount Top
-Low Mount
---Mount maintenance
---Americana
---Arm triangle choke
-High Mount
-Technical Mount
---Arm wrap pit stop
---Arm bar – Wing choke – Americana Triple attack
---Back take

Back Bottom
-Survival posture
---Turn to face escape
---Shrimp down escape
---Mount Awareness

Back Top
-Hooks and Harness
---Transition to mount
---Bow and Arrow Choke
---Arm triangle Choke
---RNC

Side control Bottom
-Survival posture
---Bridge, Shrimp and Connect: BSC
---Pull guard
---To your knees
Side control Top
-Weight awareness
-Position 1: Far Harness: Cross face & Underhook
---Knee on Belly to Mount
-Position 2: Modified Scarf Hold
-Position 3: Reverse Scarf Hold
---Mount
-Walk side-to-side incl. North/South

Passing
-Guard posture and breaking
-Base and posture
-Standing in Guard
-Sitting guard break
-Standing guard break
-Defence against:
---Triangle choke
---Cross choke
---Guillotine choke
---Kimura
---Straight armbar
---Omoplata
-Combat base Low
---Double under
---Knee-thru Pit stop
-Combat base High
---5 Passing energies

Stand-up
-Posture
-Stance
-Grip fighting
-Pummeling
-Arm drag
-Head snap
-Duck under
-Faint
-Defense
---Stuff-Underhook-Sprawl
---Walk past the guard pull
-Offense
---Double Underhooks
---Leg hook trip
---Fold over
---Knee Tap
-Over Under
---Leg attack combo


Of course, there are loads more techniques that some may consider as essential fundamentals and I'm sure some will look at my list and think "I don't agree that that technique should be there". That's cool.

Once again, to me, the techniques are just stills from the moving picture that is BJJ. Put two grapplers together and they will form postures, exert pressures and open up a number of possibilities and the way I look at what makes the cut for the fundamentals list is simply "Which techniques will enforce the best overall habits, using the least energy, creating the biggest posrture deficit with the opponent and open up the best possibilities?"

The much-discussed Gracie University looks at the fundamentals in a somewhat different light. Their Gracie Combatives Course define them as: The 36 techniques that are most likely to save your ass in a no holds barred fight (my words, but the gist is there). It's a very refreshing view that simplifies many things in BJJ (to open the guard of an a non BJJ schooled attacker, simply punch his face once or twice) but of course leaves a number of questions unanswered with regards to sport BJJ or Submission Grappling. Slideyfoot did one of the best reviews I've ever read on the Gracie University material.

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BJJ Tips: What's in a BJJ / Grappling name?

An excellent post on Allie The Clear Belt got me thinking about the power of language and how it (can) influence our actions, in this case specifically within BJJ / Grappling. I started thinking about trigger words or phrases and how we could take advantage of them in our training. I am certain that there are hundreds and hundreds but I’ve only listed 4 below:

“Sit back for the leg lock.”
This kicked in when I was getting caught with leg locks a lot when playing open guard, or even just going for Scissor Sweeps from closed guard. I was not succeeding in sweeping and instead I was getting caught in heel hook after heel hook. I knew I was doing something wrong, but couldn’t figure it out. One day, I was rolling with someone who really liked leg locks and as I opened up for a Scissor Sweep, I heard Karl tell them “now sit back for the heel hook” and that’s when it clicked:

If they want to heel hook me, they need to be able to sit back!

I wasn’t controlling their head/neck/collar and hence their upper body, which gave them the opportunity to sit back for the leg lock. Of course, controlling the upper body and “loading” the shin with their weight is an essential detail of the Scissor Sweep but it’s easily forgotten when people focus too much on the scissoring action of the legs.

"Sweep"
I see this all the time, especially with beginners. Eager beginners. Continuing with the Scissor Sweep example and sweeping to their left, the bottom sweeping leg is way too high.

I don’t know about you but when you sweep with a broom, you have to touch the floor. If you are expending too much energy and/or generally struggling with sweeps, chances you’re sweeping leg is not low enough. Chop the tree a little lower.

Vs

"Knee on belly"*
This is the other side of the coin. The name is Knee on Belly but, firstly, the best position for your knee is not always on the belly. Sometimes higher up actually affords you better control. Secondly, you can place your knee on the belly and still be in terrible balance/not get the best out of the position (e.g. if your foot is still on the mat). In other words, getting the knee on the belly is not the make-it-or-break-it detail of the position. It’s just a name.

"Arm lock"
Again, this can deceive in a couple of ways:

1. Some subs are termed “arm locks” when they are actually shoulder locks.
2. Some players focus too much on locking the arm with their grips, holding on for dear life, losing sight of locking the upper body and neck with their legs and hips.

Yes, locking the arm is what gives you the tap, but the position is likely to fail if you don’t precede that with control of the hips, upper body, shoulder and neck.

Now I know many of you will look at this and think big deal, I already knew about these, but these are just 4 simple examples. Your game would benefit tons from thinking about how language is, both positively and negatively, affecting your actions on the mat.

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*The best Knee on Belly tutorial I’ve ever seen is the Saulo one from his first BJJ Revolution set.

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