The Ultimate Guide to Beginning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

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Taming the Lion - BJJ Course

Choke Submissions for the Ground

The primary attack methods for ground fighting outside of striking are submissions using chokes and locks. While joint locks are fast and effective, they can often be countered or resisted by bigger and stronger opponents.

Chokes on the other hand, are powerful tools to defeat an opponent of any size. In this course I’ll cover how to train the variety of chokes available to us either with a jacket, or without.

Understanding Chokes

Note: Solo Training Drills

A grappling dummy is highly recommended if you do not have a training partner to work with. You can also use a large pillow with a jacket wrapped around it.

THE CHOKES

Triangle Choke

RNC - Rear Naked Choke

Cross Collar Choke

Ezekiel Choke

Submission Training - Mission 1

Chokes

Perform 3 Sets of 10:

1. Triangle Choke

2. Rear Naked Choke

3. Ezekiel Choke

4. Cross Collar Choke (Mount variation)

5. Cross Collar Choke (guard variation)

Chokes Applied

Underhook Choke

Bow and Arrow Choke

Arm Triangle Choke

Seal Tightly

Training Mission 2
Chokes Con’t

Perform 5 of ea Choke rotating for 3 minutes. Break 1 min. Repeat 5x:

1. Underhook Choke

2. Bow and Arrow Choke

3. Arm Triangle Choke

4. Seal Tightly

Guillotine

Baseball Bat Choke

Anaconda

Clock Choke

The Loop Choke

Submission Training - Mission 3

Chokes

Perform 3 Sets of 10:

1. Guillotine

2. Anaconda

3. Baseball Bat

4. Clock Choke

5. Loop Choke

Arm Assault - Submissions for the Ground II

Ground Submissions Lexicon

One of the easiest methods to classifying submissions is anatomic association to each joint of the body.

Shoulder Locks

• Keylock (Americana)

• Hammerlock (Kimura, Omoplata)

Elbow Locks

• Arm bar (inverted, mount, violin, folding, flying)

Wrist Locks

• Folding

• Twisting

Finger Locks

• Folding

Shoulder Locks

Omoplata - Hammerlock with Leg

Elbow Locks

Solo Arm Bar Training

The Violin Armbar

Ground Fighting Basics I - Master your Foundation

The Basics

To help you get started - here is your FREE pdf that will help you navigate the art of ground fighting. Click the button to download my Basics of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Guide.

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Mastering our Foundation

Spider Walks

Spider walks are not only an excellent dynamic warm-up exercise, they build our core, arm and leg strength. These are also a critical element to add to your training for good jiu-jitsu movement down the road for ground maneuvering and agility.

Hip Escapes

Purpose: there isn’t enough ink on the internet to list the practical uses for this movement. If there were only 1 movement you could practice for jiu-jitsu it would be this one, hands down!

Sit Up Guard

Purpose: a pre-cursor to the 'technical get-up’ and a way to pull sweeps and advanced guards as we progress.

Technical Get-Ups

Purpose: critical movement for getting back to our feet when knocked down and the opponent is still standing.

3 Stages of Basic Sweep Training

Sweeps are throws on the ground. Ways to topple our opponent. This drill will prep you for the body mechanics necessary to execute the sweep later down the road when you grapple.

See Saw Training Drill

An excellent exercise to not only build core strength, but flexibility and mobility for grappling an opponent. Due to the neck/shoulder region, some people find this uncomfortable. If this is true for you, refrain from this drill until you seek help from an instructor on proper technique.

Basic Bridging

This video will be included later in your mount escapes training course. However, it is a critical movement for us to begin building into our repertoire now. For mission 1 we’ll be including not only this bridge movement, but a bridge and cross shoulder touch as part of our training.

Mission 1
Foundation Building

This mission is designed to be repeated as many times as you feel necessary. 

Warm-Up

1. Jump Rope for 3 Minutes

2. 20 Torso Twists

3. 20 Toe Touches

4. 20 Squats

Training - complete 3 rounds

1. Spider Walks - 30x

2. Hip Escapes - 30x

3. Over the Shoulder hand touches - 30x - link

4. Sit-Up Guard - 30x

5. Sweeps - 30x

6. See Saw - 20x

7. Bridge and Roll - 10x

8. Technical Get-Ups - 10x

Critical Skills

Now that you’ve completed my Mastering your Foundation course you are ready to continue your progress and training with Ground Fighting Basics II - Critical Skills. Take it to the next level!

Ground Fighting Basics II - Critical Skills

Now that we’ve worked on our foundation, it’s time to tackle the critical skills that we’ll need as we venture forth in our ground fighting game.

The Basics

In case you missed in the Mastering your Foundation course, the following guide will help you navigate the art of BJJ as you get started.

The Critical Skills

Forward Hip Escape
Break Down

At times we need to hip escape in the opposite direction in order to escape, or gain a position. This drill helps build the muscle memory for this movement pattern, and preps you for the De La Riva guard sweeps down the road.

Side Hip Escape

A highly useful variation to the hip escape that will be used in a variety of escapes and prevention.

Sit-Thru Breakdown

The sit-thru is going to be used to pass guard in some instances, and in others, we’ll use it to escape from turtle to the bulldozer sweep.

Triangle-Ups

The triangle is one of the deadliest and most effective submissions in jiu-jitsu. This drill prepares us for the technical movements required, and builds our core strength as a bonus.

Hip Break Drill

The hip break is an upper level movement pattern that once learned, becomes an integral part of passing an opponents guard.

Turn to All Four Drill

This is a skill we use at opportune moments where it imperative to turn a bad situation into a good one e.g. - mount escape to dominant position.

Critical Skills Training Mission

Warm-Up

Do a light warm-up before performing the following training mission.

Training - complete 3 rounds

1. Fwd Hip Escapes - 30x

2. Side Hip Escapes - 30x (15 each side)

3. Sit-Thrus - 20x

4. Triangle Ups - 30x

5. Hip Breaks - 12x

6. Turn All Four - 12x

Ground Fighting Basics III - Advanced Basics

Let’s dive into the advanced basics. All of the drills you will find in this course are directly related to technical applications you’ll come to rely on in your ground fighting skillset. Our goal is to build these movements and reactions into your system so they become natural and fast reactions. Good luck!

The Basics

Before we begin…

If you missed Ground Fighting Basics I & II - Master Your Foundation and Critical Skills here is a guide to help you get started. Your FREE pdf that will help you navigate the art of BJJ. Click the button to download my Basics of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Guide.

Advanced Basics

Sit-Thru to Bulldozer

Purpose: this movement is used to escape the turtle and drive the opponent to the ground.

Side Control Walks

These drills build upon our core strength and accustom us to transitioning around our opponent without our arms, as they writhe underneath our side control pressure.

Drilling Knee

Also known as ‘knee on belly’. This move is devastating to an opponent when executed properly. Train the pass, to drilling knee in this lesson.

Hammerlock Sit-Up

In addition to the excellent ab workout, this drill goes through the movement patterns necessary for a well timed execution of the hammerlock submission from guard.

Cross Snake

Purpose: this drill focuses on hip shifting and escaping dominant positions, or re-pulling guard.

Scissor Sweep

Building off of our sweep training in mission 1, we’ll now execute the full scissor sweep as part of our basic training.

Spider Guard Thrusters

Unlock the utility of your belt and train your spider guard skills. One of the best open guards in my opinion, and this drill can get you ready to unleash it upon your opponents.

Leg Lasso Training

Again capitalizing on the hidden versatility of our belt, we can use our belt to train the leg lasso, another powerful open guard that works well in conjunction with spider guard.

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Advanced Basics Training Mission

Warm-Up

1. 150 Jumping Jacks

2. 20 Lunges

3. 20 Side to Side Squats

4. 20 Trunk Bobs

Training - A.M.R.A.P. - 20*

1. Sit-Thru to Bulldozer - 20x

2. Side Control Walks - 20x

3. Drilling Knee - 20x

4. Hammerlock Sit-Ups - 20x

5. Cross Snake - 20x

6. Scissor Sweeps - 20x

7. Spider Guard Thrusters - 20x

8. Leg Lassos - 20x

• As Many Rounds As Possible - in 20 Minutes

How to Defeat the BJJ Guard in 4 Easy Steps

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The 4 Steps to Defeat the BJJ Guard

The order of execution in guard passing is instrumental in our success. Skip one of these steps and it usually ends in our demise. The following are the steps, or a sequence, we use in approaching guard passing as a methodical process. Order from chaos:

1. Base

2. Break

3. Control

4. Pass

Step 1 - Base

The foundation (no pun intended) for any guard passing begins with the base. A solid base is entirely focused on stability and sweep prevention. Without it, we’re doomed. The following points will help us create an effective base to build our guard passing game upon:

Rectangle vs Trapezoid

The overall shape of our body in the base should tell all. A rectangle standing vertical, is far easier to push over than a trapezoid. See the photos for examples.

3 Points of Contact

It is imperative that we maintain 3 or more points of contact the entire time we base, break, and pass. There are exceptions to this rule when we involve advanced guard passing concepts, but for now - 'learn the rule, embody the rule, and then you can break the rule.’

The Sunken Center (cg)

Our bodies Center of Gravity (cg) is located a few centimeters below the navel when standing and kneeling. As we execute basing and breaking, we want to keep our cg as low to the ground as possible.

Block the Sit-Up

Our third point of contact aside from our legs, should be blocking the opponents sit-up. This prevents them from getting up, or choking us as we are in guard.

Arm position for submission prevention

Keep the arms at a good midway point, usually around the opponents solar plexus to prevent the arms from extending too far out where they can execute arm bar submissions on us. Too far back, and we’ll be the victim of a leg triangle submission.

Step 1.2 - Grip Breaking

I have seen people that are extremely successful with breaking grips. In my experience as a smaller grappler/boxer, grip breaking has always been more of a liability than an asset. Especially when inside an opponent's closed guard.

Usually the grip break requires me to lose my ‘3 points of contact’ in order to initiate it. This is very dangerous and compromises our base, which in turn sets us up for a stronger opponent to knock us down.

Additionally, and I found this in stand-up grappling as well, whenever we take our attention away from basing and breaking, we are opening ourselves up for another attack.

If you do choose to fight grips while inside closed guard, then remember this important piece - ‘you break it, you bought it’. This means, if you break a grip, you have to keep control of that arm or it will just grab you again in the same place, or somewhere else.

It’s an interesting game, and far be it from me to dissuade anyone from trying it. If it is of interest, I suggest learning that from someone who is really good at it. Personally, I find it to be the game of defense, and always being one move behind the enemy.

Much of the passing and guard work we’ll deal with here, involves a different strategy - ‘Neutralize the Grips.’ We’ll be moving and using principles that will nullify the grips and holds of our opponent, and at times, use them to our advantage.

Whether we break grips, or not, once we establish a solid base, we need to think about how to break the guard…

Step 2 - Break

Break the Guard

Breaking guard is rife with challenges. Not only do we have a method and sequence to this phase, we have to monitor our posture, base, and technique, all while an opponent is trying to sweep and submit us, or at the least, creating problems for us. This is an extremely dynamic phase of the ground game. To ensure success, we want to work from principles

Basic Methods of Breaking - Gi Variants

• Double Belt Push
  The first break you’ll learn. Starting with the arms on the chest, walk one hand at a time down to the belt. As soon as the first hand arrives, push the belt toward the opponents head, not their abdomen. Then grip the belt with the second hand and apply continued pressure. Staying low with the cg, walk the knees back one space each, being careful not to overstep. (see posture above).

• Diagonal Base Break
  Using one hand on the lapel located at the solar plexus (ensure a strong grip here) push on the belt with the other hand. Keep the elbow tight as you move next. Take one knee and shift it to align with the opponent's spine. Pressure back on their legs with your back. You can walk the hand that was on the belt, further down to the hip, or if safe, even the knee. It is important here to have good control. If the opponent controls our grip, we can be triangled here. If the pressure is maintained on the solar plexus, and we stretch back, we are defending that triangle as we break the guard. Failure to keep our grips/position, will lead to our demise.

Basic Methods of Breaking - No-Gi Variants

• Sealing Tightly
  Pinning the arm across the body and using it as the platform to break. This is the number one go to for a no-gi situation where someone has no belt, or their pants are extremely flimsy, or stretchy, and unable to support the grips required to break.

• Double Under
  Same break as above, but performed with no-gi by palming pectoral minor and the deltoid muscle. Use of an eagle claw grip on pectoral minor can also increase success here.

Size Matters

Using breaking methods against taller grapplers can be a nuisance. Their legs are longer, making it difficult to stretch the legs far enough to keep pressure. The good news is, there are alternative breaking methods that larger opponents find extremely difficult to close down.

• Double Lapel to Bipod
  This is a great pass for smaller vs taller where you cannot extend the person’s guard enough to pressure their legs open. Starting from the same base position, grab a same-side lapel in each hand. Punch the lapels up and underneath the opponents underarms as you stand to a bipod position while keeping the head low. Generally it is a good idea to drive the forehead into their solar plexus. Next, bring one leg to the center, in line with their spine. Sit down to the combat position while bringing the knee of the center leg to your chest. This will pry open the guard completely, or enough to be able to get to the combat base where you can then continue to work the full break.

Common Failures in Breaking Guard

Posture is a predominant factor guard breaking. Without proper posture, we will either be swept easily by a larger, stronger foe, or we will fail to apply appropriate pressure at the right geometric angle to break the guard.

• Flat Back - this one is common when facing larger opponents as the tendency is for us to solve lack of pressure, by walking our knees back further and further trying to force open the guard. As the knees go further back, our trapezoid disappears, and we’re back to that rectangle we do not want. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH LOW HEAD/SHOULDER POSTURE.

• Upright - the opposite of the flat back, is sitting up straight. This is a big mistake that can lead to being pushed completely backwards landing under the mount position of our opponent.

• The 45 - 45 degree angle of spine posture creates a good angle of attack. This can vary +/- 10 to 15 degrees based on our opponents attack strategy.

• No Pop-Tarts - during the breaking phase it is common for us to want to lift our cg in order to move, or push on our opponent. Keeping the center low as we move to break, can prevent sweeps from our opponent, or allow us to regain a strong position in their guard if they are aggressively trying to toss us. The higher our cg in this scenario, the more they will rock us, and the bigger our corrections will be. The larger the correction, the greater window of opportunity for our opponent to gain what they want.

Step 3 - Control

Controlling the Guard

Before we initiate the guard pass, it is imperative to maintain control of the guard. Against an unseasoned ground fighter, without this step we may get lucky and still affect a guard pass, but it is bad practice. Controlling guard is all about proper grips, and/or blocking.

Walking the Ladder

Think of our opponent as a ladder. When we break guard we are essentially climbing down a ladder toward their feet; walking our hands, or control points incrementally as we go. If we skipped a rung of a real ladder, we will likely fall.

In BJJ, we’re already on the ground, but we still experience the metaphorical descent after missing a rung of this imaginary ladder. Without proper controls, this point of the guard break/pass maneuvering is where our opponent is most likely to succeed with a sweep, submission, or at the least, re-pull of guard.

Much of this can be stopped if we know how to control their guard.

Where to grip

Control Points - each of these is relative to the type of pass we’ll discuss in phase 4.

• Solar Plexus

• Hips

• Thighs

• Knees

• Ankles

As you will see in the following passes, we’re controlling the opponent at one or more of the above locations as we perform each pass.

Step 4 - Pass

Pass the Guard

Basic Ground Passes

There are many guard passes, but the following examples are the passes specifically address some of the more common positions an opponent will take up once their guard is broken.

• Knee Slice Pass

• Knee Slice Variation w/ Baseball Slide

• Double Under Pass

• Weave Through Pass

Basic Standing Guard Passes

• Double Stuff

• Double Toss

• Knee to Belly

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

If step 2, or 3 fail, we need to go back to step 1. If step 4 fails, we can at times, simply back up to step 3. If they re-pull guard however, we need to go back to step 1 and work our way down the ladder again.

Passing Advanced Open Guards & Passing

In addition to the basic categorization of ‘closed’ and ‘open’ guard, there are advanced open guards that will require more complex solutions to defeat. These include but are not limited to:

• Spider guard

• De La Riva guard

• Leg lasso

• Half-guard

• Deep-half

• Knee shield

• 50/50

• X-guard

• Butterfly guard

• Mantis guard

These guards each require specific base, breaks, controls, and passes to neutralize and counter.

See Advanced Guard Breaking & Passing for more on defeating these advanced open guards. Also includes more passes such as - Toreando Pass, Knee on Hip w/ Break, and more.

Here is an example of one guard we’ll address later. The spider guard.

How to Kill the Spider Guard