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