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The history of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is fascinating

As long as you can close your guard it's fine.

My closed guard game sucks and if I'm on my knees or standing and wanna pull, I will collar/arm drag. From there I will work to take the back or wrestle to get on top.

My coaches have really improved my wrestling. Gone are the days when I would wrestle with poor technique and end up with back pain for days. Now I'm always the smallest "big guy" at 180 lbs and nearly always out wrestle guys who outweigh me by 20-60 lbs using proper technique.

I really need to try and work on back taking from guard. I don't think I've ever taken anyone's back but to be fair, I've also never been shown any good ways to do it.

I wanted to ask tho, we've been drilling spider guard sweeps lately, and i really like what I've used so far. Is there any advantage to being tall and using spider guard? I'm 6'2", and it really feels like having long legs would be an advantage, cause I can stretch the hell out of people's arms, but maybe that's just in my head
 
True. You could use pistol grip?

Yup, it's what I do but I try to limit it. I feel like it's easier to have a good grip on the wrists with open guard? No gi seems to be really influencing my guard and grips.

What are your favorite guards?

What are your favorite guard passes?

Favorite guard: no clue because I'm a white belt

Favorite guard pass: closed guard pass. I love the tension of it. I need to put pressure on the chest, but that makes me potentially vulnerable. Learning how to plant my head against their chest while propping up their leg with knee and hooking their leg with my hand at the same time is such a delicate, delicate timing. I love it. I love that feeling when you're halfway through a guard, one foot on the other, slip out, and transition. I love that transition. It's such a beautiful part of the art. Loosen the pressure during the transition and they can keep you out with their knee or shrimp out and you're gone. I love applying constant pressure while passing and being on the opposite end is so uncomfortable and it has made me really appreciate what Jiu Jitsu can do. Passing is the most beautiful part of the art IMO. Which makes the guard the most interesting element for me.

Also big on putting my knee in their butt during the pass, so I can stretch their leg out.
 
Give me tips on learning when to shoot for a takedown.
I couldn't tell you. I don't shoot takedowns really. I'm pretty patient and let my opponent be the aggressor and react to what they do. If they shoot I work for front chokes, if they show their back with a throw attempt I'll work for a back take. I do usually like to work from traditional judo collar and sleeve grip though.

What are your favorite guards?

What are your favorite guard passes?
Closed guard I guess but when my guard gets opened I'll move to de la Riva, deep half, etc, all of which I'm terrible at. I'm not aggressive at all from my back though. I use the guard position to tire my opponent because passing is hard work. When they're exhausted then I'll explode for sweeps or wrestle for top position.

For passing I use a simple knee slide into my opponent's half guard. From there I get aggressive to get a cross face, flatten them out, and work my ezekiel choke. If they use their hands to protect their neck then it's an easy pass. If they start using their hands to prevent the pass by pushing on my hips or knees then they leave their neck exposed. Choke or get passed but I won't get either without a cross face.
 
Ah, the mind of an upper belt. I still think pretty linear in terms of my game plan. At best my non-linearity comes from offense when playing top. Still ways to go it seems.

It took me ages to get like, the fundamentals of a half guard and I still can barely pull it off against someone who knows what they're doing. What's the difference between a deep half and a regular half guard?
 
You see this?

https://www.facebook.com/ibjjf/videos/1688238441191481/?pnref=story

It was at the Pans. I really wanted to go, maybe next year. Did you go to the Pans to watch or compete?
I like to go to Worlds to buy tees and gis for cheap. Also great to see old legends like Rickson Gracie hanging out and doing normal stuff like pissing in the stall next to you.

Worlds is like a Brazilian holiday in the US practically. You almost feel like minority with all the Portuguese language all around inside The Pyramid in Cal State Long Beach.
 
I remember your Rickson pic. Did you talk to him? What's he like?

You saw him peeing in a stall next to you? Did you see how big it is, for...um... science?

Class was fun today. Did self defense drills and had fun. Any time I do this I wonder what combat Jiu Jitsu would be like, but then I remember the seering pain of being punched in the face and forget about it entirely.
 
Hahaha, no he wasn't actually using the stall next to me. I did meet him, Royce, and other legends a few yrs ago at Metamoris 2. Took pics with Rickson and he was very friendly and approachable. He was slowly hobbling around up and down steps due to a lifetime of combat sports. I think I heard he has 3-4 herniated discs.
 
So let's talk positions. After all, position before submission.

Kesting rates the positions listed here from best to worst.

Best:

Rear Mounted on your opponent
Mounted on your opponent
Knee Mounted on your opponent
Side Mounted on your opponent
Your opponent Turtled beneath you

Neutral:

In your opponent’s Guard
Opponent in your Guard

Worst:

Turtled underneath your opponent
Side Mounted by your opponent
Knee Mounted by your opponent
Mounted by your opponent
Rear mounted by your opponent

Would you agree with the order for your Jiu Jitsu? I know someone who prefers having a knee on belly than be in a mean cross face.

What's your best position? Mine is mount, but my favorite is side control because it gives me so many attack options. My weakest position is oddly enough mount (not rear). I'm actually better when I'm rear mounted than regular mounted depending on the situation. Even if I can't see them in rear mount, I feel more comfortable there. Usually with a mount you either want to go for a choke or something like an Americana. It's easier for me to defend or reverse some chokes from the back than a lot of chokes from the front. My coach has been putting me in mount recently on purpose to work on my mount defense, and it's really helping.
 

hwalker84

Member
We have a guy in our gym that's base is high level collegiate wrestling and jiu-jitsu. He also was in the UFC as of last year (had 4 fights for the org). Finally rolled with him and got worked today.
 
What are your favorite guards?

What are your favorite guard passes?

Closed guard, as its the only thing thats ever worked for me. As for passes, ill let you know when i find one that works... :(

Its sad too but my go-to submission is collar choke from closed guard. Its such a rookie submission but its the only one i land with high %'age

Someone posted this on r/bjj...i bought one immediately lol

mockup-ec84a2d2_2048x2048.png
 
Cool shirt.

New Chewjitsu video:

Should You Start BJJ if You’re Out of Shape?

Chewie is right. Today we did the following during warm ups:

Drills

- Stretching

- break fall drill from the mat

- half bridges

- full bridges

- inverse hip escapes

- 100 triangle drills (That's 100 of these)

Actual Warm ups

- Shrimp across the mat x 2

- inverse hip escape across the mat

- reverse shrimp across the mat x 2

- forward roll across the mat

- 60 jumping jacks

To suggest that you can do something to become in shape to do all of this, plus drill moves, plus rolling 2-4 times a class is almost insulting unless you're a wrestler.
 
Cool shirt.

New Chewjitsu video:

Should You Start BJJ if You’re Out of Shape?

Chewie is right. Today we did the following during warm ups:

Drills

- Stretching

- break fall drill from the mat

- half bridges

- full bridges

- inverse hip escapes

- 100 triangle drills (That's 100 of these)

Actual Warm ups

- Shrimp across the mat x 2

- inverse hip escape across the mat

- reverse shrimp across the mat x 2

- forward roll across the mat

- 60 jumping jacks

To suggest that you can do something to become in shape to do all of this, plus drill moves, plus rolling 2-4 times a class is almost insulting unless you're a wrestler.
Even if you're a wrestler, once you put on a gi, you're gonna get choked and will panic trying to defend yourself.

Yeah there's really no way to get in shape for BJJ. My class's warm up consist of a light jog, then it's a bunch of crazy animal crawls across the mats, twice; bear, rabbit, crocodile, crab, gorilla. If that wasn't enough then it's BJJ specific movements; shrimping, forward rolls, backward rolls, and technical lifts. After that, still in warm up, double leg entries and maybe some judo. Then it's drilling of 2-3 techniques finishing off with 3 6-minute rolls.
 
Even if you're a wrestler, once you put on a gi, you're gonna get choked and will panic trying to defend yourself.

Yeah there's really no way to get in shape for BJJ. My class's warm up consist of a light jog, then it's a bunch of crazy animal crawls across the mats, twice; bear, rabbit, crocodile, crab, gorilla. If that wasn't enough then it's BJJ specific movements; shrimping, forward rolls, backward rolls, and technical lifts. After that, still in warm up, double leg entries and maybe some judo. Then it's drilling of 2-3 techniques finishing off with 3 6-minute rolls.

The warm ups in my gym are fucking nuts. We do the usual stuff, breakfall, shrimp, rolls, etc. But then coach will bust out a load of mad shit like cartwheels, wheelbarrow (walking on your hands while partner holds your feet), diving rolls over a partner who is on all fours, hell also make us run from one end of the hall to the other while a partner gets grips around your waist and holds you back. Then do a back roll, forward roll, and sprint to the end of the hall in one go. That's not even the half of it. It's crazy good fun tho.
 
Even if you're a wrestler, once you put on a gi, you're gonna get choked and will panic trying to defend yourself.

Yeah there's really no way to get in shape for BJJ. My class's warm up consist of a light jog, then it's a bunch of crazy animal crawls across the mats, twice; bear, rabbit, crocodile, crab, gorilla. If that wasn't enough then it's BJJ specific movements; shrimping, forward rolls, backward rolls, and technical lifts. After that, still in warm up, double leg entries and maybe some judo. Then it's drilling of 2-3 techniques finishing off with 3 6-minute rolls.

Sometimes we do animal crawls, sometimes we do backward rolls, sometimes we jog around the mat, it just depends. What the fuck are those other crawls? The one crawl we do is like Solid Snake's crawl. Warm ups also depend on the teacher. This was my professor today, so it was actually a light warm up. But one of my coaches wants to kill us with warm ups, I swear. Put him down for attempted murder.


Rener is so great. Hahahaha. Mixed Martial Accomodations. Rener is such a troll hahaha.
 
Man I found myself in nothing but bad positions tonight. Got back taken, eventually wound up in turtle. Only positive was I defended a RNC attempt successfully and stayed calm enough to recognize the guy had no way to finish, and if I held on he'd burn himself out, which he did. He locked in a nice body triangle to top it off too but I survived the whole thing and eventually made it back to guard. My BJJ has definitely gotten worse I think tho. I feel so rusty, I'm so slow to react to things which usually means I just let people do whatever they like and then fight my way out instead of pressing the action myself
 
Man I found myself in nothing but bad positions tonight. Got back taken, eventually wound up in turtle. Only positive was I defended a RNC attempt successfully and stayed calm enough to recognize the guy had no way to finish, and if I held on he'd burn himself out, which he did. He locked in a nice body triangle to top it off too but I survived the whole thing and eventually made it back to guard. My BJJ has definitely gotten worse I think tho. I feel so rusty, I'm so slow to react to things which usually means I just let people do whatever they like and then fight my way out instead of pressing the action myself
Hey being in bad positions is also helpful. You might tap but your defensive understanding will grow.
 
Hey being in bad positions is also helpful. You might tap but your defensive understanding will grow.

Youre right, definitely a positive side to it. I didnt tap to any of my partners attacks, managed to defend everything which is absolutely a bonus. Im just more frustrated at myself because im so passive at the start of a roll. Which is why i end up in bad positions almost all the time.
 

BrettWeir

Member
I try to not use spider guard because I want to be able to use my hands in ten years.

I don't play spider, but have to use open guard 99.9% of the time thanks to being only 5'4". Closing guard is near impossible on most people. It absolutely wrecks my fingers. My only saving grace and hope, is full finger tape every class.

Oh, and going against Judo players in Judo gi's make things 100 times worse. I absolutely HATE Judo gi's.
 
Youre right, definitely a positive side to it. I didnt tap to any of my partners attacks, managed to defend everything which is absolutely a bonus. Im just more frustrated at myself because im so passive at the start of a roll. Which is why i end up in bad positions almost all the time.
Sounds like my frustrations from about 2-3 yrs ago being a fairly new blue belt. Then I got better at wrestling and began studying and drilling arm drags, collar drags, collar and sleeve guard (from knees), escape from bottom half guard, counter wrestling with front choke variations, etc. It's a lot to learn, a lot to digest, but that's what makes jiu jitsu amazing.
 
I don't play spider, but have to use open guard 99.9% of the time thanks to being only 5'4". Closing guard is near impossible on most people. It absolutely wrecks my fingers. My only saving grace and hope, is full finger tape every class.

Oh, and going against Judo players in Judo gi's make things 100 times worse. I absolutely HATE Judo gi's.

Have you tried changing your grip? Like I said before or after that, I've been grabbing people's actual wrist rather than their gi sleeve for open guard - my go to as well - and having some success.

Like this.

Open-Standing2.jpg
 
Youre right, definitely a positive side to it. I didnt tap to any of my partners attacks, managed to defend everything which is absolutely a bonus. Im just more frustrated at myself because im so passive at the start of a roll. Which is why i end up in bad positions almost all the time.

I'm in the same boat.

At my school I'll have to start off against blue belts mostly and starting the roll is always the hardest part. We often start on the mat on our knees and I have so many ideas in my head. I wanna sweep that knee. Maybe I can pull them into my guard, get a sweep, and play top? I'll have to go for it. Maybe I should stand up? She likes playing that guard a lot, let's see her try. Maybe I should stay in this position and play base? Keep their knee out then get a sweep?

Sometimes it works, most of the time if fails and I'm on the bottom and I've gotta fight out of it.

There's also the fact that we're white belts. I'm not an aggressive type of white belt, who constantly just goes for it, pure aggression all the time. I'm one of those white belts who might hesitate. On Tuesday's class during stand up in a roll, I controlled my partner and he lost his balance and I was about to sweep his leg and hesitated. I ended up being pulled into his guard. It was really, really frustrating and I was kicking myself after wards with stuff like,"I should have went with a hip toss, I'm such an idiot" and "You've been doing this how long? And you hesitated like that? You're shit."

Basically, in terms of white belt skill level, I think I'm currently in phase 4 of being a white belt:

Phase Four: Problem Time

And then, just when you think you're getting it, you hit a slump. You get destroyed by someone you feel wasn't good enough to beat you. Everything seems difficult. You keep getting in bad positions or submitted. Some of the students you used to have no problem rolling with are now giving you problems.

Sounds like that's where you're at too.

The phases listed via here

The 5 Phases Every BJJ Newbie Has to Go Through

Phase One: Just Lost

This is the "I have no idea what is going on" phase. During the first phase you are just lost. You don't know where to line up, how to tie your belt, or how to perform any of those strange-looking hip escapes. Your body doesn't want to work as one. Your arms move or your legs move, but moving them at the same time is difficult. You cannot stand up in someone's guard without stumbling. Better yet, you are unsure what the guard is in the first place.

Phase Two: Moving Better

During Phase Two, you start to move better. You can make it through warmups without wanting to vomit. Techniques are still difficult, but you are able to understand them better. You still get exhausted rolling, but you try new techniques instead of rolling around not knowing anything. This is also the phase where students get frustrated because they feel their techniques are not working.

Phase Three: Feeling Good

Once Phase Three hits, you feel good and move better. You are no longer the ”new student." There are a few students who just started and you get to line up in front of them. When you roll with them you are able to use some of the techniques you have been taught. You start to feel like you are getting it.


Phase Four: Problem Time

And then, just when you think you're getting it, you hit a slump. You get destroyed by someone you feel wasn't good enough to beat you. Everything seems difficult. You keep getting in bad positions or submitted. Some of the students you used to have no problem rolling with are now giving you problems.


Phase Five: Coming Together

If you can make it through Phase Four, you're in luck. All of a sudden, as if out of nowhere, you are a different person. Your movements are sharp. You use techniques you did not even realize you could do. You are able to help the newer students during class. You feel reenergized about your training.

Of course, at each belt there are going to be some phases when you feel great and others when you feel frustrated. Just remember that everyone experiences the same thing. Every belt brings new difficulties. That is one of the best parts of Brazilian jiu jitsu. No matter how long you train, it's always a challenge.


I also read this article the other day and it really helped me out through the frustration:

https://www.jiujitsutimes.com/chill-white-belt/

We have to remember that we're white belts. We're getting there.
 
So I've been off the mats for I don't know, maybe 2 months now? My knee was messed up, did a couple sessions of physical therapy which didn't seem to help and felt like a waste of $70/session.

Last night I went to my gym's kettlejitsu class and my knee held up ok, think I'll trying getting back to the actual mats next week. I miss it but I'm also kind of worried of really injuring the fuck out of myself.
 
So I've been off the mats for I don't know, maybe 2 months now? My knee was messed up, did a couple sessions of physical therapy which didn't seem to help and felt like a waste of $70/session.

Last night I went to my gym's kettlejitsu class and my knee held up ok, think I'll trying getting back to the actual mats next week. I miss it but I'm also kind of worried of really injuring the fuck out of myself.

Don't rush yourself. Jiu Jitsu isn't going anywhere, and having functioning knees > BJJ. Take time til you feel better, come back, do some drilling classes and see if you feel ready ready for rolling.

Thanks for those links Cindi, Im definitely phase 4. I know enough at this stage to know I should be doing better than I am. Just gotta keep on trying
 
So we're all on phase four? It's horrific but you always learn something.

So I've been off the mats for I don't know, maybe 2 months now? My knee was messed up, did a couple sessions of physical therapy which didn't seem to help and felt like a waste of $70/session.

Last night I went to my gym's kettlejitsu class and my knee held up ok, think I'll trying getting back to the actual mats next week. I miss it but I'm also kind of worried of really injuring the fuck out of myself.

What's wrong with your knees? We have people who roll with injured knees. If your doc okay's it, wear a knee brace and before every roll say "hey man, my knees are a bit hurt, go easy on them alright?"
 
went to masters (35+) open mat this morning. nothing but purple, brown, and black belts. rolled for 90 mins straight, without a round off. i don't know where this fitness is coming from but glad it's there.
 
One of my proudest days doing Jiu Jitsu was one night I did the regular class (which is mixed ranked at all levels) and had three rolls. Then I did the advanced class right after and rolled like four more times. Then I went home, washed my gi, showered, and got some rest. Went back to class the next morning. Didn't feel any soreness; didn't feel extra tired. It was at that point I realized, that although I have my limitations, I can do anything I set my mind to. That gave me lots of confidence in my fitness. Like Camajise said, I'm grateful wherever that fitness does come from because whew.
 
God damn, every time I think my foot has healed, I re-fuck it. It was sore during drilling tonight but not too bad, and then we did some positional sparring, trying to escape full mount. I bent my toe while trying to stay mounted on someone and felt instant regret. It's fucking killing me now. Literally limping my way home from class :(
 

pr0cs

Member
God damn, every time I think my foot has healed, I re-fuck it. It was sore during drilling tonight but not too bad, and then we did some positional sparring, trying to escape full mount. I bent my toe while trying to stay mounted on someone and felt instant regret. It's fucking killing me now. Literally limping my way home from class :(
Ice and aleve (naproxen) has saved me from many a painful evenings of beatings.
 
So everything is fine last night and then all of a sudden my right hand HURTS in the bone near my thumb. But It only hurts when I put it on a surface or something. I'm typing this in my right hand now and it doesn't hurt, but when I get soap from my dispenser while I wash my hands it hurts. I never did see a doc about my thumb when I sprained it months ago and just let it heal on its own. Woke up this morning hot as hell. Weird, weird, weird. Still going to Jiu Jitsu today but I gotta keep my eye on this.
 
All I can say is watch out for overly rough blue belts who care more about maintaining the belt hierarchy as you try to pass their guard than teaching you technique and situation awareness. I know exactly the type of blue belt I'm gonna be.
 
If you're getting too many injuries it's time to start dialing back the intensity. When sparring, you have two opponents, your training partner and your own ego. "Jiu jitsu is a marathon not a sprint." Your ego will try to push your pace beyond that slow and steady marathon stride and you need to be able to see that happening and dial back. Not an easy task when you have a sparring partner with the bird of prey eyes who's diving for a submission at full intensity. Ride out your partner's wave, plan your counter moves, and calmly execute. In time you'll learn when to turn up that intensity and which partners to do it with.
 
If you're getting too many injuries it's time to start dialing back the intensity. When sparring, you have two opponents, your training partner and your own ego. "Jiu jitsu is a marathon not a sprint." Your ego will try to push your pace beyond that slow and steady marathon stride and you need to be able to see that happening and dial back. Not an easy task when you have a sparring partner with the bird of prey eyes who's diving for a submission at full intensity. Ride out your partner's wave, plan your counter moves, and calmly execute. In time you'll learn when to turn up that intensity and which partners to do it with.

I injured my foot by stubbing my toe in the mat. Which is just plain embarrassing lol
Stubbed it really badly, it was sore as hell for a week, felt better, then last night i stretched it a bit while in mount, and that was it. Id almost prefer if i had injured from rolling too aggressively!
 
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