Jiu-Jitsu Articles

Attacking Fundamentals

April 15, 2009

The core concept we are going to discuss is attacking fundamentals in the Jiu Jitsu game.  Learning the sport of Jiu Jitsu and wrestling one often focuses on drilling the moves and learning the transitions.  It’s critical to know the move inside out.  The fundamentals of good offense in Jiu Jitsu is knowing when to execute a move, and then how to perform the technique.  The second part involves good instruction and a willing drilling partner.  Once you are able to perform the technique with speed and precision you are ready to learn the timing. 

What I’m going to convey to you guys is the idea that every technique has an ideal timing.  Lets use the guard position as our first example of offensive timing.  While attacking inside your closed guard, there is a timing I call the “attacking zone,” it’s when  your training partner is posturing up.  This is the ideal time for an attack.  Anyone with six months or more time training BJJ will understand the fundamental attacks.  Knowing this, if I attack an armlock while my opponent is ready he can easily perform the counter.  However, if I attack the move while he is focusing his attention on gaining posture I will have a much higher finishing percentage.  If I attack the same move while my partner is in full posture or fully broken down he can defend much easier.  A good set up is to break your partner down several times making him think only about the posture game.  Then, surprise him with a submission attempt as he regains his posture.  One of the ways more skilled jiu jitsu players win is by predicting their opponent’s next move.  When you are able to start predicting your training partners moves, you will seem much faster and in turn finish more attacks. 

Using the same concept will help your all around Jiu Jitsu game.  Another example of attacking during the transition is the takedown game.  The best time to attack your training partners hips is on his recovery.  For instance, your partner attacks a double leg takedown but fails to finish.  At this stage of his recovery, while your opponent is getting back to his feet is the most crucial time for a counter attack.  In the takedown game, you will notice your opponent defending his hips well prior to his shot.  After the initial sprawl there will be a moment of space ideal for an attack.  It is essential that you learn these moments for fundamental attack timing.  Also, when your training partner is switching his grips during grip fighting is an important transition to attack from.  The same grip timing is also available in guard passing where you want to attack as your opponent switches grips.  Every move in Jiu Jitsu has a fundamental timing where the move is most likely to succeed.  Your goal as a student is to not only learn the techniques and drill them until proficient, but to also understand the appropriate timing of the move.  I hope this has helped you guys out let me know if you have any questions.

Halfguard

March 10, 2009

The focus of this article will be to explore the many uses of the half guard position and why it’s so critical to know. The key idea with the half guard position is to think of it as a transition position. The half guard is the key link between the closed and open guard, side control, mount, the back, and even the turtle and front headlock position. Thinking of it as a key link means that if your half guard is weak, then ones transitions between all these fundamental positions will also be weak. This is especially true when it comes to the fundamental escapes. For instance, when one escapes the mount position the first step leads to the half guard, from there one typically looks to attack or transition further to the full guard. Now, if one has a weak understanding of the half guard the escape would be halted right then and there, and the attacking opponent would move back to the dominate mount position. The same would also be true of the side control position, the back, the turtle, and the front headlock position. The half guard position has also been a staple for the smaller fighter with shorter legs. For some BJJ players with short powerful legs, the closed guard has been an important aspect of their bottom game. Not that small legs are a disadvantage to the bottom man, but for someone having difficulty keeping their legs locked in the full guard, locking only one leg seems to be much easier. There is one note of caution in regards to the half guard position. Do not sit and wait in this position! It is very easy for the bottom man to lock on to the leg of his opponent and rest. This is a terrible habit to get in and is not what the half guard is designed for. Like every position on the bottom it is important to keep moving and attack always on your back, don’t be lazy in the guard! The take home message being devote considerable time to the half guard position, as it will greatly enhance your bottom game.

The Jiu Jitsu Diet

March 4, 2009

First and foremost, don’t eat greasy foods with high fat content several hours before coming to jiu jitsu class unless you want the embarrassment of throwing up on the mat! Also, it’s not helpful to cut carbohydrates out of your diet as a quick way to lose weight. When learning the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, the amount of calories you will burn every class will be extreme. Carbohydrates are vital to recovery and energy stores in your body. The best system is to cut calories while maintaining a good balance of carbs, fat, and protein. The 60/20/20 breakdown seems to work the best; meaning 60% of your daily caloric intake should come from carbs, 20% from fat, and the remaining 20% protein. The average person training BJJ takes in 2500-3500 calories per day. If your goal is to lose weight try cutting 600 to 700 calories out daily while maintaining good workouts. The remaining calories should be healthy energy rich foods so you don’t feel depleted from cutting calories. Remember, in Jiu Jitsu competition, you want to be as light as possible and strong as possible. Another area of importance is what to eat prior to training. Like I said, cheeseburgers wouldn’t be a wise choice prior to practice. There is some flexibility here, however anything high in carbs and low in fat would be fine. Ex: oatmeal, sandwich, pasta, bean burrito, rice chicken bowl, soup, PB and J, etc.. After practice you want to eat a low calorie meal. This is where you want the chicken breast and vegetables meal. After training at night is when you want to eat your smallest meal of the day. The largest meal of the day would then be breakfast. As the old saying goes, most important meal of the day for a reason. A typical solid breakfast would be eggs, whole-wheat toast, potatoes, and a meat selection. There are a lot of substitutions one can add into this diet and many possibilities. One good rule of thumb when trying to lose weight is, eat your calories, and don’t drink them. Meaning try and avoid drinking lots of juices high in sugar, big coffee drinks, smoothes, and alcohol as well. Just taking this simple step can really make a big difference in weight loss as a person can easily drink 1000 calories a day in junk. Ex: I don’t want to mention anybody’s name but his initials are Jay Shellhammer, drinks like 10 sodas a day, avoid this. Let me know if you have any questions just respond on the blog page.

Your first year training!

December 13, 2008

There are many challenges to face the first year of Jiu Jitsu training. It’s important during this time period to keep a healthy prospective on what is important and what is not. First of all, this is a long-term sport that takes hundreds of hours of practice to become proficient. It’s not realistic to expect to be finishing people on a regular basis until the appropriate amount of work has been devoted. The most important thing to focus on one’s first year is drilling moves and conditioning. When your actively training you will be on the defensive most of the time as more experienced practitioners will be several steps ahead. Do not compete against fellow students in class this is not a tournament. Everyone should be working on their own game plan and focus on themselves and not who is tapping who and so forth. The easiest way to stunt your progression in Jiu Jitsu is to close off your game. What I mean by this is you have to play open and try new moves to learn and progress. If you become competitive in training you will only use moves you feel comfortable with. Improving in Jiu Jitsu is all about taking chances and opening up during practice. In a tournament is the time to be competitive and care about winning and losing period! The most effective strategy to get good in Jiu Jitsu is consistency and patience. When you learn moves in class drill them before and after the class and work on them during training. Jiu Jitsu is like life as the hard lessons come far before the rewards. Good luck and stay positive!

Don’t hang out in the guard!

November 25, 2008

Something that bothers me about jiu jitsu is the "lazy guard". When playing the bottom game in BJJ there must be a sense of urgency. Too many times have I watched skilled jiu jitsu players practically falling asleep in their guards. The goal in jiu jitsu is to finish your opponent and advance in position. Playing bohemian music and flopping around the mat are not going to prepare anyone for a combat situation. A classic pitfall to this type of training is becoming too wrapped up in technique and losing grit and toughness. I’m not saying avoid working on technique and become a spaz by any means. The goal is to be aggressive and attack non-stop. Work on your physical abilities while engaged in training not just your strategy. The goal is to reach a level where everything is improving. As you advance in BJJ the following should also improve; stamina, strength, flexibility, skill, strategy, balance, toughness, heart, determination, etc! Don’t be one of those guys that gas out and quit the moment the training becomes challenging. If you have any questions about this topic ask me and I’ll explain it in more detail. This is an important topic and one of particular annoyance to me so work on it!

The open guard

August 30, 2008

One of the more complex skill sets to learn in BJJ is the open guard. The key to the open guard is good hip movement and spacing. When learning the open guard novice grapplers often look as if there hips are glued to the mat. The result of this is one tends to push too much with the upper body which causes quick fatigue. The first idea to think about in the open guard is not allowing your opponent to set your hips. What I mean by this is don’t allow your training partner to pin your hips using gi grips or body weight. There is a critical space were you don’t want your opponent to enter. What I usually see is students allowing their training partners to easily control their hips and then control their head. The guard is a position where you must constantly move and attack. Just like a shark must always swim to survive so must you in the guard. The point of all the hip escapes we do in the warm ups are to develop these skills for the guard. If you take only two things from this article remember to move your hips and stiff-arm your opponent from the open guard. The function of the stiff-arm is when your training partner is bulldogging into you. This move will buy you time to move your hips before its too late. Another important tip from the open guard is to keep your opponent from achieving dominant grips especially on your pants. Learning grip releases from the open guard is an important skill to devote some time to. It will amaze you how frustrated a passing opponent will become when you break all of his controlling grips. If your opponent cannot make strong grips, he will have a hell of a time controlling your hips. As we discussed earlier if a training partner can’t dominate your hips he will never pass your guard. There are many types of open guards you can play with. I recommend learning the "spider guard" first and then the "seated" and "butterfly" guard. The fundamentals of all these guards are based on spacing and hip movement so pay attention when drilling warm up moves. In closing have patience when learning the open guard; it requires hundreds of hours of practice and mat time to master. Let me know if you have any questions.

Train hard and make a game plan!

July 18, 2008

The grappling workout!!!
I wanted to create a workout plan for you guys that would benefit your jiu jitsu game. The sport of grappling is unique and the average gym workout just won’t do. The specific muscles used most in jiu jitsu are going to be the focal point of this workout. If you train 4 or more days per week this workout can be done 2x a week. If you train less than 4x per week this workout can be done 3x a week. Everything is progressive so no matter what shape you’re in, start off easy and work into it!

Here it is:

Warm up 15 min: Either jump rope or Stairmaster or Treadmill

Exercise 1:

  • (Beg) squats using body weight — 2X sets of 30 reps
  • (Inter) barbell squats or front squats — 3X sets of 25 reps
  • (Advanced) Overhead squats — 4X sets of 20 reps

Exercise 2:

  • (Beg) Pull ups 2X sets as many as possible
  • (Inter) Hanging variety pull-ups 3X as many as possible
  • (Advanced) Rope climbs 4X sets up and down as many as possible

Exercise 3:

  • (Beg) Standing shoulder press with kettle bells — 2X sets of 25 reps
  • (Inter) Alternating shoulder press using 2 Kettlebells — 3X of 25 reps
  • (Advanced) Turkish Get-ups — 4X at reps of 8 on each arm

Exercise 4:

  • (Beg) Push ups 2X sets at as many as possible
  • (Inter) Dips 3x as many as possible
  • (Advanced) Ply metric pushup 4x as many as possible

Exercise 5:

  • (Beg) Forearm dumbbell finger rolls — 2x 25 reps
  • (Inter) Grip small medicine ball filled with sand — 3x 30 sec holds
  • (Advanced) Kettelbell forearm isometric holds — 4 x 35 sec

You can do abdominal work like the abs wheel and crunches at the end if you choose, however we do lots in class so you can skip if you wish.

There you go pretty basic, but damn effective!

Paragon fighters earn medals at Jiu Jitsu World Championships

June 27, 2008

Santa Barbara News-Press Staff Report

Bill Cooper, instructor at Santa Barbara’s Paragon Academy of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, won a top medal at the Jiu Jitsu World Championships this month, and some Paragon students followed suit. Cooper, ranked second in the nation in grappling at 178 pounds by USA Wrestling, won the silver medal in the black belt middleweight division, a rare feat for an American, winning four matches by submission. The world championships were held at Cal State Long Beach, the second straight time the world’s largest jiu jitsu tournament has been held in California after traditionally being held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. Paragon Academy student Katie Weilbacher won the gold medal in the purple belt open class - open to all weight classes - and also won first place in her weight division. David Kohl won the silver medal in the blue belt super heavyweight division, winning many fights by submission, and Matt Magana won the silver medal in the blue belt lightweight division, losing the final match by one point. Paragon instructor Sean Apperson won his first two matches by large point totals and lost his third match. The Paragon Academy team joins forces with the Alliance Team for big events, and Alliance won first place overall in team competition. The Paragon team is ranked fourth in the nation by USA Wrestling. The school’s Web site is www.pargonbjj.com.

Grip Fighting for a solid ground game

June 15, 2008

Grip fighting is one of the most under looked aspects of Brazilian jiu jitsu. The grips on the gi can give one opponent a huge advantage not only on the feet, but the ground as well. Its well known that grip fighting is important for judo throws but the same control can be used on the ground as well. One of the key concepts in wrestling/Judo/or jiu jitsu is hip control. Controlling your opponent’s grips will give him a hard time getting inside and being able to dominate your hips. In addition to this defensive advantage, your opponent being dominated by your grips will not be able to prevent you from attacking his hips. This is especially relevant when dealing with the guard. When playing the guard position open or closed one needs dominate grips. If you’re able to control your opponent’s sleeves and arms and maintain inside control he will have a very hard time passing. Also, by controlling my partner’s body I can then set up all my sweeps and submission attacks. One of the most critical areas for this is the seated guard. It is in this guard that you must control grips or your opponent will quickly pass. A good grip in this situation is a deep lapel grip and a same side sleeve grip. If on the other hand you’re passing your training partners guard it is also critical to have dominate grips. A good example of dominant control for the passing man is a lapel grip and an inside the knee pant grip on the opposite leg. This grip combination on the inside allows one to pin an opponent’s leg to the mat and set up the knee through the middle pass or the bull-fighting pass. Even if the pass attempt fails this grip combo places the passing man in a dominant position safe from most sweeps and submissions. If you take the time to work on little overlooked areas like grip fighting, you will see drastic improvements in your jiu jitsu game.

Armlocks

March 19, 2008

For one of the most basic and first moves you will learn in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Armlocks are far from a simple concept. There are two variations of armlocks you will learn in jiu jitsu. The straight armlock can be applied from various scenarios and is an extremely effective finishing technique. The limit of the straight armlock vs the bent armlock is the control factor. A bent armlock aka the "kimura," can be used as a finishing technique as well as a controlling technique. Another benefit to the bent armlocks are they usually are lower risk because the attacker usually maintains good positioning if the move fails unlike the straight armlock. Due to this difference the order of attack usually begins with the bent armlock and then transitions into the straight armlock. With that in mind lets break down the two into some specifics. The straight armlock is classically attacked from the guard and the mount position however it is possible to hit this move from the back, turtle, cross side, and standing as well. The BJJ and Judo expert David Camarillo, who is well known for having one of the nastiest armlocks in the sport, once explained to me the armlock should be called the elbow lock. It does make much more sense to name the move the elbow lock because only the elbow is isolated in a straight armlock. The important thing to remember in this move is where the breaking pressure comes from. The main pressure is applied using the hips so you must have SQUARE hips not tilted to one side. From the guard when the leg is passed over the face you will be leaned toward one side and you must SQUARE off first before applying any pressure. The second most important breaking pressure comes from the isolation around the elbow joint provided by the knees squeezing together. With square hips and the knees pinched together the third element is proper wrist control. DON’T HOLD THE WRIST WITH YOUR HANDS!!! Instead use what I call the tombstone grip. If you don’t know this grip its trapping the wrist using the crook of your elbow which achieves two objectives. Firstly its much more powerful using your entire body weight to finish the move instead of just your biceps. Secondly it makes it very challenging for your opponent to defend the lock because his wrist is trapped and extended. If your opponent is fast enough to defend by stacking you up you made several mistakes. First thing armlocks from the guard have to be TIMED not just tossed out there. A well timed joint lock is much tougher to escape and combined with proper leg work is almost impossible. Remember that if something goes wrong it’s not the armlocks fault. The bent armlocks are kimuras and American locks. As discussed prior the bent armlock is much more powerful than the straight armlock because of its controlling nature. The bent armlocks can come in handy when trapped on the bottom as they can be used to force an opponent to either submit or bail on position. The key to finishing these techniques is body rotation. The classic mistake with bent armlocks is trying to finish the move with the arms and not the body. To apply powerful finishing force one needs to attach their elbows in and use their entire body to finish the move. One thing to be careful of when using kimuras on bottom is the straight arm lock counter attack your opponent has, if this doesn’t make sense ask me after class and I’ll explain it further as it’s a complicated explanation. I hope this helps you guys out!! There will be more articles coming soon, the move into the new academy has kept me busy.

Basics in BJJ
Basics are the key to success in any endeavor and jiu jitsu is no exception! With thousands of techniques out there its hard to know which ones to incorporate into your game. More is not better in this game, a strong foundation in basic skills is key to advancing in our sport. So what then should you work on first?? THE GUARD! The guard position is what uniquely separated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from the likes of Judo and the other grappling arts. A clean understanding of the guard position should be the first skill developed in BJJ. From your back it is possible to submit or sweep an opponent. The key concepts of this position are the following: breaking posture, learning the "attacking zone concept", armlock, triangle, cross choke, omaplata, and basic reversals.

In the same umbrella idea the bottom game is essential to know. This means you must understand the concepts of the half guard, all the pin and basic submission escapes, dealing with getting out of the mount and escaping the hooks. Once you have learned these basic skills it is possible to train freely without getting stuck and being confused. The top game is much easier conceptually and can be learned second. The most important aspect of top control is breaking and passing the guard!! You must learn proper posture, how to stand up, how to open the guard, how to pass around the legs, and how to pin your opponent in cross side. From cross side the skills required are the following: basic movement and control, transitioning to the mount and attacking the back control, and basic submission skills. After learning the basic concepts of the sport it is then possible to start adding content to your training. From a strong fundamental base it is then helpful to start focusing on positional strategy and more advanced submission skills. Here is also a good time to start developing your own style. For example different body types perform different techniques with varying effectiveness. If you would like to know what type of game is best for your body type consult with Franjinha or Sean. Private instruction and game plan development is a good investment!! Good luck guys.

Basic Halfguard

January 27, 2008

One of the most complex positions in Brazilian jiu jitsu is the half guard. This article will focus on the half guard from the bottom mans prospective. First of all while fighting off your back the most dominant position you can achieve is full guard so that’s our first goal. As your opponent passes through your open guard and enters half guard you must react quickly to gain any advantage. The goal is to build a quick frame between you and your opponent. The frame consists of a forearm across the throat, another along the crook of the elbow, and your free knee wedged inside your training partners shoulder. This frame will keep your head free and thus allow an easy transition back to the closed guard. This frame will also help if your training mixed martial arts so you don’t get punched in the face. Trust me, there is nothing more frustrating than training with someone who really has a grasp on this concept. The half guard functions first and foremost as a wall. If my training partner is able to break through my initial frame and lock on my head I’ll look to break his grips. The most efficient way to deal with this potentially miserable position is to toss a quick scorpion lock on. If you don’t know what the scorpion lock is ask me before class and Ill show you the basics. The power of the scorpion is the ability to extend your training partner away helping to keep some of his weight off your face. From here I’ll look to bring my forearms back into position and re-frame out my opponent. Like all things in life if it seems to good to be true, it probable is. The truth is once you allow your opponent to clamp onto your head its going to take some serious effort to rebuild the frame. One of the most FAQ I receive is about sweeping from the half guard. If there were ever a time to sweep from the half guard now would be a good time to do so. With my opponent locked on my head and driving his shoulder pressure into my neck sweeping now becomes my next best option. There are specific sweeps from when you have underhook control and also sweeps when your opponent has underhook control. This would also be a good time for the famous paragon half guard to take effect. Good luck guys train hard and take notes.

The Concept of losing to win

January 7, 2008

One of the most intriguing concepts I have learned over my study of jiu jitsu in Santa Barbara is the idea of losing to win. When starting jiu jitsu lessons I used and depended on my natural attributes to ease the ego blow of being smashed daily. Its never fun to lose over and over again so it is very natural for people to overemphasize strength and athleticism while learning the sport. My first 3 years of jiu jitsu training, I exclusively tried to smash everyone I trained with and avoided any dangerous positions. I would as soon die than let someone sweep and pass my guard. I would panic in any dangerous positions and my defensive skills were far behind my offensive assault. Regardless I still competed well and won many tournaments but I could tell my potential had been reached. I came to a cross roads in my training when I decided to break down all my weaknesses and focus on the mental side of the game. I used to hate being on bottom in side control where I felt claustrophobic and weak. My new goal was to force myself to deal with this apparent fear and force my self to deal with it. From this mindset I realized how bad my submission and pinning escapes just were. My game sank to new lows and I became very depressed with my training to the point where I wanted to quit. As bad as things were I started to relax and focus on exactly what was happening to me in those bad positions. I was able to gain valuable insight into the deeper realms of the sport and my game flourished like never before. I was in tune mentally with everything I did on the mat and I learned at an incredible rate. At that point I was a blue belt and within 2 years I was a brown belt. The key to growth I believe in this sport is a selfish training mindset. You can’t worry about what other people think of your training sessions or how you perform. The focus must be on your specific training goals and your long-term goals. In order to develop flawless technique you must turn off your ego and any other natural attribute that can hinder its growth. Hope this has been helpful and good luck with your training. For more info check out martial arts Santa Barbara.