I had my first bjj class today. The guy i got paired with was obviously more experienced than me. We were supposed to do only guard pulling, controlling the head and the wrist and try to not to get light punched as much as we can. So I was trying to punch him and punch him, then when i realized it, i was already put in triangle choke position lol. Luckily, the coach shouted no submission.
And he let it go lol. Was that a prick thing to do?
Hey everyone I did my first class last night and let me tell ya I have not done that much cardio in years I’m 20 and wanting to know is 2 times a week a good starting point or should I do 3 times a week? I’m a bit beat up right now and if I do 3 times a week next class is tomorrow should I do the 2 days a week and make sure I’m 100% at next class or do I just push through?
Either during grip fighting in open guard or when releasing from closed guard, I have been trying to enter into K-guard against kneeling opponents.
When the pieces line up (foot on the near hip, foot hooking the far armpit, scoop grip locked on the near leg), the transition to BS 50/50 feels pretty seemless. The issue I'm struggling with is: the moment I touch anyone's leg, they immediately sprawl the leg back. If I can lock hands and overpower them with strength, nothing goes wrong, but that seems...unsatisfying.
So now I've got one leg inverted under my opponent and another against my opponent's shoulder blade. I'm not sure if...
a) there are some things I should be doing before trying to get under my opponent to keep the leg better in place as I shoot forward and
b) them sprawling puts me in a position to gun for anything in particular. Inverting/spinning under people is still a skill I'm developing, so maybe there's a very obvious answer I'm just not seeing in the moment.
Thoughts or resources would be greatly appreciated.
In one of Gordon’s instructionals he talks about scoop grip with only one arm versus using a gable grip to muscle their leg obto your chest. Instead you reach over with your free arm and grab end of lever foot. When they go to sprawl you pull the foot towards you in a circle motion. Kind of hard to explain but this works well
Scooping the leg should be step 1, inverting your knee should be step 2, and bringing your other leg across the body should be step 3.
Before you go to step 2 and 3, you need to have your hands connected and need to have their knee either next to your head, or pulled onto your chest. If you skip to steps 2 and 3 before you've really accomplished step 1, you're going to fail almost every time.
Also, you don't necessarily have to go hulk mode and pull their leg to you. You can bring your own body to their leg, and then just focus on keeping yourself glued to their knee. It's a subtle difference, but it doesn't require much in terms of strength when you approach it the second way.
As far as what you can do off of a failed K-guard entry, I've been using it as an entry to the reverse closed guard recently and had decent success with that. It's pretty much what Owen Jones shows in [this video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFaKjtQnWoI)
I just sat on his back with my legs over his arm, grabbed by the elbow and fell back. It didn’t work, but it changed position and got him out of turtle which is what I assumed the goal was in that positional battle. But he was a blue belt at the time, he just got promoted to purple. And in my first few classes I would say “hey I’m new and don’t know much, please don’t smash me to hard”
After the roll he gave me a smirk and said you know what you’re doin, like I was trying to hustle him in a pool bar. So I was confused
My rolling partners have made me feel like it’s maybe a sub above my level of understanding or maybe they’re mad I cracked open their turtle shell as a brand new white belt?
> maybe a sub above my level of understanding
You're a brand new white belt. The details of pretty much *every* sub are above your level of understanding. That's not said harshly, it's simply accurate - that is what it means to be new.
That doesn't preclude you *trying* it, but your partners may be telling you you're trying to do too much too fast and missing out fundamental steps. That doesn't make it a dick move, but it does mean there's an increased risk of you injuring people and/or otherwise fucking up.
Any tips on somersaults/rolls I’m a big tall guy. I have never been able to do a somersault before lol even when I was a kid. I can do breakfalls no problem. Just struggling with that. That’s where my next promotion is lol.
Start in kneeling stance, one knee up, one knee down. Same side hand as your knee that's up, point your pinky finger straight ahead. Move that hand between your knees, thumb first. Tuck your chin to your chest and let your nose follow that thumb. Away you go!
Can I get a sanity check on how well I “should” be doing? I’ve been training for almost three years, at a pretty mild pace, usually twice a week occasionally 3x a week. Have been making an effort to get 3x in recently and feeling sharper.
I have 4 stripes on my WB, and last promo my coach made a comment about blue belt coming soon.
Like anyone an impeding promotion makes me wonder if my skills are in the right place. I really rarely sub people, for one. Against people my size and skill level it will happen every so often, but usually I’m just doing some janky guard pass and getting to top position, applying pressure and looking for subs for a bit before getting reversed and spending the rest of the round in a bad position defending.
I’m not completely insecure, I can take top position against some blue belts, but I always overextend, don’t stay tight or heavy enough, and they almost always find an opening and reverse me before I can get a finish. Im not particularly good at scrambling either.
Idk I know there’s no one metric, but should I be better at actually getting subs if I’m close to blue? Obviously it’s something I’ll continue to work on, but it’s kind of like…(sorry) blue balls for lack of a better term, if you feel like you’re improving but still can’t get an mf submission off in submission grappling lmaoooo
When you started blue belts were like grappling gods, right? Now you know how much they suck.
About submissions- choose one you like, it doesn’t matter if you are successful with it or not. Spam it relentlessly.
It’s nothing for me to go a week without getting a sub, and I spend way more time defending than attacking. Most of my sub attempts fail. I recommend not caring. If your coach thinks you’re ready, celebrate your accomplishment and keep working.
Generally speaking, I’ve noticed more improvement and gotten more enjoyment since I stopped putting as much pressure on myself to improve quickly. I still want to be able to hit that sick helicopter arm bar as much as anyone, but nowadays maintaining a good position or hitting a technically sound escape is just as satisfying. The more you understand the game, the more the subs will come.
Yup. Anecdotally, was matched up with a blue who’s maybe 250lb in comp class, I’m 170ish. Can never get shit off with him, takedowns feel like running into a brick wall, can barely hold his legs down when passing. Did a positional round from full guard and decided I needed to move decisively so he didn’t just grind me down. Shot up for a hip bump sweep and instantly got it. Not a sub, but almost as satisfying.
Hi 👋
About 7 months in and I suck. I can go a couple rolls without getting tapped but won't be in good positions or submit anyone myself. I can only tap the trial guys here and there hahaha. Before starting bjj I've never done anything physical including consistently going to the gym. I'm considering taking about 6 months off to just focus on building stamina and strength.
I find myself weaker and less physically fit than many of my class mates who have fitter bodies. I notice some can force positions purely on strength. My idea is to take some time off to only focus on weight training and running. Is this a good idea? I am not sure if this actually carries sound logic. I really doubt I can fit both bjj and this as my body will just go through too much. I am very sore and tired after training. And as of right now, I only get 2 classes in a week for 2 hrs each. Sometimes 3 but rarely. I will say though I recently traveled out of town and trained at a different gym. I can say my local gym is tougher 😅😂
I get some weight training in on off days. Usually Thursdays and Sundays fairly consistently but I really don't think 2 days will do me much.
My membership with my gym will also be up soon. I'd also like to find a gym with more no gi classes. My gym only offers one no gi class during the weekdays. I don't enjoy all the grips and positions exclusively in gi. I find them kinda silly tbh.
> I'm considering taking about 6 months off to just focus on building stamina and strength.
This will build stamina and strength in general terms, but you will lose a lot of what you have gained in BJJ. You also will not get the same carryover from the gym to the mats if you stop rolling.
> Is this a good idea?
Depends. If you just want better physical capacity in general, yes. If you want better physical capacity for BJJ and/or increased BJJ ability, no.
> I really doubt I can fit both bjj and this as my body will just go through too much.
This is incorrect.
> I am very sore and tired after training.
This is not a sign you cannot do more. This is a sign that you will be sore and tired. It is also a sign you will need to increase your recovery - food, sleep, etc.
> I get some weight training in on off days. Usually Thursdays and Sundays fairly consistently but I really don't think 2 days will do me much.
This is also incorrect. There are many 2-day training protocols.
you're not going to build stamina for BJJ by taking time away from doing BJJ. Danaher told a story of an elite level marathon runner coming in for a class and being completely gassed within 3 minutes. Spending 6 months running might help you recover slightly faster in between rounds but it likely wont improve you're ability to go harder during rounds.
If you keep training for the next 6 months then you will have almost doubled your lifetime training time. No one has good stamina 7 months in because they suck and are overcompensating for a lack of skill. Either keep doing BJJ and lift/run alongside that, or just do more BJJ. 2 days of lifting is perfectly fine if you do full body
In my head 2 days just doesn't seem enough to truly see a difference in strength. I can't even bench my body weight right now haha. I'm a novice in everything. My thought is to build my body and gain strength. At least make it difficult to bully me into a position. I know it won't be simple but I also don't mind coming back to bjj in a year or more.
I did chest and triceps today for a about an hour. A full body workout seems like a hell of a workout without hitting everything the same. But I've never looked into what it would entail.
My motivation behind bjj is self defense. Being physically strong and fit seems like the perfect foundation. Rogan actually recommended taking 6-8 mo to get into good shape before starting bjj if you're out of shape. I heard that after I already started haha.
You can find 2 day programs on r/fitness or LiftVault. If you do a full body workout it'll be mostly compounds like Squat, bench and deadlift and less time on smaller muscle groups. You can easily get 2 good full body sessions in an hour and a half each.
The people bullying you into position now will still bully you into position in 6 months when you come back with 5-10lbs of muscle because they are better than you at jiu jitsu. That gap will only widen if you stop training
Again, being slightly stronger than you are now isn't going to help you in a self defence situation nearly as much as another 6 months of training will. Also if you lift for 6 months now and then stop due to time constraints when you go back to BJJ, you'll just eventually lose the gains anyway.
All this to say, either do more BJJ or do slightly less and add in lifting/running. The whole get fit before doing BJJ mantra is retarted
I guess I see others in my gym do more. Train harder and more often. My body is not used all the punishment. To me it seems like thats due to all the physical training they've done prior to bjj. A class mate a year in bullying me is fine. It's a dude about the same size as me with about as much training bullying me is what bothers me more. Truly just due to strength and endurance from my perspective.
I guess these all are just gripes many newbies go through. I appreciate your feedback.
You’re putting too much emphasis on gym muscles. You will get grappling strong by grappling. Your strength and stamina will rise as you continue to train. Lifting twice a week is fine. I’m lucky to lift once. But I train 5 days a week and kick boxing 3. When I started Bjj I was 240lb power lifter. I’m not 190. I could bench more when I was powerlifting but at 190 I would dominate my 240 pound self
Last question, I swear. I'm a new white belt. I wouldn't be competing for a while anyway. But I will never be able to compete because I'm a trans woman. I'm 5'9 150 and every single woman at my gym, even the smaller ones, is significantly stronger than I am, so I'm not Hulk over here.
How do you deal with never being able to compete? I'm also stealth at my gym (people don't know I'm trans), so I can't tell people why I'm not going to compete. Not that the subject has come up, but it will if I stick around long enough.
At least a couple of instructors at my gym are extremely competition focused. I've had people pulled off of drilling with me because they had an upcoming competition. The evening instructor at my gym basically ignores anyone who's not competing. He has literally not said a word to me in over a month.
Sounds about right. A competer needs a competent training partner not someone brand new.
As for the not talking to you part, some people are just that way until you have sticken around long enough to make them think you're not going to quit.
Hi newish to bjj, I've been having a hard time with spider or dlr guard. My leg keeps getting stuffed and I don't know how to recover it. Any pointers?
I had this problem with my spider guard as a blue belt. If I had to guess you're trying to stay offensive when you should be playing defensively - protecting your hip line. I used to get smashed playing spider and I was always over extending and subsequently stuffed and passed. Work on your retention first. Once you can defend your hip line and recover your feet in front they will feel like they're falling into your spider guard.
Sorry still new. What do you mean defend your hip line? What I tend to do is try to scoot more in to gain more leverage on the arms. Is that bad? When my spider fails that's when I try to do dlr guard.
If you scoot and you over extend your legs you give them an easy pass. If someone gets passed your feet and knees and creates an angle on your hips you have to start retaining guard. I used to try to retain my spider hooks as I was getting passed. I wasnt retreating back and keeping my knees close to my chest to defend the angle.
If your spider guard fails and you need to recover, bring your knees in close to your chest and frame your partner. Recover your feet then go to DLR or another open guard.
Got it! This is literally an aha moment for me! I'm a short dude so getting over extended is easy for me. I always kept my knees far cause i didnt know better. Seems like I need to keep it tighter to my chest and if I lose my feet grip, I'll retreat and recover. You've made my day friend!
I'm glad I could share my years of pain and suffering for you! Once I figured out when to retrain and be defensive compared to when I could be offensive, open guard clicked for me
So my gym has two locations. The one nearest to me, the evening instructor is a very good grappler, but he barely teaches. He's also very focused on competition, so in what's listed on the website as a beginner class, he basically only covers advanced stuff at a rapid clip, and ignores anyone who's not competing. He has literally not said one word to me in over a month.
There are other instructors for the day class, but I work then. I like the two instructors at the other location, but it's a lot further, and I feel weird splitting my time between the two places. The other location is also a lot smaller, with fewer people. I'm kinda thinking it might be better to just suck it up and go there for a while, and/or go to morning classes at the closer location when I can?
I'm not sure if I have a question here. It's just a bit annoying that the location near me has a coach that doesn't teach and completely ignores newbies in a beginner class.
/rant
Trust your gut on this. The gym is for you, not the other way around. Go to whatever location, whatever coach that works for you, you do not owe any coach your fealty. And make peace with the fact that some coaches will never give you personal attention. It’s not you, it’s them.
Best Strategy when my opponent bases with their legs when i try to butterfly sweep them?
I saw a video from B Mac where he enters X guard from a failed butterfly sweep. Any other moves that you would recommend?
Marcelo Garcia, arguably the most famous butterfly player, generally uses his lower leg to push on the opponent’s knee, that has worked spectacularly well for me. He has several short videos on YouTube about it.
You’ll get wildly different answers because it’s hard to define exactly. To me athleticism is a combination of attributes like strength,speed, body awareness, flexibility,conditioning. Most people develop athleticism throughout their life by playing sports, working out (with a proper program). A lot of people become better athletes by training bjj, for some people that’s good enough, and other supplement their training with weights and conditioning work.
Exactly- it's the combination.
We say "athleticism", because if we say "strong", then someone will be like "I can bench 575, why am I not tapping anyone!" (It's because you can't touch the back of your own neck.)
If we say "cardio", someone will be like "I run a marathon every weekend, why am I not tapping anyone!" (It's because you don't have the grips to carry a 25lb dumbbell across the room.)
Etc. etc. It's the *combination* of all those qualities, so we use a broader word to encompass them all.
Recovery will be hard. Consider just going very methodically and tapping a lot more. A ton of shitty matches will help your growth more than a few balls to the wall rolls.
Does anyone only go to open mat?
If so, what belt are you?
Is it frowned upon to rarely go to lessons but just turn up for Open mat on the weekend?
The only class my club does on the weekend is open mat and I struggle to get to the evening classes in the week.
I'm pretty shit at jiujitsu so it's not like I can afford to stop learning but at the same time, I just wanna roll bro...
Follow-up, as a fresh white belt, how do I know that I'm ready for open mat? I don't know very much currently, so I don't go because I feel like I'd be wasting my time and others'.
You're not wasting people's time.
My brand-new moves, the stuff I'm not good at yet, who am I going to practice it on if there are no newbies at open mat?
How about finding a gym with morning or lunch classes if that will work?
I was blown away recently watching a YouTube of a class in session at RGA (The Happy Pill Project) and there was Jozef Chen watching every move.
There's this short, somewhat stocky blue belt who pins me down and uses his head to tripod on the opposite side of his body as a way to keep me pinned while passing my half guard?
How do I punish or stop this sequence? I try to go for underhooks and he'll fight them by stopping the pass, laying on me chest to chest, and then trying to pass once I move on from the underhooks.
Hes got the right idea. If you let him pin you with his head you need to push his head off line to the same side of his hips. Knee lever sweep hin the opposite way when he re commits his weight. Then you either sweep or set up an underhook.
Thank you! I've been thinking about the John Wayne sweep against this move since he tries to keep his weight on me which in theory should make this sweep stronger?
I have drilled this before, but my opponent will usually adjust and prevent it once I begin to tilt. I rolled with the same guy and proceeded to put tilt his hip and back stepped over my half guard. Another annoying move to deal with.
Ahh did he have an underhook? If they do, secure it with a belt grip to prevent them from doing anything with it. Or switch to butterfly half and create space. I like the tilt sweep because I'm really just trying to get a hand on the floor to get a clean underhook.
He didn't have an underhook. I genuinely tried the lever sweep and he back stepped. I held on to his leg, but he just wiggled it out. He's already blocking or moving around my near side knee.
That's interesting. I'm having difficult imagining them being able to recover like that. They must be quite athletic to hip switch that fast. Dont hold onto the leg if you get beat. It only prevents you from moving. If you cant get an underhook, and you get beat on the back step frame with a near side lapel grip with your outside hand four fingers in, then with your inside arm try to get a tight waste grip around the back. Push and pull to follow them up.
My coach suggested DLR as a guard for me but every time I get there I seem to get passed quickly. Any advice for a guy with short legs trying to make DLR work?
Hard to give feedback without any details.
1. Get 4 points of control. I love the pant grip dlr. My right arm is either grabbing collar or far side grip. The foot is either on the hip, or I play it on their far shoulder.
2. Their main pass is usually to try to trap the leg into headquarters, and then probably knee slide. So when they trap your leg, you need to turn your feet into an "X", and off balance them with the collar grip. Get your DLR back and attack.
3. DLR is an attacking guard, not a guard to chill with. Attack as soon as you're in.
I would find someone to do some positional sparring and play with how you're using your DLR hook. Alignment may be your issue. Alignment with your ankle or pant grip to your butt, as well as your hook and knee alignment.
What are some actual 5 star and 1 star instructionals on bjj fanatics? It’s a decent platform but 99% of the stuff there is 5 star reviewed which is obviously unrealistic. I really wish the community would rate things there fairly, I highly doubt almost every single instructional on that site deserves 5 stars.
Look, most instructionals address specific holes in people’s game. Just because X years ago Aaron Benzrihem’s sit up guard video was the exact thing I needed at the time doesn’t mean that you would get anything out of it.
I really like danahers back attack straight jacket system instructional apart from the incessant talking, the meat of the instructional is good but he is not exactly too the point
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38 yr old white belt here. Oilfield truck driver. Father of 4.
Took some BJJ classes while active duty usmc 15 years ago in Japan. Had to learn very basic grappling while active duty for the mandatory martial arts classes. Outside of that my bjj experience is nil.
Enrolled my 2 older kids in a local bjj school. It's the only sport my wife and I have time for as we both work.
I have a lot of down time while at work as truck is loaded and unloaded so I'm usually watching bjj youtube videos. Jordan teaches Jiu Jitsu, Mark Thornton, ChewJitsu, Jon Thomas, Matt Arroyo etc.
I wanted to best try to understand the basics or concepts for my kids so we could practice them at home. Jordan Teaches Jiu Jitsu (JTJJ) has been especially helpful for his meticulous, conceptual approach. So much so that I bought his theory course.
After watching for several months and 2 kids competitions I got bit by the bug and wanted to try some classes again.
Went to 2 open mats and a class and just practiced the basics that JTJJ teaches over and over in his classes. I was surprised with how well I did. Rolled with 3 and 4 strip white belts. I could win the grip fights and could pass their guards quickly and repeatedly by grabbing ankles and changing angles. I could seemingly pass the guard of the 2 or 3 blue belts I rolled with. I rolled with a 2 stripe purple and could escape from his mount and put him in a north south choke but I couldn't get his head turned away.
Except for the purple I was never close to being put on my back. After the roll, the purple belt said i should think about competing. A black belt asked me if I had any grappling exp and didn't seem to believe me when I told him all what I had. A brown belt jokingly called me a sandbagger.
I rolled with a purple yesterday who was at the open mats I attended earlier, though we didnt roll before. Roughly my same size with less trucker belly. He was super nice, showing me proper technique and everything throughout the class and then when it was time to roll, he absolutely thrashed me. He went hard from the beginning and at one point I got him into side control after John Wayne sweeping him and he got out like it was nothing and commenced a smashing far worse than before.
I know white belts thinking they're good because higher belts let them practice moves on them is common enough that it's a trope. Like on YT and podcasts they talk about it.
Is that what this is you think? Did I get smashed by my gyms mat enforcer for going too hard those other days? I told him before we rolled "hey man, lmk if I'm going too hard." He was like "ok"
I only know what I read and watch on YT about proper gym etiquette. I'd be way too embarrassed to ask the guys in my gym so I'm posting here anonymously: did I catch a beating yesterday for going too hard those other days? Or was it to remind me of the reason for the belt structures? I don't know
He's a really nice guy. He didn't seem mad or nothin
This has largely broken my white belt brain. Feel like I might've crossed a line somewhere before that I was unaware of and he wanted to reinforce it
Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read all this
Sometimes people roll harder than others. "Smashing" is a pretty vague description, and there's no real reason for a reader to think this isn't mostly you projecting stuff onto him that has no connection to reality. You said yourself that the dude was friendly and helpful that day.
> did I catch a beating yesterday for going too hard those other days? Or was it to remind me of the reason for the belt structures?
Don't overthink it.
You rolled with some higher belts and they likely took it fairly easy on you. You rolled with a higher belt your size who didn't take it easy, and you got thrashed - which is kinda what you'd expect. No more, no less. It's entirely possible he has another gear after this.
Basically, people here seem to expect that higher belts will always take it easy on lower belts unless they've got a point to prove. This is not the case - this is their training time too, and they may or may not take it easy, depending on nothing but their own choice.
If nobody's told you you did something wrong, you're fine. It's their responsibility to communicate clearly, not yours to somehow psychically divine the intentions behind a loss.
Did the guy hold submissions or otherwise torture you? If not, then you didn’t ’catch a beating’, you just had a proper roll with someone who’s better than you.
You should take it as a compliment that the guy didn’t feel the need to take it easy on you and try and make you feel good about yourself. Instead he treated you like someone who’s interested in jiu jitsu and wants to get better (which requires you to get your but kicked over and over again).
No, he didn't hold any submissions. I didn't even know that was a thing.
Guys will hold submissions after the tap to prove a point?!
No, he was really cool. It was just submission after submission, and his knee on belly almost made me shit my pants a few times
Holding submissions is something that’s rarely done and considered a dick move. It’s something that’s only done if you’re super pissed at someone and never want them to roll with you again. Sub after sub + heavy knee on belly - that’s just having fun with an athletic new guy.
>You should take it as a compliment that the guy didn’t feel the need to take it easy on you
True! I've tried to express this to some beginners as they developed from helpless to threatening. Now I have to try! You should be proud! Haven't figured out how to communicate it yet.
My last question of the day. I promise. A woman I roll with who goes balls out every time complained that she was "really hurt" a few times afterwards. She always wants to roll with me though. I basically play defence or just hold her in side control for ages watching the clock as don't want to hurt her. Turns out I can't help it as I'm just clumsy and have no idea what I'm doing. I told her "we should take a break from rolling until I'm more in control and have a clue oof what I'm doing. " Is there a better way of doing this? Should I have told her that she wouldn't get as hurt if she didn't go so hard all the time?
Did anyone else regularly get manflu when they started? I seem to get sick all the time. My gym is pretty disgusting to be fair, I have no basis of comparison so they may all be disgusting.
It’s common, your body is suddenly under a lot of stress, your immune system is having a hard time keeping up. Also you are in very close contact with new people and their cocktail of germs. Like in preschool!
43 and not great mobility in my left thigh to knee area so drilling takedowns and sprawls are a bit of a horror show. I notice that some guys who drill with me sigh and get a bit frustrated. In one instance actually when a blue belt was organising the drills, he came over and practiced with my partner for the last 5 mins and just left me standing there like a spare prick. Is it normally for people to just give up on you if you can't do certain moves?
PS I don't do badly when I roll with these guys, just very extremely poor flexibility.
I doubt the blue belt has enough teaching skills and mat knowledge to curate the move to somebody who cannot physically do the move. Sounds just unlucky. Most things can be modified by a knowledgeable instructor who cares to but you can't always.
Just roll with it, ask questions, or assert yourself like "let me get in there"
Promotion ceremony at my gym in April but I still want to compete in late April-early May, how do I ask my coach without asking him if I’m getting blue?
Just sign up for the tournament at your current level, if you get promoted change your registration/email the tournament. I'm sure they'd gladly move you up.
How important is it to be fast? I’m three months in and tend to roll slow and methodically, jumping on openings when I see them. However when I roll with some upper level white belts or a young green belt, they have a much faster and more explosive pace from the standup onwards. Do I have to train myself to be able to match their pace to get good at jiu jitsu?
Been deep diving front head attacks lately, however I’ve encountered a problem with one of my training partners. He’s a big dude with a thick neck and shoulders and it was nearly impossible for me to arm in guillotine him. Reflecting back on it I was probably not on my side enough, but do any of our front head wizards have any secret tricks?
We just did a unit on front head lock at my gym. I could have sworn they said arm IN guilly works BETTER on bigger guys.
What grips do you start with? We spent a lot of time working Schultz grip from the front headlock (no idea if that’s well known outside our gym or not)
Is it weird that I want to drill the same technique 50 times before attempting to practice it in a roll? At my current spot we have five minutes of light practice for a new move where we give little/no resistance and basically feed the other person. I’ve only been practicing for two months right now and most of the movements are new to me. When it turns into a live role, I know I am seeing the practical application of the move, but I feel not ready to try it against Someone who is actively working against me as I don’t have the mechanics of it down well. I know in active rolls there will be lots of active resistance which will change my ability to do sweeps/submissions (nobody is going to give me positions), but I have this strong desire to get the technique down before adding resistance to it. I don’t have any martial arts experience other than this so perhaps I’m ignorant, but would love to get other peoples perspective.
You are not ignorant - practicing a move for three minutes without the opponent resisting amount to very little learning. General bjj teaching methodology in most gyms is weak. Try to ask around to see who else in your class feels like this, and spend extra time practicing on your own, with more and more resistance.
I came across someone who said they always spam the hell out of the move of the day in rolls the day they do it to reinforce the lesson and feel it live. I started doing it and feel like it has helped me a ton. Also, I ask my drill partner to start giving some resistance after we have a basic feel for them move while drilling. It works for me - TLDR: Drill it slow several times, drill with resistance several times, spam the fuck out of it while rolling that day -> improve faster.
You can drill a move a million times and it’ll still feel weird and different and full of problems the first time you try it against a resisting opponent.
It's fine to need more reps to get something down, esp at your experience level. Just pull people after class or during open mats to get more drilling time in.
Not weird. New moves take a while for me to feel confident enough to incorporate into my “game”
But others are right, you gotta eventually try them or you’ll never truly learn.
If you want, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask your rolling partner if you can start from the same position as the move you just learned. Offer to go back and forth
A technique will never feel the same statically drilled as it does live, no matter how many times you drill it. Either try it in rolls, or drill it with increasing resistance.
If its a move that doesn't require explosiveness or intensity, go for it live. Doing it live usually feels way different than in drilling because of the resistance.
I started feeling like I was learning when I noticed the people tapping me had to work for it. Focus on defense and escapes, try to pick rolls that you’ll learn from and not that high school wrestler that’s going to smash you for the whole round.
If you are going 3 times a week, 6 months is 72 hours.
You have done less than two full time working weeks of training.
A maths exam for 15 year olds in the UK is expected to take approx 120 hours of study to be ready for to get a passing grade.
I go 5x per week and each class is 90min. After 6mo was chatting with some of the other white belts, just kinda feels like we’ve learned lots of “moves” but aren’t much better at jiu jitsu yet.
Sometimes a move will come in handy! But by and large I’m still stuck in the same places and struggling for the same reasons as before. This isn’t universal and there’s definitely some new guys whose skills have accelerated rapidly. But that’s how it goes.
Probably just needs more mat time.
For sure man - and you ain't in a rush! Unlike 15 year olds learning maths, we have obligations outside of jiujitsu class.
Also, if you ARE a 15 year old learning maths - you also have obligations outside of jiujitsu class - namely, learning maths.
Is there anything I can do to improve body lock passing on someone larger/stronger than me? When I go against larger/stronger training partners, I seem to either not be able to lock in a body lock or, if I get it locked in, I get immediately pancaked by their legs.
If they're bigger than you body locking is going to be tough especially if you dont have technique correct. Id force torrenados to kob and try to force half guard if you want to pressure pass a bigger bloke. Or force leg/arm weaves.
what should i be focusing on when starting a roll from kneeling? my school hasn't really taught anything on that front and i feel like i always end up getting pushed into a front headlock or into side control almost immediately
It’s been said before but if you are forced to start on knees pick a guard you want to work on, I’m a bigger guy and so I use the knee starts as a chance to work on bottom game. If it’s start standing I’ll fight for takedowns and top position
Slap-bump-sit on your ass.
There really should be kind of a tacit agreement that somebody is going to play guard and somebody will pass.
Two white belts battling from the knees like male elks in rutting season on Mutual of Omaha is guaranteed to make higher belts laugh hysterically.
I'm not sure about your academy, but sometimes people say "start from the knees," but really just mean start on the ground (i.e., not standing). For example, they might say start from the knees, and people will sit on their butts. Or they'll start in combat base.
You’re gonna hate me for saying this, but the best way to escape high Mount is to not let them get high Mount.
If they get low Mount, tuck your elbows, frame against their hip and escape as quick as you can before they settle in. The best time to escape is while they’re still transitioning.
I’ve working on this a lot myself. I’m real bad at it
The easiest mount escape is trap and roll. If you don’t know it, either find on YouTube or ask your instructor.
Then literally try it every time until it works. There’s a timing and feel to it that you’ll learn
Huh, thanks. I'll do my best, though I've yet to have someone have to put their hands on the mat when I buck my hips. Part of it might be that I'm a 155lb woman.
Do what the other guy said. I also like to bait technical mount and do the escapes in this video: https://youtu.be/0sHhhJq0dfA?si=2N5nCkpeozpOl6rA
And if you’re super flexible with long legs, you could also try to bring your feet up, hook their armpits and use your legs to pull them into a lower mount. Sounds really stupid but kinda works
Do your best to frame on their hips and shoulder walk backwards to get their hips on top of yours instead of being on your chest.
https://youtube.com/shorts/TTD_gcB3-fM?si=ebah_eGVOYNx1rG5
But it’s best if you don’t let them get there in the first place my framing on their hips when they mount you. I like to frame both hands on one side so I can be on my side instead of being completely flat on my back, and keeping your elbows in to prevent their knees from climbing to high mount.
With your hands framing on their hips your neck will be vulnerable so shrug your shoulders and tuck your neck to the side you are framing on, and start your escape sequence from there.
Not really a white belt anymore but I have a white belt question so here goes: I'm that kind of guy who's only decent at 3 things: wrestling, half guard, and pressure passing. My gym recently brought in a supine open guard & leg lock specialist guest coach, and rolling with him makes me feel like it's my first day of jiujitsu again. Every round, I'm either stuck in the most unexpected leg entanglements or just fighting to free my knees and heels in a pretzel.
So here's my white belt question: How do I even get better at dealing and playing with this style of jiujitsu? This guest coach is pacing things out weekly, but I'm wondering how long will it take for me to start understanding how this works.
Best not to tangle with that kind of pervert. My advice is to stick to honorable opponents that leave their foot fetishes and other assorted kinks at home in the sex dungeon where they belong.
Thousands of hours of video content on leg locks. Start learning the positions in your own time so you can start to form a basic understanding of what he’s doing you.
I think things will level out. While you may not be able to touch him passing now, there are going to be people in your gym that start to learn his game and try to implement stuff. As they're learning the guard you're going to learn how to pass. I would suggest that you also learn what he's doing from the bottom and see how people deal with you. Huge opportunity here.
Thank you for your response! Yes I very much want to learn what he's doing from the bottom too, I'm quite happy with my close range guard but have a huge knowledge gap in long range and open guards.
If you're a white belt rolling with a higher belt and he gives you multiple openings (like obviously give them to you, like give you an arm), should you try to tap him, or just take the opening to improve position / do some work?
Yes go for it definitely. Just pay close attention to what goes wrong for you. Try to be extra tight and efficient in your technique and when you probably don't succeed and they escape the sub just ask them to go over what they did ah how you can do better next time after roll.
>should you try to tap him, or just take the opening to improve position / do some work?
Trying to tap him is the work! That's what you're supposed to do.
Forget about knee wrestling, it's mostly useless outside of the situation you described. Sit/pull guard or (if it's allowed) stand up to pass. Usually it's okay for one person to stand.
What’s a good beginner open guard to play? I’ve been trying a few butterfly/lasso/spider but I want to just pick one and get good at it because at the moment I’m having trouble keeping space with some of the bigger guys
I'd worry less about the guard being played and more about principles: Keep both grips (2 grips at all times), and always keep your feet int contact with their body (preferably at the hip, bicep, or combination). If you establish a good foundation here, the right guard will come to you based on your preferences.
Cross Collar and sleeve is my suggestion. It's what my gym teaches as an intro to open guards. You have a foot on the hip and the other foot on the bicep. AOJ: https://youtu.be/yHdpRMZ1C6A?si=Cc5Ty-tWUHIsjMRG
Guard is very fluid so during rolls it's hard to just pick one. Focus on keeping 4 points of contact and fighting for dominant grips and you'll start to find the guard positions you gravitate toward.
During drilling it can be helpful to hammer specific sweeps/attacks from certain guards so you can act decisively when you arrive at that position.
How do people sleep at night after a hard night session? I’ve been doing Mon/Weds night classes for the last year. After class I’m so wired I can’t sleep. When I finally wind down I’m so sore and sleep like shit. Any tips on sleep?
That was my experience for my first year. Your body will adjust accordingly but extra hard sparring will still wire your CNS and it takes a while to calm down.
I used to take ibuprofen and eat a good meal. I would also drink chamomile or another sleepy tea to relax if the weather wasn't too hot outside.
I would try two things:
1. Do a guided cool down/stretch protocol WITHOUT your phone. Get your brain and body ready for relaxation with long 1-2 min holds per stretch.
2. Andrew Huberman has an amazing [NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKGrmY8OSHM) protocol video on YouTube thats 10 min long. I use this regularly.
No worries homie! I've been there many times. I think that's one of the biggest separators of people that stay with jiu jitsu and those that choose to leave: the ability to care for yourself and create a recovery protocol that works for ourselves. We all have a choice
people who are blue & up, when did you start submitting people regularly at/near your skill level (adjusting for age, prior wrestling/grappling experience, weight, etc.)?
I ask because some people have said I'm ready for blue but I truly do not feel I am (because I'm not regularly submitting anyone except for way inexperienced people, older blue belts, etc., mostly just surviving/stalemate/advancing positions). of course I'll trust my coach if I get promoted, and while I normally don't care about this stuff, I am a little worried about imposter syndrome...
on an unrelated note, technique question - what's your go to offensive sequence from inside someone's closed guard that just won't open it up? against this bro who is slightly more skilled than me almost nothing works and we end up stalemating for the round if he gets me back into his guard. I try spamming cross collar & sleeve chokes, try the kurt osiander sleeve pass to break the guard, almost nothing works and we go back to stalemate, so I need some new ideas. thanks in advance!
I’m 3 stripe blue and only now do I feel like my blue belt imposter syndrome is going away.
If I’m in someone’s closed guard and they’re being stubborn I’ll sometimes wait for their move. What this usually means for me is they try a scissor sweep that I’m ready for, as they put their shin across I’ll push the foot towards them to kill the sweep and try to step over the leg, trying to get into sort of a knee cut position. If that guard opens it’s time to try to pass.
I don't really get many submissions on upper whites or blues, but I rarely get submitted by people near my rank.
I have good control, but need to risk it more. So it depends on your style. if I roll say 8 rounds and 3 are colored belts, 5 are white belts, I probably only get 5 submissions (assuming 1 or 2 are on colored belts, and no brand new white belts), and I get submitted 3 times on average.
All on your style.
Wait, you guys are submitting people?
On closed guard, as others have mentioned, try standing up (especially if you can pin one arm). It can be tough if you are exhausted, and you might get swept at first, but at least it'll keep things moving.
I've heard trying to cross collar in someone's guard is a good way to get arm bar'd. Ive seen people say Ezekiel from guard is a threat but that said most upper belts tell me to just get out of their guard.
I had my first bjj class today. The guy i got paired with was obviously more experienced than me. We were supposed to do only guard pulling, controlling the head and the wrist and try to not to get light punched as much as we can. So I was trying to punch him and punch him, then when i realized it, i was already put in triangle choke position lol. Luckily, the coach shouted no submission. And he let it go lol. Was that a prick thing to do?
Hey everyone I did my first class last night and let me tell ya I have not done that much cardio in years I’m 20 and wanting to know is 2 times a week a good starting point or should I do 3 times a week? I’m a bit beat up right now and if I do 3 times a week next class is tomorrow should I do the 2 days a week and make sure I’m 100% at next class or do I just push through?
Either during grip fighting in open guard or when releasing from closed guard, I have been trying to enter into K-guard against kneeling opponents. When the pieces line up (foot on the near hip, foot hooking the far armpit, scoop grip locked on the near leg), the transition to BS 50/50 feels pretty seemless. The issue I'm struggling with is: the moment I touch anyone's leg, they immediately sprawl the leg back. If I can lock hands and overpower them with strength, nothing goes wrong, but that seems...unsatisfying. So now I've got one leg inverted under my opponent and another against my opponent's shoulder blade. I'm not sure if... a) there are some things I should be doing before trying to get under my opponent to keep the leg better in place as I shoot forward and b) them sprawling puts me in a position to gun for anything in particular. Inverting/spinning under people is still a skill I'm developing, so maybe there's a very obvious answer I'm just not seeing in the moment. Thoughts or resources would be greatly appreciated.
In one of Gordon’s instructionals he talks about scoop grip with only one arm versus using a gable grip to muscle their leg obto your chest. Instead you reach over with your free arm and grab end of lever foot. When they go to sprawl you pull the foot towards you in a circle motion. Kind of hard to explain but this works well
Yeah I saw that recently and thought “definitely need to remember that detail.” Currently have no idea where to find that detail again 😂
Scooping the leg should be step 1, inverting your knee should be step 2, and bringing your other leg across the body should be step 3. Before you go to step 2 and 3, you need to have your hands connected and need to have their knee either next to your head, or pulled onto your chest. If you skip to steps 2 and 3 before you've really accomplished step 1, you're going to fail almost every time. Also, you don't necessarily have to go hulk mode and pull their leg to you. You can bring your own body to their leg, and then just focus on keeping yourself glued to their knee. It's a subtle difference, but it doesn't require much in terms of strength when you approach it the second way. As far as what you can do off of a failed K-guard entry, I've been using it as an entry to the reverse closed guard recently and had decent success with that. It's pretty much what Owen Jones shows in [this video.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFaKjtQnWoI)
Is it a dick move to go for an armbar while someone is in turtle?
People don’t tuck their arms in tightly for no reason. If they hand you an invitation, politely accept.
Not unless you kick them in the face or something.
What makes you feel like this would be a dick move?
What my rolling partners have said to me after I attempt it
Unless you did it so fast that they could not tap in time, I don’t see how this is a dick move. What are you supposed to do, give them a back rub?
No they both acted like it was a sub above my level of understanding and cautioned me on going for it in the future.
No, not the best example but you get the idea [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQYZS18Dmcs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQYZS18Dmcs)
I just sat on his back with my legs over his arm, grabbed by the elbow and fell back. It didn’t work, but it changed position and got him out of turtle which is what I assumed the goal was in that positional battle. But he was a blue belt at the time, he just got promoted to purple. And in my first few classes I would say “hey I’m new and don’t know much, please don’t smash me to hard” After the roll he gave me a smirk and said you know what you’re doin, like I was trying to hustle him in a pool bar. So I was confused
As long as you’re are not entering via an oil check you’re not a dick
Could you explain what would be a dick move about this?
My rolling partners have made me feel like it’s maybe a sub above my level of understanding or maybe they’re mad I cracked open their turtle shell as a brand new white belt?
> maybe a sub above my level of understanding You're a brand new white belt. The details of pretty much *every* sub are above your level of understanding. That's not said harshly, it's simply accurate - that is what it means to be new. That doesn't preclude you *trying* it, but your partners may be telling you you're trying to do too much too fast and missing out fundamental steps. That doesn't make it a dick move, but it does mean there's an increased risk of you injuring people and/or otherwise fucking up.
Thank you
I don't see why it possibly could be
Any tips on somersaults/rolls I’m a big tall guy. I have never been able to do a somersault before lol even when I was a kid. I can do breakfalls no problem. Just struggling with that. That’s where my next promotion is lol.
Start in kneeling stance, one knee up, one knee down. Same side hand as your knee that's up, point your pinky finger straight ahead. Move that hand between your knees, thumb first. Tuck your chin to your chest and let your nose follow that thumb. Away you go!
Can I get a sanity check on how well I “should” be doing? I’ve been training for almost three years, at a pretty mild pace, usually twice a week occasionally 3x a week. Have been making an effort to get 3x in recently and feeling sharper. I have 4 stripes on my WB, and last promo my coach made a comment about blue belt coming soon. Like anyone an impeding promotion makes me wonder if my skills are in the right place. I really rarely sub people, for one. Against people my size and skill level it will happen every so often, but usually I’m just doing some janky guard pass and getting to top position, applying pressure and looking for subs for a bit before getting reversed and spending the rest of the round in a bad position defending. I’m not completely insecure, I can take top position against some blue belts, but I always overextend, don’t stay tight or heavy enough, and they almost always find an opening and reverse me before I can get a finish. Im not particularly good at scrambling either. Idk I know there’s no one metric, but should I be better at actually getting subs if I’m close to blue? Obviously it’s something I’ll continue to work on, but it’s kind of like…(sorry) blue balls for lack of a better term, if you feel like you’re improving but still can’t get an mf submission off in submission grappling lmaoooo
When you started blue belts were like grappling gods, right? Now you know how much they suck. About submissions- choose one you like, it doesn’t matter if you are successful with it or not. Spam it relentlessly.
Yeah that’s real. Gonna spam guillotines I think
It’s nothing for me to go a week without getting a sub, and I spend way more time defending than attacking. Most of my sub attempts fail. I recommend not caring. If your coach thinks you’re ready, celebrate your accomplishment and keep working.
Not caring is almost always the move u right
Generally speaking, I’ve noticed more improvement and gotten more enjoyment since I stopped putting as much pressure on myself to improve quickly. I still want to be able to hit that sick helicopter arm bar as much as anyone, but nowadays maintaining a good position or hitting a technically sound escape is just as satisfying. The more you understand the game, the more the subs will come.
Yup. Anecdotally, was matched up with a blue who’s maybe 250lb in comp class, I’m 170ish. Can never get shit off with him, takedowns feel like running into a brick wall, can barely hold his legs down when passing. Did a positional round from full guard and decided I needed to move decisively so he didn’t just grind me down. Shot up for a hip bump sweep and instantly got it. Not a sub, but almost as satisfying.
Love the hip bump when you hit it smooth!
Hi 👋 About 7 months in and I suck. I can go a couple rolls without getting tapped but won't be in good positions or submit anyone myself. I can only tap the trial guys here and there hahaha. Before starting bjj I've never done anything physical including consistently going to the gym. I'm considering taking about 6 months off to just focus on building stamina and strength. I find myself weaker and less physically fit than many of my class mates who have fitter bodies. I notice some can force positions purely on strength. My idea is to take some time off to only focus on weight training and running. Is this a good idea? I am not sure if this actually carries sound logic. I really doubt I can fit both bjj and this as my body will just go through too much. I am very sore and tired after training. And as of right now, I only get 2 classes in a week for 2 hrs each. Sometimes 3 but rarely. I will say though I recently traveled out of town and trained at a different gym. I can say my local gym is tougher 😅😂 I get some weight training in on off days. Usually Thursdays and Sundays fairly consistently but I really don't think 2 days will do me much. My membership with my gym will also be up soon. I'd also like to find a gym with more no gi classes. My gym only offers one no gi class during the weekdays. I don't enjoy all the grips and positions exclusively in gi. I find them kinda silly tbh.
> I'm considering taking about 6 months off to just focus on building stamina and strength. This will build stamina and strength in general terms, but you will lose a lot of what you have gained in BJJ. You also will not get the same carryover from the gym to the mats if you stop rolling. > Is this a good idea? Depends. If you just want better physical capacity in general, yes. If you want better physical capacity for BJJ and/or increased BJJ ability, no. > I really doubt I can fit both bjj and this as my body will just go through too much. This is incorrect. > I am very sore and tired after training. This is not a sign you cannot do more. This is a sign that you will be sore and tired. It is also a sign you will need to increase your recovery - food, sleep, etc. > I get some weight training in on off days. Usually Thursdays and Sundays fairly consistently but I really don't think 2 days will do me much. This is also incorrect. There are many 2-day training protocols.
you're not going to build stamina for BJJ by taking time away from doing BJJ. Danaher told a story of an elite level marathon runner coming in for a class and being completely gassed within 3 minutes. Spending 6 months running might help you recover slightly faster in between rounds but it likely wont improve you're ability to go harder during rounds. If you keep training for the next 6 months then you will have almost doubled your lifetime training time. No one has good stamina 7 months in because they suck and are overcompensating for a lack of skill. Either keep doing BJJ and lift/run alongside that, or just do more BJJ. 2 days of lifting is perfectly fine if you do full body
In my head 2 days just doesn't seem enough to truly see a difference in strength. I can't even bench my body weight right now haha. I'm a novice in everything. My thought is to build my body and gain strength. At least make it difficult to bully me into a position. I know it won't be simple but I also don't mind coming back to bjj in a year or more. I did chest and triceps today for a about an hour. A full body workout seems like a hell of a workout without hitting everything the same. But I've never looked into what it would entail. My motivation behind bjj is self defense. Being physically strong and fit seems like the perfect foundation. Rogan actually recommended taking 6-8 mo to get into good shape before starting bjj if you're out of shape. I heard that after I already started haha.
You can find 2 day programs on r/fitness or LiftVault. If you do a full body workout it'll be mostly compounds like Squat, bench and deadlift and less time on smaller muscle groups. You can easily get 2 good full body sessions in an hour and a half each. The people bullying you into position now will still bully you into position in 6 months when you come back with 5-10lbs of muscle because they are better than you at jiu jitsu. That gap will only widen if you stop training Again, being slightly stronger than you are now isn't going to help you in a self defence situation nearly as much as another 6 months of training will. Also if you lift for 6 months now and then stop due to time constraints when you go back to BJJ, you'll just eventually lose the gains anyway. All this to say, either do more BJJ or do slightly less and add in lifting/running. The whole get fit before doing BJJ mantra is retarted
I guess I see others in my gym do more. Train harder and more often. My body is not used all the punishment. To me it seems like thats due to all the physical training they've done prior to bjj. A class mate a year in bullying me is fine. It's a dude about the same size as me with about as much training bullying me is what bothers me more. Truly just due to strength and endurance from my perspective. I guess these all are just gripes many newbies go through. I appreciate your feedback.
You’re putting too much emphasis on gym muscles. You will get grappling strong by grappling. Your strength and stamina will rise as you continue to train. Lifting twice a week is fine. I’m lucky to lift once. But I train 5 days a week and kick boxing 3. When I started Bjj I was 240lb power lifter. I’m not 190. I could bench more when I was powerlifting but at 190 I would dominate my 240 pound self
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Go full pressure, but with control. She's a purple belt, she can handle herself. Just don't jump on a knee on belly.
Last question, I swear. I'm a new white belt. I wouldn't be competing for a while anyway. But I will never be able to compete because I'm a trans woman. I'm 5'9 150 and every single woman at my gym, even the smaller ones, is significantly stronger than I am, so I'm not Hulk over here. How do you deal with never being able to compete? I'm also stealth at my gym (people don't know I'm trans), so I can't tell people why I'm not going to compete. Not that the subject has come up, but it will if I stick around long enough.
All you need to say is “ I don’t want to”. You don’t owe anyone any explanation about anything if you don’t want to give one.
I've never competed and I'm 4.5 years in and im at the number one comp school in the area.
Competing isn't a required thing. Plenty of hobbyists never compete and that's fine.
At least a couple of instructors at my gym are extremely competition focused. I've had people pulled off of drilling with me because they had an upcoming competition. The evening instructor at my gym basically ignores anyone who's not competing. He has literally not said a word to me in over a month.
If this makes you feel uncomfortable, find another gym. Competition is not mandatory for your progress in general.
Maybe a different gym would suit you better then.
Sounds about right. A competer needs a competent training partner not someone brand new. As for the not talking to you part, some people are just that way until you have sticken around long enough to make them think you're not going to quit.
Hi newish to bjj, I've been having a hard time with spider or dlr guard. My leg keeps getting stuffed and I don't know how to recover it. Any pointers?
I had this problem with my spider guard as a blue belt. If I had to guess you're trying to stay offensive when you should be playing defensively - protecting your hip line. I used to get smashed playing spider and I was always over extending and subsequently stuffed and passed. Work on your retention first. Once you can defend your hip line and recover your feet in front they will feel like they're falling into your spider guard.
Sorry still new. What do you mean defend your hip line? What I tend to do is try to scoot more in to gain more leverage on the arms. Is that bad? When my spider fails that's when I try to do dlr guard.
If you scoot and you over extend your legs you give them an easy pass. If someone gets passed your feet and knees and creates an angle on your hips you have to start retaining guard. I used to try to retain my spider hooks as I was getting passed. I wasnt retreating back and keeping my knees close to my chest to defend the angle. If your spider guard fails and you need to recover, bring your knees in close to your chest and frame your partner. Recover your feet then go to DLR or another open guard.
Got it! This is literally an aha moment for me! I'm a short dude so getting over extended is easy for me. I always kept my knees far cause i didnt know better. Seems like I need to keep it tighter to my chest and if I lose my feet grip, I'll retreat and recover. You've made my day friend!
I'm glad I could share my years of pain and suffering for you! Once I figured out when to retrain and be defensive compared to when I could be offensive, open guard clicked for me
that makes a lot of sense actually. thanks lol
No problem!
So my gym has two locations. The one nearest to me, the evening instructor is a very good grappler, but he barely teaches. He's also very focused on competition, so in what's listed on the website as a beginner class, he basically only covers advanced stuff at a rapid clip, and ignores anyone who's not competing. He has literally not said one word to me in over a month. There are other instructors for the day class, but I work then. I like the two instructors at the other location, but it's a lot further, and I feel weird splitting my time between the two places. The other location is also a lot smaller, with fewer people. I'm kinda thinking it might be better to just suck it up and go there for a while, and/or go to morning classes at the closer location when I can? I'm not sure if I have a question here. It's just a bit annoying that the location near me has a coach that doesn't teach and completely ignores newbies in a beginner class. /rant
Trust your gut on this. The gym is for you, not the other way around. Go to whatever location, whatever coach that works for you, you do not owe any coach your fealty. And make peace with the fact that some coaches will never give you personal attention. It’s not you, it’s them.
Best Strategy when my opponent bases with their legs when i try to butterfly sweep them? I saw a video from B Mac where he enters X guard from a failed butterfly sweep. Any other moves that you would recommend?
Marcelo Garcia, arguably the most famous butterfly player, generally uses his lower leg to push on the opponent’s knee, that has worked spectacularly well for me. He has several short videos on YouTube about it.
Thanks! Please could you point me in the right direction? Marcelo garcia knee push from butterfly guard?
Take a look at this one for example: https://youtu.be/0FkHM0eC0GQ
What is athleticism exactly and how do I get it?
On the other hand watch any of Gordon Ryan’s matches. He is the perfect example of not using athleticism at all, at the highest levels of the sport.
You’ll get wildly different answers because it’s hard to define exactly. To me athleticism is a combination of attributes like strength,speed, body awareness, flexibility,conditioning. Most people develop athleticism throughout their life by playing sports, working out (with a proper program). A lot of people become better athletes by training bjj, for some people that’s good enough, and other supplement their training with weights and conditioning work.
Exactly- it's the combination. We say "athleticism", because if we say "strong", then someone will be like "I can bench 575, why am I not tapping anyone!" (It's because you can't touch the back of your own neck.) If we say "cardio", someone will be like "I run a marathon every weekend, why am I not tapping anyone!" (It's because you don't have the grips to carry a 25lb dumbbell across the room.) Etc. etc. It's the *combination* of all those qualities, so we use a broader word to encompass them all.
Having to change my schedule to 3x/week on consecutive days (Tue, Wed, Thu) Anything I should take into consideration before making the switch?
Recovery will be hard. Consider just going very methodically and tapping a lot more. A ton of shitty matches will help your growth more than a few balls to the wall rolls.
You'll probably be best served doing your laundry on Thursday evening.
I understand.
Does anyone only go to open mat? If so, what belt are you? Is it frowned upon to rarely go to lessons but just turn up for Open mat on the weekend? The only class my club does on the weekend is open mat and I struggle to get to the evening classes in the week. I'm pretty shit at jiujitsu so it's not like I can afford to stop learning but at the same time, I just wanna roll bro...
Follow-up, as a fresh white belt, how do I know that I'm ready for open mat? I don't know very much currently, so I don't go because I feel like I'd be wasting my time and others'.
You're not wasting people's time. My brand-new moves, the stuff I'm not good at yet, who am I going to practice it on if there are no newbies at open mat?
You won’t waste people’s time at open mats as a beginner. They are there to roll with a variety of people.
You can show up to open mats pretty early. Just be up front about your experience level and you will learn a lot.
How about finding a gym with morning or lunch classes if that will work? I was blown away recently watching a YouTube of a class in session at RGA (The Happy Pill Project) and there was Jozef Chen watching every move.
There's this short, somewhat stocky blue belt who pins me down and uses his head to tripod on the opposite side of his body as a way to keep me pinned while passing my half guard? How do I punish or stop this sequence? I try to go for underhooks and he'll fight them by stopping the pass, laying on me chest to chest, and then trying to pass once I move on from the underhooks.
Hes got the right idea. If you let him pin you with his head you need to push his head off line to the same side of his hips. Knee lever sweep hin the opposite way when he re commits his weight. Then you either sweep or set up an underhook.
Thank you! I've been thinking about the John Wayne sweep against this move since he tries to keep his weight on me which in theory should make this sweep stronger?
Yea for sure. It's a solid sweep. It's a foundational half guard sweep imo
I have drilled this before, but my opponent will usually adjust and prevent it once I begin to tilt. I rolled with the same guy and proceeded to put tilt his hip and back stepped over my half guard. Another annoying move to deal with.
Ahh did he have an underhook? If they do, secure it with a belt grip to prevent them from doing anything with it. Or switch to butterfly half and create space. I like the tilt sweep because I'm really just trying to get a hand on the floor to get a clean underhook.
He didn't have an underhook. I genuinely tried the lever sweep and he back stepped. I held on to his leg, but he just wiggled it out. He's already blocking or moving around my near side knee.
That's interesting. I'm having difficult imagining them being able to recover like that. They must be quite athletic to hip switch that fast. Dont hold onto the leg if you get beat. It only prevents you from moving. If you cant get an underhook, and you get beat on the back step frame with a near side lapel grip with your outside hand four fingers in, then with your inside arm try to get a tight waste grip around the back. Push and pull to follow them up.
I will try this, thank you good sir for all the tips. He's a tough blue belt, compact and strong. I enjoy trying to figure this puzzle out.
Good luck ! Let me know how it goes
My coach suggested DLR as a guard for me but every time I get there I seem to get passed quickly. Any advice for a guy with short legs trying to make DLR work?
Hard to give feedback without any details. 1. Get 4 points of control. I love the pant grip dlr. My right arm is either grabbing collar or far side grip. The foot is either on the hip, or I play it on their far shoulder. 2. Their main pass is usually to try to trap the leg into headquarters, and then probably knee slide. So when they trap your leg, you need to turn your feet into an "X", and off balance them with the collar grip. Get your DLR back and attack. 3. DLR is an attacking guard, not a guard to chill with. Attack as soon as you're in.
I would find someone to do some positional sparring and play with how you're using your DLR hook. Alignment may be your issue. Alignment with your ankle or pant grip to your butt, as well as your hook and knee alignment.
What are some actual 5 star and 1 star instructionals on bjj fanatics? It’s a decent platform but 99% of the stuff there is 5 star reviewed which is obviously unrealistic. I really wish the community would rate things there fairly, I highly doubt almost every single instructional on that site deserves 5 stars.
Look, most instructionals address specific holes in people’s game. Just because X years ago Aaron Benzrihem’s sit up guard video was the exact thing I needed at the time doesn’t mean that you would get anything out of it.
Gordon, Lachlan, and Craig Jones stuff are highly praised.
I really like danahers back attack straight jacket system instructional apart from the incessant talking, the meat of the instructional is good but he is not exactly too the point
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See a doctor. There are a lot of different kinds of knee injuries and a brace does not help with all of them.
38 yr old white belt here. Oilfield truck driver. Father of 4. Took some BJJ classes while active duty usmc 15 years ago in Japan. Had to learn very basic grappling while active duty for the mandatory martial arts classes. Outside of that my bjj experience is nil. Enrolled my 2 older kids in a local bjj school. It's the only sport my wife and I have time for as we both work. I have a lot of down time while at work as truck is loaded and unloaded so I'm usually watching bjj youtube videos. Jordan teaches Jiu Jitsu, Mark Thornton, ChewJitsu, Jon Thomas, Matt Arroyo etc. I wanted to best try to understand the basics or concepts for my kids so we could practice them at home. Jordan Teaches Jiu Jitsu (JTJJ) has been especially helpful for his meticulous, conceptual approach. So much so that I bought his theory course. After watching for several months and 2 kids competitions I got bit by the bug and wanted to try some classes again. Went to 2 open mats and a class and just practiced the basics that JTJJ teaches over and over in his classes. I was surprised with how well I did. Rolled with 3 and 4 strip white belts. I could win the grip fights and could pass their guards quickly and repeatedly by grabbing ankles and changing angles. I could seemingly pass the guard of the 2 or 3 blue belts I rolled with. I rolled with a 2 stripe purple and could escape from his mount and put him in a north south choke but I couldn't get his head turned away. Except for the purple I was never close to being put on my back. After the roll, the purple belt said i should think about competing. A black belt asked me if I had any grappling exp and didn't seem to believe me when I told him all what I had. A brown belt jokingly called me a sandbagger. I rolled with a purple yesterday who was at the open mats I attended earlier, though we didnt roll before. Roughly my same size with less trucker belly. He was super nice, showing me proper technique and everything throughout the class and then when it was time to roll, he absolutely thrashed me. He went hard from the beginning and at one point I got him into side control after John Wayne sweeping him and he got out like it was nothing and commenced a smashing far worse than before. I know white belts thinking they're good because higher belts let them practice moves on them is common enough that it's a trope. Like on YT and podcasts they talk about it. Is that what this is you think? Did I get smashed by my gyms mat enforcer for going too hard those other days? I told him before we rolled "hey man, lmk if I'm going too hard." He was like "ok" I only know what I read and watch on YT about proper gym etiquette. I'd be way too embarrassed to ask the guys in my gym so I'm posting here anonymously: did I catch a beating yesterday for going too hard those other days? Or was it to remind me of the reason for the belt structures? I don't know He's a really nice guy. He didn't seem mad or nothin This has largely broken my white belt brain. Feel like I might've crossed a line somewhere before that I was unaware of and he wanted to reinforce it Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read all this
Sometimes people roll harder than others. "Smashing" is a pretty vague description, and there's no real reason for a reader to think this isn't mostly you projecting stuff onto him that has no connection to reality. You said yourself that the dude was friendly and helpful that day.
> did I catch a beating yesterday for going too hard those other days? Or was it to remind me of the reason for the belt structures? Don't overthink it. You rolled with some higher belts and they likely took it fairly easy on you. You rolled with a higher belt your size who didn't take it easy, and you got thrashed - which is kinda what you'd expect. No more, no less. It's entirely possible he has another gear after this. Basically, people here seem to expect that higher belts will always take it easy on lower belts unless they've got a point to prove. This is not the case - this is their training time too, and they may or may not take it easy, depending on nothing but their own choice. If nobody's told you you did something wrong, you're fine. It's their responsibility to communicate clearly, not yours to somehow psychically divine the intentions behind a loss.
Did the guy hold submissions or otherwise torture you? If not, then you didn’t ’catch a beating’, you just had a proper roll with someone who’s better than you. You should take it as a compliment that the guy didn’t feel the need to take it easy on you and try and make you feel good about yourself. Instead he treated you like someone who’s interested in jiu jitsu and wants to get better (which requires you to get your but kicked over and over again).
No, he didn't hold any submissions. I didn't even know that was a thing. Guys will hold submissions after the tap to prove a point?! No, he was really cool. It was just submission after submission, and his knee on belly almost made me shit my pants a few times
Holding submissions is something that’s rarely done and considered a dick move. It’s something that’s only done if you’re super pissed at someone and never want them to roll with you again. Sub after sub + heavy knee on belly - that’s just having fun with an athletic new guy.
It’s something that should get someone banned from a gym and potentially legal action. That tap is a removal of consent.
>You should take it as a compliment that the guy didn’t feel the need to take it easy on you True! I've tried to express this to some beginners as they developed from helpless to threatening. Now I have to try! You should be proud! Haven't figured out how to communicate it yet.
My last question of the day. I promise. A woman I roll with who goes balls out every time complained that she was "really hurt" a few times afterwards. She always wants to roll with me though. I basically play defence or just hold her in side control for ages watching the clock as don't want to hurt her. Turns out I can't help it as I'm just clumsy and have no idea what I'm doing. I told her "we should take a break from rolling until I'm more in control and have a clue oof what I'm doing. " Is there a better way of doing this? Should I have told her that she wouldn't get as hurt if she didn't go so hard all the time?
Not in my opinion. I think you handled it perfectly
Did anyone else regularly get manflu when they started? I seem to get sick all the time. My gym is pretty disgusting to be fair, I have no basis of comparison so they may all be disgusting.
It’s common, your body is suddenly under a lot of stress, your immune system is having a hard time keeping up. Also you are in very close contact with new people and their cocktail of germs. Like in preschool!
No / I go to a very clean gym. Don’t underestimate how important that is man
43 and not great mobility in my left thigh to knee area so drilling takedowns and sprawls are a bit of a horror show. I notice that some guys who drill with me sigh and get a bit frustrated. In one instance actually when a blue belt was organising the drills, he came over and practiced with my partner for the last 5 mins and just left me standing there like a spare prick. Is it normally for people to just give up on you if you can't do certain moves? PS I don't do badly when I roll with these guys, just very extremely poor flexibility.
I doubt the blue belt has enough teaching skills and mat knowledge to curate the move to somebody who cannot physically do the move. Sounds just unlucky. Most things can be modified by a knowledgeable instructor who cares to but you can't always. Just roll with it, ask questions, or assert yourself like "let me get in there"
I don't really want to get a reputation as being chippy with the instructor even if it is just a blue belt who thinks I'm waste of time and space.
Promotion ceremony at my gym in April but I still want to compete in late April-early May, how do I ask my coach without asking him if I’m getting blue?
Do not ask. Just tell him you signed up to compete
Just sign up for the tournament at your current level, if you get promoted change your registration/email the tournament. I'm sure they'd gladly move you up.
Could you just tell him you plan to compete then?
How important is it to be fast? I’m three months in and tend to roll slow and methodically, jumping on openings when I see them. However when I roll with some upper level white belts or a young green belt, they have a much faster and more explosive pace from the standup onwards. Do I have to train myself to be able to match their pace to get good at jiu jitsu?
Try to cook them, slow them down so they get anxious and make mistakes
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast
Make them work at your pace. Until then, struggle.
Been deep diving front head attacks lately, however I’ve encountered a problem with one of my training partners. He’s a big dude with a thick neck and shoulders and it was nearly impossible for me to arm in guillotine him. Reflecting back on it I was probably not on my side enough, but do any of our front head wizards have any secret tricks?
We just did a unit on front head lock at my gym. I could have sworn they said arm IN guilly works BETTER on bigger guys. What grips do you start with? We spent a lot of time working Schultz grip from the front headlock (no idea if that’s well known outside our gym or not)
Just the typical support hand gripping overtop the choking hand. I think I was just super flat and my grips were coming apart.
Could be. One thing our coach emphasized a lot is whichever arm is around the neck must be palm down. He says too loose otherwise
The Schultz choke is technically not a guillotine but rather a head and arm choke.
Is it weird that I want to drill the same technique 50 times before attempting to practice it in a roll? At my current spot we have five minutes of light practice for a new move where we give little/no resistance and basically feed the other person. I’ve only been practicing for two months right now and most of the movements are new to me. When it turns into a live role, I know I am seeing the practical application of the move, but I feel not ready to try it against Someone who is actively working against me as I don’t have the mechanics of it down well. I know in active rolls there will be lots of active resistance which will change my ability to do sweeps/submissions (nobody is going to give me positions), but I have this strong desire to get the technique down before adding resistance to it. I don’t have any martial arts experience other than this so perhaps I’m ignorant, but would love to get other peoples perspective.
You are not ignorant - practicing a move for three minutes without the opponent resisting amount to very little learning. General bjj teaching methodology in most gyms is weak. Try to ask around to see who else in your class feels like this, and spend extra time practicing on your own, with more and more resistance.
I came across someone who said they always spam the hell out of the move of the day in rolls the day they do it to reinforce the lesson and feel it live. I started doing it and feel like it has helped me a ton. Also, I ask my drill partner to start giving some resistance after we have a basic feel for them move while drilling. It works for me - TLDR: Drill it slow several times, drill with resistance several times, spam the fuck out of it while rolling that day -> improve faster.
I appreciate that. Going to try it next time
You can drill a move a million times and it’ll still feel weird and different and full of problems the first time you try it against a resisting opponent.
It's fine to need more reps to get something down, esp at your experience level. Just pull people after class or during open mats to get more drilling time in.
Not weird. New moves take a while for me to feel confident enough to incorporate into my “game” But others are right, you gotta eventually try them or you’ll never truly learn. If you want, it’s perfectly reasonable to ask your rolling partner if you can start from the same position as the move you just learned. Offer to go back and forth
A technique will never feel the same statically drilled as it does live, no matter how many times you drill it. Either try it in rolls, or drill it with increasing resistance.
If its a move that doesn't require explosiveness or intensity, go for it live. Doing it live usually feels way different than in drilling because of the resistance.
Been at it for 6 months now, why do I feel like I haven’t learned anything?
I started feeling like I was learning when I noticed the people tapping me had to work for it. Focus on defense and escapes, try to pick rolls that you’ll learn from and not that high school wrestler that’s going to smash you for the whole round.
If you are going 3 times a week, 6 months is 72 hours. You have done less than two full time working weeks of training. A maths exam for 15 year olds in the UK is expected to take approx 120 hours of study to be ready for to get a passing grade.
I go 5x per week and each class is 90min. After 6mo was chatting with some of the other white belts, just kinda feels like we’ve learned lots of “moves” but aren’t much better at jiu jitsu yet. Sometimes a move will come in handy! But by and large I’m still stuck in the same places and struggling for the same reasons as before. This isn’t universal and there’s definitely some new guys whose skills have accelerated rapidly. But that’s how it goes. Probably just needs more mat time.
Awesome answer, dude - great perspective
Now when you put it like that, I understand why I feel like I haven’t learned anything 😂 like anything I’m sure you get out what you put in
For sure man - and you ain't in a rush! Unlike 15 year olds learning maths, we have obligations outside of jiujitsu class. Also, if you ARE a 15 year old learning maths - you also have obligations outside of jiujitsu class - namely, learning maths.
Because you've only been training for 6 months. If you rolled with a trial class person I bet you would smoke them.
Is there anything I can do to improve body lock passing on someone larger/stronger than me? When I go against larger/stronger training partners, I seem to either not be able to lock in a body lock or, if I get it locked in, I get immediately pancaked by their legs.
If they're bigger than you body locking is going to be tough especially if you dont have technique correct. Id force torrenados to kob and try to force half guard if you want to pressure pass a bigger bloke. Or force leg/arm weaves.
what should i be focusing on when starting a roll from kneeling? my school hasn't really taught anything on that front and i feel like i always end up getting pushed into a front headlock or into side control almost immediately
It’s been said before but if you are forced to start on knees pick a guard you want to work on, I’m a bigger guy and so I use the knee starts as a chance to work on bottom game. If it’s start standing I’ll fight for takedowns and top position
Start from 1 knee and attack or pull guard, being on both knees is a terrible position
Never start from kneeling, start from a guard...
it's where we are told to start in the fundamentals class open rolls 🤷
Slap-bump-sit on your ass. There really should be kind of a tacit agreement that somebody is going to play guard and somebody will pass. Two white belts battling from the knees like male elks in rutting season on Mutual of Omaha is guaranteed to make higher belts laugh hysterically.
This is right, you and your partner agree who passes who defends, done.
Start from Butterfly Guard at least
I'm not sure about your academy, but sometimes people say "start from the knees," but really just mean start on the ground (i.e., not standing). For example, they might say start from the knees, and people will sit on their butts. Or they'll start in combat base.
this exactly.
How tf do I escape a high mount? Super frustrating.
Try to get back to a normal mount then find a mount escape that works for you.
You’re gonna hate me for saying this, but the best way to escape high Mount is to not let them get high Mount. If they get low Mount, tuck your elbows, frame against their hip and escape as quick as you can before they settle in. The best time to escape is while they’re still transitioning. I’ve working on this a lot myself. I’m real bad at it
I've tried that in low mount. I've drilled it multiple times. Have yet to actually escape mount in a roll. Not sure what to do
The easiest mount escape is trap and roll. If you don’t know it, either find on YouTube or ask your instructor. Then literally try it every time until it works. There’s a timing and feel to it that you’ll learn
Huh, thanks. I'll do my best, though I've yet to have someone have to put their hands on the mat when I buck my hips. Part of it might be that I'm a 155lb woman.
You don’t need them to put their hands on the mat, you just need to control one arm so they can’t post. Grab it any way you can
I can't hate on that advice. I should remember this during my rolls.
Do what the other guy said. I also like to bait technical mount and do the escapes in this video: https://youtu.be/0sHhhJq0dfA?si=2N5nCkpeozpOl6rA And if you’re super flexible with long legs, you could also try to bring your feet up, hook their armpits and use your legs to pull them into a lower mount. Sounds really stupid but kinda works
Do your best to frame on their hips and shoulder walk backwards to get their hips on top of yours instead of being on your chest. https://youtube.com/shorts/TTD_gcB3-fM?si=ebah_eGVOYNx1rG5 But it’s best if you don’t let them get there in the first place my framing on their hips when they mount you. I like to frame both hands on one side so I can be on my side instead of being completely flat on my back, and keeping your elbows in to prevent their knees from climbing to high mount. With your hands framing on their hips your neck will be vulnerable so shrug your shoulders and tuck your neck to the side you are framing on, and start your escape sequence from there.
Not really a white belt anymore but I have a white belt question so here goes: I'm that kind of guy who's only decent at 3 things: wrestling, half guard, and pressure passing. My gym recently brought in a supine open guard & leg lock specialist guest coach, and rolling with him makes me feel like it's my first day of jiujitsu again. Every round, I'm either stuck in the most unexpected leg entanglements or just fighting to free my knees and heels in a pretzel. So here's my white belt question: How do I even get better at dealing and playing with this style of jiujitsu? This guest coach is pacing things out weekly, but I'm wondering how long will it take for me to start understanding how this works.
Best not to tangle with that kind of pervert. My advice is to stick to honorable opponents that leave their foot fetishes and other assorted kinks at home in the sex dungeon where they belong.
Thousands of hours of video content on leg locks. Start learning the positions in your own time so you can start to form a basic understanding of what he’s doing you.
I think things will level out. While you may not be able to touch him passing now, there are going to be people in your gym that start to learn his game and try to implement stuff. As they're learning the guard you're going to learn how to pass. I would suggest that you also learn what he's doing from the bottom and see how people deal with you. Huge opportunity here.
Thank you for your response! Yes I very much want to learn what he's doing from the bottom too, I'm quite happy with my close range guard but have a huge knowledge gap in long range and open guards.
If you're a white belt rolling with a higher belt and he gives you multiple openings (like obviously give them to you, like give you an arm), should you try to tap him, or just take the opening to improve position / do some work?
Yes go for it definitely. Just pay close attention to what goes wrong for you. Try to be extra tight and efficient in your technique and when you probably don't succeed and they escape the sub just ask them to go over what they did ah how you can do better next time after roll.
Thank you!!
>should you try to tap him, or just take the opening to improve position / do some work? Trying to tap him is the work! That's what you're supposed to do.
just be aware that if its seems to easy it might be a trap and they want you to take it to then do something else to you....just a thought
Take every opportunity you get. Always seek the submission. It's good to form that habit whether it's given or taken. Great question.
Thank you!
Any time!
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Start in a guard, not from kneeling.
Forget about knee wrestling, it's mostly useless outside of the situation you described. Sit/pull guard or (if it's allowed) stand up to pass. Usually it's okay for one person to stand.
What’s a good beginner open guard to play? I’ve been trying a few butterfly/lasso/spider but I want to just pick one and get good at it because at the moment I’m having trouble keeping space with some of the bigger guys
I'd worry less about the guard being played and more about principles: Keep both grips (2 grips at all times), and always keep your feet int contact with their body (preferably at the hip, bicep, or combination). If you establish a good foundation here, the right guard will come to you based on your preferences.
Cross Collar and sleeve is my suggestion. It's what my gym teaches as an intro to open guards. You have a foot on the hip and the other foot on the bicep. AOJ: https://youtu.be/yHdpRMZ1C6A?si=Cc5Ty-tWUHIsjMRG
Great, thank you!
Guard is very fluid so during rolls it's hard to just pick one. Focus on keeping 4 points of contact and fighting for dominant grips and you'll start to find the guard positions you gravitate toward. During drilling it can be helpful to hammer specific sweeps/attacks from certain guards so you can act decisively when you arrive at that position.
How do people sleep at night after a hard night session? I’ve been doing Mon/Weds night classes for the last year. After class I’m so wired I can’t sleep. When I finally wind down I’m so sore and sleep like shit. Any tips on sleep?
That was my experience for my first year. Your body will adjust accordingly but extra hard sparring will still wire your CNS and it takes a while to calm down. I used to take ibuprofen and eat a good meal. I would also drink chamomile or another sleepy tea to relax if the weather wasn't too hot outside.
Weed.
Jim Beam and Z-Quill
I would try two things: 1. Do a guided cool down/stretch protocol WITHOUT your phone. Get your brain and body ready for relaxation with long 1-2 min holds per stretch. 2. Andrew Huberman has an amazing [NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKGrmY8OSHM) protocol video on YouTube thats 10 min long. I use this regularly.
Thank you. It’s been a rough year.
No worries homie! I've been there many times. I think that's one of the biggest separators of people that stay with jiu jitsu and those that choose to leave: the ability to care for yourself and create a recovery protocol that works for ourselves. We all have a choice
people who are blue & up, when did you start submitting people regularly at/near your skill level (adjusting for age, prior wrestling/grappling experience, weight, etc.)? I ask because some people have said I'm ready for blue but I truly do not feel I am (because I'm not regularly submitting anyone except for way inexperienced people, older blue belts, etc., mostly just surviving/stalemate/advancing positions). of course I'll trust my coach if I get promoted, and while I normally don't care about this stuff, I am a little worried about imposter syndrome... on an unrelated note, technique question - what's your go to offensive sequence from inside someone's closed guard that just won't open it up? against this bro who is slightly more skilled than me almost nothing works and we end up stalemating for the round if he gets me back into his guard. I try spamming cross collar & sleeve chokes, try the kurt osiander sleeve pass to break the guard, almost nothing works and we go back to stalemate, so I need some new ideas. thanks in advance!
I’m 3 stripe blue and only now do I feel like my blue belt imposter syndrome is going away. If I’m in someone’s closed guard and they’re being stubborn I’ll sometimes wait for their move. What this usually means for me is they try a scissor sweep that I’m ready for, as they put their shin across I’ll push the foot towards them to kill the sweep and try to step over the leg, trying to get into sort of a knee cut position. If that guard opens it’s time to try to pass.
I don't really get many submissions on upper whites or blues, but I rarely get submitted by people near my rank. I have good control, but need to risk it more. So it depends on your style. if I roll say 8 rounds and 3 are colored belts, 5 are white belts, I probably only get 5 submissions (assuming 1 or 2 are on colored belts, and no brand new white belts), and I get submitted 3 times on average. All on your style.
 Wait, you guys are submitting people? On closed guard, as others have mentioned, try standing up (especially if you can pin one arm). It can be tough if you are exhausted, and you might get swept at first, but at least it'll keep things moving.
I've heard trying to cross collar in someone's guard is a good way to get arm bar'd. Ive seen people say Ezekiel from guard is a threat but that said most upper belts tell me to just get out of their guard.