Tag: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

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How To Do an Arm Drag From Guard in BJJ

The closed guard is an incredibly versatile position. It’s the hallmark of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu since the closed guard is where a smaller fighter might find themselves when in a street fight and allows a whole spectrum of submissions. That’s why the closed guard is considered an advantageous position in BJJ. 

But the closed guard can be frustrating for new Jiu Jitsu fighters. Chances are you’re going to get passed, your opponent will wear you out with pressure from above (particularly if it is another new BJJ fighter using strength more than technique) or your submission attempts will fail and you’ll get passed. 

The arm drag sweep from closed guard is an option that makes playing guard less scary. It allows you to attempt a sweep without abandoning your position, it is pretty simple, and since it takes advantage of an isolated arm it can be strung together with arm bar attempts to keep your opponent on the defensive.

This sweep works in both gi or no gi BJJ, and this video by BJJ Fanatics shows Gordon Ryan teaching the arm drag in no gi.

Start: Closed guard

Step 1: Get a two-on-one grip on opponent’s arm with your same-side arm on their wrist and your cross-side hand underneath their arm and behind their tricep

Step 2: Pull opponent’s body into you with your knees, 

Step 3: Lift your cross-side elbow off of your stomach and slide opponent’s trapped hand under your elbow, trapping it there

Step 4: Reach your same-side hand over opponent’s back and grip their lat

Step 5: Switch onto your opposite-side hip

Step 6: Pendulum your same-side leg up and use that momentum to sit up into

Opponent, pointing your chest at them and maintaining the grip on their tricep to prevent them posturing up

Step 7: Use the grip on their lat to climb onto their back

Finish: Back control

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How To Do a Kimura From Guard in BJJ – Forced Variation

The Kimura is one of the first submissions you will learn as a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter. The reason you’ll learn the Kimura so soon in BJJ, usually right alongside the arm bar from guard and triangle from guard, is because you will often find yourself in guard as a new BJJ fighter (after you’ve recovered from mount or side control that is) and the Kimura is a simple yet very effective BJJ technique. The Kimura uses a simple two-on-one arm attack to twist the opponent’s arm until they can’t take it anymore and submit and it also uses the human body and simple geometry to do all that rather than strength.

This video by Ryron and Rener Gracie shows the Kimura Forced Variation, which is a part of the Gracie How To Get a Blue Belt in BJJ guide.

Start: Closed guard

Step 1: Use one hand (on attacking side) to push their head to one side and slide the other arm around, trapping their head with your armpit and tricep

Step 2: Post with your opposite-side foot and get onto your same-side hip

Step 3: Shoot opposite-side arm over opponent’s arm, trapping it at the tricep

Step 4: Grip opponent’s wrist with your same-side hand

Step 5: Grip your own same-side wrist with your opposite-side hand

Step 6: Drive with both feet, elevate your hips, and drive your shoulders back, collapsing opponent

Step 7: Post your same-side foot inside opponent’s legs, trapping their leg, walk your shoulders and hips so that you are onto your opposite-side shoulder and hip

Step 8: Keep opponent’s arm bent at a 90 degree angle and push their wrist back and up towards their head

Finish: Submission by Kimura from Guard

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How To Do An Americana in BJJ

The Americana is an incredibly simple (you twist someone’s arm until their shoulder reaches its limit) but incredibly versatile (it can be used from just about any position) submission in BJJ. The Americana submission is so common that it is a part of the Gracie Jiu Jitsu How To Get a BJJ Blue Belt curriculum.

The Americana in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is typically executed from mount or side control, though it is also common from half guard and since it is a simple twisting of the arm it is applicable from just about any position and a useful tool to always have in your arsenal.

Start: Mount

Step 1: Pin opponent’s wrist to mat above their head with opposite side hand with their arm bent at 90 degrees, as if they were throwing a football

Step 2: Slide same-side hand underneath opponent’s upper arm at the bicep and tricep

Step 3: Grip your opposite side hand with your same-side hand, using a C grip or monkey grip. At the same time, hook your opposite-side foot inside opponent’s leg to prevent being swept or bumped off of mount

Step 4: Drag opponent’s wrist down towards their feet, keeping it pinned to the mat like a paint brush

End: Submission by Americana

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How To Do A Neck Hug Americana Armlock Submission

The Americana armlock submission is a versatile sub in BJJ. The Americana submission is available from mount, side control, half guard, guard, and even back.  Basically anywhere you have control of your opponent’s hips, you can complete an Americana armlock and put enough force on their shoulder to make them tap. 

The Americana submission is so common in BJJ that it is one of the essential techniques included in the Gracie BJJ Blue Belt Test.

Start: Mount

Step 1: Get scoop neck hug under opponent’s neck

Step 2: With free hand, grab opponent’s wrist and pin to mat

Step 3: Feed opponent’s hand to your hand behind their head

Step 4: Post out with your knee on the same side as the attack while wrapping opponent’s leg with the other

Step 5: Slide free hand under opponent’s arm and grip your own wrist with an overhand c-grip

Step 6: Slide your elbow behind and around opponent’s head, creating the space to complete the Americana and stopping their head from blocking

Step 7: Suck elbows in towards the attack and paint opponent’s wrist down the mat towards their hips

Finish: Submission via Neck Hug Americana Armlock Submission

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How To Do A Bow And Arrow Choke in BJJ

The bow and arrow choke in BJJ is an essential submission for every Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighter to have in their quiver (pun intended). This choke submission from the back is very strong and is a great option for when an opponent is very good at defending the rear naked choke. Being able to switch submissions between the bow and arrow choke and rear naked will keep your opponent on the defense and prevent them from working on escaping your back control, keeping you in charge of the roll.

Start: Back control with seatbelt control

Step 1: With top-side hand, grip opponent’s opposite lapel with a thumb in grip

Step 2: Step feet over so that side with grip is on outside of opponent’s hip and other side is across their body

Step 3: Shoot free hand underneath opponent’s arm and fall onto your back, letting free foot float up toward opponent’s head

Step 4: Grip opponent’s pant leg with free hand and cross feet

Step 5: Pull with both hand while pushing down with both legs

Finish: Submission via bow and arrow choke

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How To Do A Berimbolo Sweep in BJJ

The berimbolo sweep is a complicated sweep that provides a way to take an opponent’s back from a relatively neutral position of an open guard, a position many BJJ practitioners find themselves in without many options beyond playing a guard game that they are skilled at. This video breaks down the berimbolo sweep, which is a powerful option to take the back from an open guard in BJJ.

Plus you get to go inverted and look like a ninja, which is awesome.

Stephan Kesting from GrappleArts also shows two great drills to train your body to do the berimbolo sweep. Even if you aren’t dead set on learning the berimbolo, these drills are a worthwhile addition to your drilling for BJJ (and as we all know, you have to drill to win!)

Start: Seated, facing a seated opponent (after guard pull or during scramble)

Step 1: Get De La Riva hook (wind foot around outside of opponent’s shin and inside their thigh) with one leg

Step 2: Grip opponent’s trapped ankle or pant leg with the same-side hand as your hook

Step 3: Grip their belt with your other-side hand at the hip with the De La Riva hook

Step 4: Pull your head towards opponent’s hip on side of hook, inverting and rolling onto your shoulders

Step 5: Step your free foot onto opponent’s belly

Step 6: Switch ankle grip to opponent’s free leg

Step 7: Use ankle grip and De La Riva to spin opponent over, completing your roll and sweeping them onto their side with their back to you

Step 8: Drive knee into opponent’s trapped knee to prevent them from turning into you

Step 9: Climb or scramble onto opponent’s back

Finish: Back control

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BJJ Drill: Armbar, Triangle, Omoplata Drill from Closed Guard

Drilling BJJ is one of the most essential ingredients to getting fast and good at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. While it’s obvious that drilling is essential to improving your BJJ game, how you should drill is not as obvious. Shrimping across the mat at the start of class will help train that movement, and repeating techniques until you have the movements memorized is an excellent way to make muscle memory, but there are other drills that may prove to be equally useful to your BJJ game.

This BJJ flow drill from MMA Leach is a great example of a drill that will help your BJJ game rise to the next level. This drill for the closed guard uses three essential BJJ closed guard techniques: the armbar from closed guard, the triangle from closed guard, and the omoplata from closed guard. This drill will help you to quickly react when your opponent defends your closed guard attack and chain together submissions to develop a comfortable, dangerous closed guard game.

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How To Do an Armbar From Closed Guard

The armbar from closed guard is one of the basic and most essential submissions in Brazilian jiu jitsu. The arm bar from guard is popular because even at the highest levels of grappling, it is effective because of how simple and quick it is. No matter how many tricks are up your opponent’s sleeve, you are still applying the immense force of your hips to the relatively weak power of their elbow. Even a very tough opponent will have a hard time bicep curling your entire body.

This attack particularly lends itself to street fighting and MMA since it is when, to an untrained eye or with an untrained person on bottom, the fighter on the ground is in the most danger. The reason the armbar has become an essential BJJ submission is that it allows a smaller fighter or one in a bad position to turn the tide of the fight and go from being on bottom and getting punched to breaking the other person’s arm. This submission is so essential to BJJ that it is part of the Gracie BJJ Blue Belt Test.

Start: Closed guard

Step 1: Get a two-on-one grip on opponent’s arm

Step 2: Get wrist grip with same-side arm and reach over to get cross grip behind opponent’s tricep

Step 3: On side of opponent’s trapped foot, step your foot onto their hip and squeeze knee into opponent’s shoulder, giving up tricep grip

Step 4: Reach free hand across to opponent’s opposite shoulder

Step 5: Lift free leg up towards opponent’s head and pivot your hips and head to that side

Step 6: Drop free leg down to break down opponent’s posture 

Step 7: Pass bottom-side leg over opponent’s head

Step 8: Ensure that opponent’s thumb is pointed up towards sky and pinkie is pointed down to your body and bridge your hips up toward sky

End: Submission via armbar

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How To Do an Omoplata From Closed Guard

The omoplata is one of the coolest moves in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. With this submission you use your hips to attack your opponent’s shoulder, using one of the most powerful areas of your  body against a much weaker part of theirs. When executed perfectly, the Omoplata uses pure body mechanics and does not require you to be stronger than your opponent, which is one of the fundamentals of BJJ.

The omoplata from guard is also very fun because you spin around and look like a ninja.

Start: Closed guard

Step 1: Get an overhook with one arm over one of opponent’s arms

Step 2: Move onto opposite hip and step that foot onto opponent’s hip so that arm with overhook is higher

Step 3: Reach top-side leg up and grab it with free hand

Step 4: Slide top-side leg over and in front of opponent’s head

Step 5: Figure-four legs to trap shoulder and grab opponent’s belt to prevent them rolling out of the submission

Step 6: Use grip on belt to sit up and hug across opponent’s back/hips

Step 7: Stretch legs out to flatten opponent down to mat

Step 8:  Post outside free leg and push hips towards opponent

End: Submission via omoplata

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How To Do a Flying Triangle in BJJ

The triangle choke is one of the most easily recognizable choke submissions in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and for good reason. The triangle takes what looks like a bad position from the outside (being on the bottom in a fight), ties your body in knots, and the other guy ends up choking.

There’s just one problem with the triangle choke: you have to be on the bottom to do it.

UNLESS you jump and wrap your legs around your opponent’s head and choke them while they’re standing.

When that happens, you really are doing ninja stuff and it’s not only fast and effective but really cool.

Start: Standing with mutual neck tie controls

Step 1: Jump and pull opponent’s neck down

Step 2: Slide the same-side leg as your neck tie perpendicular over opponent’s head, replacing the grip

Step 3: Cross legs

Step 4: Grip behind opponent’s leg with hand that was gripping behind opponent’s neck to prevent a slam

Step 5: Figure-four free leg over choking leg

Step 6: Pull opponent’s head down and turn body towards arm that has leg grip

End: Submission via flying triangle