One of the great things about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is its array of positions and techniques. In fact, one could probably live several lifetimes and never master them all! The seemingly endless number of techniques and positional variations in BJJ is one of the things that makes it so interesting for students of all ages and abilities. Basic Positions in Jiu-Jitsu The power in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is not in submitting the opponent, but rather in controlling them in a variety of positions. Often, we focus on submissions when learning Jiu Jitsu. The problem with this focus is if you can’t control the opponent in whatever position you happen to be in. The Basics: Traditional Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (with a Gi) For the traditional form of BJJ, you will need a Jiu Jitsu Gi and Belt at the very minimum. Rash Guards are also recommended to wear underneath your Gi - see the No-Gi section below for details on rash guards. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Gi. Also known as a BJJ Gi, Jiu Jitsu Kimono, etc. BJJ Basics is the home of professional Brazilian jiu jitsu training courses. Please take time to watch this brief introductory video which will give you more insight as to what BJJ Basics has to offer Introductory Video Explore our premium courses. An Introduction to Guard Passing Arms Race.
In this article I’m going to give you my BJJ techniques checklist.
This is the list of BJJ fundamental techniques I put together to:
Bjj Basics
Identify gaps in my knowledge.
Prioritise which instructionals I’d watch.
Focus the things I’m drilling.
Most importantly, it helped me to make the most of limited training time on mat…
…and provide a foundation to start learning how to apply concepts, rather than collecting 1,001 individual techniques
So what are the foundation techniques?
Here they are:
Click here to download My BJJ Techniques Checklist pdf
My BJJ Techniques Checklist – White Belt to Blue Belt
I combined the content from the course The Most Important Techniques of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Stephan Kesting’s article The 16 Most Important Techniques for the BJJ Beginner.
Then?
I listed these techniques based on the hierarchy of positions to help prioritise what I should focus on:
Rear Mounted or Back Control (Bottom)
Weak side back-to-mat escape, strong side baseball bat grip escape, butt scoop escape
Mount (Bottom)
Upa / bridge and roll escape, elbow-knee escape
Side Control (Bottom)
Hip escape guard replacement, backdoor escape
Inside Guard
Over-under guard pass, knee slice, bullfighter guard pass (Toreando)
Half Guard (Bottom)
Under-hook back take, foot sweep
Half Guard (Top)
Foot-wedge guard pass, hip-switch guard pass
Full Guard
Arm-drag back take, scissor sweep. hip bump sweep, cross collar choke, arm bar, triangle choke, kimura, guillotine
Side Control
Knee slice to mount, kimura, americana, head-arm triangle choke
Mount
Back take, cross collar choke, americana, arm bar
Back Control (Rear Mount)
Rear naked choke, doorbell choke, bow and arrow choke, arm bar
Why is the BJJ techniques checklist grouped from worst-to-best in the hierarchy of positions?
Being rear mounted is the worst place I could possibly be…
…so I figured back escapes should be the first thing to focus on.
(And, as a beginner, I’d probably end up being there more than I cared for)
Once I got that sorted?
Then mounted is the next worse position.
So should fix that too.
I COULD have worked on arm bar from mount first…
…but what point would there be if I never got there?
What are good resources to learn the fundamental BJJ techniques?
I think the best BJJ 101 course is The Most Important Techniques of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
(for less than $20, you can’t go wrong)
It’s a one-stop-shop video collection of most of the techniques you should be focusing on…
… with details on how to make them work.
Read: The Most Important Techniques of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: Udemy Course Review
Next, I would check out The Ace of Escapes by MMA Leech.
Solid instruction on back, mount, and side control escapes.
(My top 3 training priorities have been sorted with just this one resource)
Even though it’s “just escapes”, it’ll improve the whole game because they lead to more dominant positions.
Is this list so you don’t have to go to BJJ training?
Not at all.
It’s supposed to supplement it.
I can’t get to training as much as I’d like…
…so it could be over a year between sessions working on a position or specific technique.
I might as well continue training BJJ at home and on the road.
This way I can make the most of my training when I am on the mat.
Has focusing on these specific techniques limited your BJJ learning?
I feel like having a list like this would make anyone more well-rounded
(when I put this together, I realised I had NO guillotine).
Also, rather than vaguely knowing 100 techniques, I have a set of things that I know I’m decent at
But…
These are techniques to express concepts:
Base, Posture, Levers, Frames, and Alignment.
NEXT:
Once there’s a handle on a good number of these foundations, my next step is quickly moving over to The BJJ Formula by Grapplearts
Is this an official list of BJJ techniques to get to from white belt to blue belt?
Not at all.
It’s just what I saw as a solid list for me and where I was in my journey.
[You’ll see there’s no posture, submission defence, knee ride, turtle, or takedowns]
To be honest, I put it together AFTER I already had a blue belt…
…it was what I felt I should have already known
It may not be right for you or where you train (or at all!)
What BJJ techniques should beginners focus on?
Anything I’m missing?
Comment below:
by guest author Mark Mullen
I’m currently in Rio de Janeiro doing a little training in BJJ. While here I have met a number of white belts at the Connection Rio BJJ hostel. Sitting around the pool or over acai after training, inevitably the topic of conversation turns to BJJ and the struggles of the white belts trying to find their way in the art suave.
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Many say the same things:
- “There is SO much to learn it is overwhelming
- “I am always getting caught in (fill in the blank) and I don’t know what to do.”
- “How do I direct my training to improve the fastest? There is SO MUCH information out there on Youtube!”
So, where does a white belt start with their training in BJJ?
To answer this I explain my approach to white belts learning BJJ in terms of 4 Main Factors
1) The BJJ Positional Hierarchy
Most people starting jiu-jitsu can identify the basic positions: guard, side control, full mount.
I ask the white belt “What is the worst position that you can be in during a bjj match?” The guesses can vary widely. “Mount? Guard?”
The answer I give is “When your opponent is rear mounted on you with hooks and you are face down on the ground. All of your weapons and defence are pointed away from him, you can not see what he is doing and his weight is on you.”
They nod in understanding.
My next question: “Now, what is the 2nd worst position that you can find yourself in during a match?”
Some head scratching and a guess at mount?
“No, it is rear mount with your OPPONENT’S back on the ground (aka rear mount – belly to the sky). Most of the same problems of the WORST position are there – all of your weapons and defence are pointed away from him, you can not see what he is doing…. BUT at least his weight is not on top of you and you have more freedom to move and possibly escape.”
The positional hierarchy is a top to bottom order of the best to worst positions in a jiu-jitsu match. The middle of this continuum would be neutral positions and then inversion for the worst. ex. BEST rear mount with hooks in, face down / WORST rear mounted with opponent on your back and face down
- Rear mount
- Mount
- Knee on Belly
- Side control
- Half Mount
- Guard TopGuard Bottom
- Turtle Top / Turtle Bottom
- Half Guard Bottom
- Side control Bottom
- Knee on Belly Bottom
- Mount Bottom
- Rear mount Bottom
Now, the white belt has seen an example of the positional hierarchy where during the course of a match a combatant may not only identify where they are positionally at any point during a match – creating order out of a chaotic fight – but glimpsing the idea that one might improve ones position in the match by moving upwards to the next more favourable position in the hierarchy.
At any point during a match we should be able to freeze the action and you (the white belt) identify which position the combatants are currently in AND see where each must move in order to attain a more favourable position respectively.
Now, you have a strategy to not only survive but also to escape, advance your position and attempt to gain a dominant position over your opponent step by step.
(For a comprehensive list of the positional hierarchy please check out the FREE ‘Roadmap for BJJ’ book by clicking here)
2) The 4 Points of Each BJJ Position
Now that we have a concept of the basic positions within the hierarchy, what do we do when we find ourselves in a specific position during match?
“I always find myself in bottom of side mount and I don’t know to do? I always get submitted!”
To understand the basic positions you should ask yourself these 4 questions:
When your opponent has a dominant position you should ask:
- How do I safely position my limbs, posture and balance to avoid being submitted in this position?
- How do I escape this position and move to the next position higher on the hierarchy?
OR…
When you’re in a dominant position over opponent you should ask
- How do I maintain and control my opponent and prevent his escape in this position
- What are some high percentage, effective basic submissions from this position?
Many feel that Youtube has become a negative thing for beginners learning BJJ techniques. Instructors of varying degrees of experience share a dizzying array of techniques of sometimes dubious effectiveness.
How do you know which of the 100+ guard sweeps you should be devoting your efforts to?
Your instructor will prove invaluable in providing you with the specific techniques for each position.
Your instructor can point the way to the most effective technique for your level of experience and prevent you from wasting precious training time practising a lower percentage technique or one unsuitable for your personal level of experience.
3) Mechanics of the Basic Techniques
White belt is also a time of tremendous excitement where each class will reveal brand new techniques and solutions to their grappling challenges.
The mind is akin to a dry sponge soaking up all of the knowledge. Some of the techniques initially can be complex and appear to be baffling tangle of limbs and grips.
Some advice on how to learn a specific technique:
- Each part of your body will have a role in the execution of a technique. Start by asking yourself “What should my right hand be doing? The left? Each leg/ foot?“
- “Where is my weight being applied?” Your weight should be distributed in a more focused area when on top to both preserve your base / balance and to make the opponents escape movements more difficult.
- To simplify complex movement sequences break it down like a dance instructor might teach a dance step (ex. scissors sweep): One: make the grips; Two: move your hip to the side; Three scissor legs and pull opponent off balance; come ot top and stabilise mount
In the early part of the white belt’s study of jiu-jitsu, the majority of the training time will be spent acquiring new techniques, learning the technical details for each and then repeating them enough times to ingrain the movement patterns into your nervous system so that you may execute them with the most efficient use of your energy.
Tip: Always perform the technique assuming that your opponent will be bigger and stronger than you. This will encourage you to make the maximum use of your leverage, timing and develop the purest technique.
4) Basic Movements and Mat Fitness
Bjj Basics Beginners
Many of the body movements required (especially in the guard!) for Brazilian jiu-jitsu may not feel intuitive to the new student. Furthermore, the muscles and flexibility are unique to the art and even very fit athletes from other sports may have an uncomfortable adjustment period while their bodies adapt to the sports specific demands of bjj.
Fortunately, jiu-jitsu instructors have developed drills and warm up exercises designed to instill the fundamental movements in the students during warm ups.
Bjj Basics No Gi
Drills like hip escapes, shrimping the length of the mat, sit outs and bridging build the specific muscular strength and movement patterns that will later be practically employed in executing your techniques.
Ideally, the warm up at a bjj class should feature fewer pure calisthenics (pushups and jumping jacks) and more drills and fundamental movements. I often refer new students to the famous scene in the original Karate Kid movie where Mr. Miyagi gets Daniel to wax his car. “Wax on…wax off” he says while mimicking a circular hand movement. Daniel San only later comes to realize that he has been unconsciously “inculcating” (definition: To impress (something) upon the mind of another by frequent instruction or repetition; instill) the basic movements of a defensive block.
In this same way, the at first awkward shrimping movements have subtly equipped the white belt with the hip movement that is essential executing a scissor sweep or triangle choke. When the white belt encounters the technique instruction in class, he is already prepared to precisely execute the correct angle and body position by virtue of his hundreds of repetitions of shrimps and hip movements during the warm ups. A closer inspection of the at first nonsensical warm up drills, one will recognize parts of many ground techniques.
(For a comprehensive list of the warm up drills and exercises please see the Grappling Drills instructional.)
If you liked the ideas in this white belt article, please “Like,” “Tweet,” or “Plus 1” this article and I will write a blue belt article.
Mark Mullen
Mark Mullen is a long time contributor to Grapplearts, a black belt in BJJ and a brown belt in Judo and has been teaching BJJ classes since 2000. Sign up for the Grapplearts email newsletter to be notified when more articles and videos are published.