Aaron Lapointe, Carlson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt

Recently I wrote an article titled “Overcoming your Limitations with Jiu-Jitsu.” In that article I discussed how it’s possible to succeed in jiu-jitsu despite having a physical disability, in my case one functioning arm. In this two-part article, I’ll talk specifically about the techniques, concepts, and strategies I’ve found to be most effective for me during my 16 years of training. Part 1 will focus on fundamentals, guard work, and sweeps, while Part 2 will focus on takedowns, submissions, and immobilizations. Fortunately, you don’t need to have an arm, shoulder, or wrist injury to get something out of these write-ups. In fact, much of what I’ll be talking about is probably similar to things that you’re already doing. Keep in mind that I don’t claim to know the best way to do something with one arm, nor do I believe that the moves I have incorporated into my game are the only feasible options. They are simply the product of my own personal experiences and training. Find another BJJ practitioner who can only use one arm and he or she will inevitably have a game that is different than mine. That’s the beauty of jiu-jitsu. One size rarely, if ever, fits all.

Fundamentals

As you can probably imagine, fundaments are imperative when you roll with one arm. Without a doubt the most important aspect of my game is lateral hip movement. Those hip escapes, shrimping, and snake movements you learned the first day of class are the crux of my jiu-jitsu.  Not only do these movements help keep people’s weight off of you, but they open the door for escapes, sweeps, and submissions. Sometimes a hip movement as small as an inch or two is all you need. Other times you want to create as much space as possible. Because it’s difficult, if not impossible, to have an effective guard without having skillful hip movement, I’ve made a conscious effort to practice my hip escapes almost every training session for as long as I can remember.

Guard work

You’ll quickly notice that in order to have a good guard with one arm you need to involve your legs and feet more than you’re probably accustomed to. Because my feet are so active, I rarely spend much time in the traditional closed guard with my ankles crossed unless I am trying to rest or slow down my opponent. Instead, I prefer to keep my guard open so I can use my hooks (i.e., insteps), heels, and knees to create space, prevent the person from passing my guard, and set up my sweeps and submissions. Against heavier people I often play an open guard with one foot on the hip of the arm I’m controlling and the other foot on the shoulder or bicep of that person’s free arm.  Not only does a foot on the hip prevent your partner from smashing you with his or her weight, but it creates ample space for you to stand up or get to your knees if necessary. Oftentimes, a person will try and close the gap you’ve created, and when he or she does, you can use that forward momentum to your advantage to sweep or submit. Another benefit of having a foot on the hip is that it makes it easier for you to move your own hips, similar as to how you use the ground to push off of when you lift your hips up or perform a shrimping motion.

 

Sweeps

The three sweeps I’ve had the most success with over the years are the scissor sweep, push-pull sweep, and elevator hook sweep. At the 2003 Gracie Nationals I used the first two sweeps to beat an opponent who outweighed me by close to100 pounds. When executing the scissor sweep I like to control my partner’s sleeve or elbow and position my right knee diagonally across my partner’s chest. Not only does the knee help keep my partner’s weight off of me, but it is perfectly positioned for the scissor sweep should I chose to use it. The moment I feel my partner is slightly off base I give the arm a quick jerk, drop the knee slightly, and scissor my legs.

I really like the push-pull sweep, sometimes called the tripod sweep, because it works very well against a much heavier opponent. Unlike some sweeps, the effectiveness of the push-pull sweep is much more dependent on the person’s base, or lack of base, than his or her weight. When somebody stands up in my guard I often look to place my left foot on the hip and grab the same side ankle. Being able to move your head and hips to the side is an important detail here since the ankle is not always within reach if you stay facing your partner. Once I’ve secured the ankle I start to push on my partner’s hip so he or she steps back with the other leg. When my partner steps back, I square up my hips, shrimp forward, and hook behind my partner’s knee with my right instep. If necessary, I give the hip an extra jolt. Since this is a backward sweep, I like to have my partner moving backward before inserting the hook so I can take advantage of his or her momentum.

For my elevator hook sweep, I generally control my partner’s right arm and sweep to my left, sometimes pulling my partner on top of me before falling to my side. Occasionally, I start to elevate my partner with my hook before I’ve controlled the arm. Not surprisingly, this is a great sweep to use when your partner moves forward recklessly and does not have a good base.

Another sweep that I use quite frequently is the omoplata sweep. You can see me demonstrate the setups to this sweep in the following video clip.

 

This concludes Part 1 of this article. Stay tuned for Part 2 where I talk about my favorite one-armed takedowns, submissions, and immobilizations.

 

To gi or not to gi?  There are hundreds of different high level, accomplished grapplers who have weighed in on the subject, and the camps are divided into those who prefer to train primarily with the gi, and those who prefer no-gi.  This article will discuss the merits of training with the gi, even if your primary interest is in no-gi competition.

A quote often attributed to Roger Gracie, easily one of the most accomplished no-gi grapplers in the world, goes something like this:  ”I train in the gi all the time, then take it off right before competing in Abu Dhabi.  And then I win.”    (Okay, Roger left off the “I win” part.)  Clearly, many of the best in the world believe the gi provides quality training tools for no-gi competition.

But what is it about training in the gi that can help your no-gi game?  If your goal is to become great at chess, why spend so much of your time learning to play Scrabble?

1.  You have to slow down when you roll in the gi.
Why is slowing down a good thing?  Simple:  you see the transitions much, much better.  You are quickly made aware of exactly what your opponent is doing to you, for better or worse.  Imagine trying to learn to drive a car at 120 miles per hour!  Instead, we (human beings) tend to learn things by going through them slowly at first, gradually picking up speed as we go along.  The gi helps us slow everything down to a point where we can more easily figure out what to do.

2.  Training in the gi keeps you honest.
Escaping from submissions is much harder in the gi.  Quite often, positional escapes are a lot more difficult as well- your opponent has material to grab onto, preventing you from slipping out of various holds.  If you’re an athlete, this is the most important reason to train in the gi.  You may well be able to slip out of triangles at your gym, but the time will come when you face an opponent with an excellent triangle who will finish you with it, especially if you only train escapes based on slipping away.  A great finisher will allow you no space to escape, so you have to rely on recognizing the patterns, not exploding out of things.

3.  The gi presents you with even more unique challenges, keeping your training fresh and interesting.  
Getting burned out on no-gi training?  Try putting the gi on for a few weeks.  If you don’t think training in the gi is fun, then you can disagree with this point, but you have to concede that there are a lot of techniques that are added when you put the gi on.  Explore them and exercise your grappling brain.

Whether or not you enjoy training in the gi, the proof is in the pudding, so to speak.  The overwhelming majority of ADCC medalists every single year are BJJ practitioners who have spent considerable time in the gi.  Most of the elite grapplers in MMA also train in the gi on a regular basis, or have extensive training in the past.  Take the time to fully develop your gi game, and you will be amazed at how it helps your no-gi game.

Have you ever been really, really close to finishing a guard pass, only to be reversed at the last second?  Ever had someone sweep you right into side control because you were fighting really hard to stop the sweep?

There’s a lot to be said for being stubborn at the right time.  There is definitely a time to impose your will in jiu jitsu, to fight to stay on top, to struggle against what your opponent wants.  However, one of the most important lessons in your jiu jitsu journey is knowing when the battle is lost, conceding the loss, and moving on so that you can win the war.

A very common example of this is the aforementioned sweep scenario.  You’re on top, looking to pass the guard.  Your partner has some pretty solid grips, and you are keeping your balance pretty well.  Then it hits you:  you are off balance.  There’s a really good chance you’re going to be swept here.

In this moment, you have a decision to make.  The moment will seem like a split second at first, but after you develop this skill, it will seem like far longer.  The decision is, essentially:  do I fight to try and stay on top, or do I realize that my desire to remain on top is futile at this moment, and start working to recover my guard as I’m swept?

The benefit of fighting to stay on top is obvious:  you don’t want to be swept.  Being on top is terrific!  You can exert excellent pressure on your opponent, making him or her more tired than you are as a result.  However, when you are losing this battle, there is a tremendous opportunity in the transition to recover a preferred type of guard, perhaps returning the favor with a sweep of your own, or even managing to set up a submission in the scramble.  At the very least, you will have the golden opportunity to recover your guard while your partner is expending all of his or her mental and physical energy in simply coming up on top.

Another very common example of this, apparent to any white belt in BJJ who has been training for more than a few weeks, is the cross choke you’re going for from side control.  As your opponent recovers to guard, you have to concede that you have lost this small battle.  What if you don’t?  Well, you had better learn to enjoy tapping to armlocks, if that’s the case.

I’ll give you one more example:  suppose you’re fighting as hard as you can to maintain the person in your guard, but your opponent is working technically and diligently to pass.  At a point, it becomes evident that he will pull his foot free and finish the pass into side control.  You have a simple choice:  will you continue to clamp down on his foot with all your might, or will you start to work your defensive posture in order to start defending from side control, and (ultimately) work to escape?

What separates a great jiu jtisu practitioner from an average one isn’t necessarily a lot of great moves, but it definitely is an excellent understanding of these types of transitions.  Conceding the loss and moving on to the next position before your opponent is able to capitalize on your stubbornness is the very first type of transitional movement you can hope to learn in BJJ.  Learn when to appropriately salvage a lost position, and you will start learning how to add transitions to your arsenal.

My goal from the beginning was never to be recognized as “the big guy” with my training partners.  That sounds ridiculous since I’m almost always the biggest guy on the mat when I train, but truthfully I try not to be.  I train BJJ because I want to learn the art, not lay on top of people or toss them around because I’m so much bigger or stronger.

Besides that, just because you’re bigger, sometimes way bigger, doesn’t mean you can be effective.  I assure you there are lots of folks at this gym that give me problems and the occasionally butt whipping even though I have 80 pounds or more on them.  I guess being “the big guy” is unavoidable most days so I try to be the most technical big guy I can.

This presents a couple of challenges.  First, there are some positions that I don’t train that often because, well, I don’t want to hurt anyone.  I’m not going to go to knee on belly with my training partner unless he’s about the same size as me or I know I present no real threat due to their ability to escape (thanks Vince!)  Second, I’m always second guessing myself when I do get a position, finish a submission, or escape.  “Did I get that because I’m bigger and stronger or did I get that because I executed great technique?”  Both of these things really matter to me.  When I do encounter a training partner or opponent that is my size I want to be confident that I’ve worked on my technique and strategy to a degree that the size becomes irrelevant.

The way I’ve dealt with this in my training is to really try and play a “little man’s game”.  I like to pull guard, play half guard, play with leg locks, and catch people with sneaky submissions that rely on technique.  That helps me focus more on my technique.  Of course, there are always times when I’ll get frustrated or even scared and use my size as an advantage, but I honestly try and keep that to a minimum.  I’m sure I do it more than I think.  Ultimately, though, I’m still learning and whether or not I got a technique because of size or efficacy I’m helping my training partner get better too.

For the record, when someone says, “you are so heavy or strong or big,” it’s not a compliment, just an oberservation of phyisics.  Hah!

 

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Mark Pushinksy is a purple belt at Revolution BJJ, a business owner, and a father of two.

Have you ever played solitaire on your computer? Ever notice that you don’t really scan every individual combination of cards when you are presented with a new set of three cards? Instead, you tend to hover the mouse over the deck, ready to click to the next set of three cards very rapidly. You are able to do this because you are able to generalize: red cards must be paired with black cards, so that limits a certain percent of the possible moves; the next number up from any card is of desired interest.

The same thing happens in jiu jitsu: you tend to make broad generalizations about similar situations, and that helps you recognize patterns.  One simple example of this is when you first start training jiu jitsu, you will typically tend to try and memorize things you’re not supposed to do in certain situations.  Quite frequently, this is called posture.  One obvious example is that you don’t normally ever want to try to go for an Americana while inside the other person’s guard, especially their closed guard.  Another might be that you don’t ever want to have your hands on the mat.  Both of these are pretty specific in nature- things not to do while rolling- but if you are able to lump them together into a broader category of what to do- hands go in a specific region of the person’s torso while in the guard, elbows stay in- you can start to make progress toward a deeper understanding of the underlying principle of the position, not just memorization.

It will eventually click (if you keep doing BJJ for long enough) that you have to keep your elbows in close to your body (generally speaking) whenever you are in a dangerous position.

An even broader example of this might be the simple but elusive concept of base.  Taking away a person’s base allows you to sweep them easily, but at first, you must learn a specific set of sweeps that work.  Just as you have to learn the rules of any game you play by first examining the way specific actions happen (moves in chess, plays in a team sport, or techniques in BJJ), you must first learn a select handful of specific sweeps.  If you sit up into your partner and find them to be leaning backward, you can execute an easy hip sweep (hip bump sweep, as it is sometimes called).  If they defend that, you might find that a Kimura (shoulder lock) from that position makes more sense because they’re forced to base.  If they drive back into you from there, you might find that a guillotine choke works best.    All three of these positions are from “armpit on shoulder” position from closed guard, and there are hundreds of other positions like this, from which there are multiple high percentage attacks.

In every one of these techniques lies a fundamental concept you can discover.  If you start thinking deeply about it now, you might make these discoveries sooner rather than later.

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