Focus: White To Blue
Getting. Better. Faster.
Students will often ask what should I focus on. The question is so open ended and often difficult to define. We can discuss the differences between body types, temperament, and innate abilities, but in the end we can probably ease it down to these categories or phases.
Escapes
The foundation of everything that you’d like to create or build in Jiu-Jitsu, stems from the knowledge that you can escape any pin or submission.
I remember having a training partner who I would often dominate positionally, but I could never submit the guy. He just always had this way of shifting his weight, or tucking his elbow just enough to retreat to freedom.
Having this kind of ability is a super power. When you are in dominant positions, you’re not as worried about being reversed because you’re so defensively sound.
Defense To Offense
Transitioning your game from defense to offense is where things get interesting and really creative. This is often where I can catch people sleeping. While there are no traditional “counters” in Jiu-Jitu like you see in boxing or MMA, catching people in the in between stage is close.
Pinning/Control
The ability to mount pressure from any top position is an asset that is often forgotten about in today’s Jiu-Jitsu. Many of the sport’s competitors these days pass at a distance and set up many of their submissions in the act of transitioning. While there’s nothing wrong with this, the most fundamentally sound approach is getting chest to chest and applying pressure.
That pressure allows you to cook your opponent, limiting their escape routes, and creating moments of desperation that ultimately lead to submissions.
Submit
The submission is the end all be all. You can be behind on the score but still have the ability to end the match with at a moment’s notice. While we can submit our opponent from bottom or top, there’s a massive advantage of working for the submission while inside of a pinning position.
Escape - Transition from Defense to Offense - Pin & Control - Submit.
Two Not Three
The concept of “Two not Three” is something that I started to play with when I took over the morning program at Gracie La Mesa. The morning classes are just over sixty minutes, opposed to the ninety minute classes in the evenings. We start at five, do a short warm up, some technique, and jump into rolling around five forty, ended by a short Q&A session …
DFM Coaching is dedicated to helping you overcome mental hurdles and achieve your full potential in BJJ. Whether through in-person instruction, seminars, private lessons, remote coaching, or video analysis, I provide personalized support tailored to your needs. Keep pushing forward, and let’s grow together!
Guys always catch me in transition submissions but I don't think I'm agile or skilled enough yet to do that. Recently I've started to stay in the pin position when I get it and just move between: side control, knee on belly, or mount.