On Monday the 17th and Wednesday the 19th in our BJJ 1 class we will be warming up with grip fighting from the standing position and moving into the arm drag to the single leg take down. The technique for class will be submissions from cross side, specifically the far side shoulder lock.

My intent with this warm up is gain muscle memory in controlling the hand fighting portion at the beginning of a match, “brilliant at the basics”. Most Brazilian Jiu Jitsu competitors don’t learn grip fighting and controlling the standing range until later in their training (high blue or purple belt). At least this has been my experience in Oregon over the last 10 years and I want to change this in my gym.

One of the reasons that I put this warm up in the BJJ 1 class so many times during the year is that there are countless drills to run off of grip fighting. Drills that are Wrestling, Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in nature along with drills that improve our timing, balance and strategies will all be practiced.

The far side shoulder lock is a very basic submission that is perfect for the BJJ 1 student because of its relatively few steps and frequent application potential. The more times a submission like this can be threatened the more likely it will be successful. Once again “Brilliant at the basics” is all it takes to be solid at this sport in theory, in practical terms it takes 10 year plus to get the basics to a level of brilliance.

Tuesday the 18th and Thursday the 20th in our BJJ 2 class we will warm up with a slow roll in which I want my coaches to give each student an area to focus on during the slow roll. The instructional side will be three minute rounds from various positions with discussion after each round.

Examples for the warm up slow roll, the coach will have three students work on open/spider guard while three more focus on standing guard passes, while three others will focus on being in cross side as many time as possible. Yeah right in a slow roll! No way! Yes way, but the coach will have to be on his “A” game. The coach can’t be talking to people on the side or working on his own game. He will have to monitor the room and keep reminding the students to relax, flow, think how to move, don’t just react, etc.

A student may never get to the position they want, but that’s o.k. this drill will help them see the opportunities better and that is the first step to making progress….you gotta recognize what’s happening.

The instructional component for the BJJ 2 class will be three minute rounds from various positions with the students discussing the good, bad and the ugly that went on during the round. The intent is to have the students generate questions that are specific to issue they just encountered.

Please comment on this post now or throughout the week as you train

Share on Facebook