Tag Archives: guard passing

Competing Against Myself as a White Belt

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lex-at-27-before-starting-jiu-jitsuWhen I was a white belt, I could deadlift 600+, bench 300+, and lots of other numbers that I don’t remember any more but that (at the time) filled my heart with pride. That Lex liked the 2-on-1 from closed guard, couldn’t pass a tricky guard for the life of him, except by going to old school half guard, and passing from there the judo way.

I wonder how I would do against that guy today. He is a little dumber, more competitive,  and doesn’t care if he is wasting energy. When he goes up on points, he’s pretty damn good at holding the lead.

But mostly I wonder if the game I played at the time is better than the one I play today. It’s kind of like the ex-girlfriend question I sometimes ask myself. Would I have been happy if I stay with this or that girl?

These thoughts are brief and non-remarkable, but it makes me wonder what I will think of my current jiu jitsu 1, 2, 3, 5 years from now. It’s very possible that I’m at my competitive peak right now. It’s possible that I’m past it. And of course, as I hope, it’s also possible that there is still a lot of evolution left to do.

These things can’t be tested, but it would pretty damn cool to compete in an 4-man bracket of just Lex’s: one at age 26, one at 27, one at 28, and one at 29. This is probably not what is meant by that commonly quoted saying in the judo community: “It is not important to be better than someone else, but to be better than yesterday.”

I hope someone will read this blog post in the year 2113 and chuckle, since at that time, you’ll be able to simulate anything down to the atomic level for just a few bucks as an app on your smartphone that will now be implanted in your brain. Actually, it probably will BE your brain. In fact, I think it’s safe to assume that we are all living in a simulation that is running on a smartphone in someone’s brain in the year 2113.

Can a Narrow Game Be Complete

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If you think of your jiu jitsu game as a building, and every new technique you learn as a brick, how many bricks do you need to build a house to live in for the rest of your life?

Before I write any more let me say that there are two approaches to learning in jiu jitsu: (1) learning for the sake of learning, and (2) learning for the sake of winning in competition. Many athletes do both, focusing on one or the other at various periods of their jiu jitsu life. This post is about the second one: designing a game for winning in competition. The other approach has a less well-defined goal of exploring the infinite universe of human chess.

Learning Jiu Jitsu

Most people learn jiu jitsu one technique at a time, without a vision of what their final game will look like. The “vision” often comes from the instructor, but it is usually based on their idea of what “works for most students”. That’s natural, of course, but it still makes me wonder whether a “complete” individual game can be built from the top down, and how narrow can that game be while still being successful in competition? The following is how most people (including myself) learn jiu jitsu:

  1. You show up to your first basics class.
  2. You learn your first technique, maybe something like a close guard split from the knees.
  3. Your knees might hurt, you feel off-balance, and maybe the technique feels like it will never work. “Splitting the closed guard is hard and useless”, you think.
  4. Next day, you show up and there’s another technique being taught. It’s your second one: armbar from closed guard.
  5. You drill the armbar a few times, and it seems to work perfectly. “Armbars are amazing!” you think.
  6. On your way home that night you decide that you will become the next black belt World Champion, submitting everyone with armbar from closed guard

Find the Flaws, Fix the Flaws

The above process continues as you pick up techniques that “click” with you and try to improve the ones that don’t. As you move through the ranks, and possibly compete, you identify “holes” (aka flaws, mistakes, etc) in your game. Your training is then defined by those holes. And then you spend a lifetime learning how to patch the smallest flaws with the tiniest details that you pick up through thousands of hours of training or watching countless hours of video or spending hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars on seminars, class fees, privates, tournaments, etc. I love that part of jiu jitsu, but what if my only goal was to win in competition? It’s not for me, but still that’s a very important question to consider. All of us like winning tournaments. It doesn’t have to be the #1 goal or even in the top 5, but it’s up there, and for most of us it’s a worthwhile pursuit.

A Complete Game with Very Few Techniques

As an example, the question is: can I win at the highest levels with the following game:

  1. Double leg take down.
  2. Guard passing from what Rafael Lovato Jr calls the “headquarters” position.
  3. Kimura from side control.
  4. Rear naked choke from back.
  5. When put on your back, constantly work to get back up and go to step #1.
  6. In any dominated position: escape until you can get up.

KarelinNever work on your butterfly guard, half guard, inverted guard, closed guard, except to learn how to get back up to your feet from that position. This game is not as simple as 6 steps. There’s still hundreds of details than need to be learned, tuned, and drilled ad infinitum. When someone shows you a cool foot lock, rolling back take, berimbolo sweep, etc, you ignore it. Never drill anything on the weak side. Drill bringing the game back to your dominant side (your “A game”) if it ever strays from there.

It’s just an example. Can a well-defined narrower game of this kind work? The assumption in the jiu jitsu community is it can’t. I tend to agree, but then again I see athletes at the highest levels in other grappling sports like wrestling and judo that operate with a mastery of just a couple techniques to defeat everyone the same exact way.

I understand all the complexities I’m washing over when I write stuff like this. But it is something I constantly struggle with in the context of competition. Given limited time to train, we are forced to choose. We all choose. And all of our games are narrow relative to the field of the possible. The question is: do we make that choice on a week-by-week basis or is a longer term top-down approach more effective? Is it even possible? Is it enjoyable?

The Art of Training Injured

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Injury is a part of jiu jitsu, as it is of any sport. If you train seriously, you will often have to train through minor (and not-so-minor) injuries in the neck, back, knees, shoulders, wrists, elbows, ribs, hips, groin, fingers, toes, etc. I believe that  it’s possible to train in jiu jitsu at nearly 100% while some part of your body is injured. The range of possible techniques is so vast in BJJ that you can construct a whole game around the injury that:

  1. Protects the injured area
  2. Allows you to attack without using the injured body part
  3. Does not violate basic jiu jitsu fundamentals (posture, balance, pressure, base, etc)

As I’m injured now, the question often arises in my head whether I should tell my training partners that I’m injured. In my experience, that provides very little benefit, in that the training partner often starts flow rolling with me like I’m an 8 year old white belt who is trying jiu jitsu for the first time. Of course, they are often not used to rolling like that and thus move awkwardly. This ends up increasing the chance of aggravating the injury, instead of decreasing it like they expect.

The approach that has worked for me is I change my game to avoid certain positions which increase the likelihood of affecting the injured area. For example, for me right now, that position is inside a tight half guard. So I adjust my passing game so that I don’t end up in half guard, or if I do I attack it immediately to switch to reverse half guard to avoid the kind of position that will put too much pressure on my injury.

In a way, training injured is a selfish act, because it’s much harder for the non-injured training partner to have to adjust. Some people choose to sit out all together. That doesn’t work for me. I always put a lot of emphasis on drilling, but live training is essential, and I find that if I come at it with no ego, it’s possible to train hard without aggravating the injury.

Submission Grappling Top Game: Bear Hunting for Fish

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In the 90+ degree days of summer, guard passing in no-gi grappling feels a lot like what I imagine a brown bear feels like when trying to get a hold of a fish:

Maybe I’m too old and slow, but passing the guard of anyone under 170 lbs in no gi is very challenging. It’s tough to turn up the pace and aggression on the pass because I can’t always trust that wherever I put my feet or hands will not slip and result in a knee hitting my face, thereby making me feel like an idiot.

Open guard passing (middle to long range style) and stabilizing the pass to me is the biggest difference between gi and no-gi. It requires an embrace of the scramble, and at the same time an abundance of patience. Definitely an interesting puzzle to try and solve.

“There’s No Wrong Way In Jiu Jitsu”

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As usual I must type out a bunch of tangential soliloquy before I get to the point of the blog post. Bear with me.

Given my recent work load, my “training” has included a lot of watching of jiu jitsu and judo instructionals and competition footage.

I talk about drilling a lot, but I should also mention that watching instructionals is a really effective way of improving your game. It depends on your personality of course. It works for me. A good instructor sets you on the right path and fixes critical mistakes, but exploring the intricacies of techniques is often something you have to do on your own. That where instructionals come in. I don’t just watch random stuff. I focus on specific positions.

One of my favorite takes on passing the closed guard, for example, is from the online instructional of Roberto “Cyborg” Abreu. I’m a member of his new online training academy at BJJWorldChampion.com. There’s about 15 videos on passing the closed guard alone. I could spend several months just working on those. He basically shows the good solid fundamentals of the like you might find in Saulo Ribeiro’s classic instructional. But he adds a few interesting details to each technique which makes me think about the position in a whole new way. I now know how to take the back off of the stack pass ;-)

Now the title of the post is a quote of Cyborg in one of those videos that grabbed my attention. He introduced the technique as just one way of doing it, and that there is no right or wrong way in jiu jitsu. You have to find the variation that works well for your physical and mental attributes. Cyborg’s basic justification for a technique is two fold:

  1. This has worked for me against the best people in the world in competition.
  2. I think it may work for you as well for the following reasons…

Frankly, it’s refreshing to hear that, because too many instructionals claim their way of doing a technique as THE way. I understand why they do it. Because while there is “no wrong way in jiu jitsu”, there are lots of ways that are most likely going to be wrong for most people. But the cost of that is it discourages exploration and understanding what makes the technique work.

 

Notes on the World Jiu Jitsu Expo Superfights

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The World Jiu Jitsu Expo brought together some exciting match-ups. There was Glover sporting a gi and goatee. There was the impossible-to-pass guard of Lovato Jr. And there was the confident-bordering-on-cocky top game of Kron. Anyway, here are my three favorite fights from that event along with some notes.

Kron Gracie vs Vitor Estima

Some interesting things from this match are:

  • Kron’s standing pass of Vitor’s closed guard at the beginning (maybe the 1 minute mark). It showed to me that confidence and good balance goes a long way.
  • The reverse body lock at 7:30. I’m pretty sure Kron has not seen this position too often, but he remained calm, keep good posture, and used grips to resume a dominant position.
  • Kron’s smash pass at 9:30 that went on forever. It was interesting to see the fact that Vitor was stopping it by simply holding on to Kron’s left ankle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHq5YjQBWNg

Lucas Leite vs Rafael Lovato Jr

Some interesting things from this match are:

  • Beautiful long step pass attemps at 1:30 by Lucas Leite.
  • The whole match is just guard passing by Lucas Leite. He almost passed a lot of times with the bull pass, but Lovato did not seem worried any of those times. The bull pass has that quality that it looks like you passed, but you really haven’t.
  • The break they get at 8:00 is awesome. I love those breaks. It gives both guys a breather for the final push in the match. It makes cardio a little less of a factor, and more about technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2GnQ5DCiSs

Jeff Glover vs Caio Terra

Some interesting things from this match are:

  • Glover is famously a goof ball. Some things he does I think are entertaining, but some (in my eyes) are disrespectful to the sport. In the beginning of the match he turned his back as he often does, and I was glad to see Caio immediate look to capitalize on it.
  • When Glover was on top in the match it was interesting to see him in a stance with his weight on his back foot, kind of like you are when on top of deep half guard. That created a lot of complicated footlock-type situations, but he seemed to be comfortable with it.
  • It was interesting to see left-sided de la riva guard from Caio (e.g. 7:40). Glover seemed to be comfortable with it, and Caio’s half guard, which is of course very impressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7eixxm5CLI

The Tanks of Jiu Jitsu: Andre Galvao and Xande Ribeiro

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Andre Galvao and Xande Ribeiro have fought each other twice within the last month. First at the San Diego trials for the World Pro, and then again yesterday for the finals of the World Pro.

Xande won the first match. Galvao won the second. However, I think neither match had a clear winner, and the only thing you can say is that both matches were an exhibition of HEAVY guard passing. Nothing fancy, just basics with tight heavy pressure. Here ‘s the first match from the trials:

Here’s the second match from finals:

It’s easy to say it, but I have to agree with the general consensus that for matches like these, 6 minutes seems like way too short a time. I think 6 minutes does encourage the athletes to open up and go hard, but when they are as evenly matched as these two, it would be great for everyone to see it play out for longer (say 10 minutes).

Walking Past the Guard

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Here is a guard pass from Rodolfo Vieira that I literally watched about 20 times in a row in the morning today.

This pass may seem too easy to most people. It has already collected 2 dislikes on YouTube and a comment saying that it’ll never work. But I believe that the idea behind this guard pass is at the core of what makes Rodolfo one of the best guard passers in the world. What’s the idea? There’s two: misdirection and timing. I’ve been thinking of these two ever since JW started me on my guard passing journey with the x-pass about 6 months ago.

I’ve drilled about 10 different guard passes for several thousand times at this point, and the picture is slowly starting to emerge. The best guard pass is not one semitruck running over another semitruck. The best guard pass is the bullfighter stepping aside as the enraged bull rushes past. It’s subtle and crisp.

One of the jiu jitsu guys that I follow closely on the Internets is Philadelphia’s own Josh Vogel, and he wrote two good posts on just these two topics. He breaks down these two ideas  of timing and misdirection which I think is rarely done with such rigor.

Passing the Impassable Guard

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Many of the BJJ competitors at the black belt level have an open guard that at times seems to be “impassable”. A good example of someone with an “impassable guard” is Michael Langhi. Here’s an example match of his against Gilbert Burns:

Basically, it’s a remarkable mix of flexibility, agility, grips, leverage, and instinct that allows the player to keep his legs and hips always between him and the opponent.

Michael Langhi is one of many such guys. The “impassable guard” is a relative concept. For me, a lowly blue belt, a lot of guards are “impassable”. As I slowly progress, learn, and evolve, one by one I start to figure out the details of passing those guards. So the goal is always to pass the guard today that I couldn’t pass yesterday.

I think the following video of Mendes brothers loose guard passes really demonstrates the key challenges of passing a good open guard. It’s a mix of solid technique, constant pressure, aggression, balance, base, and follow through. It seems to me that the hardest part of passing is finishing the pass. I can often execute the leg drag effectively, but capitalizing on that position to gain and hold side control is a whole another battle.

When Passing Guard, Plan B is Worth Considering

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Alright, so I’m at that stage where I figured out a couple of techniques I like. I’ve drilled and am constantly drilling the crap out of them. The result is that I’ve gotten pretty good at executing those techniques (for my belt rank), whether the opening for them is there or not. A good example is the x-pass that I now force on people no matter what their approach to the open guard is.

I believe that ultimately this is the way to win at competition: to be so good at a technique that you can announce: “I will now pass your guard with the x-pass, using this grip and this footwork” and proceed to do it. What I mean is that I don’t believe in jiu jitsu that “tricks” the opponent in some big way, but instead uses very minute details to trick their body into creating the opportunity for the technique that you have drilled tens of thousands of times.

That all sounds wonderful, if not confusing and wordy, but it’s not even the point of this post. The point is that as your main powerhouse technique gets better and better, the “Plan B” technique openings become bigger and bigger. And at my current novice level, I often keep forcing the main technique and don’t consider Plan B.

Here’s a video that inspired this post that I saw yesterday from Ken Primola:

I often run into this issue sometimes that my opponent insists on that inside hook, and I often keep fighting to get my right leg between his legs (from where I can do the passes I like), when instead the pass the video shows seems to be right there. Just try going to the other side!